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So we’re doomed to keep asking questions about things we’ve already investigated over and over again, because dammit we just keep learning new things.
Knowing that it’s possible simply isn’t enough. I need to know how well the method works. Is it actually feasible at a production level? Would it make sense from a fuel consumption standpoint? How hard is it to pull off? What kind of product is left behind? These are all things that we can investigate through experimentation and review, and that’s what I’m starting on here. Investigation! Skeptical inquiry! Lighting shit on fire! All the best aspects of science!
In order to investigate plausible extraction methodology, I wanted to test two different factors: water source and heat of extraction. Previously, I simply soaked charred kelp in room-temperature water and boiled the runoff. That’s great, but we also know that the solute holding capacity of water increases with temperature – so hypothetically, a hot water extraction should allow more salts to dissolve than a room-temperature one.
I also used water from my tap, which is all good and well – but this is a utility endeavor, and it was practiced on beaches isolated from major population centers. Would a salt-karl really haul fresh water from somewhere just to make salt, or would he use the seawater that’s right next to his setup? Remember, Pliny indicates that many cultures (including various Germanic tribes) made salt by evaporating seawater, and some by pouring it over the hot coals of wood. It’s plausible that seawater plus ashed kelp could be used to produce a salt; Atlantic seawater is only 3.5% salt in composition, and the saturation point for a saltwater solution is around 26% (barring any hypersaline water oddities).
Before I could do anything, though, I needed to burn some shit.
As I’ve mentioned before, I bought 50 pounds of Icelandic kelp meal some time ago. Since then, I’ve been trying to figure out a way to effectively burn the stuff. The configuration makes it useless as a fuel item; a friend had suggested burning it as food, and even offered up the above-pictured Lodge cookware for it. The test-run many moons ago was successful but stinky – I figured my 60,000 BTU propane burner could get the job done.
Man, did it ever. My previous efforts never resulted in significant combustion, but this stuff really took off after the initial heavy smoke phase. Interestingly enough, it also burned out and never re-ignited; my guess is that most of the carbon content burned off, leaving behind mostly mineral salts. The fire itself produced a fairly noxious-smelling black smoke, with a chewy oily texture.
Let me just reiterate how awful this shit smells. It’s extremely smokey, takes a while to burn off (I think the pot above smoked for 45 solid minutes before catching fire), and smells like a rotting whale carcass stuffed with fermented shark that is also on fire. Also the whale is on fire. Also the entire ocean is on fire.
It’s really not pleasant.
Seems there’s a good reason that “salt-karl” was an insult, and why the Norse did this on a beach well away from other people. When I came in after 3 hours of burning stuff (during which I reduced 12 lbs of kelp to ~5 lbs of ash), my fiancee could only say “UGH. What’s that smell?” And today, two days later, my peacoat still reeks.
So after I finished standing outside freezing my ass off while inhaling fumes of unknown toxicity, I had a tub of charred stuff that smelled fairly awful. It needed to cool overnight before it could really be useful – ashes tend to stay warm for some time. They never fully ashed, not even when combusted – but again, I believe that to be a byproduct of the configuration. Future experiments will look at trying to use sheet kelp as an actual fuel source, rather than expending heating fuel to make ashes.
Once you’ve got cooled kelp ash, it’s time to extract the mineral content! I’m used water as an extraction medium, and tried both conventional tapwater and a seawater analogue consisting of 3.5% salt.
It’s always prudent to assemble your materials before you proceed with an experiment. Here, I’ve procured my kelp ashes (~2.35 kg), propane burner and propane (set to 50% maximum output), several measuring containers, a strainer and bowl, and of course a kitchen scale.
The faux seawater solution was prepared by combining 5 kg of tapwater with 175 g of kosher salt, giving a final salt concentration of ~3.5%. Note that I weighed the water as opposed to measuring volumetrically – that’s because water has a density of 1 gm/cm^3 (until it gets near freezing, at least), so that 1 gram = 1 mL and 1 kg = 1 L. Convenient! My scale has better resolution (minimum 1 g) than my volume equipment, so this will allow for maximum accuracy.
Controls are crucial in any experiment, and it’s important to identify needed controls at the outset of an experiment – let your hypothesis govern the choices. In this case, I’m specifically looking to assess the difference in extraction efficiencies between 1) salt and fresh water and 2) low-temperature and high-temperature extractions. Because I will ultimately be measuring a mass of solid product, it’s important to know what will be contributing solids to the extracts. In order to provide controls, I boiled down 1.5 kg each of tap water and “seawater” and measured the mass of residue that could be removed from the pan.
On the left, you can see the residue remaining from boiling off tapwater. We’ve got hard water here (perfect for brewing), so it’s not surprising that there is a scale left on the pan. However, it proved to be too little to effectively harvest or measure, failing to register any mass on my scale. Thus, 1.5 kg tapwater contributes less than 0.5 grams of solids to final counts. On the right, we see the residue of the “seawater,” representing the base contribution to the method as well as accounting for the losses that invariably occur when trying to harvest the salt.
1.5 kg of saltwater with a concentration of 3.5% salt by weight yielded a final salt load of 46 grams. Hypothetical yield was 52 grams, but some salt was lost in processing. Still a fairly efficient extraction. The salt was initially rather wet after drying – something like 70 grams and a consistency not unlike brown sugar – but it was heated in the microwave for 1 minute to fully dry.
For sample setup, I basically drew a Punnet square and did the appropriate combinations. 4 500-gram portions of kelp were measured into appropriately-labeled dry containers. 1.5 kg of either salt or fresh water was added to each sample. Two of the samples (one fresh and one sea) were left to steep at room temperature for 30 minutes, while the other two samples (fresh and sea) were heated in a pot on the kitchen stove. Heated samples were brought to a visible boil, and dropped to a simmer for 5 minutes after the first bubbles breached the surface. Following all extractions (whether heated or room temperature), the water/kelp masses were strained through a wire mesh strainer, and the liquid phase collected. The kelp mass was allowed to drain for 5 minutes, ensuring collection of a significant portion of the liquid.
I didn’t measure the volume of runoff from each (though now I’m wishing I had) since I was only focusing on final solid extract generated by the methodology. However, all 4 extract methods appeared to produce roughly the same volume of runoff – roughly 400 – 500 mL. Future experiments will more accurately determine runoff volume generated by these extraction methods.
Once extracts were obtained, they were boiled down as the controls were. The pan was washed and dried in between each boiling (actually, all common equipment was thoroughly cleaned and dried in between samples to eliminate the possibility of cross-contamination), and the same equipment was used to extract the salt from the pan (i.e. a spoon and a spatula). Extract mass was determined using the same scale used to measure all of the ingredients. In order to standardize the moisture level, all samples were microwaved for 1 minute after collection as the saltwater control was.
I devised an abbreviation scheme to represent the four sample configurations. All samples are identified by three consecutive letters indicating their combination of treatments: K/[R or H]/[F or S], indicating [K]elp, [R]oom-temperature or [H]igh-temperature extraction, and [F]resh or [S]altwater extraction. Top row from left to right shows the solids extracted from KRF and KRS; bottom row from left to right shows extracts of KHF and KHS.
Yields for all samples and controls are given below. Compounded uncertainty in measurements is +/- 1.5 g; the scale has no listed uncertainty of its own, and 10 consecutive weighings of identical volumes showed no deviation. Uncertainty is thus half the value of the smallest unit of measure (1 g), added for each step that involves weighing. In this case, 3 different weighings of different components were used to determine the components of the extraction process – their uncertainties add together.
Sample Name Mass of Extract (+/- 1.5 g)
Saltwater control 46 g
Freshwater Control <0.5 g
KRF 42 g
KRS 112 g
KHF 90 g
KHS 120 g
The results are not terribly surprising. Both of the hot water extractions yield more salt content than the lower-temperature extractions. The difference is greatest when using fresh water for the extraction, which indicates that the charred kelp contains quite a lot of salt to potentially extract. It is curious that the yield from KRS is larger than [KRF + Saltwater]; one would expect that the yield would simply be additive and thus the two would be mostly equivalent.
It appears that the high-temperature extraction with salt water yields the largest quantity of salt, but the gain from heating is minimal compared to a simple room-temperature salt water extraction. It appears that the use of salt water for extracting leads to the greatest gains in salt yield. This is unsurprising, as the salt water contributes a significant salt portion. It may be that the addition of charred kelp to salt water allows the solution to approach saturation; assuming 500 mL of final volume, the KHS solution would have had a solute concentration of ~24% prior to boiling.
Recovery efficiency seems to decrease as final salt mass increases. When evaporating KHS, several larger globs of salt “popped” out of the pan in response to heating. This phenomenon was observed in other extracts, and is generally exacerbated as the amount of salt condensing increases. This may also account for the observed decrease in effectiveness of heating in extracting additional salt from the kelp.
Ultimately, this demonstrates the utility of using kelp ash to increase salt yield from boiling seawater. 1.5 kg of seawater, when boiled off, yields 46 g of salt. The addition of kelp ashes to that same mass of seawater, while reducing final liquid volume, can increase the final salt yield by a factor of approximately 2.5, for a maximum yield of 120 g. This has the potential to consume less fuel (boiling a smaller volume of liquid) while simultaneously increasing salt yield.
It should be noted that expending fuel specifically to ash the kelp is likely a fuel-losing prospect. More than likely, sheets of dried kelp were themselves burned as a fuel source, and the ashes collected and used for various home purposes.
So what’s next? Fuel consumption estimation, liquid extract volume yields, experimenting with sheet kelp as fuel, additional experiments for the sake of rigor…
But before that, I’m a Norwegian, and I have salt. Let’s get some cod and see what happens when I apply kelp-ash salt to it. Next time, we’ll see how that works out.
EDIT: UPDATE WITH TOXIC METALS ANALYSIS INFORMATION
Element symbol: amount (ppb)
Note: BDL = Below Detection Limit
1 PPB = 1 ug/kg
Kelp Salt
Be: BDL
Al: BDL
V: 386.0
Cr: 491.6
Co: 180.0
Ni: 342.2
As (total): 574.2
Se: BDL
Mo: 913.8
Cd: 186.3
Sb: BDL
Hg: BDL
Ti: BDL
Pb: BDL
Th: BDL
U238: 96.01
Control Salt (Kosher Salt boiled in a pan)
Be: BDL
Al: BDL
V: BDL
Cr: 361.6
Co: BDL
Ni: 225.6
As (total): BDL
Se: BDL
Mo: BDL
Cd: BDL
Sb: BDL
Hg: BDL
Ti: BDL
Pb: 79.08
Th: BDL
U238: BDL
The arsenic (As) level was not speciated, as it was not considered a level of general concern for salt.
The FDA sets a level of concern for arsenic in juice of 23 ppb, at which point the arsenic must be speciated. Inorganic arsenic in juice has a tolerance level of 10 ppb.
The US does not set an arsenic standard for any other product.
Codex Alimentarius maintains internationally-recognized standards for contaminants in some products:
http://www.codexalimentarius.net/input/download/standards/17/CXS_193e.pdf
The standard for food grade salt is 500 ppb total arsenic, so this slightly exceeds that. However, they also note that marine products (seafood and kelp) routinely have higher levels of arsenic (mostly organic, with ~1 – 3% as inorganic), often up to 50 mg/kg (50,000 ppb).
A 2007 study by Amster et al raised some concern about arsenic in kelp supplements, but was highly criticized because it failed to speciate the arsenic, and thus could not demonstrate the toxic link it claimed. The paper also suffered other severe methodological flaws.
In general, the amount of arsenic observed in the salt is not of concern. 10 g of the salt (twice the RDA for sodium) would contain 5 ug of arsenic, well within the typical human daily consumption range. And it is unlikely that all of the arsenic is inorganic – most is likely the organic (non-toxic) form, rendering the salt largely non-toxic.
But I would not use this salt as a day-to-day table salt, to be on the safe side. As a preservative for fish which is likely to be soaked out, it should be fine.
Thanks to Tom King and the chemistry division of the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets Food Lab! | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
4?
3*r + 1799536
What is the q'th term of 4803, 4812, 4821?
9*q + 4794
What is the q'th term of 6306, 6347, 6390, 6435, 6482?
q**2 + 38*q + 6267
What is the o'th term of 3042, 6105, 9184, 12285, 15414, 18577, 21780, 25029?
o**3 + 2*o**2 + 3050*o - 11
What is the j'th term of -3468, -3470, -3476, -3486?
-2*j**2 + 4*j - 3470
What is the z'th term of 50156, 50153, 50150, 50147, 50144?
-3*z + 50159
What is the f'th term of -97508, -195014, -292520, -390026, -487532?
-97506*f - 2
What is the a'th term of 192, 151, 84, -15, -152, -333, -564?
-a**3 - 7*a**2 - 13*a + 213
What is the h'th term of 30475, 60950, 91423, 121894, 152363, 182830?
-h**2 + 30478*h - 2
What is the v'th term of -129140, -129138, -129136, -129134?
2*v - 129142
What is the o'th term of -271074, -271070, -271056, -271026, -270974, -270894?
o**3 - o**2 - 271074
What is the s'th term of 254, 236, 208, 164, 98, 4?
-s**3 + s**2 - 14*s + 268
What is the k'th term of 557, 1996, 4343, 7556, 11593, 16412?
-7*k**3 + 496*k**2 + 68
What is the u'th term of -207, -176, -87, 60, 265, 528?
29*u**2 - 56*u - 180
What is the r'th term of 37465, 74934, 112403, 149872, 187341, 224810?
37469*r - 4
What is the h'th term of -997, -7617, -25599, -60625, -118377, -204537, -324787, -484809?
-947*h**3 + h**2 + 6*h - 57
What is the g'th term of 955, 2085, 3215?
1130*g - 175
What is the o'th term of 89, 115, 185, 323, 553?
4*o**3 - 2*o**2 + 4*o + 83
What is the b'th term of 26989, 107952, 242899, 431836, 674769, 971704, 1322647?
b**3 + 26986*b**2 - 2*b + 4
What is the s'th term of 181, 240, 389, 670, 1125, 1796?
7*s**3 + 3*s**2 + s + 170
What is the x'th term of 1034, 1442, 1850, 2258, 2666, 3074?
408*x + 626
What is the k'th term of -1174, -4505, -9990, -17629?
-1077*k**2 - 100*k + 3
What is the s'th term of 978, 1280, 1584, 1890, 2198, 2508, 2820?
s**2 + 299*s + 678
What is the h'th term of -4729, -4790, -4867, -4960?
-8*h**2 - 37*h - 4684
What is the t'th term of -887, -7098, -23939, -56726, -110775, -191402?
-886*t**3 + t**2 - 12*t + 10
What is the g'th term of -500, -2268, -5214, -9338, -14640?
-589*g**2 - g + 90
What is the y'th term of 89140, 89142, 89144, 89146?
2*y + 89138
What is the x'th term of -52084, -104164, -156244?
-52080*x - 4
What is the o'th term of 12364, 12380, 12406, 12442, 12488, 12544, 12610?
5*o**2 + o + 12358
What is the d'th term of 456, 2817, 6746, 12237, 19284, 27881, 38022?
-d**3 + 790*d**2 - 2*d - 331
What is the v'th term of 2462, 2576, 2884, 3482, 4466?
16*v**3 + v**2 - v + 2446
What is the k'th term of -10432, -10389, -10328, -10243, -10128, -9977, -9784?
k**3 + 3*k**2 + 27*k - 10463
What is the l'th term of -11019904, -11019905, -11019906?
-l - 11019903
What is the m'th term of -958, -910, -862, -814?
48*m - 1006
What is the y'th term of -2148, -4286, -6420, -8550, -10676, -12798, -14916?
2*y**2 - 2144*y - 6
What is the u'th term of 89624, 179249, 268874, 358499, 448124?
89625*u - 1
What is the s'th term of -150, -576, -1290, -2298, -3606, -5220, -7146, -9390?
-s**3 - 138*s**2 - 5*s - 6
What is the z'th term of -1308, -4092, -8732, -15228?
-928*z**2 - 380
What is the z'th term of -527, -1613, -3379, -5831, -8975?
-z**3 - 334*z**2 - 77*z - 115
What is the z'th term of 28424, 56838, 85256, 113678, 142104, 170534?
2*z**2 + 28408*z + 14
What is the h'th term of 429, -89, -967, -2217, -3851, -5881, -8319, -11177?
-2*h**3 - 168*h**2 + 599
What is the t'th term of 1335, 2665, 3999, 5337, 6679?
2*t**2 + 1324*t + 9
What is the k'th term of 4826, 4821, 4816, 4811?
-5*k + 4831
What is the d'th term of -1912, -3784, -5656?
-1872*d - 40
What is the t'th term of 305, 772, 1229, 1670, 2089, 2480, 2837?
-t**3 + t**2 + 471*t - 166
What is the m'th term of 2, -43, -174, -433, -862?
-7*m**3 - m**2 + 7*m + 3
What is the r'th term of 195, 200, 205, 210, 215, 220?
5*r + 190
What is the w'th term of -3650, -3637, -3624, -3611, -3598, -3585?
13*w - 3663
What is the c'th term of 1543, 1502, 1461, 1420, 1379?
-41*c + 1584
What is the d'th term of 41813, 83628, 125443, 167258?
41815*d - 2
What is the u'th term of 36, 435, 1634, 4071, 8184, 14411?
73*u**3 - 38*u**2 + 2*u - 1
What is the r'th term of 437, -573, -2255, -4609, -7635?
-336*r**2 - 2*r + 775
What is the n'th term of 719, 112, -495, -1102, -1709?
-607*n + 1326
What is the o'th term of 122787, 122806, 122825, 122844, 122863, 122882?
19*o + 122768
What is the r'th term of 475, 505, 569, 673, 823, 1025?
r**3 + 11*r**2 - 10*r + 473
What is the z'th term of 40, 138, 302, 532?
33*z**2 - z + 8
What is the h'th term of -8685, -17366, -26047?
-8681*h - 4
What is the q'th term of 118289, 236583, 354879, 473177?
q**2 + 118291*q - 3
What is the g'th term of 1135, 1134, 1141, 1162, 1203, 1270?
g**3 - 2*g**2 - 2*g + 1138
What is the z'th term of -246580, -246576, -246572, -246568?
4*z - 246584
What is the t'th term of -1303, -3575, -5835, -8077, -10295, -12483, -14635?
t**3 - 2279*t + 975
What is the l'th term of 97395, 194790, 292197, 389622, 487071, 584550, 682065?
l**3 + 97388*l + 6
What is the l'th term of 609, 2485, 5643, 10089, 15829, 22869, 31215?
l**3 + 635*l**2 - 36*l + 9
What is the b'th term of -56, 213, 664, 1297?
91*b**2 - 4*b - 143
What is the n'th term of -215, -710, -1527, -2660, -4103, -5850, -7895?
n**3 - 167*n**2 - n - 48
What is the v'th term of 14572, 116815, 394332, 934759, 1825732, 3154887?
14606*v**3 + v**2 - 2*v - 33
What is the y'th term of 23707, 23706, 23705, 23704, 23703?
-y + 23708
What is the f'th term of 1842, 1839, 1834, 1827?
-f**2 + 1843
What is the v'th term of 50, -21, -206, -505, -918, -1445?
-57*v**2 + 100*v + 7
What is the c'th term of 2324, 2383, 2480, 2615, 2788, 2999?
19*c**2 + 2*c + 2303
What is the t'th term of 4251, 4253, 4255, 4257?
2*t + 4249
What is the z'th term of -7479, -14968, -22457, -29946, -37435?
-7489*z + 10
What is the s'th term of -163, -682, -1569, -2842, -4519?
-3*s**3 - 166*s**2 + 6
What is the c'th term of -681, -731, -781, -831?
-50*c - 631
What is the w'th term of 2465, 4973, 7483, 9995?
w**2 + 2505*w - 41
What is the l'th term of 8745, 8882, 9005, 9108, 9185, 9230?
-l**3 - l**2 + 147*l + 8600
What is the k'th term of 22209, 44418, 66627, 88836, 111045?
22209*k
What is the n'th term of 127, 311, 641, 1135, 1811?
3*n**3 + 55*n**2 - 2*n + 71
What is the l'th term of 15, 84, 199, 360?
23*l**2 - 8
What is the y'th term of 396, 807, 1230, 1665?
6*y**2 + 393*y - 3
What is the x'th term of -827, -770, -675, -524, -299, 18, 445, 1000?
3*x**3 + x**2 + 33*x - 864
What is the m'th term of -7017, -56001, -188959, -447879, -874749?
-6998*m**3 + m**2 - m - 19
What is the c'th term of 534894, 534899, 534904, 534909, 534914, 534919?
5*c + 534889
What is the x'th term of 2589, 4433, 6277, 8121, 9965, 11809?
1844*x + 745
What is the r'th term of 248, 2309, 7948, 18953, 37112, 64213, 102044?
298*r**3 + r**2 - 28*r - 23
What is the n'th term of -15037, -15140, -15255, -15388, -15545, -15732, -15955?
-n**3 - 96*n - 14940
What is the t'th term of -15303, -61294, -137939, -245232, -383167, -551738, -750939, -980764?
t**3 - 15333*t**2 + t + 28
What is the v'th term of 858, 1688, 2520, 3360, 4214, 5088, 5988?
v**3 - 5*v**2 + 838*v + 24
What is the f'th term of 546, 759, 1114, 1611?
71*f**2 + 475
What is the w'th term of -252791, -252789, -252787?
2*w - 252793
What is the z'th term of -64, -86, -108, -124, -128, -114, -76, -8?
z**3 - 6*z**2 - 11*z - 48
What is the y'th term of -35160, -70322, -105484?
-35162*y + 2
What is the p'th term of 67358, 134715, 202072, 269429, 336786?
67357*p + 1
What is the c'th term of 9141, 18290, 27439, 36588?
9149*c - 8
What is the r'th term of -88, -26, 34, 92?
-r**2 + 65*r - 152
What is the l'th term of -70631, -70648, -70677, -70718?
-6*l**2 + l - 70626
What is the j'th term of -18629, -37260, -55891, -74522, -93153, -111784?
-18631*j + 2
What is the n'th term of 48, 570, 1440, 2658?
174*n**2 - 126
What is the b'th term of -31590, -31593, -31598, -31605, -31614, -31625?
-b**2 - 31589
What is the d'th term of 13, 57, 121, 199, 285, 373?
-d**3 + 16*d**2 + 3*d - 5
What is the v'th term of -4535, -4516, -4497, -4478, -4459, -4440?
19*v - 4554
What is the x'th term of -37, -85, -159, -247, -337?
2*x**3 - 25*x**2 + 13*x - 27
What is the t'th term of -443, -1813, -5533, -12779, -24727 | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
PRESIDENTIAL VISIT: RA President Robert Kocharyan visited the Armenian Center for Contemporary Art , to the opening ceremony of the international festival of alternative art entitled "Dream in the Dialogue". Art critics from Armenia, Austria, Germany and Italy participated in the festival, which is held for the sixth time in succession. Paintings will be presented within the framework of the festival till May 21, as well as the show of "One Shot, One Minute" and "In the Room" films will be organized. The "Spandara" experimental theater will stage a play performed by the motives of Simone de Bovouar's "Monologue" novel, and the "Pat" experimental theater will stage Jean Paul Sartr's same name story. Four prizes of $1,500 dollars each are set for the best works presented at the festival.
PRESIDENT’S AWARD: The annual award ceremony of RA President Robert Kocharyan took place on May 7. Robert Poghossyan and Sons Fund is the establisher of the award that is being held for the fourth year. As every year, the nominees received diplomas, cash awards ($5000) and a gold medal from the Poghossyans for their work done in 2003 .
"Reproduction Health" manual written by Razmik Abrahamyan and Gayane Avagyan received the president’s prize in the healthcare sphere.
Professor Ashot Sukiasyan’s "Dictionary of Synonyms" received the prize in the "Human Development and Humanities Values, Including Development of the Humanities" nomination. The president of the republic personally approached and handed the prize to the outstanding scholar.
Armenian artist Robert Elibekyan and poet Razmik Davoyan became the winners among the seven authors nominated for the Art and Literature nomination.
TWO PRIZES FOR ARMENIAN ACTORS: YEREVAN: Two out of four prizes of the "Vidlunya" International Theater Festival on monoplays held in Kiev on April 21-26 were given to Armenian actors Haik Zorikian and Aram Hovhannisian, reported Noyan-Tapan agency on May 11. Hakob Ghazanchian, Director of the "Armmono" international festival, told that Aram Hovhannisian, an actor of the Paronian’s State Musical Comedy Theater, was awarded with a prize for the "Rosinant" monoplay in the nomination "The Best Genre Synthesis", and Haik Zorikian, an actor of the Theater of Pantomime, was awarded for the play entitled "Take Care of Each Other, People" in the nomianation "The Best Actor Debut". According to Hakob Ghazanchian, actors of 15 countries participated in the festival with 18 plays. After the Kiev festival the Armenian actors received new invitations from Minsk, Moscow and Riga.
DAVID MALIAN’S 100 th ANNIVERSARY: The May 10 jubilee arrangement organized at the Theatre Worker’s Union of Armenia was dedicated to the 100th anniversary of People's Artist of Soviet Union David Malian. Since 1924 the actor worked in the National Academic Theatre after G.Sundukian, successfully presented about 150 characters. D.Malian also stood at the source of Armenian cinema, he played roles in "Pepo," "Zangezur," "David Bek," "Anahit" and other films. The memories about the creative way he passed and about his partners were presented by David Malian in the book entitled "Persons, Meetings."
According to Yervand Ghazanchian, Chairman of the Theatre Workers' Union of Armenia, D.Malian was one of the most outstanding figures of the Armenian theatre and cinema. "David Malian was a legend for my generation," Tigran Torosian, RA NA Deputy Chairman, said. In his estimation, the roles played by D.Malian have great importance, which remain unforgettable in the history of the Armenian cinema and theatre.
SOUNDS OF JIVAN GASPARYAN’S DUDUK IN ISTANBUL: Armenian duduk player Jivan Gaspsryan held a concert in the Yeni Meleq (New Angel) concert hall, in Istanbul on May 12, accompanied by 3 Turkish musicians in a hall that seats 2000 people. Before the concert in Turkey, Gasparyan was in Moscow, where he was the only foreign musician, at a concert devoted to President Putin’s inauguration.
FILM ABOUT PARAJANOV IN CANNES MOVIE FESTIVAL: Russian film, documentary work by Georgy Parajanov "I died in the childhood" has been included in the offical program of Cannes Movie Festival out of contest, reported Arminfo on May 12.
The 1-hour-long film is dedicated to film director Sergey Parajanov and was shot by his nephew. The film is presented in the form of the hero's confession. The film "I died in the childhood" gives a unique opportunity to spectators to see the only scene shot by Sergey Parajanov from the unfinished film "Confession," the funerals of the neighboring girl. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Supratentorial hemangioblastoma in childhood.
Only 2 cases of supratentorial hemangioblastoma in children are recorded. We report a third: an occipital cerebral hemangioblastoma in a 9-year-old girl. The tumor had a solid subpial portion continuous with a cystic intraparenchymal portion. It had no dural insertion, although it was in contact with the falx. A year after complete removal there is no sign of recurrence. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Effect of oxatomide on otitis media with effusion--an experimental study.
The therapeutic effect of oxatomide on experimental otitis media with effusion (OME) induced by secondary immune response was investigated in chinchillas. Oxatomide was administered daily in three different doses (5, 10, 30 mg/kg b.w.t.) for a period of 2 weeks, starting 2 days after the instillation of keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) into the tympanic cavity. The severity of OME was assessed by observing the eardrum under a surgical microscope, by tympanography, and by histological findings. The concentrations of leukotriene C4 and LTD4 in middle ear effusion (MEE) were also measured, 7 days after the KLH instillation. It was found that oral administration of oxatomide in dosages of 10 and 30 mg/kg alleviated the experimental OME. The mean LTD4 concentration measured in MEE from chinchillas given 30 mg oxatomide was significantly lower than that measured in the control group. The radioactivity of 14C-labelled oxatomide in MEE and the autoradiographic findings revealed that orally administered oxatomide was rapidly absorbed from the digestive tract and transported to the middle ear via blood circulation. The findings suggest that the effect of oxatomide can be anticipated in patients with OME. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Distribution of light produced by a light source can be important or even critical in some applications. The light source can be, for example but not necessarily, a light emitting diode “LED”, a filament lamp, or a gas-discharge lamp. FIG. 1 shows a view of a section taken from an exemplifying light guide 101 according to the prior art for modifying a light distribution pattern of a light source 102. Some of the light beams radiated by the light source 102 are depicted with dashed line arrows in FIG. 1. The light guide 101 can be rotationally symmetric with respect to a geometric line 120 shown in FIG. 1. The geometric line 120 is parallel with the z-axis of a coordinate system 199. The light guide 101 is made of transparent material having refractive index greater than unity. The light guide comprises a first surface 103 for acting as a light-ingress surface for receiving light emitted by the light source 102, and a second surface 104 for acting as a light-egress surface where the light exits the light guide. Both the first and second surfaces of the light guide comprise prism ridges for collimating the light emitted by the light source 102. In FIG. 1, one of the prism ridges of the first surface 103 is denoted with the reference number 111 and one of the prism ridges of the second surface 104 is denoted with the reference number 112. In a case where the light guide is rotationally symmetric, the prism ridges are advantageously formed concentrically around the geometric line 120. A light guide of the kind shown in FIG. 1 is presented for example in publication US20110286221.
An inconvenience related to light guides of the kind described above is that it may be quite difficult to see whether the light source 102 is on or off when the light guide 101 is seen so that the viewing angle α shown in FIG. 1 is small. For example, in conjunction with kitchen and other domestic lightning applications it would be advantageous if one could see whether the light is on or off, also when the viewing angle is small. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
It was a rough night for the Knicks point guards Dennis Smith Jr. and Frank Ntilikina trying to shut down Atlanta’s Trae Young. Both got into foul trouble and were ineffective on offense in the Knicks’ 100-96 preseason loss Wednesday to the Hawks at the Garden.
The derby to be starting point guard could be won by the guy who got the night off — Elfrid Payton. Knicks coach David Fizdale huddled with Payton before the game and told him he needed to see Smith and Ntilikina.
Smith, making his preseason debut after missing the first two games with a back strain, looked out of sync after picking up two fouls in the opening 2:23 and headed to the bench.
Smith finished with four points on 1-of-5 shooting and was credited with three turnovers and three assists.
“Absolutely,’’ Fizdale said when asked if Smith was rusty. “Especially offensively. No rhythm at all. He has to play through that stuff and start shaking it off.”
Ntilikina did better. He turned in a solid job on defense late, but scoring remains a painful issue. The Frenchman came in for Smith after two minutes and picked up a quick pair of fouls while trying to guard Young, but was kept in the game. Ntilikina spurred the Knicks’ late defensive charge with a key block on Young and an interception of an inbounds pass with 25 seconds left. But he registered just two points on 1-of-4 shooting to go along with two blocks and a steal.
Smith and Ntilikina combined for six points.
“We still got a long ways to go from a trust standpoint,’’ Fizdale said.
Ntilikina and Smith said they were pleased to hold Atlanta to just 100 — each citing defense being the club’s new identity.
“We didn’t play the way we wanted to play on offense,’’ Ntilikina said. “But it’s only the third preseason game. We know defensively we can be a good team. The offense will come.’’
Fizdale would only praise Smith and Ntilikina for fighting against Young, who went off for 23 points, including a 35-footer at the third-quarter buzzer, and nine assists.
“They battled,’’ Fizdale said. “Trae is a heckuva player. Dennis and Frank really competed against him.’’
In the first half, Smith bricked a long jumper, lost the ball at the key for a turnover that resulted in fast-break points for Atlanta and then was called for traveling. He was scoreless in 10 first-half minutes.
“It was tough to get a rhythm, trying to get my wind back,’’ Smith said. “I have to get my wind all the way up and get my rhythm back.”
Despite a reputedly improved jumper, Smith didn’t look sharp in the second half either. He was doubled on a drive and showed little poise under pressure, getting caught in the air and throwing it into Young’s arms.
After missing his first four shots, Smith finally hit his first bucket with 4:55 left — a 20-footer to tie the score at 91.
“I was like, ‘Damn, about time,’’’ Smith said.
But then Smith’s pass, trying to feed the low post, was intercepted on the next possession by DeAndre’ Bembry.
Fizdale said before the game Ntilikina would play “significant minutes’’ — the first hint Fizdale was willing to give Payton the night off. One theory is Fizdale knows what he has in Payton, the pure playmaker and good defender who started the first two preseason games.
The Knicks have one more preseason game Friday versus Zion Williamson’s Pelicans, and they need to find out what Smith and Ntilikina can deliver in their third seasons.
Rookie RJ Barrett manned the point at times, but his shooting was erratic. Barrett couldn’t hit an outside shot, but got to the basket easily. Nevertheless, he missed too many easy shots around the rim and finished 4-of-14 for 12 points.
Forward Julius Randle finished with 20 points, but missed a game-tying free throw with 19.2 seconds left.
Ntilikina’s contract option for his fourth year has an Oct. 31 deadline. Smith’s option faces a similar deadline, but it would seem difficult for Knicks brass to pass on executing it, considering he was the key piece of the Kristaps Porzingis trade.
Was Ntilkina also being showcased? There have been suggestions in Detroit the Pistons may have some interest. Pistons executive Malik Rose, a former Knick, was at the Garden for the game. The Post reported last season the Pistons asked about Damyean Dotson, who did not play Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, TNT’s Stan Van Gundy said he figured Smith would wind up as the starter. It doesn’t look that way now.
“My guess is they give Dennis Smith first shot at it,’’ Van Gundy said. “They traded for him he’s still on a rookie contract. He’s got explosiveness. If he can improve his decision-making and shooting …’’
It marked the first time since they became teammates that Ntilikina and Smith were both active for the same game, which says a lot about their injury histories. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
368 B.R. 634 (2007)
In re Jason J. SANDERS, Debtor.
No. 07-40258-R.
United States Bankruptcy Court, E.D. Michigan, Southern Division.
May 18, 2007.
*635 *636 Brett A. Border, Christopher M. Carey, Dearborn, MI, for Debtor.
Opinion Regarding Trustee's Objection to Confirmation
STEVEN W. RHODES, Chief Bankruptcy Judge.
This matter is before the Court on the trustee's objection to confirmation of the debtor's proposed chapter 13 plan. This opinion supplements the Court's bench decision confirming the plan but denying the debtor's discharge pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 1328(f)(1).
I.
The debtor filed for chapter 7 relief on July 29, 2002. A chapter 7 discharge was granted on February 5, 2003.
On January 5, 2007, the debtor filed the present case under chapter 13. The trustee filed an objection to confirmation of the chapter 13 plan. A confirmation hearing was held on March 28, 2007, at which time the plan was confirmed but the debtor was denied a discharge.
The trustee contends that the debtor is not entitled to a discharge in this case because he received a chapter 7 discharge within four years before the present case was filed. The trustee asserts that the four year period of 11 U.S.C. § 1328(f)(1) began when the discharge was granted in the prior chapter 7 case. Because this chapter 13 case was filed within that four year time period under § 1328(f)(1), the trustee argues that the debtor is not entitled to a discharge.
The debtor asserts that the four year time period in § 1328(f)(1) began when his first case was filed. Because the debtor filed this chapter 13 case more than four years after he filed his chapter 7 case, the debtor argues that § 1328(f)(1) does not apply and that he is entitled to a discharge.
II.
With the enactment of BAPCPA in 2005, 11 U.S.C. § 1328 was amended to add subsection (f). That subsection provides:
[T]he court shall not grant a discharge of all debts provided for in the plan or disallowed under section 502, if the debtor has received a discharge
(1) in a case filed under chapter 7, 11, or 12 of this title during the 4-year period preceding the date of the order for relief under this chapter, or
*637 (2) in a case filed under chapter 13 of this title during the 2-year period preceding the date of such order.
11 U.S.C. § 1328(f).
The starting point to determine any issue of statutory construction is the statutory language itself. Good Samaritan Hosp. v. Shalala, 508 U.S. 402, 409, 113 S.Ct. 2151, 2157, 124 L.Ed.2d 368 (1993). The Court is required to apply the plain meaning of the statute when the language is clear. Only if the statutory language is ambiguous may the Court look to extrinsic aids in an effort to discern what Congress intended when it enacted the provision. Koenig Sporting Goods, Inc. v. Morse Road Co. (In re Koenig Sporting Goods, Inc.), 203 F.3d 986, 988-89 (6th Cir.2000).
The question before the Court is what language is modified by the statutory phrase "during the 4-year period preceding the date of the order for relief under this chapter. . . ." If that phrase modifies the language "in a case filed under chapter 7 . . .," as the debtor contends, then the look back period of § 1328(f)(1) begins on the date that the debtor filed his chapter 7 case. If, however, that phrase modifies the language "the debtor has received a discharge . . .," as the trustee asserts, the look back period begins on the date that the debtor received his chapter 7 discharge.
In In re Graves, 2007 WL 1075108 (Bankr.D.Md. Jan.19, 2007), the court addressed this issue, but under § 1328(f)(2). The debtors filed a chapter 13 case on January 4, 1999 and received a discharge on June 16, 2004. They then filed a second chapter 13 case on February 7, 2006. The trustee argued that the debtors were not entitled to a discharge because they received a discharge in their prior chapter 13 case within two years of filing the second chapter 13 case. The debtors asserted that the look back period ran from filing date to filing date. The court concluded that the plain meaning rule applied and adopted the filing date to filing date interpretation, finding that the debtors' interpretation gave "effect to the logical sequence of the language used." Id. at * 3.
In In re West, 352 B.R. 482 (Bankr. E.D.Ark.2006), the debtor filed a chapter 13 case on November 29, 2001 and received a discharge on March 22, 2005. The debtor filed a second chapter 13 case on April 5, 2006. The parties' arguments were similar to those argued in the present case and in Graves. The court concluded that a plain reading of the statute supported the "filing date to filing date" interpretation. The court went on to review the legislative history and found that the legislative history also supported a "plain language interpretation." Id. at 487.
While a statute is not ambiguous merely because it is awkward or ungrammatical, Lamie v. U.S. Trustee, 540 U.S. 526, 534, 124 S.Ct. 1023, 1030, 157 L.Ed.2d 1024 (2004), a statute is ambiguous if it is susceptible to two or more reasonable interpretations or accepted meanings. Carrieri v. Jobs. com Inc., 393 F.3d 508, 519 (5th Cir.2004); Staiano v. Cain (In re Lan Assocs. XI, L.P.), 192 F.3d 109, 116 (3d Cir.1999). Considering the statutory language and the parties' arguments regarding the proper interpretation of that language, this Court concludes that the language of § 1328(f) is not sufficiently clear to permit the application of the plain meaning rule. The parties have proposed alternative, yet equally plausible, interpretations of the statute. The Court must conclude that the language of § 1328(f) is therefore ambiguous. Despite the obvious preference for applying the plain meaning rule, it is simply impossible to determine which interpretation Congress intended *638 without looking beyond the language of the statute.
After examining the language of the statute, the next step in determining Congressional intent is to examine the legislative history. The legislative history states that BAPCPA
amends section 1328 to prohibit the issuance of a discharge in a subsequent chapter 13 case if the debtor received a discharge in a prior chapter 7, 11, or 12 case within four years preceding the filing of the subsequent chapter 13 case. In addition, it prohibits the issuance of a discharge in a subsequent chapter 13 case if the debtor received a discharge in a chapter 13 case filed during the two-year period preceding the date of the filing of the subsequent chapter 13 case.
H.R.Rep. No. 109-31(I) (2005), reprinted in 2005 U.S.C.C.A.N. 88, 143, 2005 WL 832198, at *76 (2005).
Unfortunately, this legislative history is itself ambiguous and thus offers no help. The first sentence of the legislative history relates to § 1328(f)(1) and appears to support the trustee's interpretation that the time period to be measured runs from discharge date in the first case to the filing date of the second case The second sentence applies to § 1328(f)(2) and lends support to the debtor's assertion that the time period runs from filing date to filing date. A basic rule of statutory construction is that "phrases within a single statutory section be accorded a consistent meaning." First City Bank v. Nat'l Credit Union Admin. Bd., 111 F.3d 433, 438 (6th Cir. 1997). Thus, the Court must look elsewhere for guidance. The Court will next look to the language of the statute in light of its intended purpose.
When Congress enacted § 1328(f), it clearly sought to "extend the time periods within which a debtor could receive a subsequent discharge. . . ." McDow v. Sours (In re Sours), 350 B.R. 261, 268 (Bankr. E.D.Va.2006). More to the point, Congress sought to eliminate so called "chapter 20" and "chapter 26 filings." The court in In re Grydzuk, 353 B.R. 564 (Bankr.N.D.Ind.2006), offered the following perspective on the purpose of § 1328(f):
[O]ne of the perceived "evils" of pre-BAPCPA law . . . was the infidel concept of a "20," i.e. the filing of a Chapter 7 to eliminate debts which might be discharged under 11 U.S.C. § 727(a), coupled with the post-discharge filing of a Chapter 13 which could then deal with the debts that were not so discharged and which could not be affected by a Chapter 7 case. A "26" (back to back Chapter 13 cases) was less anathema than was a "20," and a "25" (Chapter 12 followed by Chapter 13) and a "24" (Chapter 11 followed by Chapter 13) were slightly less a worry than was a "20," if only because they didn't happen much. It is this perceived "evil" that 11 U.S.C. § 1328(f)(1) was clearly designed to address. The discharge in Chapter 11 and Chapter 12 cases for an individual mirrors the discharge provided by Chapter 7, and it is clearly the primary intent of § 1328(f)(1) to preclude the filing of a "20," a "24" and a "25" for a more extended period of time than a "26."
Id. at 568. See also In re Hennerman, 351 B.R. 143, 155 n. 35 (Bankr.D.Colo. 2006) (Section 1328(f) curtailed a debtor's ability to file and prosecute chapter 20 and chapter 26 cases).
It is clear enough that when Congress enacted BAPCPA, it did so for the purpose of providing greater protection to creditors. In that context, the better interpretation of § 1328(f) is one in which creditors are afforded greater protection under § 1328(f) than they were previously afforded under the pre-BAPCPA Code. *639 Thus, the Court concludes that § 1328(f) was enacted for the purpose of extending the time period after which a debtor could receive a subsequent discharge in a chapter 13 case, in order to better protect creditors. Having identified the purpose of § 1328(f), it is left to the Court to determine which interpretation better advances that goal.
There is a major practical problem with the debtor's interpretation. Under that interpretation, the debtor's discharge in a subsequent chapter 13 case would only be denied under § 1328(f)(2) if the debtor received a discharge during that two year period and then filed another chapter 13 case. Although this is not impossible, experience suggests that it is rare for a debtor to receive a discharge within two years of filing for chapter 13 relief. See, e.g., West, 352 B.R. at 486 (Section 1328(f) "ignore[s] the realization that debtors who filed for Chapter 13 relief within two years of filing another case are unlikely to have obtained a discharge in that prior case." (quoting William Houston Brown, Taking Exception to a Debtor's Discharge: The 2005 Bankruptcy Amendments Make it Easier, 79 Am. Bankr.L.J. 419, 449 (2005))). Even more unlikely is that the same debtor would then file a second chapter 13 case within that two year period. It is thus highly unlikely that Congress was so concerned about that scenario that it intended § 1328(f)(2) to be interpreted as the debtor contends.
The court in Graves observed that many chapter 13 plans are simply "variations of so-called refinance or sale plans." In re Graves, 2007 WL 1075108, at * 7. Under those plans, the debtor refinances or sells a residence in order to pay the debtor's debts and to avoid making the "full-term monthly payments required under the confirmed plan." Id. In those situations the debtor could conceivably file and obtain a discharge within a two year period and thus be barred from a later chapter 13 discharge. However, the Graves opinion exposes the deeper deficiency in the debtor's argument. In a chapter 13 case where the debtor is discharged within two years of filing, § 1325(b) would almost certainly require the debtor to have paid a 100% dividend to creditors before a discharge would be granted. It is in precisely those cases where a creditor would not merit or need any additional protection in the event of a subsequent chapter 13 case. Preventing this group of debtors from obtaining a second discharge under § 1328(f)(2) does nothing to advance the purpose of § 1328(1) or of BAPCPA as a whole.
To conclude that Congress sought to deny a discharge to a very small group of debtors who have paid their debts in full, while allowing a subsequent discharge to the vast majority of debtors who may not have paid their debts, is absurd and impractical. The Court is not required to ignore common sense when interpreting an ambiguous statute. Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 77, 96 S.Ct. 612, 662, 46 L.Ed.2d 659 (1976).
This Court recognizes that the court in Graves concluded that the filing date to filing date interpretation was the better approach in part because it allowed a reading of the statute where each subsequent clause modified the immediately preceding clause. In re Graves, 2007 WL 1075108, at *3. That result is consistent with the well-known rule of statutory construction that a modifying phrase or clause is to be applied to the immediately preceding phrase, and is not extended to more remote phrases, unless the subject matter or dominant purpose of the statute requires a different interpretation. United States v. Martin, 438 F.3d 621, 631 (6th Cir.2006); Bingham, Ltd. v. United States, 724 F.2d 921, 926 n. 3 (11th Cir.1984). *640 "Where the sense of the entire act requires that a qualifying word or phrase apply to several preceding or even succeeding sections, the word or phrase will not be restricted to its immediate antecedent." 2A Norman J. Singer, Sutherland Statutory Construction § 47.33, at 372 (6th ed.2000). However, this Court concludes that because the dominant purpose of the statute requires otherwise, the Court must decline to apply that rule of construction.
Finally, the Court must reject the debtor's argument that the trustee's interpretation renders the phrase "filed under" devoid of meaning. That phrase simply designates the chapter under which the debtor sought relief. Each word in a statute must have meaning and must be read in a manner that does not render "other provisions of the same statute inconsistent, meaningless or superfluous." Menuskin v. Williams, 145 F.3d 755, 768 (6th Cir. 1998) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). The debtor's interpretation is nonsensical and effectively nullifies § 1328(f)(2).
The Court concludes that only the trustee's interpretation gives logical effect to the entire provision. Because the look back period under § 1328(f)(2) must begin with the entry of the discharge and not the filing of the prior case, the structure of § 1328(f) demands the same result under 1328(f)(1).
The debtor received his chapter 7 discharge on February 5, 2003. He filed his chapter 13 case on January 5, 2007. Because his chapter 13 filing was within four years of his chapter 7 discharge, he is not entitled to a discharge in this case. 11 U.S.C. § 1328(f)(1). Nevertheless, there is no reason for this result to preclude confirmation of the debtor's plan if it is otherwise confirmable. Baxter v. Lewis (In re Lewis), 339 B.R. 814 (Bankr. S.D.Ga.2006); In re McGehee, 342 B.R. 256 (Bankr.W.D.Ky.2006); Branigan v. Khan (In re Khan), 2006 WL 3716036 (D.Md. Dec.14, 2006). Accordingly, the trustee's objection to confirmation is overruled and the debtor's discharge is denied.
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Phillip
Baker was born October 11, 1821, in Edding Greene, East Dereham, Norfolk,
England. He and his mother, Anne Bone, joined the Mormon Church and he
was baptized on Christmas Day of 1848 or 1849. His father, Philip Baker,
Sr., was very unhappy about his conversion and expelled him from his home.
Phillip was 27 or 28 years of age at this time. Phillip emigrated
to America in 1851, sailing on the old-time sailing vessel named Golconda, the
same ship on which his future bride would come over two years later. He
landed at New Orleans, then traveled up the river to St. Louis, and from there
traveled overland to Council Bluffs. He was taken on by Orson Pratt to drive
his team across the plains. After arriving in Utah, Phillip stayed one month in
Salt Lake City and then went on to California. He helped to plant and
raise the first wheat crop in the San Bernadino Valley. He also lived for
a time in Bakersfield, California, which town was evidently named after
him. While in California, he panned a bag of gold worth $500.
Phillip
returned to Utah in 1857 or 58, and settled in Beaver, where he met and married
the pretty Harriet Ann Phillipo Thompson. Phillip was 23 years older than
Harriet Ann. They were later sealed in the Endowment House in Salt Lake
City by Amasa Lyman. Phillip was ordained a High Priest in 1873 and was set
apart as a counselor to Bishop Shepherd in Beaver, which position he held until
the Beaver Stake was reorganized, at which time he was ordained a High
Councilman under the hands of Apostle Erastus Snow.
Phillip Baker was an
Indian War Veteran, and he became very friendly with some of the Indians in the
Beaver area.On one occasion, he helped
with the burial of an Indian.They went
up east of Beaver on a hillside, dug the grave, wrapped the Indian in his
blanket and placed his gun and his belongings in with him.Phillip would often loan his horse and saddle
to the Indians, and he also often fed them.They would come to his house and ask for “Baker.” Phillip was a good
farmer in Beaver.He had fine horses,
many cows, pigs, chickens, and he raised all of his own hay, grain, and
potatoes.He hauled poles from a canyon
for building purposes, and it came to be called Baker Canyon, after him.Phillip passed away at the age of 79, leaving
Harriett Ann with eight children.
Typed by Edith Baker, Mar. 1990
Sources:
1) History of Phillip Baker by Zelnora Nielson, a daughter of Phillip
and Harriet Baker.
2) History written by Harriet Marintha Pendleton in May, 1942. Typed
by Johanna Baker in 1961.
3) Letter obtained by Marintha Pendleton from the Daughters of Utah
Pioneers, Nov. 1959. It is a letter written by Phillip Baker prior to
his departure from Council Bluffs to Salt Lake Valley.
4) History written by a sister of Marintha Edwards Pendleton.
The following letter was obtained by Historic Letters of the Past from
Daughters of Utah Pioneers, November 1959, obtained from Harriet
Marintha Edwards Pendleton, 1961. The letter was written by Phillip
Baker, son of Phillip Baker and Anne Bone prior to his departure from
Council Bluffs to Salt Lake Valley.
Council Bluffs, May 30, 1851 Dear Parents:
I take this opportunity of writing to you, hoping to find you in good
health, as it leaved me at the present, that God for it. Our vessel set
sail February 1st and landing in Orleans on the 6th of April. We left
Orleans on the 9th of April and reached St. Louis on the 15th of April.
We left Saint Louis on the 25th of April and reached Council Bluffs May
20th. Dear Mother, I am glad to inform you that I am going through to
the valley with Brother Pratt (Orson) to drive for him. The reason I
did not write sooner was because I wanted to know whether I was going
through to the valley or not.
Give my love to all my brothers and sisters and tell them I expect to
soon meet them in the valley of the mountains. Give my respects to
Mister Stains and tell him I am quite satisfied with this country. Land
is very cheap in this country and it does not cost much to keep cattle
for there is plenty of land laying waste, no one to own it. Give my
respects to Mister Bates and tell him it is a good land for him. It is a
good place for tailoring, for people wear coats here. From your affectionate son,
Phillip Baker
Harriett Ann Phillipo Thompson
Harriett was the daughter of William Phillipo Thompson and Ann Mariah
Fellows. She was born March 28, 1844, at East Dereham, Norfolk,
England, and immigrated with her parents to Utah in 1853. She wrote the
following on April 13, 1913, when she was 69 years old:
"I crossed the sea in the old-style sailing vessel, "Golconda" by name,
with Mr. Kerr as our sea captain, and was 70 days sailing from Liverpool
to New Orleans. We were delayed by the dismantling of the vessel at
sea through a severe storm. We went from New Orleans to Keokuk (a city
opposite Nauvoo, Illinois), then waited three weeks for teams to be
fitted up for crossing the plains, then started out for Salt Lake City.
The teams were divided into companies of tens, each ten having a
captain under the main captain, who was Joseph W. Young. Thus my father
started on the long journey across the plains with four young children
and a crippled wife. She was sick all the way. Father had to drive the
ox team by day and stand guard against the Indians at night, and herd
the cattle. Mother, being sick and a cripple had to ride all the way.
