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Diamonds are the hardest material on our planet. Well, the hardest one we’ve found so far, anyway. They’re so hard that only a diamond can scratch another diamond. Crazy, right?
But that kind of reputation brings in a lot of questions. What does it take to destroy a diamond? Could an explosion do any damage to a diamond? Would you be able to crack one open with a strong enough impact?
There are many contenders, don’t get us wrong.
But among all of them, there’s one that stands out in our eyes. Well, at least it stood out while we were researching these kinds of topics.
The contender that we’re most interested in is lava.
So, can lava destroy a diamond?
It’s an interesting proposition, one must admit. But to put it lightly, diamonds need a lot of heat and pressure to form. So, with that in mind, would the heat from molten lava do any significant damage to them?
Let’s find out!
Can Lava Destroy A Diamond?
The straight answer to this question is – well, not so straight, after all. Can lava destroy a diamond? Yes – and also no.
It doesn’t matter how big or small it is; a diamond will most likely be fine if it finds itself floating around in lava.
A much better question here would be what does it mean to destroy a diamond. And answering that question might just be a bit more complicated than it seems.
We imagine a couple of things when we hear the word “destroy.” When an object is destroyed, it usually means that it broke apart. Maybe it melts – or even evaporates? There are a couple of possibilities to consider here.
So, let’s say that we’re talking about a diamond breaking apart into a myriad of pieces. Could it happen? Unfortunately, no, it’s just not possible.
Another point goes to Earth’s hardest material!
For something to break apart, there usually needs to be a force that will make the object go from one into multiple pieces. Usually, it means that the object’s elastic properties reached a breaking point, which resulted in the material becoming suddenly hard and rigid.
Imagine a plastic ruler that you’ve bent just a bit too much when you were a kid. Yeah, we’ve all done it.
But what are the elastic properties of a diamond?
Well, that’s the thing: Diamonds have no elastic properties; breaking them apart can only be done if they’re suddenly met with a considerable amount of force that has nowhere to go.
That causes the object to break into multiple parts so that the force can be spread equally. The stronger the force, the more parts there will be.
And while that’s a nice idea, there is really no sudden force that a diamond can encounter while floating in lava.
We know it’s not looking good.
There is one more thing that would cause the material to break apart – and that’s an extreme change in temperature.
Glass, for instance, breaks apart if it has been cooled down and then suddenly heated up to the initial temperature. The temperature changes are too fast, so the material breaks to relieve the stress of sudden expansion and contraction.
Well, now we’re getting somewhere!
Let’s say that we drop a diamond in lava. Would the sudden temperature change make it pop?
Well, there will be a change in temperature inside the diamond, but because they’re so durable, it will seem as if there’s no change whatsoever.
In extremely high temperatures, diamonds can melt, though. However, melting a diamond is a complicated issue, so we’ll get back to it in a minute.
Related Read:
What Is Lava Exactly?
Alright, so, what is lava, anyways?
We can all see it as soon as we hear the word: It’s orange and boiling over, slowly flowing down a volcano. While we’re at it, what the heck are volcanos? And how is this not enough for us to see some diamond destruction?
Don’t worry; we’ll explain everything.
Lava is basically just melted rocks, nothing more. Well, “nothing more” would be an understatement, so we take that back. It’s what the Earth’s core is made of, after all!
See, the temperature gets higher the closer to the core you get. And our planet is – to nobody’s surprise – one big rock. That means that inside Earth, at its very core, the rocks are constantly in a liquid state, glowing around in a ball of hot lava. The temperatures are so high that it’s pretty much impossible for them to solidify.
Until they manage to escape the Earth’s core and somehow reach the surface, that is. So, how do they do that?
Volcanoes, that’s how. Through these volcanoes, the lava shoots out onto the surface, where it will eventually cool down and solidify again.
But let’s get something straight: Even when it gets to the surface, it still takes lava quite a bit to cool down enough in order to go back to a solid-state.
The temperature of this liquefied rock is about 700-800 degrees Celsius on average, while the highest point that it can reach is approximately 1200 to 1300 degrees.
Which is incredibly hot and dangerous – just not hot enough to affect a diamond.
But with all that said, those temperatures must do something to a diamond. Okay, yes, it’s the hardest material in the world, but it’s impossible for it to just not be fazed by a staggering 1000 degrees Celsius, right?
Learn More: Can You Find Diamonds In Lava Rock?
Can Lava Melt Diamond?
We usually think of two things when speaking of high temperatures: combustion and melting. So, what’s what?
Well, they’re both chemical reactions, but only the latter can happen to a diamond. That’s right; a diamond can melt!
It does seem strange, but the science backs up our claim. The problem is, the lava just isn’t hot enough to do it.
See, melting a diamond is not an easy task. You’ll probably hear a couple of things when trying to find an answer to this question.
First of all, diamonds have a melting point – and it’s 4000 degrees Celsius. When we compare this number to the temperature of lava, it’s almost ridiculous to continue the research.
But we made it this far, haven’t we?
Now, that number technically is the melting point of a diamond, but it’s not a number that’s valid on our planet. Let us explain.
Diamonds will start to melt at 4000 degrees if – and only if – they are in an atmosphere with no oxygen. Now, this poses a bit of a problem because we happen to have quite a bit of oxygen around.
So, what’s the melting point of diamonds with all this oxygen? Well, you won’t like the answer if you’ve been rooting for the lava so far.
Diamonds need to be heated up to 7000 degrees for them to start melting.
So, no matter how much lava you get, it’s just not hot enough!
But there might be something else we can do to tip the scales in the molten rocks favor. See, while diamonds can’t melt in lava, there is a way to make them vaporize.
That’s right, the hardest material in the world can vaporize – and it can do it at around 700 degrees Celsius.
That is pretty great news, considering that 700 degrees happen to be the starting point of the lava temperature scale. But why do diamonds vaporize? And how is it possible, anyways?
Well, remember all that oxygen that we have in the atmosphere?
That’s how.
Because diamonds are only made of carbon, if they’re heated enough, that carbon can start reacting with the oxygen that surrounds them. So, all those tough carbon atoms go from a solid crystal structure and vaporize to become carbon monoxide.
The lava is victorious!
But it might still be strange to imagine a diamond turning to vapor. We get it; it’s not something you see every day. But the science behind this phenomenon is quite simple.
See, when we expose any material to heat, the atoms that it’s made of start to vibrate more and more. What heat is really just a bunch of atoms vibrating more and more – and any other atoms they encounter will start vibrating, too.
That’s why there’s no life at temperatures of absolute zero – well, in theory, at least. The atoms are completely still at absolute zero, which makes that condition impossible in the real world.
So, the carbon atoms in a diamond – even though they’re tightly packed in a diamond structure – get exposed to a lot of heat (vibration). They vibrate enough to separate from the crystal bond that they have with the other carbon atoms and team up with oxygen.
So, lava CAN destroy a diamond. It may not be able to blow it up or break it up into a million parts. But vaporizing something is a pretty tough thing to do if you ask us!
Learn More: What Can Destroy A Diamond?
Can Lava Bring Diamonds To The Surface?
That is an interesting proposition. In theory, it makes perfect sense. Let’s say a diamond forms underneath the Earth’s crust. To be more precise, let’s say that it forms in an area that will, at some point in the future, turn to lava.
Diamonds are, after all, made in the Earth’s crust – which is, to put it simply, just a bunch of rocks.
So, if the rocks that contain diamonds start melting, and turn to lava, could that lava end up on the surface? Because if it can – it would mean that it can essentially bring diamonds up to the surface.
We know that lava doesn’t get to the surface safely and calmly, so we’re not talking about a new type of acquiring diamonds.
But it still is a great question. Well, the answer is yes! But it can’t be any type of lava – which means that it can’t be any type of rock, either. To be precise, there is only one rock that we managed to find that can both contain diamonds and melt into lava and end up on the surface.
That rock is called a kimberlite.
The temperature of the lava rarely gets too high; it will usually stick to the lower end of the lava-hotness scale. That means that if a big enough diamond manages to form inside the rock, it will pretty much stay intact while on its journey to the surface.
Why Are Diamonds So Durable?
Alright, so the diamonds have been defeated. It seems the hardest material on Earth is no match for molten lava.
But you have to admit; it takes a lot to make all that carbon move. So, what is it about diamonds – and their structure – that makes them so durable?
Heck, it takes a melted rock that has a temperature of 700+ degrees Celsius to take them down!
Well, while diamonds have a simple structure, they’re incredibly dense. They were formed under extreme conditions below the Earth’s surface, after all. And while diamonds are pretty common, the process that they need to complete still takes thousands of years!
The reason that there are so many of them on our planet is simple: There’s a lot of carbon around.
It also helps that there are only two of those extreme conditions needed for their formation – pressure and heat. Well, a LOT of pressure and heat is needed, and luckily there’s a lot going on beneath the surface of our planet in that department.
In these conditions, the carbon atoms bond together in a crystal structure. But we’re not talking about a couple of atoms here.
Diamonds are incredibly dense, which is what gives them that durability we were talking about a moment ago. There’s a lot of carbon packed in a small package. That means that their bond is incredibly strong. It’s the only thing that makes diamonds different from other crystals.
And it’s no small difference, might we add: There’s a reason why diamonds are used for industrial purposes, too, and not only for jewelry. We do admit, though – the jewelry kind is obviously the preferred choice. That structure and density are even more interesting when you consider the fact that diamonds are translucent.
Sure, not every gemstone in the world is perfectly pure and shiny, but a lot of them are.
So, how can light still find its way through such dense materials? With all those atoms potentially stopping it in its tracks, how is it that they manage to reflect and refract so much light?
Well, that we can thank the structure for: There’s a major difference between other hard materials and diamonds, and that is that they’re arranged in a crystallized position. This type of incredibly efficient structure can disperse force perfectly – and let some light through in the process.
Final Words
So, there you have it! Can lava destroy a diamond? While diamonds are the hardest material in the world, they’re no match for one chemical reaction – oxidation.
Now, we can’t really consider this a weakness; they still are extremely fascinating. But the next time you see a nicely cut translucent diamond on a pretty necklace, remember: It takes a melted rock that’s heated to 700 degrees Celsius to take that thing down!
Read Also: Can Diamonds Withstand A Nuke? | https://diamond101.com/can-lava-destroy-a-diamond/ |
About Biodiversity at Cal Poly Pomona
What is biodiversity?
Biodiversity is a measure of the variability of living organisms in a given region. It can be measured as the total number of species, the total number of ecological communities, or the total amount of genetic variation. Biodiversity is strongly influenced by climate and topography (tropical regions usually have more species, and mountainous regions a greater number of communities), but it is also a measure of biological impacts that reduce diversity relative to measured diversity of the past, or theoretical diversity based on comparison with similar environments elsewhere.
Why is biodiversity important?
Diverse habitats are resilient. Each species plays a role in the web of interactions that makes up a biological community. The functioning of these species together is an important part of "ecosystem services": the oxygen generation, water purification, erosion control, and all the other things that our planet does for us at no direct cost. The fewer the species, the more unlikely it is that other species will be able to "take up the slack" to keep things running smoothly.
Do humans always negatively affect biodiversity?
Not necessarily. There is growing evidence that indigenous people often manipulated the environment in ways that increased biodiversity. This is well-established in parts of Yucatán and the Amazon basin, and even here in southern California, there is evidence that the Gabrieleño and other indigenous people actively managed habitats, primarily through use of fire, in a manner that often sustained or increased biodiversity. With European settlement, the collapse of indigenous societies, and the introduction of Eurasian plant and animal species, changing patterns of land use in many cases greatly reduced biodiversity (for example, urbanization and monoculture agriculture) and in other cases caused major shifts in ecological communities (for example, converting forest to chaparral). But, given the right circumstances, people are quite capable of maintaining or increasing biodiversity while at the same time optimizing their own interests.
Why is this important for Cal Poly Pomona?
In just over 1400 acres (580 ha), Cal Poly Pomona contains the usual buildings, lawns, and parking lots, as well as agricultural fields, extensive ornamental tree plantings, and four different natural ecological communities, making it one of the most biologically diverse campuses in the California State University. Much of the natural diversity is contained within the Voorhis Ecological Reserve, but there is extensive walnut woodland among the grazed pastures and adjacent to the Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies on the south side of campus.
The biodiversity of campus provides a natural laboratory for teaching and research. A number of Master's theses have been based on studies of the Voorhis Ecological Reserve and other undeveloped areas, and a number of courses in several departments routinely use the areas.
Biodiversity is part of the continuing heritage of the university, and of its modern stewardship. The campus commitment to sustainability includes biodiversity at its foundation. | https://www.cpp.edu/~biodiversity/about/index.shtml |
Conflict resolution processes are multilayered. On the surface these processes are comprised of a set of skills and steps that combine to form a particular design toward a particular end. When we speak of mediation, for example, we typically talk in terms of the skills of intervening, listening and being neutral, and of steps including opening statements, brainstorming and caucusing. Below this surface level there exists a realm of mental constructs and perceptions that shape the choice of skills and steps, as well as their integration and application. The attitude toward the structure of reality, the purpose of life and existence, and the appropriate forms of action frame and helps to shape the process. Even deeper under the surface is the realm of context; conflict resolution processes are born within and arise out of specific historical, cultural and social contexts. Often, in fact, they are the product of multiple contexts and traditions.
Proactive Conflict Resolution
We have to resolve conflicts every day of our lives. Typically, these conflicts are resolved informally, without the intervention of any third party or process, and in such instances we do indeed often see the proactive effects of our earlier conflict resolution experiences: we are more patient and understanding; show greater foresight and knowledge; and are more attuned to how to defuse situations satisfactorily before they become heated. This informal, autonomous and diffuse way human beings learn about how to resolve their conflicts is crucially important for any family, workplace or community. In most forums it allows for a basic culture of civility and unity to exist, by contributing to the development of socially shared meanings and norms about how conflict will be dealt with.
This minimalist account of conflict does not send a message to disputants that conflict is an unavoidable social reality, part of the fabric of social relationships and something to be responded to by a focus on a distributive outcome, while reinforcing a sense that the conflict is not deeply rooted in individual concepts of the world, of others and of notions of acceptable behavior, ideas and attitudes. A potential effect of this sense over the long-term is that an ethical distance arises between individual self-awareness, growth and transformation on the one hand, and social situations and relationships that result in conflict on the other. In so doing, the line between individual choices and internal processes, and the conflicts involving them may get increasingly obfuscated. In this reality, conflict becomes easier to enter into and third-party intervention will be called upon more frequently. The minimalist meaning of conflict gets translated into a set of social norms that discourage self-management of conflicts and encourage third-party intervention. Contrary to popular conflict resolution discourse, in this reading of conventional mediation, it is potentially a significant force of individual disempowerment.
There is a simple social observation that drives this critique of institutionalized mediation and the argument for a focus on proactive conflict resolution: While there is tremendous growth in the study, use and training in alternative methods of conflict resolution, people tend to feel that their lives and the communities in which they live are less peaceful and more conflict ridden. This paradox suggests that we are not doing nearly as much as we could in exploring how conflict resolution takes place and affects society-at-large. The worldview of the consultative intervention model suggests that the route to a proactive practice of conflict resolution is one that places proactive outcomes on an equal level with the finite outcomes of a process and that the pathway to doing so is through conscious engagement with participants about these possible effects. The specific ways in which the consultative intervention model would go about accomplishing this engagement are encapsulated in the argument for educative and unity-centered conflict resolution.
Educative Conflict Resolution
The link between conflict resolution and worldview established in our model raises difficult and intriguing questions for the practice of conflict resolution. The pervasiveness and complex map of worldviews within any attempt to resolve a conflict — as the disputants, the intervener and the process each carry with them worldviews — suggests that results of resolution attempts may be significantly shaped by how the various worldviews have interacted and been understood. At the same time, it presents the necessity to review and examine how conflict resolution processes currently engage with the question of worldview and the possibilities of how processes might accomplish this engagement.
The challenges posed by this contextual understanding of autonomy for conventional mediation are well highlighted through the lens of worldview. Certain worldviews tend more to submission and others to assertive self-expression. As well, modes and styles of communication are shaped by the worldviews animating them. The individualistic autonomy inherent within the current models of negotiation and conventional mediation are, as such, biased toward a particular worldview and thus favor disputants who primarily conceive of and respond to the world as a power-struggle. In this respect, mediator neutrality is anything but neutral. It favors, though unintentionally, certain disputants and disputing behavior over others.
Worldview Self-Education
Disputants in a conflict resolution process should be given the opportunity and encouraged to become aware of and reflect upon their own worldviews, the predominant worldviews that exist and their connection to conflict and conflict resolution processes. The argument that supports the utility of this approach can be expressed in a very straightforward manner: Certain worldviews are more likely to facilitate quicker, more peaceful and more satisfactory outcomes than others. The challenge for disputants is to become aware of how their worldview affects the attempts to resolve the present conflict, and why and how certain other behaviors and approaches may be justified if they wish to attempt resolution.
Education as Challenge and Transparency
There are some unintended and inappropriate connotations associated with the use of the term “education” in this context. People do not come to conflict resolution processes to be educated, and it is presumptuous to assume that individuals whom one has typically never met are in need of any form of education. However, the point is not for the intervener to become an educator. If this were to occur, conflict resolution would typically not be successful. What educates in this model is the process itself. The process should reinforce self-reflection and other-centered understanding at the level of worldview. This result can be achieved by recognizing that self-education occurs in the context of challenge and engagement, not indulgence and excessive comfort. People who are driven to evaluate themselves and their approach to an issue typically do so because they have been offered a vision of alternative choices about how the situation can be dealt with and given the opportunity to make their own choices.
Education and Unity
This challenge and transparency in the consultative intervention model will always revolve around the issue of unity. The consultative process challenges disputants to explore how they can build a degree of unity in the situation before them and to conceive of the outcome of the process as one of building a more stable and substantive basis of unity between them. As such, a consultative process will invite disputants to view their particular conflict from the matrix of disunity–unity. The role of unity is discussed further in the next section of the article.
Unity-Centered Conflict Resolution
Thus far it has been argued that the consultative intervention model implies the efficacy of proactive and educative processes of conflict resolution. An understanding of these proactive and educative dimensions of conflict resolution is, however, incomplete without a full understanding of the core element of the consultative intervention model — unity. The worldview of unity as proposed in the developmental paradigm of conflict resolution offers a severe critique of alternative dispute resolution models. This critique becomes more apparent when viewing conflict resolution as a group decision-making process and noting the relationship between truth seeking and conflict resolution.
Conflict Resolution as a Group Decision-Making Process
Part of the evidence that the consultative intervention model preoccupation with unity is not substantially represented in contemporary conflict resolution processes is the actual language and modalities used within these other processes. Almost without exception, the language and behavior employed in contemporary processes are that of division, separation and conflict. We speak of “parties” or “disputants” and emphasize “positions” and “interests”, while looking for ways to “intervene” in the conflict. It is, of course, hard not to speak in these terms, especially in cultures where conflict resolution processes are employed against a backdrop of adversarial adjudicative processes.
As opposed to this model, the focus on group decision-making and unity implied by the consultative intervention model conceives of a conflict resolution process in a multidimensional way. One dimension is parallel and analogous to the distillation processes of institutionalized mediation. At the same time, however, an expanding and broadening process is taking place. This broadening process is one in which small points of unity, which are encapsulated in small decisions along the way, are put to the service of creating an ever-broader basis of unity from which creative and harmonious outcomes can be pursued. In this vision, while an intervener is an agent of distillation, she or he is also acting as an agent of unity. The practical implications of this additional role can be numerous, but at least include the intervener’s identifying points of unity between disputants when achieved and reminding parties of these points and the work that has been done to accomplish them, when difficulties are encountered later. A pictorial image of a consultative intervention process is presented in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Consultative intervention model
The value of this two-dimensional process (Fig. 2), which stems from conceiving of the participants as being in a group, is that it attacks a situation of conflict in a multiplicity of ways simultaneously. Like institutionalized mediation, it manages and organizes the information and options, but at the same time it is developing an internal dynamic within the group that should make it progressively easier for the participants to reach a final resolution. Every point of unity that is achieved acts like a foundation on which the ultimate, most pressing differences can be leavened and molded into an agreement.
Conflict Resolution as a Truth-Seeking Process
The mature worldview of the consultative intervention model acknowledges the interrelatedness of self with others, the effects that one’s decisions and actions have on those with whom one is in a relationship, and the reality that being in conflicts and resolving them is part of a larger social and political process of constructing healthy and enduring patterns of community life. This, of course, does not mean that individuals are expected to come to a resolution forum with the consultative worldview. Rather, the key issue is that the process itself be structured to reflect the mature worldview and that participants be made consciously aware of this structure so that they can (a) make an informed choice of whether to engage in the process or not and (b) be clear about
Beyond Mediation?
The argument has been that the consultative intervention model envisions conflict resolution as being proactive, educative and unity-centered. The discussion and examples above should well establish our suggestion that contemporary models of the practice of mediation — in particular conventional mediation — are neither designed nor preoccupied sufficiently with these themes. While other models show definite movement along these axes, none seems to us to be consciously and satisfactorily engaged at this level.
Endnotes
1 One clear example of this is the debate over the effect of the use of alternative processes on the securing of rights for minorities and legally or socially disadvantaged groups. The use of alternatives potentially privatizes conflicts where there exists a significant public interest that could have a potentially significant impact on the development of law and policy.
4 This is the basic model we use in our consultative intervention model. Its opening stage, which is analogous to the opening of a mediation, requires the intervener (Note: the name given to the third-party intervener here is “moderator”) to engage those involved in an opportunity to reflect upon the predominant worldviews, their relationship to the modes of conflict resolution, and the mode in which they wish to pursue resolution of their particular conflict. Unlike institutional mediation, therefore, this opening stage is typically significantly longer and more substantive, and forms a substantive foundation for the later stages of the process.
5 This mediation model incorporates stages for group preparation into the process as one tool for preparing the participants to make group decisions.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the tireless and diligent research assistance of Kimberly Syphrett and editing assistance of Christine Zerbinis.
References
Baruch-Bush, Robert A., and Joseph P. Folger. 1994. The Promise of Mediation: Responding to Conflict Through Empowerment and Recognition.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
So-called "mature" conflict resolution in our developmental model is labeled consultative conflict resolution or the “C-Mode.” Our research into the dynamics of the C-Mode has resulted in the development of our own intervention model, called Conflict-free Conflict Resolution (CFCR). CFCR had its origins in the family conflict-resolution practice of one of the authors in the 1970s and 1980s. The formal development of CFCR began in earnest around ten years ago, and it has formed the basis for the conflict-resolution curriculum at Landegg International University, Switzerland since 1996. The conventional model of CFCR appears somewhat parallel to mediation—there is a third party who intervenes without decision-making authority. The role of the intervenor and the process itself is, however, unique. The intervenor’s main function is to structure a framework that allows disputants to create and recognize points of unity as these develop, and to build upon them toward a resolution. The process is distinct in that it consciously has an educative dimension which revolves around the participants being challenged to engage with their own worldviews and their relationship between the conflict and their worldviews. The authors are currently preparing full descriptions and applications of CFCR for publication. | http://www.gmu.edu/programs/icar/ijps/vol7_2/Danesh.html |
The performance of most of a party`s obligations under the contract, with only minor deviations from the terms of the contract, is considered an essential service. A party that substantially performs a contract is not liable for full contractual damages, but only for the unperformed part of the contract, provided that the unperformed part is material. Suppose a homeowner hires a roofer to install a new roof for $8,000 and the contract states that the roofer must clean according to himseIf. If the roofer installs the roof but leaves garbage behind, he does not have to pay the landlord the full $8,000 he received because he essentially worked under the contract. However, the roofer may be required to pay the owner the cost of cleaning the garbage, provided that there is enough waste left for this to result in a significant breach of contract. However, if the color of the pipe had been set as a condition in the agreement, a violation of this condition could well constitute a “major” – that is, negative – violation. Just because a clause in a contract is specified as a condition by the parties does not necessarily mean it. However, these statements are one of the factors taken into account in deciding whether it is a condition or a guarantee of the contract. Outside of where the color of the pipes went to the root of the contract (assuming the pipes should be used in a room dedicated to artwork related to sanitary installations or haute couture), this would more than likely be a guarantee, not a condition. Sometimes the process of dealing with a breach of contract is written in the original contract. For example, a contract may stipulate that in the event of late payment, the offender must pay a fee of $25 in addition to the missed payment. If the consequences of a particular breach are not included in the contract, the parties involved can settle the situation among themselves, which could lead to a new contract, a new decision or another type of solution.
If the defaulting party does not perform the service when the time is right for the service, the contract may be terminated. However, if the defaulting party performs, the right of termination is lost forever. When you enter into a contract, there is no way to completely prevent a breach because you cannot control the actions of the other party. However, that doesn`t mean you can`t mitigate your risks. One way to reduce the risk of breach is to make the best deal deals possible – and companies have a useful but sometimes forgotten tool that can help: legacy and archived contracts. If a breach occurs, you and the other parties can come together and create a new contract or resolution for the breach. If a new agreement is not reached, the next course of action is to appear in court or arbitration. All contracts are in one place – your contract management software. Anyone can check the contracts that concern them.
For example, a department may need contracts that are listed on the due date. Another service can retrieve all contracts with the same provider. Your company can have an authentic copy of the contract without fear of losing it. In the event of a material breach, a party violates an essential contractual condition. The broken part must be at the heart of the contract and irretrievably break the contract. For example, you may have ordered tons of paper and received boxes of staplers instead. In this case, the other party could have completely ignored the contract and sent you items other than those agreed. That is, even the most prudent agreements made with the best of intentions can be violated. However, there are some steps you can take to reduce the risk and mitigate your losses.
A contract case is usually brought before a judge because one or both parties claim that the contract has been breached. A breach of contract is a breach, without legal excuse, of the execution of a promise that constitutes all or part of the contract. This includes failure to operate in a manner that meets industry standards or the requirements of any express or implied warranty, including the implied warranty of merchantability. Different forms of words are used by the courts to express this central concept. The most important thing is whether the breach is the cause of the contract. These word forms are simply different phrases from the “essentially the whole benefit” test. Breach of contract is a legal ground and a type of civil injustice in which a binding agreement or negotiated exchange is not respected by one or more parties by the non-performance or alteration of the performance of the other party. A breach occurs when a party fails to perform some or all of its obligations as described in the contract, or communicates an intention not to perform the obligation, or otherwise appears unable to perform its obligation under the contract. In the event of a breach of contract, the resulting damage will be paid by the non-contractual party to the injured party. The intention to perform a contract in a manner inconsistent with the terms of the contract also indicates the intention not to perform the contract.
Whether such conduct is so serious as to constitute a violation of the waiver depends on whether the imminent difference in performance is disdainful. The intention to perform means the will to perform, but the will to perform in this context does not mean the will to perform despite the inability to do so. Say, “I`d like, but I can`t,” the negative intention, and “I won`t.” The contracting parties must perform the contracts in strict compliance with their conditions: this was agreed in the first place at the time of the conclusion of the contract. To do otherwise is therefore a breach. A “material breach” occurs when you receive something different from what was set out in the agreement. Let`s say your company signs a contract with a supplier to deliver 200 copies of a bound manual for an automotive industry conference. But when the boxes arrive at the conference site, they contain garden brochures instead. Ordinary law has three categories of offences. These are measures of the seriousness of the violation. In the absence of a contractual or legal provision, any breach of contract will be considered a: The non-infringing party must also prove the damage.
In order to have a valid claim for breach of contract, the non-infringing party must suffer damage (usually monetary) from the breach. In most cases, this is the money lost as a direct and foreseeable result of the other party`s violation. After proving all the necessary elements, including damages, the court can render a judgment against the offending party. In most cases, the cost of bringing the lawsuit does not in itself constitute damage, which means that the plaintiff must have suffered further damage from the violation. For example, A signed a contract with B on January 1 to sell 500 quintals of wheat and deliver it on May 1. Then, on April 15, A wrote to B and said he would not provide the wheat. B can immediately consider that the breach has occurred and bring an action for damages for the intended service, even if A has until May 1 to provide the service. However, a unique feature of an anticipated breach is that if an aggrieved party decides to reject a refusal made before the expiry of the time limit set for performance, not only will the contract continue on foot, but there will also be no claim for damages unless there is an actual breach. Your company must organize and follow many different contracts for different products, whether you are the producer or the consumer.
These contracts include orders for tangible goods (paper and ink) and services (custodian and external accountant). After that, IT contracts for software vary – you can buy software to use for a year or own forever. Just visiting a website often involves a few extra contracts. And then you have the contracts that your company has to fulfill. To avoid a breach, you need a system that keeps track of all agreed terms and deadlines. In addition, a breach of contract generally falls into one of two categories: an “actual breach” – when a party refuses to comply fully with the terms of the contract – or an “anticipated breach” – when a party declares in advance that it will not comply with the terms of the contract. A basic violation is usually read as an indication of a rejection violation. In addition, both parties have an incentive to waive the transaction or mutually agree to cancel the contract if the anticipated costs to each party in performing a contract outweigh the expected benefits.
This may be the case if the relevant market conditions or other conditions change during the course of the contract. . | https://suzukikougei.co.jp/2022/01/31/ |
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It is possible that feeling lonely is actually a signal of mental decline that in turn affects social skills, says the study published online in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.
But feelings of loneliness may also be the mark of 'vulnerable' personality or an expression of a 'frailty factor' that puts certain people at higher risk of dementia, it says.
Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, affecting over 800,000 Britons, with about 500 cases diagnosed every day.
One theory is that feeling lonely is actually a signal of mental decline that in turn affects social skills, say the researchers
The Amsterdam study said: 'These results suggest that feelings of loneliness independently contribute to the risk of dementia in later life.
'Interestingly, the fact that 'feeling lonely' rather than 'being alone' was associated with dementia onset suggests that it is not the objective situation, but, rather, the perceived absence of social attachments that increases the risk of cognitive decline.'
Jessica Smith, of the Alzheimer’s Society, said strong evidence suggested the best way to reduce the risks was to exercise, eat well and avoid smoking.
'As Christmas approaches, many of us are looking forward to full houses and festive parties,' she said.'However, for others it can be a time that can really heighten loneliness.'
Dr Simon Ridley of Alzheimer’s Research UK, the nation’s leading dementia research charity, said the findings could have important consequences for society.
'Age still remains the biggest risk factor for dementia, but this study links feelings of loneliness to a slightly higher risk of the condition,' he said.
'While such a finding could have important consequences for society, it is hard to determine cause and effect at this stage - feelings of loneliness could be a consequence of the early stages of dementia rather than a contributing factor.'
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POSITION SUMMARY:
- The Fitness Attendant will be responsible for maintaining a clean environment of the equipment and training areas. They will offer regular weight room orientation/Instructional sessions to members at various times of the day. They will also provide information and answer questions regarding available programs. This position will also need to complete all Protecting the Mission training.
QUALIFICATIONS:
- Strong desire and ability to work with parents and youth.
- Ability and confidence to assist in teaching a variety of activities.
- Possess customer services skills to include complaint resolution, practices, and procedures.
- Must have the ability to maintain a non-judgmental attitude in working with customers, clients, members and staff.
- Must be able to work independently with minimal supervision.
- Must have ability to work and relate well with people.
- Must have or be able to obtain CPR/AED/First Aid certification within 60 days of hire.
- Thrive in a team-oriented environment and to be a team player.
- Must be in good physical and mental health, capable of meeting the demands of the gymnasium.
- Must have excellent verbal and written communication skills to communicate and coordinate efforts with Kroc Center personnel, community leads, community organizations and the general public.
PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:
Qualified individuals must be able to perform the essential duties of the position with or without accommodation. A qualified person with a disability may request a modification or adjustment to the job or work environment in order to meet the physical requirements of the position. The Salvation Army will attempt to satisfy requests as long as the accommodation needed is reasonable and no undue hardship would result.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to walk, stand, climb or balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, crawl and reach with hands and arms on a continuous basis. The employee must regularly lift and/or move up to 20 pounds, frequently lift and/or move up to 50 pounds, and occasionally lift and/or move up to 75 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus. Must have the ability to operate telephone, a desktop or laptop computer, as well as the ability to access and produce information from a computer, and to understand written information.
MISSION STATEMENT:
The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination. | https://the-salvation-army.nolig.com/jobs/fitness-attendant-3-april-2021-phoenix-az |
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in an interview to the Washington Post on Monday that if Hezbollah resumes firing rockets at Israel, the Israel Defense Forces will respond with a direct attack on Lebanese government institutions.
In an interview to the American paper ahead of his landing in the United States for an official visit, the defense minister warned that Israel would strike directly at the Lebanese government, since it is allowing Hezbollah to rearm.
He said that if Hezbollah fires rockets at Tel Aviv, �we will not run after each Hezbollah terrorist or launcher. . . . We will see it as legitimate to hit any target that belongs to the Lebanese state, not just to Hezbollah.�
Barack also commented on the Iranian nuclear program, and said that Jerusalem and Washington, share the same �diagnosis� that Iran is �determined to reach nuclear military capability.� But he acknowledged �there are differences about what could be done about it, how it should be done, and what (is) the timeframe within which certain steps could be taken.�
�It�s still time for sanctions,� Barak said in the interview Friday in his office at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, but �probably, at a certain point, we should realize that sanctions cannot work.�
On the Palestinian front, Barak said Israel must present a peace plan that delineates the borders of the future Palestinian state, ensures a Jewish majority in Israel, solves the refugee problem, and offers a �reasonable solution� for the future of Jerusalem. | https://www.watchmanbiblestudy.com/News/2010/07/26%20Barak%20If%20Hezbollah%20attacks,%20we%E2%80%99ll%20strike%20Lebanese%20gov%E2%80%99t.htm |
Fight a Battle Against Drugs More Than Once to Win It!
I understood myself only after I destroyed myself. And, only in the process of fixing myself, did I know who I really was.”
“Recovery is not for people who need it… it’s for people who want it.”
These and many motivational quotes are plastered across the walls in a small dimly-lit meeting room, where a group of people, all of whom struggle with addiction to drugs or alcohol, sit together every other day to continue or begin the long process of recovery.
“I remember the time when I was sent to a drug de-addiction centre by my parents in Punjab. That was a tough phase … but so is the present. Fear of rejection and being judged is still there,” shares Raman (name changed), a working professional in his late 20s.
“Friends, months back at the drug de-addiction centre, I felt helpless and trapped inside the same four walls where food was provided and nothing else. I was exhausted, disappointed and bored … so much so that I along with other inmate used to plan on escaping that centre. Months have passed and I feel, I am in a much better place now… There is still a lot of struggle to overcome addiction but I am hopeful to end this difficult cycle of addiction and not to disappoint my family members anymore,” he adds, as everyone else is listening with compassion and patience, perhaps recalling their own battle with addiction.
Such painful experiences of guilt, shame and self-doubt have brought together around 40 people from across genders, age-groups and ethnic backgrounds, who are seeking emotional support in their healing process at the narcotics anonymous (N.A.) meetings held in the city.
“Drug addiction had devastating effects on my body and behavior…. It’s almost been six months when I quit using drugs but my body and mind is struggling,” says another group member, who is a 26-year old youth from the city.
“I get angry over small things and it feels like my mind is manipulating me…I am just 12th pass and doing nothing significant with my life. Drugs have affected my senses but I am trying to cope with my problems,” he adds, while clasping and squeezing hands together, probably feeling vulnerable.
As he shares his dilemma, a young and tall girl enters the meeting room, touching the entrance door and then touched her forehead, as a sign of respect, just like entering a temple.
Continuing sharing his woes, the boy says, “Friends, there is negativity in my mind but I feel life is on the right path.”
“With God’s grace, this too shall pass, I have faith and hope…” he concludes, as everyone claps and cheers for him, encouraging him to keep coming back to the meetings and stay strong.
His choice of words, “This too shall pass”, a quote which is on display in the room, suggests that like any other group member, he is also holding onto a thread of hope, considered as a powerful force in addiction recovery.
Away from the judgmental eyes of mainstream society and any professional help, this anonymous programme is largely faith-based, where the group members are confiding in each other about their everyday struggle on personal and professional front. There are few, who are still drug addicts, some of them had quit drugs few months back while some did it years ago but still need the support of the meetings.
They acknowledge the fact that sobriety and recovery do not come easily and is a lifelong process. And, the only professional help in the room are addicts themselves, who are sharing their perspectives and experiences and motivating each other to stay strong and have faith in a higher power.
Their stories are depressing and inspiring, at the same time, and certainly better than the shocking tales of drug overdose deaths, gripping the neighboring state of Punjab.
Recounting his experience on how the battle has to be fought on multiple fronts by a drug addict, a group member, who is married and has two children, says he started using drugs at a young age because life was boring and dull.
“Years have passed… I have quit drugs now, but life seems boring and empty again. I am going to office every day, coming to the meetings, trying to spend time with family but something is missing… With the support of this group and God’s blessing, I am trying to find a way to help myself,” he concludes, while others are nodding and clapping enthusiastically to encourage him to stay positive.
The lone girl in the group says life is better now. I feel healthy and blessed, she says.
She shares how a friend, who is using drugs, met her recently and praised her for quitting it. I hope, I remain like this and don’t stray from the right path, she adds.
At the group meeting which lasted for about two hours, many more members got an opportunity to speak and share their woes. Just like any non-addict, they have stories of struggling relationships, struggle to hold down jobs or get new jobs, finding a good match to get married, getting good scores in exams and so on. Their stories provide an insight into their lives and imply that many of them are dealing with depression, anger, fear, hurt, rejection and sadness.
A young boy, in his early 20s, shares how he has been in a relationship with a nice girl but it has to end as her parents will not accept him due to his problem of drug addiction while a 58 years old member, says that he had been fighting with his wife over insignificant issues lately as he is still learning to manage anger as a part of addiction recovery.
The middle-aged man tells me that he has been a member of this group since past two decades. He tried drugs at a younger age and became an addict. Though he had quit drugs years back, but he still needs the support of the group meetings to continue the life long process of recovery.
Here, people are honest with themselves and with other members. The only criteria to attend the meeting is desire and willpower to recover from addiction. The members are between the age group of 17-60 years, he says, while pointing towards the group’s founding member, who is 60 years old.
From operator on the helpline to coordinator of the meetings and other volunteers, all of them was once dealing with the problem of drug addiction and are now on the path to recovery. Many members had in the past took professional help, stayed at drug-de addiction centres and also, have a sponsor, someone who has been the member of this programme for long.
The N.A. meetings have two formats including open and closed category and vary in length and focus areas, but all have the same primary purpose of sharing and learning to fight against addiction and present a message of recovery to the addict.
Also, the process of healing is not limited to the meeting room, as the group members, who are like a family, also meet at conventions, dinner parties, celebrations of recovery at outdoor trips. Booklets and brochures, as a message of recovery are also given to the addicts.
The 22 year-old boy, who is secretary or coordinator of the meeting, also opens up about his past and tells that he joined the group nearly a year back to deal with drug addiction.
“I am a volunteer and have been elected as a secretary to maintain decorum of the meeting and call on people who want to share their stories. These meetings help people to learn from the experiences of other addicts and motivate them to deal with their own day-to-day struggle,” he says adding that this fellowship provides us a sense of belonging.
When enquired about open and closed meetings, he tells, “Many times, parents and relatives do not trust us and doubt whether we are enrolled in a helpful programme. Hence, the family members are allowed to attend an open meeting and listen to the stories of recovery while the closed meetings are attended by people, suffering from addiction.”
At the end of the meeting, the group members stand together, hold hands and recite a closing prayer, urging the higher power to guide them during recovery and show a path to live a healthy and happy life. The members then leave the meeting room, to face the challenges of daily life and in a hope to meet again to learn and share something. | https://www.naminnesota.org/community/2018/07/15/fight-a-battle-against-drug-more-than-once-to-win-it/ |
As in many other countries, in Russia at the preparation stage of a patent infringement lawsuit the patent owner seeks the opinion of a sufficiently skilled technical specialist regarding use of the patented invention by the assumed infringer. Such technical specialist, which is usually a patent attorney in the beginning of a long story of infringement litigation, is expected to establish, based on available evidence, whether each and every feature of an independent claim of the patent is present in a product or process marketed or otherwise commercially used by such assumed infringer. The opinion confirming the use of the invention normally accompanies the court claim as evidence of the fact of use of the plaintiff's invention by the defendant.
Then the litigation starts. Sometimes the defendant does not deny the fact of use, and, for example, seeks a licensing agreement with the patent owner; however, in many cases the defendant prefers to follow one of numerous ways of defense providing non-use technical arguments.
"A COURT-APPOINTED EXPERTISE ON SUCH ISSUE BECOMES A USUAL STAGE IN ALMOST ALL PATENT INFRINGEMENT LITIGATIONS."
Since, as a rule, the judges do not have sufficient technical knowledge to establish and evaluate the fact of use of the invention by making their own study of whether the claimed features are present in allegedly infringing product or process, a court-appointed expertise on such issue becomes a usual stage in almost all patent infringement litigations. Such stage includes selection of an expert or a number of them, appointing selected expert(s), and posing questions requiring expert opinion. The appointed expert(s) shall provide opinion basing on full, non-biased and professional consideration of the posed questions, which in patent infringement cases inherently requires study of the allegedly infringing product or process in comparison with a patented invention(s). Although the opinion of a court appointed expert shall be considered by the judge together and equally with the other evidence, such opinion may play a crucial role for the final decision of the court as well as for the whole court procedure.
Engaging court experts, having corresponding technical background to put light on the questions of the particular technologies, is more frequent in patent infringement litigation; however, a certain tendency to seek expert opinion in separate validity litigations regarding matters of novelty, inventiveness, industrial applicability, and associated with the latter sufficiency of disclosure may also be noted.
The court shall appoint court expertise at a request of one party or with consent of all the parties. Having made the conclusion to carry out the expertise, the court as a rule asks the parties to suggest candidate/candidates, to prepare the questions for response by the expert and to deposit expert remuneration. In line with those preparations the court shall be obliged to delimit materials and documents to be further analyzed by the appointed expert.
A court expert may be a state or non-state expert. A state court expert is a certified specialist who is an employee of a state owned court examination entity and whose service duty is conducting court examinations of particular types. State court experts are bound by requirement to pass re-certification every five years for confirming their skills. Appointing of state court experts in patent infringement cases is yet a very rare case, much more frequent in infringement cases are non-state experts. A non-state expert can have any kind of employment or even be a self-employed person, it is not essential for the court provided such expert possesses particular special knowledge for conducting needed expertise. Before appointing a non-state court expert, the court demands and considers information of such expert's educational background, profession, experience, position, etc., for estimating their sufficiency and relevance to the task posed before the expert.
Parties may raise objections against the expert basing on lack of necessary knowledge or skills in the field of examination, or on assumable expert's prejudice. Parties may request to be present at the expertise process. If this does not prevent normal activity of the expert, the court, in its notification of expertise, shall request the expert to inform the parties of the place and time of the expertise. The parties do not have the right to give oral or written explanations to the expert, e.g., containing factual or legal information. In addition, the parties shall in no way provide the expert with materials and documents relating to the expertise beyond the court.
While it is in the competence of the judges to choose the expert for a particular case at their own discretion, usually the judge selects candidates from those suggested by the parties, and that means each involved party should pay special attention to the matter of selection of the most appropriate expert. Since in a majority of cases it would be hardly possible to engage a foreign expert to a legal proceeding in Russia the foreign party will have to rely on the choice of the local representative. We recommend doublechecking any candidate since the suggested option might not always be perfect.
"WHO IS ABLE TO EDUCATE THE COURT IN THE REQUIRED TECHNICAL MATTER BY EXPLAINING THE TECHNOLOGY IN AN ADEQUATE, LOGICAL AND (WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT) SIMPLE MANNER."
To particularly point out the task we will require a person having knowledge and experience in the relevant field of art, who is able to educate the court in the required technical matter by explaining the technology in an adequate, logical and (what is the most important) simple manner. It should be a specialist who was working in the right field and preferably at the right time.
Apart from that the expert should have proper technical skills in the proper technical field, the expert should have good experience in the claims language construing and in comparison of the claims with the assumably infringing subject matter. In this respect, the expert shall properly evaluate technical issues of the use of language in the patent specification and in the prior art as well as the general state of knowledge and practice in the relevant field at the priority date.
Very often, the question of experiments may arise. Therefore, the expert should have an ability to use the appropriate equipment to carry out the required experiments, or we should be ready to suggest two or more candidates for complex expertise.
"THE QUESTION OF CONFLICT OF INTERESTS SHOULD BE CAREFULLY CHECKED BEFORE ASKING THE CANDIDATE TO SERVE AS AN EXPERT. "
Of course, as in any other legal matter, the question of conflict of interests should be carefully checked before asking the candidate to serve as an expert. The most dangerous fact is that usually conflict of interests has a kind of submarine effect, appearing at the very final stage of the procedure and undermining the long ago obtained results.
You will appreciate that the best result is to get the very qualified technical person with very good skills of interaction in the court, since often a court expert is summoned to the court to give explanations on his opinion. However, as a rule, a perfect combination of these two abilities is very seldom.
Even for a very qualified expert in the particular field with good experience in the court, it would always be a challenge to answer provocative questions from the other side who would be trying to discredit the prepared opinion. One of our colleagues long ago took part in the court proceedings as the court expert in the case relating to infringement of the patented typewriter. The expert opinion was presented from which it was crystal clear that infringement took place. The expert was summoned to the court to answer the questions of the opposite party on the opinion. The only question was how to open the housing of typewriter. Actually, the housing had a hidden lock, opening the typewriter for the first time was hardly possible. Fortunately, since the expert, while preparing the opinion, used not only the typewriter manual but also the typewriter per se he easily managed to open the housing. If not, the whole opinion might have been discredited by the other side.
Still our practice in Russia clearly shows that if choosing between a prevailing good technical skills person and a person with dominating interactive abilities, we should rely on the technical skills persons.
Patent attorneys, according to the law of patent attorneys, have the right to serve as the court experts in IP rights enforcement cases, and, as a rule, namely patent attorney having both technical skills as well as legal knowledge may be the best candidate for the court expertise to establish use fact of the patent in the subject.
Appointed court experts are obligatory warned in writing of criminal liability for willingly giving a false conclusion. The court expert may need related materials and documents or access to the related objects. In this case, court may request the parties of the process or other parties to provide the required materials and documents or access to the subject in question. The parties may be fined by the court if the court request has been ignored.
It is interesting to mention the peculiarity of the cases being considered in the frame of the procedural civil code regulations, that is, within competitiveness of the common jurisdiction court. For these cases non-presenting of the materials requested by the court for the court expertise without good excuse reasons leading to court expertise failure is considered by the court as the established use/non-use fact in favor of the opposed party.
It was confirmed in the fourth common jurisdiction court cassation case Individual v Astra pro (No. 88-19725/2020, infringement of a patent for an apparatus for producing a PET packing), wherein the defendant, twice at the expertise at the first instance court as well as at the appeal stage, repeated expertise provided the subject misfit for court expert analysis. The cassation court decided in favor of the plaintiff using the above-mentioned procedural civil code stipulation.
The courts in Russia usually consider not only opinions by the court experts but will surely evaluate evidences presented by the parties, especially if they relate to the facts discussed in the opinion. These evidences and opinions of the specialists may sometimes have conclusive meaning.
If the party does not agree with the court expert opinion, it has the right to provide its own comments and counterarguments. The parties may request to summon the expert to the court to clarify grounds and conclusions. Advance preparation and active position of the party in the court expert inquiry may substantially influence on the level of trust of the judge to the court expert and eventually may be decisive.
In IP court cassation case Astellas Pharma Inc. v. Nativa (?41-62706/2019, infringement of RU patent No. 2165423) the court expert issued two similar opinions (the first one in the frame of the main expertise and the second one in the frame of the additional expertise, both being made at the stage of the first instance court) stating that each and every feature of independent claim 1 for polypeptide compound and independent claim 6 for pharmaceutical composition of the patent are used in the pharmaceutical drug "Micafungin-native".
The question of argue in the proceedings was whether sodium micafungin, which is an active substance of "Micafungin-native", relates to the class of polypeptide compounds as it was stated in the two opinions of the court expert. The evidence of the specialists by Nativa were more persuasive for the IP court than those of the court expert, so the IP court decided against the expert opinion that no infringement of the patent took place.
It is a normal practice in the court to have a single court expertise. However, in case some questions set by the court are still unclear after making a conclusion by the court expert, the court may appoint additional expertise with the same expert. If there are some doubts in reasonability of the opinion or contradictions in conclusions of the court expert, a repeated expertise setting the same questions may be carried out with appointing another expert. Practice of requesting repeated court expertise several times still exists but is rather seldom. In majority cases, it will hardly be accepted by the court.
In IP court cassation case Individual v Steel Oboi (?82-21013/2017) the plaintiff has lost the case in the court of appeal requesting to appoint repeated court expertise, which, if appointed, would be the third one in this case.
The plaintiff motivation was that the National Research University by Lobachevski used by the court exerts for carrying out experiments required for making the opinion neither confirmed its agreement to that nor provided the court with information of the corresponding technical possibilities for carrying out the experiments. The second argument was that the court of appeal rejected to appoint repeated court expertise in spite of the fact of having two contradictory court expertise opinions in this case.
The IP court supported the defendant and refused to appoint repeated court expertise confirming that the University was properly appointed by the court of appeal as the experimental base for the court expertise and that the plaintiff himself requested the repeated court expertise at the appeal stage.
From time-to-time judges put themselves into a kind of awkward position by appointing two different experts, suggested by plaintiff and defendant, to prepare their own separate opinions. Usually, it leads to appearing two opposite conclusions. Then judges as a rule are forced to sort out this legal dead-end by appointing repeated expertise using another expert.
Sometimes, but frankly very seldom, the courts may issue decisions on the patent cases not involving court experts and based only on the common logics or on the evidence by the specialists of the parties. It may however refer only to very simple subjects not requiring special technical knowledge or to rather selfcontradictory cases.
One of such self-contradictory cases is cited here for information to give a notion of what difficulties one may face if the court expertise is not used. In IP court cassation case Luxor v Saturn (?65-29386/2019, infringement of RU utility model patent 123755 for illuminator) the key matter was whether the first instance court, as well as the appeal court, were correct not using the court expertise as a basis for the decision.
Both plaintiff and defendant at the first instance court stage provided their own opposite opinions, made by two patent attorneys each representing the corresponding party. The court managed to establish that the plaintiff patent attorney improperly broadened the scope while construing the claims, and therefore at the end of the day both opinions just confirmed the fact of non-infringement. This conclusion was made without any assistance of an independent specialist having proper technical background.
The request for the court expertise applied by the plaintiff was objected by the court of the first instance as well as by the appeal court and the objection was confirmed by the IP court.
Further, we would like to draw your attention to some anecdotic approaches sometimes used by defendants to avoid negative court expertise opinions.
In IP court cassation case Dipix v Iceberg and Deep 2000 (?40-211524/2016, infringement of utility model patent No. 159591 for a coin sorter) the defendant removed essential elements of the accused device presented to the court expertise and the court expert had nothing to do but to state non-use of several features of the patent in the device.
However, the court expert in the opinion stated that for a coin sorter it is illogical not to have a coin dosing unit as well as a coin valve taking into account the fact that there are provided a coin dosing unit mounting socket and a coin presence sensor of coins at the supply disk. Finally, the IP court supported the decision of the court of appeal that the patent is infringed.
"THEREFORE, THE OPINION OF THE COURT EXPERT WAS NOT TAKEN BY THE COURT INTO ACCOUNT."
In IP court cassation case Isolator v Energotransisolator (?50-11383/2018, infringement of patent No. 251119 for a bird-protected isolator), the defendant deliberately advertised on its internet site the product which differed from the real isolator put into commercial turnover. In practice, the isolators produced by the defendant had additional features inherent to the patented invention. The court expert appointed at the first instance stage, trying to get down to bedrock, went beyond the questions set by the court and beyond her competency analyzing inter alia the materials, which were not officially provided by the court. Therefore, the opinion of the court expert was not taken by the court into account. The court of appeal appointed repeated expertise with another court expert the opinion of which was opposite to the first one. The court of appeal did not properly evaluate two opposite expert opinions and did not find out why having the same materials the experts came to opposite conclusions. Accordingly, the IP court directed the case to the first instance court for reconsideration.
Apart from the rather anecdotic situation, the main take-away from this case is a necessity to request the court expert to strictly follow the procedural rules and not to go beyond the set questions and the provided materials for smooth proceeding and shortening time of considering cases.
Opinion of the court expert is only one of the evidences in the patent litigation. It is equal to other evidence and does not have any prejudgment. On the other hand, opinion of the distinguished expert may sufficiently influence the court conclusion of the use fact of the patented invention. The court however should not obligatorily follow the court expert conclusion. Therefore, it is quite possible that the judge decision is not in line with that conclusion.
In the appeal court case Kombitekh v Serum Institute of India (A40-60073/2009, infringement of patent No. 2238105 for genetically engineered vaccine for prophylaxis of virus hepatitis B) the judge did not agree with the opinion of the court expert, which stated that the patented vaccine is used in the marketed product containing all the features of the patented invention known from the prior art and one feature equivalent to the single distinguishing feature of the patented invention.
The judge made emphasis on the fact that the differing feature of the patented invention cannot be interpreted as equivalent namely because it is the single distinguishing feature. Therefore, the court decided that the patented vaccine is not used in the marketed product of the defendant.
Since the court expertise very often plays the ultimate part in the patent litigation, the parties should pay careful attention to all the components thereof such as procedural particulars of the expertise, choice of the proper expert, drafting clear and adequate questions as well as detailed analysis of the opinion of the expert.
The Patent Lawyer Issue 56 by CTC Legal Media, September / October 2021
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances. | https://www.mondaq.com/russianfederation/patent/1118468/expert-witness-in-russian-court |
Target 10: All critical habitats and sites for migratory species are identified and included in area-based conservation measures so as to maintain their quality, integrity, resilience and functioning in accordance with the implementation of Aichi Target 11, supported where necessary by environmentally sensitive land-use planning and landscape management on a wider scale.
See separate Indicator Factsheets document.
► The Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Sharks: Conservation Plan includes:
Objective 1 - Improving understanding of migratory shark populations through research, monitoring and information exchange:
1.3) Compile relevant data, improve ecological knowledge and conduct baseline studies on…essential shark habitats; shark distributional range…[and] the seasonal and spatial migration patterns and routes of sharks.
► The CMS Resolution 11.25 Advancing Ecological Networks to address the needs of Migratory Species includes:
16) Also urges Parties to monitor adequately ecological networks to allow early detection of any deterioration in quality of sites, rapid identification of threats and timely action to maintain network integrity, making use where appropriate of existing monitoring methods, such as the IBA Monitoring Framework developed by BirdLife International and the International Waterbird Census coordinated by Wetlands International.
► The Memorandum of Understanding for the conservation of cetaceans and their habitats in the Pacific Islands Region: Whale And Dolphin Action Plan 2013-2017 includes:
Theme 4 - Ecosystem and Habitat Protection:
Indicators:
• Additional SPREP members formally designate/establish national EEZ-wide sanctuaries and other marine protected areas that protect cetaceans.
• Management Plans and strategies for all established sanctuaries/MPAs/Marine Parks developed and implemented.
• Local and national MPAs etc linked properly in terms of management and implementation.
• Critical habitat and migratory pathways are identified, mapped and protected.
► The Memorandum of Understanding concerning the conservation of the Manatee and small cetaceans of Western Africa and Macaronesia - Action Plan for the conservation of small cetaceans of Western Africa and Macaronesia includes:
Objective 3 – Ecosystem and Habitat Protection:
Indicators:
• Range States designate national and transboundary small cetacean MPAs.
• Management strategies and plans developed, finalised and implemented for existing MPAs.
• Working group identifies potential areas for designation and management as specially protected areas.
► The CMS COP Resolution 12. 11 (Manila 2017) on Flyways includes:
6. Calls on Parties to effectively implement the POW as applicable and in accordance with the circumstances of each Party and invites non-Parties and other stakeholders, with the support of the Secretariat, to strengthen national and local capacity for flyway conservation including, inter alia, by developing partnerships with key stakeholders and organizing training courses; translating and disseminating documents, sharing protocols and regulations; transferring technology; designating and improving management of critically and internationally important sites; understanding the ecological functionality of flyways through research of migratory birds and their habitats; strengthening monitoring programmes; and promoting the conservation of migratory birds and ensuring any use of migratory birds is sustainable;
10. Encourages Parties to promote the POW and the Americas Flyways Framework as global tools to contribute to achieving the Aichi Targets in relation to conservation of migratory species and their habitats and to ensure a strong level of support for its implementation by working closely with the Convention on Biological Diversity;
15. Invites Parties to implement Resolution 11.26 on climate change and continue taking action to mitigate the impacts of climate change on migratory bird species, including addressing immediate threats that might reduce adaptive potential, ensuring adequate environmental safeguards for renewable energy projects, monitoring the status of migratory birds and their habitats, developing indicators to identify the effects of climate change, promoting adaptive management, seeking new partnerships with other international bodies and considering how to assist species to adapt to climate change (e.g. through securing critical site networks)
19. Recommends that Parties enhance and strengthen monitoring of migratory bird populations and the important sites they rely upon (including surveying new sites to fill information gaps), and to increase capacity for and sustainability of such monitoring in the long term, where appropriate by institutionalizing it as an ongoing activity within government, in partnership with other organizations, including through provision of support initiatives such as the Global Waterbird Fund (established in response to the invitation of AEWA and the Ramsar Convention and managed by Wetlands International) in order to present to key stakeholders with up-to-date information on the distribution, status and trends of migratory birds and the sites and habitats that they need;
► The Programme of Work on Migratory Birds and Flyways (2014-2023), attached as Annex I to Resolution 12.11 includes:
Theme C. - Enhancing knowledge to support flyway conservation,
Objectives: • Strengthen monitoring of migratory bird populations • Promote analyses of existing datasets on individual bird movements • Promote development and use of new tools and techniques to identify migration strategies
Theme E. - Monitoring and reporting
Objectives 1. Ensure implementation of POW by Parties through regular monitoring and updating of the POW 2. Enable FWG to continue providing support for review, provision of guidance and input to implementation and monitoring of POW
► The Action Plan for the Americas Flyways 2018-2023 attached to Resolution 12.11 as Annex 3, includes:
3. ENHANCING KNOWLEDGE TO SUPPORT FLYWAY CONSERVATION 3.1. Strengthen monitoring of migratory bird populations
3.1.1. Research & Monitoring
3.1.1.1. Review current bird monitoring programmes in the Americas to improve coordination, resource allocation, filling of gaps and enhance the information base available for conservation.
3.1.1.2. Standardize monitoring of waterbirds and other birds in the Americas, if appropriate.
3.1.1.3. Identify flagship species for pilot analysis to study migration strategies within one or more flyways in the Americas and compare migration strategies of species between flyways to understand ecological functionality of flyways.
3.1.1.4. Support research on priority species to: a) diagnose the causes of population declines; b) determine ecological requirements; c) identify major drivers of declines; d) undertake socioeconomic and ecological studies to understand how to prevent or reduce impacts on species population declines; and, e) define management prescriptions.
5. MONITORING AND REPORTING
5.1. Monitoring of the Action Plan
5.1.1. The Americas Flyways Task Force will facilitate implementation of the Americas Flyways Framework (AFF) and associated Action Plan, with a focus on filling gaps and enacting conservation on the ground.
5.2. Reporting on implementation of the global Programme of Work on Migratory Birds, Americas Flyways Framework and Action Plan, as facilitated by its Americas Task Force
5.2.1. Prepare a review of the implementation of this Action Plan based on national reports presented by Parties and invite reports from non-Parties and other stakeholders to COP 13.
5.2.2. Integrate provisions of the Action Plan in National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs). | https://www.cms.int/en/page/t10-f-spwg-cv |
The terms listed below will give students concrete ways to discuss the music that they hear. Every piece has a particular character formed by a combination of many elements: rhythm, melody, harmony, timbre, instrumentation, dynamics and tempo. Sometimes one element is most obvious and characteristic, but usually some combination of several elements will lend the music its distinct flavor. By carefully listening and focusing their observations, students can sharpen their powers of perception and learn to appreciate new levels of interest within any music they enjoy.
Rhythm
When we describe the chuga-chuga, chuga-chuga of a speeding train or the boom-boom, boom-boom of our heartbeat, we are talking about rhythm. In general terms, rhythm is the organization of sound into patterns of long and short values.
Melody
Whether we are speaking of She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain or This Land is Your Land, we all know what it means to sing the melody. In more technical terms, melody is a "musical line," created by a combination of pitch and rhythm. Pitch refers to the precise note we sing. Rhythm tells us how fast each pitch is played. Sing the opening of She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain all in equal values: in that case, you are singing the pitches—but not the rhythm—of this folk melody. Now, tap out the melody on a tabletop: This time, you are performing the rhythm, but not the pitch. It takes both pitch and rhythm to create the melody: Change one or the other and you change the tune. For instance, sing She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain with the correct rhythm but with new pitches—it's a new melody!
Harmony
When the monks in medieval times gathered to sing together, they all chanted the same melody together. There was no "harmony:" It was as if they were speaking with a single voice. Harmony arises when more than one pitch is being played at the same time. Almost all the music we listen to, be it jazz, rock or classical, has harmony. In a typical popular song, the singer performs the melody while the piano or band plays the supporting harmony. Some types of music use a very limited number of harmonies or chords, others have much more variety. Progressive composers throughout music history have experimented with incorporating new combinations of sounds—new harmonies—into music's vocabulary.
Polyphony
Is when many melodies are heard simultaneously. A good example is when a single melody is sung by several people but each beginning at a different time. This musical procedure is called a round or canon. Row, Row, Row Your Boat is a round: when three people sing it, they each begin with the opening line, but their entrances are staggered. The resulting sound is polyphony. Whereas in melody and accompaniment, one voice clearly predominates, in polyphony, the voices are considered to be of equal importance. In the Fifth Movement of his Second Symphony, Ives creates polyphony by layering pre-exisiting folk tunes on top of his own composed music.
Timbre or Tone Color
Refers to the instrument or voice that is being used. The violin, cello, flute, clarinet, and piano are all examples of different timbres. Timbres range from very pure, clearly pitched sounds to ones that approach noise. The tone color of a flute is very pure. The timbre of a clarinet, violin or cello is more complex. The timbre of a cymbal crash is the most complex of all: It is a burst of noise.
Instrumentation
Refers to what instruments are playing. For instance, Roy Harris' Black is the color is scored for solo piano. On the other hand, Luciano Berio's setting of Black is the color is scored for voice, viola, cello and piano. Thus, the two settings share the same melody but have different instrumentations.
Register and Range
Both refer to aspects of pitch. Range is the array notes an instrument is capable of playing. Some instruments, like the flute for instance, have a relatively small range; others, like the piano, have a very large range. Register refers to the height of sounds: music in a high register features pitches with a high frequency; music in a low register features pitches with a low frequency. Register can also be used in a relative way to specify segments of a particular instrument's range: for instance we might speak of the clarinet's "low register" or the piano's "upper register."
Accompaniment
Refers to the music that supports and underlies the main melody. When the band plays behind a jazz or pop singer, when the orchestra plays behind the piano soloist, they are playing the accompaniment. The accompaniment is usually designed to not call too much attention to itself, so as not distract from the main melody. For this reason, the accompaniment is usually more repetitive and predictable than the melody itself. However, the accompaniment can go a long way towards creating a "mood" or feeling for the melody. The accompaniment might be mellow and serene, or very rhythmic and upbeat. The harmonies might be more straightforward or more sophisticated. Arranging a folk song consists of creating an accompaniment for the melody. In the section of "Setting a Folk Song," we will compare four different accompaniments for the melody Black is the color.
Dynamics
Refers to the loudness or softness of music. Italian terms are usually used to describe the overall volume of a passage of music: when music is loud, it is forte; when it is soft, it is piano. Dynamics can change instantaneously or gradually. A gradual increase in volume is called a crescendo; a gradual decrease in volume is called a decrescendo.
Tempo
Refers to the speed at which music moves. Speeds can range anywhere from extremely slow to very rapid, and are also commonly indicated by Italian terms: Andante (a moderately slow tempo, literally 'walking' in Italian), Allegro (a brisk tempo, meaning 'merry' in Italian) and Presto (a very quick tempo). Like dynamics, tempos can change instantaneously or gradually. A tempo which speeds up over time is called an accelerando; the opposite is a ritardando.
Texture
Refers to how the music is distributed among the instruments. A texture can be thin (with few instruments playing) or thick (with many instruments playing). Whereas timbre refers to the sound of an individual instrument, texture refers to the relationship between all the instrumental parts in a given passage. Many of the considerations above in combination—including instrumentation, rhythm, register and tone color—can help in creating a distinctive texture. In addition to the above terminology (we might speak of a "polyphonic texture" or a "chordal texture") any number of other adjectives can also be used to describe distinctive textures (delicate, undulating, bubbling, brittle, undulating, dense). | http://musiqaloveskids.org/around-the-world/musical_terminology.html |
The following story is contributed by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, one of Natural History magazine’s Museum Partners. Members of any of our partner organizations receive Natural History as a benefit of their museum membership. The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, which opened its doors to the public in 1913, is the largest natural and historical museum in the western United States, safeguarding more than 33 million diverse specimens and artifacts. Its main exhibition halls, located at 900 Exposition Boulevard, feature grand dioramas of African and American mammals, rare dinosaurs and fossils, marine animals, Pre-Columbian culture, gems and minerals, and historical artifacts from California and Southwest history, as well as early Hollywood memorabilia. The Museum is also an active research center, spanning living and fossil invertebrates, vertebrates, mineralogy, anthropology, and history. The Natural History Museum also includes the William S. Hart Ranch and Museum, once the home of that silent film actor, and the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits.
J. KIRK FITZHUGH, PH.D., has been the Curator of Polychaetes at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County since 1990. While his research has focused mainly on the study of sea worms from around the world, Fitzhugh’s interests extended to the philosophical foundations of evolutionary biology about a decade ago.
Fitzhugh also started to notice interesting parallels between his research evaluating the philosophy of evolution and the groundswell of attention on intelligent design. In his recent articles, Evolutionary Biology Versus Intelligent Design: Resolving the Issue and The Mechanics of Testing a Theory: Implications for Intelligent Design, he broaches the touchy, tangled schism between evolution and intelligent design with this position: It need not be touchy or tangled in terms of science, because it’s not a scientific debate.
The intelligent design movement grew out of the creationist point of view in the early 1990s, arguing that organisms are so intricately complex, only an intelligent being or force could have been the cause. But many feel that intelligent design does not jibe with how we acquire understanding in science, which relies on well-established procedures that investigate and constantly correct our explanations of the diversity of life.
Fitzhugh believes that intelligent design is seen by some as a viable scientific theory, and an alternative to evolution, because of misunderstandings of the terms “theory,” “hypothesis,” and “fact” and the ways that all fields of science evaluate theories and hypotheses.
Facts are the objects and events that exist around us, which we might observe and experience; a hypothesis is an explanation of some set of facts. For instance, we have the facts that mammals have hair—a set of observations we wish to explain. An evolutionary biologist might then present the following hypothesis: As the result of random mutation, hair originated in the earliest mammals, which were diminutive and likely nocturnal creatures, living among the dinosaurs, and there was a selective advantage to the presence of hair because it ensured a constant body temperature.
But, we can only arrive at such a hypothesis because we apply theories, which are well-established or generally accepted explanatory concepts. Notice that the hypothesis explaining the presence of hair used the theories of mutation and natural selection. Hypotheses suggest to us what might have happened in the past to account for what we observe in the present. Theories, on the other hand, are used to not only guide us in understanding the present by way of the past, but to also anticipate what we might experience in the future. As with any human endeavor, however, hypotheses and theories might be incorrect. So a fundamental part of any field of science is the process of critically evaluating our hypotheses and theories, known as testing.
Having theories that are capable of being tested is what separates scientific and non-scientific approaches to the acquisition of understanding. For instance, the theories of mutation and natural selection have been subjected to testing for over 100 years. Intelligent design, as well as creationism, are theories that are immune to testing according to Fitzhugh; there is no experimental framework by which either can be evaluated. He’s not criticizing a desire to invoke intelligent design or creationism. He’s criticizing the ongoing attempts to associate these approaches with science and science education, because they misrepresent the basic nature of scientific inquiry.
Intelligent design is a theory in its own right, just not a scientific theory—and what is seen as a clash between science and religion is actually no clash at all. Both are realms in which understanding is sought; they are just wholly separate, and independent. Fitzhugh contends that these two realms cannot therefore stand in judgment of one another, as has so often been the case.
For further reading, go to www.nhm.org/research/annelida/staff.html and www.nhm.org/research/annelida/index.html. | http://nhmag.com/partner/evolution-s-non-debate |
I am Department Head in Political Science and Professor of Political Science and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the Pennsylvania State University. During Spring 2020 I am on sabbatical and will hold the Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Australian National University .
My current research agenda focuses on several questions: 1) In work with Kevin Reuning on protest at the national party conventions we ask when and how party activists protest their own party. 2) In work with Sarah Shan-jan Liu and Neslihan Burcin Tamer we look at how social protest — particularly by women’s movements– influences political activism and public opinion 3) With Erica Dollhopf, I am collecting the employment life course of social movement organizational leaders to examine how working for government influences their ability to lead, 4) with John McCarthy, Chris Fowler, and Dane Mataic I am exploring equity in the purging of voter rolls for voter inactivity, and 5) with the help of a Fulbright Endowed Chair at Australian National University starting January 2020, I have begun work on a book looking at federal systems and the implementation of policies toward women.
For a current copy of my CV, click here, and for my Google citation page click here.
1) 100 Years of the Nineteenth Amendment: An Appraisal of Women’s Political Activism (edited volume with Holly McCammon). 2018. (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
In 2020, the United States will celebrate 100 years since enactment of the Nineteenth Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. This volume looks back at the decades since women won the right to vote to analyze the changes, developments and even continuities in women’s role in the broad political sphere.
Related Media Appearances:
CSPAN3 on the Legacies of the Nineteenth Amendment
2) 2016 National Convention Protest Study (Supported by the McCourtney Institute of Democracy) (with Daniel Gillion, John McCarthy, Patricia Posey and Kevin Reuning)
Using techniques for approximating random samples of protestors developed by the Contextualizing Contestation project, we survey protestors at the Republican and Democratic National Convention to examine their party connections, level of political engagement and political attitudes.
Working Papers:
“Is Protest Gendered?: An Analysis of Protestors at the 2016 Party Conventions.” Available upon request.
“Outside the Convention: Partisan Protestors at the 2016 RNC and DNC and Partisan Activism” (with Kevin Reuning). Available upon request.
“The Strategy of Protest: Action, Message, and Community” (with Kevin Reuning). Under Review. Available upon request
For internal reports, press coverage and preliminary results click here.
Learning from Protest (With Shan-Jan Sarah Liu and Burcin Tamer)
(Supported with a grant from the Spencer Foundation)
These projects uses cross-national surveys of young peoples to examine how youth attitudes are affected by the use of protest. The project asks three sets of related questions: 1) How does a nation’s political context – specifically the amount and form of protest – influence young citizens’ civic attitudes? 2) How does protest concerning specific issues (e.g., environment or immigration) influence adolescent’s attitudes towards the subject? Do young people learn from highly publicized protests? 3) Do teachers’ orientations influence student attitudes? Does the amount and form of protest in a country interact with the influence of teachers?
Working Papers:
Learning Gender Equality: Women’s Movement Influence on Youth Attitudes in a Comparative Perspective. Under review.
Learning Protest: How National Protest Contexts Influence Adolescents’ Views of Unconventional Political Participation
See also:
Civic Education’s Impact on Opinion towards Immigrant Rights: A Comparative Study of Youths’ Attitudes (with Sarah Shan-jan Liu). Available upon request.
4) Insider activism and Leadership of Social Movement Organizations (with Erica Dollhopf)
This project uses original data collection on organizations in the United States and their leaders to examine whether social movement organizations benefit from having had leaders who have served in government and the degree to which leaders in social movement organizations may end up serving afterward in government institutions.
5) Differentially Disenfranchising Voters for Not Voting (with Chris Fowler, John McCarthy, and Dane Mataic)
The purging of voter rolls and inequalities in registration are increasingly an area of public interest with some states moving towards more restricted voting laws while adopting automatic voter registration. Understanding how politics affects the definition of voter rolls, particularly the degree to which institutions and partisan control affect inequalities in voter rolls is important for understanding the functioning of the American democracy. | https://sites.psu.edu/leeannbanaszak/ |
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a process for producing an alkylglycoside, more particularly, it relates to a process to efficiently produce alkylglycoside using hydrated solid sugar.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Alkylglycosides, which are sugar-derived surfactants, are surfactants less irritant to skin.
One of the conventional processes for producing alkylglycoside is a method wherein sugar and higher alcohol having not less than 8 carbon atoms are directly reacted in the presence of an acid catalyst (hereinafter referred to as "direct method"), and many inventions have been made according to this method. In such direct method, coexistence of sugar and water with an acid catalyst results in a reduced yield and deterioration in color due to by-products such as higher condensate of sugars (hereinafter referred to as "polysaccharides"), which is undesirable. Accordingly, anhydrous sugars free from water such as crystallization water have been generally used as sugar sources.
However, solid sugars containing crystallization water or solid sugars having water absorbed onto their surface (hereinafter referred to as "hydrated solid sugars") are cheaper and economically more advantageous than anhydrous sugars. However, when hydrated solid sugars are used, dehydration should be previously conducted before addition of an acid catalyst because coexistence of water is disadvantageous as mentioned above. As literature describing such dehydration of hydrated solid sugar, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,743 discloses a method wherein higher alcohol is mixed with hydrated solid sugar, which is kept at high temperature and at low pressure while dehydration is carried out before addition of a catalyst until water content of the mixture falls in the range from 0.1 to 0.25% by weight. WO 90/06933 relates to a process for producing an glycoside with excessive sugars, which discloses that when hydrated solid sugar is used, such sugar is heated at elevated temperature under reduced pressure and dehydrated until water content of the mixture becomes lower than about 0.1% by weight. In addition, WO 93/24504 discloses a method wherein a part of alcohol is previously mixed with hydrated solid sugar, and the mixture is introduced to the rest of alcohol, which had been heated, at a controlled flow rate, then heated at the temperature, at which the sugar becomes syrup, or lower, to dehydrate the mixture until the water content of the mixture becomes 0.5% by weight, after which an acid catalyst is introduced.
PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED BY THE INVENTION
All of the aforementioned conventional techniques employ water content in the mixture as a dehydration set point. However, according to the findings by the present inventors, alkylglycoside cannot be efficiently produced according to direct methods by simply carrying out dehydration until water content of the mixture falls within the desired range. That is, average particle diameter of the generally marketed hydrated solid sugar is about 50 to 150 &mgr;m, and by simply conducting dehydration according to the conventional technique, a part of sugar may become coarse particles with diameter up to about 1 to 10 mm (hereinafter referred to as "coarse sugar particles"). Coarse sugar particles have extremely low solubility to higher alcohols. Accordingly, they do not contribute to the reaction with higher alcohol even after addition of an acid catalyst and remain in the reaction mixture, resulting in reduced yield of alkylglycoside. It is very important not to reduce reaction yield for economical production of alkylglycoside.
Further, coarse sugar particles are responsible for troubles such as causing blockage or accumulation in transportation apparatus such as pipeline, pumps or other apparatus constituting process in the alkylglycoside recovering step subsequent to the reaction step (e.g., a step wherein unreacted higher alcohol is distilled off from the reaction mixture). To cope with such troubles, a method may be utilized wherein coarse sugar particles are removed by filtration after the reaction step, but this method is not economical because it requires cost for apparatus and its operation to conduct filtration and is accompanied with reduction in yield due to carry-over loss of alkylglycoside and higher alcohol upon removal of coarse sugar particles. On the other hand, to conveniently remove coarse sugar particles without requiring cost for apparatus and its operation, there is a method wherein a convenient apparatus with wire mesh or perforated panel as filter medium to remove solid impurities, which is called as "strainer, is settled on the transportation pipeline, but many coarse sugar particles may clog filter medium, which requires frequent washing of the filter medium, resulting in extremely reduced labor effectiveness. In addition, alkylglycoside and higher alcohol may also adhere onto the coarse sugar particles, which is inevitably accompanied with reduced yield.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide a method which enables efficient production of alkylglycoside at high yield by inhibiting generation of coarse sugar particles to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages.
The present inventors have found that generation of coarse sugar particles can be inhibited by conducting dehydration until water content in the solid sugar in the mixture becomes lower than the defined value and by controlling the proportion of particles with particle diameter larger than the defined value in the solid sugar at the end of the heating step before reaction of the mixture, and have attained the present invention.
That is, the present invention provides a process for producing an alkylglycoside which comprises the steps of;
a) mixing a hydrated solid sugar with a higher alcohol;
b) dehydrating the mixture at a reduced pressure at a temperature of lower than a melting point of the hydrated solid sugar until a water content of the solid sugar becomes not more than 0.5% by weight (hereinafter referred to as `dehydration step`);
c) heating the mixture to 90°-140° C. so that the proportion of particles having a particle diameter of 0.3 mm or more may be not more than 0.1% by weight of the solid sugar in the mixture at the end of this step (hereinafter referred to as `heating step`);
d) reacting the mixture with an acid catalyst added thereto at a temperature of 90°-140° C. at a pressure of 5-100 mmHg (hereinafter referred to as `reaction step`); and
e) neutralizing the acid catalyst contained in the product mixture with an alkali after the reaction has been completed. The conventional techniques have made no suggestion for the aforementioned water content in the solid sugars and proportion of particles with particle diameter of 0.3 mm or more after dehydration. According to the findings by the present inventors, it is extremely important for production of alkylglycoside at high yield to control these values within the aforementioned range. Respective events a) to e) referred to as the term "step" may sequentially occur with time, but the former step should not always be completed before proceeding to the subsequent step.
According to the present invention, dehydration is conducted at the temperature being not higher than the melting point of the hydrated crystalline glucose, while controlling water content retained in the solid sugar to 0.5% by weight or less and the proportion of the particles with particle diameter of 0.3 mm or more in the solid sugar at the beginning of the reaction step to 0.1% by weight or lower, to reduce the amount of particles with particle diameter of 0.3 mm or more to 5% by weight of the solid sugar or less in the reaction mixture at the end of the reaction step, and to reduce the amount of particles with particle diameter of 0.3 mm or more to 0.05% by weight of reaction mixture or less after completion of the reaction step without reducing rate of reaction. Accordingly, troubles during production such as blockage in pipeline can be prevented, thus enabling efficient production of alkylglycoside.
EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION
The hydrated solid sugars used in the present invention mean solid sugars containing crystallization water or having water absorbed on their surface as mentioned above, and as sugar sources, any of monosaccharides, oligosaccharides, polysaccharides may be utilized. Monosaccharides include, for example, aldoses such as allose, altrose, glucose, mannose, gulose, idose, galactose, talose, ribose, arabinose, xylose, lyxose; oligosaccharides include, for example, maltose, lactose, sucrose, maltotriose; and polysaccharides include, for example, hemicellulose, inulin, dextrin, dextran, xylan, starch, hydrolyzed starch. Among them, reducing sugars having not more than six carbon atoms are desirable, and glucose is particularly desirable. Particle diameter of hydrated solid sugars used in the present invention may not be particularly limited, but those with average particle diameter of 10 to 250 &mgr;m are preferred. "Average particle diameter" herein used means an average value of volume- base distribution of sphere equivalent diameter, which is measured with a particle size measuring device utilizing the principle of light scattering (e.g., LA-500 manufactured by Horiba Seisakusho).
As higher alcohols used in the present invention, straight or branched, saturated or unsaturated alcohols having 8 to 22 carbon atoms or alkylene oxide adducts thereof are preferably used. For example, octyl alcohol, nonyl alcohol, decyl alcohol, lauryl alcohol, tridecyl alcohol, myristyl alcohol, pentadecyl alcohol, cetyl alcohol, heptadecyl alcohol, stearyl alcohol, eicosyl alcohol, oleyl alcohol, or ethylene oxide adducts thereof, propylene oxide adducts thereof.
In the present invention, as for a charging ratio between the starting materials when a hydrated solid sugar and a higher alcohol are mixed, 2 to 10 moles of the higher alcohol per 1 mole of the hydrated solid sugar is preferred. With less than 2 moles of the higher alcohol, a rate of reaction may be reduced. More than 10 moles of higher alcohol may be used, but there is no merit from the technical and economical viewpoints compared with the case using 2 to 10 moles of alcohol.
