text stringlengths 8 5.77M |
|---|
On January 1, 1967, the entire membership (17,800) of the Asbestos Workers' Union (insulation workers) in the United States was registered. Much information was obtained, including smoking habits. Each worker has been kept under observation since. For the period through December 31, 1971, l,092 men died and causes of death have been ascertained. We will maintain prospective observation of this well-defined cohort. Information will be obtained on the following problems: lung cancer deaths among non-smoking asbestos workers (to determine whether asbestos alone, without cigarette smoking, increases the risk of bronchogenic carcinoma); the relationship of cigarette smoking to pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma; its relation to pulmonary fibrosis (current observations are of borderline statistical significance and further data are needed); interaction between smoking and gastrointestinal neoplasms; relationship of cigarette smoking to other neoplasms among asbestos workers. We will further be able to ascertain whether cessation of cigarette smoking will decrease the risk of lung cancer among asbestos workers, information of potentially great value in their management and surveillance. The design of the investigation will also allow accumulation of data bearing on special risks of shipyard insulation work, effect of variations in age and time of onset of exposure, and of lapsed period from onset of exposure. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES: Hammond, E. C., Selikoff, I. J. and Seidman, H. Multiple interaction effects of cigarette smoking: Extrapulmonar cancer. In: Proc. XI Int. Cancer Congress, Florence, 1974, Cancer Epidemiology, Environmental Factors, Vol. 3. Ed. Pietro Bucalossi, Umberto Veronesis and Natale Cascinelli. Excerpta Medica, Amsterdam and American Elsevier Publishing Company, Inc., New York, 1965. pp. 147-150. |
Q:
UITable view,loading images from rss feed
I m reading the xml images from rss feed and parsing it in UITable view. Everything works fine, but it takes time to load the image content in the table view. The screen remains frozen. I'm using NSXMLParser to parse the image. Could you guys help me out, I'd be really greateful. Below is the code.
- (void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser didStartElement:(NSString *)elementName namespaceURI: (NSString *)namespaceURI qualifiedName:(NSString *)qName attributes:(NSDictionary *)attributeDict{
//NSLog(@"found this element: %@", elementName);
currentElement = [elementName copy];
currentElement1=[attributeDict copy];
if ([elementName isEqualToString:@"item"]) {
// clear out our story item caches...
item = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
currentTitle = [[NSMutableString alloc] init];
currentDate = [[NSMutableString alloc] init];
currentSummary = [[NSMutableString alloc] init];
currentLink = [[NSMutableString alloc] init];
currentString=[[NSMutableString alloc] init];
//currentImage = [[NSMutableString alloc] init];
currentContent=[[NSMutableString alloc]init];
}
if ([attributeDict objectForKey:@"url"])
{
currentString=[attributeDict objectForKey:@"url"];
// NSLog(@"what is my current string:%@",currentString);
[item setObject:currentString forKey:@"url"];
}
}
- (void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser didEndElement:(NSString *)elementName namespaceURI:(NSString *)namespaceURI qualifiedName:(NSString *)qName{
if ([elementName isEqualToString:@"item"]) {
[item setObject:currentTitle forKey:@"title"];
[item setObject:currentLink forKey:@"link"];
[item setObject:currentSummary forKey:@"description"];
[item setObject:currentContent forKey:@"content:encoded"];
[item setObject:currentDate forKey:@"pubDate"];
[stories addObject:[item copy]];
}
}
- (void)parser:(NSXMLParser *)parser foundCharacters:(NSString *)string{
//NSLog(@"found characters: %@", string);
// save the characters for the current item...///////////element
if ([currentElement isEqualToString:@"title"]) {
[currentTitle appendString:string];
} else if ([currentElement isEqualToString:@"link"]) {
[currentLink appendString:string];
} else if ([currentElement isEqualToString:@"description"]) {
[currentSummary appendString:string];
} else if ([currentElement isEqualToString:@"pubDate"]) {
[currentDate appendString:string];
}
else if ([currentElement isEqualToString:@"content:encoded"]) {
[currentSummary appendString:string];
}
}
NSString *imagefile1 = [[stories objectAtIndex:indexPath.row]objectForKey:@"url"];
NSString *escapedURL=[imagefile1 stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding];
UIImage *image1 = [[UIImage alloc]initWithData:[NSData dataWithContentsOfURL:[NSURL URLWithString:escapedURL]]];
cell.imageView.image=image1;
[image1 release];
cell.textLabel.backgroundColor=[UIColor clearColor];
cell.textLabel.numberOfLines=2;
cell.textLabel.text=[[stories objectAtIndex:indexPath.row] objectForKey: @"title"];
cell.detailTextLabel.backgroundColor=[UIColor clearColor];
cell.detailTextLabel.numberOfLines=3;
cell.detailTextLabel.text=[[stories objectAtIndex:indexPath.row] objectForKey: @"pubDate"];
A:
Use Lazy Loading to load images....
|
// <snippetfetchaggregationandgroupby17>
// *****************************************************************************************************************
// FetchXML byyrqtr2 Aggregate 17
// *****************************************************************************************************************
// Specify the result order for the previous sample. Order by year, then quarter.
string byyrqtr2 = @"
<fetch distinct='false' mapping='logical' aggregate='true'>
<entity name='opportunity'>
<attribute name='opportunityid' alias='opportunity_count' aggregate='count'/>
<attribute name='estimatedvalue' alias='estimatedvalue_sum' aggregate='sum'/>
<attribute name='estimatedvalue' alias='estimatedvalue_avg' aggregate='avg'/>
<attribute name='actualclosedate' groupby='true' dategrouping='quarter' alias='quarter' />
<attribute name='actualclosedate' groupby='true' dategrouping='year' alias='year' />
<order alias='year' descending='false' />
<order alias='quarter' descending='false' />
<filter type='and'>
<condition attribute='statecode' operator='eq' value='Won' />
</filter>
</entity>
</fetch>";
EntityCollection byyrqtr2_result = _serviceProxy.RetrieveMultiple(new FetchExpression(byyrqtr2));
foreach (var c in byyrqtr2_result.Entities)
{
Int32 aggregate17 = (Int32)((AliasedValue)c["quarter"]).Value;
System.Console.WriteLine("Quarter: " + aggregate17);
Int32 aggregate17d = (Int32)((AliasedValue)c["year"]).Value;
System.Console.WriteLine("Year: " + aggregate17d);
Int32 aggregate17a = (Int32)((AliasedValue)c["opportunity_count"]).Value;
System.Console.WriteLine("Count of all opportunities: " + aggregate17a);
decimal aggregate17b = ((Money)((AliasedValue)c["estimatedvalue_sum"]).Value).Value;
System.Console.WriteLine("Sum of estimated value of all opportunities: " + aggregate17b);
decimal aggregate17c = ((Money)((AliasedValue)c["estimatedvalue_avg"]).Value).Value;
System.Console.WriteLine("Average of estimated value of all opportunities: " + aggregate17c);
System.Console.WriteLine("----------------------------------------------");
}
System.Console.WriteLine("===============================");
// </snippetfetchaggregationandgroupby17> |
Iranians get some services back
Iranians have a little more Internet access than a few days ago, but access is still highly restricted.
Last week, the country imposed a block on SSL-based VPNs which, it seems, is still in place. Barring SSL/TLS traffic stopped Iranians from using the well-known TOR Project to bypass state censorship of Internet sites. In addition, Iranians found themselves unable to access Web-based mail sites like Gmail, Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail, along with a host of other popular services.
The Washington Post is now reporting that the blocks on e-mail services seem to be easing, although access remains blocked to Facebook and Twitter.
Users running into the officially-denied blocks either wait an eternity for sites to load, or receive a block-page attributing their lack of access to “computer crime regulations”.
The blocks are attributed to upcoming elections and the anniversary of its 1979 revolution.
With the country tightening its grip on what users are able to access online, there’s a growing speculation that the country’s so-called “Halal Internet” is imminent. Last April, the country’s head of economic affairs Ali Aqamohammadi told state newsagency IRNA that Iran plans this parallel Internet to counter “American dominance” over the Internet.
Iran has never explained in detail how such a project would operate. An alternate DNS root system creates a walled garden of sorts, but only if users don’t (or cannot) reach the rest of the world’s domains. A national-scale NAT firewall, on the other hand, is difficult to scale – as, arguably, Iran is discovering in its current efforts at censorship.
A member of Iran’s filtering committee, Mohammad Sadegh Afrasiabi, is reported by AFP as telling newspaper Hamshahri that the Iranian “national Internet” is four years away from implementation and won’t involve blocking e-mail. ® |
Effects of initiation of continuous renal replacement therapy on hemodynamics in a pediatric animal model.
There are no studies analyzing the initial hemodynamic impact of continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) in children. We have performed a prospective observational study in 34 immature Maryland pigs to analyze the initial hemodynamic changes during venovenous CRRT. The heart rate, blood pressure, central venous pressure (CVP), pulmonary arterial occlusion pressure (PAOP), pulmonary capillary wedge pressure, temperature, and cardiac output (CO), simultaneously by pulmonary arterial thermodilution and femoral arterial thermodilution, were measured at 30-min intervals during 2 h. Venovenous CRRT induced an initial significant diminution of volemic hemodynamic parameters (intrathoracic blood volume, global end-diastolic volume, stroke volume index, PAOP, and CVP). Simultaneously, a significant increase in systemic vascular resistance index and left ventricular contractility, and a decrease in CO, was observed. We conclude that CRRT in a pediatric animal model induces initial hypovolemia, and a systemic cardiovascular response with vasoconstriction and increase in ventricular contractility. |
Fordham Road station (MBTA)
Fordham Road station was a light rail stop on the MBTA Green Line "B" Branch, located in the median of Commonwealth Avenue at Fordham Road in Allston, Boston, Massachusetts. The stop had two side platforms, each located before the pedestrian crossing at Fordham Road. It was closed in 2004 as part of an effort to speed up travel times on the line.
History
In 2003, Fordham Road was one of five stops on the "B" Branch proposed for closure to speed up travel on the line. The stops were chosen for their low average daily ridership and proximity to stops with higher ridership. In a 1995 count, Fordham Road had averaged 921 daily boardings compared to 1,521 at Packards Corner and 4,077 at Harvard Avenue station, both of which were less than away. Chiswick Road was dropped from the proposal shortly after it was announced, but the other four stops - Fordham Road, Summit Avenue, Mount Hood Road, and Greycliff Road - were provisionally closed on April 20, 2004. T On March 15, 2005, after a survey showed that 73% of 1,142 riders surveyed approved of the closures, the MBTA board voted to make the closures permanent.
References
External links
MBTA - Fordham Road (2003)
Category:Green Line (MBTA) stations
Category:Railway stations closed in 2004 |
This Research Topic of Frontiers in Neuroinformatics is dedicated to the memory of Rolf Kötter (1961--2010), who was the Frontiers Associate Editor responsible for this Research Topic, and who gave us considerable support and encouragement during the process of conceiving and launching the Topic, and throughout the reviewing process.
Computation is becoming essential across all sciences, for data acquisition and analysis, automation, and hypothesis testing via modeling and simulation. As a consequence, software development is becoming a critical scientific activity. Training of scientists in programming, software development, and computational thinking (Wilson, [@B30]), choice of tools, community-building and interoperability are all issues that should be addressed, if we wish to accelerate scientific progress while maintaining standards of correctness and reproducibility.
The Python programming language in particular has seen a surge in popularity across the sciences, for reasons which include its readability, modularity, and large standard library. The use of Python as a scientific programming language began to increase with the development of numerical libraries for optimized operations on large arrays in the late 1990s, in which an important development was the merging of the competing Numeric and Numarray packages in 2006 to form NumPy (Oliphant, [@B21]). As Python and NumPy have gained traction in a given scientific domain, we have seen the emergence of domain-specific ecosystems of open-source Python software developed by scientists. It became clear to us in 2007 that we were on the cusp of an emerging *Python in neuroscience* ecosystem, particularly in computational neuroscience and neuroimaging, but also in electrophysiological data analysis and in psychophysics.
Two major strengths of Python are its modularity and ability to easily "glue" together different programming languages, which together facilitate the interaction of modular components and their composition into larger systems. This focus on reusable components, which has proven its value in commercial and open-source software development (Brooks, [@B2]), is, we contend, essential for scientific computing in neuroscience, if we are to cope with the increasingly large amounts of data being produced in experimental labs, and if we wish to understand and model the brain in all its complexity.
We therefore felt that it was timely and important to raise awareness of the emerging Python in Neuroscience software ecosystem amongst researchers developing Python-based tools, but also in the larger neuroscience community.
Our goals were several-fold:
1. \- establish a critical mass for Python use and development in the eyes of the community;
2. \- encourage interoperability and collaboration between developers;
3. \- expose neuroscientists to the new Python-based tools now available.
From this was born the idea for a Research Topic in *Frontiers in Neuroinformatics* on "Python in Neuroscience" to showcase those projects we were aware of, and to give exposure to projects of which we were not aware. Although it may seem strange at first glance to center a Research Topic around a tool, rather than around a scientific problem, we feel it is justified by the increasingly critical role of scientific programming in neuroscience research, and by the particular strengths of the Python language and the broader Python scientific computing ecosystem.
Collected in this Research Topic are 24 articles describing some ways in which neuroscience researchers around the world are turning to the Python programming language to get their job done faster and more efficiently.
Overview of the Research Topic
==============================
We will now briefly summarize the 24 articles in the Research Topic, drawing out common themes.
Both Southey et al. ([@B25]) and Yanashima et al. ([@B32]) use Python for bioinformatics applications, but in very different areas. Yanashima et al. have developed a Python package for graph-theoretical analysis of biomolecular networks, BioNetpy, and employed it to investigate protein networks associated with Alzheimer\'s disease. Southey et al.\'s study demonstrates the wide breadth of application of Python, and the large number of high quality scientific libraries available, combining existing tools for bioinformatics, machine learning and web development to build an integrated pipeline for identification of prohormone precursors and prediction of prohormone cleavage sites.
Jurica and van Leeuwen ([@B20]) address the needs of scientists who already have significant amounts of code written in MATLAB® and who wish to transfer this to Python. They present OMPC, which uses syntax adaptation and emulation to allow transparent import of existing MATLAB® functions into Python programs.
Three articles reported on new tools in the domain of neuroimaging. Hanke et al. ([@B16]) report on PyMVPA, a Python framework for machine learning-based data analysis, and its application to analysis of fMRI, EEG, MEG, and extracellular electrophysiology recordings. Gouws et al. ([@B14]) describe DataViewer3D, a Python application for displaying and integrating data from multiple neuroimaging modalities, showcasing Python\'s abilities to easily interface with libraries written in other languages, such as C++, and to integrate them into user-friendly systems. Strangman et al. ([@B28]) emphasize the advantages of Python for "*swift prototyping followed by efficient transition to stable production systems*" in their description of NinPy, a toolkit for near-infrared neuroimaging.
Zito et al. ([@B33]) and Ince et al. ([@B19]) both report on the use of Python for general purpose data analysis, with a focus on machine learning and information theory respectively. Zito et al. have developed MDP, the Modular toolkit for Data Processing, a collection of computationally efficient data analysis modules that can be combined into complex pipelines. MDP was originally developed for theoretical research in neuroscience, but has broad application in general scientific data analysis and in teaching. Ince et al. ([@B19]) describe the use of Python for information-theoretic analysis of neuroscience data, outlining algorithmic, statistical and numerical challenges in the application of information theory in neuroscience, and explaining how the use of Python has significantly improved the speed and domain of applicability of the algorithms, allowing more ambitious analyses of more complex data sets. Their code is available as an open-source package, pyEntropy.
Three articles report on tools for visual stimulus generation, for use in visual neurophysiology and psychophysics experiments. Straw ([@B29]) describes VisionEgg, while Peirce ([@B23]) presents PsychoPy, both of which are easy-to-use and easy-to-install applications that make use of OpenGL to generate temporally and spatially precise, arbitrarily complex visual stimulation protocols. Python is used to provide a simple, intuitive interface to the underlying graphics libraries, to provide a graphical user interface, and to interface with external hardware. PsychoPy can also generate and deliver auditory stimuli. Spacek et al. ([@B26]) also report on a Python library for visual stimulus generation, as part of a toolkit for the acquisition and analysis of highly parallel electrophysiological recordings from cat and rat visual cortex. The other two components in the toolkit are for electrophysiological waveform visualization and spike sorting; and for spike train and stimulus analysis. The authors note "*The requirements and solutions for these projects differed greatly, yet we found Python to be well suited for all three."*
Also in the domain of electrophysiology, Garcia and Fourcaud-Trocmé ([@B11]) describe OpenElectrophy, an application for efficient storage and analysis of large electrophysiology datasets, which includes a graphical user interface for interactive visualization and exploration and a library of analysis routines, including several spike-sorting methods.
By far the largest contribution to the Research Topic came from the field of modeling and simulation, with 12 articles on the topic. Nine of these articles present neuroscience simulation environments with Python scripting interfaces. In most cases, the Python interface was added to an existing simulator written in a compiled language such as C++. This was the case for NEURON (Hines et al., [@B17]), NEST (Eppler et al., [@B9]), PCSIM (Pecevski et al., [@B22]), Nengo (Stewart et al., [@B27]), MOOSE (Ray and Bhalla, [@B24]), STEPS (Wils and De Schutter, [@B31]) and NCS (Drewes et al., [@B7]). However, as the articles by Goodman and Brette ([@B13]) on the Brian simulator and Bednar ([@B1]) on the Topographica simulator demonstrate, it is also possible to develop new simulation environments purely in Python, making use of the vectorization techniques available in the underlying NumPy package to obtain computational efficiency. The range of modeling domains of these simulators is wide, from stochastic simulation of coupled reaction-diffusion systems (STEPS), through simulation of morphologically detailed neurons and networks (NEURON, MOOSE), highly-efficient large-scale networks of spiking point neurons (NEST, PCSIM, NCS, Brian) to population coding or point-neuron models of large brain regions (Nengo, Topographica). Note that although we have categorized each simulator by its main area of application, most of these tools support modeling at a range of scales and levels of detail: Bednar ([@B1]), for example, describes the integration of a spiking NEST simulation as one component in a Topographica simulation.
The addition of Python interfaces to such a large number of widely used simulation environments suggested a huge opportunity to enhance interoperability between different simulators, making use of the common scripting language, which in turn has the potential to enhance the transfer of technology, knowledge and models between users of the different simulators, and to promote model reuse. Davison et al. ([@B5]) describe PyNN, a common Python interface to multiple simulators, which enables the same modeling and simulation script to be run on any supported simulator without modification. At the time of writing, PyNN supports NEURON, NEST, PCSIM and Brian, with MOOSE support under development. The existence of such a common "meta-simulator" then makes it much easier for scientists developing new, hardware-based approaches to neural simulation to engage with the computational neuroscience community, as evidenced by the article by Brüderle et al. ([@B3]) on interfacing a novel neuromorphic hardware system with PyNN.
Finally, Fox et al. ([@B10]) describe the possibilities when one is not limited to a single simulator, but can use Python to integrate multiple models into a brain-wide system. In their development of an integrated basal ganglia-hippocampal formation model for spatial navigation and its embodiment in a simulated robotic environment, Fox et al. found that Python offers "*a significant reduction in development time, without a corresponding significant increase in execution time*."
It is important to note that most or all of the Python tools and libraries described in the Research Topic are open source and hence free to download, use and extend.
Discussion {#s1}
==========
This editorial is being written 6 years after the first articles in the Research Topic were published. It is with the benefit of considerable hindsight, therefore, that we can confidently say that our goals in launching this Research Topic---to establish a critical mass for Python use and development in the eyes of the community and to encourage interoperability and collaboration between developers---have been met or exceeded.
The average number of citations per article for the Research Topic as a whole is 54, or approximately 9 per year, using figures from Google Scholar. Although citation counts from Google Scholar tend to be higher than those from Journal Citation Reports so the numbers are not directly comparable, this compares favorably with the impact factors of well respected journals such as Journal of Neuroscience or PLoS Computational Biology. Some of the articles were much more highly cited, with three of them being cited more than 20 times per year, on average, over the period. Four of the articles were chosen to "climb the tier" in the Frontiers system, and were followed up by Focused Review articles in Frontiers in Neuroscience (Davison et al., [@B6]; Goodman and Brette, [@B12]; Hanke et al., [@B15]; Ince et al., [@B18]), another was the subject of a commentary (Einevoll, [@B8]).
Concerning the goals of interoperability and collaboration, several articles in a follow-up volume *Python in Neuroscience II* attest to the degree to which the developers of different tools have worked together, and prioritized interoperability in recent years. For example, the developers of OpenElectrophy (Garcia and Fourcaud-Trocmé, [@B11]) and the community around PyNN (Davison et al., [@B5]) formed the nucleus of an effort to develop a baseline Python representation for electrophysiology data, which resulted in the Neo project, reported in the *Python in Neuroscience II* Research Topic (Garcia et al., [@B11a]) together with two of the several projects which build on Neo (Pröpper and Obermayer, [@B23a]; Sobolev et al., [@B24a]). A new workflow system for computational neuroscience, Mozaik (Antolík and Davison, [@B1a]) builds on both PyNN and Topographica (Bednar, [@B1]). PyNEST (Eppler et al., [@B9]) and PyNN developers collaborated with the INCF to improve the interoperability between these tools (Djurfeldt et al., [@B7a]) when using the Connection Set Algebra (Djurfeldt, [@B7b]). Finally, a number of tools have been built on the Python interface to NEURON (Hines et al., [@B17]), including morphforge (Hull and Willshaw, [@B17a]) and LFPy (Lindén et al., [@B20a]).
Observing the rapid growth in adoption of Python in neuroscience over the last 6 years, which appears to continue to accelerate, it is clear that Python is here to stay, which augurs well for the growth, productivity, and rigor of computational methods in neuroscience.
Conflict of interest statement
------------------------------
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
[^1]: Edited and reviewed by: Sean L. Hill, International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility, Sweden
|
A wide variety of surgical techniques have been used to access the spinal column in spinal surgery procedures. For example, some techniques included making an incision in the patient's back and distracting or separating tissue and muscle to expose a wide area of the spine in order to perform the spinal surgery procedure. Such techniques often result in excessive invasions into the patient's spine and back region causing major damage to the normal anatomy, and significant and dangerous blood loss.
In an attempt to minimize risks associated with spinal surgery procedures, some surgical techniques have been developed wherein only portions of the spinal column area are accessed during various stages of the surgical procedure. In these procedures, a smaller incision can be used to access the portion of the spinal column area. However, access to only a portion of the spinal column area does not provide sufficient access for all surgical procedures.
In general, improvement has been sought with respect to such surgical techniques, generally to better provide sufficient accessibility to a spinal column area while minimizing anatomical trauma and blood loss. |
One wi-fi hotspot for every 150 people, says study By Jane Wakefield
Technology reporter, BBC News Published duration 3 November 2014
image copyright Thinkstock image caption Wi-fi hotspots are popular in cafes and restaurants
The UK has one wi-fi hotspot for every 11 people and worldwide there is one for every 150, new research from wi-fi provider iPass indicates.
It suggests there will be 47.7 million public hotspots worldwide by the end of 2014.
France currently has the most hotspots, followed by the US and UK.
Hotspots are designed to fill the gaps in coverage left by mobile networks and are often offered free of charge.
The study is one of the first comprehensive looks at the distribution of global wi-fi. A clickable map of hotspots around the world shows the numbers in each region and where they are located - in homes, on trains, planes, airports and retail outlets.
Homespots
Over the next four years, global hotspot numbers will grow to more than 340 million, the equivalent of one wi-fi hotspot for every 20 people on earth, the research finds.
But this growth will not be evenly distributed. While in North America there will be one hotspot for every four people by 2018, in Africa it will be one for every 408.
While Europe currently has the most dense wi-fi coverage, Asia will overtake it by 2018, according to the report.
The research suggests that the vast majority of hotspots - nearly 34 million - are in homes. These hotspots are part of a growing trend to extend home wi-fi to the local community.
Increasingly firms such as BT are turning home wi-fi routers into public wi-fi hotspots which will provide free net access to other subscribers to the network.
It does so without affecting the bandwidth allowance of the customer whose home it is in.
US provider Comcast caused controversy when it introduced its public home wi-fi service in the summer because customers were not given the option to opt out before receiving it.
Such "homespot" public wi-fi will see explosive growth rising to more than 325 million in 2018 and taking wi-fi "from the cities to the suburbs", according to the research.
"Every second home you walk past will be a public hotspot that you can use if you are part of that provider's network," said June Bower, chief marketing officer at iPass.
There are nearly 7.5 million hotspots in shops, cafes and hotels and and a much smaller number - nearly 11,000, on trains, planes and in airports. But wi-fi on transport is also set to grow massively, the report indicates.
Google wi-fi
Unlike the mobile network, which tends to be run by three or four big players in each country, wi-fi hotspots are controlled by many different providers.
According to the research, more than 50% of all commercial hotspots are controlled by brands whose core business is not telecommunications.
Run by cafes, hoteliers and retailers, it can make the network "somewhat chaotic", according to Ms Bower.
"At the moment you have to have a separate log-in for every hotspot and ultimately the winning providers are those that will offer the easier access experience," she said.
And there is opportunity there for the big technology brands.
"Everyone has a Google log-in. Google could become a hotspot provider as could Facebook or Apple."
In fact Google is already dabbling in the wi-fi market.
In 2013, it made a deal with Starbucks to offer free wi-fi to 7,000 coffee shops in the US and it recently filed a request with the US Federal Communications Commission to test high-speed wireless spectrum at several locations in California. |
Q:
Generating overlapping sequences
I have a dataset with the following information. The timebin variable is an identifier for the time period of the data. It can be assumed that timebin is unique and without any gaps (i.e. the data will always contain 2 if it contains 1 and 3).
timebin,lat,lon
0,9.0,2.0
1,12.0,4.0
2,15.0,6.0
3,18.0,8.0
4,21.0,10.0
5,24.0,12.0
6,27.0,14.0
7,30.0,16.0
I want to generate all the sequences of a fixed-length l with an amount of overlap o. For instance, for l=4 and o=2 the following groups of indices would be output:
[[0,1,2,3], [2,3,4,5], [4,5,6,7]]
This could be done using a loop, but I wonder if there is a more elegant and efficient way of doing it in python?
A:
Use list comprehension:
l = 4
o = 2
e = 7
print([[x for x in range(s, s + l)] for s in range(0, e, o) if s + l <= e + 1])
Result:
[[0, 1, 2, 3], [2, 3, 4, 5], [4, 5, 6, 7]]
|
Q:
Remote Desktop Connection (mstsc.exe) is having font issues for just some accounts
We have some contractors who are remoting into a development server using Remote Desktop Connection (mstsc.exe). One or more of these contractors is reporting that when they remote in and run SQL Server Management Studio or Visual Studio, some of the fonts are messed up and it's interfering with their work.
I was able to reproduce this problem using a domain admin account.
Below are a couple of screenshots using mstsc, remoting into the development server on my regular domain account and then doing the same thing remoting in using the admin account.
Regular Account (fonts look okay):
Administrator Account (screwy fonts):
The server operating system is Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard Edition. It is up-to-date on all patches, updates, etc.
The client operating system, running Remote Desktop Connection, is Windows 10 Enterprise. It is also up-to-date on all updates.
Below is an image of the "Server Properties" dialog's "Advanced" tab when logged in with my admin account (it looks fine when viewing logged in with my regular domain account):
I could sure use a hand resolving this issue!
Thanks!
A:
It's possible the issue isn't specific to Remote Desktop. The problem may be with the remote computer itself instead of Remote Desktop. Examples include corruption of font files or in the settings of the user profile.
To test for this, log on to the computer directly using the affected and non-affected accounts and observe the results. If the issue persists you've ruled out Remote Desktop as the cause.
Given some but not all of your user accounts are affected, you can narrow down the source of the problem by leveraging differences between the accounts in your testing. Try a new user profile. Try promoting the non-affected account to administrator status to determine if that's contributing to the symptoms.
You may find some clues by using Microsoft Process Monitor. From the product description page:
Process Monitor is an advanced monitoring tool for Windows that shows real-time file system, Registry and process/thread activity.
You can use Process Monitor's powerful filtering tools to find events that may be relevant to your problem. I suggest you start by excluding all events that return a result of SUCCESS as shown here:
While there will still be a lot of events that (legitimately) fail, you may very well find some action that fails in some manner that has to do with loading or manipulating fonts.
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Description
What is
Symfony?
Symfony is written with speed and flexibility in mind. It allows developers to build better and easy to maintain websites with PHP. Symfony can be used to develop all kind of websites, from your personal blog to high traffic ones like Dailymotion or Yahoo! Answers.
What is
Grails?
Grails is a framework used to build web applications with the Groovy programming language. The core framework is very extensible and there are numerous plugins available that provide easy integration of add-on features.
What is
Cocoa Touch (iOS)?
The Cocoa Touch layer contains key frameworks for building iOS apps. These frameworks define the appearance of your app. They also provide the basic app infrastructure and support for key technologies such as multitasking, touch-based input, push notifications, and many high-level system services. |
Occurrence of hyperhomocysteinaemia in cardiovascular, haematology and nephrology patients: contribution of folate deficiency.
We investigated the contribution of plasma folate deficiency to hyperhomocysteinaemia in selected patient groups. Based on our observations, we have determined a lower folate reference interval cut-off using homocysteine as a metabolic marker of folate deficiency. Four hundred and twenty-five consecutive plasma specimens from cardiology (n = 120), haematology (n = 190) and nephrology (n = 115) patients were analysed for homocysteine and plasma folate concentrations. Healthy volunteers were used as controls (n = 117). We observed elevated homocysteine values above our upper reference limit of 13 micromol/L in 20.1%, 28.4% and 74.8% of the cardiology, haematology and nephrology patients, respectively. All but 1.9% of the patients had plasma folate values greater than the lower reference interval limit (3.4 nmol/L) for our folate assay. The percentage of patients from cardiology and haematology clinics who were hyperhomocysteinaemic and had folate values > 15 nmol/L was 5.0% and 4.2%, respectively. In contrast, 58% of our nephrology patients with folate values > 15 nmol/L were hyperhomocysteinaemic. In all three groups, an inverse relationship was found between folate and homocysteine. The folate/homocysteine ratios in the patient groups were approximately one-third of the values observed in our control group. Folate deficiency appears to be the primary cause of hyperhomocysteinaemia in our cardiology and thrombosis patients. However, severe folate deficiency appears to be uncommon. The majority of our nephrology patients are hyperhomocysteinaemic without an apparent folate deficiency. We conclude that raising the lower reference interval cut-off for folate to 15 nmol/L would help to identify individuals at risk for hyperhomocysteinaemia in our non-uraemic patient population. Increasing folate supplementation to maintain a plasma concentration above 15 nmol/L in cardiac, thrombosis and renal patients would greatly reduce the occurrence of hyperhomocysteinaemia in these patients. |
A novel vector for positive selection of inserts harboring an open reading frame by translational coupling.
We have developed a novel vector pTCS, as a tool for efficient selection of open reading frame (ORF)-containing inserts. In pTCS clones containing an insert with an ORF a downstream marker gene (immE3, conferring resistance to colicin) is activated via translational coupling with the insert, and transformed cells can then be selected by exposure to colicin E3. Our method differs from previous methods in that the marker gene is activated without protein fusion, and that selection occurs irrespective of the reading frame of the insert. |
10 Tips for Getting Pregnant Faster
Whether you're just starting to think about trying to conceive or you've been working on making a baby for a while, these tips just might help you get pregnant faster.
Sierra Pruitt/Stocksy
If you've got a bad case of baby fever, chances are you'll try just about anything that could help you fast-track conception. But before you start chanting baby-making mantras or standing on your head, there are plenty of other things you and your partner can try to get pregnant faster — and some of them are surprisingly simple. Just remember, no single strategy can guarantee success, but these ten tips can go a long way toward putting a bun in your oven.
Say bye-bye to birth control sooner rather than later.
Thinkstock
If you use the pill, patch or shot — or another form of hormonal contraceptives — the sooner you stop, the faster your cycle can return to its natural groove. Hormonal contraceptives usually contain a combo of estrogen and progesterone, which keeps you from getting pregnant by suppressing ovulation or preventing implantation. That’s why it can take a few months after going off birth control for your hormones to get up to speed again and for your period to come regularly. Talk to your practitioner about the best time to get off your birth control: Generally, three months is the preferred time for women using the pill or patch, but it can take up to nine months (or longer) for your reproductive system to bounce back if you use the Depo-Provera injection.
Check in for a checkup.
iStock
It’s a good idea to book an appointment with your practitioner (or midwife) to get some help with your make-a-baby to-do list, like ditching meds that aren’t baby-friendly and making sure your body (and your partner’s) is in its best baby-making shape. A head-to-toe exam can screen for chronic conditions that might interfere with conception, such as thyroid disorders or ovarian cysts, and identify any fertility issues. Once you get the word that all systems are go, you can get down to business — getting pregnant.
Work out wisely.
Stocksy
Study after study shows that being fit can make you more fertile. Not only does exercise help you shed unwanted pounds (excess weight is a big-time fertility buster), it also lowers blood pressure, reduces your levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and increases blood flow to reproductive organs — all necessary for conception. But don't overdo it. Other research shows that super-vigorous workouts can derail your pregnancy plans, especially if your weight is already where it should be, even though it can help overweight or obese women get pregnant faster. Why the discrepancy? Fast-paced aerobics like running or cycling can mess with your menstrual cycles — and even temporarily stop ovulation — but can also reverse the harmful effects of being overweight. To find a balance between working out too hard and not hard enough, talk to your doctor, and try low-impact exercise like walking.
Choose the best fats — and help your partner do the same.
Shutterstock
What you eat matters if you want to get pregnant faster. After all, healthy foods not only fuel fertility but also build a healthier baby. But did you know that when it comes to getting pregnant faster, reaching for the right stuff is important for your partner too? Healthy fats like omega-3s can boost his sperm count and motility, while saturated fats (the kind found in chips and fast foods) can sabotage sperm size and shape, making them less hardy, according to one study. So encourage your hubby to lay off the burgers and dig into some salmon, sardines, leafy greens and walnuts to keep his swimmers in tip-top shape.
Don't forget these other sperm-boosting foods.
Stocksy
Add these fertility foods to your man’s menu:
Oysters. We’re not sure if oysters are an aphrodisiac, but we do know that their zinc content pumps up the production of sperm and testosterone. If your partner’s not a fan, he can get his share of zinc from lean beef, poultry, dairy, nuts or eggs, though oysters have the highest concentration of this baby-making nutrient.
Fruits and veggies. Produce is rich in the vitamins that can help protect your guy’s sperm from cellular damage. He can get folate from leafy greens — men who don’t get enough of this B vitamin tend to have sperm with abnormal chromosomes. Give him plenty of citrus fruits, tomatoes and berries for vitamin C (which can boost sperm quality) and carrots, red peppers and apricots for vitamin A (which keeps sperm from getting sluggish). Or serve sweet potatoes, which are rich in all three — folate, A and C!
Honey and pomegranate juice. Honey contains boron, a mineral that may increase testosterone, and pomegranate juice may up sperm count and quality.
Take a prenatal vitamin.
Thinkstock
A prenatal vitamin is good insurance for you and your future baby. Studies show downing a daily supplement can lower your risk of giving birth prematurely and even stave off morning sickness. But that’s not all a prenatal can do. A recent study found that women undergoing fertility treatments who were taking prenatal multivitamins were twice as likely to get pregnant as women who were undergoing the same treatments but taking only folic acid. While this finding isn’t a guarantee that you’ll get pregnant faster, popping a prenatal once a day is always a smart move when you’re TTC (or a mama-to-be).
Boost your dairy and iron intake.
Offset
Besides eating right and taking prenatal vitamins, try to fit in one serving of full-fat dairy a day as part of your plan to get more calcium. Research shows that one serving of whole milk or cheese — or yes, even a scoop of full-fat ice cream — can lower your chances of ovulatory infertility (the inability to produce healthy eggs). But be sure to limit that full-fat serving to one a day; otherwise you’ll sabotage your conception quest by packing on too many pounds. Also aim for two servings a day of iron-rich foods like leafy greens, beans and lean meats since research shows that anemic women can have irregular cycles.
Cut down your caffeine intake…and cut out other vices.
Thinkstock
There’s a whole host of studies showing that too much caffeine and alcohol can derail your campaign to conceive. So if you really want to get pregnant soon, limit your caffeine intake to about 200 mg per day — which is the equivalent of about two cups of coffee. (If you’re undergoing fertility treatments, your doc may lower that limit even more.) But cut out alcohol altogether and tell your partner to decrease his drinking too — it can do a number on your fertility and his. And though it probably goes without saying, nix nicotine now if you haven’t already because it can cause major cell damage to your eggs and increase the chances of miscarriage once you do get pregnant.
Skip the lubricant.
