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Raymond Tarcy
Raymond Tarcy (18 November 1936, French Guiana – 3 July 2019) was a politician from French Guiana who was elected to the French Senate in 1980.
References
External links
page on the French Senate website
Category:French Guianan politicians
Category:French people of French Guianan descent
Category:French Senators of the Fifth Republic
Category:1936 births
Category:2019 deaths
Category:Senators of French Guiana
Category:20th-century French politicians |
WeGAS: a web-based microbial genome annotation system.
We have developed WeGAS, a Web based microbial Genome Annotation System, which provides features that include gene prediction, homology search, promoter/motif analysis, genome browsing, gene ontology analysis based on the COGs and GO, and metabolic pathway analysis with web-based interfaces. Most raw data and intermediate data from genome projects can be managed with the WeGAS database system, and analysis results, including information on each gene and final genome maps, are provided by its visualization modules. Especially, a pie-view browser displaying circular maps of contigs and a COG-GO combination browser are very helpful for an overview of projects. Major public microbial genome databases can be imported, searched, and browsed through the WeGAS modules. WeGAS is freely accessible via web site http://ns.smallsoft.co.kr:8051. |
This invention relates to an improvement in ballast circuits and, more particularly, ballast circuits for controlling gaseous discharge lamps at low intensity or dim light levels.
Ballast circuits are, in general, used to regulate the amount of current through a gaseous discharge lamp having electrodes at each end. They primarily consist of impedance devices such as inductors, capacitors and transformers. Dimming circuits have been designed for use in conjuction with ballast circuits which are used to dim the lamp by allowing it to conduct only during a portion of each half cycle of input voltage. To simplify, the lamp is dimmed by turning on later in its current half cycle to obtain different light levels. It is desirable that the eye not see this turning off and on or a flicker will be observed. In studying auto-transformer type ballasts, having associated dimming circuits, it was noticed that flicker occurred at low light levels. There may be several causes of this instability.
Many prior art ballast circuits have one side, namely one of the heating windings, connected to ground through a resistor. The lamp electrodes are connected to the heating windings, and thus one of the electrodes is grounded. The ballast circuit as well as the case in which it is mounted should be grounded to reduce the hazard of electrical shock. However, when the ballast circuit is grounded through one of its heating windings, the lamp is noticed to flicker during low light intensity levels. When lamp current in the above arrangement is shown with an oscilloscope, a lack of symmetry of alternate half cycles has been observed by applicant. Applicant further has recognized that this lack of symmetry occurs because one electrode of the lamp is connected to ground while the other electrode is not. The main problem is that at low light levels, the lamp must be re-ionized for each half cycle. Since only one of the electrodes is grounded, through a resistor, one electrode will rise to a higher potential above ground than the other. The grounded side is voltage limited by this, whereas the ungrounded side is not. The ungrounded electrode which furnishes a large number of electrons on its negative half cycle while the grounded electrode frunishes a small number of electrons during its negative half cycle, bcause of the ground limitation. Ionization was, therefore, unequal during successive half cycles.
By using circuits incorporating this invention the ballast circuit is grounded and, at the same time, the attendant problems referred to above are overcome. A substantially symmetrical wave shape for each half cycle of current is secured and the flicker at low light levels is eliminated. |
CDW rolls out new campaign
Chicago—CDW has introduced a new ad campaign called “Winning the Road,” featuring basketball star Charles Barkley. The integrated campaign was developed by Ogilvy & Mather, Chicago, and includes TV, print and online. The campaign is an extension of CDW's “People Who Get IT” campaign. TV spots are running during the NCAA's March Madness basketball tournament on CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV. The spots feature fictitious company Gordon & Taylor and show how CDW powers social media, internal communications, sales enablement and PR support. The budget was undisclosed. |
In-Home Depression Treatment May Lower Hospitalization Risks
By Tim Regan | October 13, 2017
Treating older adults for depression through home health care could reduce the risk of hospitalization, according to a Dartmouth College study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
In fact, treatment lowered the hospitalization risk by 35% within 30 days of starting home health care, and 28% lower within 60 days for older adults who participated in a depression intervention program called CAREPATH, researchers found.
CAREPATH is an intervention program aimed at helping nurses assess and manage depression in Medicare recipients.
For seniors referred to home health agencies directly from a hospital, the risk of being readmitted was about 55% lower with CAREPATH.
“The hospitalization findings were surprising because they demonstrated an almost immediate impact of the intervention on patient outcomes,” Dr. Martha Bruce, a study author and professor in the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, told Home Health Care News in an email.
Home health agencies could potentially benefit from the intervention program. CAREPATH is designed to scale, meaning it can be tailored for agencies of different sizes. Furthermore, adding the CAREPATH intervention program to home health did not increase number of nurse visits, length of stay or average minutes per visit, the study showed.
“Besides the training and any agency infrastructure changes…it should not add to the cost of care,” Bruce said.
So far, feedback on the program from clinicians and administrators has been fairly positive.
“They report that the CAREPATH gives them tools to work more effectively with depressed patients, and it gives them guidance in how to talk with physicians about depression,” Bruce said. “And it gives them guidance in how to talk with physicians about depression.”
The intervention also recently won the 2017 Innovative Research on Aging Award from Mather LifeWays Institute on Aging, the research service arm of Evanston, Illinois-based senior housing provider Mather LifeWays. |
INTRODUCTION
============
Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a condition of sleep-disordered breathing, which is characterized by the repetitive complete or partial collapses of the pharyngeal airway during sleep. It has been known to frequently involve middle-aged people and to be found in 2% of women and 4% of men ([@B1]). Patients with OSAS usually present excessive daytime sleepiness, unrefreshing sleep, fatigue, and even depression, and these symptoms may lead them to serious work or car accidents ([@B2], [@B3]). It has been reported that OSAS has numerous comorbidities, such as obesity, diabetes mellitus, coronary heart disease, stroke, congestive heart failure, cardiac arrhythmia, and gastroesophageal reflux ([@B4]-[@B7]). In addition, it is also an independent risk factor for hypertension ([@B6], [@B8]) and has a close relationship with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease ([@B7]). Although the exact pathophysiological mechanisms are not yet fully understood, repetitive reduction of blood oxygen saturation, increased efforts to breathe, increased sympathetic tone and subsequent rennin-angiotension-aldosterone system are considered to be involved in the development of cardiovascular diseases ([@B7]). Therefore, the assessment of cardiac functions in OSAS patients is an essential step in clinical settings.
Heart rate variability (HRV) analysis has been widely used to non-invasively evaluate cardiac autonomic functions. Investigators have demonstrated that abnormal HRV is associated with increased mortality or adverse cardiac events and that the analysis of HRV can be a way of predicting sudden arrhythmic death, myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, stroke mortality, and even rapid progression of atherosclerosis in animals ([@B9]-[@B12]). Changes of HRV parameters were also reported in OSAS patients ([@B13]-[@B15]), and HRV analysis has been proposed as a screening tool for OSAS ([@B16]). However, there are numerous indices or variables in time or frequency domain analysis of HRV, and researchers have reported slightly different findings in their studies. If there is a good index which correlates well with the severity of OSAS symptoms and also reflects increased cardiac risk, it helps us better understand the pathophysiology of increased cardiovascular morbidity in OSAS, and can be a useful tool for clinicians. We examined the nocturnal HRV of OSAS patients to find what parameter in time or frequency domain analysis is the best to reflect the severity of symptoms.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
=====================
Subjects
--------
Fifty-nine untreated male OSAS patients were recruited from two university hospitals in Seoul, and their mean±SD age was 45.4±11.7 yr. All subjects met the following inclusion criteria: 1) male, 2) less than 61 yr old, 3) normal electrocardiogram at wakefulness, and 4) apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) greater than 15. The patients who were on the antihypertensive treatment or had a diagnosis of hypertension were excluded. Other exclusion criteria were previous or current cardiovascular diseases, pulmonary disorders, diabetes mellitus, substance abuse, history of taking alcohol or other drugs within 7 days before polysomnographic study, diagnosis of periodic limb movements during sleep (PLMS), disorders of autonomic nervous system or endocrine system that can change blood pressure, and history of operations or CPAP treatment for OSAS. Informed consent was obtained prior to the study. The protocol was approved by the institutional review board.
The subjects were categorized into two groups, moderate OSAS group (n=22) and severe OSAS group (n=37). The former was defined as the subjects with the AHI greater than 15 but less than 30, and the later with the AHI equal to or greater than 30.
Polysomnography
---------------
Polysomnographic recordings were done with Embla N7000 system (Medcare-Embla®, Reykjavik, Iceland) using Somnologica version 3.3.1 software (Medcare-Embla®, Reykjavik, Iceland) during the time when the subjects were in bed from light-off to light-on. Electroencephalography was monitored using C3/A2 and C4/A1 leads pairs, and O1/A2 and O2/A1 leads were also used to easily detect alpha waves that are useful to see onset of sleep and arousal. Two pairs of electro-oculographic leads were used. Electromyographic leads were put on the submentalis and the tibialis anterior muscles. Airflow was continuously measured by a thermistor and a nasal pressure cannula. The respiratory movements were monitored using the respiratory inductive plethysmographic belts around chest and abdomen. Oxygen saturation was measured by a pulse oximeter sensor which was put on the left second finger.
The oxygen desaturation event index (ODI) was defined as the number of events per hour in which oxygen saturation decreases by 4% or more. Hypopnea was defined as a reduction of airflow by 50-80% for at least 10 sec associated with either oxygen desaturation of at least 4% or arousals. Apnea was defined as an air flow reduction 80% or more for at least 10 sec ([@B17]). AHI was calculated by dividing the total number of apneas and hypopneas by the number of hours of sleep. The evaluation of sleep stages was based on Rechtschaffen and Kales\' study, and episodes of arousals were assessed according to the guidelines in the previous studies ([@B18]).
Data acquisition and analysis
-----------------------------
Electrocardiographic signals acquired by the polysomnographic machine were digitalized with the sampling rate of 250 Hz. Artifacts were eliminated and the analysis was done only for normal beats. Time domain variables were mean RR, SDNN, SDNN index, RMSSD, NN50 count, NN50 of total HR (%), SDANN, and HRV triangular index. SDNN is the standard deviation of all RR intervals. RMSSD is the square root of the mean of the sum of the squares of differences between adjacent RR intervals. SDANN is the standard deviation of the averages of RR intervals in all 5-min segments. The SDNN index is the mean of the standard deviation of all RR intervals for all 5-min segments. NN50 count means the number of pairs of adjacent RR intervals differing by more than 50 ms in the entire analysis interval. NN50 of total HR (%) is the NN50 count divided by the total number of all RR intervals. The HRV triangular index means the total number of RR intervals divided by maximum height of the histogram excluding boundaries. In frequency domain analysis, the power was calculated for very low frequency (VLF, 0.0033-0.04 Hz), low frequency (LF, 0.04-0.15 Hz), and high frequency bands (HF, 0.15-0.40 Hz). The LF/HF ratio was also included in the statistics.
Comparisons between the two groups, moderate and severe OSAS groups, were made for demographic data, sleep parameters and events, and HRV indices by independent *t*-test. Sleep events in the analysis were AHI, ODI, average O~2~ saturation, arousal index, limb movement and snoring time. Partial correlations controlling age and Body Mass Index (BMI) were evaluated for AHI versus HRV indices. The significance level was defined as *p*\<0.05.
RESULTS
=======
The differences of mean age (47.1±9.4 vs. 44.5±12.9 yr) and BMI (26.1±3.9 vs. 27.8±3.8 kg/m^2^) were not significant between the moderate and the severe OSAS groups. The sleep profiles and sleep event data of the subjects were shown in [Table 1](#T1){ref-type="table"}. The proportion of stage 1 sleep was greater in the severe OSAS group than in the moderate OSAS group (*p*=0.003). Other variables of the sleep profile revealed no difference. The mean AHI for the moderate OSAS group was 21.2±4.7, and 56.4±19.8 for the severe OSAS group. There was no a significant difference in snoring time between the two groups. The severe OSAS group showed a significantly higher ODI (*p*\<0.001), lower average SpO~2~ (*p*\<0.001), and higher total number of episodic limb movements (*p*=0.010) than the moderate OSAS group. The severe OSAS group showed higher respiratory (*p*\<0.001) and total arousal indices (*p*\<0.001) with no difference of spontaneous arousal index as compared to the moderate OSAS group.
Time domain variables did not demonstrate any differences between the groups except for HRV triangular index ([Table 2](#T2){ref-type="table"}). The HRV triangular index of the moderate OSAS group was significantly lower than the severe OSAS group (17.4±4.7 and 21.6±7.8 respectively, *p*=0.026). In frequency domain analysis, total power (*p*=0.012), VLF power (*p*=0.038), LF power (*p*=0.002), and LF/HF ratio (*p*=0.005) were greater in the severe OSAS group than in the moderate OSAS group with no difference of HF power ([Table 2](#T2){ref-type="table"}).
In the correlation analysis between AHI and HRV indices controlling age and BMI ([Table 3](#T3){ref-type="table"}), AHI showed positive correlations with total power (r~p~=0.313, *p*=0.018), VLF power (r~p~=0.286, *p*=0.031), LF power (r~p~=0.395, *p*=0.002) and LF/HF ratio (r~p~=0.610, *p*\<0.0001), but a negative correlation with RR interval (r~p~=-0.370, *p*=0.005). The most significantly positive relationship with AHI was found in the LF/HF ratio ([Fig. 1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}).
DISCUSSION
==========
It is quite proper that the severe OSAS group had greater oxygen desaturation, arousal indices and lower SpO~2~ than the moderate symptom group because the mean AHI was completely different from each other according to the definition of the groups. The increased ventilatory effort that results from obstructed breathings in apneic or hypopneic episodes causes frequent arousals ([@B7]). More frequent arousals in the patients with severe symptoms might prevent them from falling into deep sleep, and it can also explain increased limb movements in this group.
In time domain analysis, most parameters failed to make significance in the statistical comparison between the groups. The only time domain variable demonstrating the difference was the HRV triangular index. The HRV triangular index can be calculated by the integral of the density distribution divided by the maximum of the density distribution of normal-to- normal (NN) interval. The HRV triangular index tends to correlate with total power in frequency domain analysis. It also reflects the overall amount of variability and has known to be affected by both sympathetic and parasympathetic activity but more influenced by lower bands than higher bands ([@B19]). The significant difference of the HRV triangular index in this study can be interpreted to have been affected by the influence of lower frequency component, because HF did not show the difference. Although the LF component has been regarded as a parameter reflecting sympathetic activity, it is far from conclusive whether this result about the HRV triangular index means increased sympathetic tone, because not only LF but also VLF power contributed to the significance of total power. In spite of a few previous studies that reported increases of VLF component in OSAS patients ([@B20], [@B21]) and synchronized VLF behavior with hypoxemia ([@B22]), the exact physiological meaning of VLF still remains in debate. One of the possible explanations for the reason why most time domain variables were not better than frequency domain variables in differentiating the two groups in this study is that frequency domain techniques may be better than time domain analysis in the precise evaluation of changes of sympathovagal balance ([@B19]).
In the frequency study, all variables but HF power were found to be significantly greater in the patients with severe symptoms. The difference between the groups depended on the power of very low and low frequency bands. It can account for the greater total power in the patients with severe symptoms because HF power revealed no difference. Parasympathetic control for heart rate has a very short latency enabling a beat-to-beat basis change, but synaptic norepinephrine mediating sympathetic influence is metabolized relatively slowly ([@B19]). In different way from respiratory sinus arrhythmia that occurs at a high frequency, baroreceptor-mediated heart rate variation has a lower frequency variation about 0.10 Hz and can be significantly diminished by sympathetic blockade ([@B19], [@B23]). The HF component has been known to be associated with parasympathetic activity, and LF power was proposed as an index that is affected by the activity of sympathetic nervous system. However, there has been no complete agreement about the meaning of the LF component. Mostly sympathetic activity or both sympathetic and parasympathetic activities are thought to contribute to the LF component of HRV. The LF finding without a HF change in this study can be thought to implicate increased sympathetic tone in the severe patients compared with the moderate symptoms group.
The LF/HF ratio was found to have a better statistical significance for differentiating the two study groups and to have better correlation with OSAS severity than other variables in frequency analysis. One possible reason for this is that the LF/HF ratio with less contribution of parasympathetic activity would reflect sympathetic activity better than the LF component itself. Another possible reason that can explain why the LF/HF ratio demonstrated a better significance than LF power is that the LF/HF ratio is a normalized parameter without an effect of total power that can be variable with experimental conditions.
There were some previous studies in which investigators tried to find a relationship between OSAS severity and HRV parameters. Narkiewicz and colleagues found a increased LF/HF ratio, HF power, and normalized LF power in patients with moderate-to-severe OSAS patients compared to normal controls, and a greater LF/HF ratio compared to mild OSAS patients ([@B24]). Gula and colleagues reported that the LF/HF ratio was higher among patients with moderate OSA compared to normals and interestingly those with severe OSA ([@B25]). Aydin and colleagues reported that total power, VLF, LF, and LF/HF ratio were higher in patients than those in controls, and that LF and LF/HF ratio were increased in severe OSAS group compared with mild OSAS group ([@B21]), but Yang and colleagues\' study did not find any difference of time or frequency variables between mild-to-moderate and moderate-to-severe OSAS patients ([@B26]). Because their methods were different in the criteria for patients classification, length of time series, hours for getting signals, and ways of analysis, direct comparisons of the results cannot be justified. However, the increased LF power and LF/HF ratio in OSAS patients are relatively consistent findings. The temporary reduction of the oxyhemoglobin level in apnea or hypopnea episodes is known to result in the activation of sympathetic nervous system and subsequent stimulation of the rennin-angiotension-aldosterone system. The relationship of OSAS and systemic hypertension can be attributed to these physiological mechanisms ([@B27]). Because LF power and LF/HF ratio have been regarded as indices indicating sympathetic tone or sympathovagal balance, it is plausible to assume that the greater AHI, the greater LF or LF/HF ratio.
This study suggests that the LF/HF ratio can be an appropriate index estimating the severity of OSAS symptoms and that it can be a good candidate for a screening tool with an oximetry for apnea-hypopnea syndrome. Regardless of its usefulness, there have been continuous efforts to find appropriate screening methods for OSAS ([@B28]-[@B30]). The reduction of the arterial oxygen level is a direct consequence of apnea and hypopnea, but a screening only with oximetry does not have a good sensitivity ([@B29]). The LF/HF ratio may be useful because this study showed that it has a linear correlation with AHI.
Frequency analysis has been done usually for short-term HRV data because there is a stationary problem in the long-term data, and it often makes the meaning of the data obscure. However, this result found that the LF/HF ratio still has a meaningful relationship with the severity of the symptoms in the long-term HRV. A limitation is that there was not a normal control group in this study, but there seemed to be no disagreement about the increased LF/HF ratio in the patients through previous studies. Verification of its usability as a screening method needs further studies.
This paper was supported by Konkuk University in 2006.
{#F1}
######
Sleep profiles and events of the subjects with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

OSAS, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome; TIB, time in bed; SPT, sleep period time; TST, total sleep time; SL, sleep latency; SE, sleep efficiency; S1, stage 1 sleep; S2, stage 2 sleep; S3, stage 3 sleep; S4, stage 4 sleep; REM, REM sleep stage; Wake, wakeful state; AHI, apnea-hypopnea index; ODI, oxygen desaturation event index; LM, limb movements; ArI, arousal index.
######
Time and frequency domain variables of the heart rate variability of the subjects with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

OSAS, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome; SDNN, standard deviation of NN interval; RMSSD, square root of the mean squared differences of successive NN intervals; NN50, the number of interval differences of successive NN intervals greater than 50 ms; SDANN, standard deviation of average NN interval; HRV TI, heart rate variability triangular index; VLF, very low frequency; LF, low frequency; HF, high frequency.
######
Partial correlation of apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) and heart rate variability (HRV) indices controlling age and body mass index of the subjects with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

VLF, very low frequency; LF, low frequency; HF, high frequency; SDNN, standard deviation of NN interval; RMSSD, square root of the mean squared differences of successive NN intervals; NN50, the number of interval differences of successive NN intervals greater than 50 ms; SDANN, standard deviation of average NN interval.
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Because the directions say so. What would we do without the directions? His pinky finger has no place to land but on her thumb and Bam! – FearLongingDoubtLove pulse from him and strike her like lighting. It’s all about the electricity. But she’s scared, she’s bent out of shape, she doesn’t know what to do with this stranger touching her thumb. If only she had both feet under her; if only they were both on green.
She’s scared. She falls. She’s lost.
One less body plays the game now, but there’s always more to replace her. The game goes on.
Spinners spin; arrows point; bodies follow. Left feet wriggle and squirm to red.Toes touch; pulses pulse; electricity skips from one vulnerable heart to another. He’s still standing, but another goes down. His FearLongingDoubtLove is too much for that one, too.
And the game goes on. He’s nimble; he doesn’t fall when the lighting strikes him. He’s strong with his right hand on green and his left foot on red and his soul hanging on in the middle.
But the other players can’t do what he does, and soon he is alone.
The winner. Winner? You can’t win alone. But that's what the rules say.
And we must follow them, because it's all a game. A game?
Yes. A horrible, wondrous, twisted game, Between the Lovers and the Lost. |
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Collect the terms in -8 - 7 + 15 - 4*w**3 + 58*w**2.
-4*w**3 + 58*w**2
Collect the terms in -4*k**3 - 117 + 117.
-4*k**3
Collect the terms in -141*d**2 + 121*d**2 + 78*d**2.
58*d**2
Collect the terms in 3*n**3 + 3*n**3 - n**3.
5*n**3
Collect the terms in -17*r + 17*r + 16*r**3.
16*r**3
Collect the terms in -4 + 996*d**3 + 4.
996*d**3
Collect the terms in 20*t + 1 - 44*t - 1.
-24*t
Collect the terms in 23 - 4*j + j - 23.
-3*j
Collect the terms in -4*s**2 + 7*s**2 - 4*s**2 + 10*s**2 + 4*s**2.
13*s**2
Collect the terms in 42 + 41 - 3*l - 85.
-3*l - 2
Collect the terms in 2 - 1 - 68*u - 1.
-68*u
Collect the terms in 0*y - y - 145*y**3 - y.
-145*y**3 - 2*y
Collect the terms in -139 + 4*j**3 + 139 - 5*j**3.
-j**3
Collect the terms in 820 - 415 + 9*u**3 - 8*u**3 - 405.
u**3
Collect the terms in 17285*h - 17294*h - 3 + 3.
-9*h
Collect the terms in 10*o + 14*o + 0*o.
24*o
Collect the terms in -n - 6*n + 7*n - 19*n**2 + 17*n**2.
-2*n**2
Collect the terms in 18*k - 6*k + 13*k.
25*k
Collect the terms in 6*o**2 + 16*o**2 + 12*o**2.
34*o**2
Collect the terms in 1123*i - 1123*i - 62*i**3.
-62*i**3
Collect the terms in -4*p - 70 - 70 + 140.
-4*p
Collect the terms in -146*r + 72*r + 75*r.
r
Collect the terms in -7*a**2 - 8 + 17*a**2 + 8.
10*a**2
Collect the terms in -36*j**3 + j + 9*j**3 - j + 13*j**3.
-14*j**3
Collect the terms in 35*l + 24*l + 74*l + 47*l.
180*l
Collect the terms in -25*z**3 - 24*z**3 + 41*z**3.
-8*z**3
Collect the terms in 2081 + 12*x - 2081.
12*x
Collect the terms in -125 - 2*a + 3*a + 64 + 61.
a
Collect the terms in 11016*w**2 - 11017*w**2 - w + w.
-w**2
Collect the terms in -4*y**3 + 197*y - 197*y.
-4*y**3
Collect the terms in -1 - 238*w**3 + 83*w**3 - 1.
-155*w**3 - 2
Collect the terms in 6357*w - 3181*w - 3178*w.
-2*w
Collect the terms in 106*i**2 - 238 + 238.
106*i**2
Collect the terms in 50*g**3 + 55*g**3 - 110*g**3.
-5*g**3
Collect the terms in 99*v**2 + 98*v**2 - 395*v**2 + 98*v**2 + 96*v**2.
-4*v**2
Collect the terms in 6 - 29*b - 6 + 30*b.
b
Collect the terms in 2*m**3 + 3*m**3 - 6*m**3 - 6*m**3.
-7*m**3
Collect the terms in 329*k**2 + 0*k + 0*k - 327*k**2.
2*k**2
Collect the terms in -2*h + h + 2*h + 2*h.
3*h
Collect the terms in 5*a - 2*a - a.
2*a
Collect the terms in 78372 - 78372 + u.
u
Collect the terms in 17*r - 40*r + 17*r.
-6*r
Collect the terms in -16*l + 2*l + 40*l.
26*l
Collect the terms in d - 824*d**2 - d.
-824*d**2
Collect the terms in 18*x**2 + 39*x**3 - 18*x**2.
39*x**3
Collect the terms in -17*d - 6 + 5 + 5 + 1.
-17*d + 5
Collect the terms in -230*h**3 - 256*h**3 - 216*h**3.
-702*h**3
Collect the terms in -9293*t + 9293*t - t**2 + 0*t**2.
-t**2
Collect the terms in 10*n - 22*n + 8*n.
-4*n
Collect the terms in 4*d**3 + d - 15 + d**3 - d.
5*d**3 - 15
Collect the terms in -102*d + 0 + 0.
-102*d
Collect the terms in 0 + 9538*z - 9547*z + 1 - 1.
-9*z
Collect the terms in -14 - 4 + 10*v**3 + 18.
10*v**3
Collect the terms in 0 + 0 + 424676*v**3 - 424684*v**3.
-8*v**3
Collect the terms in -18*r**2 + 0*r**2 + 13*r**2.
-5*r**2
Collect the terms in 2*v + 34*v**3 - 2*v - 4.
34*v**3 - 4
Collect the terms in -918*s**2 + 1833*s**2 - 911*s**2.
4*s**2
Collect the terms in -6*i**2 - 9*i**2 - 7*i**2 + 20*i**2.
-2*i**2
Collect the terms in 2*g + 16*g**2 + g - 3*g.
16*g**2
Collect the terms in 1 + 2*z - 2 - z - 10*z.
-9*z - 1
Collect the terms in 6929*c - 5*c**3 - 6929*c.
-5*c**3
Collect the terms in 11*p - 10*p - p - 20*p**2.
-20*p**2
Collect the terms in -g - 1408*g**2 + g - 741*g**2.
-2149*g**2
Collect the terms in z + 10*z - 2*z.
9*z
Collect the terms in 9 - 92*c + 0 + 229*c - 8.
137*c + 1
Collect the terms in 4*c**2 |
Bailey Matthews
Bailey Matthews (born 2006) is a British schoolboy, from Worksop, who has won awards for his sporting achievements in the face of his cerebral palsy. These include completing his first junior triathlon (a swim, then a bike ride, ending with a run), at Castle Howard in July 2015, after throwing away his walking frame to complete the last of the final section on his own, despite stumbling twice. A video of the moment, captured by a spectator, went viral, being viewed more than 27 million times on Facebook.
Bailey Matthews received a Pride of Britain Award and numerous other awards, and in December the same year, he was presented with the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award at a ceremony in Belfast.
References
External links
Video of Matthews finishing his triathlon - on YouTube
Category:Sportspeople with cerebral palsy
Category:Sportspeople from Doncaster
Category:2006 births
Category:Living people
Category:Year of birth uncertain
Category:English male triathletes
Category:British disabled sportspeople |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a spread illuminating apparatus of side light type, and more particularly to a side light type spread illuminating apparatus for use as a lighting means for a liquid crystal display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, a liquid crystal display (LCD) is extensively used as a display means for various electronic equipments. Since a liquid crystal of an LCD does not emit light by itself, a lighting means is required for achieving visibility when the LCD is used at night or in a dark place. A spread illuminating apparatus has conventionally been used as such a lighting means, and especially, a side light type spread illuminating apparatus is extensively used, which has a light guide plate having transparency, and a linear light source or one or more point light sources disposed at a side surface of the light guide plate. Recently, a spread illuminating apparatus incorporating a point light source, which enables simplification of a driving circuit, is seeing an increased usage in small-size electronic equipments such as mobile information terminals, and a white light emitting diode (hereinafter referred to simply as “LED”) is frequently employed as such a point light source.
In order to enhance the brightness for such a side light type spread illuminating apparatus, it is required to increase the luminance of an LED as a primary light source, and also to efficiently utilize light emitted from the LED. For increasing the luminance of the LED, current to drive the LED is raised to increase the amount of light emitted from an LED chip, but this causes the LED chip to generate increased heat so as to raise the ambient temperature consequently lowering the luminous efficiency of the LED chip and shortening the life of the LED chip, and facilitation of heat dissipation is required. On the other hand, the following problem is conventionally involved with regard to the efficient utilization of light emitted from the LED.
FIG. 4 is a top plan view of a conventional side light type spread illuminating apparatus. Referring to FIG. 4, a side light type spread illuminating apparatus 100 includes a light guide plate 101, and an LED 105 disposed at a side surface 102 (hereinafter referred to as “light entrance surface” as appropriate) of the light guide plate 101. In the spread illuminating apparatus 100, light emitted from the LED 105 is introduced in the light guide plate 101 through the light entrance surface 102 and is adapted to exit out uniformly from a major surface 104 while traveling from the light entrance surface 102 toward a side surface 103 opposite to the light entrance surface 102, thus providing function as a lighting means for a liquid crystal panel and the like. However, some light that is reflected at the side surface 103 and gets back to the light entrance surface 102 (such light is referred to as “internal reflection light”) leaks out from the light entrance surface 102 so as to take an optical path P1, thus causing loss light.
To deal with the problems described above, a spread illuminating apparatus using LEDs is disclosed (refer to, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H9-298008; FIGS. 1 and 2 attached therein). FIG. 5 is a front elevation view of an LED structure 200 used in such a spread illuminating apparatus. The LED structure 200 includes a reflection case 201 formed of resin and having a rectangular solid configuration with its rear end blinded and its front end opened, and two LED chips 202 disposed at the blinded rear end of the reflection case 201. The LED structure 200 further includes terminal plates 203, 204 and 205 formed integrally with respective external lead terminals (not shown), and the two LED chips 202 are mounted to the terminal plate 204 by a bonding method, and are connected respectively to the terminal plates 203 and 205 by a wire bonding method. The aforementioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H9-298008 describes a spread illuminating apparatus which includes two of the LED structures 200 disposed respectively at two shorter side surfaces of a substantially rectangular light guide plate, wherein the dimension of the reflection case 201 is optimally determined according to the dimension of the shorter side surface of the light guide plate.
Since the spread illuminating apparatus described above includes the terminal plates 203, 204 and 205 having a large area relative to the size of the LED chips 202, and includes the reflection case 201 having its longitudinal dimension measuring optimally up to the longitudinal dimension of the shorter side surface (as light entrance surfaces) of the light guide plate, some degree of favorable effects are anticipated on the above-described problems due to LED chips generating increased heat and due to internal reflection light leaking out from the light entrance surface.
In the LED structure 200 shown in FIG. 5, however, since the LED chips 202 are disposed at the blinded rear end of the reflection case 201 which is formed of resin so as to enclose the terminal plates 203, 204 and 205, the heat generated by the LED chips 202 and transmitted therefrom to the terminal plates 203, 204 and 205 cannot be sufficiently released outside due to the heat transfer resistance of the reflection case 201, though the terminal plates 203, 204 and 205 have a relatively large area for the size of the LED chips 202. Also, the light emitted from the LED chips 202 and the internal reflection light may possibly be absorbed by the reflection case 201 causing loss light, and thus efficient utilization of light emitted from the LED chips 202 cannot be achieved. |
Q:
How to use CHECK_LIBRARY_EXISTS in cmake?
Here’s what I have in my CMakeLists.txt:
link_directories( "/usr/local/lib" )
include(CheckLibraryExists)
CHECK_LIBRARY_EXISTS( "libmali-midgard-t76x-r9p0-r0p0.so" "gbm_create_device" "" MALI )
Result:
Looking for gbm_create_device in libmali-midgard-t76x-r9p0-r0p0.so - not found
The symbol exists in that library:
$ nm -D /usr/local/lib/libmali-midgard-t76x-r9p0-r0p0.so | egrep gbm_create_device
001b245c T gbm_create_device
Why cmake doesn't find that?
A:
It was dependencies.
CHECK_LIBRARY_EXISTS is much more complex than nm -D. CMake actually creates a C project that references that library, and tries to link it.
I missed some dependencies used by that library (libdrm-dev, libxcb-dri2-0, libx11-xcb-dev), so the linker failed.
Resolved by looking what’s in CMakeFiles folder, it contains much more detailed logs.
|
Towards unveiling the genetics of neurodegenerative diseases.
In addition to sharing several clinical, pathologic, and molecular characteristics, many neurodegenerative disorders show extensive familial histories suggesting a substantial contribution of genetic factors to disease causation and progression. In this review, the authors provide overviews of the status of current genetics research in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, frontotemporal dementia, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Across these four disorders alone, nearly 60 different loci can now be considered as established to be involved in pathogenesis for both Mendelian and non-Mendelian disease forms. In addition to reviewing the most compelling of these loci based on current data from genome-wide association studies and next-generation sequencing projects, genes that have been linked to more than one disease entity are emphasized. Such overlapping findings could point to one or several common genetic and mechanistic denominators for neuronal death in neurodegeneration. Unveiling the identity of these and other genetic factors will not only improve our understanding of the underlying pathophysiology, but may also lead to new avenues for preventing and treating these devastating diseases. |
import peasy.PeasyCam;
int seed = int(random(9999999));
Ligths ligths;
Ligth l1, l2, l3;
PeasyCam cam;
void setup() {
size(960, 540, P3D);
smooth(8);
pixelDensity(2);
cam = new PeasyCam(this, 400);
generate();
}
void draw() {
float time = millis()*0.001;
randomSeed(seed);
noiseSeed(seed);
background(0);
noStroke();
float r = width*random(0.4);
float a1 = noise(time*random(0.1))*TAU*2;
float a2 = noise(time*random(0.1))*TAU*2;
l1.position = new PVector(cos(a1)*cos(a2)*r, cos(a1)*sin(a2)*r, sin(a1)*r);
r = width*random(0.4);
a1 = noise(time*random(0.1))*TAU*2;
a2 = noise(time*random(0.1))*TAU*2;
l2.position = new PVector(cos(a1)*cos(a2)*r, cos(a1)*sin(a2)*r, sin(a1)*r);
r = width*random(0.4);
a1 = noise(time*random(0.1))*TAU*2;
a2 = noise(time*random(0.1))*TAU*2;
l3.position = new PVector(cos(a1)*cos(a2)*r, cos(a1)*sin(a2)*r, sin(a1)*r);
l1.show();
l2.show();
l3.show();
for (int i = 0; i < 2000; i++) {
float amp = random(10, 50);
float x = random(-400, 400);
float y = random(-400, 400);
float z = random(-400, 400);
PVector p1 = new PVector(x+random(-amp, amp), y+random(-amp, amp), z+random(-amp, amp));
PVector p2 = new PVector(x+random(-amp, amp), y+random(-amp, amp), z+random(-amp, amp));
PVector p3 = new PVector(x+random(-amp, amp), y+random(-amp, amp), z+random(-amp, amp));
beginShape();
fill(ligths.getColor(p1));
vertex(p1.x, p1.y, p1.z);
fill(ligths.getColor(p2));
vertex(p2.x, p2.y, p2.z);
fill(ligths.getColor(p3));
vertex(p3.x, p3.y, p3.z);
endShape(CLOSE);
}
}
void keyPressed() {
seed = int(random(9999999));
generate();
}
void generate() {
randomSeed(seed);
noiseSeed(seed);
ligths = new Ligths();
l1 = new PointLigth(new PVector(), 200, color(random(255), random(255), random(255)));
l2 = new PointLigth(new PVector(), 180, color(random(255), random(255), random(255)));
l3 = new PointLigth(new PVector(), 180, color(random(255), random(255), random(255)));
ligths.add(l1);
ligths.add(l2);
ligths.add(l3);
}
int colors[] = {#FF3D20, #FC9D43, #3998C2, #3E56A8, #090D0E};
//int colors[] = {#687FA1, #AFE0CD, #FDECB4, #F63A49, #FE8141};
int rcol() {
return colors[int(random(colors.length))];
}
int getColor() {
return getColor(random(colors.length));
}
int getColor(float v) {
v = abs(v);
v = v%(colors.length);
int c1 = colors[int(v%colors.length)];
int c2 = colors[int((v+1)%colors.length)];
return lerpColor(c1, c2, v%1);
}
|
111 F.Supp.2d 796 (2000)
Rickey E. BELL
v.
Richard L. STALDER, et al.
No. Civ.A. 00-1173A.
United States District Court, W.D. Louisiana, Alexandria Division.
June 15, 2000.
*797 Rickey Earl Bell, Winnfield LA, plaintiff pro se.
Ronald E. Corkern, Jr., Corkern & Crews, Natchitoches, LA, for Richard L. Stalder, defendant.
RULING
LITTLE, Chief Judge.
A hearing was held in Alexandria, Louisiana at 9:30 a.m. on 5 June 2000 regarding the recently instated hair length policy at Winn Correctional Center that would require plaintiff Rickey E. Bell ("Bell"), an inmate with hair longer than a few inches, to cut his hair. Bell had requested that this court grant him a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction preventing the defendants[1] from forcibly cutting his hair, arguing that the cutting of his hair would be an infringement upon his religious beliefs[2] in violation of the First Amendment. In an order signed on 18 May 2000, this court denied Bell's request for a temporary restraining order but granted a preliminary injunction hearing at which Bell would have an opportunity to present evidence to support his claim for injunctive relief. The hearing took place at the scheduled time and place, and we now rule on the merits of this case.
After careful consideration of both the plaintiffs and the defendants' arguments in this case, this court finds that the hair length policy recently instated at WCC is related reasonably to legitimate penological concerns and, therefore, is not unconstitutional. The policy in question is a departmental-wide policy set by defendant Stalder in an effort to maintain a uniform policy among all prisons within the State of Louisiana, and it serves the dual purposes of security and inmate identification.
While we truly empathize with Bell, who believes that his religion forbids the cutting of his hair either voluntarily or involuntarily, we find that the penological interests involved herein override Bell's position and justify the implementation of the policy in question. We first address the security concern. Long hair poses security problems in prisons because contraband, such as weapons or drugs, may be concealed in the hair. Concealed weapons, in particular, endanger the safety of anyone within the prison facility. The policy, therefore, protects not only the correctional officers but also the inmates. Moreover, long hair requires more time *798 and effort to search than short hair. That additional time spent by correctional officers is unnecessary arguably even a waste of prison resources and takes away from the officers' ability to take other security measures.
We next address the second main purpose of the hair length policy, that regarding inmate identification. According to the defendants, a photograph is taken of every inmate who enters the prison system. That photo is kept in the inmate's file with the particular prison at which the inmate is incarcerated. If an inmate escapes, his photo in his file is reproduced and distributed widely to law enforcement authorities and perhaps even the community at large. It is with that photo that a search is conducted of the escapee.
It is much easier to change one's physical appearance with long hair than with short hair. In the event of an escape, an inmate with long hair can cut his hair any one of various lengths to change his appearance and reduce the risk of getting caught. Even an inmate with a religious conviction against cutting hair, such as our plaintiff, may change his physical appearance simply by styling his long hair in one of countless different ways. Long hair, therefore, is disadvantageous from a law enforcement standpoint not just because it can be cut but also because it can be styled in different ways to change one's appearance.[3] In sum, for either of the purposes discussed, the policy in question is related reasonably to legitimate penological concerns.
Moreover, we find that the defendants' proposal of a maximum hair length of two or three inches is reasonable. It is not as if inmates at WCC are required to shave off all their hair; they simply must keep their hair no longer than two or three inches, which is about the length of a standard short cut. Such length is objectively reasonable and does not impose an undue burden upon inmates, whose rights and privileges necessarily are more limited as a result of lawful incarceration. See Pell v. Procunier, 417 U.S. 817, 822, 94 S.Ct. 2800, 2804, 41 L.Ed.2d 495 (1974).
Our ruling in this case is wholly consistent with Fifth Circuit jurisprudence. The Fifth Circuit has held repeatedly that prison grooming regulations, including the requirement that an inmate keep his hair cut short, are related reasonably to legitimate penological interests, such as security and identification. See, e.g., Diaz v. Collins, 114 F.3d 69, 73 (5th Cir.1997) (despite strong significance of long hair in defendant's belief, prison regulation on hair length did not violate Religious Freedom Restoration Act and was related to compelling state interest of security); Scott v. Mississippi Dept. of Corrections, 961 F.2d 77, 80 (5th Cir.1992); Hill v. Estelle, 537 F.2d 214, 215 (5th Cir.1976); Brooks v. Wainwright, 428 F.2d 652, 653-54 (5th Cir. 1970).
Although plaintiff Bell has served approximately twelve years in prison and has only fourteen months remaining, he cannot be exempt from the policy. There are over 1500 prisoners incarcerated at WCC; approximately 400 of them are released over the course of the year. Defendant Warden Hubert testified that it would be very burdensome, if not impossible, to keep track of each inmate's release date. The reason is that circumstances may vary widely. Some inmates are released on parole, while others are not. Some gain *799 "good time credit" toward early release; some others lose such credit. Some even may be transferred to a different prison facility. Indeed, it would not be feasible to require prison authorities to keep track of each inmate's situation and enforce prison regulations only against those who, with certainty, will not be released in the near future. It is hard to determine where to draw the line, and any line drawn undoubtedly will seem arbitrary to some. More importantly, however, we must not forget why prison regulations are enforced uniformly against all inmates in the first place: Prison-wide policies ensure equal treatment of inmates and make enforcement much easier, as everybody is required to follow the same rules.
In conclusion, "when a prison regulation impinges on inmates' constitutional rights, the regulation is valid if it is reasonably related to legitimate penological interests." Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78, 89, 107 S.Ct. 2254, 2261, 96 L.Ed.2d 64 (1987). In this case, the hair length policy at WCC is related reasonably to the legitimate penological interests of security and inmate identification. We, therefore, find that such policy is not unconstitutional and may be applied as to all inmates at WCC, including plaintiff Bell.
NOTES
[1] The named defendants in this case are Richard L. Stalder, Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections; Warden Mickey L. Hubert; Raymond Byrd; Angel Martin; Todd Thomas; Arthur Lee; and Patrick Craig. All defendants, except Stalder, are employed at Winn Correctional Center ("WCC") in Winnfield, Louisiana.
[2] Bell testified that he is of the Islamic faith.
[3] It clearly would not be feasible to take numerous photographs of each inmate, one for every possible hair length or hairstyle, to put in the inmate's file and retrieve in the event he escapes from prison. Those numerous photographs, in turn, would have to be reproduced for mass distribution to law enforcement authorities and the public. There simply would be too many photos to juggle; the photos would be not only unhelpful but confusing. And multiplying that number of photographs by the number of inmates who desire to grow their hair either now or in the future, one can see how very inefficient the system may become. The whole purpose of having a match up photo in each inmate's file would be defeated.
|
Blacks Blog!!
Are we really the Best Website in the World for Business and Finance Information as Millions of people say? ( We know that we are ) Nobody on the Planet covers the ground that we do, but having a 97 Billion item Database does help though. On this website, we literally have the entire world available for you. We have made people richer, happier, and more informed. Thank you for voting us as the best website in the World for Business ; Finance Information in the Worldwide Black Web Awards
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Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database is the result of 40 years of research by hundreds of scholars. Two years ago, Emory University researchers, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, began compiling maps, images and other records of about 35,000 slave-trade voyages from Africa to North America, Brazil, the Caribbean and Europe. It is the first time such a large amount of data on the subject has been available to the public. This database links African-Americans to their ancestors voyages. There are over 12 million names in this database...Just click on the link....O'Jays Ship Ahoy..(click here)
Richmond Blogger...check this out (click here) You have 27,000 books online (free) to check out. One of my favorite is "30 years a slave".. by Louis Hughes. It's his life story. This Project Gutenberg site is a readers dream.
Traveler...this is the Villa in Egypt I was telling you about. It's only $800 for the whole week..right on the Mediterranean ..You can find deals like this all over the world in our links section under vacation rentals. Click on the picture above for details.
Life is what you make it ..remember that childhood ghetto poem.."Once upon a time the goose drank wine and the monkey swung on the long clothes line ?" I'm not gonna finish the rest of it but I remember..that I do keep forgetting..(click here)
We were hanging out in a Pittsburgh Hotel Bar awhile back with Grammy winning recording Superstar George Benson (click here) when the subject of Mason's Hotel came up. Mason's was one of the "rungs" on Brother Benson's long ladder of success back in the early days he told me. Fond memories of that place. Guess what? It's still open. Located in the Lincoln Beach section of Pittsburgh. Definitely the place to be and no telling who you might see.
Lexington Blogger..You can vote and see the weekly winners yourself at The Apollo Theatre amateur hour (click here).While you're at it, check out what's new in Harlem or in any other city in the Country, just type in the Zip Code (click here).
Rumor has it that out of Pittsburgh pennsylvania, the Eldora Youth Choir is planning on making a comeback. The Eldora Youth Choir was a tremendous youth singing group founded by the late great Orla Martin. On a cold snowy night in Paris France, these "Brothers" riding the Metro reminds everyone of the Dynamic Eldora Youth Choir Brothers..... Check them out (click here).
Beverly Hills Blogger..says she knows just the place to upgrade that diamond and get some more Bling for your Ring...all at a discount (click here). By the way, the Caymon Islandsare more than just a haven for Offshore Banking...(click here).
For those of you who like toys like we do Rolls Royce's Drophead Coupe sweet 12 cylinder..48 valve..is one sweet Baby (click here).Maybe our information will help get it for you. Yacht? The 75Ft. Azimut Motor Yacht is just the ticket. If you want to go on a cruise, you can cruise yourself (click here).
Speaking of boats and cruises, here is that worldwide docking information that we promised you, including the Pirate Reports (why don't they just get a job) (click here).
At the Black financial Group, we have that "Financial Magic" We can help you "Move on up" but Curtis Mayfield has something to say about that.. (Click Here) ..
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Harmonicas are small rectangular wind instruments which include a plurality of free metallic reeds recessed in adjacent air slots formed transversely within the harmonica body. Numbered blow holes formed along one edge of the harmonica body separately communicate with the slots. Alternate tones of the scale are sounded by exhaling or inhaling through the various numbered blow holes to produce single notes or chords. Each blow hole of the harmonica can produce two notes, depending on whether the harmonica player blows (exhales) or draws (inhales) relative to the hole.
Harmonicas have proven to be extremely popular and versatile. Because harmonicas are small and relatively simple in structure, they are portable and inexpensive. Consequently, children and other beginning music enthusiasts are often exposed to music through toy or inexpensive harmonicas.
Standard notations in harmonica music include reference numbers informing the harmonica player which hole to operate; additional symbols, such as upwardly or downwardly directed arrows designate whether blowing or drawing is required to produce a desired note. A sequence of numbers and arrows printed in music books enables harmonica players to identify the proper sequence of numbered blow holes to play a song.
It is often difficult for beginning harmonica players, especially young children, to accurately associate a number printed in a song book with a corresponding numbered blow hole since the harmonica rests gently between the teeth and lips during proper play. Additionally, playing the harmonica from a song book generally requires supporting the same with music stands and other large or expensive supporting equipment. Song books further require constant attention; slight head movement away from the book or momentary distractions can cause the player to lose the proper blow hole sequence necessary to play the song.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an educational device that attaches to the harmonica carrying special sheet music to allow the player to accurately associate a sequence of reference numerals printed on the sheet with corresponding, numbered blow holes on the harmonica.
Another object of the invention is to provide an educational device which enables quick and easy harmonica instruction.
Yet another object is to provide an educational device capable of positioning sheet music outwardly from the harmonica player to enable improved visual observation of the numbered song sequence.
Still a further object is to provide an educational device that is inexpensive and portable. |
Anthropology is a vast field of study, and so is archaeology, both of which can be applied forensic sciences. Often divided into two areas, anthropology is either: the science that deals with the origins, cultural development, characteristics, social customs and beliefs of humankind (cultural anthropology) and the study of humanity's similarity to and divergence from other animals (physical anthropology). Cultural anthropology has never really had much of a relationship with the law, whereas physical anthropology has always been a recognized area of forensic expertise as least since 1850.
It's generally agreed that forensic anthropology is the application of the science of physical anthropology to the identification of skeletal, badly decomposed, or otherwise unidentified human remains.
Forensic anthropology apply standard scientific techniques developed in physical anthropology to identify human remains, and to assist in the detection of crime.
Forensic anthropologists frequently work in conjunction with forensic pathologists odontologists, and homicide investigators to identify a decedent, discover evidence of foul play, and/or the postmortem interval. In addition to assisting in locating and recovering suspicious remains, forensic anthropologists work to suggest the age, sex, ancestry, stature, and unique features of a decedent from the skeleton.
Related specialties include forensic archeology (especially the protocols of excavation), forensic entomology (especially the study of insect larvae), and forensic botany (the use of pertinent plant evidence at a crime scene). Anything undiscovered for 50 years or more is usually arbitrarily defined as "archeological," but there are many who don't agree with this, or recognize things "archeological" in other ways.
The study of insects, or entomology, represents a more unified approach since it deals with fairly established principles from anatomy, morphology, and physiology. Most of the relevant specialties are covered in this lecture, but the initial discussion is on anthropology proper.
Expert qualifications include possessing an earned Doctoral degree in Anthropology with an emphasis in Physical Anthropology.
Forensic anthropologists are "bone detectives" who help police solve complex cases involving unidentified human remains. The techniques which physical anthropologists use to discover information about early humans from their skeletons are also used to discover the identity of the victims of accidents, fires, plane crashes, war, or crimes such as murder.
A forensic anthropologist can tell a lot about a person from bones:
They can determine if the person was a male or female. This is determined by studying the pelvis, base of the skull, the forehead, and the jaw. Males usually have a more prominent brow ridge, eyesockets, and jaw. Women have a wider pelvis.
They are able to approximate how old the person was by examining the joints, bones, and teeth. A child’s skull has more separation between the bone plates.
The smoother the skull, the older the person. The examination of wrist development for children under thirteen is another reliable method of determining age. For most bones, the estimation of age works best if the victim is under age 30.
Forensic scientists use formulas to determine height based on the length of leg and arm bones. The longest bone, the femur, is best for this, but estimations can also be made from the metacarpals in the hand.
They are able to tell the person’s weight by the wear on the bones at certain points.
They may be able to identify the racial group to which the person belongs by examining the width and height of the nose. Facial or head hair, when found with the skeleton, can also help determine race. Caucasian nose holes are triangular, Negroid's square, and Mongoloid's diamond-shaped.
Negroid femur bones are also straighter than other racial groups.
They may guess what occupation the person had. For example, if the person played an instrument such as a flute or clarinet, the teeth and bones around the mouth will be affected. A carpenter’s or a roofer’s teeth might be clipped in front where he held nails in his mouth.
They can determine a person’s shape. Ridges where muscle was attached to the bone show the person’s physique.
They can tell whether the person was right or left-handed. There would be more muscle attachment on the bones on the dominant side.
They are able to determine if he was ever injured or fractured a bone during his lifetime. Detected bone injuries can be compared with a person’s medical X-rays to confirm identity.
They also can determine if the person died violently. This is determined by looking for signs of trauma. These include stab marks, marks on the skull, broken bones, and bullets or pellets in or near the body.
If the person was strangled, the bone from the throat (the hyoid bone) could be fractured.
They are able to approximate when the individual died. The amount of soft tissue that is still present is the key to determining time of death, although weathering cracks on bones (from winter) or animal/rodent bites can also be used.
Females lose one pound of tissue a day during decomposition; males three pounds a day. Acidic soil accelerates decomposition; alkaline soil retards it.
Most of these are class characteristics (such as age, sex, race, and height), but some are individual characteristics (such as trauma). Courts would probably never rely independently on forensic anthropological identification.
It would most likely be used to corroborate other evidence or supplement the testimony of other experts. Lawyers frequently stipulate forensic anthropological evidence because much of it may be gruesome and prejudicial to the jury. Bringing bones into the courtroom as demonstrative evidence, for example, is somewhat controversial. Experts are typically allowed to render opinions in wide areas of allied disciplines as long as they are well-schooled in those areas.
Police may also turn to anthropologists for facial reconstruction, recreating a face from the skeleton to help them identify the deceased. When asked to create a reconstruction, anthropologists first determine as much as possible from the skeleton, which includes such information as age, race and sex. Then, using tissue thickness sample charts, the artist glues pieces of plastic which look like pencil erasers of various lengths to the skull or a plaster copy, at eighteen to twenty-six key points.
These pegs are cut to the thickness specified by the chart. Using the pegs as a guide, the artist fills in the areas with modeling clay. The eyes are the hardest to do as they are almost entirely tissue. Other difficult areas include the ears, because their size is difficult to determine. It is also very difficult to reconstruct the lower parts of the nose and the lips. Computer-assisted facial reconstruction software (FACES) also exists. |
This gorgeous property is located inside a gated mountain community in the area of Brasil de Mora in Santa, a perfect location for those looking at privacy, views, natural environment and security. This area communicates with Route 27 to the Central Pacific coast beaches in less than 10 minutes and the center of Santa Ana in 10/15 minutes.
The house is built in two levels, the ample two story ceiling lobby opens up to a welcoming view of the backyard and pool of the property. Following this area, the dining room connects to a double ambience covered terrace, which also gives access to the swimming pool, garden and caretaker house. The spacious kitchen is a perfect cooking area in the better style of a chef offering a pantry, stainless steel appliances and connected to the outside terrace. This level also offers a visitor`s ½ bathroom, full pool bathroom, laundry room, maid`s bedroom with bathroom and garage with attic.
The lower level of the house has two bedrooms sharing a full bathroom, plus a large size master suite with walk-in closet, wall-to-wall closet, bathroom with Jacuzzi and access to the front garden. The second floor of the house offers two bedrooms sharing a full bathroom, a studio and a multipurpose room with balcony and amazing views. |
Clinicopathological analysis of basal cell carcinoma of the anal region and its distinction from basaloid squamous cell carcinoma.
Basal cell carcinoma of the anal region is rare and morphologically difficult to distinguish from basaloid squamous cell carcinoma, particularly on biopsies. This distinction has therapeutic and prognostic implications. We reviewed morphological features of 9 basal cell carcinomas and 15 basaloid squamous cell carcinomas from the anal region diagnosed during 1993-2011 and determined the utility of Ber-EP4, BCL2, TP63, CK5/6, CDKN2A, and SOX2 as diagnostic tools. Immunostains were scored in a semi-quantitative manner (1+-1-10%, 2+-11-50%, 3+->50%). All basal cell carcinomas were located in the perianal region, while all basaloid squamous cell carcinomas originated in the anal canal/anorectum. Nodular subtype of basal cell carcinoma was the most common subtype. Retraction artifact was the only significant distinguishing histological feature of basal cell carcinoma compared with basaloid squamous cell carcinoma (88% vs 26%; P=0.04). Atypical mitoses were more common in basaloid squamous cell carcinomas (71% vs 11%; P=0.05). An in situ component was only present in basaloid squamous cell carcinomas, and was noted in 6/15 cases. Basal cell carcinomas had 2-3+ Ber-EP4 (basal cell carcinoma 100% vs basaloid squamous cell carcinoma 40%; P<0.001) and BCL2 immunoreactivity (basal cell carcinomas 100% vs basaloid squamous cell carcinoma 33%; P<0.001). Diffuse CDKN2A and SOX2 expression was seen only in basaloid squamous cell carcinomas (basal cell carcinoma 0% vs basaloid squamous cell carcinoma 93%; P<0.001). There was no difference in TP63 and CK5/6 expression. Perianal location, retraction artifact, and lack of atypical mitoses are histological features that help distinguish basal cell carcinoma from basaloid squamous cell carcinoma. An in situ component, when present, supports the diagnosis of basaloid squamous cell carcinoma. Immunostains are extremely helpful as diffuse Ber-EP4 and BCL2 expression is a feature of basal cell carcinoma and basaloid squamous cell carcinoma is typified by diffuse CDKN2A and SOX2 expression. |
Monitoring follicular dynamics using ultrasonography in captive brown bears (Ursus arctos) during the breeding season.
