proba
float64 0.5
1
| text
stringlengths 16
174k
|
|---|---|
0.988299 |
FIRST it was Sony Corporation's $3.4 billion buyout of Columbia Pictures. Then it was Mitsubishi's $846 million controlling interest in the Rockefeller Group, Inc., which owns the prestigious Rockefeller Center in New York. Containing Radio City Music Hall and studios of the National Broadcasting Company, Rockefeller Center is regarded as a landmark in the US entertainment industry. Is that industry, particularly Hollywood, suddenly vulnerable to takeovers by Japanese and other foreign buyers - as well as US companies? The Time/Warner deal and other, smaller linkups are fresh in the minds of investors.
Industry officials and some media analysts don't rule out new acquisitions and mergers. However, they maintain that some entertainment companies are overvalued, partially as a result of the industry's box-office success this year. Long lines have formed for such movies as ``Batman'' and ``Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.'' Such important film companies as MCA Inc. (Universal), Paramount, and Disney have been the object of takeover talk.
Should Japanese investors think ``Hollywood,'' they would have the enormous assets required for such transactions. They have grown increasingly nervous about the Tokyo stock market in recent weeks, moving some money out of stocks into cash or government bonds.
Europeans may also get eventually into line for US media companies. ``The media industry is somewhat smaller in Europe than it is in the United States,'' says John Tinker, an analyst with Morgan Stanley & Company. European media firms have so far been mainly interested in US publishing firms, he says. Mr. Tinker currently recommends three media companies: United Artists Entertainment, the largest US theater chain; Tele-Communications Inc., a multimedia cable company; and CBS Inc., which, he notes, has sizable cash assets of about $100 per share.
The US movie business could do especially well in its important Thanksgiving-Christmas holiday season, analysts say.
Three companies now look very strong, say stock analysts: MCA's Universal will soon release ``Back to the Future II''; Paramount, which earlier this year gave us ``Indiana Jones'' will release Eddie Murphy's ``Harlem Nights''; and Disney, which has had such hits as ``Dead Poets Society'' and ``Honey, I Shrunk the Kids,'' will release ``The Little Mermaid,'' an animated fairy tale.
Christopher Dixon, an analyst with Kidder, Peabody & Company, holds that precisely because ``everyone is looking for the next Time/Warner merger,'' many entertainment stocks have been bid up in price. He suggests investors await a period of market weakness before buying them.
Mr. Dixon remains dubious about any new rush of acquisitions or mergers. The companies ``are not for sale,'' he says. They would be very expensive. And who, he asks, is ``going to run them'' once they're taken over?
Some firms, such as Disney, would be hard to acquire. Disney is a truly multimedia company, experts note, with theme parks, television, and film divisions, as well as lucrative global licensing agreements. Disney is just a ``solid'' stock, says Lazlo Birinyi Jr., former chief market strategist of Salomon Brothers and now head of his own investment firm, Birinyi Associates.
Mr. Birinyi believes that stock prices will probably not rise much over the rest of the year. So a stable stock like Disney should be relatively attractive, he says, noting that Disney now has the largest tourist attractions both in Asia and the United States. If ``Disney-Europe comes out as well,'' the company will continue to be a fine investment, he says. Disney has been trading in the $123 to $125 a share range. Birinyi would take a profit when it reached around $130. So far as a takeover, Birinyi wonders how that could possibly occur, given the firm's one-fourth ownership by a family-based Texas investment group.
|
0.984263 |
Laura Elizabeth Dern (born February 10, 1967) is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including four Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award, and has been nominated for two Academy Awards.
Born to actors Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd, Dern began a full-time acting career in the 1980s with roles in the dramas Foxes (1980) and Mask (1985). She went on to collaborate with David Lynch in several films, including Blue Velvet (1986), Wild at Heart (1990) and Inland Empire (2006), as well as the television revival of Twin Peaks (2017). Dern received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for playing the titular orphan in Rambling Rose (1991) and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film for the 1992 film Afterburn. She received international recognition with her role in the adventure film Jurassic Park (1993). In 1997, Dern guest-starred in the "Puppy Episode" of the sitcom Ellen, in which Ellen DeGeneres publicly came out.
Following roles in such films as Citizen Ruth (1997), October Sky (1999), and I Am Sam (2001), Dern won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television for portraying Katherine Harris in the television film Recount (2008) and the 2012 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy Series for her role as Amy Jellicoe in the HBO series Enlightened (2011–2013). Dern continued to take on supporting roles in several successful films, including The Master (2012), The Fault in Our Stars (2014), and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017); and she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the biopic Wild (2014). Dern won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie and received another Golden Globe for her role as Renata Klein in the HBO series Big Little Lies (2017–present).
Dern was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of actors Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern, and great-granddaughter of former Utah governor and Secretary of War, George Dern; Dern was conceived while her parents were filming The Wild Angels. The poet, writer, and Librarian of Congress Archibald MacLeish was her great-great-uncle.
After her parents' divorce when she was two years old, Dern was largely brought up by her mother and grandmother. She was raised Roman Catholic. She studied ballet at the age of five, but quit at age ten once she developed scoliosis.
Laura Dern's film debut was an appearance in her mother's film White Lightning (1973). She also made a brief appearance in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), one of Ladd's signature roles. Her mother objected to her 13-year-old daughter's presence on the set of Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, but Dern sued for and received emancipation. However, Laura Dern claims the emancipation was done solely for professional reasons and that both of her parents supported her in this. By being emancipated, she was able to play more adult roles and work longer hours. In 1982, she became the youngest-ever winner of Miss Golden Globe.
Dern also auditioned for the iconic character Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), but lost the role due to studio's skepticism about her bankability. In 1992, she and her mother became the first mother and daughter to be nominated for an Academy Award for acting in the same film in Rambling Rose although, unlike in Wild at Heart, they did not play mother and daughter in the film. Dern starred as Dr. Ellie Sattler in Steven Spielberg's 1993 film Jurassic Park. That same year, Clint Eastwood contacted the actress for his film A Perfect World. She also starred as Ruth in the 1996 film Citizen Ruth, the directorial debut of Alexander Payne. Dern's mother makes a cameo appearance, playing Dern's character's mother, with Dern's character screaming a torrent of abuse at her.
Dern in 2009 at a ceremony for Mary Steenburgen to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In 1997, Dern was featured in Widespread Panic's music video for their song, "Aunt Avis", which was directed by Dern's then boyfriend and future fiancé, Billy Bob Thornton. In 1998, Dern co-starred in Jodie Foster's film The Baby Dance. While dating Thornton in 1999, she was cast as his love interest in his film Daddy and Them, which also includes Diane Ladd. Dern also appeared in Joe Johnston's film October Sky.
Robert Altman called upon Dern's talents to play a Champagne-loving Aunt in his Texas-based comedy Dr. T & the Women in 2000. She co-starred in Within These Walls and Arthur Miller's Focus. She had a minor role in Jurassic Park III, and was a supporting actress in the film I Am Sam. She starred in the 2002 film Damaged Care and the 2004 film We Don't Live Here Anymore. Dern starred in the 2005 film Happy Endings, and in the same year, she appeared in the film The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio.
In 2006, David Lynch and Dern reunited for Inland Empire and, also in 2006, Dern had a supporting role in Lonely Hearts. Mike White, known for writing School of Rock and The Good Girl, hired Dern for his directorial debut in 2007, the comedy titled Year of the Dog and starring Molly Shannon, John C. Reilly, and Peter Sarsgaard. In 2008 Dern starred in Recount for which she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film. Since then, Dern was seen in the independent 2009 drama Tenderness and, in 2010, she appeared in Little Fockers, playing an advanced school principal who dated Owen Wilson's character Kevin Rawley.
Dern has done much work on television, most notably Afterburn, for which she received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Mini-Series or Movie. She guest-starred on The West Wing, was a voice on King of the Hill, and was a lesbian who coaxes Ellen DeGeneres out of the closet in the famous 1997 "The Puppy Episode" of the television series Ellen.
On the April 24, 2007, airing of DeGeneres's talk show, Dern revealed she did not work for more than a year following her appearance in that episode because of resulting backlash, but nevertheless called it an "extraordinary experience and opportunity."
Dern has been acknowledged with several awards from the independent film industry including the Sundance Institute and was the subject of an aggressive media campaign by David Lynch to earn her an Academy Award nomination for her work in Inland Empire. On November 1, 2010, she received the 2,420th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her parents, Diane Ladd and Bruce Dern, were also presented with stars.
Dern appeared in Paul Thomas Anderson's 2012 film The Master, along with Amy Adams and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Dern appeared in Jean-Marc Vallée's 2014 film Wild alongside Reese Witherspoon, for which she received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress nomination.
In 2017, Dern reteamed with both Witherspoon and Vallée for the 2017 HBO miniseries Big Little Lies, winning her first Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie for her portrayal of Renata Klein. That year, Dern also appeared in David Lynch's revival of Twin Peaks for Showtime as Diane Evans and in Rian Johnson's blockbuster Star Wars: The Last Jedi as Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo.
In 2018, Dern had the lead role in The Tale, an autobiographical feature film written and directed by Jennifer Fox. The film premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2018 and later on HBO on May 26, 2018. In August 2018, Dern was cast as Marmee March in Greta Gerwig's film adaptation of Little Women which will star Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Timothée Chalamet, Meryl Streep, and Chris Cooper.
Dern is an activist and supporter of various charities, such as Healthy Child Healthy World, which aims to raise awareness about toxic substances that can affect a child's health. She advocated for Down syndrome awareness in a cover story for Ability Magazine.
During the 66th Golden Globe Awards, on January 11, 2009, Dern expressed support for the incoming administration of Barack Obama during her acceptance speech for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film for her work on the film Recount. She is quoted as saying, "I will cherish this as a reminder of the extraordinary, incredible outpouring of people who demanded their voice be heard in this last election so we can look forward to amazing change in this country. Thank you so much!"
In 2018, she brought activist Mónica Ramírez to the 75th Golden Globe Awards as a guest.
Dern began dating musician Ben Harper after they met at one of his concerts in fall 2000. Harper and Dern married on December 23, 2005, at their home in Los Angeles. They have two children together, son Ellery Walker (born August 21, 2001) and daughter Jaya (born November 28, 2004). Through this marriage, Dern also became a stepmother to Harper's children from his first marriage, his son Charles and daughter Harris. In October 2010, Harper filed for divorce from Dern, citing irreconcilable differences. They briefly reconciled and attended the 2012 Golden Globe Awards together, but Dern reactivated the divorce by filing a legal response in July 2012. The divorce was finalized in September 2013.
Dern has also had romances with Kyle MacLachlan, Nicolas Cage, Baron Davis, Renny Harlin, Jeff Goldblum, and Billy Bob Thornton.
On October 18, 2017, in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse scandal, Dern appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show and revealed that she had been sexually assaulted at age 14.
1989 Nightmare Classics Rebecca Episode: "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"
1993 Fallen Angels Annie Ainsley Episode: "Murder, Obliquely"
1998 The Larry Sanders Show Herself Episode: "I Buried Sid"
The West Wing US Poet Laureate Tabatha Fortis Episode: "The U.S. Poet Laureate"
Drunk History Nellie Bly Episode: "New York City"
2015 The Mindy Project Dr. Ludmilla Trapeznikov Episode: "Best Man"
2017 The Last Man on Earth Catherine Episode: "Got Milk?"
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Wendy Hebert Episode: "Kimmy Can't Help You!"
^ a b Harrington, Richard (September 14, 2007). "The Essential Roger Corman". The Washington Post. Washington DC: WPC. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved March 12, 2016. Dern's real-life wife, Diane Ladd, playing the Loser's wife, became pregnant with daughter-actress Laura Dern during shooting.
^ "Showtime movie a family affair". Spartanburg Herald Journal. January 28, 1996. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
^ "MFA celebrates the films of Laura Dern". The Boston Globe. December 23, 2016. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
^ McHenry, Jackson (December 23, 2016). "It Sure Looks Like Laura Dern's Going to Have a Big Part in the Twin Peaks Revival". Vulture.com. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
^ a b Dern, Laura (October 7, 2013). "Laura Dern Interview". WTF Podcast (Interview). Interviewed by Marc Maron.
^ "Movie Reviews, Articles, Trailers, and more at Metacritic". Movietome.com. Archived from the original on March 28, 2008. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
^ Associated Press (April 23, 2007). "Ellen and Laura Dern reunite after kiss". Retrieved November 20, 2008.
^ "Enlightened: Homepage". HBO. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
^ "HBO's 'Enlightened' Take On Modern Meditation", Fresh Air interview with Dern and White on NPR, October 10, 2011. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
^ "Laura Dern, Amy Adams and Others Join P.T. Anderson's 'The Master'". FirstShowing.net. June 1, 2011. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
^ "Star Wars Episode VIII now filming".
^ "Laura Dern in Talks to Join Meryl Streep in 'Little Women' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
^ "Laura Dern interview with Chet Cooper". Abilitymagazine.com. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
^ "Laura Dern Goes Political at the Golden Globes". YouTube. Retrieved January 11, 2009.
^ a b c d Miller, Samantha (February 4, 2002). "Dern Happy". People. Retrieved September 21, 2013.
^ Fisher, Luchina (October 18, 2017). "Laura Dern recalls being sexually assaulted at age 14". ABC News. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Laura Dern.
|
0.98886 |
There is good news for Star Wars fans. There will be a new movie. It will be the ninth film. The name of the new movie was announced in Chicago. It is called "The Rise of Skywalker". There is a two-minute trailer of the movie for people to watch on YouTube. It gives people an idea of what the movie will be like. The trailer starts with the words: "Every generation has a legend." The new film has famous actors. Mark Hamill will play Luke Skywalker, and the late Carrie Fisher (who died in 2016) will play Princess Leia. Filmmakers used old footage of Ms Fisher from the movie "The Force Awakens".
Star Wars is among the most successful films ever made. The first one was released in 1977. Over forty years later, the movies are still very popular. The company Lucasfilm made the first six movies. Disney bought the company in 2012 for $4 billion. In 2018, its value was around $65 billion. A film critic said the first Star Wars movie changed Hollywood. It changed how movies were made for many years after. The original Star Wars movie created a new generation of films that used a lot of special effects and a lot of fast and exciting action scenes.
(1) ___________________ news for Star Wars fans. There will be a new movie. It will be (2) ___________________. The name of the new movie was announced in Chicago. It is called "The Rise of Skywalker". There is a two-minute trailer of the (3) ___________________ to watch on YouTube. It gives people an idea of what the movie will be like. The trailer starts (4) ___________________: "Every generation has a legend." The new film (5) ___________________. Mark Hamill will play Luke Skywalker, and the late Carrie Fisher (who died in 2016) will play Princess Leia. Filmmakers (6) ___________________ of Ms Fisher from the movie "The Force Awakens".
Star Wars (7) ___________________ most successful films ever made. The first one (8) ___________________ 1977. Over forty years later, the movies are still very popular. The company Lucasfilm (9) ___________________ six movies. Disney bought the company in 2012 for $4 billion. In 2018, its (10) ___________________ $65 billion. A film critic said the first Star Wars movie changed Hollywood. It changed (11) ___________________ made for many years after. The original Star Wars movie created a new generation of films that used a lot of special effects and a lot of (12) ___________________ action scenes.
|
0.999971 |
What medium do you find that has the best sound in general, is it dvd audio, cd or vinyl records?
Can't generalize about any sound quality properties specific to a format unless you have access to original studio masters and know for a fact that all of the playback media was prepared identically. IMO, "best" format is the one that sounds transparent to the source material, and without a master source available or knowledge of how an album got produced, that's not feasible for consumers.
All that we as consumers have to go off of is the actual discs that we buy in stores, and on that front, it varies a lot from disc to disc and without access to studio masters or production notees, you have no idea whether any sound quality differences between a DVD-A, LP, or CD is due to the format itself or due to differences in the mastering and mixing.
In my own collection, I got plenty of LPs that sound better than the CD versions, and vice versa. With DVD-A or any other high res digital format, I've typically found that it sounds noticeably better than the CD. However, with a lot of the high res discs that I own, I know for a fact that the original producers sat in on the mastering sessions and/or the mastering engineer selected for the transfer is one of the best in the biz. In those cases, the attention to detail during the mastering process was far and above typical industry practice, so that very well might be responsible for the vast majority of whatever sound quality improvements I detected.
Comparatively, the CD version might have been transferred off of a master tape originally purposed for LP mastering, and if the CD version was produced without any compensatory processing or equalizing, then it would likely sound inferior to any other version. This was very common with early CDs, which gave rise to the perception that the format itself was responsible for the many tinny and harsh sounding discs that came out when during the CD's early years.
Even with LPs, you got a lot of variation in the quality of the mastering from album to album, and even with the same album, the sound quality will vary from batch to batch (worn stampers will create groove distortion, master discs produced after the first production stampers are exhausted might sound different, remastered versions will sound different, etc.).
Anyone can draw a valid conclusion about which version of a particular album that they prefer. But, IMO it's disingenuous to parlay format preferences about individual albums into broader generalizations about the purported superiority of one format over another. It just doesn't work because just as easily as I can find an LP in my collection that I feel is sonically superior to the CD version, I can also pull out a CD that IMO sounds better than the LP version. Among the high res discs that I have in my collection, so far I have not found a case where I prefer the CD version. But, as I mentioned, I also know for a fact that these high res discs benefited from more time and effort taken at the mastering stage.
With all these variables in play, no one can make a generalization about the format itself, unless they can actually isolate the format as a variable.
Pure genius.....I wanna be like Wooch!!!
I don't know if I see your point about having access to the original masters in order to form an opinion. The master is an intermediate step in the process, not the end result of the process. The master itself is a tool, not the finished product. It is not intended for listening but for copying. It is the copying and presentation of the material on that master, and which format does it best, is the essence of the OP's question. Although a lot has to do with what is on the master in the first place, isn't it what is done with this material that counts? Or maybe I'm splitting hairs.
Nevertheless, there needs to be some sort of stable reference point by which one could then point to which recorded format is superior to another (regardless of a case by case basis).
OH MY, I still have a player recorder for 8 tracks. I'll throw in the old matchbook cover for propping it up and re-aligning the heads if you like. No extra charge.
I agree with Woochifer about the variability of the medium. I would also like to add that the variability of the playback equipments quality will effect the quality of the sound.
Good point JM, equipment is a big part of the equation. As is the condition of the LP, CD, or DVD. It is certainly much easier to maintain a digital source than an anolog source. The same goes for a digital vs an analog player.
and i think i got it on LP!!...if not...i WANT it on vinyl..."strutter!!!"!!!
My buddy in college had every Kiss album on every format, excepting 8 track. It was the coolest thing I ever saw. :D But I never understood why he needed even one copy of Dynasty, let alone, CD, LP and Tape.
Does it matter - why not have all the formats? Some cds will be better some LP's will sound better or SACD's -- and better to you or me may not be to someone else.
The more important factor in my view is if you love music you may find certain music not available on a given meduiuma which forces you to buy it on another medium. I know one maker who only bothered to make a digital front end because new music he liked was not available on LP.
In the end if music is the goal you need at least LP and CD. If there is music on the new formats not available on the old then I suppose ti behooves me to get one of those players as well.
Vinyl done right is worth having -- but Vinyl is harder to do right.
Problem is that the stable reference point requires an original master source, and the knowledge that all of the production discs for the different formats used identical preparation for all formats. In the case of vinyl, that's just not possible due to the RIAA equalization curve and the limitations of how much dynamic range the medium can handle before it starts to cause mistracking on typical turntable rigs. For end users like us who lack access to master sources and don't have inside information about the production process, the only avenue available to us is the case by case comparison.
You're right about the master not necessarily serving as the finished product, because in practice the sound of the actual master tape is not always the intended outcome (although with high res digital, I don't think that the tweaking done to a master source is not nearly as much as what you might have seen in the heyday of vinyl).
But, I think that in terms of assessing the DVD-A, CD, or vinyl format, the standard has to be how well it reproduces the actual source, regardless of what other tweaking might be needed to achieve a specific type of sound.
Or are you trying to date his daughter?
|
0.763432 |
WGN America (formerly known as "Superstation WGN" or "WGN Superstation") is a Chicago -based American superstation for WGN-TV , owned by Tribune Broadcasting Company. WGN America offers its national programming across North America without network programming. It is the only remaining national superstation after TBS became a regular cable channel on October 1, 2007 (although WGN is still not available in most New England cable services).
WGN America is available via satellite to DirecTV and Dish Network as well as cable in the United States as well as through some smaller Canadian cable companies; most Canadian viewers which previously received the previous Superstation WGN feed now receive the WGN-TV Chicago feed. In the Chicago metropolitan area , WGN America is not available on cable or terrestrial digital but is available to DirecTV, Dish Network, and U-verse viewers.
In October 1978, United Video uplinked the signal of WGN-TV Channel 9 in Chicago to the Satcom-3 satellite for cable and satellite subscribers nationwide. For over 11 years, the national program schedule was the exact same as Chicago's.
In 1989, a new law known as Syndication Exclusivity Rule, or "SyndEx", was passed. This law means that whenever a local station has the exclusive rights to air a syndicated program in their market, it must be blacked out on any out-of-town stations by the local cable company. On January 1, 1990, a separate national feed of WGN-TV was launched to avoid any blackouts, save for some sports programming, similar to WWOR-TV 's "WWOR EMI Service", only with fewer blackouts.
WGN America's national feed does not carry the WGN Morning News (it is claimed that the newscast was dropped in 1996 due to "SyndEx" rules on some segments) as well as the 11 a.m.-noon portion of the WGN Midday News and the 5 p.m. newscast (there is no known explanation as to why the 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. newscasts are not cleared on the superstation feed), but does air the Noon-1 p.m. portion of its midday newscast as well as the 9 p.m. newscast (All Central Time), along with the Illinois State Lottery and Mega Millions multi-state lottery drawings. But the nightly newscast is occasionally pre-empted on WGN America due to Chicago Bulls basketball games that air, or if a movie or special on WGN America runs long.
Other local programs carried on the local Chicago area feed that are also carried on the Superstation feed include the Saturday morning public affairs programs People to People and Adelante, Chicago, and movies.
WGN America airs all WGN Cubs and White Sox baseball games, as well as a select amount of Bulls basketball games. Due to NBA broadcast rights restrictions, most Bulls games contracted to air on WGN-TV are seen in the Chicago area only; WGN America airs movies and other syndicated programming instead. With former superstation TBS having moved its national broadcasts of the Atlanta Braves to its local Atlanta WPCH-TV feed in 2008, it leaves WGN as the only superstation broadcasting local sports to a national audience. WGN gained the over-the-air rights for the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks in 2008; as with most of the Bulls games, these are exclusive to WGN-TV.
On August 21, 2008, it was announced that radio hosts Bob and Tom would join the WGN America line-up on November 3, 2008; the video simulcast of that show is produced for Tribune's Indianapolis sister operation WXIN /WTTV by B&T flagship station WFBQ. WGN America also simulcasts or airs on a delayed basis many Chicago-based programs produced by WGN's local department, such as local parades, event coverage, or retrospective shows on WGN's past.
On December 19, 2008, WGN America confirmed a deal with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) to show WWE Superstars as a one hour program every week, starting April 16, 2009.
On May 24, 2008, Superstation WGN formally changed its name to WGN America. Initially, its use was limited to promos, as the Superstation WGN idents remained in use. The new name and logo went into fulltime use on the channel on Memorial Day, May 26, 2008. The channel would soon begin a slow change in its programming lineup, starting with the Sunday night "Out of Sight Retro Night" block, featuring older programs such as WKRP in Cincinnati, Newhart and The Honeymooners, some of which aired on WGN prior to the syndex era, or even after the start of syndex on the Chicago signal only. A few shows, such as former WGN staples U.S. Farm Report and Soul Train, have been dropped, mostly due to the dissolution of Tribune's television studio division. The transition process for a full rebranding is expected to take 12 to 18 months. In late July 2008, the network's logo bug was revised - the eyes element of the logo morphed into the words WGN America, and have also remained a part of the general logo in all other uses until the beginning of 2009. From January to April 2009, the text of the WGN America logo bug became the main logo with the eyes element.
Tribune Chairman/CEO Sam Zell and CEO Randy Michaels have also stated to the media during a nationwide tour of Tribune properties that they would like to lure comedian Jay Leno into the Tribune fold as the host of a new late night program after the end of Leno's run as host of The Tonight Show on NBC in 2009, by launching it on Tribune stations and using WGN America as a lynchpin for the show . However, in December 2008 NBC retained the rights to Leno by moving his show to 10:00 and creating The Jay Leno Show.
The network now relies primarily on a variety of re-runs and movies, such as I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, The Beverly Hillbillies, Seinfeld, Scrubs, 7th Heaven, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Cosby Show, In the Heat of the Night, Nash Bridges, and Matlock. Other programs that the network features at times are Coach, NewsRadio, and occasionally American Dad. Films, which formed the majority of the station's primetime schedule until the Superstation WGN branding era, also continue to air on the network, but mostly in weekend time periods.
This line up starts at 5:00 p.m. Eastern, breaks away at 10:00 p.m. Eastern for news, and resumes from 11-2 a.m. Eastern.
On January 17, 2007, many cable systems in Canada, as well as Star Choice (now Shaw Direct), switched to the WGN-TV Chicago feed, duplicating CW Network and many syndicated programs already available on other channels. This is a result of Shaw Broadcast Services (the main supplier of the WGN feed in Canada) switching to the local feed. It is believed that the switch was made to avoid fees required to carry Superstation WGN. WGN America continues to be carried on other cable systems in Canada (such as MTS TV), however Bell TV has been carrying the WGN-TV Chicago feed for several years.
WGN America HD is a 1080i high definition simulcast of WGN America. It is available on AT&T U-verse, Dish Network, Verizon FiOS, and other systems. Cubs and White Sox baseball, Bulls basketball, Chicago Blackhawks Hockey, WWE Superstars, WGN newscasts, and most episodes of Corner Gas are in high definition. WGN began broadcasting its news in high definition on July 19, 2008.
|
0.999573 |
Join NRDC in creating a nationwide swell of public opposition Washington can’t ignore. Call on Congress and the Trump administration to take six critical actions to save our imperiled oceans and marine wildlife.
From expanding dangerous offshore drilling to gutting protections for marine life, our oceans are under attack from Washington. Join NRDC in creating a swell of public opposition Washington can’t ignore. Call on Congress and the Trump administration to take six critical actions to save our imperiled oceans and marine wildlife.
Dear Decision Makers: Our oceans and marine wildlife are under attack by the Trump administration and anti-environment members of Congress. I join thousands of other constituents in urging you to do your part to help save our oceans and marine life by supporting these six key actions: * Halt the proposed 5-year offshore drilling (OCS) plan that would expose nearly all of America's coastlines to oil and gas drilling * Protect the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument and all marine monuments from federal rollbacks * Block all efforts to weaken the Marine Mammal Protection Act -- a lifeline for countless whales, dolphins, manatees, and other imperiled marine mammals * Reject permits that would open our coasts to large-scale seismic exploration for oil and gas that can injure or even kill whales, dolphins, and many other species * Halt efforts to gut the Magnuson-Stevens Act -- our oceans' primary defense against overfishing * Protect threatened and endangered marine wildlife species Make no mistake: Oceans are the foundation of life on earth. They help feed the world, produce more than half of the oxygen we breathe, and provide a living for millions of people. Your action on these issues is critically important. Thank you.
|
0.97607 |
What would a productive cough mean?
My mom's pulmonologist refers to a productive cough as a cough where "movement" of the gunk in the lungs happens. This sometimes means actually coughing something up and other times it just means that you can get that crackly feeling to go away. When my mom has productive coughs, it still may take her a few times of heavy coughing to clear that crackly feeling, but the coughs are still productive.
I'm a lung cancer survivor. A couple of times since my treatment I've had a persistent productive cought that was from bronchitis. Had it checked out and it wasn't cancer related, jus a persistent respiratory infection.
To Bridget's point, a productive cough could really be anything- common cold, bronchitis or pneumonia. It also depends what the cough is producing and does it have any color or blood coming up? I had a productive cough for months that was forcing out the "lung junk". Then I had a productive cough as a side effect from my first (and only round) of Keytruda. Best course of action is to make a very detailed list and review it with the doctor to let them decide.
|
0.967789 |
Understanding how biomolecules interact is a major task of systems biology. To model protein-nucleic acid interactions, it is important to identify the DNA or RNA-binding residues in proteins. Protein sequence features, including the biochemical property of amino acids and evolutionary information in terms of position-specific scoring matrix (PSSM), have been used for DNA or RNA-binding site prediction. However, PSSM is rather designed for PSI-BLAST searches, and it may not contain all the evolutionary information for modelling DNA or RNA-binding sites in protein sequences.
In the present study, several new descriptors of evolutionary information have been developed and evaluated for sequence-based prediction of DNA and RNA-binding residues using support vector machines (SVMs). The new descriptors were shown to improve classifier performance. Interestingly, the best classifiers were obtained by combining the new descriptors and PSSM, suggesting that they captured different aspects of evolutionary information for DNA and RNA-binding site prediction. The SVM classifiers achieved 77.3% sensitivity and 79.3% specificity for prediction of DNA-binding residues, and 71.6% sensitivity and 78.7% specificity for RNA-binding site prediction.
Predictions at this level of accuracy may provide useful information for modelling protein-nucleic acid interactions in systems biology studies. We have thus developed a web-based tool called BindN+ (http://bioinfo.ggc.org/bindn+/) to make the SVM classifiers accessible to the research community.
Protein-DNA and protein-RNA interactions are involved in many biological processes essential for cellular function. To understand the molecular mechanisms of the protein-nucleic acid recognition, it is important to identify the DNA or RNA-binding amino acid residues in proteins. The identification is straightforward if the structure of a protein-DNA or protein-RNA complex is known. Unfortunately, it is very expensive and time-consuming to solve the structure of a protein-DNA/RNA complex. Currently, only a few hundreds of protein-nucleic acid complexes have structural data available in the Protein Data Bank (PDB, http://www.rcsb.org/pdb/). With the rapid accumulation of sequence data, predictive methods are needed for identifying potential DNA or RNA-binding residues in protein sequences.
Several machine learning methods have been reported for predicting DNA or RNA-binding residues directly from amino acid sequences [1–3], using biochemical features of amino acid residues [4, 5], and by incorporating evolutionary information in terms of position-specific scoring matrices [6–8]. Ahmad et al. investigated representative structures of protein-DNA complexes, and used the amino acid sequences in these structures to train artificial neural networks (ANNs) for prediction of DNA-binding residues. Yan et al. constructed Naïve Bayes classifiers for DNA-binding site prediction from amino acid identities. Naïve Bayes classifiers were also developed for predicting RNA-binding residues directly from amino acid sequences . However, without using biological knowledge for classifier construction, the prediction accuracy was relatively low in these studies.
The use of evolutionary information for input encoding has been shown to improve classifier performance. Ahmad and Sarai constructed ANN classifiers for DNA-binding site prediction using evolutionary information in terms of position-specific scoring matrix (PSSM). More recently, PSSM profiles have also been used to train support vector machines (SVMs) and logistic regression models for sequence-based prediction of DNA-binding residues [7, 8]. For a given protein sequence, its PSSM profile can be derived from the result of a PSI-BLAST search against a large sequence database. PSSM scores indicate how well an amino acid position in the query sequence is conserved among its homologues. Since functional sites, including DNA and RNA-binding residues, tend to be conserved among homologous proteins, PSSM can provide relevant information for classifier construction. However, PSSM is rather designed for PSI-BLAST searches, and it may not contain all the evolutionary information for modelling DNA or RNA-binding sites.
In our previous studies [4, 5], ANN and SVM classifiers were constructed for DNA or RNA-binding site prediction using relevant biochemical features, including the hydrophobicity index, side chain pKa value, and molecular mass of an amino acid. These features were used to represent biological knowledge, which might not be learned from the training data. It was found that classifier performance was enhanced by using the biochemical features for input encoding, and the SVM classifiers outperformed the ANN predictors. Nevertheless, it is still unknown whether classifier performance can be further improved by combining the biochemical features with evolutionary information.
This study aimed to examine different descriptors of evolutionary information for DNA and RNA-binding site prediction, and to improve classifier performance by combining relevant sequence features. Three new descriptors of evolutionary information as well as PSSM were used to construct SVM classifiers, and the new descriptors were shown to improve classifier performance. Interestingly, the most accurate classifiers were obtained by combining the new descriptors with PSSM and relevant biochemical features for input encoding. The results suggest that PSSM, although useful for classifier construction, does not capture all the evolutionary information for predicting DNA and RNA-binding residues in protein sequences. A new web server called BindN+ (http://bioinfo.ggc.org/bindn+/) has been developed to make the SVM classifiers accessible to the biological research community.
Two amino acid sequence datasets, PDNA-62 and PRINR25, were derived from structural data of protein-DNA and protein-RNA complexes available at the Protein Data Bank (PDB at http://www.rcsb.org/pdb/). The PDNA-62 dataset was used to train classifiers for DNA-binding residues as in previous studies [4–7]. PDNA-62 was derived from 62 structures of representative protein-DNA complexes. The PRINR25 dataset was prepared for RNA-binding site prediction in our previous study . PRINR25 was derived from 174 structures of protein-RNA complexes. Both PDNA-62 and PRINR25 had less than 25% identity among the sequences in each dataset.
As in the previous studies [1, 4–6], an amino acid residue was designated as a DNA or RNA-binding site if the side chain or backbone atoms of the residue fell within a cutoff distance of 3.5 angstroms (Å) from any atoms of the DNA or RNA molecule in the complex. All the other residues were regarded as non-binding sites. Both PDNA-62 and PRINR25 were imbalanced datasets with ~15% residues labelled as binding sites and ~85% residues as non-binding sites.
Support vector machines (SVMs) were trained using residue-wise data instances derived from the sequence datasets. From a sequence with n amino acid residues, a total of (n – w + 1) data instances were extracted, where w was the sliding window size. In this study, each instance consisted of eleven consecutive residues (w = 11) with the target residue positioned in the middle of the subsequence. An instance was labelled as 1 (positive) if the target residue was DNA/RNA-binding, or as -1 (negative) if the target residue was non-binding. The context information provided by the five neighboring residues on each side of the target residue was previously shown to be optimal for sequence-based prediction of DNA or RNA-binding residues [4, 5].
To generate the input vector for training SVMs, each residue was represented with three biochemical features and several descriptors of evolutionary information (see below). The three biochemical features, including the hydrophobicity index (feature H), side chain pKa value (feature K), and molecular mass (feature M) of an amino acid, were previously used to construct classifiers for DNA or RNA-binding site prediction [4, 5].
where and are two data vectors, and γ is a training parameter. A smaller γ value makes the decision boundary smoother. Another parameter for SVM training is the regularization factor C, which controls the trade-off between low training error and large margin . Different values for the γ and C parameters have been tested in this study to optimize the classifier performance.
Considering the great complexity of protein-DNA/RNA interactions, the labelled datasets derived from the available structures are rather small in size. On the other hand, there are abundant unlabeled sequence data in public databases such as UniProt . The unlabeled data contain evolutionary information about the conservation of each sequence position, and DNA/RNA-binding residues tend to be conserved among homologous proteins .
Position-specific scoring matrix (PSSM) has often been used as a descriptor of evolutionary information. PSSM profiles can be derived by searching a protein sequence database using the PSI-BLAST program . For each position in a query sequence, there are 20 PSSM scores. The evolutionary information captured by PSSM was previously shown to improve the performance of artificial neural networks and support vector machines for DNA-binding site prediction [6, 7].
However, PSSM is rather designed for general-purpose sequence comparison using PSI-BLAST, and it may not capture all the evolutionary information for predicting DNA or RNA-binding residues, which appear to have specific biochemical properties. For instance, DNA-binding residues show a distinct amino acid distribution [1–4]. Certain basic and polar amino acids are overrepresented whereas acid and hydrophobic amino acids are underrepresented in the population of DNA-binding sites. The PSSM profiles derived from PSI-BLAST search results may not precisely capture the characteristics of the amino acid distribution. Thus, new descriptors of evolutionary information have been developed in the present study to capture the conserved biochemical properties of DNA or RNA-binding residues. The approach is illustrated in Figure 1.
Schematic diagram for extracting evolutionary information.
where is the value of feature X for the amino acid residue in b j , which is aligned to a i at position i in the query sequence p.
(1) : The mean and standard deviation of the H feature values for each residue a i in the sequence p. Hydrophobicity (H) is a key factor in amino acid side chain packing and protein folding. Hydrophobic amino acids, which are often located inside proteins, are underrepresented at the DNA interaction interfaces [1–4]. Thus, if a residue has the greater mean of hydrophobicity with less standard deviation in the sequence alignment, the residue in the query sequence is less likely to be located at the interaction interface.
(2) : measures how well the side chain pKa value (K) of an amino acid residue is conserved among the homologous sequences in the alignment. The side chain pKa determines the ionization state of a residue. Since the phosphate groups of nucleic acids are negatively charged, the ionization state of amino acid side chains affects the interaction with DNA or RNA molecules. Amino acid residues with positively charged side chains (e.g., arginine) are overrepresented at the interaction interface. In other words, if a residue has the greater mean of feature K with less standard deviation in the sequence alignment, the residue in the query sequence is more likely to be a DNA or RNA-binding residue.
(3) : Each amino acid has a unique value of molecular mass (feature M), which is closely related to the volume of space occupied by the residue in protein structures. DNA or RNA-binding residues may have the size constraint to be fitted into the interaction interface, and the mean and standard deviation of M may be used to represent the evolutionary information for the size constraint.
where TP is the number of true positives; TN is the number of true negatives; FP is the number of false positives; and FN is the number of false negatives. Since the datasets used in this study are imbalanced, both sensitivity and specificity are also computed from prediction results. Furthermore, the average of sensitivity and specificity, referred to as strength in this paper, has been shown to provide a fair measure of classifier performance [1–4].
The Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve is probably the most robust approach for classifier evaluation and comparison . The ROC curve is drawn by plotting the true positive rate (i.e., sensitivity) against the false positive rate, which equals to (1 – specificity). In this work, the ROC curve has been generated by varying the output threshold of a classifier and plotting the true positive rate against false positive rate for each threshold value. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) can be used as a reliable measure of classifier performance . Since the ROC plot is a unit square, the maximum value of AUC is 1, which is achieved by a perfect classifier. Weak classifiers have AUC values close to 0.5.
The three biochemical features, including the hydrophobicity index (feature H), side chain pKa value (K), and molecular mass (M) of an amino acid, were previously used to construct SVM classifiers for DNA or RNA-binding residues , and these classifiers have been used by the BindN web server (available at http://bioinfo.ggc.org/bindn/). Similar performance measures were also obtained in this study. As shown in Table 1, the SVM classifier without using any evolutionary information achieved 70.0% prediction strength with 69.5% sensitivity and 70.6% specificity. The Matthews correlation coefficient (MCC) of this classifier was 0.295, and ROC AUC = 0.761. Different SVM training parameters were tested, and the optimal parameter settings were based on the highest prediction strength and ROC AUC. It should be noted that the dataset was imbalanced, and the overall accuracy could be misleading (e.g., ~85% accuracy by simply predicting all the residues as negatives).
Effect of evolutionary information on DNA-binding site prediction.
Classifier performance was improved to varying levels when each of the three new descriptors of evolutionary information was added to the biochemical features for input encoding. As shown in Table 1, the descriptor (the mean and standard deviation of feature K) gave rise to the highest performance with 74.2% prediction strength (73.4% sensitivity and 75.0% specificity), MCC = 0.365 and ROC AUC = 0.813. The classifier using all the three new descriptors ( , and ) achieved slightly better performance with 74.6% prediction strength (72.4% sensitivity and 76.8% specificity), MCC = 0.377 and ROC AUC = 0.817. Therefore, the use of the three new evolutionary information descriptors for input encoding was found to improve classifier performance.
Position-specific scoring matrix (PSSM) was previously shown to improve the accuracy of DNA-binding site prediction [6–8]. In this study, the SVM classifier constructed using PSSM in addition to the biochemical features achieved high performance with 76.5% prediction strength (74.8% sensitivity and 78.2% specificity), MCC = 0.409 and ROC AUC = 0.849. Interestingly, the most accurate classifier was obtained by combining PSSM with the new descriptors of evolutionary information for input encoding. This classifier achieved 78.3% prediction strength (77.3% sensitivity and 79.3% specificity), MCC = 0.440 and ROC AUC = 0.859 (Table 1).
The results suggest that although PSSM can be used to improve classifier performance, it does not capture all the evolutionary information for DNA-binding site prediction. While PSSM scores indicate whether an amino acid residue is conserved among homologous sequences, the three new descriptors can be used to represent the conservation of the relevant biochemical properties for DNA-binding residues. However, since classifier performance is improved only slightly by combining PSSM with the new descriptors, it is likely that the evolutionary information captured by the different descriptors may be partially overlapping.
The ROC curves of four SVM classifiers are shown in Figure 2. In general, the ROC curve of a more accurate classifier is closer to the left-hand and top borders of the plot. Thus, the three classifiers using evolutionary information are clearly better than the SVM classifier constructed with only the biochemical features (HKM). The classifier using PSSM is slightly better than the classifier constructed with the new descriptors ( ), and the most accurate classifier appears to the SVM using all the different descriptors of evolutionary information (PSSM + ).
ROC analysis to show the effect of evolutionary information on prediction of DNA-binding residues.
The biochemical properties of RNA-binding residues are similar but not identical to those of DNA-binding residues [17, 18]. It is thus interesting to investigate how RNA-binding site prediction is affected by using the different descriptors of evolutionary information. The SVM classifier constructed with only the biochemical features achieved 68.0% prediction strength (66.0% sensitivity and 69.9% specificity), MCC = 0.265 and ROC AUC = 0.741 (Table 2). This classifier has been used by the BindN web server for RNA-binding site prediction.
Effect of evolutionary information on RNA-binding site prediction.
Classifier performance was improved by using each of the new descriptors of evolutionary information. In particular, the use of descriptor resulted in slightly better performance with 70.5% prediction strength (66.5% sensitivity and 74.6% specificity), MCC = 0.312 and ROC AUC = 0.774. The performance was improved to 71.6% prediction strength (67.4% sensitivity and 75.8% specificity), MCC = 0.331 and ROC AUC = 0.784 when all the three new descriptors of evolutionary information were used for classifier construction (Table 2).
The use of PSSM was also found to significantly improve RNA-binding site prediction, and the classifier achieved 74.6% prediction strength (71.5% sensitivity and 77.7% specificity), MCC = 0.380 and ROC AUC = 0.818. Nevertheless, the classifier constructed using all the descriptors of evolutionary information (PSSM, , and ) appeared to give the best predictive performance with 75.2% prediction strength (71.6% sensitivity and 78.7% specificity), MCC = 0.393 and ROC AUC = 0.825 (Table 2).
The results have been further confirmed by the ROC analysis. As shown in Figure 3, the SVM classifier with PSSM + is slightly better than the classifier with PSSM, and all the three classifiers using evolutionary information are clearly better than the SVM trained with only the biochemical features (HKM). Therefore, the various descriptors of evolutionary information appear to have similar effects on both DNA and RNA-binding site prediction.
ROC analysis to show the effect of evolutionary information on prediction of RNA-binding residues.
The best SVM classifiers developed in this study are compared favourably with the other existing predictors. For DNA-binding site prediction, DBS-PSSM , a PSSM-based artificial neural network predictor constructed using the PDNA-62 dataset, was shown to give 68.2% sensitivity and 66.0% specificity. By contrast, the best classifier in this study achieved 77.3% sensitivity and 79.3% specificity (Table 1).
The DP-Bind system provided several classifiers for DNA-binding site prediction, and these classifiers were also constructed using the PDNA-62 dataset. The PSSM-based SVM classifier of DP-Bind achieved 76.9% sensitivity and 74.7% specificity with ROC AUC = 0.836 on imbalanced test datasets . The best performance was achieved by the PSSM-based kernel logistic repression predictor , and the average of sensitivity and specificity reached 76.5%. In this study, the best SVM classifier achieved 78.3% prediction strength and ROC AUC = 0.859 (Table 1).
Yan et al. developed a Naïve Bayes classifier for DNA-binding residues, and evolutionary information was not used for input encoding. The Matthews correlation coefficient of the Naïve Bayes classifier reached 0.28, which is significantly lower than that of the present study (MCC = 0.440, Table 1).
For RNA-binding site prediction, Terribilini et al. reported a Naïve Bayes classifier that could predict at 38% sensitivity and 93% specificity (65.5% prediction strength). The highest MCC value of the Naïve Bayes classifier was 0.35. In contrast, this study achieved 75.2% prediction strength and MCC = 0.393 (Table 2). With the specificity level set to 93.0% on the ROC curve (Figure 3), the best SVM classifier had 47.0% sensitivity and MCC = 0.421. Thus, the SVM classifier developed in this study appears to be more accurate than the Naïve Bayes model for RNA-binding site prediction.
To make the SVM classifiers accessible to the biological research community, we have developed the BindN+ web server (http://bioinfo.ggc.org/bindn+/). The web interface of BindN+ is similar to that of our previous system, BindN . Users can enter an amino acid sequence in FASTA format; choose the type of prediction to be made for either DNA or RNA-binding residues; and specify the desired level of sensitivity or specificity for the prediction result. The system performs a three-iteration PSI-BLAST search against the UniProtKB database to extract evolutionary information as described in Methods. The query sequence is encoded using the three biochemical features (H, K and M), PSSM, and the new descriptors of evolutionary information ( , and ). The most accurate SVM classifier constructed in this study is then used to scan the query sequence for putative DNA or RNA-binding residues. To make predictions, the user-defined level of sensitivity or specificity is used to choose the output threshold of the SVM model according to its ROC curve shown in Figure 2 or Figure 3.
The output report of BindN+ includes a summary of the prediction result, an overview of the predicted DNA or RNA-binding residues, and detailed information about the prediction for each residue. A sample report is shown in Figure 4 for the RGG box and flanking sequence of the human fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) protein. Mutations in FMR1 cause the most common form of inherited mental retardation, and the RGG box has been shown to bind G-quartet mRNAs important for neuronal function . For the summary, the estimated sensitivity (or specificity) is computed using the classifier’s ROC curve. In the example, the user-defined specificity was 95.00%, and the estimated sensitivity was 40.20% (Figure 4). The overview can be used to examine the distribution of putative binding residues along the query sequence. Positive predictions (putative binding residues) are labelled with ‘+’ and highlighted in red, whereas negative predictions are labelled with ‘-’ in green. In the example, the RGG box (RGGGGRGQGGRGRGG) and some neighbouring residues are predicted to interact with RNA. The confidence of prediction is computed as follows. Let o be the output of the SVM classifier, sn and sp be the corresponding sensitivity and specificity, respectively, on the classifier’s ROC curve, and t be the output threshold. Then, for a positive prediction (o ≥ t), its confidence value is set to (1 – sn). For a negative prediction (o <t), its confidence value is set to (1 – sp). The confidence value indicates where the SVM output is ranked when compared with all the true positive or true negative predictions in the cross-validation. For example, the fifth residue (S) of the input sequence in Figure 4 gives the SVM output equal to 0.9923 and has the confidence for positive prediction equal to 0.7252, which indicates that 72.52% of the RNA-binding residues in the training dataset (PRINR25) have SVM outputs less than 0.9923. For the prediction overview, the confidence level is computed as the floor of (10 × confidence) so that it ranges from the lowest level 0 to the highest level 9 for the purpose of presentation.