"Myself and two brothers, one older and one younger, had to walk.
[Harriet would have been nine years old, her brother William ten, and
brother James eight.] The baby [Sarah Ann] was ten months old. Well do
I remember our feet being sore and blistered, how the Indians attacked
us and stole my father's watch, how my mother lay sick in the wagon at
the point of death, apparently with Mountain Fever, and how we one day
camped at noon on the Platte River and Brother Joseph W. Young, our
captain, administered to her and blessed her that she should live to see
the Valley of Salt Lake City. We arrived in Salt Lake in the month of
October, after a hard and tedious journey of a little over nine months
[from the time they left England].
"My father went to work for President Brigham Young as a miller at the
grist mill. We stayed there a few years. He was there at the time of
the great grasshopper war. Then we went to the ninth ward and worked at
Bnners [sp?] grist mill, stayed there until the great move in 1858
[when the saints moved south at the time of the coming of Johnston's
Army], then went to Beaver City, where I was married to Phillip Baker,
March 2, 1860. I am the mother of eight children, three sons and five
daughters, have buried two daughters [Mariah Elender and Mary Jessamine]
and one son [Phillip William], and have been a widow since 1901."
Life History of Harriett Ann Phillipo Thompson Baker by her great-granddaughter, Norene Baker Sharp, 1956
"Grandfather, because of Indian troubles took his turn with other
settlers as picket guard, thus leaving his wife alone part of the time. No modern
conveniences had this noble woman in her home, and at this trying time,
she only a girl of seventeen, went through the pains of childbirth, with
no doctor, only a midwife to give what little and simple aid she could.
With only the little that pioneer women had, grandmother really made
her house a home. She had a wonderful personality. She was very handy
with a needle, both in plain and fancy sewing, also as a cook. I used
to think no one could cook quite as well as mother and grandmother. She
knew how to prepare and arrange many appetizing dishes. Grandmother experienced many experiences with the Indians. One day,
two large Indians came to her home. Grandfather was off guarding the
town against Indians. The Indians went to the grindstone and began
sharpening two large knives, which took them about an hour. They often
would flourish the knives in the air. They then came begging for food,
and grandmother gave them all she could spare, and they were still not
satisfied. So she put my mother, Harriet Marintha, out of the window on
the opposite side of the house from where they were and told her to run
across for Mary Mayes, for her to come. Sister Mayes was not at home.
So she ran another block to Sister Cecil Pollick, a very large Scotch
lady. She hurried to Grandmother. The Indians were back at the
grindstone. Sister Pollick went up to the grindstone and took off the
handle and told them to go, and did it in such a brave way that the
Indians left. She had brought her gun with her and pointed it at
them. For years she was secretary in Relief Society, a "block" teacher [now
called visiting teacher], chorister, besides her numerous duties as a
pioneer woman. She still had time to compose poetry. One side of her
nature I must mention was her humorous one. She was very witty, the life of
a crowd, and a good mixer and a real leader.
Harriett was the mother of eight children, three sons and five daughters.
She was a hard working woman. She washed and corded wool, spun yarn,
and made her own dye for her cloth. She used an old-fashioned loom for
many years, and wove carpets and rugs for other people. She gleaned
wheat, and her husband would crush it between two big flat stones for
mush. Harriet made straw hats for her children and once received a
first prize in a contest for a sailor hat she had made by hand for her
daughter Nora.
Harriett's husband died in 1901, leaving her a widow for 16 years. She
worked so hard, she got rheumatism in her arms. Her son Cliff finally
had to dress her and comb her hair in the last days of her life. Harriet
Ann lived out the rest of her days in Beaver. Her grandchildren
remembered that she was a very short woman and quite frail. She
evidently had two buggies. One of them was a white-topped buggy with
fringe on the top, and it was used as a hearse to carry the dead.
Daniel Ray Baker was carried in this buggy after he died.
Harriet Ann died July 1, 1917 at the age of 73, and was buried in the
Beaver cemetery. It was only a few months later that her son Daniel Ray (Glen's great grandfather)
followed her in death."
The above photo was taken at a Baker family reunion about 1957. Raymond
O. Baker, son of Daniel Ray Baker, and his wife, Elma June Smith Baker
are in front of the two tree trunks on the back row in the center of
this picture. Their son, Philip Baker, stands between his parents and
their daughter, Bonnie, stands on her mother's left and the viewer's
right.
Friday, October 9, 2015
Last April my husband and I celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. As part of that celebration, our children gave us a gift card to be used at the Blue Boar Inn in Midway, Utah. This lovely Inn sits just south of Wasatch State Park and has beautiful mountain views. We decided to save our gift for a stay during Fall color time.
The Inn has old world charm (lots of it) and they serve wonderful food. The complimentary breakfast was beautifully presented and expertly cooked by the on site chef.
We loved our two night stay in this beautifully appointed Inn.
We were greeted in our charming suite with a rose, chocolates, terry cloth robes, and of course, a stuffed boar.
We also received a little gift book featuring selected readings from several authors. You see, every room is given an author's name with decor hinting at the time period in which they lived. We were in the Elizabeth Barret/Robert Browning Suite which included a cozy fireplace and four poster high up bed with a lovely canopy. Gohere for photos of the rooms and suites.
After a leisurely late breakfast on our final morning, we decided to take the long way home. We crossed the road into Wasatch State Park and headed north up the mountain side. This was our view looking back at the Inn and Midway. The Heber Valley cloud cover was stunning.
We were on Guardsman Pass road which took us into the mountain tops with mountain meadows heralding fall.
It was lovely. The road came to a junction where one could choose to go to Park City or west to Big Cottonwood Canyon.
We chose to descend into Brighton and Silver Lake at the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon and then on down the canyon to the Salt Lake freeway system and home. The aspens were beautiful. It was a glorious day following a few days of rain. It was a wonderful weekend. Special thanks to our very generous and special children and their spouses. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
As X-ray CT apparatuses are known a single slice type X-ray CT apparatus for obtaining one tomogram by one X-ray exposure and a multi-slice type X-ray CT apparatus for simultaneously obtaining plural tomograms by one X-ray exposure.
According to the single slice type X-ray apparatus, an X-ray detector having many X-ray detection elements arranged on a line, that is, in a one-dimensional direction (channel direction) is used, a fan beam, that is, a sectorial X-ray beam is emitted from an X-ray tube to an examinee and X-ray which has passed through the examinee is measured to obtain projection data of the examinee.
On the other hand, according to the multi-slice type X-ray CT apparatus, a cone beam, that is, a conical or pyramidal X-ray beam is emitted from an X-ray tube to an examinee, and X-ray which has passed through the examinee is measured by an X-ray detector having many X-ray detection elements arranged in a two-dimensional direction (channel direction and line direction), thereby obtaining projection data.
In both the X-ray CT apparatuses, the X-ray tube and the X-ray detector which are opposed to each other are rotated around the examinee to collect projection data in many directions, and these collected projection data are subjected re-constructing filtering processing for correction of blurring, and then the data are inversely projected to reconstruct a tomogram(s) of the examinee.
The projection data is collected at a discrete projection angle (hereinafter referred to as “view”) of an X-ray beam emitted from the X-ray tube, and the thus-collected projection data is referred to as “the projection data at the corresponding view”). The number of views per rotation of the X-ray tube and the X-ray detector rotating around the examinee, which is required to reconstruct one CT image, normally ranges from several hundreds to about one thousand. Furthermore, the projection data of one view comprises data corresponding to the number of channels×the number of lines of the X-ray detector (in the case of the single slice type X-ray CT apparatus, the number of lines=1 as described above).
Recently, a method of analyzing the composition of an examinee on the basis of images picked up by irradiating the same cross-sectional plane with X-ray beams having plural different energies has been used in the X-ray CT apparatuses as described above, and this method is called as a multi-energy imaging method.
Particularly, when imaging is performed by using two different kinds of energies, it is called as a dual energy imaging method.
A method of measuring tomograms of an average atomic number and an average density of an examinee by applying the dual energy imaging method is disclosed in Non-patent Document 1.
Furthermore, a method of performing the dual energy imaging while the voltage between the anode and the cathode of the X-ray tube (hereinafter referred to as “tube voltage”) is varied every X-ray projection angle to change the energy spectrum of the X-ray (hereinafter referred to as “tube voltage modulation method”) is disclosed in Patent Document 1.
Non-patent Document 1: R. E. Alvarez and A. Macovski, “Energy-selective Reconstructions in X-ray Computed Tomography, ”Phys. Med. Biol. Vol. 21, No. 5, pp. 733-744, (1976)
Patent Document 1: JP-A-10-73544
In order to pick up an image of a fast-moving site of an examinee such as a heart, coronary artery or the like, it has been proposed to increase the rotating speed (that is, the scan speed of an imaging system comprising a pair of an X-ray tube and an X-ray detector), in an X-ray CT apparatus for medical application, and X-ray CT apparatuses of about 0.33 to 0.4 [second/revolution] have been practically used.
In such X-ray CT apparatus whose scan speed is increased, the number of views per rotation of the imaging system in normal X-ray CT imaging is equal to about 1,000, and when the scan speed is equal to 0.33 second, imaging is once carried out per rotation of 0.36° (=360°/1,000).
On the other hand, when dual energy imaging is applied to the conventional X-ray CT apparatus as described above by using the technique of the patent document 1, the following problems occur.
(1) Current flowing between the anode and the cathode of the X-ray tube (hereinafter referred to as “tube current”) is fixed irrespective of the magnitude of the tube voltage.
This is because it is difficult to switch the tube current at high speed due to thermal inertia of the filament temperature of the X-ray tube and thus the tube current is controlled to be fixed at a high energy (high tube voltage) and at a low energy (low tube voltage), so that the tube current is not switched.
Normally, the X-ray amount absorbed in an examinee increases when imaging is carried out at a low tube voltage, and thus the tube current is required to be larger than that at the high tube voltage.
Furthermore, when the tube current runs short at the low tube voltage, the quantum noise in the pickup image increases, and the quality of the pickup image is lowered.
Still furthermore, it is possible to obtain sufficient projection data at the high tube voltage, and thus it is desired that the tube current is set to be less than that at the low tube voltage from the viewpoint of reduction of exposure.
For the foregoing reason, it is originally desired to vary the tube current (reduce the tube current/increase the tube current) in connection with the variation of the tube voltage.
(2) In the technique described in the patent document 1, as described in paragraph number [0058] of the patent document 1, the number of views which are obtained in each of the high energy case and the low energy case during one rotation of a scanner is equal to 600 and this is a small number. Accordingly, when each view data obtained in each of the high energy case and the low energy case is subjected to image reconstruction, there is concern about occurrence of a radial artifact.
This is because a delay occurs in a process of supplying the tube voltage from a power source portion to the X-ray tube due to parasitic impedance (parasitic inductance and parasitic electrostatic capacitance) possessed by wires and thus increase of the switching speed of the tube voltage is restricted, thereby limiting the number of views. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Radiation reality check: Risks and fears
U.S. officials from President Obama on down are trying to reassure residents of Hawaii, Alaska and the West Coast that there is little chance dangerous levels of radiation from Japan will reach them. But there is still a lot of understandable concern. Dr. Jon LaPook reports on the radiation risk, and the fear factor.
When radiation began leaking from the stricken power plants, the fallout was felt more than 5,000 miles away at a pharmacy near Los Angeles - it was soon sold out of potassium iodide.
"It's extremely unlikely there would be any risks to folks in this country," said David Brenner, Director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University. "The distance is simply so large the cloud will be so dispersed by the time it reaches the U.S."
Even in Japan, not far from the reactors - the actual threat is relatively low, radiation experts say.
"There is an evacuation zone, that means very few people are going to get doses even comparable to a chest X-ray, which is a pretty low radiation dose," Brenner added.
Radiation can damage human cells. It's measured in something called millisieverts. A chest X-ray emits about 1/10th of a milisievert.
Nuclear plant workers are limited to 20 milisieverts a year. One-hundred milisieverts in one dose can increase the risk of cancer, and 100 to 500 can cause bone marrow damage, leading to infection and death.
Reports say radiation levels were as high as 400 milisieverts an hour at the plant Tuesday. But they fell dramatically -- first to 11.9, then to zero-point-six.
To put this in perspective: in Chernobyl, among people who became sick the radiation dose ranged from 800 to 1.6 million millisieverts - much higher than what's being measured so far in Japan. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
[The Neural Mechanism of Emotional Sweating].
The autonomic nervous system mediates blood pressure, heart rate, and sweat secretion, which are strongly modulated by the limbic system. Moreover, the limbic system plays an important role in generating emotion. Therefore, monitoring autonomic activities, such as palmar sweating, could be useful to evaluate emotional responses. Palmar sweating is otherwise known as emotional sweating, and it's monitored for lie-detection or psychological therapy. The present review will be helpful for neurologists, psychiatrists, and psychologists seeking to understand the neural mechanism of emotional sweating. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Secondary, or rechargeable, lithium ion batteries are used in many stationary and portable devices, such as those encountered in the consumer electronic, automobile, and aerospace industries. The lithium ion class of batteries has gained popularity for various reasons including a relatively high energy density, a general lack of any memory effect when compared to other kinds of rechargeable batteries, a relatively low internal resistance, and a low self-discharge rate when not in use. The ability of lithium batteries to undergo repeated charging-discharging cycling over their useful lifetimes makes them an attractive and dependable electrical energy source. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Treatment of pediatric multiple sclerosis.
The past 10 years have borne witness to increased recognition and diagnosis of pediatric multiple sclerosis (MS). Additionally, during this time period, the number of treatment options available for MS patients has increased significantly, as has the number of studies evaluating the use of these therapies in children. Though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not formally approved any of these therapies for use in pediatric MS, a number of injectable, oral, and intravenous treatments are currently being used off-label in these children. Disease modifying therapy should be initiated promptly following a diagnosis of MS. The patient and family should be engaged in the choice of therapy as this is likely to promote adherence. First-line options include any of the injectable therapies (glatiramer acetate, interferon beta), which have roughly similar efficacy (approximately 30 % reduction of clinical relapses). If a patient has breakthrough disease or persistent, unmanageable side effects, transition to a different first-line therapy or escalation to a second-line therapy, such as natalizumab, should be considered. Though the efficacy of second-line agents is higher, the potential risk of serious adverse effects also increases. New therapies, including oral agents, are now being rigorously studied with pediatric clinical trials and may provide safe alternatives for patients that are either unresponsive or intolerant to currently available medications. When necessary, acute exacerbations can be treated with corticosteroids. Intravenous methylprednisolone at a dosage of 30 mg/kg/day (maximum dose 1000 mg/day) for 3-5 days is recommended with severe attacks. If patients are unresponsive to corticosteroids, treatment with either intravenous immunoglobulin or plasma exchange may be required. Fatigue, spasticity, and pain can also occur in pediatric patients with MS. Medications are needed if symptoms are severe and impact quality of life. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Exclusive: Jailed American's desperate plea for help in letters to Trump, Pence The 53-year-old diabetic is on hunger strike to raise attention for his case.
After five years in prison, an American citizen jailed on trumped up charges in Egypt is pleading for his life to President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
In two letters sent to the administration, obtained exclusively by ABC News, Mustafa Kassem recounts how he was beaten and arrested after Egyptian security officials discovered his U.S. passport amid a mass crackdown on opposition – and how he has started a hunger strike "because I am losing my will and don't know how else to get your attention."
"Dear President Trump: As an American beginning the hunger strike that could leave my two young children without a father and make my wife a widow, I pray that you secure my freedom from an Egyptian prison and government that you just gave $1.2 billion."
A 53-year-old diabetic, his family has urged him to stop, and his lawyer tells ABC News that his health is failing. He appeared very frail and weak during a visit Sunday, with his hands visibly shaking and his blood sugar dropping to a dangerously low level.
But Kassem writes that while he knows "full well that I may not survive," he has no choice.
"I want my children to know that I fought tooth and nail for my freedom. I want them to know America is great because our government will fight tooth and nail for its citizens," he wrote in the letter addressed to Pence. Both are dated Sept. 12 and were sent to the White House on Sept. 13, according to his lawyer.
A New York City taxicab driver, Kassem started his hunger strike last week after being convicted of trying to overthrow the government of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el Sisi and sentenced to 15 years in jail in a mass trial with more than 700 co-defendants.
Praveen Madhiraju, executive director of Pretrial Rights International and one of Kassem's lawyers, has called the charges against his client "bogus," adding that he's "an innocent American" and the situation is a "disgrace."
Kassem was in Egypt in August 2013 visiting his wife and two children, then 3 and 6 years old. It was a particularly volatile moment in Egypt's recent history -- one month after the military seized power following days of protests against the democratically elected government of Mohamed Morsi.
In Morsi's place, then-General Sisi took control, implementing a crackdown on political opposition and civil society that has since expanded. About 20 Americans currently are in Egyptian jails, but there are as many as 60,000 political prisoners across Egypt, according to a Human Rights Watch report last year.
On Aug. 14, 2013 -- the night before Kassem was set to return to the U.S. -- he went out to exchange some money and shop when security officials detained him and his brother-in-law, accusing them of participating in protests against the military takeover in a nearby square. The military was cracking down on the demonstrations in what human rights groups say was the single deadliest incident in Sisi's sweep to power, with as many as 800 killed.
While his brother-in-law was released, Kassem was accused of being an American spy because of his U.S. passport.
"Although the beatings eventually stopped, these prisons and their guards did they best to wear me down for more than five years," he wrote to Trump.
In Egyptian jails, he has been denied regular access to medical treatment, including insulin, his lawyers said, leading to dangerous drops in blood sugar like the one this past week. Multiple requests by his family to have him hospitalized have been denied or simply ignored by Egyptian authorities, but he has been moved to solitary confinement to monitor his health.
Still, now that he is on hunger strike, his family worries he is running out of time. Kassem was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and, after serving five years, he now faces ten more, according to his lawyer.
"My brother is dying slowly. He is giving up hope," his sister, Iman Kassem, told ABC News in a statement.
Kassem's case has been followed by the Trump administration, with Pence saying he raised it directly with Sisi when the two met in Cairo in January. In his letter to Pence, Kassem thanks him for those words, calling them "little rays of light" and hope that "my government still cared for me."
"But since January, I have seen no change and little action from either the Egyptian government or our government," he wrote to Pence. "I am losing hope that you and our government are willing to take a hard stance and secure my freedom."
"Mr. Pence, I need your help. You once spoke for me. I now beg you to fight for me," he concludes.
Both letters were transcribed by a family member because Kassem was too weak to write them out himself, according to his family. He could sign his name to both, and his signature was verified by ABC News using previous legal documents.
The White House did not respond to questions Tuesday, including whether it had received the letters or if would raise Kassem's case directly with Sisi, whom Trump may meet next week during the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Madhiraju, Kassem's lawyer, said they also did not hear back from the White House or Pence's office.
The State Department has said the U.S. is "deeply concerned about his conviction and his sentencing. ... His case has been raised repeatedly with the Egyptian Government," according to spokesperson Heather Nauert. Officials from the U.S. embassy have conducted consular visits with him to check on his condition.
The Trump administration has been accused of going soft on Egypt, especially in recent weeks, even as Kassem and more than 700 "co-defendants" were sentenced en masse on Sept. 8 for the August 2013 protest. Seventy-five people received the death penalty, and more than 600 were sentenced to prison, including Kassem and the award-winning Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, also known as Shawkan, who was covering the protests.
After withholding $195 million in aid to Egypt over human rights concerns in 2017, the State Department announced in July it was releasing that money "in the spirit of our efforts to further strengthen this partnership," an official told ABC News.
Just this week, the administration announced it had approved the possible sale of $99 million worth of tank rounds to Egypt, calling it a "friendly country" and "important strategic partner."
Annually, the U.S. typically provides Egypt with more than a billion dollars in aid and military assistance. That billion-dollar package is one reason Kassem said he believes "my government has slowly abandoned me."
But Trump's tight bond and warm words with the strongman Sisi have yielded some results, too.
In April 2017, Egypt freed Aya Hijazi, a U.S. citizen and humanitarian aid worker, her husband Mohamed Hassanein and four others after Trump and top aides urged Sisi to do so as a goodwill gesture. Afterward, Hijazi met Trump in the Oval Office, which he called a "great honor."
Kassem wrote to Trump that he has been left praying for a similar reception: "I pray that you have a plan for me. I have seen you defend other jailed Americans. I ask you -- why not me?"
His family said they have lost their patience.
"His life is in danger because he showed his American passport, but President Trump has done nothing about it and Vice President Pence has not done enough," his sister, Iman, told ABC News. "They know about Mustafa's condition, and they can save him. They are as responsible for his life as anyone else."
This story is featured in the Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018 episode of the ABC News daily podcast, "Start Here."
"Start Here" is a daily ABC News podcast hosted by Brad Mielke featuring original reporting on stories that are driving the national conversation. Listen for FREE on the ABC News app, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play Music, iHeartRadio -- or ask Alexa: "Play 'Start Here.'"
Follow @StartHereABC on social for exclusive content, show updates and more: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
What happens with errors on Arduino during runtime?
If using Arduino, what would it do if I used code like this:
int status;
void setup()
{
pinMode(13, OUTPUT);
}
void loop()
{
digitalWrite(13, status);
}
What would thiscode do? Would the LED turn on? Would it damage the chip? When compiling in the Arduino IDE, it said it was fine. There are other issues that the compiler won't catch, but what will they do? One other example is doing "digitalRead();" while it is set as an output.
Note: Using Arduino Uno SMD edition R2.
A:
You will not damage the Arduino, but you cannot be sure about the output, since the value is not initialized. It holds whatever value the memory holds in its location (think of it as an unknown random value). Most probably though, it will be turned on, because digitalWrite sets the pin to high if you pass anything other than LOW (=0) to it. Look at Arduino's source code in wiring_digital.c:
if (val == LOW) {
*out &= ~bit;
} else {
*out |= bit;
}
Regarding your other questions:
Reading a pin value returns PINx register value, which is the physical state (high or low) of the pin, regardless of its mode (in or out).
In general, it is really difficult to damage Arduino, and in most cases you need to apply some high/negative voltage on some pins to damage it.
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Description of sexual behaviors ofDrosophila rajasekari : The role of (Z,Z)-7,11-heptacosadiene.
The courtship behaviors and cuticular hydrocarbons ofDrosophila rajasekari are described. Sexually mature males orient, tap, follow, vibrate their abdomens, extend and vibrate their wings, and attempt copulation during courtship. They perform these behaviors in response to immature and matureD. rajasekari of both sexes, and their courtship activities are facilitated by light. The predominant cuticular hydrocarbon found in both sexes is (Z,Z)-7,11-heptacosadiene (HCD), a compound known to be used as a courtship-stimulating sex pheromone by another fruit fly,D. melanogaster. Therefore, it is not surprising thatD. melanogaster males actively court both males and females from theD. rajasekari stock. However, HCD is apparently not used byD. rajasekari as a courtship-stimulating pheromone since matureD. rajasekari males do not courtD. melanogaster females, which produce large quantities of HCD. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Domestic terrorists
Saturday’s story (10-15, 1A, “Three charged in plot to bomb homes of Somalis”) about the planned terrorism by three white men against Muslims and those of us who support their rights and religion was horrifying . Thank heaven for the work of those who stopped their terrible plan.
But it leads me to wonder, who — what wall, what immigration limits — will protect us from white male U.S.-born terrorists? See how easy it is to judge an entire group for the wrongs of a few?
And what about making it harder for members of such dangerous groups of any ilk to obtain weapons?
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True hero
I was deeply moved by the front-page article about Primitivo Garcia (10-16, 1A, “Forever a hero”). Often cycling to the top of Summit Street on the West Side, I was aware of the new elementary school that bears his name. Now, I can appreciate how fitting that designation was.
Primitivo Garcia is also a reminder that our country has been, and should always be, nourished by a continuing influx of individuals and families seeking a better way of life and contributing to the mosaic of our society.
George Helmkamp
Kansas City
Endorsement
The Kansas City Star’s editorial endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president (10-16, 28A, “In an ugly election, the choice is clear: Hillary Clinton for president”) makes valid points about presidential candidate Donald Trump’s shortcomings. They are numerous.
Though, in numbers and severity, the shortcomings and worse of Clinton are off the chart in comparison.
Nothing requires The Star to endorse any candidate. Sometimes, saying nothing is the height of wisdom.
Dennis Batliner
Overland Park
Library hangouts
Have you visited one of the Johnson County libraries lately around 4 to 5 p.m. during the week? Be prepared. It may be a shock.
Picture a room full of school-age boys and girls sitting around or lounging, talking and snacking. I haven’t visited a public library at that hour for a while, and I was astounded.
Times change, but this to me was a bit much. Maybe we taxpayers could fork out a little more money for a library addition with lunch tables, vending machines, cozy seating and tutors so the students can be adequately occupied between school release and pick-up by their parents.
But wait, we have already provided such facilities for students. We call them school cafeterias and school libraries. Maybe some repurposing needs to take place.
Betty Taylor
Overland Park
Trump mouthpiece
Almost every political candidate has a spokesperson. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, however, should consider hiring a “non-spokesperson.”
Almost every time he speaks, he says something offensive, inflammatory or plain stupid. He could really use someone in charge of getting him to just shut up.
Steve Frisbie
Olathe
Civil discussions
In the midst of election season, I’ve noticed a loss of respect for others on social media. People are supporting their favorite candidates online and sharing their opinions on issues.
However, many are also using the freedom of being online to bash others and call out those with opposing opinions.
As I watch this, a few questions arise.
First, are we losing respect for alternate opinions? When people see someone publicly promoting another candidate, they are quick to comment why the others are wrong and add slurs and profanity.
The people making these comments can attack others without ever meeting them or knowing their stories. These observations lead me to another question: Has being online led us to be less respectful?
I believe that when people are in front of a screen and have no face-to-face contact, they have a much easier time tearing down others. It seems people on social media bash others in inappropriate ways that would never be acceptable in person.
As we continue to see others’ opinions online, I urge everyone to respect others’ beliefs. Let’s keep political discussions civil.
Grace Johannes
Kansas City
Needs fixing
Whatever you think of Donald Trump, he and his followers have exposed a big ugly truth. We want politicians who will work for us. That is their job. If President Barack Obama is so smart, why can’t he figure out a way? If he can’t, appoint someone who can.
If the Republicans want to block Obama every step of the way, then deal with the consequences. Tax and immigration problems are as glaring as a broken window in the winter. They need fixing.
If the Republicans are so smart, why haven’t they proposed health care reform? Answer: They are too busy whining, endlessly whining. Trump’s appeal is that he will fix it.
One more thing. No one should get $15 per hour unless they have a high school diploma. You want $15 an hour, earn it.
Education should be the way out of poverty. Stay in school, using high school as a stepping stone.
Anita B. Malott
Kansas City
Trump’s failings
I know how tortured people feel about this election, but really there is no choice. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is no saint, but Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is far worse.
Here are just a few reasons he should not be elected:
He hasn’t released his tax returns (disqualifying in itself).
He gushes over dictator Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He disrespects (that’s putting it mildly) Hispanics, women, gays, Muslims and anyone who disagrees with him.
He thinks climate change is a hoax.
Many of his businesses have filed for bankruptcy, and he failed to pay some contractors.
He believes President Barack Obama is not an American.
He appeals to individuals aligning with the Alternative Right but refuses to distance himself from them.
He believes Arab-Americans cheered on 9/11.
He repeatedly lies about the U.S. unemployment number (says it is as high as 42 percent, when it actually is under 5 percent).
He thinks the U.S. should use waterboarding and other torture.
He is paying his family and his businesses with campaign funds.
Trump University was a scam.
I could go on and on, but you get the point.
Cecelia Baty
Overland Park
I object
The “Time Capsule” in the April 17 Arts & Culture section reprinted an original story from 1968 reporting on the death of Kenyan student Thadayo Okatch. Thadayo was my husband, my first love and the father of my son.
At that time, local people sent condolences and donations to help me travel to Kenya and bury him in his home village on Rusinga Island. We went and I did just that. I planned to return when I could make a life there.
Kansas City in 1969 was a difficult, racially charged city, and I had a black son to raise. I remarried, adopted a daughter and stayed in Kansas City to finish two degrees at UMKC. I visited Kenya many times, kept in touch with family and planned my future. My son needed to know his family.
In 2003, I bought land in Kenya, and in 2010 I retired to Rusinga to open Wayando Beach Eco Lodge.
The 2016 story said that I apparently had a “change of heart” when I remarried back in 1969. I did not have a change of heart, and I object to that phrase. How could the writer have known how I felt, what was in my heart, or what my future would produce?
Linda Okatch
Rusinga Island, Kenya
Weather woes
When I was young, the weather person gave the weather report. It took about five minutes and was usually in the middle or at the end.
We could watch just that if we wanted. It was usually the temperature, precipitation and wind for that day plus what might happen the next day.
Today, we have teams of meteorologists at the same time. They appear on and off during the news program. The stations seem to compete for the most ridiculous names for their data-gathering computer models.
Just give us the weather report. We don’t need a reporter driving into a storm to show us rain or clouds in a town 40 miles away. Once a reporter said while driving in a storm that it was so bad that no one should be driving in it.
Rain always looks the same. I also find it annoying that they have commercial spots to tell us that they will be giving us the weather. Duh.
Charlie Rogers
Overland Park
Focus on issues
TV and radio commercials are flinging more mud than a Missouri River dredge. One could reasonably conclude that nobody should be elected to any office. Even Mother Teresa would not emerge unscathed.
One thing nobody can deny: For each office being contested, there will be only one winner. When that winner is inaugurated, his or her agenda will be promoted. Whatever mud clings will no longer matter. They will be in office. They will be making the decisions.
Consequently, in making voting choices, the garbage is irrelevant. It is the issues that matter.
Regarding the presidency, if one wants to see liberal judges appointed to the federal courts, vote for Hillary Clinton. If one wants conservative judges, vote for Donald Trump.
If one wants a wall built to seal the southern border, vote for Trump. If not, vote for Clinton.
If one wants to see thousands and thousands of unvettable Syrians admitted for humanitarian reasons, vote for Hillary. If not, for security, cultural and economic reasons, vote for Trump. And so on.
Elections have fateful consequences. All comes clear once the mind concentrates on issues, not character assassination. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
After-Hours Buzz: LCC, BA, YHOO & More
Check out which companies are making headlines after the bell Wednesday:
Boeing - Boeing is working on a series of battery design changes to minimize fire risks on its grounded 787 passenger jet, according to the Wall Street Journal. Boeing shares edged lower in extended-hours trading.
The FAA grounded U.S.-registered Dreamliners in mid-January following a fire in the lithium-ion battery on a Japan Airlines aircraft in Boston and a burning battery on an All Nippon Airways 787. (Read More:787 Grounding Puts Cities in Costly Holding Pattern)
U.S. Airways - American Airlines parent AMR and U.S. Airways may be nearing a merger agreement in the next few weeks, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing sources close to the discussions. If the deal is finalized, the new company would become the largest airline, with a market cap of more than $10 billion. U.S. Airways shares were largely unchanged in extended-hours trading.
Yahoo - The Internet company signed a non-exclusive agreement with rival search-engine giant Google to display advertisements on various Yahoo properties, according to the company's blog. Yahoo shares gained in extended-hours trading.
NewsCorp - The media company posted earnings of 44 cents a share, excluding one-time items, on sales of $9.43 billion, topping expectations for 43 cents a share on revenue of $9.28 billion. Shares were largely unchanged in extended-hours trading.
Visa - The credit-card provider posted earnings of $1.82 a share on sales of $2.85 billion, exceeding expectations for $1.79 a share on revenue of $2.82 billion. Shares edged higher in extended-hours trading.
Akamai - The tech company posted earnings of 54 cents a share, excluding one-time items, topping expectations by 4 cents a share. But the firm posted sales of $378 million, widely missing estimates for $381 million. In addition, the company slashed its 2013 operating income growth outlook and handed in current quarter revenue estimates that were below Wall Street consensus. Shares plunged in extended-hours trading.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters - The specialty coffee company posted earnings of 76 cents a share on revenue of $1.34 billion, topping expectations for 65 cents a share on revenue of $1.33 billion. However, the company said it expects revenue growth of 14 to 18 percent for the current quarter, missing expectations for 20 percent. Shares fell sharply in extended-hours trading.
Yelp - The consumer-review website posted a loss of 8 cents a share on revenue of $41 million. Analysts expected the company to post a loss of 5 cents a share on revenue of $40 million. Shares tumbled in extended-hours trading.
Allstate - The insurance company posted earnings of 59 cents a share on revenue of $6.64 billion, blowing past estimates for a loss of 5 cents a share on sales of $6.55 billion. The company's board also authorized an additional $1 billion share repurchase program and boosted the firm's dividend to 25 cents a share from 22 cents a share. Shares gained in extended-hours trading.
Tesoro - The oil and gas company posted earnings of $1.34 a share, excluding one-time items, missing Wall Street estimates by three cents a share, on revenue of $8.27 billion, blowing past expectations for $6.95 billion. In addition, the company increased its quarterly dividend by 33 cents a share to 20 cents a share from 15 cents a share. Still, shares declined in extended-hours trading.
Exide Technologies - The tech company posted a loss of 20 cents a share on revenue of $805 million, widely missing estimates for 4 cents a share on revenue of $770 million. Shares were temporarily halted in extended-hours trading. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
[Burden, empathy, and resilience in dependent people caregivers].
To analyse the differences in perceived burden between family caregivers who are users of patient associations and those who are not; to assess the relationship between burden, resilience, and empathy levels. Retrospective ex post facto study of two groups, one of them quasi control. The sample was composed of 155 informal caregivers (28 men and 155 women); 109 of them were users of patient relatives' associations and 46 were not. Both descriptive and bivariate comparative analyses were carried out. Caregivers who were members of patient associations showed lower burden and empathy levels than those who were not. This highlighted that the higher their level of perceived burden, the lower their level of resilience. Belonging to carers' associations results in a lower level of perceived burden and a lower risk of developing compassion fatigue syndrome. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
German Cartel Office Says Google, Other Tech Giants Could Be Regulated Like Utilities: Report
WochitJul. 13, 2014. 07:41 AM EST
Germany has not been the biggest fan of tech giants that it believes overreach their influence. N...
More »
Germany has not been the biggest fan of tech giants that it believes overreach their influence. Now, a report claims that it is considering a new way to deal with them: regulating them like utilities.The Sunday Times writes that the country’s Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) has prepared a 30-page proposal with suggestions of how to cope with the growing power of Google, along with other tech giants.
« Less | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
E3 2016 is still months away, but Take-Two Interactive has now teased that the company--which owns 2K Games and Rockstar Games--will have a major presence at the event.
"We will be there in a big way," CEO Strauss Zelnick told MCV (via VideoGamer).
Take-Two's lineup of announced upcoming titles includes just three: Battleborn, Mafia III, and Civilization Revolution 2 Plus. All of these games are scheduled to launch this year--Battleborn is coming in May (before E3), while Mafia III is penciled in for sometime after April. Revolution 2 Plus, meanwhile, comes to PlayStation Vita in the April-June quarter.
Beyond those games, a third entry in the mainline Borderlands series is in development, while a BioShock Collection is rumored. Additionally, 2K is working with BioShock designer Ken Levine on a new game that has not been announced. Take-Two's Rockstar label, responsible for the Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption franchises and others, does not typically have much of a presence at E3.
E3 2016 runs June 14-16, with briefings from Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Bethesda, Electronic Arts, and Ubisoft expected for the days before the show kicks off.
What are you hoping to see from Take-Two at E3 this year? Let us know in the comments below! | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Large Joints Features & News
Robin Young • Mon, March 19th, 2018
United Orthopedics Corporation—you may not know the name, but you may well have been using their products since 1993. There were 38 Chinese origin companies at 2018 AAOS. UOC was the biggest and, possibly, the one with the most enduring impact.
Elizabeth Hofheinz, M.P.H., M.Ed. • Wed, February 14th, 2018
California researchers demonstrate how impedance spectroscopy can be used to detect bone healing and nonunion. And PROMIS is found to be more efficient legacy PRO scores. A new RCT shows that the wearable sensors are effective at monitoring patient position and activity.
OTW Staff • Tue, February 6th, 2018
No shortage of important considerations when it comes to the short stem. David Stulberg and Larry Dorr, through the miracle of Seth’s debate format, uncover and review the most important pluses and minuses regarding short stems for primary hip arthroplasty.
Elizabeth Hofheinz, M.P.H., M.Ed. • Mon, February 5th, 2018
Surprising new study of astronauts uncovers the major role soft tissue plays in back pain. Best to screen and clear nasal passages of joint patients preoperatively, says a new study. New work from Anderson Orthopaedic Clinic finds that running two rooms during TJA doesn’t affect outcomes or safety.
Robin Young • Tue, January 30th, 2018
No Saline?! Saline bags are so ubiquitous we don’t think twice about them, until they’re gone. Since 2014 there’s been a shortage. In late 2017 it got much worse. Healthcare providers are raising hell. The FDA is worried. What happened?
Elizabeth Hofheinz, M.P.H., M.Ed. • Wed, January 24th, 2018
New tool allows patients to compare their personal information with nationwide data to help decide if and when to undergo TJR. CreakyJoints publishes OA guidelines for patients. New J&J Health Partner platform combines behavior science and technology to help patients prepare physically, mentally and emotionally for surgery.
OTW Staff • Thu, January 18th, 2018
Resurfacing or replacement? This was not even close. Three guesses as to which debater won this contest—and the first two guesses don’t count. This sharply fought contest pits Cleveland Clinic’s Peter Brooks against University of Western Ontario’s Steven MacDonald. BC’s Clive Duncan referees.
Elizabeth Hofheinz, M.P.H., M.Ed. • Fri, January 12th, 2018
Study finds vast reduction in allogeneic transfusion usage. When diagnosing PJI, no ‘holy grail,’ but α-defensin does shine. ALIF burdened with increased odds of complications and high cost as compared to patients undergoing PLIF/TLIF.
OTW Staff • Thu, January 11th, 2018
Outpatient total hip arthroplasty or inpatient. Berend says outpatient is a paradigm shift and represents the future of arthroplasty. Lieberman notes, quite correctly, that outpatient is not for every patient and simple aphorisms don’t serve either the patient or the surgeon well. Excellent debate on this timely subject. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Introduction {#Sec1}
============
Peroneal tendon tears are relatively common disorders that seem to have a poor healing tendency. It has been discussed in the literature that the peroneal tendons have avascular zones at the level of the most common locations for tears, contributing to the pathogenesis and poor healing of those tears \[[@CR16], [@CR19], [@CR21], [@CR27]\]. However, there is controversy regarding the existence of avascular regions. In order to further understand different peroneal tendon pathologies, the first step is to understand the peroneal tendons' vascularization pattern. Pathophysiology of peroneal tendon tears can be acute or chronic in nature \[[@CR7], [@CR16], [@CR28]\]. While acute tears are mostly attributed to sports injuries and lateral ankle instability \[[@CR14]\], chronic tears are more likely a result of impingement, chronic subluxation or stenosis \[[@CR3], [@CR11], [@CR14], [@CR15]\]. Tendon degeneration is proposed as an underlying mechanism of injury \[[@CR4], [@CR15], [@CR22], [@CR29]\]. Reduced blood supply seems to play an important role in tendon degeneration. Therefore, understanding of the blood supply of the peroneal tendons is essential to understand the pathway of pathophysiology, healing and to optimize surgical treatment.
The literature attributes the vascularization of the peroneal tendons to different branches of the peroneal artery and the anterior tibial artery. Contribution of vessels from either the lateral tarsal artery \[[@CR6], [@CR20]\] or branches of the medial tarsal artery \[[@CR26]\] remains controversial in literature. The blood vessels penetrate the tendons via one or two vincula from the posterolateral side to facilitate intratendinous blood supply \[[@CR19], [@CR26], [@CR31]\]. According to van Dijk and Kort \[[@CR31]\], the distal fibers of the peroneus brevis (PB) muscle belly transform to these vincula, ending approximately at the tip of the fibula.
Petersen et al. \[[@CR19]\] proposed that the peroneal tendons have three critical avascular zones. One avascular zone was found in the region where the peroneus brevis tendon curls around the lateral malleolus. In the peroneus longus (PL) tendon, two avascular zones were found: one where the tendon curls around the lateral malleolus and the other where the tendon turns around the cuboid. These zones are consistent with the locations where peroneal tendon tears occur most frequent and healing tendency is poor \[[@CR19]\]. In contrast, Sobel et al. \[[@CR26]\] found no proof for avascular zones within the tendons. Both aforementioned studies only contained few specimens, and the accuracy of injection techniques varied. Hence, the vascularization pattern of the peroneal tendons remains a subject of controversy and discussion \[[@CR14]\].
To create better insight in the blood supply of the peroneal tendons and thus to create a better understanding of the pathophysiology, healing and to optimize treatment, the purpose of the current study is to analyse the arterial anatomy of the peroneal tendons in cadavers. The hypothesis is that the peroneal tendons are well vascularized and free of avascular zones.
Materials and methods {#Sec2}
=====================
Ten adult fresh-frozen cadaveric lower extremities were obtained from a university-affiliated body donation program following the legal procedures and ethical framework governing the body donation in Spain. All specimens were free of scars at the lateral side of the ankle, and tendons were free of macroscopically visible tears, ruptures or degenerative changes. Since all donations were anonymous, no information was available on gender or prior pathologies. The age of all specimens ranged between 65 and 78 years. Before starting the intravascular injection and dissection procedure, legs were thawed to room temperature.
Intravascular injection {#Sec3}
-----------------------
The femoral artery was injected with natural coloured latex at the level of the knee by a cannula. Injection was performed under pulsatile manual pressure similar to the arterial blood pressure. To promote perfusion trough the smallest blood vessels, the lower legs were massages thoroughly. Small incisions were made in the tip of the toes to check whether the latex penetrated the smallest vessels.
Dissection {#Sec4}
----------
Dissection was done at the posterolateral side of the lower limb using the fifth metatarsal, fibular groove and the fibular head as reference. First, the skin, the subcutaneous fat tissue and the fascia were removed to expose the arteries contributing to the vascularization of the peroneal tendons.
Microdissection was completed using a surgical microscope to expose the smaller vessels (Kaps SOM 62, Germany). The tendon sheaths were opened in a longitudinal direction and the vincula was carefully studied. Dissection was completed in a structured manner, with photographs taken during the dissection. All measurements were taken using a digital caliper (Digimatic Caliper, Mitutoyo, Japan; 0.01 accuracy). Three observers individually obtained the measurements to minimize intraobserver error. All measurements were rounded to millimeters.
Spälteholz technique {#Sec5}
--------------------
To visualize intratendinous vascularization, four specimens were prepared using the Spälteholz technique, which provides transparent three-dimensional structures. The peroneal muscles and tendons were isolated together with the peroneal artery and its branches after dissection and excised together with the fibula as an anatomical reference. After complete dehydration, benzyl benzoate and methyl salicylate were used to clear the specimens satisfactorily and to reveal the microvascularization of the peroneal tendons. The tendons were studied with a surgical microscope by three independent observers, after which the tendons were photographed and measurements were taken carefully.
Statistical analysis {#Sec6}
--------------------
Descriptive statistics were used in calculating means and standard deviations for distances between the origins of branches. One-way analysis of variance was used to compare group means in distance. A Bonferroni test was used when findings with the ANOVA model were significant. A *p* - value of less than 0.005 (0.05 divided by 10) was considered as statistically significant. Statistical analysis was performed using Stata version 13.0 software (STATA Corp., TX, USA).
Results {#Sec7}
=======
In all specimens, both tendons were mainly vascularized by the peroneal artery (Fig. [1](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}). In 6 cases, a communicating branch was found between the peroneal artery and the posterior tibial artery before entering the tendons (Fig. [2](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"}). The anterior lateral malleolar branch of the anterior tibial artery was the main vessel supplying blood to the PL tendon at the dorsolateral area of foot (Fig. [3](#Fig3){ref-type="fig"}a). In 4 cases, vascularization of the PL tendon within the dorsolateral area was contributed by vessels from the perforating branch of the peroneal artery that crossed the interosseous membrane and anastomosed with the anterior lateral malleolar branch of the anterior tibial artery (Fig. [3](#Fig3){ref-type="fig"}b). Distances between the branches from the peroneal artery were measured (Fig. [4](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}). The mean distance between the most proximal branch and the fibular tip was 24 ± 5.3 cm. The mean distance between the different branches was 3.9 ± 1.8 cm (Table [1](#Tab1){ref-type="table"}). There was no difference between distances of branches.Fig. 1Main vascularization of the peroneal tendons is supplied by the peroneal artery. *Pa* peroneal artery, *PTa* posterior tibial artery, *F* fibula, *Tn* tibial nerve, *PBt* peroneus brevis tendon, *PLt* peroneus longus tendon, *lm* lateral malleolusFig. 2In 6 cases, a communicating branch was found between the peroneal artery and the posterior tibial artery (*arrows*). *Pa* peroneal artery, *Ct* calcaneal tendon, *lcb* lateral calcaneal branch, *PBt* peroneus brevis tendon, *PLt* peroneus longus tendonFig. 3**a** In 6 cases, the main vascularization of the PL tendon at the dorsolateral area of the foot was supplied by the malleolar branch of the anterior tibial artery (*arrows*). *PBt* peroneus brevis tendon, *PLt* peroneus longus tendon, *lm* lateral malleolus. **b** In 4 cases, the PL was vascularized by vessels from the perforating branch of the peroneal artery (*red arrow*) that crosses the interosseous membrane and anastomoses with the malleolar branch of the anterior tibial artery (*black arrow*). *lm* lateral malleolus, *PBt* peroneus brevis tendon, *PLt* peroneus longus tendon, *im* interosseous membraneFig. 4Peroneal artery splits of different branches (*arrows*) to enter the peroneal tendonsTable 1Distances between the different branches splitting off the peroneal arteryDistanceMean ± SD (cm)Distance with distal branch (cm)Fibular tip--arch3.7 ± 2.0--Fibular tip--first branch8.1 ± 2.64.2 ± 2.1Fibular tip--second branch13 − 4.04.9 ± 2.7Fibular tip--third branch17 ± 3.93.8 ± 0.94Fibular tip--fourth branch21 ± 5.33.7 ± 1.8Fibular tip--fifth branch24 ± 5.33.2 ± 1.1*SD* Standard Deviation
A common vincula attached to the posterior side of the tendons connected both tendons and played an important role in their blood supply. Vessels reaching the vincula trough the peroneal muscles could be distinguished into two different vascularization patterns: an arcuate pattern (Fig. [5](#Fig5){ref-type="fig"}a) or a weblike network (Fig. [5](#Fig5){ref-type="fig"}b).Fig. 5**a** In 8 cases, vessels from the peroneal artery form an arcuate pattern on the vincula before entering the peroneal tendons. *Ct* calcaneal tendon, *PBt* peroneus brevis tendon, *PLt* peroneus longus tendon. **b** In 2 cases, branches of the peroneal artery form a weblike structure on the vincula before entering the peroneal tendons. *PB* peroneus brevis muscle, *PLt* peroneus brevis tendon, *Ct* calcaneal tendon
Patterns of arterial supply {#Sec8}
===========================
In 8 out of 10 specimens, branches of the peroneal artery penetrated the muscles of both the PB and the PL tendon. Vessels ran from proximal to distal, ending in the proximal part of the peroneal tendons. Some vessels entered the vincula, forming a dense arcuate pattern on the surface of the PB tendon and giving rise to small collateral vessels penetrating the PL tendon through the connective tissue that joins both tendons (Fig. [5](#Fig5){ref-type="fig"}a, b). Poor vascularized zones within the PL tendon were found in the retromalleolar groove and 2.0--3.0 cm proximal to the retromalleolar groove (Fig. [6](#Fig6){ref-type="fig"}). The PB tendon was well vascularized over the whole course of the tendon, without appearance of avascular zones. The vascular density within the PB tendon was clearly higher than in the PL tendon.Fig. 6In 8 cases, the Spälteholz technique visualized well vascularization of the PB tendon along the whole course of the tendon. Poor vascularized zones within the PL are found in the retromalleolar groove and 2--3 cm proximal to the retromalleolar groove (*arrows*). *PLt* peroneus longus tendon, *PB* peroneus brevis muscle, *PBt* peroneus brevis tendon, *lm* lateral malleolus
In 2 out of 10 specimens, both muscles were directly vascularized by branches from the peroneal artery. Vessels entered the vincula, forming a weblike network over the whole length of both tendons. In these specimens, no avascular zones were found in both the PB tendon and the PL tendon (Fig. [7](#Fig7){ref-type="fig"}).Fig. 7In 2 cases, the Spälteholz technique showed well vascularization of both the PB and the PL along the whole course of the tendons (*arrows*). *lm* lateral malleolus, *PBt* peroneus brevis tendon, *PLt* peroneus longus tendon
Discussion {#Sec9}
==========
The results of the current study suggest that both peroneal tendons are well vascularized, with a clearly higher vascular density in the PB tendon relative to the PL tendon. The tendons are mainly vascularized by the peroneal artery, via small vessels running through a common vincula. After entering the vincula, two vascularization patterns could be distinguished: either (1) small vessels formed a dense arch on the surface of the PB tendon, giving rise to small collateral vessels penetrating the PL tendon, or (2) branches entered the vincula forming a weblike network and then perforated both tendons. No avascular zones could be distinguished in the PB tendon. In the PL tendon, poor vascularized zones were only found when an arcuate structure could be distinguished.
To gain knowledge on the pathophysiology of peroneal tendon pathologies and aid surgical approaches, understanding of the vascularization of the peroneal tendons has been looked over previously \[[@CR19], [@CR26]\]. The results of the current study regarding the major blood supply of the tendons are in line with previous findings. Both peroneal tendons are mainly vascularized by branches of the peroneal artery. Results of the current study suggest that not the medial tarsal artery but the lateral tarsal artery in some cases anastomoses with the perforating branch of the peroneal artery, contributing to the vascularization of the peroneal tendons at the dorsolateral region of the tarsus.
As proposed by Scholten and van Dijk \[[@CR24]\], the current study found branches of the peroneal artery reaching the tendons trough a common vincula attached to the posterior side of both tendons. Vincula are described as synovial tissue, connecting the tendon to their tendon sheath \[[@CR13]\]. The vincula of the peroneal tendons is attached to the dorsolateral aspect of the fibula and continues until the distal insertion of the tendons \[[@CR31]\]. In vascularization of flexor tendons of the hand and the anterior tibial tendon, vincula have been proven to be of great importance in blood supply \[[@CR10], [@CR12]\]. Facilitating the vascularization of the peroneal tendons, surgeons should be aware of the location of the vincula and ensure that it remains intact.
In 1992, Sobel et al. \[[@CR26]\] found vascular supply by the peroneal artery over the whole course of both tendons by injecting Indian ink into the arteries. No evidence was found for avascular zones. Eight years later, Petersen et al. \[[@CR19]\] reported three critical avascular zones within the tendons. They stated that the method used by Sobel et al. was not accurate. Ink may leak into the intervessel area due to high pressure or damaged vessels, creating false-positive results. On the other hand, microembolism, low pressure and hardening of the injection medium before it reaches the terminal arteries may cause inadequate filling of the vessels leading to false-negative results \[[@CR19]\]. Petersen injected Indian ink combined with gelation in the arteries to visualize the vascularization. Therefore, discrepancy between the two studies could be explained not only by false positives in the results from Sobel et al., but also by false negatives in the results from Petersen et al.
In an anatomical study of Edwards \[[@CR8]\], the vascular network within tendons in general was determent as longitudinal vessels with transversal connections running trough the entire length of the tendon. Such distribution pattern was also found in the current study. Vascular injection showed a homogeneous vascular distribution and a dense vascular network in the PB tendon, corresponding to the study from Sobel et al. \[[@CR26]\]. In the PL tendon, poor vascularized zones were found around the lateral malleolus in the cases were small vessels first passed the PB tendon and the vincula before reaching the PL tendon. This is more in line with the study from Petersen et al. \[[@CR19]\]. Discrepancy between the results of the current studies and earlier studies could be explained by the false-negative and false-positive effects of injection techniques. Difference in accuracy of the different methods may also explain the difference.