In the dehydration step, the pressure during dehydration of the mixture of the hydrated solid sugar and higher alcohol under reduced pressure is 10 mmHg to 300 mmHg, preferably 20 mmHg to 200 mmHg. When the pressure is less than 10 mmHg, vaporization rate of the moisture becomes too high, causing loss of the starting material from the system. When the pressure is above 300 mmHg, dehydration becomes insufficient.
The temperature of the mixture during the dehydration step is not lower than 20° C. and lower than melting point of the hydrated solid sugar. At the temperature lower than 20° C., dehydration is insufficient, and when the mixture is exposed to the temperature being higher than melting point of the hydrated solid sugar, the molten sugars may aggregate together in the higher alcohol, and coarse sugar particles may be produced upon dehydration. For example, when the hydrated solid sugar is glucose monohydrate, its melting point is 82° to 85. degree. C. Accordingly, the dehydration step is preferably carried out at 60° to 80° C.
According to the present invention, dehydration is continued at the above temperature and pressure until water content retained in the solid sugar (hereinafter referred to as "water content of solid sugar") becomes 0.5% by weight or lower, preferably 0.3% by weight or lower, more preferably 0.2% by weight or lower. Water content of the solid sugar can be analyzed according to Karl Fischer's titration by sampling the mixture of higher alcohol and hydrated solid sugar, filtering using a glass filter of pore size of 5 to 10 &mgr;m, and after washing solid with hexane, removing the adhered hexane at 25° C., 40 mmHg for 10 minutes, and dissolving in an FM solvent (Trade name, "Anhydrated solvent FM" manufactured by Mitsubishi Chemical). During the heating step, coarse sugar particles may be readily formed at the temperature of the mixture higher than the melting point of the hydrated solid sugar when the water content of solid sugar is above 0.5% by weight. The reason is considered that the portion containing water is changed in crystalline structure upon melting and recrystallization, generating coarse sugar particles. Even when the temperature does not exceed the melting point of the hydrated solid sugar during the heating step, water content of the solid sugar above 0.5% by weight may result in production of polysaccharides during the reaction step, also leading to disadvantages such as generation of coarse particles of polysaccharides and reduction in yield.
According to the present invention, the mixture is heated to 90. degree.-140° C. subsequent to the dehydration step. In this step, the mixture is heated to the reaction temperature, and the proportion of particles with particle diameter of 0.3 mm or more should be 0.1% by weight or less of the solid sugar. The proportion of the particles with particle diameter of 0.3 mm or more can be measured by sampling a part of the mixture at the end of the heating step, filtering through a glass filter with pore size of 5 to 10 &mgr;m, washing the solid with hexane and drying, then sieving using wire mesh of 0.3 mm sieve opening. According to the findings by the present inventors, when the proportion of the particles with particle diameter of 0.3 mm or more in the solid sugar in the mixture exceeds 0.1% by weight, the aggregation of particles or incorporation of smaller particles into larger particles may be caused, facilitating further enlargement of particles. This may lead to troubles such as reduced reaction yield or blockage in pipeline, as mentioned above.
After completion of the heating step, the reaction is carried out at the temperature of 90° to 140° C., and at the pressure of 5 to 100 mmHg. The temperature is preferably 90° to 120° C. The reaction temperature higher than 140° C. may result in significant deterioration in color as well as significant generation of polysaccharides, resulting in reduced reaction yield. On the other hand, at the temperature below 90° C. reaction rate becomes too low. At the reaction pressure below 5 mmHg, the starting material, higher alcohol, may be readily distilled off, resulting in reduced yield. On the other hand, the pressure above 100 mmHg may result in reduced dehydration efficiency and slow progress of the reaction. The preferred pressure is 20 mmHg to 60 mmHg.
In the present invention, acid catalysts used in the reaction between sugar and higher alcohol include paratoluene sulfonic acid, sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, strongly acidic ion exchange resin, etc. The amount of the acid catalyst to be used is preferably 0.001 to 0.10 mole per 1 mole of sugar. Below this range, the reaction rate is extremely reduced, and above this range, color of alkylglycoside may become bad.
After completion of the reaction, an acid catalyst in the reaction mixture is neutralized with alkali. Such alkali includes, for example, sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, ammonia, sodium carbonate, etc.
According to the present invention, the proportion of particles with particle diameter of 0.3 mm or more is preferably 5% by weight or less, more preferably 3% by weight or less, particularly preferably 1% by weight or less, of the solid sugar in the reaction mixture at the end of the reaction step. When it exceeds 5% by weight, particles may be readily coarsened due to, for example, aggregation of particles with large particle diameters. In addition, according to the present invention, the proportion of the particles with particle diameter of 0.3 mm or more at the end of the reaction step is preferably 0.05% by weight or less of the reaction mixture. Preferably, the proportion is 0.01% by weight or less, more preferably 0.005% by weight or less. When the proportion exceeds this range, troubles such as blockage or accumulation may be readily occurred in pipeline, apparatus or storage tanks in the subsequent purification step. Even if the coarse particles may be removed using a strainer, operation efficiency may become lower because filter medium is clogged, requiring frequent washing of the filter medium.
Further, according to the present invention, alkylglycoside can be produced at high rate of reaction ("rate of reaction" hereinafter means rate of reaction of sugar (hydrated sugar is calculated in terms of anhydrous sugar) based on the consumed amount), preferably at a rate of reaction of 98.0% or more.
The present invention will be illustrated in detail in the following examples, which is not construed to limit the present invention.
EXAMPLE 1
2000 g of an alcohol mixture of decyl alcohol, lauryl alcohol and myristyl alcohol (weight ratio, 50:35:15) and 471.2 g of hydrated solid glucose having a water content of 9%, determined by dissolving glucose in an FM solvent and analyzing it according to Karl Fischer's titration, having a melting point of 85° C. and an average particle diameter of 112 &mgr;m, having trade name: "hydrated crystalline glucose" manufactured by SAN-EI SUCRO CHEMICAL Co., LTD., were charged in a 3 L four-necked glass flask. After initiation of stirring, the pressure in the system was reduced to 35 mmHg, and heating was initiated. To efficiently remove the formed water, nitrogen was blown through the mixture at 20 ml/min. At thirty minutes after beginning of heating, the temperature of the mixture reached 61° C. and water was begun to be distilled off. After that, the temperature reached 78° C. in 45 minutes, and dehydration was conducted maintaining at the temperature for 3 hours. A part of the mixture was sampled, separated into solid and liquid by filtration using a glass filter, and the solid was washed with hexane and dried, and water content of the solid sugar was measured as 0. 15% by weight. Water content of the liquid was measured as 0.08% by weight. Subsequently, the mixture was further heated and the temperature reached 105° C. after 25 minutes. The proportion of particles with particle diameter of 0.3 mm or more in the solid sugar was 0% by weight. As an acid catalyst, paratoluene sulfonic acid monohydrate (1.6 g) was added to initiate the reaction. At 9.75 hours after addition of the catalyst, reduced pressure was changed to atmospheric pressure and the acid catalyst was neutralized with NaOH (0.38 g) to terminate the reaction. The rate of reaction reached to 98.5%. No particles with particle diameter of 0.3 mm or more existed in the reaction mixture.
EXAMPLE 2
The procedure of Example 1 was repeated, except that the temperature was maintained for 2.5 hours during the dehydration operation, and the reaction mixture of alkylglycoside was obtained. Water content of the hydrated solid sugar at the end of the dehydration operation was 0. 25% by weight, and water content of the liquid phase was 0.07% by weight. After temperature was raised, the proportion of particles with particle diameter of 0.3 mm or more in the solid sugar in the mixture before addition of an acid catalyst was 0.020% by weight. The rate of reaction at the end of the reaction was 98.4%. The amount of particles with particle diameter of 0.3 mm or more in the reaction mixture was 0.0048% by weight, and the proportions of such particles in the solid sugar in the reaction mixture was 1.4% by weight.
EXAMPLE 3
The procedure of Example 1 was repeated, except that the temperature was maintained for 2.0 hours during the dehydration operation, and the reaction mixture of alkylglycoside was obtained. At the end of the dehydration, water content of the solid sugar was 0.34% by weight, and water content of the liquid phase was 0.07% by weight. After temperature was raised, the proportion of particles with particle diameter of 0.3 mm or more in the solid sugar in the mixture before addition of an acid catalyst was 0.021% by weight. The rate of reaction at the end of the reaction was 98.3%. The amount of particles with particle diameter of 0.3 mm or more in the reaction mixture was 0.0056% by weight, and the proportion of such particles in the solid sugar in the reaction mixture was 1.4% by weight.
EXAMPLE 4
The procedure of Example 1 was repeated, except that the temperature was maintained for 1.5 hours during the dehydration operation, and the reaction mixture of alkylglycoside was obtained. At the end of the dehydration, water content of the solid sugar was 0.47% by weight, and water content of the liquid phase was 0.09% by weight. After temperature was raised, the proportion of particles with particle diameter of 0.3 mm or more in the solid sugar in the mixture before addition of an acid catalyst was 0.023% by weight. The rate of reaction at the end of the reaction was 98.3%. The amount of particles with particle diameter of 0.3 mm or more in the reaction mixture was 0.015% by weight, and the proportions of such particles in the solid sugar in the reaction mixture was 1.5% by weight.
Comparative Example 1
The procedure of Example 1 was repeated except that the temperature was maintained for 1.0 hour during the dehydration operation, to obtain the reaction mixture of alkylglycoside. At the end of the dehydration operation, water content of the solid sugar was 0.63% by weight, and water content of the liquid phase was 0.15% by weight. After the temperature was raised, the proportion of particles with particle diameter of 0.3 mm or more in the solid sugar in the mixture before addition of an acid catalyst was 0.68% by weight. The rate of reaction at the end of the reaction was 97.7%. The amount of particles with particle diameter of 0.3 mm or more in the reaction mixture was 0.09% by weight, and the proportions of such particles in the solid sugar in the reaction mixture was 23.1% by weight.
Comparative Example 2
2000 g of an alcohol mixture of decyl alcohol, lauryl alcohol and myristyl alcohol (weight ratio, 50:35:15) and 471.2 g of hydrated crystalline glucose same as that in Example 1 were charged in a 3 L four- necked glass flask. After stirring was initiated, the pressure in the system was reduced to 35 mmHg, and heating was initiated. To efficiently remove the generated water, nitrogen was blown through the mixture at 20 ml/min. At ninety minutes after beginning of heating, the temperature of the mixture reached 105° C. After that, the temperature was retained for an hour. A part of the mixture was sampled, and water content of the solid sugar was measured as 0.31% by weight. Water content of the liquid phase was measured as 0.06% by weight. The proportion of particles with particle diameter of 0.3 mm or more in the solid sugar in the mixture before addition of an acid catalyst was 0.9% by weight. As an acid catalyst, paratoluene sulfonic acid monohydrate (1. 6 g) was added to initiate the reaction. At 10 hours after addition of the acid catalyst, reduced pressure was changed to atmospheric pressure and the acid catalyst was neutralized with NaOH (0.33 g) to terminate reaction. The rate of reaction reached to 97.6%. The amount of the particles with particle diameter of 0.3 mm or more in the reaction mixture was 0.12% by weight, and the proportion of such particles in the solid sugars in the reaction mixture was 29.7% by weight.
Comparative Example 3
The procedure of Comparative Example 2 was repeated, except that the temperature was not maintained after the temperature of the mixture reached 105° C. to obtain the reaction mixture of alkylglycoside. When the temperature of the mixture reached 105° C., water content of the solid sugar was 0.61% by weight, and water content of the liquid phase was 0.06% by weight. The proportion of particles with particle diameter of 0.3 mm or more in the solid sugar in the mixture before addition of an acid catalyst was 1.0% by weight. The rate of reaction at the end of the reaction was 97.6%. The amount of particles with particle diameter of 0.3 mm or more in the reaction mixture was 0. 13% by weight, and the proportions of such particles in the solid sugar in the reaction mixture was 30.0% by weight. The aforementioned results are summarized in Table 1.
TABLE 1
_________________________________________________________________________ _
Comparative
Comparative
Comparative
Ex. 1
Ex. 2
Ex. 3
Ex. 4
ex. 1 ex. 2 ex. 3
_________________________________________________________________________ _
dehydration temperature (°C.)
78 78 78 78 78 105 105
dehydration pressure (mmHg)
35 35 35 35 35 35 35
dehydration temperature
3.0
2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 1.0 0.0
pressure-holding time (hr)
water content of the solid sugar at
0.15
0.25 0.34 0.47
0.63 0.31 0.61
the end of the dehydration step (%
by weight)
water content in the liquid phase at
0.08
0.07 0.07 0.09
0.15 0.06 0.06
the end of the dehydration step (%
by weight)
the proportion of particles with
0.0
0.020
0.021
0.023
0.68 0.9 1.0
particle diameter of 0.3 mm or
more in the solid sugar at the
beginning of the reaction step (% by
weight)
rate of reaction (%)
98.5
98.4 98.3 98.3
97.7 97.6 97.6
the proportion of particles with
0.0
1.4 1.4 1.5 23.1 29.7 30.0
particle diameter of 0.3 mm or
more in the solid sugar at the end
of the reaction step (% by weight)
the proportion of particles with
0.0
0.0048
0.0056
0.015
0.09 0.12 0.13
particle diameter of 0.3 mm or
more in the reaction mixture at the
end of the reaction step (% by
weight)
_________________________________________________________________________ _ | |
Trachoma is a bacterial eye infection found in poor, isolated communities lacking basic hygiene, clean water, and adequate sanitation. The leading cause of preventable blindness, trachoma targeted for “elimination as a public health problem” by the year 2020.
To eliminate blinding trachoma, the World Health Organization emphasizes implementing the SAFE strategy, which includes annual mass drug administration (MDA) with azithromycin to the whole population of endemic districts. Prevalence surveys to assess impact at the district level are recommended after at least 3 years of intervention. The decision to stop MDA is based on a prevalence of trachomatous inflammation follicular (TF) among children aged 1–9 years.
This study informs the CDC's recommendations regarding screening tests to detect Chlamydia trachomatis. Those recommendations are intended for use by clinical laboratory directors, laboratory staff, clinicians, and disease control personnel who must choose among the multiple available tests, establish standard operating procedures for collecting and processing specimens, interpret test results for laboratory reporting, and counsel and treat patients. | https://globalprojects.ucsf.edu/project/detection-c-trachomatis-eye-swabs |
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The objective of this research paper was to provide evidence and a compelling argument concerning the current environmental crisis. The aspects of the environmental crisis and the prevalence of the problem around the world were also discussed. The present environmental crisis is illustrated by climate change, deforestation, lack of clean water, ozone depletion, contaminated air, and soil and biodiversity loss. Scientific evidence has established that the environmental crisis is intertwined with human activity around the world (European Environment Agency, 2017). The argument in this paper is that the current environmental crisis has reached epidemic proportions and there is need for collective effort in addressing the crisis. This is because it poses a threat to the future existence of human kind on earth.
Presently, different geographical regions around the world are experiencing climate change. Climate change is a result of the anthropogenic contamination of the atmosphere with green gases that are emitted by industries, automobiles (European Environment Agency, 2017), horticulture, and livestock farming. Climate change has resulted into an increase in mean surface temperatures.
The rise in temperatures has caused the sea levels to rise and this has affected the ecosystem for aquatic species. In addition, rainfall patterns, climatic zones have changed. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the current levels of climate change are attributed to human activity. This is because carbon dioxide levels have never reached 300 ppm since ancient times (NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2017).
The current rate of global warming is approximately ten times the average rate, the sea levels have increased by at least 20.3 cm in the past century (NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2017). Starting from the 19th century, a one degree Celsius rise in the mean surface temperatures has been recorded. The most significant warming patterns have been recorded within the last 35 years. Since the start of the new millennium, there have been 16 years, which were the warmest on record. In addition 2016, recorded the highest number of warm months on record (NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2017).
Ozone depletion in the stratosphere was largely caused by the use of halocarbons. Ozone protects the earth atmosphere from ultraviolet-B radiation, which is harmful to the environment and human beings as well (SOAS University of London, 2017). Exposure to UV-B rays is associated with skin cancer.
Air pollution is another contributing factor to the current environmental crisis. Industrialization has significantly contributed towards air pollution. The levels of air pollution in countries such as India and China has research epidemic levels, to the extent that citizens need to put on air pollution masks. Air pollution is caused by sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxides, aromatic compounds, and particulate matter among other pollutants (SOAS University of London, 2017).
Air pollution is a causative agent for cardiovascular, respiratory, and genetic mutation, which causes cancer in human beings. A case in point is China, which has experienced severe air pollution. Beijing in particular has experienced worst cases of smog. The concentration of particulate matter in the air was approximately forty times above the WHO levels. Roads, schools, manufacturing and real estate constructions were temporarily closed (Albert & Xu, 2016).
Air pollution resulted in approximately 6.5 million deaths; this figure represents approximately 12% of the total global deaths. This means that air pollution related diseases kill more people than road accidents, tuberculosis, and HIV combined. However, these deaths are unevenly distributed around the world with low and middle-income countries recording most of the deaths (Breene & Hutt, 2017). The Middle East, Africa, India, China, and Eastern Europe lead in air pollution. In China alone, over 1 million deaths are attributed to air pollution while in India approximately 600,000 people died. The cost of air pollution to the world economy exceeds $225 billion (Breene & Hutt, 2017).
Industrialization, urbanization and the scarcity of available resources has contributed towards the contamination of water sources. Contamination has in turn diminished the quality of available water. Water contamination has resulted in the destruction of coral reefs in oceans and the death of marine species. Water contamination in lakes has triggered the growth of water hyacinth. Oceans and lakes are mainly polluted by run offs and industrial effluents. Run offs deposit phosphorous and nitrogen from farms. Oil spills from offshore drilling activities also contributes towards the pollution of water. Empirical evidence shows that insufficient sanitation is one of the leading causes of water contamination. On average, 1.2 billion people practice open defecation, which contaminates water sources in the vicinity (Pacific Institute, 2010).
The situation is worse in South Asia where over 700 million people defecate in the open. Contamination of water sources with feces causes the spread of waterborne and infectious diseases. These diseases account for approximately 3% of the global deaths and over one billion cases of waterborne diseases (Pacific Institute, 2010). In light of this evidence, there is need for urgent effort in addressing the environmental crisis. The contamination of available water sources leads to a scarcity in water. Other factors that contribute to water scarcity are excessive irrigation and the challenges associated with ocean water desalination.
The industrial revolution in the western hemisphere left a trail of damage in terms of water contamination. Industries emitted carbon dioxide, which was later absorbed by oceans and lakes. The absorption of carbon dioxide caused the water acidity to increase because the carbon dioxide was converted into carbonic acid. Since the 18th century to the present period, the levels of ocean acidity have surged by over 30%. Presently, over 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide is absorbed by oceans yearly (Pacific Institute, 2010).
Deforestation is another aspect that contributes towards the environmental crisis. Many countries around the world have undertaken deforestation in order to provide more space for agriculture, mining activities, timber production, and human settlement. The destruction of forests reduces the available tropical forest cover. Tropical forests help to maintain equilibrium in the current global ecosystem through the mitigation of soil erosion, regulation of global climate, and the provision of a habitat for endangered wildlife species and plants.
The current rates of deforestation are threatening to wipe out the earth’s tropical forest cover in a hundred years from now. The current levels of deforestation are not sustainable; this is because the rate of afforestation does not match the rate of deforestation. Tropical forests close to half the size of Great Britain are lost yearly to deforestation. Forests are known to function as carbon sinks which absorb greenhouse gases and thus help cool the earth. Deforestation therefore, accelerates the pace of global warming (National Geographic, 2017).
Uncontrolled deforestation causes soil erosion and degradation. Soil erosion is known to cause desertification because the top layers of soils that are rich in organic matter and minerals have been eroded. Soil erosion causes the soil to be infertile and therefore it cannot support vegetation. Soil erosion and deforestation are linked to habitat loss, variations in land use and loss of biodiversity
Habitat losses negatively affect species. Diverse species survive in different habitats with conditions that are suitable for their existence. An example is the Panda, which thrives in bamboo plantations and bears which live in the arctic regions. Cases in point for habitat loss include the coral bleaching and melting of the arctic ice (GreenPeace, 2012).
Coral bleaching is caused by the warming of oceans; the bleaching poses a threat to the coral reefs, which form part of the marine ecosystem. Bleaching causes corals to die. Habitat loss poses a threat to the future survival of polar bears, which thrive in the arctic sea ice. Scientific models have established that within the next 100 years, all the ice in the arctic region will have melted (GreenPeace, 2012). Greenland ice sheets receded by up to 250 km3 per year in the period between 2002 and 2006 (GreenPeace, 2012); with the current global temperatures, the rates of recession may be higher (NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 2017).
Destruction of wildlife habitats also increases the human-wildlife conflict. . The loss of biodiversity contributes towards the extinction of wildlife species and it facilitates the spread of disease. Currently, most animals such as elephants and rhinos in Africa are faced with the threat of extinction due to habitat loss. The marine species are also losing their habitat due to excessive fishing, offshore drilling, and oil spills among other forms of pollution.
This research paper has provided compelling facts in favor of why the world needs to address the current environmental crisis. Different aspects of the social problem have been considered. From the facts presented, it was established that the environment is intertwined with the health and existence of human beings, wildlife, and plants. The destruction of the environment has contributed towards the current crisis, which has led to economic losses, death, destruction of ecosystems. The current environmental crisis can only be addressed through the sustainable use of available resources, the adoption of clean energy and population control. The impact of global warming and climate change in Africa needs to be explored in detail. This is because there is insufficient information regarding the subject.
This research article focused on the environmental crisis. Different aspects of the environmental crisis were considered. The aspects included climate change and global warming, deforestation, contamination of water sources, air pollution, and loss of habitats. The objective was to provide compelling evidence in favor of the argument that the current environmental crisis needs to be controlled before it becomes a global epidemic.
Evidence in favor of the argument was collected from reputable literature sources such as the Greenpeace, NASA, National Geographic, and European Environmental Agency. From the presented data, it was established that the 21st century has recorded the highest number of warm years in history. Global warming was observed to have ripple effects on the global ecosystem. This is because global warming causes arctic ice sheets and glaciers to recede, ocean levels rise, leading to the disruption of delicate ecosystems. Air pollution is a social problem, which affects the health of the people who are exposed to the pollutants. Water contamination causes waterborne and infectious diseases, which affect the health of millions of people across the world. In addition, contamination of water sources leads to the death of marine species that cannot survive in polluted waters.
Deforestation contributes towards land desertification. Desertification reduces the productivity of the land because it cannot support plants. In addition to desertification, deforestation accelerates the rate of global warming because it eliminates trees, which act as carbon sinks. Habitat losses threat the survival of endangered species such as polar bears. It also increases human wildlife conflict. The prevailing environmental crisis can only be solved through the sustainable of use of resources.
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Are you interested in getting a customized paper?Check it out! | https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/a-study-of-the-root-cause-of-the-environmental-crisis-and-how-human-action-has-resulted-in-climate-change/ |
IEEE joined global leaders at the WSIS Forum 2016
By Justin Caso, J.D.
The annual World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum brings together the largest gathering of the Information and Communications Technologies community that focuses on making the information society accessible to all. The WSIS Forum is a multistakeholder event that provides an opportunity for multistakeholder cooperation in development. Importantly, the WSIS Forum 2016 incorporated the recently adopted United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as an important factor in the discussions. The WSIS Forum 2016 took place from 2 to 6 May in Geneva, Switzerland
IEEE joined more than 1,800 global leaders from over 150 countries, representing government ministries, civil society, industry, academia and the technical community to discuss and help advance solutions so that all citizens of the world have meaningful access to the information society. IEEE’s engagement at WSIS complemented its existing open, global and collaborative work in Internet Governance, security and privacy, including:IEEE Internet Initiative, IEEE Big Data Initiative,IEEE Computer Society, IEEE Cybersecurity Initiative,IEEE Internet of Things Initiative, IEEE Smart Cities, and theIEEE Standards Association Industry Connections program for Ethical Considerations in the Design of Autonomous Systems.
- The discussion should be about a collaborative approach to discuss a balance of privacy and security rather than privacy versus security.
- There is the possibility to augment our lives through electronic devices but the challenge is how to find an optimal balance because information is both a power and a threat.
- Ethics should be part of the Research and Development process.
- The perspective of different societies should be considered because societies have different perceptions of risk.
IEEE, in conjunction with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), hosted an interactive lunch session on the “WSIS Action Lines and SDGs – eHealth Data Policy.” The session began with an introduction and overview of the WSIS Actions Lines and the SDGs by ITU Deputy Secretary General Malcolm Johnson and was followed by a technical presentation of personal healthcare device interoperability by Dr. Malcolm Clarke, Department of Computer Science, Brunel University, London, UK. The remainder of the session followed a World Café format where the attendees worked in small groups on three questions regarding e-Health data policy:
Question 1: If you could compile data from patients and studies to potentially cure deadly diseases, what policies should be put in place to protect an individual’s personal data? Output of the discussions included:
- Encryption of data is important to protect an individual’s privacy
- The information should belong to the patient and there should be standardized methods of capturing and storing the data.
- In order to solve the world’s deadly disease challenges, aggregation of data is important but it is vital to ensure that an individual’s data remains anonymous.
- There is a need for cross-national standardization to gain the maximum effectiveness of sharing data to treat disease.
- The use of digital object identifiers is important.
Question 2: What policies should be put in place to allow for effective remote care and telemedicine treatments? Output of the discussions included:
- Best practices should be adopted for the transfer of data in a secure manner in emergency situations where the transfer of data is time sensitive and vital for a patient’s health.
- Standards for the collection, storage and analysis of the data to maximize the performance of the e-Health system are necessary.
Question 3: What policy, trust and ethical considerations should be incorporated into the design of the app? Output of the discussions included:
- From an ethical perspective, there should be a policy on distribution of data, restriction of the use of data, traceability of the data, and access control.
- There is a need for regulatory processes to ensure that the data is owned by the individual, rather than the organization that is collecting the data.
- An app should be able to used offline as well as online.
- In order to allow access to the greatest number of individuals possible, the app should utilize an SMS interface.
- Authentication is necessary in any app, perhaps through biometrics.
- In order to create complete trust, users must exercise due diligence when accessing and utilizing this technology.
For information on how to join the IEEE Internet Initiative’s growing world-wide community of experts in technology and policy making, visit internetinitiative.ieee.org. | https://internetinitiative.ieee.org/newsroom/in-the-news/ieee-joined-global-leaders-at-the-wsis-forum-2016 |
---
abstract: 'This paper shows that pretraining multilingual language models at scale leads to significant performance gains for a wide range of cross-lingual transfer tasks. We train a Transformer-based masked language model on one hundred languages, using more than two terabytes of filtered CommonCrawl data. Our model, dubbed [*XLM-R*]{}, significantly outperforms multilingual BERT (mBERT) on a variety of cross-lingual benchmarks, including +13.8% average accuracy on XNLI, +12.3% average F1 score on MLQA, and +2.1% average F1 score on NER. [*XLM-R*]{}performs particularly well on low-resource languages, improving 11.8% in XNLI accuracy for Swahili and 9.2% for Urdu over the previous XLM model. We also present a detailed empirical evaluation of the key factors that are required to achieve these gains, including the trade-offs between (1) positive transfer and capacity dilution and (2) the performance of high and low resource languages at scale. Finally, we show, for the first time, the possibility of multilingual modeling without sacrificing per-language performance; [*XLM-R*]{}is very competitive with strong monolingual models on the GLUE and XNLI benchmarks. We will make [*XLM-R*]{}code, data, and models publicly available.[^1]'
author:
- |
Alexis Conneau[^2] Kartikay Khandelwal **Naman Goyal Vishrav Chaudhary Guillaume Wenzek Francisco Guzmán **Edouard Grave Myle Ott Luke Zettlemoyer Veselin Stoyanov\
\
\
**Facebook AI******
bibliography:
- 'acl2020.bib'
title: 'Unsupervised Cross-lingual Representation Learning at Scale'
---
Introduction
============
The goal of this paper is to improve cross-lingual language understanding (XLU), by carefully studying the effects of training unsupervised cross-lingual representations at a very large scale. We present [*XLM-R*]{}, a transformer-based multilingual masked language model pre-trained on text in 100 languages, which obtains state-of-the-art performance on cross-lingual classification, sequence labeling and question answering.
Multilingual masked language models (MLM) like [mBERT]{} [@devlin2018bert] and XLM [@lample2019cross] have pushed the state-of-the-art on cross-lingual understanding tasks by jointly pretraining large Transformer models [@transformer17] on many languages. These models allow for effective cross-lingual transfer, as seen in a number of benchmarks including cross-lingual natural language inference [@bowman2015large; @williams2017broad; @conneau2018xnli], question answering [@rajpurkar-etal-2016-squad; @lewis2019mlqa], and named entity recognition [@Pires2019HowMI; @wu2019beto]. However, all of these studies pre-train on Wikipedia, which provides a relatively limited scale especially for lower resource languages.
In this paper, we first present a comprehensive analysis of the trade-offs and limitations of multilingual language models at scale, inspired by recent monolingual scaling efforts [@roberta2019]. We measure the trade-off between high-resource and low-resource languages and the impact of language sampling and vocabulary size. The experiments expose a trade-off as we scale the number of languages for a fixed model capacity: more languages leads to better cross-lingual performance on low-resource languages up until a point, after which the overall performance on monolingual and cross-lingual benchmarks degrades. We refer to this tradeoff as the *curse of multilinguality*, and show that it can be alleviated by simply increasing model capacity. We argue, however, that this remains an important limitation for future XLU systems which may aim to improve performance with more modest computational budgets.
Our best model XLM-RoBERTa ([*XLM-R*]{}) outperforms [mBERT]{}on cross-lingual classification by up to 21% accuracy on low-resource languages like Swahili and Urdu. It outperforms the previous state of the art by 3.9% average accuracy on XNLI, 2.1% average F1-score on Named Entity Recognition, and 8.4% average F1-score on cross-lingual Question Answering. We also evaluate monolingual fine tuning on the GLUE and XNLI benchmarks, where [*XLM-R*]{}obtains results competitive with state-of-the-art monolingual models, including RoBERTa [@roberta2019]. These results demonstrate, for the first time, that it is possible to have a single large model for all languages, without sacrificing per-language performance. We will make our code, models and data publicly available, with the hope that this will help research in multilingual NLP and low-resource language understanding.
Related Work
============
From pretrained word embeddings [@mikolov2013distributed; @pennington2014glove] to pretrained contextualized representations [@peters2018deep; @schuster2019cross] and transformer based language models [@radford2018improving; @devlin2018bert], unsupervised representation learning has significantly improved the state of the art in natural language understanding. Parallel work on cross-lingual understanding [@mikolov2013exploiting; @schuster2019cross; @lample2019cross] extends these systems to more languages and to the cross-lingual setting in which a model is learned in one language and applied in other languages.
Most recently, @devlin2018bert and @lample2019cross introduced [mBERT]{}and XLM - masked language models trained on multiple languages, without any cross-lingual supervision. @lample2019cross propose translation language modeling (TLM) as a way to leverage parallel data and obtain a new state of the art on the cross-lingual natural language inference (XNLI) benchmark [@conneau2018xnli]. They further show strong improvements on unsupervised machine translation and pretraining for sequence generation. Separately, @Pires2019HowMI demonstrated the effectiveness of multilingual models like [mBERT]{}on sequence labeling tasks. @huang2019unicoder showed gains over XLM using cross-lingual multi-task learning, and @singh2019xlda demonstrated the efficiency of cross-lingual data augmentation for cross-lingual NLI. However, all of this work was at a relatively modest scale, in terms of the amount of training data, as compared to our approach.
The benefits of scaling language model pretraining by increasing the size of the model as well as the training data has been extensively studied in the literature. For the monolingual case, @jozefowicz2016exploring show how large-scale LSTM models can obtain much stronger performance on language modeling benchmarks when trained on billions of tokens. GPT [@radford2018improving] also highlights the importance of scaling the amount of data and RoBERTa [@roberta2019] shows that training BERT longer on more data leads to significant boost in performance. Inspired by RoBERTa, we show that mBERT and XLM are undertuned, and that simple improvements in the learning procedure of unsupervised MLM leads to much better performance. We train on cleaned CommonCrawls [@wenzek2019ccnet], which increase the amount of data for low-resource languages by two orders of magnitude on average. Similar data has also been shown to be effective for learning high quality word embeddings in multiple languages [@grave2018learning].
Several efforts have trained massively multilingual machine translation models from large parallel corpora. They uncover the high and low resource trade-off and the problem of capacity dilution [@johnson2017google; @tan2019multilingual]. The work most similar to ours is @arivazhagan2019massively, which trains a single model in 103 languages on over 25 billion parallel sentences. @siddhant2019evaluating further analyze the representations obtained by the encoder of a massively multilingual machine translation system and show that it obtains similar results to mBERT on cross-lingual NLI. Our work, in contrast, focuses on the unsupervised learning of cross-lingual representations and their transfer to discriminative tasks.
Model and Data {#sec:model+data}
==============
In this section, we present the training objective, languages, and data we use. We follow the XLM approach [@lample2019cross] as closely as possible, only introducing changes that improve performance at scale.
#### Masked Language Models.
We use a Transformer model [@transformer17] trained with the multilingual MLM objective [@devlin2018bert; @lample2019cross] using only monolingual data. We sample streams of text from each language and train the model to predict the masked tokens in the input. We apply subword tokenization directly on raw text data using Sentence Piece [@kudo2018sentencepiece] with a unigram language model [@kudo2018subword]. We sample batches from different languages using the same sampling distribution as @lample2019cross, but with $\alpha=0.3$. Unlike @lample2019cross, we do not use language embeddings, which allows our model to better deal with code-switching. We use a large vocabulary size of 250K with a full softmax and train two different models: [*XLM-R*]{}~Base~ (L = 12, H = 768, A = 12, 270M params) and [*XLM-R*]{}(L = 24, H = 1024, A = 16, 550M params). For all of our ablation studies, we use a BERT~Base~ architecture with a vocabulary of 150K tokens. Appendix \[sec:appendix\_B\] goes into more details about the architecture of the different models referenced in this paper.
#### Scaling to a hundred languages.
[*XLM-R*]{}is trained on 100 languages; we provide a full list of languages and associated statistics in Appendix \[sec:appendix\_A\]. Figure \[fig:wikivscc\] specifies the iso codes of 88 languages that are shared across [*XLM-R*]{}and XLM-100, the model from @lample2019cross trained on Wikipedia text in 100 languages.
Compared to previous work, we replace some languages with more commonly used ones such as romanized Hindi and traditional Chinese. In our ablation studies, we always include the 7 languages for which we have classification and sequence labeling evaluation benchmarks: English, French, German, Russian, Chinese, Swahili and Urdu. We chose this set as it covers a suitable range of language families and includes low-resource languages such as Swahili and Urdu. We also consider larger sets of 15, 30, 60 and all 100 languages. When reporting results on high-resource and low-resource, we refer to the average of English and French results, and the average of Swahili and Urdu results respectively.
#### Scaling the Amount of Training Data.
Following @wenzek2019ccnet, we build a clean CommonCrawl Corpus in 100 languages. We use an internal language identification model in combination with the one from fastText [@joulin2017bag]. We train language models in each language and use it to filter documents as described in @wenzek2019ccnet. We consider one CommonCrawl dump for English and twelve dumps for all other languages, which significantly increases dataset sizes, especially for low-resource languages like Burmese and Swahili.
Figure \[fig:wikivscc\] shows the difference in size between the Wikipedia Corpus used by mBERT and XLM-100, and the CommonCrawl Corpus we use. As we show in Section \[sec:multimono\], monolingual Wikipedia corpora are too small to enable unsupervised representation learning. Based on our experiments, we found that a few hundred MiB of text data is usually a minimal size for learning a BERT model.
Evaluation
==========
We consider four evaluation benchmarks. For cross-lingual understanding, we use cross-lingual natural language inference, named entity recognition, and question answering. We use the GLUE benchmark to evaluate the English performance of [*XLM-R*]{}and compare it to other state-of-the-art models.
#### Cross-lingual Natural Language Inference (XNLI).
The XNLI dataset comes with ground-truth dev and test sets in 15 languages, and a ground-truth English training set. The training set has been machine-translated to the remaining 14 languages, providing synthetic training data for these languages as well. We evaluate our model on cross-lingual transfer from English to other languages. We also consider three machine translation baselines: (i) *translate-test*: dev and test sets are machine-translated to English and a single English model is used (ii) *translate-train* (per-language): the English training set is machine-translated to each language and we fine-tune a multiligual model on each training set (iii) *translate-train-all* (multi-language): we fine-tune a multilingual model on the concatenation of all training sets from translate-train. For the translations, we use the official data provided by the XNLI project.
#### Named Entity Recognition.
For NER, we consider the CoNLL-2002 [@sang2002introduction] and CoNLL-2003 [@tjong2003introduction] datasets in English, Dutch, Spanish and German. We fine-tune multilingual models either (1) on the English set to evaluate cross-lingual transfer, (2) on each set to evaluate per-language performance, or (3) on all sets to evaluate multilingual learning. We report the F1 score, and compare to baselines from @lample-etal-2016-neural and @akbik2018coling.
#### Cross-lingual Question Answering.
We use the MLQA benchmark from @lewis2019mlqa, which extends the English SQuAD benchmark to Spanish, German, Arabic, Hindi, Vietnamese and Chinese. We report the F1 score as well as the exact match (EM) score for cross-lingual transfer from English.
#### GLUE Benchmark.
Finally, we evaluate the English performance of our model on the GLUE benchmark [@wang2018glue] which gathers multiple classification tasks, such as MNLI [@williams2017broad], SST-2 [@socher2013recursive], or QNLI [@rajpurkar2018know]. We use BERT~Large~ and RoBERTa as baselines.
Analysis and Results {#sec:analysis}
====================
In this section, we perform a comprehensive analysis of multilingual masked language models. We conduct most of the analysis on XNLI, which we found to be representative of our findings on other tasks. We then present the results of [*XLM-R*]{}on cross-lingual understanding and GLUE. Finally, we compare multilingual and monolingual models, and present results on low-resource languages.
Improving and Understanding Multilingual Masked Language Models
---------------------------------------------------------------
Much of the work done on understanding the cross-lingual effectiveness of [mBERT]{}or XLM [@Pires2019HowMI; @wu2019beto; @lewis2019mlqa] has focused on analyzing the performance of fixed pretrained models on downstream tasks. In this section, we present a comprehensive study of different factors that are important to *pretraining* large scale multilingual models. We highlight the trade-offs and limitations of these models as we scale to one hundred languages.
#### Transfer-dilution trade-off and Curse of Multilinguality.
Model capacity (i.e. the number of parameters in the model) is constrained due to practical considerations such as memory and speed during training and inference. For a fixed sized model, the per-language capacity decreases as we increase the number of languages. While low-resource language performance can be improved by adding similar higher-resource languages during pretraining, the overall downstream performance suffers from this capacity dilution [@arivazhagan2019massively]. Positive transfer and capacity dilution have to be traded off against each other.
We illustrate this trade-off in Figure \[fig:transfer\_dilution\], which shows XNLI performance vs the number of languages the model is pretrained on. Initially, as we go from 7 to 15 languages, the model is able to take advantage of positive transfer and this improves performance, especially on low resource languages. Beyond this point the [*curse of multilinguality*]{} kicks in and degrades performance across all languages. Specifically, the overall XNLI accuracy decreases from 71.8% to 67.7% as we go from XLM-7 to XLM-100. The same trend can be observed for models trained on the larger CommonCrawl Corpus.
The issue is even more prominent when the capacity of the model is small. To show this, we pretrain models on Wikipedia Data in 7, 30 and 100 languages. As we add more languages, we make the Transformer wider by increasing the hidden size from 768 to 960 to 1152. In Figure \[fig:capacity\], we show that the added capacity allows XLM-30 to be on par with XLM-7, thus overcoming the curse of multilinguality. The added capacity for XLM-100, however, is not enough and it still lags behind due to higher vocabulary dilution (recall from Section \[sec:model+data\] that we used a fixed vocabulary size of 150K for all models).
#### High-resource/Low-resource trade-off.
The allocation of the model capacity across languages is controlled by several parameters: the training set size, the size of the shared subword vocabulary, and the rate at which we sample training examples from each language. We study the effect of sampling on the performance of high-resource (English and French) and low-resource (Swahili and Urdu) languages for an XLM-100 model trained on Wikipedia (we observe a similar trend for the construction of the subword vocab). Specifically, we investigate the impact of varying the $\alpha$ parameter which controls the exponential smoothing of the language sampling rate. Similar to @lample2019cross, we use a sampling rate proportional to the number of sentences in each corpus. Models trained with higher values of $\alpha$ see batches of high-resource languages more often. Figure \[fig:alpha\] shows that the higher the value of $\alpha$, the better the performance on high-resource languages, and vice-versa. When considering overall performance, we found $0.3$ to be an optimal value for $\alpha$, and use this for [*XLM-R*]{}.
#### Importance of Capacity and Vocabulary Size.
In previous sections and in Figure \[fig:capacity\], we showed the importance of scaling the model size as we increase the number of languages. Similar to the overall model size, we argue that scaling the size of the shared vocabulary (the vocabulary capacity) can improve the performance of multilingual models on downstream tasks. To illustrate this effect, we train XLM-100 models on Wikipedia data with different vocabulary sizes. We keep the overall number of parameters constant by adjusting the width of the transformer. Figure \[fig:vocab\] shows that even with a fixed capacity, we observe a 2.8% increase in XNLI average accuracy as we increase the vocabulary size from 32K to 256K. This suggests that multilingual models can benefit from allocating a higher proportion of the total number of parameters to the embedding layer even though this reduces the size of the Transformer. With bigger models, we believe that using a vocabulary of up to 2 million tokens with an adaptive softmax [@grave2017efficient; @baevski2018adaptive] should improve performance even further, but we leave this exploration to future work. For simplicity and given the computational constraints, we use a vocabulary of 250k for [*XLM-R*]{}.
We further illustrate the importance of this parameter, by training three models with the same transformer architecture (BERT~Base~) but with different vocabulary sizes: 128K, 256K and 512K. We observe more than 3% gains in overall accuracy on XNLI by simply increasing the vocab size from 128k to 512k.
#### Importance of large-scale training with more data.
As shown in Figure \[fig:wikivscc\], the CommonCrawl Corpus that we collected has significantly more monolingual data than the previously used Wikipedia corpora. Figure \[fig:curse\] shows that for the same BERT~Base~ architecture, all models trained on CommonCrawl obtain significantly better performance.
Apart from scaling the training data, @roberta2019 also showed the benefits of training MLMs longer. In our experiments, we observed similar effects of large-scale training, such as increasing batch size (see Figure \[fig:batch\]) and training time, on model performance. Specifically, we found that using validation perplexity as a stopping criterion for pretraining caused the multilingual MLM in @lample2019cross to be under-tuned. In our experience, performance on downstream tasks continues to improve even after validation perplexity has plateaued. Combining this observation with our implementation of the unsupervised XLM-MLM objective, we were able to improve the performance of @lample2019cross from 71.3% to more than 75% average accuracy on XNLI, which was on par with their supervised translation language modeling (TLM) objective. Based on these results, and given our focus on unsupervised learning, we decided to not use the supervised TLM objective for training our models.
#### Simplifying multilingual tokenization with Sentence Piece.
The different language-specific tokenization tools used by mBERT and XLM-100 make these models more difficult to use on raw text. Instead, we train a Sentence Piece model (SPM) and apply it directly on raw text data for all languages. We did not observe any loss in performance for models trained with SPM when compared to models trained with language-specific preprocessing and byte-pair encoding (see Figure \[fig:batch\]) and hence use SPM for [*XLM-R*]{}.
Cross-lingual Understanding Results
-----------------------------------
Based on these results, we adapt the setting of @lample2019cross and use a large Transformer model with 24 layers and 1024 hidden states, with a 250k vocabulary. We use the multilingual MLM loss and train our [*XLM-R*]{}model for 1.5 Million updates on five hundred 32GB Nvidia V100 GPUs with a batch size of 8192. We leverage the SPM-preprocessed text data from CommonCrawl in 100 languages and sample languages with $\alpha=0.3$. In this section, we show that it outperforms all previous techniques on cross-lingual benchmarks while getting performance on par with RoBERTa on the GLUE benchmark.
#### XNLI.
Table \[tab:xnli\] shows XNLI results and adds some additional details: (i) the number of models the approach induces (\#M), (ii) the data on which the model was trained (D), and (iii) the number of languages the model was pretrained on (\#lg). As we show in our results, these parameters significantly impact performance. Column \#M specifies whether model selection was done separately on the dev set of each language ($N$ models), or on the joint dev set of all the languages (single model). We observe a 0.6 decrease in overall accuracy when we go from $N$ models to a single model - going from 71.3 to 70.7. We encourage the community to adopt this setting. For cross-lingual transfer, while this approach is not fully zero-shot transfer, we argue that in real applications, a small amount of supervised data is often available for validation in each language.
[*XLM-R*]{}sets a new state of the art on XNLI. On cross-lingual transfer, [*XLM-R*]{}obtains 80.1% accuracy, outperforming the XLM-100 and [mBERT]{}open-source models by 9.4% and 13.8% average accuracy. On the Swahili and Urdu low-resource languages, [*XLM-R*]{}outperforms XLM-100 by 13.8% and 9.3%, and [mBERT]{}by 21.6% and 13.7%. While [*XLM-R*]{}handles 100 languages, we also show that it outperforms the former state of the art Unicoder [@huang2019unicoder] and XLM (MLM+TLM), which handle only 15 languages, by 4.7% and 5% average accuracy respectively. Using the multilingual training of translate-train-all, [*XLM-R*]{}further improves performance and reaches 82.4% accuracy, a new overall state of the art for XNLI, outperforming Unicoder by 3.9%. Multilingual training is similar to practical applications where training sets are available in various languages for the same task. In the case of XNLI, datasets have been translated, and translate-train-all can be seen as some form of cross-lingual data augmentation [@singh2019xlda], similar to back-translation [@xie2019unsupervised].
#### Named Entity Recognition.
In Table \[tab:ner\], we report results of [*XLM-R*]{}and [mBERT]{}on CoNLL-2002 and CoNLL-2003. We consider the LSTM + CRF approach from @lample-etal-2016-neural and the Flair model from @akbik2018coling as baselines. We evaluate the performance of the model on each of the target languages in three different settings: (i) train on English data only (en) (ii) train on data in target language (each) (iii) train on data in all languages (all). Results of [mBERT]{}are reported from @wu2019beto. Note that we do not use a linear-chain CRF on top of [*XLM-R*]{}and [mBERT]{}representations, which gives an advantage to @akbik2018coling. Without the CRF, our [*XLM-R*]{}model still performs on par with the state of the art, outperforming @akbik2018coling on Dutch by $2.84$ points. On this task, [*XLM-R*]{}also outperforms [mBERT]{}by 2.1 F1 on average for cross-lingual transfer, and 1.86 F1 when trained on each language. Training on all languages leads to an average F1 score of 89.18%, outperforming cross-lingual transfer approach by more than 8.5%.
#### Question Answering.
We also obtain new state of the art results on the MLQA cross-lingual question answering benchmark, introduced by @lewis2019mlqa. We follow their procedure by training on the English training data and evaluating on the 7 languages of the dataset. We report results in Table \[tab:mlqa\]. [*XLM-R*]{}obtains F1 and accuracy scores of 70.0% and 52.2% while the previous state of the art was 61.6% and 43.5%. [*XLM-R*]{}also outperforms [mBERT]{}by 12.3% F1-score and 10.6% accuracy. It even outperforms BERT-Large on English, confirming its strong monolingual performance.
Multilingual versus Monolingual {#sec:multimono}
-------------------------------
In this section, we present results of multilingual XLM models against monolingual BERT models.
#### GLUE: [*XLM-R*]{}versus RoBERTa.
Our goal is to obtain a multilingual model with strong performance on both, cross-lingual understanding tasks as well as natural language understanding tasks for each language. To that end, we evaluate [*XLM-R*]{}on the GLUE benchmark. We show in Table \[tab:glue\], that [*XLM-R*]{}obtains better average dev performance than BERT~Large~ by 1.3% and reaches performance on par with XLNet~Large~. The RoBERTa model outperforms [*XLM-R*]{}by only 1.3% on average. We believe future work can reduce this gap even further by alleviating the curse of multilinguality and vocabulary dilution. These results demonstrate the possibility of learning one model for many languages while maintaining strong performance on per-language downstream tasks.
#### XNLI: XLM versus BERT.
A recurrent criticism against multilingual model is that they obtain worse performance than their monolingual counterparts. In addition to the comparison of [*XLM-R*]{}and RoBERTa, we provide the first comprehensive study to assess this claim on the XNLI benchmark. We extend our comparison between multilingual XLM models and monolingual BERT models on 7 languages and compare performance in Table \[tab:multimono\]. We train 14 monolingual BERT models on Wikipedia and CommonCrawl[^3], and two XLM-7 models. We add slightly more capacity in the vocabulary size of the multilingual model for a better comparison. To our surprise - and backed by further study on internal benchmarks - we found that *multilingual models can outperform their monolingual BERT counterparts*. Specifically, in Table \[tab:multimono\], we show that for cross-lingual transfer, monolingual baselines outperform XLM-7 for both Wikipedia and CC by 1.6% and 1.3% average accuracy. However, by making use of multilingual training (translate-train-all) and leveraging training sets coming from multiple languages, XLM-7 can outperform the BERT models: our XLM-7 trained on CC obtains 80.0% average accuracy on the 7 languages, while the average performance of monolingual BERT models trained on CC is 77.5%. This is a surprising result that shows that the capacity of multilingual models to leverage training data coming from multiple languages for a particular task can overcome the capacity dilution problem to obtain better overall performance.
Representation Learning for Low-resource Languages
--------------------------------------------------
We observed in Table \[tab:multimono\] that pretraining on Wikipedia for Swahili and Urdu performed similarly to a randomly initialized model; most likely due to the small size of the data for these languages. On the other hand, pretraining on CC improved performance by up to 10 points. This confirms our assumption that mBERT and XLM-100 rely heavily on cross-lingual transfer but do not model the low-resource languages as well as [*XLM-R*]{}. Specifically, in the translate-train-all setting, we observe that the biggest gains for XLM models trained on CC, compared to their Wikipedia counterparts, are on low-resource languages; 7% and 4.8% improvement on Swahili and Urdu respectively.
Conclusion
==========
In this work, we introduced [*XLM-R*]{}, our new state of the art multilingual masked language model trained on 2.5 TB of newly created clean CommonCrawl data in 100 languages. We show that it provides strong gains over previous multilingual models like [mBERT]{}and XLM on classification, sequence labeling and question answering. We exposed the limitations of multilingual MLMs, in particular by uncovering the high-resource versus low-resource trade-off, the curse of multilinguality and the importance of key hyperparameters. We also expose the surprising effectiveness of multilingual models over monolingual models, and show strong improvements on low-resource languages.
Appendix {#appendix .unnumbered}
========
Languages and statistics for CC-100 used by [*XLM-R*]{}
=======================================================
In this section we present the list of languages in the CC-100 corpus we created for training [*XLM-R*]{}. We also report statistics such as the number of tokens and the size of each monolingual corpus. \[sec:appendix\_A\]
Model Architectures and Sizes
=============================
As we showed in section \[sec:analysis\], capacity is an important parameter for learning strong cross-lingual representations. In the table below, we list multiple monolingual and multilingual models used by the research community and summarize their architectures and total number of parameters. \[sec:appendix\_B\]
[^1]: <https://github.com/facebookresearch/(fairseq-py,pytext,xlm)>
[^2]: Equal contribution.
[^3]: For simplicity, we use a reduced version of our corpus by capping the size of each monolingual dataset to 60 GiB.
| |
An informatician is needed to join the Hartree Centre team to work on a landmark project for the pharmaceutical industry focusing on the digital design of drug products. This is a government funded project in partnership with 4 of the top 12 UK pharmaceutical companies and also includes computational chemists from within STFC and university partners. The person appointed will be involved in developing a “big data” and analytics platform to analyse pharmaceutical process and product development data from pharmaceutical factories to raise the quality and efficiency of the manufacture of medicines in line with Quality by Design principles.
This will require working with partners on the identification of scientific and industrial requirements and translating those requirements into inputs to the digital design pipeline. The project will first secure, from partner companies, data which can be used for mining to provide understanding of development and commercial dosage form manufacture and performance. The analytical methods will involve secure mining of input data to refine models to predict product performance, select manufacturing processes and evaluate process robustness.
This project will develop a top-down, knowledge-driven Digital Design and Control approach for drug products and their manufacturing processes. This holistic approach involves bringing together a range of predictive models using experimental data to help understand risk and design/scale-up robust products/processes, in order to improve manufacturing through novel data and model-based control, real-time data analytics and operations algorithms ensuring progress towards zero defect manufacturing.
A shift to big data and mechanistic, predictive models is required for the UK to lead the development and manufacture of the growing global demand for novel medicinal products. The tools and workflows developed in the proposed project will provide UK-based CMOs as well as the larger pharma companies’ in-house manufacturing facilities with a step-change competitive advantage. This advantage will manifest itself through the production of innovative drug substances of a consistently high quality designed to meet the drug product (and hence patient) needs, permitting more efficient, responsive and robust processes.
By improved process understanding it will be possible to allow improved process efficiency and also speed to market allowing more robust processes (rather than those based on a make-and-test approach) to be utilized ensuring an improved supply chain of better quality and more diversified products to the patient at a lower cost. We aim to reduce defects by an order of magnitude, halve stocks, double the value added time and double the amount of delivered therapeutic product through a step change in product and process design.
Tasks to be performed include:
• assessing the objectives and requirements of the industrial partners
• using a variety of techniques and theoretical principles to establish probability and risk of production problems
• using appropriate techniques and theoretical principles to determine an appropriate method of data collection and research methodology, then analyse and interpret information gained
• formulating recommendations on issues such as future trends and improved efficiency;
• using statistical techniques in order to analyse and interpret the quantitative data collected;
• providing statistical advice to governments industrial partners in light of research findings;
• addressing seminars, conferences and the media to present results of research activity
The essential skill for this post is understanding of statistics. Familiarity with manufacturing process control and the with pharmaceutical industry would also be beneficial. | https://www.r-users.com/jobs/big-data-analyst-informatician-amsci/ |
From the crucible of those early creative years in Australian family therapy, Michael White then went on to originate such a diversity of ideas and ways of working that it is not possible for me to list these all here, let alone explain them. Let me just mention a few key contributions3:
These concepts and practices have travelled the world as Michael became a major international figure in family therapy. As there is now an entire literature explaining each of these concepts and practice methods, I will not seek to describe them here. Michael did a great job of this himself both in the written word and in teaching. Instead, I wish to briefly discuss Michael’s methods of originating. Michael refused to ‘merely import ideas and methods developed elsewhere’. Instead, time and again he came up with sparkling innovations. How did he do so? While perhaps this is an impossible question to answer, I wish to shed at least a little light on Michael’s process of originating.
The final paragraph of Maps of Narrative Practice (2007) offers us a clue. In this paragraph, Michael acknowledges all of the people who sought his assistance over the years:
“I view all the therapeutic practices described in these pages as having evolved from our co-research. In the course of therapeutic consultations, I regularly solicit feedback from people about which avenues of conversation are working for them and which are not, and, at the finale, I initiate a review of what was helpful and what wasn’t helpful in our effort to address the predicaments and concerns of their lives. This feedback and these reviews have been instrumental in shaping my practice and fundamental to the development of the ideas and maps presented in this book. In concluding this book I give heartfelt thanks to all of you for these contributions, which I remain ever-conscious of in my work and my life” (p.292)
In the early days, Michael saw nine families a day, five days a week. A considerable amount of co-research took place in the course of the development of narrative practices.4
A second clue to the process of originating is offered in Michael’s descriptions of his conversational partnerships with David Epston and Cheryl White:
“In the later 1980s, I began to relate more significantly to the narrative metaphor. This was partly due to Cheryl White’s encouragement of me to privilege this metaphor in my work, which in turn was informed by her engagement with feminist writings. This interest in the narrative metaphor was also something that came out of my collaboration with David Epston. These were exciting times. David and I would be constantly phoning each other across the Tasman Sea with things to share with each other about the families we were consulting with” (White, 2001b, p.134)
Michael White and David Epston’s intellectual partnership and friendship was a key factor in the originating of narrative practices. So too were the contributions of Karl Tomm.5 These were conversational partnerships of challenge, debate and the sharing of ideas. Such partnerships create a context for originality.
A third clue can be found in Michael’s writings, in his references to a wide-range of authors. For many years, come January, Michael would retreat into his books. He would look forward to this treasured time of year. Summer was associated with reading and it was through a creative engagement with a diversity of authors that Michael would find a new language to describe innovative therapeutic practice. He did not read to confirm ideas, instead to further stretch them. Different authors provided inspiration for different practices. In the early years, it was Bateson (1972, 1979) who provided metaphors of redundancy; Goffman (1961) who provided the term ‘unique outcome’; Geertz (1983), Bruner (1986) and other interpretive social scientists who laid the groundwork for the text analogy; Myerhoff (1982, 1986) who provided concepts of re-authoring, re-membering and definitional ceremony; and of course, Foucault (1979, 1980, 1984) who provided a framework by which to understand modern power/knowledge and normalizing judgment and therefore enabled Michael to set a course towards resurrecting subjugated knowledges. More recently, it was the writing of Derrida (1978) who inspired the notion of ‘the absent but implicit’; Vygotsky (1986) who offered scaffolding to consider the significance of concept development; and Deleuze (1993) who was providing new understandings and appreciations of ‘difference’.
After immersing himself in new readings, new authors, Michael would then begin to write. And in the process of writing ideas would take further shape. It was around this time each year, just as the days were getting hottest, that Michael would share his first drafts. There was always a sense of considerable anticipation as he handed these over.
But the writing was not an end in itself. The process of originating would continue as Michael taught the ideas that he described on paper. The practice of teaching was not separate from originating. Michael was also learning when he was teaching. He would regularly describe the process of teaching, sharing and reviewing video-tapes of his therapeutic consultations with others, as both generative of ideas and a form of accountability. One of the key principles of family therapy was to bring the once private domain of therapy out into the light where others could witness, question and critique the actions of the therapist. Michael remained true to this family therapy tradition. He was constantly video-recording his work and sharing this in teaching contexts. There was something about this process that clearly also contributed to originating ideas and practices.
There is one further aspect of originating to which I wish to draw attention. This relates to cross-cultural partnerships. Michael collaborated with Aboriginal colleagues from the mid-1980s and it seems important to acknowledge the contributions that Aboriginal Australian practitioners have made to the development of narrative practice. The most obvious example relates to the development of narrative ‘community gatherings’ which were developed, as Michael describes, due to the vision of Tim Agius from the Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia, and the wisdom of Barbara Wingard:
“I would like to acknowledge the contributions of Tim Agius and Barbara Wingard to our first explorations of the relevance of narrative practices in working with communities. The foundation of these first explorations was Tim’s unwavering vision of a community-wide gathering that would provide a healing context for Aboriginal families of South Australia that had lost a member through death in jail or prison. The spirit and wisdom that Tim and Barbara then brought to this initiative and so willingly shared with the members of our team sustained us in so many ways … “(White, 2003, p.53)
Narrative community gatherings provide an example of a therapeutic approach developed in partnership between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal team members6.
To my mind, Michael has bequeathed not only a profound body of work, but also a particular spirit of originating: one characterized by rigor, determination, collaboration and partnership. Hopefully, alongside Michael’s ideas, this legacy of an originating spirit will also be taken up by future generations of Australian therapists: | https://dulwichcentre.com.au/legacies-of-michael-white-an-extract-from-david-denborough/?v=ef10366317f4 |
Looking into the sound design of Ben Burtt for inspiration in designing sonic vocal characters. Where's WALL-E explores the key components behind great sound design and evaluates how this can be explored in Pure Data for a vocal characterisation tool in Games.
"Ben Burtt is an academy winning, sound designer and is considered in many ways to be the father of modern sound design". (Morris, J. 2008) in an interview he discusses the way in which Ben approaches the sound design in the bonus feature of the dvd 2008 release of WALL-E.
The sound designer Ben Burtt was also the sound designer on the early Star Wars films and passionately explores real world sounds for incorporating and portraying sounds in making other worlds with animation.
During the interview Ben demonstrates his love for a discovery he made in finding a sound that can be applied as a laser/shooter sound by using a stretched out slinky spring and striking the slinky spring over a pick up microphone.
He talks about why this works technically from a sonic perspective, describing the spectral content and physics of the foley and capture.
Comparing a ping sound to the "Jhoom" sound that occurs when striking the slinky.
Ben explains how the high frequencies travel faster than the lower frequencies. That when listening to the sound further away from the striking point the high frequencies reach the microphone first followed by the mid frequencies then the low frequencies.
Also by physically being able to move and oscillate the slinky to this moves those frequencies modulate in a warble creating a sound that can be used in many scenarios either as a starting layer or as a main body character sound. This technique Ben used when making the sound of EVE's laser sound in WALL-E.
His passion for physical modelling sounds from foley is a key component to his work in exploring sound design. Exploring how sound foley capture machines and instruments were made to simulate other worldly sounds in the past, he draws our attention to capturing real world sounds in unusual ways and how to creatively think about sound sources and their multiple uses.
Jim Morris the producer, eloquently summarises the approach Ben took to the sound design as a question about how the overall language of the world space in the movie fits in with the different characters.
Physics is really important when thinking about the characters and objects in an environment such as a movie or a game with many simulated moving parts. Ben Burtt talks about this when thinking about how the characters and objects will act inside the overall soundscape of the world.
The other consideration is the emotional semantic content of how the sound feels and the emotional relationship between the audience and the character on screen.
Distinctively the array of sounds used for WALL-E were lots of physical motorised sounds and with EVE by contrast because of her high tech modernised feel a softer higher frequency melodic array of sounds were compiled.
The array of sounds can then be orchestrated/arranged to make more believable the diegetic storytelling of the characters in the world. Every movement is considered when developing the sonic relationship between the character and the audience so the characters personality fits into their world space. | https://www.crystaldesprit.com/post/where-s-wall-e |
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Do you want to get your work out there, but it's still behind a paywall? Even if your research is not fully open access, many publishers have self-archiving policies that allow you to make your work freely available at no cost. This model is called Green Open Access. At UNCW, Randall Library hosts a repository of self-archived research for just this purpose called Seahawk DOCKS. Other options include disciplinary repositories and even personal websites.
If you're ready to Go Green and share your work with a wider audience, the scholarly communications librarian is available to help you investigate potential options and navigate publisher agreements.
Seahawk DOCKS is UNCW's portion of a shared database called North Carolina Digital Online Collection of Knowledge and Scholarship (NC DOCKS). Designed by UNC Greensboro and shared with UNCG, East Carolina University, Appalachian State University, and UNC Pembroke, NC DOCKS is designed to hold digital, online copies of faculty articles, white papers, and other scholarly works, in addition to student theses and dissertations. This type of database is often referred to as an "Institutional Repository," or IR. | https://uncw.libguides.com/open_access |
Technical Field
Background Art
Disclosure of Invention
Problems to be Solved by the Invention
Means for Solving the Problems
Effect of the Invention
Brief Description of the Drawings
Reference Numerals
Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention
First Embodiment
The present invention relates to refrigerant air conditioners, and in particular relates to a refrigerant air conditioner capable of improving its heating capacity by gas injection during a low outdoor temperature.
As conventional refrigerant air conditioners, there has been an air conditioner in that refrigerant gas separated in a gas liquid separator arranged in an intermediate pressure portion between a condenser and an evaporator is injected into an intermediate pressure portion of a compressor so as to increase a heating capacity (see Patent Document 1, for example). Also, there is an air conditioner in that instead of providing the gas liquid separator, part of high-pressure refrigerant liquid is bypassed and reduced in pressure, which in tern is injected into a compressor after it is evaporated by exchanging heat with that of high-pressure refrigerant liquid so as to increase a heating capacity (see Patent Document 2, for example).
Also, there is an air conditioner in that a liquid receiver is provided in an intermediate pressure portion between a condenser and an evaporator, so that heat of the refrigerant in the liquid receiver is exchanged with heat of the refrigerant sucked by a compressor (see Patent Document 3, for example).
2001-304714
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No.
2000-274859
Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No.
2001-174091
Patent Document 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No.
However, the following problems have arisen in the conventional refrigerant air conditioners. First, as in the conventional example in Patent Document 1, during injection from the gas liquid separator, the liquid amount in the gas liquid separator is changed in accordance with the injection amount, so that there has been an unstable operation problem caused by the change in refrigerant liquid amount distribution in a refrigerating cycle.
When the injected refrigerant gas is balanced in flow rate with the refrigerant gas in two-phase refrigerant flowing into the gas liquid separator, the refrigerant liquid amount in the gas liquid separator is stabilized because only the refrigerant liquid flows out toward the evaporator. However, if the flow rate of the injected refrigerant decreases to less than that of the refrigerant gas flowing into the gas liquid separator, the refrigerant gas also flows out toward the evaporator so that gas flows out from the bottom of the gas liquid separator and almost all the liquid in the gas liquid separator flows out.
In reverse, when the flow rate of the injected refrigerant increases, the refrigerant liquid is also injected among the refrigerant gas because of the shortage of the refrigerant gas. Consequently, the liquid flows out from the top of the gas liquid separator so as to fill the gas liquid separator almost with the liquid.
Since the injection flow rate is liable to change according to high-low pressures in a refrigerating cycle, the pressure in the gas liquid separator, and the operation capacity of the compressor, the injected refrigerant gas is scarcely balanced in flow rate with the refrigerant gas flowing into the gas liquid separator. In practice, the refrigerant liquid amount in the gas liquid separator is whether almost zero or in a flooded state, and the refrigerant amount in the gas liquid separator is liable to change according to operation situations. Consequently, the refrigerant liquid amount distribution in a refrigerating cycle is liable to change so that the operation fluctuates.
Such operation instability following the change in the refrigerant amount in the gas liquid separator is solved by bypassing and injecting part of the high-pressure refrigerant liquid like in the conventional example in Patent Document 2, because of the absence of a liquid reservoir portion. However, even in this structure, the following problems remain.
In general, the refrigerating cycle with the gas injection can increase the heating capacity in accordance with the increase in refrigerant flow rate flowing into a room heat exchanger from the compressor by increasing the injection flow.
However, if the injection flow rate is increased, the refrigerant liquid is also injected among the refrigerant gas so that the room heat exchanger is decreased in heat exchanging capacity by decreasing the discharge temperature of the compressor so as to also reduce the refrigerant temperature at the inlet of the room heat exchanger. Hence, an injection flow rate exists in that the heating capacity is maximized by keeping the balance between the refrigerant flow rate and the heat exchanging capacity.
In general refrigerant air conditioners of air heat-source heat pump type, in cold districts with atmospheric temperatures of -10°C or less, the sufficient heating operation cannot be performed because of the reduction in heating capacity, so that apparatuses capable of displaying the more sufficient heating capacity have been demanded. However, the gas injection cycle described above has a limit of the heating capacity so that the sufficient heating operation cannot be performed.
The conventional example described in Patent Document 3 also has no heating capacity increasing configuration in its circuit structure, so that in the same way, the heating capacity is reduced and the sufficient heating operation cannot be performed in the cold districts.
In view of the problems described above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a refrigerant air conditioner capable of displaying a sufficient heating capacity even in cold districts with atmospheric temperatures of -10°C or less by improving the heating capacity in the refrigeration air conditioner more than that of conventional gas injection cycles.
A refrigerant air conditioner according to the present invention including a compressor, a room heat exchanger, a first pressure reducing device, and an outdoor heat exchanger, which are circularly connected, for supplying hot heat from the room heat exchanger, further includes a first internal heat exchanger for exchanging heat of refrigerant existing between the room heat exchanger and the first pressure reducing device with heat of refrigerant existing between the outdoor heat exchanger and the compressor; an injection circuit for bypassing part of the refrigerant existing between the room heat exchanger and the first pressure reducing device so as to inject it into a compression chamber within the compressor; a pressure reducing device for injection provided along the injection circuit; and a second internal heat exchanger for exchanging heat of refrigerant reduced in pressure by the pressure reducing device for injection with heat of the refrigerant existing between the room heat exchanger and the first pressure reducing device.
As described above, according to the present invention, when heating operation to supply hot heat from the room heat exchanger is performed in the system of circularly connected the compressor, the room heat exchanger, the first pressure reducing device, and the outdoor heat exchanger, refrigerant sucked into the compressor is heated by the first internal heat exchanger to exchange heat of refrigerant existing between the room heat exchanger and the first pressure reducing device with heat of refrigerant existing between the outdoor heat exchanger and the compressor. Thereby, even if the flow rate of the refrigerant injected in the compression chamber in the compressor is increased by bypassing part of refrigerant existing between the room heat exchanger and the first pressure reducing device, the reduction in discharge temperature of the compressor is suppressed, so that the sufficient heating capacity can be secured by making the room heat exchanger display the sufficient heat exchanging capacity even in conditions liable to reduce the heating capacity such as cold ambient temperature. Simultaneously, when supplying the refrigerant for gas injection by the second internal heat exchanger for exchanging heat of refrigerant reduced in pressure by the pressure reducing device for injection with heat of refrigerant existing between the room heat exchanger and the first pressure reducing device, the change in liquid amount due to use of the gas liquid separator can be avoided by supplying the bypassed and gasified refrigerant without a gas liquid separator, achieving much more stable operation of the apparatus.
Fig. 1
is a refrigerant circuit diagram of a refrigerant air conditioner according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 2
is a PH diagram showing operating situations during heating operation of the refrigerant air conditioner.
Fig. 3
is a PH diagram showing operating situations during cooling operation of the refrigerant air conditioner.
Fig. 4
is a flowchart showing control process during the heating operation of the refrigerant air conditioner.
Fig. 5
is a flowchart showing control process during the cooling operation of the refrigerant air conditioner.
Fig. 6
is a PH diagram showing operating situations during gas injection of the refrigerant air conditioner.
Fig. 7
is a graph showing temperature changes of a condenser during the gas injection of the refrigerant air conditioner.
Fig. 8
is a graph showing operation characteristics during changing of the gas injection flow rate of the refrigerant air conditioner.
Fig. 9
is a graph showing differences in operation characteristics due to presence or absence of a first internal heat exchanger of the refrigerant air conditioner.
Fig. 10
is another graph showing operation characteristics during the changing of the gas injection flow rate of the refrigerant air conditioner.
Fig. 11
is a refrigerant circuit diagram of a refrigerant air conditioner according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
1: outdoor unit, 2: room unit, 3: compressor, 4: four-way valve, 5: gas pipe, 6: room heat exchanger, 7: liquid pipe, 8: second expansion valve, 9: first internal heat exchanger, 10: second internal heat exchanger, 11: first expansion valve, 12: outdoor heat exchanger, 13: injection circuit, 14: third expansion valve for injection, 15: measurement control unit.
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
is a refrigerant circuit diagram of a refrigerant air conditioner according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
In , on an outdoor unit 1, there are mounted a compressor 3, a four-way valve 4 for switching the operation between heating and cooling, an outdoor heat exchanger 12, a first expansion valve 11, which is a pressure-reducing device, a second internal heat exchanger 10, a first internal heat exchanger 9, a second expansion valve 8, which is a pressure-reducing device, an injection circuit 13, and a third expansion valve 14, which is a pressure-reducing device for injection.
The compressor 3 is a type of compressor controlled in capacity by controlling the number of revolutions with an inverter, and is capable of injecting refrigerant supplied from the injection circuit 13 into a compressing chamber of the compressor 3.
The first expansion valve 11, the second expansion valve 8, and the third expansion valve 14 are electronic expansion valves controlled to be variable in opening. The outdoor heat exchanger 12 is for heat-exchanging with outside air blown by a fan and the like.
Within a room unit 2, a room heat exchanger 6 is mounted. A gas pipe 5 and a liquid pipe 7 are connection pipes for connecting between the outdoor unit 1 and the room unit 2. For the refrigerant of this refrigerant air conditioner, R410A is used which is a mixed HFC refrigerant.
Within the outdoor unit 1, a measurement control unit 15 and temperature sensors 16 are arranged. A temperature sensor 16a is arranged on discharge side of the compressor 3; a temperature sensor 16b between the outdoor heat exchanger 12 and the four-way valve 4; a temperature sensor 16c along a refrigerant flow path in the intermediate portion of the outdoor heat exchanger 12; a temperature sensor 16d between the outdoor heat exchanger 12 and the first expansion valve 11; a temperature sensor 16e between the first internal heat exchanger 9 and the second expansion valve 8; and a temperature sensor 16f on suction side of the compressor 3, for measuring the refrigerant temperature at the respective installation sites. Also, a temperature sensor 16g is for measuring the outside air temperature around the outdoor unit 1.
Within the room unit 2, temperature sensors 16h, 16i, and 16j are arranged: the temperature sensor 16h is arranged along a refrigerant flow path in the intermediate portion of the room heat exchanger 6 and the temperature sensor 16i is arranged between the room heat exchanger 6 and the liquid pipe 7, for measuring the refrigerant temperature at the respective installation sites; and the temperature sensor 16j is for measuring the temperature of air to be sucked into the room heat exchanger 6. When a heat medium as a load is other media, such as water, the temperature sensor 16j is for measuring the temperature of the flowing-in medium.
The temperature sensors 16c and 16h can detect saturated temperatures of the refrigerant at high-low pressures, respectively, by detecting the temperatures of the refrigerant in a gas-liquid two-phase state in the respective intermediate portions of the heat exchangers.
The measurement control unit 15 within the outdoor unit 1 controls the operation method of the compressor 3, the flow-path switching of the four-way valve 4, the blowing air volume of the fan, and the openings of the respective expansion valves, on the basis of the information measured by the sensors 16 and operation instructions from a user of the refrigerant air conditioner.
Figs. 1
2
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Then, the operation in the refrigerant air conditioner will be described.
First, the operation during heating will be described with reference to PH diagrams during heating operation shown in and .
During the heating operation, the flow path of the four-way valve 4 is established in directions shown by solid lines of . The high temperature and pressure refrigerant gas (the point 1 in ) discharged from the compressor 3 flows out of the outdoor unit 1 via the four-way valve 4 so as to flow in the room unit 2 via the gas pipe 5. Then, the gas flows in the room heat exchanger 6 so as to be condensed and liquefied while radiating heat in the room heat exchanger 6 as a condenser, becoming the high pressure and low temperature refrigerant liquid (the point 2 in ). The heat radiated from the refrigerant is given to load-side media, such as air and water, so as to perform heating operation.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The high pressure and low temperature refrigerant flowing out of the room heat exchanger 6 flows in the outdoor unit 1 via the liquid pipe 7. Thereafter, it is slightly reduced in pressure (the point 3 in ) in the second expansion valve 8, and then, it gives heat to the low temperature refrigerant to be sucked to the compressor 3 in the first internal heat exchanger 9 so as to be cooled (the point 4 in ).
Then, after part of the refrigerant is bypassed to the injection circuit 13, the refrigerant exchanges heat in the second internal heat exchanger 10 with the refrigerant bypassed to the injection circuit 13 and reduced in pressure in the third expansion valve 14 getting a low temperature, so as to be further cooled (the point 5 in ). Then, the refrigerant is reduced in pressure to be a low pressure by the first expansion valve 11 so as to become two-phase refrigerant (the point 6 in ). Then, the two-phase refrigerant flows in the outdoor heat exchanger 12 as an evaporator so as to be evaporated and gasified therein (the point 7 in ) by absorbing heat. Thereafter, it passes through the four-way valve 4 so as to heat exchange in the first internal heat exchanger 9 with high-pressure refrigerant for being further heated (the point 8 in ) and sucked into the compressor 3.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
On the other hand, the refrigerant bypassed to the injection circuit 13 is reduced in pressure to an intermediate pressure by the third expansion valve 14 so as to become the low temperature two-phase refrigerant (the point 9 in ). Thereafter, it changes heat in the second internal heat exchanger 10 with high pressure refrigerant so as to be heated (the point 10 in ) for being injected into the compressor 3.
Within the compressor 3, the sucked refrigerant (the point 8 in ) is compressed and heated to an intermediate pressure (the point 11 in ) and then flows together with the injected refrigerant. The refrigerant is reduced in temperature (the point 12 in ), and then discharged (the point 1 in ) after being compressed to be high pressure.
Figs. 1
3
Fig. 1
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Next, the operation during cooling will be described with reference to PH diagrams during cooling operation shown in and .
During the cooling operation, the flow path of the four-way valve 4 is established in directions shown by dotted lines of . The high temperature and pressure refrigerant gas (the point 1 in ) discharged from the compressor 3 flows in the outdoor heat exchanger 12 as a condenser via the four-way valve 4 so as to become high-pressure and low-temperature refrigerant (the point 2 in ) by being condensed and liquefied therein while radiating heat. The refrigerant flowing out of the outdoor heat exchanger 12 is slightly reduced in pressure (the point 3 in ) in the first expansion valve 11 and subsequently cooled (the point 4 in ) in the second internal heat exchanger 10 by exchanging heat with the low-temperature refrigerant flowing along the injection circuit 13. After part of the refrigerant is bypassed to the injection circuit 13, the refrigerant is continuously cooled (the point 5 in ) in the first internal heat exchanger 9 by exchanging heat with the refrigerant to be sucked into the compressor 3.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
After becoming the two-phase refrigerant (the point 6 in ) by being reduced in pressure to a low pressure by the second expansion valve 8, the refrigerant flows out of the outdoor unit 1 so as to flow in the room unit 2 via the liquid pipe 7. Then, it flows in the room heat exchanger 6 as an evaporator so as to give the cold to load-side media, such as air and water, while being evaporated and gasified therein (the point 7 in ) by absorbing heat.
The low-pressure refrigerant gas flowing out of the room heat exchanger 6 flows out of the room unit 2 so as to flow into the outdoor unit 1 via the gas pipe 5. Then, it passes through the four-way valve 4, and is subsequently heated (the point 8 in ) by exchanging heat with the high-pressure refrigerant in the first internal heat exchanger 9 and then sucked into the compressor 3.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
On the other hand, the refrigerant bypassed to the injection circuit 13 is reduced in pressure to an intermediate pressure by the third expansion valve 14 so as to become the low temperature two-phase refrigerant (the point 9 in ). Thereafter, it changes heat in the second internal heat exchanger 10 with high pressure refrigerant so as to be heated (the point 10 in ) for being injected into the compressor 3. Within the compressor 3, the sucked refrigerant (the point 8 in ) is compressed and heated to an intermediate pressure (the point 11 in ) and then flows together with the injected refrigerant. The refrigerant is reduced in temperature (the point 12 in ), and then discharged (the point 1 in ) after being compressed to be high pressure.
The PH diagram during the cooling operation is substantially identical to that during the heating operation, so that the same way operation can be achieved in any one of the operation modes.
Fig. 4
Next, the control operation in the refrigerant air conditioner will be described.
First, the control operation during the heating operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of .
During the heating operation, the capacity of the compressor 3, the opening of the first expansion valve 11, the opening of the second expansion valve 8, and the opening of the third expansion valve 14 are firstly established as initial values (Step S1).
After a predetermined time elapsed (Step S2), in accordance with the operation state thereafter, each actuator is controlled as follows.
Also, the capacity of the compressor 3 is principally controlled so that the air temperature measured by the temperature sensor 16j of the room unit 2 becomes the temperature set by a user of the refrigerant air conditioner.
That is, the air temperature in the room unit 2 is compared with the set value (Step S3). When the air temperature is identical or close to the set temperature, the capacity of the compressor 3 is maintained as it is and the process proceeds to the next Step.
Also, the capacity of the compressor 3 is changed (Step S4) such that when the air temperature is much smaller than the set temperature, the capacity of the compressor 3 is increased; when the air temperature is close to the set temperature, the capacity of the compressor 3 is maintained as it is; and when the air temperature is increased larger than the set temperature, the capacity of the compressor 3 is decreased.
The control of each expansion valve is performed as follows.
First, the second expansion valve 8 is controlled so that the degree of supercooling SC of the refrigerant at the outlet of the room heat exchanger 6 becomes a target value set in advance, such as 10°C, the degree of supercooling SC being obtained from the temperature difference between the saturated temperature of the high-pressure refrigerant detected by the temperature sensor 16h and the outlet temperature of the room heat exchanger 6 detected by the temperature sensor 16i.
That is, the degree of supercooling SC of the refrigerant at the outlet of the room heat exchanger 6 is compared to the target value (Step S5). When the degree of supercooling SC of the refrigerant at the outlet of the room heat exchanger 6 is identical or close to the target value, the opening of the second expansion valve 8 is maintained as it is and the process proceeds to the next Step.