Stocksy
If you’re trying to get pregnant faster, get your juices flowing with some good old-fashioned foreplay instead of reaching for the lube. Oil-based lubricants (like massage oil) can change your cervical mucus and the pH of your vaginal tract, making it more difficult for your partner’s sperm to find its way to the promised land. Even saliva can turn into a sperm-killer. An alternate get-in-the-mood idea: Watch a sexy movie together — doing so actually boosts the quality of your guy’s sperm. (If these tactics don’t do the trick and you find that you’re simply too dry to get the deed done, try a dime-sized dollop of a water-based lube like K-Y.)
Don't worry too much.
Stocksy
Studies show that extreme stress can lower your chances of getting pregnant by causing hormone levels to go haywire and decreasing cervical mucus. We’re talking about high anxiety here — not run-of-the-mill frustrations like a demanding boss or tantrum-ing toddler. But even if you’re not at freak-out levels, it can’t hurt to keep your nerves in check by avoiding work overloads, hitting a yoga or Zumba class, listening to music, or venting to your partner or a sympathetic pal. Another plus to finding time for R&R now: Once you do make and deliver a baby, “me” time will be a whole lot harder to nab.
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Cell phone video footage showing a Chinese woman being shoved around and slapped by an immigration official at Manila International Airport has received viral attention online and from the Philippine capital’s Chinese embassy, which is now lodging a protest against Philippine Immigration and demanding further investigation.
The video, shot on May 4, shows the woman, identified as Jiang Huixing, screaming as she gets dragged across the floor by the officer. She stands up and hits him with her handbag before he slaps her several times then pushes her into a room, all under the watch of at least two workers nearby.
Want China Times reports that Jiang had come from Beijing to resume her job at a Chinese school but was denied entry for working illegally. She had allegedly resisted airline staff, and that’s when the immigration officer intervened. Philippine immigration chief Siegfried Mison admitted on radio that the officer’s actions were out of order but noted that airline security could not calm the woman down, WTC relays.
“They could not find a way to calm her down because she could not accept the fact that we could not allow her to enter the country because she had immigration violations,” he said.
[Video via Youku]
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|
Q:
How to mock dom element from karma testing
There is an input type file element. During angular file upload multiple times, the value is not being cleared. Hence manually clearing it using plain javascript dom manipulation.
Below is the code:
function removeFromQueue(item) {
vm.uploads.uploader.removeFromQueue(item);
// Clearing input file field for re-uploading
if(!vm.uploadFile) {
document.getElementById('upload-file-' + vm.type).value = null;
}
}
In this case, not able to mock the document.getElementById, hence controlling it using vm.uploadFile undefined variable from unit test case which is wrong. How to mock the dom element here?
A:
You should be able to spyOn the document.getElementById and return the useful properties (i.e. value here). Like this,
spyOn(document, "getElementById").and.callFake(function() {
return {
value: 'test'
}
});
And then if you want, you can expect it to have been called,
expect(document.getElementById).toHaveBeenCalledWith('...')
|
Physical activity in adolescents with an orthopaedic limitation: a review of the literature.
Nine out of 10 adolescents fail to achieve the Healthy People 2020 recommended levels of aerobic and muscle-strengthening physical activity(J. E. Fulton et al., 2011).Whereas all adolescents constitute a vulnerable population because of their minimal physical activity, those with an orthopaedic limitation, such as slipped capitol femoral epiphyses, are at greater risk despite sharing characteristics with the general adolescent population such as normal cognition and independent ambulation. Twenty articles are reviewed describing components of effective physical activity interventions for adolescents aged 10-19 and their applicability to the target population of those with an orthopaedic limitation. Although physical activity interventions for adolescents with an orthopaedic limitation receive limited discussion in the literature, physical capability, belief in ability, and nontraditional activities, including dog-walking, are identified as behavioral facilitators. |
Team signs sibling duo
5 months agoby Tom Soladay
Ellsay siblings join Rally Cycling
Rally Cycling brings new meaning to the phrase “keeping it in the family” by signing a dynamic sibling duo to their roster, Canada’s Nigel and Gillian Ellsay. The pair come from Silber Pro Cycling and Colavita Bianchi, respectively, and will be racing together in the same program for the first time in their young careers.
Growing up in Courtenay, British Columbia, the Ellsays often chased each other around Vancouver Island on their bicycles, learning from a bike racing dad as they went, eventually developing into two of Canada’s most promising young time trialists. They bring a unique competitive spirit and loads of raw talent to the team.
Gillian trained and raced for a number of years as a result of her dad’s influence, but it wasn’t until her brother started racing that she really embraced the sport.
“Riding on the same team as my brother is going to be a blast! He’s been one of my biggest supporters since I started racing. He passed on a lot of valuable advice and shared his experiences with me, and it’s helped me avoid some common mistakes,” said Gillian.
The move to a bigger team comes at the perfect time in Gillian’s development. As Junior National Time Trial Champion in 2015, she won gold at the Canada Summer Games and that propelled her into her first professional contract with Team Colavita Bianchi in 2017. While there, she competed in some of America’s biggest races and gained valuable experience that will serve her well in her young career.
Gillian raced as a guest rider at Rally Cycling’s hometown race, the North Star Grand Prix, in 2016. She showed the team some of her unique spirit and talent, leading to a full time roster spot for 2018.
“We know what Gillian is capable of, and we are very excited to add her to our growing roster,” said Women’s Performance Director Zach Bell. “We have a lot of Canadians on the team that are tough, smart, great athletes, and we think Gillian will fit right in.”
“I’m really excited to sign for Rally Cycling,” said Gillian. “They have been one the most consistent teams for a while now and a team I have looked up to since I was a junior. You can see the amount of depth, support and opportunities the team has. Consistent, hard working riders and staff is the recipe for success.”
From Under-23 Standout to Elite Contender
Nigel Ellsay started his professional career with the Canadian Silber Pro Cycling outfit in 2014, where he developed into a general classification leader. He excels in the time trial, much like current Rally Cycling rider, former teammate, and countryman Matteo Dal-Cin.
In perhaps the biggest result of his career, Nigel finished 2nd in a nail-bitingly close 2017 Canadian Time Trial Championships to WorldTour rider and former World Time Trial Silver medalist, Svein Tuft. Tuft is known as one of the strongest and most respected riders in the professional peloton, a journeyman. To be within seconds of him spoke volumes of Nigel’s ability.
However, Ellsay felt his performance at the Tour of Utah this year was a major turning point in his career, and showcased that the young Canadian is ready to ride at the upper echelons of the sport.
“TT Nationals was really cool but I’m most proud of my 13th on GC at the Tour of Utah,” said Nigel. “It wasn’t a win, a podium or even a top ten! However, it was a big personal victory. I’ve never climbed at that level before. It was the culmination of a lot of hard work over the winter, then staying focused throughout the season. Looking back, there are ways I could have been better. But I’m most proud of my Utah ride because of the big changes and sacrifices I made to get to there.”
In addition to his Tour of Utah result, Nigel finished in the top ten overall at the Tour of Alberta, Joe Martin Stage race and Cascade Cycling Classic in 2017. This consistency at major stage races is a key reason he landed a spot on the 2018 roster.
“You can see that Nigel is ready to land some big results,” said Men’s Performance Director Jonas Carney. “He is always there at the end of these difficult races. Putting him with our best climbers will push him to reach that next level.”
The Ellsays join Robin Carpenter as the first of some big roster announcements coming this Fall. |
Most people want to dress well, but they don’t care to spend a small fortune or an inordinate amount of time searching for deals. That means no fancy boutiques or thrift stores, just readily available things that can be quickly purchased for not too much money.
Obviously, if you want the best things, you have to spend either time or money. If you just want to look decent without too much fuss, however, here are my recommendations for where you can get affordable basics.
Finally, don’t forget to set aside a portion of your budget to have things tailored. Things such as suits, sport coats, shirts, and trousers rarely fit perfectly off-the-rack, but if you bring them to a good alterations tailor, you can make them look twice as good and three times as expensive.
(Photo from Life) |
This disclosure relates to a system and method for modularization of a Schnabel car. For purposes of this disclosure, a system and method for a modular Schnabel car are discussed. However, such discussion of a modular Schnabel car is solely exemplary, and not limiting.
Methods for transporting extremely heavy cargo have evolved over the years. With the development of railways, trains and locomotives were also used for transport. Specifically with trains for extremely heavy loads, the Schnabel car system developed into a common practice in the railway transport industry. A Schnabel car includes the attachment of opposing rail cars with the massive cargo attached by a Schnabel arms serving as the main body between the two rail cars.
However, drawbacks to current Schnabel cars include high costs for transport. As a result of the great size of the Schnabel car, the entire train must move at a slow speed, increasing the time of transport. Additional time costs the shipping company money, which is passed on to the business requiring its goods be moved by the Schnabel car.
Thus, it would be useful to have a system and method for modularization of a Schnabel car. |
RALEIGH — The idea of breeding a better Christmas Tree has been riveting
researchers at NC State for more than 5 years now. They say they still
haven't perfected the procedure, but they're getting close.
With North Carolina now the second largest source of Christmas trees in
the US, NC State has ramped up its research of the holiday mainstay. In
fact, the school has the first training school in the nation for
commercial Christmas tree pest scouts, people who, for a fee, regularly
inspect tree fields for insects, weeds, diseases, and other things that
threaten the quality of the trees.
"Cotton soybeans and corn have been using the pest scouts for years,"
explains tree expert Craig McKinley. "We're beginning to modify their
techniques."
The researchers have also kept a close eye on efforts to breed Western
North Carolina's famous Fraser Fir trees north of the Mason Dixon line.
"We've seen some differences in color," McKinley continues, "which may
eventually lead to a different type of a needle, say a shorter needle, a
less growth, less dense tree."
Tree grower Fred Barick says there are a lot details involved in selecting
not just the sources of the stock, but working with it over a period of
seven years to develop trees that are superior to those being grown now.
And another thing that the researchers are working on is developing out a
cedar Christmas tree that's not so prickly to the touch. You can expect
to see those trees for sale in about five years.
Each year North Carolina growers sell between 5.5 and six million
Christmas trees. Most tree farms are in Western North Carolina, but there
are some in the central part of the state as well.
Copyright 2011 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
Cross-posted from CommonDreams.org, Nadia Prupis breaks down the results of the BBC’s GlobeScan poll on Global Citizenship:
People around the world are increasingly identifying as global citizens, according to a new BBC poll that shines a light on changing attitudes about immigration, inequality, and different economic realities.
Among all 18 countries where public opinion research firm, GlobeScan conducted the survey, 51 percent of people see themselves more as global citizens than national citizens. It is the first time since tracking began in 2001 that a global majority identifies this way, and is up from a low point of about 42 percent in 2002.
The trend is particularly strong in developing countries, the poll found, “including Nigeria (73%, up 13 points), China (71%, up 14 points), Peru (70%, up 27 points), and India (67%, up 13 points).”
Overall, 56 percent of people in emerging economies saw themselves as global citizens rather than national citizens.
“The poll’s finding that growing majorities of people in emerging economies identify as global citizens will challenge many people’s (and organizations’) ideas of what the future might look like,” said GlobeScan chairman Doug Miller.
In more industrialized nations, the numbers skew a bit lower. The BBC‘s Naomi Grimley writes:
In Germany, for example, only 30% of respondents see themselves as global citizens. According to Lionel Bellier from GlobeScan, this is the lowest proportion seen in Germany since the poll began 15 years ago. “It has to be seen in the context of a very charged environment, politically and emotionally, following Angela Merkel’s policy to open the doors to a million refugees last year.” The poll suggests a degree of soul-searching in Germany about how open its doors should be in the future.
Not all wealthy nations were opposed to newcomers. In Spain, 84 percent of respondents said they supported taking in Syrian refugees, while 77 percent of Canadians said the same. A small majority of Americans—55 percent—were also in favor of accepting those fleeing the ongoing civil war.
As Grimley points out, the concept of “global citizenship” can be hard to define, which makes it difficult to determine answers about identity.
“For some, it might be about the projection of economic clout across the world,” she writes. “To others, it might mean an altruistic impulse to tackle the world’s problems in a spirit of togetherness—whether that is climate change or inequality in the developing world.”
GlobeScan interviewed 20,000 people in 18 countries between December 2015 and April 2016. |
For the holy city of Varanasi, Kasi Pasumai Yatra began in Coimbatore on 11 July as a noble initiative to end dependency on wood for burning dead bodies along the banks of River Ganga.
The banks of the Ganges, the lifeline of India, whose holy waters are now among the most polluted in the world, especially in Varanasi.
At the Ghats in Varanasi, firewood boats arrive all day long to burn a high volume of dead bodies. Cremation ceremonies involve the main ritual of body burning near the banks of the river – sometimes, up to 400 cremations a day are performed.
In Varanasi, the coliform bacterial count in the holy river is at least 3,000 times higher than the established standard by the WHO.
Coliform bacteria are normally found in the colons of humans and animals, they cause serious contamination in the food or water supply.
As the holy river enters Varanasi, the Ganga contains 60,000 fecal coliform bacteria per 100 milliliters, which is 120 times more than what is considered safe for bathing. Going four miles downstream as the river receives inputs from pilgrim-bathers and gushing sewers, the concentration reaches 3,000 times over the safety limit.
To check the pollution & save nature: Under this great initiative, coconut shells will be collected from heaps of garbage, will be turned into powdered form, packed, and sent to Varanasi for use in funeral pyres.
As per the reports in The Hindu, Mr. Nithyanandam who is the organizer of this ‘Kasi Pasumai Yatra’, has spent Rs. 35 lakh for initiation of this noble process.
Mr. Nithyanandam with his team of 14 members visited Varanasi about 12 times to study the usage of woods for burning dead bodies.
According to conservative estimates, 5 lakh trees were axed every year to burn dead bodies.
Nearby areas acted as a primary source for the purpose of use in pyres.
An average estimate states that 400 dead bodies are burnt every day along the holy river Ganga.
In order to burn a body, about 350 kg of wood is exhausted. On extrapolation, this amount indicates chopping down of around 5 lakh trees every year.The per day requirement stands at a staggering amount of around 240 tons.
According to Mr. Nithyanandam,the wood consumption to burn dead bodies can be significantly reduced by utilizing coconut shell for the same purpose. As the collected coconut shells are turned into a powdered form, about 50 kg of coconut shell can save around 300 kg of wood for burning a dead body.
His crew plans to travel in two-wheelers and collect coconut shells from homes, colleges, hotels, schools, marriage halls, and apartments. Initially, trial and error method was utilized to some extent in order to get the right formula for the pyres.
To begin with this noble cause, the crew has decided to send 140 tons of coconut shell powder to Varanasi. This much of powder can assist in burning as many as 2,800 dead bodies which can save 840 tons of wood, thus saving 2,400 trees from being axed.
On the occasion of launch of this initiative, Corporation Commissioner K. Vijayakarthikeyan asked the local community, youngsters,and students to lend their helping hand for this socially beneficial project in order to provide a better ecology for the future generations.
For promoting this noble initiative, Mr. Vijayakarthikeyan distributed around 30 saplings to the students of Sri Venkatalakshmi Matriculation Higher Secondary School.
Mr. Nithyanandam has planned to send 2400 tons of coconut powder to Varanasi by the end of this year.
According to the organizers,first eight truckloads of powdered coconut shells would leave for Varanasi from Coimbatore in a couple of days after the process of getting official permission and no-objection certificate is over.
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2022 Cricket World Cup Qualifier
The 2022 ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier is an upcoming cricket tournament scheduled to take place in 2022. It will serve as part of the 2023 Cricket World Cup Qualification process, and will decide the final qualification for the 2023 World Cup. The host of the tournament is yet to be confirmed.
It will feature the bottom five teams from the 2020–22 ICC Cricket World Cup Super League (or, if World Cup hosts India finish outside the top eight, the bottom five teams excluding India) along with an additional five Associate sides. Two sides will qualify from this tournament to complete the ten-team World Cup field.
In addition, the World Cup Qualifier will determine who takes the 13th spot in the CWC Super League in the next qualification cycle. With the top 12 teams in the 2020–22 ICC Cricket World Cup Super League automatically qualifying, the 13th spot will be taken by one of either the 13th ranked team in 2020–22 ICC Cricket World Cup Super League or the champions of the 2019–22 ICC Cricket World Cup League 2. Whichever of these teams is ranked higher in the Cricket World Cup Qualifier will take the 13th spot in the next CWC Super League, while the team ranked lower will play in the next Cricket World Cup League 2.
In September 2018, the International Cricket Council (ICC) confirmed that all matches in the qualifier tournament will have One Day International ODI status, regardless if a team does not have ODI status prior to the start of the event.
Teams and qualification
References
World Cup Qualifier
Category:ICC World Cup Qualifier |
Dietary phosphorus levels during growth of brown egg type replacement pullets.
Caged Sex-Sal (DeKalb Warren) replacement pullets were fed diets containing .30%, .35%, or .41% available phosphorus from 0 to 20 weeks of age; in a second study pullets were fed the above levels plus a level of .25% available phosphorus from 2 to 20 weeks of age. Some of the pullets were fed diets restricted by 11 to 16% from 8 weeks of age. Reducing the dietary phosphorus did no harm weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion efficiency, bone ash or total calcium and inorganic phosphorus levels in plasma. There was a very small but significant reduction in weight gain and feed intake when .30% or .35% available phosphorus was fed from 0 to 4 weeks of age, but this difference disappeared at the later ages. With the nonstimulatory lighting schedule used, plasma phosphorus decreased markedly in the latter phase of the studies at all levels of dietary phosphorus and thus represented a nondietary age effect. These results show that dietary available phosphorus for cage, brown egg type pullets on full or restricted feeding programs can be decreased to a level as low as .25% from 2 to 20 weeks, and .30% from hatching to 20 weeks without adverse effect. |
Continuous twin screw melt granulation of glyceryl behenate: Development of controlled release tramadol hydrochloride tablets for improved safety.
Interest in granulation processes using twin screw extrusion machines is rapidly growing. The primary objectives of this study were to develop a continuous granulation process for direct production of granules using this technique with glyceryl behenate as a binder, evaluate the properties of the resulting granules and develop controlled release tablets containing tramadol HCl. In addition, the granulation mechanism was probed and the polymorphic form of the lipid and drug release rate were evaluated on stability. Granules were prepared using a Leistritz NANO16 twin screw extruder operated without a constricting die. The solid state of the granules were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction. Formulated tablets were studied in 0.1N HCl containing 0-40% ethanol to investigate propensity for alcohol induced dose dumping. The extrusion barrel temperature profile and feed rate were determined to be the primary factors influencing the particle size distribution. Granules were formed by a combination immersion/distribution mechanism, did not require subsequent milling, and were observed to contain desirable polymorphic forms of glyceryl behenate. Drug release from tablets was complete and controlled over 16 h and the tablets were determined to be resistant to alcohol induced dose dumping. The drug release rate from the tablets was found to be stable at 40°C and 75% relative humidity for the duration of a 3 month study. |
Free Speech and Democracy
Free Speech and Democracy
The Athenian Statesman Pericles gives his Funeral Oration for the dead of the Peloponnesian War in the Agora
The exchange and development of ideas among citizens has been at the heart of vigorous civil life from the time of the first classical experiments in democracy. The agora of ancient Athens and the Roman forum were market places not just for goods but also for the public debate which provided the focus for civil society then and have influenced western culture ever since.
Athenian democracy and the centrality of free expression, debate and deliberative decision-making is perhaps best summarised in Pericles’ Funeral Oration, given in 430 to honour the dead of the first battles of the Peloponnesian War, and recorded by Thucydides in Book II of his History of the Peloponnesian War:
“Our government is called a democracy because power resides not in a few people but in the majority of our citizens. But every person has equal rights before the law; prestige and respect are paid those who win them by their merits, regardless of their political, economic or social status and no-one is deprived of making his contribution to the city’s welfare.
“We are equally fair-minded in tolerating differences in people’s private concerns; we do not get irritated with our neighbours when they do what they like or show those signs of disapproval which do no great harm but are certainly unpleasant.
The Roman Forum
“In our public dealings we have respect for our officials and the laws, especially those laws which protect the helpless and those unwritten laws whose violation is generally regarded as shameful…
“We love beauty without extravagance and wisdom without weakness of will. Wealth we regard not as a means for private display but rather for public service; and poverty we consider no disgrace although we think it a disgrace not to try to overcome it.
“We believe a man should be concerned about public as well as private affairs for we regard the person who takes no part in politics not as merely uninterested but as useless. We reach decisions on public policy only after full discussion, believing that sound judgement, far from being impeded by discussion, is arrived at only when full information is considered before a decision is made.”
From the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, long before the introduction of either the universal franchise or electronic communications, those who could read devoured and debated the thousands of political, philosophical, scientific and religious tracts which rolled off the presses each year. In late eighteenth century France, as the ancien régime neared its end, 10,000 pamphlets a year were being printed for or against the monarchy or the revolution.
Estimates of the 1776 print run of Common Sense, Tom Paine’s argument for American independence from the British crown, vary from 150,000 to 600,000. Even the lower figure is astonishing given prevailing literacy rates.
Both traditions acknowledged not just the potency of ideas but also the role of citizens in making them a decisive influence on public policy.
Now freedom of expression is enshrined in the declarations of the world’s great assemblies. It is the right of those who live in democratic societies and the aspiration of those who do not.
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“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”— Francois Voltaire, 1694-1778, French philosopher and writer
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"Freedom of expression is the cornerstone of democratic life. It is by the free exchange of ideas among citizens about how they should live together and how they should be governed that we create and sustain the democratic society. So the rights to free association and expression are scarcely less important than the right to live in peace and free from want."
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/*
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#ifdef GL_ES
precision mediump float;
#endif
varying vec4 color;
void main (void)
{
vec4 al = color;
vec3 m = al.stp;
vec3 t = m.tsp;
vec4 a = vec4(t.t, t.s, t.p ,al.q);
gl_FragColor = a;
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|
Paediatric hospitalisations for lower respiratory tract infections in Mount Isa.
To compare the rates of acute lower respiratory tract infection (ALRI) among children in north-west Queensland, according to age, sex and Indigenous status. Retrospective chart review of hospitalisations at Mt Isa Base Hospital, Queensland, from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2011 among children < 15 years of age. Rates of admission for bronchiolitis, pneumonia and bronchiectasis, calculated using population data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. There were 356 admissions for ALRI, involving 276 children. Of the 162 children aged < 12 months old, 125 (77.2%) were Indigenous. Hospitalisations increased over the study period, and rates were significantly higher among Indigenous children compared with non-indigenous children (24.1 v 4.5 per 1000 population per year). There were 195 admissions of 164 children with pneumonia, 126 (76.8%) of whom were Indigenous. Annual rates for Indigenous children were higher than for non-Indigenous children (13.7 v 2.3 per 1000 population). Multiple admissions were common. One-third presented with gastrointestinal symptoms and signs. Pneumococcal disease persisted despite vaccination. There were 160 hospitalisations for bronchiolitis; 114 occasions (71.3%) involved Indigenous children. Seven children had bronchiectasis; all were Indigenous. Rates of ALRI in Mt Isa are comparable to those in the Northern Territory, which is reported to have rates of pneumonia among the highest in the world for children < 12 months of age. Multiple admissions are common, suggesting an even higher rate of bronchiectasis. Pneumonia may present as gastrointestinal disease, and invasive pneumococcal infection must be suspected despite vaccination. |
---
abstract: 'We study how the transient excitation probability of a two-level atom by a quantized field depends on the temporal profile of the incident pulse, in the presence of external losses, for both coherent and Fock states, and in two complementary limits: when the pulse contains only one photon (on average), and when the number of photons $N$ is large. For the latter case we derive analytical expressions for the scaling of the excitation probability with $N$ that can be easily evaluated for any pulse shape.'
author:
- 'Hemlin Swaran Rag and Julio Gea-Banacloche'
title: 'Two-level atom excitation probability for single- and $N$-photon wavepackets'
---
\#1[|\#1]{} \#1[\#1|]{} \#1[\#1]{}
Introduction and motivation
===========================
Unlike its steady-state counterpart, the transient excitation probability of a single two-level atom interacting with a quantized field can, in principle, approach unity, for times smaller than the excited-state lifetime. Such perfect or near-perfect excitation could be useful in, for instance, quantum information processing, as a way to implement a single-atom switch, or a logical gate. The case in which the field consists of a single photon, in particular, has generated a fair amount of interest over the years. Schemes involving one-dimensional waveguides [@shenfan1; @scarani1; @chen] as well as free-space interaction [@leuchs1; @leuchs2; @leuchs3] have been considered recently.
An important result from these studies is the realization that the excitation probability depends critically, not just on the photon pulse’s transverse-mode profile (in the case of free-space excitation), but also on its temporal profile. In particular, it has been known for a long time [@leuchs2] that the only way to achieve unit excitation probability is to use a wavepacket that is the time-reversed version of the one emitted by the atom when it decays spontaneously, which is to say, in free space, a “rising exponential” pulse (the notion of using a time-reversed pulse was first introduced, to our knowledge, in the context of cavity QED [@cirac1]). A number of schemes to generate such pulses have been proposed and partly demonstrated in recent years [@du1; @leuchs4; @leuchs5; @leuchs6; @martinis; @du2; @kurtsiefer1; @kurtsiefer2].
Our goal in this paper is twofold. In the first part (Section II), we use the model developed in [@scarani1; @scarani2] to study theoretically the excitation probability for a two-level atom by a single-photon pulse, as a function of the temporal profile of the pulse, in the presence of external losses. These “losses” can be used to model what happens when the coupling to the spatial profile of the incident pulse is not perfect, that is to say, the atom is coupled to, and can decay into, other spatial field modes. Our results are therefore quite general and can apply both to the waveguide and free-space configurations. Besides the inclusion of losses, we also consider some novel temporal profiles, and generally carry our analytical calculations a bit farther than most previous studies, although in the end the final optimization of the pulse bandwidth typically needs to be done numerically.
In the second part (Section III), we turn our attention to the problem of excitation by multiphoton pulses, again in the presence of external losses and for various temporal profiles, and explore how the maximum excitation probability scales asymptotically with the number of photons in the pulse. The motivation for this comes initially from a consideration of the minimum energy requirements for quantum logic [@geabanaPRL]. It also complements the research reported in the first part, inasmuch as some schemes to generate single-photon rising exponential pulses may involve filtering, or otherwise throwing away a potentially large number of photons, and may only approximately succeed at generating the required shape. At that point, it makes sense to explore the asymptotic behavior of the excitation probability to ascertain whether one might not more efficiently resort to direct excitation of the atom by a more conventional, multi-photon pulse. (Of course, one does not have that luxury when the single photon is itself a qubit, or carrier of quantum information, but this does not always need to be the case.)
Throughout the paper, we consider both multimode Fock states and coherent states, for completeness, although in practice Fock states make more sense in the context of single-photon pulses, and coherent states in the context of multiphoton pulses. For the latter, we will present an analytical treatment that makes it straightforward to calculate the asymptotic (large $\bar n$), optimized excitation probability, for an arbitrary pulse shape.
Single-photon results
=====================
Fock states
-----------
### General equations, and rising exponential pulse
For a single-photon pulse in a state of arbitrary temporal profile $f(t)$ (assuming $\int_{-\infty}^\infty |f(t)|^2\, dt = 1$), the on-resonance equations for the excitation of a two-level atom are: $$\begin{aligned}
\dot P_e &= -(\Gamma_P+ \Gamma_B) P_e - \sqrt{\Gamma_P} f(t) \Sigma \cr
\dot \Sigma &= -\frac 1 2(\Gamma_P+ \Gamma_B) \Sigma - 2\sqrt{\Gamma_P} f(t)
\label{e1}\end{aligned}$$ Here we denote by $\Gamma_P$ the coupling to the spatial modes that make up the incoming pulse, and by $\Gamma_B$ the coupling to other, “bath” modes (which results in loss of a photon from the system). $P_e$ is the excitation probability, and $\Sigma$ is the matrix element of the atomic dipole moment in between the states with 1 and 0 photons. For a derivation of these equations, see [@scarani1; @domokos] (note that our $\Sigma$ is the sum of the $\sigma_+$ and $\sigma_-$ variables in [@scarani1]; also, we are assuming $f(t)$ is real, which is a natural assumption on resonance).
The system (\[e1\]) is simple enough to allow for a general, formal solution for arbitrary $f(t)$: the equation for $\Sigma$ can be immediately integrated, and then we have for $P_e$ (assuming the atom starts in the ground state) $$\begin{aligned}
P_e(t) = 2\Gamma_P &\int_{-\infty}^t e^{-(\Gamma_P+ \Gamma_B)(t-t^\prime)}f(t^\prime)\, dt^\prime \cr
&\times\int_{-\infty}^{t^\prime} e^{-(\Gamma_P+ \Gamma_B)(t^\prime-t^{\prime\prime})/2}f(t^{\prime\prime})\, dt^{\prime\prime}
\label{e2a}\end{aligned}$$ Inspection (or an integration by parts) shows that this can be rewritten in the alternative form $$P_e(t) = \Gamma_P e^{-(\Gamma_P+\Gamma_B)t} \left(\int_{-\infty}^t e^{(\Gamma_P+\Gamma_B)t^\prime/2} f(t^\prime)\, dt^\prime\right)^2
\label{e2}$$ which makes the calculation much simpler, for arbitrary-shaped wavepackets. Equation (\[e2\]) also allows for a very simple proof that the only wavepacket that can achieve full excitation at any time is a rising exponential (see [@leuchs2; @shenfan1] for alternative approaches), in the absence of external losses. Consider $P_e$ at an arbitrary time $t=t_0$. We can rewrite Eq. (\[e2\]) as $$P_e(t_0) = \frac{\Gamma_P}{\Gamma_P+\Gamma_B} \left(\int_{-\infty}^{t_0} u(t) f(t) \, dt \right)^2
\label{e4a}$$ where the function $u(t)$, defined as $$u(t) = {\sqrt{\Gamma_P+\Gamma_B}}\, e^{(\Gamma_P+\Gamma_B)(t-t_0)/2}$$ is normalized to unity in the interval $(-\infty,t_0]$. From the Cauchy-Schwartz inequality, it then follows immediately that $$P_e(t_0) \le \frac{\Gamma_P}{\Gamma_P+\Gamma_B} \int_{-\infty}^{t_0} f(t)^2 \, dt
\label{e6a}$$ However, since $f(t)$ is normalized to unity in $(-\infty,\infty)$, it follows that the right-hand side of (\[e6a\]) can never be equal to 1 unless, first, $\Gamma_B=0$ (no external losses) and, secondly, all of the norm of $f$ is contained in $(-\infty,t_0]$ (otherwise put, the pulse must be over by the time $t_0$). But then, the integral in (\[e4a\]) is just the inner product of two functions normalized to unity over the interval $(-\infty,t_0]$, and so it can only be equal to 1 (its maximum possible value) if the functions are identical except for an overall sign.
We conclude, then, that $P_e(t_0)$ can only reach a maximum value of $$P_{e,max} = \frac{\Gamma_P}{\Gamma_P + \Gamma_B} \qquad \text{(rising exponential)}
\label{opt}$$ at some time $t_0$, if the excitation pulse has the form $$f(t) = {\sqrt{\Gamma_P+\Gamma_B}}\, e^{(\Gamma_P+\Gamma_B)(t-t_0)/2}, \qquad \text{$t\le t_0$, 0 if $t>t_0$}
\label{n8}$$ When $\Gamma_B =0$, we have $P_{e,max}=1.$
Note that, in general, in the presence of external losses, the optimal duration (bandwidth) of the pulse needs to be adjusted to include the $\Gamma_B$ term (as in Eq. (\[n8\])). When this is done, it is evident from Eq. (\[e4a\]) that the maximum excitation probability will be found to be equal to the lossless result times the factor $\Gamma_P/(\Gamma_P+\Gamma_B)$.
It is a relatively straightforward matter to use Eq. (\[e2\]), or equivalently (\[e4a\]), to derive the excitation probability for other pulse shapes, to see how close they may get to the optimal result (\[opt\]). We present several of these results explicitly below. (Some of these, in the lossless case, were previously presented in [@scarani1], where they appear to have been obtained by numerical integration of the equations (\[e1\]). This had, in particular, the curious consequence that the maximum excitation probability reported for the optimal rising exponential pulse was $0.995$ instead of 1.)
### Square pulse
For a square pulse of duration $T$: $f(t) = 1/\sqrt T$, $0<t<T$, the first Eq. (\[e1\]) shows that $P_e$ starts to decay as soon as the pulse is over, so to find the maximum we may confine ourselves to the region $0<t<T$, in which case we get from Eq. (\[e2\]), $$P_e(t) = \frac{4 \Gamma_P}{(\Gamma_B+\Gamma_P)^2 T} \left(1-e^{-(\Gamma_B+\Gamma_P)t/2}\right)^2$$ This is maximum for $t=T$, and then we can optimize for $T$. Numerically we find $T_\text{opt} = 2.513/(\Gamma_B+\Gamma_P)$, and so $$P_{e,max} = 0.815\frac{\Gamma_P}{\Gamma_P + \Gamma_B} \qquad \text{(square pulse)}$$
### Gaussian pulse
If we consider a Gaussian pulse instead, of the form $f(t) = e^{-t^2/T^2}/\sqrt{T\sqrt{\pi/2}}$, substitution in (\[e2\]) yields the exact expression $$\begin{aligned}
P_e(t) = &\frac{\sqrt{2\pi} \Gamma_P T}{4} e^{-(\Gamma_P+\Gamma_B)t + (\Gamma_P+\Gamma_B)^2 T^2/8}\cr
&\times\left[1+\text{erf}\left(\frac t T - \frac{(\Gamma_P+\Gamma_B) T}{4}\right)\right]^2\end{aligned}$$ Numerical maximization of this expression with respect to $t$ and $T$ yields $t_\text{opt} \simeq 0.731 T$, $T_\text{opt} = 1.368/(\Gamma_P+\Gamma_B)$, and $$P_{e,max} = 0.801 \frac{\Gamma_P}{\Gamma_P + \Gamma_B} \qquad \text{(Gaussian)}$$ It is interesting that the performance of the Gaussian pulse is extremely close to that of the square pulse. In the next section we will see that this is the case in the multiphoton, asymptotic limit as well.
### Pulses obtained by atomic decay
We next look at a couple of pulses that might be easier to produce experimentally than the ones considered above. One of these is a simple exponentially-decaying pulse, $f(t) = e^{-t/T}\sqrt{2/T}$ for $t\ge 0$ (and zero for $t<0$). Equation (\[e2\]) now yields $$P_e(t) = \frac{8\Gamma_P T}{(\Gamma_P T + \Gamma_B T-2)^2}\left(e^{-t/T}-e^{-(\Gamma_B+\Gamma_P)t/2}\right)^2
\label{e7}$$ As a function of $t$, this expression peaks at $$t_{max} = \frac{2T}{\Gamma_P T + \Gamma_B T-2}\,\ln\left[(\Gamma_P + \Gamma_B )T/2\right]
\label{e8}$$ Substitution of this back into Eq. (\[e7\]) leads to a complicated expression which, however, can be shown to have a maximum, as a function of $T$, when $T = 2/(\Gamma_P + \Gamma_B)$ (in which limit the expression (\[e8\]) becomes $t_{max} = T$). This maximum value equals $$\begin{aligned}
P_{e,max} &= \frac{4}{e^2}\, \frac{\Gamma_P}{\Gamma_P + \Gamma_B} \quad \; \text{(decaying exponential)}\cr
&\simeq 0.541 \frac{\Gamma_P}{\Gamma_P + \Gamma_B} \end{aligned}$$ A somewhat more complex, but still, experimentally, relatively straightforward, kind of pulse would be the one produced by an atom decaying inside a single-sided cavity. If the atom is assumed to be fully excited at the time $t=0$, the pulse for $t\ge 0$ is given by $f(t)=-\frac{g\sqrt{2\kappa}}{\sqrt{\kappa^2-4g^2}}\left(e^{-\left(\kappa+\sqrt{\kappa^2-4g^2}\right)t/2}-e^{-\left(\kappa-\sqrt{\kappa^2-4g^2}\right)t/2}\right)$ (see [@gea1], Eq.(54)), where $g$ is the coupling rate of the atom to the cavity, and $\kappa$ the cavity decay rate. The excitation probability with such a pulse is $$\begin{aligned}
P_e(t) = &\dfrac{8g^2\kappa\Gamma_{p}\,e^{-(\Gamma_{p}+\Gamma_{B})t}}{\kappa^2-4g^2}\Biggl(\dfrac{e^{\left(\Gamma_{p}+\Gamma_{B}-\kappa+\sqrt{\kappa^2-4g^2}\right)t/2}-1}{\Gamma_{p}+\Gamma_{B}-\kappa+\sqrt{\kappa^2-4g^2}}\cr
&-\dfrac{e^{\left(\Gamma_{p}+\Gamma_{B}-\kappa+\sqrt{\kappa^2-4g^2}\right)t/2}-1}{\Gamma_{p}+\Gamma_{B}-\kappa-\sqrt{\kappa^2-4g^2}}\Biggr)^2
\label{ne16}\end{aligned}$$ We have not been able to find the maximum of this expression (with respect to all three parameters, $\kappa$, $g$ and $t$) analytically. Numerically, however, we have found that the optimal pulse happens in the good cavity limit, that is $\kappa < 2g$, so the square roots in (\[ne16\]) are purely imaginary, and the time dependance includes Rabi oscillations as well as exponential decay. We have also found numerically that, in this region, the optimal value of $\kappa$ is given by $\kappa=\Gamma_{p}+\Gamma_B$, in a similar way as for the simple decaying exponential. This observation allows us to solve for the optimal time, with the result $$t_{max}=
%2 \ln\left(\dfrac{\Gamma_{p}+\sqrt{\Gamma_{p}^2-4g^2}}{\Gamma_{p}-\sqrt{\Gamma_{p}^2-4g^2}}\right)/\sqrt{\Gamma_{p}^2-4g^2}
\frac{4}{\sqrt{4g^2-\kappa^2}}\,\tan^{-1}\frac{\sqrt{4g^2-\kappa^2}}{\kappa}$$ The final maximization with respect to $g$ has to be done again numerically, with the result $g_{opt} = 0.9076 \kappa = 0.9076(\Gamma_P+\Gamma_B)$ (which means $t_{max} = 2.607/(\Gamma_P+\Gamma_B))$, and $$P_{e,max} = 0.716 \frac{\Gamma_P}{\Gamma_P + \Gamma_B} \qquad \text{(Atom-cavity decay pulse)}$$ Thus, in spite of all the extra parameters, this family of pulses still cannot do better than the Gaussian or the square, although it is certainly better than the plain decaying exponential.
