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Q:
Greediness of preg_replace
echo preg_replace('/:*$/isD', ':', ':blue:');
A fairly simple PHP regex, which is designed to capture as many colons at the end of a string as possible (there may not be any at all) and replace it with just one. Or at least that's what I set out to do.
Here's the output:
:blue::
I expected, since preg_replace is greedy, that the colon at the end of the string would be captured, and thus I would get
:blue:
instead.
Oddly, using similar code to check for colons at the beginning of a string (i.e. /^(:)*/isD) works. I'm guessing this has something to do with the fact that regexes search from left to right, so in the non-working end of string example, it's finding only the end of the string, whereas in the working front of string example, it's already found the beginning of the string.
That said, what I can do to make preg_replace capture all of the ending colons?
A:
echo preg_replace('/:+$/isD', ':', ':blue:');
just replace the * (means zero or more) by a + (means one or more).
The * matches at first all colons till the end and then the empty string, so there are two matches.
Update
To ensure exactly one colon at the end, you can use this:
echo preg_replace('/^(.*?):*$/isD', '$1:', ':blue');
|
Background {#Sec1}
==========
Drug toxicity is one of the main challenges for the pharmaceutical industry and it also contributes to late-stage failures, increased cost, and market withdrawals \[[@CR1]\]. Nowadays, besides the toxicity of compounds present in drug formulations, attention is being paid to the presence of impurities \[[@CR2]--[@CR6]\].
Impurities in pharmaceutical products involve undesirable chemicals that remain in active ingredients or are developed during formulation and also through aging as degradation products \[[@CR7], [@CR8]\]. The presence of impurities is a significant problem in the synthesis of new compounds, since this process occurs in starting materials, solvents, intermediates and by-products \[[@CR9]\].
Pharmacological and toxicological profiles are responsible for the safety of a drug, and adverse effects can be caused by the presence of impurities present in pharmaceutical products. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor and control impurities to ensure the quality and safety of pharmaceutical products \[[@CR10]\].
Regulatory units are attentive to this issue and have been searching for different strategies to ensure the quality and safety of pharmaceutical preparations \[[@CR11], [@CR12]\]. According to ICH-Q3A (R2), there are reporting, identification, and qualification thresholds. The latter relates to the data acquisition and evaluation process that determines the biological safety of an impurity or a profile of impurities at a safe level \[[@CR13]\]. The thresholds for qualification of impurities are based on individual drugs, therefore evidence of the presence of such impurities is important when they are related with adverse reactions in patients \[[@CR11]\].
Toxicity tests are used to evaluate the potential of a chemical in causing harmful effects in experimental systems. The research can be carried out on the drug product or substance containing impurities or on isolated impurities \[[@CR13]\]. Among these deleterious effects, there is the possibility of impurities that induce genetic mutations, breaks, and/or chromosomal rearrangements, with the potential to promote neoplastic alterations \[[@CR14], [@CR15]\]. Related to this, the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) published a guide in 2006 recommending that impurities should be identified concerning their genotoxicity or whether their chemical structure is an alert for toxicity. The concept of a toxicological concern threshold was also adopted, which establishes the safe dose for all potential carcinogens, corresponding to 15 μg per day \[[@CR14]--[@CR16]\]. The ICH M7 official guide determines the levels of impurities that are not carcinogenic and presents tests that evaluate the mutagenic control present in active substances or final products in order to ensure safety and quality for users \[[@CR17]\].
Late complications of diabetes have been linked to hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress. The mechanisms underlying hyperglycemia-mediated cellular damage include the formation of advanced glycation end-products, increased oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and activation of the polyol and hexosamine pathways \[[@CR18]\]. There is evidence that the main source of oxidative species production in diabetes is mitochondria \[[@CR19]\]. Abnormal mitochondrial functions and excessive production of free radicals play a primary role in the onset of diabetes and its complications. Liver and kidney damage, which was partially reverted with n-acetylcysteine treatment, was observed in diabetic rats \[[@CR20]\]. In humans, early kidney impairment was related to a hyperglycemia-induced oxidation process \[[@CR21]\]. In this scenario, the presence of toxic impurities in therapeutic drugs may compromise treatment, aggravating disease complications.
At the moment, there are no studies reported in the literature regarding the toxicity of gliptin impurities. Therefore, the aim of this work was to study the toxicity of the drugs sitagliptin and vildagliptin and their main impurities of synthesis, using the mouse fibroblast 3 T3 cell line as an in vitro model, as well as some underlying mechanisms related to their toxicity. Cytotoxicity was evaluated through the MTT reduction and neutral red (NR) uptake assays. In addition, some mechanisms such as oxidative stress (oxidative species production), inflammation (nitric oxide), mitochondrial function, and genotoxicity were also evaluated.
Material and methods {#Sec2}
====================
Chemicals {#Sec3}
---------
Sitagliptin phosphate reference standard (99.5%), vildagliptin reference standard (99.5%), and 3-(trifluoromethyl)-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro -\[[@CR1], [@CR2], [@CR4]\] triazolo \[4,3-a\]pyrazine-HCl (99.3%) (impurity S1) were supplied by Sequoia Research Products (Oxford, UK). O-benzylhydroxylamine hydrochloride (99.0%) (impurity S2), 2-pyrrolidinecarboxamide (98.0%) (impurity V1) and 3-amino-1-adamantanol (96.0%) (impurity V2) were supplied by Sigma-Aldrich (Brazil).
All chemicals were used as supplied. Stock solutions of sitagliptin, vildagliptin, and impurities S1, S2, V1, and V2 were made in purified water obtained from Millipore®. All stock solutions were stored at − 20 °C and freshly diluted on the day of the experiment.
Cell culture {#Sec4}
------------
The 3 T3 cell line was routinely cultured in 75 cm^2^ flasks (Kasvi, São José dos Pinhais, PR, Brazil) using DMEM supplemented with 10% heat inactivated fetal bovine serum (FBS), 100 U mL^− 1^ penicillin (Gibco, Paisley, UK), and 100 mg mL^− 1^ streptomycin (Gibco, Paisley, UK). The cells were maintained at 37 °C in a humidified 5% CO~2~--95% air atmosphere. The cells were fed every 2--3 days, and sub-cultured once 70--80% confluence was reached.
Cytotoxicity assays {#Sec5}
-------------------
The cytotoxicity was evaluated through the MTT reduction and NR uptake assays. The cells were seeded at a density of 3000 cells per well in 96 well plates. Triton X-100 1% (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, USA) was used as a positive control. Negative control cells were incubated in culture medium. Concentration-response curves were obtained by incubating the cells with 0.5, 10, 50, 100, 500, and 1000.0 μM of sitagliptin, vildagliptin and their respective impurities for 24 h at 37 °C.
MTT reduction assay {#Sec6}
-------------------
The MTT reduction assay was performed as previously described \[[@CR22]\]. After 24 h of incubation of the cells with the drugs and impurities, the medium was removed and replaced by a fresh medium containing 0.5 mg mL^− 1^ MTT (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, USA). The cells were incubated at 37 °C for 2 h. Afterwards, the cell culture medium was removed and the formed formazan crystals were dissolved in DMSO. The absorbance was measured at 550 nm in a multi-well plate reader (SpectraMax M2e, SoftMax® Pro 5, Molecular Devices, Sunnyvale, CA, USA). The results were graphically presented as percentage of MTT reduction vs. concentration (μM). All the drugs and impurities were tested in three independent experiments with each concentration tested in three replicates within each experiment.
Neutral red uptake assay {#Sec7}
------------------------
The assay was performed according to OECD document 129 \[[@CR23]\] and as previously described by Arbo et al. (2014) \[[@CR18]\]. At the end of the 24 h of incubation-time of the cells with drugs and impurities, the medium was replaced by new medium containing 50 μg mL^− 1^ NR (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, USA) and incubated at 37 °C for 3 h. After that, the cells were lysed with a 50% ethanol: 1% glacial acid acetic solution (v/v) (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, USA). The absorbance was measured at 540 nm in a multi-well plate reader (SpectraMax M2e, SoftMax® Pro 5, Molecular Devices, Sunnyvale, CA, USA). The percentage of NR uptake relative to the control cells was used as the cytotoxicity measure. All the drugs were tested in three independent experiments with each concentration tested in three replicates within each experiment.
Measurement of intracellular oxidative species {#Sec8}
----------------------------------------------
The intracellular oxidative species production was monitored by means of the DCFH-DA assay, as previously described \[[@CR22]\]. For this determination, the cells were seeded at a density of 3000 cells per well in 96 well plates and allowed to grow for 24 h. On the day of the experiment, the cells were pre-incubated with 10 μM of DCFH-DA for 30 min at 37 °C in the dark. The cells were rinsed with PBS and incubated with the drugs and their impurities at 10, 100, and 1000 μM for 24 h. H~2~O~2~ (150 mM) was used as a positive control. Fluorescence was recorded in a fluorescence microplate reader (SpectraMax M2e, SoftMax® Pro 5, Molecular Devices, Sunnyvale, CA, USA) set at 485 nm excitation and 530 nm emission. The data obtained were calculated as the percentage of control conditions for each experiment from at least three independent experiments with each concentration tested in three replicates within each experiment.
Measurement of nitric oxide {#Sec9}
---------------------------
The cells were seeded at a density of 50,000 cells per well in 96 well plates and allowed to grow for 24 h. The drugs and their impurities were incubated at 10, 100, and 1000 μM for 24 h at 37 °C. After the incubation time, 100 μL of supernatant was transferred to another plate, 100 μL Griess reagent was added, and the plate was incubated at 37 °C. After 20 min of incubation time, the absorbance was measured at 540 nm in a multi-well plate reader (SpectraMax M2e, SoftMax® Pro 5, Molecular Devices, Sunnyvale, CA, USA). The data obtained were calculated as the percentage of control conditions for each experiment from three independent experiments with each concentration tested in three replicates within each experiment.
Assessment of mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm) {#Sec10}
----------------------------------------------------
The estimation of Δψm contributes with important information about the mitochondrial function and also about the physiological state of the cell \[[@CR24]\]. The evaluation of mitochondrial integrity was performed by measuring tetramethylrhodamine ethyl ester (TMRE) (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, USA) inclusion as previously described \[[@CR22]\]. The cells were seeded at a density of 3000 cells per well. After 24 h of incubation at 37 °C, the medium was gently aspirated and the cells were incubated with the drugs and their impurities at 10, 100, and 1000 μM for 24 h. Then, the medium was substituted by a new medium containing 2 μM of TMRE for 30 min at 37 °C in the dark. Afterwards, the medium was gently aspirated and replaced by phosphate buffer. Fluorescence was measured in a fluorescence microplate reader set to 544 nm excitation and 590 nm emission. The data obtained were calculated as the percentage of control conditions for each experiment from three independent experiments with each concentration tested in three replicates within each experiment.
Comet assay {#Sec11}
-----------
The cells were seeded in 12-well plates (Nest Biotech Co., Ltd., China) at a density of 200,000 cells per well. After 24 h, the medium was aspirated and the cells were incubated with the drugs and their impurities at 10, 100, and 1000 μM at 37 °C. After 24 h of incubation time, the cells were harvested by trypsinization (0.05% trypsin/EDTA). The cell suspensions were centrifuged (400×g, 5 min, 4 °C), the obtained cell pellets were resuspended in low-melting point agarose (0.75%, 150 μL) (Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, USA) and 60 μL aliquots were distributed on two slides coated with 1% normal-melting agarose. The samples were incubated in lysis solution (2.5 M NaCl, 100 mM EDTA, 10 mMTris--HCl, distilled water, 10% DMSO, and 1% Triton X-100) at 4 °C for 24 h in the dark. The slides were then incubated with alkaline electrophoresis running buffer (300 mM NaOH and 1 mM EDTA, pH 13) for 20 min at 4 °C before electrophoresis, which was carried out for 20 min at 25 V and 300 mA. After that, the slides were neutralized with 0.4 M Tris-HCL for 15 min in the dark. The DNA was fixed by immersing the slides in 70% ethanol for 15 min and in absolute ethanol for a further 15 min and left to dry overnight. For the microscopy analysis, the dried slides were stained with gel red (20 μg/mL) and DNA migration was observed in at least 100 cells at 400x magnification using a fluorescence microscope (Olympus, Japan) equipped with a 510--550 nm excitation filter of connected to a camera. The images were evaluated by Comet Score™ software, obtained from the public domain (<http://www.tritekcorp.com/products_cometscore.php>). The percentage of DNA in the comet tail (% DNA in tail) was the parameter evaluated to describe comet formation \[[@CR25]\]. Concurrently with the comet assay, an extra and identical replicate comet slide was prepared, lysed, and immediately fixed and stained without electrophoresis for evaluation of the cytotoxicity using the low molecular weight (LMW) DNA diffusion assay \[[@CR26]\].
Statistical analysis {#Sec12}
--------------------
The results are presented as mean ± standard error of the mean (SEM) from at least three independent experiments. Normality of the data distribution was assessed by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test. Significance was accepted at *p* \< 0.05. Statistical comparisons between groups were performed by one-way ANOVA (when the data followed a normal distribution) or with the Kruskal-Wallis test (in the case of non-normal data distribution). Details of the statistical analysis are provided in the text and legend of the figures.
Results and discussion {#Sec13}
======================
Sitagliptin and vildagliptin are used for the treatment of diabetes mellitus. They are well tolerated, with a low risk of hypoglycemia, they do not cause weight gain, and they are administered once a day \[[@CR27]\]. The safety of pharmaceutical products should be considered, especially in chronic use where the daily accumulation of an impurity may compromise the patient's health. The official guides recognize the importance of controlling drug impurities in order to limit human exposure; therefore, knowledge of the toxicity of impurities is necessary.
As far as we know, this is the first study to investigate the toxicity of sitagliptin and vildagliptin, and their main impurities of synthesis. This is important because diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease related to oxidative stress and tissue damage such as diabetic nephropathy, diabetic neuropathy, and diabetic retinopathy. The presence of toxic impurities in drug formulations might compromise, or even worse the disease. The cytotoxicity analysis was carried out by incubating the 3 T3 cells with 0--1000 μM of sitagliptin, vildagliptin and their impurities for 24 h. The results obtained in the MTT reduction assay are presented in Fig. [1](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}a-f. It was possible to observe a significant (*p* \< 0.001, ANOVA/Bonferroni) decrease in MTT reduction at 500 and 1000 μM of V2 (Fig. [1](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}f). No alterations in cell viability were observed after incubation of the 3 T3 cells with sitagliptin (Fig. [1](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}a), impurity S1 (Fig. [1](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}b), impurity S2 (Fig. [1](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}c), vildagliptin (Fig. [1](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}d) and impurity V1 (Fig. [1](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}e). The assay evaluates the reduction of MTT tetrazolium salt (soluble in water) to formazan MTT (water insoluble) by cellular dehydrogenases within the metabolically active cells. This occurs when mitochondrial enzymes are active; correlating the number of viable cells with the increase in formazan production is used as an index of cell viability \[[@CR28]\]. However, mitochondrial succinate dehydrogenase is susceptible to local modifications in ion concentrations and ion flux and a couple of chemicals that increase metabolic activity in a cell would result in increased mitochondrial succinate dehydrogenase activity \[[@CR22]\]. Fig. 1Cell viability evaluated by the MTT reduction assays in 3 T3 cells after 24 h incubations with: **a** sitagliptin -- STG, **b** impurity S1, **c** impurity S2, **d** vildagliptin - VLG, **e** impurity V1, **f** impurity V2. Results are expressed as mean ± standard error of the mean. Statistical analysis performed through ANOVA/Bonferroni (\**p* \< 0.05; \*\*\**p* \< 0.001 versus control)
In the NR up-take assay (Fig. [2](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"}a-f), sitagliptin presented significant (*p* \< 0.001, ANOVA/Bonferroni) cytotoxicity at concentrations of 500 and 1000 μM (Fig. [2](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"}a). In addition, impurity V2 also showed significant (*p* \< 0.01, ANOVA/Bonferroni) decrease in cell viability at 1000 μM, the highest concentration (Fig. [2](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"}f), thus corroborating the results obtained with the MTT reduction assay. No alterations in cell viability were observed after incubation of the 3 T3 cells with impurity S1 (Fig. [2](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"}b), impurity S2 (Fig. [2](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"}c), vildagliptin (Fig. [2](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"}d) and impurity V1 (Fig. [2](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"}e). The neutral red uptake assay is based on the ability of the lysosomes of viable cells to incorporate the dye \[[@CR29]\]. Interestingly, the results obtained by both tests generated slight variations, probably due to the use of different methods. This is not uncommon. Cadmium chloride (CdCl~2~) cytotoxicity was evaluated in HepG2 cells by MTT reduction, neutral red uptake, protein quantification, and LDH activity assays, and MTT reduction was shown to be more sensitive \[[@CR30]\]. In contrast, in our research, the neutral red uptake assay was more sensitive compared to the MTT one for sitagliptin. Among the impurities, impurity V2 of vildagliptin showed toxicity through both MTT and neutral red assays. Fig. 2Cell viability evaluated by the neutral red uptake in 3 T3 cells after 24 h incubations with: **a** sitagliptin - STG, **b** impurity S1, **c** impurity S2, **d** vildagliptin - VLG, **e** impurity V1, **f** impurity V2. Results are expressed as mean ± standard error of the mean. Statistical analysis performed through ANOVA/Bonferroni (\*\**p* \< 0.01; \*\*\**p* \< 0.001 versus control)
The effect of the drugs and their impurities on the generation of reactive species was evaluated by the DCFH-DA. This compound crosses cell membranes and it is enzymatically hydrolyzed by intracellular esterases in non-fluorescent dichlorodihydrofluorescein (DCFH). In the presence of oxidative species, this is oxidized to form a fluorescent compound (DCF) \[[@CR31]\]. Figure [3](#Fig3){ref-type="fig"}a,b shows the results of the ROS and RNS production. A significant (*p* \< 0.01, ANOVA/Bonferroni) increase in oxidative species was observed at 1000 μM of sitagliptin (Fig. [3](#Fig3){ref-type="fig"}a) and at 10 μM of impurities V1 and V2 (Fig. [3](#Fig3){ref-type="fig"}b). At high concentrations, free radicals can cause damage to lipids, proteins, and DNA, compromising the function of enzymes or transporters \[[@CR4], [@CR24]\]. Our results indicated an increase in the oxidative species production at 1000 μM of sitagliptin, suggesting that oxidative stress plays a role in its cytotoxicity. Increased reactive oxidative species were also observed for 10 μM of impurities V1 and V2. Considering that no cytotoxicity was observed at the same concentration level, it is supposed that compensatory mechanisms could be activated to counteract the free radicals at higher concentration levels. Fig. 3Production of reactive oxygen (ROS) and nitrogen (RNS) species in 3 T3 cells 24 h after incubation with DCFH-DA: **a** sitagliptin -- STG and its impurities S1 and S2, **b** vildagliptin -- VLG and its impurities V1 and V2. Results are expressed as mean ± standard error of the mean. Statistical analysis performed through ANOVA/Bonferroni (\**p* \< 0.05; \*\**p* \< 0.01; \*\*\**p* \< 0.001 versus control)
As depicted in Fig. [4](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}a,b, the results obtained for NO production show that nor sitagliptin (Fig. [4](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}a) or vildagliptin (Fig. [4](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}b) impurities did not significantly alter the NO levels after 24 h of incubation. In cell culture conditions, NO formation from nitric oxide synthase accounts for the majority of nitrite, which is the major pathway for NO metabolism \[[@CR32]\]. However, when there is an increase in reactive species, these free radicals may also mediate the endogenous formation of NO. This small molecule is related to chronic inflammatory diseases, playing an important role in the pathophysiology of different inflammation models \[[@CR33]\]. The overproduction of NO from NO synthase and the activation of this enzyme by macrophages contribute to inflammation, cancer, diabetes and autoimmune disorders \[[@CR34]\]. Interestingly, the antidiabetic drug vildagliptin presented a significant decrease in NO levels compared to the control (Fig. [4](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}b). This result point to other beneficial effects of the drug in diabetes besides decreased glycemia levels and, the presence of the impurities in drug formulations could be detrimental to this effect. Fig. 4Evaluation of nitric oxide levels in 3 T3 cells 24 h after incubation with drugs and impurities: **a** sitagliptin -- STG and its impurities S1 and S2, **b** vildagliptin -- VLG and its impurities V1 and V2. Results are expressed as mean ± standard error of the mean. Statistical analysis performed through ANOVA/Bonferroni (\**p* \< 0.05; \*\**p* \< 0.01 versus control)
In order to investigate whether the compounds could disturb the mitochondrial function, the mitochondrial membrane potential was evaluated. In cells, mitochondria play an important role in normal function and are a regulator during the transition of cell death by both necrosis and apoptosis \[[@CR35]\]. Δψm is responsible for controlling the accumulation of Ca^2+^ in the mitochondrial matrix, respiration and also the synthesis of ATP \[[@CR36]\]. Because of its crucial role in the maintenance of the physiological function of the respiratory chain generating ATP, changes in Δψm compromise oxidative phosphorylation by reducing cell energy and inducing cell death \[[@CR24]\]. As shown in Fig. [5](#Fig5){ref-type="fig"}a,b, no significant alterations were found in Δψm after 24 h of incubations of the 3 T3 cells with sitagliptin (Fig. [5](#Fig5){ref-type="fig"}a), vildagliptin (Fig. [5](#Fig5){ref-type="fig"}b), or their respective impurities. Fig. 5Evaluation of mitochondrial membrane potential (Δψm) in 3 T3 cells 24 h after incubation with drugs and impurities: **a** sitagliptin -- STG and its impurities S1 and S2, **b** vildagliptin -- VLG and its impurities V1 and V2. Results are expressed as mean ± standard error of the mean. Statistical analysis performed through ANOVA/Bonferroni
The comet assay represents the capacity of negatively charged fragments of DNA to be extracted through an agarose gel in response to an electric field. It is a rapid, sensitive, and simple method for detecting DNA damage \[[@CR37]\]. For this evaluation, the shape, size, and amount of DNA in comets are important for the test and correlate with the extent of DNA damage \[[@CR37]\]. The results obtained by the alkaline comet assay indicate that neither sitagliptin (Fig. [6](#Fig6){ref-type="fig"}a), impurity S1 (Fig. [6](#Fig6){ref-type="fig"}b), and impurity S2 (Fig. [6](#Fig6){ref-type="fig"}c) nor vildagliptin (Fig. [6](#Fig6){ref-type="fig"}d), impurity V1 (Fig. [6](#Fig6){ref-type="fig"}e), and impurity V2 (Fig. [6](#Fig6){ref-type="fig"}f) elicited DNA breaks at the tested concentrations. The results of the LMW DNA diffusion assay indicated that, under our experimental conditions, neither sitagliptin (Fig. [7](#Fig7){ref-type="fig"}a), impurity S1 (Fig. [7](#Fig7){ref-type="fig"}b), and impurity S2 (Fig. [7](#Fig7){ref-type="fig"}c) nor vildagliptin (Fig. [7](#Fig7){ref-type="fig"}d), impurity V1 (Fig. [7](#Fig7){ref-type="fig"}e), and impurity V2 (Fig. [7](#Fig7){ref-type="fig"}f) induced significant cell death by apoptosis or necrosis. Fig. 6DNA damage in alkaline comet assay in 3 T3 cells 24 h after incubation with drugs and impurities. Sitagliptin -- STG (**a**), impurity S1 (**b**), impurity S2 (**c**), vildagliptin -- VLG (**d**), impurity V1 (**e**), impurity V2 (**f**). Results expressed as mean ± standard error of the mean. Statistical analysis performed through ANOVA/Bonferroni Fig. 7DNA damage in LMW DNA diffusion assay in 3 T3 cells 24 h after incubation with drugs and impurities. Sitagliptin -- STG (**a**), impurity S1 (**b**), impurity S2 (**c**), vildagliptin -- VLG (**d**), impurity V1 (**e**), impurity V2 (**f**). Results expressed as mean ± standard error of the mean. Statistical analysis performed through ANOVA/Bonferroni
Conclusion {#Sec14}
==========
The safety of pharmaceutical products is important, mainly in chronic use due to their daily accumulation. In this case, the presence of impurities may compromise the patient's health, and it is important to evaluate their toxicities. For the first time, the cytotoxicity of sitagliptin, vildagliptin and their chemical synthesis impurities were described in mouse fibroblast 3 T3 cells. Sitagliptin presented cytotoxicity at 500 and 1000 μM and increased oxidative species at 1000 μM but also decreased NO production at all concentrations. Moreover, except for impurity V2, the other impurities did not elicit significant cytotoxicity. This study provides important information to ensure the safety and quality of these drugs, which are available in the market. Furthermore, the presence of toxic impurities could be detrimental for diabetic patients, contributing to the tissue damage related to the progression of the disease and decreasing the therapeutic effect of the drugs.
**Publisher's Note**
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Authors are thankful to CAPES and CNPq (Brazil) for financial support.
About this supplement {#FPar1}
=====================
This article has been published as part of *BMC Pharmacology and Toxicology Volume 20 Supplement 1, 2019: Proceedings of Toxi-Latin 2018.* The full contents of the supplement are available online at <https://bmcpharmacoltoxicol.biomedcentral.com/articles/supplements/volume-20-supplement-1>.
CFAG wrote the first version of the manuscript. CFAG, SC, NRW, LMB, JWM, BC, and SC contributed in the toxicological evaluation experiments and characterization of the impurities. MDA, SCG, CVG, NMV, EESS, and MS contributed in the experimental design of the study and revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.
This research was founded by CAPES and CNPq (Brazil).
The data sets used and/or analyzed during the current study available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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Penn Staters and the Challenge of Attractive Dissent
Few Penn Staters believe that the actions of either the Board of Trustees or the administration of Rodney Erickson since November 2011 represent clearheaded, let alone great, leadership. The vast majority of the Penn State family, I’d venture to say, continues to feel the pain of the Jerry Sandusky scandal and our tremendously sloppy response to it all. In our worst moments, in the midst of our darkest crisis, our leaders reacted by disavowing our own and implicitly endorsing a report that condemned our culture as sick, when most of us sought to cling to our culture as a safeguard, and as one of honor.
In the two years since the Sandusky scandal broke, the Penn State family has responded in many ways. Most of the prominent leaders within our community, our most visible representatives in the administration and our trustees, have sought to have us “move forward.” This mantra is repeated ad nauseum as if this alone constitutes a strategy. Was our treatment of Joe Paterno a decent one? Was our repudiation of Graham Spanier—our presumption of his guilt—an honorable one? Was our acceptance of Louis Freeh’s conclusions sensible? On and on we ask such questions, and the answer remains the same whenever they are raised for discussion. “Move forward.”
It’s as if the most important questions, the questions relating to our principles and how they apply in reality—in the practical moments of life—are somehow secondary, or even irrelevant. Move forward. Move forward. Move forward.
Yet even the most moderate among us still wonder. Could our best leaders, men like Graham Spanier and Joe Paterno, two figures who crafted the modern University we continue to celebrate as great and strong, have done something as heinous as intentionally cover up child rape? Move forward.
Move forward. In other words: shut up, and get in line. It’s neither a strategy nor a decent way to conduct oneself as a leader. Yet it’s all we are getting from our veteran trustees and administration.
In response, many alumni have sought to express some of the best aspects of our legacy as a means to shine the light of who we are, of who the Penn State family has always been and remains—to recover the truth of our history. This involves a recovery of the truth about Joe Paterno, necessarily, and a sense that our trustees who presided over our era of crisis certainly deserve to go.
Yet there’s a growing problem. These supporters of responsible stewardship in the Penn State family are growing increasingly shrill, and becoming increasingly weary. New trustees have been elected through their efforts—good men and women. Yet it’s not clear these new trustees are being taught to work together, or to organize in any coherent fashion for genuine reform among the Board of Trustees.
Meanwhile, the loudest alumni and supporters in this family of ours increasingly issue demands rather than promote dialogue. The ugly tactics of 1960s organizing—of passionate emotion, of suspicion, of perpetual mudslinging as a strategic and rhetorical device, are forming a picture in our consciousness that isn’t attractive.
Time marches on. We are mortal, and we each will die. Yet the culture we craft and perpetuate lives on. This is why we care so deeply about the truth of Penn State and people like Joe Paterno—because we know which aspects of our legacy deserve to live on despite our own morality.
Yet as the student body changes in the next few years, and as new trustees cycle onto the board, and as a new president takes the reigns in the years to come, what are we crafting and perpetuating as supporters of the truth about the Penn State family?
For those young people who are growing up in or after the scandal’s continuing fallout, what will they know? We seem to be slipping into a danger zone, a dark area where our anger is speaking more loudly than our love—which is a tragedy, because our anger is a surface thing, a lesser thing. We feel anger because first we knew love. If it’s true that we’re one Penn State family then it’s also true that we learned to love one another at some point. We certainly loved Joe Paterno and the principles he promoted in his life.
If our love is true, our challenge cannot be one of issuing demands and speaking with anger. The Board of Trustees, for better or worse—let’s just agree it’s “or worse”—will not act for our honor. Our president will soon change. The time for the correct and decent decisions in the heat of the scandal has passed. We won’t get those moments over again. We can’t take that field through a late-kindled passion.
But we can plan for the games ahead. We can learn to act with a prudence guided by our love. Or to put it in perhaps a less flowery way, we can learn to act in the way those we love would have acted—with humility, and determination, and restraint. And quietly.
We can’t shout about our values, or about those who have failed to act in the best way, and expect to be well regarded. We’ve got to continue to shape Penn State with a future oriented vision. We’ve got to move forward—yet move forward in a way true to the best aspects of our legacy.
We will pass on. Our hopes for responsible stewardship will one day end. What will we work to build before this time passes? What are we spending our time, talents, and treasure building up for the Penn Staters of tomorrow?
Joe Paterno and the Penn State he knew were attractive things. If we truly want to responsibly steward our University, each of us has to learn how to be attractive. A culture of anger, of dissent, of teasing, is not an attractive thing. It doesn’t earn praise, and only has effect in the short term.
Monuments are built by those who recognize that time marches on, and that our chapter in the story of a place is brief. How we use the time allotted to us matters. If we loved Joe Paterno, and believe in a better Penn State family, we’ve got to prove it in a way that will engender the admiration of the students of tomorrow. That’s the only way his legacy will live on.
A few transient administrators removed Joe Paterno’s statue and tarnished his name and implied even worse about the wider culture of our family. They are transient. The Penn State family is forever, because it grows and changes with time across generations. What will we set ourselves to building?
Will we craft new statues with vision and funds of our own? Will we create new scholarships in the name of men like Paterno or even Spanier? Will we forge real relationships with students and learn about their needs and how alumni can meet them? Will we learn to make ourselves as attractive and impactful as Joe Paterno and other heroes of our long history?
Or will we content ourselves with a shrill dissent, and grow increasingly frustrated as those with administrative power ignore demands we make in moments of passion?
As time moves forward, and the next chapters in our story are authored, Penn Staters for responsible stewardship can redeem our culture by embracing a paradoxical truth—the University is each of us within the Penn State family. We don’t need the approval or consent of an unwilling Board of Trustees or administration to ensure our history and values live on.
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In your opinion, is there anything that Penn Staters should be doing in order to attempt to change the media narrative that is so widely accepted as accurate? As you probably know there have been many events/happenings that have occured over the last two years that have been completly ignored by the main stream media becuase it doesn;t fall in line with the current narrative. (example: Bob Costas admitting that the Freeh Report makes no sense, Mike McQuery forgetting that year and date of the imfamous “shower incident”, Sara Ganium revealed to have been activly helping the prosecution, Victim #1, Aaron Fisher admits that he doesn’t blame Penn State for what happened to him, Louis Freeh exposed as a fraud, wouldn;t even appear on the Bob Costas show, Mark Emmert’s lack of knowledge on the santions that he issued, etc)
Hi Robert — I hear your points, and they’re frustrating for sure. The media narrative, unfortunately, is set in place. Further disgruntled public alumni action will only feed the existing narrative. The opportunity, as I see it, is for the vast majority of us who are genuinely disgruntled to begin working “under the radar” to influence and shape the University community. Imagine as one example 25 super-dedicated alumni establishing a new scholarship fund in honor of Joe and Sue Paterno. These sorts of things don’t require anyone’s permission—we can just go do them, and they’ll have impact for generations. So, I’m less concerned with the media narrative (that’s beyond our ability to shape) and more concerned with the local/cultural narrative, which is very much within our power to shape.
This editorial conveys an excellent message but sadly comes far too late. The window of time for thoughtful discussion with the administration has long since been passed. In fact, that window was locked by the administration before it was even open. At this point, due to the continued misconduct of the administration, the situation has needlessly become a zero sum game between Penn State community and the Board of Trustees Executive Committee and the Office of the President, both of which refuse to act in the Universities best interests.
Hi Concerned Alum — I’m not proposing thoughtful discussion with the administration, in fact I’m proposing just the opposite. I’m saying: They’re transient. They won’t be here as long as we will. Let’s ignore them, and do what’s right all by ourselves. We don’t need their permission to do good things for the University, and for students themselves. How many alumni who are so dismayed by how things have played out are actively forming relationships with students? Forming financial aid societies? Mentoring fraternities and sororities? Showing an interest in what students care about and are thinking about? The Paternos did all these things quite actively, and so if we want to perpetuate their memory, all we have to do is start acting like they did—this is how we’ll win.
Hi Linda — I think the best way we can fight is by working “under the radar” to influence the University community. Our side possesses very little leverage to force the hand of the board and administrative leadership, and once the new president comes in next year, our time will have definitively passed in terms of outright demands—though he/she might be more open to dialogue than Rodney Erickson. I think the dialogue has to happen within our own alumni ranks, deciding what we can build ourselves without getting the permission of those presently in power.
An example: many alumni have bemoaned the student leadership’s adoption of the “move forward” language of the board/administration. Imagine how much good will and applause it would create if 25 alumni got together to endow a permanent “student leaders scholarship” fund to award a stipend to the student body president every year? This might sound merely “nice” (without strategic worth), but remember that the administration functionally buys the loyalty of student leaders at a much “cheaper” price (letters of recommendation, etc).
No one cares for the student leaders in this way—alumni who care about the University in a time of crisis could show they care, and earn the support of students in the process, who would say, “Look at these alumni—they aren’t simply frustrated and angry, but they’re doing good things for the University even when they’re being ignored and beaten down by the administration. They’re the ones we like.”
Thomas,
Your last sentence is a rule to live by as you go on in life. What matters most is how you view yourself and you can be the best judge of whether or not you did your best.
However, as an alumnus, I can’t stand idly by and watch Penn State be wrongfully smeared. I had to act and do what I could to right the wrongs.
While you are correct in stating the BOT will never stand up and admit they were wrong, they can instead attempt to mount a vigorous defense when they are charged with crimes. Law enforcement is closing in.
What’s the truth that must be embraced? That PSU has been run by a very bad element for over a quarter of a century and their time is coming to an end.
Hi Ray — I understand your point, specifically that the Board of Trustees have not been properly discharging their responsibilities for many, many years even prior to the Sandusky scandal. If justice/law enforcement is closing in for whatever set of reasons, then that is what it is. In other words, 99.9 percent of us are not competent to speak or act in the field of criminal law, so it’s not something we can become involved in. If trustees are brought to court, their vigorous defenses will occur in court—a sphere of action beyond our control or competency. The great body of Penn Staters need ways to express their affection for the University in tangible ways in the meantime. That’s what I’m trying to get at.
Thoughtful and well done piece. Just a couple of my own for comparison’s sake.
1) The actions of our leaders offended even the most basic sense of fairness, due process, and decency. It is tough to move on and leave that pile of rubble behind.
2) Most students have a very different view…until that day they graduate and become an alum. My full understanding of Penn State did not come to fruition until years after I left.
3) We hear various classifications of the voices of the alums as being a minority, etc. We need to get real. After speaking to probably close to 250 alumni over the past 2 years, I am yet to meet the first who thinks that we should move forward, and that things were handled well.
Hi David — I agree 100 percent, especially with your point that most of us don’t appreciate the impact of our University until years after we leave. Make no mistake: I’m not suggesting we forget the disastrous situation we’re in and move forward blind to the disgraceful actions of our present leaders. What I am suggesting is this: We are moving forward by virtue of the fact that the clock ticks every second—we’re “moving forward” whether we like it or not. And as a new president comes in next year, what will our strategy be? We’ve got to be as attractive and bright as the youthful students of campus if we want to impact the University and recover the reputations of Paterno, Spanier, et al.
While I agree that the time may have passed to employ specific tactics to remove the tarnish from the reputation of PSU, Joe Paterno, and everyone or everything associated with Penn State, what are we to do? Standing quietly by while the BOT constructs unreasonable and ridiculous rules for asking questions at Board meetings has not worked. Forming websites and sending letters, emails and calling the PSU admin and Board members has not worked. In fact, playing the entire “politically correct” game has gotten us absolutely nowhere. Now where do we turn?
While I am in no way advocating violence, I believe the time has come for peaceful, yet well thought out social dissent. Impeding the progress and purpose of a Board that has zero interest in our thoughts or concerns is now mandatory. Making ourselves heard, loudly and clearly through any means possible is an absolute must.
The time for talking and having tea and cookies is long past. The time to act in a manner that is dignified yet will garner a tremendous amount of attention to our cause(finding the real truth and restoring PSU’s reputation) has arrived.
So, do we continue to sit on our hands and whine about why nothing is happening, or do we stand up, in unison, and demand that something be done?
Personally, I despise tea and cookies…..I do love the song “Sweet Caroline”.
Hi Cliff — I don’t think anyone is advocating tea and cookies. Allow me, if you will, to point out that your “new” strategy is identical to the “politically correct” strategy that you and I both agree has failed to this point. The Board of Trustees (the governing body of the University) certainly has “heard” our dissent. The problem, for us, is that they don’t care. A “new” strategy of whose goal is the same (“making ourselves heard”) will, I believe, have the same effect—that is, there will be no effect. So what I’m proposing we do instead is ignore the Board of Trustees almost entirely (since we know they won’t act for the honor of the University) and instead start building real, positive institutions, scholarships, community events, and relationships all by ourselves. We don’t need their permission to strengthen the University community. Our challenge is that it will require the development of real, educated, full-time leader-scholars among us to do this work. And I think this sort of challenge sounds a lot funner than coming up with more impressive methods of conveying disdain.
This is a laudable attempt to bring some reason and balance to the topic. I respect the author’s view. However, the shrill tone of the debate is a direct consequence of an arrogant Board. Their arrogance derives not from any accomplishment as Booard members, but more simply from their regard of their own opinions.
I agree the debate should remain civil, even though the incompetence of the majority of this Board is stunning in scope and length.
The remaining Alumni Trustees from the old regime will be kicked out next year. The Legislature may next need to be more heavily engaged.
Until the majority of this Board is ousted, their damage to PSU will continue.
Ask yourself one question. On what other Board would a decision so important as the NCAA sanctions never even come up for a formal vote?
Hi Steve — I generally agree. Do you know, though, of any specific strategy that’s being developed to deal with the “ousting” of the majority of the Board of Trustees? Alumni control, at most, nine of the 30+ seats. If we want to continue to focus on board reform at the highest level, we’ll need new strategies beyond focusing on just the next three trustees in the spring.
A further comment – if you were at the Legislative Hearing earlier this year, you would have seen one of the most incompetent performances by representatives of a major institution in legislative history. Broadhurst and Masser were unprepared and in some cases incoherent.
They are therefore either incompetent or convinced that they can do as they like. I am not sure which is the more alarming conclusion.
I certainly agree with ist if what you say. But our work and our mission will not be finished until we vote out the remaining Alumni Trustees from 11/9/11 and the Governor that led the assault on our pride and traditions. Some, unfortunately, are shrill but most of us a simply determined.
Hi Gary — Unfortunately we cannot vote out the remaining trustees from November 2011. Alumni control only 9 of the 30+ seats through direct voting. So I think we need a broader strategy that can provide a meaningful, attractive role for alumni involvement in building up the University than we have at present.
Tom,
Great article. I have managed to speak frequently about some of the many errors perpetuated by Louis Freeh, Mark Emmert, and the media without the need to attack any of the Trustees or the administration personally. I feel strongly that “moving on” based on the apparent fictions initiated by the Freeh Report and extended by the NCAA would leave us with a “history” that is simply not based on truth. We need to pursue opportunities to examine rationally the accusations made by Freeh (without documentation, witness support, or other evidence), which were then used by the NCAA to punish the University in an unprecedented manner. The willingness of the Board, the Administration , now some students (see the 9/23 editorial in the Daily Collegian) to advocate “moving on” without any close examination of the facts, moves us in the wrong direction. As you have eloquently stated, we have a rich tradition of success with honor that is a huge part of our tradition. We should not abandon that simply in order to get this era behind us. Those who worked so hard for so long to establish that reputation deserve better.
John |
Q:
Does the equation $241+2^{2s+1}=m^2$ have a solution?
Let $p$ be a prime congruent to $1$ mod. 8.
If $p= 17$ one has : $p+ 8 = 5 ^2$.
If $p= 41$ one has : $p+ 8 = 7 ^2$.
If $p= 73$ one has : $p+ 8 = 9 ^2$.
If $p= 89$ one has : $p+ 32 = 11 ^2$.
If $p= 97$ one has : $p+ 128 = 15 ^2$.
If $p= 113$ one has : $p+ 8 = 11 ^2$.
If $p= 137$ one has : $p+ 32 = 13 ^2$.
If $p= 193$ one has : $p+ 32 = 15 ^2$.
If $p= 233$ one has : $p+ 128 = 19 ^2$.
For $p=241$, there is no value $s\leq 4000$ for which $p+2^{2s+1}$ is a square.
Question 1 : Is there a simple way to prove that no such $s$ can exist ?
Question 2 : Can one estimate the density of those primes $p\equiv 1$ mod. 8 that can be written under the form
$$p=m^2-2^{2s+1}\ \ \ ?$$
A:
To answer your first question: there is indeed no $s$ such that
$241+2^{2s+1}$ is a perfect square. -- Proof: $2^{2s+1}$ is always
congruent to either $2$, $8$ or $32$ modulo $63$, which makes
$241+2^{2s+1}$ congruent to either $21$, $54$ or $60$ modulo $63$.
However none of these values is a quadratic residue modulo $63$,
and thus $241+2^{2s+1}$ cannot be a perfect square, as claimed.
A:
I was able to allow the power of $2$ to go up to $2^{29} = 536870912,$ no higher....
Stefan's argument works word for word for $p=337.$
For $p=569,$ we need to expand to numbers $\pmod{255},$ where odd powers of $2$ are $2,8,32,128,$ $569 \equiv 59 \pmod {255},$ and $569 + 2^{\mbox{odd}} \equiv 61,67,91,187 \pmod {255},$ while the quadratic residues are
0 1 4 9 15 16 19 21 25 30
34 36 49 51 55 60 64 66 69 70
76 81 84 85 94 100 106 111 115 120
121 135 136 144 145 151 154 166 169 171
174 186 189 195 196 204 205 219 220 225
229 234 240 246
17 8 25 5
41 8 49 7
73 8 81 9
89 32 121 11
97 128 225 15
113 8 121 11
137 32 169 13
193 32 225 15
233 128 361 19
241 FAIL
257 32 289 17
281 8 289 17
313 128 441 21
337 FAIL
353 8 361 19
401 128 529 23
409 32 441 21
433 8 441 21
449 512 961 31
457 8192 8649 93
521 8 529 23
569 FAIL
577 512 1089 33
593 32 625 25
601 128 729 27
617 8 625 25
641 FAIL
673 FAIL
761 2048 2809 53
769 FAIL
809 32 841 29
857 512 1369 37
881 FAIL
929 32 961 31
937 FAIL
953 8 961 31
977 2048 3025 55
1009 512 1521 39
1033 FAIL
1049 FAIL
1097 128 1225 35
1129 FAIL
1153 FAIL
1193 32 1225 35
1201 2048 3249 57
1217 8 1225 35
1249 FAIL
1289 FAIL
1297 FAIL
1321 FAIL
1361 8 1369 37
1409 FAIL
1433 2048 3481 59
1481 FAIL
1489 32 1521 39
1553 128 1681 41
1601 FAIL
1609 8192 9801 99
1657 FAIL
1697 512 2209 47
1721 128 1849 43
1753 FAIL
1777 FAIL
1801 FAIL
1873 FAIL
1889 512 2401 49
1913 FAIL
1993 32 2025 45
2017 8 2025 45
2081 128 2209 47
2089 512 2601 51
2113 FAIL
2129 FAIL
2137 FAIL
2153 131072 133225 365
2161 FAIL
2273 128 2401 49
2281 FAIL
2297 512 2809 53
2377 FAIL
2393 8 2401 49
2417 8192 10609 103
2441 2048 4489 67
2473 128 2601 51
2521 FAIL
2593 8 2601 51
2609 FAIL
2617 FAIL
2633 FAIL
2657 FAIL
2689 FAIL
2713 2048 4761 69
2729 FAIL
2753 FAIL
2777 32 2809 53
2801 8 2809 53
2833 8192 11025 105
2857 FAIL
2897 128 3025 55
2953 32768 35721 189
2969 512 3481 59
3001 FAIL
3041 FAIL
3049 FAIL
3089 FAIL
3121 128 3249 57
3137 FAIL
3169 FAIL
3209 512 3721 61
3217 32 3249 57
3257 8192 11449 107
3313 FAIL
3329 FAIL
3361 FAIL
3433 FAIL
3449 32 3481 59
3457 512 3969 63
3529 FAIL
3593 128 3721 61
3617 131072 134689 367
3673 FAIL
3697 FAIL
3761 FAIL
3769 FAIL
3793 FAIL
3833 FAIL
3881 2048 5929 77
3889 FAIL
3929 FAIL
4001 8388608 8392609 2897
4049 FAIL
4057 FAIL
4073 FAIL
4129 8192 12321 111
4153 FAIL
4177 FAIL
4201 FAIL
4217 8 4225 65
4241 524288 528529 727
4273 FAIL
4289 FAIL
4297 FAIL
4337 FAIL
4409 FAIL
4441 FAIL
4457 32 4489 67
4481 8 4489 67
4513 2048 6561 81
4561 FAIL
4649 FAIL
4657 FAIL
4673 FAIL
4721 FAIL
4729 32 4761 69
4793 FAIL
4801 FAIL
4817 512 5329 73
4889 FAIL
4937 FAIL
4969 FAIL
4993 FAIL
5009 32 5041 71
5081 FAIL
5113 512 5625 75
5153 FAIL
5209 FAIL
5233 FAIL
5273 FAIL
5281 FAIL
5297 32 5329 73
5393 FAIL
5417 512 5929 77
5441 FAIL
5449 FAIL
5521 2048 7569 87
5569 FAIL
5641 FAIL
5657 FAIL
5689 FAIL
5737 FAIL
5801 128 5929 77
5849 FAIL
5857 FAIL
5881 FAIL
5897 32 5929 77
5953 FAIL
6073 FAIL
6089 FAIL
6113 128 6241 79
6121 FAIL
6217 FAIL
6257 FAIL
6329 FAIL
6337 FAIL
6353 FAIL
6361 FAIL
6449 8192 14641 121
6473 FAIL
6481 FAIL
6521 FAIL
6529 32 6561 81
6553 8 6561 81
6569 131072 137641 371
6577 FAIL
6673 FAIL
6689 FAIL
6737 FAIL
6761 128 6889 83
6793 FAIL
6833 32768 39601 199
6841 FAIL
6857 32 6889 83
6961 FAIL
6977 2048 9025 95
7001 FAIL
7057 512 7569 87
7121 FAIL
7129 FAIL
7177 FAIL
7193 32 7225 85
7297 FAIL
7321 FAIL
7369 FAIL
7393 FAIL
7417 FAIL
7433 8192 15625 125
7457 FAIL
7481 FAIL
7489 FAIL
7529 FAIL
7537 32 7569 87
7561 8 7569 87
7577 FAIL
7649 FAIL
7673 FAIL
7681 FAIL
7753 2048 9801 99
7793 128 7921 89
7817 FAIL
7841 FAIL
7873 FAIL
7937 8192 16129 127
7993 FAIL
8009 FAIL
8017 FAIL
8081 FAIL
8089 FAIL
8161 FAIL
8209 FAIL
8233 FAIL
8273 8 8281 91
8297 FAIL
8329 FAIL
8353 FAIL
8369 FAIL
8377 FAIL
8513 512 9025 95
8521 128 8649 93
8537 FAIL
8609 FAIL
8641 8 8649 93
8681 FAIL
8689 FAIL
8713 FAIL
8737 FAIL
8753 FAIL
8761 FAIL
8849 FAIL
8929 FAIL
8969 8192 17161 131
9001 FAIL
9041 FAIL
9049 FAIL
9137 FAIL
9161 FAIL
9209 FAIL
9241 FAIL
9257 32768 42025 205
9281 128 9409 97
9337 FAIL
9377 32 9409 97
9433 FAIL
9473 FAIL
9497 8192 17689 133
9521 FAIL
9601 FAIL
9649 FAIL
9689 512 10201 101
9697 FAIL
9721 FAIL
9769 32 9801 99
9817 FAIL
9833 2048 11881 109
9857 FAIL
9929 FAIL
10009 FAIL
10169 32 10201 101
10177 FAIL
10193 8 10201 101
10273 2048 12321 111
10289 FAIL
10313 FAIL
10321 FAIL
10337 FAIL
10369 FAIL
10433 FAIL
10457 FAIL
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
I told it to just print the values $\pmod {4^t - 1}$ that could not be expressed in the prescribed manner. The first few primes that say "FAIL" can be proved to fail in Stefan's manner, as $241 \equiv 52 \pmod {63},$
$337 \equiv 22 \pmod {63},$ $569 \equiv 59 \pmod {255},$ $641 \equiv 641 \pmod {1023},$ $673 \equiv 43 \pmod {63}.$
Bad mod 15
0 3 5 6 9 10 12
Bad mod 63
0 3 6 9 12 13 15 18 19 21
22 24 25 27 30 33 36 37 39 42
43 45 46 48 51 52 54 57 58 60
Bad mod 255
0 3 5 6 9 10 12 15 18 20
21 24 25 27 29 30 31 33 35 36
39 40 42 45 48 50 51 54 55 57
59 60 63 65 66 69 70 71 72 75
78 80 81 84 85 87 90 93 94 95
96 99 100 102 105 108 110 111 114 115
116 117 120 121 123 124 125 126 129 130
132 135 138 140 141 144 145 147 150 151
153 155 156 159 160 162 165 168 170 171
174 175 177 179 180 183 185 186 189 190
192 195 198 199 200 201 204 205 206 207
209 210 213 215 216 219 220 222 225 228
229 230 231 234 235 236 237 240 241 243
245 246 249 250 252
Bad mod 1023
0 3 6 9 10 11 12 15 18 21
22 24 26 27 30 33 36 39 40 42
44 45 48 51 54 55 57 60 63 66
69 72 75 77 78 81 83 84 87 88
90 93 96 99 102 104 105 106 108 110
111 114 117 120 121 123 126 129 132 135
138 141 143 144 147 150 153 154 156 159
160 162 165 168 171 173 174 176 177 180
181 183 186 187 189 192 195 197 198 201
204 205 207 209 210 211 213 216 219 220
222 225 228 231 234 237 240 242 243 246
249 252 253 255 258 261 264 267 270 273
275 276 279 282 285 286 288 291 294 297
299 300 301 303 305 306 307 308 309 312
315 318 319 321 324 327 330 331 332 333
336 339 341 342 345 348 351 352 354 357
360 362 363 366 367 369 372 374 375 378
381 383 384 385 387 390 393 396 399 402
405 407 408 411 414 416 417 418 420 423
424 425 426 429 432 435 438 440 441 444
445 447 450 451 453 456 459 462 465 468
471 473 474 477 479 480 483 484 486 489
492 495 498 501 503 504 506 507 509 510
513 514 516 517 518 519 522 525 528 531
534 537 538 539 540 543 546 549 550 552
555 558 561 564 567 570 572 573 576 579
582 583 585 588 591 594 597 600 602 603
605 606 609 612 615 616 618 621 624 627
630 633 636 638 639 640 641 642 645 646
648 649 651 654 657 660 662 663 666 669
671 672 673 675 677 678 681 682 684 687
690 692 693 696 699 702 703 704 705 708
711 714 715 717 720 722 723 724 726 729
732 735 737 738 741 744 747 748 750 753
756 757 759 762 765 766 768 770 771 774
777 780 781 783 786 788 789 792 795 798
801 803 804 807 810 813 814 816 819 820
822 825 828 831 834 836 837 840 842 843
844 846 847 849 850 852 855 858 859 861
863 864 867 869 870 873 876 879 880 882
885 887 888 891 893 894 897 900 902 903
906 909 912 913 915 918 921 924 927 930
933 935 936 939 942 943 945 946 948 951
954 957 960 963 966 968 969 972 975 978
979 981 982 983 984 987 989 990 993 996
999 1001 1002 1003 1005 1008 1011 1012 1013 1014
1017 1018 1020
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
I could have saved some of the printing just above. The original question was about primes in any case, so any of the numbers such as $3,5 \pmod {15}$ are not useful for the original problem. At the same time, expanding to all integer values, we are asking when $n = m^2 - 2 \cdot 4^k = m^2 - 2 w^2$ where $w$ is a power of $2.$ That is, such $w$ is not divisible by any odd prime. By a simple argument involving Legendre symbol $(2 |q),$ we find that such $n$ cannot be divisible by $3,5,11,13, $ or by any prime $q$ with $(2 |q)= -1.$ That is, such $n$ cannot be divisible by $3,5,11,13, $ or by any prime $q$ with $ q \equiv 3,5 \pmod 8.$
|
Greetings budding opponents! My case today is simple - that a politician (local or national, being a minister of the state) in a democratic country should not be allowed to lie (tell deliberate mistruths) in public (in a situation where privacy could not reasonably be expected) and not face punishment. Appropriate punishment in most contexts I would perceive as being by-elections, though I don't think that's very important to the debate.
As to the format, I'd like to do a slight variant of the Australia–Asia debating format. No cross-examination or anything silly like that, just three substantive speeches (with rebuttal) in rounds 1, 2 and 3. Round 4 will be the so-called "leader's reply", where both teams sum up their case but are not allowed to introduce new material/rebuttal. To simulate the very limited time usually allowed for the leader's reply, both my opponent and I may only write 10 sentences or less in that round. If anyone has any other questions they should feel free to ask them in the comments section!
With all these technicalities out of the way, allow me to begin my case by describing my model. Politicians are the greatest liars on the planet. A quick Google search for "examples of politicians lying" yields about 6,180,000 results [1] - that's about 32,000 for every country in the world. And that would be fine if they were any other profession. But we have a problem here. Voters listen to politicians. Based on a politician's statements and general impression of integrity, they decide whether or not to vote for him/her. Being elected on the basis of a lie puts the politician in a position of considerable power, which they use and abuse. The lie gets found out. However, voters need to wait until the next election period until they can do something about it. Therefore, I provide the solution, that being the ability to impose punishment on intentionally lying politicians in the aforementioned manner. I'm not criminalizing campaign promises made in good faith - I'm criminalizing deliberate acts of deceit used to gain access to the most powerful positions on the planet. This solves the problem because it acts as a disincentive for politicians to lie, and because it actually does remove those politicians from office.
In this first speech I'll offer two main points of constructive justification for said model and two minor points. My second speech will feature two more, plus some rebuttal. My third speech will be composed of entirely rebuttal and response to my opponent's criticism of my points. So now, on to my first four justifications.
Firstly, lying is immoral. I challenge my opponent to name me one religion that endorses lying. Lying has always been seen by mankind as a negative thing. This is because it undermines one's trust in society[3]. My argument here is essentially that it is wrong for society to trust in one when one does not return that trust, because that in and of itself demonstrates one would not be a particularly benevolent ruler to the people. Further, society generally expects politicians to hold to a higher moral code than your average Joe, because the decisions they make are that much more important for the country. Indeed, some speculate that we expect "moral perfection" from our politicians. From a moral standpoint, politicians should not have any right to lie.
Secondly, it enables transparency and greater faith in a nation's government. One must merely look at the example of Joseph Stalin, "a man who lied so much that he forgot what truth really was"[2]. When politicians lie, people are unable to distinguish between fact and fiction in government because there is often no mechanism for finding out the truth. This has two effects. First, when people are unable to distinguish truth and untruth, it becomes impossible to have transparency in the government. Transparency is a good thing because it prevents totalitarian regimes from forming. Second, if a lie is ever found out (as they are all the time, judging by source #1), people lose faith in their government. This is bad because it means people are working for a regime that they do not support - something the people are rarely happy about!
Thirdly (first of the minor points), lying is already censored in a wide range of less important areas. For instance, many countries forbid firms from decieving customers for profit[2]. Surely a few dollars in one's pocket are much less important than the fate of an entire nation? Therefore it is hypocritical to apply one rule to corporations and another to government. Politicians, after all, face much more important decisions and thus need to be held to a higher standard of accountability.
Finally, the principle of democracy is at odds with the lies of politicians. Democracy assumes that voters are able to make informed decisions, so as to help out the majority of voters. However, while politicians lie, how can a voter make an informed decision? Either democracy falls or politicians should not lie.
I'm proud to say that I don't support a system wherein politicians are not held accountable for arguably their most important actions. I'm proud to uphold the principles of democracy, transparency and morality within society. I'm proud not to be a hypocrite when it comes to selecting my politicians. I'm proud to propose! Won't you stand with me?
My opponent is new to ddo, and I welcome him to the site. According to his profile, he has the greatest disagreement with me the ddo issues of anyone on the site, at least that I can recall. That's good, because it shows potential for debates.
Pro did not define "politician" or "lie." According to the dictionary, a politician is "a person who holds a political office." http://dictionary.reference.com... Since Pro mentioned the lies of candidates, I think he means "a person who holds or seeks political office," so I'll assume that definition. A lie is "a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth; a falsehood." http://dictionary.reference.com...
1. Lies are usually immoral, but not always. In everyday life, a small lie told as flattery is accepted as moral by most. That would be something along the lines of, "I like that plan," when you really mean, "I'd rather so something different, but it isn't important enough to start an argument about it, so I'll just go along." There are parallels to that on the diplomatic front, both internationally and in domestic politics. There are also strategic lies that are justified. During World War II, the Allies leaked false information that an in would take place in Belgium, rather than Normandy where it actually occurred. Saying nothing would have avoided the lie, but the misdirection worked ad was clearly justified.
I grant that most of the lies that politicians tell are not justified, but Pro makes no distinction between justified lies and unjustified lies. Thus under Pro's resolution, Churchill could have been convicted of a crime for lying to the Nazis.
2. Most lies are impossible to prove. To prove that a politician lied, one must prove that he had a deliberate intent to deceive, not merely that he did not live up to his promises. The politician can always argue, "When I got into office a learned new information that caused me to change my mind about the subject. What I said during the campaign was an accurate expression of my feelings and intent at the time, but based on information I have now, I have changed my mind. There was no intent to deceive." Another variation is, "I said that I never saw document x, but it has since been shown that I had initialed the document. I had no recollection of having seen or initialed the document, so there was no intent to deceive. I have to approve thousands of documents, so it is essential that I rely upon staff to review them."
About the only way to prove a lie beyond reasonable doubt is if the politician confides to someone, "I will have to lie about that." Even in those circumstances, there better be multiple witnesses or a recording to prove the politician said it. That was the case with Churchill lying to the Nazis. It was an agreed-upon deception.
During the recent US presidential campaign, candidate Obama pledged he would govern by bipartisan consensus, and in particular that he would never use the reconciliation process, a parliamentary maneuver in Congress that avoids bipartisanship. Subsequently, he was elected and used the reconciliation process to pass legislation he wanted without a single vote from the Republicans. It was within his power to keep his promise by vetoing the legislation, or by threatening a veto of anything not having bipartisan support. So, could Obama be convicted of lying? No, he would simply say, "I was sincere at the time. I pledged bipartisanship, but I subsequently learned how nasty the opposition was, so I changed my mind." The intent to deceive could not be proved.
Consequently, very little lying would be prevented by Pro's resolution, because it is almost always impossible to prove.
Pro made an error in his Google search. Doing it the way he did, he got six million hits, but that includes getting just some of the words in a document, but not necessarily all of them adjacent and in the right order. If the search is done with quotes around the phrase, the result is ten hits. I'm not claiming that politicians rarely lie, but what I'm claiming it is so hard to prove there are few actionable examples.
3. While lying is nearly impossible to prove, there are no serious obstacles to pressing charges of lying. Consider a few lines from President Obama's recent Iraq speech, ""We have spent a trillion dollars at war, often financed by borrowing from overseas. This, in turn, has short-changed investments in our own people, and contributed to record deficits," ... The troops in Iraq "have met every test that they faced," Obama said. "Now, it is our turn. Now, it is our responsibility to honor them by coming together, all of us, and working to secure the dream that so many generations have fought for -- the dream that a better life awaits anyone who is willing to work for it and reach for it".
Obama knows that it really isn't a trillion dollars, it is closer to $900 billion. It was not often financed by overseas borrowing, it was usually by having the Treasury print money. The troops in Iraq met most of the tests they faced, but Obama knows they did not meet every one of them. Obama knows there is no responsibility to honor troops because the Constitution allows free speech, and people may choose not to honor them. So in just a few sentences, there are grounds for filing four separate criminal charges. Would any of the charges result in convictions? Possibly, if the venue were chosen carefully, but I doubt it. However, the President would have to answer each charge in court proceedings. Opponents of the President could tie his Administration in knots defending countless accusations.
We have a recent similar situation demonstrating how this works. In Alaska, any citizen can file charges of an ethics violation against the governor. Opponents of Sarah Palin, when Palin was governor, filed more than twenty such charges. Most of them are attributed to one blogger. This caused Palin to run up about $500,000 in legal fees defending herself. All of the charges were bogus, and were eventually dismissed. Perhaps if a person does not like Palin, they might think it was a great strategy, but they have to understand that the strategy of unending attack can and would be used against anyone if the resolution were adopted.
4. It would not take long for politicians to figure out that they ought to say nothing. Instead, they would have to let surrogates speak in their stead. What would have to happen is that a non-politician, someone not in public office or seeking public office would have to speak on the issues. Moreover, the speaker could not quote the politician directly, but would have to say things like, "I'm just speaking for myself, but I'm under the impression that that the President thinks that the troops ought to be honored..." Maybe the spokesman is lying and he really is directly quoting the President, but that's okay. Not being a politician, the spokesman is not accountable under the law for lying.
I call this "sock puppet government." The politician never says anything, but his sock puppet does.
In some monarchies, there is upon occasion something similar to what Pro recommends. "A speech from the throne (or throne speech) is an event in certain monarchies in which the reigning sovereign (or a representative) reads a prepared speech to a complete session of parliament, outlining the government's agenda for the coming session." http://en.wikipedia.org...
The disadvantages of this are that there no less lying, and it gives politicians a screen to hide behind. The current sock puppet can say that the last sock puppet had totally misinterpreted the politician.
Aware of the problem of frivolous attacks crippling an Administration, the U.S. Constitution provides that the President cannot be charged of a crime except by impeachment. The resolution undoes that. It would be a disaster.
I'd like to return my opponent's warm welcome to this site by rebutting his five arguments, propping up my own four, and adding two more (in that order).
Rebuttal:
1) My opponent suggests that proving lying is impossible. It's not. Does not everyone in the world remember the lie of Clinton? Regardless, even if it were true that it is difficult to prove a lie (which I don't admit and seems very counter-intuitive), my opponent would have contradicted his own point #3 below, because you can't sue without any evidence. I dispute that though. A proper judicial inquiry can and will find out these liars.
My opponent asserts the excuse of "Oh, I just didn't have enough information at the time." Neither do the voters! That's who this debate is about. Yes, there is imperfect information. But if the former government lies about the state of the nation, then it is they, not the incumbent government, who are liable. If the incumbents are silly enough not to cover their bases and say that they will act on the basis of advice given to them by the relevant government departments in all instances, then they are lying and their excuse fails.
2) My opponent asks whether Obama's troop morale boosters are considered illegal if they have some hyperboles. I think most judges would be able to tell that the intent here would be to boost morale, not exaggerate the cost of war. Unless, of course, the prosecution can show that people believed that they are the actual figures, and acted on this belief. In that case the lie would have had a considerable negative impact on the country, and then Obama should be liable.
3) What if lots of people were to sue politicians for lying? I have four responses to this. First, even if lots of them do, at the very least politicians would be held more accountable by the judiciary. Second, where's your source for the cost to Sarah Palin? Why does omniscient Wikipedia know nothing about it? She must have hired a ridiculously costly lawyer. Third, people generally won't bother. Why? Because just as politicians have lives to get on with, so do ordinary people. If it cost Sarah $500,000 to defend herself against such clearly fallacious charges, imagine what it would have cost the prosecutor[s]. Finally, how is an ethics violation comparable to lying? It's not! You are arguing two unrelated charges as if they were alike!
4) I turn now to my opponent's "sock puppet government" argument, commending my opponent as I do for creating an epic argument name. A lie told by a politician does not need to come from the politician's mouth. It can be said by another agent, the politician's blog, an email to journalists or a sock puppet. If it was unreasonable for the politician to expect privacy in the situation (who'd expect privacy from a spokesperson) then the politician falls afowl of the law under my model.
Related to this argument, my opponent states that politicians will simply no longer tell us their policies. I disagree. I think politicians will simply frame their policies more carefully, ie instead of "I will raise taxes" they might say "I will raise taxes if the treasury says it is viable to do so". I think that means greater transparency in the system and encourages honesty within the political class, which is a good thing.
5) My opponent describes how the US president is protected by constitution and thus cannot be sued. The US constitution, as I understand it, is as amendable as any other document. Good thing too (http://en.wikipedia.org...). My model would remove the sacrosanctness around the office of president, holding the president to the same level of accountability as everyone else. That's good, because the United States has had its fair share of bad presidents in the past.
Propping up my supposedly "negated" points:
1) I told you lying is immoral. My opponent then proceeded to show a single example of a politician lying in war, which he claims is morally justified. Three responses. First, my opponent failed to give any real evidence as to why his example is morally justified. Second, war is generally also considered immoral. We already prosecute politicians who instigate wars. Hey, that's why we had the Nurnberg trials! If Churchill had used a lie to start a war, then he should be prosecuted for that as well. Third, it's not inductive logic to give only one example and draw out a rule from that. A better rule can be made of the countless politicians who were publicly hated for their lies. Think of Clinton. I could list several New Zealand examples too, and I'm sure that you don't like it when politicians lie in your country, wherever you may be. In the specific case of your example, I think any sensible jury (like the Privy Council usually are) would overturn the conviction of Churchill because the conviction is not in the public interest. Besides, even if he were convicted, a by-election would be held and Churchill would be re-elected. Frankly, it wouldn't matter.
2) I told you that it would improve transparency and faith in government. Perhaps my opponent failed to read this one, because he has no response.
3) I gave you an example of how else we censor lying, and why the comparison is legitimate. Again, my opponent ignores this point.
4) I gave you a principle, that of democracy. I do wonder whether my opponent bothered to read the second half of my speech. He ignores this point too. Please respond to my arguments!
Adding two more minor points in:
1) Members of the public who are apathetic to government are often apathetic because they know that politicians pretty generally all institute the same policies anyway. Being more open about their policies, politicians discourage apathy among voters. This leads to more informed decisions being made.
2) Let's bring non-democratic nations into this. By encouraging transparency in our government, we at the same time encourage transparency in foreign governments (peer pressure). We also make them more trusting of us, because they know our politicians cannot lawfully lie in public.
It supports and upholds democracy. It reduces voter apathy and improves transparency. It's consistent, moral and principled. It stands. That's why the resolution is affirmed. That's why I propose the motion today. That's why you should be voting PRO.
1) Pro says I suggested that proving lying is impossible. I did not. In fact, I gave an example of a proof in which the intent to deceive was disclosed to confidants, who later revealed them. Pro gave another example involving DNA evidence. While not always impossible to prove, the lies of politicians are *usually* impossible to prove because of the requirement to prove deceptive intent at the time the politician made the statement. Proof must be beyond a reasonable doubt, and there is rarely a way to prove that the politician lied rather than later flip-flopped on the issue.
I gave the example of Obama promising not to use reconciliation, and then subsequently using it. I challenge Pro to say how intent to deceive could be established.
Pro claims that if a politician claims inadequate information, then either he is lying or the former Administration was lying. Not so. Much information is not no known to anyone, and a former Administration is not required to disclose anything to a new Administration. Besides, bureaucrats are not politicians under the definition Pro accepted, so the former Administration bureaucrats are free to lie about anything they like.
2) Pro says, "most judges would be able to tell that the intent here would be to boost morale, not exaggerate the cost of war." However, Pro's resolution is absolute: all lies by politicians are criminal offenses. There is no latitude given for small lies, or lies intended to boost morale, or lies to deceive enemies, or to flatter allies, or for any other reason. Pro wants ordinary civil flattery made criminal. Pro goes on to suppose that a prosecutor would have to show the lie to have bad consequences. Pro said, "In that case the lie would have had a considerable negative impact on the country, and then Obama should be liable." But the resolution says nothing about distinguishing lies with bad consequences from lies with good consequences. All lies are criminal under the resolution. Any attempt to make "bad consequences" illegal would fail, because in the political realm, good and bad are subjective. If a person wants al Qaeda to succeed, boosting troop morale is a bad consequence.
3) Pro did not deny that democratic government would be brought to a halt by criminal prosecutions of politicians by people who want an administration blocked. It is undeniable because among the millions of constituents of a president, there are many with both strong convictions and money. Pro said that lying would be "criminal," which means that a local prosecutor in some district in the domain of the politician can press charges funded by taxpayer money. Separately, civil proceeding could be instituted by anyone in lawsuit alleging the act.
Pro said it takes evidence to make charges. If lodged by a prosecutor, the evidence needed is slight to gain an indictment; the strong evidence is needed only to convict. A civil lawsuit can be brought with no initial evidence, only a claim of damages. The defendant must then appear in defense. http://en.wikipedia.org... Only a preponderance of evidence is needed to win the lawsuit.
The Palin case is relevant because it shows that weak allegations can produce serious results. Its is as easy to gin up charges of lying as ethics violations. It cost absolutely nothing for a blogger to bring the charges, because under Alaska law a state ethics committee had to do the investigation after the complaint was made. Palin's half million dollar legal bill was widely reported, http://www.adn.com... I'll stipulate that lawyers are often overpaid, but that's what it is.
4) Pro claims, "A lie told by a politician does not need to come from the politician's mouth. It can be said by another agent, the politician's blog, an email to journalists or a sock puppet. If it was unreasonable for the politician to expect privacy in the situation (who'd expect privacy from a spokesperson) then the politician falls [afoul] of the law under my model." This claim fails because Pro offers no way to distinguish a statement accurately repeated from a false repetition. If a politician steps up and admits the sock puppet is correctly reflecting the politician's views, then that would hold, but the politician is never going to do that.
There is no question that conversations between staff and politicians are private. That's been upheld by the Supreme Court. http://en.wikipedia.org... The principle is also well establish in common law. http://en.wikipedia.org... Pro acknowledged in his opening case that only statements made in public are subject to the resolution, and such conversations are not made in public. It is reasonable to expect conversations held in private to remain in confidence; only the spokesman's public pronouncements are public.
5) I said that the resolution would override presidential immunity from prosecution. The point is that the reason immunity was orignally put in place was to prevent government from being incapacitated by massive numbers of legal attacks. Hence it's removal would be a disaster as anticipated.
2.1) Pro first claimed that lying was always immoral. He then claimed that a single example is insufficient to disprove his point, because induction requires many examples. Pro is wrong. If one claims that all swans are white, it takes exactly one black swan to disprove the contention. Pro granted that it was not immoral to lie to boost troop morale. . He also implicitly granted that Churchill's lying to the Nazis was not immoral. Pro claimed that Churchill would not be convicted under the resolution, because Churchill could be freed by jury nullification, a check on bad laws. http://en.wikipedia.org... But Pro relies upon the resolution being late nullified, the resolution should not be passed in the first place.
2.2) Pro claims that I did not answer is argument that laws against lying would improve transparency and faith in government. In fact, I said that the resolution would result in a sock puppet government that is less transparent and less trusted. If politicians continued to speak, government would be shut down by endless litigation, so non-politicians, who can lie without penalty would obviously be delegated to do all the speaking.
2.3) Pro says that companies are not permitted to lie about products, and by analogy politicians should not be allowed to lie. Pro's only reference is the unsupported opinion of a blogger. (The blogger also falsely claims that Bush lied about Saddam's WMDs.) Companies make false claims about products all the time, often implicitly rather than explicitly. Consumers are supposed to believe that some fabulous toothpaste or hair care product will make the opposite sex swoon, whereas they in fact do not. There s no law against making the claims. This is exactly comparable to the claims of politicians. As with politicians, the consumer is left to figure out the credibility of the claims.
There are some very specific circumstances where lying is punished in the commercial world: financial reports to the Securities Commission, certain product specifications, and support for certain advertising claims. Similarly, certain claims made by politicians are required by law to be truthful: the sources of funding, and some relations with lobbyists. Politicians can also be called to testify under oath in certain circumstances. Had Pro resolved to expand the specific areas of disclosure, I would very likely have supported some of those proposals. However, the resolution as it stands is untenable.
3.1) Pro supposes that conversion to sock puppet democracy would reduce public apathy. Just the opposite would happen because they would rarely hear politicians speak to them directly.
3.2) Authoritarians are never impressed by examples of democracy in any form.
I thank my opponent for his clarifications. This debate, my opponent has really only raised three objections to my model. First, he has claimed it would bring our society to a standstill. Second, he has claimed lying is impossible to prove. Third, he claimed that a set of middlemen would speak on behalf of the politicians. Let's examine whether any of those hold any weight.
First, would there be endless prosecutions? I'd say no. My opponent's case here is twofold. On the one hand he gives the example of Sarah Palin, a very specific example of a governor spending needlessly large amounts of money on a complaint that, in that particular instance, had nothing to do with the motion today. If the charges against her had been lying, and the case were false, the case would not have made it to court. This is because, prima facie, there is no case to bring (http://en.wikipedia.org...). My opponent also asks for a good reason why people wouldn't generally bother. I've given you a great reason - time and money required. My opponent thinks this money would be taxpayer money. Unfortunately, in every country I've ever heard of, you don't fund a civil case with taxpayer money. For a criminal procedure to be launched, you need a really big mound of evidence - unless a judge thinks you might have a case, you won't come before the court. Besides, courts will not try the same case twice, so the scope for attack on politicians is limited. It doesn't seem particularly feasible that immediately after the passing of this law, a few thousand people will bother to sue the president of the United States over a speech to Iraqi troops where he rounded a figure to the nearest trillion to make a point. I should add that in this example, if people believed and acted on the lie it would have a bad impact on the country not because Al Qaeda might get a minor strategic advantage, but because voters would have been misled, and that's always bad in a democracy.
Secondly, is it impossible to prove? In this matter I think the debate has become my word against his. If my opponent believes a Obama can be convicted under the law then this in itself shows that this point fails. To succeed in a trial under my law, you have to prove two things. First, that the lie was in fact said (my opponent challenges this separately under his third argument). Second, that the lie was intended. Can intent be proven? Yes it can. We already prove intent in every single murder case. Why should we be unable to prove intent here?
Thirdly, my opponent asserts the emergence of a sock puppet government (I do love the phrase) under my model. The case here has moved on over the last two speeches, and the question has now become "Can we prove that sock puppets will repeat information accurately?" Actually, yes we can. Lawyers do all the time. They need simply ask the politician - "If (name of sock puppet) had made a fallacious statement, surely you would have known about it, thus through the law of negligence you are liable under larztheloser's model?" There are probably other, better arguments, that smarter people than me will be able to think of. The point is it's entirely possible to prove this, thus if a politician would dare to use a sock puppet to get away with lying, he won't last long in office. This, by the way, is an unconnected issue to deliberative process privilege, which does not concern public pronouncements. Since we can prove that sock puppets are legitimate spokespeople for the politician, the politician can be charged and thus a sock puppet government would not emerge.
I would now like to revisit my six points and tell you why they are still left standing at the end of the debate.
First, lying being immoral. My opponent says that my law relies on the public interest clause, and thus is wrong. Two responses. First, it doesn't. Even if Churchill was convicted, he'd get re-elected afterward. If the punishment was something else, such as a fine, I'd say he'd gladly pay that small price for saving Europe from tyranny. My second response is that even if it did, what's so bad about that? The law was created with the idea that if the judge/jury thought the lie was bad enough, the politician could be forced to a by-election.
Second, improving transparency. My opponent here cannot think of an original argument, so he falls back on his old sock-puppets. Which I rebutted just a few paragraphs ago.
Third, the censorship of lying in commerce analogy. Con's response has been to say commerce is not censored already in a great many ways, so people have to assess the credibility of the company. Two responses here too. First, once a commercial lie is found out, the corporation collapses immediately. See Enron. However, a politician is immune until the next election period comes. That's why politicians need to have the immediate check on them, and that's why the status quo is not analogous. Second, even if it were analogous, people cannot assess the credibility of a politician if all they do is lie. Only after the lies all fall apart will the politician be found out, and by that time, it would already be too late. That's why this example of a double standard is perfectly valid.
Fourth, the democracy principle. My opponent STILL ignores this point. As he has ignored it for the whole debate thus far, I think it would be unreasonable to start a whole new line of argumentation now. This point clearly falls to my side of the house.
Fifth, voter apathy. Like on my second point, my opponent cannot think of any arguments here, so he falls back on those goddamn sock puppets. I need not remind you that this is a fallacious point.
Sixth, non-democratic nations. My opponent believes that other countries will never convert to democracy through external pressure. If that were the case, then Greece would be the only democratic country in the world. My opponent does not engage with my analysis that it also makes these foreign nations more trusting and thus more likely to engage with us.
My opponent falls back on the same tired and oft-rebutted old arguments, demonstrates his complete ignorance of half of my arguments, and argues using nothing but false analogies. I've offered a clear model, multiple principles and strong arguments backed by my dodging of all the practical issues. That's why the motion stands at the end of this debate. Please - vote pro for a moral, democratic, just, open and accountable future.
Democracy (4). Let's start with Pro's fourth point, since he does not seem to recognize my argument. Pro says, "...the democracy principle. My opponent STILL ignores this point. As he has ignored it for the whole debate thus far, I think it would be unreasonable to start a whole new line of argumentation now." I said in R2, "In fact, I said that the resolution would result in a sock puppet government that is less transparent and less trusted. If politicians continued to speak, government would be shut down by endless litigation, so non-politicians, who can lie without penalty would obviously be delegated to do all the speaking."
It suffices that the result of the resolution fails to achieve the stated goal. I have argued throughout that the resolution will decrease transparency. The resolution makes lying a criminal act, without any qualifiers on whether the lie is justified or not (to mislead an enemy), whether the lie causes serious damage or no damage, or whether the lie is a slight exaggeration or a grave misstatement. The resolution makes no distinctions of exceptions. Moreover, anyone can file a lawsuit and any prosecutor can initiate criminal proceedings; it isn't limited to Congress or some special body. The consequence would be that politicians would say nothing or speak through proxies for fear of prosecution. That would dramatically lower the transparency of government, which would be bad for democracy. How could Pro have not understood that I was denying that the transparency he seeks would not result?
1. Pro's first point was that lying is immoral. I pointed out cases where lying is not immoral: to mislead enemies, to flatter or encourage friends, and for trivial purposes like using rounded numbers. So why should politicians be convicted criminals as a result of acts that are beneficial or at least not harmful? Pro relies completely upon jury nullification, that juries will not return verdicts as the law requires. A far better solution is to reject the resolution and start over.