Peroneus brevis tendinopathy mostly occur around the fibula \[[@CR21], [@CR25]\]. Petersen et al. \[[@CR19]\] found avascular zones corresponding with the most common sites of tendinopathy and concluded that poor blood supply is related to PB tendon tears. However, the literature shows controversy on the relation between blood supply and tendon ruptures \[[@CR23]\]. In Achilles tendon ruptures, for example, several authors doubt the relationship between blood supply and frequency of ruptures \[[@CR1], [@CR2], [@CR17], [@CR18], [@CR23]\]. In the current study, no avascular zones were found in the PB tendon. Therefore, the relationship between vascularization of the peroneal tendons and the location of tears is questioned. A different proposed mechanism of tendon injury is structural disturbance of the tendon due to stress \[[@CR23]\]. With the PB tendon squeezed in between the PL tendon and the bony pulley at the level of the retromalleolar groove, the zone where most PB tendon tears occur, frequency of tears in different zones of the tendon may be explained by high stress and pressure in the groove \[[@CR21], [@CR30]\].
The literature shows that increased vascularization is often found in chronic tendinopathies. Chronic tendon pathologies seem to be a highly active process when it comes to neovascularization of the tissue. Tenosynovitis, the precursor of chronic PB tendon tears, is associated with neovascularization. It is unknown why healing of tendinopathies and their hyper vascular state tends to fail. However, it is known that invasion and proliferation of new blood vessels may contribute to pain and chronicity of a tendon disorder \[[@CR9]\].
The limitations of this study should be taken into account. First, the use of cadavers carries possible inherent bias. Findings obtained from cadavers may differ from the in vivo situation. Also, freezing and thawing can damage the tendons and therefore influence results \[[@CR5]\]. However, to determine the pattern of blood supply to and within a tendon, a cadaveric study seems to be the most accurate study design.
Another limitation is the low number of specimen. Anatomical variations may have influenced our results, and therefore, a higher number of specimens would lower the possible change incidental findings.
A third limitation is the lack of immunohistochemical demonstration of laminin within the tendon, which would have put more weight to our results.
Conclusion {#Sec10}
==========
The peroneal tendons are well vascularized by distal branches of the peroneal artery, running through a common vincula and no avascular zones could be distinguished in the PB tendon. Vessels from either the fibular artery or the perforating branch of the peroneal artery contribute to vascularization of the tendons on the dorsolateral region of the tarsus. To keep the tendons well vascularized and therefore improve tendon healing, surgeons should be careful leaving the vincula intact during surgical procedures.
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Microcomputer interface for computer-controlled enzyme kinetic studies with the monolayer technique.
A microcomputer interface for computer-assisted monolayer experiments was developed, tested, and used for analysis of the enzymatic hydrolysis by pancreatic phospholipases A2 (EC 3.1.1.4) of 1,2-didodecanoyl-sn-glycero-3-sulfate monitored under constant surface pressure. The interface described multiplexes two different analog signals onto one set of 12 data input lines to the computer. One signal is obtained from an electromicrobalance which measures surface pressure of a monomolecular substrate layer in a two-compartment trough. The second signal comes from a 10-turns precision potentiometer which measures the position of a surface barrier. Both signals together determine a velocity value which is output via four data lines to a DC motor that drives the barrier. Software developed specifically to drive the interface, to store data, and to keep pressure constant is described. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
A man who jumped into the Fox River Thursday night after allegedly skipping out on a restaurant tab in northwest suburban Algonquin was found dead Friday evening.
The body of 29-year-old Ernest Prentic of Carpentersville was found about 6:30 p.m. Friday in the Fox River, Algonquin police said in a statement. Police did not specify where his body was located.
Preliminary autopsy results indicated Prentic’s cause of death was drowning, according to a statement from the Kane County coroner’s office.
Officers were called about 9:20 p.m. Thursday to Nero’s Restaurant, 300 Eastgate Court in Algonquin, for reports that a man had run out of the restaurant without paying his tab, police said. The man, later identified as Prentic, was seen running toward the Fox River.
A fisherman saw him leap into the water near Route 62 and North River Road, according to the Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Fire Protection District. Dive teams searched the area until about midnight and resumed the search again about 7:15 a.m. Friday.
The case remained under investigation Monday. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
Why does amount of protons define how matter is?
My question might sound convoluted but my mind is twisting right now so my apologies in advanced.
Why is it that when I have one proton and one electron it is Hydrogen a clear flammable gas, and when I have say, twelve, it is carbon the driving force of life as we know it and then we end up with 239 and we have uranium a radioactive element.
How does the amount of protons affect what matter will be? Why does the amount of these particle things magically make one thing air and another cyanide?
If I have one pebble it is a pebble, if I have 13 its just more of the same pebbles. What makes protons different?
Sorry this is so convoluted,
any reply is appreciated
A:
Long answer: Any Chemistry textbook.
Short answer: The number of electrons of an atom is the same as the number of protons in the nucleus. This number of electrons (Identical to the position number in PSE!) defines all the chemistry of that atom.
A:
Your day to day experience of the material world is governed by chemistry. This is at some level the science of atoms and groups of atoms.
Things like hardness, colour, toxicity and others are all largely determined by the interaction of atoms. In particular the outer coating of atoms, the electrons. Obviously the details of why element or compound A is harder or softer than compound B is incredibly diverse and complicated.
Typically the number of electrons is equal to the number of protons (but not always!) as atoms like to be electrically neutral and so for each positive proton, one negative electron will stick to the atom. So from this we can see that the number of protons indirectly affects the behaviour of an atom via the number of electrons...
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Source:
September 12, 2013 21:03 IST
The local metropolitan magistrate's court at Andheri on Thursday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Bollywood actress Preity Zinta in connection with a cheque bouncing case.
"The court has issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Zinta on Thursday," confirmed her lawyer Ratneshwar Jha. Jha told PTI that he told the court that Zinta was out of the country, but the court issued the non-bailable arrest warrant against her.
"We will move the court to cancel the warrant or we will move the Bombay high court and file a writ," Jha added.
The cheque bouncing case was filed by Abbas Tyrewala, dialogue writer of the movie 'Ishkq in Paris', released last year, after a cheque of Rs 18.9 lakh bounced
It may be recalled that during the last hearing, the court had imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on Preity Zinta for non-appearance and the non-bailable arrest warrant has been issued, since she did not turn up in court on Thursday | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Spike Chunsoft Showing Off its Stuff at GDC; Four New Titles Coming OutThey are all going to be visual novels, arenít they?02.26.18 - 8:14 PM
Spike Chunsoft, the developer of the Danganronpa and Zero Escape series, has announced that they will be making an appearance at the Game Developers Conference when it happens in late March. This announcement came with the news that four new titles will be announced during a global live stream that will occur on Friday, March 23rd at 5pm PST.
This news comes a few months after their news to launch a North American division to localize any future games of theirs. To add more to the fire, they launched their english website. They have also announced some special giveaways leading up to their GDC Stream via social media.
The Game Developers Conference will take place in San Francisco, CA on March 19th-23rd. It has been confirmed that members of both the US and Japanese development teams will be in attendance. It's also fair to assume that these four new games will have western releases, but we'll keep you posted as we learn more. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
For synchronisation purposes, a transmitter (TX) multiplexes a pilot carrier with carriers whereon data elements (DATA) are modulated, and transmits the pilot carrier together with the modulated carriers to a receiver (RX). The immunity of the pilot carrier for interferers, such as radio amateur signals,...http://www.google.com/patents/US20010014101?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US20010014101 - Modulation/demodulation of pilot carrier means and method to perform the modulation/demodulation
Modulation/demodulation of pilot carrier means and method to perform the modulation/demodulationUS 20010014101 A1
Abstract
For synchronisation purposes, a transmitter (TX) multiplexes a pilot carrier with carriers whereon data elements (DATA) are modulated, and transmits the pilot carrier together with the modulated carriers to a receiver (RX). The immunity of the pilot carrier for interferers, such as radio amateur signals, is improved by modulating the pilot carrier with a non-constant signal, for instance a random signal, an alternating signal or even scrambled data elements (DATA), before transmission thereof. Since demodulation of the pilot carrier in the receiver (RX) and averageing successive demodulated pilot carriers reduces the effect of the interference induced on the non-constantly modulated pilot carrier, the degradation of the synchronisation between transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) is reduced significantly.
Images(1)
Claims(9)
What is claimed is:
1. A method for transmitting data elements (DATA) from a transmitter (TX) to a receiver (RX), wherein:
a. said data elements (DATA) are modulated on at least one carrier;
b. a pilot carrier used for synchronisation between said transmitter (TX) and said receiver (RX) is multiplexed with said at least one carrier;
c. said at least one carrier and said pilot carrier are transmitted over a transmission medium (TM) interconnecting said transmitter (TX) and said receiver (RX),
characterized in that
d. said pilot carrier is modulated with a non-constant signal before it is transmitted.
2. A method according to
claim 1
, characterised in that said non-constant signal is a random or pseudo-random signal.
3. A method according to
claim 1
, characterised in that said non-constant signal is an alternating signal, subsequently alternating between different states of the modulation constellation.
4. A method according to
claim 1
, characterised in that said non-constant signal consists of part of said data elements (DATA) to be transmitted.
5. A method according to
claim 1
, characterised in that said transmitter (TX) and said receiver (RX) constitute a discrete multitone (DMT) transceiver according to the Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line standard T1E1.413.
6. A method according to
claim 5
, characterised in that said data elements (DATA) modulated on said pilot carrier are operation channel data elements or overhead control channel data elements such as data elements used for maintenance or indicating a modification of the number of bits modulated on a carrier of said at least one carrier.
a. modulation means (MOD) to a first input of which said data elements (DATA) are applied, said modulation means (MOD) being adapted to modulate said data elements (DATA) on at least one carrier, and to multiplex said at least one carrier with a pilot carrier used for synchronisation between said transmitter (TX) and said receiver (RX);
b. pilot information means (TPT), adapted to generate information to identify said pilot carrier, and to apply said information to a second input of said modulation means (MOD); and
c. line interface means (TI), coupled between an output of said modulation means (MOD) and an input of said transmission medium (TM), and adapted to condition said at least one carrier and said pilot carrier to be transmitted over said transmission medium (TM),
characterised in that
d. said modulation means (MOD) is further adapted to modulate said pilot carrier with a non-constant signal.
a. line interface means (RI), coupled to an output of said transmission medium (TM) and adapted to condition said signal (S′) to be applied to components of said receiver (RX);
b. demodulating means (DMOD), an input of which is coupled to an output of said line interface means (RI), said demodulating means (DMOD) being adapted to demultiplex in said signal (S′) a pilot carrier from at least one carrier whereon data elements (DATA′) are modulated, and to demodulate said data elements (DATA′) from said at least one carrier; and
c. pilot information means (RPT), adapted to generate information to identify said pilot carrier, and to apply said information to a second input of said demodulation means (DMOD),
characterised in that
d. said demodulating means (DMOD) further is adapted to demodulate a non-constant signal from said pilot carrier and to use the demodulated pilot carrier for synchronisation.
9. A transmission system comprising a transmitter (TX), a receiver (RX) and a transmission medium (TM), coupled between an output of said transmitter (TX) and an input of said receiver (RX), said transmitter (TX) comprising:
a. modulation means (MOD) to a first input of which data elements (DATA) are applied, said modulation means (MOD) being adapted to modulate said data elements (DATA) on at least one carrier, and to multiplex said at least one carrier with a pilot carrier used for synchronisation between said transmitter (TX) and said receiver (RX);
b. pilot information means (TPT), adapted to generate information to identify said pilot carrier, and to apply said information to a second input of said modulation means (MOD); and
c. line interface means (TI), coupled between an output of said modulation means (MOD) and an input of said transmission medium (TM), and adapted to condition said at least one carrier and said pilot carrier to be transmitted over said transmission medium (TM), and said receiver (RX) comprising:
d. line interface means (RI), coupled to an output of said transmission medium (TM) and adapted to condition a signal (S′) received therefrom to be applied to components of said receiver (RX);
e. demodulating means (DMOD), an input of which is coupled to an output of said line interface means (RI), said demodulating means (DMOD) being adapted to demultiplex in said signal (S′) said pilot carrier from said at least one carrier, and to demodulate data elements (DATA′) from said at least one carrier; and
f. pilot information means (RPT), adapted to generate information to identify said pilot carrier, and to apply said information to a second input of said demodulation means (DMOD),
characterised in that
g. said modulation means (MOD) is further adapted to modulate said pilot carrier with a non-constant signal; and
h. said demodulating means (DMOD) is adapted to demodulate said nonconstant signal from said pilot carrier and to use the demodulated pilot carrier for synchronisation.
Description
[0001] The present invention relates to a method for transmitting data elements as defined in the non-characteristic part of claim 1, a transmitter and a receiver as defined in the non-characteristic part of claims 7 and 8 respectively, and a transmission system as defined in the non-characteristic part of claim 9.
[0002] Such a method for transmitting data elements, such a transmitter and receiver, and such a transmission system are already known in the art, e.g. from the specifications of the ANSI (American National Standards Institute, Inc.) Standard on ADSL, the approved version of which has the reference T1E1.413-1995 and title “Network and Customer Installation Interfaces, Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) Metallic Interface”. Therein, data elements are modulated on a set of carriers. In case of discrete multi tone (DMT) modulation, these carriers have equidistant frequencies. As is indicated in paragraphs 6.9.1.2 and 7.9.1.2 on pages 46 and 58 of the above cited standard, published in 1995, one of the carriers is reserved as a pilot carrier. This pilot carrier is used for synchronisation between transmitter and receiver and is modulated by a constant signal. In a vector plane, wherein the modulation constellation is represented by a collection of points, the pilot carrier is thus represented by a single point. On the transmission medium, e.g. on a telephone line interconnecting the ADSL transmitter and ADSL receiver in the known system, the pilot carrier thus represents a sine or cosine which does not change in phase, amplitude or frequency in time (in case a guard bond or cyclic prefix is added whose length does not contain an integer number of periods of the pilot tone, the pilot tone might be discontinu at the edges of the DMT symbol).
[0003] A well-known source of norrowbanded or single frequency disturbances is a radio amateur or an AM radio station, which broadcasts radio signals at frequencies close to carrier frequencies. Forward error correction techniques, well-known in the art, can reduce the effect of such disturbances on data carried by the affected carriers. An alternative way to protect data against such interferers, proposed by Peter S. Chow et al. in the article “A multicarrier E1- HDSL Transceiver System with Coded Modulation” from the authors Peter S. Chow, Noafal Al-Dhahir, John M. Cioffi and John A. C. Bingham published in issue No. 3 May/June 1993 of the Journal of European Transactions on Telecommunications and Related Technologies (ETT), pages 257-266, is bitswapping: bit and energy allocations are updated so that the affected carriers carry less data bits then before. This technique requires an additional communication between transmitter and receiver.
[0004] Although data transmitted over the telephone line from the transmitter to the receiver may be protected by one of the above mentioned techniques, the presence of noise or an interferer, for instance a radio amateur signals with a frequency in the vicinity of the frequency of the pilot carrier, may still cause an offset between the received point representing the pilot carrier in the above defined vector plane and the expected point. If this offset in the vector plane is not sufficiently random, it biases the synchronisation mechanism, resulting in a performance degradation. This is e.g. the case if the instantaneous phase of the interferer is very slowly varying in time with respect to the duration of the DMT symbol or if this interferer is constant.
[0005] It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for transmitting data elements and related equipment of the known type, but wherein the immunity of the pilot carrier for interference is increased significantly, and consequently wherein the degradation of the synchronisation mechanism between transmitter and receiver is reduced.
[0006] According to the present invention, this object is achieved by the method for transmitting data elements defined in claim 1, by the transmitter and receiver defined in claims 7 and 8 respectively, and by the transmission system defined in claim 9.
[0007] In this way, by modulating the pilot carrier with a non-constant signal, the pilot carrier appears on the transmission medium as a sine or cosine with non-constant phase and/or amplitude. Demodulation of such a pilot carrier at the receiver's side, re-generates the unmodulated pilot carrier, i.e. a sine or cosine with non varying phase and/or amplitude from the transmitted modulated pilot carrier. For interference induced on the modulated pilot carrier, this demodulation has an averaging effect as will be explained in more detail later on in the description. The effect of an interferer on different states of the modulation constellation is thus averaged by demodulation. The final effect of an interferer after demodulation is far less than the effect of the interferer on one single state in the modulation constellation scheme as a result of which the transmission system according to the present invention has a significantly increased immunity for narrowband interferers, compared to the above described known system.
[0008] It is noted that the implementation of the synchronisation means can be simplified if the constellation points of the pilot carrier are well chosen, e.g. if all points have the same amplitude.
[0009] It is further to be noticed that the term “comprising” used in the claims, should not be interpreted as being limitative to the means listed thereafter. Thus, the scope of the expression “a device comprising means A and B” should not be limited to devices consisting only of components A and B. It means that with respect to the present invention, the only relevant components of the device are A and B.
[0010] Similarly, it is to be noted that the term “coupled” also used in the claims, should not be interpreted as being limitative to direct connections only. Thus, the scope of the expression “a device A coupled to a device B” should not be limited to devices or systems wherein an output of device A is directly connected to on input of device B. It means that there exists a path between an output of A and an input of B which may be a path including other devices or means.
[0011] A remark is also that, in view of the present invention, it is not important whether the frequency of the pilot carrier is a fixed one or not. The pilot carrier may change in frequency whenever the transmitter or receiver concludes that the pilot frequency is laying within a frequency bond with too much interference. The transmitter and receiver then have to negotiate a new pilot tone frequency More details about this technique are irrelevant in view of the present invention but it is stressed here that changing the frequency of the pilot tone and modulating the pilot tone with non-constant signals are two techniques which may be applied independently to improve interference immunity of the synchronisation between transmitter and receiver. These techniques may be used complementary or may be applied separately.
[0012] In a particular implementation of the present invention, the pilot carrier is modulated as defined in claim 2.
[0013] In this way, by modulating a randomised signal on the pilot carrier, the state of the pilot carrier in the constellation scheme will change randomly so that the demodulation will have a good averaging effect resulting in an increase of the interference immunity.
[0014] In another implementation of the present invention, the pilot carrier is modulated with a predefined sequence that ensures sufficient alternations of the states of the pilot carrier, as defined in claim 3.
[0015] In this way, if the averaged effect of interference over all visited states in the constellation scheme is zero after demodulation, the best results will be obtained in terms of improvement of the interference immunity. Indeed, when each state has an equal probability and the constellation has a symmetry around zero, the effect of interference will be compensated for completely after demodulation. As an example, the constellation might contain only two points with the same amplitude but with opposite phases. Successive pilots would then have alternate phases.
[0016] It is remarked that the proposed technique con be used whether or not the predefined sequence is known at the receiver. If the sequence is unknown, the receiver has to demap the received pilot, i.e. it has to map the received point on a constellation point. The decision is then used to generate the unmodulated pilot.
[0017] In yet another implementation of the present invention, the pilot carrier is modulated as defined in claim 4.
[0018] This implementation has the additional advantage that it provides an enlarged bandwidth for transport of data elements. Indeed, in the already cited ADSL system for instance, the pilot carrier may be modulated with an 8 kbit/s datastream by allocating two bits to it. If this additional bandwidth is used for transporting data elements, the aggregate bitrate between transmitter and receiver will be increased with an equivalent amount. It is to be remarked that, to have significant immunity against interferers, the data elements which are modulated on the pilot carrier, hove to be sufficiently random so that the pilot carrier reaches all states in the constellation scheme and a good averaging of the interference is obtained by demodulation. This can be obtained by scrambling.
[0019] An additional feature of the present invention is that it may be applied in the field of ADSL and VDSL as indicated by claim 5.
[0020] Indeed, systems wherein data elements are transmitted over copper telephone lines such as ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line), VDSL (Very High Bitrate Digital Subscriber Line) or the like are subjected to interference such as radio amateur signals. It is therefore likely to protect such systems with the technique according to the present invention.
[0021] Furthermore, a characteristic feature of the present invention when applied in the field of ADSL, is defined in claim 6.
[0022] As described in the already mentioned ADSL specification, the DMT symbols contain user data and overhead data, e.g. operation channel data or overhead control channel data such as operation and maintenance commands, vendor specific commands, bit swap information, and so on. The embedded operations channel (eoc) and the ADSL overhead control (aoc) channel are described respectively in paragraphs 11.1 13.1 on pages 71 and 112 of the earlier mentioned specification. This information may for instance be modulated on the pilot carrier.
[0023] The above mentioned and other objects and features of the invention will become more apparent and the invention itself will be best understood by referring to the following description of an embodiment taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:
[0024]FIG. 1 represents a transmission system including a transmitter TX and a receiver RX according to the present invention; and
[0025]FIG. 2 represents a constellation scheme for modulating a pilot carrier in a particular embodiment of the present invention, and illustrates the influence of interference induced on the modulated pilot carrier.
[0026] The transmission system drawn in FIG. 1 includes a first Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) modem of which only the transmitting part TX is drawn, a second ADSL modem of which only the receiving part RX is drawn, and a copper twisted pair telephone line TM coupling the two ADSL modems. The first ADSL modem may for instance be located in a remote terminal and modulates data DATA to be transmitted over the telephone line TM towards the second ADSL modem which may for instance be located in a central office. Both ADSL modems respect the specifications of the ADSL Standard T1E1.413.
[0027] The transmitting part TX of the first ADSL modem contains between a data input DATA and a signal output S the cascade connection of a discrete multitone (DMT) modulator MOD and a line interface TI. In addition, pilot tone identifying means TPT are included and have an output coupled to an additional input of the DMT modulator MOD.
[0028] The receiving port RX of the second ADSL modem contains between a signal input S′ and a data output DATA′ the cascade connection of a line interface RI and a discrete multitone (DMT) demodulator DMOD. In addition, pilot tone identifying means RPT are included and have an output coupled to an additional input of the DMT demodulator DMOD.
[0029] In FIG. 1, an embodiment of the transmission system according to the present invention is thus drawn in terms of functional blocks: TX, RX, TM, MOD, TI, TPT, RI, DMOD and RPT. The working of each of these blocks will be described sufficiently detailed in the following paragraphs. From this functional description, it will be obvious for a person skilled in the art of designing telecommunication devices how embodiments of these blocks can be manufactured with well-known electronic components. A detailed architecture of the contents of the functional blocks drown in FIG. 1 hence is not given here.
[0030] In the transmitting part TX of the first ADSL modem, data DATA are applied to a data input DATA of the modulator MOD to be modulated thereby on a set of carriers. It is noticed that in FIG. 1, the some reference DATA is used for the incoming data and the terminal of the modulator MOD where the data are applied to. Furthermore it is remarked that the applied data DATA may be user data received from the outside world as well as overhead data, for instance bit allocation information generated inside the first ADSL modem. The modulator MOD then performs bit allocation, i.e. the modulator MOD allocates a certain number of data bits to each one of the carriers, selects an appropriate modulation type for each one of the carriers so that the right amount of bits can be modulated thereon, and then modulates the carriers. The carriers are transformed from frequency to time domain by the modulator MOD and extended cyclically so as to minimise intersymbol interference effects due to transmission over the telephone line TM. The so obtained symbols, called discrete multitone symbols, contain one carrier which is assigned to be pilot carrier and which will be used at the receiver's side for synchronisation. The modulator MOD modulates this pilot carrier in an alternating way. This means that, when 2 bits can be modulated on the pilot carrier via 4 QAM modulation, 4 different states are transmitted in an alternating way. The 4 states of the 4 QAM modulation technique are drawn in FIG. 2 and represented there by S1, S2, S3 and S4. Each of these states corresponds to a sine wave signal on the transmission line TM, and has its particular phase and amplitude. The frequency of this sine wave signal is defined by the pilot tone information means TPT. The pilot tone information means TPT may for example be a simple register containing on indication of the fixed frequency of the pilot tone, or alternatively, may be a device negotiating with the pilot tone information means RPT in the second modem which frequency will be reserved for the pilot tone. Modulating the pilot carrier in an alternating way implies that in successive DMT symbols, the pilot carrier is represented by sine waves S1, S2, S3, S4, S1, S2, . . . , and so on, or by another (predefined) sequence that visits all states in an alternating way. This is different from what is specified in the draft ADSL standard. Therein, the pilot carrier should be modulated With a constant signal, e.g. (0,0) which may be represented by the point in the first quadrant of the earlier mentioned vector plane in case of 4 QAM modulation. This means that on ADSL modem, operating according to the ADSL standard, transmits one single sine, S1 for instance, in successive DMT symbols as the pilot carrier.
[0031] In FIG. 2 it is supposed that a radio amateur signal affects the pilot tone carrier in the above described embodiment according to the present invention. The interference component added to the states S1, S2, S3 and S4 in successive DMT symbols is 11, 12, 13 and 14 respectively. Instead of a sine wove whose amplitude and phase is determined by the vector P in FIG. 2, the receiver RX thus receives a sine wave whose amplitude and phase correspond to that of PI. Similarly, the sine wave received by the receiver RX in symbols wherein states S2, S3, or S4 are transmitted, differs in phase and amplitude from the transmitted sine wave in an amount determined by the respective vectors 12, 13 and 14.
[0032] The affected signal S′ enters the receiving part RX of the central office modem and is applied to the line interface RI to be conditioned: transmission line coupling, front-end filtering and analogue to digital conversion for instance are performed with the appropriate levels of linearity and noise in RI. The conditioned and digitised signal then is applied to the demodulator DMOD which equalises the signal in time domain to compensate for intersymbol interference, which removes the cyclic prefix, converts the time domain signal into a frequency domain signal via fast fourier transformation and equalises the signal in frequency domain to compensate for phase and amplitude errors in the received carriers. The demodulator DMOD also regenerates the pilot carrier from the successive states S1, S2, S3, S4. The demodulation thereto leaves S1 unaffected, rotates S2 in the next DMT symbol over 90 degrees clockwise, rotates S3 in the next DMT symbol over 180 degrees clockwise, rotates S4 in the next DMT symbol over 270 degrees clockwise, and so on. All states are thus rotated to the first quadrant so that a continuous pilot carrier at the frequency indicated by the pilot frequency indicating means RPT is constituted. Due to the interference 11, 12, 13 and 14 induced on S1, S2, S3 and S4 respectively, the sine wave in successive DMT symbols representing the pilot carrier, differs in phase and amplitude from the originally transmitted phase and amplitude determined by the vector P. When turned back to the first quadrant, the phase and amplitude of the sine waves received in successive DMT symbols is given by the vectors P+11, P+12′, P+13′ and P+14′. As is seen from FIG. 2, the interference component induced on S1, i.e. 11, compensates for the interference effect 13′ for the interference effect 14′ induced on S4. Regenerating the pilot carrier in the demodulation DMOD and averageing over successive DMT symbols thus reduces the effect of the interference, if the pilot carrier is transmitted over the transmission line TM as a sequence of alternating modulation states. Theoretically, the pilot carrier can be regenerated perfectly so that synchronisation between the transmitter TX and receiver RX is not disturbed by the radio amateur. As a consequence, the data DATA′ can be retrieved by demodulation of the other carriers in a perfect way.
[0033] A first remark is that, although the signal S in the above described embodiment is transported over a telephone line TM, the applicability of the present invention is not restricted by the transmission medium via which the signal S is transported. In particular, any connection between the transmitter TX and receiver RX, e.g. a cable connection, a satellite connection, a radio link through the air, and so on, may be affected by norrowbanded interference, and thus can be protected by the method according to the present invention. The invention also is not only related to ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) or similar systems wherein DMT (Discrete Multi Tone) modulation is used. A person skilled in the art will be able to adopt the above described embodiment so that it is applicable to any other system wherein a pilot carrier is transmitted from transmitter TX to receiver RX for synchronisation purposes. U.S. Pat. No. 5,546,190 for instance describes an optical communication system wherein a pilot tone is multiplexed with multiple subcarriers, having frequencies which are integer multiples of the pilot tone frequency, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,548,344 describes an HDTV system wherein a pilot sine wave signal is multiplexed with the HDTV carriers.
[0034] Another remark is that the origin of the narrowbanded interference is of no importance for applicability of the present invention. Whether the disturbing signals are transmitted by a radio amateur, as supposed in the above described example, by a taxi, by the police, or are originating from yet another source is not relevant. Whenever the transmitter TX expects that the pilot carrier may be affected by an interferer, he can protect the synchronisation between transmitter TX and receiver RX by modulating the pilot carrier.
[0035] It is noticed that in an alternative embodiment, the pilot tone is modulated randomly instead of in an alternating way. This means that, referring to FIG. 2, a random sequence of the states S1, S2, S3 and S4 is transmitted instead of a predetermined alternating sequence.
[0036] In yet another alternative embodiment, the pilot carrier may be modulated with scrambled data. Scrambling part of the data DATA in FIG. 1 has a randomising effect. Such randomised data then may be modulated on the pilot carrier. Since the states S1, S2, S3 and S4 will randomly be transmitted, demodulation in the receiver and averageing will again reduce the effect of the induced interference. Apparently, the latter embodiment has the advantage of an increased capacity, since the bandwidth occupied by the pilot carrier also is used for transmission of data. In case of ADSL transmission, overhead information such as the aoc-data or eoc-data may be used to modulate the pilot carrier.
[0037] While the principles of the invention have been described above in connection with specific apparatus, it is to be clearly understood that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation on the scope of the invention. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Da % Calculation - XLS Download
From "somaladurga" :
Hi everybody,
I want to know the Calculation of DA %. I know that the DA is Calculated on Basic Pay but how much % we should take to calculate DA. everybody say that it is calculated on Basic Pay but nobody are explaning the %. Will it differs from sector to sector i mean to say that the calculation of DA will be different for Central Government, State Government, Public Limited companies and Private Limited Companies. Please somebody help me in this matter.
Bye
S.K.Durga :)27th October 2007 From India, Hyderabad
this is absolutly wrong.
DA has got a complex calculation. You get the DA from the Labor Office every month. which varies with the type of industry.
But how it is calculated i do not have much idea. THere are certain parameters like the cost of living index ..etc taken into account for the calculation.
Correct me if I'm wrong.4th December 2007 From India, Mumbai
Somaladurga,
I am totally agree with ash_achu.
DA is calulated and decided by Govt. Authorities and revised after every six month. DA remains constant for each type of workman ( i.e. ASkilled, un-skilled & semi-skilled). It varies from type of Industry.
From Labour Commissioner office you will get the notification of revision. U can also get it from Current labour Report or APS ( labour Digest).
Regards,
Ashutosh Chaturvedi4th December 2007 From India, Mumbai
Dearness Allowance (DA) is a compensatory payment to the employees for the erosion in the real value of their salaries, resulting from price increase. It is necessary for even Software Companies to show DA as a component of the salaries they pay to their Employees, just because the Govt. of India, in all its wisdom, has included this component in their definition of "salaries". So, for the calculation of PFcontributions, Bonus, Gratuity, and other benefits, Basic Salary + DA is considered.
Most companies have "merged" Basic and DA, and show it as a consolidated amount (Basic + Fixed DA). However, most Public Sector Companies, as well as Govt. Organisations & Departments use the following method for the calculation of DA.
DA is calculated with reference to the percentage increase in the 12 monthly average of All India Consumer Price Index(AICPI) (base 1960) over the average index of 608, which is the base for the existing scales of pay for Central govt. Employees. This percentage increase is taken in whole numbers only.
Thus, the formula for calculating DA is :
12 Monthly Average - 608 of AICPI
--------------------------------- x 100 = The % increase in prices.
608
The % increase in prices is factored with basic salary, and you arrive at the amount of DA figure.
eg. if % increase is 12%, and basic is Rs. 10,000.00, the DA would be Rs. 1,200.00. The present index being considered is I think 2000.
in a way what Ms. Sowmya stated is right.
i.e DA= 50% of Basic but its termed as DP(Dearness Pay)
In Central Govt Companies :
effective from 1-7-07 DA is 41% this DA gets reviced twice in a year.
for Workmen..etc its Variable DA which is decided by the GOVT Officials.
Rgds
Achu4th December 2007 From India, Mumbai
usually central gov structure will be similar to the following : Basic +DP+FDA DP= 50% of Basic DA = 41% which is fixed by the govt. BUt the calculation of VDA I’m not sure. Rgds Achu4th December 2007 From India, Mumbai
Dear Member,
The DA calculation for the different type industries fixed by the Government vide its notification. There are two type of DA calculation. One is FDA (FIXED)other one is (VDA) VDA. Fixed Dearness will remain same changes are made by the government/company policy. Whereas VDA is calculated on Consumer Price Index basis it is announced by the Statistical Department everymonth. There are two kinds of Price Index Number one is All India Price Index Number other is State Price Index Number. The State Consumer Price Index Number varies from every metro distrcts according to the cost of living. At the Staff and other level the declaration of DA is the Policy matter of employer. The percentage and Fixation of DA is purely employer choice.
Murugavel.B
Chennai.5th December 2007 From India, Madras
Considering the living cost and all, Wage Revision is being done once in five years or ten years. But inflation will go up day by day and subsequently the money value will come down. To compensate this we have to wait till the next Wage Revision, which is not practical. That is why the DA is introduced.
The devaluation of money can be assessed through Whole Sale Price Index, All India Cosumer Price Index etc. The difference between these two is that, price variation of all commodities are taken into account for Whole Sale Price Index. But the All India Consumer Price Index is based on a particular cosumer viz. Industial Worker and that even, on some specified commodiies & services called "Basket of goods".
Based on All India Consumer Price, Industrial DA being paid; variable in quarters commencing from January, April, July & October. I.e. for January the AICPI will be the average of previous September, October & November. Similarly for April it will be December, January & February, for July it will be March, April & May and for October it will be June, July & August respectively.
When the money devaluation is fully compensated it is called as full DA neutralisation. The formula for full DA neutralisation = (Total points - Base points)/ Base points (in percentage). The AICPI is introduced in India in 1960 and revised in 1982 & 2001. AICPI of 2001 x 4.63, we get AICPI of 1982 and AICPI of 1982 x 4.93, we get AICPI of 1960. For DA calculation AICPI of 1960 is accepted as the base.
Now in India mainly two term's wage settlements are in exist; Wage Settlements of 1.1.1997 & 1.1.2007. The base point in 1.1.1997 is 1708 & in 1.1.2007 is 2884.
I shall quote one example,i.e. calculation of AICPI for July '10. This is equalent to average of previous March, April & May; which recorded as 170, 170 & 172 (Base year 2001). Multiply with 4.63 and round, we get 787,787 & 796 (Base year 1982). Multiply with 4.93 and round, we get 3880,3880 & 3924 (Base year 1960). Find average of these 3 and round, we get 3895.
I shall insert Excel sheet for IDA calculation w.e.f 1.10.2008. You may extent the rows further (as necessary) and just enter the 3 indexes towards the year 2001 in green colour columns. The results will appear in yellow and red is used for static informations.
Dear Mr. Mohamed Sardhar,
I was unable to open the link that you had posted. I tried many times. I would be really greatful if u could mail the files to me at .
Thanks & Regards,
Shivani Dubey
Edit/Delete Message2nd July 2010 From India, Mumbai
Disclaimer: This network and the advice provided in good faith by our members only facilitates as a direction towards the actions necessary. The advice should be validated by proper consultation with a certified professional. The network or the members providing advice cannot be held liable for any consequences, under any circumstances. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
The popstar tweeted that there were shots going off in Selfridges on 24 November 2017 – however police later established, and made very clear, that the panic on Oxford Street and subsequent terrorist attack rumour was sparked by an alleged fight between two men in a tube station that spilled out onto the street.
However, in a recent interview Olly has now insisted that shots were fired – claiming there could have even been a cover-up.
The 33-year-old said it was a ‘murky situation’ and claimed that a girl he met said she had seen a man with a gun with her own eyes.
Piers hit back at Olly…again (Picture: ITV)
Now Piers Morgan has clapped back at the Voice star, after originally rubbishing the Troublemaker singer’s original claims last year.
The Voice mentor Olly told The Sun this week he believes it may have been a cover up as he insisted there were gunshots.
He said: ‘I ran into an office after being told by the staff of Selfridges that someone was there with a gun.
‘Whether they were shooting into the air, or whatever, something happened that day — whether it was covered up, I don’t know.’
Got a story?
If you've got a story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk Entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page - we'd love to hear from you. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
[Dementia with Lewy bodies and reduced dopamine transporter binding indicates significant acetylcholine deficiency].
Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is the second most common form of neurodegenerative dementia. It is usually caused by a mixture of symptoms of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease leading to a significant impairment of nigro-striatal dopaminergic and baso-cortical cholinergic neurotransmission with typical clinical symptoms of a fluctuating course, hallucinations, parkinsonism, REM-sleep disorder and neuroleptic hypersensitivity. If the clinical presentation of DLB is uncharacteristic, the demonstration of reduced presynaptic striatal dopamine transporter (DaT) sites supports a suspicion of DLB and may lead to important therapeutic consequences. In these circumstances this evidence for compromised dopaminergic neurotransmission also indicates a significant cholinergic deficit: both require diligent therapeutic attention. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Multiprocessor computer systems comprise a number of processing element nodes connected together by an interconnect network. Typically, each processing element node includes at least one processor, a local memory, and an interface circuit connecting the processing element node to the interconnect network. The interconnect network is used for transmitting packets of information or messages between the processing element nodes.
Distributed shared memory multiprocessor systems include a number of processing element nodes which share a distributed memory and are located within a single machine. By increasing the number of processing element nodes, or the number of processors within each node, such systems can often be scaled to handle increased demand. In such a system, each processor can directly access all of memory, including its own local memory and the memory of the other (remote) processing element nodes. Typically, the virtual address used for all memory accesses within a distributed shared memory multiprocessor system is translated to a physical address in the requesting processor's translation-lookaside buffer (“TLB”). Thus, the requesting processor's TLB will need to contain address translation information for all of the memory that the processor accesses within the machine, which includes both local and remote memory. This amount of address translation information can be substantial, and can result in much duplication of translation information throughout the multiprocessor system (e.g., if the same page of memory is accessed by 64 different processors, the TLB used by each processor will need to contain an entry for that page).
Some multiprocessor systems employ block transfer engines to transfer blocks of data from one area of memory to another area of memory. Block transfer engines provide several advantages, such as asynchronous operation (i.e., by operating without further processor involvement after being initially kicked off by the processor, block transfer engines free up the processor to perform other tasks) and faster transfer performance than could be achieved by the processor (e.g., since block transfer engines do not use processor-generated cachable references, there is less overhead on the coherence protocol of the read-modify-write cycle, and cache blowouts can be avoided).
Unfortunately, existing block transfer engines suffer from problems that limit their utility. For example, since address translations are performed in on-chip TLBs at the requesting processors, external block transfer engines are prevented from being programmed using virtual addresses. Instead, with existing block transfer engines, user software makes an operating system (OS) call to inform the OS that it wants to transfer a particular length of data from a particular source (specified by its virtual address) to a particular destination (also specified by its virtual address). In response, the OS first checks whether it has address translations for all of the virtual addresses, and then generates separate block-transfer requests for each physical page. For example, if the virtual address range spans 15 physical pages, an OS may have to generate 15 separate queued block-transfer requests to cause 15 separate physical transfers. The large amount of overhead associated with such OS intervention means that much of the advantage that is associated with performing the block transfer in the first place is lost.
Clustered multiprocessor systems include collections of processing machines, with each processing machine including a single processor system or distributed shared memory multiprocessor system. Clustering advantageously limits the scaling required of a single OS, and provides fault containment if one of the machines should suffer a hardware or OS error. In a clustered system, however, memory accesses to remote machines are typically performed via a network interface I/O device that requires OS intervention to send messages, and can target only specific memory buffers that were reserved for this communication at the remote machine. Thus, memory must be specifically “registered” by a user process on the remote machine, which prevents the memory on the remote machine from being accessed arbitrarily. Also, state must be set up on the remote machine to direct the incoming data, or the OS on the remote machine must intervene to handle the data, copying the data at least once. More recently, some network interface cards have been designed to support user-level communication using the VIA, ST or similar “OS bypass” interface. Such approaches, while successful in avoiding OS intervention on communication events, do not unify local and remote memory accesses. Thus, programs must use different access mechanisms for intra-machine and inter-machine communication.
Thus, there is a need for a node translation mechanism for communicating over virtual channels in a clustered system that supports user-level communications without the need for OS intervention on communication events. There is also a need for a node translation mechanism that unifies local and remote memory accesses, thus allowing user programs to use the same access mechanisms for both intra-machine and inter-machine communications. Such a mechanism would allow communication with other nodes in a local machine to be handled in the same way as communications with nodes in remote machines. There is also a need for a node translation mechanism which supports low overhead communications in scalable, distributed memory applications that seamlessly span machine boundaries, provides protection, and supports remote address translation. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Five More Products Made Just for Women
“Bosses at Doritos have revealed they are to launch a new ‘lady-friendly’ version of the snack which are quieter to eat and a lot less messy.” — New York Post, 2/5/18
- - -
We can’t fault women for loving coffee, but their sipping and slurping can be a distraction and reduce office productivity. Many women often avoid drinking beverages altogether if they know doing so will create a stir. But with the Sippy Cup Quiet Coffee Mug, ladies will be able to enjoy their liquids without garnering any unwanted attention. The design is modeled after sippy cups for children but decorated with inspirational quotes such as, YOU GO GIRL , WORK IT! , and RBG, AMIRITE?
- - -
A new garment to help take up less space in public places hopes to capitalize on the majority of women who fear infringing upon the footprint of those around them. “I just hate feeling like I’m taking up too much space,” says focus group member, Allison Anderson. “The Take Up Less Space Jacket would be perfect for me. I could wear it on the train, in the grocery store, at the movie theater — even at home when my husband is sprawled out on the couch leaving me barely any room to sit."
- - -
“We all know women hate the sound of their own voices,” says Sound of Silence CEO Chad Chadson. “Let’s face it, none of us are fans of women’s voices.” The Sound of Silence microphone aims to lessen the self-consciousness women feel when hearing themselves talk by making them sound more pleasing, whispery, and perhaps even completely silent, to their audiences. Chadson realizes he might run into trouble getting funding for his product, as many companies would rather women not have a microphone at all. But he hopes to sell people on the idea that as long as women think they are being heard, they will feel included.
- - -
This flu season has done quite a number on our sinuses, but women often avoid blowing their noses in public due to embarrassment. Muffle Your Nose Tissues stifle nose-blowing women by slowly suffocating them until they lose consciousness. Consumer Maggie Phillips says, “I hate to be a burden on anyone, so being unconscious while I’m sick sounds like a dream!”
- - -
This high-end device aims to solve the problem of women being seen or heard anywhere. Its lightweight frame makes it easy to carry, while the innovative soundproof material makes virtually anything and everything a woman does while using it completely unnoticeable. Susan Monaghan, a self-proclaimed gadget buff, is excited about the Go Anywhere Portable Soundproof Container. “If I could walk into a room and have no one notice that I’m there, well then that would be… kind of like how it already is.” | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
Django Double Slash in URLS Issue (Multiple Webservers, Apache and Nginx)
To see an example: load up a example.com, click on a link that's linking to /test and instead of going to http:// example.com/test/ it goes to http:// www.example.net//test/
Or if you login, the login form for the auto-generated django admin section posts to //admin instead of admin.
Seems like this is a django issue, but the only thing I changed was nginx.
Couple of additional notes (added Oct 31):
This problem seems remarkably similar to https://serverfault.com/questions/134863/nginx-fastcgi-problems-with-django-double-slashes-in-url but the difference is that I'm getting slashes added before the project root "//admin/" vs. "admin//". The successful solution there hasn't helped me.
I'm using the current SVN version of Django.
Here is the nginx fastcgi_conf:
#fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $fastcgi_script_name;
fastcgi_param QUERY_STRING $query_string;
fastcgi_param REQUEST_METHOD $request_method;
fastcgi_param CONTENT_TYPE $content_type;
fastcgi_param CONTENT_LENGTH $content_length;
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_NAME $fastcgi_script_name;
fastcgi_param REQUEST_URI $request_uri;
fastcgi_param DOCUMENT_URI $document_uri;
fastcgi_param DOCUMENT_ROOT $document_root;
fastcgi_param SERVER_PROTOCOL $server_protocol;
fastcgi_param GATEWAY_INTERFACE CGI/1.1;
fastcgi_param SERVER_SOFTWARE nginx/$nginx_version;
fastcgi_param REMOTE_ADDR $remote_addr;
fastcgi_param REMOTE_PORT $remote_port;
fastcgi_param SERVER_ADDR $server_addr;
fastcgi_param SERVER_PORT $server_port;
fastcgi_param SERVER_NAME $server_name;
fastcgi_param PATH_INFO $fastcgi_script_name;
# PHP only, required if PHP was built with --enable-force-cgi-redirect
fastcgi_param REDIRECT_STATUS 200;
Django project config
server {
listen 80;
server_name www.site.net;
location / {
fastcgi_pass unix:/path/to/site/server.sock;
include fastcgi.conf;
access_log /var/log/nginx_django.log main;
}
location ^~ /admin/$ {
fastcgi_pass unix:/path/to/site/server.sock;
include fastcgi.conf;
access_log /var/log/nginx_django.log main;
}
location ~* ^.+\.(mpg|avi|mp3|swf|zip|tgz|gz|rar|bz2|doc|xls|exe|ppt|txt|tar|mid|midi|wav|rtf|mpeg))
$ {
root /path/to/site/media;
limit_rate 2000K;
access_log /var/log/nginx_django_media.log download;
access_log off;
}
location ^~ /static/ {
root /path/to/site;
access_log /var/log/nginx_django_static.log download;
expires 30d;
}
location /403.html {
root /opt/nginx;
access_log off;
}
location /401.html {
root /opt/nginx;
access_log off;
}
location /404.html {
root /opt/nginx;
access_log off;
}
location = /_.gif {
empty_gif;
access_log off;
}
}
A:
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_NAME '';
This solve the // problem for me.
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Netflix has postponed its scheduled broadcast later this month of a stand-up comedy special starring Bill Cosby, the latest salvo fired against the comedian who has been accused by several women of rape and sexual assault.
The announcement by Netflix on Tuesday came just hours after model and TV host Janice Dickinson accused Cosby of sexually assaulting her in 1982.
"At this time we are postponing the launch of the new standup special "Bill Cosby 77," a Netflix spokesman said in a statement. The special, taped on the performer's 77th birthday, had been scheduled to air November 28.
The statement neither gave a reason for the postponement nor did the company specify if the special would be rescheduled. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
At least six UK music festivals are expected to allow people to test their illegal drugs this summer.
It's after a number of drug-related deaths in recent years.
Reading and Leeds Festivals and a number of other live music events are aiming to introduce the scheme with the support of local police forces.
Melvin Benn from Festival Republic revealed the scheme to the Press Association and expects it at "between six and 10 festivals this year".
"We talked about it during the summer of last year and the reality is that I took a decision that unless and until the National Police Chiefs' Council supported the principle of it, it was difficult for us to move forward on it."
He says he's now seen a draft of an agreement that will make it easier for forces across the country to support the scheme but has revealed it won't be introduced at Download next month.
"We'll see it this year for definite... at Leeds I'm pretty certain.
"It's taken a long time and it won't be at every festival, but where we think there is a need to do it we will be doing it."
Melvin Benn, who also organises Latitude, V Festival, Wireless and other events for Live Nation, has been working on the plan since last summer.
He's waiting for confirmation of support from West Yorkshire Police and the National Police Chiefs' Council.
Festival-goers will be able to take their drugs to a testing tent run by The Loop, an organisation which usually conducts forensic testing of drugs seized by police.
They'll then tell them what's in the drugs before destroying whatever was handed over.
Last year, Newsbeat was there when The Loop ran the scheme for the first time at a UK music festival.
Around 200 people tested their illegal drugs at the Secret Garden Party in Cambridgeshire.
Founder of the organisation, Fiona Measham from Durham University, said the scheme's expansion was "radical".
"It's really exciting that police are prioritising health and safety over criminal justice at festivals," she said.
She thinks up to 10 festivals will be involved this year, including a number of independent events, and hopes testing will become more common in clubs and city centres in the future as well.
As well as 17-year-old Lewis Haunch's death at Leeds Festival last August, two teenagers died at T In The Park in what were thought to be drug-related incidents.
West Yorkshire Police assistant chief constable Andy Battle, who leads the policing operation at Leeds, said they were "looking at the possibility of supporting the festival's organisers".
"We can never condone the use of illegal drugs, but we recognise that some people will continue to take them and we need to adapt our approach in the interests of public safety."
Find us on Instagram at BBCNewsbeat and follow us on Snapchat, search for bbc_newsbeat | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Bangor police arrest man upset over stolen medication
BANGOR, Maine — A local transient who claimed his medication was stolen while he slept wound up going to jail late Wednesday when he refused to cooperate with police.
Rodney Labbe, 48, was asleep in a grassy area near the Community Health and Counseling center on Cedar Street just before midnight when he claimed a bag containing his medication was stolen, according to Bangor police Sgt. Paul Edwards.
Edwards said police were called when Labbe woke up, discovered the bag was gone and began acting disorderly.
When police responded, Labbe was yelling unreasonably loudly, the sergeant said. He was intoxicated, Edwards said, and given several warnings to calm down.
Story continues below advertisement.
Labbe continued to yell and swear at police, Edwards said, and even though he claimed his medication was stolen, Labbe wound up under arrest and charged with disorderly conduct. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Emmanuel
by Jeannette Haley
In the Gospel of Matthew, we read: “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” Matthew 1:23. Now, we either believe this in our heart of hearts, or we do not. It’s that simple. There is no middle ground. We either believe that Jesus Christ is who the Bible declares He is, or we mince around the edges of God’s Word only pretending to believe what is written.
“Emmanuel…God with us.” Not, “one of us” in our self-serving, sinful, fallen disposition, but “God with us” as a human being who is also divine. No one can fully comprehend this awesome truth. God isn’t asking us to. What He does ask us to do is believe. “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him” 1 John 5:1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God” John 1:1, 2. In 1 Timothy 3:16 we read: “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” [Emphasis added.]
The dividing line between the natural man and the spiritual man (man is synonymous with mankind) is belief or unbelief. This is the fine line that will determine everything the natural man and the spiritual man thinks, pursues, and becomes. It will determine how each lives his life, and ultimately, where the individual will spend eternity. But, like it or not, it all begins at the point of one’s belief in who Jesus Christ is, because if you truly believe something, action will follow.
The Bible makes it crystal clear what the natural man is like. In 1 Corinthians 2:14 we read: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” So we see that it is impossible for the natural man to receive the things of God’s Spirit. Spiritual things are considered by him to be foolish—something to mock and laugh at. Something to not only ignore, but to dismiss as less than nothing. In his natural state, he is spiritually deaf and blind, which renders it impossible for him to discern that which is spiritual.
On the other hand, the natural man can display a religious side, but don’t let this confuse the issue. Religiosity is not the same thing as walking after the spirit. For example, consider these men: Cain, Esau, King Saul, and Judas Iscariot. Cain brought an offering to the Lord. Wasn’t he exhibiting a belief in God through his sacrifice? Esau, with tears, sought a place of repentance, but found it not. (See Hebrews 12:16, 17.) As for Saul, there were times that he even prophesied, yet he was a carnal man. And, Judas Iscariot was chosen by Jesus Himself to be a disciple, and even given the power to perform miracles. We all know his story.
