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Q:
C# Datagridview to Access database
I feel like there would be a better way to this. Essentially, I am transporting the data from an excel file to a DGV, and then from a DGV to an Access database. Should I cut the middle man or is this fine the way it is? The problem here is that my cells structure has to match access very closely to work.
private void btnImport_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
DialogResult dr = MessageBox.Show(
"Warning: when importing data into the Access database, ensure that the field columns match Access's fields or the file may become corrupt. Do you still wish to proceed?","Import caution",
MessageBoxButtons.OKCancel, MessageBoxIcon.Warning);
if (dr == DialogResult.OK)
{
try
{
using (OleDbConnection conn = new OleDbConnection(Con))
{
using (OleDbCommand cmd = new OleDbCommand())
{
cmd.Connection = conn;
conn.Open();
cmd.CommandText =
"Insert INTO ACTB (FirstName, LastName, GrossIncome, LessTNT, TaxableIncomeCE, TaxableIncomePE, GrossTaxableIncome, LessTE, LessPPH, NetTax, TaxDue, HeldTaxCE, HeldTaxPE, TotalTax, PersonID) " +
"VALUES(@First, @Last, @Gross, @LessTNT, @TCI, @ADDTI, @GTI, @LessTE, @LessPPH, @LessNTI, @TD, @TWCE, @TWPE, @TATW, @PersonID)";
for (int s = 0; s < DGVExcel.Rows.Count - 1; s++)
{
cmd.Parameters.Clear();
//cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@ID", Convert.ToInt32(txtID.Text));
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@First", DGVExcel.Rows[s].Cells[0].Value);
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Last", DGVExcel.Rows[s].Cells[1].Value);
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@Gross", Convert.ToDouble(DGVExcel.Rows[s].Cells[2].Value));
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@LessTNT",
Convert.ToDouble(DGVExcel.Rows[s].Cells[3].Value));
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@TCI", Convert.ToDouble(DGVExcel.Rows[s].Cells[4].Value));
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@ADDTI", Convert.ToDouble(DGVExcel.Rows[s].Cells[5].Value));
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@GTI", Convert.ToDouble(DGVExcel.Rows[s].Cells[6].Value));
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@LessTE", Convert.ToDouble(DGVExcel.Rows[s].Cells[7].Value));
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@LessPPH",
Convert.ToDouble(DGVExcel.Rows[s].Cells[8].Value));
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@LessNTI",
Convert.ToDouble(DGVExcel.Rows[s].Cells[9].Value));
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@TD", Convert.ToDouble(DGVExcel.Rows[s].Cells[10].Value));
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@TWCE", Convert.ToDouble(DGVExcel.Rows[s].Cells[11].Value));
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@TWPE", Convert.ToDouble(DGVExcel.Rows[s].Cells[12].Value));
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@TATW", Convert.ToDouble(DGVExcel.Rows[s].Cells[13].Value));
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue("@PersonID", (DGVExcel.Rows[s].Cells[14].Value));
cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
Console.WriteLine(s);
}
}
}
}
catch (OleDbException ex)
{
MessageBox.Show("Import error: " + ex);
}
finally
{
Restore();
}
}
}
A:
Con
Use full names. If it's a connection string then name it ConnectionString especially if it's out of scope and one cannot easily determine what it is.
using (OleDbConnection conn = new OleDbConnection(Con))
{
using (OleDbCommand cmd = new OleDbCommand())
{
You can join both usings together:
using (OleDbConnection conn = new OleDbConnection(Con))
using (OleDbCommand cmd = new OleDbCommand())
{
for (int s = 0; s < DGVExcel.Rows.Count - 1; s++)
I don't see any reason for not using the i for the index. If it was the r it would at least stand for row but what does the s mean?
Insert INTO ACTB (FirstName, LastName,... VALUES(@First, @Last,
Why do you invent new names for the parameters? Isn't it easier to just copy/paste the one you already have for the columns?
Besides with so many colums consider using an array and build the query dynamically. You can create an array with a collection initializer like this:
var columns = new []
{
"FirstName",
"LastName",
// ...
}
Then you join all names into a string separated by , as column names and another string also separated by commas but with the @ prefix for the values:
var sql =
$"Insert INTO ACTB ({string.Join(", ", columns)} " +
$"VALUES({string.Join(", ", columns.Select(x => $"@{x}"))}";
If you create the columns array with the names in the right order (like in your excel sheet) you can even reuse them to populate the parameters. Here's the complete example.
using (var conn = new OleDbConnection(Con))
using (var cmd = new OleDbCommand())
{
cmd.Connection = conn;
conn.Open();
var columns = new[]
{
"FirstName",
"LastName",
// ...
}
var sql =
$"Insert INTO ACTB ({string.Join(", ", columns)} " +
$"VALUES({string.Join(", ", columns.Select(x => $"@{x}"))}";
for (var i = 0; i < DGVExcel.Rows.Count - 1; i++)
{
cmd.Parameters.Clear();
for (var j = 0; j < columns.Length; j++)
{
cmd.Parameters.AddWithValue($"@{columns[j]}", DGVExcel.Rows[i].Cells[j].Value);
}
cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
Console.WriteLine(i);
}
}
|
Q:
Failed to install MStest plugin : Jenkins
I try to install the MSTest for showing the results from .trx file.
As I install through Download Now and Install after Restart, My Jenkins is taking so long time to restart so I tried with Install without restart.
It shows the following error
enter code here
Emma plugin
Failure -
java.io.IOException: Failed to dynamically deploy this plugin
at hudson.model.UpdateCenter$InstallationJob._run(UpdateCenter.java:1317)
at hudson.model.UpdateCenter$DownloadJob.run(UpdateCenter.java:1116)
at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(Unknown Source)
at hudson.remoting.AtmostOneThreadExecutor$Worker.run(AtmostOneThreadExecutor.java:104)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Caused by: java.io.IOException: Failed to install emma plugin
at hudson.PluginManager.dynamicLoad(PluginManager.java:473)
at hudson.model.UpdateCenter$InstallationJob._run(UpdateCenter.java:1313)
... 5 more
Caused by: java.io.IOException: Dependency maven-plugin (1.447) doesn't exist
at hudson.PluginWrapper.resolvePluginDependencies(PluginWrapper.java:480)
at hudson.PluginManager.dynamicLoad(PluginManager.java:463)
... 6 more
MSTest plugin Failure -
java.io.IOException: Failed to dynamically deploy this plugin
at hudson.model.UpdateCenter$InstallationJob._run(UpdateCenter.java:1317)
at hudson.model.UpdateCenter$DownloadJob.run(UpdateCenter.java:1116)
at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(Unknown Source)
at hudson.remoting.AtmostOneThreadExecutor$Worker.run(AtmostOneThreadExecutor.java:104)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Caused by: java.io.IOException: Failed to install mstest plugin
at hudson.PluginManager.dynamicLoad(PluginManager.java:473)
at hudson.model.UpdateCenter$InstallationJob._run(UpdateCenter.java:1313)
... 5 more
Caused by: java.io.IOException: Dependency emma (1.29) doesn't exist
at hudson.PluginWrapper.resolvePluginDependencies(PluginWrapper.java:480)
at hudson.PluginManager.dynamicLoad(PluginManager.java:463)
... 6 more
A:
It is because MSTest plugin depends on emma and maven-plugin. I suspect you have bad network condition while download these 2 dependencies.
First, try Download Now and Install after Restart but wait for a longer time until it get successfully installed. Jenkins will take care of the dependencies.
Or,
as an alternative, you can first install emma and maven-plugin, then install MSTest then.
|
Negative Charge as a Lens for Concentrating Antiaromaticity: Using a Pentagonal "Defect" and Helicene Strain for Cyclizations.
Incorporation of a five-membered ring into a helicene framework disrupts aromatic conjugation and provides a site for selective deprotonation. The deprotonation creates an anionic cyclopentadienyl unit, switches on conjugation, leads to a >200 nm red-shift in the absorbance spectrum and injects a charge into a helical conjugated π-system without injecting a spin. Structural consequences of deprotonation were revealed via analysis of a monoanionic helicene co-crystallized with {K+ (18-crown-6)(THF)} and {Cs+ 2 (18-crown-6)3 }. UV/Vis-monitoring of these systems shows a time-dependent formation of mono- and dianionic species, and the latter was isolated and crystallographically characterized. The ability of the twisted helicene frame to delocalize the negative charge was probed as a perturbation of aromaticity using NICS scans. Relief of strain, avoidance of antiaromaticity, and increase in charge delocalization assist in the additional dehydrogenative ring closures that yield a new planarized decacyclic dianion. |
Two other PVC players Monroe Central senior outside hitter/setter Kari Young and Beallsville outside hitter Charity Street joined Canel and Leasure in 22nd annual event, which featured 80 of the top high school volleyball players from around Ohio.
The day began with nearly 100 girls receiving their all-state plaques. Canel was recently named to the D-III first team while Leasure was placed on the D-III second team. Young was also a second team D-III player.
Several mentors were then recognized by receiving Coaches Outstanding Achievement and Coach of the Year awards.
After the poll champions Cincinnati St. Ursula (23-0) in D-I, Archbishop Alter (21-2) in D-II, Huron (23-0) in D-III and St. Henry (22-1) in D-IV were announced, former Minford High coach Karen Miller was inducted into the OHSVCA Hall of Fame. She posted a 364-155 mark at the varsity level while at MHS.
River View Highs Cathy Seipel Ames was then announced as the winner of the Volleyball Sportsmanship, Ethics and Integrity Award for 2003. She coached for 27 years and finished with a career mark of 510-119 (.811 winning percentage).
Before play got under way, the OHSVCA named the 2003 Media Award winners. Included in that list was The Daily Jeffersonian (Heath A. Dawson, Jeff Harrison, Stephanie Peoples, Darren McCulloch, Ron Miller and Rick Stillion), Coshocton Tribune (Jim Barstow), The Valley Sports Journal (Steve Large), Madison Press (Jeff Gates) and Elyria Chronicle Telegram (Judy Asp). Each media outlet was recognized for its effort in covering high school volleyball.
On behalf of The Daily Jeffersonian Sports Department, with great appreciation and humbleness, we are proud to have received the prestigious award from the OHSVCA.
As the sports editor of The Jeff, I have made conscientious efforts to make sure each high school sport has received its fair coverage. In the five and one-half years Ive spent here, that goal has been accomplished and volleyball has been one of the benefactors.
I would like to think one could ask any volleyball coach from our eight schools and they would tell you our coverage more often than not exceeds expectations.
On several occasions, coaches and fans from outside our circulation areas have praised our coverage of volleyball, which is why were all happy to receive the award.
The Media Award is a credit to my hard-working staff, which includes Harrison, McCulloch, Peoples, Miller and Stillion. For the first time in the history of The Daily Jeffersonian, every volleyball tournament game was covered by a reporter and nearly every game was covered by a photographer (Mike Neilson, Sean Scott or Jamie Booth). That proves the commitment each member of the staff has to volleyball and promoting local sports.
We all would like to thank the coaches from Cambridge, Meadowbrook, Buckeye Trail, John Glenn, Shenandoah, Caldwell, Barnesville and Newcomerstown for their cooperation throughout this past season.
Id like to personally thank SHS head coach Colleen Kasper for nominating The Daily Jeffersonian for the award.
There were four games that took place Sunday. Canel, Leasure and Young all played in the D-III game, with Leasure and Young being on the same team.
In game one, Canels Black Squad posted a 15-10 victory. However, Leasures White Squad rallied to take the second game, 15-10 and roared back from a 7-0 hole in the rally-scoring third game to post a 15-8 decision.
Leasure made a fine showing in the contest as she finished with 14 digs, six points and one kill. The Lady Zep was more than happy to participate in the states showcase event.
Its just a big honor to come up here and play in this game, Leasure stated. Its nice to get out of the local area and see some of the bigger players from around the state. You get used to seeing all of the same players and it was neat to see so many good players on the same floor. I felt really lucky to play along side of them.
It was really nice meeting a lot of different players. They are seemed so focused on volleyball and that was good to see. The fact that we won made the day a little more worth while, she added.
Despite being on the losing team, Canel was also smiling from ear to ear following the match.
It was great to come up here to Wooster and represent my team (Buckeye Trail), the Eastern District and myself, Canel related. There were a lot of great players and it was a lot of fun to play with players from different schools.
The competition was extraordinary. I really enjoyed meeting all of the girls and hope to stay in touch with Orrvilles TaNeisha Winters. We made a lot of friends this weekend, Canel concluded.
Canel finished the afternoon with 11 assists, two digs and one point.
Congratulations girls on a fine season!
(Heath A. Dawson is the sports editor for The Daily Jeffersonian. Dawson can be reached via e-mail at HDawson21@hotmail.com). |
CYNTHIA NIXON CELEBRATED Pride month with a very special announcement on Instagram.
The former Sex And The City star, who is currently running for governor of New York, announced this week that her eldest child – now going by Samuel, or Seph – is transgender.
Cynthia – who has Seph and 15-year-old Charles with ex-husband Danny Mozes, and seven-year-old Max with wife Christine Marinoni – shared a photo of herself with Seph at his University of Chicago commencement a few weeks ago.
She captioned the photo:
I’m so proud of my son Samuel Joseph Mozes (called Seph) who graduated college this month. I salute him and everyone else marking today’s #TransDayofAction #TDOA .”
In a later post, she sent a message of support to the trans community and called out Donald Trump’s controversial immigration policies.
Happy #Pride weekend! LGBTQ* people have greater visibility and acceptance than ever before, but members of the trans community are at a much higher risk of experiencing violence and discrimination. Today, and every day, we stand with trans New Yorkers! #TransDayofAction #Dreamers (sic).”
DailyEdge is on Instagram! |
Roman Camp Country House Hotel, Callander
0
Your rating: None
The four star luxury Roman Camp Country House Hotel provides beautifully appointed suites and guest rooms, an elegant award winning restaurant, along with spacious private rooms for functions and events. Our country house is located within easy travel of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Stirling, providing a secluded comforting retreat from city life.
The Roman Camp Country House Hotel can be found in the Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park, the first national park to be created in Scotland. The hotel is located within the boundaries of the scenic village of Callander, but secluded in private gardens and parkland in the area more affectionately referred to as 'Braveheart Country' - only 15 miles west of Scotland’s historic and newest city, Stirling.
Visiting Scotland's main cities, including Glasgow, Perth and Edinburgh is easy as Callander is centrally located. These main cities can be reached within an hour, by using the main routes or you can meander along the scenic back roads, where the sight of Scotland's wildlife is possible and a chance to see the hidden views of our country.
About Roman Camp Country House Hotel, Callander
Rooms at Roman Camp Hotel
The Roman Camp Hotel has a wide selection of bedrooms, dining rooms, and lounges to hide away in cosy corners, allowing you to feel at home and enhancing your stay and the grand features of the hotel.
Bedrooms
A room in which to start the day or retreat to as evening turns to night - sumptuous, relaxed and pampered. Each of our bedrooms has a distinctive style and character of its own and all are individually designed, furnished and decorated with William Morris wall coverings to ensure your stay is as comfortable as possible. Bedrooms are fitted with the latest technology to make your stay as pleasant as possible, including en-suite facilities, telephones, LCD flat-screen TVs with satellite, radio and much much more.
Dining rooms and Restaurants
Our main restaurant provides a fine dining experience along with an elegant atmosphere in an inspiring oval room of elegant proportions, softly decorated in a modern, classic style. By evening, with candle-lit tables laid with crystal and silverware, magic transcends the room. For a more intimate or private dining, we have other smaller rooms, which can be set for special occasions.
Relax and Rest
Our public rooms are designed to allow you to relax after a hard day sightseeing or to unwind after a day at a conference. During winter, our open real fires bring a sense of warmth and atmosphere especially when the gardens are covered in untouched, white, crisp snow. |
Q:
How to filter timestamp based on condition in pandas
I want to filter a timestamp column in a pandas dataframe based on a condition.
Input
Pickup date/time
07/05/2017 09:28:00
14/05/2017 15:32:20
15/05/2018 17:00:00
15/05/2018 11:20:09
23/06/2018 22:00:00
29/06/2018 16:10:02
I want to make an another column in dataframe based on a condition timestamp is greater than 16:00:00
Expected Output
Pickup date/time Pickup
07/05/2017 09:28:00 On-time
14/05/2017 15:32:20 On-time
15/05/2018 17:00:00 Delayed
15/05/2018 11:20:09 On-time
23/06/2018 22:00:00 Delayed
29/06/2018 16:10:02 Delayed
A:
Usenp.where
df['new'] = np.where(df.p.dt.hour > 16, 'Delayed', 'On-time')
or
df['new'] = np.where(df.p.dt.time > datetime.time(16, 0, 0), 'Delayed', 'On-time')
Outputs
p new
0 2017-07-05 09:28:00 On-time
1 2017-05-14 15:32:20 On-time
2 2018-05-15 17:00:00 Delayed
3 2018-05-15 11:20:09 On-time
4 2018-06-23 22:00:00 Delayed
5 2018-06-29 16:10:02 Delayed
|
Q:
Best way to iterate through Hashtable and conditionally remove entries in VB.NET
In VB.NET, I have a HashTable that I would like to iterate through and conditionally remove entries from. I've written the following code that does the job perfectly, but I'd like to know if there are any creative ways to simplify the code. It just doesn't seem right to have to create a second list to perform this operation.
Here's what I've written:
Dim ModsToRemove As New List(Of String)
For Each ModKey As DictionaryEntry In ModHashTable
If ModKey.Key.ToString.Contains("Criteria") Then
ModsToRemove.Add(ModKey.Key.ToString)
End If
Next
For Each ModKey As String In ModsToRemove
ModHashTable.Remove(ModKey)
Next
Is there another way to perform the same operation that doesn't require the creation of a second list and a second loop? Is it possible to remove entries from something you are iterating through without throwing an error in VB.NET? Is doing so universally a bad idea?
A:
With a little bit of help from Resharper and LINQ, you can simplify your expression in the following ways.
This code block here can be rewritten to use LINQ instead of the embedded IF statement
For Each ModKey As DictionaryEntry In ModHashTable
If ModKey.Key.ToString.Contains("Criteria") Then
ModsToRemove.Add(ModKey.Key.ToString)
End If
Next
Is equivalent to
Dim modsToRemove As List(Of String) = (From modKey As DictionaryEntry In
modHashTable Where modKey.Key.ToString.Contains("Criteria")
Select modKey.Key.ToString).ToList()
Combining this with your actual loop to remove the items from the Hashtable, you should be able to get the equivalent functionality of your example above with the following 3 lines of code:
For Each key As String In (From modkey As DictionaryEntry In modHashTable Where modkey.Key.ToString.Contains("Criteria") Select modkey.Key.ToString).ToList()
modHashTable.Remove(key)
Next
|
The president announced he would dissolve the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative and the Strategy and Policy Forum just after it was reported that the latter was planning to disband itself. US stocks ended slightly firmer but off the day's highs as investors anxious that the backlash to Trump's remarks could stunt his ability to deliver on pro-business promises.
In an opening remark at a cabinet meeting to mark the first day of the joint Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) exercise, the president emphasized that the North's provocations in protest of the joint drills only "lead to another round of joint military action".
Some countries have recently stated that new UN Security Council sanctions on North Korea were an appropriate response to a series of recent missile tests but "talks are necessary to resolve an issue now at a critical juncture". That is 7,500 USFK troops fewer than previous year, but a USFK officer said troop size makes no big difference because the exercise is mainly a computer simulation drill .
According to Chinese reports, the man was uninjured and managed to climb out of the pit, which measured two metres (6 ft) deep, eight metres long (26 ft) and five meters (16 ft) wide. The authorities soon reached the spot and blocked off the area that is likely to take up to 20 days to get it fully fixed. The CDC states that texting or looking at your phone while driving is particularly risky because it combines all three types of distraction.
Cambridge University Press said Friday that it had complied with a request to block certain articles from " The China Quarterly " within China. China said the publisher would not be able to publish other material in the country if it didn't concur.
What started out as a "free (hate) speech" rally, turned into a magnificent counter-protest. Officials estimated a turnout of 40,000 demonstrators. Hours earlier Donald Trump had reacted to footage of the largely anti-fascist crowds in Boston by tweeting: "Looks like many anti-police agitators in Boston".
The pilot was flying solo when the plane went down. The initial thought that two people had been on board came from the fact that there had been two eclipse-lodging-related reservations made in connection with the aircraft. The plane was registiered to a Menlo Park, California, man. Repman could not confirm what type of plane crashed, but said it was one of hundreds of planes that flew into the region for the total solar eclipse.
For six seasons, the 28-year-old actress played lead character Elena Gilbert (and sometimes doppelganger villain Katherine Pierce.) She announced her departure from TVD after her contract ended in 2015 - just a few weeks after co-star Ian Somerhalder announced his engagement to Nikki Reed.
The Ulchi Freedom Guardian drills that began Monday are largely computer-simulated war games and will run through August 31. Moon also stressed his opposition to military action against North Korea to a visiting USA congressional delegation.
Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. In the letter sent to South Korea, Lighthizer highlighted that among these problems were the "limited access to the Korean market for USA exports" and the "significant trade imbalance" between the two countries.
Although he was freed by passers-by, the motorist died at the scene. A passenger was transported to Frisbee Hospital in Rochester, NH and was later released. State police troopers cited speed as the likely cause of the crash, McCausland said. Bureau of Highway Safety statistics show that this accident was the 11th motorcycle fatality of the year, one more than at the same time period a year ago.
The U.S. has always maintained these are purely defensive and to keep the two militaries prepared in case of an unplanned event like a missile strike. Meanwhile, others in the president's Cabinet went to lengths to stress that, while there are military options, that war would be "catastrophic" and that diplomacy continues to be the preferred route.
They are described as defensive, but nuclear-armed Pyongyang views them as a highly provocative rehearsal for invasion. Tensions between the United States and North Korea reached a fever pitch last week after it was reported North Korea has successfully miniaturized a nuclear warhead to mount on a missile.
Thomas Micozzie, mayor of Upper Darby, said that four passengers who were seriously injured have been taken to hospital. Thirty-three people were injured when an incoming high-speed train struck an unoccupied train vehicle inside an Upper Darby, PA, transit terminal early Tuesday morning, Upper Darby Mayor Thomas Micozzie .
November 20, 2016: 149 people were killed and over 300 injured when 14 coaches of Patna-Indore Express derailed near Pukhrayan station, close to Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh. He said the death toll could rise. "The engine and first four coaches stayed upright, while the next 14 coaches derailed", Kumar said. Meanwhile, Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has assured that he is personally monitoring the situation and has ordered enquiry on the same.
Dudamel, 36, one of Venezuela's best-known celebrities, did not give a reason, but the cancellation follows escalating criticism by the conductor of government tactics in quelling protests. Dudamel is the artistic director of the youth orchestra, whose 180 members had been due to play four dates in the United States in September, including the Hollywood Bowl.
The chances of winning the jackpot is one in 292 million and tickets are two dollars each. Here's Saturday's Powerball numbers: 17, 19, 39, blah, blah blah. Because there was no ideal ticket in the drawing, the jackpot for Wednesday's drawing is now a $650 million annuity, worth $411.7 million cash. Wednesday's jackpot represents the third-largest in USA history.
Baxter, 27, had been with the Kissimmee Police Department for three years. Miller was requesting a sergeant respond to the area. Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said Saturday that officers Michael Fox and Kevin Jarrell are in stable condition following Friday night's confrontation with an armed man who was killed by the officers.
But on the other side, the NDP picked up three seats in Surrey on May 9, and defeated the Liberal cabinet minister in charge of the previous government's plan to embrace ride-sharing, in part on a promise that New Democrats would craft a better deal to protect the taxi industry and its thousands of drivers.
North Korea has warned the USA will be "pouring gasolene on the fire" by conducting a war game with its long-time southern foe. A confidential United Nations report, seen by Reuters on Monday, found North Korea evaded United Nations sanctions by "deliberately using indirect channels" to export banned commodities and had generated $270 million since February.
Brady has a slightly more conservative timeline- he wants it done by the end of the year. Republicans have only a few months to overcome internal divisions and other obstacles if they want to get tax legislation signed into law before January 1.
This week, star David Harbour (taking over the role of Big Red from fan-favorite Ron Perlman ) teased that the film will have an Indiana Jones vibe while ditching the origin story this time around, and now we're getting more news about the growing cast. |
//
// UIControl+ActionBlocks.h
// iOS-Categories (https://github.com/shaojiankui/iOS-Categories)
//
// Created by Jakey on 15/5/23.
// Copyright (c) 2015年 www.skyfox.org. All rights reserved.
// https://github.com/lavoy/ALActionBlocks
#import <UIKit/UIKit.h>
typedef void (^UIControlActionBlock)(id weakSender);
@interface UIControlActionBlockWrapper : NSObject
@property (nonatomic, copy) UIControlActionBlock actionBlock;
@property (nonatomic, assign) UIControlEvents controlEvents;
- (void)invokeBlock:(id)sender;
@end
@interface UIControl (ActionBlocks)
- (void)handleControlEvents:(UIControlEvents)controlEvents withBlock:(UIControlActionBlock)actionBlock;
- (void)removeActionBlocksForControlEvents:(UIControlEvents)controlEvents;
@end
|
Q:
How to use POSE in ARCore?
The ARCore documentation defines Pose as :
Pose represents an immutable rigid transformation from one coordinate space to another. As provided from all ARCore APIs, Poses always describe the transformation from the object's local coordinate space to the world coordinate space. The transformation is defined using a quaternion rotation about the origin followed by a translation.
What is object's local coordinate space and world coordinate space?
A:
You can think of the objects local co-ordinate space as the x, y and z axis for just the object itself and the world co-ordinate space as the x, y, and z axis of the entire world that you are viewing in your preview.
In other words the local space is as if the object just exists by itself. You can rotate, tilt, zoom etc the object in this space in the usual way.
When you want to show your object in the real world every point on the object in the local space, which will have an x, y, z, co-ordinate in that local space, needs to map to an x,y,z in the world space.
|
Q:
How can I set max zoom available on a tile server?
Question:
Let's say my tile server has only tile images for zooms 8, 9, and 10.
When the client starts with zoom 11, I want Openlayers to fetch zoom 10 (maximum available zoom on the server) and stretch the tile in the client. So, I want the user to see something, albeit lower quality, even on zoom 11.
Is this possible?
More explanation:
(More explanation follows, in case the question didn't make sense)
By default, if the Javascript client starts fresh with zoom 11, nothing is shown (bad), but if the client starts with zoom 10, and then zooms in to 11 the already-fetched tiles of zoom 10 are stretched and shown (much better) while still attempting to get zoom 11 tiles and getting 404 from the server.
My best attempt was setting the tileLoadFunction option, because it is given the [z, x, y] values and can apparently set the src of the tile image. I say "apparently" because I haven't tried it. The problem is that decreasing the value of z is not enough, I have to calculate the [x, y] for the new z as well, which is complicated and I think I should avoid doing it manually.
Here is the code for the layer:
let heatmapLayer = new TileLayer({
visible: true,
opacity: 0.75,
source: new XYZ({
tileSize: [512, 512],
url: "http://myserver/heatmap-z{z}-x{x}-y{y}.png",
}),
});
A:
You can specify the min and max zoom levels the tiles are served at
source: new XYZ({
tileSize: [512, 512],
url: "http://myserver/heatmap-z{z}-x{x}-y{y}.png",
minZoom: 8,
maxZoom: 10,
}),
For other resolutions the view will scale tiles up or down
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It was only a matter of time. Since the passage of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, a sweeping new law labeling animal rights activists as “terrorists,” corporations and industry groups have been pushing the federal government to use their new powers. For more than two years, the law has sat on the shelf. The government has finally put it to use.
On February 19th and 20th, the Joint Terrorism Task Force of the FBI arrested four animal rights activists as “terrorists.” Details of the arrests and the charges are still coming, but based on my conversations with attorneys and local news articles, this is the most sweeping expansion of the War on Terrorism and the “Green Scare” to date.
As background, a fierce campaign is being waged in California against animal research at the University of California system. There has been a wide range of both legal and illegal tactics. Illegal tactics have included the destruction of UC vans. In August, an incendiary device was left at the home of a UC researcher; no animal rights group has claimed responsibility for this crime, but the university, the FBI and others have recklessly attributed it to activists.
These “terrorism” arrests are not related to that bombing, though. And they’re also not related to the destruction of property. These activists–Nathan Pope, Adriana Stumpo, Joseph Buddenberg, and Maryam Khajavi– were arrested for First Amendment activity.
My calls to the FBI for a copy of the indictment have not been returned, and attorneys I’ve contacted have not viewed it either. However, the FBI’s press release notes that the activists are facing four charges, and lists four incidents. They include:
Protesting outside the home of a University of California Berkeley professor. Some activists, “wearing bandanas to hide their faces, trespassed on his front yard, chanted slogans, and accused him of being a murderer because of his use of animals in research.”
At another protest, activists “marched, chanted, and chalked defamatory comments on the public sidewalks in front of the residences.”
At one protest, a group of five or six activists allegedly “attempted to forcibly enter the private home of a University of California researcher in Santa Cruz.”
Fliers titled “Murderers and torturers alive & well in Santa Cruz July 2008 edition” were found at a local coffee shop. They listed the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of several researchers. The fliers said “animal abusers everywhere beware we know where you live we know where you work we will never back down until you end your abuse.” The FBI says three of the defendants are tied to the “production and distribution of the fliers.”
Chalking, leafleting and protesting are not terrorism, they are not property crimes, and they are not violent crimes. They are speech. Unlike real terrorists, these defendants are not accused of arming themselves with bombs or machine guns. Their only weapons are words.
The only allegation of possible criminal activity is the FBI’s mention of a forced entry. The details of that incident are unclear, though. For instance, at many lawful home protests in the past, activists have been attacked by the people they are protesting who, understandably, are not happy about a demonstration right outside their front door. In short, the very worst element of the entire set of allegations is nowhere near any reasonable person’s threshold for what constitutes “terrorism.”
When I testified before Congress about the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, I was attacked by supporters of the bill, including Democrats, who said the law would only be used to go after groups like the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front. I argued that the vague and overly broad wording in the law could be used by an ambitious prosecutor or federal agents to target First Amendment activity. Eerily, the hypothetical case I described is identical to the recent arrests. I wrote in my analysis of the AETA in 2006:
Here’s a very likely scenario: A group of activists holds a loud protest outside an executive’s home or office on a daily basis, as part of a national campaign. Activists yell and chant as people enter the building. Some wear masks or bandanas (which are increasingly common at protests, because activists fear being “blacklisted”). There have also been illegal actions like “vandalism” and “property damage” in the name of the same cause (which has been the case in every social movement, ever).
Activists clearly intend to “interfere with” the operations of animal enterprise. Toss in the climate of fear that industry groups have created, plus the raucous nature of the protest and the fact that it’s part of a coordinated campaign, and suddenly this First Amendment activity becomes “terrorism” under the law (through a “course of conduct” involving harassment, intimidation, vandalism… whatever they can get to stick).
This is, verbatim, what the FBI and prosecutors are alleging in this case. These arrests dispel each and every myth by corporations and the politicians who represent them, and make strikingly clear that the true purpose of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act was never to target underground activists. It was passed in order to chill and overtly silence First Amendment activity.
The government is chipping away at fringe elements, silencing the speech of so-called radicals as “terrorists.” But this is not the end, it is the beginning. Such an overt targeting of First Amendment activity puts every social movement, every activist, and every American at risk. Targeting free speech as “animal enterprise terrorism” sets a precedent set for targeting the speech of other activists as “defense enterprise terrorism,” “timber enterprise terrorism,” and “financial enterprise terrorism.”
At issue here is not the validity or morality of animal research, nor is it the efficacy of controversial tactics. Differences of opinion on those issues no longer matter. What’s at issue is whether the War on Terrorism should be used to target protesters as terrorists.
The true test of the health of the First Amendment, and basic freedoms in a democracy, is not whether safe, non-controversial, popular beliefs are protected. The test is whether the extreme, the radical, the outlandish, the offensive and the crude are protected.
When it comes to freedom of speech, the battleground–the front line–must be protecting the fringe. |
Washington (CNN) Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is back working at the Supreme Court building in her chambers, the court's public information officer said Tuesday afternoon.
Ginsburg was not on the bench for Tuesday's non-argument session earlier in the day, per a previous Supreme Court announcement.
Last week, Ginsburg, 85, fell in her office and fractured three ribs, but by the end of the week had been released from George Washington University Hospital, where she had been admitted Thursday for observation and treatment.
Supreme Court Public Information Officer Kathleen Arberg had said earlier Tuesday that Ginsburg was continuing to improve and was working from home in the morning.
Ginsburg is the Supreme Court's oldest justice and has previously survived two forms of cancer and a procedure to have a stent placed in her right coronary artery.
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Killen STQ set to open Nov. 28
Killen's STQ, a new restaurant from chef Ronnie Killen, is scheduled to open Nov. 28. Shown: decor elements. Killen's STQ, a new restaurant from chef Ronnie Killen, is scheduled to open Nov. 28. Shown: decor elements. Photo: Kimberly Park Photo: Kimberly Park Image 1 of / 33 Caption Close Killen STQ set to open Nov. 28 1 / 33 Back to Gallery
In the span of a single calendar year Ronnie Killen will have opened three restaurants. A year ago this month he threw the doors open to a large, lavish new home for his iconic Killen's Steakhouse in Pearland. That was followed by the June opening of his new Killen's Burgers, his eagerly anticipated burger joint, also in Pearland.
And later this month he will debut the restaurant he hopes to bring him his greatest acclaim – Killen's STQ – which he plans to open to the public on Nov. 28. Set in the former Bramble space at 2231 S. Voss, it is Killen's first restaurant in Houston.
REVEALED: Houston's 100 best restaurants of 2016
And in many ways, it might also be his most personal restaurant. Killen, who has long wanted a space in Houston, has thrown tremendous thought and effort into the new 60-seat restaurant that he says is neither a typical steakhouse nor a barbecue joint, although elements of both are invested in STQ.
Killen said the menu comes from foods that he has his staff developed during cooking competitions and culinary events over the past seven years. Those dishes stayed with Killen long after the often chaotic festivals and chef appearances. He loved them so much that he wanted them to have a home.
Some of the dishes show his brand's culinary reach outside of the formats at his Pearland-based restaurants Killen's Steakhouse, Killen's Barbecue and Killen's Burgers. Dishes such as a short rib tamale served with brisket chile, queso fresco, and micro cilantro. The menu also will include dry age pork long-bone chop; short ribs; burgers and steaks; cured fish; smoked fish; gumbo; smoked tomato bisque; smoked French onion soup; and his famous bread pudding.
NEW PLACES TO TRY: A look at the new Houston restaurants open this year
Many of the menu items will be touched by smoke or cooked over a live fire. And this is one of the elements that most excites Killen. "I've always been interested in live fire cooking," he said. "What we're doing is meat and fire. That's how I'm describing it to people: meat and fire. It's not a steakhouse. It's not a barbecue place. It's just food we've created in the past that never made it to the menu. It's foods I like to cook and I like to eat."
And even though the space is small and lends itself to a casual restaurant with a lot of wood surfaces, Killen is going to trick out the operations with a decidedly upscale, rustic elegance. He has ordered Frette linens, bone china, nice silverware and expensive stemware. The kitchen will use special glass cloches to present dishes encased in smoke.
"It's going to be about the fine details. I'm going all out on everything," Killen said Monday. "I want people to walk in and go wow. I want that thrill of the unexpected."
STQ may very well be the restaurant that Killen has been preparing himself for years. "I've put a lot of thought into it," he said. "I'm going to make something really special."
See for yourself come the week of Nov. 28. |
Award Winning Buddyphones Kids Headphones
Petur Hannes Olafsson Presents The Buddyphones Kids Headphones
Petur Hannes Olafsson, the maker of the highlighted project Kids Headphones by Petur Hannes Olafsson points out, BuddyPhones are all about sharing and safety. The volume limiting headphones’ circuitry caps the volume at 85db, which is the recommended level by the World Health Organization, to protect children's hearing. Available in Standard and Foldable Travel versions, they are durable, adjustable and comfortable with soft anti-allergenic ear pads, colourful DIY stickers, built-in microphone and detachable flat cable designed for less entanglement. The BuddyCable audio splitter allows up to four kids to share one device, squabble-free. Designed to be used by kids of all ages, anytime, anywhere. . |
Background {#Sec1}
==========
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) often do not become clinically manifest until adulthood. The cumulative effects of risk factors including abdominal obesity, elevated body mass index (BMI) levels, dyslipidemia, and hypertension originating in childhood may become clinically manifested as coronary heart disease, heart failure, and stroke \[[@CR1]--[@CR8]\]. Results from the Muscatine Study suggest that previous values of lipid or blood pressure levels for individuals at younger ages were strong predictors of the values for individuals aged 20--39 years. Abdominal obesity in particular often precedes other components of the metabolic syndrome, and may play a role in the development of other cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension \[[@CR7], [@CR9]\]. The cumulative life-course burden of excessive body fat, as indicated by measures including waist circumference, BMI, and percent body fat, begins at an early age. These effects may transpire into cardiovascular events in adulthood, either through major risk factors or, independent of them \[[@CR9], [@CR10]\].
While previous reports have described a broad picture of the growth process on lipids, blood pressure, and anthropometry in adolescents and young adults across gender and race subgroups \[[@CR11]--[@CR24]\], there are significant questions that have not been directly addressed. First, substantial variability exists in almost all of the lipid, blood pressure, and anthropometric measures. Even when the data are examined cross-sectionally, population differences in cholesterol concentrations at a given age were as great as 40--50 mg/dL \[[@CR23]\]. Additionally, temporal patterns differ significantly from individual to individual within the same age-race subgroup.
Typically, temporal patterns were depicted as smoothed mean curves that were based on quadratic and cubic polynomials for describing the change of lipids, blood pressure, and anthropometry over the target age range \[[@CR16]\]. Fig. [1](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"} shows the growth trajectories of BMI using Project HeartBeat! data, which were also used in the current analysis. The often-substantial variations across individuals in the temporal patterns are not captured by a population-averaged, model-based growth curve. It is possible that subgroups of different risk strata exist within the population. From a prevention point of view, these subgroups need to be identified and carefully characterized.Fig. 1Trajectories of the three cohorts for females in BMI (kg/m^2^), Project HeartBeat!
A second question that has not been adequately addressed in the prior literature concerning cardiovascular risk in childhood and adolescence is the lack of analysis of multiple profiles across lipids, blood pressure, and anthropometry. Previous analysis has focused on single-variable trajectories and has thus missed the opportunity to examine multiple trajectories of cardiovascular outcomes from the same group of individuals across an age span. For example, if the cholesterol trajectory of a high-risk group suggests that cholesterol tends to increase at an accelerated pace, then it would be natural to ask whether or not the blood pressure of the same group of individuals also increases over time.
The purpose of this study was to (1) analyze multiple profiles of lipids, blood pressure, and anthropometry using Project HeartBeat! data, and (2) identify subgroups with different cardiovascular risks. By understanding the overall risk patterns that appear during early life, the findings in this study could lead to early-life interventions for reducing or delaying adverse metabolic changes and cardiovascular outcomes.
Methods {#Sec2}
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Data and measures {#Sec3}
-----------------
Project HeartBeat! is a population-based epidemiologic study that examines early development of cardiovascular risk factors in anthropometry, blood pressure, and lipids as a growth process. Using intensive, longitudinal follow-up assessments of children and adolescents, the study collected data that offer a rich resource for determining the cardiovascular profiles of individuals aged 8--18 and their concurrent association with body size and composition. The study contained three separate cohorts that were monitored for 4 years: cohort 1 of 8--12 years old; cohort 2 of 11--15 years old; and cohort 3 of 14--18 years old, with a total sample size of *N* = 678 (49 % female, 20 % Black, total number of observations = 5500).
Data collection took place from October 1991 through August 1995. Each participant was scheduled for examination three times each year. In the original study, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and the Baylor College IRBs approved data collection and the proposed research. For the purposes of this analysis, only data collected during the annual anniversary examinations, of which the percentages of missing values were minimal, were used. To facilitate comparison to previous results, eight health measures used in previous studies were used in this study. The measures include waist circumference (WC, in cm), BMI, percent body fat (PBF, in %), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C, in mg/dl), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C, in mg/dl), triglyceride (in mg/dl), and phase 4 diastolic and systolic blood pressure (DBP and SBP, in mmHg). Other potential cardiovascular risk variables such as energy intake and physical activity have not been included for comparability as well as technical reasons. Inclusion of more variables, for example, tends to lead to an increased number of only slightly different cardiovascular profiles, making meanginful interpretation of results challenging, Details of the study rationale, design, and data collection procedures have been described elsewhere \[[@CR24]\].
Statistical methods {#Sec4}
-------------------
Figure [1](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"} shows the raw data trajectories for females for one variable -- BMI -- in the three cohorts. For each cohort, we treated the repeated measurements (e.g., BMI) of an individual as constituting a functional curve \[[@CR25]--[@CR27]\]. Therefore the multivariate approach implied that each individual within an age cohort had a total of 8 functional curves to be simultaneously analyzed.
The analytic method comprised three steps: (1) functional principal component (FPC) analysis for summarizing the information contained in the functional curves into a few numbers, called FPC scores \[[@CR26], [@CR27]\]; (2) mixture modeling, or latent class analysis \[[@CR28]\], for the FPC values derived from the different variables to delineate relatively homogeneous subgroups of individuals in terms of their FPC values; and (3) projection of the FPCs onto the original variable spaces to show the group-based functional curves in their original scales because FPC were combinations of the original variables and were difficult to interpret. We used the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), a commonly used goodness-of-fit index, in selecting the number of clusters (latent classes) in step (2). The statistical testing of the difference between group-based functional curves, or trajectories, was based on 95 % confidence bands of the mean group trajectories.
In order to compare the group-based functional curves with national norms, we also included gender-specific population-level growth trajectories into our analysis using NHANES III data. The NHANES III is a nationally representative cross-sectional survey conducted during the period of 1988 to 1994 \[[@CR29], [@CR30]\], which is contemporaneous with the HeartBeat! data collection phase. Except for PBF, the NHANES III mean values reported in this work were derived from raw data. In order to account for the complex sampling design, proper sampling weights for measurements collected from Mobile Examination Centers (MECs) were used in our derivation. The mean values of PBF for some age groups were adapted from a published reference \[[@CR31]\]. Related national statistic for the measures used in this study and related health guidelines can be found in other references \[[@CR32]--[@CR35]\]. All analyses were performed in 2014--2015.
Results {#Sec5}
=======
Based on the AIC, 2-cluster solutions were selected for each age-gender cohort. The AIC values were close for 1-cluster and 2-cluster solutions for females in cohort two, but the 2-cluster solution was ultimately favored. Based on the overall lipid, blood pressure, and anthropometry outcomes, we labeled the two clusters less favorable cardiovascular health group (LF-CHG) and more favorable cardiovascular health group (MF-CHG). Note that the MF- and LF-CHG were not defined by pre-specified cut points; group membership was determined through latent class analysis and the labels were assigned based on inspection of the respective group trajectories. Figure [2](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"} shows two examples of the mean trajectories of the MF- and LF-CHG and their respective 95 % confidence bands. When two confidence bands on a specific variable were completely separate and did not overlap, statistical significance between the MF- and LF-CHG was declared for the variable (*p* \< .05). On the other and, if any part of the group trajectories overlapped, then the groups were deemed not statistically significant (*p* \> .05). Table [1](#Tab1){ref-type="table"} shows the descriptive statistics for the health groups. Figures [3](#Fig3){ref-type="fig"} (females) and 4 (males) show the averaged functional curves of the LF-CHG and the MF-CHG across the 8 designated measures. The functional curves of the three cohorts are separately depicted. To facilitate reading, the LF-CHG is indicated by a solid line and the MF-CHG is indicated by a dashed line in each cohort. The values in anthropometry, lipid level, and blood pressure functional curves for the LF-CHG and MF-CHG were contrasted and also compared with NHANES III data for children aged 8--18 years old. Smoothed curves for national data means were depicted as dotted lines in Figs. [3](#Fig3){ref-type="fig"} and [4](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}. Specifically, the local polynomial regression fitting (LOESS) procedure \[[@CR36]\], as implemented in the function loess() in R with smoothing parameters set at default values, was used for smoothing. Table [2](#Tab2){ref-type="table"} summarizes the statistical testing results between the mean trajectories of MF-CHG and the LF-CHG. As Figs. [3](#Fig3){ref-type="fig"} and [4](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"} visualize the results and Table [1](#Tab1){ref-type="table"} summarizes testing, in the Result section we only highlight the most salient findings.Fig. 2Examples of mean trajectories and 95 % confidence bands of the less favorable cardiovascular health group (LF-CHG, *solid lines*) and more favorable cardiovascular health group (MF-CHG, *dashed lines*) for statistically non-significant different groups (left panel, SBP of 11-year old female cohort) and statistically significant groups (right panel, SBP of 11-year old male cohort). For each group, a random sample (*n* = 10) of individual trajectories are shown in *shaded color* in backgroundTable 1Sample size and participant characteristics: Project HeartBeat!8 year old cohort11 year old cohort14 year old cohortMF-CHG^a^LF-CHG^a^MF-CHGLF-CHGMF-CHGLF-CHGMales n (%)110 (72.8 %)41 (27.2 %)70 (72.2 %)27 (27.8 %)55 (77.5 %)16 (22.5 %)Race (n,%) White81 (75.8 %)26 (24.3 %)53 (72.6 %)20 (27.4 %)44 (73.3 %)16 (26.7 %) Black22 (61.1 %)14 (38.9 %)12 (63.2 %)7 (36.8 %)4 (100 %)0 (0 %)Non-Black7 (87.5 %)1 (12.5 %)5 (100 %)0 (0 %)7 (100 %)0 (0 %) Age (years)^b^8.468.6211.511.5114.3814.45Females n (%)90 (62.1 %)55 (37.9 %)69 (81.2 %)16 (18.8 %)50 (64.9 %)27 (35.1 %)Race (n,%) White64 (62.1 %)39 (37.9 %)55 (82.1 %)12 (17.9 %)45 (71.4 %)18 (28.6 %) Black22 (59.5 %)15 (40.5 %)11 (78.6 %)3 (21.4 %)4 (40.0 %)6 (60.0 %)Non-Black4 (80.0 %)1 (20.0 %)3 (75.0 %)1 (25 %)1 (25 %)3 (75.0 %)Age (years)8.548.5111.511.5414.4414.48^a^ *MF-CHG* More favorable cardiovascular health group. *LF-CHG* Less favorable cardiovascular health group^b^mean valueFig. 3Trajectories of the less favorable cardiovascular health group (LF-CHG, *solid lines*) and more favorable cardiovascular health group (MF-CHG, *dashed lines*) for the female cohorts. The national mean values derived from NHANES III are shown as *dotted lines*. The NHANES III curves have been smoothed. Three age cohorts are shown separately in three column panelsFig. 4Trajectories of the less favorable cardiovascular health group (LF-CHG, *solid lines*) and more favorable cardiovascular health group (MF-CHG, *dashed lines*) for the male cohorts. The national mean values derived from NHANES III are shown as *dotted lines*. The NHANES III curves have been smoothed. Three age cohorts are shown separately in three column paneTable 2Result for statistical tests between LF-CHG and MF-CHG mean trajectories at the significance level of 0.05WCBMIPBFHDLTriglycerideLDLSBPDBPFemales 8 year old cohort\<.05\<.05\<.05\<.05\<.05 11 year old cohort\<.05\<.05\<.05\<.05\<.05 14 year old cohort\<.05\<.05Males 8 year old cohort\<.05\<.05\<.05 11 year old cohort\<.05\<.05\<.05\<.05\<.05\<.05 14 year old cohort\<.05\<.05\<.05\<.05\<.05\<.05
Results for the three female cohorts {#Sec6}
------------------------------------
For the first cohort ( age 8--12 years) , 38 % (55/145) of females belong to the LF-CHG, which is characterized by an overall higher WC, higher BMI, higher PBF, higher level of triglyceride, lower HDL-C, and higher LDL-C (solid lines in Fig. [3](#Fig3){ref-type="fig"} leftmost panels), as compared to the MF-CHG (dashed lines). Waist circumference (WC) in the MF-CHG female cohort one (\~55 cm at age 8 and \~63 cm at age 12) is lower than the mean value obtained from NHANES III (60.9 cm at age 8 and 72.9 cm at age 12) whereas WC in the LF-CHG is comparable (\~62 cm at age 8 and 70 cm at age 12). For BMI, the NHANES III mean values for females 8--12 range from 17.7 kg/m^2^ (age 8) to 21.5 kg/m^2^ (age 12). The LF-CHG had a higher BMI (\~19 kg/m^2^ at age 8 and 22 kg/m^2^ at age 12). The separation of PBF between LF-CHG (\~28 %) and MF-CHG (\~23 %) is also pronounced in this age cohort. Trajectories of LF-CHG and MF-CHG for HDL-C, LDL-C, and triglycerides are separated, with the LDL-C levels showing slightly declining trends.
Blood pressure levels in both the LF-CHG and MF-CHG generally trend with the NHANES III averages but the DBP levels are \~10 mmHg above. However, the trend lines for both DBP and SBP are not clearly separated between the LF-CHG and MF-CHG.
For the second cohort (age 11--15 years), 19 % (16/85) of females are identified as LF-CHG (solid lines in Fig. [3](#Fig3){ref-type="fig"}, middle panels). Perhaps with the exception of DBP, the two groups appear to be distinct across the various measures. Compared with the MF-CHG, the LF-CHG has higher WC, BMI, PBF; higher triglyceride, higher LDL-C, lower HDL-C, and higher SBP. BMI values of the MF-CHG is lower than the NHANES III average, which starts at 17.5 kg/m^2^ (age 11) and ends at 20 kg/m^2^ (age 15), while the BMI of the LF-CHG is \~2 to 3 kg/m^2^ above the NHANES III average. The HDL-C and LDL-C levels of both the LF-CHG and MF-CHG are within an acceptable range but the LF-CHG has an elevated level of triglyceride (\>110 mg/dl) almost throughout the entire age range, suggesting that the LF-CHG is either at the borderline-high (90--129 mg/dl) or high level (130 mg/dl). The SBP between the two groups tends to slightly diverge, with the LF-CHG trending higher, but DBP levels are not well separated.
For the third cohort (age 14--18 years), the LF-CHG constitutes approximately 35 % (27/77) of the cohort (solid line in Fig. [3](#Fig3){ref-type="fig"}, rightmost panels). The most striking feature is that the anthropometric measures---WC, BMI, and PBF---all tend to be well separated for the LF-CHG and MF-CHG while lipid measures---LDL-C, HDL-C, and triglyceride---all tend to converge between the two groups.
The levels of lipids in this cohort are not very well separated between the LF-CHG and MF-CHG. For SBP, the MF-CHG is approximately 5 mmHg lower than the LF-CHG, of which the values are comparable to the NHANES III mean values of this age range (105--110 mmHg).
Results for the three male cohorts {#Sec7}
----------------------------------
For the first cohort of males, 27 % (41/151) of the males are identified as belonging to the LF-CHG, which exhibits higher BMI, WC, and PBF; higher triglyceride (solid lines in Fig. [4](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}, leftmost panels). The PBF of this group (\~27 %) is substantially higher than the MF-CHG (\~20 %). Interestingly, the lipid levels and blood pressure levels of the LF-CHG and the MF-CHG are not well separated and their values lie within acceptable ranges.
For the second cohort of males, approximately 28 % (27/97) belongs to the LF-CHG (solid lines in Fig. [4](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}, middle panels). Compared with the first cohort of males, the most salient feature of this cohort is the divergence of lipid measures and blood pressures. The LF-CHG has higher WC, BMI, PBF; higher LDL-C, triglyceride, and lower HDL-C; and higher SBP and DBP. Both the LF-CHG and MF-CHG show a decline in LDL-C, as compared to the relatively stable NHANES III trend (\~95 mg/dl) , although the LF-CHG and MF-CHG are separated by a large gap of \~20 mg/dl.
For the third cohort of males, approximately 23 % (16/71) is identified as belonging to the LF-CHG (solid lines in Fig. [4](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}, rightmost panels). Interestingly, the anthropometric and lipid measures continue to diverge and remain well apart for the LF-CHG and the MF-CHG while the blood pressure measures show convergence. The LF-CHG has substantially higher WC (\~85 cm), BMI (\~26 kg/m^2^), PBF (\~22 %), lower HDL-C (\~35 mg/dl), higher triglyceride levels (\~140--160 mg/dl), and higher LDL-C (\~100 mg/dl) than the MF-CHG. The elevated risk in this group seems to lie in its high level of triglyceride (\>130 mg/dl, or high-level) as well as its consistent low level of HDL-C at \<40 mg/dl.
Discussion {#Sec8}
==========
Since the beginning of Project HeartBeat! in 1991, obesity in the United States, especially in children and adolescents, remains a prominent health concern \[[@CR37], [@CR38]\]. Early prevention may be strengthened when the relationship between obesity and cardiovascular risk factors can be clearly delineated, as these factors develop in childhood and adolescence \[[@CR16], [@CR23]\]. In this study, principal component functional curve analysis methods were used to summarize key features of trajectories of multiple longitudinal measurements. The principal components were then used to identify high and low risk groups (respectively labeled LF-CHG and MF-CHG) from both the male and female cohorts. The high risk groups had greater waist circumference, body mass index, and percent body fat as well as elevated LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and lower HDL cholesterol levels. The risk profiles also revealed patterns of convergence and divergence across the high and low risk groups as a function of age.
Some general trends can also be observed by examining the functional curves across the cohorts. These observations have clinical and public health practice implications. For example, there are substantial age and gender differences in the trajectories across the risk groups MF-CGH and LF-CHG. Some measures such as DBP for females were not discriminating and they may not be useful to determine trajectories or characterize cardiovascular risk groups. It is interesting to note that for females, all lipid levels tend to show convergence between the LF-CHG and MF-CHG across the three age cohorts, whereas those for males all tend to show strong divergence. Our multi-variable analysis shows differences in HDL-C as well as LDL-C for the two risk groups begin at \<3 mg/dl in cohort one and ends at \>15 mg/dl in cohort three. Differences in the males' triglyceride levels begin at \<10 mg/dl at age 8 and end at \>60 mg/dl at age 17. The dynamic in these indicators may provide clues to identifying important developmental periods for intervention.