2. Pro's second point mainly restates the virtues of transparency, refuted by the effect of the resolution being to decrease transparency. Pro further asserts, "When politicians lie, people are unable to distinguish between fact and fiction in government because there is often no mechanism for finding out the truth." In a democracy, people can figure out the truth themselves, and there are opposing politicians to refute lies. In many cases, no court could determine the truth. Did Obama lie when he promised reconciliation would never be used, or did circumstances cause him to re-evaluate his position? No court can determine what was in his heart-of-hearts. Voters get to make the call, and also whether they think the issue is important. It is not a matter for criminal prosecution.
3. Pro's third point was that "lying is already censored in a wide range of less important areas." Pro pointer to a blogger that made the parallel to consumer law, but never cited any surveys of consumer laws. In consumer matters, some lies are allowed and others are not. The same is also true of politicians, who must make certain financial disclosures, acknowledge sponsorship of advertising, and may, in serious matters, be called to testify under oath. Pro's analogy therefore fails. He might have argued that there ought to be broader circumstances when lying is criminal, but the resolution makes all lies crimes, even if trivial or simple flattery.
N1. I claim that the resolution would, if politicians continued to speak, produce a flood of litigation that would cripple government. Pro argued that they would not, due to the time and money involved in initiating such litigation. Let's examine the two avenues of litigation, civil and criminal.
Civil litigation requires no evidence to file. To win the lawsuit the plaintiff must have a preponderance of evidence on his side, but filing the suit requires no such evidence, just claims. In the U.S. filing a Federal lawsuit costs $350, and does not require the services of a lawyer. A website gives step-by-step procedures, http://www.tabberone.com... The lawsuit has better chances if it is pressed by a lawyer, but that's not a real obstacle. There are plenty of lawyers across the political spectrum willing to whip up lawsuits against whomever is in power at no cost.
Since all lawsuits allege lying, they will quote the same legal precedents, the common legislation implementing the resolution, and probably the same arguments that punitive damages should be assessed. That all goes into a template, with a few paragraphs devoted to the specific accusations. There is already a business of selling templates for lawsuits of various kinds, see http://www.google.com... Expect one professional prepared suit to be copied.
The case may also be pursued criminally. For a president making a broadcast speech, any citizen in any district would have standing. Indictment are made by a grand jury or a preliminary hearing. Grand juries comprise citizens who vote, usually by two-thirds majority, that there is probable cause to have a trial. Grand jury indictments are notoriously easy to obtain. Jurist Wachtler famously observed that "prosecutors have so much control over grand juries that they could convince them to 'indict a ham sandwich.' " http://www.barrypopik.com... So if one wants to indict George Bush, a far-left prosecutor and grand jury in a place like San Francisco would virtually guarantee charges filed. For left-wing presidents like Obama, venues in the South would do the job. All the expenses are then born by taxpayers.
Indictment by preliminary hearing is done with a judge determining probable. Judges are probably harder to fool, but at the some time they are more likely to interpret the resolution as it was intended, to include all cases of lying, even if justified or minor. All the venues in the United States are available to find a prosecutor and judge that have a favorable attitude. All subsequent expenses are then born by taxpayers.
The time and money obstacles to litigation are slight, but even if they were severe, there would still be a flood of prosecutions. That is because there are very rich people willing to go after politicians of any stripe. For example, billionaire George Soros has deep pockets supporting left-wing causes http://www.discoverthenetworks.org..., and billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch fund right-wing causes. http://www.newyorker.com...
N2. While it is easy to instigate litigation, proof is very difficult. Pro said that intent is proved in murder convictions, so it ought to be easy in cases of lying. In murder cases, the proof has to be that the death was not accidental or natural, which forensics can do. However, proving premeditation in murder cases is much more difficult because it is a state of mind, so cases are often pleaded down to manslaughter or second degree murder. Proving an intent to deceive is far more difficult. Forensics rarely comes into play, and the politician simply says he was sincere in his belief at the time.
N3. Conversations between a politician and his proxy, a sock puppet, are not public under the resolution. Hence the result is the politicians will not speak directly to the public, for fear that litigation will tie their administration in knots if they speak publicly. Sock puppets would be the rule, eliminating the transparency Pro hoped to achieve. If Pro manages to defeat the sock puppet protection legally, then politicians would stop communicating to the proxies. The danger was well understood in the U.S. Constitution.
A quick summary of my case follows in the next 9 sentences. I gave you six clear reasons why my model was a good idea. Con came up with three responses, which he more or less stuck to even until his final speech. First, he thinks people will accuse everyone of lying for trivial phrasings, despite my model clearly stating that there had to be intent to deceive as otherwise the mistruth is not deliberate. Second, he still hangs on the idea that we can't prove it, an obvious contradiction to his first point, and ignorant of all the first-degree murder cases that we do prove. Third, his idea of a sock puppet government is as silly as it sounds, because the protection can be destroyed legally, destroying the whole system con made up in desperation. By way of comparison, con failed to understand that my morality point was not about what legal issues it relies on, but rather the fact that the people should be able to bring bad politicians to account, and thus con's attack ultimately fails. On my second major point, abut transparency, my opponent only ever repeated the same old arguments that he gave in his substantive material, which I have rebutted many times over. Therefore con has failed at attacking the motion, and therefore the motion stands. I thank my opponent for a fun debate and urge a pro vote, one last time! (-;
There is no contradiction at all in my claims that charges of lying are very easy to bring, but very hard to prove. If you had a national audience in a litigious country, and everything you said was scrutinized for exaggeration, flattery, and errors with prosecution the consequence, you would soon learn to let others talk for you. Pro has proposed pixie dust as a practical means of flying, and protests in outrage that I keep bringing up gravity as an objection.
The American Founders recognized the problem of freezing government by litigation, and they accordingly protected against it by allowing no charges against a president except impeachment through Congress. The resolution would undo that careful protections with disastrous results.
Pro offered scant evidence that --while we agree that politicians lie-- many of the lies are provable in court, nor does he provide evidence that legal procedures would prevent inundation by prosecutions and lawsuits. Rather than providing evidence and logic, Pro has relied heavily on empty claims that his arguments stand, demands to change the subject, and personal insults. I offered ample good evidence of the willingness and ability of political opponents to assault government through litigation.
The present proposal is naive attempt to use the courts instead of the judgment of voters as to what was a lie and what was a reasonable change in position due to circumstances.
larz, You can say "The arguments neither developed nor addressed my points," because that attacks the arguments without attacking me personally. While that passes on conduct, IMHO it is not a good debate tactic to claim such generalities. It is far better to be specific, per "The argument that the resolution would cloud democracy does not address my point because ..." I heard you complaining, but could not figure out exactly what you were complaining about. If I couldn't figure it out, then some of the readers are unlikely to understand it either.
larz, You said, "My opponent falls back on the same tired and oft-rebutted old arguments, demonstrates his complete ignorance of half of my arguments, and argues using nothing but false analogies." That is a personal attack saying I am ignorant and deceitful. The way to avoid that is to attack the arguments. You could have attacked the arguments by saying, "Half of my arguments went unanswered, and the analogies presented in rebuttal were false." It is something of a fine point of debate, but I found the cumulative effect annoying.
I think three rounds are best. That covers most issues, and people don't want to read lengthy four round debates. Also, I think it best to limit voting to one month. If you hang round the site long enough, you are bound to annoy someone who then goes back and vote bombs past debates.
Reasons for voting decision: This is a heavily votebombed debate, and its really old too. Normally I would give a good RDF but i got bored, and Roy was hammering this so I gave a vote by 1 point since I dont really know what happened in the last round. |
[Repetitive sequences of the human genome].
A review of literature data on different families of repetitive sequences of human genome is presented. Both tandemly organized (classical satellite DNA, alpha satellite DNA, "minisatellites" etc.) and interspersed repetitive elements are characterized in detail. Special attention is paid to description of human genome mobile elements. |
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About this project
Kickstarter Staff & Vimeo Curated Pick.
Synopsis
Ryan had a bad night. Her phone is dead. And in a moment of indecision, she just left everything on the F train. Desperate, she turns to Nick, an off-duty MTA worker of suspect morals. The two strangers enter into a contentious deal to chase down the subway, before it vanishes with Ryan’s luggage and her chances of getting home. What's the worst that can happen?
Note from the Director
For the past three years, I’ve been writing and directing short films about understated and heartfelt stories that play out in our everyday lives.
Those films – Brothers and ICEHOCKEY – have gone on to screen across the country, earning laurels from Independent Film Festival Boston, San Francisco International Film Festival and the Montclair Film Festival. ICEHOCKEY was also featured on Vimeo, garnering 35k+ views to date, and part of Reel13 on PBS.
Neither film would have been possible without the financial support of the 120+ backers, who raised $5k+ to help cover the cost of post-production, festival submissions and part of the production budget. But even greater than the money raised, backers of the projects took a personal stake in the life of these films during their completion and after their release.
In the end, the success of this film won’t be measured in dollars, but in whether it can find an engaged audience. That’s why I am releasing a digital copy of the film with every pledge. If this is the kind of film you want to see, please contribute at any level and share this project with your friends, family and colleagues.
All funds raised will go toward the completion of the film, festival submissions and beyond.
Previous Works
With the launch of this new project, I’m releasing Brothers to the public, to continue sharing the work made possible through grassroots funding. I hope you will watch the film and that it can serve as another compelling reason to help fund the TheWorst.
Brothers (2011) - A bromantic dramedy about the modern difficulty of communicating with your family. |
Live/Laugh/Love Running
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Secrets to Success
I’m taking a year off from the marathon, but I’m busy every week making my “next marathon goals”. I’ve been thinking about my secrets to success, hoping to uncover something that might take me to the next level. I’ll continue to update you as I think of more, but here are a few “secrets to success” that I came up with so far.
Believe in yourself. I wrote about this in my recent ME Monday, and I can’t emphasize it enough. You HAVE to believe in yourself to get anywhere near your goals. It seems like the most simple concept, but it can be the hardest for most runners (people).
This is my confident/determined racing face.
Trust and commit to your training. Find a coach or training plan you can trust and commit to that training. Don’t worry about other people’s training. There are so many blogs, twitter updates, training logs to check out, but too much obsessing over others’ training can make you lose focus on your own training. Everyone is different. What works for me isn’t going to work for you. Sure, we can learn from each other, but you need to find a training plan you believe in and totally commit to it.
Do your training. Yes, are definitely times you need to skip a run, or rearrange your training schedule (I rearrange ALL THE TIME to fit my life and the way my body is feeling) but to be successful you have to do the training. It seems a little silly to mention this but it’s important. I remember arriving at college and my coach asked how much of the summer training plan I followed. When I looked at him puzzled and answered “all of it, what do you mean?” he was in shock. This is when I first realized that many people don’t follow their training plans. If you stick to a consistent schedule, you will be much closer to your goal.
Family run time. Getting the training done and having fun!
Have a support system. A support system can be family members, friends, or babysitters who watch your kids while you run. It can be buddies who meet you early every Sunday morning to make sure you get your long run done. It can be online friends who support your training and help you through the rough weeks. They can help you physically by running with you or cheering on the race course, or they can help you emotionally. Whatever the support system is, find one and it will make your running improve.
18 thoughts on “Secrets to Success”
I appreciate your tips. I think the hardest one, for a lot of people I’ve met, is the support system issue. It sounds like you’re blessed with a great one and I am, too.
My family has to bend over backwards, sometimes, to accomodate my running schedule. I try to never take that for granted.
You may have covered this in an earlier post, but why are you taking a year off the marathon?
Yes, the support system is hard for most people and I appreciate mine and try to remember to tell them often! As far as taking time off from marathons, I ran 3 marathons in a year and I just wanted some forced time away to think and come back with a strong desire to do it. I also wanted to run lower mileage for awhile and do shorter faster races. The time away from the marathon is working because I’m already really itching to ramp up the mileage and race a marathon again!
This is an awesome post. So simple. Yet so easy to get caught up and forget these “secrets.” THANK YOU FOR WRITING THIS POST! I needed to be reminded of these things as I have been struggling with my training for the past couple of weeks. I feel like this weekend has been a turning point and your post is the icing on the cake!!! So thank you for this great, great post!
I’ve been trying to ‘catch’ a marathon for the last few years. Babies, military and everything else have led me to many DNS’ as well as some downgrades to half marathons, but I’m FINALLY ready to bite the bullet [done with kids and military-wise we’ll be here for at least a year!].
I think the hardest thing for me is sticking to a schedule, while the thing I can always count on is my support system. A lot of other moms here are runners, and my husband is always encouraging me out the door. Heck, my mom [non-runner] will always ask me what I’m training for and how its going. I just need to muster up the strength to GET OUT after a day full of kids/laundry/dishes/dinner/meltdowns, etc.
I’ve been wondering what your marathon agenda is… I’m also excited to hear what your goals are, when you are ready to share, if you decide to!
I agree with all of your points, I have found all 4 of those to be true as well! I’ve also learned for me to be successful I must be patient, Rome wasn’t built in a day. And not to worry so much. Which also is not obsessing over every mile etc.
Yes, patience is a big one, Kristy! I’ll share my marathon plans one of these days. I can tell you my ultimate goal is to make the next Olympic Trials in either the marathon or maybe even on the track.
I really appreciate you sharing your secrets to success! I think sometimes we all overthink things and it undermines our training. I can’t agree with you more on your 4 secrets and I feel you really hit the nail on the head. I always remember to make sure I take full advantage of rest on my rest days and give it my all on my hard days.
This is a great post and reminders about the necessary pieces to a successful race.
I also found that I have to pay close attention to my nutrition. I need to make sure am properly fueling my body to be able to do all the training necessary to reach my goals. Then on race day, I need to make sure I am also taking in the proper fuel.
Running was a great way for me to find a social support system in my new town. So almost the reverse happened for me. I was committed to running but needed a social network, and bam — two for one. I love runners and their group running. |
Leukocyte adhesion deficiency: identification of novel mutations in two Japanese patients with a severe form.
Leukocyte adhesion deficiency is a disorder with mutations of the gene for the beta subunit, a component common to three adhesion molecules; LFA-1, Mac-1 and p150,95. The molecular basis of the disorder was studied in two patients with its severe form. In the first patient, the mutant gene expressed an aberrant mRNA, 1.2 kb longer than usual, resulting from a G to A substitution at the splice donor site of a 1.2 kb intron. Several aberrantly spliced messages, arising from splicing at cryptic donor sites, were also identified. The beta subunit proteins deduced from the mRNA sequences lacked half the carboxyl terminal portion. In the second patient, the mutation was a G to A transition at nucleotide 454, which resulted in an Asp128 to Asn substitution of the beta subunit. The 128th Asp residue is located in a region crucial for the association with alpha subunits and strictly conserved among the integrin beta subunits so far analyzed. |
Cleveland Browns 'Hard Knocks' Recap: Episode 2
The first “Hard Knocks” episode of the Browns era was an entertaining one.
We saw how Tyrod Taylor was firmly in the lead for the Browns starting quarterback position, if there was any speculation of a battle against Baker Mayfield at all, and we also saw some bad practices, where the team simply lacked focus and consistency.
This is evident in all training camp practices for every team, but it led to Jarvis Landry’s impassioned speech to the receiving corps that will probably go down in the “Hard Knocks” hall of fame.
Episode two also lived up to the hype. From the first preseason game to a rookie's run-in with the law, here's what we learned on Tuesday:
Hue Jackson speaks up
Head coach Hue Jackson berated his entire team for walking on the field, an example of strong leadership that we haven’t seen yet in the Browns' training camp. Even his QB, Taylor, told him that he just had to do that once and the players would remember it.
Corey Coleman traded
The second episode of “Hard Knocks” started off with Corey Coleman at home showing off his shoe collection. After that however, it moved on to offensive coordinator Todd Haley yelling at him for his lack of effort and Coleman backtalking his own coach.
Coleman went into Jackson's office and asked him why he was running with the second team. Almost through tears, he told his coach, “If y'all don't want me to play, why don't you just trade me?”
That's exactly what the Browns did, shipping him off to the Buffalo Bills for a future 7th round pick, basically nothing.
Antonio Callaway cited for marijuana possession
First-year wide receiver Antonio Callaway, who had been impressing in training camp, was cited over the weekend for driving with a suspended license as well as marijuana possession. What was interesting about this is that he tried to keep it a secret from his coaches.
Several times during practice before the news broke, his coaches asked him on the field what was wrong. Coach Haley described him as looking like, “a sad puppy dog.”
When the news broke, Callaway was called into coach Jackson's office to discuss what happened. Callaway had recently had his car shipped up from Florida and claimed that the marijuana was not his. Jackson said that he believed him, but if he was wrong, he told the rookie wideout, “I'm gonna have your ass.”
In the first preseason game later that week, the Browns decided to play him the entire game. This is probably the first time a player has ever been punished by being forced to play all offensive snaps.
This made me question Jackson as a head coach.
Callaway had failed a drug test juts a few months ago and has been caught with marijuana before. For God's sake, he was already in stage one of the NFL's substance abuse program. Jackson's faith in his players however, is very admirable.
The first preseason game
The Browns traveled to New York to play their first preseason game against the Giants. Taylor started off strong, hitting Landry for 32 yards on their first offensive play.
Taylor went a perfect 5-of-5 and capped off the first drive with a touchdown to tight end David Njoku.
Mayfield later threw his first NFL touchdown to Njoku as well.
A tired Callaway caught his first NFL touchdown in the fourth quarter. He showed off his speed, turning a short pattern into a 54-yard score.
Coach Haley, obviously impressed, took veteran receiver Landry aside and challenged him to take Callaway under his wing.
“You need to take that kid on. I don't care if he's living at your house. We can't have him f*****g up. You've got all this passion. Take him in. Larry Fitzgerald would.”
The Browns defeated the Giants 20-10.
Gregg Williams freaks out
Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams quickly turned into my favorite character in “Hard Knocks” when he went off on his defense at halftime.
I can't wait to see more of this guy.
What to look for next:
Dez Bryant
When Browns general manager John Dorsey was looking over a document that had his updated receiver depth chart after the Coleman trade, he joked to one of his coaches, “where is Dez Bryant?”
Dez is scheduled to visit Cleveland this week and I'm expecting him to sign with the Browns, but it shouldn't be taken as a sure thing.
Baker Mayfield's development
Although chances he will start week one are slim, the No.1 pick in this year's draft is obviously going to continue to be a major storyline.
He's impressed everyone so far, but one has to wonder if his complacency as a backup will be a thing that remains as training camp moves further along. |
The role of membrane transporters in ovarian cancer chemoresistance and prognosis.
Ovarian cancer has the highest mortality rate of all cancers in women. There is currently no effective method for early diagnosis, limiting the precision of clinical expectations. Predictions of therapeutic efficacy are currently not available either. Specifically, the development of chemoresistance against conventional chemotherapy poses a fundamental complication. Some membrane transporters have been reported to influence chemoresistance, which is often associated with a poor prognosis. Areas covered: The aim of this article is to review the existing information about membrane transporters and their role in both ovarian cancer chemoresistance and its outcomes. We then highlight limitations of current methodologies and suggest alternatives providing avenues for future research. Expert opinion: Membrane transporters play an important role in development of chemoresistance and affect prognosis of ovarian cancer patients; however, due to variations in methodology and in patient populations, their specific roles have yet to be clarified. For further evaluation of the clinical utility of membrane transporters, it is essential to validate results and improve methods for marker assessment across laboratories. A promising area for future research is to identify the genetic variability in potential markers in peripheral blood. These markers would then stratify patients into defined groups for optimal intervention. |
Re: Fermi's 'Paradox' Cancelled?
From: James Smith <lunartravel.nul>
Date: Sat, 3 May 2008 12:17:41 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
Archived: Sun, 04 May 2008 08:09:08 -0400
Subject: Re: Fermi's 'Paradox' Cancelled?
>From: Ray Dickenson <r.dickenson.nul>>To: <ufoupdates.nul>>Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:27:01 +0100>Subject: Re: Fermi's 'Paradox' Cancelled?>James, one more time - and slowly - quoting from the video:>'they are seen under all lighting conditions and with many>different camera systems'.
If people want to buy tapes and the makers of them make money,
fine by me. Entertainment is a valid thing to spend money on
But if you watch 100s of hours of footage (fast forward play
mostly, thank God!) then you get a feel for what stuff is out
there. I cannot (dis)prove by examining videos whether a little
dot, wormy twisting form, streaking light, or flashing light is
an alien life form or spaceship or anything else. For my own
purposes I need something more.. like the amoeba-like object
"arising" from the Puerto Rico area that Dr. Carlotto analyzed
in his paper "Anomalous Phenomena in Space Shuttle Mission STS-
80 Video". (Where is he anymore? His web site is shut.)
>Further (slowly again?) it's explained on that page - which you>maybe skipped - that, at the end of Part 6 and into part 7, two>astronauts preparing to EVA see several of the phenomena zip>past them, coming _into_ the spacecraft. I.e they were seen by>the human eye and therefore can't be camera artifacts. NASA>haven't yet said if they - the three fast self-luminous `things'>- eventually left the craft or maybe hitched a ride down to>Earth.
This was STS-82. It is odd that the Smoking Gun video does not
match the odd dialogue audio. It would "seem" to go with it and
is more interesting to watch than the reality, but it had to be
some other time period or mission.
In the actual video, the astronauts are sitting in the airlock
with the thermal cover closed so they can't even look out. They
seem cramped in there. They do not leave it for about an hour.
They have no video in the airlock, so we are treated to a view
of the entrance to the airlock until the video signal is lost
(not the audio).
No lights are ever seen (tiny debris does fly by, during the ten
minutes prior, outside the covered airlock but not enough to be
a big deal) in any video during the audio time period. I think
they had been sitting in there for about 10 minutes before they
started the dialogue.
I agreed with Oberg in his assessment that it was either the
airlock lights or lights on the suit that were flickering.
Other slight possibilities are the odd cosmic rays that
astronauts sometimes see and reflective flares off the Hubble
solar arrays.
But we need a lot more proof (for me at least) than odd dialogue
to say it was visiting lifeforms.
>If you have problems processing information then it's going to>get worse. Martyn says he's preparing to put hours of unedited>tapes on www.tbln.com/ - so you can see the phenomena zooming>around, with all their different shapes and modes of travel.
Oh, boy.
Listen to 'Strange Days... Indeed' - The PodCast
See:
http://www.virtuallystrange.net/ufo/sdi/program/subscribers/ |
[Biosimulator training and its impact on skill in laparoscopic cholecystectomy].
We undertook this study to determinate the educational impact of training in an inanimate biosimulator in terms of effectiveness, time and complications in performing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. We used a comparative, experimental cohort, prospective and longitudinal. Three first-postgraduate-year residents and one pre-grade internship physician were trained and assessed in basic laparoscopic skills using a biosimulator (fiberglass "dummy" where animal organs are introduced ex-vivo). The participants acted as their own control, performing a procedure to determine surgical time, complications and effectiveness. Later they observed a short video demonstrating the suitable development of laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The video defined the specific deviations from the ideal cholecystectomy, which were considered as errors. Every procedure was videotaped, beginning with the careful dissection of cystic structures and clipping them, continuing with the dissection of the gallbladder from the liver with the standardized method. Each participant performed ten procedures. There were no differences in baseline assessment of basic skills. All participants completed all proposed procedures. Surgical time was 61% faster at the end of the study (p<0.001), as well as demonstrating a lower rate of complications of 0.67% (p<0.009). Skills training in endoscopic surgery by means of an inanimate biosimulator is superior to traditional training because it decreases surgical time and surgical complications without ethical considerations and the effect of a learning curve in the operating room. |
Atlus has launched the PlayStation 4 demo for Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir.
The demo is now available on the PlayStation Store, and you can find it here.
You’ll need 521MB of space to get the demo, which lets you play as all five of the game’s playable protagonists: Gwendolyn, Cornelius, Mercedes, Oswald, and Velvet.
Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir is launching across PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PS Vita in North America on June 7th, followed by Europe on June 24th. Expect our review for the game to be forthcoming prior to its release. |
John Horner (police officer)
John Horner was the seventh chief of police of the Los Angeles Police Department from May 13, 1885 to December 22, 1885.
See also
List of Los Angeles Police Department Chiefs of Police
References
Category:Chiefs of the Los Angeles Police Department |
Nifty - Lesbian - Incest - Loving Granny
This story is a work of fiction and contains
descriptions of explicit sexual acts of incest between
a girl and her grandmother along with other women.
If this type of content offends you or you are under
the age of 18 do not read it.
Author's Note:
This story is the property of the author. It can be
downloaded for personal reading pleasure or sending
to a friend, but if you wish to re-post them at your
own site, please contact the author for permission.
Copyright 2008 Jan, All Rights Reserved.
Please mail to janmay699@icqmail.com if you have
suggestions for future stories.
Loving Granny
By
Jan
I loved my grandmother as far back as I can
remember. I can't remember everything I did as a
child but my family has told me that almost as soon as
I could walk I would run away to Granny's every
chance I got. At the time she lived in a house about
two miles away from my parents and the most
repeated story was about the time I took my little
tricycle and headed for her house. When my mother
missed me she took the car and headed down the hill
and found me stuck in the sand at the bottom of a
wash. When she asked me where I was headed I told
her I was going to Granny's. You can be sure I got a
whipping and my tricycle was loaded in the car and I
was taken home for another ass warming. That never
stopped me. Every chance I got I would insist on
staying with her.
Her home was not the neatest or cleanest house
around but her house was always filled with the smell
of cooking. She baked her own breads. She had the
sweet tooth of a child. She baked cookies and cakes
all of the time. She was known for her southern
cooking.
As a preteen she had been thrown from a horse
and broke her right leg. The bone was not set
properly and it did not heal correctly. As a result of
the fracture her right leg was shorter than the left.
She walked on her tip toe the rest of her life. She
was only five-foot one and would have been the ideal
model for Mrs. Santa Claus.
Her black hair had turned gray. She had kept
her hair braided most of her life and coiled up on the
back of her head like the old fashioned Dutch woman
she was. I was a teenager before she cut her hair
shorter for easier care. Her breasts were so large
that they almost covered all of her lap when she sat
down. It was a struggle to stay sitting on her lap. It
was much easer to sit in the chair next to her.
She did have a sweet tooth. The one habit she
had was a passion for mint candy. She kept a full
bowl of the same kind of mints that restaurants keep
by the cash register. Her breath smelled of the mint
as strongly as her clothes smelled of her cheap
perfume. But that was the smell I loved.
She had a childlike passion for ceramic
figurines. On her birthdays family members always
bought her practical gifts like bras, dresses and
nightgowns. She didn't care for them at all; she slept
in her white cotton slips and she lived in the same
simple silk print dress. She probably hadn't worn a
bra since she was a teenager. She could wash it on
Saturday and be back in it on Sunday. She would
much rather have paperback books - romance novels
and westerns being her favorite. She loved dolls too.
She was a contradiction in her beliefs. She had
been brought up in southern fundamental church and
taught to believe that every word in the King James
Bible is the true word of God. At the same time she
professed to believe every word as written in the
bible, any time something like the dietary laws
prohibiting the consumption of pork or fish without
scales conflicted with her desire to eat bacon, ham,
shrimp and catfish she ignored the word. It was
convenient for her to justify not following every word
by saying they didn't have refrigeration back then.
At the same time she could quote chapter and
verse she could also tell a dirty joke or curse like a
sailor. The first dirty joke I can remember hearing
was told to me by Granny as I cuddled up against her
big soft breast.
When I stayed over night with Granny I cuddled
up against her warm body and clung to one of her big
tits. My youngest aunt was four years older than me.
She had stopped breast feeding her years before I
was born so her breasts were dry but that did not
stop me from wanting to suck on her big nipples when
we were in bed. Granny never stopped me from
sucking on her breasts.
When I stayed with her she bathed me and
braided my hair. I didn't mind the pain of her
brushing and pulling of my hair, as I sat on the floor
between her legs. It was very comforting having her
thick thigh cradling my head. Her female odor was
added to the fragrance of her Avon perfume and the
candy mints. It was a smell I loved and missed when
I was not with her.
We used to sit on the front porch in an old
glider where she taught me how to embroidery,
crochet and knit. One of the things about sitting in
an old double glider facing Granny was that I could
look up her dress. Her short little legs could hardly
touch the floor of the glider but as long as the dress
and slip were they would creep up her legs exposing
her panties. There were times when Granny didn't
have panties on at all. To me the graying hair on her
vulva was the sexiest sight I had ever seen. I could
not believe my father and aunts and uncles came out
of that small opening.
Granny must have known I was looking at her
because she never closed her legs and at times she
would reach down there and scratch her pussy. She
never failed to smell her fingers before returning to
her knitting.
When I was much too old to be still being
bathed by my Granny she was washing my pussy with a
terrycloth washrag and I started trembling like I had
been out in the snow too long. She pulled my body
against her body and hugged me until I stopped
trembling. The front of her dress was soaking wet.
My wet hair was dripping water all over her head.
Rather than being surprised by the reaction I
had from the way she was washing me she slipped a
finger into my pussy, the way I had been doing for
months. I had discovered that it felt good. I don't
even know when or how my hymen had been broken.
At that age of 9 I didn't even know I ever had one or
what it was.
I started getting that feeling again I was
starting to thrust my hips forward to drive her
finger deeper into my body. I was starting to moan
uncontrollably but quit when I felt her finger slip into
my little butt hole. When the finger entered it hurt
but after it was in I could not believe the rush it gave
me. When I moved my hips forward to get away from
the finger in my ass the one in my pussy was driven
deeper into my pussy. When I pulled back from that
finger the one in my ass was driven deeper. I was
standing in a foot and a half of water having one
climax after another. When I almost blacked out
Granny pulled her fingers out and lifted me out of
the tub. There was not a dry spot on the front of
Granny's dress.
Rather than getting upset she chuckled in her
homey way and said, "It needed to be washed anyway.
With that she unbuttoned her dress and stepped out
of her it and tossed it in the sink. The full slit was
just as wet and the underarms were stained from her
sweat. She pulled the slip over her head and
discarded it. She had removed her shoes and socks
before entering the bathroom so all she had on was a
well worn pair of underpants. They were wet too.
She pulled them off and knelt in front of me to dry
me off with a bath towel.
I could see her vulva and the gray hairs. She
never trimmed it the hairs. It was just natural
friction that kept the hair trimmed. Her labia were
hidden by her chubby vulva. The skin on the inside of
her thighs was discolored by years of friction.
To a 9-year old there was no thought about
whether that was attractive or not. It was just my
Granny, the most important person in my life and she
had just made me feel as good as I had ever felt.
My mother had punished me when she caught
her playing with myself and called me a dirty little
pervert. Granny had never rejected my touches. I
waited until she had finished drying my hair before I
kissed her on the mouth.
Granny didn't happen to have candy in her mouth
but the taste was there. It was just the way Granny
always tasted. When she stood up I reached out and
stuck my fingers into her pussy. The walls of her
pussy were moist and lumpy. When I started probing
she jerked like I had hurt her. My reflex was too
jerk my hand away. I mistook her moan as a sigh of
pain.
Granny grabbed my hand and pulled it back
between her legs. My fingers were slippery from her
juices so the finger entered easily and she started
humping my fingers like a rabbit. When she climaxed
she whimpered like a quivering school girl and told me
that she loved me for making her cum.
She picked me up and carried me to her bed.
No one had ever kissed me where she did. It did feel
good and I stroked her head while she stuck her
tongue into me and it thrilled me beyond belief. I
had a lot to think about afterwards. Was what she
did right or wrong?
We continued to sleep together and I continued
to suck on her nipples. We didn't touch each other
down there for a few days while I struggled with my
feelings. One morning while she was still sleeping I
woke up and the bed covers were kicked off and her
slip was up around her waist. I slowly moved down the
bed in hope that she would not wake up. When I
moved my head between her legs I studied what her
pussy looked like. I could smell her moist flesh.
There was the odor of Dial soap she had washed with,
along with the strong odor of her womanhood. She
had been secreting body fluids all night and her
opening had liquid dripping out making the hairs
around the opening smell even stronger than normal.
I could not resist licking her pussy. The hairs felt like
they were sticking to my tongue and it almost gagged
me. At least my saliva soon plastered her hair against
her skin.
That woke Granny up and she spread her legs
making it easer for me to get my tongue into her
pussy. When I started licking her pussy she could
not lay still. She was moving her big behind around on
the bed like there were ants crawling all over her. It
was all I could do to keep my mouth on her pussy. For
the strangest reason I actually enjoyed getting my
face covered in her juices. When she climaxed she
wrapped her legs around my neck. Her fat thighs
muffled the sound of her moaning and calling me all
kinds of dirty things. Even though I didn't
understand everything she was saying it made me feel
sexy. When it was all over there was not a lot of
talking as we bathed and got dressed.
It was not until a couple of days later that
Granny sat down with me and asked me if I could
really handle a sexual relationship with her. I
answered a little too quickly. She placed her finger
on my lips and told me think about it a day or two
before I answered. There were things I would have
to understand about her. I could not understand
what she was talking about.
To make it simpler she told me that she had
always been a lesbian. I only had a vague idea what
that meant. I had thought that all lesbians dressed
like men so you could tell they were lesbians. How
could my beloved grandmother have been married and
mothered my father and been a lesbian?
Granny started stroking my hair and shoulders.
She assured me that there were plenty of people out
there that had same sex relations and still lived
otherwise normal lives. While she was talking her
hands slid down my body and I felt her hands graze
my nipples through my jersey top. The thrill was
electric. I was in no shape to argue with her. To
prove her point she told me to come to her house
after school the next day.
I had no idea why she wanted me to stop by but
I sure wanted to find out what was on her mind. I
made sure to tell my mother that I was going to
catch the school bus to go visit her after school. I
got the normal bull shit about spending too much time
at her house but all she ended up saying was that I
better get my homework done or I would be in
serious trouble.
When the school bus got to the corner of the
street Granny lived on I got off of the bus and
walked down the street to her house. When I got
close to her house I saw a couple of cars in the
driveway. As I got closer and got a good look at them
I recognized the cars. They belonged to women in
Granny's bridge club. I was disappointed that all she
was going to be doing was playing cards.
When I opened the door and let myself in I
found the ladies in the parlor and the folding table
was set up. The ladies were all sitting around talking.
There was Mrs. Butler, one of Granny's neighbors,
Mrs. Mayfield, the owner of the first car in the
driveway, Mrs. Reynolds, and Mrs. Wheeler, the
owner of the other car in the driveway. Three of the
four ladies were grandmothers too.
Mrs. Butler was built a lot like my Granny and
she was a German known for her pastries. Mrs.
Mayfield was a rather tall woman that had a pretty
good figure. She was the vainest member of the
group. She bleached her hair if an effort to defy her
age. Mrs. Reynolds was a skinny little woman about
the same age as Granny but did not drive a car. She
had to rely on the kindness of others to get around.
Mrs. Wheeler was a little chubby and the daughter of
Mrs. Butler.
They were gathered around the card table and
were already playing cards. They had not played
bridge in years. When Texas Hold'm had become
popular on television they switched to the popular
form of seven card stud. It was a faster game. They
used poker chips to bet with but at the time I did not
know what the stakes were.
Granny was fussing around as the host seeing
that they had what they wanted to drink and the chip
bowls were full and replenishing the dip bowls. Some
of the ladies smoked and she was emptying the
ashtrays as they were filled. She was playing the
host and didn't get to play cards.
When I arrived, the ladies all insisted that I
move around the table and kiss each one on the cheek
in greeting. Of course Mrs. Mayfield insisted on
kissing me on the mouth. After I had made the
rounds Granny announced that her granddaughter had
joined the ranks of Sappho.
There was an outburst of applause from the
women. I had never heard the word she had used but
I suspected what it meant and blushed. I was
standing next to Mrs. Reynolds and I felt her hand
touch the back of my knee and run up the inside of
my thigh. I froze when her hand actually came to
rest on the crotch of my panties. I could not believe
this sweet little old lady that had always been the
perfect host and never hinted that she was such a
lecherous woman had her hand under my skirt playing
with my pussy.
Granny went on to say, "Ladies the stake of the
game today is the winner gets my granddaughter.
You can take her to the bedroom or do whatever you
want right here in the parlor."
I could not believe what my grandmother was
saying. I was going to be the prize in a card game.
What could she be thinking? What were these
women going to do with me? I had known all of them
all of my life. They had all been nice to me almost
like they were part of our family. I had never
thought about them even being sexual except for
Mrs. Mayfield. Even I could see that she wanted to
be younger than she was and a vamp. I just never
connected her attempt to be sexy as being for the
benefit of women.
Granny interrupted my daydreaming by handing
me a bowl and telling me to go to the kitchen and
make a guacamole dip and fill a bowl with corn chips.
I was mixing fresh smashed avocados and cream
cheeses with Grandma's homemade salsa. There were
bags of natural corn chips and some red and green
ones. When I entered the parlor I almost dropped
the bowls because all five women were as naked as
the day they had been born.
Granny told me to please serve the chips and
dip. I filled each woman's bowl with a mix of three
colored chips and laid the dip in a central location. I
could not take my eyes off of the women. I had seen
my Granny naked before but had never imagined the
other four women naked before.
Mrs. Butler was not as gray as Granny but her
breasts were every bit as large as hers. Her breasts
were full and round. The areolas were no larger than
a woman with breasts half her size. Her nipples were
normal sized. I could not get a good look at her
crotch because of the card table. The most
noticeable thing about her aging skin was the wrinkles
and loose, sagging skin under her chin.
Mrs. Mayfield was no surprise at all. She had
the dry sagging skin that goes with age but her
breasts were firm cones, at lead a D cup. (I learned
later that she had small breasts and had breast
implants after her husband passed away.) Everyone
thought she tried to look like a teenager because she
wanted to attract men. There were only a select
number of local women that knew the truth. You had
to admit the tits were right on beautiful. The bottle
blond hair just looked too harsh. It gave her the look
of an old hooker that would not admit she was too old
to be working.
Mrs. Reynolds was not much taller than me. If
it were not for her face and the dry sagging skin she
could be mistaken for a child herself. Her figure was
good for her size. Her breasts were just the right
size for her body.
Mrs. Wheeler was close to the age of my
mother. The full round figure made her look much
younger. There were no winkles on her body,
because, let's face it, she was fat. Her hair was dark
brown and very nice looking. She had a smile that was
disarming. She was divorced and had two daughters.
The oldest was 13 and the younger one was 10.
I was standing there like a fool so Granny
swatted me on the ass hard to get me out of my
stupor. After I had done as I was told by Granny to
get undressed, I felt foolish getting undressed in
front of my granny's friends but I didn't want to
incur her wrath. I peeled off my school clothes and
discarded them, as I was directed. All of the women
were staring at me.
Granny took me by the arm while I was standing
next to Mrs. Reynolds and forced me to my knees.
She made me get under the card table and pulled me
between Mrs. Butler's legs. All of the women had to
pull their feet under their chairs to give me enough
room under the table. It was almost like looking at
my grandmother's body. She had to spread her legs
to give me room to get between her legs.
Mrs. Butler was unable to participate in the
next few hands of the card game while I sucked her
pussy. Apparently Mrs. Mayfield had removed her
shoes because I could feel her stocking toe rubbing
my little pussy while I was sucked the gray haired
pussy. Mrs. Butler was making all kinds of nasty
comments about what I was doing to her pussy. It
was a wonder the other three could continue to play
cards. When Mrs. Butler climaxed I was pushed to
the right. I was being turned clockwise to service
the second lady.
It was just as well because that was Mrs.
Mayfield. Her stocking clad toe was driving me crazy.
She may have identified with being a blond but her
pubic hair gave testimony to the fact that she was a
brunet. It was her turn to pass on the next few
hands while she fucked my face with her pussy.
There was nothing shy about her letting everyone
know what I was doing to her pussy. When she was
finished it was time to move on.
Turning to the right again I was between the
legs of Mrs. Reynolds. She was such a tiny little old
woman that she hardly filled the seat of her chair
and if she sat back in the chair her feet would only
reach the floor if she put her toes down. When I
sucked her gray pussy she rested her legs over my
back and they were light. I could not believe just
how wet she was. She was not as talkative as the
others but she let me know how much she was
enjoying what I was doing by stroking my hair. When
she was finished she moved her legs and pushed my
head away.
Mrs. Wheeler was the last one. Being the
youngest woman at the party her skin was moist and
smooth. The fact that she was a chubby woman made
her skin like that of a baby. She must have slipped
one of Granny's mints in her pussy while I was sucking
the other ladies because when I stuck my tongue in
her pussy it tasted like mint. She was not as
talkative as her mother but everyone sure knew when
she came because she kicked the table spilling all of
the stacks of chips.
Granny pulled me out from under the table. All
of that pussy juice was starting to dry on my face
but Granny was licking it off of my face while she
kissed me. She was also sticking a finger up my pussy
and jilling me.
There was nothing to do but keep the ladies in
chips, drinks and cigarettes until the game was over.
Mrs. Wheeler was the first one to lose all of her
chips. She moved away from the table and took her
food with her to a couch. Mrs. Butler was the next to
exit the game. She sat by her daughter and cuddled
up with her while she stroked her pussy.
The game was down to Mrs. Mayfield and Mrs.
Reynolds. I watched the game carefully because the
winner was going to be using me. Mrs. Mayfield was
an aggressive better and Mrs. Reynolds was much
more reserved. They were exchanging chips back and
forth. Reynolds didn't show any emotion but now and
then she would pull on an ear nervously. A couple of
times when she did that Mrs. Mayfield would bump
the ante and win. When Mrs. Reynolds had a slight
lead she pulled on her ear when all of the cards were
turned showing 3, 9, jack and king, king. There was
only the one pair. Mrs. Mayfield got a grin on her
face and pushed all of her chips in with the
statement, "I'm all in."
She turned her hole cards over showing she had
a deuce, king, giving her three of a kind. Mrs.
Reynolds flipped her hole cards over and her two
cards were a 10 and a queen. That gave her a king
high straight.
Mrs. Mayfield had been taken in by her fake ear
pull. That ended the game. Mrs. Reynolds stood up
and took hold of my hand and led me to Granny's
bedroom. I was pleased because I figured Mayfield
would have been harder to please. Little did I know!
Mrs. Reynolds sat on the bed with me and we started
kissing while she stroked my naked pussy. She
masturbated me until I could not stand it any longer.
Her next move was to stack a couple of pillows up and
then place me across them with my butt in the air.
I wondered what she had in mind. I thought she
was going to spank me but when she used both hand
to spread the cheeks of my ass she blow air against
my asshole. I almost peed from the feeling but that
was just the start. She licked me from my small
little vulva to my asshole. When she reached it she
drilled her tongue into my ass. I almost passed out
before she was finished. While I recovered she sat
with her back against the headboard and pulled me up
to her lap and pulled my head right to her breasts. I
was sucking on her tit like a baby until I my jaw was
sore. Then it was my turn to suck her pussy again.
Only she also wanted her ass licked too. I had never
licked an asshole before. I thought I would be
repulsed by the smell but found that her ass smelled
rather sweet. I was exhausted by the time she was
satisfied.
When we returned to the parlor the four women
were paired up and still enjoying cuddling because
they had done whatever they had been doing. There
was another round of applause because they could tell
that I was spent. It was late and everyone had to get
dressed to go home.
The parties got even more interesting when
Mrs. Wheeler brought along her daughters. I became
friends with them and they introduced me to their
friends. At least my Mom stopped given me grief
about spending all of my time at Grandma's.
Everything was going just fine until my father
got laid off and had to take a job in another state.
That was when I had a fit and insisted that I wanted
to stay in the school district I had always been in.
The only way I could do that was to live with my
Granny. My mother put up a fight but I won out in
the end. From the day my parents moved away I
shared Granny's bed. Weekends were great fun.
I hope you enjoyed the story and have a story you
would like told please send your mail to
janmay699@icqmail.com |
Q:
Train a non Linear SVC model using Pyspark
Is there any way to train a non linear SVC model using Pyspark?
I've tried :
from sklearn.svm import SVC
svc = SVC(kernel="rbf", random_state=0, gamma=1, C=1)
model = svc.fit(features, target)
(features and target are two dataframes converted into List).
the problem is that I'de like to train with a component in Pyspark to speed up my training
A:
Non linear SVC is not available (yet) in Pyspark on the date of today according to:
https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/SPARK-4638 if you check out the last comment of one member of Spark community:
Non-linear kernels for SVMs in Spark would be great to have. The main barriers are:
Kernelized SVM training is hard to distribute. Naive methods require a lot of communication. To get this feature into Spark, we'd need to do proper background research and write up a good design.
Other ML algorithms are arguably more in demand and still need improvements (as of the date of this comment). Tree ensembles are first-and-foremost in my mind.
|
The invention relates to a method for introducing a pig-like tool into a pipeline which is operating, such as a fluid pipe. The invention also relates to a method for collecting data concerning such an operating pipeline. The invention also relates to a device for introducing a pig-like tool into an operating pipeline, such as a fluid pipe. The invention finally relates to a tool for introduction into such a pipeline, particularly according to one of the aforementioned methods and/or using an aforementioned device. A fluid pipe according to the invention can carry gases or liquids and in the latter case more particularly oil.
Nowadays preferably use is made of so-called pigs or scrapers for cleaning, surveying or inspecting pipelines, particularly gas or oil pipelines laid underground. Such a scraper can be generally defined as a travel or fitting member, which can pass through a pipeline with its own drive or using external energy in order to perform certain tasks . The degree of suitability of a pipeline for a pig passage is also referred to as piggability. Piggable pipe-lines are those which fulfil specific requirements of pig operation, particularly also with respect to welding technology and installation. In addition, a piggable pipeline must have at least one so-called pig station or lock, which is a fitting for inserting or removing one or more pigs with respect to a pipeline.
Since the appearance of intelligent pigs, i.e. those not solely comprising mechanical components, but also having an electrical/electronic part and which can therefore acquire, process, store and transmit measurement data, certain types of pipelines are regularly provided with such pig stations in order to be able to e.g. carry out cleaning or inspection on work without having direct access to the pipeline, i.e. without digging up the pipeline with the resulting cost disadvantage.
However, there are still numerous old pipes, which e.g. in the case of gas pipes in cities, can be 90 to 100 years old and where there is virtually no information concerning their condition. Such pipelines are buried in the ground regularly at a depth of around 1 to 2 m, whilst the depth under roads can be 4 or 5 m. In addition, such pipelines often have numerous valves or slide valves and travel with closely restricted bends, so that e.g. pipelines are frequently categorized as unpiggable. Hitherto direct access to such pipes, e.g. for cleaning, surveying or inspection purposes, has only been possible from the outside, which more particularly in cities involves very high effort and expenditure.
The problem of the invention is to provide a method through whose use the aforementioned disadvantages can be avoided in conjunction with work on hitherto unpiggable pipelines. The further problem of the invention is to provide a device usable with such a method and to provide a corresponding tool. |
CAIRO — The Egyptian military has enlisted Muslim scholars in a propaganda campaign to persuade soldiers and policemen that they have a religious duty to obey orders to use deadly force against supporters of the ousted president, Mohamed Morsi.
The effort is a signal that the generals are worried about insubordination in the ranks, after security forces have killed hundreds of their fellow Egyptians who were protesting against the military’s removal of the elected president — violence by the armed forces against civilians that is without precedent in the country’s modern history.
The recourse to religion to justify the killing is also a new measure of the depth of the military’s determination to break down the main pillar of Mr. Morsi’s support, the Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood. Indeed, after ousting Mr. Morsi in the name of tolerance, inclusiveness and an end to religious rule, the military is now sending religious messages to its troops that sound surprisingly similar to the arguments of radical militants who call for violence against political opponents whom they deem to be nonbelievers.
“When somebody comes who tries to divide you, then kill them, whoever they are,” Ali Gomaa, the former mufti appointed under President Hosni Mubarak, is seen telling soldiers in a video made by the military’s Department of Moral Affairs. “Even with the sanctity and greatness of blood, the prophet permits us to fight this,” he said in the video, likening opponents of the military takeover — implicitly, the Brotherhood — to an early Islamic sect that some scholars considered to be infidels, and thus permissible to kill. Mr. Gomaa later said the military had shown the video to troops and riot police officers across Egypt. |
est value in -3/59, -12, -1/7, -0.5?
-12
Which is the second smallest value? (a) -2.1 (b) 1/6 (c) 12 (d) -4
a
What is the third smallest value in -142/3, 7, 0?
7
Which is the third smallest value? (a) 0.04 (b) 2/9 (c) -0.5 (d) 16 (e) 249
b
Which is the second smallest value? (a) -1 (b) -3 (c) 0.04 (d) -19/30 (e) 2/15
a
Which is the smallest value? (a) 4 (b) -0.3 (c) -1/684 (d) -32
d
What is the smallest value in 3.5, 41, 0.1?
0.1
Which is the second biggest value? (a) -1/8 (b) 1166/67 (c) 6/19
c
Which is the third biggest value? (a) 17 (b) -2 (c) 2.447 (d) -2/9
d
What is the sixth biggest value in 0.4, 1.74, 0, -2/9, 4, -7?
-7
Which is the third biggest value? (a) 0.02971 (b) 0.06 (c) 6
a
What is the third biggest value in -13, 0, 1467/5?
-13
Which is the third smallest value? (a) 37 (b) -19 (c) -0.6
a
Which is the second biggest value? (a) -0.3 (b) -1.7 (c) 10/29
a
Which is the third smallest value? (a) 2628 (b) -1/7 (c) 11/7
a
What is the second smallest value in -0.4, -1211, -2/51, -2, 1, 4?
-2
Which is the fifth biggest value? (a) -4 (b) -3/5 (c) -0.1 (d) -3 (e) -131/2
e
What is the third biggest value in -5, -2/11, -4, 1/99, -0.015?
-2/11
What is the sixth biggest value in 0, -7/3, 0.2, -0.3, 2.12, 0.5?
-7/3
Which is the third smallest value? (a) 0.6 (b) 3 (c) 0.5 (d) -1.7 (e) 2/117 (f) 5
c
Which is the third biggest value? (a) 4 (b) 954 (c) -0.76
c
Which is the second biggest value? (a) 155 (b) 2 (c) -37/2
b
What is the fifth biggest value in -3968, -5, -1/2, -1, 2/7, 1/5?
-5
What is the third smallest value in 2745, 2/5, 40?
2745
What is the fourth smallest value in -42, 0.4, 0.5, 18563?
18563
What is the fourth smallest value in -1/2, 0.3, 0.11, -318, -0.8?
0.11
Which is the third smallest value? (a) 7 (b) 0.04 (c) 122
c
Which is the third biggest value? (a) -3/7 (b) 0.4 (c) 78
a
Which is the fourth biggest value? (a) -3 (b) 0.0963 (c) -18 (d) 0
c
Which is the biggest value? (a) -0.5 (b) 17 (c) -1 (d) -0.138
b
Which is the fourth biggest value? (a) 2/197 (b) -1 (c) -40 (d) -19
c
What is the third smallest value in -197, -4, 5?
5
Which is the third biggest value? (a) 0.1 (b) -1 (c) 5 (d) -23/3 (e) -13
b
Which is the smallest value? (a) 2/11 (b) -19 (c) -3 (d) -2/1159
b
What is the sixth smallest value in -11, 2/17, 3.8, 0.4, 0.2, 2?
3.8
What is the biggest value in -1, -0.02, 7/4, 3/2?
7/4
Which is the second biggest value? (a) 2/5 (b) -2 (c) -6/25 (d) -0.1
d
Which is the fifth biggest value? (a) -4 (b) 37 (c) -1/4 (d) 20 (e) -1 (f) 4
e
Which is the fourth smallest value? (a) -4 (b) -5 (c) 4/5 (d) -34 (e) -0.06 (f) 0.4
e
What is the fifth smallest value in -7/4, 12, -1, 3/4, 2.4?
12
What is the biggest value in 5, -81.443, -5, 1?
5
Which is the fifth smallest value? (a) 33 (b) -2/11 (c) 24 (d) 2/13 (e) 0
a
What is the fourth biggest value in -3, 5, -1/5, 127.62?
-3
What is the second smallest value in 1/3, -2/9, -2/23, -5, -0.3854?
-0.3854
Which is the third biggest value? (a) 356 (b) -2 (c) -5 (d) -2325
c
What is the biggest value in -16/4473, 3/7, -4?
3/7
What is the sixth smallest value in -1.5, -1, 9, 5, -9, 3?
9
Which is the third smallest value? (a) 0.1 (b) -4 (c) 9.3 (d) 1 (e) -3
a
Which is the second smallest value? (a) -0.1 (b) -0.2 (c) 20/533
a
Which is the third smallest value? (a) 4/23 (b) -4 (c) 5 (d) -2 (e) 1/3 (f) -41
d
What is the fourth smallest value in 12/17, -2, 2, 1, 0.078?
1
Which is the smallest value? (a) 2 (b) 6/25 (c) 1/106 (d) -2
d
What is the second smallest value in -1, 1/3, -4828, -4?
-4
Which is the biggest value? (a) 13 (b) 2 (c) 8 (d) 0.2
a
Which is the second smallest value? (a) 1/5 (b) 1238.9 (c) 3/5
c
Which is the third biggest value? (a) -177009 (b) 6 (c) -3
a
What is the fourth biggest value in -1/2, -1683, 4/3, 20, -3?
-3
Which is the second biggest value? (a) -3/7 (b) -2/1643 (c) 2
b
Which is the biggest value? (a) -4/3 (b) 10 (c) -24 (d) 4.6
b
Which is the second biggest value? (a) -0.0219 (b) 0 (c) 5 (d) -0.4 (e) 3/142
e
Which is the second smallest value? (a) 4 (b) 1/2 (c) -1214
b
Which is the biggest value? (a) 10 (b) 4 (c) -99 (d) 0.1 (e) 2/3
a
What is the second biggest value in -0.2, 62/5, -0.18?
-0.18
Which is the fourth biggest value? (a) -657 (b) -0.54 (c) 1 (d) 2/9
a
What is the second smallest value in -1/33, -2/3, -7, 2, -12?
-7
What is the second biggest value in 0.0802, -2/5, -0.5, -1?
-2/5
What is the fourth smallest value in 3, -101, 2/129, 4, 0.2?
3
What is the fifth biggest value in 2, 3, -1/4, -166, -0.5, -0.048?
-0.5
What is the biggest value in 2/5, -5, 4, -5/4, -722, -25?
4
Which is the second biggest value? (a) 2/35 (b) -2/11 (c) -7 (d) -0.4 (e) 0.7
a
Which is the smallest value? (a) 30 (b) 2/9 (c) -0.2 (d) 2 (e) 1.64 (f) 0.4
c
Which is the second biggest value? (a) 2 (b) -0.5 (c) -2 (d) 545168 (e) -5
a
Which is the biggest value? (a) -225 (b) 0.43 (c) 5 (d) -2/3
c
Which is the biggest value? (a) 0.11 (b) 5 (c) 45 (d) -0.088 (e) 0.3 (f) -1/4
c
Which is the fifth smallest value? (a) 2/21 (b) 2/5 (c) 0.1 (d) 0.1982 (e) -5.4
b
What is the fourth biggest value in -3, -16, 1, -3/5, 2/1399?
-3
What is the second smallest value in 49, 3/2, 2, 117, -4?
3/2
Which is the biggest value? (a) 3/8 (b) -2563 (c) 1/3 (d) 12 (e) -0.4
d
Which is the second smallest value? (a) 3/19 (b) 1 (c) 0.053
a
Which is the third smallest value? (a) 3 (b) 2/9 (c) 1530 (d) 5 (e) -0.1
a
What is the third smallest value in -5, -2, -0.924?
-0.924
Which is the second biggest value? (a) -1/5 (b) 0.02 (c) -0.4 (d) 5/4 (e) 2.9 (f) -9
d
Which is the fifth smallest value? (a) -3 (b) -76/41 (c) -5/3 (d) -2/11 (e) -5/2
d
What is the fourth biggest value in 1/7, 8, 51/8, 5, -4/5?
1/7
What is the biggest value in 2/5, -1/2, -2/7, 5, -915?
5
What is the third biggest value in -160, -5, 1, -3, -1?
-3
Which is the third biggest value? (a) 4 (b) -13 (c) 20229
b
Which is the third smallest value? (a) 206.76 (b) 3/8 (c) -0.5
a
What is the second smallest value in 1/4, 0.1, -0.44, 2/41, -0.3, 1?
-0.3
Which is the fourth smallest value? (a) -4 (b) 5/3 (c) -336 (d) -12 (e) -1/5 (f) 4
e
Which is the third biggest value? (a) -6.4 (b) -2/9 (c) -5/3 (d) 0.09 (e) -1
e
Which is the second biggest value? (a) 639 (b) -1/6 (c) -5
b
What is the biggest value in -8445, 2, 3?
3
What is the third biggest value in 0.862, 0.14, 17?
0.14
What is the second biggest value in 2, 7.7, 2.56?
2.56
What is the smallest value in -0.059, -3384, -6?
-3384
What is the fourth biggest value in 52, 2/15, -0.095, -2/3?
-2/3
Which is the second biggest value? (a) 2/7 (b) 5 (c) -0.1 (d) 46 (e) -1 (f) 3/583
b
Which is the biggest value? (a) -3 (b) -0.2 (c) -2/21 (d) -1 (e) 0.096 (f) 0.01
e
What is the second biggest value in 7.608, 27, 0.2?
7.608
What is the second biggest value in -32.5, 0.2, 2/9, 211, -2?
2/9
Which is the second biggest value? (a) 5/2 (b) -4.64 (c) -1.5 (d) 5
a
What is the sixth smallest value in 4, -1.83, -3, -1/3, -4, 5?
5
What is the fourth biggest value in -1/5, 1/5, 11.9, -388?
-388
Which is the biggest value? (a) -0.4 (b) 0.1 (c) 1 (d) -2 (e) 54 (f) 15
e
What is the smallest value in -0.2, -0.5, -0.3, 2/3, -19?
-19
Which is the third smallest value? (a) 600 (b) 2 (c) -0.6 (d) 0.4
b
Which is the second biggest value? (a) 26 (b) 3/82 (c) -0.03 (d) -0.06
b
Which is the second biggest value? (a) -0.5 (b) -4 (c) -9729/8
b
What is the second smallest value in -3/2, -1/2, -0.3, 0.0369, 12, -3/7?
-1/2
What is the fifth smallest value in -1, 0.4, -4, -1/29, 0.03, -0.3?
0.03
Which is the third smallest value? (a) 1 (b) -1.968 (c) 13
c
What is the smallest value in 0.2, -13/6, -6, 3, -3, -0.5?
-6
Which is the fourth biggest value? (a) 12 (b) 2 (c) 3 (d) -4 (e) 0.06 (f) 1/5
f
Which is the second smallest value? (a) 3 (b) 46 (c) -2 (d) 0.3 (e) -2/15
e
What is the second biggest value in -2/13, 304, -50?
-2/13
Which is the third smallest value? (a) -191 (b) 0.5 (c) -77.5
b
Which is the second smallest value? (a) 3 (b) 2/41 (c) -91
b
Which is the smallest value? ( |
The prevalence of IDDM in the first degree relatives of children newly diagnosed with IDDM in Austria--a population-based study. Austrian Diabetes Incidence Study Group.
Insulin dependent diabetes mellitus shows a strong familial predisposition and an unexplained geographical variation in incidence. It is not known whether the risk of IDDM in first degree relatives depends on the risk in the background population. The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of IDDM in parents and siblings of newly diagnosed children with IDDM in Austria, a known area of low risk for IDDM. The family history data of all diabetic children (< 15 years) diagnosed between 1988-1994 in Austria were analysed. The cumulative incidence of IDDM in siblings of newly diagnosed diabetic children was 0.0026772 cases/year, this means 29.7 times increased risk compared to the background population. Of the diabetic children 5.8% had at least one parent with IDDM and the prevalence of IDDM in fathers (3.9%) was higher (p = 0.015) compared to mothers (1.9%). The risk of IDDM tended to be higher for offsprings of diabetic fathers (OR 3.8, p < 0.003) in families with 2 or more children than in single child families, where the prevalence was 4.2% both in fathers and mothers. In conclusion the prevalence of IDDM in parents of diabetic children in Austria was lower than reported in populations with high IDDM incidence. This may reflect a lesser degree of genetic predisposition of the Austrian population. The prevalence of IDDM in siblings was similar to that in high risk populations. We saw an interaction of gender of the diabetic parent and diabetic offspring and the family size. |
Bizarre Shadowy Paper-Based Payment System Being Rolled Out Worldwide - user_235711
http://ledracapital.com/blog/2014/2/17/bitcoin-series-19-bizarre-shadowy-paper-based-payment-system-being-rolled-out-worldwide
======
hapless
Satire works when you hold _folly_ up to ridicule. Central banking is possibly
the greatest human invention since sanitation. The U.S. central banking system
ranks among the finest of its kind.
Bitcoin handles 7 transactions a second on a good day, has no reliable
institutional actors, and I can neither pay taxes nor satisfy court judgments
with it. It is an impressive proof-of-concept for decentralized trust in
cryptosystems, but it is hardly a currency.
~~~
nateabele
> _Central banking is possibly the greatest human invention since sanitation._
The greatest human invention since sanitation is that a tiny elite can control
the value of money (and money over time)?
Is that a joke? Are you joking?
Edit: Really...? Really? You know the devaluation of currency over time and
the resulting increase in the cost of goods disproportionately affects the
poor and middle class, as well as retirement savers who's interest rates can't
keep up, right?
Is that also a feature?
~~~
anigbrowl
Damn right it's a feature. Otherwise there'd be no incentive to invest, people
would just hoard assets instead of putting them to productive use. There's a
reason countries abandoned the gold standard: deflation and bank runs are
harder problems to manage than inflation.
~~~
jamoes
Don't buy into the propaganda. Bank runs only happen in fractional reserve
systems, which central banking facilitates and encourages.
Deflation isn't bad either, it encourages _saving_ , which rather than living
paycheck to paycheck as most do today.
~~~
dragontamer
Yes, because the "Centralized Bank" in 1929 caused the bank runs.
Oh wait, centralized banking didn't exist back then? Fractional Reserve
Systems didn't happen back then? And yet you have a decade of the greatest
bank-runs of US History?
And ever since the fractional reserve system was invented, there hasn't been a
national-scale bank run in the US for nearly 100 years?
~~~
andrewla
You might want to check your dates. From wikipedia[1]:
"The Federal Reserve System (also known as the Federal Reserve, and informally
as the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. It was created
on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, largely
in response to a series of financial panics, particularly a severe panic in
1907."
[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_System](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_System)
------
yoha
I don't think it will get popular. It needs too much infrastructure for
emission and tracking. You will need to manually find a way to get to the
right amount using such a restricted set of values [1]. Additionally, you
cannot make backups and it is very easy for lose or destroy some of these
"bills". It's a nice idea, but there is not a chance it will gain value. I
don't think it's worth investing any real money in it.
[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change-
making_problem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change-making_problem)
~~~
drcode
I think you've got it wrong. The appeal of those pieces of paper is that they
hold their value long term.
You can keep them in storage, and in 100 years they'll only have lost a mere
97% of their value.
~~~
gamblor956
Currency is not meant to hold value; it is not an asset. Currency is a means
of transacting. It needs only to hold its value in the _short_ term and change
value at a stable and predictable pace.
~~~
jamoes
Currency isn't meant to do anything, it just is. The reason you (and others)
think it's supposed to lose value is because you've been fed a set of lies
meant to deplete your wealth.
Try this thought experiment: Let's say the Federal Reserve invented two sets
of currencies in 1913: The Dollar, and The DeflataDollar. Both are protected
by Legal Tender Laws, both are acceptable for paying taxes, and both are
basically accepted everywhere. The only difference is that the supply of
Dollars increases every year (as it does now) whereas the DeflataDollar has a
constant supply. If your employer offers to pay you in either of these two
currencies, which one do you choose? Any rational actor would of course choose
to be paid in the currency that won't lose 97% of its value every hundred or
so years.
The only way to maintain an inflationary currency is to enforce its usage
through laws and taxation. Otherwise free individuals will choose something
else to trade with.
~~~
dllthomas
But your boss isn't going to offer you the same wage in each - they will be
able to offer you more Dollars than DeflataDollars _after adjusting for
inflation_ , because he needs to take into account the expected value when
he's liable to trade the currency for something else, not just the relative
values now. If _you_ want to trade for things immediately (say, buy some
groceries on the way home from work) you might very well prefer the Dollars.
If you plan on keeping your wages under your mattress for 20 years, obviously
you should prefer the DeflataDollars, but that's not what most people do.
_" Any rational actor would of course choose to be paid in the currency that
won't lose 97% of its value every hundred or so years."_
Right, because that time horizon is _totally_ what is relevant when I'm being
paid today and turning that money into other things tomorrow.
~~~
jamoes
The point of the thought experiment, if followed through to its logical
conclusion, is that in such a world The Dollar wouldn't even exist, only the
DeflataDollar would. _No one_ would accept a currency that's losing value
(even the grocery vendor on your way home from woek) if they had the choice to
accept something that will hold its value. It doesn't matter if the rate of
value loss is slow or fast, it's inferior to something that holds its value.
~~~
dllthomas
And that point is just wrong. Anyone with a short enough time horizon would
prefer the depreciating currency, because they can get it at a discount from
those with a longer time horizon.
~~~
jamoes
> Anyone with a short enough time horizon would prefer the depreciating
> currency, because they can get it at a discount from those with a longer
> time horizon.
Exactly, the inflationary currency would be sold at a discount. And the amount
of the discount would increase over time until the value of the currency fell
to zero.
~~~
dllthomas
I think you are confusing the real and the nominative. The currency would be
sold at a _real_ discount, which means a _real_ premium on my labor if I am
exchanging it for dollars instead of DeflataDollars, so that's what I'd prefer
to accept if I will be holding it for a short time.
_" And the amount of the discount would increase over time until the value of
the currency fell to zero."_
The exchange rate would change over time; that's unsurprising. I'm not sure
the discount (in real terms) would change if the rate of inflation was
constant. It is apparent that the value of the currency would fall _toward_
zero - that's basically our premise; it is not apparent that it would fall
_to_ zero. You'll have to support that if you want to stand by the claim.
~~~
jamoes
I agree that the rate of the discount would likely be constant over time if
the rate of the increase in money supply was also constant. If you sold your
labor for InfltaDollar's, you'd likely get paid a premium. However, when you
go to the grocery store to buy stuff with your InflataDollars, the grocer will
also expect the same discount for the InflataDollars they buy.
> It is apparent that the value of the currency would fall toward zero
I'm glad we agree on this.
> it is not apparent that it would fall to zero. You'll have to support that
> if you want to stand by the claim.
Fair enough. If graphed out, the value of the InflataDollar would only
_approach_ zero asymptotically. However, we're not just dealing with an
abstract math equation. At a certain point, the market would lose confidence
in the currency with a consistently falling value, and no one would be willing
to accept it unless forced to.
I do admit that I could be wrong - predicting the behavior of humans is always
imperfect. However, I am excited to see these experiments playing out in the
cryptocurrency space. We have Bitcoin, which has a fixed supply of currency,
and we also have Freicoin, a cryptocurrenty with demurrage (a form of currency
devaluation) built into it. It will be interesting to see the futures these
currencies have.
~~~
notahacker
Given the existence of a choice between deflating and a hypothetical
alternative of a universally accepted stable risk-free store of value, it
would be rational to prefer to receive the latter. It is still however, in my
rational interest to prefer the latter to not exist at all. Being one of the
large majority of people who aren't the unproductive uber-rich, I prefer that
those that have far more dollars than me are more inclined to circulate them,
creating far more opportunity for me to grow my share of national wealth (and
absolute national wealth) than would exist if dollars were to be spent only
when absolutely necessary. The corollary of your argument is that if we frame
it the other way round, with StableDollar and other non-depreciating capital
holders tending to hold more bargaining power than the general labour supply,
they will be able to get away with paying only InflataDollars to the point
where the level of StableDollars actually circulating in the economy will tend
towards zero asymptotically...
In our actual system the ability to deposit InflataDollars into accounts with
fixed risk-free positive returns (backed by expected and potential supplies of
InflataDollars), the government keeping inflation low, and the government
requiring you to pay tax on 30-40% of your income solely in InflataDollars
ensures the demand for InflataDollars will never approach zero. In fact, it's
_much less likely to reach zero than the demand for Bitcoins, Freicoins or
tulip bulbs, none of which anybody is obliged to use in any circumstances_ (at
least not until Bitcoin-denominated debts become widespread and readily
enforceable. If I wanted to design a cryptocurrency I'd focus on that aspect)
~~~
dllthomas
You are obliged to use bitcoins if you want to put something in the blockchain
(and no one will do it without a transaction fee). If you aren't using
bitcoins otherwise, there is not presently any reason to put something in the
blockchain. That could potentially change.
I'm not sure whether or not that is meaningfully different from "you are
obliged to use tulip bulbs if you want to grow. tulips." I am inclined to
think that it could be.
------
Tloewald
The article is idiotic and disingenuous. Paper money didn't attempt to replace
coin in one fell swoop. Paper money evolved from letters of credit which make
perfect sense, and bitcoin fundamentally relies on similar concepts anyway.
You can't buy something online by just anonymously transmitting credits into
an account -- who gave us the money? what do they want? You fill in an order
form, a bunch of stuff happens, you get a receipt and a product and money gets
transferred at some point. Very little of that is the currency transaction.
You needed to generate a letter that said I want X and I'll pay you Y, then
you paid Y and sent confirmation of the money transfer, and so on.
The bitcoin bulls think that Credit Cards are a terrible way to buy things
because they charge too much for what they do (and their security sucks). This
may be true, but bitcoin is only solving the easiest part of the problem.
Banks can already transfer money around cheaply and securely. Indeed even
market transactions are so fast and inexpensive that high speed trading is now
a huge economic force.
The fact is that credit cards (a) let you buy stuff on credit, (b) provide
transactional support allowing commerce to proceed smoothly, and (c) already
work. A credit card is merely automated checking with overdrafts, which is a
direct descendant of the letter of credit (from which cash evolved), which is
in fact a more fundamental method of trading than barter. (Tracking people's
accounts is the reason writing was invented.)
------
leobelle
Ever since POS hacks on Target and other retailers I've completely switched to
cash only. Not only can't you be tracked, something I'm not sure I care about,
but it reduces the chances of somebody stealing your card info.
And I only use wells fargo ATMs, because they have a nice green glowing card
input, so you know nobody put a malicious card scanner on the ATM.
It's a complete reversal from a few years ago where I wouldn't carry cash and
wouldn't go anywhere that was cash only. Going cash only also reduces the fees
for stores where you buy things.
Cash is the way to go, despite all of our technology.
~~~
hahainternet
Sweet, now you have no insurance and you carry about significant quantities of
money I'm sure you're much safer.
~~~
leobelle
Insurance against what? I don't carry boatloads of cash on me.
~~~
hahainternet
Insurance against theft, fraud, any transaction based deception you are now
unprotected against. Once you have handed over cash, it'll take a herculean
effort to get that back.
On the other hand, when someone mugged me for my card, I cancelled it a few
minutes later and had a replacement within 2 days. I lost nothing but my pride
and my wallet.
~~~
polymatter
But your risk exposure is much much higher. When a mugger steals $70 from me,
my maximum exposure is $70. There is no way that mugger can use those bills to
extract any more money from me or as a launchpad for fraud. When a mugger
steals my card (and then commits a little fraud) my maximum exposure is my
bank account + overdraft + other accounts I have with the same bank + whatever
loans they could get.
~~~
gtirloni
_When a mugger steals my card (and then commits a little fraud) my maximum
exposure is my bank account + overdraft + other accounts I have with the same
bank + whatever loans they could get_
Your practical maximum exposure is zero, if you follow the correct process.
Call your bank and report the stolen card. Any transactions will be undone and
the bank will take the hit, in the name of keeping the public's faith in the
banking system. This is an ordinary business day for the bank.
------
kordless
This article is entertaining, interesting and relevant. Humans are
exceptionally good at rationalizing their biases, especially if they involve
trust, and interest is required to alter those biases in a positive way. The
biggest challenge for cryptocurrencies today is raising interest and trust in
the general population. We can best effect that by working hard to raise
interest in cryptocurrencies in a positive way.
This is more commonly known as "marketing".
~~~
at-fates-hands
>> The biggest challenge for cryptocurrencies today is raising interest and
trust in the general population.
I would actually say its getting the general public informed. 75% of the US
population are aging baby boomers. They can barely work an iphone, how the
heck do you think they're ever going to accept cryptocurrency? Even with a ton
of marketing, this is something that is completely foreign to 85% of the
general population.
~~~
k-mcgrady
>> "I would actually say its getting the general public informed. 75% of the
US population are aging baby boomers. They can barely work an iphone, how the
heck do you think they're ever going to accept cryptocurrency? Even with a ton
of marketing, this is something that is completely foreign to 85% of the
general population."
You're saying 75% of the US population cannot work an iPhone? Or 75% are baby
boomers?? Just so you're more informed next time you make up stats, less than
15% of the US population would be considered baby boomers.
Source:
[http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html](http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html)
and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby-
Boom_Generation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby-Boom_Generation)
~~~
at-fates-hands
"Baby Boomers make up 35% of the American adult population (Scarborough)."
"By 2015, those aged 50 and older will represent 45% of the U.S. population
(AARP)."
[http://www.immersionactive.com/resources/50-plus-facts-
and-f...](http://www.immersionactive.com/resources/50-plus-facts-and-fiction/)
Ok so not exactly 75%, but I was a lot closer than the 15% you mentioned.
~~~
k-mcgrady
If we take your first figure of 35% I am closer. If we take your second figure
of 45% we are each 30% off. So yet again - stop making things up, you are not
a lot closer.
Also "By 2015, those aged 50 and older..." Some of those people wouldn't be
considered baby boomers as that generation ends in 1964.
------
acconrad
My issue with fluff pieces like this is that there are plenty of established
tools in our lives that would not be available if they started out today.
Acetaminophen (or Tylenol by it's brand name) is often touted as a drug that
would never pass modern FDA regulations if it were introduced today due to
it's issues with liver toxicity and link to Reye's Syndrome.
We make products and services with what we have available at the time, that
doesn't necessarily mean that they are an indefinite solution, nor does it
mean that we are going to hold our archaic solutions to the same standard we
do with our new and improved solutions.
~~~
hapless
Tylenol should probably not be available over the counter. It has a narrow
therapeutic index and safer, equally effective alternatives.
~~~
Consultant32452
Conversely: everything should be available over the counter. If someone wants
to kill themselves by destroying their liver with acetaminophen, that's their
business.
~~~
hapless
If _everything_ were available over the counter, the presumption of safety
would disappear, and we wouldn't have a problem.
As it is, we have a two tier system. Consumers are trained that OTC drugs are
so safe they barely have to glance at the instructions. APAP is vastly more
dangerous than its peers on the OTC shelf, and consumers are placed at risk.
------
bertil
[This is satyre, imagining cash introduced now, and mocking BitCoin's critics.
Some ring true, some miss the two-sided market issues behind adopting new
payment forms.]
To be honest, I’ve been in Nordic countries for a year (where all transaction
are card-based, and there is no minimum amount for payment) and that situation
rung surprisingly true — especially after yesterday, when I was facing a coat
valet who was expecting a ten crown in cash.
~~~
busterarm
I had amusing experiences in Denmark where I was forced to walk around with
about 10,000 kroner because American banks and lending institutions are too
lazy and cheap to implement Chip-and-Pin systems. Also almost nobody takes
American Express (I don't blame them though).
Anyway, folks' reactions to that much cash were pretty much "are you a drug
dealer?", which was pretty funny.
At least I _always_ had cash for the Pølsevogn. :)
I had similar happen to me in Iceland but they're slightly more cash and
"Yankee Plastic"-friendly.
~~~
hapless
The U.S. will be implementing chip-and-pin in 2015.
~~~
busterarm
I know. It's about damned time.
------
williamcotton
Our currently existing currencies evolved over time. Central banking and fiat
currency were institutions delivered by liberal democracies by the process of
public debate.
They were not hair-brained ideas established by anonymous individuals engaged
in private debate outside of the forums of democracy.
Look, I know all of you are very excited about these experimental economic and
political systems, but please realize that the existing world that you are
"suffering" under was mainly developed as a slow process of evolution.
Most extreme revolutionary ideas take a long time to work their way in to the
existing societal structures and way of life. When they're quickly forced on
to people, all fucking hell breaks loose.
So for fucks sake, get some balance and control your zealotry, people!
And read some history books! The future is built from the past no matter how
long or hard of a process that seems to be. Go with the flow!
Engage with other people. Engage with the existing institutions. Even if it is
a better idea, there are billions of people who rely on the current system in
ways that you can't predict.
~~~
alexmat
"The future is built from the past no matter how long or hard of a process
that seems to be."
Observation of the past does not allow one to accurately predict the future. I
recommend Karl Popper's classic, "The Poverty of Historicism", which expounds
on the topic.
~~~
williamcotton
I'm not talking about predicting the future. I'm talking about the fact that
you can't escape the past.
And you mean the same book that Popper dedicated "In memory of the countless
men and women of all creeds or nations or races who fell victim to the fascist
and communist belief in Inexorable Laws of Historical Destiny"?
Much like how everyone is trumpeting the "inexorable laws of historical
destiny" of Bitcoin? Hmm?
Thank you for reminding me of this book, BTW, I had sort of forgotten about
it! Unfortunately you seem to have misapplied its lessons but it is actually
basically in support of the same sort of arguments I've been making about
Bitcoin.
------
ashray
Amazing post! I wonder why everyone is called Mike Smith in the article though
? Mike Smith - VP of this, Mike Smith - a tourist, Mike Smith - etc. ?
Something else that wasn't covered is that cash is also dirty and carries
grime and infections. Ideally you should wash your hands before you eat if you
handle any cash. (this is less of a problem with laminated/plastic notes like
the CAD or EUR)
Imagine a super virus propagating and killing people through cash. Ouch!
~~~
hapless
There are few, if any, documented cases of illness being transmitted by cash.
This is why regulation does not require food handlers to take special
precautions while handling cash.
~~~
redblacktree
A quick google turned up this document[1], which claims that food handlers
should wash their hands, "after handling money or a cash register."
[http://www.healthandwelfare.idaho.gov/Portals/0/Health/FoodP...](http://www.healthandwelfare.idaho.gov/Portals/0/Health/FoodProtection/Employees%20Guide%20to%20Food%20Safety.pdf)
------
beobab
Sounds like a great idea. I'd love to get some of this "cash" stuff everyone
keeps talking about.
~~~
almosnow
Yeah, sounds like you could build a really cool civilization over that, I'm
totally in. (Not sarcastic at all, I definitely enjoy the world and how it
works.)
------
keithgabryelski
go home bitcoin -- you're drunk.
bank notes are a very simple system, so simple it has been used for over a
thousand years.
~~~
shitgoose
_Gold_ has been around for over a thousand years. Bank notes that cannot be
exchanged for gold at fixed rate are recent invention (1971).
~~~
lmm
Gold was used to back currency for less than a hundred years (except in
Britain). Pre-1800 banknotes were never pegged to gold.
(If you were talking about silver you might have a leg to stand on).
~~~
redblacktree
But didn't folks primarily use hard currency prior to 1800? Wouldn't that
obviate the need for "backing?"