Also, the opening of the second expansion valve 8 is changed (Step S6) such that when the degree of supercooling SC of the refrigerant at the outlet of the room heat exchanger 6 is larger than the target value, the opening of the second expansion valve 8 is increased; and when the degree of supercooling SC is smaller than the target value, the opening of the second expansion valve 8 is controlled to be smaller.
Then, the first expansion valve 11 is controlled so that the degree of super heating SH of the refrigerant at the inlet of the compressor 3 becomes a target value set in advance, such as 10°C, the degree of super heating SH being detected from the temperature difference between the inlet temperature of the compressor 3 detected by the temperature sensor 16f and the saturated temperature of the low-pressure refrigerant detected by the temperature sensor 16c.
That is, the degree of super heating SH of the refrigerant at the inlet of the compressor 3 is compared to the target value (Step S7). When the degree of super heating SH of the refrigerant at the inlet of the compressor 3 is identical or close to the target value, the opening of the first expansion valve 11 is maintained as it is and the process proceeds to the next Step.
Also, the opening of the first expansion valve 11 is changed (Step S8) such that when the degree of super heating SH of the refrigerant at the inlet of the compressor 3 is larger than the target value, the opening of the first expansion valve 11 is increased; and when the degree of super heating SH is smaller than the target value, the opening of the first expansion valve 11 is controlled to be smaller.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Furthermore, the third expansion valve 14 is controlled so that the discharge temperature of the compressor 3 detected by the temperature sensor 16a becomes a target value set in advance, such as 90°C.
That is, the discharge temperature of the compressor 3 is compared to the target value (Step S9). When the discharge temperature of the compressor 3 is identical or close to the target value, the opening of the third expansion valve 14 is maintained as it is so as to return to Step S2.
When the opening of the third expansion valve 14 is varied, the refrigerant state is changed as follows.
When the opening of the third expansion valve 14 is increased, the refrigerant flow rate flowing through the injection circuit 13 is increased. Since the heat exchanging amount of the second internal heat exchanger 10 does not largely change according to the flow of the injection circuit 13. Therefore, when the refrigerant flow rate flowing through the injection circuit 13 is increased, the refrigerant enthalpy difference (the difference between the point 9 and the point 10 in ) in the second internal heat exchanger 10 on the side of the injection circuit 13 is decreased, so that the enthalpy of the injected refrigerant (the point 10 in ) is reduced.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Accordingly, the enthalpy of the refrigerant having the injected and confluent refrigerant (the point 12 in ) is also reduced, so that the discharge enthalpy of the compressor 3 (the point 1 in ) is also reduced, decreasing the discharge temperature of the compressor 3.
In contrast, when the opening of the third expansion valve 14 is reduced, the discharge enthalpy of the compressor 3 increases so that the discharge temperature of the compressor 3 is increased. Thus, the opening of the third expansion valve 14 is controlled to change (Step S10) such that when the discharge temperature of the compressor 3 is larger than the target value, the opening of the third expansion valve 14 is controlled to be larger; and when the discharge temperature of the compressor 3 is inversely smaller than the target value, the opening of the third expansion valve 14 is controlled to be smaller. Thereafter, the process returns to Step S2.
Fig. 5
Next, the control operation during the cooling operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of .
During the cooling operation, the capacity of the compressor 3, the opening of the first expansion valve 11, the opening of the second expansion valve 8, and the opening of the third expansion valve 14 are firstly established as initial values (Step S11).
After a predetermined time elapsed (Step S12), in accordance with the operation state thereafter, each actuator is controlled as follows.
First, the capacity of the compressor 3 is principally controlled so that the air temperature measured by the temperature sensor 16j of the room unit 2 becomes the temperature set by a user of the refrigerant air conditioner.
That is, the air temperature in the room unit 2 is compared with the set temperature (Step S13). When the air temperature is identical or close to the set temperature, the capacity of the compressor 3 is maintained as it is and the process proceeds to the next Step.
Also, the capacity of the compressor 3 is changed (Step S14) such that when the air temperature is much greater than the set temperature, the capacity of the compressor 3 is increased; and when the air temperature is smaller than the set temperature, the capacity of the compressor 3 is reduced.
The control of each expansion valve is performed as follows.
First, the first expansion valve 11 is controlled so that degree of supercooling SC of the refrigerant at the outlet of the outdoor heat exchanger 12 becomes a target value set in advance, such as 10°C, the degree of supercooling SC being obtained from the temperature difference between the saturated temperature of the high-pressure refrigerant detected by the temperature sensor 16c and the outlet temperature of the outdoor heat exchanger 12 detected by the temperature sensor 16d.
That is, the degree of supercooling SC of the refrigerant at the outlet of the outdoor heat exchanger 12 is compared to the target value (Step S15). When the degree of supercooling SC of the refrigerant at the outdoor heat exchanger 12 is identical or close to the target value, the opening of the first expansion valve 11 is maintained as it is and the process proceeds to the next Step.
Also, the opening of the first expansion valve 11 is changed (Step S16) such that when the degree of supercooling SC of the refrigerant at the outdoor heat exchanger 12 is larger than the target value, the opening of the first expansion valve 11 is increased; and when the degree of supercooling SC is smaller than the target value, the opening of the first expansion valve 11 is controlled to be smaller.
Then, the second expansion valve 8 is controlled so that degree of super heating SH of the refrigerant at the inlet of the compressor 3 becomes a target value set in advance, such as 10°C, the degree of super heating SH being detected from the temperature difference between the inlet temperature of the compressor 3 detected by the temperature sensor 16f and the saturated temperature of the low-pressure refrigerant detected by the temperature sensor 16h.
That is, the degree of super heating SH of the refrigerant at the inlet of the compressor 3 is compared to the target value (Step S17). When the degree of super heating SH of the refrigerant at the inlet of the compressor 3 is identical or close to the target value, the opening of the second expansion valve 8 is maintained as it is and the process proceeds to the next Step.
Also, the opening of the second expansion valve 8 is changed (Step S18) such that when the degree of super heating SH of the refrigerant at the inlet of the compressor 3 is larger than the target value, the opening of the second expansion valve 8 is increased; and when the degree of super heating SH is smaller than the target value, the opening of the second expansion valve 8 is controlled to be smaller.
Then, the third expansion valve 14 is controlled so that the discharge temperature of the compressor 3 detected by the temperature sensor 16a becomes a target value set in advance, such as 90°C.
That is, the discharge temperature of the compressor 3 is compared to the target value (Step S19). When the discharge temperature of the compressor 3 is identical or close to the target value, the opening of the third expansion valve 8 is maintained as it is so as to return to Step S12.
The refrigerant state is changed in the same way as in the heating operation when the opening of the third expansion valve 14 is varied. Therefore, the opening of the third expansion valve 14 is changed (Step S20) such that when the discharge temperature of the compressor 3 is larger than the target value, the opening of the third expansion valve 14 is increased; and when the discharge temperature is inversely smaller than the target value, the opening of the third expansion valve 14 is controlled to be smaller. Thereafter, the process returns to Step S12.
Next, the operation/working-effect achieved by the circuit configuration and the control according to the embodiment will be described. Since the refrigerant air conditioner with the constitution can be operated in the same way in any of the cooling and heating modes, the heating operation will be representatively described below.
The circuit of the refrigerant air conditioner is a so-called gas injection circuit. That is, the refrigerant gas in part of the refrigerant, which is reduced in pressure to an intermediate pressure after flowing out of the room heat exchanger 6 as a condenser is injected into the compressor 3.
Fig. 6
In general, the refrigerant at an intermediate pressure is conventionally separated into liquid and gas in the gas liquid separator so as to be injected. Whereas, in this apparatus, as shown in , the refrigerant is thermally separated into liquid and gas by exchanging heat in the second internal heat exchanger 10 so as to be injected.
The gas injection circuit achieves the following effects.
First, by the gas injection, the refrigerant flow discharged from the compressor 3 is increased, so that the refrigerant flow Gdis discharged from the compressor 3 = the refrigerant flow Gsuc sucked to the compressor 3 + the injected refrigerant flow Ginj.
Thus, since the refrigerant flow entering the heat exchanger as a condenser is increased, the heating capacity is increased during the heating operation.
Fig. 6
On the other hand, by exchanging heat in the second internal heat exchanger 10, as shown in , the refrigerant enthalpy entering the heat exchanger as an evaporator is reduced, so that the refrigerant enthalpy difference at the evaporator is increased. Hence, the cooling capacity is increased even during the cooling operation.
Also, the gas injection achieves the improving of the efficiency.
The refrigerant entering the evaporator is generally the gas-liquid two-phase refrigerant and among them, the refrigerant gas does not contribute to the cooling capacity. When viewed from the compressor 3, the compressor 3 works for highly pressurizing this low-pressure refrigerant gas together with the refrigerant gas evaporated in the evaporator.
During the gas injection, certain part of the refrigerant gas entering the evaporator is extracted at an intermediate pressure and injected, so that the gas is compressed from the intermediate pressure to the high pressure.
Hence, the compression work from the low pressure to the intermediate pressure is not necessary for the injected refrigerant gas flow, so that the efficiency is improved by that much. This effect can be obtained at any of cooling and heating operations.
Fig. 7
Next, the correlation between the gas injection flow and the heating capacity will be described.
When the gas injection flow is increased, while the refrigerant flow discharged from the compressor 3 is increased as described above, the discharge temperature of the compressor 3 is reduced and the temperature of the refrigerant entering the condenser is also decreased.
As for the heat exchanging capacity of the condenser, with increasing temperature distribution in the heat exchanger, the heat exchanging capacity is generally increased. The changes in refrigerant temperature in the case when the refrigerant temperature at the inlet of the condenser is different at the same condensation temperature are shown in , so that the temperature distribution is different in the part where the refrigerant in the condenser is in a super-heated gas state.
Fig. 8
In the condenser, the heat exchanging amount dominates a large part when the refrigerant is in a two-phase state at the condensation temperature. However, the heat exchanging amount in the part where the refrigerant is in a super heated gas state also exists about 20% to 30% of its total, having the large effect on the heat exchanging amount.
If the injection flow is excessively increased and the refrigerant temperature in the super-heated gas part is largely reduced, the heat exchanging capacity in the condenser is decreased and the heating capacity is also reduced. The above-mentioned correlation between the gas injection flow and the heating capacity is depicted as in , so that the gas injection flow maximizing the heating capacity exists.
Next, the operation/working-effect of the first internal heat exchanger 9 according to the embodiment will be described.
In the first internal heat exchanger 9, the high-pressure refrigerant liquid flowing out of the condenser exchanges heat with the refrigerant sucked into the compressor 3. By cooling the high-pressure refrigerant liquid in the first internal heat exchanger 9, the enthalpy of the refrigerant flowing into the evaporator is reduced, so that the refrigerant enthalpy difference is increased in the evaporator.
Thus, the cooling capacity is increased during the cooling operation.
On the other hand, the refrigerant sucked into the compressor 3 is heated so that the sucking temperature increases. Along with this, the discharge temperature of the compressor 3 is also increased. In the compression stroke of the compressor 3, even in the same pressure rise, the higher temperature refrigerant is compressed, the more work is generally required.
Therefore, in the effect of the first internal heat exchanger 9 on the efficiency, there are both the capacity up due to the increase in enthalpy difference of the evaporator and the increase in compression work. When the effect of the capacity up due to the increase in enthalpy difference of the evaporator is larger, the operating efficiency of the apparatus is improved.
Figs. 2 and 3
Figs. 2 and 3
Next, the effect of the combination of the heat exchanging in the first internal heat exchanger 9 and the gas injection with the injection circuit 13, like in the embodiment, will be described.
When heat is exchanged by the first internal heat exchanger 9, the sucking temperature of the compressor 3 is increased. Hence, in the change within the compressor 3 during the injection, the enthalpy of the refrigerant pressurized from the low pressure to the intermediate pressure (the point 11 of ) is increased, and the enthalpy of the refrigerant after merging with the refrigerant to be injected (the point 12 of ) is also increased.
Figs. 2 and 3
Fig. 9
Accordingly, the discharge enthalpy of the compressor 3 (the point 1 of ) is also increased, so that the discharge temperature of the compressor 3 increases. Then, the correlation between the gas injection flow and the heating capacity, accompanied with the presence or absence of the heat exchange by the first internal heat exchanger 9 is depicted as in .
When the heat exchange by the first internal heat exchanger 9 is present, the discharge temperature of the compressor 3 in the case when the same amount is injected is increased, so that the refrigerant temperature at the inlet of the condenser is also increased and the heat exchanging amount in the condenser is increased so as to improve the heating capacity. Hence, the injection flow with which the heating capacity has the peak value is increased and the peak value itself is also increased, thereby obtaining more heating capacity.
In addition, even if the first internal heat exchanger 9 is absent, the degree of the supper heating of the sucked refrigerant into the compressor 3 is increased by the opening control of the first expansion valve 11, so that the discharge temperature of the compressor 3 can be increased.
However, since the degree of the supper heating of the refrigerant at the outlet of the outdoor heat exchanger 12 as an evaporator is also increased simultaneously in this case, the heat exchanging efficiency of the outdoor heat exchanger 12 is reduced.
When the heat exchanging efficiency of the outdoor heat exchanger 12 is reduced, the evaporation temperature must be reduced for obtaining the same heat exchanging capacity, so that the low pressure is reduced in operation.
When the low pressure is reduced, the refrigerant flow sucked into the compressor 3 is also reduced, so that by such an operation, the heating capacity is contrarily deteriorated.
On the contrary hand, use of the first internal heat exchanger 9 makes the refrigerant state at the outlet of the outdoor heat exchanger 12 as an evaporator suitable, so that the discharge temperature of the compressor 3 can be raised while maintaining the suitable heat exchanging efficiency, easily achieving the increase of the heating capacity by avoiding the above-mentioned reduction in low pressure.
Also, in the circuit configuration according to the embodiment, the injection is performed after part of the high-pressure refrigerant is bypassed and reduced in pressure, and then super heating gasified in the second internal heat exchanger 10.
Hence, in comparison with the case where the gas separated by the gas liquid separator is injected like in the conventional example, the change in refrigerant flow distribution is not generated when the injection flow is varied according to the control and operation state, so that more stable operation can be achieved.
Fig. 9
In addition, though it has been described that the third expansion valve 14 is controlled so that the discharge temperature of the compressor 3 has a target value, the control target value is set so that the heating capacity is maximized.
As shown in , from the correlation between gas injection flow, the heating capacity, and the discharge temperature, a discharge temperature maximizing the heating capacity exists, so that this discharge temperature is obtained in advance for setting it as the target value. The target value of the discharge temperature is not necessarily constant, so that it may be changed according to the operation conditions and characteristics of instruments such as a condenser.
By controlling the discharge temperature in such a manner, the gas injection flow can be controlled to maximize the heating capacity.
The gas injection flow can be controlled not only to maximize the heating capacity but also to maximize the operation efficiency.
When the much heating capacity is required like during the starting of the refrigerant air conditioner, the gas injection flow is controlled to maximize the heating capacity. Whereas, when the room temperature is increased after a predetermined lapse of time since the starting of the apparatus, the gas injection flow may be controlled to maximize the operation efficiency because the heating capacity is not so much required in such a case.
Fig. 10
Between the injection flow, the heating capacity, and the operation efficiency, there are correlations as shown in , so that when the operation efficiency is maximized, the injection flow is smaller and the discharge temperature is higher in comparison with the case when the heating capacity is maximized.
In the injection flow maximizing the heating capacity, the heat exchanging capacity of the condenser is reduced because the discharge temperature is lowered. Also, in order to increase the injection flow, the intermediate pressure is decreased and the compression work increases by the injected amount, so that the operation efficiency is reduced in comparison with the case when the operation efficiency is maximized.
Then, the target value of the discharge temperature controlled by the third expansion valve 14 in the injection circuit 13 has not only a target value maximizing the heating capacity but also a target value maximizing the operating efficiency. Thereby, in accordance with operating situations, such as the operating capacity of the compressor 3 and air temperatures around the room unit, when the heating capacity is required, the target value maximizing the heating capacity is set; in other situations, the target value maximizing the operating efficiency is set.
By such a operation, while achieving the much heating capacity, highly efficient operation can be performed.
Also, the first expansion valve 11 is controlled so that the degree of super heating of the refrigerant to be sucked into the compressor 3 has a predetermined value. Thereby, the degree of super heating of the refrigerant at the outlet of the heat exchanger as an evaporator can be optimized so as to secure the high heat exchanging capacity in the evaporator as well as the suitable refrigerant enthalpy difference, permitting highly efficient operation.
The degree of super heating of the refrigerant at the outlet of the evaporator for such an operation depends on characteristics of the heat exchanger, but it is about 2°C. Since the refrigerant is heated in the first internal heat exchanger 9 from this degree, the target value of the degree of super heating of the refrigerant to be sucked into the compressor 3 becomes higher than this degree, so that it is set at 10°C as described above as a target valve.
Accordingly, in the first expansion valve 11, the degree of super heating of the refrigerant at the outlet of the evaporator or the degree of super heating of the refrigerant at the outlet of the outdoor heat exchanger 12, during the heating operation, which are obtained from the temperature difference between the temperature sensor 16b and the temperature sensor 16c, may also be controlled so as to have a target value such as 2°C as mentioned above.
However, in the case when the degree of super heating of refrigerant at the outlet of the evaporator is directly controlled, if the target value is low such as 2°C, the refrigerant at the outlet of the evaporator transiently becomes in a gas-liquid two-phase state, so that the degree of super heating cannot be suitably detected, resulting in difficult control.
By detecting the degree of super heating of the refrigerant to be sucked into the compressor 3, the target value can be set high, and such a situation is not generated owing to heating in the first internal heat exchanger 9, that the degree of super heating cannot be suitably detected because the sucked refrigerant is in a gas-liquid two-phase state, so that the degree of super heating can be easily and stably controlled.
Also, in the second expansion valve 8, the degree of super cooling of the refrigerant at the outlet of the room heat exchanger 6 as a condenser is controlled so as to have a target value. By this control, the heat exchanging capacity in the condenser can be highly secured as well as the apparatus can be operated so as to suitably secure the refrigerant enthalpy difference, permitting highly efficient operation.
The degree of super cooling of the refrigerant at the outlet of the condenser for such an operation depends on characteristics of the heat exchanger, but it is about 5 to 10°C.
In addition, the target value of the degree of super cooling is set higher than this value. By setting it at about 10 to 15°C, for example, the apparatus can be operated so as to increase the heating capacity.
Then, the target value of the degree of super cooling is changed in accordance with operation situations, so that during the starting of the apparatus, the heating capacity may also be secured with a slightly higher degree of super cooling, and at the time when the room temperature is stabilized, the highly efficient operation may also be performed with a slightly lower degree of super cooling.
2
2
2
In addition, the refrigerant for the refrigerant air conditioner is not limited to R410A, so that other refrigerants, such as R134a, R404A, R407C, which are HFC refrigerants, CO, which is a natural refrigerant, HC refrigerants, ammonia, air, and water, may be used. In particular, when CO is used as refrigerant, it has a disadvantage that the refrigerant enthalpy difference is small in the evaporator reducing the operating efficiency. However, in the configuration of'this apparatus, since the refrigerant enthalpy difference of the evaporator can be increased by the first internal heat exchanger 9 and the second internal heat exchanger 10, the efficiency can be more largely improved, so that CO is suitably applied to the apparatus.
2
2
In the case of CO, the condensation temperature does not exist, and in the high-pressure side heat exchanger as a radiator, the temperature decreases along with the flow. Hence, different from the HFC refrigerant in which a certain amount of heat exchange is secured by the condensation temperature kept through a certain section, the change in heat exchange amount in the evaporator is largely influenced by the inlet temperature.
Thus, according to the embodiment in that the injection flow can be increased while the discharge temperature being maintained high, the increasing rate of the heating capacity becomes larger than the HFC refrigerants, so that the CO refrigerant can be suitably incorporated in the apparatus also in this respect.
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The arrangement of the first internal heat exchanger 9 and the second internal heat exchanger 10 is not limited to that shown in , so that the same effect can be obtained even the positional relationship between upstream and downstream is reversed. Also, the deriving position to the injection circuit 13 is not limited to that shown in , so that the same effect can be obtained as long as it is other positions in the intermediate pressure part and the high pressure liquid part.
In addition, in view of the control stability of the third expansion valve 14, as the deriving position to the injection circuit 13, a position where the refrigerant is in a complete liquid state is preferable rather than that where the refrigerant is in a gas-liquid two-phase state.
In addition, according to the embodiment, the first internal heat exchanger 9, the second internal heat exchanger 10 and the deriving position to the injection circuit 13 are arranged between the first expansion valve 11 and the third expansion valve 8, so that the operation with the injection can be performed in any of the heating and cooling modes.
Also, the refrigerant saturation temperature is detected by the refrigerant temperature sensor arranged between the condenser and the evaporator; alternatively, a pressure sensor for detecting high-low pressure may be provided so that the saturation temperature is obtained by converting the measured pressure value.
Fig. 11. Fig. 11
Second Embodiment
A second embodiment of the present invention is shown in is a refrigerant circuit diagram of a refrigerant air conditioner according to the second embodiment, in that an intermediate pressure receiver 17 is provided in the outdoor unit, and a suction pipe of the compressor 3 penetrates the inside of the intermediate pressure receiver 17.
The heat of refrigerant existing in the pipe penetrating portion can be exchanged with that of the refrigerant contained in the intermediate pressure receiver 17, achieving the same function as that of the first internal heat exchanger 9 according to the first embodiment.
The operation/working-effect achieved by this embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment except for the intermediate pressure receiver 17, so that the description of the same portion is omitted. During the heating operation, the gas-liquid two-phase refrigerant at the outlet of the room heat exchanger 6 flows into the intermediate pressure receiver 17 so as to be cooled and liquefied in the intermediate pressure receiver 17, and it flows out. During the cooling operation, the gas-liquid two-phase refrigerant at the outlet of the first expansion valve 11 flows thereinto so as to be cooled and liquefied in the intermediate pressure receiver 17, and it flows out.
In the heat exchange in the intermediate pressure receiver 17, the refrigerant gas among thee gas-liquid two-phase refrigerant mainly touches the suction pipe so as to be condensed and liquefied. Hence, the smaller the amount of the refrigerant liquid stored in the intermediate pressure receiver 17 is, the large the contact area between the refrigerant gas and the suction pipe becomes, so that the heat exchanging amount increases. In contrast, the larger the amount of the refrigerant liquid stored in the intermediate pressure receiver 17 is, the smaller the contact area between the refrigerant gas and the suction pipe becomes, so that the heat exchanging amount decreases.
Provision of the intermediate pressure receiver 17 in such a manner has the following effects.
First, since the refrigerant is liquefied at the outlet of the intermediate pressure receiver 17, the refrigerant flowing in the third expansion valve 14 certainly becomes refrigerant liquid during the heating operation, so that the flowing characteristics in the third expansion valve 14 are stabilized and the stable control is secured, enabling the apparatus to be stably operated.
By the heat exchange in the intermediate pressure receiver 17, there are advantages that the pressure in the intermediate pressure receiver 17 is stabilized; the inlet pressure of the third expansion valve 14 becomes stable; and the refrigerant flow flowing through the injection circuit 13 is stabilized. If the load is changed so that the high-pressure varies, for example, the pressure in the intermediate pressure receiver 17 is changed along therewith; however, the pressure change is suppressed due to the heat exchange in the intermediate pressure receiver 17.
When the load increases and the high-pressure is increased, the pressure in the intermediate pressure receiver 17 is also increased; at this time, the pressure difference to the low-pressure is expanded and the temperature difference in the heat exchanger in the intermediate pressure receiver 17 is also increased, increasing the exchanging heat amount. When the exchanging heat amount is increased, the condensing amount of the refrigerant gas among gas-liquid two-phase refrigerant increases, so that the pressure is difficult to increase and the rise in pressure of the intermediate pressure receiver 17 is suppressed.
Conversely, when the load decreases and the high-pressure is decreased, the pressure in the intermediate pressure receiver 17 is also reduced; at this time, the pressure difference to the low-pressure is also reduced and the temperature difference in the heat exchanger in the intermediate pressure receiver 17 is also decreased, reducing the exchanging heat amount. When the exchanging heat amount is reduced, the condensing amount of the refrigerant gas among gas-liquid two-phase refrigerant decreases, so that the pressure is difficult to decrease and the reduction in pressure of the intermediate pressure receiver 17 is suppressed.
In such a manner, by the heat exchange in the intermediate pressure receiver 17, the change in exchanging heat amount accompanying the change in operating conditions is autonomously generated, resulting in suppression of the change in pressure in the intermediate pressure receiver 17.
The heat exchange in the intermediate pressure receiver 17 also has an effect that the apparatus operation itself is stabilized. For example, when the degree of super heating of the refrigerant at the outlet of the outdoor heat exchanger 12 as an evaporator is increased due to change in low-pressure side state, the temperature difference during the heat exchanging in the intermediate pressure receiver 17 is decreased; the exchanging heat amount decreases; and the refrigerant gas is difficult to be condensed, so that the amount of the refrigerant gas in the intermediate pressure receiver 17 increases and the refrigerant liquid decreases.
The decreased amount of the refrigerant liquid moves to the outdoor heat exchanger 12 so as to increase the amount of the refrigerant liquid in the outdoor heat exchanger 12, so that the increase in the degree of super heating of the refrigerant at the outlet of the outdoor heat exchanger 12 is suppressed, restricting changes in apparatus operation.
Conversely, when the degree of super heating of the refrigerant at the outlet of the outdoor heat exchanger 12 as an evaporator is decreased due to change in low-pressure side state, the temperature difference during the heat exchanging in the intermediate pressure receiver 17 is increased; the exchanging heat amount increases; and the refrigerant gas is liable to be condensed, so that the amount of the refrigerant gas in the intermediate pressure receiver 17 decreases and the refrigerant liquid increases. The increased amount of the refrigerant liquid moves from the outdoor heat exchanger 12 so as to reduce the amount of the refrigerant liquid in the outdoor heat exchanger 12, so that the decrease in the degree of super heating of the refrigerant at the outlet of the outdoor heat exchanger 12 is suppressed, restricting changes in apparatus operation.
The effect suppressing the change in degree of super heating also comes from the fact that the change in exchanging heat amount accompanying the change in operating conditions is autonomously generated.
As described above, by replacing the first internal heat exchanger 9 according to the first embodiment with the intermediate pressure receiver 17, even when the apparatus operation changes, the change is suppressed with the autonomous change in exchanging heat amount, so that the apparatus can be stably operated.
As for the structure for heat exchanging in the intermediate pressure receiver 17, any structure has the same effect as long as it exchanges heat with the refrigerant in the intermediate pressure receiver 17. For example, the heat may be exchanged by bringing the suction pipe of the compressor 3 into contact with the external periphery of the container of the intermediate pressure receiver 17.
Also, the refrigerant in the injection circuit 13 may be supplied from the bottom of the intermediate pressure receiver 17. In this case, in both the heating and cooling operations, the refrigerant liquid flows into the third expansion valve 14, so that flow characteristics in the third expansion valve 14 is stabilized in any of the heating and cooling modes, securing control stability. | |
Figure 1. Percentage of surgeons pregnant during different training years. A generalized linear mixed model was used to estimate the group effect and year effect for the correlated binary outcome (being pregnant from postgraduate year [PGY] 1 to PGY5 for each participant). The denominator for the youngest cohort was adjusted as in Table 3.
Figure 2. A linear model with generalized estimating equations was used to evaluate the number of residents/faculty having impact on women surgeons' childbearing decision making. Independent variables include group effect (decades since graduation [≥30 years, 20-29 years, 10-19 years, and 0-9 years]) as categorical variable, type ot impact (positive or negative), from whom the impact comes (faculty or residents), and sex of residents/faculty. The dependent variable (number of residents/faculty having impact) was log transformed after adding 1 to accommodate skewed distribution. WR indicates women residents; MR, men residents; WF, women faculty; and MF, men faculty.
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Turner PL, Lumpkins K, Gabre J, Lin MJ, Liu X, Terrin M. Pregnancy Among Women Surgeons: Trends Over Time. Arch Surg. 2012;147(5):474–479. doi:10.1001/archsurg.2011.1693
© 2022
Author Affiliations: Departments of Surgery (Drs Turner and Lumpkins, Mr Gabre, and Ms Lin) and Epidemiology and Public Health (Drs Liu and Terrin), University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore. Dr Turner is now with the American College of Surgeons, Chicago, Illinois.
Background Women compose half of all medical students but are underrepresented in the field of general surgery. Concerns about childbirth and pregnancy during training and practice are factors that may dissuade women from electing a career in surgery.
Objective To assess experiences related to childbirth and pregnancy among women general surgeons.
Design Survey questionnaire.
Setting Self-administered survey sent individually to women surgeons in training and practice.
Participants Women members of the Association for Women Surgeons or the American College of Surgeons who graduated from medical school and practice general surgery or a general surgery subspecialty.
Main Outcome Measures Descriptive data on the timing of pregnancy and perception of stigma attending childbirth and pregnancy as experienced by women surgeons, according to date of medical school graduation (0-9 years since graduation, 10-19 years, 20-29 years, and ≥ 30 years). The survey response rate was 49.6%. Trends over time were evaluated using comparisons of proportions and the Cochrane-Armitage trend tests across age cohorts.
Results The perception of stigma associated with pregnancy during training remained large but decreased from 76% in the most remote cohort to 67% in the most recent graduation cohort (P < .001). External influences, even women resident colleagues, were perceived as evincing negative instead of encouraging attitudes toward childbearing during residency, though less so than men, both resident colleagues and faculty. Frequency of pregnancy and pregnancies earlier in training increased over the time cohorts.
Conclusions The number of women general surgeons becoming pregnant during training has increased in recent years; however, substantial negative bias persists. Although the overall magnitude of perceived negative attitudes is greater among male peers than female peers and among faculty than peers, even women residents hold negative views of pregnancy among their colleagues during training. More than half of all women surgeons delay childbearing until they are in independent practice, post-training. Surgical residents and faculty of both sexes exerted negative influences with regard to consideration of childbearing. There was also a trend toward increased childbearing in more recent graduates.
Women in medicine have historically been outnumbered by men, with women composing only 6.9% of medical school graduates in 1965. The number of women applicants has increased steadily to 50.8% of American medical school applicants in 2003 to 2004. Concomitantly, women composed 48.3% of all American medical school graduates in 2010.1
Despite the increase in women physicians, women are not proportionately represented across medical fields. Academic faculty women make up a large percentage of primary care specialties—41% of faculty in internal medicine, 47% in pediatrics, 48% in obstetrics and gynecology, and 40% in family medicine.2 Only 15% of faculty in general surgery are women. Although the number of women medical students pursuing a surgical career has increased steadily since 1997, there are still disproportionately fewer women than men pursuing general surgery and surgical subspecialties. In 2008, women represented 32.3% of residents in general surgery.
Many factors deterring women from careers in surgery have been posited. One major concern is accommodating pregnancy and childbirth during training and practice. Surgical training takes place during a woman's fertile years. Both the demands of training in surgical specialties and subspecialties and negative attitudes toward pregnancy may deter students from choosing surgery as a career.3 We surveyed women general surgeons in training and practice about their experience with childbirth and pregnancy.
The survey instrument was pilot tested in October 2007 at the Association of Women Surgeons annual meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. The study was approved by the institutional review board at the University of Maryland at Baltimore. The survey was distributed in 2008 to all women physicians who were members of the American College of Surgeons, who identified themselves as general surgeons or any of the subspecialties of general surgery, and all members of the Association of Women Surgeons. Survey invitations were sent by e-mail to all members with an e-mail address on file. Paper surveys were sent to those individuals for whom no e-mail addresses were available. Surgeons with incorrect/inactive e-mail addresses were not recontacted via other means. No individuals received both a paper and e-mail survey.
Announcements about the survey were also included in e-mail correspondence to the membership of the American College of Surgeons, American Medical Association, and Association of Women Surgeons. Lime Survey (Carsten Schmitz) was used to collect electronic responses, and Scantron (Scantron Corp) was used to process the paper forms. The survey was sent to unique e-mail addresses or mailing addresses. The Association of Women Surgeons and American College of Surgeons databases were compared prior to sending out surveys; an individual in both lists would have received only 1 survey.
The 99-question survey collected demographic information including year of completion (or expected completion) of training; type of practice or training program; numbers of pregnancies and births before, during, or after training; number of women faculty and residents in training programs; satisfaction with childbearing choices; and attitudes of colleagues. The survey inquired about the 8 permutations of men and women, residents and faculty, having negative or positive influences on personal decision making on childbearing during residency. The perception of stigma associated with pregnancy during residency was assessed using a true/false format. Participants were categorized into 4 age cohorts by number of years since graduation from medical school (0-9 years, 10-19 years, 20-29 years, and ≥ 30 years). Comparisons of proportions and Cochrane-Armitage trend tests were used to evaluate differences and trends in distributions across age cohorts.4 To assess pregnancy during training, a generalized linear model with generalized estimating equations was used to estimate the age cohort and training year effects on pregnancy as an outcome. Analysis was performed with SAS version 9.1.3 (SAS Institute Inc). A P value of less than .05 was accepted for nominal statistical significance.
A total of 4929 electronic survey invitations were sent. There were 1627 incorrect/inactive e-mail addresses; 3302 electronic surveys were successfully delivered, of which 1639 (49.6%) were returned. Six hundred paper surveys were distributed, of which 311 (51.8%) were completed and returned. A total of 5529 surveys (4929 electronic and 600 paper surveys) were distributed. Of these, 1950 surveys (35.3%) were returned, none of which repeated, and 13 contained invalid answers that could not be interpreted. The latter were not included in the analysis of 1937 respondents (35.0% of all surveys distributed, 49.6% of all legitimate addresses). Most of the responses were from the 2 most recent graduation cohorts: 38.7% and 35.2% of respondents were 9 years or less or between 10 and 19 years postmedical school graduation, respectively. Women who were 20 to 29 years and 30 years or more postmedical school graduation accounted for 19.4% and 6.7% of respondents, respectively. The proportion of electronic contacts was very large (95%) for the most recent cohort of graduates but represented a smaller majority with increasing years (87%, 65%, and 62%, respectively) since graduation (P < .001).
We found greater racial diversity among women who trained more recently. There is an increasing trend over time in the proportion of women surgeons who self-identify as nonwhite, although they still compose a minority. Increasing trends are most prominent for the proportion of surgeons who self-identify as Asian or who identify themselves as multiracial or other. Among the cohort most remote from medical school graduation, black surgeons composed 1.5% of respondents, compared with 4.9% for the most recent graduates (Table 1).
General surgeons constituted the largest number of respondents. Breast surgeons and plastic surgeons were more frequent among less recent graduates.
Among women within 9 years of medical school graduation, most were married, but a substantial minority (36%) had never been married and lived alone. Among women who graduated from medical school 10 to 19 years ago, a majority were married and a minority had never married and lived alone. Also, 56.3% of participants had had at least 1 pregnancy. Few participants reported having adopted children; more, but still a small proportion, reported having stepchildren. Participants with adopted or stepchildren tended to have graduated less recently (Table 2).
Women who trained at an earlier period were less likely to have been pregnant during training than younger cohorts. Most women across all cohorts deferred pregnancy until after training was completed, but more of the recent graduates had pregnancies during residency training (P < .001). The proportion of trainees who became pregnant increased with increasing postgraduate year. During fellowship, the frequency of pregnancies increased among all cohorts. The most likely time for women to have been pregnant was while working as a surgeon after the completion of training. As the length of time after completion of residency training increased, the relative number of women becoming pregnant also increased (Table 3 and Figure 1).
Men residents and faculty were frequently cited as negative influences in a woman surgeon's childbearing decisions. The number of positive influences among peers and faculty increased for the most recent cohort of graduates. Residents and faculty provided negative influences across the board in all respondent age groups and in every category. More residents and faculty exerted negative influences than positive influences (P < .001). More men residents and faculty exerted negative influence than did women residents and faculty (P < .001). More women residents and faculty exerted positive influence than did men residents or faculty (P < .001). Across the graduation cohorts, there was an overall small increase in positive influence received from residents and faculty over time (P < .001). However, across the cohorts, the decrement in negative influence (P = .06) was not consistent (Figure 2).
Respondents' perception of the overall stigma associated with pregnancy during training decreased from most remote to most recent graduation cohort (P < .001). However, the absolute percentage of respondents who agreed with the statement that pregnancy during residency is stigmatized remained large (76% among those who graduated ≥ 30 years ago vs 67% in the most recent cohort).
Childbearing is an important concern for many professional women.5 Women in fields such as medicine and law have had lower marriage rates, higher likelihood of being childless, and fewer children than the national average.6,7 Women who hold graduate and professional degrees end their childbearing years with 1.6 children, compared with 2.4 children for women without such degrees, and they are more often childless than those who end formal education with graduation from high school.8 In a survey of 178 women surgeons and their male counterparts, Troppmann et al9 found that women surgeons were more likely to be childless than their men peers, and men physicians were more likely to be parents than women physicians.10
Concern about pregnancy and childbearing can affect medical students' decisions on careers in general surgery and its subspecialties.3 Women medical students are more concerned about maternity leave policies, child care, and family flexibility than men students.11 Our study was designed as an initial effort to survey childbearing and pregnancy experiences among women general surgeons and surgery trainees. We found that most women surgeons delay their first childbirth until they have entered clinical practice. Although the average age of first childbirth nationally has increased from 21 years in 1970 to 25 years in 2005,12 that average remains years younger than women who have careers in surgery. More recent graduation cohorts do have a slightly higher rate of pregnancy during the trainee years than preceding cohorts.
In the literature on reproductive choices of women in medicine, family medicine residents become pregnant earlier in their careers, with 34%, 40%, and 23% pregnant in each year of residency. The mean age of birthing residents was 29 years.13 In pediatrics, 38% of surveyed physicians were pregnant during residency.14 In obstetrics and gynecology, women residents typically have children during the fourth year of training, with half between 26 and 29 years of age at the time of first successful gestation and one-third in their early 30s.14 In a study of women urologists, the average maternal age at time of successful first, second, and third childbirth was 33, 35, and 37 years, compared with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention US population averages of 25, 28, and 29 years.15 General surgery and urology training programs influence women to delay their first childbirth more than in other specialties.
Our study also examined the influence of peers and faculty on pregnancy among trainees. Trailblazing women in the surgical fields have described overwhelmingly negative attitudes toward childbearing in residency. Anecdotal reports of severe bias against pregnant trainees and a perception that childbirth impairs career progress are also well documented.16,17 Our survey demonstrates that the perception of stigma associated with pregnancy during training has decreased from 76% reported in respondents who are 30 years or more from medical school graduation to 67% among the most recent graduates. Despite this improvement, there remains a negative overall attitude toward pregnancy during training. Negative influences about childbirth from peers and faculty outweigh positive influences in others' findings and in ours.18 We did not collect data on other potentially influential individuals such as spouse, family, or clergy. We limited our study to the structure and population of training programs; future investigations may explore these other influences.19
The presence of women surgeons as role models has been shown to be powerfully associated with the selection of surgical careers by women medical students.3,20 Negative communication about the impact of pregnancy and childbirth by women residents or faculty serving as role models may deter students from choosing surgery as a career. Our finding of decreasing stigma toward childbirth and pregnancy may be meaningful for the increased proportion of women entering general surgery in the last decade.21 Although several studies have targeted policies on maternity leave, child care, and rotation schedules to accommodate pregnant residents, only a few address the need for gender sensitivity training to change negative attitudes associated with pregnancy during residency.16 One study at Stanford University School of Medicine explored the impact of a gender sensitivity curriculum, revealing a nonsignificant decrease in gender insensitivity but suggesting that specific interventions promote an inclusive workplace and sense of well-being among women in academic medicine.22 It would be worthwhile to explore how such methods implemented in a general surgery program could influence the number of women entering general surgery.
We had a survey response rate close to 50%. This is acceptable by the standards of previously published survey instruments administered to surgeons, but a systematic difference between respondents and nonrespondents (response bias) cannot be excluded. It is unlikely that this would have changed our finding that women who graduated from medical school 30 years ago or more were substantially different from those in the recent cohorts. The middle cohorts were quite alike; nonresponders in this category would have had to differ greatly to make a difference in our results.
Our study has established that more than half of all women general surgeons and general surgery subspecialists delay having children until entry into independent practice. However, there is a trend toward increased childbirth during training by more recent medical school graduates. The most recent cohort had pregnancies in larger numbers and at earlier times, while the cohort graduating 30 years ago or more had fewer pregnancies and delayed pregnancy longer. Stigma associated with pregnancy during training has decreased during the past 30 years, but it remains a challenge reported by more than two-thirds of those who graduated recently. Surgical residents and faculty of both sexes exerted a negative influence with regard to childbearing by surgery residents. The most recent cohort experienced a small increase in positive influence when compared with other groups, but this was small compared with the magnitude of negative influences. More men faculty and residents exerted a negative influence than did women residents or faculty. This negative impact on women surgery residents represents a phenomenon that should be investigated and delineated to enhance the surgery workforce.
Correspondence: Patricia L. Turner, MD, American College of Surgeons, Division of Member Services, 633 N St Clair St, Chicago, IL 60611 ([email protected]).
Accepted for Publication: October 4, 2011.
Published Online: February 20, 2012. doi:10.1001/archsurg.2011.1693
Author Contributions: Dr Turner had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Study concept and design: Turner. Acquisition of data: Turner, Lumpkins, and Terrin. Analysis and interpretation of data: Turner, Lumpkins, Gabre, Lin, Liu, and Terrin. Drafting of the manuscript: Turner, Lumpkins, Gabre, and Liu. Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Turner, Lumpkins, Lin, and Terrin. Statistical analysis: Lumpkins, Liu, and Terrin. Obtained funding: Turner. Administrative, technical, and material support: Turner and Gabre. Study supervision: Turner and Terrin.
Financial Disclosure: None reported.
Funding/Support: This study was funded in part by the Joan F. Giambalvo Memorial Grant administered by the American Medical Association. | https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamasurgery/fullarticle/1150115 |
Getting ready to hire a computer coder?
Want to ensure you’re choosing the very best one?
If you’ve never hired a programmer before, it can be difficult to know what to expect. You need to consider a few things and evaluate each candidate properly if you want to make sure you find the best one for the job.
Below are the 7 things that you always need to look for when choosing a computer coder to hire.
1. Excellent Communication Skills
When it’s time to hire a coder, it’s very important that you evaluate their communication skills. Communication skills are crucial in the programming field. You’ll need to be able to tell a coder your expectations for a task and ensure that they’ll know what you want and be able to deliver.
If they experience any setbacks during their work, it is important that they let you know. You should expect them to communicate very openly and not keep you in the dark. This way, you’ll always know if you’re on the right track and if things are going smoothly.
Especially if you’re hiring a coder for a remote position, strong communication is critical. A computer programmer who doesn’t respond quickly to emails or who doesn’t communicate well can be a nightmare to deal with.
2. Can Function as Part of a Team
If you’re getting ready to hire a coder, you also need to ensure that they are ready and willing to work as part of a functional and cohesive team. They shouldn’t be arrogant, fight with other members of the team, or have any attitudes that are counterproductive.
A great programmer will understand their role within your organization, and if they have to work with other coders they’ll fit right in. Additionally, they’ll be able to communicate with you perfectly, understanding that their job is to meet your needs in the best way possible.
3. Deep and Broad Technical Experience
Aside from excellent communication and teamwork skills, a coder also needs to have thorough technical and coding expertise. They should be able to back up their words and do what they say they can.
If you’re looking for a really great programmer, it’s important that you find one that is skilled in not only one coding language but in many. You should also evaluate their skills in the languages as well, and make sure they have a deep enough knowledge to get the job done.
Whether you need them to program in C, C++, C#, Java, Python, PHP, or another language, you’ll need to test their skills. For a great example of how you can assess your potential hirees with testing, you can read more here.
An excellent coder will not only know a broad range of coding and programming and languages but will have an in-depth knowledge of each one.
4. Time Management and Organization Skills
While a coder may be able to perform the work well enough and write some great lines of code for your software, if they don’t have the ability to meet deadlines and complete tasks on time, you need to reconsider hiring them.
A great programmer will be able to handle many tasks with ease and will know how to get everything that is on their plate done quickly. They won’t drag their feet or miss important milestones.
While it can be hard to determine their time management skills when making the hire, ask the best questions you can to determine their abilities. Poor organization or time management skills can change an otherwise great coder into an unhireable one.
5. They Think Like a Computer Coder
The best coders love what they do and can’t get enough of the problem-solving aspect of programming new software and applications. They’ll always have the right mindset for the job rather than just the skills.
A great coder will always work hard to find new solutions to problems or even find ways to “fix” programs that already seem to be working fine. They’ll value constant improvement and optimization.
Great coders will also know that failing is only a part of the process of coding. They’ll bravely move past any setbacks and know that failures are to be expected. Excellent programmers are also perfectionists and will do the best work that they can every time.
6. Ability to Learn Fast
While no programmer knows everything, the best coders do know how to go about finding the resources they need to fix any blind spots. They’re quick learners and will move fast to find out anything that they don’t know.
While there may be some downtime while they figure out a solution to a problem, it won’t take them long to pick up the pace and get right back on track.
The best coders are always lifelong learners and make a common practice of educating themselves on new skills. Because of this, they’ll typically be able to handle just about any coding problem you throw at them.
7. They Keep the End Goal in Mind
While an excellent computer programmer will be able to follow directions perfectly and will communicate with you and other members of the team wonderfully throughout the process, they’ll also go the extra mile. They’ll always keep the end user in mind as well, and will know what the expected outcome is, whether it’s a web project or a mobile development task.
Less experienced coders can get wrapped up in the process of only what they are doing, and often forget to think about the actual application or what the codes they’re writing will be used for.
If you want to find the best person for your needs, it’s important to ask questions during the interview to ensure that they’ll keep the big picture in mind during the job.
Final Thoughts
Believe it or not, choosing the right computer coder doesn’t have to be an impossible task. However, you do need to do the legwork upfront to make sure you find the right person for the job. By considering the tips above, you’ll have the best chance at making the right choice in the end.
Looking for the best computer software publishers and developers? Check out our directory now to get started with your search. | https://www.findabusinessthat.com/blog/1768/7-things-to-look-for-when-hiring-a-computer-coder/ |
Report to USDA: “Americans Should Eat More Plant-Based Foods, Less Sugar”
When the USDA releases its recommended dietary guidelines every five years, you can expect a food fight of epic proportions. This year's scientific report–essentially the paper that is submitted to the Secretaries of Agriculture and Health and Human Services in advance of the guidelines–states clearly that we should all be eating more plant-based foods and less added sugar, and do so as if our lives depended on it.
As well as promoting plant-based foods, the report also says Americans should avoid saturated fat, cholesterol, and red and processed meat. If followed, the recommendations send a powerful message during a pandemic that more plant-based foods including fruit, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and fewer animal products, processed foods, and sugar are essential changes to our nutrition now, and essential for the health of Americans.
"A noteworthy difference from the 2015 Committee report is that whole grains are now identified with almost the same consistency as vegetables and fruits as beneficial for the outcomes examined, suggesting that these three plant-based food groups are fundamental constituents of a healthy dietary pattern."
The report, by doctors, RDs, data scientists, behavioral experts, and others in the human nutrition field, recommends replacing saturated fat, found mostly in animal products, with unsaturated fats, found mostly in plant-based foods, and increasing our fiber intake, while reducing added sugars and adding whole grains, as a way of lowering obesity, type 2 diabetes and risk of cardiovascular disease.
There Are Two Parallel Epidemics in America, One Contagious, the Other Not
The context of the report being delivered during the pandemic was cited as one reason to recommend Americans eat more plant-based foods, since the scientists noted that the coronavirus has significant nutritional implications, given the fact that America is suffering from "parallel epidemics," one non-infectious, meaning obesity, and the other infectious, meaning the virus. The overlap between these two epidemics in America obesity and COVID-19 means that the more whole plant-based food you eat, the better off you are likely to fare.
"The Committee began its work in March 2019. As the 2020 Committee submits its report and the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans are prepared, we are in the midst of the COVID-19 epidemic. As more is learned about infection by SARS-Co V-2 and the development of COVID19, it is clear that it has significant nutritional implications. These parallel epidemics, one noninfectious ( obesity and diet-related chronic diseases) and one infectious (COVID-19) appear to be synergistic. Those at most risk for the most serious outcomes of COVID-19, including hospitalization and death, are people afflicted by diet-related chronic diseases ( obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease).
One aspect the report addressed is the importance of food in the treatment of chronic diseases and food insecurity and ready access to healthy food choices that are "outside" the report's ability to address as they assess the need for new guidelines.
"For example, comments identified the need to evaluate dietary patterns that are effective in the management, support, and treatment of those with chronic diseases and disabilities to determine their value in clinical practice. In addition, comments identified the importance of evaluating the sustainability of recommended dietary patterns, addressing the social and economic aspects of access to foods that are components of healthy dietary patterns, and considering systemic changes to encourage behavior change consistent with the guidelines. These comments point to areas that are important for USDA and HHS to address through appropriate mechanisms, and their consideration may provide useful approaches for implementing the recommendations in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans."
The nutrition position paper, which will inform the next five years of federal dietary guidance, is being praised for encouraging the consumption of plant-based foods.
The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee's (DGAC) scientific report, which was compiled by the Committee's 20 top health experts, reviews the latest dietary and nutrition research and current state of American health as it relates to nutrition. It will be used by the USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop the 2020 Dietary Guidelines. One criticism so far is that it sidesteps the question of whether milk and dairy should be avoided, but it does specifically say stay away from saturated fat, which is in dairy foods.
The 2020 Committee’s Work Took Place Among Chronic Nutrition-Related Issues
The doctors and scientists noted that most chronic illness in America is tied to poor diet:
"More than 70 percent of Americans have overweight or obesity and the prevalence of severe obesity has increased over the past 2 decades. The increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity at young ages is of particular concern because of their effects on the current health of the child as well as the risks of persistent overweight or obesity into adulthood," the report noted.
"The high rates of overweight and obesity are an important public health problem in and of themselves, and they are a driver for prevalent diet-related chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease (CVD), type 2 diabetes, and some types of cancer. At present, 6 in 10 Americans have a chronic condition and 4 in 10 Americans have 2 or more chronic conditions. Various factors contribute to the prevalence of these chronic diseases. Prominent among these are unhealthy dietary patterns and a lack of physical activity." it added.
"Food insecurity and lack of access to affordable healthy food is a persistent problem. In 2018, more than 37 million people, including 6 million children, lived in households that were uncertain of having, or unable to acquire, enough food to meet their needs. Certain populations are disproportionately affected, including low-income, Black non-Hispanic, and Hispanic households, households with young children, and households headed by a single woman or man," states the report.
Nutrition Related Diseases Affect Most Americans
"Most Americans have 1 or more chronic diet-related health conditions, including overweight and obesity, heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, liver disease, certain types of cancer, dental caries, and/or metabolic syndrome," the scientists found.
"The Committee’s review of current dietary intakes shows that the American dietary landscape has not changed appreciably over time. Across the lifespan, the typical diet Americans consume result in overconsumption of... saturated fats, sodium, added sugars, and for some consumers, alcoholic beverages."
Meanwhile, the report states: Intakes of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are lower than current recommendations. Something has to change, they concluded.
Most Americans Exceed the Recommended Amount of Added Sugar in the Diet
As part of its focus on healthy dietary patterns that include nutrient-dense foods consumed at appropriate energy levels, the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommended that Americans consume less than 10 percent of energy from added sugars. That number has gone up, and now represents twice the current guidelines of added sugar.
"The 2020 Committee examined the impact of added sugars ... and found: "For Americans ages 1 year and older, the average consumption of added sugars represent 13 percent of daily energy intake," meaning that most Americans consume more than double the current recommendation for added sugar.
"Nearly 70 percent of intake comes from 5 food categories: Sweetened beverages, desserts and sweet snacks, coffee and tea (with their additions), candy and sugars, and breakfast cereals and bars. Evidence suggests that adverse effects of added sugars, particularly from SSB, may contribute to unhealthy weight gain and obesity-related health outcomes. Reducing the amount of added sugars in the diet, either through changes in consumer behavior or in how food is produced and sold, is an achievable objective that could improve population health.
"Reducing the amount of added sugars in the diet, either through changes in consumer behavior or in how food is produced and sold, is an achievable objective that could improve population health. After considering the scientific evidence for the potential health impacts of added sugars intake, along with findings from model-based estimations of energy available in the dietary pattern after meeting nutrient requirements, the Committee suggests that less than 6 percent of energy from added sugars is more consistent with a dietary pattern that is nutritionally adequate while avoiding excess energy intake from added sugars than is a pattern with less than 10 percent energy from added sugars.
Life Stages Should be Considered When Recommending Dietary Intake
The scientists who worked on the report divided their recommendations into life stages to better suggest how infants, children, young adults and others (pregnant women for instance) should eat to be healthiest. They suggest reducing animal proteins and getting more fiber, from plant-based foods:
"For infants fed human milk, during the period of complementary feeding, patterns that include iron- and zinc-rich foods (e.g., meats, fortified cereals) and that also provide adequate protein and other minerals and vitamins, are essential to healthy growth and development.
• "Added sugars is a food component to limit in the diet. However, the connection to a healthful dietary pattern is the evidence on limiting the foods in the diet that are the top sources of added sugars (e.g., sweetened beverages, including additions to coffee and tea, and sweet snacks and desserts).
• "Few Americans achieve or exceed the Adequate Intake for dietary fiber, and a dietary pattern that encourages the intake of fiber-rich foods, including whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes, and other plant-based foods would be beneficial to increase fiber intakes.
• To reduce saturated fat intake, the dietary pattern should replace sources of saturated fat with sources of polyunsaturated fats by substituting certain animal-source foods, especially processed meats and certain high-fat dairy products, with sources of polyunsaturated fats, such as seafood, seeds, nuts, legumes, and appropriate vegetable oils. In addition, if meat and dairy foods are included in the dietary pattern, choosing lean cuts and lower fat dairy options is preferred.
The scientists included in their recommendations to the Secretaries of Agriculture and Health and Human Services several ways to help people source, afford, prioritize and eat a diet of healthier food choices. Their recommendations include these:
Considerations For Updating the Guidelines
1. Follow a healthy eating pattern across the lifespan. Suggested Update for 2020-2025: This guideline should introduce the importance of a healthful dietary pattern to support each life stage and of maintaining healthful dietary patterns across each life stage. For the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the life stages include pregnancy and lactation, birth to age 24 months, children ages 2 years and older, adolescents, and adults.
Concepts that the Committee recommends be included in the overarching guidelines: a. Initiate a healthful dietary pattern early in life for infants and young children. b. Follow a healthful dietary pattern appropriate for the nutritional needs of each life stage. c. Modify the dietary pattern over the lifespan to meet the nutritional needs of each life stage.
2. Focus on variety, nutrient density, and amount. Suggested Update for 2020-2025: The Committee’s review focused on the core elements of healthful dietary patterns, including the nutritional quality of food choices when incorporating variety.
The review also focused on frequency of eating, as determinants of the amount of food consumed. Concepts that the Committee recommends be included in the overarching guidelines: Part B. Chapter 2: Integrating the Evidence Scientific Report of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee
a. Focus on nutritional quality of food choices, portion size and frequency of eating.
b. For the earliest life stage, focus on breastfeeding and human milk for optimal nutrition and gradual introduction of a variety of nutrient-rich complementary foods during the second half of infancy.
3. Limit calories from added sugars and saturated fats and reduce sodium intake. Suggested Update for 2020-2025: The Committee’s review emphasized the importance of identifying the foods to limit or replace in the diet to limit intake of certain food components. For those who consume alcoholic beverages, current evidence indicates that lower intakes are better than higher intakes and some groups should not drink alcoholic beverages. Concepts that the committee recommends be included in the overarching guidelines:
a. Limit foods and beverages that are sources of added sugars, saturated fats, alcohol, and salt to reduce intake of excess energy, solid fats, and sodium.
b. Replace foods and beverages that are sources of added sugars, saturated fats, alcohol, and sodium with more healthful choices.
c. In the first 2 years, foods such as sugar-sweetened beverages should be avoided.
4. Shift to healthier food and beverage choices. Suggested Update for 2020-2025: The Committee’s review found that this approach is linked to achieving the first guideline. In addition, this approach can help individuals understand that it is never too late to start making improvements in their dietary pattern.
To use this approach effectively, an individual will need to recognize what food and beverage choices are most important to shift. Concepts that the Committee recommends be included in the overarching guidelines:
a. Shift eating patterns to food and beverage choices that have a higher nutrient-to-energy ratio
b. Shift to higher quality food and beverage choices at every age to achieve a more healthful dietary pattern. | https://thebeet.com/report-to-the-usda-americans-should-eat-more-plant-based-foods-less-sugar/ |
Attractions New Rochelle Architecture: Famous Landmarks and Buildings
List of the famous landmarks that make up the New Rochelle skyline, listed alphabetically with photos when available. New Rochelle architectural landmarks as well as other major buildings, dwellings, and other structures in New Rochelle are included on this list. Information about these New Rochelle buildings is included on this list, such as when the building first opened and what architectural style it falls under. List includes both new buildings in New Rochelle and older historic landmarks.
Examples of buildings on this list include Wildcliff and Davenport House.
This list answers the question, "What are the most famous buildings in New Rochelle?"This is a good reference for research into the historical architecture in New Rochelle. Famous architectural houses within the city of New Rochelle are included as well, sometimes by address, other times listed by the name of the original home owner. | https://www.ranker.com/list/new-rochelle-architecture-famous-landmarks-and-buildings/reference |
This article was provided by Dr. Wes Porter, UGA/AU Extension Irrigation Specialist
Traditionally we typically like to apply fertilizers and chemicals using either ground based (both fertilizers and chemicals) or aerial (typically just chemicals) application methods. However, we often times are under a time and suitable field working day constraint when it comes to applying many products. Farmers also typically put more production inputs into irrigation crop land. It’s known that irrigation has a higher yield potential and helps to protect that yield potential especially in dry years. Thus, we want to do a more thorough job and provide the crops under irrigation with a more robust production plan to ensure we capture the full yield potential. Due to excessive rainfall during the growing season and in some cases excessive plant growth and height, it becomes difficult and sometimes impossible to enter a field to apply the proper chemicals and/or fertilizers. In this case the addition of an injection pump for chemigation and fertigation can be very advantageous. A center pivot can typically walk around the field when the moisture level is much higher than can a ground based sprayer. Thus, one main advantage is the ability to apply nutrients at critical periods of crop demand.
One of the most daunting tasks in using a center pivot for chemigation or fertigation is calculating the injection rate of the fertilizer or chemical. The following process and example can be found at https://extension.tennessee.edu/publications/Documents/W303.pdf along with more information about specifics on Fertigation of Row-crops.
Steps for calculating fertilizer injection rate:
- Determine the irrigated area (acres)
- Determine the required application rate of product (in gallons per acre)
- Determine the amount required
- Determine the injection rate
For a practical example:
Let’s assume that you want to apply 30 lbs N/ac of UAN-32 through a 1,500 ft long center pivot at a rate of 0.3 inches in 12 hours (one complete circle). | https://site.extension.uga.edu/brooksag/2015/04/chemical-and-fertilization-injection-into-pivot-irrigation-systems/ |
The Beaton Institute, and its predecessor Cape Bretoniana, has served as the regional archives for Cape Breton Island for the past 50 years. The Beaton Institute collects and preserves the social, economic, political and cultural history of the Island and through this mandate supports and fosters research related to Cape Breton - its people, its industry, its history, and its rich cultural heritage.
Fifty years ago, prior to digital technology, the information landscape was quite different; however, it was not without its challenges. Mother St. Margaret of Scotland (Sister Margaret Beaton), in her role as Librarian at Xavier Junior College, recognized that many documents of historical and literary significance to Cape Breton Island were being lost due to neglect and the lack of an appropriate repository. In a pro-active response to this challenge Sr. Beaton began collecting Cape Breton related documents and artifacts with the objective of preserving materials of historic significance for future scholars.
It all began in 1957 with the acquisition of the first manuscript - The Minutes of the First Agricultural Meeting in Cape Breton. Today, the Beaton Institute is recognized in the archival community as having a rich regional collection including: 3,000 manuscript collections, 60,000 images, 2,500 sound recordings, 1,500 video cassettes and film reels, 1,500 reference books, 2,000 maps and plans.
This collecting, in the beginning, was sporadic and unplanned - more serendipitous in nature, but fruitful all the same. By 1966, Sister Margaret turned her attention to building Cape Bretoniana and the College of Cape Breton Archives on a full-time basis. Cape Bretoniana grew substantially during these years with several appeals to the local community for donations of archival material. As a result there was the on-going need for additional space for the archives, first housed within the library then in the MacDonald Arts Building on George Street in Sydney, followed by a move to the MacLeod Building on Nepean Street in 1967 and then to the Logue Building at George and Pitt Streets in 1970.
In 1975, Cape Bretoniana was expanded to include two main divisions: the Archives and Institute Library, and the division of Ethnic Studies, Folklore and the Social and Cultural History of Cape Breton Island. In the same year the Archives was struck a blow with the sudden death of Sr. Beaton as a result of a car accident. The direction of the Archives was taken on by Dr. Malcolm MacLellan as an interim measure until the appointment of Dr. Robert Morgan as the permanent director and archivist. The Archives was renamed, the Beaton Institute, in honour of its foundress and as a pledge that the work of this outstanding woman would continue.
In 1979, the Institute, along with the rest of the Sydney Campus, moved to its new location on the Grand Lake Road. The Institute was located in the Information and Communications Centre near the Library and Art Gallery. The expanded quarters and improved facilities were the culmination of many years of planning and made the Institute one of Canada's important regional archives.
Today the Beaton Institute is housed in a 17,000 square foot complex within the Student, Culture and Heritage Centre at Cape Breton University. The modern facility houses a reading room, the vault, several specialized collections rooms, offices and work room. The foundation of the Beaton Institute is its collection. The manuscript collection is particularly strong in the industrial, labour, and political history of Cape Breton. The audio visual holdings include an oral history collection, a wealth of material relating to Cape Breton social life, songs and ballads. The Celtic Music Collection includes hundreds of recordings of Cape Breton's best fiddlers and pianists playing tunes, which are in many cases, one of a kind. The photographic holdings include over 60,000 images dating from the mid-nineteenth century and dealing with every phase of life on the Island.
Perhaps the most outstanding feature of the Archives is its special collections of ethno cultural materials. The collection reflects the many cultural groups present in Cape Breton including the Mi'kmaq, African Nova Scotian, Jewish, Acadian, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Polish and Italian communities. A great source of pride is the quality of Gaelic material including original manuscripts, tapes, a small reference library and a complete file of the Gaelic newspaper MacTalla, published for many years in Cape Breton.
It is through this collection that the Beaton Institute serves those who quest for knowledge - the student, the teacher, the filmmaker, the author, the genealogist, the community. The collection offers researchers a window through which to understand, compare, analyze and educate today by understanding and knowing our past. The goal of the archives is to collect and make available historically significant records in a manner that conveys the processes and contexts through which the record was created. The Beaton Institute for 50 years has endeavored to preserve and make available those materials that have enduring value to our society. Today the Beaton Institute's staff of five receives and responds to over 4000 enquiries a year from around the world.
The Beaton Institute is the official repository for historically significant records of Cape Breton University. Additionally, the Institute is a cultural heritage archive mandated to preserve the social, economic, political and cultural history of Cape Breton Island. It is a centre for local, regional, national and international research and strives to promote inquiry through innovative public programming and community based initiatives. | https://beatoninstitute.com/beaton-institute-archives-2 |
Have you experienced manufacturing performance differences between batches of materials, despite seeing no difference in specifications or cure data? Do you want to reduce scrap, improve processing efficiencies, and minimize variability in your manufacturing process? Join us as we adventure beyond the cure curve and look at additional testing methods to correlate material characteristics of rubber compounds with processing behavior and production success. Some key areas of interest include:
- Verifying quality of mix
- Optimizing mold filling processes
- Troubleshooting extrusion issues
We will look at characterizing material behavior at key steps in the manufacturing process and using these measurements as leading indicators for production success. This allows process engineers to select suitable materials for manufacture or adjust manufacturing processes to accommodate variations in product behavior.
About The Speaker
Alina Latshaw, Ph.D. is the Product Specialist for the Rubber Testing product line at TA Instruments. Alina earned her doctorate degree in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University. She joined TA in 2013 as an applications engineer specializing in rheology and dynamic mechanical analysis techniques. As part of the product management team, Alina actively collaborates with customers on providing testing solutions for rubber and elastomer applications ranging from elastomer characterization, compound processing challenges, vulcanization testing, and cured rubber product performance. | https://www.tainstruments.com/techniques-for-rubber-compound-processing-and-production-success/?lang=zh-hant |
IIT Kharagpur hiring for Research Associate
Company :
IIT Kharagpur
Website :
Job Role :
Research Associate
Eligibility :
ME/MTech/MS/PhD
Experience :
Experienced
Job Location :
Kharagpur
Last Date :
30 Oct 2017
Company Profile:The motto of IIT Kharagpur is "Yoga Karmashu Kaushalam" . The motto literally translates to "Excellence in action is Yoga" essentially implying that doing your work well is (true) yoga. It is sourced to Sri Krishna's discourse to Arjuna in Bhagavad Gita. This quote in its larger context of Gita urges man to acquire equanimity because such a soul endowed with the mind of equanimity allows him to shed the effects of his good and evil deeds in this world itself. Equanimity is the source of perfection in Karmic endeavors while leading to Salvation.
Job Details: | http://www.todaywalkins.com/IITKharagpur-jobs-Research-Associate.aspx |
Introduction {#S1}
============
For most complex traits, sequence variations identified by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) account for only a minor fraction of the heritable variation estimated from family studies ^[@R1]^. The missing heritability has been attributed to rare variants that are not represented on commercial SNP arrays ^[@R2],[@R3]^, common variants that do not reach genome-wide significance ^[@R4]^, and gene-gene and gene-environment interactions that amplify the phenotypic effects of individual sequence variations^[@R5]--[@R7]^. The contribution of gene-environment interactions remains controversial. Genetic variants are usually assumed to act in an additive manner ^[@R5],[@R8]^, such that the combined effect of two or more sequence variations equals the sum of their individual effects. Compelling examples of synergistic or context-dependent relationships between genetic variants and environmental exposures have been described, including susceptibility to adverse drug reactions ^[@R9]^, infectious diseases ^[@R10]^, and sun exposure ^[@R11]^, but most reports of gene-environment interactions have proved poorly reproducible^[@R8],[@R12],[@R13]^.
Obesity has emerged as a major cause of morbidity due to its role in metabolic disorders such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension and dyslipidemia. More recently, obesity has been associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a spectrum of disorders that includes excess liver fat (steatosis), inflammation (steatohepatitis), fibrosis (cirrhosis), and ultimately malignant transformation (hepatocellular carcinoma) ^[@R14]^. Susceptibility to NAFLD is highly variable; not all obese individuals develop steatosis and most cases of steatosis do not progress to chronic liver disease. Expression of the disorder is strongly influenced by heritable factors. One of the most powerful genetic risk factors for NAFLD is a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) that changes residue 148 of the patatin-like phospholipase 3 gene (*PNPLA3*) from isoleucine to methionine (referred to here as the M variant) ^[@R15]^. Here we show that adiposity influences the effect of the M variant on liver fat content, as well as on serum ALT (a marker of hepatocellular injury) and cirrhosis. Interactions with obesity were also observed for sequence variants in two other genes (*TM6SF2* and *GCKR*) that contribute to NAFLD by different mechanisms^[@R16]--[@R18]^. We did not observe interactions of similar magnitude for a range of other traits that associate strongly with adiposity. Thus, gene × adiposity interaction on NAFLD appears to be a rather specific and robust phenomenon.
Results {#S2}
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The effect of the M variant on HTGC is highly dependent on adiposity {#S3}
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Previously, we showed that steatosis (HTGC\>5.5%) was present in 33% of the participants in the Dallas Heart Study and that BMI was strongly associated with increased HTGC (Spearman's rho=0.4) ^[@R19]^. To determine if the effect of the M variant on HTGC is modified by adiposity, we analyzed the relationship between *PNPLA3* genotype and HTGC after stratifying the DHS participants into four bins based on BMI ([Fig. 1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}). Among lean persons (BMI\<25 kg/m^2^), median HTGC increased modestly, though significantly in a stepwise fashion in the II, IM and MM individuals (1.8%, 2.3%, and 2.8%, respectively; P=0.0003). Steatosis was less common in all three genotype groups (II, 9%; IM, 8%; MM, 18%) than in the general population (33%).
The effect of the M variant increased with increasing BMI. Among the most obese participants (BMI\>35 kg/m^2^), the median HTGC was 3-fold higher in MM than in II individuals (14.2% versus 4.7%) and a significantly greater proportion of the MM homozygotes had hepatic steatosis (84% versus 42%; P=0.001). In all 4 BMI groups, the median HTGC of IM heterozygotes was intermediate between the levels in the two groups of homozygotes.
Regression analysis using BMI as an ordered categorical variable revealed highly significant differences in the effect of PNPLA3 genotype on HTGC among the 4 BMI groups (t-test; P=0.0004). Significant interaction was also observed using BMI as a continuous variable in the regression model (t-test; P = 4×10^−5^).
Interactive effects on continuous traits are influenced by the scale on which they are analyzed ^[@R20],[@R21]^. Therefore, we repeated the interaction tests using the untransformed data, other transformations of HTGC (inverse normalized, or logarithmically transformed), and after dichotomizing the data (normal vs steatosis). The BMI×*PNPLA3* interaction remained significant in all of these analyses ([Supplementary Fig. 1](#SD2){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). To assess whether observed interaction effects were a result of heteroscedasticity, we repeated the analysis using model-robust estimates of standard errors ^[@R22]^. The BMI×*PNPLA3* interactions remained significant ([Supplementary Fig. 1](#SD2){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). These data indicate that the effect of PNPLA3 genotype on HTGC is strongly influenced by adiposity.
Adiposity amplifies effect of other NAFLD-associated genetic variants {#S4}
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To determine whether the interaction between *PNPLA3* genotype and BMI on HTGC is peculiar to the M variant, we examined the relationship between HTGC, BMI, and other NAFLD-related variants. We first tested whether variants in loci that associated with HTGC in the Genetics of Liver Disease (GOLD) study were associated with HTGC in the DHS ([Supplementary Table 1](#SD1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}) ^[@R18]^. Two of these SNPs, *TM6SF2*-E167K and *GCKR*-P446L, were associated with HTGC in the DHS ^[@R16]^.
We examined whether adiposity influenced the effects of the risk alleles at the *TM6SF2* and *GCKR* loci on HTGC in the DHS. As was observed with the M variant, the effect of the GCKR risk allele (P446L) was significantly amplified by increasing BMI ([Fig. 2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}) (P-interaction =5.5×10^−5^). A similar amplifying effect of BMI on HTGC was seen for the TM6SF2 risk variant (E167K), though the interaction was less significant (P-interaction =0.006), likely due to the lower frequency of the risk allele when compared to the GCKR risk allele (MAF=0.05 versus 0.25). As was observed for *PNPLA3*, the interactions remained significant after different transformations of HTGC, and when using a heteroscedasticity-robust model ([Supplementary Fig. 1](#SD2){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). Thus, the interaction between genotype and BMI on HTGC is not unique to *PNPLA3.* This finding suggests that obesity promotes development of NAFLD through interactions with at least three genes that act in different metabolic pathways.
PNPLA3-148M × adiposity interaction on serum levels of liver enzymes {#S5}
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Hepatic steatosis *per se* is considered to be benign ^[@R23]^. A subset of individuals with steatosis develops hepatic inflammation, which can result in elevated serum levels of liver enzymes, especially alanine aminotransferase (ALT) ^[@R24]^. To determine if adiposity exacerbated the effect of the M variant on liver inflammation, we tested for interaction between the *PNPLA3* genotype and BMI on serum ALT levels ([Fig. 3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}). In the DHS, serum ALT levels were increased by the M variant as previously reported ^[@R15]^. Median ALT was 18 U/L in II-homozygotes, 20 U/L in IM-heterozygotes, and 22 U/L in MM-homozygotes (P-trend=9×10^−5^). As with HTGC, the effect of the M variant on ALT increased with increasing BMI. The M variant was not associated with increased ALT in the lean (BMI\<25 kg/m^2^) or the overweight (BMI 25--30 kg/m^2^) groups, but increased ALT in the obese (BMI 30--35 kg/m^2^) and massively obese (BMI \>35 kg/m^2^) groups. In the Dallas Biobank and in the Copenhagen Cohort, which are larger cohorts than the DHS, the effect of the M variant on ALT was also apparent in the overweight group. Nonetheless, in all three cohorts the interaction between BMI and PNPLA3 genotype on ALT was highly statistically significant.
As for HTGC, we retested the BMI×*PNPLA3* interaction in the DHS after various transformations of ALT. The interaction remained robust regardless of transformation applied ([Supplementary Fig. 2](#SD2){ref-type="supplementary-material"}).
We also tested for interaction between BMI and the risk alleles at *TM6SF2* and *GCKR* on ALT levels in the DHS, Biobank, and Copenhagen cohorts. The effect of the TM6SF2-E167K variant on ALT was significantly affected by BMI in the Copenhagen Cohort (P=10^−4^), but not in the DHS (P=0.14) or Dallas Biobank (P=0.39)([Supplementary Fig. 3](#SD2){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). GCKR showed marginal evidence for interaction with BMI on ALT in the DHS (P=0.01), but not in the two larger cohorts ([Supplementary Fig. 4](#SD2){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). Thus, in contrast to what we observed with the M variant, we did not find reproducible evidence of an interaction between risk alleles at *TM6SF2/GCKR* and BMI on ALT levels. This may be explained by a reduced effect size on HTGC (e.g., *GCKR*) or a lower allele frequency (e.g., *TM6SF2*), resulting in a reduced power to detect interactions.
Adiposity augments the effect of M variant on the prevalence of cirrhosis in the Copenhagen Cohort {#S6}
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The DHS and Dallas Biobank both contain too few subjects with cirrhosis to examine the gene-environment interactions for this phenotype. The Copenhagen cohort included 384 participants with cirrhosis due either to alcoholism or NAFLD (see [Supplementary Table 2](#SD1){ref-type="supplementary-material"} for baseline characteristics). The effect of the *PNPLA3* risk variant on the prevalence of cirrhosis increased with increasing BMI ([Fig. 4](#F4){ref-type="fig"}). The risk of cirrhosis was higher among MM homozygotes in each BMI category, even those with a BMI \<25 kg/m^2^. Among persons with BMI\>35 kg/m^2^, the odds ratio for cirrhosis was 5.8 in homozygotes for the M variant versus those homozygous for the I variant. The corresponding odds ratio in those with BMI\<25 kg/m^2^ was 2.4. Additional adjustments for alcohol×BMI or alcohol×PNPLA3 (individually or simultaneously) did not materially change results. Thus, interaction between adiposity and the 148M isoform appears to promote chronic liver disease as well as steatosis.
Adiposity as a causal risk factor for NAFLD: Mendelian randomization analysis {#S7}
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If adiposity contributes to NAFLD, then SNPs that are associated with BMI would be expected to also associate with HTGC. Since the individual effects on BMI of these SNPs are small, we constructed a genetic risk score using 30 SNPs that were associated with adiposity in a previous GWAS ([Supplementary Table 3](#SD1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}) ^[@R25]^, and tested for association with BMI and HTGC in the DHS. As expected, an increasing genetic risk score was associated with a modest, though significant increase in BMI (P for trend across SNP-score=0.001) ([Supplementary Fig. 5](#SD2){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). Subjects in the first quintile had a median BMI of 27.5, whereas those in the fifth quintile of the risk score had a median BMI of 29.3 kg/m^2^. The BMI risk score was also associated with an increase in HTGC (p=0.02). The modest effect of the obesogenic risk score on HTGC was consistent with the small increase in BMI associated with these variants.
Gene × adiposity interaction on other BMI-associated traits {#S8}
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To assess whether gene-environment interactions were commonly observed with genetic predictors of other metabolic traits that are related to obesity, we screened the DHS database for phenotypes that showed a correlation with BMI with an absolute r-value of more than 0.2 after adjusting for age, gender and ethnicity ([Supplementary Table 4](#SD1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). We then determined if these traits were associated with any SNP assayed using the Illumina Exome BeadChip array at an exome-wide significance level (P\<3.6×10^−7^). For comparison we included SNPs found to associate with NAFLD in previous studies ^[@R18],[@R26]^. A total of 13 traits and 21 SNPs meeting these criteria were identified ([Supplementary Table 5](#SD1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). As an example, BMI was strongly associated with plasma levels of leptin (Partial r=0.74; P\<1×10^−300^). A SNP located in the leptin gene was strongly associated with leptin levels (per allele change in standardized leptin levels= −0.22 s.d. units; P=2.28×10^−11^). Despite the strengths of the SNP-leptin and BMI-leptin associations, no SNP×BMI interaction was seen (P=0.60). A similar lack of SNP×BMI interaction was observed for CRP, the second most strongly BMI-correlated trait. Of the 13 traits examined, only HTGC showed robust and highly statistically significant interactions between trait-associated SNPs and BMI.
For the remaining 12 BMI-associated traits, only 3 nominally significant interactions were identified (between BMI and SNPs in *APOA5*, *LPL*, and *GCKR* on plasma TG levels). None of these three interactions were observed in the Dallas Biobank, and only one was replicated (p=0.02) in the large Copenhagen cohort ([Supplementary Table 6](#SD1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}).
Discussion {#S9}
==========
The major finding of this paper is that adiposity amplifies the genetic risk of NAFLD. In a cohort from the general population (the DHS), the prevalence of hepatic steatosis ranged from 9% in lean individuals who did not carry the M variant to 84% in very obese individuals who were homozygous for the M variant. Adiposity also amplified the effects of the M variant on serum ALT activity and the risk of cirrhosis. Taken together, these results indicate that gene × adiposity interaction plays a major role in the development and progression of NAFLD in humans. Other traits that are strongly correlated with adiposity (e.g., plasma leptin and CRP levels) were not influenced by gene × BMI interactions in our study, despite having associations with genetic variants that were comparable in magnitude to that of the M variant on HTGC.
The interaction with adiposity was not specific to the M isoform of PNPLA3. We found similar gene × adiposity relationships for two other steatogenic alleles, GCKR-446L and TM6SF2-167K. These three variants promote steatosis by distinct metabolic mechanisms. The M isoform of PNPLA3 accumulates on cytoplasmic lipid droplets and likely compromises TG mobilization ^[@R27]^. GCKR is a negative regulator of glucokinase; the loss-of-function variant (446L) results in increases in phosphorylation of glucose ^[@R28]^, glycolysis, and fatty acid synthesis ^[@R17]^ in the liver. TM6SF2 is a polytopic ER protein that is required for VLDL secretion from the liver ^[@R16]^. The E167K substitution is a loss-of-function mutation that results in impaired hepatic TG secretion and accumulation of hepatic fat ^[@R16]^. Thus, obesity may augment genetic risk of NAFLD through at least three different metabolic mechanisms.
One possibility is that obesity may amplify the effect of the three risk alleles by altering their expression. PNPLA3 is a direct target of the insulin-regulated transcription factor sterol regulatory element binding protein-1c (SREBP-1c) and is highly regulated by fasting and refeeding ^[@R29]^. GCKR expression is also increased by glucose and insulin ^[@R30]^. The insulin resistance associated with obesity may therefore increase expression of these two genes. However, TM6SF2 does not respond to food intake ^[@R31]^. Thus, the gene × adiposity interaction appears not to be due simply to an enhancement in the expression of the risk allele at these three loci.
Do the variants in *PNPLA3*, *TM6SF2*, and *GCKR* interact with other environmental risk factors associated with obesity? Increasing visceral fat content augmented the effect of the M-variant on hepatic fat content in a previous study of 2,257 non-diabetic European-Americans ^[@R32]^. A diet rich in carbohydrates is associated with an increase in risk of NAFLD ^[@R33]^. Among 158 Hispanic children, a high carbohydrate intake increased HTGC in those homozygous for the PNPLA3 M-variant, but not in IM-heterozygotes or II-homozygotes ^[@R34]^. We observed a similar phenomenon in mice. Knockin mice expressing PNPLA3-148M do not develop hepatic steatosis on a low-fat chow diet, whereas on a high-sucrose diet, which dramatically increases the levels of insulin, the mice have 2--3 fold increased HTGC compared to wildtype mice ^[@R27]^. These findings support the hypothesis that gene × diet interactions play a role in NAFLD. We speculate that energy surplus is an absolute requirement for the deposition of fat in the liver. In the absence of an energy surplus, there is no driver for hepatic fat accumulation, irrespective of genotype. This situation is analogous to a pharmacogenetics interaction, in which the effect of a genetic variant is contingent on the action of a drug.