Sample output from the BindN+ web server.
BindN+ represents a significant upgrade to the previous web server BindN, which was based on SVM models constructed with the relevant biochemical features . BindN has been frequently accessed, and the prediction results have been shown to provide useful information for biological research . Since our approach does not require structural information for binding site prediction, BindN+ can be used for genome-wide analyses of DNA and RNA-binding proteins. The analytical results may provide useful information for systematic understanding of protein-nucleic acid interactions.
In this study, several descriptors of evolutionary information have been examined for sequence-based prediction of DNA and RNA-binding residues. The new descriptors of evolutionary information have been shown to improve classifier performance. Interestingly, the most accurate classifiers have been obtained by combining the new descriptors, PSSM and relevant biochemical features for input encoding. The results suggest that although PSSM can be used to improve classifier performance, it does not capture all the evolutionary information for DNA and RNA-binding site prediction. The SVM classifiers developed in this study are compared favourably with the other existing predictors. Thus, a new web server called BindN+ (http://bioinfo.ggc.org/bindn+/) has been developed to make the SVM classifiers publicly available. We anticipate that BindN+ can provide a useful tool for modelling protein-nucleic acid interactions in systems biology studies.
This work is supported by the CSREES/USDA, under project number SC-1700355.
This article has been published as part of BMC Systems Biology Volume 4 Supplement 1, 2010: Proceedings of the ISIBM International Joint Conferences on Bioinformatics, Systems Biology and Intelligent Computing (IJCBS). The full contents of the supplement are available online at http://www.biomedcentral.com/1752-0509/4?issue=S1.
LW initiated and designed the study. LW and CH conducted the data analysis. LW drafted the manuscript. MQY and JYY provided valuable insights on biomolecular interactions and systems biology modeling, participated in result interpretation and manuscript preparation. All authors have reviewed the final version and agreed on the content.
|
0.984749 |
Neon Staxx is a slot machine that gives me a vibe from the colorful 80's. It's produced by the well-known Swedish game provider Net Entertainment. The first thing that might catch your eyes is the way the reels are presented, they have angled the reels so that they feel a bit different than normal slots, and they also show part of the symbols that isn’t within any of the paylines. Neon Staxx is a pretty nice looking slot in my opinion, and it plays smoothly. It features both single and stacked symbols, but during the free spin feature that's available a super stacked feature is activated. This feature will turn one of the symbols into super long symbols, and it can even include the wild symbols! The maximal win on this machine is only 400x the stake per spin, which is quite low for a NetEnt slot. However, it's possible to win this amount several times during the free spins. The payout percentage for Neon Staxx is 96.90%.
Neon Staxx has both single and stacked wild symbols on all the reels in play. These symbols substitute for all other symbols except the scatter symbols. These are also the symbols that can pay out the maximal win of 400x the stake per spin. It's worth mentioning that Neon Staxx has 40 paylines, but that the minimum bet is set to only €0.20. This means that you get 2 paylines for the price of one. The main attraction of the game is the free spin feature, where a very special feature can help you to get those awaited big wins.
Free spins: The free spin feature is triggered when 3 or more scatter symbols shows up on the reels. The amount of free spins awarded differs based on the amount of triggering symbols. 3 scatters = 10 free spins, 4 scatters = 15 free spins, while 5 scatters = 20 free spins. When the free spins are awarded, a special reel spinning function is activated. This reel has one symbol from all of the premium paying animals, and one wild symbol. You get to stop the reel, and whatever it lands on will be the symbol you get as the super stacked symbol. This symbol will be much longer than the usual symbols during the free spins, and it increases the chances for a big win a lot. It's not possible to re-trigger the free spin feature.
Neon Staxx is created by Net Entertainment.
|
0.997376 |
We need your help in telling the United States Department of Agriculture that punishing Americans looking for jobs by imposing stricter rules on the largest food assistance program will only result in more hungry people in our country. Americans working hard to find a job shouldn’t also have to worry about looking for their next meal.
My name is ________ and I am an anti-hunger advocate in Alaska. I want to take this opportunity to comment in opposition to the USDA proposed rule making on SNAP requirements and services for Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWD). This proposed rule would cause serious harm to Alaskans who depend on SNAP and impose unprecedented administrative barriers that could hinder individuals' access to food accessiblity.
(Input paragraph about how hunger in Alaska affects you, your community, or your organization; describe your organization and mission; tell your personal story about relying on SNAP, etc.) ____________________________________________. _______________________.
Currently, the state of Alaska has some of the highest rates of unemployment in the country. The proposed rule would make it harder for Alaskan communities to qualify for waivers exempting them from the harsh time limit. Alaska has some unique considerations, and many areas of the state have both high unemployment rates and a lack of jobs. Additionally, our state fiscal crisis would make it extremely difficult to quickly develop a meaningful employment and training program across our large state. We should not make the existing harsh rules even worse by taking away state flexibility or exposing more people to time-limited benefits. Increasing the ability of USDA to deny state waivers for easing SNAP time limits and expanding the people these strict rules apply to will only increase the number of people facing hunger in this country.
The Administration’s proposed rule seeks to end run Congress, which just concluded a review and re-authorization of SNAP in the 2018 Farm Bill and did not make the changes proposed.The rules governing areas’ eligibility for waivers and individual exemptions have been in place for nearly 20 years.In that time, the waiver rules have proven to be reasonable, transparent, and manageable for states to operationalize.
[I/We] strongly oppose the proposed rule that would expose even more people to the arbitrary SNAP food cutoff policy and harm our community.
|
0.999998 |
This spicy smoked paprika from La Chinata is an ideal ingredient for homemade sausages, marinades for meats and as an addition to savory sauces. The zip closure system allows improved preservation of the paprika's organoleptic properties. In Spanish, this product is called Pimentón ahumado picante La Chinata.
Très parfumé et bien piquant !
"Épice idéale pour relever les plats et très pzrfumee. Attention c'est vrziment piquant !"
|
0.999996 |
Take me to Italy Cheese Sampler has a rating of 5.0 stars based on 4 reviews.
Does eating Italian Cheese take you back to that unforgettable trip to Italy where you indulged in the finest aged Pecorino and other delicious Italian cheeses? This sampler will definitely bring back some of those memories! This collection features 4 amazing Italian cheeses.
|
0.955205 |
How would one calculate angle of deflection in case of gravitational lensing on galaxy cluster with given potential?
Is there a formal relationship between the flow related term in the Transport Theorem and the Lie derivative?
It is customary in gravitational lensing problems, to project both the background source and the deflecting mass (e.g. a background quasar, and a foreground galaxy acting as a lens) in a plane.
Then, the lensing problem can be regarded as a mapping between the unlensed source plane, and the lensed image plane. In such transformations, the Jacobian evaluated at a point of the source plane, expresses how an infinitesimal area located around that point increases.
Lens mass and mass distribution, relative positions and distances involved give rise to different scenarios. The special case in which the distortions are too small to be resolved by telescopes, is called microlensing regime. Typically, a dark, unseen object like a floating planet, happens to cross transversally in front of a background star.
The image of the background star suffers amplification and distortions that are unresolved, but a change in brightness is detected, with a very typical light curve shape. The measured light curve of a microlensing event can be related to physical parameters of the problem, because the change in brightness of a lensed image can be modelled simply by dividing the area of the lensed image by that of the unlensed source image. If that can be done, it is because the mean surface flux of the image equals that of the source.
(... and therefore the magnification is found by dividing the subtended area of the image by that of the source). Every single author I have read, drops that sentence as if it were something very obvious, and quickly goes into other questions.
I have tried to trace-back the origin of the idea, by consulting the bibliography of every book or document in which that thing is stated. Interestingly, I have recognized sort of a fingerprint of obscure points like this one, a patter that is repeated in many of the documents, as if some authors didn't understand and merely copied from each other, developing and personalizing only the parts they understand in between.
I have rigorously developed and resolved every one of the dark points in that pattern, but this one remains unresolved. Is it perhaps something obvious? How is Liouville's theorem applied to photons along null geodesics? I will accept an appropiate link or paper reference as a good answer.
See also (related but definitely not a duplicate) physics.stackexchange.com/questions/31534/… - Qmechanic's answer to that question might be helpful to you.
@Nathaniel, thanks (+1). It seem at first sight related. I'll have a closer look, maybe it puts me on the right track.
What they're referring to is a property of light from geometrical optics. The conserved property is "entendue" (see wikipedia article), and the constancy of brightness can be demonstrated in a bunch of ways (Hamiltonian optics i.e. Liouville's theorem, second law of thermodynamics as above, etc.).
You are pointing in the very right direction (+1), the conservation of éntendue is the non-relativistic analogous to this, but what I am looking for is the derivation in the context of gravitational lensing with general relativity, geodesics and so on, where you cannot for instance happily say "energy is conserved across here and there...". I know this issue is waiting for me, I will have to stop sooner or later and spend the necessary time to try to understand and derive it by myself. But I would like to see the original derivation all authors are ignoring, because now I am short on time.
Yeah, I figured you were looking for the real derivation. I wish I could help but my classical-mechanics-fu is not so strong.
This is just the second law of thermodynamics.
Suppose you have some big source black body and some little target black body. You build a whole bunch of geometric optics to focus light from the source to the target (e.g. mirrors behind the target and lenses in front of it). Eventually an observer standing on the target looks up and sees light from the source at every point in the sky.
All this incoming light heats the target blackbody up until it's radiating light away as fast as it's coming in. That means the target comes up to the same temperature as the source. If you could increase the flux per unit solid angle, the target would get hotter than the source, breaking the second law.
Is this enough, or did you want a technical analysis of the lensing equation?
I had read too about the violation of the 2nd principle if you could concentrate light in too small a point with a magnifying glass, but I don't see how that translates to this question. That is why I want to find the mathematical details, that will surely give rise to the correct understanding.
The second-law argument does work. For example if there is less light from the mirror behind the black body, just paint the back of it perfect white. Re: Liouville's theorem in geometric optics; I might have some time for that later on but I can't just do it in a couple minutes off the top of my head like this above argument.
|
0.918736 |
Beck is a singer-songwriter who first became well known in 1993 for the song "Loser." He's released more than ten albums since then, including the Grammy-winning Odelay.
When did Beck join Scientology?
Beck's parents, David Campbell and Bibbe Hansen, were Scientologists when he was born, and he was raised as a Scientologist. As a child he attended the Apple School of Los Feliz, which was run by Scientologists. According to entries for Beck in Scientology's Service Completion Lists, he completed a few lower-level courses in 1986-89 under the name Beck (or Bek) Campbell, including Essentials of Dianetics courses and Pro TRs.
What level has Beck reached in Scientology?
Even though no course completions have been located for Beck since 1989, in late 2007 he was interviewed by a writer for the Italian magazine L'Uomo Vogue, and that writer reported that Beck had reached the level of Clear.
Has Beck received any special recognition in Scientology?
Beck and his wife, Marissa Ribisi, are listed as Patrons in 2006 in Impact 114 (the official magazine of the International Association of Scientologists). They were later listed as Patrons with Honors in Impact 115 (and their son, Cosimo, was listed as a Sponsor).
Not very much. In a few interviews, when asked about Scientology, he's made positive statements about Scientology's drug program. He also played a benefit to raise money for the Los Feliz Mission in 2005.
Is Beck involved with any Scientology front groups?
None known as of 2008.
|
0.915508 |
vested pension plan) Spouses Non-Investment Income I/you were married during any portion the reporting year, complete this section.
91. Fun Investment Club -Partnership lnt./Div.
VIII. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION EXPLANATIONS. (l11dict1lept1rtofreport.) Part VII, Line The abbreviation means Legg Mason. Part VII, Line 63: The abbreviation means Legg Mason. June 30, 2011 all funds were withdrawn from the IRA CITIBANK South Dakota -Bank Deposit Program and transferred to, and reinvested in, the IRA CITIBANK -Bank Deposit Program. inserted parenthetical (Y) Part VII, Line Page the within report indicate that this previously reportable asset (CITIBANK South Dakota -Bank Deposit Program) otherwise not reportable 2011 because had value December 31, 2011 and because did not meet the 2011 $200 income threshold 2011.
|
0.952925 |
In the south the deserts yield to the broad, shallow lakes of a region, comprising the Valley of Mexico, known as the Anáhuac and famous for its rich cultural heritage. South of the Anáhuac, which includes Mexico City, is a chain of extinct volcanoes, including Citlaltépetl , or Orizaba (18,700 ft/5,700 m, the highest point in Mexico), Popocatépetl , and Iztaccíhuatl . To the south are jumbled masses of mountains and the Sierra Madre del Sur.
Among Mexico's few large rivers are the Rio Bravo del Norte, which forms the boundary with Texas, and its tributaries the Río Conchos and the Río Sabinas; the Río Yaqui, Río Fuerte, Río Mezquital, Río Grande de Santiago, and Río Balsas, which flow into the Pacific; and the Río Grijalva and Río Usumacinta, which flow into the Bay of Campeche. The climate of the country varies with the altitude, so that there are hot, temperate, and cool regions— tierra caliente (up to c.3,000 ft/1,220 m), tierra templada (c.3,000–c.6,000 ft/1,220–1,830 m), and tierra friá (above c.6,000 ft/1,830 m).
Mexico's 31 states are Aguascalientes , Baja California , Baja California Sur , Campeche , Chiapas , Chihuahua , Coahuila , Colima , Durango , Guanajuato , Guerrero , Hidalgo , Jalisco , Mexico , Michoacán , Morelos , Nayarit , Nuevo León , Oaxaca , Puebla , Querétaro de Arteaga , Quintana Roo , San Luis Potosí , Sinaloa , Sonora , Tabasco , Tamaulipas , Tlaxcala , Veracruz , Yucatán , and Zacatecas .
About 60% of the population are of mixed Spanish and indigenous descent, while about 30% are of purely indigenous ancestry, and 10% are of European descent. Spanish is the official language and various Mayan dialects, Nahuatl, and other indigenous languages are also spoken. Since 1920 the population of Mexico has had a very high rate of growth, almost entirely the result of natural increase; from 1940 to 2005 the population grew from less than 20 million to more than 100 million. However, declining fertility rates (from 7 children per woman in 1965 to slightly under 3 in 1998) are slowing population growth. More than 75% of the people are Roman Catholic and 6% are Protestant, but nearly 14% did not specify their religion in the census and the growing Protestant minority is believed to be much larger. The country has numerous universities, notably in Mexico City, Saltillo, Guadalajara, Monterrey, and Puebla. Since precolonial times Mexican architects, painters, writers, and musicians have produced a rich cultural heritage (see Spanish colonial art and architecture , Mexican art and architecture , and Spanish-American literature ).
|
0.99615 |
Is new talk of interstellar drive too good to be true?
Could an EM drive take us to the stars?
From Earth, light takes four years to reach Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to our sun, and millions of years to cross the void to other galaxies like ours.
Compared with light, our most powerful rockets are sluggish, and journeys between the stars seem doomed to involve thousands of years of sliding through the blackness. The growth of any Galactic Empire appears destined to be a slow and sedate affair.
|
0.999836 |
JaneCasey is turned on by Seeing your eyes burn for me., and gets turned off by Not being in control.
JaneCasey in their own words: Come turn me on and you will have the time of your life.
twenties years old JaneCasey's height is Tall, and weight is Normal, with Well-built build.
|
0.973224 |
Do you know AIBO's personality?
Do you like this room? I like any room as long as you are with me.
I could not get back to the station. Please make sure it is on the floor.
|
0.985992 |
11β-Hydroxylase deficiency (11OHD) is a common form of congenital adrenal hyperplasia that has been shown to result from inactivating CYP11B1 mutations, and pathogenic CYP11B2/CYP11B1 chimeras contribute to a minority of cases. Heterozygote cases (chimeras combined with missense mutation) are very rare, and genetic analysis of these cases is difficult.
We describe an 11OHD patient presenting with precocious pseudopuberty and hypokalemia hypertension who harbored a chimeric CYP11B2/CYP11B1 with a novel breakage point located at g.9559–9742 of CYP11B2. Interestingly, the other allele exhibited a new mutation, p.L340P, in CYP11B1. Bioinformatics and molecular dynamics simulation indicated that p.L340P decreased the stability and changed the surface configuration of 11β-hydroxylase, indicating a disease-causing mutation. Further pedigree study, PCR and next-generation sequencing indicated that the proband carried both the chimera and p.L340P, and coexistence of the two increased the severity of 11OHD in this family. After treatment with combined medications, blood pressure and clinical parameters improved.
Our results suggest that chimera screening and CYP11B1 mutation screening should be simultaneously conducted, and pedigree study is necessary.
Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is one of the most common inheritable metabolic disorders and is characterized by virilization, precocious pseudopuberty and accelerated skeletal maturation, progressing in some cases to severe dehydration, shock, and even death [1, 2]. An autosomal recessive disorder, CAH is caused by mutations in genes encoding important enzymes or cofactors in the steroidogenesis pathway . One common variant of CAH is 11β-hydroxylase deficiency (11OHD), driven by CYP11B1 inactivating mutations clustered in exons 2, 6, 7 and 8 , and approximately 148 mutations have been reported in the Human Gene Mutation Database website. However, CYP11B1 mutations may also occur as a result of aberrant incorporation/chimerism of the gene with the highly homologous aldosterone synthase (CYP11B2) gene sequence. These CYP11B2/CYP11B1 chimeric genes are relatively rare, with breakpoints dispersively distributed, and have been speculated to be pathogenic because of a loss of function in the zona fasciculate/reticularis, despite maintained function in the zona glomerulosa [5–9]. In a few cases, missense mutation and chimera have been found in the same individual . However, it is difficult to evaluate the precise contributing mechanism.
In the present paper, we report an 11OHD case who harbored a chimeric CYP11B2/CYP11B1 on one allele with a breakpoint range (g.9559–9742) in the CYP11B2 gene in the junctional zone of exon 6 and intron 6. Interestingly, the other allele held a novel mutation, p.L340P, and bioinformatics and molecular dynamics simulation indicated that this was a disease-causing mutation. We then performed a pedigree analysis, which revealed that both the missense mutation and chimera were synergistically pathogenic in the proband.
A 14-year-old boy (46, XY) was admitted in September 2015 because of precocious puberty and recurrent episodes of periodic paralysis without special intervention. His sexual development, such as pubic hair, laryngeal prominence and spermatorrhea, occurred earlier than that in peers. He was born after an uneventful full-term pregnancy to a non-consanguineous healthy couple of Chinese origin with no family history of congenital adrenal hyperplasia. He was taller than boys of the same age until he was 12 years old. In addition, axillary hair and laryngeal prominence had appeared at 7 years old, and spermatorrhea and pubic hair growth had occurred at age 9. Physical examination showed hypertension (143/106 mmHg), slightly black skin, and external genitalia maturation (pubic hair and axillary hair at stage 5 assessed by Tanner classification and an estimated testicular volume of 25 ml on both sides, as measured by an orchidometer), which confirmed precocious puberty (Fig. 1a). Laboratory data in the absence of medication showed decreased plasma potassium and cortisol but elevated levels of plasma 17 hydroxyprogesterone (17OHP), androstenedione, adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), and uric 17 ketosteroid (17 KS) (Additional file 1: Table S1). Additionally, serum aldosterone (ALD) was normal with low rennin activity, and renal, liver, metadrenaline, normetadrenaline and thyroid function, were all normal (Additional file 1: Table S1). Radiation imaging showed accelerated bone aging (over 18 years according to the Greulich and Pyle Atlas) (Fig. 1b) and bilateral adrenal hyperplasia (Fig. 1c). The hypokalemic hypertension, elevated 17-OHP and androstenedione were all suggestive of an 11OHD diagnosis. Interestingly, low urine osmotic pressure and specific gravity could not be significantly elevated by water deprivation and a desmopressin test. This phenomenon is consistent with nephrogenic diabetes insipidus that may be due to long-term hypokalemia (Additional file 1: Table S1).
Given this clinical presentation, we then sought to confirm whether it was indeed a case of 11OHD. To find the possible genetic pathogenic mechanism, we conducted sequencing of the nine exons and flanking sequencing of the CYP11B1 gene and identified the novel mutation p.L340P (CYP11B1mut) (Fig. 1d). Bioinformatics and molecular dynamics simulation indicated that CYP11B1mut altered the free energy, and change the stability and conformation of the protein by driving the uncoiling of a partial helical structure into a loop structure, leading to positive group migration and pocket structure enlargement (Additional file 2: Table S2, Figure 1e, f), suggesting that the mutation could be pathogenic. However, his mother did not carry this pathogenic mutation (Fig. 1g), indicating the proband only carried the point mutation on one allele, with the pathogenicity of the other allele unclear. Since 11OHD is understood to be an autosomal recessive condition, we then investigated the genotype of the patient in greater detail. QPCR of the sequence around the mutation of the proband showed that the copy number was half the normal number, which indicated a fragment deletion, and this was also found in his mother (Additional file 3: Figure S1). Targeted next-generation sequencing of the patient genome then revealed a large fragment deletion that included exons 1 to 6 of CYP11B1 (Additional file 3: Figure S1). To validate the deletion, we conducted PCR in proband with mixed oligonucleotide primers that have been previously reported (a forward primer complementary to the CYP11B2 sequence and a reverse primer complementary to the CYP11B1 sequence) and confirmed a chimeric CYP11B2/CYP11B1 gene. Interestingly, extended familial analysis revealed that the chimera was also present in his mother, uncle and grandfather (Fig. 1h), and multiple sequence alignment revealed that the breakpoint was located at g.9559–9742 of CYP11B2, considering the cytosine nucleotide base (C) of rs6391 in this family with 3 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (Fig. 1i). Our results suggested that the proband harbored a compound heterozygosity for a chimeric CYP11B2/CYP11B1 gene combined with a novel missense mutation p.L340P (Fig. 1j and k, Additional file 4: Figure S2) as two contributors to pathogenicity.
Since the blood pressure of the patient was poorly controlled by hydrocortisone, the proband was treated with a combination of dexamethasone (0.75 mg/everyday) and levamlodipine (2.5 mg/everyday) for 20 months. After treatment, clinical parameters, such as blood pressure, 17OHP and ACTH decreased, and the volume of the adrenal glands was reduced (Additional file 1: Table S1, Additional file 5: Figure S3). Main methods used in the study are summarizing in Additional file 6. This study was approved by the ethics committees of Xinqiao Hospital, Third Military Medical University, and informed consent was obtained from the patient’s mother (Additional file 7).
11OHD presents with decreased cortisol and corticosterone synthesis due to impaired conversion of 11-deoxycortisol and 11-deoxycorticosterne (DOC) to cortisol and corticosterone, respectively, and excess androgens due to DOC accumulation . Although DOC was not detected, all of the classical 11OHD symptoms, precocious pseudopuberty, accelerated skeletal maturation and hypokalemia hypertension [11, 12], were present in our patient. After treatment with the combined medication regimen described above, the clinical symptoms of the patient improved and the adrenal gland volume was reduced.
From our investigation of the genetic contribution to pathogenesis, this patient was found to harbor a chimeric CYP11B2/CYP11B1 gene with a novel breakpoint (g.9559–9742) on one allele, which differs from previous reports. Interestingly, the other allele contained a new disease-causing mutation, p.L340P, which altered the free energy and stability of 11β-hydroxylase. The chimeric mutation leads to deletion of CYP11B1 exons 1 to 6 on one allele, and unfortunately, a pathogenic missense mutation appeared on exon 6 of CYP11B1 in the other allele, which resulted in a seemingly homozygous missense mutation that was predicted by bioinformatics and molecular dynamics simulation to be a disease-causing mutation. At present, only one case of a pathogenic p.G314R mutation combined with a nonfunctional chimeric CYP11B2/CYP11B1 has been reported . Our pedigree analysis revealed that the proband carried both the chimera and p.L340P, and their coexistence increased the morbidity of 11OHD in this family. Our results suggest that chimera screening and CYP11B1 mutation screening should be simultaneously conducted and that pedigree study is necessary.
The authors would like to thank all the participants in this study, particularly Hongxia Wang, Xu Zhang and Honghe Fang for sequencing and bioinformatics assistance.
The collection of clinical data, data analysis and interpretation, and writing of the manuscript were supported by grants from the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2016YFC1101100), National Natural Science Foundation of China (NO. 81471039, No. 81270893, No. 81228023, No. 81401601, and No.81402202), Natural Science Foundation Project of Chongqing (CSTC2014jcyjjq10006, CSTC2012jjB10023, and CSTC2016jcyjA0518), and Clinical Research Project of Xinqiao Hospital of Third Military Medical University (Yclkt-201421).
L.D. and RF.S.: data acquisition, analysis and interpretation; LY.S.: PCR assays; HT.Z. and Y.L.: study concept and design, analysis and interpretation of data, drafting of the manuscript, critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content, study funding, and study supervision. All authors have read and approved the manuscript for publication.
|
0.945159 |
With the development of modern data collection approaches, researchers may collect hundreds to millions of variables, yet may not need to utilize all explanatory variables available in predictive models. Hence, choosing models that consist of a subset of variables often becomes a crucial step. In linear regression, variable selection not only reduces model complexity, but also prevents over-fitting. From a Bayesian perspective, prior specification of model parameters plays an important role in model selection as well as parameter estimation, and often prevents over-fitting through shrinkage and model averaging. We develop two novel hierarchical priors for selection and model averaging, for Generalized Linear Models (GLMs) and normal linear regression, respectively. They can be considered as \spike-and-slab" prior distributions or more appropriately \spikeand-bell" distributions. Under these priors we achieve dimension reduction, since their point masses at zero allow predictors to be excluded with positive posterior probability. In addition, these hierarchical priors have heavy tails to provide robustness when MLE's are far from zero. Zellner's g-prior is widely used in linear models. It preserves correlation structure among predictors in its prior covariance, and yields closed-form marginal likelihoods which leads to huge computational savings by avoiding sampling in the parameter space. Mixtures of g-priors avoid fixing g in advance, and can resolve consistency problems that arise with fixed g. For GLMs, we show that the mixture of g-priors using a Compound Confluent Hypergeometric distribution unifies existing choices in the literature and maintains their good properties such as tractable (approximate) marginal likelihoods and asymptotic consistency for model selection and parameter estimation under specific values of the hyper parameters. While the g-prior is invariant under rotation within a model, a potential problem with the g-prior is that it inherits the instability of ordinary least squares (OLS) estimates when predictors are highly correlated. We build a hierarchical prior based on scale mixtures of independent normals, which incorporates invariance under rotations within models like ridge regression and the g-prior, but has heavy tails like the Zeller-Siow Cauchy prior. We find this method out-performs the gold standard mixture of g-priors and other methods in the case of highly correlated predictors in Gaussian linear models. We incorporate a non-parametric structure, the Dirichlet Process (DP) as a hyper prior, to allow more exibility and adaptivity to the data.
|
0.999986 |
FILL in the blank: Corrupt dictator plus ill-gotten gains equals----------.
Well, historically, one answer would have been: Swiss bank account.
But over the past few years Switzerland, with its 350 banks managing $2.3 trillion in private investments, has been trying to persuade outsiders that the days of shady dealings with suitcases of cash and numbered accounts are over.
Recently, Transparency International, a Berlin-based anticorruption advocacy group, produced a tally of riches accumulated by the world's most notorious kleptocrats. So the question now is, Where can a bad guy stash the national loot these days?
''The global system just isn't up to the challenge,'' he added.
There is, of course, something faintly slapstick about a furtive envoy hefting a suitcase of cash through the portals of a Swiss bank. But, increasingly, the reality is deadly earnest. Terrorists, drug dealers, gun runners and political leaders siphoning the patrimony of hungry citizens all need havens for sums of cash. At stake is the very fabric of societies preyed on by plunderers.
In Angola alone, for example, Global Witness said in a recent report that $1 billion -- a quarter of the state's annual income -- has ''gone unaccounted for'' each year since 1996, while one million people live on food handouts from outside donors.
A Swiss report in 2000 said some $550 million in deposits linked to former President Sani Abacha of Nigeria had been frozen in Swiss accounts. Transparency International's list of the planet's corrupt included politicians from Indonesia's former president, Suharto ($15 billion to $35 billion in allegedly embezzled funds) to former President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, now Congo ($5 billion).
Such details are coming to light even as the number of sanctuaries for funds is in theory shrinking, particularly since the war on terrorism began to impose greater pressures on financial institutions.
According to a report in March from the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering, which is supported by 32 countries, only seven jurisdictions -- the Cook Islands, Guatemala, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nigeria and the Philippines -- now qualify as ''non-cooperative'' in international efforts to block the flow of illicit funds.
Not surprisingly, Switzerland has no wish to be associated with this list of shame, and its bankers say they have been tightening their controls since 1977.
That does not alter the fact that Switzerland's bank secrecy laws, dating to 1934, impose far fewer obligations to report customers' affairs than laws elsewhere.
Of course, there has always been something of a paradox about the great Swiss banks whose offices line the Bahnhofstrasse here. On one hand this is a land of chocolate-box landscapes and precision timepieces, its currency solid and the reputation of its money managers beyond question. That, perhaps, is why the Swiss Bankers Association, an industry group in Basel, can boast that the $2.3 trillion in assets managed from Switzerland make up one-quarter of the world's private investment portfolios. Some 56 percent of those assets belong to foreign clients, according to industry figures.
BUT there is a counterimage that resurfaced in the 1990's, when Swiss banks were discovered to have denied survivors access to funds deposited by Holocaust victims. The Swiss National Bank, moreover, was obliged to acknowledge that it had accepted deposits of Nazi gold during World War II.
More than anything, the disclosures undermined Swiss respectability and persuaded the bankers that their image needed a makeover to protect an industry that employs 110,000 people and accounts for 11 percent of the country's economic output.
''There's no doubt that the whole thing was very bruising,'' said James Nason, a spokesman for the Swiss Bankers Association, who added in a telephone interview that in fact, the last thing Switzerland needed was illicit money tainting the reputation of its financial services.
Indeed, as the enforcement of regulations on illicit money has tightened, Swiss banks have become more cooperative with investigators, he said. Since Sept. 11, 2001, for example, Swiss authorities have frozen $26 million in 82 accounts said to be linked to Al Qaeda or the Taliban, Mr. Nason said.
But there is a perverse flip side to this greater scrutiny. Dictators like Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe or Equatorial Guinea's Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasago are hardly likely to be encouraged to step down by the thought of a forensic inquiry into their bank accounts by their successors.
|
0.999425 |
Moving to a new country requires effective planning and organization. Here are six moving tips that you should complete prior to your international move.
Organize: The best way to save space is to pack related items together. For electronics, pack all related equipment (cords, chargers) in one bag. Get rid of excess cords that you will not need. For important paperwork, designate a folder. Making a checklist that you can access from any device is helpful for keeping yourself on track.
Sell, Store or Ship:Moving is a perfect excuse to go through belongings. If an item has not been used or worn within a year, it’s time to say goodbye. Filtering through belongings frees up space and declutters.
Paperwork:Moving to another country requires a significant amount of documentation. Be sure to fill out all necessary paperwork and make copies well in advance of your move. Get in touch with family members and friends to inform them of your new address and contact your local post office to redirect your mail to your new address. For voting, check international voting regulations here.
Shipping vs. Storage:Large items such as furniture or cars are very expensive to move internationally. Calculate carefully to determine if it makes sense to transport these larger items or to purchase new ones upon arrival at your new home.
Medical: It takes a considerable amount of time to receive health care in a different country. Before moving, schedule a checkup. Proof of vaccinations will more than likely be required for children in any country so make sure that you have a copy of all vaccination records.
Finances:If possible, meet with an accountant prior to moving. There are several questions you should go over with them. Will you become a non-resident for tax purposes? In which country will you be required to pay taxes? What can you do to reduce your taxes? How can you make sure that you do not get double-taxed? Secure access to your finances upon arrival in the new country.
Following these steps will help your international move go smoothly.
|
0.999978 |
how to improve my chess ive been playing chess for 3 years now and i do not feel that i have gotten any better over the past year or so. i do not read books or analyze my games because i do not understand them. i dont understand positioning well or the concepts around controlling the center of the board and these types of things. are there any sites or books to read that would help me out.
For books Start with strategy books. If you don't have good control of the centre If you make a king or queen side attack you may be destroyed on the counter-attack.
You should aim to have control of the centre before trying anything like a pawn storm. This can be done by having well protected pawns in the centre or by blocking there pawns with yours.
I just go to the library and get books, there are some good ones and some bad ones.
You have a good rating, and from that i can reccommend a few books which will help you immensly if you work through them properly.
How to Reassess Your Chess: The Complete Chess-Mastery Course By Jeremy Silman.
A wonderful book, which will teach you how to disect positions in to imbalances which you can work with. A MUST have for the aspiring player. From my own experience, after reading through this book, i gained 400 points in my rating.
A first of a series designed to take the begginer into a expert player with close study of this book. A very good book, which slowly guides the reader through different concepts of chess, and then ending them with tests. Apparantly this was the "secret" method used by the Soviet schools of chess. I think there is no secret in here, but just a exellent chess book.
for a beginning player, you need to learn tactics, and sharpen your skills in that area. Strategy will not make you a better player unless you study tactics first. Two good books for learning tactics are 1001 winning chess sacrifices and combinations and 1001 brilliant wayst to Checkmate.
I thought Strategy and tactics went together??
Yes they do, tactics and combinations found in books are the fruits of good strategy and positional play. Indeed Tactics should be learnt first, and the various themes involved. Basic tactics should be mastered, before going on to positional aspects of the game.
|
0.999629 |
Here are a few restaurants around the United States focused on farm-to-table foods. What is farm-to-table? Well it can be confusing, but the simplest definition is restaurants that buy foods directly from a farm/farmer.
Opinion of the Good Food Movement: Owner Jonathon Sawyer is an active supporter of local agriculture and sustainable businesses in Northeastern Ohio and across the country.
Interesting fact about how the restaurant contributes to environmental health, sustainability, and the food system: Dedicated to replenishing the “rust belt” in addition to serving delicious food, The Greenhouse Tavern supports small-scale and local food producers.
Opinion of the Good Food Movement: Owner Cherie Montoya believes the best food is fresh, locally sourced, sustainably produced, and grown without herbicides or pesticides.
Interesting fact about how the restaurant contributes to environmental health, sustainability, and the food system: Farm & Table operates their own farm in addition to maintaining a network of more than sixty local food producers. This not only provides local and chemical-free food for customers but also promotes the local economy and community growth.
Percentage of locally sourced food: Farmhouse Chicago is currently hitting a solid 80 percent locally sourced produce and protein level while maintaining a respectable cost of goods through waste mitigation and proper portioning. The restaurant is proving that the model works, and that it can be done while remaining financially viable.
Interesting fact about how the restaurant contributes to environmental health, sustainability, and the food system: Farmhouse is one of many restaurants that have implemented the farm-to-table model. Their farm provides Farmhouse with a variety of seasonal vegetables and fruits. Brown Dog Farm also nurtures the environment, setting aside forty acres as plain grassland in order to restore the native prairie and protect the local wildlife.
Own farm: Primo runs its own 4-acre sustainable farm in addition to working with other local farms.
Percentage of locally sourced food: At peak season, up to 80 percent of produce is sourced from Primo’s own sustainable farm. The rest is sourced from other farms in the area.
Opinion of the Good Food Movement: Primo’s unique dining experience rests on the belief that the best food is fresh and seasonal. Thus, all produce is harvested without artificial chemicals.
Interesting fact about how the restaurant contributes to environmental health, sustainability, and the food system: Primo works to foster a healthy community through sustainable and ethical methods of food production. All produce is locally sourced and grown without chemicals or pesticides, which creates top-quality dishes in addition to supporting the local economy and the environment.
Best known dishes: Two-hour Salad for which produce is picked only two hours before serving.
Own farm: Executive Chef Brian Scheehser owns an 18-acre farm, which grows fruits and vegetables for Trellis.
Percentage of locally sourced food: Ninety-five percent of produce used at Trellis is grown locally.
Opinion of the Good Food Movement: Trellis is dedicated to serving fresh, seasonal, and sustainably produced dishes. This supports the local economy and the environment in addition to allowing the natural flavor of the produce to shine. Executive Chef Brian Scheehser is also a member of the Slow Food movement.
Interesting fact about how the restaurant contributes to environmental health, sustainability, and the food system: Trellis supports sustainable and small scale farmers: at least 95 percent of items on the menu are locally grown, while the rest is supplied by nearby farms.
|
0.79779 |
George Edward Reffell was born on 27 June 1893 at 109 Fulham Road Chelsea, and was baptised at the church of St Luke Chelsea. He was the eldest son of Edward Reffell (1851-1909) & Emily Louisa Fenlon (1866-1916), and a grandson of Henry Hatch Reffell. He preferred to be known as Edward, rarely using his first name of George.
In 1913 Edward was working for S Pearson & Sons in Algeria, but with their permission a few days after Christmas 1915 Edward enlisted into the army as a private in the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps. He was promoted to a corporal and then appointed to a commission on 1 February 1917 in the Royal Flying Corps (formed in May 1912 and amalgamated with the Royal Naval Squadron in April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force). He was stated on his service record to be a fluent speaker in French, German and Egyptian Arabic. He was initially sent to Denham for a month, then on to Uxford for three months and then to Egypt. Unfortunately he was injured on 15 November 1917 and invalided back to England the following year. He relinquished his commission on 11 January 1919 and was allowed to retain his rank of Lieutenant. He was awarded the Victory Medal & the British War Medal. The photograph on the right is of George Edward in his RFC uniform, however the location is unknown at present.
On 18 June 1917 he arrived in Egypt and in the photograph on the left, he is sitting in the pilots seat of a BE2c aircraft in that country. This aircraft was registered as A3065 and had arrived at the 20th Training Wing, 14 Squadron in the September of that year. The BE2c was a major redevelopment of the BE2a (Bleriot Experimental) from 1912. The first BE2c appeared at the Western Front at the beginning of 1915 being tasked with reconnaissance, artillery spotting, and light bombing. However two seat aircraft with an observer in the front cockpit and a pilot in the rear one had quickly became outdated, and the BE2c remained in the front line for only for a short time. It was very short on engine power and was already obsolete when the photograph was taken. This machine only lasted until the June of the following year. The BE2c found a new role in training, but this was also short lived and at the end of the war only a few machines of the type remained from more than 2,600 produced. 14 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps was formed on 3 February 1915 at Shoreham with Royal Aircraft Factory BE2s and departed for the Middle East in November of that same year for Army co-operation duties. In November 1917 the squadron was equipped with Royal Aircraft factory RE8s to perform reconnaissance duties, but was recalled to the UK in January 1919 and disbanded the following month. Today, 14 Squadron fly Panavia Tornado GR4s from Lossiemouth.
On 29 June 1925, George Edward Reffell married Dorothy Vernon McMartin in Winnipeg Canada. In turn she was always known as Vernon and had been born in Duluth Minnesota in August 1894 to parents William James McMartin and Maud Richardson. The family arrived in Canada during 1904 and the following year William McMartin started a modest company called 'The Winnipeg Ceiling and Roofing Company'. This is today a global concern called Westeel. Her brother Robert Bruce McMartin had served in the 76th Battery, Canadian Field Artillery during the First World War.
Edward's business career in America was enhanced when on 16 January 1939 he became a vice president with RE Swart & Co of 40 Exchange Place in New York. He then joined GA Saxton Co Inc also of New York in 1947 and worked there until he died. Both companies were in the investment securities business. Edward was a very keen photographer and had a huge collection of photographs taken from all around the world. He also owned an island in the Thousand Islands area between northern New York state and Canada called 'Little Ironsides', and to get to it used a rather now-famous boat now called 'Pouff' the winner of the Thousand Islands 2003 Renaissance Cup Award, by in then was called 'Clue'. The island had no electricity, so lanterns were used, and there was a propane tank that could provide fuel for the refrigerator, heater and water pump. On land they had a light grey 1937 Plymouth Coupe to get around in.
Vernon died in March 1953 and was buried on the 11th of that month at St Mary's Cemetery Yonkers. On the 1st of October of the following year, Edward died at the White Plains Hospital in New York. They had lived at the Scarsdale Manor Apartments in Scarsdale, New York for about twenty years. The funeral started from the Walter B. Cook Inc. Funeral Home at 180 East 85th Street at 10:30 am, and there was a Requiem Mass in the St Ignatius Loyola Church at 11:00 am. Edward was later buried next to his wife of nearly thirty years. It was suggested that in lieu of any flowers, contributions could be sent to the Jesuit Seminary Fund in the care of Rev John Long of SJ Scranton University.
It was reported by the newspapers at the time that he was survived by his brother Frank Alexander and sister Gertrude Emily Mary in England, and Doris Gwendoline (Robinson) in New Zealand. There were no children.
The photographs are by courtesy of Eddie Reffell, and the Canadian and USA information has been kindly provided by the courtesy of Rich Cronin in Wenatchee, Anne Vogt in Montreal and Eileen Hupal in New York. Other information is from service records in the National Archives.
|
0.999778 |
Mother Nature uses a “fail-safe system” to prevent inappropriate activation of the immune system. Provide several examples of this strategy.
Read through the following scenario, then answer the questions below: A 2-year old boy presents with high fever and very swollen lymph nodes in the neck. The pediatrician orders a series of viral titers to measure exposure to 3 viruses. Below are the results of IgM and IgG antibody titers.
Which virus is this boy currently infected by? Why?
Which virus has this boy been infected by in the past? Why?
Which virus has the boy never been exposed to? Why?
|
0.923317 |
What you would need to do is to install a third party app for interacting with the storage of the device and a video player to play the files downloaded on the iPad.... What you would need to do is to install a third party app for interacting with the storage of the device and a video player to play the files downloaded on the iPad.
What you would need to do is to install a third party app for interacting with the storage of the device and a video player to play the files downloaded on the iPad.... Launch iTunes on your Mac or PC and go to your music library. The first thing you'll want to do is preview a song to identify the part you want to use as a ringtone. Perhaps the easiest way to do this is to listen to a track and identify a section which would make a good audio loop.
What you would need to do is to install a third party app for interacting with the storage of the device and a video player to play the files downloaded on the iPad. how to cook vienna sausage in microwave What you would need to do is to install a third party app for interacting with the storage of the device and a video player to play the files downloaded on the iPad.
Launch iTunes on your Mac or PC and go to your music library. The first thing you'll want to do is preview a song to identify the part you want to use as a ringtone. Perhaps the easiest way to do this is to listen to a track and identify a section which would make a good audio loop.
|
0.99256 |
Dumbarton Kilwinning Lodge No. 18, constituted in 1726, celebrated its 275th anniversary in 2001 and has, not before time, published its history. It covers the Lodge's foundation and connection with Kilwinning, together with important and memorable events both within the Lodge and the town of Dumbarton. The history contains many references to local buildings, churches, ministers and families, all of which are certain to be of particular interest to anyone with even a distant connection with Dumbarton.
In 1617, Archbishop Spottiswoode of St Andrews, commendator of Kilwinning Abbey resigned the Parish Church of Dumbarton together with the patronage and manse, in order that it might be conveyed to the Town Council.
Mr Edward McGhie in his book Dumbarton Parish Church in History states 'indeed and rather inexplicably, the Burgh records show payments still being made to the treasurer of the abbacy of Kilwinning, years after the Reformation.' Why was the Town Council treasurer paying monies on a regular basis to the treasurer of the abbacy of Kilwinning? The abbey was destroyed at the Reformation. Did these quarterly 'dues' to Kilwinning coincide with Lodge quarterly meetings?
The second minute 25 March 1726 and records 'the said day that Brother Gabriel Porterfield, by unanimous consent of the masters, was admitted and received as a master of the fraternity, who renewed his oath and gave in the entry money in terms of the constitution. This is the earliest record in Scotland (and the world) of the raising of a master mason. This unique minute is reproduced in the Lodge history.
A minute, dated 25 April 1779, records the decision of the brethren to flit the Lodge from the house of George McFarlane (a vintner) to the upper storey of the house of Thomas Phillips in the Cross Vennel, an offer being made by him of that flat for the yearly rent of £2 Sterling. George McFarlane was lessee of the Town's Arms Inn (later the Elephant Hotel) from 1776 to 1798 and a subscriber to Robert Burns' Edinburgh Edition.
The 25th June was fixed for the removal, and the brethren were ordered to meet at 4 o'clock in the afternoon in their proper clothing to process from the one house to the other. The house of Brother Phillips stood in Upper College Street, opposite to Risk Street, and was demolished when it passed into the hands of the later Lord Overtoun. This house was later raided by a company of excisemen led by William Corbet - a friend of Robert Burns. A full account of the raid is given in the Lodge's history.
From 26 March 1787 to 29 November of the same year, we have no record of the Lodge's proceedings. Frequently the brethren held meetings and took no record. In June there should have been a quarterly meeting, but Robert Burns' presence in town that week, involving some of the members, possibly could account for the absence of any minute. The quarterly June meetings of 1786 and 1788 are recorded in the minute book. Either June 1787 meeting did not take place or someone omitted to write the minute. The list of members shows two admissions at the January 1787 meeting and none in the June.
From the early history of the Lodge one can picture the brethren eagerly collecting 'the dues' in very small sums so as to accumulate such sums for loan or grants to impoverished brethren, widows and orphans. The discipline of the Lodge was rigorously maintained with brethren being 'fined' for non-attendance.
The original principles were never forgotten: making due allowance for the poverty of time.
The early minutes record greater importance on finance rather than the formality of ritual work.
Attendees were marked as having paid, or not, their fees: no separate sederunt. Payments from the box for charitable purposes were paramount.
The basic principle was like a simple Department of Health and Social Security/Benefits Agency operation.
At this time the Lodge met in the Elephant Hotel, which was located between Glencaim House and Quay Street. It opened in 1762 and had stables at the rear.