Artificial insemination (AI) may be a useful tool in the reproductive management of endangered animals, including bears. To establish an AI program for bears, we investigated follicular dynamics using weekly transrectal ultrasonography in six captive brown bears. Along with ultrasonography, we monitored plasma progesterone (P4) and estradiol-17β (E2) concentrations. Furthermore, two bears were administered a gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist to induce ovulation on the first day on which the largest follicle reached more than 10.0 mm in diameter. Brown bears showed two patterns of follicular development in the early and late periods of the breeding season. In the early period (May to mid-June), multiple follicular waves were observed; namely, many follicles developed, and the largest follicles grew to less than 6.0 mm in diameter then regressed. In the late period (mid-June to July), one or two follicles grew to greater than 6.0 mm in diameter and developed as dominant follicles. Moreover, the growth rate of the largest follicle in the late period was faster than that in the early period of the breeding season. One bear with a follicle of 13.1 mm ovulated spontaneously, and one bear ovulated when the follicle was 10.2 mm in diameter after GnRH agonist treatment. Plasma E2 concentrations increased and showed peaks five to seven days before the largest follicles reached their maximum size. Plasma P4 concentrations increased on the day the corpus luteum could be detected using ultrasonography. This is the first study that showed there are two patterns of follicular development in brown bears. Furthermore, the largest follicle reaching greater than 10.0 mm in diameter could be an indicator of the appearance of ovulatory follicles. |
Families behind wrongful death lawsuits speak out
2014-01-09T20:43:21Z2014-01-10T00:22:51Z
The families of two men shot and killed by Memphis Police Department officers in January 2013 are speaking out about their losses one day after they filed wrongful death lawsuits against the City of Memphis, Toney Armstrong, and four other police officer
On January 17, 2013, Steven Askew was shot and killed at the Windsor Place Apartments. Memphis police say they were investigating a noise complaint when they found Askew asleep in his car.
On January 11, 2013, Donald Moore was shot and killed in his home on Cameron Ridge Trail in Cordova while the TACT unit was serving a search warrant in an animal cruelty investigation after citizens called with concerns that Moore may be an animal "hoarde
"He was a father, grandfather," said Donald's son, Ronald Moore. "Just terrible. It should've never happened like that. I'm at a loss for words."
(WMC-TV) - The families of two men shot and killed by Memphis police officers in January 2013 have filed $3 million in wrongful death lawsuits against the City of Memphis, Toney Armstrong, and four otherMore >>
The families of two men shot and killed by Memphis police officers in January 2013 have filed millions of dollars in wrongful death lawsuits against the City of Memphis, Toney Armstrong, and four other police officers.More >>
(WMC-TV) - Steven Askew's family is asking for an independent investigation into why he was shot and killed by Memphis police as he was visiting his girlfriend. His family also said the 24-year-old hadMore >>
Steven Askew's family is asking for an independent investigation into why he was shot and killed by Memphis police as he was visiting his girlfriend.More >>
(WMC-TV) - Memphis Police have identified the officer responsible for shooting a suspected animal hoarder. Phillip Penny, 36, has been relieved of duty per MPD policy. He is currently assigned to the TACTMore >>
(WMC-TV) - The families of two men shot and killed by Memphis Police Department officers in January 2013 are speaking out about their losses one day after they filed wrongful death lawsuits against the City of Memphis, Toney Armstrong, and four other police officers.
"These two lawsuits highlight that the innocent folk in our community are not necessarily safe from the police that are there to protect them," attorney Jeff Rosenbloom said.
On January 11, 2013, Donald Moore was shot and killed in his home on Cameron Ridge Trail in Cordova while the TACT unit was serving a search warrant in an animal cruelty investigation after citizens called with concerns that Moore may be an animal "hoarder." The complaint names TACT unit commander Major Charles Morris and officer Phillip Penny as other co-defendants.
"He was a father, grandfather," said Donald's son, Ronald Moore. "Just terrible. It should've never happened like that. I'm at a loss for words."
According to the complaint, Memphis police officers had been warned that Moore was an elderly man with possible mental health issues, who may be dangerous. But they "made no attempts to execute the search warrant in a peaceful manner." The complaint alleges that officers knew Moore had a gun, but instead of calling in an intervention team to calm the situation, a flash bang was thrown into the room where he was hiding and Moore was shot "three times with an M-4 rifle, at close range, without just cause" while Moore was on the phone with 911.
"I don't know what to say, you know. He was taken from us too soon. He should be right here with us and it should've never happened like that," said Ronald.
On January 17, 2013, Steven Askew was shot and killed in his car at the Windsor Place Apartments. Memphis police say they were investigating a noise complaint when they found Askew asleep in his car. At the time, police say Askew pointed a gun at police officers who tried to wake him up and they opened fire. The complaint names officers Ned Aufdenkamp and Matthew Dyess as other co-defendants.
"He was a great mentor to kids. His family loved him. His friends loved him. I watched him with pee-wee football programs," said Steven's father, Sterling Askew. "I could go on and go on and go on and say all the loving things that happened to Steven but he's no longer here no more."
According to the complaint, the officers fired a total of 22 rounds, Askew was hit nine times, six in the back, two in the arms, and one in the back of the neck. Steven did not fire his weapon, for which he had a carry permit.
"My wife, she's been tore up. I've had sleepless night. We've had sleepless nights. If you don't know, it's the worst thing you will ever go through in your life is bury your child," said Sterling Askew.
Lawyers for Askew's family say MPD Director Toney Armstrong acknowledged his officers were on "heightened alert" after the death of officer Martoiya Lang, but they were provided additional training or counseling.
The complaint alleges the city and director "created a custom and pattern of practice of exonerating its officers who use excessive force and have allowed Memphis Police officers to believe that they may violate the civil rights of its citizens as long as they allege that they thought the victim had a weapon."
"Based on what we've learned there's no reason for any of these things to have happened," co-counsel Howard Manis said.
The Shelby County District Attorney General's Office declined to prosecute any of the officers involved in these cases. MPD declared both shootings justifiable.
The families of the two men killed by police disagree, saying the shootings were not justified. Their attorneys say the cases were not even thoroughly investigated.
"They ask the officers what happened and as long as the explanation fits the cookie-cutter box of justifiable, stamp it and move it on," said attorney Howard Manis.
"We want the spotlight to be shines in the department so that if improvements need to be made, if changes need to be made, they will be made," added Rosenbloom.
The Moores and Askews say they are prepared to go to a courtroom to get the only thing they've really wanted from the very beginning.
"I haven't been able to find out exactly what happened that night and that's why we're here, because I haven't gotten the answers I should have," said Sterling Askew.
The City of Memphis says it has not been served, nor has it seen copies of the complaints, and cannot comment at this time.
Just ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, National Safe Boating Week is May 19 - 25, 2018. The Safe Boating Campaign put on by the National Safe Boating Council, is a worldwide effort focused on responsible boating, encouraging boaters to always wear a life jacket while on the water.
Just ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, National Safe Boating Week is May 19 - 25, 2018. The Safe Boating Campaign put on by the National Safe Boating Council, is a worldwide effort focused on responsible boating, encouraging boaters to always wear a life jacket while on the water.
It is almost summer time and you are probably starting to plan your family vacation. We are on your side with how you can get the best deals. We picked out several tourist destinations in areas in Alabama and surrounding states. ALABAMA: Auburn Airbnb from $19- $2,000 Average price is $23 Hotel from $54-$159 Birmingham Airbnb from $11-$450 a night Average price is $79 ?Hotel from $45-$194 Cullman Ai...
It is almost summer time and you are probably starting to plan your family vacation. We are on your side with how you can get the best deals. We picked out several tourist destinations in areas in Alabama and surrounding states. ALABAMA: Auburn Airbnb from $19- $2,000 Average price is $23 Hotel from $54-$159 Birmingham Airbnb from $11-$450 a night Average price is $79 ?Hotel from $45-$194 Cullman Ai... |
Q:
Is it possible to select both treeview node and the row of a datagridview
Actually i will have a form open when i click on a row of datagridview . When i make necessary changes and click on save i would like the select that particular row as selected which i previously i selected as well as i had to make one of the tree node to be get selected too..
If i click on the 2nd row i will have a form open if i click on save i would like to select that row again
A:
Got the answer
int currRow = 0; currRow = dataGridView1.CurrentRow.Index;
dataGridView1.ClearSelection();
dataGridView1.Rows[currRow].Selected = true;
|
Encoding the world around us: motor-related processing influences verbal memory.
It is known that properties of words such as their imageability can influence our ability to remember those words. However, it is not known if other object-related properties can also influence our memory. In this study we asked whether a word representing a concrete object that can be functionally interacted with (i.e., high-manipulability word) would enhance the memory representations for that item compared to a word representing a less manipulable object (i.e., low-manipulability word). Here participants incidentally encoded high-manipulability (e.g., CAMERA) and low-manipulability words (e.g., TABLE) while making word judgments. Using a between-subjects design, we varied the depth-of-processing involved in the word judgment task: participants judged the words based on personal experience (deep/elaborative processing), word length (shallow), or functionality (intermediate). Participants were able to remember high-manipulability words better than low-manipulability words in both the personal experience and word length groups; thus presenting the first evidence that manipulability can influence memory. However, we observed better memory for low- than high-manipulability words in the functionality group. We explain this surprising interaction between manipulability and memory as being mediated by automatic vs. controlled motor-related cognition. |
---
author:
- 'P. Kervella'
- 'F. Thévenin'
- 'M. G. Petr-Gotzens'
date: 'Received ; Accepted'
subtitle: 'I. Origin of the infrared excess from VISIR and NACO imaging [^1]'
title: 'The nearby eclipsing stellar system $\delta$ Velorum'
---
[The triple stellar system $\delta$Vel system presents a significant infrared excess, whose origin is still being debated. A large infrared bow shock has been discovered using *Spitzer*/MIPS observations. Although it appears as a significant contributor to the measured IR excess, the possibility exists that a circumstellar IR excess is present around the stars of the system.]{} [The objective of the present VISIR and NACO observations is to identify whether one of the stars of the $\delta$Vel system presents a circumstellar photometric excess in the thermal IR domain and to quantify it.]{} [We observed $\delta$Vel using the imaging modes of the ESO/VLT instruments VISIR (in BURST mode) and NACO to resolve the A–B system (0.6 separation) and obtain the photometry of each star. We also obtained one NACO photometry epoch precisely at the primary (annular) eclipse of $\delta$Vel Aa by Ab.]{} [Our photometric measurements with NACO (2.17$\mu$m), complemented by the existing visible photometry allowed us to reconstruct the spectral energy distribution of the three stars. We then compared the VISIR photometry (8.6–12.8$\mu$m) to the expected photospheric emission from the three stars at the corresponding wavelengths.]{} [We can exclude the presence of a circumstellar thermal infrared excess around $\delta$Vel A or B down to a few percent level. This supports the conclusions of Gáspár et al. (2008) that the IR excess of $\delta$Vel has an interstellar origin, although a cold circumstellar disk could still be present. In addition, we derive the spectral types of the three stars Aa, Ab, and B (respectively A2IV, A4V and F8V), and we estimate the age of the system around 400–500Myr.]{}
Introduction
============
The southern star (, , , ) is the 43$^{\rm rd}$ brightest star in the visible sky, with $m_V = 1.96$, and is located at a distance of 24.4pc ($\pi = 40.90 \pm 0.38$mas; ESA [@esa97]). Amazingly, $\delta$Vel was discovered only very recently by Otero et al. ([@otero00]) to host the brightest eclipsing binary system in the southern sky, one of the very few observable with the unaided eye. Its orbital period of 45days is exceptionally long in terms of probability of occurrence, especially for such a nearby star. A historical note on the discovery and recent developments in the study of $\delta$Vel can be found in Argyle, Alzner & Horch ([@argyle02]), together with the orbital parameters of the A–B system (orbital period of $\approx 142$years). In the following, we refer to the eclipsing pair as $\delta$Vel A, and to the fainter, visual component as $\delta$Vel B. The two eclipsing components of A are referred to as Aa and Ab, by order of decreasing brightness. Kellerer et al. ([@kellerer07]) excluded the physical association of the angularly nearby pair of stars sometimes labeled $\delta$Vel C and D with the $\delta$Vel A–B system.
An infrared (IR) excess associated with the $\delta$Vel A–B system had been detected by IRAS ([@ipac86]). This indicated that $\delta$Vel could belong to the ”Vega-like” class of objects, i.e. a main sequence star surrounded by a optically thin debris disk. However, Gáspár et al. ([@gaspar08]) recently discovered a spectacular infrared (IR) bow shock around $\delta$Vel at 24 and 70$\mu$m using *Spitzer*/MIPS images. This very large structure ($\approx1\arcmin$) is explained by these authors as the result of the heating and compression of the interstellar medium by the photons from $\delta$Vel, as the trio moves through the interstellar medium (ISM). From a detailed modeling of the star–ISM interaction, Gáspár et al. conclude that the bow shock contribution is sufficient to explain the observed IR excess of $\delta$Vel without resorting to a circumstellar debris disk. They also note that accretion of interstellar material ($\lambda$ Bootis phenomenon) could nevertheless take place on $\delta$Vel, although at a slow rate.
In this article, we present the results of our search for circumstellar IR excess in the inner $\delta$Vel A-B system. Sect. \[observations\] is dedicated to the description of our high angular resolution VISIR and NACO observations, whose analysis is presented in Sect. \[analysis\]. In Sect. \[photometric\_analysis\], we compute the magnitudes of each of the three stars of the system, that are used to derive their physical parameters. We present in Sect. \[discussion\] our estimates of the thermal IR excesses of $\delta$Vel Aab and B and a short analysis of the evolutionary state of the system.
Observations and data reduction\[observations\]
===============================================
VISIR
-----
For the thermal-IR part of our program, we used the VISIR instrument (Lagage et al. [@lagage04]), installed at the Cassegrain focus of the Melipal telescope (UT3) of the ESO/Very Large Telescope (Paranal, Chile). VISIR is a mid-IR imager, that also provides a slit spectrometer. VISIR can in principle reach a very high spatial resolving power, thanks to the 8m diameter of the telescope. However, under standard conditions at Paranal (median seeing of 0.8$\arcsec$ at 0.5$\mu$m), the 8m telescope is not diffraction limited in the MIR (seeing $\approx 0.4\arcsec$ vs. 0.3$\arcsec$ diffraction). A few moving speckles and tip-tilt usually degrade the quality of the image (see e.g. Tokovinin, Sarazin & Smette [@tokovinin07]). To overcome this limitation, a specific mode of the instrument, the BURST mode (Doucet et al. [@doucet07a], [@doucet07b]), give the possibility to record separately a large number (several tens of thousand) very short exposures ($\Delta t \lesssim 50$ms), in order to freeze the turbulence. The data processing procedure we developed to reduce the resulting data cubes is described in Kervella & Domiciano de Souza ([@kervella07]). During the processing, the frames were precisely co-aligned on the position of $\delta$Vel A.
We observed $\delta$Vel and its three calibrators, , and in visitor mode at Paranal during the night of 23-24 April 2008. At that time $\delta$Vel was out of ecplipse. The sequence of the observations is presented in Table \[visir\_log\]. We adopted standard chopping and nodding offsets of $8\arcsec$, with respective periods of 4 and 90s. The calibrators were selected from the Cohen et al. ([@cohen99]) catalog of spectrophotometric standards for IR wavelengths, except (for the NeII filter). For each observation of $\delta$Vel and its calibrators, we selected during the data processing $\approx 40$% of the total number of frames, rejecting those with the lowest Strehl ratio (estimated from the peak intensity in the frame). For instance, the first two observations $\#A$ and $B$ of $\delta$Vel (20000 selected frames) correspond to a total of 50000 frames before selection. The number of frames listed in Table \[visir\_log\] corresponds to the result of this selection. The cubes were then averaged to obtain diffraction-limited images in our three filters: PAH1, PAH2, and NeII. that have respective central wavelengths of $\lambda = 8.59$, 11.25 and 12.81$\mu$m. The resulting images of $\delta$Vel and the calibrators are presented in Fig. \[avg-images\]. The observation $\#C$ of HD82668 was affected by saturation of the array, and was not used for our anaysis.
\# MJD$^*$ Star Filter DIT $N$ exp. $\theta$($\arcsec$) AM
---- --------- ------------- -------- ----- ---------- --------------------- ------
A 0.0134 $\delta$Vel PAH1 20 10000 0.86 1.18
B 0.0231 $\delta$Vel PAH1 20 10000 1.00 1.20
C 0.0374 HD82668 PAH1 20 5000 1.10 1.20
D 0.0603 HD67582 PAH1 16 10000 0.84 1.30
E 0.0774 $\delta$Vel PAH1 16 8000 0.70 1.33
F 0.0874 $\delta$Vel PAH1 16 8000 0.67 1.37
G 0.0977 $\delta$Vel PAH2 8 10000 0.60 1.42
H 0.1093 $\delta$Vel PAH2 8 12000 0.53 1.48
I 0.1206 $\delta$Vel PAH2 8 10000 0.80 1.54
J 0.1363 HD67582 PAH2 8 10000 1.15 1.92
K 0.1480 HD67582 PAH2 8 10000 1.50 2.09
L 0.1632 $\delta$Vel NeII 16 10000 1.29 1.91
M 0.1860 HD80007 NeII 16 10000 1.12 1.46
N 0.1979 HD80007 NeII 16 10000 1.00 1.52
: Log of the observations of $\delta$Vel and its calibrators, , and with VISIR. MJD is the modified Julian date of the middle of the exposures on the target, minus 54580. The Detector Integration Time (DIT) is given in milliseconds for one BURST image. $\theta$ is the seeing in the visible ($\lambda=0.5\,\mu$m) as measured by the observatory DIMM sensor, in arcseconds. $N$ exp. is the number of selected and averaged exposures. The airmass (AM) is the average airmass of the observation.[]{data-label="visir_log"}
![[*Top row:*]{} VISIR average images of $\delta$Vel in the PAH1 (\#A, B, E and F in Table \[visir\_log\]), PAH2 (\#G, H, I) and NeII (\#L) bands. [*Bottom row:*]{} Calibrator images in the PAH1 (HD67582), PAH2 (HD67582) and NeII (HD80007) bands. \[avg-images\]](0565fig1a.eps "fig:"){width="2.9cm"} ![[*Top row:*]{} VISIR average images of $\delta$Vel in the PAH1 (\#A, B, E and F in Table \[visir\_log\]), PAH2 (\#G, H, I) and NeII (\#L) bands. [*Bottom row:*]{} Calibrator images in the PAH1 (HD67582), PAH2 (HD67582) and NeII (HD80007) bands. \[avg-images\]](0565fig1b.eps "fig:"){width="2.9cm"} ![[*Top row:*]{} VISIR average images of $\delta$Vel in the PAH1 (\#A, B, E and F in Table \[visir\_log\]), PAH2 (\#G, H, I) and NeII (\#L) bands. [*Bottom row:*]{} Calibrator images in the PAH1 (HD67582), PAH2 (HD67582) and NeII (HD80007) bands. \[avg-images\]](0565fig1c.eps "fig:"){width="2.9cm"} ![[*Top row:*]{} VISIR average images of $\delta$Vel in the PAH1 (\#A, B, E and F in Table \[visir\_log\]), PAH2 (\#G, H, I) and NeII (\#L) bands. [*Bottom row:*]{} Calibrator images in the PAH1 (HD67582), PAH2 (HD67582) and NeII (HD80007) bands. \[avg-images\]](0565fig1d.eps "fig:"){width="2.9cm"} ![[*Top row:*]{} VISIR average images of $\delta$Vel in the PAH1 (\#A, B, E and F in Table \[visir\_log\]), PAH2 (\#G, H, I) and NeII (\#L) bands. [*Bottom row:*]{} Calibrator images in the PAH1 (HD67582), PAH2 (HD67582) and NeII (HD80007) bands. \[avg-images\]](0565fig1e.eps "fig:"){width="2.9cm"} ![[*Top row:*]{} VISIR average images of $\delta$Vel in the PAH1 (\#A, B, E and F in Table \[visir\_log\]), PAH2 (\#G, H, I) and NeII (\#L) bands. [*Bottom row:*]{} Calibrator images in the PAH1 (HD67582), PAH2 (HD67582) and NeII (HD80007) bands. \[avg-images\]](0565fig1f.eps "fig:"){width="2.9cm"}
NACO
----
We observed $\delta$Vel at ten epochs in April-May 2008 using the Nasmyth Adaptive Optics System (NAOS, Rousset et al. [@rousset03]) of the Very Large Telescope (VLT), coupled to the CONICA infrared camera (Lenzen et al. [@lenzen98]), abbreviated as NACO. These observations were obtained to provide high-precision differential astrometry of the eclipsing system $\delta$Vel A relative to B, and we will analyze them along this line in a forthcoming article.
We selected the smallest available pixel scale of $13.26 \pm 0.03$mas/pix (Masciadri et al. [@masciadri03]), giving a field of view of 13.6$\arcsec$$\times$13.6$\arcsec$. Due to the brightness of $\delta$Vel, we employed a narrow-band filter at a wavelength of $2.166 \pm 0.023\,\mu$m (hereafter abbreviated as 2.17) together with a neutral density filter (labeled “[ND2\_short]{}"), with a transmission of about 1.5%.
Table \[naco\_log\] gives the list of the observations. Each of our ten epochs consisted in approximately 50 short exposures grouped over less than 10 minutes, with a detector integration time (DIT) of 0.8s each to avoid saturation. Four such short exposures were co-averaged providing 3.2s integrated exposure time per image. A few images (9 over 510 in total) were affected by the opening of the adaptive optics loop, and were removed from the processing. We obtained nine epochs outside of the eclipses, and one precisely at the phase of the primary eclipse (on 18 May 2008), only 23 minutes before the center of the eclipse. As a remark, the [*primary*]{} eclipse (the deeper in photometry) is when the smaller, cooler star (Ab) passes in front of the bigger, hotter star (Aa), causing an annular eclipse. The [*secondary*]{} eclipse (shallower in photometry) is when the cooler star is totally eclipsed by the hotter one. The epochs of the primary and secondary eclipses of $\delta$Vel A are given by the ephemeris of Otero[^2]: $$\label{ephem1}
{\rm Min\,I} = {\rm HJD}\,2452798.557 + 45.1501\ E$$ $$\label{ephem2}
{\rm Min\,II} = {\rm HJD}\,2452818.200 + 45.1501\ E$$ With $E$ the number of elapsed orbits. To retrieve the phases listed in Table \[naco\_log\], we converted the modified Julian dates of our observations into heliocentric Julian dates using the tools by Dan Bruton[^3]. The raw images were processed using the Yorick[^4] and IRAF[^5] software packages in a standard way. A sample image of $\delta$Vel is presented in Fig. \[naco-image\].
\# MJD$^{*}$ HJD$^{*}$ $\phi$(MinI) $N$ exp. $\theta$($\arcsec$) AM
---- ----------- ----------- -------------- ---------- --------------------- -------
1 557.0224 557.5245 0.9582 51 0.80 1.157
2 560.9976 561.4996 0.0463 46 0.91 1.164
3 562.0121 562.5141 0.0687 51 0.67 1.156
4 563.0048 563.5067 0.0907 51 0.89 1.158
5 576.9715 577.4732 0.4000 51 0.66 1.156
6 579.0231 579.5247 0.4455 50 1.06 1.191
7 580.9917 581.4932 0.4891 51 1.24 1.164
8 591.9748 592.4761 0.7323 51 0.59 1.175
9 593.9732 594.4744 0.7766 50 0.77 1.180
10 604.0442 604.5450 0.9996 49 0.76 1.479
: Log of the observations of $\delta$Vel with NACO in the NB2.17 filter. MJD$^*$ is the average modified Julian date minus 54000, HJD$^*$ the heliocentric Julian date minus 2454000 and $\phi$ is the phase of the eclipsing binary (see text). $N$ is the number of frames. As in Table \[visir\_log\], $\theta$ is the seeing in the visible and AM is the airmass. The listed figures are median values over the observations.[]{data-label="naco_log"}
![Median NACO image of the 51 frames of $\delta$Vel obtained on 2008-04-01.\[naco-image\]](0565fig2.eps){width="8.7cm"}
Image analysis \[analysis\]
===========================
VISIR
-----
![Apertures (circles) used for the VISIR photometry of $\delta$Vel A (left) and B (right) shown respectively on the PAH1 image \#B and the subtracted image \#B - \#D (see text for details). \[apertures\]](0565fig3a.eps "fig:"){width="4.4cm"} ![Apertures (circles) used for the VISIR photometry of $\delta$Vel A (left) and B (right) shown respectively on the PAH1 image \#B and the subtracted image \#B - \#D (see text for details). \[apertures\]](0565fig3b.eps "fig:"){width="4.4cm"}
We obtained photometry of $\delta$Vel A in the PAH1 and PAH2 bands using a circular aperture of 0.3$\arcsec$ in radius, centered on the star position (Fig. \[apertures\], left). This small radius is intended to avoid the contamination of the photometry of A by component B. For $\delta$Vel B, we first subtracted a scaled version of the calibrator star at the position of A from the image before measuring the flux through aperture photometry (Fig. \[apertures\], right). We thus removed the contribution from the diffraction pattern (Airy rings) of $\delta$Vel A at the location of B. This process left almost no residual thanks to the stability of the PSF.
We checked that the VISIR images of $\delta$Vel and its calibrators present no detectable diffuse background. This verification was achieved by measuring the average flux at distances larger than 1$\arcsec$ from the central stars, to avoid the inclusion of the high-order Airy rings. Based on this result, we did not apply a sky subtraction to our observations, and as we used the same apertures for the photometry of $\delta$Vel and the flux calibrators, no aperture correction was required either. This non-detection of the diffuse background was expected for two reasons: firstly due to the chopping-nodding observing procedure that removes most of the large scale galactic IR background, and secondly because the sensitivity of our images is insufficient to detect the spatially extended flux from the bow shock in the VISIR bands. The total flux from the model proposed by Gáspár et al. ([@gaspar08]) is at most 3-4mJy in this wavelength range (Sect. \[discussion\]), spread over a surface of several arcmin$^2$, far beyond our sensitivity limit.
The integrated fluxes are affected by different atmospheric absorption due to the different airmasses compared to the calibrators. To take this into account, we used the empirical formula by Schütz & Sterzik ([@schutz05]), that gives the multiplicative correction $C(\lambda,{\rm AM})$ to apply to the raw flux to remove the atmospheric absorption: $$C(\lambda,{\rm AM}) = 1 + \left[ 0.220 - \frac{0.104}{3}\,\left(\lambda - 8.6\,\mu{\rm m}\right) \right]\,({\rm AM} - 1)$$ We corrected separately the different observations of $\delta$Vel and its calibrators.
In order to absolutely calibrate the measurements, the PAH1 and PAH2 fluxes from the calibrator HD67582 were retrieved from the spectral template of Cohen et al. ([@cohen99]) at the central wavelength of our filters. For (), we adjusted a model spectrum from Castelli & Kurucz ([@castelli03]) to all the photometry available in the literature to retrieve its irradiance in the NeII filter. We obtained 5.62Jy ($1.02\ 10^{-13}$W/m$^2$/$\mu$m) that is within 7% of the value published on the VISIR instrument web page[^6] (5.26Jy). The statistical and calibration uncertainties of the measurements were estimated from the dispersion of the different available exposures (e.g. \#ABEF for the PAH1 filter). The uncertainty on the NeII measurement, for which only one image is available, was taken as the dispersion of the calibrated flux for apertures of 150, 300, 600 and 1200mas. The resulting irradiances are presented in Table \[photom\_delvel\].
The ratios $\rho = f(B) / f(A)$ of the fluxes of $\delta$Vel B and $\delta$Vel A in each band can be estimated more accurately than the absolute flux of each star due to the removal of the calibration uncertainty. We obtain the following values in the three filters: $$\rho_{\rm \ 8.6\,\mu m} = 10.3 \pm 0.2\,\%,$$ $$\rho_{\rm 11.25\,\mu m} = 11.1 \pm 0.4\,\%,$$ $$\rho_{\rm 12.81\,\mu m} = 8.4 \pm 2.3\,\%.$$
Star Filter $\lambda$ ($\mu$m) $10^{-14}$ W/m$^2$/$\mu$m Jy $\sigma$
------ -------- -------------------- --------------------------- ----------------- ----------
A PAH1 8.59 $36.93 \pm 2.68$ $9.10 \pm 0.66$ 7.3%
A PAH2 11.25 $12.38 \pm 1.22$ $5.24 \pm 0.52$ 9.9%
A NeII 12.81 $6.70 \pm 0.74$ $3.68 \pm 0.41$ 11.1%
B PAH1 8.59 $3.82 \pm 0.28$ $0.94 \pm 0.07$ 7.4%
B PAH2 11.25 $1.38 \pm 0.14$ $0.58 \pm 0.06$ 10.4%
B NeII 12.81 $0.56 \pm 0.19$ $0.31 \pm 0.11$ 34%
: Measured thermal IR irradiances of $\delta$Vel A and B in S.I. units and in Jy. The relative uncertainty $\sigma$ on the irradiance values is listed in the last column.[]{data-label="photom_delvel"}
NACO \[nacophot\]
-----------------
We first obtained classical aperture photometry of $\delta$Vel A using circular apertures of 1 to 40 pixels in radius (single pixel to 0.53radius), for each of our ten epochs. Although the two components of $\delta$Vel are well separated in the NACO images, the diffuse halo from the residuals of the adaptive optics correction of $\delta$Vel A are not negligible at the position of B. For this reason, the photometry of B cannot be measured directly on the images. To remove the diffuse wings of the point spread function (PSF) of A, we subtracted from each point of the image its ring median at the corresponding radius from $\delta$Vel A. With this procedure, we cleanly subtracted the diffuse background from A, mostly without introducing additional noise. Very little residuals from star A are present on the subtracted image, thanks to the good circularity of the PSF (Fig. \[naco-subimage\]). We then measured aperture photometry using the same 1-40pixels apertures as for A, centered on B, and computed the flux ratio $\rho = f(B) / f(A)$ of the pair. We do not need to correct for the airmass, as both A and B are affected by the same atmospheric absorption. We checked in the images that the sky background is negligible due to the short exposures and narrow-band filter.
![Aperture (15pixels = 0.2in radius) used for the integration of the flux of $\delta$Vel A (left) and B (right), the latter on the ring-median subtracted NACO image (see text for details).\[naco-subimage\]](0565fig4a.eps "fig:"){width="4.4cm"} ![Aperture (15pixels = 0.2in radius) used for the integration of the flux of $\delta$Vel A (left) and B (right), the latter on the ring-median subtracted NACO image (see text for details).\[naco-subimage\]](0565fig4b.eps "fig:"){width="4.4cm"}
The choice of the aperture radius is an important factor for the accuracy of the flux ratio measurement. In order to obtain the best match between the two stars, it is essential to have the same integration radius for both stars. Over the 0.6distance between the two stars, the variation of the PSF shape and Strehl ratio is negligible, especially for the good seeing conditions of our observations. Fig. \[naco-aperture\] shows the variation of the derived flux ratio as a function of the aperture radius. There is a clear inflexion point around 15pixels in radius (0.2). This corresponds to the radius at which the wings of the PSF of B reach the noise level. The increase of $\rho$ observed for larger apertures corresponds to the inclusion of the residuals from A in the photometry.
To estimate the error bar of the flux ratio, we added quadratically the uncertainties due to the choice of aperture radius over a 10-15pixel range (considered as systematic, thus not averaging out), and the dispersion of the measurements over the first nine epochs (statistical). The flux ratio is assumed to be constant outside of the eclipses, in order to average the nine measurements (but see also Sect. \[eclipse2\]). For the epoch of the eclipse, we considered as uncertainty the standard deviation of the ratios obtained at the other epochs.
From this procedure, we obtain outside of the eclipse: $$\rho_{\rm 2.17\,\mu m} = 9.66 \pm 0.05\%$$ corresponding to a magnitude difference of $\Delta m = 2.537 \pm 0.005$. During the primary eclipse of $\delta$Vel A, the flux ratio becomes: $$\rho_{\rm 2.17\,\mu m}({\rm Eclipse}) = 14.50 \pm 0.12\%$$ giving $\Delta m({\rm Eclipse}) = 2.097 \pm 0.009$. The eclipse depth at $2.17\,\mu$m is therefore $d(\Delta m) = 0.440\pm 0.011$mag. As a remark, we did not deconvolve our NACO images, as we did not obtain a PSF calibrator for this purpose, and we leave the astrometric analysis of these images for a future article.
![Ratio $\rho({\rm 2.17}) = f(B)/f(A)$ at $2.17\,\mu$m as a function of the aperture radius (in pixels) used for the integration of the flux of A and B. An aperture of 15pixels was selected for the analysis (square). \[naco-aperture\]](0565fig5.ps){width="8.7cm"}
![Measured value of $f(B)/f(A)$ at $2.17\,\mu$m for our 10 measurement epochs. Note the primary eclipse occuring at the last epoch. \[naco-photom\]](0565fig6.ps){width="8.7cm"}
Photometric analysis \[photometric\_analysis\]
==============================================
Visible magnitudes
------------------
If not specified otherwise, we assume here that the photometric measurements of the $\delta$Vel system available in the literature always include the A and B components, as their angular separation has been smaller than $2\arcsec$ for at least five decades. Bessell ([@bessell90]) gives: $$m_V ({\rm Aab+B}) = 1.96 \pm 0.02$$ with an associated uncertainty of $\pm 0.02$mag.
The photometric observations from [*Hipparcos*]{} (ESA [@esa97]) give the differential magnitude of Aab (combined) and B in the $H_p$ band, that are sufficiently close to $V$ to consider the values identical within their error bars: $$\Delta m_{Hp} ({\rm Aab / B}) \approx \Delta m_{V} ({\rm Aab / B}) = 3.58 \pm 0.07$$ Considering Bessel’s data, this translates immediately into the following magnitude for Aab and B: $$m_V ({\rm Aab}) = 2.00 \pm 0.02$$ $$m_V ({\rm B}) = 5.54 \pm 0.08$$
In addition, the combined visible photometry available in the literature (see the compilation by Otero et al. [@otero00]) gives us the combined Aab+B magnitudes, the depth of the primary (I) and secondary (II) eclipses: $$\Delta m_V ({\rm I, Aab+B}) = 0.51 \pm 0.01$$ $$\Delta m_V ({\rm II, Aab+B}) = 0.32 \pm 0.01$$ By removing the flux contribution of B computed precedently, we obtain the following eclipse depths for Aab only: $$\Delta m_V ({\rm I, Aab}) = 0.53 \pm 0.01$$ $$\Delta m_V ({\rm II, Aab}) = 0.33 \pm 0.01$$ As shown by the curve presented by Otero et al. ([@otero00]), the secondary eclipse of $\delta$Vel Aab is total, and we can thus derive immediately the visible magnitudes of Aa and Ab: $$m_V ({\rm Aa}) = 2.33 \pm 0.03$$ $$m_V ({\rm Ab}) = 3.44 \pm 0.03$$
Infrared magnitudes
-------------------
In addition, our NACO observations (Sect. \[nacophot\]) give us the relative fluxes of Aab and B in the narrow band filter band at $2.17\,\mu$m with a FWHM of $0.023\,\mu$m: $\rho_{\rm 2.17\,\mu m} = 9.66 \pm 0.05\%$. As this wavelength corresponds to an absorption line of hydrogen that is present in the spectra of hot stars, the conversion of the measured narrow-band ratios to standard $K$ band ratios requires taking the position of the quasi-monochromatic wavelengths within the bands and the shape of the observed spectra into account.
We thus proceeded in two steps to obtain the conversion between the narrow-band flux ratio and the broadband flux ratio. Starting from the narrow-band fluxes measured on $\delta$Vel’s components, we computed the radius and effective temperature of each star assuming (as a first approximation) that the $K$ flux ratios are identical to the $2.17\,\mu$m ratios, using the method descussed in Sect. \[delvel\_params\]. This gave us a first estimation of the spectral types of the stars. We then used the Pickles ([@pickles98])[^7] reference spectra corresponding to their spectral types (A2IV, A4V and F8V) to recover the corresponding broadband flux ratio. The $K$ band standard filter profile was taken from Bessell & Brett ([@bessell88]). We observed that the true ratios in the $K$ band are very close to the ratios in the $2.17\,\mu$m filter, within 0.01mag for all three stars, which is small compared to the other uncertainties. We thus neglect this difference in the following analysis.
The COBE/DIRBE instrument measured $F_K = 121.7 \pm 11.4$Jy at $2.2\,\mu$m (Smith et al. [@smith04]), corresponding to $m_K = 1.77 \pm 0.10$, and the 2MASS catalog (Skrutskie et al. [@skrutskie06]) gives an apparent $K$ band magnitude of $m_K = 1.72 \pm 0.26$ for Aab+B, equivalent to $F_K = 127 \pm 34$Jy. Averaging these two measurements, we obtain $m_K = 1.76 \pm 0.10$ and consequently: $$m_K ({\rm Aab}) = 1.86 \pm 0.09$$ $$m_K ({\rm B}) = 4.40 \pm 0.09$$
Photometry during the primary eclipse
-------------------------------------
The primary eclipse of Aab in the $K$ band observed with NACO can give us the difference in surface brightness of Ab and Aa. As this eclipse is not total, but annular, we cannot derive unambiguously the brightness ratio of the two stars as it depends on their angular diameters. In this paragraph, we consider that the eclipse is perfectly centered, thus neglecting a possible differential effect of the limb darkening (LD) of the two stars. As we observed very close to the eclipse minimum and in the $K$ band, where the LD is small (the LD/UD correction is less than 3%), this appears as a reasonable assumption. We also neglect the possible distortion of the photospheres of Aa and Ab due to a possible fast rotation.
During the primary eclipse, the disk of Ab “replaces" part of the disk of Aa with a lower effective temperature (hence lower surface brightness) “patch". The eclipse depth in the $K$ band is $0.44\pm 0.01$mag (Sect. \[nacophot\]). This can be compared with the depth of the primary eclipse in the visible: $\Delta m_V = 0.53 \pm 0.01$. The “color" of the primary eclipse is therefore $\Delta m_V- \Delta m_K = 0.09 \pm 0.02$mag. This corresponds to the “differential difference" in color between the two stars between the visible and IR wavelengths. This leads to a magnitude difference of: $$m_K({\rm Ab}) - m_K({\rm Aa}) = 1.02 \pm 0.04$$ corresponding to a flux ratio $f({\rm Ab})/f({\rm Aa})=39.2 \pm 1.4\,\%$ and: $$m_K ({\rm Aa}) = 2.22 \pm 0.09$$ $$m_K ({\rm Ab}) = 3.24 \pm 0.09$$
Emergence of Ab from the secondary eclipse \[eclipse2\]
-------------------------------------------------------
It is interesting to notice that our 2008-04-23 NACO observation has been obtained only about 30minutes after the end of the secondary (total) eclipse during which the $\delta$Vel Aa component covered Ab. The apparent disks of the two stars are therefore “touching" each other. Our measurement shows a slight variation of the photometric ratio $\rho = f(B)/f(A)$, as we measure $9.90 \pm 0.12\%$, compared to an average value over the eight other out-of-eclipse epochs of $9.63 \pm 0.05\%$. This means that the masking of part of the close environment of $\delta$Vel Ab by Aa results in a slight loss of total flux of the Aab system.
Although of marginal statistical significance ($2.1\,\sigma$), this measurement is the maximum value of the out-of-eclipse ratios we obtained. It could be due to the presence of a circumstellar flux contributor of unknown nature in the immediate vicinity of $\delta$Vel Ab, accounting for $0.27 \pm 0.13\%$ of the total flux of Aab. If Ab is a fast rotator, and its rotation axis is perpendicular to the orbital plane, one hypothesis could be that it is the signature of a circumstellar disk made of gas (Ae episode).
Angular diameters, radii and effective temperatures \[delvel\_params\]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From our spatially resolved photometry of the three stars of $\delta$Vel (Aa, Ab and B), we can deduce their limb-darkened angular diameters $\theta_{\rm LD}$, photospheric radii $R$ and effective temperatures $T_{\rm eff}$ using the surface brightness-color (SBC) relations calibrated by Kervella et al. ([@kervella04]) in $(V, V-K)$ and the [*Hipparcos*]{} parallax. The results are summarized in Table \[properties\_delvel\]. This approach allows us to rely only on empirical SBC relations (calibrated by interferometric angular diameter measurements) to compute the parameters of the three stars. Another approach to determine these parameters would be to adjust directly synthetic spectra to the photometry. While the comparison with such model spectra is necessary to determine the IR excess (Sect. \[discussion\]), it has at this stage the disadvantage of making the derived parameters dependent on the choice of one particular numerical model library. For this reason, we prefer to use the empirical SBC relations. In any case, the good agreement between the model spectra and the measured photometry in the visible and near-IR domains shown in the bottom parts of Fig. \[bi-BB\] and \[tri-BB\] indicates that both methods give consistent results.
The parameters of $\delta$Vel are in good agreement with the values deduced for the combined system A+B from spectroscopy by Allende Prieto & Lambert ([@allende99]): $T_{\rm eff} = 8700$K, $R = 3.9\,R_\odot$. The larger radius is naturally explained by the combination of the flux from Aa and Ab (and to a lesser extent of B), while the effective temperature is a weighted average of the values of the three stars. They also find an effective gravity of $\log g = 3.66$ and a mass of $M = 2.51\,M_\odot$. The reliability of these values is uncertain due to the effect of the orbital motion of Aab on the spectral line broadening. However, we do not confirm the large radii derived by Kellerer et al. ([@kellerer07]) for Aa and Ab (6.0 and $3.3\,R_\odot$) from interferometric observations of the trio.
Star $\theta_{\rm LD}$(mas) Radius($R_\odot$) $T_{\rm eff}$(K) $M_V$ BC$_V$ M$_{\rm bol}$ $L/L_\odot$ Spect. $M/M_\odot$
------ ------------------------ ------------------- ------------------ ----------------- --------- ----------------- ---------------- -------- ---------------
Aa $1.21 \pm 0.03$ $3.17 \pm 0.08$ $9\,000 \pm 400$ $0.39 \pm 0.04$ -$0.07$ $0.32 \pm 0.04$ $59.2 \pm 2.0$ A2IV $2.5 \pm 0.1$
Ab $0.77 \pm 0.02$ $2.02 \pm 0.05$ $8\,600 \pm 350$ $1.50 \pm 0.04$ 0.00 $1.50 \pm 0.04$ $20.0 \pm 0.7$ A4V $2.0 \pm 0.1$
B $0.53 \pm 0.02$ $1.39 \pm 0.06$ $6\,350 \pm 350$ $3.60 \pm 0.04$ 0.00 $3.60 \pm 0.04$ $3.1 \pm 0.2$ F8V $1.3 \pm 0.1$
Discussion \[discussion\]
=========================
The IR excess detected around $\delta$Vel by IRAS was recently attributed by Gáspár et al. ([@gaspar08]) to interstellar dust heated by $\delta$Vel. In this Section, we examine the possibility that one of the components of $\delta$Vel A or B presents an IR excess of circumstellar origin. For this purpose, we compare the fluxes extracted from our spatially resolved VISIR observations to the expected photospheric flux from the Aab and B components.
![Spatially resolved photometry of $\delta$Vel Aab and B compared to Castelli & Kurucz ([@castelli03]) models of Aa+Ab and B, considering the stellar properties listed in Table \[properties\_delvel\] (top) and the residuals compared the observations (bottom). \[bi-BB\]](0565fig7a.ps "fig:"){width="8.7cm"} ![Spatially resolved photometry of $\delta$Vel Aab and B compared to Castelli & Kurucz ([@castelli03]) models of Aa+Ab and B, considering the stellar properties listed in Table \[properties\_delvel\] (top) and the residuals compared the observations (bottom). \[bi-BB\]](0565fig7b.ps "fig:"){width="8.7cm"}
![Total model flux of $\delta$Vel Aab+B (solid curve), together with the available photometry from the literature (squares) and the VISIR photometry (filled circles). The dashed curve is the flux contribution of the IR excess model proposed by Gáspár et al. ([@gaspar08]). The bottom plot shows the relative photometry with respect to the combined photospheric model of the three stars. \[tri-BB\]](0565fig8a.ps "fig:"){width="8.7cm"} ![Total model flux of $\delta$Vel Aab+B (solid curve), together with the available photometry from the literature (squares) and the VISIR photometry (filled circles). The dashed curve is the flux contribution of the IR excess model proposed by Gáspár et al. ([@gaspar08]). The bottom plot shows the relative photometry with respect to the combined photospheric model of the three stars. \[tri-BB\]](0565fig8b.ps "fig:"){width="8.7cm"}
Band $\lambda$ ($\mu$m) $F$ ($10^{-13}$ W/m$^2$/$\mu$m) $F/F_{\rm mod}$ (%) $N\sigma$
------------- -------------------- --------------------------------- --------------------- -----------
[*Aab+B*]{}
PAH1 8.59 $ 4.07 \pm 0.27 $ $ 99 \pm 7$ -0.2
PAH2 11.25 $ 1.38 \pm 0.12 $ $ 98 \pm 9$ -0.3
NeII 12.81 $ 7.26 \pm 0.08 $ $ 86 \pm 11$ -1.3
[*Aab*]{}
PAH1 8.59 $ 3.69 \pm 0.27 $ $ 98 \pm 7$ -0.2
PAH2 11.25 $ 1.24 \pm 0.12 $ $ 97 \pm 10$ -0.3
NeII 12.81 $ 0.67 \pm 0.07 $ $ 88 \pm 11$ -1.1
[*B*]{}
PAH1 8.59 $ 0.382 \pm 0.028 $ $ 104 \pm 7$ 0.5
PAH2 11.25 $ 0.138 \pm 0.014 $ $ 109 \pm 10$ 0.9
NeII 12.81 $ 0.056 \pm 0.019 $ $ 74 \pm 34$ -0.7
: Observed fluxes and excesses of $\delta$Vel compared to the Castelli & Kurucz ([@castelli03]) models. $N\sigma$ is the measured excess expressed in number of times the measurement uncertainty.[]{data-label="fluxes_delvel"}
To retrieve the synthetic stellar spectra of the three stars from the library assembled by Castelli & Kurucz ([@castelli03]), hereafter CK03, we used the parameters listed in Table \[properties\_delvel\]. We read the tables for $\log g$ values of 4.0 for $\delta$Vel Aa and Ab, and 4.5 for B, and solar metallicities. The sensitivity of the models to small variations of these two parameters is minimal. We would like to emphasize that we did not fit these spectra to the available photometry, but we simply multiplied the CK03 spectra by the squared limb-darkened angular diameter of each star (Table \[properties\_delvel\]). From these spectra, we derived the expected thermal IR flux from the stellar photospheres of Aa+Ab and B in the PAH1, PAH2 and NeII filters corresponding to our VISIR observations.
We can also add the CK03 spectra of the three stars in order to compare the predicted flux of the trio to the existing non spatially resolved measurements of A+B from the literature. The resulting spectrum is shown in Fig. \[tri-BB\]. The photometric measurements are taken from Thompson et al. ([@thompson78]; UV fluxes from TD1), Morel et al. ([@morel78]; $UBVRI$), Skrutskie et al. ([@skrutskie06]; 2MASS $JHK$), Smith et al. ([@smith04]; COBE/DIRBE, four wavelengths from 1.25 to 4.5$\mu$m), VISIR (8.6, 11.25 and $12.81\,\mu$m, this work), Jayawardhana et al. ([@jayawardhana01]; $N$ and $18.2\,\mu$m bands), Gáspár et al. ([@gaspar08]; *Spitzer*/MIPS 24 and 70$\mu$m), and IPAC ([@ipac86]; IRAS 12, 25 and 60$\mu$m). The additional flux from the bow shock model proposed by Gáspár et al. ([@gaspar08]) is shown on both panels of Fig. \[tri-BB\] as a dashed curve. Its contribution in the range of wavelengths sampled by our VISIR observations appears negligible ($\approx 0.1\%$ of the photospheric flux).
As shown in Fig. \[bi-BB\], Fig. \[tri-BB\] and Table \[fluxes\_delvel\], the comparison with our VISIR spatially resolved photometry of $\delta$Vel A and B does not show a significant circumstellar IR excess in the VISIR bands compared to the expected photospheric flux of each of the two components, at a few percent level. The excess that is visible longwards of $10\,\mu$m in Fig. \[tri-BB\] comes from the flux contribution of the ISM bow shock at large angular distances that has been observed by Gáspár et al. ([@gaspar08]). We note that the IRAS and Jayawardhana et al. ([@jayawardhana01]) photometry shows an excess compared to their model between 12 and 25$\mu$m. This may be a consequence of the fact that the flux contribution from the ISM is (at least partly) included in the large aperture measurements (IRAS in particular), but not in our narrow aperture photometry.
We notice a relatively large ultraviolet excess on $\delta$Vel in Fig. \[tri-BB\]. A fast rotating star usually presents a UV excess due to its overheated polar caps (von Zeipel effect, see e.g. Aufdenberg et al. [@aufdenberg06]). A discussion on the rotational velocity of the components of $\delta$Vel A can be found in Argyle, Alzner & Horch ([@argyle02]). As a remark, Royer, Zorec & Gomez ([@royer07]) found a rotational velocity of $v \sin i = 150$km/s, but this was computed for the combined spectrum of the three stars of $\delta$Vel so a bias may be present.
The physical parameters derived for the three stars (Table \[properties\_delvel\]) indicate that $\delta$Vel Aa already evolved away from the main sequence. This is confirmed by the evolutionary tracks from Girardi et al. ([@girardi00]), shown in Fig. \[HR-diagram\], that give approximate masses of 2.5, 2.0 and 1.3$M_\odot$ respectively for Aa, Ab and B, and an age of approximately $400-500$Myrs for the system. This age compares well with the age of 330-390Myr proposed by Rieke et al. ([@rieke05]), while the masses are in relatively good agreement with Argyle, Alzner & Horch ([@argyle02]), who determined a total dynamical mass of the $\delta$VelAB system of $5.7^{+1.3}_{-1.1}\,M_{\odot}$. We postpone a more detailed discussion of the ages and evolutionary status of the $\delta$Vel stars to a forthcoming paper.
![Positions of $\delta$Vel Aa, Ab and B in the HR diagram, with the isochrones and isomass curves from Girardi et al. ([@girardi00]) overplotted. \[HR-diagram\]](0565fig9.ps){width="8.7cm"}
Conclusion
==========
Our VISIR photometry of $\delta$Vel A and B does not show the presence of an excess of circumstellar origin in the thermal IR domain ($8-13\,\mu$m) at a level of a few percents. This result indicates that these stars do not host a warm debris disk with a typical temperature around 200-300K. This supports the conclusions of Gáspár et al. ([@gaspar08]) who attribute the IR excess detected with *Spitzer* to the surrounding interstellar medium material. The absence of a warm circumstellar disk in the inner $\delta$Vel system may be a consequence of the gravitational interactions between the three stars. They could have caused the dispersion of the residual circumstellar material from which they stars formed. However, the possibility still exists that a cold debris disk is present, as in the case of Vega (Su et al. [@su05]) and Fomalhaut (Stapelfeldt et al. [@stapelfeldt04]), but at large distances from the stars. In order to test this scenario, observations of $\delta$Vel in the far IR or submillimetric domain similar for instance to those of Fomalhaut by Holland et al. ([@holland03]) would be necessary. From the flux ratios in the $V$ and $K$ bands, we could derive the physical properties of the three stars Aa, Ab and B. $\delta$Vel appears as a moderately evolved system, with the Aa component currently leaving the main sequence. As suggested by the $v \sin i$ value of Royer et al. ([@royer07]), the ultraviolet excess of $\delta$Vel and our putative observation of near-IR circumstellar emission close to Ab may indicate that $\delta$Vel Ab (and/or Aa) could be a fast rotator, turning this eclipsing system into a promising object to map the polar brightening associated to the von Zeipel effect (von Zeipel [@vonzeipel24]).
We are grateful to the ESO observing team at Paranal for the perfect execution of our NACO observations of $\delta$Vel, in particular for the time-critical eclipse on May 18th, 2008. We also warmly thank Sebastian Otero (Asociación Cielo Sur, Argentina), Brian Fraser (Sunninghill Observatory, South Africa) and Jaime García (Instituto Copérnico, Argentina) for providing the visible photometry of $\delta$Vel. This work received the support of PHASE, the high angular resolution partnership between ONERA, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS and University Denis Diderot Paris 7. This research took advantage of the SIMBAD and VIZIER databases at the CDS, Strasbourg (France), and NASA’s Astrophysics Data System Bibliographic Services.