------
teddyh
I Can Barely Draw webcomic has recently had a number of comincs in the same
vein as this, starting here:
[http://www.icanbarelydraw.com/comic/2565](http://www.icanbarelydraw.com/comic/2565)
------
talmir
This reminded me of the fact that I havent handled, or even touched, real
paper money for at least a year now. Here in Iceland paper currencly is slowly
being phased out, and has been for a few years.
------
raverbashing
This is the premise behind the subreddit r/ActualMoney
Satire is an interesting way to analyze things, especially in this case.
~~~
Marazan
No, the actual money subreddit is taking the piss out of Bitcoin.
------
the_watcher
Obviously hyperbolic and not a perfect comparison, but gets enough right to be
pretty damn clever. The "hardware wallets" security flaws and anonymity
facilitating criminals are particularly enjoyable.
The more policy-oriented economic points aren't nearly as strong, but overall,
I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Just to be clear: I like Bitcoin a lot, but I don't think it will ever replace
national currencies. I just enjoy pointing out the hypocrisy of a lot of
bitcoin detractors.
------
raintrees
I don't know if anyone remembers Bob Newhart standup shtik, but this article
(abridged/down-sized) would fit right in there...
------
alayne
Bitcoins (and others) aren't backed by a government. One of the major
exchanges used to trade Magic the Gathering cards (You know, for kids!). Bills
also have serial numbers that provide some amount of traceability, at least
between Federal Reserve branches and banks.
~~~
shiftpgdn
A. MtGox never traded magic the gathering cards, this is a myth. The domain
might have been bought for that but it was never a trading platform for magic
cards.
B. Magic the Gathering isn't just for kids! It's actually quite fun.
~~~
kbenson
_B. Magic the Gathering isn 't just for kids! It's actually quite fun._
I'm pretty sure the "You know, for kids!" is a Hudsucker Proxy reference.
------
justinzollars
I'll take any unwanted bills. :)
------
jcslzr
they say that is why they sink the Titanic, on board was all the powerful
people that opposed the creation of the Fed, (I personally don't think an
iceberg can do that), but anyway one year later the Fed was born.
~~~
MartinCron
_I personally don 't think an iceberg can do that_
Oppose the creation of the Fed? Icebergs are very persuasive. You should stop
listening to whatever conspiracy nonsense you're listening to and go talk with
an iceberg instead.
------
Sheepshow
What a circle jerk.
------
Eleutheria
The good.
Money is good, in any form. Banks are good, they help allocate resources in a
capitalist economy. Central banks are good, they can help other banks in need.
The bad.
Fractional reserve banking is robbery. Inflation is robbery. Printing money is
robbery.
The ugly.
Government, the fed, banksters, they are a maffia, a band of thugs writ large.
|
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How ultrasound might get drugs across the blood-brain barrier
A new technology uses ultrasound and tiny bubbles to open the blood-brain barrier.
Cavitation microstreaming generated by a microbubble and marked by fluorescent beads.
Miles M. Aron, courtesy of BUBBL, University of Oxford, England
New technology may open the door to safer and less invasive use of drugs used to treat brain cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.
The brain is surrounded by a protective barrier called the blood-brain barrier that prevents chemicals in the blood from entering the brain. While this keeps out toxins, it can also prevent access of certain drugs to the brain which can help in the treatment brain cancer and other diseases of the brain.
Researchers from the University of Oxford, UK, and the University of Twente, Netherlands, have developed a promising technique for opening the barrier using ultrasound and microscopic bubbles known as ‘cavitation agents’.
The research was conducted collaboratively between the University of Oxford, United Kingdom and the University if Twente, Netherlands. An experimental platform – a kind of “blood-brain barrier on a chip” made from human cells – was used to measure acoustic emissions, light, sound and electrical fields of the blood-brain barrier during treatment. Fluorescent probes were also used to determine the mechanical and chemical effects on the cells from the cavitation agents. This allowed disruption, recovery and biological response of the barrier to be observed in real time.
While tests on real brains are some way off, this method may open up a range of new possibilites for treating diseases of the brain. |
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Like French Onion only ours is chicken based & topped w/ Gruyere Cheese
$7.99
Lobster Bisque
Don’t be fooled! Not all Lobster bisque is the same. Ours has a nice hint of spice & laced w/ Madeira Wine
Gumbo of the day
“gumbo” means okra but Tracie doesn’t like it & would never serve anything she won’t eat. We thicken our gumbo w/ Gumbo Filé powder. Ask your server. We usually have chicken gumbo or seafood. If you would like some Andouille sausage in either, we can do that too. But you have to ask nicely.
The Main Deal
These are all the spicy ones that can’t be spice down. Everything can be spiced up if you are daring!
Jambalaya
This is our spiciest dish & cannot be spiced down. It literally translates “ham, rice & everything in between.” Ours is a combination of Andouille sausage, celery, onions, green peppers & tomatoes. On a scale of 1-10 this dish is an 8. (just so you know, the girl’s a 10!)
We have noticed that the kids will eat a mild version of chicken bites & we serve them w/ a small side of rice & broccoli Or they will eat pasta w/ butter or a light red sauce (angel hair or bowtie) If your kids are really picky, we’ll talk to them directly & “convince” them they will want to try the Alligator! You might be surprised! We don’t have chicken fingers or French fries
Without hesitation I told Cliff I already had a prince. I could hear Cliff’s smile through the phone.
“Good answer,” he replied.
Bird With Umbrella Clip Art
Cliff tells me he’s going to trade me in for someone younger. And I’m going out back to find the frog. I laugh at him & say no cute girl wants anything to do w/ him & his belly. He says he’s got the personality. Indeed he does! I tell him he would miss me. I do alright for an old broad though far from being a spring chicken. He says he would miss me very much. That’s the beauty of homemade cream of chicken soup.
I have lived next to this establishment for about 1 year and have seen that it is regularly busy. I decided to stop in last night. Very disappointing. While the red beans and rice appetizer was tasty it was served slightly warm, at best. What...More
Wanted something different to eat and figured why not give it a try. Place was small and homey. This restaurant seat around 50 and servers were very accommodating. It’s a BYOB. We had for appetizers the artichoke hearts and blackened tuna which was very very...More
Been coming here for years, even in the previous location. The outside patio is nice even though you’re right on route 35 but the view of the river & marina are nice. It’s a byob so bring your favorite wine/beer. I have a few favorites...More
We went here with 'locals' on an early Sat. evening and the restaurant filled up rapidly. The staff was attentive, quick, pleasant, and made suggestions and offered additions to various dishes. (I added scallops to the swamp daddy pasta which was great (and had a...More
The food was surprisingly good. Portions are large. I could’ve split the jambalaya - which was very good. Lobster Mac and cheese was delicious. This place is BYOB. Service was a little slow, and our food came out at different times, but everyone loved their...More
This is a dining experience you should not miss. The flavors are fantastic. The service is excellent. The Hungry Gringo arrived hungry and departed filled to the gills. The tuna is awesome. Jambalaya excellent. The gator wonderful. Two items that stand out; the food is...More
This is a quaint little place with some delicious dishes. The staff was very informed and helped me decide on what to eat. I had the swamp daddy which was to die for. It was a large portion so I was able to take some...More
Took some friends to Ragin Cajun last week. They had never been here before and I think it's safe to say that everyone left happy. BYOB so bring a selection. Warning: the Jambalaya is HOT! It even says in the menu that it cannot be...More |
265 P.3d 243 (2011)
2011 WY 159
Jeramie John Edwin LARGE, Appellant (Defendant),
v.
The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff).
No. S-11-0068.
Supreme Court of Wyoming.
November 30, 2011.
*245 Representing Appellant: Diane M. Lozano, State Public Defender; Tina N. Olson, Appellate Counsel; David E. Westling, Senior Assistant Appellate Counsel. Argument by Mr. Westling.
Representing Appellee: Gregory A. Phillips, Wyoming Attorney General; Terry L. Armitage, Deputy Attorney General; D. Michael Pauling, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Stewart M. Young, Faculty Director, Prosecution Assistance Program. Argument by Mr. Young.
Before KITE, C.J., and GOLDEN, HILL, VOIGT, and BURKE, JJ.
VOIGT, Justice.
[¶ 1] The appellant, Jeramie John Edwin Large, was charged with six crimes arising from an incident when he stole and crashed a vehicle. In this appeal he claims that his right to a speedy trial was violated and that he was denied his right to counsel without being adequately instructed and warned of the dangers of proceeding without counsel. Finding no error, we affirm.
ISSUES
[¶ 2] 1. Whether the appellant received a speedy trial.
2. Whether the district court properly informed the appellant of the dangers of proceeding without counsel and the penalties he faced.
FACTS
[¶ 3] A felony information charging the appellant with burglary, larceny, interference with a police officer, failure to provide personal information after a vehicular accident, and failure to give notice of an accident to police, was filed against the appellant on October 2, 2009. That same day, the appellant executed an affidavit requesting court-appointed counsel and an order appointing a public defender was entered. In the affidavit, the appellant wrote, "Rep[resent] myself w[ith] stand in counsel." Also, on October 2, 2009, the appellant waived his preliminary hearing.
[¶ 4] Ten days after the appellant completed his application for appointed counsel, but before his arraignment, the public defender's office moved to vacate its appointment because the appellant "wrote on [the *246 affidavit] that he would represent himself `with stand in counsel'."[1] Shortly thereafter, but before arraignment, the appellant filed handwritten pro se motions asking the district court for, among other things, a separation of the charges, full discovery, and medical care.
[¶ 5] On October 19, 2009, the district court conducted a hearing to address the appellant's request to represent himself with standby counsel, and the public defender's response that such was precluded by statute. At that hearing, however, a public defender advised that the appellant had recently "resubmitted an application for appointment of the public defender's office ... with the full understanding that we don't do it as stand-by counsel." The appellant confirmed that counsel's statement was correct.
[¶ 6] At an arraignment hearing on October 28, 2009, some confusion arose as to which particular public defender had been assigned to the appellant's case. The district court stated it was "not going to have this hearing without you having a lawyer," to which the appellant responded, "I'd like to proceed ... and just set it for jury trial at this time." The district court then explained to the appellant that "if technically there has been an order entered, then we need to allow that counsel to be here. But I'm going to get this set as quickly as I can."
[¶ 7] A week later, on November 4, 2009, the public defender's office filed another motion to vacate its appointment, stating:
[The appellant] has implied he will continue to make filings on his own behalf even though he has court-appointed counsel; [the appellant] has requested he be given access to a law library 1 to 2 hours a week for his legal research.
. . . .
[The appellant] is not open to any counseling or recommendations by his court-appointed attorney.
The district court set a hearing on this motion to vacate for January 6, 2010.
[¶ 8] Before the district court had an opportunity to hear the motion to vacate, the appellant filed various handwritten motions, including a motion for permission to attend his grandmother's funeral, "Motion to Represent Myself," "Motion to Set Dates for Jury Trial," "Motion to be Granted Access to Law Library," "Motion for Complete File, Discovery," "Motion Requesting Public Defenders," and a request for an "evidentiary hearing... regarding inconsistencies and statues [sic], degree of charges, etc." A few weeks later, on December 7, 2009, the appellant filed additional motions for change of venue, allegedly on "due process" grounds, including "complications of misrepresentation by public defenders [sic] office on two separate occasions" and one appointed attorney's "failing to appear to my set arraignment ... and failure to properly represent me on my matters."
[¶ 9] Given the appellant's erratic behavior and apparent desire to represent himself, defense counsel moved for a competency evaluation. On January 6, 2010, the district court heard that motion and another motion by the public defender to withdraw. At the hearing, the State argued that the motion to withdraw had "been filed partly on the request of [the appellant] making that indication that he'd like to represent himself." The appellant stated that he was "definitely [] going to trial on these charges, with or without a public defense." The district court told the appellant that before it would allow him to represent himself, it wanted to be positive that he was capable of doing so and understood that he would be held to the same standard as an attorney. The appellant responded that he would like the district court to appoint a different attorney. To that, his current public defender responded, "Your honor, we have numerous letters, correspondence from [the appellant], indicating that he chooses to represent himself." Pointing to the inconsistencies, the public defender advocated for a competency determination because "[i]t appears that one minute he would like to use our office, the next he wouldn't."
[¶ 10] The district court took the competency evaluation request under advisement *247 and on February 3, 2010, issued an order finding "that Wyoming Statute § 7-11-304(d) requires an examination of the Defendant" and the court ordered the Wyoming State Hospital to conduct an examination. On April 14, 2010, after the evaluation was complete, the district court held a hearing on the appellant's competency. At that hearing, the appellant's counsel noted that the appellant's examiner had found him competent to proceed and able to either aid and assist an attorney with his defense or represent himself. His current public defender then noted that the appellant had informed him that he would like other counsel and orally moved to withdraw as counsel. Based on the State Hospital's report, the district court found the appellant had "the capacity to comprehend his position, to understand the nature and object of the proceedings, to conduct his defense in a rational manner, and the ability to cooperate with counsel to the end that any defense may be interposed on his behalf." The court then arraigned the appellant on the six charges against him.
[¶ 11] On April 29, 2010, the appellant, through his third appointed counsel, filed a demand for a speedy trial. Then, on July 21, 2010, he filed a handwritten pro se "Motion to Address the Courts of Violating My Right to a Speedy Trial, By [sic] Constitutional Rights and Amended Rights." On September 2, 2010, he filed another handwritten pro se "Motion Requesting the Courts to Order Listed Expert Witnesses Reqiuered [sic] for Trial."
[¶ 12] The appellant's third attorney moved to vacate his appointment on grounds that he had been "appointed as [the appellant]'s counsel ... after two other Public Defenders were permitted to withdraw the Public Defender's Office due to the [appellant] acting as his own attorney by filing motions on his own behalf without conferring with counsel." Counsel also informed the district court that the appellant had resumed filing motions without informing counsel or sending copies of those motions to counsel. Furthermore, counsel advised the court that the appellant had "implied that he will continue to make filings on his own behalf even though he has Court-Appointed Counsel." Counsel requested that he be relieved of his appointment "[b]ecause the [appellant] acts as his own attorney and works at cross purposes with [the appellant's] Counsel's trial preparation."
[¶ 13] The next day, the district court heard counsel's motion to vacate his appointment. Counsel stated that he was concerned that
we're kind of working at cross purposes here. [The appellant] has continued to file motions with the Court. ... [The appellant] evidently feels that he has a great deal of knowledge regarding criminal law proceedings, and it's very difficult to work with a client if he's going to be filing his own motions and acting as his own attorney.
The appellant then explained why he had filed some of his motions, asserting, "I just want to go to trial and get some closure on this." When the district court asked him how he would like to proceed, he stated, "I'm proposing that I have my trial on the 28th, if that's okay with you, Your Honor." The district court explained to the appellant that he had placed his attorney in a difficult position and had again placed the court "in the situation of finding someone else to represent [him.]" The appellant responded that, after going through three attorneys, he "would be happy" representing himself. He then stated, "I'm definitely not waiving my speedy trial, and I'll represent myself if so be needed. ... I want to keep my trial. I want to go forward with whatever it is and get closure on this situation." The district court then sought to clarify whether the appellant wanted to decline representation by the public defender's office and proceed representing himself. The appellant replied affirmatively to both inquiries, suggesting that self-representation was the only option that would allow him to proceed to trial without additional delay. The district court agreed that appointing a new attorney would likely require a continuance and that it could not make such an appointment at that point unless the appellant waived his right to a speedy trial. The appellant indicated that he understood and stated that he did not want a *248 continuance but would proceed without counsel.
[¶ 14] Two weeks later at a pretrial hearing, the district court again addressed the appellant's decision to waive his right to counsel and represent himself. The court placed the appellant under oath and asked if he was knowingly and intelligently waiving his right to counsel. The court informed him that, at any time, he could change his mind about proceeding pro se and either retain a lawyer or ask that one be appointed. The court cautioned, however, that it would permit no further postponements of the trial, even if the appellant brought a new attorney into the case. The court also warned that it would no longer allow the appellant to represent himself if the appellant's "conduct deliberately engages in serious and obstructionist misconduct before the Court. ..." Finally, the court admonished as to specific "dangers and disadvantages to self-representation" and that the appellant's failure to accept or employ an attorney might be detrimental to his case. The appellant stated that he was not under the influence of anything that might prevent him from understating the court's advice and acknowledged that he understood the court's explanations and warnings.
[¶ 15] At the court's request, the prosecutor then outlined the substance of all six of the charges against the appellant, the range of sentences that could be imposed upon conviction of those crimes, and that the sentences could run consecutively. The appellant again stated that he understood. At that point, the court found and concluded as follows:
... the defendant has clearly been advised of his right to assistance, including his right to the assignment of counsel when he is so entitled, that the defendant possesses the intelligence and the capacity to appreciate the consequences of his decision, and that the defendant comprehends the nature of the charges and the proceedings, the range of permissible punishments, and any additional facts essential to a broad understanding of the case.
So you have knowingly and intelligently waived your right to counsel.
[¶ 16] A jury trial commenced on September 27, 2010, and ended the next day. The appellant was found guilty of two counts of burglary and each count of failing to report; however, he was acquitted of larceny and the jury could not reach a verdict on the interference with a police officer charge. The appellant timely appealed his convictions.
DISCUSSION
Whether the appellant received a speedy trial.
[¶ 17] In the first of two issues raised by the appellant, he asserts that he was denied his right to a speedy trial. "We examine de novo the constitutional question of whether a defendant has been denied a speedy trial in violation of the Sixth Amendment." Berry v. State, 2004 WY 81 ¶ 17, 93 P.3d 222, 227 (Wyo.2004). "The district court's findings of fact on the speedy trial issue are reviewed for clear error." Sisneros v. State, 2005 WY 139, ¶ 16, 121 P.3d 790, 797 (Wyo.2005).
[¶ 18] Speedy trial questions are governed by both the rules of criminal procedure and the federal constitution. "W.R.Cr.P. 48 governs the time period between arraignment and trial; however, delays between the time of charge and the time of trial are subject to the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution." Walters v. State, 2004 WY 37, ¶ 9, 87 P.3d 793, 795 (Wyo.2004) (internal citations omitted). W.R.Cr.P. 48(b)(2) requires that: "A criminal charge shall be brought to trial within 180 days following arraignment unless continued as provided in this rule." In deciding this issue, we must first determine the proper date of arraignment.
[¶ 19] The appellant argues that we should construe the hearing on October 28, 2009, as his arraignment because that was the date originally set for that purpose. The appellant's trial began on September 27, 2010, which would have resulted in a 334-day delay between arraignment and trial far exceeding the 180 days allowed in W.R.Cr.P. 48. While the appellant advocates for that date, he also concedes that the October 28, 2009, hearing did not meet the requirements *249 of W.R.Cr.P. 10, as no charges were read and no plea was entered.
[¶ 20] The State agrees that the October 28, 2009, hearing lacked the hallmarks of an arraignment, and argues that the actual arraignment had to be delayed until April 14, 2010, which date resulted in a delay less than the 180 days prescribed by W.R.Cr.P. 48. The State contends that the appellant caused most of the delay between his arrest and arraignment as he continually undermined his appointed attorneys' efforts effectively to represent him. We agree with the State.
[¶ 21] The appellant significantly delayed both his arraignment and trial by asking numerous times for appointment of a new attorney. The record is replete with efforts by the appellant to refuse, change or dismiss counsel. The appellant initially requested "stand-in" counsel, he moved to represent himself, he requested new counsel, his third attorney moved to vacate appointment because of the appellant's lack of cooperation, and, finally, at the competency hearing the appellant requested appointment of a different attorney. All three of the attorneys appointed to represent the appellant reported that he repeatedly filed his own motions without discussing them with counsel and would not follow instructions not to file such motions. W.R.Cr.P. 48 specifically states that delays attributable to a "defendant's change of counsel or application thereof" are excluded from the 180-day period under the rule. W.R.Cr.P. 48(b)(3)(D).
[¶ 22] In addition to the delays caused by the appellant's efforts to change counsel, further delay occurred when it became necessary to determine the appellant's competency prior to arraigning him. When the appellant's competency became an issue, it was incumbent on the district court to address that matter prior to arraignment. Follett v. State, 2006 WY 47, ¶ 8, 132 P.3d 1155, 1158 (Wyo.2006) ("A criminal defendant may not be tried unless he is competent, and he may not waive his right to counsel or plead guilty unless he does so competently and intelligently." (quoting Godinez v. Moran, 509 U.S. 389, 396, 113 S.Ct. 2680, 2685, 125 L.Ed.2d 321 (1993))). Both this Court and the United States Supreme Court have made clear that the "competency requirement continues from the time of arraignment through sentencing." Id. (citing Godinez, 509 U.S. at 403, 113 S.Ct. at 2689).
[¶ 23] W.R.Cr.P. 48 specifically excludes from the speedy trial computation "[a]ll proceedings related to the mental illness or deficiency of the defendant." W.R.Cr.P. 48(b)(3)(A). Indeed, we have said that "[w]here the primary reason for the delay is the determination of the defendant's mental competency to stand trial, Wyoming law requires suspension of all criminal proceedings until the district court can make a determination of the defendant's mental competency." Hauck v. State, 2001 WY 119, ¶ 14, 36 P.3d 597, 601 (Wyo.2001); see also Smith v. State, 871 P.2d 186, 190 (Wyo.1994) (trial court suspended proceedings to evaluate defendant's competency and arraigned him only after determining he was fit to proceed). In the present case, once the district court had adequately addressed the appellant's competency, it arraigned him on the six charges and conducted his jury trial within 180 days of that arraignment.
[¶ 24] The delays in the proceedings are attributable almost exclusively to the appellant. W.R.Cr.P. 48 specifically excluded from the speedy trial computation time delays caused by the appellant's changes of counsel and delays caused by proceedings necessary to determine the appellant's competency. Once these issues were properly addressed and settled, an arraignment was held and the appellant was tried within the required 180 days.
[¶ 25] We turn now to the constitutionally imposed speedy trial requirements. The case of Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 530, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 2192, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972) "set forth the benchmark test that applies to the constitutional speedy trial claims." Humphrey v. State, 2008 WY 67, ¶ 20, 185 P.3d 1236, 1243 (Wyo.2008). The Barker v. Wingo test "requires consideration of four factors in determining whether a speedy trial violation has occurred: the length of delay; the reason for the delay; the defendant's assertion of [his or her] right; and the prejudice to the defendant. *250... None of these factors alone are dispositive." Id. (internal citations omitted).
[¶ 26] Regarding the first factor, we have said:
This first factor is a threshold factor which requires a calculation of the length of delay in bringing the appellant to trial. Strandlien [v. State], 2007 WY 66, ¶ 7, 156 P.3d [986,] 990 [ (Wyo.2007)]. There is no precise length of delay that automatically constitutes a constitutional speedy trial violation. Berry [v. State], 2004 WY 81, ¶ 32, 93 P.3d [222,] 231 [(Wyo.2004)]. "However, when the delay is so protracted as to be presumptively prejudicial, inquiry into the other factors is required." Id.
Boucher v. State, 2011 WY 2, ¶ 10, 245 P.3d 342, 349 (Wyo.2011). In the present case, although the 363-day delay between the appellant's arrest and trial was long, it was not extraordinary. See Id. at ¶ 11, 245 P.3d at 349 (2,971 days); Humphrey, 2008 WY 67, ¶ 22, 185 P.3d at 1244 (561 days); Strandlien v. State, 2007 WY 66, ¶ 9, 156 P.3d 986, 990 (Wyo.2007) (762 days); Berry, 2004 WY 81, ¶ 34, 93 P.3d at 232 (720 days); Warner v. State, 2001 WY 67, ¶ 12, 28 P.3d 21, 26 (Wyo.2001) (658 days). Nevertheless, we will analyze the other three factors inasmuch as we have found shorter delays to warrant such. See Sisneros, 2005 WY 139, ¶ 19, 121 P.3d at 797 (found 349 days to meet the threshold requirement).
[¶ 27] Regarding the second factor the reason for the delay as noted above, the appellant was responsible for the majority, if not all, of the delay. See supra ¶ 24. Any delays attributable to the State are weighed against those attributable to the defendant. Strandlien, 2007 WY 66, ¶ 10, 156 P.3d at 991. "Unquestionably, delays attributable to the defendant may disentitle him to speedy trial safeguards." Berry, 2004 WY 81, ¶ 35, 93 P.3d at 232. While no single factor is dispositive, we find that under the particular facts presented here, this factor weighs heavily against the appellant's speedy trial violation claim.
[¶ 28] As to the third factor, the appellant obviously asserted his right to a speedy trial: once in his own handwritten motion, and once through his third appointed counsel. However, he did so while at the same time making a consistent and seemingly calculated effort to undermine the efforts of his court-appointed attorneys, which actions caused significant delays. Such conduct contradicted the appellant's stated desire for a speedy disposition of his case.
[¶ 29] Finally, the fourth factor focuses on the degree of prejudice that the appellant suffered as a result of the delay. Humphrey, 2008 WY 67, ¶ 28, 185 P.3d at 1245; Strandlien, 2007 WY 66, ¶ 14, 156 P.3d at 991. "We assess prejudice in light of the particular evils the speedy trial right is intended to avert: (1) lengthy pretrial incarceration; (2) pretrial anxiety; and (3) impairment of the defense." Strandlien, 2007 WY 66, ¶ 14, 156 P.3d at 991; see also Barker, 407 U.S. at 532, 92 S.Ct. at 2193. "Of these, the most serious is the last, because the inability of a defendant adequately to prepare his case skews the fairness of the entire system." Barker, 407 U.S. at 532, 92 S.Ct. at 2193. The appellant argues that he was prejudiced by the delay inasmuch as his incarceration "limited his legal research, hindered his ability to serve subpoenas and eliminated his ability to investigate." Such difficulties, however, are not the result of any delay in prosecution, but instead, as explained by the district court, are problems inherent in the appellant's decision to represent himself. We cannot say that the appellant suffered any delay-related prejudice that he did not cause.
[¶ 30] After analyzing the present facts under the four-factor Barker v. Wingo test, we cannot say that the delay in this case violated the appellant's Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial.
Whether the district court properly informed the appellant of the dangers of proceeding without counsel and the penalties he faced.
[¶ 31] In this second issue, the appellant asserts that the district court failed to advise him of the dangers of self-representation and, as a consequence, denied him his right to counsel. Whether the appellant knowingly and voluntarily waived his right to *251 counsel is a constitutional issue and, therefore, a question of law we review de novo. Wilkie v. State, 2002 WY 164, ¶ 4, 56 P.3d 1023, 1024 (Wyo.2002). We consider "the record as a whole when determining whether the defendant knowingly and voluntarily relinquished his right to representation of counsel." Trujillo v. State, 2 P.3d 567, 571 (Wyo.2000).
[¶ 32] "The Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution requires that a defendant in state court shall have the right to represent himself if the accused himself timely, knowingly, and intelligently requests the right to forgo counsel, and does not do so to cause delay." Hauck, 2001 WY 119, ¶ 16, 36 P.3d at 601-02. If a defendant elects to proceed without counsel, "the court must make him aware of the disadvantages and the dangers of self-representation." Id.
Ideally, the trial judge should conduct a thorough and comprehensive formal inquiry of the defendant on the record to demonstrate that the defendant is aware of the nature of the charges, the range of allowable punishments and possible defenses, and is fully informed of the risks of proceeding pro se.
United States v. Willie, 941 F.2d 1384, 1388 (10th Cir.1991), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 1106, 112 S.Ct. 1200, 117 L.Ed.2d 440 (1992) (some citations omitted). The district court's failure to conduct a complete inquiry on the record into the defendant's understanding does not require reversal when "the surrounding facts and circumstances, including [the defendant's] background and conduct, demonstrate that [the defendant] actually understood his right to counsel and the difficulties of pro se representation and knowingly and intelligently waived his right to counsel." 941 F.2d at 1389. "[A] defendant need not himself have the skill and experience of a lawyer in order competently and intelligently to choose self-representation." Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 835, 95 S.Ct. 2525, 2541, 45 L.Ed.2d 562 (1975).
Van Riper v. State, 882 P.2d 230, 234 (Wyo. 1994). "It is the district court's responsibility to inquire into the defendant's understanding of the charges against him, the allowable punishments, possible defenses, and the risks of proceeding pro se." Vargas v. State, 963 P.2d 984, 990 (Wyo.1998).
[¶ 33] The appellant asserts that he "in no sense voluntarily waived counsel, because the trial court did not make the meaningful inquiry necessary before [the appellant] went to trial representing himself." This contention is simply inaccurate. As noted above, the district court cautioned the appellant that it considered "it detrimental for [the appellant] to not accept or employ counsel to represent [him]." See supra ¶ 14. Also, it expressly detailed the numerous "dangers and disadvantages to self-representation." See supra ¶ 14. Furthermore, the district court properly explained to the appellant the charges and potential sentences he faced, and the appellant told the court he understood this advice. See supra ¶ 14. The district court concluded clearly and on the record that the appellant had "knowingly and intelligently waived [his] right to counsel," stating
that the defendant has clearly been advised of his right to assistance, including his right to the assignment of counsel when he is so entitled, that the defendant possesses the intelligence and the capacity to appreciate the consequences of his decision, and that the defendant comprehends the nature of the charges and the proceedings, the range of permissible punishments, and any additional facts essential to a broad understanding of the case.
Finally, the court expressly told the appellant "that at any time you can change your mind to retain counsel to represent you or to petition the Court for appointment of counsel to represent you to assist with your defense."
[¶ 34] After reviewing the record, we find that the district court adequately instructed the appellant on the dangers of proceeding without counsel and he was not denied the assistance of counsel.
CONCLUSION
[¶ 35] We conclude that the appellant was afforded a speedy trial as it occurred within *252 the 180-day time period required by W.R.Cr.P. 48 and met the constitutional requirements of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Also, we conclude that the appellant's right to counsel was not violated as he was properly informed and warned of the dangers of proceeding without counsel.
[¶ 36] We affirm.
NOTES
[1] Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 7-6-107 (LexisNexis 2011) specifically states that a person who elects to represent himself shall not be entitled to "standby counsel" under the Public Defender Act.
|
http://www.flamethrowerexpert.com
You can find Charlie Hobson's book, "US Portable Flamethrowers" here: http://amzn.to/1SP9yc5
Rather than doing a monthly Q&A myself, I decided to take advantage of a visit from Charlie Hobson and answer some questions about flamethrowers. These questions all came from the Forgotten Weapons Patreon supporters, whose financial support is a big part of what allows me to bring you great content. If you'd like to help support the site yourself and also have a chance to get your questions into the monthly Q&A, you can join in at:
www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons
Today's questions by timestamp are:
0:40 - Still in use today? 1:15 - Hollywood realism 3:02 - Effective historical use 3:55 - Pressure and nozzle diameter 4:57 - Use of fins to create laminar flow 6:18 - Do they blow up if shot? 7:28 - Maintenance and repair 9:44 - Realism in "Saving Private Ryan” 10:52 - Reproductions 12:10 - Accidents 14:07 - Field resupply of fuel in combat 19:35 - Oxygen problems for the user 20:32 - Modern improvements 24:10 - Is there still a role for flamethrowers in modern war?
26:35 - Lighting cigars from flamethrowers 27:43 - Cost |
[Ciradian variation in the lethal dose 50 of mercuric chloride in mice].
If circadian variations in tolerance to drugs have been often demonstrated, such observations about heavy metals are still very scarce. The present study proposes to determine if circadian variations occur in the tolerance of Mice to single lethal dose of mercuric chloride. 360 female Mice, kept in cages on a 8.00 - 20.00 L/D cycle, receive I.P. a single mercuric chloride injection at different concentrations (100 to 300 X 10(-6)) at different hours in the day (8.00 - 14.00 - 20.00 or 2.00). Death number is determined each during 10 consecutive days. For the highest doses causing death (from 200 x 10(-6)), the mortality percentage is a function of the time of the mercury administration. The metal is the most toxic at 20.00 (LD50: 4,14 +/-0,47) mg/kg) and least at 2.00 (LD50: 5,54 +/- 0,18 mg/kg). Moreover, death occurs later at 2.00 than at other times. So a susceptibility to mercuric chloride in Mice clearly appears. |
Pulmonary inflammatory and fibrotic responses in Fischer 344 rats after intratracheal instillation exposure to Libby amphibole.
Increased incidences of asbestosis have been reported in workers from Libby, MT, associated with exposures to amphibole-contaminated vermiculite. In this study pulmonary and histopathological changes were investigated following Libby amphibole (LA) exposure in a rat model. Rat respirable fractions of LA and amosite (aerodynamic diameter <2.5 μm) were prepared by water elutriation. Male F344 rats were exposed to single doses of either saline (SAL), amosite (0.65 mg/rat), or LA (0.65 or 6.5 mg/rat) by intratracheal instillation. At times from 1 d to 3 mo after exposure, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was performed and right and left lungs were removed for reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and histopathological analysis, respectively. Data indicated that 0.65 mg amosite resulted in a higher degree of pulmonary injury, inflammation, and fibrotic events than LA at the same mass dose. Exposure to either amosite or high dose LA resulted in higher levels of cellular permeability and injury, inflammatory enzymes, and iron binding proteins in both BAL fluid and lung tissue at most time points when compared to SAL controls. However, mRNA expression for some growth factors (e.g., platelet-derived growth factor [PDGF]-A and transforming growth factor [TGF]-1β), which contribute to fibrosis, were downregulated at several time points. Furthermore, histopathological examination showed notable thickening of interstitial areas surrounding the alveolar ducts and terminal bronchioles. On a mass dose basis, amosite produced a greater acute and persistent lung injury for at least 3 mo after exposure. However, further testing and analysis of LA are needed with regard to the dose metric to fully evaluate its potential fibrogenicity and carcinogenicity. |
Also, don't forget that if you have a kitschy, kooky, and ooky event here (or near) the Pittsburgh area and want us to get the word out with ALL the details (a few weeks in advance please) and we'll do our best to spread the word. Until then...
To say the gang at good ol’ PU is excited would be an understatement - not only is the gang going back to jolly old England (much like that of the original ‘Great Muppet Caper’), but across the globe as they find themselves in the midst of another jewel heist - this time at the hands of a Kermit imposter by the name of Constantine (performed by Matt Vogel who also takes the torch from the late, great Jerry Nelson performing some of his most memorial characters - Floyd Pepper, Robin, Lew Zealand, Camilla, Uncle Deadly and Crazy Harry).
This time the ‘human’ element is provided by non other than Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell, and Tina Fey along with the a cavalcade of celebrity cameos including Salma Hayek, Toby Jones, Frank Langella, Rob Corddry, James McAloy, Chloë Grace Moretz, Danny Trejo, Zach Galifianakis, and even Christoph Waltz!
Still, the stars of the show are still the Muppets and the wonderful performers who bring them to life, including Steve Whitmire (now the voice of Jim Henson's Kermit along with Statler, Beaker, & Rizzo the Rat), Dave Goelz (The Great Gonzo, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Zoot, Beauregard, and Waldorf), Bill Barreta (Pepe the King Prawn, Rowlf the Dog, Dr. Teeth, the Swedish Chef, Bobo the Bear), Eric Jacobson (now filling in for Frank Oz - Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Sam the Eagle, and Animal), David Rudman (Scooter, Janice), and Seseme Street veteran Peter Linz as the newest Muppet, Walter.
So grab some popcorn and get to your nearest balcony to ring in spring with Muppets Most Wanted! |
---
abstract: 'We show that if a reproducing kernel Hilbert space $H_K,$ consisting of functions defined on $\E,$ enjoys Double Boundary Vanishing Condition (DBVC) and Linear Independent Condition (LIC), then for any preset natural number $n,$ and any function $f\in H_K,$ there exists a set of $n$ parameterized multiple kernels ${\tilde{K}}_{w_1},\cdots,{\tilde{K}}_{w_n}, w_k\in {\bf E}, k=1,\cdots,n,$ and real (or complex) constants $c_1,\cdots,c_n,$ giving rise to a solution of the optimization problem $$\|f-\sum_{k=1}^n c_k{\tilde{K}}_{w_k}\|=\inf \{\|f-\sum_{k=1}^n d_k{\tilde{K}}_{v_k}\|\ |\ v_k\in {\bf E}, d_k\in {\bf R}\ ({\rm or}\ {\bf C}), k=1,\cdots,n\}.$$ By applying the theorem of this paper we show that the Hardy space and the Bergman space, as well as all the weighted Bergman spaces in the unit disc all possess $n$-best approximations. In the Hardy space case this gives a new proof of a classical result. Based on the obtained results we further prove existence of $n$-best spherical Poisson kernel approximation to functions of finite energy on the real-spheres.'
author:
- Wei Qu
- 'Tao Qian [^1]'
- 'Guan-Tie Deng'
title: '**A sufficient condition for $n$-Best Kernel Approximation in Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces**'
---
MSC: [41A20; 41A65; 46E22; 30H20]{}
[**keywords:**]{} Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space, Double Boundary Vanishing Condition, $n$-Linearly Independent Condition, Hardy Space, Bergman space, Approximation by Rational functions of Certain Degrees
Introduction
============
Let $H$ be a complex Hilbert space consisting of functions defined in a topological space $\E$. Assume that the point evaluation functional $f(z)$ for any fixed $z\in \E$ is a bounded linear functional, i.e.,$$|f(z)|\leq C_z \|f\|,$$ where $C_z$ is a constant depending on $z$. Then, according to the Riesz representation theorem there is a function $K_z$ with $z$ being a parameter such that $$f(z)=\langle f,K_z\rangle,$$ for all $z\in \E.$ In such case we say that $H$ is a reproducing kernel Hilbert space, abbreviated as RKHS, call $K_z$ the reproducing kernel of $H$. Denote by $H_K(\E)$ the Hilbert space $H$ whose corresponding reproducing kernel function is $K_z.$ Indeed, any RKHS can have only one reproducing kernel. A wide class of Hilbert spaces, including the classical Hardy ${\H}$-spaces, Bergman spaces, weighted Bergman spaces, and Sobolev spaces, etc., belong to the category of reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces (RKHSs). The subject $n$-best approximation in reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces include, as a particular case, the one called best approximations to Hardy space functions by rational functions of order not exceeding $n$. The present study amounts to extending the question and solving it in a wide class of Hilbert spaces.
In below we first provide an account of the related concepts in the classical Hardy space of the unit disc. Denote by ${\bf C}$ the complex plane and ${\bf D}$ the open unit disc in ${\bf C}.$ The Hardy space in the unit disc is defined, among other equivalent definitions, $$\H({\bf D})=\{f:{\bf D}\to {\bf C}\ |\ f(z)=\sum_{k=0}^\infty c_kz^k, \sum_{k=0}^\infty |c_k|^2<\infty\}.$$ It is a basic property of the Hardy space that for any $f\in \H({\bf D})$ there exists a boundary limit function, denoted $f(e^{it})\in L^2(\partial {\bf D}),$ in both the pointwise non-tangential limit sense and in the $L^2$-convergence sense as well. It is standard knowledge that under the inner product $$\langle f,g\rangle =\frac{1}{2\pi}\int_0^{2\pi}f(e^{it})\overline{g}(e^{it})dt$$ the space $\H(\D)$ forms a Hilbert space.
Of particular importance in the Hardy space theory are the functions $$k_w(e^{it})=\frac{1}{1-\overline{w}e^{it}}\quad {\rm and}\quad e_w^{\H}(z)=\frac{k_w}{\|k_w\|}=\frac{\sqrt{1-|w|^2}}{1-\overline{w}z}.$$ The function $k_w(z)$, where $w$ is considered as a parameter, is the reproducing kernel of the Hardy space $\H({\bf D}):$ By invoking the Cauchy formula it follows that for any $f\in \H({\bf D})$ there holds $$\langle f,k_w\rangle = f(w),$$ and, subsequently, $$\langle f,\left(\frac{\partial}{\partial {\overline{w}}}\right)^lk_w\rangle = f^{(l)}(w), \qquad l=1,2,\cdots.$$
For any $n$ complex numbers $(w_1,\cdots,w_n)\in \D^n$ and $n$ complex numbers $(c_1,...,c_n)\in{\C}^n ,$ the function $$\sum_{k=1}^nc_kB_k(z)$$ is called an $n$-Blaschke form, and an $n$-degenerate Blaschke form if $c_n\ne 0,$ where $\{B_k\}_{k=1}^n$ is the $n$-Takenaka-Malmquist (n-TM) system generated by the sequence $(w_1,\cdots,w_n),$ $$B_k(z)=\frac{\sqrt{1-|w_k|^2}}{1-\overline{w}_kz}\prod_{l=1}^{k-1}
\frac{z-w_l}{1-\overline{w}_lz}.$$
We note that the $n$-TM system $\{B_k\}_{k=1}^n$ is the orthonormalization of the $n$-system $$(\tilde{k}_{w_1},\cdots,\tilde{k}_{w_n}),$$ where $$\begin{aligned}
\label{df1} \tilde{k}_{w_k}(z)\triangleq\left(\frac{d}{d{\overline{w}}}\right)^{(l(w_k)-1)}
k_{w}(z)|_{w=w_k},\end{aligned}$$ called the *multiple reproducing kernels*, where $$l(w_k)\triangleq {\rm multiple \ number \ of }\ w_k \ {\rm in }\ (w_1,\cdots,w_k)$$ ([@Qian; @Wegert; @2013; @qian2013remarks]). Besides the multiple reproducing kernels we also use *normalized multiple reproducing kernels* $$\begin{aligned}
\label{df2} \tilde{e}_{w_k}^{\H}(z)=\frac{\tilde{k}_{w_k}(z)}{\|\tilde{k}_{w_k}(z)\|}.\end{aligned}$$ For fast expanding a given function into a TM system the *adaptive Fourier decomposition* (AFD) was proposed that is related to the Beurling-Lax decomposition of the Hardy space into the direct sum of the forward- and the backward-shift invariant subspaces ([@QWa; @TQC]). AFD theory and algorithm have been generalized to matrix-valued functions defined in the disc ([@ACQS1]) and in the ball of several complex variables ([@ACQS2]).
The $n$-best rational approximation problem in the Hardy space is formulated as follows. A pair of polynomials $(p,q)$ is said to be $n$-*admissible* if it satisfies the following conditions: (i) $p$ and $q$ are co-prime;(ii) $q$ does not have zeros in ${\bf D};$ and (iii) the both degrees of $p$ and $q$ are at most $n$ ([@Qian; @Wegert; @2013; @Qcy]).\
[**The $n$-best Rational Approximation Problem**]{}: For $f\in \H({\bf D}),$ find an $n$-admissible pair of polynomials $(p_1,q_1)$ such that $$\begin{aligned}
\label{nbestrational} \|f-\frac{p_1}{q_1}\|_{\H({\bf D})}=\inf \{\|f-\frac{p}{q}\|_{\H({\bf D})} \ |\ (p,q) \ {\rm is\ }n{\rm - admissible}\}.\end{aligned}$$
The above optimization problem may be re-formulated as finding a non-degenerative Blaschke form $$\sum_{k=1}^n \langle f,B^{\bf w}_k\rangle B^{\bf w}_k(z),$$ where the $B^{\bf w}_k$’s correspond to ${\bf w}=(w_1,\cdots,w_n),$ such that $$\begin{aligned}
\label{bestnBlaschke} \|f-\sum_{k=1}^n \langle f,B^{\bf w}_k\rangle B^{\bf w}_k\|=\inf \{\|f-\sum_{k=1}^n \langle f,B^{\bf v}_k\rangle B^{\bf v}_k\|_{\H({\bf D})} \ |\ {\bf v}=(v_1,\cdots,v_n) \in \D^n\}.\end{aligned}$$
Or, alternatively, we can ask the following question: Denotes by $f/{\rm span}\{\tilde{e}_{v_1}^{\H},\cdots,\tilde{e}_{v_{n}}^{\H}\}$ the projection of $f$ into the span of $\tilde{e}_{v_1}^{\H},\cdots,\tilde{e}_{v_{n}}^{\H}, (v_1,\cdots,v_n)\in \D^n.$ Find $(w_1,\cdots,w_n)\in \D^n$ such that $$\| f/{\rm span}\{\tilde{e}_{w_1}^{\H},\cdots,\tilde{e}_{w_{n}}^{\H}\}\|$$ is maximized over all $(v_1,\cdots,v_n)\in \D^n.$
There have been several proofs in the literature for existence of the above specified $n$-best rational approximation problem in the classical Hardy spaces, see [@walsh1935interpolation] (J. L. Walsh, 1962), [@Ruck1978] (G. Buckebusch, 1978), [@Bara1986] (L. Baratchart), [@Qian; @Wegert; @2013], [@MQW2012]. In the last two articles the problem is reformulated in terms of $n$-Blaschke form. In the Hardy space case practical algorithms, including the INRIA method ([@Baratchart1991]), cyclic AFD ([@Qcy]), and lately the gradient descent method in [@QWM], can only claim to converge, in fact, to a local minimum. A mathematical algorithm to find the global minimum, is now still being sought.
The present paper works with the RKHS context. In a general RKHS one has a set of analogous objects and can raise the same $n$-best approximation question. Let $H_K$ be a reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS) consisting of a class of functions defined in a topological space $\E,$ an open and connected set if it is in a larger topological space, with the reproducing kernel $K_w:$ $w\in {\bf E},$ that is, for any $f\in H_K,$ $$\langle f,K_w\rangle=f(w).$$ We will also use the objects $\tilde{K}_w, \tilde{E}_w$ as, respectively, multiple reproducing kernel and multiple normalized reproducing kernel, similarly defined as $\tilde{k}_a$ and $\tilde{e}^{\H}_a$ in, respectively, (\[df1\]) and (\[df2\]).
For a fixed positive integer $n,$ the $n$-best question is formulated as follows: Find $n$ parameters ${\bf a}=(a_1,\cdots,a_n)\in \E^n$ that make the objective function $$\begin{aligned}
\label{simul} A(f;{\bf a})=\|f-\sum_{k=1}^n \langle f, B^{\bf a}_k\rangle_{H_K} B^{\bf a}_k \|_{H_K}\end{aligned}$$ minimized, where $$\begin{aligned}
\label{I want}
\sum_{k=1}^n \langle f, B^{\bf a}_k\rangle_{H_K} B^{\bf a}_k\end{aligned}$$ is called the $n$-*kernel orthonormal form* of $f$ corresponding to the $n$-tuple $(a_1,\cdots,a_n),$ where $(B^{\bf a}_1,\cdots,B^{\bf a}_k)$ is the G-S orthonormalization of the multiple kernels $(\tilde{E}_{a_1},\cdots,\tilde{E}_{a_k}), k\le n.$ Note that the above formulation is equivalent with the following minimization problem: Find $(a_1,\cdots,a_n)\in {\E}^n, (c_1,\cdots,c_n)\in {\C}^n,$ such that $$\begin{aligned}
\label{problem}\|f-\sum_{k=1}^n c_k\tilde{K}_{a_k}\|=\inf \{\|f-\sum_{k=1}^n d_k\tilde{K}_{b_k}\|\ |\ b_k\in {\bf E}, d_k\in {\bf C}, k=1,\cdots,n\}.\end{aligned}$$ If for some $d_k$’ and $b_k$’s $f=\sum_{k=1}^m d_k\tilde{K}_{b_k},$ then $f$ is said to be an *$m$-kernel expansion*.
We note that in the cases where the RKHS under study is the Hardy space inside the unit disc or the Hardy space in the upper-half complex plane, if $(B_1,\cdots,B_n)$ is the G-S orthonormalization of the $n$-tuple of the multiple reproducing kernels $(\tilde{e}_{a_1}^{\H},\dots,\tilde{e}_{a_n}^{\H}),$ then, by adding one more multiple reproducing kernel $\tilde{e}_{a_{n+1}}^{\H}$ to the $n$-sequence, the corresponding $(n+1)$-orthonormalization system, $(B_1,\cdots,B_n,B_{n+1}),$ is with the $(n+1)$-th term of the form $B_{n+1}=\phi_n \tilde{e}_{a_{n+1}}^{\H},$ where $\phi_n$ is the Blaschke product, unique up to a uni-modular constant, defined by the first $n$ parameters $a_1,\cdots,a_n$ as its zeros, including the multiples. Indeed, TM systems are constructed in such way. In AFD, through a generalized backward shift operation, the TM systems are automatically generated ([@QWa]). It is a question whether there exist other types RKHSs that possess such or similar constructive property. From our observation it seems that only the Hardy spaces of the classical domains possess such property (see [@ACQS1; @ACQS2]). In the weighted Bergman spaces of the classical domains this property does not hold ([@qu2018; @qu2019]).
As technical preparation we need to recall the so called $\rho$-weak pre-orthogonal adaptive Fourier decomposition ($\rho$-Weak-POAFD) developed in the general RKHS context. Assume that ${\cal H}$ is a general Hilbert space with a dictionary parameterized by elements in $\E$, denoted $E_a, a\in \E$. Let $\rho\in (0,1).$ Suppose that we have obtained an $n$-term orthogonal expansion $$f=\sum_{k=1}^n \langle f,B_k\rangle B_k +g_{n+1},$$ where $(B_1,\cdots,B_n)$ is the G-S orthonormalization of a selected $n$-sequence $(a_1,\cdots,a_n),$ where the $a_k$’s are mutually different. Select $a_{n+1} ,$ different from all the already selected $a_k$’s, $k=1,\cdots, n,$ such that $$\begin{aligned}
\label{maximal} |\langle f,B^{a_{n+1}}_{n+1}\rangle|\ge \rho
\sup \{ |\langle f,B^{b}_{n+1}\rangle|\ |\ b\in \E\},\end{aligned}$$ where for any $b\in {\E}, (B_1,\cdots,B_n,B^b_{n+1})$ is the G-S orthonormalization of $(E_{a_1},\cdots,E_{a_n},E_b).$ Make such selections from $n=1$ and for all consecutive $n>1,$ we obtain $\rho$-Weak-POAFD ([@Q2D; @qu2018].
$\rho$-Weak-POAFD is available for all RKHSs. The selection criterion (\[maximal\]) shows that it is a more optimal selection principle than the other types weak greedy algorithms in the classical literature ([@MaZ; @LT]). When a dictionary satisfies BVC (see below), the selection corresponding to $\rho=1$ is available, called POAFD. POAFD has the optimal maximal selection at each algorithm step ([@Q2D]). It reduces to AFD in the classical Hardy space ([@QWa]).
In this paper we introduce what we call by *Double Boundary Vanishing Condition* (DBVC) that will play an important role in the $n$-best optimization problem. Assume that the parameters set $\E$ is equipped with a topology. We used to work with the cases in which $\E$ is a region (open and connected) of the complex plane $\C$ or a region of the space of several complex variables ${\C}^n$ under its natural topology. We now have the convention that, together with the finite boundary points, we add the infinite point, being included in the set of the boundary points if $\E$ is unbounded, that corresponds to the one-point-compactification of the original topological space. The added point is denoted $\infty.$ Taking ${\E}={\C}^+=\{{z}\in {\C}\ |\ {\rm Im}(z)>0\}$ as an example. $\E$ is equipped with the topology of $\C.$ By adding the $\infty$ point, the sequence of open sets $\{ z\in {\C}^+ \ |\ {\rm Im}(z)<\frac{1}{m}\ {\rm or} \ |z|>n\},$ were $m,n$ are positive integers, forms a basis of open neighborhoods of $\partial \E.$ A RKHS is said to satisfy DBVC if for any sequence $z_n\to \tilde{z}\in \overline{\E}$ and $w_n\to \tilde{w}\in \partial \E,$ there holds $$\begin{aligned}
\label{DBVC}
\lim_{n\to \infty}\langle E_{z_n},E_{w_n}\rangle =0.\end{aligned}$$ If DBVC holds, then we can show BVC (boundary vanishing condition) holds. That is, for any $f\in H_K$ and $ w_n\to \tilde{w}\in \partial \E,$ there holds $$\lim_{n\to \infty} \langle f,E_{w_n}\rangle =0.$$ We have the following
\[lemma\] If $H_K$ is a RKHS satisfying DBVC, then it satisfies BVC.
[**Proof.**]{} Let $f\in H_K.$ Since $H_K$ is a RKHS, by any type of the matching pursuit algorithm, including POAFD and Weak-POAFD, one can find $(a_1,\cdots,a_n,\cdots),$ consisting of mutually different terms in ${\E},$ such that $$f=\sum_{k=1}^\infty \langle f,B_k \rangle B_k,$$ where for any $n,$ $(B_1,\cdots,B_n)$ is the G-S orthonormalization of some selected $(E_{a_1},\cdots,E_{a_n}), n=1,2,\cdots$ Then, for any $\epsilon>0,$ one can find a natural number $N$ such that $$\|f-\sum_{k=1}^N \langle f,B_k \rangle B_k\|\leq \epsilon/2.$$ By invoking the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality we have $$\begin{aligned}
|\langle f,E_{w_n}\rangle|&=&|\langle f-\sum_{k=1}^N \langle f,B_k \rangle B_k,E_{w_n} \rangle| +|\langle \sum_{k=1}^N \langle f,B_k \rangle B_k,E_{w_n}\rangle| \\
&\leq& \|f-\sum_{k=1}^N \langle f,B_k \rangle B_k\|+|\langle \sum_{k=1}^N \langle f,B_k \rangle B_k,E_{w_n}\rangle|\\
&\leq& \epsilon/2 +|\langle \sum_{k=1}^N \langle f,B_k \rangle B_k,E_{w_n}\rangle|.
\end{aligned}$$ We note that in the last summation the functions $B_1,\cdots,B_N$ can be expressed as linear combinations of $E_{a_1},\cdots,E_{a_N}.$ The inner products involving $B_1,\cdots,B_N$ then can be passed on to those with $E_{a_1},\cdots,E_{a_N},$ and thus DBVC can be used. As a result, the last term of the above inequality chain is less than $\epsilon$ if $n$ is large enough. The proof is complete.\
We need a condition on RKHS called *n-Linearly Independent Condition* ($n$-LIC): If for a fixed $n$ and any mutually distinguish $w_1,\cdots,w_n$ the corresponding function set $\{E_{w_1},\cdots,E_{w_n}\}$ is linearly independent, then the RKHS is said to satisfy $n$-Linearly Independent Condition. This condition is rather mild, for, if it is not true, then a parameterized reproducing kernel is a linear expansion of some others. The latter implies that there exist $w_1,\cdots,w_{n},$ such that for all functions $f$ in the space there holds $f(w_n)=c_1f(w_1)+\cdots +c_{n-1}f(w_{n-1}),$ where $c_k$’s are fixed complex constants. A consequence of $n$-LIC, that is also the form that we use in the proof of our main Theorem \[main\], is that if $a_1,\cdots,a_k,b$ are mutually distinguish points in $\E,$ then the projection of $E_b$ into the span of $E_{a_1},\cdots,E_{a_k},$ or $\|E_b-\sum_{k=1}^k \langle E_b,B_k\rangle B_k\|=\sqrt{1-\sum_{l=1}^k |\langle E_b,B_l\rangle|^2}$ is nonzero, where $(B_1,\cdots,B_k)$ is the G-S orthonormalization of $(E_{a_1},\cdots,E_{a_k}), k\leq n-1.$
The main result of this paper is
A RKHS $H_K$ has a solution for the $n$-best optimization problem (\[simul\]) in the open set $\E^n$ if the RKHS satisfies [DBVC]{} and $n$-[LIC]{}.
The precise statement of the theorem will be given in next section. The main effort of the proof is to show that under the conditions [DBVC]{} and $n$-[LIC]{} a solution exists and must situate in the open set $\E^n$ (interior solution). In both the theory (sifting process) and applications (model reduction) a solution being inside the open set is crucial, as having been seen in the complex Hardy space rational approximation theory (see, for instance, the enclosed references by Walsh, Baratchart, Qian, and Qu et al.). The main mechanism for such interior solutions is DBVC. In general RKHSs, a solution of the $n$-best may also happen at the boundary. Hence DBVC is not a necessary condition of existence of a general solution.
After proving the main theorem we verify that the weighted Bergman spaces in the disc satisfy DBVC and $n$-LIC, and thus conclude that the weighted Bergman spaces have $n$-best kernel approximations in the corresponding Hilbert space norms. Based on the obtained results we further prove existence of $n$-best spherical Poisson kernel approximation to functions of finite energy on the real-spheres. Except the classical Hardy spaces case, the other $n$-best existence results proved in this paper, including the version on RKHSs with a DBVC and $n$-LIC dictionary and the concrete examples with complex holomorphic function spaces and the spaces of functions of finite energy on the real-spheres, are all new results and proved for the first time.
Existence of $n$-Best Approximation for RKHS with DBVC and $n$-LIC
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\[main\] Let $H_K$ be a RKHS that satisfies DBVC and $n$-LIC. Let $n$ be any but fixed positive integer. Then for any $f\in H_K,$ if $f$ by itself is not an $m$-kernel expansion form for $0\leq m<n,$ then there exists an $n$-tuple of parameters $(a_1,\cdots,a_n)\in \E^n,$ with $(B_1,\cdots,B_n)$ being the associated orthonormal systems such that $$A(f;{\bf a})=\| f-\sum_{t=1}^n \langle f,B_t\rangle B_t\|$$ attains the minimum value over all possible values arising from all the $n$-tuples in place of $(a_1,\cdots,a_n)$ in $\E^n.$
[**Proof of Theorem \[main\]**]{}. Denote ${\bf b}=(b_1,\cdots,b_n).$ It is obvious that $A(f;{\bf b})$ has a non-negative global infimum value for all ${\bf b}$ in ${\bf E}^n,$ call it $d.$ We show that this global infimum value is attainable at an interior point of ${\bf E}^n.$ Let ${\bf a}^{(k)}=(a^{(k)}_1,\cdots,a^{(k)}_n)$ be an $n$-tuple at which $A(f;{\bf a}^{(k)})<d+1/k.$ There then exists a subsequence tending to an $n$-tuple ${\bf a}$ in $\overline{\E}^n.$ Without loss of generality we can assume that the sequence ${\bf a}^{(k)}$ itself tends to ${\bf a}.$ We are to show ${\bf a}\in {\E}^n.$ Assume the opposite, which means that some coordinates of ${\bf a}$ are on $\partial{\E},$ and we will, in such case, introduce a contradiction. We divide the $n$ coordinates into two groups, $\mathbb{I}$ and $\mathbb{B},$ where for $l\in \mathbb{I}$ there holds $\lim_{k\to \infty}a^{(k)}_l=a_l\in \E;$ and for $l\in \mathbb{B}$ there holds $\lim_{k\to \infty}a^{(k)}_l=a_l\in \partial{\E}.$ We are assuming $\mathbb{B}\ne \emptyset.$ Since $A(f;{\bf a}^{(k)})$ is the energy of $f$ onto the orthogonal complement of the span of the multiple reproducing kernels in the $n$-tuple ${\bf a}^{(k)},$ the energy quantity being irrelevant with the order of the elements in ${\bf a}^{(k)},$ we can assume, without loss of the generality, that the coordinates in $\mathbb{I}$ are all in front of those in $\mathbb{B}.$ The point is to show that, because $\lim_{k\to \infty}a^{(k)}_l\in \partial{\E}$ for $l\in \mathbb{B},$ the components $a^{(k)}_l$ of ${\bf a}^{(k)},$ if $l\in \mathbb{B},$ will have no contributions to the optimization of $A(f;{\bf a}).$ To simplify the argument we may assume without loss of generality that for every $k$ the $n$-tuple ${\bf a}^{(k)}$ does not have multiple components, although the limiting $n$-tuple ${\bf a}$ may have. Let $l_0$ be the largest index for the indices in $\mathbb{I},$ then the indices $l_0+t, 0<t\leq n-l_0$ will be in the index range $\mathbb{B}.$ Since $\mathbb{B}\ne \emptyset,$ we have $l_0<n.$
Let $R^{(k)}={\rm span}\{{E}_{a^{(k)}_{1}}, \cdots, {E}_{a^{(k)}_{n}}\}$ and $P^{(k)}$ the orthogonal projection to $R^{(k)};$ and likewise, $R^{(k)}_{\mathbb{I}}=$ ${\rm span}\{{E}_{a^{(k)}_{1}}, \cdots, {E}_{a^{(k)}_{l_0}}\}$ and $P^{(k)}_{\mathbb I}$ the orthogonal projection mapping into $R^{(k)}_{\mathbb{I}}.$ It is easy to show that for the given function $f$, the projections $P^{(k)}_{\mathbb I}f$ have a limit as $k\to \infty,$ denoted $P_{\mathbb I}f,$ as the projection of $f$ into ${\rm span}\{\tilde{E}_{a_1},...,\tilde{E}_{a_{l_0}}\}.$ Denote $g=f-P_{\mathbb I}f.$
The general form of the elements in the Gram-Schmidt orthonomalization of the system $\{E_{a^{(k)}_t}\}_{t=1}^n$ is $$\begin{aligned}
\label{GS} {B}^{(k)}_{t}=\frac{{E}_{a^{(k)}_{t}}-
\sum_{j=1}^{t-1}\langle {E}_{a^{(k)}_{t}},B_j^{(k)}\rangle B_j^{(k)}}{\|{E}_{a^{(k)}_{t}}-
\sum_{j=1}^{t-1}\langle {E}_{a^{(k)}_{t}},B_j^{(k)}\rangle B_j^{(k)}\|},\end{aligned}$$ where $\{B_1^{(k)},\cdots,B_{j}^{(k)}\}$ is the Gram-Schmidt orthonormalization of $\{{E}_{a^{(k)}_{1}},\cdots,{E}_{a^{(k)}_{j}}\}, 1\leq j\leq n.$
We show that for any function $h$ in the reproducing kernel Hilbert space there holds $$\begin{aligned}
\label{vanishing} \lim_{k\to \infty}\langle h,B_t^{(k)}\rangle =0,\quad\quad l_0<t\leq n.\end{aligned}$$ Temporarily accepting (\[vanishing\]), and using it for $h=f,$ we have $$d^2=\lim_{k\to \infty} (\|f\|^2-\sum_{t=1}^{l_0} |\langle f,B_t^{(k)}\rangle|^2) =\|f-Pf\|^2=\|g\|^2.$$ We note that $g\ne 0,$ for otherwise $f$ is an $m$-kernel form with $m=l_0<n,$ contrary with the assumption. $g\ne 0$ then implies $d>0.$ Let $g^{(k)}_j :=f-\sum_{t=1}^j \langle f,B^{(k)}_t\rangle B^{(k)}_t, l_0\leq j\leq n.$ We have $\lim_{k\to \infty}g^{(k)}_j:=g_{l_0}=g, l_0\leq j\leq n.$ Find $a\in \E$ such that $|\langle g, E_a\rangle|=\delta>0.$ Let the new parameter matrix be $$\qquad\qquad\qquad b_t^{(k)}=a_t^{(k)}, 1\leq t<n;$$ $$b_n^{(k)}=a,$$ where only the last column is different from the old. Then in the new system, using $\tilde{B}^{(k)}_t$ in place of $B_t^{(k)},\ 1\leq t \leq n,$ and $\tilde{P}^{(k)}$ in place of ${P}^{(k)},$ we have $$\begin{aligned}
\label{*}
\lim_{k\to \infty}\|\tilde{P}^{(k)}f\|^2 &=& \lim_{k\to \infty}
(\sum_{t=1}^{n-1} |\langle f,\tilde{B}^{(k)}_t\rangle|^2 +|\langle f,\tilde{B}^{(k)}_n\rangle|^2) \nonumber\\
&=& \lim_{k\to \infty}(\|\sum_{t=1}^{l_0} |\langle f,{B}^{(k)}_t\rangle{B}^{(k)}_t \|^2+|\langle f,\tilde{B}^{(k)}_n\rangle|^2) \nonumber\\
&=& \| P_{\mathbb I}f\|^2 + \lim_{k\to \infty}|\langle f,\tilde{B}^{(k)}_n\rangle|^2 \nonumber \\
&=&\| Pf\|^2 + \lim_{k\to \infty}|\langle f,\tilde{B}^{(k)}_n\rangle|^2\end{aligned}$$ where $\langle f,\tilde{B}^{(k)}_n\rangle=\frac{\langle f,(I-P^k_{ n-1})E_a\rangle}{\rho_k},$ where, as a consequence of LIC, $\rho_k \in (0,1].$ We further have $\langle f,(I-P^k_{ n-1})E_a\rangle=\langle(I-P^k_{ n-1})f,E_a\rangle,$ also $\lim_{k\to \infty}P^k_{ n-1}f=P_{l_0}f.$ Taking into account $(I-P_{l_0})f = g,$ and $\lim_{k\to \infty}\rho_k=\rho =\sqrt{1-\sum_{t=1}^{l_0}|\langle E_a,B_t\rangle|^2}\in (0,1],$ as a consequence of LIC again. The last equality chain (\[\*\]) finally equals $$\begin{aligned}
\| \tilde{P}f\|^2=\| Pf\|^2+ |\frac{\langle g,E_a\rangle}{\rho}|^2 = \| f\|^2-\|g\|^2+ (\delta/\rho)^2
> \|f\|^2-d^2.\end{aligned}$$ Or, $$\lim_{k\to \infty}\|f-\tilde{P}^{(k)}f\|^2< d^2,$$ being contrary with $d$ being the global infimum value of $A(f;{\bf b}), {\bf b}\in \E^n.$ The proof of the theorem is complete.
Now we proceed to prove the relation (\[vanishing\]) for $t=l_0+1,\cdots,n.$ First let $t=l_0+1.$ We have $$\begin{aligned}
\langle f,B^{(k)}_{l_0+1}\rangle = \langle f,\frac{E_{a^{(k)}_{l_0+1}}-\sum_{j=1}^{l_0}\langle E_{a^{(k)}_{l_0+1}},B^{(k)}_j\rangle B^{(k)}_j}{\sqrt{1-
\sum_{j=1}^{l_0}|\langle E_{a^{(k)}_{l_0+1}},B^{(k)}_j\rangle|^2}}\rangle.
\end{aligned}$$
Since $H_K$ satisfies DBVC, from Lemma \[lemma\], $H_K$ also satisfies BVC. As a consequence, $$\begin{aligned}
\label{first} \lim_{k\to \infty}\langle f,E_{a^{(k)}_{l_0+1}}\rangle =0.\end{aligned}$$
Since $\lim_{k\to \infty}(a_1^{(k)},\cdots,a_{l_0}^{(k)})=(a_1,\cdots,a_{l_0})\in {\E}^{l_0},$ there exist the limits $\lim_{k\to \infty}B^{(k)}_j=B_j,$ being functions in $H_K,$ for $j=1,\cdots,l_0.$ Then BVC and the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality imply $$\begin{aligned}
\label{second}|\langle E_{a^{(k)}_{l_0+1}},B^{(k)}_j\rangle|&=&|\langle E_{a^{(k)}_{l_0+1}},B_j\rangle| + |\langle E_{a^{(k)}_{l_0+1}},B^{(k)}_j-B_j\rangle|\nonumber \\
&\leq & |\langle E_{a^{(k)}_{l_0+1}},B_j\rangle| + \|B^{(k)}_j-B_j\|\nonumber \\
&\to& 0,\quad {\rm as}\ k\to \infty, \qquad j\le l_0.\end{aligned}$$ In accordance with the relations (\[first\]) and (\[second\]), we have (\[vanishing\]) for $t=l_0+1.$
Now we prove (\[vanishing\]) for $t>l_0+1.$ The induction hypotheses include that each term $B^{(k)}_j, 1\leq j\leq t-1,$ is a linear combination of $E_{a^{(k)}_s}, 1\leq s\leq j,$ while the coefficients of the linear combination are all constituted by sums and products between $\langle E_{a^{(k)}_s}, E_{a^{(k)}_{s'}}\rangle, 1\leq s', s\leq j,$ and divisions by $\sqrt{1-
\sum_{l=1}^{s-1}|\langle E_{a^{(k)}_{s}},B^{(k)}_l\rangle|^2},
1\leq s \leq j,$ without involving universal constants; and that the $$\lim_{k\to \infty}\langle f,B^{(k)}_l\rangle=0, \quad l_0<l\leq t-1.$$
Write, in accordance with (\[GS\]), $$\begin{aligned}
\langle f,B_t^{(k)}\rangle = \frac{1}{\|{E}_{a^{(k)}_{t}}-
\sum_{j=1}^{t-1}\langle {E}_{a^{(k)}_{t}},B_j^{(k)}\rangle B_j^{(k)}\|}
\left(\langle f,{E}_{a^{(k)}_{t}}\rangle -
\sum_{j=1}^{t-1}\langle {E}_{a^{(k)}_{t}},B_j^{(k)}\rangle \langle f,B_j^{(k)}\rangle\right).\end{aligned}$$ The assumed DBVC, its consequence BVC, and the induction hypotheses together, establish $$\lim_{k\to \infty}\langle f,{E}_{a^{(k)}_{t}}\rangle =0, \
\lim_{k\to \infty}\langle {E}_{a^{(k)}_{t}},B_j^{(k)}\rangle =0, \ {\rm and}
\ \lim_{k\to \infty}\langle f,B_j^{(k)}\rangle=0, \ j\leq t-1.$$ Therefore, $$\lim_{k\to \infty}\langle f,B_t^{(k)}\rangle =0.$$ Based on the mathematical induction principle the proof is complete.
A large amount commonly used Hilbert spaces are RKHSs in which DBVC and LIC are satisfied. The above theorem guarantees that such RKHSs have $n$-best kernel approximations. The recently developed cyclic and gradient descent algorithms ([@Qcy; @QWM]) for Hardy spaces are adaptable to abstract RKHSs with DBVC and LIC. The proof of the existence result guarantees convergence of the adapted algorithms in abstract spaces. It, in particular, serves as a useful reference in learning theory for simultaneously selecting $n$-parameters to optimize an energy-based objective function.
Hardy, Bergman and Weighted Bergman Spaces
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We briefly introduce the Bergman, and the weighted Bergman, and the weighted Hardy spaces.
The classical Bergman space together with its norm is defined as
$$\begin{aligned}
\mA({\D})=\{f: {\D}\to {\bf C}\ | \ f\ {\rm is \ holomorphic \ in\ \D}, {\rm and}\ \|f\|_{\mA({\D})}^2=\int_{\D} |f(z)|^2dA<\infty\},
\end{aligned}$$
where $dA$ is the normalized area measure on the unit disc: $dA=\frac{dxdy}{\pi}, z=x+iy,$
It is a RKHS for its point evaluation functional is bounded. Denote by $e^{\mA}_w$ the normalized reproducing kernel of $\mA,$ that is $$E_w(z)=e^{\mA}_w(z)=\frac{1-|w|^2}{(1-\overline{w}z)^2}.$$
The weighted Bergman spaces are defined as
$$\begin{aligned}
\mathbb{A}_\alpha^2({\bf D})=\{f: {\D}\to {\bf C}\ | \ f\ {\rm is \ holomorphic \ in \ \D, \ \rm and\ }\ \| f\|_{\mmA({\bf D})}^2=\int_{\bf D} |f(z)|^2dA_\alpha<\infty\},\end{aligned}$$
where $dA_\alpha(z)=(1+\alpha)(1-|z|^2)^{\alpha}dA(z).$ With the norm $\| \cdot\|_{\mmA({\bf D})}$ the space $\mmA$ is a reproducing kernel Hilbert space ([@korenblum2005theory]). The reproducing kernel is $$\begin{aligned}
\label{BVP}k_w^{\alpha}(z)=\frac{1}{(1-\overline{w}z)^{2+\alpha}},\ \ \rm with \ \ \it \| k_w^{\alpha}\|^{\rm 2}= k_w^{\alpha}(w)=\frac{\rm 1}{(\rm 1-|\it w|^{\rm 2})^{\rm 2+\alpha}}.\end{aligned}$$
When $\alpha=0,$ the corresponding weighted Bergman space $\mmA=\mA$, the Bergman space. The spaces $\mmA, \alpha\to -1,$ are increasing along with $\alpha$ increasing. The relation between $\mmA, \alpha\to -1$, and the classical Hardy $\H$ space is $\H \subsetneq \bigcap_{\alpha>-1}\mmA$ ([@qu2019]).
The weighted Hardy spaces form a class of RKHSs larger than that of the weighted Bergman spaces ([@BM]). A special Chain, yet general enough, within the weighted Hardy spaces is $$\mH({\D})=\{f: {\D}\to {\bf C}\ | \ f\ {\rm is \ holomorphic \ in \ {\D}, \ and\ }\ \| f\|_{\mH({\bf D})}^2=\sum\limits_{k=0}^{\infty}(k+1)^{\beta}|c_k|^2<\infty\},$$ and the reproducing kernels are $$k^\beta(w,z)=
\sum\limits_{k=0}^{\infty}\frac{1}{(k+1)^{\beta}}(\overline{w}z)^k.$$ Moreover, $\|k^\beta(w,z)\|^2=k^\beta(w,w)=
\sum\limits_{k=0}^{\infty}\frac{1}{(k+1)^{\beta}}|w|^{2k}.$
Based on the Gamma function estimation we have that $\mH$ is identical with the Bergman spaces $\mmA$, in the set theoretic sense, with equivalent norms, if $\beta=-(\alpha +1),\ \beta <0,$ or, equivalent, $\alpha>-1.$ The collection of the weighted Hardy spaces corresponding to $\beta>0$ would be right to be called [Hardy-Sobolev spaces]{}. We specially note that for $\beta>1$ the spaces $\mH$ no longer possess BVC, that, as some Hardy-Sobolev spaces, is outside the $\beta <0$ range for the weighted Bergman spaces.
In this section we will give applications of the main theorem in §2. We will first show that DBVC and LIC hold for the classical Bergman $\mA$ space, and for all the weighted Bergman spaces of the unit disc as well. As a conclusion of Theorem \[main\], there exist solutions to the $n$-best kernel approximation problem for all the weighted Bergman spaces. Consequently, we have an $n$-best rational approximation in the weighted Bergman norm sense when the reproducing kernel is a rational function.
To show that the Bergman space $\mA$ satisfies DBVC what we need is to verify that if $z_k\to \tilde{z}\in \overline{\D}$ and $w_k\to \tilde{w}\in \partial {\D},$ then $$\begin{aligned}
\label{verify} \lim_{k\to \infty}\langle e^{\mA}_{z_k},e^{\mA}_{w_k}\rangle =0.\end{aligned}$$ For the case $\tilde{z}\in \D$ we write $$\langle e^{\mA}_{z_k},e^{\mA}_{w_k}\rangle = \langle e^{\mA}_{z_k}-e^{\mA}_{\tilde{z}},e^{\mA}_{w_k}\rangle+\langle e^{\mA}_{\tilde{z}},e^{\mA}_{w_k}\rangle$$ For the first term we use the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, and for the second term we refer to [@qu2018] for the desired zero limit. To verify the case when both $\tilde{w}$ and $\tilde{z}$ belong to the boundary $\partial \D,$ we are to show that $$\langle e^{\mA}_{z_k},e^{\mA}_{w_k}\rangle = \frac{(1-|z_k|^2)(1-|w_k|^2)}{(1-\overline{z}_kw_k)^2}$$ tends to zero. It is easy to exam that if $\tilde{w}\ne \tilde{z},$ then the zero limit is obvious. Now assume that $\tilde{w}=\tilde{z},$ but $w_k\ne z_k.$ By using the polar coordinates, we write $w_k=r_ke^{i\phi_k}, z_k=\rho_ke^{i\psi_k}, r_k, \rho_k<1, r_k\to 1, \rho_k\to 1, \phi_k\to \theta, \psi_k\to \theta, \phi_k\ne \psi_k, \forall k.$
We will equivalently show $$\lim_{k\rightarrow \infty}\frac{1}{\sqrt{1-|\langle e^{\mA}_{w_k},e^{\mA}_{z_k}\rangle|^2}}=1.$$ The latter desired relation is reduced to, explicitly, $$\lim_{k\to \infty}\frac{(1-\overline{w}_kz_k)
(1-{w}_k\overline{z}_k)}{\sqrt{A^2-B^2}}=1,$$ where $A=(1-\overline{w}_kz_k)
(1-{w}_k\overline{z}_k), B=(1-|w_k|^2)(1-|z_k|^2).$ Simple computation gives $A-B=|w_k-z_k|^2.$ Due to the relation $A+B\ge A-B=|w_k-z_k|^2,$ we have $$\begin{aligned}
\frac{(1-\overline{w}_kz_k)
(1-{w}_k\overline{z}_k)}
{\sqrt{A^2-B^2}}&\leq&
\frac{|1-\overline{w}_kz_k|}{|w_k-z_k|}
\frac{|1-\overline{w}_kz_k|}{\sqrt{A+B}}\\
&\leq& \frac{|1-\overline{w}_kz_k|^2}{|w_k-z_k|^2}\\
&\leq& \frac{1}{r_k^2} \left(\frac{|1-r_k\rho_ke^{i(\phi_k-\psi_k)}|}
{|1-\frac{\rho_k}{r_k}e^{i(\phi_k-\psi_k)}|}\right)^2.
\end{aligned}$$ Note that $\phi_k-\psi_k\ne 0.$ Elementary geometry asserts that whenever $\theta\in (0,\pi/4), \cos\theta<t<s,$ there holds $|1-te^{i\theta}|<|1-se^{i\theta}|.$ Letting $\theta=\phi_k-\psi_k,\ t=r_k\rho_k,\ s=\frac{\rho_k}{r_k},$ we hence have $$|1-r_k\rho_ke^{i(\phi_k-\psi_k)}|<
|1-\frac{\rho_k}{r_k}e^{i(\phi_k-\psi_k)}|.$$ Therefore, the upper limit $$\overline{\lim_{k\to \infty}}\frac{(1-\overline{w}_kz_k)
(1-{w}_k\overline{z}_k)}{\sqrt{A^2-B^2}}\leq 1.$$ On the other hand, the lower limit is not smaller than 1. We thus conclude (\[vanishing\]) in the classical Bergman space.
The above result can be easily extended to the classical Hardy $\H$ and the weighted Bergman spaces $\mmA, \alpha>-1.$ In fact, with a temporary abuse of notation by denoting $\H=\mmA$ for $\alpha=-1,$ we have $$\langle e^{\mmA}_w,e^{\mmA}_z\rangle=\left(\langle e^{\H}_w,e^{\H}_z\rangle\right)^{2+\alpha},$$ where $\alpha=0$ corresponds to the Bergman space.
The LIC condition for the weighted Bergman spaces is easy to be verified. Their reproducing kernels, in fact, have explicit representation formulas as meromorphic functions showing where the poles are. Suppose a kernel can be expressed as a linear combination of some other kernel functions, then in terms of distribution of the poles we immediately have a contradiction. We thus obtain the following theorem.
For the Hardy space $\H$ and the weighted Bergman spaces $\mmA, \alpha>-1,$ the $n$-best optimization problems (\[problem\]) all have interior solutions. When the reproducing kernel is a rational function we obtain correspondingly $n$-best rational function approximations in the RKHS norm.