The findings from the current study can also be used to inform future studies. For example, the identification of the LF-CHG could be used to define an exposure group in longitudinal studies for following up manifestations of heart disease or subclinical measures such as carotid intima-media thickness. Previous research identified important measures that were predictive of cardiovascular problems later on in life. The Muscatine Study \[[@CR7], [@CR9]\] suggested lipid and blood pressure levels at younger age were strong predictors of values later in life. The Princeton Lipid Research Clinics Follow-up Study found that 4.0 % of 771 children 6--19 years of age and followed for 25 years had the metabolic syndrome. Sixty-eight percent of those with the pediatric metabolic syndrome had the metabolic syndrome as adults and 19.4 % with the pediatric metabolic syndrome had CVD as adults, compared to 1.5 % for subjects without the pediatric metabolic syndrome \[[@CR39]\]. Findings from this study point to early manifestation of cardiovascular risk in younger age and provide quantitative information about prevalence and trends. These findings could result in earlier interventions for reducing or delaying adverse metabolic changes and improving cardiovascular outcomes.
The study has limitations. First the study is limited by the lack of cohort data that span across all three age groups. The analysis was limited to stratification by gender and age-group. We have not further evaluated race because of sample size concern. Additionally, unlike NHANES III, the Project HeartBeat! sample is not a representative national sample. Finally, the study sample size is relatively small, especially for the LF-CHG. Because of this concern, results from this study may not be sufficiently robust to generalize to larger populations. The study is descriptive and the conclusion should not be viewed as definitive.
Conclusions {#Sec9}
===========
Despite the aforementioned limitations, this study has strengths in its concurrent examination of a profile of cardiovascular risk factors including anthropometric, lipid, and blood pressure measures in several cohorts of boys and girls in their developmental stages. The results are unique in its simultaneous depiction of trajectories of the risk factors over time for a high-risk and a low-risk group, as well as the national norm, all by age group and gender. The findings could be used as important reference for future studies of cardiovascular health in adolescents. Our findings also suggest that male and female show rather distinct patterns in the trajectories, and lipid measure such as HDL-C and LDL-C show strong patterns of divergence in the risk groups while other variables such as blood pressures appear to be less discriminating.
AIC
: akaike information criterion
BMI
: body mass index
CVD
: cardiovascular disease
DBP
: diastolic blood pressure
FPC
: functional principal component
HDL-C
: high density lipoprotein cholesterol
LDL-C
: low density lipoprotein cholesterol
LF-CHG
: less favorable cardiovascular health group
MEC
: mobile examination center
MF-CHG
: more favorable cardiovascular health group
NHANES
: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
PBF
: percent body fat
SBP
: systolic blood pressure
T2DM
: type 2 diabetes mellitus
TG
: triglycerides
WC
: waist circumference
**Competing interests**
All authors declare that they have no competing interests.
**Authors' contributions**
EI conceived, directed the study and led the writing of the manuscript. XL designed the functional data analysis and principal component analysis. QZ and SC carried out the analytic method. RS and DL interpreted the results and wrote the discussion. SD extracted the data from HeartBeat! and guided the analysis for the data. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
The work is supported by the following grants: National Institutes of Health U01HL101066-01, and National Science Foundation SES-1424875 (PI of both grants: Edward Ip). SD is affiliated with the Center of Disease Control and Prevention. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Center of Disease Control and Prevention. No financial disclosure was reported by the authors of this paper.
|
Last week, we announced that Texans were making a push for the decriminalization of marijuana possession with HB 81. While HB 81 is aiming for decriminalized possession, HB 2107 is a bill that would drastically overhaul the state's currently "unworkable" medicinal marijuana program which is "unnecessarily restrictive."
According to the Marijuana Policy Project, "the number of representatives signed on as either joint or co-authors jumped from five to more than 70" last Wednesday. After hearing testimonies from patients, caregivers, healthcare providers and more last week, the Texas House of Representatives Committee on Public Health approved the bill. Now HB 2107 will be passed through to the Calendars Committee, which will get to decide whether or not the bill receives a full House of Representatives vote.
If passed, HB 2107 "would increase the number of medical conditions that qualify for the Texas Compassionate Use Program and allow patients to participate if they receive an official recommendation from their doctors. It would also improve the variety of medical marijuana available to patients. The program currently only permits patients suffering from intractable epilepsy to access specific types of medical marijuana that have been found to be ineffective for some patients. It also requires doctors to “prescribe” medical marijuana, which is not possible under federal law."
Heather Fazio, Texas political director for the Marijuana Policy Project commented, “This is critical legislation that could dramatically help thousands of patients and families throughout Texas. It will make the Compassionate Use Program workable and more inclusive for patients with debilitating medical conditions. We are seeing an unprecedented level of support for medical cannabis legislation in the House of Representatives, and we hope the Calendars Committee will make it a priority to schedule a vote on this important bill. Seriously ill Texans should not have to wait another couple years for the medical cannabis program to be fixed. Lawmakers have an opportunity to do it now, and we hope they will do everything in their power to capitalize on it.“
Anyone looking to get more active in their support of Texas' cannabis legal reforms should check out Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy. The group is a coalition of organizations, activists, and community leaders dedicated to realizing effective, efficient, and evidence-based marijuana policies in Texas.
D/M/O |
A human vision inspired adaptive platform for one-on-multiple recognition.
The fluorescence of a coordinative molecule DCM displaying an intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) effect is regulated by several metal ions. These DCM-metal complexes were adopted to recognize different chemicals, including the recognition of triethylenetetramine, thiol-containing amino acids, and H2S upon binding DCM with Zn2+, Ag+, and Pb2+, respectively. This is in analogy to the general mode of human trichromatic color vision. |
ACER wholesale monitors & computing stock from a German distributor
Are you specialised in reselling computers and accessories? Are you looking for suppliers of wholesale computer hardware, graphic cards, motherboards, processors or accessories such as keyboard sets, digital cameras and monitors? If so, then we have found a perfect supplier for you.
Customer returns – bulk TVs and wholesale electronics from UAE
Are you looking for a reliable wholesaler from UAE who trades with graded electronics, televisions and household appliances on pallets? This import-export company gets regular stock every week. The products are untested customer returns, used electronics and shop clearance stock of appliances.
Wholesale stock of floor standing fans and desktop fans
Summer is coming! Are you prepared for hot weather and customers looking for appropriate equipment to cool their office down a bit? This Polish wholesaler can supply your shop with a variety of floor standing fans and desktop fans that will give some refreshment in those sweltering days.
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We have found an exporter who can offer you 25 tonnes of bulk power tools for sale. These are second hand products from top brands such as Bosch, Makita, Milkwaukee, AEG etc. The minimum order is 5000 kilograms. The price has not been provided.
Refurbished larder fridges job lot from a British wholesaler
Looking for bargain offers on white goods? You can buy very cheap larder fridges stock from this import-export company based in the United Kingdom. The goods belong to several different brands and they have been refurbished. The offered price per piece is only GBP 39.00!
K3 Koowheel hoverboards stock for export
Yet another wholesale deal on hoverboards. This time it is an offer from a wholesaler based in Lithuania, with a minimum order quantity of 10 pieces, and the total quantity of 100. The goods come with 1 year warranty, and are sold at EUR 176.00 / piece.
Regular stock of Aldi pallets of electronics
Are you looking for suppliers of kitchen appliances and electronics that can offer you regular stock at competitive prices? We have just found a super seller for you! This import-export company from the Czech Republic sells pallets of untested customer returns from Aldi’s chain store. They get new arrivals every […]
Remington clearance stock of shavers, epilators, trimmers… (UK plugs)
Do you want to buy wholesale Remington haircare products? This wholesaler of electric appliances can sell you clearance pallets of Remington products for hair care and body care at competitive prices. The prices start from as low as GBP 4.50 / piece (this one is for Remington lady shavers). Small quantity […]
Wholesale lots of Arcade Orbit CAMXL drones in the UK
Yet another great wholesale deal on long distance quadcopters! This time it is Arcade Orbit CAMXL available for sale in Telford, in the United Kingdom. These remote control toys will be perfect for you if you run a store with consumer electronics. |
Q:
get EditText value from Fragment through onClick
I have created an acticity with multiple fragments. When inside a fragment a button (image) is clicked, the fragment is replaced with a new fragment. This works fine.
One of these images/buttons is the 'Add' button opening the addition page. In this fragment there are several EditTexts and a button 'Insert'.
When pressing the 'Insert'-button the Edittext values must be retrieved. This is where it goes wrong.
This is my code (I excluded what does not seem to be necessary):
MainActicity.java:
public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
FragmentTransaction fragmentTransaction;
EditText etDistancesInsertDays;
@Override
protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
etDistancesInsertDays = (EditText)findViewById(R.id.etDistancesInsertDays);
// On create display home page (HomeFragment)
Fragment frRecords = new RecordsFragment();
fragmentTransaction = getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
fragmentTransaction.add(R.id.main_container, frRecords);
fragmentTransaction.commit();
}
public void openDistancesInsert(){
fragmentTransaction = getSupportFragmentManager().beginTransaction();
fragmentTransaction.replace(R.id.main_container, new DistanceInsertFragment());
fragmentTransaction.commit();
getSupportActionBar().setTitle(getString(R.string.frTitleDistanceInsert));
}
public void switchFragment(View view){
switch (view.getId()) {
case R.id.btnInsertDistance:
// Trial 1
EditText etText = (EditText)findViewById(R.id.etDistancesInsertDays);
String strDays = etDistancesInsertDays.getText().toString();
// Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, "Days: "+strDays, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
// Trial 2
Fragment frInsert;
frInsert = getSupportFragmentManager().findFragmentById(R.id.frDistanceInsert);
View frViewInsert;
frViewInsert = frInsert.getView();
// Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException
EditText etText = (EditText)frViewInsert.findViewById(R.id.etDistancesInsertDays);
String strDays = etDistancesInsertDays.getText().toString();
Toast.makeText(MainActivity.this, "Days: "+strDays, Toast.LENGTH_LONG).show();
break;
}
}
}
And my DistanceInsertFragment.java
public class DistanceInsertFragment extends Fragment {
EditText etDistancesInsertDays, etDistancesInsertMonths, etDistancesInsertYears;
public DistanceInsertFragment() {
// Required empty public constructor
}
@Override
public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container,
Bundle savedInstanceState) {
View frViewInsert = inflater.inflate(R.layout.fragment_distance_insert, container, false);
// Set current dat in text field:
Calendar c = Calendar.getInstance();
String strDayOfMonth = Integer.toString(c.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH));
String strMonthOfYear = Integer.toString(c.get(Calendar.MONTH)+1);
String strYear = Integer.toString(c.get(Calendar.YEAR));
etDistancesInsertDays = (EditText)frViewInsert.findViewById(R.id.etDistancesInsertDays);
etDistancesInsertMonths = (EditText)frViewInsert.findViewById(R.id.etDistancesInsertMonths);
etDistancesInsertYears = (EditText)frViewInsert.findViewById(R.id.etDistancesInsertYears);
etDistancesInsertDays.setText(strDayOfMonth);
etDistancesInsertMonths.setText(strMonthOfYear);
etDistancesInsertYears.setText(strYear);
return frViewInsert;
}
}
Both trial 1 and 2 gave the error "Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException". Though I'm not sure wat is meant with it..
A:
Should the code not be:
EditText etText = (EditText)findViewById(R.id.etDistancesInsertDays);
String strDays = etText.getText().toString();
Here you are getting text from the EditText, in your code you are trying to retrieve from the id etDistancesInsertDays
|
package org.jetbrains.plugins.scala.uast
import java.io.File
import com.intellij.psi.PsiElement
import com.intellij.testFramework.EqualsToFile
import org.jetbrains.uast._
import org.jetbrains.uast.test.common.RenderLogTestBase
import org.jetbrains.uast.visitor.AbstractUastVisitor
import org.junit.Assert
class SimpleScalaRenderingLogTest
extends AbstractUastFixtureTest
with RenderLogTestBase {
def testSimpleClass(): Unit = doTest()
def testClassWithInners(): Unit = doTest()
def testAnnotations(): Unit = doTest()
def testAnnotationComplex(): Unit = doTest()
def testAnnotationParameters(): Unit = doTest()
def testClassAnnotation(): Unit = doTest()
def testDefaultImpls(): Unit = doTest()
def testDefaultParameterValues(): Unit = doTest()
def testIfStatement(): Unit = doTest()
def testImports(): Unit = doTest()
def testLocalVariableWithAnnotation(): Unit = doTest()
def testParametersDisorder(): Unit = doTest()
def testQualifiedConstructorCall(): Unit = doTest()
def testTypeReferences(): Unit = doTest()
def testAnonymous(): Unit = doTest()
def testCallExpressions(): Unit = doTest()
def testMatch(): Unit = doTest()
def testLocalFunctions(): Unit = doTest()
def testLambdas(): Unit = doTest()
private def doComplexTest(): Unit = doTest("complex/" + getTestName(false))
def testComplexSample1(): Unit = doComplexTest()
def testComplexSample2(): Unit = doComplexTest()
def testComplexSample3(): Unit = doComplexTest()
private def getTestFile(testName: String, ext: String) = {
def substringBeforeLast(str: String, delimiter: Char): String = {
val index = str.lastIndexOf(delimiter)
if (index == -1) str else str.substring(0, index)
}
new File(getTestDataPath(), substringBeforeLast(testName, '.') + '.' + ext)
}
override def check(s: String, uFile: UFile): Unit =
RenderLogTestBase.DefaultImpls.check(this, s, uFile)
override def check(testName: String,
file: UFile,
doParentConsistencyCheck: Boolean): Unit = {
val renderFile = getTestFile(testName, "render.txt")
val logFile = getTestFile(testName, "log.txt")
EqualsToFile.assertEqualsToFile(
"Render string",
renderFile,
file.asRenderString()
)
EqualsToFile.assertEqualsToFile(
"Log string",
logFile,
UastUtils.asRecursiveLogString(file)
)
if (doParentConsistencyCheck) {
checkParentConsistency(file)
}
checkContainingFileForAllElements(file)
}
override def checkParentConsistency(uFile: UFile): Unit =
RenderLogTestBase.DefaultImpls.checkParentConsistency(this, uFile)
override def checkContainingFileForAllElements(uFile: UFile): Unit =
uFile.accept(new AbstractUastVisitor {
override def visitElement(node: UElement): Boolean = {
if (node.isInstanceOf[PsiElement] && node.getSourcePsi != null) {
val uElement = UastContextKt.toUElement(node.getSourcePsi)
Assert.assertEquals(
s"getContainingUFile should be equal to source for ${uElement.getClass}",
uFile,
UastUtils.getContainingUFile(uElement)
)
}
node match {
case declaration: UDeclaration if declaration.getUastAnchor != null =>
val uastAnchor = declaration.getUastAnchor
Assert.assertEquals(
s"should be appropriate sourcePsi for uastAnchor for ${node.getClass} [${node.getSourcePsi}] ",
Option(node.getSourcePsi)
.flatMap(s => Option(s.getContainingFile))
.orNull,
Option(uastAnchor.getSourcePsi)
.flatMap(s => Option(s.getContainingFile))
.orNull,
)
case _ =>
}
false
}
})
}
|
Homes: 10 Mistakes that Most People Make
First Time Buyers – What they Should Know A lot of people have been dreaming for the day that they can finally buy their own home and they no longer have to answer to their landlord. You may think that buying your own house will be easy but the whole transaction is actually pretty complex … Continue reading “Homes: 10 Mistakes that Most People Make”
First Time Buyers – What they Should Know
A lot of people have been dreaming for the day that they can finally buy their own home and they no longer have to answer to their landlord. You may think that buying your own house will be easy but the whole transaction is actually pretty complex so before you buy your house, you need to consider a couple of things. But before you buy your house, you should know that it will be the biggest buy of your life so make sure that your decision is perfect for you. You will surely want to avoid any pitfalls because it will be a very frustrating situation. You need to choose a house that you will enjoy since you will be living in it for many years to come. You should know how the building will be, make sure to check every corner so that you will not regret anything.
Considering a lot of things and knowing the ins and outs about buying your first house will be very important.
First thing is how much are you willing to pay for your house?
That is going to be the first concern about buying your own home. You need to know that this is the type of discussion that will be about buying a house end. People who think about buying a home and still struggling to pay their rent will have a problem. This will usually end up you not being able to afford the mortgage repayments. You just have to get back up, work harder and save some more and buy your dream house, there is no shame in it.
The location will be a pretty vital factor.
After the first concern which is the money and saving up, you will be proceeding to the next concern. The mission to find your home will now commence. You should think about a long-term ownership if you think about buying your own house because it would be ideal. If the house will need a lot of work for renovations and such. Breaking even after three years then selling it will give you a pretty low chance, you should think about it. If you want to sell your house back again after staying in for five to seven years, be sure to choose a house that will be in a good area or location so that it will be easier to sell it again.
By following this guide and reading the article, you will be able to understand the ins and outs to buying your own home and you will be in the right path, you really have to consider these things so that you will have no regrets with your future decisions. |
The present invention relates to support hangers and, more particularly, to support hangers and gauges designed to temporarily hold one end of a long piece of siding and to measure the overlap and the exposed siding.
In the housing industry, teams generally apply siding to a house. This allows for each member of the team to measure the proper overlap of siding and then attach the siding to the side of the home. Generally, the length of the siding prevents one person from performing the job alone. If one person could properly attach the siding, productivity would increase. |
---
abstract: 'The class of known constraint automata for which the constrained synchronization problem is in ${\textsf{NP}}$ all admit a special form. In this work, we take a closer look at them. We characterize a wider class of constraint automata that give constrained synchronization problems in ${\textsf{NP}}$, which encompasses all known problems in ${\textsf{NP}}$. We call these automata polycyclic automata. The corresponding language class of polycyclic languages is introduced. We show various characterizations and closure properties for this new language class. We then give a criterion for -completeness and a criterion for polynomial time solvability for polycyclic constraint languages.'
author:
- Stefan Hoffmann
bibliography:
- 'ms.bib'
title: On A Class of Constrained Synchronization Problems in
---
Introduction {#sec:introduction}
============
A deterministic semi-automaton is synchronizing if it admits a reset word, i.e., a word which leads to some definite state, regardless of the starting state. This notion has a wide range of applications, from software testing, circuit synthesis, communication engineering and the like, see [@Vol2008; @San2005]. The famous Černý conjecture [@Cer64] states that a minimal synchronizing word has at most quadratic length. We refer to the mentioned survey articles for details. Due to its importance, the notion of synchronization has undergone a range of generalizations and variations for other automata models. It was noted in [@Martyugin12] that in some generalizations only certain paths, or input words, are allowed (namely those for which the input automaton is defined). In [@Gusev:2012] the notion of constraint synchronization was introduced in connection with a reduction procedure for synchronizing automata. The paper [@DBLP:conf/mfcs/FernauGHHVW19] introduced the computational problem of constraint synchronization. In this problem, we search for a synchronizing word coming from some specific subset of allowed input sequences. For further motivation and applications we refer to the aforementioned paper [@DBLP:conf/mfcs/FernauGHHVW19]. Let us mention that restricting the solution space by a regular language has also been applied in other areas, for example to topological sorting [@DBLP:conf/icalp/AmarilliP18], solving word equations [@DBLP:journals/iandc/DiekertGH05; @Diekert98TR], constraint programming [@DBLP:conf/cp/Pesant04], or shortest path problems [@DBLP:journals/ipl/Romeuf88]. In [@DBLP:conf/mfcs/FernauGHHVW19] it was shown that the smallest partial constraint automaton for which the problem becomes ${\textsf{PSPACE}}$-complete has two states and a ternary alphabet. Also, the smallest constraint automaton for which the problem is ${\textsf{NP}}$-complete needs three states and a binary alphabet. A complete classification of the complexity landscape for constraint automata with two states and a binary or ternary alphabet was given in this previous work. In [@DBLP:journals/corr/abs-2005-05907] the result for two-state automata was generalized to arbitrary alphabets, and a complexity classification for special three-state constraint automata over a binary alphabet was given. As shown in [@DBLP:journals/corr/abs-2005-04042], for regular commutative constraint languages, we only find constraint problems that are ${\textsf{NP}}$-complete, ${\textsf{PSPACE}}$-complete, or solvable in polynomial time. In all the mentioned work [@DBLP:conf/mfcs/FernauGHHVW19; @DBLP:journals/corr/abs-2005-04042; @DBLP:journals/corr/abs-2005-05907], it was noted that the constraint automata for which the corresponding constraint synchronization problem is ${\textsf{NP}}$-complete admit a special form, which we generalize in this work.
**Our contribution:** Here, we generalize a Theorem from [@DBLP:conf/mfcs/FernauGHHVW19] to give a wider class of constrained synchronization problems in ${\textsf{NP}}$. As noted in [@DBLP:journals/corr/abs-2005-05907], the constraint automata that yield problems in ${\textsf{NP}}$ admit a special form and our class encompasses all known cases of constraint problems in ${\textsf{NP}}$. We also give a characterization that this class is given precisely by those constraint automata whose strongly connected components are single cycles. We call automata of this type polycyclic. Then we introduce the language class of polycyclic languages. We show that this class is closed under boolean operations, quotients, concatenation and also admits certain robustness properties with respect to different definitions by partial, complete or nondeterministic automata. Lastly, we also give a criterion for our class that yields constraint synchronization problems that are ${\textsf{NP}}$-complete and a criterion for problems in ${\textsf{P}}$.
Preliminaries and Definitions {#sec:preliminaries}
=============================
By $\mathbb N = \{0,1,2,\ldots\}$ we denote the natural numbers, including zero. Throughout the paper, we consider deterministic finite automata (DFAs). Recall that a DFA $\mathcal A$ is a tuple $\mathcal A = (\Sigma, Q, \delta, q_0, F)$, where the alphabet $\Sigma$ is a finite set of input symbols, $Q$ is the finite state set, with start state $q_0 \in Q$, and final state set $F \subseteq Q$. The transition function $\delta : Q\times \Sigma \to Q$ extends to words from $\Sigma^*$ in the usual way. The function $\delta$ can be further extended to sets of states in the following way. For every set $S \subseteq Q$ with $S \neq \emptyset$ and $w \in \Sigma^*$, we set $\delta(S, w) := \{\,\delta(q, w) \mid q \in S\,\}$. We sometimes refer to the function $\delta$ as a relation and we identify a transition $\delta(q, \sigma) = q'$ with the tuple $(q, \sigma, q')$. We call $\mathcal A$ *complete* if $\delta$ is defined for every $(q,a)\in Q \times \Sigma$; if $\delta$ is undefined for some $(q,a)$, the automaton $\mathcal A$ is called *partial*. If $|\Sigma| = 1$, we call $\mathcal A$ a *unary* automaton. The set $L(\mathcal A) = \{\, w \in \Sigma^* \mid \delta(q_0, w) \in F\,\}$ denotes the language accepted by $\mathcal A$. A semi-automaton is a finite automaton without a specified start state and with no specified set of final states. The properties of being *deterministic*, *partial*, and *complete* of semi-automata are defined as for DFA. When the context is clear, we call both deterministic finite automata and semi-automata simply *automata*. We call a deterministic complete semi-automaton a DCSA and a partial deterministic finite automaton a PDFA for short. If we want to add an explicit initial state $r$ and an explicit set of final states $S$ to a DCSA $\mathcal A$ or change them in a DFA $\mathcal A$, we use the notation $\mathcal A_{r,S}$. A nondeterministic finite automaton (NFA) $\mathcal A$ is a tuple $\mathcal A = (\Sigma, Q, \delta, s_0, F)$ where $\delta \subseteq Q \times \Sigma \times Q$ is an arbitrary relation. Hence, they generalize deterministic automata. With a nondeterministic automaton $\mathcal A$ we also associate the set of accepted words $L(\mathcal A) = \{ w \in \Sigma^* \mid \mbox{$w$ labels a path from $s_0$
to some state in $F$} \}$. We refer to [@HopMotUll2001] for a more formal treatment. In this work, when we only use the word automaton without any adjective, we always mean a deterministic automaton. An automaton $\mathcal A$ is called *synchronizing* if there exists a word $w \in \Sigma^*$ with $|\delta(Q, w)| = 1$. In this case, we call $w$ a *synchronizing word* for $\mathcal A$. For a word $w$, we call a state in $\delta(Q, w)$ an *active* state. We call a state $q\in Q$ with $\delta(Q, w)=\{q\}$ for some $w\in \Sigma^*$ a *synchronizing state*. A state from which some final state is reachable is called *co-accessible*. For a set $S \subseteq Q$, we say $S$ is *reachable* from $Q$ or $Q$ is synchronizable to $S$ if there exists a word $w \in \Sigma^*$ such that $\delta(Q, w) = S$. We call an automaton *initially connected*, if every state is reachable from the start state. An automaton $\mathcal A$ is called *returning*, if for every state $q \in Q$, there exists a word $w \in \Sigma^*$ such that $\delta(q, w) = q_0$, where $q_0$ is the start state of $\mathcal A$.
[@Vol2008] \[thm:unrestricted\_sync\_poly\_time\] For any DCSA, we can decide if it is synchronizing in polynomial time $O(|\Sigma||Q|^2)$. Additionally, if we want to compute a synchronizing word $w$, then we need time $O(|Q|^3 + |Q|^2|\Sigma|))$ and the length of $w$ will be $O(|Q|^3)$.
The following obvious remark will be used frequently without further mentioning.
\[lem:append\_sync\] Let $\mathcal A = (\Sigma, Q, \delta)$ be a DCSA and $w\in \Sigma^*$ be a synchronizing word for $\mathcal A$. Then for every $u, v \in \Sigma^*$, the word $uwv$ is also synchronizing for $\mathcal A$.
For a fixed PDFA $\mathcal B = (\Sigma, P, \mu, p_0, F)$, we define the *constrained synchronization problem*:
\[def:problem\_L-constr\_Sync\] [problemtitle[[@DBLP:conf/mfcs/FernauGHHVW19] <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">$L(\mathcal B)$-Constr-Sync</span>]{}]{} [probleminput[Deterministic complete semi-automaton $\mathcal A = (\Sigma, Q, \delta)$.]{}]{} [problemquestion[Is there a synchronizing word $w \in \Sigma^*$ for $\mathcal A$ with $w \in L(\mathcal B)$?]{}]{}
The automaton $\mathcal B$ will be called the *constraint automaton*. If an automaton $\mathcal A$ is a yes-instance of <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">$L(\mathcal B)$-Constr-Sync</span> we call $\mathcal A$ *synchronizing with respect to $\mathcal{B}$*. Occasionally, we do not specify $\mathcal{B}$ and rather talk about <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">$L$-Constr-Sync</span>. We are going to inspect the complexity of this problem for different (small) constraint automata. We assume the reader to have some basic knowledge in computational complexity theory and formal language theory, as contained, e.g., in [@HopMotUll2001]. For instance, we make use of regular expressions to describe languages, or use many-one polynomial time reductions. We write $\varepsilon$ for the empty word, and for $w \in \Sigma^*$ we denote by $|w|$ the length of $w$. For some language $L\subseteq \Sigma^*$, we denote by $P(L) = \{ w \mid \exists u \in \Sigma^* : wu \in L \}$, $S(L) = \{ w \mid \exists u \in \Sigma^* : uw \in L \}$ and $F(L) = \{ w \mid \exists u,v \in \Sigma^* : uwv \in L \}$ the set of *prefixes*, *suffixes* and *factors* of words in $L$. The language $L$ is called *prefix-free* if for each $w \in L$ we have $P(w) \cap L = \{w\}$. If $u, w \in \Sigma^*$, a prefix $u \in P(w)$ is called a *proper prefix* if $u \ne w$. For $L \subseteq \Sigma^*$ and $u \in\Sigma^*$, the language $u^{-1}L = \{ w \in \Sigma \mid uw \in L \}$ is called a *quotient* (of $L$ by $u$). We also identify singleton sets with its elements. And we make use of complexity classes like ${\textsf{P}}$, ${\textsf{NP}}$, or ${\textsf{PSPACE}}$. A trap (or sink) state in a (semi-)automaton $\mathcal A = (\Sigma, Q, \delta)$ is a state $q \in Q$ such that $\delta(q, x) = q$ for each $x \in \Sigma$. If a synchronizable automaton admits a sink state, then this is the only state to which we could synchronize every other state, as it could only map to itself. For an automaton $\mathcal A = (\Sigma, Q, \delta, q_0, F)$, we say that two states $q, q' \in Q$ are connected, if one is reachable from the other, i.e., we have a word $u \in \Sigma^*$ such that $\delta(q, u) = q'$. A subset $S \subseteq Q$ of states is called *strongly connected*, if all pairs from $S$ are connected. A maximal strongly connected subset is called a *strongly connected component*. By combining Proposition 3.2 and Proposition 5.1 from [@Eilenberg1974], we get the next result.
\[lem:unitary\] For any automaton $\mathcal A = (\Sigma, Q, \delta, s_0, F)$ and any $q \in Q$, we have $L(\mathcal B_{p, \{p\}}) = P^*$ for some regular prefix-free set.
We will also need the following combinatorial lemma from [@SchuetzenbergerLyndon62].
[@SchuetzenbergerLyndon62] \[lem:lyndon-schuetzerger\] Let $u,v \in \Sigma^*$. If $u^m = v^n$ and $m \ge 1$, then $u$ and $v$ are powers of a common word.
In [@DBLP:journals/jcss/LuksM88; @DBLP:journals/cc/BlondinKM16] the decision problem <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">SetTransporter</span> was introduced. In general it is ${\textsf{PSPACE}}$-complete.
\[def:problem\_set\_transporter\] [problemtitle[[@DBLP:journals/jcss/LuksM88; @DBLP:journals/cc/BlondinKM16] <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">SetTransporter</span>]{}]{} [probleminput[DCSA $\mathcal A = (\Sigma, Q, \delta)$ and two subsets $S, T \subseteq Q$]{}]{} [problemquestion[Is there a word $w \in \Sigma^*$ such that $\delta(S, w) \subseteq T$.]{}]{}
We will only use the following variant, which has the same complexity.
\[def:unary\_set\_transpoer\] [problemtitle[<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">DisjointSetTransporter</span>]{}]{} [probleminput[DCSA $\mathcal A = (\Sigma, Q, \delta)$ and two subsets $S, T \subseteq Q$ with $S \cap T = \emptyset$]{}]{} [problemquestion[Is there a word $w \in \Sigma^*$ such that $\delta(S, w) \subseteq T$.]{}]{}
[proposition]{}[disjointequivalentsettransporter]{} \[prop:disjoint\_equivalent\_set\_transporter\] The problems <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">SetTransporter</span> and <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">DisjointSetTransporter</span> are equivalent under polynomial time many-one reductions.
To be more specific, we will use Problem \[def:unary\_set\_transpoer\] for unary input DCSAs. Then it is ${\textsf{NP}}$-complete.
[proposition]{}[settransporternpcomplete]{} \[prop:set\_transporter\_np\_complete\] For unary DCSAs the problem <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">SetTransporter</span> is ${\textsf{NP}}$-complete.
In [@DBLP:conf/mfcs/FernauGHHVW19], with Theorem \[thm:gen:inNP\], a sufficient criterion was given when the constrained synchronization problem is in ${\textsf{NP}}$.
\[thm:gen:inNP\] Let $\mathcal{B} = (\Sigma, P, \mu, p_0, F)$ be a PDFA. Then, $L(\mathcal B)\textsc{-Constr-Sync}\in{\textsf{NP}}$ if there is a $\sigma\in \Sigma$ such that for all states $p\in P$, if $L(\mathcal{B}_{p,\{p\}})$ is infinite, then $L(\mathcal{B}_{p,\{p\}})\subseteq \{\sigma\}^*$.
Results
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First, in Section \[sec:np\_criterion\], we introduce polycyclic automata and generalize Theorem \[thm:gen:inNP\], thus widening the class for which the problem is contained in ${\textsf{NP}}$. Then, in Section \[sec:form\], we take a closer look at polycyclic automata. We determine their form, show that they admit definitions by partial, complete and by nondeterministic automata and proof various closure properties. In Section \[sec:poly\_case\] we state a general criterion that gives a polynomial time solvable problem. Then, in Section \[sec:np\_case\], we give a sufficient criterion for constraint languages that give ${\textsf{NP}}$-complete problems, which could be used to construct polycyclic constraint languages that give ${\textsf{NP}}$-complete problems.
A Sufficient Criterion for Containment in ${\textsf{NP}}$ {#sec:np_criterion}
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The main result of this section is Theorem \[thm:gen:inNP2\]. But first, let us introduce the class of polycyclic partial automata.
[(polycyclic PDFA)]{} \[def:polycyclic\_automata\] A PDFA $\mathcal{B} = (\Sigma, P, \mu, p_0, F)$ is called *polycyclic*, if for all states $p\in P$ we have $L(\mathcal{B}_{p,\{p\}})\subseteq \{u_p\}^*$ for some $u_p \in \Sigma^*$.
The results from Section \[sec:form\] will give some justification why we call these automata polycyclic. In Definition \[def:polycyclic\_automata\], languages that are given by automata with a single final state, which equals the start state, occur. Our first Lemma \[lem:power\_of\_up\] determines the form of these languages, under the restriction in question, more precisely. Note that in any PDFA $\mathcal B = (\Sigma, P, \mu, p_0, F)$ we have either that $L(\mathcal B_{p, \{p\}})$ is infinite or $L(\mathcal B_{p, \{p\}}) = \{\varepsilon\}$.
\[lem:power\_of\_up\] Let $\mathcal{B} = (\Sigma, P, \mu, p_0, F)$ be a PDFA. Suppose we have a state $p\in P$ such that $L(\mathcal{B}_{p,\{p\}})\subseteq \{u_p\}^*$ for some $u_p \in \Sigma^*$. Then $L(\mathcal{B}_{p,\{p\}}) = \{u_p^n\}^*$ for some $n \ge 1$.
By Lemma \[lem:unitary\], we have $L(\mathcal{B}_{p,\{p\}}) = P^*$ for some prefix code $P \subseteq \Sigma^*$. But $P \subseteq \{u_p\}^*$ for a prefix code implies $P = \{ u_p^n \}$ for some $n \ge 1$.
Now, we are ready to state the main result of this section.
[theorem]{}[thmgeninNP]{} \[thm:gen:inNP2\] Let $\mathcal{B} = (\Sigma, P, \mu, p_0, F)$ be a polycyclic partial automaton. Then $L(\mathcal B)\textsc{-Constr-Sync} \in {\textsf{NP}}$.
By Lemma \[lem:power\_of\_up\], we can assume $L(\mathcal{B}_{p,\{p\}}) = \{u_p\}^*$ for some $u_p \ne \varepsilon$ for each $p \in P$ such that $L(\mathcal{B}_{p,\{p\}}) \ne \{\varepsilon\}$. Let $U = \{ u_p \mid L(\mathcal{B}_{p,\{p\}}) = \{u_p\}^* \mbox{ with } u_p \ne \varepsilon \mbox{ for some } p \in P \}$ be all such words. Set $m = |P|$. Every word of length greater than $m-1$ must traverse some cycle. Therefore, any word $w \in L(\mathcal B)$ can be partitioned into at most $2m - 1$ substrings $w = u_{p_1}^{n_1} v_1 \cdots v_{m-1} u_{p_m}^{n_m}$, for some numbers $n_{1}, \ldots, n_{m} \ge 0$, $p_{1}, \ldots, p_{m} \in P$, and[^1] $v_i \in F \cup \{\varepsilon\}$ for some finite set of words $F$, such that $|v_i| < |P|$ for all $i \le m$. Let $\mathcal A = (\Sigma, Q, \delta)$ be a yes-instance of $L(\mathcal B)\textsc{-Constr-Sync}$. Let $w \in L(\mathcal{B})$ be a synchronizing word for $\mathcal A$ partitioned as mentioned above.
: If for some $i \le m$, $n_{i} \ge 2^{|Q|}$, then we can replace it by some $n_i' < 2^{|Q|}$, yielding a word $w' \in L(\mathcal B)$ that synchronizes $\mathcal A$. This could be seen by considering the non-empty subsets $$\delta(Q, u_{p_1}^{n_1} v_1 \cdots u_{p_{j-1}}^{n_{j-1}} v_{j-1} u_{p_j}^{k})$$ for $k = 0, 1, \ldots, n_i$. If $n_{i} \ge 2^{|Q|}$, then some such subsets appears at least twice, but then we can delete the power of $u_{p_i}$ between those appearances.
We will now show that we can decide whether $\mathcal A$ is synchronizing with respect to $\mathcal{B}$ in polynomial time using nondeterminism despite the fact that an actual synchronizing word might be exponentially large. This problem is circumvented by some preprocessing based on modulo arithmetic, and by using a more compact representation for a synchronizing word. We will assume we have some numbering of the states, hence the $p_i$ are numbers. Then, instead of the above form, we will represent a synchronizing word in the form $w_{code} = 1^{p_1}\#{\ensuremath{\operatorname{bin}}}(n_1)v_1 1^{p_2}\#{\ensuremath{\operatorname{bin}}}(n_2)v_2 \dots v_{m-1}1^{p_m}\#{\ensuremath{\operatorname{bin}}}(n_{m})$, where $\#$ is some new symbol that works as a separator, and similar $\{0,1\}\cap \Sigma = \emptyset$ are new symbols to write down the binary number, or the unary presentation of $p_i$, indicating which word $u_{p_i}$ is to be repeated. As ${\ensuremath{\operatorname{bin}}}(n_i) \le |Q|$ by the above claim and $m$ is fixed by the problem specification, the length of $w_{code}$ is polynomially bounded, and we use nondeterminism to guess such a code for a synchronizing word.
: For each $q\in Q$ and $u \in \Sigma^*$, one can compute in polynomial time numbers $\ell(q),\tau(q)\leq |Q|$ such that, given some number $x$ in binary, based on $\ell(q),\tau(q)$, one can compute in polynomial time a number $y\le |Q|$ such that $\delta(q,u^x)=\delta(q,u^y)$.
> For each state $q \in Q$ and $u \in \Sigma^*$, we calculate its $u$-*orbit* $\operatorname{\mathrm{Orb}}_{u}(q)$, that is, the set $$\operatorname{\mathrm{Orb}}_u(q)=\{q,\delta(q, u), \delta(q,u^2),\dots, \delta(q, u^\tau), \delta(q, u^{\tau+1}),\dots, \delta(q,u^{\tau+\ell-1})\}$$ such that all states in $\operatorname{\mathrm{Orb}}_u(q)$ are distinct but $\delta(q,u^{\tau+\ell})=\delta(q,u^\tau)$. Let $\tau(q):=\tau$ and $\ell(q):=\ell$ be the lengths of the tail and the cycle, respectively; these are nonnegative integers that do not exceed $|Q|$. Observe that $\operatorname{\mathrm{Orb}}_u(q)$ includes the cycle $\{\delta(q,u^\tau),\dots, \delta(q,u^{\tau+\ell-1})\}$. We can use this information to calculate $\delta(q,u^x)$, given a nonnegative integer $x$ and a state $q\in Q$, as follows: (a) If $x\le\tau(q)$, we can find $\delta(q,u^x)\in \operatorname{\mathrm{Orb}}_\sigma(q)$. (b) If $x>\tau(q)$, then $\delta(q,u^x)$ lies on the cycle. Compute $y:=\tau(q)+(x-\tau(q)) \pmod {\ell(q)}$. Clearly, $\delta(q,u^x)= \delta(q,u^y)\in \operatorname{\mathrm{Orb}}_\sigma(q)$. The crucial observation is that this computation can be done in time polynomial in $|Q|$ and in $|{\ensuremath{\operatorname{bin}}}(x)|$. As a consequence, given $S\subseteq Q$ and $x\geq 0$ (in binary), we can compute $\delta(S,u^x)$ in polynomial time.
The -machine guesses $w_{code}$ part-by-part, keeping track of the set $S$ of active states of $\mathcal A$ and of the current state $p$ of $\mathcal B$. Initially, $S=Q$ and $p=p_0$. For $i \in \{1,\ldots, m\}$, when guessing the number $n_{i}$ in binary, by Claim 1 we guess $\log(n_{i})\leq n$ many bits. By Claim 2, we can update $S:= \delta(S,u_{p_i}^{n_i})$ and $p:=\mu(p,u_{p_{i}}^{n_{i}})$ in polynomial time. After guessing $v_i$, we can simply update $S:= \delta(S,v_i)$ and $p:=\mu(p,v_i)$ by simulating this input, as $|v_i|\leq m=|P|$, which is a constant in our setting. Finally, check if $|S|=1$ and if $p\in F$.
Comparing Theorem \[thm:gen:inNP2\] with Theorem \[thm:gen:inNP\] shows that our generalization allows entire words as a restriction instead of powers of a single letter for languages of the form $L(\mathcal B_{p,\{p\}})$, and these words could be different for each state.
Properties of Polycyclic Automata {#sec:form}
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Here, we look closer at polycyclic automata. We find that every strongly connected component of a polycyclic PDFA essentially consists of a single cycle, i.e, for each strongly connected component $S \subseteq P$ and $p \in S$ we have $|\{ \mu(p, x) \mid x \in \Sigma,\, \mu(p, x) \mbox{ is defined } \} \cap S| \le 1$. Hence, these automata admit a notable simple structure. We then introduce the class of polycyclic languages. In Proposition \[prop:polycyclic\_nea\] we show that these languages could be characterized with accepting nondeterministic automata. This result yields closure under union.
[proposition]{}[form]{} \[prop:form\] Let $\mathcal{B} = (\Sigma, P, \mu, p_0, F)$ be a PDFA. Then every strongly connected component of $\mathcal B$ is a single cycle if and only if $\mathcal B$ is polycyclic.
We transfer our definition from automata to languages.
\[def:polycyclic-lang\] A language $L \subseteq \Sigma^*$ is called *polycyclic*, if there exists a polycylic PDFA accepting it.
Hence, we have the result that the constraint synchronization problem is in ${\textsf{NP}}$ if the constrain language is polycyclic. As we can construct from every PDFA accepting a language a complete DFA accepting the same language by addding a non-final trap state, the next is implied.
\[lem:polycylic\_complete\_dfa\] A language is polycyclic if and only if it is accepted by a complete DFA all of whose strongly connected components form a single cycle.
But, we can also use nondeterministic automata in the definition of polycyclic languages. We need the next lemma to prove this claim.
[lemma]{}[unitarynotunion]{} \[lem:unitary\_not\_union\] Let $\mathcal B = (\Sigma, P, \mu, p_0, F)$ be a PDFA such that for some state $p\in P$ we have $L(\mathcal{B}_{p,\{p\}})\subseteq v^* \cup w^*$. Then $L(\mathcal B_{p, \{p\}}) \subseteq u^*$ for some word $u \in \Sigma^*$.
With Lemma \[lem:unitary\_not\_union\] we can prove the next characterization by nondeterministic automata.
\[prop:polycyclic\_nea\] A language $L \subseteq \Sigma^*$ is polycyclic if and only if it accepted by a nondeterministic automata $\mathcal A = (\Sigma, Q, \delta, s_0, F)$ such that for all states $p\in Q$ we have $L(\mathcal{A}_{p,\{p\}})\subseteq \{u_p\}^*$ for some $u_p \in \Sigma^*$.
If $L \subseteq \Sigma^*$ is polycyclic, we have a polycyclic PDFA accepting it. As nondeterministic automata generalize partial automata, one implication is implied. Conversely, let $\mathcal A = (\Sigma, Q, \delta, s_0, F)$ be a nondeterministic automaton with $L = L(\mathcal A)$ such that for all states $p\in Q$ we have $L(\mathcal{A}_{p,\{p\}})\subseteq \{u_p\}^*$ for some $u_p \in \Sigma^*$. Let $S \subseteq Q$ and $u \in \Sigma^*$ with $$\label{eqn:cycle_power_set}
S = \{ s \mid \exists t \in S : (t, u, s) \in \delta\},$$ i.e., the word $u$ labels a cycle in the power set automaton[^2]. Construct a sequence $s_i \in S$ for $i \in \mathbb N \setminus\{0\}$ by choosing $s_1 \in S$ arbitrary, and then inductively if $s_i$ was chosen, choose some $s_{i+1} \in \{ s \in S \mid (s, u, s_i) \in \delta\}$. Note that $\{ s \in S \mid (s, u, s_i) \in \delta \} \ne \emptyset$ by Equation . As $S$ is finite, we find $i < j$ with $s_i = s_j$. But then $(s_i, u^{j-i}, s_i)$ labels a cycle in $\mathcal A$. So, by assumption, $u^{j-i} \subseteq \{ u_{s_i} \}^*$ for some word $u_{s_i} \in \Sigma^*$ that only depends on $s_i$. By Lemma \[lem:lyndon-schuetzerger\], both $u$ and $u_{s_i}$ are powers of a common word. Let $U = \{ u_s \mid s \in S, L(\mathcal B_{s,\{s\}}) \subseteq \{u_s\}^*, u_s \ne \varepsilon \}$. Then, as $U$ is finite, $V = \{ x \in \Sigma^* \mid u \in U, u \subseteq x^* \}$ is finite. By the above reasoning, for each $u \in \Sigma^*$ which fulfills Equation , we have $u \in \bigcup_{x \in V} x^*$. By Lemma \[lem:unitary\_not\_union\] the set of all these words is contained in a language of the form $y^*$ for some $y \in \Sigma^*$. $\qed$
A useful property, which will be used in Section \[sec:np\_case\] for constructing examples that yield ${\textsf{NP}}$-complete problems, is that the class of polycyclic languages is closed under concatenation. We need the next Lemma to prove this claim, which gives a certain normal form.
[lemma]{}[nocyclestart]{} \[lem:no\_cycle\_start\] Let $L \subseteq \Sigma^*$ be a polycyclic language. Then, there exists an accepting polycyclic PDFA $\mathcal B = (\Sigma, P, \mu, p_0, F)$ such that $p_0$ is not contained in any cycle, i.e., $L(\mathcal B_{p_0,\{p_0\}}) = \{\varepsilon\}$.
Intuitively, for an automaton $\mathcal B = (\Sigma, P, \mu, p_0, F)$ that has the form as stated in Lemma \[lem:no\_cycle\_start\], we can compute its concatenation $L \cdot L(\mathcal B)$ with another regular language $L \subseteq \Sigma^*$ by identifying the start state $p_0$ with every final state of an automaton for $L$.
[proposition]{}[polycyclicconcat]{} \[prop:polycyclic\_concat\] If $U, V \subseteq \Sigma^*$ are polycyclic, then $U\cdot V$ is polycyclic.
We also have further closure properties.
[proposition]{}[polycyclicclosure]{} \[prop:polycyclic\_closure\] The polycyclic languages are closed under the boolean operations and quotients.
Without proof, we note that polycyclic automata are a special case of solvable automata as introduced in [@Rys96]. Solvable automata are constructed out of commutative automata, and here polycyclic automata are constructed out of cycles in the same manner. Without getting to technical, let us note that in abstract algebra and the theory of groups, a polycyclic group is a group constructed out of cyclic groups in the same manner as a solvable group is constructed out of commutative groups [@Robinson:1995]. Hence, the naming supports the analogy to group theory quite well. Also, let us note that polycyclic automata have cycle rank [@Egg63] at most one, hence they have star height at most one. But they are properly contained in the languages of star height one, as shown for example by $(a+b)^*$.
Polynomial Time Solvable Cases {#sec:poly_case}
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[r]{}[0.5]{}
Here, with Proposition \[prop:NP\_in\_P\], we state a sufficient criterion for a polycyclic constraint automaton that gives constrained synchronization problems that are solvable in polynomial time. Please see Figure \[fig:poly\_case\] for an example constraint automaton whose constraint synchronization problem is in ${\textsf{P}}$ according to Proposition \[prop:NP\_in\_P\].
\[prop:NP\_in\_P\] Let $\mathcal{B} = (\Sigma, P, \mu, p_0, F)$ be a polycyclic PDFA. If for any reachable $p \in P$ with $L(\mathcal B_{p, \{p\}}) \ne \{\varepsilon\}$ we have $L(\mathcal B_{p_0, \{p\}}) \subseteq S(L(\mathcal B_{p, \{p\}})$, then the problem $L(\mathcal B)\textsc{-Constr-Sync}$ is solvable in polynomial time.
By Lemma \[lem:power\_of\_up\], we can assume $L(\mathcal{B}_{p,\{p\}}) = \{u_p\}^*$ for some $u_p \ne \varepsilon$ for each $p \in P$ such that $L(\mathcal{B}_{p,\{p\}}) \ne \{\varepsilon\}$. Let $U = \{ u_p \mid L(\mathcal{B}_{p,\{p\}}) = \{u_p\}^* \mbox{ with } u_p \ne \varepsilon \mbox{ for some } p \in P \}$ be all such words. Set $m = |P|$. Every word of length greater than $m-1$ must traverse some cycle. Therefore, any word $w \in L(\mathcal B)$ can be partitioned into at most $2m - 1$ substrings $w = u_{p_1}^{n_1} v_1 \cdots v_{m-1} u_{p_m}^{n_m}$, for some numbers $n_{1}, \ldots, n_{m} \ge 0$, $p_1,\ldots, p_m \in P$ and[^3] $v_i \in F \cup \{\varepsilon\}$ for some finite set of words $F$, such that $|v_i| < |P|$ for all $i \le m$.
We show that by our assumptions we could choose the numbers $n_1, \ldots, n_m$ to be strictly smaller than $|Q|$.
: If for some $i \le m$, $n_{i} \ge |Q|$, then we can replace it by $n_i' = |Q| - 1$, yielding a word $w' \in L(\mathcal B)$ that synchronizes $\mathcal A$.
> Let $j \in \{1,\ldots, m\}$ be arbitrary with $n_j \ge |Q|$ and $u_{p_j} \ne \varepsilon$ (otherwise we have nothing to prove). Set $u = u_{p_1}^{n_1} v_1 u_{p_2}^{n_2} v_2 \cdots u_{p_{j-1}}^{n_{j-1}} v_{j-1}$, and $S = \delta(Q, u)$. By choice of the decomposition of $w$, if $n_j > 0$, we have $\mu(p_0, u) = p_j$ and $L(\mathcal B_{p_j, \{p_j\}}) = \{ u_{p_j} \}^*$. Write $p = p_j$. By assumption $u_p^m = vu$ for some $v \in \Sigma^*$ and $m \ge 0$. Hence, for each $k \in \mathbb N_0$ we have $\delta(S, u_p^{mk}) \subseteq S$ as every word that has $u$ as a suffix maps any state to a state in $S$. Let us assume $m = 1$ in the following argument, as this is a fixed parameter of $L(\mathcal B)\textsc{-Constr-Sync}$ the conclusion would be the same if we replace $u_p$ by $u_p^m$ in the next argument.
>
> First we show $\delta(S, u_p^{|S|}) = \delta(S, u_p^{|S|-1})$. For $q \in S$ we have $\delta(q, u_p^{|S|}) = \delta(\delta(q,u_p), u_p^{|S|-1})$ and as $\delta(q, u_p) \in S$ this gives $\delta(S, u_p^{|S|}) \subseteq \delta(S, u_p^{|S|-1})$. Now let us show the other inclusion $\delta(S, u_p^{|S|-1}) \subseteq \delta(S, u_p^{|S|})$. Let $q \in S$. By the pigeonhole principle $$\delta(q, u_p^{|S|}) \in \{ q, \delta(q, u_p), \ldots, \delta(q, u_p^{|S|-1}) \}.$$ Hence $\delta(q, u_p^{|S|})$ equals $\delta(q, u_p^k)$ for some $0 \le k < |S|$. Choose $a,b \ge 0$ such that $|S| = a(|S| - k) + b$ with $0 \le b < |S| - k$. Note that $\delta(q, u_p^{k + m + a(|S| - k)}) = \delta(q, u_p^{k+m})$ for each $m \ge 0$ as $\delta(q, u_p^{k + |S| - k}) = \delta(q, u_p^{|S|}) = \delta(q, u_p^{k})$. Set $q' = \delta(\delta(q, u_p^{|S|-1}), u_p^{|S| - k - b}).$ By assumption $q' \in S$. Then $$\begin{aligned}
> \delta(q', u_p^{|S|}) & = \delta(q, u_p^{|S|-1 + |S| - k - b + |S|}) \\
> & = \delta(q, u_p^{|S|-1 + |S| - k + a(|S| - k)}) \\
> & = \delta(q, u_p^{|S|-1}).
> \end{aligned}$$ So $\delta(q, u_p^{|S|-1}) \in \delta(S, u_p^{|S|})$. Hence, regarding our original problem, if $n_j \ge |Q| \ge |S|$, we have $\delta(Q, u u_{p_j}^{n_j}) = \delta(Q, u u_{p_j}^{|Q|-1})$, as inductively $\delta(Q, u u_{p_j}^{n_j}) = \delta(S, u_{p_j}^{n_j}) = \delta(S, u_{p_j}^{|S|-1})
> = \delta(S, u_{p_j}^{|Q|-1})$.
So, to find out if we have any synchronizing word in $L(\mathcal B)$, we only have to test the finitely many words $$u_{p_1}^{n_1} v_1 \cdots v_{m-1} u_{p_m}^{n_m}$$ for $u_{p_1}, \ldots, u_{p_m} \in U_p$, $v_1, \ldots, v_{m-1} \in F \cup \{\varepsilon\}$ and $n_1, \ldots, n_m \in \{0,1,\ldots, |Q|-1\}$. As $m = |P|$, $U_p$ and $F$ are fixed, we have to test $O(|Q^m)$ many words. For each test, we have to read in this word from any state, and need to compare the end result. If a unique state results, that this word synchronizes $\mathcal A$, otherwise not. All these operations could be performed in polynomial time with paramter $|Q|$. $\qed$
${\textsf{NP}}$-complete Cases {#sec:np_case}
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In [@DBLP:conf/mfcs/FernauGHHVW19] it was shown that for the constraint language $L = ba^*b$ and for the languages $L_i = (b^*a)^i$ with $i \ge 2$ the corresponding constraint synchronization problems are ${\textsf{NP}}$-complete. All ${\textsf{NP}}$-complete problems with a $3$-state constraint automaton and a binary alphabet where determined in [@DBLP:journals/corr/abs-2005-05907]. Here, with Proposition \[prop:NPc\], we state a general scheme, involving the concatenation operator, to construct ${\textsf{NP}}$-hard problems. As, by Proposition \[prop:polycyclic\_concat\], the polycyclic languages are closed under concatenation. This gives us a method to construct ${\textsf{NP}}$-complete constraint synchronization problems with polycyclic constraint languages.
\[prop:NPc\] Suppose we find $u, v \in \Sigma^*$ such that we can write $
L = u v^* U
$ for some non-empty language $U \subseteq \Sigma^*$ with $$u \notin F(v^*), \quad
v \notin F(U), \quad
P(v^*) \cap U = \emptyset.$$ Then $L\textsc{-Constr-Sync}$ is ${\textsf{NP}}$-hard.