Allende Prieto, & Lambert D. L. 1999, A&A, 352, 555 Argyle, R. W., Alzner, A., & Horch, E. P. 2002, A&A, 384, 171 Aufdenberg, J. P., Mérand, A., Coudé du Foresto, V., et al. 2006a, ApJ, 645, 664, Erratum 2006, ApJ, 651, 617 Bessell, M. S. & Brett, J. M. 1988, PASP, 100, 1134 Bessell M. S., Castelli F., & Plez B. 1998, A&A, 333, 231 Bessell, M. S. 1990, A&A Suppl. Ser., 83, 357 Castelli, F. & Kurucz, R. L. 2003, IAU Symposium 210, Modelling of Stellar Atmospheres, Uppsala, Sweden, eds. N.E. Piskunov, W.W. Weiss. and D.F. Gray, 2003, ASP-S210, arXiv:astro-ph/0405087 Cohen, M., Walker, R. G., Carter, B., et al. 1999, AJ, 117, 1864 Doucet, C., Lagage, P. O. & Pantin, E. 2007, Proc. of the VIRA conference, Paris, 20-22 march 2006, in press, astro-ph/0610322 Domiciano de Souza, A., Kervella, P., Bendjoya, Ph, & Niccolini, G. 2008, A&A, 480, L29 Doucet, C., Habart, E., Pantin, E. et al. 2007, A&A, 470, 625 ESA 1997, The Hipparcos and Tycho Catalogues, ESA SP-1200 Gáspár, A., Su, K. Y. L., Rieke, G. H., et al. 2008, ApJ, 672, 974 Girardi, L., Bressan, A., Bertelli, G., Chiosi. C. 2000, A&A Suppl. Ser., 141, 371 Holland, W. S., Greaves, J. S., Dent, W. R. F., et al. 2003, ApJ, 582, 1141 IPAC 1986, IRAS Catalog of Point Sources, Version 2.0, Joint IRAS Science W.G. Jayawardhana, R., Scott Fisher, R., Telesco, C. M., et al. 2001, AJ, 122, 2047 Kellerer, A., Petr-Gotzens, M., Kervella, P., & Coudé du Foresto, P. 2007, A&A, 469, 633 Kervella, P., Thévenin F., Di Folco, E., & Ségransan, D. 2004, A&A, 426, 297 Kervella, P., & Domiciano de Souza, A. 2007, A&A, 474, L49 Lagage, P.O. et al. 2004, The ESO Messenger 117, 12 Lenzen, R., Hofmann, R., Bizenberger, P., & Tusche, A. 1998, SPIE 3354, 606 Masciadri, E., Brandner, W., Bouy, H. et al. 2003, A&A, 411, 157 Morel M., & Magnenat P. 1978, A&A Suppl., 34, 477 Otero, S. A., et al. 2000, IBVS, 4999 Pickles, A. J. 1998, PASP, 110, 863 Rieke G. H., Su K. Y. L., Stansberry J. A., et al. 2005, ApJ, 620, 1010 Royer, F., Zorec J., & Gomez A. E. 2007, A&A 463, 671 Rousset, G., Lacombe, F., Puget, F., et al. 2003, Proc. SPIE 4839, 140 Schütz, O., & Sterzik, M. 2005, Proc. ESO Workshop “High Resolution Infrared Spectroscopy in Astronomy", H. U. Käufl, R. Siebenmorgen, and A. Moorwood ed., 104-108 Skrutskie, R. M., Cutri, R., Stiening, M. D., et al. 2006, AJ, 131, 1163 Smith B. J., Price S. D., Baker R. I. 2004, ApJ Suppl. Ser., 154, 673 Stapelfeldt, K. R., Holmes, E. K., Chen, C., et al. 2004, ApJS, 154, 458 Su, K. Y. L., Rieke, G. H., Misselt, K. A., et al. 2005, ApJ, 628, 487 Thompson G. I., Nandy K., Jamar C., et al. 1978, “Catalogue of stellar ultraviolet fluxes (TD1)", The Science Research Council, U.K. (1978) Tokovinin, A., Sarazin, M. & Smette, A. 2007, MNRAS, 378, 701 von Zeipel, H. 1924, MNRAS 84, 665
[^1]: Based on observations made with ESO telescopes at the La Silla Paranal Observatory, under ESO programs 081.D-0109(B) and 081.D-0109(C).
[^2]: http://ar.geocities.com/varsao/delta\_Velorum.htm
[^3]: http://www.physics.sfasu.edu/astro/javascript/hjd.html
[^4]: http://yorick.sourceforge.net/
[^5]: IRAF is distributed by the NOAO, which are operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.
[^6]: http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/instruments/visir/
[^7]: http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/users/pickles/AJP/hilib.html
|
Ramesh Kumar Nibhoria
Ramesh Nibhoria is a Punjabi engineer and entrepreneur, and creator of biomass pellet fueled cook stove.
Business
After completing engineering training, Nibhoria worked in various shop floor jobs and eventually reached executive level mechanical engineering positions.
In February 1996, after 12 years in the engineering field, Nibhoria started Ess Aar Energies with the assistance of the Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), an autonomous organisation under the Department of Science and Technology (India). Located near Chandigarh, the company manufactured biomass briquettes from agricultural and forest residues. This project was India's first biomass pelletizing plant.
In 2000 he started manufacturing Sanjha Chulha (Earth Stoves), a biomass briquette fired community kitchen stove, to negate the need for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). Stoves were installed at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Schools at Himachal, Punjab and Chandigarh. The users save 50% while replacing LPG with biomass briquette cooking. This invention won a Petroleum Conservation Research Association award. This project was supported by TePP (the Technopreneur Promotion Programme, run by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India). He invented many bioenergy technologies and till August , 2018 he applied 13 patents.
He established Nishant Bioenergy Consultancy and Nishant Bioenergy (P) Limited. Company has proprietary technologies of pellet cook stoves, burners and biomass pellet manufacturing and establishes franchisees. Till 2018, 21 franchisees were operational.
In the year 2017 he established Nisa Bioenergie in Artix, France, for marketing of projects and R&D.
Awards
His efforts won him an Ashden Award in 2005, which was given by HRH Prince Charles. In 2006, the UN Human Settlement Programme, Kenya judged his project as promising practices. He is a fellow of Global Social Benefiting Incubator (GSBI), 2007 and GSBI Accelerator (2013). GSBI is run by the University of Santa Clara, San Jose, California. In 2006 he was invited to Skoll World Forum, Oxford. He was invited to the Al Gore lecture on climate change at Cambridge University. In the year 2016 his projects won WAF Award. He was also shortlisted as semifinalist at Global Clean Tech Innovation Programme (GCIP) in the year 2016
References
Category:Living people
Category:Punjabi people
Category:Businesspeople from Punjab, India
Category:Year of birth missing (living people) |
Bartlett Carré
Bartlett Carré (July 10, 1897-April 26, 1971) was involved in the film industry during five decades, spanning both the silent and sound film eras. He spent most of that time in production capacities, either as a production supervisor or manager, associate producer, or assistant director. He appeared in numerous films, mostly in small uncredited roles, or as a stunt man, but he did have one starring role in the 1925 silent film, Flying Hoofs, and directed the 1935 film, Gun Smoke. His first participation in film was in the small role of Jake Watkins in the 1924 silent film, Behind Two Guns. He last worked in films in 1963 where he was either the associate producer or production supervisor. He was the brother-in-law of the actress, Lenore Ulric.
Partial filmography
Behind Two Guns (1924)
Flying Hoofs (1925) - actor
The Texas Tornado (1932) - actor
Lightning Range (1933)
The Fighting Cowboy (1933)
Five Bad Men (1935)
Gun Smoke (1936) - director
References
Category:1897 births
Category:1971 deaths
Category:Male actors from Massachusetts
Category:American male silent film actors
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:Film directors from Massachusetts |
getDescription
the text from the <description> element in cron.xml, or
null if none was supplied.
getSchedule
java.lang.String getSchedule()
Returns the schedule of this cron entry.
Returns:
the text from the <schedule> element in cron.xml
getTimezone
java.lang.String getTimezone()
Returns the timezone of this cron entry.
Returns:
the text from the <schedule> element in cron.xml, or
"UTC" as the default value if none was explicitly supplied.
getNextTimesIterator
java.util.Iterator<java.lang.String> getNextTimesIterator()
Returns an iterator over upcoming execution times. For schedules that
are not explicitly fixed to clock time (e.g. "every 12 hours"), the current
time will be used by this iterator, whereas time-of-last-update will be
used on the production server. |
Changes may be required after European court advocate general accuses US intelligence services of ‘mass, indiscriminate surveillance’
European companies may have to review their widespread practice of storing digital data with US internet companies after a court accused America’s intelligence services of conducting “mass, indiscriminate surveillance”.
The influential opinion by the European court of justice’s advocate general, Yves Bot, yet to be confirmed by the Luxembourg court as final, is a significant development in the battle over online privacy. The court normally follows the advocate general’s opinion; ECJ judgments are binding on EU countries.
The finding is a fresh victory for the Austrian campaigner Maximilian Schrems, who initially brought a claim against Facebook in Ireland in the wake of Edward Snowden’s revelations about the activities of the US National Security Agency (NSA).
Facebook data privacy case to be heard before European Union court Read more
The opinion by Bot contains far-reaching recommendations that threaten to upend many current commercial practices and assumptions in the digital industry.
If any EU country considers that transferring data to servers abroad undermines the protection of citizens, the advocate general’s finding said, it has the power to suspend that transfer “irrespective of the general assessment made by the [EU] commission in its decision”.
“The access of the United States intelligence services to the data transferred covers, in a comprehensive manner, all persons using electronic communications services, without any requirement that the persons concerned represent a threat to national security,” Bot’s opinion noted in one of its most damning sections.
“Such mass, indiscriminate surveillance is inherently disproportionate and constitutes an unwarranted interference with the rights guaranteed by articles seven and eight of the charter [of fundamental rights of the EU].”
The Luxembourg court found the Safe Harbor agreement between the US and Europe, which gives spies access to huge banks of data, does not stop watchdogs from investigating complaints or bar them from suspending the transfers.
The arrangement allows the NSA to use the Prism surveillance system – revealed by the Guardian from documents leaked by Snowden – to wade through billions of elements of personal data, communication and information held by nine internet companies.
The opinion states that the commission’s past decision on Safe Harbor within the US is invalid. It said internet users in Europe have no effective judicial protection while the large-scale data transfers are happening.
Schrems said the ruling could have major implications for EU-US data flows and American internet companies operating in Europe.
“After an initial review of the advocate general’s opinion of more than 40 pages it seems like years of work could pay off. Now we just have to hope that the judges of the court of justice will follow the advocate general’s opinion in principle,” he said.
Schrems said that while his case was specific to Facebook it may also apply to other technology giants such as Apple, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. The final ruling by the ECJ’s 15 judges is expected later this year.
Everyone on the social network in the EU signs a contract with Facebook Ireland, audited by the data protection commissioner in that country. Under the US-EU data transfer all their details can be accessed by the NSA.
NSA files decoded: Edward Snowden's surveillance revelations explained Read more
Schrems’s challenge to seek an investigation into which of his data was sent to the US will come back to the high court in Dublin after the ECJ issues its final ruling.
Snowden, a former NSA contractor, triggered a wave of controversy when he leaked tens of thousands of documents about surveillance programmes run by the US intelligence services and foreign counterparts, including Britain’s GCHQ, in 2013.
Responding to the decision, a Facebook spokesperson said: “Facebook operates in compliance with EU data protection law. Like the thousands of other companies who operate data transfers across the Atlantic we await the full judgment.”
In reference to Prism, Facebook added:“We have repeatedly said that we do not provide ‘backdoor’ access to Facebook servers and data to intelligence agencies or governments. ... We had never heard of Prism before it was reported by the press and we have never participated in any such scheme.”
More than 4,000 companies are estimated to rely on the Safe Harbor agreement for transferring data to the US. Commenting on the ruling, Jan Philipp Albrecht, home affairs spokesperson for the Green party in the EU, said: “The advocate general has today made clear that the transfer of EU citizens’ private data to the US by Facebook is at odds with EU law. This welcome finding must provoke an immediate response by the relevant authorities in Europe. The Irish data protection commissioner must immediately move to prevent any further data transfers to the US by Facebook, which operates under Irish jurisdiction.
“The finding also confirms the position of the European parliament, which has already called for Safe Harbor to be suspended. It is unacceptable that the European commission has ignored this demand for a year and a half. It is now time for the commission to finally suspend Safe Harbor.
“We need robust, common data protection rules for the EU, which can also be applied to internet operators and the online sector from the US. To this end, we need to swiftly agree the reform of the EU’s data protection laws to ensure strong and implementable individual rights.”
Laywers in the UK suggested that, if confirmed, the ECJ decision would force every European company that stores data on American servers to review their contracts.
Stewart Room, the head of PwC Legal’s data privacy and protection practice, said: “[This] signifies a real game-changing view on the power of the European commission to override the views of the data privacy regulators of the member states. The advocate general takes the view that the commission cannot bind the national regulators. In other words, the views of the member states’ regulators trump the central view of Brussels.
“This presents a real threat to the Safe Harbor data transfer regime to the US. For businesses, a huge amount of uncertainty is now inserted into the legal framework. It has the potential to cause chaos in transatlantic data flows. If the court of justice sides with the advocate general, then multinationals will have to fully rethink their global strategies for data privacy compliance.”
Agustin Reyna, senior legal officer at the European Consumer Organisation, said: “The advocate general’s opinion puts the nail in the coffin of Safe Harbor. This agreement fails to protect European’s personal data. We hope the European court of justice will follow this line and stop the mass circumvention of EU data protection rules. The European commission, which is currently renegotiating Safe Harbor, received today a clear message that the transfer of European citizens’ data cannot be based on self-assessment by US companies.” |
#ifndef WXCBITMAPCODEGENERATOR_H
#define WXCBITMAPCODEGENERATOR_H
#include <asyncprocess.h>
#include <macros.h>
#include <wx/arrstr.h>
#include <wx/event.h>
#include <wx/filename.h>
extern const wxEventType wxEVT_BITMAP_CODE_GENERATION_DONE;
class TopLevelWinWrapper;
class wxcCodeGeneratorHelper : public wxEvtHandler
{
typedef std::map<wxString, wxString> MapString_t;
protected:
MapString_t m_bitmapMap;
wxArrayString m_icons;
wxFileName m_xrcFile;
wxFileName m_cppFile;
wxFileName m_destCPP;
wxString m_wxrcOutput;
wxStringSet_t m_winIds;
protected:
bool IsGenerateNeeded() const;
private:
wxcCodeGeneratorHelper();
virtual ~wxcCodeGeneratorHelper();
wxString GenerateTopLevelWindowIconCode() const;
public:
static wxcCodeGeneratorHelper& Get();
/**
* @brief stop the worker thread
*/
void UnInitialize();
void Clear();
void ClearWindowIds();
void AddIcon(const wxString& bitmapFile);
void ClearIcons();
wxString AddBitmap(const wxString& bitmapFile, const wxString& name = wxEmptyString);
void AddWindowId(const wxString& winid);
bool CreateXRC();
wxString GenerateInitCode(TopLevelWinWrapper* tw) const;
wxString GenerateExternCode() const;
wxString GenerateWinIdEnum() const;
wxString BitmapCode(const wxString& bmp, const wxString& bmpname = wxEmptyString) const;
bool Contains(const wxString& bmp) const { return m_bitmapMap.count(bmp); }
};
#endif // WXCBITMAPCODEGENERATOR_H
|
Govindas Ramdas
Govindas Ramdas was a Bhagat and a member of the Koli tribe who led rebels against the British East India Company between 1826–1830. His followers thought that he had supernatural powers. Little is known of him but on the night of 17 March 1826, he led 500 armed followers into Thasra, near Dakor, and established himself as ruler.
Reference
Category:Indian rebels |
That’s way to the right of his previous rhetoric on guns — after the Newtown shooting, he supported an assault weapons ban — and it’s another sign of the sort of conservative stand GOP candidates must take to get through primaries.
The key moment comes at around the 12 minute mark on a video of an event last Tuesday with gun rights activists that was obtained by the Boston Globe. In its write-up, the Globe stresses that Brown was on the “defensive,” noting that Brown, who is now embroiled in a primary, tried to appear tougher on gun rights than he had in Massachusetts, where he supported an assault weapons ban as Senator before getting ousted by Elizabeth Warren.
AD
AD
The newsworthy part came when a gun rights advocate confronted Brown with the following: “Stop gun free zones — what do you think about that? Gun-free zones kill people. You wanna stop a bad guy with a gun? Get a good guy with a gun.”
“I have no problem — ” Brown said, before returning to the assault ban. He then added: “On gun free zones, I don’t disagree with you. I think that people should have the ability to carry their guns.”
“When you get down to the Senate in Washington, you’re gonna propose legislation to eliminate gun free zones?” the activist asked.
“I’m not proposing any new legislation,” Brown answered. “However, if in fact you and others have something like that that you want, I would love to come down with your attorneys, with Senator Ayotte, sit down and figure out a solution.”
AD
AD
Barring further clarification, that sounds like Brown is at least open to the idea of federal legislation that would ban gun free zones, such as in federal locations like post offices, as well as legislation banning states from creating gun free zones. Or, at least, that’s what Brown wanted this crowd to think, anyway.
In fairness, Brown then said this sort of thing is generally resolved on the state level, and said perhaps advocates should target New Hampshire state legislators, not a would-be Senator.
But then Brown was pressed by another attendee directly on whether he was open to doing away with the federal ban on guns in places like post offices. Brown said: “I’d have to do more research on it…I’d like to get your input and others, and find a solution.” This suggests he’s open to the idea, or wants this crowd to think he is.
AD
AD
A spokesperson for Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Brown’s target this fall, confirms to me that she opposes any measures abolishing gun free zones.
The broader story here revolves around the Democrats’ theory of this fall’s elections. As noted this morning, Dems continue to insist embattled incumbents will be able to fend off GOP challengers, in spite of the bad national environment, by turning the elections into a choice between two candidates. In Arkansas, the local press is noticing that Tom Cotton’s positions on Medicare and Social Security could enable Dem Senator Mark Pryor to prevail despite the hated health law. In Iowa, Republicans are reportedly worried that Joni Ernst’s now-infamous GOP primary ad featuring her waving around a handgun could hurt her among independents in a general election.
This isn’t to say Dems will campaign on gun control — they won’t. Rather, the point is that GOP Senate candidates have amassed positions on multiple issues — some are climate skeptics and have supported Personhood measures — which Dems hope will enable them to sharpen the overall contrast with GOP extremism in individual races and make it more likely that voters will see them as a choice between two candidates and visions. |
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to glycoside materials.
2. Description of the Art Practices
It has long been known that alkyl glycosides have surfactant properties and are therefore desirable as either the sole surfactant, or in combination with other surfactants, in cleaning products. A glycoside as used herein means a material which contains 1 or more units of a sugar source such as glucose and a hydrophobic organic tail. If the glycoside contains glucose units, then it is referred to as a glucoside. If the glycoside contains 2 units of glucose, e.g. a polymer, then the material is referred to as a glycoside having a degree of polymerization (D.P.) of 2. If the glycoside is an alkyl glycoside then the material is substituted in the one position with an alkoxyl moiety rather than the C.sub.1 hydroxyl of the starting sugar. Therefore, the attachment of the alkoxyl moiety is by an acetal linkage to the sugar.
It has been suggested by Boettner in U.S. Pat. No. 3,219,656 issued Nov. 23, 1965 that an acid catalyzed route for obtaining an alkyl polyglycoside (APG) may be utilized starting with a saturated alcohol and dextrose. Similarly, Mansfield in U.S. Pat. No. 3,547,828 issued Dec. 15, 1970 teaches a method of obtaining glycosides.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,138 issued to Lew on Aug. 10, 1976 states that it is preferable to use glucose as a starting material for the preparation of butyl polyglycoside. It has been observed, according to Lew, that it is extremely difficult when starting with the sugar source to obtain higher alkyl polyglycosides directly. That is, the starting sugar materials are highly water-soluble whereas dodecyl alcohol (to add a C.sub.12 group) is extremely water-insoluble. Therefore, the route proposed by Lew is to form an intermediate butyl glycoside and to thereafter transetherify to obtain the higher alkyl polyglycosides. In such a reaction, butyl alcohol is generated as a by-product.
The removal of alcohols formed in transetherification is described by Mao in U.S. Pat. No. 4,393,203 issued July 12, 1983. In the disclosure, Mao states that it is desirable to remove the alcohol formed because of its adverse effect on the surfactant properties of the alkyl polyglycoside. Mao further states that the color properties of his product are not adversely affected by the processing described in his patent.
European Patent Application No. 82305283.5, published as 0077167 on Apr. 20, 1983 states that various reducing agents may be utilized in the processing of alkyl polyglycosides. The teachings of the 0077167 publication are that the reducing agent must be present with an acid catalyst which is used to react the alcohol with an aldose or ketose. The reducing agents stated to be useful are acids such as phosphorous, hypophosphorous, sulfurous, hyposulfurous, nitrous and hyponitrous acids. It is further stated that the composition containin the reducing agent remains in the acid form.
European Patent Application No. 83200771.0 published on Dec. 28, 1983 as 0096917 to Farris describes the preparation of alkyl glycosides using an acid catalyst at from 80.degree. C. to 150.degree. C. The 0096917 publication further states that a long-chain monohydric alcohol is used to form the glycoside by continuously or incrementally adding the monosaccharide and catalyst such that no more than 10% by weight of unreacted monosaccharide is present at any given time and that the average amount of unreacted monosaccharide not exceed 5% by weight of the mix. The stated reason for controlling the amount of saccharide present in the reaction mix of Farris is so that there is substantially a single phase present. U.S. Pat. No. 3,450,690 to Gibbons issued June 17, 1969 discusses the use of alkaline materials to remove alkali sensitive color bodies from an alkyl glucoside mixture.
European published application No. 102,558 discloses borates as being useful in preparing glycosides. It is further known that N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone may be utilized as a reaction medium to obtain a substantially single phase reaction between a saccharide and an alcohol to form an alkyl glycoside. It is also known that long-chain alkyl glycosides may be formed directly from a saccharide by utilizing a small amount of a previously prepared long-chain alkyl glycoside to render the saccharide and the alcohol compatible.
It has been disclosed in European published application No. 0099183 of Short (Jan. 25, 1984) that saccharides may be converted into glycosides of up to 6 carbon atoms by forming a liquid dispersant system containing the monohydric alcohol to be added. The liquid dispersant system includes acetone, ethylene glycol, methanol or ethanol and about 2 to 25 moles of water per saccharide molar unit. This reaction is stated to take place at superatmospheric pressure to maintain the dispersants in a liquid state.
The art has recognized several methods of obtaining and treating glycosides, yet color of the end product remains a problem. There has as yet not been an effective manner of maintaining a glycoside in a desirable lightly colored state. That is, alkyl glycosides as obtained are a dark amber color and for many uses, such as cosmetics or detergent products, it is desirable that they have no more than a straw yellow color.
It has been observed herein that even in products which have been decolorized that the color will degrade in the product upon standing. Therefore, it is desirable, and the present invention deals with, obtaining and stabilizing good color in alkyl glycosides.
Throughout the specification and claims, percentages and ratios are by weight, temperatures are degrees Celsius and pressures are in atmospheres over ambient unless otherwise indicated.
To the extent that such references are applicable, each of the foregoing is incorporated herein by reference. |
Daily number and lengths of activity bursts in rabbit jaw muscles.
Muscle activity has predominantly been studied for specific motor tasks not necessarily representative of normal daily behaviour. The few studies that have examined daily muscle use have quantified this by duty time, merging all levels of muscle activity. Muscle activity can also be characterized by the number, duration and level of bursts. The purpose of this study was to characterize, for various levels of muscle activity, the daily masseter and digastric actions in the rabbit. Characterization was realized by quantification of duty time (summed length of all bursts as a percentage of total time), number of bursts and distribution of burst lengths. A telemetric device was implanted in the two muscles of six rabbits, ensuring the recording of their jaw muscle activities while they moved freely. The continuously transmitted signals over 1 day were analysed. The results showed that (i) more than 100,000 bursts per day exceeded the 2% level of the maximum muscle activity in both muscles, whereas fewer than 100 bursts per day exceeded the 90% level; and (ii) the digastric muscle exhibited a significantly higher duty time than the masseter (respectively, 23% and 14% for activities exceeding the 2% level), which was mainly caused by the on average longer burst lengths at the lowest levels. The characterization of muscle activity in daily burst number and distribution of burst lengths exceeding various activity levels provides valuable information on motor control and enables further investigation of the adaptive capacity of muscles. |
BAA: British Astronomical Association
Table of Contents
Description
The Lunar Section of the BAA is both one of the oldest and one of the most famous amateur organizations devoted to lunar observing. It is particularly noted for its long history of encouraging meticulous drawings at the eyepiece. The Lunar Section, prior to Apollo, had as director a long series of famous selenographers including Thomas Gwyn Elger, Walter Goodacre, T L MacDonald, Hugh Percy Wilkins, Ewen Whitaker, Gilbert Fielder, Brian Warner, and Patrick Moore. All of these (except Warner) have written books about the Moon and the first four have lunar craters named in their honor.
Additional Information
Back issues of the BAA's Journal, containing many articles of historic interest, are not reliably indexed on NASA's ADS system, but are mostly on-line and can be read by entering the volume number in links of the form (example is Volume 65 -- Volumes 16-32 do not appear to be available as of December 2010):
Note that un-indexed pages in many other journals in the NASA ADS database can be accessed by generating links to thumbnail pages using the style of URL shown above.
Memoirs of the BAA (a different publication) can be accessed with links of the form (the example being a page in Volume 32, but not page the page it may appear since the numbers are recycled in each part of the Memoirs): |
Combined lung and liver transplantation in patients with cystic fibrosis. A 4 1/2-year experience.
Patients with cystic fibrosis who have end-stage respiratory failure and associated liver cirrhosis have been considered poor candidates for lung transplantation because of high morbidity and mortality resulting from hepatic insufficiency after the operation. Since April 1989, our policy has been to combine heart-lung or lung and liver transplantation in this group of patients. Between June 1990 and March 1995, among 25 patients accepted in the program for combined transplantation, nine died awaiting transplantation and 10 underwent one of the following procedures: heart-lung-liver transplantation (n = 5), en bloc double lung-liver transplantation (n = 1), sequential double lung-liver transplantation (n = 3), and bilateral lobar lung transplantation from a split left lung and reduced liver transplantation (n = 1). There were 5 male and 5 female patients. The ages of the recipients ranged from 10 to 24 years. Mean forced expiratory volume in 1 second was 29% and mean forced vital capacity was 35% of predicted values. All patients were infected with resistant Pseudomonas, three with Pseudomonas cepaceia, and two patients had Aspergillus species in addition. All patients had severe cirrhosis with portal hypertension. Four patients had a history of esophageal variceal bleeding and two had had previous portosystemic shunts. The operation was performed as a two-stage procedure, the intrathoracic operation being completed before the abdominal stage was begun. Cardiopulmonary bypass was used in all patients because of poor clinical condition. Immunosuppression consisted of azathioprine, cyclosporine, and prednisone, as for isolated lung transplantation. There were two perioperative deaths, one caused by primary liver failure and the second by early lung dysfunction. For the first 3 months after transplantation pulmonary infection was the most common cause of morbidity. Other complications included tracheal stenosis (n = 1), bronchial stenosis (n = 1), biliary stricture (n = 2), and severe ascites (n = 3). All were successfully treated. Obliterative bronchiolitis developed in three patients. This was stabilized with FK 506 in two patients; the other patient underwent retransplantation at 38 months but eventually died of bleeding. Actuarial survival was 70% at 1 year and remained unchanged at 3 years. Significant functional improvement was observed in all survivors. For patients who have chronic respiratory failure with advanced cirrhosis, lung transplantation combined with liver transplantation can be performed with a satisfactory outcome. |
So far, 2020 has been a year of cryptocurrency regulation: The European Union, the United Kingdom and Singapore have officially introduced their approaches to the burgeoning industry. Now, Australia has published its national roadmap, hoping to become a global blockchain leader.
Last Friday, Australia's Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources launched the national blockchain roadmap — a 50-page document that defines how blockchain technology could benefit the local economy over the next five years.
The paper, developed in conjunction with industry participants, oversees a number of specific fields where the technology might prove useful, namely Know Your Customer-related procedures and wine export. What does this mean for the local cryptocurrency and blockchain industry, and how has the Australian government been regulating it so far?
“Sensible, watchful stance”: What crypto regulations has Australia introduced so far?
Prior to the roadmap’s launch, the Australian government had already taken measures to regulate cryptocurrencies, namely in the context of digital asset trading. In April 2018, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, an agency that primarily deals with tax evasion, money laundering and other forms of financial crime, implemented new regulations for digital currency exchange operators in the country.
The document required them to register with the authority and maintain a compliant AML/KYC policy. That event is mentioned in the newly issued roadmap. “Australia was among the first countries in the world to introduce AML/CTF regulation for DCEs,” it reads. “The regulations have been welcomed by DCE providers and are helping to improve trust in cryptocurrencies.”
Adrian Przelozny, CEO of Sydney-based crypto exchange Independent Reserve, confirms that market participants were generally satisfied with that provision. He told Cointelegraph:
“The regulations imposed by AUSTRAC were implemented after a robust industry consultation period and have generally been welcomed by the Australian crypto industry.”
However, Przelozny specified that running a cryptocurrency business is not easy “in a broader sense,” referring to hidden challenges related to stable banking solutions, regulation and compliance.
“From a regulatory perspective, Australia is a relatively permissive jurisdiction,” Asher Tan, CEO of Australian crypto exchange CoinJar, summed up in a conversation with Cointelegraph, thereby echoing Przelozny’s sentiment.
As for other crypto regulatory initiatives that have been undertaken in Australia, in July 2017, the Department of the Treasury removed the double taxation of good and services tax on digital currencies, hence treating them “just like money” in that regard. Prior to that, cryptocurrency users had to pay GST twice: once they bought a digital currency, and once again when purchasing goods and services subject to the GST. “The Government will make it easier for new innovative digital currency businesses to operate in Australia,” the summary published on the government’s website read.
More recently, throughout 2019, the Treasury researched the opportunities and risks associated with initial coin offerings in Australia, and how such offerings should be taxed, although no concrete reforms have been introduced by the agency in that field so far. Instead, ICOs in Australia are regulated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, which oversees them under the Corporations Act 2001 and the Australian Securities and Investments Commissions Act 2001.
Moreover, in 2019 the Australian Taxation Office published a guidance framework on the taxation on cryptocurrencies. Essentially, it defines Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies as forms of property that are taxable. The agency’s deputy commissioner Will Day has also explicitly stated that tax evasion via cryptocurrencies is "not a victimless crime."
The newly issued roadmap also recognizes cryptocurrencies, as they are directly mentioned numerous times. Moreover, the report does not draw a clear line between digital assets and blockchain technology, although the technology itself is clearly prioritized in the document.
According to Alex Sims, an associate professor at the University of Auckland Business School and research fellow at the UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies, the Australian government has taken “a sensible, watchful stance” toward cryptocurrencies.
In an email exchange with Cointelegraph, Sims stressed that the Australian Senate referred an inquiry about digital currencies to the Senate Economics as early as 2014, suggesting that the country had started researching the topic long before the 2017 mania. She also argued that some of the government’s reforms seem relatively crypto-friendly:
“The Australian Government actually encouraged the use of cryptocurrency by removing GST when cryptocurrency was purchased. As the Roadmap shows, it isn’t unduly concerned that Australian businesses are accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment.”
Australian politicians seemed even more enthusiastic about blockchain. As the local prime minister, Scott Morrison, said back in 2017, his country was “strongly pursuing” the technology. The new roadmap largely confirms that aspiration.
National Blockchain Roadmap: a five-year plan — wine export is a priority
The recent release of the national blockchain roadmap followed a near year-long preparation. In March 2019, the minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment, Simon Birmingham, and the minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Karen Andrews, jointly announced the development of a national blockchain roadmap with a boost of around $71,200 (100,000 Australian dollars) in funding from the federal government to make Australia a global leader in blockchain.
On Feb. 7, 2020, the document was published, aiming to promote Australia’s nascent blockchain industry. The country’s wine, banking and finance industries have been selected as the key priority sectors. According to Minister Andrews, the roadmap will pave the way for researchers, startups and policymakers in the blockchain sector, which is set to be worth around $175 billion.
Per the roadmap’s highlights, the blockchain has the capability to strengthen export opportunities, enabling domestic manufacturers to trace their goods in supply chains and agriculture, specifically when it comes to the wine industry. Australian wine is one of the most profitable export products in the country. In 2019, Australia’s wine export volume reportedly grew by 3% to $1.9 billion.
“As blockchain is an incorruptible digital ledger, it can be beneficial for many industries that require ‘record-keeping’ due to its immutability and transparency,” Leigh Travers, executive director at Australia-based DigitalX Limited, one of the first cryptocurrency firms to be traded on a major stock exchange, told Cointelegraph, adding:
“Blockchain will, and in a way already is, transforming the agricultural industry by tracking produce from farm to plate.”
The value of KYC
There is also a strong focus on the sharing of KYC information that allows transmitting results of KYC checks “securely, at speed and with the highest level of confidence.” The roadmap’s authors cite a report written by Big Four firm KPMG that suggests 80% of KYC/AML resources are spent on information gathering and processing rather than on estimating actual risk — and argues that blockchain technology will significantly cut costs and ease communication in that regard.
In addition, the document seeks to set up the National Blockchain Roadmap Steering Committee and “establish a collaborative model comprising working groups of industry, the research sector and government to progress analysis on the next use cases.”
Essentially, the roadmap is Australia’s entry into the global blockchain adoption race, Dr. Jemma Green, co-founder and executive chairman at Power Ledger, an Australian blockchain-enabled energy trading platform, told Cointelegraph:
“To date, more than $26 billion has been raised in capital markets for blockchain companies, and Australia has received less than 1% of this. Australia’s startup capital markets are already challenged and addressing regulations to make Australia a destination to base blockchain companies — essential to getting a bigger piece of the capital raising pie [...] If decisive action isn’t taken, then the blockchain Googles and Apples of tomorrow will be based outside of Australia.”
Some experts are not impressed with the new roadmap’s content, however. In an email sent to Cointelegraph, Cal Evans, founder of compliance and strategy firm Gresham International, argued that Australia’s blockchain strategy isn’t extensive enough:
“Australia could benefit with the deployment of blockchain in so many industries. There are numerous industries that can be government-lead including medical, transport and defense. Focusing on the wine industry feels more like the government of Australia is honestly unsure of blockchain and does not want to testbed it in a key area (such as transport or defense).”
Similarly, FinTech Australia chairman and member of the federal government’s fintech advisory group Alan Tsen told the Australian Financial Review that the roadmap "lacked vision," while the "use cases read like they had been written by a consulting firm," adding:
"The most disappointing element was the regulatory analysis. It hinted at a few areas that could be further developed but didn't suggest how this could be done or what should be put on the road map of regulatory change."
Nonetheless, most Australian blockchain industry representatives, Green included, are satisfied with the new document — after all, it has been developed collaboratively with industry, university and government representatives. As Katrina Donaghy, co-founder of a local blockchain startup Civic Ledger, told the Sydney Morning Herald, over 150 startup members showed up in person to consultation meetings, which apparently “shocked” the government. Travers told Cointelegraph:
“We were fortunate to have the CEO Nicholas Giurietto of Blockchain Australia contribute heavily to the roadmap. He said to me this morning ‘It’s everything we wanted,’ so I am so pleased that the industry contribution was acknowledged and delivered to by the National Government.”
Despite Andrews’s previous claims that the roadmap will entail a boost of around $71,200 in funding from the federal government, no such figures are mentioned in the document. It does state, however, that the Australian Government “has invested in a wide range of blockchain-related activities to date.”
“There was a Labor Party pledge for AU$3 million to invest in blockchain, but their election pitch ultimately wasn’t successful,” Travers of DigitalX told Cointelegraph when reminded that the government has ostensibly not yet allocated any funds to blockchain roadmap implementation. He went on to add:
“With the Blockchain APAC conference coming up in April, there will be a strong focus on establishing a financial link to the blockchain academy, and it’s clear there is a commitment to the technology in Australia.”
Blockchain roadmap without a framework to lean on — how efficient will that be?
Essentially, the roadmap is a consultation document, or a guide to action, but is not as obligatory as a regulatory framework would be, Konstantinos Stylianou, associate professor of competition law and regulation at the University of Leeds, explained to Cointelegraph:
“The national blockchain roadmap is an aspirational document that lays out the government’s vision on how to maximize blockchain’s promise for the country. It is not binding, and it does not contain specific actionable points, just general steps and priorities.”
In Stylianou’s view, Australia’s blockchain strategy “is more or less” aligned with those of other countries, like Germany or the Netherlands, and it lists targets that are “hard to disagree with,” like an increase of investments, maintenance of competition, respect for privacy and so on. However, he is not certain that it will make a drastic difference without proper legal backup:
“Things like blockchain-friendly finance regulations, legal certainty on smart contracts and whether cryptos are property, public-private partnerships etc. can be catalytic in accelerating blockchain adoption, and we’re not seeing much of that yet.”
Some local industry participants would agree with that statement. Tan, CEO of CoinJar, argues that the roadmap is a great step forward for the industry, adding: “However, immediate action is still needed in order to push through meaningful legislation that can provide certainty and allow for Australian blockchain innovation to flourish.”
Nonetheless, other Australian industry participants seem confident about the roadmap as is. “With the rapid changes to the industry with DeFi, security tokens and international policy amendments, it is impossible to have a clear regulatory framework for this industry today,” DigitalX’s Travers said when asked whether he would prefer to see a definitive framework instead of a roadmap.
“The roadmap is a positive development,” agrees Green from Power Ledger. “It focuses on areas key to building a strong foundation for blockchain adoption — regulation, skills capability, innovation and collaboration.”
Given that the Australian government had already introduced some basic regulatory measures for crypto by the time the national blockchain strategy was unveiled, it seems that it could indeed help the country to assert itself in the global blockchain race — but the limited number of use cases suggests that the plan might be ultimately insufficient or incomplete.
Meanwhile, the fact that cryptocurrencies are mentioned in the roadmap seems to confirm that it is not an extreme “blockchain-before-Bitcoin” kind of case where the government completely shuts down all digital assets, which is advantageous for Australia’s many crypto businesses. |
I agree with CJR... Sulmet is nasty stuff. Antibiotics are not that useful when you don't have a confirmed diagnosis....and wth our Faverolle..it would not have done much good as her illness would not have been determined in time. Our hens are like members of our family, so it's heart breaking when there is nothing you can do but try and comfort the bird. You might find a knowledgeable person at the grain store, we have southern states here and often you can find people that can offer suggestions. Good luck. |
The present invention relates to a Serial Bus transceiver interface, particularly although not exclusively for use in a Universal Serial Bus (USB) device.
It is well known to employ a bus to carry signals within and between electronic devices. The definition of one such bus, the Universal Serial Bus (USB) is described in the following reference document—Universal Serial Bus Specification Revision 1.1 published by the USB Implementation Forum. The USB standard provides specifications for a host, a device and the cabling which links them. Amongst other requirements of the standard, a USB host must be capable of detecting the speed of those devices with which it is communicating. There are four possible such states as set out in the table of FIG. 1 below.
The USB standard has become very popular with manufacturers of personal computers in particular. More recently and particularly with the expansion of the Internet, it is becoming even more necessary for a computer to be connected, at least part of the time, to a telephone line to permit the transfer of data such as electronic mail. In the case of a laptop computer, it is often not convenient or possible to connect to a fixed telephone line. Thus, interfaces have been developed to allow a mobile telephone to be connected to a computer. Such interfaces can place severe demands on a lightweight battery-powered device such as a mobile telephone where considerations of size and complexity of circuitry together with power consumption are very important. |
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.linear-gradient(#fff, @gray-light);
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A broad international research effort to develop nucleic acid analogs and vectors for treatment of cancers, chronic diseases, and microorganisms has reached the stage of clinical trials and the first FDA approval of a DNA drug. Great progress has occurred since the last Conference on Nucleic Acid Therapeutics in 1991. The 2000 meeting will provide a forum whereby the most recent developments in preparing gene specific drugs and vectors, and applying those agents in preclinical and clinical trials will be shared among scientists, clinicians, and regulators from around the world. Support is requested from NIH for a portion of the travel expenses of the 24 invited speakers. Funds for other expenses will be raised from interested vendors and pharmaceutical firms, as well as the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. The conference follows the design of a Gordon Research Conference. Up to 300 participants will arrive on a Saturday, then attend six 20-minute talks during each morning and evening session on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Oligonucleotide Derivatives, Diagnostic Oligonucleotide Chips, Mechanisms and Pharmacology, Preclinical Trials, Gene Therapy Vectors, and Clinical Trials will be discussed. Poster sessions will be held in the afternoons, leaving participants free to discuss mutual research interests and develop new projects. The cost of food is included in the registration fee. Most participants will stay at the conference hotel, and eat all their meals together. This meeting design encourages the maximum possible interaction of participants. The conference design, as well as the modest registration fee, hotel costs, and airfare will maximize the feasibility of attendance by young faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students. Speakers will be directed to present hard data from recent experiments, as opposed to illustrative presentations intended to persuade investors. There will be no special luncheons for speakers, no outside conference management firm, and no expensive banquet. Some of the funds raised will be utilized to make possible participation by promising young investigators who are unable to identify sufficient support for travel expenses. Through this design, the 2000 conference will stimulate new collaborations and potentiate new ideas by new and experienced investigators. |
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[ Music ]
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>> Hello. My name is Simon
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Gladman and I'm with the Vector
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and Numerics group.
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In this presentation, I'll be
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talking about two topics.
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First, our new Swift Overlay for
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Accelerate.
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And second, measuring
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Accelerate's performance using
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the Linpack benchmark.
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Before we dive into the Swift
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Overlay, let's recap exactly
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what the Accelerate framework
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is.
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The primary purpose of
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Accelerate is to provide
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thousands of low-level math
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primitives that run on a CPU and
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support image and signal
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processing, vector arithmetic,
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linear algebra, and machine
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learning.
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Most of these primitives are
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hand tuned to the
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microarchitecture of the
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processor.
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This means we get excellent
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performance and this performance
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translates directly into energy
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savings.
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So, if you're an app developer
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and you use the Accelerate
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framework, not only will your
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application run faster, but
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you'll also use less battery
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life.
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We provide the primitives across
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all of Apple's platforms.
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This includes not only macOS and
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iOS but watchOS and tVOS as
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well.
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This means your users are going
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to have an overall better
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experience.
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Accelerate's libraries are
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immensely powerful but up until
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now, their interfaces weren't
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that friendly to Swift
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developers.
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We've looked at four libraries
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and created new Swift-friendly
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APIs to make using Acclerate in
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Swift projects really easy.
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The four libraries we focused on
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are vDSP that provides digital
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signal processing routines
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including arithmetic on large
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vectors, Fourier transforms,
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biquadratic filtering, and
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powerful type conversion.
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vForce that provides arithmetic
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and transcendental functions
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including trig and logarithmic
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routines.
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Quadrature, that's dedicated to
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the numerical integration of
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functions.
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And vImage, that provides a huge
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selection of image processing
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functions and integrates easily
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with core graphics and core
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video.
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Accelerate gets its performance
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benefits by using vectorization.
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To understand vectorization,
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let's first look at a simple
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calculation over the elements of
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an array using scalar code.
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If, for example, you're writing
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code that multiplies each
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element of one array with the
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corresponding element in
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another, and you're using a four
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loop, each pair of elements are
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separately loaded, multiplied
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together, and the results
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stored.
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So, after the first elements in
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A and B are multiplied together
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to calculate the first element
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in C, the second pair are
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processed.
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Then, the third.
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And, finally, the fourth.
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However, if you're processing
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the elements of an array using
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Accelerate, your calculation is
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performed on single instruction
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multiple data, or simD
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00:03:03,156 --> 00:03:03,816
registers.
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00:03:04,616 --> 00:03:05,886
These registers can perform the
103
00:03:05,886 --> 00:03:07,506
same instruction on multiple
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00:03:07,506 --> 00:03:09,606
items of data by packing those
105
00:03:09,606 --> 00:03:10,896
multiple items into a single
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00:03:10,896 --> 00:03:11,416
register.
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00:03:12,096 --> 00:03:14,676
For example, a single 128-bit
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00:03:14,676 --> 00:03:17,116
register can actually store four
109
00:03:17,116 --> 00:03:19,486
32-bit floating point values.
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00:03:19,876 --> 00:03:21,146
So, a vectorized multiply
111
00:03:21,146 --> 00:03:22,916
operation can simultaneously
112
00:03:22,916 --> 00:03:24,666
multiply four pairs of elements
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00:03:24,666 --> 00:03:25,226
at a time.
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00:03:26,256 --> 00:03:27,636
This means that not only will
115
00:03:27,636 --> 00:03:29,236
the task be quicker, it will
116
00:03:29,236 --> 00:03:30,936
also be significantly more
117
00:03:30,936 --> 00:03:31,756
energy efficient.
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00:03:34,276 --> 00:03:35,926
The multiply function we just
119
00:03:35,926 --> 00:03:37,456
looked at part of Accelerate's
120
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digital signal processing
121
00:03:38,686 --> 00:03:40,146
library, vDSP.
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00:03:40,766 --> 00:03:42,236
So, let's begin by looking at
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00:03:42,236 --> 00:03:44,486
how the new Swift API simplifies
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00:03:44,486 --> 00:03:46,146
using vDSP.
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00:03:47,496 --> 00:03:51,176
vDSP provides vectorized digital
126
00:03:51,176 --> 00:03:52,516
signal processing functions
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00:03:52,516 --> 00:03:53,956
including Fourier transforms,
128
00:03:53,956 --> 00:03:56,116
biquadratic filtering,
129
00:03:56,256 --> 00:03:58,496
convolution, and correlation.
130
00:03:59,676 --> 00:04:02,226
Furthermore, vDSP also provides
131
00:04:02,226 --> 00:04:03,506
some powerful, more general
132
00:04:03,506 --> 00:04:05,166
functions including element-wise
133
00:04:05,166 --> 00:04:07,326
arithmetic and type conversion.
134
00:04:09,056 --> 00:04:10,656
So, even if you don't have an
135
00:04:10,656 --> 00:04:12,396
immediate need to, for example,
136
00:04:12,396 --> 00:04:13,686
compute the coherence of two
137
00:04:13,686 --> 00:04:16,305
signals, you may find that
138
00:04:16,305 --> 00:04:17,676
vDSP's general computation
139
00:04:17,676 --> 00:04:19,586
routines offer a solution to
140
00:04:19,586 --> 00:04:21,315
improve your app's performance.
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00:04:24,616 --> 00:04:26,096
Let's take a look at some basic
142
00:04:26,096 --> 00:04:26,816
arithmetic.
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00:04:27,206 --> 00:04:29,776
An example could be given four
144
00:04:29,776 --> 00:04:31,056
arrays of single-precision
145
00:04:31,056 --> 00:04:33,066
values, you need to calculate
146
00:04:33,066 --> 00:04:34,456
the element-wise sum of two of
147
00:04:34,456 --> 00:04:36,266
the array's the element-wise
148
00:04:36,266 --> 00:04:37,806
difference in the other two, and
149
00:04:37,806 --> 00:04:40,306
multiply those results with each
150
00:04:40,846 --> 00:04:40,966
other.
151
00:04:41,666 --> 00:04:43,446
Using a four loop is a perfectly
152
00:04:43,446 --> 00:04:44,496
reasonable solution to this
153
00:04:44,496 --> 00:04:46,126
problem and calculates the
154
00:04:46,126 --> 00:04:47,106
expected results.
155
00:04:47,906 --> 00:04:49,706
Here's how you perform that
156
00:04:49,706 --> 00:04:52,096
calculation using vDSP's classic
157
00:04:52,096 --> 00:04:52,416
API.
158
00:04:53,526 --> 00:04:55,276
Using vDSP is approximately
159
00:04:55,276 --> 00:04:57,166
three times faster than the four
160
00:04:57,166 --> 00:04:57,536
loop.
161
00:04:59,536 --> 00:05:00,926
Here's the same computation
162
00:05:00,926 --> 00:05:02,566
using our new Swift API for
163
00:05:02,566 --> 00:05:03,206
vDSP.
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00:05:03,206 --> 00:05:05,426
We're exposing the new
165
00:05:05,426 --> 00:05:06,906
Swift-friendly functions through
166
00:05:06,906 --> 00:05:09,076
our vDSP namespace and you can
167
00:05:09,076 --> 00:05:10,366
see the function and parameter
168
00:05:10,366 --> 00:05:11,896
names explain the operation.
169
00:05:12,806 --> 00:05:14,176
Because the new functions work
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00:05:14,176 --> 00:05:15,626
with familiar types including
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00:05:15,626 --> 00:05:17,146
arrays and array slices rather
172
00:05:17,146 --> 00:05:18,866
than pointers, you no longer
173
00:05:18,866 --> 00:05:20,296
need to explicitly pass the
174
00:05:20,296 --> 00:05:20,736
count.
175
00:05:21,246 --> 00:05:22,536
So, the entire function call is
176
00:05:22,536 --> 00:05:24,616
clearer and more concise.
177
00:05:25,776 --> 00:05:28,676
Passing an initialized result
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00:05:28,676 --> 00:05:29,686
array offers the best
179
00:05:29,686 --> 00:05:31,236
performance and you can
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00:05:31,236 --> 00:05:32,936
obviously reuse that array in
181
00:05:32,936 --> 00:05:34,476
other operations for further
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00:05:34,476 --> 00:05:35,646
performance benefits.
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00:05:36,446 --> 00:05:38,946
However, we're also providing
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00:05:38,946 --> 00:05:40,726
self-allocating functions.
185
00:05:41,096 --> 00:05:42,846
These make use of Swift's new
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00:05:42,846 --> 00:05:44,596
ability to access an array's
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00:05:44,596 --> 00:05:46,786
uninitialized buffer to return
188
00:05:46,786 --> 00:05:48,156
the result of a computation.
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00:05:48,936 --> 00:05:50,496
Although not quite as fast as
190
00:05:50,496 --> 00:05:52,386
passing existing storage, it's
191
00:05:52,386 --> 00:05:53,936
still faster than the scalar
192
00:05:53,936 --> 00:05:55,936
approach and, in some cases,
193
00:05:55,936 --> 00:05:58,846
will simplify your code.
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00:06:00,076 --> 00:06:02,006
Another common task that vDSP
195
00:06:02,006 --> 00:06:03,286
can vectorize is type
196
00:06:03,286 --> 00:06:03,976
conversion.
197
00:06:04,536 --> 00:06:06,416
This example converts an array
198
00:06:06,416 --> 00:06:07,566
containing double precision
199
00:06:07,566 --> 00:06:10,256
values to 16-bit unsigned
200
00:06:10,256 --> 00:06:11,846
integer values rounding toward
201
00:06:11,846 --> 00:06:12,326
zero.
202
00:06:13,676 --> 00:06:16,796
The scalar version uses map with
203
00:06:16,796 --> 00:06:17,776
explicit rounding.
204
00:06:18,136 --> 00:06:20,026
Again, this is a perfectly
205
00:06:20,026 --> 00:06:21,776
reasonable technique to use, but
206
00:06:21,776 --> 00:06:24,156
vDSP can vectorize this task to
207
00:06:24,156 --> 00:06:25,266
improve performance.
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00:06:25,806 --> 00:06:29,196
In this example, vDSP is
209
00:06:29,196 --> 00:06:31,036
approximately four times faster
210
00:06:31,036 --> 00:06:32,616
than the previous scalar
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00:06:32,616 --> 00:06:33,446
implementation.
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00:06:34,876 --> 00:06:37,386
The new Swift version of the
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00:06:37,386 --> 00:06:38,996
vDSP function offers a clear
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00:06:38,996 --> 00:06:39,746
interface.
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00:06:40,596 --> 00:06:42,166
The function accepts a source
216
00:06:42,166 --> 00:06:42,486
array.
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00:06:42,916 --> 00:06:44,116
The integer type you ought to
218
00:06:44,116 --> 00:06:46,036
convert each element to, and an
219
00:06:46,036 --> 00:06:47,636
enumeration to specify the
220
00:06:47,636 --> 00:06:48,196
rounding.
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00:06:51,936 --> 00:06:54,416
vDSP provides Fourier transforms
222
00:06:54,416 --> 00:06:55,946
for transforming one-dimensional
223
00:06:56,056 --> 00:06:57,966
and two-dimensional data between
224
00:06:57,966 --> 00:06:59,176
the time domain and the
225
00:06:59,176 --> 00:07:00,176
frequency domain.
226
00:07:00,456 --> 00:07:03,276
A forward Fourier transform of a
227
00:07:03,276 --> 00:07:05,286
signal decomposes it into its
228
00:07:05,286 --> 00:07:06,486
component sign waves.
229
00:07:06,896 --> 00:07:08,106
That's the frequency domain
230
00:07:08,106 --> 00:07:08,926
representation.
231
00:07:10,006 --> 00:07:12,056
Conversely, an inverse transform
232
00:07:12,056 --> 00:07:13,076
of that frequency domain
233
00:07:13,076 --> 00:07:14,886
representation recreates the
234
00:07:14,886 --> 00:07:16,506
original signal and that's the
235
00:07:16,506 --> 00:07:17,986
time domain representation.
236
00:07:18,446 --> 00:07:20,576
Fourier transforms have many
237
00:07:20,576 --> 00:07:22,296
uses in both signal and image
238
00:07:22,296 --> 00:07:22,936
processing.
239
00:07:23,436 --> 00:07:24,936
For example, once an audio
240
00:07:24,936 --> 00:07:26,146
signal has been forward
241
00:07:26,146 --> 00:07:27,816
transformed, you can easily
242
00:07:27,816 --> 00:07:29,726
reduce or increase certain
243
00:07:29,726 --> 00:07:31,026
frequencies to equalize the
244
00:07:31,026 --> 00:07:31,406
audio.
245
00:07:33,136 --> 00:07:35,056
The classic API is reasonably
246
00:07:35,056 --> 00:07:36,086
easy to follow if you're
247
00:07:36,086 --> 00:07:36,666
familiar with it.
248
00:07:37,116 --> 00:07:38,686
You begin by creating a setup
249
00:07:38,686 --> 00:07:40,346
object specifying the number of
250
00:07:40,346 --> 00:07:41,666
elements you want to transform
251
00:07:41,746 --> 00:07:42,766
and the direction.
252
00:07:43,386 --> 00:07:45,166
Then, after creating two arrays
253
00:07:45,166 --> 00:07:46,886
to receive results, you call the
254
00:07:46,886 --> 00:07:47,776
execute function.
255
00:07:47,776 --> 00:07:49,496
Once you're done, you need to
256
00:07:49,496 --> 00:07:51,036
remember to destroy the setup to
257
00:07:51,036 --> 00:07:52,796
free the resources allocated to
258
00:07:53,256 --> 00:07:53,326
it.
259
00:07:53,956 --> 00:07:56,476
The new API simplifies the
260
00:07:56,476 --> 00:07:57,946
instantiation of the setup
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00:07:57,946 --> 00:08:00,596
object and the transform itself
262
00:08:00,596 --> 00:08:02,536
is a method with parameter names
263
00:08:02,606 --> 00:08:04,016
on the DFT instance.
264
00:08:04,016 --> 00:08:06,336
And now you don't need to worry
265
00:08:06,336 --> 00:08:07,576
about freeing the resources.
266
00:08:07,576 --> 00:08:08,546
We do that for you.
267
00:08:10,376 --> 00:08:12,686
And much like the vDSP functions
268
00:08:12,686 --> 00:08:14,046
we've looked at, there's a
269
00:08:14,046 --> 00:08:15,626
self-allocating version of the
270
00:08:15,626 --> 00:08:17,796
transform function that creates
271
00:08:17,796 --> 00:08:19,516
and returns the result's arrays
272
00:08:19,516 --> 00:08:20,046
for you.
273
00:08:23,996 --> 00:08:25,796
If you work with audio data, you
274
00:08:25,796 --> 00:08:27,596
may be familiar with biquadratic
275
00:08:27,596 --> 00:08:28,776
or biquad filtering.
276
00:08:29,606 --> 00:08:31,036
Biquad filters can be used to
277
00:08:31,036 --> 00:08:32,655
equalize audio to shape the
278
00:08:32,655 --> 00:08:34,216
frequency response, allowing you
279
00:08:34,216 --> 00:08:36,506
to, for example, remove either
280
00:08:36,506 --> 00:08:37,966
low or high frequencies.
281
00:08:39,186 --> 00:08:41,966
vDSP's biquad feature operates
282
00:08:41,966 --> 00:08:43,395
on single and multichannel
283
00:08:43,395 --> 00:08:45,356
signals, and uses a set of
284
00:08:45,386 --> 00:08:46,996
individual filter objects called
285
00:08:46,996 --> 00:08:47,716
sections.