The atom-cavity system, however, could in principle be used to generate a much greater variety of pulses, depending on how it is driven, itself. Thus, for instance, one could think of sending a single-photon pulse (with a simple shape, such as a Gaussian or a decaying exponential) into the cavity, through the coupling mirror, and then using the output pulse to excite the target atom in the waveguide. The output pulse profile is, for any input pulse, easily derived from the results in [@gea1]. Our calculations show that the efficiency of an initial Gaussian pulse can be boosted in this way to $0.85$, for example. (See the second line from the top in Fig. 1, which summarizes all the above results graphically.)
![ \[fig:fig1\] Optimized excitation probability for various single-photon pulse shapes, as a function of the ratio of coupling $\Gamma_P$ to coupling plus losses, $\Gamma = \Gamma_P+\Gamma_B$. From top to bottom, the lines are for a rising exponential pulse, a Gaussian pulse modified by interacting with an atom in a single-sided cavity, a “square” pulse, an ordinary Gaussian pulse, a pulse emitted by an (initially excited) atom in a cavity, and a decaying exponential pulse. ](paper1.eps){width="3.5in"}
Another possibility would be to drive the atom in the cavity directly (through the sides of the cavity, say), and near-deterministically, with a sufficiently strong external field. By controlling the time dependence of the atomic excitation in this way, one could in principle control the shape of the outgoing pulse (which would still be a single photon pulse, as long as care is taken not to cycle the atomic excitation up and down more than once) [@zoller]. Note, however, that at this point we are talking about using many photons (in the control field) just to generate a single-photon wavepacket with the ideal profile to perfectly excite a single atom. In some contexts, as when one means to use the single photon as a qubit, this may make sense; but if all we want is to excite a single atom with a minimal expenditure of energy, it seems reasonable to try a different tack and ask instead just how many photons, impinging directly on the target atom, it would take to bring its excitation probability arbitrarily close to one, assuming either that one starts with a pulse with the “wrong” shape (i.e., not a rising exponential), or that the coupling losses to the outside world represented by $\Gamma_B$ are not negligible.
This is the question that we will address in the second part of this paper, after we briefly consider the atomic excitation by “single-photon” coherent state wavepackets of various shapes in the next subsection.
Coherent states
---------------
As shown in [@scarani1; @scarani2], if the incident pulse is in a coherent state instead of a number state, the quantized-field treatment yields a result formally identical to the semiclassical “optical Bloch equations.” If the field is on resonance, the atom initially in the ground state, and the average number of incident photons is $\bar n$, then the atomic dipole moment and excitation probability are given by $$\begin{aligned}
%\begin{split}
%& \dot{\Sigma}^{\bar{n}}=-\dfrac{\Gamma_{B}+\Gamma_{p}}{2}\Sigma^{\bar{n}}+4\sqrt{\bar{n}\Gamma_{p} }f(t)P_{e}^{\bar{n}}-2\sqrt{\bar{n}\Gamma_{p} }f(t)
%\cr
%& \dot{P_{e}} =-(\Gamma_{B}+\Gamma_{p}) P_{e} -\Sigma f(t)\sqrt{\bar{n}\Gamma_{p} }
%\end{split}
\begin{split}
& \dot{\Sigma} =-\dfrac{\Gamma_{B}+\Gamma_{p}}{2}\Sigma +4\sqrt{\bar{n}\Gamma_{p} }f(t)P_{e}-2\sqrt{\bar{n}\Gamma_{p} }f(t)
\cr
& \dot{P_{e}} =-(\Gamma_{B}+\Gamma_{p}) P_{e} -\Sigma f(t)\sqrt{\bar{n}\Gamma_{p} }
\end{split}
\label{ne19}\end{aligned}$$ where, as before, $f(t)$ is the pulse profile. In the absence of damping ($\Gamma_P+\Gamma_B=0$), these equations are easy to solve, and lead to the familiar result that full inversion is achieved by using a $\pi$ pulse, that is to say, one for which $f$ satisfies $$2 \sqrt{\bar n \Gamma_P} \int f(t) \, dt = \pi
\label{ne20}$$ Of course, because of the presence of $\Gamma_P$ in (\[ne20\]), this condition is, strictly speaking, incompatible with the setting of $\Gamma_B+\Gamma_P =0$, but this might still be approximately valid for a sufficiently intense ($\bar n \gg 1$) and short ($(\Gamma_B+\Gamma_P)T \ll 1$) pulse. This will be discussed further in Section III.
For this section, we only want to consider the case of a “single-photon” coherent-state pulse. By this we mean a pulse with $\bar n =1$. When expressed in terms of Fock states, such a pulse has a probability $p(n) = e^{-1}/n!$ to contain $n$ photons, that is to say, a probability $1/e = 0.368\ldots$ of having 0 photons (in which case no excitation will happen), an identical probability of having 1 photon, and a probability $1-2/e = 0.264\ldots$ of having more than 1 photon. Therefore, in terms of the single-photon Fock state excitation probability discussed in the previous subsection, which we will call $P_{e,N=1}$ below, we can bound the coherent-state excitation probability $P_{e,\bar n =1}$ by $$0.368 P_{e,N=1} < P_{e,\bar n =1} < 0.632
\label{ne21}$$ for any pulse shape. (The upper limit is just $1-p(0)$.)
Equation (\[ne21\]) is enough to see that “single-photon” coherent state pulses can never achieve very large excitation probabilities, regardless of their shape. Numerical results for these pulses have been presented in [@scarani1]. Here we will only consider the one analytically solvable case, the square pulse, because we can do it for arbitrary $\bar n$, and the large $\bar n$ limit will be useful in the next section. Letting, then, $f(t) = 1/\sqrt T$, $0<t<T$, and defining $\Gamma = \Gamma_P+\Gamma_B$ for simplicity, $\Omega_0=2\sqrt{\bar{n}\Gamma_{p}/T}$, and $\Omega=\sqrt{\Omega^2-\Gamma^2/16}$, we get $$P_{e}=\dfrac{\Omega_0^2}{\Gamma^2+2\Omega_0^2}\left(1-e^{-3/4~\Gamma t }\left[\cos(\Omega t)+\dfrac{3\;\Gamma}{4 \Omega}\sin(\Omega t)\right] \right)
\label{ne22}$$ Maximizing Eq. (\[ne22\]), with respect to $t$ is not difficult; it can be readily shown that $t_{max}=\pi/\Omega$, a sort of “$\pi$-pulse” condition that will be consistent with $t<T$ if $T$ is chosen appropriately, specifically, provided that $$-\sqrt{ \frac{64 \bar n^2 \Gamma_P^2}{\Gamma^2}-\pi^2} \le \frac{\Gamma T}{4} - \frac{8 \bar n \Gamma_P}{\Gamma} \le \sqrt{ \frac{64 \bar n^2 \Gamma_P^2}{\Gamma^2}-\pi^2}
\label{ne23}$$ Substituting $t=\pi/\Omega$ in (\[ne22\]), we get the function $$P_e = \frac{4\bar n \Gamma_P/T}{\Gamma^2+8\bar n \Gamma_P/T}\left(1+\exp\left[-\frac{3\pi\Gamma}{\sqrt{64 \bar n \Gamma_P/T-\Gamma^2}}\right]\right)
\label{ne24}$$ This is a monotonically decreasing function of $T$, which will therefore be maximized by choosing the smallest value of $T$ that is compatible with the condition (\[ne23\]). The result is a complicated function of $\bar n \Gamma_P/\Gamma$. In the $\bar n = 1$ case, and for no external losses ($\Gamma_P=\Gamma$), it has the value $0.433$.
It turns out, however, that it is possible to do better than this, at least in the $\bar n =1$ case, by using a pulse that is *shorter* than $\pi/\Omega$. For such a pulse, the excitation probability grows monotonically and is maximum at end of the pulse ($t=T$), with the result $$\begin{aligned}
P_e(T) = &\frac{4 \Gamma_P}{\Gamma^2 T + 8 \Gamma_P}\biggl(1 - e^{-3\Gamma T/4} \cr
&\quad\quad\times\left[\cos(\Omega T) + \frac{3\Gamma}{4 \Omega} \sin(\Omega T)\right]\biggr)
\label{ne25}\end{aligned}$$ with $\Omega T = \frac 1 4 \sqrt{64 \Gamma_P T - \Gamma^2 T^2}$. Equation (\[ne25\]) depends fundamentally on two variables, which we can choose to be $\Gamma_P/\Gamma$ and $\Gamma T$. For each value of the first one, we can numerically find the value of the second one that maximizes $P_e$. For $\Gamma_P = \Gamma$ (no external losses), the optimal $T$ is found to be $T = 1.487/\Gamma$, and the maximum $P_e$ is $$P_{e,max} = 0.482 \qquad \text{(square pulse)}$$ For other values of the external losses, we get the results shown in Figure 2, which also includes the results of numerical calculations for other pulse shapes. Note that the dependence on the external losses does not follow the simple dependance on $\Gamma_P/(\Gamma_P+\Gamma_B)$ that we obtained for single-photon Fock states in Section II.A above.
![ \[fig:fig2\] Optimized excitation probability for various pulse shapes, as a function of the ratio $\Gamma_P/(\Gamma_P+\Gamma_B)$, for coherent states with $\bar n=1$. From top to bottom, the curves are for a rising exponential pulse, a “square” pulse, a Gaussian pulse, and a decaying exponential pulse. ](paper2.eps){width="3.5in"}
Multi-photon wavepackets, and asymptotic results
================================================
Coherent states
---------------
### General results; square pulse
When considering multiphoton excitation, especially in the large $\bar n$ limit, it makes more sense to think in terms of coherent states than Fock states, since multiphoton Fock states are notoriously difficult to produce. Accordingly, we will consider coherent states first, in which case the basic equations to solve are just Eqs. (\[ne19\]), from Section II.
As indicated earlier, Eqs. (\[ne19\]) cannot be solved exactly, to the best of our knowledge, except for a square pulse. Approximate solutions, however, are possible in two opposite limits. If the pulse is very long compared the overall decay time, $(\Gamma_P+\Gamma_B)^{-1}$, one can derive in a straightforward way an “adiabatic solution,” by formally setting the left-hand sides of Eqs. (\[ne19\]) equal to zero: $$P_e(t) = \frac{4\bar n\Gamma_P}{(\Gamma_B+\Gamma_P)^2 + 8\bar n \Gamma_P f(t)^2}\,f(t)^2$$ This more or less tracks the pulse, but it is always smaller than $1/2$, which is the value it approaches asymptotically as $\bar n\to \infty$. This is the well-known phenomenon of “bleaching”: a sufficiently long and intense classical pulse will drive the population inversion of a two-level medium to zero, so the medium becomes transparent.
We are interested here in a different regime, where we expect the excitation probability can be made to approach the instantaneous value of 1 for a sufficiently intense and short pulse. Although, in general, this near-perfect excitation may be achieved for only a short time, one should note that, as long as the atomic levels are allowed to decay, any excitation we may produce will necessarily be transient. Whether it is useful or not depends on the timescales involved.
As in the previous section, we are particularly interested in exploring the differences between pulse shapes, only this time we want to see how the pulse shape affects the rate at which $P_e$ approaches 1 as $\bar n$ increases. We may conveniently start with the square pulse solution we derived above, Eq. (\[ne22\]), which has a local maximum at $t = \pi/\Omega = \pi T/\sqrt{4\bar n\Gamma_P T-(\Gamma T/4)^2}$, provided the condition (\[ne23\]) is satisfied. For a sufficiently large $\bar n$, it is easy to see that this condition becomes $$\frac{\pi^2 \Gamma }{4\bar n\Gamma_P} + O\left(\frac{1}{\bar n}\right)^3 \le \Gamma T \le \frac{64 \bar n\Gamma_P}{\Gamma} -\frac{\pi^2\Gamma }{4\bar n\Gamma_P} + O\left(\frac{1}{\bar n}\right)^3
\label{ne28}$$ Also in the large $\bar n$ limit, Eq. (\[ne24\]) becomes $$P_e \simeq 1 - \frac{3\pi\Gamma}{16}\sqrt{\frac{T}{\bar n \Gamma_P}} + \left(\frac{9\pi^2}{64}-\frac 1 2 \right) \frac{\Gamma^2 T}{4 \bar n\Gamma_P} + O\left(\frac{1}{\bar n}\right)^{3/2}
\label{ne29}$$ Note that, if we do not optimize the pulse duration $T$, Eq. (\[ne29\]) only approaches 1 as $1/\sqrt{\bar n}$. On the other hand, if we substitute for $T$ the smallest value allowed by Eq. (\[ne28\]), namely, $\pi^2/4\bar n\Gamma_P$, we get a much more favorable scaling: $$P_e \simeq 1 - \frac{3\pi^2\Gamma}{32 \bar n \Gamma_P} + \left(\frac{9\pi^2}{64}-\frac 1 2 \right) \left(\frac{\Gamma}{4 \bar n\Gamma_P}\right)^2 + O\left(\frac{1}{\bar n}\right)^3
\label{ne30}$$ We should also verify that this is better than (or, as it turns out, equivalent to) the alternative we found for the $\bar n=1$ case in the previous section, namely, letting the maximum happen at the end of the pulse ($t=T$), in which case we need to optimize $$\begin{aligned}
P_e(T) = &\frac{4 \bar n \Gamma_P}{\Gamma^2 T + 8 \bar n \Gamma_P}\Biggl(1- e^{-3\Gamma T/4} \cr
&\quad\quad\times\left[\cos(\Omega T) + \frac{3\Gamma}{4 \Omega} \sin(\Omega T)\right]\Biggr)
\label{ne31}\end{aligned}$$ with respect to $T$. However, for large $\bar n$ it is clear that the prefactor approaches $1/2$, and the only way the term in parentheses can approach 2 is if $\cos(\Omega T) \simeq -1$. This requires $T \simeq \pi/\Omega$, so at this point this approach reduces to the previous one, since there we started by imposing $t=\pi/\Omega$ and later choosing the lowest value of $T$ compatible with this condition, namely, $T=\pi/\Omega$.
Finally, note that, in contrast to the single-photon case, in the large-$\bar n$ limit the optimal pulse duration (here $T=\pi^2/4\bar n\Gamma_P$) is, to lowest order in $1/\bar n$, independent of the external loss rate $\Gamma_B$. We will find this to be the case for every other pulse shape, as well.
### Perturbation theory in the large $\bar n$ limit
The above exactly-solvable case shows that, in order to get the first-order correction (deviation from unity), in $1/\bar n$, to $P_e$ it is enough to keep terms linear in $\Gamma$ (note that $\Gamma$ and $\Gamma_P$ are treated as completely independent variables here; $\Gamma_P$ characterizes the atom-field coupling, whereas $\Gamma$ quantifies the losses, or spontaneous decay rate). It also suggests that, to the same order of accuracy, we may simply replace $\Omega = \sqrt{\Omega_0^2 + \Gamma^2/16}$ by $\Omega_0 = 2\sqrt{\bar n \Gamma_P/T}$, and assume that the maximum of $P_e$ happens at the time $t=\pi/\Omega_0$ where the $\pi$ pulse condition is satisfied in the absence of losses.
This suggests a simple strategy to obtain the first-order correction for an arbitrary pulse shape, namely, to use perturbation theory. Let $T$ be some parameter with the dimensions of time that characterizes the duration of the pulse, and let $g(t) = \sqrt T \, f(t)$ (so $g$ has the same shape as $f$ but is dimensionless). Defining $\Omega_0 = 2\sqrt{\bar n \Gamma_P/T}$ as above and the dimensionless time $\tau = \Omega_0 t$, we can rewrite the system (\[ne19\]) as $$\begin{aligned}
\begin{split}
& \frac{d x}{d\tau} = -\frac{\epsilon}{2}\,x + g(\tau) y - g(\tau)
\cr
& \frac{d y}{d\tau} = -\epsilon\, y -g(\tau) x
\end{split}
\label{ne32}\end{aligned}$$ where $x \equiv {\Sigma}$, $y = 2 P_{e}$, and $\epsilon = \Gamma/\Omega_0$. We can then expand $x(t) = x^{(0)}(t) + \epsilon x^{(1)}(t)+\ldots$, $y(t) = y^{(0)}(t) + \epsilon y^{(1)}(t)+\ldots$, and substitute in (\[ne32\]). The lowest-order equation $$\begin{aligned}
\begin{split}
& \frac{d x^{(0)}}{d\tau} = g(\tau)\, y^{(0)} - g(\tau)
\cr
& \frac{d y^{(0)}}{d\tau} = -g(\tau)\, x^{(0)}
\end{split}
\label{ne33}\end{aligned}$$ is immediately solved by $$\begin{aligned}
x^{(0)}(\tau) &= -\sin[\theta(\tau)] \cr
y^{(0)}(\tau) &= 1-\cos[\theta(\tau)]
\label{ne34}\end{aligned}$$ with $$\theta(\tau) = \int_{-\infty}^\tau g(\tau^\prime)\,d\tau^\prime
\label{ne35}$$ and, as expected, this gives unit excitation probability when $\theta = \pi$. The next-order correction must satisfy $$\begin{aligned}
\begin{split}
& \frac{d x^{(1)}}{d\tau} = g(\tau)\, y^{(1)} -\frac{\epsilon}{2}\,x^{(0)}(\tau)
\cr
& \frac{d y^{(1)}}{d\tau} = -g(\tau)\, x^{(1)} -\epsilon\, y^{(0)}(\tau)
\end{split}
\label{ne36}\end{aligned}$$ Again, changing to the variable $\theta$ turns this into a simple driven harmonic oscillator problem, with the formal solution for $y^{(1)}(\theta)$:
$$y^{(1)}(\theta) = -\epsilon\int_0^\theta \frac{d\tau}{d\theta^\prime}\left(y^{(0)}(\theta^\prime)\cos(\theta-\theta^\prime) - \frac 1 2 x^{(0)}(\theta^\prime)\sin(\theta-\theta^\prime) \right) d\theta^\prime
\label{ne37}$$
At this point, the only remaining difficulty may be to express $d\tau/d\theta = 1/g(\tau(\theta))$ as a function of $\theta$, since the inversion of Eq. (\[ne35\]) may be a nontrivial problem. Alternatively, note that the whole expression (\[ne37\]) can be rewritten explicitly as an integral over $\tau$. For the moment, though, we will continue to use $\theta$ because it allows us to express the correction to $P_e$ at the expected maximum, $\theta = \pi$, in the following very compact form (using Eqs. (\[ne34\]), (\[ne35\])): $$\begin{aligned}
1-P_e \Bigr|_{\theta=\pi} &= \frac{\epsilon}{2}\int_0^\pi \frac{1}{g(\tau(\theta^\prime))}\left(-\cos(\theta^\prime)\left[1-\cos(\theta^\prime)\right] + \frac 1 2 \sin^2(\theta^\prime) \right) d\theta^\prime \cr
&= \epsilon \int_0^\pi \frac{\sin^4(\theta/2)}{g(\tau(\theta))} d\theta
\label{ne38}\end{aligned}$$
Examples of the use of Eq. (\[ne38\]) follow.
### Decaying exponential pulse
Consider a decaying exponential pulse, $f(t) = e^{-t/T}\sqrt{2/T}$ for $t\ge 0$, and zero for $t<0$. Then $g(\tau) = \sqrt 2\, e^{-\tau/\Omega_0 T}$, $\theta = \sqrt 2\, \Omega_0 T (1-e^{-\tau/\Omega_0 T})$, and $g(\tau(\theta)) = \sqrt 2[1-\theta/(\sqrt 2\Omega_0 T)]$. The result is then $$1-P_e \Bigr|_{\theta=\pi} = \Gamma T \int_0^\pi \frac{\sin^4(\theta/2)}{2\sqrt{2\bar n\Gamma_P T}-\theta}\, d\theta
\label{ne39}$$ It is now an easy matter to minimize this, numerically, with respect to $T$. The minimum is obtained when $T=3.347/\bar n \Gamma_P$, and the result is then $$P_e \simeq 1 - 1.47895 \frac{\Gamma}{\bar n \Gamma_P}
\label{ne40}$$ This is clearly less favorable than the square-pulse scaling, Eq. (\[ne30\]), since the prefactor $3\pi^2/32 \simeq 0.9253$. Again, note that if one were simply to increase $\bar n$ in Eq. (\[ne39\]), leaving $T$ constant, the excitation probability would only approach 1 as $1/\sqrt{\bar n}$, which is to say, much more slowly.
### Rising exponential pulse
Let now $f(t) = e^{t/T}\sqrt{2/T}$ for $t\le 0$, and zero for $t>0$. Then $g(\tau) = \sqrt 2\, e^{\tau/\Omega_0 T}$ (for $\tau\le 0$), and $\theta = \sqrt 2\, \Omega_0 T e^{\tau/\Omega_0 T}$, so $g(\tau(\theta)) = \theta/\Omega_0 T$, and we find $$1-P_e \Bigr|_{\theta=\pi} = \Gamma T \int_0^\pi \frac{\sin^4(\theta/2)}{\theta}\, d\theta = 0.519432\, \Gamma T
\label{ne41}$$ This is, at first sight, a somewhat surprising result, in that it looks like it can be made arbitrarily small simply by reducing $T$, but recall that in order for Eq. (\[ne38\]) to be applicable, it must be possible for $\theta$ to reach the value of $\pi$, so we need to have $\sqrt 2\, \Omega_0 T \ge \pi$. Since $\Omega_0 = 2\sqrt{\bar n \Gamma_P/T}$, this leads to the condition $$2\sqrt{2\bar n \Gamma_P T} \ge \pi
\label{ne42}$$ Taking the smallest $T$ compatible with Eq. (\[ne42\]), namely, $T_{opt} = \pi^2/8\bar n\Gamma_P$, and substituting in (\[ne41\]), we obtain $$P_e = 1 - 0.519432\, \frac{\Gamma \pi^2}{8 \bar n \Gamma_P} = 1 - 0.640824 \frac{\Gamma}{\bar n \Gamma_P}
\label{ne41}$$ This is better than the square pulse, and much better than the decaying exponential, requiring less than half the photons to reach the same value of $P_e$.
### Gaussian pulse
Finally, consider a Gaussian pulse of the form $f(t) = e^{-t^2/T^2}/\sqrt{T\sqrt{\pi/2}}$. We now have $$g(\tau) = \left(\frac{2}{\pi}\right)^{1/4} e^{-\tau^2/(\Omega_0 T)^2}$$ $$\theta(\tau) = \int_{-\infty}^\tau g(\tau^\prime)\, d\tau^\prime = \frac 1 2 \Omega_0 T (2\pi)^{1/4} \left[1+\text{erf}\left(\frac{\tau}{\Omega_0 T}\right)\right]$$ $$\begin{aligned}
1-P_e \Bigr|_{\theta=\pi} = &\frac{\Gamma}{\Omega_0} \int_0^\pi\exp\left[\text{InverseErf}\,^2\left(\frac{2\theta}{\Omega_0 T}\,\frac{1}{(2\pi)^{1/4}} - 1\right)\right]\cr
&\times\sin^4\left(\frac\theta 2\right)\,d\theta
\label{ne46}\end{aligned}$$ where “InverseErf” is the inverse of the error function, available in packages such as *Mathematica*. One now has to (numerically) minimize (\[ne46\]) with respect to $T$, keeping in mind that $\Omega_0$ itself depends on $T$. In practice, it is easiest to introduce a parameter $a= \Omega_0 T$ in terms of which $T= a^2/4\bar n \Gamma_P$, and the prefactor $\Gamma/\Omega_0 = \Gamma T/a = a \Gamma/4\bar n \Gamma_P$, and minimize the resulting expression with respect to $a$. One then finds that $$T_{opt} = \frac{1.45009}{\bar n \Gamma_P}$$ and $$P_e = 1 - 0.91597\,\frac{\Gamma}{\bar n \Gamma_P}
\label{ne48}$$ very close to the square pulse result, Eq. (\[ne30\]), which is $\simeq 1 - 0.9253 \,{\Gamma/\bar n \Gamma_P}$ to lowest order. All of the above results are summarized graphically (for the lossless case) in Fig. 3.
![ \[fig:fig3\] Optimized excitation probability for multiphoton coherent states, for various pulse shapes, as a function of the average photon number $\bar n$, in the absence of external losses ($\Gamma_B=0$). From top to bottom, the curves are for a rising exponential pulse, a “square” pulse, a Gaussian pulse (these two are virtually indistinguishable on this scale), and a decaying exponential pulse. The solid lines show the analytical approximation, and the dashed lines the results of numerical calculations.](paper3.eps){width="3.7in"}
Fock states
-----------
Although multiphoton Fock states are very difficult to prepare, we wish to cover this case here for completeness, since it also turns out to be analytically tractable in the large $N$ limit.
Generalizing the model in [@scarani2] to include external losses, we find that the excitation probability for $N$ photons can be obtained by integrating the following system of $2N$ coupled differential equations: $$\begin{aligned}
\dot{P}_{e,n} &=-\Gamma P_{e,n}-\sqrt{\Gamma_{P} n}f(t)\;\Sigma_{n-1}
\cr
\dot{\Sigma}_{n-1} &=-\dfrac{\Gamma}{2}\;\Sigma_{n-1}+4\sqrt{\Gamma_{P} n}f(t)\;P_{e,n-1}-2\sqrt{\Gamma_{P} n}f(t) \cr
\label{e9}\end{aligned}$$ where the index $n$ runs from $1$ to $N$. (For an alternative formalism to deal with this problem, see the work of Baragiola et al. [@combes].) Let $f(t) = 1/\sqrt T$, $0<t<T$. In this case, and for a small number of photons, one could easily integrate Eq. (\[e9\]) recursively, by hand, and obtain the excitation probability. However, this becomes impractical for a significantly large number of photons. We therefore resort to the same kind of perturbation theory we used above for the coherent-state pulse.
Letting $g(t)=\sqrt T\,f(t)$, $\Omega_0 = 2\sqrt{N\Gamma_P T}$, $\tau = \Omega_0 t$, we find the system (\[e9\]) can be written as $$\begin{aligned}
\frac{d}{d\tau}\,y_n &= -\epsilon y_n - g(\tau)\sqrt{\frac n N}\, x_{n-1} \cr
\frac{d}{d\tau}\,x_{n-1} &= -\frac \epsilon 2\, x_{n-1} + g(\tau)\sqrt{\frac{n}{N}}\, y_{n-1} - g(\tau) \sqrt{\frac{n}{N}}\cr
\label{e50}\end{aligned}$$ where $x_n = \Sigma_n$, $y_n = 2 P_n$, and $\epsilon = \Gamma/\Omega_0$.
Introducing a perturbative solution of the form $x_n(t) = x_n^{(0)} + \epsilon x_n^{(1)} +\ldots$, $y_n(t) = y_n^{(0)} + \epsilon y_n^{(1)} +\ldots$, one can show recursively that the zero-th order solution has the form $$\begin{aligned}
y_n^{(0)}(\theta) &=1 - \mathbf{ _{1}F_{1}} \left(-n,\frac 1 2, \frac{\theta^2}{4 N}\right) \cr
x_{n-1}^{(0)}(\theta) &= -\theta \sqrt\frac{n}{N}\, \mathbf{ _{1}F_{1}} \left(-n+1,\frac 3 2, \frac{\theta^2}{4 N}\right)
\label{e51}\end{aligned}$$ in terms of the variable $\theta$ introduced as in Eq. (\[ne35\]), and the confluent hypergeometric function $\mathbf{ _{1}F_{1}}$. This is to be compared directly to the result (\[ne34\]) for the coherent state case, with $n=N$. Indeed, in the large $N$ limit we find [@abr1] $$\begin{aligned}
\mathbf{ _{1}F_{1}} \left(-N,\frac 1 2, \frac{\theta^2}{4 N}\right) &\simeq e^{\theta^2/8N} \cos\theta \cr
\mathbf{ _{1}F_{1}} \left(-N,\frac 3 2, \frac{\theta^2}{4 N}\right) &\simeq \frac 1 \theta\,e^{\theta^2/8N} \sin\theta
\label{ne52}\end{aligned}$$ which shows that, as in the coherent-state case, the excitation probability, $y_N/2$, will be maximum around $\theta = \pi$. Note, however, that since we ultimately want an expression for $P_e$ that is correct to order $1/N$, we cannot neglect the exponential term in (\[ne52\]) completely. Rather, we have to say that, to lowest order in $\epsilon$, the excitation probability, $P_e^{(0)}$ is given by $$\begin{aligned}
P_e^{(0)} &= \frac 1 2(1- e^{\theta^2/8N} \cos\theta) \cr
P_{e,max}^{(0)} &\simeq 1 + \frac{\pi^2}{16 N}
\label{ne53}\end{aligned}$$ Of course, an excitation probability greater than 1 is unphysical, but this is ultimately due to the fact that the zero-th order in $\epsilon$ is also unphysical: since $\epsilon = (\Gamma_P+\Gamma_B)/\Omega_0$ includes the coupling to the atom $\Gamma_P$, it can never be strictly zero. As we shall see below, the terms coming from the first order correction will ensure that $P_e$ is always less than 1, to first order in $1/N$.
This first-order correction is formally given by
$$\begin{aligned}
y_N^{(1)}(\theta) = -\epsilon\int_0^\theta \frac{d\tau}{d\theta^\prime}&\Biggl\{
\sum_{n=0}^{N-1} \frac{(-1)^n N!}{(2n)! N^n (N-n)!}\,(\theta-\theta^\prime)^{2n}\left[1 - \mathbf{ _{1}F_{1}} \left(-N+n,\frac 1 2, \frac{{\theta^\prime}^2}{4 N}\right)\right] \cr
&-\frac 1 2 \sum_{n=1}^{N} \frac{(-1)^{n-1} (N-1)! }{(2n-1)! N^{n-1} (N-n)!}\,{(\theta-\theta^\prime)^{2n-1}}{\theta^\prime} \mathbf{ _{1}F_{1}} \left(-N+n,\frac 3 2, \frac{{\theta^\prime}^2}{4 N}\right) \Biggr\} d\theta^\prime
\label{ne54}\end{aligned}$$
where, again, we wish to emphasize the similarity with the corresponding coherent-state result (\[ne37\]). In fact, it is straightforward to show numerically that, for finite $\theta$ (in particular, $\theta\simeq \pi$), the term in curly braces in Eq. (\[ne54\]) approaches $\cos(\theta-\theta^\prime)(1-\cos\theta^\prime -\frac 12 \sin(\theta-\theta^\prime)\sin\theta^\prime)$, as $N\to\infty$. Qualitatively, this may be understood from the fact that, for large $N$ and small $n$, the difference between $N$ and $N-n$ in the first argument of the hypergeometric functions can be neglected, and for large $n$ the prefactors go to zero very fast, so the terms where the difference between $N$ and $N-n$ is substantial are strongly suppressed. Setting, then $N-n \simeq N$ in the argument of the hypergeometric functions, the sums can be carried out, with the result that the first one equals $\mathbf{ _{1}F_{1}} \left(-N,\frac 1 2, (\theta-\theta^\prime)^2/{4 N}\right)$ (up to terms that are negligible for large $N$), and the second one equals $(\theta-\theta^\prime)\mathbf{ _{1}F_{1}} \left(-N+n,\frac 3 2,(\theta-\theta^\prime)^2/4 N\right)$. One can then use the results (\[ne52\]) to show the (asymptotic) identity between (\[ne54\]) and the coherent-state result (\[ne34\]), (\[ne37\]). In particular, for $\theta = \pi$, we have then (making use of (\[ne53\])) $$1-P_e\Bigr|_{\theta=\pi} = -\frac{\pi^2}{16 N} + \epsilon \int_0^\pi \frac{\sin^4(\theta/2)}{g(\tau(\theta))} d\theta
\label{ne55}$$ which means that the optimal pulse bandwidth (to minimize the second term on the right-hand side of (\[ne55\])) will be exactly the same as for the coherent-state case (only with $\bar n$ replaced by $N$), and the maximum excitation probability will also be the same, plus the $\pi^2/16N$ term. Explicitly, we get $$\begin{aligned}
P_e &= 1 -\frac{\pi^2}{32 N} -\frac{3\pi^2 \Gamma_B}{32 N \Gamma_P} \qquad\text{(square pulse)}\cr
P_e &= 1 -\frac{0.8621}{N} -\frac{1.47895\Gamma_B}{N \Gamma_P} \qquad\text{(decaying exponential)}\cr
P_e &= 1 -\frac{0.02397}{N} -\frac{0.64082\Gamma_B}{N \Gamma_P} \qquad\text{(rising exponential)}\cr
P_e &= 1 -\frac{0.29912}{N} -\frac{0.91597\Gamma_B}{N \Gamma_P} \qquad\text{(Gaussian)}
\label{ne56}\end{aligned}$$ where we have separated the contribution of the external losses $\Gamma_B$ explicitly, to show that $P_e$ is indeed in all the cases lower than 1. (Note that this $\Gamma_B$ contribution is the same for Fock states as for coherent states.) We find that the rising exponential pulse in the $\Gamma_B = 0$ case is now more than an order of magnitude better than all the other pulses. These results are plotted (for the $\Gamma_B=0$ case) in Figure 4.
![ \[fig:fig4\] Optimized excitation probability for multiphoton Fock states, for various pulse shapes, as a function of the photon number $N$, in the absence of external losses ($\Gamma_B=0$). From top to bottom, the curves are for a rising exponential pulse, a “square” pulse, a Gaussian pulse (these two are virtually indistinguishable on this scale), and a decaying exponential pulse. The solid lines show the analytical approximation, and the dashed lines the results of numerical calculations. ](paper4.eps){width="3.7in"}
The last of the equations (\[ne56\]) should be compared (in the $\Gamma_B=0$ case) to the result obtained for Fock states by Baragiola et al., $P_e^N = 1-0.269 N^{-0.973}$ (see caption to Figure 3 of [@combes]). The two expressions yield very similar results for $N=40$, which was the largest value of $N$ considered in [@combes], and our numerical calculations show that ours is a better fit for large $N$, as is to be expected.
Conclusions
===========
We have considered theoretically the maximum excitation probability for a two-level system interacting with a quantum field, in the presence of external losses (or non-perfect coupling), in two complementary limits: when the incident field contains a single photon (on average), and asymptotically, when the number of photons is very large. In both cases we find that $P_e$ depends strongly on the temporal profile of the pulse, and that for each pulse shape it is essential to optimize the pulse duration (or bandwidth) in order to make $P_e$ as large as possible. In particular, for the single-photon (Fock state) case, we find that, if the external losses are characterized by the decay rate $\Gamma_B$, the optimum bandwidth depends on $\Gamma_B$, and with this optimization the maximum $P_e$ is just equal to the lossless result multiplied by the ratio $\Gamma_P/(\Gamma_P+\Gamma_B)$. For a coherent state with $\bar n = 1$, we have presented numerical results showing that this simple scaling does not apply.
For the multiphoton case, when the field is in a coherent state, we have derived an expression that allows one to evaluate the leading term in the expansion of $P_e$ in powers of $1/\bar n$ for a pulse of arbitrary temporal profile. We find in this case that the optimum pulse duration does not depend on the external losses, and what is typically required is for $T$ to scale as $\alpha/\bar n \Gamma_P$, where the constant $\alpha$ depends on the pulse shape. When this is done, one finds that $P_e$ approaches 1 as $P_e \simeq 1 - (\beta/\bar n)(1+\Gamma_B/\Gamma_P)$, where again the constant $\beta$ depends on the pulse shape. When the pulse duration is not optimized, one typically finds a much less favorable scaling with $\bar n$. We also find that the constant $\beta$ can vary by a factor of 2 or more across different pulses, and in terms of their effectiveness the various shapes that we have studied rank in roughly the same order in the large $\bar n$ as in the single-photon regime, with the rising exponential profile being the best, the decaying exponential the worst, and the square and Gaussian profiles being in the middle and very close to each other.