So, what did these men have in common that eliminates them from the ranks of the spiritual man? The answer to that is a heart of unbelief. Cain’s unbelief involved the basic premise that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. (See Hebrews 9:22.) Esau had no regard to the Abrahamic Covenant. His appetite was more important to him than his birthright, as attested to by his rash decision to sell it to Jacob, and, later, in his obsession with foreign wives which would compromise his heritage. Saul’s unbelief surfaced repeatedly through acts of disobedience, and in his insane jealousy and treatment of David whom God had chosen. Judas Iscariot is an interesting character to study because he is a prime example of the natural man wearing a self-righteous, religious banner. We see this type of natural man all around us today. Jesus foretold of such in Matthew 7:22, 23: “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
We read a lot about the natural man, or those who live after the flesh in Romans 8. Now, when we talk about the flesh, we are not referring to our skin, bones, hair, and teeth (or else Jesus could not have come in the flesh), but we are referring to the natural disposition of sinful man that we all are born with. Through the centuries and up to this present time, certain sects and groups of people believe that if they inflict themselves physically, causing great pain and suffering that this will somehow help to atone for their sins. This is gross error. There is no way that any of us could do anything to atone for our sins. Jesus Christ paid the full penalty for the sins of all mankind, and declared on the cross before He committed his soul to His Father, “It is finished” John 19:30. The spiritual man, by faith, has received God’s plan of salvation, through His Son, and will have no part in self-flagellation, crucifying Christ afresh through the Eucharist, or any other unscriptural, pagan, and sometimes downright blasphemous practices.
Romans 8:5-8 says this about the natural man: For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” From this passage of scripture, we learn that the natural man is concerned for the things of the flesh (the fallen disposition). Because the natural man cares for the things of the world, that is the primary reason for the phenomenon of mega churches today. The success of these monstrosities is totally based on a continual serving of anything that feeds the insatiable appetite of the natural man.
This care for the things of the world is what consumes the natural man’s thoughts, goals and conversation. Hebrews 13:5 says: “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave Thee, nor forsake thee.” The words of the natural man expose the covetousness and discontent in his heart, along with his spiritual lack—lack of belief, lack of gratefulness, and lack of love for God. What is revealed through the natural man’s conversation is his love for the world which is idolatry. (See Colossians 3:5) But, even more telling are the actions, or lifestyles, of the natural man.
Because the institutional church is well attended by those who walk after the flesh, or the natural man, those who lack discernment are often confused. After all, the more a church appeals to the senses of the natural man, the bigger it will become. However, the words and actions of the natural (carnal) man tell on them. It all boils down to “knowing them by their fruits” and “testing the spirit.” The bottom line always brings us back to the question of who a person believes Jesus Christ is. If a person believes that He is indeed God Incarnate and that His words are “spirit and life,” then that belief will be expressed in the way the person thinks, speaks and acts. In other words, the entire lifestyle, motivation, goals and emphasis will express such faith, making such a person a spiritual man. Claiming to be a Christian, with an outward show of religion, is nothing more than modern Phariseeism, and has no part in the Body of Christ which is the true Church.
Jesus was born into a world of both natural men, living in the lusts of the flesh, and spiritual men who, such as Job, were perfect (spiritually mature), upright, fearing God and hating evil. The events surrounding the advent of Christ, as recorded in the Gospel of Luke, reveal much concerning the natural man and his limitations, inclinations and destination, as well as the spiritual man
Beginning with Mary, we see a beautiful example of submission to the Father’s will. Because she was alive to the Spirit and dead to the world, she quickly submitted and rejoiced in God her Savior. As for Joseph, who was espoused to Mary, once he knew God’s will for him, he too, quickly submitted and obeyed. What great faith these two had in this prophesied intervention by God—an intervention that forever stands alone in its uniqueness in time and eternity—Emmanuel, God with us.
The heavenly angels visited poor shepherds, keeping watch over their flocks. Why? They could have easily gone to any number of other people with the news of the newborn King. Yet, they were sent to those humble men who, being spiritual men, received and believed all that they had seen and heard, and leaving their flocks hurried to the stable where Emmanuel lay.
The spiritual man, because he fears God, is a wise man. Such were the wise men who journeyed from afar, bearing gifts for the Promised One. Their gifts reveal the great depth of faith and understanding resident within their hearts that indeed, Christ the Lord was born into this world as Emmanuel. With great determination, awe and reverence we see them finding the young child, and worshipping Him.
And, so, we see that God in His sovereignty and holiness excludes the natural man from the mysteries of His workings in heaven and earth, for the natural man cannot be entrusted with His spiritual riches. Such spiritual riches are holy and pure, like the pearls that Jesus warned His disciples to not cast before swine lest they be trampled underfoot and cast out. Because the natural man cannot receive the things of God, God will not allow him to defile them. Heavenly riches are reserved for those who walk after the Spirit.
This brings us to the final question: which one are you, the natural man in love with this present world, or the spiritual man who is walking after the Spirit? | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
This study proposes to study granulocyte colony stimulating factor (GCSF) as an early marker for bacterial infection since it appears to be valuable for this application in adults. Through this study we will recruit infants admitted to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at the University of New Mexico Hospital who are being evaluated for bacterial infection and measure their GCSF levels. We will then determine which infants indeed have abacterial infection (through blood, cerebrospinal fluid, or urine culture results) and compare GCSF levels. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Top Democrats on Sunday renewed their demands for witnesses to testify at President Trump’s impeachment trial, citing newly released emails showing that the White House asked officials to keep quiet over the suspension of military aid to Ukraine just 90 minutes after Mr. Trump leaned on that country’s president to investigate former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
The emails, released late Friday by the Trump administration to the Center for Public Integrity, shed new light on Mr. Trump’s effort to solicit Ukraine to help him win re-election in 2020, the matter at the heart of the House’s vote on Wednesday to impeach him for “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
With the Senate’s Democratic and Republican leaders at odds over the trial’s format, Democrats seized on the emails in an effort to put pressure on Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader. Mr. McConnell, who wants a bare-bones proceeding, has rejected a proposal by his Democratic counterpart, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, to have four top White House officials testify.
One of those officials is Michael Duffey, a senior budget official who told the Pentagon to keep quiet about the aid freeze because of the “sensitive nature of the request,” according to an email sent on July 25. An hour and a half earlier that day, Mr. Trump asked President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to “do us a favor, though” and investigate Mr. Biden and his son Hunter Biden. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Surfactants, even today, are the single most important cleaning ingredient in laundry and household cleaning products. Anionic surfactants, as a class, are the largest in terms of worldwide consumption and typically are used at levels as high as 30 to 40% of the detergent formulation. Other important surfactants used in consumer products include amine oxides, cationic surfactants, zwitterionic surfactants, alkyl polyglycoside surfactants, soaps, and fabric softening cationic surfactants. These surfactants provide additional cleaning benefits above and beyond what is provided by anionic surfactants, as well as other benefits such as enhanced foaming, enhanced skin mildness, and fabric softening. The introduction of the present invention's type of polybranching into these species provides enhanced cold water cleaning performance, enhanced performance in general, and process and rheology advantages. Furthermore, it is highly desired that such materials be readily biodegradable and substantially derived from biomaterials to make consumer products with a better sustainability profile.
Processes are disclosed herein to make novel surfactants useful in the formulation of consumer products such as personal care products and laundry and cleaning products. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
5:12pm: WEEI’s Rob Bradford tweets that Cora is indeed receiving a raise on the deal as well.
4:57pm: The Red Sox announced Wednesday that they’re agreed to a new contract with manager Alex Cora on the heels of 2018’s World Series title. Cora’s original contract with the Sox spanned the 2018-20 seasons and included a 2021 option. That 2021 season is now guaranteed, and the Red Sox have tacked on a club option for the 2022 season as well. It’s not yet clear if the new contract comes with a boost in annual salary, though presumably he’ll be getting some form of raise.
“We have consistently been impressed by Alex at every turn,” said Red Sox Chairman Tom Werner in a press release announcing the move. “His knowledge of the game, ability to connect with our players, and his incredible instincts and decisiveness led us to an historic championship season. We know we are in good hands, and could not be more pleased to know he will be with us for the foreseeable future.”
“Alex did a tremendous job for our club all year long and we wanted to reward him for his efforts after an amazing season,” president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski added. “We are extremely happy that he will be with us and leading our club on the field.”
Under Cora’s watch, the Red Sox won a franchise-record 108 games, fending off a 100-win Yankees club and a 90-win Rays team en route to a division championship. That regular-season performance landed Cora second in American League Manager of the Year voting, but the World Series Championship and a new contract extension figure to eliminate any sting from finishing as the runner up in that regard.
“Since day one, John and Linda Henry, Tom Werner, Mike Gordon, Sam Kennedy, and Dave Dombrowski have been incredibly supportive of me and my family, and for that I am extremely grateful,” said Cora in his own statement. “For me, 2018 was not only historic, but it was special as well, both on and off the field. We have a great appreciation for our accomplishments this past year, but now our focus moves forward to the season ahead and defending our World Series title.” | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Does the association between self-rated health and mortality vary by social class?
Self-rated health (SRH) predicts future mortality. Individuals in different social classes with similar physical health status may have different reference levels and criteria against which they judge their health, therefore the SRH-mortality relationship may vary according to social class. We examine the relationship between SRH and mortality by occupational social class in a prospective study of 22,457 men and women aged 39-79 years, without prevalent disease, living in the general community in Norfolk, United Kingdom, recruited using general practice age-sex registers in 1993-1997 and followed up for an average of 10 years. As expected, SRH was related to subsequent mortality. The age and sex adjusted hazard ratio for mortality for those with poor compared to those with excellent SRH was 4.35 (95% confidence interval 3.38-5.59, P<0.001). The prevalence of poor or moderate SRH was higher in manual than in non-manual classes. However, SRH was similarly related to mortality in manual and non-manual classes: when non-manual classes are compared with manual classes for each category of SRH, the 95% confidence intervals for the mortality hazard ratios overlap. There was no evidence of an interaction between social class and SRH in either men or women. Thus in this population, SRH appears to predict mortality in a similar manner in non-manual and manual classes. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
HNAS Superflush Settings.
Hello In HNAS we have increases storage pool capacity. When i compared the system drives (old drives & new drives) old drives showing <xxxxx>/ Superflush in Comment /Rack Name. with stripe size 128 kb and width 3. New drives (Which i have added currently) it is showing eampty <xxxxx>/ < > in Comment /Rack Name andit is showing, stripe size 0 kb and width 0, i would like to know | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
BAMZOOKi
BAMZOOKi is a television show series linked with a 3D game created by Gameware. Launched in March 2004, the third series is currently airing on The CBBC Channel.
ZOOKs come in all shapes and sizes . . .
The lifeforms in BAMZOOKi are called ZOOKs. Players can use the BAMZOOKi Tool Kit to create new ZOOKs, which have varying capabilities depending on their forms. Many teams have sprung up around the UK dedicated to creating collections of ZOOKs and competing against one another.
Paul Tyler came up with the idea for the show in 1999, and had contacted what was then Creature Labs about it by 2000. He was producer and director for the show until the end of its run in March 2006, at which point he joined Gameware. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Noreen Keating, 72, was CEO and president of Lighthouse of Oakland County for many years. Motivating others, she said, lets them 'do the most incredible things.' / Jarrad Henderson/Detroit Free Press
Detroit Free Press Staff Writer
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Noreen Keating, who created the first soup kitchen in Pontiac and the first transitional housing in Oakland County, has spent more than three decades raising millions of dollars for causes and bettering the lives of those in need.
But the retired CEO and president of Lighthouse of Oakland County attributes her success to others — volunteers like those who turned an abandoned Pontiac building into transitional housing and those who’ve reached into their pockets to donate.
“That whole thing of people coming together, if you give them a job to do and they can get it done, it just motivates people, and they do the most incredible things,” said Keating of Auburn Hills.
Keating, 72, is a recipient of this year’s Eleanor Josaitis Unsung Hero Award, sponsored by the Free Press and the Metropolitan Affairs Coalition.
Those who know her say Keating’s talents allow nonprofits to expand services, reach out to more beneficiaries and establish cooperative programming between agencies.
“She has a legacy of being able to cross the missions of multiple agencies and government agencies to get out of their comfort zones to collaborate their sum parts,” said Daniel Stencil, executive officer of the Oakland County Parks and Recreation Commission, who has known Keating for years.
Stencil recalled a comment made by one of his staff members about Keating: “She’s one of those people, if she hooks her wagon to something, everybody wants to hook their wagon to hers.”
Leading Lighthouse
Keating spent 20 years leading and growing Lighthouse, which provides services to low-income families in Oakland County. Lighthouse offers emergency services with food and housing; utility and medical assistance; transitional housing for women and their children, including a Montessori preschool; counseling and work-force development, and rehabilitation and building of homes.
Keating left in 2005 and formed a consulting service to help nonprofit agencies and for-profit companies.
She works with or serves on more than a dozen boards and committees, including Rainbow Connection and CARE House of Oakland County. The University of Detroit Mercy alumna also volunteers as executive director of the Oakland Parks Foundation, a reinvigorated group to raise money for needs such as historic preservation and horticulture, garden and greenhouse education for Oakland County Parks and Recreation.
Diane Bert, who has known Keating for about two decades as a volunteer for Lighthouse, nominated Keating for the award. She said the transitional housing project exemplifies Keating’s work.
Lighthouse PATH provides transitional housing for women and their children, helping them move from dependency to self-sufficiency.
“I think she’s really a visionary. She sees a problem, dreams about solutions and brings together the resources to make it happen,” Bert said.
Grateful for help
Keating also values diversity and providing equal opportunities to people from different cultural and social backgrounds.
Keating said she came from a poor family. Her grandparents were Irish immigrants and faced discrimination. Her family eventually came to Detroit through Canada and prospered through hard work, she said.
Keating — a wife, mother and grandmother — said she always remembered the prejudice and discrimination.
And she said her success in helping those in need comes through a simple gesture: thanking people for their donation or volunteered time.
“I have this saying, ‘I always dance with who brought me to the prom,’ ” she said. “The saying is you need to be faithful to people who helped you. I need to be faithful to the city and the region who did all that for my family. It’s payback.” | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
EU coast guard and border force approved by parliament Published duration 6 July 2016 Related Topics Europe migrant crisis
image copyright AFP/Getty Images image caption Migrants and refugees try to cross the Greek-Macedonian border in March
The European Parliament has approved a proposal to set up a new border and coast guard agency to help countries cope with unusually high levels of migration.
The force of 1,500 guards would be able to deploy even if a member state did not ask for its help.
The European Commission said the force would work as a "safety net".
The proposal was approved a day after 4,500 people were rescued from boats in the Mediterranean near Italy.
National border guards in EU member states will be supported by the new European Border and Coast Guard in "exceptional situations", according to the European Commission
The new force will "build" on Frontex, an existing EU agency that helps to coordinate national border forces, it said.
Plans for the new agency had faced criticism from some EU governments for allowing intervention even if member states did not request help in managing their borders.
Under the approved proposal, the EU Commission would propose an intervention and the European Council would make the decision.
image copyright Reuters image caption Almost 71,000 migrants reached Italy between January and June this year, the government says, about the same number as the same period last year
"There should no longer be shortages of staff or equipment for operations at our external borders," First Vice President Frans Timmermans and Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos said in a statement.
"The external border of one Member State is the external border of all Member States."
The proposal will be sent to the European Council for final approval.
Arrivals down
More than 231,000 migrants have arrived in Europe by sea this year, the UN says , compared to just over one million in total last year.
Monthly arrivals in April, May and June of this year were significantly lower than the same months in 2015.
controversial deal between the EU and Turkey to tackle Europe's worst migration crisis since the Second World War came into effect in late March.
Several countries in the Balkans also sealed their borders amid the crisis, cutting off routes used by migrants to travel to northern European countries. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Category: JRNL101
The cry for attention has gotten out of hand, as the sense of danger still lingers in the small town of Baltimore. A month after the death of Freddie Gray, the Baltimore riots has created fear in society as the chaos created more than 150 fires and 200 arrests. The death of Gray on the 19th April promoted waves of protests over police brutality and their recent unfair treatment and reasoning to the death of young black men.
“Perhaps this would be somewhat understandable if it weren’t for the recent episode in North Charleston, South Carolina where a police officer fired several shots into the back of Walter L. Scott, killing him. There were no violent riots and the officer was arrested and charged”states Allen West, Fox News Contributor.
“But this is not just about the death of Freddie Gray, this is about something far more tragic: the breakdown of the inner city and the black community”and with this, President Barack Obama was quick to address the issue and shoot at the media.
President Obama spoke at Lehman College in New York City, where he addressed the lack of economic opportunity for young people of colour in inner cities. Washington Times wrote that the president suggested that the news media contributes little to the debate and instead focuses on acts of violence. His unveiling of the My Brother’s Keeper Alliance, designed to improve the opportunity of young men of colour, is said to be an initiative to relieve the tension in urban areas
“We ask the police to go into communities where there is no hope. Eventually something happens because of the tensions between society and these communities and the police are just on the front lines of that”Mr Obama speaks.
However, what is playing out before our eyes are the depraved spectacle of anarchy, violence, wanton criminality and an utter lack of leadership. But with hope, President Obama’s initiative will take action to reduce the risk of further fear and violent actions
A month after the Martin Place siege, Sydney Australia was once again put on hold as Circular Quay went into lockdown. The bomb squad, sniffer dogs and police were quick to lock down the area – including buses, ferries and trains – as a precaution over the suspicious object on the ‘Friendship’ ferry.
ABC news, The Daily telegraph and SBS news were quick to post the anxious moment that had residents on hold for 90 minutes. As the drama unfolded and the unattended object was deemed unsuspicious, the public still remained on edge;
“There were people starting to get a bit anxious in the area. (Some of the tourists) were saying they were going to leave Sydney because of the police presence.” Says Matt Cameron, a worker in the Sydney CBD.
“This is how we have to live. I think this is it,” Marry Bennett told SBS
‘Unexpectedly’ two days before the lockdown, Police officers were told to take extra precautions following global terror attacks.
‘Australia’s police force is on high terror alert, following the increase of the national police terror threat level from medium to high” writes Peter Terlato, The Business Insider.
Ultimately the apprehensive object was described as a bottle full of wires, nails and liquids…as well as training equipment. After opening the area up for the public, police were hesitant to give any details away but ABC news revealed the bottles were training equipment and were meant to be used in a security exercise.
“We can now confirm that the unattended package was a training device, which was not recognised as a typical training device by staff,” says Steffen Faurby, the chief executive office of Harbour City Ferries.
It seems as though police have mastered the skill of manipulation as they have once again returned the feelings of fear into society. Their investigations seemed dramatic and the public were left to feel anxious over a police procedure
It’s the click of a shot. The light of the flash. It’s the breathless moments that Luke Simon feels most at ease with his canon AE-1. After a few heartbreaks, his passion for photography has hidden his emotions that he desperately tries to hide.
At age 19, the second year Law and first-year journalism student, Luke Simon, expresses his passion for his new site given through his $300 camera. Sitting in the buzzing café store in North Wollongong, his lens zooms into the breaking waves of the harsh ocean.
“Photography started out as an experimental hobby a few years ago” he sighed as he continued, “My connection to my camera and the photo-taking process became a part of who I was. Not long after I first started taking photos, I had a long-term relationship end and I was really going down a dark path. I stopped doing the things I enjoyed for a few months and it wasn’t a sustainable way to live”
Following his large footsteps down the tiled stairs, his mind slowly drifts off and it quickly becomes silent. Once again, the click of a successful photo is all that’s heard. As Luke looks away from the breaking waves of the ocean and refocuses on continuing, I to, begin to feel the emotional attachment he has with his camera “Not taking photos makes me not feel like myself. I got back into it and I started re-emerging and finding happiness again, only to experience another relationship end, in far more dire circumstances, and that really messed me up. It’s only been over the last few months that I have been forcing myself to get back into my own skin like I did once before”
It was clear that Luke finds comfort in his camera. It’s not just an object to him, but it’s a way to express his life in a new way. A way to convey his emotions, not in words, but in memories.
I slowly began to realise that many of us, including myself, hide certain emotions through various activities. We constantly try to hide from the harsh world that clouds over us and, unfortunately, sometimes lose ourselves in the desperation to find happiness.
Luke quickly regains my attention by capturing another image as we make our final steps to the sand “In a way, photography is a coping mechanism for me. I love my camera and my camera loves me, and when I love something I love it with all the energy I have, so when those people turned their back on me and stepped on my heart, my camera was always there”
The way Luke’s eyes lit up when talking about photography and the memories he has collected will always be an image pasted in my head. Which in return gave me a sense of satisfaction knowing that the shy and quiet person I knew was able to express how emotionally attached he had become to his hobby.
It’s ironic to know that the modern game in a sports journalist’s career is the competition they face. The struggle for dominance in the industry is increasing as well as the will to be taken seriously. Journalism students from the University of Wollongong willingly share their passions and fears of joining the industry.
First-year journalism student, Mia Lorfino’s eyes widen at the opportunity to share her interests in sports journalism “It was never becoming a ballerina for me. I loved to watch NRL, tennis and soccer. And by 2012 I had an Australian tennis ranking of 743 – it was hard, but I got there”
Sport being a big part of these student’s lives, Luke Simon supported his craving to play, watch and talk about sport “Sport has been a big part of my life. NBA always intrigued me, but the only way to stay connected was through articles and interviews. And all I could think each time I read them was, ‘I’d love to do this’” he laughed.
The silence later became deafening at the possibility of not getting into the industry that sparked the interest of these aspiring journalists. “There is always a fear that you end up at plan E, and by that time it’s probably something you don’t want to do” Jesse Godfrey expressed his uncertainness as he gazed his eyes downwards.
“I’d be pretty down in the dumps if I ever had to resort to my plan E” utters Luke.
Sports journalism is a clear industry that is conquered by males, which has caused fear in female wannabe journalists. Their expectations of stepping up their game have risen, much like the high levels of testosterone in the industry.
Mia Lorfino voices her concerns over the lack of female sports journalists;
“I think this idea of women staying classy rather than getting their hands dirty and playing is what is making employers reluctant to have female sports journalists”
With this being a growing concern for young journalists; is this the reason there is hardly any females in the sporting world? or is it just another excuse for females to stay indoors.
Adding to the fear of being undermined by their passion, Birthe says, “A female is dangerous when she’s competitive. Goodluck to any male who steps on her game”. For these two first year female students, their fears of equality in sports journalism has instead acted as motivation which portrays their dedication and true cravings for becoming the best in a workforce that is all about defeating one another
“I had to quit playing for studying. But studying is what will keep me in the game. And so here I am; in a race to write the best instead of hitting the hardest. And my court…is Fox Sports” Mia Lorfino finishes.
These four Wollongong students are clear examples of hard, passionate and competitive people who are willing to play a game of catch me if you can with an industry full of cats and mice
No one prepared me for my food to be taken away from me my first day. Nor did they tell me I was going to yell at a bunch of ducks to go away a majority of the week. But that’s the reality at UOW, you and the ducks build a relationship by starving and offering a peace treaty.
This gentleman obviously has more experience than I do. In fact, the image perceives them as old friends, with the old role model of evil, in the background. The stance of the duck is similar to the statues, and looks like the gentleman has developed a relationship throughout the years with many of the ducks
UOW life #2
This assignment freaked me out. Hell, I didn’t even think I would be able to ask someone a question without stuttering. Going up to randoms who reject you, ignore you, and don’t want to help; annoyed me. But as I looked around, more than a majority of my classmates were experiencing the same difficulties. When it came to videotaping and portraits, it was difficult to find something that hasn’t already been done. So with this image I wanted to show everyone studying journal/communications etc. that it is totally normal to feel uncomfortable.
From choosing our clothes to picking what we do as a career,; our parents have more than once, influenced our decisions. Through the interview, Sofia Casanova, 19, and a second-year student at UOW explains the hardships of changing degrees, the pressure from her parents and the hardships that affected her lifestyle. You begin to gain an understanding of the pressure Sofia had to reach her parents expectations. Throughout her first year of Uni, she realised that it wasn’t anybody else’s decision to make besides her own. And with this she beat depression and started a degree in Journalism, where she now hasn’t let her past affect her.
From Snapchat to Instagram. From Facebook to Twitter, we are able to connect on more than one level. Although because a majority of our lives are shown on these sites, it eventually turns into stalking your crush’s newest follower, then her/his friend, and ending up at someone’s grandmothers page. But because of these new trending apps that have us hooked, we hardly have time to communicate with one another without the interruption of a notification.
The following Vox investigates the opinion of UOW student’s opinions on whether or not social media affects a relationship. Their views are all very similar. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Metabolic syndrome and related variables, insulin resistance, leptin levels, and PPAR-γ2 and leptin gene polymorphisms in a pedigree of subjects with bipolar disorder.
Evidence points to a high prevalence of metabolic dysfunction in bipolar disorder (BD), but few studies have evaluated the relatives of subjects with BD. We conducted a cross-sectional study in an extended family of patients with BD type I. The available relatives of the same family were interviewed (DSM-IV-R) and assessed in fasting conditions for body mass index, constituent variables of the metabolic syndrome (MS), leptin levels, insulin resistance index, and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for the leptin receptor and promoter and PPAR-γ2 genes. The frequency of MS was compared with that recorded in the local general population. Ninety-three relatives of three adults with BD were evaluated (30 aged < 18 years, 63 aged > 18 years). The frequency of MS was similar to that of the general population. Significantly higher frequencies of abnormal glucose, total and low density cholesterol (LDL-c) levels (all p < 0.05), waist circumference (p = 0.057), and leptin and insulin resistance values (in adults only) were observed in the family. Adults with the QQ genotype of the leptin receptor displayed higher LDL-c levels than carriers of the R allele. The associations among BD consanguinity, familial hypercholesterolemia, and leptin receptor SNPs reported herein should be replicated and extended in other pedigrees. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Pages
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
The Weekend (Or Should I Say Weekly?) Re-Cap
I knew I wouldn't post daily last week, but I thought I'd at least make time for another post or two. I suppose two today makes up for it, right? I actually wrote the race re-cap yesterday but forgot to post it, so I tweaked it a little and posted it today. Ohhhhh well...Eventually this thing will be back to where it was!
I find it interesting... My lack of posts directly correlates to my lack of exercise and my lack of being as cautious regarding eating as I normally am.
Yup...It's good to be back. I NEED to be back.
So anyway... Last week was pretty busy so I'll just type a quick summary....
I ended up injuring myself a week ago Sunday so I spent much of the day laying around, icing my knee. I fell in some water in my basement and smashed it into the concrete. I did nothing while my Dad and boyfriend fixed my drain. My Mom did a few things for me but also tried to keep my gimpy self company while the guys worked. Monday morning I woke up to a sinus infection and was still limping. Great day. Really.
Tuesday I was still sick and later (like several DAYS later) realized I missed a chiropractor appointment. I'm sure my body could've used it after falling!! I just t-o-t-a-l-l-y spaced out on that one. I went to my old house and picked up some bags and boxes of clothes and such I was getting rid of. My Aunt had a yard sale last weekend so I had to get the stuff to get to my Dad so he could get it to her. Let me tell you... Being sick and hauling heavy bags and boxes stinks. I was sweating terribly because I had a fever, and I was so tired I was zoning out on the road. I probably should've just taken a nap but I knew I had to pick that stuff up.
Wednesday we didn't do much. I'm not sure what, if anything, so apparently that means we were pretty lazy. I was still not feeling well so I'm sure most of my evening included laying around whining to the man. Oh! We took bottles and cans back to the store and picked up stuff for dinner. That was the extent of our post-work excitement. Thrilling, right?
Thursday I was starting to feel a little better and wanted some fresh air so my cousin came over and we walked a few miles. We took her little girl and went down by the beach, around by the lake, and watched the big car ferry boat come in. Then we looped around back to my house. We had a decent cal burn and it was a gorgeous day so it felt really good to get out and go for a walk. I'm so glad that the warmer weather is here - I've missed doing stuff like that! After the walk, my boyfriend and I burned some stuff out at his Grandma's and moved some sticks/logs around in the yard. One of us may or may not have achieved breaking a branch off of a tree after the other said it couldn't be done. One of us is ultra-determined.... One of us also doesn't want to "get into trouble" (because I'm not sure if we were actually supposed to get the branch down) so one of us won't be divulging the full details of the story.
Friday I left work a little early to get a couple things done before heading out of town. We went up to Traverse City for my 10K race early Saturday morning. We got up there, went to packet pick-up, checked into the hotel, went to the sporting goods store (I forgot a couple things and also wanted to look around a bit), and then we went out for dinner. After dinner we checked out the beach at the hotel and watched the sunset for a few. It. Was. Beautiful. I don't know if it's that we were in another place but it seemed so much more gorgeous than at home. I guess maybe the atmosphere is a big reason that tourists like to come to our town and love our sunsets. I think just getting away to a new place is a huge part of it! Being outside didn't last long as our hotel was right across the street from the State Park. There was a lot of campfire smoke rolling through our parking lot...So much so that the smoke burned my eyes when we walked outside! We got back to our room around 9:30 and didn't do much of anything. I got my stuff together and we went to bed fairly early.
Saturday morning I was up around 5:00 to get ready for the race, which was at 7:30. I ran, watched some of the half marathoners (yay Angela!) finish, and then went back to the hotel to shower. After I got ready, we checked out and headed into downtown Traverse City. We had lunch at a local bar/restaurant (Dillinger's) and then walked around a little bit. I wanted to go a tourist store (M22) and we had time left on our parking meter so we took a little walk. After that we stopped by the mall and walked around for a few. We didn't buy much... My boyfriend got a couple hats at Lid's and a shirt at Express Men, and I got a few things at GAP. We wandered in a couple other stores but since we had just been shopping last weekend, were getting tired, and had to drive home, we didn't spend a lot of time there. After the mall we headed home to get ready for my boyfriend's little brother's HS graduation. After graduation we spent the evening at my boyfriend's Mom's house, just hanging out with some of the family.
We headed home Sunday when we got up on Sunday morning and picked up my dogs. My Dad had a load of black dirt for me, for my yard, and he said he'd be bringing that by. So, after relaxing for a few, my boyfriend and I cleaned up the yard and got it ready for the dirt. The house had several trees that were pulled so we had to fill-in some holes with the dirt. My boyfriend picked up random things that we found in the yard and mowed while I picked up a bunch of sticks, wood, and raked. What. A. Chore. I may not have worked out but that was definitely a workout for the day! After that was done, my Dad helped us spread the dirt. Then my boyfriend and I took some of the piles of leaves and sticks to the pick-up pile down the alley. My hands blistered in three places and two of them promptly tore open. Ew! And ouch! One that had formed totally disappeared so apparently I didn't use that one enough. Thank goodness!!! We also both ended up getting sunburns. Cool...I finally have some color. Too bad I was wearing a t-shirt so I will have a farmer's tan soon! Oh well... It won't be long before I have some color all over.
I cleaned up and went to the store while my boyfriend took a little nap. We'd been out in the sun and hadn't eaten much so he had a bit of a headache. After he got up we did a few more things around the house and then decided to just spend the evening relaxing. We grilled some super yummy brats and had some salads (potato and mac) and chips with them for dinner. We built a fire in the fire pit and sat outside for a couple hours, just talking and hanging out (and drinking a few beers).
Yesterday it was kind of cold and gray in the morning so we were lazy. Then my boyfriend went to his Grandma's to help his Dad with her lawn, which they only finished part of because it started to rain. I decided to stay home and do some stuff around the house (mostly laundry!) instead of going with him. I may have also been a bit lazy and watched part of a movie on TV. We went to Lowe's in the afternoon to get some shelves for bathroom organization and a few plants. We had invited my parents over for dinner so while I was planting, my boyfriend got the grill out and got the hot dogs started. My parents came over shortly after so my Mom helped me finish planting while my Dad hung one of the shelves. He didn't have the right screws with him for the heavier shelves, but at least that was a start! We ate dinner and my parents left a little while after. Then my boyfriend and I watched wrestling (well he watched most of it it, as I fell asleep on the couch during it and was in and out for the last hour) and then went to bed.
Today it was back to the grind!!
We had a wonderful weekend and it was great to spend time with so much of our family! That extra day can really do a lot sometimes, especially when you have other things going on. It was nice to have a day after the race, graduation, and yard work to mostly relax and hang out.
Hope your weekend was great!!! Now I'm off for a run/walk...Depending on whether or not I decide to take the dogs. We'll see how spunky they are when I'm done changing... | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Iris Tió
Iris Tió Casas (Barcelona, 2 November 2002) is a Spanish synchronised swimmer.
She won a bronze medal in the free routine combination competition at the 2018 European Aquatics Championships.
References
Category:2002 births
Category:Living people
Category:Spanish synchronized swimmers | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for children from 1 to 14 years of age. The odds of motor vehicle crash injury to children aged 4 to 7 are 59% lower when riding in belt-positioning booster seats than when riding in safety belts alone, and rear seating can reduce the risk of death to child motor vehicle passengers by as much as 46%. Despite these facts, 90% of booster-age children are prematurely graduated to adult safety belts and 30% of children are permitted to ride in the front seats of vehicles. The proposed project will develop and evaluate an efficient process for disseminating preventive messages regarding booster-seats and rear seating to large numbers of parents via partnership with community preschool and daycare programs. Considerable research on other health topics indicates that persuasive and risk communication tactics have a greater likelihood of motivating the adoption of protective behaviors than do traditional messages. The current research will expand upon this premise by developing a novel five-minute video that is framed according to such efficacious risk communication guidelines. Specifically, the video will include crash test footage, portraying the power of crash forces and evoking high emotion by means of vivid imaging. Such communication tactics are known to motivate maximum behavioral change; however, the literature indicates that this method has not yet been employed in child passenger safety programming. The effectiveness of the video-based program will be piloted at two large and representative preschool/daycare programs, using two similar control sites for comparison. The program will engage the assistance of community-based coalitions and will include incentives for participating preschool/daycare staff. As part of the evaluativeprocess, caregivers will complete (a) pre-post knowledge and practice surveys regarding back-seat and booster-seat use and (b) pre-post risk estimations related to childhood motor vehicle hazards. In addition, researchers will observe booster seat and rear seat use in preschool parking lots before, during, and after program implementation. It is hypothesized that families exposed to the video-based program, compared to those in the control schools, will have (a) increased knowledge about causes of injury and reasons for booster seat and rear seat use; (b) a more realistic assessment of personal risk; and (c) greater use of booster seats and rear vehicle seats when age-appropriate. Long-term goals for the program, if effective, are to package it for district-wide adoption and broad-scale dissemination. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
MySQL DB connection issue using the sqlcmd client from the linux box
When i tried connecting to a MySQL DB server through the sqlcmd client, I am getting the below error:
Sqlcmd: Error: ... : Login timeout expired.
Sqlcmd: Error: ... : A network-related or instance-specific error has occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. Server is not found or not accessible. Check if instance name is correct and if SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections.
Can someone please help me out on this?
Edit:
To add, the instance name and the Server name are correct. Same goes with the Password and the username
A:
Answer-
I was lucky to get an answer to this question through some different portal.
in this kind of issues we can use the port number next to the server name and that will resolve the issue.
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
How to count subdirectories in a directory in UNIX?
I have to count the total number of directories that are in the given directory (note that these are subdirectories).
I know how to count for files but am having trouble counting the directories for my script.
A:
If you put a / at the end of a wildcard pattern, the pattern will only match directories and symbolic links to directories. The following snippet therefore counts directories and symbolic links in the current directory.
set -- */ .*/
if ! [ -e "$1" ]; then shift; fi # handle the case when */ matches nothing
echo $(($# - 2)) # -2 for . and ..
In bash, you can simplify this to
shopt -s dotglob nullglob
dirs=(*/)
echo ${#dirs[@]}
If you don't want to include directories, use find. If none of the directories have a name that contains a newline, you can count the lines:
find . -name . -o -type d -print -prune | wc -l
To be fully robust, count slashes instead.
find . -name . -o -type d -print -prune | tr -dc / | wc -c
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
Heroku Friendly Ruby Scraper (with AJAX)?
So I'm trying to write a small unofficial API in Ruby to pull data from a site. I like Mechanize, but all the data I need from the page is generated by AJAX so Mechanize doesn't see it at all. What can I use to render a page with JavaScript so that I can scrape the data? I think something like spynner but for Ruby would do the trick.
I would also like to play with Heroku, so I'm looking for something that could be deployed there, which leads me away from something like Watir.
Does anything like this exist?
Update
For clarity, I'm trying to pull workout data from a Fitocracy profile page.
You may need an account before you can view the page, but basically all the workout data is displayed via JavaScript inside a page shell.
A:
An ajax request is the same as a non-ajax request, it's just not always obvious how to make it. Mechanize can make any request that a browser can make. Sure Watir is easier but if this is for an API you should do it the right way and use mechanize.
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
The photolithography process is one of the most important technologies in integrated circuit fabrication, because the device structures or the patterns of each film in the integrated circuit are all determined by the photolithography process. Since the circuit layout is composed of multiple layers, it is necessary to perform an alignment step in each exposure process to prevent improper pattern transfer. Therefore, the alignment marks are provided on the mask for alignment in each of the photolithography processes. In addition, in order to further detect the overlay accuracy between two adjacent layers, the overlay marks are also provided on the mask for measuring an overlay error between two layers.
FIG. 1 is a conventional alignment mark 100, which includes a Y-direction mark 110 and X-direction marks 120 and 130. The Y-direction mark 110 includes a plurality of rectangular regions, being arranged in Y direction and parallel with each other, for Y-direction alignment, are disposed on two opposite sides of the Y-direction mark 110 respectively in X direction, and each of the X-direction marks 120 and 130 includes a plurality of rectangular regions, being arranged in X direction and parallel with each other, for X-direction alignment. Typically, for an exposure machine, before executing the calibration procedure, a photolithography process is performed on a wafer via a mask having the alignment mark 100, and an etching process is then performed to form an exposed pattern corresponding to the alignment mark 100 on the wafer. Next, in the subsequent exposure process, the exposure machine can execute the calibration procedure by utilizing the pattern formed on the wafer to make necessary adjustment.
FIG. 2 illustrates a conventional overlay mark 200 for determining a relative position between two or more layers in a semiconductor structure, which includes first mark patterns 210a, 210b, 210c, 210d associated with the first layer and second mark patterns 220a, 220b, 220c, 220d associated with the second layer. The first mark patterns 210a and 210c are used together with the second mark patterns 220a and 220c for measuring the overlay error in X-direction, and the first mark patterns 210b and 210d are used together with the second mark patterns 220b and 220d for measuring the overlay error in Y-direction. The first exposed patterns corresponding to the first mark patterns 210a, 210b, 210c, and 210d are formed on the wafer during the first-layer process, and then the second mark patterns 220a, 220b, 220c, and 220d are transferred into the photoresist layer by the photolithography process of the second-layer process to form the second exposed patterns. Next, a relative position between the first and the second patterns is measured and the overlay error between two adjacent layers is calculated to determine whether an offset is necessary for these two adjacent layers.
Generally, a plurality of alignment marks and a plurality of overlay marks are simultaneously present on different positions of the mask, and occupy a space of the mask respectively. Besides, because the mark used for alignment is different from the mark used for overlay error measurement, the overlay error between two adjacent layers is likely too large to meet the process requirements, which may reduce the accuracy, increase the failure rate, and further raise the production cost. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Be a Maker
We’re proud to be the only major company to make or assemble more than 4 million pairs of athletic footwear per year in the USA, which represents a limited portion of our US sales. Where the domestic value is at least 70%, we label our shoes Made in the USA.
Women's Gym Trainers
Your days are full — you need a shoe that can keep up. The New Balance 711 Mesh fitness-trainer features responsive cushioning and thin overlays for a secure fit and flexibility making it the perfect all-day shoe.
Work out in total comfort
How the WX711 Helps You Push Harder
Minimal upper construction forcontoured fit and flexibility
midsole provides responsivecushioning for all day comfort
Forefoot flex grooves enableyou to move freely
Details
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The 711 fitness-trainer is designed to bring you 360° of comfort technology no matter what your day might hold. From the gym to the mall, a walk around the neighborhood to a dance workout, the 711 women's trainer is made for all-day performance, from its responsive CUSH+ midsole to its forefoot flex grooves and thin TPU overlays on the upper bringing contoured fit and flexibility. The 711 also features a rolled collar for added comfort, making it the perfect all-day, everyday shoe.
Features
8 mm drop: due to variances created during the development and manufacturing processes, all references to 8 mm drop are approximate
Customer Reviews
Hole in mesh after 5 months
2/1/15 by AlyseF33 | North Reading, MA
Used Product For: 8 or more weeks
"I've been a New Balance customer for over 15 years. I never bother with another brand when I'm shopping for sneakers anymore because I know that this brand is perfect for my slightly wider feet. My running/gym sneakers usually can last for 1-2 years before needing to be replaced. However, I bought this style and a hole developed in the mesh by my pinkie toe on the right foot and is about to break through on the left foot, as well. My workouts have been pretty low intensity and mostly indoors, so I was appalled by how quickly they got worn through. Luckily I contacted my local retailer where I purchased the sneakers and was able to return them. I got the same style (because they are so comfortable), but the heathered, not the mesh. I will continue to shop New Balance, but I expect the quality to remain high."
Did you find this review helpful?
Yes 21No 16
Comfort: 5 / 5
Style: 4 / 5
SizeRuns SmallRuns Large
WidthRuns NarrowRuns Wide
Re-purchase LikelihoodProbably Would Not Purchase AgainWould Purchase Again
2 of 5
★★★★★
★★★★★
Being Spiffy wearing Tennies
1/30/15 by MSJJNOAH | Dallas, TX
Used Product For: 8 or more weeks
Primary Activity: Walking
Yes, I recommend this product.
"These are so comfortable for me! My poor feet have bunions, arthritis, bone spurs. Every other shoe rubs something the wrong way and hurts! Not the WX711. There are not straps or seams in the toe area to hurt. I am so thrilled I found these. The colors are terrific. I have three pair so far, and I can't wait to purchase more colors!!"
Did you find this review helpful?
Yes 7No 1
Comfort: 5 / 5
Style: 5 / 5
SizeRuns SmallRuns Large
WidthRuns NarrowRuns Wide
Re-purchase LikelihoodProbably Would Not Purchase AgainWould Purchase Again
3 of 5
★★★★★
★★★★★
New favorite
1/27/15 by Bbrooke1 | Houston, TX
Used Product For: 2-4 weeks
Miles with Product: 6-10 miles
Avg Miles Per Week: 6-10 miles
Primary Activity: Walking
Yes, I recommend this product.
"These shoes are perfect for what I was looking for. I'm on my feet at work 12 hours a day and these are so comfortable and lightweight. Will be buying a second pair"
Did you find this review helpful?
Yes 3No 3
4 of 5
★★★★★
★★★★★
Love the way it looks
1/27/15 by Sanfran ko | SF
Used Product For: less than 2 weeks
Primary Activity: Other
Yes, I recommend this product.
"This shoe is great: very comfortable and looks good on. My only complaint is that the added heel cushion can become uncomfortable as the material can fold up on itself when weight is applied, creating a pleat of fabric underneath the foot. Otherwise, very happy with my purchase."
Did you find this review helpful?
Yes 7No 1
5 of 5
★★★★★
★★★★★
A great shoe for studio fitness activities
5/15/14 by Christine | CT
Used Product For: less than 2 weeks
Avg Miles Per Week: 20+ miles
Primary Activity: Running
Yes, I recommend this product.
"In addition to running, I do step, cardio and weights at the gym 3-4 days per week. I had been wearing the NB 1012s, which I liked, but always felt a bit stiff and heavy. I tried these on at my local New Balance store (New Canaan, CT). They are incredibly comfortable, but without the "flimsy," ultra narrow feel of many so-called lightweight trainers. I bought mine in wide, and they fit me perfectly. They make going to the gym fun again!" | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Carrie Lam attends the first community dialogue session in Hong Kong
Hong Kong protesters chanting anti-government slogans trapped city leader Carrie Lam in a stadium for hours on Thursday after she held her first "open dialogue" with the people in a bid to end more than three months of often violent unrest.
Activists blocked roads and stood their ground despite police warnings, before beginning to disperse. More than four hours after the talks had ended, a convoy carrying Lam and other senior officials left the building under police guard.
Inside the British colonial-era Queen Elizabeth Stadium, residents had earlier chastised Lam, accusing her of ignoring the public and exacerbating a crisis that has no end in sight.
She had begun by saying her administration bore the heaviest responsibility for resolving the crisis.
"The whole storm was caused by the extradition bill initiated by the government," Lam said. "If we want to walk away from the difficulty and find a way out, the government has to take the biggest responsibility to do so."
Protests over the now-shelved extradition bill that would have allowed criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial have evolved into broader calls for full democracy, in a stark challenge to China's Communist Party leaders.
The demonstrations resumed after the dialogue session was over, with activists blocking roads around the stadium with iron railings and other debris.
The unrest followed an event that had been notable for not being the whitewash many predicted, with Lam directly facing off with an often critical and hostile audience, still aggrieved at the havoc they blame on the Beijing-backed leader and her team.
Protesters are angry about what they see as creeping Chinese interference in Hong Kong, which returned to China in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" formula intended to guarantee freedoms that are not enjoyed on the mainland.
Outside, large crowds of black-clad protesters chanted: "Hong Kong people, add oil," a slogan meaning "keep your strength up", while encircling the sports stadium and blocking exits.
Police warned that they would use force but did not intervene.
The event saw Lam holding talks with 150 members of the community.
Speakers criticising her for curbing electoral freedoms, ignoring public opinion and refusing to allow an independent inquiry into allegations of police brutality. Several called on Lam to resign, saying she was no longer fit to lead.
"CALM DOWN"
Lam listened, taking notes, before responding on occasion. She appealed for people to give her government a chance, while emphasising Hong Kong still had a bright future and a strong rule of law.
"I hope you all understand that we still care about Hong Kong society. Our heart still exists," she said. "We will maintain our care for this society."
She stressed again, however, that she saw no need at the moment for an independent inquiry, with an existing police complaint mechanism sufficient to meet public concerns.
She also reiterated there was no way she could bow to the demand for charges against those arrested for rioting to be dropped.
"I am not shirking responsibility, but Hong Kong really needs to calm down," she said. "We have to stop sudden violence breaking out... Violation of the law will result in consequences we have to bear."
She also conceded limits to what she could do.
"There are some things that me and my colleagues cannot influence in society ... but the dialogue will continue."
China says it is committed to the "one country, two systems" arrangement and denies meddling. It has accused foreign governments, including the United States and Britain, of inciting the unrest.
CITY ON EDGE
City rail services resumed on Thursday after being halted on Wednesday night at Sha Tin station, where protesters vandalised fittings for the second time this week.
Rail operator MTR has at times suspended city rail services during the protests, preventing some demonstrators from gathering and thus making it a target of attack, with protesters vandalising stations and setting fires near some exits.
When violence has flared, police have responded with tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets.
Hong Kong is on edge ahead of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China on Oct. 1, with authorities eager to avoid scenes that could embarrass the central government in Beijing. Activists have planned a whole host of protests on the day.
The Asian financial hub also marks the fifth anniversary this weekend of the start of the "Umbrella" protests, a series of pro-democracy demonstrations in 2014 that failed to wrest concessions from Beijing. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Australia are on the brink of a first Test annihilation of England at the Gabba and century-maker David Warner is saying the visitors have "scared eyes" and describes Jonathan Trott's efforts to thwart Mitchell Johnson as "pretty weak".
Smelling blood in the Queensland twilight on Saturday, Ryan Harris and Johnson left a rattled England on their knees. Set a winning target of 561 – nearly 150 runs more than the existing world record for a fourth-innings chase – the visitors' quixotic hopes of getting there or even hanging on, with the assistance of some extended inclement weather, were dealt a significant blow in a thrilling final hour of day three.
David Warner salutes the crowd after another good day's work. Credit:Tertius Pickard
Australia's position had been improved immeasurably by a 25th career hundred by their captain, Michael Clarke, and a first Ashes ton for Warner, who combined to all but bat Alastair Cook's weary side into oblivion.
In the fading light there was more drama to come. England crashed to 2-10 in their second innings and threatened to roll over before lunch on Sunday. Opener Michael Carberry (0) was unlucky, blocking a ball from Harris only to have it go between his legs into the stumps, but Trott (9) was unnerved and undisciplined, trying to wriggle out of his funk against Johnson by clubbing the left-armer but inevitably holing out in the deep. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
---
abstract: 'Networking is undergoing a transformation throughout our industry. The need for scalable network control and automation shifts the focus from hardware driven products with ad hoc control to Software Defined Networks. This process is now well underway. In this paper, we adopt the perspective of the Promise Theory to examine the current and future states of networking technologies. The goal is to see beyond specific technologies, topologies and approaches and define principles. Promise Theory’s bottom-up modeling has been applied to server management for many years and lends itself to principles of self-healing, scalability and robustness.'
author:
-
-
-
-
bibliography:
- 'Promise\_Networks.bib'
title: A Promise Theory Perspective on Data Networks
---
Introduction
============
As networks grow in scale and complexity, some argue for a return to centralized and imperative management[@Levin:2012:LCS:2342441.2342443]. Network design revolves around legacy data structures and protocols rather than the business functionality required from the network. A modern approach to network design emphasizing simplicity and relevant abstraction seems overdue. Such an approach could reduce the cost and brittleness of network design.
The ‘Promise Theory’, was introduced in 2005 as a way to model distributed systems with complete decentralization[@burgessdsom2005]. Coupled with abstraction, it offers a looking glass onto the design and management of networks. If we define what a user or application needs from the network we can begin to get away from imperatively controlling the ‘how’ the network functions and instead focus on declaratively describing “what” is required from it. In Promise Theory, network elements act as autonomous agents and collaborate to find the best way to deliver the required function.
In this paper we apply Promise Theory as a measuring stick for the current state of networking to cast a critical eye over current practice and future directions. We show that there are simple unifying principles for networking that are independent of scaling arguments, and that there is no need to base future networking on centralized control.
Promise Theory
==============
Promise theory is about what can happen in a collection of components that work together[@burgessdsom2005; @mark_burgess_voluntary_2005]. It is not a network protocol, but a descriptive algebra. One begins with the idea of completely autonomous agents that interact through the promises they make to one another. It is well-suited to modeling networks [@m._burgess_scalability_2004]. Although we cannot force autonomous agents to work together, we can observe when there are sufficient promises made to conclude that they are indeed cooperating voluntarily. Our challenge in this paper, is to translate this bottom-up view into top-down, human managed requirements.
*Agent* is the term used for the fundamental entities in Promise Theory. Agents are not necessarily like ‘software agents’, they can be any active entities like an interface that keeps promises. Actions taken by agents are not in the scope of Promise Theory. We assume that appropriate actions are taken to keep the promises. In that way, we focus on declarative intent, rather than imperative procedures.
Formalism
---------
The promise formalism has a number of features, described in[@bergstra_promise_2014]. We refer readers to this reference for details.
A [*promise*]{} is an intention that has been ‘voluntarily’ adopted by an agent (usually channeling a human owner, or perhaps an agreed standardization). An agent that only promises to do as it’s told is [*dependent*]{} or voluntarily subordinated. It has some of the characteristics of a service: an agent makes its intended behavior known to other agents (e.g. I will serve files on demand, or forward packets when I receive them). An [imposition]{} is an attempt to induce the cooperation of another agent by imposing upon it (e.g. give me the file, take this packet).
We write a promise from $\rm Promiser$ to $\rm Promisee$, with body $b$ as follows: [Promisee]{}.and we denote an imposition by [Imposee]{}.Promises and impositions fall into two polarities, denoted by $\pm$. A promise to give or provide a behavior $b$ is denoted by a body $+b$; a promise to accept something is denoted $-b$ (or sometimes $U(b)$, meaning use-$b$). Similarly, an imposition on an agent to give something would have body $+b$, while an imposition to accept something has a body $-b$.
Although promises are not a network protocol, agents can exchange data. To complete any kind of exchange, we need a match an imposition (+) with a promise to use (-). To form a binding (as part of a contract), we need to match a promise to give (+) with a promise to use (-). This rule forces one to document necessary and sufficient conditions for cooperative behaviour.