286
00:08:48,286 --> 00:08:49,986
The filters are cascaded; that
287
00:08:49,986 --> 00:08:51,156
is, they are set up in a
288
00:08:51,156 --> 00:08:53,006
sequence and the entire signal
289
00:08:53,006 --> 00:08:54,476
passes through each filter in
290
00:08:54,476 --> 00:08:54,956
turn.
291
00:08:55,956 --> 00:08:57,166
The filters are defined by a
292
00:08:57,166 --> 00:08:59,086
series of coefficients that plug
293
00:08:59,086 --> 00:09:00,286
into the equation shown here.
294
00:09:00,896 --> 00:09:05,336
In this example, these values
295
00:09:05,336 --> 00:09:07,286
form a low pass filter; that is,
296
00:09:07,286 --> 00:09:08,756
a filter that reduces high
297
00:09:08,756 --> 00:09:09,456
frequencies.
298
00:09:09,876 --> 00:09:11,906
Here's the code using vDSP's
299
00:09:11,906 --> 00:09:13,816
classic API to create the biquad
300
00:09:13,816 --> 00:09:15,516
setup using the coefficients in
301
00:09:15,516 --> 00:09:16,446
the previous slide.
302
00:09:17,196 --> 00:09:19,506
And here's the code to apply
303
00:09:19,506 --> 00:09:21,386
that biquad filter to an array
304
00:09:21,386 --> 00:09:23,056
named signal, returning the
305
00:09:23,056 --> 00:09:25,086
result to an array named output.
306
00:09:25,086 --> 00:09:27,006
Let's look at the same
307
00:09:27,006 --> 00:09:28,696
functionality implemented with a
308
00:09:28,696 --> 00:09:29,436
new API.
309
00:09:31,716 --> 00:09:33,906
As you can see, the new API
310
00:09:34,036 --> 00:09:35,866
vastly simplifies the creation
311
00:09:35,866 --> 00:09:36,846
of the biquad structure.
312
00:09:37,596 --> 00:09:39,196
You simply pass the coefficients
313
00:09:39,196 --> 00:09:40,896
to the biquad initializer and
314
00:09:40,896 --> 00:09:42,466
specify the number of channels
315
00:09:42,466 --> 00:09:43,326
and sections.
316
00:09:44,286 --> 00:09:46,346
Applying the biquad filter to a
317
00:09:46,346 --> 00:09:47,926
signal is a single function
318
00:09:47,926 --> 00:09:48,226
call.
319
00:09:51,496 --> 00:09:54,456
Now, let's look at the new API
320
00:09:54,456 --> 00:09:55,686
we've created for Accelerate's
321
00:09:55,686 --> 00:09:57,356
library for fast mathematical
322
00:09:57,356 --> 00:09:58,856
operations on large arrays,
323
00:09:59,146 --> 00:09:59,956
vForce.
324
00:10:01,896 --> 00:10:03,856
vForce provides transcendental
325
00:10:03,856 --> 00:10:05,976
functions not included in vDSP.
326
00:10:06,526 --> 00:10:08,196
These include exponential,
327
00:10:08,346 --> 00:10:09,576
logarithmic, and trig
328
00:10:09,576 --> 00:10:10,376
operations.
329
00:10:12,256 --> 00:10:13,996
A typical example of vForce
330
00:10:13,996 --> 00:10:15,496
would be to calculate the square
331
00:10:15,496 --> 00:10:16,956
root of each element in a large
332
00:10:16,956 --> 00:10:17,356
array.
333
00:10:18,006 --> 00:10:19,556
The scalar version of this code
334
00:10:19,556 --> 00:10:20,466
could use map.
335
00:10:22,196 --> 00:10:24,116
vForce provides a vectorized
336
00:10:24,116 --> 00:10:25,806
function to calculate the square
337
00:10:25,806 --> 00:10:27,666
roots that in some situations
338
00:10:27,666 --> 00:10:29,436
can be up to 10 times faster
339
00:10:29,586 --> 00:10:31,096
than the scalar implementation.
340
00:10:32,856 --> 00:10:34,996
The new Swift overlay offers an
341
00:10:34,996 --> 00:10:36,756
API that's consistent with the
342
00:10:36,756 --> 00:10:39,536
new vDSP functions and provides
343
00:10:39,536 --> 00:10:40,806
the performance and energy
344
00:10:40,806 --> 00:10:41,866
efficiency benefits of
345
00:10:41,866 --> 00:10:42,756
vectorization.
346
00:10:43,296 --> 00:10:46,186
And much like we've seen
347
00:10:46,186 --> 00:10:46,846
earlier, there's a
348
00:10:46,846 --> 00:10:48,746
self-allocating version that
349
00:10:48,746 --> 00:10:50,486
returns an array containing the
350
00:10:50,486 --> 00:10:51,806
square roots of each element in
351
00:10:51,806 --> 00:10:53,000
the supplied array.
352
00:10:57,056 --> 00:10:58,256
Next, we'll take a look at the
353
00:10:58,256 --> 00:11:01,036
new API we've created for
354
00:11:01,736 --> 00:11:02,456
Quadrature.
355
00:11:02,566 --> 00:11:04,516
Quadrature is a historic term
356
00:11:04,516 --> 00:11:06,006
for determining the area under a
357
00:11:06,006 --> 00:11:06,416
curve.
358
00:11:07,246 --> 00:11:09,126
It provides an approximation of
359
00:11:09,126 --> 00:11:10,266
the definite integrative
360
00:11:10,266 --> 00:11:11,946
function over a finite or
361
00:11:11,946 --> 00:11:12,956
infinite interval.
362
00:11:13,556 --> 00:11:15,736
In this example, we'll use
363
00:11:15,736 --> 00:11:17,186
Quadrature to approximate the
364
00:11:17,186 --> 00:11:19,046
area of a semicircle, shown here
365
00:11:19,046 --> 00:11:21,026
in green, by integrating the
366
00:11:21,026 --> 00:11:22,536
functions shown.
367
00:11:24,396 --> 00:11:26,836
Much like the Biquad code for
368
00:11:26,836 --> 00:11:28,896
vDSP, there's a fair amount of
369
00:11:28,896 --> 00:11:30,376
code required to use the
370
00:11:30,376 --> 00:11:31,926
existing Quadrature API.
371
00:11:32,616 --> 00:11:35,006
The first step is to define a
372
00:11:35,006 --> 00:11:36,346
structure that describes a
373
00:11:36,346 --> 00:11:37,616
function to integrate.
374
00:11:39,076 --> 00:11:41,716
The second step is to define the
375
00:11:41,716 --> 00:11:43,456
integration options including
376
00:11:43,456 --> 00:11:44,726
the integration algorithm.
377
00:11:45,496 --> 00:11:48,296
Finally, with the function on
378
00:11:48,296 --> 00:11:50,416
options defined, you can perform
379
00:11:50,416 --> 00:11:51,566
the integration using the
380
00:11:51,566 --> 00:11:53,016
Quadrature integrate function.
381
00:11:55,946 --> 00:11:58,386
The new API simplifies the code.
382
00:11:58,886 --> 00:12:00,476
One great advantage is that you
383
00:12:00,476 --> 00:12:02,256
can specify the integrand, that
384
00:12:02,256 --> 00:12:03,196
is, the function to be
385
00:12:03,196 --> 00:12:05,246
integrated, as a trading closure
386
00:12:05,426 --> 00:12:06,626
rather than as a C function
387
00:12:06,626 --> 00:12:07,066
pointer.
388
00:12:07,636 --> 00:12:09,186
This means you can easily pass
389
00:12:09,186 --> 00:12:10,646
values into the integrand.
390
00:12:11,606 --> 00:12:13,716
Also note that integrators are
391
00:12:13,716 --> 00:12:15,616
now enumerations with associated
392
00:12:15,616 --> 00:12:16,286
values.
393
00:12:16,736 --> 00:12:18,146
So, there's no need to supply
394
00:12:18,146 --> 00:12:19,986
unnecessary points for interval
395
00:12:20,016 --> 00:12:21,446
or maximum intervals here.
396
00:12:21,806 --> 00:12:24,896
For example, you can pass the
397
00:12:24,896 --> 00:12:26,236
enumeration for the globally
398
00:12:26,236 --> 00:12:28,376
adaptive integrator specifying
399
00:12:28,456 --> 00:12:29,596
the points for interval and
400
00:12:29,596 --> 00:12:30,686
maximum intervals.
401
00:12:33,456 --> 00:12:36,676
Now, let's look at the new API
402
00:12:36,806 --> 00:12:38,316
we've created for Accelerate's
403
00:12:38,316 --> 00:12:39,536
image processing library,
404
00:12:39,536 --> 00:12:40,216
vImage.
405
00:12:41,876 --> 00:12:43,606
vImage is a library containing a
406
00:12:43,606 --> 00:12:44,936
rich collection of image
407
00:12:44,936 --> 00:12:45,906
processing tools.
408
00:12:46,536 --> 00:12:48,456
It's designed to work seamlessly
409
00:12:48,456 --> 00:12:51,186
with both core graphics and core
410
00:12:51,186 --> 00:12:51,736
video.
411
00:12:51,786 --> 00:12:54,506
It includes operations such as
412
00:12:54,506 --> 00:12:56,966
alpha blending, format
413
00:12:56,966 --> 00:12:59,216
conversions, histogram
414
00:12:59,216 --> 00:13:01,696
operations, convolution,
415
00:13:02,596 --> 00:13:05,216
geometry, and morphology.
416
00:13:07,516 --> 00:13:10,336
Our new Swift API introduces
417
00:13:10,336 --> 00:13:11,806
lots of new features that makes
418
00:13:11,806 --> 00:13:14,116
using vImage in Swift easier and
419
00:13:14,116 --> 00:13:15,006
more concise.
420
00:13:15,556 --> 00:13:16,906
We've implemented flags as an
421
00:13:16,906 --> 00:13:17,576
option set.
422
00:13:18,236 --> 00:13:20,436
vImages throw Swift errors.
423
00:13:20,436 --> 00:13:21,886
And we've hidden some of the
424
00:13:21,886 --> 00:13:23,466
requirements for mutability and
425
00:13:23,466 --> 00:13:25,236
working with unmanaged types.
426
00:13:27,646 --> 00:13:28,696
If you're working with core
427
00:13:28,696 --> 00:13:30,076
graphics images, there's a
428
00:13:30,076 --> 00:13:31,606
common workflow to get that
429
00:13:31,606 --> 00:13:33,356
image data into a vImage buffer.
430
00:13:35,076 --> 00:13:36,706
First, you need to create a
431
00:13:36,706 --> 00:13:38,386
description of the CG images
432
00:13:38,386 --> 00:13:38,916
format.
433
00:13:40,286 --> 00:13:42,166
Then, instantiate a vImage
434
00:13:42,166 --> 00:13:42,596
buffer.
435
00:13:43,366 --> 00:13:44,766
Initialize that buffer from the
436
00:13:44,766 --> 00:13:45,246
image.
437
00:13:45,246 --> 00:13:46,986
And finally, check for errors in
438
00:13:46,986 --> 00:13:48,426
a non-Swift way.
439
00:13:48,696 --> 00:13:50,656
And that's a lot of boilerplate
440
00:13:50,656 --> 00:13:52,236
code for a common operation.
441
00:13:53,226 --> 00:13:55,936
The new API wraps up all of that
442
00:13:55,936 --> 00:13:58,056
code into a single throwable
443
00:13:58,056 --> 00:13:58,696
initializer.
444
00:13:59,906 --> 00:14:02,396
However, since we're going to
445
00:14:02,396 --> 00:14:04,196
use a CG images format later,
446
00:14:04,356 --> 00:14:05,896
here's similar functionality
447
00:14:05,966 --> 00:14:07,516
implemented in two steps with a
448
00:14:07,516 --> 00:14:07,976
new API.
449
00:14:08,726 --> 00:14:10,876
We've added a new initializer to
450
00:14:10,876 --> 00:14:12,686
CG image format using a CG
451
00:14:12,686 --> 00:14:15,086
image, and an alternative buffer
452
00:14:15,086 --> 00:14:16,976
initializer that accepts a CG
453
00:14:16,976 --> 00:14:18,716
image and an explicit format
454
00:14:18,716 --> 00:14:19,266
description.
455
00:14:19,666 --> 00:14:22,546
Once you're finished working
456
00:14:22,546 --> 00:14:23,806
with a buffer, here's the
457
00:14:23,806 --> 00:14:25,236
classic vImage function to
458
00:14:25,236 --> 00:14:26,716
create a CG image from the
459
00:14:26,716 --> 00:14:27,736
buffer's contents.
460
00:14:28,696 --> 00:14:30,856
And our new API simplifies that
461
00:14:30,856 --> 00:14:33,336
operation too with a new create
462
00:14:33,336 --> 00:14:34,796
CG image method that uses the
463
00:14:34,796 --> 00:14:36,296
format we've just generated from
464
00:14:36,296 --> 00:14:36,776
the image.
465
00:14:37,876 --> 00:14:40,156
One important use case for
466
00:14:40,156 --> 00:14:41,916
vImage is converting between
467
00:14:41,916 --> 00:14:43,286
different domains and different
468
00:14:43,286 --> 00:14:44,026
formats.
469
00:14:44,576 --> 00:14:46,636
vImage's any-to-any convertors
470
00:14:46,636 --> 00:14:48,246
can convert between core video
471
00:14:48,246 --> 00:14:50,206
and core graphics, and convert
472
00:14:50,206 --> 00:14:51,966
between different core graphics
473
00:14:51,966 --> 00:14:52,586
formats.
474
00:14:53,926 --> 00:14:55,926
For example, you might want to
475
00:14:55,926 --> 00:14:57,956
convert a CMYK core graphics
476
00:14:57,956 --> 00:14:59,876
image to RGB.
477
00:15:01,056 --> 00:15:03,706
The existing API to create a
478
00:15:03,706 --> 00:15:05,516
convertor accepts the source and
479
00:15:05,516 --> 00:15:06,756
destination formats for the
480
00:15:06,756 --> 00:15:08,446
conversion and returns an
481
00:15:08,446 --> 00:15:09,646
unmanaged convertor.
482
00:15:11,036 --> 00:15:12,486
You take the managed reference
483
00:15:12,486 --> 00:15:14,126
of the convertor and pass that
484
00:15:14,126 --> 00:15:15,116
to the function that does the
485
00:15:15,116 --> 00:15:15,756
conversion.
486
00:15:17,216 --> 00:15:19,906
Our new API adds a new static
487
00:15:19,906 --> 00:15:21,276
make function to the existing
488
00:15:21,276 --> 00:15:22,996
convertor type that returns a
489
00:15:22,996 --> 00:15:24,336
convertor instance.
490
00:15:25,006 --> 00:15:27,566
The conversion is done with the
491
00:15:27,566 --> 00:15:29,156
convert method on the convertor
492
00:15:29,156 --> 00:15:29,856
instance.
493
00:15:31,076 --> 00:15:33,176
Finally, let's look at working
494
00:15:33,176 --> 00:15:34,896
with core video image formats.
495
00:15:35,456 --> 00:15:37,396
In a typical example, you may
496
00:15:37,396 --> 00:15:39,176
want to create an image format
497
00:15:39,176 --> 00:15:40,926
description from a core video
498
00:15:40,926 --> 00:15:43,276
pixel buffer and calculate its
499
00:15:43,276 --> 00:15:43,996
channel count.
500
00:15:45,406 --> 00:15:46,786
Here's the code required by the
501
00:15:46,786 --> 00:15:49,366
classic vImage API to create an
502
00:15:49,366 --> 00:15:50,756
image format description from a
503
00:15:50,756 --> 00:15:52,406
pixel buffer and get its channel
504
00:15:52,406 --> 00:15:52,766
count.
505
00:15:53,216 --> 00:15:55,976
The new API provides the same
506
00:15:55,976 --> 00:15:57,516
functionality in two lines of
507
00:15:57,516 --> 00:15:57,946
code.
508
00:15:58,756 --> 00:16:00,446
You create an instance of a core
509
00:16:00,446 --> 00:16:01,946
video image format from a pixel
510
00:16:01,946 --> 00:16:03,826
buffer using a new static make
511
00:16:03,826 --> 00:16:04,316
function.
512
00:16:04,956 --> 00:16:07,136
And simply access its channel
513
00:16:07,136 --> 00:16:11,866
count as a property.
514
00:16:13,266 --> 00:16:14,806
That was a quick tour of a
515
00:16:14,806 --> 00:16:15,936
fraction of the new API.
516
00:16:16,426 --> 00:16:18,506
Let's now take a look at Linpack
517
00:16:18,506 --> 00:16:20,126
Benchmark and see just how much
518
00:16:20,126 --> 00:16:22,036
faster and more energy efficient
519
00:16:22,036 --> 00:16:23,016
Accelerate can be.
520
00:16:24,076 --> 00:16:25,696
The Linpack Benchmark came out
521
00:16:25,696 --> 00:16:27,146
of the Linpack library which
522
00:16:27,146 --> 00:16:28,776
started as a set of routines for
523
00:16:28,776 --> 00:16:31,026
providing fast computational
524
00:16:31,026 --> 00:16:31,856
linear algebra.
525
00:16:32,206 --> 00:16:34,576
This was later subsumed by a
526
00:16:34,576 --> 00:16:36,006
library called LApack, which
527
00:16:36,006 --> 00:16:37,216
stands for Linear algebra
528
00:16:37,216 --> 00:16:37,796
package.
529
00:16:38,396 --> 00:16:40,536
LApack was developed to take
530
00:16:40,536 --> 00:16:42,006
advantage of these new things at
531
00:16:42,006 --> 00:16:43,066
the time called caches.
532
00:16:43,066 --> 00:16:45,506
LApack is comprised of many
533
00:16:45,616 --> 00:16:46,436
blocked algorithms.
534
00:16:46,436 --> 00:16:48,426
These algorit6thms are built on
535
00:16:48,426 --> 00:16:49,496
top of another library called
536
00:16:49,496 --> 00:16:51,036
BLAS, which stands for basic
537
00:16:51,036 --> 00:16:52,786
linear algebra subroutines.
538
00:16:52,956 --> 00:16:55,416
We'll talk more about BLAS later
539
00:16:55,416 --> 00:16:56,366
in this presentation.
540
00:16:56,786 --> 00:16:58,806
For now, keep in mind that the
541
00:16:58,806 --> 00:17:00,536
Linpack Benchmark runs on top of
542
00:17:00,536 --> 00:17:02,246
LApack, which runs on top of
543
00:17:02,246 --> 00:17:03,000
BLAS.
544
00:17:05,955 --> 00:17:07,435
The Linpack Benchmark measures
545
00:17:07,435 --> 00:17:09,396
how quickly a platform can solve
546
00:17:09,396 --> 00:17:10,675
a general system of linear
547
00:17:10,675 --> 00:17:11,376
equations.
548
00:17:12,156 --> 00:17:13,806
It is comprised of two steps.
549
00:17:14,116 --> 00:17:15,896
The matrix factorization step,
550
00:17:16,036 --> 00:17:17,665
followed by the backsole step.
551
00:17:18,425 --> 00:17:19,935
By fixing the algorithm, we're
552
00:17:19,935 --> 00:17:21,336
able to see how well different
553
00:17:21,336 --> 00:17:22,596
platforms are at running the
554
00:17:22,596 --> 00:17:23,146
algorithm.
555
00:17:24,036 --> 00:17:25,415
This provides us with a method
556
00:17:25,415 --> 00:17:26,425
of comparing different
557
00:17:26,425 --> 00:17:27,096
platforms.
558
00:17:27,776 --> 00:17:29,036
The Linpack Benchmark has
559
00:17:29,036 --> 00:17:30,086
evolved over time.
560
00:17:30,666 --> 00:17:32,626
Originally, it solved a 100 by
561
00:17:32,626 --> 00:17:35,746
100 system, and later a 1000 by
562
00:17:35,746 --> 00:17:36,826
1000 system.
563
00:17:37,426 --> 00:17:39,556
The variant most often used
564
00:17:39,556 --> 00:17:41,326
today is the no holds barred
565
00:17:41,326 --> 00:17:43,476
variant, where the problem size
566
00:17:43,536 --> 00:17:44,696
can be as large as you want.
567
00:17:45,366 --> 00:17:47,206
This is the variant we will be
568
00:17:47,206 --> 00:17:47,876
running today.
569
00:17:48,476 --> 00:17:51,026
We are now going to compare
570
00:17:51,026 --> 00:17:52,726
Linpack performance on an iPhone
571
00:17:52,726 --> 00:17:53,316
10S.
572
00:17:53,806 --> 00:17:55,876
At the top in orange, we're
573
00:17:55,876 --> 00:17:57,676
going to run an unoptimized
574
00:17:57,676 --> 00:17:58,226
Linpack.
575
00:17:58,996 --> 00:18:00,656
This Linpack Benchmark does not
576
00:18:00,656 --> 00:18:01,766
make use of the accelerate
577
00:18:01,766 --> 00:18:02,306
framework.
578
00:18:02,966 --> 00:18:04,366
It relies on software that is
579
00:18:04,366 --> 00:18:05,846
not tuned to the process that it
580
00:18:05,846 --> 00:18:06,796
is running on.
581
00:18:07,106 --> 00:18:10,976
Let's see what that looks like.
582
00:18:11,046 --> 00:18:12,446
We are now going to compare that
583
00:18:12,446 --> 00:18:13,436
with using the Accelerate
584
00:18:13,436 --> 00:18:15,636
framework; that is, we're going
585
00:18:15,636 --> 00:18:17,486
to run the same benchmark on the
586
00:18:17,486 --> 00:18:19,346
same platform, but using the
587
00:18:19,346 --> 00:18:21,086
Accelerate framework which is
588
00:18:21,086 --> 00:18:22,286
tuned to the platform.
589
00:18:25,856 --> 00:18:27,456
We can see that by using the
590
00:18:27,456 --> 00:18:29,096
Accelerate framework, we are
591
00:18:29,096 --> 00:18:30,996
over 24 times faster.
592
00:18:31,836 --> 00:18:33,376
This will not only save time,
593
00:18:33,376 --> 00:18:35,416
but also energy, which improves
594
00:18:35,416 --> 00:18:36,166
battery life.
595
00:18:36,936 --> 00:18:38,436
We're now going to shift gears
596
00:18:38,436 --> 00:18:39,606
and take a look at the primary
597
00:18:39,606 --> 00:18:40,876
workhorse routine for the
598
00:18:40,876 --> 00:18:42,716
Linpack Benchmark called GEMM.
599
00:18:44,396 --> 00:18:46,916
As I mentioned earlier, Linpack,
600
00:18:47,166 --> 00:18:49,316
which runs on LApack, is built
601
00:18:49,316 --> 00:18:50,276
on top of BLAS.
602
00:18:51,036 --> 00:18:52,746
Within BLAS is a routine called
603
00:18:52,746 --> 00:18:54,346
GEMM, which stands for general
604
00:18:54,346 --> 00:18:55,446
matrix multiplier.
605
00:18:56,086 --> 00:18:58,156
This routine is used to
606
00:18:58,156 --> 00:18:59,746
implement several other blocked
607
00:18:59,746 --> 00:19:01,866
routines in BLAS, which are used
608
00:19:01,866 --> 00:19:03,536
inside the blocked algorithms at
609
00:19:03,596 --> 00:19:06,106
LApack, most notably the matrix
610
00:19:06,106 --> 00:19:07,556
factorization and solver
611
00:19:07,556 --> 00:19:08,256
routines.
612
00:19:09,516 --> 00:19:11,006
Because of this, GEMM is
613
00:19:11,006 --> 00:19:12,746
sometimes used as a proxy for
614
00:19:12,746 --> 00:19:13,456
performance.
615
00:19:13,456 --> 00:19:15,246
For this presentation, we are
616
00:19:15,246 --> 00:19:16,436
specifically going to look at
617
00:19:16,436 --> 00:19:18,146
the single-precision variant of
618
00:19:18,146 --> 00:19:18,526
GEMM.
619
00:19:20,466 --> 00:19:21,846
Here, we're going to compare the
620
00:19:21,846 --> 00:19:23,516
performance of the Eigen library
621
00:19:23,516 --> 00:19:24,606
with that of Accelerate.
622
00:19:25,436 --> 00:19:26,916
Both the Eigen library and the
623
00:19:26,916 --> 00:19:28,856
Accelerate framework will run on
624
00:19:28,856 --> 00:19:30,456
top of an iPhone 10S.
625
00:19:30,916 --> 00:19:32,006
Both will be performing a
626
00:19:32,006 --> 00:19:33,286
single-precision matrix
627
00:19:33,286 --> 00:19:33,836
multiplier.
628
00:19:34,236 --> 00:19:38,536
Let's see how well Eigen does.
629
00:19:38,536 --> 00:19:40,346
Eigen tops out at about 51
630
00:19:40,346 --> 00:19:41,096
gigaflops.
631
00:19:41,296 --> 00:19:43,086
Now, let's see how well
632
00:19:43,086 --> 00:19:43,916
Accelerate does.
633
00:19:44,476 --> 00:19:47,616
We can see that the Accelerate
634
00:19:47,616 --> 00:19:48,916
framework is almost two and a
635
00:19:48,916 --> 00:19:50,716
half times faster than Eigen on
636
00:19:50,716 --> 00:19:51,606
the same platform.
637
00:19:52,636 --> 00:19:53,996
This is because the Accelerate
638
00:19:53,996 --> 00:19:55,696
framework is hand-tuned to the
639
00:19:55,696 --> 00:19:57,706
platform, allowing us to fully
640
00:19:57,706 --> 00:19:59,146
take advantage of what the
641
00:19:59,146 --> 00:20:01,046
platform can offer.
642
00:20:01,046 --> 00:20:03,706
So, if you're a developer, using
643
00:20:03,706 --> 00:20:04,876
Accelerate in your app will
644
00:20:04,876 --> 00:20:05,996
offer better performance.
645
00:20:06,486 --> 00:20:08,106
This performance translates into
646
00:20:08,106 --> 00:20:09,676
less energy, which means better
647
00:20:09,676 --> 00:20:11,696
battery life and an overall
648
00:20:11,886 --> 00:20:13,056
better experience for your
649
00:20:13,056 --> 00:20:13,566
users.
650
00:20:15,586 --> 00:20:17,896
In summary, Accelerate provides
651
00:20:17,896 --> 00:20:19,036
functions for performing
652
00:20:19,036 --> 00:20:20,756
large-scale mathematical
653
00:20:20,756 --> 00:20:22,166
computations and image
654
00:20:22,166 --> 00:20:24,136
calculations that are fast and
655
00:20:24,136 --> 00:20:24,966
energy efficient.
656
00:20:25,296 --> 00:20:27,006
And now we've added a
657
00:20:27,006 --> 00:20:29,136
Swift-friendly API that makes
658
00:20:29,136 --> 00:20:30,616
Accelerate's libraries super
659
00:20:30,616 --> 00:20:32,396
easy to work with so your users
660
00:20:32,396 --> 00:20:33,256
will benefit from that
661
00:20:33,256 --> 00:20:34,536
performance and energy
662
00:20:34,536 --> 00:20:35,126
efficiency.
663
00:20:36,516 --> 00:20:37,866
Please visit our site where we
664
00:20:37,866 --> 00:20:39,536
have samples, articles, and
665
00:20:39,536 --> 00:20:41,036
extensive reference material
666
00:20:41,036 --> 00:20:42,496
that covers the entire
667
00:20:42,536 --> 00:20:43,906
Accelerate framework.
668
00:20:44,266 --> 00:20:45,176
Thank you very much.
|
1. Introduction {#sec1-molecules-23-00117}
===============
Alzheimer\'s disease (AD) is one of the most prevalent age-related diseases mostly affecting the elderly population. Of the estimated 5.5 million Americans with AD in 2017, 5.3 million comprising about 96% of the patients' population, were 65 years of age or older \[[@B1-molecules-23-00117]\]. The disease also accounts for up to 70% of all cases of dementia and has a global prevalence of about 47 million people in 2015 \[[@B2-molecules-23-00117]\]. Moreover, the projected figure for dementia by the year 2050 is 131.5 million highlighting the rapid rate of increase in its importance. As life expectancy continues to increase all over the world in parallel with economic development, the risk of AD along with its cost and social burden will be felt even more in the future. The disease is characterized by progressive cognitive deficit and irreversible neuronal deterioration. To date, there is no cure for AD and the average lifespan between the manifestation of clinical symptoms and death is about 8.5 years \[[@B3-molecules-23-00117]\]. The memory deficits in AD are also associated with behavioral changes making patient care management very challenging.
The therapeutic options for AD are very limited with drug therapy mainly directed at the cholinergic system by using cholinesterase inhibitors such as donepezil, galantamine, and rivastigmine. A limited benefit by using non-competitive *N*-methyl-[d]{.smallcaps}-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists including memantine have also been employed \[[@B4-molecules-23-00117],[@B5-molecules-23-00117]\]. In the recent review article, the role of natural products in ameliorating the various neurodegenerative diseases has been outlined \[[@B6-molecules-23-00117]\]. Significant advances in understanding the therapeutic potential of polyphenolic compounds such as flavonoids \[[@B7-molecules-23-00117],[@B8-molecules-23-00117],[@B9-molecules-23-00117],[@B10-molecules-23-00117],[@B11-molecules-23-00117],[@B12-molecules-23-00117]\], caffeic acid derivatives \[[@B13-molecules-23-00117]\] and aromatic diterpenoids \[[@B14-molecules-23-00117]\] that benefit AD through multiple mechanisms of actions have also been presented. One class of compounds that has not received much attention as potential therapy for AD is the monoterpene class. In the present communication, a systematic review of these compounds with special emphasis on iridoids is presented.
2. Overview of Iridoids Chemistry {#sec2-molecules-23-00117}
=================================
Iridoids are the monoterpenoid class of natural products that are constructed with 10 carbon skeleton. One structural marker of this compounds is the *cis**-***fused *cy*clopenta\[c\]pyran system that exist in nature as glycosides, aglycones, in the form of secoiridoids or bisiridoids forms ([Figure 1](#molecules-23-00117-f001){ref-type="fig"}). In the case of secoiridoids, the C7--C8 bond of the iridoid skeleton is cleaved following a series of oxidation steps to give rise to compounds like secologanin ([Figure 1](#molecules-23-00117-f001){ref-type="fig"}), which also serves as a precursor to the synthesis of alkaloids.
The biosynthesis pathway of terpenoids has been reviewed in the various literatures \[[@B15-molecules-23-00117],[@B16-molecules-23-00117]\] and involves some key biosynthetic intermediates like the mevalonic acid. Even though the starting primary metabolite goes as far back as a two-carbon metabolite, acetyl-CoA, the basic skeleton of all terpenoids is defined by the 5-carbon isoprene units in the form of isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP) and dimethylallyl pyrophosphate (DMAPP). The precursor of all terpenoids in the further steps of reaction is the geranyl pyrophosphate (GPP) that is made from two isoprene units ([Figure 2](#molecules-23-00117-f002){ref-type="fig"}). The sesquiterpenes (15 carbon), diterpenes (20 carbon) and triterpenes (30 carbons) are classical examples of terpenoids that arise from condensation of these isoprene units through a serious of enzyme-catalyzed reactions. The GPP gives rise to a range of cyclic and acyclic monoterpenes of biological significance \[[@B17-molecules-23-00117]\], while the 8-hydroxygeraniol unique pathways leads to iridoids and their derivatives ([Figure 2](#molecules-23-00117-f002){ref-type="fig"}). The compounds scrutinized for their potential effect in ameliorating the biochemical and behavioral symptoms of AD are shown in [Figure 3](#molecules-23-00117-f003){ref-type="fig"}.
3. General Function of Iridoids and other Monoterpenes in Nature {#sec3-molecules-23-00117}
================================================================
Why plants and animals produce secondary metabolites has been a century-old question that has not yet been fully answered. A number of general arguments presented in the last few decades have been based on the role of such compounds in cell-cell communication within the organism or plant-animal interactions including defense against pathogens \[[@B15-molecules-23-00117],[@B18-molecules-23-00117],[@B19-molecules-23-00117],[@B20-molecules-23-00117]\]. With respect to chemical defense against herbivores and pathogens, the role of iridoids is well defined as these compounds have been demonstrated to be bitter and show good sets of biological activities \[[@B21-molecules-23-00117],[@B22-molecules-23-00117]\]. Interestingly, animals such as butterfly are known to accumulate these chemicals as defense against pathogens \[[@B23-molecules-23-00117],[@B24-molecules-23-00117],[@B25-molecules-23-00117]\]. The biological activities of iridoids in mammalian system have also been the subject of intense scrutiny in recent years and effects including antidiabetic properties have recently been reviewed along with other monoterpenes \[[@B17-molecules-23-00117]\]. In this communication, the promise of monoterpenes, but primarily iridoids, ([Figure 3](#molecules-23-00117-f003){ref-type="fig"}) for treating AD is scrutinized by assessing published literature on their in vitro and in vivo effects.
4. Therapeutic Potential for Alzheimer's Disease {#sec4-molecules-23-00117}
================================================
4.1. In Vitro Protective Effects {#sec4dot1-molecules-23-00117}
--------------------------------
The vast arrays of neuroprotective effects of iridoids and some monoterpenes are shown in [Table 1](#molecules-23-00117-t001){ref-type="table"} \[[@B26-molecules-23-00117],[@B27-molecules-23-00117],[@B28-molecules-23-00117],[@B29-molecules-23-00117],[@B30-molecules-23-00117],[@B31-molecules-23-00117],[@B32-molecules-23-00117],[@B33-molecules-23-00117],[@B34-molecules-23-00117],[@B35-molecules-23-00117],[@B36-molecules-23-00117],[@B37-molecules-23-00117],[@B38-molecules-23-00117],[@B39-molecules-23-00117],[@B40-molecules-23-00117],[@B41-molecules-23-00117],[@B42-molecules-23-00117],[@B43-molecules-23-00117],[@B44-molecules-23-00117],[@B45-molecules-23-00117],[@B46-molecules-23-00117],[@B47-molecules-23-00117],[@B48-molecules-23-00117],[@B49-molecules-23-00117],[@B50-molecules-23-00117],[@B51-molecules-23-00117],[@B52-molecules-23-00117],[@B53-molecules-23-00117],[@B54-molecules-23-00117],[@B55-molecules-23-00117],[@B56-molecules-23-00117]\]. The Aβ formation, aggregation and function have been the major target areas of AD for in vitro experiments. In a study by Marumoto et al. \[[@B26-molecules-23-00117]\], the β-secretase (recombinant human BACE1) inhibitory activities of some monoterpenes have been evaluated. Even though the inhibitory activity of these compounds were confirmed, their activity was moderate (above 50 μM) with geranyl acetone being the most active (IC~50~ value of 51.9 ± 3.9 μM) followed by (+)-camphor (95.9 ± 11.0 μM), (−)-fenchone (106.3 ± 14.9 μM), (+)-fenchone (117.0 ± 18.6 μM), and (−)-camphor (134.1 ± 16.4 μM). A number of in vitro experiments have also been devoted to studying the inhibitory effects of monoterpenes against Aβ-induced cytotoxicity in neuronal cells in vitro. Treatment of cells with borneaol suppressed the Aβ-induced cytotoxicity and oxidative stress in the SH-SY5Y (human neuroblastoma) cells \[[@B31-molecules-23-00117]\] while 1,8-cineole (eucalyptol) showed similar effect in PC12 (rat pheochromocytoma) cells \[[@B32-molecules-23-00117]\]; and genipin in cultured hippocampal neurons \[[@B34-molecules-23-00117]\]. The antioxidant activity of these monoterpenes is also evident from their ameliorating effect on the H~2~O~2~-induced oxidative stress as shown by catalpol in astrocytes \[[@B29-molecules-23-00117]\], and α-pinene and 1,8-cineole in PC12 cells \[[@B33-molecules-23-00117]\]. Cultured primary cortical neurons exposed to Aβ could also be rescued by geniposide from toxicity and oxidative stress \[[@B37-molecules-23-00117]\]. In a further experiment to show the mechanism of action of geniposide in primary cultured cortical neurons' protection, the geniposide-induced τ protein phosphorylation and phosphorylation of Akt at Ser-473 site and GSK-3β at Ser-9 site were shown to be inhibited by leptin antagonists \[[@B38-molecules-23-00117]\]. The role of leptin as potential mechanism of iridoids action on the Alzheimer's brain is discussed in detail in the following section.
With respect to the Aβ-induced toxicity in the central neuronal cells, the role of insulin-degrading enzyme (IDE) has been highlighted in recent years. In addition to degradation and clearance of Aβ, the IDE play pivotal role in the regulation of Aβ activity. By using primary cortical neurons in a culture media, Zhang et al. \[[@B39-molecules-23-00117]\] have demonstrated that geniposide enhance the phosphorylation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ). The effect of geniposide in the activation of the IDE promoter was also shown to be mediated via the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor while other pathways confirmed to be involved by inhibitor studies (see [Table 1](#molecules-23-00117-t001){ref-type="table"}) where phosphatidyl inositol 3-kinase, PI3K, proto-oncogene tyrosine-protein kinase Src (c-Src), PPARγ, protein kinase A (PKA) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) \[[@B39-molecules-23-00117],[@B40-molecules-23-00117]\]. Furthermore, in the SH-SY5Y cells, geniposide has been shown to ameliorate the cytotoxicity of Aβ along with its oligomer assembly and cytotoxicity \[[@B41-molecules-23-00117]\]. The protective effect of geniposide in the SH-SY5Y cells treated with other toxicants such as formaldehyde has also been reported \[[@B42-molecules-23-00117]\]. The effect of paeoniflorin in PC12 cells protection from Aβ was similar with geniposide in that its activity was correlated with upregulation of the protein kinase B (Akt) phosphorylation level, B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) protein expression, reducing Bax protein expression and is inhibited by LY294002 \[[@B52-molecules-23-00117]\]. The protective effect of paeoniflorin from the 6-hydroxydopamine-induced apoptosis in PC12 cells was also correlated with enhanced antioxidant capacity (GSH (glutathione - reduced form) level) and suppression of the nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) translocation \[[@B53-molecules-23-00117]\]. A number of other studies ([Table 1](#molecules-23-00117-t001){ref-type="table"}) also showed the protective effect of paeoniflorin against Aβ cytotoxicity in PC12 cells \[[@B52-molecules-23-00117],[@B53-molecules-23-00117],[@B54-molecules-23-00117]\] and SH-SY5Y cells \[[@B55-molecules-23-00117]\]; as well as glutamate-induced cytotoxicity in PC12 cells \[[@B56-molecules-23-00117]\].
Hydrogen peroxide (H~2~O~2~)-induced cytotoxicity in PC12 cells could be inhibited by geniposide through the PI3K-dependent pathway as evidenced from the study using a selective inhibitor, LY294002 \[[@B43-molecules-23-00117]\]. In the same cell system, Liu et al. \[[@B44-molecules-23-00117]\] also showed that the effect of geniposide in reversing the oxidative stress induced by H~2~O~2~ involves an increased level of Bcl-2 by activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MEK) and rapidly accelerated fibrosarcoma proto-oncogene serine/threonine-protein (c-Raf) phosphorylation along with the phosphorylation of the p90 variant of the ribosomal s6 kinase (p90RSK) \[[@B43-molecules-23-00117]\]. The requirement of the PI3K and GLP-1 receptor activation has also been confirmed in the PC12 cells protection from the H~2~O~2~-induced cytotoxicity \[[@B44-molecules-23-00117]\].
The antiinflammatory effect of these compounds in the CNS came from evidences in vitro showing the inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) release from the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated microglia by genipin along with suppression of microglial cells activation \[[@B34-molecules-23-00117]\]. Beyond suppression of NO production, genipin also ameliorated the LPS-induced tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF), interleukin-1β (IL-1), prostaglandin E2 (PGE-2), intracellular reactive oxygen species (iROS), and NF-kB activation in microglial cells in vitro \[[@B35-molecules-23-00117]\].
In an organotypic cultured hippocampal tissues, the scopolamine-induced functional changes was shown to be inhibited by loganin along with inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) and β-secretase (BACE1) \[[@B45-molecules-23-00117]\]. An effect on β-secretase (BACE1) inhibitory activity of loganin has also been reported by Youn et al. \[[@B49-molecules-23-00117]\]. A direct effect on one of the most prevalent AD target, AChE, for loganin with IC~50~ value in sub-micromolar range was particularly impressive \[[@B46-molecules-23-00117]\]. A further molecular docking studies have shown that loganin's non-competitive type of interaction generate a negative binding energies for cholinesterase as well as BACE1 suggesting a high affinity and tighter binding capacity for the active site of the enzymes \[[@B46-molecules-23-00117]\]. As BChE (though to a lesser extent, see [Table 1](#molecules-23-00117-t001){ref-type="table"}) is also inhibited, loganin appear to target AChE, BChE, and BACE1 that are all important in AD pathology. The Aβ-induced inflammatory changed in PC12 cells could also be inhibited by loganin as evidenced from a reduction in the level of TNF-α and protein expression of iNOS and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) \[[@B47-molecules-23-00117],[@B48-molecules-23-00117]\]. These effects were also correlated with inhibition of NF-κB along with the closely related regulatory pathways including the phosphorylation of MAPKs (ERK1/2 (Extracellular signal--regulated kinase ½), p38 and JNK (c-Jun N-terminal kinase) \[[@B47-molecules-23-00117]\].
A number of other studies ([Table 1](#molecules-23-00117-t001){ref-type="table"}) have shown that monoterpenes possess direct inhibitory effect against AChE activity. This includes a report by Kaufmann et al. \[[@B50-molecules-23-00117]\] on 8-cineole, carvacrol, myrtenal and verbenone, although the best activity in this study was observed at relatively high concentration (IC~50~ = 170 μM for myrtenal). On the other hand, oleuropein, thymol and carvacrol have been shown to have a much better activity but the best activity (IC~50~ \< 5 μM) was obtained when a carbamate moiety was added to carvacrol through a synthesis approach \[[@B51-molecules-23-00117]\]. In the latter case, there has also been a drive to improve the biological activity of existing anti-Alzheimer's drugs by incorporating the monoterpene skeleton through synthesis. For example, with the help of a docking-based design, galantamine-camphane hybrids have been shown to display over a 100-fold better activity in AChE inhibition than galantamine \[[@B27-molecules-23-00117]\].
All the in vitro data is shown in [Table 1](#molecules-23-00117-t001){ref-type="table"}, which clearly indicates the therapeutic potential of iridoids as well as other monoterpenes in AD. The gross inhibition of cytotoxicity in neuronal cells induced by Aβ and other toxic agents have been demonstrated to be ameliorated. The reactive oxygen species (ROS), proinflammatory cytokines and many mediators could also be suppressed while mitochondrial deterioration was inhibited. At the molecular level, a range of antioxidant proteins and enzymes could be enhanced by these natural products along with anti-apoptotic genes and proteins, while proapoptotic genes and proteins appear to be suppressed ([Table 1](#molecules-23-00117-t001){ref-type="table"}).
4.2. Evidence of Efficacy Demonstrated through In Vivo Studies {#sec4dot2-molecules-23-00117}
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In parallel with the overwhelming in vitro data, animal studies on iridoids and some other monoterpenes ([Table 2](#molecules-23-00117-t002){ref-type="table"}) have shown potential therapeutic effects for treating AD \[[@B57-molecules-23-00117],[@B58-molecules-23-00117],[@B59-molecules-23-00117],[@B60-molecules-23-00117],[@B61-molecules-23-00117],[@B62-molecules-23-00117],[@B63-molecules-23-00117],[@B64-molecules-23-00117],[@B65-molecules-23-00117],[@B66-molecules-23-00117],[@B67-molecules-23-00117],[@B68-molecules-23-00117],[@B69-molecules-23-00117],[@B70-molecules-23-00117],[@B71-molecules-23-00117],[@B72-molecules-23-00117],[@B73-molecules-23-00117],[@B74-molecules-23-00117],[@B75-molecules-23-00117],[@B76-molecules-23-00117],[@B77-molecules-23-00117]\]. The neuroprotective effect of carvacrol in vivo was studied by Zhong et al. \[[@B55-molecules-23-00117]\] using the intracerebral hemorrhage mouse model, where a significant reduction of the aquaporin-4 (AQP4)-dependent oedema was observed. It is worth noting that AQP4 is a water channel in the brain that plays major role in the development of cerebral oedema. The structural, physiological and pathological significance of ACQ4 has been extensively reviewed \[[@B78-molecules-23-00117],[@B79-molecules-23-00117],[@B80-molecules-23-00117],[@B81-molecules-23-00117],[@B82-molecules-23-00117]\]. Considering the pathophysiological role of AQP4 in a range of CNS disorders including ischemic stroke \[[@B83-molecules-23-00117]\], neuroinflammation \[[@B84-molecules-23-00117]\] and autoimmune neurodegenerative diseases \[[@B85-molecules-23-00117]\], the reversal of cerebral oedema induced through AQP4 activity by monoterpenes is an interesting observation.
A number of studies have targeted the oxidative stress and associated disorders by inducing the pathology with [d]{.smallcaps}-(+)-galactose injection into experimental animals. In this model, catalpol has been shown to reduce the level of Aβ in the cerebral cortex along with improvement of learning and memory; while the level of antioxidant defenses (SOD and GPx) were boosted \[[@B58-molecules-23-00117]\]. In senescent mice treated with ~[D]{.smallcaps}~-galactose, Zhang et al. \[[@B60-molecules-23-00117]\] also reported neuroprotection by catalpol as evidenced by the increased level and activity of choline acetyltransferase (CHAT). Moreover, catalpol in this model has been shown to reverse the suppressed level of muscarinic acetylcholine (ACh) receptor M1 while concomitantly suppressing the level of inflammatory and oxidant markers (TNF-α, IL-1 and advanced glycation end products (AGEs)) \[[@B60-molecules-23-00117]\]. Improvement of memory deficit along with antioxidant markers (glutathione S-transferase (GSH-ST), glutamine synthetase (GS) and creatine kinase (CK) have also been shown for catalpol \[[@B61-molecules-23-00117],[@B63-molecules-23-00117]\].
In other experiments, Aβ was directly injected into the brain to study the biochemical and behavioral changes in animals. Catalpol was among the iridoids showing activity in this model where prevention of the ACh neuronal damage was noted from the increased level of choline CHAT positive cells density in cerebral cortex as well as increased level of ChAT activity \[[@B28-molecules-23-00117]\]. Geniposide also ameliorated the Aβ-induced neuronal abnormalities including cellular densities and synaptic proteins level in the transgenic mice model \[[@B63-molecules-23-00117]\]. On the other hand, linalool has been shown to reverse cognitive deficits and altered the level of the antioxidant and protein (SOD, GPx, AChE) levels/activity in mice injected with Aβ \[[@B69-molecules-23-00117]\]. The effect of paeoniflorin in memory improvement and protection of animals from Aβ through mechanisms including enhancing antioxidant defenses (e.g., GSH) and calcium homeostasis have also been reported \[[@B76-molecules-23-00117],[@B77-molecules-23-00117]\].
Zhang et al. \[[@B62-molecules-23-00117]\] employed the APP/PS1 Transgenic mouse model of AD to study the potential benefit of geniposide. The insulin deficiency induced by streptozotocin (STZ) in these wild-type transgenic animals appeared to enhance the GSK-3β level/activity which was suppressed by geniposide administration in a dose dependent manor. It is worth noting that the doses employed here were very small (5, 10, and 20 mg/kg). The data were also in line with the broader effect of geniposide in signal transduction pathways related to insulin resistance reviewed recently \[[@B17-molecules-23-00117]\]. The GSK-3β plays direct role in τ protein hyperphosphorylation \[[@B86-molecules-23-00117],[@B87-molecules-23-00117]\]. The role of the Akt in the regulation of GSK-3β is also well understood and its phosphorylation initiates its inactivation that appeared to be modulated by geniposide. In agreement with this data, geniposide can also regulate the phosphorylation of τ protein both in the insulin-dependent and independent manor in primary cultured cortical neurons \[[@B63-molecules-23-00117]\]. It does also enhance the phosphorylation of Akt at Ser473 and Thr308 sites \[[@B63-molecules-23-00117]\]. The dual effect of geniposide both in diabetes and AD is thus evident from its effect on the phosphorylation of τ protein via the PI3K-GSK-3β kinase pathway. To date, hyperphosphorylated τ protein is one of the pathological hallmark of AD as it is the principal component of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) \[[@B87-molecules-23-00117]\]. The structural integrity of τ protein is regulated by a cascade of phosphorylation-related pathways, and hence both kinases and phosphatases play important roles in stable NFT formation. The GSK-3β being the key player in the kinase---mediated hyperphosphorylation of τ protein, its regulation by geniposide seems to shed some light into the possible mechanism of iridoids' action. The crosstalk between diabetes and AD was also highlighted by Gao et al. \[[@B67-molecules-23-00117]\] who confirmed the potential role of geniposide through GSK-3β regulation. Similarly, in the study by Liu et al. \[[@B68-molecules-23-00117]\], geniposide has been shown to decrease the Aβ1-42 level while improving the expression of IDE in Aβ-treated STZ-induced diabetic rats. In the further experiment on transgenic mice model, geniposide was shown to improve learning and memory along with antiinflammatory effect (through suppression of RAGE-dependent signaling in activation of ERK and IκB/NF-κB and the production of TNF-α, IL-1β) and lowering the Aβ level in the cerebrum \[[@B65-molecules-23-00117]\]. Other compounds which have been shown to improve learning and memory in transgenic model of AD include linalool that could suppress pro-inflammatory proteins such as p38 MAPK, NOS-2, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) and IL-1β \[[@B70-molecules-23-00117]\]. The effect of paeoniflorin in the transgenic mouse model of AD was also studied by Gu et al. \[[@B75-molecules-23-00117]\]. In addition to improvement of the memory deficit, a reduction in the level of inflammation (NF-κB, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6) and apoptotic (caspase-3) markers were observed. As demonstrated for geniposide (above), paeoniflorin also modulate the GSK-3β signaling in transgenic animal model of AD \[[@B75-molecules-23-00117]\].
Other behavioral models of AD included the scopolamine-induced AD model where loganin showed beneficial effect through the route of administration \[[@B71-molecules-23-00117]\]. The neuroprotective effect of monoterpenes in other in vivo models has also been documented. For example, oleuropein could ameliorate the pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced seizures in mice or colchicine-induced learning and memory deficits \[[@B73-molecules-23-00117]\].
5. Insights into the Mechanism of Action of Iridoids and Other Monoterpenes in AD {#sec5-molecules-23-00117}
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The previous sections on the in vitro and in vivo effects of monoterpenes provided a plethora of evidences linking these compounds with key pathological pathways of AD. The general mechanism of action of monoterpenes in the AD brain is depicted in [Figure 4](#molecules-23-00117-f004){ref-type="fig"}. Some of the key features of monoterpenes, particularly iridoids, as an emerging class of compounds as anti-AD agents are shown below.
The role of Aβ in the pathology and as therapeutic target for AD has been reviewed in the various literatures (e.g., \[[@B88-molecules-23-00117],[@B89-molecules-23-00117],[@B90-molecules-23-00117]\]). Recent review articles from our laboratories have also shown that many polyphenolic compounds such the flavonoids, diterpenoids and cinamate derivatives display therapeutic potential for AD through multiple mechanisms involving Aβ \[[@B6-molecules-23-00117],[@B7-molecules-23-00117],[@B8-molecules-23-00117],[@B9-molecules-23-00117],[@B10-molecules-23-00117],[@B11-molecules-23-00117],[@B12-molecules-23-00117],[@B13-molecules-23-00117],[@B14-molecules-23-00117]\]. Hence, the formation, aggregation and toxicity of Aβ can all serve as targets for therapeutic agents. The direct role of monoterpenes in the formation and aggregation of Aβ is however less clear and the observed activity at moderate concentration may not be of a high degree of therapeutic relevance. Never the less, direct effect on APP processing enzymes has been shown. The predominant forms of the pathological Aβ in the brain are Aβ1--40 and to a lesser extent Aβ1--42 which are formed through the amyloidgenic β-secretase-dependent pathway. The selective inhibition of this enzyme by monoterpenes ([Table 1](#molecules-23-00117-t001){ref-type="table"}) without much effect on the non-amyloidogenic marker enzyme (α-secretase) is an interesting finding. A large body of evidence also suggests that monoterpenes ([Table 1](#molecules-23-00117-t001){ref-type="table"} and [Table 2](#molecules-23-00117-t002){ref-type="table"}) ameliorate the Aβ-induced cytotoxicity both in cultured neuronal cells and various animal models of AD \[[@B6-molecules-23-00117],[@B7-molecules-23-00117],[@B8-molecules-23-00117],[@B9-molecules-23-00117],[@B10-molecules-23-00117],[@B11-molecules-23-00117],[@B12-molecules-23-00117],[@B13-molecules-23-00117],[@B14-molecules-23-00117]\]. Upon aggregation, the Aβ oligomers induce neurotoxicity leading to cell death, impairment of synaptic function and behavioral deficits that are commonly observed in AD animal models. Hence, one major target of the iridoids as well as the selected other monoterpenes appear to be mediated through mechanisms related to Aβ formation and/or toxicity.
The role of ROS in Aβ-induced neurotoxicity has been well established from evidences mostly linking redox metals like copper, zinc, and iron coordinating the generation of toxic free radicals and/or ROS \[[@B91-molecules-23-00117],[@B92-molecules-23-00117],[@B93-molecules-23-00117],[@B94-molecules-23-00117],[@B95-molecules-23-00117],[@B96-molecules-23-00117],[@B97-molecules-23-00117]\]. As inhibitors of ROS generation through direct metal chelation and ROS scavenging, the role of polyphenols as potential therapeutic agents for AD has been extensively studied. In this direction, our own studies on catechol functional group and the flavonoid skeleton as optimized structural moieties for biological effects have been exhaustively researched \[[@B98-molecules-23-00117],[@B99-molecules-23-00117],[@B100-molecules-23-00117],[@B101-molecules-23-00117],[@B102-molecules-23-00117],[@B103-molecules-23-00117],[@B104-molecules-23-00117],[@B105-molecules-23-00117],[@B106-molecules-23-00117],[@B107-molecules-23-00117],[@B108-molecules-23-00117],[@B109-molecules-23-00117],[@B110-molecules-23-00117],[@B111-molecules-23-00117],[@B112-molecules-23-00117],[@B113-molecules-23-00117],[@B114-molecules-23-00117],[@B115-molecules-23-00117]\]. The monoterpenes presented in this communication however lack such structural moiety unless additional skeleton as that shown in oleuropein is added ([Figure 3](#molecules-23-00117-f003){ref-type="fig"}). Their effect on the amelioration of the Aβ-toxicity as well as neurotoxicity induced by H~2~O~2~ suggest a mechanism of action beyond direct ROS scavenging. This can include boosting antioxidant defenses, and in this connection, numerous studies have shown an increased antioxidant status in the AD brain following treatment by monoterpenes ([Table 2](#molecules-23-00117-t002){ref-type="table"}).