An estimated 30% of those individuals who develop steatosis have associated hepatic inflammation ^[@R35]^. In a subset of these individuals, liver enzymes are released into the blood. PNPLA3-I148M was the SNP most strongly associated with serum ALT levels in the first GWAS on serum liver enzyme levels ^[@R36]^, and this result has been confirmed in several subsequent studies ^[@R15],[@R37]^. We found that adiposity amplified the effect of the M variant on ALT levels in a manner that was similar to the effect on steatosis. This finding contrasts with Larrieta-Carrasco *et. al.*, who reported that the odds ratio of elevated ALT associated with the M variant was greater in normal-weight children than in obese children ^[@R38]^, and with Giudice et. al.^[@R39]^, who reported that the effect of the M variant increased with waist to hip ratio, but not with BMI, in obese children. The reasons for these discrepancies are not known.
We also found a gene×adiposity interaction when we analyzed the effect of PNPLA3-I148M on cirrhosis due to NAFLD or to alcoholic liver disease. Among massively obese individuals, MM-homozygotes had a 5.8-fold increased risk of cirrhosis compared to II-homozygotes. Among lean persons (BMI\<25 kg/m^2^), the MM-homozygotes had a 2.4-fold increased risk of cirrhosis compared to II-homozygotes. Thus, adiposity appears to amplify the effect of the PNPLA3-148M variant on the entire spectrum of NAFLD, from steatosis, to steatohepatitis, to end-stage liver disease. A limitation to the observed interaction on cirrhosis is that the number of cases was relatively modest, and that cirrhosis was defined by registry-based ICD-codes. Pending independent replication in larger patient cohorts, the interaction on cirrhosis should therefore be viewed as preliminary.
Adiposity has been found to also amplify the effect of alcohol on liver disease ^[@R40]^. Among obese men, those who drank \>15 units of alcohol per week had an 18.9 fold increased risk of death from liver disease compared to non-drinkers^[@R40]^. The corresponding relative risk among lean men was 3.2. Taken together, our data and the results of Hart et al.^[@R40]^ indicate that adiposity exacerbates the effects on fatty liver disease of both genetic and nongenetic factors. It is possible that adiposity exacerbates alcoholic liver disease through its actions on PNPLA3, since PNPLA3-148M has been shown to confer risk of cirrhosis among alcoholics^[@R41]^.
Whereas the burgeoning of obesity in the population is a result of secular changes in lifestyle factors (presumably diet and exercise), inter-individual differences in adiposity are also partly heritable. We show here that genetic variants that associate with increased BMI also associate with increased hepatic fat content. This finding indicates that the sequence variants at nearly 100 loci that have been associated with BMI ^[@R42]^ would be predicted to be associated with liver fat content in a *PNPLA3*/*TM6SF2*/*GCKR* genotype-dependent manner. Thus, the heritability of HTGC is determined not only by the primary effect of *PNPLA3*/*TM6SF2*/*GCKR* genotype but also by the secondary effects of variation at nearly 100 loci that influence HTGC indirectly via their effects on adiposity. Thus the interaction between BMI and NAFLD-variants reported here should in fact be viewed as a mixture of gene×gene and gene×environment interactions.
Obesity increases susceptibility to a wide variety of common complex diseases ranging from cancer (e.g., breast and colon cancer) and hypertension to metabolic disorders (e.g., type 2 diabetes mellitus). Few single gene×adiposity interactions have been robustly documented for any of these conditions ^[@R12]^. In an effort to probe the contribution of gene×adiposity interactions to adiposity-associated traits more generally, we screened the DHS database for metabolic phenotypes that are strongly correlated with BMI, and then for SNPs that are strongly associated with those traits. Of the phenotypes tested, 13 met both criteria, but apart from the BMI×SNP interactions on HTGC, only three SNPs showed nominally significant interactions with BMI (variants in *LPL*, *APOA5*, and *GCKR* interacted with BMI in their effect on plasma TG levels). The interactions were not robustly replicated in two larger cohorts. Limitations of this screen include the relatively modest sample size and the comparison of candidate gene SNPs with those identified by an agnostic exome-wide approach. Nevertheless, these findings support the hypothesis that gene × adiposity interactions of comparable magnitude to those observed for *PNPLA3*, *TM6SF2,* and *GCKR* on HTGC are uncommon.
What distinguishes NAFLD from other adiposity-associated phenotypes, such as hypertension and blood glucose levels? First, the common alleles that contribute to hypertension and blood glucose levels all have smaller phenotypic effects than do the fatty liver susceptibility alleles ^[@R43],[@R44]^. For example, homozygotes for the M variant have a 2-fold increase in HTGC compared to II-homozygotes, and the variant explains \~5--10% of the variance in HTGC in different ethnicities. In contrast, the alleles most robustly associated with blood pressure or with blood glucose only increase these traits by \~1%, and each explains less than 1% of the total trait variance ^[@R43],[@R44]^. These modest effect sizes limit the power to detect interactions with adiposity.
A second major difference between blood pressure and blood glucose, and liver fat content is that blood pressure and blood glucose are both under homeostatic control. Consequently, the effect of any genetic variant on the levels of blood glucose, or on blood pressure, will be opposed by counter-regulatory effects. In contrast, there is no evidence that the concentration of TG in the liver is subject to feedback regulation. Therefore, sequence variants or environmental factors (such as increased food consumption) can promote the accumulation of large amounts of TG within lipid droplets in the liver without eliciting a counter-regulatory response. The frequency of the M variant increases from sub-Saharan Africa to South America in a pattern that reflects human migration. This pattern suggests that the variant may have been under positive selective pressure. Could the M variant be part of the "thrifty genome", as has been suggested previously ^[@R45],[@R46]^?
The findings reported here raise the possibility that consideration of adiposity and genotype jointly may provide improved prediction of individuals at highest risk of progressing from simple steatosis to chronic liver disease. The risk alleles of the three strongest NAFLD risk variants confer only moderate risk in lean individuals, but are major risk factors in the obese, suggesting that genetic screening would be especially valuable in this subgroup. Similarly, while all obese individuals would benefit from a weight-loss intervention, our data suggest that individuals at high genetic risk of NAFLD are likely to benefit the most.
Online Methods {#S10}
==============
Studies were approved by institutional review boards and ethics committees of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and by Danish institutional review boards and ethic committees, and were conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki. Written informed consent was obtained from participants. There was no overlap of individuals between the studies.
Participants {#S11}
------------
We included participants from four studies: the Dallas Heart Study (DHS), the Dallas Biobank, the Copenhagen City Heart Study (CCHS), and the Copenhagen General Population Study (CGPS). The DHS is a multiethnic, probability-based sample of Dallas County that was collected between 2000 and 2002, and between 2007 and 2009 ^[@R15],[@R19]^. Ethnicity was self-reported in accordance with U.S. census categories. From the DHS, we included 2,675 participants in whom hepatic triglyceride content (HTGC) was measured ^[@R47]^ and up to 1,786 additional individuals were added to the sample size for the analysis of other traits. We included 5,434 persons from the Dallas Biobank, a general population cohort of African Americans and Hispanic Americans from Dallas, TX ^[@R16]^. The CCHS and CGPS are prospective studies of the Danish general population initiated in 1976 and 2003, respectively ^[@R16],[@R48]^. All participants from the CCHS and CGPS were white and of Danish descent, as determined by the National Danish Civil Registration System. We combined the CCHS and CGPS into one cohort, totaling 93,719 persons, here referred to as the Copenhagen cohort.
Measurements {#S12}
------------
Body mass index was measured as weight in kilograms divided by measured height in meters squared. Hepatic triglyceride content (HTGC) was measured in the DHS using proton magnetic resonance spectrometry^[@R47]^. Hepatic steatosis was defined as an HTGC of 5.5% or greater; 5.5% represents the 95^th^ percentile of the distribution of HTGC in a population with no risk factors for steatosis ^[@R47]^. Serum levels of ALT were measured as described ^[@R49]^. *PNPLA3* I148M (rs738409; NC_000022.11:g.43928847C\>G, p.Ile148Met), *TM6SF2* E167K (rs58542926; NC_000019.10:g.19268740C\>T, p.Glu167Lys), and *GCKR* P446L (rs1260326; NC_000002.11:g.27730940C\>T, p.Pro446Leu), the 30 BMI-associated variants, and the exome-wide variants used to screen for associations and interactions with other phenotypes were genotyped in the Dallas Heart Study by an exome chip as previously described ^[@R16]^. *PNPLA3* I148M, *TM6SF2* E167K, and *GCKR* P446L were genotyped by Taqman in the Dallas Biobank, and by Taqman and PCR-based KASP genotyping in the Copenhagen cohort. Alcohol intake in the Copenhagen cohort was self-reported.
Cirrhosis {#S13}
---------
In the Copenhagen cohort, diagnoses of cirrhosis (ICD8: 57109 \[alcoholic cirrhosis\], 57192 \[unspecified cirrhosis\], 57199 \[non-alcoholic cirrhosis\] and ICD10: K70.3 \[alcoholic cirrhosis\], K74.0 \[hepatic fibrosis\], K74.6 \[unspecified cirrhosis\]) were collected from the National Danish Patient Registry, and the National Danish Causes of Death Registry from January 1, 1977 to November 10^th^, 2014. The National Danish Patient Registry has information on all patient contacts with all clinical hospital departments in Denmark, including emergency wards and outpatient clinics (from 1994). The National Danish Causes of Death Registry contains data on the causes of all deaths in Denmark, as reported by hospitals and general practitioners. A validation study in the Danish registry found that 85.4% of patients with an ICD-code for cirrhosis fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for cirrhosis ^[@R50]^.
Statistical analysis {#S14}
--------------------
All analyses were performed using Stata SE 12 (Stata Corp., College Station, Texas) and/or R statistical analysis software v 3.2.3 (<https://www.R-project.org>). A two-sided p-value \<0.05 was considered statistically significant in all main analyses, whereas p\<3.6×10^7^ was considered significant in the exome-wide screen. For statistical tests, genotypes were coded 0, 1, 2. Body mass index was entered as a continuous variable in all analyses (apart from a sensitivity test for interaction, in which BMI groups were entered as an ordered categorical variable, encoded 0--3). To depict the interaction between genotype and BMI visually, participants were divided into four groups of BMI: lean (≤25 kg/m^2^), overweight (25--30 kg/m^2^), obese (30--35 kg/m^2^) and very obese (\>35 kg/m^2^). The distributions of HTGC and ALT were highly skewed to the right ^[@R19]^. Therefore, prior to entering these variables into regression analyses, we transformed them to HTGC\^0.3 and 1/(ALT\^0.25), in order to approximate normality and constant variance of the residuals. These transformations were selected by using Tukey's ladder of power transformations, and by visual inspection of Q-Q plots of residuals after the transformation. To assess the robustness of the interactions on different scales, we also used untransformed, inverse normally transformed, logarithmically transformed and dichotomized HTGC or ALT. For each transformation, we plotted distributions of the variable, the normal Q-Q plot of the residuals, and distribution of the residuals by BMI-category, and tested for BMI×SNP interactions ([Supplementary Figs. 1 and 2](#SD2){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). To account for a higher variance in HTGC in the most obese compared to lean subjects (heteroscedasticity), we repeated all interaction tests using a heteroscedasticity-robust model ^[@R22]^. We considered whether adjusting for BMI and PNPLA3/GCKR/TM6SF2 in the models could introduce collider bias ^[@R51]^. This was deemed unlikely, given that none of the 3 genetic variants associate with BMI, and that NAFLD is not known to causally influence adiposity. Prevalence of cirrhosis and steatosis were evaluated by logistic regression models adjusted for sex and age (and ethnicity in the DHS).
We evaluated the interactions between BMI and SNPs by the inclusion of interaction terms between BMI and SNPs in the linear or logistic regression models, adjusted for sex, age, and ethnicity (encoded African American=1, European American=2, Hispanic American=3, and entered as a factorial variable in the regression). Body mass index and SNPs were entered as continuous variables in the interaction term (ie. all interaction tests are 1 degree of freedom). In a sensitivity analysis, the interaction on cirrhosis was retested after further adjustment for alcohol×BMI and alcohol×PNPLA3 interaction, entered individually or simultaneously into the regression.
To test whether adiposity is a likely causal risk factor for increased HTGC, we genotyped 30 SNPs known to be associated with BMI in Whites ([Supplementary Table 1](#SD1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}) ^[@R25]^. For each SNP, the BMI-increasing alleles were weighted by the per-allele effect size reported in the GWAS ^[@R25]^. A gene score was calculated for each European American participant of the DHS by summation of weighted alleles across all 30 BMI-associated SNPs. The gene score was tested for association with BMI and HTGC using linear regression, with the gene score included as a continuous variable. To depict the association between the genotype score and BMI and HTGC visually, the genotype score was divided into quintiles ([Supplementary Fig. 6](#SD2){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). Instrumental variable analysis was conducted in order to compare the observational association between BMI and HTGC with the effect of genetically increased BMI on HTGC^[@R52]^. The observational association between BMI and HTGC\^0.3 was determined using linear regression, adjusted for age and sex. For the genetic, causal analysis, two-stage least squares regression was used to assess the effect of a 1 kg/m^2^ increase in genetically modeled BMI on HTGC\^0.3^[@R52]^. Strength of the genetic instrument was evaluated by F-statistics and R^2^, where F\>10 was considered sufficient to avoid weak-instrument bias, and R^2^ indicates the fraction of variation in BMI explained by the instrument.
To determine whether gene-environment interactions were commonly observed with other obesity-associated traits, we screened phenotypes relevant to metabolism (plasma lipids, glucose and insulin homeostasis, blood pressure, liver enzymes, sterols, biomarkers) for correlation with BMI in the DHS. Phenotypes showing a partial correlation with BMI (after adjustment for age, gender and ethnicity) exceeding 0.2 in absolute value were further screened for association with genetic variants present on the Illumina HumanExome BeadChip (12v1_A) ^[@R16]^. Variants exceeding our exome-wide significance threshold (p\<3.6×10^7^), or variants in established genetic loci from a previously published NAFLD GWAS ^[@R18]^, were then tested for SNP×BMI interaction, using linear regression adjusted for age, gender and ethnicity. All nominally significant SNP×BMI-interactions (p\<0.05) were retested in the Dallas Biobank and in the Copenhagen Cohort (where both phenotype and genotype data were available).
Data availability statement {#S15}
---------------------------
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Supplementary Material {#S16}
======================
Supported by grants from the NIH: PO1 HL20948 and RO1 DK090066 (H.H.H and J.C.C), UL1TR001105 (H.H.H), and The Danish Council for Independent Research, Medical Sciences (Sapere Aude 4004-00398) (S.S.). The Copenhagen Cohort is supported by the Danish Council for Independent Research, the Research Fund at Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Chief Physician Johan Boserup and Lise Boserup's Fund, Ingeborg and Leo Dannin's Grant, Henry Hansen and Wife's Grant, and a grant from the Odd Fellow Order (A.T-H.).
**Author contributions**
S.S.: Study concept and design, analysis and interpretation of data, drafting of the manuscript, statistical analysis, critical revision of the manuscript. J.K.: Analysis and interpretation of data, statistical analysis, critical revision of the manuscript. A.T-H.: Acquisition of data, critical revision of the manuscript. B.G.N.: Acquisition of data, critical revision of the manuscript. H.H.H.: Study concept and design, analysis and interpretation of data, drafting of the manuscript, critical revision of the manuscript, acquisition of data, study supervision. J.C.C.: Study concept and design, analysis and interpretation of data, drafting of the manuscript, critical revision of the manuscript, acquisition of data, study supervision.
**Conflicts of interest**
None of the authors had potential conflicts of interest.
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Nevada celebrates big bloom with wildflower week
A field of wildflowers is one of the most inspiring scenes you can experience in nature, and springtime in Nevada offers an abundance of opportunities to enjoy these blossoming treasures. In commemoration of National Wildflower Week, May 5-11, the Nevada Natural Heritage Program, within the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, is helping to promote the importance of Nevada’s native wildflowers, and their vital role in supporting the state’s natural environment.
Nevada is home to more than 1,500 native wildflower species statewide. And that’s only counting the herbaceous (non-woody) species; there are hundreds more flowering shrubs, trees, and vines in the state. Beyond their aesthetic beauty, these native blooms help conserve water, provide habitat for birds, butterflies, and other wildlife, and protect soil from erosion. In addition to being more resistant to local diseases and pests, native wildflowers require less fertilizer than other plants, and usually only need to be mowed once per season. Because wildflower gardens require minimal maintenance compared to traditional gardens, more and more consumers have been drawn to the idea as a way to save time, money, and water.
Beyond serving as an alternative to non-native plants, Nevada’s wildflowers also attract pollinators, such as bees, butterflies, and hawk moths, which are essential to the health of our natural environment. Additionally, more than a third of the world’s food crops are dependent on pollinators to produce fruit. Unfortunately, several pollinator species in Nevada have undergone severe declines in recent years. The Nevada Natural Heritage Program, in partnership with other state, federal, and local agencies, continues to aid in protecting, conserving, and enhancing pollinator habitats in Nevada to help foster vibrant ecosystems statewide.
The Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources shares the following tips to help the state’s wild blossoms thrive:
Plant native wildflowers in your yard or garden, and/or replace your lawn with native flora. The Nevada Division of Forestry operates two nurseries, located in Washoe County and Las Vegas, which offer native and adapted plants for purchase year round.
Photograph wildflowers and upload your photos to the iNaturalist App, available on Android and iPhone devices, to help identify the locations and species of plants and animals in your area. By recording and sharing your observations, you’ll help create research quality data for area scientists working to better understand and protect nature.
Find a guided hike or wildflower walk near you through the Nevada Division of State Parks, Nevada Native Plant Society, or Galena Creek Visitor Center.
Please share your wildflower photos on social media using #NationalWildflowerWeek, and tag the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (@NevDCNR) on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. | https://www.recordcourier.com/news/local/nevada-celebrates-big-bloom-with-wildflower-week/ |
In modern society, there is a high demand for cultural memory and cultural heritage. The researchers explain this phenomenon differently, in particular globalization, a change of eras, when "something" human and close to everyone "is noted by the end". One of the interesting areas in terms of ethno cultural interweaving is the North Caucasus, which, despite its multinational composition, has a sociocultural integrity. Today, the peoples of the North Caucasus face a dilemma: revival traditional knowledge or irretrievable loss and abandonment of cultural heritage. Globalization has not only mobilization potential, it also has conflict character. For example, disputes about the authenticity of historical events, about the ownership of objects cultural heritage, toponymy, ethnography, and conflicts related to cultural memory. These conflicts are a complex socio-psychological phenomenon. Such conflicts must be resolved within the framework of cultural and social context, and ignoring the cultural interaction of the peoples of the North Caucasus it is fraught not only with distortion of axiological value of objects of intangible culture, but and the impasse of this approach. The mentality of the peoples of the North Caucasus is under construction on a common platform of the value system, in connection with which, these ethnic groups are interested in preserving each other, the common North Caucasian culture and the cultural heritage of each ethnic group.
Keywords: North Caucasusintangible culturecultural heritage
Introduction
The intangible cultural heritage of the peoples of the North Caucasus is a part of the common heritage of mankind in various fields of activity, a powerful means of rapprochement of the peoples of Russia, ethnic groups and the assertion of their cultural identity. The North Caucasus is a set of ethnonational republics that are part of the Russian Federation. This region, like many others in the era of globalization, is undergoing a transformation of cultural heritage. During the long residence in one region, the peoples have created a common socio-cultural space. There is an understanding of socio-cultural processes, changing the meaning and role of intangible culture, which has gone from periods of oblivion and conservation to commercialization. ICH is the most important component of the national culture, contributing to the formation of mutual respect, the basis of national consciousness, strengthening the spiritual connection of generations and eras. After all, the oblivion of folk traditions, their loss threatens not only the collapse of ethno-cultural ties, the loss of national sovereignty, but also the formation of anomalies alien to the nature of the ethnos in the life of society, the devaluation of traditional culture in general. That culture, which was created for centuries by a certain ethnic group, contributed to its self-preservation. The need to understand the Renaissance and cultural dynamics of the intangible culture of the peoples of the North Caucasus in the context of globalization actualizes this study. The cultural future of the North Caucasus depends on which way the region will go at the fork of the locoglobalization stage: cultural polarization or cultural isolation?
Problem Statement
Cultural globalization is a natural and objectively existing phenomenon, but ambiguous. Thus, the researchers ' forecasts are contradictory, from the inevitable globalization and unification of the world cultural space, to the complete denial of cultural globalization due to the specifics of the civilizational structure of the world. Robertson (1992) understands globalization as a process of glocalization and unification of culture, which lead the world "not to unity, but to the creation of a situation of uncertainty around the world" (p. 63).
Huntington (1996) understands culture in its classical scientific interpretation as the values, beliefs and lifestyles of people within a given civilization.
According to Huntington (1996), "non-Western civilizations reassert the values of their cultures" (p. 73). He also predicts that in the future it will be culture that will become a source of conflict.
Smith (1990), in turn, insists that global culture is an artificially created term, and in the long term meaningless, recognizes each culture as a product of the history of a particular nation and a particular ethnic group.
Kasatkin (2017) in the theoretical consideration of the phenomenon of cultural globalization identifies 3 main directions: hyperglobalist, globalist (localization, glocalization) and conditionally antiglobalist.
Globalization, among other things, also means a contraction, a clash of local cultures, which must be redefined in this "clash of localities" (Beck, 2001).
Thus, at the present stage we can observe the predicted collision of local cultures in different variations. In particular, the vast majority of controversial issues in social networks concern the cultural memory and cultural heritage of neighbouring peoples.
The analysis of scientific literature revealed that the issues of preservation of intangible cultural heritage are considered in the fields of philosophy, political science, Economics, law, cultural studies, Ethnology, museology. Quite widely in the doctrine designated the importance of the ICH, as "security issues of the country" (Yudin, 2015), "fundamentals of social modernization", "an important factor in strengthening interethnic relations", " modern tourist resource" (Antonenko et al., 2017) etc.
It must be emphasized that foreign scientists performed fundamental research on the international-legal aspects (Lixinski, 2013). A collective work edited by Stefano and Davis (2012) which investigated in details the history of the formation of the ICH regime and provided new challenges ICH should be noted. In the foreign literature, ICH is considered in different contexts: trade (Coonihe & Turcoile, 2012), community interests, protection of ICH and protection of human rights (Zuo, 2012), as an alternative means of regulating the protection of ICH (Lai, 2016).
Significant dissertation researches "Legal protection of folklore manifestations" (Shebzukhova, 2002), "International legal regime of intangible cultural heritage protection" (Aliyeva, 2018) are devoted to the considered subject. The present state of legislation of States-participants of the ICH devoted to the work of Martynenko (2017), the legal problems on the protection of intangible cultural heritage and the comparative analysis is dedicated to the works of Presnyakova and Ponomarchuk (2016), Bereishik (2016). The analysis of normative-legal acts of the subjects of the Russian Federation, the purpose of which is to create a legal protection regime to ensure the safety of the ICH is devoted to the work of Duguzheva (2017).
Research Questions
What is meant by intangible cultural heritage? The 2003 UNESCO Convention for the protection of intangible cultural heritage proposes five broad "areas" in which intangible cultural heritage manifests itself:
Oral traditions and expressions, including language as a means of intangible cultural heritage;
Performing art;
Social practices, rituals and celebrations;
Knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe;
Traditional craftsmanship.
In the Russian Federation, regional legislation on the preservation of intangible cultural heritage (folklore) is ahead of Federal legislation. Thus, special laws have been adopted in the Republics of Altai, Khakassia, Tyva, Tatarstan and Dagestan; in the Autonomous regions of Yamal-Nenetsky Autonomous region and KHMAO, Saratov region, etc. However, there are problems and discrepancies in the content of the NCP, the criteria for selecting elements of the ICH. It is not defined who is responsible for the preservation and use of ICH objects, which body should consider disputes between ethnic groups on the inclusion of ICH objects in the registers. Who can demand protection of the rights of an ethnic group, whether it is lawful to consider an ethnic group as the subject of such legal conflicts?
For example, the Law of the Republic of Dagestan "on protection of objects of intangible cultural heritage in the Republic of Dagestan» regulates relations in the field of identification, revival, preservation, use, promotion of objects of intangible cultural heritage in the Republic of Dagestan. Article 5 of this law provides for the maintenance of a register of objects of protection, and article 6 establishes criteria for the selection of objects: historical and cultural significance, uniqueness, prevalence and risk (threat) of disappearance.
Is it possible to consider traditional culture without reference to the subject-ethnic group? If we assume that the traditional culture has developed in a particular territory and traditional knowledge was used in the conditions of geographical and climatic features of this territory, then such a culture is the halo of this territory and its natural accompaniment. And due to historical and migratory events, new human communities, settling in this territory, get used to the traditional culture of this area. That can explain the multiple disputes about belonging, transition, translation, appropriation of cultural elements between neighboring ethnic groups living in the same cultural and territorial zone.
Traditional culture is, of course, information, but information complicated by two components: concentrated and / or encrypted meaning and special emotions. Today, traditional culture can be commercialized, appropriated, used improperly, and damaging the cultural interests of society and the country.
Traditional expressions of culture of any ethnic group contain the valuable heritage allowing not doubting its cultural subjectivity (Kharabaeva, 2010).
The ethnic group has a name, number, language, traditional culture and traditional knowledge, often the territory of compact residence; some of them are designated by the titular peoples of the regions of the country, some of them are in the list of indigenous peoples. However, in the Russian legal field, the ethnic group is not represented by a full-fledged subject of legal relations and this is at a time when the legal community is concerned about giving legal status to artificial intelligence. This situation is an obstacle to the use and preservation of cultural heritage. Traditional culture has no clear outlines, it is difficult to embrace and decompose in some logical order, it cannot be hidden, it cannot be used at the request of someone, and such a culture is more or less present in the way of life and thinking of man.
In the process of preserving traditional culture, real opportunities are concentrated in the hands of representatives of each ethnic group. And the level of preservation depends on the willingness of representatives of each ethnic group to use and preserve traditional culture. There are great doubts about the possibility of forcing a person to preserve his spiritual culture by imperative norms.
Purpose of the Study
The North Caucasus Cultural Matrix is considered as an effective basis for the preservation of the intangible cultural heritage of the peoples living in the North Caucasus. In this connection, the purpose of this work is to identify the causes of cultural conflicts and develop proposals for their settlement.
Research Methods
The methodological basis of the study is:
sociological methods (observation, study and analysis of social pages on ethno-cultural topics of the North Caucasus region), which will reveal the list of the most discussed elements of ICH;
legal methods (comparative, formal-logical and general scientific), with the help of which the ways of using and preserving ICH established in regional laws will be identified;
ethnological methods (analysis) with the help of which the levels of ICH use will be determined;
Also, systemic, comparative historical and cultural approaches will be used
Findings
According to the results of the analysis of Internet resources, social net accounts of ethno-cultural orientation, conflict conversations related to national (traditional) clothing, traditional food, traditional instrumental music, folk songs, folk dances, horse breeding were revealed. The subject of the dispute is the belonging of cultural heritage objects to one ethnic group.
Mixing, appropriation, redistribution of elements of traditional culture between different groups, for example living centuries in the neighborhood occurs more or less always. As well as the results of collective intellectual creativity, which have reached a high level of recognition, the elements of the ICH move to a higher level, in a kind of public domain.
In this connection, it is possible to separate the ways of owning an ethno-cultural manifestation: in the environment of the ethnos-creator, using the "original" with a conscious understanding of the deep meaning and the ethnos-user owning the "copy". Both the first and second groups possess a set of values, but the end result is the qualitative benefit that each group receives from such information practices. That is, the actual owner of ethno-cultural values is the ethnic group that understands the original content and uses it. And in the case of deformed use, external copying, additions by other content components, a copy is created – a new object, which is based on the" pattern" of the original.
Moreover, as the researchers emphasize, the future development of society will happen through virtual models based on new information technologies. This implies the emergence of a new socio-cultural, information environment created by the human Creator and used by the human user on the basis of high technologies.
That is, the understanding of the preservation of intangible culture is divided into two types. First, virtual ethnoculture-electronic databases, the rights to which will belong conditionally to the owner of the site, the owner of the database, which may have no relation to the ethnic group-the Creator of this culture. Secondly, the real ethnoculture, used by carriers consciously with the understanding of meaning and meaning, proper applicability to the situation. The virtual and the real ethnic culture can coexist, pursuing different goals.
It is important to realize the fact of intertwining the intangible culture of the peoples of the North Caucasus, and the need for each ethnic group to preserve the elements of the ICH and, above all, the language (Figure
Conclusion
Legal regulation in the field of ICH is a requirement of time, which is why, without waiting for the completion of the reform of cultural policy and the adoption of the updated Federal law on culture, the regions are forced within their powers to create legal opportunities for documenting, compiling a database of ICH objects and their use. Every day the number of people who want to learn and acquire skills of various traditional knowledge and skills increases. Such a revival requires a responsible attitude to the objects of the ICH on the part of both carriers and users. Effective legal regulation should be based on a deep and comprehensive study of the phenomenon of intangible cultural heritage.
First of all, it is necessary to define what is the unit of protection of the intangible cultural heritage? In the process of identification, study and use, it is necessary to prioritize a sustainable relationship with the creator ethnic group and / or territory. The Russian legal space could be more comfortable with the ratification of the UNESCO Convention of 2003 and the adoption of the Federal law in the field of culture, in which a separate Chapter could be devoted to the intangible cultural heritage. The presence of such fundamental legal acts will help to cope with the terminological "puzzle", eliminate discrepancies and contradictions in regional legal acts.
References
- Aliyeva, G. V. (2018). International legal regime of protection of intangible cultural heritage. (Doctoral Dissertation). FSEI of HE “Peoples' Friendship University of Russia”.
- Antonenko, V. S., Bay, N. A., & Dabizha, E. P. (2017). Intangible cultural heritage of Turkey as modern tourist resource. Current sci. res. in the modern world, 12-10(32), 87–92.
- Beck, U. (2001). What is globalization? Errors of globalism – answers to globalization. Progress-Tradition.
- Bereishik, L.V. (2016). Regulatory framework for the protection of intangible cultural heritage. In Mater. of the II Annual Int. Sci. and Pract. Read. of the Stavropol Instit. of Cooperat. (branch) of BUKEP, under the editorship of V.N. Eyes, S.D. Turko (pp. 84–86). Fabula.
- Coonihe, R. J., & Turcoile, J. F. (2012). Indigenous Cultural Heritage in Development and Trade: Perspectives from the Dynamics of Intangible Cultural Heritage Law and Policy. In Ch. Graber, K. Kuprecht, & J. Lai (Eds.), II International Trade in Indigenous Cultural Heritage (pp. 211–236). Edward Elgar.
- Duguzheva, M. K. (2017). Legal regulation of the preservation of intangible cultural heritage (folklore) in Russia. Bull. of the Russ. Acad. of Intellect. Property and the Russ. Author's Society Annual sci.-pract. J. “Co-piracy”, 4, 33–45.
- Huntington, S. (1996). The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. Simon & Schuster.
- Kasatkin, P. I. (2017). Globalization of Culture: Problems and Prospects. Magazine “Vlast”, 8, 40–48.
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How does Plantinga's free will defense of God's benevolence work?
The purpose of the defense is to show that omniscient, omnipotent and benevolent God is consistent with the existence of evil in creation. The most popular version of the defense is due to Alvin ...
4
votes
2answers
759 views
Logic Notation Question: [[A]] vs. ⌈A⌉
Let A stand for an arbitrary proposition. I've read some papers recently that use differing notation on expressing the notion that "A is true". The two I'm concerned about are as follows: (1) [[A]...
4
votes
2answers
392 views
Does S4 (and B) hold for the strongest interpretations of ♢ and □?
Suppose these are the interpretations we are working with: ♢Ψ iff no explicit contradiction can be deduced from Ψ in FOL or in other words it's not provable that ~Ψ in FOL. ~♢Ψ iff an explicit ...
4
votes
2answers
929 views
What is the difference between 'instantiate' and 'exemplify', if any?
In this lecture series, Stalnaker uses both verbs 'instantiate' and 'exemplify'. Now, I gather those two verbs have the same meaning. But, I also think that if the two verbs were equivalent, Stalnaker ...
4
votes
1answer
59 views
What are good sources on vivid designators?
Wikipedia lists a vivid designator as the following: Vivid designator: In modal logic and the philosophy of language, a vivid designator is a term which is believed to designate the same ...
4
votes
4answers
643 views
Why is it wrong to deduce determinism from a logical law?
In Aristotle's famous sea battle argument, he argues from bivalence (or something like it) to determinism. Stalnacker has an argument to determinism using standard logical laws, as well. My question ...
4
votes
2answers
111 views
Can three valued logic serve as an adequate basis for a (nontraditional) modal logic?
I asked a similar question on the Math Stack Exchange, but the best answer so far provided was not entirely satisfactory. I have examined much of the literature referenced in the SEP article on Many-...
4
votes
2answers
137 views
Is this a reasonable weak classical Deontic Logic?
I am writing a paper at the moment and an area of Deontic Logic has cropped up in it. I know very little about the area and I was wondering if people could give me opinions on the axiomatic system ... | https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/modal-logic?sort=votes&pageSize=50 |
Q:
Form is hidden behind other forms when ShowModal is called
My application is based on modal forms. Main form opens one form with ShowModal, this form opens another with ShowModal, so we have stacked modal forms. There is sometimes a problem that when we call ShowModal in new form, it hides behind previous forms, instead of showing on top. After pressing alt+tab, form comes back to the top, but this is not good solution. Did You meet this problem and how did you handle it?
EDIT:
I use Delphi 7.
A:
You didn't mention which version of Delphi...
Newer Delphi versions have added two new properties to TCustomForm: PopupMode and PopupParent. Setting PopupParent of your modal dialog to the form that's creating that dialog makes sure that the child form stays on top of it's parent. It usually fixes the problem you're describing.
I think this pair of properties were added in Delphi 2006, but it may have been 2005. They're definitely there in Delphi 2007 and up.
EDIT: After seeing you're using Delphi 7, the only suggestion I have is that, in the code that displays your modal form, you disable the form creating it, and re-enable on return. That should prevent the creating window from receiving input, which may help keep the Z-order correct.
Something like this may work (untested, as I'm no longer using D7):
procedure TForm1.ShowForm2;
begin
Self.Enabled := False;
try
with TForm2.Create(nil) do
begin
try
if ShowModal = mrOk then
// Returned OK. Do something;
finally
Free;
end;
end;
finally
Self.Enabled := True;
end;
end;
If Form2 creates a modal window (as you've mentioned), just repeat the process - disable Form2, create Form3 and show it modally, and re-enable Form2 when it returns. Make sure to use try..finally as I've shown, so that if something goes wrong in the modal form the creating form is always re-enabled.
A:
Sorry for adding a separate answer, but I have done a bit more research, and some of it indicates that my previous answer (DisableProcessWindowsGhosting) doesn't help. Since I can't always reproduce this issue, I cannot say for sure.
I found a solution that appears to appropriate. I referenced the code in Delphi 2007 for the CreateParams method and it matches pretty close (without having all of the other code that handles PopupMode).
I created the unit below which subclasses TForm.
unit uModalForms;
interface
uses Forms, Controls, Windows;
type
TModalForm = class(TForm)
protected
procedure CreateParams(var params: TCreateParams); override;
end;
implementation
procedure TModalForm.CreateParams(var params: TCreateParams);
begin
inherited;
params.WndParent := Screen.ActiveForm.Handle;
if (params.WndParent <> 0) and (IsIconic(params.WndParent)
or not IsWindowVisible(params.WndParent)
or not IsWindowEnabled(params.WndParent)) then
params.WndParent := 0;
if params.WndParent = 0 then
params.WndParent := Application.Handle;
end;
What I do then is include this unit in with a form unit, and then change the form's class (in the .pas code file) from class(TForm) to class(TModalForm)
It works for me, appears to be close to CodeGear's solution.
| |
Q:
Can I command both Ghouls and Zombies/Skeletons with one bonus action?
Let's say I play a necromancer and have raised some Skeletons or Zombies using Animate Dead and some Gouls, Ghasts, Wights or Mummies using Create Undead.
When I use a bonus action to command them can I command all the undead I have with single bonus action even though they were created with different spells?
A:
No, you can only command the creatures created by one of the spells when you use your bonus action.
While both spells state that they require a bonus action, both of them only allow you to command creatures you made with that particular spell.
Here is the relevant rules text for Animate Dead:
On each of your turns, you can use a Bonus Action to mentally Command any creature you made with this spell [...]
As well as the rules text for Create Undead:
As a Bonus Action on each of your turns, you can mentally Command any creature you animated with this spell [...]
A:
No.
Both spells have this phrasing (emphasis added):
On each of your turns, you can use a Bonus Action to mentally Command any creature you made with this spell if the creature is within 60 feet of you (if you control multiple creatures, you can Command any or all of them at the same time, issuing the same Command to each one)
While the parenthentical clause might make it seem like you can control everything, the first part of the sentence is clear that each use of a bonus action only applies to the creatures from a single spell, and not others. Therefore, if you have undead animated from two separate spells, you will have to control them on different turns, since you only have one bonus action per round.
A:
No
The spells lists the option as follows (emphasis mine)
On each of your turns, you can use a bonus action to mentally command any creature you made with this spell
Since you can only command creatures created by the specific spell, any other creatures are not commanded, even though the spells are related.
| |
“Brave New World”, written by Aldous Huxley, depicted a utopian society where different social classes make the world go round. In doing this, each citizen is predisposed to a certain social class, and in doing so, was conditioned a different way to think, act, and feel. Quite soon, the novel is exposed to a not-so utopian society and beginning a new idea of dystopia. All people were trained to have no personal identity and to not direct feelings toward a specific person. People are stuck within their own social classes and are not able to get out of it. The main slogan of this altered ‘perfect’ state is “Community, Identity, and Stability.” The message or theme Huxley is attempting to portray in this novel is while people feel as if they are in control of feelings and actions, they may not always truly be in control.
In a Brave New World, government control results in the failure of a manipulated society. The world around is already determined by the government and has nothing to do with the choices of the population. The citizens are manufactured inside a mass breeding ground, enabling many copies of the same thing, over and over again. their human nature became irrelevant as nothing in this world is considered natural. These individuals aren’t living in terms of a pursuit of happiness, simply just to maintain the status of a society. Sleep speech was created to give babies ideas not needed to be taught by an individual, but rather by a computer in which could be done in mass to maintain the same idea throughout. This was known as “sleep teaching” and had become “discovered” (Huxley 25) This society was designed to be a successful utopian society but it failed to give people their individuality and peace. When limitations on behavior become present in a society it can restrict one’s ability to be truly happy and to identify as an individual in every aspect.
Huxley created a world where every individual’s freedom is taken away from them due to their pre-designed lifestyles. However, the characters from this book still believe that their own happiness lies within themselves. In a way, it does because they have not experienced life a different way due to the fact that there is so much power and direction over them. Ultimately, the people who watched over them, such as John, who was a savage delivered to the reservation for research, believed that they wanted more than the foolish happiness created for them.
While Huxley’s main concept of this novel is when people begin their own thoughts and ideas, they begin to come with an identity, the World State, or governing body controls the citizen’s minds and thoughts through the use of drugs called soma. Henry Foster, a man of the highest class shares his idea to someone about soma, “Take a holiday from reality whenever you like, come back without so much as a headache or a mythology” (Huxley 54). The idea of this statement allows for a reader to pick up a solid idea of what soma really is and what it does. When it comes to the citizens in the story, if ever they have a stressful time in their life, or they just need to take a break, all they need to do is take soma and come back with no stress. The governing body implements this to allow the people in the story to feel like they are actually in control of what they are doing while actually masking that they are not able to make decisions and are already predisposed to a certain thought process. In fact, later in the conversation, Henry also states that “stability was practically assured” (Huxley 54). In stating this, the reader is left to understand that when Henry says stability, it involves back to the World State’s slogan. In doing this, Henry includes all of the slogans in which he feels that he knows he is in control because the slogan includes identity. Also, when Henry says ‘practically,’ he has this assumption but doesn’t fully believe what he is saying. The author’s purpose in adding this is to show that even though all of this conditioning is present, but there are some flaws between each class creating a not-so-perfect society.
While people believe they have decisions in the Brave New World, they also believe that they have freedom. However, this is not the case. From the beginning of some citizen’s life, they were already born to hate things to prevent them from getting into things that can upbring and allow them to gain knowledge. The director brought students to a room and explained why it was done, “they’ll grow up with what the psychologists used to call an ‘instinctive’ hatred of books and flowers” (Huxley 22). Books are withheld from the citizens to prevent them from being used to gain knowledge, people read the book to gain insight and increase in knowledge, giving them more personal freedom. Flowers bring people to nature to enjoy things and explore new areas, this is prevented so people are not able to use a more abstract and personalized way of thinking. With the illusion of freedom to make one’s own decisions, people in the New World feel as if they are free to do, think, or act however they please. With this feeling, they are unable to comprehend that they have all been brainwashed from birth to think in this mindset and are ignorant to the fact that they have no true identity in the World State.
In some cases, John the Savage learned about how people were being controlled by the government. John was through with going into his own personal desires not to be with Lenina. Thoughts would flow through his head about being with her, and as he had these thoughts he said, “‘Oh the flesh!’ The Savage ground his teeth. This time it was on his shoulders that the whip descended. ‘Kill it, Kill it!’” (Huxley 258). In the case of an outsider, he still feels pressure to fit in to this ‘perfect’ society, leading him to go against his own morals. He tried to enlighten other people and explain how they were being controlled, in the case of sex, he learned that you have to be personal with another individual and make things like sex actually mean something. People did not understand his point. As John thought he was in control, he was calm and assertive, but as soon as he realized that people were not going to follow in his footsteps, he completely lost control of everything that was going on and decided to end his life, “slowly, very slowly, like two unhurried compass needles, the feet turned towards the right; north, north-east, east, south-east, south, south-west; then paused” (Huxley 259). In taking his own life, it was too much for him to process as he went against everything he stood for.
In conclusion, Aldous Huxley’s purpose for writing this novel was to send a message that if somebody feels as if they are in control, they truly may not be in the position thereof. People in the novel had a sense of feeling they knew what was going on, but truly had no idea that what they were doing was not affecting any other individual and ended up becoming the one truly lost in the end. People were controlled from the beginning whether they liked it or not. In the end, people may not see the world around them as it supposedly is. | https://www.essaysauce.com/literature-essays/search-of-control-in-brave-new-world/ |
Religious Education is a core subject in our Catholic school; it is central to all that we do. The beliefs and values it communicates inspire and unify every aspect of school life. It influences the content of, and substantially shapes the school curriculum. Religious Education presents pupils with the same academic demands and challenges as any other curriculum area. The immediate aim of Religious Education is to promote knowledge and understanding of the Catholic faith, its relevance to the ultimate questions of life and the skills required to engage in religious thinking.
All teaching is based on the Curriculum Directory for Religious Education and we follow the ‘Come and See’ programme. The aim of the Come and See programme is to explore the religious dimension of questions about life, dignity and purpose within the Catholic tradition. Links are made with the teaching of the Church, pupils’ own experiences and universal experience. The children will explore the beliefs, values and way of life of the Catholic tradition and, where appropriate other faith traditions.
A proportion of our school community is from other faiths. Families are expected to be supportive of the Catholic nature of our school life in our community. We celebrate the diversity of our faiths, traditions and cultures. We have a wide range of books, artefacts and images which are used throughout the school in our study of other faiths and in our celebrations e.g. ‘One World Week’. Our children from other faiths take part in assemblies which reflect the traditions of their own faiths. We believe that different cultural and faith backgrounds within the school provide a rich source of learning at many levels and the promotion of attitudes such as tolerance and respect for others is very important to us.
For further information please check our Religious Education Policy. | https://www.stjohn.brighton-hove.sch.uk/school-information/catholic-life |
- Who started The Pledge of the Computing Professional?
- Following an initial conversation between Ken Christensen (University of South Florida) and John K. Estell (Ohio Northern University), the effort to define a new organization was initiated via a solicitation on the SIGCSE mailing list in March 2009. The following participants (in addition to Ken and John) were involved in the initial development of The Pledge of the Computer Professional: Stephen O. Agyei-Mensah (Clarion University of Pennsylvania), Bill Albrecht (McNeese State University), Anne Applin (Southern Maine Community College, previously of Ithaca College) Beverly Bachmayer (Intel), Venu Dasigi (Southern Polytechnic State University), Molisa Derk (Dickinson State University), Leslie D. Fife (Louisiana State University in Shreveport), Dennis Frailey (Raytheon Company), Becky Grasser (Lakeland Community College), George Harrison (Norfolk State University), Jim Huggins (Kettering University), Benjamin Kuperman (Oberlin College), Jody Paul (Metropolitan State College of Denver), Ray Schneider (Bridgewater College), and Tom Stokke (University of North Dakota).
- What are the eligibility requirements for becoming an inductee?
- Anyone graduating from a Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Systems, Information Technology, Software Engineering, or closely related program with an Associates, Bachelors, Masters, or Doctoral degree at an institution with an active Node (Chapter) of The Pledge of the Computing Professional is eligible for membership. Membership eligibility is also extended to faculty members at institutions with active Nodes for faculty members who are actively and regularly involved with the instruction of one or more of the aforementioned programs
- What is the monthly membership cost?
- There are no monthly dues. The only costs are 1) the $50 to establish a node (one time), and, 2) the $10 per student cost at time of induction to cover for the lapel pin, certificate, and administrative costs of the organization.
- How can I get a list of the names of all inductees?
- Such a list is not available. | http://pledge-of-the-computing-professional.org/home-page/faq |
Si elegans EU project information is available in this link
Despite its seeming simplicity, the nervous system of the hermaphroditic nematode Caenorhabditis elegans with just 302 neurons gives rise to a rich behavioral repertoire. Besides controlling vital functions (feeding, defecation, reproduction), it encodes different stimuli-induced as well as autonomous locomotion modalities (crawling, swimming and jumping). For this dichotomy between system simplicity and behavioral complexity, C. elegans has challenged neurobiologists and computational scientists alike. Understanding the underlying mechanisms that lead to a context-modulated functionality of individual neurons would not only advance our knowledge on nervous system function and its failure in pathological states, but have directly exploitable benefits for robotics and the engineering of brain-mimetic computational architectures that are orthogonal to current von-Neumann-type machines. To provide the tools for unravelling the mysteries of nervous system function in C. elegans is the vision of the Si elegans community.
Lessons learned from past and current computational approaches to deciphering and reconstructing information flow in the C. elegans nervous system corroborate the need of refining neural response models and linking them to intra- and extra-environmental interactions to better reflect and understand the actual biological, biochemical and biophysical events that lead to behavior. The Si elegans initiative was motivated by the lack of a holistic closed-loop simulation environment, where neural events can be linked to as well as altered by their behavioral outcome. The Si elegans project team therefore designed a unique closed-loop hard- and software environment that allows you to do so. The result is this Si elegans platform. This framework is based on brain-mimetic principles for the emulation and reverse-engineering of C. elegans nervous system function in a behavioral context – free to use and to extend by everyone!
If you are interested in the challenge of deciphering how nervous system function in C. elegans encodes behavior, be it through the neurocomputational modelling of neurons and networks or the study of behavioral paradigms, you are cordially invited to test-drive Si elegans. No matter whether you are just curious or pursue concrete scientific questions, Si elegans may provide you with the insights and tools to leap forward and advance your field of study. In any case, we would be delighted to hear back from you (feedback form). Any constructive feedback that will lead to an improvement of Si elegans is most welcome. If you are a real C. elegans enthusiast, a modelling wizard or simply a genius, you are moreover invited to extend any of the Si elegans functionalities. Most of the open-access peer-contribution platform is in the process of being documented, and the code of the individual modules will be made available through open-source repositories (link(s) will be provided once source releasing strategy is agreed). We furthermore welcome the adaptation and testing of models and modules that have been generated in other contexts and communities such as ‘Nemasys’, the ‘Perfect C. elegans Project’, the ‘Virtual C. elegans Project’, the NEMALOAD project, DevoWorm and the OpenWorm project.
Si elegans aims at providing the required tools on a unique hardware architecture to advance our understanding of how nervous system function in C. elegans encodes behavior. Its main features are the following:
The Si elegans nervous system consists of a dedicated hardware infrastructure that, unlike software implementations, permits true parallelism in the intra-neural as well as inter-neural signal processing. It is based on 329 field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), a parallel circuit definition architecture by design. Unlike functionally pre-defined neuromorphic computing systems, FPGAs are freely reconfigurable circuit fabrics that can accommodate distinct neural response models, one for each C. elegans neuron. Similarly, FPGAs can carry one or several other models that interact with neurons, such as models of downstream muscle response (e.g., 27 FPGAs share up to 6 muscle models each to emulate the 95 C. elegans striated body wall muscles and 60 nonstriated muscles (a future functionality)) and algorithms of subsequent body physics. These circuit-embedded response models may be dynamic and context-aware and thus evolve over time. This adaptation is not restricted to simply adjusting e.g., synaptic weights, but may allow the model to respond differently as a function of the (sensory) signal type and origin, environmental conditions (e.g., T) and their history, or of the local level of ‘neuromodulatory biochemical background’ at a given time. In view of the high number (359,200) of adaptive logic modules (ALM) of the chosen FPGAs (Altera Stratix V GX), models are thus allowed to include aspects that are often ignored in computational neuroscience. For instance, the complexity of the dendritic tree suggests its involvement in the computational pre-processing of incoming signals such as their temporal filtering and amplitude modulation and its effect on altering synaptic properties.
279 neurons exchange synaptic information through an Ethernet backbone. To nevertheless warrant the temporal parallelism inherent to biological networks and events, the hardware-based network will operate on a central clock (50 MHz). Some neural operations will require more FPGA ‘hardware clock’ cycles than others. At the cost of real-time operation, the supervising FPGA-based controller will thus ensure that all model operations of all neurons including the inter-neural signal transmission within a ‘biological clock’ cycle are completed before a new one starts. Any delays related to different lengths at the axonal arbor or synaptic properties can be incorporated in the respective neural models on the individual FPGAs.
The platform furthermore features a dynamic version of an opto-electrical connectome based on digital light processing (DLP) technology. The reconfigurable digital micromirror devices (DMDs) allow for exploring the impact of changes in neural interconnectivity on neural information processing. It is currently restricted to the synaptic signal transmission between the 20 neurons of the pharyngeal sub-network [ADD LINK!!] as a proof-of-concept implementation.
To make the Si elegans framework user-friendly for novice and expert users alike, several model generation (e.g., drag-and-drop) and import functionality (e.g., from existing simulation engines) are provided (link(s) to model design and network definition GUI(s) Login Required). The current model design is based on the low entropy modelling specification (LEMS) language. In a neural network configuration graphical user interface (GUI), the user places neuron and synapse models in a graphically represented C. elegans connectome and can parametrize specific neuron models.
This biomimetic Si elegans hardware nervous system emulation is controlling a virtually embodied and physically realistic representation of the nematode (via soft-body physics) in an equally realistic three-dimensional virtual behavioral arena (e.g., an agar Petri dish) (link to behavioral definition GUI Login Required). In there, the virtual C. elegans will encounter commonly tested stimuli (e.g., touch, chemicals, electric fields, light and/or temperature gradients) at any pre-defined time. These, together with characteristics of the environment (e.g., the shape of the plate, substrate properties) and the initial position and orientation of the nematode, can be batch-defined in a dedicated behavioral experiment configuration interface. The definition parameters are translated into an editable extensible markup language (XML) schema (link). During an experiment, the sensory experience is transmitted to the sensory neurons in the FPGA network. Based on published knowledge on network-internal circuitry and signal processing pathways, the sensory input (and proprioceptive information) will generate a motor output to instruct the muscles of the virtual worm on what to do next. In this closed-loop scenario, it will furthermore be possible to read out any network state (e.g., synaptic weights) at any given time for the reverse-engineering of network function (link to results read-out module/GUI). The simulation results, both the neuron variable traces as well as the body motion, can be visualized and downloaded after the simulation is over (link to results viewer).
The early implementation and functionality of Si elegans may be compared with personal computers in the 70’s of the last century: just like the PC hardware and its basic operating system at that time, the recently launched Si elegans platform provides a basic computational framework to model C. elegans nervous system function and observe the generated behavioral output. Its usefulness in predicting neural function to reproduce a certain behavior will therefore strongly depend on its adoption and on (model) contributions by both the biological and neurocomputational communities. But imagine this: Once the chosen models generate a behavioral output that is comparable to observations in real laboratory experiments, the platform will allow the neuroscience community to better understand, if not anticipate, the neural mechanisms that underlie behavior. Be the first to get there! | https://platform.si-elegans.eu/about/ |
For a young adult who has finished college, the first job is everything. It’s an opportunity to explore a career interest, to learn how to thrive in the working world, and to have a chance for financial independence. It’s an important milestone, and a first of many steps toward a successful future. But in today’s job market, these first jobs are getting to be more and more elusive. Some young adults are working in fields that don’t interest them, or they work only part time hours, or perhaps they can’t find a job at all. That leads to the question of whether they are approaching the job search in the most effective way possible. Many job seekers benefit from the help of a program which provides guidance, structure and support through the job search process.
We offer a Career Launch service designed for pre-professionals and early-stage professionals. Our 3 month program is tailored around each person’s individual needs, but generally starts with an intake meeting followed by a Strong Interests Inventory interpretation. We then cover resume writing and critiquing, the all important skill of networking and how to go about it, interview skills, the job search and how to go about it, and any other relevant topics, including your current job search.
I work particularly well with young professionals interested in the fields of finance and technology. I have nearly two decades of practical experience at industry leading firms as a mentor, manager, career development officer, work coordinator, and recruiter of early stage- and pre-professionals.
Part One: Intake meeting: We learn about your background, interests, strengths, and goals for the future. We discuss a plan for your job search and career exploration.
Part Two: Strong Interest Inventory Test: People do best in careers that they love. For many people, their early career years are spent trying to discover their passions and career strengths. DAA offers the Strong Interest Inventory test to help identify potential careers based on your interests. We are certified practitioners of Strong and will interpret the test’s results in our second meeting. Strong has been around for roughly 80 years and has developed excellent correlations matching the interests of individuals with potential careers.
Part Three: Our third meeting is generally reserved for resume critiquing, on how to develop your networking skills, and how to go about a job search.
Part Four: Interviews are a crucial part of the job search process, and in our fourth meeting we review how to prepare for an interview, and we conduct an actual mock interview. We videotape the interview so that young adults can watch their performance and improve, with a focus on responses, body language and putting your best foot forward.
Part Five: We provide a critique of the interview during our fifth meeting and we discuss progress in networking and job search activities. We also discuss negotiation skills, which are important for discussions of salary, promotions and job offers. This overview of effective negotiating can provide the foundation for a life-long skill.
Part Six: We allocate time for a sixth, and final meeting to provide greater emphasis on any of the above topics, or other relevant topics that may arise during our time together.
3 month package includes 6 meeting and unlimited follow up via phone and email. | http://www.coachconnecxion.com/public/coachprofile/profileId/122 |
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AuthorKim, Cholong
KeywordResearch Subject Categories::HUMANITIES and RELIGION::Aesthetic subjects::Music
Music therapy for older people
Music therapy -- Korea (South)
Music therapy -- Hospitals
Music therapy -- Hospital care
Date Published2018-05
MetadataShow full item record
AbstractThe purpose of this thesis is to implement a music therapy program to the Geriatric Rehabilitation Hospital in Boryeong-Si (BGRH), South Korea. BGRH is a long-term health institution devoted entirely to the surrounding community. This music therapy program is designed to have a positive impact on older adults receiving treatment at BGRH. As the older adult population steadily increases in South Korea, a growing concern is whether there are appropriate plans that improve health or battle illnesses associated with older age. In Boryeong-Si, the older adults population over 65 years old has been increasing 1% every year (Kim, 2018). This proposal investigates the views of a holistic music therapy approach and how the music therapy influences older adults at BGRH. The music therapy program is designed to help diverse symptoms in aging related psychological disorders, neurologic disorders, and will also improve the quality of life for older adults in Boryeong-Si. Music therapy interventions will examine and address the aging symptoms especially related to depression, dementia, stroke, and Parkinson’s disease in older adults.
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Thuluva Vellala community people uses only Mudhaliar and Pillai titles.
|Thuluva Vellala|
|Classification||Backward class except the Arcot Mudaliar and Arcot Vellala sects.|
|Religions||Predominantly Shaivism, also Vaishnavism, Christianity|
|Languages||Tamil|
|Region||Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka Cities : Chennai, Bangalore, Vellore|
|Related groups||Tulu People, Tamil people & Thondaimandala Vellala|
Thuluva Vellala (also known as Thuluva Vellalar, Tozhu Vellala), acronym of Thondaimandala Thuluva Vellala is a sub-caste of Vellalars who migrated from Tulu Nadu and settled in northern Tamil Nadu, southern Andhra Pradesh and southern Karnataka. They have many synonyms viz., Arcot Mudaliar, Arcot Vellala, Agamudi Mudaliar, Agamudi Udayar and Agamudi Reddy.
They are predominantly living in erstwhile North Arcot region (Current day Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Ranipet and Tirupattur districts). They had migrated to several cantonment towns in North India, Burma and Malaya in British times.[ citation needed ] Generally, Arcot Mudaliars consider themselves superior to Brahmins and they are generally anglophilic.
Thuluva Vellalars are the Velirs, who are said to have migrated into Tondaimandalam from Tulu Nadu (now, south Canara district of Karnataka) during the period of the medieval Cholas.
Thuluva Vellala, settled in Tondaimandalam are of 12,000 clans. The region they dwelled consisted of 24 divisions called as kottams. These kottams were subdivided into 64 naadus, which in turn comprised 999 villages.[ citation needed ] They were formerly significant landowners and use Mudaliar (Arcot Mudaliar) and Pillai titles
http://www.tuluvavellala.org/a-i-t-v-mudaliar-sangam/
(A.I.T.V. Mudaliar Sangam - Thuluva Vellalar | history of the Thuluva vellalar | thuluva vellalar caste | thuluva vellalar sangam | thuluva vellalar mudaliar matrimony". www.tuluvavellala.org)
https://mudaliarassociation.org/brides/
The Justice Party, officially the South Indian Liberal Federation, was a political party in the Madras Presidency of British India. It was established on 20 November 1916 in Victoria Memorial Hall in Madras by Dr C. Natesa Mudaliar and co-founded by T. M. Nair and P. Theagaraya Chetty as a result of a series of non-Brahmin conferences and meetings in the presidency. Communal division between Brahmins and non-Brahmins began in the presidency during the late-19th and early-20th century, mainly due to caste prejudices and disproportionate Brahminical representation in government jobs. The Justice Party's foundation marked the culmination of several efforts to establish an organisation to represent the non-Brahmins in Madras and is seen as the start of the Dravidian Movement.
Vokkaliga is a Hindu farming community with 54 sub-divisions in Karnataka. They have notable demographic, political, and economic dominance in the southern parts of the Indian state of Karnataka. All sections of the Vokkaliga community, particularly the rural communities, are designated as backward castes in India's reservation system.
Vellalar is a generic Tamil term used primarily by various castes who traditionally pursued agriculture as a profession in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and northeastern parts of Sri Lanka. Some of the communities that identify themselves as a Vellalar are the numerically strong Arunattu Vellalar, Chozhia Vellalar, Karkarthar Vellalar, Kongu Vellalar, Thuluva Vellalar and Sri Lankan Vellalar. Despite being a relatively lowly group, they were dominant communities in Tamil agrarian societies for 600 years until the decline of the Chola empire in the 13th century, with their chieftains able to practise state-level political authority after winning the support and legitimisation of Brahmins and other higher-ranked communities with grants of land and honours.
Kongu Vellalar is a sub-caste of Vellalar community found in the western region of Tamil Nadu, which is known as Kongu Nadu. The Kongu Vellalar were classified as a Forward Caste at the time of Indian independence but they successfully requested to be reclassified as a Backward Class in 1975.
The Vanniyar, also spelled Vanniya, formerly known as the Palli, are a community or jāti found in southern India.
Sengunthar, also known as the Kaikolar and Sengunthar Mudaliyar, is a Tamil caste commonly found in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and also in some other parts of South India. They are traditionally weavers by occupation and warriors by ancient heritage. They are sub divided into numerous clans based on a patrilineal system called Koottam or Kulam, which is similar to gotras.
Sri Lankan Vellalar is a caste found in Sri Lanka, who comprise about half of the Sri Lankan Tamil population. They were traditionally involved in agriculture, but also included merchants, landowners and temple patrons. They also form part of the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora.
Arutprakasa Vallalār Chidambaram Ramalingam, whose pre-monastic name was Rāmalingam, commonly known in India and across the world as Vallalār, also known as Ramalinga Swamigal and Ramalinga Adigal, was one of the most famous Tamil Saints and also one of the greatest Tamil poets of the 19th century and belongs to a line of Tamil saints known as "gnana siddhars".
Chozhia Vellalar is a caste from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The Chozhia Vellalars along-with Keerakarars, Kodikalarars and Vatrilaikarars is a sub-caste of the greater Vellalars.
Diwan Bahadur Sir Arcot Ramasamy Mudaliar, KCSI was an Indian lawyer, diplomat and statesman who served as a senior leader of the Justice Party and in various administrative and bureaucratic posts in pre-independence and independent India.
Diwan Bahadur Rettamalai Srinivasan (1860–1945), commonly known as R. Srinivasan, was a Scheduled Caste activist and politician from the then Madras Presidency of British India. He is a Dalit icon and was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi and was also an associate of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. He is remembered today as one of the pioneers of the Scheduled caste movement in India.
Diwan Bahadur C. S. Ratnasabhapathy MudaliarOBE was an Indian industrialist and politician who served as a member of the Madras Legislative Council from 1926 to 1936.
Nanjil Nadan is the pseudonym of G. Subramaniam, a Sahitya academy winning Tamil writer from Tamil Nadu, India.
Dr. M. R. Guruswami Mudaliar (1880–1958) was an Indian medical practitioner in Madras during the first half of the twentieth century.
The Sheriff of Madras was an apolitical titular position of authority bestowed for one year on a prominent citizen of Madras. The post was abolished in 1998.
Isai Vellalar is a community found in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. They are traditionally involved as performers of classical dance and music in Hindu temples and courts of the patrons. The term "Isai Vellalar" is a recent community identity, and people of minstrel occupation from various castes such as Ambattar, Agamudayar, Melakkarar, Nanayakkarar, Nattuvanar and Sengunthar come under this term. The Isai Vellalar and Vellalar both are different communitues. They doesnot have any historical connection with Vellalar.
Thondaimandala Vellala, also known as Tondaimandalam Mudliar, is a high-ranking subcaste of the Vellalar caste in the state of Tamil Nadu, India who tend, to adopt the title of Mudaliar.
Kondaikatti Vellalar is a Tamil caste found in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. They are part of the larger Saiva Vellalar social group of people. They were originally settled in Tondaimandalam but spread to other areas in south India over time. Since they historically used the Mudaliar title, they are sometimes referred to as Thondaimandala Vellala Mudaliars or simply Thondaimandala Mudali. However, Kathleen Gough considers them to be a separate subcaste of the Thondaimandala Mudali, as does Susan Neild. | https://wikimili.com/en/Thuluva_Vellala |
A04 The importance of Religious Education: aims, rationale and vision for RE in Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, the London Borough of Haringey and North Somerset
RE provokes challenging questions about the ultimate meaning and purpose of life, beliefs about God, the self and the nature of reality, issues of right and wrong and what it means to be human. It develops pupils’ knowledge and understanding of Christianity, other principal religions, other religious traditions, and other worldviews that offer answers to these challenging questions.
It offers opportunities for personal reflection and spiritual development. It enhances pupils’ awareness and understanding of religions and beliefs, teachings, practices and forms of expression, as well as of the influence of religion on individuals, families, communities and cultures.
RE encourages pupils to learn from different religions, beliefs, values and traditions, while exploring their own beliefs and questions of meaning. It challenges pupils to reflect on, consider, analyse, interpret and evaluate issues of truth, belief, faith and ethics and to communicate their responses.
RE encourages pupils to develop their sense of identity and belonging. It enables them to flourish individually within their communities and as citizens in a diverse society and global community. RE has an important role in preparing pupils for adult life, employment and lifelong learning. It enables pupils to develop respect for and sensitivity to others, in particular those whose faiths and beliefs are different from their own. It promotes discernment and enables pupils to combat prejudice.
Non-statutory framework for religious education, 2004, QCA
A rationale for Religious Education in Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset and the London Borough of Haringey
(based on statements in the previous AMV syllabus, 2011, shared also by Somerset schools)
The statement above describes what children and young people do in religious education and what skills and attitudes are being promoted. It does not explain WHY these elements of content, skills and attitudes might be important for children and young people today.
The first aspect of our rationale underpinning this agreed syllabus concerns the areas of life, particularly modern life, where an understanding of religious and non-religious worldviews is vital if children and young people are to gain the insights they need to make the most of their opportunities in life and to cope with the difficulties they will inevitably face.
A second aspect of our rationale reflects the history and location of the areas in which the syllabus is taught. Within this syllabus, agreed in very diverse urban and rural local authorities, teachers are encouraged to draw pupils’ attention to the local personalities, places, achievements, issues and changes that have contributed to the richness of religion and belief in the area.
- Understanding religions and beliefs
Religious education is important because it helps children and young people gain wisdom in the following areas of life:
- artistic, musical and literary: many great artists, composers, musicians and writers had deep religious and/or philosophical motivation and inspiration for their work. Many use religious themes and employ references to religious literature and thought in their work. How can we understand the insights they are communicating without a knowledge of some key religious ideas and stories?
- cultural, historical and philosophical: what is the meaning of life? Where are we going? What is ‘true’? What is ‘best’? Where do we come from? Why are people different and why do they have different tastes and preferences? What is to be gained from a diverse society? How can we understand the history and traditional cultures of Britain and other countries without a knowledge and understanding of the religious and philosophical traditions which helped to form them?
- moral and ethical: in the light of the many moral and ethical dilemmas we meet in life, ranging from the personal to the global, what is it to lead a good life? How do we know? Whom should we trust? How can we decide? Religious and philosophical principles and insights can help guide us when faced with moral dilemmas.
- personal: How can I be happy? How can I best manage my relationships? What skills do I need to succeed in life? What emotional resources do I need to maintain a healthy lifestyle? We can get insights from religions and philosophies studied in RE and get practice in ‘skills for life’, such as empathy, sensitivity, humility, and in thinking and communicating well.
- political, social and psychological: How can we best understand the relationships between people? Why do religion and belief feature in the news so much? What do religious and belief groups say about various contemporary issues? How can we best understand the religious practices and festivals celebrated by our neighbours? What motivates people? Why are our public institutions set up in the way they are? How do/should people behave when in positions of power? How do/should people react when others have power over them? Without a knowledge of religions and beliefs our understanding of these big questions will be incomplete.
- The history and location of AMV area
In exploring these areas of life, this syllabus prompts teachers, where appropriate to their school community, to introduce local features as well as those with national or global significance.
Amongst the topics for study in RE lessons could be religious and social reformers, past and present. These could be pioneers of the Sunday School movement, Christian Saints and founders of non-Christian religious groups and centres, Church of England and Roman Catholic bishops, writers of prose, poetry and song, anti-slave-trade and anti-racism campaigners and founders of new religious and cultural traditions.
It is worth exploring the diversity of religion and belief in the area and within traditions too. Recent surveys have revealed organised groups of Bahá’ís, Tibetan and other Buddhists, Sai Baba followers, Pagans, Druids, Rastafarians and independent Christian churches in most of our areas. Many new religious movements are represented and Humanists also have a presence throughout the AMV area.
As well as individuals and local communities, schools may choose to illustrate broader investigations with a study of places of significance for religions and beliefs. There are many buildings worthy of study: monasteries, abbeys, churches, cathedrals, synagogues, mosques, gurdwaras, temples and other ‘sacred spaces’. Often there are exhibitions of art and artefacts in museums and galleries that will yield good learning in an RE context. Such visits have marvellous cross-curricular learning opportunities particularly where pupils can explore the links between RE, history and art.
Not all of these can be studied within the RE curriculum, of course, so this syllabus will indicate where opportunities exist to choose specific examples for local study where the school feels it is appropriate to do so.
A vision for Religious Education in Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, the London Borough of Haringey and North Somerset
Here, a vision is a statement of how we would like things to be. The purpose of the vision is to motivate and inspire teachers and learners to reach towards the goals within that vision.
Our vision:
RE in our area is about Awareness, Mystery and Value.
Pupils who follow this syllabus gain a deep awareness of their own and others’ identities; they wrestle with the mysteries of life and the answers given by a wide variety of religions and beliefs; they develop a clear sense of what is of real value in world today.
Pupils who follow this syllabus gain a deep knowledge and understanding of the teachings, practices and life stories expressed in a variety of ways within Christianity and other principal religions and world views. Through reflection on their own beliefs and values in the light of their learning, they grow in respect for themselves and others.
Pupils who follow this syllabus encounter the transformative power of religions and beliefs in people’s lives – in our area, in the UK and in the wider world. They demonstrate curiosity about people of faith and commitment who have changed individual lives, society and culture. Through RE, they feel compelled to imagine and contribute to the creation of a better world for all.
How is this vision for RE to be put into practice? The following notes in relation to two questions may help:
- What constitutes successful RE in our context?
- What constitutes a religiously educated person in our context?
- Successful RE
It is important for teachers to know whether what they are doing in RE is successful or not. Success, in this sense, might be measured in a variety of ways, though there may be ‘successes’ that are not so easily measured.
- First, there is the success of the pupils, not just in terms of levels of attainment, but also their enjoyment of and engagement with the subject; there is no reason why RE should not be amongst the most popular subjects in school – it relates to pupils’ own interests and concerns, is challenging, powerful and meaningful, offers opportunities for pupils to make their own reflective contributions and is open to the whole range of active learning strategies, both in and outside of the classroom.
Ask: are the pupils enjoying RE and achieving as well as they can? How do I know? How could I improve pupils’ application to and enjoyment of RE?
- Next, there is the success of teaching a broad, balanced and compelling RE curriculum. The programme of study in this syllabus is designed to provide a balanced coverage of religions and beliefs and to focus on learning about and from key areas of the subject. These ‘areas of enquiry’ are revisited several times at increasingly challenging levels, so should ensure deepening learning over a broader range of religions and beliefs over time.By ‘balanced RE’, we mean:
- balancing ‘learning ABOUT religions and beliefs’ and ‘learning FROM religions and beliefs’;
- balancing study of Christianity and the other principal faith and belief traditions;
- balancing knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes;
- balancing the use of core and supplementary questions in partnership with the study of individual religions and beliefs.
Ask: is this programme being followed in sufficient depth through our schemes of learning? Is our scheme of learning well balanced? How do I know? How could I improve the programme?
- Also, there is the idea that success is sometimes hidden from view. Inevitably, one might never know how ‘successful’ the RE programme has been, especially if pupils cannot or choose not to communicate their reflections within their time in school.
Ask: is the programme providing the sorts of stimulating and thought-provoking learning activities that are likely to promote pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development? How do I know? How could I improve such opportunities?
A statement from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), provides some further markers of ‘successful RE’:
‘There is a growing consensus among educators that knowledge of religions and beliefs is an important part of a quality education and that it can foster democratic citizenship, mutual respect, enhance support for religious freedom, and promote an understanding of societal diversity.’
In terms of the impact on individuals, therefore, we might hope to see pupils taking an interest in how they can make a helpful difference in their communities, responding thoughtfully and respectfully to those with different cultural or religious backgrounds or with different beliefs from their own, and enjoying the diversity within the class, school or community.
- A Religiously Educated Person
For those following AMV 2016, being ‘religiously educated’ is about pupils’ achievement in the knowledge, understanding, skills and attitudes contained within and promoted through this agreed syllabus. It is not about ‘being more religious’ or ‘becoming religious’ or even ‘more moral and spiritual’; these are not deliberately planned outcomes of the programme of study, though of course it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that a pupil might change their life in some radical way because of something they have learnt through RE. That is at the heart of the power of the subject and the responsibility teachers have.
In the context of religious education, the new Learning Outcomes in the assessment scheme, provide some indicators of what a religiously educated person might look like. However, not all pupils will develop great depth of knowledge and understanding of religions and beliefs, or the ability to think and communicate clearly and critically about the issues raised in the programme of study.
In another, more inclusive sense, a religiously educated person might simply be one who has undertaken a religious education programme of learning and has responded positively and with interest to it. There will be those who attain well in RE, and gain national qualifications, but there will be other individuals who, for whatever reason, do not reach such heights, yet will have gained personal insights and experiences from the RE programme that will stand them in good stead for the rest of their lives.
A religiously educated person will have experienced a deepening understanding of their own religious perspective and the place of religious faith in society today. This will be coupled with empathy and understanding of others arising from a positive encounter with other faiths and beliefs.
A ‘religiously educated’ person, therefore may be one who has attained good grades in tests and examinations, but equally there will be those whose achievements are less easily measured or described. Such gains may be personal, even ‘spiritual’ but no less worthwhile or important.
The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) advisory council of experts on freedom of religion or belief, 2007. Toledo Guiding Principles on Teaching about Religions and Beliefs in Public Schools, Warsaw: OSCE/ODIHR, p.18. | https://www.awarenessmysteryvalue.org/2016/a04-the-importance-of-re-aims-rationale-and-vision-for-re/ |
A Deeper Meaning, A Solo Expression
Chattanooga is the place to be for burgeoning artists it seems, with solo shows like Damien Crisp’s “Interference” making it clear why Chattanooga continues to become more well-known each day as an art city.
Like most fine art, his paintings often convey much more than they appear to behind their seemingly chaotic appearance. A deeper story, a more personal meaning.
Currently living in Chattanooga, Crisp received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from University of Tennessee at Knoxville, then a Master of Fine Arts at School of Visual Arts in New York City.
His solo show at Tanner Hill Gallery will begin with a reception Thursday from 5-8 before patrons can finally experience Crisp’s multitude of work. Everything from painting to writing, photography to collage, his work spans over years, encompassing a number of feelings, moments, and events.
“Interference” will include paintings, collage, and Crisp’s book “Slave.” Described as “a critique of contemporary arts context,” “Slave” is a visual appendix of 368 images, and like most of Crisp’s other work, is best viewed through a political lens as Crisp is very well known for his political activism.
“Interference” will be hosted by Tanner Hill Gallery’s guest curator Ashley Hamilton, who also works in painting, sculpture, installation, and video. | |
This paper critically reviews some fundamental theses of the theories of imperialism. It claims that a theory of imperialism, if based on Marx’s theory of capitalism, shall on the one hand reject the traditional monopoly-capitalism approach and on the other adopt a broader definition of imperialism, denoting the (economic, political and ideological) expansionist tendencies inherent in every system of capitalist power (in every capitalist social formation).
This means that an “anti-imperialist” political strategy aiming at defending certain capitalist national states against the “new world order”, can by no means be regarded as an answer to the strategies of capitalism –not even those put forward by the capitalist “great powers”– and a prerequisite for social change. The state, as the centre for the exercise of capitalist class power is the mechanism for concentrating the generalized social violence of capital, a vehicle for international alliances of the (national) bourgeois classes and at the same time a machine for promoting the expansionism of each country’s social capital.
1. Introduction
For more than a century, imperialism constitutes a key-term of left theory and politics. It denotes the aggressiveness but also the ripe characteristics of modern capitalism or of certain capitalist formations.
However, the term imperialism has never referred to one and the same theoretical approach or political strategy. From the era of Classical Theories of Imperialism (Hilferding, Luxemburg, Bukharin, Lenin…), different and often conflicting theories and political strategies have been formed among left intellectuals and political organisations.
What, first of all, seems to me to be very problematic from the point of view of Marxist theory, is the formulation of certain “anti-imperialist” approaches which tend to present history as “struggle among nations” (the capitalist great powers suppressing all other nations), ousting thus the Marxist approach of class struggle as the motive force of history. According to a recent version of this “anti-imperialist” ideology and political approach:
* Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, a “New World Order” has been created, characteristic feature of which is systematic violation of the principle of national independence and state sovereignty. Any states that do not fall into line with the rules are subjected to sanctions and politico-military pressure, until they submit to the norms of imperialist suzerainty.
* This means that opposition to imperialist strategy is now the nodal point of resistance for all with aspirations of a different world. In this setting the national state and strengthening of its sovereignty is perceived as a prerequisite for the “self-determination” of a people and the demand for democracy and social change.1
It is obvious to me that such approaches theoretically and politically underestimate class power and class struggle, i.e. capitalist exploitation and dominance over the working classes, not only in the capitalist countries considered to be subjected to the imperialist yoke or threats, but also in the “great powers” of the capitalist world.
However, dominant approaches to imperialism suffer from two even more severe theoretical weaknesses:
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They consider that (economic, political, territorial, cultural etc.) expansionist-imperialist tendencies characterize only the “great powers” (i.e. developed-imperialist capitalist countries), and not every system of (economic-political-ideological) capitalist class power.
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They further consider these expansionist-imperialist tendencies to have taken an ultimate form, characteristic to “mature capitalism”, since the late 19th century. In doing so they do not only exclude the era of “early” capitalist expansionism (from the 15th to the late 19th century) from what is denounced as “imperialism”; they also consider the “pre-imperialist” historical era of colonialism (up to the late 19th century) to be qualitatively different from the following one (from the late 19th century up to the aftermaths of World War II), whereas the collapse of colonialism after World War II and the consolidation of exploitative-capitalist state powers in all former colonial areas did not significantly change the features and functioning of “world capitalism”. To defend this “periodisation” of world history, they claim that capitalism has been transmuted since the late 19th century to “monopoly capitalism”, which is the “ultimate form” of capitalism.2
In the following two sections of the paper I will challenge these two main theses of the dominant theories of imperialism. I will try to show, on the one hand, that if the term “imperialism” is of any use as a concept deciphering the functioning of capitalist power and exploitation it shall be “expanded” to include also the expansionist tendencies of any capitalist class power, and on the other that theories of “monopoly capitalism” are alien to Marx’s concept of capitalism, i.e. to the theory of value and capital (of the capitalist mode of production) formulated by Marx.
2. Capital, state and expansionism: questions of theory
2.1 The bourgeois political power as nation-state
Capitalism, the rule of capital over labour, does not constitute exclusively an economic relation of exploitation but refers to all of the social levels (instances): it entails also relations of political dominance and ideological subordination. Capitalism comprises the totality of capitalist power relations, the fundamental social-class interdependencies which define a system of social power (a society) as a capitalist system. In it, there is thus articulated the particular structure of the capitalist state. Capitalist exploitation is rendered possible and appears as a “natural order” through the functioning of the state. Further, the nation in its modern-day sense is an inseparable aspect of the capitalist social order, very tangibly expressing the political and ideological-cultural predominance of capital, which homogenizes every community within a political territory into a “national community”.
At the economic level the state makes a decisive contribution to creating the overall material conditions for reproduction of capitalist relations. These include policy for managing the workforce, interventions for an increase in the profitability of aggregate social capital, the national currency and state management of money, the institutional and legal framework safeguarding the “freedom” of the market, mechanisms for disciplining labour power and institutions of social pacification. These material conditions differ from country to country, however much convergence there may be today between advanced capitalist countries.
At the political and ideological-cultural level, the state legitimates the exercise of bourgeois political power as “national independence”. The nation concentrates within this framework aspects of the ideological dimension of capitalist power, that is to say the material results of subjection – of all that is indeed subjected – to the jurisdiction of a state (workers, capitalists, the self-employed…..). The nation is inseparable from the institutions which impose its dominion and confirm its existence, such as universal suffrage for “nationals”, i.e. adults who belong to the nation and are integrated as citizens into the state, which appears to embody to the national interest and national-popular sovereignty.
Through this mechanism the nation “transforms”, that is to say renders universally binding, the class interests of capital, presenting them, setting them in operation, as national interests.3
A capitalist social formation is thus national in the dual sense of the term: that which lends it coherence is the element of national unity. Capital is constituted as social-national capital. Its long-term interests are formulated and safeguarded as national interests.
National unity is not an “imagined” construct (or “community”). It expresses the mode of functioning of the state, of institutions of “democratic rights”. It manages in this way to present the world as a world of nations, and to make it function as a world of nations. Class power and exploitation stay out of the firing line. The class interests of workers remain hidden from sight. What appears to exist is “conflict” or “emulation” between national interest and foreign national interests.
Bourgeois historiography shapes and projects as “self-evident” a “history” whose motive force is the clash of the “nation” with “foreign intrigues”,4 or at the very least with emulation and collaboration between the specific nation in question and “foreign nations”.