In 1807 the adjoining property was acquired and the hotel extended to the Quay Street corner. The last meeting in the Lodge room of the Elephant Hotel was held on 23 December 1872 when they moved to the Mission Hall in Church Street during January 1873. The Elephant Hotel was demolished in 1935. In February 1892 the Lodge bought for £200, from the trustees of the late R D Buchanan Esquire, laird of Auchentorlie, the building and ground known as the Infant School, one of several school houses which he had built. To make it suitable for the requirements of the Lodge, a further sum of over 400 pounds was expended. The Lodge and the Royal Arch Chapter flitted from the Mission Hall, Church Street to the new premises in Risk Street in January 1893. The Mission Hall had never been an ideal meeting place as the premises were shared with other organisations. Occasionally meetings were cancelled due to 'double bookings'. The Risk Street temple was behind a hall used by the Dumbarton Artillery Volunteers as a drill hall, and adjacent to a school which became the YMCA halls and then the Blackburn Aircraft Social Club. By 1920 the premises were becoming inadequate due to the increase in numbers and repairs required to the roof. Consequently a building committee was appointed and a Building Fund started. The committee considered various alternatives and thirteen different options were reviewed. These included properties and ground in High Street, Strathleven Place, College Park Street and Caledonian Railway property in the Glasgow Road. Other options were the YWCA Hostel in College Street, the adjacent YMCA building in Risk Street and the Artillery Drill Hall.
Ultimately in February 1921, it was decided and agreed to purchase from Mrs Killea the Muse House and grounds of College Street, with first option on the Muse Cottage adjoining, for £1900.
On 15 August 1931 the brethren assembled for the last time in Risk Street hall to march to the new premises in College Street. Tragically the Master, Brother John Gourlay collapsed and died of a heart attack in the old hall. The arrangements were naturally abandoned and the purvey distributed to local hospitals. The first meeting held in College Street was an emergency, the following Tuesday (the 18th) with Brother Thomas Bell IPM in the chair. A deputation from Provincial Grand Lodge headed by Brother Rev T Angus Morrison, Provincial Grand Master conducted a funeral service for Brother John Gourlay. The consecration ceremony was postponed until 4 September 1931.
During the second half of the sixties, the Lodge's primary concern was the redevelopment of the town centre and the impending demolition of the temple in College Street. There are many references to letters from the Town Clerk's office, the appointment of legal advisers and others co-opted to the property committee. At a meeting in April 1969 the architects had finalised plans for the proposed new premises with assistance from Brother John Gillies, and these were approved. The anticipated completion date of the new premises was constantly being revised. Likewise, the date of demolition of College Street was repeatedly delayed until ultimately it was fixed for the end of June 1972. The contract for the construction of the new premises was signed in October 1971 on the recommendation of Brother J N Humble, the Lodge's solicitor. The first meeting convened in the new premises in Church Street was a property committee meeting on 7 May 1973 with an apology from the architects. On Saturday 26 May 1973 the ceremony of laying the foundation stone and erection and consecration of the new Masonic Temple, Church Street, Dumbarton was conducted by Brother Newton M Stewart, Depute Provincial Grand Master.
In 1997, the Master and Wardens persuaded me to write the history of the Lodge and then with quite remarkable qualities of delegation, left me to carry on with the task! However, since the publication in December 1998 of The History of Dumbarton Kilwinning Lodge No. 18, four significant things happened.
1 Dumbarton Kilwinning Lodge No. 18 celebrated its 275th anniversary on 20th January 2001.
2 The Very Reverend John B Cairns LTh, LLB., former minister of Dumbarton Riverside Parish Church and Past Moderator of the Church of Scotland asked me to produce a leaflet with a description of the church building and graveyard for the benefit of visitors.
3 The ruined parish church of Cardross in Levengrove Park, Dumbarton was listed as a national monument following evidence of the royal burial.
4 The Master Ian Burch suggested I prepare an inventory of the entire contents of the Lodge.
The inventory revealed a letter from eleven founder members of Bonhill St Andrew's Lodge petitioning support from Dumbarton Kilwinning Lodge No. 18 for a charter to erect a new lodge on the east bank of the River Leven. This letter was presented by the Master Ian Burch, to the Master John McDonald of Bonhill and Alexandria No. 321 at their 175th Anniversary Celebrations held on Saturday 3rd February 2001. The inventory also unearthed a certificate confirming the working of a Royal Arch Degree being conferred a brother from Lodge Leven St John by Dumbarton Kilwinning Lodge No. 18 or No. 20, as it was then. This certificate is dated 19th February 1803. Therefore, this year, 2003 will commemorate 200 years of Royal Arch Masonry in Dumbarton.
Consequently, certain things came to light, which are relevant to the history of Dumbarton Kilwinning Lodge No. 18. For the sake of completeness, I considered it sufficiently important to record these in writing, with a view to publication as a sequel to the original History of Dumbarton Kilwinning Lodge No. 18. That volume was based on a chronological account of the Lodge's minutes. Volume II is entirely different, focusing and expanding on specific items, people and events. For example, the associations with the parish church, the inventory, laying of the foundation stones, the links with King Robert the Bruce and the 275th anniversary. It also includes a section on the roll book, lists of wardens, secretaries, treasurers, the Lodge hymn and a copy of the 200 year old certificate mentioned above.
Volume II was issued in 2003 and is available from the lodge.
|
0.999999 |
Amphibians face an extinction crisis. Hundreds of species may be lost as conservation scientists and practitioners struggle to identify remedies to poorly understood declines spanning several decades. Due to various life history characteristics and a range of drivers, amphibians continue to be especially hard-hit, more so than any other vertebrate group. In this special issue of Conservation Evidence, studies that report the effectiveness of amphibian conservation interventions are presented to add to the rapidly growing body of literature on this topic. We here summarise the current understanding of global amphibian declines to highlight the importance of applying evidence-based strategies to amphibian conservation.
Crawfish frogs Lithobates areolatus inhabit the tallgrass prairie of the southeastern Great Plains and Mississippi Delta, and have recently been considered for US federal listing under the Endangered Species Act. Here we attempt to determine the feasibility of head-starting crawfish frog tadpoles, and establish captive-rearing protocols. Captive-rearing produced more juveniles from fewer egg masses than a natural wetland in each year from 2013–2015, and survivorship of captive-reared tadpoles exceeded that of wild tadpoles. However, high rates of malformations, partial cannibalism, disease, and predation were seen among frogs in some years, and we therefore refined protocols to reduce these issues.
Does legal site protection lead to improved conservation of ponds with fire-bellied toads Bombina bombina in Denmark?
In Denmark, nature conservation in the middle of the twentieth century mainly involved protecting areas by legal declarations forbidding the destruction or degradation of the protected area. During the period 1946 to 1969, 22 sites with fire-bellied toads Bombina bombina were protected as single ponds, and 40 ponds with Bombina were protected as a part of larger protected landscapes. We evaluate the survival of Bombina populations in these protected ponds compared to 51 control ponds where Bombina was recorded in 1940-1955, but which were not protected. In all cases, survival of Bombina was low, and although protection may have delayed extinction, there is no clear evidence that it prevented extinction. There was a trend for better outcomes in the larger protected landscapes, but this may have been due to other causes, such as more cattle grazing. It is concluded that passive protection (legal protection without active management) is not effective, whereas the type of active approach that has been used increasingly since 1982 is more promising.
We monitored 100 artificial nests of four different designs to examine the occupancy and breeding success of predatory birds in nest site limited, steppe habitat of central Mongolia. Three species, upland buzzard Buteo hemilasius, common raven Corvus corax and saker falcon Falco cherrug occupied artificial nests in all years and their number increased over the five-year study period, when the number of breeding predatory birds rose from 0 to 64 pairs in our 324 km2 study area. The number of breeding pairs of saker falcons increased at a faster rate than ravens, reflecting their social dominance. Saker falcons and common ravens preferred to breed inside closed-box artificial nests with a roof, whereas upland buzzards preferred open-top nests. For saker falcons nest survival was higher in closed nests than open nests but there was no significant difference in laying date, clutch size and brood size in relation to nest design. This study demonstrates that whilst nest boxes can increase breeding populations in nest site limited habitats, nest design may also influence occupancy rates and breeding productivity of the species utilizing them. Careful consideration is needed in designing nests to maximize occupancy rates and productivity.
Translocation of great crested newt eggs was undertaken for nature conservation purposes, with the aim of establishing a new population in a currently unoccupied part of their natural range in UK. Research prior to undertaking the translocation established that suitable habitat existed at the receptor site and no great crested newts were present at the time. Approximately 600 eggs were carefully introduced to the receptor pond from a donor pond each spring for three years. Five years after the initial translocation, a population appeared to be established, with breeding recorded in the receptor pond and two adjacent ponds. The methodology may have implications for population translocations undertaken for mitigation purposes under licence in UK, as currently the focus is on welfare and translocation of terrestrial juveniles and adults rather than eggs and larvae. Results reported here indicate that to increase likelihood of success when attempting to translocate populations of great crested newt, an emphasis on translocation of eggs as well as adults in terrestrial phase would be prudent.
Crassula helmsii (Australian swamp stonecrop or New Zealand pygmyweed) was first recorded growing on Mile Cross Marsh in Norwich, Norfolk, UK before 2003. Previous management undertaken to prevent the spread of this plant across the site had been unsuccessful. A three-phase project was undertaken in 2012 to control C. helmsii on Mile Cross Marsh. The aim was to eradicate C. helmsii from two infected ponds and reduce the risk of plants spreading through the boundary onto Sweetbriar Marsh Site of Special Scientific Interest. The control programme included herbicide application and in situ burial due to the high level of pond infestation. The project successfully achieved its aim of eradicating C. helmsii from the infected ponds and preventing the further spread of C. helmsii on Mile Cross Marsh. However additional work will be required to fully eradicate the plant from the site.
The critically endangered hooded grebe Podiceps gallardoi has suffered a population reduction of 80% in the last 25 years. Although climatic conditions are suggested to be important causes of this decline, invasive species are also having a large impact. Hooded grebes have the lowest recruitment rate within the Podicepodiformes, but this is usually compensated by high adult survival. Considering these life history traits and threats, we designed the ‘colony guardian programme’, which aimed to protect nesting grebes by reducing the negative impacts of American mink and kelp gull on breeding colonies of grebes in central-western Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. Over five breeding seasons between 2011 and 2015, 10 colonies were protected using a total of 755 fieldwork days. Colonies guarded throughout the breeding season had higher recruitment (0.64 juveniles/breeding pair) than colonies with little or no protection (0.39 juveniles/breeding pair).
The black-vented shearwater Puffinus opisthomelas is endemic to Mexico and is currently listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN Red List. Ninety-five percent of the world population of the species breeds on a single island in Mexico, Isla Natividad. In 2014 a metal fence was placed on the perimeter of the island landfill site to prevent wind-blown garbage dispersal. The fence was close to the black-vented shearwater colony and we found 116 shearwater carcasses during our first survey in the area. Using thermal cameras, we assessed the harm caused by the fence to the bird population as between six and seven birds/night. After discussion with local stakeholders the fence was removed in April 2016. Since then no more carcasses of black-vented shearwaters were found in the area. These results demonstrate that such structures can have dramatic effects on the survival of nocturnal seabirds and should be avoided, particularly in the vicinity of colonies. This was an example of positive collaboration with the local community and the application of research results to reserve management.
Beach evening primrose Oenothera drummondii is a perennial plant native to the southern USA and adjacent parts of Mexico that invades coastal habitats in several countries. There are currently no accepted control methods. We conducted a seven-month controlled field trial using the glyphosate herbicide Roundup® Ultra Plus in the Odiel Marsh Nature Reserve, Huelva Province, southern Spain. Different herbicide concentrations were tested by knapsack spraying. We estimated the costs of treating an entire invaded nature reserve in southern Spain where O. drummondii has invaded 123 ha of land. A dose of 20 g active ingredient/litre was the minimum effective dose for this species in coastal dunes. As new seedlings appeared after a single herbicide treatment, periodic treatments would be necessary to maintain the population level below an impact threshold. However, the total glyphosate input (710 kg active ingredient/year) to the Reserve for an indefinite period may give rise to social rejection, and demands for the assessment of ecotoxicological impact on native fauna, adjacent habitats and site uses before initiating control actions at full scale. The control costs of the entire 123 ha invaded area for two herbicide applications/year were estimated at €162,000/year (€1,317/ha/year). This includes materials (30% of total costs) and workers (70% of total costs). The study highlights the difficulties and constraints of controlling advanced stages of invasions.
|
0.999774 |
What is the Law Regarding Employment in Phoenix?
Employment law refers to the body of laws in Phoenix that govern employees, employers, and independent contractors. These laws cover issues in employment such as hiring, workplace disputes, and terminations A basic understanding of Phoenix employment laws is required for both the employee and their employer.
Sometimes an employment contract is used that sets a specific length of employment, but most of the times employment is considered to be on an "at-will" basis. "At-will" employment means that either the employer or the employee can terminate the position at any given time, even without a specific reason, so long as the termination does not violate the law Federal and state laws govern the enforcement of employment clauses provisions for citizens of Phoenix.
Discrimination is illegal at any time of employment such as hiring policies, wage distribution, and terminations, according to laws which apply to residents of Phoenix. Phoenix residents must follow laws which prohibit employer discrimination against members of various classes. These classes include age, gender, race, religion, disability, and national origin.
|
0.991562 |
Described as the ‘Age of Reason' (see Literary Context > The Age of Reason), the eighteenth century saw a movement away from an understanding of truth as something which was revealed by God and, therefore, independent of human reason. Instead, truth could be found through observation of the world and by the use of human reason. Accordingly, laws were to be judged valid because they met human requirements of reasonableness, rather than because they were based on divine commands encountered in the Bible.
This means that knowledge of the world issues from observation and analysis.
Locke's thought was seen as laying foundations for the scientific thinking of such men as Robert Boyle and Isaac Newton.
Understanding can only be achieved by employing the creative power of the imagination, since this enables people to see, as it were, through the eyes of the creative imagination responsible for the world (i.e. God).
For this reason, Blake also vehemently opposed the scientific method he saw as being embodied in Isaac Newton's work, which he believed, produced a model of the world as a mechanism to be analysed, measured and regulated.
Blake's views put him in alignment with the European Romantics, as well as with the views of other Dissenters (see Blake's religious world > Beliefs of Dissenters).
Revealed religion refers to the idea that God makes himself known to human beings who could not know him in any other way.
Natural religion is the belief that people can arrive at knowledge of God by using their reason and drawing inferences from their experience and observation of the world.
Deists believed that reason required the existence of a creator but did not require his continued involvement with his creation.
So, too, the universe runs according to its own laws and has no further need of its creator.
There is no need for a God who engages with human beings and intervenes in his creation.
He rejected Christian writers such as William Paley, who attempted to establish the existence of God from rational arguments which considered the natural world as a complex mechanism.
For Blake, the deist approach rendered the world dead, barren and devoid of the active presence of creative divine power (in which creative power human beings participated when they employed their own imagination).
These laws, however, are man-made and imprison the human spirit.
For Blake, true fulfilment comes from being transformed through the development of the imagination and thus participating in divine life.
A person who believes in the existence of a god who created the universe and continues to interact with it, intervening in certain situations.
The belief that people can arrive at knowledge of God by using their reason and drawing inferences from their experience and observation of the world.
The belief that there is a supreme being who created the universe but who is no longer involved with it and does not intervene in its out-workings.
|
0.992223 |
Many mums wonder why they are having trouble breastfeeding their newborn babies. In order to understand the problem, we need to talk about normal anatomy and physiology first.
The normal breastfeeding motion is best achieved when the baby can widely open the mouth. This wide opening is best achieved when the baby is able to flange the upper lip outwards allowing the mucous membrane portion of the lip (Rather than the dry outer portion) to contact the breast. This allows for a better seal, which is the first step in generating the negative pressure for breastfeeding.
When a thick upper lip tie tethers the lip downwards, the flanging motion is impeded. This results in a smaller mouth opening and forces the baby to adopt a shallower position on the breast leading to a number of problems.
Tongue ties can also affect the babies’ ability to breastfeed normally. A tongue tie occurs when there is a piece pf tissue (called a frenum) between the tongue and the bottom of the mouth. When this piece of tissue restricts tongue movement it can interfere with breastfeeding and bottle feeding and can later cause trouble with eating or saying some letters of the alphabet.
The biggest problems that many mums face is the baby will usually loose interest in breastfeeding which is very concerning and heartbreaking.
|
0.947208 |
Is it possible for a tennis ball that is "heavy" with topspin--like those hit by Rafael Nadal--to increase its forward velocity after it hits the ground?
Howard Brody, emeritus professor of physics at the University of Pennsylvania, serves up an answer to this question.
Tennis can be played on almost any surface that can be made smooth enough to provide a consistent bounce of the ball: from acrylic to clay to grass. The interaction of a tennis ball and the surface of a tennis court during the five milliseconds that the two are in contact determines the character of the game for each of the different surfaces. On some surfaces, such as grass, the ball does not bounce very high; on others, like clay, it slows down a great deal after impacting the court. Yet the same laws of physics govern the resulting speed, spin and angle for each type of surface.
There are two dominant forces that act on the ball during those five milliseconds: the normal force (in the vertical direction) and the friction force, which is parallel to the surface. For the bounce of a typical ground stroke—a forehand or backhand shot—the ball impacts the surface at a small angle (about 15 degrees relative to the surface). If the ball could be treated as a point mass—so that it has no real size—then the analysis of the bounce would be straightforward. The ball, however, has properties such as a radius, a moment of inertia, spin, and energy loss when compressed by impact, in addition to mass and friction. The normal force of the surface on the ball is always upward, slowing the ball's downward velocity and propelling it skyward. The friction force is usually backward, reducing the horizontal component of the ball's forward velocity.
Friction may act differently, though, if the ball has excessive topspin, or forward rotation of the ball. In that case, the friction force on the ball is in the same direction as the horizontal component of the ball's velocity. Thus, the ball will have a greater horizontal velocity after the bounce than before the bounce.
When a ball is spinning at a rate of F revolutions per second, the outside of the ball has a tangential velocity Vt = 2πRF, where R is the radius of the ball. Let us assume the center of the ball is moving in the horizontal direction at Vcm. If the ball has backspin, or underspin, in which the bottom of the ball is moving forward, the bottom of the ball will be moving at Vcm + Vt, in the same direction as the ball is moving. The friction force between the ball and the court surface will be opposite to this, slowing the ball down.
For a ball with topspin, which is the reverse of underspin, the bottom of the ball will be moving at Vcm - Vt. If Vt is greater than Vcm, the bottom of the ball will be moving backward relative to the court surface. This would mean that the friction force between the ball and surface would be forward, which would actually make the ball go faster after the bounce. Therefore, if the topspin is large enough so that 2πRF is greater than Vcm, the horizontal component of the ball's velocity will increase after the bounce.
How fast must the ball be spinning for 2πRF to be greater than Vcm?
For a typical ground stroke with a horizontal velocity of 25 meters per second, a ball of radius 0.033 meter will have to be spinning at greater than 120 revolutions per second.
|
0.996873 |
The hot dog vendor fixes a hot dog and hands it to the Zen master, who pays with a $20 bill.? The hot dog vendor puts the bill in the cash drawer and closes the drawer. "Where's my change?" asks the Zen master.
|
0.998234 |
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Financial, Acronyms.
7th letter of the alphabet. It is a usual symbol for a voiced velar stop, as in the English go. It was originally a differentiated form of Greek gamma, which has C as its formal Roman correspondent. In musical notation G represents a note on the scale.
[Lat.,=charcoal], nonmetallic chemical element; symbol C; at. no. 6; interval in which at. wt. ranges 12.0096–12.0116; m.p. about 3,550°C;; graphite sublimes about 3,375°C;; b.p. 4,827°C;; sp. gr. 1.8–2.1 (amorphous), 1.9–2.3 (graphite), 3.
..... Click the link for more information. . The capital letter is the Roman numeral for 100.
A programming language designed to implement the Unix operating system.
1. On drawings, abbr. for course.
A classification applied to fire doors, fire windows, roof coverings, interior finishes, places of assembly, etc., to indicate gradations of fire safety. See fire-endurance, fire-door rating.
A programming language designed by Dennis Ritchie at AT&T Bell Labs ca. 1972 for systems programming on the PDP-11 and immediately used to reimplement Unix.
It was called "C" because many features derived from an earlier compiler named "B". In fact, C was briefly named "NB". B was itself strongly influenced by BCPL. Before Bjarne Stroustrup settled the question by designing C++, there was a humorous debate over whether C's successor should be named "D" or "P" (following B and C in "BCPL").
C is terse, low-level and permissive. It has a macro preprocessor, cpp.
Partly due to its distribution with Unix, C became immensely popular outside Bell Labs after about 1980 and is now the dominant language in systems and microcomputer applications programming. It has grown popular due to its simplicity, efficiency, and flexibility. C programs are often easily adapted to new environments.
C is often described, with a mixture of fondness and disdain, as "a language that combines all the elegance and power of assembly language with all the readability and maintainability of assembly language".
Ritchie's original C, known as K&R C after Kernighan and Ritchie's book, has been standardised (and simultaneously modified) as ANSI C.
See also ACCU, ae, c68, c386, C-Interp, cxref, dbx, dsp56k-gcc, dsp56165-gcc, gc, GCT, GNU C, GNU superoptimiser, Harvest C, malloc, mpl, Pthreads, ups.
(2) A high-level programming language developed at Bell Labs that is also able to manipulate the computer at a low level like assembly language. Developed in the 1970s, by the end of the 1980s, C became the language of choice for developing commercial software. C, and its object-oriented successor C++, are used to write a huge variety of applications and almost all operating systems. There are C/C++ compilers for all major operating systems and hardware platforms. C was standardized by ANSI (X3J11 committee) and ISO in 1989.
Created by Bjarne Stroustrup and renamed from "C with Classes" to C++ in 1983, the language became popular because it combined traditional C with object-oriented programming (OOP). In contrast, Smalltalk (the first OOP language) and other OOP languages did not provide the familiar structures of conventional languages such as C and Pascal. See object-oriented programming, Visual C++, Objective-C, C# and Managed C++.
C and C++ are written as a series of functions that call each other for processing. Even the body of the program is a function named "main." Functions are very flexible, allowing programmers to choose from the standard library that comes with the compiler, to use third party libraries or to develop their own.
C was developed to allow Unix to run on a variety of computers. After Bell Labs' Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie created Unix and got it running on several PDP computers, they wanted a way to easily port it to other machines without having to rewrite it from scratch. Thompson created the B language, which was a simpler version of the BCPL language, itself a version of CPL. Later, in order to improve B, Thompson and Ritchie created C.
The following examples convert Fahrenheit to centigrade in C and C++. For another example of C code, see event loop.
Wynell, the one that went off to Nashville and started running around with Cly Gibbons.
H, Sunny Bank, Cecil, Gharial, Blawara, Shahdra, Comm; Center, Malikabad, Eid Gah, Khurram Cly, Fizaia, Farooq-e-Azam, Kurri Road, Z.
The company's common shares trade on the Pacific Exchange under the symbol CLY and on the Pink Sheets under the symbol CLRY.
S, New United, Rehara, CM Pak, Behria Enclave, Kuldana, Barrian, Kotli Sattian, Bari Imam, Comm; Center, Malikabad, Eid Gah, Khurram Cly, Fizaia, Farooq-e-Azam, Kurri Road, Z.
Tenders are invited for Pipeline(Oilfilter To Main Cly Drg.
According to IESCO Spokesman, the power supply of different feeders and grid stations would remain suspended for the period on 20 October, 08:00am to 12:00pm T and T, Ghousia Cly, B-Block, National Market, A.
According to an IESCO Spokesman, the power supply would remain suspended from , 08:00am to 12:00pm Fateh Pur, F-13 (Garmala), Khohar, Langer Pur, Kala Base, Bakrala, Riaz Shaheed, Sanghoi, Nathuwala, Safdar Shaheed, Domeli, Col; Akram, Guliana, Sohawa, Ghousia Cly, Affandi Cly, Al-Noor Colony, Service Road, Sowan Garden-II, Rehmatabad-II, Scheme-III, Park View, Noon, Chakra, Officer Colony, NRC, Zeeshan Colony, Peshawar Road, 502 W/Shop, Sihala, Kahuta City-I, Combeli Sadiq, Jhatta Hathial, Ghazan Khan, Mandra feeders, 09:00am to 14:00pm Talagang city, Dharabi, Aziz Chowk, EOBI, I-8/Markaz, M.
|
0.996197 |
Daca vrei sa fim prieteni si sa primesti toate noutatile atunci te astept cu un click: https://youtu.be/addme/YEPNOy1uglVYkWQXDGlW_TEcNEreog Salutare prieteni, indiferent ca esti la scoala, acasa sau la job, am creat acest canal deoarece multi alti pasionati ca si mine prefera sa vada diverse Teorii,Mistere,Biografii,Conspirații.Natură,Politică,Religie, Spiritualitate,Sănătate,Societate,Știință, Tehnologie,Mediu si Istorie. Cu toate acestea incerc sa va ofer in fiecare zi cate un material in limita timpului disponibil iar daca iti place mult ce fac, astept un LIKE, SHARE si un SUBSCRIBE din partea ta pentru a ma sustine sa imi continui acest proiect minunat. ►Descopera ToT Teorii si Mistere ►Descopera ToT Tursim si Oameni Vreau sa mai anunt faptul ca unele materiale sunt doar Teorii Conspirationiste sau Fictiune.( Ceva inca nedovedit stiintific) Descopera TOT Contact: ►E-mail : [email protected] ►Atentionare de interes public! © & ℗ DescoperaTOT Teorii si Mistere Toate drepturile sunt rezervate. Respecta montajul video si munca depusa pentru aceste clipuri, sunt ore risipe, asa ca va rog sa nu copiati clipurile iar daca exista vreo sursa din care m-am inspirat si doreste sa fie specificata astept un mesaj iar in cel mai scurt timp voi posta, ca si reclama sursa din care m-am inspirat, respect munca tuturor colegiilor, din pacate sunt foarte multe clone pe internet cu acelasi text si nu-mi dau seama care sunt cele reale, imi cer scuze!
В Чём Состоит Секрет Николы Тесла?
Alternative channel: https://vid.me/Gerard_Morin Gerard Explains where and how he is getting this energy. Explaining why there have been delays, and currently what he is waiting for to complete his self looping generator. Gerard has said from the start he will be open sourcing and sharing things as he goes along.
What Nikola Tesla Kept Secret from the World?
Remake of my original video Tesla's Little Secret : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7NdxnjetSw I just changed the background music. If you like this one please *like* and add it to your favourites. Based around Nikola Tesla's Tuned Coil. While pondering the basic circuit diagram I thought maybe the electronics were being used backwards ...if we reverse the circuit we could capture radiant energy from the atmosphere and use it as a source of power. Perhaps this is what Tesla intended in the first place? Tesla produced a paper talking about his vision for the future including a gravity shield, anti-gravity flying machines, The Magnifying Transmitter and other inventive technology. Tesla was a scientific genius without a doubt, although reading his paper I find some of his deeper beliefs about life, society, goverments and human sentience are perhaps bringing about some of the very things he was trying to prevent? "Nikola Tesla is the true unsung prophet of the electronic age; without whom our radio, auto ignition, telephone, alternating current power generation and transmission, radio and television would all have been impossible. Yet his life and times have vanished largely from public access. This autobiography is released to remedy this situation." Read the paper for yourself and see what you think... http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96jul/teslaautobio.html http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96jul/teslaauto01.html http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96jul/teslaauto02.html http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96jul/teslaauto03.html http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96jul/teslaauto04.html http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96jul/teslaauto05.html http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96jul/teslaauto06.html Music :- Shuttle Flight to Miami by K2 In Deep Meditation by Ahtnakalin #52 - Most Discussed (Today) - Howto & Style #60 - Top Rated (Today) - Howto & Style // LINKS Buy ORIGINAL "Matt" Merchandise https://www.cafepress.com/mattblythe Support me on Patreon for perks... https://www.patreon.com/innervisionproductions Inner Vision Photography http://innervisionpress.wixsite.com/photography My iStockphoto Portfolio http://www.istockphoto.com/gb/portfolio/inner_vision The Inner Vision Press Blog http://innervisionpress.blogspot.co.uk/ Also check out my book "Enlightenment for Beginners" on Amazon http://amzn.to/2oFRTtQ // SOCIAL Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/innervisionproductions Twitter | https://www.twitter.com/mattblythe Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/inner_vision_photography/ Thanks for Watching!
Nikola Tesla Secret Weapons Credits: https://matrixdisclosure.com https://alienpolicy.com The man of the 20th century. Many might still not know who he was, but his name surely rings a bell, and they are certainly familiar with his incredible inventions. Nikola Tesla is the man who had lit the previous century and bridged the gap leading into the next. With over 900 patents approved across his lifetime, we owe him everything from led lights, Alternating Current, Tesla Turbine, Tesla Coil, Radio And Remote Control, The Magnifying Transmitter, Neon Lamp, X-rays, Adams Power Plant Transformer House, Induction Motor, Electric Cars, Robotics, Laser, Wireless Communications and Limitless Free Energy, Artificial Tidal Wave to Electric-Powered Supersonic Airship or Death Beam and many, many others patents. And these are all inventions on the surface, inventions that humans at that stage of evolution could grasp and understand. However, few people know that Nikola Tesla had tapped into a source of unlimited energy, and was on the verge of handing the people of this planet a gift of free energy, until the powers that be had stopped him in his tracks. The most important thing Tesla required in order to accomplish his plan was funding. He was an inventor, not a business man, so during his lifetime he came across various hurdles that would hinder his progress towards the future he envisioned for humanity. Even so, Tesla pursued his dreams until his final hour. Not only he wished to give free, wireless energy to the world, he also wanted to establish long-lasting peace on earth. For this goal alone, he designed the perfect plan: he would engineer a weapon so powerful that its energy bursts would “bring down a fleet of 10,000 enemy airplanes at a distance of 200 miles from a defending nation’s boarder and will cause armies to drop dead in their tracks.” By constructing this tremendously powerful apparatus and distributing it to all leading nations, he would ensure that war would not make sense anymore since everyone would have an impenetrable offensive and defensive force. Tesla thought that by selling his invention to the world’s superpowers, he would receive the funding required to carry on with his ultimate experiment of generating unlimited energy. He initially reached out to J.P. Morgan Jr. by sending him a letter on November 29, 1934, at a time when war clouds were once again forming above Europe. “I have made recent discoveries of inestimable value…The flying machine has completely demoralized the world, so much that in some cities, as London and Paris, people are in mortal feat from aerial bombing. The new means I have perfected afford absolute protection against this and other forms of attack.” Nonetheless, Morgan was unconvinced of Tesla’s idea.
Nikola Tesla Reveals Terrifying Secret About Human Brain / Is It Really Possible To Bend Reality?
Nikola Tesla was one of the greatest inventors of all time. Inventor Nikola Tesla invented the radio, experimented with wireless electricity, and designed a death ray. But did you know there are many other Tesla inventors that didn't see the light of day! These are 5 Mysterious Nikola Tesla Lost Inventions! SUBSCRIBE FOR VIDEOS EVERY WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY! http://bit.ly/WeirdWorldSub --------------------------------------------- What is Weird World? Do you like being scared or creeped out? Learn about the dark side of this world with our Weird World Channel. Every Wednesday and Friday we publish thought provoking videos related to scary facts, dark topics and the paranormal. You can’t deny that this Weird World has a creepy side that is frightening and mysterious! At Weird World we jump head first into these dark topics to discover some interesting stories and facts we post in our weekly videos created in a entertaining and fun way! Subscribe to Weird World to learn something creepy three times a week! http://bit.ly/WeirdWorldSub Our topics: Paranormal Science Technology Halloween Monsters ------------------------------------------- More interesting videos you might like: Top 10 Worst American Serial Killers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW6KZ... 28 Strangest Facts About Hitler https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LguXn... 10 Creepy Facts About Death https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odXk1... 10 Scariest Brain Facts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrwSN... ------------------------------------------- Credits: Logo Credits http://www.freepik.com/free-vector/motors-badges_780543.htm Logo vector designed by Eightonesix http://www.freepik.com/free-photos-vectors/logo DISCLAIMER: FAIR USE NOTICE. This video may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes only. This constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 106A-117 of the US Copyright Law.
The Egyptian pyramids were likely built for many reasons, but one key reason was apparently for the transmission of wireless electricity. The pyramid itself, which was built upon an aquifer, is said to have the capacity to transmit negative ions from the earth into the air. This was the same method used by the late Nikola Tesla in his creation of the Wardenclyffe tower. However, it is fair to say that as a structure, the Great Pyramid stands silent in this present age. In order that one is able to further then the idea that it was once an active power plant capable of generating energy, good supporting evidence from modern electrical engineers of prominence would most definitely be of aid. Proceeding to this end, one may cite none other than arguably one of the great technical minds of the current world era: Nikola Tesla (1856 -- 1943 AD). In the realm of electrical engineering the name of Tesla stands out most prominently above almost all others in the present age. The achievements of this singular individual, in particular his discovery and mastery of Alternating Current, practically created the modern world, bringing power to the people in all countries, including global communications. In his field Tesla was the pioneer. And his research greatly advanced the technologies responsible for generating and distributing power, both of great magnitude and also over great distances. Indeed, his particular interest in this regard was to develop ways of actively transmitting power wirelessly; something that he did indeed manage to achieve during his work, as is well documented. From the history of his life it is well known that Tesla set up several different research stations or laboratories in various different places throughout the United States where he lived, funded by a variety of powerful financial backers, including J. P. Morgan and George Westinghouse. One of the most important times in his life was that of 1899 to 1900, when he established a research laboratory in Colorado Springs for the purpose of studying the wireless transmission of signals and power, and also how such may be affected by the earth's own atmosphere and structure. The basic layout of the research station that he had built at Colorado Springs consisted of a large box or barn like structure, several dozen feet in length and breadth, with a long aerial some 142 ft high protruding from the centre of the building up into the sky, fixed with a 30" wooden ball covered over in foil*. With the facility built shortly after the arrival of Tesla in Colorado, and an electrical supply to the site provided by the nearby El Paso power company, he was able to engage in a very intense period of study lasting some 9 months, experimenting with all manner of electrical effects, oftentimes using extremely high-voltage and high frequency currents. Concerning the Colorado research site itself, and also the precise nature of Tesla's experiments, a great deal has already been written by others, and need not be repeated here. Rather, in building upon some of the information provided so far by other researchers, it will be the intention of the present author to add just one more piece to the puzzle, upon the very specific issue of why he chose to set up his transmitting station precisely where he did in Colorado Springs. Just as Tesla sought to construct a means to wirelessly transmit power, so too did the ancients with their own device in their own age. In both cases though, it was actively discovered that the physical placement of a power plant, in order that it achieve an optimum level of efficiency to tap into the natural power of the Earth through resonance, was dependent upon the device being situated at a special arc length of separation between it and the equator. Only certain key resonant intervals that cover the earth may be chosen. Any arbitrary placement would result in a very weak if not fatally flawed power plant.
THE EYE OF THE STORM : The Inventions of Nikola Tesla - Narrated by "Stan Deyo" - 90 Min. Video The VHS source of this documentary is very old and the quality of the audio and video is very poor. This rare documentary, shown only once on Australian television, covers the history of secret U.S. government research into futuristic propulsion and Energy systems. The Film also discusses the work of Nikola Tesla, including information on mysterious devices locked away in safes at the time of his death in 1943. Man made UFO's are also an important feature as well as the Philadelphia experiment. "Rare Documentary covers the history of secret U.S. government research into futuristic propulsion and energy systems. Also discussed are Nikola Tesla and the mysterious devices locked away after his death in 1943, Man made UFO's and the Philadelphia Experiment. Not to be missed by students of Tesla, Free-Energy, and Anti-Gravity".
|
0.933369 |
How does stress affect the heart? When we are under stress, our body responds by releasing a cascade of stress hormones and other chemicals that help the body prepare for the “fight or flight” response. Some of the most notable changes are an increased heart rate and breathing rate. Both of these responses increase blood flow to your tissues and make you more alert.
During prolonged or chronic stress, your heart rate and breathing rate are constantly elevated. This can lead to high blood pressure, a known risk factor for heart disease. Some research shows stress releases chemicals that increase inflammation, and chronic inflammation due to prolonged stress could impact the ability of the heart to function. However, the exact connection between inflammation and heart disease remains unclear.
The most straightforward way that stress negatively impacts the heart is through changes in behavior. When we are under a lot of stress, we may reach for fast foods, snacks, and desserts. Foods used for stress relief are often high in fat, cholesterol, and calories, and regular consumption can lead to heart disease. In addition, people under stress may not have time to exercise or may feel too tired to exercise. The combined effects of poor diet and little exercise can lead to weight gain and obesity, which itself is a known risk factor for heart disease.
Don’t give in to temptation. No matter how much stress you’re under, make sure to maintain a healthy diet. If you find yourself reaching for cookies, potato chips or snack foods, try healthier alternatives like celery sticks or carrots.
Stay active. Exercise such as walking, riding a bicycle or working out help relieve stress, makes you feel better, and is good for your heart too.
Meditation and yoga. Mindfulness techniques help relieve stress and have been shown to help reduce risk factors for heart disease.
Have fun. Even just a few minutes of laughter and positivity can make a huge difference.
Do what you love—reading, writing, listening to music, sewing, art—activities that make you feel good will help your heart too.
|
0.999986 |
What is kernel taint mechanism?
The Linux kernel maintains a "taint state" which is included in kernel error messages.
The taint state provides an indication whether something has happened to the running kernel that affects whether a kernel error or hang.
It can be used to troubleshot effectively by analyzing the kernel source code.
As an example, the taint state is set when a machine check exception (MCE) has been raised, indicating a hardware related problem has occurred. Once the taint state of a running kernel has been set, it cannot be unset other than by reloading the kernel, that is by shutting down and then restarting the system.
The taint status of the kernel not only indicates whether or not the kernel has been tainted but also indicates what type of event caused the kernel to be marked as tainted. This information is encoded through single-character flags in the string following "Tainted:" in a kernel error message.
P: A module with a Proprietary license has been loaded, i.e. a module that is not licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL) or a compatible license. This may indicate that source code for this module is not available to the Linux kernel developers or to Novell's developers.
G: The opposite of 'P': the kernel has been tainted (for a reason indicated by a different flag), but all modules loaded into it were licensed under the GPL or a license compatible with the GPL.
F: A module was loaded using the Force option "-f" of insmod or modprobe, which caused a sanity check of the versioning information from the module (if present) to be skipped.
R: A module which was in use or was not designed to be removed has been forcefully Removed from the running kernelusing the force option "-f" of rmmod.
S: The Linux kernel is running with Symmetric MultiProcessor support (SMP), but the CPUs in the system are not designed or certified for SMP use.
M: A Machine Check Exception (MCE) has been raised while the kernel was running. MCEs are triggered by the hardware to indicate a hardware related problem, for example the CPU's temperature exceeding a treshold or a memory bank signaling an uncorrectable error.
B: A process has been found in a Bad page state, indicating a corruption of the virtual memory subsystem, possibly caused by malfunctioning RAM or cache memory.
The taint flags above are implemented in the standard Linux kernel and indicate the information provided in kernel error messages is not necessarily to be trusted.
In SUSE kernels, additional taint flags are implemented.
U: An Unsupported module has been loaded, i.e. a module which is not supported by Novell and which is not known to be supported by a third party. For example, the module is a driver that is not yet mature enough to be supportable or is a driver for an obsolete type of hardware which can no longer be tested adequately.
X: A module that is not supported by Novell but that is supported eXternally by a third party has been loaded into the kernel.
When the kernel produces an error, a string detailing the taint status will be included.
|
0.976544 |
Gravitational waves are produced by accelerating mass distributions with a quadrupole (or higher) moment. Once produced, gravitational waves travel through space-time at the speed of light and are essentially unaffected by the matter they encounter. As a result, gravitational waves emitted shortly after the Big Bang (and observed today) would carry unaltered information about the physical processes that generated them. These waves are expected to be generated by a large number of unresolved sources, forming a stochastic gravitational-wave background (SGWB). Many models exist for the generation of the SGWB; these include models of inflation, the pre-big-bang era, electroweak phase transitions, cosmic strings, magnetars and rotating neutron stars.
Gravitational waves stretch and compress the spatial dimensions perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation. In a Michelson interferometer with suspended mirrors, the gravitational wave would cause stretching and shrinking of orthogonal arms, which would result in corresponding fluctuations in the laser intensity at the output of the interferometer. A SGWB signal would cause random fluctuations in output laser power, which are indistinguishable from various instrumental noise sources.
The search for the SGWB using LIGO data is performed by cross-correlating data from pairs of interferometers. When similar waveforms occur across multiple detectors at the same time, a strong cross-correlation value is observed. The contributions to the cross-correlation in the frequency band 41.5 - 169.25 Hz, which contains 99% of the sensitivity, are summed to give an estimate of the gravitational-wave spectrum.
No evidence of a stochastic gravitational-wave background was identified, but the result constrains the energy density of the SGWB normalized by the critical energy density of the universe. The gravitational-wave spectrum is assumed to follow a power law with index, α, such that ΩGW(f) = Ωα ∗ (f/100Hz)α. For a frequency-independent spectrum, the gravitational-wave spectrum is constrained to be less than 6.9 x 10-6 at 95% confidence.
Prior to the result described here, the most constraining bounds on the SGWB in the frequency band around 100 Hz came from Big-Bang-Nucleosynthesis (BBN) and from cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements. The BBN bound is derived from the fact that a large gravitational-wave energy density at the time of BBN would alter the abundances of the light nuclei produced in the process. A large gravitational-wave background at the time of decoupling of the CMB would alter the observed CMB and matter power spectra. This result has now surpassed these bounds, which is one of the major milestones that LIGO was designed to achieve.
The result also constrains models of cosmic (super)strings. Cosmic strings were originally proposed as topological defects formed during phase transitions in the early universe, but they can also be expanded to cosmological scales. Hence, searching for cosmic strings may provide a unique and powerful window into string theory and particle physics at the highest energy scales. Additionally, measurements of the SGWB offer the possibility of probing alternative models of the early universe cosmology, such as the pre-Big-Bang model.
Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo will provide 10 times greater sensitivity and cover a frequency band as low as 10 Hz, which will be useful to probe the gravitational-wave spectrum for information about the universe when it was less than one minute old.
|
0.953697 |
Insurance to cover the costs of the loan repayments when unexpected circumstances occur.
Contrary to popular belief, loan insurance is not aimed at protecting borrowers from the risks and effects of default, but rather it aims to protect lenders.
This type of insurance is usually a one-off payment which the borrower makes when they take out the loan.
This type of insurance can be advantageous for borrowers as it increases the likelihood that loan applications will be approved. For example, if a borrower is unable to save for a house deposit, they may be able to pay a fee to the lender in exchange for a reduced deposit. Therefore, this form of insurance results in increased loans, especially to those who would not normally satisfy the lenders criteria.
To the borrower, the benefit of having this insurance is to cover the costs of the loan repayments when unexpected circumstances occur, such as being unable to work due to illness or injury. This avoids the borrower going into default because they cannot make the loan repayments.
This insurance is optional and can typically be purchased either when you apply for a personal loan or after the policy commences.
In some cases there may be strict time limits. Any person who may have a claim on a loan protection insurance policy should seek advice as soon as possible to ensure a claim is lodged within time.
|
0.994984 |
Topic models are a suite of algorithms that uncover the hidden thematic structure in document collections. These algorithms help us develop new ways to search, browse and summarize large archives of texts. This talk will introduce topic modeling and one of it's most widely used algorithms called LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation). Attendees will learn how to use Python to analyze the content of their text documents. The talk will go through the full topic modeling pipeline: from different ways of tokenizing your document, to using the Python library gensim, to visualizing your results and understanding how to evaluate them.
Research papers, newspaper articles, blogs, websites' content; text data is everywhere and it is frequently found without labels that could help us classify them and extract meaningful understanding of their content. To solve these problems, an unsupervised Machine Learning method, called Topic Modeling, was developed to analyze large collections of unlabeled text documents. Topic models are a suite of algorithms that uncover the hidden thematic structure in document collections. These algorithms help us develop new ways to search, browse and summarize large archives of texts.
In Topic Modeling there are a variety of algorithms: LSI, LDA, Hierarchical Dirichlet process, Dynamic Topic Models... This talk will introduce some simple ideas to understand the theory behind LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation), but most importantly, what Python libraries exist for Topic Modeling and how to use them. Gensim (https://radimrehurek.com/gensim/) is one of the most popular Python libraries for Topic Modeling and the main library this talk will present, although other alternatives will also be discussed.
Preprocessing your data before feeding it to an LDA algorithm is also a very important task for a Data Scientist doing Topic Modeling. We will introduce some NLP (Natural Language Processing) concepts to understand different ways of tokenizing our documents: lemmatization, stemming, entity recognition, and how those can represent our text with a bag-of-words construct.
It is also important to understand how to interpret your model and how to evaluate your results. To better interpret your model, we'll make use of interactive visualizations. On the other hand, unsupervised model evaluation is harder than in supervised problems, since there are no real categories to compare to. Several different techniques exist in literature to calculate the goodness of a topic model. We'll present some of them in two different categories: human-in-the-loop and metric-driven evaluations.
In summary, this talk will consist on the following sections: Topic Modeling and its role in Machine Learning, the LDA algorithm and its implementation in Python libraries, preprocessing of text data and tokenization methods, and interpretation and evaluation of results. Finally, a full process example will be demonstrated and analyzed.
|
0.99967 |
Best way to use crates?
You can use crates for toy bins, benches, coffee tables, outdoor seating, shelves, maybe even an outside table for you favorite plant. The ideas are endless.
In my opinion, these is no best way, as they are so versatile and can be used for almost any storage issue you may have. Can be stained, painted, mod podged and embellished to coordinate with your decor. Check out all these ingenious options!
Stacked as shelves, sturdy storage boxes, painted to match the surrounding.
Storage or staked as room divider or book shelves etc.
Use them as decorative storage or shelving.
|
0.993989 |
Bienvenidos a la Guía de Restaurantes de Fort Lauderdale que ofrecen Pizería. Para obtener información adicional sobre el restaurant seleccionado, haga clic en él. . Si deseara regresar a la página princial de la Guía de Restaurantes de Fort Lauderdale donde podrá buscar restaurantes de otros tipos, haga clic en el botón de "Restaurantes" que se encuentra en el lado izquierdo de la página.
Sunrise · 11130 W. Oakland Park Blvd.
Plantation · 837 N. Nobhill Rd.
Plantation · 8283 W. Broward Blvd.
Sunrise · 2220 N. University Dr.
Lauderhill · 7288 W. Oakland Park Blvd.
Plantation · 512 N. Pine Island Rd.