Another well-defined mechanism of action of monoterpenes in the AD brain appears to be linked to anti-inflammatory effect. In view of neuroinflammation as the major pathological hallmark of AD, the role of inflammatory cells activation in the brain, primarily astrocyte and microglial cells, have been investigated in the last few decades. Readers are thus directed to excellent reviews in the field \[[@B116-molecules-23-00117],[@B117-molecules-23-00117],[@B118-molecules-23-00117],[@B119-molecules-23-00117],[@B120-molecules-23-00117],[@B121-molecules-23-00117],[@B122-molecules-23-00117]\]. Interestingly, all of the best-characterised inflammatory markers such as TNF, IL-1, COX and NOS have been shown to be suppressed by the studied compounds in this review. Since inhibition of these proinflammatory cytokines such TNF is known to provide favorable outcome in AD \[[@B123-molecules-23-00117],[@B124-molecules-23-00117]\], the suppressive effect of numerous monoterpenes on proinflammatory level in the Alzheimer's brain is in line with potential benefit in AD. Among the regulators of cytokines in their proinflammatory effect is the NF-κB which has been demonstrated to play key role in AD \[[@B125-molecules-23-00117]\]. As modulators of the NF-κB, monoterpenes appear to also link their potential therapeutic mechanism through such an effect.
Leptin is one of the hormones produced by adipocytes with primary function in body weight and fat regulation through diverse mechanisms including modulation of food intake and metabolism \[[@B126-molecules-23-00117]\]. Diverse other functions of leptin were however emerging in recent years; these include modulation of the immune response and broad range of neuronal regulation from neuroprotection to cognition \[[@B127-molecules-23-00117],[@B128-molecules-23-00117]\]. The role of leptin receptor-mediated regulation in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus and dysregulation in AD has also been well recognized \[[@B129-molecules-23-00117],[@B130-molecules-23-00117],[@B131-molecules-23-00117],[@B132-molecules-23-00117]\]. In addition to neurons, immune cells in the brain such as astrocytes and glial cells do also express leptin receptors and are regulated by this adipocytes' hormone \[[@B133-molecules-23-00117],[@B134-molecules-23-00117]\]. Considering evidences showing the potential neuroprotective effect of leptin under pathological condition as well as many other in vitro and in vivo experiments (e.g., \[[@B135-molecules-23-00117],[@B136-molecules-23-00117],[@B137-molecules-23-00117]\]), the modulatory effects of monoterpenes in this system is an exciting development. As leptin antagonist abolished the effect of geniposide on τ phosphorylation and phosphorylation of Akt at Ser-473 site and GSK-3β at Ser-9 in the Alzheimer's brain ([Table 1](#molecules-23-00117-t001){ref-type="table"}), part of the iridoids action is likely to be mediated through leptin regulation.
As with their formation, the degradation of Aβ peptides and plaques must be tightly regulated to avoid pathological disorders such the AD. Among the various mechanisms involved in Aβ degradation and clearance include the Aβ proteases, low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1, and the apolipoprotein E systems \[[@B138-molecules-23-00117]\]. Of the protease enzymes, neprilysin (also known as membrane metallo-endopeptidase) is a zinc-dependent metalloprotease that cleaves Aβ and have shown a good correlation with Aβ accumulation \[[@B139-molecules-23-00117]\]. The endothelin-converting enzyme, and angiotensin-converting enzyme do also function as Aβ degrading enzymes. The role of IDE in Aβ degradation has recently been clarified and its dysregulation is now known to contribute to the pathology of the AD \[[@B138-molecules-23-00117],[@B140-molecules-23-00117],[@B141-molecules-23-00117]\]. In fact, IDE is considered to be the main extracellular protease enzyme for the degradation of Aβ \[[@B142-molecules-23-00117],[@B143-molecules-23-00117]\] and its expression, as with neprilysin, in the hippocampus has been shown to decrease with increasing age \[[@B144-molecules-23-00117]\]. Hence, upregulation of the Aβ degrading enzymes is among the therapeutic approaches for AD \[[@B145-molecules-23-00117],[@B146-molecules-23-00117],[@B147-molecules-23-00117]\]. In the brain, glial cells such as the microglia and astrocytes are the main source of IDE secretion \[[@B113-molecules-23-00117]\] and their dysregulation could thus contribute to AD pathology; while promotion of IDE secretion from these cells could be implicated in AD therapy through enhancing Aβ clearance. The astrocytes and microglial cells are also primary phagocytes in the brain that recognize Aβ through membrane receptors to remove through phagocytosis \[[@B148-molecules-23-00117]\]. The therapeutic approach of AD by upregulating IDE is however a tricky one, as IDE also selectively degrades insulin and its inhibitors are needed to improve glucose homeostasis (e.g., in diabetes). The role of iridoids in this regards is very interesting as geniposide has been shown to upregulate IDE \[[@B39-molecules-23-00117]\] while displaying potent antidiabetic effect \[[@B17-molecules-23-00117]\]. As IDE is degrading the monomeric form of Aβ, it is preventing the formation of oligomers or aggregates that is prerequisite to Aβ cytotoxicity in neuronal cells. Hence, a clear line of evidence is now available for geniposide and/or other iridoids that showed a promise in the Alzheimer's brain.
The dual effect of iridoids in diabetes and AD is also manifested from the possible mechanism of action related to the τ protein phosphorylation pathway. The formation of intracellular NFTs is a result of aggregation of the hyperphosphorylated τ-protein. As a major component of the neuronal cytoskeleton, τ-protein is closely associated with microtubules and aids a number of neuronal functions from axonal transport to neurite outgrowth \[[@B87-molecules-23-00117],[@B149-molecules-23-00117]\]. The function of τ protein in stabilizing the microtubule to facilitate the normal neuronal function is governed by its phosphorylation which is regulated by a number of cellular kinases and phosphatases \[[@B150-molecules-23-00117]\]. Consequently, τ protein dysregulation is among the pathological hallmark of AD as in NFTs and hence serves as a target for drug therapy. Hyperphosphorylation of τ-protein quickly initiates the formation of helical filaments and aggregates as seen in the NFTs of AD. This intern leads to microtubule disassembly and destabilization \[[@B151-molecules-23-00117]\]. The signaling cascade in τ-protein hyperphosphorylation has been shown to involve the GSK-3β that directly act on the protein (to phosphorylate it) and make it to disassociate with the microtubules \[[@B152-molecules-23-00117],[@B153-molecules-23-00117]\]. Hence, downregulating GSK-3β by drugs is essential in AD not only to regulate τ-protein hyperphosphorylation but also to manage other deleterious effect of GSK-3β such as in ROS generation from the mitochondria. For example, GSK-3β has been shown to down-regulate the transcription factor Nrf2 after oxidative damage \[[@B154-molecules-23-00117]\]. The GSK-3β itself is regulated by other kinases such as the Akt that phosphorylate GSK-3β at different sites to negatively regulate its activity. Furthermore, activation of PI3K triggers the activation of Akt that phosphorylates GSK-3β leading to inhibition of τ-protein phosphorylation. Hence, the dysfunction of PI3K/Akt signaling is linked to τ-protein phosphorylation or NFT formation in AD. The p38 MAPK is also emerged as anther kinase involved in τ-protein phosphorylation and hence can be targeted by drugs \[[@B155-molecules-23-00117],[@B156-molecules-23-00117],[@B157-molecules-23-00117]\]. A review article of such signal transduction pathways and possible pharmacological regulations is eloquently presented by Medina et al. \[[@B158-molecules-23-00117]\]. The observation of iridoids to regulate τ-protein phosphorylation by inhibiting GSK-3β and regulation of the associated system primarily the PI3K/Akt signaling ([Table 1](#molecules-23-00117-t001){ref-type="table"} and [Table 2](#molecules-23-00117-t002){ref-type="table"}) is a remarkable documentation of record for this group of compounds. The pioneering compound in this regard is geniposide (e.g., \[[@B38-molecules-23-00117],[@B39-molecules-23-00117],[@B67-molecules-23-00117]\]). Other natural products such phenolics including resveratrol \[[@B159-molecules-23-00117]\], curcumin \[[@B160-molecules-23-00117]\], hyperforin \[[@B161-molecules-23-00117]\] and capsaicin \[[@B162-molecules-23-00117]\] have been shown to display inhibitory effect against τ protein hyperphosphorylation as well as affect in vivo models of AD. Hence, iridoids with structural feature distinctively different from polyphenols appear to share one common feature of mechanism in their potential AD modulations.
Overall, it appears that the iridoids and some other monoterpenoids target the various cellular and biochemical features of AD pathology depicted in [Figure 4](#molecules-23-00117-f004){ref-type="fig"}. They target oxidative stress by boosting antioxidant defenses; inhibit the Aβ cascades particularly neurotoxicity; inhibit τ-protein phosphorylation and hence NFTs formation; promote the clearance of toxic proteins (Aβ) through IDE; modulate the insulin signaling pathway and insulin resistance as antidiabetic agents; and display a range of anti-inflammatory effects by suppressing the expression of numerous key proinflammatory proteins. Another interesting development is the direct effect of monoterpenes on AChE enzyme and further possible opportunity of potency optimization through chemical synthesis.
6. Drug-Likeness and Structural Perspectives {#sec6-molecules-23-00117}
============================================
A range of qualitative and quantitative measures of drug-likeness parameters have been employed in recent years to identify leads in drug discovery researches as well as improving the efficiency of known bioactive compounds. In the in silico drug-likeness predictions, the undesirable properties of small molecular weight compounds assessed by poor ADMET (absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity) characteristics are used as a screening tool \[[@B163-molecules-23-00117]\]. In this regard, monoterpenes (unless glycosylated, see [Figure 3](#molecules-23-00117-f003){ref-type="fig"}) act as a component of essential oils with list solubility profile in water falls within the poor drug-likeness profile. Accordingly, their absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion profiles were not in line with what one expects as ideal drug molecules. Hence, all in vitro and in vivo data so far suggest that they are absorbed and distributed to tissues but with far slower rate than that ideally expected \[[@B164-molecules-23-00117],[@B165-molecules-23-00117],[@B166-molecules-23-00117],[@B167-molecules-23-00117],[@B168-molecules-23-00117]\]. Human trial also confirmed these observations but the iridoid glycosides, with sugar attachment thereby increasing their polarity, appear to be a good compromise in vivo \[[@B169-molecules-23-00117],[@B170-molecules-23-00117],[@B171-molecules-23-00117],[@B172-molecules-23-00117],[@B173-molecules-23-00117]\]. Like many other sugar-linked natural products, the iridoid glycosides such as geniposide have been shown to be metabolized by intestinal bacteria to release their aglycone (e.g., genipin) \[[@B174-molecules-23-00117],[@B175-molecules-23-00117]\] which also give rise to conjugated products (e.g., with glucuronic acid) \[[@B176-molecules-23-00117]\]. Increasing water solubility by glycosylation to release a bioactive aglycone in the intestine has been reported to be one way of enhancing bioavailability for natural products \[[@B177-molecules-23-00117]\]. Even for glycosides such as geniposide, however, the absolute oral bioavailability after oral administration remains to be poor \~9.67% \[[@B178-molecules-23-00117]\]. Nevertheless, both in vitro and in vivo experiments have shown good effects in ameliorating the biochemical and behavioral markers of AD. Hence, despite their predicted poor drug-likeness profile, iridoids and other monoterpenes have shown potent activity to be seriously considered as potential lead compounds in future studies.
7. Future Prospects {#sec7-molecules-23-00117}
===================
One common advantage of employing compounds of natural origin (e.g., monoterpenes) is that they are associated with common foods and beverages that are already in use for human consumption. As neuromodulators, particularly in AD, the beneficial effects of some essential oils as crude mixtures of small molecular weight fragrant compounds including monoterpenes have been reported in the various literature \[see review article, 179\]. As indicated in the preceding section, however, the drug likeness of these molecules has not been in favor of their development as drugs given their poor water solubility and bioavailability. The iridoids glycosides appear to offer a better bioavailability profile and pharmacology as evidenced from their activity profile in vitro and in vivo. The fact that both the glycosylated and the aglycones are active in vitro suggests that the glycosides being a better bioavailable compounds could be more preferable as drug candidates. One should bear in mind that research on this class of compounds is still at its infant stage and more work is needed on optimization of their pharmacology through medicinal chemistry. The effect of some monoterpenes, for example, could be enhanced by over 100-fold when other functional groups such as a carbamate moiety were added or they being incorporated into the existing anti-AD drugs such as galantamine \[[@B27-molecules-23-00117],[@B51-molecules-23-00117]\]. Naturally, human clinical trials would offer not only valuable data on efficacy but also pharmacokinetic profile that are desperately needed for these compounds. Such study of course would be preferred once a lead compound is identified and optimized through future research. In the meantime, all the available data now suggest that small molecules of the iridoids class and related monoterpenes could be considered as potential leads for AD therapy.
The author declare no conflict of interest. No funding from internal or external sources were used for this contribution.
{#molecules-23-00117-f001}
{#molecules-23-00117-f002}
{#molecules-23-00117-f003}
{#molecules-23-00117-f004}
molecules-23-00117-t001_Table 1
######
In vitro effects of iridoids and other monoterpenes related to AD pathology.
Compound Model Outcome Reference
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------
Geranyl acetone; (+)-camphor; (−)-fenchone; (+)-fenchone; (−)-camphor β-secretase (recombinant human BACE1) Moderate activity with inhibitory concentration (IC~50~) higher than 50 μM. \[[@B26-molecules-23-00117]\]
Bornane (or camphane)---hybrids of Galantamine Docking-based design and synthesis of galantamine-camphane hybrids. Hybrids showed over 191---better inhibition of AChE than galantamine \[[@B27-molecules-23-00117]\]
Catalpol PC12 cells---Aβ25-35 10 and 100 μL---Increase expression and activity of ChAT. \[[@B28-molecules-23-00117]\]
Catalpol H~2~O~2~-induced oxidative stress in astrocytes; primary cultures in mice. 50--500 μM---Increase cell viability; reduce the intracellular level of ROS; suppress oxidative stress by restoring the activities of antioxidant enzymes (GPx, GR and GSH); no effect on CAT activity. \[[@B29-molecules-23-00117]\]
Catalpol CHO cells 10 and 100 μM---No effect on AChE activity; elevate the M-2 receptor density but did not occupy the M receptor binding site. \[[@B30-molecules-23-00117]\]
(−)- and (+)-Borneol Aβ---induced oxidative stress in SH-SY5Y cells 100 μM---Inhibit cytotoxicity; decrease ROS generation; increase HO-1 and nuclear translocation of Nrf2 expressions; increase Bcl-2 while decreasing Bax expression. \[[@B31-molecules-23-00117]\]
1,8-cineole (eucalyptol) Aβ(25-35) treated PC12 cells Restored cell viability; reduce mitochondrial membrane potential, ROS and NO levels; suppress the levels of proinflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6); lower the expression of NOS-2, COX-2 and NF-κB. \[[@B32-molecules-23-00117]\]
1,8-Cineole and α-Pinene H~2~O~2~-induced oxidative stress in PC12 Inhibit the level of iROS; enhance the expression of antioxidant enzymes (CAT, SOD, GPx, GR and HO-1. Decrease apoptosis (reduce capase-3 activity); induce the nuclear Nrf2 factor. \[[@B33-molecules-23-00117]\]
Genipin Cultured hippocampal neurons treated with Aβ-25-35 20--40 μM---Reduce LDH release; improve morphological appearance. \[[@B34-molecules-23-00117]\]
Genipin Cultured rat brain microglial cells treated with LPS 5--20 μM - Inhibit NO release; suppress the level of TNF, interleukin-1β, PGE-2, iROS; suppress NF-κB activation; reduce NO release stimulated by IF-γ and Aβ. \[[@B35-molecules-23-00117]\]
Genipin A23187 (a calcium ionophore)-induced cytotoxicity in neuro2a cells 8 and 20 μM---Cytoprotective effect from caspase 3/7 and ER stress. \[[@B36-molecules-23-00117]\]
Geniposide Cultured primary cortical neurons treated with Aβ Reverse mitochondrial dysfunction by recovering ATP generation, MMP, and cytochrome c oxidase and caspase 3/9 activity; reduce ROS production and cytochrome c leakage; inhibit apoptosis. \[[@B37-molecules-23-00117]\]
Geniposide Rat primary cultured cortical neurons Decrease the phosphorylation of τ protein while inducing the phosphorylation of Akt at Ser-473 site and GSK-3β at Ser-9 site; effect could be prevented by leptin antagonist. \[[@B38-molecules-23-00117]\]
Geniposide Primary cortical neurons and PC12 cells---insulin-degrading enzyme (IDE) in the degradation and activity of (Aβ) Up-regulation of IDE by geniposide inhibited by LY294002 (inhibitor of PI3K), PP1 (inhibitor for c-Src), GW9662 (antagonist of PPARγ), H89 (inhibitor of PKA) and AG1478 (antagonist of EGFR). Enhanced the phosphorylation of PPARγ; accelerate the release of phosphorylated FoxO1 (forkhead box O1) from nuclear fraction to the cytosol; directly activate the activity of IDE promoter in PC12 cells. \[[@B39-molecules-23-00117],[@B40-molecules-23-00117]\]
Geniposide SH-SY5Y cells treated with Aβ 5--200 μM---Decrease cytotoxicity by remodeling Aβ assembly. \[[@B41-molecules-23-00117]\]
Geniposide SH-SY5Y treated with formaldehyde Restore normal morphology and inhibit apoptosis in dose dependent manor; increase the activity of intracellular antioxidants (SOD and GPx); increase antiapoptotic gene Bcl-2 while downregulating the expression of apoptotic-related gene (P53, caspase 3 and caspase 9). \[[@B42-molecules-23-00117]\]
Geniposide H~2~O~2~-induced cytotoxicity in PC12 cells Induce the expression of the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2; inhibit apoptosis; effect dependent on PI3K (inhibited by LY294002); enhance the phosphorylation of Akt308, Akt473, GSK-3β and PDK1 under oxidative stress. \[[@B43-molecules-23-00117]\]
Geniposide H~2~O~2~-induced cytotoxicity in PC12 cells 25--100 μg/mL---Increase the expression of anti-apoptotic proteins (including Bcl-2 and HO-1); effect inhibited by LY294002; increase Bcl-2 level by activation of MAPK, MEK and c-Raf phosphorylation; effect inhibited by U0126 (inhibitor of MEK). \[[@B44-molecules-23-00117]\]
Loganin Organotypic cultured hippocampal tissues Increased the total activity of fEPSP after high frequency stimulation. \[[@B45-molecules-23-00117]\]
Loganin AChE, BChE, and β-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1) AChE inhibitory effects with IC~50~ values for AChE and BChE of 0.33 and 37.78 μM, respectively. \[[@B46-molecules-23-00117]\]
Loganin Aβ25-35-induced inflammatory damage in PC12 cells Inhibit cytotoxicity by suppressing ROS generation; inhibit apoptosis by suppressing caspase-3 activity and regulating cell cycle; suppress the level of TNF-α and protein expression of iNOS and COX-2; inhibit NF-κB activation by modulating degradation of the inhibitory subunit IκB; inhibit phosphorylation of MAPKs (ERK1/2, p38 and JNK). \[[@B47-molecules-23-00117],[@B48-molecules-23-00117]\]
Loganin β-Secretase (BACE1) 92 μM---Inhibit BACE1 with little effect on α-secretase. \[[@B49-molecules-23-00117]\]
Myrtenal Anti-acetylcholinesterase activity 1,8-cineole, carvacrol, myrtenal and verbenone AChE; the highest inhibitory activity was observed for myrtenal (IC~50~ = 170 μM). \[[@B50-molecules-23-00117]\]
Thymol and carvacrol derivatives with added carbamate moiety---Synthesis Acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase inhibition assay 5-isopropyl-2-methylphenyl(3-fluorophenyl)carbamate was found to be the most potent AChE inhibitor with IC~50~ values of 2.22 μM; 5-isopropyl-2-methylphenyl (4-fluorophenyl)carbamate exhibited the strongest inhibition against BuChE with IC~50~ value of 0.02 μM. \[[@B51-molecules-23-00117]\]
Paeoniflorin Aβ25-35-induced PC12 cell injury 10 μM---Inhibit cytotoxicity; upregulate AKT phosphorylation; increase Bcl-2 protein expression, reduce Bax protein expression and caspase-3 activation. Effect reversed by LY294002. \[[@B52-molecules-23-00117]\]
Paeoniflorin 6-Hydroxydopamine-induced apoptosis in PC12 cells 30--300 μM---Suppresses mitochondria-mediated apoptosis; increase GSH level; attenuate the 6-OHDA-induced NF-κB translocation without affecting phosphorylation of Akt, JNK, p38, and ERK1/2; blocked the induced protein kinase Cδ (PKCδ) upregulation. \[[@B53-molecules-23-00117]\]
Paeoniflorin Aβ25-35-induced neurotoxicity in PC12 cells 2--50 μM---Attenuate cytotoxicity mediated through mitochondrial dysfunction (decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, increased cytochrome c release as well as activity of caspase-3 and caspase-9). \[[@B54-molecules-23-00117]\]
Paeoniflorin Aβ25-35-induced cytotoxicity in SH-SY5Y cells Restore cell viability; inhibit apoptotic and ROS production; inhibit mitochondrial dysfunction (mitochondrial membrane potential, increased Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, cytochrome c release and activity of caspase-3 and caspase-9). \[[@B55-molecules-23-00117]\]
Paeoniflorin Glutamate-induced cytotoxicity in PC12 cells 0.1--10 μM---Protect cells from cytotoxicity; up-regulate Bcl-2 and down-regulate Bax. \[[@B56-molecules-23-00117]\]
Bax, Bcl-2-associated X protein (bcl-2-like protein 4); CAT, Catalase; EGFR, epidermal growth factor receptor; ER, endoplasmic reticulum GPx, glutathione peroxidase; GR, glutathione reductase; GSH, glutathione - reduced form; GSK-3β, glycogen synthase kinase 3β; IF-γ, interferon-γ; iNOS, inducible nitric oxide synthase; iROS, intracellular ROS; LDH, lactate dehydrogenase; MMP, mitochondrial membrane potential; NOS, nitric oxide synthase; Nrf2, nuclear factor erythroid 2; PDK1, 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase-1; fEPSP, field excitatory postsynaptic potential.
molecules-23-00117-t002_Table 2
######
In vivo effects of iridoids and some other monoterpenes as potential modulators of AD.
Compound Model Outcome Reference
-------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------
Carvacrol Bacterial collagenase-induced intracerebral hemorrhage mouse model - Single doses of 10, 25, 50 or 100 mg/kg, i.p. Improve neurological deficits; reduce cerebral edema and Evans blue leakage; decrease AQP4 mRNA in a dose-dependent manner; reduce AQP4 protein expression in the perihematomal area. \[[@B57-molecules-23-00117]\]
Catalpol ~D~-(+)-galactose mice model---20 mg/kg, intragastric for 30 days Reduce the oxidative stress in the cerebral cortex; regulate the activities and concentration of SOD, glutathione peroxidase and catalase (MDA level not altered); reduce the levels of soluble Aβ40 and Aβ42 in the cerebral cortex; effects regulated by IDE; improve learning and memory in Morris water maze test. \[[@B58-molecules-23-00117]\]
Catalpol Aβ25-35 injected in rats intracerebroventricularly to establish AD model---5 or 10 mg/kg, i.p. for 7 days More positive neurons (ChAT staining in cerebral cortex) and cells arranged in order; increase ChAT activity in dose dependent manner. \[[@B28-molecules-23-00117]\]
Catalpol Orthotopic injection of Aβ25-35 into the right lateral ventricle of rats---5 and 10 mg/kg Increase serum hydrocortisone level; decrease ACTH and CRH levels; alleviate structural damage of the hypothalamus. \[[@B59-molecules-23-00117]\]
Catalpol Senescent mice treated with ~D~-galactose---2.5, 5 or 10 mg/kg, subcutaneous for 2 weeks Reverse the following senescence markers: increased AChE activity, decrease in ChAT positive neurons, decline in muscarinic AChR M1 (mAChR1) expression; increase in TNF-α, IL-1β) and AGEs levels. \[[@B60-molecules-23-00117]\]
Catalpol Subcutaneously injected with ~D~-galactose in mice---2.5, 5 or 10 mg/kg, subcutaneously for 2 weeks Reverse cognition deficit and altered biochemical changes: increased LDH and decreased activities of GSH-ST, glutamine synthetase, creatine kinase in brain cortex and hippocampus. \[[@B61-molecules-23-00117],[@B62-molecules-23-00117]\]
Geniposide APP/PS double transgenic AD mice model coupled with STZ-induced diabetes---5, 10, or 20 mg/kg intragastric for 4 weeks. Decrease the concentrations of cerebral Aβ1-40 and Aβ1-42; up-regulate the protein levels of β-site APP cleaving enzyme (BACE1) and IDE; decrease the protein levels of ADAM10. \[[@B63-molecules-23-00117]\]
Geniposide APP/PS1 doubly transgenic mice---12.5, 25 or 50 mg/kg, intragastric for 3 months Ameliorate the Aβ1-42 induced decrease in synapse-related proteins (p-CaMKIIα/CaMKIIα, p-CREB/CREB, synaptophysin, and PSD-95) in neurons and APPswe/PS1dE9 mice; reverse the Aβ1--42 induced decrease in spine density on dendrites. \[[@B64-molecules-23-00117]\]
Geniposide APP/PS1 AD transgenic mice---25 mg/kg for three months via intragastric administration Improves learning and memory; suppresses the RAGE-dependent signaling (activation of ERK and IκB/NF-κB), production of TNF-α and IL-1β, and cerebral Aβ accumulation; augments synaptic plasticity by attenuating the Aβ-induced reduction of long-term potentiation and increasing the mEPSC amplitude and frequency in hippocampal neurons; reduces oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction (increase the mitochondrial membrane potential). \[[@B65-molecules-23-00117],[@B66-molecules-23-00117]\]
Geniposide STZ-induced AD model in rats---injection (50 μM, 10 μL) to the lateral ventricle Prevent spatial learning deficit; reduce τ protein phosphorylation; elevate expression of GSK3β(pS-9) while suppressing GSK3β (pY-216); improve the altered neuronal ultrastructure. \[[@B67-molecules-23-00117]\]
Geniposide Aβ1-42 in the hippocampus of STZ-induced diabetic rats. 12.5 or 25 mg/kg, intragastric for 46 days Improve insulin and blood glucose; decrease Aβ1-42 level; improve the expression of IDE. \[[@B68-molecules-23-00117]\]
Linalool Aβ1-40 (4 μg) solution injected in the bilateral hippocampus in mice---100 mg/kg, i.p. Improve cognitive performance in Morris water maze test and step-through test; reverse the Aβ1-40 induced hippocampal cell injury in histological examination, apoptosis in TUNEL assay, changes of oxidative stress indicators (SOD, GPx, AChE); suppress the activated cleaved caspase (caspase-3, caspase-9) while elevating Nrf2, HO-1 expression. \[[@B69-molecules-23-00117]\]
Linalool triple transgenic model of AD mice---25 mg/kg, p.o. every 48 h for 3 months Improve learning and spatial memory and greater risk assessment behavior in the elevated plus maze; in the Hippocampi and amygdalae region, reduce extracellular β-amyloidosis, tauopathy, astrogliosis, microgliosis and pro-inflammatory markers (p38 MAPK, NOS-2, COX-2 and IL-1β). \[[@B70-molecules-23-00117]\]
Loganin Scopolamine-induced AD model in rats---40 mg/kg, p.o. Reverse shortening of step-through latency in the passive avoidance test; reduce the percent alternation in the Y-maze, and increased memory retention in the Morris water maze test. \[[@B45-molecules-23-00117]\]
Loganin Scopolamine-induced AD model in mice---20 or 40 mg/kg, p.o. single dose Reverse the memory impairment (Y-maze test; passive avoidance and the Morris water maze tests); inhibit AChE activity in the hippocampus and frontal cortex. \[[@B71-molecules-23-00117]\]
Oleuropein Pentylenetetrazole-induced seizures in male NMRI mice-----10, 20 or 30 mg/kg; i.p. Increased the seizure threshold; anticonvulsant effects reversed by naltrexone (opioid receptor antagonist). \[[@B72-molecules-23-00117]\]
Oleuropein Colchicine (15 μg/rat) injected into the CA1 area of the hippocampus---10, 15 or 20 mg/kg, p.o. for 10 days Improve learning and memory retention (Morris water maze test); attenuate the oxidative damage (assessed by GPx and CAT activities, nitric oxide and MDA). \[[@B73-molecules-23-00117]\]
Paeoniflorin Transgenic mouse model of AD---2.0 mg/kg, i.p. for 24 h. Improve cognitive function and ameliorate patterns of escape distance and escape latency in AD mice; decrease inflammation (protein expression levels of NF-κB, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 and caspase-3 activity; inhibit cell death via increasing the Bcl-2/Bax ratio and p-Akt expression levels, and downregulating p-p38 MAPK expression in AD mice. \[[@B74-molecules-23-00117]\]
Paeoniflorin Transgenic mouse model of AD---4 week treatment Inhibit Aβ burden, Aβ-induced over activation of astrocytes and microglia; downregulate proinflammatory cytokines; upregulate anti-inflammatory cytokines in the brain; inhibit the activation of GSK-3β and reverse neuroinflammatory-induced NF-κB activation signaling pathways; exert inhibitory effects on NALP3 inflammasome, caspase-1, and IL-1β. \[[@B75-molecules-23-00117]\]
Paeoniflorin Bilateral intrahippocampal injection of Aβ1-42 in rats---i.p. once daily for 14 days Increased the expressions of Nrf2, HO-1 and γ-GCS mRNA; enhance the level of GSH and decrease the contents of MDA and carbonyl protein in the hippocampus; improve the NAIP expression and reduce the Caspase-3 expression in the hippocampus neurons. \[[@B76-molecules-23-00117]\]
Paeoniflorin Aβ1-42-mediated neurotoxicity in rats---7.5, 15 or 30 mg/kg i.p. for 20 days Improve memory (dose dependent) in Morris water maze test; inhibit neuronal apoptosis; maintain intracellular Ca^2+^ homeostasis; increase GSH content; suppress NOS activity and NO level, decrease of carbonyl protein and MDA levels. \[[@B77-molecules-23-00117]\]
ACTH, Adrenocorticotropic hormone; ADAM10, A disintegrin and metalloproteinase domain-containing protein 10; APP, amyloid precursor protein; APP/PS1 mice, double transgenic mice that over express the Swedish mutation of APP together with presenilin 1 deletion; CaMKII, calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II; CREB, cAMP-response element binding protein; CRH, corticotropin-releasing hormone; LDH, Lactate dehydrogenase; MDA, malondialdhyde; mEPSC, miniature excitatory postsynaptic current; NALP3, nacht domain-, leucine-rich repeat-, and pyrin domain (PYD)-containing protein 3; PSD-95, postsynaptic density protein 95.
|
Q:
Pillow - Transparency over non-transparent image with paste
Let me prefix with a disclaimer that I am clueless when it comes to imaging/graphics all together, so maybe I'm lacking a fundamental understanding with something here.
I'm trying to paste an image (game_image) to my base image (image) with a transparent overlay (overlay_image) over top to add some darkening for the text.
Here's an example of the expected result:
Here's an example of what my current code generates:
Here is my current code:
from PIL import Image, ImageFont, ImageDraw
# base image sizing specific to Twitter recommended
base_image_size = (1600, 900)
base_image_mode = "RGBA"
base_image_background_color = (0, 52, 66)
image = Image.new(base_image_mode, base_image_size, base_image_background_color)
# game_image is the box art image on the left side of the card
game_image = Image.open("hunt.jpg")
image.paste(game_image)
# overlay_image is the darkened overlay over the left side of the card
overlay_image = Image.new(base_image_mode, base_image_size, (0, 0, 0))
overlay_image.putalpha(128)
# x position should be negative 50% of base canvas size
image.paste(overlay_image, (-800, 0), overlay_image)
image.save("test_image.png", format="PNG")
You can see that the game image sort of inherits the transparency from the overlay. I suspect it has something to do with the mask added in my paste above, but I tried looking into what masking is & its just beyond my understanding in any context I find it in.
Any help on understanding why this occurs and/or how I can resolve is appreciated!
A:
You are super close... All you need, is to use Image.alpha_composite instead of paste. So, the last two lines of your code should be:
image = Image.alpha_composite(image, overlay_image)
image.save("test_image.png", format="PNG")
|
---
abstract: 'The number of corona virus (COVID-19) infections grows worldwide. In order to create short term predictions to prepare for the extent of the global pandemic we analyze infection data from the top 25 affected countries. It is shown that all country-specific infection rates follow a power law growth behavior and the scaling exponents per country are calculated. We find two different growth patterns: either steady power law growth from the very beginning with moderate scaling exponents of 3-5 or explosive power law growth with dramatic scaling exponents of 8-11. In the case of the USA we even find an exponent of 16.59. By means of data analysis we confirm that instituting strict measures of lock-downs combined with a strong adherence by the population are effective means to bring the growth rates down. While many countries have instituted measures there are only three countries (Denmark, Norway, and South Korea) so far where such lock-downs led to a significant reduction of the growth rate. In the case of Denmark we calculate the reduction of the scaling exponents to move from 6.82 to 1.47.'
author:
- 'H.M. Singer'
bibliography:
- 'covid01.bib'
date: '2020-03-25'
title: 'Short-term predictions of country-specific Covid-19 infection rates based on power law scaling exponents'
---
Introduction {#introduction .unnumbered}
============
Since the identification of a novel novel corona virus (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China in December 2019 the virus kept spreading rapidly throughout the world resulting in a global pandemic. As of March 25th 10:30 CET 424,048 people in over 170 countries and regions have been infected [@arcgis]. Due to its high infectivity no slowing down of the spread is currently in sight. A medical cure or vaccine is not available yet. This pandemic brings health care systems worldwide to their limits. The mortality rate is calculated to be 2.5% [@LAI2020105924] (comparison: SARS 9.6% [@SMITH20063113] and H1N1 influence 0.6%[@VaillantEtAl2009]). As the number of infections rises many governments around the world have instituted drastic lock-downs and curfews and called for social distancing and work from home to reduce the rate at which the virus spreads.
The severity of the infections with the COVID-19 is not evenly distributed with respect to age. While children do not seem to be affected much the risk of complications and negative progression seems to increase with increasing age the elderly population (70+) being affected most (5-11% mortality rate) [@jcm9020523]. Preexisting health conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, respiratory diseases or cancer [@DRIGGIN2020; @jcm9020523] and smoking [@Vardavas2020] seem to increase the risk of complications as well.
In order for health care systems to be able to predict the short term and longer term number of infected patients different models have been used. Epidemiological analysis models assumes an exponential growth and a fixed reproduction number $n$, i.e. the number of people infected by a sick person. For $n>1$ and an incubation time $\tau$ the total number of infections is assumed to grow exponentially $$n^{\frac{t}{\tau}}=e^{at}$$
This approach is the basis for a number of different predictive studies such as [@ZHAO2020214; @schmitt2020simplified].
Other approaches to estimate and predict the number of infections are for example based on ’mechanistic-statistical’ approaches coupling a SIR ODE model describing the unobserved epidemiological dynamics combined with a probabilistic model describing the data acquisition process and a statistical inference method [@roques2020mechanisticstatistical], time series modeling [@deb2020time], iterative maps [@botha2020simple], or agent based simulations [@chang2020modelling] as well as logistic maps[@Hermanowicz2020.02.04.20020461; @ROOSA2020256].
The problem with exponential approaches is that it assumes that any infected person will infect the same number $n$ more people not taking into account the human tendency to live and work in relatively closed groups. Therefore such models tend to overestimate the number of infected people as time progresses, simply because there are no more new people to infect in the individuals particular group. On the other hand if the disease were to spread only at the periphery of a compact region of infections then a parabolic growth $t^{2}$ would be expected [@br2020quadratic]. It is thus to be assumed that after an initial short exponential growth a slow down should be observed where the growth of newly infected people increases less than exponentially but probably faster than $t^{2}$ as humans are not generally limited to the confines of a compact region. Given what is known about human interactions and structures mostly showing small world phenomena and scale free networks [@Watts1998; @Watts2004] the assumption of a power law behavior is reasonable. Early analysis in February 2020 [@Ziff2020.02.16.20023820] showed this indeed to be true. After a short initial exponential growth period the number of infections, as well as the number of recovered and deceased patients follows a power law: $$n(t)=Bt^{\gamma}$$
In the case of the infection spreading in China the exponent $\gamma$ was determined to be $2.27$ [@Ziff2020.02.16.20023820] and $2.48$ [@li2020scaling] (with more data). In an update to [@Ziff2020.02.16.20023820] it was suggested to take the saturation and slow down in the rate of new infections into account by tapering off the growth with an exponential slow down as suggested in [@Vazquez_2006] $$n(t)=Ct^{\gamma_{cutoff}}e^{-\frac{t}{t_{0}}}$$
with $\gamma_{cutoff}=3.09$ and $t_{0}=8.90$ days. As a second parameter $t_{0}$ is introduced the original scaling exponent $\gamma$ changes slightly to $\gamma_{cutoff}>\gamma$ as a result of the fitting procedure.
Method {#method .unnumbered}
======
All data related to COVID-19 was downloaded from the publicly available JHU-CSSE (2020) data source provided continuously by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering (JHUCSSE) [@csse_github]. Aggregate data calculation for countries with different regions or states were performed after collecting by a simple summation over all associated regions or provinces (for the countries USA, China, and Canada). The data for Australia was omitted because the aggregated data in [@csse_github] did not correspond to the value given in [@arcgis].
We have selected the data sets with the 25 most infections as presented in [@arcgis] on 2020-03-24 11:00 CET. The countries and their infection counts are given in Table I.
Country \#infections (2020-03-24)
---------------- ---------------------------
China 81588
Italy 63927
USA 46481
Spain 35212
Germany 30081
Iran 24811
France 20149
South Korea 9037
Switzerland 8795
United Kingdom 6733
Netherlands 4767
Austria 4742
Belgium 4269
Norway 2647
Canada 2088
Portugal 2060
Sweden 2059
Brazil 1960
Denmark 1703
Israel 1656
Malaysia 1624
Turkey 1529
Japan 1140
India 511
Russia 444
: Countries with the most COVID-19 infections (2020-03-24)
We have plotted the data for each country in a log-log plot and determined the range of power-law behavior. From there the scaling exponent for each country was extracted. As an example the data for Germany is shown in a log-log plot in Fig. 1. The range used to extract the scaling exponent is denoted with two vertical lines. The best fit line (determined by linear regression) is superimposed on the data points. In Fig. 2 the short term prediction of the total number of infections is superimposed onto the data points for the the next 7 days.


The scaling exponent for Germany was found to be $\gamma_{Germany}=11.59$.
In order to cross-check the validity of the determined scaling exponent we have recalculated the scaling exponent for China in the power law range and found $\gamma_{China}=2.20$ in excellent agreement with [@Ziff2020.02.16.20023820]. Fig. 3 shows the log-log plot for China.


Since no country apart from China exhibits signs of a saturation we have used the simple power law fit instead of the cutoff power law fit [@Vazquez_2006] to determine all scaling exponents.
Results {#results .unnumbered}
=======
We have extracted the scaling exponents for all the countries in Table I. As of 2020-03-24 there was only China which showed a saturation of the total number of infections. All the other countries have not reached yet such a level. We could distinguish three different stages:
1. **Growth stage:** the total number of infections is in the power law range and a single scaling exponent could be extracted. Currently most countries fall into this category.
2. **Slow down stage:** due to government imposed strict measures to slow down the spread of the virus the initial power law range split into a second one with a smaller scaling exponent. The total number is still increasing as a power law but more slowly than before. We have found only three countries where this was the case: Denmark, Norway, and South Korea.
3. **Saturation stage:** the power law regime has ended and the total number of infections slows down to small numbers close to 0. This was only the case for China (see Fig. 3 and Fig. 4).
To demonstrate the slow down stage we present the data from Denmark in Fig. 5 as a log-log plot and Fig. 6 as short term predictions for the total number of infections. We find $\gamma_{Denmark,1}=6.82$ pre-intervention and $\gamma_{Denmark,2}=1.47$ post-intervention. It is, however, important to note that the data so far clearly does not show a saturation merely a slow down into a different power law regime with a different scaling exponent.


We have plotted all country data in a log-log plot starting from the respective day of the first infection in Fig. 7. If more than one person was recorded to be infected on the first day we have subtracted the difference to 1 from the data set to plot all the data from the same origin. Since we are only interested in the power law exponent in the range of large total numbers of infections this subtraction did not affect the outcome of the plot and the result. Since, however, the number of recorded infections on the first day in China was 548 the data points from China do not follow the other countries’ general development.
As can be seen in Fig. 7 the growth rate of the total number of infections can be roughly divided into two distinct growth patterns:
1. steady power law growth from the beginning in the blue (online) regime where we have found a scaling exponent of $\gamma_{steady}\text{\ensuremath{\approx}}4.8\,(2-6)$.
2. explosive power law growth in the red (online) regime: after a long incubation time with hardly any infections the total number of infections increases rapidly with a scaling exponent of $\gamma_{explosive}\text{\ensuremath{\approx}}10\,(8-16)$.

The exact calculations of the power law scaling exponents are given in Table II. The scaling exponents are displayed graphically in Fig. 8.
Country $\gamma$ (pre) $\gamma_{2}$(post)
---------------- ---------------- --------------------
China 2.22 0.024 (saturation)
Iran 2.26
Japan 3.38
Netherlands 3.63
Sweden 4.50
Switzerland 4.72
Portugal 4.89
Austria 4.90
Norway 5.25 2.08
Turkey 5.91
Brazil 6.39
Israel 6.60
Italy 6.80
Denmark 6.82 1.48
Belgium 8.88
Malaysia 9.05
United Kingdom 9.62
India 9.76
France 10.14
Russia 10.33
Spain 10.34
South Korea 10.88 0.83
Germany 11.58
Canada 11.67
USA 16.59
: Scaling exponents $\gamma$ per country. Countries with a slow down stage or a saturation stage after government interventions and lock-downs have a second scaling exponent $\gamma_{2}$ attached. The countries are sorted according to increasing scaling exponent $\gamma$ from steady growth to explosive growth.

Conclusions {#conclusions .unnumbered}
===========
Our initial assumption was that cultural habits of proximity and cleanliness such as the habit of washing hands as well as the geographical location would influence the speed at which the total number of infection increases but at least on a per country comparison such a distinction was not discernible. Neither cultural habits nor social distance and personal space [@social_dist] seem to have a noticeable influence. Also the latitude and the according temperature differences do not seem to play any role.
A puzzling fact is that neighboring countries do not seem to exhibit similar scaling exponents such as Belgium (8.88) to the Netherlands (3.63) or France (10.14) to Switzerland (4.72) or Germany (11.58) to Austria (4.9).
We have confirmed that the implementation of lock-downs had an impact on the spread however, not the governmental sanctions *per se* but obviously the adherence to it by the people. Notably there was hardly any noticeable impact on the lock-down in Italy whereas the measures in Denmark and Norway were very effective. The complete lock-down of Wuhan in China seemed to have been so far the most effective measure, however, China is two months ahead of all the other countries so no direct comparison can be drawn at the moment. South Korea deserves a special mention since the wide range testing of a large part of the population and consequent isolation of confirmed cases seems to have prevented any further growth (dropping from 10.88 to 0.83).
A puzzling data point is Iran which has the second lowest scaling exponent (2.26) almost identical to China (2.20). As Iran to our knowledge did not introduce any severe and strict measures and lock-downs we are tempted to believe that the reported numbers do not correspond to the actual numbers of infected people in that country. Perhaps many people in Iran are not able to seek medical attention or prefer not to?
It is worth noting that the currently highest spread is found in the USA with a scaling exponent of 16.59. We do not know why the outbreak in the US was so explosive.
We have found that the stricter the lock-down measures have been instituted and the higher the adherence of the population to those measures the faster the exponent dropped and the more noticeable pre- and post-measure regimes were separated.
Countries where there were no strict measures (or not yet) and no adherence to those measures if implemented or if they were introduced very late in the process have scaling exponents of $\thicksim8-11$ (USA 16.59). Countries with earlier lock-down measures and stricter adherence have exponents of $\thicksim3-5$.
In conclusion the data supports evidence that the spread is not exponential but can be described as a power law which indicates that all investigated countries and societies seem to be organized as small world networks and show scale-free behavior in the total number of infections. Different governmental measures and adherence of the population to those measures leads to strikingly different growth rates and scaling exponents. The power law approach fits the recorded data very well and allows accurate short term predictions of the total number of infections which allows health care systems to prepare and to effectively plan necessary staff, infrastructure and in particular intensive care units and to triage new patients more efficiently.
The author reports no funding related to this research and has no conflicting financial interests.
|
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that 90 percent of the Japanese population respects the military as he pushes to expand it and change the country’s constitution to get rid of its post-WWII pacifist requirements.
“Ninety percent of the population now treats the Self-Defense Force (SDF) with respect,” Abe said during a military-themed event on Sunday. “You have gained public trust with your hands.”
Speaking in front of about 4,000 servicemen at a military training center in Saitama Prefecture, the prime minister stated it is now up to politicians to create “an environment” for SDF to carry out its duties “with a sense of pride.”
SDF functions as Japan’s de facto national army. It is considered one of the most advanced and best equipped military structures in the world, and ranks 8th in terms of its budget size.
Abe was re-elected in a landslide for the third term as the head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party last month, and is poised to fulfill the party’s long-time pledge to explicitly entrench the role of the army into Japan’s largely pacifist constitution. Written shortly after the Japanese surrendered in World War II, the document renounces the nation’s right to wage wars and to maintain a standing army. Abe wants to change that in order to strengthen the role of the SDF in Tokyo’s international relations.
During Abe’s leadership, Japan had been constantly boosting its military budget and expanding naval drills in the region. The army is also undergoing structural reforms. The nation’s first Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade was launched in March in Nagasaki Prefecture. Next year, Tokyo plans to deploy extra missile defense systems in southern prefectures, tasked with monitoring China and North Korea.
READ MORE: Japan’s largest warship trains with US naval strike group in contested South China Sea
Public opinion is largely split over Abe’s ideas, as many in Japan don’t view the revision of the constitution as a priority issue. The plans to increase the role of the SDF has also sparked protests. In May, 60,000 people joined anti-war rallies in Tokyo alone. They accused Abe of warmongering and voiced fears that a shift from Japan’s decades-long pacifist stance may lead to unnecessary tensions in the world. The protesters also say that growing militarization will have a negative impact on Japanese society.
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Q:
Mapbox GL JS: Add layer below US state labels?
I am using Mapbox GL JS and I would like to add a choropleth layer, but show US state labels above the layer.
I have read this blog post about how to add layers underneath map labels. However, the example given explains how to add layers underneath city labels:
map.addLayer({
...
}, 'place_label_city_small_s'); // Place choropleth layer under these labels.
But how do I adapt this for US state labels? What should I use instead of place_label_city_small_s?
Is there a way that I can ensure all map labels appear on top of the layers?
A:
It is explained here, you identify the label layer via:
var layers = map.getStyle().layers;
// Find the index of the first symbol layer in the map style
var firstSymbolId;
for (var i = 0; i < layers.length; i++) {
if (layers[i].type === 'symbol') {
firstSymbolId = layers[i].id;
break;
}
}
|
Q:
PHP Mcrypt error: Cannot open source device
I downgraded to PHP 5.2.8 from PHP 5.4.2 for a reason, I enabled the mcrypt extension, but when I run the function mcrypt_create_iv ($size, MCRYPT_DEV_RANDOM), it doesn't execute properly, and I get the following warning
Warning: mcrypt_create_iv() [function.mcrypt-create-iv]:Cannot open source device
Please how do I fix this issue? Thanks for any suggestion.
A:
The issue occurred because MCRYPT_DEV_URANDOM was only supported on Windows as from PHP version 5.3.0, that is why it was working well until the downgrade.
I changed to MCRYPT_RAND which worked on previous versions and the problem was solved.
|
Decidual expression and regulation of fatty acid desaturase 3 during mouse decidualization.
Decidualization is required for the successful establishment of pregnancy in rodents and primates. Fatty acid desaturase 3 (Fads3) belongs to the fatty acid desaturase family, which is a crucial enzyme for highly unsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis. However, the expression, regulation and function of Fads3 during early pregnancy in mice are still unknown. In this study, we examined Fads3 expression, regulation and function during mouse decidualization. The expression of Fads3 is detected in the subluminal stromal cells at implantation site on day 5 of pregnancy, but not at inter-implantation site and in day 5 pseudopregnant uteri. Compared to delayed implantation, Fads3 is strongly expressed after delayed implantation is activated by estrogen treatment. From days 6 to 8, Fads3 mRNA signals are significantly detected in the decidua. In ovariectomized mice, estrogen significantly stimulates Fads3 expression. However, estrogen has no effect on Fads3 expression in ovariectomized ERα-deficient mice, suggesting that estrogen regulation on Fads3 expression is ERα dependent. When ovariectomized mice were treated with progesterone, Fads3 expression is significantly increased by progesterone. Progesterone stimulation on Fads3 expression is also detected in cultured stromal cells, which is abrogated by RU486 treatment. These data indicate that progesterone upregulation on Fads3 expression is progesterone receptor-dependent. Fads3 knockdown by siRNA reduces in vitro decidualization of mouse stromal cells. Taken together, Fads3 may play an important role during mouse decidualization. |
Recommendations and Resources For:
States, local early learning programs and providers, and families must work together so that children with disabilities have access to inclusive high-quality early childhood programs.
The ED and HHS “Policy Statement on Inclusion of Children with Disabilities in Early Childhood Programs” offers the following recommendations to States:
Create a State-Level Interagency Task Force and Plan for Inclusion:
States should leverage existing early childhood councils or taskforces and create or strengthen a focus on early childhood inclusion. This council should build on existing early childhood efforts, bring partners together, co-create a written vision statement for early childhood inclusion, and carry out an inclusion state plan.
Ensure State Policies Support High-Quality Inclusion:
States should review their policies to ensure that they facilitate high-quality inclusion. The state should ensure that future early learning initiatives within the state have specific policies and procedures to recruit, enroll, and appropriately support the learning and developmental needs of young children with disabilities.
Set Goals and Track Data:
States should set concrete goals for expanding access to inclusive high-quality early learning opportunities, and track progress in reaching these goals.
Review and Modify Resource Allocations: States should review how resources are allocated and how they may be reallocated to better support increased access to inclusive early childhood programs. States should consider using funds across multiple early childhood programs, particularly IDEA funds with other early childhood funding streams.
Ensure Quality Rating Frameworks are Inclusive:
Each level in a quality framework should include indicators applicable to children with disabilities, as opposed to indicators specific to children with disabilities being optional or only applying at the highest level of a framework.
Strengthen Accountability and Build Incentive Structures:
The state should address barriers inclusion within their accountability system. This should include reviewing the individualized education program (IEP) process to ensure that placement decisions are individualized and consistent with least restrictive environment requirements for eligible children under the IDEA.
Build a Coordinated Early Childhood Professional Development (PD) System: An effective early childhood workforce is a key component of expanding access to inclusive high-quality early childhood programs. States should ensure that their professional development efforts are coordinated and that inclusion and children with disabilities are meaningfully addressed across all efforts. Specifically, states should:
Build a Common Knowledge and Competency Base Across Child-Serving Providers
Ensure that State Certifications, Credentials, and Workforce Preparation Programs have a Strong Focus on Inclusion
Ensure Personnel Policies Facilitate Inclusion
Offer Cross-Sector Professional Development and Technical Assistance
Implement Statewide Supports for Children's Social-Emotional and Behavioral Health:
Early childhood programs should have access to specialists who can build capacity in working with young children, with an emphasis on fostering social-emotional and behavioral health.
Raise Public Awareness:
The tate should partner with community leaders to communicate the benefits of early childhood inclusion, affirm the laws and research that form the foundation for inclusion, and set the expectation that the community is responsible for ensuring that all children have access to high-quality early childhood programs and the individualized supports they need to fully participate in those programs.
Free, federally-supported resources are available to help early learning programs and providers improve inclusive practices. Please note that this is not a complete list of resources, and we will continue to add more as they become available.
CONNECT: The Center to Mobilize Early Childhood Learning Knowledge
CONNECT developed modules that are practice-focused instructional resources for faculty and other professional development providers. They are designed to build practitioners’ abilities to make evidence-based decisions.
IRIS Center
IRIS resources and materials are primarily designed for use by college and university faculty, professional development providers, and practicing educators and includes instructional modules on inclusion, video vignettes, activities, resources on accommodations and working with families, and research summaries.
National Professional Development Center for Inclusion (NPDCI)
NPDCI developed landing pads with evidence-based practices around Access, Participation, and Supports. Tools were developed to assist States and communities design cross-sector systems of professional development.
SpecialQuest Multimedia Training Library
The SpecialQuest Multimedia Training Library supports the inclusion of young children with disabilities, birth to five, and their families in early care and education settings. The SpecialQuest materials and approach have been used with over 5,000 participants nationwide, refined over a period of ten years, and have been shown to create and sustain change. Materials are provided at no cost with funding.
Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Intervention for Young Children (TACSEI)
TACSEI uses evidence-based practices for improving the social-emotional outcomes of young children. It has developed a variety of training resources such as make and take workshops, tools, and materials for implementing the Pyramid Model. |
Compelling evidence suggests that oligomeric A? plays a crucial neurotoxic and synaptotoxic role in Alzheimer?s disease (AD), and that hyperphosphorylation of the microtubule associated protein (MAP) tau mediates or facilitates A? toxicity. The nature of the link between A? and tau in causing AD has however remained largely unexplained, casting doubt on the amyloid hypothesis itself. In neurons, control of microtubule dynamics and tubulin modifications that accumulate on stable microtubules is necessary for multiple homeostatic and regulated functions, including long-distance transport and synaptic activity. Thus, regulation of the ratio between stable and dynamic microtubules is crucial to avoid disease. To date, almost nothingisknownaboutwhetherinductionofhyperstableandmodifiedmicrotubulesisaprimaryactivityofA? thatcontributestotauhyperphosphorylationandsynaptotoxicity. We have preliminary data that detyrosinated tubulin is enriched in hippocampal tissue of AD patients andanimalmodelsofAD,andthataccumulationofdetyrosinatedtubulinmayinducetauhyperphosphorylation in primary neurons. In addition, we found that acute incubation of primary neurons with oligomeric A?1-42 generated detyrosinated MTs by transient microtubule hyperstabilization. Inhibition of the formin mDia1, a positive regulator of microtubule stability, suppressed this activity, affected tau hyperphosphorylation and rescuedsynaptotoxicityinducedbyA?invitro.Theoverallobjectiveofthisproposalistotesttheparadigm- shifting hypothesis that oligomeric A? acutely induces hyperstable detyrosinated microtubules through the activation of mDia1, and that tubulin detyrosination contributes to tau hyperphosphorylation as part of a negative feedback loop to maintain appropriate levels of dynamic and unmodified microtubules. In this proposal,wewillcharacterizethenatureofthismicrotubulehyperstabilizationinneuritesandatsynapticsites, and investigate whether APP and integrin signaling pathways are required for this A?-driven microtubule activity. In addition, we will test the role of mDia1 in mediating A?-synaptotoxicity in vivo, and examine the molecularmechanismsbywhichmDia1-synaptotoxicityoccurs. Ourproposalreliesonamultidisciplinaryefforttotestapathogenicroleforformin-mediatedregulation of microtubule stability by A? and the involvement of tubulin detyrosination in the induction of tau hyperphosphorylation and neuronal injury. Our studies will test a unifying theory for the pathogenesis of AD and examine the role for mDia1 and possibly other formins as potential targets in drug therapies aimed at rescuingA?andphospho-tautoxicityinAD. |
Prevalence and risk and protective factors related to disordered eating behaviors among adolescents: relationship to gender and ethnicity.