We finally remark that the commonly used algorithms of finding $n$-best approximations in the Hardy space case may be adapted to finding $n$-best approximations in general RKHSs. Those algorithms, however, are mostly through comparison of nearby values of the objective functions, and finally may lead to local extremes. By adopting certain practical methods global extremal values may be attainable (see [@WQLG; @Q2D; @MQW2012; @qu2018; @qu2019]).
n-Best Spherical Poisson Kernel Approximation
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Next we work on $L^2(\bS),$ the Hilbert space of square integrable functions on the $(d-1)$-dimensional unit sphere centered at the origin, $d\ge 2,$ where the inner product of $L^2(\bS)$ is $$\langle f,g\rangle_{L^2(\bS)}=\int_{\bS}f(t)g(t)d\sigma(t),$$ and $d\sigma(t)$ is the normalized Lebesgue measure on the sphere. Let the parameter set $\E=\bB,$ being the $d$-dimensional unit ball centered at the origin. For a point $q\in \bB,$ the function $h_q$ in $\mathcal{H}$-$H_K$ formulation ([@QianHHK]) of the context is the Poisson kernel of the ball: with $q=rt, r=|q|, t\in \bS,$ $$\begin{aligned}
\label{q} h_q(t)=P_q(t)=c_n\frac{1-r^2}{|q-t|^n}.\end{aligned}$$ The operator $L$ and its images $Lf, f\in L^2(\bS),$ are given $$u(q)=Lf(q)=\langle f,h_{q}\rangle_{L^2(\bS)},$$ We also use the notation $L(h_p)$ to denote the parameterized Poisson kernel that is the $L$-image of $h_p=P_p(t)\in \mathcal{H}.$ The range $R(L)$ is the harmonic Hardy space on the unit ball $\bB:$ $$h^2({\bB})=\{ u: \bB \to {\bR}\ :\ \triangle u=0,\ \sup_{0\leq r<1}\int_{\bS}
|u(rt)|^2d\sigma(t)<\infty\}.$$ It is a result of harmonic analysis on the sphere that $\{h_q\}_{q\in \bB}$ is dense in $L^2(\bS)$ ([@SW]). The RKHS $H_K=h^2(\bB)$ is the range set $R(L)$ equipped with the norm induced from their non-tangential boundary limits (NTBs): For $u=Lf,$ there holds $$\lim_{r\to 1}u(rt)=f(t),$$ in both the $L^2$- and in the a.e. pointwise sense, and $$\|u\|_{H_K}\triangleq \|f\|_{L^2(\bS)}.$$ For this reason we write $f(t)=u(t)$ under the correspondence $u=Lf.$ We also have the relations $$\begin{aligned}
\|u\|_{H_K}^2\overset{{\mathcal{H}{\mbox -}H_K}}{=}\|f\|^2_{L^2(\bS)}
\overset{{NBL}}{=}\|u(\cdot)\|^2_{L^2(\bS)}\overset{{h^2\ {\rm Theory}}}{=}
\sup_{0\leq r<1}\int_{\bS}
|u(rt)|^2d\sigma(t).\end{aligned}$$
The reproducing kernel of the space $H_K$ is computed, for $q=rt, p=\rho s, t, s\in \bS,$ $$\begin{aligned}
\label{thanks2}
K(q,p)&=&\langle h_{q},h_{p}\rangle_{L^2(\bS)}\nonumber \\
&=& P_{\rho rt}(s)\\
&=& P_{r\rho s}(t)\nonumber .\end{aligned}$$ The last equality is due to the relation $|\rho rt-s|^2=|r\rho s-t|^2$ and the expressions of the corresponding Poisson kernels. The second last equality of the above refers, or is equivalent, to the semi-group property of the spherical Poisson kernel. It gives computational convenience in the approximation. To verify the reproducing property of $K_q,$ we have, for $u\in H_K=h^2({\bS}), q=rt,$ $$\begin{aligned}
\langle u,K_q\rangle_{H_K}=\langle u(\cdot),P_{rt}(\cdot)\rangle_{L^2({\bS})}
=u(rt)=u(q).\end{aligned}$$ The norm of a general reproducing kernel $K_{w}, w=\rho s, s\in \bS, 0<\rho < 1,$ is computed $$\|K_w\|^2_{H_K}=\langle K_w,K_w\rangle_{H_K}=K(w,w)=P_{\rho^2s}(s)
=\frac{c_n(1+\rho^2)}{(1-\rho^2)^{n-1}}.$$ Therefore, the norm-one normalization of $K_q,$ as denoted $$E_w=\frac{K_w}{\|K_w\|}=\frac{(1-\rho^2)^{(n-1)/2}}{\sqrt{c_n(1+\rho^2)}}K_w.$$
The boundary vanishing condition (BVC) in the case stands for $$\begin{aligned}
\label{B1}
\lim_{\bB\ni w\to \bS}|\langle u,E_w\rangle_{H_K}|=0,
\end{aligned}$$ where $u$ is any function in $H_K.$ Due to density of the span of the parameterized Poisson kernels verification of the BVC for general functions $u$ reduces to verifying the BVC of any but fixed parameterized Poisson kernel $K_q, q=rt, t\in \bS.$ Thanks to the reproducing kernel expression (\[thanks2\]) we have, $$\begin{aligned}
\label{quantity1}\langle K_q,E_w\rangle_{H_K}
=\frac{(1-\rho^2)^{(n-1)/2}}{\sqrt{c_n(1+\rho^2)}}P_{r\rho t}(s).
\end{aligned}$$ When $\rho\to 1-,$ the quantities $P_{r\rho t}(s)$ are bounded uniformly in $t,s,$ and the bounds depend on the fixed $r<1.$ Since the factor in front tends to zero for $n\ge 2,$ the whole tends to zero, uniformly in $t,s.$ We thus conclude BVC and have POAFD for this model.
Below we show that the sphere Poisson kernel context further satisfies DBVC so that in the case $n$-best approximation by the spherical Poisson kernel does exist.
According to (\[quantity1\]) and (\[q\]) the sphere case DBVC is interpreted as under the limiting process $r,\rho\to 1,$ and on the sphere $t'\ne s', t',s'\to x',$ there holds $$\begin{aligned}
\label{qu}
\lim \frac{(1-\rho^2)^{\frac{n-1}{2}}(1-r^2)^{\frac{n-1}{2}}(1-r^2\rho^2)}{|t'-r\rho s'|^n}=0.\end{aligned}$$ Since $$\frac{1-r^2\rho^2}{|t'-r\rho s'|}\leq 1,$$ the quantity in (\[qu\]) under the limit is dominated by $$\frac{(1-\rho^2)^{\frac{n-1}{2}}(1-r^2)^{\frac{n-1}{2}}}{|t'-r\rho s'|^{2\frac{n-1}{2}}}.$$ Therefore, it suffices to prove $$\lim \frac{(1-\rho^2)(1-r^2)}{|t'-r\rho s'|^2}=0.$$
This turns to be of the same form as we proved in the last section for the Bergman space case in the unit disc, where with $z_k=\rho_ke^{i\theta_k}, w_k=re^{i\psi_k}, r,\rho\to 1; \theta_k\ne\psi_k, \theta_k, \psi_k\to\alpha,$ we showed $$\lim_{k\to \infty}\frac{|z_k-w_k|^2}{|1-\overline{w}_kz_k|^2}=0.$$ To show the limit we created a circumstance where we could assert an equivalent limit through an upper limit being dominated by a lower limit. To make this part self-containing we repeat the method.
Let $A_k=|t'_k-r_k\rho s'_k|^2, B_k=(1-\rho_k^2)(1-r_k^2).$ To prove $\lim_{k\to \infty}\frac{B_k}{A_k}=0$ is reduced to proving the equivalent assertion $$\begin{aligned}
\label{desired} \lim_{k\to \infty}\frac{1}{\sqrt{1-\frac{B_k^2}{A_k^2}}}=1.\end{aligned}$$ We, however, have $$\frac{1}{\sqrt{1-\frac{B_k^2}{A_k^2}}}=\frac{A_k}{\sqrt{A_k^2-B_k^2}}\leq \frac{A_k}{A_k-B_k},$$ where, for $\cos\phi_k=\langle s_k',t_k'\rangle_{{\bR}^n},$ $$\begin{aligned}
A_k-B_k&=&|t'_k-r\rho s_k'|^2-(1-\rho^2)(1-r^2)\\
&=&(1-2r_k\rho_k\cos\phi_k+r_k^2\rho_k^2)-(1-r_k^2-\rho_k^2+r_k^2\rho_k^2)\\
&=&|\rho_kt_k'-r_ks'|^2\\
&=&\rho_k^2|t_k'-\frac{r_k}{\rho_k}s'|^2.
\end{aligned}$$ The geometry of the sphere implies, for $r_k\rho_k$ being close to $1,$ $$|t'_k-r\rho_k s_k'| < |t_k'-\frac{r_k}{\rho_k}s'|.$$ There then follows $$\begin{aligned}
\overline{\lim}_{k\to \infty}\frac{1}{\sqrt{1-\frac{B_k^2}{A_k^2}}}
\leq \overline{\lim}_{k\to \infty}\frac{1}{\rho_k^2}\frac{|t'_k-r_k\rho_k s_k'|^2}{|t_k'-\frac{r_k}{\rho_k}s'|^2}\leq 1.
\end{aligned}$$ On the other hand, $$\underline{\lim}_{k\to \infty}\frac{1}{\sqrt{1-\frac{B_k^2}{A_k^2}}}\ge 1.$$ We hence have the desired DBVC (\[qu\]).
[10]{}
D. Alpay, F. Colombo, T. Qian, I. Sabadini, [*Adaptive orthonormal systems for matrix-valued functions*]{}, Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society, 2017, **145**(5): 2089-2106.
D. Alpay, F. Colombo, T. Qian, and I. Sabadini, [*Adaptative decomposition: The case of the Drury-Arveson space*]{}, Journal of Fourier Analysis and Applications, 2017, **23**(6): 1426-1444.
L. Baratchart, [*Existence and generic properties of $L^2$ approximations for linear systems,*]{} Math. Control Inform., [**3**]{}: 89-101.
E. D. Livshitz, V. N. Temlyakov, [*On convergence of weak greedy algorithms*]{}, South Carolina Univrsity Columbia DEPT of Mathmatics, 2000.
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W. Mi, T. Qian, F. Wan, [*A fast adaptive model reduction method based on Takenaka-Malmquist systems,*]{} Systems and Control Letters, 2012,[**61**]{}(1): 223-230.
T. Qian, [*Reproducing Kernel Sparse Representations in Relation to Operator Equations,*]{} Complex Anal. Oper. Theory 14 (2020), no. 2, 1¨C15.
T. Qian, Two-Dimensional Adaptive Fourier Decomposition, Mathematical Methods in the Applied Sciences, 2016, **39**(10): 2431-2448.
T. Qian, Y.B. Wang, Adaptive Fourier series-a variation of greedy algorithm, Advances in Computational Mathematics, 2011, **34** (3): 279–293.
T. Qian, E. Wegert, [*Optimal approximation by Blaschke forms,*]{} Complex Variables and Elliptic Equations, 2013, [**58**]{}(1): 123-133.
T. Qian, J. Z. Wang, W. X. Mai, [*An Enhancement Algorithm for Cyclic Adaptive Fourier Decomposition*]{}, Applied and Computational Harmonic Analysis, available, 2019.
W. Qu, P. Dang, [*Rational approximation in a class of weighted Hardy spaces,*]{} Complex Analysis and Operator Theory, 2019, **13**(4): 1827-1852.
W. Qu, P. Dang, [*Reproducing kernel approximation in weighted Bergman spaces: Algorithm and applications,*]{} Mathematical Methods in the Applied Sciences, 2019, **42**(12): 4292-4304.
G. Ruckebusch, [*Sur l’approximation rationnelle des filtres,*]{} Report No 35 CMA Ecole Polytechnique, 1978.
J. L. Walsh, [*Interpolation and approximation by rational functions in the complex domain,*]{} American Mathematical Soc. Publication, 1962, **10**. T. Qian, Reproducing Kernel Sparse Representations in Relation to Operator Equations. Complex Anal. Oper. Theory 14 (2020), no. 2, 1¨C15. T. Qian, Y.B. Wang, Remarks on adaptive Fourier decomposition, International Journal of Wavelets, Multiresolution and Information Processing, 2013, **11** (01).
T. Qian, [Cyclic AFD Algorithm for best approximation by rational functions of given order,]{} Mathematical Methods in the Applied Sciences, 2014, **37**(6): 846-859. Baratchart, L., Cardelli, M., Olivi, M. , Identification and rational $L^2$ approximation a gradient algorithm, Automatica, 1991, **27**(2): 413-417. E. Stein, G. Weiss, [*Introduction to Fourier Analysis in Euclidean Spaces,*]{} Princeton University Press, 1970.
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[^1]: Corresponding author: tqian@must.edu.mo\
Funded by The Science and Technology Development Fund, Macau SAR (File no. 0123/2018/A3)
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Effects of coadministration of low dose cannabinoid type 2 receptor agonist and morphine on vanilloid receptor 1 expression in a rat model of cancer pain.
Morphine is widely used as an analgesic to treat moderate to severe pain, but chronic morphine use is associated with development of tolerance and dependence, which limits its analgesic efficacy. Our previous research has showed that nonanalgetic dose of a cannabinoid type 2 (CB2) receptor agonist reduced morphine tolerance in cancer pain. A previous study showed the colocalization of CB2 and transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) in human and rat dorsal root ganglia (DRG) sensory neurons. Whether coadministration of a CB2 receptor agonist and morphine could reduce TRPV1 expression in morphine‑induced antinociception and tolerance in cancer pain is unclear. Therefore, we investigated the effects of coadministration of a CB2 receptor agonist AM1241 and morphine on TRPV1 expression and tolerance in cancer pain. Coadministration of AM1241 and morphine for 8 days significantly reduced morphine tolerance, as assessed by measuring paw withdrawal latency to a radiant heat stimulation, in Walker 256 tumor‑bearing rats. Repeated morphine treatment for a period of 8 days induced upregulation of the TRPV1 protein expression levels in the DRG in the tumor‑bearing rats, although no change in mRNA expression. Pretreatment with AM1241 reduced this morphine‑induced upregulation of TRPV1 and the effect was reversed by the CB2 receptor antagonist AM630. Our findings suggest that coadministration of a CB2 receptor agonist AM1241 and morphine reduced morphine tolerance possibly through regulation of TRPV1 protein expression in the DRG in cancer pain. |
rajdhanwar
Saturday, June 7, 2008
As far as Private Schools are concerned Now, Rajdhanwar has Four Private High Schools and a number of Primary and middle schools.
One Inter College is also here except Adarsh College.
"Rajmani" is the cinema hall, which is very popular because this is the one and only place for entertainment of the people and villagers around this town.
Rajdhanwar is a Legislative Assembly area Under Koderma Loksabha. The first Chief Minister of Jharkhand Mr. BabuLal Marandi belongs to this Assembly area.
It is the most peaceful area of Giridih district. and Students from Rajdhanwar are coming Fastly (sicsic) on the quality education track.
Vinoba Bhave University, Hazaribag is having one of its center for higher education named "Aadarsh College Raj Dhanwar" situated in this town. now the MLA of Rajdhanwar assembly area is Mr. Ravindra Rai.The township of RajDhanwar is expanded exponentially.The cost of land goes higher and higher day to day.The check dam named Naulakha Dam not completly built, some patch work is needed.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Rajdhanwar is a small town, and one of the blocks of Giridih district, Jharkhand state. The place is famous for its big market for jewellery and fast moving consumer goods. It is surrounded by Sariya, Doranda, Khorimahua and Jharkandi.
In the south it is surrounded by the Irga river. In the north is the Jamua block. The east side is covered by the Koderma district. The western side is the Dhanbad district.
Rajdhanwar has two government schools and a college. The famous SS High School Dhanwar is based in Rajdhanwar only. Adarsh College Dhanwar is also very popular. |
---
abstract: 'Fundamental aspects of ultracold collisions between identical bosonic or fermionic dipoles are studied under quasi-two-dimensional (Q2D) confinement. In the strongly dipolar regime, bosonic and fermion species are found to share important collisional properties as a result of the confining geometry, which suppresses the inelastic rates irrespective of the quantum statistics obeyed. A potential negative is that the confinement causes dipole-dipole resonances to be extremely narrow, which could make it difficult to explore Q2D dipolar gases with tunable interactions. Such properties are shown to be universal, and a simple WKB model reproduces most of our numerical results. In order to shed light on the many-body behavior of dipolar gases in Q2D we have analyzed the scattering amplitude and developed an energy-analytic form of the pseudopotentials for dipoles. For specific values of the dipolar interaction, the pseudopotential coefficient can be tuned to arbitrarily large values, indicating the possibility of realizing Q2D dipolar gases with tunable interactions.'
author:
- 'José P. D’Incao'
- 'Chris H. Greene'
title: 'Collisional Aspects of Bosonic and Fermionic Dipoles in Quasi-Two-Dimensional Confining Geometries'
---
Extensive experimental and theoretical efforts have recently been devoted to explore the production of dipolar gases and to uncover novel quantum phases resulting from the anisotropic nature and long-range character of the dipolar interaction [@Baranov]. The recent experimental realization of a dense sample of ultracold ground-state KRb molecules [@RbK] has opened up ways to realize several new phenomena, ranging from ultracold chemistry, condensed matter physics and quantum information [@RbK; @Krems; @ManyBodyQInfo]. A crucial step towards realizing such ideas is to understand the collisional properties of dipoles at ultralow temperatures. In fact, recent theoretical work has proposed a classification of ground-state molecules in terms of their chemical reactivity [@PolarMolClass]. A number of such molecules are expected to be extremely reactive while others have energetically forbidden decay channels. Although reactive molecules are great candidates for studying chemical dynamics [@RbK; @Krems], such processes limit the lifetime of the gas. The introduction of a quasi-two-dimensional confinement (Q2D) adds a new handle for controlling the physics of the problem [@Q2DPolar], which drastically changes this scenario [@Ticknor; @Polar2D] and ultimately leads to improved stability. This should in turn enable an exploration of various many-body phenomena.
In this paper, we explore the effect of Q2D confinement on collisions of bosonic and fermionic dipolar species. We have found that in the strong dipolar regime the ultracold scattering properties of Q2D dipoles do not depend on the details of the short-range interactions. The effective interactions are also characterized by calculating the Q2D pseudopotential coupling constants. Our analysis shows that at [*any*]{} finite collision energy there exists a value of the dipolar interaction at which the coupling constant diverges, a phenomenon that can be traced back to the Ramsauer-Townsend effect. Although our present analysis does not address the issues of implementing our pseudopodential formalism to the many-body problem, we believe that our findings can shed light on the possible ways of controlling the interactions in a dipolar gas.
In order to study dipolar collisions in Q2D, an adiabatic separation of the radial and angular motion is introduced. This expresses the wavefunction as $\Psi(\vec{r})= e^{i m\phi}\sum_{\nu}r^{-1}{F_{\nu}(r)}\Phi_{\nu}(r;\theta)$, where $r$, $\theta$, and $\phi$, are the spherical radius and angles, respectively, and $m$ is the angular momentum projection. Here, $\nu$ is the channel index, $F_{\nu}$ is the $\nu$-th radial wave function and $\Phi$ is the channel function. In the adiabatic representation, the Schr[ö]{}dinger equation reduces to a simple system of ordinary differential equations given (in atomic units) by, $$\begin{aligned}
\left[-\frac{1}{2\mu}\frac{d^2}{dr^2}+W_{\nu}(r)-E\right]F_{\nu}
+\sum_{\nu'\ne\nu} W_{\nu\nu'}(r) F_{\nu'}=0,
\label{radeq}\end{aligned}$$ where $\mu$ is the two-body reduced mass, $E$ is the total energy, $W_{\nu\nu'}=-\left(P_{\nu\nu'}{\partial}/{\partial r}+Q_{\nu\nu'}\right)/{2\mu}$, with $P_{\nu\nu'}=\langle{\Phi_{\nu}}|{\partial}/{\partial r}|{\Phi_{\nu'}}\rangle$ and $Q_{\nu\nu'}=\langle{\Phi_{\nu}}|{\partial^2}/{\partial r^2}|{\Phi_{\nu'}}\rangle$, are the nonadiabatic couplings which drive inelastic transitions, and $W_{\nu}=U_{\nu}-Q_{\nu\nu}/{2\mu}$ are the adiabatic potentials supporting bound and quasi-bound states. The adiabatic potentials and channel functions are obtained by solving eigenvalue equation for the angular motion: $$\begin{aligned}
\left[
-\frac{1}{2\mu r^2}\left(\frac{1}{\sin\theta}\frac{\partial}{\partial\theta}\sin\theta\frac{\partial}{\partial\theta}
-\frac{m^2}{\sin^2\theta}\right)+v_{sr}(r)~~~~~~~~\right.\nonumber\\
\left. +\frac{d_{\ell}}{\mu}\frac{1-3\cos^2\theta}{r^3}
+ \frac{r^2\cos^2\theta}{2\mu a_{ho}^4}-U_{\nu}(r)\right]
\Phi_{\nu}(r;\theta)
=0,
\label{adeq}\end{aligned}$$ solved for fixed values of $r$ and in concert with the proper bosonic and fermionic boundary conditions at $\theta=\pi/2$. In the equation above, $v_{sr}(r)=D{\rm sech}^2(r/r_{0})$ is the short-range isotropic potential, where $r_{0}$ is the characteristic range of the interactions (similar to the van der Waals length), and the next two terms are the anisotropic dipole-dipole and Q2D confinement potentials, respectively. The dipolar interaction and confinement introduce two new important length scales into the system, namely, the “dipole length” $d_{\ell}=\mu d_{m}^2$, where $d_{m}$ is the dipole moment in a.u., and the reduced-mass oscillator length $a_{ho}^2=\mu w_{ho}$, where $w_{ho}$ is the harmonic trap frequency experienced by each molecule in the $\hat{z}$ direction.
In Figure \[Fig1\] we show a set of adiabatic potentials obtained by solving Eq. (\[adeq\]) for the lowest bosonic ($m=0$) and fermionic ($m=1$) symmetries with even $z$-reflection parity. For distances $r\lesssim a_{ho}$, the adiabatic potentials are mainly controlled by the short-range interactions ($v_{sr}$ and dipolar). As $r$ increases the confinement becomes important and the transition between 3D and 2D physics is characterized by the series of avoided crossings along the values of the averaged confinement potential $r^2/\mu a_{ho}^4$ (see the solid curve in Fig. \[Fig1\]). For ultracold collisions, however, the scattering properties are mainly determined by the asymptotic forms of the adiabatic potentials which we found, for $r\gg r_{ho}=(4a_{ho}^4d_{\ell})^{1/5}$, to be given by $$\begin{aligned}
&&{W_{\nu}(r)}\approx E_{ho}^{(\nu)}+\frac{m^2-1/4}{2\mu r^2}+\frac{d_{\ell}}{\mu r^3}.
%+\frac{3(n_{\nu}+1)a_{ho}^2d_{\ell}}{2\mu r^5}.
\label{asypot}\end{aligned}$$ Here $E^{(\nu)}_{ho}=(n_{\nu}+1/2)/\mu a_{ho}^2$ is the oscillator energy level and $n_{\nu}$ is the principal quantum number. Notice that in contrast to the 3D case [@Polar3D] the dipolar interaction at large $r$ is repulsive $1/r^3$ for [*both*]{} bosonic and fermionic species. This fact has important consequences for the collisional properties of dipoles in Q2D, as we discuss below.
![(color online). Adiabatic potentials for Q2D bosonic (solid) and fermionic (dashed) dipoles (see text). \[Fig1\]](Fig1.eps){width="3.2in"}
{width="6.9in"}
Having determined the adiabatic potentials and couplings, we calculate elastic and inelastic rates by solving Eq. (\[radeq\]) and matching our numerical solutions to the proper cylindrical asymptotic solutions to obtain the corresponding $T$-matrix and the collision rate coefficients [@Polar2D], $$\begin{aligned}
{\cal K}_{el}=\frac{2\hbar}{\mu}\sum_{m, f}\Delta_{m}|T^{(m)}_{i\leftarrow i}|^2,~~~
{\cal K}_{in}=\frac{2\hbar}{\mu}\sum_{m, f}\Delta_{m}|T^{(m)}_{f\leftarrow i}|^2,
\label{rates}\end{aligned}$$ where $\Delta_{m}=2-\delta_{m,0}$ and $i$ and $f$ label the initial and final collision channels. Here, we study collisions from the lowest transverse mode ($n_{1}=0$ in Fig. \[Fig1\]) and we have added an artificial deeply bound channel (with adjustable coupling) to incorporate the effects of inelastic collisions relevant for reactive ground-state polar molecules [@PolarMolClass].
In general, a calculation of elastic and inelastic rates in the strong dipolar regime, $k d_{\ell}\gg1$, where $k^2=2\mu (E-E_{ho}^{(0)})$, requires the inclusion of a large number of partial waves in Eq. (\[rates\]). Here, however, we have found that the rates in this regime assume a universal form, allowing for a simple WKB model for the phase-shifts that tremendously economizes the calculations. We compare our numerical results for the elastic rates for $m=0$ and $1$ with the WKB model in order to demonstrate this universality and present the calculation for the total rates \[Eq. (\[rates\])\] for values of $m$ up to 200 using our WKB result. The topology of the adiabatic potentials (Fig. \[Fig1\]) allows us to directly apply the WKB phase-shift formula derived in Ref. [@Berry]. Here, however, we write the phase-shift as a sum of two terms, $$\begin{aligned}
\delta_{m}(k)=\delta^{lr}_{m}(k)+\delta^{sr}_{m}(k),\label{WKB}\end{aligned}$$ where $\delta^{lr}_{m}=\int_{r^{c}_{m}}^{\infty}\left[K_{m}(r)-k\right]dr+\frac{\pi}{2}m-kr^{c}_{m}$ is the long-range phase-shift, $r^c_{m}$ being the classical turning point [@rc], and $\delta^{sr}_{m}=\tan^{-1}[\frac{1}{4}e^{-2\gamma_{m}}\tan\Phi^{sr}_{m}]$ is the short-range phase-shift. Here $K_{m}(r)=[k^2-(2d_{\ell}+m^2 r)/r^3]^{1/2}$, $e^{-2\gamma_{m}}=\exp[-2\int_{r_{ho}}^{r^{c}_{m}}|K_{m}(r)|dr$\]. In our formulation, the only non-universal part of the phase-shift comes from $\delta_{m}^{sr}$ through the phase $\Phi_{m}^{sr}$ accumulated for $r<r_{ho}$. We have determined, however, that for $kd_{\ell}\gg1$, the phase $\delta_{m}^{sr}$ is exponentially small \[$\gamma_{m}\propto (d_{\ell}/a_{ho})^{2/5}$\], due to the $1/r^3$ barrier in the entrance channel \[Eq. (\[asypot\])\], except in an extremely narrow region near a dipole-dipole resonance [@DipolarPhase]. As a result the scattering problem becomes universal, depending [*only*]{} on the long-range physics encapsulated in $\delta_{m}^{lr}\equiv\delta_{m}^{lr}(k,d_{\ell})$. The fact that, in Q2D, dipole-dipole resonances are extremely narrow, seems likely to make the exploration of Q2D dipolar gases with tunable interactions prohibitively difficult. However, as we will show later, tunability is still possible, although instead due to the physics of the Ramsauer-Townsend effect.
Figure \[Fig2\] demonstrates some of these points through our numerical calculations (for $m=0$ and $1$) and WKB results for the partial rates ${\cal K}^{m}_{el}=(8\hbar/\mu)\Delta_{m}\sin^2\delta_{m}(k)$ and ${\cal K}^{m}_{in}$ for $a_{ho}/r_{0}=5$ and $k=0.071/r_{0}$ (vertical lines in Fig. \[Fig2\]). Figs. \[Fig2\] (a) and (d) compare our numerical results for $m=0$ and $m=1$ (thick dashed lines) with the WKB results from Eq. (\[WKB\]) (thin dot-dashed lines). Extremely good agreement is found for $k d_{\ell}>1$, but for $k d_{\ell}<1$, this agreement deteriorates and dipole-dipole resonances [@DipolarPhase] becomes visible. In fact, throughout the entire range of values of $d_{\ell}$ there exist dipole-dipole resonances, but as we mentioned above, they are extremely narrow and only become visible in the inelastic rates \[Figs. \[Fig2\] (b) and (e)\]. Interestingly, all partial rates oscillate as $d_{\ell}$ increases, as a result of the Ramsauer-Townsend effect. Evidently, the total rates will not display actual zeros since the partial rates are out of phase. Nevertheless, the total rates, shown in Figs. \[Fig2\] (a) and (d) as solid lines, oscillate around the semi-classical result of Ref. [@Ticknor] (solid straight line). Still, such oscillations are universal and reflect the Ramsauer-Townsend effect. Figures \[Fig2\] (b) and (e) also show another dramatic effect due to the Q2D confinement. The inelastic rates for [*both*]{} bosonic and fermionic dipoles are suppressed as $\exp[-2(d_{\ell}/a_{ho})^{2/5}]$ for values of $d_{\ell}$ beyond $a_{ho}$, in agreement with Ref. [@Ticknor]. This result emphasizes the importance of the confinement in allowing for the realization of stable ultracold dipolar gases, irrespective of their quantum statistics.
Figures \[Fig2\] (c) and (f) shows other properties of dipolar scattering through plots of the scattering amplitude versus the azimuthal angle, $\phi$, and $d_{\ell}$. As one can see, the dipolar scattering is by itself anisotropic. For both bosonic and fermionic dipoles \[Figs. \[Fig2\] (c) and (d)\], the preferential outgoing scattering flux occurs around $\phi=0$, $\pi$, and $2\pi$. Therefore, two dipoles tend to scatter in such a way that they can either completely repel or else simply “ignore” each other. Nevertheless, our results also show that there exist other specific directions in which dipoles can scatter. These are indicated by the less intense “fringes” between the maximum values of the scattering amplitude. From a more general perspective, the properties of the scattering amplitude could prove useful in many-body theories of dipolar gases [@ScatAmp].
![(color online). (a) Q2D coupling constant, $g_{m}$, and (b) its equivalent energy-analytic form, $g^{a}_{m}$. Figure shows interesting “resonant” behavior related to the Ramsauer-Townsend (see text).[]{data-label="Fig3"}](Fig3.eps){width="3.4in"}
Another way to analyze the many-body behavior is through the pseudopotentials for Q2D dipoles [@Q2DPolar1; @Q2DPolar2]. However, pseudopotentials for dipoles (both in 3D and Q2D) suffer from a number of still-unresolved problems in the limit $k\rightarrow0$, and thus their applicability in many-body contexts has remained questionable. Here, we propose a modified version of Q2D potentials which eliminates the non-analyticity of the pseudopotentials in the limit $k\rightarrow0$. Our approach consists in determining the pseudopotentials with respect to the energy analytic radial 2D solutions in the spirit of generalized quantum defect theory [@EnergyAnalytic]. In the present case this amounts to replacing the usual regular and irregular Bessel solutions by a new pair that are both entire analytic functions of energy: $F^{a}_{m}=(k b)^{-m} J_{m}(kr)$ and $G^{a}_{m}=(k b)^m[Y_{m}(k r)-\frac{2}{\pi}\ln(k b)J_{m}(kr)]$, where $J_{m}$ and $Y_{m}$ are the usual Bessel functions and $b$ is an appropriate length scale which, based on our numerical calculations, is set to $b=d_{\ell}$. From this analysis, and following [@Q2DPolar1], we obtain the energy-analytic pseudopotentials as, $$\begin{aligned}
&\hat{v}^{a}_{m}(r) \stackrel{r\rightarrow0}{\equiv} g^{a}_{m}(k)\times\delta(r) \hat{R}^{a}_{m}(r),\label{vpp}\end{aligned}$$ where $g^{a}_{m}$ is the energy analytic coupling constant and $\hat{R}^{a}_{m}$ is the regularization operator given, respectively, by $$\begin{aligned}
& g^{a}_{m}=-\frac{\hbar^2}{2\mu}\frac{2}{\pi}\frac{(m!)^2}{(2m)!}(2d_{\ell})^{2m}\tan\delta^{a}_{m}(k),\label{gm}\\
&\hat{R}^{a}_{0}=\ln(\frac{r}{2d_{\ell}\beta_{0}})^2 \frac{d}{dr}\left[\frac{-1}{ \ln(\frac{r}{2d_{\ell}\beta_{0}})}\right],\\
&\hat{R}^{a}_{m}=\frac{1}{r^{m+1}} \frac{d^{2m}}{dr^{2m}}{r^{m}}\left[{1-\frac{2(kr)^{2m}\ln(\frac{r}{2d_{\ell}\beta_{m}})}{2^{2m}m!(m-1)!}}\right]^{-1}\label{op}.\end{aligned}$$ In the equations above, $\beta_{m}=e^{-\gamma+\sum_{p=1}^{m}p^{-1}}$, where $\gamma\approx0.577$ is the Euler constant and $\delta^{a}_{m}$ is the energy analytic phase-shift, which relates to the physical phase-shift by $$\begin{aligned}
\tan\delta^{a}_{m}(k)=\frac{\tan\delta_{m}(k)/(kd_{\ell})^{2m}}{1-\frac{2}{\pi}(kd_{\ell})^{2m}\ln(kd_{\ell})\tan\delta_{m}(k)}.
\label{tand0}\end{aligned}$$
Note that our form of the pseudopotential has an explicit dependence on the dipole length $d_{\ell}$ while most of the $k$ dependence comes through $\tan\delta_{m}^{a}$. In fact, for $m=0$ our pseudopotential becomes energy [*independent*]{} in the $kd_{\ell}\ll 1$ regime. These properties appear to be absent from previous analyses of Q2D pseudopotentials but they appear to be desirable for many-body calculations. In Figure \[Fig3\] we show the contrast between using the usual form of the pseudopotentials and the energy-analytic form \[Eqs. (\[vpp\])-(\[op\])\]. Figures \[Fig3\] (a) and (b) shows our results for the physical coupling constant $g_{m}$ \[obtained by replacing $d_{\ell}$ by $1/k$ and $\delta^{a}_{m}$ by $\delta_{m}$ in Eq. (\[gm\])\] for the same set of parameters chosen in Fig. \[Fig2\]. As one can see, $g_{m}$ increases for large $m$ $\tan\delta_{m}/k^{2m}\propto1/k^{2m-1}$ ($m\ne0$), while $g^a_{m}$ \[Figs. \[Fig3\] (c) and (d)\] decreases for $kd_{\ell}\gg1$. This indicates that our form of the pseudopotential might be more suitable in the strongly dipolar regime. Apart from the above considerations, we note that for every $m$, $g_{m}$ diverges at particular values of $d_{\ell}$ [@Q2DPolar2]. These divergences are related to the Ramsauer-Townsend effect and do [*not*]{} correspond to a zero-energy bound state. If these “resonances” persist in a many-body context it can indicate that the Q2D dipolar gas could undergo a transition to a strongly correlated regime where the interactions can be tuned from repulsive ($g_{m}>0$) to attractive ($g_{m}<0$) almost at will by varying the external electric field. Moreover, the positions of the poles in $g_{m}$, according to our model, should be universal in the regime $k d_{\ell}\gg1$. However, since the positions of resonant features depend on $k$ they might be smeared out in a quantum gas. But they could be observable in a collision between two clouds at a definite relative momentum [@BECCollisions]. Now, the fact that the poles in $g^{a}_{m}$ are visible only for $m=0$ emphasizes the necessity of extending the many-body analysis in the energy-analytic framework, a task beyond the scope of our present investigation.
In summary, we have studied scattering properties of bosonic and fermionic dipoles under Q2D confinement. Both species display universal behavior, which significantly improves the prospects of creating a stable gas of Q2D dipoles. We have also computed two-body parameters, such as the scattering amplitude and coupling constants, which can be important for many-body treatments of strongly interacting dipolar gases.
This work was supported by the US-AFOSR-MURI. We thank B. D. Esry, D. Blume, J. L. Bohn, and G. Quéméner for stimulating discussions.
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$r^c_{0}=(2d_{\ell}/k^2)^{1/3}$ and for $m\neq0$, $r^c_{m}=[3^{\frac{1}{3}}k^{2} + (9 d_{\ell} k^4+\sqrt{-3k^6+81d_{\ell}^2 k^8})^{\frac{2}{3}}]/[3^{\frac{2}{3}}k^2(9d_{\ell}k^4 + \sqrt{-3k^6+81 d_{\ell}^2 k^8})^{\frac{1}{3}}]$.
C. Ticknor and J. L. Bohn, [*ibid.*]{} [**72**]{}, 032717 (2005).
M. Schick, Phys. Rev. A [**3**]{}, 1067 (1971); B. Capogrosso-Sansone [*et. al*]{}, New J. Phys [**12**]{}, 043010 (2010).
K. Kanjilal and D. Blume, Phys. Rev. A [**73**]{}, 060701(R) (2006).
S.-M. Shih and D.-W. Wang, Phys. Rev. A [**79**]{}, 065603 (2009).
J. P. Burke, Jr., [*et. al*]{}, Phys. Rev. Lett. [**81**]{} 3355 (1998).
B. Borca [*et al.*]{}, Phys. Rev. Lett. [**91**]{}, 070404 (2003); Y. Wang [*et al.*]{} , [*ibid.*]{} [**104**]{}, 113201 (2010).
|
Perception vs Reality: Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Carriage Among Healthcare Workers at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
In a prevalence study of 209 healthcare workers, 18 (8.6%) and 13 (6.2%) carried methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in their nares or on their hands, respectively. However, 100 (62%) of 162 workers completing an associated survey believed themselves to be colonized, revealing a knowledge deficit about methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus epidemiology. Infect. Control Hosp. Epidemiol. 2015;37(1):110-112. |
#include <pthread.h>
pthread_key_t key;
int main() {
pthread_setspecific(key, NULL);
}
|
Effects of age and dopamine D2L receptor-deficiency on motor and learning functions.
Decreases in the activity or density of dopamine D2 receptor (D2R) have been associated with age-related changes and neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease. There are two isoforms of the D2R, termed the D2 long receptor (D2LR) and D2 short receptor (D2SR). To study the function of these two isoforms and their role in aging, we generated mice selectively lacking D2LR (D2L-/-). Here, we showed that middle-aged (12 months) to aged wild-type (WT) mice (22-24 months) displayed significantly lower levels of motor and learning functions than young WT mice (3 months). Interestingly, young D2L-/- mice (which still express D2SR) showed behavioral deficits similar to aged WT mice. It is possible that deletion of the D2LR might facilitate the aging process in mice. Our results also suggest that a deterioration of the D2LR (but not D2SR) system during aging may account, at least in part, for the motor and learning deficits exhibited in aged WT mice. We also showed that the critical age at which significant reduction in behavior occurred varied among different behaviors. Defining the age-related critical periods and understanding the role of the two D2R isoforms in aging may facilitate the development of new strategies for delaying or ameliorating age-related motor and learning impairments. |
Freedom Games 2018: “Battle for History” on many levels
2 January 2019
The Freedom Games 2018 included the day of the 100th anniversary of Polish independence. It was a perfect occasion to reflect on the various dimensions of the history of Poland and Europe and to draw important conclusions for the future.
During the discussion panel run by Mikołaj Mirowski: “Saving from Oblivion: The Shared Polish-Jewish History”Anna Bikont, an editor of Gazeta Wyborcza and a writer and professor Joanna Tokarska-Bakir, anthropologist of culture and religion, lecturer at the University of Warsaw and writer talked about how narrative connected with the fate of Polish Jews imposes a sense of alienation and exclusion, regardless of the anti-Semitic sentiments cherished in some circles. Joanna Tokarska-Bakir expressed her hope that there are still individual people who want to be “secretaries of true memory”, independent of the interests of politicians, and Anna Bikont called them “islands of remembrance”
Fot. Joanna Łopat
Fot. Joanna Łopat
Fot. Joanna Łopat
Fot. Joanna Łopat
President of the European Council Donald Tusk delivering his speech
President of Lodz Hanna Zdanowska with Donald Tuski
On November 10, Donald Tusk gave a lecture“November 11, 2018. Poland and Europe. Two Anniversaries, Two Lessons”, in which he repeatedly referred to important events and figures from the brightest pages of Polish history. “Every story, every nation needs its heroes. I have already mentioned their names here, but I want to repeat this once again, because it will be very important today, on the eve of the anniversary of independence: after all, Piłsudski said that a nation that does not respect its past does not deserve a good future, so let us emphasize that once as clearly as possible: the hero, the father of our independence is Józef Piłsudski, the hero and the father of our freedom is Lech Walesa, no matter what! And no nonsense historical policy will change this fact” said the President of the Council of Europe.
Fot. Joanna Łopat
Fot. Joanna Łopat
Fot. Joanna Łopat
Fot. Joanna Łopat
Fot. Joanna Łopat
Fot. Joanna Łopat
The panel “Battle of Identity” led by Magdalena M. Baran brought the reflections on the shape of “Polishness”. Andrzej Leder said that this identity is torn. It is based on the battle for national pride and what should be a reason for our satisfaction. Piotr Augustyniak defined national identity as a kind of ballast, which has been pulling the society down many times. The ballast force affects us all. According to the speaker: “The key to understanding the Polish situation and the division is to see what this division allows, what conditions it, and what links the Poles. I would call it post-traumatic ballast. We are a society largely shaped at the level of not only our consciousness created by a series of traumas that marked our society.” Piotr Augustyniak further said that the path to rebirth is to accept suffering. A completely different picture of identity is given by Janusz Palikot: “Poland is a hybrid of various invisibilities and shortcomings. Poland is a past-oriented hybrid. The shortcomings include the lack of basic mythology, the Slavic epic that all nations possess. We do not have a basic story. It causes some kind of cavity, cleansing from identity.
Guests of the panel “Remembrance Policy” were Luba Jurgenson – lecturer of Slavic studies at Sorbonne, Paul Gradvohl – historian specializing in the history of Central Europe and Janusz Marszalec – historian. The main theme of the discussion panel led by Sebastian Adamkiewicz was the memory in political and historical terms. Paul Gradvohl summed up the panel saying that we should be able to explain what is important to us to other people without the same cultural and political experience. “First, it is necessary to reliably learn history from reliable sources and then propagate it further” – added Janusz Marszalec.
Fot. Joanna Łopat
Fot. Joanna Łopat
Fot. Joanna Łopat
Fot. Joanna Łopat
Fot. Joanna Łopat
Fot. Joanna Łopat
Marci Shore – a historian of Central Europe and the author of such books as “Caviar and Ashes” or “Ukrainian Night” presented her view on the genesis of the revolution in Maidan and on Polish-Ukrainian relations. According to the author, Maidan has become a pretext for the whole world, including Poland, to consider what it means to be an actor and consider whether we really consider our country a value.
Fot. Joanna Łopat
Fot. Joanna Łopat
Fot. Joanna Łopat
The panel “Pride or Shame? Conflict over Polish History” was attended by professors Andrzej Friszke, Rafał Stobiecki, as well as Krzysztof Iszkowski and Andrzej Saramonowicz. Professor Stobiecki pointed out that the myth underlying the national narratives is elementally harmful, because it presents only one side of history. Andrzej Saramonowicz pointed out that the dilemma contained in the title of the panel makes sense mainly in terms of the future – how we will use the experience of the future to act responsibly.
Participants of the panel “Was Polish History Male-Dominated? Herstory”: Ludwika Wujec, Bogna Świątkowska, Kazimiera Szczuka and Marta Madejska, outlined the basic barrier related to telling stories from a female perspective. The presence of women on the pages of universal history is marginal and although the discussion on this subject is a good step, according to Bogna Świątkowska, unfortunately, it is still happening in the convention of “women about women with women.” Panelists have expressed concern that there is a concrete reason why men’s history is comfortable for patriarchy. It serves to assign specific roles and closures in a specific framework, beyond which we fear to go and thanks to that it is an excellent tool of control and subordination. This awareness should further motivate women to be noticed and active participants in historical events.
How was it? Well, if you celebrated with us, we probably do not need to remind you, although a lot happened! For those of you who were unable to join us, or those who would like to reminisce, we present an overview of the key events and a short summary of this year's edition of Freedom Games. |
A previously unknown and currently unpatched security hole in the latest version of the Java software framework is under attack online, according to security researchers and bloggers.
Attack code that exploits vulnerability in Java's browser plugin has been added to the Blackhole, Cool, Nuclear Pack, and Redkit exploit kits, according to the Malware Don't Need Coffee blog, prompting its author to say that the bug is being "massively exploited in the wild." Miscreants use these products to turn compromised websites into platforms for silently installing keyloggers and other types of malicious software on the computers of unsuspecting visitors. KrebsOnSecurity reporter Brian Krebs said the curators of both Blackhole and Nuclear Pack have taken to the underweb to boast of the addition to their wares. It's not yet clear how many websites have been outfitted with the exploits.
According to researchers at Alienvault Labs, the exploits work against fully patched installations of Java. Attack files are highly obfuscated and are most likely succeeding by bypassing security checks built in to the program. KrebsOnSecurity said the malware authors say the exploits work against all versions of Java 7.
Update: Analysis from antivirus provider Kaspersky Lab indicates the exploits are already deployed on a variety of websites.
"There appears to be multiple ad networks redirecting to Blackhole sites, amplifying the mass exploitation problem," Kaspersky Lab expert Kurt Baumgartner wrote. "We have seen ads from legitimate sites, especially in the UK, Brazil, and Russia, redirecting to domains hosting the current Blackhole implementation delivering the Java 0day. These sites include weather sites, news sites, and of course, adult sites."
People who don't use Java much should once again consider unplugging Java from their browser, while those who don't use it at all may want to uninstall it altogether. The release notes for Java 7 Update 10—the most recent version—say users can disable the program from the browser by accessing the Java Control Panel. KrebsOnSecurity has instructions here for other ways to do this. |
EMILY’s List announced on Tuesday its endorsement of Letitia James for New York attorney general, an unusual move for the women’s group that tends to shy away from races with more than one viable woman in the primary.
James is facing a serious challenge from law professor and former gubernatorial candidate Zephyr Teachout. Leecia Eve, a telecom lobbyist, is also running. The endorsement from the group, which works to elect pro-choice women, came about without a competitive process or the typical trappings of interviews with candidates or even questionnaires, sources briefed on the matter told The Intercept.
“Tish James is a fierce public advocate who has always had the back of every New Yorker, especially women. She’s ready to serve as the state’s top law enforcement officer and protect consumers, working families, and New York’s most vulnerable,” the group said in a statement. “It’s clear that with her proven ability to lead and determination to take on President Trump’s disastrous agenda, Tish is the strongest candidate to defeat Republican Keith Wofford in November. EMILY’s List is proud to endorse her.”
The endorsement of James lines up with the preference of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who endorsed James under the condition she reject the support of the Working Families Party. The WFP has endorsed Cuomo’s own primary opponent, Cynthia Nixon.
James is the New York City public advocate and has long been popular with progressives in New York, but her embrace of Cuomo and rejection of the WFP has raised questions about whether she’ll have sufficient independence to root out the rampant corruption around Cuomo in Albany. “I’ve been independent all of my life,” James said recently. “The reality is that although the governor may have a strong personality, I think I’ve got an even stronger personality, as someone from Brooklyn.”
Following the Tuesday endorsement, James said in a statement, “For years, EMILY’s List has been the force that has empowered countless women to run for office and enact policies to move our country forward and I am truly honored to earn their endorsement for my campaign for Attorney General.”
She added, “With the stakes in our country greater than ever, it is imperative that New York’s Attorney General have the experience and skills to take on Donald Trump and any force that would try to deny New Yorkers their most basic rights. I will be that fearless fighter and will never waver in my commitment to moving our state forward.”
James is a former city council member from Brooklyn who championed the Safe Housing Act, which pressured landlords to improve conditions. As public advocate, she pushed through a new law that bars employers from asking about salary history in an effort to reduce the gender pay gap. She previously worked in the attorney general’s office after beginning her career as an attorney with the Legal Aid Society.
Teachout, who has not held elected office, is campaigning on the basis of her legal expertise. She is considered one of the sharpest progressive lawyers in the country and has pledged to use her position to target Donald Trump’s alleged corruption in the state.
“I have to say I’m very disappointed in the process,” said Elisa Sumner, chair of the Dutchess County Democrats, of the EMILY’s List endorsement. “Women especially should not be treating each other like that. How do you endorse without interviewing all the candidates involved?”
“Shame on such a progressive women’s organization for behaving in such a good ol’ boys way,” added Sumner, who has not officially endorsed Teachout but nominated her at the state convention.
Zenaida Mendez, the former head of the New York chapter of the National Organization for Women, or NOW, said that when NOW would endorse candidates, it would carry out interviews and require a questionnaire to be filled out. She said the lack of a process for the EMILY’s List endorsement suggests the decision came from up high. “She is the establishment candidate, that’s all I can say,” Mendez said of James.
Mendez endorsed Teachout in her challenge to Cuomo in 2014, which particularly infuriated Cuomo’s former campaign chair Joe Percoco, Mendez said recently. Cuomo, she said, had her ousted from her position at NOW in retaliation. Percoco was recently convicted on corruption charges.
Amid Teachout’s challenge to Cuomo, he created what’s known in New York as the “Women’s Equality Party.” The “party” has endorsed Cuomo against Nixon, along with a slew of Cuomo allies, many of them men.
Teachout has the backing of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has found herself on the opposite end of EMILY’s List in a growing number of races, including in Kansas and Michigan. The group did not endorse Ocasio-Cortez against Joe Crowley in the 14th District primary (though rarely endorses against incumbents), though it still has not endorsed her in the general election. |
Football & Sports Court
Our portable sports court / football pitch is a new and innovative piece or equipment, which allows you to bring your favourite game wherever you like. Our football courts are completely portable and able transform and safe area into a ready – made playing area for everyone to enjoy. This pitch is perfect for family fun days, brand activations, sports day events, competitions and more.
A portable football court transforms an open area into a dynamic activity area with a strong sports atmosphere that opens up the world of football to people of all walks of life. A portable football court is an ideal tool for keeping everyone active and entertained at your next event or fun day.
Our mobile court is 15m x 10m and is build up of extremely durable panels and aluminium stations, surrounded by fabric netting approximately 3m tall. It takes around 30 minutes to set up and is completely safety checked to make sure everyone is safe and having fun!
As well as football, the portable court can be used as a playing area for several other sports also such as hockey, basketball, volleyball, netball, tennis and more.
The courts come with a full set of staff to build maintain and supervise the court in order to make sure everyone is safe, happy and ready to play!
For some of the best entertainment for sports themed events, follow the link below to our Pinterest page where you will find our full range of sports entertainment for hire. To get some ideas for your next family fun day, you can find a full selection of games, rides, attractions and workshops on our family fun days board on Pinterest. |
/*
Reverse
Input: multiple array values
Out: reverse what is submitted
*/
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
void print_result(char arg[]){
int word_len = strlen(arg);
for(word_len; word_len >= 0; word_len--) {
printf("%c", arg[word_len]);
}
printf(" ");
}
void reverse(int argc, char *argv[]) {
int i = 0;
for(i = (argc-1); i > 0; i--) {
print_result(argv[i]);
}
}
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
reverse(argc, argv);
printf("\n");
return 0;
} |
A multipronged QSAR approach to predict algal low-toxic-effect concentrations of substituted phenols and anilines.
Environmental risk assessment procedures require acute and chronic toxicity values of hazardous chemicals. In this respect, the 96-h toxicity bioassays of nitro-, methyl-, methoxy-, chloro-, and nitrile- substituted phenols and anilines to Chlorella vulgaris were performed. Median inhibitory and low-toxic-effect concentrations were reported. Significant correlations between acute and chronic toxicities were found for the chemicals in the data set regardless of mode of action. Consequently, linear models employing theoretical and empirical descriptors were developed for the prediction of NOEC and IC20. The outcome of the study will be beneficial in the risk assessments of organic chemicals and setting water quality standards by the regulators. |
Q:
Acrobat Form Field RegEx Validation
I have a form field in my PDF that requires five capitalized letters as input, or nothing at all. Everything else should result in an error. I got the first part working, but I'm making some kind of mistake in checking for an empty field. Here's my Javascript:
event.rc = true;
var myRegExp = /^[A-Z]{5}$/;
var myTextInput = event.value;
if ( !myRegExp.test(myTextInput) || myTextInput != "" )
{
app.alert("Your order number prefix must be formatted as five characters, all caps.");
event.rc = false;
}
A:
Change the regex to
var myRegExp = /^([A-Z]{5})?$/;
to allow an empty string match and remove || myTextInput != "" condition that becomes irrelevant.
A (...)? group is an optional one because ? matches 1 or 0 occurrences of the quantified subpattern.
|
black cat cake
made for a very special 13 year old girl
carved from a 11" square block
this took a lot of time and patients esp as it was nearly all black :S
coar is seperate peices of icing put on and marked up
all edible except whiskers |
Fate of oxygenated intermediates in solar irradiated diluted bitumen mixed with saltwater.
Two types of diluted bitumen (dilbit) and a light crude oil spiked onto the surface of saltwater were irradiated with natural solar light in Ottawa to assess the impact of sunlight to the fate of oxygenated intermediates. Oxygenated components, including carbonyl polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and acidic polar fractions (naphthenic acid fraction compounds, NAFCs), were identified after periods of solar exposure under both winter and summer conditions. Carbonyl PAHs and NAFCs were formed in both seasons; however, light crude and summer irradiation produced higher abundance of them than dilbits and winter exposure. The formed NAFCs were abundant with the congeners containing a heteroatom of oxygen only (Oo species), accompanied by the minor amounts of sulfur- and nitrogen-containing acids. The produced Oo species were predominant with the congeners with light molecular weight, high degree of saturation and heavy oxygen numbers. For both carbonyl PAHs and NAFCs, their abundance continually increased throughout the period of winter exposure. In the summer, some carbonyl PAHs and all Oo species increased during the early exposure period; then they decreased with continued exposure for most oils, illustrating their transitional nature. Oxygenated intermediates thus appear to have been created through the photo-oxidation of non-to medium-polar petroleum hydrocarbons or the intermediates of aldehydes or ketones (O1). Oil properties, the duration of exposure, exposure season and the chemical structure of these intermediates are critical factors controlling their fate through photo-oxidation. The observed chemical changes highlight the effects of sunlight on the potential behavior, fate and impact of spilled oil, with the creation of new resin group compounds and the reduction of aromatics and saturates. These results also imply that the ecological effects of spilled oil, after ageing in sunlight, depend on the specific oil involved and the environmental conditions. |
Effects of dexamethasone on antral mucosal protein and gastric development in postnatal rats.
The rat stomach undergoes major developmental changes postnatally. An antral mucosal protein (AMP-18) with in vitro mitogenic activity has recently been found in the mammalian stomach. To evaluate the role of AMP-18 in gastric development in postnatal rats, the AMP-18 content of glandular stomach extracts from postnatal rats at different ages were measured by Western blots using anti-AMP-18 specific serum. Dexamethasone administration was used to evaluate the corticosteroid regulation of AMP-18 expression. AMP-18 was detected only in glandular stomach homogenate and gastric mucus. AMP-18 and pepsin levels were high at birth. Both decreased postnatally to low levels at 7 days of age, then increased at 10-15 days of age and reached peak levels around weaning (18-21 days of age). The glandular stomach showed stepwise growth relative to body weight, with a significant increase at 18-20 days of age. The forestomach showed a decrease in growth relative to body weight during the same period. Dexamethasone given to pups before 7 days of age induced the accumulation of AMP-18 and pepsin. Induction of AMP-18 by dexamethasone was evident by 7 hours with a delayed increase in glandular stomach mass 30 hours after dexamethasone injection. Induction of AMP-18 by dexamethasone was attenuated by RU-486 but not by spironolactone. Increases in AMP-18, pepsin and glandular stomach mass during normal postnatal development suggest that AMP-18 might be involved in gastric maturation, at least in the glandular portion. Dexamethasone induction of pepsin and AMP-18 and the subsequent increase in glandular stomach mass also suggest a possible role for AMP-18 in glandular stomach maturation. Dexamethasone apparently acts through the type II corticosteroid receptor to induce AMP-18. |
In Alaska, a Fight Brews over Cruise Tax
Cruise ships bring about 1 million tourists to sightsee and shop in Alaska each year. Now Alaskans will vote on a ballot initiative that would impose a $50 cruise ship passenger tax. Supporters say it would force the big ships to play fair and pay their share. Opponents say it would scare away tourists, hurt Alaska businesses and cost jobs. From Coast Alaska Public Radio in Juneau, Ed Schoenfeld reports.
About a million people take cruise ships each year to southeast Alaska, the part of the state known as the panhandle. It's a winding route up the rugged coast to view snow-topped mountains, boulder-strewn glaciers, and wildlife from whales to eagles to bears.
Ed Schoenfeld of Coast Alaska Public Radio sent this report from Juneau.
(Soundbite of conversation)
Unidentified Woman #1: Anyone for Tour A-1? Glacier Hatchery Tour.
ED SCHOENFELD reporting:
Tour representatives stand at the dock, herding passengers off the cruise ship Sapphire Princess toward a line of waiting buses.
The tourists are carrying cameras for the scenery and umbrellas for the weather they'll find on whale-watching trips, at salmon bakes, and during helicopter flights to nearby glaciers.
(Soundbite of crowd chatter)
SCHOENFELD: Two thousand or more people are coming off the ship the length of three football fields and 18 decks high.
Unidentified Man: A-2?
Unidentified Woman #1: A-2, yeah, your meet-time is at 8:50. This is the girl who'll be filming, and I'll let you know as soon as you're ready.
Unidentified Woman #2: Okay.
Unidentified Man: Oh, thank you.
SCHOENFELD: The Sapphire Princess and other cruise ships bring up to 15,000 tourists a day into this 30,000-person town and others like it along southeast Alaska's coast. And for years, some locals and government officials have been trying to get more money out of the industry.
The latest effort is a multi-pronged initiative put on the ballot by a citizen's petition drive. Chip Toma, one of the measure's supporters, says it's about time.
Mr. CHIP TOMA (Cruise Tax Supporter): Every industry should be regulated to some degree. And this industry right now is regulated almost not at all.
SCHOENFELD: The ballot measure would strengthen existing environmental regulations, as well as impose new ones. But the main issue is a $50 fee charged to each passenger. Some of the money would pay for environmental engineers called ocean rangers who would ride the ships and check for pollution.
But most of the expected $50 million a year would be split between port cities, other communities affected by tourism, and state government. The industry, by and large, opposes the measure.
Mr. BOB WYSOCKI (CEO, Alaskan Corporation): We think that this is an all-out attack on the economy itself and a devastating impact could come from this thing passing.
SCHOENFELD: That's Bob Wysocki, CEO of an Alaska native corporation that owns several shore businesses including a renovated salmon cannery. He says his company and others like it will lose money if the measure passes.
Mr. WYSOCKI: We really think that if people do their homework and understand all of the elements to this and the impact of this industry on the state that folks would shy away from an initiative like this.
SCHOENFELD: To make their point, cruise companies headquartered outside the state have funded a $2 million campaign to defeat the measure. They're predicting a drop in tourism if the $50 fee passes.
But ballot measure supporters have raised and spent relatively little. They say they're counting on Alaskans' gut reactions against big outside corporations as well as environmental concerns to pass the initiative.
(Soundbite of crowd)
Unidentified Woman #1: Yeah, if you want to find another (unintelligible) check in at three.
Carol and Ted Schaumberg(ph) of Wayzata, Minnesota say the passenger fee wouldn't make a difference.
Ms. CAROL SCHAUMBERG (Cruise Ship Passenger): For us, we're looking at it as a once-in-a-lifetime trip. We're traveling with both sets of grandparents. So the $50 would be pretty minimal for what we've already paid.
Mr. SCHAUMBERG: You know, we spent a few thousand dollars on the trip. Fifty dollars isn't going to stop anything.
SCHOENFELD: Beyond the fee charged to passengers, the measure would go directly after cruise ship earnings. It would reinstate an industry income tax removed by Alaska's legislature eight years ago. And it would take a third of the profits from gambling, including on-board casinos. Both measures could cost the industry millions.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio. |
---
abstract: 'A large class of liquids have hidden scale invariance characterized by a scaling exponent. In this letter we present experimental evidence that the scaling exponent of liquid dynamics is state-point dependent for the glass-forming silicone oil tetramethyl-tetraphenyl-trisiloxane (DC704) and 5-polyphenyl ether (5PPE). From dynamic and thermodynamic properties at equilibrium, we use a method to estimate the value of $\gamma$ at any state point of the pressure-temperature plane, both in the supercooled and normal liquid regimes. We find agreement between the average exponents and the value obtained by superposition of relaxation times over a large range of state-points. We confirm the state-point dependence of $\gamma$ by reanalyzing data of 20 metallic liquids and two model liquids.'
author:
- Alejandro Sanz
- Tina Hecksher
- Henriette Wase Hansen
- Kristine Niss
- 'Ulf R. Pedersen'
bibliography:
- 'Biblio\_gamma.bib'
title: 'Experimental evidence of a state-point dependent scaling exponent of liquid dynamics'
---
=1
Decreasing the temperature ($T$) or increasing the density ($\rho$) by applying pressure of liquids lead to slowing down of the molecular dynamics and eventually a glass transition if crystallization is avoided [@bin05; @Simionesco]. It has been demonstrated that for numerous low molecular weight liquids and polymers, the relaxation time or other dynamic quantities can be superimposed onto a master curve within the experimental uncertainty when plotted as a function of $\rho^{\gamma}/T$. The scaling exponent $\gamma$ is thus sometimes referred to as a material constant [@Tolle; @Casalini; @Casalini2]. In this letter, we show that $\gamma$ is in fact state-point dependent and can be measured at a single state point. In the following we will use subscripts to distinguish definitions of $\gamma$’s.
Let $\tau$ be the structural relaxation time measured from the loss-peak frequency of the electric permittivity. We will express $\tau$ in reduced units of $\sqrt{m/k_BT\rho^{2/3}}$ where $m$ is a atomic/molecular/polymer-segment mass and define the scaling exponent of $\tau$ as [@gna09] $$\gamma_{\tau}(\rho,T) \equiv \left(\frac{\partial\log
T}{\partial\log\rho}\right)_\tau.
\label{eq:Eq1}$$ In this general definition the exponent depends on the state point and the fixed quantity ($\tau$ in the above case). A physical interpretation of $\gamma_\tau$ is that it quantifies the relative contribution of volume and thermal energy to the temperature evolution of the molecular mobility [@nis07]. Similar to the structural relaxation time, configurational adiabats can also be associated with a scaling exponent: $$\gamma_{S_\textrm{ex}}(\rho,T)\equiv\left(\frac{\partial\log
T}{\partial\log\rho}\right)_{S_\textrm{ex}}
\label{eq:Eq12}.$$ In general, two scaling exponents of different observables (structural, dynamical or thermodynamic) will have different values. However, if the system has so-called “hidden scale-invariance” [@gna09; @sch14] then all scaling exponents of different properties will have the same value. In Ref. [@Ditte] it was experimentally shown that $\gamma_\tau = \gamma_{S_\textrm{ex}}$ at one state point of the silicone oil DC704. This result is spectacular since hidden scale-invariance can only be present in a class of systems [@Ulf; @scl_II]. This class is believed to include systems where van der Waals (vdW) interactions dominate, but exclude systems where hydrogen-bondes (HB) dominates the Hamiltonian [@Dyre2].
The isomorph theory [@Ulf; @gna09; @Dyre2; @sch14] is a framework for describing systems where the potential energy function $U(\bf R)$ possesses hidden scale invariance (here, $\bf R$ is the collective coordinate of the system). Formally hidden scale invariance can be formulated as the following criterion for two configurations $a$ and $b$: if $U({\bf R}_a)<U({\bf R}_b)$ then $U(\lambda{\bf R}_a)<U(\lambda{\bf R}_b)$ to a good approximation [@sch14]. For these systems, scaling exponents of many properties have the same state-point dependence. Thus, there is only one scaling exponent that give the slope of the so-called isomorphs [@gna09] along which dynamical, structural and many thermodynamic properties are constant in reduced units. As an example of applications, the framework of the isomorph theory explains Rosenfeld’s excess entropy scaling law [@ros77; @mit06; @ros99; @jak15], i.e. that relaxation time is a function of entropy: $\tau(S_{ex})$, by equating Eqs. \[eq:Eq1\] and \[eq:Eq12\], and recently the framework has been used to make predictions for properties of the melting line [@ped18]. For the latter, the state point dependence of the scaling exponent is an essential ingredient.
As a special case, Alba-Simionesco, Kivelson and Tarjus (AKT) have investigated the validity of a scaling law for activated dynamics where the scaling exponent only depends on density [@alb02; @alb04; @alb06], but not on temperature. Regarding $\gamma$ a material constant is an even more constraining assumption, which is only valid if the potential part of the Hamiltonian can be approximated by a sum of inverse power-laws (IPL) $r^{-n}$ pair interactions plus an arbitrary constant (the IPL hypothesis) [@hoo71; @Koperwas; @pap09; @pal10; @Romanini; @Tolle]. Then the scaling exponent is independent of state-point ($\gamma_\textrm{IPL}=n/3$) and the relaxation time falls on a master curve when plottet along $\rho^\gamma/T$. In this letter we wish to investigate the state point dependence of $\gamma$ without any assumptions and emphasize error estimates. This information can be used to determine whether: a) $\gamma$ is constant (the IPL hypothesis), b) $\gamma$ is only a function of $\rho$ (the AKT hypothesis), or c) $\gamma$ is a function of two thermodynamical variables (the generalized framework of the isomorph theory).
To this aim, we first give an expression for $\gamma_{\tau}$ in terms of quantities that can be measured at isobaric or isothermal conditions where most experiments are performed. We define a generalized fragility [@ang85; @Angell2; @alb06; @nis07; @tar14; @Casalini2], inspired by Angell’s suggestion [@ang85]: $$m_B^A \equiv \left(\frac{\partial\log\tau}{\partial A}\right)_B,
\label{eq:Eq2}$$ where $A$ and $B$ are thermodynamic variables such as $T$, $\rho$ or pressure $p$. We note that the temperature-fragility $m^T_p$ (which is negative) is related to the apparent activation enthalpy [@Casalini2] $H_p\equiv k_B[\partial\log\tau/\partial(1/T)]_p=-k_BT^2m^T_p$, and when the temperature-fragility $m^T_p$ is evaluated at the glass transition temperature $T_g$ at ambient pressure (0.1 MPa) it is related to the dimensionless fragility index originally proposed by Angell [@Angell]: $m_\textrm{Angell}\equiv[\partial\log\tau/\partial (T_g/T)
]_{p,T=T_g}=-T_gm^{T=T_g}_{p=0.1\text{ MPa}}$. The isochoric activation energy $E_V$ [@Casalini2] can also be expressed via the generalized fragility: $E_V\equiv k_B[\partial \log\tau/\partial(1/T)]_\rho=-k_BT^2m_\rho^T$. Note that we have [*not*]{} defined the generalized fragility as a dimensionless Angell-type index.
Below we consider the pressure-fragility $m^p_T$ and temperature-fragility $m^T_p$ as the quantities that are directly experimentally accessible. We rewrite $\gamma_{\tau}$, Eq. \[eq:Eq1\], in terms of the ratio between two generalized fragilities by using the thermodynamic identity $ \left(\frac{\partial \log T}{\partial \log \rho}\right)_\tau = -
\left(\frac{\partial \log\tau}{\partial \log\rho}\right)_T
\left(\frac{\partial \log T}{\partial \log\tau}\right)_\rho,
\label{eq:Eq4}
$: $$\gamma_{\tau}=-\frac{\rho m^\rho_T}{T m^T_\rho}\,.
\label{eq:Eq5}$$ However, typically the pressure, and not the density is controlled in an experiment. Thus, we wish to have an expression involving $m^p_T$ and $m^T_p$. From the chain rule $ m^\rho_T = \left(\frac{\partial\log\tau}{\partial
p}\right)_T\left(\frac{\partial p}{\partial\rho}\right)_T, $ it follows that $$m^\rho_T = K_{T}m^p_T/\rho\,,$$ where $K_{T}=\left(\frac{\partial p}{\partial \log\rho}\right)_T$ is the isothermal bulk modulus. Using the identity $ \left(\frac{\partial \log\tau}{\partial T}\right)_\rho
=\left(\frac{\partial \log\tau}{\partial T}\right)_p +
\left(\frac{\partial \log\tau}{\partial p}\right)_T
\left(\frac{\partial p}{\partial T}\right)_\rho,
\label{eq:Eq6}
$ and inserting the thermal-expansion coefficient at constant pressure $\alpha_{p}=-\left(\frac{\partial \log\rho}{\partial T}\right)_p$, we obtain $$m_\rho^T = m_p^T + \alpha_p K_T m_T^p\,.
\label{eq:Eq7}$$ Finally, by combining the three numbered equations above we arrive at an expression that relates $\gamma_{\tau}$ to directly measurable properties at equilibrium without needing the superposition of relaxation times: $$\gamma_{\tau} = -\frac{K_T m_T^p}{T m^T_p+\alpha_{p}TK_Tm_T^p}.
\label{eq:Eq8}$$ Thus, the state point dependence of the scaling exponent $\gamma_{\tau}$ can be obtained from the thermal-expansion coefficient ($\alpha_{p}$), pressure and temperature fragilities ($m_T^p$ and $m_p^T$) and isothermal bulk modulus ($K_T$). The idea of computing $\gamma$ from two fragilities has been applied in other studies [@alb02; @nis07; @Casalini2; @tar14]. In this study we suggest to generalize this approach to the entire liquid state away from the glass transition. Due to the measuring methods favored in our lab [@Tage], we choose to get the value of the isothermal bulk modulus from the adiabatic modulus $K_S$ measured by the speed of sound [@Tage]: $
K_T=K_S \rho C_p/[\rho C_p+T \alpha_{p}^2 K_S]
$ where $C_p$ is the isobaric heat capacity measured with differential scanning calorimetry.
We focus our investigation to two well-studied van der Waals liquids, tetramethyl-tetraphenyl-trisiloxane (DC704) and 5-polyphenyl ether (5PPE), with values of $T_{g}$ at atmospheric pressure of 211 and 245 K respectively [@Lisa]. As an example, in Fig. \[fig:Fig1\] we collect the quantities we need to calculate $\gamma_{\tau}$ by using Eq. \[eq:Eq8\] where $K_T$ is computed from $K_s$ and $C_p$ as mentioned above. Figure \[fig:Fig3\](a) show the relaxation times at atmospheric pressure for the silicone oil DC704, and Fig. \[fig:Fig3\](b) displays $\gamma_{\tau}$ at four temperatures along the 0.1 MPa isobar.
To evaluate to what extent the measured quantities contribute to the final error of $\gamma_{\tau}$ and, in this way, to predict where one should give particular attention to reduce as much as possible the uncertainty of the data, we use statistical tools for analyzing the results. A large population of values for each variable ($N = 10^{5}$) are sampled by using a Monte Carlo approach, assuming a normal distribution centered about its mean within an interval determined by the corresponding standard deviation. The error is calculated by sampling a random collection of different scenarios for the variables in Eq. \[eq:Eq8\]. The $P_\gamma,_i$ values in the panels of Fig. \[fig:Fig1\] represent the pairwise Pearson correlation coefficients between $\gamma_{\tau}$ and the variables involved in the computation of Eq. \[eq:Eq8\]. If $P_\gamma,_i$ equals 100%, there is a total positive correlation and 0 would indicate absolute lack of correlation. The property that has the strongest correlation with $\gamma_{\tau}$ is the pressure fragility, $m_T^p$, followed by the temperature fragility, $m_p^T$. It is therefore recommended to measure the generalized fragilities with high accuracy in order to reduce the uncertainty in $\gamma_{\tau}$. On the contrary, slight variations in the density $\rho$ and in the thermal-expansion coefficient $\alpha$ has a minor effect on the resulting values of $\gamma_{\tau}$. The final error estimate on $\gamma_{\tau}$ are shown as errorbars on Fig. \[fig:Fig3\](b) suggesting an increase of $\gamma_{\tau}$ as temperature increases or the density is decreases.
To challenge the robustness of our approach, we collect in Table \[tab:table1\] the values of $\gamma_{\tau}$ for other systems, including two hydrogen-bonded liquids. We also compare our results with other procedures, such as the superposition of relaxation times ($\gamma_\textrm{IPL}$), the expression proposed by Casalini and Roland ($\gamma_*$), and an experimental prediction of the isomorph theory ($\gamma_\textrm{isom}$) mentioned in the introduction. The route to the scaling exponent proposed by Casalini and Roland, in which continuity of the entropy at the glass transition is assumed, has been shown to work effectively in several van der Waals and hydrogen-bonded glass-forming liquids, as well as in polymeric materials [@Casalini2; @Romanini]. From Table \[tab:table1\], one observes that the values of $\gamma$’s obtained through these three methods are in fair agreement with the average value we would obtain using Eq. \[eq:Eq8\] from the results at different state points. Table \[tab:table1\] includes information on the class of liquid and the method utilized for obtaining the bulk modulus.
---------- ------- ------- ----------------- --------------- ----------------- --------------- ----- ------------------------------------------------------- -- --
T [^1] [^2] [^3] [^4]
DC704 218 K 211 K 4.5 $\pm$ 0.8 6.2 $\pm$ 0.2 6.8 $\pm$ 0.8 6.0 $\pm$ 2.0 vdW [@Ditte; @Casalini3; @Casalini2]
- 228 K - 6.1 $\pm$ 1.1 - - - vdW
- 235 K - 7.1 $\pm$ 1.5 - - - vdW
- 242 K - 7.2 $\pm$ 1.3 - - - vdW
5PPE 268 K 245 K 5.4 $\pm$ 0.2 5.5 $\pm$ 0.3 - - vdW [@Ditte2; @Adrjanowicz]
- 284 K - 7.8 $\pm$ 0.5 - - - vdW
Glycerol 230 K 185 K 0.88 $\pm$ 0.09 1-1.8 1.28 $\pm$ 0.15 - HB [@Dreyfus; @Casalini3; @Casalini2; @Klieber; @Roland]
- 258 K - 0.43 $\pm$ 0.05 - - - HB
DPG 240 K 195 K 1.3 $\pm$ 0.2 1.5-1.99 - - HB [@Grzybowski2; @Preparation]
---------- ------- ------- ----------------- --------------- ----------------- --------------- ----- ------------------------------------------------------- -- --
Figure \[fig:Fig4\] shows that the scaling exponents is also state-point dependent for model liquids and metals. Figure \[fig:Fig4\](a) shows $\gamma_{S_{ex}}$ computed from molecular dynamics simulations [@rumd] of the Lennard-Jones (LJ) liquid [@lj24] and a Lennard-Jones trimer suggested by Lewis and Wahnstr[ö]{}m [@lew93] as a coarse-grained model for ortho-terphenyl (LW-oTP). In line with the experimental findings, the LW-oTP model show an increase of the exponent with temperature, though less dramatic. In Fig. \[fig:Fig4\](b) we reanalyze experimental data for 20 metallic liquids [@sin07], including metals where [ *ab initio*]{} density functional theory calculations show hidden-scale invariance [@hum15]. For the mono atomic metallic liquids, the scaling exponent of excess entropy is estimated using $\gamma_{S_{ex}}=[\gamma_G-k_B/c_v]/[1-3k_B/c_v]$, where $\gamma_G=\alpha_pK_T/\rho c_v$ is the thermodynamic Gr[ü]{}neisen parameter [@gru12] (it is assumed that the material is above the Debye temperature [@scl_II; @hum15]). The exponents have significant temperature dependencies with both positive and negative slopes along the $p=0.1$ MPa isobar.
These results are in line with the state point dependence of the scaling exponent $\gamma$ by simulations of Kob-Andersen binary Lennard-Jones liquids [@Bohling], and also consistent with the generalized scaling equation of state reported in ref. [@Grzybowski]. The latter study proposes a density dependence function for the scaling exponent with two parameters that can be estimated from their generalized density-scaling equation of state [@Grzybowski]. In this way, it is possible to determine the evolution of $\gamma$ with density from PVT measurements as it was recently reported for several organic liquids [@Lopez].
An advantage of Eq. \[eq:Eq8\] is that it allow the determination of $\gamma_{\tau}$ for any kind of liquid regardless of its vitrification ability, and the formalism is not assuming activated dynamics [@alb02]. Thus, we suggest a procedure that can potentially be used at any given point in the temperature-pressure plane. We note that the average $\gamma_{\tau}$ found here ($6.1\pm1.1$ for the investigated state points of the silicone oil DC704) is in good agreement with the exponent estimated by other methods: i) the results obtained by superposing relaxation times [@Ditte], ii) the experimental prediction of the isomorph theory [@Ditte], and iii) the value obtained through the equation derived by Casalini and Roland [@Casalini2], confirming the validity of Eq. \[eq:Eq8\] for the universal prediction of $\gamma_{\tau}$. In experimental studies, changes in the density are usually small, so in the scaling relation, $X = f (\rho^{\gamma_{\textrm{IPL}}} / T)$, the exponent is generally assumed to be state-point independent, with $X$ a measure of the molecular mobility and $f$ a function that is a priori unknown. Nonetheless, within the framework of the isomorph theory, the exponent may depend on the state point as it was corroborated by computer simulations of strongly correlating liquids (see Fig.\[fig:Fig4\]), that is, those exhibiting hidden scale invariance such as van der Waals molecules and metals [@Bohling; @Dyre2].
In summary, we have shown that it is possible to determine the scaling parameter $\gamma_{\tau}$ from dynamic and thermodynamic properties of liquids at a single state-point, and that $\gamma_{\tau}$ can be state point dependent. The expression presented in Eq. \[eq:Eq8\] connects $\gamma_{\tau}$ to measurable quantities that can be potentially estimated in a wide range of thermodynamic conditions, from state points near the glass transition to well above the melting point (including elevated pressures). This new route is free of assumptions and can be utilized for both glass- and non-glass-forming materials.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
===============
This study was initiated after a series of discussion between Niels Boye Olsen and URP. We thank Jeppe C. Dyre for valuable input to the manuscript. This work is supported by the VILLUM Foundation’s VKR-023455 and Matter (16515) grants.
[^1]: Scaling exponent computed in this study via Eq. \[eq:Eq8\].
[^2]: Scaling exponent computed with superposition of relaxation times (assuming the IPL hypothesis for pair interactions).
[^3]: A state-point independent scaling exponent calculated by Casalini et al. from static ambient-pressure quantities.
[^4]: Scaling exponent calculated from static properties using an expression derived from isomorph theory (DC704 at 214 K, 0.1 MPa).
|
Pegboards have long been a favourite practical storage solution for studios and workspaces. We have updated the concept with the Peg-it-all pegboards that are made from heavy-duty Birch Plywood and feature sturdy holes and pegs along with a range of new accessories.
The new Peg-it-all range includes shelves and pegs of different types all of which slot into the main board giving an endless range of storage options. Suitable for the kitchen, study, children’s room or hallway, the new Peg-it-all can be cut to size to fit any awkward space such as a kitchen splashback or under the stairs. Please contact us directly for custom sizes: orders@kreisdesign.com
There are 3 options for accessories to choose from (please use the drop-down menu below):
Option A:
- 12 x natural pegs with round heads
Option B:
- 1 x small shelf 12cm x 24cm
- 1 x large shelf 12cm x 32cm
- 6 x pegs with round heads
- 4 x straight pegs
Option C:
- 2 x small shelves 12cm x 24cm
- 2 x large shelves 12cm x 32cm
- 6 x straight pegs
Additional accessories:
For additional shelves and pegs see here
Mini clipboard - order it here
Orientation of board:
You can choose if you would like to hang the pegboard horizontally or vertically - please select from the drop-down menu
Size of the board:
W 66 cm, H 114cm
Material:
The peg board is made from thick solid birch plywood and finished in a clear matt varnish
Note:
Wall mounting brackets and installation instructions are included
Designed and made in Britain.
|
Q:
How to access to phone number?
How can I build android application be able to access to the user's phone number when you download this application then i retrieve this number ? For Example:
public class Phonenumber
{
//functions
}
A:
It is very simple to get user phone number .
TelephonyManager tMgr =(TelephonyManager)getSystemService(Context.TELEPHONY_SERVICE);
String mPhoneNumber = tMgr.getLine1Number();
Required
permission READ_PHONE_STATE in android manifest file.
|
Q:
Fourier Cosine expansion of $\sin x$
Instructor mentioned something in class that got me thinking...