The theoretical revolution of Karl Marx consists in the first instance in his being able to give a scientific grounding to the position that concealed behind the “struggle of nations” lies the class struggle, the driving force of History.
2.2 Colonisation as an historical form of capitalist expansionism
Marx’s theory also shows that from the dynamic of the capitalist mode of production (at every social level) there emerges the tendency towards expansion of the dominion of every capitalist social formation beyond its boundaries. Capitalist expansionism has as one of its deep foundations the internationalization of capital, the extension of the economic activity of individual capitals beyond the boundaries of the country from which they start out. People and flags are often impelled to follow the international expansion (of the influence) of individual capitals. Nevertheless, the active vehicles of the expansionism at each individual conjuncture are not just “economic interests”. “State interest” and “national interest” are just as frequently encountered, as capital, state and nation are inter-related aspects of one and the same social system.
The first form of capitalist class power, pre-industrial-commercial capitalism, is linked to the emergence of the absolutist state. The absolutist state is a bourgeois state. It comprises the type of political power that safeguards the transition from feudalism to capitalism, subsequently stabilising the social power of capital:
“What […] took place in the age of merchant capital (the 16th and 17th centuries) was the accumulation of huge capitals in the hands of the commercial bourgeoisie […]. The transition from feudal to capitalist economy enjoyed the active promotion of state authorities, whose increasing centralization ran parallel with the growing strength of merchant capital […]. To smash through the privileges of the estate holders and towns, a strong crown was essential. But the bourgeoisie also needed a powerful state to protect its international trade, to conquer colonies, and to fight for hegemony over the world market” (Rubin 1989: 24-5).
In this context, the absolutist state becomes the vehicle for unbridled territorial expansionism, of colonialism by the developed (by the criteria of the times) capitalist countries.
Marx regarded colonialism as a basic aspect of the historical process of “primitive accumulation of capital” and thus as one of the historical prerequisites for the reign of the capitalist mode of production and the transition from pre-industrial (manufactury) to industrial capitalism:
“The colonial system ripened trade and navigation as in a hot-house […] The colonies provided a market for the budding manufactures, and a vast increase in accumulation which was guaranteed by the mother country’s monopoly of the market. The treasures captured outside Europe by undisguised looting, enslavement and murder flowed back to the mother country and were turned into capital there” (Marx 1990: 918).
Nevertheless, colonialism continued even after the victory of industrial capitalism and the formation of gigantic enterprises. In the new historical period, also, it functioned as a vehicle for extended reproduction of capital and the social and political processes structurally interconnected with it:
“On the one hand, the immediate effect of machinery is to increase the supply of raw material […] On the other hand, the cheapness of the articles produced by machinery, and the revolution in means of transport and communication provide the weapons for the conquering of foreign markets. By ruining handicraft production of finished articles in other countries, machinery forcibly converts them into fields for the production of its raw material. […] By constantly turning workers into ‘supernumeraries,’ large scale industry, in all countries where it has taken root, spurs on rapid increases in emigration and the colonization of foreign lands, which are thereby converted into settlements for growing the raw material of the mother country, just as Australia, for example, was converted into a colony for growing wool” (Marx 1990: 579).
The antagonisms between the world’s major capitalist countries led in the last quarter of the nineteenth century to clashes for the control of whatever overseas territories had not yet come under the colonial yoke, and also for the redistribution of colonies, in parallel with the development of nationalism in all capitalist countries. In the period between 1876 and 1900 the colonial territories of the eight most important colonial powers expanded from 46.4 million square kilometres with 314 million inhabitants to 72.9 million square kilometres with 530 million inhabitants.
Colonialism survived until after the Second World War, when the development of the anti-colonial movements and local bourgeois classes in the colonies imposed the creation of independent capitalist or state-capitalist states.
Colonialism had played an important role in the transformation of social relations towards capitalism and in capital accumulation on a global scale. However, it was not a necessary accompaniment to or a sine qua non prerequisite of the expanded reproduction of social-capital, as one may conclude not only from historical development but also from Marxist theory (e.g. Marx’s analysis on the “Reproduction and Circulation of Aggregate Social Capital” in Vol. 2 of Capital, Marx 1992, see also Tugan-Baranowsky 1969 & 2000, Milios et al 2002: 162-188).
The collapse of colonialism is an important breach in the history of world capitalism, which shall not be underestimated, e.g. in the mode of “dependency theories”, who claim that ex-colonial territories continue to be under a “neo-colonial” yoke.5 Since the eclipse of colonialism, all capitalist social formations, depending on their “strength”, develop other (non-colonial) forms of (economic, political, or/and ideological) expansionism.
2.3 Theories of imperialism as interpretation of capitalist rule, its tendencies towards
expansion and of periodisation of capitalism
In the conjuncture of sharpening antagonism between the major capitalist powers over the colonies, in 1902, the journalist and writer J.A. Hobson focused on a new popular term to describe the phenomena of his age: imperialism. In his book of the same name (Imperialism. A study) he maintained that capitalism had become imperialism, as it had entered a phase of “over-saving” and “over-production”,6 which is a phase of “parasitism” and decline7.
Hobson distinguished between (early) colonialism and “imperialism” on the basis of an argument purely apologetic for colonial expansion: He claimed that pre-imperialist colonialism aimed at propagating civilisation and industry to the “temperate zones”.8
Many of the ideas of Hobson influenced the Marxist theories of imperialism that were formulated a few years later.
Following Hobson, the Marxist theories of imperialism explicitly distinguished between the early colonialism and the corresponding phenomena of the “latest” phase of capitalism to which, exclusively, they gave the name of “imperialism” – without following, though, Hobson’s apologetic argument concerning the “civilising effect” of early colonialism. Marxist writers claimed that the “latest phase” of capitalism was the outcome of the “domination of monopolies”.
Rudolf Hilferding (1877-1941) in his Finance Capital, was the writer who introduced into Marxist theory this idea of a “latest phase” of capitalism, which is characterised by the following features (Milios 1999, 2001): the formation of monopolistic enterprises (which put aside capitalist competition); the fusion of bank and industrial capital (leading thus to the formation of finance capital, which is considered to be the ultimate form of capital); the subordination of the state to monopolies and the finance capital; finally, the formation of an expansionist policy of colonial annexations and war.9
The idea of a “latest”, monopolistic-imperialist stage of capitalism, possessing the above described features was adopted by Bukharin, Lenin, Kautsky and others, (despite the disputes among them, in relation to specific features of this approach or its political consequences), shaping thus what is called the Marxist theories of monopoly capitalism, that dominated, until recently, most Marxist streams of thought, and especially Soviet Marxism (see Abalkin et al 1983, Brewer 1980, Milios 1988).
3. A Critique to the notion of “Monopoly Capitalism”
According to Marx, capital constitutes a historically specific social relation of exploitation and domination. This relation manifests itself in the first instance in the commodity character of the economy, in the general exchangeability (through money) of the products of labour on the market. The capital – wage labour relationship can be first of all analysed at the level of the isolated unit of capitalist production, the enterprise, which Marx calls individual capital. But this relationship also, and especially, acts at the level of social capital, i.e. the capitalist economy as a whole, where the immanent causal structures (“laws”) of the system apply.
Social capital is thus the concept of capital at the level of the capitalist economy as a whole, i.e. it is the complex concept embracing empirically detectable regularities of a capitalist economy, but also all the “laws” –the hidden causal determinants– of the capitalist system (the capitalist mode of production). At this level of social capital, the individual “capitalist is simply personified capital, functioning in the production process simply as the bearer of capital” (Marx 1991: 958).
The immanent causal relationships governing the capitalist economy transform through competition the totality of individual capitals into elements of social capital, i.e. they situate them within an economic system, which then exercises a conditioning influence on them.
As Marx puts it:
“Free competition is the relation of capital to itself as another capital, i.e. the real conduct of capital as capital. The inner laws of capital […] are for the first time posited as laws; production founded on capital for the first time posits itself in the forms adequate to it only in so far as and to the extent that free competition develops, for it is the free development of the mode of production founded on capital; […] Free competition is the real development of capital. By its means, what corresponds to the nature of capital is posited as external necessity for the individual capital; what corresponds to the concept of capital, is posited as external necessity for the mode of production founded on capital […] is the free, at the same time the real development of wealth as capital” (Marx 1993: 650-1).
Marxist theory therefore proceeds on the assumption that free competition is a structural feature of the capital relation, which clearly cannot be abolished: it belongs to the structural elements of the capitalist system as such, irrespective of its specific forms of appearance10 or its level of development.
The development of capitalism, the constant restructuring of capitalist production, can be associated only with the evolution, not with the abolition, of free competition. Social capital is associated with the predominance of the tendency towards equalisation, through competition, of the general rate of profit, which is the condition that ensures the self-organisation of individual capitals into a ruling capitalist class:
“The various different capitals here are in the position of shareholders in a joint-stock company” (Marx 1991: 258). “This is the form in which capital becomes conscious of itself as a social power, in which every capitalist participates in proportion to his share in the total social capital” (Marx 1991: 297).
“Freedom of capital”, its concentration and centralisation and its capacity to move from one sphere of production to another – mobility facilitated by the credit system and necessitated by competition, because every individual capital seeks employment where it can achieve the highest rate of profit – are the terms which secure the predominance of the tendency towards equalisation of the rate of profit. It is according to this theoretical reasoning that “the predominance of capital is the presupposition of free competition” (Marx 1993: 651) and free competition shall be regarded as an indispensable feature of the capitalist mode of production.
An individual capital does not compete only with other individual capitals. It competes also with itself, on the search for a higher profit rate: it abandons less profitable techniques or processes of production or products, favouring only those techniques, processes and products that may raise its profit rate. With the same criterion it makes use of financial processes or products and raises loans (see also Bryan and Rafferty 2006). Competition is an attribute of the Marxian notion of capital.
Monopoly is accordingly not the polar opposite of free competition. It is a form of individual capital, which on account of its peculiar position in the capitalist production process earns higher-than-average profit. It is created precisely within the framework of free competition: not outside of and/or alongside free competition but through free competition and as one of its constituent elements.
The positing of a supposed antithesis between free competition and monopoly, the central tenet of all theories of “monopoly capitalism”, is based on an arbitrary ideological displacement: it evokes an empirically verifiable phenomenon, the tendency towards concentration and centralisation of capital and the establishment of very large corporations, but gives no sign of being able to comprehend this phenomenon. It does not take into account that while monopoly pertains to the theoretical category of individual capital, free competition by contrast relates exclusively to the category of social capital and is the pre-eminent condition for integration of the individual capitals into what is conceived as the capitalist system.
By introducing the idea of “the elimination of free competition among individual capitalists by the large monopolistic combines” (Hilferding 1981: 301), Hilferding replaces Marx’s “macroeconomic” view with a “microeconomic” approach, according to which the characteristics of the supposedly “dominant form” of enterprise (monopolistic individual capital) shape the whole capitalist system (the social capital) and determine its patterns of evolution and change (Michaelides & Milios 2005). What we have here is an inversion of the flow of cause and effect in the relationship between social capital and individual capital, which constitutes a paradigm shift within Marxist economic theory.11
The above conclusion concerning the paradigm shift introduced in Marxist economic theory by Hilferding’s Finance Capital may be further elucidated on the basis of Marx’s monopoly theory in Volume 3 of Capital. This theory is explicitly formulated by Marx, contrary to the belief that monopolies can be studied only in the framework of the “latest phase” of capitalism, which was supposedly formed only after Marx’s death.
Marx’s theses can be summarised as follows. The fact that there is a tendency towards equalisation of the rate of profit, that causes individual capitals to constitute themselves as social capital, does not mean that at any given moment the rates of profit of different individual capitals will automatically be equal. A monopoly was thus defined in Marx’s theory as an individual capital which systematically earns an above-average (“extra”) rate of profit (and not as a company which monopolises the market).
Marx in Capital draws a distinction between two major types of monopoly: natural and artificial monopolies. Natural monopolies arise from monopolistic possession of the elements of production in their natural form, which leads to increased productivity (in relation to the social average) and increased (monopoly) profit (Marx 1991: 784-5). Artificial monopolies also establish their monopoly status on the basis of conditions of labour productivity higher than the social average within a certain branch of production. However, in this case the higher-than-average productivity derives not from monopolisation of a natural resource but from the technological superiority of the specific individual capital in relation to average conditions in its own specialised branch of production. This technological superiority is reflected in above average profit rates (Marx 1990: 434).12
It is crucial to note at this point, that according to Marx’s analysis, and contrary to Hilferding, all monopolies must be short-lived, as extra profit always vanishes in competition. The extra profit enjoyed by an artificial monopoly “acting as a coercive law of competition, forces his competitors to adopt the new method [of production]” (Marx 1990: 436). Artificial monopoly is thus brought into existence through free competition and abides in the midst of it, although at the same time its monopoly position is under continual threat from competition. The same is true of natural monopoly, given that its superiority in productivity, which derives from monopolisation of a natural resource by the specific individual capital, may very well be forfeited as a result of technical innovations introduced by its competitors. As extra profits (which characterise any monopoly) function as an incentive to technical innovation and cost reduction for other individual capitals, the tendency towards the generalisation of the most productive techniques prevails.
At this point we can recapitulate: Monopolies do not shape contemporary capitalism, nor they abolish free capitalist competition. They are forms of individual capital, subjected to the social predominance of the capital relation, which is secured and elaborated in its adequate forms by means of the equalising processes imposed by free capitalist competition. So the claim of the “monopoly capitalism” theories that monopolies suppress the tendency towards equalisation of the general rate of profit in essence distort or even abolish the Marxist category of social capital, i.e. the central tenet of Marxist theory of the capitalist mode of production (Marx’s theory of value and capital). On this point Marx is unequivocal:
“Capital arrives at this equalisation [of the general rate of profit] to a greater or lesser extent, according to how advanced capitalist development is in a given national society: i.e. the more the conditions in the country in question are adapted to the capitalist mode of production” (Marx 1991: 297).
4. Concluding remarks with regard to the theory of imperialism and the Left
Beyond the fact that the concept of “monopoly capitalism” is theoretically unsubstantiated, whereas approaches of underconsumption, declaring a permanent “excess supply” or “excess production” under capitalism are also theoretically unfounded (for a detailed treatment see Milios et al 2002: 112-118, 158-205), this interpretation of capitalist expansionism is problematic from a number of viewpoints:
Given the arbitrary distinction between the first historical period of colonialism and the later period, with the attendant identification of imperialism exclusively with the developed industrial capitalist economy (which is falsely interpreted in terms of “the monopolies”, “excess of capital” etc.), two significant results of misinterpretations emerge:
1) On the one hand there is an underestimation of the tendency towards expansionism that is innate in every form of capitalist domination, as (a) the expansionism and colonialism that preceded the period of so-called “monopoly capitalism” is bracketed off as if it did not emerge from tendencies inherent in capitalism, while (b) the expansionism of the less developed capitalist states (which are not included in the supposed “ripe” or “monopoly capitalism” stage), is entirely ignored (e.g. Iran-Iraq war, Vietnam-Cambodia etc.). Thus national and intra-state antagonisms (in the former Soviet Union, in former Yugoslavia, in Cyprus, etc.) are interpreted as the result of an “imperialist conspiracy”.13
2) On the other hand Marxism tends to be converted into economism, i.e. into a theory which derives historical developments immediately from economic developments. However, it is not only the dynamic of capitalist accumulation (“monopolies” etc.) that creates the pressures for economic, political or territorial expansion of a social-national capital. The dynamic of state power and the dynamic of the nation work in the same direction.
The demand for “national unification and integration” is often the motive force for annexation of territories where a minority of fellow-nationals of the country carrying out (or attempting) the annexation exists, or – as is even more likely – predominates economically and/or culturally, or else where the national culture is supposed to have been present in the historical past. This is the situation both with Germany in the interwar period and Greece from the time of establishment of the modern Greek state (1821) up to the so-called Asia-Minor-disaster in 1922.
Historical development cannot be explained on the basis of the “initiatives” or the “interests” of great powers or multinational companies, as both are subjected to the causal structures immanent in the capitalist mode of production and to the relation of (national and international) class forces formed in each specific historical conjuncture.
If the traditional “anti-imperialist” problematique is of little use for the Lebanese Left, to interpret or take stance on the Syrian invasion in the country, so it is also the case for the Serbian or the Croatian Left, in their effort to interpret or take stance to the war in former Yugoslavia. In both, as in all other, cases, the role of the local ruling classes and the expansionist tendencies of their power, as well as of nationalism as a process of imposing capitalist interests to the labouring classes shall be taken into account.
Obviously in the pursuit of international influence the hegemonic powers of the advanced capitalist world can claim the lion’s share.14
The “anti-imperialist” interpretation of the world projects the military interventions of the United States and its allies as one unique element in a post-Cold War “new order”. But from the time of the naval battle of Navarino in 1827 (which enabled the creation of the Greek state, as the Ottoman forces were defeated by the intervening Great Powers) and the landing of French soldiers in the Peloponnese under General Maison in August 1828, up until the military interventions of the Western Powers to Soviet Russia, Korea and Vietnam, the hegemonic powers of capitalism have always reserved the “right” to intervene in local conflicts, performing the role of the “international gendarme” and in their choice of allies employing the criterion of their own strategic interests: safeguarding, in other words, the power relationships and equilibria by means of which their hegemonic role is reproduced.
The question therefore is not whether the hegemonic capitalist countries intervene in the contradictions that are emerging and sharpening all over the planet but whether the character of those interventions has been transformed following the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Eastern bloc.
Beyond the obvious disjuncture in the balance of forces given that the United States has remained the sole superpower, the answer to this question must be negative, as recent developments constitute a breach within continuity:
Since the end of the Second World War the political framework on the basis of which the international policy of the West has been exercised has remained unchanged: The basic axis of this framework is the safeguarding of Western hegemony through maintenance of the borders which emerged from the conditions of the Second World War: Given that the stability of existing borders is guaranteed and every attempt to revive the logic of the “historic unity of blood and soil” that would draw it into question is delegitimated, Western international policy strategy secures the consensus of the great majority of states on the planet.15
Recapitulating the above analysis I would say that a theory of imperialism, if based on Marx’s theory of capitalism, shall on the one hand reject the monopoly-capitalism approach and on the other adopt a broader definition of imperialism, denoting the (economic, political and ideological) expansionist tendencies inherent in every system of capitalist power (in every capitalist social formation).
In this theoretical context, a strategy aiming at defending certain capitalist national states against the “new world order”, can by no means be regarded as an answer to the strategies of capitalism –not even those put forward by the capitalist “great powers”– and a prerequisite for social change.16 The state, as the centre for the exercise of capitalist class power is the mechanism for concentrating the generalized social violence of capital, a vehicle for international alliances of the (national) bourgeois classes and at the same time a machine for promoting the expansionism of each country’s social capital.17 If the “nationally thinking” Left identifies only the “new order” and “American imperialism” as enemy “of the peoples”, that is because for a long time it has been in a state of compromise with the (local) capitalist power and exploitation, which it seeks to embellish and promote in the name of “national rights”, “national independence”, “economic development”, and so on.
1 Before proceeding to theoretical investigation of the issues posed by the approach just described, it is worth mentioning that this approach is not convincing even as a description of the “apparent picture” of the “New World Order”. Why should we regard Iraq, Afghanistan and Serbia as challengers par excellence to the new order? If one wished to identify a “refractory state” in the present day international conjuncture of “liberalization and globalization of markets” it would be much easier to focus on the Cuba of Castro or the Venezuela of Chavez than on the Serbia or Serbo-Bosnia of Milosevic and Karadjic. Why is it then that the American economic embargo against Cuba is not able to subvert even the development of Cuban-Canadian economic relations? Why in the recent past was the economic embargo against apartheid South Africa supported not only by “progressive governments” but also the government of the United States and the other “imperialist powers”? Why was the political dominance and military presence of Syria in Lebanon not only not overturned but also not challenged until mass demonstrations of Lebanese broke out against the Syrian presence? Why has no country ever recognized Israeli rule of the occupied Arab territories? There are a lot more examples, which are evidently not interpretable within the schema proposed by the “anti-imperialist” approach.
2 Let us remember at this point Lenin’s “classical” definition: “Imperialism is capitalism at that stage of development at which the dominance of monopolies and finance capital is established; in which the export of capital has acquired pronounced importance; in which the division of the world among the international trusts has begun, in which the division of all territories of the globe among the biggest capitalist powers has been completed” (Lenin 1916). However, the “division of the world” is what characterises capitalism from the first historical phase of its existence as a system of antagonistic “absolutist” states: “As English merchants now ventured forth onto the world’s markets, the country was forced to pursue an active colonial policy. The wealthiest colonies had already been seized by other states, namely Spain and Portugal. With time Holland and to an extent France acquired sizable colonial possessions. The entire history of England from the 16th to the 18th centuries is a history of its struggles with these nations for commercial and colonial superiority. Its weapons in this struggle were the founding of its own colonies, commercial treaties and wars” (Rubin 1989: 30).
3 Louis Althusser remarked in reference to the nation state: “Class struggle is at the heart of the constitution of nations: the nation represents the form of existence indispensable to the implantation of the capitalist mode of production, in its struggle against the forms of the feudal mode of production. […] a nation can be constituted only by means of a state – a national state” (Althusser 1999: 11). See also Milios 2005.
4 Because from the very first moment of its rule, capitalism (any capitalist social formation) is characterized by the tendency to expand the boundaries of its domination at every social level.
5 For a critique of “dependency” and “metropolis-periphery” theories see Milios 1988; also Milios 1989.
6 “The over-saving which is the economic root of imperialism is found by analysis to consist of rents, monopoly profits, and other unearned or excessive element of income […] Thus we reach the conclusion that Imperialism is the endeavour of the great controllers of industry to broaden their channel for the flow of their surplus wealth by seeking foreign markets and foreign investments to take off the goods and capital they cannot sell or use at home […] The prime object of the trust or other combine is to remedy this waste and loss (caused by unemployed capital, J.M.) by substituting regulation of output for reckless over-production” (Hobson 2005: 85).
7 According to Hobson, imperialism “might introduce the gigantic peril of a Western parasitism, a group of advanced industrial nations, whose upper classes drew vast tribute from Asia and Africa with which they supported great tame masses of retainers, no longer engaged in the staple industries of agriculture and manufacture, but kept in the performance of personal or minor industrial services under the control of a new financial aristocracy […] If the ruling classes of the Western nations could realize their interests in such a combination […] the opportunity of a parasitic Imperialism which should reproduce upon a vaster scale many of the main features of the latter Roman Empire visibly presents itself” (Hobson 2005: 364-5).
8 “Thus this recent imperial expansion stands entirely distinct from the colonisation of sparsely peopled lands in temperate zones, where white colonists carry with them the modes of government, the industrial and other arts of the civilisation of the mother country” (Hobson 2005: 27).
9 “Finance capital signifies the unification of capital. The previously separate spheres of industrial, commercial and bank capital are brought under the common direction of high finance, in which the masters of industry and of the banks are united in a close personal association. The basis of this association is the elimination of free competition among individual capitalists by the large monopolistic combines. This naturally involves at the same time a change in the relation of the capitalist class to state power” (Hilferding 1981: 301). “The policy of finance capital has three objectives: (1) to establish the largest possible territory; (2) to close this territory to foreign competition by a wall of protective tariffs, and consequently (3) to reserve it as an area of exploitation for the national monopolistic combinations” (Hilferding 1981: 326).
10 As Marx himself noted in the Preface to the first edition of volume 1 of Capital: “What I have to examine in this work is the capitalist mode of production, and the relations of production and forms of intercourse that correspond to it” (Marx 1990: 90); and in volume 3 of Capital he stated: “we are only out to present the internal organization of the capitalist mode of production, its ideal average” (Marx 1991: 970).
11 Contrary to Soviet Marxists and other descendants of his theory of “monopoly capitalism”, Hilferding himself was frank enough to admit that his approach was not compatible with Marx’s value theory: “It seems that the monopolistic combine, while it confirms Marx’s theory of concentration, at the same time tends to undermine his theory of value” (Hilferding 1981: 228).
12 Marx referred to a third type of monopoly, which may come into existence, in the sphere of circulation of commodities (the market). He named this type of monopoly the accidental monopoly. The term is applied to certain individual capitals, which are able to secure extra profit by exploiting conjunctural or more permanent imbalances and fluctuations of supply and demand in the market (Marx 1991: 297).
13 Perhaps the most significant consequence of the preceding, particularly in relation to the national-state-centred organization of capitalist dominion, is that the limits to capitalist expansionism of any country are always the limits of capitalist power within the social formation towards which it is oriented. This means that in the absence of victorious war of conquest no total-social capital and correspondingly no country can acquire economic, political and ideological influence abroad if it does not link up with or form an alliance with some specific interest groups there, if it does not exploit processes and conflicts in the regions it proposes to penetrate and influence.
14 But not always. The dominant bourgeois powers of the Muslim majority in Lebanon found in Syria the suitable ally for preserving their power in the country. The Syrian military presence in Lebanon lasted from May 2000 to April 2005. The Vietnamese military presence in Cambodia lasted from 1978 to 1989.
15 There is therefore nothing surprising about the fact that the territories annexed by Israel in 1967 retain to this day the international political status of “occupied territories” or that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is not recognized by any state or international organization apart from Turkey. Another example: Western intervention in the destabilization and disintegration processes of the former state-capitalist multi-ethnic states of Eastern Europe and the nationalistic wars which followed aimed at rescuing this principle of stable borders through the acquisition of independence by the federated states within their exact historical borders, now transformed into interstate borders. The hegemony of the United States and more broadly of NATO at the planetary level simply means the attempt to manage (up to a point) the contradictions that develop spontaneously out of the class struggle within the individual social formations and make their appearance on the world stage as interstate or quasi-interstate relations and tensions. This does not imply an ability to achieve a definitive regulation of these relations or, much more, the ability to regulate the balance of class forces and the dynamic of class struggle within the individual social interrelations.
16 The idea is actually an old one. J.A. Hobson wrote in 1902: “Analysis of Imperialism, with its natural supports, militarism, oligarchy, bureaucracy, protectionism, concentration of capital and violent trade fluctuations, has marked out as the supreme danger of modern national States […] the interests of the nation are opposed to every act of this expansive policy” (Hobson 2005: 360 & 362).
17 A different analysis is required for countries under occupation. Such an analysis is however beyond the scope of the present text.
Literature
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Brewer, A. 1980, Marxist theories of imperialism, a critical survey, London: Routledge and Κegan Paul.
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Hilferding, R. 1981, Finance Capital, London: Routledge.
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Tugan-Baranowsky, M. von 2000, “Studies on the Theory and the History of Business Crises in England, Part I: Theory and History of Crises”, in Zarembka, P. (ed.) 2000, Research in Political Economy Volume 18. Value, Capitalist Dynamics and Money, New York: Jai Press, pp. 53-110. | https://non.copyriot.com/imperialism-or-and-capitalist-expansionism-some-thoughts-on-capitalist-power-the-nation-state-and-the-left/ |
ThesisAnalysis of government policy instruments to reduce emissions and our nation's reliance on fossil fuels, through the adoption of zero-emission vehiclesThomas, JeffreyHarmful emissions caused by the transportation sector, along with America's reliance on other countries for fossil fuels, have been a topic of concern in America for decades. Strategies developed to reduce damage to the planet have included implementi . . .
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Student ResearchMagat, Paula MarieDepleting fossil fuels has been an undergoing issue that calls for the attention of many scientists around the world, as the demand for it increases with the increasing population. Thus, various types of renewable energy sources are being studied and . . .
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Student ResearchManzanarez, KarlosThe consumption of fossil fuels has rapidly increased worldwide, which is a concern because they are a finite energy resource. Ideally, a renewable energy source, such as biomass, could offer a viable, domestic, and cost-efficient alternative. A chall . . .
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Student ResearchClabaugh, GarritCurrently, our material and energy needs are met primarily using fossil resources. Petrochemicals, for example, obtained from the refining of crude oil are used as fuel and for making chemicals/materials. Since fossil resources are present only in fin . . .
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Student ResearchHymas, JeffreyWith the world's supply of fossil fuels decreasing by the day, and the environmental impact of extracting such fuels from the earth taking a toll on the planet, the demand for an alternative is increasing. In the long term renewable energies will prov . . .
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Student ResearchWagner, NathanWith the depletion of fossil resources, efforts have been directed toward more sustainable sources of chemicals; fossil resources are non-renewable and have environmental consequences accompanying their use, making it imperative to focus on more susta . . .
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Oral PresentationVinik, SeanThe concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has steadily increased since the industrial revolution. The past few years have seen an alarming rise in the rate of carbon dioxide emissions with deleterious consequences on a global scale. Effort . . .
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Student ResearchManzanarez, KarlosBiomass is currently being researched as an alternative to fossil fuels because it does not have a finite supply. Biomass refers to organic matter such as wood, agricultural products, solid waste and natural gas that all contain precursors to high ene . . . | https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/catalog?f%5Bsubject_sim%5D%5B%5D=fossil+fuels&locale=en |
REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
FIELD
BACKGROUND
SUMMARY
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/617,479, filed Jun. 8, 2017 and entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DETECTION OF SIGNIFICANT AND ATTRACTIVE COMPONENTS IN DIGITAL IMAGES,” which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/347,850, filed Jun. 9, 2016 and entitled “ULTRA-FAST COMPUTERIZED DETECTION OF SIGNIFICANT AND ATTRACTIVE COMPONENTS IN IMAGES,” the entire contents of each are incorporated herein by reference.
This invention was made with government support under Grant No. DMS1521092 awarded by the National Science Foundation. The Government has certain rights in the invention.
The present invention is related to electronic image analysis and, more specifically, to a system for electronic detection of significant and aesthetic regions in electronic images.
Visual attention modeling is generally used to address the observed and/or predicted behavior of human and non-human visual attention such that photographic related applications (e.g., displaying an image on an electronic display) can be improved by producing images that will be more likely to capture and/or retain the attention of an observer. Such modeling may utilize visual saliency evaluation, which focuses on detecting regions in an image that are highly dissimilar from various other parts of the image. However, such modeling may fail in instances where an image does not contain highly dissimilar regions or when the highly dissimilar regions are not visually significant or aesthetically attractive.
Accordingly, a need exists for visual attention modeling that more accurately observes and/or predicts attention and improves use of the observed and/or predicted attention in presenting photographic related data to and/or storing the data for users of electronic devices.
In an embodiment, a method of electronically assessing a visual significance of pixels or regions in an electronic image includes receiving, by a processing device, the electronic image and performing, by the processing device, a composition analysis on the electronic image. The composition analysis includes partitioning the electronic image into a plurality of segments or a plurality of parts. The method further includes constructing, by the processing device, an attributed composition graph comprising a plurality of nodes. Each node of the plurality of nodes corresponds to a segment of the plurality of segments or a part of the plurality of parts and wherein each node of the plurality of nodes comprises one or more attributes. The method further includes modeling, by the processing device, the visual significance of the electronic image based on the attributed composition graph using a statistical modeling process or a computational modeling process to obtain a plurality of values and constructing, by the processing device, a composition significance map comprising a significance score for each segment of the plurality of segments or each part of the plurality of parts according to the values obtained from the statistical modeling process or the computational modeling process.
In another embodiment, a system for electronically assessing a visual significance of pixels or regions in an electronic image includes a processing device and a non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium in communication with the processing device. The non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium includes one or more programming instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause the processing device to receive the electronic image and perform a composition analysis on the electronic image. The composition analysis includes partitioning the electronic image into a plurality of segments or a plurality of parts. The non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium further includes one or more programming instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause the processing device to construct an attributed composition graph comprising a plurality of nodes. Each node of the plurality of nodes corresponds to a segment of the plurality of segments or a part of the plurality of parts and each node of the plurality of nodes comprises one or more attributes. The non-transitory, processor-readable storage medium further includes one or more programming instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause the processing device to model the visual significance of the electronic image based on the attributed composition graph using a statistical modeling process or a computational modeling process to obtain a plurality of values and construct a composition significance map comprising a significance score for each segment of the plurality of segments or each part of the plurality of parts according to the values obtained from the statistical modeling process or the computational modeling process.
In yet another embodiment, a non-transitory, processor readable storage medium includes one or more programming instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to receive the electronic image and perform a composition analysis on the electronic image. The composition analysis includes partitioning the electronic image into a plurality of segments or a plurality of parts. The non-transitory, processor readable storage medium further includes one or more programming instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to construct an attributed composition graph including a plurality of nodes. Each node of the plurality of nodes corresponds to a segment of the plurality of segments or a part of the plurality of parts and each node of the plurality of nodes comprises one or more attributes. The non-transitory, processor readable storage medium further includes one or more programming instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to model the visual significance of the electronic image based on the attributed composition graph using a statistical modeling process or a computational modeling process to obtain a plurality of values and construct a composition significance map comprising a significance score for each segment of the plurality of segments or each part of the plurality of parts according to the values obtained from the statistical modeling process or the computational modeling process.
Additional features and advantages of the embodiments described herein will be set forth in the detailed description which follows, and in part will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from that description or recognized by practicing the embodiments described herein, including the detailed description which follows, the claims, as well as the appended drawings.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description describe various embodiments and are intended to provide an overview or framework for understanding the nature and character of the claimed subject matter. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the various embodiments, and are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate the various embodiments described herein, and together with the description serve to explain the principles and operations of the claimed subject matter.
Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Whenever possible, the same reference numerals will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to systems and methods for detecting significant and aesthetic regions in images, which, in turn, can be used to improve computer functioning in providing images to human and non-human observers.
Visual attention modeling focuses on visual saliency, which is the ability of a vision system (human, non-human animal, and machine) to select a certain subset of visual information for further processing. This mechanism may serve as a filter for selecting a particular subset of the information in an image (e.g., “interesting” information in an image) relating to current behaviors or tasks to be processed, all while ignoring other information in the image (e.g., “irrelevant” information in an image).
Salient object detection may be useful for electronic vision because it may provide a fast solution for completing several complex processes. Salient object detection functions by detecting the most salient and attention-grabbing object in a scene and segmenting the whole of that object. The dissimilarity can be based on local contrast or global contrast The resulting output is a map where the intensity of each pixel represents the probability of that pixel belonging to the salient object. Salient object detection differs from traditional image segmentation in that salient object detection models segment only salient foreground object(s) from the background while general segmentation algorithms partition an image into regions of coherent properties.
Salient object detection may be particularly useful in improving further computing tasks, including, but not limited to, object detection and recognition, image compression, video summarization, and photo collages.
However, salient object detection is generally a figure/ground segmentation problem, and the goal is to only segment the salient foreground object from the background. This differs from the traditional image segmentation problem that aims to partition an image into perceptually coherent regions. However, salient object detection may not be very meaningful or useful in some instances, such as, for example, in instances where the target image is a landscape picture without any particular objects featured.
In contrast, in compositional significance analysis, details are often nuances. This is evident in the practice of art. For instance, in the recommended notan study before creating a painting, fragmented masses and details are to be avoided. Details in particular are seen as distracting and damaging for achieving a solid foundation for a pleasant composition, which is believed to strike an influential impression on the viewer even before he grasps the semantics and all the way through.
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Referring now to the drawings, depicts an illustrative computing network that depicts components for a system for electronically assessing a visual significance of pixels or regions in an electronic image according to embodiments shown and described herein. As illustrated in , a computer network may include a wide area network (WAN), such as the Internet, a local area network (LAN), a mobile communications network, a public service telephone network (PSTN), a personal area network (PAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a virtual private network (VPN), and/or another network. The computer network may generally be configured to electronically connect one or more computing devices and/or components thereof. Illustrative computing devices may include, but are not limited to, a user computing device , a server computing device , and an administrator computing device
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The user computing device may generally be used as an interface between a user and the other components connected to the computer network . Thus, the user computing device may be used to perform one or more user-facing functions, such as receiving one or more inputs from a user or providing information to the user. Accordingly, the user computing device may include at least a display and/or input hardware. Additionally, included in is the administrator computing device . In the event that the server computing device requires oversight, updating, or correction, the administrator computing device may be configured to provide the desired oversight, updating, and/or correction. The administrator computing device may also be used to input additional data into a corpus of data stored on the server computing device
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The server computing device may receive data from one or more sources, generate data, store data, index data, perform electronic image analysis, and/or provide data to the user computing device
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It should be understood that while the user computing device and the administrator computing device are depicted as personal computers and the server computing device is depicted as a server, these are nonlimiting examples. More specifically, in some embodiments, any type of computing device (e.g., mobile computing device, personal computer, server, etc.) may be used for any of these components. Additionally, while each of these computing devices is illustrated in as a single piece of hardware, this is also merely an example. More specifically, each of the user computing device , server computing device , and administrator computing device may represent a plurality of computers, servers, databases, components, and/or the like. In addition, each of the user computing device , the server computing device , and the administrator computing device can be used to carry out any tasks or methods described herein.
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depicts the server computing device , from , further illustrating a system for electronically assessing a visual significance of pixels or regions in an electronic image. While the components depicted in are described with respect to the server computing device , it should be understood that similar components may also be used for the user computing device and/or the administrator computing device () without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.
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The server computing device may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium for searching and providing data embodied as hardware, software, and/or firmware, according to embodiments shown and described herein. While in some embodiments the server computing device may be configured as a general purpose computer with the requisite hardware, software, and/or firmware, in other embodiments, the server computing device may also be configured as a special purpose computer designed specifically for performing the functionality described herein. In embodiments where the server computing device is a general purpose computer, the methods described herein generally provide a means of improving a technology that resides wholly within the realm of computers and the internet (i.e., improving a computer's ability to analyze electronic images).
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As also illustrated in , the server computing device may include a processor , input/output hardware , network interface hardware , a data storage component (which may store image data , segment data , graph data , modeling data , and other data ), and a non-transitory memory component . The memory component may be configured as a volatile and/or a nonvolatile computer-readable medium and, as such, may include random access memory (including SRAM, DRAM, and/or other types of random access memory), flash memory, registers, compact discs (CD), digital versatile discs (DVD), and/or other types of storage components. Additionally, the memory component may be configured to store various processing logic, such as, for example, operating logic , composition analysis logic , construction logic , modeling logic , and/or region analysis logic (each of which may be embodied as a computer program, firmware, or hardware, as an example). A local interface is also included in and may be implemented as a bus or other interface to facilitate communication among the components of the server computing device
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The processor may include any processing component configured to receive and execute instructions (such as from the data storage component and/or memory component ). The input/output hardware may include a monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer, camera, microphone, speaker, touch-screen, and/or other device for receiving, sending, and/or presenting data (e.g., a device that allows for direct or indirect user interaction with the server computing device ). The network interface hardware may include any wired or wireless networking hardware, such as a modem, LAN port, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) card, WiMax card, mobile communications hardware, and/or other hardware for communicating with other networks and/or devices.
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It should be understood that the data storage component may reside local to and/or remote from the server computing device and may be configured to store one or more pieces of data and selectively provide access to the one or more pieces of data. As illustrated in , the data storage component may store image data , segment data , graph data , modeling data , and/or other data , as described in greater detail herein.
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Included in the memory component are the operating logic , the composition logic , the construction logic , the modeling logic , and/or the region analysis logic . The operating logic may include an operating system and/or other software for managing components of the server computing device . The composition analysis logic may include instructions for performing a composition analysis on an electronic image to partition the image into segments, parts, and/or the like, as described in greater detail herein. The construction logic may construct various analysis components, such as an attributed composition graph, a composition significance map, an integrated differential composition significance map, and/or the like as described in greater detail herein. The modeling logic may be used to construct various models, such as a visual significance model that is based on an attributed composition graph. The region analysis logic may analyze and determine one or more regions within an electronic image, as described in greater detail herein.
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It should be understood that the components illustrated in are merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure. More specifically, while the components in are illustrated as residing within the server computing device , this is a nonlimiting example. In some embodiments, one or more of the components may reside external to the server computing device . Similarly, as previously described herein, while is directed to the server computing device , other components such as the user computing device and the administrator computing device may include similar hardware, software, and/or firmware.
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As mentioned above, the various components described with respect to may be used to carry out one or more processes and/or provide functionality for electronically assessing a visual significance of pixels or regions in an electronic image. An illustrative example of such processes are described herein below.
Image Cropping/Scaling
Two major schools of approaches for image cropping are generally understood. For example, one approach is based on attention models. In another example, another approach is based on aesthetics measure. Attention-based approaches focus on finding important objects/regions from an image. Then a cropping area attempts to cover as much as possible the important regions. The assessment of the importance does not take into account of composition. The aesthetics-based approaches compute an aesthetic score for a cropped area and choose an area with the highest score. Such approaches by setup will take into consideration composition and various aesthetics rules of composing an image. However, these methods are designed specifically for cropping/scaling and cannot provide a significance map for the image pixels. Moreover, the aesthetics-based approaches compute a score for a cropped area that only depends on the appearance of the cropped area. Although composition is considered, only the composition of the cropped area matters. If an area is well composed by itself, it will be favored during cropping, even if it is not seen as significant with respect to the original composition. For instance, consider an image with a logo stamped on it. A cropped area of the logo may be judged as well composed assuming the logo is well designed. Moreover, assessing aesthetics of an image is itself a very difficult problem. Therefore, for many images, cropped results generated by maximizing aesthetics scores are not particularly pleasing.
Composition may be taken as a major consideration when cropping images by other methods. Similarly as the aesthetics-based approaches, these two methods aim particularly at image cropping and do not provide a significance map for the image. New features are defined to capture composition information, e.g., spatial arrangement of objects. The fundamental rationale of the works is to compare the composition features of either a cropped area or a segmented region with the counterparts extracted from a set of training images with expert manual cropping. For example, the manually cropped areas in the training images are assumed to be desirable examples and a close match of a candidate cropping to any example indicates high preference for this candidate. In another example, training images are used to evaluate the effectiveness of features for predicting whether a region should be cropped or cut-through. Although compositional features are used, they are individual features computed for a pixel or a segment. Neither example characterizes the overall composition of the image by a graph. Moreover, neither example characterizes the relationships among segments in terms of their spatial arrangement in the image plane. Hence although spatial information is used in their features, there is no attempt to quantify the spatial interactions among elements in the image. In addition, neither example assesses directly and stores as features how prominent a segment appears with respect to its neighboring segments or with respect to the whole image.
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As such, the present disclosure provides a method for assessing the visual significance of segmented regions in an image. Referring to , the electronic image is received at step and a composition analysis on the electronic image is completed at step . The composition analysis includes partitioning the image into segments. The segmentation method is not limited by the present disclosure, and may generally be any segmentation method now known or later developed used to divide an electronic image into regions. The segmentation method may be tuned to ignore details. Although some recent saliency detection methods also use segmentation, their segmentation step is to generate super-pixels, instead of a much smaller number of segments. As a result, existing saliency detection methods are found quite slow, taking close to one minute to several minutes for an image of size 400×300. In contrast, the present method takes on average less than 50 milliseconds to process an image of similar size (the entire process including segmentation, composition analysis, computing visual significance, and optimizing cropping), faster by more than a thousand times. As a result, the present method significantly improves computing speed in processing electronic images.
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In order to assess the compositional significance of a segment in an image, the amount of time that an eye will stay on a particular segment is modeled at step . When the eye drifts outside of the image, the viewing of the whole image is over. The segment which retains the eye the longest is considered to have the highest significance. In some embodiments, a statistical model called a Markov chain may be utilized to simulate the process. It should be understood that a Markov chain is a type of stochastic process that has either discrete time index or continuous time index. A Markov chain is a stochastic process that satisfies the conditional independence of the future observations from the past observations given the present. Let X(t) be a stochastic process. For a Markov chain, the conditional distribution P(X(t)|X(t′), t′<=t)=P(X(t)|X(t)). The set of possible values for X(t) is called the state space of the Markov chain. A particular value is called a state. The Markov chain may be a discrete Markov chain or a continuous Markov chain. That is, if the time index t takes integer values, the Markov chain is called discrete-time or discrete. If the time index t is the continuous real number, then the Markov chain is called continuous-time or continuous. The amount of time or proportion of time which a state in the Markov chain occurs indicates a visual significance of the state. If any realization X(t) of the Markov chain is viewed (e.g., a sample instance of the whole chain), the number of times X(t) takes a particular value can be computed. This may be referred to as the number of times that value or state occurs. If the Markov chain is irreducible and ergodic, every state will occur infinitely many times but their respective frequencies of occurring will converge to the stationary distribution. These frequencies may be referred to as the proportion of time a state in the Markov chain occurs and can be used to indicate the visual significance. If the Markov chain contains transient states, the expected number of times a transient state occurs is finite. This finite number can be used to indicate the visual significance of a transient state.
In some embodiments, the Markov chain contains a state that represents outside the image. For example, a Markov chain's state space contains the index set of the segments of the image. In addition, the state space contains an index assigned to “outside the image”. When the Markov chain is in a particular state, it means the eye is currently looking at the segment corresponding to that state. When the eye moves outside the image, the Markov chain takes the value of the state corresponding to “outside the image”.
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An attributed composition graph is constructed for the image at step . More specifically, each node of the graph corresponds to a segment of the image or an area outside the image, as described hereinabove. Each node of the graph corresponds to a state in the Markov chain. The visual significance of the state in the Markov chain is assigned to the corresponding segment as a significance score of the segment. A significance score for each segment may be used to construct a composition significance map of the image at step . Because each segment contains a set of pixels in the image, the significance score of the segment is assigned to every pixel it contains. This way, every pixel in the image is given a significance score. Significance scores residing on all the pixel locations in the image may be referred to as the composition significance map.
The segmented regions (or in short segments) are taken as masses. However, masses are not only the visual elements that play a role, lines also affect the visual significance assessment. The boundaries of segments are in fact crucial line elements in an image; and in addition edges are major visual cues during the segmentation process. Consequently, although the present visual significance assessment is imposed on segments, how the result is used depends critically on whether a pixel locates on the boundaries or interior of segments. In addition, as will be explained later, scenarios are also detected when edges will likely be more reliable visual elements, under which case edges will be used more directly.
Spatial arrangement of the segments plays a major role in determining significance. For instance, consider a line drawing image that is essentially binary, black for the lines and white otherwise. Suppose the image is segmented based on the lines and the segmented regions within the lines are identically white. In such a scenario, where conventional saliency detection fails to yield meaningful result given the fact there is no contrast between the segments, the method in the present disclosure can still assess the significance of the segments based purely on spatial arrangement. The present disclosure explicitly models the spatial connectivity of the segments and how the segments interact spatially, without assuming simply the geometric center of the image plane is more important.
The nodes that represent segments are connected when they are spatially adjacent. The purpose of building such a graph is to capture the spatial arrangement characteristics.
Each node of the attributed compositional graph contains three types of attributes, including individual attributes, pairwise attributes, and/or attributes with respect to the image as a whole. The individual attributes include visual features that reflect visual characteristics of the individual segments, and the pairwise attributes include relationships between a segment and its neighboring segments.
Because the present disclosure model is built on the notion of composition rather than the notion of being distinct in saliency detection, the graph that is constructed is not symmetric. The weight assigned to each edge in the graph is not a measure of how similar the two nodes are, but how likely the eye will traverse from one node to another. The edge weight from node i to j is in general different from that from node j to i, and depends on visual preference defined from composition perspective. In addition, the weight depends not only on the pair of nodes, but also on information yielded from the global composition analysis.
In some embodiments, a continuous-time Markov chain that is not ergodic and not irreducible may be employed. A fundamental assumption may be that the eye will only be retained in the image for a finite amount of time. In the graph constructed according to the present disclosure, there is a node representing “outside the image.” This special node is the only recurrent state of the Markov chain (MC) while all the other nodes representing segments inside the image are transient. Interestingly, according to the model of the present disclosure, the shape of the image frame, e.g., rectangle, sphere, oval, half circle, or the like, will affect the assessment of visual significance for segments inside the image.
Because the visual significance assessment is built upon segmentation, the present disclosure provides a validity assessment of the segmentation results. For the purpose of the validity assessment, the composition analysis may further be performed. The composition analysis further includes texture analysis. The image is classified into a textured image versus a non-textured image. The textured images are further classified into strongly textured versus moderately textured. If an image is strongly textured, it is highly unlikely the image depicts objects. That is, the image is mostly likely a patch of pattern or texture. An image is “moderately textured” if the pixels are clustered into groups and all of the groups except one are scattered evenly across the whole image while a single group is more clumped. This indicates that there is probably some interesting portion of the image that stands out from the rest. If an image is moderately textured and the number of segments obtained by the segmentation algorithm is not greater than the number of groups, the single special cluster of pixels are prone to be wiped out during the segmentation. The cluster of pixels may be referred to as a weak signal.
The Sobel edge map may be designated a threshold and the percentage of pixels with edge values above a pre-given threshold may be computed. If the percentage is below a particular threshold, it indicates that the edge pixels are scarce. If the edge pixels are scarce and the number of segments generated is small, the geometry of the segments may be examined. If the geometry of the segments does not indicate a single object centered composition, it is likely that the segmentation has produced too few segments and the edges found by edge detection will tend to play more important roles in the visual impression of the image. As a result, edge map information is recommended to add upon the significance map based on segmentation.
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The method of the present disclosure can combine results of composition analysis, edge detection, and segmentation results at step . The classification into moderately textured, strongly textured, and non-textured, as described herein, is part of the composition analysis. For textured images, the segmentation of the images which aims at treating non-textured images is considered to have low robustness. As a result, the composition visual significance map is used differently from how it is used for non-textured images. In addition, as described hereinabove, by analyzing the edge map and the segmentation result, under certain conditions, the edge map is given more importance than usual in applications. This may be completed to estimate the robustness of the segmentation result. According to the assessment, different ways of using the compositional visual significance map may be used in an application.
By detecting the significant and aesthetic regions in the photos, a number of photo-related software applications and the systems running such software applications can be improved, especially when the screen size is small, e.g., phones, watches, or pads. As a result, a significant improvement can be made to display on such devices. For example, by cropping/scaling an image, the part of image which carries the most information of an image can be displayed on a small display area. The cropping/scaling of images also saves disk spaces so that more information can be stored on a limited space.
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For cropping/scaling an image, a “core” region which covers the most significant region is determined at step . In some embodiments, the core region includes faces or the segment with highest significance score. If the segment with the highest significance is larger than the allowed crop window size, part of the segment is chosen to be included in the core region based on spatial arrangement of the segment.
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A plurality of candidate cropped regions are determined at step where each of the candidates includes the core region and is assigned a merit score. The merit score may be a sum of an integrated differential significance score of each pixel in the region.
The integrated differential significance score of each pixel is same as the significance score of each pixel if the pixel is a boundary pixel between two segments. If a pixel is not a boundary pixel, that is, the pixel is in the interior of a segment and is not adjacent to any pixel belonging to a different segment, the integrated differential significance score for this pixel is set to zero. The significance score for each pixel is the significance score of the segment to which the pixel belongs. However, when the validity assessment yielded from composition analysis, as described hereinabove, indicates high susceptibility of the composition significance model to errors, different values are assigned as the integrated differential significance score of pixels based on composition significance map, edge detection and texture analysis results.
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At step , the cropped region having the highest merit score may be selected to use as the “nearly final” cropped image for the image. A series of small adjustments that shift the “nearly final” cropped region within a range much smaller than the crop window size is made to achieve the aesthetically further improved final cropped image.
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The architecture for establishing the Compositional Significance and Attractiveness model and applying it is shown in . The image is segmented at step . Segmentation may include, for example, applying a MS-A3C segmentation algorithm to the input images. The Multi-Stage Agglomerative Connectivity Constrained Clustering (MS-A3C) image segmentation algorithm is an image segmentation algorithm that combines the strengths of k-means and A3C clustering to achieve high speed, as well as high accuracy. This segmentation algorithm takes into account color variation, edges, and image-wide global characteristics. The number of segments in an image may range from about two segments to about two dozen segments, where the number of segments may be dependent on the complexity of the image. Edge detection is also performed at step , and the edge map is stored for possible future use. A global composition analysis and categorization is carried out based on the segmentation result and clustering of pixel color values at step . The global composition analysis result and the image segmentation result are combined to construct the attributed composition graph (ACG) at step . Each segment corresponds to one node of the graph. The connectivity between the nodes is determined by the spatial adjacency of the segments. Moreover, a rich set of attributes are created on this graph, attempting to capture the individual visual characteristics of the segments as well as their compositional relationships with other segments and the overall image. The pairwise relationship between two connected segments may be symmetric or asymmetric.
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The compositional significance and attractiveness (CSA) model is then developed to assess the significance of the segments at step . The drift of the eye is modeled over the segments by a Markov chain (MC). An additional node corresponding to “outside the image” is added to the graph and is connected with all the segments bordering the outer frame of the image. Different from the typical usage of discrete-time Markov chains in computer vision, where the MC is assumed stationary and its equilibrium distribution is sought after, a continuous-time Markov chain is used that is not irreducible and hence has no stationary distribution. In fact, every segment as a state of the MC is a transient state and only the state corresponding to “outside the image” is a recurrent absorbing state. The average amount of time the MC will spend in any transient state given that the chain starts in another transient state (that is, from inside the image) is computed. A longer average time means the eye will be retained in this segment longer, indicating a higher visual significance. Because the average time the MC will be in any segment is measured rather than the probability of visiting this segment, the comparison can be valid even for comparing different images.
Image Segmentation and Global Composition Analysis
A global composition analysis and categorization may be carried out using any method now known or later developed. One illustrative method is discussed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/705,252, which is incorporated herein by reference. The global composition analysis means mostly the composition categorization. Based on the categorization, features can be defined that explicitly indicate the role of a segment in composition, for instance, dominant background, interior, diagonal, enclosing another segment, being enclosed by another segment.
The composition categorization is performed based on the segmentation result. The categorization classifies whether an image is of a centered composition, where the image has a center object against a background, which can be either relatively uniform or with certain amount of variation. If a centered composition is declared, the method identifies which segment or segments are the background and which segments are the foreground. The categorization detects whether certain segment has a strong diagonal appearance with respect to the image frame. The categorization detects whether an image looks like a relatively homogenous patch of texture, or whether there is some segment that seems to be a weak signal, i.e., something standing out.
Attributed Composition Graph
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(a) Average color values in both LUV and HSI spaces.
(b) The average distance of a pixel in the segment to the compositional center of the image. Here, the compositional center is not the usual geometric center of the image. It is commonly accepted that the center with respect to composition is not necessarily the geometric center of the image frame. For example, the segment that has the shortest average distance to the other segments is found. The geometric center of that segment is defined as the compositional center of the image. This is a quick solution, although one can use more elaborated definitions.
(c) A measure of divergence or richness of content in the segment. Instead of using some common measure such as variance of the color, the result of the hierarchical segmentation procedure discussed with respect to the MS-A3C segmentation algorithm is exploited so that the measure of richness is more robust against uninteresting variation of pixel colors.
(d) The aspect ratios of the bounding boxes of the segment. The bounding box is formed in both the usual way, that is, a flat rectangle, and a diagonal way, that is, a rectangle rotated to align with the diagonal of the image frame. This is motivated by the importance of diagonal elements in the image.
(e) The role of the segment for composition, for instance, whether the segment is background if the image is classified as a “centered” composition, whether the segment is diagonally prominent, and whether the segment encloses another segment or being enclosed by another. Diagonal refers to how well the segment aligns with either diagonal direction of the image frame.
1. Visual features that reflect the segment's individual characteristics. Some of the features are computed using only information about the pixels in this segment, while others also depend on the overall composition analysis of the whole image. In particular, the following features are recorded for each segment.
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Specifically, in the respective terms of color, the extent of being central in the composition sense, and richness of the content, a probability-kind of value is computed to quantify the extent that one segment attracts the eye more than the other. As a result, these quantities are not symmetric in i and j. A value to quantify the dissimilarity in orientation, which is symmetric with respect to i and j, is also included as a feature. Consider color features first. For the link from segment i to segment j, a quantity for the extent of segment j's color attracting the eye more than i's. may be computed. This may be formulated as a classification problem. Specifically, given a pair of color vectors, find the probability that the first color is more attractive than the second.
It is nontrivial to decide which color is more preferable. There is no simple rule. For instance, although some often assume more saturated colors attract the eye, the assumption is approximately right when the colors are of similar brightness. What if the colors are quite different in brightness or what if the colors have similar saturation but different hues? An experiment was designed to solicit subject's opinions on which colors are more preferable than others. One thousand pairs of colors sampled from the color space are compared, and the subject responds by choosing a color that appears to stand out more than the other. Artificial images containing two colors were generated: a sphere with one color in the middle of a square-shaped image and a surrounding area with the other color. For each pair of colors, two such images with the roles of the colors reversed were created—each color assigned to the sphere once in one image. The subject looked at both images simultaneously and chose an image for which the center sphere seemed to pop out and keep the attention of the eye, while the surrounding area did not seem to distract the eye. The reason for using two images with the colors reversed is to give the subject a comparison so she can see which image has a center sphere that attracts the eye more. The color for that sphere is then taken as the more attractive one between the two. This is of course a rather simplified treatment of color comparison. In fact, even the idea of pairwise interplay between colors is a simplified view of a complicated issue because how one responds to color depends much on the context because colors interact with each other in a highly multi-party way. However, for tractability, simplified approaches may be used. The approach that is used is data-driven based on a carefully crafted visual experiment with human input on a rather large number of samples.
Based on the results of this visual experiment, a logistic regression model is then trained on the pairs of colors and some of their nonlinear transforms to estimate the probability that one color is favored over the other. This logistic regression function is then used as the desired probability in the present system described herein.
In addition to color, for the link from segment i to j, a probability-kind of value is computed to assess the extent that j is more favored than i in terms of being more central, having richer content, and being different in orientation. For centrality and richness, these quantities are not symmetric in i and j, while for orientation, the quantity is symmetric. As described in the individual features, features to measure centrality, richness, and orientation exist. Given the pair of measurements for j and i, a similarity score is computed. Let the computed similarity score be z. Then a sigmoid function is exploited to convert the similarity score to a value in [0, 1]. Being more central and having richer content are assumed to be favored by the eye, while for orientation, simply the difference is favored. If j is more favored than i, the sigmoid function used is the logit function
2. Visual features that reflect the pairwise relationship between the segment and each of its neighbor. Because this is a pairwise feature, these features are associated with every existing edge connecting two nodes. If these are called “edge features”, they are directional, which means for an edge between node vand v, two sets of features exist-one set indicating how vcompares to vand the other indicating how vcompares to v.
First, a graph is constructed with each node corresponding to a segment. Two nodes are connected if the segments are adjacent spatially in the image plane. That is, one segment is at the boundary of another and vice versa. This graph is called an Attributed Composition Graph (ACG), an example of which is illustrated in . Three types of attributes are generated for each node.
<math overflow="scroll"><mrow><mrow><mi>f</mi><mo>⁡</mo><mrow><mo>(</mo><mi>z</mi><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow><mo>=</mo><mrow><mfrac><msup><mi>e</mi><mrow><msub><mi>a</mi><mn>0</mn></msub><mo>+</mo><mrow><msub><mi>a</mi><mn>1</mn></msub><mo>⁢</mo><mi>z</mi></mrow><mo>+</mo><mrow><msub><mi>a</mi><mn>2</mn></msub><mo>⁢</mo><msup><mi>z</mi><mn>2</mn></msup></mrow></mrow></msup><mrow><mn>1</mn><mo>+</mo><msup><mi>e</mi><mrow><msub><mi>a</mi><mn>0</mn></msub><mo>+</mo><mrow><msub><mi>a</mi><mn>1</mn></msub><mo>⁢</mo><mi>z</mi></mrow><mo>+</mo><mrow><msub><mi>a</mi><mn>2</mn></msub><mo>⁢</mo><msup><mi>z</mi><mn>2</mn></msup></mrow></mrow></msup></mrow></mfrac><mo>.</mo></mrow></mrow></math>
When it comes to compute the similarity score between a pair quantities, a function is used which may be referred to as the “wing” function because its 3-D graph looks like a pair of wings pointing upwards. Use of subtraction or ratio is avoided because of boundary issues for values near zero or exaggerated difference when both values are large as well as a lack of symmetry in some aspect. Take the orientation as an example. Suppose the orientation is characterized by an angle between 0 and π/2. A symmetry around π/4 by the nature of angles may be desired. This wing function may ensure such symmetry. It also ensures that when either of the pair of values goes to zero or infinity, the function is finite. Let a be the reflecting point and c a scaling constant. The wing function for characterizing the dissimilarity between x and y is
<math overflow="scroll"><mrow><mrow><msub><mi>f</mi><mi>w</mi></msub><mo>⁡</mo><mrow><mo>(</mo><mrow><mi>x</mi><mo>,</mo><mi>y</mi></mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow><mo>=</mo><mrow><mo>{</mo><mrow><mtable><mtr><mtd><mfrac><msup><mrow><mi>c</mi><mo>⁡</mo><mrow><mo>(</mo><mrow><mi>x</mi><mo>,</mo><mi>y</mi></mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow><mn>2</mn></msup><mrow><msup><mi>x</mi><mn>2</mn></msup><mo>+</mo><msup><mi>y</mi><mn>2</mn></msup></mrow></mfrac></mtd><mtd><mrow><mrow><mi>x</mi><mo>></mo><mi>a</mi></mrow><mo>,</mo><mrow><mi>y</mi><mo>></mo><mi>a</mi></mrow></mrow></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mfrac><msup><mrow><mi>c</mi><mo>⁡</mo><mrow><mo>(</mo><mrow><mi>x</mi><mo>,</mo><mi>y</mi></mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow><mn>2</mn></msup><mrow><msup><mrow><mo>(</mo><mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn><mo>⁢</mo><mi>a</mi></mrow><mo>-</mo><mi>x</mi></mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow><mn>2</mn></msup><mo>+</mo><msup><mi>y</mi><mn>2</mn></msup></mrow></mfrac></mtd><mtd><mrow><mrow><mi>x</mi><mo>≤</mo><mi>a</mi></mrow><mo>,</mo><mrow><mi>y</mi><mo>></mo><mi>a</mi></mrow></mrow></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mfrac><msup><mrow><mi>c</mi><mo>⁡</mo><mrow><mo>(</mo><mrow><mi>x</mi><mo>,</mo><mi>y</mi></mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow><mn>2</mn></msup><mrow><msup><mi>x</mi><mn>2</mn></msup><mo>+</mo><msup><mrow><mo>(</mo><mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn><mo>⁢</mo><mi>a</mi></mrow><mo>-</mo><mi>y</mi></mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow><mn>2</mn></msup></mrow></mfrac></mtd><mtd><mrow><mrow><mi>x</mi><mo>></mo><mi>a</mi></mrow><mo>,</mo><mrow><mi>y</mi><mo>≤</mo><mi>a</mi></mrow></mrow></mtd></mtr><mtr><mtd><mfrac><msup><mrow><mi>c</mi><mo>⁡</mo><mrow><mo>(</mo><mrow><mi>x</mi><mo>,</mo><mi>y</mi></mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow></mrow><mn>2</mn></msup><mrow><msup><mrow><mo>(</mo><mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn><mo>⁢</mo><mi>a</mi></mrow><mo>-</mo><mi>x</mi></mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow><mn>2</mn></msup><mo>+</mo><msup><mrow><mo>(</mo><mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn><mo>⁢</mo><mi>a</mi></mrow><mo>-</mo><mi>y</mi></mrow><mo>)</mo></mrow><mn>2</mn></msup></mrow></mfrac></mtd><mtd><mrow><mrow><mi>x</mi><mo>≤</mo><mi>a</mi></mrow><mo>,</mo><mrow><mi>y</mi><mo>≤</mo><mi>a</mi></mrow></mrow></mtd></mtr></mtable><mo>.</mo></mrow></mrow></mrow></math>
A check on the derivatives of fw(x, y) shows that when either x or y is fixed, fw(x, y) increases when the other variable moves farther away from it.
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After the attributes for each node and each pair of connected nodes are computed, the weight is defined for edge between (i, j), denoted by e. The value edepends mostly on the pairwise attributes between (i, j) as well as the role of the segments in the overall composition of the image. For instance, if an image is classified as the “centered” composition category, the way eis set up is quite different from the other types of images. A parameter μis set according to the attributed graph established. As will be explained in detail in the next section, the parameter μwill be used in the compositional significance and attractiveness model. The parameter μfor each node i depends on composition factors such as background and diagonal as well as how distinct the segment stands out with respect to the whole image and sometimes with respect to more local surroundings.
Compositional Significance and Attractiveness Model
3. Visual features that characterize global traits of a segment with respect to the whole image, for instance, how standing out is the color of the segment with respect to the whole image? Does the segment play a special role in the composition of the whole image, e.g., being diagonal with respect to the image frame?
In order to assess the compositional significance of a segment in an image, the amount of time that the eye will stay on this segment is modeled. Composition plays a key role in determining how long a picture can hold the attention of the eye.
Eye movement may be modeled by a continuous time Markov chain. Each segment in the image corresponds to one state of the MC and “outside the image” is also a state. A continuous MC is a discrete-time MC embedded in continuous time where the amount of waiting time for a state transition to happen follows the exponential distribution with the parameter determined only by the current state. The discrete-time MC is called aptly the jump chain. The spatial arrangement of the segments is dominant in setting up the jump chain, while the characteristics of the individual segments determines mainly the distribution of the waiting time for a state transition.
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As elaborated in the previous section, in the present system described herein, an image is represented by an attributed graph. A node of the graph corresponds to a segment. Denote the graph by G=(V,E). The collection of nodes in the graph V={v, v, . . . , v}, where vis “outside the image” and v, i=1, . . . , k corresponds to the k segments of the image. An edge between node i and j exists if segment vand vare spatially adjacent in the image plane (also called neighbors). The “outside” node vis the single absorbing state in the MC, that is, the transition probability from this state to itself is always 1. In order to set up the MC, attributes for each node are computed. The attributes come from three types: individual attributes, pairwise attributes, and attributes with respect to the whole image. Based on those attributes as well as the global composition analysis result, a weight eis assigned to the edge from i to j. In general, eis not equal to e. If no edge exists between i and j, e=e=0. For the jump chain P=0 for ∀that is not equal to 0. For any segment that border the outer frame of the image, P>0, otherwise P=0. Between the segments, P>0 if segment i and j are neighbors, and P∝e.
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In some embodiments, the jump chain is not irreducible. In fact, only the “outside” node vis a recurrent state and all the other states are transient. This means the MC eventually will enter state vand at that point, the viewing of the image is over. Starting from any initial state inside the image, the average amount of visits the MC will pay to each node can be computed. Let Pbe the submatrix of P that contain the transition probabilities between the transient states. Let matrix S=(s) where sis the expected number of visits that the jump MC will spend in state j given that it starts in state i. Let I be the identity matrix. Then
=() (1)
If it is assumed that the prior is uniform over the transient states for the initial state of the jump chain, the expected number of visits the jump chain spends in any state is s=(s, s, . . . , s). And
<math overflow="scroll"><mtable><mtr><mtd><mrow><mi>s</mi><mo>=</mo><mfrac><mrow><msup><mi>S</mi><mi>t</mi></msup><mo>⁢</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow><mi>k</mi></mfrac></mrow></mtd><mtd><mrow><mo>(</mo><mn>2</mn><mo>)</mo></mrow></mtd></mtr></mtable></math>
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For a continuous time MC, the amount of time the MC spends in a state also depends on the waiting time for a transition to occur at any state. The waiting time follows an exponential distribution with rate μwhich depends on the state i. The expected value of the exponential distribution is 1/μ. The u, is set according to the attributed graph established. Finally, the amount of time spent in state i is s/μ, which is defined as the compositional visual significance (or in short compositional significance) for state i.
Under the continuous-time MC, the amount of time spent in state i naturally factors into two parts: the average number of visits to the state based on the jump chain determined by the spatial arrangement incorporated with other usual visual characteristics, and the waiting time for a transition to happen determined mostly by the color and shape characteristics. The waiting time may be, for example, the static part without consideration of the drifting of visual focus, and the jump chain as the dynamic part. The waiting time can be modeled by any conventional significance or saliency map generated by other algorithms. By combining the jump chain with the waiting time to form a continuous MC, spatial composition information can be integrated with other existing analysis that does not address composition, for instance, a saliency map.
Validity Assessment Via Composition Analysis
FIG. 4
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Because the visual significance assessment is built upon segmentation, while image segmentation is itself a very challenging task with performance strongly affected by the type of images analyzed, a module in the system that assesses the validity of the segmentation results has been developed. As illustrated in , composition analysis is performed on the image and the results of composition categorization are combined with edge detection and segmentation results to gauge the susceptibility of the segmentation result at step . If there is sufficient evidence to suspect the validity of the segmentation result, different strategies will be adopted when it comes to application at step . The significance result based on segmentation will still be used most of the time even when the suspect is high, but it will be combined with other information to increase robustness.
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1. Classify whether the image is a textured image versus a non-textured image. The textured images are further classified into strongly textured versus moderately textured.
2. An image is “moderately textured” if when the pixels are clustered into groups, all the groups except one are scattered evenly across the whole image while a single group is more clumped. This indicates there is probably some interesting portion of the image that stands out from the rest.
3. The Sobel edge map is established as a threshold and the percentage of pixels with edge values above a certain threshold are computed. If the percentage is below a threshold, it indicates that the image is scarce of edges. As a result, the edges found by edge detection will tend to play more important roles in the visual impression of the image. The edge detection result is thus combined with the segmentation based significance assessment.
In the current system, the following procedure has been developed to assess the validity according to step .
1. If an image is strongly textured, it is highly unlikely the image depicts objects. The image is mostly likely a patch of pattern or texture.
2. If an image is moderately textured and the number of segments obtained by the segmentation algorithm is not greater than the number of groups, the single special cluster of pixels are prone to be wiped out during the segmentation. The special cluster of pixels may be referred to as the weak signal.
3. If the edge pixels are scarce and the number of segments generated is small, the geometry of the segments may be examined. If the geometry of the segments does not indicate a single object centered composition, it is likely that the segmentation has produced too few segments. As a result, edge map information is recommended to add upon the significance map based on segmentation.
Overview of Method of Image Cropping/Scaling
Different strategies of applying the composition significance values are recommended under the following conditions:
The compositional visual significance assessment model described herein may be used for cloud-based services or mobile applications. By detecting the significant and aesthetic regions in the photos, a number of photo-related applications can be improved, especially when the screen size is small, e.g., phones, watches, or pads. As a result, a significant improvement can be made to display on devices such as phones, watches or pads. The system described herein may also help visual ads companies improve their click-through rates.
FIG. 4
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1. At step , let the composition significance map be Vwhere i=1, . . . , nand j=1, . . . , nare indices for the pixels. Vinherits the same compositional significance of the segment to which the pixel belongs. The differential composition significance map Bis defined as follows. If pixel (i,j) is a boundary pixel between two segments, that is, in its 8-connected neighborhood, there are pixels belonging to a different segment, B=V; otherwise B=0.
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(a) If by composition categorization, the image is classified as strongly textured, let =Ĕ·E.
(b) If the image is classified as moderately textured and the segmentation result does not pass a certain test, the cropping will emphasize the weak signal (see definition in the previous section).
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(c) If the image is not classified as textured (strongly or moderately), for any pixel (i, j) with B>0, =B. If E=1, let =V. Accordingly, is obtained by adding more non-zero values to pixels that are labeled as edge according to Ebut are not boundary pixels of the segments.
2. According to the validity assessment (step ) yielded from composition analysis (step ), if high susceptibility to errors is claimed, several strategies are pursued. Let Ĕbe the Sobel edge detection result [8]. Ebe the 0/1 binary edge map of the image obtained by thresholding Ĕ. E=1 indicates existence of edge (step ). The integrated differential composition significance map may be denoted by (step ). If high susceptibility is not claimed, =Bis set for any (i,j) (step ).
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(d) If one or more faces are detected with side information (step ), the core region will attempt to cover all the faces. If the allowed cropped region is larger than the biggest face detected (according to the bounding box of the face), other faces will be added in the descending order of their sizes until the allowed cropped region cannot cover more.
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(e) When there is no face detected, the core region will try to cover the entire segment with the highest significance score V. If the most significant segment is larger than the cropped area, part of it will be chosen based on spatial arrangement of the segment.
(f) There are scenarios when no core region is claimed to be found. This may be caused by several reasons. For instance, if several segments scattered in the image are assigned with nearly highest significance scores, it is then dubious to claim a region as the core and thus the core search is aborted.
3. Determine a core region that the cropped image has to cover (step ).
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The rationale for defining the merit score based on Bis to favor areas including many boundary pixels from significant segments. These areas are the most interactive between the segments and are believed to be most interesting. Although this is superficially similar to cropping the images based on edges or entropy-type of measures, there are intrinsic differences. First, the choice based on the merit scores kicks in under the condition of covering a core area with highest significance, which is derived from a CSA model instead of from edges. Second, the usual edge detection result is highly prone to noise in a cluttered scene. One of two defenses against the noise may be used. Through segmentation, the edges that are important are identified. Those inside a segment are not treated as edge pixels. In addition, significance scores are assigned to the edges based on the CSA model rather than the values given by edge detection filters.
4. Given that the cropped region has to include the core region, candidate cropped regions are assigned with merit scores. Consider an area with pixels (i, j) in R. Then the merit score of R is defined as
()=Σ. (3)
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4. The candidate cropped regions are ranked according to the aforementioned merit scores (step ). Since the boundary pixels are relatively sparse, it happens sometimes that multiple candidate areas achieve the same best merit score. Aesthetic criteria such as golden ratio division may be used to select the best region (step ).
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(a) Based on the segmentation result, it can be detected whether some segments included in the region have been slightly cut off or being very close to the boundary. The algorithm will adjust the position of the cropped area slightly, attempting to eliminate such pathological placement of segments in the area. An adjustment is accepted only if it does not cause new unpleasant placement of segments.
(b) Composition information is also exploited to determine whether it is appealing to further shrink the cropped region. For instance, if an object is featured with respect to a much less important background, it may be preferred to crop the object more aggressively so that the object can have higher resolution or seem more prominent in the final cropped/scaled image.
5. A series of micro-adjustments may be performed to achieve aesthetically appealing results (step ).
As shown in , four sources of information are combined in the present system to generate interesting and aesthetically appealing cropped image: visual significance assessment (step ), validity assessment (step ), edge detection result (step ), and side information (step ), specifically, face detection result. The cropping algorithm includes a plurality of steps as indicated by the flowchart depicted in . Generally speaking, the most significant region is first covered. The smallest square covering this region is called the “core”. Conditioning on covering the core, the candidate areas are ranked based on a merit score defined using the significance values given by CSA as well as measures of aesthetic appeals. At the end, several modules have been developed to achieve aesthetically pleasant placement of segments. Composition categorization plays a guiding role here. For several scenarios when the CSA model is detected to be susceptible to errors, different strategies are used in cropping.
FIG. 7
Example results are provided in . For all the results shown, face detection is not used. The cropping is also set to an aggressive level. The cropped area, marked out by a white square, is required to be a square and its side length is set to 75% of that of the maximums square that can fit into the image frame. Thus in terms of the area size covered, the squares shown here are about 56% of the largest squares inscribed in the image.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the embodiments described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the claimed subject matter. Thus it is intended that the specifications cover the modifications and variations of the various embodiments described herein provided such modification and variations come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
schematically depicts an illustrative computing network for a system for electronically assessing a visual significance of pixels or regions in an electronic image according to one or more embodiments shown and described herein;
FIG. 2
FIG. 1
schematically depicts the server computing device from , further illustrating hardware and software that may be used in electronically assessing a visual significance of pixels or regions in an electronic image according to one or more embodiments shown and described herein;
FIG. 3
depicts a flow diagram of an illustrative method of electronically assessing a visual significance of pixels or regions in an electronic image according to one or more embodiments shown or described herein;
FIG. 4
schematically depicts an illustrative system architecture according to one or more embodiments shown and described herein;
FIG. 5
schematically depicts an illustrative attributed composition graph according to one or more embodiments shown and described herein;
FIG. 6
depicts a flowchart of an illustrative method of cropping according to one or more embodiments shown and described herein; and
FIG. 7
depicts illustrative examples of results for automatically cropped images according to one or more embodiments shown and described herein. | |
Technical analysis has universal applicability and can be applied to any financial instrument like stocks, forex, fixed-income securities, futures, and commodities, etc. With technical analysis, traders can determine the support and resistance levels in price. Technical analysis can tell you whether the price of a stock has dropped lower or has climbed higher to break out of a previous price range. Technical indicators help traders measure the potential velocity and magnitude of directional price movements.
With technical analysis and technical indicators, traders can project prices and enter an undervalued security at the right time and with the right position size.
Here are five technical indicators you should know as a stock trader, especially if you have not joined any online day trading courses.
1. Relative Strength Indicator
Relative Strength Indicator, popularly known as RSI, is a momentum (the rate of the rise or fall in price) oscillator. It compares the magnitude of recent gains and losses over a specified period for measuring speed and change of price movements of security.
Traders use RSI to recognize overbought or oversold conditions in the trading of an asset. RSI has an upper and lower line. 70 is the upper line, and 30 is the lower line. There is also a dashed mid-line, which is at 50.
Overbought – Price moves up very rapidly, at some point. In it, the RSI crosses 70.
Oversold – Price falls very rapidly, at some point. In It, RSI crosses 30.
RSI is among the most reliable indicators to determine accumulation and distribution phases. It gauges the strength of the ongoing trend.
2. Moving Averages
Moving averages are one of the oldest and most popular technical indicators used by active traders in technical analysis. It is an average of past prices. It creates a single flowing line and smooths price data.
There are three types of moving averages.
Simple moving average (SMA) – It is the simple average of a security over a defined number of time periods.
Exponential moving average (EMA) – It gives greater weight to more recent prices.
Weighted moving average (WMA) – It assigns a heavier weighting to more current data points
When it comes to stocks, 10 days, 21 days, 50 days, 100 days and 200 days are the common time periods for moving average. The simple moving average (SMA) is the most commonly used moving average. In technical analysis it is used to identify a trend.
3. Average Directional Index
Also known as ADX, Average Directional Index gauges the strength of the trend. It is expressed as a single line with values, ranging from 0-100. With ADX, investors can evaluate the most robust area and make the best use of the opportunity for building aggressive positions.
Increasing ADX value above 20 means the trend is getting stronger. On the other hand, a move above 50 generally is the indication of the breakdown of the move. Overall, Average Directional Index is a useful tool to navigate in a trending market.
4. Stochastic Oscillator
The Stochastic Oscillator is another important technical indicator used by technical analysts. It is one of the most reliable momentum tools that help traders in measuring the current momentum – especially when compared to the highs and lows of a historical set of prices in the form of resistance and support levels.
The concept behind the Stochastic Oscillator is that prices tend to close near their high in an upward-trending market, and they tend to close near their low during a downward-trending market.
When the closing levels are consistently near the top of the range, it indicates accumulation, i.e., buying pressure whereas when the closing levels are near the bottom of the range, it indicates distribution, i.e., selling pressure.
5. Relative Rotation Graphs
Relative Rotation Graphs (RRGs) are popular as a tool for visualization for relative strength analysis. It enables technicians to analyze the relative strength of various securities against a standard benchmark and against each other. With RRGs, technical analysts have the ability to plot relative performance on one and show true rotation. They can identify relative outperformers in any market situation and trade in the sectors of the market that are trending.
RRGs help traders to position their portfolios mix and trade in securities which are likely to see strong trends.
Final Words
These are the five most common and reliable technical indicators traders should know. However, you can only reap the benefits when you are able to use them the right way. Just because these are good indicators doesn’t mean they will give you exact signals in every trade. Technical indicators are tools that have to be incorporated inside a trading system that gives consistent signals for execution with good risk/reward ratios. You can spend up your leaning curve through trading books, and trading eCourses. and online education resources by experienced traders. | https://www.newtraderu.com/2019/01/04/the-top-5-effective-technical-indicators/ |
VB and C# Coevolution
As we are approaching the release of VS 2010, I have seen a number of questions from customers about our language strategy for VB and C#. We made a shift in strategy at the beginning of this release cycle and have been talking about it publicly for some time. A lot of this discussion has been in forums that have a lot of early adopters, for example at PDC and other conferences, so I suppose it’s natural that we continue to see these questions. I thought it would be valuable to share my thoughts on this in blog form.
For starters, I should explain who I am and what my role is in this area. I’m the Product Unit Manager for Visual Studio Languages. In this role, I manage a portfolio of .NET languages (VB, C#, F#, IronPython, IronRuby) and the Dynamic Languages Runtime. I have a long history with VB (I interned on VB 1.0 before working on OLE Automation, VBA, VB4, and VBScript) and C# (I am one of the original C# language designers).