Note that $u\notin F(v^*)$ implies $u \ne \varepsilon$, $v \notin F(U)$ implies $v \ne \varepsilon$ and $P(v^*) \cap U = \emptyset$ with $U \ne \emptyset$ implies $U \cap \Sigma^+ \ne \emptyset$. We show ${\textsf{NP}}$-hardness by reduction from $\textsc{DisjointSetTransporter}$ for unary automata, which is ${\textsf{NP}}$-complete by Proposition \[prop:disjoint\_equivalent\_set\_transporter\] and Proposition \[prop:set\_transporter\_np\_complete\]. Let $(\mathcal A, S, T)$ be an instance of $\textsc{DisjointSetTransporter}$ with unary semi-automaton $\mathcal A = (\{a\}, Q, \delta)$. Write $v^{|u|} = x_1 \cdots x_n$ with $x_i \in \Sigma$ for $i \in \{1,\ldots, n\}$. We construct a new semi-automaton $\mathcal A' = (\Sigma, Q', \delta')$ with $Q' = Q \cup Q_1 \cup \ldots \cup Q_{n-1} \cup \{t\}$, where $Q_i = \{ q_i \mid q \in Q \}$ are disjoint copies of $Q$ and $t$ is a new state that will work as a trap state in $\mathcal A'$. Assume $\varphi_i : Q \to Q_i$ for $i \in \{1,\ldots, n-1\}$ are bijections with $\varphi_i(q) = q_i$. Also, to simplify the formulas, set $Q = Q_0$ and $\varphi_0 : Q \to Q$ the identity map. Next, for $r \in Q'$ and $x \in \Sigma$ we define $$\delta'(r, x) = \left\{\begin{array}{ll}
\varphi_{i+1}(q) & \quad \exists i \in \{0, 1,\ldots, n-2\} : r \in Q_i, r = \varphi_i(q), x = x_{i+1}; \\
\delta(q,a) & \quad r \in Q_{n-1}, r = \varphi_{n-1}(q), x = x_{n}; \\
\hat s & \quad \exists i \in \{0, 1,\ldots, n-1 \} : r \in Q_i, r = \varphi_i(q), q \notin T \cup S, x \ne x_{i+1}; \\
q & \quad \exists i \in \{0, 1,\ldots, n-1 \} : r \in Q_i, r = \varphi_i(q), q \in S, x \ne x_{i+1}; \\
t & \quad \exists i \in \{0, 1,\ldots, n-1 \} : r \in Q_i, r = \varphi_i(q), q \in T, x \ne x_{i+1}; \\
t & \quad r = t.
\end{array}\right.$$ Note that by construction of $\mathcal A'$, we have for $q \in Q \cup Q_1 \cup \ldots \cup Q_{n-1}$ and $w \in \Sigma^*$ $$ \delta(q, w) = t \Leftrightarrow \exists x,y,z \in \Sigma^* : w = xyz, \delta(q, x) \in T, y \notin P(v^{|u|}).$$
1. Suppose we have $a^m$ such that $\delta(S, a^m) \subseteq T$ in $\mathcal A$. Because $u$ is not a factor of $v^{2|u|}$, by construction of $\mathcal A'$, we have $\delta'(Q' \setminus ( T \cup \{t\} ), u) = S$, where $S$ is reached as $|u| \le |v^{|u|}|$. This yields $\delta'(Q \setminus (T \cup \{t\}), ua^m) \subseteq T$. By construction of $\mathcal A'$, $\delta'(T, x) = \{t\}$ for any $x \in U \cap \Sigma^+$, as $x \notin P(v^*)$. Also $\delta'(T, u) = \{t\}$, as $u \ne \varepsilon$ and $u \notin P(v^*)$ by the assumption $u \notin F(v^*)$.
2. Suppose we have $w \in L(\mathcal B)$ that synchronizes $\mathcal A'$. Then, as $t$ is a trap state, $\delta'(Q', w) = \{t\}$. Write $uv^mx$ with $x \in U$. By construction of $\mathcal A'$, we have $\delta'(Q \cup Q_1 \ldots \cup Q_n, u) = S$. Write $m = a|u| + b$ with $0 \le b < |u|$. We argue that we must have $\delta'(S, v^{a|u|}) \subseteq T$. For assume we have $q \in S$ with $\delta'(S, v^{a|u|}) \notin T$, then $\delta'(S, v^{a|u| + b}) \in Q_b$ by construction of $\mathcal A'$. As $S \cap T = \emptyset$, and hence $q \notin T$, by construction of $\mathcal A'$, this gives $\delta'(q, v^m x) \in S \cup Q_1 \cup \ldots \cup Q_{|v|-1}$, as $x$ is not a prefix of $v$ and does not contain $v$ as a factor. More specifically, to go from $q' \in Q_b$ to $Q_{b+|v|}$ or $Q$, in case $b + |v| = n$, we have to read $v$. But $x$ does not contain $v$ as a factor. But then, by construction of $\mathcal A'$, for any $y \in \Sigma^{|v|} \setminus\{v\}$, we have $\delta'(q', y) \in S$. This gives, that if $x = x'x''x'''$ with $|x''| \le |v|$ and $\delta'(q, v^mx')\in S$ we have $\delta'(q, v^mx'x'') \in S \cup Q_1 \cup \ldots \cup Q_{|v|-1}$ as after reading at most $|v|$ symbols of any factor of $x$, starting in a state from $S$, we must return to this state at least once while reading this factor. Note that by the above reasoning we find a prefix $x'$ of $x$ with $|x'| \le |v|$ such that $\delta'(q, v^mx') \in S$ in case $|x| \ge |v|$. If $|x| < |v|$, then either $\delta'(q', x) \in Q_{|b|+|x|}$ or $\delta'(q', x) \in S$. So, in no case could we end up in the state $t$. Hence, we must have have $\delta(q, v^{a|u|}) \in T$ for each $q \in S$.
So, we have a synchronizing word for $\mathcal A'$ from $L(\mathcal B)$ if and only if we can map the set $S$ into $T$ in $\mathcal A$. $\qed$
If $u,v \in \Sigma^*$ with $u \notin F(v^*)$, by choosing $U = \{ w \}$ with $w \notin P(v) \cup \Sigma^* v \Sigma^*$ we get that $uv^*w$ gives an ${\textsf{NP}}$-complete problem. This shows that for example $aa(ba)^*aaa^*a$ yields an ${\textsf{NP}}$-complete problem.
Conclusion {#sec:conclusion}
==========
We introduced the class of polycyclic automata and showed that for polycyclic constraint automata, the constrained synchronization problem is in ${\textsf{NP}}$. For these contraint automata, we have given a sufficient criterion that yields problems in ${\textsf{P}}$, and a criterion that yields problems that are ${\textsf{NP}}$-complete. But, both criteria do not cover all cases. Hence, there are still polycyclic constraint automata left for which we do not know the exact computational complexity in ${\textsf{NP}}$ of the constraint synchronization problem. A dichotomy theorem for our class, i.e, that every problem is either ${\textsf{NP}}$-complete or in ${\textsf{P}}$, would be very interesting. But, much more interesting would be if we could find any ${\textsf{NP}}$-intermediate problems, or at least candidate problems that are neither ${\textsf{NP}}$-complete nor provable in ${\textsf{P}}$. Lastly, we took a closer look at polycyclic automata, determined their form and also gave a characterization in terms of nondeterministic automata. We also introduced polycyclic languages and proved basic closure properties for this class.
[**Acknowledgement**. [ I thank Prof. Dr. Mikhail V. Volkov for suggesting the problem of constrained synchronization during the workshop ‘Modern Complexity Aspects of Formal Languages’ that took place at Trier University 11.–15. February, 2019. The financial support of this workshop by the DFG-funded project FE560/9-1 is gratefully acknowledged.]{} ]{}
Appendix
========
[^1]: We added the empty word so that we can assume we have a partition into exactly $m$ such substrings.
[^2]: See [@HopMotUll2001] for the power set construction for conversion of a nondeterministic automaton into an equivalent deterministic automaton.
[^3]: We added the empty word so that we can assume we have a partition into exactly $m$ such substrings.
|
Q:
Handling asynchronous task completion when Activity is in or out of focus
I have the following Android scenario:
my activity launches an asynchronous task to perform background activity (AsyncTask class), and then searches for accounts. If no account is present, UI to create a new account is invoked via the AbstractAuthenticator while the previous AsyncTask still runs.
The task will eventually complete and run onPostExecute on the main thread of my previous activity.
My problem is the following: if the task completes when my activity is on top, an AlertDialog is correctly displayed; instead, if the task completes while the user is entering username/password for the new account, I get an InvocationTargetException when trying to show the alert.
Actually, the AlertDialog must be shown only when activity is active. I can modify my code and take advantage of onStart method with the following pseudo code:
public class MyActivity {
private boolean displayAlertOnStart = false;
protected void onStart(){
super.onStart();
if (displayAlertOnStart){
displayAlert();
displayAlertOnStart = false;
}
}
private void handleTaskCallback() {
if (activityIsOnTop()) //How do I get this???
displayAlert();
else
displayAlertOnStart = true;
}
I would like to programmatically know if the current activity is "on top" or another activity is foreground. This way I'll do my logic when running the onStart the next time.
Any other (and simpler) solutions welcome. SDK 7.
Thank you
A:
Why can't you use a state variable in the onStart() and onStop() method to maintain the state of the Activity?
public class MyActivity {
private boolean displayAlertOnStart = false;
private boolean activityInAStartedState = false;
protected void onStart(){
super.onStart();
activityInAStartedState = true;
if (displayAlertOnStart){
displayAlert();
displayAlertOnStart = false;
}
}
public void onStop(){
super.onStop();
activityInAStartedState = false;
}
private void handleTaskCallback() {
if (activityInAStartedState)
displayAlert();
else
displayAlertOnStart = true;
}
}
|
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly relates to a semiconductor device including bit lines that are hierarchically structured.
2. Description of Related Art
Many of semiconductor memory devices as represented by a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) have a plurality of word lines extending in a row direction and a plurality of bit lines extending in a column direction. A plurality of memory cells are arranged at intersections between the word lines and the bit lines. When one of the word lines is selected, memory cells allocated to the selected word line are electrically connected to corresponding bit lines and then data held in the memory cells are readout to the bit lines. The read data are amplified by sense amplifiers connected to the bit lines, respectively.
However, with the configuration mentioned above, one sense amplifier needs to be provided for each bit line or each pair of bit lines and thus many sense amplifiers are required. As a method to solve this problem, a semiconductor memory device using bit lines that are hierarchically structured is proposed (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2009-271985).
The semiconductor memory device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2009-271985 includes local bit lines each connected to memory cells and global bit lines each connected to a sense amplifier. A plurality of local bit lines are allocated to one global bit line to reduce the number of required sense amplifiers.
However, in the semiconductor memory device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2009-271985, switch circuits that connect the global bit line and the local bit line are configured to be turned on simultaneously with activation of a corresponding word line. As a result, the local bit line is connected to the global bit line before data is sufficiently read out to the local bit line. Thus, for example, when the global bit line receives noise from another adjacent global bit line, data is adversely inverted. Such a problem occurs not only in semiconductor memory devices such as a DRAM but also in all semiconductor devices including bit lines that are hierarchically structured. |
Comments on: Today is a day we should all root for Frank McCourthttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2011/08/04/today-is-a-day-we-should-all-root-for-frank-mccourt/
Baseball. Baseball. And then a bit more baseball.Sat, 10 Dec 2016 01:07:23 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.com/By: Jeff M.http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2011/08/04/today-is-a-day-we-should-all-root-for-frank-mccourt/#comment-174812
Fri, 05 Aug 2011 09:04:44 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=76622#comment-174812I’m with ya, Gator. McCourt going down for this would correct some karmic imbalances.
]]>By: Jeff M.http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2011/08/04/today-is-a-day-we-should-all-root-for-frank-mccourt/#comment-174811
Fri, 05 Aug 2011 08:58:01 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=76622#comment-174811“We should all root for Frank McCourt.”
Oooooh. And *that’s* where you lost me. That’s really not gonna happen.
]]>By: IdahoMarinerhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2011/08/04/today-is-a-day-we-should-all-root-for-frank-mccourt/#comment-174443
Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:22:36 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=76622#comment-174443I’m with you on the umbrage over the lawyer’s screw-up — but that comes from McCourt having a knack for choosing to associate with people just as lazy and sloppy and always-looking-for-the-easy-cash as himself.
So, as a lawyer, I say embarrass those guys, take their cash and give it to the family of Brian Stow (if there were some legal way to do it), but Frank … nope, can’t root for him. Against his lawyers, but not for him.
]]>By: Old Gatorhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2011/08/04/today-is-a-day-we-should-all-root-for-frank-mccourt/#comment-174395
Thu, 04 Aug 2011 15:32:20 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=76622#comment-174395Can’t do it, Craig. Frank McCourt brings out the pragmatist in me. If he loses this round, he’s broker than ever, he probably has to declare personal bankruptcy due to the Fox loan, Fox (i.e. Rupert Murdoch) gets screwed, and the day the Dodgers have to be sold draws closer by an exponential increment. That’s a lot of moral victories for millions of Dodger fans and victims of TPN’s blowhard pundits and misinformation shovelling, stacked up against one measley moral victory against a bungling law firm.
And remember the words of the immortal (though dead) George Bernard Shaw: “All professions are conspiracies against the laity.” A “moral victory” over one law firm is as meaningful as a piss in the ocean.
]]>By: koufaxmitzvahhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2011/08/04/today-is-a-day-we-should-all-root-for-frank-mccourt/#comment-174348
Thu, 04 Aug 2011 15:02:13 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=76622#comment-174348I think the only way I root for Frank McCourt is if he’s a secret member of Seal Team 6.
]]>By: jimbo1949http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2011/08/04/today-is-a-day-we-should-all-root-for-frank-mccourt/#comment-174341
Thu, 04 Aug 2011 14:58:38 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=76622#comment-174341He said we should, he didn’t say we must.
]]>By: CJhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2011/08/04/today-is-a-day-we-should-all-root-for-frank-mccourt/#comment-174325
Thu, 04 Aug 2011 14:40:16 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=76622#comment-174325“Today is a day we should all root for Frank McCourt”
Do we really have to?
]]>By: dlevalleyhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2011/08/04/today-is-a-day-we-should-all-root-for-frank-mccourt/#comment-174318
Thu, 04 Aug 2011 14:35:17 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=76622#comment-174318I’m just as bent out of shape about the malpractice thing as you Craig, but…
This guy doesn’t get any breaks. When you screw people over for a career and produce nothing of value with your entire life, you get no sympathy from the masses when you get wronged. With how much time Frank has spent litigating his way to false riches, something like this is bound to happen.
Yes, the law firm should be punished. No, it’s not fair that Frank has to fight Jamie for ownership of the Dodgers. Does Frank deserve every bad break from here on out? Yes. Yes he does.
]]>By: FChttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2011/08/04/today-is-a-day-we-should-all-root-for-frank-mccourt/#comment-174309
Thu, 04 Aug 2011 14:25:41 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=76622#comment-174309I dunno… McCourt is a scumbag, but anytime we can screw lawyers for being paid ridiculously large sums of money and STILL managing to screw up because they can’t get a piece of paper in the right place? Not even McCourt deserves that kind of fate… he just deserves being fed … to a pair of Rottweilers… that have gone hungry… for a week…
]]>By: cur68http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2011/08/04/today-is-a-day-we-should-all-root-for-frank-mccourt/#comment-174301
Thu, 04 Aug 2011 14:19:38 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=76622#comment-174301Yeah, right. Go Frank…go get cleaned out by your old firm, that’s what. Can’t do it Craig. Just can’t root for this guy. This is like cosmic justice for his douchebaggery. Finally, it seems someone screwed over Frank and not the other way around. Is this wrong of me, to support injustice? Yeah, probably, but umpires routinely issue ‘make-up’ calls. This is justice’s make-up call. I applaud justice’s make-up call and would like to ask for more of the same for McBroke & Co.
]]> |
The United States is now holding the results of four generations exposed to agricultural and industrial chemicals. Organic farming is a method of crop and livestock production that involves much more than choosing not to use pesticides, fertilizers, GMO’s, antibiotics, and growth hormones. Organic farming is a better way of farming. Organic farming saves energy, protects the environment, leaves fewer residues in food, and it can even slow down global warming.
When farmers use chemicals on their crops it can affect the environment around us. When it rains the water from the fields goes to a river or creek that animals drink out of. When the chemicals run into water source that animals drink out of they can get sick from consuming it and the fish in the water can also die. It also flows down to the Gulf of Mexico which has a dead zone now larger than 22,000 square kilometers, which is an area larger than New Jersey. Studies show that infants are exposed to hundreds of harmful chemicals in utero.
Recently it was proved that If you have an organic strawberry and a non organic strawberry, you will see that the organic one tastes a lot better. Researchers at Washington State University proved this as a fact when they had lab taste trials that concluded the organic berry was more sweet and tasted better overall. Research also verifies that organic produce is lower in nitrates and higher in antioxidants than conventional food. Polyphenols and antioxidants protect humans and plants. Pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides actually block a plant’s ability to have those important compounds. Salicylic acid is another important compound of a plant. Salicylic acid helps with anti-inflammatory, rheumatism, hardening of the arteries, colon cancer, and it reduces the risk of heart attacks. Organic foods have a way higher percentage of good salicylic acid than conventional foods do.
More than 90% of the pesticides Americans consume are found in the fat and tissue in our meat and dairy products. A lot of pesticide intake is coming from meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products. Millions and millions of antibiotics are used in animal feed every year, and these are passed into the food that we eat. These antibiotics and growth hormones can lead to bad things for us. It can lead to growth of tumors, increased risk of cancer, and genetic problems. Hormones in milk have been directly linked to cancer, especially in women.
People argue that organic food has just as much nutrients as non organic. Which is true but also not true. The nutrients we see in non organic foods aren’t real. They still get your body everything it needs but they aren’t naturally put in your fruit. Organic produce is all natural and the nutrients in them are so much better for your body. Organic foods contain a higher concentration of antioxidants while conventional foods are containing a higher level of the toxic metal cadmium. Cadmium is a toxic chemical found in cigarette smoke.
Organic food is the way to go. We would be much healthier as a country and much safer. There would be a less risk of all these diseases coming from non-organic food. Why would you want to put harmful things into your body that could end up harming you or your future children. Agriculture chemicals, pesticides and fertilizers are contaminating the environment. They poison our water supply and they destroy the value of our fertile farm land. A study was done by David Pimentel, a Cornell entomologist, and he concluded that only an estimated 0.1% of pesticides actually reach the pests. That means that 99.% of the pesticides are left to impact the environment, and not in a good way. Help out the environment and your body, and eat organic. |
Q:
Unfamiliar with notation : $S \subseteq [d]$ where {$d, w_{1},w_{2}, ..., w_{d}$}
What does $S \subseteq [d]$ mean in the context of {$d, w_{1},w_{2}, ..., w_{d}$}? I don't get what [d] stands for.
A:
Almost certainly $[d]=\{1,2,\ldots,d\}$; this is a fairly standard notation. Check to see whether the context shows that $S$ is being used as a set of subscripts on the $w$’s.
|
Q:
awk/sed/grep: Printing all lines matching a string and all lines with tabs after these lines
I want to extract relevant data of an http thread which has been started with a specific UUID from a log file.
Example log:
2018-09-26 06:34:24,815 INFO [com.xxx.xxx.xxx] (http-threads-threads - 73244) UUID: 111-222-333-444-555
2018-09-26 06:34:25,224 WARN [com.xxx.xxx.xxx] (http-threads-threads - 74391) Some log message
2018-09-26 06:34:26,782 INFO [com.xxx.xxx.xxx] (http-threads-threads - 74399) Some log message
2018-09-26 06:34:26,945 ERROR [com.xxx.xxx.xxx] (http-threads-threads - 73244) Some exception message of the right thread
at com.xxx.xxx.xxx(someclass.java:114) [somejar.jar:1.0.0]
at com.xxx.xxx.xxx(someclass.java:65) [somejar.jar:1.0.0]
at com.xxx.xxx.xxx(someclass.java:85) [classes:]
2018-09-26 06:34:26,950 ERROR [com.xxx.xxx.xxx] (http-threads-threads - 74256) Unauthorized: com.xxx.xxx.xxx: Unauthorized
at com.xxx.xxx.xxx(someclass.java:39) [somejar.jar:1.0.0]
at com.xxx.xxx.xxx(someclass.java:49) [somejar.jar:1.0.0]
at com.xxx.xxx.xxx(someclass.java:45) [somejar.jar:1.0.0]
2018-09-26 06:34:26,952 INFO [com.xxx.xxx.xxx] (http-threads-threads - 74395) Some log message
2018-09-26 06:34:27,014 WARN [com.xxx.xxx.xxx] (http-threads-threads - 73244) Some log message of the right thread
2018-09-26 06:34:27,530 INFO [com.xxx.xxx.xxx] (http-threads-threads - 74365) Some log message
I can already search for the UUID and extract the thread number using grep and BASH_REMATCH. Knowing the thread number I can search for "http-threads-threads - 73244".
Now I want to print all lines with that string and any eventual exception (lines with tabs) after these lines.
I want an output like this:
2018-09-26 06:34:24,815 INFO [com.xxx.xxx.xxx] (http-threads-threads - 73244) UUID: 111-222-333-444-555
2018-09-26 06:34:26,945 ERROR [com.xxx.xxx.xxx] (http-threads-threads - 73244) Some exception message of the right thread
at com.xxx.xxx.xxx(someclass.java:114) [somejar.jar:1.0.0]
at com.xxx.xxx.xxx(someclass.java:65) [somejar.jar:1.0.0]
at com.xxx.xxx.xxx(someclass.java:85) [classes:]
2018-09-26 06:34:27,014 WARN [com.xxx.xxx.xxx] (http-threads-threads - 73244) Some log message of the right thread
I can't use grep -A 3 because the amount of tabbed lines after the match is variable.
Using awk '/http\-threads\-threads \- 73244/{print $0; getline}/\tat/{print $0}' log.log also prints other tabbed lines.
Using awk '/http\-threads\-threads \- 73244/{a=1;print}/(2[0-9][0-9][0-9]\-[0-1]\-[0-9])/{a=0}' log.log doesn't print the tabbed lines at all.
A perfect solution would also get rid of the extra "grep" and "BASH_REMATCH" before and use the UUID, but I would be totally fine with a solution which takes the thread number as "input".
Does anyone have a solution for this?
A:
The following AWK script matches the UUID and outputs the corresponding lines you’re interested in:
#!/usr/bin/awk -f
/UUID: 111-222-333-444-555/ {
tid = substr($7, 1, length($7) - 1)
}
/^[^\t].*http-threads-threads/ {
if (substr($7, 1, length($7) -1) == tid) {
matched = 1
print
} else {
matched = 0
}
}
/^\t/ && matched
The first block matches the UUID and stores the corresponding thread identifier.
The second block matches lines not starting with tabs, containing “http-threads-threads”. If the seventh field matches the thread identifier, the script notes that we’re in a matching block, and prints the current line; otherwise, the script notes that we’re not in a matching block.
The third block matches lines starting with tabs, when we’re in a matching block, and prints them (printing the current line is the default action).
|
Persistence of efficacy of three antiemetic regimens and prognostic factors in patients undergoing moderately emetogenic chemotherapy. Italian Group for Antiemetic Research.
To evaluate antiemetic efficacy and tolerability of granisetron, dexamethasone, and their combination over repeated courses of moderately emetogenic chemotherapy, and the influence of the prognostic factors on occurrence of nausea and vomiting. Four hundred twenty-eight consecutive cancer patients were entered onto a multicenter, randomized, double-blind study to compare granisetron 3 mg intravenously, dexamethasone 8 mg intravenously, and 4 mg orally every 6 hours for four doses, or the combination of dexamethasone plus granisetron at the same doses, administered for three consecutive cycles. Occurrence of nausea, retching, and vomiting was monitored for 24 hours after chemotherapy administration by a diary card. Three hundred ninety-eight patients were assessable for clinical efficacy at the first cycle, 354 were assessable at the second cycle, and 322 were assessable at the third cycle of chemotherapy. Dexamethasone plus granisetron induced significantly greater complete protection from vomiting, nausea, and both nausea and vomiting than granisetron alone in all three cycles. With respect to dexamethasone alone, complete protection from vomiting was significantly greater at the first and second cycle, and complete protection from nausea and from both nausea and vomiting only at the first cycle. Complete protection did not differ significantly among the three cycles in patients receiving dexamethasone plus granisetron or dexamethasone alone, whereas it decreased significantly, at least for vomiting, in patients receiving granisetron alone. Protection obtained in the previous cycle of chemotherapy was the most important prognostic factor in the occurrence of nausea and vomiting. The combination of dexamethasone plus granisetron offers the best antiemetic protection because of its greater efficacy with respect to the other two regimens at first cycle, and because its activity is maintained in the subsequent cycles of chemotherapy. |
Q:
How to program for Windows in Ubuntu?
Is there anyway to create (C++ or C#) windows console applications inside Ubuntu's IDE (e.g Anjuta) and compile it for Windows?
A:
You want to do cross-compiling, which is a way to compile code for platforms other than the one your on, especially when the processor is completely different. Basically you need to install all the headers for your target (i.e. windows) and then tell the compiler it's cross-compiling so it won't do some of the system checks and instead will point to non-standard directories.
Depending on the language you might find it useful to do a search or question specifically, or if you're doing basic c you can use MinGW tools and the same sort of linux based compile tools that use gcc:
sudo apt-get install gcc-mingw32
There is a good guide for qt/win32 cross compiling using MinGW tools.
A:
You should have a look at MingW. It provides a gcc-compatible compiler for windows.
There is a cross-platform version that you can use from Linux, to generate Windows binaries. You can install it with synaptic, or by running:
sudo apt-get install gcc-mingw32
Based on that, and with using the usual 'make' command, you can create programs for windows.
Then any IDE that allows you to use make and gcc can use this compiler.
For instance, here is how to do that from the Code::Blocks IDE.
A:
The other answers are correct for C/C++ code; you'll need to get a cross-compiler.
For C# code, you can just use Monodevelop , as Mono's compiler produces the same type of bytecode and executable format as the .NET compiler (and visa versa). Apps you build with Mono will run unmodified on Windows machines as long as you stay within the standard .NET Base Class Libraries or bundle any extra library you use with your app.
|
Q:
Asymptotic of $ \sum_{r=1}^{k} \frac1{r^{3/2}}$ - Generalized Harmonic Number
What is the asymptotic approximation of the following generalized Harmonic number as $k \to \infty$ ?
$$H(1.5,k) = \sum_{r=1}^{r=k} \frac{1}{r^{1.5}}$$
(there is a similar question posted on MSE but there is a wrong comment bellow which refers the reader to wolfram alpha, the comment is wrong since the notation used on wolfram alpha is different from what the questioner used).
A:
Hint. You may express you sum in terms of the Hurwitz zeta function:
$$
\sum_1^k\frac{1}{r^{3/2}}=\zeta(3/2)-\zeta(3/2,k+1)
$$ and the asymptotic behavior, as $k \to \infty$, is given by
$$
\sum_1^k\frac{1}{r^{3/2}}= \zeta(3/2)-\frac{2}{\sqrt{k+1}}-\frac12 \frac1{(k+1)^{3/2}}+\mathcal{O}\left( \frac1{k^{5/2}}\right)
$$
(see the link above). You would obtain the same result with the Euler-Maclaurin formula.
A:
There is an asymptotic Euler-Maclaurin expansion for generalized harmonic numbers:
$$\zeta(s)\sim H_{N,s}+N^{-s}\sum_{k\,\ge-1}\frac{B_{k+1}}{(k+1)!}\frac{s^{(k)}}{N^k} \quad \textrm{as }~N\to\infty$$
The $B_{k+1}$s are the Bernoulli numbers with $B_1:=+\frac{1}{2}$ and the $s^{(k)}=s(s+1)\cdots(s+(k-1))$ are rising factorials. One may of course isolate the $H_{N,s}$ term for an asymptotic with it instead.
Note $H_{N,s}:=\displaystyle\sum_{k=1}^N k^{-s}$ and $s\in\Bbb C\setminus\{1\}$. Source: e.g. the first equation here.
|
Perforation of the colon in a 15-year-old girl with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome type IV.
A 15-year-old girl presented with severe fecal peritonitis due to a large spontaneous colonic perforation. The sigmoid colon was the site of a cluster of white serosal lesions with omental adhesions, of an appearance identical to that of the edges of the perforation. Her father had died at 30 years of age of spontaneous rupture of an iliac artery aneurysm, preceded by rupture of a splenic artery aneurysm and a spontaneous carotid-cavernous fistula. The clinical diagnosis of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome type IV was made, and confirmed by demonstrating that the patient's cultured fibroblasts are not producing or secreting type III collagen. Spontaneous perforation of the colon is a well-described complication of this syndrome, with a high incidence of recurrence. We recommend total abdominal colectomy to minimize the latter possibility. |
FREE SNAP WALLET
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Poppers can share your passions in life and we offer the largest collection in the country. We have 1100 different designs and all can fit into any other companies Snap Jewelry. We all create different designs on standard 18mm and 12mm snaps, 12mm is our Mini Collection and 18mm is our standard. |
// Copyright 2017-2018 Todd Fleming
//
// Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
// copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"),
// to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation
// the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
// and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
// Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
//
// The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
// all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
//
// THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
// IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
// FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
// AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
// LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
// FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER
// DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
#include "wasm-tools.h"
using namespace std;
using namespace WasmTools;
int main(int argc, const char* argv[]) {
try {
Linked linked;
for (int i = 2; i < argc; ++i) {
if (debug_read)
printf("%d/%d\n", i, argc - 1);
auto module = make_unique<Module>();
module->filename = argv[i];
module->binary = File{argv[i], "rb"}.read();
try {
read_module(*module);
} catch (exception& e) {
throw std::runtime_error(argv[i] + ": "s + e.what());
}
linked.modules.push_back(move(module));
}
link(linked);
File{argv[1], "wb"}.write(linked.binary);
} catch (exception& e) {
printf("error: %s\n", e.what());
return 1;
}
return 0;
}
|
By Netanel Miles-Yépez
By the time I was thirteen, I had become deathly afraid of speaking in public. I really don’t know why I was so afraid. Before that, I'm sure I had fairly ordinary fears about it; though I was able to do it, and was even a little proud of the ability. But now, the very thought of it was enough to cause a panic attack. My heart would beat wildly in my chest. I would break out in a cold sweat and become dizzy. My anxiety was so intense, I didn’t know if I would survive it. I felt as if I might collapse or go entirely blank, which seemed equally terrible. And what would happen then? Death? Derision? I couldn’t think beyond the fear.
Looking back, I wonder if the biological changes of puberty had somehow catalyzed an earlier trauma and caused me to shy away from attention. Whatever the cause, I had a serious problem and soon began making the usual excuses about ‘forgetting’ to do my assignments at school. I skipped classes for days at a time so that it didn’t look as if I was only missing the ones when I was required to read or give a presentation. Not surprisingly, my grades dropped. I had always been quiet, and wasn’t generally considered very smart, so no one seemed to think it a cause for serious concern.
Once, in tenth grade, I had an English teacher who was kind and encouraging, and I thought I might try to face-up to the situation. Part of me really wanted someone to recognize that I wasn’t as dumb and as timid as people thought. We were asked to memorize a short passage from a book or a play and to recite it for the class. I was beginning to read Shakespeare then, so I decided to memorize a monologue from his Julius Caesar, part of which I can still recite. Looking at it now, it's interesting how often the word ‘fear’ is mentioned in that particular monologue. “I rather tell thee what is to be fear’d than what I fear.” Maybe I wished that I could speak so openly of my own fears. I certainly hoped that I would give this speech and be rid of them.
The night before, I rehearsed every word perfectly and was amazed at what I understood and how I could evoke the drama in the words. I felt a momentary sense of triumph . . . Then, almost immediately, I was seized with terror. A fear of failure gripped my heart and I knew I would never do it. In despair, I punched a hole in my bedroom wall and slumped to the floor, sobbing. The next day, I pretended that I hadn’t bothered to do the assignment and accepted the failing grade as if it were unimportant to me. Needless to say, I barely graduated high school.
Although I enrolled in community college after graduation, I quickly withdrew after just a few classes. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, and there really wasn’t any money for it. So I got a job in a bookstore and began to spend all my free time reading. After a few years, it became clear that I wanted to study religion, and I now had more than one reason to go back to school. I had fallen in love, and my fiancée was about to transfer to the university. So we got married and I enrolled in a community college in the same city. But I continued to avoid public speaking. Throughout my time in community college, and later at the university, I managed to keep my head down and avoid talking. My grades were good, but I still trembled at the thought of being called upon in class, or even having to make a comment on anything. It wasn’t until grad school that things began to change.
The Naropa Process
In 1998, I applied to enter a master's program at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, where I knew it wouldn’t be easy to hide my fear any longer. The program description stressed “engagement” and a “process-orientation” that let me know there would be a lot of talking. Nevertheless, I was determined to go there. I decided to take it as a challenge, though I’m pretty sure, somewhere in the back of my mind, I probably thought that I might just be wily enough to avoid any actual “processing” out loud. If I actually thought that, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
During the two-day orientation, there was a luncheon at which we introduced ourselves to the people at our table, then a support group meeting of 7-10 individuals from the incoming class to which we had to introduce ourselves at length again, and then a meeting of 20 or so new students in the major, at which we had to talk about what had brought us to Naropa. Somehow, I got through all of this tolerably well, and was just beginning to relax a little when I entered Shambhala Hall for a last session with all the incoming students. We all sat down in a large circle, perhaps a 100 or more of us. Then a microphone was brought out and handed to a student directly across from me in the circle. Immediately, I felt the panic set-in. We were asked to say a few words about what we hoped to take away from our experience at Naropa.
The long semi-circular journey of the microphone to place where I was sitting felt like an eternity in hell. Desperately, I tried to think of what I might say, but nothing came. Finally, as the microphone made its way to the person sitting immediately to my right, a voice suddenly whispered inside—Tell the truth. It was clear that personal disclosures were honored at Naropa, and although I wasn’t terribly comfortable with the idea, I decided to ‘out myself.’ The microphone was passed to me. Nervously, I took it and looked around at the blank faces staring at me. Then, somewhat tremulously, I said: “I have to admit . . . this situation terrifies me. I’ve always been afraid of speaking in public; but this is what I’ve come here for—to challenge myself, and to explore new territory. I look forward to doing that with all of you.”
Almost immediately, I felt an up-swell of support from everyone in the room. A wave of compassion rolled over me. It had worked. By admitting my fear, I had bypassed all the judgments that might be made about my obvious nervousness (especially if I had pretended it didn’t exist and stuttered my way through a lame introduction). It was my first real success and was followed by many smaller ones in the days to come. Naropa simply isn’t a place where you can avoid speaking up. In one venue or another, you are going to have to talk. Gradually, I got somewhat used to it. At first, I mentioned my problem whenever I had to speak in class; but it wasn’t long before I was able give up that particular crutch as well. It just wasn’t necessary anymore.
As graduation approached, just under two years later, I was asked to give a guest lecture in another department. It was an Art History class focusing on South Asian Art. As I was then considered a minor authority on Hindu iconography, I was asked to give a talk to the students. Immediately, the fears came up again and I hesitated. I was fairly certain I could do it, but it was a new situation for me and I was afraid. Finally, I agreed, and a week later found myself sitting on a stool and giving an hour and a half talk. The students seemed interested and I left relieved. What I didn’t know then was that just a few days later, I would face a much more difficult test. In fact, it was quite literally a test. It was my last exam at Naropa.
Netanel Miles-Yépez with with Karma Lhuendup at the Naropa Institute in 1999 in Judith Simmer-Brown's Vajrayana Texts Seminar.
The Warrior Exam
Now, if you’ve never heard of Naropa, then you need to know something about its founder and how things work there. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche (1939-1987) was one of the earliest and most significant Tibetan Buddhist masters to teach Buddhism in America. He was also one of the most radical. Not content with simply transplanting Tibetan Buddhist cultural and religious forms in American soil, he actually wanted to create a new fusion of East and West, blending the best aspects of education in each. Thus he founded the Naropa Institute in 1974 which eventually became the first accredited Buddhist-inspired academic institution in the United States.
At Naropa, you could find a recognizable version of university academics, but often presented in a different context. Instead of sitting in rows of desks or at tables, we sat in circles—sometimes on chairs, sometimes on cushions—and began each class with a respectful bow toward the center of the circle. We also studied different academic subjects, some of them represented perhaps for the first time in the West. We studied Buddhist texts and philosophical schools, and even had a class called “Meditation Practicum.” And in some of these classes, we were required to take what were called, “warrior exams.”
The warrior exam is based on the Tibetan Buddhist debate tradition which resembles a kind of ritualized intellectual combat. In it, the ‘defender’ sits amid a circle of Buddhist monks or nuns and fields questions from an intellectual ‘challenger’ or attacker standing before him or her. Each question or 'attack' is accompanied by gestures that suggest the stringing of a bow and the shooting of an arrow. The defender only departs the field of combat when the attacker catches the defender in a contradiction, a stalemate is declared, or the attacker is sufficiently satisfied with the answer. From this tradition, Chogyam Trungpa developed the warrior exam, believing that there was something in it that might evoke the deepest ‘warrior’ qualities of the person being questioned. He also saw it as a container in which a psychological transformation might be accomplished. That is to say, it was meant to be a place for a person to face their fears.
After almost two years at Naropa, I had been through a number of warrior exams (in fairly intimate classroom settings), and no longer had much fear of them. In fact, I was becoming so comfortable with them by the time I graduated that I barely gave them a second thought. So as I entered the little cottage classroom for my final warrior exam on my last day at Naropa, I was unconcerned.
We had been given the questions to review the week before. This is usually a sheet of 10 to 15 two-part questions, some of which are fairly simple, and some quite difficult. Since you don’t know which question you will get, you have to study for all of them and prepare oral answers for each. Well, I had glanced at the questions when I got them, and seeing that I knew the answers, never thought to look at them again. It was not a particularly difficult class and I thought it would be a breeze.
During a Naropa warrior exam, the class sits on the floor in a circle, often with each individual on a Japanese meditation cushion called a zafu which is placed on a larger flat cushion called a zabuton. In the center of the circle are two sets of cushions facing one another with two bowls between them. In one bowl are folded slips of paper on which are written the names of all the students. In the other bowl are the questions. First, the name of a questioner is selected, then the questioner draws the name of a person to be examined. The examinee then selects a question from the other bowl. If he or she is happy with that question, they will then hand it to the questioner so that it may be read aloud to the class. If for some reason they would prefer to answer a different question, they may reach into the bowl again. However, this question must be answered. After it is read aloud, the examinee answers all parts of the question to the best of their ability with as much detail as possible. When they are finished, the questioner may ask a follow-up question or may signal their satisfaction with the answer. Then, the instructor or other students may ask their own questions until they too are satisfied with the examinee’s understanding. If they are, the examination is over and the two persons in the center bow to one another.
After a couple of rounds like this, my name is selected from the bowl. I step into the circle and sit down opposite my questioner. We bow to one another and I calmly reach into the bowl for my question. I pull out a little white strip of paper, unfold it, and to my surprise . . . cannot think of the answer. No matter, I simply put it aside and draw another question. I unfold the new slip of paper, and to my horror . . . find that I cannot think of the answer to this question either! I can feel the blood rushing into my face and the beginnings of moisture on my forehead. I look down for a moment and then hand the paper resignedly to my questioner who reads the question out loud. There is a moment of silence before I say, “I don’t know.” I can see the surprised looks on the faces of my classmates. By this time, I had acquired a reputation for being one of the more ‘bookish’ persons at Naropa and was commonly thought to ‘have all the answers.’ But in this moment, I have none, and I actually see my questioner’s mouth drop open a little when I say it.
Feeling the panic rising, I make a decision. Inside, I know I have the answers to these questions; I just can’t seem to access them. I think to myself, I’m not going to fail this exam just because I’m having a memory lapse!I’m determined to give some kind of an answer. Into the already tense silence, I speak up: “I honestly can’t think of the answer. I know it’s in me somewhere; I’m just drawing a complete blank. So . . . I want to ask a favor . . . If you’ll hang in there with me for a little while, I want to try and talk my way through the question until I can find the answer.” I look at my questioner. Unsure of what to do, she looks at the instructor who nods his assent.
Making myself as calm as possible, I say, “Please read me the question again.” She reads it again and I repeat the first part aloud. Then I start to take all the words apart, thinking out loud and passing through all the Buddhist concepts to which this might refer, giving brief definitions of each and dismissing them one by one. Then I begin to look at how I might answer the question without reference to Buddhism or the specific text to which the question refers. Still, I haven’t got it yet. I’m missing something. I ask my questioner to read the second part of the question. I listen intently and go through the same long process. Then, suddenly, everything I had temporarily forgotten floods back into my mind and I can feel my face lighting-up. Everyone knows I have it now. The relief in the room is palpable. I build on my earlier explorations and give the most thorough answer I can possibly give. I explore parallel concepts, give the arguments for and against the position and paraphrase the words of the text . . . For a moment, I even consider giving the exact location of the answers in the text, but figure that this would be showing off. But after faltering so badly in the beginning, I don’t want to leave even the slightest doubt that I know and understand the answer thoroughly.
When I finish, I look at my questioner. She says with a smile, “I’m satisfied.” I then look to the instructor and my classmates who all nod their satisfaction. Then someone begins to clap and the others join in. I bow to my questioner and take her place as questioner.
In that moment, I knew that a significant chapter in my life had come to a close. This was the situation I had always feared, that I would come up short, panic, go blank and prove that all my personal fears about myself were true. It had actually happened. But something else had happened that I had not anticipated.I had lived. I didn’t collapse, and the world didn’t stop. I had forgotten what I knew, certainly! But I was still there and able to make decisions about what to do next and how I felt about what was happening to me. That was the power I had left. I realized then that we don’t often look beyond the terrible moments we fear. We almost never ask ourselves, “What is on the ‘other side’ of this fear?” We tend to think that this is where the story ends. ‘Fade to black.’ But my story hadn’t ended. I was still there and could act on my own behalf. In many ways, I was now free. My fears were realized and my world had not come to an end. It isn’t pretty, but when the worst has already happened to you, what more is there to fear? So I asked myself, “What comes next?” And the only answer I wanted to give was, “No more running.”
In the years that followed, I was asked more and more frequently to give talks on particular aspects of religion to local groups or at different colleges. And in doing so, I discovered that I had something of a vocation as a teacher. Still, there were many times when the old panic got hold of me just before a talk and I would have to remember that I had already lived through the worst. On other occasions, I had to deal with different permutations of the fear; for instance, that I would give a bad talk. One night, forced to give a presentation on a subject for which I had little interest, I gave a very poor performance. The next day, I said to a dear friend who had been there, “That was pretty bad, wasn’t it?” With characteristic directness, she said, “Yes, it was.” I laughed out loud. Somehow I felt okay about it because I had now survived that fear as well.
Today, I still feel nervous before speaking to a group, especially if I am caught off guard or find myself in a new situation. But I am no longer embarrassed or ashamed of the fact. I am aware of the momentary tremor and simply accept it. I tell myself, “I belong in this moment,” and then I ask the question on the other side of the fear, “What comes next?” And there is always an answer. |
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
(GRAND) SLAMMIN IN CINCY
As many of you know, New York just got through two days averaging 102 degrees (celsius), followed by a series of thunderstorms last night that knocked down trees, uprooted small homes, and actually blew a batting practice ball hit by Pedro out of the yard.
No, the last part obviously didn't occur, and I'm not moonlighting as a meteorologist (the guys we used to call Weathermen). I'm just explaining, in advance, that my power's been out since about 20 minutes after last night's game ended (whew!), and I couldn't make or buy any coffee in my neighborhood this morning. I'm working through the first cup at the office as I write this.
I'm not a happy man right now.
But . . . I was happy last night for 20 minutes after the game ended. After missing the first 5 innings due to a combination of subway-related nightmares on my way home (see: NY Heat Wave + Thunderstorms, as discussed above), I caught four innings worth of what I love: Met win; Gary & Keith in the booth. Yeeessssss.
So, in light of the sleep in my eye, not to mention the lingering hangover you all must feel from my War & Peace-length posts last week (not sure whether hitting was war and pitching was peace, or vice versa. 'Cause when you think about it . . . oh wait, you're still here. Never mind), I present a brief -- but densely-packed with fun & frivolity -- Random Thoughts. Let's get to it, shall we?
Carlos! Beltran! (Yes, he's earned the exclamation points): Like the cold-blooded cyborg he is, The Beltranator continues to demolish all that lies before him. That wasn't a dig at the miles of empty space that lies before him as he plays center field from the warning track; I like his fielding. That grand slam last night was, dare I say it, a freakin bomb! Wow.
By the way, the games he missed matter, so I'm not trying to turn his season into something bigger than it is. But, for the perspective's sake, I'd like to note that in 82 games he's played, The Beltranator has hit 27 HRs and driven in 78 runs. That's a pace for a 50+ HR, 150+ RBI season without injury. Oh, did I mention the 71 runs scored, and 20 2Bs?
And . . . he's hit grand slams in 2 straight games, driving in 9 in the process. And what did the Met's favorite cyborg say about that feat? "That's baseball. Some days you feel good, some days you feel not so good." Uh, thanks, Carlos. I think we can safely say he's not letting himself get too giddy about it. Unlike . . .
David "The Greatest Star in Baseball History" Wright: What's he doing?! No extra base hits since the all-star break? One RBI? I hope he enjoyed his biiiiig weekend in Pittsburg, because the honeymoon's over in NY, big guy. That's it, he's not my favorite Met any more. And even though Rapido scored twice last night, I'm still pissed that he missed those games after stoo-pidly sliding into first. That's it, Beltran's my favorite Met now.
Until The Prince of New York goes yard. Then he may earn his way back into my good graces. But the pressure's on him now. Remember, folks, Young Mr. Wright does not want to piss me off. Remember that.
The Braves: Yeah, I don't even wanna think about it. Yeah, I know you don't wanna think about it either. But we're all thinking about it. Damn.
Power of positive thinking, guys. Positive! It's not like they've won more divisional titles in a row than any team in the history of the world or anything. C'mon, they're waaaaay back. I've never heard of the years 1951, 1978 or 1995. Never existed. The calendar just skipped over them. I don't even know what you're talking about.
The What Was Willie Thinking Moment: It's been a while since we've had the pleasure of a W3TM, but that's how it goes when you win and lose every game by blowout for a month straight. But last night in the Reds' 7th . . . well, Willie showed us why we're all worried about the Braves even though the Mets are up by 11 1/2 games.
Following Beltran's moonshot, the Mets had a 5 run lead. The Domestic Partners known as Chad-Brad came in and got two quick outs, while giving up a single (following LoDuca's dropped foul pop). After throwing only 12 pitches, Bradford handed the ball to Willie, who passed it on to The Other Pedro.
Wrong. Dunn is hitting 310/436/664 vs lefties this season, and 221/348/514 against righties (Griffey is slightly better versus righties, but the difference is negligible). Now I'll admit that Chad-Brad is better against righties, as is Feliciano versus lefties. But the differences are not of historic proportions, and most importantly, the Mets had a five run lead. The key, for Willie in that spot, was to finish the game without taxing his overworked bullpen. And, as usual, he failed to achieve that simple goal.
The result? Feliciano got two outs, giving up yet another inherited run (including a hit against Dunn!), and Sanchez had to warm up and throw 13 pitches. Not a lot, I'll admit, but 13 more than the Mets wanted him to toss.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the cumulative effect of Willie's little screw-ups will influence the stretch run and the post-season. The Mets' talent may very well render those effects moot. But it's one additional hurdle they don't need. Anyway . . .
Keith, The Eternal Captaincy, and the Never-ending 'Keith Obsession Watch': As any of you that read me regularly know, the only obsession in play here is the one I have about Hernandez and his broadcast booth stylings. I don't know why, but he's a source of endless amusement to me. I root for blowouts every time he's on. Not so much to avoid late-inning stress, but because as soon as a game gets out of hand, there's just no knowing what Keith'll let out of the bag. Last night was no exception. Let's review:
1. After Chris Cotter's nightly visit, dealing this time with the all important topic of chili dogs, Keith asked Gary how Cotter "keeps the weight off" with all that he eats. And I thought he was vainly concerned only with his permanently black hair, and the fancy 'stache. I'm quite certain Keith spends more time in front of the mirror than my wife does. No women in the dugout, but men permitted in front of the mirror in the ladies' room.
And that's before he even steps into a stall with one of the "powder room denizens."
2. Keith loves "the game LoDuca calls." This hasn't quite reached obsession status, but let's put it this way: unless he covers two or three straight games (a) with Ramon "My Head Is Even Larger Than Keith's" Castro behind the dish, (b) featuring excellent pitching, an (c) fine pitch selection, then this will be an obsession by August.
I'm feeling it, what can I tell you?
3. Commenting on the phenomenon known as "no matter what a manager does, the players have to execute," Keith launched into a riff that may qualify some day for the Ralph Kiner broadcasting hall of fame (remember Ralphie's "so on this Father's Day, we'd like to wish you all a Happy Birthday!"). First, he noted that without proper execution, a "good move" can end up looking like "the wrong move." Not elegantly-worded, but so far, so good.
Then, as a counter example, the Eternal Captain explained that with good execution on the player's part, a bad move can "come out smelling like a rose." Technically, I'm not sure the "correct" execution of a "bad" managerial decision results in anything but disaster, but I'm still following him here.
And then, with that patented formula of breezy confidence only Keith Hernandez brings, he declared, "So like I always say, 'Two wrongs don't make a right.'" Hey, I'm only relaying the facts, don't ask me.
4. Accoring to Keith, California's state flag is "the best" in the country. I'm not sure what to do with that information either.
5. And finally . . . a wrinkle in the fabric of the Obsession Watch. This one could be troublesome. As many of you may recall, only two official obsessions exist: level swings & tumbling pitches. But, you also may remember that "Right down Broadway," as the description of a fat pitch, is right at the end of the bench, waiting only for the manager to beckon, and it would enter the game once and for all.
And last night? A change-up ("tumbling," I'm sure). Three times in the last four innings, Keith observed pitches that were "right down the pipe." And yes, you're reading that correctly, he said "pipe," not "pike."
Not to be overly pedantic or anything (me?), but the correct use of the cliche is "right down the pike," as in "turnpike," which is consistent with Keith's use of "Broadway" in the fat pitch-down-the-heart-of-a major-thoroughfare sense. "Right down the pipe" sounds like something parents says to the toddler they're feeding. Anyway, a quick Google search shows that lots of baseball folks make the same error, so I'll assume Keith just pulled his shoulder out too soon, and give him a pass on this one.
But if I hear him say "tow the line" instead of "toe the line," then we've got a problem. Of course, unless he spells out the phrase, how'll I ever kno -- Oh, you're still here? So . . .
For those of you scoring at home (score it 6-to-4-to-3!), only one of the three "pitches down the pipe" was met by a "level swing": Rich Aurilia's single in the 7th. Beltran's grand slam, as well as his 9th inning double, came off pitches "right down the pipe," but apparently utilized an uppercut, and not a "level swing."
1 Comments:
I just read this today for the first time. I did a google for "right down the pike/pipe". I *thought* it was "pike" as in "turnpike"! At any rate, I "tumbled", I mean stumbled upon #17's annoying harping (obsession) on the level swing. I am at the point that I want to throw something at the TV when he starts on that!!!!!!!!!!!
Doesn't something have to be asymetrical to "tumble"? A ball is round. Thank you. I loved Keith as a player (one of my favorites) but he gets on my nerves sometimes. I have ramblings about the Mets on my blog if you care to check it out.
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About Me
I'm a lawyer in my early 40s, and after looking for a way to do something other than the practice of law, I'm resigned to the fact that I can't earn bupkis doing anything else. I like lots of things, and I like to talk about them incessantly. |
Download University of Kerala B.Sc. Physics Second Year Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics Exam Previous Years Question Papers
University of Kerala came into existence in the year 1937 with its name as University of Travancore and it is acting as an affiliating university from the city of Thiruvananthapuram in the Indian state of Kerala. The university offers a wide range of course through the sixteen faculties working under its control and nearly 80 affiliated colleges are functioning under the university.
B. Sc Physics from University of Kerala:
The Bachelor of Science in Physics is among the different UG courses offered by the university and this is being offered by the Department of Physics of University of Kerala. The second year of B. Sc Physics course offered by Kerala University includes many subjects Thermodynamic and Statistical physics is offered as Paper No.2.
Pattern of question paper:
The question paper for Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics paper will be conducted for 50 marks and the maximum duration allowed is three hours. The question paper will have four sections being section-A, B, C and D. Any two questions are to be answered from section A out of 4 and this section carries six marks for each question. Any four questions are to be answered from section B out of 6 and this section carries three marks for each question. Any seven questions are to be answered from section C out of 11 and this section carries two marks for each question. Any four questions are to be answered from section D out of 7 and this section carries three marks for each question.
Previous year question papers:
Previous years question papers of main and supplementary examination conducted by the university is provided in the attachment. |
Transgender Army members talk new military policy on 'The View': 'If you’re transgender you’re simply not welcome' "If they're transgender, they're at risk of receiving substandard care now."
Transgender Army members Staff Sgt. Patricia King and Capt. Jennifer Peace discussed on "The View" Wednesday how the Trump administration's new transgender policy will change the lives of transgender people who currently serve their country and those who plan to join.
Both King and Peace, who is also an intelligence officer with the Defense Intelligence Agency, are actively serving in the military. They received the Harvey Milk Foundation Valor Award at this year's Diversity Honors, where they met "The View" co-host Meghan McCain.
The new military transgender policy, instituted by the Pentagon on March 12, will go into effect on Friday, April 12. Under the new policy, transgender people currently serving in the military will be allowed to continue serving so long as they follow the designated dress and grooming standards based on their birth gender.