Sunrise · 9330 W. Commercial Blvd.
8099 W. Oakland Park Blvd.
Plantation · 8000 W. Broward Blvd.
Plantation · 1951 N. Pine Island Rd.
Sunrise · 12522 W. Sunrise Blvd.
Sunrise · 11933 W. Sunrise Blvd.
Tamarac · 10101 W. Commercial Blvd.
Tamarac · 7658 N. Nob Hill Rd.
Davie · 4120 S.W. 64th Ave.
Hollywood · 11091 Sheridan St.
Hollywood · 12125 Sheridan St.
753 S.E. 17th St. Cswy.
Wilton Manors · 2244 Wilton Dr.
Wilton Manors · 2468 Wilton Dr.
Oakland Park · 1319 E. Commercial Blvd.
2100 E. Oakland Park Blvd.
Dania Beach · 619 E. Dania Beach Blvd.
Hollywood · 1014 N. Ocean Dr.
Dania Beach · 419 E. Sheridan St.
15090 E. Las Olas Blvd.
Pompano Beach · 1622 E. Sample Rd.
Pompano Beach · 4660 W. Hillsboro Blvd.
Pompano Beach · 4618 N. University Dr.
Pompano Beach · 12444 W. Atlantic Blvd.
Pompano Beach · 900 Pompano Pkwy.
Pompano Beach · 2201 W. Sample Rd.
Deerfield Beach · 3912 W. Hillsboro Blvd.
Pompano Beach · 1436 E. Atlantic Blvd.
Pompano Beach · 2201 E. Atlantic Blvd.
Pompano Beach · 10344 W. Sample Rd.
Deerfield Beach · 1420 S. Federal Hwy.
Deerfield Beach · 3869 W. Hillsboro Blvd.
Pompano Beach · 4994 W. Atlantic Blvd.
Pompano Beach · 13971 M Cleveland Ave.
Pompano Beach · 8016 W. McNab Rd.
Pompano Beach · 218 S. Federal Hwy.
Lighthouse Point · 2486 N. Federal Hwy.
Pompano Beach · 1203 S. Federal Hwy.
Pompano Beach · 2242 University Dr.
Pompano Beach · 11339 W. Atlantic Blvd.
Pembroke Pines · 10460 Taft St.
Pembroke Pines · 14535 S.W. 5th St.
Pembroke Pines · 12508 Pines Blvd.
Pembroke Pines · 17728 Pines Blvd.
Hollywood · 1401 N. Palm Ave.
Hollywood · 17535 Pines Blvd.
Pembroke Pines · 620 N. University Dr.
Pembroke Pines · 1320 N. University Dr.
Hollywood · 1857 N. 66th Ave.
Pembroke Park · 3942 Pembroke Rd.
Hollywood · 4961 Sheridan St.
Hollywood · 4190 N. 46th Ave.
Hollywood · 1906 Harrison St.
Hollywood · 3373 Sheridan St.
Hollywood · 1928 Hollywood Blvd.
Hollywood · 2040 N. University Dr.
Hollywood · 5737-5739 Hollywood Blvd.
Hollywood · 7996 W. Miramar Pkwy.
Hollywood · 8515 Pines Blvd.
Hollywood · 5618 S.W. 29th St.
Hollywood · 9915 Miramar Pkwy.
Hollywood · 3800 Oakwood Blvd.
Hollywood · 651 S. 60th Ave.
Hollywood · 207 N. Federal Hwy.
Hollywood · 2080 N. University Dr.
Hollywood · 2908 Oakwood Blvd.
Weston · 1691 Bonaventure Blvd.
|
0.958069 |
What kind of collar do you use to stop your dog from barking?
I use an electric shock dog collar.
I use a sound emitting dog collar.
I use a citronella spray dog collar.
|
0.996055 |
Fast Moving White Light Across Los Angeles.
The object appeared to be a shooting star, but lasted way too long.
It was moving extremely fast and the light emitting was an intense white.
The object moved from a northerly direction to a southerly, and lasted approximately two minutes.
|
0.999937 |
Write your request in the following spaces. Please give as much information as you have. If you have more than one request, please use a new form for each request.
|
0.674783 |
How to achieve this dot-matrix-printed/pixelated effect?
The above image is a Windows 95 default background. I wanted to know how they achieved this effect and was wondering if it is possible in Photoshop or if I need a dot-matrix printer or maybe a graphic-design program from the 90's to replicate it.
Then Image > Mode > Indexed color, and use the settings shown below.
It's not dot-matrix printing simulation. It's stipple effect - a form of halftoning. It's well possible that some older software could use dot matrix printers this way to make greyshades with halftoning. As far as I know, generally the results of greyscale printing with dot matrix printers resembled much more the computer+hands image that user Danielillo has attached to his explanation. White was got by no hit, light grey = one hit, dark grey = two hits at the same place.
The finest results I have seen were produced by using Astute Graphics plugin Stipplism for Illustrator. It costs some money, but free raster image editors have usable methods, too.
In GIMP you can convert a desaturated RGB image to Indexed mode (Image > Mode > Indexed) with certain settings and get quite good results. The key is to use Floyd-Steinberg Dithering method. Start with 1 bit black and white coloring. You can also experiment with a few more colors to get more possible shades of grey with the same number of dots.
The resulted image is indexed, but you can convert it back to RGB or normal grayscale, if needed and you do not lose the quality. But the file size grows.
You should note that the simulated greyscale isn't complete nor fully linear, so you probably must experiment with curves tool to get well transformable greyscale. In G'MIC package's BW > Dither you have gamma, contrast and brightness sliders which partially do the same.
NOTE: If you have too high resolution in the original image, the result is easily so dense that it fights with the display pixel grid producing weird interference patterns. Printing also needs some care for the same reason.
It is a black and white dithering effect you can have in many graphics software. For illustration I used the G'MIC filters which can be used for free online, or as a plugin to Gimp.
For more options there also is a filter Pattern > Halftone which is available in the plugin only.
This technique is called dithering. It's not primarily used as an effect, but as a method of choosing the pixel values used when doing colour reduction on an image (e.g. conversion to an indexed palette).
There are many dithering algorithms available. Some produce an obvious regular pattern, while some - like this one - produce a more scattered effect. The above page on dithering provides many examples.
I remember that image - it's a black-and-white copy of the setup.bmp image that came with Windows 95 (it was originally black and blue, but otherwise exactly the same).
This algorithm can be chosen in GIMP when converting an image to use Indexed mode.
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged adobe-photoshop pixelation or ask your own question.
How do I get this uneven airbrush effect similar to old art deco posters?
How to make an image look like an all-white sculpture in Photoshop?
How to replicate this text effect on Photoshop?
How to make a very clean and sleek frosted gradient?
|
0.999998 |
Create a rustic interior with authentic-looking teal accent chair. A rustic interior can be created in any home. It is a decorating style that brings to mind hiking farmhouses, ranches and log cabins in woods. The addition of a strong, bold color like teal gives a modern touch to rustic look, creating an unusual and surprising interior, which is quite easy to create style of decoration and gives a feeling of being close to nature, no matter where your home. Another option is use of neutral, earth colors, and uses accessories entering bluish green.
Furniture should be comfortable and welcoming look, with lots of wood. Mix and match furniture for an eclectic look; a big, overstuffed chair or sofa complements more rustic pieces wonderfully. You can combine teal accent chair with neutral colors with warm earthy tones. If you are a fan of woodworking, now is a good time to create a very rustic appearance parts such as a coffee table or a chair. A large part of tree trunk coffee table makes a rustic measure.
Accessories in a room help to bring full range of colors together. Combine rustic wood frames bright teal pictures and equipment a rustic table lamp with a blue-green screen. Fill a bowl with pineapples teal, cinnamon sticks and star anise creates a central piece inspired by unusual nature and sweet-smelling. Velvet cushions and throws in seats to present an inviting look. Mixing and matching teal accent chair with chocolate brown and even a touch of green, and use of natural materials like leather. You want to keep soft, warm lighting, and finish look with some accessories ranch-style, like a deer carved wood.
|
0.918292 |
Context: Early detection and prospective evaluation of clinical high-risk (CHR) individuals who may develop schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders is critical for predicting psychosis onset and for testing preventive interventions. Objectives: To elucidate the neuropsychology of the CHR syndrome, to determine the association of neuropsychological function with conversion to psychosis and family history of psychosis, and to examine whether baseline neuropsychological functioning predicts subsequent psychosis. Design: Longitudinal study with 21?2 years of follow-up. Setting: Eight centers participating in the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study. Participants: Three hundred four prospectively identified CHR individuals meeting Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes criteria, 52 non-CHR persons with a family history of psychosis in first- or second-degree relatives (family high-risk group), and 193 normal controls with neither a family history of psychosis nor a CHR syndrome, all of whom underwent baseline neuropsychological evaluations. Main Outcome Measures: A neurocognitive composite score, 8 individual neuropsychological measures, an IQ estimate, and high-risk status. Results: Global ("composite") neuropsychological functioning was comparably impaired in the CHR and family high-risk groups compared with controls, but profiles differed significantly between groups. Neuropsychological functioning in the CHR group was significantly lower in persons who progressed to psychosis than in those who did not and was worst in the subgroup with a family history of psychosis. Tests of processing speed and verbal learning and memory were most sensitive in discriminating CHR individuals from controls, although reductions were less severe than in established schizophrenia. Neuropsychological functioning did not contribute uniquely to the prediction of psychosis beyond clinical criteria, but worse verbal memory predicted more rapid conversion. Conclusions: These findings document that CHR individuals have significant neuropsychological difficulties, particularly those who later develop psychosis. This dysfunction is generally of moderate severity but less than in first-episode schizophrenia, suggesting that further decline may occur after baseline CHR assessment. ©2010 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
|
0.999166 |
With Virtual Reality headsets coming out right around the corner, how can the gap with experience become more immersive? A couple of technologies on the horizon and currently under development may be the key.
Vestibular stimulation, a technique that involves applying a small electric charge behind the ear, can induce a distinct sensation of motion. While not extremely precise in its current form, with time, it’ll be possible to accurately and perfectly stimulate sensations like falling, turning, leaning, and other quirks from having your balance altered.
More subtly, it can be used in conjunction with freedom of movement to trick a user into not only moving around an enclosed space in a circle, but to hide the fact that they are going in circles. This can open up a huge world of possibility for VR headsets that incorporate movement in the physical world without needing to secure hundreds of square feet of space to use them.
Additionally, force feedback is growing more sophisticated than rumble packs in video game controllers. Haptic feedback can help simulate the sensation of touch for wearers, such as with the gloveone for helping rehabilitate injured or bedridden patients.
Additionally, haptic vibrations can stimulate taste buds to create taste for the user and immerse them in an experience that couldn’t be “faked” until now. Back in 2009, electric signals were passed through the tongue for blind users and they were able to ‘see’ again.
While these developments are exciting, the world of virtual possibility is limitless. More innovative and creative technologies will be created once the headsets reach public hands, rather than being restricted to research and small-use cases.
Widespread adoption will only create more demand for a higher level of immersion that engages wearers in way that blurs the line between reality and the virtual.
Especially once holodecks are a real thing. Scientists have already created a way to make holograms feel like they’re actually there, without affecting the display or changing the image at all. Combine that with the other technologies that are presented here, a little bit of laser-tag excitement, and you have a virtual reality theme park.
|
0.999096 |
Why should you learn the Eskimo roll in a kayak? There are different interests. My interest for the kayak roll is similar to the rest of my kayaking. I will be able to enjoy the kayaking a lot more if I feel I can handle the situation. The eskimo roll is thus something I see as a solution when the initial handling of the situation was not good enough to keep me on the surface, and when I need a better way to get up than just getting out of the kayak in the water (doing the wet exit).
There are many resue techniques from the wet exit and back into the kayak. If you exclude the eskimo roll, the most reliable of these builds on you having a fellow close to you, helping you (this assumes that whatever caused you to go around is not enough for your helper to go around, or preventing him from coming to you). Of the others, two really worth mentioning is the reentry and roll, and self rescue with paddle-float.
Does it then matter if you are old and no longer limber? Well it does if you acknowledge that your mind was faster and less scared (or if you so prefer, careful) when you where younger. Also if you acknowledge that your body was stronger, more flexible and more enduring. However, those factors are the important factors, age is not.
There is nothing actually in the word "old" that puts a hindrance in the way to learn the Eskimo Roll except through the effects of old compared to young. So if you at your age is more enduring and more flexible than others that are younger, then you will be likely to have a better chance on rolling a kayak than them, in spite of age. If you are not limber, well, there is a need for a certain body movement, but not so very much, coordination is more important. So extreme lack of flexibility is a true problem, but that is not often the real problem.
Independent of age though, if the picture here (found through google, originally from desertwindadventureseries.com somewhere) gets the adrenaline boiling, then what is needed besides physics and pure technique, is to calm your mind by accepting the Eskimo Roll and the wet exit as non freightening events.
If you can roll, you will become better at avoiding the need to roll your kayak, since you will find it easier to practice sculling braces, they are hard to practice without falling in the beginning. Getting up through a roll again makes practice easier.
If you can roll, you will become better at avoiding the need to roll your kayak, since you will find it easier to relax, which will improve your kayaking buy moving with the waves.
You get an additional rescue technique. If you have done a wet exit, and need to get back into the kayak, a wet re-entry followed by a kayak eskimo roll is a method to get up that works well also in rougher waters.
You do not have to spend as long time in the water, which is important if the water is cold.
I feel there is a huge difference between the relatively easy to learn low brace, and the above braces. The above braces are strong braces for tough situations. They are harder to learn than low braces, but useful in situations where a low brace is not enough. One reason they are harder to learn is that in order to practice them, you really have to be leaning your kayak way outside the normal range, which feels a lot more comofotable to do if you know you have a good chance to just let yourself sink down in the water and then do the eskimo roll to come up again, should the brace fail during practice or in real life.
Rolling a kayak is done in many different ways. There is two roll methods more commonly used as the first learned way of rolling, but there is no definite "this is how a roll should be done". From that follows that a definite "this is how to learn to roll" is hard to define as well. However, there is a number of common featuresm which all has to do with relaxation and knowing where you can trust yourself.
You need to relax while in the water. So practicing the wet exit until it does not feel frightening is a good idea. In fact, it is a good idea even if you are not going to learn to roll the kayak.
In the beginning, a kayak paddle will be helpful for making your roll, so learning to keep the paddle in a good grip when falling into the water is a good idea. In fact, if you can not keep track of the kayak paddle while doing a wet exit, you are probably not yet calm enough for learning to roll.
You need to roll the kayak with your hips, and keep your head low until the end of the roll. You will not get it up using only the kayak paddle and a lot of force. So practicing braces is good, as long as you practice the hip and head movement as part of the brace. It is not helping to practice the low brace and only using paddle force to straighten yopu up (it works quite well, but does not lead to the needed hip movement). Low brace is easiest to practice, high brace is harder to learn, and thus harder to practice, but the roll (as a get back up technicque) and the high brace, are very similar, so it is beneficial to try. Doing that will teach you where your limit is, and thus make you calmer while not over your limits (and maybe better at avoiding to be over your limits).
With the above in place, next step is learning to be under the water during the roll (if you immediately learn the eskimo roll, next step is about learning the technical parts of the roll, but it is noit likely). How to learn that depends on you as a person. Either look up a method to roll you believe is good, and start practicing it. Or approach someone willing to assist with training. Both ways works, but different individuals prefer different ways. Myself, I attended a kayak roll course by Kajakevent. It was held indoors during the winter, protecting us from the cold water and thus making it both safer and easier. It included a nice intermediate step, being undere the water and gripping a kayak to draw yourself up. This teaches you to be under the water and orient yourself, while the chance of actually getting up is very high.
I am rolling using the "sweep" method. The reason is that when I started practicing, the teacher considered my body to unbendable to fully go through, and thus concluded that best chance to get up was to use the sweep.
And succeeds with the roll, even after something that probably sent some adrenalin from him. That is having a reliable roll.
The event in the video might not be that usual, and nothing to especially prepare for. But even then, it is a good reminder on the essential part of the roll. It is the surprise of the situation that you need to handle.
It has happened, and will happen, that people who knows how to roll and practices it need to do a wet exit without having even tried to roll. When an unexpected event occur it is easy to in surprise let go of the paddel and do a wet exit, just because of the surprise. If that happens in cold water, the situation is very different to after a roll.
I am intentionally avoiding the technical traning, as well as the technical description of the parts of the kayak roll. This is because there is already so much good material available around that, I do not have that good roll, and I am trying to focus first on the reason to want to learn, and then the mental prerequisites for having a chance to succeed. With those in place, the technical parts can succeed, and most likely will, if you are giving the training some time and focus.
Theoretical insight in the movements needed may help the training, even "dry practice" where different parts are practiced without actually rolling in the water, might help. The way to learn will be individual, different methods suit different persons.
Focus on a factor often referred to as the key to succeeding with kayak roll, namely "look at the paddle blade through the whole kayak roll". This is to ensure the head stays low and is the part that last come up out of the water. But I think it also gives the mind a simple calming focus point, allowing the body to make the other parts work by routine.
All of the above helps both mind and body to succeed.
|
0.993545 |
Social Differences implies a state when people are discriminated or say one class/group is given preference over the other, due to the difference in their social, economic or racial inequality. It often leads to social division, wherein the society is divided into various groups. Overlapping and cross-cutting are the two types of social differences, of which overlapping is a crucial situation as compared to cross-cutting, as it may result in the social division.
The main difference between overlapping and cross-cutting social difference is that while the former creates a feeling in the people that they belong to a certain group or race, due to which they are discriminated, which is not in the case of the latter. To further explore this topic read out the article.
Meaning Overlapping is a situation wherein one social difference is reinforced by another social difference. Cross Cutting is a situation when one social difference is enfeebled by another social difference.
The overlapping social difference is a state when a particular social difference becomes more powerful than the other. As a result of which people may feel a strong bond to one group and isolated towards other which results in disintegration of the country.
An overlapping difference is a combination of many social differences, in which one difference is the root cause of other social differences. There are instances when people perceive themselves to be belonging to a particular community, race or language that creates a difference between them and others in the society, leading to an economic difference.
The cross-cutting social difference, as the name itself suggest, is one in which one social-difference is nullified by another. It is not easy to set one group of people in conflict with another group, meaning that the groups that have common interest and goals regarding a particular issue are likely to be in opposing side on a different issue.
As every citizen is a part of multiple social groups and they cannot be identified as a member of a single group, so these differences can be easily accommodated.
Overlapping social difference refers to the case when one social difference becomes more powerful, due to the impact of another. As against, the cross-cutting social difference is the situation when a social difference is compromised with another.
The overlapping social difference may lead to social division and tension to a great extent. Conversely, the accommodation of cross-cutting is easy.
To sum up, it is one of the bitter truth that, social divisions do exist in the world, in spite of the fact that every person is equal in the eyes of law. We are not given the chance to choose our community, we belong to it, because we are born in it, so it must not be a factor to discriminate and disrespect people belonging to that particular community, race or gender.
Social differences not only create differences in the mind of people, but it also hampers the country’s growth and peace, resulting in diversity. One thing is to be noted that we all are same and no one is superior or inferior and so equality must be promoted.
too good . Nice explanation.
|
0.999999 |
Should drugs be legalised in the UK? Current Drug Situation in the UK The main recreational drugs are found in today?s society are: 1. Alcohol (legal after the age of 18) 2. Tobacco (legal after the age of 18) 3. Marijuana (grass, hash, pot, ganja, skunk) 4. Inhalants or solvents (e.g. glue sniffing) 5. Ecstasy (E, MDMA or 'pills') 6. Cocaine and crack cocaine 7. Heroin People take drugs because they want to change something about their lives. People use drugs to feel good. For real, it does feel good because most drugs act directly on the limbic system, in the brain. At this point, it can be considered recreational use. Here are some of the reasons that young people take drugs: 1. To fit in e.g. peer pressure 2. To escape or relax 3. To relieve boredom 4. To seem grown up 5. To rebel e.g. with parents 6. To experiment Young people are most at risk because they think drugs are a solution. They don?t have any knowledge of the consequences of taking drugs. They just want to change their situation and their life style. If they're depressed, they want to become happy. ...read more.
and production depend on what type or ?class? the drug is. Class Drug Possession Supply and Production A Crack cocaine, cocaine, ecstasy (MDMA), heroin, LSD, magic mushrooms, methadone, methamphetamine (crystal meth) Up to 7 years in prison, an unlimited fine or both Up to life in prison, an unlimited fine or both B Amphetamines, barbiturates, cannabis, codeine, methylphenidate (Ritalin), synthetic cannabinoids, synthetic cathinones (e.g. mephedrone, methoxetamine) Up to 5 years in prison, an unlimited fine or both Up to 14 years in prison, an unlimited fine or both. C Anabolic steroids, benzodiazepines (diazepam), gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB), gamma-butyrolactone (GBL), ketamine, piperazines (BZP) Up to 2 years in prison, an unlimited fine or both Up to 14 years in prison, an unlimited fine or both Should the laws change in future? The arguments for legalising drugs- 1. People wishing to use drugs could do so without being a criminal 2. Children would not come into contact with the criminal underworld like they do now; most people would have nothing at all to do with crime. 3. Drug deaths and medical costs would decline radically because drugs would be quality controlled, and not mixed with harmful substances which cause most of the medical problems. ...read more.
And using drugs often causes other problems on top of the problems the person had in the first place. A person who uses drugs can become dependent on them, or addicted. This means that the person's body becomes so accustomed to having this drug that he or she can't function well without it. Once a person is addicted, it's very hard to stop taking drugs. Stopping can cause withdrawal symptoms, such as vomiting sweating, and shaking. These sick feelings continue until the person's body gets adjusted to being drug free again. While doing this assessment, my attitude towards the drugs stayed the same, negative. However, from researching, I picked up some interesting facts that I wasn?t aware of before. But, whenever I am in a dilemma about this topic, I always seek advice either from my parents or friends. But I think, I find friend?s advice more useful since they are the same age as me, they would understand the peer-pressure more than parents. They also know the situation more as well. With my parents, there is also the generation gap between my parents and me therefore, sometimes it?s hard for them to understand the situation I am in. Finally, in future, I would like to find out more about drugs through independent research which helps me to learn and remember the information as well. ...read more.
A good piece of work looking at whether drugs should be legalised in the UK. The writer gave some useful background information such as the types of drugs, though perhaps some figures regarding drug usage among young people in the UK would have been useful also.
There were some comments that needed some supporting evidence, eg. the reasons why people take drugs, and I would advise against using ?slang? terms like ?kid? and ?for real?. On page 4, try to make the points related to the wider effects on society. There were a few odd grammatical errors which could be eliminated by careful proof-reading.
Calvinists and Puritans, because many of the people in industrial areas of Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth century were Calvinists. Calvinists believe in Predestination which is an idea that people are not free to make their own choices but are allocated places in heaven in advance, those who go to heaven are elect.
For instance, if a student has to go to work for an emergency, he is faced with the decision of whether to study for the next day's exam or go to work and not risk being fired.
Money also can cause significant damage to once a stable political society to become spiteful and greedy. The United States is the perfect example. President Bush has always had a strong desire to lead his country. However, the decisions that he made only benefited what he believed was best and not what the country believed.
Marshall says that since the late 19th century there have been factors in society that have affected the practices of citizenship and socio-economics. For example, according to Marshall there is an increasing equality of income, in that there is becoming a more even distribution of earnings within society.
diet and to provide increased support for breastfeeding and parenting (NHS Plan, 2000). This intervention by the state on people's diet with such campaigns often influences the individual's lifestyle choices and directly change the way of thinking within the class.
|
0.99996 |
Pay off high-rate credit cards from low-yield savings. Many credit cards charge 18% or more in annual interest, while some store cards charge as much as 24%. It makes sense to pay off those high-rate balances with any extra cash that you have sitting in low-yielding savings accounts. For instance, paying off a $1000, 18% credit-card balance from a 1%-yielding savings account would save you $170.
|
0.98114 |
The Original Meaning of the Word "Turkey"
An important fact that I suppose many people do not expect is this: The Ottoman administration and people never named their government or state "Turkey". The word "Turkey" (or Turchia, Türkei, etc.), which was used in European languages to mean "the land of the Ottomans", must have begun to be used in Turkish only toward the middle of the 19th century. Europeans, on the other hand, used to refer to the Ottoman dynasty, their state and the entire Muslim community under their rule as the Turks. There was also a similar usage among the Ottoman population in the Balkans. For example, if you would have asked a Muslim Albanian (or, for that matter, a Muslim Bosnian or a Balkan Turk), he would have said: "The pillars of Turkishness are five: To say the word of the testimony [i.e. the shahada, the statement that there is no other deity than Allah/God and that Muhammad (God bless him and give him peace) is His messenger], to pray the five daily prayers, to fast, ..." (These are actually "the five pillars of Islam".) Furthermore, even in our present time, oldish Muslims in the Balkans or with roots in the Balkans often form very similar sentences and understand the word Turk in this way.
Below is a translation of a blog post of mine in Turkish. I feel the need to write this introductory paragraph before the actual text because it may sound odd to foreigners how come some Turks can claim to be something other than descendants of Ottomans. It is indeed strange, but it has tangible roots in in the history of the last 90 years or so on account of the fact that, since around 1925, authoritarian Westernization and secularism, coupled with a continuation of Western-style nationalism of the hard-line type widespread in the 1930s, has dominated the Turkish educational system and politics under the official jumble of Europe-inspired opinions.
|
0.991735 |
Product Description and Benefits: This is an excellent choice to treat arthritic pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, mild to moderate wrist sprain, or following cast removal. The durable canvas glove with adjustable criss-cross lacing provides uniform support and compression to the wrist to help relieve swelling and minimize pain. The preshaped metal splint prevents painful wrist flexion, and holds the wrist in a neutral position to promote healing. Available for both right and left wrists.
What are the benefits/plusses of this product? Gives me relief from my wrist pain. Cleans and adjusts easily.
|
0.934151 |
John Adrian Louis Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow, 7th Earl of Hopetoun, KT, GCMG, GCVO, PC (25 September 1860 – 29 February 1908) was a British aristocrat and statesman who served as the first Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1901 to 1902. He was previously Governor of Victoria from 1889 to 1895.
Hopetoun was born into the Scottish nobility, and succeeded his father as Earl of Hopetoun at the age of 12. He attended Eton College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, but opted not to pursue a full-time military career. Hopetoun sat with the Conservative Party in the House of Lords, and became a Lord-in-waiting in 1885 and Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1887. He was appointed Governor of Victoria at the age of 29, and had a successful tenure in a time of political and economic instability.
After returning to England in 1895, Hopetoun served in Lord Salisbury's cabinet as Paymaster General and Lord Chamberlain. The announcement of his appointment to the new governor-generalship in July 1900 was met with praise. However, he arrived in Australia ill-informed about the political aspects of federation, and his decision to call on William Lyne to form a caretaker government became known as the "Hopetoun Blunder". Lyne, who had campaigned against federation, had little support from the political establishment, and Hopetoun was forced to turn to Edmund Barton to serve as Australia's first prime minister. His relationship with Barton once in office was civil, although his interferences in political matters were not well-received.
Hopetoun was popular with the general public, but developed a reputation for flamboyance and ostentation. His desire for a large expenses allowance was rebuffed by parliament, and he consequently relinquished office in July 1902. He was granted a marquessate upon his return to England, and thereafter withdrew from public life, except for a brief term as Secretary of State for Scotland in 1905. He died in France at the age of 47, after several years of ill health. Hopetoun's term as governor-general is generally regarded as a failure, and his successors generally avoided emulating his extravagance. Only Lord Denman held the position at a younger age.
Hope was born at South Queensferry, West Lothian, Scotland, the eldest son of John Hope, 6th Earl of Hopetoun and the former Ethelred Anne Birch-Reynardson. He was educated at Eton College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, where he passed out in 1879. However, he chose not to join the regular army upon graduation. He later explained "the affairs of the family estate, to which I succeeded at 13, seemed to call for my personal attention". Subsequently, he devoted his attentions to managing the more than seventeen thousand hectares (42,500 acres) of family estate located around the Firth of Forth.
He married, in London on 18 October 1886, Hersey Alice Eveleigh-de Moleyns (formerly Mullins), a Scots-born Irish aristocrat (daughter of 4th Baron Ventry) then aged 19. They would have two sons and a daughter; a second daughter died in infancy. Their elder son Victor would become Viceroy and Governor-General of India (1936–43), after having declined the governorship of Madras and the governor-generalship of Australia.
In 1883, Hopetoun became Conservative whip in the House of Lords and served as a Lord in Waiting to Queen Victoria from June 1885 to January 1886 and August 1886 to August 1889. From 1887 to 1889 he was also appointed Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
In 1889 he was appointed Governor of Victoria (and additionally GCMG), where he served until 1895. His appointment came amid a general stylistic change in colonial governors. Reflecting "Britain's more flamboyant pride in Empire, Australian colonial governors began to display a new colour and ostentation". Increased interest in Empire had spurred the appearance of young and wealthy aristocrats in place of previous career administrators.
Hopetoun's time as Governor was in keeping with the newly emerging style. He rapidly developed a reputation for lavish entertaining and spectacular vice-regal galas. Notwithstanding poor health and colonial astonishment at his habit of wearing hair-powder, his youthful enthusiasm for routine duties and his fondness for informal horseback tours won him many friends.
Hopetoun's term coincided with a number of serious difficulties being faced by the colonies. The economic boom in the colony was reversed by the Great Crash in 1891, leading to a decade of depression, bank failures, industrial action and political instability. In contrast to the troubles faced during this period by other colonial governors, Hopetoun by most accounts handled this period ably and subsequently stayed in office for longer than the usual term. However, the reality of the 1890s was that colonial governors had lost much of their administrative and political power, instead assuming more figurative and representative roles.
Hopetoun's term also coincided with the important years of the federation movement in Victoria. The economic crash and resultant political and social problems laid bare the inefficiencies of the colonial system and sparked renewed interest in an Australian federation. Hopetoun was an active supporter of the movement, appearing at numerous banquets and giving speeches in its favour. At one such banquet he even offered to return to Australia as their first governor-general should Federation be implemented. Upon leaving the governorship and returning to the United Kingdom in 1895, Hopetoun was a widely popular figure in Victoria and New South Wales.
After his return to the United Kingdom he was made a privy councillor, was appointed Paymaster-General in the Salisbury government from 1895 to 1898, and then became Lord Chamberlain until 1900. 1900 also saw his appointment as a Knight of the Thistle and GCVO.
The Australian colonies had agreed to federate, to form the Commonwealth of Australia from 1 January 1901. Hopetoun's popularity in Victoria and his friendship with leading Australian politicians made him an obvious choice to be the first Governor-General of Australia. In his submission to Queen Victoria in July 1900, Secretary of State for the Colonies Joseph Chamberlain described Hopetoun as "exceptionally qualified to discharge the duties of this important position with ability and efficiency" and stated that he would be "heartily welcomed" in Australia. His strong ties with the Queen and with the incumbent British administration were also important to appointers in London. His appointment was approved by the Queen on 14 July 1900 and on 29 October letters patent were issued constituting the office and his own instructions. Hopetoun arrived in Sydney on 15 December, via India, where he had caught typhoid fever and his wife malaria. Already in poor health during the preceding years in England, the trip further diminished Hopetoun's capacities.
Intercolonial rivalries and traditional suspicions in Sydney of the excessive influence of Melbourne over national affairs were cause for some complex manoeuvres during Hopetoun's arrival. Though he was initially intended to arrive via Melbourne, local politicians insisted that the incoming Governor-General should disembark in Perth before going on to Sydney. Illness and misadventure following the Indian leg of the journey disrupted Hopetoun's tour and made the arduous arrival preparations difficult to complete. Lady Hopetoun had suffered a relapse of her condition during the trip across Australia, adding further to Hopetoun's personal troubles.
Hopetoun's immediate task was to appoint a prime minister to form an interim government, which would take office on 1 January 1901. Since the first federal election was not scheduled to be held until March, he could not follow the usual convention of appointing the leader of the majority party in the House of Representatives. On 19 December 1900 Hopetoun chose to ask Sir William Lyne, the Premier of New South Wales, to form the first Commonwealth ministry. This caused great surprise amongst Australian and British politicians. In Australia, it had generally been assumed that Edmund Barton, a key leader of the Federation movement and drafter of the Constitution, would be offered the post in the first instance. The decision was defensible in terms of protocol, but it ignored the fact that Lyne had long strongly opposed federation until the passage of the referenda of 1899, and was unpopular with the leading federalist politicians. Explanations for the appointment generally revolve around the precedent established by Canada, whereby the Premier of the senior colony, John A. Macdonald of Ontario, had formed the first federal Canadian government. Also, Barton was not a member of any parliament (he had resigned from the NSW Parliament earlier that year), and, although he had considerable political experience, he was considered in some quarters to be politically inept. Lyne, on the other hand, was recognised as a tough and experienced politician.
However, it quickly became apparent that Lyne would not be able to form the first government. Alfred Deakin and other prominent politicians, particularly Victorian politicians, told Hopetoun they would not serve under Lyne. Lyne returned his commission on 24 December and Hopetoun sent for Edmund Barton, the leader of the federal movement and the man everybody believed was entitled to the post. Barton successfully assembled a cabinet, one that included Lyne, and it was sworn in by Hopetoun on the inauguration of the Commonwealth on New Year's Day, 1901. That afternoon, Hopetoun and the new government assembled at Government House, Sydney for the first meeting of the Federal Executive Council.
Hopetoun, wary that his actions would constitute important precedents for the new nation, generally followed pre-existing Canadian and British conventions in discharging his constitutional duties. Hopetoun was well-acquainted with many members of the first government and built a strong personal relationship with Barton, placing him in a position of respect and influence with the new federal politicians. He consulted regularly with the Prime Minister and with George Reid, the effective leader of the opposition, in the lead up to the first federal election in March 1901.
More problems soon arose though in establishing the new machinery of government. Hopetoun had brought his own Official Secretary, Captain Edward William Wallington, who handled all his communications with London. Wallington was highly experienced in Australian colonial administration, having advised many governors previously and earning a reputation as an expert in managing communications and relations with the Colonial Office in London. However Australians resented an Englishman being in charge of official business, and the fact that Wallington had no responsibility to the new Commonwealth parliament despite his influential governmental position.
Other problems appeared with regard to the relationship between the new Governor-General and the continuing state governors. Disputes emerged between Hopetoun and several state governors—particularly South Australian governor Lord Tennyson, who would be Hopetoun's successor—over the Governor-General's right of access to dispatches and communiqués of the state governors. Questions of the independence of the states were raised and some fears of federal takeover of local affairs persisted during the disputes, until uneasy compromises were reached which saw some but not total subordination of state governors. Hopetoun continued to struggle to diminish pre-existing local parochial sentiments within the states, though his position within the Commonwealth was much better publicised and secured after his co-ordination and hosting of the Royal Visit in 1901. Tactful dealings with state governors and his strength at mediation helped secure that position in the early years of the Commonwealth as confidence in the new national entity was forged.
There was also resentment over the regal pomp upon which Hopetoun insisted in carrying out his role, and the expense which this entailed. Official visits to the states often incurred significant local expenses often not reimbursed by the Commonwealth, causing ructions in State-Federal relations until a resolution was reached in 1905, well after Hopetoun's term expired.
Hopetoun also proved to be problematic as a public speaker in the new role. Though steering clear of any controversial subjects and stressing national unity and identity during his first months, in late 1901 and early 1902, he had committed several constitutional faux pas by publicly taking positions on political matters. Most notably in a speech to the Australian Natives' Association in January 1902, Hopetoun chose to discuss government policy towards the Boer War. He defended Barton's decision to commit support to the conflict, emphasised his own role in the making of the decision alongside Barton and professed a belief that it was Australia's duty to stand behind the imperial government in the war.
Though Barton and most of those who present were pleased with the patriotic speech, opposition leader George Reid quickly seized upon the issue as an example of inappropriate interference by the Governor-General in political affairs that were the exclusive domain of parliament. A debate resulted in parliament which was generally critical, or at least tacitly disapproving, of Hopetoun's comments. The Bulletin summarised the opposition opinion in its editorial: "Since the day of the Governor-General's arrival, he has shown a disposition to assert, and Mr Barton to allow, powers utterly at variance with the rights of a self-governing people."
Though most other opinion leaders did not go as far to state outright opposition to the Governor-General's actions, they did spur important early debates as to the role of the Governor-General. Barton himself admitted to some influence from the Governor-General: though initially Barton was reluctant to commit support to the Boer War, communications by Hopetoun to the Colonial Office in December 1901 revealed that Barton's position had been changed in favour of committing support and that change had most likely been driven by Hopetoun's efforts.
Hopetoun also notably exercised influence over the content and passage of the Immigration Restriction Bill of 1901. Instructions from the Colonial Office revealed that in its original form, the bill was unacceptable to the British government, and Hopetoun was instructed to reserve Royal Assent until changes had been made. Hopetoun was left in a difficult position, as fears of immigration were rampant in Australia at the time and the bill was popular, notwithstanding the disapproval of the British government. A difficult period of private manoeuvring followed, after which Hopetoun was obliged to reserve assent on further amendments to the bill in the absence of instructions from London in an attempt to balance the interests of the Commonwealth and the Colonial Office. Eventually, important concessions were made by the Barton government and the bill was assented to by Hopetoun, although still not completely in line with imperial policy. Hopetoun's use of the assent power to negotiate changes in Commonwealth legislation was effective and skilfully deployed so as to avoid public confrontation over the issue.
An interesting friendship developed between Lord Hopetoun and the Melbourne anarchist and union pioneer, John 'Chummy' Fleming. In May 1901, Fleming protested against unemployment in Melbourne by rushing onto the Prince's Bridge to halt the Governor-General's carriage. Hopetoun told the police not to interfere and listened to Fleming put the case for the unemployed. Out of this encounter came a friendship which endured after Hopetoun returned to England. According to some reports, Hopetoun is credited with pressuring the government to speed up government work projects.
Hopetoun's time as Governor-General came to an abrupt and embarrassing end after a dispute over the financial arrangements for the office emerged in mid-1902. The Constitutional Conventions of the 1890s had set the Governor-General salary at a generous £10,000, equivalent to the Canadian office. Yet in Canada, extensive provisions had been made for travel, residence and entertaining, no provisions for which were made in the Australian case.
Discussion of this matter provoked traditional rivalries between New South Wales and Victoria, with both maintaining that the Governor-General's seat should be in their respective state capitals. Eventually, houses in both states were provided for the Governor-General's use and expectations were made that the viceroy would share his time between the two. However provision for the cost of maintaining two large residences, while planning the construction of a third in the future federal capital, became subject to the long-running dispute between the Commonwealth and the states.
Victoria and New South Wales both avoided the issue and failed to pass bills allowing for the Governor-General's expenses while present in either state to be paid by the state itself. By the assumption of duties in 1901, Hopetoun still did not have a formal allowance approved for his expenses, but was privately assured by Barton that at least £8000 per annum would be at his disposal for the conduct of vice-regal duties.
Hopetoun was advised by the Colonial Office that he should limit his entertaining and expenses while the situation remained officially unresolved, but Hopetoun was by nature an extravagant figure in public life and significant resources were expended by Hopetoun travelling and hosting the Royal Visit. Barton meanwhile delayed on preparing a Commonwealth bill to cover the costs, stalling until mid-1902 to present the bill.
By this time, the euphoria of the royal tour had ended and political focus was on the still serious recession and drought that were straining the Australian economy. Barton's speech in favour of the £8000 allowance was weak, and every other speaker in the debate on the bill opposed the legislation, which was subsequently amended into an unrecognisable measure designed to recoup the expense of the royal visit. The parliament then made it clear that no allowance would be approved for the vice-regal activities beyond what salary was already paid. Hopetoun was shocked: he had already incurred very great costs out of his own pocket to cover the expense of the office, which had strained his personal fortunes.
Publicly humiliated by the parliamentary rebuke, still in relatively ill health, and now under financial duress; on 5 May Hopetoun announced to the Colonial Office his desire to be recalled from the position. The Colonial Office expressed displeasure at the actions of the Barton government and complied with the request.
Though newspapers and politicians were divided on who was to blame for the sudden resignation, and many tried to dissuade Hopetoun from his decision, ultimately it became clear that Hopetoun's perceptions that the Governor-General would be a position analogous to the Viceroy of India or similar elaborate position were out of touch with public perceptions of the role. Hopetoun's attempts to serve Australia as a glamorous figure of the British Empire had brought him into conflict with domestic politics and ultimately were cause for the abrupt end to his term. Although Hopetoun's brief and frictional time in office revitalised some debate over whether the position should be a locally elected one, successors in the role quickly realised and conformed with the relative modesty which the position demanded and the system of British appointments continued.
Hopetoun and his family left Australia (from Brisbane) on 17 July 1902, at which point Lord Tennyson, Governor of South Australia, took over as Administrator of the Government. Still very popular with the Australian public, there were elaborate and tearful farewell ceremonies in Melbourne and Sydney. Upon Hopetoun's return to Britain, King Edward VII recognised his service by bestowing upon him the title of Marquess of Linlithgow, in the county of Linlithgow or West Lothian, on 23 October 1902. However among observers, and particularly Hopetoun himself, "there was little doubt that he had been less than successful in the great test of his public career".
In the wake of his resignation, Alfred Deakin provided an explanatory editorial under alias for the British public in The Morning Post: "Our first Governor General may be said to have taken with him all the decorations and display and some of the anticipations that splendidly surrounded the inauguration of our national existence...we have...revised our estimate of high office, stripping it too hastily, but not unkindly, of its festal trappings. The stately ceremonial was fitting, but it has been completed."
Though he greatly desired appointment to the Viceroyalty of India, Linlithgow was prevented from attaining the position by poor health and adverse political developments, though his son Victor, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow, would eventually assume this role (after rejecting the post of Australian Governor-General in 1935) from 1936 to 1943. His grandson Lord Glendevon married the daughter of the English novelist W. Somerset Maugham.
His final political appointment was to that of Secretary for Scotland during the last months of the ministry of Arthur Balfour in 1905. However his political career failed to advance, and still plagued by poor health, he died suddenly of pernicious anaemia at Pau, France, on 29 February 1908.
^ "No. 25974". The London Gazette. 13 September 1889. p. 4943.
^ "No. 10694". The Edinburgh Gazette. 23 July 1895. p. 1101.
^ "No. 27237". The London Gazette. 12 October 1900. p. 6252.
^ "Letters Patent constituting the office of Governor-General 29 October 1900 (UK)". Documenting a Democracy. Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
^ "Queen Victoria's Instructions to the Governor-General 29 October 1900 (UK)". Documenting a Democracy. Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
^ "No. 11456". The Edinburgh Gazette. 28 October 1902. p. 1061.
Carroll, Brian (2004). Australia's Governors-General: From Hopetoun to Jeffery. Sydeny: Rosenberg. ISBN 1-877058-21-1.
Cunneen, Christopher (1983a). "Hopetoun, seventh Earl of (1860–1908)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. 9. Canberra: Australian National University.
Cunneen, Christopher (1983b). King's Men: Australia's Governors-General from Hopetoun to Isaacs. Sydney: G. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 0-86861-238-3.
La Nauze, J. A. (1957). The Hopetoun Blunder: the Appointment of the First Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia, December 1900. Carlton: Melbourne University Press.
Serle, Percival (1949). "Hope, John Adrian Loius". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus and Robertson.
Souter, Gavin (1976). Lion and Kangaroo: the Initiation of Australia, 1901–1919. Sydney: Collins.
Torrance, David (2006). The Scottish Secretaries. Edinburgh: Birlinn. ISBN 978-1841584768.
Wright, Don (1970). Shadow of Dispute: Aspects of Commonwealth-State Relations, 1901–1910. Canberra: Australian National University Press. ISBN 978-0708108109.
This page was last edited on 25 April 2019, at 03:07 (UTC).
|
0.999903 |
The PHP equality operator == is (based on my experience) probably the weirdest and most overused comparison operator in popular programming languages. Looking back I had my attempts at trying to work out the details of it's innerworkings during various hackmes and CTFs, but I never got to the bottom of it (oh, if at this point you're wondering something along the lines of "Huh? What is he talking about? It's just a simple comparison operator, right?", you better keep reading). Anyways, the topic came back during a discussion on PHP security I had with my friend Claudio - we wondered if there is a good reference table for this operator. Well, during the last couple of days I had a little more time so I've decided to dig into the interpreter's code, make some tests, understand how the operator works and create such a reference table (might come in handy in the future CTFs). But this post is not only about the reference table - I've also noted down some interesting example which prove my point about == being weird - frankly, my current stance is that it shouldn't be used unless the developer knows EXACTLY what will happen in a given case.
The rest of the post is structured as following: first there is a short explanation on PHP type internals, then there's a short paragraph on how the operator == works on a high level, and lastly there are several cases described that I found interesting.
TL;DR: feel free to skip the first two sections and go straight for the examples.
1. I have one more item on my "TODO" list - the proxy objects. So for the time being please assume that the reference table, the tests, and this post, are all lacking information about these kind of objects.
2. This post is solely about the "equal" operator ==. There is also an "identical" operator === which is not described in this post; however it should be the first choice when it comes to variable comparison in PHP.
This section focuses solely on variable types from the equality operator's point of view. For a more general description of PHP variables as well as a glimpse on the internal zval structure (variable container in the engine) check out this article on php.net.
• BOOL - Stores either a 0 or a 1 in a LONG's data field.
• LONG - For some reason in PHP language it's called int, but in the engine itself it's called LONG so I'm going to stick with that name. One interesting behavior is that if you would create a LONG of any value and start to increment it, at one point (the LONG overflow point) the type will be automatically switched to DOUBLE (I guess my Polish-speaking readers could compare it to these behaviors). An interesting inconsistency for a high level language is that in both 32-bit and 64-bit PHP the point-of-switch is different (32-bit INT_MAX and 64-bit LONG_MAX respectively).
• DOUBLE - Called float in the PHP language. It's a standard C/C++ double.
• STRING - 8-bit-per-character length+data ("pascal") string.
• ARRAY - Either an indexed or an associative (or both actually) array. The key/index must be either a STRING or a LONG.
• OBJECT - This type is used for both PHP language objects, internal and extension-provided objects, and closures (yes, closures are objects in PHP).
• and RESOURCE - Described by the resource ID (actually it's a LONG number stored in the LONG's data field) and resource type.
• compare_objects - Used to compare two objects that have the same compare_objects handler. This handler is obligatory, even if it does nothing (e.g. always returns "not equal").
• cast_object - Used to cast the object to a given type (used by the == operator when one operand is an OBJECT and the other is neither an OBJECT nor it's NULL). This handler is optional.