For multiphoton Fock states, we have shown that the optimal pulse bandwidth and the time when the excitation peaks are (in the asymptotic, large $N$ limit) the same as for the corresponding coherent state with $\bar n = N$, and the optimized excitation probability is the same plus $\pi^2/16 N$, regardless of the pulse shape or the level of external losses.
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import static com.google.common.base.Verify.verify;
import static java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets.UTF_8;
import com.android.tools.r8.ByteDataView;
import com.android.tools.r8.CompilationFailedException;
import com.android.tools.r8.CompilationMode;
import com.android.tools.r8.D8;
import com.android.tools.r8.D8Command;
import com.android.tools.r8.DexIndexedConsumer;
import com.android.tools.r8.DiagnosticsHandler;
import com.android.tools.r8.origin.ArchiveEntryOrigin;
import com.android.tools.r8.origin.PathOrigin;
import com.google.common.io.ByteStreams;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Paths;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Enumeration;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Set;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
import java.util.concurrent.Future;
import java.util.zip.ZipEntry;
import java.util.zip.ZipFile;
import java.util.zip.ZipOutputStream;
/**
* Tool used by Bazel that converts a Jar file of .class files into a .zip file of .dex files, one
* per .class file, which we call a <i>dex archive</i>.
*
* <p>D8 version of DexBuilder.
*/
public class CompatDexBuilder {
private static class DexConsumer implements DexIndexedConsumer {
byte[] bytes;
@Override
public synchronized void accept(
int fileIndex, ByteDataView data, Set<String> descriptors, DiagnosticsHandler handler) {
verify(bytes == null, "Should not have been populated until now");
bytes = data.copyByteData();
}
byte[] getBytes() {
return bytes;
}
@Override
public void finished(DiagnosticsHandler handler) {
// Do nothing.
}
}
private String input;
private String output;
private int numberOfThreads = 8;
private boolean noLocals;
public static void main(String[] args)
throws IOException, InterruptedException, ExecutionException {
new CompatDexBuilder().run(args);
}
@SuppressWarnings("JdkObsolete")
private void run(String[] args) throws IOException, InterruptedException, ExecutionException {
List<String> flags = new ArrayList<>();
for (String arg : args) {
if (arg.startsWith("@")) {
flags.addAll(Files.readAllLines(Paths.get(arg.substring(1))));
} else {
flags.add(arg);
}
}
for (int i = 0; i < flags.size(); i++) {
String flag = flags.get(i);
if (flag.startsWith("--positions=")) {
String positionsValue = flag.substring("--positions=".length());
if (positionsValue.startsWith("throwing") || positionsValue.startsWith("important")) {
noLocals = true;
}
continue;
}
if (flag.startsWith("--num-threads=")) {
numberOfThreads = Integer.parseInt(flag.substring("--num-threads=".length()));
continue;
}
switch (flag) {
case "--input_jar":
input = flags.get(++i);
break;
case "--output_zip":
output = flags.get(++i);
break;
case "--verify-dex-file":
case "--no-verify-dex-file":
case "--show_flags":
case "--no-optimize":
case "--nooptimize":
case "--help":
// Ignore
break;
case "--nolocals":
noLocals = true;
break;
default:
System.err.println("Unsupported option: " + flag);
System.exit(1);
}
}
if (input == null) {
System.err.println("No input jar specified");
System.exit(1);
}
if (output == null) {
System.err.println("No output jar specified");
System.exit(1);
}
ExecutorService executor = Executors.newWorkStealingPool(numberOfThreads);
try (ZipOutputStream out = new ZipOutputStream(Files.newOutputStream(Paths.get(output)))) {
List<ZipEntry> toDex = new ArrayList<>();
try (ZipFile zipFile = new ZipFile(input, UTF_8)) {
final Enumeration<? extends ZipEntry> entries = zipFile.entries();
while (entries.hasMoreElements()) {
ZipEntry entry = entries.nextElement();
if (!entry.getName().endsWith(".class")) {
try (InputStream stream = zipFile.getInputStream(entry)) {
ZipUtils.addEntry(entry.getName(), stream, out);
}
} else {
toDex.add(entry);
}
}
List<Future<DexConsumer>> futures = new ArrayList<>(toDex.size());
for (ZipEntry classEntry : toDex) {
futures.add(executor.submit(() -> dexEntry(zipFile, classEntry, executor)));
}
for (int i = 0; i < futures.size(); i++) {
ZipEntry entry = toDex.get(i);
DexConsumer consumer = futures.get(i).get();
ZipUtils.addEntry(entry.getName() + ".dex", consumer.getBytes(), ZipEntry.STORED, out);
}
}
} finally {
executor.shutdown();
}
}
private DexConsumer dexEntry(ZipFile zipFile, ZipEntry classEntry, ExecutorService executor)
throws IOException, CompilationFailedException {
DexConsumer consumer = new DexConsumer();
D8Command.Builder builder = D8Command.builder();
builder
.setProgramConsumer(consumer)
.setMode(noLocals ? CompilationMode.RELEASE : CompilationMode.DEBUG)
.setMinApiLevel(13) // H_MR2.
.setDisableDesugaring(true);
try (InputStream stream = zipFile.getInputStream(classEntry)) {
builder.addClassProgramData(
ByteStreams.toByteArray(stream),
new ArchiveEntryOrigin(
classEntry.getName(), new PathOrigin(Paths.get(zipFile.getName()))));
}
D8.run(builder.build(), executor);
return consumer;
}
}
|
How JimS69 started their logo design journey
Summary
Design task is to dream up a cool looking, but professional logo for a new Teeth Whitening product.
Company name
Glossy White Smile
What inspires you and how do you envision the design for your business?
We've got a new teeth whitening product coming to market soon and we're looking for a designer to do the perfect logo for this product. The logo will have to be viable to be used on product packaging, the product website and also on web adverts. We require the finished artwork to be provided in .psd Adobe Photoshop format (with all applicable 'layers' and any graphics being vector based). |
Continuous cell lines from the Muscovy duck as potential replacement for primary cells in the production of avian vaccines.
Veterinary vaccines contribute to food security, interrupt zoonotic transmissions, and help to maintain overall health in livestock. Although vaccines are usually cost-effective, their adoption depends on a multitude of factors. Because poultry vaccines are usually given to birds with a short life span, very low production cost per dose is one important challenge. Other hurdles are to ensure a consistent and reliable supply of very large number of doses, and to have flexible production processes to accommodate a range of different pathogens and dosage requirements. Most poultry vaccines are currently being produced on primary avian cells derived from chicken or waterfowl embryos. This production system is associated with high costs, logistic complexities, rigid intervals between harvest and production, and supply limitations. We investigated whether the continuous cell lines Cairina retina and CR.pIX may provide a substrate independent of primary cell cultures or embryonated eggs. Viruses examined for replication in these cell lines are strains associated with, or contained in vaccines against egg drop syndrome, Marek's disease, Newcastle disease, avian influenza, infectious bursal disease and Derzsy's disease. Each of the tested viruses required the development of unique conditions for replication that are described here and can be used to generate material for in vivo efficacy studies and to accelerate transfer of the processes to larger production volumes. |
ACC News Story
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Transcatheter patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) occlusion is one of the safest interventional cardiac procedures among adults and children. However, major adverse events are five to 10 times greater among infants who weigh less than six kilograms, according to a study published August 16 in JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions.
Using ACC’s IMPACT Registry, Carl H. Backes, MD, et al., identified 747 infants weighing less than six kilograms who underwent transcatheter PDA occlusion between January 2011 and March 2015. Across 73 hospitals, the procedural success rate was 94.3 percent, and 96 percent of cases required less than two hours in the catheterization suite.
Regarding the study population, researchers examined differences by grouping the infants into three weight categories: extremely low weight (ELW, <2 kilograms), very low weight (VL, 2-<4 kilograms) and low weight (LW, 4-<6 kilograms). A third of the infants studied were born at <30 weeks of gestation. At catheterization, the median age was 4.3 months and most were LW (4.6 kilograms). Additionally, more than half of procedures were performed on females and Caucasians. Less than half of the infants were hospitalized before the procedure and more than half were on diuretic treatment. Most infants had a Type A (37 percent) or Type C (42 percent) PDA.
While the majority of attempted PDA closures were successful, approximately 13 percent of the infants experienced major adverse events (MAEs). “In the present cohort of infants <6 kg, procedural success rates for transcatheter PDA closure are similar to those in more mature counterparts, but rates of MAE were 5-10 fold greater,” note the study authors.
While the study proves to be an “important first step in understanding the risk profile of transcatheter PDA occlusion in this subgroup of infants,” the authors note that “conclusions on the optimal treatment among lower weight infants with a persistent ductus remain unanswered.”
“Conservative treatment may reduce unnecessary interventions in many infants, but the question remains as to what to do if the PDA fails to close following a period of conservative treatment,” they continue. |
In manufacturing semiconductor devices such as LSI and super-LSI or in manufacturing a liquid crystal display board or the like, a pattern is made by irradiating light to a semiconductor wafer or an original plate for liquid crystal, but if a dust gets to adhere to a photo mask or a reticle (hereinafter merely referred to as a “mask” for simplicity) during the irradiation operation, the dust absorbs light or refracts it, causing deformation of a transferred pattern, roughened edges or black stains on a base, and leads to a problem of damaged dimensions, poor quality, deformed appearance and the like.
Thus, these works are usually performed in a clean room, but it is still difficult to keep the mask clean all the time. Therefore, a pellicle is tentatively attached to a surface of the mask as a dust-fender before photo irradiation is carried out. Under such circumstances, foreign substances do not directly adhere to the surface of the mask but only onto the pellicle membrane, which is sufficiently removed from the mask surface, and thus by setting a photo focus on a lithography pattern on the mask, the foreign substances on the pellicle membrane fail to transfer their shadows on the mask and thus no longer become a problem to the image transfer performance.
In general, a pellicle is built up of a pellicle frame, which is an endless frame bar, and a transparent membrane or pellicle film, the latter being tensely pasted to one of two frame faces. The membrane material is selected from cellulose nitrate, cellulose acetate, fluorine-containing polymer and the like, which transmits light well, and the pellicle frame is made of aluminum, stainless, polyethylene or the like. A solvent capable of dissolving the pellicle film is applied to one of two frame faces of the pellicle frame and the pellicle film is laid onto it and the solvent is air-dried to complete the adhesion (Japanese Laid-open Patent Application S58-219023 or 1983-219023), or an adhesive such as acrylic resin, epoxy resin or the like is used to adhere the pellicle film onto the frame face (hereinafter this face is called “upper frame face”) (U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,402 and Japanese Pre-Patent Publication for Public Review S63-27707 or 1988-27707). The other frame face (hereinafter called “lower frame face”) of the pellicle frame is paved with a pressure-sensitive solid adhesive layer made of polybutene resin, polyvinyl acetate resin, acrylic resin, silicone resin or the like for attaching the pellicle frame to a mask, and over this pressure-sensitive solid adhesive layer is laid a separation layer (or releaser) for protecting the solid adhesive layer. (The applicants failed to find a document dealing with the pressure-sensitive solid adhesive layer from the view point of adhesiveness.) [Publication-in-patent 1] Japanese Laid-open Patent Application S58-219023 [Publication-in-patent 2] U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,402 [Publication-in-patent 3] Japanese Pre-Patent Publication for Public Review S63-27707 |
---
abstract: 'A topological group $X$ is defined to have [*compact exponent*]{} if for some number $n\in{\mathbb N}$ the set $\{x^n:x\in X\}$ has compact closure in $X$. Any such number $n$ will be called a [*compact exponent*]{} of $X$. Our principal result states that a complete Abelian topological group $X$ has compact exponent (equal to $n\in{\mathbb N}$) if and only if for any injective continuous homomorphism $f:X\to Y$ to a topological group $Y$ and every $y\in \overline{f(X)}$ there exists a positive number $k$ (equal to $n$) such that $y^k\in f(X)$. This result has many interesting implications: (1) an Abelian topological group is compact if and only if it is complete in each weaker Hausdorff group topology; (2) each minimal Abelian topological group is precompact (this is the famous Prodanov-Stoyanov Theorem); (3) a topological group $X$ is complete and has compact exponent if and only if it is closed in each Hausdorff paratopological group containing $X$ as a topological subgroup (this confirms an old conjecture of Banakh and Ravsky).'
address: 'T. Banakh: Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (Ukraine) andJan Kochanowski University in Kielce (Poland)'
author:
- Taras Banakh
title: |
A quantitative generalization of Prodanov-Stoyanov Theorem\
on minimal Abelian topological groups
---
Introduction
============
In this paper we prove a theorem, which can be considered as a quantitative version of the fundamental Prodanov-Stoyanov Theorem on the precompactness of minimal Abelian topological groups. All topological groups considered in this paper are Hausdorff.
We recall that a topological group $X$ is [*precompact*]{} if its completion in the two-sided uniformity is compact. This happens if and only if $X$ is [*totally bounded*]{} in the sense that for any neighborhood $U\subset X$ of the unit there exists a finite subset $F\subset X$ such that $X=FU$. For a subset $A$ of a topological space $X$ by $\bar A$ we denote the closure of $A$ in $X$.
We shall say that a topological group $X$ has [*compact exponent*]{} if for some number $n\in{\mathbb N}$ the set $nX=\{x^n:x\in X\}$ has compact closure $\overline{nX}$ in $X$. In this case, the number $n$ is called [*a compact exponent*]{} of $X$. Observe that a topological group is compact if and only if 1 is its compact exponent. For the first time the concept of compact exponent (without naming) has appeared in Banakh and Ravsky [@BaR2001].
By a [*powertopological semigroup*]{} we understand a semigroup $S$ endowed with a Hausdorff topology such that for any $a,b\in S$ and $n\in{\mathbb N}$ the map $S\to S$, $x\mapsto ax^nb$, is continuous. It is clear that each topological semigroup is powertopological and each powertopological semigroup is [*semitopological*]{} which means that for any $a,b\in S$ the shift $S\to S$, $x\mapsto axb$, is continuous.
This paper contains a unique principal result:
\[t:main\] Let $n\in{\mathbb N}$ be any number. For a complete Abelian topological group $X$ the following conditions are equivalent:
1. $X$ has compact exponent (equal to $n$);
2. for any injective continuous homomorphism $f:X\to Y$ to a topological group $Y$ and every point $y\in \overline{f(X)}\subset Y$ there exists a number $k\in{\mathbb N}$ (equal to $n$) such that $y^k\in f(X)$;
3. for any continuous homomorphism $f:X\to Y$ to a powertopological semigroup $Y$ and every point $y\in \overline{f(X)}\subset Y$ there exists a number $k\in{\mathbb N}$ (equal to $n$) such that $y^k\in f(X)$.
This theorem has many interesting and non-trivial implications.
\[c1\] An Abelian topological group $X$ is compact if and only if $X$ for any injective continuous homomorphism $f:X\to Y$ to a topological group $Y$ the image $f(X)$ is closed in $Y$.
This corollary can be reformulated as follows.
\[c2\] An Abelian topological group $X$ is compact if and only if $X$ is complete in each weaker Hausdorff group topology.
This corollary implies the famous Prodanov-Stoyanov Theorem [@PS] on the precompactness of minimal Abelian topological groups. We recall [@D98], [@DM] that a topological group $X$ is [*minimal*]{} if $X$ does not admit a strictly weaker Hausdorff group topology.
\[c:PS\] Each minimal Abelian topological group $X$ is precompact.
The precompactness of $X$ is equivalent to the compactness of the completion $\bar X$ of $X$. By Corollary \[c1\], the compactness of $\bar X$ will follow as soon as we check that for any continuous injective homomorphism $f:\bar X\to Y$ to a topological group $Y$ the image $f(\bar X)$ is closed in $Y$. We lose no generality assuming that the topological group $Y$ is complete and $f(\bar X)$ is dense in $Y$. By the minimality of $X$, the restriction $f|X:X\to f(X)$ is a topological isomorphism. Then it uniquely extends to a topological isomorphism of the completions $\bar X$ and $\overline{f(X)}=Y$ of the topological groups $X$ and $f(X)$. So, $f:\bar X\to Y$ is a topological isomorphism and $f(\bar X)=Y$ is closed in $Y$.
Another corollary of Theorem \[t:main\] confirms an old conjecture of Banakh and Ravsky [@BaR2001], [@Ravsky2003].
For a complete Abelian topological group $X$ the following conditions are equivalent:
1. $X$ has compact exponent;
2. for any continuous homomorphism $f:X\to Y$ to a Hausdorff powertopological semigroup $Y$ the image $f(X)$ is closed in $Y$;
3. for any injective continuous homomorphism $f:X\to Y$ to a topological group $Y$ the quotient group $\overline{f(X)}/f(X)$ is a torsion group;
4. for any isomorphic topological embedding $f:X\to Y$ of $X$ into a Hausdorff paratopological group $Y$ the image $f(X)$ is closed in $Y$.
The equivalences $(1)\Leftrightarrow(2)\Leftrightarrow(3)$ follow immediately from the corresponding equivalences in Theorem \[t:main\] and $(3)\Leftrightarrow(4)$ was proved by Ravsky [@Ravsky2003].
As was noticed by Dikranjan and Megrelishvili [@DM §5], the Stoyanov-Prodanov Theorem \[c:PS\] fails for nilpotent groups: the Weyl-Heisenberg group $H(w_0)=H({\mathbb R})/Z$ where $$H({\mathbb R})=\left\{\left(\begin{array}{ccc}1&a&b\\0&1&c\\0&0&1\end{array}\right):a,b,c\in{\mathbb R}\right\}
\mbox{ \ \ and \ \ } Z=\left\{\left(\begin{array}{ccc}1&0&b\\0&1&0\\0&0&1\end{array}\right):b\in{\mathbb Z}\right\}$$ is nilpotent Lie group (of nilpotence degree 2), which is minimal but not compact, see also [@DM2010] and [@Meg]. Nonetheless, Dikranjan and Uspenskij [@DU] proved the following two extensions of Corollary \[c1\] to nilpotent and solvable topological groups.
A nilpotent topological group $X$ is compact if and only if for every continuous homomorphism $f:X\to Y$ to a topological group $Y$ the image $f(X)$ is closed in $Y$.
A solvable topological group $X$ is compact if and only if for every continuous homomorphism $f:Z\to Y$ from a closed normal subgroup $Z\subset X$ of $X$ to a topological group $Y$ the image $f(Z)$ is closed in $Y$.
Our proof of Theorem \[t:main\] follows the line of the proof of Stoyanov-Prodanov Theorem from [@DPS], with an additional care of (non)completeness and compact exponent. Because of that it is quite long and technical. We separate the proof into several steps. In Section \[s:prel\] we establish some preliminary results related to bounded sets in topological groups and properties of topological groups of (pre)compact exponent. In Section \[s:Key\], on each Abelian topological group $X$ we define a weaker group topology $\tau_\diamond$ dependent on a sequence $(x_n)_{n\in{\omega}}$ of points in $X$ and prove two Key Lemmas. The first Key Lemma \[l:seq\] produces a sequence $(x_n)_{n\in{\omega}}$ in $X$ with some additional properties and the second Key Lemma \[l:Hausdorff\] shows that these properties ensure that the topology $\tau_\diamond$ is Hausdorff. We shall apply these Key Lemmas once in the proof of the “bounded” version of Theorem \[t:main\] (with $k=n$) and three times for the “unbounded” version (with $k$ arbitrary). So, Theorem \[t:main\] follows from its “bounded” and “unbounded” versions, proved in Theorem \[t:bound\] and \[t:unbound\], respectively.
Preliminaries {#s:prel}
=============
In this section we fix some standard notations used in the paper. Also we recall some known results and prove some simple lemmas.
Standard Notations
------------------
By ${\mathbb N}$ we denote the set of natural numbers, i.e., positive integer numbers and by ${\omega}$ the set of non-negative integer numbers (= finite ordinals). By ${\mathbb Z}$ we denote the additive group of integer numbers.
By ${\mathbb P}$ we denote the set of all prime numbers. For a number $n\in{\mathbb N}$ let ${\mathbb P}_n$ be the set of prime divisors of $n$.
For a subset $A$ of a topological space $X$ by $\bar A$ we denote the closure of $A$ in $X$. A point $x\in X$ is called an [*accumulation point*]{} of a sequence $(x_n)_{n\in{\omega}}$ in a topological space $X$ if each neighborhood $O_x\subset X$ of $x$ contains infinitely many points $x_n$, $n\in{\omega}$.
For group $X$ by $e$ we denote its unit, i.e., a unique element $e$ such that $ex=x=xe$. For two subsets $A,B$ of a group $X$ we put $AB=\{ab:a\in A,\;b\in B\}$. The powers $A^n$ are defined by induction: $A^0=\{e\}$ and $A^{n+1}=A^nA$ for $n\in{\omega}$. Also $A^{-1}=\{a^{-1}:a\in A\}$ and $A^{-n}=(A^n)^{-1}=(A^{-1})^n$ for $n\in{\omega}$.
For a sequence $(A_n)_{n\in{\omega}}$ of subsets of a group $X$ by $\sum_{n\in{\omega}}A_n$ we denote the subgroup of $X$ generated by the union $\bigcup_{n\in{\omega}}A_n$.
For a subset $A$ of a group $X$ and a natural number $n\in{\mathbb N}$ let $nA=\{a^n:a\in A\}$ be the set of $n$-th powers of the elements of $A$. Observe that $nA\subset A^n$ and $nA\ne A^n$ in general. If $A$ is a subgroup of an Abelian group $X$, then $nA$ is a subgroup of $X$.
A topological group $X$ is [*complete*]{} if it is complete in its two-sided uniformity (generated by the entourages $\{(x,y)\in X\times X:y\in xU\cap Ux\}$ where $U$ runs over neighborhoods of the unit $e$) of $X$).
It is well-known (see [@AT §3.6] or [@RD]) that the completion $\bar X$ of a topological group $X$ by its two-sided uniformity carries a natural structure of the topological group, which contains $X$ as a dense subgroup.
Bounded sets in topological groups
----------------------------------
In this section we establish some properties of bounded and precompact sets in topological groups.
A subset $B$ of a group $X$ is called [*$U$-bounded*]{} for a set $U\subset X$ if $B\subset FU\cap UF$ for some finite subset $F\subset X$.
A subset $X$ of a topological group is called [*totally bounded*]{} if it is $U$-bounded for any neighborhood $U$ of the unit in $X$. It is well-known that a subset $B$ of a complete topological group $X$ has compact closure $\bar B$ in $X$ if and only if $B$ is totally bounded. Because of that totally bounded subsets in topological groups are also called [*precompact sets*]{}, see [@AT §3.7].
The following simple (but important) lemma shows that the failure of the total boundedness can be recognized by countable subgroups.
\[l:separ\] If a subset $A$ of a group $X$ is not $UU^{-1}$-bounded for some set $U\subset X$, then for some countable subgroup $Z\subset X$ the set $Z\cap A$ is not $U$-bounded.
Since $A$ is not $UU^{-1}$-bounded, for every finite set $F=F^{-1}\subset X$ we have $A\not\subset FUU^{-1}\cap UU^{-1}F$ and hence $A^{-1}\not\subset UU^{-1}F^{-1}\cup F^{-1}UU^{-1}$. By Zorn’s Lemma, there exists a maximal subset $E\subset A\cup A^{-1}$ which is [*$UU^{-1}$-separated*]{} in the sense that $x\notin yUU^{-1}$ for any distinct points $x,y\in E$. The maximality of $E$ guarantees that for any $x\in A\cup A^{-1}$ there exists $y\in E$ such that $x\in yUU^{-1}$ or $y\in xUU^{-1}$ (and hence $x\in yUU^{-1}$). Consequently, $A\cup A^{-1}=EUU^{-1}$ and $A\subset EUU^{-1}\cap UU^{-1}E^{-1}$. The choice of $U$ ensures that the set $E$ is infinite. Then we can choose any countable subgroup $Z\subset X$ that has infinite intersection $Z\cap E$ with $E$.
We claim that the set $Z\cap A$ is not $U$-bounded. Assuming the opposite, we could find a finite subset $F\subset X$ such that $Z\cap A\subset UF$. Since the set $Z\cap E$ is infinite, for some $x\in F$ there are two distinct points $y,z\in Z\cap E$ such that $y^n,z^n\in Ux$. Then $z^n\in Ux\subset UU^{-1}y^n$, which contradict the choice of the set $E$.
Localizations
-------------
A topological group $X$ is called [*$p$-singular*]{} for a prime number $p$ if for any $n\in{\mathbb N}$, not divisible by $p$ the set $nX$ is dense in $X$. For an Abelian topological group $X$ the union $T_p(X)$ of all $p$-singular subgroups of $X$ is the largest (closed) $p$-singular subgroup of $X$, see [@DPS §2.6]. For an Abelian discrete topological group $X$ the set $T_p(X)$ coincides with the $p$-Sylow subgroup $\{x\in X:\exists n\in{\mathbb N}\;\;x^{p^n}=e\}$. We shall need the following fact whose proof can be found in [@DPS 2.6.2].
\[l:Tp-dense\] If an Abelian topological group is a union of compact subgroups, then the subgroup $\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}}T_p(X)$ is dense in $X$.
\[l:Tp-comp\] If $X$ is a compact Abelian topological group, then for any prime number $p$ and any number $n\in{\mathbb N}$ we have $nT_p(X)=p^{n_p}T_p(X)$, where $n_p\in{\omega}$ is the largest number such that $p^{n_p}$ divides $n$.
\[l:Tp-dense2\] Let $X$ be an Abelian topological group. For any number $n\in{\mathbb N}$ we have $$\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}}p^{n_p}T_p(X)\subset \overline{nX},$$ where $n_p\in{\omega}$ is the largest number such that $p^{n_p}$ divides $n$. Moreover, if $X$ is a union of compact subgroups, then $\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}}p^{n_p}T_p(X)$ is dense in $\overline{nX}$.
For every $p$ the $p$-singularity of $T_p(X)$ implies that $\overline{p^{n_p}T_p(X)}=\overline{nT_p(X)}\subset \overline{nX}$. Taking into account that $\overline{nX}$ is a group, we conclude that $\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}}p^{n_p}T_p(X)\subset \overline{nX}.$
Now assume that $X$ is a union of compact subgroups. To see that $\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}}p^{n_p}T_p(X)$ in dense in $\overline{nX}$, it suffices for any open set $U\subset X$ intersecting $nX$ to find an element $x\in U\cap \overline{nX}\cap\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}}p^{n_p}T_p(X)$. Since $U\cap nX\ne \emptyset$, there exists a point $z\in X$ such that $z^n\in U$. Choose a neighborhood $V\subset X$ of $z$ such that $V^n\subset U$. Since $X$ is a union of compact subgroups, the closure $\bar Z$ of the cyclic group $Z:=\{z^n\}_{n\in{\mathbb Z}}$ is compact. By Lemma \[l:Tp-dense\], the subgroup $\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}}T_p(\bar Z)$ is dense in $\bar Z$. So, we can find an element $v\in V\cap\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}}T_p(\bar Z)$. Lemma \[l:Tp-comp\] implies that $nT_p(\bar Z)=p^{n_p}T_p(\bar Z)$. Then $v^n\in V^n\cap \sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}}nT_p(\bar Z)=V^n\cap\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}}p^{n_p}T_p(\bar Z)\subset U\cap\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}}p^{n_p}T_p(X)$.
The Bohr topology and Følner Theorem
------------------------------------
The [*Bohr topology*]{} on a semitopological group $X$ is the weakest topology on $X$ in which all continuous homomorphisms into compact topological groups remain continuous. The Bohr topology is not necessarily Hausdorff. Topological groups with Hausdorff Bohr topology and called [*maximally almost periodic*]{}.
In the proof of Theorem \[t:main\] we shall apply the following fundamental theorem of Følner [@Folner], whose proof can be found in [@DPS 1.4.3].
\[t:Folner\] Let $X$ be an Abelian semitopological group such that for every $n\in{\mathbb Z}$ the map $X\to X$, $x\mapsto x^n$, is continuous. If the group $X$ is $E$-bounded for some subset $E\subset X$, then for any neighborhood $U\subset X$ the set $UU^{-1}(EE^{-1})^8$ is a neighborhood of the unit in the Bohr topology of $X$.
Two Key Lemmas {#s:Key}
==============
In this section we prove the two lemmas following the ideas of the proof of Lemma 2.7.3 from [@DPS]. The first lemma will help us to construct a nice sequence $(x_n)_{n\in{\omega}}$ in an Abelian topological group $X$. This sequence determines a weaker group topology $\tau_\diamond$ on $X$ and in the second lemma we find conditions under which this weaker topology is Hausdorff.
\[l:seq\] Let $X$ be an Abelian group, $(z_k)_{k\in{\omega}}$ be a sequence in $X$, $(W_k)_{n\in{\omega}}$ be a decreasing sequence of sets in $X$ and $(G_k)_{k\in{\omega}}$ be a sequence of subgroups of $X$ satisfying the following conditions:
1. for every $k\in{\mathbb N}$ the set $W_k$ contains the unit $e$ of $X$ and $W_k=W_k^{-1}$;
2. for any $n,k\in{\mathbb N}$ either $nG_0\subset G_k$ or $nG_0$ is not $W_k^2G_k$-bounded.
Then there exists a sequence of points $(x_m)_{m\in{\omega}}$ in $G_0$ satisfying the conditions:
1. for any numbers $m\in{\mathbb N}$, $n\le 2^{m+1}$ and $k\le m$ with $nG_0\not\subset G_k$ we have $x_m^n\notin F_{m}W_kG_k$, where
2. $F_m=\big\{z_i^{{\varepsilon}_0}x_1^{{\varepsilon}_1}\cdots x_{m-1}^{{\varepsilon}_{m-1}}:i\le m,\;{\varepsilon}_0,{\varepsilon}_1,\dots,{\varepsilon}_{m-1}\in{\mathbb Z},\;\max\limits_{0\le i<m}|{\varepsilon}_i|\le 2^{m+1}\big\}$.
The construction of the sequence $(x_k)_{k\in{\mathbb N}}$ is inductive. Let $x_0=e$ and assume that for some $m\in{\mathbb N}$ the points $x_0,\dots,x_{m-1}$ have been constructed. Consider the finite set $F_m$ defined by the condition $(4)$ of Lemma \[l:seq\]. Let $P_m$ be the set of all pairs $(n,k)\in{\mathbb N}\times{\mathbb N}$ such that $k\le n\le 2^{m+1}$ and $nG_0\not\subset G_k$. By the condition (2), for every $(n,k)\in P_m$ the set $nG_0$ is not $W_{k}^2G_{k}$-bounded.
The group $G_0$, being Abelian, is [*amenable*]{} and hence admits an invariant finitely additive invariant probability measure $\mu:\mathcal P(G_0)\to[0,1]$ defined on the Boolean algebra of all subsets of $G_0$, see [@Pater 0.15].
\[cl:measure\] For any $(n,k)\in P_m$ and any $z\in F_m$ the set $S_{n,k,z}=\{x\in G_0:x^n\in zW_{k}G_{k}\}$ has measure $\mu(S_{n,k,z})=0$.
Using Zorn’s Lemma, choose a maximal subset $M\subset G_0$ such that $x^{n}\notin y^{n}W_{k}^2G_{k}$ for any distinct points $x,y\in M$. The maximality of $M$ guarantees that for every $x\in G_0$ there exists $y\in M$ such that $x^{n}\in y^{n}W_{k}^2G_{k}$ or $y^{n}\in x^{n}W^2_{k}G_{k}$ and hence $x^{n}\in y^{n}W^{-2}_{k}G_{k}=y^nW^2_{k}G_{k}$. This means that $nX\subset MW^2_{k}G_{k}$. Since the set $nG_0$ is not $W^2_{k}G_{k}$-bounded, the set $M$ is infinite.
We claim that for any distinct points $x,y\in M$ the sets $x^{n}W_{k}G_{k}$ and $y^{n}W_{k}G_{k}$ are disjoint. Assuming that the intersection $x^{n}W_{k}G_{k}\cap y^{n}W_{k}G_{k}$ contains some point $z$, we conclude that $y^n\in zW_{k}^{-1}G_k^{-1}\subset x^nW_kG_kW_k^{-1}G_k^{-1}=x^nW_k^2G_k$, which contradicts the choice of the set $M$.
Therefore, the family $(x^{n}W_{k}G_{k})_{x\in M}$ is disjoint and so is the family $(x^{n}zW_{k}G_{k})_{x\in M}$. Now consider the homomorphism $p:G_0\to G_0$, $p:x\mapsto x^{n}$ and observe that the family $\big(p^{-1}(x^nzW_{k}G_{k})\big)_{x\in M}=\big(xp^{-1}(zW_{k}G_{k})\big)_{x\in M}$ is disjoint. Now the additivity and invariantness of the measure $\mu$ ensures that the set $p^{-1}(zW_{k}G_{k})=\{x\in X:x^n\in zW_{k}G_{k}\}=S_{n,k,z}$ has measure $\mu(S_{n,k,z})=0$.
The additivity of the measure $\mu$ and Claim \[cl:measure\] imply that the set $S=\bigcup_{(n,k)\in P_m}\bigcup_{z\in F_m}S_{n,k,z}$ has measure zero. Consequently, we can find a point $x_m\in G_0\setminus S$. It is clear that this point $x_m$ satisfies the condition (3) of Lemma \[l:seq\].
Let $X$ be an Abelian topological group and $(x_n)_{n\in{\mathbb N}}$ be a sequence of points in $X$. For every positive real number $\delta$ consider the set $$\diamondsuit_\delta=\Big\{x_1^{{\varepsilon}_1}\cdots x_m^{{\varepsilon}_m}:m\in{\mathbb N},\;{\varepsilon}_1,\dots,{\varepsilon}_m\in{\mathbb Z},\;\;\sum_{i=1}^m\frac{|{\varepsilon}_i|}{2^i}<\delta,\;\sum_{i=1}^n{\varepsilon}_i=0\Big\}\subset X.$$ Let ${\mathcal T}$ be the topology of $X$ and $\mathcal B$ be the largest precompact group topology on the group $X$, i.e., $\mathcal B$ is the Bohr topology of the group $X$, endowed with the discrete topology. Let ${\mathcal T}_e=\{T\in{\mathcal T}:e\in T=T^{-1}\}$ and $\mathcal B_e=\{B\in\mathcal B:e\in B=B^{-1}\}$ be the families of open symmetric neighborhoods of the unit $e$ in the topological groups $(X,{\mathcal T})$ and $(X,\mathcal B)$, respectively.
It is easy to see that the family $$\tau_e:=\{T\cdot(\diamondsuit_\delta\cap B):T\in{\mathcal T},\;\delta>0,\;B\in\mathcal B\}$$ is a neighborhood base at the unit for some group topology $\tau_\diamond$ on $X$. This topology $\tau_\diamond$ will be called [*the topology, $\diamondsuit$-generated by*]{} the sequence $(x_n)_{n\in{\omega}}$, and this sequence will be called [*$\diamondsuit$-generating*]{} the topology $\tau_\diamond$.
If the topology $\tau_\diamond$ is Hausdorff, then its $\diamondsuit$-generating sequence $(x_n)_{n\in{\omega}}$ will be called [*$\diamondsuit$-Hausdorff*]{}. In this case $X_\diamond:=(X,\tau_\diamond)$ is a Hausdorff topological group and we can consider its completion $\bar X_\diamond$, which is a complete topological group.
The following lemma detects $\diamondsuit$-Hausdorff sequences.
\[l:Hausdorff\] Let $X$ be an Abelian topological group, $(z_n)_{n\in{\omega}}$ be a sequence in $X$, $(W_k)_{n\in{\omega}}$ be a decreasing sequence of neighborhoods of the unit $e$ in $X$ and $(G_k)_{k\in{\omega}}$ be a sequence of closed subgroups of $X$ satisfying the following conditions:
1. for every $k\in{\mathbb N}$ we have $W_k=W_k^{-1}$ and $W_{k+1}^2\subset W_k$;
2. for any $n\in{\mathbb N}$ and $k\le n$ either $nG_0\subset G_k$ or $nG_0$ is not $W_k^2G_k$-bounded;
3. the closed subgroup $G_{\omega}:=\bigcap_{k\in{\omega}}G_k$ is compact;
4. for every neighborhood $U\subset X$ of the unit there exists $k\in{\mathbb N}$ such that $G_k\subset G_{\omega}U$.
If a sequence $(x_m)_{m\in{\omega}}$ of points of $G_0$ satisfies the condition of [Lemma \[l:seq\]]{}, then it is $\diamondsuit$-Hausdorff and the set $\{x_m\}_{m\in{\omega}}$ is totally bounded in the topological group $(X,\tau_\diamond)$.