VB and C# both enjoy broad adoption. The most reliable numbers we have on the two languages show roughly equal adoption for the two. Together, these two languages represent the vast majority of .NET usage. As such, they are critical to our long-term developer strategy.
Our strategy for VB and C#, beginning with VS 2010, is a coevolution strategy. This is not the typical strategy for a portfolio of items. The more traditional portfolio strategy is to differentiate them, as P&G does for laundry detergents. For several versions, we tried to do this. We had an explicit strategy of differentiating VB and C#. We wanted VB to appeal to VB6 developers, who tended to build business-oriented, data-focused solutions. We wanted C# to appeal to “curly brace developers”, including C++ and Java developers, where there were more enterprise-class and ISV solutions. In practice, we found that it was quite hard to differentiate the two, due to the presence of several powerful unifying forces, which I describe below.
A modern developer experience for a language is formed through a combination of elements:
· A “horizontal” runtime like .NET that provides runtime services and libraries that are broadly applicable.
· A “horizontal” IDE platform or shell
· A set of “vertical” platforms and tools for building various kinds of software – Windows, Web, Device, Database, and on and on
· The language and associated language-specific tooling, e.g., IntelliSense and refactoring
Three of the four items above are common building blocks for VB and C#. This is a significant departure from pre-.NET products, where all of these were differentiated. “Classic” VB was differentiated across all four bullet points – it had its own runtime, its own shell, its own designers, and its own language. For VB .NET and VC#, the shared elements (the first three bullets) deliver a huge part of the overall developer experience. These common IDE and platform building blocks are the first “powerful unifying force” that I am talking about. For there to be language-based differentiation, it has to come from the fourth bullet point – the language and its associated tooling.
The second “powerful unifying force” is the nature of the languages themselves – they are both object-oriented languages and both have strong static type systems. So at a high-level, they are in the same family of languages. In contrast, some other languages in our .NET portfolio share a lot of the same building blocks but are farther afield from a language perspective – F# (functional), Python (dynamic) and Ruby (dynamic). As a practical matter, I rarely get asked why we have both C# and F# J.
There is a third “powerful unifying force”. As we began to evolve the languages after .NET 1.0, we found that the most significant opportunities were on the border between the languages and API’s. Our languages and runtime provide a set of building blocks, and API developers compose these to produce API’s. One way I think about this is that there are two kinds of language features: “on the outside” language features that grow or improve the set of API building blocks, and “on the inside” language features whose scope of impact is limited to the language itself. “On the outside” features include generics and the LINQ language features. “On the inside” features include changes to statements, expression and control flow. If we invented a new looping construct, that would be an “on the inside” feature – it would not impact API developers except perhaps as an implementation detail. We have done several releases since .NET 1.0, and in practice we have found that the best opportunities for language evolution and innovation have been in “on the outside” language features rather than “on the inside” ones. The most significant advances have been in “on the outside” features.
API designers are of course interested in having their API’s used by the broadest set of languages. To ensure this, we designed a Common Language Specification as part of .NET 1.0, and have evolved it in subsequent versions as we have added significant new building blocks. This approach helps us ensure that .NET API’s from Microsoft and others are accessible to a wide variety of languages. In practice, this also ensures that language evolution “on the outside” of languages cannot be used to differentiate languages. Thus, the third “powerful unifying force” is the Common Language Specification and trends in language innovation toward “on the outside” innovation rather than “on the inside” innovation.
Finally, we found that differentiation of language-specific tooling typically resulted in mixed feedback from customers. When we did a feature for one language but not the other, we received positive feedback from the language audience that got the feature, and negative feedback from the other. We found that the VB and C# customer bases were somewhat different, but not different enough so that they would want language tooling that was different. There might be differences in the priority of a particular feature (for example, edit-and-continue debugging for VB vs. refactoring for C#), but that in the long run, both customer bases would want the union of the features. Thus, the fourth “powerful unifying force” is customer feedback on language tooling.
For these reasons, we have adopted an explicit strategy of coevolution for C# and VB. By doing so, we recognize how strong these unifying forces are. We believe that we will accomplish more, and deliver more value for customers, by understanding and embracing these unifying forces rather than by fighting against them.
Our coevolution strategy has several major elements:
· Language innovation. Headliner language features (e.g., generics, LINQ) will be done for both languages, and done in a style that matches the host language. The languages will always be different – we will not try to make them “the same”. Instead, we will evolve them in the same direction, ensuring that both VB and C# developers can benefit from advances in programming models and API’s.
· Language tooling. Over time, we are evolving the language tooling so that customers of both C# and VB benefit from the same language tooling such as IntelliSense and refactoring features. We began this work in VS 2010. We made a lot of progress in this release, but are not 100% there.
· Samples and content. In general, we pursue parity for Microsoft samples and content. For better or worse, our Microsoft platform efforts are quite broadly distributed, and so there are sometimes shortcomings in this area. My team helps advocate for parity by working across Microsoft teams. We engage the VB community to help prioritize this work, so that we are spending our time and money most effectively.
I hope this is helpful context and background for our VB/C# coevolution strategy. Whether you are using VB, C#, or one of the other languages in our broad .NET portfolio of languages, we want you to understand what we’re doing (and why!) so that you can continue to use your language of choice with confidence. I’d be happy to answer any follow-up questions. Feel free to post questions or comments! | https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/blogs/scottwil/vb-and-c-coevolution |
My research primarily addresses the influence of individual differences in personality, cognition, and emotion on psychological health and physiological functions.
I am particularly interested in understanding how aspects of self-regulation including personality, behavior, and executive cognitive function affect well-being and health. For example, my students and I have worked on the questions of how personality factors (e.g., optimism) affect the way that people approach and pursue their goals, what the costs and benefits of goal pursuit are, and especially how acts of self-regulation affect cardiovascular, neuroendocrine, metabolic, and immune function.Two large, NIH-funded studies have examined these questions. One, with Leslie Crofford, MD, examines the health consequences of motivation and goal pursuit in older women in a longitudinal "burst" design. (DAHLiA Study link at left..) The other is a longitudinal study of the effects of self-regulation and especially self-regulatory capacity on immunological and brain health in older adults (Thought, Stress, and Immunity Study link at left).
My students and I are actively pursuing a line of research on cognitive self-regulation as it is manifested in repetitive thought (e.g., worry, rumination, cognitive processing, and related concepts). This research focuses on understanding the structure of repetitive thought, the best ways to measure repetitive thought, its neuropsychological correlates, and its psychological and physiological consequences. | https://health.oregonstate.edu/people/suzanne-segerstrom?f%5Bkeyword%5D=5086&s=type&o=asc |
How many Kennett residents have noticed some brightly colored costumed dancers at recent parades and events? The group that I am referring to is the Tenochtli Dance Troupe or Danza Tenochtli de Casa Guanajuato, Kennett Square.
They have been regenerated from their original days when it started in 1993 with Sister Jane Houtman making it her personal mission to bring an expression of the Mexican culture to Southern Chester County. Single handedly, she taught the traditional Mexican dance that is commonly taught in Mexican elementary schools and purchased the authentic costumes to bring the full expression to the performance. For many years, they have performed at various community events.
The performances have had their glory days and more challenging days. Seasoned dancers would leave for college and the group size would decrease. At one point, previous dancers, who had graduated from college and had become professionals in the community led the Dance Group. It took so much to keep it going.
In August 2021, Mayra Castillo, Vice President of Casa Guanajuato helped bring the dance troupe under the umbrella of Casa Guanajuato, a non-profit whose mission is to promote and conserve Mexican culture and customs and foster personal and community development. These were COVID precaution days, so the dancers wore masks and started practicing at St. Rocco’s Parish Life Center in Avondale.
After consulting with Sister Jane Houtman, Mayra Castillo took the lead to teach the dancers and manage the troupe. It started with eight dancers and is now up to twenty. The elegant dance costumes are kept at St. Rocco’s. They were previously purchased by Sister Jane from Toluca; Jalisco; and Nuevo Leon, Mexico and are representative of all of Mexico.
Lucy Benites is one of the original dancers, who has come back full swing. I recently interviewed her and she shares her story. “I had had a serious concussion in early 2021 and was just going back to work part-time. This whole situation brought about depression. When I heard about the dance troupe starting up again, I just knew it would bring a new energy to my healing. It has been a wonderful therapy for me. I came to this country from Toluca, Mexico when I was eleven years old so had learned some of these dances in school. Participating in these dances is a feeling of ‘home’ that I can’t describe and I really enjoy sharing my heritage with the broader community”
Lucy, a college graduate, now has a full-time job in finance, as well is the mother of two children and is in the process of pursuing a broadcasting career. Because of her love of the cultural dance, she says, “I find time for what is most important in my life and the Mexican Dance Group is an absolute top priority.”
Youth are also being asked to become involved in the cultural dance. Lucy goes on to talk about her 10-year-old daughter who is coming to the performances with her and now is hoping to become a dancer. She points out that the youth who are part of the group usually act shy in the beginning and after encouragement from the adult dancers to “have fun” and recognize that they are not professional dancers, they become confident and develop a self-esteem they carry back into their lives.
There are six youth involved, who run from ages eight to ten years old. The 13-year-old son of Mayra Castillo also participates. Lucy adds, “It is exciting to have the youth participation and interest, as this is the promise that the dance performances will continue into the future.
In starting up the group, Lucy spoke about the ease of using Facebook, (Que Pasa?) and social media to invite membership and to showcase some of their performances. This is a different world today. She is amazed at how fast the word got around and welcomes the community to check out the Casa Guanajuato Facebook page to view photos of some of the performances at: https://www.facebook.com/CasaGuanajuatoKS/
Tenochtli Dance Group has back-to-back engagements in August on the weekends. They will be in Phoenixville the end of July; Brandywine River Museum on August 7th; St. Rocco’s on August 14, and Manatial Ice Cream on Rt 41 on August 20th—to celebrate their one-year anniversary.
In looking to the future, Lucy said the vision that the Troupe holds is that they will stimulate other cultures to celebrate their ethnic dances and showcase them in the community.
Lucy adds that the dance members of Tenochtli Dance Troupe do not have to be of Mexican origin. Anyone can show up on a Monday or Thursday night at St. Rocco’s Parish Life Center at 7pm to join in learning the dances and become a part of the performances. The important elements are to have fun, come from one’s heart with a passion to share with the broader community.
“The Story of Kennett – Shaping the future one child at a time” Joan Holliday’s & Bob George’s book on Kennett may be purchased on Amazon and at the Mushroom Cap or Resale Book Shoppe in Kennett. You may contact Joan Holliday at: [email protected]
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With the economic crisis leading to the failure of many businesses, bankruptcy cases are on the rise. In many of the cases grabbing headlines, such as Lehman Brothers, Nellson Nutraceutical, New Century and SemCrude, courts have shown a willingness to appoint examiners to investigate, report on and make recommendations regarding possible issues of mismanagement, fraud or other improprieties relating to the affairs of the debtor or its former or current management. These investigations can include speaking with and even deposing creditors of the debtors, even if the creditors themselves are not the targets of the investigation. It is therefore important to have a clear idea of what an examiner may, and may not, do in a bankruptcy context.
An examiner is an official appointed by the bankruptcy court to investigate issues or problems identified with the debtor. As a court-appointed fiduciary, an examiner is in a unique position to investigate alleged improprieties from a neutral standpoint, without biases or client influence. The court may order the examiner to investigate any aspect of the case, the business, or events leading up to the bankruptcy case, and report its findings to the court and the parties. Collier on Bankruptcy-15th Edition Rev. P 1106.01. However, an examiner is not a trustee, and may not be assigned all the duties and powers which a trustee might have, as courts in chapter 11 cases generally want to leave the debtor-in-possession in control of its company. See In re International Distribution Centers, Inc., 74 B.R. 221 (S.D.N.Y. 1987) (“As opposed to a trustee's accountability for administration of the estate, an examiner’s duties are primarily investigative.”). In any case where a debtor has more than $5 million of unsecured liabilities, the appointment of an examiner is required under Section 1104 of the Bankruptcy Code if a party in interest requests one. 11 U.S.C. § 1104(c)(2). In addition, courts have discretion to appoint an examiner if in the interest of the estate, even where the amount of unsecured debt does not reach the $5 million threshold. 11 U.S.C. § 1104(c)(1). As a practical matter, examiners are sometimes appointed in cases in which a motion has been made to appoint a trustee, but the court feels that such a remedy would be too drastic or premature based on the record before it.
Generally, the examiner’s role is to investigate “any allegations of fraud, dishonesty, incompetence, misconduct, mismanagement, or irregularity in the management of the affairs of the debtor of or by current or former management of the debtor. . . .” 11 U.S.C. § 1104(c). The Bankruptcy Code goes on to say that an examiner shall “investigate the acts, conduct, assets, liabilities, and financial condition of the debtor, the operation of the debtor’s business and the desirability of the continuance of such business, and any other matter relevant to the case or to the formulation of a plan.” 11 U.S.C. § 1106(a)(3). While some courts have interpreted this to give the examiner broader powers than civil discovery, such as in In re FiberMark Inc., 339 B.R. 321 (Bankr. D. Vt. 2006) (“The investigation of an examiner in bankruptcy, unlike civil discovery under Rule 26(c), is supposed to be a ‘fishing expedition,’ as exploratory and groping as appears proper to the examiner”), the exact powers of the examiner will vary from case to case. The examiner has the ability to subpoena documents and witnesses and take Rule 2004 examinations (similar to depositions) in the process of conducting its examination.
Based on the examiner’s findings and recommendations, the court may decide to allow further action, including commencement of criminal or civil suits. In carrying out these duties, courts have held that examiners may employ accountants, lawyers, or other professionals or agents to assist them if required. Although the Code does not explicitly give the examiner the power to employ professionals, such assistance may be necessary in matters where the issues to be investigated are large or complex. Collier on Bankruptcy-15th Edition Rev. P 1104.03. Further, while an examiner may recommend the prosecution of actions on behalf of the debtor in possession, it may not pursue litigation which arises as a result of its own examination report, as this could create a situation in which the examiner recommends litigation in the hope of being retained for that purpose. Collier on Bankruptcy-15th Edition Rev. P 1106.05.
Recently, courts have expanded on the examiners’ traditional investigatory role to play a greater part in the debtors’ ongoing operations. For example, in In re Enron Corp., 326 B.R. 497 (S.D.N.Y. 2005), the court expanded the examiner’s role over the life of the case to include serving as a “‘facilitator of a chapter 11 plan in the ENA chapter 11 case,’” and as a “fiduciary protecting the interests of the ENA estate and as a plan facilitator for ENA, working with the Debtors and the Creditors' Committee to facilitate the chapter 11 plan process for ENA and its subsidiaries”. Id. at FN5. Similarly, in In re Adelphia Communications Corp., 336 B.R. 610 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2006), the bankruptcy court noted that examiners can be employed outside their initial investigatory role to provide closer supervision of the debtors in the course of their dealings. Id. at 652-653. In addition, some courts have expanded the powers of an examiner in specific cases to include serving as a mediator between the debtor and creditors in plan negotiations. See generally Collier on Bankruptcy-15th Edition Rev. P 1104.03[b]. However, since an examiner is appointed under a “markedly less stringent standard than a trustee,” courts should employ additional powers sparingly, so as not to make the examiner a de facto trustee. Collier on Bankruptcy-15th Edition Rev. P 1106.01.
In addition, the examiner may be required to perform any other duties that the court orders the debtor in possession not to perform. 11 U.S.C. 1104(b). Courts may deny such duties to the debtor in possession in extraordinary cases where the court determines that cause exists to divest the debtor of such duties or that such a delegation of duties would be in the best interest of the estate. Collier on Bankruptcy-15th Edition Rev. P 1106.05.
Courts have resorted more and more to employing examiners, in part to restore a measure of public confidence in the debtors and their professionals. A number of recent large Chapter 11 cases have been precipitated by rapid declines in a company’s value, allegations of fraud by management and the analysis of complex financial structures and transactions. The examinations being conducted in theses cases include not only investigations of the actions of management, but also an investigation of certain transactions conducted by the company and certain of their creditors. For example, in the pending bankruptcy case of Lehman Brothers, the court has appointed an examiner, partly in the hope of restoring public confidence in the financial markets. Providing additional oversight to Lehman to ensure that its management is held accountable is in the best interests of all concerned. In the SemCrude cases, the discovery of massive trading losses by insiders led to a rapid loss in value and an immediate bankruptcy filing. An examiner was appointed to investigate these issues, which included an investigation of certain eve of bankruptcy transactions between the debtors and certain creditors. The examiner issued an extensive report based not only on interviews with creditors but also a review of documents and practices by forensic accountants. This model for the use of examiners can be expected to continue as the economy gets worse, and more allegations of fraud or incompetence are made against the executives or boards of debtor corporations. | http://www.haynesboone.com/alerts/weathering-the-storm-the-appointment-of-an-examiner |
Protocols for Surveying Rhynchocyon
In the next couple of years there will be numerous teams surveying the flora and fauna in several Tanzanian forests. Many of these teams have agreed to include sengis (elephant-shrews) in their surveys. The material on these pages is intended to try and achieve some consistency in the information gathered by a large number of people with varying backgrounds in the BIOLOGY OF SENGIS.
The natural history of giant forest sengis is unusual and thus the methods included in most manuals of field techniques are inadequate. The methods described below are intended to supplement those found in more comprehensive manuals, which often will include general techniques such as determining random points, positioning transects, measuring distances along transects, flagging methods, preparing voucher specimens, etc. Good manuals that are published include:
Davies, G. (ed.). 2002. African Forest Biodiversity: a field survey manual for vertebrates. Earthwatch Institute (Europe), Oxford . 161 pp.
Sutherland, W.J. (ed.). 1996. Ecological Census Techniques – a handbook. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge . 336 pp.
Wilson , D.E., F.R. Cole, J.D. Nichols, R. Rudran, and M.S. Foster (eds.). 1996. Measuring and Monitoring Biological Diversity – standard methods for mammals. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington. 409 pp.
BackgroundThree forest-dwelling sengis occur in Tanzania: Rhynchocyon petersi, R. cirnei, and Petrodromus tetradactlylus. Both species of Rhynchocyon are of SPECIAL CONCERN because of the destruction of their forest habitats. Petrodromus also occurs in woodlands throughout much of central and eastern Africa and because it is so widespread it is of little conservation concern. Therefore, these protocols will focus on the two species of Rhynchocyon. There are several issues with regard to the IDENTIFICATION and DISTRIBUTION of Rhynchocyon in Tanzania that are basic to the development of conservation plans. Briefly, it is known that R. petersi occurs in the Eastern Arc forests from north to south as far as the northern Udzungwa Mountains, where it meets R. cirnei from the south. It is not clear where these two species come together – there is evidence that there may be a population of R. petersi surrounded by R. cirnei in the West Kilombero forests or perhaps even some kind of fine-grained separation of these two species within the same forests in this area. Of particular interest in understanding the distribution of these two species are the following FORESTS (235 KB PDF) in the northerneastern Udzungwa Mountains: Luhombero, Ndundulu, Nyumbanitu, Ukami, Lyondo, Iwonde, Nyanganje, Magombero and Mwanihana. There is also evidence that both species may occur in the Nguru Mountains. The presence or absence of Rhynchocyon in the isolated forests on the Mahenge and Malundwe mountains also needs to be established.
There is also some question surrounding the distribution of Rhynchocyon in the coastal forests in the Lindi District and to the south into Mozambique. Specifically, does the Rufiji River indeed separate R. petersi to the north and R. cirnei to the south along the coast. Additionally, it is unclear how far inland along riparian forests of this region Rhynchocyon extends.
Survey Objectives
Before deciding which of various different survey methods to use, specific objectives must be clearly defined. I believe that the four most important objectives for surveying Rhynchocyon in Tanzanian forests are as follows:
- Determine which species of giant sengi occur in each of the fragmented coastal forests and isolated forests of the Eastern Arc Mountains.
- Determine the relative abundance of Rhynchocyon in selected forests.
- Determine the general forest condition in those forests where abundance surveys are completed for Rhynchocyon (see number 2 above).
- Collect and curate fresh tissue from each taxon or form of Rhynchocyon from as many sites as possible for subsequent molecular analyses to elucidate the taxonomy and phylogeography of the different forms that occur in Tanzania.
Because of logistical, personnel, and time limitation not all objectives can be done at all sites being surveyed in Tanzania. Also, not all forests are of equal interest in terms of sengis (see list of forests that are of greatest interest above). The leaders of the various projects must decide what can be accomplished in terms of sengi surveys. The easiest and most compatible objective with other survey aims is number 1 above. Objectives 2 and 3 will take considerably more focused effort, but will yield more detailed information on conservation status. The most difficult objective is number 4, but this has the greatest potential for producing significant biological results.
As indicated above, the type of survey that should be used mostly depends on the objective, but also on the availability of field crews, logistics, and time. In general, visual encounter surveys are used to determine if giant sengis are present. An estimate of abundance and the condition of habitat can be done with nest surveys. Various methods of capture are needed so that voucher specimens and tissues can be collected and analysed to resolve the phylotaxonomy of giant sengis.
Visual Encounter Surveys
Giant sengis are diurnal, so that they are relatively easy to see during the day, although making positive identification to species can be difficult because of their swift antelope-like behaviours and the poor lighting in forest habitats. Making positive species identifications is especially difficult in some areas of Tanzania , where the distribution of taxa meet or overlap and where pelage colours and patterns are not as distinct as often shown in field guides and portrait PHOTOS.
The presence of Rhynchocyon (but not to species) can be implied from indirect sign or SPOOR, which includes feeding and nest building. Although giant sengis do not generally vocalize, they do produce characteristic sounds while moving about on the forest floor leaf litter. I assume that the behaviour and ecology of all Rhynchocyon are similar, so survey participants not familiar with sengis may find my MONOGRAPH [21 MB PDF] on R. chrysopygus of Kenya useful. For biologists that are more familiar with sengis, I have assembled selected pages from the monograph that describe the most relevant BEHAVIOURS [655 KB PDF] for conducting effective visual encounter surveys. Camera traps can also be used to determine the presence of giant sengis (see below).
Because numerous people with different backgrounds are likely to be involved in forest surveys, it is important that all observers record the same information in the same way. This is best done with a standardized FIELD DATASHEET [20 KB PDF] with clearly defined categories and standardized abbreviations. This datasheet only includes the minimum information needed for sengis; if other mammals or birds are also being surveyed the sengi information could be incorporated into a datasheet that is designed for a broader range of species and a larger array of environmental and habitat factors. If carefully designed, the data on sengis can easily be extracted after the information is entered into data management software.
Nest Surveys
Because of the difficulty of consistently sighting giant sengis during visual encounter surveys, the resulting data are not suitable for estimating abundance. However, a quantitative method of estimating the number of animals in an area has been developed based on the number of LEAF NESTS on the forest floor encountered on a transect. These same transects also can be used to characterize the habitat. The details of this method are fully described in a published paper by FITZGIBBON AND RATHBUN [462 KB PDF]. Because of the difficulty of spotting nests on the forest floor, these transects should not be used simultaneously for other purposes. A nest survey datasheet, which includes all the necessary data to carry out the estimation calculations and is similar in format to the visual encounter survey field datasheet above, will need to be developed.
Developing a search image for the cryptic nests is time-consuming. An alternative is to hire a local resident, who is already familiar with nests, to assist in transect counts. It is difficult to cut dedicated paths for nest surveys, so an alternative is to use existing game trails that are relatively straight. It is assumed (but not known) that existing game trails do not influence the occurrence of sengi nests. The calibration of nest counts for each form of Rhynchocyon and different forest types is beyond the scope of these protocols; it is assumed at this point that the method developed for the golden-rumped sengi is applicable to all Rhynchocyon.
Capture
There are several options for capturing giant sengis, depending on the objectives along with logistical, personnel and time restraints. If a specimen in-hand is needed for positive identification or biopsy, often the most effective method is to pay a bounty to local residents (especially if they normally capture animals for bush meat or traditional medicine). However, these specimens are often seriously injured or killed in the capture and transportation process and may not be fresh. Shooting sengis with a shotgun guarantees fresh tissue and a good voucher specimen. Rhynchocyon can not be captured in normal small mammal traps (e.g., Sherman or similar traps) because they generally are not attracted to bait (remember, they are antelope-like). Snaring can be effective, but it requires skill and the sengis usually break one or both rear legs. NETTING [88 KB PDF] is the most effective method of capturing un-injured animals. Sengis that become ENTANGLED in fishing nets strung vertically along the forest floor can be carefully and completely photographed, the tip of the tail removed for TISSUE [26 KB PDF], and then released. However, if it is suspected that a new or unique form or taxon has been found, at least one voucher specimen should be collected so that a careful study of the skin and skull can be made after it has been deposited and catalogued into a museum RESEARCH COLLECTION.
The data that need to be collected from live or dead animals include date, location (GPS latitude and longitude), collector, weight (bag + animal minus bag), sex (penis sheath is at the base of sternum and very obvious), and what tissues and photos were taken. Also, some kind of habitat description, including elevation above sea level. These data can be entered into a field notebook, but a standardized field datasheet will help ensure that all data are recorded.
Photography
The use of CAMERA TRAPS [221 KB PDF], usually set for other animals such as antelopes, have opportunistically captured IMAGES of giant forest sengis. However, because sengis occur at relatively low densities and do not usually use paths or trails, it is difficult to obtain enough captures for population estimation. However, even a single image can be used to determine presence, especially if the image is of good quality.
If dead or live sengis are captured, photographs (film or digital) should be taken. Make sure to completely photograph the pelage colouration and pattern on the sides, back, rump, and tail. Also, the forehead and sides of the head.
These protocols benefited from comments made by Clare FitzGibbon, Nike Doggart, and Francesco Rovero. | http://sengis.org/protocols_for_surveying_rhynchocyon.php |
We observe that the self-organization of many simple and deformable elements in a bottom-up manner creates a rich variety of physical adaptation in nature. These examples exist on multiple scale lengths from embryonic cells to fish schools. Conversely, we build robotic mechanisms following pre-defined designs and optimize them for certain tasks with conventional top-down design tools.
I believe that we can build novel physically adaptive robots by combining these two complementary design approaches. Inspirations from biology, soft deformable materials, and self-assembling systems may allow us to explore unprecedented forms and functions in a bottom-up manner. We can guide this exploration with top-down control and learning methods, and achieve repeatability and programmability in short time-scales. I believe that once a robot is physically adaptive, increments to its computational intelligence will always have multiplying effects on its adaptivity, durability, and autonomy.
Bio-Inspired Soft Robots
The depiction of a robot used to be not much different than an aluminum toaster for a long time. Inspirations from biology changed this outlook and introduced soft and deformable materials to robot designs. With the advances in materials research, now we can easily fabricate and functionalize such materials and build robots that demonstrate tasks that were not possible with the conventional industrial robots.
I always look at biology to find inspirations for the morphological design and functional variety for my robots. I benefit from the viscoelastic deformation of soft materials to build robots that demonstrate examples of bio-inspired sensing, locomotion, and manipulation. Some of my projects include a mobile robot that produces spider-inspired draglines, a robot arm that fabricates soft sensors to detect different physical features, and anthropomorphic robotic fingers that can handle a wide range of objects from chopsticks to lettuce.
I am currently working on the sub-centimeter miniature scale and designing magnetically actuated soft robots that can assemble in different configurations to perform multi-modal locomotion and manipulation.
You can find some of the projects I worked on here:
Sensing: Sensors (2014), IROS (2014), PLoS One (2013)
Manipulation: Soft Robotics (2017), Frontiers (2016), Bio&Bio (2016), AMAM (2016)
Locomotion:Bio&Bio (2014), ICRA (2014), IROS (2013), AMAM (2013), ICRA (2011)
Self-Assembly
Self-assembly is a ubiquitous process in both of the living and non-living systems that generate complex and functional structures from the local interactions between a large set of simpler components. Especially in biology, physical adaptation is explained by linking the emergence of functions (e.g., cell motility, cell division, and morphogenesis) to the formation of such structures as a result of the collective behavior of neighboring cells.
The ability to program (i.e., to control) the self-assembly process is very exciting for the robotics field as it may enable alternative design methods to build novel robotic systems. This is also an interdisciplinary line of research that will additionally elucidate fundamental physics and enable the fabrication of novel functional materials.
I am currently working on the design of physical mechanisms that allow the programming of the self-assembly pathway of miniature soft robots. These mechanisms enable the self-assembly of different functional robotic structures in a repeatable fashion.
Here are the projects I am currently working on:
Reprogrammable self-assembly: PNAS (2020).
Soft robotic self-assembly: Coming soon.
Machine-Learning
Soft robots have great potential in achieving bio-inspired functions involving viscoelastic deformations. However, the same features that enable this potential such as having virtually infinite degrees of freedom, soft continuum body structures, and material-enabled behavior, make it challenging to model and predict their kinematics and dynamics, and apply conventional robot control methods. Also, common approximation methods depending on body discretization and constant curvature assumptions fall short of revealing the true potential of these robots.
I believe that model-free machine-learning methods may help us explore the vast design and function space of soft robots without enforcing pre-conceived kinematic or dynamic models. However, such an approach requires physical experiments that guarantee repeatability, high precision, and reliable feedback information. Once we have these experimental platforms, we can explore unprecedented robotic functions and designs, and find the missing the correlation between the control and state space of soft robots.
My current work focuses on designing physical experiments with millimeter-scale magnetically actuated soft robots and find the controller parameters that generate bio-inspired walking or manipulation.
Here are the projects I am currently working on:
Gait optimization: RSS (2020) (See supplementary videos video1, video2, and video3).
Inverse kinematics learning: Coming soon.
Adaptive locomotion: Coming soon. | https://utkuculha.com/research/ |
This policy has been jointly developed and agreed upon by the Hayden Elementary School Faculty and parents of students served in the school pursuant to Title I. Hayden Elementary School will convene an annual meeting, at a convenient time for parents to evaluate this policy, to accommodate parent needs children were allowed to attend. This meeting will be held the last week of August 27, 2019. The school’s Parent and Family Engagement Policy developed by Jason Schrock and the Hayden Faculty and community will be distributed in an understandable and uniform format and to the extent practicable, in both Spanish and English. The Parent and Family Engagement Policy and Annual Title One information will also be made available to the community via the school website.
Hayden Elementary School will involve parents in an organized, ongoing and timely way in the planning, review, and improvement of Title I programs, School Performance Plan and Parent and Family Engagement Policy. A parent representative will attend the school improvement team and Student Generated Funds committee meetings. At these times, parents will provide input into the creation of our Performance Plan and the plan for funds.
The Educational Involvement Accords are integrated into the registration process through Infinite Campus. Parents must review Accords prior to completing their child’s registration. Administrators and teachers will have access to the Accords whenever needed for parent/student conferences or other occasions.
The school’s plan for including parents in the academic achievement of students includes:
Administration and staff will:
- Provide assistance to parents, as appropriate, in understanding such topics such as the NV Academic Content Standards, the District’s Common Assessments, iReady, Reading Inventory, CCSD Standards-Based Common Assessments, as well as the various school-based common assessments and their alignment to the standards-based report card. The requirements of Title I will be explained to parents. Parents will know how they can monitor their student’s academic progress using the Parent Portal in Infinite Campus and how to work with school staff to improve the achievement of the student.
- Provide high-quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment enabling students to meet the state academic standards. We do this through direct and explicit instruction. Parents are given opportunities during open house and other scheduled parent meetings, such as Read by Grade Three parent meetings, and Parent Education provided by FACES to help improve student performance. The staff has been trained by the Read by Grade Three team in communication skills to promote collaboration with peers to ensure student success. Teachers make sure all students are taught the NV Academic Content Standards to mastery by the end of the year. Students at the emergent or approaches levels are given multiple opportunities to try to demonstrate proficiency on the standards before the end of the year. Teachers use various high yield instructional strategies throughout the day to be sure to reach the learning level of all students. Such techniques include Thinking Maps, cooperative learning, collaborative group work, guided practice, visual representations, movement, student to student academic discourse, metacognition, and repeated practice. Teachers will check for student understanding frequently to make sure no students are able to opt out of learning. Teachers respond in real time to meet all students’ needs.
- Offer parent involvement activities in the school that will include opportunities for parents to volunteer and be involved in school activities:
- School-wide volunteer program
- Staff development and parent education: Read by Grade 3 Training for Teachers/Parents, FACES
- Classroom volunteer program
- Field trip chaperones
- Parents to provide home support for their children’s education
- Parents to participate in school decision-making: SGF, SOT
- Effective communication between the school and parents
- Active Parent Teacher Association
Hayden ES works to engage parents and families in the academic achievement of each and every child through participation in conferences and family activities such as Open House, Literacy Nights, YamJam, and Parent Education classes provided by FACES.
We monitor how parents feel about the school and programs through our annual survey. The SOT Agendas and the Annual Survey Results are posted on the school website. The survey results from 2017-18 indicated that most families feel involved in making important decisions for the school. To continue making parents feel actively involved, parents are invited to monthly SOT meetings and weekly parent meetings with the principal to discuss family events, school finances, and school data. To increase survey participation, we have availability to computers during family events and conferences to encourage more parent participation in our school survey.
Additionally, the principal holds PAC meetings each year, one per trimester, to give parents the school-wide information needed to support the school and student achievement.
With regard to professional development, the administration will, with the assistance of parents, educate teachers, pupil service personnel, principals and other staff in:
- The value and utility of contributions of parents through Read by Grade Three trainings.
- How to reach out to, communicate with, and work with parents as equal partners through Read by Grade Three trainings.
- Implementing and coordinating parent programs such as PTA and Parent Volunteer opportunities.
- Building ties between parents and the school.
We ensure that all information related to school and parent programs, meetings and other activities is sent to parents in a format and, to the extent practicable, in both English and Spanish via class Dojo. We also use FACES to translate pertinent documents that go home to parents.
Coordination with other programs
The administration will:
- To the extent feasible and appropriate, coordinate and integrate parent involvement programs such as Pre-Kindergarten, Read by Grade 3 training, FACES, ELL Department, Equity and Diversity Department, and Safe Key. The available services are communicated through Class Dojo.
- Children are welcome at open house, PAC meetings and all other family/parent engagement activities are student-centered and family focused. In addition, the school will provide reasonable support for additional parent involvement activities as parents may request through evaluations, surveys, and through formal and informal two-way discussions with school staff.
- Parents are also invited to utilize the trainings and support through our campus Learning Strategist to enable parent/educator partnerships that will enhance student outcomes. We work together with our parents to make Don E. Hayden the best it can be. | http://hayden.ccsd.net/parent-family-engagement-policy/ |
Bench press strength: The five most important stats for NFL teams
With NFL teams taking to the field on Sunday for the annual season opener, the following stats are a must-read for the upcoming season.1.
Bench press, bench press power, and bench press speed: A player’s bench press and bench stroke is the ability to lift heavy weights.
The higher the bar is over the shoulders, the stronger the bench press is.
However, the speed of the bar and its load are both important, and not all players are equally fast.2.
Power output: This is the maximum total output of a body part, including the joints and muscles.
It is measured in watts.
Power outputs range from the maximum amount of force an athlete can produce, which is the highest possible, to the maximum weight an athlete could safely lift, which can be anywhere from 50 to 100 times their body weight.3.
Vertical jump: This measure is calculated from the vertical distance a player can jump.
If the player is standing, the vertical jump is the distance between the feet.
If standing, it is measured from the front of the feet to the bottom of the knees.4.
Bench and squat: These are two terms for a single movement.
In the bench, the player pulls a weight overhead, while in the squat, he or she pulls a heavier weight overhead.5.
Broad jump: A measure of a player’s vertical jump, measured from a player standing at a vertical height of 15 feet.
This measurement is based on the player’s height at the start of each game.
This statistic is highly dependent on how many snaps he or her is on the field.6.
Broad: A measurement of vertical jump measured from an NFL player standing on the sideline.
The player has to stand and hold a position, not reach a vertical position.7.
Vertical leap: This measurement measures the height a player has reached from the ground.
This measure does not include the vertical height from which the player was standing when the snap started.8.
Vertical agility: This refers to a player who can make quick, controlled movements in his or her hips, legs, and feet.
These are typically used for speed-running or agility-based athletes.
These athletes are known as vertical jumpers, and many teams are looking to add them to their roster.9.
Vertical quickness: This can be measured by using a hand-held device called a stethoscope.
This allows a player to see how much force he or the ball is putting out.
The stethoscopes have come a long way since the days of playing with a rubber ball.10.
Hip rotation: This measures the rotation of the hips and lower back during a play, measured in millimeters per second.11.
Hip extension: This involves an athlete extending his or a player else’s hips and torso.
These maneuvers are used for defensive players.12.
Hip flexion: This means an athlete flexes his or the other player’s hips, waist, or lower back.13.
Hamstring: This term refers to the shoulder blades that connect the shoulder joints.
These muscles hold the shoulder joint in place during movement.14.
Hip hinge: This concept refers to an athlete’s movement of his or his body to reach an imaginary position.
These movements are used to gain balance and balance out during games.15.
Hip extensor: This includes the muscles that move the hips when flexing the shoulder, elbow, and forearm.
These exercises help athletes stabilize the joints.16.
Hip abductor: This muscle moves the hips while extending the shoulder.
These activities are used in basketball and other sports.17.
Hip lateral: This movement is the athlete’s hip’s movement to turn the body away from the ball.
This movement helps the hip abductor and the lateral gastrocnemius.18.
Hip external rotation: These movements can be used to help stabilize the hip joint.19.
Hip tibialis anterior: This action is the hips flexing and rotating to open the hips.
These motions help athletes with poor posture maintain good posture.20.
Hip internal rotation: The hips are rotated outward, and this action helps the internal rotator cuff muscles in the hip flexors and external obliques.21.
Hip dorsiflexion: The athlete is flexing his or other player�s hips to reduce the load on the lower back and shoulder joints, as well as on the hip extensors and glutes.22.
Hip adduction: The hip is adducting forward and inward to bring the hip back and maintain stability.23.
Hip abduction: The adductor muscles in your hips are engaged.
These mechanics help you maintain stability in your upper body during contact sports.24.
Hip pronation: The pronator muscles in a player� s hip are engaged, and the hip is pronated forward.
This action helps stabilize the shoulder and shoulder blades.25. | https://ultimatebodybuildingplan.com/bench-press-strength-the-five-most-important-stats-for-nfl-teams/ |
Q: Why does community engagement matter in the experience of Suffolk students?
Kelly: Suffolk is in an excellent position to focus on each student’s holistic educational experience. Community engagement can provide each student an important opportunity to grow intellectually and personally. That includes engagement in various kinds of non-profit-focused initiatives that are tied directly to an academic course (service learning) as well as engagement in the community that is not linked to a course or academic program per se.
Such experiences give students the opportunity to engage with people who may be different from themselves. It gives them experience in the world that is much broader than we can give them on campus alone. It offers the opportunity to think about non-profit careers as a potential path for professional development. And it helps students to see pathways toward productive engagement as citizens of the world that they hopefully will carry with them beyond their time here at Suffolk.
Q: Have your own experiences with community engagement shaped that viewpoint?
Kelly: In a sense, yes, but most of those experiences were very much later in life. When I was a student I actually did not take advantage of these kinds of opportunities, and the reality is community engagement as a major part of what happened in colleges or even high schools wasn’t as prominent when I was growing up. As a kid I was a Girl Scout, involved in cleanup drives and similar activities, but nothing that I would say was transformational. One of the reasons I value this as a part of the educational experience for our students is that when I look back on my college experience, I see it as something from which I would have benefited.. The opportunity was probably available but it wasn’t anything that was promoted or seen as a part of the overall educational experience. When I look back and see that missing piece, it furthers my commitment to ensure it is available and promoted among our students. Later, I had the opportunity to engage professionally in a different kind of community service, primarily through service on non-profit boards, I became much more attuned to it personally.
Q: How can service learning be better integrated into the curriculum?
Kelly: We have a goal in our current strategic plan of having experiential learning as a required part of every student’s degree path. That means in many cases internships in corporate or government offices or in health care facilities, among many other options. But it can also absolutely mean various kinds of experiences that fall under the community engagement umbrella. Right now we are working to gain faculty approval across the schools on a single definition for a service learning course. I’m hopeful that will be approved. Once we do that, then it makes it easier to encourage faculty to develop and offer those service learning courses.
Q: Do you view service learning as something that should be school specific or something that works across the University?
Kelly: This is something important that we must promote as an institution across traditional school and program division lines. A student can major in one school and take a course and be engaged in a very different kind of service learning project in another school. Other community engagement opportunities might be program or school specific, and that is fine also. Being one university does not mean being uniform in all that we do. In this case it’s about the university as a whole supporting this as a significant part of a student’s educational experience while they are here. | https://www.suffolk.edu/news/58842.php |
This file contains the ITH Go Mustangs fob plus the 3 at once multi sew out design. Includes the svg and dyeline file for cutouts. If you don’t cut I have included a new tip on how to use the placement as a cutting guide.
Instructions for both single and multi-layout included.
What is a multi-layout? I have created the embroidery file to use with a larger hoop that sews 3 of this fob at the same time. I modified the file so you sew all 3 placement then the 3 design stitches at one time, place your backing and sew the tack down for all 3.
Every area has teams with those generic names, you can change the thread and vinyl to match your teams colors.
Size: 31.4 x 144.0 mm (1.24 x 5.67 ") Stitches: 2543
Comes in dst, exp, hus, jef, jef+,pes, sew, vp3
This design is a digital download to be used by your embroidery machine to create a final product, it is not a physical sewn out design. You must have an electronic embroidery machine. | https://www.embroiderydesignpro.com/store/p61/308.html |
TECHNICAL FIELD
BACKGROUND
SUMMARY
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
This disclosure relates generally to methods and systems for presenting interactive multimedia content.
In an interactive television (TV) program or a computer game, viewers or game players may be offered elements that allow the viewers or players to interact with the TV program or game. The elements can include, for example, a link to a site giving additional data on some aspect of the TV program or game.
The following disclosure describes methods and systems for authoring and presenting interactive multimedia content, such as an audio/visual streaming dramatic story that is associated with a computer game and includes one or more game challenges. Based on responses to the game challenges provided to a viewer, also referred to interchangeably as a game player (or simply player), the narrative of the dramatic story may proceed in one of several different directions.
A dramatic story may be a story that depicts a situation or series of events having vivid, emotional, conflicting, or striking interest or results. In some implementations, the dramatic story depicts a real world situation, such as ecological degradation caused or accelerated by climate change. The dramatic story can be scripted in a realistic manner to immerse the viewer or game player into the story/game as if participating in situations with real world consequences. This also may lead to changing the player's perceptions by increasing the player's knowledge of, and involvement with, the setting and underlying factual context of the unfolding story.
In some implementations, an audio/visual streaming story is partitioned into episodes, each of which is of finite duration, for example tens of minutes or a few hours. Each episode is directed towards an event or group of events associated with a real world situation. Each episode includes one or more segments, which are referred to as story panels. At the end of each story panel, story elements can be acted on (interacted with) by the player using a suitable input device, such as a keyboard, touchscreen device, mouse, voice command, and smart pen, among others. A story element that is acted on can be any visual element or setting, accompanied by a visual on-screen or auditory prompt to the viewer/game player to initiate interaction. For example, the story may depict ecological degradation caused or accelerated by climate change. In such cases, an environmental scenic element (atmosphere, ocean, waterway, wetland, forest, landscape, cityscape, desert, or icecap, among others), represented in time-lapse, may be shown to be in a state of degeneration in a story panel. Alternatively, the degeneration may be represented on-screen in some other way, for example with the depiction of a land, water, or airborne life form being affected by environmental degradation, especially degradation caused by climate change. These degrading environmental scenic elements can be dynamic. The player's interactions with gaming prompts provided on the story panels initiates gameplay in which the player can attack, retard the spread, stop, or even reverse the degradation.
In some implementations, a next story panel that is displayed is based on the player's response while interacting with the story element in the present story panel. In this manner, the flow of the story may change depending on the player's input during the gameplay, and accordingly may lead to different narrative flow paths and conclusions for the story.
While specific implementations are described herein, the invention can be implemented in many different forms, with the understanding that the present disclosure of one or more implementations is to be considered as examples of the principles, and not intended to limit the invention to the specific implementations disclosed.
In one aspect, story panels are generated. A story panel forms a portion of a computer game that includes multimedia content corresponding to a dramatic story and one or more game challenges. The story panels are combined into one or more episodes of the dramatic story, wherein a transition from a first story panel to a second story panel is effected conditioned on fulfilling requirements of a game challenge included in the first story panel. Input options are included in each story panel that enable a user to interact with the story panel when playing the computer game. The story panels are configured to be displayed in one of several different gaming modes. One or more story panels associated with an episode are streamed to electronic devices over network connections for presentation on displays coupled to the electronic devices.
Particular implementations may include one or more of the following features. A first story panel may be controlled to be presented on a display coupled to an electronic device in a first mode. Input options that enable a user to interact with the story panel when playing the computer game are disabled when a story panel is presented in the first mode.
A first story panel may be controlled to be presented on a display coupled to an electronic device in a second mode, wherein the input options that enable a user to interact with the story panel when playing the computer game are enabled when a story panel is presented in the second mode. A game challenge associated with the first story panel may be presented on the display coupled to the electronic device. A user input in response to the game challenge may be received from a user associated with the electronic device. Based on the received user input, a second story panel may be selected for presentation on the display coupled to the electronic device.
The first story panel may be included in a first episode of the dramatic story. Selecting the second story panel may comprise selecting the second story panel from the story panels included in the first episode.
A gaming score may be computed for the user based on the user input. One or more rewards options may be determined based on the gaming score. The one or more rewards options may be presented on the display coupled to the electronic device for selection by the user. A user profile associated with the user may be accessed. The gaming score may be stored as part of the user profile.
Based on the user input, a user profile associated with the user may be accessed in a social networking platform. Information corresponding to the computer game and the user input may be published in the user profile associated with the user in the social networking platform.
An episode may include story panels that, when presented in a sequential manner, narrate a portion of a scripted, realistically depicted, audio/visual streaming dramatic story. A game challenge may include game mechanics that are configured to enable the user to win points or prizes of gameplay by interacting with the multimedia content to process one or more gameplay scenarios as the multimedia content is presented in episodic form.
The input options may enable a user to control display of the story panels, wherein the control includes one or more of start, stop, move backwards, and forward between previously viewed or currently viewed story panels like pages of a multimedia book. The multimedia content corresponding to a dramatic story may include one or more of degeneration in the Earth's atmosphere, ocean, waterway, wetlands, forest, landscape, desert, icecap, or land, water, and airborne life forms.
Implementations of the above techniques include methods, systems, computer program products and computer-readable media. One such computer program product is suitably embodied in a non-transitory machine-readable medium that stores instructions executable by one or more processors. The instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to perform the above-described actions. One such computer-readable medium stores instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, are configured to cause the one or more processors to perform the above described actions.
One such system comprises one or more processors and a story unit that includes instructions stored in machine-readable storage for execution by the one or more processors, wherein upon execution of the instructions the story unit is configured to perform one or more of the above-described actions. The system also may comprise a visual content unit that includes instructions stored in machine-readable storage for execution by the one or more processors, wherein upon execution of the instructions the visual content unit is configured to perform one or more of the above-described actions in association with the story unit. The system also may include a game mechanics controller that includes instructions stored in machine-readable storage for execution by the one or more processors, wherein upon execution of the instructions the game mechanics controller is configured to perform one or more of the above-described actions. The system also may include a rewards generator that includes instructions stored in machine-readable storage for execution by the one or more processors, wherein upon execution of the instructions the rewards generator is configured to perform one or more of the above-described actions.
The details of one or more disclosed implementations are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, aspects, and advantages will become apparent from the description, the drawings and the claims.
Like reference symbols in different figures indicate like elements.
In an interactive TV dramatic series, viewers may be offered functionalities that allow interactivity with the TV drama at what can be called the “display-device level.” This interactivity can require no more than a standard remote control that enables channel surfing. Interactivity can also be enabled on TV services that provide a higher level of interactivity by offering video-on-demand and video recorder-like pausing, rewinding, and fast forwarding of dramatic shows, and on services that offer digital video recorder (DVR)-like commercial skipping, while others enable the viewer to link to a website that has data on some aspect of the TV program. Such interactivity can change how users control the viewing of the content, or a method of creating an interactive broadcast, for example allowing viewers to vote on an aspect of a scenario. However, such interactivity does not change the program content.
The streaming of multimedia content, similar to a TV program, which allows interactivity with the program content itself and, in doing so, influences the plot details and endings, can be achieved by developing TV-like dramatic content that combines aspects of a computer or video game. Dramatic content can also be used as an effective tool for education, problem solving, and promoting real-life changes by engaging the viewer to participate in the story by interacting with gaming challenges included in the storyline. By combining high-level interactive game elements with the storyline, the story/game can be more effective in educating the player about real world situations or series of events that are dramatized in the story/game. In contrast, typical computer or video games, including online or networked games, usually take place in non-realistic settings, in which the games do not create opportunities relevant to real world challenges.
This disclosure describes implementations that relate to interactive multimedia content that includes a story component and a gaming component. The story component corresponds to a scripted, realistically depicted, audio/visual streaming dramatic story, while the gaming component corresponds to a networked computer game. The two components are combined by embedding various game challenges in the storyline for the dramatic story. In this context, the term “scripted” indicates that the story is a fictional story that is authored by a writer and reduced to an audio/visual script containing dialogue and actions, and audio/visual effects to create audio/visual scenes. The term “realistically depicted” indicates that the dramatic story portrays real life situations as experienced by human beings, on contrast to fantasy or science fiction scenarios. The term “streaming” indicates that the story/game is distributed from one or more servers to electronic devices of players over network connections, such as the Internet, cellular networks, or other suitable connections.
The combined story/game described in this disclosure may be referred to as a serious computer game. In this context, a serious computer game indicates a computer or video game that is designed for a public education or public awareness purpose, in addition to its value as entertainment. The serious computer game may be used for mass public awareness campaigns, for example to teach viewers or players about environmental issues. The serious computer game may act as a persuasive technology system to change behaviors and attitudes toward important real world issues portrayed by the dramatic story component of the computer game. For example, a serious computer game dealing with environmental issues may be intended to change behaviors and attitudes toward ecological degradation caused or accelerated by climate change. Such a computer game that deals with environmental issues may be referred to as an eco-game.
The serious computer game described in the following sections depicts a realistic, novel-as-a-game interactive or collaborative content filled with real world game quests that are undertaken by players inside the world depicted in the dramatic story, which simulates the world where the viewer/player lives. In some implementations, the dramatic story included in the game is an interactive television series or an interactive multimedia novel, with conceptual differences, or differences in the historical path of arrival, between the story in the game described herein and a story as usually conceived in a regular episodic television series or online game.
The present disclosure also describes systems, devices and methods to create high-level interactivity in the combined story/game multimedia content, also referred to as the computer game or simply game, that is disclosed. A player can provide various inputs that control the pace of the scripted, realistically depicted, audio/visual streaming dramatic story, or to initiate gameplay with the story shown to the player, or both. The gameplay enables the player to interact with the content itself. The player can influence details of the dramatic story by responding to game challenges at periodic intervals during the presentation of the story, and thereby affect the player's perceptions of the plot, characters, and endings. In this manner, the player can get involved in the suspense and intrigue of the story.
In some implementations, the gameplay engages the player in an endless variety of game mechanics, as described below. For example, the dramatic story may depict ecological degradation caused or accelerated by climate change, and the gaming component can provide options for the player to win points, prizes, and other rewards of gameplay by responding to game challenges to fight instances of climate change depicted in the dramatic story. Additionally or alternatively, the player can win points and prizes by addressing similar issues in social media and in the world.
The computer game does more than heighten awareness, as would a documentary show or documentary series. Because the player participates physically as well as emotionally, the game can be considered as a form of persuasive technology. Because the game also may involve sharing with other players, for example in an electronic social media network, the game can be considered as a form of Mass Interpersonal Persuasion (MIP) system, which brings together the power of interpersonal persuasion with the reach of mass media. MIP systems have great potential for altering attitudes and behaviors towards real world issues, such as climate change, on a mass scale. By combining an immersive and influential story with a mass-participation game, the concepts disclosed herein can enable the public to collaborate in an effort to improve a real world situation depicted in the game, for example ecological degradation due to climate change. Among other things, the computer game can enable popular mass media to be used for various public education and awareness initiatives.
In some implementations, the dramatic story that is included in the computer game is based on a group-authored, single narrative that binds together a series of episodes. Each episode is a grouping of several story panels, where a story panel is configured to present a segment of the story. In some implementations, each story panel includes one or more scenes or visualizations of the overall storyline. In some implementations, each episode is broken into 6-12 story panels. However, other numbers are also possible.
FIG. 1
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illustrates an example story panel displaying a segment of a dramatic story series associated with a computer game. As shown, the story panel displays a scene or visualization , which represents an event in the dramatic story. For example, the dramatic story deals with environmental issues, and the story panel presents an environmental scene from the dramatic story.
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The story panel includes a navigation prompt and a gameplay prompt . The navigation prompt and/or the gameplay prompt are overlaid on the scene or visualization displayed by the story panel. The navigation prompt enables players to navigate through segments of the dramatic story at their own pace by moving forward to a new story panel, or returning to a previous story panel. The navigation forward or backward among story panels using the navigation prompt may simulate turning the pages of a book. This can be achieved, for example, by configuring instructions associated with the computer game to enable a transition from one story panel to a next story panel, or a previous story panel, in a visual manner that simulates the turning of a page of a book.
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The gameplay prompt is configured to enable a player to initiate gameplay, i.e., to respond to one or more game challenges that are presented at particular points in the story panel that is displayed, which is described in greater detail in the following sections. The game challenges may be simple, for example a single question. Alternatively, the game challenges may be complex. For example, the game challenges may involve interactions with other players (such as through social media). In some implementations, game challenges include artificial intelligence-based challenges. For example, game challenges may be generated by subjecting a player's interactivity in the game or in social media to advanced analytics.
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Although shows the gameplay prompt on the story panel , in some implementations there is no gameplay prompt on a story panel. This may be the case, for example, when there is no game challenge associated with the particular story panel. In such cases, the dramatic story can move forward to the next story panel automatically, or in response to a navigation prompt.
FIGS. 2A and 2B
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illustrate example device configurations A and B, respectively, for presenting a dramatic story series/computer game combination to a player. As shown by , in the example configuration A, a monitor is configured to display story panels from the dramatic story associated with the computer game. For example, the monitor displays the story panel that shows the scene from the dramatic story. In some implementations, the monitor is coupled to a user device, for example a computer or an electronic game controller, associated with the player. The user device is configured to process episodes of the computer game that are received from a network server, as described in greater detail below, and display the story panels on the monitor . In this context, a player who views the dramatic story and plays the computer game is also referred to interchangeably as a user of the story/game, and the player's associated electronic device is referred to as the user device.
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The example configuration also includes a keyboard and a mouse , which are configured to act as input devices. The keyboard and the mouse are coupled through wired or wireless connections to the computer associated with the player. The player can navigate among story panels, or respond to game challenges that are presented, by providing user inputs through the keyboard and/or the mouse to control the navigation prompt or the gameplay prompt . By interacting with the game, i.e., responding to game challenges, the player can influence the sequence of story panels that are displayed. Although the example configuration illustrates the keyboard and the mouse , other input devices also may be used.
FIG. 2B
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shows another example configuration B, in which the monitor is configured to display story panels from the dramatic story associated with the computer game, such as the story panel showing the scene or visualization from the dramatic story. The example configuration B also includes a tablet computer and a smartphone , which are configured to act as input devices. In some implementations, either the tablet computer or the smartphone , but not both, are present. As in the configuration A, the monitor can be coupled to a user device, for example a computer or an electronic game controller, associated with the player. In some implementations, the tablet computer and/or a smartphone are coupled through wireless connections to the computer associated with the player. In some other implementations, the tablet computer and/or a smartphone are coupled through wired connections to the computer associated with the player.
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A player can navigate among story panels, and/or respond to the game challenges, by providing user inputs through the tablet computer and/or the smartphone to control the navigation prompt or the gameplay prompt . By interacting with the game in this manner, the player can influence the sequence of story panels that are displayed.
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In some implementations, the tablet computer or the smartphone includes a display, which also may present a user interface for the computer game concurrently with the game interface that is shown on the monitor . This may be the case, for example, when the tablet computer or the smartphone are distinct from the monitor . In such cases, the user interface shown on the display of the tablet computer or the smartphone may mirror the story panel shown on the monitor , i.e., provide a representation of the scene , along with representations of the navigation prompt and/or the gameplay prompt , on the display of the tablet computer or the smartphone . In some implementations, the player can provide inputs through a touch-sensitive surface of the tablet computer or smartphone display. For example, the player can touch a portion of the display of the tablet computer , or the smartphone as the case may be, that is proximate to the navigation prompt or the gameplay prompt . An indication of the user input, for example a cursor changing shape, size or color, may be shown simultaneously on the display of the tablet computer or the smartphone , and the monitor . This may be the case, for example, when the inputs provided by the player using the tablet computer or the smartphone are communicated through wireless or wired connections to the computer coupled to the monitor .
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In some implementations, the monitor represents the display of the tablet computer or the smartphone . This may be the case, for example, when the player's user device is the tablet computer or the smartphone itself. In such cases, the monitor and the tablet computer , or the monitor and the smartphone as applicable, can be a single physical unit. The player can view the story panels of the dramatic story on the tablet computer display or the smartphone display. In some implementations, the player can interact with the game challenges by providing inputs through the touch-sensitive surface of the display of the tablet computer or the smartphone . In some other implementations, the player can interact with the game challenges by providing inputs through other input devices that are coupled to the tablet computer or the smartphone , such as a keyboard or a mouse, as described previously.
FIGS. 3A and 3B
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illustrate an example system for streaming, from a network server to user devices, interactive multimedia content that combines a dramatic story series with a computer game. The communications system includes a network server that is located in a network cloud . The network server includes a story unit , a visual content unit , a game mechanics controller and a rewards generator . The network cloud represents locations that are remote to the user devices and accessible via one or more network connections.
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The network server hosts the interactive multimedia content. The story unit stores the dramatic story along with the game challenges that are part of the computer game. The story unit may store one or more storylines associated with the dramatic story. In some implementations, the story unit is configured to accept new story panels and gameplay scenarios over time.
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The network server streams a storyline from the story unit to a user device, for example to a computer coupled to the monitor that is associated with a player . The storyline includes a number of story panels, for example story panel , which are grouped into episodes, such as episode . The player views a story panel on the monitor and provides user inputs for controlling the display sequence of the story panels, or interacting with the computer game, using a suitable input device. For example, the player uses the tablet computer to interact with the navigation prompt or the gameplay prompt .
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Each episode, such as episode , can be of a finite duration, for example 25-60 minutes. Different episodes can be of different durations, or different episodes can be of uniform duration.
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As noted previously, each episode can include a number of segments, which are referred to as story panels. For example, illustrates that the episode includes five story panels. However, in some implementations, each episode can include a different number of story panels, for example 6-12. In some implementations, different episodes may include a same number of story panels. However, in other implementations different episodes may include different numbers of story panels. For example, one episode may include five story panels, a second episode may include six story panels, while a third episode may include nine story panels, among others.
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In some implementations, the game gives the player control over the story panels similar to control over pages in a book. By using the navigation prompt , the player can move through the episode from one story panel to another story panel at one's own pace, pause to ponder, observe the scene or visualization shown in the story panel, for example scene , or return to a previous story panel, as is possible with pages of a book.
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In some implementations, the first story panel of each episode includes an opening scene. The opening scene introduces the characters, the situation, or the villain, among others, in a manner similar to a television drama. For example, the dramatic story component of the computer game may depict environmental degradation caused by human activities. Episode of the game may be titled “The Bay is Dying” or “The Planet is Dying,” or some other suitable name, with the first story panel in episode displaying a scene dealing with toxic runoff into the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.
In some implementations, a number of gaming modes are associated with a story panel in each episode. For example, four different gaming modes may be associated with a story panel.
In some implementations, a first gaming mode is referred to as the “story mode.” When a story panel is displayed in the story mode, the gameplay prompts in the story panel, which allow the player to respond to the game challenges, are temporarily disabled while a television dramatic story is presented in the story panel. Continuing with the above example of a dramatic story that depicts environmental degradation, during the presentation of the environmental scene in the story panel, the story panel portrays an environmental feature in narrative form without introducing any game challenges. The environmental feature may include the Earth's atmosphere, ocean, waterway, wetlands, forest, landscape, desert, icecap, or land, water, or airborne life forms, among others.
In some implementations, a second gaming mode is referred to as the “read mode.” When a story panel is displayed in the read mode, the gameplay prompts in the story panel are enabled. Continuing with the above example of the dramatic story dealing with environmental issues, the story panel may segue, from the environmental feature that is displayed, to an environmental and climate-change data set visualization. In some implementations, this visualization may be a time lapsed footage showing environmental degradation over time.
In some implementations, the visualization includes user interaction points, also referred to as hotspots, which allow the player to interact with the visualization. The user interaction points or hotspots may be created by Flash animation. When the player provides an input selecting a hotspot that points to a particular feature in the scene, additional information related to the particular feature is displayed in the story panel.
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In some implementations, the story panels, for example story panel , is presented in a web browser application on the monitor , such as Internet Explorer™, Edge™, Google Chrome™, Firefox™, Apple Safari™, or Opera™. In such cases, selection of the user interaction points or hotspots may show three-dimensional (3D) animation that are created using suitable technologies, for example WebGL, HTML5, Java 3d™, among others.
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In some implementations, the visualization segues to a game in which the player is challenged to take actions to counter the enemy or other adversarial forces in the game. In the present example, this may be a specific climate change effect on the environment that is presently depicted in the story panel. In some implementations, the story panel transitions to a third gaming mode, referred to as the “game mode,” and presents the gameplay screen , as shown by .
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When a story panel is displayed in the game mode, the story panel presents one or more interactive challenges to the player, and the computer game waits for input from the player in response to the challenges. For example, the story panel may present the gameplay prompt to allow the player to use a suitable input device to interact with the gameplay prompt to initiate gameplay. In some implementations, the gameplay prompt may not be displayed when the story panel is in the story mode or the read mode. However, the gameplay prompt may be displayed when the story panel transitions to the game mode.
By playing the one or more game challenges that appear, the player can win points, prizes, and other rewards of gameplay. The challenges that are presented to the player may include one or more of the game mechanics listed in Table 1. Other game mechanics that are not listed in Table 1 also may be used.
TABLE 1
Achievements
Countdown
Ownership
Appointments
Discovery
Progression
Behavioral Momentum
Epic Meaning
Quests
Blissful Productivity
Free Lunch
Reward Schedules
Bonuses
Levels
Status
Cascading Information
Loss Aversion
Urgent Optimism
Community Collaboration
Lottery
Virality
Among the game mechanics shown in Table 1, “Achievements” indicate a virtual or physical representation of having accomplished something. Achievements can be easy, difficult, surprising, funny, accomplished alone or as a group. Achievements are a way to give players a way to advertise what they have done indirectly as well as add challenge and character to a game. Achievements are often considered “locked” until the player has met the series of tasks that are required to “unlock” the Achievement. Badges can be earned from completing tasks/missions in gamification platforms.
“Appointments” indicate game dynamics in which at a predetermined times/place a player must log in or participate in game, for positive effect. “Behavioral Momentum” indicates the tendency of players to keep exhibiting the same behavior or performance characteristics that they have been previously doing. “Blissful Productivity” represents the concept that playing in a game makes a player happier working hard in comparison to what the player would experience while relaxing. This represents the human tendency to gain satisfaction by doing meaningful and rewarding work.
“Bonuses” indicate a reward to a player after having completed a series of challenges or core functions during gameplay. Bonuses can be achieved from completing a combination of challenges, or for a specific special task.
“Cascading Information Theory” indicates the theory that information should be released in the minimum possible snippets to gain the appropriate level of understanding at each point during a game narrative. For example, by showing basic actions first to the player, and unlocking more as the player progresses through levels. This may be achieved in a staged process to avoid information overload to the player.
“Community Collaboration” represents a game dynamic in which an entire community of players is rallied to work together to solve a riddle, a problem or a challenge. “Countdown” represents a game dynamic in which players are given a limited amount of time to perform a task. “Discovery,” which also may be referred to as “Exploration,” is a game feature that encourages players to discover new pages within a gaming website. This may drive up page views and time-on-site. For example, players may be given a multiplier bonus based on how many new pages they read each week. “Epic Meaning” indicates a game feature that represents the situation that players may be highly motivated if they believe they are working to achieve something great, awe-inspiring, or bigger in a societal context compared to their immediate interests.
“Free Lunch” indicates a game dynamic in which a player feels that he or she is getting something for free due to someone else having done work. The work is perceived to have been done to avoid breaching trust in the scenario, but not by the player in question.
“Levels” represent a system by which players are rewarded an increasing value for accumulation of points. Additional game features or abilities may be unlocked as players progress to higher levels. Levels also may be used as a motivational tool to keep players progressing forward. “Loss Aversion” indicates a tool to influence a player's behavior not through rewards, but by avoiding punishment, or varying punishments through status, access, power, loss of resources or being downgraded. “Lottery” represents a game dynamic in which the winner is determined solely by chance. This may create a high level of anticipation.
“Ownership” represents a game dynamic that creates a sense of loyalty in the players towards the game. “Progression” represents a game dynamic in which success is granularly displayed and measured through the process of completing itemized tasks. For example, progression may take place by “leveling up” after a certain set of criteria are met, such as defeating enough enemies to raise a quantity, which is termed experience points. Leveling up may provide benefits such as increasing attributes or awarding skill points.
“Quests,” which are also referred to as “Challenges” in some cases, represent a competition or a series of obstacles that a player must overcome during gameplay. Quests may be used to organize player effort. “Reward Schedules” represent timeframe and delivery mechanisms through which rewards (for example, points, prizes, or level ups. among others) are delivered. “Status” is a game mechanic that represents the rank or level of a player in the game. Players may be motivated to try to reach a higher level or status in the game. Rewards such as badges or points may be used to elevate Status by showcasing the talents, expertise, and accomplishments of the players.
“Urgent Optimism” represents an extreme self-motivation of the player, and indicates the player's desire to act immediately to tackle an obstacle, combined with the belief that the player has a reasonable hope of success. “Virality” represents a game element that requires multiple participants to play, or that can be played better with multiple participants.
Based on the input provided by the player to address the game challenge that is presented to the player, the computer game progresses to a new story panel, or a new episode of the dramatic story. For example, considering the environmental degradation example described above, a specific climate change related game challenge may be presented to the player. By addressing this challenge, the player may get involved with participatory learning about climate change. In some small eco-games that depict environmental issues, gameplay in the gaming mode can take a short duration of time, for example between 1 and 5 minutes. For example, in the episode titled “The Bay is Dying,” the scene shown in the story panel may be a depiction of toxic runoff into the Chesapeake Bay watershed, which transitions to a visualization of the effects of toxic runoff into the Chesapeake Bay over time. Then an interactive challenge on water toxicity may be presented.
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shows the player using the tablet computer to interact with the gameplay prompt that is shown on the gameplay screen of a story panel. In some implementations, the user device sends a signal to the game mechanics controller when the player interacts with the gameplay prompt . Upon receiving the signal from the user device, the game mechanics controller interacts with the story unit and/or the visual content unit to send new scenes or visualizations corresponding to the story panel to the monitor . The scenes or visualizations are shown on the gameplay screen as representations of the challenge faced by the player during gameplay.
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For example, considering a game that depicts environmental degradation, the scenes or visualizations may include time-lapse cutaways of: agricultural runoff; waste from cities or towns; toxic air; declining marine population; declining air quality; or degrading water quality and its effects. These scenes or elements may represent the adversarial challenge faced by the player in relation to the segment of the story depicted in the present story panel. For example, considering “The Bay is Dying” or “The Planet is Dying” example episode, the challenge may be toxic runoff into the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, or some suitable other climate change effect. The game mechanics controller may send to the monitor visualizations of toxic runoff and other environmental degeneration caused by pollution and climate change in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Additionally or alternatively, the game mechanics controller sends one or more gameplay challenges to the monitor . The player attempts to meet the challenges commensurate with one's abilities. In some implementations, rather than playing the game challenges in an abstract manner, the story gets the player involved with characters in the episode, for example an elderly fisherman and his family. In this manner, the game challenge, for example making decisions to save the planet, may be humanized through character identification.
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In some implementations, the game mechanics controller sends additional game challenges, or other game activities, to the monitor when the player responds to a game challenge. The game mechanics controller may interact with the rewards generator , which computes a score as a measure of how well the player addressed the game challenge. The score may be displayed on the monitor . Additionally or alternatively, the score is recorded as part of the player's profile . Other information also may be recorded in the player's profile, such as identifying information about the player, status of the game played by the player, scores from past gameplays, among others.
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In some implementations, the player's profile is stored in the cloud , for example in a database coupled to the network server . Additionally or alternatively, the player's profile may be stored in the player's user device. In such cases, the network server may communicate the player's score to the player's user device over network connections. A story panel prompt to access the player's profile may be enabled when the story panel is presented in the read mode, game mode or an administrative mode that is described below.
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In some implementations, the player's profile is linked to a social media profile in an electronic social media network . For example, the player may maintain a user profile in Twitter™, Facebook™ or other electronic social networking services. In such cases, the network server may access the corresponding social media profile, for example by using one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) provided by the electronic social media network , and post the player's score in the associated social media profile. This may be the case, for example, when the player grants permission to the network server to access the player's social media profile and post the player's score in the social media profile.
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In some implementations, the API connectivity to a player's social media profile enables the player to form Internet relationships with other players based on game challenges. For example, multiple gaming sessions may be established through the network server , connecting multiple players at their devices. Competitive ranking may enable players to see how they stack up against other players, both those known to them and other players in their area and around the world. Game scores can be presented in various demographic contexts, and thereby give players more information on the gameplay being made by different demographic groups.
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In some implementations, players are connected through peer-to-peer connections, instead of going through the network server . In such cases, a player's user device may establish a direct connection with another player's user device. The instances of the computer game that are executed on the respective user devices may be synchronized with one another. In some cases, one or more of these game instances communicates information about the players' gameplay to the network server .
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In some implementations, additional scoring is integrated into the game if the player addresses other challenges in the real world and records this activity, for example by reporting through social media. APIs provided by the electronic social media network may integrate the player's self-reported scores for completion of such real world activities with the player's scores that are obtained via gameplay as described above.
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In some implementations, when a user device connects to the network server , or to other user devices during gameplay, users are authenticated to one another, or to the network server , using suitable authentication protocols. For example, standard authentication protocols like RSA public key cryptography, Elliptic Curve Cryptography, Secure Socket Layer (SSL), Kerberos, among others, may be used.
In some implementations, the goal of the computer game is to create deep emotional involvement that supplements the desire to win rewards. In such implementations, the computer game combines the power of stories with the addictive nature of games. Players may carry the story/game in their minds even when they are not playing. Together, the story and the game may involve the kind of persuasive technology that changes behavior and attitudes even when the player is not engaged in on-screen gameplay.
In some implementations, the game is portable. In such cases, a player can transport the game on a portable device, for example by caching one or more episodes of the game into storage memory coupled to the devices. The player can watch and play the game at a different time or place as convenient.
In some implementations, each computer game is presented in one of several different levels. The visualizations in the story panels, or the game challenges that are presented to the player, vary depending on the level of the game. The levels may be based on degree of difficulty. For example, in an environmental-themed game, the levels may depend on the level of climate or environmental science implicated in the challenge. In some implementations, the player may select a level before an episode is streamed, or during gameplay itself. By playing, the player gets a score that is calibrated for each player corresponding to the level at which the game is played. The highest level of each game can involve finding a balance between the needs of various stakeholders in the game, who represent real world interests. For example, in an eco-game depicting the Chesapeake Bay watershed issues, the highest level of gameplay may involve agricultural needs, industrial needs, urbanization and toxic runoff.
In some implementations, the next story panel of the episode is displayed only after the player addresses the one or more challenges that come up during gameplay in the present story panel. The player can move to the next story panel to continue watching the dramatic story without addressing the challenges presented in the story panels. However, in such cases, gameplay prompts may be presented to urge the player to return and address any bypassed challenge.
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In some implementations, decision makers and policy makers are involved in the computer game and create predictive intelligence about a topic or theme associated with the dramatic story that is enriched by gameplay. For example, the network server may record the responses by various players to game challenges—the responses may be transmitted to the network server by the respective user devices. The network server may store the user responses, and the results of the players' gameplays, in a database coupled to the server. Various decision makers or policy makers can perform data mining on the player responses and the corresponding game results to design policies for the particular real world issue depicted by the game. In this manner, players' inputs can be considered as representative of public feedback for the relevant issues.
In some implementations, the game calculates various social effects and consequences, for example economic and/or environmental consequences, faced by the topic or theme depicted in the game, according to models that are similar to models used by experts in the related fields. At this level, gameplay may involve translation of scientific and economic models into models that dramatize their effects and consequences for presentation in the story. These effects may minimize or amplify the player's ability to make an impact on the topic depicted in the story.
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In some implementations, a fourth gaming mode is referred to as an “administrative mode.” When a story panel is displayed in the administrative mode, a player can check aggregate game scores, view possible prizes, or access an associated social media profile. The computer game can allow the player to access a social media profile, for example in the electronic social media network , via an API, which may provide options to take additional actions in social media and in the surrounding world for additional points and prizes.
In some implementations, in the administrative mode, the player has the option to repeat the story panel, or the entire episode. In some implementations, there is a “campaign mode,” in which the player can experience the dramatic presentation of various storylines as game simulations are displayed to the player, without the player engaging in actual interactions with the story/game by responding to gameplay prompts.
In some implementations, the game includes a “political mode.” In such cases, a player plays the game with other players. The collaboration with other players can be enabled through a cloud-based integration hub that is accessed through the player's profile, as described previously. The player negotiates with other players to influence them to take certain steps to achieve the player's desired gameplay objectives. A randomization of power and control can be given to different players to avoid predictability in the results and thereby keep the game fresh and interesting.
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In some implementations, the network server streams one or more story panels associated with an episode, such as episode , to the user device, for example the computer associated with the player . The user device may display a story panel included in the episode, while caching the other story panels in computer memory (for example, flash memory or hard drive) coupled to the user device. Based on the player's input for the navigation prompt or gameplay prompt associated with a presently displayed story panel, the user device can determine the next story panel, from among the cached story panels, to display on the monitor.
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The user device can use instructions that are sent by the network server along with the episode to determine which story panel to display next, depending on the user input received. In some implementations, the instructions are embedded in the story panels. For example, instructions corresponding to the navigation prompt associated with the story panel can include various permissible options for the user input. For each permissible user input, the instructions may map to one of several different story panels in the episode . When a user input is received, the input is checked with the permissible options for the user input. If there is a match, then the mapped story panel associated with the matching option is retrieved from the cache and displayed on the monitor .
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In a similar manner, the instructions corresponding to the gameplay prompt associated with the story panel can include various permissible actions that the player may take during gameplay, which are determined based on the user input provided during a game challenge. For each permissible action, the instructions may map to one of several different story panels in the episode . When a user input is received, the input is checked with the permissible gameplay actions for the user input. If there is a match, then a story panel that is associated with the matching gameplay action is retrieved from the cache and displayed on the monitor .
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In some implementations, a permissible navigation option, or a gameplay option, maps to a new episode of the computer game. This may be the case, for example, when the story panel that is presently displayed is the terminal story panel of the episode that is presently streamed. In such cases, based on the user input, the user device sends a request to the network server for the new episode of the game. The network server can respond by sending the requested episode to the user device.
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In some implementations, the instructions associated with the computer game are used to predict the player's input corresponding to the navigation prompt, and/or the gameplay prompt. In some cases, the user device can predict, by processing the instructions sent by the network server , what the next story panel, or the next episode, is going to be, based on the player's past actions. The user device can accordingly retrieve the predicted next story panel and prepare it for presentation, for example retrieve from the hard drive where the story panels are locally stored and place the retrieved story panel in an easily accessible staging memory associated of the device, for quick transition to the new story panel when the user input is received. Additionally or alternatively, a request can be automatically sent from the user device to the network server for the next predicted episode. The network server can stream the next predicted episode, which is then cached in the user device memory.
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In some cases, the prediction is performed by the network server , for example by the game mechanics controller . This may be the case, for example, when the user device communicates the inputs received from the player to the game mechanics controller . The latter can parse the player's inputs and predict the next action that the player can take. Accordingly, the game mechanics controller can determine one or more story panels that are likely to be displayed based on future actions by the player. The game mechanics controller can interact with the story unit and/or the visual content unit to send the likely story panels to the user device for pre-caching in the device memory.
As noted previously, in some implementations a game challenge involves interaction by a player with other players. This may be the case, for example, when the game involves peer-to-peer gaming or collaborative gaming. In some cases, the interaction between players can be enabled through social media. For example, the game may establish connections with a player's social media profile through an API provided by a social networking platform, and allow the player to play the game by interacting with others who are connected to the player's social media profile in the social networking platform.
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When a game challenge involves such interaction by a player with other players, a next story panel that is displayed to a player may be determined based on the player's response to a game challenge and also based on responses provided by other players to their respective game challenges shown in their respective story panels. For example, the game mechanics controller may receive inputs from user devices associated with various players who are interacting with each other to play the story/game. For each player, the game mechanics controller can determine the next story panel to display based on the particular player's input and inputs provided by other interacting players. In this manner, greater dynamism may be achieved in the story/game. The narrative flow of the dramatic story shown to a player may depend not only on the individual actions of the player, but also on the collaborative effort of other players.
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As noted previously, in some implementations, the central topics of the episodes that are streamed by the network server , for example episode , revolve around important social and ethical concerns, such as environmental degradation. For example, the episode may be “The Bay is Dying,” which may depict toxic runoff into the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Other example episodes may be based on issues related to matters such as sea level rise; oceanic changes; changes in breathable air quality; water scarcity; food scarcity; severe changes in weather patterns leading to droughts, severity of storms or melting icecaps; climate-caused migrations of people or animals; endangered or invasive species; deforestation; human conflicts caused by environmental changes, such as mass population shifts or fights for food; health effects of environmental changes, such as asthma attacks, allergic reactions, heat-related deaths and injuries; or infectious diseases, including mosquito-borne or air-borne diseases.
Accordingly, the implementations disclosed herein include, among others, systems and methods to stream, over the Internet, World Wide Web or other suitable communication media, highly interactive multimedia content, which seamlessly combines television dramatic stories with a computer game, and/or online electronic social media networks. The dramatic stories that are depicted may be of redeeming social value. Such stories, for example with themes like that of the “The Bay is Dying” episode, deal with major threats to human survival, such as ecological destruction. Traditional TV series do not employ similar high levels of interactivity. For example, the technologies disclosed herein segue smoothly from the storyline of a dramatic TV series to a computer game, and back. In some implementations, there is one seamless flow of the dramatic story and the computer game, as described above, instead of having separate interfaces for the dramatic story, the game, and user navigation. The unified interface is abstracted by a set of API calls that determine what is happening in each story panel and present the associated visualizations and game challenges to the player. In some implementations, the story/game is independent of the input devices. In such cases, a variety of input devices can include drivers to interact with the story/game.
FIG. 4
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illustrates a block diagram of an example system for generating and streaming interactive multimedia content that combines a dramatic story series with a computer game. In some implementations, the system corresponds to components of the system . However, the system also may correspond to other systems or configurations.
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The system includes a network server that is communicatively coupled to user devices and over network . The network server and the user devices , are also communicatively coupled to third party servers over the network . The network server includes a story unit , a visual content unit , game mechanics controller , rewards generator and storage memory . The storage memory includes instructions , multimedia content and user data .
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In some implementations, the network server is similar to the network server . The network server may be hosted as an Internet cloud server. For example, the network server may be hosted by a cloud services provider that supports docket containerization on Linux, such as Amazon Web Services™.
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The network server is configured to stream the story component of the interactive multimedia content over the network to user devices, such as user devices or , along with game challenges that control the flow or narrative of the storyline. As described previously, in some implementations the story component corresponds to a scripted, realistically depicted, audio/visual streaming dramatic storyline that is streamed over the network to be displayed on monitors coupled to the user devices. The dramatic story is broken into episodes of finite durations, and each episode is further broken into a number of segments that are called story panels. At an instant in time, a story panel associated with an episode is shown on the display coupled to the user device. At the end of each story panel, a player viewing the story panel gets a prompt to use a suitable input device to interact with the story element to initiate gameplay. The story element that is acted on (i.e., interacted with) may be an environmental scenic depiction (for example, atmosphere, ocean, waterway, wetland, forest, landscape, cityscape, desert, or icecap, among others) that, when represented in time-lapse, may be shown to be in a state of degeneration. The degeneration may be represented on-screen in an alternative way, for example with the depiction of a land, water, or airborne life form being affected by environmental degradation, such as caused by climate change.