A promise model thus consists of a graph of nodes ([*agents*]{}), and edges (either [*promises*]{} or [*impositions*]{}) used to communicate intentions. Whatever protocol might be used to communicate promises is not defined (and shouldn’t be). Agents publish their intentions and other agents may or may not choose to pay attention. In that sense, it forms a chemistry of intent [@burgess_search_2013], with no particular manifesto, other than to decompose systems into the set of necessary and sufficient promises to model intended behavior.
Networking from a promise perspective
=====================================
Ethernet (L2)
-------------
The agents that keep promises to send and receive data are the network interfaces. For example, in the Ethernet protocol, interfaces $E_i$ promise to label transmissions with a unique MAC addresses or string of digits. E\_i && E\_j i,j When data are transmitted by an interface, the interface keeps its promises to use messages that have (destination MAC address, data). Note: the message is not a promise, the promise governs how the message is handled. E\_i && E\_j Messages are sent ‘fire and forget’ as impositions on to a remote receiver. While all interfaces generally promise to accept any MAC address, (unless they block with MAC access control) only the interface whose MAC address matches the destination in the message doublet actually promises to accept the message voluntarily. Note, there is nothing other than convention to prevent all agents from accepting the data too; this ‘promiscuous mode’ is used for network monitoring, for example. E\_\* && E\_i i,j\
E\_i & & E\_j Since the channel is unprotected, agents effectively promise the data to all others in scope. Moreover, all agents promise to decode the address and the data, but many will discard the results.
While this set of promises is scale independent, the assumption that every agent has to be in scope of every transmission does not scale, since it requires messages to be flooded or broadcast to every node (agent), in principle. The primary issue with raw Ethernet is that there are no ways to selectively limit the size of these broadcast domains. This makes the ‘everyone please take a look at this’ approach impractical.
![An Ethernet switching function. \[switch\]](Figures/Switching_function){width="4cm"}
In Fig. \[switch\] we see two interfaces that promise MAC address 00:00:11:11:11:AA (shortened to AA) and 00:00:11:11:11:BB (shortened to BB). Suppose we wish to send data from AA to BB, then, since the Ethernet is a push-based imposition protocol, only half a contract is needed for emergent delivery, and we leave the rest to trust.
E\_[AA]{} && E\_[switch]{}\
E\_[switch]{}&& E\_[i]{} i\
E\_[switch]{} && E\_[BB]{}
In each point-to-point interaction, the agent has to formally promise to use (-) the delivery service promised by the agent giving (+). This is the algebra of binding. There is no notion of a permanent virtual circuit, as say in ATM. However, if we add handshaking, a similar story can be told about ATM, Frame Relay, MPLS and other systems.
Internet Protocol (L3) {#ipsec}
----------------------
IP provides Wide Area Networking by issuing two part addressing to cope with transmission scalability. IP addresses still promise to be globally unique, but are interpreted as doublets.
> (network prefix, local address)
Only addresses with the same prefix are considered in mutual scope for broadcasting, and messages addressed from one prefix to another promise to be forwarded deliberately rather than by ‘flooding’. IP is thus a cooperative effort that builds on promises rather than impositions alone.
To make this work, IP needs two kinds of agent, which fall into different promise roles (see figure \[iproute\]): [*interfaces*]{} (terminating connections), which only transmit and receive data intended for them, and [*forwarders*]{} (called routers or switches) that cooperate with multiple interfaces, and promise to selectively forward data from one interface to another between protected broadcast domain. This acts as a flood-barrier or firewall to packets promised to different prefixed networks.
To model routers, without giving up the interface abstraction, we introduce the concept of a route service (or link service), whose job it is to establish cooperative forwarding between the interfaces.
![Internet promises. An end-node or leaf and its single interface promises to relay through a ‘router’ which is surrounded by multiple interfaces, thus connecting multiple network branches.\[iproute\]](Figures/iproute){width="7cm"}
Consider Fig. \[iproute\]. The source node has an address, normally written 128.39.78.4/24. As a doublet, the promises see it in two parts as $i = $ (prefix=128.39.78, local=4). We’ll call this the source prefix, or, $j = $ (prefix=128.39.78, local=1) for the router interface. When a message is sent to an address with a different destination prefix, data are sent by imposition to the interface on the router with the source network prefix (usually the ‘default route’): I\_[source\_i]{} I\_[router\_j]{}Each router interface $j$ promises the connected source interfaces $i$ to use all such packets, a priori, and to present them to the router (kernel) which keeps the following promises. I\_[router\_j]{} I\_[[source]{}\_i]{}\
I\_[router\_j]{} [Router]{}Similarly, other interfaces connected to the router’s interfaces promise to accept messages from the router that have their prefix: I\_[source\_i]{} [Router\_j]{}Crucially for messages to escape from a local region, the router promises all IP interfaces to forward messages it receives on one if its own interfaces according to a set of promises which we denote ‘forward’. The router interfaces, in turn, bind to this promise by accepting it. I\_[router\_j]{}\
I\_[router\_j]{} [Router]{}The forward promise has the following logic:
> \(1) If the prefix of the destination interface is the same as the prefix of one of the router’s interfaces, forward the message onto that interface.
The remainder of the promise requires configuration with knowledge of the wider world.
> \(2) If the prefix of the destination interface is known to an internal database of external knowledge, i.e. the Routing Information Base (RIB), forward the message to the interface known to lead to the desired destination.\
> \
> (3) Send all other message destinations to a pre-decided default interface, where we expect to reach some other router with greater knowledge of how to find the prefixed network.
Note that, like the Ethernet, this algorithm has only emergent behaviour that matches its design goal. It cannot, by direct imposition, assure a successful delivery of messages, because that requires the cooperation of potentially many intermediate interfaces and routing agents. In spite of this apparent lack of control, the Internet works demonstrably well. Trust plays a major role in operations.
VLAN: L2 channel containment
----------------------------
The concept of doublet addressing in IP enabled improved scalability, by black-boxing local networks, but added the cost of routing. How expensive routing is, in relative terms, is a constantly changing overhead that depends on many current technological factors. Fear of this cost tends to make datacenter traffic favor L2 solutions.
Routers were optimized for WAN delivery, so the obvious question for LAN managers was: could routing be simplified for smaller local regions without the paraphernalia needed for global routing?
When packets don’t have to be routed through multiple hops, i.e. when parts (2) and (3) of the forwarding promise can be ignored, a simpler form of prefixing can be used. This is the concept of the VLAN overlay. Interfaces can simply be classified, or tagged with short integer labels:
> (prefix, local address) $\rightarrow$ (VLAN-id, MAC-address)
Then we have multiplet address components again (but now with a short VLAN tag instead of a large integer prefix), for boxing off local regions. A VLAN tag signifies membership in a private logical container. As with Frame Relay, these tags have to be configured manually, so routing is a human-centric process.
The concept of a Level 2 overlay has become quite popular for its perceived simplicity in small isolated networks. It’s limitations have to do with scaling of the manual configuration and broadcast domains. VLAN is a brute force routing mechanism that scales linearly with the number of addresses in a container. Containers are not localized in physical space, only in logical channel space (unlike the assumed distribution of prefixes in IP). Thus this does not address the issues of physical scaling. However, we need something that scales like $\log N$ or better (like IP). We return to this in section \[scale\].
Tunnelling addresses and transducer pattern
-------------------------------------------
Embedding protocols inside one another is not the only approach to containment. One can also strip off and repackage data on different legs of a journey. To do this, one makes a transducer that converts one kind of addressing into another (see [@bergstra_promise_2014]).
ARP is one such service that maps between Ethernet MAC addresses and IP addresses. Instead of a physical forwarding table, a logical rewriting table is maintained. When a direct ARP conversion is not possible, data are sent to the default route, which is the address of the router interface $I_{\rm prefix}$ to the default interface. DNS is another transducer, that maps from symbolic addresses to IP addresses.
The same principle has been applied to isolated networks, such as the reserved namespaces 10.0.0.0 and the example.com addresses 192.1.168.0/24. IP Network Address Translation (NAT) is now been promoted from crude workaround to viable technology, extending the local IP addressing component with additional internal addressing numbers, the rewriting outgoing addresses to point to the standard IP address range. End to end addressability is not normally promised in this scheme however, so it has limited value, (however see TRIAD[@triad]) for a viable scheme for extending IPv4 in this manner.
More recently, a tunnelling approach is also being used to artificially extend Layer 2 VLAN as a stop-gap measure for a technology users who are familiar with VLAN. VxLAN, and NVGRE are encapsulations of Ethernet L2 Frames, with tunnelling over IP to enable the physical reach across multiple gateways. Addresses add a multiplet component: a Tenant Network Identifier (TNI) or Virtual Tunnel End Point (VTEP) identifier embedded parallel channels.
These schemes perform two functions: i) they increase the number of possible VLAN-like channel addresses, patching a limitation in the VLAN implementation, and ii) they allow teleportation of broadcast domains across an IP scale network, transparently of routing concerns. Thus they do not eliminate the cost of IP routing, but offer a comfortable user interface for local network administrators.
Promise principles for scalable networking
==========================================
Let us consider the principles that summarize the work in the previous sections. We see two main issues: container-specific addressing, and interface to interface forwarding. Multiplet addresses allow the containment of broadcasts as well as selective routing of traffic by ‘prefix’.
Addressability with scope or namespaces
---------------------------------------
By introducing multiplet addressing, we draw a logical (and perhaps physical) container around a network region which hides its internals with some kind of identifier or prefix, which acts as a namespace identifier. Everything inside the namespace is local and protected. There are two principles that explain these cases.
> [*Principle 1: Container multiplet addressing*]{}: Any system that promises to support $n$-tuple addressability of parts, for $n > 1$, enables logical or physical containment of information, as well as log-scalable routability between the containers. $\bigtriangleup$
To transmit data across multiple (possibly embedded) containers, we typically need an address component for each logical container. Thus interfaces $a_i$ must promise to recognize one of the components $a_i$ and pass on all others as passenger data: [Router]{}e.g. the $a_i$ address components might include MAC address, IP address, VLAN number and VxLAN IDs. This set of addresses need to be configured and managed, either manually or by some mapping service. Some of these addresses overlap (like IP-LAN and MAC addresses).
> [*Principle 2: Forwarding by multiplet address*]{}: Forwarding of multiplet addressed data requires an infrastructure of forwarding promises by each members of each container for each address component in which all other components are ignored by other containers as payload data. $\bigtriangleup$
An interfaces $a_i$ in a given container of level $i$ would promise to accept other components addresses components as data only to be forwarded, not interpreted, i.e. as payload with no assumed semantics. In practice some of the address components might be removed or even rewritten, depending on the encoding as data traverse container boundaries, but that is not a requirement of the principle. All of the components have a continuing logical existence. It would be enough to ignore them. Note also that intrusion detection/prevention systems sometimes break the semantics of ignoring payload.
Addressable scalability
-----------------------
The scaling of multiplet addressing is a straightforward idea. It prevents a local namespace from becoming too large for flooding or broadcasting. The size of the namespace is limited either by a fixed number of nodes accessible in one multiplet address (e.g. VLAN tag, OSPF areas, BGP AS, etc), or equivalently, by the size of a prefix in a binary encoding of the multiplet (as in IP). In the first case, there is no defined limit to how many MAC addresses can occupy the same VLAN. Scaling is throttled by physical limitations. In the latter case there is an explicit quota tradeoff between local and global from a fixed number of addresses.
If an $n$ bit address has a prefix of length $p$, this improves scaling through black-boxification of local regions. It transforms the addressing of $N = 2^n$ things into the addressing of merely $N_C=2^p$, things globally and $n_C= 2^{(n-p)}$ things inside each of the $C$ containers. That is $\log_{n_C}$ rather than $n_C$ scaling.
There is also no particular reason why IP addressing has to be limited to prefix quotas. IP Network Address Translation is an attempt to extend the range of local addressing, independently of the prefix quota space to alleviate IPv4 address depletion.
Addressable multi-tenancy
-------------------------
As a side-effect of supporting logical or physical containment one obtains the ability to support [*multi-tenancy*]{}. This can also be considered a mode of scaling in which one assigns containers to distinct organizational owners. This requires a mapping service (like an ARP table for organizations). Registration of tenants is a manual human process. Presently there is IANA as a global directory service, ISPs for address delegation, and the Internet Exchanges for registering tenancy promises.
Two distinct network services
-----------------------------
Networking supports two main use-cases:
- [*Content delivery*]{} or pull requesting (asynchronous retrieval promises of the form Node ${\xrightarrow{X}}$ Node).
- [*Signalling*]{} or push notification (synchronous impositions of the form Node ${\stackrel{X}{\impos}}$ Node).
The former is a many-to-one association, for which we can employ versioning, replication (data-model de-normalization), re-direction, and delocalization (e.g. Content Delivery Networks). Point to point addressing is less important; caching is highly meaningful. The concept of Name Based Routing has been proposed to abstract away endpoint addresses[@BariCABM12].
For the signalling, we still need endpoint-resolution addressability, as signals cannot be cached, though they might need to be flooded. Service delivery generally involved a mixture of these two cases, which depends on the nature of the application being supported. Applications typically want to make certain promises about connectivity, security, e.g. load balancing and firewall filtering options
Application-oriented delivery suggests other forms of containment based on the logic of the service interaction. Current networking management abstractions make application specific requirements painful to configure because of lack of a consistent model for abstracting them. This brings us to the present day.
Generalizing network containers
===============================
Given that the principle of containment is so flexible and important for scoping data communications, it is natural to ask whether there are other more relevant abstractions that better support the needs of users. Several authors have opted to rethink network architecture[@balakrishnan; @BariCABM12]. We consider this from a promise theory perspective.
Software Defined Networking
---------------------------
Software defined networking (SDN) is an umbrella term for a programmatic approach to managing network devices, using software controls to replace manual configuration[@Raghavan:2012:SIA:2390231.2390239]. It is considered more wide-ranging than the NETCONF or SNMP device management protocols of the past. SDN includes concepts related to network virtualization through overlays, network function virtualization (NFV), virtualized L4/7 service insertion and control, management and orchestration of physical and virtual networking devices and functions (such as switches, routers), as well as control systems relying on specific control protocols like OpenFlow and OVSDB.
SDN is an interface transducer that essentially virtualizes existing concepts such as virtual end-points (computers), virtual cables (L1), virtual switches (L2), etc. Initial motivations for SDN were to overcome the brittleness and the lack of programmability, manageability and agility in networks. The inability to treat network infrastructure uniformly gave birth to the network virtualization through overlays, where underlying physical underlays are abstracted away in a way that provides perceived uniformity to the application/tenant traffic.
With abstractions rooted in past technology choices, designed for the pleasure of network engineers rather than application designers, a cultural gap has been exposed between the needs of application programmers, writing increasingly distributed software. The current networking model requires decomposition into primitives like L2 networks (VLAN, VXLAN), tenant L3 domains (VRF) and multiple rules expressed as Access Control Lists (ACLs), or, in case of pure OpenFlow-based SDN, a set of flow rules.
Application architects think about application components and component interactivity; they rarely think about networks, firewalls and other L4-7 services. Instead, they think about services providing *functions* to other services, while consuming functions of the infrastructure and other application components/services.
With the emphasis on programmability of legacy technology, the business purpose of an application can quickly be lost in low level details. This makes application design and updates a painful process.
Application-Oriented Network Promises
-------------------------------------
Another approach is to rethink the way architects reason about interaction with the network altogether. Application-centric group-based policies could be used for consistent enforcement of service requirements. Such ‘requirements’ (impositions) can also be turned around as promises, specified by the application architect. This makes a concise self-documentation of purpose, so it also has positive semantic value.
Promise Theory provides a theoretical framework for such policy abstractions too, and so can be instrumental in solving a larger problem: how to build a scalable, self-stabilizing network, supporting any kind of abstraction.
There is no particular reason why the container principle cannot be applied to other logical elements than channels and network boundaries. A piece of software can also be viewed as a local network that connects to a wider area. Application architects need to think of network behaviors as application components (the application services) and manage their interactivity. Application architects can then focus on understanding what functions a given service provides and relies on through exposed interfaces.
Such an application service might be thought of as a cell or logical network container, encapsulating a number of application servers that provide the service contained within. All server end-points within a service promise a set of functions to the consumers of the service. The collection of such (+) promises can be thought of as the basis for a contract by which others interact with this service. In a cell analogy, this could be called the cell membrane. The cell membrane protects and regulates the conversations in and out of the cell. The (-) promises that listen for client impositions could be thought of as ‘receptors’ that identify what services can be talked about and how.
Consider a classical three-tier application made from cells (promise agents clusters):
- WEB - Web services.
- APP - Application services (e.g. Tomcat or jboss)
- DB - database services.
The tiers have internal structure, but insofar as we only interact with their promises, we don’t care what it is. Each tier comprises multiple computational end-points or service ‘hosts’. A host or end-point might be a Virtual Machine (VMs), a container (like LxC or Solaris Zones) or simply a bare-metal compute instance with a network connection. Since all hosts within a tier provide identical function within the application, they form a ‘promise role’ group that makes identical security, forwarding and QoS promises. Membership of these end-points within a group/role can be either administratively or automatically established, most commonly based on the properties of the compute element (e.g. virtual machine attributes).
The infrastructure promises made between these tier-agents have to be established. To avoid the kind of manual setup problems of ATM, VLAN, CLI, etc, the end-user’s needs are communicated by some kind of signalling impositions (API calls), e.g. ‘I need the db to talk to the app and the firewall needs to be opened, I want sufficient channel capacity (“bandwidth”) to be promised’. As long as the service accepts such impositions from clients, it would try to promise what was required. Only the service has the necessary knowledge about whether such a promise is plausible however, so the decision belongs inside as an autonomous decision.
Each tier is really a collaborative group of agents that not only promises to provide and use services between one another, but which internally promises to collaborate uniformly to stay coordinated.
![Host containers promise to forward communications between guests and ‘outside’ as ‘routers’. Two levels of container means agents need to maintain triplet addresses (Guest, Host, Outside)\[containers\]. All controllers are embedded in the containers.](Figures/containers){width="8cm"}
The challenge of this abstraction is: how do we create a unified user experience around this for application engineers? Users need to comprehend a design composed of an increasing number of logical entities and layers, arising from cross-cutting abstractions. We believe the answer here lies in the managing patterns of promises, which can also be described in terms of the container principle. The challenge for technologists is to avoid the temptation to push complexity back onto users. Hopefully one can avoid referring to the OSI layer technologies altogether and move towards a description based on Service Level Agreements (SLA). Current SDN makes this accessible but not natural. The key would seem to be some kind of promise compiler.
End-to-end service promises via proxy
-------------------------------------
To see how this could be done, we return to promise theory. The ‘proxy’ or intermediate agent pattern was described in [@bergstra_promise_2014] abstracts the end-to-end delivery promise of a service $S$ through some promise to handle the delivery details by proxy $P$ to a client. Both client and server may be guests running inside various containers.
The abstraction we would like to expose to the user is for logical services and consumers to simply make promises directly to one another (Fig.\[proxy\]), without worrying about all the intermediate agents in between. The proxy pattern shows how this can be achieved. We refer readers to [@bergstra_promise_2014] (section 11.3) for a discussion.
Examples of the service $S$ could be: to provide connectivity over a secure channel, to grant or deny access to data, to commit to or retrieve from storage, to provide web transport. It is important to note that a go-between might create a superficial similarity of function, but it also adds four promises and hence four possible points of failure to the equation.
![A generic proxy model that promises to mediate communication, with no internal details exposed.\[proxy\].](Figures/proxy){width="4cm"}
In terms of the cell membrane analogy described above, we would say that the outer-membrane promises identify how others can communicate to that service, what they can communicate about, and what happens to the traffic when they communicate. Today, one would have to separate it into VLANS, Firewall rules, Load-Balancing rules etc. These are details we would prefer to leave to a proxy on imposing on it a minimum of application specific requirements.
By providing this as a service, one is able to reason about applications, and how they interact with other applications rather than with the physical underlay. The membrane thus provides a level of abstraction that hides the details of the cell composition. This is how the Insieme architecture works.
By isolating promises as containers that promise to play certain roles in an application design, one can think about the datacenter as an organism. Then an organism comprises of many boxes containing multiple functions that manage their own resources based on a policy declaration.
Policy-based containment
------------------------
Putting the pieces together, what one ends up with from a promise perspective is a set of logical containers that keep user-friendly promises and conceal engineering details. This is not an imposition control system, but rather a scaled design that compiles into continuously enforcable local low-level configuration promises. Based on net-wide coordinated policy, one compiles high level promises into a kind of assembler code for low level network configurations supporting a business purpose.
Fitness for purpose
===================
We have shown how to represent both low and high level intentions in terms of promises made by autonomous entities (agents) in IT networks. We have also indicated how a distributed application can itself be viewed as a service-oriented network built from autonomous components. The container principle serves both to abstract and limit the effect of irrelevant load on inappropriate parts of such collectives. Containers, not merely as abstract layers, but as namespace boundaries for autonomous agents to work in, are clearly a key abstraction for scalable service-oriented data communications.
The next obvious question to ask is: is a set of network containers [*fit for purpose*]{}? How indeed might we align an abstracted networked system with a given business purpose?
A container (a promise super-agent) can be identified by the pattern of promises that are made to other agents beyond its ‘border’ or ‘membrane’. This promise pattern becomes associated with the [ *role*]{} of the container[@bergstra_promise_2014], just as any namespace label can act as a role identifier. Containers that play similar roles make functionally equivalent promises.
Promise Theory answers the question of alignment simply in terms of these outward intentions. Suppose we can compile our desires for an application or goal into a number of promises with bodies $d_1, d_2, d_3\ldots$ that would need to be kept. Then, if our network actually makes promises: [Users]{}Then we can say, straightforwardly, that the network is aligned with the purpose if d\_1 d\_2 d\_3 …= b\_1 b\_2 b\_3 …The outward promises form the user interface to the containers. Clearly application oriented containers are more directly business-purpose friendly than OSI-layer containers for L2 or L3 abstractions. But there is more to business purpose than just functionality. Other systemic promises need to be considered too when discussing fitness for purpose. Will the network architecture scale? Will it fail gracefully under pressure? Will it respond to our needs? Many of these answers follow from the graph-theoretic properties of the promise graph. Let’s consider these in briefly turn.
Distributed control
-------------------
Control is the ability to exert influence over the parts of a system. Traditionally, one looks for:
- A single point of remote control, or
- A single point of policy calibration.
In promise theory, control can only come from within an agent as an autonomous decision to promise something; for instance, a promise to provide a service $+S$, such as a function or behaviour, or a promise to accept a service $-S$, like an Access Control List promise.
Since an autonomous agent is free to ignore signals and impositions from outside, remote control requires an explicit promise by all agents to accept impositions from a single point of command. This is fragile and it is a serial signalling regime. A more efficient approach is to turn the signalling problem into a parallel content-delivery problem by distributing pre-decided policy that distributed agents can cache for self-correction. Thus, Promise Theory suggests that a policy model is an improvement in reliability, fault tolerance and scalability.
With a central controller approach, the central entity has to make regular impositions on different parts of the system. This adds complexity from outside the system and makes the controller point location a bottleneck. A promise based approach allows self-control based on a cached policy, without further signalling. Thus it avoids to cost and resilience issues of signalling infrastructure. Since policy is a set of pre-decided promises with associated context which has potentially global scope, it does not have to be communicated in real time, it can be cached and replicated efficiently.
Resilience and fitness for purpose
----------------------------------
Redundancy plays two roles: one in scaling, for parallel throughput of data, and another in failover resilience (structural plasticity) of agents[@burgess_search_2013]. Traditionally one thinks of:
- Single points of failure (unique fragile point).
- Single point of contact (redundancy allowed).
Redundancy means extending service resources inside a service container in a fashion that is transparent to a client.
In promise theory, the generative rule is that no agent may promise anything that is not about its own behaviour. Thus resilience comes ‘from within’. Each agent promises its own responsibilities within the whole. For $+S$ promises each agent can only do its best and presume additional support from others it knows nothing about. For $-S$ promises to consume a service agents must say something like ‘I promise to use the service $S$ from either agent $X$ or $Y$ or $Z$’ (not just X). The promise principle forces the responsibility for resilience back onto the end-point, i.e. client or server, to the edges of the network. No middle boxes like load balancers can improve the situation, because no agent can influence their behaviour. Fault tolerance can be understood as having clusters of hosts working cooperatively as ‘super-agents’ to keep the same forwarding promise. Each agent in a redundancy group promises to cooperate with every other with mutual cooperation promises Each agent promises to try to failover to other agents; thus load balancing also becomes a client function (without intermediaries). These promises are typically roles by association[@bergstra_promise_2014] (e.g. by policy coordination) rather than physical data links. The Clos networks are realizations of these, in varying degrees of approximation[@al-fares_scalable_2008].
This pattern can be applied both physically and logically between any pair of roles: client/server, interface/switch, network/router, etc. For a network, the intra-agent promises inside each super-agent do not have to be physical connections, but rather intentions to act symmetrically. Note however, the architecture reported by Facebook to formalize this[@facebook].
If the goal of containment is to reduce complexity, then this architecture may be promised by a simple pattern. If the promises made for communication are simple, then the complexity of applications can also be eliminated without abstraction, by employing simple stock patterns, like this or like a lattice. For example using a simple configuration engine to enforce the distributed pattern. Complex management interfaces with extensive programmability become unnecessary.
Network scalability {#scale}
-------------------
Scalability of networks is a complex issue that describes how a system can support increased usage, component addressing, data throughput, without increased latency.
- Physical connectivity needs sufficient serial/parallel channel capacity.
- Low latency and forwarding cost at routers, switches and protocol transducers.
- Resilience: if something breaks there is a failover option.
- Human comprehensibility favors centralization.
These are all systemic promises of an architecture. They enable emergent features of a network, and cannot be controlled from any single point.
Conclusions
===========
Promise Theory describes service-oriented functionality, while avoiding imperative and centralized thinking. We use it here make neutral assessments of existing networking principles, and lay bare the functional and emergent aspects. We hope that, by summarizing networking in this manner, the challenges and solutions appear plainer, and ultimately tractable. This is an unusual viewpoint for Computer Science. Rather than adopting the conventional belief that only that which is programmed happens, it takes the opposite viewpoint: “only that which is promised can be predicted”. It therefore approaches management by embracing uncertainty—one might say with realism rather than faith[@burgess_search_2013].
Some of the challenges we’ve addressed include:
- The role of trust in winning predictability rather than ‘control’.
- Communicating through meaningful abstractions in the context of applications.
- Labelling and isolating resources used by different application owners.
How one chooses to solve these is open for discussion. The structure of promise theory suggests an approach based more on decentralized abstraction. Bottom-up design favors stability over functionality, but purpose drives change from the top-down. Striking this balance is a task for new container abstractions and simplifying patterns.
What we believe the network industry has done well in the past is to build network infrastructure on a desired end-state model with a low level of programmatic reasoning. There is no programming needed to run OSPF or VLAN for instance, only a few fixed data-driven promises. This limits complexity. Where it has become deficient is in failing to deal with promises that aid the running of applications, forcing business users to confront irrelevant details.
Complexity is a major part of the challenge facing the industry. To some extent this is a cognitive issue rather than a fundamental limitation. How shall we deal with that? By returning to “easy” ideas like centralization and brute force that scale poorly we might be able to stave off dealing with the issues, but at what cost to resilience and fault tolerance?
There are many topics we have not been able to cover in this paper. A full analysis of current datacenter patterns in relation to different kinds of application architectures, scales and economies also seems overdue. Today we hear mainly about the massive social media datacenters. While this might be relevant for shared cloud services, there are still questions to be answered about how best to scale physical networks for different kinds of applications.
It would be interesting to compare and contrast the different approaches developed by ourselves (the authors) in regard to these challenges, and see how they could be sewn into a unified view. How does IPv6 fare in the current picture, what about MPLS and other technologies? How shall we identify fitness for purpose without losing comprehensibility of networks?
Because of cloud patterns and the resource reusability they enable, it has become common to say that datacenter traffic patterns are changing from traditional “North-South” to “East-West” due to the nature of compute virtualization. Many authors have commented that one could learn from biological systems in this regard[@mark_burgess_computer_1998; @gerald_jay_sussman_building_2007], because biology has clearly evolved systems that embody the properties we find desirable for building robust networks. Paul Baran foresaw an Internet that was a lattice-like mesh[@baran] for resilience. However, the Internet has a hierarchical structure[@linked] that is more fragile, and we tend to favor tidy hierarchies over robust meshes. Robustness might appear complex, but its underlying principles are simple, and can be modelled in our promise-theory based approach.
The challenges of scaling data communications are amongst the most difficult we now face in IT. We believe that these are crucial and exciting times, especially for network innovation, as all aspects of infrastructure become key players in the design of society’s critical information systems.
Acknowledgments {#acknowledgments .unnumbered}
===============
We would like to thank Dinesh Dutt for illuminating conversations. MB would like to thank John Willis.
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
NASA Terminates X-ray Telescope Project Amid Rising Costs
In terminating the Gravity and Extreme Magnetism Small Explorer (GEMS) project, an X-ray telescope mission that was launched to study black holes and various space-time theories, NASA has left taxpayers with a bill worth $43.5 million. The program’s overall price tag was initially marked at $119 million (not including the rocket that was to be launched into orbit), but the space agency has already doled out tens of millions of dollars, and the project was 20 to 30 percent over budget, according to briefing charts received by SpaceNews.com.
GEMS had been blueprinted, but not yet constructed, and it would have designed X-ray telescopes that are sensitive to polarized light, intended to provide astronomers with a tool to examine magnetic fields surrounding neutron stars, black holes, and other high-energy objects.
According to SpaceNews.com, axing the X-ray telescope mission will also cost the agency millions of dollars in fees, inflating the total liability cost to as much as $56 million. “The GEMS project was initiated under a very well designed cost cap … it was clear they would not be able be completed within their cost cap,” NASA astrophysics director Paul Hertz noted.
NASA made the decision to shutter the GEMS project last month after an independent cost estimate revealed that it would likely surpass a revised $135-million cost cap that was instituted on spacecraft development early this year. Adding to the $43.5 million that was spent by May, termination liability costs could total about $13 million, with aerospace contractor Orbital Sciences Corporation owing nearly half of that amount.
GEMS was one of two Small Explorer-class astrophysics projects chosen in 2009 to launch between 2012 and 2015. The other Small Explorer mission, the Interface Region Spectrometer (IRIS), is scheduled to launch next year on a Pegasus XL rocket under a $40 million contract NASA awarded two years ago. According to new budget documents, the space agency is slated to spend $180 million on the IRIS mission by its 2015 wrap-up date. Those same budget documents showed GEMS costing somewhere between $174 million and $230 million, depending on the project’s ultimate launch date.
Of course, the GEMS program is not alone among U.S. aerospace boondoggles, as other space projects have also wasted tens of millions of taxpayer dollars. Indeed, NASA’s X-ray telescope program adds to a growing list of major U.S. science projects that have recently been terminated:
This week, the space program landed with a final thud as NASA donated the Space Shuttle Enterprise to a science museum in New York and ceded the space race to the private sector. President Obama killed the Constellation project, intended to create a successor to the shuttle, in early 2010.
The Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) lost funding from the NSF in late 2010. The project — a “dark matter” detector — rebounded when the Department of Energy funded a new project, the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF).
There’s a barren field at a science lab near Chicago. Just a few years ago, the Fermilab Tevatron particle accelerator was whisking atoms around a 3.9-mile oval and crashing them into one another, looking for signs of the early universe. Last September, that experiment — which cost about $120 million to build in 1983, not including ongoing maintenance costs — was closed as well.
Further, one of the space agency’s flagship programs, the James Webb Space Telescope — the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope — has been confronted with severe delays and budget overruns, now estimated to cost nearly $9 billion. In 2006, the Webb program was projected to cost $2.4 billion. In 2008, the cost more than doubled, rising to $5.1 billion. Last summer, NASA disclosed that it had already spent $3.5 billion and needed an additional $3.6 billion to fund the project, which has been delayed by four years.
“The increases have gotten larger, not smaller, which indicates they don’t really have their hands around the problem,” said Alan Stern, a former NASA administrator and critic of the Webb project, adding that he thinks Congress should terminate the mission. “I think it rewards bad management at a time when taxpayers are very concerned about government spending.”
Hertz affirmed that the technology needed to develop the GEMS instrument took far longer than expected, which boosted the project’s overall cost. And because it did not pass through the formulation phase, GEMS did not generate any flight hardware that could be recovered for other space missions. Hertz lamented, “We are in the process of formally notifying Congress of this decision.”
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If you need to report a comment, please flag it and it will be reviewed. Thank you again for being a valued reader of The New American. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Contiki's Eastern America tour will give you action and adventure, as well as time to chill out and unwind. From the relaxed beauty of the Southern States to the fast-paced lifestyle of the Northern hotspots, get a good taste of America! While you're up north, why not get consumed by the city that never sleeps, New York. And down South, get charmed by some traditional southern hospitality. Stil...
Viva Mexico! This place truly has it all! Crammed full of rich cultural tradition and diverse geography, there is something for everyone - from Puerto Vallarta and Cancun to the jungles of the Yucatan and from the World Heritage Site of Chichen Itza to the thriving metropolis of Mexico City. At every turn, there is so much to see and do! Immerse yourself in adventure activities, water sports, c...
Chill out & challenge yourself in Canada's dynamic duo of provinces: Alberta & British Columbia. The diverse physical beauty from Vancouver to Whistler to Banff features the greatest of the great outdoors. Take a hike or ride a bike along the many scenic, wildlife-laced trails. Better yet, we'll put you on a gondola, horseback, helicopter, or whatever improves your views point for the endless, ... | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
Making localization files easy to use for translators
I want to make my application available in many languages. I started using Resource Files, but there is a little problem with them. I want other people to have access to these files. Visual Studio creates .dll for each file and that is not very easy to use. I want people to be able to see language files in an easy way.
My application is modular, so people can create their own plugins. Letting them translate my application to different languages seems obvious, but I can't find any way to let them do it.
A:
On your .resx file right click > properties and choose 'Content' for Build Action. Build your application.
Right click the project node in solution explorer > Open Folder in File Explorer. Inside the Properties folder your .resx files will be located. Open it in your editor of choice and modify it. Restart your application and presto!
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Clegg and Farage share 'long lingering kiss' after debate
Shocking rumours are emerging this evening that Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage were involved in a bizarre incident follwing last night's television debate on Europe. A BBC employee has claimed that the two men shared ' a long lingering kiss' moments after the show ended. The staff member who does not want to be indentifed told us ' it was surreal, we were in the Green Room and they were still arguing about stuff that had been said in the debate, we thought there was going to be a dust-up, they squared up and the next minute they were eating each other faces, I didn't know where to look'. It is believed that the two political adversaries had to be separated by their aides and that they were both then hurried out of the building.
Another BBC employee who was present said 'one minute they're at each other throats the next they were snogging like two drunk teenagers at a New Years Eve party, I've been at the BBC for 40 years and have never seen anything like it, at least not since Heseltine and Kinnock that once after Quetion Time.' Both men were unavailable for comment. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Impact of a school snack program on the dietary intake of grade six to ten First Nation students living in a remote community in northern Ontario, Canada.
School snack and breakfast programs may be especially important in remote northern communities where many households are food insecure. Despite the strong potential for school programs to improve the dietary intake and eating behaviours of children and youth, very few studies have reported on the effects of school nutrition programs in Aboriginal communities. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a school snack program on the dietary intake of grade six to ten First Nation students living in a remote community in northern Ontario. Data were collected in November 2004 and December 2007 with grade six to ten (aged 10-18 years) students (n=63 and n=50, respectively) using a validated web-based 24 hour diet recall survey, the WEB-Q. Food group consumption and nutrient intake of students participating in the school snack program on the previous day were compared with students who chose not to participate. In each year, ANOVA was used to assess differences between participants and non-participants, genders, and grade groups. The second data collection in December of 2007 included five questions asking students about their participation, preferences, and impressions of the snack program. Students participating in the snack program during the 2004 data collection (37%; n=23) compared with those who did not (63%; n=40) had significantly (p<0.05) higher mean intakes from the 'Vegetables and Fruit' food group (7.5 vs 3.4 servings), folate (420 vs 270 μg), dietary fiber (18 vs 8 g), vitamin C (223 vs 94 mg), calcium (1055 vs 719 mg) and iron (16.5 vs 11.7 mg). For the 2007 data collection, snack program participants (52%; n=26) had higher intakes from the 'Milk and Alternatives' food group (3.3 vs 2.2 servings), vitamin A (697 vs 551 RE [retinol equivalents]), calcium (1186 vs 837 mg), and vitamin D (6.9 vs 4.4 μg) and significantly lower intakes of 'Other' foods (6.0 vs 7.2 servings) compared with non-participants (48%; n=24). For 2004 and 2007, differences in intake also occurred by gender and grade groupings, with no interaction effects between snack participation and gender or grade. With the exception of 'Meat and Alternatives' in 2004, there was a trend for a higher percentage of students to meet dietary recommendations if they participated in the snack program. Students indicated that the three things they liked most about the school snack program were the juice (50%), that the program kept them from feeling hungry at school (40%), and that they got a snack at school every day (32%). Students indicated that the snack program helped them to eat healthier by motivating them (74%), eating more fruit (86%), and making better dietary choices (68%). Given the positive impact of the program on the food and nutrient intake of school snack program participants, qualitative feedback will be used to enhance the program and participation. Clearly, school snack programs can be an important venue to address the nutritional vulnerability of First Nation youth living in remote communities. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Beckett v. Kyler
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
January 26, 2006
HARRY L. BECKETT, PETITIONERv.KENNETH D. KYLER, ET AL., RESPONDENTS
The opinion of the court was delivered by: Sylvia H. Rambo United States District Judge
MEMORANDUM
I. Introduction
Petitioner, Harry L. Beckett, an inmate at the State Correctional Institution in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, commenced this action pro se with a petition for writ of habeas corpus filed pursuant to the provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 2254. (Doc. 1.) In accordance with Mason v. Meyers, 208 F.3d 414 (3d Cir. 2000) (requiring district courts to provide notice to pro se habeas petitioners of the implications of 28 U.S.C. § 2244(b) before ruling on their petitions), an order (Doc. 35) was issued advising Petitioner that: (1) he could have the document ruled on as filed, that is, as a § 2254 petition for writ of habeas corpus and heard as such, but lose his ability to file a second or successive petition absent certification by the court of appeals, or (2) withdraw his petition and file one, all inclusive § 2254 petition within the one-year statute of limitations period prescribed by 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d). Petitioner responded by submitting a Notice of Election (Doc. 36) in which he opted to have his petition considered as filed. The parties have briefed the issues, and the matter is ripe for disposition. For the reasons that follow, the petition will be denied.
II. Background
Unless otherwise noted, the following facts are extracted from the trial court's opinion and order denying Petitioner's post-trial motions (Doc. 39, Ex. H).*fn1
In the summer of 1991, Petitioner, Lewis Manor, and Isaac Williams traveled from Georgia to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, ostensibly to pick up two vehicles for Petitioner's girlfriend, Ursula Gore. However, when the three men arrived in the Harrisburg area, Petitioner purchased two knives at a local K-Mart and they proceeded to the apartment of Samuel Gore, Ursula Gore's estranged husband. The trio walked to the apartment building and approached the entrance, led by Petitioner. Petitioner knocked on the door, spoke to the man that answered, and entered the apartment. While Manor and Williams waited for Petitioner outside, they heard loud noises, talking and an argument. When they determined the source of the noise, they entered the apartment.
Upon entering, they saw Petitioner struggling with Samuel Gore. Manor and Williams ran out of the apartment, and they returned to their car. Shortly thereafter, Petitioner joined them, and the three men drove to a car wash, where Petitioner removed his bloody clothes. Then, the trio returned to Ursula Gore's apartment in Pembroke, Georgia.
That evening, Samuel Gore was discovered and transported to a local hospital. The victim never regained consciousness, and medical staff was unable to save his life. An autopsy the next day revealed that the victim had died of multiple stab wounds.
Based upon the crime scene investigation and other evidence, the police focused their investigation on Ursula Gore and her connections in Georgia. Ultimately, Petitioner, Ursula Gore, Williams, and Manor were implicated in the murder of Samuel Gore, and all four were arrested and charged with criminal homicide and conspiracy. Manor struck a deal with prosecutors, receiving less than life imprisonment in exchange for testimony and cooperation against Petitioner and Ursula Gore. Williams' trial was severed from the others, and Petitioner and Ursula Gore were tried together.*fn2 On November 23, 1992, Petitioner was convicted by a jury in the Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, Court of Common Pleas of first degree murder and criminal conspiracy. Petitioner's post-trial motions were denied (id., Ex. H), the Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed the conviction and sentence (id., Ex. J), and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied a petition for allowance of appeal (id., Ex. L).
On July 24, 1996, Petitioner filed a pro se petition for relief under Pennsylvania's Post Conviction Relief Act ("PCRA"), 42 Pa. C. S. § 9541 et seq. Subsequently, the PCRA court appointed counsel to Petitioner, and counsel filed a supplemental PCRA petition on February 18, 1997. The supplemental PCRA was dismissed on April 9, 1997, and Petitioner appealed to the Superior Court.
Thereafter, Petitioner filed pro se motions to dismiss appointed counsel in the PCRA court and in the Pennsylvania Superior Court. On September 2, 1998, the Pennsylvania Superior Court vacated the PCRA court's dismissal of the petition and remanded the case for a hearing. On remand, Petitioner was granted leave to amend his petition. (Doc. 39, Ex. Z at 11.) After a hearing, the PCRA court denied relief (Doc. 39, Ex. AA). On June 27, 2002, the Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed (Doc. 39, Ex. CC), and on April 9, 2003 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied allowance of appeal (Doc. 39, Ex. GG). The instant petition ensued. Respondent claims that Petitioner has procedurally defaulted three of his four claims and, in the alternative, all of Petitioner's claims are meritless.
III. Discussion
A. Procedural Default
Petitioner raises the following issues in his habeas petition:
1) The trial court erred when it denied his motion to sever his trial from the trial of Ursula Gore, in violation of Petitioner's Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights;
2) The trial court violated Petitioner's Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights in dismissing a juror for cause because the juror stated in voir dire that it would be "extremely difficult" to impose the death penalty;
3) The trial court's jury charge was legally deficient in several aspects, in violation of Petitioner's Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights;
4) Prosecutorial misconduct, in violation of Petitioner's Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, in conveying a false impression that the lead prosecution witness, Lewis Manor, would "be facing a lengthy jail sentence." (Doc. 1-1 at 4-5.)
Respondents claim that Petitioner has procedurally defaulted on the first three grounds for relief in his habeas petition. The court agrees as to issues one and three only. "A federal court may not grant a writ of habeas corpus unless (1) 'the applicant has exhausted the remedies available in the courts of the state . . . .' " Henderson v. Frank, 155 F.3d 159, 164 (3d Cir. 1998) (citing 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b)(1)). The exhaustion requirement is satisfied when the state courts have had an opportunity to review and correct alleged constitutional violations. Evans v. Court of Common Pleas, 959 F.2d 1227, 1230 (3d Cir. 1992). The exhaustion requirement is not a mere formality. It serves the interests of comity between the federal and state systems, by allowing the state an initial opportunity to determine and correct any violations of a prisoner's federal rights. Crews v. Horn, 360 F.3d 146, 151 (3d Cir. 2004).
The habeas corpus petitioner bears the burden of establishing exhaustion of state court remedies. McMahon v. Fulcomer, 821 F.2d 934, 940 (3d Cir. 1987). The threshold inquiry in the exhaustion analysis is whether the claims asserted in the habeas corpus petition have been "fairly presented" to the state courts. Picard v. Connor, 404 U.S. 270, 275 (1971). Fair presentation requires that the "substantial equivalent" of both the legal theory and the facts supporting the federal claim are submitted to the state courts, and the same method of legal analysis applied in the federal courts must be available to the state courts. Evans, 959 F. 2d at 1230; Lambert v. Blackwell, 134 F.3d 506, 513 (3d Cir. 1997). In addition, to satisfy exhaustion, the state court must be put on notice that a federal claim is being asserted. Keller v. Larkins, 251 F.3d 408, 413 (3d Cir. 2001). The exhaustion requirement is satisfied if the petitioner's claims are either presented to the state courts directly on appeal from the judgment of sentence, or through a collateral proceeding, such as a petition under the PCRA, and it is not necessary to present federal claims to state courts both on direct appeal and in a PCRA proceeding. Evans, 959 F.2d at 1230-31; Swanger v. Zimmerman, 750 F.2d 291, 295 (3d Cir. 1984).
Applying these legal principles to the instant matter, the court concludes that Petitioner has failed to exhaust issues one and three (refusal to sever and deficient jury charge) presented in his petition. Although both of these issues were raised and argued in Petitioner's direct appeal*fn3 (Doc. 39, Ex. G), they were raised and discussed exclusively in terms of state law. Further, none of the issues in the instant petition were raised in the amended PCRA.*fn4 Thus, the court finds that
Petitioner failed to adequately put the state court on notice that a federal claim was being asserted, Keller, 251 F.3d at 413, and he has failed to fairly present these federal Constitutional claims for state court review. Lines v. Larkins, 208 F.3d 153, 159 (3d Cir. 2000). Therefore, issues one and three in the present petition are unexhausted.
If Petitioner could still present his unexhausted federal claims (issues one and three) to the state courts, the instant petition would be dismissed without prejudice so that he could pursue these claims through a new PCRA petition. However, the time for presenting the issues to the state court in another PCRA has expired. See 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9545(b)(1). The Pennsylvania state courts have made it clear that the time limitations set forth in the PCRA are jurisdictional. Commonwealth v. Fahy, 558 Pa. 313, 737 A.2d 214 (1999); Commonwealth v. Banks, 726 A.2d 374, 376 (Pa. 1999); Commonwealth v. Peterkin, 722 A.2d 638, 641 (Pa. 1998). "Unlike a statute of limitations, a jurisdictional time limitation is not subject to equitable principles such as tolling except as provided by statute. Thus, the filing period is only extended as permitted; in the case of the PCRA, the time limitations are extended upon satisfaction of the exceptions found in § 9545(b)(1)(i)-(iii). . . ." Fahy, 737 A.2d at 222. Therefore, an otherwise untimely petition may nevertheless be considered if the petition alleges, and the petitioner proves, that:
(i) The failure to raise the claim previously was the result of interference by government officials with the presentation of the claim in violation of the Constitution or laws of this Commonwealth or the Constitution or laws of the United States;
(ii) The facts upon which the claim is predicated were unknown to the petitioner and could not have been ascertained by the exercise of due diligence; or
(iii) The right asserted is a constitutional right that was recognized by the Supreme Court of the United States or the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania after the time provided in this section has been held by that court to apply retroactively. § 9545(b)(1)(i)-(iii). Petitioner has not raised and proven any of the enumerated grounds, and the court is unaware of any that would be available to Petitioner.
As provided by the Third Circuit:
When a claim is not exhausted because it has not been "fairly presented" to the state courts, but state procedural rules bar the applicant from seeking further relief in state courts, the exhaustion requirement is satisfied because there is "an absence of available State corrective process." In such cases, however, applicants are considered to have procedurally defaulted their claims, and federal courts may not consider the merits of such claims unless the applicant establishes 'cause and prejudice' or a 'fundamental miscarriage of justice' to excuse his or her default.
McCandless v. Vaughn, 172 F.3d 255, 260 (3d Cir. 1999) (internal citations omitted); see also, Wenger v. Frank, 266 F.3d 218, 224 (3d Cir. 2001). Petitioner has not alleged cause or prejudice, nor has he demonstrated that a lack of review by the court will constitute a fundamental miscarriage of justice in regard to issues one and three.*fn5
Consequently, Petitioner is precluded from pursuing federal habeas corpus relief in regard to issues one and three, and the Court will limit review of the merits to issues two and four.
An application for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court, shall not be granted with respect to any claim that was adjudicated on the merits in State court proceedings unless the adjudication of the claim--
(1) resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States; or
(2) resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding.
The "contrary to" provision contained in § (d)(1) is evaluated as follows:
[T]he inquiry must be whether the Supreme Court has established a rule that determines the outcome of the petition. Accordingly, we adopt O'Brien's holding that "to obtain relief at this stage, a habeas petitioner must show that Supreme Court precedent requires an outcome contrary to that reached by the relevant state court." In other words, it is not sufficient for the petitioner to show merely that his interpretation of Supreme Court precedent is more plausible than the state court's; rather, the petitioner must demonstrate that Supreme Court precedent requires the contrary outcome.
Matteo v. Superintendent, SCI -Albion, 171 F.3d 877, 888 (3d Cir. 1999) (quoting O'Brien v. Dubois, 145 F.3d 16, 24-25 (1st Cir. 1998)). The appropriate standard for the "unreasonable application" clause is whether the state court's application of Supreme Court precedent was objectively reasonable. The federal habeas court should not grant the petition unless the state court decision, evaluated objectively and on the merits, resulted in an outcome that cannot reasonably be justified under existing Supreme Court precedent. . . . [T]he primary significance of the phrase "as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States" is that federal courts may not grant habeas corpus relief based on the state court's failure to adhere to the precedent of a lower federal court on an issue that the Supreme Court has not addressed. Thus, in certain cases it may be appropriate to consider the decisions of inferior federal courts as helpful amplifications of Supreme Court precedent.
Matteo, 171 F.3d at 889-90 (emphasis added).
Section 2254(e)(1) contains the presumption of correctness provision that greatly heightens the degree of deference paid to a state court's findings of fact. The burden is on the Petitioner to rebut the presumption by clear and convincing evidence. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(e)(1). Ultimately, after application of the standards set forth above to Petitioner' remaining issues -- 2 and 4 -- it cannot be said that the state courts have come to an improper conclusion.
C. Issue 2 - Dismissal of Juror for Cause
Petitioner claims that the trial court erroneously "excused [a juror] in this capital case, for cause, merely because it would be 'extremely difficult' for that juror to impose the death penalty." (Doc. 1 at 4.) During voire dire, the jurors were asked whether they would be able to apply the law and, if appropriate, impose the death penalty in the case. One juror ("Juror No. 25") was excused for cause, based upon answers to the questions. Although this juror initially stated that it would be extremely difficult to impose the death penalty, on further questioning he ultimately conceded that he could not imagine himself accepting responsibility for reaching a death verdict under the circumstances of the case, despite the fact that the circumstances might warrant a death penalty under the law. (Doc. 39, Ex. J at 8-9.)
The Supreme Court has held that "the proper standard for determining when a prospective juror may be excluded for cause because of his or her views on capital punishment . . . is whether the juror's views would 'prevent or substantially impair the performance of his duties as a juror in accordance with his instructions and his oath.'" Wainwright v. Witt, 469 U.S. 412, 424 (1985); see also Morgan v. Illinois, 504 U.S. 719, 728 (1992). In reviewing the issue, the Pennsylvania Superior Court found that the "extremely thorough colloquy . . . showed that Juror No. 25 held deep-seated philosophical and moral beliefs consistent with an inability to ever impose the death penalty." (Doc. 39, Ex. J at 9) (emphasis added). On review, this court concludes that the standard applied by the Pennsylvania Superior Court is consistent with Supreme Court precedent on this issue, and the decision to strike the juror for cause is well-supported by the evidence in the record. Accordingly, Petitioner has failed to demonstrate that the decision was contrary to Federal law as decided by the Supreme Court or that the decision is an unreasonable application of the facts, and the claim will be denied.
D. Issue 4 - Prosecutorial Misconduct
Petitioner also claims that the Commonwealth violated its obligation to disclose evidence of a secret deal with the prosecution's chief witness (Manor), in violation of its obligation to make such disclosure under the doctrine established in Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963). In Brady, the Supreme Court held that "the suppression by the prosecution of requested evidence favorable to an accused upon request violates due process where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment, irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution." Id. at 87. To establish a Brady violation, three factors must coalesce:
(1) the evidence must be favorable to the accused, either because it is exculpatory or because it is impeaching;
(2) the evidence must have been suppressed by the state, either wilfully or inadvertently; and (3) prejudice must have ensued. Stickler v. Greene, 527 U.S. 263, 281-282 (1999).