We separate the proof of this lemma into four claims.
\[cl:H1\] For every $k\in{\omega}$ we have $\diamondsuit_1\cap W_{k} G_k\subset G_{k}$.
To derive a contradiction, assume that the set $(\diamondsuit_1\cap W_k G_k)\setminus G_k$ contains some point $x$. Write $x$ as $x=x_1^{{\varepsilon}_1}\cdots x_l^{{\varepsilon}_l}$ for some number $l\in{\mathbb N}$ and some integer numbers ${\varepsilon}_1,\dots,{\varepsilon}_l$ such that $\sum_{i=1}^l\frac{|{\varepsilon}_i|}{2^i}<1$. Since $x\notin G_k$, for some $i\le l$, we have $x_i^{{\varepsilon}_i}\notin G_k$. Let $j\le l$ be the largest number such that $x_j^{{\varepsilon}_j}\notin G_k$ and thus ${\varepsilon}_jG_0\not\subset G_k$. The maximality of $j$ guarantees that $x_i^{{\varepsilon}_i}\in G_k$ for every $i\in(j,l]$, and hence $$W_kG_{k}\ni x=x_1^{{\varepsilon}_1}\cdots x_{j}^{{\varepsilon}_j}G_k$$and $x_j^{{\varepsilon}_j}\in x_1^{-{\varepsilon}_1}\cdots x_{j-1}^{-{\varepsilon}_{j-1}}W_kG_kG_k^{-1}\subset F_jW_kG_k$, which contradicts the property (3) of Lemma \[l:seq\].
\[cl:H2\] For any $k\in{\mathbb N}$ and any $x\in \diamondsuit_1\setminus G_k$ there exists ${\varepsilon}>0$ such that $x\notin\diamondsuit_{\varepsilon}W_{k}$.
Write $x$ as $x=x_1^{\delta_1}\cdots x_n^{\delta_n}$ for some $n\in{\mathbb N}$ and some integer numbers $\delta_1,\dots,\delta_n$ such that $\sum_{i=1}^n\frac{|\delta_i|}{p^i}<1$. Since $x\notin G_k$, for some $i\le n$ we have $x_i^{\delta_i}\notin G_k$.
We claim that the real number ${\varepsilon}=\frac1{2^{n}}$ has the required property. To derive a contradiction, assume that $x\in \diamondsuit_{\varepsilon}W_{k}$ and find a point $y\in\diamondsuit_{\varepsilon}$ such that $x\in yW_{k}$. Write $y$ as $y=x_1^{{\varepsilon}_1}\cdots x_m^{{\varepsilon}_m}$ for some integer numbers $m>n$ and ${\varepsilon}_1,\dots,{\varepsilon}_m$ such that $\sum_{i=1}^m\frac{{\varepsilon}_i}{2^i}<{\varepsilon}=\frac1{2^{n}}$. The latter inequality implies that ${\varepsilon}_i=0$ for all $i\le n$.
The inclusion $x\in yW_{k}$ implies that $y^{-1}x\in W_{k}$ and $y^{-1}x=x_1^{\gamma_1}\cdots x_m^{\gamma_m}$ where $\gamma_i=\delta_i$ for $i\le n$ and $\gamma_i=-{\varepsilon}_i$ for $n<i\le m$. It follows that $|\gamma_i|\le\max\{|\delta_i|,|{\varepsilon}_i|\}<2^i$. Let $j\le m$ be the largest number such that $x_j^{\gamma_j}\notin G_k$. Such number $j$ exists since $x_i^{\gamma_i}=x_i^{\delta_i}\notin G_k$ for some $i\le n$. Then $\gamma_iG_0\not\subset G_k$.
The maximality of $j$ guarantees that $x_{i}^{\delta_i}\in G_k$ for all $i\in(j,m]$. It follows that $W_{k}\ni y^{-1}x\in x_1^{\gamma_1}\cdots x_{j-1}^{\gamma_{j-1}}x_j^{\gamma_j}G_k$ and hence $x_j^{\gamma_{j}}\in x_1^{-\gamma_1}\cdots x_{j-1}^{-\gamma_{j-1}}W_{k}G_k\subset F_jW_kG_k$, which contradicts the condition (3) of Lemma \[l:seq\].
The topology $\tau_\diamond$ is Hausdorff.
Given an element $x\in X\setminus\{e\}$, we should find $T\in{\mathcal T}_e$, ${\varepsilon}>0$ and $B\in\mathcal B_e$ such that $x\notin T\cdot(\diamondsuit_{\varepsilon}\cap B)$. If $x$ does not belong to the closure $\bar H$ of the subgroup $H$, generated by the set $\{x_n\}_{n\in{\mathbb N}}$, then we can find a neighborhood $T=T^{-1}\in{\mathcal T}_e$ of unit in $X$ such that $xT\cap H=\emptyset$ and conclude that $T\diamondsuit_1 \subset TH$ does not contain $x$.
Next, we consider the case $x\in \bar H\setminus G_{\omega}=\bigcup_{k\in{\omega}}\bar H\setminus G_k$ and hence $x\notin G_k$ for some $k\in{\mathbb N}$. Since the subgroup $G_k$ is closed in $X$, there exists a neighborhood $T\in{\mathcal T}_e$ of the unit such that $T=T^{-1}\subset W_{k+1}$ and $xT\cap G_k=\emptyset$. If $x\notin T\diamondsuit_1$, then, we are done. So, assume that $x\in T\diamondsuit_1$. In this case there exists $z\in\diamondsuit_1$ such that $x\in Tz$. It follows that $z\in xT^{-1}\cap \diamondsuit_1=xT\cap\diamondsuit_1\subset \diamondsuit_1\setminus G_k$. Applying Claim \[cl:H2\], find ${\varepsilon}>0$ such that $z\notin \diamondsuit_{\varepsilon}W_{k}$. We claim that $x\notin\diamondsuit_{\varepsilon}W_{k+1}$. In the opposite case, $z\in xT^{-1}\subset xW_{k+1}\subset \diamondsuit_{\varepsilon}W_{k+1}^2\subset \diamondsuit_{\varepsilon}W_{k}$, which contradicts the choice of ${\varepsilon}$.
Finally, we consider the case $x\in G_{\omega}$. Choose a neighborhood $U\in{\mathcal T}_e$ of the unit such that $U=U^{-1}$ and $x\notin U^{37}$. By the condition (4) of Lemma \[l:Hausdorff\], there exist $k\in{\mathbb N}$ such that $G_k\subset G_{\omega}U$. By the compactness of $G_{\omega}$, there exists a finite set $F\subset G_{\omega}\subset G_k$ such that $G_{\omega}\subset FU$. Then $G_k\subset FU^2$. Consider the neighborhood $V=G_k\cap U^2$ of $e$ in the group $G_k$ and observe that $G_k=FV$. By Følner Theorem \[t:Folner\], the set $(VV^{-1})^9$ is a neighborhood of the unit in the Bohr topology of the group $G_k$ endowed with the discrete topology. The Baer Theorem [@Rob 4.1.2] on extensions of homomorphisms into divisible groups implies that the Bohr topology of the group $G_k$ coincides with the subspace topology inherited from the Bohr topology on the group $X$. Consequently, there exists a Bohr neighborhood $B\in\mathcal B_e$ or $e$ such that $B\cap G_k\subset (VV^{-1})^9\subset U^{36}$. Let $T=W_{k}\cap U$. We claim that the neighborhood $T\cdot(\diamondsuit_1 \cap B)\in\tau_\diamond$ of $e$ does not contain the point $x$. Assuming that $x\in T\cdot(\diamondsuit_1\cap B)$, we can find points $t\in T$ and $b\in\diamondsuit_1\cap B$ with $x=tb$ and conclude that $b=xt^{-1}\in G_{\omega}T^{-1}\subset G_{\omega}W_k$ and $b\in\diamondsuit_1\cap G_{\omega}W_k\subset G_k$ according to Claim \[cl:H1\]. Then $b\in B\cap G_k\subset U^{36}$ and $x\in Tb\subset UU^{36}=U^{37}$, which contradicts the choice of the neighborhood $U$.
\[cl:tot-bound\] The set $\{x_n\}_{n\in{\omega}}$ is totally bounded in the topological group $(X,\tau_\diamond)$.
Given a neighborhood $U\in\tau_\diamond$ of $e$, we need to find a finite set $F\subset X$ such that $\{x_n\}_{n\in{\omega}}\subset FU$. We can assume that the neighborhood $U$ is of basic form $U=T(\diamondsuit_{\varepsilon}\cap B)$ for some $T=T^{-1}\in{\mathcal T}_e$, ${\varepsilon}>0$ and $B=B^{-1}\in\mathcal B_e$.
Let $F\subset \{x_n\}_{n\in{\omega}}$ be a maximal set such that $x\notin yU$ for any distinct elements $x,y\in F$. The maximality of $F$ guarantees that for any point $x\in \{x_n\}_{n\in{\omega}}$ there exists a point $y\in F$ such that $x\in yU$ or $y\in xU$ (and $x\in yU^{-1}=yU$). So, $\{x_n\}_{n\in{\omega}}\subset FU$. We claim that the set $F$ is finite. To derive a contradiction, assume that $F$ is infinite.
Choose a neighborhood $D=D^{-1}\in\mathcal B_e$ of $e$ such that $D^2\subset B$. The total boundedness of the topology $\mathcal B$ yields a finite set $E\subset X$ such that $X=ED$. By the Pigeonhole principle, there exists a point $z\in E$ such that the set $zD$ contains two distinct points $x_n,x_m\in E$ with $\frac1{2^n}+\frac1{2^m}<{\varepsilon}$. The last inequality ensures that $x_nx_m^{-1}\in\diamondsuit_{\varepsilon}$. On the other hand, $x_nx_m^{-1}\in (zD)(zD)^{-1}=DD^{-1}\subset B$ and hence $x_nx_m^{-1}\in\diamondsuit_{\varepsilon}\cap B\subset U$ and $x_n\in x_mU$, which contradicts the definition of the set $F$. This contradiction shows that the set $F$ is finite and the set $\{x_k\}_{k\in{\omega}}\subset FU$ is totally bounded.
Topological groups of compact exponent
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We recall that a topological group $X$ has [*compact exponent*]{} if for some $n\in{\mathbb N}$ the set $nX=\{x^n:x\in X\}$ has compact closure in $X$.
\[l:CE\] If a complete Abelian topological group has compact exponent, then $X$ contains a $\diamondsuit$-Hausdorff sequence $(x_m)_{m\in{\omega}}$ which has an accumulation point $x_\infty$ in the completion $\bar X_\diamond$ of the topological group $X_\diamond:=(X,\tau_\diamond)$ such that for every $n\in{\mathbb N}$ the power $x^n_\infty$ belongs to $X_\diamond$ if and only if the set $nX$ is precompact.
Let $s\in{\mathbb N}$ be the smallest number such that $sX$ is precompact. Using Lemma \[l:separ\], find a countable subgroup $Z=\{z_k\}_{k\in{\omega}}\subset X$ such that for every $n<s$ the set $nZ$ is not precompact.
Put $G_0=\bar Z$ and $G_k=\overline{sZ}$ for all $k\in{\mathbb N}$.
For every prime number $p$ let $s_p\in{\omega}$ be the largest number such that $p^{s_p}$ divides $s$. The compactness of exponent implies that $X$ is a union of compact subgroups. By Lemma \[l:Tp-dense2\], the subgroup $\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}}p^{s_p}T_p(\bar Z)$ is dense in $\overline{sZ}$.
\[cl:tq\] For any prime divisor $q$ of $s$ the subgroup $p^{s_q-1}T_q(\bar Z)$ is not precompact.
Consider the number $t=s/q$ and for every $p\in{\mathbb P}$ let $t_p$ be the largest number such that $p^{t_p}$ divides $t$. Observe that $t_{q}=s_q-1$ and $t_p=s_p$ for $p\ne q$. By Lemma \[l:Tp-dense2\], the subgroup $\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}}p^{t_p}T_p(\bar Z)$ is dense in $\overline{tZ}$. Assuming that $q^{s_q-1}T_q(\bar Z)$ is precompact, we would conclude that the subgroup $\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}}p^{t_p}T_p(\bar Z)=q^{s_q-1}T_q(\bar Z)\cdot \sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}}p^{s_p}T_p(\bar Z)\subset q^{s^q-1}T_q(\bar Z)\cdot \overline{sX}$ is precompact and so is its closure $\overline{tZ}$. But this contradicts the minimality of $s$.
Choose a neighborhood $W_0\subset X$ of the unit such that for every divisor $p$ of $s$ the (non-precompact) subgroup $p^{s_p-1}T_p(\bar Z)$ is not $W_0^2sZ$-bounded. Choose a decreasing sequence $(W_k)_{k\in{\mathbb N}}$ of neighborhoods of the unit such that $W_k=W_k^{-1}$ and $W_{k+1}^2\subset W_k$.
It is easy to see that the sequences $(W_k)_{k\in{\omega}}$ and $(G_k)_{k\in{\omega}}$ satisfy the conditions (1)–(2) of Lemma \[l:seq\] and (1)–(4) of Lemma \[l:Hausdorff\]. Applying these lemmas, we obtain a $\diamondsuit$-Hausdorff sequence $(x_m)_{m\in{\omega}}$ in $G_0$ satisfying the conditions (3),(4) of Lemma \[l:seq\] and such that the set $\{x_n\}_{n\in{\omega}}$ is totally bounded in the Hausdorff topological group $X_\diamond=(X,\tau_\diamond)$ and hence has an accumulation point $x_\infty\in \bar X_\diamond$ in the completion $\bar X_\diamond$ of $X_\diamond=(X,\tau_\diamond)$.
For every $n\in{\mathbb N}$ the power $x_\infty^n$ belongs to $X_\diamond$ if and only if the subgroup $nX$ is precompact.
If the set $nX$ is precompact, then its closure $\overline{nX}\subset X$ is compact and hence closed in $\bar X_\diamond$. Then the dense subset $\{x\in\bar X:x^n\in\overline{nX}\}\supset X_\diamond$ is closed in $\bar X$ and hence contains the point $x_\infty$. Consequently, $x_\infty^n\in X_\diamond$.
Next, we assume that the set $nX$ is not precompact. In this case we should prove that $x_\infty^n\notin X_\diamond$. To derive a contradiction, assume that $x_\infty^n\in X_\diamond$. First we observe that the number $s$ does not divide $n$. Otherwise $nX\subset sX$ would be precompact. Consequently, for some prime number $q$ with $s_q>0$ the power $q^{s_q}$ does not divide $n$.
Since $x_\infty^n\in X_\diamond$, for every neighborhood $V\subset X$ of the unit the neighborhood $x_{\infty}^n\diamondsuit_1V\subset x_\infty^n G_0V\in\tau_\diamond$ intersects the set $\{x^n_k\}_{k\in{\omega}}\subset G_0$, which implies that $x^n_\infty\in \bar G_0=\bar Z$. Then there exists a number $l\in {\omega}$ such that $x_\infty^n\in z_lW_s$. Let ${\varepsilon}=\frac1{2^{l+s}}$ and observe that $z_l\diamondsuit_{\varepsilon}W_s\in \tau_\diamond$ is a neighborhood of $x^n_\infty$ in the topology $\tau_\diamond$. Since $x_\infty^n$ is an accumulation point of the sequence $(x^n_k)_{k\in{\omega}}$, there exists a number $k>\max\{l,ns\}$ such that $x^n_k\in z_l\diamondsuit_{\varepsilon}W_s$ and hence $x^n_k\in z_lyW_s$ for some $y\in\diamondsuit_{\varepsilon}$. Write the point $y$ as $y=x_1^{{\varepsilon}_1}\cdots x_\lambda^{{\varepsilon}_\lambda}$ for some $\lambda>k$ and some integer numbers ${\varepsilon}_1,\dots,{\varepsilon}_\lambda$ such that $\sum_{i=1}^\lambda{\varepsilon}_i=0$ and $\sum_{i=1}^\lambda\frac{|{\varepsilon}_i|}{2^i}<{\varepsilon}=\frac1{2^{l+s}}$. The last inequality implies that ${\varepsilon}_i=0$ for all $i\le l+s$ and $|{\varepsilon}_i|<2^{i-s}$ for all $i\le\lambda$.
It follows that $z_lW_s\ni y^{-1}x_k^n=x_1^{\delta_1}\cdots x_\lambda^{\delta_\lambda}$ where $\delta_k=n-{\varepsilon}_k$ and $\delta_i=-{\varepsilon}_i$ for all $i\in\{1,\dots,\lambda\}\setminus \{k\}$. We claim that $|\delta_is|<2^{i+1}$ for all $i\le\lambda$. If $i\ne k$, then $|\delta_is|=|{\varepsilon}_i|s<2^{i-s}s<2^i$. For $i=k$ we have $$|\delta_i|s=|n-{\varepsilon}_k|s\le ns+|{\varepsilon}_k|s\le k+2^{k-s}s<2^{k+1}=2^{i+1}.$$
Since $\sum_{i=1}^\lambda\delta_i=n$ and $n$ is not divisible by $q^{s_q}$, for some $i\le\lambda$, the number $\delta_i$ is not divisible by $q^{s_q}$. Let $j\le \lambda$ be the largest number such that $\delta_j$ is not divisible by $q^{s_q}$. Since $\delta_i=-{\varepsilon}_i=0$ for $i\le l$, the number $j$ is greater than $l$.
The maximality of $j$ guarantees that $x_i^{\delta_i}\in q^{s_q}G_0$ for all $i\in(j,\lambda]$ and hence $$x_j^{\delta_j}\in x_1^{-\delta_1}\cdots x_{j-1}^{-\delta_{j-1}}z_lW_1x_{j+1}^{-\delta_{j+1}}\cdots x_\lambda^{-\delta_\lambda}\subset
x_1^{-\delta_1}\cdots x_{j-1}^{-\delta_{j-1}}z_lW_sq^{s_q}\bar Z.$$ Let $s'=s/q^{s_q}$ and consider the power $$x_j^{\delta_js'}\in x_1^{-\delta_1s'}\cdots x_{j-1}^{-\delta_{j-1}s'}z_l^{s'}W_s^{s'}(s'p^{s_p}\bar Z)\subset F_jW_1(s\bar Z)\subset F_jW_1G_1,$$which contradicts the condition (3) of Lemma \[l:seq\] as $\max_{i\le j}|\delta_i s'|\le \max_{i\le j}2^{i+1}=2^{j+1}$ and $\delta_js'Z\not\subset G_1=\overline{sZ}$. To see the last non-inclusion, for every prime number $p$ let $t_p$ be the largest number such that $p^{t_p}$ divides $\delta_js'$. It follows that $t_q<s_q$ and $t_p\ge s_p$ for $p\ne q$. By Lemma \[l:Tp-dense2\], the closure of the set $\delta_js'Z$ coincides with the closure of the set $\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}}p^{t_p}T_p(\bar Z)$, which is not precompact because it contains the set $q^{t_q}T_q(\bar Z)\supset q^{s_q-1}T_q(\bar Z)$ which is not precompact according to Claim \[cl:tq\]. Then the set $\delta_js'Z$ is not precompact and hence cannot be contained in the precompact set $\overline{sZ}=G_1$.
Lemma \[l:CE\] implies the “bounded” (or rather “quantitative”) part of Theorem \[t:main\].
\[t:bound\] For a number $n\in{\mathbb N}$ and a complete Abelian topological group $X$ of compact exponent the following conditions are equivalent:
1. the subgroup $nX$ is totally bounded;
2. for any closed subsemigroup $Z\subset X$, any continuous homomorphism $f:Z\to Y$ to a powertopological semigroup $Y$ and any $y\in \overline{f(Z)}\subset Y$ we have $y^n\in f(X)$;
3. for any injective continuous homomorphism $f:X\to Y$ to a topological group $Y$ and any $y\in \overline{f(X)}$ we have $y^n\in f(X)$.
To prove that $(1){\Rightarrow}(2)$, assume that the subgroup $nX$ is totally bounded and hence has compact closure $\overline{nX}$ in the complete topological group $X$. Fix a closed subsemigroup $Z\subset X$ and a continuous homomorphism $f:Z\to Y$ to a powertopological semigroup $Y$. Being compact, the set $Z\cap\overline{nX}$ has compact (and hence closed) image $f(Z\cap \overline{nX})$ in the powertopological semigroup $Y$. The continuity of the power map $\pi:Y\to Y$, $\pi:y\mapsto y^n$, implies that the set $F=\{y\in Y:y^n\in f(Z\cap\overline{nX})\}$ is closed in $Y$. Since $f(X)\subset F$, the closed set $F$ contains the closure $\overline{f(X)}$ of $f(X)$ in $Y$. Then any point $y\in\overline{f(X)}$ belongs to $F$ and hence has $y^n\in f(Z\cap \overline{nX})\subset Y$.
The implication $(2){\Rightarrow}(3)$ is trivial and $(3){\Rightarrow}(1)$ follows from Lemma \[l:CE\].
Theorem \[t:bound\](2) cannot be further extended to semitopological semigroups: just take any infinite discrete topological group $X$ of compact exponent and consider its one-point compactification $Y=X\cup\{\infty\}$. Extend the group operation of $X$ to a semigroup operation on $Y$ letting $y\infty=\infty=\infty y$ for all $y\in Y$. It is easy to check that $Y$ is a compact Hausdorff semitopological semigroup containing $X$ as a non-closed discrete subgroup.
Topological groups of hypocompact exponent
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We shall say that a topological group $X$ has [*hypocompact exponent*]{} if for any neighborhood $U\subset X$ of the unit there exist $n\in{\mathbb N}$ and a finite subset $F\subset X$ such that $nX\subset FU$. It is clear that each topological group of precompact exponent has hypocompact exponent.
\[l:fg\] If a topological group $X$ has hypocompact exponent, then each finitely generated Abelian subgroup $A$ of $X$ is precompact.
Given any neighborhood $U\subset X$ of the unit, we need to find a finite subset $F\subset X$ such that $A\subset FU$. Since $X$ has hypocompact exponent, there exist $n\in {\mathbb N}$ and $F_1\subset X$ such that $nX\subset F_1U$. Since the group $A$ is Abelian and finitely generated, the quotient group $A/nA$ is finite. So, we can find a finite subset $F_2\subset A$ such that $A=F_2\cdot nA$. Then $A=F_2\cdot nA\subset F_2F_1U$ and hence the finite set $F=F_1F_2$ has the required property.
\[l:converge\] If a complete Abelian topological group $X$ has hypocompact exponent, then the subgroup $\overline{{\omega}X}:=\bigcap_{n\in{\mathbb N}}\overline{nX}$ is compact and for every $U\subset X$ there exists $n\in{\mathbb N}$ such that $\overline{nX}\subset \overline{{\omega}X}\cdot U$.
To see that the closed set $\overline{{\omega}X}$ is compact, it suffices to check that it is totally bounded in the complete topological group $X$. Given any open neighborhood $U\subset X$ of the unit, use the hypocompactness of the exponent of $X$ and find $m\in{\mathbb N}$ and a finite set $F\subset X$ such that $mX\subset FU$ and hence $\overline{{\omega}X}\subset \overline{m X}\subset F\bar U$, which means that $\overline{{\omega}X}$ is precompact and hence compact.
We claim that $nX\subset \overline{{\omega}X}\cdot U$ for some $n\in{\mathbb N}$. In the opposite case, for every $n\in{\mathbb N}$ we could choose a point $x_n\in n! X\setminus \overline{{\omega}X}U$. Taking into account that the topological group $X$ has hypocompact exponent, we see that the set $\{x_n\}_{n\in{\omega}}$ is precompact in the complete topological group $X$ and hence the sequence $(x_n)_{n\in{\omega}}$ has an accumulation point $x_\infty\in X\setminus \overline{{\omega}X}U$. On the other hand, for every $m\ge n$ we have $x_m\in m!X\subset n!X$, which implies that $x_\infty\in\bigcap_{n\in{\mathbb N}}\overline{n X}$ and this is a desired contradiction.
We shall say that a subset $B$ of a topological group $X$ is [*precompact modulo*]{} a set $A\subset X$ if for any open neighborhood $U\subset X$ of the unit, the set $B$ is $AU$-bounded.
\[l:modulo\] Let $A,B$ be two subsets of an Abelian topological group. If $A$ is precompact modulo $B$, then for any $n\in{\mathbb N}$ the set $nA=\{a^n:a\in A\}$ is precompact modulo $nB$.
Given any neighborhood $U\subset X$ of the unit, find a neighborhood $V\subset X$ of the unit such that $nV\subset U$. Since $A$ is precompact modulo $B$, there exists a finite subset $F\subset X$ such that $A\subset FBV$. It follows that for every $a\in A$, there are points $f\in F$, $b\in B$ and $v\in V$ such that $a=fbv$. Then $a^n=f^nb^nv^n$ and hence $nA\subset (nF)(nB)(nV)\subset (nF)(nB)U$, which means that $nA$ is precompact modulo $nB$.
A topological group $X$ is [*${\omega}$-narrow*]{} if for any neighborhood $U\subset X$ of the unit there exists a countable subset $C\subset X$ such that $X=CU$. It is clear that each separable topological group is ${\omega}$-narrow.
\[l:p-local\] Assume that an ${\omega}$-narrow complete Abelian topological group $X$ has hypocompact exponent and for some prime number $p$ the $p$-component $T_p(X)$ of $X$ does not have compact exponent. Then $X$ contains a $\diamondsuit$-Hausdorff sequence $\{x_m\}_{m\in{\omega}}\subset T_p(X)$ which has an accumulation point $x_\infty$ in $\bar X_\diamond$ such that $x^n_\infty\notin X_\diamond$ for all $n\in{\mathbb N}$.
First we prove the following statement.
\[cl:modulo-p\] For every $k\in{\omega}$ the set $p^k T_p(X)$ is not precompact modulo $p^{k+1}T_p(X)$.
To derive a contradiction, assume that for some $k\in{\omega}$ the set $p^kT_p(X)$ is precompact modulo $p^{k+1}T_p(X)$. Lemma \[l:modulo\] implies that for every $n\ge k$ the set $p^nT_p(X)$ is precompact modulo $p^{n+1}T_p(X)$ and hence $p^kT_p(X)$ is precompact modulo $p^nT_p(X)$. We claim that $p^kT_p(X)$ is precompact. Indeed, for every neighborhood $U$ of the unit, by the hypocompactness of the exponent of $X$, there exist $n\in{\mathbb N}$ and finite subset $F\subset X$ such that $nT_p(X)\subset FU$. Let $d\in{\omega}$ be the largest number such that $p^d$ divides $n$. Since the subgroup $T_p(X)$ is $p$-singular, the subgroup $nT_p(X)$ is dense in $p^dT_p(X)$. Consequently, $$p^dT_p(X)\subset\overline{p^dT_p(X)}=\overline{nT_p(X)}\subset \overline{nX}\subset F\bar U.$$ Since $p^kT_p(X)$ is precompact modulo $p^nT_p(X)$, there exists a finite subset $E\subset X$ such that $p^kT_p(X)\subset (p^nT_p(X))EU\subset FUEU=(FE)U^2$, which means that $p^kT_p(X)$ is precompact and hence the closed subgroup $T_p(X)$ of the complete group $X$ has compact exponent. But this contradicts the assumption of Lemma \[l:p-local\].
Using Claim \[cl:modulo-p\], choose a decreasing sequence $(W_k)_{k\in{\omega}}$ of neighborhoods of the unit in $X$ such that for every $k\in{\omega}$ the following conditions are satisfied:
1. $W_k=W_k^{-1}$ and $W_{k+1}^2\subset W_k$;
2. $p^kT_p(X)$ is not $W_{k}^3\cdot p^{k+1}X$-bounded.
The topological group $X$, being ${\omega}$-narrow, contains a countable subset $Z=\{z_k\}_{k\in{\omega}}$ such that $X=ZW_k$ for all $k\in{\omega}$. For every $k\in{\omega}$ let $G_k=\overline{p^kT_p(X)}$. Since the subgroup $T_p(X)$ is $p$-singular, for every $n\in{\mathbb N}$ we have $\overline{nT_p(X)}=\overline{p^dT_p(X)}$ where $d\in{\omega}$ is the largest number such that $p^d$ divides $n$. This observation, the choice of the sequence $(W_k)_{k\in{\omega}}$ and Lemma \[l:converge\] guarantee that the sequences $(W_k)_{k\in{\omega}}$ and $(G_k)_{k\in{\omega}}$ satisfy the conditions (1),(2) of Lemma \[l:seq\] and (1)–(4) of Lemma \[l:Hausdorff\].
Applying Lemmas \[l:seq\], construct a sequence $(x_n)_{n\in{\omega}}$ satisfying the conditions (3),(4) of this lemma. Applying Lemma \[l:Hausdorff\], we conclude that this sequence is $\diamondsuit$-Hausdorff and the set $\{x_m\}_{m\in{\omega}}$ is totally bounded in the topological group $X_\diamond=(X,\tau_\diamond)$. Choose any accumulation point $x_\infty\in \bar X_\diamond$ of the sequence $(x_n)_{n\in{\omega}}$ (which exists since the set $\{x_m\}_{m\in{\omega}}$ is totally bounded in the complete topological group $\bar X_\diamond$).
For every $n\in{\mathbb N}$ the power $x_\infty^n\in\bar X_\diamond$ does not belong to $X_\diamond$.
To derive a contradiction, assume that $x^n_\infty\in X_\diamond$. Let $d\in{\omega}$ be the largest number such that $p^d$ divides $n$. The $p$-singularity of the subgroup $T_p(X)$ and Claim \[cl:modulo-p\] guarantee that $$\overline{nG_0}=\overline{n T_p(X)}=\overline{p^d T_p(X)}\not\subset \overline{p^{d+1}T_p(X)}=G_{d+1}.$$
Since $X=ZW_{d+1}$, there exists a number $l\in{\omega}$ such that $x^n_\infty \in z_lW_{d+1}$. Let ${\varepsilon}=\frac1{2^l}$. Since the sequence $(x^n_m)_{m\in{\omega}}$ accumulates at $x_\infty^n$ in $X_\diamond$, the neighborhood $z_l\diamondsuit_{\varepsilon}W_{d+1}\in\tau_\diamond$ of $x_\infty^n$ contains a point $x^n_\lambda$ with $\lambda>\max\{l,n\}$. Consequently, $x^n_\lambda\in z_lyW_{d+1}$ for some $y\in \diamondsuit_{\varepsilon}$. Write $y$ as $y=x_1^{{\varepsilon}_1}\cdots x_m^{{\varepsilon}_m}$ for some $m\ge \lambda$ and some integer numbers ${\varepsilon}_1,\dots,{\varepsilon}_m$ such that $\sum_{i=1}^m{\varepsilon}_i=0$ and $\sum_{i=1}^m\frac{|{\varepsilon}_i|}{2^i}<{\varepsilon}=\frac1{2^l}$. The last inequality implies that ${\varepsilon}_i=0$ for all $i\le l$ and $|{\varepsilon}_i|<2^i$ for all $i\le m$.
It follows that $x^n_\lambda y^{-1}\in z_lW_{d+1}$ and $x^n_\lambda y^{-1}=x_1^{\delta_1}\cdots x_m^{\delta_n}$ where $\delta_\lambda=n-{\varepsilon}_\lambda$ and $\delta_i=-{\varepsilon}_i$ for all $i\in\{1,\dots,m\}\setminus\{\lambda\}$. It follows that $|\delta_\lambda|=|n-{\varepsilon}_\lambda|\le n+2^\lambda<2^{\lambda+1}$ and hence $|\delta_i|<2^{i+1}$ for all $i\le m$.
Taking into account that $\sum_{i=1}^m\delta_i=n$ is not divisible by $p^{d+1}$, we conclude that for some $j\le m$ the number $\delta_j$ is not divisible by $p^{d+1}$. We can assume that $j$ is the largest possible number with this property, i.e. $x_i^{\delta_i}\in p^{d+1}T_p(X)\subset G_{d+1}$ for all $i\in(j,m]$. It follows that $j>\max\{l\}$ (as $\delta_i=0$ for $i\le l$). Let $c\in{\omega}$ be the largest number such that $p^c$ divides $\delta_j$. Taking into account that $\delta_j$ is not divided by $p^{d+1}$, we conclude that $c\le d$ and $G_d\subset G_c$. By the $p$-singularity of $T_p(X)$, $G_{|\delta_j|}=\overline{\delta_j T_p(X)}=\overline{p^c T_p(X)}=G_c\not\subset G_{c+1}$.
Then $z_lW_{d+1}\ni x^n_\lambda y^{-1}=x_1^{\delta_1}\cdots x_m^{\delta_m}\in x_1^{\delta_1}\cdots x_{j}^{\delta_{j}}G_{d+1}$ and hence $$x_j^{\delta_j}\in x_1^{-\delta_1}\cdots x_{j-1}^{-\delta_{j-1}}z_lW_{d+1}G_{d+1}\subset F_jW_{c+1}G_{c+1},$$ which contradicts the condition (3) of Lemma \[l:seq\].
Next we treat the case of topological groups with hypocompact exponent whose $p$-components have compact exponent.
\[l:P\] Assume that an ${\omega}$-narrow complete Abelian topological group $X$ has hypocompact exponent and for every prime number $p$ the $p$-component $T_p(X)$ has precompact exponent. If $X$ fails to have compact exponent, then $X$ contains a $\diamondsuit$-Hausdorff sequence $(x_n)_{n\in{\omega}}$ which has an accumulation point $x_\infty\in\bar X_\diamond$ such that $x_\infty^n\notin X_\diamond$ for all $n\in{\mathbb N}$.
By Lemma \[l:converge\], the subgroup $\overline{{\omega}X}=\bigcap_{n\in{\mathbb N}}\overline{nX}$ is compact and for every neighborhood $U\subset X$ of the unit there exists a number $n\in{\mathbb N}$ such that $\overline{nX}\subset \overline{{\omega}X}U$.
By our assumption, for every prime number $p$ the $p$-component $T_p(X)$ of $X$ has precompact exponent. Consequently, there exists $s_p\in{\omega}$ such that $p^{s_p}T_p(X)$ is precompact. We can assume that the number $s_p$ is the smallest possible. If $s_p=0$ then the subgroup $T_p(X)$ is precompact. If $s_p>0$, then $p^{s_p}T_p(X)$ is precompact but $p^{s_p-1}T_p(X)$ is not.
\[cl:s-comp\] The subgroup $S=\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}}p^{s_p}T_p(X)$ is precompact.
Given a closed neighborhood $U\subset X$ of the unit, choose a neighborhood $W\subset X$ of the unit such that $W^2\subset U$. By the hypocompactness of the exponent of $X$, there exist $m\in{\mathbb N}$ and a finite set $F_1\subset X$ such that $\overline{mX}\subset F_1W$. For every $p\notin {\mathbb P}_m$ the $p$-locality of the subgroup $T_p(X)$ implies that $T_p(X)=\overline{mT_p(X)}\subset \overline{mX}$. Since $\overline{mX}$ is a subgroup of $X$, we also get $\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}\setminus {\mathbb P}_m}T_p(X)\subset \overline{mX}\subset F_1W.$
The precompactness of the groups $p^{s_p}T_p(X)$ for $p\in{\mathbb P}_m$ implies the precompactness of their (finite) sum $\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}_m}p^{s^p}T_p(X)$. So, we can find a finite subset $F_2\subset X$ such that $\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}_m}p^{s^p}T_p(X)\subset F_2W$. Then for the finite set $F=F_1F_2$ we have the desired inclusion $$S=\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}}p^{s_p}T_p(X)=\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}_n}p^{s_p}T_p(X)\cdot \sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}\setminus P_n}p^{s_p}T_p(X)\subset F_1W\cdot F_2W=FW^2\subset FU,$$ witnessing that the subgroup $S$ is precompact.
The set ${\mathbb P}_{>}=\{p\in{\mathbb P}:s_p>0\}$ is infinite.
To derive a contradiction, assume that the set ${\mathbb P}_{>}$ is finite. In this case we shall prove that for the number $s=\prod_{p\in{\mathbb P}_>}p^{s_p}$ the set $sX$ is precompact, which will contradict the assumption of Lemma \[l:P\].
Indeed, for every $p\in{\mathbb P}$ the $p$-singularity of the group $T_p(X)$ implies that $\overline{sT_p(X)}=\overline{p^{s_p}T_p(X)}$. By Lemmas \[l:fg\] and \[l:Tp-dense\], the subgroup $\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}}T_p(X)$ is dense in $X$. By the continuity of the map $X\to X$, $x\mapsto x^s$, the subgroup $s(\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}}T_p(X))=\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}}sT_p(X)$ is dense in $sX$. Then the closed subgroup $\overline{\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}}\overline{sT_p(X)}}=
\overline{\sum_{p\in{\mathbb P}}\overline{p^{s_p}T_p(X)}}=\bar S$ coincides with $\overline{sX}$. By Claim \[cl:s-comp\], the subgroup $\bar S=\overline{sX}$ is compact, witnessing that $X$ has precompact exponent. But this contradicts the assumption of Lemma \[l:P\].