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Although two user devices and are shown, the system can include other user devices as well. In some implementations, the network server streams the interactive multimedia content to multiple user devices simultaneously. The storyline that is concurrently streamed to different user devices can be the same. In other implementations, different storylines are concurrently streamed to different groups of user devices, or a different storyline are streamed to each individual user device. The network server can be configured to handle multiple instances of the dramatic storyline and associated computer game that are processed by different user devices.
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In some implementations, there is a large number of user devices to which the content is streamed, for example in the order of hundreds of thousands or millions. The network server can be configured to concurrently manage the large number of instances of the story/game that are streamed to all these devices. The network server may represent a cluster of network servers that are configured to operate together to handle the different instances of streaming content and interactions with the large number of user devices.
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The network server includes one or more processors, which are configured to execute instructions stored in the storage memory . In some implementations, the instructions encode instructions for operation of the story unit , the visual content unit , the game mechanics controller , or the rewards generator . For example, the instructions can include instructions for generating or streaming episodes associated with dramatic storylines to user devices, responding to player interactions during gameplay, computing player scores and determining rewards. The instructions also can include instructions for connecting the player's information to social media profiles that are hosted by one or more electronic social media networks, for example in the third party servers .
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In some implementations, the instructions that are executed by the network server represent elastic containerized programming that controls instances of different players' devices communicating with the network server . The programming can include smart routing of player transactions between the respective players' devices and the network server with suitable network protocols. The programming can support micro services to enable discrete parts of the application to scale independently.
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In some implementations, the instructions for generating and/or streaming multimedia content by the network server are associated with the story unit . The story unit may be similar to the story unit . The story unit can be configured to store and manage multimedia content corresponding to multiple different dramatic storylines. The multimedia content can be stored in the story unit , or stored in the storage memory , for example as multimedia content that is accessible by the story unit .
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In some implementations, the network server selects episodes from different storylines, or different episodes from a storyline, for steaming based on the player's interaction during gameplay. In this manner, the flow of the streamed multimedia content can be dynamically altered based on user input. The story unit can be configured to accept and store additional new storylines.
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In some implementations, the story unit is configured to dynamically generate new storylines, for example based on existing storylines. For example, the story unit can interact with the game mechanics controller to determine interactions made by a player during gameplay. The game mechanics controller may be similar to the game mechanics controller . As described previously, the game mechanics controller may receive signals from a user device, such as or , when a player associated with the particular device interacts with the gameplay prompt . Based on the received signals, the game mechanics controller can interact with the story unit to determine the next story panel or episode to stream to the user device.
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In some implementations, the game mechanics controller and/or the story unit predicts, through mutual interaction, future player inputs. Based on such prediction, the story unit can modify the storyline that is streamed to the user device. For example, the visual content unit , which may be similar to the visual content unit , may store different scenes or visualizations for the storylines. The story unit may dynamically modify an existing storyline that is streamed to the user device by updating scenes or visualizations that are included in the story panels of episodes in the existing storyline. Additionally or alternatively, the story unit may create new storylines, or new episodes for existing storylines, by combining scenes or visualizations from the visual content unit in new ways. In some implementations, the updates to the existing storylines, or creating new storylines, are done to calibrate the gameplay challenges that are presented to the player, or to change the flow of the storyline shown to the player, based on the player's past interactions.
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The rewards generator , which is similar to the rewards generator in some implementations, computes gameplay scores for a player, for example player , based on how well the player addresses the game challenges. In some implementations, the rewards generator interacts with the game mechanics controller to determine the interactions made by the player during gameplay. As described previously, the rewards generator can send the computed score to the player's device, for example user device or , to be displayed to the player. Additionally or alternatively, the score can be recorded as part of the player's profile, which can be stored as part of user data in the storage memory .
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In some implementations, the rewards generator sends the player's score to be published as part of the player's social media profile. For example, the rewards generator may connect, over the new , to a third party server hosting an electronic social media network that includes the player's social media profile. The rewards generator may access the player's social media profile using one or more APIs provided by the electronic social media network, and post the player's score in the social media profile. The player can have multiple social media profiles in different social media networks. The rewards generator can be configured to access the player's social media profiles in one or more of the social media networks, and publish the player's score as part of the accessed social media profile(s). The one or more social media profiles that are accessed may be the ones for which the player provides access permission to the network server .
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In some implementations, the storage memory stores the various instructions , the multimedia content and the user data . The storage memory may include read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), or flash memory. Additionally or alternatively, the storage memory may include magnetic or optical memory, such as hard disk drives, computer disc or digital video disc memory (CD-ROM or DVD-ROM), among others.
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In some implementations, the instructions , the multimedia content , or the user data , are stored in one or more databases, for example implemented in the storage memory . The databases can be implemented as fast in-memory operational databases, such as VoltDB™, which may be optimized for fast data transactions needed for gaming. In such cases, an instance of the game that is played on a user device sends an API call to a database in the storage memory . The associated player's interaction with the game can be captured in real-time in the database, i.e., as the interactions take place, based on signals sent by the instance of the game played on the user device. There may be multiple clusters of the database, where each cluster can correspond to a different instance of the game played on a different user device. In this manner, the multiple clusters can be used to capture transactions corresponding to different instances of the game being played.
In some implementations, a relational database management system (RDBMS) is used for scalability. The database may provide cost-efficient and resizable capacity while managing time-consuming database management tasks. For example, Amazon Aurora™ relational database management system may be used. Alternatively, Hewlett-Packard's Vertica™ database may be used due to its flexibility, speed and robustness.
FIGS. 5A-5E
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illustrate example processes A-E for generating and streaming interactive multimedia content that combines a dramatic story series with a computer game. In some implementations, the processes A-E are performed by the system . Accordingly, the following section describes the processes A-E with respect to the system . However, the processes A-E also may be performed by other devices or system configurations.
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In some implementations, the processes A-E are performed by one or more processors included in the system that execute instructions, for example instructions , to generate and stream episodes of a interactive dramatic story, manage player interactions during gameplay, compute player scores, determine reward options and interface with social media networks. As described previously, these instructions can be stored in storage memory (for example, storage memory ) that is included in the system .
FIG. 5A
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As shown in , the process A starts by generating story panels that include interactive multimedia content corresponding to a dramatic story and one or more game challenges for a computer game (). For example, the network server may execute instructions corresponding to the story unit to generate a scripted, realistically depicted, audio/visual streaming dramatic story. The dramatic story may be similar to an interactive TV drama series. The dramatic story may include multiple story panels, with each story panel presenting a scene or visualization of the dramatic story. The story unit may interact with the visual content unit to generate the story panels, for example story panel . The dramatic story may be associated with a computer game, where the flow of the dramatic story may be dependent on a player's interactions during gameplay. The story unit may generate different story panels that may correspond to the different flows of the dramatic story.
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The story panels are combined into one or more episodes of the dramatic story, where a transition from a first story panel to a second story panel is effected conditioned on fulfilling requirements of a game challenge included in the first story panel (). For example, the dramatic story may be partitioned into multiple episodes, with each episode depicting a particular situation or series of events through a number of story panels included in the episode. The story unit may group the story panels into different episodes, with story panels that are grouped into an episode sharing a common theme, for example, a common situation or event depicted in the story panels.
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Input options are included in each story panel that enable a player to interact with the story panel when playing the computer game (). For example, the story unit may embed gameplay prompts in the story panels, such as gameplay prompt included in story panel , which enable a player to interact with the scene presented in the story panel and respond to game challenges in the gaming mode. The game mechanics controller may process the inputs provided by the player when responding to the game challenges that are presented in each story panel. As described previously, the story unit may associate instructions with the gameplay prompts that determine the next story panel to be shown to the player based on the player's responses to the game challenge in the present story panel. The story unit also may include navigation prompts in each story panel to allow the player to navigate among the story panels in an episode, without engaging in gameplay.
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The story panels are configured to be displayed in one of several different gaming modes (). For example, the story unit may configure one or more story panels to be initially displayed in the story mode, in which gameplay prompts in the story panels are temporarily disabled while a television dramatic story is presented in the story panel.
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Additionally or alternatively, the story unit may configure one or more story panels to be displayed in the read mode, in which the gameplay prompts in the story panels are enabled. A story panel may be configured to transition from the story mode to the read mode, for example, when the narrative of the television dramatic story in the read mode comes to a conclusion.
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Additionally or alternatively, the story unit may configure one or more story panels to be displayed in the game mode, in which the story panel presents an interactive challenge to the player and the computer game waits for input from the player to proceed. A story panel may be configured to transition to the game mode from either the story mode or the read mode.
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Additionally or alternatively, the story unit may configure one or more story panels to be displayed in the administrative mode, in which a player can check aggregate game scores, view possible prizes, or access associated social media profile. A story panel may be configured to transition to the administrative mode from any of the story mode, read mode, or game mode. For example, a story panel may include a control option, which the player can select while in one of the story mode, read mode or game mode, to invoke the administrative mode.
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One or more story panels associated with an episode are streamed to user devices over network connections for presentation on displays coupled to the user devices (). For example, the network server may stream story panels associated with an episode, such as episode , to user devices, such as device and/or . The story panels may be presented on monitors, such as monitor , coupled to the user devices. The story panels that are presented may include one or more prompts, such as navigation prompt and gameplay prompt that are shown on the story panel .
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FIG. 5B
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In some implementations, the example process B shown in is performed in conjunction with the process A. For example, the process B may be performed following the streaming of one or more story panels for presentation on displays coupled to the user devices (). When the process B is performed, a first story panel is controlled to be presented on a display coupled to a user device in a first mode, wherein the input options that enable a user to interact with the story panel when playing the computer game are disabled when a story panel is presented in the first mode (). For example, based on the instructions sent by the network server , a user device, such as or , may present a story panel in the story mode. As noted previously, gameplay prompts in the story panel are disabled in the story mode, while a television dramatic story is presented in the story panel.
FIG. 5C
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shows the example process C. In some implementations, the process C is performed in conjunction with the process A. For example, the process C may be performed following the streaming of one or more story panels for presentation on displays coupled to the user devices (). However, in some other implementations, the process C is performed in conjunction with the process B. For example, the process C may be performed after a first story panel is presented on a display coupled to a user device in the first mode ().
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In the process C, a first story panel is controlled to be presented on a display coupled to a user device in a second mode, wherein the input options that enable a user to interact with the story panel when playing the computer game are enabled when a story panel is presented in the second mode (). For example, based on the instructions sent by the network server , a user device, such as or , may present a story panel in the read mode or the game mode. As noted previously, gameplay prompts in the story panel are enabled in the read mode or the game mode. In some implementations, the story panel transitions to the read mode or the game mode after the presentation of the story panel in the story mode is completed.
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A game challenge associated with the first story panel is presented on the display coupled to the user device (). For example, when the user device presents a story panel in the game mode, a gameplay screen, such as gameplay screen , may be displayed. Based on the instructions sent by the network server , the user device may present an interactive challenge to the player in the story panel when the gameplay screen is displayed, and wait for input from the player to proceed.
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A user input in response to the game challenge is received from a player associated with the user device (). For example, the user device may receive an input from the player, such as an interaction with the gameplay prompt, in response to the game challenge that is shown in the story panel. The user device may send a signal to the game mechanics controller when the player interacts with the gameplay prompt.
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Based on the received user input, a second story panel is presented on the display coupled to the user device (). For example, in some implementations upon receiving the signal from the user device associated with the player's interaction with the gameplay prompt, the game mechanics controller interacts with the story unit and/or the visual content unit to send a new story panel, or new scenes corresponding to the presently displayed story panel, to the user device. The new story panel, or the new scene, is displayed on the monitor coupled to the user device. The user device may select, from a plurality of story panels that are locally cached, a new story panel for displaying to the user. In such cases, the user device may perform the selection based on instructions that are sent by the network server along with the story panels.
FIG. 5D
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shows the example process D. In some implementations, the process D is performed in conjunction with the process C. For example, the process D may be performed following the presentation of a second story panel on the display coupled to the user device based on the received user input ().
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When the process D is performed, a gaming score is computed for a player based on the input in response to a game challenge presented in a story panel (). For example, in response to receiving, from the user device associated with the player, a signal that includes information about the player's response to the game challenge, the game mechanics controller may interact with the rewards generator to compute a score as a measure of how well the player addresses the game challenge.
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One or more rewards options are determined based on the gaming score (). For example, the rewards generator may determine prizes or other rewards of gameplay based on the score computed for the player. The rewards may include, among others, posting of the player's score on a leaderboard that is accessible to other players of the game, or posting of the player's score on a social media website, for example associated with the player's social media profile, or with a social media account associated with the computer game.
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The gaming score and/or the rewards options are presented on the display coupled to the user device (). For example, the network server may send the score computed by the rewards generator to the user device to be displayed on the monitor coupled to the user device. Additionally or alternatively, the network server may send rewards options, which are determined by the rewards generator , to be displayed on the monitor coupled to the user device. Based on the instructions and information received from the network server , the user device may display the player's score and/or the rewards options on the monitor coupled to the user device. The user device may display the player's score and/or the rewards options on the story panel that is presently displayed.
FIG. 5E
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shows the example process E. In some implementations, the process E is performed in conjunction with the process C. For example, the process E may be performed following the presentation of a second story panel on the display coupled to the user device based on the received user input (). However, in some other implementations, the process E is performed in conjunction with the process D. For example, the process E may be performed in association with presenting the gaming score and/or the rewards options on the display coupled to the user device ().
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In the process E, based on input received from a player in response to a game challenge presented in a story panel, a user profile associated with the player in a social networking platform is accessed (). For example, the player may have a social media profile in an online electronic social media network, and may grant permission to the computer game to access the social media profile. In such cases, the network server may access the player's social media profile using one or more APIs provided by the electronic social media network.
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Information corresponding to the player's interaction with the computer game is published in the user profile associated with the player in the social networking platform (). For example, the network server may post the player's game score, which may be computed by the rewards generator as noted above, in the player's social media profile. The network server may post additional information about the player's interaction with the computer game in the player's social media profile, such as the responses provided by the player, or results achieved to combat challenges posted by the game.
The disclosed and other examples can be implemented as one or more computer program products, i.e., one or more modules of computer program instructions encoded on a computer readable medium for execution by, or to control the operation of, data processing apparatus. The implementations can include single or distributed processing of algorithms. The computer readable medium can be a machine-readable storage device, a machine-readable storage substrate, a memory device, or a combination of one or more them. The term “data processing apparatus” encompasses all apparatus, devices, and machines for processing data, including by way of example a programmable processor, a computer, or multiple processors or computers. The apparatus can include, in addition to hardware, code that creates an execution environment for the computer program in question, for example, code that constitutes processor firmware, a protocol stack, a database management system, an operating system, or a combination of one or more of them.
A system may encompass all apparatus, devices, and machines for processing data, including by way of example a programmable processor, a computer, or multiple processors or computers. A system can include, in addition to hardware, code that creates an execution environment for the computer program in question, for example, code that constitutes processor firmware, a protocol stack, a database management system, an operating system, or a combination of one or more of them.
A computer program (also known as a program, software, software application, script, or code) can be written in any form of programming language, including compiled or interpreted languages, and it can be deployed in any form, including as a standalone program or as a module, component, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment. A computer program does not necessarily correspond to a file in a file system. A program can be stored in a portion of a file that holds other programs or data (for example, one or more scripts stored in a markup language document), in a single file dedicated to the program in question, or in multiple coordinated files (for example, files that store one or more modules, sub programs, or portions of code). A computer program can be deployed for execution on one computer or on multiple computers that are located at one site or distributed across multiple sites and interconnected by a communications network.
The processes and logic flows described in this document can be performed by one or more programmable processors executing one or more computer programs to perform functions by operating on input data and generating output. The processes and logic flows can also be performed by, and apparatus can also be implemented as, special purpose logic circuitry, for example an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit).
Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, by way of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors, and any one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. Generally, a processor will receive instructions and data from a read only memory or a random access memory or both. The essential elements of a computer can include a processor for performing instructions and one or more memory devices for storing instructions and data. Generally, a computer can also include, or be operatively coupled to receive data from or transfer data to, or both, one or more mass storage devices for storing data, for example magnetic, magneto optical disks, or optical disks. However, a computer need not have such devices. Computer readable media suitable for storing computer program instructions and data can include all forms of nonvolatile memory, media and memory devices, including by way of example semiconductor memory devices, for example EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, e.g., internal hard disks or removable disks; magneto optical disks; and CD ROM and DVD-ROM disks. The processor and the memory can be supplemented by, or incorporated in, special purpose logic circuitry.
While this document may describe many specifics, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of an invention that is claimed or of what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions of features specific to particular embodiments. For example, a communications channel may include the Web, where a user may interact with an interaction site via a webpage generated dynamically according to the interaction flow. As another example, a communications channel may include a smart phone application, where a user may interact with an interaction site by starting a smart phone application, and the smart phone application then contacts the interaction site and provides a communications interface between the user and the interaction site. Certain features that are described in this document in the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination. Moreover, although features may be described above as acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination in some cases can be excised from the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to a sub-combination or a variation of a sub-combination. Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results.
Only a few examples and implementations are disclosed. Variations, modifications, and enhancements to the described examples and implementations and other implementations can be made based on what is disclosed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1
illustrates an example story panel displaying a segment of a dramatic story series associated with a computer game.
FIGS. 2A and 2B
illustrate example device configurations for presenting a dramatic story series/computer game combination to a player.
FIGS. 3A and 3B
illustrate an example system for streaming, from a network server to user devices, interactive multimedia content that combines a dramatic story series with a computer game.
FIG. 4
illustrates a block diagram of an example system for generating and streaming interactive multimedia content that combines a dramatic story with a computer game.
FIGS. 5A-5E
illustrate example processes for generating and streaming interactive multimedia content that combines a dramatic story series with a computer game. | |
What was the effect of Olmec trade in Mesoamerica?
Olmec Trade and Commerce
Highly desirable items like obsidian knives, animal skins, and salt were routinely traded between neighboring cultures. The Olmecs created long-distance trade routes to obtain the things they needed, eventually making contacts all the way from the valley of Mexico to Central America.
Why was trade important to early Mesoamerican civilizations?
What was the importance of trade to ancient American civilizations? Trade boosted economies and allowed an exchange of traditions and ideas. … Mexico and west of south america It gave them a place to settle down and increase their population. They were granted food and could adapt to their surroundings.
Why do you think the Olmec are called Mesoamerica’s mother culture?
The Olmecs studied astronomy and developed a system of writing and mathematics. They were the first Mesoamerican culture to build pyramids. Their calendar and religious beliefs appear to have influenced later cultures. In fact, many scholars call the Olmecs the “mother culture” of Mesoamerica.14 мая 2018 г.
What were the contributions of the Olmec civilizations?
Contributions. The Olmecs were apparently the first Mesoamerican people to fathom the concept of zero, develop a calendar, and create a hieroglyphic writing system. Also, they are credited for the discovery of the first conduit drainage system known in the Americas.
Why did the Olmec civilization decline?
The Olmec population declined sharply between 400 and 350 BCE, though it is unclear why. Archaeologists speculate that the depopulation was caused by environmental changes, specifically by the silting-up of rivers, which choked off the water supply.
How did the Olmec trade?
San Lorenzo reached its peak of prosperity and influence between 1200 and 900 BCE when its strategic position safe from flooding allowed it to control local trade. Typical Olmec trade goods included obsidian, jade, serpentine, mica, rubber, pottery, feathers and polished mirrors of ilmenite and magnetite.
How does trade enrich a civilization?
It allows for commerce, importation, and exportation allowing goods to spread across the land, ocasionally promoting agriculture.
How did Olmec trade affect other civilizations?
Olmec Trading Partners
The Mokaya adopted Olmec artistic styles in sculpture and pottery. Olmec ornaments were popular in Mokaya towns. By trading with their Mokaya partners, the Olmec had access to cacao, salt, feathers, crocodile skins, jaguar pelts and desirable stones from Guatemala such as jadeite and serpentine.
What money did the Mayans use?
The ancient Maya never used coins as money. Instead, like many early civilizations, they were thought to mostly barter, trading items such as tobacco, maize, and clothing.
What do the Olmec heads represent?
Each head is distinct and naturalistic, displaying individualised features. They were once thought to represent ballplayers although this theory is no longer widely held; it is possible, however, that they represent rulers equipped for the Mesoamerican ballgame.
What were the Olmecs religious beliefs?
The Olmecs were polytheistic, believing in many gods who controlled the natural forces of life. … Their religion centered around eight gods: the Olmec Dragon, the Bird Monster, the Shark Monster, the Banded-Eye god, the Maize God, the Rain Spirit, the Were-Jaguar, and the Feathered Serpent.
Who came first Olmec and Maya?
In short, the Maya came first, and settled in modern-day Mexico. Next came the Olmecs, who also settled Mexico. They didn’t build any major cities, but they were widespread and prosperous. They were followed by the Inca in modern-day Peru, and finally the Aztecs, also in modern-day Mexico.
Did the Olmec build pyramids?
Built by the Olmecs, the first major Mesoamerican civilization (a group famous for other firsts, like chocolate and the use of for sports), the pyramid dates to between 1000 B.C. and 400 B.C. American pyramids were generally built of earth and then faced with stone, typically in a stepped, or layered, shape topped by a …
How big was the Olmec civilization?
The Wrestler; 1200-400 BCE; basalt; height: 66 cm, from the Arroyo Sonso area (Veracruz, Mexico); Museo Nacional de Antropología. | https://absolute-investments.com/interesting/what-was-the-role-of-trade-in-olmec-civilization.html |
Due to Coronavirus, the working world has rapidly changed. In order to stop the spread of the virus, employees are now under lockdown and companies are having to enforce a work from home policy. This has caused a huge upheaval for many businesses.
Yet, companies should continue operating as normal. A savvy business will have thought ahead and developed a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) for exactly this type of disruptive situation. Yet, how can we adapt the BCP to include an emergency work from home policy?
What is a Business Continuity Plan?
The first questions to answer are what is a BCP and why do I need one?
BCP defined
Simply put, a Business Continuity Plan is a system that your business has in place to ensure that it can continue working, whatever the commercial weather. This includes dealing with natural disasters, economic recession or (as recent events show) a pandemic. It is important to be prepared as we cannot predict the future.
Why have an emergency response BCP?
Planning how your business will continue through a number of potential threats will ensure you’re better prepared, should the time come. Right now the world is facing an unprecedented pandemic. If you have a BCP, it should guide you through these times. You will be able to weather the storm with minimal business disruption.
Regular run-throughs of a BCP will allow you to spot any weaknesses within it. Most importantly, it is good for your workers to know of the plan in advance. If they are familiar with it, they will not be as confused when it comes into action unexpectedly. This will enable you to reach your recovery time objectives even more quickly.
What should a standard BCP include?
There are numerous remote work policy templates which you can adapt to your business needs. Below we have included a checklist of some of the most important criteria to consider when making a BCP plan. The standard model involves four stages, commonly referred to as PPRR. Each stage is developed and practiced in turn.
Prevention
This stage involves identifying risks and thinking about how they can be managed. Could anything be done beforehand to stop or mitigate this risk?
Preparedness
This is a key stage in the process. Here you identify the key areas of your business that could be disrupted. Then you can analyse the potential effects a range of scenarios may have on them.
Response
This stage looks at the management of risks at an individual activity level. Does each team member know how to manage their work in any given situation? It is worth forming a business continuity team, dedicated to dealing with these issues when they arise.
Recovery
This is the final stage of any BCP plan. It should aim to demonstrate how the areas of business affected could quickly get back to normal levels of productivity. This is where recovery strategies come into play.
Covering these bases is crucial in business continuity disaster recovery. The central elements are important for effective business continuity management and form the base of a disaster recovery plan.
Including a Remote Working Policy
A BCP should include the eventuality of working offsite. Due to COVID-19, employers are aware that many workers must now work remotely. Therefore, if not already included, the plan must be adapted to cover the event of working away from the office. A remote working policy is therefore essential to managing remote workers. You might be wondering what this policy looks like?
Work from Home Policy Template
All effective work from home policies include the following:
Capabilities
Identify the key workers and their functions within the business. How can these functions be adapted to be completed from home? Do employees have computers and reliable internet access? If there are employees who simply cannot do their work offsite, is there a way of situating them in temporary accommodation? Make sure these are covered clearly in your policy.
IT support
Will you be able to make sure the IT team is available to deal with technical issues? Also. consider your digital security. Is the information your workers handle secure in their houses? If not, ensure that they have access to a Virtual Private Network (VPN) and know exactly what is and isn’t safe to share. Similarly, if the staff do not have access to software, the plan could include how to offer alternatives.
Communication
Clarity is vital to ensuring that all your key workers are on board and informed about the new policy. Expectations should be clarified. For instance, what level of output do you expect from your workers? What deadlines or goals still remain as part of their job? What regular reporting is expected? These should be communicated beforehand. During the event, clear channels of communication are vital.
Monitoring
Monitoring of workers is key to making sure work runs smoothly. This does not mean setting up cameras in their homes. You should have systems in place to be able to check-in with them. Examples include a scheduled virtual meeting, email or even a quick call.
Routine
Workers should be aware of when their working day begins and ends. Also, they need to know exactly how long it should take them to respond to their colleagues’ communications. Clarifying these steps in your policy is vital to ensure the smooth continuity of business.
Feedback
Feedback from employees is crucial. This could be their first time working from home and could be a lot to take in. Give them the means to feedback on what could be improved. Coronavirus has no end date and problems are likely to arise. Sharing feedback can allow workers to problem-solve faster.
Is your continuity plan ready?
If your business continuity plan has been successfully adapted to include an effective work from home policy, then you will be able to maintain critical business functions. This is a vital part of a business resilience strategy. Make sure that your employees are able to maintain a working connection and allow things to continue as normal as possible.
Streamline your HR processes & free up time for your business continuity plan. | https://factorialhr.com/blog/business-continuity-plan/ |
Artist Notes: Share your favorite recipe with friends and family by adding the recipe text to the inside of the card!
Inside Text: HAPPY DAY RECIPE Begin with a smile Mix in some laughter Add a dash of wisdom Stir in plenty of hugs Blend with inspiration Combine with joy and Top off the day with A generous sprinkling Of love!
Artist Notes: A culinary blank note card decorated with various herbs used in cooking including basil, rosemary, thyme and oregano drawn in black pen and ink with watercolor.
Inside Text: TIPS FOR NO ADDED SUGAR 1. Spread your morning toast with unsweetened applesauce, then sprinkle with cinnamon. 2. For a variety of pancake or waffle toppings, simply cook fresh fruit for about 10 min., until it splits and thickens. Add 1 T of cornstarch for thicker sauce. 3. Instead of buying fruited yogurt, use the plain fat-free variety, and add your own chopped fresh naturally sweet fruit. 4. A dash of vanilla instead of sugar adds a touch of sweetness to oatmeal or a blender smoothie. 5. Apples are very high in sugar, so buy unsweetened applesauce. 6. Choose unsweetened cereal, and add raisins and vanilla. 7. Combine orange juice with plain fat-free yogurt, and freeze for a cool treat.
Artist Notes: Florida apples inspired no added sugar tips.
Inside Text: Monster Munch Ingredients 1 Cup Dry roast nuts -- unsalted 1/3 Cup Butter 1 Pound Marshmallows 1/2 Cup Peanut butter 3 Cups Puffed rice cereal 1 Cup Apricots -- chopped 1 Cup Raisins Directions In a large bowl, combine cereal, apricots, raisins and peanuts. In a microwave safe 13x9", melt butter and marshmallows on high for 2 minutes. Stir; add peanut butter cook on high 2 minutes longer. Stir until well blended, add cereal mixture to dish and toss until well coated. Working quickly with greased hand, form into balls, using about 1/2 C mixture, per ball. If mixture begins to harden, cook on high for 30 seconds, or until softened. If desired, mixture may be spread in buttered 13x9" dish and cooled and cut into bars. Makes 1 dozen balls or 2 dozen bars NOTE: Similar to the Rice Krispie treats, but with the apricots and raisins it definitely gives it a fall look. Another idea would be putting the mixture into cookie cutters, and letting it cool. The shapes could be pumpkins, witches, etc. Add a little gel piping.
Artist Notes: Herbs in the Kitchen blank note card for those who enjoy cooking and gardening illustrated with various herbs used in cooking including basil, parsley, oregano and more done in pen and ink with watercolor.
Inside Text: Warm Wishes For A Very Merry Christmas And A Joyous New Year!
Artist Notes: A fun, retro inspired recipe card just right for culinary creations that call for either cheese products spelled with the letter 'z.,' colorful gelatin, canned meats, or non-dairy whipped toppings. A permanent-type marker works well for this. Matte finish card.
Artist Notes: Send your favorite recipe to a friend or loved one. Better yet - invite them over to enjoy the recipe with you!
Inside Text: Basic Apple Pie Recipe 2 cups flour, 1 cup packed brown sugar, 3/4 cup butter/margarine, melted, 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats FILLING 2/3 cup sugar, 3 tbsp. cornstarch, 1 1/4 cups water, 3 cups diced peeled tart apples, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Combine the first four ingredients; set aside 1 cup for topping. Press remaining crumb mixture into an ungreased 9" pie plate; set aside. For filling, combine sugar, cornstarch, and water in a saucepan until smooth; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for minute or until thickened. Remove from the heat; stir in apples and vanilla. Pour into crust; top with reserved crumb mixture. Bake at 350°F for 40-45 min, serve with some fresh whipped cream.
Inside Text: Ingredients: 2 pounds (1 k) ripe tomatoes, sliced, seeded, and drained. A fresh mozzarella (buffalo milk if possible) weighing about a pound, diced. Fresh basil leaves, hand-shredded (8-10 or to taste) 1/4 cup olive oil, or to taste. Pepper and salt (if necessary). A pinch of oregano. 1 tablespoon salted capers, or to taste (optional). 1/4 pound pitted black olives (the sweet variety that’s cured in brine) or to taste, chopped (optional) Preparation: Slice the tomatoes into rounds and put them on 6 plates; slice the mozzarella into rounds and lay them over the tomatoes. Season with the olive oil, basil, oregano, and a little salt and pepper. Serves 6-8.
Inside Text: The Perfect Lemon Drop Martini Recipe: Mix 3 oz. of vodka , with 1 oz triple sec, 2 tsp. of sugar and 1.5 oz. lemon juice in a martini shaker with ice, then pour into your favorite sugar-rimmed Hot Mama martini glass. Cheers!
Artist Notes: A basil garden blank notecard featuring plant drawings of different types of basil and ingredients to make pesto drawn in black pen and ink with watercolor. Fun for cooks!
Artist Notes: They asked for your recipe so send it off in style! Just enter the ingredients and instructions for a classy way to pass on your wonderful creation with a fun bright red tomatoes photograph by Doreen Erhardt© taken at the farmer's market.
Artist Notes: This card displays one of my original colored-pencil artworks. Take advantage of quantity discounts to order a whole set. Perfect to share your favorite recipe, send a country note, a set would make a great wedding gift. Look for more of my original artwork on cards in my cardstore.
Artist Notes: Features mouse drawn country art!
Artist Notes: Share your favorite chocolate cake recipe with friends and family by adding the recipe text to the inside of the card!
Inside Text: Quick Lemon Cheesecake Recipe: 1 (8 oz) pkg softened cream cheese 1 1/2 cup milk 1 (3 3/4 oz) pkg lemon instant pudding grated peel of one lemon 8 inch graham cracker crust sweetened strawberries Mix cheese until fluffy. Beat in 1/2 cup milk. Add remaining milk and pudding. Beat on low speed until smooth. Fold in lemon peel, pour into pie crust and chill. Top with strawberries and enjoy with a cup of coffee in your favorite Hot Mama Mug!
Artist Notes: This is a Christmas recipe card, featuring holly and a colorful background. It's blank inside for your written recipe. 063012.
Inside Text: DIRECTIONS FOR BAKING: 1.In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight). 2.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. 3.Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely. Enjoy this gift of Holiday Treats! Merry Christmas!
Inside Text: Red Peppers receipt: Use 6 sweet peppers (long or regular) Put in the oven on 200C until it’s a bit burnt (about 20 min),than shut down the oven and wait half an hour. Peel the burnt skin off, cut into slices. Add sea salt, black pepper, fresh rosemary, a touch of olive oil and balsamic... And you have a real Israeli-summer taste!
Artist Notes: Free red peppers summer-receipt inside the card!
Inside Text: Sending the sweetest holiday wishes your way!
Artist Notes: A simple and spicy traditional gingerbread recipe on a blackboard-style background, embellished with cute gingerbread men, spoon, hearts and oven mitts makes wishing a sweet holiday to your customers, employees, vendors and suppliers a snap! | https://www.greetingcarduniverse.com/collections/recipe-cooking-cards |
Cakes come in all shapes and sizes. Pick the size that works for your dog and the size of the dog party! I used a rectangular biscotti pan and cut it in half to create my layers.
Mix flour & baking soda. Mix everything else in a separate bowl and add to the dry mix. Mix until cake batter is moist and all the flour is absorbed. If your mix is looking a little dry you can add more water or if it's too moist add a little more flower. You can add mint, rosemary, culinary lavender, unsweetened coconut flakes, or carob chips to the mixture. The mixture should be a little sticky to the touch. Spray your pan with cooking spray and press the dough into the pan(s). Bake for :30 at 275 degrees.
Mix peanut butter and yogurt in a bowl until icing consistency is reached! You can always addd a little more or less yogurt or peanut butter to your mixture. You can use JUST peanut butter or just yogurt but it just won't be as fluffy.
If you need to cut your cake into layers or shapes like I did now is the time! Place the first layer on a cake stand and ice the top. Place the second layer on top and ice the top and sides of both layers. Decorate with herbs, unsweetened coconut, or culinary lavender. Keep in mind some flowers and eucalyptus can be poisonous to dogs. | http://www.katiesjar.net/blog/2018/5/31/rustic-cake-recipe |
Q:
Determining final velocity at a target distance
In this program I've been working on with Python the goal is to take user inputs on a given initial velocity, angle, and how far away a structure is/how tall it is we're aiming for. I have been able to calculate how long it takes for something to reach a target, but I'm not sure why the final velocity (how fast it is going when it reaches the target) is coming up wrong.
# User inputs
velocity = float(input('Give me a velocity to fire at (in m/s): '))
angle = float(input('Give me an angle to fire at: '))
distance = float(input('Give me how far away you are from the
structure: '))
height = float(input('Give me the height of the structure (in meters):
'))
slingshot = 5 #Height of slingshot in meters
gravity = 9.8 #Earth gravity
# Converting angles to radians
angleRad = math.radians(angle)
# Computing our x and y coordinate
x = math.cos(angleRad)
y = math.sin(angleRad)
# Calculations
time = distance/(velocity * x)
vx = x
vy = y + (-9.8 * time)
finalVelocity = math.sqrt((vx ** 2) + (vy ** 2))
# Output of program
print('It takes your bird' , time , 'seconds to reach the structure')
print('Your velocity at the target distance is' , finalVelocity ,
'meters per second.')
Here is a sample input and what the expected output should be:
Input Velocity: 20
Input Angle: 40
Input Distance: 25
Input Height of Structure: 15
Expected Output:
Time to reach structure: 1.63176 s
Final velocity: 15.6384 s
My Program's Output:
Time to reach structure: 1.63176
Final velocity: 15.36755
At first glance it would appear my program is very close, so I suspected a rounding error, but it is mere coincidence with the chosen numbers that they're close.
A:
You miscalculated the horizontal and vertical components of the final velocity. You only used the cosine and sine of the angle, rather than the (magnitude of the) initial velocity times the cosine and sine, respectively. If you modify the following two lines of code, you will obtain the result you were looking for given the sample input you provided:
vx = velocity * x
vy = velocity * y - 9.8 * time
I rewrote your original code a bit and also computed the final height to check whether the structure was hit or not, so feel free to use it if needed:
import math
# User inputs
# v0 = float(input('Give me a velocity to fire at (in m/s): '))
# angle = float(input('Give me an angle to fire at: '))
# distance = float(input('Give me how far away you are from the structure: '))
# height_structure = float(input('Give me the height of the structure (in meters):'))
# Test inputs
v0 = 20
angle = 40
distance = 25
height_structure = 15
# Constants
height_slingshot = 5 # Height of slingshot in meters
g = 9.8 # Earth gravity
# Converting angle to radians
angleRad = math.radians(angle)
# Computing initial velocity components
vx0 = v0 * math.cos(angleRad)
vy0 = v0 * math.sin(angleRad)
# Computing time to travel horizontal distance
t_x = distance / vx0
# Computing final vertical velocity component
vy_final = vy0 - g * t_x
# Computing magnitude of final velocity
v_final = math.sqrt((vx0 ** 2) + (vy_final ** 2))
# Note: Horizontal component is constant
# Computing final height
y_final = height_slingshot + vy0 * t_x - g / 2 * t_x ** 2
# Verify if t_x was computed correctly
# t_y1 = (vy0 + math.sqrt(vy0 ** 2 - 2 * g * y_final)) / g
# t_y2 = (vy0 - math.sqrt(vy0 ** 2 - 2 * g * y_final)) / g
# Output of program
print('It takes your bird', t_x, 'seconds to reach the structure.')
print('Your velocity at the target distance is', v_final,
'meters per second.')
print('\nFinal height: ', y_final)
print('Structure height:', height_structure)
if 0. <= y_final <= height_structure:
print('\nYou hit the structure!')
elif y_final < 0:
print('\nYou missed. Not far enough!')
else:
print('\nYou missed. Too far!')
| |
You’ve had a long day at work. You’re traveling. You don’t have a gym membership. Your street is flooded and you can’t leave the house (Houston weather probs). Whatever the reason, sometimes going to the gym just isn’t feasible. But that doesn’t mean your health and physique have to suffer.
Below, I’ve compiled a list of my favorite at-home workout methods. These may look innocent, but I guarantee that if you attack them with intensity, they’ll give you a beating. The best part? All of these workouts can be done in 20 minutes or less and require no equipment.
Note: There’s hundreds of bodyweight exercises that can be used for these workouts. For simplicity, I’ll focus mainly on push ups, squats, and sit ups to deliver a full body training session.
Select a few exercises (3-4) to be performed in a circuit for a specific number of reps per exercise.
Set a timer for a fixed period of time (15-20 minutes).
Perform as many rounds as possible of the exercise circuit in the given time period.
Select an exercise (or exercises) to be completed for a specific number of reps.
Perform the specified number of reps as fast as possible.
Select a few exercises (3-4) to be performed individually for a specific period of time.
Perform as many reps as possible of each exercise in the given time period. Rest 2 minutes between exercises.
Select 4 exercises to be performed individually for 8 30-second rounds (4 minutes each, 16 minutes total).
Each 30-second round consists of 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest.
Do not rest between exercises, perform them consecutively.
Select a few exercises (3-4) to be performed in a circuit for the same number of reps per exercise.
Decrease the number of reps after every completed round.
Rest as little as possible between exercises/rounds.
Set a timer for a fixed period of time (10-20 minutes).
Perform the specified number of reps every minute on the minute for the entirety of the given time period.
After completing the specified reps, rest for the remainder of the minute. The faster you complete the reps, the more rest time you have.
Select an exercise to be performed.
Complete as many rounds as possible (increasing reps every round) until you can no longer complete the required reps within 1 minute.
As you can see, there are a variety of methods that can be utilized when training at home or on the road. Trust me, it is possible to get in shape without the use of any equipment. All of these workouts have the power to build muscle and burn fat when performed with consistency and intensity.
Feel free to make these workouts your own. Switch up the exercises, the rep ranges, or the time limits to keep the routines fresh. You can even string a few together to create a full-length training session.
Don’t be limited by your circumstances or by your schedule. There’s always a way to break a sweat every day, you just have to make it a priority. So the next time you skip the gym because you’re “too busy”, set aside a few minutes to knock out one of these workouts. | https://kevinwarrenfitness.com/blogmain/athomeworkouts |
The terms Hispanic/Latino Americans refer to Americans with the origin in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain, and in general they label all persons in the United States who self-identify as Hispanic or Latino. For purposes of this thesis both terms Latino and Hispanic Americans will be used interchangeably. However, Hispanic as an umbrella term neglects the different national background of its sub-cultures as well as their varied racial, class, linguistic and gender experiences. On the base of that, I argue that if Hispanic ethnic consists of more than 23 million citizens, economic emigrants and political refugees, it can hardly be homogenous group. As Martha Giménez explains, the term Hispanic strips people of their historical identity and reduces them to imputed common traits.” 1 (qtd. in Oboler, 4). Literature marked as Hispanic or Latin American encompasses the national literatures of South and Central America, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and parts of the West Indies, and is written either in English or Spanish or even the fusion of both languages.
The most significant development of Latin American literature in 20th century is generally considered the growth of New Narrative (also New Novel) in 1940s -1950s’ which later culminated into the Boom in 1960s. (Swanson, 37) The New Narration is understood as the response to social realism, which had been traditionally domineering to Latin American fiction and which provided rather simplified and narrow interpretation of reality. New Narrative seems to appeal to traditional conception of realism and contradict its straightforward and comprehensible reality. New literary styles appears to replace traditional form of Hispanic novels.
The main tendencies in literature within New Narrative according to Swanson are modernismo, avant-garde and magical realism. Modernismo was seen as a specific phenomenon of Latin American literature, focused on poetry, aesthetic qualities of style and mood, and sense of escapism as a crisis of faith. It questions conventional belief system where material is valued over the spiritual, breakdown of social values via technological development, urbanization and immigration. Modernismo reflects one of the basic principles of the New Narrative – the language alone cannot effectively describe reality, which is too complicated and ambiguous. It was often about esoteric questions, fascinated by alternative worlds and expressed the crisis of modernity.
Avant-garde style was based on peculiar mixture of hilarious and anxious attitudes towards the modernity. According to Swan, it was typical particularly in region of Argentina and is further divided into the urban and the existential groups, which not only replaced traditional way of writing but they focused on natural development and the continual process of changes leading from social realism to New Narrative stream. Avant-garde writers emphasized the importance of regional issues of Latin America and the search for its identity.
Magical realism bridges the gap between social realist regional fiction and fantasy, the style focused on the difference between the perception and the reality. The authors believe that Latin America is unusual because of its historical, religious and ethnics extremes and thus its reality is close to fantasy. The narrative style of magical realism allowed to describe even bizarre events quite naturally. Magical realism is associated with Gabriel García Márguez as one of the most famous author of the region. Also Cristina García, whose work is analyzed later in this thesis, is considered as the author of magical realism and we will be able to recognize supernatural events in her novel. An integral part of magical realism, based on myths and legends is known as neo-indigenism. It often concerns mysterious world as well as unfavorable situation of native inhabitants. ( Swanson, 38-58)
With New Narration, reality is not to be captured precisely in writing anymore, but new narrative techniques provide more complex and ambiguous environment. Thus, the new style requires higher involvement and more active approach from the reader. As it was mentioned above, New Narration wave reached its peak in 1960s in the period of Boom. The Boom means in many aspects the landmark when Latin American fiction became acknowledged in the rest of the world. Amongst major Latin American writers who first became prominent in the United States in the 1960s we can find the names such as — Argentina’s Jorge Luis Borges, Colombia’s Gabriel García Márquez, Chile’s Pablo Neruda, and Brazil’s Jorge Amado.
Since that first wave of popularity, writers of color have found their audience. Latin Americanism has been recognized as academic discipline and several scholars such as Lawrence Levine (The Opening of the American Mind: Canons, Culture and History, 1996) and Ronald Takaki (A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America, 1993) provide invaluable context for understanding multiethnic literature and its meanings. (Kathryn Van Spanckeren, 116)
Ethnic identity represents another aspect of identity which is socially determined. Similarly to sex it is rather unchangeable, however unlike gender, one can not choose nor influence the national entity s/he is born to. To be born as the member of ethnics usually means to be socialized into two cultural backgrounds, which brings specific aspects to the development of one’s identity, since “the most important component of ethnicity is defined as: membership in a subgroup within an environment dominated by another culture.” (Cyrus, 7) It covers mainly the question of assimilation vs. keeping former cultural heritage and the problems to achieve an equal status within the major society. Within the frame of this thesis, I am going to discuss the question to which extent the female characters are influenced by the character of the community they live in, to which extent their assimilation process is considered as betray to original community, and how this aspect differs in different generations of immigrants. And last but not least, my concern is how they formulate their ethnic identity within the multicultural society of the United States, in other words to question what does it mean to be a woman and a member of ethnics in the same time.
In the following chapter we are going through general social issues and historical events in Mexico and Cuba and their influence on literary works in the regions. Although the main aim of this thesis is to analyze the identity of ethnic minorities living in the U.S. territory, I still find highly important to go through general social issues and historical events in both countries, i.e. Mexico and Cuba, to understand the consequences shaping the feelings of identity in the target groups. | https://essaydocs.org/acknowledgement-v3.html?page=2 |
The Republic of Angola is situated in southern Africa and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, Namibia, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The country’s footprint spans more than 1 246 700 km2.
Angola boasts a solid relationship with China, which offers diplomatic backing for the state. There is, however, concern that an economic slowdown in China could limit financial flows to Angola.
As Angola is the second-largest oil producer in Africa, after Nigeria, its economy is driven by investment in the oil sector. This dominance of oil production and its supporting activities means the country’s industrial sector contributes substantially to its gross domestic product (GDP); estimated at 46.2% in 2015.
The Republic of Botswana adopted its name after gaining independence on 30 September 1966. Since then, it has maintained a stable representative democracy with a consistent record of uninterrupted independent elections.
The country is topographically flat, with up to 70% of its territory being the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. It also borders Zambia to the north, near Kazungula.
As the third-fastest growing economy in the world, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has the potential to be one of the richest countries on the continent due to its abundant natural resources. Private consumption is estimated to grow at approximately 7.6% each year between 2016 and 2025, making it the largest contribution to the country’s overall real GDP growth.
With significant growth prospects within production of its natural resources, as well as within agriculture, retail and financial sectors, foreign investors and businesses looking to expand into the Western Africa region could find viable investment opportunities within the DRC.
Ghana is located along the Gulf of Guinea and Atlantic Ocean in West Africa. Spanning a land mass of 238 535km2, Ghana is a multicultural nation, with a population of approximately 27 million with a variety of ethnic, linguistic and religious groups.
Its diverse geography and ecology ranges from coastal savannahs to tropical jungles, while its economy is also one of the most resilient and diversified in Africa.
Kenya offers investors a thriving economic centre with growing financial, technological and service sectors. Its positive investment climate makes it attractive to international firms looking for potential locations within Africa, to run regional or African branches.
The country’s performance is boosted by its strong trade platform and has the sixth-largest total trade volume in the region. The Kenyan government continues to encourage foreign participation in the economy and actively promotes the development of export processing zones (EPZs) around the country.
The landlocked Kingdom of Lesotho, encircled by South Africa, is renowned for its mountainous topography and resilient clothing and textile sectors.
Although the country’s footprint is small, and with a population of approximately 2 million people, it represents a good destination for retail and service oriented businesses.
Approximately 40% of Lesotho’s population lives below the poverty line, which presents an opportunity for businesses providing low cost products and services to the country. In an effort to boost its population’s literacy and employability, the government is focusing on its youth, providing free primary schooling and bursaries for orphaned and abandoned children.
While its copious natural resources can allow it to become a more significant export player, infrastructure development and foreign investment into mining and agriculture remains a challenge for the country.
Malawi is fast-becoming a preferred destination for SMMEs that are looking to improve access to African markets. Despite its landlocked positioning, if your business is looking for a cost-effective port of call that feeds into Africa, Malawi is the destination for you.
Mozambique is situated in Southeast Africa. Its capital and largest city is Maputo.
After nearly five centuries of Portuguese rule, Mozambique gained independence in 1975. Two years into independence, the country descended into civil war lasting from 1977 to 1992 and in 1994, Mozambique held its first multi-party elections and has since remained a relatively stable democracy.
The country boasts rich and abundant natural resources, however, poor infrastructure development hasn’t allowed the country to capitalise on these natural resources. Mozambique’s economy is based largely on agriculture, but several industries, including food and beverages, chemical manufacturing, aluminium and petroleum production is growing.
Known as ‘the gem of Africa’, Namibia is a coastal country in southern Africa and the first country in the world to incorporate environmental protection into its constitution. Its neighbouring countries include Botswana, South Africa and Angola.
Namibia is home to the Namib Desert, the oldest desert in the world. Its abundance of natural resources and the growing need for affordable products and services makes it a viable destination for businesses look to capture a receptive new market.
With a vast amount of resources, a large population and a fast-growing consumer class, Nigeria is proving to be Africa’s and West Africa’s choice destination for growth and investment, particularly in the expanding trade and consumer-related sectors.
As a key investment location, South Africa not only offers its own market opportunities, but also serves as a gateway to the rest of the market on the African continent.
Important drivers for inward investment include the country’s status as the most advanced economy in sub-Saharan Africa and its strong tourism potential and mineral wealth; while the country’s preferential access to the EU market (through a free-trade agreement) and to the US market (under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) also supports investment.
South Africa boasts a diverse economy, driven by the services industry. It is moving towards becoming a knowledge-based economy with a greater focus on technology, e-commerce, and financial and other services.
Swaziland is a part-monarchy/ part-democratic, landlocked, country in Southern Africa. It is neighboured by Mozambique to the east and South Africa to the north, west and south.
Swaziland is closely tied to South Africa as a source for trade and remittances.
While drought is expected to limit the country’s growth in the agricultural sector in 2016; it is expected to pick up in 2017. The Swazi government seeks to raise USD2 billion for its National Agricultural Investment Plan to reinvigorate agriculture. Moreover, tourism is expected to benefit from a weaker exchange rate, an investment loan from the World Bank, and new airport and tourist facilities.
Its small-scale mining sector consists mainly of coal and iron ore, but due to lower commodity prices, because of a slowdown in the Chinese economy, the mining sector is under pressure.
Located in East Africa, the United Republic of Tanzania shares borders with Kenya and Uganda in the north, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the west, and Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique in the south.
The country’s economic prospects are positive, with strong foreign investor participation, adequate foreign exchange reserves and relatively low political risk. Tanzania has also steadily diversified its economy, expanding the amount of investment opportunities available to businesses and investors.
The Republic of Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa and is the world's second-most populous landlocked country after Ethiopia.
Toward its southern border, Uganda incorporates a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, shared with Kenya and Tanzania. Its close proximity to the African ‘Great Lakes’ region and the Nile basin provides it with a warm, equatorial, climate.
The country’s official language is English, while Luganda and Swahili is also widely-spoken across the country. Several other languages are also spoken in Uganda, including Runyoro, Runyankole, Rukiga and Lango.
Despite its challenges, Uganda remains a leading exporter of refined mineral products and it’s expected to become a leading exporter of crude oil thanks to ongoing, particularly Russian, foreign invest in exploring the country’s oil reserves. Its untapped oil reserves are estimated at 3.5 billion barrels.
Zambia’s government has established an investment framework to attract international businesses, which includes low tax rates, reduced levels of red tape, and equal rights for foreign and domestic investors.
As such, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is growing significantly, driven by favourable conditions for foreign business ownership, investment incentives and special economic zones developed by the Zambian government.
Zimbabwe shares its borders with Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia.
Growth in Zimbabwe is likely to remain below levels envisaged in the government’s five-year economic programme:Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-economic Transformation.
The agenda, announced in late 2013, envisages growth ramping up to 9.9% by 2019, however, experts believe that Zimbabwe will continue to find it difficult to attract financing for the programme due to its indigenisation programme and general policy environment.
Performance in the construction and manufacturing sectors could improve if government successfully addresses structural bottlenecks, such as infrastructure deficiencies and an underperforming business climate. If a new government administration adopts a more business-friendly approach to policymaking, solid expansion of Zimbabwe’s economy may be expected in 2020.
27 August 2018
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The voice of the customer is louder than ever, thanks to that giant global PA system called social media.
If you need a quick reminder of the power of social media, cast your mind back to Women’s Day when pen manufacturer Bic posted this celebratory message on its Facebook page: “Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a boss #HappyWomensDay.”
The ad was swiftly condemned by South African tweeters and attracted global news coverage for its unfortunate messaging.
The incident highlights how the balance of power between brands and customers has been upended because consumers are paying more attention to peer reviews than marketing messages.
A McKinsey study has shown that marketing-inspired word-of-mouth generates more than twice the sales of paid advertising, and there is a 37% higher customer retention rate.
Related: Introduction to online marketing
Simply, when a customer has a positive experience with your brand, that word-of-mouth can influence purchasing decisions for other consumers.
Imagine what happens then, if that person is an influencer – a person who has above-average impact on a specific niche, such as consumer groups, industry associations or community tribes?
Influencer marketing is not a new thing; in the past, companies paid celebrities to endorse their products. “With the explosion of social media over the last decade, ordinary people have suddenly become ‘pseulebrities’,” says Mike Stopforth, CEO of communications agency Cerebra.
“It’s thanks to their ability to create and share content, and build audiences around that content on blogs, YouTube, SnapChat and Twitter. Companies of all sizes are seeing this relatively new channel as a cost-effective, highly measurable way to market themselves.”
Stopforth warns that social media audiences are smart, informed, and incredibly sceptical. They quickly switch off to messages that are clearly insincere or inauthentic.
Effective influencer marketing happens, Stopforth says, when a company:
Making money from having built an audience is an influencer’s right. The trick, for both the influencer and the brand, is to ensure that the authenticity and credibility of both parties remain intact.
Murray Legg, co-founder of Webfluential, which connects influencers with brands and agencies to promote campaigns, takes the guesswork out of influencer marketing by linking popular influencers on a single platform, and then tracks and analyses traffic data from active social media accounts to connect them with marketing agencies.
It’s not an entirely new concept, but provides a portal for both influencers and marketers to connect.
Legg says people who have built a solid online community and are trusted by their followers deserve fair reward for giving brands leverage.
“It’s an opportunity for people to turn their passion for social media into a revenue stream, depending on how much time they have to devote to being an influencer. We give influencers the ability to accept or reject projects and brands according to their suitability. Detailed reports are provided for marketers so they can accurately measure ROI.”
The key element is symbiosis between the company and the influencer. As Legg puts it, “One of our influencers reviewed the speed of an SD card in a high-end camera for a small niche audience of gadget freaks. As an expert user, the influencer maintains credibility, while the client gets to interact with exactly the right target market.”
Jacqui Mackway-Wilson, MD of GoSocialSA, stresses that influence is not about how many followers you have.
“An avid fly fisher who has a few hundred followers who share that interest, is far more valuable to a specialist fly fishing retailer than a celebrity with thousands of fans. It’s a question of alignment, authenticity and credibility. As US social media marketing strategist Ted Rubin says, reputation is what people remember; it’s the trust you build that leads to loyalty. That is the ROI of social media.”
Related: Marketing strategy for your business
Companies that see influencers as a genuine opportunity for sincere dialogue and value exchange, are shifting traditional approaches to marketing.
“For them it’s changing marketing principles from broadcast to conversation, from prescription to inclusion, and from targeting to participation,” says Stopforth.
“It forces the entire business, from your most junior customer-facing staff to your most senior executive, to think about the impact of the customer’s voice on the organisation. Brands such as Amazon, Starbucks and Zappos show us every day just how effective this mentality can be
Does that signal the death knell for traditional marketing? Not at all. The key is to make sure that all budget spent has some measurable objective attached to it, and that all those different channels – print, TV, radio, digital, social – are working towards the same goal, with the same aligned brand message, and the same tone.
Legg sees the successes influencer marketing has achieved for big brands as a proving ground for SMEs.
“Smaller businesses are able to choose how much they are willing to invest in influencer marketing and tailor their campaigns in line with their budget.”
By building relationships and interacting with people who are influential in the online space, SMEs can get exposure to the markets they want to reach, says Mackway-Wilson. “It’s a lot like making friends with people, because in the online world reciprocity is key.”
She adds that although influencer marketing provides SMEs with an opportunity to reach large audiences with smaller budgets, the myth that social media is free must be dispelled. A campaign does not need to break the bank, but there are costs involved.
“Any social media campaign must be integrated into an overarching PR strategy,” she adds.
“Whether you want to build brand awareness or increase foot traffic to your brick-and-mortar store will determine how much you have to spend. If you are targeting the upper LSMs, a digital campaign is great. If your target market is township-based, traditional media will be far more effective.”
Reputation building is a marathon, not a sprint. Just as in the offline world, people have many facets to them. The only way to find out if you or your brand will resonate with an influencer is to strike up a conversation.
If you’re a florist, engage with influencers in the wedding space. Liron Segey, TheTechieGuy, has a mere 5 600 followers on Twitter, but if you run an IT business, he’s a specialist you’ll want on your side.
Mackway-Wilson cautions against using the same people over and over.
Related: Free marketing for business owners
“There’s a limited number of influencers because we are a small market, but it’s advisable for businesses to engage with people that really fit into their niche.”
And one more word of advice: She’s come across quite a few celebrity accounts where a large number of followers have been purchased and are fake.
“We wondered why we were not getting the reach and impressions we expected after engaging with some sports celebrities, so we ran a Twitter audit, which can be done free, and found that half the followers were fake. If you are going to pay influencers for a campaign, make sure that you are getting what you pay for.”
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Theft and fidelity cover are often confused with each other. Bryan Verpoort discusses the difference between the two and why your business should be putting measures in place for both of these risks.
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Moving Forward is a trademark of The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited. | https://bizconnect.standardbank.co.za/manage/marketing-tips/the-ins-and-outs-of-influencer-marketing.aspx |
In 2019–20, the ABCC had a strong focus on financial management to ensure efficient and effective use of resources. The total income for the agency was $33.365 million for 2019–20, which included appropriation funding of $33.162 million. The agency incurred total expenses of $33.043 million. As a result, the ABCC recorded a surplus of $0.322 million in 2019–20.
Major expenses for the agency include employee benefits (58 per cent), legal expenses (14 per cent) and information and communications technology (6 per cent), which represented a similar expenditure pattern to 2018-19. Although the cost of employee benefits is relatively predictable, the legal expenses category is subject to volatility depending on the number, nature and complexity of legal matters. Legal expenses decreased by $0.034 million compared to 2018–19 and remained within budget.
The agency resource statement (Table 23) summarises the total resources in comparison to the total payments made during the year. The expenses and resources table (Table 24) details the expenses by outcome.
Actual available appropriation for 2019–20
$’000
(a)
Payments made 2019–20
$’000
(b)
Balance remaining 2019–20
$’000
(a - b)
Ordinary annual services*
Departmental appropriation^
79,359
31,174
48,185
Total ordinary annual services
79,359
31,174
48,185
Other services
Departmental non-operating
Equity injections
-
-
-
Total other services
-
-
-
Total available annual appropriations
79,359
31,174
48,185
Total net resourcing for the ABCC
79,359
31,174
48,185
*Appropriation Act (No.1) 2019–20. This may also include prior-year departmental appropriation and section 74 retained revenue receipts.
^Includes an amount of $0.440 million in 2019–20 for the departmental capital budget. For accounting purposes, this amount has been designated as ‘contributions by owners’.
Outcome 1: Enforce workplace relations laws in the building and construction industry and ensure compliance with those laws by all participants in the building and construction industry through the provision of education, assistance and advice.
Budget
2019–20
$’000
(a)
Actual expenses
2019–20
$’000
(b)
Variation
$’000
(a - b)
Program 1.1: Education, compliance and enforcement - to educate building industry participants in order to promote compliance with workplace laws.
Departmental expenses
Departmental appropriation*
33,162
29,276
3,886
Section 74 Retained revenue receipts (a)
405
203
202
Expenses not requiring appropriation in the budget year
1,305
3,564
(2,259)
Total for Program 1.1
34,872
33,043
1,829
Total expenses for Outcome 1
34,872
33,043
1,829
2019–20
Average staffing level (number)
142
* Budget information reflects budgets as set out in the Portfolio Budget Statements 2019–20 (Table 2.1.1). | https://www.transparency.gov.au/annual-reports/australian-building-and-construction-commission/reporting-year/2019-20-30 |
Morals are the prevailing standards of behavior that enable people to live cooperatively in groups. Moral refers to what societies sanction as right and acceptable.
Most people tend to act morally and follow societal guidelines. Morality often requires that people sacrifice their own short-term interests for the benefit of society. People or entities that are indifferent to right and wrong are considered amoral, while those who do evil acts are considered immoral.
While some moral principles seem to transcend time and culture, such as fairness, generally speaking, morality is not fixed. Morality describes the particular values of a specific group at a specific point in time. Historically, morality has been closely connected to religious traditions, but today its significance is equally important to the secular world. For example, businesses and government agencies have codes of ethics that employees are expected to follow.
Some philosophers make a distinction between morals and ethics. But many people use the terms morals and ethics interchangeably when talking about personal beliefs, actions, or principles. For example, it’s common to say, “My morals prevent me from cheating.” It’s also common to use ethics in this sentence instead.
So, morals are the principles that guide individual conduct within society. And, while morals may change over time, they remain the standards of behavior that we use to judge right and wrong. | https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/glossary/morals |
Schools should assess students on both “academic knowledge” and “nonacademic skills”—like teamwork, critical thinking, and creativity—parents and educators said in a new survey.
But they offered widely varying views on exactly what those skills should be.
About eight in 10 respondents in each group—teachers, parents, superintendents, and principals—said it’s “equally important” for schools to assess students in both areas.
The poll was administered by Gallup on behalf of NWEA, a nonprofit assessment and education organization, as part of its series of reports on public perceptions of educational assessment. A total of about 2,000 superintendents and principals responded to online surveys in March. Samples of about 1,000 parents and 1,000 teachers were polled via telephone in September and April. Pollsters also did open-ended interviews with some respondents.
Of the teachers polled, only one in 10 said their schools’ informal and formal gauges of “nonacademic skills” measure them very well.
Strategies like social-emotional learning; social, emotional, and academic development; and an overall broader focus on “educating the whole child” have drawn a growing interest among educators and parents. But many schools have resisted assessing students’ growth in these areas. That’s in part because many researchers have said measures of social-emotional and “soft skills” are not sophisticated enough to adequately track progress over time.
And, as the poll results show, schools may struggle to narrow down what soft skills to emphasize and, eventually, to measure. Respondents to the Gallup poll had varying priorities in this area.
As I’ve written before, researchers are working to develop better measures of these skills:
Schools commonly use self-reported surveys, through which they ask students to report on their own social-emotional learning progress or to assess the progress of their peers. But some researchers have warned that the results of such surveys shouldn't be used for high-stakes purposes, like school funding or determining a student's assignment to special interventions. That's because students may respond to the same question differently depending on their own experiences, personal values, understanding of the question, and familiarity with the subject."
A working group convened by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, known as CASEL, hosts an annual design challenge in which groups submit designs for ways to measure things like students’ self-control and social awareness.
Past winners to that challenge have included video games that ask students to view video vignettes and imagine how the characters are feeling in the situations they are witnessing and simulations that ask students to solve real-life problems.
NWEA, the organization that commissioned the poll, won the design challenge in 2017 with a proposal to analyze metadata from computerized tests that show how quickly students respond to questions. In trials, NWEA researchers found that “rapid guessing,” or responding to a question so quickly that the student likely didn’t understand it, correlates with less engagement on tests and lower levels of personal skills like self-regulation.
And, as Education Week’s Benjamin Herold reported in June, the interest in measuring social-emotional traits has drawn interest from private companies that have developed software, wearable devices, and other technology to track students’ emotions and mindsets. That has sparked some privacy concerns and pushback from parents who are concerned about how the results will be used.
The Gallup report included a list of the widely varying traits respondents listed in interviews when they were asked about what nonacademic skills schools should teach.
Photo: Fourth graders at Oakton Elementary School in Evanston, Ill., wrote words describing their feelings during a class taught by teacher Perry Hollins. --File photo by Alyssa Schukar for Education Week
Related reading on social, emotional, and academic development:
- Special report: Social-emotional learning starts with teachers
- How (and Why) Ed-Tech Companies Are Tracking Students’ Feelings
- Students Help Design Measures of Social-Emotional Skills
Follow @evieblad on Twitter or subscribe to Rules for Engagement to get blog posts delivered directly to your inbox.
A version of this news article first appeared in the Rules for Engagement blog. | https://www.edweek.org/leadership/schools-should-teach-and-measure-soft-skills-parents-and-educators-agree/2018/08 |
Ecology and sustainable development are among the important issues South Caucasus Regional Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation concentrates on. Together with our partners we monitor and analyze recent developments in the field of energy, environmental protection and climate change.
Through our Climate Change Program and in collaboration with our partners we support the energy policy that decreases dependence on traditional energy sources and promotes renewable (mostly wind and solar) and energy efficient technologies, introduces the low emission technologies in different sectors (transport, urban planning, waste management, construction business, agriculture, etc) and delivers benefits of sustainable energy to the society. We believe that identification of the economic, social and environmental benefits of the sustainable energy systems, development of important financial mechanisms for renewable energy technologies, defining sectoral priorities for low emission economic models and promotion of their establishment are crucial for the South Caucasus region.
Our office has been supporting and advocating sustainable urban development for several years. Through our and our partners` activities we want to protect green public spaces and cultural heritage and introduce contemporary urban planning principles into the public discourse.
In our work we support regional cooperation, experience and knowledge sharing in the fields of environmental protection and energy. In future we will concentrate more efforts on raising awareness of ordinary citizens and decision-makers, promoting environmental responsibility and supporting research, monitoring and advocacy on climate change, sustainable energy systems and urban development issues. | https://ge.boell.org/en/2014/03/27/enviromental-protection-and-sustainable-development |
IPSA is one of the largest politics conferences in the world, with around 2400 attendees from government, industry, and academia. A variety of important topics were covered throughout the conference, with keynote speakers addressing the growing problems being experienced in democratic states around the world.
IPAG was represented at the IPSA world congress in Brisbane by Jeremiah Brown, Senior Research Associate, IPAG. Jeremiah presented two separate papers at IPSA. One paper titled ‘Disadvantage and Democracy: Why Income and Education Matter for Attitudes Towards Democracy’ was presented with a co-author, Dr. Andrew Klassen, from Charles Darwin University. The other paper was titled ‘Democracy as Citizen Agency: The Capability Approach as a Theory of Democracy’
Conference on Sustainable Peace and Development in a Polarising World: Perspectives and Contributions from the Commonwealth of Nations
April 9-11, 2018
Brisbane, Australia
Syed Munir Khasru, Chairman, IPAG was the moderator in the session “Challenges to Peace and Development in the Commonwealth” during the conference on “Sustainable Peace and Development in a Polarising World: Perspectives and Contributions from the Commonwealth of Nations” organized by the Centre for Interfaith & Cultural Dialogue, Griffith University; on April 09-11, 2018 in Brisbane, Australia. He was also a panelist during the sessions “Contextualising Sustainable Peace and Development in the Commonwealth”, “Reconciliation Across the Commonwealth” and “Muslims Building Peace and Security in the Commonwealth”.
Upcoming Projects
Int’l Conference on Changing Geopolitical Landscape in the Asia Pacific: Strategic Challenges for an Australia in the New Era
IPAG, in collaboration with the Institute for Regional Security (IFRS), Australia, will jointly organize a conference titled Changing Geopolitical Landscape in the Asia Pacific: Strategic Challenges for an Australia in the New Era in August, 2019 in Canberra, Australia
Among others, the event will have discussions and deliberations on the following themes:
- Australia in the Asia-Pacific
- China in the Asia-Pacific
- Strengthening Democracy in the Asia-Pacific
- Reimagining Australia in the Asia Pacific
Research Project on
Forced Migration impacting the 2030 aspirations of developing first-asylum countries: The case of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
Migration is a persistent global issue, with one in every 113 people on the planet now a refugee. One of the longest running refugee crises, the current Rohingya crisis is understood as a major regional crisis placing economic and social pressure on countries throughout the South Asian region. Bangladesh has borne the brunt of the cost to date, and this cost will have a significant impact on the ability of Bangladesh to achieve its Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets, however, the precise extent of this is currently unknown. More research is needed on how a host nation’s national and local development plans, national budget, and overall economic agenda, are hampered when it has to redirect resources towards hosting the refugees.
The study will examine the potential cost burdens arising from a variety of different potential outcomes from the Rohingya crisis. Specifically, we will evaluate the increased cost-burden associated with achieving the SDG targets which Bangladesh has outlined as their core goal in the coming years. Understanding these implications will in turn ensure that we are effectively able to understand the cost associated with the failure to resolve the Rohingya crisis, and to more accurately evaluate the cost-burden of future forced-migration events.
Research and Knowledge Dissemination Project on
Towards Sustainable Development: Best Practices in Renewable Technologies
The population growth rate and per capita income are crucial drivers behind the growing global energy demand. The energy consumption in the world has already increased by 43% in 2015 compared to 2000. By 2035, the world’s population is projected to grow from current 7.44 to 8.8 billion which means that an additional 1.5 billion people will need electricity adding to growing concerns on the security of energy supply. The current system of energy production relying on the three main sources (oil, coal, and natural gas) is becoming a problem due to risks associated with climate change, pollution, and increasing energy demands in developing regions. There is an ever-increasing need to meet energy demand in a clean and sustainable way. Along with meeting a regional energy crisis, the adoption of renewable energy technologies and best practices can be translated into a deeper flow of engagement and integration towards unshackled economic growth and sustainable development.
To address these problems, an establishment of a joint research platform can be a key step in an accumulation of data on existing renewable energy technologies from around the world, enabling sectorial key stakeholders, policymakers and energy practitioners in the energy sector to understand better the replicable renewable energy technologies.
The project intends to conduct research on the best practices of renewable and clean energy and disseminate major findings to the key stakeholders for adoption of “smarter” renewable energy technologies around the world. It will help to create a knowledge and resource hub, to encourage data-driven decision making and effective resource mobilization and will assist in a move towards a 100% renewable and clean energy dependent world. | http://www.ipag.org/ipag-asia-pacific/ |
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Asylum Interview: How long is the Wait?
Many asylum applicants are concerned with the timeline for the affirmative asylum process. It is used to be the case that after an asylum application was filed affirmatively, an applicant could have expected to be called for an interview within a couple of months after the filing date. However, within the recent years, it is impossible to predict when an asylum applicant will be called for interview: for some applicants it happens as soon as a month after their fingerprints were taken, and some have to wait for over a year to get called to testify about their claims.
What is the reason for long wait for asylum interview?
Apparently, according to the USCIS, the reason is why some people have to wait months and years for their asylum interview is that the number of asylum applications increased dramatically within the recent years, and the Asylum Office simply could not cope with all of them. That is why many cases got stuck in a "backlog". At the same time, according to the USCIS, some applicants are called within the supposed 60 -day timeframe. There is no magic to it. It is just random luck.
Can one’s attorney expedite the case?
An attorney can try. The USCIS explicitly said that requests to expedite an asylum interview can be filed with the local asylum office and will be considered, but due to the high volume of such requests, only a few will be granted.
Can one change the jurisdiction / state to expedite the interview?
One may defiantly try. But here is a caveat: first, by filing the change of address form with the asylum office that has jurisdiction over one’s case, the requester is slowing down the process, and as a result, his or her EAD clock will stop until they appear for an interview in a different state. Second, it takes time for the offices to transfer and to receive a case. So, by asking an asylum office to change the location of the interview, an applicant is pretty sure to loose time than to win it. Finally, one may not engage in what is called a “forum shopping”: trying to change an interview location hoping for a result better than in the original forum. However, one should be filing a notice of change of address and a request to change the location of the interview if he or she moved and established residence in some other state.
What to do if one is tired of waiting and would like to withdraw asylum application?
If this is the case, a person must do it in writing. If she is planning to leave the country, she should also provide a copy of her ticket to avoid being placed in removal proceedings. If she just leaves the country and abandons her application, a removal order in absentia may be issued against her.
What are the dangers of the backlog?
The most serious consequence of the backlog, of course, is a change in country conditions so dramatic that would nullify someone’s asylum claim. Usually, once the status is granted, the USCIS does not take it back even If the country conditions improved so much that the applicant would not face risk should she return back home. However, if the country conditions change between the time of the application and the time of adjudication of asylum claim, an applicant might be denied the benefit sought. The delay likewise causes prolonged separation of family members who cannot see each other due to travel restrictions and inability to unite in the US. An asylum applicant can apply for advance parole and travel to a third country, but in each case, she should consult with an attorney before leaving the US. | https://www.shautsova.com/law-publications/asylum-interview-how-long-is-the-wait.html |
Earthquake, Pattanam, Baratang, Barren Island, Havelock Island
Get unlimited access to the best preparation resource for IAS : Get detailed illustrated notes covering entire syllabus: point-by-point for high retention.
Earthquake
- An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor, temblor or seismic activity) is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth՚s crust that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes are measured with a seismometer; a device which also records is known as a seismograph. The moment magnitude (or the related and mostly obsolete Richter magnitude) of an earthquake is conventionally reported, with magnitude 3 or lower earthquakes being mostly imperceptible and magnitude 7 causing serious damage over large areas. Intensity of shaking is measured on the modified Mercalli scale.
- The Mercalli intensity scale is a scale used for measuring the intensity of an earthquake. The scale quantifies the effects of an earthquake on the Earth՚s surface, humans, objects of nature, and man-made structures on a scale of I through XII, with I denoting not felt, and XII total destruction
- The Richter magnitude scale, also known as the local magnitude (ML) scale, assigns a single number to quantify the amount of seismic energy released by an earthquake. It is a base-10 logarithmic scale obtained by calculating the logarithm of the combined horizontal amplitude (shaking amplitude) of the largest displacement from zero on a particular type of seismometer (Wood – Anderson torsion) .
- The largest earthquake that has been measured was the 9.5 magnitude one in Chile in 1960.
Pattanam
Pattanam is a small village in the Ernakulam district of Kerala. Recent excavation conducted by the Kerala Council for Historical Research (KCHR) and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) indicates that this place could be the ancient trading city of Muziris which is referred to by Roman historians.
Baratang
Baratang is an island in the Andaman Islands (area: 238 sq. km) . This island contains the only known examples of mud volcanoes in India.
Barren Island
Barren Island is located in the Andaman Sea and is the only confirmed active volcano in South Asia. The most recent eruption was in May 2008.
Narcondam
Narcondam is a small volcanic island located in the Andaman Sea. It is classified as a dormant volcano by the Geological Survey of India.
Nyoma
Nyoma is a town in Leh District, J&K. There is an Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) of the Indian Airforce very near to the Line of Actual Control. Similarly, Fukche is also a ALG.
Havelock Island
It is the largest of the islands of the Ritchie՚s Archipelago in Andaman Islands. In May 2010, the first attack on human by a salt-water crocodile in the open sea was recorded there.
Pattadakal
The 8th century monuments in Pattadakal (Karnataka) were designated a World Heritage Site in 1987. The monuments are the culmination of the earliest experiments in the Vesara style of Hindu temple architecture.
Loktak Lake (Manipur)
It is an important lake in Manipur which is surrounded by mountains on all sides. It is the largest freshwater lake in northeaster India. Also called the only Floating Lake in the world due to floating masses of organic matter on it. It serves as a source for hydropower generation, irrigation and drinking water supply.
Hambantota
- It is a coastal town in south Sri Lanka. India has opened a new consulate there. It has been recently in news for the giant port project built with the help of China.
- Artibonite River flows through Haiti. In 2010, Cholera epidemic spread in Haiti due to the contaminated water of this river.
- Ashgabhat is the capital of Turkmenistan. The intergovernmental agreement on TAPI project was signed here in December 2010. | https://www.examrace.com/RBI/RBI-Grade-B/RBI-Grade-B-Free-Study-Material/General-Studies/Geography/Geography-Places.html |
GODAN supports the proactive sharing of open data to make information about agriculture and nutrition available, accessible and usable to deal with the urgent challenge of ensuring world food security. It is a rapidly growing group, currently with over 317 partners from national governments, non-governmental, international and private sector organisations that have committed to a joint Statement of Purpose.
The initiative focuses on building high-level support among governments, policymakers, international organizations and business. GODAN promotes collaboration to harness the growing volume of data generated by new technologies to solve long-standing problems and to benefit farmers and the health of consumers. We encourage collaboration and cooperation between stakeholders in the sector.
When did this initiative launch?
At the 2012 G-8 Summit, G-8 leaders committed to the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, the next phase of a shared commitment to achieving global food security.
As part of this commitment, they agreed to “share relevant agricultural data available from G-8 countries with African partners and convene an international conference on Open Data for Agriculture, to develop options for the establishment of a global platform to make reliable agricultural and related information available to African farmers, researchers and policymakers, taking into account existing agricultural data systems.”
In April 2013, the commitment to convene an international conference on Open Data for Agriculture was fulfilled when the G8 International Conference on Open Data for Agriculture took place.
This conference worked to ‘obtain commitment and action from nations and relevant stakeholders to promote policies and invest in projects that open access to publicly funded global agriculturally relevant data streams, making such data readily accessible to users in Africa and world-wide, and ultimately supporting a sustainable increase in food security in developed and developing countries.
The GODAN initiative was a by-product of this conference and was announced at the Open Government Partnership Conference in October 2013. | https://www.landportal.org/organization/godan |
Fun Facts!
- ♦ In Malay orang means "person" and utan is derived from hutan, which means "forest." Thus, orangutan literally means "person of the forest."
- ♦ Orangutans share nearly 97% of their genetic material with humans. Our close genetic relatedness with all the great apes make us sibling species.
- ♦ Orangutans' arms stretch out longer than their bodies - over 7 ft. from fingertip to fingertip - and are used to employ a "hookgrip."
- ♦ When on the ground, they walk on all fours, using their palms or their fists.
- ♦ When male orangutans are about 15 years old, they develop large cheek pads, which female orangutans apparently find attractive.
- ♦ When males are fighting, they charge at each other and break branches. If that doesn't scare one of them away, they grapple and bite each other.
- ♦ For the first few years of his/her life, a young orangutan holds tight to his/her mother's body as she moves through the forest in search of fruit. Later, he/she will follow the mother as she moves through the trees.
- ♦ Juvenile orangutans love to play and will "play fight" in the trees without showing any fear of heights.
- ♦ Like humans, orangutans have opposable thumbs. Their big toes are also opposable.
- ♦ Orangutans have tremendous strength, which enables them to brachiate (swing from branch to branch) and hang upside-down from branches for long periods of time to retrieve fruit and eat young leaves.
- ♦ Orangutans love to eat soap, which surprisingly does not upset their stomach, and will lather their arms before eating the frothy treat. | https://www.ourf.info/become-aware/orangutan-basics/fun-facts |
The airline industry worldwide has brought great benefits to society, affecting the economic, social and environmental sustainability, including the most diverse and cultural people around the world. This has been reflected by the increased new aircraft sales each year, and the flight safety is one of the most important and challenging factors to achieve and keep the trust of the users and the perpetuity of this transport. The flight safety is associated with both aircraft manufacturing and maintenance, where the maintenance technician plays a key role. Training and upgrading of the professional regulation and education involve theoretical and practical knowledge, which should be given special attention to human factors and ways to prevent human errors for incidents and accidents in aviation. Despite its importance, this issue has not been investigated like it would be, especially in Brazil. The objective of this research is to analyze the current situation of aircraft maintenance mechanics training with emphasis on flight safety, using an exploratory method. The results point to an increased trend of incidents and accidents in this transport sector, including the factors associated with human failings; and to the relevance of place greater emphasis on flight safety into Brazilian regulations that standardize the graduation of airplane maintenance mechanics. It has been also recommended that the curriculum and other requirements for such training be compatible with the technological innovation speed for new and old airplanes. Increased collaboration between companies and schools can also bring benefits and the regional maintenance center of Sao Carlos, Araraquara and Ribeirao Preto has potential for that. It is also suggested that such revision on the Brazilian national regulations has as reference some consultations with people involved on this market, taking into account relevant international regulations. | https://repositorio.ufscar.br/handle/ufscar/1057 |
This is the first of what I hope will be several posts discussing the future of ethics rules in California.
One of the overarching questions that the Supreme Court of California must address is whether the law governing lawyers should be (1) set forth in comprehensive rules, with commentary, and then interpreted by appellate opinions as the need arises, or (2) set forth in a minimal set of disciplinary rules with few comments and then in a series of appellate opinions dealing with particular facts. The correspondence between the Clerk of the Supreme Court of California and the State Bar of California suggests that the court has opted for the latter. That's a bad idea for the public, for clients, and for lawyers. The former choice—essentially the ABA structure—has proven itself across the states and over decades to be a superior form of regulation.
Why is the ABA structure superior? First, the law that governs lawyers covers a lot of ground and we need a comprehensive framework. There is the relationship between the attorney and the client; there are the ethical obligations a lawyer has to each of the social systems with which she interacts as she represents her client (e.g., the courts, the markets, the executive branch agencies, etc.); there are the lawyer’s ethical responsibilities within her workplace; and there are the ethics rules that set the boundaries of the profession itself.