Petitioner claims that Manor had an undisclosed deal with the prosecution, the deal could have been used to impeach Manor's testimony, and the jury would have discounted Manor's testimony if it had known of the secret deal. There is no dispute that Manor struck a deal with the prosecution in exchange for his cooperation in the prosecution of Petitioner, Gore and Williams. However, the terms of the agreement (Manor would spend less than life in prison) were fully disclosed to Petitioner. It is also undisputed that the charges against Manor were dismissed pursuant to a prosecution motion for a nolle prosequi, several months after the conclusion of trials of Petitioner, Gore and Williams. Nevertheless, Petitioner has not referenced anything in the record, and the court is not aware of anything in the more than 2,200 pages of exhibits in this case, to support the existence of the purported undisclosed deal.
To the contrary, Manor consistently testified that he was only promised that he would spend less than life in prison, and Petitioner concedes that this agreement was fully disclosed. Further, it was not until the trials concluded that the prosecution was convinced that Manor was not implicated in wrongdoing, thereby prompting the nolle prosequi motion. Ultimately, Petitioner has failed to fulfill his burden that the state court denial of relief on this issue was contrary to Supreme Court precedent or an unreasonable interpretation of the facts, and this claim will be denied.
IV. Conclusion
Issues one and three are denied as the Petitioner has procedurally defaulted on these claims. As for issues 2 and 4, Petitioner has failed to meet his burden and these issues will be denied on the merits. An appropriate order will issue.
ORDER
In accordance with the foregoing memorandum, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT:
1) The petition for writ of habeas corpus (Doc. 1) is DENIED;
2) The Clerk of Court is directed to CLOSE this case;
3) There exists no basis for the issuance of a certificate of appealability.
SYLVIA H. RAMBO United States District Judge
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A sampling of news stories and commentary related to illegal immigrants and illegal immigration:
Preliminary results in Utah’s investigation into the leaking of private information of an illegal immigrant list” has landed two state employees on administrative leave. The investigation is continuing. Leaking/stealing such private information can result in jail time and fines for those convicted.
Arizona’s swimming in cash upon the announcement by the Secretary of the Department Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, that the state will receive $13.8 million (yes that’s an m for million) in grants this fiscal year to help secure the border. Just imagine what the state can get for that big chunk o’change! Other border states also received grants. No mention on whether the state will be reimbursed the hundreds of millions of dollars in past due bills for the care and incarceration costs of illegals in the state.
The first round of lawyers’ bill total $77,000 for initial work done defending Arizona’s new anti-illegal immigration law, SB-1070. The governor’s defense fund has raised over $1.2 million from contributions of over 25,000 people. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Trump froze aid before call with Ukraine's president asking him to probe Biden Trump denies he tied the aid to Ukraine agreeing to investigate Biden.
President Donald Trump ordered that aid to Ukraine be frozen ahead of his call with that country's president, a senior administration official confirmed to ABC News on Tuesday, while Trump acknowledged he raised the question of investigating Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.
Later Tuesday, speaking at the United Nations after news reports about the action surfaced, President Trump explicitly confirmed he had ordered aid to Ukraine frozen.
"I said hold it up," Trump told reporters during a photo-op with the U.K Prime Minister Boris Johnson. "Let's get others to pay."
"I made that loud and clear," he said and "told it to a lot of people."
His argument that European nations needed to contribute more to Ukraine was a new reason given for his claim he was concerned about sending aid -- beyond the "corruption" in Ukraine that he’s previously cited.
The Washington Post was first to report that Trump ordered Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney to hold back almost $400 million in military aid at least a week before the July 25 phone call.
Officials at the State Department and the Pentagon were told the president had “concerns” about corruption in Ukraine and wanted to analyze whether the money needed to be spent, the Post cited officials as saying and ABC News confirmed.
Trump on Monday denied that he tied releasing the aid to any investigation, insisting that he put no pressure on the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden and his family – but added it “probably possibly” would have been okay had he done so.
“No, no, I didn't,” Trump said when asked if he told the president of Ukraine that they would only get military aid if they investigated Biden during a pool spray of his meeting with Poland's president.
“I put no pressure on them, whatsoever,” Trump said of his call. “I could have, I think it would have probably possibly have been okay if I did, but I didn't I didn't put any pressure on them whatsoever, you know why because they want to do the right thing and they know about corruption, and they probably know that Joe Biden and his son are corrupt, they probably know that Joe Biden and his son are corrupt. Joe Biden and his son are corrupt.
Arriving at the United Nations Tuesday morning, he again defended his actions.
“That call was perfect. It couldn't have been nicer. Even the Ukrainian government put out a statement that that was a perfect call There was no pressure put on them whatsoever. But there was pressure put on with respect to Joe Biden. What Joe Biden did for his son, that's something they should be looking at,” Trump said.
"When you see the readout of the call, which I assume you’ll see at some point," he told reporters, they would understand the controversy was "nonsense." Trump and the White House officials were considering whether to release a transcript of the call, which Trump has both said he would like to do but then said conversations between himself and world leaders should be kept private.
The president elaborated on his assertion that the U.S. is paying more than its fair share compared to European allies.
“As far as withholding funds, those funds were paid. They were fully paid. But my complaint has always been and I withhold again and I'll continue to withhold until such time as Europe and other nations contribute to Ukraine,” Trump said.
He continued: “What I want and I insist on it is Europe has to put up money for Ukraine also. Why is it only the United States putting up the money? And by the way, we paid that money. But I always ask, aren't other countries in Europe especially putting up money for Ukraine?”
Trump's comments Tuesday came as House Democrats, responding to the Ukraine call controversy, were set to meet Tuesday afternoon about possibly moving ahead with impeachment proceedings.
Asked about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the growing calls for impeachment over the controversy over his Ukraine call, the president dismissed it as "nonsense."
“I think it's ridiculous. It's a witch hunt. I'm leading in the polls. They have no idea how they stop me. The only way they can try is through impeachment. This has never happened to a president before. There's never been a thing like this before. It's nonsense,” Trump said. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Belgium's Pieters running on empty ahead of World Cup of Golf
DUBAI (Reuters) - Thomas Pieters says he cannot wait for the season to end but is hoping to get enough rest in the coming days to help Belgium to victory at the World Cup of Golf next weekend.
The 24-year-old was a sensation at the Ryder Cup in Hazeltine in October, becoming the first European rookie to ever secure four points in his debut appearance.
However, his performance in Minnesota belied what has been a lean period for Pieters on the circuit since winning the Made in Denmark event in August, and he was off the pace again in Dubai at the DP World Tour Championship.
"I'm done," Pieters told Reuters after finishing with a two-under round to end four-under for the tournament.
"I came in knowing I was running out of energy already. It's just one of those weeks, you know, you just can't wait for the season to end to be honest."
The end-of-season program has been grueling for Pieters, with tournaments on four continents in the last month. He now heads to a fifth to compete in the World Cup of Golf in Melbourne, Australia.
"You can't do much, anything but sleep," said Pieters, when asked how he could lift himself for the contest. "I hope I sleep a bit on the plane and then give it my best next week."
One thing which should help Pieters, and Belgium, is the performance in the Middle East of World Cup playing partner Nicolas Colsaerts. He went into the final round at Jumeirah Golf Estates tied for second, one shot off the lead.
"Of course," said Pieters on the impact of Colsaerts' Dubai form. "We have a good shot at contending and maybe winning it, so it's very exciting times." | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
Making AForge VideoCaptureDevice work with Unity
I'm trying to make a camera show on a plane in Unity3D. I'm using code from the AForge documentation: http://www.aforgenet.com/framework/docs/html/f4d3c2ba-605c-f066-f969-68260ce5e141.htm
except I'm inserting a webcam through Unity instead of AForges usual way, where it wants to make FilterInfoCollection. If I'm not wrong this is needed for Unity to recognize the webcam.
However my code is not working what so ever, the webcam starts (because of my webCam.Play()), but nothing else happens. By debugging I figured the program wasn't reaching my video_NewFrame function, where I believe I need to initialize in some way when I'm using Unity?
How do I set this up properly?
using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Drawing.Imaging;
using System.IO;
using AForge.Video;
using AForge.Video.DirectShow;
using AForge.Imaging.Filters;
using AForge.Imaging;
using AForge;
public class LoadVideo : MonoBehaviour {
public VideoCaptureDevice videoSource;
WebCamTexture webCam;
void Start(){
webCam = new WebCamTexture();
webCam.Play();
}
// Update is called once per frame
object b;
public WebCamDevice wc;
public GameObject originalFeed;
void Update () {
videoSource = new VideoCaptureDevice(webCam.deviceName);
videoSource.NewFrame += new NewFrameEventHandler(video_NewFrame);
videoSource.Start();
originalFeed.GetComponent<Renderer>().material.mainTexture = originalFeedTexture;
}
public delegate void EventPrototype(System.EventArgs args);
Texture2D originalFeedTexture;
void video_NewFrame(object sender, NewFrameEventArgs eventArgs)
{
Debug.Log("you here mate");
Bitmap video = (Bitmap)eventArgs.Frame.Clone();
MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream();
video.Save(memoryStream, ImageFormat.Jpeg);
byte[] bitmapRecord = memoryStream.ToArray();
originalFeedTexture.LoadImage(bitmapRecord);
}
}
A:
First of all, I am not sure that AForge will work in Unity. The reason is because it uses .NET 4 or more while Unity uses .NET 3.5.
Other than this, there are several problems in your code.
1.WebCamTexture is used by Unity to start capturing frames from the camera.
2.VideoCaptureDevice is used by AForge to start capturing frames from the camera.
The 4 Problems:
1.You have to use one not both. You can't combine both of them and I believe that the camera can be accessed from one location at a time.
When you did webCam.Play(); then videoSource.Start();, you are trying to use one camera from multiple API. The VideoCaptureDevice should be used if you want to use AForge API.
2.You are calling videoSource = new VideoCaptureDevice(webCam.deviceName); and starting the camera with videoSource.Start(); every frame in the Update function. That should be done once by moving it to the Start function. You also need to register to the NewFrame event once.
3. originalFeedTexture is not initialized but is used in the video_NewFrame and Update function.
4.You can get the webcam names with the WebCamDevice class. The example code at the end shows how. Don't use WebCamTexture for that.
5.It is extremely likely that videoSource.NewFrame is invoked/called from another Thread. So, when your video_NewFrame function is called, the originalFeedTexture.LoadImage(bitmapRecord); line of code will throw an exception that looks like this:
.... can only be called from the main thread
You can have to find a way to call that line of code in Unity's main Thread or the Update function since you can't use Unity API(Texture2D/originalFeedTexture) in another Thread.
Start with the code below, maybe you can get it working. Not sure about this whole AForge+Unity thing due to .NET version difference. Problem #5 is not fixed in this solution. You can use Unity Threading Helper plugin(free) for that.
public class LoadVideo : MonoBehaviour
{
public VideoCaptureDevice videoSource;
public GameObject originalFeed;
Texture2D originalFeedTexture;
void Start()
{
init();
}
void init()
{
originalFeedTexture = new Texture2D(128, 128);
//Get WebCam names
WebCamDevice[] devices = WebCamTexture.devices;
if (devices.Length <= 0)
{
Debug.LogError("No Web Cam Found....Exiting");
return; //Exit
}
videoSource = new VideoCaptureDevice(devices[0].name);
videoSource.NewFrame += new NewFrameEventHandler(video_NewFrame);
videoSource.Start();
}
void stop()
{
videoSource.SignalToStop();
}
void Update ()
{
originalFeed.GetComponent<Renderer>().material.mainTexture = originalFeedTexture;
}
public delegate void EventPrototype(System.EventArgs args);
void video_NewFrame(object sender, NewFrameEventArgs eventArgs)
{
Debug.Log("you here mate");
Bitmap video = (Bitmap)eventArgs.Frame.Clone();
MemoryStream memoryStream = new MemoryStream();
video.Save(memoryStream, ImageFormat.Jpeg);
byte[] bitmapRecord = memoryStream.ToArray();
originalFeedTexture.LoadImage(bitmapRecord);
}
//Make sure to stop when run time ends
void OnDisable()
{
stop();
}
}
I am trying to split the camera into frames, on which I then can use
AForges methods.
If that's all you want to do, you can use Unity's WebCamTexture then convert it to Texture2D:
WebCamTexture webCam = new WebCamTexture (160, 120);
webCam.play();
Texture2D originalFeedTexture = new Texture2D(webCam.width, webCam.height);
originalFeedTexture.SetPixels(webCam.GetPixels());
originalFeedTexture.Apply();
///Use it then destroy it
Object.Destroy(originalFeedTexture);
The frame is now stored in the originalFeedTexture variable.
If you need the Texture2D frames as bytes, maybe for sending over network:
JPG bytes:
byte[] bytes = originalFeedTexture.EncodeToJPG();
PNG bytes:
byte[] bytes = originalFeedTexture.EncodeToPNG();
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Throughout the history of civilized culture, the most efficient method for categorizing diverse groups of people has consistently been the utilization of labels. Slapping specific members of society with a label eliminates many potentially problematic sociological and communicative obstacles. A sufficient labeling system provides a series of references that are universally understood and accepted amongst all the groups involved. Unfortunately when using labels to characterize others, we tend to generate stereotypes within these labeled groups. No matter how accurately they might portray a group of people, stereotypes by definition are generalizations and assumptions at best. Some stereotypes can definitively expose some accurate character traits among a portion of individuals within a group while other stereotypes don’t describe even a small section of a group yet continue to dwell within our culture to appallingly defame and discriminate that group.
When regarding the millennial generation (which I belong), society has almost unanimously branded them with some unfavorable stereotypes that admittedly, I agree with to a certain extent. One of the most popular millennial stereotypes involves their unreasonable expectation of acquiring quick wealth without putting forth hard work.
A significant portion of millennials possess a strong sense of self entitlement.
Being 100% guilty of this stereotype years ago, this does apply to more than a few millennials and it’s easy to understand how. Truthfully speaking, my generation has never experienced any global threatening hardships that previous generations suffered through. American millennials have never:
Despite living through a number of horrifically tragic events such as 9/11 or school shootings, millennials have yet to encounter the types of catastrophes that have pushed older generations to the brink worldwide chaos. As a whole, no other generation of human beings have benefited more from the hard work and sacrifices of their elders like the millennial generation has. Despite all the political drama that continues to pollute our way of life today, we live during a fascinating time period in history bearing witness to unprecedented medical and technological advancements.
When a thriving free country like the United States goes through a long stretch of peace and prosperity, the fearful anxieties of war, deadly illnesses, and evil governments slowly subside with the passing of time. Having said that, it’s easy to see a shift in American family culture the past 70 years. During the 1940’s-1950’s, family values and patriotism enriched the moral fiber of our society primarily because that generation disregarded racial, political, and sociocultural differences to unite against the largest global threat ever in Nazi Germany. At some point between then and now, a cultural mutation swept across America that introduced a notion in which every person special and every child is a winner no matter what. In theory this concept is beautiful however it completely contradicts the nature of the real world. Unfortunately for some millennials, this “everyone’s a winner” philosophy has evolved into a preconceived sense of entitlement in which they believe success and wealth is owed to them rather than earned.
Nothing symbolizes the “everyone's a winner” ideology more than the participation trophy. Call me old school, but receiving awards and trophies should only apply to those achieve goals through extra practice and hard work. As wonderful as it sounds for every child to take home a trophy at the end of the year party, this undoubtedly conveys a message which devalues the incentive to work hard. Instilling a strong work ethic within a child can never start too young. A solid work ethic requires continuous reinforcement throughout childhood and consistent maintenance as adults. The sooner children understand the concept that hard work equals success, the better.
Going back to millennials, we mentioned their most popular stereotype was expecting something for nothing. Well go figure, the debut of the participation trophy came in the late 1980’s to early 1990’s which happens to directly coincide with the birth of the millennial generation. Is it a coincidence that the most self-entitled generation of Americans ever were the first beneficiaries of the participation trophy? If a generation of children grow within a society that hands out special rewards to everyone no matter what, it makes perfect sense that some of these kids become self-entitled as adults. Children don’t need to take home a trophy to feel special. The love and support of friends and family light up a child’s life much brighter than an oversized paperweight can.
I’m not sure exactly which youth sports team initiated the participation trophy movement, but I’m almost certain that team either lost the championship the year before or lost every game. The underlying reason why the majority of society would rather hand out trophies to everyone is simply because that guarantees no child feels left out or sad. That philosophy is fine up to a certain age however, a transition must occur where a trophy symbolizes the rewards of hard work. If a child feels sad if they don’t get one, channel that sadness into motivation and worker harder in the off season. Unfortunately for some millennials who were given a trophies all their lives, the game of life doesn’t hand out anything for just participating. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Biological importance of glycosylation.
Glycosylation is the primary cause of microheterogeneity in proteins (glycoforms). These reflect complexity at both molecular and cellular levels. Protein sugar prints are conserved and not random under normal physiological conditions. There are many potential functions of glycosylation. For instance, physical properties include: folding, trafficking, packing, stabilisation, protease protection, quaternary structure and organization of water structure. Properties relating to recognition and biological triggering are characterized by: weak interactions, multiple presentation and precise geometry. Many of the properties may only operate in a specific biological context. Changes in sugar prints may both reflect and results in physiological changes, e.g. cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. It is necessary, in many systems, to evaluate glycosylation. This requires accurate monitoring of sugar prints of using automated and predictive technology. Glycosylation often affords a sensitive means of monitoring pharmaceutical products for Quality Control. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra
Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra (SBKK) is an Indian cultural institution which runs a noted school for music, dance and performing arts in New Delhi. It was founded by Sumitra Charat Ram in 1952, and imparts training in Indian classical dance styles and music, including Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Chhau, Hindustani Classical music, both Vocal and Instrumental. It associated organisation is the Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts at Safdar Hasmi Marg, in the Mandi House area, the cultural hub of Delhi, the centre includes a theater for the performing arts, a theatre repertory company and an acting school.
Often referred as Bharatiya Kala Kendra, the Kala Kendra hold an important place in history performing arts education in India. Its current director is Shobha Deepak Singh, daughter of its founder, Sumitra Charat Ram. Today, it is best known for its annual Ramlila, the enactment of the life of Rama which takes place during the 10-day Dussehra festival. First begun at the center in 1957, the Ramlila has, over the years, used different choreographers and style to include both folk and Indian classical dance to produce fresh choreographies.
History
Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra finds its origin in a Jhankar, a society founded in 1947 for an appreciation of Indian classical music and dance, gradually it started offering training in music and dance and came to be known as Bharatiya Kala Kendra. Eventually it moved to Copernicus Marg where it was renamed Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra, later it was registered under the same name in 1952, under the Societies' Registration Act XXI of 1860. It now has two sections, the College of Music and Dance, and the Performing Arts Section. Noted classical singer Nilina Ripjit Singh, later known as Naina Devi was its director.
Noted musicians, singer and dance guru of the era worked at the Kendra, including Siddheshwari DeviShambhu Maharaj, Birju Maharaj, Munna Shukla and Leela Samson. Kathak Kendra was originally established as the Kathak wing of the Shriram Bharitya Kala Kendra, in 1955, through the efforts of Nirmala Joshi, the first secretary of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, under the patronage of Sumitra Charat Ram, wife of industrialist, Lala Charat Ram of Shriram Group. here noted Kathak guru, Shambhu Maharaj, taught and his nephew Birju Maharaj. It was later taken over by Sangeet Natak Akademi and shifted to nearby Mandi House to become the National Institute of Kathak Dance. Founder Director, Sumitra Charat Ram was later awarded the Padma Shri by Government of India in 1966, while her daughter and present Director, Shobha Deepak Singh in 1999.
The Kendra has its own puppet troupe for many years, run by Rahi and Keshav Kothari, while the Puppet Section of the Kendra staged several important productions over the years, including Dhola Maru, Jhansi Ki Rani and Prithiviraj-Sanjukta, which even won the first at Puppet festival in Udaipur. This played an important role in establishing modern puppetry in Delhi. The Kendra also houses an art gallery at the ground level and its library has a large and rare collection of books, audio and visual recordings and extensive archives.
Founder Sumitra Charat Ram died on 8 August 2011 in New Delhi, at the age of 96.
Courses
Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra has two wings, College of Music and Dance, and the Performing Arts Section.
College of Music and Dance
Hindustani classical Vocal
Light Classical Vocal
Hindustani classical instruments: Tabla, Sitar and Sarod
Kathak
Bharatanatyam
Odissi dance
Chhau – Mayurbhanj
Ballet / Contemporary Dance
Performing Arts Wing
The Performing Arts Section of the Kendra put up productions of dance dramas all over the country, including the annual "Ramlila" production.
The Ramlila
The Annual "Ramlila" production, a dance drama based on life of Rama, at the Kendra has become an institution by itself. The first production took place in 1957 by Shobha Deepak Singh, ideas from Nirmala Joshi, the first secretary of the Sangeet Natak Akademi. The script was written by Hindi poet, Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar', while Tapas Sen, and Inder Razdan, designed the set and the lights. Narendra Sharma and Jayanti Sharma were principal actors and it was inaugurated by then PM Jawaharlal Nehru. It was one of the first dance dramas to be shot and relayed by Delhi Doordarshan. The Ramlia also weaves contemporary socio-political issues into the storyline of the epic of Ramayana.
Sumitra Charat Ram Award for Lifetime Achievement
In February 2011, the first 'Sumitra Charat Ram Award for Lifetime Achievement' established by Shri Ram Bhartiya Kala Kendra was award to Pandit Birju Maharaj, in the following year, the award was given to Kishori Amonkar.
Location
Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra is on the Copernicus Marg, a radial of the India Gate, and in the Mandi House area, Delhi’s cultural hub. It stands next to its sister body the "Kamani Auditorium" and Delhi's premier auditorium opened in 1971. On the other side is Rabindra Bhawan, which houses a host of apex government bodies for arts and culture, including, the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the Lalit Kala Akademi, while Doordarshan Directorate is across the road. Also close by are Kathak Kendra, National School of Drama, Triveni Kala Sangam and Little Theatre Group.
Its nearest Delhi Metro station is the Mandi House station.
Further reading
References
External links
Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra, Official website
Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts, website
Category:Dance schools in India
Category:Drama schools in India
Category:Performing arts education in India
Category:Music schools in India
Category:Educational institutions established in 1952
Category:Education in Delhi
Category:Cultural organisations based in India
Category:Schools of the performing arts
Category:Culture of Delhi
Category:Dance education in India | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Next Generation in curtain raiser
It's a great honour and privilege to be playing in the curtain raiser before the Crows and Geelong game.
Academy participant Kudzi Motsi
Fans have an opportunity to watch some potential future Crows in action at Adelaide Oval on Friday.
The Crows’ Next Generation Academy Talent Squad, which consists of emerging footballers from multicultural or Indigenous backgrounds, will play against the SANFL Diversity Squad in a curtain raiser starting at 5:20pm ahead of the AFL game between Adelaide and Geelong.
Among the group will be 16-year-old Kudzi Motsi, who is from Zimbabwe and made the switch from soccer to football three years ago.
Motsi , who currently plays for Central Districts in the SANFL Under 16s, dreams of one day playing AFL and is excited for the opportunity to step out onto Adelaide Oval.
"It's a great honour and privilege to be playing in the curtain raiser before the Crows and Geelong game,” Motsi said.
“The game and experience to play on an AFL venue like Adelaide Oval is an opportunity not many footballers get and I am very excited to be playing in it.”
Next Generation Academy Coordinator Jarrod Meers, who will coach the Crows Talent Squad on Friday night, said the curtain raiser is the final session for this year’s group, which has been coming together for training sessions once a month since last November to develop their football skills and education.
“To have the opportunity to play on Adelaide Oval before an AFL game is very exciting for this group of young developing players,” Meers said.
“Many of these boys have never been to a Crows home game, let alone having the opportunity to play on the ground on a Friday evening as a crowd of 50,000 pours in.
“The aim is that from that this Academy squad a future AFL footballer is developed and gets a springboard into playing at the highest level.
“Hopefully for some of these boys it’s the first of many times they grace the turf of an AFL venue.
“And for those boys who don’t reach the lofty heights of the AFL, hopefully the Adelaide Football Club through the Next Generation Academy has provided them with a wonderful lifelong experience that they will never forget.”
Designed to increase the opportunities and pathways for young talented participants from unrepresented backgrounds to participate in Australian Rules, the Academy is a joint initiative between the Crows and the AFL and is supported by the SANFL.
In addition to the Talent Squad, which is focused on 14-18 year-olds with a Multicultural or remote Indigenous background, the Club has rolled out a number of Next Generation Academy aligned programs including Talent Carnivals, Regional Academies and a number of shared services initiatives with our NGA aligned SANFL clubs - Glenelg, Sturt, Central District and North Adelaide.
A ticket to the AFL game will need to be purchased for entry to the curtain raiser match.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
Internal Server Error while Running Odoo 8.0 Openerp
First i installed Odoo 9.0-20160923 openerp on my windows it installs PostgreSql and Odoo files along with it successfully and it was perfectly working too, for some reason i didn't want this version so i just uninstalled Odoo 9.0-20160923
successfully from Program and Features and didn't uninstall the PostgreSql and then hard delete Odoo 9.0-20160923 directory from C:\Program Files (x86)\Odoo 9.0-20160923 too, Afterwards I successfully installed the Odoo 8.0 which only installs the Odoo files not the PostgreSql files now When i run the Openerp from browser it shows me the Internal Server Error as you may see in the attached image what is the actual problem Kindly suggest appropriate solution to this so i can manage to run this perfectly thankyou.
A:
I resolved this issue by getting the PostgreSQL setup and runs the uninstall process which removes all the files then i un-install the Odoo 8.0 too then i made the fresh installation of Odoo 8.0 which then ask me to install the PostgreSQL database along with it now every thing is working fine. Actually issue was originated due to the missing PostgreSQL database as i didn't un-install it properly instead i hard deleted the entire Odoo 9.0-20160923 directory in which PostgreSQL database was located which cause it to damage.
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Honor Harger
Honor Harger (born 1975 in Dunedin) is a curator and artist from New Zealand. Harger has a particular interest in artistic uses of new technologies. She is currently the executive director of the ArtScience Museum in Singapore.
Harger was included in The Guardian's 'The Hospital Club 100 list' for 2013, which lists innovative and influential people in the creative industries.
Career
Early career
In the mid-1990s, while based in New Zealand, Honor edited the artistic publication, SPeC; co-founded sound art collective Relay, worked with radio station, Radio One and with the art gallery, Artspace (New Zealand). In 1997, she relocated to Australia to work with the Australian Network for Art and Technology, before relocating to Europe in 1999 and then Singapore in 2014.
r a d i o q u a l i a
Harger is one of the co-founders (with Adam Hyde in 1998) of r a d i o q u a l i a, a group which explores how broadcasting technologies can create new artistic forms and how audio can be used to illuminate abstract ideas and processes. They have exhibited at museums, galleries and festivals, including: NTT ICC, Tokyo; New Museum, New York; Gallery 9, Walker Art Center, USA; Sónar, Barcelona; FACT centre in Liverpool; Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria; Experimental Art Foundation, Australia; Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris; and the Physics Room, New Zealand.
One of the collective's main projects is Radio Astronomy, an art and science project which broadcasts sounds intercepted from space live on the internet and on the airwaves. The project is achieved in collaboration with radio telescopes around the world. The signal from objects observed by these partner telescopes is converted into audio and then broadcast. Radio Astronomy has three parts: a sound installation, a live on-air radio transmission, and a live online radio broadcast. Depending on what is being observed by the telescopes, examples of what listeners may hear includes radiation from the Sun, or the planet Jupiter and its interaction with its moons.
The first exhibition of Radio Astronomy was at ISEA2004, Helsinki, August 2004. The second exhibition was at the Ars Electronica festival of art and technology in Linz, Austria, in September 2004.
AV Festival
From 2004 to 2008, Honor Harger was the artistic director of the AV Festival an international festival of electronic art, that features new media art, film, music, and games. The bi-annual festival takes place in the cities of Newcastle/Gateshead, Sunderland and Middlesbrough in the North East of England.
Lighthouse
Harger was the director of Lighthouse from 2010 to 2014. Lighthouse is a leading arts agency in Brighton, England supporting, commissioning and showcasing new work by artists and filmmakers. During her four-year tenure, Lighthouse presented shows from artists such as Trevor Paglen, David Blandy and Timo Arnall and commissioned new work from James Bridle, Semiconductor and The Otolith Group.
ArtScience Museum
In February 2014, Harger became Executive Director of the ArtScience Museum in Singapore. One of her key aims has been to clearly define the museum's identity, as an institution that explores the intersection and unity of art and science.
Programs launched under Harger's directorship include ArtScience Late, a monthly evening program featuring specially commissioned live performance by artists and technologists from varying backgrounds. Exhibitions include 'Da Vinci: Shaping the Future'. This exhibition presented selected works by Da Vinci for the first time in Southeast Asia. It also included five contemporary art installations, including three new commissions, exploring how Da Vinci's ideas continue to resonate with artists today.
Curation
After relocating to Europe in 1999, Harger undertook projects with the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation in Germany, the publishing house Arkzin in Croatia, and the Kiasma contemporary art museum in Finland. From 2000 to 2003, she worked for Tate Modern in London as the Webcasting Curator within Tate's Digital Programmes department and has also produced events and concerts for the Interpretation and Education department at Tate Modern.
She has worked as a freelance curator on exhibitions and events, including art.net.uk/now for the British Council in India in 2002 and Dots and Lines for the BBC and Sonic Arts Network in 2005.
Harger was the guest curator for the Transmediale festival in Berlin in 2010.
Writing
Harger writes the blog Particle Decelerator which collects together news from the worlds of science, art and technology, placing a special emphasis on the collision between the quantum and the cosmological.
Appearances
Honor Harger has lectured extensively and spoken publicly on her work in a variety of forums. Some of these include:
LIFT in Geneva
European Space Agency
the Centre Pompidou in Paris
California Institute of the Arts
the American Film Institute
TED Talks: Honor Harger: A history of the universe in sound, TEDSalon London, Spring 2011
Honor Harger: Unmanned Aerial Ecologies, Goldsmith's University of London, 16 January 2014
Public Seminar With Honor Harger, SymbioticA, University of Western Australia, 12 September 2014
Landing on a Comet, Webstock, 19 February 2015
See also
AV Festival
r a d i o q u a l i a
New media art
New Media art festivals
Electronic art
References
External links
r a d i o q u a l i a
Radio Astronomy
Dots and Lines
AV Festival
Lighthouse, Brighton
Category:1975 births
Category:Living people
Category:Digital artists
Category:New Zealand artists | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
Can a programmer renounce ownership of source code?
I came across this license:
/**
* The author disclaims copyright to this source code. In place of
* a legal notice, here is a blessing:
*
* May you do good and not evil.
* May you find forgiveness for yourself and forgive others.
* May you share freely, never taking more than you give.
*/
Can a programmer really renounce the ownership of their source code?
A:
Disclaiming copyright is the same as placing it in the public domain, and means there is no copyright, so there are no restrictions whatsoever. Technically, disclaiming copyright isn't a license, since a license states the terms under which you may make copies legally.
They are not the same, but there would be little practical difference in some jurisdictions.
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Associated Press
Local schoolchildren were kept indoors Thursday while 15 full-grown African lions were killed after escaping from a ramshackle wild animal compound in rural southeastern Idaho.
Officials determined by Thursday afternoon that no more lions are at large. But the 146-student Lava Elementary School already had been closed and early morning phone calls had warned parents not to send their children to bus stops and to keep their pets inside after Wednesday night’s escape from the private Ligertown Game Farm Inc.
“I was glad to stay home from school, but I was a little bit scared,” Robbie Read, a Lava Elementary School first-grader, said Thursday evening.
He was with his mother, Suzette Read, as she drove to the compound from her Lava Hot Springs home to ask Bannock County sheriff’s deputies if it was safe to let her dog out. They said it was.
Read said she had signed petitions in the past urging local officials to do something about Ligertown, where officials said there have been problems for years.
“It’s been an accident waiting to happen,” she said. “This thing should be shut down.”
Lava Hot Springs Mayor Newt Lowe said later that the city would “leave no stone unturned” to punish owners Robert Fieber and Dotti Martin.
“We’ll do everything we can to prosecute these people to the full extent of the law,” Lowe said. “But they’re very litigious. They know their rights. They’re not good citizens and they don’t want to cooperate.”
Undersheriff Lorin Nielsen said 20 to 30 lions, tigers and crossbred “ligers” remained at the squalid Ligertown compound. A number of wolf-dog hybrids, whose cages were not breached, also remained at the compound.
National Humane Society officials arrived by helicopter Thursday afternoon and removed five bottle-fed lion cubs from the compound. They were taken to an animal shelter in Pocatello, 28 miles to the northwest.
Veterinarian Bill Torgerson of ZooMontana in Billings went into the compound with the regional director of the national Humane Society, two armed SWAT team members and two search and rescue team members. Other snipers watched from outside, ready to shoot if the rescuers were attacked.
“We put ourselves at risk going inside to rescue the kittens. Serious risk,” Torgerson said.
Three adult lions lounged on top of one of the compound buildings and could not be lured down, endangering those who entered.
Torgerson and David Pauli of the Humane Society said the compound is comprised of buildings and cages connected by makeshift tunnels, and they were unsure whether any lions or tigers were inside those. No one remained inside the compound overnight.
Torgerson and Pauli said the cages had no water and appeared not to have been cleaned for a long time.
“There’s a lot of filth … and feces, chicken parts, bones, all kinds of stuff,” Torgerson said.
They described the cages as makeshift, with chain-link fence attached randomly to form pens. Wooden pallets were used for gates.
“It’s horrendous, it’s just an accident waiting to happen,” Pauli said. “I haven’t seen anything like it ever. The facility is not up to any standards.”
The veterinarian and Humane Society workers planned to anesthetize the animals today so they can determine whether they are healthy and need to be moved. Some zoos have offered to take healthy animals.
Owners Fieber and Martin, who were attacked by one of the escaped lions Wednesday night, suffered minor injuries.
They returned to the compound Thursday afternoon but were turned away by deputies who refused to let them take milk and meat to five lion cubs.
“You can’t go in there. It’s blocked off as a crime scene now,” one deputy said.
“What the hell’s the crime?” Fieber asked. When he got no response, he said, “They’re violating our civil rights.”
Nielsen and others said there have been problems for years at Ligertown, where dead lions were strewn Thursday on both sides of the nearby highway. An unexplained sign at the compounded declared: “Ligertown Church of the Guardian Alien. An Equal Opportunity Cult.”
“I don’t want to paint an eccentric here, but we’ve got a guy who literally lives with lions and tigers,” Nielsen said. A few of the big cats have been allowed to roam freely even within the trailer Fieber and Martin share, he said.
Meanwhile, Wednesday night’s breach in the perimeter fencing of the smelly enclosure was patched and sharpshooters stood by in case any more animals got out of the compound about a mile outside Lava Hot Springs. The tiny tourist town is home to about 420 people.
Sheriff’s officials erected a new fence around the compound to provide another barrier.
The sheriff’s office was notified of the escapes by Bruce Hansen, who owns property neighboring Ligertown. Hansen saw a lion stalking some of his farm animals and shot it, Nielsen said.
A sheriff’s deputy was dispatched to the scene and shot another lion that was outside the compound, and yet another lion was shot after attacking Fieber and Martin. The last animal was shot Thursday afternoon.
Nielsen said the sheriff’s office had neither the tranquilizing equipment nor the trained personnel to tranquilize the animals and had to shoot them to protect townspeople.
Fieber and Martin refused to say how many animals in all were at the site.
Both owners had bandaged hands when they returned to the compound Thursday. Fieber also had several stitches in the corner of his mouth, but he dismissed the injuries.
“This happens to anybody who owns big cats,” he said. “I’ve been put together many times since the ‘70s.”
About 50 sheriff’s deputies from surrounding counties, SWAT teams, Idaho Department of Fish and Game officers and Idaho State Police troopers took part in subduing the escaped animals.
Greg Tourtlotte, the Department of Fish and Game’s regional supervisor in Pocatello, said his staff had been worried for some time about the potential for escape from Ligertown.
“A lot of our people felt that it was just a matter of time before something happened.”
Fieber previously operated game compounds in, Newport, Ore., and Clearwater Idaho, and ran into trouble with the law in both locations. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
March 14th, 2013
‘Red tape threat’ to e-cigarette market
Letter to The Times, 14 March 2013 on how misguided excessive regulation threatens one of the most promising technologies for public health – the e-cigarette.
‘Red tape threat’ to e-cigarette market The e-cigarette is an emerging technology that could radically reduce the death toll from smoking and should be encouraged Sir, The World Health Organisation states that tobacco could be responsible for one billion deaths in the 21st century. The e-cigarette is an emerging technology that could radically reduce this toll and disrupt the tobacco industry’s entrenched business model. E-cigarettes deliver nicotine in aerosol form without the hazards that accompany tobacco smoking. Nicotine itself has minimal health impacts, so e-cigarettes can dramatically reduce the harm to smokers who cannot or will not give up their cigarettes. From trials, testimonials and the rapid growth of the e-cigarette market, we know that e-cigarettes work for smokers, and work in a different way to nicotine patches and gum. We are witnessing a market-based, consumer-led public health revolution, requiring no NHS resources. However, governments in the UK, Europe and the United States are now gearing up to classify these products as medicines, thus imposing heavy regulatory burdens, costs and restrictions. It would be an appalling paradox if regulators, in the name of safety, ended up smothering the e-cigarette market with red tape, and so tipped the competitive balance back in favour of cigarettes. Gerry Stimson
Emeritus Professor, ICL London Karl Fagerstrom
Emeritus Professor, University of Uppsala Dr Delon Human
Switzerland Clive Bates
Former director, ASH
This has prompted an article in The Times: E-cigarettes ‘save lives’, top public health experts tell Government (£). The full article is available to subscribers to The Times. But I would like to draw out an interesting quote from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority:
“We are currently working towards making a decision about how to regulate e-cigarettes and we will announce this soon. “Our view is that products designed to help you beat the addiction to nicotine can fall within the definition of a medicinal product. We would regard any e-cigarette presented as an aid to quitting smoking as being a medicinal product. In the UK, it is illegal to sell e-cigarettes as a ‘quit smoking’ aid unless they are licensed as a medicine by the MHRA.”
I think I might even agree with this formulation. But of course e-cigarettes are not designed to overcome nicotine addiction – they satisfy a nicotine addiction rather than help deal with cravings arising from withdrawal. Nor are they presented as an aid to quitting smoking – the producers do not make claims or seek an ‘indication’ for their products as a ‘quit smoking aid’. The products are simply offered as alternative nicotine delivery system to the crudely-antiquated, disease-inducing tobacco cigarette.
It is easy to read too much into a comment like this, so let’s not get carried away. But maybe it signals a forthcoming outbreak of ‘proportionality’ and appropriate regulation, that might actually be in line with EU law. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Barack Obama's speech on race has caused many people in America to begin talking about the subject. Most black people talk about race daily. We function every day on whether any experiences we undergo have a racial tinge to them.We can wonder, was the service at a restaurant just poor, or did we get poor service because we are black? We notice if the waitress treats others the same way we get treated. Then our minds can rest because we see the same poor service is evenly distributed.I recently had a cop pull me over after I passed his parked car and looked at him. My mind immediately questioned whether he truly pulled me over for speeding or did he do so once he saw I was black-and then decide to say I was speeding? Especially in light of the fact that I didn't get a ticket.On and on, in the everyday activities of a black person, we wonder in the back and forefront of our minds what race has to do with it.The biggest question regarding race is how honest we want to be about it. Sadly, every word uttered in a conversation about race between the races in America is subject to the "racism" charge. Recently, during an interview on a radio station, Barack Obama referred to his grandmother as a "typical white person." That comment immediately caused a lot of flap.His opponents and many on conservative talk radio jumped on his use of the word "typical." Yet if you think about Barack Obama's experience in growing up in this country, all of his relatives in this country during his entire formative years were white. His cousins, his aunts, his uncles, his nieces and nephews. All are white. And Barack, because of who he is within the family, was able to see things that no child who only visits or is the adopted relative ever truly does.But I have to wonder why there was such outrage from some in white America over his use of the word "typical"? Who better than Obama, who has one foot in the white world and the other in the black world and has lived the experience, to truly be able to make an observation and label it as "typical."Barack Obama also didn't have a single blood relative in this entire country who was black until his children were born. Yet white America because Barack Obama is half-black has completely given him over to black America. Why is that? How is it that Barack's black half has more power than his white half? How is it that someone who spent all his formative years with a white mother, white grandparent and around all their white friends can now be criticized for using the term "typical white person"?Yet at the same time, he is expected to explain or defend black America-a black America he didn't grow up in and only came to be a part of once he was grown. Those same pundits who raged that Obama used the word "typical" don't seem to have a problem posing questions to Obama to explain a community he didn't grow up in. I saw one interview where Obama was asked to explain black patriotism, as if our patriotism is somehow different.At the same time, I am not seeing anyone questioning why whites are so quick to vilify and deny someone who is one half of them?Most whites, I suspect, are very uncomfortable with the race conversation because for many of them it will be the first time in their lives that they have to address their own racial being. I remember having a conversation with a co-worker years ago and because I felt comfortable with her, I asked her if she ever thinks about being white. The question kind of stunned her because, as she confessed to me, she didn't.So I am curious and perhaps my white readers can respond. How often do you think about being white? If you live in a predominantly white area, do you think about how white it is? When you see your children's class picture and it's filled with other white children, do you wonder why there aren't any black children in the picture? Or do you just accept it as being part of "normalcy"?If we are to honestly explore the racial dynamics of this country, we are all going to have to get thicker skin. Curious questions need to be asked and answered without fear that one party is "racist" while the other is the "victim."Let the discussions begin!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Foreclosures. Properties sitting vacants for months. An over abundance of condominiums on the market. Yet our Mayor calls for people to do a Board of Review appeal rather than a true reassessment of all properties.
For those that don't kow, your tax amounts are set by the Cook County Assessor who gets those rates based on the city council vote for the tax amounts. Once the Assessor asses your properties based on number of bathrooms, fireplace or not, finished basement or not, brick or frame, slab or basement, etc. you are assesed on those features. The only thing you can do with the Assessor is certify the validity of them taxing you for a finished attic when all you have is a crawl space.
Once the taxes are assessed, you can then file a request with the Board of Review to appeal your tax amounts. That is what Daley is calling for. Yet as the price of Chicago properties are falling, shouldn't we all be reassessed downward first?
However, since the current option is to appeal your assessment, I urge people to go do. Every dime we can save is money the city won't waste.
Monday, March 24, 2008
The acorn doesn't fall far from the tree. That's one of the first things that came to mind after hearing of the latest killings of young black children by other young black children on the West Side over the past couple of weeks. From the murder of Kadeidrah Lynn Marsh to the murder of Ruben Ivy, there must be something wrong in the families of the individuals who murdered them.How many of us can look at our blocks, neighbors and friends and see in their children the makings of a future criminal? How many of us know uncontrollable children being raised by out-of-control or unconcerned adults? How many of us are shocked when certain young people end up on the wrong side of the law-especially when we watched them grow up being the "bad kid on the block"?Yet even though it is the easiest thing in the world to blame the families, we must, as a neighborhood and community, step up to the plate regarding our involvement or lack thereof in the lives of those children who end up being the local neighborhood terrorist. When we sit on our buns and don't do a damn thing, we are just as much to blame as the child who pulls the trigger.I remember several years ago being at the park and having some smart-mouth young boys give me grief. It was almost 9 p.m. and they were still outside, as if they didn't have a care in the world. What one of the boys didn't know is that I knew his grandmother. I knew her to be a religious woman who didn't take a lot of nonsense. Yet here it was late at night and her grandson was out at a time when I felt he should have been home. When I mentioned my encounter with her grandson, she was appreciative to hear about his behavior. Yet in the back of my mind, I wondered why in the world would she have permitted him to be out so late?How many people are open to hearing that they need to get a grip on their children and grandchildren? Most of us don't want to hear or be criticized for the method and manner in which we raise our children. My friend did listen to what I said about her grandson, but it was a slippery slope. One misstep in what I was saying could lead her from nodding in agreement to defending her child and telling me off for not "minding my own business."Part of the problem, as I see it, is that we have good people trying to raise children, but they are at the same time tired and overwhelmed. As a community, we have for far too long accepted the "single mama" or "grandmother" raising-of-children concept.At the same time, we have accepted the irresponsibility of men who father children and don't stick around to raise them. We are failing to acknowledge how much the world has changed and the difficulty and exhaustion caused by raising children in the 21st century. Whereas there was a time when we could, by words alone, instill "the fear of God" in our children, society has now done its part to tell our children if we whip them or threaten to whip them, they can call DCFS and be protected.A few weeks back, I wrote about our state legislators patting themselves on the back for instituting "a moment of silence" in school. At that time, I wrote we needed a corresponding and mandatory class called "the consequences of your actions." The recent murders show that our young people are acting without thinking. Then their parent will claim their child is a "good child." But that "good child" didn't think. They didn't pause for one second and say to themselves, "If I shoot and kill this other person, I will go to jail. I will get locked up and be a murderer. I will cause grief to my family and to the family of the person I killed." Becoming "scared" after the fact doesn't change the reality that the young person is now a murderer. Praying to God once they have done their dirty deed isn't the same as praying to God before they act and asking him to show them a different path.If we, as parents, are to be successful, we need to begin to reiterate to our children that they must "THINK!" They must know and acknowledge that for every action, there is a reaction. If you touch a hot stove, you will get burned. If you shoot and kill someone, you will go to jail and possibly the electric chair. Illinois currently only has a moratorium on the death penalty. We haven't abolished it.
made a huge pot of Chili a couple of weeks ago. Most people like saltines with their chili. I like Ritz Crackers. But I can't afford Ritz Crackers. So for as long as I can remember, I've been buying Ritz-type snack crackers at Aldi's. And for as long as I can remember, those crackers cost me 99 cents a box.So imagine my shock when I went into Aldi's and their version of Ritz Crackers was now $1.39. That's 40 cents more than I had expected pay. Percentage-wise that's close to a 50-percent increase in price. I was shocked. If one box of crackers can now be so much more, what happens if everything we buy is now that much more?I began checking with others who shop at Aldi's. Like me, they all remember the crackers being 99 cents. One person did mention $1.29, but 99 cents has been ingrained in people's minds for so long, it's the amount that comes to most folk's minds right away.As I began to talk with different people about the price of food, one thing became perfectly clear. We can hear different economists argue over whether this country is in a recession or not, but food prices are going sky high, and being able to eat is going to get harder for most people.With gas hovering over $3 a gallon and many economists claiming the price may rise to $4 a gallon by June, then our food prices will increase to make up the added cost of getting that food to market. As our energy prices rise, so will everything else.If memories of going to the gas station and buying $2 worth of gas are fading, so will the memory of being able to go to the store and buy milk and cereal for $5.As we struggle to handle paying higher and higher food prices, we now must contend with the Cook County board increasing our sales taxes-especially when everything else is rising in cost.I have decided to protest by spending as little money as humanly possible in Cook County. I already combine my trips so that my gas purchases are always outside of the City of Chicago. Now I will have to make sure my food, clothing and everything else is done outside Cook County. For those of us on the West Side, it may mean traveling to Elmhurst, Schaumburg or Oak Brook. But when making a major purchase, the savings can be tremendous.The only ones who will truly have to pay the new taxes are the poor who don't have a car to travel outside of the county to shop. These are the same folks the Cook County board tries to claim they are helping. But in reality, they have instituted a plan that will, in the long run, hurt the ones who least can afford it.When re-election time comes, let us remember those who voted to hurt our pocketbooks the most, while claiming they increased the taxes to help us.
LISTEN TO LIVE EVERY SUNDAY WRLL 1450 AM - 10pm UNTIL 12am
Also visit ONIXLINK.COM to see my postings under the Writer's Block section.
Arlene Jones
EMAIL ME: [email protected]
Arlene Jones' Biography
I was born in Chicago. I grew up in Cabrini Green. I attended Wells Sr High, the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle where I majored in Spanish and minored in Education. I have a diploma in Computer Programming.
I moved to Austin when I purchased a home here. I have two children.
I have been active in the community since moving here. I started with my blockclub. In the early 1990s, I worked with several people to try and form the North Austin Homeowners Association. I even went on patrol with a group of people who had a walkie talkie car patrol of the neighborhood.
As with most programs in the AA community, many factors led to the demise of those groups. Lack of support from elected officials was at the top of the list.
There were several people who had a group and we met out of DaVinci Manor. DaVinci Manor was at the corner of North Ave and Central where Walgreen now stands. Again there was very little interest in saving that building and our community lost a beautiful hall.
I have protested the state of the Central Ave bridge. I worked with Leola Spann and did many a smoke out including one in the 1500 block of North Lorel where drug paraphenalia layed on the ground. I have over the years here in Austin worked with the following groups at one point or another:
Northeast Austin Organization (Mary Volpe, Tom Hosea);
Northwest Austin Council;
Mad Dads;
Brotherhood of Black Men;
Westside Health Authority;
Nobel Neighbors;
Every Block A Village;
Beat 2532;
25th District Housing Committee;
WVON Volunteer;
African American Employees at the Merchandise Mart (AAEMM);
Lafollette Park Advisory Council;
Garfield Park Conservatory Advisory Council;
Westside Executive Advisory Council;
Austin Landmark Cultural Center;
Concerned Citizens of East Garfield Park
and so many others that it gets hard to remember.
Arlene Jones
QUOTE OF THE DAY
If you're not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing. -- Malcolm X | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
About
Mac Funamizu – DESIGNER
About Mac
Mac’s biography to date reads as an inspirational adventure; from his humble beginnings as an English teacher and interpreter to heading a bank division in developing their new websites.
Completely self taught, Mac has continued to discover, enquire and be intrigued with a thoughtful heart and mind that gives great depth to his designs and has created layers of wealthy resources at his disposal.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
The way he allows himself the freedom at concept stage to dream up an array of ideas, both possible and impossible, gives an exciting base from which to select the best outcome for the brief at hand.
This combination of freedom of design, thoughtful approach to communication and an unwavering motivation is unique. It is at the core of Mac as a person and has seen him win an array of prestigious awards and contracts to date and helped shape his evolving entrepreneurial career to be a true contender on the world stage.
159 thoughts on “About”
Thanks to all your interest, Petitinvention is chosen one of “Blogs of the Day” of WordPress for December 18, 2007. I really appreciate everyone who visited Petitinvention. I’ll introduce more and more interesting ideas for the coming holidays and next year. Looking forward to your comments!
Hi Mac. Nice posts you have here. Tanks for sharing them. I am a Graphic Designer too, in Portugal. I do not have a personal website online yet but you can see some of my work at http://www.paletadeideias.pt.
Another fan of your work, just wondering if the google guys have been beating down your door. They should be, your concepts are brilliant and they will definitely affect different industries and undoubtedly people on the whole.
As an Information Architect and (web) Interface Designer your Mobile version definitely has me thinking about how the nature of my own work should evolve for these type of emerging technologies. It has me looking forward and re-conceptualizing the way I strategise and design for the user interface and user. Thank you and keep on inspiring others!
BTW not that it really matters, but even Kanye West loves your concept. Your design was featured in one of his blog posts, but he failed to link back to your site :(.
Hi Mac! I really liked your idea about the Transparent Slide Mobile Encyclopedia. I am doing a project on Emerging Technologies and want to showcase and share your concept in the classroom.I would really appreciate it if you could share some more pictures or videos and explain us about the basic technology that is used in developing this gadget as i come from a non-technical background:)) Thanks a Lot!