The compactness of the subgroups $\overline{{\omega}X}$ and $\bar S$ imply that the compactness of the subgroup $K=\overline{{\omega}X}\cdot\bar S$. To shorten notations, for every prime number $p\in{\mathbb P}_{>}$ denote the subgroup $p^{s_p-1}T_p(X)$ by $S_p(X)$ and observe that it is not precompact but $pS_p(X)=p^{s_p}T_p(X)$ is precompact.
\[cl:PW\] There exists a strictly increasing sequence $(p_n)_{n\in{\omega}}$ of prime numbers and a decreasing sequence $(W_n)_{n\in{\omega}}$ of neighborhoods of the unit in $X$ satisfying the following conditions for every $n\in{\omega}$:
1. $W_n=W_n^{-1}$ and $W_{n+1}^2\subset W_n$;
2. $s^{p_n}>0$;
3. $S_{p_n}\!(X)$ is not $KW_n^3$-bounded;
4. $\sum_{p\ge p_{n+1}}T_p(X)\subset \overline{{\omega}X}\cdot W_n\subset KW_n$.
The construction of the sequences $(p_n)_{n\in{\omega}}$ and $(W_n)_{n\in{\omega}}$ is inductive. To start the inductive construction, let $p_0$ be the smallest prime number with $s^{p_0}>0$. Since the group $K$ is compact and the subgroup $S_{p_0}\!(X)$ is not precompact, it is not $KW^3_0$-bounded for some neighborhood $W_0\subset X$ of the unit in $X$.
Assume that for some $n\in{\mathbb N}$ the prime number $p_{n-1}$ and a neighborhood $W_{n-1}$ have been constructed. By the hypocompactness of the exponent of $X$ and Lemma \[l:converge\], there exists a number $m\in{\mathbb N}$ such that $\overline{mX}\subset \overline{{\omega}X}\cdot W_{n-1}$. Choose any prime number $p_{n}\in \{p\in{\mathbb P}:s_p>0\}$ such that $p_n>\max({\mathbb P}_m\cup\{p_{n-1}\})$. Then for any prime number $p\ge p_n$ the number $m$ is not divided by $p$ and by the $p$-singularity of the group $T_p(X)$ its subgroup $mT_p(X)$ is dense in $T_p(X)$. Then $T_p(X)=\overline{mT_p(X)}\subset \overline{mX}$. Since $\overline{mX}$ is a subgroup, we also get $\prod_{p\ge p_n}T_p(X)\subset\overline{mX}\subset \overline{{\omega}X}\cdot W_{n-1}$.
Since the group $\overline{{\omega}X}$ is compact and the group $S_{p_n}\!(X)$ is not precompact, it is not $\overline{{\omega}X}W_n^3$-bounded for some neighborhood $W_n\subset X$ of the unit such that $W_n=W_n^{-1}$ and $W_n^2\subset W_{n-1}$. This completes the inductive step.
Since the topological group $X$ is ${\omega}$-narrow, there exists a countable subset $Z=\{z_k\}_{k\in{\omega}}$ such that $X=ZW_k$ for all $k\in{\omega}$. For every $k\in{\omega}$ let $G_k$ be the closure of the subgroup $K\cdot\sum_{n=k}^\infty S_{p_n}\!(X)$ in $X$.
\[cl:div\] For numbers $n\in{\mathbb N}$ and $k\in{\omega}$ the inclusion $nG_0\subset G_k$ holds if and only if $\{p_i:i<k\}\subset{\mathbb P}_n$.
If $\{p_i:i<k\}\subset {\mathbb P}_n$, then $$n\sum_{i\in{\omega}}S_{p_i}\!(X)=\sum_{i\in{\omega}}nS_{p_i}\!(X)\subset \sum_{i<k}p_iS_{p_i}\!(X)\cdot \sum_{i\ge k}S_{p_i}\!(K)\subset K\cdot\sum_{i\ge k}S_{p_i}\!(X)\subset G_k$$and hence $nG_0=n\overline{\sum_{i\in{\omega}}S_{p_i}\!(X)}\subset \bar G_k=G_k$.
Next, assume that for some $i<k$ the number $p_i$ does not divide $n$. The $p_i$-singularity of the $p_i$-component $T_{p_i}\!(X)$ implies that $\overline{nS_{p_i}\!(X)}=\overline{S_{p_i}\!(X)}$ and then $\overline{nG_0}$ contains the subgroup $\overline{S_{p_i}\!(X)}$ which is not $KW_{i}^3$-bounded by condition (3) of Claim \[cl:PW\]. On the other hand, by the condition (4) of Claim \[cl:PW\], the group $G_k=\overline{\sum_{j\ge k}KS_{p_j}\!(X)}$ is contained in $KW_k\subset KW_i^3$ and hence is $KW_i^3$-bounded. So, $\overline{nG_0}\not\subset G_k$.
Let us show that the sequences $(W_k)_{k\in{\omega}}$ and $(G_k)_{k\in{\omega}}$ satisfy the conditions (1)–(4) of Lemma \[l:Hausdorff\]. The condition (1) coincides with the condition (1) in Claim \[cl:PW\] and hence is satisfied. To check the condition (2), fix two numbers $n\in{\mathbb N}$, $k\in{\omega}$, and assume that $nG_0\not\subset G_k$. By Claim \[cl:div\], $n$ is not divisible by some prime number $p_i$ with $i<k$. Then $\overline{S_{p_i}\!(X)}=\overline{nS_{p_i}\!(X))}
\subset \overline{nG_0}$. By the condition (3) of Claim \[cl:PW\], the set $S_{p_i}(X)$ is not $KW_i^3$-bounded and hence $\overline{nG_0}$ is not $KW_i^3$-bounded and $nG_0$ is not $KW_k^2$-bounded (as $i<k$ and $\overline{W_i^3}\subset W_i^4\subset W_k^2$).
Since $K\subset G_{\omega}$, the conditions (3), (4) of Lemma \[l:Hausdorff\] will follow as soon as we check that for every neighborhood $U\subset X$ of the unit there exists $k\in{\omega}$ such that $G_k\subset KU$. By Lemma \[l:converge\], there exists $n\in{\mathbb N}$ such that $\overline{nX}\subset\overline{{\omega}X}\cdot U$. Choose $k\in{\mathbb N}$ so large that for every $i\ge k$ the prime number $p_i$ does not divide $n$ and hence $S_{p_i}\!(X)\subset T_{p_i}\!(X)=\overline{nT_{p_i}\!(X)}\subset \overline{nX}$. Then $$G_k=\overline{\sum_{i\ge k}KS_{p_i}\!(X)}\subset K\cdot \overline{nX}\subset K{\cdot}\overline{{\omega}X}{\cdot}U=KU.$$
Therefore the conditions (1)–(4) of Lemma \[l:Hausdorff\] are satisfies. Then the conditions (1),(2) of Lemma \[l:seq\] are satisfied, too. So, we can apply Lemmas \[l:seq\] and \[l:Hausdorff\] and construct a $\diamondsuit$-Hausdorff sequence $\{x_k\}_{k\in{\omega}}\subset G_0$ satisfying the condition (3),(4) of Lemma \[l:seq\] and such that the set $\{x_k\}_{k\in{\omega}}$ is totally bounded in the topological group $X_\diamond=(X,\tau_\diamond)$ and hence has an accumulation point $x_\infty$ in the completion $\bar X_\diamond$ of the topological group $X_\diamond$.
For every $n\in{\mathbb N}$ the power $x_\infty^n\notin X_\diamond$.
To derive a contradiction, assume that $x^n_\infty\in X_\diamond$. Let $d\in{\omega}$ be the smallest number such that the prime number $p_d$ does not divide $n$. Since $X=ZW_{d+1}$, there exists a number $l\in{\omega}$ such that $x^n_\infty \in z_lW_{d+1}$. Let ${\varepsilon}=\frac1{2^l}$. Since the sequence $(x^n_m)_{m\in{\omega}}$ accumulates at $x_\infty^n$ in $X_\diamond$, the neighborhood $z_l\diamondsuit_{\varepsilon}W_{d+1}\in\tau_\diamond$ of $x_\infty^n$ contains a point $x^n_\lambda$ with $\lambda>\max\{l,n\}$. Consequently, $x^n_\lambda\in z_lyW_{d+1}$ for some $y\in \diamondsuit_{\varepsilon}$. Write $y$ as $y=x_1^{{\varepsilon}_1}\cdots x_m^{{\varepsilon}_m}$ for some $m\ge \lambda$ and some integer numbers ${\varepsilon}_1,\dots,{\varepsilon}_m$ such that $\sum_{i=1}^m{\varepsilon}_i=0$ and $\sum_{i=1}^m\frac{|{\varepsilon}_i|}{2^i}<{\varepsilon}=\frac1{2^l}$. The last inequality implies that ${\varepsilon}_i=0$ for all $i\le l$ and $|{\varepsilon}_i|<2^i$ for all $i\le m$.
It follows that $x^n_\lambda y^{-1}\in z_lW_{d+1}$ and $x^n_\lambda y^{-1}=x_1^{\delta_1}\cdots x_m^{\delta_n}$ where $\delta_\lambda=n-{\varepsilon}_\lambda$ and $\delta_i=-{\varepsilon}_i$ for all $i\in\{1,\dots,m\}\setminus\{\lambda\}$. Also, $|\delta_\lambda|=|n-{\varepsilon}_\lambda|\le n+2^\lambda<2^{\lambda+1}$ and hence $|\delta_i|<2^{i+1}$ for all $i\le m$.
Let $\mu\in{\omega}$ be the smallest number for which there exists a number $i\le m$ such that $\delta_i$ is not divisible by the prime number $p_\mu$. Such number exists and is $\le d$ since the number $n=\sum_{i=1}^m\delta_i$ is not divisible by $p_d$. The minimality of $\mu$ guarantees that for every $i\le m$ the number $\delta_i$ is divisible by the number $q=\prod_{j<\mu}p_j$ and hence $x_i^{\delta_i}\in qG_0\subset G_\mu$ according to Claim \[cl:div\].
Let $j\le m$ be the largest number for which $\delta_j$ is not divisible by $p_\mu$. The maximality of $j$ guarantees that $\delta_i$ is divisible by $p_\mu$ for all $i\in(j,m]$. It follows that $j>l$ (as $\delta_i=0$ for $i\le l$). Then $z_lW_{d+1}\ni x^n_\lambda y^{-1}=x_1^{\delta_1}\cdots x_m^{\delta_m}\in x_1^{\delta_1}\cdots x_{j}^{\delta_{j}}G_{\mu}$ and hence $x_j^{\delta_j}\in x_1^{-\delta_1}\cdots x_{j-1}^{-\delta_{j-1}}z_lW_{d+1}G_{\mu}\subset F_jW_{\mu}G_{\mu}$, which contradicts the condition (3) of Lemma \[l:seq\] as $\delta_jX\not\subset G_\mu$ (by Claim \[cl:div\]).
Treating topological groups which do not have hypocompact exponent
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The following lemma was proved by Ravsky [@Ravsky2003]. We shall give an alternative proof of this lemma deriving it from Key Lemmas \[l:seq\] and \[l:Hausdorff\].
\[l:non-hypo\] If an Abelian topological group $X$ is not of hypocompact exponent, then $X$ contains a $\diamondsuit$-Hausdorff sequence $(x_m)_{m\in{\omega}}$, which has an accumulation point $x_\infty\in \bar X_\diamond$ such that $x^n_\infty\notin X_\diamond$ for all $n\in{\mathbb N}$.
Since $X$ is not of hypocompact exponent, there exists a neighborhood $W_0=W_0^{-1}$ of the unit such that for every $n\in{\mathbb N}$ the set $nX$ is not $W_0^2$-bounded.
Choose a sequence $(W_k)_{k=1}^\infty$ of the unit such that $W_k^{-1}=W_k$ and $W_{k}^2\subset W_{k-1}$ for all $k\in{\mathbb N}$.
There exists a countable subgroup $Z=\{z_k\}_{k\in{\omega}}$ of $X$ such that for every $n\in{\mathbb N}$ the subgroup $nZ$ is not $W_0$-bounded.
Using Zorn Lemma, for every $n\in{\mathbb N}$ choose a maximal subset $M_n\subset X$ such that for any distinct elements $x,y\in M_n$ we have $x^n\notin y^nW_0^2$. The maximality of $M_n$ implies that for every $x\in X$ there exists $y\in M_n$ such that $x^n\in y^nW_0^2$ or $y^n\in x^nW_0^2$ and hence $x^n\in y^nW_0^{-2}=y^nW_0^2$. Then $x^n\in y^nW_0^2\subset nM_n{\cdot}W_0^2$ and hence $nX\subset nM_n{\cdot}W_0^2$. Since the set $nX$ is not $W_0^2$-bounded, the set $M_n$ is infinite. So, we can choose a countable subgroup $Z=\{z_k\}_{k\in{\omega}}\subset X$ such that for every $n\in{\mathbb N}$ the intersection $Z\cap M_n$ is infinite.
We claim that for every $n\in{\mathbb N}$ the subgroup $nZ$ is not $W_0$-bounded. Assuming the opposite, we could find a finite subset $F\subset X$ such that $nZ\subset FW_0$. Since the set $Z\cap M_n$ is infinite, for some $x\in F$ there are two distinct points $y,z\in Z\cap M_n$ such that $y^n,z^n\in xW_0$. Then $z^n\in xW_0\subset y^nW_0^{-1}W_0=y^nW_0^2$, which contradict the choice of the set $M_n$.
Let $G_0=\bar Z$ and $G_k=\{e\}$ for all $k>0$. It is clear that the sequences $(W_k)_{k\in{\mathbb N}}$ and $(G_k)_{k\in{\mathbb N}}$ satisfy the conditions (1),(2) of Lemma \[l:seq\] and (1)–(4) of Lemma \[l:Hausdorff\]. Applying these two lemmas, we obtain a $\diamondsuit$-Hausdorff sequence $(x_n)_{n\in{\mathbb N}}$ satisfying the conditions (3),(4) of Lemma \[l:seq\] such that the set $\{x_n\}_{n\in{\omega}}$ is totally bounded in the topological group $X_\diamond:=(X,\tau_\diamond)$ and hence has an accumulation point $x_\infty$ in the completion $\bar X_\diamond$ of $X_\diamond$.
For every $n\in{\mathbb N}$ the point $x^n_\infty$ does not belong to $X_\diamond$.
Assuming that $x_\infty^n\in X_\diamond$, we would conclude that for every neighborhood $V\subset X$ of the unit the neighborhood $x_{\infty}^n\diamondsuit_1V\subset G_0V\in\tau_\diamond$ intersects the set $\{x^n_k\}_{k\in{\omega}}\subset G_0$, which implies that $x^n_\infty\in G_0=\bar Z$. Then there exists a number $\lambda\in {\omega}$ such that $x_\infty^n\in z_\lambda W_1$.
Let ${\varepsilon}=\frac1{2^\lambda}$. Since the sequence $(x^n_m)_{m\in{\omega}}$ accumulates at $x^n_\infty$ in the topological group $X_\diamond$, the neighborhood $z_l\diamondsuit_{\varepsilon}W_1\in\tau_\diamond$ of $x^n_\infty$ contains a point $x^n_k$ with $k>\max\{\lambda,n\}$. Consequently, $x^n_k\in z_\lambda y W_1$ for some $y\in \diamondsuit_{\varepsilon}$. Write $y$ as $y=x_1^{{\varepsilon}_1}\cdots x_m^{{\varepsilon}_m}$ for some $m\ge k$ and some integer numbers ${\varepsilon}_1,\dots,{\varepsilon}_m$ such that $\sum_{i=1}^m{\varepsilon}_i=0$ and $\sum_{i=1}^m\frac{|{\varepsilon}_i|}{2^i}<{\varepsilon}$. The last inequality implies that ${\varepsilon}_i=0$ for all $i\le \lambda$.
It follows that $x^n_k y^{-1}\in z_\lambda W_1$ and $x^n_k y^{-1}=x_1^{\delta_1}\cdots x_m^{\delta_n}$ where $\delta_k=n-{\varepsilon}_k$ and $\delta_i=-{\varepsilon}_i$ for all $i\in\{1,\dots,m\}\setminus\{k\}$. We claim that $|\delta_i|\le 2^{i+1}$ for all $i\le m$. For $i\ne k$ this follows from $|\delta_i|=|{\varepsilon}_i|<2^i$. For $i=k$, we have $|\delta_k|=|n-{\varepsilon}_k|\le n+|{\varepsilon}_k|\le k+2^k<2^{k+1}=2^{i+1}$.
Since $\sum_{i=1}^m\delta_i=n$, for some $i\le m$ the number $\delta_i$ is not equal zero. Let $j\le m$ be the largest number such that $\delta_j\ne 0$. It follows that $j>\lambda$ (as $\delta_i=0$ for $i\le \lambda$). Then $z_\lambda W_1\ni x^n_k y^{-1}=x_1^{\delta_1}\cdots x_m^{\delta_m}=x_1^{\delta_1}\cdots x_j^{\delta_j}$ and hence $x_j^{\delta_j}\in x_1^{-\delta_1}\cdots x_{j-1}^{-\delta_{j-1}}z_\lambda W_1\subset F_jW_1G_1$, which contradicts the condition (3) of Lemma \[l:seq\] as $\max_{i\le j}|\delta_j|\le \max_{i\le j}2^{i+1}\le 2^{j+1}$ and $\delta_jX\not\subset G_1=\{e\}$.
Joining pieces together
=======================
In this section we combine Lemmas \[l:p-local\], \[l:P\], \[l:non-hypo\] and prove the “unbounded” part of Theorem \[t:main\]. First observe that these three lemmas imply the following corollary.
\[c:final\] If an ${\omega}$-narrow complete Abelian topological group $X$ does not have compact exponent, then $X$ admits a weaker Hausdorff group topology $\tau_\diamond$ such that the completion $\bar X_\diamond$ of the topological group $X_\diamond=(X,\tau_\diamond)$ contains an element $y\in\bar X_\diamond$ such that $y^n\notin X_\diamond$ for all $n\in{\mathbb N}$.
Now we can prove the promised “unbounded” part of Theorem \[t:main\].
\[t:unbound\] For a complete Abelian topological group $X$ the following conditions are equivalent:
1. $X$ is complete and has compact exponent;
2. for any continuous homomorphism $f:X\to Y$ to a powertopological semigroup $Y$ and every point $y\in \overline{f(X)}\subset Y$ there exists a number $k\in{\mathbb N}$ such that $y^k\in f(X)$;
3. for any injective continuous homomorphism $f:X\to Y$ to a topological group $Y$ and every point $y\in \overline{f(X)}\subset Y$ there exists a number $k\in{\mathbb N}$ such that $y^k\in f(X)$.
The implication $(1){\Rightarrow}(2)$ follows from Theorem \[t:bound\] and $(2){\Rightarrow}(3)$ is trivial. To prove that $(3){\Rightarrow}(1)$, assume that the compact Abelian topological group $X$ does not have compact exponent. Then for every $n\in{\mathbb N}$ the set $nX$ is not precompact. Using Lemma \[l:separ\], we can find a closed separable subgroup $Z\subset X$ such that for every $n\in{\mathbb N}$ the subgroup $nZ$ is not precompact, which means that $Z$ does not have compact exponent. By Corollary \[c:final\], $Z$ admits a weaker Hausdorff group topology $\tau_\diamond$ such that the completion $\bar Z_\diamond$ of the topological group $Z_\diamond=(Z,\tau_\diamond)$ contains an element $z\in\bar Z_\diamond$ such that $z^n\notin Z_\diamond$ for all $n\in{\mathbb N}$.
Let ${\mathcal T}_e$ be the family of all open neighborhoods of the unit in the topological group $X$. It is easy to se that the family $$\tau_e=\{UV:U\in{\mathcal T}_e,\;e\in V\in\tau_\diamond\}$$ satisfies the Pontryagin Axioms [@AT 1.3.12] and hence is a neighborhood base at the unit of some Hausdorff group topology $\tau$ in which the subgroup $Z$ remains closed and the subspace topology on $Z$ inherited from $(X,\tau)$ coincides with the topology $\tau_\diamond$. Then the completion $\bar X_\tau$ of the topological group $X_\tau:=(X,\tau)$ contains the completion $\bar Z_\diamond$ of the topological group $Z_\diamond$ and $\bar Z_\diamond\cap X_\tau=Z_\diamond$. Consequently, the element $z\in \bar Z_\diamond\subset \bar X_\tau$ has the required property: $z^n\notin X_\tau$ for all $n\in{\mathbb N}$.
Acknowledgements {#acknowledgements .unnumbered}
================
The author expresses his thanks to Alex Ravsky for fruitful discussions on the topic of this paper and to Michael Megrelishvili for helpful remarks and comments on the text. Special thanks are due to Dikran Dikranjan who told to the author the genuine story of the proof of Prodanov-Stoyanov Theorem from [@DPS] (which differs a bit from the original proof of this theorem in [@PS]) and suggested to dedicate this paper to the memory of Ivan Prodanov who died of heart attack at the age of 49 — precisely the age of the author at the moment of writing this paper.
A. Arhangel’skii, M. Tkachenko, [*Topological groups and related structures*]{}, Atlantis Studies in Mathematics, 1. Atlantis Press, Paris; World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., Hackensack, NJ, 2008.
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D. Dikranjan, [*Recent advances in minimal topological groups*]{}, Topology Appl. [**85**]{}:1-3 (1998), 53–91.
D. Dikranjan, M. Megrelishvili, [*Relative minimality and co-minimality of subgroups in topological groups*]{}, Topology Appl. [**157**]{}:1 (2010), 62–76.
D. Dikranjan, M. Megrelishvili, [*Minimality conditions in topological groups*]{}, Recent Progress in General Topology III, Hart, K.P., van Mill, Jan, Simon, P (Eds.) Springer Verlag (Atlantis Press), Berlin, (2014), 229–327.
D. Dikranjan, I. Prodanov, L. Stoyanov, [*Topological Groups: Characters Dualities and Minimal Group Topologies*]{}, (2nd edn.), Monographs and Textbooks in Pure and Applied Mathematics, Vol. [**130**]{}, Marcel Dekker, New York (1989).
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D. Dikranjan, V.V. Uspenskij, [*Categorically compact topological groups*]{}, J. Pure Appl. Algebra, [**126**]{} (1998), 149–168.
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I.I. Guran, [*Topological groups similar to Lindelöf groups*]{}, Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR [**256**]{}:6 (1981), 1305–1307.
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I. Prodanov, L.N. Stojanov, [*Every minimal abelian group is precompact*]{}, C. R. Acad. Bulgar. Sci., [**37**]{} (1), (1984), 23–26.
D.A. Raikov, *On a completion of topological groups*, Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR **10**:6 (1946), 513–528 (in Russian).
A. Ravsky, *On $H$-closed paratopological groups*, Visnyk Lviv Univ., Ser. Mekh.-Mat. **61**, (2003), 172–179.
D. Robinson, [*A course in the theory of groups*]{}, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1996.
W. Roelcke, S. Dierolf, [*Uniform structures on topological groups and their quotients*]{}, McGrawHill, 1981.
|
Listeria threat prompts meat recall
By Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA - Poultry processor Pilgrim's Pride is recalling 27.4 million pounds of cooked sandwich meat after warnings of possible contamination from listeria - the largest meat recall in U.S. history.
The company pulled 295,000 pounds of turkey and chicken products Wednesday but expanded the recall last weekend after tests came back positive for a strain of the potentially fatal bacteria, the company said Sunday.
The nationwide recall covers meat processed at the company's plant in suburban Franconia from May 1 through Wednesday.
The recall covers deli meat primarily sold under the company's Wampler Foods brand, though it is also sold under brands including Block & Barrel, Bonos, Golden Acre and Reliance and a variety of private labels. The products include turkey and poultry sold freshly sliced or made into sandwiches at deli counters and in individually sold packages of sliced deli meats.
Because consumers might not have access to the meat's original packaging, the best way to know whether a product falls under the recall is to ask the vendor whether the meat comes from a package that bears the plant number P-1351 inside the U.S. Department of Agriculture mark of inspection, company spokesman Ray Atkinson said. Production dates also can be found on that part of the label.
The deli products were sold in retail groceries, in delicatessens and by food service distributors.
Pilgrim's Pride, based in Pittsburg, Texas, is the nation's second-largest poultry company behind Tyson Foods.
Consumers were urged by the company to return any affected meat to the store or deli where it was purchased for a full refund.
The discovery came after an investigation of a listeria outbreak in eight Northeast states since early summer. That outbreak has caused at least 120 illnesses and 20 deaths, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service said.
"We want consumers to be aware of the recall because of the potential for food-borne illness," said Dr. Garry L. McKee, the inspection service's administrator.
No products have been linked to that outbreak, said David Van Hoose, Wampler's chief executive officer. The genetic strain that caused the outbreak is different from the strain found at the plant, officials said.
"We don't have any scientific evidence at this point that there is a connection, but our analysis of sampling in that plant is not complete," said the USDA's Steven Cohen.
Company officials said the recall doesn't include fresh turkeys, and they didn't expect it to affect on the holiday season.
Listeria can cause high fever, severe headache, neck stiffness and nausea, according to the USDA. It can be fatal in young children, the elderly and people with weak immune systems, and can cause miscarriages and stillbirths.
For more information, call the company toll-free at (877) 260-7110 or the USDA Meat and Poultry hot line at (800) 535-4555. |
Lawmakers in both chambers have passed a bill aimed at reducing the cost of uncontested special legislative elections. Kentucky House lawmakers passed the measure weeks ago, while it passed the Senate today.
The bill was proposed by Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes to help cut costs to her office and county clerks.
State Senator Damon Thayer says the bill will cut back on the multiple voting locations which are currently required by law when there’s only one election and one candidate on the ballot. The bill won’t affect elections where multiple candidates are running.
“This bill would allow cost-savings for counties and therefore the taxpayers, by allowing this basically formality vote to be held in one location,” Thayer says.
The latest instance of such an election was this year. Representative Regina Bunch ran uncontested to replace her injured husband, former legislator Dewayne Bunch.
The bill now goes to the governor for his signature before becoming law. |
# test_Eigen.praat
# djmw 20161116, 20180829
appendInfoLine: "test_Eigen.praat"
@testInterface
eps = 1e-7
for i to 10
@testDiagonal: i
endfor
@test2by2
@test3by3
@testgeneralSquare
procedure testInterface
for .i to 5
.numberOfColumns = randomInteger (3, 12)
.tableofreal = Create TableOfReal: "t", 100, .numberOfColumns
Formula: ~ randomGauss (0, 1)
.pca = To PCA
.eigen = Extract Eigen
.numberOfEigenvalues = Get number of eigenvalues
assert .numberOfEigenvalues == .numberOfColumns
.dimension = Get eigenvector dimension
assert .dimension == .numberOfColumns
for .j to .numberOfEigenvalues
.eigenvalue [.j] = Get eigenvalue: .j
endfor
for .j to .numberOfEigenvalues
.sump = Get eigenvalue: .j
for .k from .j to .numberOfEigenvalues
.sum = Get sum of eigenvalues: .j, .k
assert .sum >= .eigenvalue [.j]
endfor
endfor
for .j to .numberOfEigenvalues
for .k from .j to .dimension
.val[.j,.k] = Get eigenvector element: .j, .k
endfor
endfor
for .j to .numberOfEigenvalues
for .k to .dimension
.val[.k] = Get eigenvector element: .j, .k
endfor
Invert eigenvector: .j
for .k to .dimension
.valk = Get eigenvector element: .j, .k
assert .valk == - .val[.k]
endfor
endfor
removeObject: .tableofreal, .pca, .eigen
endfor
endproc
procedure assertApproximatelyEqual: .val1, .val2, .eps, .comment$
.diff = abs (.val1 -.val2)
.tekst$ = .comment$ + " " + string$ (.val1) + ", " + string$ (.val2)
if .val1 == 0
assert .diff < .eps; '.tekst$'
else
.reldif = .diff / abs(.val1)
assert .reldif < .eps ; '.tekst$'
endif
endproc
procedure test2by2
.dim = 2
.mat = Create simple Matrix: "2x2s", .dim, .dim, "1"
Set value: 1, 1, 2
Set value: 2, 2, 2
.eigenvalues# = {3, 1}
# 20180829 clumsy because we cannot yet do mat##={{},{}}
.eigenvec1# = {1/sqrt (2), 1/sqrt (2)}
.eigenvec2# = {-1/sqrt (2), 1/sqrt (2)}
.eigenvectors## = zero## (.dim, .dim)
for .j to .dim
.eigenvectors## [1, .j] = .eigenvec1# [.j]
.eigenvectors## [2, .j] = .eigenvec2# [.j]
endfor
.eigen = To Eigen
appendInfoLine: tab$, "2x2 symmetrical"
@testeigen: .eigen, .dim, .eigenvalues#, .eigenvectors##
removeObject: .mat, .eigen
endproc
procedure testeigen: .eigen, .dim, .eigenvalues#, .eigenvectors##
selectObject: .eigen
.numberOfEigenvalues = Get number of eigenvalues
assert .numberOfEigenvalues == .dim
for .i to .dim
.eval = Get eigenvalue: .i
.comment$ = string$ (.dim) + " eigenvalue" + string$ (.i)
@assertApproximatelyEqual: .eval, .eigenvalues# [.i], eps, .comment$
for .j to .dim
.evecj = Get eigenvector element: .i, .j
.comment$ = "eigenvector[" + string$ (.i) + "] [" +string$ (.j) + "]"
.val = .eigenvectors## [.i,.j]
@assertApproximatelyEqual: .evecj, .val, eps, .comment$
endfor
endfor
endproc
procedure test3by3
.dim = 3
.mat = Create simple Matrix: "3x3s", .dim, .dim, "0"
Set value: 1, 1, 2
Set value: 2, 2, 3
Set value: 2, 3, 4
Set value: 3, 2, 4
Set value: 3, 3, 9
.eigenvalues# = {11, 2 , 1}
.eigenvec1# = {0, 1/sqrt (5), 2/sqrt (5)}
.eigenvec2# = {1, 0, 0}
.eigenvec3# = {0, -2/sqrt (5), 1/sqrt (5)}
.eigenvectors## = zero## (.dim, .dim)
for .j to .dim
.eigenvectors## [1, .j] = .eigenvec1# [.j]
.eigenvectors## [2, .j] = .eigenvec2# [.j]
.eigenvectors## [3, .j] = .eigenvec3# [.j]
endfor
.eigen = To Eigen
appendInfoLine: tab$, "3x3 symmetrical"
@testeigen: .eigen, .dim, .eigenvalues#, .eigenvectors##
removeObject: .mat, .eigen
endproc
procedure diagonalData: .dim
.name$ = string$(.dim) + "x" + string$ (.dim)
.mat = Create simple Matrix: .name$, .dim, .dim, "0"
.eigenvalues# = zero# (.dim)
.eigenvectors## = zero## (.dim, .dim)
for .i to .dim
.val = .dim - .i + 1
Set value: .i, .i, .val
.eigenvalues# [.i] = .val
.eigenvectors## [.i,.i] = 1
endfor
endproc
procedure testDiagonal: .dim
@diagonalData: .dim
.matname$ = selected$ ("Matrix")
.eigen = To Eigen
appendInfoLine: tab$, .matname$ +" diagonal"
@testeigen: .eigen, .dim, diagonalData.eigenvalues#, diagonalData.eigenvectors##
removeObject: .eigen, diagonalData.mat
endproc
procedure testgeneralSquare
.dim = 3
.name$ = "3x3square"
.mat = Create simple Matrix: .name$, .dim, .dim, "0"
Set value: 1, 2, 1
Set value: 2, 3, 1
Set value: 3, 1, 1
.given_re# = {1, -1/2, -1/2}
.given_im# = {0, 0.5*sqrt(3), -0.5*sqrt(3)}
Eigen (complex)
.eigenvectors = selected ("Matrix", 1)
.eigenvalues = selected ("Matrix", 2)
selectObject: .eigenvalues
.nrow = Get number of rows
assert .nrow = 3
# lite version of equality: check for occurrence
# the eigenvalues of a real square matrix are not "sorted". We only know that complex conjugate eigenvalues occur
# have the one with positive imaginary part first.
.eval_re# = {object [.eigenvalues, 1, 1], object [.eigenvalues, 2, 1],object [.eigenvalues, 3, 1]}
.eval_im# = {object [.eigenvalues, 1, 2], object [.eigenvalues, 2, 2],object [.eigenvalues, 3, 2]}
if .eval_re# [1] > 1-eps and .eval_re# [1] < 1+eps
assert .eval_re# [2] / .given_re# [2] > 1-eps and .eval_re# [2] / .given_re# [2] < 1+eps
assert .eval_re# [3] / .given_re# [3] > 1-eps and .eval_re# [3] / .given_re# [3] < 1+eps
else
assert .eval_re# [1] / .given_re# [2] > 1-eps and .eval_re# [1] / .given_re# [2] < 1+eps
assert .eval_re# [2] / .given_re# [3] > 1-eps and .eval_re# [2] / .given_re# [3] < 1+eps
assert .eval_re# [3] > 1-eps and .eval_re# [3] < 1+eps and .eval_im# [3] == 0
endif
selectObject: .eigenvectors
.ncol = Get number of columns
assert .ncol = 6
removeObject: .mat, .eigenvectors, .eigenvalues
endproc
appendInfoLine: "test_Eigen.praat OK"
|
---
abstract: 'We describe a PDE model of bedrock abrasion by impact of moving particles and show that by assuming unidirectional impacts the modification of a geometrical PDE due to Bloore [@Bloore] exhibits circular arcs as solitary profiles. We demonstrate the existence and stability of these stationary, travelling shapes by numerical experiments based on finite difference approximations. Our simulations show that ,depending on initial profile shape and other parameters, these circular profiles may evolve via long transients which, in a geological setting, may appear as non-circular stationary profiles.'
author:
- 'G. Domokos [^1], G. W. Gibbons [^2] and A.A. Sipos$^{*}$'
title: 'Circular, stationary profiles emerging in unidirectional abrasion'
---
Introduction
============
Motivation and references
-------------------------
Bedrock abrasion by impact of moving particles is a dominant process shaping obstacles in river channels [@Sklar1]. Abrasion is mostly due to saltating particles, a broad description of their mechanistic properties is presented in [@Sklar2]. Our goal is to identify and predict the geometry of obstacle profiles created by this process. In a recent paper, a discrete random model describing bedrock profile abrasion was developed and its predictions compared with experiment [@Sipos]. The main observation was that *stationary profiles emerged both in the laboratory experiments and the matching discrete simulations. This phenomenon has also been observed in Nature [@Wilson],[@WilsonHovius],[@Wilson2]. The aim of the present paper is to present a simple partial differential equation capturing the essence of the physical process and investigate whether it admits stable travelling front solutions which are compatible with the numerical and experimental results obtained in [@Sipos] and observed in [@Wilson],[@WilsonHovius].*
Basic assumptions and notations
-------------------------------
If $(x,y,z)$ are Cartesian coordinates we take $y$ along the vertical direction. We assume, for simplicity, that the system is uniform in the horizontal direction perpendicular the direction of motion of the abrading particles. Thus the bedrock profile starts off and remains independent of the $z$ coordinate and is therefore given by a single function $y=y(x,t)$ of space and time. The tangent to the profile makes an angle $\psi$ with respect to the horizontal, so the inward normal to the profile makes an angle $\psi-\frac{\pi}{2}$ with the horizontal. We also introduce \[notation\] y’=y/x= and assume, following [@Sipos], that
- small abraders are incident from the left making an angle $\phi$ with the horizontal.
- the angle of the colliding face of large abraders is uniformly distributed between $0$ and $\frac{\pi}{2}$, i.e. the non-uniform flight of abraders does not change this term.
![Basic notations[]{data-label="Fig1"}](Fig1.eps){width="120"}
As time proceeds, a point on the profile with constant $x$ coordinate moves with vertical velocity given by v\_[vertical]{}= = y, the partial derivative being taken at fixed $x$. The velocity of the same point along the inward normal is: v\_n=-y . \[one\] Abrasion due to collisions with incoming abraders with isotropic, uniform distribution has been first derived by Bloore [@Bloore], for the detailed derivation of the planar case see also [@DomokosSiposVarkonyi2]. Under the assumption of unidirectional abraders, Bloore’s PDE can be readily modified by the inclination factor to obtain \[bloore\] v\_n= (v+ b) (-), where $\rho=-y''(1+y'^2)^{-3/2}$ is the geometric curvature and $v, b$ are positive constants. Using the latter expression as well as (\[one\]), we obtain \[four\] -y=(v+ b) (-)=(v+ b)(- ) Using (\[notation\]), from (\[four\]) we obtain -y=(v+ b) (y’-). Without restricting generality, we assume $\phi=0$ (i.e. that the $x$ axis is aligned with the flight direction of the abraders) to obtain -y=y’(v+b)=y’(v+by”(1+y’\^2)\^[-]{}). \[basiceqn\] Note that $L=b/v$ is the only independent length scale of the equation. Rather than descibe the profile in terms of $y$ considered as a function of $x$ and $t$ we may regard $x$ as a function of $y$ and $t$: $x=x(y,t)$, so we obtain: x =(v+b)=(v+bx”(1+x’\^2)\^[-]{}) \[basiceqn2\] where now $\dot x= \p_t x(y,t)$ keeping $y$ fixed and $x^\prime = \p_y (y,t),$ keeping $t$ fixed.