To examine the current prevalence of disordered eating behaviors in a large sample of adolescents, by gender and ethnicity, and to identify gender and ethnic-specific risk and protective factors. The study population included 81,247 9th- and 12th-graders who completed the 1998 Minnesota Student Survey, a self-report, school-based survey which included questions about disordered eating behaviors and a variety of psychosocial characteristics. Fifty-six percent of 9th-grade females and 28% of 9th-grade males report disordered eating behaviors (i.e. one or more of the following to lose or control weight: fasting or skipping meals, diet pills, vomiting, laxatives or smoking cigarettes; and binge-eating), with slightly higher rates among 12th-grade females and males, 57% and 31%, respectively. Among both genders, Hispanic and American Indian youth reported the highest prevalence of disordered eating. Risk factors for disordered eating among both males and females included cigarette smoking, appearance concerns, and alcohol use. Protective factors for both males and females were positive self-esteem, emotional well-being, school achievement, and family connectedness. While risk and protective factors were similar across gender, they differed across ethnicity particularly among females. Health professionals working with youth need to be aware of the high prevalence of these subclinical disordered eating behaviors, ask appropriate screening questions, and provide resources and referral, if necessary, for youth reporting these behaviors. Knowledge of risk and protective factors can serve to guide intervention and prevention efforts, particularly as they apply across ethnicity. |
Q:
"Interfaces" in Python: Yea or Nay?
So I'm starting a project using Python after spending a significant amount of time in static land. I've seen some projects that make "interfaces" which are really just classes without any implementations. Before, I'd scoff at the idea and ignore that section of those projects. But now, I'm beginning to warm up to the idea.
Just so we're clear, an interface in Python would look something like this:
class ISomething(object):
def some_method():
pass
def some_other_method(some_argument):
pass
Notice that you aren't passing self to any of the methods, thus requiring that the method be overriden to be called. I see this as a nice form of documentation and completeness testing.
So what is everyone here's opinion on the idea? Have I been brainwashed by all the C# programming I've done, or is this a good idea?
A:
I'm not sure what the point of that is. Interfaces (of this form, anyway) are largely to work around the lack of multiple inheritance. But Python has MI, so why not just make an abstract class?
class Something(object):
def some_method(self):
raise NotImplementedError()
def some_other_method(self, some_argument):
raise NotImplementedError()
A:
In Python 2.6 and later, you can use abstract base classes instead. These are useful, because you can then test to see if something implements a given ABC by using "isinstance". As usual in Python, the concept is not as strictly enforced as it would be in a strict language, but it's handy. Moreover there are nice idiomatic ways of declaring abstract methods with decorators - see the link above for examples.
A:
There are some cases where interfaces can be very handy. Twisted makes fairly extensive use of Zope interfaces, and in a project I was working on Zope interfaces worked really well. Enthought's traits packaged recently added interfaces, but I don't have any experience with them.
Beware overuse though -- duck typing and protocols are a fundamental aspect of Python, only use interfaces if they're absolutely necessary.
|
Sidhu Needs Time To Think, Let’s Respect That : Kejriwal
Arvind Kejriwal sought to put an end to the rumoured surrounding the joining of Navjot Singh Sidhu, former BJP MP into AAP.
Earlier today, Kejriwal wrote on Twitter that Sidhu has not put forward any pre-condition prior to his joining the AAP ranks. “He needs time to think. Let’s respect that,” he said.
Kejriwal confirmed that he met Sidhu and added he will continue to respect Sidhu irrespective of him joining the AAP or not.
There is Confusion Sidhu’s status, he resigned his Rajya Sabha seat but still to officially resign from BJP. AAP has been supporting Sidhu ahead of Punjab Assembly elections. Sidhu, a former Lok Sabha MP from Amritsar said that BJP told him to stay away from the state and it was not agreeable to him. Sidhu has criticised the Akali Punjab leadership who is an ally of the BJP.
Since his Rajya Sabha resignation rumours of Sidhu’s joining AAP and even being nominated as AAP’s CM Face in Punjab are there. As per the sources, Sidhu wanted a ticket for him and his wife but it was not acceptable to the AAP .
AAP states that two members of same family cannot be given tickets for an election.
AAP has not declared a CM Face yet. However, the party has announced its Bhagwant Mann, Sangrur MP as the chairman of the campaign committee. Party has also released its first list of 19 candidates for the state elections.
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The Indian Elections brings to you every bit of elections as they happen. We provide up-to-date news, accurate maps, critical analysis, and facts on the various Assembly / parliament elections / by-elections in India. The Indian Elections is comprehensive knowledge base of electoral system of India. We offer the best platform to acquire insight and take an informed decision about your electoral power. Keep updated. |
The woman who hopped into a lion enclosure at the Bronx Zoo last weekend has finally been identified. NYPD officers are searching for 32-year-old Myah Autry, who was seen on social media dancing and taunting a zoo lion that stood just feet away from her, CBS New York reports.
Video of the incident was posted on Instagram last Saturday and quickly went viral. Autry herself posted several videos from her trip to the Bronx Zoo on her Instagram page: @Queenempress_Myahlaree. She claims she climbed into the enclosure with good intentions, but the zoo said it was a serious violation that could have resulted in serious injury or death.
Although the suspect has been identified, police are still searching for her. She may face criminal trespassing charges, according to CBS New York.
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While it may be difficult to pinpoint Autry's location, she is not in hiding: she has posted on Instagram nearly 50 times since Saturday. She has posted photos from the gym, parties and even from Times Square, where she snapped a photo with three NYPD officers just hours after her visit to the Bronx Zoo.
All of her Instagram captions have positive and often religious messages. She posted three videos taken during her time in the lion enclosure. "I REALLY HAVE NO FEAR OF NOTHING BREATHING‼️" she wrote in one caption.
"Thank You 'Most High' For allowing Me to Actually Live this Life Experience As I trust in You," she wrote on another video of herself and the lion. "I Literally Went in his Habbitat [sic] and He did not Growl or He didn't not go into Attack Mode‼️ Why? Like All things, Even Animals know if your acting out of Love & Fearlessness. When I say NO FEAR THATS NOT ABOUT EGO ITS ABOUT BEING ONE WITH MOTHER'S NATURE AND LOVING ALL THINGS‼️ I Entered His Home in Peace & He let me Leave in Peace." |
The setWasNull throws if the procedure has not been executed yet.
Embedded handles this. It is not obvious from the Javadoc
that this is a requirement:
(quote from CallableStatement):
"The type of all OUT parameters must be registered prior to executing the stored procedure;
their values are retrieved after execution via the get methods provided here."
I found no verbiage discussing whether it is legal to access an INOUT parameter prior to execution.
BTW, in my small repro, I got an exception on the client (not wrong value as mention in thread; don't know why;
looking at the code it seems there should be an exception, but maybe the some flag is not cleared on
re-execution.
Output from my repro:
Testing with org.apache.derby.jdbc.ClientDriver
XJ088: java.sql.SQLException: Invalid operation: wasNull() called with no data retrieved.
java.sql.SQLException: Invalid operation: wasNull() called with no data retrieved.
at org.apache.derby.client.am.SQLExceptionFactory40.getSQLException(SQLExceptionFactory40.java:95)
at org.apache.derby.client.am.SqlException.getSQLException(SqlException.java:362)
at org.apache.derby.client.am.CallableStatement.getInt(CallableStatement.java:322)
at derby2786.Main.doStuff(Main.java:126)
at derby2786.Main.doBothDrivers(Main.java:192)
at derby2786.Main.main(Main.java:211)
Caused by: org.apache.derby.client.am.SqlException: Invalid operation: wasNull() called with no data retrieved.
at org.apache.derby.client.am.CallableStatement.wasNullX(CallableStatement.java:226)
at org.apache.derby.client.am.CallableStatement.getIntX(CallableStatement.java:331)
at org.apache.derby.client.am.CallableStatement.getInt(CallableStatement.java:313)
... 3 more
Testing with org.apache.derby.jdbc.EmbeddedDriver
DUMMYINT alias before returned 6
DUMMYINT alias after returned 22222
Dag H. Wanvik
added a comment - 12/Jun/07 03:55 I had a look at the client code; it does not handle CallableStatement#getXXX()
prior to executing the procedure INOUT parameters:
E.g.
int getIntX(int parameterIndex) throws SqlException
{
super.checkForClosedStatement();
checkGetterPreconditions(parameterIndex);
setWasNull(parameterIndex);
** return wasNullX() ? 0 : singletonRowData_.getInt(parameterIndex);
}
The setWasNull throws if the procedure has not been executed yet.
Embedded handles this. It is not obvious from the Javadoc
that this is a requirement:
(quote from CallableStatement):
"The type of all OUT parameters must be registered prior to executing the stored procedure;
their values are retrieved after execution via the get methods provided here."
I found no verbiage discussing whether it is legal to access an INOUT parameter prior to execution.
BTW, in my small repro, I got an exception on the client (not wrong value as mention in thread; don't know why;
looking at the code it seems there should be an exception, but maybe the some flag is not cleared on
re-execution.
Output from my repro:
Testing with org.apache.derby.jdbc.ClientDriver
XJ088: java.sql.SQLException: Invalid operation: wasNull() called with no data retrieved.
java.sql.SQLException: Invalid operation: wasNull() called with no data retrieved.
at org.apache.derby.client.am.SQLExceptionFactory40.getSQLException(SQLExceptionFactory40.java:95)
at org.apache.derby.client.am.SqlException.getSQLException(SqlException.java:362)
at org.apache.derby.client.am.CallableStatement.getInt(CallableStatement.java:322)
at derby2786.Main.doStuff(Main.java:126)
at derby2786.Main.doBothDrivers(Main.java:192)
at derby2786.Main.main(Main.java:211)
Caused by: org.apache.derby.client.am.SqlException: Invalid operation: wasNull() called with no data retrieved.
at org.apache.derby.client.am.CallableStatement.wasNullX(CallableStatement.java:226)
at org.apache.derby.client.am.CallableStatement.getIntX(CallableStatement.java:331)
at org.apache.derby.client.am.CallableStatement.getInt(CallableStatement.java:313)
... 3 more
Testing with org.apache.derby.jdbc.EmbeddedDriver
DUMMYINT alias before returned 6
DUMMYINT alias after returned 22222
but one needs to handle type conversion/checking appropriately as well
(inside the new getInt(Object o) above). The current conversion methods are geared to pick
up data from the query execution result, not the parameter array, so fixing this will
likely require a whole new set of conversion methods. |
246 N.W.2d 68 (1976)
196 Neb. 731
STATE of Nebraska, Appellee,
v.
Francis LEONARD, Appellant.
No. 40578.
Supreme Court of Nebraska.
October 13, 1976.
Douglas McArthur, Lincoln, for appellant.
Paul L. Douglas, Atty. Gen., Paul W. Snyder, Asst. Atty. Gen., Lincoln, for appellee.
Heard before WHITE, C. J., and SPENCER, BOSLAUGH, McCOWN, NEWTON, CLINTON and BRODKEY, JJ.
CLINTON, Justice.
The defendant was found guilty by a jury on a charge of burglary of the inmate store in the Nebraska Penal and Correctional Complex. He was also charged as an habitual criminal and found guilty on that count as well. At the time of the burglary the defendant was an inmate of the correctional complex. He was sentenced to a term of 10 years in the complex with the sentence to be served concurrently with any term then being served.
On this appeal two assignments of error are made: (1) That the evidence was insufficient as a matter of law to support the finding of guilt on the burglary charge, and (2) that the court erred in not granting the motion of the defendant for a mistrial on *69 the ground of alleged erroneous and prejudicial statements made by the prosecutor during the voir dire examination of the jury.
We have read the record carefully. No useful purpose would be served by detailing the evidence. Suffice it to say that the evidence clearly establishes that a burglary did occur. The testimony directly supporting the defendant's part in the crime was that of an accomplice, another inmate, who admitted his part in the crime and testified for the State in exchange for a promise of a jail sentence only. The promise by the State was kept. The defendant admitted discussing plans for a burglary with the witness, but further testified that he changed his mind and did not participate because it was too risky. Testimony of other inmates supported the defendant's defense of alibi. It was for the jury to decide who was telling the truth. The evidence was legally sufficient to make a jury question. It is not the province of this court to resolve conflicts in the evidence, to determine plausibility or reasonableness of explanations, or to weigh the evidence. State v. Kelly, 193 Neb. 494, 227 N.W.2d 848. The first assignment is not meritorious.
During the course of voir dire examination, defendant's counsel moved the court "for a mistrial on the following grounds; that during the voir dire examination, one of the County Attorneys who was conducting the voir dire examination, Rodney Rehm, asked the jury a question to the effect that whether or not they would be prejudiced ifwhether or not they would be prejudiced because the defendant had stolen from the state ...." The prosecutor admitted he made some such statement. The motion for a mistrial was overruled. The exact language of the question put on voir dire does not appear in the record. After overruling the motion the court advised the jury of the presumption of innocence and the court stated in the record: "I feel that the jury was properly advised afterwards and particularly in view of the statement about the defendant's presumption of innocence and the fact that the jury indicated that they felt that he was presumed to be innocent."
It is, of course, improper for a prosecutor in oral argument to attempt to persuade the jury by giving an expression of his personal opinion of the guilt of the accused other than as a deduction from the evidence. State v. Brooks, 189 Neb. 592, 204 N.W.2d 86. It is certainly not clear from the record before us that the prosecutor was giving his personal opinion of the guilt of the accused. Rather the inference would appear to be that at the worst the prosecutor was making a somewhat ambiguous inquiry as to whether a jury bias might exist because the charge involved the taking of property of the State of Nebraska. The precise question, whatever it was, seems to have been put clearly on the premise that the defendant's guilt remained yet to be proved. The comment by the trial judge seems to make clear that the jurors understood that evidence had to be produced and that they must presume the defendant innocent. The usual instruction on this issue was later given. Under the circumstances it does not appear that the failure to grant a mistrial was erroneous. State v. Brooks, supra.
AFFIRMED.
|
Q:
How could i pass parameter to pika callback
I use pika to interact with RabbitMQ server as following:
1. P1 send message to RabbitMQ
2. C1 is an pyqt4 desktop tray application,which will show the above message once received.
The code is as following:
import sip
sip.setapi('QVariant', 2)
from PyQt4 import QtCore, QtGui
import systray_rc
class Window(QtGui.QDialog):
def __init__(self):
super(Window, self).__init__()
self.createIconGroupBox()
self.createMessageGroupBox()
self.iconLabel.setMinimumWidth(self.durationLabel.sizeHint().width())
self.createActions()
self.createTrayIcon()
self.showMessageButton.clicked.connect(self.showMessage)
self.showIconCheckBox.toggled.connect(self.trayIcon.setVisible)
self.iconComboBox.currentIndexChanged.connect(self.setIcon)
self.trayIcon.messageClicked.connect(self.messageClicked)
self.trayIcon.activated.connect(self.iconActivated)
mainLayout = QtGui.QVBoxLayout()
mainLayout.addWidget(self.iconGroupBox)
mainLayout.addWidget(self.messageGroupBox)
self.setLayout(mainLayout)
self.iconComboBox.setCurrentIndex(1)
self.trayIcon.show()
self.setWindowTitle("Systray")
self.resize(400, 300)
def setVisible(self, visible):
self.minimizeAction.setEnabled(visible)
self.maximizeAction.setEnabled(not self.isMaximized())
self.restoreAction.setEnabled(self.isMaximized() or not visible)
super(Window, self).setVisible(visible)
def closeEvent(self, event):
if self.trayIcon.isVisible():
QtGui.QMessageBox.information(self, "Systray",
"The program will keep running in the system tray. To "
"terminate the program, choose <b>Quit</b> in the "
"context menu of the system tray entry.")
self.hide()
event.ignore()
def setIcon(self, index):
icon = self.iconComboBox.itemIcon(index)
self.trayIcon.setIcon(icon)
self.setWindowIcon(icon)
self.trayIcon.setToolTip(self.iconComboBox.itemText(index))
def iconActivated(self, reason):
if reason in (QtGui.QSystemTrayIcon.Trigger, QtGui.QSystemTrayIcon.DoubleClick):
self.iconComboBox.setCurrentIndex(
(self.iconComboBox.currentIndex() + 1)
% self.iconComboBox.count())
elif reason == QtGui.QSystemTrayIcon.MiddleClick:
self.showMessage()
def showMessage(self):
icon = QtGui.QSystemTrayIcon.MessageIcon(
self.typeComboBox.itemData(self.typeComboBox.currentIndex()))
# self.trayIcon.showMessage(self.titleEdit.text(),
# self.bodyEdit.toPlainText(), icon,
# self.durationSpinBox.value() * 1000)
self.trayIcon.showMessage('stock alarm',
'test', icon,
self.durationSpinBox.value() * 1000)
def messageClicked(self):
QtGui.QMessageBox.information(None, "Systray",
"Sorry, I already gave what help I could.\nMaybe you should "
"try asking a human?")
def createIconGroupBox(self):
self.iconGroupBox = QtGui.QGroupBox("Tray Icon")
self.iconLabel = QtGui.QLabel("Icon:")
self.iconComboBox = QtGui.QComboBox()
self.iconComboBox.addItem(QtGui.QIcon(':/images/bad.svg'), "Bad")
self.iconComboBox.addItem(QtGui.QIcon(':/images/heart.svg'), "Heart")
self.iconComboBox.addItem(QtGui.QIcon(':/images/trash.svg'), "Trash")
self.showIconCheckBox = QtGui.QCheckBox("Show icon")
self.showIconCheckBox.setChecked(True)
iconLayout = QtGui.QHBoxLayout()
iconLayout.addWidget(self.iconLabel)
iconLayout.addWidget(self.iconComboBox)
iconLayout.addStretch()
iconLayout.addWidget(self.showIconCheckBox)
self.iconGroupBox.setLayout(iconLayout)
def createMessageGroupBox(self):
self.messageGroupBox = QtGui.QGroupBox("Balloon Message")
typeLabel = QtGui.QLabel("Type:")
self.typeComboBox = QtGui.QComboBox()
self.typeComboBox.addItem("None", QtGui.QSystemTrayIcon.NoIcon)
self.typeComboBox.addItem(self.style().standardIcon(
QtGui.QStyle.SP_MessageBoxInformation), "Information",
QtGui.QSystemTrayIcon.Information)
self.typeComboBox.addItem(self.style().standardIcon(
QtGui.QStyle.SP_MessageBoxWarning), "Warning",
QtGui.QSystemTrayIcon.Warning)
self.typeComboBox.addItem(self.style().standardIcon(
QtGui.QStyle.SP_MessageBoxCritical), "Critical",
QtGui.QSystemTrayIcon.Critical)
self.typeComboBox.setCurrentIndex(1)
self.durationLabel = QtGui.QLabel("Duration:")
self.durationSpinBox = QtGui.QSpinBox()
self.durationSpinBox.setRange(5, 60)
self.durationSpinBox.setSuffix(" s")
self.durationSpinBox.setValue(15)
durationWarningLabel = QtGui.QLabel("(some systems might ignore this "
"hint)")
durationWarningLabel.setIndent(10)
titleLabel = QtGui.QLabel("Title:")
self.titleEdit = QtGui.QLineEdit("Cannot connect to network")
bodyLabel = QtGui.QLabel("Body:")
self.bodyEdit = QtGui.QTextEdit()
self.bodyEdit.setPlainText("Don't believe me. Honestly, I don't have "
"a clue.\nClick this balloon for details.")
self.showMessageButton = QtGui.QPushButton("Show Message")
self.showMessageButton.setDefault(True)
messageLayout = QtGui.QGridLayout()
messageLayout.addWidget(typeLabel, 0, 0)
messageLayout.addWidget(self.typeComboBox, 0, 1, 1, 2)
messageLayout.addWidget(self.durationLabel, 1, 0)
messageLayout.addWidget(self.durationSpinBox, 1, 1)
messageLayout.addWidget(durationWarningLabel, 1, 2, 1, 3)
messageLayout.addWidget(titleLabel, 2, 0)
messageLayout.addWidget(self.titleEdit, 2, 1, 1, 4)
messageLayout.addWidget(bodyLabel, 3, 0)
messageLayout.addWidget(self.bodyEdit, 3, 1, 2, 4)
messageLayout.addWidget(self.showMessageButton, 5, 4)
messageLayout.setColumnStretch(3, 1)
messageLayout.setRowStretch(4, 1)
self.messageGroupBox.setLayout(messageLayout)
def createActions(self):
self.minimizeAction = QtGui.QAction("Mi&nimize", self,
triggered=self.hide)
self.maximizeAction = QtGui.QAction("Ma&ximize", self,
triggered=self.showMaximized)
self.restoreAction = QtGui.QAction("&Restore", self,
triggered=self.showNormal)
self.quitAction = QtGui.QAction("&Quit", self,
triggered=QtGui.qApp.quit)
def createTrayIcon(self):
self.trayIconMenu = QtGui.QMenu(self)
self.trayIconMenu.addAction(self.minimizeAction)
self.trayIconMenu.addAction(self.maximizeAction)
self.trayIconMenu.addAction(self.restoreAction)
self.trayIconMenu.addSeparator()
self.trayIconMenu.addAction(self.quitAction)
self.trayIcon = QtGui.QSystemTrayIcon(self)
self.trayIcon.setContextMenu(self.trayIconMenu)
def callback(ch, method, properties, body):
print " [x] %r:%r" % (method.routing_key, body,)
#window.showMessage = body
#window.showMessage()
#self.showMessage()
def subsribeRabbit():
import pika
import sys
from util import settings
connection = pika.BlockingConnection(pika.ConnectionParameters(
host=settings.RABBIT_SERVER))
channel = connection.channel()
channel.exchange_declare(exchange=settings.STOCK_ALARMS_TOPIC,
type='topic')
result = channel.queue_declare(exclusive=True)
queue_name = result.method.queue
binding_keys = '#'
for binding_key in binding_keys:
channel.queue_bind(exchange=settings.STOCK_ALARMS_TOPIC,
queue=queue_name,
routing_key=binding_key)
print ' [*] Waiting for logs. To exit press CTRL+C'
channel.basic_consume(callback,
queue=queue_name,
no_ack=True)
channel.start_consuming()
if __name__ == '__main__':
import sys
from cron.realtimemonitorschedule import startMonitor
app = QtGui.QApplication(sys.argv)
if not QtGui.QSystemTrayIcon.isSystemTrayAvailable():
QtGui.QMessageBox.critical(None, "Systray",
"I couldn't detect any system tray on this system.")
sys.exit(1)
QtGui.QApplication.setQuitOnLastWindowClosed(False)
window = Window()
window.show()
from threading import Thread
thread = Thread(target = subsribeRabbit)
thread.start()
#thread.join()
sys.exit(app.exec_())
The question is that how could i call window.showMessage in the callback() function?Thanks in advance, i'm new to both Python and RabbitMQ.
A:
Note: This answer is using python3 so the syntax may be slightly different than the answers from three years ago.
A better answer is to wrap your callback in a lambda. Then you can pass whatever you want so long as it is accessible when you call basic_consume.
First change your callback to just take the stuff you are interested in. (You could also refactor this into a class and pass in self.)
def on_message(window, method, body):
print(" [x] %r:%r" % (method.routing_key, body), end="")
then to consume...
channel.basic_consume(on_message_callback=lambda ch, method, properties, body: on_message(window, method, body),
queue=queue_name,
no_ack=True)
A:
The trick is to define window for global variable as following:
import sip
sip.setapi('QVariant', 2)
from PyQt4 import QtCore, QtGui
import systray_rc
window = Window()
window.show()
class Window(QtGui.QDialog):
def __init__(self):
super(Window, self).__init__()
self.createIconGroupBox()
self.createMessageGroupBox()
self.iconLabel.setMinimumWidth(self.durationLabel.sizeHint().width())
self.createActions()
self.createTrayIcon()
self.showMessageButton.clicked.connect(self.showMessage)
self.showIconCheckBox.toggled.connect(self.trayIcon.setVisible)
self.iconComboBox.currentIndexChanged.connect(self.setIcon)
self.trayIcon.messageClicked.connect(self.messageClicked)
self.trayIcon.activated.connect(self.iconActivated)
mainLayout = QtGui.QVBoxLayout()
mainLayout.addWidget(self.iconGroupBox)
mainLayout.addWidget(self.messageGroupBox)
self.setLayout(mainLayout)
self.iconComboBox.setCurrentIndex(1)
self.trayIcon.show()
self.setWindowTitle("Systray")
self.resize(400, 300)
def setVisible(self, visible):
self.minimizeAction.setEnabled(visible)
self.maximizeAction.setEnabled(not self.isMaximized())
self.restoreAction.setEnabled(self.isMaximized() or not visible)
super(Window, self).setVisible(visible)
def closeEvent(self, event):
if self.trayIcon.isVisible():
QtGui.QMessageBox.information(self, "Systray",
"The program will keep running in the system tray. To "
"terminate the program, choose <b>Quit</b> in the "
"context menu of the system tray entry.")
self.hide()
event.ignore()
def setIcon(self, index):
icon = self.iconComboBox.itemIcon(index)
self.trayIcon.setIcon(icon)
self.setWindowIcon(icon)
self.trayIcon.setToolTip(self.iconComboBox.itemText(index))
def iconActivated(self, reason):
if reason in (QtGui.QSystemTrayIcon.Trigger, QtGui.QSystemTrayIcon.DoubleClick):
self.iconComboBox.setCurrentIndex(
(self.iconComboBox.currentIndex() + 1)
% self.iconComboBox.count())
elif reason == QtGui.QSystemTrayIcon.MiddleClick:
self.showMessage()
def showMessage(self,text='test'):
icon = QtGui.QSystemTrayIcon.MessageIcon(
self.typeComboBox.itemData(self.typeComboBox.currentIndex()))
# self.trayIcon.showMessage(self.titleEdit.text(),
# self.bodyEdit.toPlainText(), icon,
# self.durationSpinBox.value() * 1000)
self.trayIcon.showMessage('stock alarm',
'test', icon,
self.durationSpinBox.value() * 1000)
def messageClicked(self):
QtGui.QMessageBox.information(None, "Systray",
"Sorry, I already gave what help I could.\nMaybe you should "
"try asking a human?")
def createIconGroupBox(self):
self.iconGroupBox = QtGui.QGroupBox("Tray Icon")
self.iconLabel = QtGui.QLabel("Icon:")
self.iconComboBox = QtGui.QComboBox()
self.iconComboBox.addItem(QtGui.QIcon(':/images/bad.svg'), "Bad")
self.iconComboBox.addItem(QtGui.QIcon(':/images/heart.svg'), "Heart")
self.iconComboBox.addItem(QtGui.QIcon(':/images/trash.svg'), "Trash")
self.showIconCheckBox = QtGui.QCheckBox("Show icon")
self.showIconCheckBox.setChecked(True)
iconLayout = QtGui.QHBoxLayout()
iconLayout.addWidget(self.iconLabel)
iconLayout.addWidget(self.iconComboBox)
iconLayout.addStretch()
iconLayout.addWidget(self.showIconCheckBox)
self.iconGroupBox.setLayout(iconLayout)
def createMessageGroupBox(self):
self.messageGroupBox = QtGui.QGroupBox("Balloon Message")
typeLabel = QtGui.QLabel("Type:")
self.typeComboBox = QtGui.QComboBox()
self.typeComboBox.addItem("None", QtGui.QSystemTrayIcon.NoIcon)
self.typeComboBox.addItem(self.style().standardIcon(
QtGui.QStyle.SP_MessageBoxInformation), "Information",
QtGui.QSystemTrayIcon.Information)
self.typeComboBox.addItem(self.style().standardIcon(
QtGui.QStyle.SP_MessageBoxWarning), "Warning",
QtGui.QSystemTrayIcon.Warning)
self.typeComboBox.addItem(self.style().standardIcon(
QtGui.QStyle.SP_MessageBoxCritical), "Critical",
QtGui.QSystemTrayIcon.Critical)
self.typeComboBox.setCurrentIndex(1)
self.durationLabel = QtGui.QLabel("Duration:")
self.durationSpinBox = QtGui.QSpinBox()
self.durationSpinBox.setRange(5, 60)
self.durationSpinBox.setSuffix(" s")
self.durationSpinBox.setValue(15)
durationWarningLabel = QtGui.QLabel("(some systems might ignore this "
"hint)")
durationWarningLabel.setIndent(10)
titleLabel = QtGui.QLabel("Title:")
self.titleEdit = QtGui.QLineEdit("Cannot connect to network")
bodyLabel = QtGui.QLabel("Body:")
self.bodyEdit = QtGui.QTextEdit()
self.bodyEdit.setPlainText("Don't believe me. Honestly, I don't have "
"a clue.\nClick this balloon for details.")
self.showMessageButton = QtGui.QPushButton("Show Message")
self.showMessageButton.setDefault(True)
messageLayout = QtGui.QGridLayout()
messageLayout.addWidget(typeLabel, 0, 0)
messageLayout.addWidget(self.typeComboBox, 0, 1, 1, 2)
messageLayout.addWidget(self.durationLabel, 1, 0)
messageLayout.addWidget(self.durationSpinBox, 1, 1)
messageLayout.addWidget(durationWarningLabel, 1, 2, 1, 3)
messageLayout.addWidget(titleLabel, 2, 0)
messageLayout.addWidget(self.titleEdit, 2, 1, 1, 4)
messageLayout.addWidget(bodyLabel, 3, 0)
messageLayout.addWidget(self.bodyEdit, 3, 1, 2, 4)
messageLayout.addWidget(self.showMessageButton, 5, 4)
messageLayout.setColumnStretch(3, 1)
messageLayout.setRowStretch(4, 1)
self.messageGroupBox.setLayout(messageLayout)
def createActions(self):
self.minimizeAction = QtGui.QAction("Mi&nimize", self,
triggered=self.hide)
self.maximizeAction = QtGui.QAction("Ma&ximize", self,
triggered=self.showMaximized)
self.restoreAction = QtGui.QAction("&Restore", self,
triggered=self.showNormal)
self.quitAction = QtGui.QAction("&Quit", self,
triggered=QtGui.qApp.quit)
def createTrayIcon(self):
self.trayIconMenu = QtGui.QMenu(self)
self.trayIconMenu.addAction(self.minimizeAction)
self.trayIconMenu.addAction(self.maximizeAction)
self.trayIconMenu.addAction(self.restoreAction)
self.trayIconMenu.addSeparator()
self.trayIconMenu.addAction(self.quitAction)
self.trayIcon = QtGui.QSystemTrayIcon(self)
self.trayIcon.setContextMenu(self.trayIconMenu)
def callback(ch, method, properties, body):
print " [x] %r:%r" % (method.routing_key, body,)
window.showMessage(body)
def subsribeRabbit():
import pika
import sys
from util import settings
connection = pika.BlockingConnection(pika.ConnectionParameters(
host=settings.RABBIT_SERVER))
channel = connection.channel()
channel.exchange_declare(exchange=settings.STOCK_ALARMS_TOPIC,
type='topic')
result = channel.queue_declare(exclusive=True)
queue_name = result.method.queue
binding_keys = '#'
for binding_key in binding_keys:
channel.queue_bind(exchange=settings.STOCK_ALARMS_TOPIC,
queue=queue_name,
routing_key=binding_key)
print ' [*] Waiting for logs. To exit press CTRL+C'
channel.basic_consume(callback,
queue=queue_name,
no_ack=True)
channel.start_consuming()
if __name__ == '__main__':
import sys
from cron.realtimemonitorschedule import startMonitor
app = QtGui.QApplication(sys.argv)
if not QtGui.QSystemTrayIcon.isSystemTrayAvailable():
QtGui.QMessageBox.critical(None, "Systray",
"I couldn't detect any system tray on this system.")
sys.exit(1)
QtGui.QApplication.setQuitOnLastWindowClosed(False)
from threading import Thread
thread = Thread(target = subsribeRabbit)
thread.start()
#thread.join()
sys.exit(app.exec_())
|
Legendary! Neil Patrick Harris to Host SNL
Some bright news on an otherwise gray Monday afternoon: this coming weekend, Neil Patrick Harris will be hosting Saturday Night Live! We used to dream about Mr. Harris when he played Doogie (in fact, yours truly mentioned this in print a few years ago). We loved his speed-freak cameos in Harold and Kumar. These days we laugh so hard we cry at his portrayal of Barney Stinson, the over-the-top-but-still-believable womanizing scotch-swiller-catchphrase-maker on CBS’s How I Met Your Mother. (And yes, yes, we know Mr. Harris plays for the other team.) Fingers crossed he drags HIMYM co-star Jason Segal on for a few sketches. The two are known to do duets now and then; we’d like to see what they’d whip up with Andy Samberg for a digital short. ‘Jizz In My Pants’ part two? |
Democrats are working quietly to bring into the mainstream the narrative that GOP victories are by default illegitimate, thereby weakening and undermining duly elected Republican officials.
It is dangerous stuff — just as dangerous as when President Trump questioned the legitimacy of the 2016 election, which Democrats and the media rightly condemned as a threat to a healthy, functioning republic. But that was when Democrats thought their hold on the White House was a sure thing. It is funny how the shoe ends up on the other foot.
The latest example of Democrats casting doubt on the legitimacy of Republican victories in advance came Friday as 2020 hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., spoke at Al Sharpton’s National Action Network Convention.
"Massive voter suppression prevented Stacey Abrams from becoming the rightful governor of Georgia,” she said, reciting a falsehood that has now become an article of faith in the Democratic Party.
Warren added, "They know that a durable majority of Americans believe in the promise of America, and they know that if all the votes are counted, we'll win every time."
Sen. Warren, 2018 truther: "Massive voter suppression prevented Stacy Abrams from becoming the rightful governor of Georgia."
"They know that a durable majority of Americans believe in the promise of America & they know that if all the votes are counted, we'll win every time." pic.twitter.com/3RY7pPfAhE — Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) April 5, 2019
Warren is not just ensuring that there will be an excuse should she lose an election, as Hot Air’s Allahpundit rightly notes. The senator’s statement was made in reference to all elections, which is far more sinister than Trump’s own ego-driven flirtation in 2016 with the idea that the race would be "rigged" by "illegal" votes against himself. Also, it should not be ignored that Warren's message was delivered to an almost exclusively African American audience. The senator was very clearly saying: Republicans only win when they cheat, and they only win when they suppress your vote.
Again, this is some dangerous stuff, encouraging specific voting blocs to believe that U.S. elections are rigged. It should not be surprising that Democrats are going down this road, though. This much became apparent in January when Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced that Abrams, an election truther, would deliver the Democratic Party’s response to Trump’s State of the Union address.
“She has led the charge for voting rights, which is at the root of just about everything else,” the senator said.
Abrams’ chief claim to fame right now in the Democratic Party is that she refuses to concede she lost last year's Georgia gubernatorial race. Though she terminated her campaign eventually, she maintains, without evidence, that the race was stolen by Georgia’s then-Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who won 50.2 percent of the vote (compared to her 48.8 percent).
Schumer’s emphasis on Abrams’ “voter rights advocacy,” coupled with Democrats’ repeated claims that the 2016 election was rigged in Trump’s favor, suggested clearly at the time that they fully plan to go all-in on the idea that Republicans rely on “voter suppression tactics” to win elections. On Friday, as Warren assured a roomful of African Americans that the GOP wins only when it suppresses the black vote, we saw both a continuation and a confirmation of the Democrats' dangerous campaign to delegitimize free and fair U.S. elections. |
In the free search you will see a preview snippet of the article showing the name of your ancestor that you are searching for. These snippets let you confirm which articles and records GenealogyBank has on your ancestors before you join. Your membership helps us to make even more records available.
Your membership in GenealogyBank entitles you to read the complete text of over 230 million articles and records – search for more than 1 billion of your relatives.
Sign up now and ask your friends to join with us in bringing more records online – It’s only $9.95 – click here.
This list includes the newspapers that we are adding to GenealogyBank beginning today.
Next week I will post the names of even more newspapers that we are adding. |
Binding domains for blockers and substrates on the dopamine transporter in rat striatal membranes studied by protection against N-ethylmaleimide-induced reduction of [3H]WIN 35,428 binding.
Binding sites for 2 beta-carbomethoxy-3 beta-(4-fluorophenyl)[3H]tropane ([3H]WIN 35,428) on rat striatal membranes were alkylated with N-ethylmaleimide (NEM), and the protective potency was measured of the blockers cocaine, N[1-(2-benzo[b]thiophenyl) cyclohexyl]piperidine (BTCP), benztropine, WIN 35,428; and nomifensine, and of the substrates dopamine, norepinephrine, S(+)-amphetamine, tyramine, and metaraminol. In general, the protective potency was lower (at least 3 times) than the potency in inhibiting [3H]WIN 35,428 binding with the compounds present under the same experimental conditions used for the NEM-induced alkylation. However, the disparity was substantially greater for all substrates tested (10- to 93-fold) than for the blockers (2- to 6-fold), especially cocaine and BTCP (3-fold). [3H]WIN 35,428 binding was best described by a l-site model under the present conditions. The results are discussed in terms of models involving blocker-induced conformational changes and overlapping nonidentical binding domains for blockers and substrates. |
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26 F.3d 137
16 ITRD 1096
NOTICE: Federal Circuit Local Rule 47.6(b) states that opinions and orders which are designated as not citable as precedent shall not be employed or cited as precedent. This does not preclude assertion of issues of claim preclusion, issue preclusion, judicial estoppel, law of the case or the like based on a decision of the Court rendered in a nonprecedential opinion or order.EAGLE CEMENT CORPORATION, Plaintiff-Appellant,v.The UNITED STATES, Defendant-Appellee.
No. 93-1487.
United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit.
April 1, 1994.
Before ARCHER, Chief Judge,* CLEVENGER and RADER, Circuit Judges.
CLEVENGER, Circuit Judge.
1
Eagle Cement Corporation appeals the June 23, 1993 judgment of the United States Court of International Trade granting the Government's motion for summary judgment. The court upheld the U.S. Customs Service liquidation of Eagle's entries with countervailing duties and interest 21 months after the removal of a court-ordered suspension of liquidation, rejecting Eagle's contention that under 19 U.S.C. Sec. 1504(d) (1988), its entries must be deemed liquidated as entered because Customs failed to liquidate the entries within 90 days after removal of the suspension. Eagle Cement Corp. v. United States, No. 92-08-00552 (Ct.Int'l Trade June 23, 1993). For the reasons stated in the opinion of the Court of International Trade, we affirm.
*
Chief Judge Archer assumed the position of Chief Judge on March 18, 1994
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Why These Women Are Marching
Why These Women Are Marching
Uncomfortable strain, squeezing, fullness or ache in the heart of your chest. For ladies like me, who simply are unable to wear any type of heel higher than one inch, attempt your native Payless Shoe Source – I found a really cute pair of almost flat lace up boots that come up over my ankle for under $30, and I can put on all of them winter. Boot minimize: These generally is a high, normal or low rise which has a slim match by the thigh and flares out on the bottom to accommodate boots. These are excellent trend suggestions for women over 50, I agree with each certainly one of them.
Many groups who’re planning to attend have been drawn no less than partially by organizers’ efforts to hyperlink Trump’s comments about women to his insurance policies on issues akin to reproductive rights, immigration and other points that they really feel may hurt women if handled badly. Critics say that the march functionally excludes pro-life women, despite its inclusive message, by including entry to abortion in its listing of rules Organizers haven’t backed down, issuing a statement affirming their stance on reproductive rights. For the clever observer it becomes rapidly clear that women like males very a lot. Capricorn women crave safety, they are usually drawn to males who are mental. Boots, akin to ankle boots, desert boots or cowboy boots are good with a boot minimize fashion of jeans, obviously. Hillary Clinton gained among women by about 14 percentage points, in accordance with exit polls.
March organizers faced a backlash after an anti-abortion group, New Wave Feminists, was named as an official companion. If you are planning on sporting your skirts hiked up or bloomers or pants, it would be best to find barely nicer boots. It was a march to commemorate we will never take freedom for granted; to honor those that fought so arduous for civil rights. Maybe we don’t want a women’s march, or a girl as President—or maybe we need those issues so badly that we can’t even resolve which women should get what first. Not long after that march against the Vietnam Struggle, she marched on a bitterly chilly gray January day in Washington, DC demonstrating in opposition to the inauguration of Richard Nixon.
There are music actions, events and genres related to women, women’s issues and feminism Within the 2010s, while women comprise a big proportion of popular music and classical music singers, and a significant proportion of songwriters (lots of them being singer-songwriters), there are few women record producers , rock critics and rock instrumentalists.
Will they proceed to tread the well-worn path of white feminism to the exclusion of others?” Campos titled her submit Expensive White Women: This isn’t about us ,” and he or she resigned from her volunteer publish, citing issues about the way in which the demonstration was being organized. In regards to the quote: For the Women’s March on Washington next weekend, artists were asked to contribute designs for posters for the marchers. As a substitute, they say they’re marching to remind the country about the need to develop and defend the rights of all women. |
Q:
better way to pass data to print in python
I was going through http://web2py.com/book/default/chapter/02 and found this:
>>> print 'number is ' + str(3)
number is 3
>>> print 'number is %s' % (3)
number is 3
>>> print 'number is %(number)s' % dict(number=3)
number is 3
It has been given that The last notation is more explicit and less error prone, and is to be preferred.
I am wondering what is the advantage of using the last notation.. will it not have a performance overhead?
A:
>>> print 'number is ' + str(3)
number is 3
This is definitely the worst solution and might cause you problems if you do the beginner mistake "Value of obj: " + obj where obj is not a string or unicode object. For many concatenations, it's not readable at all - it's similar to something like echo "<p>Hello ".$username."!</p>"; in PHP (this can get arbitrarily ugly).
print 'number is %s' % (3)
number is 3
Now that is much better. Instead of a hard-to-read concatenation, you see the output format immediately. Coming back to the beginner mistake of outputting values, you can do print "Value of obj: %r" % obj, for example. I personally prefer this in most cases. But note that you cannot use it in gettext-translated strings if you have multiple format specifiers because the order might change in other languages.
As you forgot to mention it here, you can also use the new string formatting method which is similar:
>>> "number is {0}".format(3)
'number is 3'
Next, dict lookup:
>>> print 'number is %(number)s' % dict(number=3)
number is 3
As said before, gettext-translated strings might change the order of positional format specifiers, so this option is the best when working with translations. The performance drop should be negligible - if your program is not all about formatting strings.
As with the positional formatting, you can also do it in the new style:
>>> "number is {number}".format(number=3)
'number is 3'
It's hard to tell which one to take. I recommend you to use positional arguments with the % notation for simple strings and dict lookup formatting for translated strings.
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So let me get this straight:
It’s okay for The Wanted to make fun of Harry because he was nervous about his first performance
It’s okay for The Wanted to basically call One Direction “shit” compared to them
It’s okay for The Wanted to do whatever they want that is rude ... |
EW! A Blog.
High school is a terrible time to be different or stand out, and without support from mentors and peers, LGBTQ students face issues that don’t affect straight students in the same way. Bullying, homophobia and prejudice are all struggles that LGBTQ kids have to deal with on a regular basis.
That’s why UOTeachOUT, an annual conference that confronts homophobia in schools, is entering its fourth year tomorrow, May 15. UOTeachOUT involves UO education majors, local K-12 teachers and students, and it will feature assemblies and leadership summits at Unitarian Universalist Church and North Eugene High School. According to Jim Barlow, UO public affairs communicator, on the UO’s website:
On Thursday, 9 a.m.-noon, students in the homophobia course will help host the fourth annual Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) Youth Leadership Summit that Heffernan and Gutierez-Schmich founded. The summit will be at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Eugene, 1685 W. 13th Ave. It brings together approximately 150 LGBT middle and high school students from the Bethel, Eugene, Springfield and Cottage Grove school districts for a creative writing workshop with author and youth activist and storyteller Ivan Coyote. UO students also will lead healthy teen activities under the supervision of the Lane County Public Health's Prevention Program.
On Thursday, 1:40 p.m.-3 p.m., UOTeachOUT goes to North Eugene High School, 200 Silver Lane, for an all-school assembly centered on anti-bullying and anti-oppression. The school's junior class this year has been studying civil rights, oppression and social justice issues. Coyote will the main speaker, addressing oppression related to social bullying in a talk titled "One in Every Crowd."
Before telling the crowd at the Hult Saturday night “I consider myself a citizen of the world, but I was born in Eugene, Oregon” (to huge applause), RJD2 said what was on everyone’s mind: “This is really fucking awesome.”
(Photo collage by Athena Delene)
The show started with a few hiccups; backstage, several of the musicians, dancers and artists of the 100-plus motley crew seemed confused about where to be and when. And for the first third of the show, there were more people partying in the lobby then there were in the concert hall. But, once the show gained momentum, it took off like a rocket.
-The band brought bundles of energy to the stage, sending the audience along on a beautiful, crazy trip. And the guest vocals of Bettreena Jaeger (the Betty of Betty and the Boy) brought their music to a new, ephemeral level.
-Devin the Dude (pictured below) added a playful hip-hop edge to the evening, driving the fans in front (the first 30 rows of seats were cleared for a dance floor) absolutely batty. And then he lit up on stage, soliciting roars from the crowd, filling the hall with puffs of smoke that floated up to Light at Play’s LED Radiance Dome, emitting a certain sweet aroma. Word is that Devin the Dude filmed a music video with local production company Artistic Outlet Media while he was in town.
-The Space Invaders (a local breakdancing crew) and contemporary ballet dancer Katie Scherman’s whipped the crowd into a frenzy with their Chopin-meets-glitch-hop dance numbers. When they came back for an encore performance during RJD2’s set, RJD2 threw up his arms in can-you-believe-this-is-happening amusement, turning around to see if the Dub Orchestra had the same reaction.
-Harmonic Laboratory composer and conductor Jeremy Schropp, outfitted in a bright yellow Sgt. Pepper coat, led the Dub Orchestra to RJD2’s 1976 with RJD2 (pictured below). This ushered in the finale with hot and punchy performances by Work Dance Company, Broadway Revue Burlesque, Red Moon Rising and many more.
-The Aerial Silks dancer defied gravity and human limitations 20 feet above the stage during many of the music sets.
After an eight-year break, Lafa Taylor (who now resides in a "bus/solar-powered mobile studio" in Oakland, Calif.) recently released Not One Thing with a special valentine to his hometown: "Eugene (feat. Marv Ellis)."
Taylor writes of the song, "I made this song in Eugene when I was visiting for a few weeks last summer. I swear it was one of the most beautiful Oregon summers I had witnessed in a long time, I really wanted to capture that essence and give a shout out to my gorgeous home town."
Some key Eug lyrics:
We're sipping 'bucha and beer 'cause it's a sunny day/And we probably get two in a year
Eugene, Eugene, we're all here 'cause we're not all there
I'm in Eugene/You can catch me in the Whit/At a block party or some late night shit
This is the home of Nike/As if that really matter/I'll serve you tap water, homie, on a silver platter
Lafa Taylor made an appearance Saturday night at the Bohemian Dub Ball. He will be back June 21 to play the grand opening of the WJ Skatepark. His website says a music video is coming soon.
Supporters of marriage equality are planning to show up outside the U.S. Courthouse in Eugene Wednesday morning, May 14. Federal Judge Michael McShane will be hearing oral arguments regarding Oregon's ban on same-sex marriages. He will also be considering an effort by the National Organization for Marriage, a national anti-gay group, to intervene in the case.
Supporters will be gathering at 8 am and the hearing is scheduled at 9 am. The proceedings will be livestreamed to an overflow room in the courthouse.
After the hearing, about 11 am, a joint press conference is planned featuring plaintiffs in the case, their lawyers and leaders of Basic Rights Oregon and the ACLU of Oregon.
Tonight Slow Food Eugene hosts Paul Durant and Libby Clow, who will talk about creating an olive oil culture in the Pacific Northwest. High-quality olive oil is much more palatable than the average grocery store stuff; there will be a tasting aftward to prove it. Learn more about cool climate varietals and Oregon Olive Mill's experimental crop at 7 pm at 16 Tons Cafe, 2864 Willamette. Come early to grab a spot.
Here's more on the speakers:
Paul Durant is a fourth generation Oregon farmer. In farming olive groves in the cool climate of the Willamette Valley, he is carrying on his family's pioneer farming tradition dating to 1915. Today the Durant family is producing premier quality Extra Virgin Olive Oils by farming on the edge to develop the ultimate in aromatic flavor expression.
Libby Clow is the Olive Oil Program Ambassador for the Oregon Olive Mill. A Pacific Northwest native, her passion for food led her to work a decade ago as a shepherdess and vineyard hand on a sustainable estate in Tuscany. Prior to joining the Oregon Olive Mill team last August, she has had an extensive career in the food industry.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver rocks the climate change debate — or lack of it, as Oliver points out, it's really not a debate at all. He says polling people to see if they believe in climate change is kind of like asking "Do owls exist?" or "Are there hats?"
It seemed as if the concert bookers of Eugene had opened the floodgates for live music that catered to the college-aged masses last weekend. UO students and the Eugene community were able to see Medium Troy, RJD2 and Devin the Dude at the Bohemian Dub Ball at the Hult Center on Saturday. Others chose to attend Night Beats, Wampire and a DJ competition for the Willamette Valley Music Festival all through the night on campus as well.
But the highest-profile name to come through Eugene for the weekend (that is, if you weren’t seeing Steve Martin at the Hult) was rapper-comedian-actor Donald Glover’s, who performed as Childish Gambino at Cuthbert Friday night.
Many are quick to label Gambino as the “hip-hop alter ego” of the television and comedy star, and with good reason. Glover, of course, was a “world star before rap”—as he sings on “World Star” from 2013 release Because The Internet.
Glover may have first earned his fame from his work on television with starring in Community and writing for 30 Rock, or comedy with Derek Comedy and his standup on Comedy Central. But when he performed in front of a packed crowd in Eugene, the audience was able to enjoy the concert through the lens of his identity as a rapper. The crowd may have been aware of his previous accolades, but they were certainly at the Childish Gambino concert to see a hip-hop performance.
Danny Brown initially set the mood for a rap show at The Cuthbert early in the night, throwing down with the crowd to songs like “25 Bucks” (which uses a beat produced by indie-electro pop band Purity Ring) and a freestyle track that sampled a song from Watch The Throne by Kanye West and Jay-Z.
After Danny Brown finished his set and as the rain began to come down hard, live DJ Stefan Ponce helped keep the party going.
Right off the bat, he announced that it would “take more than rain” to stop Childish Gambino from performing tonight. Energy stayed high in the building, and the DJ played music by Drake, Chance The Rapper, Kendrick Lamar and even MIA, Snoop Dogg and Michael Jackson.
When Ponce finished his set, the “digital experience” of Childish Gambino’s Deep Web Tour was set to begin. Most notably, fans were encouraged to download the Deep Web App, in which the crowd was able to draw messages that would appear on the stage screen. This feature was received much better than the dial tone that blared through the venue while fans waited for Gambino to take the stage.
When Gambino did begin his show, however, the energy was much higher than many would have expected considering that Community had been cancelled earlier that day, and that he was performing in a rainy college town. But while rocking a crewneck and white shorts in the rain, Gambino and his live band dished out a suitable mix of his more sentimental music to chase down the party-atmosphere bangers for the crowd.
The live 7-piece band was also a refreshing change of pace for a hip-hop show in 2014, and fans seemed to appreciate the sincerity that came with the real-life instrumentation.
Another interesting feature of the gig was an additional scrim and chandelier that were lowered during the show. Recalling the interactivity of the set, the audience was also able to participate in a mid-concert poll in which they indicated that they were feeling “some type of way” — like the song by Rich Homie Quan.
Gambino concluded his set with a good blend of new music from Because The Internet, old music from Camp and earlier mixtapes and music that no one had heard before.
Between each chant of “World Star!” that emerged from the crowd during the show, Gambino’s energy gave everyone in attendance a constant reminder as to why Donald Glover has remained the Internet star that we know and love. — Bryan Kalbrosky
After years of fruitless searching in southern Oregon and northern California, the wolf known as Journey or OR-7 has partnered up. It's not a sure thing, but according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, remote cameras in the Cascade Mountains of southwest Oregon captured what appears to be a female wolf, roaming close to Journey's current location. The same cameras recently snapped pictures of Journey himself.
According to the press release:
"This information is not definitive, but it is likely that this new wolf and OR7 have paired up. More localized GPS collar data from OR7 is an indicator that they may have denned," said John Stephenson, Service wolf biologist. "If that is correct, they would be rearing pus at this time of year."
The Service and ODFW probably won't be able to confirm the presence of pups until June or later, the earliest pup surveys are conducted, so as not to disturb them at such a young age. Wolf pups are generally born in mid-April, so any pups would be less than a month old at this time.
It's a big step for a wolf who traveled over 1,000 miles to look for a mate in an area where wolves were systematically slaughtered and eradicated in the 20th century. Here's to hoping that the remote camera catches some images of Journey's wolf pups soon!
The Ashland City Council voted this week in favor of a ban on plastic bags. Plastic bag bans have seen growing public support in Oregon, with the cities of Portland, Corvallis, and Eugene adopting similar bag bans since 2011.
Here's a press release from Environment Oregon:
Last night, Ashland took a big step by joining the growing list of plastic bag-free cities by passing the ordinance with a vote. The approved ordinance bans the use of single use plastic bag and assesses a 10-cent fee for paper bags.
Ashland has become the first city in Southern Oregon to ban plastic bags and is setting an example of sustainable leadership for the city of 20,000 people.
Last year, the Ashland Conservation Commission took up the issue, encouraging the City Council to pursue a ban on plastic bags. In November, when the full City Council first discussed a potential citywide ban on plastic bags, Ashland citizens and local businesses turned out in droves to demonstrate their support. And just last month, at the first reading of the ordinance, the council chambers were filled to capacity with supportive Ashland residents.
Over the last year, Environment Oregon collected more than 500 signatures from citizens in support of a plastic bag ban, as well as endorsements from nearly 100 local businesses. This support laid the groundwork for Tuesday’s vote and exemplifies the community support for environmental leadership in Oregon.
“The growing support for plastic bag bans is evident, with cities from Portland to Ashland passing local bans on plastic bags,” said Rikki Seguin, conservation advocate with Environment Oregon. “We look forward to working with additional cities that wish to stand up for the health of our waterways by banning plastic bags.”
Plastic pollution is a huge environmental concern; Oregonians are estimated to use more than 1.7 billion bags a year, too many of which end up as pollution in Oregon’s waterways, like the Rogue River, and ultimately the Pacific Ocean. Plastic pollution is especially harmful to wildlife, killing thousands of birds and marine animals every year. Local plastic bag bans keep more disposable plastic bags out of our waste stream and away from our waterways, thereby decreasing the threat posed to wildlife.
The documentary DamNation is now showing in Portland and we hope it makes it to Eugene soon. The film looks at dams and their impact on not only fish runs but entire ecosystems and cultures in America. Rogue River dams are featured. High production values in this film by Patagonia.
What can I say about the fashion scene in Eugene? It's slowly but surely growing up. Last Sunday night, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art hosted St. Vinnie's Metamorphose Upcycling Design challenge: 10 local designers on a $40 material budget to be spent at St Vincent de Paul were tasked to create three runway-ready looks in the categories of Ready-to-Wear, Evening Wear and Designer’s Choice. You can see the winners from this week’s EW “Project Runway” photo spread here.