I really feel out of my dept here but here goes. I’m the MD of an international search company in Germany. We’ve been working on and off with Vodafone for over 5 years and are recruiting heavily at the moment for their Düsseldorf/London offices. We’re current looking for Conceptual Designers, UI/UE Managers and several heavyweight management roles.
If anyone would like to look over some Job Descriptions then please do not hesitate in contacting me directly. I look forward in speaking with anyone interested.
Wow, this is simply amazing what you’re showing us here! You’re so creative! Something good will come from it, I’m sure! I guess it’s only a matter of time until Apple will knock on your door (unless you’re already working for them :))
Mac, I am an MBA student in London and taking the internet marketing course, where we discuss a lot about internet, search and etc.. As an exercise we have to write a blog during the course. And that’s why I’m contacting you. I am a really fan of your designs/ideas and would like to post some pictures in my blog.. of course I ‘d mention you and your URL.. is that ok?
cheers
There’s a competition by Triflow (tap manufacturer in the UK) that’s going on where the winner can get his/her invention produced. The deadline in September 9,2009. I figured it might be something that you’d be interested in. Here’s the link : http://www.triflowconcepts.com/competition and good luck if you decide to participate.
– Marie
I represent a new weakly Informational TV program TECHNODROM (TV Center Broadcasting Company (Moscow, Russia), we are highly interested in your Concepts and would like to have some additional information. Could you please contact me asap by e-mail: [email protected]
I love it. I love it all. Notable, were the Looking Glass and the Iaqua2… Fantastic. Has Apple yet to discover such a talent? *raises eyebrows*
Congratulations must be given to you, for taking on this path. From what I’ve understood, you have only been doing this ‘professionally’ for a short ammount of time. As a 16 year old aspiring architect/designer, living in (relatively safe) Brisbane, Australia, I like to think my work might eventually be understood and achknowleged, instead of disregarded as a small-time hobby.
It’d be fantastic to talk to someone who shares similar thoughts. Please, contact me at [email protected]
Hi Mac,
I love your designs and I think they could be put to great use and that maybe we could conference about it at my website http://www.drop.io/addashaw
I am under the age of 18 but I want to help and I will in anyway possible
hi~ Mac Funamizu :
I am an editor of “Surface China”, recently we are preparing an aritcle about coin design.
I saw your work “infographic money concept
” on Designboom and wonder if I have the honor to interview you over the net.
Could you please send me a brief introduction and high-resolution images about this work, as well as your personal profile?
Thank you very much!!
Looking forward to your reply.
have been following your blog for three days. really love your posts. btw i’m conducting a report concerning this area. do you happen to know any other great websites or maybe forums in which I can get more information? thanks a ton.
Hi,
Respected Sir,
We r the student of MBA.WE r working on a project of entreprenurship.we choose ur idea of iPhone hand grip charger. can u give us further information about our project. n also making process of this charger. plz give us quickly reply of our mail. we are very regardful to for this favour. THANKS
And you don’t want to do with this? This is unique! You have to do someting with this. It’s maybe not all about the money, but here (I live in the Netherlands) we should be very interested in your kind of products. You are too nice… No that was a joke. You are very nice, but why don’t you want to sell these products. I’m just thirteen years old, but I am very interested. I’d like it to e-mail eachoter. Least, if you like it… But, I am interessed in your awesome products. I’ve got an Ipod touch and I like your gadgets… But I think it’s very pity that your products are not for sell 🙁 I can go ahead with talking like this, but it’s your opinion, so it’s your desicion… The only thing I would say ; The world could use somebody like YOU!
took me a while to browse all the comments, but I really enjoyed the subject that you chose. It looked to be very helpful to me and I am sure to all the other people who have looked at this blog, Its always nice when your not only informed, but your also entertained! Im positive you had fun writing this article. Im going to grab your rss feed so I dont miss anything important that you guys may come up with in the future, Thanks..
Hi Mac!
I got my last template from elegatthemes.com. Now I want to do an online store with wordpress. What would I need in order to do this? Any specific plugins?
Thanks a lot in advanced for your expert help.
Pretty element of content. I simply stumbled upon your site and in accession capital to assert that I acquire in fact loved account your weblog posts. Anyway I’ll be subscribing in your feeds and even I fulfillment you get right of entry to consistently fast.
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I have seen your website serveral times, some design are really impressive. Do you make any proftit by just release your design to the public?
I am new to the design Industry. I would like to know that how much an outstanding Mobile Phone Design (just for what it is looks like and a few screen interface) worth $$$?
One of main reason for iPhone successes is its nice phone body design. In today mobile phone market, most moblie phones use same operating system android and have similar hardware standard. A Mobile phone with excellent shape design can make it unique and outstanding from the other brand of mobile phone.
In design industry, do mobile companies spend lot money to buy a nice mobile Phone Design from private contractor? How much it worth roughly? What about car design, does an excellent concept car design worth some money?
Thanks for the marvelous posting! I seriously enjoyed reading it, you
could be a great author. I will make sure to bookmark your blog and will often come back very soon.
I want to encourage yourself to continue your great posts, have a nice day! | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
A mixed bag of babies and a blog
11/04/2010
Teach your baby to read and eat wry bread
Jocelyn read me a book this morning. Panda Bear Panda Bear What Do You See? Her version went something like this: "Teddy Bear Teddy Bear What Do You See? Foug joghou hweoru dhgou moczoing with me."
I could get all mother-of-the-year on you and say that I taught her to read at two years old. But the truth is that I’ve read it to her enough times that she has memorized the rhythm of the story. And anything else she’s learned—like how to spot an octagon or a stop sign—is from daycare or Sesame Street. They don’t tell you in those parenting books that a lot of this raising kids thing is luck, or letting someone else do it while you clean poop off the sheets.
Which brings me to RIE (Resources for Infant Educators, pronounced “wry.”) The Daily Beast reported yesterday on this new parenting method touted by celebrities. It’s all about getting back to basics, and cutting out the high-stress nature of baby sign language, Gymboree, and strollers. “A crying baby isn’t shushed or distracted but is allowed to release the tension of feeling, and asked why he or she is crying.” There’s a lot more to it than that, of course, but that’s what stuck in my mind long after I read the article.
There are positive points to this crazy rye on toast idea, as there are to various parenting methods. But do I really need a “method” to raise my kids? Some days, maybe. On other days—like every odd day—my girls can outsmart a method. Aja is a very calm child, until she’s not. Just like I am a very easy-going mom, until I’m not. Will she respond to questions about why she’s crying? Hell no. Will she give me any inkling of a reason as to why she refuses to take a bottle? Absolutely not. Her sickness from last week has passed. Her teeth have ruptured the gum line and the drool has stopped leaking from her chin. The bottle is not too hot, nor too cold. But put that nipple a few inches in front of her face and she clamps her mouth shut. Then she gives me a toothy grin that shows off her under bite. So maybe it’s just the bottle? No, that’s not it. She’s also impossible to feed in the high chair. All she wants to do is get out. Strap her in and she screams like a wounded cat.
So apparently, if I were to get all RIE on her ass, I should talk to Aja and explain to her what I’m doing. I should ask, “Why little child, must you cry?” And then I can dangle a paisley scarf in front of face (one of few toys allowed in RIE) and she’ll stop crying and eat like an obedient baby.
Let’s just say that this has not been a good week in the land of motherhood. There has been a severe lack of food, sleep, and patience throughout the walls of this house. No book or method could have helped me. Unless that book or method included an all-expense paid trip for me out of this juice joint.
And speaking of Aja—while she may be a bit behind in her verbal skills, I’m convinced she’s going to start talking soon and her first words will not doubt be: “Drink the fucking bottle mother!”
I would never say such a thing of course. There’s probably a parenting book out there that claims cursing in front of your child leads to feelings of abandonment and self-doubt. But then again, there's probably another book that says speaking to a child at their level will make them a better citizen of the world. That book starts with the letter A. And I always listen to the books that start with A. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
She is a graduate student (MS) in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, at the University of Washington. We talk about her thesis work of developing a management strategy evaluation for Tanner crab in the Eastern Bering Sea, her job with the Natural Resources Consultants Incorporated, how she got into the crab world, and her plans after receiving her degree. She also shares some of her at-sea experience with surveying in the Bering Sea.
http://owl.fish.washington.edu/scaphapoda/grace/Crab-project/DecaPod/S1E13-Interview-Madi-Shipley.mp3
]]>https://bittercrab.wordpress.com/2018/11/21/decapod-s1e13-interview-with-madi-shipley/feed/0graceac9DecaPod S1E12: Crab Meeting #6https://bittercrab.wordpress.com/2018/11/08/decapod-s1e12-crab-meeting-6/
https://bittercrab.wordpress.com/2018/11/08/decapod-s1e12-crab-meeting-6/#respondThu, 08 Nov 2018 07:38:05 +0000http://bittercrab.wordpress.com/?p=273This week we talk about transcriptome assembly (with our new RNAseq data from NWGC!!) and next steps. Also, we decide that Qiagen RNeasy Kit works pretty well for extracting RNA, and will be used to create the remaining libraries for the project.
http://owl.fish.washington.edu/scaphapoda/grace/Crab-project/DecaPod/S1E12-Crab-Mtg-6.mp3
]]>https://bittercrab.wordpress.com/2018/11/08/decapod-s1e12-crab-meeting-6/feed/0graceac9BLAST with bad Trinity fasta, R plan for adding Qubit data, and Testing out RNeasy Plus Mirco Kit – Grace’s Lab Notebookhttps://bittercrab.wordpress.com/2018/11/01/blast-with-bad-trinity-fasta-r-plan-for-adding-qubit-data-and-testing-out-rneasy-plus-mirco-kit-graces-lab-notebook/
https://bittercrab.wordpress.com/2018/11/01/blast-with-bad-trinity-fasta-r-plan-for-adding-qubit-data-and-testing-out-rneasy-plus-mirco-kit-graces-lab-notebook/#respondThu, 01 Nov 2018 13:03:10 +0000http://bittercrab.wordpress.com/?p=264Continue reading BLAST with bad Trinity fasta, R plan for adding Qubit data, and Testing out RNeasy Plus Mirco Kit – Grace’s Lab Notebook]]>Today I ran BLAST with the bad fasta from the Trinity run from last weekend. Will look more at the notebook Steven sent me to do the BLAST stats, goslim, contigs, go slim tables, etc. I also have been getting some input from Sam as to how best to manage adding new Qubit data to a master file consisting of all the hemolymph sampling data joined with the Qubit data results. Finally, I tested out the RNeasy Plus Micro Kit on 4 samples from Day 26, and ran the Qubit.
The original RNA extraction method using RNAzol RT resulted in low RNA yields, as well as contaminated samples, likely due to excess salts. We have submitted a pooled sample to the NWGC for library prep and sequencing. The pooled sample consists of samples from day 26 (samples were taken in triplicate) from cold and ambient infected and uninfected treatments. This library will be used for gene discovery.
As we continue investigating better methods for RNA extraction, we will create libraries that will be used for comparison between treatment groups.
]]>https://bittercrab.wordpress.com/2018/09/05/graces-notebook-september-goals/feed/0genefishGrace’s Notebook: Speed Vac New Pool of 15 Sampleshttps://bittercrab.wordpress.com/2018/09/05/graces-notebook-speed-vac-new-pool-of-15-samples/
https://bittercrab.wordpress.com/2018/09/05/graces-notebook-speed-vac-new-pool-of-15-samples/#respondWed, 05 Sep 2018 20:42:06 +0000http://bittercrab.wordpress.com/?p=214Continue reading Grace’s Notebook: Speed Vac New Pool of 15 Samples]]>Today I speed vac-ed the new pool of 15 samples for a little over three hours. There is still more than 50ul in the tube, so I’ll put it back in the speed vac as soon as I am in tomorrow morning.
The pooled sample is 150ul (15 samples, each 10ul).
Sam and I went over to the Speed Vac in FSH. At 10:50am, it was started on medium heat.
At 2:10pm, there was still too much liquid. As soon as I am in tomorrow am, I’ll put it back in the speed vac.
Put the sample in (cap open) a slot that has a little bit of paper towel stuffed in the bottom. Close lid. Turn on the machine. Turn the heat to medium. After it runs for a bit, turn on the vacuum (turn yellow valve marked “Vac” toward the machine). Then open up the vacuum by turning the blue dial on top of the machine to “open” (to the right).
To open it later, close the vacuum (blue dial) and then wait til it stops spinning.
]]>https://bittercrab.wordpress.com/2018/09/05/graces-notebook-speed-vac-new-pool-of-15-samples/feed/0genefishGrace’s Notebook: Gave Pooled Sample to the NWGC for Library Prep and RNA-Seq!https://bittercrab.wordpress.com/2018/09/05/graces-notebook-gave-pooled-sample-to-the-nwgc-for-library-prep-and-rna-seq/
https://bittercrab.wordpress.com/2018/09/05/graces-notebook-gave-pooled-sample-to-the-nwgc-for-library-prep-and-rna-seq/#respondWed, 05 Sep 2018 20:41:57 +0000http://bittercrab.wordpress.com/?p=216Continue reading Grace’s Notebook: Gave Pooled Sample to the NWGC for Library Prep and RNA-Seq!]]>Today I finished speed vac-ing (medium heat) the pooled sample. It ended up being too low of volume (14.1ul), so I added 40.9ul of 0.1% DEPC-treated H20. I ran 2ul of the sample on Qubit (RNA HS), and got a reading of 20.4 ul (1,081 ng RNA in the sample)!!!! We FINALLY have a sample to send off for library prep and sequencing! After getting info from NWGC (Chris in the Nickerson Lab at Foege) I put the sample on dry ice and walked it over! It is now in their hands until we get the data back.
Sample prep
Yesterday wasn’t enough time on the speed vac. So I put it back on (on medium) at 10:10 am. I took it off at 1pm.
I checked the volume of the sample by sucking it all up in a pipet tip (set to 50ul). Then, I decreased the volume on the pipet tip until the liquid was at the tip. It showed that the volume was 14.1 ul. It needs to be at least 50ul. So I sucked the sample back up with the pipet set at 14.1 ul. It all fit.
Then I added 40.9ul of 0.1% DEPC-treated H20 so the final volume was 55ul and vortexed it for 10s.
I then used 2ul of the sample to run on the Qubit (RNA HS) to check the RNA quantity. It read as having 20.4ng/ul of RNA! Meaning that in the sample, we had ~ 1,081 ng of RNA!!! (NWGC requires a minimum of 1000ng of RNA in a sample at least 50ul in volume).
I contacted NWGC to get info on what all they needed before I walked the sample over.
I brought it over on dry ice and handed it to Chris Frazar in the Nickerson Lab in Foege at 2:45pm.
He emailed me and Steven (I cc’ed Sam) to get more info on the sample and what kind of sequencing we want. More information on that to come. They will do the library prep and the sequencing.
SamplingApproximately 400 male Tanner crabs, Chionoecetes bairdi, were collected during the Alaska Department of Fish & Game fall survey and transported to the Alaska Fisheries Science Center (AFSC) Auke Bay Laboratories (ABL) in Juneau. Crabs were placed in insulated tanks at approximately 7°C, the temperature of the bottom water where they were collected. Crab biometric data was recorded, and hemolymph samples drawn for preparation of blood smears and preservation in ethanol. Crabs were held at 7°C for 9 days while ethanol-preserved DNA was extracted & Hematodinium sp. infection status determined for each crab with a conventional PCR assay for Hematodinium sp. (Jensen et al. 2010). On Day 9, based on the PCR results, 180 crabs were equally distributed among 9 tanks (10 Hematodinium-positive and 10 Hematodinium-negative crabs per tank) and the surplus crabs were removed from the tanks. Hemolymph samples were taken from the 180 experimental crabs and preserved in RNAlater Stabilization Solution. After the hemolymph draws on Day 9, over the following 2 days, tank temperatures in 3 ‘cold’ tanks and 3 ‘warm’ tanks were adjusted to the experimental treatment temperatures of 4°C and 10°C, respectively, while 3 tanks remained at ‘ambient’ temperature of 7°C; these temperatures were maintained for the duration of the experiment. On Day 11, hemolymph was drawn and preserved in RNAlater. On Day 27, the final hemolymph samples were drawn and preserved in RNAlater and the experiment terminated. RNAlater-preserved samples were transported to the Roberts’ laboratory at the University of Washington for processing.
Figure 1. A, experimental treatment tanks at ABL; B, Grace Crandall, the graduate student on the project, taking a hemolymph sample for preservation in RNAlater from a Tanner crab.
We anticipated high initial mortality of the crabs due to capture and transport stress, reflected by the number of surplus crabs collected, and indeed, lost ~100 crabs before the experiment began. Throughout the experiment, survival in the cold and ambient treatments was higher than anticipated, with 92% of the crabs in each treatment surviving to the end of the experiment. However, in the warm treatment, mortality was high with 50% of the crabs dying between Days 9 and 11, and all but 1 crab per treatment tank succumbing by the end of the experiment.
qPCR assay for Hematodinium infection intensity
In Seattle, DNA was extracted from an aliquot of the Day 27 RNAlater preserved hemolymph. That DNA and DNA extracted from Day 1 ethanol-preserved hemolymph processed in ABL was subjected to a qPCR assay for Hematodinium sp. (Crosson et al., in prep) in order to quantify Hematodinium infection intensity (DNA copy number of Hematodinium). The results will be used to corroborate RNA-Seq analysis results and to investigate the relationship between infection intensity and gene expression levels in the crabs. The qPCR assay, which is more sensitive than the conventional PCR assay, revealed some Hematodinium positive crabs among the crabs that were negative for Hematodinium via the conventional Hematodinium PCR assay. We are using this additional information to inform our sample selection for transcriptome sequencing and analysis.
RNA extraction
Hemolymph samples from 51 crabs (3 sample dates for most crabs, 2 sample dates for some warm treatment crabs: 138 total samples) were processed using a RNA isolation protocol adapted from RNAzol RT. After the completion of the protocol, the isolated RNA was resuspended in 50ul of 0.1% DEPC-treated water, quantified, and stored in -80˚ until sample pooling and/or sequencing. We are currently performing quality assessments on samples for library construction and sequencing that we plan to have underway by the end of this summer.
Based on the timeline in the proposal we are slightly behind schedule in constructing RNA-seq libraries. Due to the high mortality in one treatment group (see below), we decided to evaluate more samples for sequencing than initially planned and to submit samples for sequencing in series, rather than all at the same time. This will allow us to fine tune the sequencing to maximize information from all the crabs, but especially the treatment group that suffered high mortality. We expect to be back on schedule for transcriptome analysis by the end of the year. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Primary care access barriers as reported by nonurgent emergency department users: implications for the US primary care infrastructure.
The objective was to explore variation by insurance status in patient-reported barriers to accessing primary care. The authors fielded a brief, anonymous, voluntary survey of nonurgent emergency department (ED) visits at a large academic medical center and conducted descriptive analysis and thematic coding of 349 open-ended survey responses. The privately insured predominantly reported primary care infrastructure barriers-wait time in clinic and for an appointment, constraints related to conventional business hours, and difficulty finding a primary care provider (because of geography or lack of new patient openings). Half of those insured by Medicaid and/or Medicare also reported these infrastructure barriers. In contrast, the uninsured predominantly reported insurance, income, and transportation barriers. Given that insured nonurgent ED users frequently report infrastructure barriers, these should be the focus of patient-level interventions to reduce nonurgent ED use and of health system-level policies to enhance the capacity of the US primary care infrastructure. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.
Introduction {#sec001}
============
Honeybees are well adapted to collect and transfer pollen and thus are the most commonly used crop pollinators. Unlike other flower-visiting solitary insects, honeybees collect large quantities of pollen and nectar \[[@pone.0203648.ref001]--[@pone.0203648.ref005]\]. Pollen foraging is a collective behavior that is precisely organized and carefully regulated depends on the pollen storage level in the hive, the available resources and the climatic conditions of the area \[[@pone.0203648.ref006]--[@pone.0203648.ref008]\]. Few studies have examined whether honeybee foraging decisions are sensitive to changes in colony conditions \[[@pone.0203648.ref009]--[@pone.0203648.ref011]\]. Change in a colony's pollen reserve can trigger a change in the foragers' behavior \[[@pone.0203648.ref012],[@pone.0203648.ref013]\]. A colony will collect more pollen by recruiting more pollen foragers and increasing the frequency of foraging trips; thus, pollen collection and the pollination of target crops are enhanced \[[@pone.0203648.ref011],[@pone.0203648.ref014]\].
*Pyrus bretschneideri*, is widely cultivated in the China due to its great size, good flavor and rich juice \[[@pone.0203648.ref015]\]. Its flowers offer abundant pollen but produce nectar with a low sugar content \[[@pone.0203648.ref016]--[@pone.0203648.ref019]\]. This species is self-incompatible and depends highly on cross-pollination to set fruit \[[@pone.0203648.ref020],[@pone.0203648.ref021]\]. *Apis mellifera* workers visit pear flowers mainly for pollen for a short duration and often switch to other more attractive plants for nectar when pollination is required \[[@pone.0203648.ref017],[@pone.0203648.ref020]--[@pone.0203648.ref023]\]. As a result, pear plant growers are concerned about inadequate fruit yield and forced to hand pollinate each flower, which is labor intensive (personal obs.).
Different colony management techniques were tested to improve honeybee pollination of less attractive crops \[[@pone.0203648.ref024]--[@pone.0203648.ref027]\]. These techniques require knowledge about the behavior of honeybees and the factors that influence the colony to collect more pollen that enhances pollination \[[@pone.0203648.ref008]\]. When pollens were removed from colonies, there was an associated increase in the number of pollen foragers, pollen amount and pollen load size \[[@pone.0203648.ref028]--[@pone.0203648.ref030]\]. Pollen trapping (PT), which removes pollen loads from returning foragers, has been reported to stimulate honeybees to collect more pollen; thereby, target crops could be efficiently visited and pollinated by honeybees \[[@pone.0203648.ref029],[@pone.0203648.ref031]\].
Feeding honeybee colonies sugar syrup (SS) within hives has also been shown to increase the total amount of pollen collected \[[@pone.0203648.ref024],[@pone.0203648.ref032]--[@pone.0203648.ref034]\]. Sugar syrup feeding enhances pollen collection of colonies, mostly due to changes in the behavior of individual foragers \[[@pone.0203648.ref035]\]. Sugar syrup has a greater effect on the collection of target crop pollen than on the collection of pollen from other nearby flowers \[[@pone.0203648.ref034]\].
This work is important for testing the use of colony management that enhances pear pollen collection by honeybees as best measures for pear pollination. The objectives were to determine whether PT and SS colonies would enhance their total pollen collection and pear pollen proportion. This study is expected to provide information that will support pollination researchers and pear growers for successful pear pollination management to improve the fruit set.
Materials and methods {#sec002}
=====================
Ethics statement {#sec003}
----------------
Pear growers that participated in this study were informed about the experiment and provided consent before we started the experiment. Pollen was collected from honeybees with permission from the beekeepers and the land owners.
Study location and species {#sec004}
--------------------------
The study was conducted in a potential pear-growing area of Yuncheng (N 35.2915, E 110.8461) located in Shanxi Province, China. The area is characterized by monoculture commercial pear plantations where no natural habitats exist for wild pollinators to survive. The orchard has 6.6 ha, and pears were planted with a distance of 6 m between rows and 5 m between plants. The cultivar 'Suli' is dominantly planted (93%) in the orchard for commercial fruit production; other cultivars, such as Bali, Yali and Hongxiangsu pear varieties, are usually present as pollinizers and all cultivars flowers at the same time.
The flower morphology of pear consists of a corolla with five petals, each supported by five sepals, that extends to form a spur where nectar is produced. The flower consists of five longer styles associated with a pair of ovules and 21--23 stamens situated below the styles. This morphology indicates that pollinator-mediated cross-pollination is required for successful fruit set.
The blooming time of pear starts in late March and the flowering period ranges from 7 to 10 days but varies with the annual weather conditions. Our field study was conducted from 29 March to 7 April 2016 and from 8 to 17 April 2017 during the peak pear-flowering periods at the study site. Meteorological data such as daily temperature and moisture were recorded. Dandelion (*Taraxacum officinale*), a weed grown in the field and field margins, and peach (*Prunus mongolica*) planted in small patches and/or along borders used as a field demarcation line were grown in the area as competitive flowers that affect the pollination of pear.
Experimental setup {#sec005}
------------------
We brought thirty colonies of *A*. *mellifera* to the pear orchard, and twenty colonies were selected for the experiment and placed in the center of the pear orchard. All colonies were in single Langstroth hives and had equal honeybee populations (approximately 8000--8500 workers), each with two brood frames and two frames with very little pollen and nectar.
Different colony manipulations were tested to determine the response of colonies' pollen collection behavior. In the first manipulation, five colonies were treated with PT alone; in the second manipulation, five colonies were treated with PT with SS (PTSS); in the third manipulation, five colonies were treated with SS alone; and the control colonies were not treated with PT or SS.
To minimize the environmental factors, we assigned colonies randomly among treatments and conducting experiments with brief periods of time in the same location. We collected pollen using PT in which honeybees entered the hive through pollen traps whose mesh grid dislodged 70% of the pollen loads from the hind-leg \[[@pone.0203648.ref036]\]. Pollen fell and was stored in a tray covered by a screen that allowed pollen but not the bees to pass. Before pollen collections, SS was carried out each evening by placing 200 ml (50% water and 50% white sugar) in the feeder, which was placed in the hives.
Colony pollen collection {#sec006}
------------------------
The total numbers of pollen foragers were examined to determine if hive manipulations affects in colony level response. Honeybees' entering the hive with pollen loads were counted from 8:00 to 17:00 within 5 minutes at one-hour intervals using a digital video camera. We also measured the wet weight of pollen collected four times a day from 9:00 to 17: 00 at two-hour intervals and compared these values among the treatments. The pollen weight under the non-PT treatments (SS and control) was estimated from the number of honeybees entering with pollen (two pollen pellets per bee), considering the mass of each pollen load and the 70% trapping efficiency of PT within a given interval.
Individual pollen collection {#sec007}
----------------------------
The mass of pollen loads (pellets) was collected to investigate the individual pollen foraging behavior of honeybees. In each interval, bees with pollen were captured, pollens were carefully dislodged from the hind legs, and the weight was recorded and compared across days and times.
Pollen proportion {#sec008}
-----------------
We randomly collected samples of pollen on each experimental day; five grams of pollen samples were taken and sorted by color. Visual identification of pollen color and comparison with reference specimens is the standard approach in pollination ecology \[[@pone.0203648.ref037]\]. Pollen of each color was fixed on separate slides and identified under 400x magnification following previously described methods \[[@pone.0203648.ref036]\]. Pollen of each color was identified to the species level by comparing the morphologies of pollen grain reference collected from the anthers of surrounding plant species in bloom. We calculated the proportion of pollen by weight identified as belonging to the target species. Pollen from all pear varieties was identified as *Pyrus* sp.
Data analysis {#sec009}
=============
Statistical analysis was performed using the R-Project software (version 3.3.2). Data were analyzed using ANOVA to investigate the effects. All data were tested for the assumption required by ANOVA, and when the data did not meet the assumptions, the appropriate log transformation was performed. For all data tables, mean values are listed plus or minus with the standard error. Response variables were pooled if necessary, and the mean number of bees foraging pear flowers, mean number of bees entering with pollen, pollen weight and pollen proportion were analyzed. Post hoc analysis was carried out using Tukey's test for comparison of means at P \< 0.05 significance level. Sigma-Plot (version 12.5) was used to sketch graphs.
Results {#sec010}
=======
Pollen collection of honeybees {#sec011}
------------------------------
Pollen collection was estimated by quantifying the number of honeybees entering with pollen. The number of honeybees entering with pollen was similar between study years, with no significant variations (F~1,\ 238~ = 1.78, P = 0.18). However, pollen collection varied among experimental treatments (F~3,\ 716~ = 53.8, P \< 0.001), days (F~2,\ 717~ = 21.4, P \< 0.001) and times of day (F~9,\ 710~ = 25.1, P \< 0.001).
The mean number of pollen foragers returning to the hive per 5 min was higher for PTSS (41 ± 1.6 bees) and PT (35 ± 1.8 bees) than for SS (27 ± 1.67 bees) and control (17 ± 0.79 bees) colonies. Pollen collection increased with days and was influenced by the times of day. The mean number of pollen foragers was interestingly higher on the second day of pollen collection for all treatments ([Fig 1](#pone.0203648.g001){ref-type="fig"}). Pollen collection peaked at 11:00, decreased from 11:00 to 14:00 and experienced a minor peak from 15:00 to 16:00 ([S1 Table](#pone.0203648.s001){ref-type="supplementary-material"}, [Fig 2](#pone.0203648.g002){ref-type="fig"}).
{#pone.0203648.g001}
{#pone.0203648.g002}
Pollen weight {#sec012}
-------------
Pollen weight was inferred from the pollen loads collected through pollen traps. The pollen weight was not significantly varied between years (F~1,\ 238~ = 2.31, P = 0.13), and the average values were 17 ± 1.2 g and 19.1 ± 1.0 g in year 1 and year 2, respectively. ANOVA from year 1 and year 2 pooled together showed that pollen weight was significantly different among experimental treatments (F~3,\ 238~ = 3.8, P = 0.02), days (F ~2,\ 237~ = 20.06, P = 0.002) and times of day (F~3,\ 236~ = 8.25, P \< 0.001). However, Tukey's means comparison test showed that there were no significant differences in pollen weight (F~1,\ 238~ = 3.49, P = 0.63) between PTSS and PT treatments. Colonies under PT, PTSS or SS treatment collected relatively more pollen, with mean weights of 16.4 ± 1.1 g, 19.4 ± 1.2 g and 12.85 ± 1.1 g, respectively, compared to control group (8.7 ± 0.83 g).
Pollen weight was low on day 1 (9.47 ± 1.0 g, 12.9 ± 1.4 g, 10.4 ± 0.78 g and 9.62 ± 0.74 g for PT, PTSS, SS and control colonies, respectively). The pollen weight of the PT and PTSS colonies surprisingly increased on day 2 (19.23 ± 1.0 g and 24.45 ± 1.38 g, respectively). On day 3, the pollen weight was relatively stable compared to day 2, with mean pollen weights of 20.44 ± 1.8 g, 20.97 ± 1.2 g, 12.6 ± 1.4 g and 7.88 ± 0.94 g for the PT, PTSS, SS and control colonies, respectively ([Fig 3](#pone.0203648.g003){ref-type="fig"}). The pollen weight was highest before late afternoon, between 9:00 and 11:00, during which 33% of the total pollen was collected, and slightly decreased with time ([S2 Table](#pone.0203648.s002){ref-type="supplementary-material"}, [Fig 4](#pone.0203648.g004){ref-type="fig"}).
{#pone.0203648.g003}
{#pone.0203648.g004}
Pollen pellet weight {#sec013}
--------------------
The weight of each pollen pellet was measured, and the mean ranged from 4.20 to 13.68 mg/pellet. The pollen pellet weight was significantly varied among treatments (F ~3,140~ = 6.7, P \<0.001), and times of day (F ~3,140~ = 22.5, P \< 0.001), but not significantly varied across days (F ~2,141~ = 0.031, P = 0.98). The weight of single pollen load was highest for PTSS (10.62 ± 0.27 mg), followed by PT (10.11 ± 0.29 mg), SS (9.05 ± 0.29 mg) and control (8.85 ± 0.41 mg). It decreased with time of day, with mean values of 11.31 ± 0.26 mg, 10.18 ± 0.27 mg, 8.31 ± 0.32 mg and 8.14 ± 0.21 mg at 11:00, 13:00 15: 00 and 17:00, respectively ([S3 Table](#pone.0203648.s003){ref-type="supplementary-material"}, [Fig 5](#pone.0203648.g005){ref-type="fig"}).
{#pone.0203648.g005}
Pollen proportion {#sec014}
-----------------
Other plant species were present in the study area; dandelion (*T*. *officinale*) and peach (*P*. *mongolica*) were the most common competitive flowering species. The mean proportion of pollen that honeybees collected from the target crop (pear) by weight was highest (85.7%), followed by peach pollen (8.7%), dandelion pollen (5.1%) and others (0.5%). Moreover, the proportion of pear pollen collected by weight significantly increased (F~2,\ 57~ = 37.0, P \< 0.001) across days and was highest on day 3. The proportion of pear pollen collected by weight was 75.3% on the first day and increased to 88.8% on the second day and 93.2% on the third day. On the other hand, the proportion of peach and dandelion pollen collected by weight decreased as the days advanced ([S1 Fig](#pone.0203648.s004){ref-type="supplementary-material"}, [Fig 6](#pone.0203648.g006){ref-type="fig"}).
{#pone.0203648.g006}
Discussion {#sec015}
==========
The behavior of pollen foraging is one of the functional flexibility in social insects, which is important in planning management of honey bee colonies for pollination of target crops \[[@pone.0203648.ref006]\]. Our study adds to the understanding of pollination management of honey bee colonies for less preferred plant through detail description of pollen collecting behavior of foragers under different colony manipulations.
The results from this study highlight that colony manipulation for pollination that merit further attention. First, *A*. *mellifera* foragers visit pear flowers for pollen in shorter duration and switches to other more attractive plants for nectar. These findings support other research that being brought to orchards to pollinate specific crops, *A*. *mellifera* did not always collect pollen from those crops unlike native bee pollinators \[[@pone.0203648.ref036]\]. Second, the behavior of honeybee colonies is shaped through colony manipulations to enhance pollen collection of less preferred pear flower when pollination is required. Third, the proportion of pear pollen collected by forager bees were increased as PTSS was continued possibly enhanced the less preferred pear pollen collection.
Our results clearly demonstrate that colony manipulations using PT and PTSS increased the daily mean number of pollen foragers and pollen weight of the colonies. The most important finding was that the proportion of pear pollen of the total pollen collected increases. Colonies regulate their pollen-foraging activities based on the amounts of stored pollen and the number of young broods in the hive \[[@pone.0203648.ref029]\]. Our data support earlier works that colonies with a small pollen reserve are suddenly supplied with a large pollen reserve at this time, the number of bees engaged in pollen collection starts to fall. Conversely, when colonies are forced to deplete their pollen reserves, the number of forager bees engaged in pollen collection rises \[[@pone.0203648.ref006],[@pone.0203648.ref011],[@pone.0203648.ref038],[@pone.0203648.ref039]\]. This argument was supported by our results that PT reduced the pollen store in the colony and significantly induced the honeybees to collect more pollen from available plant resources (pear). This created a greater chance of the bees coming into contact with pear flowers, thereby increasing the chance of pear pollen collection and its pollination.
Studies on other plant species confirmed that removing pollen from a colony can trigger a change in the foraging behavior of honeybees, resulting in increased the target plant pollen collection and pollination \[[@pone.0203648.ref029],[@pone.0203648.ref031],[@pone.0203648.ref040],[@pone.0203648.ref041]\]. In a kiwifruit orchard, PT increases the daily pollen collection of colony by 16.6%, which is an important practice to enhance kiwifruit pollination \[[@pone.0203648.ref041]\].
Pollen collectors are top foragers that have better stigma contact when pollination is required than do nectar collectors that collect nectar from the flower base (side workers) \[[@pone.0203648.ref011],[@pone.0203648.ref033],[@pone.0203648.ref042]\]. If colonies are manipulated to deplete their pollen reserves and stimulated by SS feeding, they immediately responded by increasing the number of pollen foragers \[[@pone.0203648.ref033],[@pone.0203648.ref035],[@pone.0203648.ref038]\]. During this time, honeybees immediately increase their pollen gathering from all available plants, rather than choosing pollen with higher protein content \[[@pone.0203648.ref040]\]. The assumption that pollen depletion by PT enhances the mobility of honeybees in pear orchard to fulfill the deficiency in the colony is important in our study. This mechanism enhances pear pollen collection frequency of honeybees from the top of flower, which ensures the stigma contact by honeybees and enhances the possibility of cross pollination.
Sucrose is an important factor used as a primary signal reward to induce honeybees to collect more pollen \[[@pone.0203648.ref043]\]. The low visitation of *A*. *mellifera* to pear flowers might be due to the low sucrose content of the flowers' nectar \[[@pone.0203648.ref016]\]. Sugar syrup feeding is likely to either divert honeybees that were visiting other flowers to the target plant or discourage them from collecting more nectar and encourage them instead to collect more pollen \[[@pone.0203648.ref024],[@pone.0203648.ref032],[@pone.0203648.ref035]\].
Sugar syrup feeding increased sweet cherry pollen collection by 2.16-fold, field bean pollen collection by 3.27-fold, red clover pollen collection by 5.2-fold and kiwifruit pollen collection by 7.9-fold \[[@pone.0203648.ref032],[@pone.0203648.ref035]\]. In our results, PTSS increased the number of pollen foragers, which might result in more honeybees foraging on pear flowers, thereby improve the possibility of pear pollen collection and pollination.
Pollen collection behavior of individual worker bees is crucial for determining the collective behavior of colonies \[[@pone.0203648.ref006]\]. Pollen load size collected by individual honeybee are affected by a number of factors such as pollen amount in the colonies, time of day, and amount pollen produced by plant species, and meteorological conditions of the area \[[@pone.0203648.ref041]\]. Our results clearly demonstrate that pollen load (pellet) weight varies with colonies manipulations and pollen collection time. It is clear that honeybees with larger pollen load visit more flowers to get their full load and possibly enhance pear pollination \[[@pone.0203648.ref027]\]. However, it is not a reliable measure of pollination efficiency of honeybee and need further investigation.
Certain plants in the vicinity of a pear orchard may be more attractive to honey bees than pear flower, because they produce more nectar or pollen\[[@pone.0203648.ref044]\]. As a result, honey bees will neglect the target crop. The problem of plant competition for bee visits has been reported for several crops \[[@pone.0203648.ref010],[@pone.0203648.ref026],[@pone.0203648.ref044]--[@pone.0203648.ref046]\]. This study determines Dandelion (*T*. *officinale*) and peach (*P*. *mongolica*) are found as competitive species grown in pear orchard. Dandelion was sparsely grown in the pear orchard, and the proportion of pollen collected during PT decreased after midday on warm days. On the other hand, honeybees frequently visited peach flowers throughout the day, but the peach plant density in the orchard was too low to significantly compete with pear flowers. Accordingly, the effect of competitive species may be less important as PTSS is continued. Removal of other competitive flowering plant species from pear orchard should significantly enhance the collection of pear pollen and the pollination efficiency of honeybees.
In conclusion, pear flowers have short flowering duration, which requires designed pollination to efficiently utilize honey bees. Honey bee colonies adaptively alter pollen collection behavior responding to colony managements. Given the described behavior of honey bees, that do not prefer for pear flower, the use of pollen traps with sugar syrup feeding increases pear pollen collection and probably its pollination. The techniques can serve as rapid and inexpensive pollination management of honey bee colonies and easily applied by pear growers. Beekeepers might be benefited from renting colonies and pear growers are likely to enhance pear pollination services for optimum pear fruit production.
Supporting information {#sec016}
======================
###### Number of honeybees entering with pollen.
(XLSX)
######
Click here for additional data file.
###### Pollen weight (g) during pollen trapping.
(XLSX)
######
Click here for additional data file.
###### Single pollen load (pellet) weight in milligram.
(XLSX)
######
Click here for additional data file.
###### Different color of pollen collected by honey bees.
(TIF)
######
Click here for additional data file.
We would like to thank Prof. Yusuo Jiang and postgraduate students from Shanxi Agricultural University for assistance during the field work. We thank the postgraduate students for assisting in data collection in the field. This work was supported by the China Agriculture Research System (CARS-44), the Agro-technology Demonstration Program IBP/IPM (2130106) and the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program (CAASASTIP-2018-IAR).
[^1]: **Competing Interests:**The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Felicity Jones
Felicity Rose Hadley Jones (born 17 October 1983) is an English actress. She started her professional acting career as a child, appearing at age 12 in The Treasure Seekers (1996). Jones went on to play Ethel Hallow for one series of the television series The Worst Witch and its sequel Weirdsister College. On radio, she has played the role of Emma Grundy in the BBC's The Archers. In 2008, she appeared in the Donmar Warehouse production of The Chalk Garden.
Since 2006, Jones has appeared in the films Northanger Abbey (2007), Brideshead Revisited (2008), Chéri (2009), The Tempest (2010), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) and True Story (2015). Her performance in the 2011 film Like Crazy was met with critical acclaim, garnering her awards, including a special jury prize at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.
In 2014, her performance as Jane Hawking in The Theory of Everything also met with critical acclaim, garnering her nominations for the Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA and Academy Award for Best Actress. In 2016, Jones starred in the adventure-thriller Inferno, the fantasy drama A Monster Calls and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story as Jyn Erso. In 2016, she received the BAFTA Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year.
Early life
Felicity Rose Hadley Jones was born in Birmingham on 17 October 1983. She has one elder brother. Her mother worked in advertising and her father was a journalist. She grew up in Bournville, a village south of Birmingham. Her uncle, Michael Hadley, is an actor, which prompted Jones' interest in acting as a child. Jones is of Italian descent; one of her great-great-grandmothers hailed from Lucca.
After Kings Norton Girls' School, Jones attended King Edward VI Handsworth School, to complete A-levels and went on to take a gap year (during which she appeared in the BBC series Servants). She then read English at Wadham College, Oxford. She appeared in student plays, including Attis in which she played the titular role, and, in 2005, Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors for the Oxford University Dramatic Society summer tour to Japan, starring alongside Harry Lloyd.
Career
Jones began acting at the age of 11 at after-school workshop Central Junior Television, which was funded by Central Television. At age 14, she appeared in the first series of The Worst Witch. When Weirdsister College began in 2001, Jones returned as Hallow. Her longest running role around this time was on the BBC Radio 4 soap opera The Archers, where she played Emma Carter until 2009 (currently played by Emerald O'Hanrahan).
In 2003, she starred as Grace May in the BBC drama Servants. She took the leading role in the 2007 ITV adaptation of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, and starred in Polly Stenham's That Face at the Royal Court Theatre in April 2007.
In 2008, she appeared in the films Brideshead Revisited and Flashbacks of a Fool, the Doctor Who episode "The Unicorn and the Wasp" and a revival of Enid Bagnold's The Chalk Garden at the Donmar Warehouse theatre in London. In January 2009, the five-part TV serial The Diary of Anne Frank, in which Jones played the role of Margot Frank alongside Tamsin Greig (as Edith Frank-Holländer) and Iain Glen (as Otto Frank), was broadcast on BBC One. Later that year in May, she performed in a rehearsed reading of Anthony Minghella's Hang Up at the High Tide Festival. Jones played the role of Julie in Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's 2010 film Cemetery Junction. She also appeared in Soulboy and in Julie Taymor's big screen adaptation of The Tempest as Miranda.
On 29 January 2011, Jones won a Special Jury Prize (Dramatic) at the Sundance Film Festival for her performance as Anna in Drake Doremus's Like Crazy. For the film, Jones did her own hair and make-up and improvised her dialogue. Her performance earned comparisons to Carey Mulligan's Academy Award-nominated role in An Education. She also received the Best New Hollywood Award for this film at the 2011 Hollywood Film Awards.
She appeared alongside Gossip Girl actor Ed Westwick in Chalet Girl, a romantic comedy released in March 2011, for which she had to undergo two months of snowboarding training and work undercover in a chalet at St Anton, scrubbing toilets and partying at the Krazy Kanguruh bar in preparation for the role. Jones said that the role was "something of a relief" after a string of costume roles and she was also keen to take on a comic role. Jones performed in Luise Miller, a new translation of Schiller's Kabale und Liebe by Mike Poulton at the Donmar Warehouse theatre in London, in June and July 2011. Jones lived with a Catholic family and attended Mass to prepare for the role. In 2011, Jones was announced as the new face of Burberry. In November, she was also announced as the new face of Dolce & Gabbana.
In 2013, Jones portrayed Ellen Ternan in The Invisible Woman. Jones, previously unfamiliar with Ternan, learned about her life through research, and reflected that she knew she was "in for a challenge" when choosing to work on the film, citing the experience of director Ralph Fiennes and how "methodically done" his performance was. She also co-starred in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which was released on 2 May 2014. She played Felicia Hardy; an assistant of Harry Osborn. Jones signed on due to its difference from her previous works.
In 2014, Jones portrayed Jane Wilde Hawking in the film The Theory of Everything, a biopic charting the life and love between Wilde Hawking and the world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, with Eddie Redmayne starring as Hawking. After being given the script by her agent, Jones read it in its entirety in one sitting, and said that she enjoyed that it was a "love story and not a straightforward biopic." She auditioned for the film and its director, James Marsh, offered the part immediately after, surprising Jones who was accustomed to waiting several weeks for a confirmation. Jones was aided by Jane Hawking in preparing for the role, meeting with her. The film has been praised largely due to her and Redmayne's performances. Jane Hawking was so impressed by the portrayal she wondered if it was herself when watching Jones. For her role as Jane, she received widespread acclaim from a number of organisations, including nominations for an Academy Award for Best Actress, a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, a Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role.
In February 2015, she was cast as Jyn Erso in the Star Wars stand-alone film Rogue One, with Gareth Edwards directing. Jones's agent recommended the role to her, and she enjoyed the character's search for an identity, drawing inspiration in her movements from Ronda Rousey. The film was released in December 2016 to positive reviews and grossed over $1 billion at the box office. Also in 2016, Jones starred in Inferno, playing a doctor aiding Robert Langdon in his escape. After agreeing to the role, she visited museums and galleries to understand her character better. Jones enjoyed the chemistry between her and Tom Hanks's characters as well as Inferno'''s overall diversity.
In late 2018, Jones starred in On the Basis of Sex'', a biography of United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, directed by Mimi Leder and co-starring Armie Hammer and Justin Theroux.
Personal life
In 2013, Jones split from sculptor Ed Fornieles, her boyfriend of ten years, whom she had met at Oxford when he was at the Ruskin School of Art. In 2015, she began dating director Charles Guard. Their engagement was announced in May 2017, and the couple married in June 2018. In December 2019, a representative for Jones confirmed the couple are expecting their first child.
Filmography
Film
Television
Theatre
Awards and nominations
Notes
References
External links
Category:1983 births
Category:20th-century English actresses
Category:21st-century English actresses
Category:Actresses from Birmingham, West Midlands
Category:Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford
Category:Best Female Newcomer Empire Award winners
Category:English child actresses
Category:English film actresses
Category:English feminists
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Category:English radio actresses
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Category:People educated at King Edward VI Handsworth
Category:Actresses of Italian descent
Category:People of Tuscan descent | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Britney Spears' Taxes Reunite Her with Kevin Federline
Thursday
Nov 29, 2012 at 12:56 PM
TV Guide
Britney Spears and Kevin Federline don't just share two beautiful children. They also share a more than $37,000 debt to the state of California.RIP Jelena and TomKat! Check out the most shocking celebrity splitsAccording to TMZ, the former couple owes a $37,712.71 lien to the California Franchise Tax Board for unpaid income taxes from 2004.It just so happens that 2004 was a memorable - and lucrative - year for Spears. Her 55-hour wedding to Jason Alexander was annulled, allowing the singer to marry Federline that fall. Spears also released her first fragrance Curious, a greatest hits album and her cover of Bobby Brown's "My Perogative." The singer also began her Onyx Hotel Tour that spring to promote In the Zone.Fifty Shades of Lame! Check out TV's unsexiest sex scenesEven Federline made some cash of his own, appearing in the hit dance film You Got Served that year.Spears' rep insists that the lien was an error and will soon be fixed.
View original Britney Spears' Taxes Reunite Her with Kevin Federline at TVGuide.com
Other Links From TVGuide.com You Got ServedBobby BrownBritney SpearsKevin Federline
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hello fellow wingers
Anyone ever have to change the front wheel bearings on an 1800. Mine are not making noise but I got caught having to change the rear bearings in the middle of a trip at 150,000 kilometers and I don't want the same thing to happen with the front on the next trip through quebec.
Bearings are a difficult item to inspect. You can do a "feel" test with your fingers/hand, but you will never be able to duplicate the stresses put on the bearings while underway. For the cost of a set of bearings, replace them and then enjoy the ride. Cheers
"When you write the story of your life, don't let anyone else hold the pen"
I'd bought new front bearings before I left on a trip last year and found I needed a specific tool to push out the old ones. So these sat available in my trailer just in case. Its now nearly a year later and I bought the tool and installed them last week, I now have a spare set of front bearing for my 2002, as the originals look and feel just fine at 103k miles, still it took less than an hour and its cheap piece of mind before I depart again. My trailer bearings are new also at 17k (only one of them was bad, it appears the seal went bad - rusty grease). I ordered All Balls for my bike bearings. Without the tools to change them it is nothing to do on the road, and it still wouldn't be much fun with them. Note to self store tools in trailer and bring add a ballpeen hammer. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
NOTE: Pursuant to Fed. Cir. R. 47.6, this disposition is
not citable as precedent. It is a public record.
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
04-1559, 05-1218
LAMPS PLUS, INC. and PACIFIC COAST LIGHTING,
Plaintiffs-Appellees,
v.
PATRICK S. DOLAN, DESIGN TRENDS, LLC,
CRAFTMADE INTERNATIONAL, INC.,
and LOWE’S HOME CENTERS, INC.,
Defendants-Appellants.
__________________________
DECIDED: January 17, 2006
__________________________
Before MAYER, RADER, and DYK, Circuit Judges.
Opinion for the court filed PER CURIAM. Concurring in part and dissenting in part
opinion filed by Circuit Judge DYK.
PER CURIAM.
Patrick S. Dolan, Design Trends, LLC, and Craftmade International, Inc.
(collectively “Dolan”), appeal (1) the September 14, 2004, judgment of the United States
District Court for the Northern District of Texas, No. 3:01-CV-01537, entered in
accordance with the jury verdict of, inter alia, willful infringement of claim 5 of United
States Patent No. 5,221,141 (“’141 patent”), and awarding fees to Lamps Plus, Inc. and
Pacific Coast Lighting (collectively “Lamps Plus”); (2) the trial court’s order denying
Dolan’s motion to alter or amend the judgment and its renewed motion for judgment as
a matter of law (“JMOL”), or alternatively, for a new trial (Sept. 28, 2004); and (3) the
trial court’s order awarding costs to Lamps Plus (Dec. 27, 2004).* We affirm.
Lamps Plus owns the ’141 patent, which claims a stand-alone electric lamp, and
United States Design Patent No. 353,904 (“’904 patent”), which claims the ornamental
design of lamps similar to those in the ’141 patent. On August 8, 2001, Lamps Plus
sued Dolan for infringement of the ’904 patent as to four lamps and for infringement of
claim 5 of the ’141 patent as to five lamps. Dolan denied infringement and
counterclaimed that the patents in suit were invalid and unenforceable. The relevant
portion of claim 5 of the ’141 patent reads:
A stand-alone electric lamp comprising:
a base member for supporting said lamp;
an elongated hollow stem . . . rising centrally from said base member;
general area lighting means carried by [the] second end of said
stem;
a plurality of separate direct light reflectors;
means for affixing each of said separate direct light reflectors to
said stem . . . ;
said means for affixing each separate direct light reflector including:
(a) a first hollow cylinder affixed to and extending from said stem;
(b) a second hollow cylinder defining a through opening in a wall
thereof rotatably affixed to said first hollow cylinder;
....
’141 patent, col. 4, l. 55 – col. 5, l. 5 (emphasis added). After a 12-day trial, the jury
found that the patents were not invalid and were enforceable, and that Dolan directly,
indirectly, and willfully infringed the ’141 patent as to four lamps, but did not infringe the
’904 patent.
*
Lowe’s Home Centers, Inc. was initially party to this appeal, but at its request and
with consent of Lamps Plus, its appeal was dismissed.