Our equation is a model of collision-based abrasion, and the first (constant) term corresponds to the abrasion caused by small abrading particles whereas the second (curvature) term is significant if the abrader is large (cf. [@Bloore],[@Sipos],[@DomokosSiposVarkonyi2]). Based on this physical background, in forthcoming numerical simulations we will assume that on non-convex parts of the profile the curvature term vanishes (as large abraders are not likely to hit concave domains). Accordingly, the modified equation reads: \[nonconvex\] -y=y’(v+b|), |= >0 |=0 0.
Existence of travelling waves {#travelling}
=============================
Note that (\[basiceqn\]) is first order in time and second order in space and translationally invariant in time. It is also invariant under translations in space, both vertical and horizontal. Being first order in time (\[basiceqn\]) defines a “flow” on the infinite dimensional space of profiles such that if we are given a smooth initial profile $y(x,0)= y_{\rm initial}(x)$ say, then, at least for some finite time $y(x,t)$ is uniquely determined. In what follows we shall investigate whether, for smooth initial Cauchy data such that $y_{\rm initial}(x)$ is monotonic increasing and tends rapidly to constant values for large negative and positive values of $x$, that the solution $y(x,t)$ ultimately tends to an exact travelling front solution. If it does, then we shall derive the form it must take. If we make the common travelling wave [*ansatz*]{} \[ansatz\] y=f(x-ct) and after substituting into (\[basiceqn\]) solve the resulting ordinary differential equation for $f(s)$ we find that the solutions are all of the form of portions of circles or straight lines which move to the right with speed \[speed\] c=v+ where $a$ is the radius of the circle. Two special cases should be mentioned: For straight lines of course we have $a=\infty$ and $c=v$. In case of $b=0$ we have = - v whose general solution is y=f(x-ct) , c=v thus if $b=0$ then *any initial shape moves with to the right with speed $c=v$. These (local) travelling wave solutions travelling with speed given in (\[speed\]) may easily be derived from the alternative form of the governing equation (\[basiceqn2\]) by making the ansatz $x(y,t)= ct + x(y).$*
The local solutions, made up of circles and straight lines may be patched together to give global solutions satisfying the boundary conditions. Matching conditions should be observed carefully. E.g. only segments with identical curvature may be patched together, otherwise the propagation speed $c$ will suffer a jump. If we use boundary conditions representing a ’cliff´ (cf Figure \[Fig1\]) then we have two options:
- \(a) We satisfy horizontal tangency as boundary condition at both lower and upper end. In this case if we apply (\[nonconvex\]) prescribing that the curvature term vanishes on concave parts. In this case there is no exact travelling wave solutions as the two ends of the cliff can not be joined by a curve with constant curvature. The only exact solutions are half circles, however these contours are not a feasible representation of real cliffs.
- \(b) We satisfy the horizontal tangency only at the upper end. At the lower end we do not prescribe a boundary condition, i.e. we essentially cut off the profile at $y=0$. This admits a one-parameter ($R$) family circular arcs which would be exact travelling solutions. This approach could be justified by considering that a vertex on the upper end is convex (thus it will be abraded by large abraders) whereas a vertex on the lower end is concave so large abraders to not smear it out. Small abraders, corresponding to the constant (Eikonal ) term do not abrade any vertices’s. So, admitting a concave vertex at the lower end does not seem to contradict the physical assumptions. This type of boundary condition has been implemented numerically. Figure \[Fig2\] shows the evolution of a circular arc under (\[basiceqn\]) and boundary condition (b). The numerical simulation was based on a standard finite difference scheme and we can observe that the circular arc remains invariant and moves by uniform translation.
![Circular arc with radius $a =2$ and horizontal tangent at $y=1$ evolving under (\[basiceqn\]) with $L=b/v=0.6$. Numerical simulation by standard finite difference scheme, using $N_s=300$ spatial subdivisions and $\Delta t=10^{-5}$ timestep, profiles plotted after $N_t=10^4$ timesteps each. Observe that the profile moves with uniform translation, circular arc remains invariant under (\[basiceqn\]). []{data-label="Fig2"}](Fig2.eps){width="120"}
Stability
=========
Next we investigate the stability of travelling waves. After finding analytical evidence in subsection \[linear\] for their local stability we run numerical simulation in subsection \[numerical\] to test their global attractivity.
Linear stability: analytical results {#linear}
------------------------------------
Suppose $y(x,t)$ is a solution of (\[basiceqn\]) when we assume the profile is convex, i.e. $\frac{\p ^2 y}{\p x^2}
$ is negative, so that = -( v-b ) \[eqn\] with $b>0$. We consider a nearby solution $y(x,t)+ \epsilon(x,t)$ and substitute into (\[eqn\]) and expand to lowest order in $\epsilon$ we get = - { v-b } +b This equation is of the form \[perturbation\] +u(x,t) = (x,t) with convection velocity \[convection\] u(x,t) = v-b and diffusivity \[diffusion\] (x,t) = b . Essentially, the first term convects the disturbances with a positive space and time dependent speed $u(x,t)$ and the second term is a diffusion term which causes the disturbance to spread out and decrease in amplitude. This is independent of the particular profile $y(x,t)$. In case of straight lines y=A(x-vt) = As, based on (\[convection\]) and (\[diffusion\]) we find the convection velocity and diffusivity u(x,t)=v, (x,t)=b . We can aslo rewrite (\[perturbation\]) using or using the co-moving variables $s,t$ = b which is the standard diffusion equation. So we can conclude that all travelling profiles are locally stable, moreover, for straight lines we have explicitly determined the diffusion and convection terms.
Nonlinear stability: numerical results {#numerical}
--------------------------------------
Circular profiles are of key interest from the point of view of geological applications, we investigate their stability numerically. Figure \[Fig2\] illustrated the *local stability of circular arcs: by taking such an initial condition the circualr shape was preserved by the PDE. In te next step we consider the convex profile \[halftanh\] y\_[initial]{}(x)=(x), x0 which satisfy $y(0)=0,\quad y(\infty)=1$ and we evolve these profile numerically considering the boundary condition (b) described in Section \[travelling\]. The results are shown in Figure \[Fig3\] and we can observe how the initial profile approaches a circular arc. For better comparison the last profile is plotted next to an exact circle.*
![Initial profile given in (\[halftanh\]) with $\lambda=5$ evolving under (\[basiceqn\]) with $L=b/v=0.6$. Numerical simulation by standard finite difference scheme, using $N_s=135$ spatial subdivisions and $\Delta t=10^{-5}$ timestep, profiles plotted after $N_t=2*10^4$ timesteps each (Since the shape changes faster initially, between the first an second profile an intermediate stage at 10.000 steps was inserted). Observe that profile approaches circular arc, next to last profile exact circle is plotted for better comparison. []{data-label="Fig3"}](Fig3.eps){width="120"}
Comparison to experimental data
===============================
Here we rely on laboratory experimental data obtained by Wilson [@Wilson] [@Lave] using an annular, recirculating flume [@Lave]. In an experiment with this flume [@Wilson], single cuboid marble blocks, 10,0 cm tall and 20 cm long, and spanning the 26 cm width of the flume, were fixed on the channel base as a flow obstruction. In our model this would correspond to a Heaviside step function as initial profile shape. The flume was loaded with sorted limestone pebbles to act as bedload abrasion tools, while water discharge was held constant to produce a flow speed of 3ms-1. Under these flow conditions, the limestone pebbles moved by rolling and low saltations in a layer of one to two grain diameters depth along the flume base. Particles moved up the stoss (upstream facing) surface of an obstacle in one or several short hops, and launched off this face clearing the remainder of the obstacle. Resultant erosion of bedrock obstacles was measured using three dimensional laser scanning at intervals throughout experiment runs that lasted 400-690 minutes. Abrasion of obstacles was dominantly on the stoss surface whose initially square cross section evolved to an unpstream facing, almost convex surface. The lower 18.5 mm of the stoss surface were prone to edge chipping, and have been eliminated from consideration, the plotted profile is 81.5mm high. Rates of horizontal erosion were peaking near the top of the obstruction, and decreasing systematically towards the base, resulting in progressive reclining and convex-up rounding of the stoss side. Over time horizontal erosion converged to a common rate at all heights above the flume base, thus, the obstacle stoss faces achieved a time-independent form that advanced downstream into the obstacle. These attributes are shared with bedrock obstacles in the Liwu River, Taiwan, that have been studied extensively [@Hartshorn]. We have set up numerical simulation applying our model to match the flume experiment. We approximated the initial profile by \[expt\_num\] y=41.5(0.4x)+40 The evolution of (\[expt\_num\]) under (\[basiceqn\]) is plotted in Figure \[Fig4\]/a. Since this is a non-convex profile, we used the modified abrasion law defined in (\[nonconvex\]). We can observe that in this case the circular profiles are reached only after long transients, i.e. the inflection point (trajectory plotted in Figure \[Fig4\]/a) lingers for an extended period of time above the $x$ axis. This may account for the geologial observation of non-convex ’steady-state´ profiles which correspond actually to the long transients before the circular shape settles in. In Figure \[Fig4\]/b experiments are shown and Figure \[Fig4\]/c.
![Comparison of experimental and numerical data. Experimental data is based entirely on ([@Wilson]). Initial profile given in (\[expt\_num\]) evolving under (\[basiceqn\]) with $L=b/v=2.0$. Numerical simulation by standard finite difference scheme, using $N_s=750$ spatial subdivisions and $\Delta t=10^{-6}$ timestep, profiles plotted after $N_t=12500$ timesteps each. Observe that numerical and experimental profile show very similar evolution. Profile approaches circular steady-state circular geometry with radius $a=131.5$ only much beyond the range of the physical experiment. Location of inflection point is plotted both on experimental and numerical profiles. []{data-label="Fig4"}](Fig4.eps){width="100"}
Conclusions
===========
In this paper we set up the simple PDE model (\[basiceqn\]) for abrasion under unidirectional (parallel) impacts, based on Bloore’s model [@Bloore] for isotropic abrasion. By using the travelling wave ansatz (\[ansatz\]) we found circular travelling solutions. After establishing their local (linear) stability analytically, we tested their global attractivity by finite difference simulations and found that they appear to be globally stable. We compared our numerical results to laboratory experiments of Wilson [@Wilson] and found good agreement. Our simulation showed that nonconvex profiles may approach their final, circular steady-state geometry via long transients as inflection points may linger above the $x$ axis for extended periods of time. This fact may account for the geological observation of (almost) stationary, non-convex profiles in riverbeds.
Acknowledgments
===============
This research was supported by the Hungarian National Science Foundation Grant OTKA K104601.
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A. Wilson, N. Hovius Upstream facing convex surfaces and the importance of bedload in fluvial bedrock incision: observations from Taiwan. *Geophysical Research Abstracts [**12**]{} EGU2010-4978 (2010)*
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A. Wilson, N. Hovius, J. Lavé Solid particle impact abrasion and the formation of bedrock bedforms. *Geophysical Research Abstracts **10 , EGU2008-A-03341 (2008)***
K. Hartshorn, N. Hovius,W.B. Dade, R.L. Slingerland RL. Climate-driven bedrock incision in an active mountain belt. *Science, **[297]{} (2002) 2036-2038. doi:10.1126/science.1075078***
[^1]: Department of Mechanics, Materials, and Structures, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Mügyetem rkp.3,Budapest 1111, Hungary
[^2]: D. A. M. T. P., Cambridge University, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA, U.K.
|
/**
* Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
* or more contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file
* distributed with this work for additional information
* regarding copyright ownership. The ASF licenses this file
* to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
* "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
* with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
*
* http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
*
* Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
* distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
* WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
* See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
* limitations under the License.
*/
package org.apache.orc;
import static junit.framework.Assert.assertEquals;
import static org.apache.orc.TestVectorOrcFile.assertEmptyStats;
import static org.junit.Assert.assertArrayEquals;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Random;
import org.junit.Assert;
import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
import org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileSystem;
import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
import org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.exec.vector.BytesColumnVector;
import org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.exec.vector.ListColumnVector;
import org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.exec.vector.LongColumnVector;
import org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.exec.vector.StructColumnVector;
import org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.exec.vector.VectorizedRowBatch;
import org.apache.orc.impl.RecordReaderImpl;
import org.junit.Before;
import org.junit.Rule;
import org.junit.Test;
import org.junit.rules.TestName;
import com.google.common.collect.Lists;
public class TestOrcNullOptimization {
TypeDescription createMyStruct() {
return TypeDescription.createStruct()
.addField("a", TypeDescription.createInt())
.addField("b", TypeDescription.createString())
.addField("c", TypeDescription.createBoolean())
.addField("d", TypeDescription.createList(
TypeDescription.createStruct()
.addField("z", TypeDescription.createInt())));
}
void addRow(Writer writer, VectorizedRowBatch batch,
Integer a, String b, Boolean c,
Integer... d) throws IOException {
if (batch.size == batch.getMaxSize()) {
writer.addRowBatch(batch);
batch.reset();
}
int row = batch.size++;
LongColumnVector aColumn = (LongColumnVector) batch.cols[0];
BytesColumnVector bColumn = (BytesColumnVector) batch.cols[1];
LongColumnVector cColumn = (LongColumnVector) batch.cols[2];
ListColumnVector dColumn = (ListColumnVector) batch.cols[3];
StructColumnVector dStruct = (StructColumnVector) dColumn.child;
LongColumnVector dInt = (LongColumnVector) dStruct.fields[0];
if (a == null) {
aColumn.noNulls = false;
aColumn.isNull[row] = true;
} else {
aColumn.vector[row] = a;
}
if (b == null) {
bColumn.noNulls = false;
bColumn.isNull[row] = true;
} else {
bColumn.setVal(row, b.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
}
if (c == null) {
cColumn.noNulls = false;
cColumn.isNull[row] = true;
} else {
cColumn.vector[row] = c ? 1 : 0;
}
if (d == null) {
dColumn.noNulls = false;
dColumn.isNull[row] = true;
} else {
dColumn.offsets[row] = dColumn.childCount;
dColumn.lengths[row] = d.length;
dColumn.childCount += d.length;
for(int e=0; e < d.length; ++e) {
dInt.vector[(int) dColumn.offsets[row] + e] = d[e];
}
}
}
Path workDir = new Path(System.getProperty("test.tmp.dir",
"target" + File.separator + "test" + File.separator + "tmp"));
Configuration conf;
FileSystem fs;
Path testFilePath;
@Rule
public TestName testCaseName = new TestName();
@Before
public void openFileSystem() throws Exception {
conf = new Configuration();
fs = FileSystem.getLocal(conf);
testFilePath = new Path(workDir, "TestOrcNullOptimization." +
testCaseName.getMethodName() + ".orc");
fs.delete(testFilePath, false);
}
@Test
public void testMultiStripeWithNull() throws Exception {
TypeDescription schema = createMyStruct();
Writer writer = OrcFile.createWriter(testFilePath,
OrcFile.writerOptions(conf)
.setSchema(schema)
.stripeSize(100000)
.compress(CompressionKind.NONE)
.bufferSize(10000));
Random rand = new Random(100);
VectorizedRowBatch batch = schema.createRowBatch();
addRow(writer, batch, null, null, true, 100);
for (int i = 2; i < 20000; i++) {
addRow(writer, batch, rand.nextInt(1), "a", true, 100);
}
addRow(writer, batch, null, null, true, 100);
writer.addRowBatch(batch);
writer.close();
Reader reader = OrcFile.createReader(testFilePath,
OrcFile.readerOptions(conf).filesystem(fs));
// check the stats
ColumnStatistics[] stats = reader.getStatistics();
assertEquals(20000, reader.getNumberOfRows());
assertEquals(20000, stats[0].getNumberOfValues());
assertEquals(0, ((IntegerColumnStatistics) stats[1]).getMaximum());
assertEquals(0, ((IntegerColumnStatistics) stats[1]).getMinimum());
assertEquals(true, ((IntegerColumnStatistics) stats[1]).isSumDefined());
assertEquals(0, ((IntegerColumnStatistics) stats[1]).getSum());
assertEquals("count: 19998 hasNull: true bytesOnDisk: 184 min: 0 max: 0 sum: 0",
stats[1].toString());
assertEquals("a", ((StringColumnStatistics) stats[2]).getMaximum());
assertEquals("a", ((StringColumnStatistics) stats[2]).getMinimum());
assertEquals(19998, stats[2].getNumberOfValues());
assertEquals("count: 19998 hasNull: true bytesOnDisk: 200 min: a max: a sum: 19998",
stats[2].toString());
// check the inspectors
assertEquals("struct<a:int,b:string,c:boolean,d:array<struct<z:int>>>",
reader.getSchema().toString());
RecordReader rows = reader.rows();
List<Boolean> expected = Lists.newArrayList();
for (StripeInformation sinfo : reader.getStripes()) {
expected.add(false);
}
// only the first and last stripe will have PRESENT stream
expected.set(0, true);
expected.set(expected.size() - 1, true);
List<Boolean> got = Lists.newArrayList();
// check if the strip footer contains PRESENT stream
for (StripeInformation sinfo : reader.getStripes()) {
OrcProto.StripeFooter sf =
((RecordReaderImpl) rows).readStripeFooter(sinfo);
got.add(sf.toString().indexOf(OrcProto.Stream.Kind.PRESENT.toString())
!= -1);
}
assertEquals(expected, got);
batch = reader.getSchema().createRowBatch();
LongColumnVector aColumn = (LongColumnVector) batch.cols[0];
BytesColumnVector bColumn = (BytesColumnVector) batch.cols[1];
LongColumnVector cColumn = (LongColumnVector) batch.cols[2];
ListColumnVector dColumn = (ListColumnVector) batch.cols[3];
LongColumnVector dElements =
(LongColumnVector)(((StructColumnVector) dColumn.child).fields[0]);
assertEquals(true , rows.nextBatch(batch));
assertEquals(1024, batch.size);
// row 1
assertEquals(true, aColumn.isNull[0]);
assertEquals(true, bColumn.isNull[0]);
assertEquals(1, cColumn.vector[0]);
assertEquals(0, dColumn.offsets[0]);
assertEquals(1, dColumn.lengths[1]);
assertEquals(100, dElements.vector[0]);
rows.seekToRow(19998);
rows.nextBatch(batch);
assertEquals(2, batch.size);
// last-1 row
assertEquals(0, aColumn.vector[0]);
assertEquals("a", bColumn.toString(0));
assertEquals(1, cColumn.vector[0]);
assertEquals(0, dColumn.offsets[0]);
assertEquals(1, dColumn.lengths[0]);
assertEquals(100, dElements.vector[0]);
// last row
assertEquals(true, aColumn.isNull[1]);
assertEquals(true, bColumn.isNull[1]);
assertEquals(1, cColumn.vector[1]);
assertEquals(1, dColumn.offsets[1]);
assertEquals(1, dColumn.lengths[1]);
assertEquals(100, dElements.vector[1]);
assertEquals(false, rows.nextBatch(batch));
rows.close();
}
@Test
public void testMultiStripeWithoutNull() throws Exception {
TypeDescription schema = createMyStruct();
Writer writer = OrcFile.createWriter(testFilePath,
OrcFile.writerOptions(conf)
.setSchema(schema)
.stripeSize(100000)
.compress(CompressionKind.NONE)
.bufferSize(10000));
Random rand = new Random(100);
int batchSize = 5000;
VectorizedRowBatch batch = schema.createRowBatch(batchSize);
ColumnStatistics[] writerStats = writer.getStatistics();
assertEmptyStats(writerStats);
int count = 0;
for (int i = 1; i < 20000; i++) {
addRow(writer, batch, rand.nextInt(1), "a", true, 100);
count++;
if (count % batchSize == 1) {
writerStats = writer.getStatistics();
} else {
assertArrayEquals(writerStats, writer.getStatistics());
}
}
addRow(writer, batch, 0, "b", true, 100);
writer.addRowBatch(batch);
writer.close();
Reader reader = OrcFile.createReader(testFilePath,
OrcFile.readerOptions(conf).filesystem(fs));
// check the stats
ColumnStatistics[] stats = reader.getStatistics();
assertArrayEquals(stats, writer.getStatistics());
assertEquals(20000, reader.getNumberOfRows());
assertEquals(20000, stats[0].getNumberOfValues());
assertEquals(0, ((IntegerColumnStatistics) stats[1]).getMaximum());
assertEquals(0, ((IntegerColumnStatistics) stats[1]).getMinimum());
assertEquals(true, ((IntegerColumnStatistics) stats[1]).isSumDefined());
assertEquals(0, ((IntegerColumnStatistics) stats[1]).getSum());
assertEquals("count: 20000 hasNull: false bytesOnDisk: 160 min: 0 max: 0 sum: 0",
stats[1].toString());
assertEquals("b", ((StringColumnStatistics) stats[2]).getMaximum());
assertEquals("a", ((StringColumnStatistics) stats[2]).getMinimum());
assertEquals(20000, stats[2].getNumberOfValues());
assertEquals("count: 20000 hasNull: false bytesOnDisk: 180 min: a max: b sum: 20000",
stats[2].toString());
// check the inspectors
Assert.assertEquals("struct<a:int,b:string,c:boolean,d:array<struct<z:int>>>",
reader.getSchema().toString());
RecordReader rows = reader.rows();
// none of the stripes will have PRESENT stream
List<Boolean> expected = Lists.newArrayList();
for (StripeInformation sinfo : reader.getStripes()) {
expected.add(false);
}
List<Boolean> got = Lists.newArrayList();
// check if the strip footer contains PRESENT stream
for (StripeInformation sinfo : reader.getStripes()) {
OrcProto.StripeFooter sf =
((RecordReaderImpl) rows).readStripeFooter(sinfo);
got.add(sf.toString().indexOf(OrcProto.Stream.Kind.PRESENT.toString())
!= -1);
}
assertEquals(expected, got);
rows.seekToRow(19998);
batch = reader.getSchema().createRowBatch();
LongColumnVector aColumn = (LongColumnVector) batch.cols[0];
BytesColumnVector bColumn = (BytesColumnVector) batch.cols[1];
LongColumnVector cColumn = (LongColumnVector) batch.cols[2];
ListColumnVector dColumn = (ListColumnVector) batch.cols[3];
LongColumnVector dElements =
(LongColumnVector)(((StructColumnVector) dColumn.child).fields[0]);
assertEquals(true, rows.nextBatch(batch));
assertEquals(2, batch.size);
// last-1 row
assertEquals(0, aColumn.vector[0]);
assertEquals("a", bColumn.toString(0));
assertEquals(1, cColumn.vector[0]);
assertEquals(0, dColumn.offsets[0]);
assertEquals(1, dColumn.lengths[0]);
assertEquals(100, dElements.vector[0]);
// last row
assertEquals(0, aColumn.vector[1]);
assertEquals("b", bColumn.toString(1));
assertEquals(1, cColumn.vector[1]);
assertEquals(1, dColumn.offsets[1]);
assertEquals(1, dColumn.lengths[1]);
assertEquals(100, dElements.vector[1]);
rows.close();
}
@Test
public void testColumnsWithNullAndCompression() throws Exception {
TypeDescription schema = createMyStruct();
Writer writer = OrcFile.createWriter(testFilePath,
OrcFile.writerOptions(conf)
.setSchema(schema)
.stripeSize(100000)
.bufferSize(10000));
VectorizedRowBatch batch = schema.createRowBatch();
addRow(writer, batch, 3, "a", true, 100);
addRow(writer, batch, null, "b", true, 100);
addRow(writer, batch, 3, null, false, 100);
addRow(writer, batch, 3, "d", true, 100);
addRow(writer, batch, 2, "e", true, 100);
addRow(writer, batch, 2, "f", true, 100);
addRow(writer, batch, 2, "g", true, 100);
addRow(writer, batch, 2, "h", true, 100);
writer.addRowBatch(batch);
writer.close();
Reader reader = OrcFile.createReader(testFilePath,
OrcFile.readerOptions(conf).filesystem(fs));
// check the stats
ColumnStatistics[] stats = reader.getStatistics();
assertArrayEquals(stats, writer.getStatistics());
assertEquals(8, reader.getNumberOfRows());
assertEquals(8, stats[0].getNumberOfValues());
assertEquals(3, ((IntegerColumnStatistics) stats[1]).getMaximum());
assertEquals(2, ((IntegerColumnStatistics) stats[1]).getMinimum());
assertEquals(true, ((IntegerColumnStatistics) stats[1]).isSumDefined());
assertEquals(17, ((IntegerColumnStatistics) stats[1]).getSum());
assertEquals("count: 7 hasNull: true bytesOnDisk: 12 min: 2 max: 3 sum: 17",
stats[1].toString());
assertEquals("h", ((StringColumnStatistics) stats[2]).getMaximum());
assertEquals("a", ((StringColumnStatistics) stats[2]).getMinimum());
assertEquals(7, stats[2].getNumberOfValues());
assertEquals("count: 7 hasNull: true bytesOnDisk: 20 min: a max: h sum: 7",
stats[2].toString());
// check the inspectors
batch = reader.getSchema().createRowBatch();
LongColumnVector aColumn = (LongColumnVector) batch.cols[0];
BytesColumnVector bColumn = (BytesColumnVector) batch.cols[1];
LongColumnVector cColumn = (LongColumnVector) batch.cols[2];
ListColumnVector dColumn = (ListColumnVector) batch.cols[3];
LongColumnVector dElements =
(LongColumnVector)(((StructColumnVector) dColumn.child).fields[0]);
Assert.assertEquals("struct<a:int,b:string,c:boolean,d:array<struct<z:int>>>",
reader.getSchema().toString());
RecordReader rows = reader.rows();
// only the last strip will have PRESENT stream
List<Boolean> expected = Lists.newArrayList();
for (StripeInformation sinfo : reader.getStripes()) {
expected.add(false);
}
expected.set(expected.size() - 1, true);
List<Boolean> got = Lists.newArrayList();
// check if the strip footer contains PRESENT stream
for (StripeInformation sinfo : reader.getStripes()) {
OrcProto.StripeFooter sf =
((RecordReaderImpl) rows).readStripeFooter(sinfo);
got.add(sf.toString().indexOf(OrcProto.Stream.Kind.PRESENT.toString())
!= -1);
}
assertEquals(expected, got);
assertEquals(true, rows.nextBatch(batch));
assertEquals(8, batch.size);
// row 1
assertEquals(3, aColumn.vector[0]);
assertEquals("a", bColumn.toString(0));
assertEquals(1, cColumn.vector[0]);
assertEquals(0, dColumn.offsets[0]);
assertEquals(1, dColumn.lengths[0]);
assertEquals(100, dElements.vector[0]);
// row 2
assertEquals(true, aColumn.isNull[1]);
assertEquals("b", bColumn.toString(1));
assertEquals(1, cColumn.vector[1]);
assertEquals(1, dColumn.offsets[1]);
assertEquals(1, dColumn.lengths[1]);
assertEquals(100, dElements.vector[1]);
// row 3
assertEquals(3, aColumn.vector[2]);
assertEquals(true, bColumn.isNull[2]);
assertEquals(0, cColumn.vector[2]);
assertEquals(2, dColumn.offsets[2]);
assertEquals(1, dColumn.lengths[2]);
assertEquals(100, dElements.vector[2]);
rows.close();
}
}
|
Introduction {#s1}
============
Vagal afferent neurons innervate the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, pancreas, liver, and portal vein and link peripheral levels of GI nutrients as well as circulating and stored fuels ([@bib3]). Peripheral sensory mechanisms play a crucial role in the regulation of satiation ([@bib23]; [@bib2]; [@bib15]), but mechanisms underlying vagal sensing itself are still unknown. Recently, we identified an enrichment of 'lipid sensing' nuclear receptors (NRs), including liver X receptor alpha and beta (LXRα/β) in the nodose ganglia (NG) of the vagus nerve ([@bib19]). Notably, these neurons and their processes reside outside the blood--brain barrier, enabling the potential for direct sensing of molecules released by adipose tissue or liver. LXRs are oxysterol-sensitive NRs that direct cholesterol uptake, transport, and excretion in various tissues. LXRα and LXRβ are encoded by the *Nr1h3* and *Nr1h2* genes, respectively (NR subfamily 1, group H, member 3 and 2). LXRs regulate target genes encoding for ATP-binding cassette proteins, and apolipoproteins ([@bib21a] [@bib28]; [@bib6]; [@bib4]; [@bib16]). Ligand activation of LXRs also stimulates de novo lipogenesis of triglycerides in liver via sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1c ([@bib21b] [@bib32]). Hepatic LXRα/β regulate whole lipid and glucose homeostasis, and LXRα/β in macrophages regulate inflammation ([@bib6]; [@bib22]; [@bib1]; [@bib31]). In the central nervous system, they regulate local inflammation, differentiation, and neuron survival by orchestrating cholesterol uptake and efflux ([@bib29]).
Further studies in LXR null mice revealed the rather surprising finding that these mice were resistant to obesity when challenged with a diet containing both high fat and cholesterol ([@bib17]). This study showed that the LXR^−/−^ response was due to abnormal energy dissipation resulting in part from ectopic expression of uncoupling proteins in white adipose. Here, we show that Western diet (WD)-fed mice that lack LXRα/β in sensory neurons of the NG have altered neuronal cholesterol content and increased white adipose tissue browning, leading to changes in energy expenditure and body weight. This unexpected function of LXRs in vagal sensory neurons provides a plausible mechanism that may in part explain the role LXRs on metabolism in response to a diet containing fat and cholesterol.
Results {#s2}
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The absence of LXRs in NAV1.8 expressing neurons disrupts *Abca1* regulation and increases NG neuronal cholesterol content {#s2-1}
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We first assessed the effects on LXR-target gene expression following pharmacological administration of LXR agonists. Canonical LXR target genes, including ATP binding cassette protein A1 (*Abca1*) and SREBP-1c (*Srebf1*), were up-regulated in the NG of mice treated with LXR agonists ([Figure 1A](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}). These results agree with reports of expression of *Abca1* in the central nervous system (CNS) and its up-regulation in cultured neurons and sciatic nerves following LXR agonist treatment ([@bib11]; [@bib5]). Previous data have also shown SREBP-1c to be expressed in Schwann cells and CNS neurons, and LXR agonist stimulated *Srebp1f* expression has also been reported in various tissues ([@bib5]). Carbohydrate-responsive element-binding protein (*Chrebp*) expression remained unchanged in response to LXR agonist ([Figure 1A](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}).10.7554/eLife.06667.003Figure 1.LXRs signaling regulates cholesterol metabolism in nodose ganglia neurons.(**A**) Regulation of selected target genes in nodose ganglia (NG) following liver X receptor (LXR) agonist treatment in vivo (left panel) n = 5--8 per group. \*\*p \< 0.005. (**B**) NG organotypic slices were prepared from LXRs^Nav^ or LXRs^fl/fl^ treated with GW3965 (5 μM) or vehicle for 4 hr. Quantitative PCR (qPCR) data are expressed as average fold-change relative to vehicle ± S.E.M., n = 3 independent experiments. \# and \*indicates p \< 0.5, \*\*p \< 0.005. (**C**) Quantification of total cholesterol. Values were expressed as ng of cholesterol per NG, n = 6. \#\# and \*\*p \< 0.001. (right panel). Neurons isolated from LXRs^Nav^ or control mice NG were subjected to Filipin staining (representative images of staining from 3 individual mice).**DOI:** [http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06667.003](10.7554/eLife.06667.003)10.7554/eLife.06667.004Figure 1---figure supplement 1.Ablation of LXR in the NAV1.8 positive neurons.qPCR analysis detecting the expression of truncated isoforms of *Nr1h3* (**A**) and Nr1h2 (**B**) in NG, liver, white adipose, brown adipose tissues (BATs), and muscle. Error bars show S.E.M. \*\*indicates p \< 0.01.**DOI:** [http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06667.004](10.7554/eLife.06667.004)
These results suggest that *Abca1* and *Srepb1f* are targets of LXR in the NG. To confirm these findings, we established NG organotypic cultures from mice lacking LXRα and LXRβ in vagal sensory neurons expressing the sodium ion channel NAV1.8 encoded by the *Scn10a* gene. The resulting LXRs^Nav^ mice were generated by breeding double floxed *Nr1h3* and *Nr1h2* mice (LXRs^fl/fl^ mice) with the Nav1.8::Cre mice, which selectively expresses Cre-recombinase in peripheral sensory neurons ([@bib26]; [@bib13]). As expected, LXRα/β were deleted in the majority of NG neurons in LXRs^Nav^ mice compared to LXRs^fl/fl^ littermate controls ([Figure 1---figure supplement 1](#fig1s1){ref-type="fig"}). No difference in LXRs expression was observed in liver, white adipose tissue, brown adipose tissues (BATs), and muscle ([Figure 1---figure supplement 1](#fig1s1){ref-type="fig"}).
In LXRs^fl/fl^ controls, *Abca1* and *Srebp1f* mRNA levels increased significantly after agonist treatment. This stimulation was fully (*Abca1*) or partially (*Srebp1f*) blunted in NG from LXRs^Nav^ littermates ([Figure 1B](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}). Collectively, these results suggest that in the NG, the regulation by LXRs of *Abca1* is restricted to sensory neurons, but that its action on *Srebp1f* likely occurs in multiple cell types.
Interestingly, cholesterol assays on whole NG taken from WD (42% fat, 0.2% cholesterol)-fed LXRs^Nav^ knockout mice showed a 60% increase in total cholesterol compared to littermate controls ([Figure 1C](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}). An increase of intracellular cholesterol level was also observed in LXRs^Nav^ dispersed neurons ([Figure 1C](#fig1){ref-type="fig"}).
Collectively, our results suggest that in a WD setting, LXRs regulate NG sensory neuron cholesterol levels though ABCA1-dependent signaling. A role for ABCA1 in cholesterol, lipid distribution has previously been extensively observed in the brain ([@bib27]; [@bib30]; [@bib18]). In addition, LXR agonist or ABCA1 over-expression has been shown to alter cholesterol content in degenerating neurons or cancer cells ([@bib24]). Our results demonstrate that in sensory neurons, NG cholesterol metabolism is also regulated via LXR.