"There's a possibility for systematic discrimination," King explained. "The possibility that we will be evaluated differently when it comes time for a promotion or to go to a school."
"In terms of things like health care...our dependents, our children and our spouses — if they're transgender, they're at risk of receiving substandard care now," King continued.
With the new military policy in place, transgender recruits will no longer be able to join the military if they underwent surgery or hormone treatment at any point in their lives.
"For anybody who's looking to join the military, if you're transgender you're simply not welcome," King said.
Peace, who began serving 15 years ago, compared the new transgender military policy to the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
"You can be trans, you just can't come out; you can't transition; you can't tell anyone; you can't talk about it, but you can be trans," Peace said.
The Army captain went on to say that "it's unfortunate to look back" on the ban of black people serving in the military.
When officials were considering lifting that ban, they "said it's an unfortunate social distraction during a time of necessity. We said the same thing about women...gays and lesbians."
"We're going to look back on this in 10 or 15 years in the same way: As baseless discrimination," Peace said.
In July 2016, after "consultation" with generals and "military experts," President Trump publicized his new military transgender ban in three tweets — his reason being that the military "cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail."
King, who has been serving for nearly 20 years, was the first person to have the military finance the cost of her reassignment surgery, but claimed it was a "difficult process" with "a lot of red tape."
For King, joining the military wasn't for the purpose of obtaining transgender health care.
"If my concern was to have transgender medical care, I would go and look at working at a place like Starbucks," King said. "I wouldn't have to worry about deploying...the stigma...and red tape to have medically necessary care."
In February, King and Peace testified before Congress against the Trump administration's transgender service policy, becoming the first-ever active transgender service members to do so.
Every episode of ABC's award-winning talk show "The View" is now available as a podcast! Listen and subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Spotify, Stitcher or the ABC News app. |
ABSTRACT Stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability, affecting almost 800,000 patients per year in the US. Most stroke survivors have some degree of spontaneous recovery, but this recovery is unpredictable and in many cases incomplete. Successful recovery requires plasticity at the synaptic and cellular level to collectively ?rewire? damaged brain networks, in a process called remapping. On a global scale, plasticity in brain networks can be observed in the restoration of functional connectivity (fc) between repaired circuits and distant brain networks. Fc likely contributes to recovery of more complex. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying network plasticity in remapping and fc. The overarching goal of this proposal is to understand mechanisms of plasticity in brain networks after stroke. Enhancing these mechanisms of repair may be key to designing therapies to improve recovery and attenuate disability after stroke. Many of the processes underlying plasticity in the injured brain mirror those that occur in the developing brain. Most saliently demonstrated in the visual cortex (V1) during development, binocular vision leads to balanced segregation of eye inputs into ocular dominance (OD) columns in V1. Monocular deprivation (MD, suturing one eye shut) during development leads the OD columns of the spared eye to competitively take over the OD columns of the deprived eye, similar to remapping after stroke. This plasticity dissipates in adulthood due to the maturation of inhibitory parvalbumin interneurons (PV-INs) in V1. PV-INs are the most prevalent inhibitory neurons in the brain, and act as ?brakes? to close critical periods of developmental plasticity, cementing in place mature spatial/temporal patterns of brain activity. However, recent studies have shown that juvenile-like OD plasticity can be restored in adult mice by selectively reducing firing rates in PV-INs, or by weakening the strength of excitatory synapses onto PV-INs (thus weakening their feed-forward inhibitory activity). PV-INs have been further implicated in restricting plasticity in the hippocampus, striatum, prefrontal cortex, and auditory cortex. Given the prevalence of PV-INs throughout the brain, these findings invite the exciting possibility that PV-INs are ?gate-keepers? of neuronal plasticity, and potential targets for therapeutic intervention in the injured brain. The central hypothesis of this grant is that activity in PV-INs regulates network plasticity during sensory deprivation and after stroke. We will employ cutting edge non-invasive optical neuroimaging of cortical calcium dynamics in mice to probe changes in local sensory maps and global fc, in combination with viral gene transfer targeted to PV-INs, to understand the role of activity (Aim 1) and synaptic inputs onto PV-INs (Aim 2) in mediating deprivation-induced cortical plasticity and recovery from stroke. Aim 1: To determine if modulating PV-IN activity can enhance cortical plasticity during whisker sensory deprivation and recovery after ischemic injury. Aim 2: To determine the mechanistic role of excitatory synapses onto PV-INs in regulating cortical plasticity during whisker sensory deprivation and recovery after ischemic injury. Aim 3: To identify the translatome of plasticity in PV and Pyramidal neurons during whisker deprivation and after ischemic injury. |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus handling codes, a method for controlling the apparatus and a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-259045 discusses a method in which even when documents containing codes are copied at an N-up setting, the documents can be combined and printed such that the codes can be decoded later.
More specifically, in the Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-259045, while the sizes of the document images are reduced as illustrated in the representative drawing, the codes of original size are printed as they are in such a manner that the codes can be decoded later.
However, if the two codes contained in two original documents are included in one sheet while retaining the original size, the area available for printing information other than these codes is considerably reduced. This may degrade the visibility of the information (e.g., document images) other than the codes.
To address such a problem, it is desired to create a single code whose area is smaller than the total area of the two codes contained in two original documents and add the single code to the documents, or to create a plurality of smaller codes whose total area is smaller than the original two codes, and add these codes to the documents. It is also desired to delete a part of the information contained in the codes as a result of the decrease in code size. |
--- nginx-1.5.8/src/http/modules/ngx_http_proxy_module.c 2013-10-08 05:07:14.000000000 -0700
+++ nginx-1.5.8-patched/src/http/modules/ngx_http_proxy_module.c 2013-10-27 15:29:41.619378592 -0700
@@ -602,10 +602,10 @@ static ngx_keyval_t ngx_http_proxy_cach
static ngx_http_variable_t ngx_http_proxy_vars[] = {
{ ngx_string("proxy_host"), NULL, ngx_http_proxy_host_variable, 0,
- NGX_HTTP_VAR_CHANGEABLE|NGX_HTTP_VAR_NOCACHEABLE|NGX_HTTP_VAR_NOHASH, 0 },
+ NGX_HTTP_VAR_CHANGEABLE|NGX_HTTP_VAR_NOCACHEABLE, 0 },
{ ngx_string("proxy_port"), NULL, ngx_http_proxy_port_variable, 0,
- NGX_HTTP_VAR_CHANGEABLE|NGX_HTTP_VAR_NOCACHEABLE|NGX_HTTP_VAR_NOHASH, 0 },
+ NGX_HTTP_VAR_CHANGEABLE|NGX_HTTP_VAR_NOCACHEABLE, 0 },
{ ngx_string("proxy_add_x_forwarded_for"), NULL,
ngx_http_proxy_add_x_forwarded_for_variable, 0, NGX_HTTP_VAR_NOHASH, 0 },
|
Memory Foam Mattress 101
Visco-elastic foam is a popular mattress component. This type of foam is more commonly known as memory foam. Memory foam has received much attention lately for its supposed ability to relieve back and joint problems, reduce insomnia, and provide a much better night's sleep than traditional mattresses. But is visco-elastic foam really all it's reported to be? This mattress foam is pricey, so you will want to yes sure it really can provide all they claim it can. Let's take a look at this space-age mattress foam, how it is produced, and what it can do for you. Learning how a mattress is put together can provide you the information you need to make the best choice when you set out to buy the right bedding for your situation.
Production and History
Visco-elastic foam is a polyurethane foam, similar to the more conventional foams used in most mattresses. However, this type of foam is made with chemical additives that make it denser and more viscous. This type of foam was first developed under contract from NASA in the mid-1960s. The original goal of the foam was to make safer cushions for aircraft. It was eventually commericalized in pads for X-ray tables and football helmet liners and released to the public in the early 1980s. At this point, few companies were willing to work with the foam, since production was unreliable. One such company produced the Tempur-Pedic Mattress in 1991, opening the market to memory foam bedding. The manufacturing process was difficult and expensive so it was not widely used. Since the manufacturing process has become less expensive, more mattresses have found their way into market.
Initially, these mattresses were used in medical settings, such as situations where patients were bedridden for long periods of time. Memory foam mattresses were shown to greatly decrease the incidence of pressure sores and gangrene from long immobility. Initially too costly for widespread use, this type of foam has become much less expensive, and is now commonly used in pillows, mattresses, and mattress toppers. It's also used to provide padding for people with long term pain and in cushions for wheelchair users.
Foam Density
Visco foam can be up to seven pounds in density (ILD). Memory foam mattresses are normally very dense and heavy, allowing them to provide good support without compromising quality. The unique feel of memory foam is often touted as a compromise between the solidity of a firm mattress and the comfort of soft ones. Foam mattresses are often sold by density. A higher density mattress is more supportive, usually slightly firmer, and also more expensive. Standard memory foam comes in densities between one and five pounds per cubic foot. The foam used in most visco-elastic foam bed toppers and in the comfort layers on innerspring hybrid mattresses is between three and four and a half pounds per cubic foot.
Foam Structure
Cell structures in memory foam vary significantly. Some foams have very open cells, while others have cells that are almost closed. Tighter cell structures provide less airflow, and can make the bed feel very hot. Some brands of visco-elastic foam are more open in structure. These brands are sold as breathable memory foam. Breathable foams have better airflow better recovery and retain fewer odors. Since chemical odors are considered one of the negatives of memory foam mattresses, especially when new, this type of foam may be appropriate for people who are sensitive to these odors.
Health Factors
Some types of memory foam give off a strong chemical odor when they are new. This smell decreases over time, but some people do remain sensitive to it. These emissions can cause respiratory problems. However, visco-elastic foam mattresses have also been credited with reducing the severity and frequency of asthma attacks. This type of foam is less likely to harbor dust mites or mildew than conventional mattress materials.
Like other products made from polyurethane, memory foam offers a slight fire danger. All bedding in the United States must be resistant to ignition from open flames, but some worry that the fire retardants used on this foam can cause health problems. These fire retardants are no longer used in similar products in the EU. Memory foam mattresses may also present a danger to infants and very young children, who may have trouble turning over on the foam. However, older children and adults are not at risk, and many find that the foam helps alleviate other health problems.
Memory foam mattresses are a great option to consider when you are shopping for a new mattress. Memory foam softens as it reacts to body heat, allowing it to mold to the body's shape. Because of its ability to mold to the body, the memory foam mattress lacks pressure points and helps alleviate back and neck pain for many users. Another advantage over traditional mattresses is that memory foam mattresses are anti-microbial and resist dust mites. You will want to consider exactly what you want and need as you head out to find the best mattress for you.
What’s the Best Mattress
Let What's The Best be your guide to finding the perfect night’s sleep. Learn about the different types of mattresses: memory foam, air mattresses, innerspring, latex mattresses, and water beds. See how they compare with user mattress reviews, and get your questions answered in the mattress forum. |
Clamping circuits respectively charge a capacitor to modify the DC component of an applied signal to a reference voltage level. An input AC signal applied to the capacitor is DC offset by that charged voltage level. The capacitor may be charged by a differential amplifier which compares the charge level of the capacitor to a reference, the amplifier charging and discharging the capacitor to maintain the desired voltage. This referred to as a feedback clamp.
One application for a feedback clamp is in a digital television color receiver. In one kind of receiver the clamping capacitor receives a composite video signal which is to be clamped to a blanking signal level. The clamped video signal is then applied to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for digitizing the video signal. The analog-to-digital converter receives reference voltages of different values in a given range one of which values corresponds to desired level for the composite video signal blanking level. A differential amplifier compares the voltage level of the clamping capacitor charge to a reference voltage value corresponding to the ADC reference value for charging or discharging the capacitor accordingly. A clamp enable pulse is applied to the differential amplifier for causing the clamp to operate during the blanking interval so as to not interfere with the active, that is, the AC, video portion of the video signal. The resulting digitized output signal is applied to a digital signal processor which separates the synchronization, luminance and chrominance signals from the composite video signal in addition to other processing functions.
Other feedback clamping circuits are used in other portions of a color television receiver, for example, in the RGB processor, to clamp the signals to desired levels. If these signals are not referenced to a designated DC level, then the resultant color picture will be inaccurate. This is manifested most prominently when it is desired to use the color circuitry for displaying a black and white picture. Different offset values of the input color difference signals, if not clamped to a given reference level, when processed for purposes of obtaining a black and white picture, will result in the RGB processor interpreting the different DC levels of the resulting black and white video signals as manifesting color components. These color components appear as color hues on the black and white picture, are noticeable and undesirable.
A television picture comprises 525 raster scan lines forming a frame comprising a pair of successively generated fields, each field comprising 262.5 scan lines. The fields are interlaced in successive time intervals. A problem observed with such interlacing is that the successive interlacing of the adjacent fields, even though the lines are closely spaced to one another and interlaced in relatively short time periods, creates a condition referred to as interline flicker which may be observable in the picture.
A digital television receiver can correct for this problem. In a digital television receiver, the video signal comprising luminance and chrominance signals are processed and stored in memory. The system using an algorithm predicts the content of the video signals of each succeeding field based on information in the preceding field which is digitally stored in memory. The predicted field is also stored in memory. The predicted field is superimposed simultaneously with the proceeding occurring actual field to produce a frame without successively occurring fields as occurs in an analog receiver. That is, the 525 scan lines for each frame are generated in successive order as if occurring in a common field.
In order to perform this kind of processing, among other processing, the video information signal is stored in memory and then subsequently processed for a given design purpose. It is essential to clamp each of the luminance and chrominance signals to a reference level throughout the signal processing procedure.
In a second kind of digital color television receiver, a tuner IF circuit is included which provides a composite superheterodyne video signal to a synchronization (sync), luminance (luma) and chrominance (chrome) processing circuit. The sync, luma and chroma processing circuit separates the Y (luminance) and the U/V (color difference) signals and the horizontal and vertical synchronization signals from the composite video signal. The latter signals are applied to scan circuits for deriving horizontal and vertical drive signals for the cathode ray tube (the picture tube). The separated Y, U and V signals are applied through appropriate clamps to a digital processor. Separate clamps are provided to insure the digitized luma and color difference signals are at a desired blanking level prior to digital processing as compared to the first kind of receiver discussed above in which the composite signal is clamped by a common clamp prior to digital processing.
The clamps include analog-to-digital converters (ADC) for digitizing the analog video signal prior to being applied to the digital processor. The blanking portion comprises a relatively large portion of the video signal. Since the blanking portion is at a relatively DC level, it is desired to conserve digital processor memory by eliminating the digital processing of the digitized blanking portion in the second receiver type. The assumption is that the voltage level of the blanking portion is constant and, for each of the luminance and chrominance signals, has a known value. To conserve memory, the value of the blanking portion is inserted by the digital processor. For example, the processor includes a code word generator for generating a digital code word manifesting the value of the blanking level of each of the luma and color difference signals. In so doing, it is assumed that the video signal outputs of the analog-to-digital converters of each of the feedback clamping circuits will correspond to a given desired blanking level by reason of the fact that the clamps are set to provide for these levels. These levels are intended to be substantially identical to the reference levels represented by the code words provided by the digital processor. The digital processor inserts the code word corresponding to the desired blanking portion of the applied video signals during their blanking portion intervals.
In order to provide appropriate digital codes corresponding to their video signals, the analog-to-digital converters divide the voltage levels thereof to manifest a typical video range, for example, 256 levels. Assuming further that the ADCs have a 2 volt range, for example, 2.5 to 4.5 volts with a 3.5 volt mid range, then the ADCs have a sensitivity of about 7.8 millivolts per grey scale step. As a result, a 0.1 volt or even 0.01 volt error in the clamping circuit or in the ADC is significant relative to the sensitivity of the ADC.
The present inventors recognize that when the digital processor inserts a code word manifesting a blanking DC voltage level into the digitized video signal that code word represents a predetermined voltage level for example 3.5 volts. If the clamping circuits have an offset error of 0.1 volts, or possibly even 0.01 volts, the resulting video signal will also be offset by that amount. However, because the digital processor inserts an assumed blanking voltage value into the received digitized video signal, the video signal being clamped to the clamping level, will be offset by the error thereof relative to the blanking signal level introducing a distortion in the resulting signals and, therefore, colors of the picture.
One source of error is due to an offset in a typical ADC due, for example, to changes in temperature. Further, a differential amplifier employed in the analog loop of the clamping circuit may also introduce an offset error so that the resulting clamping level is not at the desired level. |
Field experiments with viral arthritis/tenosynovitis vaccination of breeder chickens.
Vaccination of three commercial broiler-breeder flocks at 15 weeks old with viral arthritis/tenosynovitis via the drinking water resulted in serologic conversion of two flocks to agar-gel-precipitin (AGP)-positive, while the third flock was still AGP-negative at 24 weeks, but was AGP-positive at 30 weeks old, presumably as a result of natural exposure. Progeny from the two successfully vaccinated breeder flocks remained free of clinical viral arthritis/tenosynovitis and had average condemnation rates of 0.99%. In contrast, six hatches of progeny from the third breeder flock experienced clinical viral arthritis/tenosynovitis and average condemnation rates of 3.64%. |
Reclaim your heart by Yasmin Mogahed
Topic 1: "Why do people have to leave each other?"
When I was 17 years old, I had a dream.
I dreamt that I was sitting inside a Masjid and a little girl walked up to ask me a question.
She asked me. "Why do people have to leave each other?"
The question was a personal one, but it seemed clear to me why the question was chosen for me.
I was one to get attached. Ever since I was a child, this temperament was clear.
While other children in preschool could easily recover once their parents left, I could not.
My tears, once set in motion, did not stop easily.
As I grew up, I learned to become attached to everything around me.
From the time I was in first grade, I needed a best friend. As I got older. any fall-out with a friend
shattered me.
I couldn't let go of anything.
People,
places, events, photographs, moments---even outcomes became objects of strong attachment
If things didn't work out the way I wanted or imagined they should, I was devastated.
And disappointed for me wasn't an ordinary emotion. It was catastrophic.
Once led down, I never fully recovered.
I could never forget, and the break never mended. Like a glass vase
that you placed on the edge of a table, once broken, the pieces never quit fit again.
However, the problem wasn't with the vase, or even that the
vases kept breaking. The problem was that I kept putting them on the edge of the tables.
Through my attachments, I was dependent on my relationships to fulfill my needs.
I allowed those relationships to define my happiness or my sadness, my fulfillment,
or my emptiness, my security, and even my self-worth. And so, like the vase
placed where it will inevitably fall, through those
dependencies I set myself up for this disappointment.
I set myself up to be broken. And that's exactly what I found one disappointment,
one break after another.
Yet the people who broke me were not to blame any more than gravity can be blamed for breaking the vase.
We can't blame the laws of physics when a twig snaps because we leaned on it for support.
The twig was never created to carry us.
Our weight was only meant to be carried by God. We are told in the Qur':an:
". . .whoever rejects evil and believes in God hath grasped the most trustworthy
hand-hold
that never breaks. And God hears and knows all things."
[Qur'an, 2:256]
There is a crucial lesson in this verse: that there is only one hand-hold that never breaks.
There is only one place where we can lay our dependencies.
There is only one relationship that should define our self-worth and only one source from which
to seek our ultimate happiness,
fulfillment, and security.
That place is God.
However, this world is all about seeking those things
everywhere else. Some of us seek it in our careers; some seek it in wealth, some in status.
Some, like me, seek it in a relationships. In her book, Eat, Pray, Love,
Elizabeth Gilbert describes her own quest for happiness.
She describes moving in and out of relationships, and even traveling the globe in search of this fulfillment.
She seeks that fulfillment--unsuccessfully--in her relationships,
in meditation, even in food.
And that's exactly where I spent much of my own life: seeking a way to fill my inner void.
So it was no wonder that the little girl in my dream asked me this question.
It was a question about loss, about disappointment.
It was a question about being led down. A question about seeking something and coming back empty-handed.
It was about what happens when you try to dig in concrete with your bare hands:
not only do you come back with nothing---you break your fingers in the process.
I learned this not by reading it, not by hearing it from a wise sage,
I learned it by trying it again, and again, and again.
And so, the little girl's question was essentially my own question. . . being asked to myself.
Ultimately, the question was about the nature of the dunya as a place of fleeting moments and
temporary attachments. As a place where people are with you today and leave or die tomorrow.
But this reality hurts our very being because it goes against our nature.
We, as humans, are made to seek, love, and strive for what is perfect and what is permanent.
We are made to seek what's eternal. We seek this because we were not made for this life.
Our first and true home was Paradise: a land that is both perfect and eternal.
So the yearning for that type of life is a part of our being.
The problem is that we try to find that here
And
so we create ageless creams and
cosmetic surgery in a desperate attempt to hold on---in an attempt to mold this world into what it is not, and
will never be.
And that's why if you live in dunya with our hearts, it breaks us. That's why this dunya hurts.
It is because the definition of dunya, as something temporary and
imperfect, goes against everything we are made to yearn for.
Allah put a yearning in us that can only be fulfilled by what is eternal and perfect.
By trying to find fulfilment in what is fleeting, we are running after a hologram. . .a mirage.
We are digging into concrete with our bare hands.
Seeking to turn, what is by its very nature
temporary into something eternal is like trying to extract from fire, water.
You just get burned.
Only when we stop putting our hopes in dunya,
only when we stop trying to make the dunya into what it is not---and was never meant to be (Jannah)
---will this life finally stop breaking our hearts.
We must also realize that nothing happens without a purpose.
Nothing.
Not even broken hearts. Not even pain.
That broken heart and that pain are lessons and signs for us.
They are warnings that something is wrong.
They are warnings that we need to make a change.
Just like the pain of being burned is what warns us to remove our hand from the fire,
emotional pain warns us that we need to make an internal change.
We need to detach.
Pain is a form of forced detachment.
Like the loved one who hurts you again and again and again,
the more dunya hurts us, the more we inevitably detach from it. The more we inevitably
stop loving it.
And pain is a pointer to our attachments. That which makes us cry,
that which causes us the most pain is
where our false attachments lie.
And it is those things which we are attached to as we should only be attached to
Allah which become barriers on our path to God.
But they pain itself is what makes the false attachment evident. The pain creates a condition in our life
that we seek to change, and if there is anything about our condition
that we don't like, there is a divine formula to change it.
God says:
"Verily never will God change the condition of a people until
they change what is within themselves."
[Qur'an, 13:11]
After years of falling into the same pattern of
disappointments and heartbreak, I finally began to realize something profound.
I had always thought that love of dunya meant being attached to material things .
And I was not attached to material things. I was attached to people. I was attached to moments.
I was attached to emotions. So I thought that the love of dunya just did not apply to me.
What I didn't realize was that people,
moments, emotions are all a part of dunya.
What I didn't realize is that all the pain I had experienced in life was due to one thing and one thing only:
love of dunya.
As soon as I began to have that realization, a veil was lifted from my eyes.
I started to see what my problem was.
I was expecting this life to be what it is not, And was never meant to be: perfect.
And being the idealist that I am, I was struggling with every cell in my body to make it so.
It had to be perfect. And I would not stop until it was.
I gave my blood, sweat, and tears to this endeavor:
making the dunya into jannah. This meant expecting people around me to be perfect.
Expecting my relationships to be perfect. Expecting so much from those around me and from this life.
Expectations. Expectations. Expectations.
And if there is one recipe for unhappiness it is that:
expectations.
But herein lay my fatal mistake.
My mistake was not in having expectations;
as humans, we should never lose hope.
The problem was in "where" I was placing those expectations and that hope.
At the end of the day, my hope and my expectations were not being placed in God.
My hope and expectations were in people,
relationships,
means.
Ultimately, my hope was in this dunya rather than Allah.
And so I came to realize a very deep Truth. An ayah began to cross my mind.
It was an ayah I had heard before, but for the first time I realized that it was actually describing me:
"Those who rest not their hope on their meeting with Us,
but are pleased and satisfied with the life of the present and those who heed not Our Signs."
[Qur'an, 10:7]
By thinking that I can have everything here,
my hope was not in my meeting the God. My hope was in dunya.
But what does it mean to place your hope in dunya? How can this be avoided? It means when you have friends,
don't expect your friends to fill your emptiness.
When you get married, don't expect your spouse to fill your every need.
When you're an activist, don't put your hope in the results. When you are in trouble, don't depend on yourself.
Don't depend on people.
Depend on God.
Seek the help of people---but realize that it is not the people (or even your own self ) that can save.
Only Allah can do these things.
The people are only tools, a means used by God.
But they're not the source of help, aid or salvation of any kind.
Only God is.
"The people cannot even create the wing of a fly" [Qur'an, 22:73]
And so, even while you interact with people externally, turn your heart towards God.
Face Him alone, as Prophet Ibrahim(as) said so beautifully:
"For me, I have set my face, firmly and truly, towards Him
Who created the heavens and the earth, and never shall I give partners to Allah."
[Qur'an, 6:79]
But how does Prophet Ibrahim(as) describe his journey to that point?
He studies the moon, the sun and the stars and realizes that they are not perfect. They set.
They let us down.
So Prophet Ibrahim(as) was thereby led to face Allah alone.
Like him, we need to put our full hope, trust, and dependency on God, and God alone.
And if we do that, we will learn what it means to finally find peace and stability of heart.
Only then will the roller-coaster that once defined our lives
finally come to an end.
That is because if our inner state is dependent on something that is by definition inconstant,
that inner state will also be inconstant. If our interstate is dependent on something
changing and
temporary, that inner state will be in a constant state of
instability,
agitation, and
unrest.
This means that one moment we're happy, but as soon as that which our happiness depended upon changes, our
happiness also changes.
And we become sad.
We remain always swinging from one extreme to another and not realizing why.
We experience this emotional roller coaster because we can never find stability and lasting peace
until our attachment and dependency is on what is stable and lasting.
How can we hope to find constancy
if what we hold on to is
inconstant and perishing?
In the statement of Abu Bakr is a deep illustration of this truth.
After the Prophet Mohammad (S.A.W.) died,
the people went into shock and could not handle the news.
Although no one loved the Prophet (S.A.W.) like Abu Bakr,
Abu bakr understood well the only place where one's dependency should lie.
He said:"If you worshiped Muhammad(S.A.W.), know that Muhammad(S.A.W.) is dead.
But if you worshiped Allah, know that Allah never dies."
To attain that state, don't let your source of fulfillment be anything other than your relationship with God.
Don't let your definition of success, failure, or self-worth be anything other than your position with Him?
[Qur'an, 49;13]
And if you do this, you become unbreakable,
because your hand-hold is unbreakable. You become unconquerable,
because your supporter can never be conquered.
And you will never become empty, because your source of fulfillment is unending and never diminishes.
Looking back at the dream I had when I was 17. I wonder if that little girl was me.
I wonder this because the answer I gave her was a lesson. I would need to spend the next painful years of my life learning
My answer to her question of why people have to leave each other was:
"because this life is not perfect; for if it was, what would the next be called?"
|
This page is just one of this website's 3,000 pages of factual documentation and resources on corporal punishment around the world. Have a look at the site's front page or go to the explanatory page, About this website.
The kissing and cuddling occurred in the school's Green Room after a Shakespeare rehearsal. And it was reported by one of the boys involved -- he had an attack of conscience about it. The
head master then sent for the girls.
GIRL No. 1 said in a statement that Mr. Guise
told her: You have been necking with senior boys. Such things
cannot be tolerated.
"I could make a public disgrace of the matter and strip
you of your prefect' s badge. Or we can keep it private if you
agree to a private spanking by Mrs. Smith and me.
"Have you the guts to take your punishment and then forget about it?"
He then ordered her to take off jumper, skirt, and underskirt,
tuck up her knickers so that her buttocks were bare, and lean
over a table.
He also told the girl to hold his hand and look at him. Then
Mrs. Smith started to hit her across each buttock.
Some more?
Said the girl: "She hit me pretty hard and it hurt me. I
don't know how many times she hit me, but I counted seven and
then stopped counting. There were quite a lot after that.
"Mr. Guise said: 'Are you sorry? Are you ashamed?' and I
said "Yes."
Then with the girl kneeling down while he held her hands
behind her back Guise took the brush and gave her another
beating.
When he finished he said to Mrs. Smith: "She doesn't look
very sorry. Perhaps she had better have some more."
The girl went on: "Once more I had to bend over the table
and Mrs. Smith beat me again. Then the head master put me across
his knee and gave me some more. When I said I was sorry he told
me to stand over the table while he looked at my bruises."
GIRL NO. 2 said she told Guise that she
objected to being spanked by him as he was not her father. But he
said: "I am acting in loco parentis."
She, like the first girl, was told to undress. And Guise told
her to hold his hand and look at him while Mrs. Smith was
spanking her.
"Mr. Guise then came and stood behind me and placed his
hand on each of my buttocks and said: 'Does this hurt?'"
Mr. J. Wood, prosecuting, told the magistrates: "Two days
later he sent for her and looked at her bruises. I am not
suggesting anything indecent about that. He realised he had hit
the girl far too hard.
Click to enlarge
"He was anxious to see that he had not done any lasting
damage, which would have meant the whole matter being brought
into the open."
Humiliation
Mr. Wood said this girl's beating was less severe than the
other girl received, perhaps because she reacted more to it.
Mr. Wood said that Mrs. Smith told the police: "I am only
the senior mistress and have therefore to take orders from the
head master."
Mrs. Smith also said she considered it was unwise for Mr.
Guise to touch the girl's buttocks, but thought it might
undermine discipline if she interfered.
Guise, explaining to the police why he spanked the girls,
said: "Misbehaviour between boys and girls is something we
have to take very great care about, especially in view of present
trends.
"We have had cases of pregnant girls and I have been
called in by parents over tragic cases. This situation did seem
to me full of dangerous possibilities."
He also explained: "My touching the buttocks was merely
to check the degree of bruising."
Said Mr. Wood: "Mr. Guise must have realised that
whatever else he had done he had broken the education committee
regulations because a head master is not allowed himself to
punish girls.
The punishment inflicted by him and Mrs. Smith was clearly
excessive."
Mr. Michael Hutchinson for Guise said that in a mixed grammar
school, with pupils of 18 or 19, the discipline concerning morals
had to be specially strict.
'Too far'
But Guise now accepted he had gone too far in punishing the
girls.
"A man who has built up a good school, who has strong
discipline, and has achieved that situation just before he is due
to retire -- these are facts that might lead somebody to make an
error of judgment," said Mr. Hutchinson.
"These incidents had happened and he had made up his mind
to stop it."
Mr. Hutchinson added: "Here is a man who was about to
retire with the praise of everyone, the governors of the school
and everyone else, and was about to bring to a conclusion an
honourable and successful career with the good wishes of
everybody.
"As a result of these events all of it has changed."
Mr. Lewis McCreery, for Mrs. Smith, said she had repeatedly
told Mr. Guise she was not in favour of corporal punishment. In
these particular cases she had acted directly under the head
master's orders.
Her future
The magistrates were told that the head master's resignation,
tendered when police inquiries began after complaints by the
girls' parents, had been accepted.
The future of Mrs. Smith, suspended from duty since the
summonses against her were issued a month ago, rested largely on
the court's findings.
Said Mr. Guise after the case: "I hope my pension will
not be affected." Mrs. Smith made no comment.
Daily Mirror, London (Northern edition, Manchester), 3 July 1964
Head who spanked girls is fined
TWO boys and two girls at a mixed grammar school stayed after school hours to rehearse a Shakespeare play.
Then they lingered on for half an hour -- just kissing and cuddling. But one of the boys, a sixth-former, felt "slightly conscience stricken" and told the headmaster.
The headmaster of Helston Grammar School, Cornwall, talked to the two girls -- one a prefect -- aged 17 and 18, and they agreed to take a spanking in private from the head and a senior mistress rather than face public disgrace.
But the spanking went too far, it was said in court at Truro yesterday.
Headmaster John Lindsay Guise, 60, of Porthleven, who resigned his post when the case began, and Mrs. Marjorie Smith, 58, of Helston, were jointly accused of assaulting the girls.
Guilty
Mr. Guise and Mrs. Smith, who has been suspended for some weeks, both pleaded guilty.
Guise, said to have been an outstanding headmaster, was fined £50 with £15 costs.
Mrs. Smith, said to have the "highest of characters," was fined £30, with £10 costs.
Mr. John Wood, prosecuting, said that both girls wrote letters agreeing to a spanking.
One girl took off some of her clothes in Mrs. Smith's room.
Guise held her hand, while Mrs. Smith hit her several times with a clothes brush, and then Guise made the girl lean over and struck her with the brush himself.
"Medical evidence supports the view that it was a very severe beating," Mr. Wood added.
The other girl was also spanked on her bare bottom by both Guise and Mrs. Smith.
Mr. Michael Hutchison, defending Guise, said he was an outstanding headmaster who now recognised he had gone too far.
He had been suffering from poor health and strain at the time.
Mr. Lewis McCreery, for Mrs. Smith, said she was a conscientious teacher, who had been acting out of loyalty to the headmaster.
Afterwards a Cornwall education official said that the court decisions would be considered by the committee.
The Cornishman, Penzance, 9 July 1964
Punishment For Rehearsal Incident
(extracts)
A FOOT-LONG clothes brush which both a Helston headmaster and his school's senior mistress admitted using to beat two sixth form girls on their bare buttocks, was produced at Truro Magistrates Court on Thursday. John Lindsay Guise, late headmaster of Helston County Grammar Schools, and Mrs. Margaret Smith, the at-present suspended senior mistress, both pleaded guilty to two joint charges of common assault. Guise was fined a total of £50 and Mrs. Smith £30.
Defending Guise, Mr. Michael Hutchison said that his client had asked that the names of the two girls should not be used by the Press. The court had no power to order this nor, indeed, might they wish to do so. He added, "Mr. Guise is most anxious that nothing should happen which might prejudice the girls or prejudice the good name of the school."
The charges were brought under Section 47 of the Offences against the Person Act of 1864. They were jointly against Guise and Mrs. Smith that on April 29 they assaulted the two girls.
Guise pleaded guilty to both charges through Mr. Michael Hutchison. Mrs. Smith pleaded guilty to both through Mr. Lewis McCreery.
For the Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr. J. Wood said originally both defendants had been charged with assaults occasioning actual bodily harm. These charges were not being proceeded with because the prosecution were prepared to accept pleas of guilty to indictable common assault. He was prepared to have the cases dealt with summarily, the Court and defendants agreeing.
His reasons for the action were that their powers for dealing with indictable common assault were exactly the same as those for assault occasioning actual bodily harm. But there was a second more compelling reason. By pleading guilty to common assault the defendants had enabled him to dispense with witnesses. This was important because the two principal witnesses would have been the two 18-year-old girls, who would have had the humiliation of having to appear in the witness box to give details of the assaults upon them.
Mr. Wood enlarged that Guise, a man of 60 living at Dolphin-cottage, Porthleven, had been headmaster since 1953. Mrs. Smith was 58 and lived in Parc Venton, Helston. She had been senior mistress since 1951.
He added, "Both are persons of the highest character and have no previous convictions."
Rehearsals
Turning to the events leading to the assaults, he said that on April 27 after school had finished for the day, five pupils (four sixth formers and one fourth former) went to the Green Room to rehearse acts from Shakespeare. They were all very fond of acting and perhaps they did this to celebrate the birth of Shakespeare which was about that time -- 400 years ago.
Two of the five were the girl "A," then 17 but now 18, and the girl "B," 18. They rehearsed for about half an hour. Then the girls paired off with two of the boys and "they engaged in kissing and cuddling -- no more than that."
Mr. Wood added, "Let me emphasise this because the punishment inflicted might seem to suggest they had been engaging in something like sexual intercourse ... There is no question of that. This was merely kissing and cuddling. This lasted for about half an hour, then all five of them left the Green Room and went home.
"One of the boys, slightly conscience-stricken, went to see Mr. Guise and told him what had happened."
On the morning of April 29 Guise called one of the girls -- girl "A" -- to his study. He told her the caretaker Mr. Hepworth had told him she had been "necking" in the Green Room on the Monday afternoon. Mr. Guise had made a point in his statement that Mr. Hepworth had told him about this but Mr. Hepworth said that he had only complained that there had been children in the room and that he had not mentioned anything indecent there or had even mentioned the girls' names.
The girl agreed with Mr. Guise that she had been necking. He told her he could not let things like this happen in a mixed school. He could make a public disgrace of the girl in front of the whole school. But not only would this go around the school. It would go around Helston and might also prejudice her entry into college.
The headmaster then told her "We can keep this private if you agree to be spanked by Mrs. Smith and me -- if you have the guts to take a spanking and keep quiet about it ..."
She told him she was prepared to be spanked as a form of punishment and she was told if she wrote a letter to him it would be all right. He did not dictate the letter to her but he did tell her what items he wanted included.
Secret
This letter was available to the Court. It said in effect that the girl was content to take her punishment in the form of a spanking. Mr. Guise then told her he could only punish her by spanking if she agreed to keep the whole matter secret and not tell anyone about it.
The next stage was that the girl was sent to Mrs. Smith's study and shortly afterwards Mrs. Smith came in. Mr. Guise followed her in and showed her the letter the girl had written.
He then told the girl to take off her jumper, skirt and under-skirt and to tuck her blouse in her knickers and pull up her knickers so that the buttocks were exposed. Mr. Guise and Mrs. Smith then lifted a table across the door.
"One wonders why that took place," Mr. Wood continued. "The reason probably is that the door of the study had no key and no doubt the table was put across to stop people coming in."
Mr. Guise told the girl to lean over the narrow end of the table. He told her to pull up her knickers again so that the buttocks were exposed. He stood behind the table on the girl's left and told her to hold his right hand. He also told the girl to look at him.
Mrs. Smith stood behind the girl and started to hit her on both buttocks with the back of the brush which he produced. The girl had said she hit her pretty hard and it hurt.
In her statement the girl added "I don't know how many times she hit me. I counted up to seven and then stopped counting. Mrs. Smith stopped hitting me. Mr. Guise asked me 'Are you sorry? Are you ashamed?' I said 'Yes.' He also asked me this again when Mrs. Smith hit me again later."
Mr. Guise then made the girl kneel between his knees sideways on and bend over as though to touch her toes. He got hold of her hands behind her back and then started to hit her with the same brush on her buttocks. He hit her a number of times -- the girl said about the same amount as Mrs. Smith.
She was allowed to get up and Mr. Guise said "She does not look very sorry. Perhaps she had better have some more." He told her to lean over the table again and once more Mrs. Smith hit her with the brush quite a number of times. The girl said it hurt very much more this time.
After Mrs. Smith had finished Mr. Guise put the girl over his knee once more and hit her again, again holding her hands behind her back. The girl said this hurt an "awful lot."
He stopped and asked her if she was sorry. She said she was sorry. Mr. Guise told her to stand over the table again. Mr. Guise and Mrs. Smith looked at her buttocks to see how bad the bruises were. Mr. Guise placed his hand on each of the girl's buttocks in turn and asked her if it hurt. She told him it did.
Mr. Wood commented that it was probably not too painful at the time because her buttocks were really rather numbed after the number of blows she had had.
Rather dazed
The girl would have told the court she felt rather dazed and generally bewildered. For the next few days she was most unhappy. She had indigestion and could not eat and it generally had a marked effect on her.
In addition to this for the next two days Mr. Guise called her to his study and made her show him her bruises and he looked at them.
The prosecutor added "I am not suggesting that there was anything indecent about this. Probably Mr. Guise realised he had hit the girl too hard and was most anxious to see he had not done any lasting damage which would of necessity have meant the whole matter being brought into the open."
The girl's family doctor who examined her some 50 hours afterwards, found considerable bruising covering a very large area of about 72 square inches, 42 inches on the right side and 30 inches on the left with considerable thickening of the skin and hardening underneath the tissues. Pinpoints of blood showed.
This girl had said very fairly and frankly that she bruised easily, which might account to some extent for the very large area bruised.
Mr. Wood added "Nevertheless, medical evidence shows that this was a very severe beating."
The second girl was also called to Mr. Guise's study. He told her he had a serious matter to discuss. It was very serious because this was a mixed school. He would have to punish her and could either make this public and have her name bandied about Helston or she could be spanked in Mrs. Smith's study in private. The girl decided to have the spanking.
She was given a piece of paper and told to write how sorry she was and that she would agree to be spanked and not speak to anyone about the whole affair.
She told Mr. Guise she objected to being spanked by him as he was not her father. He said he was acting in loco parentis.
About 2.30 p.m. she went to his study and got the clothes brush from the cupboard where the other girl had returned it. They went to Mrs. Smith's room where he told her to tell Mrs. Smith she agreed to being spanked by him and the senior mistress. She promised not to tell anyone about it.
She was told to take off her jumper, skirt and underskirt and she helped Mr. Guise to put the table across the door. One of them asked her what she was wearing under her gym pants and she said she was wearing a pantee girdle combined. She was requested to take this off. She did this and replaced her gym pants.
Held her hand
Mr. Wood went on to describe how the girl was also made to lean over the table while the headmaster took hold of her hand and told her to look at him. Mrs. Smith pulled up her pants to expose the buttocks and then hit them with the brush.
To quote the girl's own words "It hurt terribly. I cried and looked away from Mr. Guise. He said 'Look at me, please,' and while I was being hit by the brush he held my hands in his."
Mr. Guise explained the hand-holding and the looking in the face in his statement which would be read later.
When the beating stopped Mr. Guise stood behind and put his hand on both of her buttocks, asking if it hurt. He sat down on a chair and told the girl that he would spank her over his knee. She bent over his knees and while he held her hands behind her back he hit her several times with the brush.
The girl had said "It hurt much more this time and I cried out several times. Mrs. Smith stood and watched." After this she was allowed to get up and dress in a corner of the room.
She, too, had to go to the head's study. She said he told her to take down her gym pants to see if there were any marks on her buttocks. He told her to bend over and said "Does it hurt." She said "No."
Mr. Wood said it was perfectly clear she had far less of a beating than the other girl, probably because she reacted far more. Perhaps Mr. Guise and Mrs. Smith realised they had been over-hard. He said "Certainly the first girl had a very severe beating and to her great credit took it like a trooper."
But the effect on the second girl was very substantial. The day after she was at home and her mother found her crying hysterically and she was extremely distressed. Eventually she told her mother what had happened and it was with great difficulty that they stopped her sobbing. The girl was so upset that she was about to go and see her priest. The police were informed.
The girl's doctor found bruising consistent with severe beating. Det. Inspector Williams made enquiries, seeing both defendants. He first saw Mrs. Smith who made two statements.
She originally explained that the Headmaster had told her the caretaker had reported two girls had been seen embracing boys in the Green Room. Later he called her into his room and showed the first girl's signed statement that she was prepared to take a beating rather than public exposure. The girl told her she was prepared for this. Mrs. Smith went on to describe the beating.
She had stopped beating the girl once or twice but Mr. Guise instructed her to go on. She did so until he told her to stop.
Took it bravely
She continued "I got the impression he thought she was unrepentant. He asked her if she was really sorry then he looked across at me and asked me if I thought she had had enough. I said yes because I thought she had. He told me to beat her again and he himself beat her again over his knee. The girl took it very bravely. He told her to bend over and called me to look, and he himself touched her buttocks with his hand and asked her if it hurt. Then the headmaster shook hands with her and said it would all be forgotten."
Mrs. Smith also stated "I would like to say that I am only the senior mistress, not the headmistress or even deputy head. Therefore I have to take orders from the headmaster. I know the county regulations permit a headmaster to instruct a senior mistress to beat girls. I do not know why he instructed me to give her a second beating after he had given her one himself. I think the headmaster thought she was still unrepentant. I think the second beating was unreasonable because she was quite badly bruised. I think it was unwise of the headmaster to touch her buttocks but I did not interfere because it would have undermined his influence with the pupils."
Of the second girl's case, Mrs. Smith said this one had made a similar statement and she confirmed it to the mistress. The headmaster told the girl to take off her suspender belt and put on her navy knickers again. She went into the corner to do this while he stood by the door where it was quite impossible for him to see her.
Mrs. Smith went on to describe the second girl's beating. He instructed the mistress to hit her but she did not think she gave her more than half a dozen. Then the headmaster repeated the beating over his knees. The girl whimpered quite a little.
The mistress continued in her statement "I do think this beating was quite a reasonable one and was not too severe nor too long. I do think the headmaster was unwise to touch the girl's buttocks and in pulling up her knickers but I was under his instructions and felt it improper to interfere."
Mr. Wood turned to the headmaster. Mr. Guise, he said, had made one statement which extended over two days. Beginning it the head said, "I would like to point out that Helston Grammar School is a mixed school, and misbehaviour of this sort is something we have to take very great care about, particularly in view of present trends. My senior mistress and I have always made it clear that any misdemeanours of this type will have the severest penalties. We have had cases of pregnant girls and I have been called in by parents. It would be culpable if we did not try to deter children from promiscuous conduct of this sort. This was a situation which seemed full of dangerous possibilities."
Isolated
He went on to explain that the Green Room was very isolated. It was behind the school and did not have windows like the classrooms.
Mr. Guise spoke about interviewing the girls. He had not found it necessary to send for Mrs. Smith at this stage. She had a lot of responsibility with the sixth form and was also careers mistress.
He had told the girls separately he would have to consider demoting them which would mean public disgrace and do the school a lot of harm as this was an area where gossip expanded very fast. He had given them the alternative of being spanked by Mrs. Smith and himself. The first girl had no hesitation and asked him to make it the spanking. He told her it must be kept quite private by her as well as him otherwise he would have to see her parents.
The table was put across the door because there was no key. He had the girls stand with their legs apart to keep them in a steady position. He took their hands to stop them interfering with the punishment. He told them to look at him so that he could see any signs of distress and stop the spanking.
With the first girl at one stage Mrs. Smith stopped and looked at him. He nodded for her to continue the hitting because there were no signs of distress. It was not true that she was made to kneel. She did so on her own, and she put herself over his knees. He held the hands behind her back while he spanked her to hold her steady and put his right foot over her calves for the same reason. He told her he did not think she was sorry because he did not feel she was. He asked Mrs. Smith if she thought they should continue. Mrs. Smith was a little deaf and he did not know whether or not she heard him properly. She did not answer and he decided the spanking should continue. When the second spanking ceased he told the girl "I think you are sorry now."
Both he and Mrs. Smith looked to see if she was bruised and one of them, or perhaps both, pressed the buttocks to see if the bruise was spreading. Later that day she examined the girl again and felt the bruise to see if it was a bad one or not. It did not seem particularly severe. The same thing happened the next day when she mentioned that she bruised easily.
To the second girl he had made it clear the spanking would be by both him and Mrs. Smith. She hesitated and he explained he was doing this in loco parentis. In the mistress' room it was agreed the girl would also have to take off her belt and he looked out of the window while she was doing this. Of his own share in the beating he said he gave her several smacks but did not remember if she cried out. He knew she did not take it so quietly or so well as the other one and made more noise. He told her he would like to check if there was any bruising when she came to his study. She started to pull down her knickers but he stopped this because he had already satisfied himself the bruising was light. It was not true that she was told to take down her knickers. He did not want her to do that, and he stopped her as he saw what she was doing.
Resignation
Mr. Wood continued that on May 5 Mr. Guise wrote to Mr. J.L. Harries, Secretary of Education for Cornwall a letter of resignation. He had said the investigation clearly made it impossible for him to continue as headmaster, though of course these allegations were emphatically denied. It appeared to him that the right thing to do was to offer his resignation which would assist the running of the school in the present circumstances.
He asked the secretary not to infer in tendering his resignation he was accepting that he had acted with any impropriety. He added "I have always had the best interest of the school at heart and it is in the belief that I can best further those interests that I have reached this decision, a very distressing one to have to make."
But, said Mr. Wood, Mr. Guise must have known he had broken the education regulations that the headmaster is not the right one to punish girls. He was well aware of that fact. In the first girl's case there had been a very merciless beating. The second one was not nearly so severe, but it had an even greater effect on its recipient. The punishment inflicted by Mr. Guise and Mrs. Smith was clearly excessive."
Mr. Wood emphasised that the reason these girls got this punishment was merely cuddling and kissing. One accepted that discipline was very necessary and that headmasters had to be very careful and strict.
He added "It is perhaps of some interest and significance that the boys who were involved were not punished in any way. One of them was not even called to the headmaster's study."
He was called up for service with the London Fire Brigade where his services were no longer required in 1944. In 1945 he went to Adams Grammar School in Newport until he was appointed head at Helston in 1953. He was due to have retired in July this year. No convictions were recorded against him.
Mrs. Smith was 58 and was born near Barnsley, Yorkshire. She had a son of 23 and a daughter 18. She gained her B.A. Honours degree at the University College, London and was a mistress at Willesden until 1951 when she came to the Helston Grammar School.
Questioned by Mr. Hutchison, the detective inspector agreed that he had heard both these people were of the highest character. Asked if it were not a fact that Mr. Guise had helped the enquiries fully, he said, "I would not entirely go along with that. He was the most difficult man I have ever had to take a statement from."
Solicitor present
He agreed the statement dealt with all the matters after Mr. Guise had been told he need not say anything at all. But at one stage the first day he had telephoned his solicitor. The second day his solicitor had been present at the interview.
[...]
In his plea to the Bench, Mr. Hutchison said Mr. Guise had announced his intention to retire before these events occurred. Of the fact that the boys had not been punished, he said it was a rule of the school that anyone who owned up to a breach of the rules would not be punished. One of the boys had done this and accordingly was not punished. He had learned from him the name of the other boy, but he did not feel himself at liberty to use this and he had no independent witness as to the other boy's name. If he had learned the name from an independent source the boy would certainly have been punished.
Not tolerated
Mr. Guise had been due to retire at the end of this term after ten years in which he had made this an extraordinarily good school. [...]
He made two mistakes which he now accepted. The first was beating these girls himself. He now recognised this was unwise and he should not have done so. His reason at the time was that he had grave doubts whether Mrs. Smith by herself would be able to cope with the situation. He thought it necessary to be there to assist.
His second mistake was going too far, and he now recognised that as well. He knew now he should not have beaten these two girls so hard.
Here was a man who had built up a good school, a strict disciplinarian who was faced with a serious situation just before he was about to retire. This might well lead to an error of judgment. But at the same time he had been suffering from bad health. [...]
He very much regretted that the result of what occurred has been that these two girls who had elected to be punished so that they should not be disgraced had now had full publicity given to them and he was particularly concerned that this should have happened as a result of his actions.
Highest regard
He also regretted that Mrs. Smith was also charged with these two offences. He had the highest regard for her and her work at school was beyond praise. But in this case he was the headmaster and he told Mr. Hutchison that the responsibility for the decision was his. He was in charge and she was subject to his instructions. [...]
For Mrs. Smith, Mr. McCreery said that the question of corporal punishment was open to divided opinion. [...]
This question of corporal punishment for girls had been much discussed between Mr. Guise and Mrs. Smith through the years. She made it clear to him that the parents should always be consulted beforehand. Mr. Guise had made his attitude quite clear. He was the headmaster and she the subordinate and the decision on these matters was entirely his. He thought it proper to administer corporal punishment.
In this case he told her he thought a beating must be given and asked her to give it. She told him she thought the parents should be called in. But after assembly the next day Mr. Guise called in the girl and sent Mrs. Smith to her room. At that time she knew nothing about the agreement on the spanking. The first she knew of it was when the headmaster brought the girl to her room with the agreement she had signed. Even then she thought it would be reasonable chastisement, but it went too far.
[...]
The Bench announced their decision after a short retirement, the chairman stating that they had taken into account the previous good characters of both defendants. |
elections Buttigieg says Stacey Abrams was robbed in Georgia governor's race
Pete Buttigieg said on Thursday that Stacey Abrams was robbed of the governorship of Georgia, blaming voter suppression for her narrow loss last year.
“Stacey Abrams ought to be the governor of Georgia,” Buttigieg said to applause at the Democratic National Committee’s African American Leadership Summit in Atlanta.
“When racially motivated voter suppression is permitted, when districts are drawn so that politicians get to choose their voters instead of the other way around, when money is allowed to outvote people in this country, we cannot truly say we live in a democracy,” he continued.
Abrams, who lost to Republican Brian Kemp, was edged out by fewer than 55,000 votes, but still made history as the first African American woman to secure the Democratic nomination for governor.
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She has since maintained a high public profile, delivering the Democratic response to the State of the Union address in February and openly flirting with a 2020 presidential run.
She has also been courted by the current Democratic White House contenders. Both Buttigieg and Beto O’Rourke were expected to meet privately with Abrams on the sidelines of the leadership summit this week.