04-1559, 05-1218 2
On appeal, Dolan challenges the trial court’s construction of claim 5 as to the
“hollow cylinder” and the “affixed to and extending from” limitations; our review is de
novo. See Cybor Corp. v. FAS Techs., Inc., 138 F.3d 1448, 1454 (Fed. Cir. 1998) (en
banc). In construing the claim, the trial court gave instructive weight to and ultimately
adopted the construction of the United States District Court for the Southern District of
Florida.** See Lamps Plus, Inc. v. Dolan, No. 3:01-CV-1537-K, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS
19578, at *3-7 (N.D. Tex. Nov. 3, 2003). The trial court construed “hollow cylinder” as:
[A] hollow piece of which the two ends are equal and parallel circles, and
the intervening curved surface is such as would be traced out by a
straight line moving parallel to itself with its ends in the
circumference of those circles.
Id. at *6. Because this construction is consistent with the claim language, the
specification, the prosecution history, and understandings in the art, we find it to be
proper. With respect to the “affixed to and extending from” limitation, Dolan argues that
the trial court should have required that the hollow cylinder be directly affixed to the
vertical lamp stem. However, because nothing in the claim language, the specification,
or the prosecution history compels such a narrow construction, we find the trial court’s
construction to be correct.
We review the jury’s verdict of direct infringement for substantial evidence and
find that it was properly supported. See Embrex, Inc. v. Serv. Eng’g Corp., 216 F.3d
1343, 1348-49 (Fed. Cir. 2000). On appeal, Dolan argues that its lamps do not infringe
because they do not contain the requisite two hollow cylinders in the affixing means for
the direct light reflectors; we disagree. Both of the members used in Dolan’s affixing
**
The patents in suit were previously the subject of litigation in Catalina Lighting,
Inc. v. Lamps Plus, Inc., 295 F.3d 1277 (Fed. Cir. 2002) (affirming the trial court’s
rulings as to infringement, validity, and enforceability of the ’141 and the ’904 patents).
04-1559, 05-1218 3
means are hollow cylinders with additional elements. With respect to the first member,
it is a hollow cylinder with two donut-shaped voids or grooves cut from the cylinder wall
and a threaded portion attached to one end. The second member is a hollow cylinder
with a tapered end. Dolan further argues that it does not meet the “affixing to and
extending from” limitation because its first hollow cylinder is not directly attached to the
lamp stem. This argument fails because the first hollow cylinder need not be directly
attached; rather, intervening structures may connect the cylinder to the stem, e.g., a
threaded portion.
Next, we find that substantial evidence supported the jury’s verdict of willful
infringement. See Crystal Semiconductor Corp. v. TriTech Microelecs. Int’l Inc., 246
F.3d 1336, 1346 (Fed. Cir. 2001). We do not disturb the jury’s credibility determinations
or substitute our resolution of conflicting evidence for that of the jury. See Fuji Photo
Film Co. v. Jazz Photo Corp., 394 F.3d 1368, 1379 (Fed. Cir. 2005). Applying this
standard of review, there was sufficient evidence for the jury to determine that Dolan
knew of Lamps Plus’ patent protection, but nonetheless willfully engaged in acts that
violated Lamps Plus’ rights; that Dolan belatedly sought advice of counsel; that even if
Dolan obtained adequate advice of counsel, it was ignored; and, therefore, that Dolan
willfully infringed.
Turning to Dolan’s invalidity and unenforceability counterclaims, we review the
ultimate nonobviousness finding de novo and the underlying facts for substantial
evidence. See Modine Mfg. Co. v. Allen Group, Inc., 917 F.2d 538, 541 (Fed. Cir.
1990). With respect to the ’141 patent, because there was substantial evidence to
support a finding that the prior art on the record did not contain all of the claimed
04-1559, 05-1218 4
limitations and that even if it did, there was not an adequate motivation to combine, we
find that the jury’s nonobviousness determination was correct. With respect to the ’904
patent, there was substantial evidence to support a finding of no motivation to combine,
even if the prior art on the record, in combination, sufficiently disclosed the claimed
design. Moreover, Lamps Plus’ evidence of copying and commercial success further
support the nonobviousness findings.
Next, because Dolan failed to introduce sufficient evidence demonstrating that a
person having ordinary skill in the art would not have recognized that Lamps Plus
possessed what was claimed in the ’904 patent, we conclude that substantial evidence
supported the finding that the drawings in the ’904 patent were sufficient to meet the
written description requirements of 35 U.S.C. § 112. See Koito Mfg. Co. v. Turn-Key-
Tech, LLC, 381 F.3d 1142, 1149 (Fed. Cir. 2004). Moreover, we conclude that
substantial evidence supported the jury’s finding of no inequitable conduct. Hebert v.
Lisle Corp., 99 F.3d 1109, 1105 (Fed. Cir. 1996). Based on the record introduced at
trial, it was reasonable for the jury to conclude that any prior art withheld from the
examiner was cumulative and non-material and that even if some prior art was deemed
material, there was not a sufficient showing of deceptive intent.
Because the jury’s findings of direct and willful infringement are sufficient to
support the trial court’s judgment in all respects, we need not reach the issue of indirect
infringement. Dolan did not request review for abuse of discretion of the trial court’s
exceptional case finding or its fee and cost awards. Finally, because we find the ’141
patent directly and willfully infringed, valid, and enforceable, the trial court did not abuse
04-1559, 05-1218 5
its discretion in denying both Dolan’s motion to alter or amend judgment and its
renewed motion for JMOL.
04-1559, 05-1218 6
NOTE: Pursuant to Fed. Cir. R. 47.6, this disposition
is not citable as precedent. It is a public record.
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
04-1559, 05-1218
LAMPS PLUS, INC. and PACIFIC COAST LIGHTING,
Plaintiffs-Appellees,
v.
PATRICK S. DOLAN, DESIGN TRENDS, LLC, CRAFTMADE INTERNATIONAL, INC, and
LOWE’S HOME CENTERS, INC,
Defendants-Appellants.
DYK, Circuit Judge, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
While I agree with the majority concerning the invalidity and inequitable conduct
issues, in my view the jury verdict on infringement here is not sustainable. I respectfully
dissent.
As explained by the majority, Lamps Plus sued Dolan for infringing claim 5 of the
‘141 patent. In pertinent part, claim 5 provides:
[a] means for affixing each of sa[i]d separate direct light reflectors to said
stem at spaced apart positions disposed between said base and said
general area lighting means;
said means for affixing each separate direct light reflector including:
(a) a first hollow cylinder affixed to and extending from said stem;
(b) a second hollow cylinder defining a through opening in a wall thereof
rotatably affixed to said first hollow cylinder . . . .
‘141 patent, col. 4, l.63 - col. 5, l. 5 (emphasis added). In depicting the hollow cylinders,
the ‘141 patent’s specification simply shows two tubes—the first emerging from the
lamp stem and the second rotatably affixed to the first. These tubes do not have any
grooves, indentations, or tapered ends. Further, it appears that the outer and inner
circumference of each cylinder is consistent throughout the entire length of the tube.
The district court issued its claim construction opinion, construing the term
“hollow cylinder” in claim 5 as meaning “a hollow piece of which the two ends are equal
and parallel circles, and the intervening curved surface is such as would be traced out
by a straight line moving parallel to itself with its ends in the circumference of those
circles . . . .” J.A. 3864. This claim construction was obviously correct, and the majority
does not disagree.
The infringement question at trial centered on whether the accused lamps
contained an affixing means that included “a first hollow cylinder” and “a second hollow
cylinder” as claimed by the ‘141 patent. There was no dispute as to the nature of the
accused components. The first accused component, which is alleged to meet the “first
hollow cylinder” limitation, is a straight, hollow, metal tube with a smooth internal surface
and a consistent internal diameter. However, its external surface—about which the
second “cylinder” swivels—has two deep and relatively wide grooves cut from the
external wall, creating parallel channels which run around the entire circumference of
the tube. The majority describes these grooves as “two donut-shaped voids.” Maj. Op.
at 3. The external surface of this accused component is not smooth, because these
grooves preclude the tube from having a consistently-sized circumference throughout its
entire length. The second accused component, which was alleged to meet the “second
hollow cylinder” limitation, is a smooth metal tube with a tapered end curving inward like
a rounded bullet. It too does not have a consistently-sized circumference throughout
the length of the tube due to its tapered end.
At trial the patentee argued that because claim 5 was a comprising claim, the
accused components could meet the “hollow cylinder” limitation in one of two ways.
04-1559, 05-1218 2
First, the accused components could each be seen as comprising of several cylinders—
three cylinders in the case of the grooved component and several infinitesimal cylinders
in the case of the tapered component. Alternatively, the accused components could
each be seen as a single cylinder with additional elements. In other words, if one
shaved off the protruding portions, thereby eliminating the grooves on the first
component, or shaved off the tapered end from the second component, one would be
left with a cylinder. Thus the patentee’s infringement argument rested on two
alternative theories: slicing and shaving.
I find both theories of infringement to be directly at odds with the district court’s
original construction of the term cylinder in claim 5. This original construction required
“hollow cylinder” to be a single, fixed component, i.e., “a hollow piece.” J.A. 3864
(emphasis added). The district court’s interpretation inherently required this “piece” to
have a consistent diameter throughout its entire length. The court’s construction
recognized that each “cylinder” has fixed endpoints by requiring “two ends [that] are
equal and parallel circles.” Id.
To its credit, the majority does not apply the “slicing” theory of infringement.
However, the majority apparently adopts the second theory, finding that “[b]oth of the
members used in Dolan’s affixing means are hollow cylinders with additional elements.
With respect to the first member, it is a hollow cylinder with two donut-shaped voids or
grooves cut from the cylinder wall” and the “second member is a hollow cylinder with a
tapered end.” Maj. Op. at 3-4.
Under this second theory, rather than looking at the component in the accused
device that actually corresponded to the first and second cylinders in claim 5 (i.e., the
04-1559, 05-1218 3
entire grooved or tapered tube), the jury could conceptually chisel away parts of the
accused component until the component looked like a cylinder. Under this approach, a
solid block with a hole drilled through it could meet the cylinder limitation in claim 5,
because one could shave away the external surface until only a hollow cylinder
remained. But in my view, this result defies the district court’s original (correct) claim
construction and is not sustainable.
While the majority does not address the question, I note that both parties in this
case improperly used testifying experts (former Commissioners of the PTO) to offer
testimony at trial on what were essentially issues of claim construction. We have
recently made clear that such testimony is quite likely to confuse the jury and is
improper. Cytologix Corp. v. Ventana Med. Sys., 424 F.3d 1168, 1172 (Fed. Cir. 2005).
There was no objection to such testimony here, and its admission was thus not
reversible error. But such testimony helps to explain what in my view is an irrational jury
verdict.
Because I conclude that the evidence could not support a verdict of infringement,
I respectfully dissent from the majority’s affirmance of the jury’s verdict of infringement.
04-1559, 05-1218 4
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
See also:General Index
of all guest columns written by Dennis C. Butler, CFA
In 1930, investor and author Philip Carret wrote about the need for an "Index of Courage." During times when markets get so carried away that prices are beyond any fundamental justification, held aloft by the availability of money and the "courage" to spend it, this fanciful index could warn investors about an impending decline when other, normally useful indicators have proven unreliable (something investors had just painfully experienced). If only such a measuring tool were available these days! Given the enthusiasm for average earnings yields of 3% (or 1.4% in the case of Microsoft and 0.2% for America Online), while 5% risk-free is available with treasury notes, the courageousness of stock buyers would appear to be off the scale. At the other end of the spectrum, "cowardly" investors certainly aren't helping to prop up stocks: Chief Coward Warren Buffett is holding $14 billion in cash.
It's been more of the same on Wall Street so far this year: stocks continued to rise. That is, some did. The popular capitalization-weighted indexes rose, but they currently gauge the action in remarkably few stocks. Not reflected were the declines registered by most securities, especially those of smaller issuers, that have been taking place for a year now. Continued strength in the averages is all the more notable given weak corporate earnings, somewhat higher interest rates and economic crises abroad, not to mention open warfare in Europe. Nevertheless, the good cheer continued. Corporations raised capital in record-breaking bond offerings. Managers of huge pools of venture capital dug into every nook and cranny to find ways to put funds to work. Wise old-timers wagged their fingers at some of the excesses, but who needs wisdom when you can buy Internet stocks that triple in price on their first day of trading?
An "Index of Wisdom"
In recent months our leading financial journal has profiled several members of the new breed of rapid-fire stock traders who sit at their computers, getting their information from the Internet and doing their buying and selling through on-line brokers. Not surprisingly, their interest is focused on the very technology companies that have made such forms of communications and transactions possible. Although the impressive technology and bold attitude of these stock jockeys lend it an all-American frontiersman aura, we find certain aspects of this trend to be a regrettable throw-back to an earlier, unsavory period of our financial history.
Readers of our commentaries know well of our low regard for Wall Street. At its rarest best, it is a good source of information and ideas; the common worst is a world of conflicts of interest, rumors and misinformation. In the old days, before the securities laws of the 1930s, it was even worse. Stocks were subject to blatant manipulation by anonymous pools, "bucket shops" ripped-off "suckers" on a regular basis, financial accounting was irregular, and so on. The securities laws and new regulations did away with (or at least made illegal) the most egregious practices, and greatly improved the quantity and quality of corporate information available to investors. Over the intervening decades, government regulation and policing has served the useful purpose of strengthening the markets and the public's faith in their fairness. Nevertheless, we still think it wise for investors to keep a healthy distance -- physical, mental and emotional -- from the noise and commotion on Wall Street; our lonely outpost in Cambridge certainly helps us maintain an independence of judgement and a rational perspective on what is important.
The rise of on-line trading short-circuits the advantages of distance and undermines the investor protections written into law by people who learned their lessons the hard way. The Internet, it is claimed, brings a wealth of information, formerly accessible only to professionals, right to the desk-top, permitting individuals to make their own investment decisions more easily than ever before. Whether the decisions are good ones or whether the process should be easier goes unquestioned. More importantly, the problem with some of this so-called "information" is that it is unfiltered, or filtered by parties with their own agendas, making it unreliable. In either case it cannot be compared with professionally-edited articles and analyses found in reputable publications, or even brokerage reports. With the exception of corporate regulatory filings, we have found even seemingly innocuous statistical data on the Internet to be untrustworthy. So, ironically, the Internet brings home misinformation and gossip to users who are often ill-equipped to judge their veracity.
Any knowledgeable person who has visited an Internet "chat room" will immediately recognize the risks of taking anything found there seriously. The first question that comes to mind is "Who are these people?" Most messages evidence no particular level of sophistication; others obviously hype the stocks owned by the authors. Rumors bounce around among participants. Nevertheless, on-line traders use chat rooms as a source of trading ideas and information. Tellingly, the Securities and Exchange Commission has begun to monitor this activity after discovering fraudulent schemes involving Internet stock tipsters.
It is not our intention to condemn the idea of managing one's own funds. It is an attractive option for some people who possess the necessary temperament, and who have the time and inclination to engage in serious study. These are attributes that don't seem to apply to on-line day traders. It's not always as easy as it looks during bull market periods, when almost any "system" -- even astrology -- seems to work well. Successful investing over a long period requires experience, maturity of judgement, and knowledge of the language of business, and for those lacking these requisites, relying on the Internet or any simplistic methodology is likely to be costly.
For these reasons most investors who make their own decisions still rely on the help of brokers, or "financial advisors," to use the preferred term. Despite our doubts about the brokerage industry and its conflicts, its professionals are required to pass examinations giving evidence of at least a minimum amount of knowledge of the investment business. Good judgement may be another matter, but at the very least a broker represents one more potential barrier between a fool and the loss of his or her money. On-line trading lacks even these relationships and minimal protections and the investor is on his or her own.
The financial journal profiles mentioned above included the story of a young man (most on-line traders seem to be young men) who spent his days surfing the net looking for the latest "hot" Internet-related stocks, which he would then trade in and out of frequently. When asked what he would do if such stocks suddenly took a dive when he was exposed, he replied: "I'm in it for the long term." Whether he meant he would be trading for a long time or that he would bravely hold onto stocks dropping like a stone was not clear. What was clear, however, was that he was absolutely clueless about appreciating the personal risks incurred through his breath-taking trading schemes. In addition, there are broader, societal risks from this activity, especially if it were to become more widespread. Many traders have funded their accounts with credit card debt and life savings. Since this is essentially gambling, sooner or later it will entail heavy losses, potentially burdening already taxed retirement funding. On a different level, such trading blurs the distinction between investment and speculation, which has had deleterious effects in the past. The fallout from previous bouts of speculation (the 1920s and early 1970s, for example) led many people away from stock investing altogether. This had a negative effect on the cost of capital for American business for long periods.
The Index of Courage would warn investors that an excess of financial derring-do puts their wealth at risk. Continuing in the same spirit as Carret, we recommend an additional index: an "Index of Wisdom" that alerts investors to the presence of attractive opportunities (and could be applied to individual stocks or the market as a whole). The necessity for such a measure is obvious, since the usual economic indicators are typically not encouraging during those times when wise investors are afoot and market operators, along with their Wall Street abettors, have long since left the scene. The construction of such an index will have to await the efforts of those more knowledgeable in such matters than we are, but we can imagine that a ratio of grey hairs to dark on Wall Street might be one variable. A "crash and burn" indicator tracking the fate of on-line stock traders could well be another.
____________________
Dennis C. Butler, CFA, is president of Centre Street Cambridge Corporation,
investment counsel. He has been a practitioner in the investment field for over 23 years and has been published in
Barron's. He holds an MBA from Wharton and a BA in History from Brown University. His quarterly newsletter can be found at www.businessforum.com/cscc.html.
"Current low valuations reward the long-term view", an article by Dennis Butler, appears in the May 7, 2009 issue of the Financial Times (page 28). "Intelligent Individual Investor", an article by Dennis Butler, appears in the December 2, 2008 issue of NYSSA News, a magazine published by the New Yorks Society of Security Analsysts, Inc. "Benjamin Graham in Perspective", an article by Dennis Butler, appears in the Summer 2006 issue of Financial History, a magazine published by the Museum of American Finance in New York City. To correspond with him directly and /or to obtain a reprint of his featured articles, "Gold Coffin?" in Barron's (March 23, 1998, Volume LXXVIII, No. 12, page 62) or "What Speculation?" in Barron's (September 15, 1997, Volume LXXVII, No. 37, page 58), he may be contacted at: | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Q:
Is it possible to cast a type parameter?
According to the Implicit converting Logic which enables something like:
string str = "something";
Object o = str ;
I was expecting that assigning a Dictionary<string, string> to Dictionary<string, Object> would be possible, but this is not the case.
Is it possible to explicity cast the string value to Object without having to iterate through the keyValuePair-items?
EDIT1: replaced all Boxing/Unboxing words with converting and casting as comments and answers mention this isnt Boxing issue.
Thank you all
A:
Typecasting doesn't help you there but you can convert one to another with LINQ:
Dictionary<string, object> newDict;
newDict = dict.ToDictionary(pair => pair.Key, pair => (object)pair.Value);
| null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
Systems employing numerous devices often require or otherwise benefit from the ability for these devices to communicate with one another. While each device may have its own purpose and responsibilities, they may need to transmit information to, and/or receive information from, other devices of the system. Device-to-device communication may be accomplished by wiring the devices together, and communicating via the wires. In more recent times more and more systems are employing wireless communication, which generally makes installation more convenient, and among other things provides greater flexibility and scalability.
A drawback to wireless communication is that information transfer is not confined to a wire, as in a direct wired system. Rather, the information is transmitted over the air, and transmissions from neighboring systems can interfere with system communications. To address this issue, wireless network systems have employed various methods of transmitting radio signals, such as frequency hopping. Frequency hopping generally refers to a modulation technique where the signal carrier is rapidly switched among many frequency channels. Each party to the communication must know the frequency hopping sequence in order to know when it is to transmit at a certain frequency in the sequence. Using the frequency hopping sequence, transmitting devices can properly address targeted devices, and receiving devices can reject information from neighboring devices that are not within their system but within their reception range.
The selection of the ordered list of hopping frequencies, referred to herein as a frequency hopping sequence or frequency hop set, should be selected to minimize interference to and from neighboring systems sharing the same frequency space. However, because a device may be deployed anywhere, it can be problematic to generate a hop set that is unique at the deployed location.
Customarily, a frequency hopping sequence may be based on a value that is programmed into a device at the factory, or entered by an installation technician when the system is being deployed. In either case, to remove the risk of neighboring systems using the frequency hopping sequence, there must be a large enough set of frequency hop sets to accommodate every like system currently or later in existence. This may require additional resources, such as increased local storage, lengthier messages, more complex frequency hopping sequence calculations, etc. Further, multiple devices may share a common frequency hopping sequence so that each communicating device can determine at what time and what frequency other devices are listening for transmitted messages. Each device must be privy to that common frequency hopping sequence. Establishing manners for each of the devices to create the same frequency hopping sequence can be difficult. These difficulties are exacerbated when new or additional devices need to enter the system.
Accordingly, there is a need in the communications industry for a manner of selecting an appropriate frequency hopping sequence for devices regardless of where they may be deployed. The present invention fulfills these and other needs, and offers other advantages over the prior art. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
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The information being provided by the Space Coast Association of REALTORS® is exclusively for consumers' personal, non-commercial use, and it may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing. The data is deemed reliable but is not guaranteed accurate by the MLS.
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A member of the Space Coast Association of Realtors® with over 55 years experience in buying and selling real estate. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Mo Trafeh, who set the 25K American record at the Fifth Third River Bank Run, has retired from competition following admission that he purchased the banned performance-enhancing drug EPO, or Erythropoietin.
Trafeh, an eight-time U.S. road champion from California, set the 25K record at the Grand Rapids race in 2013 but the mark was tied in May at the River Bank Run by Christo Landry.
“Against my better judgment and after hours of discussions, I made an unwise decision to purchase EPO, a USOC banned substance, so that I could train in effort to return to my previous form. During my return trip home after purchasing the EPO, I was stopped by the United States Anti-Doping Agency and they discovered the banned substance.”
The statement later said Trafeh only purchased the drug, but did not take it.
His mark at the River Bank Run will likely stand, race director Kristen Aidif said Thursday, since protocol dictated Trafeh be drug tested for the record. Aidif also said a representative from USA Track & Field was on hand for testing.
Aidif said River Bank Run officials will contact the track and field association "just to make sure."
"Barring anything unexpected, his record would stand with us," she said.
Trafeh, who immigrated to U.S. from Morocco, won the River Bank Run 25K on May 11, 2013 in an American record time of 1 hour, 14 minutes and 18 seconds, surpassing the 1:14:21 set by Fernando Cabada in 2006.
There is no indication when or where the incident occurred with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. Letsrun.com said that it received the statement from lawyer Jonathan LaCourt last week. A story on the site indicated writers there submitted follow-up questions, and received a reply on Thursday.
“An announcement will be made by USADA by week’s end,” LaCour said in reply.
Here is the complete statement from Trafeh through his lawyer, as posted on Letsrun.com.:
“As an elite runner, former U.S. Road Champion, and proud-USA representative, it is with great sadness that I announce my retirement. As many of you might recall, I had many great years of injury-free and successful running that allowed me to acquire several road racing and track & field wins. Unfortunately, and as many elite athletes have experienced before me, a number of frustrating and serious injuries have plagued my ability to train, race, and remain competitive over the course of these past eighteen months. Against my better judgment and after hours of discussions, I made an unwise decision to purchase EPO, a USOC banned substance, so that I could train in effort to return to my previous form. During my return trip home after purchasing the EPO, I was stopped by the United States Anti-Doping Agency and they discovered the banned substance. Since that time, they have initiated formal proceedings against me and threatened to impose a lifetime ban."
“I would like to publicly state that since 2008 I have been one of the most sought after targets in our sport and have never failed a drug test. I was stopped before I was able to use EPO, I never previously used EPO and if I had the financial resources to fight this case, I am confident that I would prevail. Unfortunately, our sport does not provide the wealth that some other sports do, and for the sake of the financial future of my family, I must simply retire and take whatever steps are necessary to provide a stable and secure life. Although I would have loved to return to my old form and compete in the 2016 Olympics for the United States, it was not meant to be.
"Track & Field has been the sole focus of my life for a long time. I will miss the moments of triumph and joy, the friends I made along the way, and the ability to represent my country as a first generation American trying to live his dream." | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
me factors of q.
3
Let q = -21 - -35. List the prime factors of q.
2, 7
Let f = 28 - 15. Suppose -j = -2*h + f, -4*h + 3*j - 2*j = -27. List the prime factors of h.
7
Suppose -19 = 4*l + 3*y, -4*l = l - 4*y - 15. List the prime factors of (1 - 1) + l + 7.
2, 3
Let g = -1 - -4. Suppose 24 = -2*o + g*o + 3*d, -4*d - 80 = -4*o. List the prime factors of o.
3, 7
Suppose f + 8 + 5 = 3*y, -f - 4 = 0. What are the prime factors of (0 + -1)*(-54)/y?
2, 3
Suppose g - 251 = -0*g - 5*b, g - 4*b - 224 = 0. Suppose -14 = -5*a + g. Suppose 18 = 2*m - 2*i, a = 3*m - 4*i + 21. What are the prime factors of m?
7
Suppose 0*g + 3*g = 3, -4*y + 144 = -4*g. Suppose 5*p - y - 33 = 0. List the prime factors of p.
2, 7
Let y = 4 - 1. Suppose -y*d + 2*c = 43, 44 = -2*d + 2*c + 16. List the prime factors of (-10)/4*66/d.
11
Let h = -17 + 283. List the prime factors of h.
2, 7, 19
What are the prime factors of (-182)/(-1) + -2*2/1?
2, 89
Let t(x) = -x**3 + 14*x**2 + 2*x - 9. List the prime factors of t(14).
19
Let f be (-1 - -3) + -1 + -3. Let j(x) be the third derivative of -x**4/24 + x**3/6 + 2*x**2. What are the prime factors of j(f)?
3
Let y(i) = -i**3 + 11*i**2 - 13*i + 9. List the prime factors of y(9).
2, 3
Suppose -4*z = -z - 456. What are the prime factors of z?
2, 19
Let q(d) be the third derivative of -d**4/12 - d**3/3 - 12*d**2. Let l = -15 - -11. List the prime factors of q(l).
2, 3
Let a = 4 - -10. Let k = a - 4. Let c = k + -8. List the prime factors of c.
2
Let u(k) = 3*k - 4. Let z be (-24)/(-20)*10/(-4). Let v be (-3)/(-1 - 0) - z. What are the prime factors of u(v)?
2, 7
Let x = 58 - 10. List the prime factors of x.
2, 3
Let a(l) = l - 1. Let h be (3/4)/(5/20). Let k be a(h). Suppose -x + 30 = k*x. What are the prime factors of x?
2, 5
Suppose -5*r = 6 + 9. List the prime factors of 0 + (-21)/r - 2.
5
Let f(v) = 2*v**3 + v - 1. Suppose i + 4*i = 5. Let d be f(i). Suppose d*y - 3*y = -7. List the prime factors of y.
7
Let p = 3 + 0. Let d = p - 1. Suppose -d*o + 6 = -o. What are the prime factors of o?
2, 3
Suppose -2*y = -y. Suppose 0 = -i - y*i. Suppose 4*a - 2*a - 24 = i. List the prime factors of a.
2, 3
Let o(w) be the first derivative of w**3/3 + 3*w**2/2 - 4*w - 1. Let f be o(3). Let c = -7 + f. List the prime factors of c.
7
Let q(f) = -185*f**3 - 5 - 8*f**2 + 184*f**3 - 10*f - 2 - 2*f**2. Let z(x) = -x**2 + 2*x - 1. Let h be z(4). List the prime factors of q(h).
2
Suppose j - 2 = 0, -4*o + 216 = -2*o + 4*j. List the prime factors of o.
2, 13
Let v = 116 + -74. What are the prime factors of v?
2, 3, 7
Suppose -3*b - 72 = -3*u, 7*u - 2*u + 5*b - 140 = 0. What are the prime factors of u?
2, 13
What are the prime factors of (-483)/(-5) + 20/50?
97
What are the prime factors of (1*(-15 - 4))/(-1)?
19
Let s(x) = -3*x**3 + 2*x**2 - 4*x - 5. List the prime factors of s(-3).
2, 53
Suppose y - 2 = -0. Suppose 3*f = -y*f. Suppose -4*p - 3*h + f*h + 28 = 0, 0 = 4*p - 4*h. List the prime factors of p.
2
Let m(r) be the second derivative of r**4/12 - 13*r**3/6 - 5*r**2/2 + 2*r. What are the prime factors of m(14)?
3
Suppose 0 = -5*w + 4*w + 5. What are the prime factors of w?
5
Suppose -2*d + f = -0*f + 65, -d - f - 25 = 0. What are the prime factors of (-432)/d + 2/(-5)?
2, 7
List the prime factors of (-2)/(-6)*(50 + -8).
2, 7
Let g(o) = -2*o - 6. Suppose -6 - 6 = w. Let k be 3/(-2)*(-64)/w. List the prime factors of g(k).
2, 5
Suppose 0 = -4*t - t + 600. Let d = t + -76. What are the prime factors of d?
2, 11
Let z be (-1 - 1)*(-1)/2. List the prime factors of 1/(z*1/4).
2
Let s be 1/((-2)/(-4)) + -1. Suppose s + 10 = l. Suppose -3*y + 4*r + l = -6, 0 = -4*r + 4. What are the prime factors of y?
7
Let u(m) = 26*m - 16. List the prime factors of u(4).
2, 11
Let v = -2 + 4. Suppose -5*a + v*a = -30. List the prime factors of a.
2, 5
Let s = -20 + 256. What are the prime factors of s?
2, 59
Let i(h) = -h**2 - 7*h - 2. Let c be i(-6). Suppose 3*s + c = q, -2*s = -q + 5*q - 30. What are the prime factors of q?
7
Let a(d) = d + 1. List the prime factors of a(21).
2, 11
Let y = 211 + -128. Suppose -64 = -3*r + y. List the prime factors of r.
7
Let p(n) = 2*n**2 - 2*n. What are the prime factors of p(6)?
2, 3, 5
Let s(o) = o**2 - 3*o. Let b(m) = -m. Let l be b(-4). Let c be s(l). Let q = 8 - c. What are the prime factors of q?
2
Suppose -10 = -3*h - 4. Let f(w) = -1 + 3*w + 10 - h*w. What are the prime factors of f(-7)?
2
Suppose 4*w - 35 = -w. Let y = -4 + w. List the prime factors of y.
3
Suppose 4*h + 52 = 3*n, 2*n + 0*n - 3*h - 34 = 0. Suppose 7*g + n = 3*g. Let u = 8 + g. List the prime factors of u.
3
Suppose 3*d = -4*r - 2*d + 152, 4*r = 2*d + 180. Suppose -2*a + 20 = 5*n, -3*n + 26 = 5*a - r. Let p = a - 2. List the prime factors of p.
13
Let n(l) = 2*l + 2. Suppose 0*b = 2*b + 5*u - 22, 3*b - 22 = -2*u. List the prime factors of n(b).
2, 7
Suppose 3*m = 4*j - 134, -4*m + 63 - 20 = j. Suppose 0 = 4*c - 2*c - 8. Suppose -n - 3 - 1 = -3*s, j = 5*s + c*n. What are the prime factors of s?
3
Let l(r) = 3*r**2 - 15*r - 8. List the prime factors of l(6).
2, 5
Let y(p) = -p**3 + 6*p**2 - 2*p - 4. List the prime factors of y(4).
2, 5
Suppose -5*k + 11 = -4. Let h(f) = 2*f**2 - 4*f - 4. Let u(w) = w**2 - 4*w - 3. Let r(c) = k*u(c) - 2*h(c). What are the prime factors of r(-2)?
3
Let r(b) = 36*b - 50. What are the prime factors of r(6)?
2, 83
Let n be ((-6)/(-3))/((-4)/14). Let m = 2 + n. Let q = 7 + m. What are the prime factors of q?
2
Let b(g) = -3*g - 1. List the prime factors of b(-8).
23
Let i = 5 + -2. Suppose -4*l - 3*t = -46 - 2, i*l = -5*t + 47. What are the prime factors of l?
3
Let a be (-2*(3 + -5))/(-2). List the prime factors of 3/(105/48 + a).
2
Suppose -5*f + s + 694 = 0, 2*f - 2*s + 419 = 5*f. List the prime factors of f.
139
List the prime factors of (56/(-5))/((-4)/20).
2, 7
Let r be 116/(-3)*(-39)/26. Let s = r + -31. What are the prime factors of s?
3
Let t = 13 - 8. Let f(k) = k**3 + 2*k**2 + 4*k + 7. Let m(u) = -2*u**3 - u**2 - 3*u - 7. Let h(d) = 3*f(d) + 2*m(d). What are the prime factors of h(t)?
2, 3
Let l(a) = -a**2 - 22*a + 6. What are the prime factors of l(-9)?
3, 41
Let b(o) = 9*o - 10. Let q be b(10). Suppose -i = -3*h - 6, -4*i - 12 = -h - q. What are the prime factors of i?
2, 3
Let g(k) = k - 9. Let w be g(4). Let p = w - -5. Suppose 5*y + 1 = 2*f + 5, p = 2*f + y - 8. List the prime factors of f.
3
Suppose -d + 1 - 2 = 0. Let c be 0 - 8*(-2 - d). What are the prime factors of (-2 + 5)*c/12?
2
Let l be 3 + (-2 - 0 - 1). Suppose l*r = -4*r + 84. What are the prime factors of r?
3, 7
Let w = 0 + 0. Suppose 4*u + w*f = f + 85, 3*u + f - 62 = 0. List the prime factors of u.
3, 7
Suppose 2*z + 2*j - 118 = 0, z - j = -4*j + 49. List the prime factors of z.
2
Let l(d) = -2*d**2 + d**2 + 2 + 0*d**2 - 5*d. Let v be l(-5). Suppose v + 3 = i. What are the prime factors of i?
5
Suppose 90 = 24*p - 18*p. What are the prime factors of p?
3, 5
Suppose -m - 3 + 27 = 4*o, -3*o + 2*m + 7 = 0. Suppose 3*q - 14 = -o. Suppose 0 = 5*x - 2*a - 36, x - 2*a - 10 = -q*a. List the prime factors of x.
2
Let m(o) = -o**3 - 3*o**2 - 3*o - 2. Let b be m(-2). Suppose -42 = -b*a - 2*a - 4*x, 36 = a - x. List the prime factors of a.
31
Let t(r) = -r**2 - 8*r - 8. Let v be t(-6). Let p be v/(-8) - (-86)/4. Let d = p + -11. List the prime factors of d.
2, 5
Let n(j) = -2 + 4 + 3*j**2 + 2*j - 4*j**2 + 0*j**2. What are the prime factors of n(2)?
2
Let y = -7 - -10. Suppose -y*h - 33 = -108. What are the prime factors of h?
5
Suppose -4*u - 189 = -3*b, 2*b - 2*u + 289 = 7*b. List the prime factors of b.
59
Suppose 27 = 3*d - 6*d. Let r = -6 - d. List the prime factors of r.
3
Suppose -l = -4*r + 3*l + 232, 5*r + 2*l = 304. Suppose 2*v - 4*v + r = 0. List the prime factors of v.
2, 3, 5
Let j = 26 + 3. What are the prime factors of j?
29
Let k(x) = -x**2 + 7*x - 6. Let z be k(6). Let j = z - -4. Suppose 0 = b - j*b + 51. What are the prime factors of b?
17
What are the prime factors of (-13)/2*(-100)/10?
5, 13
Let d = -242 + 454. List the prime factors of d.
2, 53
Let g(x) = 5*x**2 - 6*x. What are the prime factors of g(6)?
2, 3
Let w = 53 - -56. What are the prime factors of w?
109
Let w(r) = 3*r + 2. Let k be w(4). What are the prime factors of k + -3 - (4 + -2) | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
SS William W. Loring
SS William W. Loring was a Liberty ship built in the United States during World War II. She was named after William W. Loring, a Colonel in the United States Army that fought in the Mexican–American War. He joined the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War reaching the rank of Major General. After the war he was recommended to Isma'il Pasha, by William Tecumseh Sherman, for his army in Egypt, where he also obtained the rank of Major General.
Construction
William W. Loring was laid down on 29 November 1943, under a Maritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MC hull 1546, by J.A. Jones Construction, Panama City, Florida; she was launched on 17 January 1944.
History
She was allocated to T.J. Stevenson & Co., Inc., on 7 March 1944. On 30 November 1945, she was laid up in the National Defense Reserve Fleet, in Mobile, Alabama. On 18 September 1958, she was sold, along with 34 other ships, for $2,666,680 to Bethlehem Steel, for scrapping. She was removed from the fleet on 23 October 1958.
References
Bibliography
Category:Liberty ships
Category:Ships built in Panama City, Florida
Category:1944 ships
Category:Mobile Reserve Fleet | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
The number of anxious, depressed, hyperactive and withdrawn children is staggering-and still growing! Millions have experienced bullying, violence (real or in the media), abuse or sexual molestation. Many other kids have been traumatized from more ''ordinary'' ordeals such as terrifying medical procedures, accidents, loss and divorce. Trauma-Proofing Your Kids sends a lifeline to parents who wonder how they can help their worried and troubled children now. It offers simple but powerful tools to keep children safe from danger and to help them ''bounce back'' after feeling scared and overwhelmed. No longer will kids have to be passive prey to predators or the innocent victims of life's circumstances.
In addition to arming parents with priceless protective strategies, best-selling authors Dr. Peter A. Levine and Maggie Kline offer an antidote to trauma and a recipe for creating resilient kids no matter what misfortune has besieged them. Trauma-Proofing Your Kids is a treasure trove of simple-to-follow ''stress-busting,'' boundary-setting, sensory/motor-awareness activities that counteract trauma's effect on a child's body, mind and spirit. Including a chapter on how to navigate the inevitable difficulties that arise during the various ages and stages of development, this ground-breaking book simplifies an often mystifying and complex subject, empowering parents to raise truly confident and joyful kids despite stressful and turbulent times.
The number of anxious, depressed, hyperactive and withdrawn children is staggering-and still growing! Millions have experienced bullying, violence (real or in the media), abuse or sexual molestation. Many other kids have been traumatized from more ''ordinary'' ordeals such as terrifying medical procedures, accidents, loss and divorce. Trauma-Proofing Your Kids sends a lifeline to parents who wonder how they can help their worried and troubled children now. It offers simple but powerful tools to keep children safe from danger and to help them ''bounce back'' after feeling scared and overwhelmed. No longer will kids have to be passive prey to predators or the innocent victims of life's circumstances.
In addition to arming parents with priceless protective strategies, best-selling authors Dr. Peter A. Levine and Maggie Kline offer an antidote to trauma and a recipe for creating resilient kids no matter what misfortune has besieged them. Trauma-Proofing Your Kids is a treasure trove of simple-to-follow ''stress-busting,'' boundary-setting, sensory/motor-awareness activities that counteract trauma's effect on a child's body, mind and spirit. Including a chapter on how to navigate the inevitable difficulties that arise during the various ages and stages of development, this ground-breaking book simplifies an often mystifying and complex subject, empowering parents to raise truly confident and joyful kids despite stressful and turbulent times. | null | minipile | NaturalLanguage | mit | null |
132 U.S. 592 (1890)
RICHMOND
v.
BLAKE.
No. 171.
Supreme Court of United States.
Argued December 20, 1889.
Decided January 6, 1890.
ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK.
Mr. Henry E. Tremain (with whom was Mr. Mason W. Tyler on the brief) for plaintiff in error.
Mr. Alphonso Hart, Solicitor of Internal Revenue (with whom was Mr. Solicitor General on the brief) for defendant in error.
MR. JUSTICE HARLAN delivered the opinion of the court.
This action was brought to recover certain sums of money paid under protest by the plaintiff in error to the United States in the years 1881, 1882 and 1883, and which he alleged were exacted from him under an illegal assessment made upon capital employed in his business.
If within the meaning of the statutes under which the assessment *593 was made the plaintiff was a banker, and if the capital assessed was employed in the business of banking, the judgment must be affirmed.
By section 3407 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, it is provided that "every incorporated or other bank, and every person, firm or company having a place of business where credits are opened by the deposit or collection of money or currency, subject to be paid or remitted upon draft, check, or order, or where money is advanced or loaned on stocks, bonds, bullion, bills of exchange or promissory notes or where stocks, bonds, bullion, bills of exchange or promissory notes are received for discount or for sale, shall be regarded as a bank or a banker." 13 Stat. 251, c. 173, § 79; 14 Stat. 115, c. 184, § 9.
Section 3408 provides that there shall be levied, collected and paid a tax of one twenty-fourth of one per centum each month upon the average amount of the deposits of money, subject to payment by check or draft, or represented by certificates of deposit or otherwise, whether payable on demand or at some future day, with any person, bank, association, company or corporation, engaged in the business of banking; also "a tax of one twenty-fourth of one per centum each month upon the capital of any bank, association, company, corporation, and on the capital employed by any person in the business of banking beyond the average amount invested in United States bonds: Provided, That the words `capital employed' shall not include money borrowed or received from day to day, in the usual course of business, from any person not a partner of, or interested in the said bank, association or firm." 13 Stat. 277, c. 173, § 110; 14 Stat. 137, 146, c. 184, § 9; 17 Stat. 256, c. 315, § 37; 18 Stat. 311, c. 36, § 19.
That the plaintiff, during the period covered by the assessment against him, employed a capital in his business is beyond dispute; for he distinctly states that the capital used by him in his business ranged from $30,000 to $50,000. Upon that basis he made his returns for taxation. But did he, during that period, have a place of business where stocks were received for sale? If he did, then, by the very terms of the *594 statute, he was a banker under the definition given in section 3407.
It is contended by him that he was only a stock broker, and, within the true meaning of section 3407, did not have "a place of business," nor "receive" stocks for sale. That he had a room or place, indicated by a sign over the door, where his mail matter was received, and where he was, or could be, met by his clients, and where the latter could deliver stocks to be sold by him, or under his supervision, and that he bought and sold stocks for his customers, is abundantly shown by his own testimony.[1] Still, he insists that when stocks were delivered *595 to him at this place of business for sale they were not "received" by him "for sale," within the meaning of the statute. We cannot assent to this view.
*596 In support of this position the plaintiff cites Warren v. Shook, 91 U.S. 704, and Selden v. Equitable Trust Co., 94 U.S. 419. In the first of those cases the question was whether a firm, holding a special license as bankers, was liable to the tax imposed by section 99 of the act of June 30, 1864. 13 Stat. 273. That statute imposed a tax of one twentieth of one per centum upon the par value of stock and bonds sold by "brokers and bankers doing business as brokers." It *597 was held that Congress intended to impose the duty prescribed by section 99 upon bankers doing business as brokers, although a person, firm or company, having a license as a banker, might be exempted by subdivision nine of section 79 of the act of 1864, as amended by the act of March 3, 1865, 13 Stat. 472, from paying the special tax imposed upon brokers. Nothing more is decided in that case.
In Selden v. Equitable Trust Co., the question was whether corporations whose business was to invest their own capital not that of others in bonds secured by mortgage upon real estate, and to negotiate, sell and guarantee such bonds, were banks or bankers within the meaning of section 3407 of the Revised Statutes. It was held that they were not; that Congress did not intend that a person or corporation selling its own property, not that received from other owners for sale, should be classed as a banker or bank for the purposes of taxation. The court, in that case, referred to section 3407 as describing three distinct classes of artificial and natural persons, distinguished by the nature of their business; first, those who have a place of business where credits are opened by the deposit or collection of money or currency, subject to be paid or remitted upon draft, check or order; second, those having a place of business where money is advanced or loaned on stocks, bonds, bullion, bills of exchange or promissory notes; third, those having a place of business where stocks, bonds, bullion, bills of exchange, or promissory notes are received for discount or for sale. In respect to the third class it was said: "The language of the statute is, `where' such property is `received' `for discount or for sale.' The use of the word `received' is significant. In no proper sense can it be understood that one receives his own stocks and bonds, or bills or notes, for discount or for sale. He receives the bonds, bills, or notes belonging to him as evidences of debt, though he may sell them afterwards. Nobody would understand that to be banking business. But when a corporation or natural person receives from another person, for discount, bills of exchange or promissory notes belonging to that other, he is acting as a banker; and when a customer brings bonds, bullion or stocks *598 for sale, and they are received for the purpose for which they are brought, that is, to be sold, the case is presented which we think was contemplated by the statute. In common understanding, he who receives goods for sale is one who receives them as agent for a principal who is the owner. He is not one who buys and sells on his own account."
This language embraces the present case. The plaintiff was not a broker who, without employing capital of his own, simply negotiated purchases and sales of stocks for others, receiving only the usual commissions for services of that character. In his business of buying and selling stocks for others, he regularly employed capital, by the use of which interest was earned upon moneys advanced by him for his customers, substantially as it would be earned by a bank upon money loaned to its customers. In the parlance of the Stock Exchange, he might be called a stock broker; yet, here were all the conditions, which, under the statute, made the case of a banker, whose capital, employed in his business, was liable to a tax of one twenty-fourth of one per centum each month. It is not a sufficient answer to this view to say that the business of a stock broker is ordinarily distinct from the business of a banker, or that according to the common understanding a stock broker is not a banker. A stock broker may do some of the kinds of business that are usually done by bankers, and many banks and bankers do business which, as a general rule, is only done by stock brokers. Congress did not intend that the question of taxation upon capital employed in the business of banking, should depend upon the mere name given to such business, either by those engaged in it or by others. When the plaintiff admits, as he does, that his business was that of buying and selling stocks for his customers, and that in such business he employed capital, he proves that he was a banker within the statutory definition, and that, within the meaning of section 3408, his capital was employed in the business of banking. He brings himself within the rule that Congress prescribed for determining who, for the purposes of the taxation in question though not necessarily in the commercial sense were bankers and what was banking business. That *599 rule is expressed in words that leave no doubt as to what was the intention of Congress. The judgment below gives effect to that intention, and it is
Affirmed.
MR. JUSTICE FIELD, with whom concurred MR. JUSTICE MILLER, dissented.
NOTES
[1] His testimony occupies many pages of the record. The substance of what he said is shown in the following extracts. On his examination in chief he stated: "My place of business is 33 New Street; during the years 1881 and 1882 and 1883 my business was that of a stock broker; according to my understanding, that is a well-defined avocation; it consisted in buying and selling stocks for customers, and carrying them by borrowing money for customers to carry those stocks on; that occupation was carried on by a great many members of the New York Stock Exchange; there are some bankers in the Stock Exchange, but the business carried on there, as a rule, is that of stock brokers."
Upon cross-examination he stated: "I have a sign on the door which has been there four or five years. It reads, `David Richmond, Stock Broker.' If a customer came into my office to buy stock he would give me an order and hand me a margin to protect me against loss for the purchase; then the next day, when the stock was delivered to me, I would borrow money to pay for it. This is a regular purchase; sometimes customers pay in full for stock. We seldom book orders; we buy stock on the stock board, sometimes receiving the margin and sometimes not. We receive certificates purchased on the stock board, as a rule, next day. It is sent to my office by the seller, and he receives a check in payment, drawn on the Leather Manufacturers' Bank against a deposit I keep there; that deposit is, as a rule, my own money. Q. Your capital? A. A portion of it; not always. Q. How much capital did you have in your business at that time? A. I have forgotten; it was nothing like $300,000: it ranged from $30,000 to $50,000. It was on that capital that I made the return for taxation. I had in business that amount. It was on that return that I was taxed one twenty-fourth of one per cent per month, and it is to recover back that tax that this suit is brought. . . . Q. Do you keep an open account with your customers? A. I do. Q. On your ledger? A. Yes. Q. Do you credit him with the amount of the margin which you receive? A. We credit him with the amount; if it is money, he receives credit for it; if it is securities, he receives credit, of course, for that. Q. Do you charge him with the cost price of the stock purchased pursuant to his order? A. I do. Q. And do you charge him with the interest on the difference between the cost price of the stocks and the amount of his margin? A. I do. Q. How is your difference settled? A. He receives interest on the amount placed to his credit, and is charged interest on the amount placed to his debit, which is practically the same. You asked me the way in which it is done, I understand? Q. Then, instead of deducting the lesser number from the larger number, and then calculating the interest charge to be made to the customer, you make two calculations, debiting one and crediting the other? A. Exactly so. Q. And that interest is charged against him up to what time? A. No stated time; it depends upon whether the stock is sold or not, or whether it is paid for afterwards by him taken up. Q. It is charged to him up to the time that he either closes out his account or A. Settled in full. Q. That may be done either by selling out the stock which you hold or by paying the amount charged against him on your books as the purchase money? A. Yes." "Q. Now, you have described the manner of doing business on orders to purchase; won't you please tell the jury about the manner of doing business when you receive orders to sell? A. Sometimes a customer may write us from the country to sell stock, and then he says he will forward it by mail when sold; another time he may inclose it with the order; another time a customer will come into the office with a certificate and say `sell this:' another time he may come in and say, `sell this and I will deliver the certificate to-morrow,' and so on. I sell the stock, and when the time to deliver it to the broker or buyer arrives I deliver it and receive his check for it. If the seller wants the money I give it to him, If he does not want it he may leave the money there over night, or two or three days, but that would be only incidental to the business. It isn't my line of business to receive money in that way; it is an incident of the business. When it is left with me the customer in the country does not make a draft on me; I almost invariably send him my own check. Q. How as to the sale of the stock? A customer comes in with a certificate and asks you to sell it; describe the entire transaction. A. I go up to the board and sell it; I pay him sometimes that day, sometimes the next, but very rarely indeed when he delivers the certificate of stock. I keep the certificate in the office until I go to the board to sell stock; sometimes until the next day; sometimes I borrow money on it over night. I keep it in the drawer, or in the safe, on in the desk; it is paid for with money in the bank to my credit by my personal check. In the case of the country customer who sends an order to sell, stating that he will forward the certificate of stock by mail, or as soon as required, I sell the stock and notify him of the sale; then probably he sends me the certificate. I don't send him the money for that certificate before I receive it. This order to sell would probably be sent to my place of business. In the case of a `short sale' it was just the reverse of the purchase business; I sell it, and when the time comes for delivery I borrow the stock of another broker. Q. You tell your broker friend or business acquaintance that you want to get one hundred shares of Lake Shore, for instance? A. I would tell a friend that I wanted to borrow one hundred shares of Lake Shore, and he says, `All right; you can have it.' He sends it down to my office in a short time, and I pay him for it; I pay him the market price with money to my credit in the bank; the customer who has ordered the short sale may have sent me money or may not have; he may have given me stock as margin or other security. Q. He is credited on that amount of margin, is he? A. He is when we get it. Q. On your books is he debited with anything? A. He is not. Then he gets a credit for the amount of stock that is sold, the amount of money received for it, and we charge him for whatever is paid for the use of the stock; the general custom is to charge for the use of the stock. Stocks might be running flat; he is credited with the interest on his margin; the transaction might be closed at any time by the purchase of the stock for and on account of the customer. On our books he would be charged with the cost of the stock as bought on the board, with commission. Our letting the account stand would depend altogether on the price the stock was bought at and the price it was sold at. Q. Assuming that there had been an advance in the stock market pending the borrowing and the sale pursuant to the original order, and the purchase made for the purpose of closing the transaction, how would the books stand? A. The customer might have bought stock at another office, and bring it in. You cannot figure on those things, except on the actual facts at the time. Suppose, for instance, the stocks were sold for ninety and bought back at ninety-five, that would show a loss of about $525, on the supposition that nothing was paid for the use of the stock. His margin would then be encroached upon by just the amount of the difference between the original price sold for and the price paid by us on closing it and the commissions and whatever we had to pay for the use of the stock. If, on the contrary, there had been a profit to the customer, we would be in his debt then the amount of the margin deposited and the amount of his profit; we would have that to his credit; almost invariably he would be given a check for it; if he saw fit to make his draft upon us, that could be done, of course, but they did not do it; if he did make his draft I should honor it."
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