Why is it possible for $\sin x$ to have a Fourier Cosine expansion in $[0, \pi]$? It seems strange to me that you're able to express $\sin x$ as an infinite sum of cosines. Maybe I'm just missing the (perhaps very obvious) point here.
A:
A picture is worth a thousand words :
Red curve : $y_1=\sin(x)$
Blue curve : $\quad y_2=\frac{2}{\pi}-\frac{2}{\pi}\sum_{n=2}^\infty\frac{\cos{n\pi}+1}{n^2-1}\cos(nx) \quad$ : Fourier cosine expansion of $y_1$ on $[0,\pi]$.
$y_1=y_2$ on the range of definition $[0,\pi]$.
Outside this range, $y_2$ is the periodic repetition of the pattern defined on $[0,\pi]$.
Since $\cos(n\pi)+1=(-1)^n+1$ is null for odd $n$ ,$\quad y_2=\frac{2}{\pi}-\frac{4}{\pi}\sum_{k=1}^\infty\frac{1}{4\:k^2-1}\cos(2kx) \quad$
OTHER EXAMPLE :
Fourier cosine series of $\sin(x)$ with range of definition $[0,\frac{2\pi}{3}]$ :
|
NL West
Now Commenting On:
Confident Duda plans on sticking in Majors
Having been demoted to the Minors in 2011, slugger wants to avoid a repeat
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Outlook: Duda, RF, NYM 1:13
Lucas Duda was demoted after losing power and average in 2012, and faces rehab after a November injury before he can compete for his job
By Anthony DiComo
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- In the days following his demotion to the Minors last July, Lucas Duda sat in his Buffalo apartment and watched television, silent for long stretches. On the rare occasions when he spoke, Duda would mutter something random or self-effacing, sometimes wondering out loud what he was doing there, in that Buffalo apartment, without a Major League job.
He admits that he sulked a bit, too stubborn to use his initial days at Triple-A to his advantage. He admits that he felt sorry for himself.
"Being sent down is probably one of the lowest points that you can have," Duda said. "I think that you learn from that and you grow from that, hopefully, and learn what you did [wrong] and what you can do to stay. And hopefully, I did that."
Last season began with such promise for Duda, whose tape-measure batting practice homers transformed him into a Spring Training sideshow. With Carlos Beltran long since departed, Duda was supposed to be the answer in right field, so the Mets gave him as much rope as possible to improve. They were almost exclusively concerned with his defense.
As it turned out, confidence became a buzzword for Duda that spring, and it -- along with frustration, simple bad luck, or any combination therein -- may have played into what happened next. Beginning the season in a dreadful slump at the plate, Duda recovered slightly, then plummeted into the 9-for-65 funk that resulted in his demotion.
Even now, he cannot entirely grasp what led to his demise.
"I'm not sure I have an answer for you," Duda says. "I don't know. What do you think? What do you think I could have done better? Hit? Play defense better?"
Statistics say he could have done just about everything better. A quick history lesson: the Mets were always willing to tolerate Duda's below-average fielding due to the potential of his bat. In large part because his offense shined so brightly down the stretch in 2011, they handed him the right-field job that once belonged to Beltran. They figured he could bash a few homers, knock in a few runs, and that would be enough to offset the self-admitted fact that Duda is "not going to be a Gold Glover -- that's the nature of the beast."
They did not consider what might happen if Duda did not hit. They did not foresee the image of Duda lounging on a couch in July in Buffalo, self-pity settling upon his shoulders.
"You could definitely tell that he was down and not in a good place," his roommate at the time, Josh Satin, said. "I'm sure he thought that he would never play in the Minor Leagues again."
So Duda sulked for a few days, before snapping out of his trance and vowing to improve. Arriving in Louisville for a series with his new team, he spent roughly two hours in the batting cage one afternoon, but nonetheless posted a 3-for-25 line over his first six games. Only slowly did his results improve. Another 19 games resulted in a .310 batting average and three home runs, success enough for the Mets to call him back up ahead of schedule.
Though Duda's bat produced nothing special late in the season in Flushing, he arrived in Florida this spring feeling more confident. More talkative, certainly. And why not? Had his worst fears as a professional not already been realized? Had he not already rebounded? Had manager Terry Collins not already named him the Opening Day starter in left field, regardless of his struggles?
What more was there to fear?
There is the notion, of course, that Duda is simply not good enough to be an everyday big leaguer. A late-blooming prospect, Duda posted strong seasons in 2010 and '11, but otherwise has produced sparingly as a professional. The Mets founded their faith in him mostly because of his physical strength, Collins recently ranking Duda the league's second-strongest hitter behind Giancarlo Stanton.
"Duda's just an animal," outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis said. "If he could see himself through our eyes, he would be pretty amazed."
The animal is instead trying to see himself through the eyes of hitting coach Dave Hudgens, who aims to unlock the potential of his swing. Because Duda still experiences anxiety at the plate, Hudgens said, he fidgets and moves too much in the batter's box.
Hudgens recently showed his pupil film of some of the most successful left-handed sluggers of this century: Joey Votto and Adrian Gonzalez in recent seasons, Jason Giambi and Chase Utley in their primes. What they all had in common, Hudgens said, was a stillness at the plate.
"Mechanically, he's got the strength, the power, the size, the bat speed -- he's got as good a swing as any of those guys," Hudgens said. "Sometimes the pre-pitch movement and the anxiety level goes up, and it just takes away from the swing. One of the biggest things we've been working on is just trying to tone that all down a little bit."
For at least a few more months, Duda will have the opportunity to do that in the Majors. His rope may not be as long as it was last year, when the Mets granted him the significant benefit of an ever-growing doubt.
But for Duda, avoiding the Minors again is incentive enough.
"That first couple of days you're angry, saying, 'Why am I here?'" Duda said. "There's a clear-cut reason why you're here. You didn't play good enough to be in the big leagues. I realized that and got it through my head. I realized I wasn't playing well enough to stay there and tried to work to get back. And I did, and I think hopefully this year I'll stay there.
Duda considered and corrected.
"I will stay there. With confidence."
Anthony DiComo is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @AnthonyDicomo. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. |
Q:
How we use Local storage (Spine.Model.Local) in spine rails app
I am trying to build a app with rails & spine that support offline browsing. I am facing problem in use of Spine.Model.Local in my one of model. Can any explain me that how we use Spine.Model.Local in our rails & spine app. Thanks
A:
First read full Spine Documentation for creating spine App.
After spending a lot of time i done it and store my rails model data into a specific spine model and use it locally for fast response.
First :: Define your spine model as below..
class App.ModelName extends Spine.Model
@configure 'ModelName', 'columeName1', 'columeName2', ....(and other column)
@extend Spine.Model.Local
@extend Spine.Model.Ajax
# other methods, variables, etc.
# define your methods
Second :: Now sync data of specific model through your rails with ajax and put it in local storage like below...
//Request for sync model data for current login user
Spine.Ajax.queue(function() {
$.ajax({
contentType : "application/json",
dataType : "json",
headers : {
"X-Requested-With" : "XMLHttpRequest"
},
url : "/yourDesiredURL.json",
type : "get",
success : function(data, status, xhr) {
for (key in data) {
window.localStorage[key] = JSON.stringify(data[key])
}
new App({
el : $("#app")
});
},
error : function(xhr, statusText, error) {
// Do what do you want to do
}
});
});
Now your desired model data filled into local storage and ready to play with Spine (javascript MVC framework).
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Combination chemotherapy tested in a short-term thymidine incorporation assay in primary cultures of ovarian adenocarcinomas.
Fifty-six tumor specimens from patients with ovarian adenocarcinoma were tested for sensitivity to single and combination drug regimens in a short-term antimetabolic assay measuring inhibition of thymidine incorporation. Response in primary cultures to drug combinations was compared with response to each component drug: cisplatinum, chlorambucil, adriamycin, etoposide and activated cyclophosphamide. Using cut-off criteria previously shown to correlate with "sensitive" and "resistant" tumors for single drugs, 11% of tumors showed increased sensitivity to a combination compared with the single drugs, but 10% showed decreased sensitivity to a combination. The majority of tumors remained in the same "sensitive" or "resistant" categories obtained with the single drugs. Analysis by isobolograms demonstrated synergy, addition or antagonism with the same combination on different tumors. No significant difference between combinations and the best single drug used alone was found in 70% of assays. Overall thymidine incorporation inhibition by the combination and by the best single drug was highly correlated. It is suggested that the best single drug predicts the effectiveness of its combination regimens. |
Q:
need to understand objective c code for search bar
I was going through the following tutorial enter link description here
and came across this code which stumped me on how it works:
- (void)filterContentForSearchText:(NSString*)searchText scope:(NSString*)scope
{
// find all the words wich begin with the letter:
NSPredicate *predicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:@"SELF beginswith[c] %@", searchText];
// NSPredicate *resultPredicate = [NSPredicate predicateWithFormat:@"contains[c] %@", searchText];
self.searchResults = [self.array filteredArrayUsingPredicate:predicate];
}
-(BOOL)searchDisplayController:(UISearchDisplayController *)controller shouldReloadTableForSearchString:(NSString *)searchString
// update the tableview
{
[self filterContentForSearchText:searchString
scope:[[self.searchDisplayController.searchBar scopeButtonTitles] objectAtIndex:[self.searchDisplayController.searchBar
selectedScopeButtonIndex]]];
return YES;
}
the part which I do not understand is:
scope:[[self.searchDisplayController.searchBar scopeButtonTitles] objectAtIndex:[self.searchDisplayController.searchBar selectedScopeButtonIndex]]];
Here is what I understand, I tried to study it, and I know that scope a parameter. But i need just some explanation on now this works.
A:
That's a compound statement. Writing it that way makes it harder to understand.
I tend to use simpler statements and temporary variables in order to make code easier to follow. (It also makes debugging easier because you can set breakpoints between the intermediate steps and examine those temporary variables.)
The original:
[self
filterContentForSearchText:searchString
scope:[[self.searchDisplayController.searchBar scopeButtonTitles]
objectAtIndex:
[self.searchDisplayController.searchBar selectedScopeButtonIndex]]];
Can be broken down like this:
//Get the search bar's array of button titles
NSArray *titlesArray =
[self.searchDisplayController.searchBar scopeButtonTitles];
//Get the index of the selected scope button
NSInteger index =
[self.searchDisplayController.searchBar selectedScopeButtonIndex];
//Fetch the string at that index.
NSString *scopeString = titlesArray[index];
//Now assign the string.
[self
filterContentForSearchText: searchString
scope: scopeString];
See if you can translate that into Swift. If not post back with questions.
(I'm not familiar with several of the functions used in the original code. I'm making some assumptions about what's going on based on simply parsing the Objective-C code you posted.)
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In a survey of invasive streptococcal infections in Japan, we analyzed isolates of Streptococcus pyogenes collected between 1992 and 1994. Genomic DNA fingerprints produced by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) were compared by computer-assisted analysis. Among the 42 isolates from patients with invasive diseases, 16 PFGE-types were identified and genetic diversity was clearly demonstrated. Identical fingerprints were observed in both invasive and noninvasive isolates. Only 43% of invasive isolates produced streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin A (SPE A) and 31% did not contain the spe A gene. These findings suggest that the dissemination of a specific clone is not sufficient to explain all cases of these diseases in Japan, and pose a question to the role of SPE A as a major virulent factor.We have also observed 4 cases of transmission of this organism among a patient with invasive disease and his or her family members. The clonal spread among the family members was confirmed by analyzing genomic DNA fingerprints of the isolates recovered from them. Although 14 persons resulted in only colonizers or self-limitted diseases, 3 developed invasive infections. Our findings indicate the need of antibiotic chemoprophylaxis for close contacts of patients with invasive streptococcal diseases. |
05 May How three local startups made it
The popularity of ABC’s Shark Tank has made it hip for many to identify themselves as entrepreneurs, even though it’s more likely most haven’t made it out of the what-if stage.
The extraordinary stories attached to trailblazers and risk-takers like Elon Musk, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg compound the belief by some that theirs is The Next Big Idea, if only someone would give them hundreds of thousands of dollars to give it a try.
“There are tons of people who think they have this great concept to make a lot of money, but they haven’t taken a single step in a million-step journey,” says Corey Cormier, whose determination is paying off big with his third startup — Legal Monkeys — based in Downtown Bryan.
The sobering and well-documented truth is that for every 10 people who try a startup business, only one succeeds. And, on average, that’s only after a few years without making a profit, consistently working unreasonably long hours, obsessing about the smallest details and, oh yeah, not just growing, but growing fast.
To discover what’s needed — besides working fast, hard and smart — for a startup to become profitable, Brazos 360 interviewed three proven entrepreneurs in the Brazos Valley — Cormier, James Benham and Jeff McDougall.
Turns out, they have a few commonalities other than just an extreme passion for creating commerce from imagination: All are Aggies and are addicted to innovating. Each taught themselves how to code at a young age. Analytical problem-solving comes naturally to them and none takes anything for granted.
Questions each has asked before embarking on a new venture include: Do people want what I’m selling? Is it viable? Unique? What’s my plan to make it profitable?
Ideas are a dime a dozen, the trio agree, but what matters most is the execution.
McDougall, who has been a part of six startups, said he learned the hard way that he should have spent more money on marketing. Cormier suggests hiring a business coach to help navigate the system. Benham recommends seeking out like-minded colleagues to bounce ideas off of early on.
The entrepreneurial ecosystem that all three live in
includes mentoring for Aggieland Startup at Texas A&M and Bryan-based Seed Sumo, which gives money to startups with potentially lucrative ideas in exchange for a small stake in the company.
It’s important to share success stories, Benham said, adding that there’s no single proven formula for mastering a business.
“We have to keep evolving,” said Benham, a College Station city councilman who has created a handful of startups.
“Marry the right person, partner with the right people and get mentored by the right mentors.”
All three advised to keep pressure on yourself, regardless of the roadblocks.
“It’s even more important to work like someone is chasing you — because they are,” McDougall said.
Jeff McDougall: ‘Serial entrepreneur’
Technology executive Jeff McDougall completed 1,600 hours of consulting work for Verizon Wireless over a 10-month period before seeing a dime. Once a contract was signed and the IOU cashed in, the former Texas A&M electrical and computer engineering professor knew exactly where to spend it.
He and his first business partner, Jeff Durrant — the pair started “Jeff & Jeff Lawn Mowing” when they were 14 years old — used the funding to create and launch PivotPoint. The telecommunications software provided the tools to commercial wireless carriers so they could evaluate the accuracy of locations on devices — the FCC has requirements associated with emergency calls, so PivotPoint developed a method to do it with greater precision.
“All startups lose money, usually lots of money, and that’s why you need a network of support to get a startup to the stage where it can produce, market, distribute and support a product that people want and/or need,” McDougall said.
PivotPoint turned out to be both. The private startup soon became the leader in the industry, and within six years — in 2011 — that untouchable reputation allowed them to sell the business for an undisclosed amount to Colorado-based Intrado, which is a leading provider of 911 emergency communication services and technology.
McDougall remains in a support role and transitioned PivotPoint into an investment company. In all, he’s either owned or been partial owner for six startups, including a successful medical coding software company and an app called WinePoynt (now defunct) that gave users wine recommendations by learning preferences through a rating system.
So when he describes himself as a serial entrepreneur, he’s serious. The Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station in College Station brought him in last summer as its Entrepreneur-in Residence to teach researchers how to commercialize cutting-edge technical advances.
But most work days, the father of five is investing his time in a venture he kicked off last year with partners Scott Morton and Glenn Knepp: Gazoo High Performance Computing.
“Disrupting the way humans use computers,” is the tagline for the startup based in Bryan. Last year, the team was granted an unprecedented $500,000 from Seed Sumo to develop a platform for delivering cloud computing to a variety of devices. The hardware they’re creating is billed as the future of virtualization.
To test assumptions, McDougall said he uses clients to review approaches once he has worked through them.
“Customers might not know what they need, but they are more than willing to tell you what they want,” he said.
Just over six years ago, he was chatting with his bosses at Daniel Stark law firm where he worked as an IT guru when a partner mentioned a problem: It took them 120 days to collect medical records from doctors and hospitals, delaying their cases.
“I ended up locking myself in an office the size of a closet for a week and came out with a solution,” he said.
That fix came in the form of automating the records collection process, allowing the lawyers to spend less time dealing with providers. The average wait dropped to 32 days, putting Cormier in high demand within the industry. While discussing the software at a legal conference, an attorney asked where he could sign up for Cormier’s product.
“We were thinking we could sell the software to law firms, so we poured many hours and dreams into that, but it didn’t happen that way. That approach failed miserably,” said the 39-year-old.
It didn’t take Cormier long to hire a few employees and figure out they had a delivery issue. Their customers needed them — their specialized service — from start to finish.
“It wasn’t the idea we started out with, but we followed it to a successful strategy, got feedback and kept striving to get better. You have to be flexible, but still dream big. ”
Six years and 80 employees later, Legal Monkeys — a name suggested by one of the law partners who said Cormier’s efforts were “so easy a monkey could do it” — now has the document wait-time down to 18 days. The private company targets mid-sized to large plaintiff firms and receives almost 20,000 medical requests a month.
“Legal Monkeys is here to stay,” he said, adding that within the year his crew will move from the second floor of the law firm on Main Street and into their own building with an industrial flair a few blocks away.
The energizing vibe in the jam-packed office is obvious not just on the smiling faces throughout, but it’s on display in their motivating morning talk that aptly includes the “high-five huddle;” with an open snack pantry (Fridays are Waffle Day); compelling hand-written notes on walls; and by the ease in which employees communicate.
“In addition to having business partners who are aligned, one of the most important elements for us is culture. We want people to want to come to work. Life is too short,” said Cormier, who has two kids. “We know we have jobs to do, but we also like to have fun. We want to champion both.”
James Benham: ‘Don’t do it alone’
James Benham was far more eager to write computer software programs than he was interested in playing video games in the early 1990s.
“I started writing code almost immediately,” he said of the moment his dad placed an old computer in his hands.
Benham was 11. At once, it became his passion and hobby, then later — his calling.
Before Benham was old enough to vote in a political election, he had established two tech companies, including a computer consulting firm and a nonprofit that he co-managed with a friend that provided free Internet to the teachers in their district.
During his senior year in the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets, he created a software development company — JBKnowledge — out of his dorm room. His first assignment was to build a website and member database for the Corps’ alumni group.
“[They] gave me a chance just because of the Aggie Network,” the 2001 graduate said, adding that while networking is vital, selling a good product that fits a client’s needs is as essential as finding the right co-workers.
“Who you hire matters,” he said. Aligning with like-minded employees and companies with similar revenue interests is an integral part of success.
He asked his father to be his business partner, along with high school classmate Sebastian Costa, saying those were the most important decisions he’s made. Together, the three founded JBKnowledge, which has 165 employees and makes several cloud solution sites sold to 750 customers across the globe in the construction and insurance industries.
Last year, the father of two opened BinarySpace on the first floor of his office building — the old Parker-Astin Hardware Store in Downtown Bryan — to allow individuals and startups to office, hold meetings, brainstorm, host events and use some of the technology tools Benham is known to invest in, like the Flashforge Dreamer (aka the latest 3D printer) and the DJI Phantom 4 drone with collision avoidance.
His company’s success is evidenced by its compounded annual growth rate: 40 percent a year for the last 15 years. Up next: Benham said JBKnowledge just finished research and development on projects relating to augmented and virtual reality, as well as devices that connect to the Internet and track data.
“It keeps me up,” Benham said when asked if he always keeps his eye out for the next great idea. “I wake up thinking about product and go to sleep thinking about product. Obsolescence is any technologist’s worst nightmare, so we’re always researching new and interesting things.”
The 5 Don’ts on startups from the guru in the know
Blake Petty — co-founder and director of Startup Aggieland, a business incubator open to accepted students from all majors on the College Station campus — finds himself juggling a legion of assignments, much like an entrepreneur.
A look at his various job titles delivers a snapshot:
• Assistant vice president for innovation and business development at Texas A&M
• Director for the Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship in the Mays Business School (hub for entrepreneurship across campus, offering more than 25 programs that allow students from any major or classification to explore their interests)
• Faculty member with the National Science Foundation’s Southwest I-Corps program
These related but different positions tie together, allowing Petty to oversee all the applied research, innovation and economic development initiatives for the university, while coordinating similar efforts with the A&M System.
The 20 years he’s poured into these endeavors more than qualifies Petty to be Brazos 360’s expert on advising people who think their idea is the Next Big Thing.
Petty — who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from A&M — said he knows there’s never a one-size-fits-all solution to creating a business because there are so many moving parts, so rather than give a “to-do list” for keys to success, he prefers to recommend what adventurous business pioneers should not do.
Here are his Top 5 Don’ts:
• Don’t get fooled by your own genius. Most startups fail because their founders assume that others will love their idea as much as they do. Validate that you actually have customers before you launch a business.
• Don’t get distracted by all your applications. Entrepreneurs are, by nature, impulsive toward new opportunities and can find themselves aiming to solve a number of problems without actually ever solving any. Focus on your business’ top job and get it done first.
• Don’t believe everything you see on TV. Entrepreneurship is hotter now than it’s ever been, which will lead some to think it’s just as easy as reality shows make it seem. Starting and growing your own business usually takes 10 times the effort of working in someone else’s.
• Don’t lose your passion. Know you’re going to hear ‘No’ a lot, and be prepared to work around it. B.C. Forbes said it best: “White-hot enthusiasm melts many a cold prospect.”
• Don’t try to do everything yourself. Look outside your immediate network and find cofounders, teammates, advisers and mentors anxious to help out. Good chance they know more than you do, and are more than willing to push you toward success. |
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Our first trip out in the helicopter was to see the barrier reef in all its majesty - and we weren't disappointed. This was an extraordinary experience - and even more amazing when we landed on a deserted spit on sand in the middle of the reef itself to enjoy a glass of champagne! What utter decadence! Read the Full Review Here
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FILE PHOTO - Frederic Mazzella, founder and chief executive officer of BlaBlaCar, a unit of Comuto SA, delivers a speech at the Viva Technology conference in Paris, France, June 16, 2017. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
PARIS (Reuters) - French car ride-sharing app Blablacar said on Monday it had offered to buy Ouibus, a bus operator owned by state rail firm SNCF, in the first major departure from its digital business model toward building a broader transport company.
Blablacar did not disclose financial terms but said it had also raised 101 million euros ($114 million) in funding from investors including SNCF, which will become a shareholder.
Blablacar’s bid for Ouibus puts the start-up in another league, growing well beyond its initial remit to take on other forms of inter-city travel in France and Europe.
Ouibus, founded in 2012 by SNCF as a low-cost, long-distance operator, is in the process of expanding internationally.
Along with Blablacar and other car-sharing services, it thrived earlier this year when rail strikes by SNCF drivers and other staff disrupted travel in France for several weeks.
Blablacar, which was launched in 2006 and is now one of France’s fastest-growing start-ups, allows motorists to share the cost of a journey with passengers. It has been growing overseas, with Russia for instance among major markets, and its app has some 65 million users in 22 countries.
It has also started offering services like car leases in France through Societe Generale bank, another way it is nipping at traditional transport models.
The latest project would involve working jointly with SNCF, so that travelers booking through the rail operator will also be offered car-sharing or bus options.
“BlaBlaCar and SNCF share the ambition to develop shared mobility at scale whilst limiting the single-occupancy of vehicles,” the companies said in a statement. |
For some time, it's been said that Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds bares somewhat of a resemblance to late 'Jackass' star Ryan Dunn. Apparently, Ryan Dunn's best friend, Bam Margera, feels the same way. Thus, Margera casted the Mastodon riff master to play the part of Ryan Dunn in Bam's upcoming film, 'I Needed Time to Stay Useless.'
Not much has been revealed about what Hinds' role will entail, but the news was quietly shared by Bam himself in an August 2014 video right before conducting a hilarious interview (seen above) with Hinds, where the majority of questions were penis-related in some way. "He just did the movie 'I Needed Time to Stay Useless.' He's playing Ryan Dunn and he did an awesome f---ing job," says Margera in the video.
Bits and pieces of 'I Needed Time to Stay Useless' have been shared online by Bam. The film seems to follow a documentary format with interludes similar to Margera's classic 'CKY' videos. One exclusive preview shows Bam's 2013 marriage to Nicole Boyd, while another depicts a heavy-handed fight between Bam, his friend Brandon Novak and an unidentified man.
It seems that Hinds was filmed in a scripted role portraying Ryan Dunn, which wouldn't be unusual for a Bam Margera film due to the daredevil's history of combining multiple styles of filmmaking in a single project.
Ryan Dunn passed away in a car accident on June 20, 2011. Investigators determined Dunn was driving under the influence of alcohol at up to 140mph in his Porsche 911 GT3 before the crash, which also killed 'Jackass Number Two' production assistant Zachary Hartwell.
Bam Margera's 'I Needed Time to Stay Useless' has yet to receive an official release date. |
Oddworld Devs Told EA To F*ck Off When They Tried To Acquire Them
We don't often hear about a lot of success stories from developers who are detached from that awful, awful life-sucking machine known as the publisher. In this case, however, Oddworld Inhabitant's Lorne Lanning wasn't going to be another victim of EA's long list of chew-you-up-and-spit-you-out-developers, and when approached for acquisition by EA he told them "F*ck you very much."
Gameindustry.biz has a great write-up on the very interesting Lanning and the journey from being a dependent developer relying on publisher funds to becoming their own micro-managed publisher in a very divisive and hostile gaming landscape.
What's more is that Lorne wants to get back to making new games in the Oddworld universe but he wants to do so while owning the brand rights, while doing it on the terms of the development team and doing so publisher-free...
"On the micro-publisher level it's very simple. We fund our own products," ... "We weren't able to do that in the boxed product days, we're only able to do that in the digital distribution landscape.
"Rather than having to have 1.5 million units in the opening week or suffer death, now if we have 50,000 sales and we're still in business. People are still employed and we're able to keep making content. When we released box product we would get 20 per cent of the revenue.”
"If you're the gamer, where do you want the money of the game you're buying to go?".... "I want it going to help make more games. But the majority of that money is not going to games in the boxed product market.”
Lanning explains that by going digital the company is able to cut out ALL the middle-men and reap majority of the profits for themselves. They won't be using the money to buy Ferrari's, though. Instead, the money will be going back into the development cycle to make bigger and better games.
Oddworld Inhabitant's main goal is to eventually self-fund their own $30 million dollar blockbuster. That is something I would be interested in seeing, given that most AAA titles are all focus-group-tested corporate wallflowers made to look pretty for shareholders while usually being shallow and forgettable on the actual game mechanic front. A dev who has a large amount of funds to make whatever kind of game they want without publisher oversight is kind of a dream come true for both the developers and the gamers.
According to Lanning...
"Right now it's 100 per cent ours. We're testing those waters and every time it's proving successful. And then with JAW, everything they've done is true to the brand. With Abe's Odyssey they wanted to make it better. With Stranger's Wrath HD that was a bigger bet. Financially it was a bigger bet and it paid off. All that money now has gone back into new titles."
They've taken up this mantle of self-funding to avoid what happened during their tenure with EA where Stranger's Wrath didn't fare too well due to EA cutting promotional and marketing budgets for the game and then canceling the PS2 port, which really hurt the dev studio big time. According to Lorne, EA allegedly used this underhanded tactic to step in and acquire a fledging Oddworld Inhabitants and take control of the brand rights, something they've done with countless other IP over the years. |
Schleswig-Holstein Question
The Schleswig-Holstein Question (; ) was a complex set of diplomatic and other issues arising in the 19th century from the relations of two duchies, Schleswig () and Holstein (), to the Danish crown and to the German Confederation. The British statesman Lord Palmerston is reported to have said: "Only three people have ever really understood the Schleswig-Holstein business—the Prince Consort, who is dead—a German professor, who has gone mad—and I, who have forgotten all about it."
Schleswig was a part of Denmark during the Viking Age, and became a Danish duchy in the 12th century. Denmark repeatedly tried to reintegrate the Duchy of Schleswig into the Danish kingdom. On March 27, 1848, Frederick VII of Denmark announced to the people of Schleswig the promulgation of a liberal constitution under which the duchy, while preserving its local autonomy, would become an integral part of Denmark. This led to an open uprising by Schleswig-Holstein's large German majority in support of independence from Denmark and of close association with the German Confederation. The military intervention of the Kingdom of Prussia supported the uprising: the Prussian army drove Denmark's troops from Schleswig and Holstein, beginning the First Schleswig War (1848–51), which ended in a Danish victory at Idstedt. The second attempt to reintegrate the Duchy of Schleswig into the Danish kingdom, initiated by the signing by King Christian IX of Denmark of the November Constitution in 1863, was seen as a violation of the London Protocol and led to the Second Schleswig War of 1864.
Even though Schleswig, Holstein, and Denmark had all had the same hereditary ruler for some centuries, the inheritance rules in the three territories were not the same. The Dukedoms of Schleswig and Holstein were inherited under Salic law which ignored females: the Kingdom of Denmark had a different inheritance law which permitted male heirs to inherit through the female line. In the 19th century, this difference in inheritance law meant that when the childless King Frederick VII of Denmark died, the Kingdom of Denmark would be separated from the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, because one man would inherit the Kingship and another the Dukedoms. This is what happened on the death of Frederick VII in 1863.
The central question was whether the duchy of Schleswig was or was not an integral part of the dominions of the Danish crown, with which it had been associated in the Danish monarchy for centuries or whether Schleswig should, together with Holstein, become an independent part of the German Confederation. Schleswig itself was a fiefdom of Denmark, as the duchy of Holstein had been a fief of the Holy Roman Empire until 1806, and become a component state of the German Confederation with the Danish king as duke. This involved the question, raised by the death of the last common male heir to both Denmark and the two duchies, as to the proper succession in the duchies, and the constitutional questions arising out of the relations of the duchies to the Danish crown, to each other, and of Holstein to the German Confederation.
Much of the history of Schleswig-Holstein has a bearing on this question. Following the defeat of Germany in World War I, the Danish majority area of Northern Schleswig was finally unified with Denmark after two plebiscites organised by the Allied powers. A small minority of ethnic Germans still lives in Northern Schleswig, while a Danish minority remains in South Schleswig.
Constitutional problem
Since 1849 disparate systems of government had co-existed within the Danish state. Denmark proper had become a constitutional democracy. However, absolutism was still the system of Schleswig and Holstein, with advisory assemblies based on the estates system which gave more power to the most affluent members of society. The three units were governed by one cabinet, consisting of liberal ministers of Denmark who urged economic and social reforms, and conservative ministers from the Holstein nobility who opposed political reform. After the uprising in Holstein and Schleswig the monarch had no interest in sharing rule with the people, many formerly rebellious. Estates of the realm, with their fear of being replaced by democratic institutions, were easier to be compromised.
This caused a deadlock for practical lawmaking, hardened by ethnic tensions, and a complete inability to govern was imminent. Moreover, Danish opponents of this so-called Unitary State (Helstaten) feared that Holstein's presence in the government and, at the same time, Holstein's membership of the German Confederation would lead to increased German interference with Holstein, or even into purely Danish affairs.
In Copenhagen, the palace and most of the administration supported a strict adherence to the status quo. The same applied to foreign powers such as the United Kingdom, France and Russia, who would not accept a weakened Denmark in favour of a German power, such as Austria or Prussia, acquiring Holstein with the important naval harbour of Kiel or controlling the entrance to the Baltic.
Language and nationality
There was also the national question: both Germany and Denmark wished, characteristically of the nineteenth century, to create and consolidate nationalities from a background of fragmented cultural practices and dialects.
Lastly, there was the international question: the rival ambitions of the German powers involved, and beyond them the interests of other European states, notably that of the United Kingdom in preventing the rise of a German sea-power in the north.
German had been the language of government in Schleswig and Holstein while more-or-less independent Dukes ruled, and stayed so; and had been a language of government of the kingdom of Denmark in several eras. Since the Lutheran Reformation, German had been dominant in church and schools, and Danish was the dominant language among the peasantry in Schleswig.
Low German was the language of all of Holstein. During the centuries following the Middle Ages, Low German had come to dominate in Southern Schleswig, which had originally been predominantly Danish-speaking. The Danish language still dominated in Northern Schleswig. Around 1800, German and Danish were spoken in approximately equal proportions throughout what is now Central Schleswig.
The German language had been slowly spreading at the expense of Danish in previous centuries: for example, Danish was still spoken on the peninsula of Schwansen around 1780 (the last known use of Danish was in the villages near the Schlei), but then became extinct.
The language border in the nineteenth century conformed approximately to the current border between Denmark and Germany .
It was clear that Danish dominance in Schleswig was vulnerable and weakening. Through its vigorous economic activity, the ethnically German area to the south expanded its geographic domain. Linguistically Low German immigrants constantly arrived, and previously Danish-speaking families often came to find it convenient to change languages. The Low German language, rather than Danish, had become typical of Holstein and much of south Schleswig.
One solution, which afterwards had the support of Napoleon III, would have been to partition Schleswig on the lines of nationality, assigning the Danish part to Denmark, the German to Holstein. This idea, which afterwards had supporters among both Danes and Germans, proved impracticable at the time owing to the intractable disposition of the majority on both sides. This solution was subsequently implemented by plebiscites in 1920 as a condition of the treaty of Versailles, and Northern Schleswig was returned to Denmark.
Treaty of Ribe
German Schleswig-Holsteiners often cited a clause from the Treaty of Ribe of 1460, stating that Schleswig and Holstein should "always be together and never partitioned (or separated)". Although this treaty played a minor role at the more formal level of the conflict, its proclamation "Forever Inseparable" (Up ewig ungedeelt) obtained proverbial status during the German nationalist awakening, both among those wishing an independent Schleswig-Holstein, and in the German unification movement in general.
In Denmark it was granted less significance, and the citing widely regarded to be out of context, as it could either hint at the duchies not being separated from each other, or their not being partitioned into smaller shares of inheritance. This had happened many times anyway, leaving a confusing pattern of feudal units. Danes also brought forward rulings of a Danish clerical court and a German Emperor, of 1424 and 1421 respectively, stating that Schleswig rightfully belonged to Denmark, because it was a Danish fief and Holstein was a fief of the Holy Roman Empire, wanting Schleswig and Holstein to separate from each other.
The major powers appear to have given the Treaty of Ribe little notice in comparison to the ethnic conflict and worries about the European balance of power.
Resolution
The Second Schleswig War resolved the Schleswig–Holstein Question violently, by forcing the king of Denmark to renounce (on 1 August 1864) all his rights in the duchies in favour of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and King William I of Prussia. By Article XIX of the definitive Treaty of Vienna signed on October 30, 1864, a period of six years was allowed during which the inhabitants of the duchies might opt for Danish nationality and transfer themselves and their goods to Denmark; and the rights pertaining to birth in the provinces were guaranteed to all, whether in the kingdom or the duchies, who had been entitled to those rights at the time of the exchange of ratifications of the treaty.
In the Austro–Prussian War of 1866, Prussia took Holstein from Austria and the two duchies subsequently merged into the Province of Schleswig-Holstein. From this point on, the Schleswig-Holstein Question was subsumed by the larger issue of Austro–Prussian relations, which the 1866 war deeply influenced. It survived, however, as between Danes and Germans, though narrowed to the question of the fate of the Danish population of Schleswig. This question is of great interest to students of international law and as illustrating the practical problems involved in asserting the modern principle of nationality.
For the effect on the Danes of Schleswig and events afterwards, see History of Schleswig-Holstein.
Today, Northern Schleswig, or South Jutland County, is in Denmark; the remainder, as Schleswig-Holstein, is a state of Germany.
Schleswig-Holstein Question in literature
Elements of the Schleswig-Holstein Question were fictionalised in Royal Flash, the second of George MacDonald Fraser's The Flashman Papers novels.
Its potential solution (or lack thereof) also forms part of the solution to the mystery at the centre of Kim Newman's short story "Tomorrow Town".
Danish author Herman Bang wrote of life on the island of Als in the aftermath of the Battle of Dybbøl in the Second War of Schleswig in his novel Tine, published in 1889.
Dostoevsky refers to this as "The farce in Schleswig-Holstein" in Notes from Underground.
The question appears in the first volume of the Reminiscences of Carl Schurz as an issue of concern in the Revolutions of 1848 and also as the farcical recollections of his friend Adolf Strodtmann regarding his (Strodtmann's) participation in the conflict (see Chapter 5, pp. 130–132, and Chapter 6, pp. 141–143).
See also
History of Schleswig-Holstein
References
Further reading
Müller, Friedrich Max. The Schleswig-Holstein Question and Its Place in History in "Last Essays by the Right Hon. Professor F. Max Müller", 1881, (accessed on-line August 2017).
Price, Arnold. "Schleswig-Holstein" in Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions (2005) online
Sandiford, Keith AP. Great Britain and the Schleswig-Holstein question, 1848-64: a study in diplomacy, politics, and public opinion (University of Toronto Press, 1975).
Steefel, Lawrence D. The Schleswig-Holstein Question. 1863-1864 (Harvard U.P. 1923).
Category:Schleswig Wars
Category:National questions
Category:Denmark–Germany relations
Category:Duchy of Schleswig |
Style of the Week: Miles by Sottero and Midgley
This blog post is part of a new series by Noiva’s titled Style of The Week, whereby we highlight beautiful bridal creations from our extensive collection, one dress at a time.
Our pick for this week is an exquisite dress from our latest collection named Miles by award-winning bridal label Sottero and Midgley.
Available in three different color accents: white, ivory and antique ivory, the V-neck sheath gown is ornamented with gleaming crosshatch embroidery and subtle beaded lace appliqués and features an exceptional curve-hugging hemline.
Its alluring open back is met with Swarovski-embellished double spaghetti straps and finished using pearl buttons set across a zipper closure. You may also add volume to the dress by adding a complementary detachable tulle train, equally accented with lace appliqués, which can be purchased separately.
With its plunging neckline, luxe fabric and cutting-edge design, Miles has got all the right elements to capture a bride-to-be’s eye and heart. It offers the perfect combination of chic and glamorous and this kind of aesthetic balance allows the bride wearing it to make a unique and elegant statement at her wedding.
Established in 1997, Maggie Sottero designs, of which the gown’s brand Sottero and Midgley originates, has just celebrated its 20th anniversary as a leading bridal label this fall. The design house revolutionized the industry with its signature corset closure, establishing itself as one of the most respected bridal gown manufacturers since then.
In 2006, Maggie Sottero introduced Sottero and Midgley, officially described as a couture line targeting chic and statement-making brides. “Each season, Sottero and Midgley offers cutting-edge styles to brides with elegant and discerning tastes,” the website reads.
What makes the label even more special is that it is powered by a vision to delivering timeless, elegant wedding dresses at economical prices, which means you’re getting your hands on internationally sourced fabrics and handcrafted elements at a reasonable price!
Would you pick Miles for your wedding? Discover this dress and more at our showroom! |
Q:
Create Marketing Cloud DE Using SOAP API in Postman
I haven't been having luck with using the FuelSDKs to use the Marketing Cloud APIs. So I've been trying to test the SOAP API directly in postman first to see if it works; and sadly I haven't gotten that to work either...
I pretty much copied and pasted the SOAP request from here but it doesn't work. I get a 400 Bad Request
Details
First I get an access token by authenticating against https://domain.auth.marketingcloudapis.com/v2/token/
{
"grant_type": "client_credentials",
"client_id": "clientid",
"client_secret": "secret",
"scope": "data_extensions_read data_extensions_write"
}
This seems to work fine, I get the access token, which I use in the following request, which I copied verbatim from the link above.
I send the request to https://domain.soap.marketingcloudapis.com/Service.asmx
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<s:envelope xmlns:s="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
<s:header>
<fueloauth>
access_token
</fueloauth>
</s:header>
<s:body>
<CreateRequest xmlns="http://exacttarget.com/wsdl/partnerAPI">
<Options></Options>
<Objects xmlns:ns1="http://exacttarget.com/wsdl/partnerAPI" xsi:type="ns1:DataExtension">
<CustomerKey>DataExtensionFromAPI</CustomerKey>
<Name>DataExtensionFromAPI</Name>
<IsSendable>false</IsSendable>
<SendableDataExtensionField>
<CustomerKey>EmailAddress_Key</CustomerKey>
<Name>EmailAddress</Name>
<FieldType>EmailAddress</FieldType>
</SendableDataExtensionField>
<SendableSubscriberField>
<Name>Email Address</Name>
<Value></Value>
</SendableSubscriberField>
<Fields>
<Field>
<CustomerKey>EmailAddress_Key</CustomerKey>
<Name>EmailAddress</Name>
<FieldType>EmailAddress</FieldType>
</Field>
<Field>
<CustomerKey>ChannelUser_Key</CustomerKey>
<Name>ChannelUser</Name>
<FieldType>Text</FieldType>
</Field>
<Field>
<CustomerKey>ChannelUser_EmailAddress_Key</CustomerKey>
<Name>ChannelUser_EmailAddress</Name>
<FieldType>EmailAddress</FieldType>
</Field>
<Field>
<CustomerKey>Demographic_Address_Key</CustomerKey>
<Name>Demographic_Address</Name>
<FieldType>Text</FieldType>
</Field>
</Fields>
</Objects>
</CreateRequest>
</s:body>
</s:envelope>
However I seem to get this 400 Bad Request as a response. What am I doing wrong?
A:
So after to the edit EazyE suggested, the request from that page was throwing another error:
"The SendableSubscriberField cannot be EmailAddress because the SUBSCRIBER_KEY business rule has been turned on" when creating a new Data Extension.
So this is the final request, with headers: Content-Type: text/xml and SOAPAction: Create
<soapenv:Envelope xmlns:soapenv="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<soapenv:Header>
<fueloauth>token</fueloauth>
</soapenv:Header>
<soapenv:Body>
<CreateRequest xmlns="http://exacttarget.com/wsdl/partnerAPI">
<Options></Options>
<Objects xmlns:ns1="http://exacttarget.com/wsdl/partnerAPI" xsi:type="ns1:DataExtension">
<CustomerKey>DataExtensionTesting</CustomerKey>
<Name>DataExtensionTesting</Name>
<IsSendable>true</IsSendable>
<SendableDataExtensionField>
<CustomerKey>EmailAddress_Key</CustomerKey>
<Name>EmailAddress</Name>
<FieldType>EmailAddress</FieldType>
</SendableDataExtensionField>
<SendableSubscriberField>
<Name>Subscriber Key</Name>
<Value/>
</SendableSubscriberField>
<Fields>
<Field>
<ObjectID xsi:nil="true"/>
<CustomerKey>SubscriberKey</CustomerKey>
<Name>SubscriberKey</Name>
<FieldType>Text</FieldType>
<IsRequired>true</IsRequired>
<IsPrimaryKey>true</IsPrimaryKey>
<MaxLength>100</MaxLength>
</Field>
<Field>
<CustomerKey>TestField1</CustomerKey>
<Name>TestField1</Name>
<FieldType>Text</FieldType>
</Field>
<Field>
<CustomerKey>EmailAddress_Key</CustomerKey>
<Name>EmailAddress</Name>
<FieldType>EmailAddress</FieldType>
</Field>
<Field>
<CustomerKey>Name</CustomerKey>
<Name>Name</Name>
<FieldType>Text</FieldType>
</Field>
<Field>
<CustomerKey>ImageURL</CustomerKey>
<Name>ImageURL</Name>
<FieldType>Text</FieldType>
</Field>
</Fields>
</Objects>
</CreateRequest>
</soapenv:Body>
</soapenv:Envelope>
|
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Dr. Conway says, "Wisconsin now requires the Tdap vaccine for all students in grades 6 through 12."
The whooping cough vaccine (usually called DTaP for infants and young children, and Tdap for adolescents and adults) also protects against two other potentially deadly diseases: diphtheria and tetanus—also known as lockjaw.
"Immunizations don’t end at childhood," says Dr. Conway, "so adults should check with their physicians during routine visits and physicals to see if they are due for booster shots to guard against these diseases. |
---
author:
- |
Alano Ancona[$^{}$]{}\
[Département de Mathématiques, Université Paris-Sud 11]{}\
[Orsay 91405 France]{}
date:
-
- '[March 6, 2012 Version 3[^1] ]{}'
title:
---
[^2]
[**Abstract.**]{} [Given a Lipschitz domain $\Omega $ in ${ \mathbb R} ^N $ and a nonnegative potential $V$ in $\Omega $ such that $V(x)\, d(x,\partial \Omega )^2$ is bounded we study the [*fine regularity*]{} of boundary points with respect to the Schrödinger operator $L_V:= \Delta -V$ in $\Omega $. Using potential theoretic methods, several conditions are shown to be equivalent to the fine regularity of $z \in \partial \Omega $. The main result is a simple ([*explicit*]{} if $\Omega $ is smooth) necessary and sufficient condition involving the size of $V$ for $z \in \partial \Omega $ to be finely regular. An intermediate result consists in a majorization of $\int_A \vert { \frac { u} {d(.,\partial \Omega ) }} \vert ^2\, dx$ for $u$ positive harmonic in $\Omega $ and $A \subset \Omega $. Conditions for almost everywhere regularity in a subset $A $ of $ \partial \Omega $ are also given as well as an extension of the main results to a notion of fine ${ \mathcal L}_1 \vert { \mathcal L}_0$-regularity, if ${ \mathcal L}_j={ \mathcal L}-V_j$, $V_0,\, V_1$ being two potentials, with $V_0 \leq V_1$ and ${ \mathcal L}$ a second order elliptic operator.]{}
Introduction and main results.
==============================
This paper stems from a question raised by Moshe Marcus and Laurent Véron several years ago and its answer [@anc4] (see the appendix in [@VYA] and the comments after Theorem \[charac\] below). Another independent – and recent – question of Moshe Marcus has also motivated the approach followed in Section 3. See Proposition \[MM\].
Both questions dealt with positive solutions of a Schr" odinger equation $ \Delta u-Vu=0$ in a Lipschitz domain $\Omega $ with $V$ in a natural class of nonnegative potentials in $\Omega $. The first was about a necessary explicit condition for a boundary point of $\Omega $ to be “finely regular" with respect to $\Delta -V$ and is related to the works [@MV1] [@MV5]. The definition of “fine regularity" [@VYA] recalled below goes back to a notion introduced by E. B. Dynkin to study the boundary values (or traces on $\partial \Omega $) of positive solutions of nonlinear equation such as $ \Delta u= u^ \alpha $, $ \alpha >1$ – in which case, given a solution $u$, Dynkin’s definition corresponds here to $V= \vert u \vert ^{ \alpha -1}$ – (see [@dyn0], [@dynkuz] and the books [@dyn1], [@dyn2]).
To state our main results we fix some notations and recall basic definitions and facts which will be used all along this paper. This will be quite similar to the appendix of [@VYA]. Other notations (that also appear in [@VYA]) are fixed later in Section 2.2.
Let $\Omega $ be a bounded Lipschitz domain in ${ \mathbb R} ^N$, $N\geq 2$. For $x \in \Omega $, $ \delta_{\Omega } (x)$ is the distance from $x$ to ${ \mathbb R}^n\setminus \Omega$ in ${ \mathbb R} ^N$ and for $a \geq 0$, ${ \mathcal V}(\Omega ,a)$ (or ${ \mathcal V}_a(\Omega )$) is the set of all nonnegative Borel measurable functions $V:\Omega \to { \mathbb R} $ such that $V(x) \leq a/(\delta _{\Omega }(x))^2$ in $\Omega $. Let ${ \mathcal V}(\Omega )= \bigcup _{a>0} { \mathcal V}(\Omega ,a)$. We also fix a reference point $x_0$ in $\Omega $.
For $V \in { \mathcal V}(\Omega)$, let $L_V:= \Delta -V$ denote the corresponding Schr" odinger operator where $ \Delta $ is the classical Laplacian. An $L_V$-harmonic function in $\Omega $ is the continuous representative of a weak solution in $\Omega $. It belongs to $W^{2,p}_{\rm loc} (\Omega )$ for all $p< \infty $.
By the results in [@anc3] (see more details in Section 2) it is known that given $y \in \partial \Omega $ and $V \in { \mathcal V}(\Omega )$, there exists a unique positive $L_V$-harmonic function $K_y^V$ in $\Omega $ that vanishes on $\partial \Omega \setminus \{ y \}$ and satisfies $K_y^V(x_0)=1$. Moreover $y\mapsto K_y^V$ is continuous (for uniform convergence on compact subsets of $\Omega $). For $V=0$, we recover the well-known results of Hunt and Wheeden [@HW1],[@HW2] and we denote $K_y:=K_y^0$. The function $K^V_y$ is the Martin function with respect to $L_V$ in $\Omega $ with pole at $y$ normalized at $x_0$. For general facts about Martin’s boundary see e.g. [@martin; @naim; @doob; @ancbook].
The function $K_y$ is superharmonic in $\Omega $ with respect to $L_V$ and we may hence consider its greatest $L_V$-harmonic minorant $ \tilde K_y^V$ in $\Omega $. Clearly $ \tilde K_y^V=c(y)\, K_y^V$ with $c(y)= \tilde K_y^V(x_0)$, $0 \leq c(y) \leq 1$. Moreover $y\mapsto c(y)$ is upper semicontinuous.
The set of “[*finely*]{}" regular boundary points (ref. [@dyn1] Chap. 11, [@dynkuz], [@VYA]) with respect to $L_V $ in $\Omega $ is $$\begin{aligned}
{ \mathcal R}\mbox{\footnotesize{eg}}_{_ V}(\Omega )&= \{ y \in \partial \Omega\,;\, \tilde K_y^V>0 \}= \{ y \in \partial \Omega \,;\, c(y)>0\, \} \end{aligned}$$ and the set of finely irregular boundary points is ${ \mathcal S}\mbox{\footnotesize {ing}}_{_ V}(\Omega ):= \partial \Omega\setminus { \mathcal R}\mbox{\footnotesize{eg}}_{_ V}(\Omega )$. We also say that $y \in \partial \Omega $ is a $V$-finely regular boundary point if $y \in { \mathcal R}\mbox{\footnotesize{eg}}_V(\Omega )$. Clearly ${ \mathcal R}\mbox{\footnotesize{eg}}_{_ V}(\Omega )$ is a $K_ \sigma $ subset of $\partial \Omega $. The probabilistic interpretation, which will not be used here, is that a point $y \in \partial \Omega$ is $V $-finely regular iff $\int _0^ \tau \, V( \xi _s)\, ds <+ \infty $ a.s. for a Brownian motion $ \{ \xi _s \}_{0 \leq s< \tau }$ starting at $x_0$ and conditioned to exit from $\Omega$ at $y$.
Denote $G^V(x,y)$ the Green’s function with respect to $L_V$ in $\Omega $ and let $G:=G^0$. Thus for $y \in \Omega $, $G^V_y: x\mapsto G^V(x,y)$ is the smallest positive function in $\Omega $ which is $L_V$ harmonic in $\Omega \setminus \{ y \}$ and such that $G^V_y(y)=+ \infty $ and $L_V(G_y)=- \delta _y$ in the weak sense. Here and below $ \delta _y$ denotes Dirac measure at $y$.
Our main result about fine regularity is as follows (see generalizations in Section 7).
\[th1\]Let $V \in { \mathcal V}(\Omega ,a)$. Given $y \in \partial \Omega $, the following are equivalent:
1. The point $y$ is finely regular with respect to the potential $V$ in $\Omega $.
2. The integral $ \int_\Omega G(x_0,z)\, V(z)\, K_y^V(z)\, dz$ is finite.
3. The integral $ \int_\Omega G(x_0,z)\, V(z)\, K_y(z)\, dz$ is finite.
For $\Omega $ smooth – and using the well known fact that away from $x_0$ the first eigenfunction of the Laplacian in $\Omega $ is equivalent in size to $G(x_0,.)$ – the implication $(i)\Rightarrow(iii)$ appears also in [@VYA] and the equivalence $(i)\Leftrightarrow (iii)$ is stated as an open question there. This implication is also clear using the probabilistic point of view and the main point in Theorem \[th1\] is that $(iii)\Rightarrow(i)$.
It follows from Theorem \[th1\] that if $\Omega $ is $C^{1, \alpha }$-smooth for some $ \alpha \in (0,1]$ then $y \in \partial \Omega $ is $V$-finely regular if and only if $$\int _\Omega {\frac { \delta _\Omega (z)^2} { \vert z-y \vert ^N}}\, V(z)\, dz < \infty .$$
To establish Theorem \[th1\], we prove – using methods in [@ancbook0] – a general fact from potential theory in Lipschitz domains interesting in its own right. See Corollaries \[maincorogene\] and \[maincorogene2\].
\[cormain\]Let $\mu $ be a finite positive measure on $\partial \Omega $. Then $\mu $-almost every point $y \in \partial \Omega $ is $V$-finely regular iff there is a positive measure $\nu =f\cdot \mu $, with $0<f \leq 1$, such that $\int_\Omega G(x,x_0)\,V(x)\,K_\nu (x)\, dx< \infty $. If $\Omega $ is $C^{1, \alpha }$-smooth, $0< \alpha \leq 1$, this amounts to $$\begin{aligned}
\iint_{\Omega \times\partial \Omega } {\frac { \delta _\Omega (x)^2} { \vert x-y \vert ^N}}\, V(x)\,\, dx\,d \nu (y)\, < +\infty .
& \nonumber \end{aligned}$$
In the next statement, $H_{N-1}$ denotes the $N-1$-dimensional Hausdorff measure in ${ \mathbb R}^N$.
\[th2\] Let $A$ be a Borel subset of $\partial \Omega $. Then, $H_{N-1}$-almost every point $y \in A$ is finely regular (with respect to $\Omega $ and $V$) if and only if there exists, for $H_{N-1}$-almost every point $y \in A$, a nonempty open truncated cone $C_y \subset \Omega $ with vertex at $y$ such that $\int _{C_y} V(x)\, \vert x -y\vert ^{2-N}\, dx< \infty $.
The next section is mainly devoted to the description of some known facts, important in our approach. In Section 3 some characterizations of [*fine*]{} regularity with respect to a potential $V \in { \mathcal V}(\Omega)$ are derived. In Sections 4 and 5, we prove Theorem \[th1\] while Section 6 is devoted to the proof of Theorem \[th2\] and other properties related to almost everywhere regularity. Finally in Section 7 we observe that the main results can be extended to more general pairs of elliptic operators in $\Omega $, ${ \mathcal L}_j={ \mathcal L}- V_j$, $j=1,\,2$, with ${ \mathcal L}$ in the standard form ${ \mathcal L}(u)= \sum \partial _i(a_{ij}\partial _ju)$ and $0 \leq V_ 1 \leq V_2$. The author is grateful to Moshe Marcus and Laurent Véron for attracting him by motivating questions to the topics considered in this paper.
Boundary Harnack principle and Fatou’s theorem for $\mathbf {L_V}$
==================================================================
As in the appendix in [@VYA] we will use the results of [@anc3] in forms which are more or less implicit in [@anc3] (see also [@ancbook]), a difference with [@VYA] being that we will also draw upon the available Fatou-Doob theorem established in [@anc3].
For the readers convenience, we would like to state and make clear these (well-known to experts) ancillary results in forms suitable for our approach. As a result there will be some overlap with the exposition in [@VYA Section A.2].
[**2.1.**]{} Let $\;L= \sum_{1 \leq i,j \leq N} \partial _i(a_{ij} \partial _j . ) + \sum _{j \leq N}b_j\, \partial _j. + \gamma .\;$ be a second order elliptic operator in divergence form in the open unit ball $B_N$ of ${ \mathbb R}^N$ and let $ \delta (x)= \delta _{B_N}(x)=1- \vert x \vert $ for $x \in B_N$. We assume that the coefficients $a_{ij}$, $b_i$ and $ \gamma $ are real measurable in $B_N$ and that for some constant $C>1$ and all $x \in B_N$, $ \xi \in { \mathbb R}^N$ : (i) $ C^{-1} \Vert \xi \Vert ^2 \leq \sum _{i,j} a_{ij}(x) \xi _i\, \xi _j \leq C \Vert \xi \Vert ^2$, (ii) $ \delta (x) \sum_j \vert b_j(x) \vert \leq C$ and (iii) $ \delta^2 (x)\, \vert \gamma (x) \vert \leq C$. It is also assumed that ${ \mathcal L}= \delta ^2\,L$ is weakly coercive, i.e.: (iv) there exists $ \varepsilon_0 >0$ such that ${ \mathcal L} + \varepsilon_0 I$ admits a non trivial positive supersolution (ref. [@anc3]).
Note that (iv) holds in particular if $b\equiv 0$ and $ \gamma \leq 0$ (assuming (i) and (iii)): thanks to Hardy’s inequality ([@steinbook] p. 272 and [@kadkuf]) there exists $ \varepsilon = \varepsilon (N,C)>0$ such the form $ a( \varphi , \varphi )=\sum \int_{B_N} a_{ij} \partial _j \varphi \, \partial _i \varphi \, dx -\int_{B_N} (\gamma+ { \frac { \varepsilon } { \delta ^2}} )\, \varphi ^2 \, dx $, $ \varphi \in H_0^1(B_N)$, is coercive in $H_0^1(B_N)$. So if $ \psi \in H_0^1(\Omega )$, $ \psi \geq 0$, Stampacchia’s projection theorem [@sta0] applied to the convex set $C_ \psi = \{ v \in H_0^1(\Omega )\,;\, v \geq \psi \, \}$ provides an element $u \in C_ \psi $ such that $a(u, \theta ) \geq 0$ for every $ \theta \in [H_0^1(\Omega )]_+$. Thus, $L(u)+ { \frac { \varepsilon } { \delta ^2 }}u \leq 0$ in $B_N$.
Let $L$ be as above satisfying (i)-(iv) and let $ \Gamma $ denote the Green’s function for $L$ in $\Omega $ – which exists (see e.g. [@ancbook]). Thus if $ \Gamma _y(x):= \Gamma (x,y)$, we have $L \Gamma _y=- \delta _y$ in the weak sense [@sta]. As noticed in [@anc3], the operator ${ \mathcal L}=(1- \vert x \vert ^2)^2 L$ is an “adapted" elliptic operator in $B_N$ for the hyperbolic metric $g_h(dx)= 4\vert dx \vert ^2/(1- \vert x \vert ^2)^2$. Since ${ \mathcal L}$ is weakly coercive in $B_N$ one may hence apply the main results in [@anc3] (Theorem 3 and Theorem 4) and get the following (notice that ${ \mathcal L}$-Green’s function with respect to the hyperbolic volume is $G_{ \mathcal L} (x,y)= 2^{-N}(1- \vert y \vert ^2)^{N-2}\; \Gamma (x,y)$):
\(a) for each $P \in \partial B_N$, the limit $K_P^L(x)=\lim_{y \to P} \Gamma _y(x)/ \Gamma _y(0)$, $x \in B_N$, exists and defines a positive $L$-harmonic function $K_P^L$ in $B_N$ which depends continuously on $P$ (for uniform convergence on compact subsets of $B_N$),
\(b) Every positive $L$-solution $u$ in $\Omega $ can be written in a unique way as $u(x)=\int _{\partial B_N}\, K_P^L(x)\, d\mu (P)$ for some positive (finite) measure $\mu $ in $\partial B_N $,
\(c) [**Relative Fatou Theorem.**]{} It follows from (b) and the general relative Fatou-Doob-Naïm theorem (see e.g. [@ancbook] p. 28, Théor[è]{}me 1.8) that if $u$, $\mu $ are as above and if $s$ is a positive $L$-superharmonic function then $s/u$ admits at $\mu $-almost every $P \in \partial B_N$ the “fine" limit $f(P)$ (in the sense of the potential theory with respect to $L$, with $P$ seen as a minimal Martin boundary point, see [@ancbook]). Here $f={ \frac { d\nu } {d\mu }}$ $\mu$-a.e., $\nu $ being the measure in $\partial B_N$ associated to the largest $L$-harmonic minorant of $s$. If $s$ is $L$-harmonic, then for every $P \in \partial B_N$ such that ${ \frac { s } {u}} \to \ell$ finely at $P \in \partial B_N$, the ratio ${ \frac { s(x) } {u(x)}}$ tends to $ \ell$ as $x \to P$ nontangentially in $B_N$ [@ancbook].
\(d) There is a constant $c=c( \varepsilon_0 ,C,N) \geq 1$ such that for $z=(z',z_N) \in B_N $ with $z_N \geq \frac 1 3$ and $y \in B_N^-:= \{ (x',x_N) \in B_N\,;\, x_N \leq -{ \frac { 1 } {2}}\, \}$ one has $$\begin{aligned}
\label{phfIni} c^{-1}\, \Gamma (z,y) \leq \Gamma (z,0)\, \Gamma (0,y) \leq c\, \Gamma (z,y).\end{aligned}$$ This follows from Theorem 1 in [@anc3] and Harnack inequalities, on observing that the distance of $O$ to the hyperbolic geodesic $\buildrel \frown \over {zy}$ is bounded by a constant. Letting $z$ tend to a limit position $Q \in (\partial B_N)^ +:= \{ x \in \partial B_N\,;\,, x_N \geq { \frac { 1 } {3}} \}$ it follows that $c^{-1} K_Q(y) \leq \Gamma (0,y) \leq c\, K_Q(y)$ for $y \in B_N^-$. Whence the next proposition.
\[HBhy\] Let $u=\int K_Q\, d\mu (Q)$ where $\mu $ is a positive measure supported by $(\partial B_N)^+$. Then, for every $y \in B_N^{-}$ and some constant $c=c( \varepsilon_0 ,C,N) \geq 1$, $$\begin{aligned}
c^{-1} u(0)\, \Gamma (y,0) \leq u(y) \leq c\, u(0)\, \Gamma (y,0).\end{aligned}$$ In particular, if $u$ and $v$ are positive $L$-harmonic functions in $ B_N$ whose associated measures on $\partial B_N$ are supported by $(\partial B_N)^+$ $$\begin{aligned}
\label {eq2.3} \frac {u(x)}{u(0)} \leq \;c^2\; \frac {v(x)}{v(0)}, \;\; x \in B_N^-.\end{aligned}$$
\[remark2\][ Suppose $L(\mathbf 1)= \gamma \leq 0$. Let $u$ be a positive solution of $L(u)=0$ in $B_N$ and let $\mu $ be the corresponding measure on $\partial B_N$. If $u$ vanishes on $ \{ z \in \partial B_N\,;\, z_N <{\frac { 1} {3}} \}$ then $\mu $ is supported by $ \{ z \in \partial B_N\,;\, z_N \geq {\frac { 1} {3}} \}$. This follows from the Fatou theorem in (c) : ${ \frac { 1 } {u}}$ admits a finite fine limit at $\mu $-a.e. point $P \in \partial B_N$.]{}
[**2.2.**]{} We now apply Proposition \[phfIni\] to the operators $L_V$ and fix more notations. Given positive reals $r,\, \rho >0$ such that $0<10\,r< \rho $ and a ${ \frac { \rho } {10r }} $–Lipschitz function $f$ in the ball $B_{N-1}(0,r)$ of ${ \mathbb R}^{N-1}$ such that $f(0)=0$, define : $$U_f(r, \rho ):= \{ (x',x_N) \in { \mathbb R}^{N-1}\times { \mathbb R}\simeq { \mathbb R}^N\,;\, \vert x' \vert <r,\, f(x')<x_N< \rho \, \}$$ We will also denote this region $U_f$ (leaving $r$ and $ \rho $ implicit) or even $U$ when convenient. Set $\partial _{\#}U:=\partial U \cap \{ x=(x',x_N) \in { \mathbb R}^N\,;\, \vert x' \vert <r,\, x_N=f(x')\, \}$ and define $T(t):=B_{N-1}(0;tr)\times (-t \rho , +t \rho )$.
The next boundary Harnack principle already mentioned in [@VYA Appendix] is implicit in [@anc3].
\[PHF\] Let $V \in { \mathcal V}(U,a)$ and set $L := \Delta -V$. There is a constant $C$ depending only on $N$, $a$ and ${ \frac { \rho } {r }}$ such that for any two positive $L $-harmonic functions $u$ and $v$ in $U $ that vanish in $\partial_\# U $, $$\begin{aligned}
{ \hspace {10truemm} \frac {u(x)} {u(A) }} &\leq C\; { \frac { v(x)} {v(A)}} \ \ {f\!or\ all\ \,} x \in U \cap T({\frac { 1} {2}}) \end{aligned}$$ where $A=A_U=(0,\dots, 0,{ \frac { \rho } {2 }})$.
[ *Proof.*]{} Let us briefly describe an argument that yields this result starting from (\[phfIni\]). By homogeneity we may assume that $r=1$ and $ \rho $ is fixed. Set $A'=(0,...,0,{ \frac { 2 \rho } {3 }})$.
Using a biLipschitz map $F: U \to B_N(0,1)$ with biLipschitz constants depending only on $ \rho $ and $N$ and mapping $A'$ onto $0$, $U \cap T(1/2)$ onto $B_N^-$, $\partial U\setminus \partial _\#U$ onto $(\partial B_N)^+$ we are reduced to (\[eq2.3\]). The function $u_1:=u \circ F^{-1}$ is ${L}_1-V \circ F^ {-1}$ harmonic for some (symmetric) divergence form elliptic operator $L_1= \sum _{i,j} \partial _i(a_{ij} \partial _j)$ satisfying $ C_1^{-1}\, I_N \leq \{ a_{ij} \} \leq C_1\, I_N$, $C_1=C( N,\rho ,a)$. Thus, thanks to remark \[remark2\], Proposition \[HBhy\] applies to $u_1$, $v_1=v \circ F_1^{-1}$ and $L:=L_1-V_0$, $V_0=V \circ F^{-1}$. The Lemma follows (by Harnack inequalities for $L$ we may replace $A$ by $A'$ in Lemma \[PHF\]). $\square$
\[vanish\] [Notice that we have also shown that $u(x)/u(A) \leq c \,r^{N-2}\, G_A^V(x)$ in $U \cap T({ \frac { 1 } {3}})$ where $G_A^V$ is Green’s function in $U$ with pole at $A$ and with respect to $ \Delta -V$. Here $c=c(N, a, { \frac { r } { \rho }})$ is another positive constant.]{}
[**2.3.**]{} By standard arguments (see e.g. [@anc1], [@anc2]) it follows from Lemma \[PHF\] that properties (a) (b) and (c) in [**2.1**]{} above extend to the potential theory in a Lipschitz domain $\Omega $ with respect to $L_V:= \Delta -V$, $V \in { \mathcal V}(\Omega ,a)$, $a>0$ – replacing $B_N$ by $\Omega $. This is straightforward when $\Omega $ is biLipschitz equivalent to $B_N$ using a biLipschitz change of variable. It also follows in general by the results in [@ancbook] from the Gromov hyperbolicity of $\Omega $ equipped with its pseudo-hyperbolic metric (see ).
To be more explicit, fix $x_0 \in \Omega $ and denote $G^V$ the Green’s function for $ \Delta -V$ in $\Omega $. Then for $y \in \partial \Omega $, the limit $K_y^V(x):=\lim_{z \to y} G^V(x,z)/G^V(x_0,z)$ exists. Moreover $K_y^V$ depends continuously on $y$, $K_y^V=0$ in $\partial \Omega \setminus \{ y \}$ and every positive $L_V$-harmonic function $u$ in $\Omega $ can be uniquely written as $u(\cdot)=\int _{\partial \Omega }\, K^V_y(\cdot )\, d\mu (y)$ where $\mu $ is a positive finite measure in $\partial \Omega $.
[**2.4.**]{} The relative Fatou theorem (as stated in [**2.1**]{} (c)) extends as well, but we will also need a simple extension which follows from the same argument: if $u$ and $\mu $ are as above and if $s:B_N \to { \mathbb R}_+$ satisfies the “strong Harnack property":
$(HP)_{\Omega }$ $\lim_{ \varepsilon \downarrow 0}[\sup \{ \,s(x)/s(y)\,;\,x,\,y \in \Omega ,\, \vert x-y \vert \leq \varepsilon\; \delta _{\Omega }(x)\, \}]=1$
then for $P \in \partial \Omega $ such that $s/u$ admits a fine limit $\ell$ at $P$, again $s/u$ does admit $\ell$ as a nontangential limit at $P$. See e.g. the proof of Théor[è]{}me 6.5 in [@ancbook] p. 100. Whence the next proposition.
\[propRFT\]Let $u$ and $\mu $ be as above and let $s$ be a nonnegative $L_V$-superharmonic in $\Omega $ satisfying the strong Harnack property $(HP)_{\Omega }$. Then for $\mu $-almost all $y \in \partial \Omega $, the ratio $s/u$ admits a nontangential limit $f(y)$ at $y$, and $f(y)={ \frac { d\nu } { d\mu }}(y)$ $\mu $-a.e., where $\nu $ is the measure on $\partial \Omega $ associated to the largest $L_V$-harmonic minorant of $s$.
As a first and direct application, an answer is given to a question of Moshe Marcus asking if a positive solution of $ \Delta u-Vu=0$ that converges nontangentially to zero at every boundary point must be zero.
\[MM\] Let $u$ be a nonnegative $L_V$-solution in $\Omega $. Suppose that for every $P
\in \partial \Omega $ and every $ \varepsilon >0$ there is a sequence $ \{ x_n \}$ in $\Omega $ converging nontangentially to $P$ and such that $\liminf u(x_n) \leq \varepsilon $. Then $u= 0$ in $\Omega $.
[*Proof.*]{} Since the function $\mathbf 1$ is $L_V$-superharmonic and has the strong Harnack property in $\Omega $, the ratio ${ \frac { 1 } {u}}$ has a finite nontangential limit at $\mu $-a.e. point $P \in \partial \Omega $ - if $\mu $ is the positive measure in $\partial \Omega $ associated to $u$. If $\mu \ne 0$, this contradicts the assumption on $u$. Thus $\mu=0 $. $\square$
We may go a little further and show in the same way: if $w$ is a difference of nonnegative $L_V$-harmonic functions in $\Omega $ and if for each $y \in \partial \Omega $ there is a sequence $ \{ x_n \}$ converging to $y$ nontangentially in $\Omega $ such that $\lim w(x_n)=0$, then $w=0$. To see this write $w=u-v$ with $u=K_\mu ^V $, $v=K_\nu ^V$ and $\mu \wedge \nu =0$ ($\mu $ and $\nu $ are positive finite measures in $\partial \Omega $). If $\mu \ne 0$ then from ${ \frac { 1} {w }}={ \frac { 1} { u}}\, { \frac { 1} {1-{ \frac { v} {u }} }}$ and Proposition \[propRFT\], we get that ${ \frac { 1} {w }}$ has a finite nontangential limit $\mu $ a.e. in $\partial \Omega $ which is absurd. So $\mu =0$ and similarly $\nu =0$.
[ Let $\omega $ be an open subset of $\partial \Omega $ and let again $u=K_\mu ^V$ be a positive $L_V$-solution in $\Omega $ such that for every $P \in \omega $, $u(x)$ admits the inferior limit $0$ as $x \to P$ nontangentially. Then the argument in Proposition \[MM\] shows that $\mu (\omega )=0 $. Moreover $\lim_{x \to P_0} u(x)=0$ for $P_0 \in \omega $: assuming as we may $\Omega =U$, $\omega =\partial U \cap T({ \frac { 1} {4 }})$ and $P_0=0$ with the notations in 2.2, this follows from remark \[vanish\] since $G_A^V \leq G_A^0$ .]{}
\[remark8\] [In view of Section 7, we note that the properties in 2.3 to 2.5 (in particular (a), (b), (c), Prop. \[HBhy\] and \[propRFT\]) hold as well for an elliptic operator ${ \mathcal L}_V= \sum _{i,j} \partial _i(a_{ij}\partial _j.) -V$ with $a_{ij}$ measurable in $\Omega $, $a_{ij}=a_{ji}$, $ c^{-1} I \leq \{ a_{ij} \} \leq cI$ in $\Omega $, $V \in { \mathcal V}(a,\Omega )$, $c,\, a>0$. The constants in Lemma \[PHF\] depend then also on $c$.]{}
Boundary behavior of solutions and fine regularity of boundary points.
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In all this section $\Omega $ is a bounded Lipschitz domain in ${ \mathbb R}^N$ and $V \in { \mathcal V}(\Omega ,a)$, $a>0$.
[**3.1.**]{} The next two propositions are simple consequences of the available relative Fatou theorem.
\[propA5\]If $y_0 \in \partial \Omega $ is a [*[finely regular]{}*]{} boundary point with respect to $L_V$ then $ \tilde K_y^V(x)/ K_y(x) \to 1 $ as $x \to y_0$ non-tangentially. More generally, if $\mu $ is a (positive finite) measure on $\partial \Omega $, then for $\mu $-almost all $y \in { \mathcal R}\mbox{\rm \footnotesize{eg}}_{_ V}(\Omega ) \subset \partial \Omega $ the ratio $ \widetilde K_\mu ^V(x)/K_\mu (x) $ converges to $1$ as $x$ converges nontangentially to $y$.
Here, by definition, for any positive finite measure $\mu $ on $\partial \Omega $, $ \tilde K_\mu ^V(x)=\int \tilde K_y^V(x)\, d\mu (y)$ and $ K_\mu ^V(x)=\int K_y^V(x)\, d\mu (y)$. Recall that for $y \in \partial \Omega $, $ \tilde K_y^V$ is the largest $L_V$-subharmonic minorant of $K_y$, that $ \tilde K_y^V=c(y)\,K_y^V$, $0 \leq c(y) \leq 1$, and that $c(y)>0$ if and only if $y \in { \mathcal R}\mbox{ \footnotesize{eg}}_V(\Omega )$. In particular $ \tilde K_\mu ^V=K_{c\mu }^V$.
[*Proof.*]{} The function $p:= K_\mu -\tilde K_\mu ^V$ is an $L_V$-potential in $\Omega $ (since $K_y- \tilde K_y^V$ is an $L_V$-potential and potentials are stable under integration) [@brelot]. Thus the greatest $L_V$-harmonic minorant of $K_\mu $ is $ \tilde K_\mu ^V=K_{c\mu }^V$. Since $K_\mu $ satisfies the Harnack property it follows using Proposition \[propRFT\] that $K_\mu (x) / \tilde K_\mu ^V (x) \to 1$ as $x$ converges nontangentially to $y$, for $\mu $-almost all $y \in \partial \Omega $ such that $c(y)>0$. $\square$
\[propA6\] If $\mu $ is a (positive finite) measure on $\partial \Omega $, then for $\mu $-almost all $y \in { \mathcal S}\mbox{\rm \footnotesize{ing}}_{_ V}(\Omega ) \subset \partial \Omega $ the ratio $ K_\mu ^V(x)/K_\mu (x) $ tends to $+ \infty $ as $x \to y$ nontangentially in $\Omega$.
[*Proof.*]{} Set $\mu '=\mathbf 1_{{ \mathcal S}\mbox{\scriptsize {ing}}_V(\Omega)}\, \mu $ and assume as we may that $\mu '\ne 0$. For $y \in { \mathcal S}\mbox{\footnotesize{ing}}_V(\Omega )$, $K_y$ is an $L_V$-potential. So (potentials being stable by integration) $K_{\mu '} $ is an $L_V$-potential and by Proposition \[propRFT\] , ${ \frac { K_{\mu '}} { K_\mu ^V}} \to 0$ nontangentially at $\mu $-almost all $y \in \partial \Omega $. On the other hand, by Proposition \[propRFT\] for $V=0$, ${ \frac { K_{\mu }} { K_{\mu '}}} \to 1$ nontangentially at $\mu '$-a.e. point on $\partial \Omega $. $\square$
Let $\mu $ be as in Proposition \[propA6\] and let $u=K_\mu ^V$. We have essentially shown the following.
\[coro33\] For $\mu $-almost all $y \in \partial \Omega $ the ratio $ u(x)/K_\mu (x) $ tends to ${ \frac { 1} {c(y) }} $ as $x \to y$ nontangentially in $\Omega$. For every positive finite measure $ \theta $ on $\partial \Omega $, the ratio $u(x)/K_ \theta (x) \to { \frac { 1} {c(y) }}\,{\frac { d\mu } {d \theta }} (y)$ nontangentially at $y$ for $ \theta $-almost every $y \in { \mathcal R}\mbox{\rm \footnotesize{eg}}_V( \Omega) $.
[*Proof.*]{} (a) The first claim follows from the above and the relation $u(x)/K_\mu (x)=$ $ (K_\mu ^V(x)/ K^V_{c\mu }(x)) (\tilde K_\mu ^V(x)/K_\mu (x))$.
\(b) Let $ \theta $ be a finite positive measure on $\partial \Omega $. Using the relative Fatou theorem for $ \Delta -V$ we get that for $ \theta $-almost all ($V$-finely) regular $y \in \partial \Omega $: $$K_{\mu }^V(x)/K_{ \theta }(x) =(K_{\mu }^V(x)/K_{ \theta }^V(x)) (K_ \theta ^V(x)/K_ \theta (x))\to { \frac { d\mu } {d \theta }}(y)\times {\frac { 1} {c(y)}}$$ as $x \to y$ nontangentially. $\square$
Corollary \[coro33\] leads to a natural notion of relative (with respect to $x_0$) [*fine trace*]{} (compare [@dyn1], [@VYA]). Let $u$ be a positive solution of $ \Delta u-Vu=0$ in $\Omega $. Let $\mu $ be the (unique) corresponding positive (finite) measure on $\partial \Omega $ such that $u=K^V_\mu $. We define the “fine trace" of $u$ on $\partial \Omega $ as the (nonnecessarily finite) positive measure $\nu =c^{-1} \mu $. This measure is $ \sigma $-finite on the $K_ \sigma $-set $ \{ c>0 \} $ in $ \partial \Omega $ and for every nonempty subset of the $G_ \delta $-set $ \{ c=0 \}={ \mathcal S}\mbox{\footnotesize {ing}}_V(\Omega )$ we have (i) $\nu (A)=+ \infty $ if $\mu (A)>0$ and $\nu (A)=0$ if $\mu (A)=0 $. The measure $\nu $ is $ \Sigma $-finite in the sense of [@dyn1 p. 153]. When $\Omega $ is $C^{1, \alpha }$-smooth and the Poisson kernel $P^\Omega $ is well defined, $>0$ and continuous in $\Omega \times \partial \Omega $, it is more natural to define the fine trace of $u$ as $ \tilde \nu = \pi^{-1} \,\nu $, where $ \pi (y)=P^\Omega (x_0,y)=\partial _{n_y}G_{x_0}$, $n_y$ being the inner normal at $y \in \partial \Omega $ (for $ \lambda \in { \mathcal M}_+(\partial \Omega )$, $P^\Omega _ \lambda =K( \pi \lambda )$). For results on fine traces related to solutions of semilinear equations, see [@dyn1; @dyn2; @Legall; @mselati; @MV2; @MV3; @MV1; @MV6; @VYA] and references there.
Other characterizations of “fine regularity” in terms of Green’s functions – already given in the appendix of [@VYA] – are recovered in Proposition \[equivdef\] below. Before we state a simple variant of the Harnack boundary property Lemma \[PHF\] and another standard and useful consequence of Lemma \[PHF\]. Let $U:=U_f(r, \rho )$ be as in [**2.2**]{}. Recall $A=(0,\dots, 0,{ \frac { \rho } {2 }})$ and $T(t)=B_{N-1}(0,tr)\times (-t \rho ,t \rho )$.
\[eBHI\] Let $u$ be positive harmonic in $U$, let $v$ be positive $ \Delta -V$-harmonic in $U$, $V \in { \mathcal V}(a,U)$, and assume that $u=v=0$ in $\partial_\# U:=\partial U \cap T(1) $. Then $$\begin{aligned}
{ \frac {v(x)} {v(A) }} &\leq c\; { \frac { u(x)} {u(A) }} \hspace {5truemm} \ \ {\rm for\ \ } x \in U \cap T({\frac { 1} {2}}) \end{aligned}$$ and some positive constant $c$ depending only on $ \rho /r$, $N$ and the constant $a$.