• get - Used only by proxy objects (which, as said in the note at the beginning of this post, I am yet to analyze). This handler is optional.
• default_exception_handlers - used by the standard PHP Exception class (php-src/Zend/zend_exceptions.c).
• closure_handlers - used by the PHP closures (the Closure class; php-src/Zend/zend_closures.c).
• date_object_handlers_date - used by the DateTime class (php-src/ext/date/php_date.c).
• spl_filesystem_object_handlers - used by the FilesystemIterator class (php-src/ext/spl/spl_directory.c).
• and finally the most important set of handlers: std_object_handlers - the standard PHP language class/object handlers - all of the objects you create from classes defined in PHP scripts use this set of handlers.
‣ Cast to STRING - Call the __tostring PHP method. If the method is not present, return FAILURE (failed to cast). If the __tostring method returns a string that string is returned as the result of the cast. If the method returns a non-string a Catchable Error is raised (E_RECOVERABLE_ERROR) and an empty string "" is returned as the result of the cast. If the method throws an exception a Fatal Error is raised (E_ERROR).
‣ Cast to BOOL - Always returns BOOL(true) as the result of the cast.
‣ Cast to LONG - Always returns LONG(1) and raises a Notice (E_NOTICE).
‣ Cast to DOUBLE - Always returns DOUBLE(1.0) and raises a Notice (E_NOTICE).
‣ It returns FAILURE (failed to cast) for all other types (RESOURCE, ARRAY).
• compare_objects (function zend_std_compare_objects) - If objects classes differ return "not equal". Otherwise do a deep* recursive comparison of all properties using the equality == operator (compare_function to be exact).
• get - Not present (NULL).
* One of the things I've notices is that the recursion is not limited in any way. This means that if there are two objects that hold a reference to either themselves or one another in a property, then comparing them will result in a PHP interpreter crash due to stack exhaustion. Please note that comparing two ARRAYs constructed in a similar manner would not crash the interpreter. Instead a Fatal Error "Nesting level too deep - recursive dependency?" (E_ERROR) would be raised. I've filed a bug for this (#63882).
And I guess that's all you need to know about PHP types to understand the rest of this post.
The main mechanics of the equality operator are implemented in the compare_function in php-src/Zend/zend_operators.c, however many cases call other functions or use big macros (which then call other functions that use even more macros), so reading this isn't too pleasant.
2. In case the pair of types is not on the above list the compare_function tries to cast the operands to either the type of the second operand (in case of OBJECTs with cast_object handler), cast to BOOL (in case the second type is either NULL or BOOL), or cast to either LONG or DOUBLE in most other cases. After the cast the compare_function is rerun.
See my PHP equal operator == reference table for details each specific case.
There are three classes of weird (unexpected / not intuitive in my opinion): the seemingly unequal operands giving an "are equal" result, the lack of transitiveness (and other inconsistencies), and the crashes. Let's start with the first group and continue down the list.
This is my favorite one. Personally I expected the equal operator == to just compare two strings and, if they are identical to the character, return "are equal". However, that's not the case!
The first thing the compare_function (or actually the zendi_smart_strcmp function) does is to try to convert both strings to either a LONG or a DOUBLE, skipping all the leading white chars and supporting both the scientific "e" notation and hexadecimal "0x" notation, and if the conversion succeeds, compare the numerical values (in case one is converted to a LONG and the other to a DOUBLE, the LONG one is cast to a DOUBLE).
So, comparing a string that doesn't match the other, containing a numerical value that doesn't match the over, still gave "equal" as a result (another "WTF" moment). A good thing is that this was fixed in newer PHPs (in 5.4.10 this gives "not equal").
I guess the PHP designers wanted to take advantage of PHP being weakly typed. However starting with a LONG/DOUBLE cast in case of two-string comparison is certainly counter intuitive for me. From another point of view I understand what the PHP devs wanted to achieve - a smart (as the name of the function suggests anyway) comparison of two strings where the comparator actually understands what the strings represent (which makes you wonder why "blue" is not equal to "#0000ff", or "awsome" is not equal to "barney stinson").
Btw, if you stick anything non-numeric at the end of the numerical value the result will be "not equal", e.g.: "1000" is not equal to "1000xyz". Also, it's still case sensitive so "asdf" vs "ASDF" are also not equal.
Suggestion: DO NOT USE the equality operator == for STRING vs STRING comparison unless you know EXACTLY what you're doing. Go with the === instead.
There are three interesting cases here.
Sadly this is quite inconsistent with the STRING vs STRING behavior (and actually I would prefer it to return "not equal"; consider this example: 5 == "5 million" or 5 == "5K" - these are not equal from the high level perspective yet PHP claims they are).
Be cautious when using this comparison.
The $a object is of class A, that has no methods nor properties. The $b object is of an internal ("built-in") class DateTime that has it's set of properties, methods, and even it's own comparison handler different than the zend_std_compare_objects one. Yet, PHP 5.4.3 would claim these objects are equal.
To be totally honest I must add that this comparison would additionally raise two surprising E_NOTICEs: "Object of class [class name here] could not be converted to int". "Converted to int (LONG)? What? Where?" - well, actually in case the objects had different compare_objects handler they would be cast to LONGs using either their own cast_object handler (the zend_std_cast_object_tostring would return LONG(1) + raise the said E_NOTICE) or if that one would not be set using the default behavior which is returning LONG(1). And of course LONG(1) is equal to LONG(1) so obviously the objects match.
Thankfully this got fixed and the newer PHP version I tested (5.4.10) returns "not equal".
The good news here is that you can define your own __tostring method in your class that would be used in comparison. There are two quirks here however.
It's quite strange for the default fallback to be "cast to LONG(1)". I think returning "not equal" would be a better choice.
In my opinion this should be "not equal" - after all, the __tostring did fail and the error handler is not able to correct the mistake.
This one actually makes some sense (in the PHP world that is) - the STRING is cast to DOUBLE, and the resource is cast to LONG (it's resource ID is taken as LONG) and then to DOUBLE, which leads to a DOUBLE vs DOUBLE comparison.
Outside of PHP world comparing a "0.002e3" string with a file handle doesn't make any sense in the first place. I would vote for making this return "not equal" in every case.
A bonus here would be a RESOURCE vs OBJECT comparison, where the resource of ID #1 would return "equal" if compared with any standard object. This doesn't make sense even in PHP world.
I've stumbled on two ways to crash PHP interpreter using the == operator, both involve objects and an unbounded recursion attempt.
This is a known bug from at least 5.2.6 from 2008 (see #46754), but it's low severity so it made it to 5.4.10 unfixed.
And that's all of the notes I had prepared. I might write another post in the near future when I get the proxy objects worked out.
I guess good ending words are (to repeat myself): DO NOT USE the equal == operator unless you know EXACTLY what you're doing and what will happen in the background. The "identical" operator === is better in almost every case.
Especially, NEVER use the == operator for security sensitive compares.
P.S. I wonder if Python, Perl or Ruby have similarly weird equality operator.
• At Least Python Got Equality Right at Xion's blog.
• PHP a fractal of bad design (thx to Przemysław Pawełczyk for this one).
Python has the "is" and the "==" operators, but they are fundamentally different, and I don't recall any weirdness from their part.
Some weird behaviour could be spotted when one of the comparison operator's argument is 'not a number'.
afair, the same code running under PHP 5.2.* gives completly different results (I'm not able to confirm that right now).
Are you saying you're getting bool(true) everywhere for 5.3.5 (win32) ?
I had a couple of NaNs in my tests too (linked at the top of the post) and the only non IEEE 754 compliant result I've found was var_dump(true == NAN) returning bool(true).
That said, I wonder if that wouldn't be correct anyway. I mean, returning bool(true) for NaN compares with STRING, ARRAY, RESOURCE, BOOL, OBJECT and NULL. After all, these are Not a Numbers.
It seems that this weird behaviour could be noticed only on Windows platform (someone put a comment, which suggests that NaN problem also affects PHP 5.3.3).
Well, I spotted that on my friend's laptop (which has PHP 5.3.5 installed on). However, I've tested it on my Linux platform today: (PHP 5.3.3; PHP 5.3.5; PHP 5.3.10 - 5.3.15) and the results are the same as yours.
|
0.999695 |
Search Thread - Unable to connect to pubs database... help!
What is the body part in this sentence? When I was little I had a car door slammed shut on my hand.
|
0.960815 |
Fanon is a term used to described influential or widely believed fan theories about the fictional elements of a series. The term is a portmanteau of fan and canon (which is used to describe known facts about that series). Those fan theories are often speculation based on stated canon facts, but sometime only bear a tenuous relation to the facts as stated, and it is possible for fanon to circumvent or contradict established canon. Fanon is distinct from headcanon, which describes the multiple fan theories a single fan believes in, whereas fanon describes a single fan theory that a large number of fans believe or used to believe.
In the Pokémon franchise, while fanon about the Pokémon anime is the most common type, there are also widely known fan theories about the video games, and about less common aspects of the franchise.
Most fanon begin its existence as the personal theories (headcanon) of one or a few fans. As they share their theories with other fans (both in discussion or via including it in their own fanworks), other fans begin to adopt the theory in turn, or to use it as the basis for their own theory. These fans in turn help spread the theory to more fans, leading to the theory becoming widespread and influential, and thus fanon. Even if belief in the theory later wanes, it remains fanon.
In most cases, these theories complement known canon facts. For example, in the original games, it is canon that the rival has a Raticate when encountered on the S.S. Anne. It is also canon that the protagonist next encounter him at Pokémon Tower in Lavender Town, a Pokémon cemetery, where he does not have the Raticate any more. This has led fans to speculate that that Blue's Raticate died at some point between the two encounters, possibly as a result of the battle with the protagonist on the S.S. Anne, a theory that has become fanon.
In other cases, fanon theories can seek to circumvent or outright ignore established canon. For example, a fanon theory proposes that the Pokédex entries found in the game and anime actually describes myths and folktales about various Pokémon species, rather than accurately portraying the abilities of those species. In that way, fans who find the abilities described in the Pokédex entries to be unbelievable or exaggerated are able to dismiss the more egregious claims as legends rather than facts.
The term "fanon" applies only to beliefs that are not stated to be correct in the source material. If a fanon theory is later confirmed by the series, it then becomes part of canon, and is no longer considered fanon. It is also limited to belief about the fictional elements of the series (such as plot, characters and setting). Speculation about real-world elements, such as the speculation surrounding possible third generation remakes, prior to the announcement of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, was not fanon. Likewise, speculation concerning why certain episodes of the anime were banned is not fanon.
The Pokémon franchise includes multiple distinct series, each with their own canon, or continuity, such as the anime, main series games, Pokémon Adventures manga, etc. Each series has its own set of canon facts, which are distinct from one another. These facts do not necessarily hold true for other series of the franchise. For example, while in the Anime, trainers are said to begin their journey at ten, this is never stated to be the case in the main series video games, and the protagonists whose ages are known are older than ten.
When it becomes popular fan belief that a canon fact from one of the series holds true in another Pokémon series, that belief is also a form of fanon.
Shipping, the belief that two characters are or should be romantically interested in each other, is one of the best known examples of fanon. However, not all named shippings represent fanon theories. While some, such as RocketShipping are extremely influential theories, others, such as those involving characters who have never met on screen, are neither popular nor influential (and thus, not fanon). In addition, a number of named shippings are humoristic in nature, and not actual theories supported by fans. These, likewise, are not part of fanon.
Likewise, confirmed shippings, such as BalanceShipping (Norman and Caroline, who are known to be a couple) are canon, and thus not fanon.
This page was last edited on 5 August 2018, at 10:18.
|
0.999973 |
I found small scrape of paper with these words, not sure where I got it.
No date or name on it.
1. Make a decision to HIGHLY value our children.
2. TOUCH our children - physically - emotionally - spiritually.
3. SPEAK words of affection to our children.
4. LEARN to be a student of our children.
5. Make a COMMITMENT to our children.
|
0.949294 |
Why are stability-indicating methods important in pharmaceutical analysis?
The stability-indicating assay is perhaps the single application of HPLC that has the most impact. It is the method used to establish shelf-life for pharmaceuticals. It is this HPLC assay that determines the expiry date of a drug. A pharmaceutical company will conduct thousands of stability studies to establish the shelf lives of their products.
HPLC and mass spectrometry each account for only about $5 billion of global sales. In contrast, pharmaceutical global sales are about $1.3 trillion. Even though the value of HPLC equipment sales is minuscule compared to pharmaceutical sales, HPLC is very important in affecting health and well-being when it comes to the drug development process and production.
Before a drug can be marketed it needs to have proven safety and efficacy - both depend on the purity of the drug. Impurities can make the drug unsafe and the level of drug potency depends on how much of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) is present. In order for pharmaceutical companies to be certain of the purity of their drugs they conduct numerous quality control analyses.
Acceptable potency is specified for each drug using the HPLC stability-indicating assay, which ensures that each batch of drug product is within 5-10% of the target level (label claim). Similarly, it must confirm that the level of impurities is acceptably low, for example, a maximum of 0.1 - 1% of the total drug. HPLC is a primary tool for the quality control of pharmaceuticals, for both large and small molecules.
The stability-indicating assay for drug purity is important because the purity of drugs is equated with quality and safety. Stability studies are required by regulatory bodies such as the US FDA (United States Food and Drug Administration), or the EMA (European Medicines Agency) in Europe. The purity of the drug must be within specification before it can be sold (release testing) and within the stated expiration date under the recommended storage conditions. Consequently, HPLC is pivotal to the pharmaceutical industry and hundreds of thousands of HPLCs are being used for this purpose alone. More than 50% of HPLC is in the pharmaceutical industry.
|
0.999555 |
how do we know that an element will form a covalent bond or a ionic bond?
The ionic bond is where an atom takes one valence electron from the other. This will give one atom a positive formal charge and the other a negative formal charge. The two atoms stay together because of the electrostatic attraction of the plus and minus charges.
The covalent bond is one in which two atoms share two electrons. They do this to fill their valence shells.
The way to find whether a bond is ionic or covalent is to look how far apart the two atoms forming the bonds are in the periodic table. If one atom is of the far left (Group 1 or 2) and the other is on the far right (Group 5, 6, or 7), then the atoms will have large differences in EN and will form an ionic bond. Most other pairs of atoms are close enough in EN to form covalent bonds. For example, any two atoms in the main group elements (Groups 3, 4, 5, 6, 7), will usually form a covalent bond. Remember to treat hydrogen like a Group 3 element as its EN is closest to boron.
|
0.999792 |
Unleash the power of computer vision with Python using OpenCVAbout This BookCreate impressive applications with OpenCV and PythonFamiliarize yourself with advanced machine learning conceptsHarness the power of computer vision with this easy-to-follow guideWho This Book Is ForIntended for novices to... read more the world of OpenCV and computer vision, as well as OpenCV veterans that want to learn about what's new in OpenCV 3, this book is useful as a reference for experts and a training manual for beginners, or for anybody who wants to familiarize themselves with the concepts of object classification and detection in simple and understandable terms. Basic knowledge about Python and programming concepts is required, although the book has an easy learning curve both from a theoretical and coding point of view.What You Will LearnInstall and familiarize yourself with OpenCV 3's Python APIGrasp the basics of image processing and video analysisIdentify and recognize objects in images and videosDetect and recognize faces using OpenCVTrain and use your own object classifiersLearn about machine learning concepts in a computer vision contextWork with artificial neural networks using OpenCVDevelop your own computer vision real-life applicationIn DetailOpenCV 3 is a state-of-the-art computer vision library that allows a great variety of image and video processing operations. Some of the more spectacular and futuristic features such as face recognition or object tracking are easily achievable with OpenCV 3. Learning the basic concepts behind computer vision algorithms, models, and OpenCV's API will enable the development of all sorts of real-world applications, including security and surveillance.Starting with basic image processing operations, the book will take you through to advanced computer vision concepts. Computer vision is a rapidly evolving science whose applications in the real world are exploding, so this book will appeal to computer vision novices as well as experts of the subject wanting to learn the brand new OpenCV 3.0.0. You will build a theoretical foundation of image processing and video analysis, and progress to the concepts of classification through machine learning, acquiring the technical know-how that will allow you to create and use object detectors and classifiers, and even track objects in movies or video camera feeds. Finally, the journey will end in the world of artificial neural networks, along with the development of a hand-written digits recognition application.Style and approachThis book is a comprehensive guide to the brand new OpenCV 3 with Python to develop real-life computer vision applications.
|
0.999976 |
suntuosidad nfnombre femenino: Sustantivo de género exclusivamente femenino ("mesa", "tabla"). (grandeza, lujo) sumptuousness nnoun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.
(luxury) lavishness, opulence nnoun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.
No aparecen discuciones con "suntuosidad" en el foro Spanish-English.
See Google Translate's machine translation of 'suntuosidad'.
|
0.998629 |
The American pronunciation puts primary stress on the second syllable ('dem') and secondary stress on the fourth syllable ('tence'). Could somebody more familiar with IPA than I am please add this to the article as an accepted pronunciation?
Is there a "correct" pronunciation for this word?
In general, there is no way to determine a single "correct pronunciation" for words with multiple pronunciations. That said, as far as I can tell there is no basis for saying that Americans in general put primary stress on the second syllable of idempotent. If you look it up using OneLook Dictionary Search, you'll see that a number of other pronunciations are listed in American dictionaries. It's certainly plausible that some Americans say it this way, but I can't even find any evidence that this is an "accepted" pronunciation for most Americans, let alone "the" American pronunciation.
Why it (often) isn't stressed like "omnipotent"
The word omnipotent comes from a pre-existing Latin adjective (omnipotēns, genitive omnipotentis). This became French omnipotent, which is the immediate source of the English word. English speakers generally perceive French words as having their stress on the last syllable, but this is a pretty unnatural position for the stress of English adjectives. Many adjectives taken from French have shifted the accent two syllables back, resulting in the stress on the third-from-last ("antepenultimate") syllable seen in the English adjective omnipotent. (This description of the stress shift is an oversimplification, and the details are complicated and not entirely clear; see the discussion of "countertonic stress" in this article by Piotr Gasiorowski: "Words in -ate and the history of English stress").
The word idempotent is a compound word formed in English from the Latin word idem and the adjective potent. In general, English compound words retain some degree of stress in the original positions on both parts.
A possibly analoguous example is the word polyvalent/-ce, another compound formed in modern times from classical components: it's usually pronounced "POLy-VALEnt", with the primary stress in the same place as the word valent/-ce and secondary stress on the first syllable of the prefix, whereas the word equivalent, which can be traced back to Latin aequivalens, has the stress on the third-to-last syllable ("eQUIValent").
There are different traditions for pronouncing Latin words in English. The oldest still in use is described by this Wikipedia article: "Traditional English pronunciation of Latin." In this tradition, vowel length in Latin has nothing to do with English pronunciation. Instead, vowel letters are pronounced as "long" or "short" depending on the surrounding letters and the position of the stress. In words like item and idem where the i is stressed and followed by a single consonant and then a single vowel letter, the English "long i" (IPA /aɪ/) is used. Traditional pronunciations are entrenched for many common words taken from Latin.
The pronunciation with a "short i" /ɪ/ based on the Latin quality belongs to a newer method of pronouncing Latin words in English, the "Reformed Pronunciation of Latin." This pronunciation was designed to be closer to the sound of Classical Latin. (It is not the same as classical pronunciation, because Classical Latin had sounds that don't exist in modern English. For example, the classical monophthong /eː/ is approximated in reformed pronunciation by the English diphthong /eɪ/).
The pronunciation with a "long e" sound /iː/ seems to come from the Italianate or "Ecclesiastical" tradition of pronouncing Latin (Italianate pronunciations are often used in singing, but rarely in ordinary speech).
In British English, idempotent is pronounced as /ˌʌɪdɛmˈpəʊt(ə)nt/ or /ʌɪˈdɛmpət(ə)nt/.
In American English, idempotent is pronounced as /ˌīdemˈpōt(ə)nt/ or /ˈēdemˌpōt(ə)nt/.
What’s the history of the pronunciation of Delphi?
Why do I pronounce “horrible” so harrhibly?
|
0.998558 |
With a new biodiesel season starting, now is a good time for a biodiesel safety refresher.
I have three basic rules of biodiesel.
1) Do not process biodiesel in your home. You are making fuel and using toxic chemicals to do it. The methanol vapors will get out and seep into your home and potentially poison your family. The fuel could catch fire and burn down your home, or shop. There are lots of examples of this happening, and in a very few of them the insurance actually paid for repairs.
2. Do not use drill mounted paint stirrers to mix biodiesel. Drills make lots of sparks and can ignite methanol vapors. If you are holding the drill, your hands are at the center of the resulting fireball.
3. Use timers on electrical equipment. If you are called away unexpectedly, a timer should limit how long heating elements stay on.
1) Do not process biodiesel in your home.
1a) an attached garage IS 'in your home'.
|
0.9668 |
What does Flirt mean in dream?
If you are the one flirting, you are not happy in your present situation.
1. Desire for intimacy, love and attention.
To dream that you are flirting represents your need for intimacy and affection. You may be about to enter into a serious relationship or commitment in the near future.
If you dream that someone you know is flirting with you, you sense that they are trying to get your attention in some way.
|
0.960606 |
Let me preface this review by saying: Wow. It’s been awhile since a book has hit me in the gut this hard out of nowhere.
Ezra Faulkner was a popular, star athlete who was supposed to be homecoming king, until a car accident shattered his leg and his dreams. Suddenly, he finds himself ostracized by his friends, a member of the debate team, and in love with the mysterious and adventurous new girl, Cassidy Thorpe.
At first glance, this novel seems like another typical story. Ezra is your stereotypical jock who hangs out with other jocks and dates only popular girls. He goes to parties where everyone gets drunk and does stupid things. Until, one night, he leaves one of those parties and ends up in a terrible car accident, shattering his leg, and ending his tennis career forever.
The first thing that threw me off guard about Ezra’s situation was how it seemed like everyone at school, not just his friends, turned their backs on him because he wasn’t Mr. Athlete anymore. The second thing that threw me off guard was the introduction of Cassidy, a free-spirited girl who he instantly falls for. Their romance is sweet and Cassidy seems to bring out an adventurous side of Ezra that the reader doesn’t know is there. But Cassidy is holding on to a dark secret that gets between her and Ezra, and the exposure of that secret sends the rest of the novel into a spiral of drama that I honestly didn’t see coming.
I thought the first half or so of the novel was a little slow and uneventful. The reader spends a lot of time with Ezra and Cassidy going on adventures and getting to know each other. Ezra slowly starts to realize who his true friends are and becomes his own person. It isn’t until Ezra starts to realize that Cassidy is keeping secrets from him that the novel reveals itself to be something far different than what it seems. I don’t want to give anything away, and this is the kind of novel that is so hard to summarize without revealing some major plot points, but I will say that it left me both saddened and inspired. So, I urge readers to keep reading and find out for themselves!
My friend recently recommended this book to me! She told me the ending wasn't so great, though, so I'm still unsure about reading this. Glad you liked it!
|
0.869023 |
But for the first time we offer a solution for all the stupidity of Conservative rhetoric and arguments we bump into each day by reprinting the essay from Lawrence Krauss at Bigthink.com titled, "Stop Validating Ignorance" -- and great advice it is indeed.
"Ignorance is a state of being uninformed (lack of knowledge). The word ignorant is an adjective describing a person in the state of being unaware and is often used as an insult to describe individuals who deliberately ignore or disregard important information or facts. Ignoramus is commonly used in the US, the UK, and Ireland as a term for someone who is willfully ignorant.
Ignorance is distinguished from stupidity, although both can lead to "unwise" acts.
The legal principle that ignorantia juris non excusat, literally "ignorance of the law is no excuse", stands for the proposition that the law applies also to those who are unaware of it."
"Matters which are obvious are sometimes ignored, not taken into consideration. This phenomenon is not limited to ordinary persons without native ability but extends to the highest level of human governance resulting in nightmarish scenarios that could, with more wisdom, have been avoided.
Ignorance can stifle learning, in that a person who falsely believes he or she is knowledgeable will not seek out clarification of his or her beliefs, but rather rely on his or her ignorant position. He or she may also reject valid but contrary information, neither realizing its importance nor understanding it. This concept is elucidated in Justin Kruger's and David Dunning's work, "Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments," otherwise known as the Dunning–Kruger effect."
Actual competence may weaken self-confidence, as competent individuals may falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding. David Dunning and Justin Kruger of Cornell University conclude, "the miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the miscalibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others".
The hypothesized phenomenon was tested in a series of experiments performed by Dunning and Kruger. Dunning and Kruger noted earlier studies suggesting that ignorance of standards of performance is behind a great deal of incompetence. This pattern was seen in studies of skills as diverse as reading comprehension, operating a motor vehicle, and playing chess or tennis.
Dunning has since drawn an analogy ("the anosognosia of everyday life") with a condition in which a person who suffers a physical disability because of brain injury seems unaware of or denies the existence of the disability, even for dramatic impairments such as blindness or paralysis.
"Dunning and Kruger set out to test these hypotheses on Cornell undergraduates in psychology courses. In a series of studies, they examined the subjects' self-assessment of logical reasoning skills, grammatical skills, and humor. After being shown their test scores, the subjects were again asked to estimate their own rank: the competent group accurately estimated their rank, while the incompetent group still overestimated theirs. As Dunning and Kruger noted,Across four studies, the authors found that participants scoring in the bottom quartile on tests of humor, grammar, and logic grossly overestimated their test performance and ability. Although test scores put them in the 12th percentile, they estimated themselves to be in the 62nd.
Meanwhile, people with true ability tended to underestimate their relative competence. Roughly, participants who found tasks to be relatively easy erroneously assumed, to some extent, that the tasks must also be easy for others.
A follow-up study, reported in the same paper, suggests that grossly incompetent students improved their ability to estimate their rank after minimal tutoring in the skills they had previously lacked, regardless of the negligible improvement in actual skills."
Lawrence Krauss: It amazes me that people have pre-existing notions that defy the evidence of reality. But that they hold onto them so dearly. And one of them is the notion of creationism, or. in fact, Senator Marco Rubio, who’s presumably a reasonably intelligent man and maybe even educated, was asked what’s the age of the Earth, and ultimately, either because he actually believed it or he was trying to appeal to some constituency, had to argue that it’s a big mystery, that somehow we should teach kids both ideas, that the Earth is 6,000 years old and that it’s 4.55 billion years old, which is what it is.
If you think about that, somehow saying that, well, anything goes, we shouldn't offend religious beliefs by requiring kids to know - to understand reality; that’s child abuse. And if you think about it, teaching kids - or allowing the notion that the earth is 6,000 years old to be promulgated in schools is like teaching kids that the distance across the United States is 17 feet. That’s how big an error it is.
Now you might say, look, a lot of people believe that, so don’t we owe it to them to allow their views to be present in school? Well, as I’ve often said, the purpose of education is not to validate ignorance but to overcome it. Fifty percent of the people in the United States, when we probe them each year with the National Science Foundation, think that the sun goes around the Earth, not that the Earth goes around the sun. When we asked the question - we provide the question: The Earth goes around the sun and takes a year to do it; true or false? Almost every year, 50 percent of the people get that wrong.
Now, does that mean in schools we should allow the anti-Galilean and Copernican idea that the sun goes around the Earth to be taught? Absolutely not. If, in fact, the very fact that people don’t know that, and the very fact that enough people are willing to somehow believe that Earth is 6,000 years old, means we have to do a better job of teaching physics and biology, not a worse job.
Technology and biotechnology will be the basis of our economic future. And if we allow nonsense to be promulgated in the schools, we do a disservice to our students, a disservice to our children, and we’re guaranteeing that they will fall behind in a competitive world that depends upon a skilled workforce able to understand and manipulate technology and science."
So in your next encounter with Conservative sheeplets, whether at a family reunion or in one of the many forums where sheeplets gather, be sure to call them out on their ignorance...it's catching. Call them out on their facts...they might be believed by others. And be sure to let the sheeplets know where you stand...you believe that Conservatism is a crime and that it must be made illegal for democracy to move forward once again after removing all of the laws and regulations passed by the Conservative politicos for the last 60+ years.
|
0.999769 |
Fox's Fantastic Four reboot (or, colloquially, "Fant4stic") was more or less the notorious box-office bomb of 2015. In addition to being despised by critics, roasted by Marvel fans and roundly rejected by mainstream moviegoers, it was openly disowned by its own director amid a career downturn that may have led to (among other things) his no longer directing an unnamed Star Wars spinoff. As a final indignity, Fox recently opted to quietly take plans for an immediate sequel off the schedule entirely - signaling that the franchise is once again quite dead.
Well, maybe next to final indignity: Movie-dissecting YouTube fixture CinemaSins has finally turned its sights on the feature, resulting in a video takedown that runs nearly a full 20 minutes.
On one level, it's not entirely surprising that CinemaSins would be able to find 20 minutes worth of complaints to register about the film: It was one of the worst-reviewed films of the year, jam-packed with head-scratchingly bad creative decisions and obvious budget-handicapping giving critics and audiences alike plenty to grouse over already. It was also highly derivative of other superhero films, meaning that the same overused cliches and tired plot devices pointed out in prior instances can be raised once again here. Since nearly everyone (who bothered to see it) seemed to agree that it was awful, there's no incentive to spend any time trying to answer "defenses" that could instead have been spent on further analysis.
What's noteworthy about the piece is that, apart from some very general questions raised about what Fantastic Four co-creator Jack Kirby would've thought about a particularly dark spin on the origin of the "It's clobberin' time!" catchphrase, the roster of "sins" is largely free of so-called "fanboy complaints" about things like the team's uniforms, altered origin stories, Dr. Doom's costume, Johnny Storm's ethnicity, etc; instead favoring criticisms of film technique and narrative structure almost exclusively. An interesting approach, especially that a common defense for poorly-received adaptations of this nature is that they're unfairly attacked for fandom nitpicking rather than legitimate flaws.
On the other hand, CinemaSins itself has proven to be a controversial brand in its own right. Many film critics and cultural-commentators have cited the series as an example of "clickbait" web content, or opined that "checklist-criticism" undermines the nuance and thematic observation that film criticism is ideally meant to be conducted with. That having been said, while the series itself will undoubtedly continue to have its detractors, it's hard to imagine anyone coming enthusiastically the defense of Fant4stic.
Whatever CinemaSins has to say or not say on the matter, future prospects indeed look dire for The Fantastic Four. With sequel plans seemingly off the table, the studio clearly more interested in setting up future X-Men spinoffs, and Marvel Comics itself putting its onetime flagship title in mothballs (allegedly) until the movie rights no longer rest with a rival film company, all eyes look to Marvel Studios hopefully reacquiring said rights to rescue the characters... but, as yet, there's been no indication that Marvel has any immediate interest in doing so. With a full slate of films scheduled through 2019 (at least!) it's unclear where an MCU Fantastic Four would even fit in.
Whatever happens, we'll likely be following the future of the Fantastic Four for some time to come.
|
0.999248 |
Write a review for the Crucial 2GB 200PIN DDR2 PC2-5300 NON ECC here!
Got this as an upgrade for my recently purchased Advent 4213, less than 2 minutes to install,works perfectly and has helped the start-up speed and processing speed nicely.
When I saw that my local 'out of town' PC 'supermarket' was charging £25 to install this I decided to try it myself and was surprised how easy it was to install. Having said that I had gone onto the PC manufacturer's website and printed off the instructions for the job beforehand but it took under 5 minutes from start to finish and this was for the main memory slot, not the expansion slot.
Nice easy install and works just as it should obviously.
Check the number of memory slots in your computer before you buy!
I returned the Crucial 2x1GB version of this memory (which is around £30) because I thought my laptop came with one memory slot (Toshiba l30-10s). I checked the Toshiba website to see if it had 2, but no luck. I opened the laptop and saw that I had two slots... Ahh well lesson learned, and this memory still does the job just as good.
|
0.941418 |
Many forestry experts claim that the establishment of plantations will reduce or eliminate the need to exploit natural forest for wood production. In principle this is true because due to the high productivity of plantations less land is needed. Many point to the example of New Zealand, where 19% of the forest area provides 99% of the supply of industrial round wood. It has been estimated that the world's demand for fiber could be met by just 5% of the world forest (Sedjo & Botkin 1997). However in practice, plantations are replacing natural forest, for example in Indonesia. According to the FAO, about 7% of the natural closed forest being lost in the tropics is land being converted to plantations. The remaining 93% of the loss is land being converted to agriculture and other uses. Worldwide, an estimated 15% of plantations in tropical countries are established on closed canopy natural forest. In the Kyoto Protocol, there are proposals encouraging the use of plantations to reduce carbon dioxide levels (though this idea is being challenged by some groups on the grounds that the sequestered CO2 is eventually released after harvest). The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) sets binding obligations on industrialised countries to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The UNFCCC is an international environmental treaty with the goal of achieving the "stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system." The Protocol was adopted on 11 December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, and entered into force on 16 February 2005. As of September 2011, 191 states have signed and ratified the protocol. The United States signed but did not ratify the Protocol and Canada withdrew from i in 2011. Other United Nations member states which did not ratify the protocol are Afghanistan, Andorra and South Sudan. Under the Protocol, 37 industrialized countries and the then European Community (the European Union-15, made up of 15 states at the time of the Kyoto negotiations) ("Annex I Parties") commit themselves to limit or reduce their emissions of four greenhouse gases (GHG) (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride) and two groups of gases (hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons). All member countries give general commitments. At negotiations, Annex I countries collectively agreed to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 5.2% on average for the period 2008-2012, relative to their annual emissions in a base year, usually 1990. Since the US has not ratified the treaty, the collective emissions reduction of Annex I Kyoto countries falls from 5.2% to 4.2% below base year.:26 Emission limits do not include emissions by international aviation and shipping. The benchmark 1990 emission levels accepted by the Conference of the Parties of UNFCCC (decision 2/CP.3) were the values of "global warming potential" calculated for the IPCC Second Assessment Report. These figures are used for converting the various greenhouse gas emissions into comparable carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2-eq) when computing overall sources and sinks. The Protocol allows for several "flexible mechanisms", such as emissions trading, the clean development mechanism (CDM) and joint implementation to allow Annex I countries to meet their GHG emission limitations by purchasing GHG emission reductions credits from elsewhere, through financial exchanges, projects that reduce emissions in non-Annex I countries, from other Annex I countries, or from Annex I countries with excess allowances.
|
0.998797 |
The good guy should always win" is an example of a/an A. universal truth. B. ambiguous ending. C. person against self-conflict. D. literary realism.
"The good guy should always win" is an example of universal truth.
|
0.999659 |
Are you a good or bad person?
Do this quiz and find out if the way you live is good or bad.
1 What is more important to you?
2 Have you ever cheated on someone?
Never have and never would!
3 Have you ever lied to a loved one?
4 Are you part of an organised religion?
5 Whats your view on television?
6 What is your view on the elderly?
The elderly should be respected and looked after at all costs!
|
0.887914 |
How can you measure the current risk level as far as cyber-threats are concerned in process industries?
The security of automation solutions and networks has become a critical component of plant safety, ensuring that all assets - physical, intellectual and people - are protected. There is also an increase in the demands placed on plant personnel for emphasis on leveraging new and existing technology to improve uptime, availability and reliability which places additional pressures that must be addressed. In recent years, the cyber threat landscape has been evolving at an alarming pace with a sharp increase in incidents of targeted malicious attacks on process facilities. This has prompted industry to create standards and governments to build regulations to help define best practices and frameworks to counter. These pressures have led many industrial organizations to deploy cyber security solutions and services to objectively and regularly monitor and continually assess their risk exposure.
Honeywell offers cyber security vulnerability assessments that examine the three core facets of an organization’s cyber security – People, Process and Technology. Honeywell experts assess users’ current cyber security policies, procedures and technologies and provide them with a roadmap for securing their industrial network. The security assessment would indicate the gaps between what a company desires and what technical controls it uses today.
The outcome of the security assessment includes a report of gaps and recommendations and an overall ranking of the security level and maturity rating of a company compared to others in the industry. Knowing where you are security-wise can help you start a more focused approach to cyber security for the future.
Honeywell Industrial Cyber Security Solutions also focuses on protecting customer's automation investments besides availability, reliability and safety of industrial control systems and plant operations.
What are the sectors that are particularly vulnerable to attacks? Are these industries prepared to deal with such attacks?
Cyber Security is a critical aspect for all process industries including oil & gas, refining, pulp & paper, industrial power generation, chemicals and petrochemicals, biofuels, life sciences and metals, minerals and mining industries. Losses in case of a cyber attack can be significant for any organization regardless of which sector it belongs to. Organizations have long understood that there is a difference between protecting facilities and data, and protecting processes that are operated or controlled with information technology. Security measures that are appropriate for data networks could be disastrous if a compromised process threatens to damage productivity, capital assets, and possibly human life.
In order to cut costs and improve operational efficiencies, industries tend to look at safety and process systems that can integrate with common technologies. In many cases, however, they fail to foresee that this approach opens doors to potential cyber-security issues. Attacks on a cyber-system may involve only the cyber components and their operation, but the impact can extend to the physical, business, human and environmental systems to which they are connected.
Most industries in India do not have a security plan in place to tackle cyber-attacks and hence will find it difficult to deal with such attacks. It is important that they are made aware of the cyber landscape and high risks they are exposed to and put a cyber-security system in place that will help curb such attacks.
What is Honeywell’s play in the Cyber Security domain? How can you help industries deal with anonymous attacks?
Honeywell believes that automation network security and performance is a critical component of plant safety in the process industries hence its Industrial IT Solutions focuses on protecting process industry facilities from the growing risk of industrial cyber security threats and vulnerabilities. The portfolio includes scalable tools, services, best practices, and support from Honeywell's global army of network- and security-certified personnel that secure users' critical infrastructure and deliver a more predictable and safe environment – regardless of control system vendor or location.
Phase 1: Assess - Honeywell experts assess users’ assets against industry standards, regulatory requirements and best practices to identify vulnerabilities and to offer a phased approach to ensure industrial cyber security.
Phase 2: Remediate - Honeywell’s Industrial IT Solutions focuses on minimizing vulnerability to cyber events, improving system performance and reducing the impact and recovery time of an incident.
For example, Application whitelisting provides protection to each individual node. It keeps a list of files allowed to run on PCs as well as those allowed only to execute and nothing else. Application whitelisting will block all files not approved on the system. Say, the IT personnel of a plant have threatened to install a malware infested USB stick in to the plant’s systems, then how does one protect the plant. In such a scenario, application whitelisting allows the system to only read USB stick of a certain serial numbers and if necessary can lock down a node saving the entire system from an attack.
Phase 3: Manage - Honeywell experts address the ongoing management of systems and technology and implementation of workflows and procedures outlined in the Remediate phase.
Phase 4: Assure - involves program monitoring to assure industrial IT is operating as expected and as required by regulation.
Honeywell has also developed a cyber-security dashboard that will give plant operators and maintenance personnel an immediate overview of the facility’s cyber security status. With the dashboard, one can quickly see if workstations and servers in the process control network have the latest antivirus, firewalls, and patches installed to help their network avoid cyber-attacks. If something is wrong, the software generates warnings so appropriate personnel can take immediate action.
Has Honeywell taken steps to ensure elimination of unnecessary interconnectivity between sensitive data and insecure networks among end-users?
Most asset operators would already have established corporate security policies governing such interconnectivity. Honeywell would comply when there is one. However, it is not uncommon to find the security policies more suited to for use at the corporate IT systems than for the process control networks. When such gap exists, Honeywell Industrial Cyber Security would provide consultation on the adaptation and fine-tuning required ensuring compatibility and applicability in the plants.
How do you ensure that SCADA systems are up-to-date and secure from cyber-attacks?
Ensuring that the operating systems patches and hot fixes are updated regularly, as well as making sure that anti-virus protection is installed at all end-points and similarly kept updated – these are fundamental counter-measures today that substantially reduce the attack surface of the SCADA and DCS systems. Having said that, there might still be vulnerabilities that cannot be possibly addressed by these end-point protection measures. Poor security practices like sharing administrator passwords or unauthorized use of personal broadband, thumbdrive-modems are some examples of user’s behaviour where technology-based preventive measures can only have limited effect. This is where cyber security assessment can help provide a complete risk assessment of the plant where vulnerabilities are also looked at from the human-behaviour and operational-process perspective aside from just scanning for technology-weak points.
Are your customers regularly trained to ensure that they can deal with various cyber-attacks?
Consciousness of imminent risk and awareness of what measures are necessary to counter them are always the first step towards establishing a sustainable cyber security program to address cyber-attacks. Honeywell Industrial Cyber Security team regularly conducts cyber security workshops to educate customers as well as to provide updates on the latest cyber security development in the region and globally, particularly on the local regulatory compliance requirements that are beginning to take shape in the respective governments in APAC.
Do you conduct regular security audits across end-users that have taken up your services? Do you have a robust incidence response plan? Please share some details with us.
There is a growing realization among Indian customers that the cyber Security threat is real. We see that many customers are asking for regular security audits as a mean to assess the risk of the plants. At this juncture, the single most critical cyber security need among industrial control systems owners in India is to address the immediate weakness and vulnerabilities that are present in their plants systems and operations.
Honeywell Industrial Cyber Security team is part of the same technology group that supplies, implements and maintains process solutions, including Experion® Process Knowledge System (PKS), TotalPlant™ Solution (TPS), and other related systems.
Because of this relationship, they work synergistically with the service operations counterpart to resolve discovered security gaps promptly with remedial actions, while maintaining objective independence.
Customers appreciate this internal synergy as it helps keep the confidentiality of the assessment results confined only to those involved with the DCS/SCADA systems, reducing the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive information.
Honeywell’s cyber security assessment service philosophy focuses on assisting customers with the discovery of hidden vulnerabilities before they are maliciously exploited and addressing immediate security gaps. As a pre-emptive measure, this service aids customers in preparing for security audits, board reporting, or regulatory inspection.
Are there any lags in the way critical infrastructure is being protected in India? What are your recommendations towards strengthening some of the policies that have been laid out by the government?
Critical infrastructure is considered the backbone of the nation and its protection is of supreme concern. At present, the industry is not prepared to handle such attacks because of the absence of a comprehensive cyber security approach though the legal and law enforcement agencies of the country are gradually but surely keeping pace with the rapid growth of Internet penetration in India and the world.
Indian organizations need to focus on two areas: First, Instrumentation department within organizations need to educate themselves on this subject and then step up measures. There is a need to understand potential vulnerabilities in their control systems. Further, Industrial Control Systems (ICS) owners should join hands with industry leaders and consider engaging ICS-experienced cyber security specialists to conduct assessment on their systems and operations to detect any cyber vulnerabilities that are of immediate exposure for urgent remediation. The assessments will also serve to ascertain the state of cyber health so that the next counter-measures that are viable within operational limitations can be determined. Second, IT department needs to take the lead and start looking beyond security at enterprise level i.e. they need to partner with maintenance and operations departments within an organization to proactively address industrial control system security.
Organizations should also not be content with current regulations or standards; what is needed is a willingness to think beyond the bureaucracy of compliance and the realization that cyber security is really about ensuring safe, reliable, and expected system behavior. With this mindset, industries can embrace an effective security philosophy and develop a long-term strategy for its implementation — regardless of any current or impending regulatory requirements. This allows an organization to plan a security rollout that will succeed in terms of its effectiveness, employee support and financial cost.
How can process industries integrate foolproof cyber security programs within their business strategy?
Cyber security is a continuing journey so, organizations must determine their acceptable risk level and continuously revaluate. They, in fact, should integrate their cyber security programs into their business strategy but while doing so, they should be abreast with the latest cyber security technology and adhere to international best practices. A comprehensive cyber-security management system, a scientific approach, incorporation of the best automation technology offers an effective solution for the growing cyber-security challenges in today's operating environment. Ensuring and managing their control systems’ OS patch (software designed to fix problems or update a computer program or its supporting data) and regular anti-virus updating will also help.
Are there any global models that you think can be replicated in India?
Cyber Security is a focus area for most countries and it is important that the government, academia and industries work collectively with the Information Technology department and Control Engineering departments within organizations to develop cyber security solutions that will help keep potential cyber threats and challenges at bay. In fact, these can be considered as significant growth catalysts for nations to achieve high economic growth, welfare and empowerment.
India has rolled out quite a few initiatives and is gradually gearing up for a comprehensive cyber security measures. For effective management of such cyber-attacks it should be ready to learn from global models by bringing about a systematic approach based on well-researched industrial cyber security standards. This would mean adapting to newer technologies that have worked in other countries and joining hands with the security agencies for regular monitoring of the cyber security programme.
|
0.98775 |
To compare antibody staining over time, one needs to have a method of archiving tissue samples. In general, however, C. elegans prepared for histology have not been archived for long periods. For example, worms mounted on slides sealed with nail polish and stored at 4°C (Wilson, et al., 2012; Duerr, 2013) last two weeks to a month (Duerr, 2013). After this time, significant tissue shrinkage occurs and fluorescent signals rapidly decay (Figure 1A). I have found that the polyvinyl pyrrolidone-based cryoprotectant known as “anti-freeze” (Tebbenkamp, et al., 2011) that is used to archive partially and fully processed mammalian tissues for long periods works well with histologically prepared C. elegans.
I prepared animals using the staining method of Finney and Ruvkun (Finney and Ruvkun, 1990) with antibodies against MEC-18 and MEC-2 or the 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) probe against DNA or the actin-binding reagent phalloidin. Animals were then archived with or without anti-freeze for varying times. In contrast to sealing with nail polish no significant degradation of tissue morphology or fluorescence was seen for at least a year (Figure 1B-C). Similar results were observed with worm cell cultures. Thus, anti-freeze did not disrupt antibodies bound to their epitopes. In addition, animals expressing GFP and mCherry that were observed after several months in anti-freeze remained intensely fluorescent as were animals stained following long-term storage in anti-freeze. In general, the morphology of touch receptor neurons and other cells was indistinguishable in worms that were archived in anti-freeze compared to worms that were immediately analyzed. Moreover, morphology remained intact even after several freeze/thaw cycles.
To archive, mix 50 ml worm pellet and 500 ml anti-freeze (100 mM sodium acetate, 250 mM polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), and 40% ethylene glycol, pH 6.5), and store at -20°C. The anti-freeze itself can be stored for years at 4°C or -20°C.
To recover worms for histology, pellet animals and wash 2-3 X with M9 buffer.
Figure 1: Anti-freeze preserves histological integrity. Age-synchronized immunostained C. elegans samples were either stored in nail polish sealed slides at 4°C (A) or in anti-freeze at -20°C (B) for 6 months. Non anti-freeze animals underwent significant shrinkage with diffuse, non-specific fluorescence and diminished ALM fluorescence (A). In contrast, anti-freeze treated worms remained intact, with little non-specific fluorescence and intense fluorescence of ALM (B-C) and muscle (C). ALM and muscle were stained with anti-MEC-18 antibody and phalloidin, respectively.