All the designers get kudos for creating anything that wasn't just a bunch of sock puppets on that tight of a budget with unconventional material options. The levels of execution of the 30 looks ranged from student work to professional and ready to hit the stores — at least from my vantage point — but all the designs had a wonderful sense of whimsy and spontaneity. I sat next to Portland Fashion Week ambassador Ryan May, who had high marks for Vanessa Froehling (Stiches by V); her strapless fishtail gown (below) made from a lace-patterned bed sheet took home the prize for Evening Wear. “It was exciting for me because I’ve never made a dress like that before. I’m not used to doing something so elegant,” Froehling told me over the phone.
Myself, and several in the audience, were struck by the designs (seen below, model Cathryn Clover with Wade) of Seams Legit designer Courtney Wade, who didn’t take home any prizes but was the EW pick in this week’s issue. Her slick, black dress designs, styled perfectly with simple black heals and a fat white blossom in the model’s chignon, did not look “recycled.” After the show, I got to chat with Wade about her approach.
“I wanted to stick with a classic look,” Wade says, that was “neutral in color but used a lot of texture.” This is a departure from her typically colorful, more embellished designs. She called it vintage glamour and a “grown-up version” of herself.
I was also struck by the Ready-to-Wear (seen below) look by Julia Paige of Tufflove Designs. The beautiful mix of clashing bold patterns, along with a wide trouser pant and fantastic fabric hoop earings, Paige’s look was one of the most on-the-fashion-pulse designs.
Perhaps the most avant-garde ensembles of the night came from Rhiannon Dark of RHI. Dark took home the prize for Ready-to-Wear made from a wool blanket. “There were holes in it,” Dark says. “It had the feel that maybe someone on the street had worn it, which felt punk to me.”
The outfit was edgy and fresh, but for me, her Evening Wear entry (below) was incredibly memorable. She transformed model Savannah Best into a character à la Tilda Swinton in The Chronicles of Narnia: textured hair, ghostly makeup and some truly imaginative outfits — a sort of punk fairytale.
“My husband lived in Amsterdam for a while,” Dark says of her partner, who was immersed in the Dutch punk subculture. “When we got together I got way into it.”
Kendra Brock (seen below with model Desiree Kuenkele - someone's gotta get this woman a role on Mad Men, right?) of Kendra Grace Designs nabbed the prize for Designer’s Choice with her signature playful take on a t-shirt dress. “It was really nice for me that it did win because it’s what I do most of the time, which is making dresses from upcycled t-shirts. It fit her perfectly,” Brock told me the morning after the show. It was great to see Brock, whose background is in sculpture, push herself to work with other fabrics like linen and denim. But it’s also easy to see the appeal of her dresses: they’re easy, fun and oh-so Eugene.
Hosanna Haines of Royal Macabre, the dark horse of the show, had some show-stopping looks as well. The detailing on her collars and backlines (below) were edgy, fashion-forward and completely different than anything else on the catwalk that night.
Overall, it was a great night for Eugene fashion leaving me hungry for Eugene Fashion Week this fall.
Kinda behind on posting these but I caught up with Bombadil before their show last week at Sam Bond's. We took some photos in the studio and around the Whit. One of the live shots made Rolling Stone's Hottest Live Photos of 2014.
In this week's EW election coverage I write about who donated how much money to which campaign. One of the first rules of journalism (and keep in mind there are a lot of "number one rules of journalism") is follow the money.
The committe page tells you who filed the committee, who the treasurer is and contact information. It also gives you links to the data.
Clicking "account summary" gets you this year's totals of what was spent and what came in. Hitting previous at the bottom of that page gets you the numbers from previous years. As of today, Bozievich is reporting more than $109,000 in donations in 2014 and more than $115,000 in expenditures. There are a couple reasons a candidate may have spent more than he or she has brought in, and one is there is sometimes a (legal) lag time in when candidates report money after they get it.
Here we can see that Bozievich's most recent donations include $25o from Reed's Trucking and $14,500 from the Community Action Network. He's spent $15,000 with New Media Northwest — probably on television commericials.
Want to know who's behind the Community Action Network and has all that money? Type Community Action Network into the box where you typed Bozievich's name on your original search. That gets you the committe page telling you it was created by Dennis Morgan. Clicking the "campaign finance activity" link shows you who gave money (cash contribution) and where CAN spent money (expenditure). Looks like a lot of the money came from the timber industry: Giustina, Murphy Company and Delta Construction, to name a few. Now go have fun web-stalking campaign donations. |
[The number and kind of leukocytes in the saliva (salivary corpuscles) in healthy subjects and in patients].
In the form of a survey a report is given on the concept of the saliva corpuscle, its origin, composition, different degree of damage, its number and function. The quantitative behaviour enables a statement to be made about the actual unspecific cellular defence in parodontopathy (increased number of saliva corpuscles) and in various blood diseases (decreased number of saliva corpuscles. This has a particular diagnostic value. |
Curve Digital have announced that the puzzle platformer Stealth Inc will be coming to PS4 in March as the Stealth Inc: Ultimate Edition and will include DLC.
The Ultimate Edition includes the main Stealth Inc game alongside two large DLC expansions, The Teleporter Chambers and The Lost Clones, representing an additional 40 levels and bringing the total levels in the game up to 120. The DLC packs also add new trophies and represent the most challenging and varied levels in the series so far.
“Stealth Inc Ultimate edition is an exciting first release for Curve on the PlayStation 4,” said Marketing Manager Rob Clarke, “The DLC levels of Stealth Inc are some of the absolute best the game has to offer, so it’s great to be able to offer those as part of the main game on a next-gen console.”
Curve will be announcing three more games in the next three weeks, all of which available for the PlayStation 4. Clarke said: “We’re excited about the power and potential of the PlayStation 4, but we’re also not abandoning the Vita or the PlayStation 3, and we’ll be continuing to offer cross-buy titles whenever and wherever we can.”
Meanwhile, the iOS version of Stealth Inc is currently available at a 50% discount, while the PC version Stealth Bastard can be purchased in the Bundlestars ‘Brutal Bundle’ for £3.64 along with 10 other games. |
Home of the Wombat, mortal enemy of the Drop Bear
Category Archives: Depression
Washing that has been hanging on the clothes horse for nine days. It speaks to my skill as a housekeeper – now that I live alone, only the barest minimum gets done. The dishes get rinsed, but they pile for three or four, or maybe five or six, days before I wash them. The floor that I lie on gets vacuumed perhaps once in a month.
Summery air flows around me, slowly turning cool with the evening darkness. The taste of Port Royal lingers in my mouth, a reminder of a habit I keep swearing I’ll break, until the next crisis comes along. I sigh, and roll another . . .
The air out on the porch is cooler, and the darkness wraps around me like good dark chocolate around a ripe strawberry. I smoke a slim cigarette, rolled deliberately thin to conserve tobacco. Taxes on tobacco are getting wildly out of hand, but still I keep the habit. The comfort of half a lifetime is hard to break.
I see the lights of the west of the city, stretching right back to the hills. The trig point on the top of the hills flashes red. On, off, on, off, I have no idea why. The men watching over me do not come out to accompany me. They both hate smoking equally. I don’t care much. It gives me space from their difficult and overpowering presences.
The men in my living room are a mass of past and present. They look quite alike, ten years apart, and are similar in many ways. One is my ex-husband. The other is the boy I’m sort-of-not-really seeing. They are both here for one reason only. To see that I live through the night. You see, I’m a suicidal wreck.
My ex-husband knows me well. He knows that he cannot sleep until I am asleep, because I will not be safe. The boy, not so much. He cares for me deeply, but he’s not got much of a grasp on what he’s putting himself in the middle of.
I finally wander back into the living room, to find them discussing politics and online voting. The boy is being thoroughly schooled by his elder. I try to stretch out on the floor and do a writing exercise, but I can’t stop the floods of memories. So I go back to my room and lie in the dark, and let the memories come.
I remember
Hours upon hours of men sitting in my lounge, drinking beer and discussing all sorts of things. The faces and the topics change, whirl, meld into one long string of regrets. These are all men I have cared about in some way, all gone from my life, mostly through poor choices in periods of unwellness on my part. I have been more a spectator in most of these discussions – I do have a bit of a shy streak in me. Plus, men tend to talk over me anyway.
Tears flood down my cheeks as I remember all the people who have passed through my life. I have loved so many of them so dearly, and they are all gone. Gone, because I’m so messed up. I make terrible decisions, I push good people away, and I lose everything. Over and over again. My bipolar disorder is a reason, but not an excuse. I have to take some responsibility.
I sob.
It takes the men a good ten minutes to notice that I’m gone, so absorbed are they in their discussion. There’s a moment of panic – not a long one though, as the apartment is so tiny that it takes all of thirty seconds to locate me. The boy sits on the bed beside me, momentarily at a loss, before wrapping his body around me. My ex-husband turns away.
“I’ll be in the living room if you need me”
The boy holds me until the flood of memories passes and the sobs still. It’s sweet of him, and the comfort is welcome. I turn to face him, kiss him, draw a deep breath, and return myself to calm. We return to the living room, and I calm myself further by rolling another cigarette. Pulling out the paper, wiggling the filter out of the little hole at the top of the bag, pinching out the bare minimum of tobacco, patting it into shape, rolling, placing the filter, licking the gum, rolling it all together, all the while concentrating only on this task and breathing steadily . . . peace returns to me.
Again I smoke, and again the men do not follow me, but I am included in their conversation this time as I stand close to the door. As the cigarette burns down, I realise that I am weary beyond belief. I have been holding this pose of being fine, being ok, being normal, for so long, and it’s starting to break down.
The boy and I tuck up in bed, but my ex-husband stays in the living room. I return to the living room a couple of times for various things, and in that time the boy falls asleep.
The pose breaks.
I don’t remember much. I remember sobbing, screaming, begging, over and over,
“Let me go. Let me die. Please”
To which, the answer was always,
“No.”
Eventually I take some lorazepam and fall asleep. I don’t know if my ex-husband slept at all that night.
The next night was similar, except that the boy was not present. I begged, I pleaded.
“Let me go”
Lorazepam gave me sleep again. My ex-husband sat on the bed and watched over me until the drugged sleep came to me.
The next morning, Thursday 2nd March, I was admitted to the ICU of the Auckland City Hospital psychiatric unit under Section 10 of the Mental Health Act 1992. I was transferred to the main psychiatric ward the next day, and I have been there ever since.
I imagine
Being free from here. I’m allowed leave now, two hours at a time out in the world, and I die a little inside every time I walk back through the doors of Te Whetu Tawera (the Maori name for the ward). I know that discharge is only a few days away now, maybe around a week or so, but my soul is being crushed. I cry every day in frustration, wanting my own things around me, my own bed, my own damn unvacuumed floor. Out there are many pressures, but at least I have some control over my life out there. In here is regimented and my soul is dying.
There are plenty of people that worry about me leaving this place and just killing myself. It’s not going to happen. I’m reminded every day how much I mean to people, and how much it would hurt them if I died, so I will continue on in spite of my problems, for everyone else. It’s not ideal reasoning, but I am not a selfish person and it’s enough to keep me alive until I find my own joy in living again – something that I’m never going to find inside the confines of Te Whetu Tawera.
A tiny desk light sits recessed deep into the wall. So deep that it is pretty ineffectual, really. Thick plastic protects it. It is firmly bolted to the wall. The desk is scattered with unopened food packages, wordless gifts of caring people. Pringles, Ferrero Rocher, the good things in life, gifted to keep me going.
The walls are covered with fragments of blu-tack and tacky areas of glue that someone has attempted to peel off. Places where former residents have personalised their space. Not me. I don’t want it to be mine.
I hear the sounds of the city, the motorways and the train lines, but also the sparrows and the cicadas celebrating the end of summer. There is a peace here, stashed out the back of the hospital.
Rolling a cigarette at my table at home. It’s the little rituals you miss when you’re sectioned under the Mental Health Act. Smoking is prohibited on all hospital grounds, even psychiatric wards, and that is a rant for a whole new day. They break the routine and the rolling and the breathing and the release, but “poor health outcomes” trump all. Shortsighted? No, that’s the wrong word. They see the distance clearly, but the up-close reality is lost on them. What does lung cancer at 50 mean to people who on average live to about 32?
The sun set over the Waitakeres, shifting tones of orange and pink and lilac and violet and all the half-colours and tenuous shades in between. The ranges stained deep mauve against the shifting light as the sun sinks down.
All this I saw from my balcony, my sanctuary. It was a tiny apartment, it had black mold, there was no extractor fan in the bathroom, and it was mine. It was always a bit messy. I am not a clean freak, though I tried not to keep a complete pigsty.
Sweet lovers and dear friends passed through in their times, nourished by my renowned cooking. There was laughter and passion and comfort and joy.
I remember.
Depression is not forever.
————————————————————————–
I will walk through my front door, wrestling with the ridiculous Patient Property bags that they release you from the hospital with. The house will smell good – Mum always goes on a cleaning binge when I get sick, and cleans my apartment thoroughly.
They tend to let you out in the late morning, so I can watch the sun as it creeps across my living room. The arc of the sun’s path is altering from high summer to slower, slumbering autumn. The light slides slower, more sensually, with less scorching heat. I will lie on the freshly vacuumed carpet. I will roll around in pleasure. I can be free.
When I wrote my last blog post, I at least had a head space that was fairly strong. Well, that’s dissolved to the point that my ex-husband says I’m more fragile that he has ever seen me. I’m millimetres from being inpatiented, after a stint in respite last week. I can’t keep myself safe any more. They took my stash of medication, so I’ve come up with a couple of much more lethal plans.
I planned to end my life on October 31st, but I broke down and told my partner, and he convinced me to seek help, which led to the stint in respite. But he’s not around to save me from myself again. So today, after a medication change set me to less than five hours sleep, I decided to make a go of dying.
I made a series of promises of what I would do before I died, and I started on the checklist. I called the Taylor Centre, my local community mental health centre. I was trying to tell them that I was going to go and step in front of a train as soon as I’d completed my required steps. I was advised to make a cup of coffee, have something to eat, and read a book, and they’d call in a couple of hours.
Ahem. What?! Apparently this is something to do with distress tolerance, but I was beyond sitting with my distress and letting it subside. I’ve been doing that for a good month now. I’m beyond that capacity, I was reaching for help, and I was told to make a fucking cuppa. So I made a cuppa, and went on to Stage Two – writing to the people I love and telling them they are loved, individually and personally. That’s where I’m currently at – it’s a longish process.
Meanwhile, my partner, who’s overseas now, knew what was going on and convinced me to reach out – to Mum, and to my ex-husband. Both came through for me – my ex called and didn’t hang up until he was on my doorstep, and didn’t leave until Mum arrived. He supported me, good man that he is. Meanwhile, Mum called the Taylor Centre and repeated verbatim what I had said to her, which was that I was going to write what I needed to, make the calls I needed to, and then go kill myself. The Taylor Centre, to their credit, decided to send someone over in the next couple of hours. And so the process with them begins again.
When the Taylor Centre people arrived, Nigel was there. I spoke to them, and they started talk of how I needed to practice more problem solving. Nigel intervened and told them that he had never seen me so fragile before, and that keeping myself safe was just not going to be practical. It was only when he spoke that they took me seriously.
What is it with mental health services and minimising the voice of the patient unless they have an advocate?
They Taylor Centre said they would talk about my case and get back to me in the evening. Which they did, but they smoothly talked me out of the hospital where I would be safe, and elected to give me enough benzos to knock a horse off its feet. I took those benzos at 9pm, and here it is, midnight, and I’m writing this to distract myself from writing goodbyes.
I don’t know what to do here. All that’s in me screams to keep writing, so I can check that off the list and it’s shorter so I can through more of it next time the impulse and the opportunity arise.
It’s very simple really. I want to die. Life’s downs are far more common that its ups, and the ups that I get, the hypomanic highs, destroy my life over and over. What does it matter whether this low is the one that kills me, or the next, or the next? I may as well go before I hurt more people. Yes yes I know, dying will hurt people, but it’s inevitable sometime and living is hurting a fair swathe of people too.
I’m going through all the motions of rebuilding my life, but I don’t believe in any of it. The black dog alternates between sitting on my shoulder and gripping me by the throat with iron jaws, shaking and trying to rip that throat out. One day he’ll win. Why not now?
I read that quote, that ‘society conditions people to be disgusted by suicide’ somewhere recently (but failed to write down where). It really resonated with my experience of suicide. People really are disgusted by suicide, and that’s a shitty reaction – but it’s the one we’re groomed to have by our society.
I do not feel disgust at people who commit suicide. There’s a deep sadness, sometimes anger if they’re close to me, but disgust just isn’t on the radar. I don’t think it should be, either. Someone being so unwell, so desperate, so sad, or so angry that they cannot see another way out if tragic, not disgusting. Why is there so little compassion?
I feel like I should have some deep insight into why people are conditioned to react with disgust, but I don’t. I’m just disappointed in society for having such a stupid and useless reaction. When I lost a friend to suicide several months ago, I resented people who thought of it as the easy way out, who showed that disgust. They have no idea what that place is like, and yet they spit on it. For shame.
When someone is suicidal and they see the reaction of disgust to another’s suicide, or just ot the topic in general, it communicates to them that because they have these thoughts, they are disgusting too. It’s not often going to be a deterrent – if you’re having disgusting thoughts anyway, then you are disgusting, and what does it matter any more? It’s just another layer of self-loathing to add to a person who is already very unwell.
People who die by their own hand are a tragedy, and a lesson. Not an object of disgust. Our society needs to grow up and gain some empathy around the matter.
They say true friends go long periods of time without speaking and never question the friendship.
It’s true, I think. But I only think, I don’t know, because for me, crippling anxiety surrounds most interactions I have with people, and friendship is one of the hardest things to feel confident about.
People scare me, because of what they might say or do a lot more than what they actually say and do. I’m forever fearing what I might do to offend or hurt people, and trying my best to avoid doing things wrong, and forever feeling that I fail. The reality of living with mental illness is that your interactions with other people just aren’t like those of ‘normal’ people. You interact differently – people with anxiety will identify with what I feel when I interact with people, the hopes and fears I have, much more than a typical person, who might feel passing rather than crushing anxieties.
In my purely logical mind, I know that there are people who are part of my life who would pick up where we left off as if we’d seen each other only yesterday. Meeting up with a person like that, though, is a morass of what my rational mind knows are baseless fears. Logic and rationality don’t protect me from a mind that wants to tell me that I’m a failure at interpersonal communication, and that people just don’t like me.
I have friends that I do see regularly, good friends. It’s not fair that I can’t shake the feeling that they don’t really care for me all that much. The things depressed and anxious brains tell us are cruel and untrue, but they’re so believable in the moment.
Depression has spent Sunday chewing on me, so things are a bit hazy and rambly at the moment. I feel the effects of it a lot more on weekends because theres no strict routine to keep me going, unlike weekdays. I worked for a chunk of Saturday, and that helped me engage the healthy part of my brain. My unhealthy brain took over for the rest of the weekend though, and it’s thrown me into a bit of a spin. I hope the weekday routine will pull me up.
I read an article about being young and unemployed today, and it raised an issue that I don’t think is discussed enough in relation to unemployment – the effects of unemployment on developing mental illnesses.
Everyone knows that having mental illnesses puts you at higher risk of unemployment. It’s just logical – if you’re seriously unwell in any way then your risk of struggling to find or keep work is much higher. Mental illness has a lot of stigma attached to it, making it hard to get work, and the illnesses themselves make it hard to keep work at times.
So it’s not a great surprise that the mentally ill are somewhat overrepresented in the ranks of the unemployed. But how many perfectly healthy people found themselves on the dole, and became unwell because of it? There are anecdotes in the article of a couple of people that had that experience – of suffering depression and anxiety related to being unable to find work. I would hazard a guess that this is not an unusual experience, and that even the most mentally healthy individuals have periods of unwellness if they are unemployed for a protracted length of time.
What kind of provisions do we make for this? Oh, that’s right. None. Because unemployed people suffering mental illness are doubly derided by society. Not only are you lazy and incompetent, goes the narrative, but you’re also crazy. Stay away, kids!
It’s worse than just having the psychological struggles of the unemployed ignored, though. WINZ processes actively make people unwell. The struggle of trying to get your entitlements, the constant losing of paperwork and other little errors, the unending pressure to get a job and get off the dole (I’m trying, miss, but there aren’t any jobs!), all these things cause stress that can turn into illness. Being unwell already and having to jump through the WINZ medical exemption process is even worse, and no more mercy is shown than to the least co-operative of recalcitrant beneficiaries.
WINZ is a recipe for mental ill health. Unemployment is a potent ingredient all on its own. The melting pot of financial pressure and debt turn it all into hot mess of psychological distress. But support is offered only to the most unwell of people, leaving people easily treated to get worse and worse. They could go to their GP, of course, and be referred for counselling or given anti-depressants – except they chose their GP back when they had a job, or access to student services, and now they can’t afford to go. Tough luck, kid.
The situation for the unemployed actively seeking and not finding work is dire.The stress brings their mental health under pressure, and there’s little out there for them to get support or help from.
An article came out today, telling me some things that I thought everyone must know about post-earthquake Canterbury, and some things that I didn’t know, things that make me both angry and sad.
Mental health issues have become more prevalent in Christchurch since the quakes, something that is entirely expected, at least from where I stand. People who have been through a major traumatic event, like a huge earthquake, are more likely to have PTSD relating to the event, but are also more likely to have other mental health issues like anxiety or depression triggered by the circumstances and the pressure they are under. Zero surprises here.
The statistics are startling but not surprising:
– 43 per cent increase in adult community mental health presentations.
– 37 per cent increase in emergency presentations.
– 69 per cent increase in child and youth mental health service presentations, which would be higher without CDHB’s schools programme.
– 65 per cent increase in rural mental health presentations.
Canterbury District Health Board has a lot on its plate to deal with. In addition to the increase in mental health presentations following the quakes, 30,000 people moved into the area post-quake to help with the rebuild, and those people have a range of mental health issues, just like any other population. The problem here is that mental health services in Canterbury have received less than a puny 1% increase in funding, with even the growth in population ignored, never mind the increase in the incidence of mental illnesses in the area.
The lack of funding makes me angry and sad. At bare minimum, there should have been a funding increase in line with population growth. To present themselves as having even a scrap of humanity, the architects of the health budget needed to have acknowledged the effects of the quakes on people’s mental states and provided at least a token gesture toward relieving the pressure on an overstretched service. But none of that has happened, and it is disgraceful.
Where now for CDHB’s mental health service? Well, it’s the same as everywhere else in the country, scrambling to try and make things work on a shoestring budget. It’s worse for them than many others, but two things they have going for them is a well-performing service before the quakes, and the amazing resilience that people, communities, and institutions have shown in the last four years. They shouldn’t be struggling with this, though. We can do better, damn it, and why don’t we?
We’ve prioritised a bloody convention centre over so may more important projects. Health services of all kinds go without. Social housing has been 98% destroyed, and the shortfall has not been addressed in any useful measure. There are still people living in garages and tents, struggling through the winter, because their houses are written off and their insurance hasn’t come through. There is overcrowding due to a lack of suitable and affordable housing in the area. Why on earth would we need a conference centre, which will be empty for significant stretches of time, when there are so many other, more urgent needs? The misguided waste of it all is painful.
The Canterbury region has suffered mightily these past four years, and yet still the carry on. We should be supporting them in any way we can, not letting them down as attention drifts away from their needs due to the passing of time and the waning of urgency. |
Thursday, July 30, 2015
TTAB Affirms Refusal of Deer Logo with "Phantom" Antlers, for Coffee, on Four Grounds
Bar NND Ranches sought registration of the mark shown immediately below, for "coffee; coffee based beverages; roasted coffee beans," but Examining Attorney Justin R. Jackson refused registration on four grounds: applicant sought to register more than one mark; the specimen of use did not show the mark as depicted in the application drawing; and the drawing and description of the mark were unacceptable. The Board affirmed all four refusals. In re Bar NND Ranches, LLC, Serial No. 77928601 (July 28, 2015) [not precedential].
Applicant Bar NND Ranch described the mark as follows: "The mark consists of a two dimensional fanciful deer design; the deer is holding a coffee mug which has the words “UNGULATTE”; the matter shown by the dashed lines in the drawing show placement of the mark; the matter shown by the dashed lines in the drawing is a “non-claimed” feature of the mark and serves to show the position of the mark." Applicant's specimen of use displayed the mark thusly:
Applicant explained that the antlers depicted on the deer are different depending on the strength of the coffee in the container. Antlers having more points or tips indicate stronger coffee. For decaffeinated coffee, applicant applies felt to the antlers.
Phantom element: The examining attorney contended that applicant was seeking to register more than one mark because the antlers, show in broken line on the application drawing, "constitute a changeable, phantom element of the marks." The Board noted that, under the Trademark Act, "a trademark application may only seek to register a single mark." A proposed mark that contains a changeable, or "phantom," element constitutes more than one mark.
Applicant argued that the antlers are not a "claimed element" and are not an "integral" part of the mark, and therefore the use of dashed lined for the antlers is proper and does not comprise a phantom element.
The Board noted that in both the application drawing and the specimen of use, that antlers are attached to the deer. It therefore found that the antlers "are integrated into the image of a deer holding a steaming mug of coffee."
Applicant’s stylized deer, with antlers of either size, constitutes a unitary composite mark conveying a single commercial impression that does not vary with the size of the antlers or the strength of Applicant’s coffee.
Applicant did not indicate that any antler configuration would be limited within a range of size, shape, or number of points. Thus this case is distinguishable from In re Dial-A-Mattress, where the phantom element was an area code, "the possibilities of which are limited by the offerings of the telephone company."
The Board therefore agreed with the examining attorney that the dashed lines in applicant's mark represent a phantom element, and it therefore affirmed the refusal to register on the ground that applicant was seeking to register more than one mark, in violation of Sections 1 and 45 of the Trademark Act.
The Board also found that the specimen of use "does not match and show use of the mark in the drawing, as required by Trademark Act Sections 1 and 45." [In other words, mutilation of the deer - ed.].
Twisting applicant's antlers even further, the Board affirmed two more refusals, finding applicant's drawing unacceptable under Section 1(a) and its description of the mark unacceptable under Trademark Rule 2.37. "These two refusals flow from the substantive issue that Applicant is seeking to register more than one mark in a single application."
TTABlog comment: Oh, deer. What if applicant had left the antlers off the drawing altogether? That would get rid of the phantom mark refusal. But the specimen wouldn't match the drawing.
I'm not convinced that applicant was trying to register more than one mark. It did not describe the mark as including antlers of various shapes. It was trying to register the deer without antlers. That, in my book, constitutes one mark.
5 Comments:
I agree with you, John; it is one mark. Under the circumstances, I'd provide a new drawing for and seek to register an "antlerless deer" mark -- perhaps using that depiction for the "decaf" coffee. I'd then use whatever size/color antlers I chose to depict the other various strengths of coffee and am guessing I'd be able to enforce my antlerless mark against other similar deer marks for related goods -- antlers or no antlers. Oh deer indeed!
One would think that filing several applications for the variations of the antlers that applicant offers would have required less doe than fawning over a single application and spending the bucks appealing this to the TTAB.
The likelihood of infringement is so low trademark registration is perhaps not worth the time and money -- especially since the design is copyrightable. Register the copyright and enforce nationwide against substantially similar designs.
My thought is that of the enforcement - how are competitors supposed to steer clear of infringement if anything goes?
What I don't get is why they don't just register four or five different marks for the different strengths? They obviously have money to spend, so why did they spend it at the TTAB and not on registrations?
It is a fluid mark. The applicant could have accomplished all it wanted by applying to register one common version of the mark. If a potential infringer begins using a confusingly similar mark with a different length of antlers, the registration would be adequate upon which to base an infringement claim. |
package hudson.plugins.ec2.util;
import hudson.Extension;
import hudson.ExtensionComponent;
import jenkins.ExtensionFilter;
/**
* The sole purpose of this class is to filter out {@link AmazonEC2FactoryImpl} and {@link EC2AgentFactoryImpl} so as to avoid doing real calls to EC2
* when running tests.
*/
@Extension
public class TestFactoryExtensionFilter extends ExtensionFilter {
@Override
public <T> boolean allows(Class<T> type, ExtensionComponent<T> component) {
if (!type.isAssignableFrom(AmazonEC2Factory.class) && !type.isAssignableFrom(EC2AgentFactory.class)) {
return true;
}
return !(component.getInstance().getClass().isAssignableFrom(AmazonEC2FactoryImpl.class))
&& !(component.getInstance().getClass().isAssignableFrom(EC2AgentFactoryImpl.class));
}
}
|
WR357 – Talking Animation with Adam Rackoff
Producer Adam Rackoff returns to discuss one of his favorite animated movies from his childhood, ‘Starchaser: The Legend of Orin’ (1985) as well as to discuss some of the best animated films geared toward an adult sensibility. |
Q:
Customized checkboxes are not clickable in kendo grid
I have kendo grid with checkbox selection column and I customized these checkboxes but now checkboxes are not clickable, cannot be unchecked or checked
How do I solve this?
Here is my code
@( Html.Kendo().Grid<MockUpForeNet.Controllers.CardDetailController.Days>()
.Name("timegrid")
.DataSource(d => d.Ajax().Read("TimeGridBinding", "CardDetail").Model(keys =>
{
keys.Id(k => k.DayId);
keys.Field(c => c.DayName).Editable(false);
keys.Field(c => c.DayId).Editable(false);
}).PageSize(7))
.Columns(c =>
{
c.Bound(p => p.DayId).Width(100).Title(" ").ClientTemplate("#= chk2(data) #").Sortable(false);
c.Bound(e => e.DayName).Width("auto").Title("Day");
})
.Editable(editing => editing.Mode(Kendo.Mvc.UI.GridEditMode.InCell))
.Sortable()
.ColumnMenu()
)
here my checkbox template
function chk2(data) {
return '<input id="masterCheck' + data.DayId + '" class="k-checkbox" type="checkbox" checked="checked" /><label for="masterCheck" class="k-checkbox-label"></label>';
}
A:
You have an error in your template: label for="masterCheck" is missing data.DayId .
Also note that checkboxes have changed in version 2020.1.114 and don't need the empty label anymore. See examples on https://demos.telerik.com/kendo-ui/checkbox/index . Remember to provide an aria-label for accessibility reasons.
|
The national debt jumped more than $100 billion on the first business day of fiscal year 2018.
The debt was $20.245 trillion on Friday, the last business day of fiscal year 2017. The government's fiscal year ended on Sept. 30, a Saturday.
On Monday, the national debt clocked in at $20.348 trillion, $103 billion higher than Friday's number.
The sudden spike is a rocky start for the new fiscal year, especially in light of the government's success in keeping growth in the debt low in FY 2017.
The debt grew $671 billion in the just-closed fiscal year, much lower than the more than $1 trillion annual growth in the debt under President Obama. |
/*
// Copyright (c) 2015-2018 Pierre Guillot.
// For information on usage and redistribution, and for a DISCLAIMER OF ALL
// WARRANTIES, see the file, "LICENSE.txt," in this distribution.
*/
#include "PluginEditorConsole.hpp"
#include "PluginLookAndFeel.hpp"
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// CONSOLE BUTTON //
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
class ConsoleButton : public Button
{
public:
ConsoleButton(Image const& image) : Button(""), m_image()
{
setClickingTogglesState(false);
setAlwaysOnTop(true);
m_image.setImage(image);
m_image.setTransformToFit(Rectangle<float>(0.f, 0.f, 18.f, 18.f), RectanglePlacement::stretchToFit);
m_image.setAlpha(0.5f);
addAndMakeVisible(m_image);
setSize(18, 18);
}
void buttonStateChanged() final
{
m_image.setAlpha((isDown() || isOver()) ? 1.f : 0.5f);
}
void paintButton(Graphics& g, bool over, bool down) final {};
private:
DrawableImage m_image;
JUCE_DECLARE_NON_COPYABLE_WITH_LEAK_DETECTOR(ConsoleButton)
};
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// CONSOLE //
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
PluginEditorConsole::PluginEditorConsole(CamomileAudioProcessor& p) :
m_history(p), m_table(),
m_level_button(new ConsoleButton(ImageCache::getFromMemory(BinaryData::settings_png, BinaryData::settings_pngSize))),
m_clear_button(new ConsoleButton(ImageCache::getFromMemory(BinaryData::garbage_png, BinaryData::garbage_pngSize))),
m_copy_button(new ConsoleButton(ImageCache::getFromMemory(BinaryData::copy_png, BinaryData::copy_pngSize))),
m_reload_button(new ConsoleButton(ImageCache::getFromMemory(BinaryData::reload_png, BinaryData::reload_pngSize))),
m_font(CamoLookAndFeel::getDefaultFont().withPointHeight(10.f))
{
m_size = 0;
setWantsKeyboardFocus(true);
m_table.setBounds(2, 2, getWidth() - 2, getHeight() - 30);
m_table.setModel(this);
m_table.setOutlineThickness(0);
m_table.setWantsKeyboardFocus(true);
m_table.setMultipleSelectionEnabled(true);
m_table.setMouseMoveSelectsRows(false);
m_table.setRowHeight(static_cast<int>(m_font.getHeight() + 2));
m_table.setColour(ListBox::ColourIds::backgroundColourId, Colours::transparentWhite);
m_table.getViewport()->setScrollBarsShown(true, true, true, true);
m_table.getViewport()->setScrollBarThickness(4);
addAndMakeVisible(m_table);
m_clear_button->addListener(this);
addAndMakeVisible(m_clear_button.get());
m_copy_button->addListener(this);
addAndMakeVisible(m_copy_button.get());
m_level_button->addListener(this);
addAndMakeVisible(m_level_button.get());
m_reload_button->addListener(this);
addAndMakeVisible(m_reload_button.get());
startTimer(100);
}
PluginEditorConsole::~PluginEditorConsole()
{
stopTimer();
}
void PluginEditorConsole::clearSelection()
{
stopTimer();
SparseSet<int> const selection = m_table.getSelectedRows();
if(selection.isEmpty())
{
const size_t n = m_history.size(m_level);
for(size_t i = n; i > 0; --i)
{
m_history.clear(m_level, i-1);
}
}
else
{
const int n = selection.size();
for(int i = n; i > 0; --i)
{
m_history.clear(m_level, static_cast<size_t>(selection[i-1]));
}
}
m_table.deselectAllRows();
timerCallback();
startTimer(100);
}
void PluginEditorConsole::copySelection()
{
String text;
stopTimer();
SparseSet<int> const selection = m_table.getSelectedRows();
if(selection.isEmpty())
{
const size_t n = m_history.size(m_level);
for(size_t i = 0; i < n; ++i)
{
text += String(m_history.get(m_level, static_cast<size_t>(i)).second + "\n");
}
}
else
{
const int n = selection.size();
for(int i = 0; i < n; ++i)
{
text += String(m_history.get(m_level, static_cast<size_t>(selection[i])).second + "\n");
}
}
SystemClipboard::copyTextToClipboard(text);
startTimer(100);
}
void PluginEditorConsole::paint(Graphics& g)
{
g.setColour(Colours::black.withAlpha(0.5f));
g.drawHorizontalLine(getHeight() - 28, 2.f, static_cast<float>(getWidth()) - 2.f);
}
void PluginEditorConsole::resized()
{
const int btn_height = getHeight() - 22;
const int btn_width = 26;
const int btn_woffset = 4;
const int tbl_height = getHeight() - 30;
const int tbl_wdith = getWidth() - 2;
m_level_button->setTopLeftPosition(btn_woffset+btn_width*0, btn_height);
m_clear_button->setTopLeftPosition(btn_woffset+btn_width*1, btn_height);
m_copy_button->setTopLeftPosition(btn_woffset+btn_width*2, btn_height);
m_reload_button->setTopLeftPosition(btn_woffset+btn_width*3, btn_height);
m_table.setSize(tbl_wdith, tbl_height);
}
bool PluginEditorConsole::keyPressed(const KeyPress& key)
{
if(key.getModifiers() == ModifierKeys::commandModifier && key.getTextCharacter() == 'c')
{
copySelection();
return true;
}
return false;
}
void PluginEditorConsole::deleteKeyPressed(int lastRowSelected)
{
clearSelection();
}
void PluginEditorConsole::buttonClicked(Button* button)
{
if(button == m_reload_button.get())
{
m_history.reloadPatch();
}
else if(button == m_clear_button.get())
{
clearSelection();
}
else if(button == m_copy_button.get())
{
copySelection();
}
else
{
juce::PopupMenu m;
m.addItem(1, "Fatal", true, m_level == ConsoleLevel::Fatal);
m.addItem(2, "Error", true, m_level == ConsoleLevel::Error);
m.addItem(3, "Normal", true, m_level == ConsoleLevel::Normal);
m.addItem(4, "All", true, m_level == ConsoleLevel::Log);
stopTimer();
int const level = m.show(0, 0, static_cast<int>(m_font.getHeight() + 2));
if(level != 0 && static_cast<ConsoleLevel>(level - 1) != m_level)
{
m_level = static_cast<ConsoleLevel>(level - 1);
m_size = m_history.size(m_level);
m_table.updateContent();
m_table.deselectAllRows();
}
startTimer(100);
}
}
void PluginEditorConsole::paintListBoxItem(int rowNumber, Graphics& g, int width, int height, bool rowIsSelected)
{
std::pair<size_t, std::string> const message(m_history.get(m_level, rowNumber));
if(rowIsSelected)
{
g.setColour(Colours::black);
g.fillRect(0, 0, width, height);
}
if(message.first == ConsoleLevel::Fatal)
{
g.setColour(Colours::red);
}
else if(message.first == ConsoleLevel::Error)
{
g.setColour(Colours::orange);
}
else if(message.first == ConsoleLevel::Normal)
{
g.setColour(rowIsSelected ? Colours::lightgrey : Colours::black.withAlpha(0.5f));
}
else
{
g.setColour(Colours::green);
}
String const mess = String(message.second).trimCharactersAtEnd(" \n");
g.setFont(m_font);
g.drawText(mess, 2, 0, width, height, juce::Justification::centredLeft, 0);
}
void PluginEditorConsole::timerCallback()
{
m_history.processPrints();
const size_t size = m_history.size(m_level);
if(m_size != size)
{
m_size = size;
m_table.updateContent();
}
}
|
//
// __
// /\ \ _
// ____ ____ ___\ \ \_/ \ _____ ___ ___
// / _ \ / __ \ / __ \ \ < __ /\__ \ / __ \ / __ \
// /\ \_\ \/\ __//\ __/\ \ \\ \ /\_\ \/_/ / /\ \_\ \/\ \_\ \
// \ \____ \ \____\ \____\\ \_\\_\ \/_/ /\____\\ \____/\ \____/
// \/____\ \/____/\/____/ \/_//_/ \/____/ \/___/ \/___/
// /\____/
// \/___/
//
// Powered by BeeFramework
//
#import "Bee.h"
#pragma mark -
/**
* 首页banner
*/
@interface B0_BannerCell_iPhone : BeeUICell
AS_OUTLET( BeeUIScrollView, list )
AS_OUTLET( BeeUIPageControl, pager )
@end
|
Q-Cells and Hanwha: Solar Geopolitics Gets Messy
The creditors of the German company agreed to the sale with a vote on Wednesday, though the sale still requires regulatory approval before it’s finalized. Hanwha will gain a sterling silicon solar cell maker by buying Q-Cells, which was the reigning cell maker back in 2008, before it ceded the spot thanks to the financial market crash and the rise of well-financed Chinese solar cell makers. Though silicon solar technology was the core of its technology portfolio, Q-Cells, when it was in better financial health, experimented with different thin film processes and gambled with the idea of using refined, metallurgical-grade silicon as a substitute for the more expensive and purer silicon to make cells. It also entered into the solar power plant development business. The company filed for bankruptcy in April this year. Despite its financial trouble, Q-Cells remains a symbol of... |
Threaded View
Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 476
Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter. This is issue #476 for the week July 25 – 31, 2016, and the full version is available here. In this issue we cover: Yakkety Yak Alpha 2 Released Ubuntu 15.10 (Wily Werewolf) End of Life reached on July 28 2016 Ubuntu Stats LoCo Events Shih-Yuan Lee: Disable Secure […]More... |
As a magnetic material, ferrite has been broadly used in various fields described below.
Ferrite has been popularly used in various applications. For example, ferrite has been used as hard ferrite in a miniaturized motor-use magnetic pole which makes use of a rotor-use magnet, a measuring device, an electric device such as a microphone or a speaker, a magnet roller, a magnetic separator, a machine mechanism such as a magnetic bearing, a magnet in health promoting equipment, a magnet incorporated in a stationery, a magnet incorporated in a toy and the like. Ferrite has been also used as soft ferrite in a magnetic core, a magnetic head or a magnetic shield for power transmission, communication, deflection of beams in a CRT or the like which makes use of soft magnetism; a microwave device which makes use of a microwave property such as a filter, an isolator, a circulator, an antenna or an electromagnetic wave absorber; an optical communication/optical device which makes use of a magneto-optical property such as an optical isolator, an optical circulator, a photo switch or a magnetic field sensor; a microwave communication device which makes use of a microwave property such as a filter, a resonator or a circulator; and a magnetic memory device such as a magnetic bubble memory.
In the above-mentioned respective applications, properties which ferrite is required to satisfy vary largely and hence, it is necessary to provide ferrite which has properties conforming to each application.
Magnetic properties of ferrite mainly depend on component composition of ferrite and hence, to provide ferrite having desired properties, it is necessary to adjust the composition of ferrite to the component composition which conforms to required properties.
Conventionally, to grasp a change in magnetic properties accompanying a change in composition of ferrite, a large number of ferrite specimens which are made slightly different from each other in component composition of ferrite are prepared, and the magnetic properties of the respective specimens are measured one by one (non-patent document 1, for example).
However, the preparation of even one specimen requires a large number of steps from the preparation of raw materials to the manufacture of a sintered body. Further, it is necessary to prepare a large number of such specimens in which the component composition is made slightly different from each other for every composition and hence, not only it takes a long time to prepare the specimens, but also a cost is pushed up. The related art also has a drawback that the accuracy of measurement is lowered due to disturbances described below during the preparation of specimens.
When samples are prepared and evaluated one by one, the biggest concern is whether or not the preparation and the evaluation can be carried out in the same environment. For example, when a series of experiments is carried out over several days, the possibility that the preparation and the evaluation of the samples are influenced by the weather such as the temperature and the humidity is increased. Further, as to other concerns, whether or not the Supply of electricity to a device is stable, whether or not the device interferes with a peripheral device and the like are named.
In this respect, if a large number of samples can be prepared and evaluated at the same time, the above-mentioned possibility could be remarkably lowered. |
package cosmos
import (
"github.com/hashicorp/terraform-plugin-sdk/helper/schema"
)
type Registration struct{}
// Name is the name of this Service
func (r Registration) Name() string {
return "CosmosDB"
}
// WebsiteCategories returns a list of categories which can be used for the sidebar
func (r Registration) WebsiteCategories() []string {
return []string{
"CosmosDB (DocumentDB)",
}
}
// SupportedDataSources returns the supported Data Sources supported by this Service
func (r Registration) SupportedDataSources() map[string]*schema.Resource {
return map[string]*schema.Resource{
"azurerm_cosmosdb_account": dataSourceArmCosmosDbAccount(),
}
}
// SupportedResources returns the supported Resources supported by this Service
func (r Registration) SupportedResources() map[string]*schema.Resource {
return map[string]*schema.Resource{
"azurerm_cosmosdb_account": resourceArmCosmosDbAccount(),
"azurerm_cosmosdb_cassandra_keyspace": resourceArmCosmosDbCassandraKeyspace(),
"azurerm_cosmosdb_gremlin_database": resourceArmCosmosGremlinDatabase(),
"azurerm_cosmosdb_gremlin_graph": resourceArmCosmosDbGremlinGraph(),
"azurerm_cosmosdb_mongo_collection": resourceArmCosmosDbMongoCollection(),
"azurerm_cosmosdb_mongo_database": resourceArmCosmosDbMongoDatabase(),
"azurerm_cosmosdb_sql_container": resourceArmCosmosDbSQLContainer(),
"azurerm_cosmosdb_sql_database": resourceArmCosmosDbSQLDatabase(),
"azurerm_cosmosdb_sql_stored_procedure": resourceArmCosmosDbSQLStoredProcedure(),
"azurerm_cosmosdb_table": resourceArmCosmosDbTable(),
}
}
|
Arsenal legend praises Sheff Utd's achievements as Blades remain on course to become one of the best-ever promoted clubs
Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp claimed a record fifth Barclays Manager of the Month award in a season by winning January's honour, but, according to Lee Dixon, Chris Wilder is a strong rival for the annual award.
Dixon, a double Premier League champion with Arsenal says the Sheffield United manager guiding his team to fifth place after Sunday's 2-1 win over AFC Bournemouth is worthy of recognition in May.
"Arguably he has done a better job than Klopp," Dixon says of Wilder.
"The way they are playing, the tactics on the pitch... it's surprised a lot of opposition the way he has gone about the game. I think arguably he should be up there at the top of that list."
Challenging the elite
With 39 points from 26 matches, the Blades have one more than their total from 2006/07, their last campaign in the competition.
Their 24 goals conceded is the best defensive record behind the 15 of leaders Liverpool and their seven defeats are the fewest by a promoted side at this stage of the season since the six recorded by Fulham in 2001/02.
Following Wolves
With less than a third of the campaign remaining, the Blades are on course to emulate and even beat the achievements of Wolverhampton Wanderers last season.
Nuno Espirito Santo's side became one of the best-performing promoted teams in Premier League history when finishing seventh in 2018/19.
Sheff Utd have the same number of points that Wolves had at the same stage 12 months ago.
If they maintain their average of 1.5 points per match and also finish with 57 points, it would be the joint sixth-highest total for a promoted club.
And if Wilder's men sustain their position of fifth, it would be the joint fourth-highest Premier League ranking for a team coming up from the second tier.
Highest-finishing promoted clubs
Season Club Position Pts Ave. ppm 1993/94 Newcastle 3rd 77 1.83 1994/95 N Forest 3rd 77 1.83 1992/93 Blackburn 4th 71 1.69 2000/01 Ipswich 5th 66 1.74 1999/00 Sunderland 7th 58 1.53 2018/19 Wolves 7th 57 1.50
The Blades can further strengthen their position when they host Brighton & Hove Albion and Norwich City in their next two fixtures, two opponents they have beaten on the road this season.
Finishing fifth would also mean they emulate Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest, Ipswich Town and Wolves in becoming only the fifth promoted team to qualify for Europe via their league position.
Given they are just two points behind Chelsea, whom they are yet to host at Bramall Lane, the Blades could surpass Wolves' feat by securing a place in the UEFA Champions League. |
Obamacare ‘Bronze’ Plan Premiums Expected to Jump 14% in 2015
Obamacare “bronze” plan owners may be in for a shock next year. Investors predict the cheapest healthcare offering under the Affordable Care Act could jump nearly 14 percent in price.
In an analysis of expected rates for the biggest 15 cities in the nation, including Washington, D.C., Investor’s Business Daily reported Friday that the cost for the plan could increase by an average of 13.9 percent for 40-year-old non-smokers earning 225 percent of the poverty level.
Plan owners in Seattle, Wash. will see the biggest price difference. The cost of the bronze plan, after subsidies, will jump by 64 percent, from $60 to $98 per month.
In Providence, R.I., the plan cost is expected to soar from $72 to $99 per month, from $88 to $111 in Los Angeles, $100 to $122 in Las Vegas, and $97 to $114 in New York. |
1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a multi-functional surgical device for use with open or endoscopic surgical procedures including a multi-functional end effector. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to an electrosurgical device with a cutting device formed in the multi-functional end effector.
2. Description of Related Art
A variety of electrosurgical devices are commonly used in open and endoscopic surgical procedures. One device commonly used in both open and endoscopic procedures is a hemostat or forceps. A hemostat or forceps is a simple plier-like tool which uses mechanical action between its jaws to constrict vessels and is commonly used in open surgical procedures to grasp, dissect and/or clamp tissue. Electrosurgical forceps utilize both mechanical clamping action and electrical energy to effect hemostasis by heating the tissue and blood vessels to coagulate, cauterize and/or seal tissue.
By utilizing an electrosurgical forceps, a surgeon can either cauterize, coagulate/desiccate, reduce or slow bleeding and/or seal vessels by controlling the intensity, frequency and duration of the electrosurgical energy applied to the tissue. Generally, the electrical configuration of electrosurgical forceps can be categorized in two classifications: 1) monopolar electrosurgical forceps; and 2) bipolar electrosurgical forceps.
Monopolar forceps utilize one active electrode associated with the clamping multi-functional end effector and a remote patient return electrode or pad which is typically attached externally to the patient. When the electrosurgical energy is applied, the energy travels from the active electrode, to the surgical site, through the patient and to the return electrode.
Bipolar electrosurgical forceps utilize two generally opposing electrodes that are disposed on the inner opposing surfaces of the multi-functional end effectors and which are both electrically coupled to an electrosurgical generator. Each electrode is charged to a different electric potential. Since tissue is a conductor of electrical energy, when the effectors are utilized to grasp tissue therebetween, the electrical energy can be selectively transferred through the tissue.
In order to effect proper hemostatic fusion of vessels or tissue, two predominant mechanical parameters should be accurately controlled: the pressure applied to the vessels or tissue; and the minimum distance, the gap, between the jaws. As can be appreciated, both of these parameters may be affected by the thickness of the vessels or tissue being treated. Experience in vessel sealing, for example, has shown that accurate control of pressure is important for achieving reliable formation of hemostatic seals. Too little pressure results in poor adhesion giving seals that are likely to open or leak. Too much pressure damages or displaces tissue structures essential for the formation of strong seals. Accurate control of electrode gap is important to prevent short circuit conditions and to ensure that thin tissue structures can be fused. Electrode gaps of between about 0.001 inches to about 0.006 inches have proven to be effective on a variety of tissue conditions; however, it may be beneficial to adjust this range for specific situations.
With respect to smaller vessels, the pressure applied to the tissue tends to become less relevant whereas the gap distance between the electrically conductive surfaces becomes more significant for effective sealing. In other words, the chances of the two electrically conductive surfaces touching during activation increases as the vessels become smaller.
Electrosurgical methods may be able to seal larger vessels using an appropriate electrosurgical power curve, coupled with an instrument capable of applying a large closure force to the vessel walls. It is thought that the process of coagulating small vessels is fundamentally different than electrosurgical vessel sealing. For the purposes herein, “coagulation” is defined as a process of desiccating tissue wherein the tissue cells are ruptured and dried and vessel sealing is defined as the process of liquefying the collagen in the tissue so that it reforms into a fused mass. Thus, coagulation of small vessels is sufficient to permanently close them. Larger vessels need to be sealed to assure permanent closure.
The present disclosure provides a multi-functional surgical arrangement that may be incorporated into an open surgical device, an endoscopic surgical device or any other suitable surgical instrument. The multi-functional surgical arrangement includes a first device and second device, wherein the first device provides the primary function of the device and a second device provides one or more secondary functions of the device, such as, a cutting feature. The first device and the second device, in addition to providing primary and secondary functions, may together provide additional functionality separate from the primary and secondary functions provided by the first and second devices. |
Inside the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case
October 28, 2010
Hosted by Francie Koehler, CPI, CCDI
Guest Information
Episode Description
Three Duke University Lacrosse Players Charged With Rape! Explosive headlines polarized the country. A top university with a prestigious athletic department was smeared and student Reade Seligman and two classmates were charged in the midst of racial insults and an atmosphere of race versus privilege. As the news unfolds, there are lies and alibis and the story of a prosecutor who crossed an ethical line to sort through. Facing 25 years behind bars, all three defendants were found to be falsely accused and their charges were dismissed. But in a surprising turn of events, Durham County Prosecutor Mike Nifong, who seemingly believed the accuser and withheld exonerating DNA evidence, was ultimately disbarred by the North Carolina State Bar for ethics violations. Tune in to hear acclaimed North Carolina lawyer, Duke University graduate and counsel to Reade Seligman, James P. Cooney III, tell the inside scoop.