[*Proof [(See the Appendix in [@VYA])]{}.*]{} Assuming as we may $r=1$, we have seen that $v(x) \leq c\,v(A)\, G_{A}^V(x)$ in $U \cap T({ \frac { 1 } {2}})$, $c=c({ \frac { r} { \rho }},a,N)$ and we know that $G_A^V \leq G_A^0$ in $U$ (if $G_{A}^V$ is the $( \Delta -V)$-Green’s function in $U$ with pole at $A$). By the maximum principle, the Harnack inequalities and the well-known fact that $G_A^0(x) \leq c_1:=c_1(r, N)$ in $\partial B(A',{ \frac { r } {4}})$) we deduce that $u(x) \geq c_1\,v(A)\, G_{A'}^0(x)$ in $U\setminus B(A,{ \frac { r } {4}})$. So that – using Harnack inequalities in $B(A, { \frac { r } {2}})$ for $u$ and $v$ – the lemma follows. $\square$
Denote $g_{x_0}^V $ the Green’s function with respect to $ \Delta -V$ in $\Omega $ with pole at $x_0$.
\[GKlemma\] Let $y \in \partial \Omega $ and let $\nu _y \in { \mathbb R}^N$ be a pseudo-normal at $y$ for $\Omega $, i.e., $\nu _y\ne 0$ and for some small $ \eta >0$, $C(y,\nu _y, \eta ):= \{ y+t(\nu _y+v)\, ;\, 0<t \leq \eta ,\, \Vert v \Vert \leq \eta \; \} \subset \Omega\setminus \{ x_0 \} $. There is a constant $C =C(\Omega ,a, y,\nu _y, \eta )\geq 1$ such that for $x=y+t\nu _y$, $t \leq \eta $, $$\begin{aligned}
C^{-1}\, d(x,y)^{2-N} \leq K^V_y(x) \;g^V_{x_0}(x) &\leq C\, d(x,y)^{2-N} . \nonumber \end{aligned}$$
[*Proof (See [@ancbook] p. 99, or ).*]{} We recall the idea of the proof assuming as we may $ 0<\eta \leq \Vert \nu _y \Vert=1$ and $ \vert x_0-y \vert \geq 2 \eta $. Let $u=K^V_y $ and $v(x):=g^V_{y+t\nu_y }(x)$ for a given $t \in (0, \eta ] $. Using the estimate $v\sim t^{2-N}$ in $\partial B(y+t\nu_y , {\frac { t \eta } {2}} )$, one sees that $u(x) \sim u(y+t\nu_y )\, t^{N-2}\, g_{y+t\nu_y }^V(x)$ for $x \in \Omega \cap \partial B(y, t ( \Vert\nu _y \Vert + \eta /2 ))$ (here $\sim$ means “is in between two constant times" with constants depending only on $y$, $\Omega $, $\nu_y $, $ \eta $ and $a$). By the boundary Harnack principle (lemma \[PHF\]) it follows that $$u(x) \sim u(y+t\nu_y )\, t^{N-2}\, g_{y+t\nu_y }^V(x)$$ for $x \in \Omega \setminus B(y, t ( \Vert\nu _y \Vert + \eta /2 ))$. Taking $x=x_0$, it follows that $K^V_y(y+t\nu_y )\sim 1 /(t^{N-2}g^V(y+t\nu_y ;x_0)) $. $\square$
\[KVKcoro\]Under the assumptions of Lemma \[GKlemma\] there is a constant $C'>0$ such that for all small $t>0$, $$\begin{aligned}
K_y(y+t\nu _y) \leq C'\, K_y^V(y+t\nu _y).\end{aligned}$$
\[equivdef\] [([[@VYA Appendix]]{})]{} Given $y \in \partial \Omega$ and a pseudo-normal $\nu _y$ at $y$ for $\Omega $, the following are equivalent:
1. $\tilde K^V_y=0$ (i.e. $y \in { \mathcal S}\mbox{\rm \footnotesize{ing}}_V(\Omega )$),
2. $\limsup_{t\downarrow 0} K_y^V(y+t\nu _y)/K_y(y+t\nu _y)=+ \infty $,
3. $\lim_{t\downarrow 0} K_y^V(y+t\nu _y)/K_y(y+t\nu _y)=+ \infty $,
4. $\lim_{\Omega \ni x \to y} g_{x_0}^V(x)/g^0_{x_0}(x)=0$.
[*Proof of Proposition \[equivdef\].*]{} (a) The equivalence of (i), (ii) and (iii) is already established (using Propositions \[propA5\] and \[propA6\]). Using Lemma \[GKlemma\] we see – as in the appendix of [@VYA] – that (ii) is equivalent to (iv)$'$: $\liminf_{t\downarrow 0} g_{x_0}^V(y+t\nu _y)/g_{x_0}^0(y+t\nu _y)=0 $.
\(b) To see that (iv)$'$ $\Rightarrow$ (iv) we may assume that $y=0$ and that (with the notations above in [**2.2** ]{}) $T(1) \cap \Omega =U$, $U=U_f(r, \rho )$ with $x_0 \in \Omega \setminus \overline U$. Applying Lemma \[eBHI\] to $U$, $u=g^V_{x_0}$,$v=g_{x_0}$, and $U_t=U_{t_j}$ for a sequence $t_j$ such that $t_j\downarrow 0$ and $u(A_{t_j})=o(v(A_{t_j}))$, $A_{t_j}=(0,\dots, 0,t_j)$, the desired implication is obtained. Thus, using (a) again, (ii), (iii) and (iv) are equivalent. And Proposition \[equivdef\] is proved. $\square$
Characterization of regularity
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Let again $\Omega $ be a bounded Lipschitz domain in ${ \mathbb R}^N$ and let $V \in { \mathcal V}_a(\Omega )$, $a>0$. We will prove several characterizations of fine regularity of a boundary point $y$ with respect to $ \Delta -V$.
Let $G$ denote the (classical) Green’s function in $\Omega $. So by definition $G(VK_y^V)(x_0)=\int_\Omega G(x_0,x)\, V(x)\, K_y^V(x)\, dx$, and similarly $G(VK_y)(x_0)=\int_\Omega G(x_0,x)\, V(x)\, K_y(x)\, dx$.
The finiteness of $G(VK_y^V)(x_0)=\int_\Omega G(x_0,x)\, V(x)\, K_y^V(x)\, dx$ (or of $G(VK_y)(x_0)$) depends only on the behavior of $V(x)$ as $x \to y$. To see this it suffices to show that given $x_1 \in \Omega $, $x_1\ne x_0$, and a subdomain $\omega \subset \Omega $, such that $y, \,x_0,\, x_1 \notin \overline \omega $, we have $G({\mathbf 1}_\omega VK^V_y)(x_0)< \infty $ and $G({\mathbf 1}_\omega VK_y)(x_0)< \infty $. By the Harnack boundary principle Lemma \[PHF\], $K_y^V(x) \leq C\, G^V(x_1,x)$ in $\omega $ (where $C=C_{\Omega ,\omega , V,x_1}>0$) and $$\int_\omega G(x_0,x)\, V(x)\, K_y^V(x)\, dx \leq C\, \int_\Omega G(x_0,x) V(x) G^V(x,x_1)\, dx \leq C\,G(x_0,x_1)< \infty$$ thanks to the resolvent equation $G=G^V+GM_VG^V$ where $M_V$ is the “multiplication by $V$" kernel (over $\Omega $) and where $GM_VG^V$ is the composed kernel $G \circ M_V \circ G^V$.
To prove that $G({\mathbf 1}_\omega VK_y)(x_0)< \infty $, it suffices as before to show that $G(VG_{x_1})(x_0)< \infty $ (which is stronger than $G(VG^V_{x_1})(x_0)< \infty $). By a standard estimate: $G(x,x_1) \leq c \, \vert \delta _\Omega (x) \vert ^ \alpha $, for $0< \delta _\Omega (x) \leq {\frac { 1} {2}} \delta _\Omega (x_1)$ and constants $c=c(\Omega ,x_1)>0$, $ \alpha \in (0,1)$. Thus $G_{x_1} (x)\, V(x) \leq C\, \delta (x)^ {\alpha -2}$ in $\Omega $ (away from $x_1$). However, by [@anc3' p. 286-287], there is a smooth positive superharmonic function $s$ in $\Omega $ such that $ \Delta s(x) \leq -{\frac { 1} { \delta _\Omega ^{2- \alpha }(x)}} $ in $\Omega $. This implies that $G({\frac { 1} { \,\,\delta _\Omega ^{2- \alpha } }}) \leq s< \infty $ in $\Omega $.
\[charac\] Let $y \in \partial \Omega $. The following properties are equivalent:
1. $y$ is finely regular for $L_V= \Delta -V$ in $\Omega $,
2. $G(VK_y^V)(x_0)< \infty $,
3. $K_y^V$ admits a $ \Delta $-superharmonic majorant in $\Omega $,
4. $G(VK_y)(x_0)< \infty $.
\[remarkApp\][We recover the necessary condition for regularity of [@VYA] (Appendix) alluded to in the introduction: if there is an open truncated cone $C$ with vertex at $y$ such that $C_ \eta := \bigcup_{z \in C} B(z; \eta \vert z-y \vert ) \subset \Omega $ for some $ \eta >0$ and $\int _C\, { \frac { V(x)} { \vert x-y \vert ^{N-2} }} dx =+ \infty $, then $y \in { \mathcal S}\mbox{\footnotesize {ing}}_V(\Omega )$. For, on $ C$ and away from $x_0$, we have $$K_y^V(z)\,G(x_0,z) \geq { \frac { C} { \vert x_0-z \vert ^{N-2} }}{ \frac { G(x_0,z)} {G^V(x_0,z) }} \geq { \frac { C} { \vert x_0-z \vert ^{N-2} }}$$ by Lemma \[GKlemma\]. Thus $G(VK_y^V)(x_0) \geq \int _{ C } dx/ \vert x-y \vert ^{N-2} $.]{}
For $\Omega $ sufficiently smooth $(i)\Leftrightarrow(iv)$ yields the following rather explicit criteria.
If $\Omega $ is $C^{1, \alpha }$, $0< \alpha \leq 1$, in a neighborhood of $y \in \partial \Omega $ then $y \in { \mathcal S}\mbox{\rm\footnotesize {ing}}_V(\Omega )$ if and only if $$\int _\Omega { \frac { \vert \delta _\Omega (x) \vert ^2} { \vert x-y \vert ^N }}\, V(x)\, dx < \infty .$$
This is because $G(.,x_0)\sim \delta _\Omega (.)$ and $K_y(.)\sim \delta_\Omega (.) \vert .-y \vert ^{-N}$ near $y$ in $\Omega $ (where $A\sim B$ means “$A$ is in between two positive constants times $B$”).
[**Proof of Theorem \[charac\].**]{} We first show that $(i)\Rightarrow(ii)\Rightarrow(iii)\Rightarrow(i)$ and $(iv)\Rightarrow (i)$.
\(i) $\Rightarrow$ (ii) If $y$ is finely regular then for some small $c>0$, $w:=K_y-cK_y^V$ is positive $ \Delta $-superharmonic and $ \Delta w=-cVK_y^V$. Whence $G(VK_y^V) \leq w$ in $\Omega $ (by the Riesz decomposition) and $G(VK_y^V)(x_0)< \infty $.
\(ii) $\Rightarrow$ (iii): By assumption, $p:=G(VK_y^V)$ is a $ \Delta $-potential (i.e., $p\not \equiv + \infty $ in $\Omega $). Thus, the function $w:=K_y^V+p=K_y^V+G(VK_y^V )$ is $ \Delta $-harmonic, since $ \Delta w=VK_y^V-VK_y^V=0$. Since $w \geq K_y^V $ in $\Omega $, this proves (iii).
\(iii) $\Rightarrow$ (i) The function $K_y^V$ is subharmonic in $\Omega $ and by the assumption there is a smallest $ \Delta $-superharmonic majorant of $K_y^V$ in $\Omega $ which we denote $u$. The function $u$ is $ \Delta $-harmonic and $u=K_y^V+p$, where $p$ is a $ \Delta $-potential on $\Omega $. Since $u$ is positive harmonic, $u(\cdot)=\int K_z(\cdot)\, d\mu (z)$ for some positive finite measure $\mu $ on $\partial \Omega $ and $$\label{eq}\int K_z\, d\mu (z) \geq K_y^V$$ in $\Omega $. Viewing each member of (\[eq\]) as an integral of nonnegative $ (\Delta -V)$-super-harmonic functions we get that $ \int \nu _z\, d\mu (z) \geq \delta _y$ where $\nu _z$ is the restriction to $\partial \Omega $ of the measure in $\overline \Omega $ associated to the Green-Martin decomposition of $K_z$ (with respect to $ \Delta -V$). However, $\nu _z(\partial \Omega \setminus \{ z \})=0$ ($K_z=c_zK_z^V+(K_z-c_zK_z^V)$ is the Riesz decomposition of $K_z$ with respect to $ \Delta -V
$ in $\Omega $). Thus $\mu $ and $\nu _y$ must charge $y$. In particular $\nu _y=c\, \delta _y$ for some real $c>0$ and $ K_y \geq c\,K_y^V$ as desired.
Thus $(i)\Leftrightarrow (ii) \Leftrightarrow (iii) $.
Next we show that $(iv)\Rightarrow (i)$. Let $p=G(VK_y)$. The function $p$ is by assumption $(iv)$ a $ \Delta $-potential in $\Omega $. Moreover $$\Delta (K_y-p)-V(K_y-p)=VK_y-V(K_y-p)=Vp \geq 0.$$ Thus $K_y-p$ is $( \Delta -V)$-subharmonic. Since $K_y$ is a $ (\Delta -V)$-superharmonic majorant of this function, it follows that there is a function $u$ which is $ (\Delta -V)$-harmonic in $\Omega $ and such that $K_y-p \leq u \leq K_y$. Thus the greatest harmonic minorant $ \tilde K_y^V$ of $K_y$ with respect to $( \Delta -V)$ is larger than $ K_y-p$ in $\Omega $ and hence $ \tilde K_y^V\not\equiv 0$ for otherwise $K_y \leq p$ which is absurd since $p$ is a $ \Delta $-potential. Thus $(i)$ holds.
To finish the proof we must show that $(i)$ (or $(ii)$ or $(iii)$) implies $(iv)$. This is the aim of the next section.
Proof of the “$\mathbf{ G(VK_y)< +\infty }$" criterion
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The proof that $(i)$ implies $(iv)$ (as stated in Theorem \[charac\]) relies on an estimate given in Proposition \[propmain\] below. A main tool is the following Lemma \[mainlemma\] (and its corollary) which is interesting on its own right.
We resume to the situation considered in Section [2.2]{} : $r,\, \rho >0$ are such that $0<10\,r< \rho $, $f$ is ${ \frac { \rho } {10r }} $-Lipschitz in $B_{N-1}(0,r)$ such that $f(0)=0$ and $$U=U_f(r, \rho ):= \{ (x',x_N) \in { \mathbb R}^{N-1}\times { \mathbb R}\simeq { \mathbb R}^N\,;\, \vert x' \vert <r,\, f(x')<x_N< \rho \, \}. \nonumber$$ Recall that for $0<t \leq 1$, $T(t):=B_{N-1}(0;tr)\times (-t \rho , +t \rho )$, $U_t=U \cap T(t)$, and that $\partial _{\#}U:=\partial U \cap T(1)$.
\[mainlemma\]Let $0<t_1 \leq 1$, let $ \zeta_0 \in W:=U _{t_1}$ and let $w(x)=G(x, \zeta_0 )$ where $G$ is the standard Green’s function in $W:=U_{t_1}$. Then for every measurable subset $A$ of $W$, $$\begin{aligned}
\label{Eq5.1} \int _A ({\frac { w(x)} { \delta _{W} (x)}})^2 \, dx \leq C\,\; ^{W}\! \widehat R_w^A( \zeta_0 ) \end{aligned}$$ where $C$ is a positive constant depending only on ${ \frac { \rho } {r }} $ and $N $ (and not on the set $A$).
The réduite $^{W}\!R_w^A $ is by definition the lower envelope of all positive superharmonic functions $s$ in $W$ such that $s \geq w$ in $A$. It is harmonic in $W\setminus \overline A$ and its l.s.c. regularization $^{W}\! \widehat R_w^A $ is superharmonic in $W$, in fact the smallest nonnegative superharmonic function in $W$ which is larger than $ w$ in $A$ except at most on a polar subset. Ref. [@brecl], [@brelot], [@doob].
Proposition \[mainproposition2\] and inequality (\[eq71\]) thereafter provide two extensions of Lemma \[mainlemma\].
[**Proof.**]{} We may assume $t_1=1$ and $W=U$. Standard approximation arguments show that we may also assume that $A$ is open and relatively compact in $W\setminus \{ \zeta _0 \}$. Then $ {^W}\! \widehat R_w^A= {^W}\!R_w^A$ and ${^W}\!R_w^A$ is a Green potential in $W$.
We use an idea from [@ancbook0 section VII] which exploits an identity in the Dirichlet space $H_0^1(U )$ and a familiar Hardy’s inequality, $H_0^1(U )$ being equipped with the Dirichlet scalar product $ \langle \varphi , \psi \rangle _H=\int_U \, \nabla \varphi .\nabla \psi \, dx$. Let $ \varphi_0 $ denote a nonnegative function in $C_0^ \infty ({ \mathbb R}^ N)$ with support in $B( \zeta _0; \varepsilon )$, $0< 4\varepsilon <d( \zeta _0,A \cup \partial W)$ and such that $\int \varphi_0 \, dx =1$. Let $p$ denotes its Green’s potential in $W $, i.e. $p(x)=G( \varphi_0 )(x)=\int G(x,y)\, \varphi_0 (y)\, dy$. Note that, by Harnack inequalities and the maximum principle, $p(x) \geq { \frac { 1} {c }}G(x, \zeta _0)$ for $ \vert x- \zeta _0 \vert \geq 2 \varepsilon $ and some $c=c(N) \geq 1$.
As well-known from Dirichlet and Sobolev spaces theory, $p$ is in $H_0^1(W ) = H_0^1(U)$ and $s:= R_{p}^A$ can be seen as the element in $H:=H_0^1(W )$ such that $s \geq p$ a.e. in $A$ with the smallest Dirichlet norm. Moreover, using Harnack inequalities, we have $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eqprel1} \langle s, G( \varphi ) \rangle _H=\int_W s\, \varphi\, dx \leq c\, s( \zeta_0 )
\end{aligned}$$ for a constant $c=c'(N)$. On the other hand $$\begin{aligned}
\langle s, G( \varphi ) \rangle _H= \int_W G( \varphi )\, d(- \Delta s) = \int_W s\, d(- \Delta s)= \langle s,s \rangle _H
& \nonumber \end{aligned}$$ because $G( \varphi )=s$ at every point of $\overline A \cap U $ where $A$ is unthin and the set of these points supports the measure $- \Delta s$ which is the swept-out measure of $ \varphi(x)\, dx$ on $A$ in $U $. A simpler argument, not using the fine potential theory, is obtained on approximating $s $ by $s_n=R_s^{A_n}$ where $ \{ A_n \}_{n \geq 1}$ is an increasing sequence of relatively compact open subsets of $A$ such that $ \bigcup A_n=A$. For then $ \langle s_n, G( \varphi ) \rangle _H= \int G( \varphi )\, d(- \Delta s_n) = \int s\, d(- \Delta s_n)$ because $s= G( \varphi )$ in $A$. Letting $n \to \infty $ in the equality $ \langle s_n, G( \varphi ) \rangle _H=\int s_n\, d(- \Delta s)$ the relation $ \langle s, G( \varphi ) \rangle _H=\int s\, d(- \Delta s)$ follows since $s=\sup _n s_n$.
Using now a well-known generalization to Lipschitz domains (in our case $U $) of an inequality due to Hardy for ${ \mathbb R}_+$ (see e.g. [@kadkuf]) we obtain that, for a constant $C=C({ \frac { r} { \rho }})>0$, $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eqprel2} \langle s,G( \varphi ) \rangle _H&= \int_U \, \vert \nabla s(x)\vert ^2 \, dx \geq C\, \int _{U } \, { \frac { \vert s(x) \vert ^2} { \delta_U (x)^2}} \, dx \geq C \, \int _{A } \, { \frac { \vert s(x) \vert ^2} { \delta_U(x)^2}} \, dx \nonumber \\ & \geq C\, c^{-1} \, \int _{A } \, { \frac { \vert w(x) \vert ^2} { \delta_U (x)^2}} \, dx \end{aligned}$$
since $s(x) = p(x) \geq { \frac { 1} {c }} w(x)$ in $A$. Putting together (\[eqprel1\]) and (\[eqprel2\]) the result follows. $\square$
\[maincoro\]Let $0<t<t' \leq 1$ and $ \zeta _1=(0,\dots, 0,{ \frac { t+t'} {2 }} \rho )$. If $u$ is an arbitrary positive harmonic function in $W=U_{t'}$ that vanishes on $\partial _\#U \cap \overline W$, then for every Borel subset $A$ of $U_t$, $$\begin{aligned}
\int _A ({\frac { u(x)} { \delta _{W} (x)}})^2 \, dx \leq C\, r^{N-2}\,u( \zeta _1)\; ^{W}\! \widehat R_u^A( \zeta_1 ) \end{aligned}$$ where $C$ is a positive constant depending only on $t'/t$, ${ \frac { \rho } {r }} $ and $N $, but not on the set $A$.
This follows from Lemma \[mainlemma\] since, assuming as we may that $t>{ \frac { t'} {2 }}={ \frac { 1} {2 }}$, the boundary Harnack principle and the known behavior near $ \zeta _1$ of $w:=g_{ \zeta _1}$ – the Green’s function with pole at $ \zeta _1$ in $W$ – imply that $u(x)$ is equivalent in size to $u( \zeta _1)\,((t'-t)r)^{N-2}\, w(x)$ in $U_t$, with equivalence constants depending only on $N$, $t'$ and $ \rho /r$.
Corollary \[maincoro\] (with its proof) may be easily extended as follows.
\[maincorogene\] [Let $\omega $, $\omega '$ be open subsets of ${ \mathbb R}^d$ such that $\overline \omega ' \subset \omega $ and let $x_0 \in \Omega \setminus \overline \omega $. There is a constant $C=C(\Omega,\omega ,\omega ', x_0 )$ such that for every positive harmonic function $h$ in $\Omega $ vanishing on $\omega \cap \partial \Omega $ and every measurable $A \subset \omega' $ $$\begin{aligned}
\int _A\,({ \frac { h(x)} { \delta _\Omega (x) }})^2\, dx \leq C\,h(x_0)\, ^{\Omega }\!\widehat R_h^A(x_0).\end{aligned}$$]{}
Using Corollary \[maincoro\] we will prove the next Proposition \[propmain\] which is the key for the proof that $G(VK_y)< \infty$ implies $y \in { \mathcal R}\mbox{\rm \footnotesize{eg}}_V(\Omega )$. Notations and assumptions are as above. In particular $0<t<t' \leq 1$ and $ \zeta _1=(0,\dots, 0,{ \frac { t+t'} {2 }} \rho )$. We are given moreover an element $V $ of $ { \mathcal V}_a(U )$ (for some $a>0$), a positive solution $u$ of $ \Delta u-Vu=0$ in $W:=U_{t'}$ that vanishes on $ \partial _\#U \cap \overline W$ and a positive solution $v$ of $ \Delta v=0$ in $ W$ that also vanishes on $ \partial _\#U \cap \overline W$.
\[propmain\] There is a positive constant $C=C(N,{ \frac { t'} {t }},{ \frac { \rho } {r }},a)$ $>0$ such that $$\begin{aligned}
\label{keyeq} u( \zeta _1)\int_{U_t} \, \vert v(x) \vert ^2\, V(x)\, dx \leq Cv( \zeta _1)\, \int _{ W} &v(x)\,V(x)\, u(x)\, dx\nonumber
\\ &= Cv( \zeta _1) \int _{ W} v(x) \,\Delta u(x)\,\, dx \end{aligned}$$
More precisely, given $N$, $a$ and $ \rho/r$ the constant $C$ stays bounded for $t \leq \beta t'$ and $ \beta <1$ fixed.
[**Proof.**]{} a) We first make some simple reductions.
Observe that by enlarging $t$ we may assume that $t>t'/2$.
Set $ W_1=U_{(t+2t')/3}$, $B_1:=B( \zeta _1,{\frac { (t'-t)r} {20}} )$, $ \tilde W_1=U_{(t+2t')/3}\setminus B_1$. It suffices of course to prove (\[keyeq\]) with $W$ in the right-hand side (as the integration domain) replaced by $ \tilde W_1=U_{(t+2t')/3}\setminus B_1$, $v$ and $u$ being kept as before.
Now if $ \tilde V=\mathbf 1_{W\setminus B_1} V$ and if $ \tilde u$ is a positive $ \Delta - \tilde V$-harmonic function in $W=U_{t'}$ vanishing on $ \partial _\#U \cap \overline W$, we have by the boundary Harnack principle Lemma \[PHF\] (and Harnack inequalities), an equivalence in size $ c^{-1} {\frac { \tilde u( \zeta _1)} {u( \zeta _1)}} u(x) \leq \tilde u(x) \leq c{\frac { \tilde u( \zeta _1)} {u( \zeta _1)}} u(x)$ in $W_1 \cap \{ x=(x',x_N)\,;\, x_N \leq t \rho \}$ with a constant $c=c(N,a,t'/t,r/ \rho ) \geq 1$. By Harnack inequalities for the operators $ \Delta -V$ and $ \Delta - \tilde V$, this equivalence extends to $W_1$.
Thus to prove Proposition \[propmain\] it suffices to deal with the case where $V$ is supported by $W\setminus B_1$ – which we assume from now on – and prove $$\begin{aligned}
\label{mainest} u( \zeta _1)\int_{U_t} \, \vert v(x) \vert ^2\, V(x)\, dx \leq Cv( \zeta _1)\, \int _{ W_1} &v(x)\,V(x)\, u(x)\, dx.
\end{aligned}$$
We also assume as we may that $v( \zeta _1)=u( \zeta _1)=1$.
b\) Let $w$ denote the (positive) harmonic function in $ W_1=U_{ \frac { t+2t'} {3 }}$ such that $w=u$ in $\partial W_1$. By the (extended) boundary Harnack principle Lemma \[eBHI\] we have $u \leq cv$ in $\overline {W_1}$ for some constant $c=c(N,a,r/ \rho, t'/t )$, and hence, by the maximum principle, $w \leq cv$ in $ W_1$. By Harnack inequalities $u$ is of the order of a constant in $\partial W_1 \cap \{ x_N= \rho (t+2t')/3 \}$ and clearly $c^{-1} \leq w( \zeta _1) \leq c$ with another constant $c$. Notice finally that by the boundary Harnack property (for $V=0$) we have an equivalence $c^{-1} w \leq v \leq cw$ in $U_t$, with a constant of the same type as before.
c\) Denote $s$ the difference function, $s(x)=w(x)-u(x)$, $x \in \overline { W_1}$. Clearly $s= G(Vu)= G^V(Vw)$ where $ G$ (resp. $ G^V$) is Green’s function for $ W_1$ with respect to $ \Delta $ (resp. with respect to $ \Delta -V.$).
Now $s= G(Vu)$ means in particular that $$\begin{aligned}
s( \zeta _1) = \int _{ W_1 } \, G( \zeta _1,x)\,\, V(x)\, u(x)\, dx \nonumber \end{aligned}$$ and $$s( \zeta _1)\leq C\, r^{2-N}\, \int_{ \tilde W_1} v(x)\, V(x) \,u(x)\, dx$$
using the inequality $G( \zeta _1,x) \leq C\, r^{2-N}\, {\frac { v(x)} {v( \zeta _1)}}$ in $ \tilde W_1=W_1\setminus B_1$ which follows from the maximum principle, and the fact that $V$ is supported by $W\setminus B_1$. Here $C=C(N,{ \frac { t'} {t }},{ \frac { \rho } {r }})$.
Next consider the set $A= \{ x \in U_t\,;\, u(x) \leq {\frac { 1} {2}} w(x)\, \}$.
We have $s \geq {\frac { 1} {2}} w$ in $A$. So $\, ^{W_1} \! R_w^A \leq 2s$ in $W_1$. By the above and Corollary \[maincoro\] $$\int _ A ({\frac { w(x)} { \delta_W (x)}})^2 \, dx \leq 2 \,c\,r^{N-2}\,s( \zeta _1) \leq 2\, c'\,\int _{W_1} v(x)\, V(x)\,u(x)\, dx. \nonumber$$ with $c'=c(N,{ \frac { r} { \rho }},{ \frac { t'} {t }})$. Thus, since $V \in { \mathcal V}(a, U)$, $$\begin{aligned}
\int_A w(x)^2\, V(x)\, dx \leq a \int _ A ({\frac { w(x)} { \delta_W (x)}})^2 \, dx\leq 2\,a\, c'\,\int _{ W_1}\, v(x)\, V(x)\, u(x)\, dx.\end{aligned}$$
On the other hand, since on $U_t\setminus A$ we have by definition $w \leq 2u$, $$\begin{aligned}
\int _{U_t\setminus A} (w(x))^2 \, V(x)\, dx&= \int _{U_t\setminus A} w(x)\, ({\frac { w(x)} {u(x)}} )\; \Delta u(x)\, dx \nonumber
\\ & \leq 2\, \int _{U_t\setminus A} \, w(x)\, \Delta u(x)\, dx \nonumber
\\ & \leq 2\int _{W_1} w(x)\, \Delta u(x)\, dx=2\int _{W_1} w(x)\,V(x)\,u(x)\,dx\end{aligned}$$
and (\[mainest\]) follows – recall that $c^{-1} w \leq v \leq cw$ in $U_t$ and $w \leq cv$ in $W_1$. $\square$
[*End of the proof of Theorem \[charac\].*]{} We now show that if $y_0 \in \partial \Omega $ is a $V$-finely regular boundary point for $\Omega $ then $G(VK_{y_0})(x_0)< \infty $. Here $G$ is the classical Green’s function in $\Omega $ and as before $x_0$ is a fixed point in $\Omega $, $K_{y_0}$ is the Martin kernel in $\Omega $ with pole at $y_0$. We will denote $G^V$ the Green’s function for $ \Delta -V$ in $\Omega $.
Again we assume without loss of generality that $y_0=0$, and that for some $ \rho ,\, r>0$, $10\, r< \rho $, $\Omega \cap \{ (x',x_N) \in { \mathbb R}^N\,;\, \vert x' \vert <r,\, \vert x_N< \rho \, \}= U_{f}(r, \rho )$ for a ${ \frac { \rho } {10 r }}$-Lipschitz function $f:{ \mathbb R}^{N-1} \to { \mathbb R}$ such that $f(0)=0$ (see Section [2.2]{}). The regions $T(t)$ and $U_t$ are defined as before. We note $\nu =(0,\dots, 0,1)$ the natural pseudo-normal at $y_0$.
We know that $G(VK_0^V)(x_0)< \infty $ and $K_{y_0}^V \leq c_1\, K_{y_0}$. Moreover the functions $K_{y_0}$, $K_{y_0}^V$ satisfy $$\label{K0KV} c^{-1} K_{y_0} \leq K_{y_0}^V \leq c_1\, K_{y_0}$$ on the normal ray $ \{ y_0+t \rho \nu \,;\, 0<t \leq { \frac { 1} {2 }} \}$ for some constant $c=c(N,r/ \rho ,a) \geq 1$ – see Proposition \[equivdef\]. Note that the first estimate in (\[K0KV\]) always holds, independently of the fine regularity assumption for $y_0$, as follows from Lemma \[GKlemma\].
Using a Whitney decomposition of the region $ \{ x' \in { \mathbb R}^{N-1}\,;\, 0< \vert x' \vert <r \}$ in ${ \mathbb R}^{N-1}$, we can cover the punctured ball $B'= \{ x' \in { \mathbb R}^{N-1}\,;\, 0< \vert x' \vert \leq { \frac { r} {10 }}\, \}$ in ${ \mathbb R}^{N-1}$ by a family of balls $B_ \alpha :=B_ {N-1}(x'_ \alpha , r_ \alpha ) $, $ \alpha \in J$, of ${ \mathbb R}^{N-1}$, such that : (i) $0<3 r_ \alpha \leq \vert x'_ \alpha \vert \leq C\, r_ \alpha $ for each $ \alpha \in J $, (ii) $\# \{ \alpha \in J \,;\, B_ \alpha \ni x' \, \} \leq C$ where $C$ is a constant $ \geq 3$ that depends only on $N$ when $x'$ varies in ${ \mathbb R} ^{N-1}$ (or $ \alpha \in J$), and (iii) $B_ \alpha \cap B'\ne \emptyset $, $ \forall \alpha \in J$.
Fix $ \alpha \in J$, denote $B'_ \alpha =B(x'_ \alpha , 2r_ \alpha )$ and consider the cylinders $$\begin{aligned}
T'_ \alpha :=B'_\alpha \times [f(x'_ \alpha )-{ \frac { 3 \rho } {2r }} r_ \alpha ,f(x'_ \alpha )+\,{ \frac { 3\rho } {2r }} r_ \alpha ], \;\; T _ \alpha :=B_\alpha \times [f(x'_ \alpha )-{ \frac { \rho } {r }} r_ \alpha ,f(x'_ \alpha )+\,{ \frac { \rho } {r }} r_ \alpha ]\nonumber \end{aligned}$$ which are contained in $T(1)$. Set $U_ \alpha =T'_ \alpha \cap \Omega =T'_ \alpha \cap U$, $V_ \alpha =T_ \alpha \cap U$ and $A_ \alpha =(x'_ \alpha ,f(x'_ \alpha )+{ \frac { 2 \rho } {r }}r_ \alpha )$.
By the boundary Harnack principle Lemma \[PHF\], (\[K0KV\]) and Harnack inequalities we have for $x \in U_ \alpha $, $$K_ 0^V (x) \geq { \frac { 1} {c }}\, r_ \alpha ^{N-2} K_0^V(A_ \alpha )\,G^V(A_ \alpha , x) \geq { \frac { 1} {c' }}\, r_ \alpha ^{N-2}\,K_0(A_ \alpha )\, G^V(A_ \alpha ,x)$$ in $U_ \alpha $ (an argument involving the maximum principle suffices for the first inequality). Here and below $c$, $c'$ denote positive constants that do not depend on $ \alpha $ and whose value may vary from line to line.
Similarly $G(x_0,x) \geq c\, r_ \alpha ^{N-2} G(x_0, A_ \alpha )\, G(A_ \alpha ,x)$ for $x \in U_ \alpha $. Thus, $$\begin{aligned}
G({\mathbf 1}_{U_ \alpha }K_0^VV)(x_0) &= \int_{U_ \alpha } G(x_0, x)\, K_0^V(x)\, V(x)\, dx \nonumber \\
&\geq { \frac { 1} {c }}\,\,r_ \alpha ^{2N-4}G(x_0,A_ \alpha )\, K_0(A_ \alpha )\,\int _{U_ \alpha }\, G(A_ \alpha ,x) \, G^V(A_ \alpha ,x)\, V(x)\,dx \nonumber\\
& \geq { \frac { 1} {c }}\,\,r_ \alpha ^{N-2}\,\int _{U_ \alpha }\, G(A_ \alpha ,x) \, G^V(A_ \alpha ,x)\, V(x)\,dx\end{aligned}$$ where for the last line, we have also used Lemma \[GKlemma\] and Harnack inequalities.
Similarly (working now only with $V=0$), we have $$K_ 0 (x) \leq c\, r_ \alpha ^{N-2} K_0(A_ \alpha )\,G(A_ \alpha , x), \;x \in U_ \alpha$$ and $G(x_0,x) \leq c\, r_ \alpha ^{N-2} G(x_0, A_ \alpha )\, G(A_ \alpha , x)$ for $x \in U_ \alpha $. Thus $$\begin{aligned}
G({\mathbf 1}_{V_ \alpha }K_0V)(x_0) &= \int_{V_ \alpha } G(x_0, x)\, K_0(x)\, V(x)\, dx \nonumber \\
& \leq c\,r_ \alpha ^{N-2}\,\int _{V_ \alpha }\, \vert G(A_ \alpha ,x) \vert ^2\, V(x)\,dx.\end{aligned}$$
It follows, on using Proposition \[propmain\] (and Harnack inequalities), that $$\begin{aligned}
G({\mathbf 1}_{V_ \alpha }K_0V)(x_0) & \leq c\, G({\mathbf 1}_{U_ \alpha }K_0^V\,V)(x_0) \end{aligned}$$ for every $ \alpha \in I $ and a constant $c$ independent of $ \alpha $. Summing over $ \alpha $ and taking into account condition (ii) for the family $ \{ B'_ \alpha \}_{ \alpha \in J}$, we get that for $W= \bigcup V_ \alpha $ $$\begin{aligned}
G({\mathbf 1}_W\, K_0\, V)(x_0) \leq c\, G(K_0^V\, V)(x_0)< \infty. \end{aligned}$$
Since $\Omega \setminus W$ is nontangential in $\Omega $ at $0$, and $K_0 \leq c\, K_0^V$ near $0$ on $\Omega \setminus W$ we obtain the desired result: $G(K_0\, V)(x_0)< \infty $. The proof of Theorem \[charac\] is complete. $\square$
Almost everywhere regularity
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[**6.1.**]{} We first notice that Corollary \[cormain\] (see introduction) easily follows from Theorem \[th1\]. Clearly, if the integral $\int_\Omega K_\nu (x)\, V(x)\, G(x,x_0)\, dx $ is finite then by Fubini’s theorem $\int _\Omega K_y(x)\, G(x,x_0)\,V(x)\, dx $ is finite for $\nu$-almost every $y \in \partial \Omega $. Since $ \nu =f\mu $ with $f>0$ this means – by Theorem \[th1\] – that $\mu $-almost every $y$ is in $ { \mathcal R}\mbox{\rm \footnotesize{eg}}_V(\Omega )$.
On the other hand if $\mu $-a.e. $y \in \partial \Omega $ is $V$-finely regular, then $y \mapsto \int _\Omega \,K_y(x)\, V(x)\, G(x,x_0)\,$ $ dx$ is finite $\mu $-a.e. So, if we set $A_n:= \{ y \in A\,;\, n-1 \leq G(K_y\,V)(x_0) < n\, \}$, $B:=\partial \Omega \setminus \bigcup _{n \geq 1} A_n$, $ f= \mathbf 1_B +\sum _{n \geq 1} { \frac { 1} { n^3}}\mathbf 1_{A_n}$ and $\nu := f\, \mu $ we have $\mu (B)=0$ and $G(K_\nu V)(x_0)< \infty $.
Recall from the Martin boundary theory [@martin] [@naim] that a set $A \subset \Omega $ is minimally thin at $y \in \partial \Omega $ for $ L_V:=\Delta -V$ iff $^\Omega \! \widehat R_{K_y^V}^A$ is a $ L_V$-potential in $\Omega $ (the réduite is taken with respect to the $L_V$-potential theory). If $A$ is minimally thin at $y$ and closed in $\Omega $, it is well-known that $u:=K_y^V-^\Omega \!\!R_{K_y^V}^A$ is then minimal $L_V$-harmonic in $ \tilde \Omega =\Omega \setminus A$ [@naim]. Thus if moreover $ \tilde \Omega $ is a Lipschitz domain and $x_0 \in \tilde \Omega $, $u$ is proportional to $ k_y^V$, the $L_V$-Martin function in $ \tilde \Omega $ with pole at $y$ and such that $ k_y^V(x_0)=1$. So $ k_y^V \leq C\, K_y^V$ for some real $C>0$.
\[lemmaregeffi\]Let $ \tilde \Omega $ be a Lipschitz subdomain of $\Omega $, let $y \in \partial \Omega \cap \partial \tilde \Omega $ and assume that $\Omega \setminus \tilde \Omega $ is minimally thin at $y$ (in $\Omega $, with respect to $ \Delta $). Then $y \in { \mathcal R}\mbox{\rm \footnotesize{eg}}_V(\Omega )$ if and only if $y \in { \mathcal R}\mbox{\rm \footnotesize{eg}}_V( \tilde \Omega )$. Here $ { \mathcal R}\mbox{\rm \footnotesize{eg}}_V( \tilde \Omega )$ means $ { \mathcal R}\mbox{\rm \footnotesize{eg}}_{V_1}( \tilde \Omega )$ where $V_1=V_{ \vert \tilde \Omega} $.
We note that at least one implication seems clear with the probabilistic point of view.
[*Proof.*]{} Assume as we may that $x_0 \in \tilde \Omega $ and let $\nu_y $ be a pseudo-normal for $ \tilde \Omega $ at $y \in \partial \Omega \cap \partial \tilde \Omega $. By Lemma \[GKlemma\] it is clear that $ k_y^V \geq C K_y^V$ and $ k_y:= k_y^0\geq C K_y$ near $y$ on $S_y=(y,y+\nu _y]$, for some $C>0$. Using the facts reminded before the lemma for $V=0$, we have $ k_y\sim K_y$ (where $\sim$ means “is in between two positive constants times") on $S_y$ (near $y$).
Now if $ y$ is $V_1$-finely regular for $\tilde \Omega $, $ k_y^V \leq c k_y$ in $ \tilde \Omega $ for some $c>0$. Thus, by the above $K_y \geq C\, K_y^V$ along $S_y$ near $y$ for another $C>0$ and $y $ is $V$-finely regular as a boundary point for $\Omega $.
Suppose now that $y \in { \mathcal R}\mbox{\footnotesize eg}_V(\Omega )$, that is $K_y \geq { \frac { 1} {C }} K_y^V$ in $\Omega $ for some $C \geq 1$. Since $\Omega \setminus \tilde \Omega $ is (minimally) thin at $y$, there is a (classical) potential $p$ in $\Omega $ such that $p \geq K_y$ in $\Omega \setminus \tilde \Omega $ and $p$ must be also a $ \Delta -V$ potential (a nonnegative $ \Delta -V$ subharmonic minorant is subharmonic and so vanishes). Thus $\Omega \setminus \tilde \Omega $ is also minimally thin at $y$ for $ \Delta -V$ and along $S_y$ near $y$ we have : $K_y^V\sim K_y \sim k_y$, $K_y^V\sim k_y^V$ and hence also $ k_y^V \leq C'k_y$. So $y \in { \mathcal R}\mbox{\footnotesize eg}_{V}( \tilde \Omega )$. $\square$
[**6.3**]{} [*Lebesgue almost everywhere fine regularity.*]{}
\[th3\] Let $A$ be a Borel subset of $ \partial \Omega $. The following are equivalent:
1. $H_{N-1}( { \mathcal R}\mbox{\rm \footnotesize{eg}}_V(\Omega ) \cap A)>0$.
2. There exists a compact ${ \mathbb K} \subset A $ such that $H_{N-1}({ \mathbb K} )>0$ and $$\int_\Omega \omega ^{ \mathbb K} (x)\, G(x_0,x)\, V(x)\, dx < \infty$$ where $\omega^{ \mathbb K} $ is the harmonic measure of ${ \mathbb K} $ in $\Omega $ and $G$ is Green’s function in $\Omega $.
3. There exist a compact set ${ \mathbb K} \subset A$ and a Lipschitz subdomain $ \tilde \Omega $ of $\Omega $ such that $ H_{N-1}( {\mathbb K} )>0$, $\partial \Omega \cap \partial \tilde \Omega ={ \mathbb K} $ and $\int_{ \tilde \Omega } \delta_\Omega (x)V(x)\, dx< \infty $.
Recall that by a well-known result the harmonic measure $\omega _{x_0}:=\omega ^.(x_0)$ of $x_0$ in $\Omega $ and the Hausdorff measure $H_{N-1}$ are mutually absolutely continuous on $\partial \Omega $ [@Dah].
[*Proof.*]{} $(i)\Rightarrow(ii)$. It suffices to note that by Theorem \[charac\] there exist a positive real $c$ and a compact set ${ \mathbb K} \subset A$ such that $H_{N-1}({ \mathbb K} )>0$ and $\int_\Omega G(x,x_0)\, K_y(x)\, V(x)\, dx \leq c$ for $y \in { \mathbb K} $. Integrating with respect to $y$ against $\omega _{x_0}$ (the harmonic measure of $x_0$ w.r. to $\Omega $), we get $$\begin{aligned}
\int_\Omega G(x,x_0)\,\omega ^{ \mathbb K} (x)\,V(x)\, dx =\int _{ \mathbb K} \int_\Omega G(x,x_0)\, K_y(x)\, V(x)\, dx \, d\omega _{x_0}(y) \leq c\, \omega _{x_0}({ \mathbb K} )< \infty \nonumber\end{aligned}$$ where we have used the identity $\omega ^{ \mathbb K} (.)=\int_{{ \mathbb K} } K_y(.)\, d\omega _{x_0}(y)$.
$(ii)\Rightarrow (iii)$. With the notations and assumptions of Section [2.2]{} we may assume that $f$, $r$, $ \rho $ are such that $T(1) \cap \Omega=U $, $x_0\notin \overline U$ – where $U:=U_f(r, \rho )$ – and that ${ \mathbb K} \subset \partial U \cap T({\frac { 1} {8}})$.
By Dahlberg’s results in [@Dah] there is a compact set ${ \mathbb K} ' \subset { \mathbb K} $ and a real $c>0$ such that $H_{N-1}({ \mathbb K} ')>0$ and $G_{x_0}(x) \geq c\, \delta _\Omega (x)$ in every truncated cone $C_y= \{ (x',x_N) \in { \mathbb R} ^N\,;\, \vert x'-y' \vert <{\frac { r} { \rho }}\, (x_N-y_N),\, \, x_N < {\frac { \rho } {2}} \, \}$, $y=(y',y_N) \in { \mathbb K} '$. Thus if $ \tilde \Omega = \bigcup _{y \in { \mathbb K} '} C_y $ we get by (ii) that $\int _{ \tilde \Omega } \delta_\Omega (x)\, V(x)\, dx< \infty $. And $ \tilde \Omega $ is a Lipschitz domain (in fact “Lipschitz starlike" with respect to the point $(0,\dots, 0,{\frac { \rho } {4}})$).
$(iii)\Rightarrow(i)$. It is known (cf [@HW1], [@HW2]) that for $\omega _{x_0}$-almost every $y \in { \mathbb K} $ the set $\Omega \setminus \tilde \Omega $ is minimally thin at $y$. On the other hand, using again Dahlberg’s results in [@Dah] we may assume – after replacing $ \tilde \Omega $ by a smaller subdomain in $\Omega $ – that $g(x,x_1) \leq c\, \delta _\Omega (x)$ in $ \tilde \Omega \setminus B(x_1; {\frac { 1} {2}} \delta _{ \tilde \Omega }(x_1))$, where $g$ is Green’s function for $ \tilde \Omega $ and $x_1$ some fixed point in $ \tilde \Omega $. Thus $\int _{ \tilde \Omega } g(x,x_1)\, V(x) \,dx < \infty $.
If $ \tilde K$ denotes the Martin kernel for $ \tilde \Omega $ with normalization at $x_1$ and if $\mu $ is the harmonic measure of $x_1$ in $ \tilde \Omega $, as before we have $ \tilde K_\mu =\mathbf 1$ and $\int _{\partial \tilde \Omega } \int _{ \tilde \Omega }\, g(x,x_1) \tilde K_y(x)\, V(x)\, dx \,d\mu (y)= \int g(x,x_1)\, V(x)\, dx < \infty $. It follows using Theorem \[th1\] that $\mu $-almost every (i.e., $H_{N-1}$-almost every) point $y \in \partial \tilde \Omega $ is finely regular for $ \tilde \Omega $ and $V_{ \vert \tilde \Omega }$. By lemma \[lemmaregeffi\], $(iii)$ follows. $\square$
\[corregae\]Let $A$ be a Borel subset of $\partial \Omega $. Then $H_{N-1}$-almost every point $y \in A$ is finely regular (with respect to $\Omega $ and $V$) if and only if there exists for $H_{N-1}$-almost every point $y \in A$ a nonempty open truncated cone $C_y \subset \Omega $ with vertex at $y$ and such that $\int _{C_y} V(x)\, \vert x -y\vert ^{2-N}\, dx< \infty $.
[*Proof.*]{} We have already seen that the condition is necessary (Theorem A.1 in [@VYA] or Remark \[remarkApp\] above): if $ y \in \partial \Omega $ is a $V$-finely regular boundary point, then $\int _C V(x)\, \vert x -y\vert ^{2-N}\, dx< \infty $ for every open truncated cone $C $ with vertex at $y$ which is strictly inner for $\Omega $ (i.e. there exists $ \eta >0$ such that $ \tilde C= \cup _{x \in C} B(x, \eta \, \vert x-y \vert ) \subset \Omega $).
Suppose now that the condition in the statement holds. It suffices to show that a compact set ${ \mathbb K} \subset A$ such that $H_{N-1}({ \mathbb K} )>0$ contains a $V$-finely regular point. Using standard argument and a rotation we may also assume that for some positive reals $\ell,\, K$ and $\alpha$, the cones $C_y=(y+ \Gamma ) \cap \{ x\, ;\, x_N< \ell \} $ where $ \Gamma: = \Gamma _K:= \{ (x',x_N)\,;\, \vert x' \vert <Kx_N\, \}$, are such that $ \emptyset \ne C_y \subset \Omega $ and $\int _ {C_y} V(x)\, \vert x -y\vert ^{2-N}\, dx\leq \alpha $ for $y \in {\mathbb K} $. Diminishing ${\mathbb K} $, we may also assume that the cones $C'_y=(y+ \Gamma _{K/2}) \cap \{ x\,;x_N<\ell/2 \}$, $y \in { \mathbb K} $, have a nonempty intersection.
Denote $L$ the compact subset of all points $y \in {\mathbb K} $ such that $H_{N-1}(B(y,t) \cap {\mathbb K} ) \geq \beta t^{N-1}$ for $0<t \leq {\rm { diam }}(\Omega )$ where $ \beta >0$ is chosen so small that $H_{N-1}(L)>0$.
Integrating w.r. to $y$ and letting $ \tilde \Omega $ to denote the union of the cones $C'_y$, $y \in L$, we obtain by Fubini’s theorem, $$\alpha \, H_{N-1}({\mathbb K} ) \geq \int _{\mathbb K} (\int _{C_y} V(x)\, \vert x -y\vert ^{2-N}\, dx)\, dH_{N-1}(y) \geq c\, \int _{ \tilde \Omega } \delta _\Omega (x)\,V(x)\, dx$$ where $c$ is some positive constant. We have used the fact that if $x \in C'_y$, then $x \in C_z $ for $z \in {\mathbb K} $ such that $ \vert z-y \vert \leq \varepsilon _0\, \vert x-y \vert $ where $ \varepsilon _0>0$ is independent of $x$ and $y$. Since $ \tilde \Omega $ is a Lipschitz domain it follows from Theorem \[th3\] that $L \cap { \mathcal R}\mbox{\footnotesize eg}_V(\Omega )\ne \emptyset $. $\square$
Suppose that $V$ satisfies for some $c \geq 0$ the Harnack property: $$\begin{aligned}
\sup_{z \in B(x;{\frac { \delta _\Omega (x)} {4}})} V(z) \leq c\, V(x)\end{aligned}$$ for all $x \in \Omega $. Then under the assumptions of Corollary \[corregae\], $H_{N-1}$–almost every $y \in A \subset \partial \Omega $ is $V$-finely regular iff for $H_{N-1}$-almost every $y \in A$ there exists a pseudo-normal $\nu $ at $y$ for $\Omega $ such that $\int _0^{ \eta }\, t\, V(y+t\nu )\, dt < \infty $ for some $ \eta >0$ such that $ (y,y+ \eta \nu ] \subset \Omega $.
Generalizations
===============
We consider in this section two uniformly elliptic operators in divergence form acting in a bounded region $\Omega $ (at first not assumed to be Lipschitz) ${ \mathcal L}_0= { \mathcal L} - \gamma $ and ${ \mathcal L}_1= { \mathcal L}- V $ where ${ \mathcal L}=\sum_{1 \leq i,j \leq N} \partial _j(a_{ij} \partial _i .)$. The $a_{ij}$, $ \gamma $ and $V$ are Borel measurable and such that : (i) $a_{ij}=a_{ji}$ for $1 \leq i,j \leq N$ (ii) $c_0^{-1} \vert \xi \vert ^2 \leq \sum _{i,j} a_{ij}(x) \xi _i \xi _j \leq c_0\, \vert \xi \vert ^2$ and (iii) $0 \leq \gamma (x) \leq V(x) \leq a \delta_\Omega (x)^{-2}$ for $x \in \Omega $, $ \xi \in { \mathbb R} ^N$ and some positive constants $a$ and $c_0$.
[**7.A.**]{} We first extend Lemma \[mainlemma\] and Corollary \[maincoro\]. The domain $\Omega $ is assumed to satisfy: $\int _\Omega { \frac { \vert f(x) \vert ^2} { \delta (x)^2 }}\, dx \leq C_H\, \int_\Omega \vert \nabla f(x) \vert ^2\, dx$ for all $ f \in C_0^1(\Omega )$ and a constant $C_H>0$.
\[mainproposition2\]Let $ \zeta_0 \in \Omega $ and let $w(x)=G^0(x, \zeta_0 )$ where $G^0$ is the ${ \mathcal L}_0$-Green’s function in $\Omega $. For every Borel subset $A$ of $\Omega $, $$\begin{aligned}
\int _A ({\frac { w(x)} { \delta _{\Omega } (x)}})^2 \, dx \leq C\; ^{\hspace{1mm}\Omega,{ \mathcal L}_0}\! \widehat R_w^A( \zeta_0 )
\nonumber\end{aligned}$$ where $C$ is a positive constant depending only on $N$, $C_H $, $c_0$ and $a$.
The réduite $^{\hspace{1mm}\Omega,{ \mathcal L}_0}\!R_w^A\,$ (simply denoted $R_w^A $ in what follows) is here the infimum of all positive ${ \mathcal L}_0$-superharmonic functions $s$ in $\Omega $ such that $s \geq w$ in $A$. It is ${ \mathcal L}_0$-harmonic in $\Omega \setminus \overline A$ and its l.s.c. regularization $\widehat R_w^A $ is superharmonic in $\Omega $, in fact the smallest nonnegative superharmonic function in $\Omega $ which is larger than $ w$ in $A$ except at most on a polar subset.
[**Proof.**]{} We sketch a variant of the proof of Lemma \[mainlemma\] showing more generally that if $w=G^0(\mu ) $ is the ${ \mathcal L}_0$-potential of $\mu \in { \mathcal M}_+(\Omega)$ then $$\begin{aligned}
\label{eq71} \int _A ({\frac { w(x)} { \delta _{\Omega } (x)}})^2 \, dx \leq C\;\int _\Omega \,\widehat R_w^A( \zeta )\, \,d\mu ( \zeta ) \end{aligned}$$ — one may also easily adapt the proof of Lemma \[mainlemma\] using $H_0^1(\Omega )$ equipped with the scalar product $ \langle .,. \rangle _H^0$ defined below. Removing from $A$ a polar set we may assume that $ \widehat R_w^A={} R_w^A$ and standard approximation arguments show that we may also assume that $A$ is open and relatively compact in $\Omega$ and moreover that $w$ is bounded (using $w_n=w\wedge n$) and the positive measure $\mu =-{ \mathcal L}_0(w)$ compactly supported in $\Omega $ (using $w'=R_w^U$, with $U$ open such that $\overline A \subset U \subset \subset \Omega $).
Then $w \in H_0^1(\Omega )$ is the potential of $\mu $ in $\Omega $ with respect to the Dirichlet scalar product $ \langle \varphi , \psi \rangle^0 _H= \sum _{i,j}\int_\Omega \, a_{ij} \partial _i\varphi\, \partial _j \psi \, dx+\int _\Omega \, \gamma \, \varphi \, \psi \, dx$. Moreover $ R_w^A \in H_0^1(\Omega )$ and $R_w^A$ is the ${ \mathcal L}_0$-potential in $\Omega $ of a positive measure $\nu $ supported by the fine closure of $A$ (so $ R_w^A = G^0(\nu )$). Thus $$\begin{aligned}
\int _\Omega {} \,R_w^A( \zeta )\, \,d\mu ( \zeta ) =\int _\Omega \, \,G^0(\nu )\, d\mu &=\int _\Omega \, G^0(\mu )\, d\nu =\int _\Omega \, G^0(\nu )\, d\nu \nonumber \end{aligned}$$ using Fubini and that $G^0(\mu )=G^0(\nu )$ $\nu $-a.e. The result follows since $$\begin{aligned}
\int _\Omega {} \,R_w^A( \zeta )\, \,d\mu ( \zeta ) &= \langle R_w^A,R_w^A \rangle _H^0 \nonumber
\\ & \geq C_H\, \int _\Omega \,({ \frac { R_w^A(x)} { \delta _\Omega (x) }})^2\, dx \nonumber
\\& \geq C_H\, \int _A\, ({ \frac { w(x)} { \delta _\Omega (x) }})^2\, dx . \;\; \square\nonumber \end{aligned}$$
\[maincorogene2\] [Let $\omega $, $\omega '$ be open subsets of ${ \mathbb R}^N$ such that $\overline \omega ' \subset \omega $ and let $x_0 \in \Omega \setminus \overline \omega $. If $\Omega $ is Lipschitz, there is a $C=C(\omega ,\omega ',\Omega ,x_0,c_0,a)>0$ such that for every positive ${ \mathcal L}_0$-harmonic function $h$ in $\Omega $ vanishing on $\omega \cap \partial \Omega $ and every (measurable) $A \subset \omega' $ $$\begin{aligned}
\int _A\,({ \frac { h(x)} { \delta _\Omega (x) }})^2\, dx \leq C\,\,h(x_0)\,\, ^{\Omega,{ \mathcal L}_0 }\!\widehat R_h^A(x_0)\end{aligned}$$]{}
[**7.B. Relative regularity.**]{}
From now on, $\Omega $ is a bounded Lipschitz domain in ${ \mathbb R} ^N$. For $y \in \partial \Omega $, denote $K_y:=K_y^{ \gamma }$ (resp. $K_y^V$) the ${ \mathcal L}_0$-Martin function (resp. the ${ \mathcal L}_1$-Martin function) in $\Omega $ with pole at $y$, normalized at some fixed $x_0 \in \Omega $. Let $ \tilde K_y^V$ be the greatest ${ \mathcal L}_1$-subharmonic minorant of $K_y$ (the latter is positive ${ \mathcal L}_1$-superharmonic). Again, $ \tilde K_y^V=c(y)\, K_y^V$ for some $c(y) \geq 0$. Set $R=V- \gamma $.
A point $y \in \partial \Omega $ is an $R \vert { \mathcal L}_0 $-regular boundary point (or an $R$-regular boundary point with respect to ${ \mathcal L}_0$) iff $c(y)>0$ which is denoted $y \in { \mathcal R}\mbox{\footnotesize eg}_{{ \mathcal L}_1 \vert { \mathcal L}_0}(\Omega )$. If $c(y)=0$, $y$ is a $R \vert { \mathcal L}_0$-singular boundary point.
Proposition \[equivdef\] extends in a straightforward manner. The boundary point $y $ is in $ { \mathcal S}\mbox{\footnotesize {ing}}_{{ \mathcal L}_1 \vert { \mathcal L}_0}(\Omega )$ iff $K_y^V/K_y$ has an infinite superior limit along a pseudo-normal at $y$, or iff $K_y^V/K_y \to + \infty $ nontangentially at $y$. Equivalently, $\lim G^1(x,x_0)/G^{ 0}(x,x_0)=0$ as $x \to y$, $x \in \Omega $ – where $G^j$ is ${ \mathcal L}_j$-Green’s function in $\Omega $.
\[charac2\] Let $y \in \partial \Omega $ and $R=V- \gamma $. The following are equivalent:
1. $y$ is an $R \vert { \mathcal L}_0 $-finely regular boundary point of $\Omega $,
2. $G^{0}(RK_y^V)(x_0)< \infty $,
3. $K_y^V$ admits an ${ \mathcal L}_0$-superharmonic majorant in $\Omega $,
4. $G^{0}(RK_y)(x_0)< \infty $.
As in Section 4 one shows that $(i)\Rightarrow(ii)\Rightarrow(iii)\Rightarrow(i)$ and $(iv) \Rightarrow (i)$. The argument is exactly the same, after replacing $ \Delta $ by ${ \mathcal L}_0$, $ \Delta -V$ by ${ \mathcal L}_1$. The proof is omitted.
To prove the remaining implication $(i)\Rightarrow (iv)$, we adapt the argument in Section 5, a task which turns out to be quite straightforward. Note first the following simple extension of Proposition \[propmain\]. Using same notations as in Proposition \[propmain\] for $U=U(f,r, \rho )$, $T(t)=B(0,r)\times (- \rho , \rho )$, and $ \zeta _1=(0,\dots, 0,{ \frac { t+t'} {2 }} \rho )$, consider now a positive solution $u$ of ${ \mathcal L}_1(u)=0$ in $W:=U_{t'}$, a positive solution $v$ of ${ \mathcal L}_0(v)=0$ in $ W$, with $u=v=0$ on $\partial _\#U \cap \overline W$, and set (as before) $R=V-V_0$.
\[propmain2\] There is a constant $C=C(N,{\frac { \rho } {r}} ,{\frac { t'} {t}} ,a, { \mathcal L}_0)$ $>0$, such that $$\begin{aligned}
\label{keyeq2} u( \zeta _1)\int_{U_t} \, \vert v(x) \vert ^2\, R(x)\, dx \leq Cv( \zeta _1)\, \int _{ W} &v(x)\,R(x)\, u(x)\, dx\nonumber
\\ &= Cv( \zeta _1) \int _{ W} v(x) \,{ \mathcal L}_0u(x)\,\, dx \end{aligned}$$
[**Proof.**]{} a) Again, enlarging $t$ we may assume $t>t'/2$ and set $ W_1=U_{(t+2t')/3}$, $B_1:=B( \zeta _1,{\frac { (t'-t)r} {20}} )$, $ \tilde W_1=U_{(t+2t')/3}\setminus B_1$. It suffices to prove (\[keyeq2\]) with the integration domain $W$ in the right hand side replaced by $ \tilde W_1=U_{(t+2t')/3}\setminus B_1$.
If $ \tilde V=\mathbf 1_{W\setminus B_1} V$, $ \tilde \gamma = \mathbf 1_{W\setminus B_1} \gamma $, and if $ \tilde u$ (resp. $ \tilde v$) is a positive $ { \mathcal L} - \tilde V$-harmonic function (resp. a ${ \mathcal L} - \tilde \gamma $ harmonic function) in $W=U_{t'}$ vanishing on $\partial _\#U \cap \overline W$, we see as before that $u$ and $ \tilde u$ (resp. $v$ and $ \tilde v$) normalized at $ \zeta _1$ are equivalent in size in $W_1 \cap \{ x=(x',x_N)\,;\, x_N \leq t \rho \}$, and by Harnack inequalities this equivalence extends to $W_1$. Thus we may replace $V$ and $ \gamma $ by $ \tilde V$ and $ \tilde \gamma $, i.e. assume that $V$ and $ \gamma $ are supported in $W\setminus B_1$ and that $v( \zeta _1)=u( \zeta _1)=1$.
b\) Let $w$ denote the (positive) ${ \mathcal L}_0$-harmonic function in $ W_1=U_{ \frac { t+2t'} {3 }}$ such that $w=u$ in $\partial W_1$. Exactly as in Section 5, we see that $w \leq cv$ in $ W_1$, $c^{-1} \leq w( \zeta _1) \leq c$ and $c^{-1} w \leq v \leq cw$ in $U_t$, for some $c=c(N,a,r/ \rho, t'/t ,{ \mathcal L})$.
c\) Let $s(x)=w(x)-u(x)$, $x \in \overline { W_1}$. Now $s= G^0(Ru)= G^1(Rw)$ where $R=V-V_0$, $ G^0$ (resp. $ G^1$) is Green’s function for $ W_1$ with respect to $ { \mathcal L}_0 $ (resp. with respect to ${ \mathcal L}_1$). Thus $$\begin{aligned}
s( \zeta _1) & = \int _{ W_1 } \, G^0( \zeta _1,x)\,\, R(x)\, u(x)\, dx \leq C\, r^{2-N}\, \int_{ \tilde W_1} v(x)\, R(x) \,u(x)\, dx\end{aligned}$$
since $G^0( \zeta _1,x) \leq C\, r^{2-N}\, {\frac { v(x)} {v( \zeta _1)}}$ in $ \tilde W_1=W_1\setminus B_1$, with $C=C(N,{ \frac { t'} {t }},{ \frac { \rho } {r }},a, { \mathcal L})$.
Now if $A= \{ x \in U_t\,;\, u(x) \leq {\frac { 1} {2}} w(x)\, \}$, $s \geq {\frac { 1} {2}} w$ in $A$, we have $\, ^{W_1} \! R_w^A \leq 2s$ in $W_1$ (réduite with respect to ${ \mathcal L}_0$) and by Corollary \[maincorogene2\] $$\int _ A ({\frac { w(x)} { \delta_W (x)}})^2 \, dx \leq 2 \,c\,r^{N-2}\,s( \zeta _1) \leq 2\, c'\,\int _{W_1} v(x)\, R(x)\,u(x)\, dx \nonumber$$ with $c'=c(N,{ \frac { r} { \rho }},{ \frac { t'} {t }})$. So, since $V \in { \mathcal V}(a, U)$, $$\begin{aligned}
\int_A w(x)^2\, V(x)\, dx \leq a \int _ A ({\frac { w(x)} { \delta_W (x)}})^2 \, dx\leq 2\,a\, c'\,\int _{ W_1}\, v(x)\, R(x)\, u(x)\, dx.\end{aligned}$$
On the other hand, since $w \leq 2u$ on $U_t\setminus A$, $$\begin{aligned}
\int _{U_t\setminus A} (w(x))^2 \, R(x)\, dx&= \int _{U_t\setminus A} w(x)\, ({\frac { w(x)} {u(x)}} )\; { \mathcal L}_0( u)(x)\, dx \nonumber
\\ & \leq 2\int _{W_1} w(x)\, { \mathcal L}_0u(x)\, dx=2\, \int _{W_1}w(x)\,R(x)\, u(x) dx. \end{aligned}$$
And (\[keyeq2\]) follows. $\square$
To complete the proof of Theorem \[charac\] we need to show that if $y_0 \in \partial \Omega $ is a $R \vert { \mathcal L}_0$-finely regular boundary point of $\Omega $ – so $G^0(RK_{y_0}^V)< \infty $ and $K^V_{y_0} \leq c\, K_{y_0}$ – , then $G^0(RK_{y_0})(x_0)< \infty $. The argument for the case ${ \mathcal L}= \Delta $, $ \gamma =0$ treated in Section 5 can be once more repeated. We sketch it for the reader’s convenience.
We assume $y_0=0$, and $\Omega \cap \{ (x',x_N) \in { \mathbb R}^N\,;\, \vert x' \vert <r,\, \vert x_N< \rho \, \}= U_{f}(r, \rho )$ for a ${ \frac { \rho } {10 r }}$-Lipschitz function $f:{ \mathbb R}^{N-1} \to { \mathbb R}$ such that $f(0)=0$. Using the same covering $\{B_ \alpha \}_{ \alpha \in J} $ of $B'= \{ x' \in { \mathbb R}^{N-1}\,;\, 0< \vert x' \vert \leq { \frac { r} {10 }}\, \}$ in ${ \mathbb R}^{N-1}$ as in the final part of Section 5, and the same related sets $U_ \alpha =T'_ \alpha \cap \Omega =T'_ \alpha \cap U$, $V_ \alpha =T_ \alpha \cap U$ and points $A_ \alpha$, we get now by the (extended) boundary Harnack principle (Lemma \[PHF\] and Remark \[remark8\]) and Harnack inequalities, $$\begin{aligned}
G^0({\mathbf 1}_{U_ \alpha }K_0^VR)(x_0) &= \int_{U_ \alpha } G^0(x_0, x)\, K_0^V(x)\, R(x)\, dx \nonumber \\
&\geq { \frac { 1} {c }}\,\,r_ \alpha ^{2N-4}G^0(x_0,A_ \alpha )\, K_0(A_ \alpha )\,\int _{U_ \alpha }\, G^0(A_ \alpha ,x) \, G^1(A_ \alpha ,x)\, R(x)\,dx \nonumber\\
& \geq { \frac { 1} {c }}\,\,r_ \alpha ^{N-2}\,\int _{U_ \alpha }\, G^0(A_ \alpha ,x) \, G^1(A_ \alpha ,x)\, R(x)\,dx\end{aligned}$$ and as $K_ 0 (x) \leq c\, r_ \alpha ^{N-2} K_0(A_ \alpha )\,G^0(A_ \alpha , x),$ and $G^0(x_0,x) \leq c\, r_ \alpha ^{N-2} G^0(x_0, A_ \alpha )\, G^0(A_ \alpha , x)$ for $x \in U_ \alpha $, $$\begin{aligned}
G^0 ({\mathbf 1}_{V_ \alpha }K_0V)(x_0) &= \int_{V_ \alpha } G^0(x_0, x)\, K_0(x)\, R(x)\, dx \nonumber \\
& \leq c\,r_ \alpha ^{N-2}\,\int _{V_ \alpha }\, \vert G^0(A_ \alpha ,x) \vert ^2\, R(x)\,dx.\end{aligned}$$So that by Proposition \[propmain2\] (and Harnack inequalities) $$\begin{aligned}
G^0({\mathbf 1}_{V_ \alpha }K_0V)(x_0) & \leq c\, G^0({\mathbf 1}_{U_ \alpha }K_0^V\,V)(x_0) \end{aligned}$$ for every $ \alpha $ and a constant $c$ independent of $ \alpha $, and one conclude as in Section 5. $\square$
[**7.D. Regularity $\mathbf{\omega _{x_0}}$-almost everywhere**]{}
Finally we mention an extension of the results in Section [**6**]{}. Let $x_0$ be a fixed point in the bounded Lipschitz domain $\Omega $ and let ${ \mathcal L}_j$ be as above. Assume moreover that $ \gamma \equiv 0$ (so ${ \mathcal L}_0= { \mathcal L}$, ${ \mathcal L}_1={ \mathcal L}_0-V$, $R=V$). Denote $\omega :=\omega _{x_0}$ the harmonic measure of $x_0$ in $\Omega $ with respect to ${ \mathcal L}$ (in general, this measure is not absolutely continuous with respect to $H_{N-1}$ on $\partial \Omega $).
Then Theorem \[th3\] extends to the present situation if one replaces in its statement ${ \mathcal R}\mbox{\footnotesize eg}_V(\Omega )$ by ${ \mathcal R}\mbox{\footnotesize eg}_{{ \mathcal L}_1 \vert { \mathcal L}_0}(\Omega )$, the measure $H_{N-1}$ in $\partial \Omega $ by $\omega $ (three times), $G$ by $G^0$ and $ \delta _\Omega (x)$ in $(iii)$ by $g^0(x,x_0)$ -$g^0$ being the ${ \mathcal L}_0$-Green’s function in $ \tilde \Omega $-. The function $\omega _{\mathbb K} $ is now the ${ \mathcal L}_0$-harmonic measure of ${\mathbb K} $ in $\Omega $. Corollary \[corregae\] extends then as follows.
\[corregae2\] If $A$ is a Borel subset of $\partial \Omega $, $\omega $-almost every point $y \in A$ is in ${ \mathcal R}\mbox{\rm \footnotesize eg}_{{ \mathcal L}_1 \vert { \mathcal L}_0}(\Omega )$ iff for $\omega $-almost every $y \in A$ there is a nonempty open truncated cone $C_y \subset \Omega $ with vertex at $y$ such that $\int _{C_y} V(x)\, \vert x -y\vert ^{2-N}\, dx< \infty $.
The proof for ${ \mathcal L}_0= \Delta $ in Section 6 is easily adapted provided we set now $L:= \{ y \in {\mathbb K} \,;\, \omega (B(y,t) \cap {\mathbb K} ) \geq \beta \omega (B(y,t)$ for $0<t<\text{diam}(\Omega )\, \}$.
[00]{}
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A. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Ancona</span>, *Théorie du Potentiel sur les graphes et les variétés*. Ecole d’été de Probabilités de Saint-Flour XVIII—1988, 1–112, Lecture Notes in Math. 1427, Springer, Berlin, 1990.
A. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Ancona</span>, *On strong barriers and an inequality of Hardy for domains in $R^n$.* J. London Math. Soc. (2) 34 (1986), no. 2, 274–290.
A. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Ancona</span>, *Un critère de nullité de $k_V(.,y)$*, Manuscrit Avril 2005.
M. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Bonk</span>, J. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Heinonen</span> and P. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Koskela</span>, *Uniformizing Gromov hyperbolic spaces* Astérisque 270 (2001).
M. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Brelot</span>, *Eléments de la théorie classique du potentiel*. 3e édition. Les cours de Sorbonne. 3e cycle. Centre de Documentation Universitaire, Paris 1965.
M. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Brelot</span>, *Axiomatique des fonctions harmoniques*, Les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 1969.
B. E. J. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Dahlberg</span> *Estimates of harmonic measure.* Arch. Rational Mech. Anal. 65 (1977), no. 3, p. 275–288.
J. L. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Doob</span>, *Classical potential theory and its probabilistic counterpart*, Reprint of the 1984 edition, Classics in Mathematics, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2001.
E. B. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Dynkin</span>, *A new relation between diffusions and superdiffusions with applications to the equation $Lu=u^\alpha$*, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris Sér. I Math. 325 (1997), no. 4, 439–444.
E. B. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Dynkin</span>, *Diffusions, Superdiffusions and Partial Differential Equations*, A.M.S. Colloquium Publications, 50. A.M.S. Providence, RI, 2002.
E. B. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Dynkin</span>, *Superdiffusions and Positive solutions of nonlinear Partial Differential Equations*, University Lecture Series, 34. A.M.S. Providence, RI, 2004.
E. B. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Dynkin</span> and S. E. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Kuznetsov</span> *Fine topology and fine trace on the boundary associated with a class of semilinear differential equations*, Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 51 (1998), no. 8, 897–936.
R. A. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Hunt</span> and R. L. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Wheeden</span>, *On the boundary values of Harmonic functions.* Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 132 1968, p. 307–322.
R. A. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Hunt</span> and R. L. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Wheeden</span>, *Positive harmonic functions on Lipschitz domains.* Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 147 1970, p. 507-527.
J. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Kadlec</span> and A. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Kufner</span>, *Characterization of functions with zero traces by integrals with weight functions,* I. Časopis Pěst. Mat. 91 1966 463–471.
J. F. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Le Gall</span>, *The Brownian snake and solutions of $\Delta u=u^2$ in a domain*, Probab. Theory Related Fields 102 (1995), no. 3, 393–432.
M. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Marcus</span> and L. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Véron</span>, *Removable singularities and boundary traces*, [ J. Math. Pures Appl. 80]{}, 879-900 (2001).
M. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Marcus</span> and L. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Véron</span>, *The boundary trace and generalized boundary value problem for semilinear elliptic equations with a strong absorption*, [ Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 56]{}, 689-731 (2003).
M. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Marcus</span> and L. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Véron</span>, *The precise boundary trace of positive solutions of the equation $ \Delta u=u^q$ in the supercritical case,* [ Contemp. Math. 446]{}, 345-383 (2007).
M. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Marcus</span> and L. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Véron</span>, *Capacitary estimates of positive solutions of semilnear elliptic equations with absortions*, J. Eur. Math. Soc., 6, 483-527.
M. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Marcus</span> and L. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Véron</span>, *Boundary trace of positive solutions of semilinear elliptic equations in Lipschitz domains: the subcritical case*, ArXiv: 0907.1006v3, submitted.
B. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Mselati</span>, *Classification and probabilistic representation of the positive solutions of a semilinear elliptic equation*, Mem. Amer. Math. Soc. 168 (2004), no. 798.
R. S. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Martin</span>, *Minimal positive harmonic functions*, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 49, (1941). 137–172.
L. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Naïm</span>, *Sur le rôle de la frontière de R. S. Martin dans la théorie du Potentiel*, Ann. Inst. Fourier, vol 7, 1957, 183–281.
G. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Stampacchia</span>, *Formes bilinéaires coercitives sur les ensembles convexes*, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris 258 (1964), 4413–4416.
G. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Stampacchia</span>, *Le problème de Dirichlet pour les équations elliptiques du second ordre à coefficients discontinus*, Ann. Inst. Fourier, 15 (1) (1965), 189–258.
E. M. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Stein</span>, *Singular integrals and differentiability properties of functions*, Princeton Math. Series, No. 30 Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. 1970.
L. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Véron</span> and C. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Yarur</span>, *Boundary values problems for elliptic equations with singular potentials*, Appendix by A. <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Ancona</span>. J. of Functional Analysis. [*To appear.*]{}
[^1]: Mainly an annoying typo in Theorem 1.1 is corrected
[^2]: 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification 31C35, 31C25, 35J15, 35C15
|
Murray Valley encephalomyelitis in a horse.
A 5-year-old Thoroughbred mare presented with signs of severe pain and was taken to exploratory laparotomy based on suspicion of an acute abdominal lesion. A mild gastrointestinal lesion was discovered, but was considered disproportional to the severity of signs displayed. The mare was later euthanased because of intractable pain. Comprehensive postmortem examination, including polymerase chain reaction testing of central nervous system tissue samples, allowed a definitive diagnosis of Murray Valley encephalomyelitis to be made. This case demonstrates the variability of clinical presentations in horses infected with Murray Valley encephalitis virus. |
Ark: Survival Evolved game is announced
Studio Wildcard company has announced the new project in the survival genre. As it’s reported, the Ark: Survival Evolved game is being developed on the Unreal Engine 4 for such platforms as PC, PS4, Xbox One, Linux and Mac. The future project will have a quite scale open prehistoric world. And now, let’s find out more about its plot.
In the new Ark: Survival Evolved game, you’ll find yourself surrounded by a group of several other players on an island. You will have to get food, gather different resources in order to build shelters and find other items, which are necessary to survive in this area. But there’s another feature, which will differ this game from the other alike ones. You must hunt the dinosaurs, mammoths and other prehistoric creatures and tame them. According to the representatives of Studio Wildcard, the Ark: Survival Evolved game will be huge as for its content, open world, features and various technologies. It’s planned that firstly the upcoming project will come out in Early Access on Steam. It will happen already on June 2nd. The game’s early version will support mods, include 30 creatures, mythical monsters, food, water, two systems of temperature and weather as well as abilities to create and paint buildings, grow and gather the harvest.
The release of the project’s full version is set for June 2016. The developers state that on this date the Ark: Survival Evolved game will contain 70 animals, Oculus Rift support and more new features.
By the way, the forthcoming Ark: Survival Evolved game has already got the minimum system requirements. They look like this:
OS: Windows 7/8;
Processor: Dual-Core 64-bit with 2GHz;
RAM: 4GB;
Video card: compatible with DirectX 11 with 1GB VRAM;
DirectX: version 11;
Hard Drive: 20GB of free space.