Duerr JS. (2013). Antibody staining in C. elegans using “freeze-cracking”. J. Vis. Exp. 80, doi: 10.3791/50664.
Finney M and Ruvkun G. (1990). The unc-86 gene product couples cell lineage and cell identity in C. elegans. Cell 63, 895-905.
Tebbenkamp AT, Green C, Xu G, Denovan-Wright EM, Rising AC, Fromholt SE, Brown HH, Swing D, Mandel RJ, Tessarollo L, and Borchelt DR. (2011). Transgenic mice expressing caspase-6-derived N-terminal fragments of mutant huntingtin develop neurologic abnormalities with predominant cytoplasmic inclusion pathology composed largely of a smaller proteolytic derivative. Hum. Mol. Genet. 20, 2770-2782.
Wilson KJ, Qadota H, and Benian GM. (2012). Immunofluorescent localization of proteins in Caenorhabditis elegans muscle. Methods Mol. Biol. 798, 171-181.
|
0.999996 |
This article is about the year 1659.
1659 (MDCLIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar, the 1659th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 659th year of the 2nd millennium, the 59th year of the 17th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1650s decade. As of the start of 1659, the Gregorian calendar was 10 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.
January 14 – Portuguese Restoration War – Battle of the Lines of Elvas: The Portuguese beat the Spanish.
January 24 – Pierre Corneille's Oedipe premieres in Paris.
February 2 – Jan van Riebeeck produces the first South African wine, at the Cape of Good Hope.
February 11 – The Assault on Copenhagen by Swedish forces is beaten back, with heavy losses.
February 16 – The first known cheque (400 pounds) is written.
April 22 – Lord Protector Richard Cromwell dissolves the English Parliament.
May 21 – The Kingdom of France, the Commonwealth of England and the Dutch Republic sign the Concert of The Hague.
May 25 – Richard Cromwell resigns as English Lord Protector.
May 31 – The Netherlands, England, and France sign the Treaty of The Hague.
June 29 – Russo-Polish War (1654–67) – Battle of Konotop: Ivan Vyhovsky, hetman of Ukraine, and his allies defeat the armies of the Tsardom of Russia, led by Aleksey Trubetskoy, in Ukraine.
July 16 – Princess Henriette Catherine of Nassau marries John George II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, in Groningen.
September 30 – Peter Stuyvesant of New Netherland forbids tennis playing during religious services (first mention of tennis in what will be the U.S.).
October 12 – The English Rump Parliament dismisses John Lambert, and other generals.
October 13 – General-major John Lambert drives out the English Rump-government.
November 7 – Treaty of the Pyrenees: King Louis XIV of France and King Philip IV of Spain agree to French acquisition of the counties of Roussillon and Upper Cerdanya (Principality of Catalonia) and most of Artois, and formally end their 24-year war.
November 25 – Dutch forces under Michiel de Ruyter free the Danish city of Nyborg from Swedish conquest (earlier in the year).
December 16 – General Monck demands free parliamentary elections in Scotland.
December 26 – The Long Parliament reforms occur in Westminster.
Spanish Infanta Maria Theresa brings cocoa to Paris.
Diego Velázquez's portrait of Infanta Maria Theresa is first exhibited.
Thomas Hobbes publishes De Homine.
Parisian police raid a monastery, sending monks to prison for eating meat and drinking wine during Lent.
Christiaan Huygens writes Systema Saturnium.
First known non-white settler to own land in Massachusetts, and first known African to live in Springfield, Massachusetts arrives by the name of Peter Swink. He held seats in the town meetings.
^ On display at Westminster Abbey.
This page is based on the Wikipedia article 1659; it is used under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (CC-BY-SA). You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the CC-BY-SA.
|
0.905971 |
Daniel D. Tompkins was born in Scarsdale, Westchester County, New York, at his home, the estate of Fox Meadow. He was the son of Sarah Ann (Hyatt) and Jonathan Griffin Tompkins. His older brother, Caleb Tompkins was a United States Representative from 1817 to 1821. Daniel Tompkins graduated from Columbia College in New York City in 1795, and then studied law with James Kent and Peter Jay Munro. He was admitted to the bar in 1797, and practiced in New York City. Despite the Federalist leanings of Kent and Munro, Tomkins entered politics as a Democratic-Republican. He was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention in 1801, and a member of the New York State Assembly in 1804. He was elected to the 9th United States Congress, but resigned before the beginning of the term to accept, at age 30, an appointment as associate justice of the New York Supreme Court, in which capacity he served from 1804 to 1807.
On February 20, 1798, Daniel Tompkins, 23, married 16-year-old Hannah Minthorne, the daughter of Mangle Minthorne, an Assistant Alderman of New York City. The couple had eight children, including Arietta Minthorn Tompkins (born July 31, 1800), who married a son of Smith Thompson in 1818, and (Mangle) Minthorne Tompkins (December 26, 1807 – June 5, 1881), who was the Free Soil Party candidate for Governor of New York in 1852.
The Tompkinsville section of Staten Island was named after him; in 1815, Tompkins established a settlement along the eastern shore of the island with the purchase of the Van Buskirk Farm in New Brighton and property on Grymes Hill. His main residence was located on Fort Hill, near Fort Place which burned down in 1874.
Their children Hannah and Minthorne were named after their mother, and Hannah and Minthorne streets in Staten Island are named for them. Staten Island's Westervelt Avenue is named for daughter Hannah's husband. Hannah was ill in the year before her husband became vice president, and did not attend his inauguration. She survived him by nearly four years in Tompkinsville, Staten Island.
Tompkins County in New York, Tompkins Square Park in Manhattan, Public School 69 Daniel D. Tompkins School in Staten Island, and the Town of Tompkins are named after him, as is Tompkins Road, running between Post Road (NY-22) and Fenimore Road in Scarsdale, New York. Tompkinsville, Kentucky, is named for Tompkins. It is the county seat of Monroe County, Kentucky, which is named for the president under whom Tompkins served as vice president. Tompkins Park in Bedford Stuyvesant Brooklyn, NY (now called Von King Park) was named after Daniel D. Tompkins Also the nearby Tompkins Avenue and Tompkins Public Houses are named after the same.
Tompkins was member of Hiram Lodge 72, Mt. Pleasant, NY and became Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New York form 1820 to 1822. The Daniel D. Tompkins Memorial Chapel at the Masonic Home in Utica, New York was built in his honor in 1911. The Grand Lodge of New York celebrated the Centennial of the chapel on June 25, 2011.
Tompkins was mentioned by Kris Kringle in the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street. The screenplay was incorrect, however, in that Kringle mentions that Tompkins served as vice president under John Quincy Adams when Adams's vice president was actually John C. Calhoun. Tompkins was the 6th vice president and Quincy Adams was the 6th president, leading to confusion in the script.
^ Publishers weekly, Volume 195, Part 2. New Providence, New Jersey,: R.R. Bowker Co. 1969. p. 100.
^ Fredriksen, John C. (2000). Green Coats and Glory: The United States Regiment of Riflemen, 1808–1821. Youngstown, NY: Old Fort Niagara Association. p. 29.
^ New York State Historical Association (1920). "Governor Tompkins' Middle Name". State Service: An Illustrated Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Government of the State of New York and its Affairs, Volume 4. Albany, NY: State Service Magazine Co., Inc.: 502.
^ Winchester, Charles M. (February 1, 1920). "New York's Forty-Four Governors". State Service: An Illustrated Monthly Magazine. Albany, NY: State Service Magazine Company: 147.
^ Winchester, Charles M. (June 1, 1920). "Governor Tompkins' Middle Name". State Service: An Illustrated Monthly Magazine. Albany, NY: State Service Magazine Company: 502.
^ Skinner, Charles R. (1919). Governors of New York from 1777 to 1920. Albany, NY: J. B. Lyon Company. p. 2.
^ Smith, Henry T. (1898). Manual of Westchester County. 1. White Plains, NY: Henry T. Smith. p. 246.
^ Cox, Thomas H. (2009). Gibbons v. Ogden, Law, and Society in the Early Republic. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press. p. 92. ISBN 978-0-8214-1846-8.
^ a b Gibbons v. Ogden, Law, and Society in the Early Republic, p. 92.
^ "Staten Island Memories: A lifetime of public service". SILive.com. March 2013. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
^ a b c "Daniel D. Tompkins, 6th Vice President (1817–1825)". US Senate. US Senate. Retrieved October 22, 2015.
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Tompkins, Daniel D." . Encyclopædia Britannica. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
^ "Herbert Von King Park".
^ Freemasons: Tales From the Craft. 2014. p. 49. Archived from the original on Nov 13, 2018.
^ "Tompkins Chapel was built in 1911 in memory of Most Worshipful Daniel D. Tompkins, Grand Master of Masons in 1820". MasonicHomeNY. Retrieved 2011-10-26.
^ "The Centennial of the Daniel D. Tompkins Memorial Chapel". Retrieved 2011-10-26.
^ "Centennial of the Daniel D. Tompkins Memorial Chapel" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-10-26.
|
0.999952 |
I'm writing my personal statement, and I'm trying to say something about maths, and why it's good.
But I'm having a hard time ascertaining whether the concept/s of maths is human invention or human discovery. I have a feeling that the deeper you delve into mathematics (i.e. as you go further into abstraction), maths becomes more invention than discovery - but at its simplest - counting, say - it is more discovery than invention, since animals other than humans have at least some idea of differences in quantity.
Opinions: was Mathematics invented or discovered?
Maths: Do we discover or invent it?
Did mathematics exist before humans "discovered" it?
That was a big bit of my personal statement. How I found it interesting that it could be a fundamental system in the universe that simplifies so much.
Seemed to work, got accepted by all my choices.
Difficult one...maths is a sort of tool, isn't it? Tools are invented and discovered.
i think that maths is discovered but mathematical techniques and so on are invented.
Even as you move into abstract mathematics, the facts are still already out there, we just don't know them yet. Hence in my mind, it's always a discovery.
I think maths is a human discovery. Like you said, the deeper you dig, the more you find. Solving a new problem doesnt mean you invented the solution, it just means you dug deep enough untill you discovered the answer.
I would say it's been discovered, because all of these formulas and mathematical thinking is down to results and seeing the relationships between the results, where you may discover a pattern. Like pi for instance.
Mm. Both. There are very natural aspects to Mathematics, like Geometry - Shape, Measure, and so on. There are also things which can be described Mathematically, like 'chance', which aren't necessarily inherently Mathematical, but we invent methods where we use Mathematics to answer questions and solve problems. I don't think you can go the full hog and say that Maths was definitely one or t'other - I mean, simple Calculus, for instance, is very much a human creation, even if it has some obvious applications in the real world, whereas the concept of Number and Countability I think are inherent and fundamental to the world we live in.
Just my view, anyway Hope that helps!
I don't know - was the idea that an interval can be split into infinitesimal pieces created by humans, or was it the method of writing it all down that was invented?
Oh, god. This is a huge philosophical question that's been going on for thousands of years, and you want the f38ers to answer it?
I say - put very simply - definitions are inventions, theorems are discoveries about those inventions. But of course that's a hideous oversimplification. Some definitions are made with theorems in mind, which makes the definition more of a stepping stone to 'inventing' the theorem (i.e. inventing a place where the theorem can live happily); some definitions certainly are discovered, e.g. differentiation was 'happening' in, say, velocity and acceleration, long before we discovered a way of notating it and working with it. And a lot of it, I would guess, was just pure chance.
Well i think it depends on what you define as being invented. Put 2 things together and is that an invention? For example you could argue that if a square was discovered, would putting 2 squares together be an invention or a discovery of a rectangle?
The interesting thing is that as soon as things are taken into fields of applied maths, I feel much more secure in the use of the terms - I'd say that Einstein discovered relativity, but I would also be confident in saying that he invented the theory of relativity - this is probably because we are no longer in the realm of immutable truths, and we are only using mathematics to describe things, rather than developing mathematics in itself... Though where that puts things like the Feynman path integral, I'm not sure.
The maths forum is f38. (Its forum number is 38 - all the forums on here have a number.) So maths forum people are f38ers.
Ahh, I did not know that.
As for Adje's question, after much thought I have come to the conclusion that I don't know - my brain is just going round in circles.
I really should start my personal statement.
This is interesting, I've never really thought about it. I guess my personal opinion is that it was discovered because no matter what way you do something the maths will always be the same. 1 + 1 will always be 2, at least if you work with those symbols to represent the numbers, and bases etc etc. But the concept is always the same, if you have an object, and another object, then you can have those objects in a group. It gets a bit complex when you try to think of infinitely small objects under a graph, but in my head I like to think that the maths has always existed and we invented how to interpret it. Like we invented the symbols, and what a + does, etc.
Anyway this is way too much effort for a personal statement. Mine was rubbish, I wrote 80% of it drunk.
I need help with my EPQ essay please!
Did Newton 'discover' or 'invent' calculus?
Should we have ontological commitment to mathematical objects?
Do i need to be on a committee of a society?
Biomedical science(s) at Royal Holloway or Essex?
Msc Marketing Exeter vs Strathclyde?
|
0.948258 |
At this moment in history the white race/species is on the verge of complete genetic annihilation. How can this be possible? Only 100 years ago our species ruled the world. Our people made up 1/3 of the total population of the planet. We had expanded from our ancient homelands of Europe to new lands in North America, South America, Australia, and New Zealand. Today we only make up 7% of the total population of the world, all white countries have birth rates below replacement. Why?
Personally I reject the idea of a single human species, there is ample scientific evidence to suggest that the standard definition which states that "any two life forms that can breed and produce fertile offspring are of the same species" is misguided at best. Many life forms that are clearly from different species are capable of producing fertile offspring. For example buffalo and cattle are considered different species but are capable of producing fertile offspring, wolves and coyotes are also considered different species but are capable of producing fertile offspring, a few other examples are lions/tigers,mallards/wood ducks and blacks/whites. The minimum amount of time necessary fore a new species to form is about 10,000 years, however human population groups have been separated for about 110,000 years. In reality there are actually four human species: Asian,Caucasian, Negroid, and mixed.
Nature proceeds in one of two directions either towards quality or towards quantity. In a harsh environment like Northern Europe, or Northern Asia nature shifts towards quality, all life forms in these regions are refereed to as k-selected. In a more mild environment like Sub-Saharan Africa, or South America nature shifts towards quantity, all life forms in these regions are refereed to as r-selected. The average IQ of the Negroid population of Sub-Saharan Africa is 70. The average IQ of the Caucasian population of Europe is 103.
A person who has an IQ of 70 or below is considered to be retarded. So basically this means that half of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa is retarded. This is the reason for their failure not colonialism, racism, lack of natural resources or money. No amount of money given to them by the I.M.F, United Nations, USA, or do-gooders in general will have any effect except for exacerbating the situation by creating exponential third world population growth. By the way when was the last time you've heard of some do-gooder organization sending money to a middle class white family so they can have more children, answer: never.
So what are some possible reasons for the declining birth rate of whites? The tax rate on the average middle class white family in total is about 50%. So even if they'd like to have more children they can't afford to because they want to be responsible parents and be able to provide properly for the children that they do have. Blacks on the other hand can simply have as many children as the want and depend on the government or do-gooder organizations to care for their children. This is the main evolutionary strategy on behalf of blacks, quantity over quality. Another possible reason for the declining white birth rate is the constant stream of anti-white propaganda put out in the school system, TV, movies, print media, and radio.
In the public school system white children are taught how evil and awful their ancestors were, white children are given a sense of group guilt for all of the wrongs of the past. However anything that whites have done in the past which is considered to be good is taught as an individual act of a single person not attributable to the group. Conversely black children are taught to have a sense of group pride for historical accomplishments which are either nonexistent or over inflated. It is considered wonderful that we have things like "African American History Month", however if someone suggested that there should be a "European American History Month", that person would be denounced as a racist, hater,bigot, redneck, or mentally ill person.
MTV teaches white teenagers that "whites are basically lame but if they mimic blacks they can be sort of cool" 75% of all rap music is bought by white teenagers so I guess the brain washing has been effective. Blacks on TV are constantly portrayed as the inverse of what they are in reality such as: brain surgeons, rocket scientists, good Samaritans and everything else that whites apparently are not.
Blacks, Hispanics, Jews, and Asians are considered by the government to a "protected class" any offensive remarks made by a white person which might offend this protected class is considered to be "hate speech". Affirmative Action gives preferences to minorities in job hiring, contracts, and admittance into universities. Forced integration has destroyed the public school system, at one time the US had the number one elementary/secondary school system in the world now it ranks near the bottom of the industrialized world. The bottom line of all this is basically that the government is providing a disincentive to white women who want to have white children. Because subconsciously she knows that her offspring will be at an inherent disadvantage for all of the aforementioned reasons.
Multiculturalism is really a code word for white genocide. The fewer whites there are the more multicultural it is and the better it is. So if you were to take this concept to its logical extreme when there are no whites left at all we will have reached some sort of multicultural nirvana.
The idea of genitic inequality cannot be debated in public because of course its racist. The word racist has no value whatsoever. It has the same meaning as the word heretic had during the middle ages. Following this type of reasoning it really wasn't that important whether Galileo's support for the heliocentric view of the solar system was correct or not the only important question is Galileo's heresy, of course this would be asinine.
There are other forces at work against us besides propaganda and government policy.In a sense the white race has outsmarted itself buy creating technology which its enemies have used against it. Without mass agriculture there would be no exponential population growth in third world countries. Without modern transportation the massive influx of third world immigration would be nearly impossible. With modern utilities every home has a year round mild climate just like Sub-Saharan Africa. No one has to worry about storing food for the winter just like in Sub-Saharan Africa. What we've done with modern technology is converted the environment of the entire planet into one that mimics Sub-Saharan Africa. This is the reason that third world genetics are expanding and first world genetics are contracting, because our natural harsh climate has disappeared, so our genes which evolved in a harsh environment are no longer advantageous. The bad news for all of our third word friends is that once we disappear all of our technology goes with us. This will probably result in 99% reduction of their population.
Adolf Hitler predicted many of the problems we now have today, back in 1925 when he wrote Mein Kampf. This is why after he became the supreme leader he enacted the Nuremberg race laws in order to prevent the spread of third world genetics in Germany. Also their eugenics program was designed to prevent the increase in the number of white degenerates. A natural outcome if left unchecked in a technological society. Unfortunately Hitler lost the war against bolshevism and international Jewry. I look at it this way whenever we have blacks rioting in the streets or terrorist blowing up buildings, or Jews teaching white kids to hate themselves, or hispanics invading our country, this is nothing less than Hitler's posthumous revenge on America.
Great post. Did you personally write it or did you get it from somewhere else?
Yes I wrote that article last year shortly after the 9/11 attacks on ZOG.
You seem to have potential to write interesting articles. The post above was well written, you should consider writing your own material which is relevant to the cause.
|
0.941002 |
This paper posits that the observed resonance with 28 GeV at the LHC is the pseudoscalar top-bottom quark-antiquark composite which has the calculated mass of 27.9 GeV derived from the periodic table of elementary particles. The calculated mass is for the mass of bb̅ + (bb̅ + tt̅)/2. In the periodic table of elementary particles, t quark (13.2 GeV) in the pseudoscalar top-bottom quark-antiquark composite is only a part of full t quark (175.4 GeV), so pseudoscalar tt̅ (26.4 GeV) cannot exist independently, and can exist only in the top-bottom quark-antiquark composite. As shown in the observation at the LHC, the resonance with 28 GeV weakens significantly at the higher energy collision (13 TeV), because at the higher collision energy, low-mass pseudoscalar tt̅ in the composite likely becomes independent full high-mass vector tt̅ moving out of the composite. The periodic table of elementary particles is based on the seven mass dimensional orbitals derived from the seven extra dimensions of 11 spacetime dimensional membrane. The calculated masses of hadrons are in excellent agreement with the observed masses of hadrons by using only five known constants. For examples, the calculated masses of proton, neutron, pion (π±), and pion (π0) are 938.261, 939.425, 139.540, and 134.982 MeV in excellent agreement with the observed 938.272, 939.565, 139.570, and 134.977MeV, respectively with 0.0006%, 0.01%, 0.02%, and 0.004%, respectively for the difference between the calculated and observed mass. The calculated masses of the Higgs bosons as the intermediate vector boson composites are in excellent agreements with the observed masses. In conclusion, the calculated masses of the top-bottom quark-antiquark composite (27.9 GeV), hadrons, and the Higgs bosons by the periodic table of elementary particles are in excellent agreement with the observed masses of resonance with 28 GeV at the LHC, hadrons, and the Higgs bosons, respectively.
In the search for resonances in the mass range 12 - 70 GeV produced in association with a b quark jet and a second jet, and decaying to a muon pair, the CMS Collaboration at the LHC recently reported an excess of events above the background near a dimuon mass of 28 GeV . The search is carried out in two mutually exclusive event categories from proton-proton collisions at center-of-mass energies of 8 and 13 TeV. The first category involves a b quark jet in the central region and at least one jet in the forward region, while the second category involves two jets in the central region, at least one of which is identified as a b quark jet, no jets in the forward region. At the 8 TeV collision, the first category has 4.2 standard deviations, while the second category has 2.9 standard deviations. At the 13 TeV collision, the first category has 2.0 standard deviations, while the second category results in a 1.4 standard deviation deficit.
This potential new particle at 28 GeV does not match the properties of any of particles in the standard model. It is also puzzling that the resonance at 28 GeV weakens, disappears, or gets inverted at 13 TeV. This paper posits that the resonance with 28 GeV observed recently at the LHC is the pseudoscalar top-bottom quark-antiquark composite which has the calculated mass of 27.9 GeV derived from the periodic table of elementary particles in good agreement with the observed 28 GeV. The calculated mass is the mass of three pseudoscalar b quarks and one pseudoscalar t quark which represent the composite of bpb̅p + (bpb̅p + tpt̅p)/2 where p = pseudoscalar. (The quark in pseudoscalar meson is denoted as “pseudoscalar quark”, while the quark in vector mesons is denoted as “vector quarks” which has higher mass than pseudoscalar quark.) As described in the periodic table of elementary particles, pseudoscalar t quark (13.2 GeV) is only a part of full t quark (175.4 GeV), so pseudoscalar tpt̅p (26.4 GeV) cannot exist independently, and can exist only in the top-bottom quark-antiquark composite. As shown in the observation at the LHC, the resonance with 28 GeV weakens significantly at the higher energy collision (13 TeV), because at the higher collision energy, low-mass pseudoscalar tt̅ in the composite likely becomes independent full high-mass vector tt̅ moving out of the composite. To account for the observed two jets, the composite has two jets consisting of a bb̅ jet and a b + t jet, where bb̅ jet for (bpb̅p + tpt̅p)/2 is more stable than b + t jet which decays faster into the jet in the forward region to constitute the first category of the search by the CMS Collaboration at the LHC.
The periodic table of elementary particles is based on the seven mass dimensional orbitals derived from the seven extra dimensions of 11 spacetime dimensional membrane particles . The seven mass dimensional orbitals include the seven principal mass dimensional orbitals for stable baryonic matter leptons (electron and neutrinos), gauge bosons, gravity, and dark matter and the seven auxiliary mass dimensional orbitals for unstable leptons (muon and tau) and quarks, and calculate accurately the masses of all elementary particles and the cosmic rays by using only five known constants . Hadron masses can be calculated in excellent agreement with the observed masses of hadrons. For examples, the calculated masses of proton, neutron, pion (π±), and pion (π0) are 938.261, 939.425, 139.540, and 134.982 MeV in excellent agreement with the observed 938.272, 939.565, 139.570, and 134.977 MeV, respectively with 0.0006%, 0.01%, 0.02%, and 0.004%, respectively for the difference between the calculated and observed mass.
Section 2 describes the periodic table of elementary particles and the mass formulas. Section 3 deals with quarks and hadrons. Section 4 explains the top-bottom quark-anti-quark composite as the resonance at 28 GeV. Section 5 describes the Higgs boson doublet as the intermediate vector boson composites.
The periodic table of elementary particles is based on the seven mass dimensional orbitals derived from the seven extra dimensions of 11 spacetime dimensional membrane. The seven mass dimensional orbitals include the seven principal mass dimensional orbitals for stable baryonic matter leptons (electron and neutrinos), gauge bosons (all forces), gravity, and dark matter (five sterile dark matter neutrinos) and the seven auxiliary mass dimensional orbitals for unstable leptons (muon and tau) and quarks (d, u, s, c, b, and t) as in Figure 1 and Table 1.
Table 1. The periodic table of elementary particles for baryonic matter and dark matter.
d = principal mass dimensional orbital number, a = auxiliary mass dimensional orbital number.
Figure 1. The seven principal mass dimensional orbitals (solid lines) denoted by the principal mass dimensional orbital number d and the seven auxiliary mass dimensional orbitals (dash-dotted lines) denoted by the auxiliary mass dimensional orbital number a.
The periodic table of elementary particles calculates accurately the particle masses of all leptons, quarks, gauge bosons, the Higgs boson, and the cosmic rays by using only five known constants: the number (seven) of the extra spatial dimensions in the observed four-dimensional spacetime from the eleven-dimensional membrane, the mass of electron, the masses of Z and W bosons, and the fine structure constant . The calculated masses are in excellent agreements with the observed masses. For examples, the calculated masses of muon, top quark, pion, neutron, and the standard model Higgs boson are 105.55 MeV, 175.4 GeV, 139.54 MeV, 939.42 MeV, and 126 GeV, respectively, in excellent agreements with the observed 105.65 MeV, 172.4 GeV, 139.57 MeV, 939.27 MeV, and 126 GeV, respectively.
The seven mass dimensional orbitals are arranged as F5 B5 F6 B6 F7 B7 F8 B8 F9 B9 F10 B10 F11 B11, where Fd and Bd are mass dimensional fermion and mass dimensional boson, respectively. As described in the previous papers , the mass of mass dimensional fermion and the mass of mass dimensional boson are related to each other with three simple formulas as the follows.
where d is the mass dimensional orbital number, F is fermion, and B is boson. Each dimension has its own αd, and all αd’s except α7 (αw) of the seventh dimension (weak interaction) are equal to α, the fine structure constant of electromagnetism. The given observed masses are the mass of electron for F6 and the mass of Z boson for B7. From Equations (1) and (3), αw = α7 = α of week interaction = (MB6/MB7)1/2 = (MF6/α/MB7)1/2 = (Me/α/MZ)1/2 = 0.02771. Therefore, the masses of gauge bosons are as in Table 2.
Table 2. The masses of the principal mass dimensional orbitals (gauge bosons).
to confine fractional charge quarks. B6 is denoted as basic gluon, g*. The third lowest boson (B7) at d = 7 is Z0 for the weak interaction.
F11 (8.275 × 1016 GeV) relates to spin 3/2 gravitino, while B11 (1.134 × 1019 GeV) relates to spin 2 graviton. In supersymmetry, gravitino and graviton mediate the supersymmetry between fermion and boson in space dimension and gravitation. There are 10 space dimensions in the 11 spacetime dimensional membrane. As a result, the supersymmetry involves 10F11 + B11, which is equal to 1.217 × 1019 GeV in excellent agreement with the Planck mass (1.221 × 1019 GeV) derived from observed gravity as (ћc/G)1/2 where c is the speed of light, G is the gravitational constant, and ħ is the reduced Planck constant.
The lepton mass formula and the quark mass formula are derived from the incorporation of basic gluon (g* = B6 = 70 MeV) to electron. The incorporation of basic gluon as flux quanta follows the the composite fermion theory for the FQHE (fractional quantum Hall effect) . In the composite fermion model for FQHE, the formation of composite fermion is through the attachment of an even number of magnetic flux quanta to electron, while the formation of composite boson is through the attachment of an odd number of magnetic flux quanta to electron. In the same way, the formation of composite fermion is through the attachment of an even number of basic gluons to electron, while the formation of composite boson is through the attachment of an odd number of basic gluons to electron. The formation of composite boson is equal to the formation of composite di-leptons, so the formation of composite lepton is through the attachment of one half of an odd number of basic gluons to electron. As a result, the muon (µ) mass formula is as follows.
which is in excellent agreement with the observed 105.6584 MeV for the mass of muon. The mass of t follows the Barut lepton mass formula as follows.
where a = 0, 1, and 2 are for e, µ7, and τ7, respectively. The calculated mass of τ7 is 1786.2 MeV in good agreement with the observed mass as 1776.82 MeV.
Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization for a charge-dipole interaction in a circular orbit. The more precise calculated mass of tfor the tau lepton mass formula is as follows.
which is in excellent agreement with observed 1776.82 MeV, and means that during this dipole-interaction in a circular orbit for τ, an electron with total mass of 17Me is lost. 17Me is shown as the observed 17 MeV for 34Me in the light boson (17 ee̅) .
Quark has fractional charge (±1/3 or ±2/3), 3-color gluons (red, green, and blue) for 3g*, and both the principal mass dimensional orbitals and axillary mass dimensional orbitals, so similar to Equation (4), d and u in the principal mass dimensional orbital involves e/3 or 2e/3 and 3g* as follows.
For quarks in the auxiliary mass dimensional orbitals, 3-color basic gluons (3g*) become 3-color auxiliary basic gluons ( 3 g a 7 ∗ ) at d = 7. Based on Equation (2), auxiliary basic gluon is derived from muon as follows.
Similar to Equation (5), the masses of quarks in the auxiliary mass dimensional orbital are as follows.
The quark mass formula at d = 7 is the combination of Equations (7) and (9) as follows.
where a = 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 for u7/d7, s7, c7, b7, and t7, respectively.
The quark mass at a = 5 for the auxiliary mass dimensional orbital at d = 7 is the maximum mass below the mass of B7, so the next auxiliary mass dimensional orbital has to start from B7.There are b and t at d = 8, so it is necessary to have µ8for the masses of b and t. Like µ7 in Equation (4), the mass of µ8 is as follows.
Since at d = 7, there are 3-color basic gluons, at d = 8, 3-color basic gluons are not needed, and only one basic gluon ( g 7 ∗ ) at d = 7 is used. Similar to Equations (7) and (9). The quark mass formulas for the principal and auxiliary mass dimensional orbitals are as follows.
The quark mass formula at d = 8 is the combination of Equations (12) and (13) as follows.
where a' = 1 and 2 for b8 and t8, respectively.
Combining Equations (10) and (14), the quark mass formula is as follows.
where a =1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 for d/u. s, c, b, and t, respectively, and a' = 1 and 2 for b and t respectively. The calculated masses for d, u, s, c, b, and t are 328.4 MeV, 328.6 MeV, 539 MeV, 1605.3 MeV, 4974.6 MeV, and 175.4 GeV, respectively. In the standard model, there are three generations of leptons. Extra-muon µ8 is outside of the three generations of leptons in the standard model, so µ8 is absent as shown in Table 2. As shown in Table 2, to be symmetrical to the absent µ8, b8 quark is also absent. The calculated mass of top quark is 175.4 GeV in good agreement with the observed 172.4 GeV. The calculated masses are comparable to the quark masses proposed by De Rujula, Georgi, and Glashow , Griffiths , and El Naschie .
For baryons, the quarks in the periodic table of elementary particles are baryonic quarks. Mesons have vector mesons with parallel spins and pseudoscalar mesons with antiparallel spins. Since parallel spins have higher energy than antiparallel spins, vector mesons have higher masses than pseudoscalar mesons. For higher-mass vector mesons (parallel spins), vector t, b, c, and s are baryonic t, b, c, s, and vector d and u are baryonic d and u plus basic gluon (g* = 70 MeV). For lower-mass pseudoscalar mesons (antiparallel spins), pseudoscalar t as t7 is a part of vector t (= t7 + t8), pseudoscalar b and c are vector quarks minus g*, and pseudoscalar d, u, and s are derived from g* as shown in Table 3.
The calculated masses and the observed masses of baryons are listed in Table 4. The binding energy for each d or u quark involves the auxiliary mass dimensional orbital at d = 7 from Equation (9). The primary binding energy EQ1 for d or u quark from Equation (9) is as follows.
Table 3. The masses of quarks.
d = principal mass dimensional mass orbital number, a = auxiliary mass dimensional number, generation = generation of lepton-quark in the standard model.
Table 4. The masses of baryons.
The secondary binding energy EQ2 for d or u quark is as follows.
The tertiary binding energy EQ3 for d or u quark bond is as follows.
The binding energy EQQ for each dd, uu, and du bond is 2EQ.
The mass of neutron (ddu) involves the mass of 2d and u subtracting the binding energy of EQQ1 and EQQ2 for two quark bonds (2du’s) as follows.
The calculated mass of neutron is in excellent agreement with the observed value 939.565 MeV with the % mass difference between the calculated and the observed masses = −0.01%.
Proton (duu) is more stable than neutron, so it involves the additional binding energy from the tertiary binding energy EQQ3. For the mass of proton, the baryon number conservation involves the loss of the mass of positron to prevent the decay into positron. Proton becomes permanently stable. The proton mass formula is as follows.
The calculated mass of proton is in excellent agreement with the observed value 938.272 MeV with the % mass difference between the calculated and the observed masses = −0.0006%.
Being less stable than du bond, the primary binding energy for us bond is one-third of the primary binding energy for du as follows.
The secondary binding energy EQ2 for u and s is as follows.
Only one bond (with binding energy) or less per baryon is allowed for the baryons with s, c, and b. The mass of Sigma (Σ+) as uus is as follows.
which is in excellent agreement with the observed value 1189.4 MeV. The binding energy of ds is zero. For example, Sigma (Σ−) with dds has the mass of d + s + d which is 1195.9 MeV in excellent agreement with the observed 1197.4 MeV.
In the two baryons with the same quark composition, the difference in the masses between the two baryons is equal to the multiple of g*, and one baryon has morebond (with binding energy) than the other baryon, so a bond is added or subtracted in one of the two baryons. For example, the two baryons, Lambda (Λ0) and Sigma (Σ0), are uds. Lambda (Λ0) has the mass of u + d + s - g* − EQQus1 + EQQus2 which is 1117.7 MeV in excellent agreement with the observed 1115.7 MeV. One bond is subtracted in Sigma (Σ0) which has the mass of u + d + s which is 1196.1 MeV in excellent agreement with 1192.6 MeV.
The binding energies of dd, uu, du, uc, and ub are the same. The binding energies of ds, dc, and db are zero. For example, bottom Lambda ( Λ b + ) with udb has the mass of u + d + b − EQQub1 + EQQub2 which is 5608.7 MeV in excellent agreement with the observed 5619.4 MeV. Only one bond or less is allowed for the baryons with s, c, and b except in the two baryons with the same quark composition where one bond is added in one of the two baryons. For example, the two baryons, charmed Sigma ( Σ c + ) and charmed Lambda ( Λ c + ), are udc, Charmed Sigma ( Σ c + ) has the mass of u + d + c + 3g* − EQQuc1 + EQQuc2 which is 2449.4 MeV in excellent agreement with the observed 2452.9 MeV. One bond is added in charmed Lambda ( Λ c + ) which has the mass of u + d + c + g* − EQQuc1 + EQQuc2 − EQQud1 + EQQud2 which is 2286.3 MeV in excellent agreement with the observed 2286.5 MeV.
Without d/u, the baryons have no binding energy. For example, charmed Omega ( Ω c 0 ) with ssc has the mass of s + s + c which is 2683.4 MeV which is in excellent agreement with the observed 2695.2 MeV.
The calculated masses and the observed masses of mesons are in Table 5. Since parallel spins have higher energy than antiparallel spins, vector mesons with parallel spins have higher masses than pseudoscalar mesons with antiparallel spins. For higher-mass vector mesons (parallel spins), vector t, b, c, and s are baryonic t, b, c, s, and vector d and u are baryonic d and u plus basic gluon (g*). For lower-mass pseudoscalar mesons (antiparallel spins), pseudoscalar t is a part of vector t, pseudoscalar b and c are vector quarks minus g*, and pseudoscalar d, u, and s are derived from g*.
The mass of π± is the mass of 2g* minus the mass of e± as proposed by Peter Cameron . The calculated mass of π± is 139.5395 MeV which is in excellent agreement with the observed 139.5702 MeV. π± has much longer mean lifetime than other mesons to indicate that the composite of π± is not normal composite of u and d quarks. Another pseudoscalar meson with long mean lifetime is K+ (us̅) which has the composition of 7g* + 7e with the calculated mass of 493.754 MeV in excellent agreement with the observed 493.677 MeV.
The mass of π0 involves the composite of pseudoscalar u and pseudoscalar d quarks as (upu̅p + dpd̅p)/2. The binding energy for pseudoscalar meson involves the auxiliary mass dimensional orbital at d = 7 similar to the binding energy in u and d quarks for baryons as Equation (16).The binding energy for pseudoscalar u and d does not involve 3 colors as in 3-color gluons, so similar to Equation (16), the primary binding energy for pseudoscalar u and d quarks at d = 7 with αw as follows.
The secondary binding energy is as follows.
The binding energy EQQ for each dd, uu, and du bond is 2EQ. π0 is (upu̅p + dpd̅p)/2, so similar to Equation (20), the mass of π0 is as follows.
which is in excellent agreement with the observed value 134.9766 MeV.
The binding energy for the ds bond and the us bond is three times of the d/u quark bond to form the composite boson with three flux quanta as follows.
Table 5. The masses of mesons and the Higgs bosons.
The mass of η as (upu̅p + dpd̅p + sps̅p)/2 is as follows.
which is in excellent agreement with the observed value 547.862 MeV.
The mass of η’ as (upu̅p + dpd̅p)/2 + sps̅p is as follows.
which is in excellent agreement with the observed value 957.78 MeV.
The mesons with c, b, and t have no binding energy. For dp and up in the pseudoscalar mesons with c and b, dp = db = dv - g*, and up = ub = uv - g*. For example, the mass of D meson (D0) with cp u̅p is cp + up = cp + uv - g* which is 1863.9 MeV in excellent agreement with the observed 1864.8 MeV.
The binding energy for vector dd, uu, and du bonds involves the same binding energy as baryonic d/u quark bond as Equations (16) and (17), so vector ρ+ as uvd̅v with the binding energy derived from Equations (16) and (17) is as follows.
which is in excellent agreement with the observed value 775.11 MeV. As in the baryons with the same quark composition, charged rho meson (ρ+) and omegameson (ω) have the same composition as uvd̅v, so 1/2 bond is subtracted in omegameson (ω) which has the mass as follows.
which is in excellent agreement with the observed value 782.65 MeV.
The binding energy for vector ds bond and us bond is twice of the binding energy for d/u quarks. The mass for kaon (K*+) with uvs̅v is as follows.
which is in excellent agreement with the observed value 891.66 MeV. The binding energy for vector ss bond has the opposite sign for EQQ2, so phi meson (ϕ) as svs̅v has the mass of sv + sv―52.648 MeV - 6.565 MeV which is 1018.9 MeV in excellent agreement with the observed 1019.5 MeV. The mesons with c, b, and t have no binding energy. For example, D meson (D*0) with cvu̅v has the mass of cv + uv which is 2004.0 MeV which is in excellent agreement with the observed 2007.0 MeV.
The masses of the mesons of c/b without d/u follow the meson mass formula by Malcolm H. MacGregor to match the masses of mesons derived from the quark mass formula as Equation (15). The MacGregor’s meson mass formula derived from the muon mass formula as Equation (4) is as follows.
where one e is for charge meson and 2e for neutral meson, and n (integer) is determined by the masses of mesons calculated from the quark mass formula as Equation (15). For example, the calculated mass of vector strange D meson ( D s ∗ + ) as cvs̅v is cv + sv which is 2144.4 MeV. To match 2144.4 MeV, the MacGregor’s meson mass formula generates e + 20(3g*/2) which is 2101.3 MeV in excellent agreement with the observed 2112.1 MeV. The mass different between pseudoscalar strange D meson ( D s + ) as cps̅p and vector strange D meson ( D s ∗ + ) as cvs̅v is 2g*. Strange D meson ( D s + ) has the mass of e + 20(3g*/2) - 2g* which is 1961.2 MeV in excellent agreement with the observed 1968.3 MeV.
The MacGregor’s meson mass formula in Equation (35) for the mesons of c/b without d/u/s, n = the multiple of 3to simulate baryonic quark which uses 3µ as in Equation (9). For example, vector upsilon meson (γ) with bvb̅v has the mass of 2e + 90(3g*/2) which is equal to 9454.4 MeV in excellent agreement with the observed 9460.3 MeV. The mass difference between vector bb̅ and pseudoscalar bb̅ is the mass of g*. Pseudoscalar bottom eta meson (ηb) with bpb̅p has the mass of 2e + 90(3g*/2) - g* which is equal to 9384.4 MeV in excellent agreement with the observed 9398.0 MeV.
Pseudoscalar and partial t quark is t7, while vector and full t quark is t7 + t8. Vector and full t quark with enormous mass is extremely short-lived, so top quark-antiquark does not have time before they decay to form hadrons, resulting in “bare” t quark and antiquark. The calculated mass of t is 175.4 GeV in good agreement with the observed 172.4 GeV.
Table 6. The binding energies in hadrons.
energies. The mesons with c, b, and t quarks do not have binding energies. Pseudoscalar mesons have lower binding energies than baryons and vector mesons. In the two hadrons with the same quark composition, one hadron has more bond (with binding energy) than the other, so a bond is added or subtracted in one of the two hadrons.
In the search for resonances produced in association with a b quark jet and a second jet, and decaying to a muon pair, the CMS Collaboration at the LHC recently reported an excess of events above the background near a dimuon mass of 28 GeV. The search is carried out in two categories from proton-proton collisions at center-of-mass energies of 8 and 13 TeV. The first category involves a b quark jet in the central region and at least one jet in the forward region, while the second category involves two jets in the central region, at least one of which is identified as a b quark jet, no jets in the forward region. At the 8 TeV collision, the first category has 4.2 standard deviation, while the second category has 2.9 standard deviations. At the 13 TeV collision, the first category has 2.0 standard deviations, while the second category results in a 1.4 standard deviation deficit.
As shown in Figure 1, Table 1, Table 3, and Table 5, pseudoscalar t quark is t7 (13.2 GeV), while vector and full t quark (175.4 GeV) is t7 + t8. This paper posits that the resonance with 28 GeV observed recently at the LHC is the pseudoscalar top-bottom quark-antiquark composite which has the calculated mass of 27.9 GeV derived from the periodic table of elementary particles in good agreement with the observed 28 GeV as shown in Table 5. The calculated mass is the mass of three pseudoscalar b quarks and one pseudoscalar t quark which represent the composite of bpb̅p + (bpb̅p + tpt̅p)/2. As described in the periodic table of elementary particles, pseudoscalar t quark is only a part of full t quark, so pseudoscalar tpt̅p (26.4 GeV) cannot exist independently, and can locate within a composite, such as the top-bottom quark-antiquark composite. As shown in the observation at the LHC, the resonance with 28 GeV weakens significantly at the higher energy collision (13 TeV), because at the higher collision energy, low-mass pseudoscalar tt̅ in the composite likely becomes independent full high-mass vector tt̅ moving out of the composite. The presence of the top-bottom quark-antiquark composite weakens, disappears, or gets inverted at 13 TeV as shown at the LHC. Normally, the presence of resonance gets stronger at the higher collision energy.
To account for the observed two jets, the composite has two jets consisting of a bb̅ jet and a b + t jet for (bpb̅p + tpt̅p)/2, where bb̅ jet is more stable than b + t jet which decays faster into the jet in the forward region to constitute the first category of the search by the CMS Collaboration at the LHC. Since tpt̅p is less stable than bpb̅p, so the decay of the b + t jet is faster to allow the greater standard deviations for the first category than for the second category. The sum of the standard deviations from both categories is greater than 5.
One important open theoretical issue about the Higgs boson is the triviality problem . Within the perturbation theory, the Higgs boson mass squared is proportional to the self-coupling. However, the scalar self-coupling for the scalar Higgs boson leads to triviality or non-interaction which is inconsistent to the interactive Higgs boson. To deal with the triviality problem, Cea and Cosmai established the non-perturbation non-trivial rescaling of the Higgs condensate to avoid the vanishing self-coupling, resulting in the generation of the heavy Higgs boson with 754 GeV. According to Cea, the theoretical expectations of the predicted heavy Higgs boson (754 GeV) are in fairly good agreement with the observations at the LHC Run 2with an estimated statistical significance of more than five standard deviations .
This paper proposes that derived from the non-trivial rescaling of the Higgs condensate, the Higgs boson doublet consists of the high Higgs boson from the upward rescaling of the Higgs condensate and the low Higgs boson from the downward rescaling. The perturbative Higgs boson became the non-perturbative Higgs boson doublet irreversibly during the spontaneous symmetry breaking. The observed mass of the high Higgs boson is 750 GeV , and the observed mass of the low Higgs boson is 125 GeV .
This paper also proposes that the Higgs bosons are the intermediate vector boson composites whose condensate provides the masses directly to the intermediate vector bosons during the spontaneous symmetry breaking. The Higgs bosons consist of the perturbative Higgs boson (W+W−Z0 = 252 GeV = MW+ + MW− + MZ0), the low Higgs boson (W+W−Z0/2 = 126 GeV) from the downward rescaling, and the high Higgs boson (3W+W−Z0 = 756 GeV) from the upward rescaling. The perturbative Higgs boson is absent, and there is no Higgs boson pair . The low Higgs boson as W+W−Z0/2 with respect to W+W−Z0 is like one quark in a di-quark meson, while the high Higgs boson as 3W+W−Z0 with respect to W+W−Z0 is like one baryon consisting of three quarks. In this way, the Higgs boson doublet from the rescaling provides the structures of the quark compositions for mesons and baryons which are not like leptons without composite structures. The calculated masses (126 GeV and 756 GeV) of the Higgs boson doublet are in excellent agreements with the observed masses (125 GeV and 750 GeV) - . For the periodic table of elementary particles, the Higgs mechanism assigns the mass of B7 as the mass of Z0. The mass of B7 produces αw which determines the masses of quarks as in the quark mass formula in Equation (15).