Buttigieg’s appearance at the summit is part of an effort to boost his standing with black voters. In a recent poll, the South Bend mayor only won 2 percent of the support of black voters, a key part of the Democratic base. He has publicly acknowledged that he needs to do more to win over African Americans, and he’s pledged to build a campaign team that reflects the country’s diversity.
|
using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting;
using Tug.UnitTesting;
namespace Tug.Client
{
[TestClass]
public class ClassicPullServerProtocolCompatibilityTests : ProtocolCompatibilityTestsBase
{
[ClassInitialize]
public new static void ClassInit(TestContext ctx)
{
ProtocolCompatibilityTestsBase.ClassInit(ctx);
}
[TestMethod]
public void TestRegisterDscAgent()
{
var config = BuildConfig();
using (var client = new DscPullClient(config))
{
client.RegisterDscAgent().Wait();
}
}
[TestMethod]
public void TestRegisterDscAgent_BadContent_AgentInfo()
{
var config = BuildConfig(newAgentId: true);
// Add an unexpected property
config.AgentInformation["foo"] = "bar";
using (var client = new DscPullClient(config))
{
TugAssert.ThrowsExceptionWhen<AggregateException>(
condition: (ex) =>
ex.InnerException is HttpRequestException
&& ex.InnerException.Message.Contains(
"Response status code does not indicate success: 400 (Bad Request)"),
action: () =>
client.RegisterDscAgent().Wait(),
message:
"Throws HTTP exception for bad request (400)");
}
}
[TestMethod]
public void TestRegisterDscAgent_BadContent_CertInfo()
{
var config = BuildConfig(newAgentId: true);
// Add an unexpected property
config.CertificateInformation["foo"] = "bar";
using (var client = new DscPullClient(config))
{
TugAssert.ThrowsExceptionWhen<AggregateException>(
condition: (ex) =>
ex.InnerException is HttpRequestException
&& ex.InnerException.Message.Contains(
"Response status code does not indicate success: 400 (Bad Request)"),
action: () =>
client.RegisterDscAgent().Wait(),
message:
"Throws HTTP exception for bad request (400)");
}
}
[TestMethod]
public void TestRegisterDscAgent_NoRegKey()
{
var config = BuildConfig(newAgentId: true);
// Remove the RegKey
config.ConfigurationRepositoryServer.RegistrationKey = null;
using (var client = new DscPullClient(config))
{
TugAssert.ThrowsExceptionWhen<AggregateException>(
condition: (ex) =>
ex.InnerException is HttpRequestException
&& ex.InnerException.Message.Contains(
"Response status code does not indicate success: 401 (Unauthorized)"),
action: () =>
client.RegisterDscAgent().Wait(),
message:
"Throws HTTP exception for unauthorized (401)");
}
}
[TestMethod]
public void TestRegisterDscAgent_BadRegKey()
{
var config = BuildConfig(newAgentId: true);
// Force a bad RegKey
config.ConfigurationRepositoryServer.RegistrationKey = Guid.NewGuid().ToString();
using (var client = new DscPullClient(config))
{
TugAssert.ThrowsExceptionWhen<AggregateException>(
condition: (ex) =>
ex.InnerException is HttpRequestException
&& ex.InnerException.Message.Contains(
"Response status code does not indicate success: 401 (Unauthorized)"),
action: () =>
client.RegisterDscAgent().Wait(),
message:
"Throws HTTP exception for unauthorized (401)");
}
}
[TestMethod]
public void TestRegisterDscAgent_BadCert_FieldType()
{
var config = BuildConfig(newAgentId: true);
// Force bad/unexpected cert info
var badCert = new BadVersionTypeCertInfo(config.CertificateInformation)
{
Version = config.CertificateInformation.Version.ToString(),
};
config.CertificateInformation = badCert;
using (var client = new DscPullClient(config))
{
TugAssert.ThrowsExceptionWhen<AggregateException>(
condition: (ex) =>
ex.InnerException is HttpRequestException
// We test for one of two possible error codes, either
// 500 which is returned from Classic DSC Pull Server or
// 400 which is returned from Tug Server which could not
// easily or practically reproduce the same error condition
&& (ex.InnerException.Message.Contains(
"Response status code does not indicate success: 500 (Internal Server Error)")
|| ex.InnerException.Message.Contains(
"Response status code does not indicate success: 400 (Bad Request)")),
action: () =>
client.RegisterDscAgent().Wait(),
message:
"Throws HTTP exception for internal server error (500)");
}
}
[TestMethod]
public void TestRegisterDscAgent_BadCert_NewField()
{
var config = BuildConfig(newAgentId: true);
// Force bad/unexpected cert info
var badCert = new BadNewFieldCertInfo(config.CertificateInformation);
config.CertificateInformation = badCert;
using (var client = new DscPullClient(config))
{
TugAssert.ThrowsExceptionWhen<AggregateException>(
condition: (ex) =>
ex.InnerException is HttpRequestException
&& ex.InnerException.Message.Contains(
"Response status code does not indicate success: 400 (Bad Request)"),
action: () =>
client.RegisterDscAgent().Wait(),
message:
"Throws HTTP exception for unauthorized (401)");
}
}
[TestMethod]
public void TestRegisterDscAgent_BadCert_FieldOrder()
{
var config = BuildConfig(newAgentId: true);
// Force bad/unexpected cert info
var badCert = new BadFieldOrderCertInfo(config.CertificateInformation);
config.CertificateInformation = badCert;
using (var client = new DscPullClient(config))
{
TugAssert.ThrowsExceptionWhen<AggregateException>(
condition: (ex) =>
ex.InnerException is HttpRequestException
// We test for one of two possible error codes, either
// 401 which is returned from Classic DSC Pull Server or
// 400 which is returned from Tug Server which could not
// easily or practically reproduce the same error condition
&& (ex.InnerException.Message.Contains(
"Response status code does not indicate success: 401 (Unauthorized)")
|| ex.InnerException.Message.Contains(
"Response status code does not indicate success: 400 (Bad Request)")),
action: () =>
client.RegisterDscAgent().Wait(),
message:
"Throws HTTP exception for unauthorized (401)");
}
}
[TestMethod]
public void TestGetDscAction()
{
var config = BuildConfig();
using (var client = new DscPullClient(config))
{
client.RegisterDscAgent().Wait();
var actionResult = client.GetDscAction().Result;
Assert.IsNotNull(actionResult, "Action result is not null");
var resultArr = actionResult.ToArray();
Assert.AreEqual(1, resultArr.Length, "Number of action results");
Assert.AreEqual(config.ConfigurationNames.First(), resultArr[0]?.ConfigurationName,
"Action result config name");
Assert.AreEqual(Model.DscActionStatus.GetConfiguration, resultArr[0].Status,
"Action result status");
}
}
[TestMethod]
public void TestGetDscAction_BadContent_StatusItem()
{
var config = BuildConfig();
using (var client = new DscPullClient(config))
{
// Construct our own status item collection
var statusItems = new[] { new Model.ClientStatusItem() };
statusItems[0].ChecksumAlgorithm = "SHA-256";
statusItems[0].Checksum = "";
statusItems[0].ConfigurationName = config.ConfigurationNames.First();
// Inject one unexpected property
statusItems[0]["foo"] = "bar";
client.RegisterDscAgent().Wait();
TugAssert.ThrowsExceptionWhen<AggregateException>(
condition: (ex) =>
ex.InnerException is HttpRequestException
&& ex.InnerException.Message.Contains(
"Response status code does not indicate success: 400 (Bad Request)"),
action: () =>
client.GetDscAction(statusItems).Wait(),
message:
"Throws HTTP exception for bad request (400)");
}
}
[TestMethod]
public void TestGetDscAction_NonExistentConfig()
{
var config = BuildConfig(newAgentId: true);
config.ConfigurationNames = new[] { "NoSuchConfig" };
using (var client = new DscPullClient(config))
{
try
{
client.RegisterDscAgent().Wait();
var actionResult = client.GetDscAction(new[]
{
new Model.ClientStatusItem
{
ConfigurationName = "NoSuchConfig",
ChecksumAlgorithm = "SHA-256",
Checksum = "",
}
}).Result;
Assert.IsNotNull(actionResult, "Action result is not null");
var resultArr = actionResult.ToArray();
Assert.AreEqual(1, resultArr.Length, "Number of action results");
Assert.AreEqual("NoSuchConfig", resultArr[0]?.ConfigurationName,
"Action result config name");
Assert.AreEqual(Model.DscActionStatus.RETRY, resultArr[0].Status,
"Action result status");
}
catch (AggregateException ex)
when (ex.InnerException.Message.Contains(
"Response status code does not indicate success: 404 (Not Found)"))
{
Assert.IsInstanceOfType(ex.InnerException,
typeof(HttpRequestException),
"Expected HTTP exception for missing config");
}
}
}
[TestMethod]
public void TestGetConfiguration()
{
var config = BuildConfig();
using (var client = new DscPullClient(config))
{
client.RegisterDscAgent().Wait();
var actionResult = client.GetDscAction(new[]
{
new Model.ClientStatusItem
{
ConfigurationName = "TestConfig1",
ChecksumAlgorithm = "SHA-256",
Checksum = "",
}
}).Result;
Assert.IsNotNull(actionResult, "Action result is not null");
var resultArr = actionResult.ToArray();
Assert.AreEqual(1, resultArr.Length, "Number of action results");
Assert.AreEqual("TestConfig1", resultArr[0]?.ConfigurationName,
"Action result config name");
Assert.AreEqual(Model.DscActionStatus.GetConfiguration, resultArr[0].Status,
"Action result status");
var configResult = client.GetConfiguration(resultArr[0]?.ConfigurationName).Result;
Assert.IsNotNull(configResult?.Content, "Configuration content not null");
Assert.AreNotEqual(0, configResult.Content.Length, "Configuration content length > 0");
}
}
[TestMethod]
public void TestGetConfiguration_Content()
{
// Get path and content of expected results
var myPath = typeof(ClassicPullServerProtocolCompatibilityTests).GetTypeInfo().Assembly.Location;
var myDir = Path.GetDirectoryName(myPath);
var dscDir = Path.Combine(myDir, "../../../../../../tools/ci/DSC");
var mofPath = Path.Combine(dscDir, "StaticTestConfig.mof");
var csumPath = Path.Combine(dscDir, "StaticTestConfig.mof.checksum");
var mofBody = File.ReadAllText(mofPath);
var csumBody = File.ReadAllText(csumPath);
var config = BuildConfig(newAgentId: true);
config.ConfigurationNames = new[] { "StaticTestConfig" };
using (var client = new DscPullClient(config))
{
client.RegisterDscAgent().Wait();
var actionResult = client.GetDscAction(new[]
{
new Model.ClientStatusItem
{
ConfigurationName = "StaticTestConfig",
ChecksumAlgorithm = "SHA-256",
Checksum = "",
}
}).Result;
Assert.IsNotNull(actionResult, "Action result is not null");
var resultArr = actionResult.ToArray();
Assert.AreEqual(1, resultArr.Length, "Number of action results");
Assert.AreEqual("StaticTestConfig", resultArr[0]?.ConfigurationName,
"Action result config name");
Assert.AreEqual(Model.DscActionStatus.GetConfiguration, resultArr[0].Status,
"Action result status");
var configResult = client.GetConfiguration(resultArr[0]?.ConfigurationName).Result;
Assert.IsNotNull(configResult?.Content, "Configuration content not null");
Assert.AreNotEqual(0, configResult.Content.Length, "Configuration content length > 0");
Assert.AreEqual(csumBody, configResult.Checksum, "Expected MOF config checksum");
// The fixed content is expected to be in UTF-16 Little Endian (LE)
var configBody = Encoding.Unicode.GetString(configResult.Content);
// Skip the BOM
configBody = configBody.Substring(1);
Assert.AreEqual(mofBody, configBody, "Expected MOF config content");
}
}
[TestMethod]
public void TestGetModule_Content()
{
var modName = "xPSDesiredStateConfiguration";
var modVers = "5.1.0.0";
// Get path and content of expected results
var myPath = typeof(ClassicPullServerProtocolCompatibilityTests).GetTypeInfo().Assembly.Location;
var myDir = Path.GetDirectoryName(myPath);
var dscDir = Path.Combine(myDir, "../../../../../../tools/ci/DSC");
var modPath = Path.Combine(dscDir, $"{modName}_{modVers}.zip");
var csumPath = Path.Combine(dscDir, $"{modName}_{modVers}.zip.checksum");
var modBody = File.ReadAllBytes(modPath);
var csumBody = File.ReadAllText(csumPath);
var config = BuildConfig();
using (var client = new DscPullClient(config))
{
client.RegisterDscAgent().Wait();
var moduleResult = client.GetModule(modName, modVers).Result;
Assert.IsNotNull(moduleResult?.Content, "Module content not null");
Assert.AreNotEqual(0, moduleResult.Content.Length, "Module content length > 0");
Assert.AreEqual(csumBody, moduleResult.Checksum, "Expected module checksum");
Assert.AreEqual(modBody.Length, moduleResult.Content.Length, "Expected module content size");
CollectionAssert.AreEqual(modBody, moduleResult.Content, "Expected module content");
}
}
public class BadVersionTypeCertInfo : Model.CertificateInformation
{
public BadVersionTypeCertInfo(Model.CertificateInformation copyFrom) : base(copyFrom)
{ }
public new string FriendlyName { get; set; }
public new string Issuer { get; set; }
public new string NotAfter { get; set; }
public new string NotBefore { get; set; }
public new string Subject { get; set; }
public new string PublicKey { get; set; }
public new string Thumbprint { get; set; }
// This is expected to be a number not a string
public new string Version
{ get; set; }
}
public class BadNewFieldCertInfo : Model.CertificateInformation
{
public BadNewFieldCertInfo(Model.CertificateInformation copyFrom) : base(copyFrom)
{ }
public new string FriendlyName { get; set; }
public new string Issuer { get; set; }
public new string NotAfter { get; set; }
public new string NotBefore { get; set; }
public new string Subject { get; set; }
public new string PublicKey { get; set; }
public new string Thumbprint { get; set; }
public new int Version { get; set; }
// This is not a valid CertInfo field
public string Foo
{ get; set; } = "BAR";
}
public class BadFieldOrderCertInfo : Model.CertificateInformation
{
public BadFieldOrderCertInfo(Model.CertificateInformation copyFrom) : base(copyFrom)
{ }
// Redefining this field forces it to
// go to the top of serialization order
public new int Version { get; set; }
}
}
}
|
This story has been corrected to reflect that the six people were fired after an internal investigation of an issue that was flagged by a KPMG employee to management. It has also been updated to reflect that regulators were brought in by management.
This story was revised to correct the product for which Microsoft announced it is ending support. It is Windows Vista. Steve Ballmer is former CEO of Microsoft. An earlier version misstated his status. |
Prime Minister Narendra Modi wearing a protective mask chaired a meeting with chief ministers to discuss the coronavirus situation in the country. The Modi government will have to re-evaluate India's relations with the world in post-coronavirus era. (Photo: PTI)
Man is by nature a social animal. This is perhaps the most quoted statement of Greek philosopher Aristotle. It is this human nature that has led to the immense success of globalisation. Like humans, nations too felt the need for cohesion and cooperation.
The World War II accelerated the process of globalisation. The human crisis called for greater collective action to fight off any future crisis. Three key institutions founded after World War II - the United Nations, the World Health Organisation and the World Bank -- were expected to avert a global crisis.
Observers have flagged novel coronavirus pandemic as the biggest human crisis since World War II. On evidence, all three, the UN, the WHO and the World Bank, have failed the world as novel coronavirus hit country after country and destroyed their economies. All three face a serious challenge to their credibility, and this challenge is a major lesson for India to fend for itself and prepare itself better for future global human crisis.
First, the failure of the WHO in preventing the novel coronavirus outbreak of China from becoming a pandemic.
What makes novel coronavirus or Covid-19 outbreak dangerous is its human-to-human transmission, both from symptomatic and asymptomatic infected persons. The WHO is a UN-affiliated body with global presence. It is expected to pass on a disease alert, more so in the cases of fast-transmission contagion, to member countries.
Taiwan says it learnt about human-to-human transmission of novel coronavirus infection in Wuhan in December, and alerted the International Health Regulations (IHR) of the WHO the same month. A huge number of Taiwan nationals work on mainland China including in Wuhan, the coronavirus ground-zero.
Taiwan also sent the same information to China on December 31, which is incidentally the day when China first informed the WHO about still a mysterious disease caused by novel coronavirus.
The IHR is a WHO framework for exchange for epidemic prevention and response data to be shared among 196 member countries. Taiwan is not a member of the WHO under Chinese influence. The global body does not recognise Taiwan as a separate country.
Taiwan later accusing the WHO of ignoring its warning said the inputs from all countries are posted on the IHR websites as a global alert while Taiwanese warning of novel coronavirus outbreak and its human to human transmission was ignored. Taiwan said it had learnt about some doctors testing positive for novel coronavirus after treating Covid-19 patients in Wuhan.
This was a critical piece of information that the WHO could have shared with rest of the world by the end of 2019. It did not. The WHO depended solely on Chinese authorities, who were accused by the local population as well as some independent observers of covering up the coronavirus outbreak fearing economic repercussions.
China on January 20 admitted to "limited" human to human transmission. While panic was spreading in other countries, the WHO still maintained that there was no need for a complete travel ban to and from China.
Many countries, particularly, the European ones apparently responded late to the travel ban and stricter screening of passengers to and from China. The China-Europe and China-US travel routes are among the busiest ones in the world. The novel coronavirus spread taking these routes.
Novel coronavirus brings an economic crisis everywhere it travels. Recently, Ebola outbreak in Africa had a similar effect in the poor countries of the region. A pandemic financing instrument was devised in 2017 to deal with a similar health emergency or crisis.
It is called Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF) - also pandemic bond -- and was launched to "save millions of lives and entire economies" in the wake of any pandemic outbreak.
The current novel coronavirus pandemic came only two years after its launch but the World Bank waited for almost three months before announcing the first set of aid projects. By then, over 1 million people had already been infected and more than 51,000 had died. India is to get $1 billion in installments. Clearly, the World Bank was slow to respond to the novel coronavirus crisis.
But the most baffling of all has been the response of the United Nations, particularly its Security Council. Go back to 2019 decision of the Narendra Modi government to withdraw Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, and reorganise the erstwhile state of the Union.
At that time, China continuously pestered for a discussion on the Kashmir issue in the UNSC while the general international opinion was that the changes made were an internal matter of India. China even forced a closed-door meeting over the Kashmir issue, presenting it as a security threat to the region and the world.
The same China, using its veto, did not allow injunctions on some terror groups in Pakistan for years. But in the case of novel coronavirus pandemic, it blocked any discussion on the Covid-19 situation in the UNSC in March, when it was the rotational chairman of the most powerful body in the UN. It is certain to block any such move in future using its veto in the UNSC. The credibility of the UN is not being questioned without reason.
But China is not the only one to be held accountable for this crisis of credibility of the UN. Secretary General Antonio Guterres's response to the crisis follows a template similar to the WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Both have appeared too soft or "scared" of China.
While Guterres sang the same tune as China on Kashmir and later also on controversial the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in India, he looked looking away when novel coronavirus started wreaking havoc across continents.
In fact, he undertook a visit to Pakistan as late as February 16-19, and spoke about Kashmir but offered just a general prescription as the UN chief for the world when on the question of Chinese role or failure in preventing spread of novel coronavirus. His response looks very similar to Ghebreyesus's response on the China question where he warned about the dangers of "politicising" novel coronavirus pandemic.
All countries are largely left to bat for themselves. China offered help to some countries. So did Venezuela. But not too many efforts with the possible exception of India - through a special SAARC fund and call for collective response from G-20 - have been seen during coronavirus crisis.
Here is a lesson for India to learn. It cannot depend on the institutions of globalisation for dealing with any future crisis. And, that no country can deal with a crisis of pandemic scale on its own. India needs to redefine its diplomatic alignments.
Groups such as NAM may be redefined and revived by India admitting China as the new global power and hence threat. India needs to strengthen its relations with European powers, think of a new regional bloc instead of SAARC, and focus more on Quad - India, Australia, Japan and the US - and Quad Plus - also including South Korea, New Zealand and Vietnam. The old globalised order is a thing of the past. This is the loudest message for India from the novel coronavirus crisis. |
# /etc/default/nss
# This file can theoretically contain a bunch of customization variables
# for Name Service Switch in the GNU C library. For now there are only
# four variables:
#
# NETID_AUTHORITATIVE
# If set to TRUE, the initgroups() function will accept the information
# from the netid.byname NIS map as authoritative. This can speed up the
# function significantly if the group.byname map is large. The content
# of the netid.byname map is used AS IS. The system administrator has
# to make sure it is correctly generated.
#NETID_AUTHORITATIVE=TRUE
#
# SERVICES_AUTHORITATIVE
# If set to TRUE, the getservbyname{,_r}() function will assume
# services.byservicename NIS map exists and is authoritative, particularly
# that it contains both keys with /proto and without /proto for both
# primary service names and service aliases. The system administrator
# has to make sure it is correctly generated.
#SERVICES_AUTHORITATIVE=TRUE
#
# SETENT_BATCH_READ
# If set to TRUE, various setXXent() functions will read the entire
# database at once and then hand out the requests one by one from
# memory with every getXXent() call. Otherwise each getXXent() call
# might result into a network communication with the server to get
# the next entry.
#SETENT_BATCH_READ=TRUE
#
# ADJUNCT_AS_SHADOW
# If set to TRUE, the passwd routines in the NIS NSS module will not
# use the passwd.adjunct.byname tables to fill in the password data
# in the passwd structure. This is a security problem if the NIS
# server cannot be trusted to send the passwd.adjuct table only to
# privileged clients. Instead the passwd.adjunct.byname table is
# used to synthesize the shadow.byname table if it does not exist.
#ADJUNCT_AS_SHADOW=TRUE
|
Bag Attributes
localKeyID: E7 47 03 92 87 C2 13 AA D2 64 83 7F E3 21 B5 CE 86 91 D5 66
friendlyName: Different Policies Test4 EE
subject=/C=US/O=Test Certificates 2011/CN=Different Policies EE Certificate Test4
issuer=/C=US/O=Test Certificates 2011/CN=Good subCA
-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----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-----END CERTIFICATE-----
Bag Attributes
localKeyID: E7 47 03 92 87 C2 13 AA D2 64 83 7F E3 21 B5 CE 86 91 D5 66
friendlyName: Different Policies Test4 EE
Key Attributes: <No Attributes>
-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
Proc-Type: 4,ENCRYPTED
DEK-Info: DES-EDE3-CBC,78D7FC965498441D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-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
|
Multiply twinned morphologies of FePt and CoPt nanoparticles.
Based on large-scale density functional theory calculations we provide a systematic overview of the size dependence of the energetic order and magnetic properties of various morphologies of FePt and CoPt clusters with diameters of up to 2.5 nm. For FePt, ordered multiply twinned icosahedra and decahedra are more favorable than the L1_(0) phase throughout the investigated size range. For CoPt, segregated morphologies predominate with considerably increased energy differences to the L1_(0) structure. The compositional trends are traced back to differences between the morphologies in the partial electronic density of states associated with the 3d element. |
[GENDER VARIABILITY OF MORPHOFUNCTIONAL INDICES IN ADOLESCENTS OF MOUNTAIN ALTAI].
Gender differences in the functioning of the organism of teenagers in extreme climatic conditions of the environment are not been well understood. We estimated the variability of morphofunctional indices in adolescents aged of 11-16 years residing in lowlands and midlands of Mountain Altai in dependence on area of residence, age, and gender The variability of morphological and functional indices of male and female body in a critical period of ontogenesis was found to be dependent in varying degrees on the climatic conditions of the Mountainous Altai. Revealed significant differences in morphofunctional indices depending on the area in boys are more signifcant than in girls. In male adolescents, residing in middleland unlike peers of lowland there was noted functional exertion of the cardiovascular system, as well as delay in physical and sexual development. It testifies about the gender variability of adaptation of an organism depending on factors of environment and higher sensitivity of a male organism during the period of puberty to external negative influences. |
In the great themes of the Bible, we find two Babylons. In the Old Testament, Babylon was one of the great world empires, headed by visionary kings like Nebuchadnezzar. The book of Daniel largely takes place there, with the prophet and his three friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego under the rule of this foreign government. God sometimes used the alien kingdom of Babylon to discipline his own people of Israel (see Jeremiah 25).
The two most notable features of Babylon’s rule seem to be a pattern of rebellion against heaven and God’s decrees, and also a determination to enforce worship with civil might. It’s clear in Daniel chapter 3 that King Nebuchadnezzar had no concept of a wall of separation between church and state! If a man didn’t bow down to his golden image, the fiery furnaces were waiting for him.
In the final prophetic pages of the New Testament, though, we find a different kind of spiritual Babylon being predicted. In chapter 14, three mighty angels fly through the heavens warning the people of earth to leave a great but fallen kingdom again called Babylon. John uses the colorful metaphor of adultery or fornication to describe a church or movement that has betrayed God, and verse 8 describes how this Babylon entity has literally forced the nations of the earth to “drink her maddening wine.” In chapter 18, Babylon is a wealthy and licentious power, rich from her excessive luxuries (v. 3).
Just one chapter (13) before Babylon is described by name, John vividly describes how in the last days people will be coerced into worshiping in a prescribed way or face execution. There will also be severe economic sanctions against any person who refuses to accept what is called this power’s “mark.”
It’s interesting to note that clear back in Genesis 11, rebellious descendants of Noah refused to trust in God’s promises that there would never be another flood. Instead, they chose to construct their own manmade skyscraper, the infamous tower of Babel. So it appears again that Babel — or Babylon — is always marked by a determination to oppose God and his authority as well as by an elaborate false gospel of works instead of grace.
During the time of the Protestant Reformation, virtually all of the foremost leaders in recovering Bible truth — men like Martin Luther, William Tyndale, and John Knox — studied the apostate trends of Christianity in the Dark Ages, and applied the term “Babylon” to the Church of Rome. It’s understandable why they came to this conclusion: doctrinal confusion was rampant in Europe, and the medieval church had authority to compel worship and excommunicate, torture, or kill religious dissidents.
Here in the last days of earth’s history, our best course is to always seek a pure and obedient grace relationship with Jesus . . . and be humbly watchful for any encroaching desire on the part of religious groups to impose their will on the rest of the human family. |
Are You an Influential Voice Within Your Family?
Would you like to have more influence, or would you like to see some of the less powerful members be listened to a little more?
According to an April, 2014 PWC research paper , the senior generation tends to overestimate their talent and capabilities, while underestimating those of the successor generation. “This sort of impasse can slow down decision-making, and lead to the phenomenon of the ‘sticky baton’, where the older generation hands over management of the firm in theory, but in practice retains complete control over everything that really matters,” the paper concluded.
Even when a family member isn’t the true patriarch or matriarch, members of the senior generation can still influence a discussion without meaning to because of the depth of their experience and the respect they command in the family. This is another example of the ‘sticky baton’. The influencer can impact decisions and their acceptance into the family and business without even having to say anything. Body language can shut down a new idea just as fast as a questioning remark, or more blatant subterfuge.
There are several ways of managing this influencing voice without making the person leave the room every time a discussion gets started.
In order to include the whole family in decisions, the decision process itself may need to be handled a bit differently. Changing the decision making process to encourage more styles can greatly improve the overall contribution of the family and increase the number of voices contributing to the discussion; and create a stronger, more unified collective voice. This increased voices lead to greater overall credibility of the family in the influencer’s eyes, and increases the buy-in on the decision. Many families pride themselves on their quick decision-making, but this can backfire as the family gets bigger.
An influencer may have become so because they are fast thinkers, and others may hold back because they need more time to think about the different angles of a decision. Slowing down the decision-making process allows different types of thinkers to participate in the discussion. For example, if a decision is broken down into steps, it creates space between information, decision and action. Introducing a topic over e-mail, creating a task force to research the topic, sharing the research with the family over e-mail and through a webinar, soliciting feedback through e-mail, holding conference calls or one-on-one conversations, gathering all feedback and incorporating it into a final recommendation—all of these steps prepare the family for a decision that incorporates as many voices as possible. Then the decision can be approved by the whole family either at a meeting or over email.
A slower, more methodical decision-making process may drive the family’s quick decision-makers crazy, but they will soon relax when they realize that involvement and healthy debate has gone way up in the family.
Some families find that slowing down the decision-making process actually increases the family’s overall efficiency. It becomes easier to make decisions without needing to have great debates on the smallest topics.
Another way to make decisions easy is to have a set of guiding principles, or values, upon which the whole family can agree. These values can be used as a measuring stick for every decision. The family should also have a stated mission – why they are working together for a common goal. This helps remind everyone when decision-making does get tough, that there is a reason to stick it out and see the decision to its final end. Also, the family needs to have an agreed upon vision. Any decision can be easily approved if it is shown to support the overall vision of the family and carries out the values.
Don’t forget–it’s critical that the influencer fully endorses whatever decision or change you are trying to implement in the family. In one family I work with, the family council chair checks in with 3 people before any major decision or implementation. They are all influencers (who often don’t agree with one another) and the chair needs to make sure that they are all on board, understand the history and background of the decision, and the recommended course of action before anything goes out to the family. This may seem like preferential treatment, but following this model has made it possible to implement change where before there was impasse. Some of the influencers in that family require weekly calls; others are ok with periodic emails or phone updates. This is the kind of commitment it takes to ensure that all of the influencers and the rest of the family are working together for the desired outcome. |
Affiliate Program
Motor Club of America sends out payments every Friday via direct deposit. Our pay period is from Sunday to Saturday. You'll just need a bank account to accept the payments. We make it easier for you.
Bonuses
You can earn income from our affiliate program solely on the performance of the individuals that you sign up. Here's an example: You tell your best friend about this awesome program to earn money. Your excited friend signs up, and you make $35. But that's not it. You'll also earn an additional 66 cents every time he/she has someone sign up too. This feature makes for very lucrative earning potential.
Membership
Each paid membership comes with the benefit of having your auto coverage and discounts. So you're not just paying $40 to join the affiliate program. You actually have a solid product too. Our business opportunity is just an added benefit to our amazing services.
Our program is completely risk free. You will receive a full refund if requested within three days. Any time afterwards is simply prorated for the amount you paid. Try it out, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain!
Training
We'll be there every step of the way to assist you throughout the process. That way you're never lost. Marketing will be the single most important part of your success with this income opportunity.
We spent countless hours creating a rich and engaging website just for you. Your job is to simply put the site in as many hands as possible. Some of our associates advertise on social media to broaden their marketing reach, but you're not limited to marketing just online. You have the option to speak to individuals directly. Remember, we're in the digital age now, so you'll reach far more people on the internet and throughout the entire country than you would locally. With the internet you have millions of people at your disposal to market to. However, never underestimate the power of a local campaign. We have plenty of very successful associates that only market offline and they are our top earners.
ShermoneAgent
Hello I am Shermone Johnson your motor club Independent Associate
I been an Associate with the company about three years helping individuals
to obtain a membership or becoming an Associate as well, Thank You for
Having me so that I could give you and your family a peace of mind.. |
The prompts she gave me were “a midi skirt, yellow, comfy shoes, or a splurge item.”
The timing was perfect as I am currently pulling my summer items out of storage, including this coral skirt. The shortest part hits me just below the knee and the longer portions make it a true midi skirt.
I paired my asymmetrical skirt with a floral blouse, pearls, and nude sandals. |
import { Accessibility } from '../../types';
import { gridRowNestedBehavior } from './gridRowNestedBehavior';
import { gridHeaderRowBehavior } from './gridHeaderRowBehavior';
/**
* @description
* Defines a behavior "gridHeaderRowBehavior" or "gridRowNestedBehavior" based on "header" property.
*/
export const gridRowBehavior: Accessibility<GridRowBehaviorProps> = props =>
props.header ? gridHeaderRowBehavior(props) : gridRowNestedBehavior(props);
export type GridRowBehaviorProps = {
/** Indicates if a table row is header. */
header?: boolean;
/** Indicated is table row is selected. */
selected?: boolean;
};
|
, -a - 3*u = a - 12. Let g(q) = 15*q + 10. Is g(a) a multiple of 31?
False
Let c be (-1 - -2 - 0)/(2/(-106)). Let b = c + 75. Does 5 divide b?
False
Suppose 25 = -5*o, 2*o + 1435 = 8*l - 3*l. Let s = l + -156. Suppose 5*j = -3*m + 127, 7*j + m = 2*j + s. Does 6 divide j?
False
Suppose -7*s = -10*s. Suppose -4*i - 2 - 26 = s. Is 7 a factor of i*(0 + 0 + -1)?
True
Let a(j) = -28*j - 15. Let p be a(-3). Suppose d = p + 32. Does 10 divide d?
False
Let c(f) = 2*f**2 - 3*f + 24. Suppose -6*x = -50 + 8. Is 38 a factor of c(x)?
False
Let a(l) = -l**3 + 3*l**2 + l. Let h be a(3). Suppose 0 = -5*p + h*y + 1414, 4*p = -y - 2*y + 1142. Is ((-6)/(-12))/(2/p) a multiple of 26?
False
Let k = -734 - -766. Is 9 a factor of k?
False
Let k(g) = g + 1. Let q(i) = 34*i + 10. Let b(p) = -20*k(p) + 2*q(p). Is 12 a factor of b(1)?
True
Let d(u) = 127*u - 211. Does 5 divide d(13)?
True
Let l = 14 - 16. Let c be (-486)/(-10) - l/5. Let n = c - 7. Does 11 divide n?
False
Let n be 4*(-2)/(-8)*2. Let m be n - 1 - 1/1. Suppose 14 + m = w. Does 8 divide w?
False
Let b = 1693 + -1325. Is 46 a factor of b?
True
Let k(l) = 47*l + 1. Let x(w) = -1. Let i(s) = 71*s - 3. Let c(p) = -i(p) + 4*x(p). Let t(m) = 5*c(m) + 7*k(m). Is t(-1) a multiple of 28?
True
Suppose 56499 = 117*h - 19551. Is h a multiple of 14?
False
Let y(r) = -r**2 + 11*r - 1. Let p be y(11). Does 19 divide p/8 + (-3647)/(-56)?
False
Does 6 divide 3 + -8 - (1 - 601)?
False
Suppose 104*m - 66 = 98*m. Does 6 divide m?
False
Let g = -6 - 59. Let j = 54 - g. Does 15 divide j?
False
Let v(p) = 20*p + 37. Is v(5) a multiple of 43?
False
Suppose 21*p = 24*p - 975. Does 12 divide p?
False
Let o(r) = 458*r + 19. Is 16 a factor of o(1)?
False
Let v(w) = 10*w**3 - 2*w**2 + 2*w - 1. Let y be v(1). Suppose 0 = -8*l + y*l - 47. Is 10 a factor of l?
False
Let g = 64 - 32. Let w = g + -21. Suppose -4*u + 41 = f, 0 = u + 5*f - w - 4. Does 10 divide u?
True
Let z(h) = -h**2 + 19*h - 1. Let y(b) = -b**2 + 20*b. Let w be (-8)/(-4) + 1 - 8. Let g(l) = w*y(l) + 6*z(l). Is g(8) a multiple of 20?
False
Let k = -15 + 18. Let u(i) = 3 - 1 - 6 + 6*i - k*i**2 + i**3. Does 21 divide u(5)?
False
Let d be (-12)/9*(-91 - 5). Suppose 46 = 5*q + x - 561, 0 = -q + 2*x + d. Is 11 a factor of q?
False
Let q(a) = -1652*a - 157. Is 21 a factor of q(-1)?
False
Suppose -y + 3*x = -629, -4*y - 5*x + 1287 + 1144 = 0. Does 8 divide y?
False
Suppose 0 = 4*s + 2*l + 60, -s + 2*l = -l + 15. Suppose 4*f - 24 = 8. Does 2 divide (f/10)/((-6)/s)?
True
Is (4 + (-112)/42)/((-2)/(-180)) a multiple of 30?
True
Let w(f) be the second derivative of -5*f**3/3 + f**2/2 - 8*f. Does 14 divide w(-8)?
False
Suppose 2*i - 776 = 2*b, 5*b - 2*b = -3*i + 1194. Suppose i = 4*w + 101. Let g = w + -36. Is g a multiple of 10?
False
Let m(j) = j**2 + 3*j - 2. Suppose 20 = 19*k - 23*k. Let z be (k/(-3))/((-2)/(-6)). Does 19 divide m(z)?
True
Let n(m) = 3*m**3 + m**2 - 3*m + 2. Let y(z) be the second derivative of -z**5/20 - 7*z**4/12 - 5*z**3/6 + 4*z**2 - 3*z. Let d be y(-6). Is 12 a factor of n(d)?
True
Let p(q) be the first derivative of q**4/4 + 3*q**3 - q**2/2 + 9*q + 2. Is p(-9) a multiple of 7?
False
Suppose -5*g + 2354 = -0*g + 4*u, 3*u - 1413 = -3*g. Is g a multiple of 33?
False
Does 22 divide 8/((-13)/((-39)/2))*81?
False
Suppose 0 = -2*x, 3*x = -3*t + 4*t - 87. Is t a multiple of 10?
False
Let y(t) be the first derivative of -23*t**2/2 + t - 4. Let n be (-4)/(-6)*(-3)/2. Does 21 divide y(n)?
False
Let o(h) = 10 - 2*h**3 + 13 - 2*h**2 + 14*h**2 + h**3. Is 7 a factor of o(12)?
False
Let q(i) = 119*i + 1. Suppose 2*h = -0*h + 2*j - 8, -2*h - j + 7 = 0. Does 15 divide q(h)?
True
Let u be (34/3)/((-8)/(-12)). Suppose 5*o - 2*x - u = 0, -2*o = -3*x - 2 + 4. Suppose o*n = -6 + 71. Is n a multiple of 7?
False
Suppose 6 = 3*r, 0 = -4*d + 2*r + 45 + 195. Let o = d + 13. Suppose -3*i - o = h - 5*h, i = 2*h - 36. Is 3 a factor of h?
False
Let v be ((-60)/(-10))/(1*2). Suppose 5*z + 3*n - 13 = 19, 4 = z + v*n. Suppose -z - 183 = -5*a. Is 8 a factor of a?
False
Let z = -219 + 376. Is 9 a factor of z?
False
Suppose 15*b - 6589 - 341 = 0. Is 11 a factor of b?
True
Let a be (-14)/(-77) - 1140/(-22). Suppose -i + 6*c - c + 13 = 0, 3*c + a = 4*i. Is 10 a factor of i?
False
Let z(m) = 2*m**2 + 5*m + 2. Let c be z(-2). Suppose s + c*s = 0. Suppose -5*n = -s*n - 15. Is 2 a factor of n?
False
Let v = 619 + 487. Does 14 divide v?
True
Let g = 96 - 44. Let t = 129 - g. Let l = -53 + t. Is 10 a factor of l?
False
Suppose -t - 2*w = 23, -5*t + 32 = -3*w + 82. Let h = t - -19. Suppose j = h*j - 55. Does 7 divide j?
False
Let v = 4 + -1. Let a be (-2)/8 + 30/(-8). Does 7 divide (v - a)/(2 - 1)?
True
Let z be (0 - 0)/(27/(-9)). Is 15 + 3*(z - -1) a multiple of 9?
True
Is -4109*((-62)/(-28) - (-35)/(-14)) a multiple of 9?
False
Let v(u) = 7*u**2 - 9*u - 1. Let y(z) = 3*z**2 - 4*z - 1. Let l(s) = 4*v(s) - 9*y(s). Does 11 divide l(4)?
False
Let a(p) = 9*p**3. Let c be a(2). Suppose -3*k + c = 18. Is k a multiple of 8?
False
Suppose -82*z + 76*z + 504 = 0. Is z a multiple of 28?
True
Suppose -21 = 93*u - 94*u. Let m = 3 + u. Does 24 divide m?
True
Let a(l) = -l**2 + 4*l + 12. Suppose 0 = s - 4, 2 = 2*k - 4*s + 8. Let i be a(k). Suppose -2*n - 165 = -i*n. Does 11 divide n?
True
Suppose -6 = 4*h + 2*u + 10, 3*h = 3*u - 12. Is 4 a factor of (-1)/h - 111/(-4)?
True
Suppose -s = -2*g - 9, 5*s = 5*g - 0 + 20. Let h(r) = -r - 3. Let t be h(g). Is t/(2/21 + 0) a multiple of 21?
True
Let q(u) = -u**3 - 4*u**2 + 3*u - 8. Let o be q(-5). Suppose 5*v + 146 = o*w, -2*v + 5*v = -3*w + 240. Does 14 divide w?
False
Suppose 17*r - 13*r - 16 = 0. Is r + -5 + (-3 - -178) a multiple of 29?
True
Let t = 15 + 599. Is 52 a factor of t?
False
Let d(b) = b**3 - 7*b**2 - 2*b + 11. Let u(x) = -1. Let n = -1 + -3. Let o(h) = n*u(h) - d(h). Does 15 divide o(5)?
False
Suppose -2*q + 6 = 4*c, -2*q + 6 = -4*q. Let s = 56 - 57. Is 13 a factor of (c + s - 0) + 32?
False
Suppose 0 = -3*l + 5 - 29. Let i be (4 + (-1 - (-1)/2))*-4. Let n = l - i. Is n a multiple of 4?
False
Suppose -2*t + 42 = -9*t. Does 19 divide -1 - -156 - -2*(-5 - t)?
False
Let o(t) = 2*t**3 + 17*t**2 + 35*t + 12. Let w(u) = u**3 + 8*u**2 + 18*u + 6. Let r(z) = 6*o(z) - 11*w(z). Is 3 a factor of r(-13)?
False
Suppose -3*g - 7 + 1 = -3*a, 3*g - 5*a + 16 = 0. Suppose 5*f - 10 = -2*x + 2*f, 11 = x + g*f. Let j = 67 + x. Does 17 divide j?
False
Let k be ((-114)/(-24) - 1) + (-1)/(-4). Suppose 0 = h + k*l - 29 - 83, 76 = h - 5*l. Is h a multiple of 16?
True
Does 13 divide ((-74)/(-148))/(2/1604)?
False
Let y(c) = -24*c + 47. Is 7 a factor of y(-3)?
True
Does 35 divide 3*(-152)/(-1) - 4/1?
False
Let i = -316 + 346. Is 10 a factor of i?
True
Let w(a) = 12*a + 5 + a**2 + 0 + 11 - 20*a. Is 9 a factor of w(7)?
True
Suppose 0 = -3*d - 25*d + 20328. Is 33 a factor of d?
True
Suppose 6*s = -3*s + 63. Suppose 4*t - 713 = v, -4*t - 2*v + s*v + 733 = 0. Does 35 divide t?
False
Suppose -6*w + w = 30. Let f be (-5)/3 - w/(-18). Is 4 a factor of 6/2 - 14/f?
False
Let j(i) = -i**2 + 7*i + 4. Let r be j(7). Suppose -r*n - 133 = 163. Let s = n - -142. Is s a multiple of 21?
False
Does 21 divide (-1884)/(-8)*(-18)/(-27)?
False
Let m be 1*(-4 - (4 - 6)). Let o be 115/46 - (-3)/m. Is 13 a factor of o + -4 - -78 - -3?
True
Suppose -5*k + 19 + 51 = 0. Suppose 2 = 4*v - k. Suppose 5 = v*l - 103. Is 27 a factor of l?
True
Suppose -4*j + 3*j = 4*u - 416, -3*j = -u - 1183. Is 9 a factor of j?
True
Let c be 52/12 + 10/15. Suppose -680 + 210 = -c*i. Does 31 divide i?
False
Let b(g) = -16*g**3 + 4*g**2 + 3*g - 3. Let s be b(-2). Suppose -4*n - n = -s. Is n a multiple of 9?
True
Suppose y - 6 - 17 = 0. Does 6 divide y/(-69) + (-73)/(-3)?
True
Let c be 58/6 - (-3)/9. Suppose -7*l + 2*l + c = 2*i, i - 5 = -l. Suppose l = -2*o + 3*o - 33. Is o a multiple of 11?
True
Suppose -9*b = -5*b + 4. Is 16 a factor of 3674/55 + b/(-5)?
False
Suppose -z + 1 = -i, 3*z + 5*i - 10 = -39. Let q(t) = 21*t + 6. Let p(w) = -14*w - 4. Let x(c) = -7*p(c) - 5*q(c). Is 7 a factor of x(z)?
False
Let i(q) = -4*q - 1 - 3 - 3*q**2 + 0*q + 4*q**2. Is i(-4) a multiple of 4?
True
Let i = 5 + 0. Let n(y) = 5*y + 1. Is 13 a factor of n(i)?
True
Suppose -3*w - 4*p + 2048 = 0, 2*p = w + 3*w - 2694. Does 13 divide w?
True
Let d be (-4)/(-1 |
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<test-data
xmlns="http://pmd.sourceforge.net/rule-tests"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://pmd.sourceforge.net/rule-tests http://pmd.sourceforge.net/rule-tests_1_0_0.xsd">
<test-code>
<description>do while true</description>
<expected-problems>1</expected-problems>
<expected-linenumbers>3</expected-linenumbers>
<code><![CDATA[
class Foo {
{
do {
} while (true);
}
}
]]></code>
</test-code>
<test-code>
<description>do while false</description>
<expected-problems>1</expected-problems>
<expected-linenumbers>3</expected-linenumbers>
<code><![CDATA[
class Foo {
{
do {
} while (false);
}
}
]]></code>
</test-code>
<test-code>
<description>do while call</description>
<expected-problems>0</expected-problems>
<code><![CDATA[
class Foo {
{
do {
} while (call(true));
}
}
]]></code>
</test-code>
<test-code>
<description>while true</description>
<expected-problems>0</expected-problems>
<code><![CDATA[
class Foo {
{
while (true) {
}
}
}
]]></code>
</test-code>
<test-code>
<description>while false</description>
<expected-problems>1</expected-problems>
<expected-linenumbers>3</expected-linenumbers>
<code><![CDATA[
class Foo {
{
while (false) {
}
}
}
]]></code>
</test-code>
<test-code>
<description>while call false</description>
<expected-problems>0</expected-problems>
<code><![CDATA[
class Foo {
{
while (call(false)) {
}
}
}
]]></code>
</test-code>
</test-data>
|
Posted July 15, 2016 at 5:47 pm
Grace isn't kidding when she says it's part of her cool robot therapy. The in-game explanation for leveling up is that the main character, Adam Jensen, already has everything you could get by leveling up built into him. He can't access it all right away, however, because his system wouldn't be able to handle it. Experience Points essentially represent Jensen's system becoming better able to handle using more of what's already built into him.
End result? Doing stuff like breaking into the employee offices of the company you're the chief of security of literally functions as physical therapy for Jensen.
As for stealthy missions, you get a bonus for not being seen that is equal to knocking out ten enemies. You can still knock out enemies and get that bonus, however, so you're incentivized to sneak through unseen while knocking out everyone you can anyway. You're also incentivized to crawl through every air duct, for they may count as exploring, which is even more XP. The player is heavily rewarded for behavior that makes no sense given their objective.
I mean, sure, it's more fun that way, but that's not going to stop me from pointing out how ridiculous it is. |
Background
==========
The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is a complex joint essential for speech, mastication and swallowing.
The mandibular condyle is an ovoidal bony structure that articulates with the temporal bone by means of a biconcave disk.
Both articular surfaces are covered by a connective fibrous tissue (condylar cartilage). On the articular surface of the condyle, the collagen fibres are parallel to the condylar surface, and are in continuity with the fibrous layer of the periosteum.
The condylar cartilage covers very dense undifferentiated mesenchyme, within which are multipotential cells, forming either cartilage or bone, depending upon the environmental circumstances \[[@B1]\]. The bony tissue forms the deepest part.
The TMJ grows and functions in an environment of mechanical forces that interact with cells and tissues. These forces (muscular activity, mastication, swallowing) influence the shape of mandibular condyle, through the process of biological adaptation termed \"remodeling\" \[[@B2]\].
Condylar resorption (CR) is a specific condition that affects TMJs. A number of local and systemic pathologies may cause mandibular CR. Local factors include osteoarthritis, reactive arthritis, avascular necrosis, infection, traumatic injuries and temporomandibular disorders (TMD). CR may also be due to systemic connective tissue or autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, scleroderma, systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjögren syndrome, ankylosing spondylitis, and others \[[@B3]-[@B5]\].
Changes in condylar morphology have also been observed in experimental protrusion or retrusion of the jaw, in surgical induction of disc displacement and experimental disc perforation \[[@B6]-[@B9]\].
In this paper, we report a case of an adult male with TMD and left CR, in which, after occlusal modification, new bone growth in the left condyle was observed.
Case presentation
=================
A 30 year old male was referred to our department with a 4 years history of pain (pain scale VAS 80) and crepitus in the left TMJ during mastication, increased left facial pain, and limited functional mandibular movements.
Bruxism was reported by the patient for a period of about 18 months. He had natural molar contacts in each dental quadrant, and no parodontal disorders.
Intraoral examination revealed a bilateral Class II molar relationship and a severe overjet \[Figure [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}\]. The lower dental midline deviated to the left of the upper by 4 mm. Moderate crowding was observed in both arches.
{#F1}
Clinical examination confirmed acute muscular pain, lateral deviation of the mandible to the left during opening and closing of the mouth, persistent pain and crepitus in left TMJ, limited opening (interincisal distance 20 mm), lateral movement to the right (3 mm), lateral movement to the left (7 mm), and difficulty protruding the mandible \[Figure [2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}\]. Crepitus and pain were determined by palpation of both joints during maximal protrusion and maximum mouth opening.
{#F2}
A panoramic radiograph of the patient\'s jaws prior to removal of the mandibular left third molar, revealed left CR \[Figure [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}\]. This type of radiographic examination does not offer as clear and reliable images as those of other techniques such as computerized or linear tomography, but does demonstrate the condyles with a degree of clarity \[[@B10]\].
{#F3}
Routine haematological analysis did not reveal any evidence of underlying systemic bone disease such as rheumatoid arthritis.
Treatment was anterior repositioning of the mandible with a hard acrylic splint in the maxilla.
The splint was 3 mm thick, and it was constructed with an inclined plane for mandibular advancement of 2,5 mm, re-centring the lower deviated dental midline \[Figure [4](#F4){ref-type="fig"}\]. The splint surface was adjusted to obtain a balanced muscular activity, and checked with conventional clinical control of the dental contacts.
{#F4}
The splint was used consistently, though due to work commitments, not in the mornings. The patient was reviewed every month and showed progressive symptomatic improvement on each occasion. After 8 months, a new panoramic radiograph confirmed new bone formation on the condylar surface \[Figure [5](#F5){ref-type="fig"}\]. Clinical features were improved, with reduced pain (pain scale VAS 20) and an increase in mouth opening (30 mm), although deviation of the mandible and crepitus were still evident during mastication \[Figure [6](#F6){ref-type="fig"}\]. After 18 months there was complete resolution of the symptoms, with no pain, and similar morphology of both condyles \[Figure [7](#F7){ref-type="fig"}, [8](#F8){ref-type="fig"}\]. At completion of treatment, there were no occlusal abnormalities.
{#F5}
{#F6}
{#F7}
{#F8}
Discussion
==========
Mandibular condylar cartilage is characterised histologically as fibrocartilage containing a layer of pre-chondroblastic mesenchymal stem cells which can undergo rapid differentiation into chondrocytes \[[@B11],[@B12]\].
Other forms of mature articular cartilage do not have such progenitor cells and only poorly responsive chondrocytes \[[@B13]\].
This structural difference between mandibular condylar cartilage and hyaline articular cartilage may explain the relative difference in their regenerative potential.
The growth of mandibular condylar cartilage may be influenced by exogenic factors including mechanical factors.
These phenomena are also present in the adult, though to a lesser extent \[[@B14]\], since subcondylar trabecular bone formation is apparently not affected by age \[[@B15]\].
Animal exprerimentaion confirms that mandibular advancement causes cellular changes in rats\' condyles with increased neo-vascularization and new bone formation significantly higher or equal to the levels towards the end of growth spurt \[[@B16]\]. Recently, McNamara *et al.*reported histological changes associated with mandibular advancement in adult Rhesus monkeys. In these monkeys, adaptive changes of the condylar cartilage were evident after 3 weeks of advancement. Furthermore, the dimensions of the condylar cartilage showed a gradual increase throughout the experimental period, whereas an untreated control group had a bony outer layer \[[@B17]\]. Furthermore, Rabie *et al.*found that 60-day forward mandibular positioning causes adaptive morphological changes in the condylar head of adult rats \[[@B18]\].
In particular, bone deposition was differential, occurring not on the anterior surface of the condyle but only on the posterior and superior surfaces, with compensatory resorption along the posterior surface of the post-glenoid tubercle, and the insertion of the lateral pterygoid muscle into the neck of the condyle \[[@B19]\].
Several authors have suggested that CR is possibly related to orthodontic treatment \[[@B20],[@B21]\], but no previous orthodontic treatment was reported by this patient.
TMD or bruxism (that may cause TMD), may cause degenerative disease of the TMJ \[[@B22]\]. A rewiew of our patient\'s clinical data revealed that he had suffered from TMD for about 4 years and from bruxism for about 18 months.
No evidence of any bone-involving systemic diseases such as rheumatoid factors and hyperparathyroidism were found in this patient. However, it is not known how long the changes of mandibular bone structure had existed, since the condylar alteration was first noted in the patient\'s x-ray prior to the extraction of the left wisdom tooth. It is probable that the excessive loads produced by the force of bruxism or TMD were the causes of CR in this particular case.
Yamada *et al.*have found that the flattening of the condylar head was the most frequent unilateral condylar change. Furthermore, these authors noted that CR may be related to a lateral mandibular shift and a retrognathic mandible in patients who demonstrate TMD symptoms \[[@B23]\].
The capacity of TMD to remodel after acute or chronic trauma, can be used clinically not only in the correction of skeletal malocclusion, but also in treating occlusal disorders.
Splint therapy is one modality for the management of TMD. In this case, the use of a full coverage occlusal splint with mandibular advancement brought about an improvement of the clinical symptoms and new bone growth was evidenced radiographically after 18 months. The occlusal splint can correct the effects of muscle microtrauma and associated symptoms of pain or discomfort of TMJ, and also improve jaw support, as well as facilitating the spatial re-orientation of the jaw into an optimal position.
Mandibular advancement stimulates a differentiation of proliferative zone cells into chondroblasts with significant morphological changes in the TMJ \[[@B8]\].
Historically, treatment for CR included, apart from occlusal splint to minimize joint loading (with or without orthodontics and/or prosthetic therapy), arthroscopic lysis and lavage, condylectomy and condylar replacement with a costochondral graft, removal of hyperplastic synovial and bilaminar tissue with disk repositioning and ligament repair, and orthognathic surgery (to correct only the functional and aesthetic facial deformity) \[[@B24]-[@B27]\].
Conclusion
==========
TMJ rehabilitation of patients with CR requires careful treatment planning.
Studies suggest that increasing age and altered loading may diminish condylar growth capacity of the TMJ.
Although aging may diminish the capacity for condylar growth, this case suggests that careful mandibular repositioning can positively influence the process of remodelling of the condyle.
Consent
=======
Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this case report and accompanying images. A copy of the written consent is available for review by the Editor-in-Chief of this Journal.
Competing interests
===================
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Authors\' contributions
=======================
AMC and CC carried out the case study. AMC wrote the article. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Acknowledgements
================
The authors would like to thank Prof. A F Markus for his assistance revising the manuscript.
|
Cognitive functioning and treatment outcome in alcoholics.
The primary objective of this study was to determine whether cognitive functioning at intake into treatment was associated with completion of a 30-day day hospital alcoholism rehabilitation program and 1- and 6-month posttreatment functioning. None of our measures of sociodemographic characteristics, cognitive functioning, and life functioning was found to be significantly correlated with program completion. The measures of cognitive functioning included four cognitive factors--language ability, auditory verbal learning, logical memory, and complex cognitive functioning--as well as an objective measure of within-treatment learning. Canonical correlation analyses were performed to estimate associations among 14 independent variables and seven measures of both 1- and 6-month follow-up outcomes. The independent variables included the five cognitive measures described above, race and age, and seven baseline Addiction Severity Index (ASI) interviewer ratings of severity of alcohol, drug, family/social, legal, medical, employment, and psychological/psychiatric problem levels. The dependent variables at each follow-up evaluation point consisted of the difference between the baseline and follow-up ASI composite (factor) scores in the seven areas of functioning described above. The findings revealed the relative independence of improvement in alcohol problem level at both followup periods, as contrasted with the relative interdependence of the other areas of functioning. Greater baseline alcohol problems and poorer complex cognitive functioning were most consistently associated with improved alcohol-related outcome. Other cognitive measures ere not significantly associated with treatment outcome in the other areas of functioning described above.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS) |
All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.