And in conclusion, we’d like to share the Ark: Survival Evolved debut trailer and screenshots: |
Aerotoxic Association
The Aerotoxic Association was founded on 18 June 2007, at the British Houses of Parliament by former BAe 146 Training Captain John Hoyte, to raise public awareness about the ill health allegedly caused after exposure to airliner cabin air that he claimed been contaminated to toxic levels, by engine oil leaking into the bleed air system, which pressurizes all jet aircraft, with the exception of the Boeing 787.
In addition to providing help and support to aircrew and passengers, the Aerotoxic Association promotes known technical solutions, such as toxic air detectors, and campaigns for changes in regulations to improve the quality of cabin air on airliners.
The phrase "aerotoxic syndrome" was first coined by Chris Winder and Jean-Christophe Balouet in 2000, to describe the ill health allegedly caused by exposure to air which they claimed had been contaminated by jet engine oil.
this syndrome is not recognized in medicine.
Criticism
In contrast to the claims of the Aerotoxic Association "Studies such as the European CabinAir project have shown that normally the levels of chemical and biological contaminants in aircraft are less than in many work environments such as office buildings."
That report examined all exposures dating back to 1943 which showed that all documented exposures were to high concentrations, greatly in excess of the amount present in jet engine oil. He also noted that studies in Canada and the USA were unable to detect TCP in the cabin during flight. Prof Bagshaw notes that the symptoms are "largely the same as those reported by participants in all phase I drug trials", and are similar to the symptoms experienced by patients suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome, gulf war syndrome, Lyme disease, chronic stress and chronic hyperventilation.
"A syndrome is a symptom complex, consistent and common to a given condition. Sufferers of the 'aerotoxic syndrome' describe a wide range of inconsistent symptoms and signs with much individual variability. The evidence was independently reviewed by the Aerospace Medical Association, the US National Academy of Sciences and the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority Expert Panel. All concluded there is insufficient consistency to establish a medical syndrome and the 'aerotoxic syndrome' is not recognised in aviation medicine."
References
External links
Aerotoxic Association website
Category:Aerospace engineering organizations
Category:Aviation organisations based in the United Kingdom
Category:Environmental toxicology
Category:Air pollution
Category:Lobbying organisations in the United Kingdom
Category:2007 establishments in the United Kingdom
Category:Organizations established in 2007
Category:Toxicology in the United Kingdom |
#include <common.cxx>
#include <packet_factory.hpp>
#include <net/nat/nat.hpp>
using namespace net;
using namespace net::nat;
CASE("TCP NAT verifying rewrite and checksum")
{
// Socket
const Socket src{ip4::Addr{10,0,0,42},80};
const Socket dst{ip4::Addr{10,0,0,43},32222};
auto tcp = create_tcp_packet_init(src, dst);
EXPECT(tcp->source() == src);
EXPECT(tcp->destination() == dst);
// Update checksum
EXPECT(tcp->tcp_checksum() == 0);
tcp->set_tcp_checksum();
tcp->set_ip_checksum();
EXPECT(tcp->compute_tcp_checksum() == 0);
EXPECT(tcp->compute_ip_checksum() == 0);
// DNAT Socket
dnat(*tcp, src);
EXPECT(tcp->source() == src);
EXPECT(tcp->destination() == src);
EXPECT(tcp->compute_tcp_checksum() == 0);
EXPECT(tcp->compute_ip_checksum() == 0);
// revert
dnat(*tcp, dst);
EXPECT(tcp->source() == src);
EXPECT(tcp->destination() == dst);
EXPECT(tcp->compute_tcp_checksum() == 0);
EXPECT(tcp->compute_ip_checksum() == 0);
// SNAT Socket
snat(*tcp, dst);
EXPECT(tcp->source() == dst);
EXPECT(tcp->destination() == dst);
EXPECT(tcp->compute_tcp_checksum() == 0);
EXPECT(tcp->compute_ip_checksum() == 0);
// revert
snat(*tcp, src);
EXPECT(tcp->source() == src);
EXPECT(tcp->destination() == dst);
EXPECT(tcp->compute_tcp_checksum() == 0);
EXPECT(tcp->compute_ip_checksum() == 0);
// Address
const ip4::Addr dst_addr{10,10,10,10};
const ip4::Addr src_addr{10,0,0,1};
// DNAT Addr
dnat(*tcp, dst_addr);
EXPECT(tcp->ip_dst() == dst_addr);
EXPECT(tcp->dst_port() == dst.port());
EXPECT(tcp->source() == src);
EXPECT(tcp->compute_tcp_checksum() == 0);
EXPECT(tcp->compute_ip_checksum() == 0);
// SNAT Addr
snat(*tcp, src_addr);
EXPECT(tcp->ip_src() == src_addr);
EXPECT(tcp->src_port() == src.port());
EXPECT(tcp->compute_tcp_checksum() == 0);
EXPECT(tcp->compute_ip_checksum() == 0);
// Port
const uint16_t dst_port{12345};
const uint16_t src_port{6789};
// DNAT port
dnat(*tcp, dst_port);
EXPECT(tcp->ip_dst() == dst_addr);
EXPECT(tcp->dst_port() == dst_port);
EXPECT(tcp->compute_tcp_checksum() == 0);
EXPECT(tcp->compute_ip_checksum() == 0);
// SNAT port
snat(*tcp, src_port);
EXPECT(tcp->ip_src() == src_addr);
EXPECT(tcp->src_port() == src_port);
EXPECT(tcp->compute_tcp_checksum() == 0);
EXPECT(tcp->compute_ip_checksum() == 0);
}
CASE("UDP NAT verifying rewrite")
{
// Socket
const Socket src{ip4::Addr{10,0,0,42},80};
const Socket dst{ip4::Addr{10,0,0,43},32222};
auto udp = create_udp_packet_init(src, dst);
EXPECT(udp->source() == src);
EXPECT(udp->destination() == dst);
// Update checksum
udp->set_ip_checksum();
EXPECT(udp->compute_ip_checksum() == 0);
// DNAT Socket
dnat(*udp, src);
EXPECT(udp->source() == src);
EXPECT(udp->destination() == src);
EXPECT(udp->compute_ip_checksum() == 0);
// revert
dnat(*udp, dst);
EXPECT(udp->source() == src);
EXPECT(udp->destination() == dst);
EXPECT(udp->compute_ip_checksum() == 0);
// SNAT Socket
snat(*udp, dst);
EXPECT(udp->source() == dst);
EXPECT(udp->destination() == dst);
EXPECT(udp->compute_ip_checksum() == 0);
// revert
snat(*udp, src);
EXPECT(udp->source() == src);
EXPECT(udp->destination() == dst);
EXPECT(udp->compute_ip_checksum() == 0);
// Address
const ip4::Addr dst_addr{10,10,10,10};
const ip4::Addr src_addr{10,0,0,1};
// DNAT Addr
dnat(*udp, dst_addr);
EXPECT(udp->ip_dst() == dst_addr);
EXPECT(udp->dst_port() == dst.port());
EXPECT(udp->source() == src);
EXPECT(udp->compute_ip_checksum() == 0);
// SNAT Addr
snat(*udp, src_addr);
EXPECT(udp->ip_src() == src_addr);
EXPECT(udp->src_port() == src.port());
EXPECT(udp->compute_ip_checksum() == 0);
// Port
const uint16_t dst_port{12345};
const uint16_t src_port{6789};
// DNAT port
dnat(*udp, dst_port);
EXPECT(udp->ip_dst() == dst_addr);
EXPECT(udp->dst_port() == dst_port);
EXPECT(udp->compute_ip_checksum() == 0);
// SNAT port
snat(*udp, src_port);
EXPECT(udp->ip_src() == src_addr);
EXPECT(udp->src_port() == src_port);
EXPECT(udp->compute_ip_checksum() == 0);
}
#include <net/ip4/packet_icmp4.hpp>
CASE("ICMP NAT verifying rewrite")
{
const ip4::Addr src{10,0,0,42};
const ip4::Addr dst{10,0,0,43};
auto icmp = icmp4::Packet(create_ip4_packet_init(src, dst));
auto& ip4 = icmp.ip();
ip4.set_protocol(Protocol::ICMPv4);
ip4.set_ip_checksum();
EXPECT(ip4.compute_ip_checksum() == 0);
EXPECT(ip4.ip_src() == src);
EXPECT(ip4.ip_dst() == dst);
// DNAT Addr
dnat(ip4, src);
EXPECT(ip4.ip_src() == src);
EXPECT(ip4.ip_dst() == src);
EXPECT(ip4.compute_ip_checksum() == 0);
// SNAT Addr
snat(ip4, dst);
EXPECT(ip4.ip_src() == dst);
EXPECT(ip4.ip_dst() == src);
EXPECT(ip4.compute_ip_checksum() == 0);
const Socket sock{ip4::Addr{10,10,10,10},80};
// Socket does nothing (unsupported)
dnat(ip4, sock);
EXPECT(ip4.ip_src() == dst);
EXPECT(ip4.ip_dst() == src);
EXPECT(ip4.compute_ip_checksum() == 0);
snat(ip4, sock);
EXPECT(ip4.ip_src() == dst);
EXPECT(ip4.ip_dst() == src);
EXPECT(ip4.compute_ip_checksum() == 0);
// Port does nothing (unsupported)
const auto csum = ip4.ip_checksum();
dnat(ip4, sock.port());
EXPECT(ip4.ip_src() == dst);
EXPECT(ip4.ip_dst() == src);
EXPECT(ip4.ip_checksum() == csum);
snat(ip4, sock.port());
EXPECT(ip4.ip_src() == dst);
EXPECT(ip4.ip_dst() == src);
EXPECT(ip4.ip_checksum() == csum);
}
|
Bedside assessment of total systemic vascular compliance, stressed volume, and cardiac function curves in intensive care unit patients.
Mean systemic filling pressure (Pmsf) can be measured at the bedside with minimally invasive monitoring in ventilator-dependent patients using inspiratory hold maneuvers (Pmsf(hold)) as the zero flow intercept of cardiac output (CO) to central venous pressure (CVP) relation. We compared Pmsf(hold) with arm vascular equilibrium pressure during vascular occlusion (Pmsf(arm)) and their ability to assess systemic vascular compliance (Csys) and stressed volume by intravascular fluid administration. In mechanically ventilated postoperative cardiac surgery patients, inspiratory holds at varying airway pressures and arm stop-flow maneuvers were performed during normovolemia and after each of 10 sequential 50-mL bolus colloid infusions. We measured CVP, Pmsf(arm), stroke volume, and CO during fluid administration steps to construct CVP to CO (cardiac function) curves and Δvolume/ΔPmsf (compliance) curves. Pmsf(hold) was measured before and after fluid administration. Stressed volume was determined by extrapolating the Pmsf-volume curve to zero pressure intercept. Fifteen patients were included. Pmsf(hold) and Pmsf(arm) were closely correlated. Csys was linear (64.3 ± 32.7 mL · mm Hg(-1), 0.97 ± 0.49 mL · mm Hg(-1) · kg(-1) predicted body weight). Stressed volume was estimated to be 1265 ± 541 mL (28.5% ± 15% predicted total blood volume). Cardiac function curves of patients with an increase of >12% to 500 mL volume extension (volume responsive) were steep, whereas the cardiac function curves of the remaining patients were flat. Csys, stressed volume, and cardiac function curves can be determined at the bedside and can be used to characterize patients' hemodynamic status. |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, and more particularly to such image processing apparatus capable of extracting a particular image area and a process therefor.
2. Related Background Art
For the purpose of image synthesis, it is necessary to extract particular image areas from various images. The extracted image area will be hereinafter called the object area, and the remaining area will be called the background area. A conventional method consists of cutting out the object area with a cutter, or painting the background area with a brush; and such operation requires considerable skill as well as significant time and labor. However, such drawbacks are prevented by a recently developed apparatus in which an image area extraction can be achieved on a display, for example, with a digitizer or the like. Such apparatus is advantageous in that the extraction can be made on an enlarged display image and that an error in operation can be easily corrected, but delicate and precise extraction still requires skill and labor.
Therefore, for automating such image extraction there have been proposed a method of extracting the edge of an object area, and a method of extracting an object area by the uniformity of three primary colors, red, green and blue. The former edge extraction method consists of conducting an edge enhancement, and painting uniformly the interior of the thus obtained edge line. However, such painting step is sometimes difficult because the edge line does not necessarily define a closed area. Also, there remains a problem of how to treat the unnecessary edge line formed for example by a noise component in the image. The latter, three primary color method extracts the object area by reading the three primary color values of a pixel and by judging whether said values are close to those of a neighboring pixel. However, this method does not allow approximate extraction of the object area since the three primary color values vary considerably, even for the skin color of a human face, for example between the nose in the sunlight and the forehead shadowed by the hair. |
Il dipartimento di visualizzazione scientifica della Nasa ha realizzato un kit da utilizzare nei software di computer grafica, che permette la riproduzione fedele in tre dimensioni della Luna. Per lo scopo sono state utilizzate le immagini e i dati altimetrici della sonda Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
Ammirare la Luna piena in una notte d’estate, comodamente distesi sulla spiaggia, con il suono del mare ad accompagnare pensieri celesti. È un immaginario comune, che senz’altro aggiunge poesia al già straordinario spettacolo che il nostro satellite ci regala ogni mese. Negli ultimi decenni possiamo vivere questa magia anche in una serata di pioggia, standocene comodamente seduti su una poltrona e, grazie a una connessione internet, ammirare le immagini che le sonde e le missioni Apollo hanno donato all’umanità.
Tuttavia le fotografie, per quanto straordinarie, restano comunque confinate alle due dimensioni spaziali. Anche se viste alla massima risoluzione, non abbiamo la percezione delle distanze né delle altitudini. Un modello tridimensionale della Luna sarebbe certamente un enorme passo in avanti. Ed è proprio quello che ha realizzato Ernest Wright alla Nasa, in forze al Scientific Visualization Studio, la divisione che si occupa nel rendere in immagini e animazioni i contenuti scientifici prodotti dall’agenzia spaziale americana.
Wright ha sfruttato i dati della sonda statunitense Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (Lro), utilizzando immagini e misure altimetriche per realizzare un modello tridimensionale della Luna. Inizialmente si trattava di un progetto interno al Visualization Studio ma in seguito, vista la mole di richieste, Wright ha deciso di condividere gratuitamente la sua creazione con il grande pubblico. Il modello è rivolto in particolare agli artisti digitali che utilizzano le immagini generate al computer (Cgi, computer-generated imagery). Il progetto si è concretizzato nella realizzazione del Cgi Moon Kit, il cui scopo è fare in modo che «i dati di Lro raggiungano molti altri artisti che vogliono fare le cose che faccio io», come afferma lo stesso Wright.
Il kit è composto da due grosse immagini: una mappa dei colori, realizzata a partire da più di centomila fotografie scattate dalla camera ad ampio angolo della Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (Lroc), e una mappa di elevazione, ottenuta a partire dai dati altimetrici dello strumento Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (Lola). Le due immagini devono essere combinate assieme mediante un software di rendering tridimensionale.
La camera Lroc funziona come uno scanner: passa in rassegna la superficie lunare man mano che l’astronave orbita attorno alla Luna. Non è un compito facile: immaginate di dover scattare una fotografia un oggetto tridimensionale, da un’altitudine media di circa cento chilometri con una precisione di mezzo metro per pixel, mentre viaggiate a poco meno di seimila chilometri orari. In tutto ciò, la sorgente luminosa è a poco meno di 150 milioni di chilometri di distanza. Le immagini di Lroc coprono il globo lunare in un intervallo di latitudine che va da 70° Nord a 70° Sud.
Il Lola usa il laser per misurare le dimensioni della Luna: un impulso viene inviato verso la superficie lunare, dove viene riflesso e in pochi nanosecondi rimbalza verso la sonda. Cronometrando il tempo impiegato dal laser per tornare su Lro, si è in grado di ricostruire con precisione il profilo altimetrico del suolo.
Dal 2009, anno del suo lancio, a oggi, Lro ha prodotto un’enorme quantità di dati che sono sempre stati disponibili in rete. Tuttavia, senza una conoscenza adeguata della tecnologia della sonda, queste informazioni sono difficilmente interpretabili. Il modello tridimensionale elaborato da Wright permette di rendere accessibili questi dati anche a chi non ha una preparazione scientifica.
«Può aiutare a raccontare una storia utilizzando i dati di Lro e di illustrare idee e concetti difficili da comunicare, qualsiasi possa essere la storia», commenta Noah Petro, scienziato della missione Lro, a proposito del lavoro di Wright. «Penso che possa aiutarci a comunicare quello che facciamo molto meglio rispetto a quanto faremmo noi da soli».
Il kit lunare può aiutare gli scienziati della Nasa anche nella preparazione del programma Artemis. Infatti, grazie al modello creato da Wright, sarà possibile simulare come sembreranno alcune aree della Luna nel 2024, anno in cui è previso l’allunaggio del prossimo uomo e della prima donna.
Per saperne di più: |
# See the file LICENSE for redistribution information.
#
# Copyright (c) 2001, 2015 Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
#
# $Id$
#
# TEST si001
# TEST Secondary index put/delete with lorder test
# TEST
# TEST Put data in primary db and check that pget on secondary
# TEST index finds the right entries. Alter the primary in the
# TEST following ways, checking for correct data each time:
# TEST Overwrite data in primary database.
# TEST Delete half of entries through primary.
# TEST Delete half of remaining entries through secondary.
# TEST Append data (for record-based primaries only).
proc si001 { methods {nentries 200} {tnum "001"} args } {
source ./include.tcl
global dict nsecondaries
global default_pagesize
# Primary method/args.
set pmethod [lindex $methods 0]
set pargs [convert_args $pmethod $args]
if [big_endian] {
set nativeargs " -lorder 4321"
set swappedargs " -lorder 1234"
} else {
set swappedargs " -lorder 4321"
set nativeargs " -lorder 1234"
}
set argtypes "{$nativeargs} {$swappedargs}"
set pomethod [convert_method $pmethod]
# Renumbering recno databases can't be used as primaries.
if { [is_rrecno $pmethod] == 1 } {
puts "Skipping si$tnum for method $pmethod"
return
}
# Method/args for all the secondaries. If only one method
# was specified, assume the same method (for btree or hash)
# and a standard number of secondaries. If primary is not
# btree or hash, force secondaries to be one btree, one hash.
set methods [lrange $methods 1 end]
if { [llength $methods] == 0 } {
for { set i 0 } { $i < $nsecondaries } { incr i } {
if { [is_btree $pmethod] || [is_hash $pmethod] } {
lappend methods $pmethod
} else {
if { [expr $i % 2] == 0 } {
lappend methods "-btree"
} else {
lappend methods "-hash"
}
}
}
}
set argses [convert_argses $methods $args]
set omethods [convert_methods $methods]
set mutexargs " -mutex_set_max 10000 "
if { $default_pagesize <= 2048 } {
set mutexargs "-mutex_set_max 40000 "
}
# If we are given an env, use it. Otherwise, open one.
set eindex [lsearch -exact $args "-env"]
if { $eindex == -1 } {
env_cleanup $testdir
set cacheargs " -cachesize {0 4194304 1} "
set env [eval {berkdb_env} -create \
$cacheargs $mutexargs -home $testdir]
error_check_good env_open [is_valid_env $env] TRUE
} else {
incr eindex
set env [lindex $args $eindex]
set envflags [$env get_open_flags]
if { [lsearch -exact $envflags "-thread"] != -1 &&\
[is_queue $pmethod] == 1 } {
puts "Skipping si$tnum for threaded env"
return
}
set testdir [get_home $env]
}
set pname "primary$tnum.db"
set snamebase "secondary$tnum"
foreach pbyteargs $argtypes {
foreach sbyteargs $argtypes {
if { $pbyteargs == $nativeargs } {
puts "Si$tnum: Using native\
byteorder $nativeargs for primary."
} else {
puts "Si$tnum: Using swapped\
byteorder $swappedargs for primary."
}
if { $sbyteargs == $nativeargs } {
puts "Si$tnum: Using native\
byteorder $nativeargs for secondaries."
} else {
puts "Si$tnum: Using swapped\
byteorder $swappedargs for secondaries."
}
puts "si$tnum\
\{\[ list $pmethod $methods \]\} $nentries"
cleanup $testdir $env
# Open primary.
set pdb [eval {berkdb_open -create -env} $env \
$pomethod $pargs $pbyteargs $pname]
error_check_good primary_open [is_valid_db $pdb] TRUE
# Open and associate the secondaries
set sdbs {}
for { set i 0 } \
{ $i < [llength $omethods] } { incr i } {
set sdb [eval {berkdb_open -create -env} $env \
[lindex $omethods $i] [lindex $argses $i] \
$sbyteargs $snamebase.$i.db]
error_check_good\
second_open($i) [is_valid_db $sdb] TRUE
error_check_good db_associate($i) \
[$pdb associate [callback_n $i] $sdb] 0
lappend sdbs $sdb
}
puts "\tSi$tnum.a: Put loop"
set did [open $dict]
for { set n 0 } \
{ [gets $did str] != -1 && $n < $nentries } \
{ incr n } {
if { [is_record_based $pmethod] == 1 } {
set key [expr $n + 1]
set datum $str
} else {
set key $str
gets $did datum
}
set keys($n) $key
set data($n) [pad_data $pmethod $datum]
set ret [eval {$pdb put}\
{$key [chop_data $pmethod $datum]}]
error_check_good put($n) $ret 0
}
close $did
check_secondaries\
$pdb $sdbs $nentries keys data "Si$tnum.a"
puts "\tSi$tnum.b: Put/overwrite loop"
for { set n 0 } { $n < $nentries } { incr n } {
set newd $data($n).$keys($n)
set ret [eval {$pdb put}\
{$keys($n) [chop_data $pmethod $newd]}]
error_check_good put_overwrite($n) $ret 0
set data($n) [pad_data $pmethod $newd]
}
check_secondaries\
$pdb $sdbs $nentries keys data "Si$tnum.b"
# Delete the second half of the entries through
# the primary. We do the second half so we can
# just pass keys(0 ... n/2) to check_secondaries.
set half [expr $nentries / 2]
puts "\tSi$tnum.c:\
Primary delete loop: deleting $half entries"
for { set n $half } { $n < $nentries } { incr n } {
set ret [$pdb del $keys($n)]
error_check_good pdel($n) $ret 0
}
check_secondaries\
$pdb $sdbs $half keys data "Si$tnum.c"
# Check that the nooverwrite flags functions
# properly by trying to overwrite one key that
# still exists and one key that has been deleted.
puts "\tSi$tnum.c1:\
Check -nooverwrite on existing key."
set ret [eval {$pdb put} -nooverwrite \
{$keys(1) [chop_data $pmethod "otherdata"]}]
set ret [$pdb get $keys(1)]
set got_data [lindex [lindex $ret 0] 1]
error_check_good got_data $got_data $data(1)
puts "\tSi$tnum.c2:\
Check -nooverwrite on deleted key."
set ret [eval {$pdb put} -nooverwrite \
{$keys([expr $n - 1]) [chop_data $pmethod "otherdata"]}]
set ret [$pdb get $keys([expr $n - 1])]
set got_data [lindex [lindex $ret 0] 1]
error_check_good \
got_data $got_data [pad_data $pmethod "otherdata"]
# Clean up the entry for the nooverwrite test.
set ret [$pdb del $keys([expr $n - 1])]
# Delete half of what's left through
# the first secondary.
set quar [expr $half / 2]
puts "\tSi$tnum.d:\
Secondary delete loop: deleting $quar entries"
set sdb [lindex $sdbs 0]
set callback [callback_n 0]
for { set n $quar } { $n < $half } { incr n } {
set skey [$callback $keys($n)\
[pad_data $pmethod $data($n)]]
set ret [$sdb del $skey]
error_check_good sdel($n) $ret 0
}
check_secondaries\
$pdb $sdbs $quar keys data "Si$tnum.d"
set left $quar
# For queue and recno only, test append, adding
# back a quarter of the original number of entries.
if { [is_record_based $pmethod] == 1 &&
[is_heap $pmethod] == 0} {
set did [open $dict]
puts "\tSi$tnum.e:\
Append loop: append $quar entries"
for { set n 0 } { $n < $nentries } { incr n } {
# Skip over the dictionary entries
# we've already used.
gets $did str
}
for { set n $quar } \
{ [gets $did str] != -1 && $n < $half } \
{ incr n } {
set key [expr $n + 1]
set datum $str
set keys($n) $key
set data($n) [pad_data $pmethod $datum]
set ret [eval {$pdb put} \
{$key [chop_data $pmethod $datum]}]
error_check_good put($n) $ret 0
}
close $did
check_secondaries\
$pdb $sdbs $half keys data "Si$tnum.e"
set left $half
}
puts "\tSi$tnum.f:\
Truncate primary, check secondaries are empty."
error_check_good truncate [$pdb truncate] $left
foreach sdb $sdbs {
set scursor [$sdb cursor]
error_check_good\
db_cursor [is_substr $scursor $sdb] 1
set ret [$scursor get -first]
error_check_good\
sec_empty [string length $ret] 0
error_check_good cursor_close [$scursor close] 0
}
puts "\tSi$tnum.g: Closing/disassociating primary first"
error_check_good primary_close [$pdb close] 0
foreach sdb $sdbs {
error_check_good secondary_close [$sdb close] 0
}
# Don't close the env if this test was given one.
# Skip the test of truncating the secondary since
# we can't close and reopen the outside env.
if { $eindex == -1 } {
error_check_good env_close [$env close] 0
# Reopen with _noerr for test of
# truncate secondary.
puts "\tSi$tnum.h:\
Truncate secondary (should fail)"
set env [eval {berkdb_env_noerr}\
-create $mutexargs -home $testdir]
error_check_good\
env_open [is_valid_env $env] TRUE
set pdb [eval {berkdb_open_noerr -create -env}\
$env $pomethod $pargs $pname]
set sdb [eval {berkdb_open_noerr -create -env}\
$env [lindex $omethods 0]\
[lindex $argses 0] $snamebase.0.db ]
$pdb associate [callback_n 0] $sdb
set ret [catch {$sdb truncate} ret]
error_check_good trunc_secondary $ret 1
error_check_good primary_close [$pdb close] 0
error_check_good secondary_close [$sdb close] 0
}
}
}
# If this test made the last env, close it.
if { $eindex == -1 } {
error_check_good env_close [$env close] 0
}
}
|
The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Chicago Bulls. All opinions expressed by Sam Smith are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Chicago Bulls or its Basketball Operations staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors. His sources are not known to the Bulls and he has no special access to information beyond the access and privileges that go along with being an NBA accredited member of the media.
By Sam Smith | 11.23.2014 | 12:35 p.m. CT
You’re going to love this guy.
I’m being won over as probably others are with Bulls rookie Nikola Mirotic, emerging thus far as one of the few positives in a growingly negative 1-2 road trip. And Mirotic should be an important addition this week with the big man breakdowns as Taj Gibson likely will be out with a sprained ankle and perhaps Pau Gasol still with a sore calf. That while Joakim Noah continues to battle back from off season knee surgery and playing time limitations.
Give me your energetic, your promising, your huddled masses yearning to catch and shoot.
Hello, Niko.
“Let’s think another game and hope Taj going to return, Derrick and Pau fast,” added Mirotic, the Serbian native who doesn’t quite speak perfect English yet in his first months in the U.S., but who is proving easy to understand both off and on the court.
Mirotic was the lone light on a dark Friday night in Portland for the Bulls with 24 points and 11 rebounds in the Bulls 105-87 loss when Gibson joined the injured group. And in taking up for Gasol and now Gibson, Mirotic has been one of the best on the 1-2 road trip, averaging 14.3 points and 7.7 rebounds on 50 percent shooting in 23 minutes per game in the three contests. He is averaging 5.6 points and 3.8 assists for the season, though in limited play in half the games.
It’s more than impressive NBA potential as an excellent shooter at 6-10, but also with a keen ability to put the ball on the floor and pass off the dribble. Mirotic plays out of control at times and defensively has a bit of the wild crane game with arms flailing and fouls coming in attempts to track down his assignment.
It’s Mirotic’s hooping insouciance combined with a wide eyed innocence and determination to please and succeed that stamps him with a seal of welcome. You want someone like him on your team.
“Niko competed hard and is somebody who is a difference maker on the offensive end,” Noah said after Friday’s loss. “He can score the ball, he can shoot, can pass. He’s getting better every day. That’s good for us.”
We tend to scrutinize young players well beyond reason or reasonable proportion. NBA life becomes a significant adjustment for every young man, even more so when player comes from a different country. The U.S. rookies tend to have a harder edge from the years of AAU competition and corruption and then big time collegiate ball, a sometimes sneering acknowledgement they’ve seen it all and a resolute exterior that doesn’t like to admit they might not have.
So sometimes there’s this refreshing virtue with players from overseas, who are not always easily accepted in the NBA. Not because of the bias that once existed from resentment of jobs supposedly being stolen but more a language and culture barrier.
Like Gasol and Noah, Mirotic will do interviews in multiple languages, the few he does, anyway.
Mirotic has been willingly cooperative, though little called upon from media given the stars around him and the early misfortunes of the Bulls.
So there’s been the arm’s length analysis of his game. One frequent observation has been his tendency to pass up shots with pump fakes and sometimes end up with a much poorer attempt or forced pass. One of coach Tom Thibodeau’s rules always has been to take the best shot.
So after Mirotic’s best game of the season Friday as he dawdled late in the locker room, I asked him about that pump fake. One of the methods for reporting is to make the question general to not put yourself in the story, which is what I am doing here, however.
So I said something like fans asking about his tendency to pump fake, which many have.
“I know sometimes you don’t like that,” Mirotic said with a smile.
I had to admit being surprised as players usually don’t read much about themselves unless it’s harshly critical and then usually just parts. And almost never do they admit to reading it, and rarely ever suggestions about play.
You know the line: You didn’t play the game.
“Yes, I read,” Mirotic said with a smile.
He smiles often.
“It’s true sometimes I fake a lot of shots because sometimes I am thinking a lot,” he said. “I know I don’t need to think (so much); like, just play basketball. But I do that because a lot of times I shoot; they jump and I try to do one more pass. Today was better. I take more shots; no pump fakes. Just shoot the ball. I like that.”
Not that any of us are teaching basketball; that’s for the coaches and they say Mirotic is an eager and willing student.
Also, the language. It’s a difficult decision quoting someone when English is not their first language. You know, like with Richard J. Daley, our former mayor about who it was famously said never came out of the same sentence he went into.
So the writers would clear up the grammar somewhat in the quotes. You know they did that with Ozzie Guillen or none of it would make sense. Quotes are supposed to be inviolate, but media also is the art of communication. So you help out. You want to with someone like Mirotic, but you can also tell he’s working diligently on English and he’s really developed quickly. I personally have great regard for international players who come to the NBA and adjust to the language so readily. Mirotic is making terrific progress and is already an entertauining English interview. In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll admit I chose accounting as my college major because it was the only subject that didn’t require taking another language.
It’s not easy to decide in which order to put the adjectives and nouns. So I can appreciate not being able to get the articles, adverbs and pronouns so quickly.
But Mirotic is getting the basketball and with the injuries coming fast for the Bulls his learning curve is likely to be expedited.
Mirotic is an unusual talent with his pure shooting ability from long range (11 of 28 on threes overall for 39 percent and six of 14 the last three games) to go along with toughness, a welcoming combination of skill and scuff. He’s not afraid to drive the ball and has taken some hard hits at the basket while still getting off shots. He’s almost made some amazing shots with serpentine twists at the rim.
“I like to do these (drive) shots, especially when I penetrate,” said Mirotic. “I am not just shooter. I know I can put the ball on the floor. I’m running on floor too, so no good just to be shooter; try to do a lot of things.”
It’s a process, of course, as Mirotic has proven foul prone, common for young players.
“I thought (Mirotic) played with a lot of toughness,” Thibodeau said after Friday’s game. “He’s not hesitating. He’s letting it go, putting it on the floor, making plays. It’s the other end we have to continue to work on. I've got to get him to concentrate more on body position and not reach as much, the foul troubles and also what it’s leading to; it’s leading to other people getting in foul trouble (by helping). We’ve got to correct that.”
But Mirotic seems a quick study. He appears to have gained the confidence of Thibodeau as much as any rookie in Thibodeau’s tenure and has a strong sense of team.
“I was feeling good today,” Mirotic told reporters after Friday’s game, though with the appropriate respect for the blowout loss. “My teammates, they find me great today. We share very good. It was good game for me, but the big thing we lost; doesn’t matter I score 24 points. We lost. I don’t care about points, really. People know sometimes before this game I take a shot, I didn’t take a shot, I pass the ball when I see some open player. Today was to take more shots. I was feeling like more confidence. It was important to me to play more minutes, to score more points. But I really always think about the team. I no player just want to score. No, no. First the team and after team, me.”
Mirotic is married with a young child, and life in a new country is always difficult, though he is worldly having been born in Montenegro and playing professionally in Spain. It’s not a Bulls group that runs around much together with veterans who are established in their ways.
“Tough really (to adapt),” Mirotic conceded. “Especially now in the beginning; everything for me it’s new, new life, new city. I came here with my family. I love it so far.
I think Chicago is perfect city. I am with perfect team, perfect situation. I know I am growing like a player every day. I am working hard. My teammates, they help me every day. Coach, too. Just I need to be patient and I need to work hard and try to help my teammates to win more games.
“Pau he helped me a lot,” added Mirotic, filling out his beard as well. “First, because he’s from Spain we spoke in Spanish. As a player, he has lot for experience. He not just helps me, helps all the team. I feel really lucky to have him in locker room. What I am doing now, this process, he do this 10 years ago.
“Of course, defense I need to improve,” Mirotic agreed. “I need to communicate more with my teammates, especially in the pick and rolls. I need to be more strong. I need to work more on my body (he’s 6-10 and listed at 220). I am really working; every day I lift and I know everything going to come. Most important thing, stay positive and working hard and I need to rebound more. I am big guy. I know a lot of times coach tell me, ‘Niko, we need rebounds.’ I know that I need to improve on this.
“Especially the bench, we need to play hard,” Mirotic continued. “We need to forget this game, think next game. We are a very good team, especially on the road. We need to keep playing good like a team, believe in ourself and play like we know.”
You know Jerry’s mom would agree, “How can anyone not like him?” |
Kyah Keen To Represent Sky Blues In 15/16
With round one of the Westfield W-League kicking off on Sunday, Sydney FC’s Kyah Simon said she’s eager to get back out on the park representing the Sky Blues.
The FIFA Women’s World Cup star said Sydney FC have the quality this season to challenge for the title as she praised the combination of young and experienced players in Head Coach Dan Barrett’s squad this season.
“I can’t wait to be playing for Sydney FC again, on home soil, home city as well in front of family and friends,” she said.
“It’s very exciting and being back with the same group as well and starting the W-League which I haven’t for the last couple of years through injury, I just can’t wait for it to get underway.
“I think we’ve definitely got some quality from the young players coming in to the experienced players, I think with the combination of the two we can really play some good football,” she continued.
“It’s going to come from us players and seeing what we can develop and how we can gel as a team but I’m confident in the ability that we’ve got and it’s just a matter of putting it together on the day and obviously outplaying our opponents.”
Having little time to rest between representing the Westfield Matildas and competing in the United States’ NWSL, Simon said she’s happy with her busy routine as she set her sights on first round opponents, newly assembled Melbourne City FC and their star studded line up.
“It’s a challenge when you’re so nonstop and there’s not really an offseason,” she said.
“I had about 8 to 10 days break where I could just park my brain and mentally give myself a rest as well as physically but I’m back on home soil and back into it straight away.
“It’s keeping me busy which I do like and I’m just happy to be back on the park.
“Melbourne City are going to be a very tough team,” she continued.
“They’ve got a very stacked team and I guess in saying that they will have that extra bit of pressure because of the players they’ve got on paper.
“We’re not looking too much at them though, we’re more so looking at our team and having the confidence in our ability that we can go out there and compete with any team in the W-League.”
Sydney FC’s Westfield W-League squad kick off the season at home to Melbourne City FC at Lambert Park, Leichhardt this Sunday (kick off 5:30pm). Become a Westfield W-League Member today or purchase your tickets at the gates and support the girls this season.
Sydney FC Memberships are now on sale for the 2015/16 season. Click HERE to become part of the Sky Blues family |
Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress - Sally B
From 1942 until the end of the aerial bombing offensive against the Third Reich in April 1945, the B-17 Flying Fortress along with its sister, the B-24 Liberator, carried the day light bombing offensive to the heart of the Third Reich. Flying in daylight often without fighter support, casualties were heavy through the campaign with 79,000 aircrew being lost. So as a fitting tribute to these brave airmen, Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress - Sally B, is flown as a memorial at airshows all over the UK and Europe. Sally B was built as B-17G at the Lockheed-Vega plant located in Burbank California. The B-17 was one of the last of its type built and was accepted into USAF service with the serial number 44-85784 in June 1945. By this time the European war had ended so Sally was modified to become a training aircraft with the designation TB-17G. From November 1945 Sally B was based at Wright Field Ohio.
Sally B was operated by the 2750th Air Base Group and was modified again to become a test aircraft with the designation EB-17G. The aircraft was involved in a number of tests of which little has come to light. In 1954, with her test days over, the B-17 was returned to standard configuration at Hill Air Force Base.
In November 1954 Sally B went to France to fly with Institut Geographic National (IGN). The IGN flew a number of B-17's on survey and mapping works. This continued until the 1970's when the B-17's were retired as spares and operating costs were becoming too high.
In March 1975, businessman Ted White brought the B-17 to the UK and she was based, as now, at Duxford. The aircraft's first public air display was at the 1975 Biggin Hill Airshow. In 1980 Ted White and Elly Sallingboe formed the Sally B Supporters Club which over the years have proved to be the lifeblood in the operation of the aircraft. In 1982 tragedy struck when Ted was killed whilst flying a Havard in Malta. Elly and the team were devastated by this but continued to fly the B-17. In Ted's memory the B-17's starboard inner engine cowling carries the same black and yellow chequered markings, as were applied to his Harvard.
Despite major setbacks such as problems with the engines and lack of funds, Sally B today continues to fly. Charitable status has opened up new areas of funding which has kept the aircraft in the air. In March 2000 the B-17 Charitable Trust was formed. It must be remembered the constant effort that is put in by the Trust, to allow this flying memorial to continue to grace our skies. |
29 Ill. App.2d 429 (1961)
173 N.E.2d 839
City of Champaign, a Municipal Corporation, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
John P. Hill et al., Defendants-Appellees.
Gen. No. 10,319.
Illinois Appellate Court Third District.
February 21, 1961.
Rehearing denied May 2, 1961.
*430 *431 *432 Albert Tuxhorn, City Attorney, and Charles L. Palmer, Assistant City Attorney, of Champaign, for appellant.
Robert W. McDonald, State's Attorney, of Urbana, for appellees.
REYNOLDS, J.
This is an action asking for a declaratory judgment construing and interpreting Section 235, Subsection (a) 1, Article XVII of the Uniform Act Regulating Traffic, Chapter 95 1/2, Illinois Revised Statutes. The plaintiff is a municipal corporation, and the defendants are the County Clerk, County Treasurer and State's Attorney of Champaign County, Illinois. The cause arose when one William Fox was arrested within the city limits of the plaintiff city, by plaintiff's police officers. One of the plaintiff's officers signed an information charging the said Fox with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the Uniform Act Regulating Traffic. The defendant Fox pleaded guilty and was convicted of the charge in the County Court of Champaign County, fined $100.00 and the fine was paid to the County Clerk of the County. Plaintiff city claims the fine money under the provisions and terms of said Section 235, Subsection (a) 1. Demand was made upon the defendants for the fine money and they refused to pay it over to the city. Thereupon suit was instituted by the city for the construction *433 and interpretation of the Statute by means of a declaratory judgment. The trial court allowed a motion by the defendants to dismiss the complaint of the city, but this order was subsequently vacated and judgment was finally entered by the trial court denying plaintiff's motion for a summary judgment, and barring the city from further action in the case. From that order the plaintiff appeals to this court.
It is not questioned that the violation occurred within the city limits, or that the city officers followed the case by one of them signing a criminal information in the county court, charging the defendant Fox with driving while intoxicated. The only question thus presented to this court is the construction of the language of the section in question, namely Section 235(a) 1, of Chapter 95 1/2 Illinois Revised Statutes. The language of the section in dispute is as follows:
"235 #138. Disposition of fines and forfeitures.
(a) Fines and penalties recovered under the provisions of this Act shall be paid over and used as follows:
1. For offenses committed upon a highway within the limits of a city, village or incorporated town or under the jurisdiction of any park district, to the treasurer of the particular city, village, incorporated town or park district, if the violator was arrested by the authorities of the city, village, incorporated town or park district, provided the police officers and officials of cities, villages, incorporated towns and park districts shall seasonably prosecute for all fines and penalties under this Act. If the violation is prosecuted by the authorities of the county, any fines or penalties *434 recovered shall be paid to the County Treasurer."
The subsection in question was part of the original motor vehicle act enacted in 1935. The original form of the subsection provided that fines and penalties recovered under the Act, for offenses committed upon a highway within the limits of a city, village, incorporated town, or under the jurisdiction of a park district should be paid over to the treasurer of the particular city, village, incorporated town or park district.
In 1941, the subsection was amended to only apply to traffic violations committed within the limits of a city, village or incorporated town of 500,000 or more population.
In 1943, the subsection was amended, by taking out the 500,000 or more population requirement, and adding that the violator must be arrested by the authorities of the city, village, incorporated town or park district, and further requiring that the officials of the city, village, incorporated town or park district should seasonably prosecute for all fines and penalties under the act.
In 1951, the subsection was amended and the part that the local officials must make the arrest was dropped.
In 1953, the subsection was amended and the part requiring the arrest by local officials was again put in the subsection.
In all the amendments beginning with 1943, the subsection contained a provision that if the violation was prosecuted by the authorities of the county, any fines or penalties recovered should be paid to the County Treasurer.
So far as this court can determine the exact question involved here has not been presented to any court *435 in Illinois. Until the City of Champaign brought the instant suit, no city, village, incorporated town or park district has disputed the right of the County to retain the fines assessed under the Motor Vehicle Act, and this case presents a matter of first impression in Illinois. The place of the violation is fixed and does not admit of any dispute, i.e., it must be committed upon a highway within the limits of the city, village, or incorporated town, or under the jurisdiction of a park district. Here, the violation occurred within the city limits of Champaign. The arrest must be made by the authorities of the city, village, incorporated town or park district. The police officers of Champaign made the arrest. The police officers and officials of cities, villages, incorporated towns and park districts must seasonably prosecute for the fines and penalties. If the violation is prosecuted by the authorities of the county, the fine or penalties recovered shall be paid to the County Treasurer.
The question is thus narrowed to the construction of the words, "provided the police officers and officials of cities, villages, incorporated towns and park districts shall seasonably prosecute for all fines and penalties under this Act." The word "seasonably" relates only to time and that is not in dispute here, so the question is further narrowed to the interpretation and construction of the word "prosecute", as used in the subsection.
The trial court in denying the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment did not discuss the court's reason for denying the motion, except to state that the court interpreted the statute under consideration to the effect that there was no right of recovery of the fine in the City of Champaign. Judgment was entered for the defendants and against the plaintiff city in bar of the action and the city was forever barred from further prosecution in the case.
*436 Webster's New International Dictionary, Second Edition, defines "prosecute" in the following language: "Law, (a) To seek to obtain, enforce, or the like, by legal process; as, to prosecute a right or claim in a court of law. (b) To pursue (a person) by legal proceedings for redress or punishment; to proceed against judicially; esp., to accuse of some crime or breach of law, or to pursue for redress or punishment of a crime or violation of law, in due legal form before a legal tribunal; as, to prosecute a man for trespass, or for a riot." The same dictionary also defines "prosecute" as follows: "To institute and carry on a legal suit or prosecution; to sue; as, to prosecute for public offenses."
Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary defines "prosecute" as follows: "Prosecute to follow, pursue. 1. To follow to the end; to pursue until finished; as to prosecute the investigation. 2. To engage in; to carry on; as, he will continue to prosecute his practice of the law. 3. Law. a. To seek to obtain, enforce, or the like, by legal process; as, to prosecute a claim. b. To pursue (a person) by legal proceedings for redress or punishment, esp. because of some crime or breach of law. v.i. Law. To institute and carry on a legal suit or prosecution; to sue."
The case of O'Dea v. Throm, 332 Ill. 89, 91, 163 N.E. 390, says: "Webster's International Dictionary defines `prosecution' as `the institution and carrying on of a suit or proceeding in a court of law or equity to obtain or enforce some right or to redress and punish some wrong; the carrying on of a judicial proceeding on behalf of a complaining party.'"
One of the earliest definitions of "prosecution" appears in Donnelly v. The People, 11 Ill. 552, 553, where the court said: "In its broadest sense, the word `prosecutions' would embrace all proceedings in the courts of justice, or even elsewhere, for the protection *437 or enforcement of a right or the punishment of a wrong, whether of a public or private character. The word, as here used, however, has not that comprehensive meaning, but signifies prosecutions of a public or criminal character. When used in this sense, it means the mode of the formal accusation of offenders, and this may be by presentment, information or indictment."
The case of State v. Froelich, 316 Ill. 77, 146 N.E. 733, in construing the meaning of the word "prosecutions" as used in the constitution, holds that the word as used in the constitutional provision signifies only prosecutions of a public or criminal character and concerns the formal accusation of offenders by presentment or indictment by a grand jury or by information. That case cites People v. Gartenstein, 248 Ill. 546, 94 N.E. 128; Moutray v. People ex rel. Morris, 162 Ill. 194, 44 N.E. 496, and Donnelly v. People, 11 Ill. 552. In the case of People v. Gartenstein, at page 551, the court said: "In criminal law a prosecution is the institution and continuance of a criminal proceeding, as by indictment or information."
The case of Wall v. Chesapeake & O. Ry. Co., 290 Ill. 227, 233, 125 N.E. 20, defines "prosecution" as follows: "To prosecute a suit is to proceed against a party judicially. It is the act of conducting or waging a proceeding in court. (State v. District Court, 19 N.D. 819.) To prosecute an action includes not only the bringing but the carrying on of the action. (Inhabitants of Great Barrington v. Gibbons, 199 Mass. 527; Cheshire v. Des Moines City Railway Co. 153 Iowa, 88.) The term `prosecute' means to bring a suit in a court for the redress of a wrong; to carry on a judicial proceeding against another or to seek to enforce a claim or right by legal process. (Western Electric Co. v. Pickett, 51 Colo. 415.) The bringing of an action is the beginning of a suit; the prosecution *438 of the action is the further conduct of the suit. Whenever the legislature declares that no action shall be `brought' or `prosecuted', it is presumed that it intended each phrase to have its distinct meaning, else there was no occasion to use both. Buecker v. Carr, 60 N.J. Eq. 300."
The case of People v. Jilovsky, 334 Ill. 536, 538, 2 N.E.2d 317, reiterates the definition of "prosecutions" as used in the constitution to mean only prosecutions of a public or criminal character, and concern the formal accusation of offenders by presentment or indictment by a grand jury or by information.
A prosecution is defined to be the institution or commencement and continuance of a criminal suit; the process of exhibiting formal charges against an offender before a legal tribunal, and pursuing them to final judgment. Corbin v. The People, 52 Ill. App. 355, 356.
"Prosecution" is defined to be the whole or any part of the procedure which the law provides for bringing offenders to justice. Ex parte Fagg, 44 S.W. 294, 297, 38 Tex. Cr. R. 573. Prosecution is the institution or commencement of a criminal suit; the process of exhibiting formal charges against an offender before a legal tribunal, and pursuing them to final judgment on behalf of the state or government, or by indictment or information. A prosecution exists until termination in the final judgment of the court, to-wit, the sentence. Territory v. Nelson, 2 Wyo. 346, 352. The word "prosecute" includes a conviction under a plea of guilty, where the officer performs the preliminary duties in instituting the prosecution and attends the trial for the purpose of conducting the prosecution. Brown v. Welch, 235 S.W. 997, 151 Ark. 142.
*439 [1, 2] Summing up the various constructions our courts and those of other jurisdictions have placed upon the words "prosecute" and "prosecution" no clear-cut definition can be reached. If we would follow the definition of "prosecutions" in State v. Froelich, 316 Ill. 77, 146 N.E. 733, and People v. Jilovsky, 334 Ill. 536, 2 N.E.2d 317, where the word as used in the constitution was under consideration, the prosecution would involve only the formal accusation of the offender by means of an information, as used here. The case of Wall v. Chesapeake & O. Ry. Co. 290 Ill. 227, 125 N.E. 20, would separate the institution of the suit, from the prosecution. If we accept the definition in that case, there would be no right of the city officers or officials to prosecute a criminal proceeding to punish the traffic violator, since neither the police officers or the city officials may usurp the duties and powers of the State's Attorney. Here the officers of the Champaign Police Department arrested the violator, signed an information upon which the names of the two arresting officers were endorsed and appeared in court as witnesses. Whether there was a municipal ordinance for driving while intoxicated, is not important here, since the basis of this suit is for a violation of the Statute. The fact that the city officers first filed a complaint in the office of the Police Magistrate of Champaign is likewise not important for the same reason. To prosecute under the traffic act, they must go to a court of record, since the punishment set out in the act for the specific violation charged, driving while intoxicated, carried a penalty of a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1000, or by imprisonment of not less than 2 days nor more than 1 year, or by both such fine and imprisonment. This constituted a misdemeanor cognizable only in a court with the authority *440 to impose the maximum penalty set out in the Statute. This could not be done in a justice's court, or a Police Magistrate's court. The justice has jurisdiction in cases of misdemeanor, where the punishment is by fine of not to exceed five hundred dollars, and imprisonment for one year. Article XVIII, Section 165, Chapter 79, Illinois Statutes. The Police Magistrate has concurrent jurisdiction with justices, and no more. Article VI, Section 21, Illinois Constitution 1870. Since the violation here was a violation under the Statute, was a misdemeanor outside the jurisdiction of a justice or police magistrate, must be instituted in a court of record, and must be brought in the name of The People of the State of Illinois, it is obvious that the police officers of the City of Champaign did all they legally could do. The further prosecution devolved upon the State's Attorney. Defendants contend in their argument that the only interpretation that can be given to the statute in question and give effect as a whole is, that the City of Champaign has the right to bring an action in the name of the city against a defendant for a violation of the Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways. They say that such a procedure would be for the city police officer to arrest the offender within the city limits for a violation of the Act and for the police officer, city attorney or other city official to file a charge in either the Circuit, County or Police Magistrate's Court where said charge is brought in the name of the city against the defendant for the violation of the Act and that the city conduct the prosecution of such case. They say that in this way, the State's Attorney would have nothing to do with the prosecution, as the prosecution would not be conducted in the name of The People of the State of Illinois, but rather in the name of the city. The fallacy of this argument is apparent. The violation is *441 one of misdemeanor, punishable by fine and imprisonment, the fine being outside the jurisdiction of a justice or a police magistrate. The charge is a criminal charge and must be filed in the name of The People of the State of Illinois. Article VI, Section 33, Constitution of Illinois 1870, provides "all prosecutions shall be carried on: In the name and by the authority of the People of the State of Illinois;" and the Act itself, declares violations of the traffic laws to be misdemeanors or felonies, in the following language: "It is a misdemeanor for any person to violate any of the provisions of this Act unless such violation is by this Act or other law of this State declared to be a felony." Section 234, Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways, Chapter 95 1/2, Ill. Rev. Statutes. The prosecution under the Act in the present instance, must be in a court having jurisdiction, namely the County Court or the Circuit Court. It must be commenced and carried on in the name of the People of the State of Illinois. It was commenced and instituted by the officers of the City of Champaign. The handling of the case in court should be by the State's Attorney. This includes the filing of the information and the attendance of the State's Attorney in court, the presentation of the witnesses and the following up of the case. This cannot be done by the city, by the city officers or anyone other than the State's Attorney. He is charged with the duty of prosecuting criminal actions in which the people of the state may be concerned. Chapter 14, Section 5. (First) Illinois Revised Statutes. But, do the actions of the State's Attorney, imposed upon him by law, constitute the "prosecution" as used in the subsection involved here, or does the prosecution also involve, the actions of the police officers in arresting, signing the information and appearing as witnesses? If the acts of the police officers do not constitute a part of the prosecution, *442 then there is no method for the local officials or officers of a city to prosecute for a violation of the Act regulating traffic on highways. If "prosecution" is to be limited to the actual trial of the case, the conduct of the trial, the presentation of witnesses for the People, the cross-examination of witnesses for the defense, and the argument for the People, then with such narrow limitation, only the State's Attorney could prosecute.
[3] This case being a case of first impression, the opinions of Illinois Attorney Generals on the subject must be given considerable weight. Illinois Attorney General's Opinion No. 7, 1949, (Ivan A. Elliott) is directly in point. In that opinion the Attorney General says: "When the offense is committed within the limits of a city, village or incorporated town, Subdivision 1, Sub-paragraph (a) of Section 235 provides that the fine assessed for such offense shall be paid to the treasurer of the particular village, etc., provided, however, that the violator was arrested and prosecuted by the authorities and officials of such village, etc.
"It is my opinion that the term `prosecute' as used in said Subdivision 1, contemplates the making of the arrest, the initiating of the complaint, and appearance as prosecuting witness rather than the formal conduct of the proceeding.
"The fact that the State's Attorney might appear to conduct the proceedings would not, in the instance wherein the authorities of the city, village or incorporated town have made the arrest, signed the complaint and appeared as prosecuting witnesses, deprive the city, village or incorporated town of the right to receive the fine. The legislative intent was to encourage enforcement of the Uniform Traffic Act by providing that fines imposed for violations committed within the limits of a city, village or incorporated *443 town be payable to the treasurer of such city, village or incorporated town.
"Therefore, when the officers or authorities of the city, village or incorporated town have taken all the steps within their authority in connection with the prosecution of an offense, that is, made the arrest, filed the complaint, and appeared as prosecuting witness, then a fine imposed for such offense should be paid to the treasurer of such city, village or incorporated town."
Illinois Attorney General's Opinion No. 78, 1953, (Latham Castle) on the same question says: "It is therefore my opinion, in answer to your first question, that the prosecution of an offense, within the meaning and scope of clause (1), does not include the formal conduct of the court proceedings, but includes arrest, signing of a complaint for warrant or signing of an information, and appearance of a witness in court. If these steps are taken by the police officers or officials of a municipality or park district for offenses committed within the limits of the municipality or jurisdiction of a park district, the municipality or park district is entitled to receive the fine collected irrespective of whether or not the State's Attorney appeared in court to conduct the proceedings.
"I am further of the opinion that it is not necessary, in order for a local municipality to qualify for collection of a particular fine, that no other authority, such as the State's Attorney, shall have any hand in the prosecution, if the violator was arrested by the municipal authorities and if the police officers or officials of such municipalities had a complaint or information signed and appeared as prosecuting witnesses."
The defendants say that these opinions of the Attorney General are not supported by any authority, and this is true. Yet they are the legal opinions *444 of the chief law officer of the State of Illinois on the precise question before this court, and will be accorded considerable weight.
[4-9] Our courts have said many times, in interpreting and construing statutes and the words of statutes, that the intention of the legislature must be given great weight. The language of the case of Pliakos v. Illinois Liquor Control Commission, 11 Ill.2d 456, 143 N.E.2d 47, at pages 459 and 460, lays down this rule in these words: "It is well established that in the construction of statutes, the courts start with the assumption that the legislature intended to enact an effective law, and the legislature is not to be presumed to have done a vain thing in the enactment of a statute. Hence, it is a general principle, embodied in the maxim, `ut res magis valeat quam pereat,' that the courts should, if reasonably possible to do so without violence to the spirit and language of an act, so interpret the statute, or the provision being construed, as to give it efficient operation and effect as a whole. An interpretation should, if possible, be avoided, under which the statute or provision being construed is defeated, or as otherwise expressed, nullified, destroyed, emasculated, repealed, explained away, or rendered insignificant, meaningless, inoperative, or nugatory." The case of Hoyne v. Danisch, 264 Ill. 467, 106 N.E. 341, at page 483, discusses interpretation of statutes. The court there says: "The intention of the law-makers is the law. This intention is to be gathered from the necessity or reason of the enactment and the meaning of the words, enlarged or restricted according to their real intent. (Cruse v. Aden, 127 Ill. 231.) In determining the meaning of a statute the court will always have regard to existing circumstances, contemporaneous conditions, the objects sought to be attained by the statute and the necessity or want of necessity for *445 its adoption. (People v. Kipley, 171 Ill. 44.) In seeking for such an intention we are to consider the language used by the legislature, the evil to be remedied and the object to be attained. (Hogan v. Akin, 181 Ill. 448). In construing a statute the courts are not confined to the literal meaning of the words. A thing within the intention is regarded within the statute though not within the letter. A thing within the letter is not within the statute if not within the intention. When the intention can be collected from the statute, words may be modified or altered so as to obviate all inconsistency with such intention. (Krome v. Halbert, 263 Ill. 172.)"
[10, 11] It is a primary rule of statutory construction that not only should the intention of the legislature be deduced from a view of the whole statute and from its every material part, but statutes in pari materia should be construed together. People v. Baltimore & O.R. Co., 411 Ill. 55, 59, 103 N.E.2d 76; People v. New York Cent. R. Co., 10 Ill.2d 612, 621, 141 N.E.2d 38. For that reason the laws governing and pertaining to the duty imposed upon the State's Attorney, the jurisdiction of police magistrates, the penalty imposed by the Statute for violation of the traffic laws, constitutional provisions and any law in pari materia must be considered in construing the subsection in question.
As a guide to this court in construing the subsection involved, the language of Lincoln Nat. Life Ins. Co. v. McCarthy, 10 Ill.2d 489, 140 N.E.2d 687, beginning on page 494 is helpful. There the court said: "A statute or ordinance must be construed according to its intent and meaning, and a situation that is within the object, spirit and meaning of the statute is regarded as within the statute, although not within the letter; and a situation that is within the letter is not regarded as within the statute unless also within *446 its object, spirit and meaning. People ex rel. Barrett v. Thillens, 400 Ill. 224. Although the terms of section 409(3) when used separately may bring to the mind of the corporate lawyer certain forms and procedures, we repair to the wisdom of Judge Learned Hand as stated in Cabell v. Markham, (CCA2d) 148 F.2d 737, 739: `But it is one of the surest indexes of a mature and developed jurisprudence not to make a fortress out of the dictionary; but to remember that statutes always have some purpose or object to accomplish, whose sympathetic and imaginative discovery is the surest guide to their meaning.'" If the intention of the legislatures of Illinois was to allot to municipalities the fines for violations of the Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways occurring within the limits of the municipalities, then the requirement that the municipality must seasonably prosecute must be given the object, spirit and meaning of the law as enacted and to accomplish its real purpose.
In the original section as enacted in 1935 and in the subsequent amendments, there seems to be a definite pattern by the legislature to divide and apportion the fines and penalties collected for violations of the Uniform Act in Relation to the Regulation of Traffic, between cities, villages, incorporated towns and park districts as one class, road districts or townships as another class, and counties as another class, and in the case of overweight violations to the State, the division apparently to be based upon the place of the violation, with certain duties imposed upon the officials of the political subdivision in which the offense occurred. If these duties were met by the officials of the political subdivision, then it would seem to be the intention of the legislature to give the fines and penalties collected to that political subdivision where the offense or violation occurred.
*447 [12, 13] As said in Hoyne v. Danisch, 264 Ill. 467, 106 N.E. 341, at page 484: "When the intention can be collected from the statute, words may be modified or altered so as to obviate all inconsistency with such intention." What was the intention of the legislature of 1935? The section then simply provided that where the offense occurred within the limits of a city, village, incorporated town, the fines and penalties recovered for violation of the traffic code should be paid to the Treasurer of the city, village, incorporated town, or park district in which the violation occurred. There is nothing in the amendments of 1941, 1943, 1951 and 1953 to indicate that the legislatures of those years intended any change in this division of the fines and penalties, except that the legislatures in those years added certain duties on the part of the cities, villages, incorporated towns and park districts before they would be entitled to the fines and penalties. In Hoyne v. Danisch, 264 Ill. 467, 106 N.E. 341, the court said the intention of the legislature is to be determined by considering the language used, the evil to be remedied and the object to be attained. It seems clear to this court that the intention of the legislature was in the beginning to divide geographically. Later, the local municipality was required to work for their share of the fines and penalties, namely by arresting the offender and prosecuting the case to conclusion. As said in Pliakos v. Illinois Liquor Control Commission, 11 Ill.2d 456, 143 N.E.2d 47, at page 459: "It is well established that in the construction of statutes, the courts start with the assumption that the legislature intended to enact an effective law, and the legislature is not to be presumed to have done a vain thing in the enactment of a statute." It should not be presumed in this case, that the legislature in requiring that the city should seasonably prosecute *448 for all fines and penalties under the Act, intended to require the city to do something which, by the law of Illinois, it could not do. The more reasonable explanation and construction would be that the legislature in requiring the arrest by the city's officers, and the prosecution by the city, meant only that the officers of the city should do all things they could legally do by law to effect the punishment of offenders for violation within the city limits, of the traffic laws of the State of Illinois. The law imposed a duty upon the State's Attorney to conduct the prosecution. But as this court interprets the word "prosecute" as used in subsection (a) 1 of the Act, it only means that the city officers and officials shall do all things necessary, legal and proper for them to do to bring offenders to justice. Beyond that they could not go and to hold that the word "prosecute" means assuming the duties of the State's Attorney, would distort the word beyond recognition as it is used in the subsection in question. The dictionaries use the word "pursue". Here the police officers of the City of Champaign pursued the offender as far as they might legally go. They arrested him, signed an information against him, and appeared as witnesses at his trial. To construe the word "prosecute" as used in the subsection to mean that the legislature meant to require the police officers to do something they could not legally do, would certainly, paraphrasing the language of Pliakos v. Illinois Liquor Control Commission, 11 Ill.2d 456, 143 N.E.2d 47, be enacting an ineffective law, and doing a vain thing. Again referring to the language of the Pliakos v. Illinois Liquor Control Commission case, the interpretation in this case if reasonably possible to do so without violence to the spirit and language of the act, is to so interpret the subsection as to give it efficient operation. An interpretation should be avoided, if possible, *449 which would defeat, nullify, destroy, emasculate, explain away, render insignificant, or negate the word being construed. To interpret that the legislature intended by the use of the word "prosecute" as used in the subsection to impose a duty upon the city officers and officials they could not legally perform, would render all the language of the subsection relating to cities, villages, incorporated towns and park districts, meaningless, and ineffective. The same reasoning would also apply to road districts or townships, and would mean that only the county or the State could retain fines imposed for violation of traffic laws under the Act, without regard to where the violation occurred. We do not believe that construction to have been the intention of the legislature. Rather, since the whole of this case revolves around construction and interpretation of the word "prosecute" we are constrained to hold that the intent of the legislature, in the initial enactment of the subsection and subsequent amendments, meant the word to mean only the common, everyday use of the word, and only intended to require that the city officers pursue the offender as far as they might legally go. It seems clear to this court that the continued provision in the subsection that certain fines might be paid to the city treasurer, within the limitations imposed by the subsection, was a clear indication that the legislature intended in 1935, and in the years of the amendments, to give to the cities, villages, incorporated towns and park districts, subject to their officials performing certain specified duties, the right to receive the fines for violations of the Uniform Act to Regulate Traffic on Highways, when the violation occurred within the limits of such political subdivision. To hold otherwise would be to hold that all the language of the section, insofar as it applies to cities, villages, incorporated towns, park districts, townships or road districts is *450 meaningless, inapplicable and inoperative. To hold otherwise would be to destroy any right on the part of these political subdivisions to receive fines under the Act. We do not believe the legislature of 1935, or the legislatures of the years 1943, 1951 and 1953 so intended.
[14] We therefore hold, in accordance with the two opinions of the Attorney General of Illinois heretofore cited, that the word "prosecute" does not include the formal conduct of the court proceeding, but does include the arrest, signing of a complaint for warrant or signing of an information and appearance as witness in court. We must further hold that if these things and acts are performed by the municipal authorities, and the offense is committed within the limits of the municipality, the municipality is entitled to receive the fine collected, irrespective of the actions of the State's Attorney. In so holding, this court believes that it is construing the word "prosecute" in accordance with the spirit and intent of the legislature. This court has no right to legislate but only to interpret the laws as legislated.
The judgment for the defendants is therefore reversed and the cause is remanded with instructions to vacate the judgment entered in behalf of the defendants and to enter summary judgment for the plaintiff.
Reversed and remanded with directions.
CARROLL, P.J. and ROETH, J., concur.
|
Q:
Parenthesis and apostrophes
If there is a noun, then parenthesis or a comma, where should a 's go? For example:
The dog (who was very big)'s ears perked up.
or
The dog's (who was very big) ears perked up.
or
The dog's, who was very big, ears perked up.
or maybe just:
The very big dog's ears perked up.
A:
Your first one is questionable.
Your second two are justifiable, but awkward. They're probably the closest thing to an answer to the question of "what is the correct way to use a parenthetical clause about a subject while using the subject in the genitive?" but they're still awkward.
Your last does the best by rephrasing to make the issue go away.
So too would:
The dog's ears perked up.
In-between those two ways of avoiding the issue entirely would be:
The dog's ears (he was very big) perked up.
The dog's ears (and he was very big) perked up.
The dog's ears perked up. He was very big.
|
Radial piston pumps have been extensively used in motor vehicles for transporting lubricating oil, pumping fuel, and as pressure generating means for hydraulically operated servomechanisms. Such pumps find further use as hydraulic pumps for power steering, shock absorbers, clutches and continuous transmissions, automatically controlled transmissions, and hydraulically operated driving and auxiliary equipment, and for operational machines and the like. Radial piston pumps are predominately installed in cases where a higher hydraulic pressure level is necessary.
Serving as pumps of the displacement type, radial piston pumps do not deliver a pumped medium in continuous flow, but irregularly, in partial volumes per revolution of a driven eccentric. The cyclically transported volumes give rise to pressure variations and pulsations, both at the intake and output ports of the pump. The said pulsations inlet and outlet overlap, due to the opening and closing of the of the pump chambers, that is to say, the cylinders. The impacts are particularly severe if, during operation with volute spring activated inlet and outlet valves, suddenly spaces are made available which exhibit large pressure differentials. Beyond this, as rule, large pressure swings also occur, if a system operates at high pressure, or if a cylinder is partially filled.
If pressure in a cylinder attains an opening pressure of the annular volute spring of a valve, then the valve lifts away from its seat, and the hydraulic fluid, for example pressurized oil, is pushed into a sump. If the pressure in the cylinder falls below the closure pressure of the spring loaded valve, then this valve impacts once again on the seat and causes thereby a loud hammering noise. This performance repeats itself at every rotation of the driven eccentric, in accord with the number of piston-cylinder combinations of a pump.
The noise is just that much louder, as the opening and closure process becomes more dynamic. Also influencing the said hammering noise are the related opening pressures and closing pressures and as well, the rate of increase of pressure at the instant of opening generates noise. If these values are very high, then the spring loaded valve will be lifted instantaneously very far from its seat and accordingly return to its seated position with considerable force. The pressure impacts of all pistons produce a general noise, which resounding from the body of the pump, radiates as audible air-borne noise.
In order to both reduce and mitigate the peaks of the pressure impacts, and also to reduce the noise generation of the radial piston pump, there is proposed in DE A 43 36 673, a radial piston pump, which has a plurality of pistons set into corresponding cylinder borings in a pump housing, wherein each piston is loaded by a spring, which spring abuts against a detent. The drive shaft is axially affixed to an eccentric, upon which a slide bushing is placed. Between one inner slip ring, which is pushed onto the said slide bushing, and a concentric outer slip ring, is located a damping element, which, for example, is designed as a flat, compression spring. Upon rotation of the eccentric, in this way, the respective piston which is expelling oil under pressure can, to some extent, act resiliently against the assigned section of the slip ring, so that the pressure spike normally occurring at the beginning of the pressure thrust can be reduced in intensity.
In another published embodiment, the damping element possesses the shape of slotted annular spring, wherein, equally distributed projections supportingly oppose one another across the inner and outer diameters of said annular spring. The supporting projections permit sufficient clearance between them, so that the particular piston making the thrust can resiliently modify itself.
In yet another embodiment an elastic ring is inserted between the two slip rings. The said elastic ring can well be made of rubber and be vulcanized onto both sides of the slip ring. Instead of a rubber ring, this disclosure also allows that, between the inner and the outer slip rings, an annular ring may be inserted, which is again vulcanized, but consists of a combination of multiple straight sections.
In DE A 101 26 151 a slip ring for a radial piston pump is described, which consists of an inner ring and a thereto coaxially arranged outer ring, between which a damping element is interposed. The damping element is constructed as being of “one piece” and has on both sides, respectively, a bulged rim, which lies against the side rim of the inner ring against the outer circumference thereof, and at the rim of the outer ring within the inner circumference thereof, whereby, between the two said bulged rims, a connecting structure is provided, which, for example, can be formed by an additional damping ring, which is connected with the said bulged rim by means of fabricated webs. In addition, it is possible, that by appropriate formation of the damping element between the inner ring and the outer ring, chambers are created, into which a filling fluid may be introduced, so that the rigidity of the slip rings can be made variable.
To this purpose, along the outer circumference of the damping element between the edge bulges, a plurality of chambers are provided between the inner and the outer ring. The individual said chambers possess an inlet port for the liquid to be drawn in, the said liquid being, for example, oil, so that when the said oil is to be drawn in at low temperatures, by means of filling the chambers of the slip rings, the elasticity thereof is diminished and thereby, by means of the eccentricity of the eccentric a defined piston thrust cannot, or nearly cannot, be affected by the elasticity of the slip rings.
Also disclosed in this publication, in order to reduce noise from radial piston pumps, elastomers are interposed as a layer between the driven eccentric and the pistons, which latter are arranged in a star shape. This layer insertion is made in particular in the form of elastomer slip rings, which are inlaid between the driven eccentric and an outer slip ring. The said elastomer slip ring can be put in place by simply being laid in position, or by being impressed, or by vulcanization onto a contiguous part. First, the damping characteristic of these rings, which, for instance, generates itself from the elasticity of their construction, reduces the pressure increase gradient in an individual cylinder, which is the cause for the objectionable noise and pulsation development. Second, that property of reducing in the transmission, both the noise intensity and its radiation from the pump body, is improved by the insertion of the said elastomer components.
The conventional slip ring assembly for radial piston pumps, as it is applied generally for a continuous and automatic transmission, i.e., the so-called CFT-transmission, still exhibits the disadvantage of considerable weight, so that this causes an imbalance in the gear train and leads to vibrations of the transmission. |
Last updated on .From the section Rugby Union
Fiji forward Bill Mata joined Edinburgh in 2016
Edinburgh back-row Bill Mata was named Pro14 Players' Player of the Season and Glasgow Warriors' Adam Hastings won the Next Gen Star of the Season award.
New Zealander Kieran Crowley was voted Coach of the Season by his peers for leading Italian side Benetton to the play-offs for the first time.
Edinburgh fly-half Jaco van der Walt received the Gilbert Golden Boot for the best percentage conversion rate.
And team-mate Ross Ford received an award for his "incredible longevity".
The Scotland hooker, who is leaving Edinburgh at the end of the season after 11 years with the club, was recognised with the Chairman's Award to make it a treble celebration for the capital side along with Fijian Mata and South African Van der Walt.
Meanwhile, two of Van der Walt's countrymen were rewarded for Cheetahs' first season in the Pro14.
Rabz Maxwane won the Top Try-Scorer Award for crossing the line 14 times, while Tian Schoeman's "incredible accumulation of 1,564 minutes" meant he was the Dacia Iron Man winner for the 2018-19 season.
Ospreys forward James King was named the Pro14's Tackle Machine, the Australia-born Wales international's 96.6% completion meaning he missed only eight tackles all season - 224 in total.
English flanker Olly Robinson, who was the previous Tackle Machine winner, received a newly introduced award for being the Turnover King, the Cardiff Blues player finishing the season by winning possession against the head 26 times.
Main award winner Mata, the 27-year-old who joined Edinburgh two seasons ago after helping his country to Olympic gold and who has nine full caps, scored five tries as his side finished fifth in Conference B.
The 22-year-old Hastings, who joined Glasgow from Bath in 2017, scored two tries and contributed 38 points with the boot during a Pro14 season in which he took his total of Scotland caps up to 11.
Guinness Pro14 award winners
Guinness Players' Player of the Year: Bill Mata (Edinburgh)
Guinness Coach of the Season: Kieran Crowley (Benetton)
Guinness Pro14 Chairman's Award: Ross Ford (Edinburgh)
Energia Next-Gen Star of the Season: Adam Hastings (Glasgow Warriors)
Gilbert Golden Boot: Jaco van der Walt (Edinburgh)
SportPesa Top Try-Scorer: Rabz Maxwane (Cheetahs)
Ronseal Tackle Machine: James King (Ospreys)
Big Red Cloud Turnover King: Olly Robinson (Cardiff Blues)
Dacia Iron Man: Tian Schoeman (Cheetahs) |
machines which I have made, am making, or intend to make, and some other stuff. If you find this site interesting, please leave a comment.
CNC lathe tool holders.
by John
I needed some extra toolholders for my Boxford CNC lathe, and the following photos show some of the steps in making them on a vertical mill with a horizontal attachment.
The toolpost holder is a Dickson, beautifully made, precise. And it came with 6 tool holders. 6 should be adequate you think? Not so. You really need one holder for every tool that you might use, because with CNC, you want to do the CNC settings in the computer only once. And the Dickson holders are expensive, so I made the extras.
The material for the tool holders is cast iron bar from a house wreckers yard. The bar was 3 foot lengths of iron window counterweights from very old double hung windows. Very cheap $5 each. A bit porous in places, but enough good stuff to get useable 300mm lengths.Roughly cut to length in foreground, machined square behind, original holder bottom right.
The holders had been dimensioned and drawn up by my expert friend Stuart Tankard.
This is the original horizontal machining set up. I made each holder separately.
For the next batch, I got smarter, and milled 300mm lengths of the bar, and cut them up later. You might also note that I painted the horizontal milling attachment, using Por 15 paint. For the actual milling I also used copious lubricant fluid.
Using a drop bandsaw to cut off the milled blocks. Less than 1mm clearance.
I made about 30 altogether. Some for centre drills, ER collets, various left right and centre insert bit cutters, and quite a few spares for the future.You might say a cornucopia of toolholders.
The height setting knobs were turned on the Boxford 125 TCL CNC lathe, again designed and G coded by Stuart Tankard. The knurls were cut by Stuart on his 4 axis CNC mill. |
As the Internet has evolved to provide increasing amounts and diverse types of data, Internet broadcasting which provides multimedia using the general Internet according to scheduling has become possible as well as related-art broadcasting using a terrestrial, satellite, or cable-dedicated channel. Further, a broadcast and communication-converged multimedia service in which related-art broadcasting and Internet broadcasting are more organically combined to provide various services has arisen as a realistic service.
Broadcasting service providers (e.g., broadcasting companies) may transmit contents through not only a dedicated channel but also the Internet, and even a broadcasting service provider who transmits contents through only the Internet without a dedicated broadcasting channel has appeared. Accordingly, regardless of whether it is a broadcasting company using both the dedicated channel and the Internet or a broadcasting company using only the Internet, it is required to promote its own program contents to viewers and to allow the viewers to plan to view the program contents by delivering the program contents together with its own program scheduling information to viewers. Even by providing a “replay service” through the Internet, the broadcasting company allows the viewers to view contents later which the viewers did not view during the original airing. In related-art broadcasting, such a type of information is referred to as an Electronic Program Guide (EPG), and is referred to as a Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) in a North American type and Service Information (SI) in a European type on the basis of the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) system standard. Further, it is referred to as Program Specific Information (PSI) in the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)-2 system standard widely used in a related-art digital TeleVision (TV) scheme. Although both the PSI and the PSIP are transmitted together in the North American type, a viewer may select a program only by the PSIP. In the European type, both the PSI and the SI are transmitted together and a program may be selected only by the PSI, but various pieces of guide information for the program are additionally provided through the SI. In the present specification, such types of pieces of information are collectively referred to as Service Specific Information (SSI).
Unlike the related-art broadcasting using the dedicated channel, the Internet broadcasting is globally provided. Accordingly, the Internet broadcasting can be accessed through the Internet anywhere in the world that a receiver which can receive the Internet broadcasting exists, beyond a regional property of the related-art broadcasting. Therefore, only when the Internet broadcasting is provided in a unique single type in the world to overcome the regional property of the related-art broadcasting standard which is largely classified into North America, Europe, and Japan, an unnecessary increase in complexity of the receiver can be prevented. From this viewpoint, the SSI also requires the standard in a single type.
A new broadcast and communication-converged broadcasting system is expected to be based on the Internet. That is, a receiver will read not only program contents through the related-art broadcasting channel but also program contents through the Internet, insert the read program contents into the SSI in a machine-readable form, and then transmit the SSI, so that the SSI will be acquired through the broadcasting channel or the Internet, used for controlling broadcast reception, and shown in a viewer-readable form as needed. Of course, an Internet broadcasting company which does not use a dedicated broadcasting channel will transmit SSI through the Internet.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure. |
From Nand to Tetris: Building a Modern Computer from First Principles - craftyguy
https://www.nand2tetris.org/
======
sfifs
I just completed part 1 building a computer from gates and writing an
assembler and am in the middle of part 2 where you develop compilers and a
stack based virtual machine.
For someone like me who did not study computer science but has been a self
taught programmer in the Analytics spacefor over a decade, this has been a
tremendously useful and accessible introduction to basic CS concepts and very
eye opening in terms of what's actually happening under the hood. This course
is highly recommended if you've not studied CS though be aware the second part
of the course where you develop compilers is quite intense though being an
online course, you can pick your pace.
I wonder if there are similar courses on CS algorithms for people who didn't
study CS in college.
~~~
barry-cotter
[https://www.edx.org/micromasters/ucsandiegox-algorithms-
and-...](https://www.edx.org/micromasters/ucsandiegox-algorithms-and-data-
structures)
Comprises the following courses
Algorithmic Design and Techniques Data Structures Fundamentals Graph
Algorithms NP-Complete Problems String Processing and Pattern Matching
Algorithms Dynamic Programming: Applications In Machine Learning and Genomics
Graph Algorithms in Genome Sequencing Algorithms and Data Structures Capstone
~~~
tankenmate
Very little of which is communicated in any way to help someone learn how
compilers work.
In the actual history of computing very few good compilers were ever written
by algorithm and data structures professors; most were written by people who
had a pragmatic drive to get something done. Theory is good but without
practice it is little more than navel gazing. Theory and practice need each
other.
The reason that nand2tetris works so well as a course is that it gives you a
concrete example of how all these algorithms and data structures are combined
in order to turn an abstract description (the source code) into a running
program that also includes how that computing is achieved through compiler,
assembler, linker, run time, operating system, isa, and finally in
transistors.
The true issue it gets to is that most programmers have very little
understanding of how computers _actually_ work, and when things break they
just do high order _guessing_ to get things working again rather than truly
understanding what went wrong.
~~~
madengr
As an EE undergrad, I had to design a TTL based processor, program the
microcode, etc. I have no idea how a compiler works, or anything above
assembly.
------
sergex
I made a small game inspired by the first lessons in the course:
[http://nandgame.com/](http://nandgame.com/)
~~~
mrunkel
This is really awesome.. I too love the book Code by Petzold. I was wondering
if I could help translate this into German? I have some work colleagues that
could really benefit, but I think it would be easier if the explanatory text
was German.