This paper posits that the observed resonance with 28 GeV at the LHC is the pseudoscalar top-bottom quark-antiquark composite which has the calculated mass of 27.9 GeV derived from the periodic table of elementary particles. The calculated mass is the mass of three pseudoscalar b quarks and one pseudoscalar t quark to represent the composite of bpb̅p + (bpb̅p + tpt̅p)/2 where p = pseudoscalar. (The quark in pseudoscalar meson is denoted as “pseudoscalar quark”, while the quark in vector mesons is denoted as “vector quark” which has higher mass than pseudoscalar quark.) In the periodic table of elementary particles, pseudoscalar t quark (13.2 GeV) is only a part of full t quark (175.4 GeV), so pseudoscalar tpt̅p (26.4 GeV) cannot exist independently, and can exist only in the top-bottom quark-antiquark composite. As shown in the observation at the LHC, the resonance with 28 GeV weakens significantly at the higher energy collision (13 TeV), because at the higher collision energy, low-mass pseudoscalar tpt̅p in the composite likely becomes independent full high-mass vector tvt̅v moving out of the composite. To account for the observed two jets, the composite has two jets consisting of a bb̅ jet and a b + t jet, where bb̅ jet for (bpb̅p + tpt̅p)/2 is more stable than b + t jet which decays faster into the jet in the forward region to constitute the first category of the search by the CMS Collaboration at the LHC.
The periodic table of elementary particles is based on the seven mass dimensional orbitals derived from the seven extra dimensions of 11 spacetime dimensional membrane particles. The seven mass dimensional orbitals include the seven principal mass dimensional orbitals for stable baryonic matter leptons (electron and neutrinos), gauge bosons, gravity, and dark matter and the seven auxiliary mass dimensional orbitals for unstable leptons (muon and tau) and quarks, and calculate accurately the masses of all elementary particles and the cosmic rays by using only five known constants. For baryons, the quarks in the periodic table of elementary particles are baryonic quarks. For high-mass vector mesons (parallel spins), vector t, b, c, and s are baryonic t, b, c, s, and vector d and u are baryonic d and u plus basic gluon (g* = 70 MeV) which has the mass of electron/α where α is the fine structure constant of electromagnetism. For low-mass pseudoscalar mesons (antiparallel spins), pseudoscalar t is a part of vector t, pseudoscalar b and c are vector quarks minus g*, and pseudoscalar d, u, and s are derived from g*. The binding energies among quarks are derived from the auxiliary mass dimensional orbital. With these masses and binding energies of quarks, the masses of hadrons can be calculated in excellent agreement with the observed masses of hadrons by using only five known constants in the periodic table of elementary particles. For examples, the calculated masses of proton, neutron, pion (π±), and pion (π0) are 938.261, 939.425, 139.540, and 134.982 MeV in excellent agreement with the observed 938.272, 939.565, 139.570, and 134.977 MeV, respectively with 0.0006%, 0.01%, 0.02%, and 0.004%, respectively for the difference between the calculated and observed mass. The calculated masses of the Higgs bosons as the intermediate vector boson composites are in excellent agreements with the observed masses. In conclusion, the calculated masses of the top-bottom quark-antiquark composite (27.9 GeV), hadrons, and the Higgs bosons by the periodic table of elementary particles are in excellent agreement with the observed masses of resonance with 28 GeV at the LHC, hadrons, and the Higgs bosons, respectively.
1. CMS Collaboration (2018) Search for Resonances in the Mass Spectrum of Muon Pairs Produced in Association with b Quark Jets in Proton-Proton Collisions at s√= 8 and 13 TeV. arXiv:1808.01890 [hep-ex].
15. Griffiths, D. (2008) Introduction to Elementary Particles. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim.
17. Cameron, P. (2011) Apeiron, 18, 29-42.
18. MacGregor, M. (2007) The Power of Alpha: The Electron Elementary Particle Generation with Alpha-Quantized Lifetimes And Masses. World Scientific Publishing, Singapore.
20. Cea, P. and Cosmai, L. (2012) International Scholarly Research Notices High Energy Physics, 2012, Article ID: 637950.
21. Cea, P. (2017) The HT Higgs Boson at the LHC Run 2.
22. Cea, P. (2018) Evidence of the True Higgs Boson HT at the LHC Run 2.
24. The CMS Collaboration (2018) Measurements of Properties of the Higgs Boson in the Four-Lepton Final State at s = 13 TeV, CMS PAS HIG-18-001.
25. The ATLAS Collaboration (2017) Search for Heavy ZZ Resonances in the l+l-l+l- and l+l-vv Final States Using Proton Proton Collisions at s =13 TeV with the ATLAS Detectorar.
27. The ATLAS Collaboration (2012) Physics Letters B, 716, 1-29.
28. ATLAS Collaboration (2018) The Journal of High Energy Physics, 11, 040.
|
0.95393 |
What is the point of view of expanse miners on BTC halving impact on mining ?
less mining (less BTC sold on market by miners) = natural tendency to rise slowly?
same mining with more BTC sold on market to compensate mining = natural tendency to decline?
same mining with more BTC stacked and sold at occasional spikes = natural tendency to rise and spike?
I am wondering if we could consider that it is rational to be bullish on BTC, because for 2 of the 3 outputs I can think of there is 2 of them that is followed by a bullish scenario.
On Borderless.tech appears the Borderless Citizen ID smart contract. I assume basically when we talk about "Citizenship", we consider a "citizen" to be part of a society/organization/foundation.
In my understanding (and please correct me on what I'm wrong), being a Borderless citizen is holding some Expanse tokens EXP, and having locked/signed on the Expanse blockchain a smart contract called Borderless Citizen ID.
I assume a Expanse user who is also a Borderless Citizen can access other Borderless services easily, but what else? Does the citizen access an inner voting system beside the one for Expanse DAO? Is there a Borderless society/organization in which the citizen is part of and can participate through voting? Or is Borderless.tech a private company that offers (free?) services for the Expanse DAO?
When we talk about "agents" in the Marriage post for example, is it simply another way to say Borderless Citizen, or is it different?
There is a default amount of Gas set on GUI wallet (90 000).
Is there a way to estimate the optimal amout of Gas for an EXP transaction considering the value sent, or is it the same as for ETH?
|
0.944807 |
Freddie Mercury, record producer and lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. He is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of popular music, and was known for his flamboyant stage persona and four-octave vocal range.
Mercury was born in Zanzibar to Parsi parents from India. After growing up in Zanzibar and then India, his family moved to Middlesex, England, in his late teens. He formed Queen in 1970 with guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. Mercury wrote numerous hits for Queen, including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", and "We Are the Champions". He also led a solo career and served as a producer and guest musician for other artists. Mercury died in 1991 at age 45 due to complications from AIDS, having confirmed the day before his death that he had contracted the disease.
Mercury was born in Stone Town in Zanzibar in Africa. His parents were Jer and Bomi Bulsara. They were both Persian. His father worked as a cashier in the British Colonial Office, a branch of the government. Mercury had a younger sister named Kashmira. His friends at school gave him the name "Freddie." His family then began calling him Freddie, too.
At age eight, Mercury was sent to a boarding school in India. The school, St. Peters English Boarding school in Panchgani, was about 50 miles outside the city of Bombay (now called Mumbai). He began to show talent as an artist and a sportsman. At age ten, he was named the school champion of Table Tennis. When he was twelve, he received a trophy called the Junior All-rounder.
While in school he joined a choir and began to learn to play the piano. He had a four octave vocal range. To be able to reach very high notes while singing is unusual for a man.
In 1964, Mercury moved to London with his family. He studied art at Ealing Art College. While in London, he became fond of Mary Austin, a woman he met though his guitarist, Brian May. They lived together for several years before and after the band became famous. They moved into a house in London nicknamed "The Court of King Freddie". Mary still lived in that house after she and Mercury broke up.
Mercury was in love with a local barber when he died. They had been in a relationship for six years when it was learned by the media that Mercury had AIDS. One day after the news was broadcast, Mercury died of a type of pneumonia caused by AIDS, on 24 November 1991.
Mercury playing rhythm guitar during a live concert with Queen in Frankfurt, Germany, 1984.
The outer walls of Mercury's final home, Garden Lodge, 1 Logan Place, west London, became a shrine to the late singer. Pictured in 2014.
Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland, Queen's recording studio from 1978 to 1995. It is where Mercury recorded his final vocal in May 1991. In December 2013, the studio was opened to fans. The Queen Studio Experience is free, with fans asked for a donation to the Mercury Phoenix Trust charity.
Freddie Mercury Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.
|
0.9999 |
I want to buy a sports watch: Where do I start?
Choosing the best sports watch for you is all about asking the right questions. What's your budget? What sports and activities do you want to track? Do you need additional smart features?
Sports watches, also called fitness watches, have been developed into electronic personal trainers, capable of tracking hundreds of activities in detail. You can monitor everything from heart rate to stride length - and more - all from your wrist.
Use our tips to understand what you should consider when shopping for a sports watch. We've even included a few of our favourite models, from budget options to high-end fitness watches, to give an idea of what you can get.
Do you need a sports watch or a smart watch?
A sports watch tends to focus on tracking physical performance, starting as simply as a stopwatch and going all the way to stride heart rate tracking. Strictly speaking, a smart watch would be more lifestyle focused, helping you with things like emails and texts.
But, the lines between them are blurred; many smart watches can track your steps and send information to your phone, while some sports watches can be paired with your phone to send social, text and calendar notifications.
Some of the most basic smart watches, such as the Guess Connect range, or Casio Sheen (pictured above), value looks over tech, but can be used to track steps and give basic notifications. More advanced smart watches, such as Huawei's W1, let you navigate some of your phone's features from your wrist, and track basic steps and calories burnt.
But, if notifications and social management sound more a perk than a necessity, a sports watch could be the better choice. Naturally, sports watches have a focus on activity tracking, while some of the more advanced models, such as Garmin's Fenix men's watch (pictured above) provide social and phone notifications as a secondary function.
Why do you want a sports watch?
Some people will want 24/7 monitoring, to access information about their steps taken and calories burnt to improve their daily fitness. Others may want specific sports tracking, which provides information about your workout, whether that's going for a run, cycling, hiking, swimming, or something completely different.
Deciding whether you want a sports watch for daily or dedicated activity will help to narrow the search considerably. Those looking for a step and calorie tracker will be able to find a great sports watch at a very reasonable price, such as Huawei's B0 Band (pictured above) or the slimline Garmin Vivofit 3.
Meanwhile, if you have higher demands from your watch, you'll need to delve a little deeper.
Runners are particularly well catered for in the sports watch market, but cycling, swimming, skiing, climbing, and even sailing can be tracked using a sports watch - you just have to find the timepiece to suit.
With every extra sport you want to monitor, you may need more capabilities and so the price of the watch may rise. Suunto specialises in multi-activity timepieces, with a dedicated range of endurance sport watches including the Spartan watch (pictured above).
Which specialist features do you need?
A particularly important feature for those who exercise outside, GPS lets you track the length and route of your run, cycle or hike. A basic GPS watch, such as Garmin's Forerunner 3 (picture above), will track distance and speed, while more advanced GPS watches can map your route, and monitor elevation. Suunto's Ambit 3 Peak men's watch is a great advanced GPS watch, offering all of these features, and some.
Wrist-based heart rate monitoring negates the need for uncomfortable chest straps for all but the most professional athletes. Heart rate monitoring can track your progress over a period of weeks or months, or be used for special heart rate zone training, depending on the model of sports watch you choose.
The Elevate heart rate monitoring featured across several of Garmin's sports watches, including the Forerunner 235 (pictured above), can create a chart showing your heart rate over a time period, letting you know exactly when you reached peak performance.
Often featured in a watch's partner smartphone app, though occasionally on the watch itself, training, recovery plans and advice take sports watches to the very next level. Watches like this can take your next workout to a higher level, and notify you when it's time to take a break from training.
Polar's V800 watch (pictured above) is one of the leading training and recovery watches on the market that more than justify their price tags.
What your fitness watch can measure and monitor is most important, but there are some final touches that will take your experience with the watch from good to great.
Battery life is key for some. If you want it to track you all day, it'll need a long battery life. Garmin's Vivofit 3 has a one-year charge. You won't find an intensive sports watch with such a long-life battery, but the Suunto Spartan Ultra has a 26 hours during training mode, meaning it'll last for as long as you need it to.
Water resistance is important for anyone who trains outdoors, but the level of resistance depends on your activities. Swimming requires complete water resistance, which you'll find across the majority of Suunto watches, while simple rain resistance can be found in Polar and Garmin watches.
Navigation on a sports watch will either come via a touch screen or using buttons to cycle through functions. The Casio G-Shock range stands by the classic button function, and will feel more comfortable for those who are simply looking to upgrade their watch, rather than using a sports watch for the first time. Those who like the modern touch-screen function of a smartphone or tablet will prefer the offerings from Polar, Garmin and Suunto.
Choosing a sports watch takes time, consideration, and research. Browsing the full selection of smart watches will show you the very best on the market today, and you're sure to find a sports watch that takes your activities to the next level.
|
0.999463 |
What are my options for attending college internationally?
Students have two options when considering international study: study abroad or full-time enrollment at an international college or university.
Enrollment in an International School: Students who are interested in studying abroad can also attend a foreign college or university as a full-time student in a degree program. Students are admitted as international students to the country of study. Full-time degree programs are typically three- to four years for an undergraduate degree and five- to six years for a graduate degree.
What factors should be considered when deciding which path to take for international study?
Study-abroad programs are created with U.S. students in mind, so they are taught in English or are designed as language-immersion programs for those students who have prior years of language study.
In contrast, full-time degree programs outside of English-speaking countries are mostly taught in the native language. Some countries that offer undergraduate degrees with classes taught in English are the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, South Korea, and Taiwan. More countries offer some of their graduate degrees in English (i.e., Germany, France, and Switzerland).
When applying to international colleges and universities, students should consider language interests and proficiency as well as what countries would be the best match for them.
Many study-abroad programs are constructed with U.S. students in mind, and in some cases are even developed by the home schools rather than the hosting colleges.
In full-time international degree programs, the curriculum may not adhere to U.S. standards. That is not to say that international schools are inferior—they are not. They are simply structured differently. For example, in most European universities, the Bachelor programs follow a rigid curriculum with limited elective choices. They also expect you to select your major upon entrance or shortly after. In the U.S., colleges and universities give students more time to explore various academic specialties before choosing a major. U.S. students are also given more opportunities to take classes outside of their immediate major.
The exceptions are the American Universities in foreign cities. These schools (American University in Paris, Rome, Cairo, etc.) are based on an American-style education and are accredited by U.S. educational organizations. These schools offer U.S. students a slightly more traditional American educational experience, but in a foreign locale.
If your goal is to immerse yourself in another culture for several years, then a full-time degree as an international student may be ideal for you. Because relatively few students from the U.S. choose this path, you will be attending classes that are largely populated by local students and you will be likely spending most of your free time with them.
Study-abroad programs, however, are designed for U.S. students, and will likely enroll a large number of these students. Depending on your goals, this may be a good thing or not. When considering which international study path to take, think about whether complete cultural immersion through a full-time international program is right for you.
Travel is wonderful but can also be challenging. Ask yourself whether you are ready to leave behind the creature comforts of the U.S. and be far away from family and friends, especially when you’re considering a non-English speaking country. You should also understand what student life looks like at the international colleges you are investigating, because it may be very different than a U.S. school.
Is housing guaranteed and for how many years?
Will I be offered a meal plan?
Is there a robust U.S. ex-pat community on campus?
Study-abroad programs vary in cost. Programs can be quite expensive relative to their length of study. Some programs offer “inclusive packages,” which include living costs in those countries where the cost of living is high.
Getting a degree abroad, on the other hand, can be more affordable for U.S. students than getting a similar degree in the U.S. For example, being an international student in the U.K. will cost on average of $21,000 per year, and in Canada, it is $17,000 per year, and much less in most of Europe.
The majority of European schools charge either no tuition (Germany, Norway), or a relatively small fee for international students (France, Scandinavian countries, Netherlands), and some even subsidize the housing and cost of living. However, you must remember the hidden costs, such as cost of living if not included (housing, food, etc.), travel home, and the exchange rate, which might make some aspects of attending a college or university in a foreign country more expensive than initially thought.
In addition, fewer scholarships and less financial aid are available for American students studying full-time abroad.
Study-abroad advising is available on most college campuses. Advisors guide students through the study-abroad search and application process. Campus professionals have access to many resources and can have useful insights and suggestions on the process.
Applying to international colleges as a full-time student can be a bit daunting. You must research each country’s and each school’s application process. Some international schools accept the Common Application; however, others do not. Schools in Great Britain, for example, have prospective students apply through the University and College Admissions Service.
It is important to note that international schools often look at academic criteria for admissions (grades and standardized tests scores) as opposed to U.S. colleges that take a “holistic” approach to admissions (academic criteria plus extracurricular activities, essay, etc.). Some international schools (e.g., English, Scottish, and the American Schools in foreign countries) have admissions representatives based in the United States. Reach out to these resources to learn about the admissions process and ask to speak with American alumni from their programs to learn about the experience of attending college abroad.
|
0.99367 |
While it is debated whether Christopher Columbus really “discovered” America, there is no question that his voyage to the Caribbean in 1492 paved the way for European colonization. Beginning in the sixteenth century, several European countries established and disputed over colonies, territories, and trading posts in the Americas.
Motivated by the prospects of raw materials, trade and proselytizing Christianity, among other factors, colonizers claimed land on which indigenous peoples of the Americas had lived for thousands of years.
Millions of European settlers migrated to the “New World,” forcibly displacing and killing its indigenous inhabitants in the process. Moreover, the European powers turned to African and Native American enslavement and indentured servitude to undertake the laborious work of colony building.
In the 1560s, the Spanish and French disputed over claims to St. Augustine, which is now present-day Florida. Then, in the early 1600s, the English colonized Jamestown, Virginia (1607); the Spanish established large military and trading posts in modern day Texas, New Mexico, and California; the French claimed territories in Canada, along the Great Lakes, Mississippi River and in present day Louisiana. On a smaller scale, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands set up the Swedish West Indian Company, the Danish West Indian Company, and the Dutch West India Company in modern day Delaware, Virgin Islands and New York respectively. Russia also established a large colony in modern day Alaska, as well as trading posts through Washington, Oregon, and California.
From 1607 to 1732, England acquired control over the thirteen colonies. In the 1760s, however, the colonies’ inhabitants drove out English officials through armed conflict in response to strict taxes and harsh punitive laws. The colonial period came to an end when the United States declared itself independent on July 4, 1776, although Great Britain did not officially recognize U.S. independence until the Treaty of Paris in 1783. The first U.S. Census, conducted in 1790, counted roughly four million people living in sixteen established states, including about 700,000 (mostly enslaved) Black people. This figure did not include American Indians, who were not counted in the decennial census until 1860.
Millions of European settlers migrated to the “New World,” forcibly displacing and killing its indigenous inhabitants in the process.
|
0.962693 |
For the following exercises, solve the system by Gaussian elimination.
For the following exercises, use Gaussian elimination to solve the system.
For the following exercises, set up the augmented matrix that describes the situation, and solve for the desired solution.
Every day, a cupcake store sells 5,000 cupcakes in chocolate and vanilla flavors. If the chocolate flavor is 3 times as popular as the vanilla flavor, how many of each cupcake sell per day?
At a competing cupcake store, $4,520 worth of cupcakes are sold daily. The chocolate cupcakes cost $2.25 and the red velvet cupcakes cost $1.75. If the total number of cupcakes sold per day is 2,200, how many of each flavor are sold each day?
You invested $10,000 into two accounts: one that has simple 3% interest, the other with 2.5% interest. If your total interest payment after one year was $283.50, how much was in each account after the year passed?
You invested $2,300 into account 1, and $2,700 into account 2. If the total amount of interest after one year is $254, and account 2 has 1.5 times the interest rate of account 1, what are the interest rates? Assume simple interest rates.
Bikes’R’Us manufactures bikes, which sell for $250. It costs the manufacturer $180 per bike, plus a startup fee of $3,500. After how many bikes sold will the manufacturer break even?
A major appliance store is considering purchasing vacuums from a small manufacturer. The store would be able to purchase the vacuums for $86 each, with a delivery fee of $9,200, regardless of how many vacuums are sold. If the store needs to start seeing a profit after 230 units are sold, how much should they charge for the vacuums?
The three most popular ice cream flavors are chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla, comprising 83% of the flavors sold at an ice cream shop. If vanilla sells 1% more than twice strawberry, and chocolate sells 11% more than vanilla, how much of the total ice cream consumption are the vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry flavors?
At an ice cream shop, three flavors are increasing in demand. Last year, banana, pumpkin, and rocky road ice cream made up 12% of total ice cream sales. This year, the same three ice creams made up 16.9% of ice cream sales. The rocky road sales doubled, the banana sales increased by 50%, and the pumpkin sales increased by 20%. If the rocky road ice cream had one less percent of sales than the banana ice cream, find out the percentage of ice cream sales each individual ice cream made last year.
A bag of mixed nuts contains cashews, pistachios, and almonds. There are 1,000 total nuts in the bag, and there are 100 less almonds than pistachios. The cashews weigh 3 g, pistachios weigh 4 g, and almonds weigh 5 g. If the bag weighs 3.7 kg, find out how many of each type of nut is in the bag.
A bag of mixed nuts contains cashews, pistachios, and almonds. Originally there were 900 nuts in the bag. 30% of the almonds, 20% of the cashews, and 10% of the pistachios were eaten, and now there are 770 nuts left in the bag. Originally, there were 100 more cashews than almonds. Figure out how many of each type of nut was in the bag to begin with.
|
0.999998 |
TL;DR: You can signup & buy on Binance — Transfer your BTC or ETH from Coinbase to Binance and buy IOTA. CoinMarketCap.com is your friend here. Go to coinmarketcap.com and there’s a search bar on top right corner prompting you with “ Search Currencies ”... Опубликовано: 5 дек 2017 ; What is up guys! Happy Monday! In the last few videos I have been talking about IOTA and the potential upside of the the coin in a long term setting.
How to purchase BTC or ETH You can buy Bitcoin or Ethereum at Coinbase! To recieve $10 worth of Bitcoin when you buy $100 worth, sign up using this link:... To register on Coinbase, visit www.coinbase.com and click on the Sign Up button at the top right hand corner of the screen. Enter your email address and click on Get Started button.
About IOTA. IOTA is designed to facilitate microtransactions between devices on the Internet of Things (IoT). IOTA uses a unique consensus algorithm (called the Tangle) that requires users to validate two transactions in order to make a transaction of their own.... How do I buy IOTA? The simplest way to buy IOTA is to buy Bitcoin or Ethereum (another cryptocurrency) on a site like Coinbase and transfer it to an exchange that supports IOTA.
Coinbase is a great exchange for new users to buy their first bitcoin. There are mobile apps for both iOS and Android so you can pay for products with bitcoin easily from your Coinbase account, or buy and sell you coins conveniently.
|
0.999999 |
I work here at Social Tap HQ and like to think I’m kind of savvy when it comes to restaurant choices. I follow the trends and see the reviews. It was only about six months ago when I noticed a Sydney blogger Simon Food Favourites had visited a few of our clients, and he caught my eye.
Pop over to his blog and you’ll see what I mean – nice, well-lit photos, clear and non-biased reviews, and a cheeky but trustworthy face.. am I right?
So let me tell you how I ended up with six of my family members at Papi Chulo on a wet Sunday.
I heard along the hospitality grapevine about the launch of Papi Chulo – and it looked great, but it wasn’t until a few weeks later that Simon’s review popped up into my Facebook newsfeed I knew I had to go next time I was in Sydney.
Typically consumers have to be shown a product or service several times before they commit to a purchase, but when they hear of the product from a trusted source it is a different story.
People build relationships with bloggers, and as a result, bloggers DO influence a patron’s decision making. It wasn’t until Michelle asked me why I booked Papi Chulo over Miss Chu’s (which has been on my bucket list for a long long time) that I explained, and realised, how much Simon’s opinion had swayed me.
The reality is I was only in Sydney for 48 hours and I wanted to take my family somewhere I knew was family friendly, tasty and could deliver a good experience.
Restaurant owners spend a lot of time worrying about the reviews on sites such as TripAdvisor, but I think it is important to remember that patrons are now trusting proven food bloggers over these resources as they are not written from a place of emotion.
We all know restaurants can fault sometimes and can drop the ball, but are consumers fair to plaster this all over social media? For restaurant patron reviewers there is the opportunity for TripAdvisor to be used as a powerful tool against restaurants.
We see the impacts of this on a daily basis and it is important to respond to these reviews in a professional and tactful manner – no matter what is written. However, the focus should also be placed on cultivating relationships with bloggers if possible as they are working from an open and unbiased position.
Finally, one more thing. After mentally devouring those slow cooked meats for a long time before my trip, I had high expectations. Was I disappointed to find out there was no kids menu? No, because the waitress kindly explained which dishes were great for sharing. I loved it, my family loved it, and the kids thought the funky swivel seats were (and I quote) ‘epic’.
This entry was posted in Blogging, Customer Reviews, Dining, Food, Food Bloggers, Food Photography, From the Blog, Restaurant and tagged Blogging, Food Blogging.
|
0.953519 |
Need to restart alfresco every time I change a web script?
Is there any other way of deploying a java based web script without restarting alfresco in tomcat manager. It takes at least several minutes to start the whole alfresco application again, so it's painfully slow development.
I'm using NetBeans where i included all the JARs from c:\Alfresco\tomcat\webapps\alfresco\WEB-INF\lib\ and then I create my own JAR, copy it into same folder and restart alfresco in tomcat. Only then does my webscript reload.
No, because each WebScript must be declared as a Spring Bean that by default it is a singleton. This means that all the WebScripts must be declared and instantiated only at bootstrap time.
You should manage Spring beans programmatically using the Spring Core API adding beans using Java and trying to copy the classes directly in the deploy folder of Tomcat following the classpath resource. But anyway this is not a clean way to follow to manage a development project as an Alfresco extension project.
When I've developed Java backed web scripts I've used Unit Tests and run them from within Eclipse. There's no need to deploy and restart tomcat, except the first time when the spring config is changed.
|
0.936123 |
The Independence Day of Burma is a national holiday observed in Burma on January 4 of every year. The date celebrates Burma's Declaration of Independence from Britain on January 4, 1948. In the 19th century, following three Anglo-Burmese Wars, Burma was colonized by Britain. On 1 April 1937, Burma became a separately administered colony of Great Britain and Ba Maw the first Prime Minister and Premier of Burma. Ba Maw was an outspoken advocate for Burmese self-rule and he opposed the participation of Great Britain, and by extension Burma, in World War II. He resigned from the Legislative Assembly and was arrested for sedition. In 1940, before Japan formally entered the Second World War, Aung San formed the Burma Independence Army in Japan.
A major battleground, Burma was devastated during the Second World War. By March 1942, within months after they entered the war, Japanese troops had advanced on Rangoon and the British administration had collapsed. A Burmese Executive Administration headed by Baw Maw was established by the Japanese in August 1942. Beginning in late 1944, allied troops launched a series of offensives that led to the end of Japanese rule in July 1945. However, the battles were intense with much of Burma laid waste by the fighting.
Although many Burmese fought initially for the Japanese, some Burmese, mostly from the ethnic minorities, also served in the British Burma Army. The Burma Independence Army and the Arakan National Army fought with the Japanese from 1942-1944, but switched allegiance to the Allied side in 1945.
Following the World War II, Aung San negotiated the Panglong Agreement with ethnic leaders that guaranteed the independence of Burma as a unified state. In 1947, Aung San became Deputy Chairman of the Executive Council of Burma, a transitional government. But in July 1947, political rivals backed by the British assassinated Aung San and several cabinet members.
On 4 January 1948, the nation became an independent republic, named the Union of Burma, with Sao Shwe Thaik as its first President and U Nu as its first Prime Minister. Unlike most other former British colonies and overseas territories, it did not become a member of the Commonwealth. Independence Day is a national holiday marked by sport activities and fairs in most Burmese cities.
The Panglong Agreement was reached between the Burmese government under Aung San and the Shan, Kachin, and Chin peoples on 12 February 1947. Aung Zan Wai, Pe Khin, Bo Hmu Aung, Sir Maung Gyi, Dr. Sein Mya Maung, Myoma U Than Kywe were among the negotiators of the historical Panglong Conference negotiated with Bamar leader General Aung San and other ethnic leaders in 1947. The agreement accepted "Full autonomy in internal administration for the Frontier Areas" in principle and envisioned the creation of a Kachin State by the Constituent Assembly. It continued the financial relations established between the Shan states and the Burmese federal government, and envisioned similar arrangements for the Kachin Hills and the Chin Hills. The day is celebrated in Myanmar as Union Day each February 12.
Peasants' Day (Burmese Name, 'Taungthu lethama nei') is a public holiday in Myanmar. Myanmar, also known as Burma, celebrates Peasants' Day yearly every 2nd of March. It is incidentally the General Ne Win's seizure of power in 1962.
Nay Win is a military commander and politician of Myanmar. He served two terms as the country's Prime Minister from 1958 to 1960 and another on 1962 to 1974. He was also the country's head of state from 1962 to 1981. He also head one of the country's powerful political party Socialist Programme Party from 1964 until 1988. The party was the only party allowed to exist during Ne Win's strict military rule until he was ousted as a result of social unrest happened on 1988 known as the 8888 Uprising.
During this day, various talks and development programs are laid down, discussed, and revealed for the improvement of the peasant sector which is the country's flagship economy.
The peasant sector occupies around 70 percent of Myanmar's population and undoubtedly the most productive workforce in the country. Because of this, Myanmar recognizes the powerful role of farmers in driving the country's economic output. However, it is the farming sector which usually suffers whenever a power struggle happens in the country because rebels usually flew to the jungles of Myanmar to avoid prosecution and seek protection.
The country has long been wanting to transform its country into a developed nation with plans of improving the industrial sector of the society, however, inadequate funding, corruption, and political instability halts the region from realizing its truest potential.
The entire peasantry before 1965 experienced usury and inappropriate use of agricultural land. Farming lands were rented and many of the farmers cannot keep up with the rising cost of land rent. During this time, laws were passed to protect the farmers against this practice and led to massive land reformation and among them is the passing of protecting farmers against land renting. These acts were all made under the military administration of Ne Win and continue until today. Most of monumental reformation happened during Ne Win's term and continued until his resignation on 1988 after a popular uprising.
Today, Myanmar still focuses on the development of new technologies and laws to protect farmers from unfair land treatment and support their various causes as the whole country's economy depends heavily on this sector.
During the holiday, Myanmar's local leaders organize talks about reforms in peasantry around the country and present issues that challenges the development of the agricultural field. Since this is a national holiday, public companies are closed while some private companies may remain open.
Families and individuals may choose to remain inside home or visit the local parks, pagodas and temples in the area. Also, trade and cultural shows organized around the country showcasing traditional crafts, culture, and arts.
The Full Moon Day of Tabaung is an important Buddhist festival celebrated on the full moon day of Magha in Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand, and Myanmar. The spiritual aims of the day are: not to commit any kind of sins; do only good; purify one's mind. The Full Moon Day of Tabaung is a public holiday in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand and is an occasion when Buddhists tend to go to the temple to perform merit-making activities.
In Burma, called the Full Moon of Tabaung' or Tabottwal Full Moon Day is a traditional merit-making day for Buddhists. Tabottwal is the month before last month of the year in the traditional Burmese calendar. The country's largest pagoda festival, the Shwedagon Pagoda Festival, begins during the new moon of the month of Tabottwal in the traditional Burmese calendar and continues until the full moon. The festival begins with a nakyake shitsu ceremony for offerings to the 28 Buddhas (from Taningara to Gautama), followed by a 10-day, nonstop recital of the Pathana, Buddhist scriptures on the 24 causes of worldly phenomena. Other pagoda festivals are held on this day, including the Shwe Settaw Pagoda Festival in Magwe Region's Minbu Township and the Alaungdaw Kathapa Pagoda Festival, near the Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park in Sagaing Region. The Full Moon of Tabaung also coincides with the Pa-O National Day, traditionally set on the day of King Suriyachanda's birth.
The Union of Myanmar, known as Burma until 1989, is in southeast Asia. It is bordered by China, Laos, Thailand, Bangladesh, and India.
Throughout most of the 1800s, Burma was ruled by the British. In 1819, the British invaded Burma and took over parts of the country. By 1886, they had control over the entire country and made it a province of India, which was also under British control.
In 1930 a Burman named Saya San led a major armed rebellion against the British. San was executed by the British, but he inspired other Burmese to demand independence.
Aung San, an outspoken student leader, continued the fight for Burma's independence. He was eventually arrested, but he escaped to China, where he collaborated with the Japanese. The Japanese promised San that if he helped to overthrow the British, they would make Burma an independent nation. San helped the Japanese oust the British, and the Japanese ruled Burma from 1942 until 1945. By then it had become clear to San that the Japanese had no intention of handing Burma back to its people. On March 27, 1945, he helped the World War II Allied forces remove the Japanese from power.
Today, Myanmar celebrates Armed Forces Day on March 27 to commemorate the day that Aung San rebelled against the Japanese. The day is celebrated with a military parade and fireworks. Since 1989, the Tatmadaw, the Myanmar military, has made it a tradition to pardon several prisoners on Armed Forces Day.
Thingyan is the Burmese New Year Water Festival and usually falls around mid-April (the Burmese month of Tagu). It is a Buddhist festival celebrated over a period of four to five days culminating in the new-year. Formerly the dates of the Thingyan festival are calculated according to the traditional Burmese lunisolar calendar, but now fixed to Gregorian calendar 13 to 16 April; it often coincides with Easter. The dates of the festival are observed as the most important public holiday throughout Burma and are part of the summer holidays at the end of the school year. Water-throwing or dousing one another from any shape or form of vessel or device that delivers water is the distinguishing feature of this festival and may be done on the first four days of the festival. However, in most parts of the country, it does not begin in earnest until the second day. Thingyan is comparable to other new-year festivities in Theravada Buddhist areas of Southeast Asia such as Lao New Year, Cambodian New Year and Songkran in Thailand.
The eve of Thingyan, the first day of the festival called a-kyo nei is the start of a variety of religious activities. Buddhists are expected to observe the Eight Precepts, more than the basic Five Precepts, including having only one meal before noon. Thingyan is a time when uposatha observance days, similar to the Christian sabbath, are held. Alms and offerings are laid before monks in their monasteries and offerings of a green coconut with its stalk intact encircled by bunches of green bananas (nga pyaw pwe oun pwe) and sprigs of thabyay before the Buddha images over which scented water is poured in a ceremonial washing from the head down. In ancient times Burmese kings had a hairwashing ceremony with clear pristine water from Gaungsay Kyun (lit. Headwash Island), a small rocky outcrop of an island in the Gulf of Martaban near Mawlamyaing.
By nightfall, the real fun begins with music, song and dance, merrymaking and general gaiety in anticipation of the water festival. In every neighbor-hood pavilions or stages, with festive names and made from bamboo, wood and beautifully decorated papier mache, have sprung up overnight. Local belles have been rehearsing for weeks and even years, in the run-up to the great event in song and dance in chorus lines, each band of girls uniformly dressed in colourful tops and skirts and garlanded in flowers and tinsel. They wear fragrant thanaka - a paste of the ground bark of Murraya paniculata which acts as both sunblock and astringent - on their faces, and sweet-scented yellow padauk blossoms in their hair. The padauk (Pterocarpus macrocarpus) blooms but one day each year during Thingyan and is popularly known as the "Thingyan flower". Large crowds of revellers, on foot, bicycles and motorbikes, and in open top jeeps and trucks, will do the rounds of all the mandat, some making their own music and most of the womenfolk wearing thanaka and padauk. Floats, gaily decorated and lit up, also with festive names and carrying an orchestra as well as dozens of amorous young men on each of them, will roam the streets stopping at every mandat exchanging songs specially written for the festival including the Thingyan classics that everyone knows, and performing than gyat (similar to rapping but one man leads and the rest bellows at the top of their voices making fun of and criticising whatever is wrong in the country today such as fashion, consumerism, runaway inflation, crime, drugs, AIDS, corruption, inept politicians etc.). It is indeed a time for letting go, a major safety valve for stress and simmering discontent. There will be the usual spate of accidents and incidents from drink driving or just reckless driving in crowded streets full of revellers and all manner of vehicles, as well as drunkenness, arguments and brawling which the authorities have to be prepared for at this time of the year. Generally however friendliness and goodwill prevail along with some boisterous jollity.
The next day called a-kya nei is when Thingyan truly arrives as Thagyamin makes his descent from his celestial abode to earth. At a given signal, a cannon (Thingyan a-hmyauk) is fired and people come out with pots of water and sprigs of thabyay, then pour the water onto the ground with a prayer. A prophesy for the new year (Thingyan sar) will have been announced by the brahmins (ponna) and this is based on what animal Thagya Min will be riding on his way down and what he might carry in his hand. Children will be told that if they have been good Thagya Min will take their names down in a golden book but if they have been naughty their names will go into a dog book!
Serious water throwing does not begin until a-kya nei in most of the country although there are exceptions to the rule. Traditionally, Thingyan involved the sprinkling of scented water in a silver bowl using sprigs of thabyay, a practice that continues to be prevalent in rural areas. The sprinkling of water was intended to metaphorically "wash away" one's sins of the previous year. In major cities such as Yangon, garden hoses, huge syringes made of bamboo, brass or plastic, water pistols and other devices from which water can be squirted are used in addition to the gentler bowls and cups, but water balloons and even fire hoses have been employed! It is the hottest time of the year and a good dousing is welcomed by most. Everyone is fair game except monks and obviously pregnant women. Some overenthusiastic young lads may get captured by women, who often are their main target, and become kids of a practical joke with soot from cooking pots smeared on their faces. Maidens from mandats with dozens of garden hoses exchange hundreds of gallons of water with throngs of revellers and one float after another. Many revellers carry towels to block the jet of water getting into the ear and for modesty's sake as they get thoroughly soaked and drenched in their light summer clothes. The odd prankster might use ice water and a drive-by splash with this would provoke shrieks of surprise followed by laughs from its victims. Pwe (performances) by puppeteers, orchestras, dance troupes, comedians, film stars and singers including modern pop groups are commonplace during this festival.
During the Water Festival, the Myanmar government relaxes the restrictions on gatherings. In the former capital, Yangon, the government permits crowds to gather on the Kadawgyi Pet and Kabaraye Roads. Temporary water-spraying stations, known as pandals are set up, and double as dance floors. Many of these pavilions are sponsored by rich and powerful families and businesses.
The third day is called a-kyat nei and there may be two of them, an extra day in certain years. The fourth is known as a-tet nei when Thagya Min returns to the heavens, the last day of the water festival. Some would throw water at people late into the day making an excuse such as "Thagyer Min left his pipe and has come back for it"! Over the long festive holiday, a time-honoured tradition is mont lone yeibaw, glutinous rice balls with palm sugar inside thrown into boiling water in a huge wok and served as soon as they resurface which gave it the name. All the young men and women help in making it and all are welcome, but watch out for some prankster putting a birdseye chilli inside instead of palm sugar for a laugh! Mont let saung is another refreshing Thingyan snack, bits of sticky rice with toasted sesame in palm sugar and coconut milk. They are both served with grated coconut. In major cities such as Yangon and Mandalay, Rakhine Thingyan can also be experienced as Rakhine residents of the city celebrate in their own tradition. Water is scooped from a long boat (laung hlay) to throw at revellers and Rakhine mohinga is served.
The next day is New Year's Day (hnit san ta yet nei). It is a time for people to visit the elders and pay obeisance by gadawt (also called shikhoe) with a traditional offering of water in a terracotta pot and shampoo. Young people perform hair washing for the elderly often in the traditional manner with shampoo beans and bark. Many make new-year resolutions, generally in the mending of ways and doing meritorious deeds for their karma. Releasing fish (ngar hlut pwel) is another time-honoured tradition on this day; fish are rescued from lakes and rivers drying up under the hot sun, then kept in huge glazed earthen pots and jars before releasing into larger lakes and rivers with a prayer and a wish saying "I release you once, you release me ten times". Thingyan is also a favorite time for shinpyu, novitiation ceremonies for boys in the tradition of Theravada Buddhism when they will join the monks (Sangha) and spend a short time, perhaps longer, in a monastery immersed in the teachings of the Buddha, the Dhamma. It is akin to rites of passage or coming of age ceremonies in other religions.
On the New Year's Day, people make food donations called satuditha at various places. They typically provide free food to those participating in the new-year's celebrations.
In Myanmar under British colonial rule, the people had no mutual contact with foreign countries. World Worker Day (May Day), which many countries had begun commemorating in 1890, was commemorated in Myanmar for the first time in 1931. It can be said that it was 48 years late. At that time, when oil field workers with the leadership of the Do-Bamar Asiayone were fighting back by striking against the major British imperialist capitalists led by the BOC [Burmah Oil Company], large May Day assemblies of the working masses began to be held starting on May 1st 1938 at the oil towns and the struggle of the oil field workers was able to connected with the international [labour movement]. Therefore, the start of May Day in Myanmar is acknowledged to have come from the oil fields.
After deciding at the fourth conference of the Do-Bamar Asiayone headquarters in Mawlamyine in 1939 to commemorate May Day annually on May 1st across the whole country and to demand that the government designate that day as a day when work is stopped, in the years 1939 and 1941, Do-Bamar Asiayone branches formed and in cities and regions where there were industrial workers people's assemblies were held to annually commemorate workers' May Day. At that time, Thakin Aung San became the general secretary of the Do-Bamar Asiayone central office.
The most important of the 12 Burmese festivals of the months, Kasone Full Moon Day-sometimes known as Buddha Day -celebrates the birth and the enlightenment of the Buddha at the foot of the banyan tree. Buddhists in Myanmar (Burma) gather at monasteries and precept halls to practice meditation, to make charitable donations, and to observe the precepts of Buddhism. Another ritual associated with this day is the pouring of water, both individually and collectively, to celebrate the preservation of the banyan tree. Because Kasone is a hot, dry month, fish are often transferred from streams, ponds, and tanks to places where there is more water.
Waso is the fourth month of the Myanmar calendar (July). This month is the sacred month for the Buddhist because it was the day when the embryo-Buddha Prince Siddhattha was conceived, the day he renounced the world and the day Lord Buddha, soon after the Enlightenment, delivered the First Sermon-Dhammacakka Pavattana Sutta- to the Five Disciples. Therefore, the full moon day Waso is the regarded as the Dhammacakka Day in the memory of the day the Buddha preaches his first sermon.
In Waso Buddhist monks are not allowed to make a journey lasting a night or longer and they have to stay at their monasteries. These days are kept as Lenten days. Buddhist Lent begins on the full moon day of Waso, the fourth month of the Myanmar calendar and ends on the full moon day of Thadingyut, the seventh month of the Myanmar calendar. It lasts for 3 months.
The incident took place in the Buddha's lifetime. A group of monks set out on a journey to pay their respects to the Buddha's lifetime. A group of monks set out on a journey to pay their respects to the Buddha. Unfortunately, the time they had chosen for their travel was the rainy season-the time for doing agricultural works such as ploughing, seeding, and transplanting in order to grow crops. The ploughing begins in Waso, the fourth month. The crops and paddy stalks grow fully in Wagoung, the fifth month and in Tawthalin, the sixth month.
In those days-the monks walked across cultivated fields, spoiling the crops and insects unintentionally. As a result, the Lord passed a law to be followed by monks: that no monk shall make a journey lasting a night or longer during the three monks of the monsoon rains. That rains retreat (monsoon-retreat) is the Buddhist Lent.
Monks make good use to the restriction by devoting more time and energy to the propagation of the Buddha's teachings and the practice, that is, meditation, of the doctrine during that period. Laymen and laywomen try to gain merit through offering robes, alms and other essentials to the Sangha, it was a special donation to the monks during the Lent of absolute devotion to meditation. This annual occasion is called "Waso-pwe", occasion of offering essential to the Sangha, or "Waso-thingan-katlupwe", occasion of offering robes to the Sangha.
From this time on, Buddhist spend the three months of Lent by not drinking alcohol, making donation ceremonies, reciting the Buddhist chant, keeping precepts and practicing meditation. Moreover, marriage and changing of abode during the period are frowned upon.
Martyrs' Day is a Burmese national holiday observed on 19 July to commemorate Gen. Aung San and seven other leaders of the pre-independence interim government-Thakin Mya, Ba Cho, Abdul Razak, Ba Win, Mahn Ba Khaing, Sao San Tun and Ohn Maung-all of whom were assassinated on that day in 1947. It is customary for high-ranking government officials to visit the Martyrs' Mausoleum in Yangon in the morning of that day to pay respects.
The President of Burma Sao Shwe Thaik refused to pardon or commute the sentences of most of those who were sentenced to death, and U Saw was hanged inside Rangoon's Insein jail on 8 May 1948. A number of perpetrators met the same fate. Others, who had played relatively minor roles and were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, also spent several years in prison.
Tin Tut, Minister of Finance, was seriously wounded but survived. Many Burmese believe that the British had a hand in the assassination plot one way or another; two British officers were also arrested at the time and one of them charged and convicted for supplying an agent of U Saw with arms and munitions enough to equip a small army, a large part of which was recovered from a lake next to U Saw's house in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
Soon after the assassinations, Sir Hubert Rance, the British governor of Burma appointed U Nu to head an interim administration and when Burma became independent on 4 January 1948, Nu became the first Prime Minister of independent Burma. July 19 was designated a public holiday and to be known as Martyr's Day.
The Thadingyut Festival the Lighting Festival of Myanmar, is held on the full moon day of the Burmese Lunar month of Thadingyut. As a custom, it is held at the end of the Buddhist lent (Vassa) and is the second most popular festival in Myanmar after Thingyan Festival (New Year Water Festival). Thadingyut festival is the celebration to welcome the Buddha's descent from the heaven after he preached the Abhidhamma to his mother, Maya, who was reborn in the heaven.
Thadingyut, the seventh month of the Myanmar calendar, is the end of the Buddhist lent or Vassa. Thadingyut festival last for three days: the day before the full moon day, the full moon day and the day after the full moon day. Buddha descends from heaven on the full moon day itself. Buddha's mother, Maya, died seven days after the Buddha was born and then she was reborn in the Trayastrimsa Heaven. In order to pay back the gratitude to his mother, Buddha preached Abhidhamma to his mother for three Lenten months. When he was descending back to the mortal world, Sakra-devanam-indra, the ruler of the Trayastrimsa Heaven, ordered all the saints and evils to make three precious stairways. Those stairways were made of gold, silver and ruby. The Buddha took the middle one with the ruby. The Nats (Deva) came along by the right golden stairways and the Brahmas from the left silver stairways. Buddhists celebrate Thadingyut to welcome the Buddha and his disciples by enlightening and festooning the streets, houses and public buildings with colored electric bulbs or candles, which represent those three stairways.