Introduction {#sec001}
============
Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV), a member of the genus Avibirnavirus of the family Birnaviridae, damages the precursors of antibody-producing B lymphocytes in the bursa of Fabricius and causes severe immunosuppression and mortality in young chickens. The IBDV genome is characterized by a bisegmented double-stranded RNA (segments A and B). The smaller segment B only encodes the VP1 with a molecular weight of 90 kDa. VP1 is the putative RNA-dependent RNA polymerase which interacts with the viral genome \[[@pone.0128828.ref001], [@pone.0128828.ref002]\] and is involved in IBDV mRNA translation via association with the carboxy-terminal domain of the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4AII \[[@pone.0128828.ref003]\]. It has also been demonstrated to affect viral replication kinetics and modulate the virulence \[[@pone.0128828.ref004]--[@pone.0128828.ref006]\]. The larger segment A contains two partially overlapping open reading frames (ORFs) \[[@pone.0128828.ref007]\]. The smaller ORF encodes the VP5 protein, a 17-kDa nonstructural protein which interacts with host proteins, subunit p85α of PI3K and voltage-dependent anion channel 2, and plays important roles in regulating virus release and apoptosis \[[@pone.0128828.ref008]--[@pone.0128828.ref010]\]. The larger ORF encodes a 110-kDa polyprotein precursor that can be cleaved by the proteolytic activity of VP4 into the precursor of VP2 (pVP2, 48 kDa), VP3 (32 kDa) and VP4 (28 kDa) \[[@pone.0128828.ref011]\]. During virion maturation, pVP2 is further processed into the mature capsid protein VP2 (41 kDa) and four small peptides \[[@pone.0128828.ref012]--[@pone.0128828.ref014]\]. VP2 carries the major immunogenic determinants \[[@pone.0128828.ref015], [@pone.0128828.ref016]\] and contributes significantly to apoptosis, cell tropism, virulence and pathogenicity of virulent IBDV \[[@pone.0128828.ref017]--[@pone.0128828.ref019]\]. VP3, a major immunogenic and scaffolding protein of IBDV \[[@pone.0128828.ref020], [@pone.0128828.ref021]\], was found to interact with VP1 \[[@pone.0128828.ref022]\] and bind to the viral dsRNA forming ribonucleoprotein complexes \[[@pone.0128828.ref023]\], as well as thought to be a key organizer in virion morphogenesis \[[@pone.0128828.ref021]\]. VP4, as the viral protease of Birnaviruses, has been proposed to utilize a Ser/Lys catalytic dyad mechanism to process the polyprotein \[[@pone.0128828.ref011], [@pone.0128828.ref024]\]. VP4 forms regular needle-like structures called type II tubules within the cytoplasm and nucleus of IBDV-infected cells \[[@pone.0128828.ref025]\]. Meanwhile, current research data shows that *E*.*coli*-expressed VP4 protein can self-assemble into functional tubule-like particles and its activity can be completely inhibited by 1 mM of Ni^2+^ ions \[[@pone.0128828.ref026]\].
Recently, more attention has been paid to the functions of viral protein phosphorylation during virus infection. Phosphorylation at the Ser224 site of ICP0 of herpes simplex virus type 1 is known to be required for efficient viral replication \[[@pone.0128828.ref027]\]. Phosphorylated sites at Ser479 and Ser510 of the N protein in measles virus are important for the activation of viral mRNA transcription and/or replication of the genome *in vivo* \[[@pone.0128828.ref028]\]. In hepatitis C virus, the phosphorylated site at Ser222 of NS5A functions as a negative regulator of RNA replication \[[@pone.0128828.ref029]\]. The phosphorylation of Ser60, Ser64, and Thr62 of the P protein of vesicular stomatitis virus is critical for viral genome RNA encapsidation and template function \[[@pone.0128828.ref030]\]. Dephosphorylation of VP40 at sites Tyr7, Tyr10, Tyr13 and Tyr19 of Marburg virus impairs its ability to recruit nucleocapsid structures into filopodia, causing release of virions with low infectivity \[[@pone.0128828.ref031]\]. Phosphorylation of the capsid protein of West Nile virus mediated by protein kinase C has been shown to enhance its binding to HDM2 protein and importin and subsequently induce p53-dependent apoptosis \[[@pone.0128828.ref032]\]. The protein kinase A-mediated phosphorylation of Vpr at Ser79 site was found to be crucial for cell cycle arrest in HIV infection \[[@pone.0128828.ref033]\]. All these examples illustrate that phosphorylation of viral proteins plays important roles in regulating processes such as gene expression, viral replication and cell cycle arrest during viral infection.
Other than being reported as a serine-protease and an intracellular tubule type II, the VP4 protein of IBDV was also found to have novel roles as a biomarker for discriminating between pathogenic and nonpathogenic IBDV infections \[[@pone.0128828.ref034]\] and an inhibitor suppressing the expression of type I interferon via interaction with the glucocorticoid-induced leucine zipper \[[@pone.0128828.ref035]\]. In our previous proteomic analysis of IBDV-infected cells, different protein spots of VP4 were evident in the two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) gel \[[@pone.0128828.ref036]\]. As it was of interest to learn whether these spots represented post-translational modifications, in this study we identified the phosphorylation sites of VP4 and generated monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against phospho- and nonphospho-VP4 protein. Additionally, an in-depth analysis of the protease activity of phospho-VP4 was conducted.
Materials and Methods {#sec002}
=====================
Cells, vectors, virus, antibodies, reagents and animals {#sec003}
-------------------------------------------------------
DF-1 cells and human embryonic kidney HEK-293T cells obtained from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC, Manassas, VA) were cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagle\'s medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS, Gibco-BRL Life Technologies, Grand Island, NY). IBDV strain NB (1.0 × 10^7^ TCID~50~/0.1 ml) was stored in our lab \[[@pone.0128828.ref037]\]. Rabbit polyclonal antibody (pAb) to VP4, chicken anti-VP2 pAb, mouse anti-VP3 mAb, pCI-neo-IBDV-TNT-A, pCI-neo-IBDV-VP4 and pEGFP-IBDV-VP4 were generated in our lab (our unpublished reagents). Lipofectamine 2000, Alexa Fluor 488 and 555 Protein Labeling Kits were obtained from Invitrogen (Carlsbad, CA). The 2-DE reagents were all from Bio-Rad Laboratories (Hercules, CA). The Qproteome Cell Compartment Kit was purchased from Qiagen (Hilden, Germany) and TNT T7 Quick Coupled Transcription/Translation System was from Promega (Madison, WI), respectively. Seven-week-old specific-pathogen-free (SPF) BALB/c mice were purchased from the Shanghai Laboratory Animal Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China. The animal study proposal was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) of Zhejiang University (permit umber: SYXK 2012--0178). All animal experimental procedures were performed in accordance with the Regulations for the Administration of Affairs Concerning Experimental Animals approved by the State Council of People's Republic of China.
Virus infection, in-gel tryptic digestion, LC-MS/MS and MS data analysis {#sec004}
------------------------------------------------------------------------
DF-1 cells were infected with IBDV at the multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 1, harvested at 24 h post-infection by scraping and centrifuged at 8,000 × *g* for 5 min. The pellets were dissolved with an equal volume of 2-DE lysis buffer containing 7 M urea, 2 M thiourea, 4% (wt/vol) CHAPS, 65 mM DTT, 0.2% Biolyte 3/10 and 1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride. The lysates were subjected to 12% SDS-PAGE and immunoblot using a rabbit anti-VP4 pAb. Subsequently, the protein bands were manually excised from gels stained with colloidal Coomassie blue, and the in-gel tryptic digestion, LC-MS/MS and MS data analysis were performed as our previously reported methods \[[@pone.0128828.ref036], [@pone.0128828.ref038], [@pone.0128828.ref039]\].
Generation and fine mapping epitopes of mAbs against IBDV VP4 protein {#sec005}
---------------------------------------------------------------------
IBDV-infected cell lysates were separated by 12% SDS-PAGE, and the VP4 specific protein band was purified by eluting the protein from the excised gel in a dialyzer (Serva, Heidelberg, Germany) by electrophoresis in protein electrophoresis buffer (25 mM Tris base, 192 mM glycine, 3.5 mM SDS). The purified VP4 preparation was used as an immunogen and injected intraperitoneally into SPF BALB/c mice in order to generate mAbs to VP4 of IBDV as described previously \[[@pone.0128828.ref040], [@pone.0128828.ref041]\]. Reactivities of anti-VP4 mAbs were screened by an indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and Western blot analysis. The phosphorylated and dephosphorylated antigenic epitope peptides of IBDV-VP4 ([Table 1](#pone.0128828.t001){ref-type="table"}) were designed using three on-line prediction software programs (<http://www.cbs.dtu.dk/services/BepiPred/>, [www.epitope-informatics.com/Links.htm](http://www.epitope-informatics.com/Links.htm), <http://www.imtech.res.in/raghava/cbtope/submit.php>) and synthesized using a Symphony Multiplex Peptide Synthesizer (Protein Technologies, Inc., Tucson, AZ). Peptide ELISA and peptide dot-ELISA were performed to test the reactivities of the mAbs with peptides as described previously \[[@pone.0128828.ref040]\]. After an immunoactive peptide was identified, its N-truncated, C-truncated and Ala-substituted derivatives were further synthesized and used to define the epitope motif by ELISA.
10.1371/journal.pone.0128828.t001
###### Synthetic peptides of the IBDV VP4 protein in this study.
{#pone.0128828.t001g}
Peptide name Amino acid sequence
------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pep533-549pSer538 533cDGILAS[[\*](#t001fn002){ref-type="table-fn"}]{.ul}PGVLRGAHNLD549
Pep533-549 533cDGILASPGVLRGAHNLD549
Pep602-619pTyr611 602cTLSGHRVYGY[[\*](#t001fn002){ref-type="table-fn"}]{.ul}APGGVLP619
Pep602-619 602cTLSGHRVYGYAPGGVLP619
Pep667-683Thr674 667cVPIHVAMT[[\*](#t001fn002){ref-type="table-fn"}]{.ul}GALNA683
Pep667-683 667cVPIHVAMTGALNA683
Pep515-558 515cKGYEVVANLFQVPQNPVVDGILASPGVLRGAHNLDCVLREGATL558
Pep550-565 550CVLREGATLFPVVITT565
Pep563-600 563cITTVEDAMTPKALNSKMFAVIEGVREDLQPPSQRGSF600
Pep598-631 598cSFIRTLSGHRVYGYAPGGVLPLETGRDYTVVPID631
Pep618-641 618cPLETGRDYTVVPIDDVWDDSIMLS641
Pep638-662 638cIMLSKDPIPPIVGNSGNLAIAYMDV662
Pep653-674 653cGNLAIAYMDVFRPKVPIHVAMT674
Pep680-706 680CGEIEKVSFRSTKLATAHRLGLKLAGP706
Pep700-717 700cGLKLAGPGAFDVNTGPNW717
Pep713-741 713cTGPNWATFIKRFPHNPRDWDRLPYLNLPY741
Pep720-750 720cFIKRFPHNPRDWDRLPYLNLPYLPPNAGRQY750
Pep515-532 515cKGYEVVANLFQVPQNPVV532
Pep524-558 524cFQVPQNPVVDGILASPGVLRGAHNLDCVLREGATL558
Pep533-558 533cDGILASPGVLRGAHNLDCVLREGATL558
Pep524-539 524cFQVPQNPVVDGILASP539
Pep534-549 534cGILASPGVLRGAHNLD549
Pep543-558 543cRGAHNLDCVLREGATL558
Pep534-542 534cGILASPGVL542
Pep524-534 524cFQVPQNPVVDG534
Pep524-528 524cFQVPQ528
Pep529-534 529cNPVVDG534
Pep526-532 526cVPQNPVV532
Pep530-536 530cPVVDGIL536
Pep531-535 531cVVDGI535
Pep531-536 531cVVDGIL536
Pep532-536 532cVDGIL536
Pep533-536 533cDGIL536
Pep530-535 530cPVVDGI535
Pep530-534 530cPVVDG534
Pep530-536P530A 530c[A]{.ul}VVDGIL536
Pep530-536V531A 530cP[A]{.ul}VDGIL536
Pep530-536V532A 530cPV[A]{.ul}DGIL536
Pep530-536D533A 530cPVV[A]{.ul}GIL536
Pep530-536G534A 530cPVVD[A]{.ul}IL536
Pep530-536I535A 530cPVVDG[A]{.ul}L536
Pep530-536L536A 530cPVVDGI[A]{.ul}536
Note:
"\*" indicates the amino acids with phosphorylation.
The letter "c" means cysteine appended to the Sulfo-SMCC cross-linker. Mutated residues are underlined.
Subcellular and 2-DE analysis of VP4 molecules within IBDV-infected cells {#sec006}
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subcellular fractionation was performed using the Qproteome Cell Compartment Kit according to the manufacturer\'s protocol. Then the membrane, cytoplasmic, nuclear and cytoskeletal fractions obtained were subjected to SDS-PAGE, 2-DE and Western blot analysis with mouse mAb to the phospho-VP4 (P538-VP4) or nonphospho-VP4 (P530-VP4). Mock-infected cells were used as a negative control. Each reaction was performed in triplicate.
Immunofluorescence staining {#sec007}
---------------------------
The indirect immunofluorescence assay was performed as described previously \[[@pone.0128828.ref036]\]. DF-1 cells or 293T cells were seeded in 96-well plates (Corning, New York, NY) or 35-mm glass bottom dishes (Shengyou Biotechnology, China), infected with IBDV or transfected with wild-type A segment, with wild-type VP4 or Ala/Asp VP4 mutants. The mouse mAb to phospho-VP4 or nonphospho-VP4 was used as primary antibody. The direct immunofluorescence assay was performed with Alexa Fluor 555 or Alexa Fluor 488 labeled mAbs to phospho-VP4 and nonphospho-VP4 on IBDV-infected DF-1 cells. Mock cells were used as negative controls. The nucleus was stained with 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI, Sigma). The stained cells were washed three times with PBST and subsequently examined under a Zeiss LSM510 laser confocal microscope.
Site-directed mutagenesis and *in vivo* transfection {#sec008}
----------------------------------------------------
Various plasmids were generated using the pCI-neo-VP4 or pEGFP-VP4 plasmid as a template and PCR primers shown in [Table 2](#pone.0128828.t002){ref-type="table"} for site-directed mutagenesis. The PCR for dephospho- or phospho-mimicking recombinant VP4 was performed in a final volume of 25 μl containing 2.5 μl 10× Pyrobest buffer II (5 U/μl), 0.5 μl dNTP mixture (10 mM), 1 μl primers, 15 ng DNA template and 0.25 μl Pyrobest DNA polymerase, with the following conditions: denaturation at 94°C for 4 min, followed by 20 cycles of denaturation at 94°C for 45 s, annealing at 55°C for 45 s and extension at 72°C for 6 min, with a final elongation step at 72°C for 10 min. The PCR products were digested with *Dpn* Ι at 37°C for 1 h and confirmed by enzyme digestion and DNA sequencing. DF-1 cells were transfected with these recombinant plasmids using Lipofectamine 2000. At 6 and 15 h post-transfection, the cells were observed directly under the fluorescent microscope (pEGFP-transfected) or immunostained with anti-VP4 mAbs followed by FITC-conjugated secondary antibodies (pCI-neo-transfected).
10.1371/journal.pone.0128828.t002
###### The summary of the primers used in this study.
{#pone.0128828.t002g}
Primer name Nucleotide sequence Length(bp) location(nt) Original
------------- ---------------------------------------------- ------------ -------------- ----------
S538A-F ACGGGATTCTTGCT***G***CACCTGGGGTACTC 29 1728--1756 T
S538A-R GAGTACCCCAGGTG***C***AGCAAGAATCCCGT 29
Y611A-F CACAGAGTCTATGGA***GC***TGCTCCAGGTGGGGT 32 1946--1978 TA
Y611A-R ACCCCACCTGGAGCA***GC***TCCATAGACTCTGTG 32
T674A-F TCCATGTGGCTATG***G***CGGGAGCCCTCAAT 29 2136--2164 A
T674A-R ATTGAGGGCTCCCG***C***CATAGCCACATGGA 29
S538D-F ACGGGATTCTTGCT***GAC***CCTGGGGTACTC 29 1728--1756 TCA
S538D-R GAGTACCCCAGG***GTC***AGCAAGAATCCCGT 29
Y611D-F CACAGAGTCTATGGA***G***A***C***GCTCCAGGTGGGGT 32 1946--1978 T T
Y611D-R ACCCCACCTGGAGC***G***T***C***TCCATAGACTCTGTG 32
T674D-F TCCATGTGGCTATG***GAC***GGAGCCCTCAAT 29 2136--2164 ACG
T674D-R ATTGAGGGCTCC***GTC***CATAGCCACATGGA 29
Note: Italic and bold indicate mutation base.
*In vivo* and *in vitro* proteolytic activity assay {#sec009}
---------------------------------------------------
Dephospho- or phospho-mimicking segment A with or without single and multiple mutations within VP4 were generated using pCI-neo-TNT-A as a template (unpublished data) following the same procedure as mentioned above. For the *in vivo* assessment of protease activity, 293T cells were transfected with various purified recombinant plasmids individually using Lipofectamine 2000 for 24 h. The cells were rinsed with PBS and lysed with RIPA buffer (50 mM Tris, 150 mM NaCl, 0.1% SDS, 1% TX-100, 0.5% sodium deoxycholate, 50 mM NaF and 0.2 mM Na~3~VO~4~). The supernatant was subjected to 12% SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis to assess the cleavage activity of mutant segment A using the VP3 and nonphospho-VP4 (P530) mAbs.
The purified recombinant plasmids were further used to test the expression of polyprotein VP2/4/3 using the TNT T7 Quick Coupled Transcription/Translation System according to the manufacturer\'s instructions. Briefly, 40 μl T7 Quick master mix, 1 μl methionine (1 mM), 7 μl nuclease-free water and 2 μl plasmid (500 ng/μl) were incubated at 30°C for 90 min. The resultant samples were subjected to 12% SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis to assess the cleavage activity of mutant segment A using the anti-VP3 and nonphospho-VP4 (P530) mAbs.
Co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) assay {#sec010}
------------------------------------
Co-IP experiments were performed as previous described \[[@pone.0128828.ref039]\]. Briefly, IBDV-infected and mock-infected cells were lysed with 500 μl NP-40 lysis buffer at 4°C for 30 min. Cell lysates were clarified by centrifugation at 8,000 × *g* for 10 min, and the supernatants were diluted with 500 μl PBS. The anti-phospho-VP4 mAb or anti-P530-VP4 mAb was added to the supernatants and incubated at 4°C for 8 h, and protein-A/G plus beads (Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Santa Cruz, CA) were added to the mixtures and incubated at 4°C for 8 h. Subsequently, the beads were washed with PBS three times and boiled with loading buffer, and the supernatants were prepared for SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis.
Results {#sec011}
=======
MS/MS identification of phosphorylated amino acid residues within VP4 protein {#sec012}
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To identify whether the VP4 protein of IBDV is phosphorylated, IBDV-infected DF-1 cells were treated with 2-DE lysis buffer and separated by SDS-PAGE. Protein bands were excised manually from gels and sequentially subjected to in-gel digestion and MS identification by LC-MS/MS. As shown in [Table 3](#pone.0128828.t003){ref-type="table"}, three phosphorylated peptides with the putative phosphorylation sites at Ser538 (S538), Tyr611 (Y611) and Thr674 (T674) were identified in VP4 protein of IBDV, indicating that the IBDV-encoded VP4 protein is a multi-site phosphorylated protein.
10.1371/journal.pone.0128828.t003
###### LC-MS/MS identification of phosphorylation sites within VP4 of IBDV.
{#pone.0128828.t003g}
PepCount UniquePepCount CoverPercent MW PI Identified Name
---------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------- ------------- ------- ----------------- ------------ ------------ ----------- ------- ------------- ----------
6558 573K.ALNSKMFAVIEGVR.E588 1535.8367 0.2217 2 1 3.9579 0.7645 1253.4 1 19\|26 8.79
7263 642K.DPIPPIVGNSGNLAIAYM[@](#t003fn003){ref-type="table-fn"}DVFR.P665 2376.7167 0.1577 2 1 3.4656 0.5131 535.4 1 23\|42 4.21
7892 642K.DPIPPIVGNSGNLAIAYMDVFR.P665 2360.7173 -1.0437 2 1 2.3315 0.4892 246.9 1 18\|42 4.21
**8056** **515K.GYEVVANLFQVPQNPVVDGILAS** [^**\#**^](#t003fn002){ref-type="table-fn"} **PGVLR.G544** **3033.3642** **0.5692** **3** **1** **4.2955** **0.1037** **971.1** **1** **37\|108** **4.37**
9345 515K.GYEVVANLFQVPQNPVVDGILASPGVLR.G544 2953.3843 1.4493 3 1 3.9103 0.1254 763.5 1 30\|108 4.37
6954 702K.LAGPGVFDVNTGPNWATFIK.R723 2105.3808 -1.1372 2 1 4.29 0.6705 1043.2 1 21\|38 5.84
4118 578K.M[@](#t003fn003){ref-type="table-fn"}FAVIEGVR.E588 1038.246 -0.814 2 1 3.2467 0.7753 1288.8 1 15\|16 5.75
4887 578K.MFAVIEGVR.E588 1022.2466 -2.7244 2 1 3.3994 0.679 1476.9 1 15\|16 5.75
1201 722K.RFPHNPR.D730 924.0445 -1.1675 2 1 2.48 0.7917 692.8 1 11\|12 12
**4075** **666K.VPIHVAM** [@](#t003fn003){ref-type="table-fn"} **T** [^**\#**^](#t003fn002){ref-type="table-fn"} **GALNACGGIEK.V686** **2035.242** **-0.067** **2** **1** **2.2998** **0.4792** **310.6** **1** **15\|36** **6.71**
**3864** **666K.VPIHVAMT** [^**\#**^](#t003fn002){ref-type="table-fn"} **GALNACGGIEK.V686** **2019.2426** **1.7816** **2** **1** **2.843** **0.3507** **633.6** **1** **17\|36** **6.71**
6467 623R.DYTVVPIDDVWDDSIM[@](#t003fn003){ref-type="table-fn"}LSK.D643 2228.4613 -1.0307 2 1 4.2199 0.8188 582.6 1 23\|36 3.66
7372 623R.DYTVVPIDDVWDDSIMLSK.D643 2212.4619 -0.9071 2 1 4.164 0.2035 593.4 1 22\|36 3.66
1740 587R.EDLQPPSQR.G597 1070.1383 -2.7667 2 1 2.2796 0.2897 541.9 1 13\|16 4.37
6540 553R.EGATLFPVVITTVEDAM[@](#t003fn003){ref-type="table-fn"}TPK.A574 2136.4516 -0.4644 2 1 4.2235 0.7331 625.4 1 19\|38 4.14
8591 553R.EGATLFPVVITTVEDAMTPK.A574 2120.4522 -1.1038 2 1 5.1746 0.8356 826.6 1 24\|38 4.14
2941 543R.GAHNLDCVLR.E554 1155.283 0.674 1 1 2.6579 0.1734 440.5 1 12\|18 6.74
6395 733R.LPYLNLPYLPPNAGR.Q749 1698.989 -0.183 1 1 3.252 0.6433 350.7 1 17\|28 8.59
**5064** **607R.VYGY** [^**\#**^](#t003fn002){ref-type="table-fn"} **APDGVLPLETGR.D624** **1787.88771** **0.40771** **2** **1** **2.5046** **0.1962** **276.5** **1** **16\|45** **4.37**
5613 607R.VYGYAPDGVLPLETGR.D624 1707.90781 -0.42919 2 1 4.3574 0.7967 1195.1 1 23\|30 4.37
Note: The bold rows revealed the identified peptides that contained a phosphorylated amino acid.
^"\#"^ is the phosphorylated amino acid residues.
^"@"^ indicates methylation of Methionine (M).
All proteins listed in the table were found to have a statistically significant p-value of less than 0.05.
Generation and specificity of mAbs to VP4 protein of IBDV {#sec013}
---------------------------------------------------------
The VP4 protein generated in IBDV-infected DF-1 cells was confirmed by Western blot analysis using the anti-VP4 pAb ([S1 Fig](#pone.0128828.s001){ref-type="supplementary-material"}), and then the specific protein band was gel-purified after separation by 12% SDS-PAGE. To prepare the mAb recognizing IBDV VP4, BALB/c mice were immunized with VP4 as the antigen. Ultimately, five hybridoma cell lines (4A8, 5B2, 5C7, 7A4 and 7H8) secreting mAbs to the VP4 of IBDV were cloned. Western blot analysis showed that these generated mAbs could specifically react with VP4 protein expressed in both VP4-transfected and IBDV-infected DF-1 cells ([Fig 1A](#pone.0128828.g001){ref-type="fig"}). IFA also indicated that these mAbs could recognize the VP4 protein in IBDV-infected cells ([Fig 1B](#pone.0128828.g001){ref-type="fig"}). However, by Western blot and IFA, these mAbs did not react with the viral proteins VP1,VP2, VP3 and VP5 of IBDV expressed in the transfected or infected cells (data not shown), confirming that these mAbs are specific for IBDV VP4 protein.
{#pone.0128828.g001}
Fine-mapping of linear antigenic epitope on VP4 protein of IBDV {#sec014}
---------------------------------------------------------------
Based on the LC-MS/MS identification data, the antigenic epitopes recognized by anti-VP4 mAbs were finely analyzed with a series of overlapping and phosphorylated linear peptides synthesized by the PEPSCAN technique ([Table 1](#pone.0128828.t001){ref-type="table"}). Of the five mAbs tested in the peptide ELISA and peptide dot-ELISA, the mAbs 7A4 and 7H8 could react with the unphosphorylated peptide Pep515-558, while none of the synthesized peptides reacted with the mAbs 4A8, 5B2 and 5C7 ([Fig 2A](#pone.0128828.g002){ref-type="fig"}). Subsequently, in N- and C-terminally truncated peptides derived from unphosphorylated Pep515-558, the mAbs 7A4 and 7H8 could still react with the unphosphorylated peptide Pep530-536 ([Fig 2B](#pone.0128828.g002){ref-type="fig"}), indicating that the anti-VP4 mAbs 7A4 and 7H8 recognized the same linear B-cell epitope with the amino acid motif ^530^PVVDGIL^536^ (P530). The substitution analysis further revealed that the residues ^531^VV^532^ were dispensable for the antigenicity of the epitope, but any change of the residues of ^530^P and ^533^DGIL^536^ resulted in the loss of reactivity of the mAb ([Fig 2B](#pone.0128828.g002){ref-type="fig"}). These results indicated that ^530^P and ^533^DGIL^536^ are the crucial residues of the P530 epitope (P530 mAb). Interestingly, as shown in [Fig 2C](#pone.0128828.g002){ref-type="fig"}, the mAbs 4A8, 5B2 and 5C7 could react only with the phosphorylated Pep^533-549^Ser538 (pSer538), but not the phosphorylated Pep^602-619^Tyr611 (pTyr611) and Pep^667-683^Thr674 (pThr674) as well as unphosphorylated Pep^533-549^Ser538, Pep^602-619^Tyr611 and Pep^667-683^Thr674. These data demonstrated that the mAbs 4A8, 5B2 and 5C7 could recognize specifically the same phosphorylated epitope with phosphorylation at site Ser538 within the VP4 protein of IBDV (pSer538 mAb).
{#pone.0128828.g002}
Phosphorylated VP4 exists in complexes with different isoelectric points {#sec015}
------------------------------------------------------------------------
To analyze the intracellular VP4 with and without the Ser538 phosphorylation, IBDV-infected DF-1 cells were separated into cell membrane, cytosol, nuclear and cytoskeletal fractions. As shown in the Western blot analysis of IBDV-infected cells ([Fig 3A](#pone.0128828.g003){ref-type="fig"}), the VP4 protein recognized by the P530 mAb (P530-VP4) was observed in all four fractions and mainly found in the cytoskeletal fraction. Meanwhile, the pSer538 mAb recognized VP4 protein (pSer538-VP4) accounted for a lower proportion than the P530-VP4 and was only detected in the cytoskeleton fraction and not in the cytosol, membrane and nucleus. For the cytoskeleton fraction of IBDV-infected cells, analysis by 2-DE and the corresponding blot revealed five MS/MS-identified and P530 mAb-recognized VP4 protein spots with different isoelectric points ([Fig 3B](#pone.0128828.g003){ref-type="fig"} Upper and Middle panels). Meanwhile, two of five protein spots could be recognized with the pSer538 mAb ([Fig 3B](#pone.0128828.g003){ref-type="fig"} Lower panel), and the pSer538-VP4 protein represented a lower proportion than that of the P530-VP4 protein. Additionally, Co-IP analysis demonstrated that the pSer538 mAb-recognized VP4 molecule also could be bound by the P530 mAb ([Fig 3C](#pone.0128828.g003){ref-type="fig"}), while the pSer538 mAb-recognized VP4 protein co-localized with the P530 mAb-reacted VP4 protein ([Fig 3D](#pone.0128828.g003){ref-type="fig"}). These results indicated that VP4 contains both the pSer538 and P530 epitopes (Fig [3C](#pone.0128828.g003){ref-type="fig"} and [3D](#pone.0128828.g003){ref-type="fig"}). Generally, the results demonstrated that IBDV VP4 was mainly detected within the insoluble cytoskeletal fraction, and pSer538-VP4 protein exists in complexes with different isoelectric points and is a minor protein in comparison with the P530-VP4.
{#pone.0128828.g003}
Phosphorylation modification is unrelated to intracellular accumulation of VP4 {#sec016}
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Substitution of phosphorylated sites with Asp (D) or Glu (E) was commonly used to mimick the phosphorylation site and study its functions \[[@pone.0128828.ref027], [@pone.0128828.ref029], [@pone.0128828.ref030]\]. To further analyze whether the phosphorylation modification regulates subcellular distribution, the sites Ser538, Tyr611 and Thr674 within VP4 of IBDV were mutated into Ala or Asp, and a series of dephosphorylated VP4 mutants were constructed. In cells transfected with the pEGFP-VP4 mutants ([Fig 4](#pone.0128828.g004){ref-type="fig"}) or pCI-VP4 mutants ([S2 Fig](#pone.0128828.s002){ref-type="supplementary-material"}), the expressed VP4 proteins that were mutated to Ala or Asp at the sites Ser538, Tyr611 and Thr674, aggregated into the mass-like structure of wild-type VP4 but not the rod-like or needle-like or filamentous structure VP4 in IBDV infected cells ([Fig 3D](#pone.0128828.g003){ref-type="fig"}). However, the VP4 aggregation is not easy to be observed at 6 h post-transfection in the VP4 mutants S538/T674A-, Y611/T674A- and S538/Y611/T674A- dephosphorylated cells ([Fig 4](#pone.0128828.g004){ref-type="fig"}), suggesting that the dephosphorylation of these sites potentially postpones the VP4 expression. Thus, the dephosphorylation of Ser538, Tyr611 and Thr674 did not influence the aggregation of VP4 protein, and therefore the phosphorylation of these sites may not involve the VP4 aggregation.
{#pone.0128828.g004}
The phosphorylated Tyr611 and Thr674 within VP4 protein is involved in cleavage of intermediate precursor VP4-VP3 {#sec017}
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The VP4 protein of IBDV is a protease that plays an important role in the maturation of viral protein precursor. To detect whether the phosphorylation modification is involved in the proteolytic activity, various mutants of the segment A with the dephosphorylated and mimicked sites of Ser538, Tyr611 and Thr674 were constructed and transfected into cells for Western blot analysis. Only T674A/D and Y611D substitutions partially abolished the polyprotein cleavage, and the intermediate precursor VP4-VP3 protein band with a molecular weight of approximately 60 kDa was detected both with the anti-VP3 and anti-VP4 mAbs; meanwhile, substitutions at sites S538A/D and Y611A did not affect the VP4 and VP3 protein maturation ([Fig 5A](#pone.0128828.g005){ref-type="fig"}). Similar proteolytic activity *in vitro* was also analyzed in TNT tests. As shown in [Fig 5B](#pone.0128828.g005){ref-type="fig"}, any substitution at site T674 within VP4 decreased its proteolytic activity, and the intermediate precursor VP4-VP3 protein was detected. The single Ala substitution at S538 and Y611 did not affect the function of VP4 protein, while the Asp substitution of the site Y611 which mimicked Tyr phosphorylation partially affected the proteolytic activity. In further co-localization analysis ([Fig 5C](#pone.0128828.g005){ref-type="fig"} and [S3 Fig](#pone.0128828.s003){ref-type="supplementary-material"}), the signal image of VP4 and VP3 were not overlapped in the wild-type segment A of IBDV, or in segment A with the single Ala substitution at sites S538 and Y611 of VP4 protein or in segment A with the single Asp substitution at site S538 of VP4 protein. However, the co-localization of VP3 and VP4 proteins was detected in segment A with the single Ala substitution of the site T674 and in segment A with Asp-mimicked substitution of the site Y611 and T674 of VP4 protein. Taken together, these results demonstrated that the phosphorylation of Y611 and T674 maybe play an important role in the proteolytic cleavage of the intermediate precursor VP4-VP3 protein by VP4. The result of the intermediate precursor VP4-VP3 processing affected by a series of substitution was summarized in [Table 4](#pone.0128828.t004){ref-type="table"}.
{#pone.0128828.g005}
10.1371/journal.pone.0128828.t004
###### The summary of proteolytic cleavage result affected by a series of substitution in this study.
{#pone.0128828.t004g}
mutation type Ala-substitution Asp- substitution
--------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
position S538 Y611 T674 S538Y611 S538T674 Y611T674 S538Y611T674 S538 Y611 T674 S538Y611 S538T674 Y611T674 S538Y611T674
result [+](#t004fn002){ref-type="table-fn"} [+](#t004fn002){ref-type="table-fn"} [-](#t004fn003){ref-type="table-fn"} [+](#t004fn002){ref-type="table-fn"} [-](#t004fn003){ref-type="table-fn"} [-](#t004fn003){ref-type="table-fn"} [-](#t004fn003){ref-type="table-fn"} [+](#t004fn002){ref-type="table-fn"} [-](#t004fn003){ref-type="table-fn"} [-](#t004fn003){ref-type="table-fn"} [-](#t004fn003){ref-type="table-fn"} [-](#t004fn003){ref-type="table-fn"} [-](#t004fn003){ref-type="table-fn"} [-](#t004fn003){ref-type="table-fn"}
Note:
^"+"^ means such mutation does not affect intermediate precursor VP4-VP3 cleavage;
^"-"^ means such mutation affects intermediate precursor VP4-VP3 cleavage.
Discussion {#sec018}
==========
In this report, phosphorylation of the IBDV VP4 protein at the amino acid residues Ser538, Tyr611 and Thr674 were identified by LC-MS/MS spectrum analysis ([Table 3](#pone.0128828.t003){ref-type="table"}), demonstrating that the virally encoded VP4 protein is a phosphoprotein. The commercial mAbs against pSer (PSR-45, Sigma), pThr (PTR-8, Sigma) and pTyr (PT-66, Sigma) are widely used to investigate phosphorylation modifications. However, in our study these commercial antibodies failed to specifically detect the phosphorylation of Ser538, Tyr611 and Thr674 within the IBDV-encoded VP4 molecule ([S4 Fig](#pone.0128828.s004){ref-type="supplementary-material"}), indicating the need of developing new antibodies to detect the phosphorylated VP4. Therefore, a mAb specific for the pSer538 of the VP4 (Figs [1](#pone.0128828.g001){ref-type="fig"} and [2](#pone.0128828.g002){ref-type="fig"}) was generated in this study, providing an important tool for analyzing the novel function of the phosphoprotein VP4.
The phosphorylation of viral proteins has not been reported for all members of the family Birnaviridae. In the present study, the Western blot results showed that the VP4 is abundant in all cell fractions, including the nucleus, cytoplasm, membrane and insoluble cytoskeleton, and pSer538-VP4 accounted for a small proportion of the insoluble cytoskeletal fraction. Correspondingly, in the 2-DE blots, the abundant VP4 protein and a small amount of pSer538-VP4 protein were detected in the same protein spot ([Fig 3B](#pone.0128828.g003){ref-type="fig"} Middle panel), as well as in two different protein spots ([Fig 3B](#pone.0128828.g003){ref-type="fig"} Lower panel). Further immunofluorescence analysis revealed co-localization of the VP4 proteins recognized by the pSer538 and P530 mAbs ([Fig 3D](#pone.0128828.g003){ref-type="fig"}). Similarly, previously published proteomic data have shown different 2-DE protein spots representing the viral VP4 protein in IBDV-infected CEF cells and bursal lymphocytes \[[@pone.0128828.ref036], [@pone.0128828.ref038]\]. These results demonstrated that the VP4 in IBDV-infected cells with pSer538 modification was a minor and insoluble protein with different isoelectric points. However, in IBDV-infected cells, why only a minor portion of VP4 protein is phosphorylated and its possible physiological meaning is unclear and needs further investigation.
Granzow *et al*. \[[@pone.0128828.ref025]\] reported that the intracellular type II tubule contains the IBDV VP4 protein. However, our unpublished co-localization experiments data shows there is no overlap between the cytoskeleton and mass-like, filamentous structure VP4 protein, furthermore, continuous accumulations of VP4 structures occupy a large amount of intracellular space and result in the mechanical destruction of host cytoskeletal elements (data not shown). Since collapse of the host cytoskeleton typically affects cellular integrity, this will lead to cell lysis facilitating virion egress at later stages of infection. Whether type II tubules are involved in VP4 phosphorylation is currently unknown. In the present study, the single or combined mutants mimicking dephosphorylation and phosphorylation at Ser538, Tyr611 and Thr674 of VP4, still formed a mass-like structure ([Fig 4](#pone.0128828.g004){ref-type="fig"}), but not a rod-like or needle-like or filamentous structure of wild-type VP4 in IBDV-infected cells ([Fig 1B](#pone.0128828.g001){ref-type="fig"}), indicating that these three identified phosphorylated sites within VP4 are unrelated to the formation of intracellular type II tubules. Antibody response to the IBDV VP4 protein has been reported as a biomarker discriminating the pathogenic and nonpathogenic IBDV infection \[[@pone.0128828.ref034]\], and VP4 protein has been reported to be an inducer of suppressing type I interferon expression via interaction with the glucocorticoid-induced leucine zipper \[[@pone.0128828.ref035]\]. Whether the roles are relevant to the phosphorylation of VP4 requires more in-depth investigation.
In the present study, the subcellular fractionation analysis demonstrated an abundant amount of VP4 protein in the cytoskeleton fraction ([Fig 3A](#pone.0128828.g003){ref-type="fig"}). However, whether there is an association between the cytoskeleton and VP4 protein is not known. The ability of a eukaryotic cell to resist deformation, to transport intracellular cargo and to change shape during movement depends on the cytoskeleton, which consists of actin filaments, microtubules and intermediate filaments, an interconnected network of filamentous polymers and regulatory proteins \[[@pone.0128828.ref042]\]. Many proteins interact with actin through one of the following actin-binding motifs: calponin homology domain \[[@pone.0128828.ref043]\], ADF-H domain \[[@pone.0128828.ref044]\], gelsolin homology domain \[[@pone.0128828.ref045]\] or thymosin β4/WH2 (WASP homology domain-2) domain, a \~35 residue actin monomer-binding motif \[[@pone.0128828.ref046]\]. The critical and conserved actin-binding residues are Ile, Leu and Arg/Lys all in WH2 domains \[[@pone.0128828.ref047]\]. Based on a publicly available service, <http://elm.eu.org/>, we found a potential WH2 motif within the VP4 protein of IBDV, which contains conserved marker residues ^535^Ile, ^542^Leu and ^543^Arg. Thus, it may not be surprising that the VP4 protein mainly resides in the cytoskeleton fraction ([Fig 3A](#pone.0128828.g003){ref-type="fig"}), and this observation may be suggestive of a potential relationship between VP4 protein and actin that is worthy of further study.
Site-directed mutagenesis studies on the VP4 protease have shown that the conserved catalytic residues serine 652 and lysine 692 in IBDV are essential for polyprotein processing \[[@pone.0128828.ref011], [@pone.0128828.ref048]\]. Similar results were also found in the VP4 protease of infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV, serine 633 and lysine 674) \[[@pone.0128828.ref049]\] and the blotched snakehead virus (BSNV, serine 692 and lysine 729) \[[@pone.0128828.ref050]\] and Tellina virus-1 (TV-1, serine 738 and lysine 777) \[[@pone.0128828.ref051]\]. The VP4 protease of the Birnaviridae family therefore is proposed to utilize a serine/lysine catalytic dyad mechanism to catalyze the processing of the polyprotein \[[@pone.0128828.ref011], [@pone.0128828.ref048], [@pone.0128828.ref049], [@pone.0128828.ref051]--[@pone.0128828.ref053]\]. The replacement of serine by lysine in the AXAAS motif in the VPX-VP4 boundary (^485^AQAASGTARAASGKARAAS^504^) has been found to influence polyprotein processing by VP4. Furthermore, mutation of ^514^D (^510^TLAADK^515^) was shown to prevent cleavage at the VPX-VP4 junction, while the H547P mutation abolished the polyprotein processing completely, indicating that this histidine plays a very important role in the VP4 protease catalytic activity \[[@pone.0128828.ref054]\]. Furthermore, the atomic structures of birnavirus VP4 proteases reveal that O^γ1^ of T712, T655 and T760 (T674 in IBDV) in the polyprotein243 of BSNV, IPNV and TV-1, is a critical donor for generating the deacylating (catalytic) water interacting with N^03B6^ of the lysine general base (Lys 729, Lys 674 and Lys 777 corresponding to BSNV, IPNV, TV-1 respectively) to form the catalytic activity domain, and the residue T674 but not Y611 in IBDV is conserved within the Birnaviridae family \[[@pone.0128828.ref051]--[@pone.0128828.ref053]\]. In this study, Ala or Asp substitutions (dephospho- or phospho-mimicking mutations) at the pThr674 site *in vivo* and *in vitro* both led to a marked decrease of proteolytic enzyme activity, estimating that the mutation of Thr674 abolish the ability for the lysine to function as a general base and inhibit polyprotein processing. Substitution of Asp but not Ala at pTyr611 also led to minor negative effects on proteolytic activity. Ser538 is not the active site of serine protease, therefore, Ala or Asp substitution at the pSer538 site does not affect proteolytic enzyme activity (Fig [5A](#pone.0128828.g005){ref-type="fig"} and [5B](#pone.0128828.g005){ref-type="fig"}). Our results above show that Tyr611 and Thr674 phosphorylation affected the maturation of intermediate precursor VP4-VP3, and further in-depth investigation about pVP2-VP4 cleavage will be followed up. In all, our results reveal that pTyr611 and pThr674 may play a partial role in the process of polyprotein cleavage.
Supporting Information {#sec019}
======================
###### Representative Coomassie stained SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis of IBDV-infected cells.
The DF-1 cells infected IBDV for 24 hour were lysed with 2-DE lysis buffer and subjected to SDS-PAGE (Left panel) and Western blot (Right panel). The anti-rabbit polyclonal antibody could react with the viral VP4 protein in IBDV-infected cells. "+": IBDV-infected cells; "-": mock-infected cells. The protein standard was listed in the left side.
(TIF)
######
Click here for additional data file.
###### Subcellular distribution of VP4 protein in DF-1 cells transfected with single or multiple dephospho- and phospho-mimicking VP4 mutants.
Dephospho-mimicking (left) and phospho-mimicking (right) VP4 mutants of pSer538, pTyr611 and pThr674 were constructed by site-directed mutation of Ala or Asp substitution with the vector pCI-neo and transfected into DF-1 cells. Subcellular distribution of each mutant was observed with a laser Zeiss LSM510 laser confocal microscope. Different time points post-transfection are labeled. Nuclei were counterstained with DAPI.
(TIF)
######
Click here for additional data file.
###### Viral protein co-localization analysis in 293T cells transfected with IBDV segment A with the multiple dephospho- and phospho-mimicking VP4 gene.
At 24 h post-transfection with the IBDV A-segment mutant with the multiple dephospho- and phospho-mimicking VP4 gene, 293T cells were fixed and probed with chicken anti-VP2 pAb, mouse anti-VP3 mAb and rabbit anti-VP4 pAb followed by FITC-conjugated goat anti-chicken IgG (green), Alexa Fluor 647 donkey anti-mouse IgG (blue) and Alexa Fluor 546 donkey ant-rabbit IgG (red). Nuclei were counterstained with DAPI (grey). The cells were observed with a laser Zeiss LSM510 laser confocal microscope. Cells transfected with the A segment with the Tyr611Asp and Thr674 Ala/Asp substitutions revealed co-localization between the IBDV-encoded proteins.
(TIF)
######
Click here for additional data file.
###### Comparison of pSer538-VP4 mAbs and general phosphor-S/T/Y mAbs.
DF-1 cells infected with IBDV or not and cultured for 24 h. The cells lysed with NP-40 buffer and His-VP4 protein were subjected to SDS-PAGE and Western blot using the generated mAbs and commercial Abs. M: Protein Marker, 1: DF-1 cells infected IBDV, 2: Mock DF-1 cells, 3: Purified His-VP4. The used antibodies were shown under the picture.
(TIF)
######
Click here for additional data file.
We thank Ms. Yun-qin Li for technical assistance on laser confocal microscopy.
[^1]: **Competing Interests:**The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
[^2]: Conceived and designed the experiments: JYZ XJZ. Performed the experiments: SYW BLH LJ XJZ. Analyzed the data: WYS JYZ. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: SYW LJ BLH WYS. Wrote the paper: SYW JYZ.
|
Q:
How do I handle a co-worker stealing company time?
My co-worker and I started at the same time, mid-summer, so we each have 9 days of vacation time through the end of the year. Our new boss works remotely and there is very little accountability. My co-worker has started missing a lot of work lately. Sometimes he'll email the team and give some medical excuse (sometimes telling me a different excuse--like just being tired or out with friends), but most of the time, he doesn't send out an email at all, just hopes nobody notices. He's up to 23 days off, but he's not reporting all those days. I talked to my manager about it a couple weeks ago and he said that he was trying to give leniency to this employee because of his medical issues, because he doesn't know that they aren't as valid as he thinks. I feel like I've done all I can do by talking to the manager about it, but it's getting out of hand. He hasn't been to work in a couple weeks, and my manager doesn't seem to care at all. Is there anything else I can do about it?
A:
I talked to my manager about it a couple weeks ago and he said that he was trying to give leniency to this employee because of his medical issues
That obviously is your first step and you've done it. You're not a manager and more specifically, you're not his manager. For you to do more would be stepping on your manager's toes, big time.
I feel like I've done all I can do by talking to the manager about it, but it's getting out of hand.
You're right, you have done all you can do since that's really the only thing you should do. So having said that, they only thing you have left that you can actually do is approach your manager one more time and let him know the specifics of your concerns. Be aware though that this may annoy your manager and may backfire, but if you're determined to do something, there's really not much else you should do. Anything more than this (such as going over his head) could well up with you ending up looking like a great big troublemaker, and looking worse than your coworker, possibly even looking jealous because he's "getting away" with something.
If you do decide to approach your manager, I'd start out by saying that you feel really strongly about it and felt you had to say something else but that this is the last you'll say on the subject.
Think about what you're saying though and be careful. You're essentially saying that you're manager is incompetent and that you would be a better manager than he is because you would handle it. If we can make that assessment, I'm sure your manager will too.
Tread very lightly.
A:
If you feel that you still need to approach your boss about this, then you need to talk about how this is affecting you. Is the absence of your coworker making it difficult for you to do your own work? How is this impacting the team and project? Don't say that the coworker needs to be punished or investigated - just talk about how to improve your ability to do your job. This might mean redistributing your coworker's tasks, or maybe hiring someone to fill in the gaps. If your boss determines that your coworker needs to come into the office more, then that is management's decision, not yours.
If your coworker's absence is not affecting your work, and really just bothers you for the principle of it, then let it go. You have alerted management that there might be something up, and you are still able to do your job, so the ball isn't in your court anymore.
|
Chief’s hearing likely to be extended
Leneghan won’t step down in Jensen case
By D. Anthony Botkin - abotkin@civitasmedia.com
Jensen’s attorney, Paul Bittner (right), cross-examines Douglas Duckett, a Cincinnati attorney, about his investigation and report into Jensen’s conduct as fire chief. In the center is Tim Jensen and at left is Angela Courtwright.
D. Anthony Botkin | The Gazette
Douglas Duckett at Monday’s hearing.
D. Anthony Botkin | The Gazette
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story, as well as today’s print edition of The Gazette, incorrectly reported that Trustee Shyra Eichhorn asked fellow Trustee Melanie Leneghan to recuse herself from the proceedings. The request came from one of Fire Chief Tim Jensen’s attorneys, not Eichhorn.
The only witness to testify against suspended Liberty Township Fire Chief Tim Jensen Monday night will not be available to finish his testimony this week, almost assuring that Jensen’s hearing will last several days, instead of the two nights originally scheduled.
Cincinnati attorney Douglas Duckett was the sole witness Monday evening but said he could not return Tuesday. “I’m catching an early morning flight out of town Wednesday,” said Duckett, who investigated Jensen and prepared a report for township trustees earlier this year. “I’ll be out of town for the rest of the week.”
Trustee Shyra Eichhorn instructed Duckett not to talk to anyone about the case until he could take the witness stand again.
Monday’s hearing began 6 p.m. and ended at 10:55 p.m. when Bittner said he needed another two hours to finish cross-examining Duckett.
Jensen’s attorneys, Bittner and Angela Courtwright, initially made several motions to dismiss the charges against Jensen, to disqualify Edward Kim as the attorney prosecuting the case for the township, and to force Leneghan to recuse herself from the hearing. Leneghan and the other two trustees are presiding over the hearing. Kim is the township’s attorney.
“Mr. Kim and his firm have provided advice on this very issue that we’re hearing today,” Bittner said. “We believe it creates a significant problem of due process. He (Jensen) is entitled to a fair and impartial hearing.”
“We absolutely disagree that this is in violation of due process,” Kim said.
Trustees went behind closed doors to discuss the motions with legal counsel Keith Muehlfeld, a retired judge from Henry County whom trustees retained last week. Upon returning, trustees denied all motions by Jensen’s attorneys.
“Chief Jensen’s due process rights include the review of the charges by a fair and impartial tribunal,” Courtwright said. “We respectfully submit this court is not a fair and impartial court.”
Courtwright said the relationship between Trustee Melanie Leneghan and Jensen has been contentious in the past and said Leneghan should recuse herself from hearing the misconduct charges against Jensen.
“Trustee Leneghan’s conduct in the past demonstrates she cannot be fair and impartial,” Courtwright said. But “she must recuse herself.”
Leneghan did not recuse herself.
Courtwright said that Duckett did not provide specific information on the charges in his report that trustees later filed against Jensen.
Duckett’s report contained issues of missing drugs, lack of leadership and, according to Duckett, the “constant underlying theme here of the lack of urgency.” Duckett has alleged that Jensen is not a competent manager.
“I believe Tim Jensen is unfit to serve in the office of fire chief,” Duckett said.
During a heated cross-examination, Bittner asked Duckett if he had drawn any conclusions before his report was written and whether he was influenced by trustees, who paid him $26,000 for the investigation and report.
“This report was never about the good character of Tim Jensen,” Bittner said. “Do you still believe that?”
Duckett said he couldn’t recall the exact words he used but admitted, “I think it is an anomaly under Ohio law,” Duckett said. “I don’t have a strong personal conviction on this point. I find it an anomaly of the law and that is it.”
Jensen’s attorney, Paul Bittner (right), cross-examines Douglas Duckett, a Cincinnati attorney, about his investigation and report into Jensen’s conduct as fire chief. In the center is Tim Jensen and at left is Angela Courtwright.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2016/08/web1_DSC_3884-1.jpgJensen’s attorney, Paul Bittner (right), cross-examines Douglas Duckett, a Cincinnati attorney, about his investigation and report into Jensen’s conduct as fire chief. In the center is Tim Jensen and at left is Angela Courtwright. D. Anthony Botkin | The Gazette |
NevenTaleTM: Forge of Fate
NevenTaleTM: Forge of Fate is the first freemium, largely voice acted, high fantasy mobile online RPG with an entirely nonlinear narrative-driven experience. It allows you to explore thousands of unique adventures in the ultimate dungeon crawler! Using our “NevEngineTM” content creation technology we offer players the ability to make moral choices that directly impact a very deep storyline. |
Q:
Service Unavailable Central administration SharePoint 2010
i am facing a problem with my SharePoint Administration 2010, when i am trying to open it its give me
"Service Unavailable"
but the other sites that are created are working fine.
i searched the net but i didn't find a good site for this problem
any help please
A:
I solved the problem by changing Application pool identity to Network-Service and i restart the IIS and it worked
|
Colombia coca leaf production up by 44% - UN Published duration 2 July 2015
image copyright AFP image caption Most of the increase in coca and cocaine production was in southern areas of Colombia
The area used for the coca cultivation in Colombia increased by 44% last year, a United Nations report says.
Most of the rise in the cultivation of coca leaves - the raw ingredient for cocaine - comes from southern areas controlled by left-wing Farc rebels.
Farmers have probably boosted production to cover potential losses in the event of a peace deal between the Farc and the government, says the UN.
They fear an agreement will include programmes to eradicate coca.
The Farc and the Colombian government have been engaged in peace talks since November 2012.
The rebels have already agreed to encourage local farmers to join voluntary programmes to replace coca with other crops.
'Warning signal'
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report says the potential production of cocaine went by more than 50% in 2014.
image copyright Reuters image caption Andean countries' farmers have been encouraged to stop growing coca and to switch to other crops
"The change is an important warning signal," said Leonardo Correa, one of the authors of the annual report.
The assessment is based mostly on satellite photographs.