Francie Koehler, CPI, CCDI
Francie Koehler’s career as a licensed private investigator includes cases that have sparked media projects. "Unsolved Mysteries" portrayed one of her missing person cases. British author Val McDermid featured her capital case in "A Suitable Job for A Woman" and true crime writer Ann Rule chronicled a case she investigated involving a missing nightclub owner entitled "In The Name Of Love." Francie drew on her investigative and retail experience to create the 3-part video, "Loss Prevention - The Big Picture." International results included an invitation to Moscow, where she spoke to Russian nationals interested in privatization. Francie is the former two-term president of both the National Council of Investigation & Security Services (NCISS) and the California Association of Licensed Investigators (CALI). Awarded by each organization for her work, she serves as Legislative Chair for both and regularly testifies before the California State Legislature regarding bills of concern to PI’s. Francie has been recognized by her state regulatory agency for outstanding service to her profession. In addition, she holds memberships in the Council for International Investigators, National Association of Legal Investigators, World Association of Detectives, and California Attorneys for Criminal Justice. Francie also works with the Innocence Project and holds certifications as a Conflict Mediator, Legal Investigator, Professional Investigator and Criminal Defense Investigator. |
Sport World Cuphttps://www.sport24.co.za/
Argotic Syndication Framework, http://www.codeplex.com/argotichttp://www.rssboard.org/rss-specificationThu, 24 May 2018 21:13:36 +0200Thu, 24 May 2018 18:35:38 +0200Sport24.co.za | Matic leads Serbia 27-man SWC squadSerbia coach Mladen Krstajic named a preliminary 27-man Soccer World Cup squad led by Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic.https://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/WorldCup/matic-leads-serbia-27-man-swc-squad-20180524
Thu, 24 May 2018 18:35:38 +0200Sport24.co.za | Butland feeling sorry for snubbed HartEngland goalkeeper Jack Butland says he felt sorry that his childhood hero Joe Hart did not make the Three Lions squad for the World Cup.https://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/WorldCup/butland-feeling-sorry-for-snubbed-hart-20180524
Thu, 24 May 2018 11:45:41 +0200Sport24.co.za | Neymar's return 'better than expected'Brazil's star forward Neymar is returning to training "better than expected," after more than two months out with a broken foot bone.https://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/WorldCup/neymars-return-better-than-expected-20180523
Wed, 23 May 2018 22:41:23 +0200Sport24.co.za | Cheeky! England can win World Cup, says Loftus-CheekRuben Loftus-Cheek says England's young squad boast "frightening" talent that could take them all the way to World Cup glory in Russia.https://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/WorldCup/cheeky-england-can-win-world-cup-says-loftus-cheek-20180523
Wed, 23 May 2018 15:49:37 +0200Sport24.co.za | WATCH: Pogba on Mecca pilgrimage ahead of SWCPaul Pogba has posted a video of himself at the holiest site of Islam in Saudi Arabia, as he prepares for the World Cup next month with France.https://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/WorldCup/watch-pogba-on-mecca-pilgrimage-ahead-of-swc-20180523
Wed, 23 May 2018 14:19:55 +0200Sport24.co.za | Rabiot emails Deschamps rejecting World Cup standby spotMidfielder Adrien Rabiot has written to France manager Didier Deschamps saying he is not prepared to be a World Cup standby player.https://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/WorldCup/rabiot-emails-deschamps-rejecting-world-cup-standby-spot-20180523
Wed, 23 May 2018 14:23:28 +0200Sport24.co.za | Dads Ronaldo and Messi still seek World Cup gloryCristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi go into their fourth World Cup as changed men each seeking to win the game's most coveted prize for the first time.https://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/WorldCup/dads-ronaldo-and-messi-still-seek-world-cup-glory-20180523
Wed, 23 May 2018 14:25:28 +0200Sport24.co.za | World Cup fever causes sleepless nights for Bangladesh flagmakersFlagmakers in Bangladesh are doing a roaring trade weeks ahead of the World Cup, but no-one is interested in the home nation's colours.https://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/WorldCup/world-cup-fever-causes-sleepless-nights-for-bangladesh-flagmakers-20180523
Wed, 23 May 2018 09:23:46 +0200Sport24.co.za | Argentina goalkeeper Romero ruled out of World CupArgentina's World Cup preparations suffered a blow as goalkeeper Sergio Romero was ruled out of the tournament with a knee injury.https://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/WorldCup/argentina-goalkeeper-romero-ruled-out-of-world-cup-20180523
Wed, 23 May 2018 08:11:31 +0200Sport24.co.za | Kane named England's World Cup captainTottenham striker Harry Kane will be England's captain at the World Cup in Russia, the Football Association has said.https://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/WorldCup/kane-named-englands-world-cup-captain-20180522
Tue, 22 May 2018 10:49:40 +0200Sport24.co.za | Spain coach Lopetegui extends contract to 2020Spain coach Julen Lopetegui has extended his contract until 2020 in a pre-World Cup boost for one of the tournament favourites.https://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/WorldCup/spain-coach-lopetegui-extends-contract-to-2020-20180522
Tue, 22 May 2018 16:57:38 +0200Sport24.co.za | Russia prepares for World Cup drone attacksRussia will reportedly deploy jamming devices used in Syria and the war in Ukraine to defend World Cup stadiums against a drone attack.https://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/WorldCup/russia-prepares-for-world-cup-drone-attacks-20180522
Tue, 22 May 2018 07:25:53 +0200Sport24.co.za | Inter striker Icardi left out of Argentina SWC squadInter Milan striker Mauro Icardi, the joint-leading scorer in Italy this season, was a notable omission from Argentina's 23-man World Cup squad.https://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/WorldCup/inter-striker-icardi-left-out-of-argentina-swc-squad-20180521
Mon, 21 May 2018 19:50:38 +0200Sport24.co.za | Nainggolan announces retirement after SWC snubMidfielder Radja Nainggolan has announced his retirement from international football after his surprise omission from Belgium's World Cup squad.https://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/WorldCup/naingollan-announces-retirement-after-world-cup-snub-20180521
Tue, 22 May 2018 08:33:52 +0200Sport24.co.za | Modric spearheads Croatia's World Cup squadCroatia coach Zlatko Dalic has named a 24-man World Cup squad, that is led by international stars Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic and Mario Mandzukic.https://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/WorldCup/modric-spearheads-croatias-world-cup-squad-20180521
Mon, 21 May 2018 17:31:04 +0200Sport24.co.za | Peru striker gets Fifpro's support in doping banPeru striker Paolo Guerrero has received the backing of players' union FIFPro ahead of a meeting with FIFA's president to try to overturn a drugs ban that could keep him out of the World Cup.https://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/WorldCup/peru-striker-gets-fifpros-support-in-doping-ban-20180521
Mon, 21 May 2018 15:34:34 +0200Sport24.co.za | Chelsea striker Morata left out of Spain's SWC squadChelsea striker Alvaro Morata was the big name missing from Spain's Soccer World Cup squad announced by manager Julen Lopetgui.https://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/WorldCup/chelsea-striker-morata-left-out-of-spains-swc-squad-20180521
Mon, 21 May 2018 14:51:50 +0200Sport24.co.za | Belgium leave out Nainggolan of World Cup squadBelgium have left midfield creator and fan favourite Radja Nainggolan out of their World Cup squad, coach Roberto Martinez said.https://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/WorldCup/belgium-leave-out-nainggolan-of-world-cup-squad-20180521
Tue, 22 May 2018 08:35:24 +0200Sport24.co.za | Mendy: France must target World Cup triumphManchester City defender Benjamin Mendy believes France have all the qualities to win the Soccer World Cup in Russia.https://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/WorldCup/mendy-france-must-target-world-cup-triumph-20180521
Mon, 21 May 2018 13:33:56 +0200Sport24.co.za | England to prep players for eventual racism in RussiaEngland are to receive advice on how to deal with potential racist incidents they may encounter at the upcoming World Cup in Russia.https://www.sport24.co.za/Soccer/WorldCup/england-to-prep-players-for-eventual-racism-in-russia-20180520
Sun, 20 May 2018 19:58:38 +0200 |
[A study of quantitative dynamics of F-actin during oocyte maturation in the starfish Asterias amurensis].
We studied the actin cytoskeleton state in Asterias amurensis oocytes within 30 min after the 1-methyladenine-induced maturation until the germinal vesicle breakdown. The total amount of actin remained unchanged during oocyte maturation. In immature oocytes, the major part of actin is not a part of filaments, but in the presence of 1-methyladenine massive actin polymerization began already within 20 min. Electron immunocytochemistry methods demonstrated joint localization of actin and alpha-protein in the cytoplasm. They were redistributed from the cortex to the cytoplasm in the presence of 1-methyladenine. A possible involvement of actin cytoskeleton in transmembrane transduction of the hormonal signal at the postreceptor stages is discussed. |
The invention relates to a vehicle, in particular road or railway vehicles such as tour buses or the like having a skeleton frame comprising side-wall parts containing vertical sections and joining these panel-like floor and roof elements, whereby a roof beam is provided on both sides of the roof element,
Vehicle superstructures with a structural frame of conventional design feature flush outer contours onto which cladding elements and window glazing are mounted. The roofing is insulated after the cover sheeting has been installed, and is covered over from below by panels. Cables, air ducts and components such as route indicator, mechanisms for operating the the doors and ventilation are installed at the sides in the roof which is then covered with a cladding that can be removed for maintenance purposes.
In modern low floor buses, in addition to the above mentioned fittings, equipment such as air containers or conduits, which was previously situated in the undercarriage, has to be accommodated in the roof. The resultant problems of space and noises caused by air can be solved or eliminated only at considerable expense or effort.
The European patent EP-O 628 469 A1 by the applicant describes a vehicle frame for road vehicles such as commercial vehicles or buses fitted with axles, engine, gears and further power train components. A structural frame is mounted on the undercarriage frame and then built out to form a space for carrying passengers or freight. The side-wall part of the structural frame exhibits vertical columns and, joining these, horizontal hollow sections acting as a support frame for cladding panels. The base element is a multi-layer base panel which is held by brackets both at the edges of the base panel itself and at these side-wall columns.
The previously known structural frame features continuous roof sections or beams at both sides, between which there is a roof element, which if desired contains an inner roof part below the outer roof cladding. The inner roof part may feature roof brackets and an inner roof panel which is displaced sideways with respect to the side-wall columns and is connected to the side-wall columns by means of brackets on the side-wall columns.
According to FR-PS 2 635 064 honeycomb-like floors, intermediate floors and ceilings, along with hollow sections that are welded together and run the fill length of the vehicle, are all assembled into railway vehicle structures. Replacing damaged parts could, if at all possible, be done only by cutting out lengths and welding in replacement parts. |
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHA!!!!!!!!!! From experience as an electrician, getting shocked by 120volts isnt that bad getting hit with the white wire from flourecent lights is MUCH worse, I've been shocked multiple times and have even destroyed a couple tools by shocking them. Incredible pain in the nipples, yes. Heart stopping, yes it can happen. Brain damage, no the current would have to travel through or accross the brain for brain damage, however nerve damage on and between his nipples can happen. This is just another example of not only how stupid people are, but how desperate people are to get money from a source when they don't deserve it.
Fun fact: electricity always takes the path of least resistance. Meaning, if you contact eletrical polls on your index finger and thumb, thats where you get shocked because thats the easiest path for the electricity to go.A wise man speaks because he has something to say, a fool speaks because he has to say something. - unknown
I guess if his heart actually stopped then he might have got brain damage from lack of oxygen to the brain. Frankly though it seems unlikely it could have made much difference, he was clearly as thick as shit to begin with.If you're going through hell, keep going. - Winston Churchill
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/**
* Copyright Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
* SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0.
*/
#pragma once
#include <aws/appsync/AppSync_EXPORTS.h>
#include <aws/appsync/AppSyncRequest.h>
#include <aws/core/utils/memory/stl/AWSString.h>
#include <aws/appsync/model/ApiCachingBehavior.h>
#include <aws/appsync/model/ApiCacheType.h>
#include <utility>
namespace Aws
{
namespace AppSync
{
namespace Model
{
/**
* <p>Represents the input of a <code>UpdateApiCache</code>
* operation.</p><p><h3>See Also:</h3> <a
* href="http://docs.aws.amazon.com/goto/WebAPI/appsync-2017-07-25/UpdateApiCacheRequest">AWS
* API Reference</a></p>
*/
class AWS_APPSYNC_API UpdateApiCacheRequest : public AppSyncRequest
{
public:
UpdateApiCacheRequest();
// Service request name is the Operation name which will send this request out,
// each operation should has unique request name, so that we can get operation's name from this request.
// Note: this is not true for response, multiple operations may have the same response name,
// so we can not get operation's name from response.
inline virtual const char* GetServiceRequestName() const override { return "UpdateApiCache"; }
Aws::String SerializePayload() const override;
/**
* <p>The GraphQL API Id.</p>
*/
inline const Aws::String& GetApiId() const{ return m_apiId; }
/**
* <p>The GraphQL API Id.</p>
*/
inline bool ApiIdHasBeenSet() const { return m_apiIdHasBeenSet; }
/**
* <p>The GraphQL API Id.</p>
*/
inline void SetApiId(const Aws::String& value) { m_apiIdHasBeenSet = true; m_apiId = value; }
/**
* <p>The GraphQL API Id.</p>
*/
inline void SetApiId(Aws::String&& value) { m_apiIdHasBeenSet = true; m_apiId = std::move(value); }
/**
* <p>The GraphQL API Id.</p>
*/
inline void SetApiId(const char* value) { m_apiIdHasBeenSet = true; m_apiId.assign(value); }
/**
* <p>The GraphQL API Id.</p>
*/
inline UpdateApiCacheRequest& WithApiId(const Aws::String& value) { SetApiId(value); return *this;}
/**
* <p>The GraphQL API Id.</p>
*/
inline UpdateApiCacheRequest& WithApiId(Aws::String&& value) { SetApiId(std::move(value)); return *this;}
/**
* <p>The GraphQL API Id.</p>
*/
inline UpdateApiCacheRequest& WithApiId(const char* value) { SetApiId(value); return *this;}
/**
* <p>TTL in seconds for cache entries.</p> <p>Valid values are between 1 and 3600
* seconds.</p>
*/
inline long long GetTtl() const{ return m_ttl; }
/**
* <p>TTL in seconds for cache entries.</p> <p>Valid values are between 1 and 3600
* seconds.</p>
*/
inline bool TtlHasBeenSet() const { return m_ttlHasBeenSet; }
/**
* <p>TTL in seconds for cache entries.</p> <p>Valid values are between 1 and 3600
* seconds.</p>
*/
inline void SetTtl(long long value) { m_ttlHasBeenSet = true; m_ttl = value; }
/**
* <p>TTL in seconds for cache entries.</p> <p>Valid values are between 1 and 3600
* seconds.</p>
*/
inline UpdateApiCacheRequest& WithTtl(long long value) { SetTtl(value); return *this;}
/**
* <p>Caching behavior.</p> <ul> <li> <p> <b>FULL_REQUEST_CACHING</b>: All requests
* are fully cached.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>PER_RESOLVER_CACHING</b>: Individual
* resovlers that you specify are cached.</p> </li> </ul>
*/
inline const ApiCachingBehavior& GetApiCachingBehavior() const{ return m_apiCachingBehavior; }
/**
* <p>Caching behavior.</p> <ul> <li> <p> <b>FULL_REQUEST_CACHING</b>: All requests
* are fully cached.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>PER_RESOLVER_CACHING</b>: Individual
* resovlers that you specify are cached.</p> </li> </ul>
*/
inline bool ApiCachingBehaviorHasBeenSet() const { return m_apiCachingBehaviorHasBeenSet; }
/**
* <p>Caching behavior.</p> <ul> <li> <p> <b>FULL_REQUEST_CACHING</b>: All requests
* are fully cached.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>PER_RESOLVER_CACHING</b>: Individual
* resovlers that you specify are cached.</p> </li> </ul>
*/
inline void SetApiCachingBehavior(const ApiCachingBehavior& value) { m_apiCachingBehaviorHasBeenSet = true; m_apiCachingBehavior = value; }
/**
* <p>Caching behavior.</p> <ul> <li> <p> <b>FULL_REQUEST_CACHING</b>: All requests
* are fully cached.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>PER_RESOLVER_CACHING</b>: Individual
* resovlers that you specify are cached.</p> </li> </ul>
*/
inline void SetApiCachingBehavior(ApiCachingBehavior&& value) { m_apiCachingBehaviorHasBeenSet = true; m_apiCachingBehavior = std::move(value); }
/**
* <p>Caching behavior.</p> <ul> <li> <p> <b>FULL_REQUEST_CACHING</b>: All requests
* are fully cached.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>PER_RESOLVER_CACHING</b>: Individual
* resovlers that you specify are cached.</p> </li> </ul>
*/
inline UpdateApiCacheRequest& WithApiCachingBehavior(const ApiCachingBehavior& value) { SetApiCachingBehavior(value); return *this;}
/**
* <p>Caching behavior.</p> <ul> <li> <p> <b>FULL_REQUEST_CACHING</b>: All requests
* are fully cached.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>PER_RESOLVER_CACHING</b>: Individual
* resovlers that you specify are cached.</p> </li> </ul>
*/
inline UpdateApiCacheRequest& WithApiCachingBehavior(ApiCachingBehavior&& value) { SetApiCachingBehavior(std::move(value)); return *this;}
/**
* <p>The cache instance type. Valid values are </p> <ul> <li> <p>
* <code>SMALL</code> </p> </li> <li> <p> <code>MEDIUM</code> </p> </li> <li> <p>
* <code>LARGE</code> </p> </li> <li> <p> <code>XLARGE</code> </p> </li> <li> <p>
* <code>LARGE_2X</code> </p> </li> <li> <p> <code>LARGE_4X</code> </p> </li> <li>
* <p> <code>LARGE_8X</code> (not available in all regions)</p> </li> <li> <p>
* <code>LARGE_12X</code> </p> </li> </ul> <p>Historically, instance types were
* identified by an EC2-style value. As of July 2020, this is deprecated, and the
* generic identifiers above should be used.</p> <p>The following legacy instance
* types are avaible, but their use is discouraged:</p> <ul> <li> <p>
* <b>T2_SMALL</b>: A t2.small instance type.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>T2_MEDIUM</b>:
* A t2.medium instance type.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>R4_LARGE</b>: A r4.large
* instance type.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>R4_XLARGE</b>: A r4.xlarge instance
* type.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>R4_2XLARGE</b>: A r4.2xlarge instance type.</p>
* </li> <li> <p> <b>R4_4XLARGE</b>: A r4.4xlarge instance type.</p> </li> <li> <p>
* <b>R4_8XLARGE</b>: A r4.8xlarge instance type.</p> </li> </ul>
*/
inline const ApiCacheType& GetType() const{ return m_type; }
/**
* <p>The cache instance type. Valid values are </p> <ul> <li> <p>
* <code>SMALL</code> </p> </li> <li> <p> <code>MEDIUM</code> </p> </li> <li> <p>
* <code>LARGE</code> </p> </li> <li> <p> <code>XLARGE</code> </p> </li> <li> <p>
* <code>LARGE_2X</code> </p> </li> <li> <p> <code>LARGE_4X</code> </p> </li> <li>
* <p> <code>LARGE_8X</code> (not available in all regions)</p> </li> <li> <p>
* <code>LARGE_12X</code> </p> </li> </ul> <p>Historically, instance types were
* identified by an EC2-style value. As of July 2020, this is deprecated, and the
* generic identifiers above should be used.</p> <p>The following legacy instance
* types are avaible, but their use is discouraged:</p> <ul> <li> <p>
* <b>T2_SMALL</b>: A t2.small instance type.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>T2_MEDIUM</b>:
* A t2.medium instance type.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>R4_LARGE</b>: A r4.large
* instance type.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>R4_XLARGE</b>: A r4.xlarge instance
* type.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>R4_2XLARGE</b>: A r4.2xlarge instance type.</p>
* </li> <li> <p> <b>R4_4XLARGE</b>: A r4.4xlarge instance type.</p> </li> <li> <p>
* <b>R4_8XLARGE</b>: A r4.8xlarge instance type.</p> </li> </ul>
*/
inline bool TypeHasBeenSet() const { return m_typeHasBeenSet; }
/**
* <p>The cache instance type. Valid values are </p> <ul> <li> <p>
* <code>SMALL</code> </p> </li> <li> <p> <code>MEDIUM</code> </p> </li> <li> <p>
* <code>LARGE</code> </p> </li> <li> <p> <code>XLARGE</code> </p> </li> <li> <p>
* <code>LARGE_2X</code> </p> </li> <li> <p> <code>LARGE_4X</code> </p> </li> <li>
* <p> <code>LARGE_8X</code> (not available in all regions)</p> </li> <li> <p>
* <code>LARGE_12X</code> </p> </li> </ul> <p>Historically, instance types were
* identified by an EC2-style value. As of July 2020, this is deprecated, and the
* generic identifiers above should be used.</p> <p>The following legacy instance
* types are avaible, but their use is discouraged:</p> <ul> <li> <p>
* <b>T2_SMALL</b>: A t2.small instance type.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>T2_MEDIUM</b>:
* A t2.medium instance type.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>R4_LARGE</b>: A r4.large
* instance type.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>R4_XLARGE</b>: A r4.xlarge instance
* type.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>R4_2XLARGE</b>: A r4.2xlarge instance type.</p>
* </li> <li> <p> <b>R4_4XLARGE</b>: A r4.4xlarge instance type.</p> </li> <li> <p>
* <b>R4_8XLARGE</b>: A r4.8xlarge instance type.</p> </li> </ul>
*/
inline void SetType(const ApiCacheType& value) { m_typeHasBeenSet = true; m_type = value; }
/**
* <p>The cache instance type. Valid values are </p> <ul> <li> <p>
* <code>SMALL</code> </p> </li> <li> <p> <code>MEDIUM</code> </p> </li> <li> <p>
* <code>LARGE</code> </p> </li> <li> <p> <code>XLARGE</code> </p> </li> <li> <p>
* <code>LARGE_2X</code> </p> </li> <li> <p> <code>LARGE_4X</code> </p> </li> <li>
* <p> <code>LARGE_8X</code> (not available in all regions)</p> </li> <li> <p>
* <code>LARGE_12X</code> </p> </li> </ul> <p>Historically, instance types were
* identified by an EC2-style value. As of July 2020, this is deprecated, and the
* generic identifiers above should be used.</p> <p>The following legacy instance
* types are avaible, but their use is discouraged:</p> <ul> <li> <p>
* <b>T2_SMALL</b>: A t2.small instance type.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>T2_MEDIUM</b>:
* A t2.medium instance type.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>R4_LARGE</b>: A r4.large
* instance type.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>R4_XLARGE</b>: A r4.xlarge instance
* type.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>R4_2XLARGE</b>: A r4.2xlarge instance type.</p>
* </li> <li> <p> <b>R4_4XLARGE</b>: A r4.4xlarge instance type.</p> </li> <li> <p>
* <b>R4_8XLARGE</b>: A r4.8xlarge instance type.</p> </li> </ul>
*/
inline void SetType(ApiCacheType&& value) { m_typeHasBeenSet = true; m_type = std::move(value); }
/**
* <p>The cache instance type. Valid values are </p> <ul> <li> <p>
* <code>SMALL</code> </p> </li> <li> <p> <code>MEDIUM</code> </p> </li> <li> <p>
* <code>LARGE</code> </p> </li> <li> <p> <code>XLARGE</code> </p> </li> <li> <p>
* <code>LARGE_2X</code> </p> </li> <li> <p> <code>LARGE_4X</code> </p> </li> <li>
* <p> <code>LARGE_8X</code> (not available in all regions)</p> </li> <li> <p>
* <code>LARGE_12X</code> </p> </li> </ul> <p>Historically, instance types were
* identified by an EC2-style value. As of July 2020, this is deprecated, and the
* generic identifiers above should be used.</p> <p>The following legacy instance
* types are avaible, but their use is discouraged:</p> <ul> <li> <p>
* <b>T2_SMALL</b>: A t2.small instance type.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>T2_MEDIUM</b>:
* A t2.medium instance type.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>R4_LARGE</b>: A r4.large
* instance type.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>R4_XLARGE</b>: A r4.xlarge instance
* type.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>R4_2XLARGE</b>: A r4.2xlarge instance type.</p>
* </li> <li> <p> <b>R4_4XLARGE</b>: A r4.4xlarge instance type.</p> </li> <li> <p>
* <b>R4_8XLARGE</b>: A r4.8xlarge instance type.</p> </li> </ul>
*/
inline UpdateApiCacheRequest& WithType(const ApiCacheType& value) { SetType(value); return *this;}
/**
* <p>The cache instance type. Valid values are </p> <ul> <li> <p>
* <code>SMALL</code> </p> </li> <li> <p> <code>MEDIUM</code> </p> </li> <li> <p>
* <code>LARGE</code> </p> </li> <li> <p> <code>XLARGE</code> </p> </li> <li> <p>
* <code>LARGE_2X</code> </p> </li> <li> <p> <code>LARGE_4X</code> </p> </li> <li>
* <p> <code>LARGE_8X</code> (not available in all regions)</p> </li> <li> <p>
* <code>LARGE_12X</code> </p> </li> </ul> <p>Historically, instance types were
* identified by an EC2-style value. As of July 2020, this is deprecated, and the
* generic identifiers above should be used.</p> <p>The following legacy instance
* types are avaible, but their use is discouraged:</p> <ul> <li> <p>
* <b>T2_SMALL</b>: A t2.small instance type.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>T2_MEDIUM</b>:
* A t2.medium instance type.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>R4_LARGE</b>: A r4.large
* instance type.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>R4_XLARGE</b>: A r4.xlarge instance
* type.</p> </li> <li> <p> <b>R4_2XLARGE</b>: A r4.2xlarge instance type.</p>
* </li> <li> <p> <b>R4_4XLARGE</b>: A r4.4xlarge instance type.</p> </li> <li> <p>
* <b>R4_8XLARGE</b>: A r4.8xlarge instance type.</p> </li> </ul>
*/
inline UpdateApiCacheRequest& WithType(ApiCacheType&& value) { SetType(std::move(value)); return *this;}
private:
Aws::String m_apiId;
bool m_apiIdHasBeenSet;
long long m_ttl;
bool m_ttlHasBeenSet;
ApiCachingBehavior m_apiCachingBehavior;
bool m_apiCachingBehaviorHasBeenSet;
ApiCacheType m_type;
bool m_typeHasBeenSet;
};
} // namespace Model
} // namespace AppSync
} // namespace Aws
|
The spatial variation of the weekday/weekend differences in the Baltimore area.
This study examined the spatial distribution of the weekday/weekend difference in Baltimore, MD, and vicinity. The difference in Baltimore was characterized by having approximately 39% more NOx, approximately 59% more CO, and approximately 27% more volatile organic compounds (VOCs) on the average weekday, but there was approximately 13% more O3 on the weekend day. Spatially, the difference was elongated in the northeast-southwest direction. It decreased from 13% more O3 in Baltimore to 6% at approximately 20 km west of Baltimore and to 4% at approximately 40 km south of Baltimore. It also appeared to decrease to the east, but the magnitude of the decrease could not be determined because of the lack of data east of the Chesapeake Bay. However, the difference increased to the north, reaching a value of almost 18% at a northern Delaware site. |
/*
* Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
* or more contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file
* distributed with this work for additional information
* regarding copyright ownership. The ASF licenses this file
* to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
* "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
* with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
*
* http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
*
* Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
* software distributed under the License is distributed on an
* "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
* KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the
* specific language governing permissions and limitations
* under the License.
*/
using System.Collections.Generic;
using Aliyun.Acs.Core;
namespace Aliyun.Acs.CloudAPI.Model.V20160714
{
public class DescribeRegionsResponse : AcsResponse
{
private string requestId;
private List<DescribeRegions_Region> regions;
public string RequestId
{
get
{
return requestId;
}
set
{
requestId = value;
}
}
public List<DescribeRegions_Region> Regions
{
get
{
return regions;
}
set
{
regions = value;
}
}
public class DescribeRegions_Region
{
private string regionId;
private string localName;
private string regionEndpoint;
public string RegionId
{
get
{
return regionId;
}
set
{
regionId = value;
}
}
public string LocalName
{
get
{
return localName;
}
set
{
localName = value;
}
}
public string RegionEndpoint
{
get
{
return regionEndpoint;
}
set
{
regionEndpoint = value;
}
}
}
}
}
|
package com.guokr.simbase.command;
import com.guokr.simbase.SimCallback;
import com.guokr.simbase.SimCommand;
import com.guokr.simbase.SimEngine;
public class BList extends SimCommand {
@Override
public String signature() {
return "";
}
@Override
public void invoke(SimEngine engine, SimCallback callback) {
engine.blist(callback);
}
}
|
1. Introduction {#sec1}
===============
With the increasing demands of skyscraper, airport hub, and rail network development, the scale of construction projects has significantly grown. These large-scale construction projects involve complex interfaces for which the development of construction safety monitoring has become considerably important \[[@B1]\]. After completion of a construction project, the sustainability of the construction site continues to play a crucial role in safety assessment through structural health monitoring (SHM). In addition, damage to humans is a more serious situation that can occur from unpredictable factors such as natural disasters and safety ignorance. The fact of human damage and its economic costs underscores the importance of continual monitoring of construction activities. The introduction of SHM can enable the rational coping with primary damage through objective SHM data \[[@B2]\]. This important SHM trend in construction requires rational methods to ensure health and safety (HS) and effective maintenance control in the face of uncertainties and associated risks. Therefore, installation of automated monitoring systems in current projects is required for identifying the state of building change. This is because it is impossible to implement timely checks and repairs of facilities using traditional methods of passive monitoring systems. For example, monitoring results of valuable data collected from construction sites are not applied in a timely manner if the project administrator does not have sufficient data processing speed \[[@B3]\].
To overcome current limitations, construction monitoring technologies have been rapidly developing with the advancement of information technology (IT) and telecommunications \[[@B4]\]. Automatic monitoring systems can obtain in real time accurate information of ground movement analyses and impact assessments of nearby building conditions \[[@B5]\]. These procedures of gathering, processing, and analyzing of recorded experimental data accumulated from the field are expected to improve the precision and reliability of results while enabling rapid coping with cracks and vibrational problems. The advent of the ubiquitous sensor network (USN) approach was prompted by the absence of suitable communication for the timely acquisition of construction resources in large-scale projects \[[@B6]--[@B8]\]. The USN system improves HS monitoring of a suspension building. Therefore, the use of new technologies, such as tablets and smart phones, has been adopted to expedite the monitoring process. These technologies contain long-term evolution (LTE) technology to connect in real time the main servers with multiple devices. Accordingly, LTE technology can enable effective data transfer from a remote location to the main office. The related software applications, specifically collection static data (CSD) and the integration measuring system (IMS), can maximize the advantages of wireless sensor technology. These applications for collecting data are web-based; therefore, monitoring is available from any location with a wireless Internet connection \[[@B9]\]. Through the various calibration tests mentioned above, monitoring instruments can enhance monitoring reliability and durability. In addition, the universalization of monitoring instruments can automatically reduce monitoring system installation costs.
The objective of the present research is to report the necessity of automated monitoring systems for enhancing sustainable construction maintenance and to ensure HS. The following objectives must be achieved to meet the stated aim. (1) Obtain more accurate and reliable monitoring data, which would enable easier and more effective analysis. To this end, the implementation of automated monitoring systems should be considered for practical construction sites. (2) Enable monitoring for the smooth implementation of the automatic monitoring system and improve economic feasibility assessments to accelerate the implementation.
2. Literature Review {#sec2}
====================
Many studies have been carried out to reduce the gap between predictions and real situations. Various IT application approaches have been proposed for construction monitoring through a diversity of projects. These include equipment monitoring with a global positioning system (GPS), material tracking with radio frequency identification (RFID) devices, and wireless networking technologies \[[@B2], [@B10]\]. However, previous studies have identified several limitations of GPS and RFID techniques. For one, GPS technology can be affected by lack of signals due to geographic factors and weather. Other GPS limitations include poor GPS signals, loss of GPS signal integrity, and limited positioning accuracy \[[@B11]\]. Additionally, RFID has reliability problems because the RFID sensors cannot automatically distinguish between a failed sensor and the nonoccurrence of an expected event \[[@B2], [@B10]\]. For the above reasons, development of a wireless network system would address the need for fully automatic monitoring in construction sites. As a potential solution, mobile technology has nevertheless presented major challenges in the IT domain of construction projects \[[@B12]\]. The diversity of many possible implementation scenarios involves HS applications, asset tracking logistics, building monitoring, and provisioning of equipment maintenance information \[[@B13]\]. However, the current deployment of wireless network systems focuses on static information delivery without considering user satisfaction. The consideration of user satisfaction, such as user profiles, role preferences, and construction tasks, should be addressed to ensure the efficacy and accuracy of information delivery during the construction process, thereby saving valuable time. Potential benefits can then be expected, such as improvement in efficiency and productivity \[[@B14], [@B15]\].
The initiative of primary construction maintenance monitoring began with the Committee of Sponsoring Organization of the Treadway Commission (COSO). According to COSO, continuous monitoring enables management to continually automate the review of business processes to ensure effective performance. Automated business processes can involve assessing the effectiveness of controls and detecting associated risk issues. Additionally, improved performance can encourage adherence to compliance standards and increase the cost-effectiveness of controls and monitoring through IT solutions. Woo \[[@B3]\] proposed the estimating of circumstances across all construction activities through general construction monitoring and maintenance monitoring. General construction monitoring compensates for the uncertainty of the design and provides safety and economic feasibility by validating the design. Maintenance monitoring serves to consistently check HS for existing building issues and to maintain optimum conditions. Maintenance monitoring can contribute to valuable economic maintenance of construction facilities through objective and effective data. These benefits can improve management of the entire process of increasingly complex construction projects currently constrained under the inadequacy of traditional monitoring systems. Therefore, continuous maintenance monitoring becomes increasingly more important for improving the whole construction performance in terms of safety elements such as checking structural differential movement and rotation, cracking, and building vibration. However, existing monitoring systems, which manually aggregate productivity reports from sites, are unable to disseminate information in real time from both sites and office management with sufficiently detailed information.
3. Methodology {#sec3}
==============
In this paper, we explain the application of automatic monitoring system methods that employ portable data loggers and wired and wireless systems. In addition, we outline the structure of these connection methods. The application of these methods considers the distance between the office and construction sites and conditions such as underground work, weather, and the number of workers. Additionally, appropriate measuring sensors, such as the EL-beam, cracking test machines, and vibrational measuring devices, are installed in construction sites according to characteristics of the given construction project. We herein use a case study to explain the operation of CSD and IMS programs. The case study involves the practical application of an automatic monitoring system for a complex building in South Korea. The case study is a qualitative method supported by literature review to substantiate the necessity of construction monitoring and case study content analysis.
4. Comparison of Existing Monitoring Systems {#sec4}
============================================
Existing monitoring methods at construction sites involve either passive or automated monitoring depending on the construction condition. The selection of the method is directly related to economic aspects. The operation of existing automated monitoring systems is marked by inadequate technical expertise with lack of issue recognition \[[@B4]\]. The primary use of the automated monitoring system requires significant investment to implement it. However, in the long term, it is much more economically feasible than existing monitoring systems for projects and complex construction environments. The automated system can notify administrators with an alarm feature about changeable situations to enable immediate analysis. These advantages, which are readily reflected in the ongoing construction process, make automated monitoring systems far superior to existing monitoring systems.
In [Table 1](#tab1){ref-type="table"}, the comparison of existing and automated monitoring systems is summarized. Although existing monitoring systems continue to be used in construction sites because of their time-efficient installation and easy maintenance benefits, they are nevertheless time consuming in terms of analyzing accumulated data with high human resource constraints. Furthermore, existing monitoring is marked by low precision and the difficulty of monitoring that is dependent on construction conditions. These limitations, however, can be reduced through automated monitoring systems because the latter systems enable control in varying the frequency of monitoring and generating its data while providing precise data, time savings, and more efficient use of human resources.
5. Integration of Information Services {#sec5}
======================================
5.1. System Processes {#sec5.1}
---------------------
Project managers require a robust monitoring system that can ensure that the most current information is delivered and represented in a timely and comprehensive manner, thereby enabling control decisions to be made as quickly and easily as possible. [Figure 1](#fig1){ref-type="fig"} depicts the flow of a monitoring system as a portable, continuous analyzer through a data logging method. The automated system consists of a sensor, data logger, multiplexer, control cable, and computer. In addition, it includes a power supply for the data logger and multiplexer. The integrated system handles general processing for measurements. The computer-stored data is sent to a central database or a web server at specific time intervals based on a previous setting. The network system is configured to support remote control and data access from any remote area over the Internet. The information is made available to recipients in real time on websites as raw data and graphs. The data logger saves the measurement data in memory and sends a warning or wireless call when the data exceeds the limit set in the integrated system. After measurements are performed with the portable data logging equipment, the measurement data is entered in a measurement system in the main computer to provide access to it.
In the case of a wired connection, signal cables are used to immediately save data into an automated measurement program on an office computer for real-time observation. If a field management limit is specified in the program, the program activates a notification sound and warning screen if any entered data exceeds the set limit. This provides users with easy notifications without monitoring. The monitoring system sends safety measurement data at specific intervals to the computer for access. The data logger wirelessly communicates in real time with the remote control monitoring data to enable identification of the problem and the appropriate action.
The continuous analyzer device primarily saves the collected data. The analyzer and LTE are connected by the RS232 communication method. The onsite continuous analyzer device and remotely installed wireless communication device can exchange measurement data through LTE communication. The measurement data collecting server can analyze the data gathered by the continuous analyzer device and process and save it for administrators to view. Lastly, the collecting server is comprised of a database server and web server. The database server backs up the saved data, while the web server ensures online data access from any location. [Table 2](#tab2){ref-type="table"} summarizes the comparison of CSD and IMS programs. Based on this information, which includes a comparison of their respective strengths and weaknesses, the CSD program is appropriate in a measurement system during construction, whereas IMS is suitable for the maintenance monitoring system.
5.2. Monitoring System Diagram {#sec5.2}
------------------------------
In [Figure 2](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}, the overall structure of the automated monitoring system is presented. For Project A and Project B of the different construction sites, field measuring sensors are installed in the construction structure. In addition, a field measuring system is used to wirelessly communicate the measured data from the measuring sensors to the field office. Therefore, these project sites can send organized data from construction sites to the head office and external related organizations such as inspection teams. Moreover, superintendents and consultants can obtain the organized data over an external network. Security measures are in place to protect the data from viruses.
[Figure 3](#fig3){ref-type="fig"} outlines the process by which the onsite monitoring system is wirelessly connected to the remote automated monitoring system. Automated monitoring sensors are installed in the construction site to provide continuous monitoring; the data logger connects to the monitoring sensors by signal cable. This data logger, a continuous analyzer, is an electronic device that records data over time or in relation to locations either with an integrated instrument sensor or through external instrument sensors. The continuous analyzer can operate on any computer platform by simple instructions. In addition, it can collect in real time the measured data from construction sites over the Internet. Various sensors measure voltage, resistance, frequency, and input/output of digital signals. The measured data, which can transfer engineering numerical values, is comprised of linearization results from the general temperature sensor. The measured data analysis process is simple and software, such as Lotus and Excel, can be used. The collected measured data is immediately presented on the screen of the continuous monitoring analyzer and administrator computer for saving. The continuous analyzer can provide reduced maintenance costs due to less power consumption. Moreover, it can be powered by a small portable battery for long time periods in construction sites, where it can perform network, alarm, and indicating graph functions.
5.3. Program Components {#sec5.3}
-----------------------
The CSD program is composed of the CSD function and general CSD without the function. [Figure 4](#fig4){ref-type="fig"} depicts the CSD program used for different construction sites. The red color box in the program denotes sites where sensors are installed.
If one of the lists is selected, the screen appears, as shown in [Figure 5](#fig5){ref-type="fig"}. The CSD program screen is comprised of six components.System diagram → ①Current condition → ②Login/logout → ③Location of field measuring equipment → ④Installation pictures → ⑤Graphical visualization of real-time data monitoring → ⑥
[Figure 6](#fig6){ref-type="fig"} illustrates the program implemented for IMS. It is comprised of the project name, measuring sensors, the last accessed date, and the current state. If the project is selected, the program will launch.
6. Case Study {#sec6}
=============
We now consider a case study and demonstrate how the USN environment can help personnel from different functional groups conduct collaborations. For the case study, the Gongneung-dong complex building project from the apartment industry sector of Hyundai Amco Construction Ltd. was selected. The project was a complex building located at 670-20 Gongeung-dong, Nowon-gu, Seoul, South Korea. It was composed of two buildings with 36 stories and exclusive use of the apartments. The total lot area was 84 m^2^ out of 6,026.50 m^2^, as shown in [Table 3](#tab3){ref-type="table"}.
6.1. Experimental Field Setup {#sec6.1}
-----------------------------
The field measuring instruments used in the case study included the EL-beam, cracking test machine, and vibration measurement apparatus, as shown in the number ⑤ of [Figure 5](#fig5){ref-type="fig"}.
The EL-beam sensors monitored differential movement and rotation in the structures. The horizontal beam sensors monitored settlement and heave. The vertical beam sensors monitored lateral displacement and deformation. These two methods of installation enabled monitoring of structural behavior under loads as well as the stability of the structures. Stabilization measures were then provided. The EL-beam operates by means of a beam sensor consisting of an electrolytic tilt sensor---a precision bubble level electrically sensitized as a resistance bridge---that is attached to a rigid metal beam. The beam, typically one to two meters long, was mounted on anchor bolts set into the structure. Structural movement changes the tilt of the beam and the sensor output. The cracking test machine then evaluates progressive cracking in the walls. The results of the cracking test can help identify the appropriate time to perform repairs based on changes of crack width. It can be affected by temperature changes, crack shapes, and various construction loads, such as superimposed loads and movement of construction equipment. Therefore, continuous vibration monitoring can provide information by which building health conditions can be assessed. Lastly, vibration can be simply defined as the cyclic or oscillating motion of a machine or machine components from a position of rest. Construction vibration can be generated from various forces, such as the movement of large-scale equipment and progressive work packages. With the results of direction change over time, the analysis enables breakdown maintenance and scheduled or preventative maintenance. Furthermore, the trending and analysis of vibration performance helps identify developing problems before failure and extensive damage occur, thereby providing predictive maintenance.
6.2. Monitoring System Application {#sec6.2}
----------------------------------
The current state is indicated on the computer screen through the main monitoring sensors. The information can be obtained from saved data in the computer or by directly accessing the field measuring machine. The data can be analyzed with various methods such as plain text, Excel, and graphs. The current monitoring state is automatically updated every ten minutes. The time interval enables the setting according to the user and administrator. The function of the main monitoring sensor is to issue a notification on the computer screen and mobile phone with the integral short message service (SMS) when the standard is exceeded ([Figure 7](#fig7){ref-type="fig"}). Because this monitoring system is web-based, it can be used in any location with a computer and Internet access. If the monitoring program is checked on the web browser, the CSD program is first initiated and the web browser accesses the web-based system. From that point, it can verify the monitoring program after entering the ID and password on the login page.
The key flow of the measurement monitoring system is summarized in [Figure 8](#fig8){ref-type="fig"}. The collected information from field monitoring sensors and machines are sent to the monitoring system in a construction site. This information can be shared between the construction site and remote locations. The monitoring system can regularly record collected data through a backup process. In addition, it can perform statistical analysis through the information analysis system in the data flow processing system. This system can then issue notifications to the administrator, depending on the standard of value and the set limitation. Using this systematic procedure, the project is safety evaluated based on the result.
6.3. CDM Application Program {#sec6.3}
----------------------------
In the CDM application, the following three elements can be presented by selecting the project system structure: current monitoring condition, administrator login, and installed measuring sensors located in the construction site.
### 6.3.1. Project System Structure {#sec6.3.1}
The system structure diagram is comprised of field measurement equipment that includes installed EL-beams, cracking test machines, and vibration measuring devices in a construction site along with a wireless LTE modem. Information gathered from all field measurement equipment is sent by the LTE modems. These modems then connect to the main server in a remote location. Therefore, administrators or users can identify the measurement information gathered from a construction site by connecting to the Internet. At that point, they log into the CDM monitoring program ([Figure 9](#fig9){ref-type="fig"}).
### 6.3.2. Location Map of Installed Measuring Sensors in the Construction Site {#sec6.3.2}
The number ④ of [Figure 5](#fig5){ref-type="fig"} depicts in a cross-sectional view (of every floor) the locations where the EL-beam, cracking test machine, and vibrational measuring device are installed in the building. The table located at the bottom-right side outlines the number of sensors with three different kinds of logistic in the construction site.
### 6.3.3. Graphical Visualization of Real-Time Data Monitoring {#sec6.3.3}
The graphical visualization of real-time data monitoring, as shown in the number ⑥ of [Figure 5](#fig5){ref-type="fig"}, is located at the bottom of the program. It depicts the data in real time with the maintenance standard. The top of the image is divided into cross-sectional views of every floor in the building so that it can communicate the data in a timely manner when monitoring is needed in a specific place in the building.
In addition, the project status can be viewed using a simple web browser, as shown in [Figure 10](#fig10){ref-type="fig"}. The status view presents the data log extracted from monitoring in which the read time at ten-minute intervals is displayed. Moreover, it is possible to save the measurement data and open files of previously saved results with Excel ([Figure 10](#fig10){ref-type="fig"}).
7. Result and Discussion {#sec7}
========================
Timely field monitoring can resolve the gap between predictions and real situations by enabling the analyzing of construction validity. Monitoring by USN-based data acquisition can promote construction safety through the analyzing of collected data. Use of this data supports effective decisions and suggestions for effective methods in terms of safety maintenance and design changes. The automated monitoring system can provide an improvement of HS based on its timely acquisition of data. In addition, it enables the establishment of countermeasures for the HS and ensures integration with building maintenance in contribution to construction management. Maintenance monitoring contributes effective and economic maintenance for construction facilities by generating objective and effective data. These benefits can improve management of the entire process of increasingly complex construction projects currently constrained under the inadequacy of traditional monitoring systems. Therefore, continuous maintenance monitoring becomes ever more important for improving the whole construction performance in terms of safety elements, such as checking structural differential movement and rotation, cracking, and building vibration.
However, the above applications consider economic aspects in utilizing portable devices and analysis software. This is because the initial cost of installation, such as for the server construction and field experimental setting, would be expensive. In addition, the automated monitoring system is not only installed with a high investment, but basic limitations remain in terms of monitoring instruments and malfunctions caused by external factors, such as temperature and weather, during the construction and maintenance period.
8. Conclusions and Recommendations {#sec8}
==================================
With the advance of IT applications, all project participants, such as clients, construction companies, and inspection teams, expect smooth communication because the standardized measurement data can be rapidly accessed using the Internet and portable devices. This enables the transformation of the work environment, which was previously a vertical business relationship in which it was difficult to share information.
In this paper, we introduced monitoring equipment, such as a continuous analyzer, and measuring instruments, such as the EL-beam, cracking test machines, and vibration measuring devices for operating automated monitoring systems. Furthermore, we explained the methods of data connection and the technology of information processing. The advantages of construction industry efficiencies reduced construction time and a cost-effective integrated monitoring program using the Internet yield potential for the growth of construction technology. After completion of the network, the use of tablets and other personal devices enable the easy and timely performance of processes by administrators and managers in multiple construction sites.
An integrated operation program that facilitates the integration of construction databases and measured data processed in real time requires further development to achieve the advancement of an automated monitoring system. Such a program could enhance operational reliability through appropriate use of analysis systems in construction sites and consideration of building state assessments. Higher quality data reliability enables easy construction monitoring for every participant in the project using an installed network. Therefore, the installation can reduce system costs through the development of an integrated program.
This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (2013R1A2A2A01013406).
Conflict of Interests
=====================
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests in this paper.
{#fig1}
{#fig2}
{#fig3}
{#fig4}
{#fig5}
{#fig6}
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{#fig10}
######
Comparison between existing monitoring and automated monitoring system.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Automated monitoring Existing monitoring
--------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------------
Advantages \(i\) High precision\ \(i\) Economy of time for installation\
(ii) Enable to control various frequencies of monitoring\ (ii) Enable to analyze monitoring in the construction site\
(iii) Economy of time for monitoring analysis to immediately response\ (iii) Easy maintenance
(iv) Many field experimental machines work at the same time\
(v) Enable to output the data with monitoring\
(vi) Saving the manpower
Disadvantages \(i\) Expensive material cost\ \(i\) High manpower consumption\
(ii) Time consuming to install the automatic system\ (ii) Low precision\
(iii) Requiring field observation (iii) Level of difficulty depends on the field condition\
(iv) Time consuming for data analyzing\
(v) Unavailable measurements in terms of bad weather
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
######
The comparison between CSD and IMS.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CSD IMS
---------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Strength \(i\) Simple system configuration\ \(i\) As operated on the web base, monitoring check is possible anywhere with Internet connection\
(ii) Possibility to develop an installation program and web program (ii) Possible to process data in diverse formats such as report and graphs\
(iii) Possible to set user authority\
(iv) Possible to customize programs according to specific on-site conditions
Weakness \(i\) Program use faded down\ System installation is costly
(ii) Slow loading speed when data accumulation is huge
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
######
The project summary.
---------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------
Location 670-20 Gongneung-dong, Nowon-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Total lot area 6,026.50 m^2^
Type of building Complex building
Number of stories
Basement 5th
Stories 36th
Gross area 53,489.1066 m^2^
Building coverage ratio 59.51%
Floor area ratio 587.72%
Exclusive use of apartment 84 m^2^/2 buildings (A, B)
Total house holds 234 (A-118/B-116)
---------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------
[^1]: Academic Editor: Xiao-Wei Ye
|
CCD Camera Detection of HIV Infection.
Rapid and precise quantification of the infectivity of HIV is important for molecular virologic studies, as well as for measuring the activities of antiviral drugs and neutralizing antibodies. An indicator cell line, a CCD camera, and image-analysis software are used to quantify HIV infectivity. The cells of the P4R5 line, which express the receptors for HIV infection as well as β-galactosidase under the control of the HIV-1 long terminal repeat, are infected with HIV and then incubated 2 days later with X-gal to stain the infected cells blue. Digital images of monolayers of the infected cells are captured using a high resolution CCD video camera and a macro video zoom lens. A software program is developed to process the images and to count the blue-stained foci of infection. The described method allows for the rapid quantification of the infected cells over a wide range of viral inocula with reproducibility, accuracy and at relatively low cost. |
Stephenson Tales
Col. Myers, gentleman
The various divisions of the 849th Signal Intelligence Seervice had their own discrete missions and, as I noted elsewhere, no one outside of one's own unit, had any idea what the mission was of any other unit. Next to our office in the Villa Porfidia in Recale, was the office of the head of our unit, full colonel grayish, sixty-sh, a thorough gentleman, Col Myers. He had no secretary as the secretary in our office did all the typing necessary. He actually had very little to do as we underlings did all the work. He merely read, and sometimes edited, the letters which I had written and submitted to him to sign. So he sat there all day, all alone in an office as large as ours. I know he got lonely, for several times a week he would stroll in on the pretext of asking me about messages that had violated our strict rules of cryptographic procedure and security, and about which I had written "burn letters" of reprimand which went to the offending cryptographic team over his signature. Before anyone could notice him, leap to attention and shout "tej-hut!," he would calmly say, "As you were." Then he would stay a few minutes chatting with Cap. Gilden (my boss) or the two Lieutenants, Blasko and Paige, or our secretary, Private Henry Greenberg, or me. He did not say much. He obviously just wanted some company.
There are two incidents that are etched in my memory.
1. Each enciphered message had two five-letter "code groups" at the top. The first was the Systems Indicator which told the recipient which of our various cipher machines had been used to encrypt the message which followed. The second was the Message Indicator which guided the operator to the key which guided him how to set up his machine for the deciphering process. These five second letters were to be chosen at random, and never repeated because the more often a key is used the key to those messages would be exactly the same and the liklihood of breaking the cipher would be proportionally greater. One must always assume that the enemy is right on the brink of breaking the cipher system!
One day one of the 30 (or so) men who deciphered the messages sent to our office by the combat troops for analysis came rushing into my office. He was pale and his hands were shaking as he handed me a sheaf of about twenty messages that he had deciphered for analysis.
"Look at this, Sergeant!"
To my horror every one of the pile of messages had exactly the same message indicator: "OPRED." I saw at once what had happened. The machine that was used for "secret" (Later expanded to "Top Secret," "Most Top Secret," and Most Top Secret, Indeed. "Eyes Only") messages was our most sophistocated cipher device: the SIGABA. In the top left corner of the machine were five buttons in a row:
1. O -- OFF/ON
2. P -- PRINT
3. R -- REVERSE
4. E -- ENCIPHER
5. D --DECIPHER
and the soldier who had been given the task of readying the message for transmission had violated a basic rule of cryptographis security. I thanked the corporal who had brought me the messages. I leaped up and went to Col. Myers' door which was right behind my desk. I knocked and he called for me to come in. He could see that I was highly agitated. Without a word, I handed him the messages. His eyes widened in disbelief as he saw what the cryptographer had done. He looked at me in a way that I can only desccribe as loving and avuncular.
"Well, Jim Bob, you'd better write him a very stern reprimand."
"Yes, Sir."
I started to go. He said,"Oh, Jim Bob, keep it as dispassionate as possible."
He had a laconic way with words--and no wonder. In civilian life he had been a full professor of English at some university in the east.
2. I often had so much work pile up during the day, as my crew deciphered hundreds of secret messages that I had to read, that I had to come back in the evening in order top keep up. One night, my whole desk top was piled with messages that with reading other messages and writing burn letters I simply had not had time to examine. So I went back to my office after supper to try to catch up. As I walked in to my office I noticed that there was a light showing under Col Myers' door. I worked for about half an hour. It was quite dark. The light was still on. I got up and knocked on the door.
"Come in."
I did. Col Myers was sitting at his desk. His small desk lamp was the only illumination. On his desk was a half-empty whiskey bottle.
"Are you all right, Sir?"
"Yes." (long pause) "Jim Bob, I probably know more about the use of the comma than anyone in the whole European Theater of Operations....and who the hell cares?" |
/**
* Copyright Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
* SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0.
*/
#include <aws/ec2/model/DescribeByoipCidrsResponse.h>
#include <aws/core/utils/xml/XmlSerializer.h>
#include <aws/core/AmazonWebServiceResult.h>
#include <aws/core/utils/StringUtils.h>
#include <aws/core/utils/logging/LogMacros.h>
#include <utility>
using namespace Aws::EC2::Model;
using namespace Aws::Utils::Xml;
using namespace Aws::Utils::Logging;
using namespace Aws::Utils;
using namespace Aws;
DescribeByoipCidrsResponse::DescribeByoipCidrsResponse()
{
}
DescribeByoipCidrsResponse::DescribeByoipCidrsResponse(const Aws::AmazonWebServiceResult<XmlDocument>& result)
{
*this = result;
}
DescribeByoipCidrsResponse& DescribeByoipCidrsResponse::operator =(const Aws::AmazonWebServiceResult<XmlDocument>& result)
{
const XmlDocument& xmlDocument = result.GetPayload();
XmlNode rootNode = xmlDocument.GetRootElement();
XmlNode resultNode = rootNode;
if (!rootNode.IsNull() && (rootNode.GetName() != "DescribeByoipCidrsResponse"))
{
resultNode = rootNode.FirstChild("DescribeByoipCidrsResponse");
}
if(!resultNode.IsNull())
{
XmlNode byoipCidrsNode = resultNode.FirstChild("byoipCidrSet");
if(!byoipCidrsNode.IsNull())
{
XmlNode byoipCidrsMember = byoipCidrsNode.FirstChild("item");
while(!byoipCidrsMember.IsNull())
{
m_byoipCidrs.push_back(byoipCidrsMember);
byoipCidrsMember = byoipCidrsMember.NextNode("item");
}
}
XmlNode nextTokenNode = resultNode.FirstChild("nextToken");
if(!nextTokenNode.IsNull())
{
m_nextToken = Aws::Utils::Xml::DecodeEscapedXmlText(nextTokenNode.GetText());
}
}
if (!rootNode.IsNull()) {
XmlNode requestIdNode = rootNode.FirstChild("requestId");
if (!requestIdNode.IsNull())
{
m_responseMetadata.SetRequestId(StringUtils::Trim(requestIdNode.GetText().c_str()));
}
AWS_LOGSTREAM_DEBUG("Aws::EC2::Model::DescribeByoipCidrsResponse", "x-amzn-request-id: " << m_responseMetadata.GetRequestId() );
}
return *this;
}
|
Nancy Writebol, one of two American Ebola patients, was reunited with her husband Sunday, sharing a tender moment through the isolation glass at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.
“We both placed our hands on opposite sides of the glass, moved with tears to look at each other again,” David Writebol said in a statement. “She was standing with her radiant smile, happy beyond words.”
Nancy Writebol was working for the aid group SIM in Liberia when she contracted the virus, which has killed 1,145 people in West Africa. She was evacuated to Atlanta Aug. 5, shortly after the other American Ebola patient, Dr. Kent Brantly.
David Writebol returned from Liberia a week ago but was placed under quarantine in North Carolina out of an abundance of caution. Since he has not shown any symptoms of the virus since his wife’s diagnosis three weeks ago, he was cleared to visit her in Atlanta.
“She is continuing to slowly gain strength, eager for the day when the barriers separating us are set aside, and we can simply hold each other,” he said.
Brantly, who is also recovering at Emory University Hospital, said he is “continuing to heal.”
“I hold on to the hope of a sweet reunion with my wife, children and family in the near future,” he said in a statement Friday.
Both Brantly and Writebol received the experimental serum known as ZMapp. |
This Is The Predicted #1 Nail Trend Of 2017
It’s hard to fathom the fact that just a few years ago, Pinterest was hardly even part of our lives. As the social platform has risen in popularity, it has become a go-to destination for all things trending.
Here to satisfying all of our trend forecasting needs, the digital destination has released their ‘Pinterest 100 for 2017’, outlining what will be hot in 2017 based on search information. On the beauty side of things, the list identifies one nail trend that seems to have risen above the rest – chrome nails.
According to Pinterest, chrome nails have increased in popularity by 50 percent each month since the middle of 2016, signalling that this trend is about to blow up. Popular chrome colours include silver, gold, bronze and rose gold, with the silver mirror variety in particular causing a stir earlier this year.
It’s weirdly futuristic and reminds us of a robot, but we kind of love it. Bring on 2017! |
An input device or pointing device is a hardware component that allows a computer user to input data into a computer. A control, sometimes referred to as a widget, is an interface element that the computer user interacts with, such as by using an input device, to provide a single interaction point for the manipulation of data. |
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