During Thadingyut Festival, there are Zat Pwes (Myanmar musical plays), free movie shows and stage shows on most of the streets around the country. There are also a lot of food-stalls, which sell a variety of Myanmar traditional foods and shops, which sell toys, kitchen utensils and other useful stuffs on most of the streets. Sometime people just walk around in those streets just for sightseeing and have fun. Some people like to play with fire crackers and fire balloons. During the festival days, Buddhists usually go to pagodas and monasteries to pay respect to the monks and offer foods. And some Buddhists usually fast on the full moon day. Young people usually pay respect to their parents, teachers and elderly relative and offer them some fruits and other gifts. In return, the elder ones wish good luck for them and give them some pocket money.
The Tazaungdaing Festival also known as the Festival of Lights and spelt Tazaungdine Festival), held on the full moon day of Tazaungmon, the eighth month of the Burmese calendar, is celebrated as a national holiday in Burma (Myanmar) and marks the end of the rainy season. It also marks the end of the Kathina (Kahtein in Burmese) season, during which monks are offered new robes and alms.
Robe-weaving competitions to weave special yellow monk robes called matho thingan are also held throughout the country, most notably in Yangon's Shwedagon Pagoda. During these competitions, held for two consecutive nights (the night preceding and the night of the full moon), contestants work nonstop from night until dawn to weave these garments. The tradition commemorates a widely known story of the Buddha's life. Seeing that the Buddha would soon renunciate, the Buddha's mother, Maya, who had been reborn in the Tavatimsa heaven, spent the entire night weaving yellow monk robes for him. Her sister Gotami (Buddha's aunt) continued this tradition and offered new robes annually.
In Shan State, particularly in Taunggyi, hot air balloons lit with candles, are released to celebrate the full moon day, similar to Yi Peng celebrations in Northern Thailand. The balloons are released as an offering to the Sulamani cetiya in Tavitisma, a heaven in Buddhist cosmology and home of the devas, or as a way to drive away evil spirits, although the origins of the tradition date back to 1894, when the British first held hot air balloon competitions in Taunggyi, soon after the annexation of Upper Burma. In recent years, these traditions have also been transported to other parts of the country, including Naypyidaw, which holds an annual government-sponsored celebration, and Pyin Oo Lwin (Maymyo).
Almsgiving and charity, both religious and secular, including satuditha feasts are also commonly undertaken during this festival, as a means of merit-making. Others return home to pay homage to elders (gadaw) and visit pagodas. Many concerts and other secular festivities, such as live performances of traditional dramas like the Yama Zatdaw, are also held between Thadingyut (the end of the Buddhist lent) and Tazaungdaing.
In pre-colonial times, the Burmese court worshipped 15 Hindu deities on the full moon day. On the eighth waning day of that month, after a procession to the king, 8 pyatthat structures made of bamboo were burned.
On this night, young men celebrate a custom called "kyimano pwe" ("crow doesn't wake"), by practicing mischief on their neighbors, by stealing or playing tricks on them.
As National Days go, they often celebrate independence of a region or country from harsh political or military rule. Often the history of the National Day involves a deposed leader, an expelled governing body, or the start of a revolution. In most cases, a new government is installed, a new constitution ratified, or genuine change is enacted. However, there are rare cases when the celebration comes full circle and turns into a call for new revolution. National Day in the Union of Myanmar typifies this very well.
Before there was Myanmar, there was Burma. Burma was conquered by the British in 1824, and it remained in full British control until around 1886 when a majority of the country fell under British India and was ruled as a province.
Growing anti-British sentiment by the Buddhist and student communities increasingly caused friction for British India. In 1919, Buddhist monks of the Eindawya Pagoda in Mandalay tried to physically evict Europeans that refused to respect local custom and remove their shoes before entering the pagoda. In a controversial move by the British, the leader of those monks was sentenced to life in prison for attempted murder.
On December 5, 1920, tempers flared when Rangoon University students protested against new government regulations made by the British. News of the protests spread throughout the land, and many more schools held protests of their own. This day is considered the source of National Day in Myanmar, a day that marks the real beginning of mass protests against British control. However, it wasn't until January 4, 1948 that Burma gained its independence from Britain.
Finally, it should be noted that today Myanmar is politically in nearly identical chaos to that of early British colonial times. While National Day typically celebrates the start of protests in 1920 against the British occupation, today National Day is frequently marked by protests against the current ruling military junta. Buddhist monks, students, and even the international community turn out to the protests with cries for revolution anew.
The Karen National New Year celebrations are held during the pleasant month of Pyathoe (on the Roman calendar? Dec/Jan). People mark the occasion by sounding the Karen horn and drum, to maintain the tradition of the Karen New Year, until the end of time.
Officially, the Karen New Year began in 1938. Celebrations were first held in 1939. It was on the first of January 1938, (which that year corresponded with the first of Pyathoe), that Karen national leaders demands to the British administration for the Karen New Year were finally recognized, and declared an official holiday. That date was also formally acknowledged as being the year 2677 on the Karen calendar.
In fact, the movement for a distinct Karen national day was begun by Saya San Baw, in 1935. As member of parliament for Tharyawati District, he argued that a Karen National Day should be introduced. However, the British colonial administration suggested that a Karen New Year day would be a better alternative. In 1937, the Karen parliamentary representatives again presented the case for a Karen National Da, again unsuccessfully.
The Karen National Association (KNA) realized that they instead had to work towards the Karen New Year day. On 2 August 1937, Saw Johnson Deepominn, member of parliament for Taungoo District, presented the case to the lower house. However the Karen representatives in the chamber were split in their support across the two sides of parliament? U Pu's governing faction, and the opposition lead by Dr. Ba Maw. As the demands were coming from a member of U Pu's side (Johnson Deepominn was an assistant minister), those supporting Ba Maw opposed the legislation. It failed to be ratified.
Soon after, Dr. Ba Maw's group formed a coalition, allowing it to seize power. The proposal seemed to be left with no chance of getting past the lower house. Members of the upper house, lead by Saya San Baw, Sir San C. Po and Saya Mahn Shwe Ba, discussed the matter together. They lobbied for, and gained the support of, some among the new Karen ministers. The demand was retabled, and passed.
Ba Maw's cabinet ratified the proposal, and presented it to the Governor General for approval. In late 1937, the Governor General signed the legislation. The first day of Pyathoe, 1938 (Karen Year 2677), was declared the first Karen New Year.
Initially, the Karen leaders had been divided over the best day for the New Year to fall on. Three alternatives were put forward.
1. The same day as the Roman calendar.
2. The date when (the missionary) Dr. Judson first arrived in Burma.
3. The first day of Pyathoe.
The options were discussed and the matter resolved. The first alternative has global significance, and it was felt that a distinctive date for the Karen New Year would be more appropriate. As for the second alternative, Dr. Judson was a Christian missionary, so this date would be suitable for Christians, but not Karens of other religions. The first day of Pyathoe was best.
1. Although Karens have different names for Pyathoe (Sgaw Karens call it Th'lay and for Pwo Karens, Htike Kauk Po) the first of each of these months falls on exactly the same date.
2. The rice harvest is completed in the period leading to Pyathoe, and according to Karen traditional religious practice, there must be a celebration for consumption of the new crop. It is also the time to divine the date for commencement of the next crop. Typically, this is also when new houses are constructed, and the completion of these must be celebrated.
3. The first of Pyathoe is not a distinct festival for any religious group, so it is a day that is acceptable to all Karen people. For these reasons, on the first of Pyathoe annually, we celebrate the Karen New Year.
Christianity was brought to Burma by European missionaries in the 1800s. It made little if any headway among Buddhists, but has been widely adopted by non-Buddhists such as the Chin, Karen, and Kachin. The Roman Catholic Church, Myanmar Baptist Convention and the Assemblies of God of Burma are the largest Christian denominations in Burma. Burma is home to the second largest population of Baptists in the world, after the United States, the result of American missionary work.
For minority ethnic groups such as Kayin, Kachin, Chin as well as some Burmese, December is the time to celebrate Christmas by singing songs, playing drama, and doing parties. Christmas Day is an official holiday in Myanmar. Almost every Buddhism travel around Myanmar and take relax at many vacations.
|
0.940413 |
Sarri keeps team in locker room after humiliation Chelsea have been up and down in recent weeks but no-one expected them to get beaten 4-0 at Bournemouth; it was an extraordinary result.
Penguins trade ex-Ranger Derick Brassard in multi-player swap Additionally, the Penguins are sending a second-round pick and two fourth-rounders - all in the 2019 draft - to the Panthers. He also has term left on his contract, at a $1.25 million cap hit, and will become a restricted free agent in 2020.
What is a 'frost quake'? Explaining the weather phenomenon As that water underground suddenly freezes into ice, it then expands, causing the surrounding soil and rock to crack. Which leads to the second condition: There needs to be a sudden drop in temperature.
Overwatch's Latest Map Is Paris There's no word on how long the map will be on PTR, but it is said to be coming to the live game "soon". A new Overwatch map has been added to the PTR (private testing realm), bringing players to Paris .
Venezuela: Guaido extends olive branch to China Last week, street protests turned violent in days of unrest that killed almost three dozen people in clashes with government security forces.
Davis Cup: India down 0-2 to Italy, Ramkumar & Prajnesh lose In front of a motley crowd shouting "Ram, Ram", it was a neck and neck battle till the eighth game with both holding their serves. For Italy, top-ranked singles player Marco Cecchinato will take the court with Simone Bolelli, the 2015 Australian Open victor .
Copa del Rey: Barcelona to play Real Madrid in two-legged semi-final Seeking their first Copa crown since 2014, Real go into the last four alongside holders Barcelona , Valencia and Real Betis. The draw for the semis will be held on Friday at Betis' Benito Villamarin stadium, where this year's final will be played.
Measles - Get vaccinated now People are considered infectious from four days before to four days after the appearance of the rash. Schools in Idaho, Shoshone, Lemhi, Valley and Camas counties also had double-digit exemption rates.
Lyon backs misfiring Starc to find form in Canberra Sri Lanka's troubled tour of Australia has taken another hit with coach Chandika Hathurusingha removed from the team's selection panel.
Cardi B denies reuniting with Offset TMZ is reporting that Cardi chose to take him back and will be returning to Atlanta to the home they shared before the split. Cardi B says it's going to take time for her to fully be in a place where he marriage to Offset will be like it once was.
Everton’s Idrissa Gueye is still hoping to join PSG on deadline day The Portuguese is not thought to have given his approval for the player to be sold and has blocked any potential move. PSG saw a bid of £21.5m rejected for the Senegal global after weeks of sniffing around him.
Fortnite Sundial, Oversized Coffee, Dog Head Dance Locations One in particular that you might need help with involves locating three key landmarks doing a dance on each of them. Just in case, we've put together a quick guide to help with one of the supposed "leaked" challenges.
Trump steps up attacks on Pelosi for opposing border wall funds It would freeze the number of border patrol agent s and block any wall construction in wildlife refuges along the border. He now alleges testimony by the country's top spies had been "distorted" by journalists - one of his favourite targets.
Recently, Samsung has made an announcement that soon they will start offering 1TB eUFS (embedded Universal Flash Storage) chips in the upcoming smartphones. It will give the company's mobile devices PC-like storage without the need for large-capacity micoSD cards.
This is far better than the 64GB eUFS popularly used in many current high-end smartphones which can only afford to store 13 ten minute videos at 4K resolution. To put this into perspective, a flagship with 64 GB of storage of today can only hold 13 videos of this size.
Samsung's Galaxy Note 9 had 512GB of built-in storage when it was released past year. The chip promises speeds of up to 1,000 MB/s which is nearly twice the sequential read speed of a conventional 2.5-inch SATA SSD. The company says it has achieved such a feat by combining 16 stacked layers of its most advanced 512-gigabit V-NAND flash memory and a newly developed proprietary controller. With such speed, Samsung claims that you can offload 5GB worth of full HD videos to an NVMe SSD as quick as 5 seconds.
Although Samsung makes no reference itself as to whether this technology will be included in the next Galaxy S10 series, tech reporters and bloggers are treating it as a given.
In addition to being more capacious than the previous generation, the new 1TB eUFS is also faster-it is rated to deliver up to 1,000MB/s of sequential read performance and up to 260MB/s of sequential write performance, compared to 860MB/s and 255MB/s, respectively, on its previous generation 512GB eUFS.
Samsung's executive VP of memory sales and marketing Cheol Choi expects the new chip will be essential in bringing a more "notebook-like user experience" to mobile devices. There's also 58,000 IOPS in random read speeds while 50,000 IOPS for 50,000 random writes that is up from 42K and 40K IOPS, respectively, from the 512GB eUFS 2.1 chips.
|
0.768436 |
The Indian subcontinent is one of the cradles of civilisation. An Indus Valley culture of pre-Aryan people flourished from about 3000 BCE. This population comprised Dravidian tribes who appear to have migrated from the west, ousting and assimilating aboriginal inhabitants. The Indus Valley civilisation developed writing, art, temples, cities, irrigation and commerce. It was wiped out around 2500 BCE by invaders who entered the subcontinent through the mountain passes of the north-west frontier.
Indo-European conquerors (with iron weapons, war chariots and armour) had control of much of the subcontinent by 1500 BCE. They settled and established the tightly stratified Vedic civilisation. Much information about this civilisation, which was advanced in various arts and sciences, is derived from the Vedas, a collection of sacred writings. Sixteen autonomous states were established, with the kingdom of Magadha in the Ganges river valley (territory of present-day Bihar) rising to prominence in the 6th century BCE. During the reign of King Bimbisara (c. 543–491 BCE) Prince Siddhartha and Vardhamana Jnatiputra or Nataputta Mahavira (founders of Buddhism and Jainism) preached in Magadha.
Invasions subsequently came from Persia and Greece, including that of Alexander the Great of Macedon in 326 BCE. Through this turmoil, Magadha strengthened its position as the centre of an expanding empire. The Maurya dynasty was founded in 321 BCE. At the zenith of the Maurya period under Ashoka (272–232 BCE), the empire took in the entire subcontinent, and stretched from Afghanistan to Bengal. Ashoka gave India many of its enduring cultural characteristics, including his emblem, and philosophy. Ashoka spread the teachings of Prince Siddhartha (Buddhism) across India.
This empire in turn fragmented under waves of invasion between about CE 100–300, though, when the Guptas seized power and reunified Magadha in CE 319–606, Indian art, culture and philosophy had another renaissance and Hinduism gained strength again. This power centre was, in its turn, broken up in the Hun invasion, bringing confusion to northern India.
Muslim conquerors began entering the north from around the seventh century; this phase of history had its apogee in the Moghul dynasty of 1526 to 1738. One of the great legacies of Moghul India is aesthetic: it gave to Indian culture new arts in poetry, architecture, garden design and notably some of the world’s greatest palace and funerary buildings, of which the Taj Mahal is only one masterpiece. However, the Moghul dynasty also had negative effects, especially for the south, where the trading empires, established for centuries and historically involved in sea trade with such partners as Egypt and the Roman Empire, were destroyed.
With the decline of the Moghul Empire into separate feudal and often feuding states, new invaders, Portuguese, Dutch, French and British, entered the Indian Ocean. In 1690 the British East India Company set itself up at Calcutta to trade in clothes, tea and spices. The company had its own private army, with which it ousted the French from Madras in 1748. French plans for control of the subcontinent were finally ended by decisive British victories in 1756–63. One by one, the company then conquered the Indian states until it had control of virtually the whole subcontinent by 1820. Those states which remained unconquered entered into alliance with Britain.
Sporadic resistance to the rule of the East India Company culminated in a major uprising in 1857, known to the British as the Indian Mutiny. After its suppression, the British Crown took direct control. The high colonial period followed, when the Indian railway system was constructed, a nationwide education system established, and the world’s then largest administrative system developed. There was also, however, substantial disruption: India’s handloom textile industry was destroyed by competition from British mills and peasant farming hit by reorganisation in favour of cash crops. India’s importance to Britain was as more than a source of raw materials and a market for British manufactured goods. India underpinned Britain’s imperial influence and strength, the ‘Jewel in the Crown’ of the British Empire.
However, the independence movement not only brought an end to British rule, but also set the pattern for resistance to colonialism everywhere. The Indian National Congress was set up in 1885; Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi became its leader after 1918 and set it on its course of non-violent non-co-operation with the foreign rulers. Gandhi’s methods of mass mobilisation greatly impressed the Congress radical wing and a young activist, Jawaharlal Nehru. There was, however, bloodshed at Amritsar, Punjab, in 1919 when British troops killed more than 400 protesters.
The memory of the Amritsar massacre became a rallying cry for the independence movement. Congress launched its ‘non-co- operation’ campaign: colonial institutions, elections, administrative bodies, schools and British products were boycotted. Campaign participants were instructed to accept passively the legal consequences. With Gandhi’s campaign against the state monopoly on salt, the movement spread nationwide. Around 27,000 Indian nationalists were imprisoned and the British administrative system was partially paralysed. The colonial authorities were politely, but insistently, invited to ‘go home’. As a result of its much weakened position at the end of World War II, the UK accepted the inevitable and began the process of transferring power. India became independent in August 1947.
At independence the subcontinent was divided, at the insistence of Muslim leaders, into the independent Islamic state of Pakistan and the independent secular state of India. Some 12 million refugees were transferred across the borders, as Sikhs and Hindus moved from Pakistan into India and Muslims migrated to Pakistan. An estimated four million people migrated in September 1947 alone, amid much violence, including military action in disputed areas and the murder of the Mahatma himself, in 1948, by a Hindu extremist. Nehru’s Congress won the general election (India’s first general election with universal adult suffrage) of 1952; he remained Prime Minister until his death in 1964 when he was succeeded by Lal Bahadur Shastri.
During this period the modern nation of India was founded. Nehru had to address four main areas: the constitution, reorganisation of states, development of India as an industrial nation, and settling disputes with neighbours. The main problems with the constitution were the remnants of the princely states, all eventually brought into the Union (although the dispute between Pakistan and India over Kashmir continued into the 2000s), and the redrawing of state boundaries in accordance with linguistic criteria.
Nehru’s distrust of world powers and exploitation led his pursuit of a self-sufficient industrial socialist state. He also aimed to resolve religious conflict through a secular state, and to abolish the caste system. Internationally, Nehru set India on its course of non-alignment and was one of the founders of the Non-Aligned Movement. Foreign policy, however, was dogged with problems, chief among these being the ongoing crises with Pakistan (and to some extent Bangladesh) over boundaries, which led to three wars in 1947, 1965 and 1971, and dispute with China over Tibet in 1962, culminating in armed conflict. In time, India developed a large and well-equipped army, and was the first Third World country to develop a nuclear-weapons capability (1974) and equip its army through indigenous production as well as through imports.
Following Lal Bahadur Shastri’s death in 1966, Nehru’s daughter, Indira Gandhi, became Prime Minister; she won the 1967 general election, but lost in 1977. Between 1977 and 1980 a Janata coalition – led by Morarji Desai, a former member of the Congress party – and then a Lok Dal coalition ruled the country. Heading her new Congress (I) party, Indira Gandhi returned to power in the 1980 elections.
In 1984, when there was unrest in several states, Sikh nationalists demanding autonomy occupied several places of worship; federal troops stormed the Golden Temple at Amritsar. On 31 October 1984 Indira Gandhi was assassinated in New Delhi by two Sikh members of her personal bodyguard. Rajiv Gandhi, her son, was at once sworn in as Prime Minister. He called elections in December at which Congress (I) won 49 per cent of the votes and 403 seats.
After the November 1989 general election, although Congress (I) remained the single biggest party in the Lok Sabha, it was unable to command an overall majority and V P Singh, leader of the new Janata Dal party and head of the National Front Coalition, became Prime Minister. The Janata Dal party (a merger of the old Janata and Lok Dal parties) aimed to be the party of the poor and lower castes.
In 1991, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew its support, Janata Dal split and the Lok Sabha was dissolved in March 1991, to prepare for a general election. While campaigning, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a member of an extremist faction supporting the Tamil guerrillas in Sri Lanka. In the elections Congress (I) party took 227 seats and its new leader Narasimha Rao formed a minority government, the BJP winning 119 seats and Janata Dal 55.
The Rao administration introduced economic reforms and turned the economy around, but failed to win an overall majority in the 1996 elections. The BJP and its allies won 194 seats, Congress (I) 136 and a loose alliance of left-wing parties 179 seats, with the remainder won by minor parties and independents. The BJP formed a minority government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, but this proved too fragile to last and the country was then governed by a coalition of 13, and later 15 parties, with Deve Gowda and then I K Gujral as Prime Minister, with the support of Congress (I) which was wracked by defections and splits following its election defeat. By late 1997 the coalition had lost its majority and an early general election was called.
But in the February/March 1998 general election again no party emerged with a clear majority. Of the total of 545 seats, BJP took 181, Congress (I) 141 and Communist Party of India (Marxist) 32. But after the negotiations that followed the election the BJP-led coalition had the support of some 265 members, and Vajpayee of the BJP was able to form a coalition government comprising some 40 parties and independent members and finally commanding a majority in an early vote of confidence of 274:261 votes.
The year 2002 saw higher levels of tension between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, especially in May 2002 when India mobilised a vast army along the Line of Control and the two countries were on the brink of war. Tension eased considerably in October 2002 when India reduced its number of troops along the Line of Control; diplomatic relations were restored in August 2003 and a ceasefire along the Line of Control was agreed and took effect from 26 November 2003.
Peace talks between India and Pakistan began in 2004, marking a historic advance in relations between the two countries. The talks led to the restoration of communication links and a range of confidence-building measures, including co-ordinated relief efforts in the aftermath of the October 2005 earthquake.
A series of co-ordinated terrorist attacks in Mumbai during three days in November 2008 resulted in at least 170 dead and several hundred injured. The principal targets were two luxury hotels. The Indian authorities released a dossier of evidence asserting that the ten gunmen were Pakistan-based. This dossier was subsequently presented to the Government of Pakistan for it to take appropriate action.
|
0.982754 |
Now a Scheduled Ancient Monument, John Wilkinson, the pioneering industrialist, built Penrhos Engine House in the late 18th Century, in order to house an engine to pump water from his coal mine on the site. It is thought to be the earliest surviving colliery engine house in Wales. The building was later converted into a cottage - you can still see traces of the old fireplaces, the bread oven and the pigsty!
Nearby, Wilkinson also built the 'Brymbo Bottle', a chimney used to condense fumes from the lead smelt immediately below. The lead was brought from Wilkinson's mines in nearby Minera. The Bottle was partially demolished by the army in 1962 in a training exercise.
Following the death of John Wilkinson in 1808 the estate passed into the hands of trustees, for whom a set of plans of the Brymbo Colliery were prepared by William Rowe between 1809 and 1812. The longitudinal section through the colliery strata is the only document that records the working engine house, where it is clearly shown as containing a Pumping Beam Engine. Located immediately outside the northern gable wall (containing two apertures), can be seen the cylindrical back of a boiler and its adjoining chimney. The south wall, facing the shaft, clearly shows the bob platform protruding from the upper bob-wall and, most interestingly, the detail of the beam itself - a wooden beam with arch-head to which is fixed the pump rod descending into the shaft. Standing over the shaft are the tall shear legs, necessary for the raising and lowering of the pump rods and pipes into the shaft. At what date the engine had stopped working by is not known, nor is the fate that befell it, as there are no sale documents that record whether this engine was either sold-on or scrapped. We do know that by the mid nineteenth century the engine house was being lived in and remained in domestic usage until the 1950's. The building has been unoccupied for the last 40 years and has suffered the ravages of time and exposure to a harsh climate. The deterioration of the fabric of the building has accelerated in the last decade and it is more than probable that without the currently proposed restoration project the building will not last into the millennium.
The Penrhos Engine House was scheduled as an Ancient Monument following a report by The Welsh Mines Preservation Trust on Beam Engine Houses in Wales, submitted to Cadw in 1989.
The Penrhos Engine House Project started in January 1998 and should be completed in early May. It involves the repair and reconsolidation of the remains of the Engine House and is being undertaken by building contractor Mike Salt, with funding from Cadw:Welsh Historic Monuments and Clay Colliery Company. Following the erection of the scaffolding it was found that the structure was in a very precarious condition and significant areas of the buildings masonry have had to be carefully dismantled and then re-erected. During the work a blocked fireplace flue was discovered in the south east corner which indicated the former position of the engine house fireplace, now a doorway of the cottage phase.
This phase will begin later in the Summer of 1998 and will include the construction of a small lay-by for visitors cars and an interpretation board, which will explain the history and significance of the structure. The monument officially opened to the public in the Spring of 1999.
Do you have any old pictures or stories to share?
based on research carried out by staff at Wrexham Museum.
|
0.992422 |
Hotel Xcaret Mexico is at the top of my resort list when I think about sustainable tourism. This award was no surprise.
In a Nutshell: EarthCheck is the world’s leading scientific bench-marking certification and advisory group for travel and tourism. Hotel Xcaret was the first hotel in the Americas to receive EarthCheck’s Sustainable Design Certification.
Hotel Xcaret practices sustainable tourism to preserve the ecosystem, reduce their carbon footprint, and their design was all about respecting nature and its surroundings. The EarthCheck Certification is awarded for sustainable-minded architecture, planning, and construction. A well-deserved award based on their commitment to the environment and communities in Mexico.
Experiancias Xcaret’s dedication and commitment to ecotourism and sustainability is evident in all of their resort experiences and nature parks. When you stay at Hotel Xcaret you get full access to Xcaret parks, Xel-Ha, Xplor, Xplor Fuego, Xavage, Xoximilco, Xenses, and the Xenotes and Xichen tours. This also includes food, beverages, and transportation between the parks.
Before I go, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Muluk Spa with 15 cabins set in the natural rock, one of the most unique spa settings you’ll see.
|
0.843629 |
A while back, in November 2014, I was posting an article showing that over the course of a year and a half or so (my blog was rehosted from February 2014), fail2ban blocked 1633 IPs.
For the first time segment (273 days period) I averaged 5.98 IP bans a day. From that day to today I got: 5853-1633 = 4220 new bans. The time period from November 2014 to today is 573 days.
That means in the last year the banning grew to 7.36 bans a day (~20% increase). And we need to remember that this is also with the previous backlist.
So today, beside applauding fail2ban's relentless work, I changed the port of the SSH server.
To my surprise from this morning, until now, there is radio silence from the fail2ban new bans. I guess most scanners don't do a port scanning first, and they just try to find default or weirdly configured SSH servers.
So here's my second tip. Change your SSH server port.
I see that some people try to access my host, even if they are not me.
So if you don't have it yet, and run some linux, definitelly install it.
Here's an update for the automatic updates, geared at CentOS/RHEL only.
Furthermore it allows configuration for checking packages, and what not. So definitely on CentOS go with yum-cron, since it's the better alternative.
On Debian/Ubuntu there is also a package named cron-apt, but that one by default will do only the update of the package definitions (apt-get update -y) and not the actual upgrade of the system.
How do you migrate an existing Apache server, to a brand new nginx installation for several websites that use PHP? This is a simple tutorial into changing an Apache installation into a nginx one, without having to change your existing websites.
nginx is a server that scales far better compared to apache running on the same hardware. The tutorial is not super CentOS specific, but all the commands were run on a CentOS.
The Apache server that was migrated, namely this blog, has several virtual hosts, that are all running PHP, some of them Joomla websites. The plan is to take them as they are, and have them available externally the same way as before, using the same virtual host names, the same folder locations, with the same users assigned to them.
The reason is that if we screw up something in the process, we can just revert to our old proven Apache, by just restarting the Apache service and shutting down nginx. Also we can minimize the downtime, since if done right it should be in the end just shutting down apache and starting nginx, but if it doesn't work we can quickly go back to serving the files with Apache until we figure out what is going on.
Make sure the /etc/nginx/conf.d/default.conf has the paths pointing to /var/www/html, or whatever was the default site for your Apache configuration. (In my case it was /var/www/blog).
|
0.999951 |
Ectopic platelet-delivered factor (F) VIII for the treatment of Hemophilia A: Plasma and platelet FVIII, is it all the same?
Philadelphia (/ˌfɪləˈdɛlfiə/) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and its only consolidated city-county, the fifth-most-populous city in the United States, and the core of the sixth-largest metropolitan area in the country. Located in the Northeastern United States at the confluence of the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, Philadelphia is the economic and cultural center of the Delaware Valley. The population of the city was counted at 1,526,006 in 2010 and estimated at 1,560,297 in 2014, according to the United States Census Bureau. The four Pennsylvania counties nearest Philadelphia had an estimated total population of 2,510,793 in 2013; while by 2014 census estimates, the Philadelphia metropolitan area, also known as the Delaware Valley, is home to 6.1 million residents, and the larger Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD Combined Statistical Area contains approximately 7.2 million residents.
In 1682, William Penn founded the city to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. During the American Revolution, Philadelphia played an instrumental role as a meeting place for the Founding Fathers of the United States, who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the Constitution in 1787. Philadelphia was one of the nation's capitals during the Revolutionary War, and the city served as the temporary U.S. capital while Washington, D.C., was under construction. During the 19th century, Philadelphia became a major industrial center and railroad hub that grew from an influx of European immigrants. It became a prime destination for African Americans during the Great Migration and surpassed two million occupants by 1950. Following numerous civil rights protests and riots, the city experienced decades of heavy crime and neared bankruptcy by the 1980s. Revitalization began in the 1990s, with gentrification turning around many neighborhoods and reversing its decades-long trend of population loss.
The city is the center of economic activity in Pennsylvania and is home to seven Fortune 1000 companies. The Philadelphia skyline is growing, with several nationally prominent skyscrapers. It is also known for its arts, culture, and history, which attracted over 39 million domestic tourists in 2013. The city has more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other American city, and Philadelphia's Fairmount Park is the largest landscaped urban park in the world. The 67 National Historic Landmarks in the city helped account for the $10 billion generated by tourism. It is also the home of many US firsts, including the first library (1731), first hospital (1751) and medical school (1765), first Capitol (1777), first stock exchange (1790), first zoo (1874), and first business school (1881).
Philadelphia's importance and central location in the colonies made it a natural center for America's revolutionaries. By the 1750s, Philadelphia had surpassed Boston to become the largest city and busiest port in British America, and second in the British Empire, behind London. The city hosted the First Continental Congress before the war; the Second Continental Congress, which signed the United States Declaration of Independence, during the war; and the Constitutional Convention (1787) after the war. Several battles were fought in and near Philadelphia as well.
Philadelphia is at 39° 57′ north latitude and 75° 10′ west longitude, and the 40th parallel north passes through the northern parts of the city. The city encompasses Script error: No such module "convert"., of which Script error: No such module "convert". is land and Script error: No such module "convert"., or 5.29%, is water. Bodies of water include the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, and Cobbs, Wissahickon, and Pennypack creeks.
The lowest point is Script error: No such module "convert". above sea level, while the highest point is in Chestnut Hill, about Script error: No such module "convert". above sea level (near the intersection of Germantown Avenue and Bethlehem Pike).
Philadelphia's central city was created in the 17th century following the plan by William Penn's surveyor Thomas Holme. Center City is structured with long straight streets running east-west and north-south forming a grid pattern. The original city plan was designed to allow for easy travel and to keep residences separated by open space that would help prevent the spread of fire. The Delaware River and Schuylkill Rivers served as early boundaries between which the city's early street plan was kept within. In addition, Penn planned the creation of five public parks in the city which were renamed in 1824 (in parenthesis): Centre Square, North East Publick Square (Franklin Square), Northwest Square (Logan Square), Southwest Square (Rittenhouse Square), and Southeast Square (Washington Square).
Elfreth's Alley, "Our nation's oldest residential street," dating to 1702.
The Script error: No such module "convert". City Hall remained the tallest building in the city until 1987 when One Liberty Place was constructed. Numerous glass and granite skyscrapers were built in Philadelphia's Center City from the late 1980s onwards. In 2007, the Comcast Center surpassed One Liberty Place to become the city's tallest building. The Comcast Innovation and Technology Center is under construction in Center City and is planned to reach a height of 1,121 feet (342 meters); upon completion, the tower is expected to be the tallest skyscraper in the United States outside of New York City and Chicago.
Historic Boathouse Row at night.
Under the Köppen climate classification, Philadelphia falls in the northern periphery of the humid subtropical climate zone (Köppen Cfa). Summers are typically hot and muggy, fall and spring are generally mild, and winter is cold. Snowfall is highly variable, with some winters bringing only light snow and others bringing several major snowstorms, with the normal seasonal snowfall standing at Script error: No such module "convert".; snow in November or April is rare, and a sustained snow cover is rare. Precipitation is generally spread throughout the year, with eight to twelve wet days per month, at an average annual rate of Script error: No such module "convert"., but historically ranging from Script error: No such module "convert". in 1922 to Script error: No such module "convert". in 2011. The most rain recorded in one day occurred on July 28, 2013, when Script error: No such module "convert". fell at Philadelphia International Airport.
The January daily average is Script error: No such module "convert"., though, in a normal winter, the temperature frequently rises to Script error: No such module "convert". during thaws and dips to Script error: No such module "convert". for 2 or 3 nights. July averages Script error: No such module "convert"., although heat waves accompanied by high humidity and heat indices are frequent; highs reach or exceed Script error: No such module "convert". on 27 days of the year. The average window for freezing temperatures is November 6 thru April 2, allowing a growing season of 217 days. Early fall and late winter are generally dry; February's average of Script error: No such module "convert". makes it the area's driest month. The dewpoint in the summer averages between Script error: No such module "convert". to Script error: No such module "convert"..
Seasonal snowfall accumulation has ranged from trace amounts in 1972–73 to Script error: No such module "convert". in the winter of 2009–10.[lower-alpha 1] The city's heaviest single-storm snowfall, at Script error: No such module "convert"., occurred in January 1996.
The highest recorded temperature was Script error: No such module "convert". on August 7, 1918, but Script error: No such module "convert".+ temperatures are uncommon.[lower-alpha 2] The lowest officially recorded temperature was Script error: No such module "convert". on February 9, 1934, but with the last such occurrence being January 19, 1994, temperatures at or below the Script error: No such module "convert". mark are rare. The record low maximum is Script error: No such module "convert". on February 10, 1899 and December 30, 1880, while the record high minimum is Script error: No such module "convert". on July 23, 2011 and July 24, 2010.
The racial makeup of the city in 2013 was 45.5% White (36.3% Non-Hispanic), 44.2% Black or African American, 0.8% Native American and Alaska Native, 6.9% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, 2.4% Two or More Races, and 13.3% were Hispanic or Latino.
During the last decade, Philadelphia experienced a large shift in its age profile. In 2000, the city's population pyramid had a largely stationary shape. In 2013, the city took on an expansive pyramid shape, with an increase in the three millennial age groups, 20 to 24, 25 to 29, and 30 to 34. The city's 25- to 29-years-old age group was the city's largest age cohort. According to the 2010 Census, 343,837 (22.5%) were under the age of 18; 203,697 (13.3%) from 18 to 25; 434,385 (28.5%) from 25 to 44; 358,778 (23.5%) from 45 to 64; and 185,309 (12.1%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33.5 years. For every 100 females there were 89.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.7 males. The city had 22,018 births in 2013, down from a peak 23,689 births in 2008. Philadelphia's death rate was at its lowest in at least a half-century, 13,691 deaths in 2013. Another factor attributing to the population increase is Philadelphia's immigration rate. In 2013, 12.7 percent of residents were foreign-born, just shy of the national average, 13.1 percent.
Philadelphia is the center of economic activity in Pennsylvania with the headquarters of seven Fortune 1000 companies located within city limits. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Philadelphia area had a total gross metropolitan product of $347 billion in 2010, the seventh-largest metropolitan economy in the United States. Philadelphia was rated by the GaWC5 as a 'Beta+ City' in its categorization of world cities.
Philadelphia's economic sectors include information technology, manufacturing, oil refining, food processing, health care and biotechnology, tourism and financial services. Financial activities account for the largest sector of the metro economy, and it is one of the largest health education and research centers in the United States.
The city is home to the Philadelphia Stock Exchange some of the area's largest companies including cable television and internet provider Comcast, insurance companies Colonial Penn, CIGNA, Independence Blue Cross, energy company Sunoco, food services company Aramark and Crown, chemical makers Rohm and Haas and FMC, pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, Boeing Rotorcraft Systems, and automotive parts retailer Pep Boys.
Philadelphia's an annualized unemployment rate was 7.8 percent in 2014, down from 10.0 percent the previous year. This is higher than the national average of 6.2 percent. Similarly, the rate of new jobs added to the city's economy lagged behind the national job growth. In 2014, about 8,800 jobs were added to the city's economy. Sectors with the largest number of jobs added were in education and health services, leisure and hospitality, and professional and business services. Declines were seen in the city's manufacturing and government sectors.
While about 31.9 percent of the city's population is not in the labor force, the city's largest employers are the federal and city governments, respectively. Philadelphia's largest private employer is the University of Pennsylvania followed by the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. A study commissioned by the city's government projected 40,000 jobs to be added to the city by 2035, raising the city's 2010 number of jobs from 675,000 total to an estimated 715,000 jobs.
The Philadelphia dialect, which is spread throughout the Delaware Valley and South Jersey, is part of Mid-Atlantic American English, and as such it is identical in many ways to the Baltimore dialect. Unlike the Baltimore dialect, however, the Philadelphia accent also shares many similarities with the New York accent. Thanks to over a century of linguistics data collected by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia dialect under sociolinguist William Labov has been one of the best-studied forms of American English.
Philadelphia sculptor James Peniston's Keys To Community in the Old City neighborhood is one of the city's many public artworks featuring Benjamin Franklin.
One of the Florentine Lions, in bronze, provides an example of public art in Philadelphia's extensive Fairmount Park system.
The total parkland amounts to about Script error: No such module "convert".. Philadelphia's largest park, Fairmount Park, encompasses Script error: No such module "convert". of this parkland and includes 63 neighborhood and regional parks. The largest tract of Fairmount Park is on the west side of the city along the Schuylkill River and Wissahickon Creek and includes the Philadelphia Zoo.
Two airports serve Philadelphia: the Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), straddling the southern boundary of the city, and the Northeast Philadelphia Airport (PNE), a general aviation reliever airport in Northeast Philadelphia. Philadelphia International Airport provides scheduled domestic and international air service, while Northeast Philadelphia Airport serves general and corporate aviation. In 2013, Philadelphia International Airport was the 15th busiest airport in the world measured by traffic movements (i.e. takeoffs and landings). It is also a second largest hub and primary international hub for US Airways.
Historically, Philadelphia sourced its water by the Fairmount Water Works, the nation's first major urban water supply system. In 1909, Water Works was decommissioned as the city transitioned to modern sand filtration methods. Today, the Philadelphia Water Department (PWD) provides drinking water, wastewater collection, and stormwater services for Philadelphia, as well as surrounding counties. PWD draws about 57 percent of its drinking water from the Delaware River and the balance from the Schuylkill River. The public wastewater system consists of three water pollution control plants, 21 pumping stations, and about 3,657 miles of sewers. A 2007 investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency found elevated levels of Iodine-131 in the city's potable water. In 2012, the EPA's readings discovered that the city had the highest readings of I-131 in the nation. The city campaigned against against an Associated Press report that the high levels of I-131 were the results of local gas drilling in the Upper Delaware River.
Philadelphia has dedicated landmarks to its sister cities. Dedicated in June 1976, the Sister Cities Plaza, a site of Script error: No such module "convert". located at 18th and Benjamin Franklin Parkway, honors Philadelphia's relationships with Tel Aviv and Florence which were its first sister cities. Another landmark, the Toruń Triangle, honoring the sister city relationship with Toruń, Poland, was constructed in 1976, west of the United Way building at 18th Street and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. In addition, the Triangle contains the Copernicus monument. Renovations were made to Sister Cities Park in mid-2011 and on May 10, 2012, SCP was reopened and currently features an interactive fountain honoring Philadelphia's ten sister and friendship cities, a café and visitor's center, children's play area, outdoor garden, and boat pond, as well as pavilion built to environmentally friendly standards.
↑ See North American blizzard of 2009#Snowfall (December 19–20, 2009), First North American blizzard of 2010#Snowfall (February 5–6, 2010), and Second North American blizzard of 2010#Impact (February 9–10, 2010). The February storms contributed to a record (for any month) monthly total accumulation of Script error: No such module "convert".. If no snow fell outside of February that season, 2009–10 would still rank as 5th-snowiest. See the Franklin Institute for a visual representation of seasonal snowfall.
↑ Official temperature and precipitation records for Philadelphia were kept at the Weather Bureau Office in downtown from January 1872 to 19 June 1940, and at Philadelphia Int'l from 20 June 1940 to the present. Snowfall and snow depth records date to 1 January 1884 and 1 October 1948, respectively. In 2006, snowfall measurements were moved to National Park, New Jersey directly across the Delaware River from the airport.
↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2014 - 2014 Population Estimates". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
↑ "Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2015-02-02.
↑ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. 2015-02-02. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
↑ "Philadelphia County Quick Facts from the US Census Bureau". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 2015-02-02.
↑ 13.0 13.1 "Philadelphia’s Newest Skyscraper: The Comcast Innovation and Technology Center". Visit Philadelphia. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 "2014 Visit Philadelphia Annual Report". Visit Philadelphia. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
↑ 16.0 16.1 "Philadelphia profile". Retrieved September 17, 2014.
↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 "Philadelphia Firsts 1681-1899". USHistory. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
↑ Brookes, Karin; John Gattuso, Lou Harry, Edward Jardim, Donald Kraybill, Susan Lewis, Dave Nelson and Carol Turkington (2005). Zoë Ross, ed. Insight Guides: Philadelphia and Surroundings (Second Edition (Updated) ed.). APA Publications. p. 21. ISBN 1-58573-026-2.
↑ Weigley RF (eds) et al. (1982). Philadelphia: A 300-Year History. New York and London: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 4–5. ISBN 0-393-01610-2.
↑ 47.0 47.1 Daly, Molly (February 4, 2011). "A Guide To Philadelphia’s ‘Squares’". CBS Philly. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
↑ 55.0 55.1 Philadelphia: A 300-Year History. pp. 11, 41, 174–175, 251–253.
↑ 60.0 60.1 60.2 60.3 60.4 60.5 60.6 60.7 60.8 "NowData - NOAA Online Weather Data". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 2011-12-14.
↑ 62.0 62.1 62.2 62.3 "Station Name: PA PHILADELPHIA INTL AP". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
↑ 63.0 63.1 "Philadelphia Record Highs and Lows". Retrieved April 3, 2007.
↑ "Philadelphia County - State of the Air 2015". American Lung Association. April 29, 2015. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
↑ 73.0 73.1 "Philadelphia2035 Summary" (PDF). City of Philadelphia Planning Committee. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
↑ 76.0 76.1 76.2 76.3 76.4 76.5 American FactFinder, United States Census Bureau. "Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics: 2010 2010 Demographic Profile Data (Public Law 94-171) Summary File". U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census. Retrieved August 12, 2011.
↑ 79.0 79.1 United States Census Bureau. "How Does the Census 2000 Question on Race Differ from the 1990 Question?". census.gov. Archived from the original on May 10, 2000. Retrieved January 31, 2011.
↑ 81.0 81.1 81.2 "American FactFinder - Results". Retrieved September 17, 2014.
↑ 82.00 82.01 82.02 82.03 82.04 82.05 82.06 82.07 82.08 82.09 82.10 82.11 82.12 82.13 82.14 82.15 82.16 82.17 82.18 "Philadelphia 2015: The State of the City" (PDF). The Pew Charitable Trusts. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
↑ "Puerto Rico's population declines as economic woes plague the country - Voxxi". Voxxi. January 3, 2014. Retrieved September 17, 2014.
↑ Gordon, Matthew J. (2006). "Interview with William Labov". Journal of English Linguistics 34 (4): 332–51. doi:10.1177/0075424206294308.
↑ 116.0 116.1 Merenda, Basil L. (June 2009). "2009 Report to the General Assembly on Voter Registration". Pennsylvania Department of State. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
↑ 123.0 123.1 "Rankings by Population Group (Top 10/Bottom 10)". Morgan Quitno Awards. Retrieved December 11, 2006.
↑ "About Us - Schools - The School District of Philadelphia". Retrieved April 27, 2015.
↑ Jacobs, Peter (October 7, 2014). "The Average SAT Score Last Year Was Just Under 1500 Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/average-sat-score-2014-2014-10#ixzz3YXeNzFPk". Business Insider. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
↑ Oliver, Sharon (Oct 21, 2011). "The Phila. area's biggest colleges". Philadelphia Business Journal. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
↑ 133.0 133.1 "2013 Top Media Outlets: Newspapers, Blogs, Consumer Magazines, Social Networks, Websites, and Broadcast Media" (PDF). BurrellesLuce. June 2013. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
↑ 135.0 135.1 Launder, William (April 2, 2012). "Philadelphia Newspapers Sold Yet Again". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
↑ 136.0 136.1 Bishop, Todd (January 7, 2000). "The Media: One revolution after another". Philadelphia Business Journal.
↑ 146.0 146.1 "About Philadelphia Water". City of Philadelphia. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
↑ Maykuth, Andrew (Oct 28, 2014). "$1.86B sale of Philadelphia Gas Works is dead". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
↑ Hepp, Chris (December 8, 2014). "PGW deal latest casualty in Philly's Nutter-and-Clarke soap opera". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
↑ 154.0 154.1 "What is CDI* - Citizen Diplomacy International?". Citizen Diplomacy International Philadelphia. Retrieved 2015-02-02.
↑ "Florence, Italy". Citizen Diplomacy International Philadelphia. Retrieved 2015-02-02.
↑ "Tel Aviv, Israel". Citizen Diplomacy International Philadelphia. Retrieved 2015-02-02.
↑ "Torun, Poland". Citizen Diplomacy International Philadelphia. Retrieved 2015-02-02.
↑ "Tianjin, China". Citizen Diplomacy International Philadelphia. Retrieved 2015-02-02.
↑ "Incheon, Korea". Citizen Diplomacy International Philadelphia. Retrieved 2015-02-02.
↑ "Douala, Cameroon". Citizen Diplomacy International Philadelphia. Retrieved 2015-02-02.
↑ "Nizhny Novgorod, Russia". Citizen Diplomacy International Philadelphia. Retrieved 2015-02-02.
↑ "Kobe, Japan". Citizen Diplomacy International Philadelphia. Retrieved 2015-02-02.
↑ "Abruzzo, Italy". International Visitors Council of Philadelphia. Retrieved 2015-02-02.
↑ "Aix-en-Provence, France". Citizen Diplomacy International Philadelphia. Retrieved 2015-02-02.
|
0.998153 |
With this function you can create a new string made up of two strings, where one has been inserted into the other at a given position. It can be useful, for example, to add a user name into a predefined text and so make the player of your game feel more involved in the action.
substr The substring to be inserted.
index The position in characters of the string to insert the substring.
This will insert the string in the "username" variable into the given phrase with the resulting string looking like this: "Hello, NAME, how are you?".
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.