Reports on Bolivia and Peru are due in the next few weeks.
The three countries are the world's largest producers of coca leaves and cocaine.
Crop spraying
In May, Colombia announced it was stopping using a controversial herbicide to destroy illegal plantations of coca.
The decision followed a warning by the World Health Organization (WHO) that glyphosate is "probably carcinogenic".
The product has been used in US-sponsored crop-spraying anti-narcotics programmes in South America.
President Juan Manuel Santos said Colombia would need to find other mechanisms to combat coca production. |
Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, a ranking member on the influential Senate Finance Committee, announced this week he is developing a new way to tax the wealthy – aimed at overhauling the capital gains tax structure.
Continue Reading Below
Capital gains taxes are currently paid on the difference between what an individual originally paid for a property or investment and what she sold it for – at the time it is sold.
The current top capital gains rate sits at 23.8 percent. The highest income bracket tax rate, by contrast, is 37 percent.
Wyden is proposing that unrealized capital gains are taxed annually – meaning that these assets are taxed each year their value appreciates even if the owner does not sell them. Under his proposal, they would be taxed at ordinary income rates – meaning the top rate would increase to that 37 percent level, from less than 24 percent.
Economists often refer to this type of proposal as “mark-to-market.”
Wyden, who is proposing the change as a means to combat inequality, said in a statement that the mark-to-market approach would eliminate “serious loopholes that allow some to pay a lower rate than wage earners, to delay their taxes indefinitely, and in some cases, to avoid paying tax at all.”
He is expected to release a white paper outlining the idea.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that more than 90 percent of the benefits from the reduced capital gains rate accrue to households in the highest income quintile.
Republicans, however, are likely to vehemently oppose the plan. Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania called the proposal a “breathtakingly terrible idea,” as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Chris Edwards, director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute and editor of www.DownsizingGovernment.org – who opposes the measure – said there are a number of economic reasons why capital gains have been subject to different tax rules.
“Low capital gains taxes mitigate the harmful effects of inflation and encourage investment in risky start-ups and growth companies,” Edwards told FOX Business. “Silicon Valley crucially depends upon investors waiting patiently for years as their risky investments in growth companies to pay off with a realized capital gain.”
He also says many investors do not have the liquidity to pay taxes on the assets annually as they appreciate in value.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, one of the world’s wealthiest men, has cautioned against support for some of the Democratic party’s more progressive tax proposals – including freshman New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s 70 percent income tax. He has, however, called for reforms to the capital gains tax structure.
“The big fortunes, if your goal is to go after those, you have to take the capital gains tax, which is far lower at like 20 percent, and increase that,” Gates said on CNN in February.
Taxing capital gains income and ordinary income at the same rate “would get rid of a lot of complexity, because whenever those rates vary, you want to make one look like the other,” he said.
Wyden follows a host of others in his party with plans to tax the wealthy as a means of combating income and wealth inequality.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX BUSINESS APP
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren – a declared 2020 hopeful – has proposed an “ultra-millionaires tax” on people with assets in excess of $50 million, for example.
Another 2020 contender, Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, wants to expand the estate tax rate to 77 percent for people passing on assets in excess of $1 billion.
It should be noted that Wyden could become head to the Senate Finance Committee should Republicans lose their majority. |
Paul Kosterink
Coordinator Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning
Paul Kosterink is Coordinator Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning. Paul joined GPPAC in 2012 and his role is to coordinate the Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation (PME) processes and the Learning agenda of the GPPAC network. He is responsible for capacity building of both Global Secretariat staff and network members on monitoring and reporting, following the ‘Outcome Harvesting' approach. During the past year Paul developed a database with all strategic plans and reports from the entire global network and made it accessible to its key users. He coordinated the drafting of the new Strategic Plan for the period 2016-2020. For the coming year Paul's biggest challenge will be to organise more frequent dialogue within the network and reflect on what GPPAC does and achieves and to identify where the network's weaknesses are. The ‘learning' component is difficult to organise within a global network, yet it is essential to plan strategically and achieve results. Before joining GPPAC Paul worked with civil society organisations in Central and Eastern Europe and Western Balkan. Paul has twenty years of experience in working with civil society networks and he is a practitioner and trainer-facilitator for civil society development, international networking, PME and adult learning. Paul holds an MSc in Environmental Science.
What is GPPAC
The Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) is a member-led network of civil society organisations (CSOs) active in the field of conflict prevention and peacebuilding across the world. |
###### Strengths and limitations of this study
- This is the first study to assess the relative impact of the Choosing Wisely Australia 5 Questions resource, both alone and in combination with an additional video intervention designed to support and build patients' confidence to ask questions compared with no intervention, and explore whether health literacy modifies the impact of interventions.
- We will randomly allocate participants, conceal allocation, blind study statisticians and aim to recruit 1432 participants to achieve at least 80% power.
- The main limitation of this study is reduced ecological validity and the limited generalisability of the findings due to (a) online recruitment and use of 'healthy volunteers', (b) the use of a hypothetical scenario and (c) delivering the interventions in a way that diverges from how they would be/are delivered in the real world.
- However, this design allows us to achieve a high response and follow-up rate with adequate representation of people with limited health literacy in a factorial design requiring a large sample.
- The measure of health literacy used in this study focuses on functional health literacy, but enables automatic scoring and categorisation of participants in an online setting.
Unnecessary and potentially harmful services account for a significant proportion of total health expenditure.[@R1] The need to eliminate unnecessary medical care, decrease waste and reduce overdiagnosis has received increasing attention from health systems in the past decade. One initiative that has gained momentum worldwide is Choosing Wisely.[@R2] Launched in April 2012 by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Foundation, the Choosing Wisely campaign has now been adapted and implemented in more than 20 countries worldwide. The campaign seeks to encourage clinicians and patients to talk about medical tests and procedures that may be unnecessary, and in some instances, can cause harm.[@R2] While acknowledging that it is often challenging to have conversations about unnecessary tests and treatments, leaders of the campaign consider communication between clinicians and patients during routine clinical encounters a key mechanism for change.[@R2]
As part of the original Choosing Wisely campaign, Consumer Reports (an independent non-profit product-testing organisation) partnered with the ABIM Foundation and developed five questions for patients to ask healthcare providers to support better conversations about unnecessary tests, medications and procedures.[@R3] The questions are publically available and have been promoted for use nationally and internationally. The five questions were adopted by Choosing Wisely Australia (with some minor phrasing changes; see [box 1](#B1){ref-type="boxed-text"}) and have been disseminated in several forms and languages, including as a one-page downloadable resource, '*5 Questions to Ask Your Doctor*' (hereafter referred to as the 5 Questions Resource), that lists the questions and provides additional guidance in their rationale and use (see [online supplementary appendix A](#SP1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). Annual evaluation surveys conducted by Choosing Wisely Australia suggested that, in 2015 and 2016, 8% of healthcare consumers were aware of the 5 Questions Resource and, in 2017, it was the organisation's most commonly downloaded material (4).10.1136/bmjopen-2019-033126.supp1Supplementary data
###### The choosing Wisely Australia 5 questions
- Do I really need this test, treatment or procedure?\*
- What are the risks?
- Are there simpler, safer options?
- What happens if I don\'t do anything?
- What are the costs?†
NPS Medicinewise Ltd. Reproduced with permission. Visit [www.choosingwisely.org.au](www.choosingwisely.org.au).
\* Original Consumer Reports question: Do I really need this test or procedure?
† Original Consumer Reports question: How much does it cost?
The 5 Questions Resource has been promoted for its 'potential to facilitate better conversations between healthcare providers and consumers'.[@R4] However, it has yet to be formally evaluated, and the precise expected mechanism of action for its effect on the use of low value care has not been investigated. Notwithstanding, question prompt lists of this kind are typically regarded as a strategy for facilitating shared decision-making[@R5] and thus, improved shared decision-making is an obvious potential mediator of the hypothesised effect of the 5 Questions resource on the use of care.
Despite its potential, focus testing by Choosing Wisely Australia suggested that the 5 Questions Resource alone may not be sufficient for enabling patient question-asking as people may continue to feel that they do not have permission to ask questions.[@R4] In response to this, Choosing Wisely Australia has developed accompanying resources (eg, posters featuring local hospital staff,[@R4] a video illustrating how to have conversations with health professionals)[@R6] that address some potential barriers to the impact of the 5 Questions Resource (eg, the social unacceptability of active participation, patient concerns about healthcare providers' reactions and possible retribution). However, other elements proposed as critical for preparing patients in advance of exposure to a shared decision-making intervention (eg, explaining that there are two experts in the encounter (healthcare provider *and* patient), challenging attitudes that there are universally right and wrong decisions)[@R7] remain unaddressed by these resources. An intervention that addresses all elements considered critical for patient preparation may enhance the impact of the 5 Questions resource and may also, on its own, be beneficial.[@R7]
The impact of the 5 Questions resource may also depend on patients' health literacy[@R9] that is, 'the cognitive and social skills which determine the motivation and ability of individuals to gain access to, understand and use information in ways which promote and maintain good health'.[@R10] Adults with lower health literacy have worse health outcomes (eg, increased hospital admissions and readmissions[@R11] poorer chronic disease outcomes[@R12] and increased mortality[@R13]), and importantly ask fewer questions when seeing healthcare providers.[@R14] Previous research shows that interventions that are tailored to an individuals' health literacy level can support more effective communication and potentially reduce health inequalities for people with lower health literacy.[@R15] However, intervention developers often fail to tailor the design of their interventions to adults with lower health literacy and rarely evaluate their impact in this group.
Objectives {#s1}
===========
Our overall objective of this study is to better understand the potential of the Choosing Wisely Australia 5 Questions Resource and a newly developed shared decision-making preparation video for facilitating shared decision-making and reducing the use of unnecessary tests, medications and procedures. As this study represents the world's first evaluation of both interventions, we intend to deliver them online to a community sample using hypothetical vignettes. Participants are asked to imagine being in a specific clinical scenario and proximal cognitive-affective outcomes are assessed following randomisation to different interventions. We consider demonstrating evidence of impact in cognitive and affective outcomes an important first step before embarking on evaluation in the healthcare setting. Our primary aim is to assess the impact of the interventions on participants' (a) self-efficacy to ask questions and participate in shared decision-making, (b) intention to participate in shared decision-making and (c) a range of secondary outcomes. Our secondary aim is to determine whether health literacy modifies the impact of the interventions.
Methods {#s2}
=======
The study methods have been informed by an unpublished pilot study of the intervention (n=164), which included a qualitative interview study with a subset of health consumers (n=25) to refine the interventions and outcome measures. Data collection is planned to start in November 2019 and finish in December 2019.
Study design and setting {#s2-1}
-------------------------
We will use 2×2×2 between-subjects factorial design (preparation video: yes, no × Choosing Wisely 5 Questions Resource: yes, no × health literacy: adequate, inadequate). This design will enable us to assess the relative impact of different interventions, both alone and in combination compared with no intervention. This design will also allow us to explore whether health literacy modifies the impact of these interventions.
This study will be conducted online using the Qualtrics survey platform. Randomisation will be undertaken via an automated function in the survey platform using an equal allocation ratio and stratification by participant health literacy (adequate, inadequate), yielding four trial arms in each health literacy subgroup: (a) preparation video alone, (b) 5 Questions Resource alone, (c) preparation video and 5 Questions Resource and (d) no intervention. Participants will not be blinded to their assigned intervention.
Participants, recruitment and consent {#s2-2}
--------------------------------------
To be eligible to take part, potential participants must be aged 18 years or older; be an Australian citizen or permanent resident and possess sufficient self-assessed English language skills to complete questionnaires in English.
Participants will be identified, pre-screened for eligibility and invited to consider participation by Dynata, a market research company with a database of 600 000 people willing to be involved in online research. Dynata uses a points system whereby points are earned for completion of surveys which can be redeemed for items such as gift vouchers, donations to charities or cash. If participants agree and are interested in being part of the study, they will be directed to an online survey hosted in Qualtrics. The first page of the survey will display the downloadable Participant Information Statement (see [online supplementary appendix B](#SP2){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). In line with the Australian National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research, 2007 (updated 2018), we have received ethical approval to regard completion of the questionnaire as an indication of consent. Participants are also required to select 'Yes, I would like to participate' to enter the survey.
10.1136/bmjopen-2019-033126.supp2
During the study, all participants will be presented with a hypothetical healthcare scenario that asks them to imagine being in a situation where they have non-specific low back pain and stable pain/symptoms (see [box 2](#B2){ref-type="boxed-text"}). Non-specific low back pain describes pain between the inferior border of the twelfth rib and lower gluteal folds that is not caused by a serious or specific underlying pathology.[@R18] Back pain was the eighth most frequently managed problem Australian general practice in 2015[@R19] and non-specific low back pain accounts for approximately 90% of low back pain cases.[@R20] Routine imaging for non-specific low back pain has been shown to have more harms than benefits, and furthermore many medical treatments provide little-to-no benefit over placebo.[@R21]
###### Hypothetical back pain scenario
- 'You have had lower back pain for about one month; it has not improved or become worse. You did not have an accident to cause the pain; it just began and has not gone away.
- You go to your doctor to get advice on what is causing it and what can help with the pain.
- The doctor recommends that you have a scan to help figure out what is causing the pain, and gives you a prescription for some medicine'.
Interventions {#s2-3}
--------------
### Preparation video {#s2-3-1}
We developed a short video (3 min) intended to prepare patients for question-asking and shared decision-making. Our rationale for this choice of intervention included that multimedia formats can be a successful tool in engaging and educating patients with low health literacy and encouraging or modifying patient behaviour[@R23] and that videos featuring real people have been found to be more effective than those which only provide graphically presented information with voice overs.[@R23] The video script ([online supplementary appendix C](#SP3){ref-type="supplementary-material"}) was developed through an iterative process and was intended to integrate the recommendations for effective preparation as outlined by Joseph-Williams and colleagues.[@R8] The transcript was developed with reference to the Listenability Style Guide which outlines principles to make spoken discourse more comprehensible and ease the cognitive burden of listening (eg, repetition of ideas; simple and common idioms; vivid analogies; use of questions to focus the listener's attention).[@R26] The readability level of the script was also checked and adjusted until a grade five readability level was achieved.
10.1136/bmjopen-2019-033126.supp3
### Choosing Wisely Australia 5 Questions Resource {#s2-3-2}
The Choosing Wisely Australia 5 Questions Resource is a one-page document co-branded by Choosing Wisely Australia and NPS Medicinewise that lists the Choosing Wisely Australia 5 Questions (see [box 1](#B1){ref-type="boxed-text"}) and provides additional guidance in their rationale and use (see [online supplementary appendix A](#SP1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). This resource has a readability score of 9.4.
Implementation of interventions {#s2-4}
--------------------------------
The interventions will be displayed to participants within the survey platform. To ensure intervention exposure, a timer has been added to the pages displaying the video (3 min) and 5 Questions Resource (1 min), preventing participants from progressing to the next survey page until the specified time has elapsed. In the preparation video and 5 Questions Resource arm, the video will be presented before the 5 Questions resource. Participants will not be prevented from exposure to any other care or interventions prior to or during the study.
Data collection {#s2-5}
----------------
Study data will be collected via surveys administered immediately before ('Pre'), immediately after ('Post') and 2 weeks after ('Follow-up') exposure to the relevant intervention(s) (see [figure 1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}). All outcomes will be assessed by participant self-report with the exception of 'Indicator of proactive intervention use' (see Outcomes and Measures).
{#F1}
Outcomes and measures {#s2-6}
----------------------
Primary and secondary outcomes for the study, as well as measurement instruments and analysis metrics, are shown in [table 1](#T1){ref-type="table"}. Outcomes and measures were refined following a pilot study (n=164). Unpublished pilot data are available from the authors on request.
######
Outcomes and measurement
Outcome Measure Pre Post Follow-up
----------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- ------ -----------
Primary Self-efficacy to ask questions Single item adapted from Bandura's self-efficacy theory.[@R36] Participants are asked to rate their degree of confidence to ask questions of their healthcare provider by recording a number from 0 (cannot do at all) to 100 (highly certain can do). x x x
Self-efficacy to be involved in healthcare decision-making Single item adapted from Bandura's self-efficacy theory.[@R36] Participants are asked to rate their degree of confidence to be involved in decisions with their healthcare provider by recording a number from 0 (cannot do at all) to 100 (highly certain can do). x x x
Self-efficacy to ask questions and be involved in healthcare decision-making Composite measure based on two individual items (see above). x x x
Intention to engage in shared decision-making Validated, three-item scale (Cronbach alpha=0.8;[@R31]) measuring participants' (a) likelihood of engaging in shared decision-making, from very unlikely (−3) to very likely (+3), (b) odds of engaging in shared decision-making, from very weak (−3) to very strong (+3) and (c) agreement with the statement 'I intend to engage in shared decision-making\', from total disagreement (−3) to total agreement (+3). Total scores will be rescaled on a scale of 0--6 and the sum of the items divided by three to derive the total score of intention. x x x
Secondary Intention to follow the treatment plan recommended by the doctor without further questioning A single item on a 10-point scale, adapted from previous research,[@R37] assessing hypothetical intention to follow the treatment plan recommended by the doctor without further questioning: 'Which best describes your intention to follow the treatment plan recommended by the doctor without asking further questions?' (1 = 'Definitely will not' to 10 = 'Definitely will'). x x x
Knowledge of patients' rights in regards to shared decision-making Four questions adapted from Halaway *et al*[@R38] and applied to the Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights (second edition).[@R39] Participants were asked to indicate 'Yes', 'No' or 'Unsure' to show whether they think the following are patient rights: (a) ask questions and be involved in open and honest communication; (b) make choices with your healthcare provider; (c) include the people that you want in planning and decision-making; (d) get clear information about your condition, including the possible benefits and risks of different tests and treatments. A foil question will be included to detect if participants are arbitrarily selecting 'yes' to all questions. Scores are dichotomised into (a) all questions correct, or (b) not all questions correct. x x
Attitude toward shared decision-making Three-item scale adapted from Dormandy *et al*,[@R40] assessing participants' perceptions of shared decision-making as beneficial/not beneficial, worthwhile/not worthwhile and important/unimportant. Each item has seven response options, forming a scale from 3 to 21. Scores will be recoded such that higher scores indicate more positive attitudes towards shared decision-making. Participants responding with the highest possible score on all three questions will be classified as having positive attitudes. x
Preparedness for shared decision-making *(Arms 1-3 only*) Modified, eight-item version of the PrepDM.[@R41] The PrepDM scale was developed to assess a participants' perception of how useful a decision support intervention is in preparing them to communicate with their practitioner at a consultation visit and to make a health decision. Items are scored on a Likert scale 1--5, from 'Not at all' (1) to 'A great deal' (5), with higher scores indicating higher perceived level of preparation for decision-making. Items will be summed and the total score divided by 8.[@R41] x
Acceptability (*Arms 1--3 only*) Adapted from Shepherd *et al*,[@R42] participants are asked to rate if they would (a) recommend the (intervention) to others and (b) use the (intervention) again on a four-point scale from 1 (Definitely not) to 4 (Yes, definitely).[@R42] Recommendations are dichotomised into would recommend (3 and 4) and would not recommend (1 and 2). x
Indicator of proactive intervention use (*Arms 1--3 only*) We will assess the proportion of participants who click on a link to their intervention. x x
Healthcare questions Participants will be asked to write down five questions that they would ask the doctor given the hypothetical healthcare scenario. The content of individual responses will be analysed via content analysis using inductive and deductive approaches (see below). The mean number of questions that map onto the Choosing Wisely 5 Questions will be calculated. x x
PrepDM, Preparation for Decision Making Scale.
Demographic and health data collection {#s2-7}
---------------------------------------
In addition to the primary and secondary outcomes, participants will be asked to report their age, gender, Australian state of residence, language spoken at home, education status, employment status, private health insurance status and confidence in filling out medical forms.[@R27] Participants will also be asked to indicate who is usually involved in healthcare decision-making related to their health, and about their experience and perceived knowledge of low back pain. Health literacy will be assessed by the Newest Vital Sign (NVS),[@R28] with participants categorised as inadequate (score 0--3 on NVS) or adequate literacy (score 4--6 on NVS). The NVS has been used in other online studies,[@R29] and is an objective, performance-based measure of health literacy skills. We will also administer a single-item measure of self-reported health literacy for the purposes of describing the sample.
Analysis {#s2-8}
--------
### Quantitative data analysis {#s2-8-1}
The study statistician will be blinded to the intervention allocation of participants and their level of health literacy until after completion of analyses; a research assistant who has no other involvement in the trial will remove all group identifiers prior to analysis. Quantitative primary and secondary outcome data will be analysed as intention-to-treat using appropriate regression models (ie, linear regression for continuous outcomes, logistic regression for dichotomous categorical outcomes). Dichotomous variables representing the study factors (preparation video: provided, not provided; Choosing Wisely Australia 5 Questions resource: provided, not provided; health literacy: adequate, inadequate) and their interactions will be included in models as between-subjects fixed effects, controlling for pre-intervention values (where available). Outcome data collected during the immediate post- and follow-up survey will be analysed in separate models. Any significant interactions will be followed-up by subgroup analyses based on potentially relevant demographic variables.
### Missing data {#s2-8-2}
The use of an online survey platform minimises the risk of missing data; participants are required to provide responses to each question before moving on to subsequent items. As such, data are only missing in cases where participants discontinue prior to providing responses for outcome measures. Participants who discontinue the study before completion of the (immediate) post-intervention survey will be excluded from all analyses. Multiple imputation will be used[@R30] to impute occasional cases of missing data (eg, some outcome measures incomplete) or for missing responses for participants who complete the initial (pre- and post-) surveys, but do not return to complete the 2-week follow-up survey. If multiple imputation of missing data is utilised, sensitivity analyses will be performed comparing the outcome from complete case with imputed analyses.
### Sample size {#s2-8-3}
Sample size estimates were derived based on the primary outcome of intention score, with the estimates of effect based on previously published values[@R31] and refined considering pilot data. For each stratified analysis arm (ie, inadequate health literacy, adequate health literacy), a sample of n=162 subjects per intervention group is expected to provide approximately 80% power to detect a small main effect (effect size of 0.10 or greater) of the Choosing Wisely Australia 5 Questions resource; and over 80% power to detect small main effects (effect sizes 0.20 or larger) of the preparation video intervention, and their interaction, at a p-value of 0.05 in primary analyses. As such, we aim to recruit a total sample size of n=1432 (ie, 716 with inadequate health literacy and 716 with adequate health literacy; with n=179 participants randomly allocated to each intervention group \[preparation video alone, Choosing Wisely Australia 5 Questions resource alone, both Choosing Wisely questions and preparation intervention, and control\]). This will allow for a drop-out of approximately 10% of participants who discontinue the study before completing the (immediate) post-intervention survey measures.
### Qualitative data analysis {#s2-8-4}
Assessment of healthcare questions deemed by participants as important to ask in their hypothetical scenario will be analysed via content analysis.[@R32] Coding will first be done deductively based on concepts embodied in the Choosing Wisely Australia 5 questions.[@R33] Two double-blind coders will review all data and code any questions that fit broadly into 1 of 5 categories: Do I really need this test, treatment or procedure? What are the risks? Are there simpler, safer options? What happens if I don't do anything? What are the costs?[@R34] Any discrepancies will be resolved through discussion between coders. Remaining responses will be coded inductively with categories derived from the data.[@R34] Inductive codes will be collected to form coding sheets and categories freely generated and grouped through the abstraction process.[@R34] The coding scheme will be revised over an iterative process of discussion and revision to ensure all themes are captured. Based on our previous work, data will be presented in the form of frequencies expressed as percentages and actual numbers of key categories. We will also report category names, definitions and data examples.
Data storage and management {#s2-9}
---------------------------
After enrolment, a unique identifier will be assigned to each study participant. Any participant identifiers will be removed before the data are archived for storage. Data will be downloaded as spreadsheets and stored on password protected computers which are encrypted per university policy. Listed investigators will have access to the final study data set.
Patient involvement {#s2-10}
-------------------
A consumer was involved in the study design. The consumer helped select outcomes and outcome measures, develop and refine the intervention, and will inform the interpretation of the analysis and dissemination of findings. Our study protocol was also presented to a Choosing Wisely Australia Board Meeting, with specific feedback sought from the two consumer board members.
Supplementary Material
======================
###### Reviewer comments
###### Author\'s manuscript
**Twitter:** \@ErinCvejic, \@M_C\_Tracy, \@zadro_josh
**Contributors:** Authorship decisions adhered to International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommendations. DM, KM and JKS conceived the original idea for this trial, and this was further developed by EH-fC, RET, EC, MT, JZ and RL. DM and JKS wrote the first draft of this protocol manuscript, and this was edited by all other authors. EC provided valuable input regarding trial design and analytical considerations, and performed the sample size calculations for the trial. All authors contributed to and approved the final version of the manuscript.
**Funding:** The study was funded by a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC; help\@nhmrc.gov.au) Program Grant (APP1113532). NPS MedicineWise gave permission for investigators' use of the Question Prompt List leaflet without charge. EC was supported by a Sydney Medical School Summer Research Scholarship and KM was supported by an NHMRC Principal Research Fellowship (1121110). Neither the NHMRC nor Sydney Medical School had any role in the design of this study. They will not have a future role in the conduct or write-up of the study or in the decision to submit the findings for publication. A representative of Choosing Wisely Australia (RL) contributed to the design of this study and will have a future role in the conduct and write-up of the study. NPS MedicineWise will not have a role in the decision to submit the study findings for publication.
**Competing interests:** RL is an employee of NPS MedicineWise which facilitates Choosing Wisely Australia. The University of Sydney owns intellectual property on the video and DM, MT, KM and RET are contributors to the intellectual property.
**Patient consent for publication:** Not required.
**Provenance and peer review:** Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
|
Q:
Cannot use instance member 'month' within property initializer; property initializers run before 'self' is available
I am trying to create a 3 or 4 digit integer variable based on the date. So, if the date were March 4th, the number would be 304, and if the date were November 11th, the number would be 1111. However, whenever I try to do it I receive the error on the last line of code: "Cannot use instance member 'month' within property initializer; property initializers run before 'self' is available". How do I fix this?
let day = Calendar.current.component(.day, from: Date())
let month = Calendar.current.component(.month, from: Date())
var todaysDate = month*100+day
A:
You need to do something like below, right now swift compiler doesn't allow this. May be in future it will be more intelligent do the heavy lifting.
class ABC {
let day = Calendar.current.component(.day, from: Date())
let month = Calendar.current.component(.month, from: Date())
var todaysDate: Int
init() {
todaysDate = month*100+day
}
}
|
Daymar College Louisville - Computer Ranking 2017
in the USADaymar College Louisville is a very small for-profit college with some focus on computer majors and located in Louisville, Kentucky. The college is operating since 1963 and is presently offering certificates and associate's degrees in 2 computer programs.
Daymar College Louisville is a little bit expensive; depending on the program, tuition cost is about $22,000 per year.
Daymar College Louisville computer program ranks #2,668 (out of 3294; top 85%) in the United States and #45 in Kentucky. Major competitors for this college are Purdue University in West Lafayette and University of Illinois in Champaign. Check the details about all twelve competing computer schools as well as list of offered computer majors below.
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Overall school rankings 2017:
Ranked #45 Computer School in KentuckyRanked #938 Computer School in The SouthRanked #2,668 Computer School in USA |
O preço da energia elétrica deve subir 38,3% neste ano, segundo estimativa divulgada nesta quinta-feira (12) pelo Banco Central. Em janeiro deste ano, o BC previa uma alta menor para a energia elétrica: de 27,6%. A previsão faz parte da ata da última reunião do Comitê de Política Econômica (Copom) do BC, ocorrida na semana passada, quando a taxa básica de juros da economia avançou para 12,75% ao ano – o maior patamar em seis anos.
De acordo com o Banco Central, a estimativa de alta no preço da energia elétrica é reflexo do repasse às tarifas do custo de operações de financiamento que foram contratadas em 2014.
Como o governo anunciou, no início deste ano, que não pretende mais fazer repasses à Conta de Desenvolvimento Energético (CDE) – um fundo do setor que financia ações públicas – em 2015, os custos passam para os consumidores. As contas de luz podem sofrer neste ano, ao todo, aumentos bem superiores aos registrados em 2014. O aporte do governo estava estimado em R$ 9 bilhões.
No início deste mês, as contas de luz dos brasileiros já subiram, em média, 23,4%. A alta foi resultado da revisão extraordinária das tarifas aprovada pela Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica (Aneel). Ao todo, a Aneel autorizou o reajuste das tarifas de 58 das 63 distribuidoras de energia do país. Os cerca de 1,2 milhão de consumidores da AES Sul, que atende em 118 cidades do Rio Grande do Sul, terão o maior reajuste, de 39,5%.
Reservatório da Usina Hidrelétrica de Funil, no Rio
de Janeiro, atingiu em 2015 nível mais baixo desde
1969 (Foto: Marcos de Paula/Estadão Conteúdo)
Custo de produção maior
O custo de produção de eletricidade no país vem aumentando principalmente desde do final de 2012, com a queda acentuada no armazenamento de água nos reservatórios das principais hidrelétricas do país.
Para poupar água dessas represas, o país vem desde aquela época usando mais termelétricas, que funcionam por meio da queima de combustíveis e, por isso, geram energia mais cara. Isso encarece as contas de luz.
Também contribui para o aumento de custos no setor elétrico o plano anunciado pelo governo ao final de 2012 e que levou à redução das contas de luz em 20%. Para chegar a esse resultado, o governo antecipou a renovação das concessões de geradoras (usinas hidrelétricas) e transmissoras de energia. Por conta disso, elas precisaram receber indenização por investimentos feitos e que não haviam sido totalmente pagos até então. Essas indenizações ainda estão sendo pagas, justamente via CDE.
Gasolina, gás de cozinha e telefonia fixa
O Banco Central manteve em 8% a sua estimativa para a alta da gasolina neste ano – mesmo patamar estimado em janeiro, na reunião anterior do Copom.
De acordo com o Banco Central, a hipótese de alta no preço da gasolina reflete, em grande parte, o aumento da tributação anunciada pelo governo recentemente, por meio da Contribuição de Intervenção no Domínio Econômico (Cide), do Programa Integração Social (PIS) e da Contribuição para Financiamento da Seguridade Social (Cofins).
Na ata do Copom divulgada na manhã desta quinta-feira há ainda a estimativa de que o preço do gás de cozinha tenha um aumento de 3,2% neste ano (previsão um pouco superior à alta de 3% estimada em janeiro), enquanto que a telefonia fixa deve ter queda de 4,1% em 2015. Em janeiro, o BC previa um aumento de 0,6% para a telefonia fixa.
Preços administrados
Com a alta da tributação sobre gasolina e fim de repasses para a conta de luz, o Banco Central informou que prevê, para o conjunto de preços administrados (como telefonia, água, energia, combustíveis e tarifas de ônibus, entre outros), um aumento de 10,7% neste ano. Em janeiro, a alta prevista era menor: de 9,3%. |
Overview
Updated: 2013-09-17
Guizhou province, also called "Qian" or "Gui", administrates six county-level cities, three autonomous regions, 88 counties (or cities, districts and special zones), covering a land area of 176,000 square kilometers. According to the sixth national population census, there are 34.75 million permanent residents in the province, among which 36.1 percent are different ethnic groups.
There are four major mountains in the province: Wumeng Mountain, Dalou Mountain, Miaoling Mountain and Wuling Mountain. The mountainous areas and hills account for 92.5 percent of the province's total. Among them, the 109,000 square kilometers of karst landscape account for 61.9 percent of the total land area in the province. For this reason it is known as a "natural encyclopedia" of the karst landform.
The province belongs to the subtropical monsoon climate, which in most regions is mild and wet. Climates vary based on altitude in the province. As a local puts it,"One can experience all four seasons climbing a mountain, and all different kinds of weather exist within 10 miles." Due to its special geographical environment, the province has distinct seasons. Spring is warm and windy. Summer does not suffer from searing heat, and winters are relatively mild. Guizhou has ample rainfall as most regions have a precipitation of about 1,100 to 1,300 millimeters. Average hours of sunshine total between 1,200 and 1,600 with an annual temperature of 14 to 18 C.
Guizhou is a province with abundant resources. Its power relies mainly on water and coal mines. There are 984 rivers that are longer than 10 kilometers or with a drainage area larger than 20 square kilometers. The province's coal reserves are over 50 billion tons. It is a key province for the nation's "west-east electricity transmission" project. Coal mine resources in Guizhou are comparatively concentrated. There are 128 kinds of minerals and subclass minerals, 76 of which have measured reservation volumes. All resources in the province enjoy convenient exploration conditions.
The province boasts more than 3,800 species of wild flora and about 1,000 species of wild fauna. It is an important center for flora and fauna in the nation and one of the nation's four production regions of Chinese herbal medicine.
Guizhou is also a "natural park" with picturesque natural scenery, ethnic cultures, waterfalls, valleys, karst caves and landscapes. There are 17 aboriginal ethnic groups inhabiting the province, including the Miao, Bouyi, Dong, Shui, Gelao, Yi and Tujia. Francesco Frangialli, former secretary-general of the World Tourism Organization, said,"Guizhou is a province of culture, eco-environment, folk songs and dances, and wine." |
India-China rivalries overshadow the larger purpose of BRICS
The ninth BRICS summit in China began on September 3, 2017 in the shadow of tense relations between India and China. The summit came in the wake of border tensions on the Doklam plateau, with the two countries agreeing to end the stalemate just days before the summit. The BRICS Summit concluded on September 5. For India, the main takeaway was that the summit declaration contained a reference to Pakistan-based terror groups Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba as posing a threat to the security of the region. While Pakistan was not specifically mentioned, the names of the terror groups it supports were explicitly mentioned.
This was interpreted as a victory by India which had unsuccessfully tried to insert a reference to cross-border terrorism by Pakistan in the previous year’s Goa summit declaration.
Prior to Doklam, the India-China relationship was already tenuous on several counts. China’s refusal to back India’s membership at the Nuclear Supplier’s Group and opposition to including JeM chief Masood Azhar on a list of UN-designated terrorists caused resentment in India. India’s decision to stay out of the China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has not pleased China either.
Issues prior to Doklam
Prior to the Doklam tensions, the India-China relationship was already tenuous on several counts. China’s refusal to back India’s membership at the Nuclear Supplier’s Group and opposition to including JeM chief Masood Azhar on a list of UN-designated terrorists caused resentment in India. India’s decision to stay out of the China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has not pleased China either. Longstanding and unresolved matters like the border dispute, trade imbalance, China’s cultivation of India’s neighbours (which the latter perceives as encirclement), and India’s support to Tibetan leader Dalai Lama have continued to dog the relationship.
The most recent and significant setback to ties was when China started road construction activities in the Doklam plateau, an area over which China and Bhutan have contesting claims, and which is a tri-junction of sorts between China, Bhutan and India. India intervened to fulfil its security obligations to Bhutan, in an area that is close to India’s borders. Tensions escalated between the two countries to new levels with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) spokesperson Wu Qian warning India that it should learn lessons from its defeat in the 1962 war between the two countries.
The two month stand-off came to an end days before the BRICS summit began in Xiamen. There was speculation about whether India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi would attend the summit. Eventually, he did attend.
The 9th BRICS summit declaration specifically mentions the names of Pakistan-based terror groups. But whether China will actually agree to designate JeM Masood Azhar as a global terrorist group at the UN Security Council remains to be seen. As the Indian newspaper The Hindu pointed out, this was not the first time China had agreed to name JeM and LeT in a declaration. At the Heart of Asia conference in Amritsar last year, 14 countries including India and China signed a declaration specially naming Pakistan-based terror groups.
BRICS defuses tensions
It is not entirely clear why China conceded to the reference in the declaration, especially since Beijing had already communicated to India that ‘Pakistan’s counter-terrorism’ was not an appropriate topic to be discussed at the BRICS summit. However, the BRICS summit certainly succeeded in defusing tensions between the two countries.
Analysing the role of BRICS in defusing tensions, Oliver Stuenkel, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV) in Sao Paulo writes: “Asia is the region with the world’s lowest institutional density, and opportunities such as the BRICS’ National Security Advisors’ meetings are less frequent than most would assume. Particularly when nationalist fervour runs high, merely inviting the other side for a meeting to discuss the matter can be interpreted as a sign of weakness. In such instances, there is nothing better than a long-scheduled meeting that offers a low-cost opportunity to continue talking. In addition, the BRICS grouping is one of the few outfits that forces Indian and Chinese policy makers to work together on numerous issues, thus creating personal relationships that can matter greatly in moments of tension.”
Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping also participated in a bilateral meeting, the first after the Doklam standoff. There were two gains for India: the mention of terror groups in the declaration and the bilateral meeting with Xi.
Original purpose of BRICS
While this is well and good, strangely, the bigger questions about BRICS are not being asked. Other than having a role in defusing the Doklam tensions, what are the other takeaways from the summit? No doubt, the issue of terror needs to be dealt with strongly and countries need to act unitedly. But the tensions between India and China appear to be taking over the multilateral goals and original purposes of the BRICS.
The BRICS was formed, taking cognisance of the need for reform of international financial institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which continue to be dominated by the United States and Europe. It was meant to be an alternative to – if not a replacement of – Western hegemony. However, the recent actions of BRICS have not lived up to the intent.
A report by the INGO ActionAid ‘Reclaiming Relevance: BRICS and the new multipolarity’ says: “the BRICS seem to be too deeply subsumed within the existing global capitalist development paradigm to pose a frontal challenge”. For example, the BRICS nations allied with the Washington-led Copenhagen Accord, a strategy that allowed them to avoid binding emission cuts, and weakens the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. This allows developed countries and the BRICS governments to continue pursuing an extractive, high carbon economic model. Second, while the BRICS succeeded in achieving a quota-shift in favour of large emerging economies at the IMF, the BRICS still require borrowing countries to have an agreement with the IMF if they want to draw more than 30 per cent of funds from the CRA.
The BRICS countries are also against the unipolarity of the United States. However, India continues to seek closer relations with the US. Indian commentator and analyst C. Raja Mohan writes: “Indian leaders would stand up in Washington and talk of a “natural alliance” with the sole super power, America. At the same time, India would sit down with Russia and China to call for a “multipolar world.” According to Raja Mohan, this is not hypocrisy but India’s need to manage multiple contradictions after the Cold War. One might disagree about whether this constitutes hypocrisy or not, but it certainly indicates a lack of coherence in policy as far as BRICS is concerned.
The BRICS have also repeatedly endorsed a multipolar world order. However, China’s efforts in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor) have been interpreted as an effort to bring about Chinese unipolarity in Asia.
These contradictions weaken the BRICS, while the internal rivalries of its members also divert it from its purposes. In this regard, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) comes to mind. The SAARC was established to forge unity and cooperation among South Asian nations. But the prolonged rivalry between members India and Pakistan has resulted in the erosion of SAARC over time.
Of course, the BRICS have the signature New Development Bank (NDB) and Contingency Reserve Arrangement to show for it, since the first BRICS summit in 2009. However, the unique selling proposition (USP) of the NDB is still not clear. The bank has not shown how it will treat loan conditionality differently from the major international financial institutions that the BRICS repeatedly criticise. Despite being a development bank, its policy documents are silent on concerns of poverty and inequality, major challenges of the BRICS countries. The NDB will fund largescale infrastructure projects — but how it will deal with social and environmental concerns any differently from existing development banks? These are important questions that the NDB will have to address, in order to stay true to the original intent with which the BRICS was formed.
More of a decisive role in world affairs
On the political front too, BRICS could take a lead in addressing some of the major crises which confront the world today — whether it is the burgeoning global refugee crisis, the challenges from a Trump administration, the rise of xenophobia and hatred or the growing resource conflicts in the world. It is a well-known fact that Indian and Chinese companies are themselves competitors in Africa for access to resources. It should step up peace-making efforts in Syria and participate in international actions to free Palestine from Israeli occupation. In a little noted section of the Xiamen declaration, the BRICS called for direct dialogue with North Korea as opposed to the United States which called for a military response to North Korea’s testing of a hydrogen bomb.
Such responses from the BRICS are welcome and more interventions needed. It is high time that the BRICS becomes a more decisive force in world affairs. |
"NARRA TOR:" "Previously on Stargate SG-1." "What exactly do you want from me?" "The code to an Ancient tablet that I helped Qetesh locate long ago." "CARTER:" "I take it the anti-Prior device is working." "MITCHELL:" "Well, he didn't stop us from zatting him." "What the hell is going on?" "I had to be sure this was working on her first." "We've got to go." "(CHATTERING)" "You're bluffing." "You have nothing." "I'll tell you what." "I'll bet you everything I have on this table against that cargo ship of yours outside." "Your winnings wouldn't cover the value of that ship." " What if I throw in this?" " And what's that supposed to be?" "(MEN GASPING)" "You've got your wager, as foolish as it may be." "I guess it's just my lucky day." "I thought this was an honest establishment." "It is." "And that's why it's necessary to have you searched." "I don't suppose we could call this even." "Adria?" "Hello, Mother." "It's good to see you." "It's been far too long." "I did not expect to see you again." "I had to return, Mother." "My work here is unfinished." "Who is this?" "You really don't want to know." "Get out, all of you." "(MEN MUMBLING)" "I don't suppose you're going to let me just walk out of here?" "I'm afraid not." "I'm sorry to have to tell you this, Mother, but your attempt to destroy the Ori was unsuccessful." "Am I supposed to take your word for that?" "I've been personally supervising the construction of dozens of ships." "Now that our intergalactic gate is operational again, there's nothing to stop them from coming here." "We should have the entire galaxy converted in a matter of months." "Just because you've been building ships doesn't prove anything." "What are you doing here?" "Where are your friends from Earth?" "Friends come and go." "Have they abandoned you?" "I'd rather not talk about it." "I really must know, Mother." "You do realize, in a traditional mother-daughter relationship," "I'm supposed to be the bossy one?" "Oh, whatever." "Makes no difference now, anyway." "I've got it." "I figured it out." "Got what?" "The answer you were looking for to the Clava Thesaurusy thingami-jigamy." "The Clava Thessara Infinitas?" "Right, that's the one." "I know where it is." "The Clava Thessara Infinitas, literally, "The key to infinite treasure,"" "is the Ancient tablet Athena was seeking from Qetesh." "Now, it supposedly holds the clues to the whereabouts of a vast storehouse of..." "Daniel, this is very interesting." "Get to the good part!" "The good part?" "I figured it out." "I know where the treasure is." "You solved the Clava Thessara Infinitas?" "Yes, I most certainly did." "Daniel shared some of his findings with me last night before I went to sleep, and after a rather, well, nasty dream in which I appeared on a television program where it seemed you had to dance with supposedly well-known personalities" "in front of a panel of judges, a shape came to my mind." "The symbol for infinity?" "Yes, infinite treasure, infinity." "You see?" "And it intersects with six symbols, which, when combined, correspond with a gate address." "Why would the Ancients use the Earth symbol for infinity to hide their treasure?" "Actually, no one knows the exact origin of the symbol itself." "It's been found on Tibetan rock carvings dating back over a thousand years, as well as a host of other places." "For all we know, it could well have originated with the Ancients." "You can rotate that symbol any which way you want." "Yes, but this is how it appeared in my dream, and when we put these six symbols into the database, it came up with only one address." "Why does this all sound familiar?" "Did Adria not send you information in dream form to lure us to the planet where the Sangraal was hidden?" "Yes, but, no, this is different." "I came up with this on my own." "Okay, I suppose it is possible that Qetesh knew its location and this is simply a latent memory being dredged up by Athena." "There you go." "Do we have any idea what this Ancient storehouse actually contains?" "No idea, sir, but it must be big if Athena was so eager to get her hands on it." "I feel very strongly about this, General." "What can it hurt to send a team?" "I didn't send you that information." "That's what I tried to tell them, but they didn't believe me, especially when the reconnaissance team returned." "(ALARM SOUNDING)" "(ALARM SOUNDING)" "What is it?" "SG-3 and 8, they're coming in hot." "Open the iris." "(MEN GRUNTING)" "They're right on our tail!" "Shut the gate!" "Shut it down!" "Do it!" "Med teams to the gate room immediately!" "What happened?" "It was an ambush, sir." "Ori soldiers made our position as soon as we stepped through the gate." "I lost two men, a couple more injured." "That's not possible." "That can't be." "You tell that to the men who died." " Colonel, debrief in my office." " Yes, sir." "I was so certain that I was right, I couldn't leave well enough alone, and the very next night..." "I had the same dream again." "Only this time, the infinity shape appeared vertically rather than horizontally." "Note that, again, it intersects with six symbols, and that, again, the six symbols only match one address in our database." "What?" "What's the problem?" "We need to investigate this." " Vala." " What?" " Do you not see what's going on here?" " No." "This is Adria telling us where to go so she can pick us off." "Next, you'll have a dream where the symbol is on a slight angle, and I'll bet it will still correspond to one single gate address." " She's using you, Vala." " No." "I would know." "Well, you didn't know before, did you?" "VALA:" "Things just got worse from there." "Daniel, what's happening?" "It's not looking good." "Most of the I.O.A. Delegates think you've been compromised." "But I didn't do anything wrong." "I was trying to help." "It doesn't matter what your intentions were." "If Adria can manipulate you like this any time she wants to, then you've become a security risk." "They're talking about removing you from the team." "What?" "They're also not comfortable with the idea of letting you go, given everything you've learned about Earth's defenses." "I don't understand." "They're talking about confinement, Vala, at Area 51." "You don't believe me either." "You can't lie to me, Mother." "I can read the truth in your mind." "I'm just surprised." "So was I." "How did you convince them to let you go?" "I didn't." "That's the funny thing." "VALA:" "I guess they thought a locked door could hold me." "Or they never imagined I'd make it off the base." "What do you plan to do now?" "Well, I had just won myself a cargo ship when you dropped by and broke up the game, so..." "Is that really what you want?" "A life alone, always on the run?" "That life no longer suits you, Mother." "You belong with me." "Return with me to my ship, and take up your rightful place as Mother of the Orici." "Adria, stop it." "I am not your mother." "I may have given birth to you, but we are not family, so stop pretending." "You just need time to think about it." "We will talk further on our way." " Where are we going?" " To find the Clava Thessara Infinitas." " You think it's real?" " I think Colonel Carter was right." "This might be knowledge from your time as a Goa'uld being dredged up through your subconscious." "Well, you're too late." "Despite the fact that they didn't trust me, they thought they should check out the second gate address anyway, just to be safe." "I overheard them planning the mission as I was leaving." "Yes, but there's something you're not telling me." " I don't know what you're talking about." " Don't play games with me, Mother." "If I have to force this information out of you, it will be quite unpleasant." "They were worried about an ambush, so they're taking the ship." "We can beat them if we travel by stargate." "Let's go." "Now." "Howdy!" "You didn't really think we'd invite you to a party and not disable your funky powers, did you?" "I have no idea what's going on." "Don't worry, Vala, it's all part of the plan." "Don't you ever speak to me, ever again." "Lower your weapons." "Buddy, I think you've got the wrong planet." "Lower your weapons or we will all perish." "My master Lord Ba'al has targeted this location from orbit." "What are you doing?" "Carrying out my orders." "Okay, that wasn't part of the plan." "Welcome." "Don't waste your time." "I've learned a thing or two from my Tau'ri friends." "This room is being flooded with the same kind of EM field they generate with that clever little device of theirs, the one that prevents you from using your mind powers." "You should know that won't hold me forever." "Of course not." "But that won't be a problem after I'm done with you." "They got the jump on us." "We had no time to react." "Exactly how did Ba'al manage to pull this off?" "I don't know, but they had detailed intelligence." "He was aware of both our locations and intentions." "The bigger question is, what does Ba'al want with Adria?" "Perhaps he intends to negotiate for shared control of the galaxy." "She doesn't strike me as the sharing type." "Either way, we do not want those two hanging out together." "Exactly." "We have to get her back." " We're on it, sir." " Wait." "How's Vala?" "Pissed." "Is somebody going to fill her in?" "Absolutely." "Just not us." "This isn't right, you know." "I escaped fair and square." "Bringing me back here is tantamount to kidnapping." "Listen, we know you're upset, but you have to understand, this is part of a plan." "Upset?" "Why would I possibly be upset?" "Maybe because I was betrayed and abandoned by the only people in the entire galaxy I thought were my friends." "Don't be silly." "We are your friends, and we did not betray you." "You didn't exactly back me up, now, did you?" "What she means is, none of it actually happened." "What are you talking about?" "This device is a slightly altered version of the memory implant technology we received from a race called the Galarans." "We used it to create a fictional memory and implant it in your mind." "And we knew you'd have trouble understanding all of this, so we took the liberty of making a recording before you underwent the procedure." "Look." "Tilt it up, all right." "Oh, yeah." "Thank you, now I can see." "JACKSON:" "We're rolling!" "Oh, we're on?" "Why didn't you say so?" "JACKSON:" "Gum!" "Thanks!" "Hello, gorgeous." "If you're watching this, you're obviously back at Stargate Command and you are probably thinking that everyone around you has gone completely" " wonko." " Wonko." "With the possible exception of Daniel, who, let's face it, was always a little bit..." "JACKSON:" "Vala!" "Sorry." "Seriously, though, substituting our memories was my idea." "Brilliant, I know, and incredibly brave, but it was the only way for the plan to work, so if you are watching this, you have obviously made it back, and let me be the first to say, well done." "And enjoy the substantial pay rise that's been promised to you if the mission succeeds." "JACKSON:" "Okay, that's enough." "Thank you." "VALA:" "Okay." "How was..." "We heard that Adria had returned through the supergate." "Now, if the Ori are dead, we thought we might be able to convince her to leave quietly with her army." "We knew that she'd be able to tell if you were lying to her, so, as far as you were concerned, it wasn't a lie." "I escaped using a Sodan cloak." "You allowed me to be exposed to radiation so that you could carry out your plan." "Your plan." "And no, that was also part of the false memory." "We escorted you to the planet where Adria found you and we dropped you off." "You slept through it like a baby." "So, no I.O. A?" "No Reynolds' men?" "No television program about dancing with supposed celebrities?" "Actually, that part was real." "How very disturbing." "Yeah." " Comfy?" " You've made a terrible mistake." "Release me now and I will be merciful." "You're so much more pleasant when you lack the ability to snap my neck with your thoughts." "You're a fool, dealing with powers way beyond your means." "When my army catches up to you..." "Don't waste your breath." "Your army has no idea where you are, and it'll be days before they even begin to question your disappearance." "Even then, all their queries will lead them to the Tau'ri." "If you intend to kill me, you should know the Ori will not halt their attacks on this galaxy." "I have no intention of killing you." "As a matter of fact, my whole plan hinges on your being very much alive." "So you can ransom me for your freedom?" "Far from it." "You can offer me something far more valuable, control of your army." " They'll never listen to you." " No." "But they do listen to you." "There's nothing you can do to make me bend my army to your will." "(CHUCKLES)" "Well, I wouldn't be so sure about that." "Agent Barrett has some information regarding Ba'al's whereabouts." "I got a call from one of my agents, undercover inside Ba'al's operations here on Earth." "Apparently, the clones are planning to meet as a group." "Apparently, the clones are planning to meet as a group." "Where and when?" "P3R-112, today." " Not a lot of notice." " I just got the intel an hour ago." "How reliable is it?" "My guy's embedded at the top." "He wouldn't break cover unless he was sure." "Well, we've been here before." "We have a pretty good idea of the layout." " Take a Marine unit." " Yes, sir." "Kind of a quiet spot for such a big meeting." " I think that's the idea." " I'm not seeing a lot of movement." "I think I know why." "Looks like somebody got here before us." "No wounds." "No sign of combat." " Symbiote poison?" " I believe so." "Why would the Ba'als kill their own Jaffa?" "I don't think the Jaffa were the intended target." "At last, the guest of honor." "(SHRIEKING)" "You two are about to become very well acquainted." "Well, you've got to hand it to him." "The man throws a mean dinner party." "Well, he knows we're coming after him." "He's covering his tracks." "Indeed." "(BEEPING)" "Stand back!" "I'm warning you!" " Just take it easy." " We're not going to hurt you." "Much." "I thought they were all dead." "Apparently not." "And I believe I know why." "We've got a lead." "Once he woke up, our Jaffa friend was surprisingly forthcoming." "He confirmed the fact that Ba'al was behind the attack that killed all his clones." "Apparently, he had assembled them for what they thought was a meeting on the Adria situation." "Instead, he beamed in canisters of symbiote poison." "Quite the door prize." "Yeah, whatever Ba'al's up to, he doesn't want any witnesses." "Lucky for us, he didn't realize one of his Jaffa uses tretonin." " Any idea where he is now?" " Actually, yes." "The Jaffa was able to provide us with the coordinates where Ba'al's ship is located." "The Odyssey is standing by." "You move out again in one hour." "Assuming for a moment this Jaffa's telling the truth and we actually find Ba'al's ship, how do you propose we capture Adria?" "Same way he got her off the planet." "We beam in, tag her and beam out." "It's a big ship, Colonel." "How are we going to find her?" "Well, actually, it shouldn't be that difficult." "We're assuming Ba'al has some sort of technology similar to our own anti-Prior device." "Otherwise, she would have used her powers the instant he beamed her on board." "If we scan for those specific EM frequencies, we should be able to pinpoint her location with a fair degree of accuracy." "All this presupposes that we get the drop on him, and he doesn't raise his shields." "Yeah." "All right, then." "Good luck." "Vala, you got a sec?" "Sure." "You're welcome to sit this one out." "(STUTTERING) Why?" "I mean, why would I?" "You know why we're bringing Adria back, right?" "Sure, to tell her to take her army and clear off." "And if she resists, we will take action." "By killing her?" " You're okay with that?" " Of course." "All right." "Wow." "I take it we are cloaked?" " Pretty cool, huh?" " Yeah." "Colonel, the result of your scan is here." "This room shows a pronounced level of the same EM radiation generated by the anti-Prior device." "Looks like you were right." "Let's go get her." "That's it." "Don't worry." "This will all be over soon." "(BEEPING)" "Jaffa!" "Odyssey, we are good to go." "Hey." "Wake up." "Sorry." "It's not very comfortable." "Believe me, I know from experience, but we're not taking any chances." "It's over, Adria." "(IN BA'AL'S VOICE) I'm afraid you're mistaken." "Adria is no longer available." "LANDRY: (ON SCREEN) Ba 'al is in Adria?" "Yes, sir." "It's the bad-guy equivalent of cordon bleu." "It actually makes sense from his perspective, sir." "CARTER:" "Not only has he taken on a more powerful host, but Adria's also in control of the Ori army." "So he convinces them to do his bidding and not hers?" "When you think about it, their goals aren't all that different." "Control of the galaxy, worshipped by millions." "And if the Ori are dead, he'll never be called to the carpet by the boys upstairs." "What do we do now?" "Kill them both." "Hard to argue with that logic." "It's a twofer." "Well, there's no guarantee that her army would stop fighting even if she was dead." "The only way to be certain is for her to order them to stand down." "Then how do we get her to do that?" "Well, if Ba'al's symbiote is suppressing Adria's consciousness, we should be able to do the same thing." " Swap Ba'al out for someone we can trust." " The Tok'ra." "Doesn't suppressing the host go against their fundamental beliefs?" "Well, I'm sure they'd make an exception in this case." "We've been trading intelligence with the Tok'ra since the Ori ships first arrived." "They want to get rid of them just as much as we do." "Get in touch." "See if you can set it up." "In the meantime, keep a close eye on your guest." "So, have you decided what you intend to do with me?" "Well, we're still weighing our options." "Teal'c here had a good idea." " I can imagine." " No, you cannot." "I must caution you against doing anything too rash." "In fact, your best course of action would be to release me." "I think we have a difference of opinion there." "My whole plan was to order the Ori army back out of this galaxy." "You let me carry it out, we'll be rid of them forever." "That is our plan as well, only without your participation." "What do you mean?" "He means we're going to bring in someone a little more reliable." "See, right now, you're like a Pinto engine in a '71 Mustang." "We've got to swap you out for a big-block Tok'ra." "It takes a great deal of effort to suppress a consciousness this powerful." "The Tok'ra don't have the strength." "Not to mention the fact that I'll kill Adria the moment you try to remove me." "Well, that's great." "We can live with that." "Perhaps, but remember, I'm sharing Adria's mind." "You would lose all access to the knowledge I possess." "For example?" "For one thing, I can confirm the Ori are dead." "And that's just the beginning." "With my knowledge and your pluckiness, we can accomplish a great deal." "Remember how we worked together to locate the Sangraal?" "As I recall, your efforts were not particularly helpful." "Of course, it's your decision." "But it seems you only have two options:" "Work with me to our mutual benefit, or kill us both and miss out on everything I have to offer." "You're just in time." "The Tok'ra contingent's about to arrive." "I am Ta'seem." "I will be performing the surgery." "These are my assistants." "Welcome on board the Odyssey." "I'm Colonel Davidson." "I'm sure you know Colonel Carter, Dr. Jackson, and Vala." "Yes." "I knew you as Qetesh." "Things have changed a little since then." "News that the leader of the Ori army had been captured came as a ray of hope to my people." "That being said, the extraction procedure that we are about to undertake is extremely difficult." "Even though we have refined the process considerably, there remains a very real risk that Adria will not survive." "Well, the only other option we have is to leave Ba'al in and trust he's telling the truth, so..." "Then we should begin immediately." "Zanuf, the symbiote that we brought, cannot survive outside of a host for long." "The infirmary is this way." "Time to go." "What about our arrangement?" "Oh, you mean the part where you string us along till you overcome the effects of the anti-Prior device?" "We'll pass." "(MONITOR BEEPING)" "The sedative appears to be working." "Heart rate and BP are holding steady." "TA'SEEM:" "There it is." "Let's begin." "We will need to work quickly." "The symbiote's autonomic response can trigger complications, even under anesthetic." "Initiating the first incision." "I need suction." "What's up?" "Nothing." "Just didn't feel like sticking around for the surgery." "You know, weak stomach and all that." "Hey, you sure you're okay with this?" "Why does everyone keep asking me that?" "Because she's your daughter." "And no matter what she's done, it must be difficult to see her treated this way." "Let's get something clear." "She's not my daughter, Daniel." "The Ori impregnated me against my will and forced me to bring her into the galaxy." "I was an incubator, a shipping crate and nothing more." "I'm sorry, but I find it hard to believe that you don't feel something." "I do." "Satisfaction at seeing their plan fail." "There, I've severed the primary nerve conduit." "You see how the filaments are retracting?" "Now, moving on to the lateral... (MONITOR BEEPING RAPIDLY)" "What is it?" "I was afraid this might happen." " Hey, what's up?" " Trouble with the surgery." "What happened?" "Ba'al decided to be even more difficult than usual." "We were able to extract him, but not before he released a deadly toxin into Adria's nervous system." "Can't the Tok'ra symbiote heal her?" "Unfortunately, we were unable to complete the implantation." "The host body was simply too weak." "Adria is unconscious at the moment, but when she wakens, she will suffer greatly before she dies." "The one thing we can do for her is an increased dosage of the toxin." "It will kill her instantly." "In the interest of patient care and for our own safety," "I recommend that we administer it immediately." "Do it." "I'd like to be there." "Crap!" "(ALARM BLARING)" "Adria." "You and your friends were trying to kill me, Mother." "I can't let that happen." "SG-1, come in." "What the hell's going on down there?" "I'm getting reports that all sections around the infirmary are being sealed off." "It's Adria, sir." "She's barricaded herself in." "Is there any way you can beam us directly there?" "Negative." "She seems to be generating some kind of EM interference." "We're going to need a cutting torch down here ASAP." "You got it." "There's an auxiliary control console on this level." "If I can get to it, I might be able to override it." "Go." "(MOANS)" "You can quit acting." "You're obviously not sick." "No, this body really is dying." "I just want to use what little time I have left as wisely as possible." "By doing what?" "Destroying me and my friends?" "Don't be silly, Mother." "If I wanted to kill you, I could have done it a long time ago." "No, I need time to prepare." "Prepare for what?" "Ascension." " Vala!" " Don't." "Vala, can you hear me?" "Guys, it's Daniel." "I can't reach Vala." "Daniel Jackson, what is your location?" "Just outside the infirmary." "Adria's locked them in." "We are blocked as well." "Colonel Mitchell is attempting to cut through one of the doors." "Well, you better hurry up." "I think I figured out what she's trying to do." "Adria's trying to ascend." "Adria, you don't have to do this." "Granted, this wasn't part of my plan, but I can still accomplish a great deal, perhaps even more." "More what?" "More deaths, more enslavement?" "Don't attempt to play on my compassion, Mother." "As you said, I'm not your daughter." "I'm an Ori." "Part Ori, part human." "That will soon change." "Great." "Carter, how's that override coming?" "Well, it's not." "I mean, it wouldn't do any good." "What the hell does that mean?" "She's not actually in control of the system." "I think she's just holding the doors shut with her mind." "Cutting torch will take too long." " What is it?" " Your friends are very determined." "Daniel, I'm showing a coolant leak in the hallway you're in right now." "Spotted that, thanks." "It's Adria." "She's trying to distract us." "Well, it's a hell of a distraction." "That stuff's toxic." "You need to get out of there right now." "JACKSON:" "Yeah, that's going to be a problem." "Can you shut it down?" "I'll have to re-route coolant out of the entire section." "I'm on it." "Vala, if you can hear me, I really need you to open the door!" "Adria, stop it, please!" "That's it." "I always wondered if you had it in you to kill me." "Goodbye, Mother." " Nice work." " It wasn't us." "Adria let go." "(COUGHING)" " Jackson!" " I'm okay." "Where's Adria?" "She's gone." "JACKSON:" "And once Adria realized she couldn't save herself, she had no choice but to ascend." "What do you suppose this means for us?" "To be honest, I'm not sure." "If the Ori are still out there, then, presumably, she's joined the fight, but if Ba'al was telling the truth and the Ori are dead, then she just assumed all the power they once had." "Either way, we could see some incarnation of her again down the road." "Holding a serious grudge." "At least we may take comfort in the knowledge that Ba'al is dead." "Wouldn't put a deposit down on that just yet." "When we were breaking Adria out of Ba'al's ship," "I ran across another clone guarding her." "Killed him, but where there is one..." "There may be more." "We captured and killed Adria and Ba'al on the same day." " Are you telling me this is all a wash?" " No." "We dealt the Ori movement a serious blow today, and we rid ourselves of Adria for the time being." "That is definitely a step ahead." |
commit 8e32ecc0a77082f1e232a3e6d12e2f163f9667a4
Author: Matthew Dillon <dillon@apollo.backplane.com>
Date: Sun Dec 25 13:47:39 2011 -0800
kernel - Add workaround support for a probable AMD cpu bug related to cc1
* Add supporting inlines and a #define. See the followup commit to
the gcc-4.4 code in the DFly codebase.