~~~
sergex
That would be really cool. I need to refactor a bit to allow different
translations of the text, but I can get back to you when it is possible.
------
JoeSmithson
I really cannot recommend this course enough, I find myself referring back to
it in so many different fields (security, debugging, programming language
design)
When I finished school, I was fairly knowledgeable about physics, including
logic gates and electronics, and I was a fairly good programmer, but I had no
idea how that virtual world arose from the physical.
When I type on a keyboard, what is _physically happening in the universe_?
This course helped me understand that question.
~~~
neuralzen
Well said, this pilgramage is definitely a worthwhile one.
------
Cyphase
Previous discussions:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13209452](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13209452)
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14526344](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14526344)
------
userbinator
If you would like to start at a slightly lower level, Charles Petzold has
written a great book on the subject:
[https://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-
Softw...](https://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-
Software/dp/0735611319)
~~~
WalterGR
_Using everyday objects and familiar language systems such as Braille and
Morse code, author Charles Petzold weaves an illuminating narrative for anyone
who’s ever wondered about the secret inner life of computers and other smart
machines.
... cleverly illustrated and eminently comprehensible story ... No matter what
your level of technical savvy, CODE will charm you—and perhaps even awaken the
technophile within._
_Code_ doesn’t sound “slightly lower level”.
~~~
mrunkel
I think you and the GP are using "lower level" in different ways. GP means
with a lower barrier to entry, you mean "closer to the electrons" if I
understand both of you correctly.
------
leowoo91
I wish that existed as a last year course in college. It has a lot of recap on
the parts that creates a modern day computer and likely gives you
understanding where imperative languages come from.
~~~
sfifs
I believe several college CS courses globally use this in year 2 or year 3.
------
gmiller123456
They mentioned at the end about actually implementing the CPU in hardware with
an FPGA. Just curious if anyone has actually tried that?
~~~
stefanpie
A quick google search yielded this:
[http://excamera.com/sphinx/fpga-cpu.html](http://excamera.com/sphinx/fpga-
cpu.html)
------
jpochtar
Once you’ve learned programming, this book is maybe the perfect survey course
to understand systems. It gave me a framework for understanding all the layers
from CPU to ReactJS that 4+ years of college never could so concisely
------
ASipos
The title of the course is misleading, as it suggests that NAND gates are the
only required primitive, whereas the course later introduces DFF gates,
without which you cannot escape the parallelism of chips.
~~~
tankenmate
And one thing that is said even less is why NAND? You can do it all with NOR
gates as well if you want. The reason for NAND has to do with the switching
speed, pMOS switches quicker in parallel (either transistor can get the
current flowing) and nMOS switches quicker in series (either transistor can
stop the current flowing); this is how a NAND gate is wired. NOR gates on the
other hand have the worst of both.
The fact that nMOS switches off quicker is why the most common form of dynamic
logic (as opposed to static logic) implements, in effect, the bottom half of
the CMOS in nMOS and the upper half using a capacitor; which holds the charge
and hence pull up for the length of the clock cycle (which is why dynamic
logic CPUs can't be single stepped in hardware, the clock speed is too low to
hold a charge).
~~~
all2
During my intro to computer engineering course, lectures touched on why NAND
gates, and the conclusion was that you can build anything you need in a basic
computer using NAND gates. It boils down to expense. A BOM (bill of materials)
with fewer line items tends to be cheaper.
This doesn't really hold in today's world of silicon prints, but at the start
I think it was price that drove the decision.
~~~
tankenmate
Actually if you take an XOR gate with a naive translation into NAND gates you
would use 20 transistors, but if you don't need a large fan out from the
output you can actually do it with 6 transistors using a pass gate layout
(which is neither NAND nor NOR). So typically you don't use NAND vs NOR
because of transistor count.
~~~
all2
Oh! Good to know. Thank you!
------
kyberias
The font on that site looks absolutely horrible on Windows 10+Chrome.
|
Q:
Angular2 - app/my-component.component.ts(1,25): error TS2307: Cannot find module 'angular2/core'
I learn angular2. Installed node.js, npm, typescript.
I run npm start
display errors:
app/my-component.component.ts(1,25): error TS2307: Cannot find module 'angular2/core'.
my-component.component.ts
import {Component} from "angular2/core";
@Component({
selector: 'my-component',
template: `
This is my component!
`
})
export class MyComponentComponent {
}
index.html
<html>
<head>
<title>Angular 2 QuickStart</title>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css">
<!-- Polyfill(s) for older browsers -->
<script src="node_modules/core-js/client/shim.min.js"></script>
<script src="node_modules/zone.js/dist/zone.js"></script>
<script src="node_modules/reflect-metadata/Reflect.js"></script>
<script src="node_modules/systemjs/dist/system.src.js"></script>
<script src="systemjs.config.js"></script>
<script>
System.import('app').catch(function(err){ console.error(err); });
</script>
</head>
<body>
<my-app>Loading...</my-app>
</body>
</html>
I cant undestand why cant found angular2/core?
Can you help please
A:
Using
@angular/core
instead will solve the error.
Hope this will help you.
|
Who Can I Trust?: The Barricaded City
Emily along with twenty-nine other teenagers have spent their childhood starving, fighting, and questioning life. Some have even experienced death. They have been trapped between the high brick walls of their own city with nowhere to go and with no recollection of who they once were.
To them, each day is a struggle for survival, and because food is scarce, they have all learned there is a need to fight for it. But one day, when a helicopter appears and a potential for rescue arises, everything changes. The need to prove themselves becomes more pressing than ever when they find out there are only eight empty seats.
As Emily uses her knack for strategy to fight her way to the top, she finds herself starting to question everything: her friends, her past, and most importantly, her future. Will being rescued solve all her problems, or will the newfound life just be smothered with more secrets, digging her deeper into an unsolvable puzzle? |
QUEENSLAND star Johnathan Thurston believes it would be unfair for NSW rookie Wade Graham to be robbed of a State of Origin debut for his high tackle on him — but said it was still a bad shot.
Graham is the lone change in the Blues team for their must-win game in Brisbane on Wednesday week, replacing the injured Boyd Cordner on the left edge.
Controversial game one selection Dylan Walker has been retained, as has centre Josh Morris, who was sensationally recalled for the series-opener following an injury to Josh Dugan.
But Graham’s Origin dream now rests in the hands of the NRL match review committee on Tuesday after he was penalised for a shot on the North Queensland co-captain in his side’s 13-10 win on Monday night.
Upcoming Matches
Thurston was initially upset with the incident post-game and was surprised to learn that Graham wasn’t placed on report by lead referee Gerard Sutton.
Gold Coast forward Luke Douglas joins Ben Ikin, Nathan Ryan and Ben Glover on the Market Watch podcast to discuss the Titans’ new recruits and secret to the club’s revival.
You can also subscribe via iTunes or for Android users, listen on the iPP Podcast Player app.
“He didn’t miss me. Wasn’t it reported? Is that because I got up?” Thurston said.
“I may have been slipping, but you still can’t make contact with the head, can you?”
But asked whether he would feel for the 25-year-old Graham if he was to robbed of an Origin debut because of the tackle, Thurston said: “It’d be pretty soft if he does.”
Should he be charged, Graham has 23 carry over points and will carry 50 per cent loading due to a similar offence on Cowboys centre Justin O’Neill stemming from last year’s semi-final.
A grade one charge will mean a one-game ban, even if he takes the early guilty plea.
“No doubt I’ll see it replayed about 15,000 time in the next couple of days,” Graham said.
“(The referee) didn’t put it on report on the field so hopefully we’ll see in the next couple of days.
“There’s no use jumping up and down about something we don’t know what’s going to be. What will be will be.”
Blues and Sharks skipper Paul Gallen insisted a penalty was sufficient.
“It wasn’t a swinging arm and he didn’t clock him. It’s more of a grab. He grabbed his chin,” he said.
“I think the referee summed it up best. It was a penalty and that’s where it should stay. I know it’ll be a talking point for you guys but I think JT’s 100 per cent right.”
Graham’s Sharks teammate Jack Bird and Penrith talent Bryce Cartwright have been included as development players and will travel with the squad for camp in Coffs Harbour on Tuesday.
Download the new FOX SPORTS App to get the latest news and scores from your NRL team. |
001, 010, 017
US Classes
001, 005, 006, 010, 026, 046, 039, 044, 012, 013, 035, 050
Colors
Drawing Type
Description
None provided.
Design Elements
None provided.
Register your own trademark today
Trademark Coverage
Chemicals
Plastics for use in manufacture in the medical industry, namely, plastics in the form of bars, blocks, pellets, rods, sheets; [ and tubes ] plastics in semi-finished form for use in manufacture in the medical industry, namely, plastics in the form of pellets; plastics in the form of rods, blocks, tubes, films, foil and sheets all for use in manufacturing in the medical industry |
Hurricane Maria: All The Memes You Need to See
Hurricane Maria could potentially result in “catastrophic” damage to Puerto Rico. According to CNN, the hurricane is now rising to speeds of 165 mph. “No generation has seen a hurricane like this since San Felipe II in 1928,” said Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló. “This is an unprecedented atmospheric system.”
To cope with this worrisome situation, the internet has seen fit to take Hurricane Maria and provide comic relief through a series of memes.
Granted, these memes aren’t referencing the damage that Hurricane Maria is predicted to inflict on Puerto Rico, but rather the many puns and pop culture references that online users have concocted.
The most common references have been to famous characters named “Maria”, most notably in the classic musicals West Side Story (1961) and The Sound of Music (1965). In the former, Maria, played by Natalie Wood, is a Puerto Rican immigrant who gets serenaded by her lover Tony. The beloved song and film have subsequently taken on a whole new meaning.
If there aren't west side story memes to joke about the hurricane as a coping mechanism, I've lost hope in society.
In The Sound of Music, Maria Von Trapp, played by Julie Andrews, is a troublesome nun in-training who inspires the lyrics “How do you solve a problem like Maria?” Of course, here, the saying goes “How do you solve a problem like… Hurricane Maria?”
Someone else went as far as to rework other lyrics to say “How do we catch her clouds and pin them down?”
Outside of these recurring points, there have been more subtle, memes that have made their way online as well. One user harkened back to Ricky Martin‘s 1995 single “Maria” with the lyrics “Vete pal carajo Maria” which basically translates to “go screw yourself.”
Of course, given the frequency with which Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Jose, and now Hurricane Maria has struck, several memes were dedicated to just how surreal the whole situation is.
One meme posted a photo of Squidward from Spongebob Squarepants with the caption: “Floridians finding out Hurricane Maria is on its way after Irma just hit last week.” Another went as far as to personify the hurricanes outright. |
/*
* An implementation of host to guest copy functionality for Linux.
*
* Copyright (C) 2014, Microsoft, Inc.
*
* Author : K. Y. Srinivasan <kys@microsoft.com>
*
* This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
* under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as published
* by the Free Software Foundation.
*
* This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
* WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
* MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, GOOD TITLE or
* NON INFRINGEMENT. See the GNU General Public License for more
* details.
*/
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <sys/poll.h>
#include <linux/types.h>
#include <linux/kdev_t.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <ctype.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <linux/hyperv.h>
#include <syslog.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <dirent.h>
static int target_fd;
static char target_fname[W_MAX_PATH];
static int hv_start_fcopy(struct hv_start_fcopy *smsg)
{
int error = HV_E_FAIL;
char *q, *p;
/*
* If possile append a path seperator to the path.
*/
if (strlen((char *)smsg->path_name) < (W_MAX_PATH - 2))
strcat((char *)smsg->path_name, "/");
p = (char *)smsg->path_name;
snprintf(target_fname, sizeof(target_fname), "%s/%s",
(char *)smsg->path_name, smsg->file_name);
syslog(LOG_INFO, "Target file name: %s", target_fname);
/*
* Check to see if the path is already in place; if not,
* create if required.
*/
while ((q = strchr(p, '/')) != NULL) {
if (q == p) {
p++;
continue;
}
*q = '\0';
if (access((char *)smsg->path_name, F_OK)) {
if (smsg->copy_flags & CREATE_PATH) {
if (mkdir((char *)smsg->path_name, 0755)) {
syslog(LOG_ERR, "Failed to create %s",
(char *)smsg->path_name);
goto done;
}
} else {
syslog(LOG_ERR, "Invalid path: %s",
(char *)smsg->path_name);
goto done;
}
}
p = q + 1;
*q = '/';
}
if (!access(target_fname, F_OK)) {
syslog(LOG_INFO, "File: %s exists", target_fname);
if (!(smsg->copy_flags & OVER_WRITE)) {
error = HV_ERROR_ALREADY_EXISTS;
goto done;
}
}
target_fd = open(target_fname,
O_RDWR | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC | O_CLOEXEC, 0744);
if (target_fd == -1) {
syslog(LOG_INFO, "Open Failed: %s", strerror(errno));
goto done;
}
error = 0;
done:
return error;
}
static int hv_copy_data(struct hv_do_fcopy *cpmsg)
{
ssize_t bytes_written;
bytes_written = pwrite(target_fd, cpmsg->data, cpmsg->size,
cpmsg->offset);
if (bytes_written != cpmsg->size)
return HV_E_FAIL;
return 0;
}
static int hv_copy_finished(void)
{
close(target_fd);
return 0;
}
static int hv_copy_cancel(void)
{
close(target_fd);
unlink(target_fname);
return 0;
}
int main(void)
{
int fd, fcopy_fd, len;
int error;
int version = FCOPY_CURRENT_VERSION;
char *buffer[4096 * 2];
struct hv_fcopy_hdr *in_msg;
if (daemon(1, 0)) {
syslog(LOG_ERR, "daemon() failed; error: %s", strerror(errno));
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
openlog("HV_FCOPY", 0, LOG_USER);
syslog(LOG_INFO, "HV_FCOPY starting; pid is:%d", getpid());
fcopy_fd = open("/dev/vmbus/hv_fcopy", O_RDWR);
if (fcopy_fd < 0) {
syslog(LOG_ERR, "open /dev/vmbus/hv_fcopy failed; error: %d %s",
errno, strerror(errno));
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
/*
* Register with the kernel.
*/
if ((write(fcopy_fd, &version, sizeof(int))) != sizeof(int)) {
syslog(LOG_ERR, "Registration failed: %s", strerror(errno));
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
while (1) {
/*
* In this loop we process fcopy messages after the
* handshake is complete.
*/
len = pread(fcopy_fd, buffer, (4096 * 2), 0);
if (len < 0) {
syslog(LOG_ERR, "pread failed: %s", strerror(errno));
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
in_msg = (struct hv_fcopy_hdr *)buffer;
switch (in_msg->operation) {
case START_FILE_COPY:
error = hv_start_fcopy((struct hv_start_fcopy *)in_msg);
break;
case WRITE_TO_FILE:
error = hv_copy_data((struct hv_do_fcopy *)in_msg);
break;
case COMPLETE_FCOPY:
error = hv_copy_finished();
break;
case CANCEL_FCOPY:
error = hv_copy_cancel();
break;
default:
syslog(LOG_ERR, "Unknown operation: %d",
in_msg->operation);
}
if (pwrite(fcopy_fd, &error, sizeof(int), 0) != sizeof(int)) {
syslog(LOG_ERR, "pwrite failed: %s", strerror(errno));
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
}
}
|
User Reviews
This season was mind blowing. It's slow at the beginning, but which season isn't? The ending is so amazing, but somewhat predictable. But that's ok! For once, you get what you expect! Amazing season, amazing show and amazing televison.
Best show on Tv right now. This show is really amazing and has incredible writing and brilliant actors. As the seasons progress all of the actors continue to grow and step their game up to the level of Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul. It's to the point now where you never see any of them acting, they are the characters they play. The writer's keep you constantly guessing too on what is goingBest show on Tv right now. This show is really amazing and has incredible writing and brilliant actors. As the seasons progress all of the actors continue to grow and step their game up to the level of Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul. It's to the point now where you never see any of them acting, they are the characters they play. The writer's keep you constantly guessing too on what is going to happen next, and every time I think I know what's coming up, I'm wrong. It's not only the writing and actors that make this show great though, it's everything else as well. The cinematography is exceptional and the landscape and silhouette shots are breath-taking. The music and sound effects are also very good. Subtle, yet abrasive when they need to be with very good use of the less is more theory. I also really like the fact that this year they writers and producers are delving into the world of the meth users more and how scary and unpredictable that world is. I didn't think that there was enough of that in the first 3 seasons, so I'm glad that they are showing the meth game from all points of view; the producers and dealers , the police, and the users.
Breaking Bad and The Wire are my two favorite drama's of all-time. I definitely recommend checking both of them out if you can stomach the graphic scenes and the harsh realities of the drug game.…Expand
I tried to keep my review until the end of the season, but from what I've seen so far, the season is perfect. absolutely flawless. It's actually scary how well this TV show is made that it makes me fear for Walter and his family. Extremely powerful show with flawless writing, acting, and directing.
This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.
The more I watch of this show the more disgusted I am that it's so popular. The premiere of season 4 is my least favorite episode of Breaking Bad to date. Throughout the episode, people do things that don't make sense in order to push the plot in interesting directions. In fact, the whole first half of season 4 just made me angry. People kept acting out of character. The famous line, "I am the one who knocks," is from season 4, and it is not an example of Walt being a badass. It is Walt being scared and petty and human. I think I would like the show more if it seemed to acknowledge more that Walt is this way. The late-middle episodes of the fourth season do a good job of this. But then the finale ruins it by portraying him as a genius mastermind. Let me just get this out there: Walt's plan sucked. Gus was smart enough to know not to walk back to his car at the hospital. So why did he fall for Walt's last plan? Because the season was ending, and the writers wanted Gus to die. Then there are the gaping questions that run rampant throughout other seasons, but are especially evident in season 4. How has Hank not figured out that Walt is the blue meth guy? Why doesn't Gus film the meth manufacturing secretly and then kill Walt and Jesse after he figures out the process? If season 5 isn't as good as people say, I have wasted a lot of time on this show.…Expand
The writers of this show are incredible. Just when you think you can predict something will happen or have a theory, the writers will tease you and then do something you didn't see coming at all. It's just amazing how this show improves every season and goes to increasing levels. Season 1 you thought this would be another Weeds + Dexter type show (main character with an alter ego/living aThe writers of this show are incredible. Just when you think you can predict something will happen or have a theory, the writers will tease you and then do something you didn't see coming at all. It's just amazing how this show improves every season and goes to increasing levels. Season 1 you thought this would be another Weeds + Dexter type show (main character with an alter ego/living a double life). But by season 4, it has evolved into an emotionally gripping show that looks into human morality and the consequences of our actions, sprinkled over a captivating rags to riches drug business storyline. I can never say enough about the acting. It's like a competition between the actors as they try to top each other every episode.…Expand
Breaking Bad Season 4 gets a full 10 out of 10, but that doesn't really do it justice. This might be the best season of television ever. Not an exaggeration, it is just that good. The writers' patience and interest in pacing might be the most striking part of the whole series, and what really sets it apart. There is no need to rush from plot point to plot point, the focus instead is on theBreaking Bad Season 4 gets a full 10 out of 10, but that doesn't really do it justice. This might be the best season of television ever. Not an exaggeration, it is just that good. The writers' patience and interest in pacing might be the most striking part of the whole series, and what really sets it apart. There is no need to rush from plot point to plot point, the focus instead is on the characters' reactions to even the most mundane moments in life as they respond to the jarring things that have happened to them. This is a dark show that deals with trauma in a very measured, realistic, and believable way. Unlike a show like 24 (not hating, just an example), a character shoots somebody and then spends half of a season slowly coming to grips with they have done. Breaking Bad brings television to whole new level, which is not something that many shows can actually say.…Expand
hahaha......"not really edge of your seat dramatic"......i guess some people have absolutely no taste in tv...anyone who has ever watched tv knows this show is masterful and the most tense show ever put on tv....if you dont think this is tense then what is???? gimme a break RonSwansonlsBos.
this show is just brilliant. everything is looking realistic, writers doing a helluva job and the acting is fabulous. it is probably for me gusto, the best contemporary show on the planet. it's sad tho that the show has to end after the 5th season.
This season for me has been absolute perfection in TV drama - one of the best series of any show I've ever seen, I would not change a thing. Every episode is well paced and leaves you on the edge of your seat. It's also still fresh and unpredictable. Very satisfying season!
What an outstanding show this is! No other show out there can instantly mesmerize you from the very first scene. The first episode starts off perfectly, answering a few questions from the end of the last season and ending with a real bang. "Box Cutter" ends very violently to say the least (you are warned, if you are squeamish), but it provides great character development. Jesse andWhat an outstanding show this is! No other show out there can instantly mesmerize you from the very first scene. The first episode starts off perfectly, answering a few questions from the end of the last season and ending with a real bang. "Box Cutter" ends very violently to say the least (you are warned, if you are squeamish), but it provides great character development. Jesse and Walt have changed soooo much throughout this show. Best show on television!…Expand
A compulsively watchable show that has excellent pacing and writing. Character are great, systematically growing in depth and complexity as the story progresses. All actors are in top form especially Cranston whose Walt White is a character we admire and respect even as he does morally questionable things. The rise of an ordinary man to important player in the drugs trade is extraordinaryA compulsively watchable show that has excellent pacing and writing. Character are great, systematically growing in depth and complexity as the story progresses. All actors are in top form especially Cranston whose Walt White is a character we admire and respect even as he does morally questionable things. The rise of an ordinary man to important player in the drugs trade is extraordinary but realistic all the same. An exceptional and convincing show.…Expand
The best word for this season is: Intense. Walter White, Jesse Pinkman, and Gus Fring are the focus of this season and each one keeps every scene adrenaline packed. The writers foreshadow the season's development, but even if you anticipate the "what," you'll be surprised by the "how."
One of the only shows to give me goosebumps, damn shame the only negative vote.. a 1 of all digits, is probably a fan of American Idol. Great acting, great music score, less is more in the scene between Gus and company. I have waited over a year for this season... and it was well worth it so far.
best shoe ive ever seen on television. this season doesn't look to be letting up at all. the acting, story telling, suspense, and drama are as good as ever. i never thought a show would have me rooting for the main stars to cook meth
AMC can not go wrong when it comes to original programming and Breaking Bad is no exception. It is easily the best dramatic series on cable television. The writing is superb, the performances are top-notch, and the production quality is cinematic in nature. If you are not watching this show, set your DVR and witness for yourself what everyone else is raving about.
Tense, surging and edge of your seat tv. Breaking bad has definitely found it's groove and cementing itself as a premier show on tv today. Season 4 in particular has picked up the reigns in a tough situation for the characters, but the acting and the screenplay has been superb so far. Triple thumbs up (if that is possible?).
This series, as said by many, is unquestionably the best on television, and I doubt it will meet its match any time soon. I would go so far as to call it a masterpiece. Bryan Cranston is compelling and believable as Walther White, a mild-mannered high school chemistry teacher who contracts terminal lung cancer and decides to cook crystal meth in order to provide for his family in the eventThis series, as said by many, is unquestionably the best on television, and I doubt it will meet its match any time soon. I would go so far as to call it a masterpiece. Bryan Cranston is compelling and believable as Walther White, a mild-mannered high school chemistry teacher who contracts terminal lung cancer and decides to cook crystal meth in order to provide for his family in the event of his imminent death. Never before have I seen such convincing and outstanding acting, especially from Cranston and Paul Aaron, Walt's young partner in crime. Along with these two strong lead actors there is an ensemble of nearly as good supporting characters. This show seems so plausible, so real and is utterly mesmerizing. The drama is multi-layered and complex, with equal amounts of suspense and emotional appeal. There is no black and white in this tour de force, only shades of gray. Several times I was unsure on what was right, wrong, and necessary in this story. The choices made by the characters in Breaking Bad have serious and irreparable consequences, and every move Walt makes seems to suck him deeper and deeper into the chaos he has, albeit unintentionally, created. Vince Gilligan and the writing staff of Breaking Bad have given the Coen brothers a run for their money.…Expand
Great actors, skillful directing, but the story line declined starting in season 3 and got worse ever since. Furthermore the art is gone. Breaking Bad had great art like scenes in the first two seasons which made it the great show it is.The story and characters never developed much but the great art scenes, like the intros in season 2, made it a great show. Without these scenes the showGreat actors, skillful directing, but the story line declined starting in season 3 and got worse ever since. Furthermore the art is gone. Breaking Bad had great art like scenes in the first two seasons which made it the great show it is.The story and characters never developed much but the great art scenes, like the intros in season 2, made it a great show. Without these scenes the show is just like a soap opera about a cook.…Expand
The Breaking Bad team continues to bring us a great show. Walter remains likeable but continues to move further and further to the dark side, and he is becoming more and more alienated to the people around him. One of the few shows I wait for week to week.
Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul both have Emmys thanks to BB. Now it's time for Giancarlo Esposito and/orJonathan Banks to win. I don't know how the writers of BB do it, but each season gets better than the previous one, and the storylines with Gus (Esposito) and Mike (Banks) have made this season the most nerve-wracking to date. This is the most exciting show on any channel, and thatBryan Cranston and Aaron Paul both have Emmys thanks to BB. Now it's time for Giancarlo Esposito and/orJonathan Banks to win. I don't know how the writers of BB do it, but each season gets better than the previous one, and the storylines with Gus (Esposito) and Mike (Banks) have made this season the most nerve-wracking to date. This is the most exciting show on any channel, and that includes the premium channels.…Expand
This series has to be the "Seinfeld" of thriller/drama series especially going by the last episode of season 4. It makes all the movies and TV shows I've seen in the past ten years pale by comparison in entertainment value. I'm a very picky TV viewer after 45 years of honing my tastes finding meaningful programming. I have not found anything even close to as gripping, suspenseful and edgeThis series has to be the "Seinfeld" of thriller/drama series especially going by the last episode of season 4. It makes all the movies and TV shows I've seen in the past ten years pale by comparison in entertainment value. I'm a very picky TV viewer after 45 years of honing my tastes finding meaningful programming. I have not found anything even close to as gripping, suspenseful and edge of your seat story telling as this series. Better than the Sopranos. October 9th 2011 episode just blew me away. Unbelievable! Bravo for all the writers and actors, cinematography and music in this series. I commend you on your skills. It's going to take me a while to come down after seeing the last episode. I feel like I have war fatigue.
Quite honestly I didn't think a show a could get this good. Sometimes heavy-hitters hit a plateau, a period of mediocrity.....This is not the case with the 4th season. It breaks the epic on the edge of your seat feeling left over from season 3, and takes it even further. No wonder Stephen King called it the best show on TV.
Fantastic in every aspect, Breaking Bad delivers its strongest season so far (and that is saying something!). This show is and remains a treat, not only for fans of high-quality drama, but also artistically.
Easily the greatest drama on television at the moment, possibly the greatest ever. A must watch for anyone. And now I will right some more to fill in the character limit. Breaking Bad is amazing, simple.
This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.
this season was incredible, the writing, the acting, bryan cranston's scene where he laughs maniacally, EVERYTHING is top notch. i cant wait for season 5 where i assume they'll be in colorado which was implied when skylar went to 4 corners national park. make sure you watch from the very begining though as the director always gives fans a caveat and a gentle nudge at all the little details of the past episodes!…Expand
The best current show on television...period. I still believe it's riding a thin line between "The Shield" greatness and "The Sopranos" greatness. How the next 16 or 18 episodes play out will determine where this brilliant show will fit into the cannon of the best television dramas ever.
This show is a masterpiece plain and simle. The characters are engaging and believable. The story arcs are delicately interwoven and create tension that simply canot be described in a short review like this.
Now THAT is how you do a season finale. This show, though plodding, is smart and full of tension. It's never gimmicky, and never underestimates the audience. If only other producers could learn from that. Overall, great writing and acting by all. Nice photography, too, which I can RARELY say about any show, really.
This is hands down one of the best TV shows I've ever seen (on par with shows like The Wire) and honestly shows like this make me worried for the future of the film industry. There's just so much more time to set up characters and settings that when the thrills finally arrive they make that much more of an impact. Not only is this an amazing show, but this has to be the the best season as well.
Wow, just wow! This season ups the anty. Seasons 1-3 build up the tension and the increasingly desperate position of the main characters. Couple an even more tension filled plot line, with great writing and acting and you've got something incredible.
This was the greatest season of television I have ever seen. The plot twisted and turned into a surprising, explosive crescendo. Gus and Walter's game of cat & mouse was captivating, tense and well constructed. The way Gilligan was able to weave various characters' pasts into issues in the present elevated the storyline to unchartered heights for what was already a brilliant and formidableThis was the greatest season of television I have ever seen. The plot twisted and turned into a surprising, explosive crescendo. Gus and Walter's game of cat & mouse was captivating, tense and well constructed. The way Gilligan was able to weave various characters' pasts into issues in the present elevated the storyline to unchartered heights for what was already a brilliant and formidable show. I can't wait for the final season!…Expand
It boggles my mind how there could be anyone dishing out negative reviews this far into Walter's World. If you've come this far, you are a completely indoctrinated follower of Vince Gilligan and his bleak, unforgiving vision of Walter White's life. Season 4 did what every single season of Breaking Bad has done before it: blow the previous season out of the water entirely. Every singleIt boggles my mind how there could be anyone dishing out negative reviews this far into Walter's World. If you've come this far, you are a completely indoctrinated follower of Vince Gilligan and his bleak, unforgiving vision of Walter White's life. Season 4 did what every single season of Breaking Bad has done before it: blow the previous season out of the water entirely. Every single episode this show breaks new boundaries, pulls rugs out from under your feet you didn't even know where there, and steadily plods its way into darkness and oblivion as Walter's moral code departs from his body. I don't know how else to describe the amazingness of this show anymore, its beyond my comprehension. Forget Mad Men, this is the greatest show on television, hands down.…Expand
Season 4 of Breaking Bad is absolute perfection, from start to finish. This show is just on another level to everything else on TV. Seasons 1-3 of Breaking Bad were all incredible, but to me, Season 4 solidified Breaking Bad's place as one of the greatest shows in television history. The writing and the acting on this show are just spectacular. Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul once againSeason 4 of Breaking Bad is absolute perfection, from start to finish. This show is just on another level to everything else on TV. Seasons 1-3 of Breaking Bad were all incredible, but to me, Season 4 solidified Breaking Bad's place as one of the greatest shows in television history. The writing and the acting on this show are just spectacular. Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul once again deliver amazing performances, and Giancarlo Esposito is chilling as one of the best TV villains of all time. Recommended to absolutely everyone.…Expand
Breaking Bad is a phenomenal show. It is the only show that I know of that gets better and better each season. Every single episode is at a minimum of above average quality, especially this season. Thus, it claims my number one spot along with The Wire. Whereas The Wire claims this spot because of its excellent writing, realism (excluding season 5) and depth, Breaking Bad claims this spotBreaking Bad is a phenomenal show. It is the only show that I know of that gets better and better each season. Every single episode is at a minimum of above average quality, especially this season. Thus, it claims my number one spot along with The Wire. Whereas The Wire claims this spot because of its excellent writing, realism (excluding season 5) and depth, Breaking Bad claims this spot because of its raw emotional intensity, excellent characters and the development of these characters, and pure badass-ness. I compare these two shows because both of these have been regarded as the best shows of all time by many.…Expand
Masterful. Everything is in its right place, even with such complex plot. Gilligan managed to achieve so many unforgettable epic moment on the fourth season of Breaking Bad, that we may just forget what we defined as great.
There never was such great understanding of the material by the actors on TV before. The acting here is superb, unmatched on TV or Cinema in years. The directing andMasterful. Everything is in its right place, even with such complex plot. Gilligan managed to achieve so many unforgettable epic moment on the fourth season of Breaking Bad, that we may just forget what we defined as great.
There never was such great understanding of the material by the actors on TV before. The acting here is superb, unmatched on TV or Cinema in years. The directing and cinematography are unique, and the writing is unpredictable and flawless. Who isn't watching Breaking Bad, is missing the masterpiece of storytelling of the decade. The Citizen Kane of television.…Expand
Don't get me wrong. I like the acting, how well it's made and the general ideas are great but man, this constant irrational behaviour and the ongoing stupid decisions that don't make any sense in any least bit of sane mind are making mad!
Sauls Secretary said it very well at the end of season four as she yells atThe Show should rather be called "bad decisions" than "breaking bad"!
Don't get me wrong. I like the acting, how well it's made and the general ideas are great but man, this constant irrational behaviour and the ongoing stupid decisions that don't make any sense in any least bit of sane mind are making mad!
Sauls Secretary said it very well at the end of season four as she yells at the again whiny and panicky acting Walt that doesn't listen and is mumbling his explanations that don't make sense. She then said: "Oh, you and your partner are in danger after doing something idiotic? Whoop-dee-freaking-doo! How is that news exactly? Why do you think Saul isn't here?"
Man was I glad that somebody told these guys this already!
And what was that stupid move of Walt in mid season? When he told Hank to look closer and search for the guy behind all this AFTER he settled for dead genius!!
And don't argue with he was drunk or something. Someone who can articulate himself like Walt in this scene isn't nearly drunk enough to miss how stupid that is! It's not bold, it's not tough or badass - it's plain and simple stupid! What else could he have asked for? Nobody was looking for them anymore! the evidence wasn't even at the DEA. It would just have disappeard in some drawer forever.
Things like that pi...ed me off.
And then, Walt in the desert. He said it himself! If Gus would have liked to kill him, he would have done it right then and there but he lives because of Jessie. Of course he threatens his family but only if he is stupid enough to talk - which he does immidiatley after! Without a real plan and with contacting the DEA before he is far far away! W T F? He pissed of Gus so many times. People had to clean up his mess and stupid actions to protect him several times. All because he thinks he is untouchable. And then he is surprised that his family is threatened by a major druglord who cut the throat of some guy right in front of him? He was lucky to be alive and he should have taken this gift - I think it was a honest "offer" by Gus to get out of the "contract".
BUT at least this season was better than the last. Especially Gus taking out the carthel and the finale. Which was a bit silly but still made more sense than the rest. And the scene on the roof at the end? That's the relationship between Walt and Jessie I have been missing the last two seasons. How could these guys be so pissed about each other and never getting closer? It just didn't make sense to me, sorry.
I only continue to watch because the fith season is so praised and hyped. But I honestly have my doubts now. Because I heard things like "Best Show ever!" and I just don't see it.…Expand
Brilliant show. The writing on this is the best I have ever seen, and nothing in this genre comes close. Amazing casting with fantastic performances from the entire cast. The suspense is crippling at times and the show leaves you breathless on many occasions. It is hard to tackle this subject material without being corny, pretentious, or dull but they execute flawlessly. Cranston has takenBrilliant show. The writing on this is the best I have ever seen, and nothing in this genre comes close. Amazing casting with fantastic performances from the entire cast. The suspense is crippling at times and the show leaves you breathless on many occasions. It is hard to tackle this subject material without being corny, pretentious, or dull but they execute flawlessly. Cranston has taken a character and made it his own to the point you forget him being Malcom's dad. Its dark, gritty, but also has moments of real comedic genius. The way the show is shot reminds me a lot of the early work of Sam Mendes and they do so on a much smaller budget. I tell everyone to watch this show because it is some of the best work ever to be on television.…Expand
A brilliant episode to showcase the return of one of the best dramas that have ever surfaced in t.v. history. You're on the edge of your seat the entire time wondering what's gonna happen next and when that one scene happens, whether you were expecting it or not, your mouth will be on the floor. A powerful showcase from Cranston and the other cast, but Paul really shines in this episodeA brilliant episode to showcase the return of one of the best dramas that have ever surfaced in t.v. history. You're on the edge of your seat the entire time wondering what's gonna happen next and when that one scene happens, whether you were expecting it or not, your mouth will be on the floor. A powerful showcase from Cranston and the other cast, but Paul really shines in this episode despite not speaking a word for 75% of the episode. It's definitely the best premiere to a show, ever.…Expand
Its the best reviewed season for a reason. This season is amazing from start to finish. We watch Gus devolve from a calm buisness man to a cold hearted killer, The writing is still great, and the acting is suprisingly even better (I thought it was perfect to begin with). I love it.
Marvelous show. Excellent writing. Equally great acting. The story is always hinged on reality and such intense human drama that you cannot help but remain fascinated even when things are either anti-climactic or unresolved. As are many instances of life itself. The 4th season premiere was long overdue and culminated with a brutal display of blood spilling out to illustrate the inevitableMarvelous show. Excellent writing. Equally great acting. The story is always hinged on reality and such intense human drama that you cannot help but remain fascinated even when things are either anti-climactic or unresolved. As are many instances of life itself. The 4th season premiere was long overdue and culminated with a brutal display of blood spilling out to illustrate the inevitable brutality of those who are outside the usual playing field. Those who believe that the universe is indifferent and that absolution is the key to survival. The only downside is that the pause between last season's closer and season 4's premiere may have subdued some of the drama that lingered on and it would be wise to see them back to back.... And Amc's ultra loud bang boom presentation of its show makes you feel as though you're about to watch the super bowl.…Expand
After (literally) a full year's wait and aching suspension, this premiere was obviously going to be under a lot of scrutiny and it didn't fail in terms of revelations. It was however, slightly predictable - which isn't usually the case with BB - and drawn out in places which is fairly disappointing.The episode appears to have laid out its key plots for the season, all of which look set toAfter (literally) a full year's wait and aching suspension, this premiere was obviously going to be under a lot of scrutiny and it didn't fail in terms of revelations. It was however, slightly predictable - which isn't usually the case with BB - and drawn out in places which is fairly disappointing.The episode appears to have laid out its key plots for the season, all of which look set to stun and as always the episode's cliffhanger was impeccable.…Expand
Breaking Bad season 4 has not only been the best season of Breaking Bad so far, but one of the best seasons of any TV show to have aired on TV. Breaking Bad keeps its viewers on the edge of their seat throughout the whole season, leaving us wondering who will die in this episode, or what will happen next. Breaking Bad manages to do what most TV shows fail to do: ongoing drama, unexpectedBreaking Bad season 4 has not only been the best season of Breaking Bad so far, but one of the best seasons of any TV show to have aired on TV. Breaking Bad keeps its viewers on the edge of their seat throughout the whole season, leaving us wondering who will die in this episode, or what will happen next. Breaking Bad manages to do what most TV shows fail to do: ongoing drama, unexpected twists and turns -- and most importantly, keeping it very realistic throughout the ongoing drama and not becoming too ridiculous.…Expand
Strong as ever, Breaking Bad returns for its fourth season. The premiere once again delivered prove that you will have a hard time finding a show that has lighting, score and cinematography as beautiful as this. The writing is still meticulous and anything but shallow. And Bryan Cranston might have just won himself another Emmy. Absolutely astonishing what he can do with an expression onStrong as ever, Breaking Bad returns for its fourth season. The premiere once again delivered prove that you will have a hard time finding a show that has lighting, score and cinematography as beautiful as this. The writing is still meticulous and anything but shallow. And Bryan Cranston might have just won himself another Emmy. Absolutely astonishing what he can do with an expression on his face alone.
This show is one of the best creations in television history. But I wonder why you don't include the reviews from New York Magazine in the 'Critc Reviews' - they're very good, and you include NY Mag movie reviews in the 'Movies' section!
the best breaking bad season and possibly the best season of any show ever. the acting and writing are genius. the drama is so intense and acting so perfect that even a uncultured Spartacus fan could enjoy it.
Best show now days and one of the best in the history of tv , Breaking Bad is all you can ask for dramatic entertainment , The Acting , the writing . the directing and the cinematography , It is the nearest thing to perfection , we are in the age of gold television
Breaking Bad Knows what's Best. Vince Gilligan and his six writers are masterful at what they do. I honestly don't think there will ever be another show that reaches such high caliber excellence that is 'Breaking Bad'. No matter how high the viewership goes for this show (which absolutely demands to have more viewers) it will never be over rated. 100 years from now someone will find thisBreaking Bad Knows what's Best. Vince Gilligan and his six writers are masterful at what they do. I honestly don't think there will ever be another show that reaches such high caliber excellence that is 'Breaking Bad'. No matter how high the viewership goes for this show (which absolutely demands to have more viewers) it will never be over rated. 100 years from now someone will find this show and it will still be as masterful, mesmerizing and equipped with its jarring feel of a modernized western of our time.…Expand
Solid and well executed premiere but a tad predictable. It's hard to say whether this season will be a return to form or not after the good (but not great) 3rd season. The predictability of the premiere could mean the writers are run out of ideas/tricks. Let's hope not.
Sorry guys, but count me out. Looks like nothing left of first two seasons. :((((
It's still deep, still promising, but looks like they should have stopped at the right time. Another brilliant idea sinks in channel-needs-ratings swamp.
Seasons 1,2,& 3 were brilliant, but Season 4 is poor. It is overcooked, the whole thing is melodramatic. The writers have lost their mojo. The "formula" (forgive the pun) for the success of the earlier seasons was tossed out as they have gone for mainstream methodology. Sadly, it's an inferior batch this time ... by far. Pull your socks up .. I wont watch more than one or two more episodesSeasons 1,2,& 3 were brilliant, but Season 4 is poor. It is overcooked, the whole thing is melodramatic. The writers have lost their mojo. The "formula" (forgive the pun) for the success of the earlier seasons was tossed out as they have gone for mainstream methodology. Sadly, it's an inferior batch this time ... by far. Pull your socks up .. I wont watch more than one or two more episodes in S5 and if the same crap as this season gets doled out ... then that's it for me.…Expand
I was very much impressed and entertained by/with the plot, excellent writing, acting, etc., etc., etc., with the first 3 seasons; however, I'm very disappointed in the poor "lame-ass" writing, lame plots, and desperate (over) acting, etc., etc., in Season 4! I guess "success" can be a liability! Or, maybe it was time restraints and the pressure to maintain the previous successes ofI was very much impressed and entertained by/with the plot, excellent writing, acting, etc., etc., etc., with the first 3 seasons; however, I'm very disappointed in the poor "lame-ass" writing, lame plots, and desperate (over) acting, etc., etc., in Season 4! I guess "success" can be a liability! Or, maybe it was time restraints and the pressure to maintain the previous successes of seasons 1, 2, & 3! But still, with this disappointment, I'm pulling for a come-back to the excellence (writing, plot, acting, etc.) of previous seasons, and looking forward to season 5! After all, Mike is alive and hopefully well, maybe he can show some "Machiavellian" pragmatism; and, he, Walt, Jesse, and Saul can come to a friendly, favorable, and profitable consensus, and pull things back together and create an "All-American" Cartel!!! Food for thought?! (Writers and Producers!).…Expand
One of the best shows ever and this season zoomed by too quickly and thats only because it's too good. The ending is amazing and just for that I consider this to be the actual conclusion. Though I will watch season 5, I can't see how it will get better.
The best thing I like about the show is the directing and cinematography.though its also the characters and the way there is not to many or to little, and there all so varied too keep them all interesting. Although I hate Walt's In-laws and the pain of having to go through those scenes, in kind off balances out the stories that are unfolding, both telling the underground underbelly ofThe best thing I like about the show is the directing and cinematography.though its also the characters and the way there is not to many or to little, and there all so varied too keep them all interesting. Although I hate Walt's In-laws and the pain of having to go through those scenes, in kind off balances out the stories that are unfolding, both telling the underground underbelly of criminal activity and the above board shirt and tie of it all, though I can't help feeling with hank's bed bound activities are holding the pace of the show. Lets just hope that they get kill of in a home invasion of something. Great show...i wont miss a minute of it at all!!!…Expand
Amazing season! I really don't know how it has 19 or 20 negative reviews. If you like action, thrill, suspense, comedy or if you just like things then you'd love Breaking Bad. also best season finale ever on television.
So I was an idiot and didnt watch the show when it first came out and i saw ads for the series for a while and i saw the ad for the season 4 finale, and i decided the first episode. My next weeks was full of Breaking Bad and quickly watched the season finale. Speechless. This show is incredible. this season in particular i really enjoyed, since the show is these guys wanting to cook methSo I was an idiot and didnt watch the show when it first came out and i saw ads for the series for a while and i saw the ad for the season 4 finale, and i decided the first episode. My next weeks was full of Breaking Bad and quickly watched the season finale. Speechless. This show is incredible. this season in particular i really enjoyed, since the show is these guys wanting to cook meth and get bigger, this season they were kinda straying away from the cooking and instead wanting out and their frighted for their lives all season. My favorite season.…Expand
Possibly the greatest single television season of all time. From the unbelievable events of episode one all the way through the season, this is an edge of the seat, unbelievably amazing television show.
this is the best show on tv. i hope it will continue to its 5 season, i was one of the charteres onanother tv which worries me. i dont understant how it can continue, the end of the forth season was so good that it will be very hard to overpass.
Since I have finished season 4, I finally have the proper leverage to state that it still the greatest goddamned TV show on. Captivating, spectacular, unpredictable, repsectable and altogether fascinating. I would put this up with The Wire and 1992-1995 Simpsons for the greatest TV series ever, I'm shaking
New story arcs, great backstory for new villains, and a lot of white-knuckle rides await anyone jumping into Breaking Bad's 4th season. Not only does the show maintain momentum throughout each episode, but the final three episodes are nothing short of spectacular. Not only does season four one-up its predecessors, but it proves to be one of the best seasons aired on TV. Few TV shows areNew story arcs, great backstory for new villains, and a lot of white-knuckle rides await anyone jumping into Breaking Bad's 4th season. Not only does the show maintain momentum throughout each episode, but the final three episodes are nothing short of spectacular. Not only does season four one-up its predecessors, but it proves to be one of the best seasons aired on TV. Few TV shows are worth mentioning in the same paragraph as Breaking Bad. You're in for an incredible ride.…Expand
This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.
I've been waiting for Walt and Jesse to return for a whole year, and the first episode of season four did not disappoint. It's a pity that Gale had to be killed off, and I hope we get more flashback scenes with Gale like the one in the first episode. As a character, I think there was a lot more to explore. The one problem I find with the episode is that Gus decides to kill Victor, and not Walt and Jesse. I suppose it's because he believes that Victor may have compromised himself at the murder scene and might be tracked down by the police. And, of course, Walt makes the best meth. If I were him, I still think I would have stuck with Victor and put Walt and Jesse into the hydrochloric acid instead. Of course, then there wouldn't have been an episode two. I am especially looking forward to what is in Gale's lab notebook, and the further descent into evil of Skyler and Jesse. I'm also hoping for a miraculous recovery by Hank. His character is just too good to relegate to bedpans and bedrooms. And I'm looking for more good times with Marie, Mike and Saul. What a superb supporting cast!…Expand
The tension starts off slow with an overhead feeling of danger throughout. It all leads to an exciting conclusion when all that built up tension start to be released. Unforgettable moments, satisfying side-plots, unpredictable humor, and the aways excellent writing send this season over the top. It can be slow at times, but there's always something happening. Another excellent season.
I couldn't praise Breaking Bad highly enough. The way it constantly plays with your head and keeps you on edge is purely masterful. It is my favourite show of all-time and one of the greatest, I expect, in history.
amazing.just amazing.if you have not watched this show yet watch it now.the writers always make you wonder whats going to happen next and the characters are very well put together witch makes for one of the best shows of all time.
Anyone that has seen fit to (wrongly) criticise this show for its slow pacing will not find anything to change their minds in this fourth season but thanks to the intensely dramatic, and darkly humorous, script and universally superb performances from the entire cast Breaking Bad continues to demonstrate why many critics consider it to be the best drama series ever to grace our screens.
Easily one of the best shows i've ever seen on television. I am a huge fan of Sons of Anarchy, but Breaking Bad blows it away. Every episode makes you wonder "how can this end well?!". Character development has been steady and meaningful for all of the characters involved. I found myself torn several times of whether I wanted to side with the "good" or "bad" guys (which is often blurredEasily one of the best shows i've ever seen on television. I am a huge fan of Sons of Anarchy, but Breaking Bad blows it away. Every episode makes you wonder "how can this end well?!". Character development has been steady and meaningful for all of the characters involved. I found myself torn several times of whether I wanted to side with the "good" or "bad" guys (which is often blurred anyway). I always said no show would surpass the Sopranos as my all time favorite, but right now Breaking Bad seems to be doing just that.…Expand
On paper this may sound like a dull season. NOPE. If you have the patience for it, if you like characters and narrative arcs, and story, and drama.... you're going to LOVE this. Best acted, and probably best written show on television.
This is one of the best series I have ever seen.I particulary like a lot of Game of Thrones and House MD, but this one is different, there is thriller, action and a good screenplay. I still liking more of the series I told before but this certeinly got my attencion.The actors are realy good, particulary Aaron Paul and Rj Mitte.
The only thing I think is faulting is more action. There isThis is one of the best series I have ever seen.I particulary like a lot of Game of Thrones and House MD, but this one is different, there is thriller, action and a good screenplay. I still liking more of the series I told before but this certeinly got my attencion.The actors are realy good, particulary Aaron Paul and Rj Mitte.The only thing I think is faulting is more action. There is a lot, but everyone loves a shooting and car runnig.A good serie for how is looking for it, not to anyone.…Expand
Gripping story oozing with tension. Great acting, great writing, great direction. The Wire and BSG set the gold standard of modern television (I'd give the edge to The Wire simply because it prefer crime tales), so far this is the only show since either of them to even approach that standard.
This is what we were waiting for a long time. The tension which has been taken with the previous seasons had come to its logical end. Epic final with no P.S. You will have to accept the supremacy of Walter's mind.
Breaking bad is without a doubt the best series on television. Seasons 1 and 2 were great. Season 3 was perfection. Season 4?... somehow even better. There is so much tension in season 4 that it sometimes makes you cringe.... but it is more than worth it.
This is the best thing I have ever seen on a screen. I cannot, can NOT, overstate how excellent this show is. Everything is flawless--cinematography, story, music, acting. Oh, sweet heaven, the acting. These actors are going to have long, miserable lives in front of them after this show ends when they realize they've transcended the meaning of human theater. I'd give it an eleven forThis is the best thing I have ever seen on a screen. I cannot, can NOT, overstate how excellent this show is. Everything is flawless--cinematography, story, music, acting. Oh, sweet heaven, the acting. These actors are going to have long, miserable lives in front of them after this show ends when they realize they've transcended the meaning of human theater. I'd give it an eleven for partnering with Netflix to be on Instant Streaming, but that's more of an AMC thing.…Expand
At first i thought this was my least favorite season, but then all the sudden i was like "What the heck just happened?" and it cought me sleeping on it. I was so anxious all week before the next episode would drop it was like i was a school girl (even though i am male?) anyways after the finale if this isnt one of your fav shows then i feel bad for you.
WOW.
Best season probably evenAt first i thought this was my least favorite season, but then all the sudden i was like "What the heck just happened?" and it cought me sleeping on it. I was so anxious all week before the next episode would drop it was like i was a school girl (even though i am male?) anyways after the finale if this isnt one of your fav shows then i feel bad for you.
Acting - amazing. Writing - amazing. Directing - amazing. From the very instant the season started, I was sucked in and never once did it let me go. The only bad thing about the show is that it's only an hour. Best. Show. EVER.
How is this the lowest rated season when its easily the best. The show starts perfectly and ends perfectly, Showing once again why Walter is one that you should never mess with. The show ,imo, has finally reached it's peak and solidifies itself as the best show on tv. Cranston is untouchable ,as always, and Giancarlo Eposito (Gus) gives an amazing spine chilling performance as well.
Why is is that cable networks can do it a lot better than the commercial networks ? Over hyped rehashed tripe such as Falling Skies, Terra Nova have nothing compared to shows like these. Brilliant season, that always had you wondering where it would lead, amazing ending.
Breaking Bad Season 4 was near perfect on all levels. The story is incredibly interesting and keeps twisting and turning until the very last scene. The writing is at a very high level, the acting is off the charts as is the directing. This is the perfect lead into the final season of one of the (if not the) greatest TV drama ever! |
African Relevance {#s1005}
=================
•Attention to pain reduction in emergency centres is a priority•Nebulised fentanyl could be used as an acceptable alternative to intravenous drug administration
Introduction {#s0005}
============
Bone fractures affect millions of people all over the world and have been a menace to the health of patients for many years \[[@bb0010]\]. The treatment of priority in emergency departments (EDs) for patients suffer from limb fracture is pain reduction. The control of pain is related to patient gratification \[[@bb0015]\]. In fact, one of the most common causes for pursuing emergency care is acute pain. It has been reported that nearly 32% of patients admitted to an ED complain of pain; yet, one common problem in EDs is the under treatment of pain \[[@bb0020]\].
Ketamine was introduced into clinical use in the 1970s \[[@bb0025]\]. It is an intravenous (IV) anesthetic drug that shows a broad range of pharmacological effects, including catalepsy, sedation, bronchodilation, and somatic analgesia \[[@bb0030]\]. The effect of ketamine is produced by the noncompetitive antagonism of the *N*-methyl D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptors. Moreover, it cooperates with monoamine, purinergic, cholinergic, and adrenoreceptors as well as opioid receptors \[[@bb0035]\]. Because of its IV administration route, an IV cannula insertion is required, which can cause additional distress to patients. Furthermore, it is usually time-consuming and can even result in unsuccessful infusion. It has been reported that 12 to 26% of IV catheter infusions are unsuccessful \[[@bb0040]\]. Therefore, more feasible methods for the administration of analgesic medication are needed.
Analgesic medications most commonly and frequently used in EDs are opioids, the most potent drugs for alleviating pain. Opioids act by suppressing the pain center in the central nervous system (CNS) through μ and δ receptor stimulation \[[@bb0045]\]. Fentanyl is a lipid soluble, highly potent opioid. The lipid solubility of fentanyl makes it an ideal opioid that can be administrated by inhalation. It is believed that nebulized fentanyl can feasibly be used for effective pain relief. The aim of this study was to compare ketamine infusion and nebulized fentanyl in bone fracture pain relief.
Methods {#s0010}
=======
This double-blind, randomized clinical trial (RCT) study recruited patients 18 to 55 years of age with limb fracture who were admitted to the ED of Golestan Hospital, Ahvaz. An ethics code was obtained for this study from the Ethics Committee of Jundishapur University of Ahvaz, and the clinical trial code was received in 2017. This trial was also registered with the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials\' clinical trial registry: 201703129801N2 (<http://www.irct.ir>, ethic code: IR.AJUMS.REC1395.553). Pain score as a primary outcome was determined by the visual analog scale (VAS), and patients with a VAS score higher than 3 were included in the study. Patients who had consumed anti-psychotic, sedative, TCA, MAOI, SSRI drugs, opioid addicts, patients with underlying acute or chronic renal and hepatic disease, cardiac disease, upper and/or lower respiratory infection, asthma, COPD, or allergies, pregnant or breast-feeding women, fentanyl-prohibited patients, those with multiple myeloma, a history of convulsion, ketamine allergy, head injury, or avulsion fractures, and patients with unstable hemodynamic factors were excluded from the study. Additional therapy for secondary outcome was measured.
The patients were divided equally into two groups using the block randomization method in order to eliminate confounding factors. The drugs were administrated by nurses; neither the patients nor the nurses were aware of the type of drug. Patients in Group I received 100 cm^3^ IV infusion of normal saline and 4 μg/kg of 50 μg/ml nebulized fentanyl through a DeVILBISS atomizer. Patients in group II received 0.4 mg/kg ketamine in 10 min and 5 cm^3^ nebulized normal saline. Pain was assessed by VAS just before treatment and 5, 10, 15, 30, and 60 min after treatment. Non-responding patients (VAS score higher than 3 after 60 min) were further treated with 0.1 mg/kg IV morphine after the 60 minute period was past.
In order to achieve 90% power and a correlation as small as 0.25 with a 0.05 Type I error rate, the sample size was calculated to be 125 patients. At first, data was analyzed in terms of descriptive statistics; then, to assess data normality, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was carried out. Based on data normality, the *t*-test or Mann-Whitney test was used to compare quantities between the two groups, and the chi-square test was used to compare categorical factors. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS software. A *p*-value \< 0.05 was considered significant.
Results {#s0030}
=======
This study included 127 patients admitted to the ED ([Fig. 1](#f0005){ref-type="fig"}). Out of the 127 patients 51.1% (65) were male and 48.9% were female. Demographic factors are shown in [Table 1](#t0005){ref-type="table"}.Fig. 1Study flow diagram.Fig. 1Table 1Patient\'s characteristics.Table 1VariablesKetamine (N = 65)Nebulized fentanyl (N = 62)*p* valueAges (years)36.28 ± 10.7334.5 ± 11.970.3Sex F (%)22 (33.8)17 (27.4)0.43Limb fracture N (%) Upper23 (35.4)17 (27.4)0.21 Lower42 (64.6)45 (72.6)
The median age of patients in Group I and Group II was 36 and 34.5 years, respectively. The difference was not statistically significant. Upper limb fractures were seen in 6% of patients in Group 1 and in 35.4% of patients in Group II, but the difference was not significant. Thus, the patients in both groups were homogenous based on age, gender, and fracture type.
Before intervention, the pain scores in both groups showed no significant differences; however, log linear analyses in both groups showed a significant decrement during the follow up (60 min) (*p* \< 0.0001). Multiple comparison analysis showed that pain scores were significantly higher in Group I patients, and more patients in Group I than Group II required additional treatment ([Table 2](#t0010){ref-type="table"}, [Fig. 2](#f0010){ref-type="fig"}).Table 2Comparison of drug efficacy in Group I and II.Table 2VariablesNebulized fentanyl (N = 62)Ketamine (N = 65)*p* valuePain scoreBefore intervention7.59 ± 1.87.38 ± 2.50.695 min7.23 ± 1.96.17 ± 1.70.00110 min5.62 ± 2.14.76 ± 3.30.00115 min3.96 ± 1.13.14 ± 1.60.00130 min3.66 ± 2.82.14 ± 1.40.00160 min3.11 ± 1.32.33 ± 0.840.001Need to additional therapyYes44 (71%)00.001No18 (29%)65 (100%)Fig. 2Pain score trend during the study follow up.Fig. 2
Discussion {#s0035}
==========
The findings of the current study indicated that ketamine is effective in reducing the pain of limb fractures; VAS scores decreased from 7.5 (before the study) to 3.1 (60 min after treatment) in patients treated with ketamine. While patients in Group II (those who received ketamine) reported a significantly higher level of pain relief than those in Group I, pain specialists have shown that a reduction in pain of 1.3 points on the VAS scale can be clinically significant. Thus, nebulized fentanyl, similar to ketamine, can be used for pain relief in patients with limb fractures. Previous RCT studies have also reported that the nebulized form of opioids has a significant effect on post-operative pain \[[@bb0050]\]. This evidence provokes interest in using alternative routes of opioid administration, especially in prehospital situations and EDs \[[@bb0055],[@bb0060]\]. Attempts are mainly made to seek an administration route with priority over IV infusions of analgesics.
To the best of the authors\' knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the effects of nebulized fentanyl in comparison with IV ketamine in reducing the pain of patients with limb fractures. Many reports have shown that nebulized fentanyl can affect pain control. Farahmand et al. conducted an RCT study in which they compared the effects of nebulized fentanyl and IV morphine on pain reduction in patients with limb fractures. They reported that nebulized fentanyl successfully reduced pain to approximately 3 on the VAS measuring system \[[@bb0065]\]. Moreover, in a study conducted by Furyk et al., nebulized fentanyl was compared to IV morphine in children with limb fractures. Seventy-three patients were evaluated, and the findings indicated that nebulized fentanyl could reduce the mean VAS score to 3 \[[@bb0070]\]. Some other authors have studied the analgesic effects of fentanyl administered through different routes. Artfield et al. studied 50 patients with abdominal pain and compared the analgesic effects of 1.5 μg/kg fentanyl administered through nebulized and IV routes. They reported that the IV route led to faster analgesic effects, but after 30 min the pain scores showed no significant difference between the groups \[[@bb0075]\]. Similarly, the current study showed a delay in the analgesic effect of nebulized fentanyl compared with IV ketamine. In another RCT study, Miner et al. compared the analgesic effects of nebulized fentanyl citrate and IV fentanyl citrate in children admitted to EDs with painful conditions to assess nebulized fentanyl as a feasible alternative to IV fentanyl for relieving acute pain \[[@bb0080]\]. Compared with previous studies, the current study used different doses of both fentanyl and ketamine. Many efforts have been made by investigators to find a transmucosal delivery route of opioids, especially fentanyl. Intranasal fentanyl has been evaluated for immediate pain relief in patients with breakthrough pain. The results have shown that intranasal fentanyl is briskly absorbed by mucosal membranes and reaches maximum concentrations in plasma in approximately 2 min \[[@bb0085]\]. Nebulized fentanyl, however, is inhaled into the lungs and then absorbed into the blood through circulation via the pulmonary system. Mather et al. evaluated the pharmacokinetics of nebulized fentanyl on 15 healthy participants and compared concentrations of the drug administered intravenously and through a nebulizer. They showed that a longer time is needed for the drug in nebulized form to reach maximum concentrations in plasma (4 to 9 min in the nebulized route vs. 2 to 4 min in the IV route). The differences were statistically significant \[[@bb0090]\].
A limitation of this study was the short follow-up period, which precluded determining the side effects of the drugs; thus, the side effects of the drugs were not compared between the groups.
Conclusion {#s0045}
==========
Collectively, the current findings which have shown that both methods provided effective analgesia, but ketamine was somewhat superior to fentanyl. The use of fentanyl needed to be supplemented with longer-acting agents after 60 min. Both agents could be considered in the ED and nebulizer fentanyl could be used if an IV is not available. Moreover patients who received ketamine reported lower pain scores and needed less additional treatment than those patients who received nebulized fentanyl.
Conflict of interest {#s0050}
====================
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Dissemination of Results {#s6050}
========================
The findings from this paper has not been disseminated beyond this publication.
Author Contribution {#s7050}
===================
All authors contributed equally to the conception or design of the work; the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; and drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content. All authors approved the version to be published and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
The authors wish to acknowledge the support of the deputy of research affairs of the Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences as part of Afsane Khazaeli\'s thesis under the research code U-95118.
|
Transatlantic week in Washington D.C.
Challenges ahead: can the transatlantic economy stay competitive?
Again this year EIF made a major contribution to the success of TA Week in Washington, organised by the Transatlantic Policy Network under the title “Challenges Ahead: Can the Transatlantic Economy Stay Competitive?”. The full TA week programme benefitted from strong participation by Members of European Parliament and Members of the US Congress.
All TA roundtables took place in the new Capitol Hill Visitors Center, made available to us by US congressional members of the Transatlantic Policy Network.
- Welcome reception:
On Monday evening João Vale de Almeida, Head of the EU Delegation in Washington, hosted an informal reception at the residence for European TA Week participants.
- Opening session:
The TA week 2011 was officially opened on Tuesday afternoon by the Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Member of the US House of Representatives and Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Honorable Howard Berman, Member of the US House of representatives and Ranking Member House Committee on Foreign Affairs. TPN member and Speaker of the House John Boehner sent last-minute regrets as he was preoccupied with negotiations over raising the US debt ceiling.
They both emphasised the growing importance of transatlantic partnership for engagement in global issues. Opening remarks were also given by Joseph Daul MEP, Chairman, The Group of the European People's Party,Hannes Swoboda MEP, Vice-President, Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats, Mark Vachon, Vice-President, GE ecomagination, Jake Jones, Executive Director, External Affairs and Public Policy, Daimler AG, H E João Vale de Almeida, Ambassador, Head of the Delegation of the, European Union to the United States and H E William Kennard, US Ambassador to the European Union.
The Honorable Jim Costa, US House of Representatives welcomed Robert Zoellick, President of the World Bank Group who gave a detailed snapshot of the International economic outlook, stressing the rapidity with which the world is changing and the need for Europe and the United States to respond.
Christian Leffler, Managing Director for the Americas, European External Action Service (EEAS)
Comments:
The Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, Member of the US House of Representatives
Ivailo Kalfin, MEP, European Parliament
- Roundtable 8: Research and Innovation (Wednesday, 14:30-16:00)
The panel developed a series of ideas for future collaboration between the US and the European Union in research and innovation. Brief outlines of existing US and European policy in this field served to highlight the importance of research and innovation to both sides of the Atlantic, as an engine for economic recovery and growth.
Chairman: John Wood, Chairman, European Research Area Board
Introduction:
John Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President of the United States
Harriet Wallberg-Henriksson, President, Karolinska Institutet
Alexander von Gabain, Chairman-Elect, European Institute of Innovation and Technology
Comments:
The Honorable F. James Sensenbrenner, Member of the US House of Representatives
The Honorable Eddie Bernice Johnson, Member of the US House of Representatives
Marietje Schaake MEP, European Parliament
- Roundtable 10: Digital Agenda (Wednesday 16:15-17:45)
There is growing demand on both sides of the Atlantic for convergence in policy and regulation impacting the development and use of digital communications technologies, and growing recognition that the time for concentrated convergence effort is now. Moreover, it is clear that the transatlantic digital agenda will assume ever-increasing and central importance in any renewed push for wider transatlantic market integration in a foreseeable post-Doha world, as well as in our common effort to spread democracy and defend human rights around the world.
Chairman: John Zysman, Professor of Political Science, University of California Berkeley
Introduction:
Ambassador Philip Verveer, US Coordinator & Deputy Assistant Secretary, International Communications and Information Policy, US Department of State
Christian Leffler, Managing Director for the Americas, European External Action Service (EEAS)
Comments
The Honorable Bob Goodlatte, Member of the US House of Representatives
- Protect IP Act: Can the Senate empower the USG to thwart overseas piracy? What are the diplomatic considerations?
- ICE Domain Seizures: Duty and legality of government website take down action.
- Copyright and the Cloud: The implications for Copyright and IPR as a result of the paradigm shift that is the cloud and cloud audio players and streamers.
Site visits in New York
On 14 and 15 July, a delegation of MEPs went to New York for the following programme:
- visit to CNN/TimeWarner studios on the Transformation of the media
Various initiatives were presented to demonstrate how the magazine, newspaper and television industries, supposedly doomed to extinction in the internet area, are reinventing themselves and going digital largely based on the strong uptake of tablet devices by consumers
The Global Network Operations Center (GNOC) in New Jersey is the largest and most sophisticated command-and-control center of its kind in the world, managing about one third or world internet traffic. The GNOC staff monitors and proactively manages the data and voice traffic flowing across AT&T’s domestic and global networks twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. From their workstations, they can quickly survey a sweeping wall of 141 giant screens showing different aspects of network activity, network topography and news events, and intervene as necessary to ensure continuity of service. There were also presentations on AT&T’s cloud services strategy, and rapid intervention capabilities to restore and maintain network services anywhere in the world following physical infrastructure damage or failure.
European Internet Forum asbl
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// Copyright (c) 2013 The Chromium Authors. All rights reserved.
// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can be
// found in the LICENSE file.
#include "remoting/host/screen_resolution.h"
#include <algorithm>
#include <limits>
#include "base/logging.h"
namespace remoting {
ScreenResolution::ScreenResolution()
: dimensions_(webrtc::DesktopSize(0, 0)),
dpi_(webrtc::DesktopVector(0, 0)) {
}
ScreenResolution::ScreenResolution(const webrtc::DesktopSize& dimensions,
const webrtc::DesktopVector& dpi)
: dimensions_(dimensions),
dpi_(dpi) {
// Check that dimensions are not negative.
DCHECK(!dimensions.is_empty() || dimensions.equals(webrtc::DesktopSize()));
DCHECK_GE(dpi.x(), 0);
DCHECK_GE(dpi.y(), 0);
}
webrtc::DesktopSize ScreenResolution::ScaleDimensionsToDpi(
const webrtc::DesktopVector& new_dpi) const {
int64 width = dimensions_.width();
int64 height = dimensions_.height();
// Scale the screen dimensions to new DPI.
width = std::min(width * new_dpi.x() / dpi_.x(),
static_cast<int64>(std::numeric_limits<int32>::max()));
height = std::min(height * new_dpi.y() / dpi_.y(),
static_cast<int64>(std::numeric_limits<int32>::max()));
return webrtc::DesktopSize(width, height);
}
bool ScreenResolution::IsEmpty() const {
return dimensions_.is_empty() || dpi_.is_zero();
}
} // namespace remoting
|
Synchrony in fall leaf drop: chlorophyll degradation, color change, and abscission layer formation in three temperate deciduous tree species.
Deciduous tree species remove some nutrients from their leaves during fall leaf senescence through retranslocation. Retranslocation impacts the timeline of leaf fall, amount of active chlorophyll, and overall leaf nitrogen content as fall color change occurs. Our objective was to identify interspecific differences in the timing of abscission layer formation, leaf color change, and the level of chlorophyll degradation of young trees during fall senescence. Leaf relative chlorophyll content for three tree species was measured during fall 2015 by a greenness meter. These measurements were calibrated for each species through spectrophotometric determination of leaf chlorophyll concentration. Abscission layer formation was tracked using light microscopy of sampled leaves. Excised leaves were photographed on a flat white surface to track species leaf color through time. All three species had different chlorophyll declination rates throughout the fall season. The maple species started with less chlorophyll and began abscission layer formation earlier. The other two species had a similar starting chlorophyll level and onset timing of abscission layer formation. Visible leaf color change was not associated with a threshold in either chlorophyll degradation or abscission layer formation across species. Maple species degraded less chlorophyll on average, in the fall, than did the oak and beech species. The rate of chlorophyll degradation in coordination with abscission layer formation varied by species. Color change was not a good predictor of level of chlorophyll degradation in leaves across species. |
State of the Baltic Sea: Interview with Maria Laamanen
Category: News
26/09/2018 10:53
Page Content
Maria Laamanen is the Head of the Finnish Delegation to HELCOM and works at the Finnish Ministry of the Environment. She answers questions about the process that led to the State of the Baltic Sea report.
What was your involvement in the State of the Baltic Sea report?
I was the chair of the HOLAS II Core Group, which was kind of a steering group for developing the second holistic assessment.
What were the main reasons for making the report?
HELCOM published its first holistic assessment in 2010 and there was an agreement that there should be another holistic assessment to follow up on the state of the Baltic Sea and effectiveness of HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan. Those contracting parties that are EU members needed this second holistic assessment for implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive.
Can you tell us more about the process of making the report, how it came together?
We started in the end of 2015. When you start a new project, it tends to be at first a little bit chaotic. I think it took one or two meetings that we got a better idea where we are aiming at and how to do it. We had quite lengthy discussions in what areas we are going to address for example relating to the Kattegat and how we should address different themes on the report.
We had the example of the first holistic assessment as a basis of our work and the themes of the state of the Baltic Sea Action Plan gave the basic structure to the report. In addition, we decided to go deeper in to the theme of socio-economics of protecting the Baltic Sea because it was important to be able to show what the economic value of the Baltic Sea is and how it relates to a cost of protecting the Baltic Sea. We also improved some of the methods and tools we had, worked on further developing some indicators and worked on the index that we use for assessing cumulative pressures on the sea.
We got support from the EU that made it possible to conduct supporting projects for making the State of the Baltic Sea report. During the project, a number of thematic reports were developed, and indicators and data were updated. All of that is published but not all of it is dealt with in detail within the State of the Baltic Sea report since there is so much material and the report aims to provide an overview. The report pulls together much of the relevant research that has been done and puts it in a simpler form to present it in an understandable fashion. If someone wants to go deeper than the report, one should go to read the thematic reports and check the data from the project.
All in all, I am very proud of the report and the wide coverage of issues HELCOM achieved with it.
What are the key findings and main outcomes?
The State of the Baltic Sea report shows the status of the Baltic Sea in 2011—2016. It shows that we still have not reached an overall good status of the Baltic Sea. Our main challenges relate to eutrophication and changes in biodiversity that partly stem from the harm that eutrophication causes as well as pressures such as changes in fishing and variability in climate.
On the other hand, we are going toward better status in many aspects. HOLAS II report trend graphs show for example that we have been able to decrease our loads of phosphorus and nitrogen. From the 1980s—1990s the phosphorus load has been cut by more than half and nitrogen load has been cut by almost a third.
In addition, in terms of hazardous substances the situation is getting much better. To some extend our graphs may give a darker view of where we stand with hazardous substances because the criteria are rather tough and if even one indicator which has lower status than the standard for good status is sufficient to yield an overall assessment of the theme as non-good.
We have also compiled information about marine litter. However, we have not been able to make assessments of whether the status is good or not because we have not agreed on the technical details of what is the standard for a good status yet.
What needs to be done now? How can we achieve a good environmental status for the Baltic Sea?
It is very clear what needs to be done: We need to work on implementing the Baltic Sea Action Plan and the further actions that have been agreed in HELCOM ministerial meetings, most recently in March of 2018.
Due to some ecosystem related lags in the Baltic Sea, it is clear that we cannot reach a good status on all aspects of the environment by 2021, which is the target year of the Baltic Sea Action Plan. Nevertheless, we have three more years to go to 2021 and we need to use those years well and implement the agreed actions to make the status of the Baltic Sea as good as possible. After that an updated action plan which was agreed to be drafted by HELCOM Ministerial Meeting 2018 should ensure that we reached the good status by 2030.
How will the results of the report affect the update of the Baltic Sea Action Plan?
The report provides us the baseline information on the status of the Baltic Sea and tells us what are the pressures affecting the status. Wherever we have a non-good status, we need to look in the causes: what pressures we need to address with our measures and where are we with our implementation. After that, we can look into what updated or new measures we might need.
The report does not give any specific measures but it points out what is important. For example, it points out that it is crucial that we reach nutrient load reduction targets that we have agreed upon in HELCOM. It is also very important that we enhance cross-sectoral aspects in sectors such as shipping and agriculture. It is important that there is coordination, coherence and cross reading between the different sectors.
How will the outcomes affect future actions of HELCOM?
Through the updated Baltic Sea Action Plan, for which the report serves as a basis.
Through the report, we also have a very detailed and shared view on what the good status of the Baltic Sea means. We have quantified for very detailed technical aspects of the sea what is good and non-good and we have indicators for follow-up. I think that is great starting point. To my knowledge, no other international sea in the world has that. The report can offer an example how international cooperation can provide good knowledge of the state of the sea.
What are the implications for the Finnish chairmanship?
We have identified the updating of the Baltic Sea Action Plan as our key priority. The State of the Baltic Sea report is very important to us, since it works as a basis for that work.
The interview was conducted by Alisa Vänttinen from the Finnish Ministry of the Environment. |
Q:
Wrapping SQL query into outer Select causes Order By reshuffle
I have an engine that builds a query. So this is not static and this is why I had to go this way (below). Plus, it works for SQL and Oracle (Oracle adds different wrapper, RowNum, etc...). I have no easy way to test Oracle but below is SQL Server problem, step-by-step logic
Lets take a simple query
Select field1 as f1, myDate dateFld From table1 t1 Where t1.field2 = 1
I may or may not, have to union output with another table
Select field1, myDate dateFld as f1 From table1 t1 Where t1.field2 = 1
Union
Select field2, myDate dateFld as f1 From table2 t2 Where t2.field2 = 2
I need to get only N records from this Union
Select Top(N) *
From
(
Select field1 as f1, myDate dateFld From table1 t1 Where t1.field2 = 1
Union
Select field2 as f1, myDate dateFld From table2 t2 Where t2.field2 = 2
) Union_Tbl_Alias
Order By dateFld Desc, f1
Remember this "Order by"
I also have Select Subqueries (and nothing I can do but have them in Select), which I moved to yet another Select wrapper
Select
f1,
myDate,
(Select field99 From table99 t99 Where t99.f1 = Outer_Tbl_Alias.f1) as f3
From
(
Select Top(N) *
From
(
Select field1 as f1, myDate dateFld From table1 t1 Where t1.field2 = 1
Union
Select field2 as f1, myDate dateFld From table2 t2 Where t2.field2 = 2
)
Order By dateFld Desc, f1
) Outer_Tbl_Alias
So the problem is that outer-most select reshuffles records a bit. They no longer sorted dateFld Desc.
I don't want to speculate, I think, this is only SQL Server issue but I will test it in oracle as well. Moving "Order By" to outer-most statement fixes it for SQL Server.
But I'm wondering:
1 - why it happens?
2 - is there a hint to tell SQL server - keep the order of inner Select?
A:
That behavior appears to make sense. Your outer query does not contain an ORDER BY clause so the order of the results is arbitrary. The fact that rows may have been ordered in a subquery is not controlling (though it undoubtedly does end up affecting the order of the results). Since you are building the query programmatically, it would make far more sense to add whatever ORDER BY clause you want than to try to work around the issue (and I'm not aware of a way to work around the issue that is guaranteed to work every time).
You'll have exactly the same issue when you run against an Oracle database and switch out the TOP for a couple of nested queries with rownum predicates. The only way to guarantee the order of your results is to add an ORDER BY clause. Since that is going to be necessary regardless of the database you are using, it makes even more sense to do it correctly by adding the additional ORDER BY to the outer query rather than having different database-specific workarounds.
|
The influence of loan repayment on rural healthcare provider recruitment and retention in Colorado.
There is an ongoing shortage of rural healthcare providers relative to urban healthcare providers worldwide. Many strategies have been implemented to increase the distribution of rural healthcare providers, and financial incentives such as loan repayment programs have become popular means to both recruit and retain healthcare providers in rural communities. Studies detailing the effects of such programs on rural provider recruitment and retention are limited. The objective of this study was to assess the influence of loan repayment and other factors on the recruitment and retention of healthcare providers in rural Colorado, USA, and to compare the motivations and attitudes of these rural providers with their urban counterparts. A survey was sent to 122 healthcare providers who had participated in one of three loan repayment programs in Colorado between the years of 1992 and 2007: the Colorado Health Professional Loan Repayment Program; the Colorado Rural Outreach Program; and the Dental Loan Repayment Program of Colorado. Differentiation between rural and urban communities was accomplished by using the Rural Urban Commuting Area Codes developed by the University of Washington's Rural Health Research Center and Economic Research Service. Statistical analysis was performed using STATA from StataCorp. Of the 93 respondents included in the study, 57 worked in rural communities and 36 worked in urban communities during their programs. Of the rural participants, 74% were already working in or intending to work in an eligible community when they were made aware of the loan repayment program. Of those planning to work in a rural community regardless of any loan repayment option, 42% reported that the loan repayment program had an important influence on the specific community in which they chose to practice. Of the rural participants already working in a rural community, 38% reported loan repayment as being an important factor in their retention. The most important factors the rural providers cited for their recruitment were the location of the community, scope of practice, and family fit with the community. The most important factors for the urban providers were the location of the community, salary, and scope of practice. Of the rural providers, 36% attended rural high schools, while 9% of urban providers attended rural high schools. Of the rural providers who were planning on practicing in a rural area regardless of any loan repayment option, 37% had attended rural high schools. Rural participants most often left their communities because their families wanted to move, personal or professional isolation, and dissatisfaction with the medical community. Of rural participants 22% cited the desire for a higher income as an important reason to leave their communities, while the desire for a higher income was the most commonly cited reason for the urban providers. Rural retention rates were not influenced by past attendance at rural high schools or by intention to practice in a rural community regardless of loan repayment. Loan repayment programs targeting rural Colorado usually enroll providers who would have worked in a rural area regardless of loan repayment opportunities, but are likely to play a role in providers' choice of specific rural community for practice. They also appear to have a limited but important influence on rural provider retention, though financial concerns are generally less influential for non-retained rural providers than are family preferences and professional dissatisfaction. |
OUCH! Free Content gets hurt by enabled Ad Blockers
A Belgian court has ruled that the Belgian ISP Scarlet Extended SA is responsible for blocking illegal file-sharing on its network, setting a precedent that could affect other ISPs in Europe, according to a recording industry group.
One legal expert doubted that claim, however.
Belgium’s Court of First Instance has given the Internet service provider six months to install technology to prevent its customers from sharing pirated music and video files, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said. |
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