The ABA structure provides a solid, concise framework for the regulation all of those areas. In contrast, lawyers in California must turn to a thin set of poorly organized rules, a regulatory statute in the Business & Professions Code, numerous other statutes in a variety of codes, lots of appellate opinions that are often in tension with each other, the Rules of the State Bar of California, the California Rules of Court, and ethics opinions from a handful of committees.
As California ethicists know, that unwieldy assemblage of governing authorities necessitates the annual compilation known as “Publication 250,” which tries to pull all those disparate authorities together in one place. Likewise, we have to review the ramshackle “California Compendium on Professional Responsibility” and the poorly organized but essential index to the California State Bar Court Reporter. But even once the California lawyer has gathered all those sources, gaps remain. So we dutifully read Cal. R. of Prof. Cond. 1-100, which instructs us to consult the national authorities—i.e., we are told to go read the ABA Model Rules! If you have any doubts about the extent of the gaps in California’s law, just pick up the Vapnek treatise and see how often it relies on the ABA rules. In sum, California is in serious need of a comprehensive framework that is easily accessible to practicing attorneys.
Second, placing primary reliance on appellate opinions (rather than on rules and comments) does not serve the public interest because it fails to provide guidance to many lawyers. Appellate opinions mostly deal with ethics issues arising for litigators and with malpractice claims. But about half of the legal profession does not deal with litigation and the numerous ethics issues arising in those settings rarely make their way into appellate opinions. California lawyers need lots more clarity in the non-litigation settings.
Appellate opinions are also inadequate because they are so specific. Take, for example, our case law on how conflicts of interests apply to corporate affiliates. We have two leading cases that take divergent approaches and lead to different outcomes. What use is that to the attorney sitting in her office and deciding what she must do? Or take the example of the deal-making lawyer wondering if her lateral movement will create a conflict of interest for the lawyers in her new firm. Famously, California has no general rule on imputation of conflicts. So she consults the various appellate opinions and sees that the issue is analyzed and ultimately resolved by shifting the burden of proof in various ways. Shifting the burden of proof? How can she do that herself? She can’t. But if she were governed by the ABA approach, she would have ready access to a fairly robust way to analyze the issue.
Appellate opinions are inadequate for basic counseling. The bulk of the ethics compliance that lawyers undertake is done by themselves alone or within their law firms. Having to tease out the holding from the dicta in an appellate opinion, or having to reconcile the various appellate opinions on a topic, is not conducive to providing clear guidance to lawyers seeking help. Given how often lawyers want to know ex ante, “what does the rule say and what am I allowed to do?”, the answer, “we don’t have a clear rule in California but here’s some appellate opinions to ponder” is rather disappointing.
The legal profession has become more complex over time. Legal practices are increasingly specialized. Organizational clients now have significant in-house legal expertise and manage their outside counsel in sophisticated ways. It is necessary that the practicing lawyers in California have ready access to a clearly articulated framework of the law that governs their behavior. Right now, they don't. And if the new set of ethics rules will remain a minimal set of disciplinary standards with little commentary, California will fall even further behind. That doesn't help the public, the clients, or the lawyers. I have to say, respectfully, that our high court has chosen poorly. | https://www.legalethicsforum.com/blog/2014/10/regulating-californias-lawyers-part-1-rules-vs-appellate-opinions.html |
NITI Aayog in collaboration with the European Union delegation to India have released the Strategy on Resource Efficiency at a function in the capital. The report included in action plan for promoting resource efficiency in India. The strategy paper was unveiled by the Principal Adviser to NITI Aayog, Shri Ratan P.Watal, Indian resource panel member Dr. Tishyarakshit Chatterjee, Ms. Henriette Faergemann, EU Counsellor, Environment, Energy & Climate change. A large number of experts, academicians and delegates participated in the event.
Mr. Ratan P. Watal, Principal Advisor, NITI Aayog, mentioned that sustainability is a global priority and SDGs commitment and 11th Five year plan clearly enunciate importance of Resource efficiency (RE). Resource Efficiency and Circular Economy are important goals and central principles for achieving sustainable development. Resource efficiency very simply put is making more with fewer materials. In practice, through a life-cycle approach, it leads to minimizing impact on environment & the associated societal burdens, transforming ‘waste’ into ‘resources’ fostering circular economy, and strengthening resource security.
Ms. Henriette Faergemann, EU Counsellor, Environment, Energy & Climate change mentioned that it is evident the RE agenda in India has gained not only national priority during the EU-India summit in October this year but also in the G20 RE dialogue in Berlin, Germany on November 27, 2017. EU will support the GoI, especially MoEFCC and NITI Aayog in implementing the RE strategy.
Dr. Tishyarakshit Chatterjee, Indian Resource Panel member and former Secretary MoEFCC highlighted that this strategy is the first policy document to emphasize resource productivity in the country. Mr. Sachin Joshi, COO of CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development, said that the RE Strategy emphasizes on Sustainable Public Procurement (SSP) as an action agenda which will be the market transformation tool to transform to a resource efficient economy.
The document is developed with the recommendations from the Indian Resource Efficiency Programme (IREP), launched by the Indian Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and Indian Resource Panel (InRP) in April 2017. The work on Resource Efficiency Strategy and proposed plan of action (core and medium term) will be supported for its implementation by the European Union (EU) funded Resource Efficiency Initiative (EU-REI) led by GIZ in the consortium with TERI, CII and Adelphi. NITI Aayog has provided key support in positioning this document for public consultation, and charting the way forward. | https://globalbusinesscoalition.org/global-governance-news/niti-aayog-eu-delegation-india-release-strategy-resource-efficiency/ |
Serious games can be highly frustrating or extremely boring. They are then not the effective educational tools that they were supposed to be. Serious games are designed to contribute to achieving a specific purpose other than mere entertainment. As such, they may be helpful to better understand complex management issues or engineering topics. However, those purposes may actually never be achieved when a game is designed poorly. I have experienced exactly that with a serious game that I have designed for construction supply chain management. Here’s how a theoretical model from the 1970s helped me to promote the learning potential of that game.
Over the past year, I have been facilitating numerous workshops for the serious game ‘Tower of Infinity’. This one-player serious game enables players to experience what it takes to coordinate activities in a construction supply chain. Participants of the workshops were students, practitioners, educators as well as researchers. Some of those workshops are documented on this website (like here), others are not. All workshops basically consist of two parts. Initially, the same game was played during these two consecutive parts (although with different game parameters). The idea behind that was to study whether people could apply the lessons from the first part of the workshop during the second: the assumption was then that the game results would improve over time. This original plan did not work.
I observed expressions of frustration during the first part of some of the earlier game workshops. Players frequently seemed overwhelmed by the number of available game actions, rules and constraints. They had difficulties to start with the game and had a lot of questions. As there were sometimes too many questions to handle alone (especially in bigger groups), I had to rely on the assistance of some colleagues who would be helping me with answering rule-related questions. The atmosphere would sometimes be noisy. I could also see from their game scores that some people misinterpreted the rules or were not able to finish in time. Occasionally, a player even stopped playing.
The second part of the workshop nevertheless always went much smoother. There were very few questions, much more people could finish the game in time and game scores were more consistent with each other. A striking observation is that, with no exception, I have always witnessed moments of complete silence during the second part of a game workshop. At these times, all players seemed very engaged with the game (and only the game). A workshop with students even resulted in the situation that people preferred continuing playing the game over having a scheduled break (and getting coffee).
These two completely different accounts of basically the same game during a single workshop are quite remarkable. They forced me to change my data collection and analysis plan. But how can these differences be explained?
An answer can be given with a famous model that originates from the 1970s. Around that time, the Hungarian psychologist called Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi found that a person’s ‘level of competence’ and the ‘difficulty of a certain challenge’ interact and result in different cognitive and emotional states. When the level of competence is too low and the challenge too hard, people become anxious. Alternatively, when the level of competence is too high and the challenge too easy, people become bored. However, when the level of competence and the difficulty of a task are roughly proportional, people enter so-called flow states (Figure 1). Flow is the condition in which people are completely engrossed in a task and lose sense of time and place. This condition is characterized by high focus, engagement, motivation, and immersion.
Back to the earlier serious game workshops I organized. Players seemed to be in a state of anxiety during the first part of the same workshop: there was a lot of frustration resulting from a mismatch between the game challenge and the acquired level of competence. On the other hand, these same players seemed to have reached a flow state during the second part of the workshops: they were highly focused and motivated as the game challenge and the level of competence matched much better (Figure 2). The condition of flow is desirable, as this is the state where people use their learning potential to the fullest.
After realizing the mismatch between players’ level of competence and game challenge in the first part of the serious game workshop, I decided to redesign the game and the workshop. The second part challenges players to use LEGO bricks for design and construction tasks and poses a number of constraints (like total project duration). Here, players experience the simulated real-world situation to the fullest. Obviously, its challenges had to be reduced for the first part of the game. I did that by simplifying the in-game task (only constructing, not designing) and by removing some constraints (no maximum duration). These dramatic simplifications greatly reduced the challenges posed to players (Figure 3). Additionally, I conducted a number of other improvements, such as an update of the rulebook (which I reduced to one graphic rather than a two-page written document). The changes aimed to achieve a state of flow during both parts of a workshop.
The changes worked out well. During the latter workshops, there were fewer questions, far more people finished their game plays and there were moments of complete silence (high levels of immersion) in both rounds. This suggests that players of the game now reach a flow state during both rounds of the game. It is at that moment that players utilize their learning potential to the fullest. Matching levels of competence and in-game challenges is thus crucial to make a serious game a success. As described above, I learned that only actual game play workshops can reveal whether a serious game beats both anxiety and boredom. | https://www.mcvandenberg.com/blog/beating-anxiety-and-boredom-serious-game-design-lessons/ |
We have a buoy in our lake that we like to swim to, and we’re curious how far a swim it is. Is there a way to calculate this distance? Can you do something other than use a long rope?—Billie Dominic, Huntsville, Ont.
Sure. There are apps and gadgetry—a golfer’s range finder, for example—that can tell you. But, “I’m a Luddite,” says Lynn Marshall, a Masters Swimming world-record holder and coach. “I don’t even own a cellphone. Personally, I would just swim to the marker and figure out how far it was from how long it took.”
Of course! It’s a simple physics problem, solvable with the Distance Speed Time formula: Distance = Speed x Time. As long as you know those two variables—speed and time—you can calculate the distance.
First you need to figure out your average swimming speed. Time yourself at an indoor pool—the size of the pool is known, it’s usually marked, and it’s accurate. “In physics we say, ‘You need to calibrate your device,’ ” says Joanne O’Meara, a professor in the department of physics at Ontario’s University of Guelph. “This is how you’d calibrate your measurement.”
Swimming the distance: a challenge for cottagers
Swim at your regular, steady pace. “When I’m doing lengths in a pool, I will usually do 50 lengths of 25 metres—so 1,250 metres—in about 40 minutes,” says O’Meara. That would make her average speed just over 30 metres per minute (1,250 metres divided by 40 minutes).
To then find the distance to your buoy, she’d time herself swimming to it. “If it takes me five minutes to swim there, that means the buoy is roughly 150 metres away,” says O’Meara.
For more accurate results, do several swims on a wind-free day, and calculate the average time. Is this method as precise as a golf range finder? Of course not. But it won’t cost you any money, and it’s probably more fun.
This article was originally published in the May 2019 issue of Cottage Life magazine.
Got a question for Cottage Q&A? Send it to [email protected]. | https://cottagelife.com/outdoors/cottage-qa-measuring-distance-over-water/ |
With the ratification of its constitution on July 2, 1777, Vermont became the first North American territory to abolish slavery.
Vermont declared independence from New York in January 1777 and, soon after, developed its own constitution with “A Declaration of the Rights of the Inhabitants of the State of Vermont.” The declaration affirmed that all men were born free and that no male over age 21 or female over age 18 could serve another in the role of servant, slave, or apprentice whether “born in the country, or brought from over sea.”
The Rhode Island and Connecticut legislatures outlawed international slave importation in 1774 but fell short of banning inter-colony slave trade. Despite their legal bans limiting or barring slavery in their borders, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Vermont all enacted laws that restricted free Black people's ability to find work, own property, or even reside in the state.
By 1804, all Northern states had voted to abolish the institution of slavery within their borders, but not always immediately. In some states, gradual emancipation laws set deadlines by which all enslaved people would be freed, granting liberty as individuals reached a certain age or completed a certain term of labor.
"Gradual emancipation" left many Black people in bonded servitude and perpetuated slavery for decades. Though Pennsylvania passed its Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery in 1780, as late as 1850 the federal census documented hundreds of young, enslaved Black people waiting to be granted freedom upon their 28th birthdays. | https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/jul/2 |
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Sound change includes any processes of language change that affect pronunciation (phonetic change) or sound system structures (phonological change). Sound change can consist of the replacement of one speech sound (or, more generally, one phonetic feature) by another, the complete loss of the affected sound, or even the introduction of a new sound in a place where there previously was none. Sound changes can be environmentally conditioned, meaning that the change in question only occurs in a defined sound environment, whereas in other environments the same speech sound is not affected by the change. The term "sound change" refers to diachronic changes, or changes in a language's underlying sound system over time; "alternation", on the other hand, refers to surface changes that happen synchronically and do not change the language's underlying system (for example, the -s in the English plural can be pronounced differently depending on what sound it follows; this is a form of alternation, rather than sound change).
Sound change is usually assumed to be regular, which means that it is expected to apply mechanically whenever its structural conditions are met, irrespective of any non-phonological factors (such as the meaning of the words affected). On the other hand, sound changes can sometimes be sporadic, affecting only one particular word or a few words, without any seeming regularity.
For regular sound changes, the somewhat hyperbolic term sound law is sometimes still used. This term was introduced by the Neogrammarian school in the 19th century and is commonly applied to some historically important sound changes, such as Grimm's law. While real-world sound changes often admit exceptions (for a variety of known reasons, and sometimes without one), the expectation of their regularity or "exceptionlessness" is of great heuristic value, since it allows historical linguists to define the notion of regular correspondence (see: comparative method).
Each sound change is limited in space and time. This means it functions within a specified area (within certain dialects) and during a specified period of time. For these (and other) reasons, some scholars avoid using the term "sound law" — reasoning that a law should not have spatial and temporal limitations — replacing the term with phonetic rule.
Sound change which affects the phonological system, in the number or distribution of its phonemes, is covered more fully at phonological change.
Contents
The formal notation of sound change
- A > B
- is to be read, "A changes into (or is replaced by, is reflected as, etc.) B". It goes without saying that A belongs to an older stage of the language in question, whereas B belongs to a more recent stage. The symbol ">" can be reversed:
- B < A
- "(more recent) B derives from (older) A"
For example,
- POc. *t > Rot. f
- = "Proto-Oceanic *t is reflected as [f] in the Rotuman language."
The two sides of such an equation indicate start and end points only, and do not imply that there are not additional intermediate stages. The example above is actually a compressed account of a sequence of changes: *t changed first into a dental fricative Template:IPA (like the initial consonant of English thin), which has yielded present-day [f]. This can be represented more fully as:
- t > Template:IPA > f
Unless a change operates unconditionally (in all environments), the context in which it applies must be specified:
- A > B /X__Y
- = "A changes into B when preceded by X and followed by Y."
For example:
- It. b > v /[vowel]__[vowel], which can be simplified to just
- It. b > v /V__V (where the capital V stands for any given vowel)
- = "Intervocalic [b] (inherited from Latin) became [v] in Italian" (e.g. in caballum, dēbet > cavallo 'horse', deve 'owe (3sg.)'
A second example:
- PIr. [-cont][-voi] > [+cont]/__[C][+cont]
- = "Preconsonantal voiceless non-continuants (i.e. voiceless stops) changed into corresponding voiceless continuants (fricatives) in Proto-Iranian" when immediately followed by a continuant consonant (i.e. resonants and fricatives). Examples: Proto-Indo-Iranian *pra 'forth' > Avestan fra, *trayas "three" (masc.nom.pl.)> Av. θrayō, *čatwāras "four" (masc.nom.pl.) > Av. čaθwārō, *pśaws "of a cow" (nom. *paśu) > Av. fšāoš (nom. pasu). Note that the fricativization does not occur before stops, so *sapta "seven" > Av. hapta. (However, in the variety of Iranian underlying Old Persian, fricativization occurs in all clusters, thus Old Persian hafta "seven".)
If the symbol "#" stands for a word boundary (initial or final), the notation "/__#" = "word-finally", and "/#__" = "word-initially". For example:
- Gk. [stop] > Ø /__#
- = "Word-final stops were deleted in Greek." Which can be simplified to
- Gk. P > Ø / __#
- where capital P stands for any plosive.
Principles of sound change
The following statements are used as heuristics in formulating sound changes as understood within the Neogrammarian model. However, for modern linguistics, they are not taken as inviolable rules; rather, they are seen as guidelines.
Sound change has no memory: Sound change does not discriminate between the sources of a sound. If a previous sound change causes X,Y > Y (features X and Y merge as Y), a new one cannot affect only original X's.
Sound change ignores grammar: A sound change can only have phonological constraints, like X > Z in unstressed syllables. It cannot, for example, only affect adjectives. The only exception to this is that a sound change may or may not recognise word boundaries, even when they are not indicated by prosodic clues. Also, sound changes may be regularized in inflectional paradigms (such as verbal inflection), in which case the change is no longer phonological but morphological in nature.
Sound change is exceptionless: If a sound can happen at a place, it will. It affects all sounds that meet the criteria for change. Apparent exceptions are possible, due to analogy and other regularization processes, or another sound change, or an unrecognized conditioning factor. This is the traditional view, expressed by the Neogrammarians. In past decades it has been shown that sound change doesn't necessarily affect all the words it in principle could. However, when a sound change is initiated, it usually expands to the whole lexicon, given enough time. See also lexical diffusion.
Sound change is unstoppable: All languages vary from place to place and time to time, and neither writing nor media prevent this change.
Terms for changes in pronunciation
There are a number of traditional terms in historical linguistics designating types of phonetic change, either by nature or result. A number of such types are often (or usually) sporadic, that is, more or less accidents that happen to a specific form. Others affect a whole phonological system. Sound changes that affect a whole phonological system are also classified according to how they affect the overall shape of the system; see phonological change.
- Assimilation: One sound becomes more like another, or (much more rarely) two sounds become more like each other. Example: in Latin the prefix *kom- becomes con- before an apical stop (Template:IPA) or Template:IPA: contactus "touched", condere "to found, establish", connūbium "legal marriage". The great majority of assimilations take place between contiguous segments, and the great majority involve the earlier one becoming more like the later one (e.g. in connūbium, m- + n becomes -nn- rather than -mm-). Assimilation between contiguous segments are (diachronically speaking) exceptionless sound laws rather than sporadic, isolated changes.
- Dissimilation: The opposite of assimilation. One sound becomes less like another, or (much more rarely) two sounds become less like each other. Examples: Latin quīnque "five" > Proto-Romance *kinkʷe (whence French cinq, Italian cinque, etc.); Proto-Romance *omine "man" > Spanish hombre. The great majority of dissimilations involve segments that are not contiguous, but as with assimilations, the great majority involve an earlier sound changing with reference to a later one. Dissimilation is usually a sporadic phenomenon, but Grassmann's Law (Sanskrit and Greek) is an example of a systematic dissimilation. If the change of a sequence of fricatives such that one becomes a stop is dissimilation, then such changes as Proto-Germanic *χs to Template:IPA (spelled x) in English would count as a regular sound law: PGmc. *seχs "six" > Old English siex, etc.
- Metathesis: Two sounds switch places. Example: Old English thridda became Middle English third; English comfortable pronounced as if spelled comfterble. Most such changes are sporadic, but occasionally a sound law is involved, as Romance *tl > Spanish ld, thus *kapitlu, *titlu "chapter (of a cathedral)", "tittle" > Spanish cabildo, tilde. Metathesis can take place between non-contiguous segments, as Greek amélgō "I milk" > Modern Greek armégō.
- Tonogenesis: Syllables come to have distinctive pitch contours.
- Sandhi: conditioned changes that take place at word-boundaries but not elsewhere. It can be morpheme-specific, as in the loss of the vowel in the enclitic forms of English is Template:IPA, with subsequent change of Template:IPA to Template:IPA adjacent to a voiceless consonant Frank's not here Template:IPA. Or a small class of elements, such as the assimilation of the Template:IPA of English the, this and that to a preceding Template:IPA (including the Template:IPA of and when the Template:IPA is elided) or Template:IPA: all the often Template:IPA, in the often Template:IPA, and so on. As in these examples, such features are rarely indicated in standard orthography. A striking exception is Sanskrit, whose orthography reflects a wide variety of such features: thus tat "that" is written tat, tac, taj, tad, tan depending on what the first sound of the next word is. These are all assimilations, but medial sequences do not assimilate the same way.
- Haplology: The loss of a syllable when an adjacent syllable is similar or (rarely) identical. Example: Old English Englaland became Modern English England, or the common pronunciation of probably as Template:IPA. This change usually affects commonly used words. The word haplology itself is sometimes jokingly pronounced "haplogy".
- Elision, aphaeresis, syncope, and apocope: All losses of sounds. Elision is the loss of unstressed sounds, aphaeresis the loss of initial sounds, syncope is the loss of medial sounds, and apocope is the loss of final sounds. Elision examples: in the southeastern United States, unstressed schwas tend to drop, so "American" is not Template:IPA but Template:IPA. Standard English is possum < opossum. Syncope examples: the Old French word for "state" is estat, but then the s dropped, yielding, état. Similarly the loss of Template:IPA in English soften, hasten, castle, etc. Apocope examples: the final -e Template:IPA in Middle English words was pronounced, but is only retained in spelling as silent E. In English Template:IPA and Template:IPA were apocopated in final position after nasals: lamb, long Template:IPA.
- Epenthesis (also known as anaptyxis): The introduction of a sound between two adjacent sounds. Examples: Latin humilis > English humble; in Slavic an -l- intrudes between a labial and a following yod, as *zemya "land" > Russ. zemlya (земля). Most commonly epenthesis is in the nature of a "transitional" consonant, but vowels may be epenthetic: non-standard English film in two syllables, athlete in three. Epenthesis can be regular, as when the Indo-European "tool" suffix *-tlom everywhere becomes Latin -culum (so speculum "mirror" < *speḱtlom, pōculum "drinking cup" < *poH3-tlom. Some scholars reserve the term epenthesis for "intrusive" vowels and use excrescence for intrusive consonants.
- Prothesis: The addition of a sound at the beginning of a word. Example: word-initial Template:IPA + stop clusters in Latin gained a preceding Template:IPA in Old Spanish and Old French; hence, the Spanish word for "state" is estado, deriving from Latin status.
- Nasalization: Vowels followed by nasal consonants are usually nasalized. If the nasal consonant is lost but the vowel retains its nasalized pronunciation, nasalization has become phonemic, that is, distinctive. Example: French "-in" words used to be pronounced Template:IPA, but are now pronounced Template:IPA, and the Template:IPA is no longer pronounced (except in cases of liaison). | http://www.artandpopularculture.com/Sound_change |
Jair Bolsonaro has lashed out at world leaders for agreeing an emergency aid package of $20m (£16.36m) to urgently tackle fires spreading across swathes of the Amazon rainforest.
Leaders of the G7 wealthy nations have pledged the money to try to halt the destruction of the “lungs” of the world, Earth’s biggest sink for damaging greenhouse gases.
But Brazil’s president accused the other presidents and prime ministers of treating his country like “a colony or no-man’s land” and attacking its sovereignty. It is not clear yet whether the Brazilian president has accepted the funds.
“Countries urgently need firefighters and specialised water bombers. This will be the first step that will be implemented immediately,” said Sebastian Pinera, the president of Chile.
“The second phase is to protect these forests, protect the biodiversity they contain and reforest this region of the world,” he added.
Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Fire rages in the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Rondonina on August 23 Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billlows from burning tracts of the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Para on August 23 AFP/Getty Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Fire rages in the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Rondonina on August 23 EPA Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Land in the Amazon rainforest left scorched in the fires in the Brazilian state of Rondonina on August 23 AFP/Getty Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Rondonia, Brazil on August 23 AFP Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Fire tears through a farm in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso AP Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures An area of the Amazon rainforest left scorched in the fires in the Brazilian state of Amazonas on August 24 AFP/Getty Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Satellite images show a series of fires in the southwest Brazilian state of Rondonia on August 15 AP Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Rondonia, Brazil Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures A satellite image released by NASA shows the active fires that have been detected in the Amazon region EPA Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Amazonas, Brazil Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Rondonia, Brazil Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Rondonia, Brazil Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Amazonas, Brazil Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Indigenous people from the Mura tribe wallk in a deforested area inside the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Amazonas on August 20 Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Fire tears through a farm in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso AP Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows from a stretch of fire in the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Rondonia on 23 August AFP/Getty Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows during a fire in an area of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Amazonas, Brazil Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Indigenous people from the Mura tribe wallk in a deforested area inside the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Amazonas on August 20 Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows from a stretch of fire in the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Rondonia on 23 August AFP/Getty Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures A view of logs felled illegally in the Amazon rainforest are seen in sawmills in the Brazilian state of Amazonas on August 22 Reuters Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures A scorched patch of land in the state of Mato Grosso in Brazil on 20 August EPA Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Several fires are seen burning in the Amazon rainforest in this satellite image taken by NASA on 11 August AFP/Getty Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures Smoke billows from a stretch of fire in the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Rondonia on 23 August AFP/Getty Amazon rainforest swept by fires: In pictures The sunsets behind clouds and smoke from fires in the Amazon rainforest in the Brazilian state of Rondonia on 18 August EPA
French President Emmanuel Macron said G7 countries were ready to provide concrete support to the region, as he announced the aid plan at a meeting of the G7 in Biarritz.
The seven would draw up an initiative for the Amazon that would be launched at next month’s UN General Assembly in New York, he said.
France would offer military support “in the coming hours”, Mr Macron said, adding that leaders were studying the possibility of similar support in Africa, also suffering from fires in its rainforests.
More than 41,000 blazes are ravaging rainforests in Brazil and Bolivia, many thought to have been started deliberately. The damage is so extensive that Greenpeace has described some areas as “almost a cemetery”.
Brazil has the world’s richest biodiversity, with thousands of species of wildlife, from jaguar to monkeys and frogs, while the forests absorb carbon emissions.
But Mr Bolsonaro tweeted: “We cannot accept that a president, Macron, unleashes unreasonable and gratuitous attacks on the Amazon, nor disguises his intentions behind the idea of an ‘alliance’ of the countries. G-7 to ‘save’ the Amazon, as if we were a colony or no man’s land.”
He also wrote: “Other heads of state sympathised with Brazil, after all respect for the sovereignty of any country is the least that can be expected in a civilised world.”
Donald Trump, meanwhile, skipped Monday’s working session on climate, biodiversity and oceans. Boris Johnson highlighted a separate pledge of £10m from the UK to help halt the Amazon destruction.
A spokesman for the Worldwide Fund for Nature said: “If we lose the Amazon, we lose the fight against climate change, as well a huge number of plants and animals found nowhere else.”
And he called for the UK government to ensure all future trade deals were “part of the solution, not the problem”.
Ricardo Salles, Brazil’s environment minister, welcomed the G7’s financial aid, blaming “irrational and demagogic” public policies from previous governments for the fires.
Mr Bolsonaro, who has been intent on opening the Amazon to more farming and mining, has encouraged ranchers to clear farmland and has weakened punishments for environmental crime.
As the leaders’ war of words escalated, Mr Macron savaged Mr Bolsonaro for “extraordinarily disrespectful comments” about his wife.
The French president has threatened to block a European trade deal with South America over the wildfires and “lies” over containing deforestation.
He said Brazilian women were “doubtless ashamed to read that about their president” and that he hoped the country would soon have a president who behaved according to the standards of the office.
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The leg extends from the top of the thigh down to the foot. However, the leg is usually referred to as the portion of the lower extremity from the knee to the ankle. The leg has two bones, which are the tibia and the fibula. Both are known as ‘long’ bones. The larger of the two is the tibia, typically called the shinbone. The fibula runs alongside the tibia. A wide range of conditions can affect the legs such as restless leg syndrome, edema, and dead leg.
The thighs contain some of the largest muscles in the human body – the thigh muscles allow the lower body to bend, flex, and rotate. They also bear most of your body’s weight and keep the hips and legs assigned, in addition to providing and assisting with enough balance. Thigh muscles can be grouped based on their function and location, such as:
- Hamstrings – The hamstrings allow you to extend your hip to move your leg behind your body, such as when you walk and put one leg behind you. They also let you flex your knee, for instance, when you are squatting.
- Adductors – Adductors allows you to bring the thighs toward each other, which is called adduction. They help you stay balanced, keep the legs and hips in alignment, and allow rotation through the hips and legs.
- Pectineus – The pectineus enables you to flex and rotate the thigh at the hip joint. It also helps stabilize the pelvis.
- Sartorius – This helps you flex and rotate the thigh from the hip joint. You use it when you cross your legs to rest one ankle on the opposite leg. Other examples include sitting cross-legged on the floor or bending and rotating your leg to look at the bottom of your foot.
- Quadriceps – The quadriceps allow you to flex your hip or extend the knee.
A dead leg (thigh contusion) is an injury to the soft tissue of the upper leg. The most commonly involved muscle is the quadriceps. The muscle contusion may be accompanied by bone contusion (bruise) or even a fracture (broken bone).
Causes & Symptoms of a Dead Leg
Dead leg contusions can be classified as mild, moderate, and severe. Mild injuries result in mild pain and swelling, but you are able to walk without a limp. You’re also able to bend your knee past 90 degrees and can contract the muscle without significant pain. A moderate muscle contusion results in an increase in bleeding into the muscle tissue and more damage to the actual muscle fibers.
The signs and symptoms will be more pronounced including a noticeable limp, more bruising, and swelling, and an inability to flex the knee past 90 degrees without significant pain. With a severe dead leg, the bleeding may actually track down into the knee area and down into the lower leg creating extensive discoloration. Swelling may continue to increase over a 24-hour period resulting in stiffening of the thigh and knee as the effusion increases.
Athletes with severe dead leg may not be able to bend their knee past 45 degrees and may have significant difficulty walking. These athletes may be to be placed on crutches. Lastly, a palpable hematoma may be felt in an athlete with a severe dead leg. When the muscle is palpated, a firm mass may be felt (hematoma) with defined borders. This area will be very tender for an athlete so care should be taken when palpating a deep contusion.
Overall, symptoms associated with dead leg include:
- Pain at the time of injury.
- Difficulty walking.
- Rapid swelling.
- Bruising may or may not appear depending on the severity of the injury.
- Restricted movement and / or inability to run properly.
Who gets a Dead Leg?
A dead leg is most common in contact sports due to player-to-player contact as in the sports of football and basketball. Contusions can also occur in the thigh due to the direct impact of a sports implement as can be seen in sports such as softball, baseball, and lacrosse (including fastball).
Other risk factors linked to dead leg include:
- Age – As a person ages, they become more susceptible to developing a dead leg, thus leading to bruising. Bruises may also take longer to recover in older adults.
- Vitamin deficiencies – People who experience malnutrition could be deficient in vitamin C and may develop a dead leg. In severe cases, people deficient in vitamin K may also bruise more often. This is because their blood does not clot efficiently.
- Obesity – Being overweight or obese can increase the pressure on your thigh, causing intense pain.
How Does a Dead Leg Affect You? How Serious is it?
Severe deep thigh contusions that are left untreated may lead to a few complications, such as the following below:
Myositis ossificans
Myositis ossificans (MO) occurs when bone or bone-like tissue grows where it’s not supposed to. It most commonly happens in your muscle after an injury (for instance, when you get hit hard in the thigh during a soccer game). This complication is typically caused by direct trauma to the muscle, like a knee to the thigh in rugby or landing hard on the ground in a bike accident. If you develop a large contusion and a pool of blood forms a lump over the injury, the bone may grow at the injury site.
Acute compartment syndrome
Acute compartment syndrome occurs when excessive pressure builds up inside an enclosed muscle space in the body. Compartment syndrome usually results from bleeding or swelling after an injury. The dangerously high pressure in compartment syndrome impedes the flow of blood to and from the affected tissues. It can be an emergency, requiring surgery to prevent permanent injury.
Recommended Treatment & Rehabilitation for a Dead Leg
During a diagnosis of a dead leg, a complete physical examination will determine the exact location and extent of the injury. Your doctor can tell you if they feel a gap within the muscle indicating a possible tear. X-rays of the femur (thigh bone), hip, and / or knee are often taken to rule a fracture or other conditions. Additional tests such as ultrasound, Computed Tomography (CT) scan, or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) may be required to determine the extent of the injury and to identify any additional injuries.
The results of the physical exam and other diagnostic tests will allow your doctor to determine how severe this injury is; therefore, physiotherapy may be done. Physiotherapy and exercise are typically first-line treatments for relieving, treating, and preventing dead leg symptoms. In treating thigh pain, physiotherapy may:
- Provide symptom relief.
- Promote healing of the underlying cause.
- Prevent recurrences and flare-ups.
A physiotherapist may prescribe a combination of various types of physical, manual, soft tissue mobilization, and / or exercise therapies in treating thigh pain linked to dead leg. Specific exercises depend on the underlying cause of your thigh pain, as well as other factors, such as the patient’s level of pain. The following physiotherapy treatments include:
- Gait training – This includes analysis of walking technique and retraining correct gait patterns. This technique may include video analysis.
- Active assisted range of motion – includes therapist-assisted movement of parts of the lower body, such as the hip and legs. This technique helps facilitate the movement of specific joints or muscles that cause pain.
- Soft tissue mobilization – A soft tissue mobilization will include your physiotherapist using his or her hands or supporting equipment (such as a leg brace) to mobilize the tissues in the lower back, hips, or legs to treat fascia restrictions and decrease muscle tension or spasm.
- Muscle energy technique – is a form of manual therapy that involves the patient performing gentle muscle contractions in conjunction with your physiotherapist moving your painful joints through a specific range of motion. This technique may help reduce pain and restore function.
- Joint manipulation – This is a manual technique in which your therapist applies a quick, thrust force at the end range of motion of a joint to promote pain relief and restore normal movement.
- Nerve mobilization – involves active or passive techniques on a symptomatic nerve when it is placed into and out of tension to facilitate movement and reduce symptoms.
- Function retraining – This includes reintroducing movements, such as lifting, carrying, and bending or squatting. The use of proper technique and healthy movement patterns are incorporated to reduce pain and prevent re-injury.
Overall, what exercise is best for your thigh contusion will depend on where are experiencing pain. Here are some exercise examples for you to try:
Supine adductor stretch
Lie on your back with both knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Next, grab a stretch strap and place it around the ball of the foot of the leg you want to stretch. Straighten the knee toward the ceiling, adjusting the angle as needed if your hamstrings are too tight. Then, let the leg fall out toward the side toward the floor as far as possible, with the inner thigh facing up toward the ceiling. Hold for 30 seconds before repeating 2-3 times a day.
Side-lying hip adduction
Lie on your side with the leg you want to exercise on the bottom. Bend and rotate the top hip and knee so that you can place your foot flat on the ground in front of the knee of the thigh that is still touching the ground. Keep your hips stacked and knee straight as you tense up the inner thigh as you start to lift your lower leg straight up toward the ceiling. Hold for 2-3 seconds before repeating this method 2-3 times a day.
Lateral leg raise
Lie on your side with the hip you want to exercise on top. Bend the bottom knee and hip for stability so that you lift the top leg without wobbling. Keep the upper leg straight and in line with your trunk, then tighten your abs to promote hip stability as you lift the entire leg straight up toward the ceiling. Lift as high as is comfortable before returning to your starting position. Keep the knee and toes pointing straight forward and hip in neutral as you repeat this exercise 2-3 times a day.
Alternative & Homeopathic Treatment for a Dead Leg
The following below are some homeopathic treatments to help ease your symptoms and find relief on your own:
- Rest – If movement is painful in the early stages of dead leg, rest your legs and stay off them as much as you can until you are able to move without pain.
- Ice – Keep an ice pack on your legs for about 20 minutes every hour over the first 3 days after symptoms begin. Avoid using heat, as it may make swelling worse.
- Compression – Wrap an elastic bandage around your legs or wear compression stockings, which uses pressure to keep swelling down.
- Elevation – Keep your legs raised above the level of your heart for 30 minutes, 3 or 4 times a day, so that gravity can help move fluids out and toward the rest of your body.
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) – Anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen or naproxen may help ease swelling and pain.
- Turmeric – Turmeric is known to contain anti-inflammatory properties and can help boost your recovery naturally. | https://atlphysio.com/condition/dead-leg/ |
Julia Child's Secret Moments
Although Old Hollywood legends and royal princesses alike may have been revered for their enviable style and penchant for luxury, they also grappled with troubled upbringings and tumultuous relationships throughout their lifetimes. Delving past the curtain of glamorous celebrity, Secret Moments is a series humanizing the icons of yesterday.
Over the course of her illustrious culinary career, Julia Child made a name for herself as the American chef who knew how to make French cuisine accessible to all. Her hearty presence and easy to follow directions made her a household name among women in the 1960s and '70s. Child wrote a number of cookbooks, while also hosting several cooking shows, bringing fine dining into the homes of everyday American women. In honor of her birthday, CR looks back at the life of the woman who brought bon apetit into the American vocabulary with gusto.
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She grew up with someone who cooked for her family
Growing up, Child's family had an in-house chef, therefore, she was not accustomed to being in the kitchen.
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After college, she was a copywriter
After graduating from Smith College, Child moved to New York City to work as a copywriter for the prominent rug and furniture retailer W. & J. Sloane.
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She was a spy in World War II
Child was too tall to join the female divisions of the army or the navy, so she joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) as a researcher with top secret clearance. She worked directly under the head of the organization.
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She helped create shark repellent for the U.S. Navy
While stationed in China, Child developed a mix of cooking chemicals to keep sharks away from setting off underwater explosives. The concoction is still used today.
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She met her husband while they were both working for the U.S. government
After meeting overseas, Julia married Paul Child in 1946. In 1948, Paul was sent to Paris on assignment, leading to the couple's long-term residence in France.
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Eating in Rouen, France changed her perspective on food
After having a meal in northern France which Child described as "an opening up of the soul and spirit for me," the soon-to-be chef went back to Paris and began studying at Le Cordon Bleu.
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She only became skilled in the kitchen in her 30s
Her husband came from a family of fine diners, but Child had no previous kitchen experience due to having a family chef. After enrolling in cooking classes in Paris, Child was able to practice her skills at home, making meals for Paul and herself.
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The first thing she ever cooked on TV was an omelette
In 1962, Child appeared on Boston public television to teach viewers how to make an omelette. Overwhelming positive viewer response led to her beginning a long career of TV cooking shows.
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The French Chef was the first TV show to use captions
In 1963, her first show, The French Chef, premiered. Almost a decade later, Child's program became the first to include captioning on rebroadcasts of its episodes, making it accessible to hearing-impaired viewers.
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She was over six feet tall
At six feet two inches tall, Child was the star of her high school and Smith College basketball team.
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She has a rose named after her
The Julia Child rose is a yellow floribunda rose, also known as the "Absolutely Fabulous" rose in the UK.
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She used over 700 pounds of butter on Baking With Julia
Over the course of the 39 episodes, Baking With Julia used 753 pounds of butter to create the chef's decadent recipes.
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She did some voiceover work for a movie
In 1993, she voiced the character Dr. Bleeb for the children's animated movie We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story.
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She donated her house to her alma mater
After moving into a retirement community in 2001, Child left her home and office to Smith College.
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Her last meal was her famous French onion soup
Before her death in 2004, Child enjoyed one last bowl of the aromatic soup she perfected.
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She has an exhibit in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History
Child donated her kitchen to the Smithsonian, where it is now on display in its National Museum of American History. Her kitchen serves as a model, showcasing cooking tools from the late 1940s to the early 2000s.
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She's on a celebrity chef postage stamp
In 2014, the U.S. Postal Service issued a series of stamps titled Celebrity Chefs Forever. The series features Child, as well as Joyce Chen, James Beard, and others.
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Her final book was published after her death
Alex Prud'homme, Child's grandnephew, co-wrote and published her final book, My Life In France, an auto-biography that discusses her life post-war, her marriage, and her entrance into the world of fine cuisine.
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CR Fashion Book participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. | |
Singer Rihanna lands the November 2017 cover from Vogue Arabia. The fashion icon channels Queen Nefertiti, an ancient Egyptian ruler, on two covers for the new issue which includes an Arabic and English version.
Related: See Rihanna’s Most Inspiring Hairstyles
Photographed by Greg Kadel, the first image shows Rihanna wearing a custom headpiece by Faeth Millinery along with a leather Gucci coat. The second captures the beauty in a lace adorned number from Gucci as well. Inside the magazine, Rihanna wears a metallic gown from Alexander McQueen styled by Anya Ziourova. | https://www.fashiongonerogue.com/photo-shoot/rihanna-vogue-arabia-cover/ |
As a college-goer, learning facts and figures is probably the most difficult thing for us. Apart from rote learning, scholars also rely on other techniques, such as highlighting, summarizing, or visualizing, but they still fall short in absorbing their study materials. Recently, an experiment conducted by some educational researchers in Australia proved that not all learning habits are equally effective in forming long-term memories. The study brought many interesting information about the benefits and limitations of each learning techniques. In this blog, we have summarized some major points derived by the research, knowing which will help you form your own learning strategy:
Opting for a test series is a proven way to learn something more effectively. Researchers say that practice exams being an alternate version of the graded midterm or final exams familiarize students with the test-taking experience. It has been found to be successful across different ages and is useful in improving retention and outcome measures.
It is a learning strategy where the study schedule is broken into many short sessions instead of mugging the entire data in one go. Studies say that humans can learn something effectively when it is studied slowly and over a long period- a phenomenon called the spacing effect. This helps the brain absorb the information in a better way because the repetition of concepts and theories, including concrete examples, improves absorption and speeds up the learning process.
This technique involves asking questions on a particular topic and finding their answers. The efficacy of this method is limited to those who have prior knowledge on the topic. While students can practice it independently, it is more effective when applied during group study or in the classroom. Well, it can be a tricky strategy to implement because students won’t always focus on the right information and may also produce incorrect explanations in answer to their questions.
It involves switching ideas during a study session. Researchers say that going back over the ideas that you covered earlier in different orders gives the opportunity to gain a broader understanding of the topic. However, it may not be equally useful for every subject. Moreover, by switching ideas too often or spending too little time on one, you won’t be able to permanently learn the chapter.
This method aids in learning through knowledge creation and integration activities. The idea is simply to pause from your reading and explain parts of the text to yourself. It can be applied to a variety of tasks and subjects and is especially useful for solving numerical problems. However, it requires some training and is very time-consuming.
It involves identifying and organizing important information from a chapter or text. This technique is instrumental in learning something that you have read for the first time as it not just helps in sorting the most essential data, but writing them also helps in creating memory links in your brain. An effective summary can also be highly useful for revisions before the exam.
In this technique, students can pair words and images that would help in recalling information. It is an effective system for remembering a long list of articles, definitions, and learning a foreign language. The best way to use the keyword mnemonic method is by linking two pieces of information in your memory with visualization. Well, despite its benefits, keyword mnemonic is not used widely because appropriate word pairings are not often available, plus it is time-consuming too.
These were some widely used learning strategies that are effective in increasing the total amount of information encoded. For an active learning strategy, you can combine several methods. Choose the technique(s) you are comfortable with and enjoy your studies. In case you have pending college projects at hand that are not letting you focus on these ideas, feel free to contact us for essay help. Our team of subject-oriented experts will leave no stone unturned to provide you with a well-researched document. | https://www.instantassignmenthelp.com.au/blog/common-learning-techniques |
BACKGROUND
SUMMARY
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS
1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates to mobile communication devices and to emergencies that may be experienced by users of such devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Mobile communication devices, such as cell phones, may be used to seek help in connection with an emergency. However, the user may need to address the request for help (e.g., by dialing 911) and provide information about the emergency (e.g., reporting the nature and location of the emergency).
A user may not always be able to perform these tasks during an emergency. For example, a user may be too weak to identify and depress several keyboard buttons or to describe the user's predicament. A user may in addition or instead not have the time needed to perform these tasks. This lack of time may be caused by the urgency of the emergency or due to restrictions imposes by circumstances such as an abduction.
Even when a user is able to successfully use the mobile communication device to seek emergency help, the circumstances of the emergency may change. This may alter the nature of the help which is needed, but the user may no longer have the opportunity and/or ability to update her request for help. For example, a user might report an abduction, following which the user might be tied, gagged, and moved to a new location. Similarly, a user might report a fire, following which the user might be injured and unable to report the need for medical attention.
An automated emergency assistance computing system may receive an emergency alert from a mobile communication device through a communication network which indicates that a user of the mobile communication device is experiencing an emergency. The alert may include information about the location of the emergency. The system may issue an emergency help request for help relating to the emergency. The emergency help request may include information about the location of the emergency and about how to communicate with the automated emergency assistance computing system to obtain continuous real time information relating to the emergency. The system may receive continuous real time information relating to the emergency from the mobile communication device. The system may also receive an emergency information request seeking continuous real time information relating to the emergency. The system may deliver continuous real time information relating to the emergency in response to the emergency information request.
The system may receive and store registration information through the communication network about a mobile communication device user that may need help in connection with an emergency, including information about the type of the emergency. The system may require a form to be completed in connection with receiving the registration information. The form may request information specific to the type of the emergency.
The system may identify emergency personnel suitable for the emergency based on the registered type of the emergency and/or the location of the emergency. The system may issue the emergency help request to the identified emergency personnel.
The emergency help request may be issued in the form of a text message and/or a verbal message.
The emergency help request may indicate that the continuous real time information relating to the emergency may be obtained through a website. The request may include an address of the website. The requested continuous real time information relating to the emergency may be delivered by the website.
The emergency help request may indicate that the continuous real time information relating to the emergency may be obtained through a telephone communication system and may include a phone number to call to obtain the information. The requested continuous real time information relating to the emergency may be delivered by the telephone communication system.
The system may seek an acknowledgement that the emergency help request has been received and repeat the emergency help request if the acknowledgement is not received.
The continuous real time information may include updates to the location of the mobile communication device and/or streaming audio of sound and/or streaming video of images picked up by the mobile communication device.
The system may call or receive a call from the mobile communication device after receiving the emergency alert in order to establish a communication channel over which the continuous real time information is delivered.
In response to the emergency information request, stored continuous real time information relating to the emergency may be delivered.
A mobile communication device may provide emergency assistance, The device may include a user-operated emergency signaling control. In response to operation of the user-operated emergency-signaling control, the device may deliver an emergency alert to an automated emergency assistance computing system indicating that there is an emergency. The alert may include information about the location of the emergency. The device may deliver continuous real time emergency information to the automated emergency assistance computing system relating to the emergency.
The device may deliver registration information to the automated emergency assistance computing system indicating that a user of the mobile communication device may need help in connection with an emergency. The registration information may include information about the type of the emergency.
The device may call or receive a call from the automated emergency assistance computing system after delivering the emergency alert in order to establish a communication channel over which the continuous real time information is delivered by the wireless communication system.
After operation of the user-operated emergency signaling control, the device may deliver the emergency alert and the continuous real time emergency information without further input from a user and/or without causing the device to signal through a user interface that either communication is being delivered.
These, as well as other components, steps, features, objects, benefits, and advantages, will now become clear from a review of the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments, the accompanying drawings, and the claims.
Illustrative embodiments are now discussed. Other embodiments may be used in addition or instead. Details that may be apparent or unnecessary may be omitted to save space or for a more effective presentation. Conversely, some embodiments may be practiced without all of the details that are disclosed.
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illustrates components of an emergency assistance system .
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FIG. 1
The emergency assistance system may include one or more mobile communication devices, such as one or more cell phones, laptop computers, netbooks, and/or wearable devices, such as watches or devices which are embedded in other mobile devices, such as car radios. illustrated two such mobile communication devices, a cell phone and a laptop .
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The emergency assistance system may include a communication network , an automated emergency assistance computing system , and one or more emergency services, such as an ambulance service , a fire department , and/or a police department .
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The communication network may be of any type or types. For example, the communication network may include the internet, one or more local area networks, one or more wide area networks, and/or the public switched telephone network.
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The automated emergency assistance computing system may be configured to provide automated emergency assistance. The automated emergency assistance computing system may include one or more servers connected to the internet, one or more local area networks, one or more wide area networks, and/or the public switched telephone network.
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illustrates an automated emergency assistance computing system that may be used in an emergency assistance system. The automated emergency assistance computing system may be used as the automated emergency assistance computing system illustrated in or in any other type of emergency assistance system. The automated emergency assistance computing system may be different from the automated emergency assistance computing system .
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As illustrated in , the automated emergency assistance computing system may include a network communication system , a computer processing system , and/or an information storage system .
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The network communication system may be configured to communicate with any type of communication network, such as the communication network . For example, the network communication system may be configured to communicate with the internet, one or more local area networks, one or more wide area networks, and/or the public switched telephone network. The network communication system may include a telephone communication system and/or a website. The network communication system may be at a single location or may be distributed across multiple locations.
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The information storage system may be configured to controllably receive, store, and output information, such as registration information and/or continuous real time information, as described below. The information storage system may include one or more memory devices, such as one or more RAMS, ROMS, PROMS, ePROMS, flash memories, CD's, DVD's, and/or hard disk drives. The information storage system may be at a single location or may be distributed across multiple locations.
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The computer processing system may be configured to perform the functions of the computer processing system which are described below. The computer processing system may include computer hardware and software. The computer hardware may include one or more processors and related processing devices. The computer software may include one or more algorithms configured to perform the functions of the computer processing system which are described below. The computer software may be stored on computer-readable storage media, such as on one or more hard disc drives, DVD's, CD's, flash memories, ROMS, PROMS, and/or ePROMS. During use, the computer software may be moved to RAM.
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The network communication system and the computer processing system may be configured to receive registration information through a communication network, such as the communication network . The registration information may include information about a user of a mobile communication device, such as the cell phone or the laptop , that may need help in connection with an emergency.
The registration information may include information identifying the mobile communication device and/or one or more users of the mobile communication device which may issue an emergency alert relating to the emergency which is the subject of the registration information. The registration information may include information about the type of the emergency. For example, the type of the emergency may be a potential violation of a court-issued, stay-away order, an attack, an abduction, a fire, or a medical emergency. The registration information may include information about multiple types of emergencies.
The registration information may be received in any form and through any type of communication channel. For example, the registration information may be received through the public switched telephone network and/or a webpage.
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The computer processing system may ask a series of questions relating to the type of the emergency which is identified. When using a telephone interface, these questions may be asked verbally. When using a website, these questions may be presented as part of a fill-in form.
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The questions may vary depending upon the type of the emergency. For example, when the type of emergency is a violation of a court-issued, stay-away order, the computer processing system may ask for the name of the individual who was ordered to stay away, the court which issued the order, the date of the order, information about prior violations or threatened violations of the order, and/or any other types of information. When the type of emergency is a medical emergency, the computer processing system may seek information about the current medical condition of the user, about prior medical emergencies which the user has experienced, the name and phone number of the user's physician, insurance information, and/or other types of information.
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The computer processing system may cause the registration information to be stored in the information storage system .
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The network communication system and the computer processing system may receive an emergency alert from a mobile communication device through a communication network, such as the communication network . The emergency alert may indicate that a user of the mobile communication device is experiencing an emergency. The emergency alert may include information identifying the mobile communication device which issued the emergency alert, the user of that mobile communication device, the location of the emergency, and/or the type of the emergency.
The emergency alert may be communicated over any type of communication channel, such as the Internet, one or more local area networks, one or more wide area networks, and/or the public switched telephone network.
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The computer processing system may cause the information about the emergency alert to be stored in the information storage system .
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In response to receiving an emergency alert, the computer processing system may identify emergency personnel suitable for the emergency which is the subject of the emergency alert. The computer processing system may do so based on the type of the emergency, the location of the emergency, and/or other criteria.
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The computer processing system may search information in the information storage system to find registration information about the mobile communication device which issued the alert and/or about one or more users of that mobile communication device. Upon finding a match, the computer processing system may extract the registered type of the alert from the information storage system . The computer processing system may in addition or instead obtain the type of the alert from the emergency alert itself.
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The computer processing system may use the type of the alert for the purpose of identifying suitable emergency personnel. For example, if the type of the alert is a potential fire, the computer processing system may identify a fire department as the suitable emergency personnel. If the type of the alert is an attack, the computer processing system may identify a police department as the suitable emergency personnel. If the registered type of the alert is an attack, the computer processing system may identify an ambulance service and/or a police department as the suitable emergency personnel.
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As indicated, the computer processing system may in addition or instead identify suitable emergency personnel based on the location of the emergency, as specified in the emergency alert. For example, the computer processing system may seek to identify the emergency personnel whom are closest to the location of the emergency. To facilitate such an identification, the computer processing system may cause the network communication system to communicate through a communication network, such as the communication network , with an emergency location service, such as e911.
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The network communication system and the computer processing system may issue an emergency help request through a communication network, such as the communication network . The emergency help request may request help in connection with the emergency which is the subject of the emergency alert. The emergency help request may include information identifying the mobile communication device which issued the emergency alert, a user of that device, the type of the emergency, and/or the location of the emergency. The emergency help request may include information about how to communicate with the automated emergency assistance computing system to obtain continuous real-time information relating to the emergency and/or any other type of information.
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The way in which the emergency help request specifies how to communicate with the automated emergency assistance computing system to obtain continuous real-time information may depend upon the communication channel which the automated emergency assistance computing system has for communicating this continuous real-time information. For example, the emergency help request may indicate that the continuous real-time information may be obtained at a website, in which case a URL address of the website may be supplied as part of the emergency help request. The emergency help request may in addition or instead indicate that the continuous real-time information may be obtained over the telephone, in which case the emergency help request may include a phone number to call.
The emergency help request may be in any form. For example, it may be a text message delivered through a text messaging system. It may in addition or instead be in the form of a verbal message. The verbal message may be delivered through a telephone system, as streaming media over the internet, as a multimedia file attached to a message, and/or in any other way.
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The computer processing system may seek an acknowledgment that the emergency help request has been received. If the acknowledgment is not forthcoming, the computer processing system may repeat the emergency help request periodically until such an acknowledgment is received.
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The network communication system and the computer processing system may receive continuous real-time information relating to the emergency from the mobile communication device which issued the emergency alert through a communication network, such as the communication network . This real time information may begin to be received either before, after, or at the same time as the emergency alert.
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The continuous real-time information may be received by the network communication system over a communication channel of the same type that was used to deliver the emergency alert. In other configurations, the communication channel which is used to deliver the continuous real-time information relating to the emergency may be different than the channel used to deliver the emergency alert. For example, the emergency alert may use a text messaging channel, while the continuous real-time information may use a telephone voice channel. To facilitate the use of a telephone voice channel, the network communication system and the computer processing system may issue a call to or may receive a call from the mobile communication device which issued the emergency alert. The continuous real-time information may then be sent over this telephone voice channel after this call is answered.
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The continuous real-time information may be of any type or types. For example, the continuous real-time information may include updates to the location of the mobile communication device which issued the emergency alert. These updates may be periodic or may be issued based on changes in this location, including the speed at which these changes occur. The continuous real-time information may in addition or instead include streaming audio of sound and/or streaming video of images picked up by the mobile communication device. The computer processing system may cause the continuous real-time information relating to the emergency to be stored in the information storage system .
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The network communication system and the computer processing system may receive an emergency information request from a communication network, such as the communication network , seeking continuous real-time information relating to the emergency. Such a request, for example, may come from the emergency personnel which received an emergency help request. Such a request may be communicated to the network communication system through any means. For example, such a request may be communicated over the telephone using the telephone number provided in the emergency help request. The request may in addition or instead be communicate through a webpage at the URL provided in the emergency help request.
207
The emergency information request may specify the type of emergency information which is desired. For example, the emergency information request may specify that continuous real-time information relating to the emergency is desired. The requested continuous real-time information may include updates to the location of the mobile communication device and/or streaming audio of sound and/or streaming video of images which are being picked up by the mobile communication device. The requested continuous real-time information may include previously-recorded segments of location updates and/or audio and/or video streams that are stored in the information storage system . The emergency request may in addition or instead request all or any portion of the registration information which was originally provided in connection with the emergency.
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The network communication system and the computer processing system may deliver the continuous real-time information which is requested by the emergency information request through a communication network, such as the communication network . The delivery may be to the emergency personnel to whom the emergency help request was delivered and/or to any other person, agency, and/or organization. The delivery may be over the same channel as the emergency information request and/or over a different channel.
FIG. 3
301
illustrates a mobile communication device that may be used in an emergency assistance system.
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FIG. 1
FIG. 1
FIG. 1
The mobile communication device may be any of the types of mobile communication devices that were discussed above in connection with , such as the cell phone or the laptop . The mobile communication device may be used in an emergency assistance system of the type illustrated in or in a different type of emergency assistance system. Similarly, the mobile communication devices which are used in the emergency assistance system illustrated in may be of a different type than the mobile communication device .
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The mobile communication device may include a wireless communication system , a user-operated emergency signaling control , a location sensing system , a computer processing system , and a microphone and/or camera .
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The wireless communication system may be configured to communicate wirelessly with a communication network, such as the communication network . The wireless communication system may be of any type. For example, the wireless communication system may include a transmitter and a receiver and an associated signal processing devices and systems.
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The user-operated emergency signaling control may be configured to signal an emergency when operated by a user of the mobile communication device . The user-operated emergency signaling control may be of any type. For example, it may be a mechanical button or switch and/or an area on a touch screen. It may in addition or instead be a sound transducer and an associated signal processing system configured to receive a sound indicative of an emergency, such as a scream, explosion, and/or an utterance of language indicating an emergency, such as “emergency” and/or “help.” When multiple types of emergencies may be signaled, a different user-operated signaling control may be provided for each type. The mobile communication device may be configured to allow a user of the mobile communication device to specify which user-operated control on the mobile communication device is to function as the user-operated emergency signaling control .
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The location sensing system may be configured to sense the location of the wireless mobile communication device . The location sensing system may include any type of device or devices to accomplish this purpose. For example, the location sensing system may include a GPS receiver, triangulation technology, and/or an accelerometer. The location sensing system may be configured to sense the location of the mobile communication device on earth or within a smaller geographic area. The location sensing system may be configured to express the sensed location in any form, such as in the form of a longitude, latitude, and/or altitude specification.
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The computer processing system may be configured to perform the functions of the computer processing system which are described below. The computer processing system may include computer hardware and software. The computer hardware may include one or more processors and related processing devices. The computer software may include one or more algorithms configured to perform the functions of the computer processing system which are described below. The computer software may be stored on computer-readable storage media, such as on one or more hard disc drives, DVD's, CD's, flash memories, ROMS, PROMS, and/or ePROMS. During use, the computer software may be moved to RAM.
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The computer processing system may enable the user of the mobile communication device to deliver registration information of any of the types discussed above to an automated emergency assistance computing system, such as the automated emergency assistance computing system , through a communication network, such as the communication network . When the automated emergency assistance computing system presents a form that is to be completed in connection with the delivery of registration information, the computer processing system may cause that form to be displayed on a user interface that is part of the mobile communication device and to allow the user to operate the mobile communication device to fill in the entries on this form.
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The computer processing system may cause the user-operated emergency signaling control to be armed at all times or only upon request of a user of the mobile communication device . Such a request may be communicated by the user through a user interface (not shown) in the mobile communication device .
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The computer processing system may be configured to receive information indicating when the user-operated emergency signaling control has been operated. In response to operation of this control, the computer processing system may cause the wireless communication system to deliver an emergency alert to an automated emergency assistance computing system, such as the automated emergency assistance computing system , through a communication network, such as the communication network . The emergency alert may be any of the types of emergency alerts discussed above.
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Either before, after, or during the issuance of the emergency alert, the computer processing system may be configured to deliver continuous real-time emergency information to the automated emergency assistance computing system through the communication network relating to the emergency. This continuous real-time information may include updates to the location of the mobile communication device , as provided by the location sensing system , and/or streaming audio of sound and/or streaming video of images, as picked up by the microphone/camera .
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The wireless communication system may be configured to deliver the emergency alert over a communication channel which is the same or different than the communication channel over which the continuous real-time information is delivered. For example, the wireless communication system may be configured to deliver the emergency alert over a voice channel and/or a data channel. The wireless communication system and the computer processing system may be configured to cause the mobile communication device to call or to receive a call from the automated emergency assistance computing system in order to initiate a communication channel for the continuous real-time information.
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The computer processing system may be configured to cause the wireless communication system to deliver the emergency alert and the continuous real-time information without further input from a user after operation of the user-operated emergency signaling control . Similarly, the computer processing system may be configured to cause the wireless communication system to deliver the emergency alert and/or the continuous real-time emergency information without causing the mobile communication device to signal through a user interface that either communication is being delivered.
FIG. 4
401
109
201
illustrate a webpage at which continuous real time information relating to an emergency may be obtained. Such a webpage may be used in connection with the automated emergency assistance computing systems and/or discussed above or in connection with a different one. Similarly, a different webpage may be used in connection with these automated emergency assistance computing systems.
FIG. 4
401
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As illustrated in , the webpage may appear within a client browser window . The webpage may be delivered when a recipient of an emergency help request seeks continuous real-time information relating to the emergency. The recipient or other person may obtain this webpage by communicating with the automated emergency assistance computing system which issued the emergency help request using the URL address provided in the emergency help request.
401
FIG. 4
Any information may be provided on the webpage and/or on other webpages which may be linked to it. This information may be provided in any format. is purely illustrative.
FIG. 4
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As illustrated in , basic information about the emergency may be provided on the webpage . The webpage may also provide options for viewing continuous real-time information relating to the emergency, such as a live video button , a recorded video button , a tracking map button , and a registration information button . Other types of user-operated controls may be provided in addition or instead.
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Clicking the live video button may cause a live video which is being captured by the mobile communication device to be displayed. The video may include images and/or sound. Clicking the recorded video button , on the other hand, may cause continuous real-time information relating to the emergency which had been recorded in an information storage system, such as the information storage system , to be played back. A Live audio or Recorded audio button may be provided in addition or instead and may function in the same way, except that only audio may be provided.
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Clicking on the tracking map button may cause a map of the area in which the emergency is taking place to be displayed. The map may include a trail tracking locations at which the mobile communication device has been. The trail may track locations both before and after issuance of the emergency alert. The trail may mark the location at which the alert was issued.
415
Clicking the registration information button may cause all or portions of any registration information which was provided to be displayed.
401
The webpage may include a button or other type of user control which, when actuated, may enable emergency personnel to communicate directly with the user who issued the emergency alert. For example, actuation of such a user control may facilitate voice communication between the user and the emergency personnel. This voice communication may or may not be channeled through the automated emergency assistance computing system.
The components, steps, features, objects, benefits and advantages that have been discussed are merely illustrative. None of them, nor the discussions relating to them, are intended to limit the scope of protection in any way. Numerous other embodiments are also contemplated. These include embodiments that have fewer, additional, and/or different components, steps, features, objects, benefits and advantages. These also include embodiments in which the components and/or steps are arranged and/or ordered differently.
Unless otherwise stated, all measurements, values, ratings, positions, magnitudes, sizes, and other specifications that are set forth in this specification, including in the claims that follow, are approximate, not exact. They are intended to have a reasonable range that is consistent with the functions to which they relate and with what is customary in the art to which they pertain.
All articles, patents, patent applications, and other publications which have been cited in this disclosure are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
The phrase “means for” when used in a claim is intended to and should be interpreted to embrace the corresponding structures and materials that have been described and their equivalents. Similarly, the phrase “step for” when used in a claim is intended to and should be interpreted to embrace the corresponding acts that have been described and their equivalents. The absence of these phrases in a claim mean that the claim is not intended to and should not be interpreted to be limited to any of the corresponding structures, materials, or acts or to their equivalents.
Nothing that has been stated or illustrated is intended or should be interpreted to cause a dedication of any component, step, feature, object, benefit, advantage, or equivalent to the public, regardless of whether it is recited in the claims.
The scope of protection is limited solely by the claims that now follow. That scope is intended and should be interpreted to be as broad as is consistent with the ordinary meaning of the language that is used in the claims when interpreted in light of this specification and the prosecution history that follows and to encompass all structural and functional equivalents.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
The drawings disclose illustrative embodiments. They do not set forth all embodiments. Other embodiments may be used in addition or instead. Details that may be apparent or unnecessary may be omitted to save space or for more effective illustration. Conversely, some embodiments may be practiced without all of the details that are disclosed. When the same numeral appears in different drawings, it refers to the same or like components or steps.
FIG. 1
illustrates components of an emergency assistance system.
FIG. 2
illustrates an automated emergency assistance computing system that may be used in an emergency assistance system.
FIG. 3
illustrates a mobile communication device that may be used in an emergency assistance system.
FIG. 4
illustrate a webpage at which continuous real time information relating to an emergency may be obtained. | |
Concerns over climate change have encouraged policies that intend to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. An example of such a policy is the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), which was approved in 2009 and is administered by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). LCFS requires ongoing reductions in carbon intensities (CI) for transportation fuels sold in California. The policy aims at a 10% decline in CI by 2020 (from petroleum refiners and other fuel providers). A regulated party must meet the average CI requirements as specified in Table 1 and Table 2 for its transportation gasoline and diesel fuel, correspondingly, in each year.
LCFS uses a market-based approach to reduce GHG emissions from petroleum-based transportation fuels like reformulated gasoline and diesel. Companies can earn LFCS credits using several approaches, including improving their processes or incorporating renewable feedstocks and inputs. To be deemed a suitable alternative, the relative CI of alternative fuels have to be considered, as not all alternative fuels are estimated to have the same level of CI.
Table 1. LFCS Compliance Schedule for 2011 to 2020 for Gasoline and Fuels Used as a Substitute for Gasoline
Table 2. LCFS Compliance Schedule for 2011 to 2020 for Diesel and Fuels Used as a Substitute for Diesel Fuel.
According to CARB, under the LCFS, CI are calculated on a full life cycle basis, meaning that the CI value indicates the GHG emissions related to the fuel’s production, transport, storage, and use (CARB, 2015a).These fuel emissions are considered direct effects in the life cycle analysis of transportation fuels. As indicated by CARB, because of intermediate market mechanisms, CI for fuels produced from crops have an additional indirect GHG effect, which is called indirect land use change (ILUC). According to CARB, land use change happens when demand for a crop-based biofuel brings non-agricultural lands into production, releasing the carbon sequestered in soils and vegetation. ILUC is meant to measure these resulting carbon emissions. CI are measured in terms of grams of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent per megajoule of energy (gCO2e per MJ).
When CARB approved the original LCFS regulation in 2009, the California-Modified Greenhouse Gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy Use in Transportation model version 1.8b (CA-GREET 1.8B) was designated as the model to be used for estimating life cycle emissions (CARB, 2015b). ILUC was estimated using the current information at that time, but ILUC was (and still is) a controversial topic of discussion and research. For example, using empirical data, Babcock and Iqbal (2014) concluded that the main driver for land use change response by the world’s farmers from 2004 to 2012 was to use available land resources more efficiently instead of expanding the amount of land brought into production. As indicated by the authors, this finding was not new yet was not acknowledged by regulators (such as CARB and EPA) who calculate indirect land use in their CI models.
In September 2015, CARB approved the readoption of the LCFS. At that time, a new version of the GREET model (CA-GREET 2.0) was approved. The new model is a two-tiered system for fuel pathway applications. Tier 1 is for common, conventionally produced, first-generation fuels (starch- and sugar-based ethanol, biodiesel, renewable diesel, compressed natural gas, and liquefied natural gas). Tier 2 is for next-generation fuels (cellulosic alcohols, hydrogen, and drop-in fuels) or first-generation fuels produced through innovative production processes.
In general, the differences using the two models show the developments in the quality of life cycle inventory data, emission factors, and process efficiency data since the program started.
Carbon Intensity of Ethanol
Figure 1 through Figure 3 compare fuel CI for some of the existing fuel pathways that were certified using CA-GREET 1.8b during the 2010-2015 period, with CI for the same fuel groups estimated using CA-GREET 2.0 during the 2016-2020 period. As indicated by CARB (CARB, 2015c), these calculations show the expected CI changes that would happen as a result of the adoption of CA-GREET 2.0 and do not illustrate CI differences driven by CA-GREET for the same production facilities at the same point in time.
The total CI for corn ethanol (ETHC004=Midwest; Dry Mill; Dry DGS, NG) is now 80.09 gCO2e per MJ, declining by 9.62 gCO2e per MJ from the previous estimate (89.71 gCO2e per MJ) (see Figure 1). The main driver of change for corn ethanol using the new CA-GREET 2.0 model was a lower ILUC value. In addition, lower farming energy (-1.2g) contributed to the reduction in the total CI of corn ethanol. The new ILUC value for corn ethanol is 19.8 gCO2e per MJ compared with 30 gCO2e per MJ, the ILUC value estimated under the previous model. Overall, ILUC was reduced for all ethanol-producing crops (i.e., corn ethanol, sorghum ethanol, and sugarcane ethanol), with Brazilian sugarcane ethanol ILUC declining the most.
The new direct CI estimate for corn ethanol also changed, increasing from 59.7 gCO2e per MJ to 60.3 gCO2e per MJ. This change was based on higher ethanol production CI (1g), and higher denaturant (0.9g).
The direct CI estimate for sugarcane ethanol using GREET 2.0 increased by 14.03 gCO2e per MJ for sugarcane-base case to 41.43 gCO2e per MJ and by 18.69 gCO2e per MJ for sugarcane mechanized harvest and power export to 31.09 gCO2e per MJ. These increases were due to higher cane farming energy, higher fertilizer application, higher straw burning, higher denaturant use, and higher ethanol transport. However, the resulting total CI scores for these two types of sugarcane ethanol (53.23 gCO2e per MJ and 42.89 gCO2e per MJ) remain below that of corn ethanol CI (see Figure 1).
Despite these low CI scores that give competitive advantage to sugarcane ethanol from Brazil over U.S. corn ethanol, the chances that California’s refiners will increase ethanol imported from Brazil to meet some of the LFCS carbon reduction requirements this year are quite slim. The latest Energy Information Administration (EIA) data indicates that no U.S. ethanol imports from Brazil were registered in January 2016 (EIA, 2016a). Since last year (March 2015), Brazil’s government approved a 2% increase in ethanol blending for gasoline, from 25% to 27%, discouraging exports and increasing Brazil’s domestic ethanol demand to fulfill their own requirements.
Figure 1. Carbon Intensity of Gasoline and Ethanol Products (gCO2e/MJ)
On January 29, 2016, CARB certified the corn stover pathway for cellulosic ethanol produced by POET-DSM at the Project Liberty Cellulosic Ethanol Plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa (CARB, 2015c). The Project Liberty plant is expected to produce more than 13 million gallons per year. By using crop residue (corn stover) as a feedstock for ethanol production, the total CI of cellulosic ethanol produced by this plant does not include an ILUC estimate. The total CI value for cellulosic ethanol produced at this plant was certified by CARB at 21.58 gCO2e per MJ, which is substantially below both corn ethanol and sugarcane ethanol. In addition to producing cellulosic ethanol, the plant produces two important co-products: surplus steam from the solid fuels boiler (SFB) and biogas from the wastewater treatment process. These two co-products, which are exported to the nearby corn-starch plant in Emmetsburg, accrued a substantial credit to the Liberty corn stover pathway (CARB, 2015d).
Carbon Intensity of Biodiesel and Renewable Diesel
Both biodiesel (BD) and renewable diesel (RD) qualify for the LCFS. As Figure 2 shows, the total CI estimates for soybean BD (BIOD001= Midwest soybeans to biodiesel, fatty acid methyl esters [FAME]) using the new CA-GREET model (version 2.0) declined from 83.25 gCO2e per MJ to 51.83 gCO2e per MJ. Similar to corn ethanol, the main driver of change in the total CI of soybean BD using GREET 2.0 was the large reduction in ILUC scores, from 62 gCO2e per MJ to 29.1 gCO2e per MJ. Despite this reduction, soybean biodiesel’s total CI is the highest among all other biodiesel products, mainly because of the ILUC CI component. Figure 3 shows the CI for different RD products. CI for RD are comparable to those for BD. Among the three new fuel pathways that were estimated using CA-GREET 2.0 (i.e., used cooking oil [UCO] RD, canola RD, and corn oil RD), UCO RD had the lowest CI estimated at 18.21 gCO2e/MJ.
Overall, all biodiesel and renewable diesel products shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3 have substantially lower total CI scores using the GREET 2.0 than do the ethanol products shown in Figure 1. These biomass-based diesel fuels, particularly those with lower CI, have an advantage over other renewable fuels to qualify for higher credit values in the LCFS program.
As reported by CARB (2016a), so far fuel blenders are overcomplying with the regulation. From the first quarter of 2011 to the last quarter of 2015, there has been a total of about 16.55 million metric tons (MMT) in credits and 9.14 MMT in deficits (i.e., a surplus of 7.41 MMT in credits). But as the CI target is reduced each year, compliance with the regulation will become more challenging.
Figure 2. Carbon Intensity of Diesel and Biodiesel Products (gCO2e/MJ)
Figure 3. Carbon Intensity of Diesel and Renewable Diesel Products (gCO2e/MJ)
Future of Midwest-Based Biofuels in the California Market
Diesel substitutes and lower carbon-intensity (CI) ethanol have the most potential for meeting the 10% target for CI reduction by 2020 specified in the LCFS regulation, as these fuels have lower-carbon feedstocks, including recycled fats and oils and agricultural residues.
Despite reductions in the estimated ILUC of Midwest corn ethanol and Midwest soybean biofuels (i.e., biodiesel and renewable diesel) using the new CA-GREET 2.0 model, these fuels remain the least competitive in the California market in terms of credit generation to meet the LCFS requirements. Much larger declines in CI are required to increase the value of these products in the California market. We will discuss the LCFS credit market in future issues.
As always, we look forward to your helpful comments and suggestions. Send your comments [email protected].
Sources
Babcock, B.A., and Z. Iqbal, 2014. “Using Recent Land Use Changes to Validate Land Use Change Models.” Staff Report 14-SR 109, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, Iowa State University.
California Air Resources Board (CARB), 2015a. Staff Report, “Calculating Carbon Intensity Values from Indirect Land Use Change of Crop-Based Biofuels.”
2015c.CA-GREET 1.8b versus 2.0 CI Comparison Table Approach and Limitations.
2015d. Final Staff Summary Method 2B LCFS Application for the Production of Cellulosic Ethanol from Corn Stover Residue Feedstock at POET-DSM Project Liberty, Emmetsburg, IA (ARB Code: ETHB004).
2016a. Low Carbon Fuel Standard Reporting Tool Quarterly Summaries.
California Energy Commission. Low Carbon Fuel Standard. (Accessed April 22, 2014).
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2016. U.S. Fuel Ethanol (Renewable) Imports (U.S. Imports by Country of Origin). April 4. | https://www.agmrc.org/renewable-energy/renewable-energy-climate-change-report/renewable-energy-climate-change-report/may-2016-report/readoption-of-the-california-low-carbon-fuel-standard |
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Introduction:
By experimental design, we mean a plan and used to collect the data relevant to the problems understudy in such a way as to provide a basis for valid and objective inference about a state problem. The plan he usually consists of the selection of treatments whose effects are to be studied, the specification of the experimental layouts, the assignments of treatments to the experimental units and the calculation of observations for analysis. all these steps are accomplished before any experiment is performed.
an experiment is planned to
The following considerations go into the planning of an experiment.
The answers to these questions enable the experiment to State his hypothesis precisely and to plan this experimental procedure in a more these are two types of designs systematic and random designs; Butt the analysis of variance techniques are suitable to randomize designs only. the basic randomized designs are
which we discussed in the sections that follow
Basic principles of experimental designs:
The basic principles of experimental designs are randomization, Replication and local control.
these principals make a valid test of significance possible. each of them is described briefly in the following subsections.
Randomization:
The first principle of an experimental design is randomization, which is a random process of assigning treatments to the experimental units. the random process implies that every possible allotment of treatments has the same probability. an experimental unit is the smallest division of the experimental material and the treatment means an experimental condition whose effect is to be measured and compared. the purpose of randomization is to remove bias and other sources of extraneous variation, which are not controllable. another advantageous of randomization is there to be assigned and random to the experimental units. randomization is usually done by drawing a numbered card from a well-shuffled pack of cards or by drawing numbers balls framer well-shaken container or by using a table of random numbers.
Republication:
the second principal of an experimental design is republication which is and repetition of the basic experiment. in other words, it is and complete run from all the treatments to be tested in the experiment. in all experiments, some variation is introduced because of all the fact that experimental units such as individuals are plots of land in agriculture experiments, cannot be physically identical. This type of variation can be removed by using a number of experimental units. We, therefore, performed experimental more than once that is We repeat the basic experiment. an individual’s reputation is called the replicate. the number, the shape and the size of replicates depend upon the nature of the experimental material. Replication is used
Local control:
It has been observed at all extraneous sources of variation or not removed by randomization and republication. this necessity a refinement is the experimental technique.
in other words, we need to choose a design in such a manner that all experience sources of variation or brought under control. for this purpose, we make use of local control, or term referring to the amount of balancing, blocking and grouping of the experimental units. Balancing means that the treatments should be designed for experimental units in such a way that the result is a balanced arrangement of the treatments. blocking means that like experimental units should be collected together to form of Relativity homogeneous group. a block is also a replicate. the main purpose of the principle of local control is to increase the efficiency of experimental design by decreasing the experimental errors. the point to remember here is that the term local control should not be confused with world control. The word control in experimental design is used for a treatment which does not receive any treatment but we need to find cut the effectiveness of other treatment through comparison. | http://www.mathswonder.com/2019/06/08/experimental-designs-statistics-mathswonder/ |
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If you are feeling weighed down by your thoughts, anxieties, emotions, or are experiencing trouble in your relationships, I am here with you. My goal is to provide you with a safe space where you can explore your thoughts, feelings, experiences, and behaviours the way you need to, without judgement. Together, we will work to reveal the depth of your inner world, and with all its richness and nuance. You are the expert on your own life, knowing your strengths, weaknesses, hopes, and aspirations. My role is to help you leverage what you already possess to build more of what you want to see in your life.
The core of my practice will always be respect, empathy, and unconditional warmth, to ensure you are provided with the safe and supportive space that you need in order to grow. My approach is person-centred and humanistic-based; however, we will work collaboratively to discover what approaches and interventions work best for you and your therapeutic goals. I resonate with the person-centred approach because it allows you to take the reins of your therapeutic process and explore through talk.
What brought you to the field?
I was brought to the counselling field by my empathetic nature and desire to help people. I spent half a decade working with children who have special needs in various settings. This work honed my passion for helping others learn their strengths, weaknesses and capacities, and how to translate these into real change. I always had an innate ability and desire to empathize, listen, and connect. I completed my undergraduate degree in Psychology, and Family and Child studies to acquire more knowledge and experience in the field. During this program, my interest in interpersonal and relationship dynamics continued to grow and led to me pursuing my Master’s degree in Counselling Psychology, which I am currently completing.
What is your approach like?
The core of my approach is person-centred because of its emphasis on building a strong therapeutic relationship, empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive regard. I believe that when people are provided these conditions, they have what is needed to learn, grow and heal from within. We will always know ourselves better than others can, and my approach allows people to explore and strengthen that knowledge. As well, my approach and choice for interventions is a collaborative process with the client, in order to fully meet their needs and move toward their aspirations in life.
What can someone expect during a session with you?
Sessions are dynamic, and always involve a recap of where you have been, before deciding where you want to focus that day. If you’re sitting with me, you can expect a safe, non-judgmental, and compassionate environment where you can feel vulnerable and heard. We are investing in each other in order to facilitate an environment where you can flourish and build a compassionate relationship with yourself.
What do you bring to your work that is unexpected or unique?
What is unique to me is my personal life experiences that have helped me to be a better therapist, such as living in different countries and cultures, and helping people in different capacities. These experiences have challenged me to become more open-minded, vulnerable, resilient, and compassionate. I will always continue to challenge myself and confront my biases in order to better myself and create space for others.
What is one piece of wisdom that has shaped your life?
Perspective is reality. Reality is viewed through the various lenses we have created throughout our lives. These lenses are formed by our culture, society, family, social circles, role models, and more. This wisdom has shaped my life by allowing me to choose who I surround myself with and have an influence on my reality. I believe that this piece of wisdom creates space for more empathy, as it is a reminder of how we are all living, behaving, thinking, and feeling from our own subjective perspectives. | https://fieldworkcounselling.ca/team/emma-hough/ |
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