* This bit of code is used to add a single NOP instruction just prior to
the pop/ret sequence in cc1's fill_sons_in_loop() which works around
what we believe to be a very difficult to reproduce AMD cpu bug. The
bug appears to be present on contemporary AMD cpus and was replicated
on a Phenom(tm) II X4 820 Processor (Origin = "AuthenticAMD" Id = 0x100f42
Stepping = 2) and on an opteron 12-core cpu AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 6168
(Origin = "AuthenticAMD" Id = 0x100f91 Stepping = 1).
* The bug is extremely sensitive to %rip and %rsp values as well as
stack memory use patterns and appears to cause either the %rip or the
%rsp to become corrupt during the multi-register-pop/ret sequence at
the end of fill_sons_in_loop() in the GCC 4.4.7 codebase. This
procedure is called as part of a deep tree recursion which exercises both
the AMD RAS (Return Address Stack) hardware circuitry and probably also
the write combining circuitry.
* I have so far only been able to reproduce the bug on DragonFly but have
to the best of my ability eliminated the OS as a possible source of the
problem over the last few months. I am currently attempting to reproduce
the bug running FreeBSD on the same hardware but it's virtually impossible
to replicate the exact environment without adding DragonFly binary emulation
to FreeBSD (which I just might have to do to truly verify that the bug is
not a DragonFly OS bug).
* Bug reproducability: DragonFly utilizes a 0-1023 (~16 byte aligned)
random stack gap. Under normal buildworld -j 25 or similar conditions
it can take anywhere up to 2 days to cause a failure. Using a fixed
stack gap of 904 (sysctl kern.stackgap_random=-904) on a particular cc1
line during the compilation of gcc-4.4 using gcc-4.4, compiling gcc/mcf.c,
with a carefully constructed environment and command path (to replicate
a precise starting stack %rsp of for main() of 0x7fffffffe818), I was
able to replicate the bug in around a 60-second time frame with
approximately one out of every 16 compiles hitting the the bug and failing.
* Changing the stackgap and/or modifying the code in any way (e.g. causing a
shift in the %rpc values) changes the characteristics of the bug, sometimes
causing it to stop appearing entirely.
It was found that an adjustment of the stackgap in 32768 byte increments
starting at the gap known to fail also reproduces the bug with the same
consistency as the original stackgap value.
* Only the fill_sons_in_loop() function in cc1 in a few particular cases
appears to be able to trigger the bug, across all the compiles we've
done over a year.
Summary of changes:
sys/cpu/i386/include/cpufunc.h | 32 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
sys/cpu/x86_64/include/cpufunc.h | 32 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2 files changed, 64 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
http://gitweb.dragonflybsd.org/dragonfly.git/commitdiff/8e32ecc0a77082f1e232a3e6d12e2f163f9667a4
--
DragonFly BSD source repository |
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July 19, 2012
Our new pet.
Zeb is not a huge fan of him, he keeps growling at him every time he passes by but I think he'll come around.
This is Kanyon's mule deer that he shot here in Welch last November in the last few hours of mule deer season. He's very proud of it (I am, too!) and our friends who are taxidermists insisted that we had to mount him because of his size. He's got such a pretty face, too.
The living room has gone through so many changes lately, I really need to get some pictures up soon!
1 comment:
Blogger Profile
Hey! This blog came about when my life changed completely:
City to country..
Student to full time working..
Single to married, etc, etc..
So I decided I wanted a place to chronicle all of it! (Mostly for my mom.. hi, mom.)
There's lots to share from cotton farming to (attempting) home renovations to everyday life.
Thanks for visiting! |
Practical Fun with NetBIOS Name Service and Computer Browser Service
Part 1 — NetBIOS Names
NetBIOS is one of those legacy networking protocol suites that is still widely used. Don’t get the wrong idea about the “legacy” part, by the way. “Legacy” doesn’t always mean “old” — NetBIOS is actually more than ten years younger than TCP/IP suite which is powering the Internet. In this particular case, “legacy” means that NetBIOS is a thing of the past — no one will seriously consider using it in a new product. Still, it plays an important role in the Windows world by providing name resolution and discovery services (as well as the session layer below the SMB protocol — file and printer sharing, RPC, named pipes/mailslots, and so on). It is safe to assume that NetBIOS is here to stay for compatibility reasons. There still exists a substantial number of old PCs, file servers, and other devices that rely on NetBIOS, so built-in NetBIOS support is unlikely to be dropped from any major desktop operating system, not in the near future, at least.
Anatomy of NetBIOS
There is a lot of confusion about both the names (NetBIOS/NetBEUI/NBF/NBT/NBX) and provided functionality. It’s also really hard to find short samples — in C or other programming languages — that would demonstrate basic NetBIOS operations such as resolving a NetBIOS name or discovering all NetBIOS devices on a network segment, and the lack of samples always adds to the confusion.
So what is NetBIOS, anyway?
Originally, NetBIOS was designed by Sytec Inc as an API (application programming interface) for writing network programs for the very first PC LAN system in the world — the IBM PC Network in 1984. NetBIOS initially worked with Sytec proprietary network protocols. Subsequently, it was adapted to the IBM’s next big LAN architecture — TokenRing. This is when the complications with the names started — the new incarnation of NetBIOS API was called NetBEUI (NetBIOS Extended User Interface — what a horrible name choice!), and the accompanying protocol layer to enable NetBIOS over TokenRing networks was called NBF (NetBIOS frames). A year later a port for Novell Netware IPX networks appeared. This time, only one new name was introduced — the NBX protocol (NetBIOS over IPX/SPX). Finally, we get to something that emerged in 1987 and is still relevant today: the NetBIOS adaptation for TCP/IP networks and NBT protocol (NetBIOS over TCP/IP).
In summary, NetBIOS is an API and an umbrella name; NetBEUI essentially means the same thing (creating a new name for some incremental improvements was obviously the wrong thing to do), and NBF, NBX & NBT are protocols, of which only NBT remains relevant today.
NetBIOS features three groups of services:
The name service
The datagram service
The session service
The session service was designed to provide connection-oriented communications and session semantics, but this functionality is not used that much now — beginning with Windows 2000 SMB can work directly over TCP port 445 — with a thin residual layer of NBT session protocol on top of TCP.
The first two are used extensively in Windows Networking — for name resolution, in Microsoft Browser service for discovering neighbor computers, and in SMB stack. In this article I decided to give a practical and (hopefully) fun introduction to NetBIOS name service and neighboring computers discovery service. After reading the article, you will be able to perform certain NetBIOS and Computer Browser operations by manually sending and analyzing NBT packets.
What’s in the name?
NetBIOS name service (often abbreviated as NBNS), as you would guess, provides a framework for name resolution, registration and conflict detection. NetBIOS name is a string of 15 characters, with the last (16th) character reserved for a type suffix (0x00 for Workstations, 0x20 for File Servers, 0x1D for Master Browser, etc.). If a name is shorter than 15 characters, it is padded with spaces. Now let me ask you a question: how many bytes do you think it occupies in a packet? You would probably guess 16, 17 or 18 bytes (perhaps, there is an extra length field and a null-terminator — this would make sense). However, the correct answer is 34. I know, I was surprised, too. Here’s why.
NBT name service packets use DNS format for names, and it means that a full name is represented as a sequence of so-called labels up to 63 bytes in length each. A label starts with a special byte, which either has its two highest bits both cleared or both set. If these two bits are zeroes, then the lower 6 bits specify the length of the label that immediately follows (hence, the limitation of 63 bytes). If the highest two bits are ones, then the lower 6 bits together with the next byte contain a back-pointer to a previously defined name. If the sequence of labels does not end up with a back-pointer, it must be terminated by a zero byte.
So, let’s say we have a simple NetBIOS name that is a sequence of one — a single label. We start with the length byte, follow it by the NetBIOS name, and terminate with zero. Still not 34 bytes you say? Well, the explanation for this mystery is simple — NetBIOS label occupies 32 bytes, not 16. Each character is encoded using 2 bytes: each half-byte of the character’s ASCII code is added to the ASCII code ‘A’, so encoded NetBIOS name looks like a random sequence of characters between ‘A’ and ‘P’. For example, “EEEFFGEFEMEPFAENEFEOFECACACACACA” stands for “DEVELOPMENT”. What a brilliant way to minimize network traffic and at the same time make things easy to debug!
Now, how to convert a NetBIOS name to the IP address? Windows attempts the following steps to resolve a NetBIOS name:
NetBIOS name cache
WINS server query
LLMNR multicast over UDP port 5355
NBT broadcast over UDP port 137
lmhosts file lookup
The first step is pretty obvious — Windows will start with checking whether it already knows this name from past efforts. The final step is pretty straightforward too — lmhosts is a special file with name mappings that are stored in Windows/System32/Drivers/Etc directory, so we open the file, look for our name if the mapping for this name is found, and hooray! We are done! What’s less obvious is the fact that rather than doing this right after the cache lookup, Windows uses this file as the last resort. In any case, this method is inherently static by nature and is only applicable to very specific situations.
If your LAN has a WINS server, then a direct query to it would obviously be a preferred way of NetBIOS name resolution. However, many LANs, such as most home networks, don’t have one, so the final two steps provide a fallback mechanism that works for most ad-hoc LANs — the multicast/broadcast approach. We shout into the network: “Who bears THIS name?” And whoever does will send us a reply.
LLMNR stands for “link-local multicast name resolution”. This is a relatively new protocol that uses multicast groups rather than broadcasts and is capable of resolving names to both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses (NetBIOS name service is incapable of dealing with IPv6). The detailed discussion of LLMNR is beyond the scope of this article.
Finally, there are NetBIOS name queries sent as broadcasts over UDP port 137. As a matter of fact, even when Windows is configured to use the WINS server, it still will fallback to NBT broadcast, should WINS query fail — just in case the node in question has not registered itself on WINS.
Resolving Names Manually
Now let’s get practical. For demonstration purposes, I will be using IO Ninja (http://tibbo.com/ninja). This is a programmable terminal from Tibbo Technology, and I find it very convenient for low-level IO experiments, such as broadcasting specially crafted binary packets. However, you are free to follow me with your favorite IO terminal. You can also create a simple C or Python test application and do everything programmatically.
First, let’s open a UDP Socket session and configure it for subnet broadcasts to UDP port 137.
Next, let’s define some essential NBT packet structures. The code below is in Jancy language — the native scripting language of IO Ninja. If you want to use it from your C program, minor adjustments will be required (Python would require even more adjustments, obviously):
alignment (1); enum NbnsOpcode
{
Query = 0,
Registration = 5,
Release = 6,
Wack = 7,
Refresh = 8,
} bitflag enum NbnsFlags
{
Broadcast = 0x01,
RecursionAvilable = 0x08,
RecursionDesired = 0x10,
Truncated = 0x20,
AuthoritativeAnswer = 0x40,
} struct NbnsHdr
{
bigendian uint16_t m_transactionId;
bigendian uint16_t m_isResponse : 1;
bigendian uint16_t m_opcode : 4;
bigendian uint16_t m_flags : 7;
bigendian uint16_t m_rcode : 4;
bigendian uint16_t m_questionCount;
bigendian uint16_t m_answerRecordCount;
bigendian uint16_t m_authorityRecordCount;
bigendian uint16_t m_additionalRecordCount;
} enum NbnsQuestionType
{
General = 0x0020,
NodeStatus = 0x0021,
} enum NbnsQuestionClass
{
Internet = 0x0001,
} struct NbnsQuestion
{
uint8_t m_nameLength; // 32 (0x20)
char m_name [32];
char m_nameZeroTerminator;
bigendian uint16_t m_type;
bigendian uint16_t m_class;
}
The name query request itself is a combination of a header and a question and looks like this:
struct NbnsNameQueryReq
{
NbnsHdr m_hdr;
NbnsQuestion m_question;
}
The most troublesome part is, of course, the process of encoding a NetBIOS name into that padded double-byte format. Doing this by hand would not be fun at all, so let’s write simple routines and make the computer do it for us. Also, I apply packetTemplateAction attribute to instruct IO Ninja to expose these methods to the end-user in the form of clickable hyperlinks:
encodeNetBiosChar (
char* buffer,
char c
)
{
buffer [0] = 'A' + (c >> 4);
buffer [1] = 'A' + (c & 0x0f);
} encodeNetBiosName (
char* buffer,
char const* name,
char paddingChar = ' ',
char typeSuffixChar = 0
)
{
char* typeSuffix = buffer + 30; while (buffer < typeSuffix)
{
uchar_t c = *name++;
if (!c)
{
while (buffer < typeSuffix)
{
encodeNetBiosChar (buffer, paddingChar);
buffer += 2;
}
break;
}
encodeNetBiosChar (buffer, toupper (c));
buffer += 2;
} encodeNetBiosChar (buffer, typeSuffixChar);
} struct NbnsNameQueryReq
{
NbnsHdr m_hdr;
NbnsQuestion m_question; [ packetTemplateAction ]
void initialize ()
{
m_hdr = null;
m_hdr.m_opcode = NbnsOpcode.Query;
m_hdr.m_flags =
NbnsFlags.Broadcast |
NbnsFlags.RecursionDesired;
m_hdr.m_questionCount = 1;
m_question = null;
m_question.m_nameLength = countof (m_question.m_name);
m_question.m_type = NbnsQuestionType.General;
m_question.m_class = NbnsQuestionClass.Internet;
} [ packetTemplateAction ]
void setName (char const* name)
{
encodeNetBiosName (m_question.m_name, name);
}
}
There. Time to kick the tires. Copy-paste that code into the packet template editor (Settings->Transmit->Binary Transmit->Packet Template-> Edit Scratch Pad Library), then select NbnsNameQueryReq struct as a packet template, and you will be able to prepare outgoing packets simply by clicking hyperlinks (first initialize (), then setName () with the NetBIOS name of your choice, and then you can do more fine-tuning with the hex editor if you want).
You can see two packets. The first one is the outgoing packet in dark blue color. This is our carefully crafted NameQuery request for TIBBO-SERVER. The second is a reply from 192.168.1.80. Notice how it contains the same encoded NetBIOS name and also its IP in the last four bytes of the packet (c0 a8 01 50 means 192.168.1.80).
Here’s how this looks in Wireshark packet analyzer:
You can experiment and resolve other computer or workgroup names on your LAN and see how the process is affected by different type suffixes (the code above sets the type suffix to 0 — Workstation).
Getting a Name from IP
Now let’s reverse the process and try to find out a NetBIOS name from an IP-address. This is where the NodeStatus request comes into play. The packet format for this request is essentially the same. Hence, we can reuse struct NbnsNameQueryReq. The name field, however, must be formatted differently — after all, we don’t even know the actual name yet! Here’s a method for setting this up — just add it to the packet template NbnsNameQueryReq:
[ packetTemplateAction ]
void setNodeStatusReq ()
{
m_hdr.m_flags = 0;
m_question.m_type = NbnsQuestionType.NodeStatus;
encodeNetBiosName (m_question.m_name, “*”, 0, 0);
}
Unlike with the NameQuery request, we need to send the NodeStatus request to a particular IP, as most NetBIOS devices will simply ignore broadcast NodeStatus packets. So make sure you’ve set a valid unicast IP of some NetBIOS node in the Remote address edit box.
NodeStatus replies are rather complex. Each reply contains all the NetBIOS names and workgroups this IP is associated with, and also carries lots of statistics (which actually appear to be completely bogus as the values are always zeroed-out). I’m not going to paste the code for parsing the reply (you can find the packet definitions in the links below), but let me show you how a reply to our packet is decoded and displayed in Wireshark:
You can also notice that one of the names associated with this IP is __MSBROWSE__. The latter means that this computer was elected as a master browser of the group. More on that in the next installment of my article, It will describe the process of computer discovery in Windows.
Meanwhile, you can experiment with one of the methods of discovering neighbor NetBIOS devices around you — scanning a range of IP addresses with NodeStatus requests.
Useful Links
NetBIOS suffixes: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/163409
NetBIOS name encoding: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/194203
RFC specification for NetBIOS over TCP part 1: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1001
RFC specification for NetBIOS over TCP part 2: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1002
IO Ninja packet template for NetBIOS name query: http://www.tibbo.com/downloads/open/ioninja-plugin-samples/NetBiosPacketTemplates.jnc
Some extra NetBIOS-related defintions: http://www.tibbo.com/downloads/open/ioninja-plugin-samples/NetBios.jnc |
Cinematical Late Night: M:I4 Casting, All Good Things, James Cameron's Tech
- The Wrap tells us that later this week Paramount will commence test screening young actors to co-star with Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible 4. The first three being seriously considered for the gig are Anthony Mackie, Keven Zegers, and Christopher Egan. I don't know who else they'll be testing down the line, but I'd be perfectly happy if the role went to Mackie; dude deserves some higher profile work after The Hurt Locker.
- If you were super excited to see those extra eight minutes of Avatar on the big screen starting this Friday, you should be very happy to know that this November's special edition DVD/Blu-ray release will arrive with a further eight minutes of unseen footage on top of what will be in theaters.
- After Dark have announced the cast for their latest original film, Transit. The plot basically sounds like The River Wild but with an SUV instead of a canoe, but I'll give that a pass since I like Diora Baird, Harold Perrineau, Elisabeth Rohm and James Caviezel.
- It looks like Paramount has ended up with the largest slice of the summer box office pie, thanks in no small part to Iron Man 2 and Shrek Forever After. $1.22 billion for the summer season; not too shabby, if you ask me.
- All Good Things, the 2008 film from Capturing the Friedmans director Andrew Jarecki starring Ryan Gosling, Kirsten Dunst,Frank Langella and Kristen Wiig has finally escaped the clutches of the Weinstein Company: Magnolia Pictures will be releasing the film later this year.
- If you're a nerd like me, this video of James Cameron showing off the Cameron-Pace 3D camera rig designed for Avatar is pretty cool [via FilmDrunk]. |
The partisan divide is getting worse
Roughly half or more Republicans and Democrats believe members of the other party are more "closed-minded" and "unpatriotic" than other Americans, according to a new survey by Pew Research Center. Nearly two-thirds of Republicans see others as unpatriotic, while only 23 percent of Democrats feel that way.
The survey, which was conducted in early September and before Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced plans to pursue an impeachment inquiry against President Trump, revealed a growing animosity that has festered since Pew last conducted a similar survey three years ago.
Compared to the 2016 survey, the share of partisan Americans who believe the other side is closed-minded or immoral has spiked, with double-digit increases in the percentage of Republicans who believed Democrats were "more closed-minded" and Democrats who said Republicans were "more immoral" than other Americans.
Politics and name-calling aside, the majority of Republicans and Democrats also said the two sides didn't share many of their "values and goals" and roughly three-fourths of those surveyed said they not only disagreed on "plans and policies" but also couldn't agree on "basic facts."
The negative vibes are clearly being internalized: Nearly 80 percent of those surveyed said the division between Republicans and Democrats is getting worse. Yet, only 46 percent said they were "very" concerned about it, with another 36 percent saying they were "somewhat" concerned. |
Chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH), first introduced by Wepfer in 1656, refers to the space-occupying lesion caused by slow hemorrhage between the dura of the brain and its arachnoid and a collection of blood in the cerebral subdural space. In most patients, clinical symptoms occur after presence of the lesion for over 3 weeks.^[@R1],[@R2]^ Chronic subdural hematoma is a common disease in neurologic practice. It is more common in middle-aged and older patients. Before the computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology was invented, erroneous diagnosis and treatment happened frequently. Presently, the CT and MRI technology enables correct diagnosis on the disease, and yet, surgical treatment has been the main solution for decades because most of the patients have progressive hematomas. In recent years, although it has been reported that atorvastatin can partially cure CSDH,^[@R3]^ surgical treatment remains as the only option for those who have failed to recover with medication. With China\'s aging population growing, the traditional definition of the aged population (at the age of 60--79) has become outdated because the average life span of the population in developed regions has reached over 80 years, which indicates the emergence of the super-aged population (at the age of 80 or above). In general, the number of patients in demand for CSDH diagnosis keeps increasing as the aging population rises. In terms of surgical treatment, since older patients have more underlying diseases, they have to face a greater surgical risk or even death.^[@R4]^ In fact, except for the age of a patient, the level of surgical risk is also associated with the degree of surgical invasion. In this paper, a report on the CSDH patients who had been cured with the YL-1 needle was provided, in which, it was held that the YL-1 needle was safe in the treatment for the super-aged CSDH patients, and the aged ones, as well.
DATA AND METHODS
================
General Information
-------------------
Thirty-six patients with CSDH treatment with the YL-1 needle from May 2012 to December 2016 were selected from the hospital and divided into 2 groups, including a super-aged group composed of 17 patients at 80 to 90 years old and an aged group having 19 patients at the age of 60 to 79. Both groups had male and female patients who were verified to meet the CSDH diagnostic standards through brain CT or MRI scanning. The selected patients mainly showed following clinical symptoms: headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, stumble, hemiplegia, and cognitive handicap. The brain CT results indicated that hematomas, in the thickness ≥1 cm and with the midline shift \>0.5 cm, could appear on the left or the right or both sides of the brain (Table [1](#T1){ref-type="table"}).
Operation Methods
-----------------
The piercing point at the center of the thickest layer of the hematoma is marked with a clip or bone wax (applicable to MRI scanning only) during CT or MRI scanning without damaging the functional areas, venous sinus, middle meningeal artery, etc. The 2 cm YL-1 needle supplied by Beijing WanTeFu Medical Apparatus Co, Ltd is selected for surgical treatment. After routine disinfection, the patient is draped and local anesthesia with lidocaine is performed. Then, an incision is made to 0.5 cm in the patient\'s scalp with a sharp blade. The puncture needle is connected to an electric trepanning drill before piercing. When it arrives at the piercing point, the surgeon can obviously feel the puncture needle piercing the hematoma. The side drainage tube is connected in advance and clamped before the core needle is removed when there is soy sauce-like or dark-red fluid flowing or spurting out, which indicates successful puncture; then, an apical drainage tube is immediately added and clamped while the clamp of the side drainage tube is removed so that the fluid can slowly flow. When the pressure is reduced, physiologic saline in 20 mL each time flow slowly in the apical drainage tube repeatedly and the side drainage tube is open to discharge the bloody fluid until the effluent becomes clear. Finally, the patient is sent back to the ward with the drainage tube fixed and the cut dressed. In the following 2 to 3 days, the patient needs to drain continuously. In patient with bilateral CSDH, the same procedures should be performed on the other side of hematoma. After operation, the patient should maintain a prostrate position in the ward. Infusion can be carried out as appropriate to facilitate brain reposition. In 1 to 2 days after operation, another CT scanning should be conducted to check whether there is residual flocculate. Meanwhile, 30,000 to 50,000 IU urokinase injection can be given to accelerate dissolution of flocculate, achieve thorough drainage, and reduce the possibility of recurrence. In 2 to 4 days after operation, the puncture needle can be removed according to the drainage volume and reposition of brain tissue. The cut should be sewed up after removing the puncture needle and the stitches should be taken out after a week (Figs. [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}-[2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}).
{#F1}
{#F2}
### Follow-Up Visits
The periods of follow-up visits varied from 10 months to 4 years, during which, patients had received at least 2 CT reexaminations. Patients mainly paid follow-up visits by receiving outpatient service. Follow-up visit via telephone was also available.
Efficacy Observation
--------------------
Cure: The clinical symptoms and signs disappear and the imageologic examination result demonstrates complete removal of hematomas. Recurrence: In 3 to 6 months after the primary operation, it is demonstrated through CT scanning that the CSDH and the corresponding symptoms and signs recur in the same position as the original hematomas. Complications: The complications mainly include pneumocephalus and wound infection.
Statistical Analysis
--------------------
The SPSS18.0 software was used for data analysis. The measurement data were tested with the *t* test statistical method while the recurrence rates and complication incidence rates of both groups were analyzed with the Mann--Whitney *U* test of the rank-sum test. *P* \< 0.05 indicates that the difference between the 2 groups has statistical significance.
RESULTS
=======
General Information of Patients
-------------------------------
Among the 36 patients, 26 had head injuries in the previous 1 to 2 months, equal to 72.2% of the total number of patients of both groups in this paper while another few patients reported bleeding of undetermined origin; the number of male patients in both groups outperformed that of female patients, probably because male patients were more likely to have injuries. Hematomas were divided into left, right, and bilateral hematomas in terms of the position of occurrence. Hematomas were extensively distributed in the frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes in the thickness ≥1 cm (see Table [2](#T2){ref-type="table"}).
Comparison of Cure Rate, Recurrence Rate, Complication Incidence Rate, and Length of Stay Between Aged and Super-Aged Groups
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Patients in both groups were cured and discharged. Among the super-aged patients, there was 1 patient with pneumocephalus and 1 patient with wound infection, representing a complication infection rate of 11.8% while another patient had postoperative recurrence, showing a recurrence rate of 5.9%; as to the aged group, 2 patients developed pneumocephalus, representing a recurrence rate of 10.5% while other patients had no other complications. Meanwhile, in the aged group, there was 1 patient with recurrence, showing the recurrence rate of 5.3%. There is no significant difference in complication incidence and recurrence rates between the groups (*P* \> 0.05, Tables [3](#T3){ref-type="table"}-[4](#T4){ref-type="table"}). The length of stay of the super-aged group was 9.235 ± 2.948 days while that of the aged group was 7.316 ± 3.660 days. Although the former is slightly longer than the latter, it shows no statistical difference (*P* = 0.0917) (Fig. [3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}).
{#F3}
DISCUSSION
==========
Pathophysiology of Chronic Subdural Hematoma
--------------------------------------------
Chronic subdural hematoma is commonly seen in the middle-aged and older population and head injury is an important cause of CSDH. Other factors that may lead to CSDH include excessive drinking, epilepsy, cerebrospinal fluid, disturbances of blood coagulation, and so on.^[@R5]^ Compared with the middle-aged population, with the same external factors, the aged has a relatively higher incidence of CSDH. In addition, there are few reports on CSDH in teenagers. Therefore, the age factor plays a considerably important role in the incidence of CSDH. Aging is not only associated with endocrine changes but also a direct factor leading to atrophy of brain. Hence, CSDH may called a physiologic atrophy-related senile disease. The pathophysiologic process of CSDH indicates that even a small amount of bleeding due to a light head injury can evolve into inflammatory reaction; in a few days, the fibroblasts invade the blood clots and form an envelope between the visceral layer and the parietal layer while the outer layer of the envelope, which is stimulated by the growth factors of vascular endothelial cells, forms a number of immature new vessels that break repeatedly; at the same time, fibrin breakdown products increase due to plasmin hyperfunction, resulting in loss of blood coagulation function and continuous growth of hematomas.^[@R6],[@R7]^ The characteristic change of CSDH refers to the repeated angiorrhexis of newly formed immature vessels induced by the growth factors of vascular endothelial cells, which creates a vicious circle and further leads to slow growth of hematoma. Therefore, to address both the symptoms and root causes, the space-occupying hematomas should be removed and more importantly, the basic materials of vascular endothelial cells (ie, coagulation fragments) should be eliminated.
Treatment of Chronic Subdural Hematoma
--------------------------------------
The development of CSDH is based on the above-mentioned pathophysiologic process. Hence, in the state of local anesthesia, hematomas can be removed through trepanation, rinsing, and postoperative drainage while the growth factors of vascular endothelial cells and anticoagulant factors in the hematomas can be eliminated at the same time so that the patient can be cured. At present, the traditional sphenotresia accompanied by drainage is still the major clinical treatment method for CSDH. Compared with bone flap craniotomy, it is considered to be a "minimally invasive keyhole operation." Yet, it is not comparable to the YL-1 puncture needle CSDH trepanation and drainage operation in terms of the degree of invasion. In addition, the traditional trepanation and drainage operation cannot avoid such postoperative complications as infection, brain injury, intracranial hemorrhage, leakage of cerebrospinal fluid, and epilepsy.^[@R8]^ Further, in the previous reports, we^[@R9]^ have pointed out that compared with the traditional sphenotresia and drainage, the YL-1 puncture needle CSDH trepanation and drainage operation has obvious advantage in reducing the postoperative complication incidence and recurrence rates. Meanwhile, the YL-1 puncture needle CSDH trepanation and drainage operation, similar to the traditional trepanation and drainage operation, is characterized in intraoperative rinsing and postoperative drainage; in addition, it is convenient and time-saving, with the averaged time of operation ranging from 15 to 30 minutes; besides, its exceptional performance in reducing the degree of invasion has effectively relieved patients' pain.^[@R10]^ With the advantages above, the operation is suitable for the super-aged patients having various underlying diseases because they usually have poor cardiorespiratory function. The degree of invasion and the time of operation play an important role in determining whether they can come through the operation or not. The above-mentioned characteristics of the YL-1 puncture needle make the trepanation and drainage operation an effective solution to different indications, especially for the super-aged patients. Thanks to the application of YL-1 puncture needle to the operation, oral anticoagulant is no longer an absolute contraindication.
It should be specifically noted whether the application of YL-1 puncture needle to CSDH treatment can outperform neuroendoscopic treatment. Neuroendoscopic treatment is an emerging program that requires a greater number of patients and professional reports to gain its own advantages. Presently, it allows open diaphragm of multilocular hematomas under endoscope, which remains as its primary advantage.^[@R11]^ However, multilocular CSDH has a low incidence rate. Moreover, the cranial hole in neuroendoscopic treatment is much larger than that in the treatment with the YL-1 puncture needle. In addition to the cranial hole, the former shows poorer performance in preoperative preparation, physician training, and time of operation compared with the latter.^[@R12]^
Reflection of Similar Efficacy of YL-1 Puncture Needle Treatment for Super-Aged and Aged Chronic Subdural Hematoma Patients
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Postoperative recurrence is one of the main reasons for poor prognosis of CSDH patients. It is probably related to the age and hematoma volume of a patient.^[@R13]^ In terms of the efficacy of the YL-1 puncture needle, senile atrophy of brain---an important factor in postoperative recurrence---must be taken into account because the atrophy of brain will reduce the intracranial pressure, retard the postoperative brain reexpansion, and cause difficulty in hematoma drainage. Therefore, the treatment for super-aged CSDH patients should meet the following requirements as possible: the time of operation should be short while the hematomas should be thoroughly rinsed because, as mentioned above, residual coagulation fragments can lead to postoperative hematoma recurrence; after operation, the intracranial pressure should be increased as appropriate because the super-aged patients usually have multiple underlying diseases that prevent brain reexpansion with the fluid replacement therapy; patients are required to maintain a prostrate position or the trendelenburg position after operation to speed up the brain reexpansion; the use of urokinase should be reduced as possible according to the postoperative CT scanning results; in patient with poor rinsing and slight fall in the CT values, intracavitary injection of urokinase in hematomas can be performed to dissolve the blood clots; unnecessary extension of the drainage time should be prevented because, for the super-aged patients having severe atrophy of brain, extension of the drainage time cannot facilitate brain reexpansion; instead, it will increase the probability of postoperative complications. Hence, in 1 to 2 days after operation, if the effluent indicates drainage of cerebrospinal fluid, the drainage tubes should be removed; and if no obvious contraindication is observed, oral atorvastatin can be applied to the CSDH patients from the first day after operation. So far, it has been widely accepted that atorvastatin is efficient in stabilizing the newly formed vessels.^[@R3]^
Since the treatment with YL-1 puncture needle for the super-aged CSDH patients and the aged patients has similar efficacy, we have sound reasons to recommend that the age limit to the CSDH patients having surgical indications be lowered to 90 or above so that the patients can turn to the surgical treatment with the YL-1 puncture needle, which is a life-saving straw for those patients with ineffective treatment with atorvastatin. Yet, it is preferred to collect a larger number of patients to support the conclusion. According to Chen,^[@R10]^ the treatment with the YL-1 puncture needle for 697 CSDH patients, including the 98-year-old one(s), has satisfactory efficacy. Thus, the authors of this paper agree upon Chen\'s opinion that the treatment method is worth recommending.
Xifeng Fei and Yi Wan contributed equally to this work
The authors report no conflicts of interest.
######
Main Clinical Symptoms of Chronic Subdural Hematoma Patients
Symptom Age Headache Dizziness Nausea and Vomiting Hemiplegia Stumble
------------------ ---------- ----------- --------------------- ------------ ---------
Aged group 13 8 6 6 5
Super-aged group 11 5 0 7 3
######
General Information of Patients
Super-Aged Group Aged Group
-------------------------------------------------- ------------------ ------------
Number of patients 17 19
Male 11 15
Female 6 4
Hematoma position
Left frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes 5 8
Right frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes 8 6
Bilateral frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes 3 5
Having a history of head injury 14 12
######
Recurrence Rates of 2 Groups
Groups n Nonrecurrence (%) Recurrence (%) Z *P*
------------------ ---- ------------------- ---------------- ------- -------
Super-aged group 17 16 (94.1) 1 (5.9) 0.080 0.936
Aged group 19 18 (94.7) 1 (5.3)
######
Complication Incidence of 2 Groups
Groups n Noncomplication (%) Complication (%) Z *P*
------------------ ---- --------------------- ------------------ ------- -------
Super-aged group 17 15 (88.2) 2 (11.8) 0.116 0.907
Aged group 19 17 (89.5) 2 (10.5)
|
Mentoring in multiple dimensions.
Thousands of words, scores of models, and multitudes of professionals have attempted to explain and successfully replicate this "thing" we call mentoring. All in service to a greater good, using a win-win interpretation of the purpose and outcome, mentoring has become the hallowed pathway to success in almost every profession. However, life is more than a cause and effect equation. This article examines mentoring from a multi-dimensional perspective, with those dimensions encompassing the generational history, family belief system, cultural archetypes, individual learning style, and physical challenges inherent in people of one culture moving through a rigid educational system designed by people of another culture. |
Envision that astrology is made up of the study of all of the planets and the sun. The astrological birth chart and the study of how planetary alignments affect sun signs are based on these aspects of astrology. The moon actually influences this overall picture, and can cause certain aspects of astrological phenomena to influence our lives differently than was otherwise predicted.
The Farmer's Almanac defines a blue moon as the third full moon in a season of four full moons. This is the correct definition of a blue moon. Since a season is three months long, most seasons will have three full moons. However, on occasion a season will have four. When this happens, the third is a true blue moon.
The most widely accepted scenario, explaining our Moon's mysterious and ancient birth, is termed the Giant Impact Theory. According to this theory, Earth's Moon was born as the result of a gigantic collision between our still-forming planet and a primordial Mars-sized protoplanet that has been named Theia. The tragedy that was the doomed Theia probably had an orbit that crossed Earth's--making such a catastrophic collision difficult to avoid. It is thought that the impacting Theia hit our planet hard, but swiped it with a glancing blow at precisely the right angle. In fact, Theia came very close to bouncing off Earth, but was swallowed instead. The blast dispatched shock waves across our ancient planet, hurling debris and gas screaming into space. For a short time, Earth had a ring around it that was composed of this ejected material. |
87% of the surveyed companies do not foresee any impact from Brexit and just 3.3% expect an increase in their outstanding receivables due to this
Delays in payment are still commonplace, but becoming less frequent
The second Coface study on the payment experience of German companies has shown that, despite the solid position of the German economy and the decline in the number of corporate insolvencies, delays in payments are still commonplace. However they have become less frequent when compared to the results in 2016. By international comparison, these delays are generally shorter in Germany. As a consequence of the better global environment, the payment experience of export-oriented companies improved. These trends – of the robust domestic economy and sounder external environment – could further improve payment behaviour in 2018.
For 77.6% of the companies reviewed, payment delays are a regular occurrence, but this is an improvement compared to the 83.7% reported in 2016. This is due to Germany’s favourable business environment and the overall good health of German companies. Payment delays remain pronounced among companies that are mainly dependent on export business, where more than 87% are experiencing payment delays (2016: 90%), compared to 75.9% (2016: 82.8%) for companies that concentrate on the German market.
Average payment delays remain stable: 41.4 days, as in 2016. For over three quarters of German companies, the maximum length of payment delays is 60 days, as in 2016. The proportion of payment delays of over 150 days amount to 1.7% for companies concentrating on the German domestic market (2016: 1.9%) et to 2.9% for export-oriented companies (although this is markedly lower than the 7% reported in last year’s survey).
The proportion of German companies with long overdues (of over 6 months) which account for at least 2% of their annual turnover decreased markedly to 8.7% (2016: 13.4%). For Germany’s export-orientated companies however, the picture is less positive, with around 12% (2016: 20%) of companies suffering from long overdues.
Most German companies do not expect a significant impact from Brexit
In this year’s payment survey, Coface also added questions on Brexit’s potential impact on outstanding receivables. The feedback was very clear, as almost 87% of the surveyed companies do not foresee any impact from Brexit and just 3.3% expect an increase in their outstanding receivables. Export-oriented companies foresee slightly more of a negative impact from Brexit (8%), although most (over 84%) expect no impact at all.
From a sectorial standpoint, German companies in the Automotive sector are the most concerned over a possible increase in outstanding receivables due to Brexit, but with a quite low share of 14.3%. The producers of investment goods in Mechanical Engineering (8.5%) and in the Mechanics/Precision Industry (5.9%) are also slightly more cautious on their expectations.
Payment delays differ widely across sectors
Some sectors are suffering from longer delays in payments, which are significantly above the average. These include in particular the Textiles/Leather/Clothing industry, where the hypothetical average value of payment delays is 54.5 days, followed by Wood/Furniture, with 53.8 days. Using Coface’s model, the shortest delays in payment are in the Mechanics/Precision industries (25.0 days), Automotives (31.9 days) and Chemicals/Oil/Minerals (33.1 days) sectors.
Within this context, no liquidity risks can be seen among the Paper/Packaging/Printing companies surveyed. Similarly, companies in the Chemicals/Oils/Minerals, Wholesale Trade and Metals sectors are among the most relaxed in their respective assessments, as their long overdue payment figures are clearly below average. |
Amongst the Gerudo Owner: Administrator Size: 6 items Amongst the Gerudo 1 TG Fanstrip of Zelda Views: 39974 Amongst the Gerudo 2 TG Fanstrip of Zelda 64 Views: 35206 Amongst the Gerudo 3 TG Fanstrip of Zelda 64 Views: 31469 Amongst the Gerudo 4 TG Fanstrip of Zelda 64 Views: 35659 Amongst the Gerudo 5 TG Fanstrip of Zelda 64 Views: 32426 Amongst the Gerudo 6 TG Fanstrip of Zelda 64 Views: 37233 Page: 1 |
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/* This file was generated by SableCC's ObjectMacro. */
package org.sablecc.objectmacro.codegeneration.c.macro;
public class MInlineString {
private final String pString;
private final MInlineString mInlineString = this;
MInlineString(
String pString) {
if (pString == null) {
throw new NullPointerException();
}
this.pString = pString;
}
String pString() {
return this.pString;
}
private String rString() {
return this.mInlineString.pString();
}
@Override
public String toString() {
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
sb.append("\"");
sb.append(rString());
sb.append("\"");
return sb.toString();
}
}
|
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Naughty 40 Birthday Invitation - 40th Birthday Invitations
7" x 5", Flat Card
Be naughty with our Naughty 40th Birthday Invitation. The left hand side features a picture of the birthday girl. The right hand side holds a solid black background and says Naughty Forty in gray, uppercase and white, cursive letters across the top. Party details are in a gray font below. Gray floral patterns embellish the sides of this backdrop. Simply edit, then send to the girls!
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Customize this Black Big Surprise Birthday Party Invitation anyway you desire. This card is elegant and simple in its design, but can be meant for any age. From friends to family, anyone who opens this card will be sure to enjoy it.
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Not only does it add a special touch to your envelopes, it
saves time in writing your return address on all of your
envelopes
Review Options
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Choose this option if you are happy how your design looks and you are ready for us to print your design as-is. Please be sure to check your design for the following important items before proceeding.
Check that the photos you have uploaded are not dark or blurry
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A professional designer will look over your text, photos and layout and will correct minimal errors like alignment or spelling. You will receive a digital proof for approval and any other changes that need to be made will be sent as well. You'll be able to either approve your changes and submit it for print, or submit it to be reviewed again.
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What are Purple Coins?
PurpleCoins is a loyalty program from PurpleTrail. PurpleCoins are earned over time through purchases and referrals and can be used to pay for invitations, cards and more. Earning PurpleCoins is easy!
For every $1 you spend*, 1 PurpleCoin is added to your account
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For every 10 PurpleCoins you earn, you get $1 off your order
Coins are autocratically deposited 15 days after order has shipped
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*Please note that shipping, mailing service and other service fees are excluded from Loyalty Program. PurpleCoins cannot be used in conjunction with other coupon codes. If you have any questions about the loyalty program, please contact us.
About Order Now, Personalize Later
We know you’re busy. Our “Order Now, Personalize Later” option gets your order rolling so you can personalize the details when you’re ready. You’ll get your items sooner and save money if a promo code is expiring.
Reserve a spot in our production queue now. It’s like getting 1-day rush processing free when you finish personalizing by day 3 of your order.
We recommend finalizing your order within 3 business days to ensure our standard 4-day processing time or shipment will be delayed for each additional day. |
Ag exemption still on table for 2012
The exemption came into question in 2009 when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued an interpretation of the regulations that resulted in transportation restrictions for certain farm supplies.
The Trucker News Services
12/30/2011
An agriculture exemption to truckers’ Hours of Service is still on the table for 2012 and could “maybe” be a part of a new highway reauthorization bill, says a beltway agri consultant.
The ag exemption is still “an issue,” said Fletcher Hall, of Fletcher Hall Associates consulting firm. He said safety advocacy and other groups probably will try and get the exemption stripped from the bill but it may be that other issues — such as such as how to fund the highway bill — would take priority.
There is a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would clarify the waiver granted for two years in 1999 by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) for the distribution and transportation of anhydrous ammonia. The way it was written, it only applied to anyhydrous ammonia and no other farm supplies.
It was introduced earlier in December by Missouri Reps. Blaine Luetkemeyer and Sam Graves and amends aspects of the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act, which served as the basis for FMCSA's 2009 interpretation, to clarify the applicability of exemptions for agricultural products.
The Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA), the Agricultural and Food Transporters Conference (AFTC) of the American Trucking Associations, the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives (NCFC) and The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) have voiced their support for an identical Senate bill that would clarify transportation regulations that are critical to the agricultural sector's ability to “expeditiously distribute farm supplies,” according to a news release from the groups.
The exemption came into question in 2009 when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued an interpretation of the regulations that resulted in transportation restrictions for certain farm supplies.
"When I visit with agricultural retailers across the country, one of the top issues they bring up as a threat to their business is the Hours of Service issue," said ARA President & CEO Daren Coppock. ... This legislation helps ensure that agricultural retailers are able to serve the needs of farmers during the busy planting and harvest seasons."
"The timely transportation of agricultural products during the busiest times of the year is of the utmost importance for our members and their customers and applaud Senators [Amy] Klobuchar and [Pat] Roberts for introducing the Senate companion to the House bill," said AFTC Chairman, John Wittington, of Grammer Industries. "This language will provide us with the flexibility to ensure those products are delivered on time."
Specifically, the legislation clarifies that the agricultural HOS exemption is applicable t
• Drivers transporting farm supplies for agricultural purposes from a wholesale or retail business to a farm or other location where the farm supplies are intended to be used within a 100 air-mile radius from the distribution point, or
• Drivers transporting farm supplies from a wholesale location to a retail location so long as the transportation is within a 100 air-mile radius.
"This legislation will ensure that farmer co-ops can continue to meet the farm supply needs of their farmer-owners during the busiest times of the year in agriculture," said NCFC President & CEO of Chuck Conner. "We appreciate the leadership of Senators Klobuchar and Roberts in seeking topermanently resolve this issue."
Hall said FMCSA action limiting the waiver solely to anhydrous ammonia, “made a misrepresentation of Congressional intent and only kicked the can down the road by making the waiver a two-year waiver.” |
Painter, writer and administrator, Carline was born in Oxford. His father, George Carline, his mother, Anne, and brother Sydney, his sister Hilda (Mrs Stanley Spencer) and his wife, Nancy, were all painters. Carline in 1913 attended Percyval Tudor-Hart's Academie de Peinture, in Paris. After a short period teaching, Carline served in World War I and was appointed an Official War Artist. With his brother he became noted for war pictures from the air. He was elected LG in 1920, at which time the Carlines' Hampstead home became a centre for artists such as Henry Lamb, John Nash and Mark Gertler. During this period Carline was clearly influenced by Stanley Spencer, transforming everyday scenes into something monumental. Carline achieved this, however, without exaggerating form or gestures to the degree that Spencer did. Between 1924 and 1929 Carline taught at the Ruskin School of Drawing, Oxford. He had his first solo show at Goupil Gallery in 1931. The mid-1930s saw Carline involved in Negro art, organising a show at Adams Gallery in 1935, and contributing the main text to Arts of West Africa, edited by Michael Sadler. During World War II Carline supervised camouflage of factories and airfields. He was involved in AIA, helping to found the Hampstead Artists' Council in 1944. In 1946-47 he was appointed as the first Art Counsellor to UNESCO, and from 1955 to 1974 was chief examiner in art for the Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate. His books include Pictures in the Post: the Story of the Picture Postcard, 1959; Draw They Must, 1968; and Stanley Spencer at War, 1978.
In 1975 the D'Offay Gallery held a Richard Carline exhibition for which the artist wrote the foreword. Carline died in Hampstead and in 1983 Camden Arts Centre organised a memorial exhibition. The Imperial War Museum holds his work, including the outstanding and pioneering series of paintings, from World War I, based on observations made from aeroplanes. |
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Q:
The "/tags/{tags}/wikis" API does not return the proffered "body_last_edit_date" or "excerpt_last_edit_date" fields
The API for /tags/{tags}/wikis offers body_last_edit_date and excerpt_last_edit_date fields.
Both are selected in the default filter. But neither are actually returned even for tags I'm 100% sure have wikis and/or excerpts.
Try this query with a custom filter to return only the last edit dates ...
A:
As a result of some typos, those fields were being queried for... and then discarded immediately.
A fix has been deployed.
|
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