Resistance to diet induced obesity in mice lacking *LXRα/β* in *Nav1.8*-expressing neurons {#s2-2}
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To measure the physiological impact of LXRs loss in peripheral sensory neurons expressing Nav1.8, LXRs^fl/fl^, LXRs^Nav^, Nav1.8::Cre were maintained for 16 weeks on a standard rodent chow diet (normal chow, NC, 4% fat) or WD. All mice had similar body weights at weaning. However, LXRs^Nav^ mice weighed significantly less than controls after 11 weeks of NC ([Figure 2A](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}). Similarly, LXRs^Nav^ mice fed WD were resistant to diet-induced obesity. NMR analysis revealed that LXRs^fl/fl^ mice had twofold more body fat after 10 weeks of WD than LXRs^Nav^ mice ([Figure 2B](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}). However, the differences in body fat do not completely reflect the body weight difference, despite no difference in lean mass ([Figure 2B](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}). WD-fed LXRs^Nav^ mice had higher energy expenditure than littermate controls ([Figure 2C,D](#fig2){ref-type="fig"}). However, no differences in food intake were noted in metabolic chambers. Furthermore, no important changes were found in plasma glucose, serum cholesterol, free fatty acids and liver triglycerides or cholesterol ([Figure 2---figure supplement 1A-F](#fig2s1){ref-type="fig"}). A decrease in adiposity in the setting of nutrient excess is sometimes due to ectopic lipid deposition in liver. However, histological examination using Hematoxylin and Eosin staining (H&E staining) showed that when fed WD, both LXRs^fl^ and LXRs^Nav^ mice developed hepatosteatosis and increase in hepatic lipid droplets ([Figure 2---figure supplement 1G](#fig2s1){ref-type="fig"}). Our results suggest that LXRs^Nav^ mice have an exacerbated response to the WD with increased diet-induced thermogenesis. This suggests that LXRs may regulate the whole-body energy expenditure according to the amount of fat or cholesterol present in the diet.10.7554/eLife.06667.005Figure 2.Ablation of LXRs from NAV1.8 expressing neurons exacerbates high-fat diet induced thermogenesis.(**A**) Body weight of LXRs^Nav^ mice and littermate controls on chow and Western Diet (WD) as followed over time (n = 12 per genotype) \* for WD, \# for normal chow (NC). (**B**) Adipose tissue as a percentage of total body weight in mice fed WD for 9 weeks, measured by NMR (n = 6). (**C**,**D**) Energy expenditure in weight-matched mice. (**C**) Calorimetry trace before and after a switch from NC to WD. (**D**) Energy expenditure during light and dark cycles before and after a switch from NC to WD. Error bars show S.E.M. \*indicates p \< 0.05.**DOI:** [http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06667.005](10.7554/eLife.06667.005)10.7554/eLife.06667.006Figure 2---figure supplement 1.Blood chemistry and lipid levels of LXRs^Nav^ mice.Metabolite levels as measured by the UTSW metabolic core from LXRs^Nav^ and LXRs^fl/fl^ mice fed 16 weeks with NC or WD. (**A**) Glucose. (**B**) Serum cholesterol. (**C**) Fatty acid (FFA). (**D**) Serum triglycerides. (**E**) Liver triglycerides. (**F**) Liver cholesterol.**DOI:** [http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06667.006](10.7554/eLife.06667.006)
The loss of LXRα/β in NAV1.8 positive neurons attenuates lipid accumulation in BAT, promotes browning in subcutaneous fat, and enhances mitochondrial respiration in skeletal muscle {#s2-3}
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Expectedly, we found that WD-fed control mice accumulated large lipid droplets in their BAT. Notably, this accumulation was considerably attenuated in LXRs^Nav^ mice ([Figure 3A](#fig3){ref-type="fig"}). To evaluate the BAT activity, markers for mitochondrial metabolism and thermogenesis regulation in adipose tissue were assessed by Western blot or real-time PCR. Uncoupling protein 1 (*Ucp1*) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (*Pgc1α*) were higher in LXRs^Nav^ mice BAT ([Figure 3B,C](#fig3){ref-type="fig"}). A more striking threefold UCP1 increase was observed in LXRs^Nav^ mice subcutaneous fat as assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and whole fat pad Western blot ([Figure 3D,E](#fig3){ref-type="fig"}). These results suggest LXRs in sensory neurons may be important for BAT activity regulation and subcutaneous white fat conversion to a 'beige' phenotype in response to WD.10.7554/eLife.06667.007Figure 3.Adipose tissue and muscle reprogramming in LXRs^Nav^ mice vs control mice.(**A**) Immunohistochemistry for UCP1 in BAT. (**B**) UCP1 Western blot on whole BAT pads (upper panel, n = 4) UCP1 molecular weight (MW) is 33 kDa, Actin served as the loading control, MW 42 kDa, the graph represents blot quantification. (**C**) mRNA levels in the BAT of LXR ablated mice vs control mice (lower panel, n = 4). *\**indicates p \< 0.05. (**D**) UCP1 staining and (**E**) Western-blot analysis of UCP1 protein levels in whole, individual dorsal subcutaneous fat pads. Actin served as the loading control. The signal is quantified in the graph below (n = 4) Scale bar = 100 μm. (**F**,**G**) Oxygen-consumption rates were determined using the XF24 Extracellular Flux Analyzer following the manufacturers\' protocols (n = 3). *\**indicates p \< 0.01.**DOI:** [http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06667.007](10.7554/eLife.06667.007)10.7554/eLife.06667.008Figure 3---figure supplement 1.Electron-flow experiments.Isolated skeletal muscle mitochondria were seeded at 10 μg of protein per well in XF24 V7 cell-culture microplates and analyzed with the XF24 Extracellular Flux Analyzer (n = 3).**DOI:** [http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06667.008](10.7554/eLife.06667.008)
To establish whether sensory neuron-specific deletion of LXRs alters skeletal muscle mitochondrial respiration, we examined mitochondrial electron transport chain activity by performing mitochondrial electron-flow (EF) and electron-coupling (EC) experiments to assess oxygen-consumption rates (OCRs). During EF analyses, we observed that skeletal muscle mitochondria derived from LXRs^Nav^ mice exhibit markedly higher OCRs in response to the substrates pyruvate, malate, succinate, and ascorbate ([Figure 3F,G](#fig3){ref-type="fig"}), when compared from control mice skeletal muscle mitochondria. Furthermore, EC experiments to gage mitochondrial coupling and integrity revealed no defects in skeletal muscle mitochondrial function in either genotype ([Figure 3---figure supplement 1](#fig3s1){ref-type="fig"}). Taken together, these data indicate that deletion of LXR specifically in peripheral sensory neurons enhances skeletal muscle mitochondrial oxidative respiration.
The loss of LXRα/β in NAV1.8 expressing neurons modifies NG gene expression {#s2-4}
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To gain more insights into the signaling downstream of LXR in NG sensory neurons, we surveyed genes important for vagal neuronal function, including: cholecystokinin A and B receptor (*Cckar* and *Cckbr*), which regulate vagal nerve activity and feeding; neuregulin 1 (*Nrg1*), involved in axon/Schwann cell communication and sensory nerve structure ([@bib12]; [@bib25]); and α, β, and γ synuclein (*Syna, Synb, Syng*), which are involved in intraneuronal trafficking/cell--cell communication and known to be LXR targets in the brain ([@bib14]). *Nrg1* and *Syng* were decreased twofold in both chow and WD-fed LXRs^Nav^ mice, interestingly *Syna* was only significantly up-regulated in control mice in response to WD ([Figure 4A](#fig4){ref-type="fig"}). Interestingly, in recent reports, γ synuclein has been linked to metabolism ([@bib21]; [@bib14]; [@bib20]). γ synuclein is a protein that modulates synaptic trafficking in neurons but also lipid droplets generating intracellular fatty acids. Notably, the γ synuclein whole body knockout is protected against diet-induced obesity ([@bib21]; [@bib20]).10.7554/eLife.06667.009Figure 4.NG gene expression in LXRs^Nav^ mice vs control mice.(**A**) Gene expression in NG from LXRs^Nav^ and control mice fed with NC or WD. (**B**) Gene expression in NG from LXRs^Nav^ and control mice fasted 20 hr or fed. All genes show a significant difference between both genotypes. *\**indicates p \< 0.05 (n = 6--10).**DOI:** [http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06667.009](10.7554/eLife.06667.009)
Starvation reduces triglyceride levels in serum, but increases circulating fatty acids, which are rapidly taken up by the liver. To study the ability of NG to acutely respond to nutrient changes (including triglycerides and fatty acids), we studied the expression of LXR targets in the NG of fed or fasted mice. We asked whether fasting-induced increases in fatty acid availability modified NG gene expression. *Abca1*, *Srepb1f*, and *Syng* mRNA levels were significantly changed in LXRs^fl/fl^ mice fasted 20 hr ([Figure 4B](#fig4){ref-type="fig"}). Notably, the fasting-induced increase in *Abca1* and *Syng* was blunted in LXRs^Nav^ mice ([Figure 4B](#fig4){ref-type="fig"}). We also exposed NG cultures to serum obtained from mice fed or fasted for 20 hr. These data suggest that NG neurons may sense circulating secreted starvation cues and respond by regulating unique LXR-dependent genes. Despite its well-documented role in regulating the transcription of genes crucial for lipid synthesis and storage upon cholesterol sensing, little is known about how LXRs function in peripheral neurons and further investigation is necessary to completely understand the role of these NRs in the NG neurons.
Our study suggests that LXRs in vagal sensory neurons potentially regulate vagal synaptic transmission to ultimately affect the gating of information to adipose tissues and muscle. Since WAT, BAT, and muscle receive innervation from sympathetic neurons, we suspect that the increased sympathetic tone (secondary to altered input from the vagal sensory neuron activity) may underlie the increased energy expenditure observed in LXRs^Nav^ mice.
Interestingly, Kalaany et al., also described LXR null mice as resistant to obesity when challenged with a Western-style diet containing high fat and cholesterol. This phenotype was surprisingly independent of SREBP-1c and due to a net increase in the energy utilization in white adipose and muscle ([@bib17]). Our study of LXR function in NG neurons is consistent with this previous report and provides a partial explanation of how LXRs can affect the whole body thermogenesis via sensory neurons.
[@bib7], previously showed induction of LXRs in the hypothalamus in response to high-fat feeding. This finding suggests that LXRs may also regulate energy homeostasis beyond the nodose nucleus neurons.
Based on the aforementioned findings, we postulate that the LXR pathway may mediate certain aspects of lipid sensing in peripheral sensory neurons. Our findings also suggest that the ability to metabolize and sense cholesterol and/or fatty acids in peripheral neurons may be an important requirement for physiological adaptations to high-fat/high-cholesterol (Western) diets, such including thermogenesis leading to changes in key metabolic processes.
Materials and methods {#s3}
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Animals {#s3-1}
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All 'Materials and methods' were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at UT Southwestern Medical Center. All mice were housed in a temperature-controlled room with a 12-hr light/dark cycle in the animal facility of University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
Mice were fed with either NC (\#2916, Harlan-Teklad, Madison, WI; 4.25% kcal from fat) or WD (\#88137, Harlan Teklad, cholesterol (0.2% total cholesterol), fat (42% kcal from fat), high in saturated fatty acids (\>60% of total fatty acids)). LXRs^fl/fl^ mice (floxed *Nr1h3* and Nr1h2 *genes*) on a mixed C57BL6 and 129SV background were bred and kept as a mixed background in a closed colony in UTSW germ-free facility. LXRs^fl/fl^ mice were then backcrossed to C57BL/6J mice for six generations prior to experiments. Transgenic mice (C57/BL6 background) carrying *Cre* recombinase driven by a Scn10a promoter (called Nav1.8::Cre mice) were bred with backcrossed LXRs^fl/fl^ mice. LXRs^fl/fl^ mice were bred with LXRs^fl/fl^ Nav^+/−^ to generate cohorts of littermate LXRs^Nav^ and LXRs^fl^ that were used and compared in at least three cohorts for each experiment.
We have generated cohort of Nav1.8-Cre/ tdTomato reporter mice to examine the hypothalamus. Our current findings show that tdTomato Nav1.8 expression is absent from the entire hypothalamus (Data not shown).
Body weight and composition {#s3-2}
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Body weight was monitored weekly from weaning (at 4 weeks of age) to 28 weeks of age. In the WD studies, mice were maintained on NC until 6 weeks old before being fed WD.
Metabolic cage studies {#s3-3}
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Food intake, meal patterns, energy expenditure, and physical activity were continuously monitored using a combined indirect calorimetry system (TSE Systems GmbH, Bad Homburg, Germany). Experimental animals (11-week-old) were acclimated in the metabolic chambers for 5 days before data collection. Mice were initially maintained on NC during the acclimation period and the first two days of data collection and then fed WD for the next three days. O~2~ consumption and CO~2~ production were measured to determine the energy expenditure. In addition, physical activity was measured using a multi-dimensional infrared light bean system.
In vivo agonist treatment {#s3-4}
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C57Bl/6 males were treated with vehicle (1% methylcellulose) and LXR agonist (10 milligram/kg body weight (mpk) GW3965), by oral gavage at 14 hr and 2 hr prior to sacrifice. NG were rapidly dissected and frozen in liquid nitrogen.
Metabolic cage studies {#s3-5}
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Metabolic parameters were continuously monitored using a combined indirect calorimetry system (TSE Systems GmbH) as described in the supplemental methods.
Data analysis {#s3-6}
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The data were represented as mean ± S.E.M. Statistical analyses were performed using GraphPad PRISM version 6.0. Single comparisons were made using 1- or 2-tailed *t* tests, as appropriate, and multiple comparisons were performed using 1-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Dunnett\'s post hoc test. For repeated measures, 2-way repeated-measures ANOVA was performed, with Bonferroni post hoc tests. A p value less than 0.05 was considered significant.
Quantitative PCR {#s3-7}
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Real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) gene expression analysis was performed using inventoried TaqMan Gene Expression Assays (Applied Biosystems). 18 s was used as normalizer. TaqMan probes used for qPCR include *18 s* (ABI, Hs99999901_s1), *Adrb3* (ABI, Mm02601819_g1), C*ckar* (ABI, Mm00438060_m1), *Cckbr* (ABI, Mm00432329_m1), *Ucp1* (ABI, Mm01244861_m1), *Pgc1a* (01016719_m1), *Nrg1* (Mm01212130_m1), S*yna* (Mm01188700_m1), S*ynb* (Mm00504325_m1), S*ynb* Mm00488345_m1), *Abca1* (Mm00442646_m1), Two Sybr green-based primer sets located in the first exons of the floxed *Nr1h3* and Nr1h2 *genes* were used to specifically detect the truncated form of LXRα and β.
NG organotypic culture {#s3-8}
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Mouse pups between 8 and 11 day old were decapitated, and the NG were quickly removed and cultured in chilled Gey\'s Balanced Salt Solution (Invitrogen) enriched with glucose (0.5%) and KCl (30 mM). The NG were then placed on Millicell-CM filters (Millipore; pore size 0.4 μm) and then maintained at the air-media interface in minimum essential medium (Invitrogen) supplemented with heat-inactivated horse serum (25%, Invitrogen), glucose (32 mM), and GlutaMAX (2 mM, Invitrogen). Cultures were typically maintained for 10 days in standard medium, which was replaced three times a week. After an overnight incubation in low serum, (1.5%) MEM supplemented with GlutaMAX (2 mM), slices were stimulated with vehicle, 5 μM GW3965 for 4 hr. RNA was harvested using Acturus PicoPure RNA Extraction kit (Applied Biosystems).
Histology {#s3-9}
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For IHC, sections were deparaffinized and the wax at the surface was removed with xylenes. After antigen retrieval and blockage of endogenous peroxidase activity, sections were stained with primary antibodies against UCP-1 (Cat\# ab10983, Abcam) followed by biotinylated secondary antibodies (anti-rabbit; Dako, Glostrup, Denmark). Secondary antibodies were detected using a DAB chromogen A kit (Dako) following the manufacturer\'s protocol. The slides were also counterstained with Hematoxylin. Filipin staining for unesterified cholesterol was performed according to manufacturer\'s instructions (FilipinIII cholesterol detection, Abcam).
Glucose tolerance tests {#s3-10}
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After measuring the fasting glucose levels, mice were given an i.p. dose of glucose (1.5--2 g/kg body weight). Blood glucose levels were then monitored using an AlphaTrak glucometer (Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, IL) designed for use in rodents.
Cholesterol quantitative measurement {#s3-11}
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Adult tissue was resuspended in 1× lysis buffer placed on ice 30 min and homogenized in 2 ml tubes, glass bead-containing tubes. Samples were then directly used to quantify total cholesterol. The reaction was performed in 96-well plates by adding Amplex Red reagent, horseradish peroxidase, cholesterol oxidase, and cholesterol esterase (Amplex Red Cholesterol Assay Kit; Life technologies). The reactions were incubated for 30 min at 37°C. Results presented here were obtained from individual mice (n = 6).
Isolation of mitochondria from skeletal muscle tissues {#s3-12}
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To isolate mitochondria, skeletal muscle tissues were homogenized using a motorized Dounce homogenizer in ice-cold MSHE buffer (70 mM sucrose, 210 mM mannitol, 5 mM HEPES, 1 mM EDTA) containing 0.5% FA-free Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA). Homogenates then underwent low centrifugation (800×*g* for 10 min) to remove nuclei and cell debris, followed by high centrifugation (8000×*g* for 10 min) to obtain the mitochondrial pellet, which was washed once in ice-cold MSHE buffer and was resuspended in a minimal amount of MSHE buffer prior to determination of protein concentrations using a BCA assay (Pierce).
Mitochondrial experiments {#s3-13}
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OCRs were determined using the XF24 Extracellular Flux Analyzer (Seahorse Bioscience, MA) following the manufacturers\' protocols. For the EF experiments, isolated skeletal muscle mitochondria were seeded at 10 μg of protein per well in XF24 V7 cell-culture microplates (Seahorse Bioscience), then pelleted by centrifugation (2000×*g* for 20 min at 4°C) in 1× MAS buffer (70 mM sucrose, 220 mM mannitol, 10 mM KH~2~PO~4~, 5 mM MgCl~2~, 2 mM 4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazineethanesulfonic acid (HEPES), 1 mM ethylene glycol tetraacetic acid (EGTA) in 0.2% FA-free BSA; pH 7.2) supplemented with 10 mM pyruvate, 10 mM malate, and 4 μM carbonyl cyanide 4-(trifluoromethoxy)phenylhydrazone (FCCP) (for EF experiments), with a final volume of 500 μl per well. For EC experiments, 1× MAS buffer was supplemented with 10 mM succinate and 2 μM rotenone. The XF24 plate was then transferred to a temperature-controlled (37°C) Seahorse analyzer and subjected to a 10-min equilibration period and 2 assay cycles to measure the basal rate, comprising a 30-s mix, and a 3-min measure period each; and compounds were added by automatic pneumatic injection followed by a single assay cycle after each; comprising a 30-s mix and 3-min measure period. For EF experiments, OCR measurements were obtained following sequential additions of rotenone (2 μM final concentration), succinate (10 mM), antimycin A (4 μM), and ascorbate (10 mM) (the latter containing 1 mM N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine \[TMPD\]). For EC experiments, OCR measurements were obtained post sequential additions of ADP (4 mM), oligomycin (2 μM), FCCP (4 μM), and antimycin-A (2 μM). OCR measurements were recorded at set interval time-points. All compounds and materials above were obtained from Sigma--Aldrich.
Funding Information
===================
This paper was supported by the following grants:
- http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000002National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01DK088423 to Joel K Elmquist.
- http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000002National Institutes of Health (NIH) R37DK053301 to Joel K Elmquist.
- http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000002National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01DK55758 to Philipp E Scherer.
- http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000002National Institutes of Health (NIH) U19DK062434 to David J Mangelsdorf.
- http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000011Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to David J Mangelsdorf.
- http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000002National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01DK099110 to Philipp E Scherer.
We thank the UTSW Mouse Metabolic Phenotyping Core (NIH PL1 DK081182, UL1 RR024923). This work was supported by NIH grants R01DK088423 and R37DK053301 (to JKE), R01DK55758 and R01DK099110 (to PES), P01DK088761 (to PES and JKE), NURSA grant U19DK062434 (to JKE and DJM), GM007062 (to ALB); the Robert A. Welch Foundation (grant I-1275 to DJM); and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (DJM).
Additional information {#s4}
======================
JKE: Reviewing editor, *eLife*.
The other authors declare that no competing interests exist.
VM-A, Conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis and interpretation of data, Drafting or revising the article.
LG, Conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis and interpretation of data, Drafting or revising the article.
SL, Conception and design, Analysis and interpretation of data, Drafting or revising the article.
DJM, Conception and design, Analysis and interpretation of data, Drafting or revising the article.
JKE, Conception and design, Analysis and interpretation of data, Drafting or revising the article.
ALB, Conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis and interpretation of data.
KS, Conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis and interpretation of data.
YZ, Conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis and interpretation of data.
CMK, Conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis and interpretation of data, Drafting or revising the article, Contributed unpublished essential data or reagents.
PES, Conception and design, Drafting or revising the article.
Animal experimentation: This study was performed in strict accordance with the recommendations in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the National Institutes of Health. All of the animals were handled according to approved institutional animal care and use committee (IACUC) protocols (2012-0206) of UTSW. The protocol was approved by the Committee on the Ethics of Animal Experiments of UTSW. Every effort was made to minimize suffering.
10.7554/eLife.06667.010
Decision letter
Tontonoz
Peter
Reviewing editor
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Los Angeles
,
United States
eLife posts the editorial decision letter and author response on a selection of the published articles (subject to the approval of the authors). An edited version of the letter sent to the authors after peer review is shown, indicating the substantive concerns or comments; minor concerns are not usually shown. Reviewers have the opportunity to discuss the decision before the letter is sent (see [review process](http://elifesciences.org/review-process)). Similarly, the author response typically shows only responses to the major concerns raised by the reviewers.
Thank you for sending your work entitled "Loss of LXRα/β in Peripheral Sensory Neurons Modifies Energy Expenditure" for consideration at *eLif*e. Your article has been favorably evaluated by a Senior editor and three reviewers, one of whom is a member of our Board of Reviewing Editors.
The Reviewing editor and the other reviewers discussed their comments before we reached this decision, and the Reviewing editor has assembled the following comments to help you prepare a revised submission.
The reviewers were in agreement that the work was novel and potentially of interest to the readers of *eLife*. All of the reviewers felt that the delineation of a role for sensory nerve metabolism in control of systemic physiology was exciting.
At the same time, the review process identified a few opportunities to strengthen the work.
1\) Some of the reviewers felt that the observed effect on browning was modest and that it would be important to consider the potential contribution of muscle to the energy expenditure phenotype. Is there evidence of increased fatty acid uptake and oxidation?
2\) The suggestion that LXRs sense changes in fatty acid levels is provocative, but not currently supported by data. The authors could address whether LXR target gene expression in sensory neurons change during fasting/refeeding. Additional discussion of how this might be accomplished would also be useful.
Minor comments:
1\) Please confirm that the knockout mice employed have been appropriately backcrossed to a common genetic background. Genetic background and degree of backcrossing should be indicated clearly in Methods.
10.7554/eLife.06667.011
Author response
*1) Some of the reviewers felt that the observed effect on browning was modest and that it would be important to consider the potential contribution of muscle to the energy expenditure phenotype. Is there evidence of increased fatty acid uptake and oxidation*?
First, as suggested we changed the title to "Loss of the Liver X Receptor LXRα/β in Peripheral Sensory Neurons Modifies Energy Expenditure''.
The reviewers suggested that we study the potential contribution of muscle to the energy expenditure phenotype. To establish whether peripheral sensory neuron-specific deletion of LXRs alters skeletal muscle energy expenditure, we examined mitochondrial electron transport chain activity by performing mitochondrial electron-flow and electron-coupling experiments to assess oxygen- consumption rates (OCRs), a previously validated method used to quantify mitochondrial oxidative capacity and integrity (Kusminski CM NatMed 2012; Rogers GW PLoS ONE 2011). Interestingly, during the electron-flow analyses, we observed that skeletal muscle mitochondria derived from knockout (LXRs^Nav^) mice exhibit markedly higher oxygen-consumption rates (OCRs) in response to the substrates pyruvate, malate, succinate and ascorbate (revised version [Figure 3F-G](#fig3){ref-type="fig"}). Furthermore, electron-coupling experiments to gage mitochondrial coupling and integrity revealed no defects in skeletal muscle mitochondrial function in either genotype (revised [Figure 3--figure supplement 1](#fig3s1){ref-type="fig"}). We thank the reviewers for this excellent suggestion. The data described in the revised article (Results section) indicate that deletion of LXR specifically in neuronal nodose ganglion enhances skeletal muscle mitochondrial oxidative respiration.
*2) The suggestion that LXRs sense changes in fatty acid levels is provocative, but not currently supported by data. The authors could address whether LXR target gene expression in sensory neurons change during fasting/refeeding. Additional discussion of how this might be accomplished would also be useful*.
The reviewers also inquired whether LXR target gene expression in sensory neurons change during fasting/refeeding. As suggested, we used a new cohort of littermate mice to study whether fasting-induced increases in fatty acid availability potentially modified nodose ganglia gene expression. We found that *Abca1*, *Srepb1c* and Synuclein mRNA levels were significantly changed in LXRs^fl/fl^ mice that were fasted for 20 hours (see revised [Figure 4B](#fig4){ref-type="fig"}). Notably, this increase in fasted *Abca1* and Synuclein was blunted in LXRs^Nav^ mice (revised [Figure 4B](#fig4){ref-type="fig"}). These in vivo data suggest that nodose ganglia neurons may sense circulated or secreted cues during starvation and respond by regulating unique LXR-dependent genes.
Despite its well-documented role in regulating the transcription of genes crucial for lipid synthesis and storage upon cholesterol sensing, little is known about how LXRs function in peripheral neurons and further investigations will be necessary to completely understand the role of these NRs in the nodose ganglia neurons. Our study suggests that LXRs in vagal sensory neurons potentially regulate vagal synaptic transmission, ultimately affecting the gating of information to adipose tissues and muscle. Since WAT, BAT and muscle receive innervation from sympathetic neurons, we suspect that the increased sympathetic tone---that is secondary to altered input from the parasympathetic vagal sensory neuron activity---may underlie the increased energy expenditure observed in LXRs^Nav^ mice. These results and discussion were added to the revised manuscript (please see the subsection "The loss of LXRα/β in Nav1.8 expressing neurons attenuates lipid accumulation in brown adipose tissue, promotes browning in subcutaneous fat and modifies NG gene expression"). We also added a section detailing the mitochondrial studies to the Methods and made legend modifications.
*Minor comments*:
*1) Please confirm that the knockout mice employed have been appropriately backcrossed to a common genetic background. Genetic background and degree of backcrossing should be indicated clearly in Methods*.
As asked, we have detailed the genetic background of the mice in the Methods section. LXR^fl/fl^ mice (on a mixed C57BL6 and 129SV background) were bred and kept as a mixed background in a closed colony in the UTSW germ-free rodent facility. LXRs^fl/fl^ mice were then backcrossed to C57BL/6J mice for six generations prior to experiments. Transgenic mice (C57/BL6 background) carrying *Cre*-recombinase driven by a Nav1.8 promoter (Nav1.8::Cre) were bred with backcrossed to the LXRs^fl/fl^ mice. LXRs^fl/fl^ mice were then bred with LXRs^fl/fl^ Nav^+/-^ mice to generate at least 3 cohorts of littermate LXRs^Nav^ and LXRs^fl^ mice that were used and compared in each of the respective experiments.
|
Role of copper in Indian childhood cirrhosis.
One hundred and twenty cases of Indian childhood cirrhosis (ICC) were studied. Most of the children presented in the clinical and histological grade II of the disease. Serum copper values in 32 prospective patients were significantly raised in comparison with values in normal controls. Hepatic copper content estimated in 82 liver biopsies revealed an increase in hepatic copper content showing a significant correlation with the histological grade of the disease. All cases were breastfed. Use of brass utensils to boil or store milk fed to ICC children was not seen in 46% of cases, although their serum copper values were raised. Serum and hepatic copper is raised in ICC. Dietary copper as a source of this raised copper seems unlikely. The most probable cause could be a defect in the metabolism of copper in ICC patients. |
Q:
Using generics to convert an object to a dictionary
I'm trying to generate a Dictionary like ["title": "a string", "id": 1] from objects. I have two objects customers and suppliers. I would like to have a method like
func getDict<T>(values: [T]) -> [String: Any] {
for value in values {
value
// I don't know how to say sometime
// id is value.idSupplier or
// sometime value.idCustommer
// Same problem for title.
}
}
An exemple of objects (simplify version):
struct Customer {
var idCustomer: Int
var name: String?
}
struct Supplier {
var idSupplier: Int
var name: String?
}
Is there a way to achieve that or maybe I misunderstood generics ?
A:
You can't do that unless you are writing a lot of boilerplate code but then you got no benefit over an if - else clause.
If the property names id and name are the same in both structs you could use a protocol extension
protocol ToDictionary {
var id : Int { get }
var name : String? { get }
}
extension ToDictionary {
var dictionaryRepresentation : [String : Any] {
return ["title" : name ?? "", "id" : id]
}
}
Then adopt the protocol in both structs
struct Customer : ToDictionary {
var id: Int
var name: String?
}
struct Supplier : ToDictionary {
var id: Int
var name: String?
}
Now you can call dictionaryRepresentation in any struct which adopts the protocol
let customer = Customer(id: 1, name: "Foo")
customer.dictionaryRepresentation // ["id": 1, "title": "Foo"]
let supplier = Supplier(id: 2, name: "Bar")
supplier.dictionaryRepresentation // ["id": 2, "title": "Bar"]
Alternatively use the Codable protocol, encode the instances to JSON or Property List and then convert them to dictionary.
|
This application claims the priority of 197 37 704.1, filed Aug. 29, 1997, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a tube connection coupling of the type having a connection piece for receiving the end of a tube that can be inserted in the axial direction of the connection piece, and is provided with a toroidal member or flange which is to be supported on the connection piece in the inserting direction of the tube. A releasably inserted plug-in fork bears against the toroidal member, securing the end of the inserted tube against movement in a direction opposite the inserting direction of the tube. For this purpose, the connection piece has pairs of plug-through openings on opposing side walls thereof, through which respective prongs of the plug-in fork can be inserted.
A connection coupling of this type is disclosed in German Patent Document DE 35 17 488 C2 for connecting a tube to a radiator tank of a motor vehicle heat exchanger. There, the passage openings on the side walls of the connection pieces for receiving the plug-in fork consist of one pair respectively of oblong holes which are situated opposite one another in the insertion direction of the plug-in fork and which, measured in the tube inserting direction, are situated at the same height and extend in a straight line with a longitudinal oblong hole axis, transversely to the inserting direction of the tube and to the inserting direction of the plug-in fork. For mounting, the tube must first be pressed completely into the connection piece, preferably while inserting a sealing ring, and must then be held in this position until it is secured against outward movement, by inserting the plug-in fork.
In another tube connection coupling of this type, described in German Patent Document No. 196 21 283.9, the connection piece has at least one plug-in fork guide tab between a pair of plug-through openings for a respective plug-in fork prong, which plug-in fork guide tab bounds the plug-in fork inserting movement in the axial direction of the connection piece. The plug-in fork guide tabs prevent jamming of the plug-in fork in the axial direction of the connection piece during insertion, and ensure that, after being inserted through the plug-through openings in one connection piece side wall, the prongs reliably reach the opposite opening areas on the other connection piece side wall, without need of particular care in handling the plug-in fork.
One disadvantage of the above-described known couplings is that to achieve the sort of tube connection that is usually desired (that is, a connection which is under tension, is free from play and is therefore tight), the tube, to which a sealing ring is normally premounted on the tube torus, is completely inserted into the connection piece, and must be held in this position until the plug-in fork is inserted and secures the tube against outward movement. This makes the mounting and removal of the tube on the connection piece or pieces difficult, particularly where the tube connection cannot be inspected and/or is poorly accessible, and therefore requires virtually blind mounting or removal.
One object of the invention is to provide a tube connection coupling of the initially mentioned type which can be mounted and removed comparatively simply and reliably.
This and other objects and advantages are achieved by the tube connection coupling according to the invention, in which inserting bevels are assigned to at least a portion of the plug-through openings. These inserting bevels are shaped so that they cause a forcible displacement of the plug-in fork in the tube inserting direction as the plug-in fork is moved in the plug-in fork inserting direction. For mounting, therefore, the tube does not have to be inserted completely into the connection piece and held in there until the securing plug-in fork is inserted, as is necessary with prior art couplings. Rather, the tube need only be loosely inserted into the connection piece, sufficiently for the plug-in fork to be pushed in can reach around its toroidal member. Complete insertion of the plug-in fork then causes the remaining tube inserting movement, by means of which the toroidal member or flange of the tube is preferably pressed (without play) against a corresponding stop face on the connection piece, preferably by means of an inserted O-ring seal, on the one hand, and the plug-in fork on the other hand. This advantageous result is achieved by virtue of the fact that the inserting movement of the plug-in fork forcibly displaces it in the tube inserting direction by the effect of the inserting bevels, and therefore, by way of its contact on the torus, displaces the tube in the tube inserting direction.
It is understood that the shape and the arrangement of the inserting bevels are adapted to the shape of the plug-in fork in such a manner that, during the insertion, the plug-in fork is displaced in the tube inserting direction by the exact amount by which the tube, after its initial loose insertion into the connection piece, is still spaced away from its desired position in the completely mounted condition. If an O-ring seal is premounted on the tube, it is, for example, advantageous for the tube to be initially loosely inserted only to such an extent that the O-ring rests against the connection piece, without already having been pressed into it or having been pressed against it. This sealing pressing-in or pressing-on of the tube with respect to the connection piece by way of the O-ring is then carried out solely by the plug-in fork during its insertion by its forced displacement in the tube inserting direction caused by the inserting bevels.
Thus, with the coupling according to the invention, it is unnecessary to hold the connection tube during the insertion of the plug-in fork while exercising a pressure force acting in the tube inserting direction. The mounting can therefore be carried out easily and reliably, even when the position of the connection piece cannot be seen, or is poorly accessible. Removal is equally simple, in that only the plug-in fork need be unplugged, which can be accomplished by pressing the tube in the tube inserting direction as far as possible. The tube can then be removed from the connection piece.
In one embodiment of the tube connection according to the invention, two pairs of plug-through openings are provided for a two-prong plug-in fork. In this case inserting bevels are assigned at least to the plug-through openings which are in the front (in the plug-in fork inserting direction). These inserting bevels are specially shaped so that, by means of its forward area (the area of the free ends of the elastically spreadable plug-in fork prongs), the plug-in fork can be advanced unhindered from the inserting bevels into that area of the tube which is inserted into the connection piece. Thereafter, the inserting bevels will then interact with a rearward area of the plug-in fork, in which the spacing of its prongs (starting from a maximal distance, which corresponds approximately to the connection tube diameter and exists in a central plug-in fork area), is reduced in the direction of the rearward plug-in fork end. Because the plug-in fork moves with this rearward area against the inserting bevels, as desired, during the remaining inserting movement these inserting bevels cause a simultaneous displacement of the plug-in fork in the inserting direction of the tube.
In a further embodiment of the invention, the inserting bevels extend by means of a forward stopping surface, against which the plug-in fork moves, in the tube inserting direction in addition with at least one component included with respect to the plug-in inserting direction. That is, the pertaining surface normal vector is inclined relative to the plug-in fork inserting direction. This facilitates displacement of the plug-in fork in the tube inserting direction when it is inserted in the plug-in fork inserting direction. In the process, the inclined stop surface converts a portion of the plug-in fork inserting force (exerted in the inserting direction of the plug-in fork) into the required force pressing in the tube inserting direction.
In another embodiment of the tube connection coupling according to the invention, insertion aids are assigned to the forward plug-through openings. These are designed and arranged such that the plug-in fork is automatically inserted, by means of its free prong ends, into the area of the plug-through openings which is in the front in the tube inserting direction. This assures that the plug-in fork reliably reaches the desired position in which it extends behind the tube torus, without having to locate this position by probing with the plug-in fork. Simultaneously, the insertion aids may also operate as unplugging aids in that, during unplugging of the plug-in fork, they also press the plug-in fork in the tube unplugging direction, thereby freeing it of the contact pressure of the tube torus which facilitates the remaining pulling-out of the plug-in fork.
In yet another embodiment, the rearward plug-through openings are also provided with inserting bevels. For this purpose, the edges of these openings are correspondingly inclined in their area situated in the tube unplugging direction; that is, they extend in the plug-in fork direction, with a component which points in the tube inserting direction. During the plugging-in, as soon as it has reached the rearward plug-through openings with its free prong ends, the plug-in fork is pressed at the level of the forward and rearward plug-through openings, uniformly in the tube inserting direction. In this case, the inserting bevels of the forward and the rearward plug-through openings are designed and mutually coordinated so that, during insertion of the plug-in fork, they substantially simultaneously start to displace the plug-in fork in the inserting direction of the tube, and furthermore that upon further insertion, the plug-in fork is displaced in the tube inserting direction by all inserting bevels at essentially the same rate.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. |
Fast Market Research
Computers and Peripherals in Mexico - New Market Study Published
Recently published research from Euromonitor International, "Computers and Peripherals in Mexico", is now available at Fast Market Research
Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/26/2014 -- As the product offer becomes more sophisticated and segmented, consumers are facing a hard choice looking to purchase computing devices. Sales of desktops are falling steadily. In 2013, desktops accounted for an 11% share of retail volume sales of computers in 2013, a decline of 27 percentage points on 2008, due to their lack of portability and the greater number of laptops offering equivalent capabilities in much more compact devices.
Euromonitor International's Computers and Peripherals in Mexico report offers a comprehensive guide to the size and shape of the in-home, portable and in-car consumer electronics products markets at a national level. It provides the latest retail sales data, allowing you to identify the sectors driving growth. It identifies the leading companies, the leading brands and offers strategic analysis of key factors influencing the market- be they new product developments, distribution or pricing issues. Forecasts illustrate how the market is set to change.
- Get a detailed picture of the Computers and Peripherals market;
- Pinpoint growth sectors and identify factors driving change;
- Understand the competitive environment, the market's major players and leading brands;
- Use five-year forecasts to assess how the market is predicted to develop.
About Fast Market ResearchFast Market Research is a leading distributor of market research and business information. Representing the world's top research publishers and analysts, we provide quick and easy access to the best competitive intelligence available. Our unbiased, expert staff is always available to help you find the right research to fit your requirements and your budget. For more information about these or related research reports, please visit our website at http://www.fastmr.com or call us at 1.800.844.8156. |
Three games, Three earned runs and Twenty-six K’s.
Gee is on fire and making the plays.
Marlon, David, Duda drive homers deep.
Nice to know this team is not just asleep. |
Q:
Bypass a form in VBA and continue macro
When I open files in my macro I get a box popup saying "this workbook contains links to other data sources etc." and then prompts me to select "update" "don't update" or "help". I want the macro to select "don't update" close it or skip it. How would I do this using VBA. I just want to continue and not have this stop the macro.
A:
Running the Macro Recorder and checking the resulting code is helpful for things like this. If you do that I think you'll see something along the lines of:
workbooks.Open FileName:="MyWorkbook",UpdateLinks:=False
|
(a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a position control device for effecting a relative position change of an optical reproduction system with respect to a disc in a compact disc player of the compact disc digital audio system and, more particularly, to a position control device effecting such relative position change of the optical reproduction system on the basis of a Q subcode containing time information in the data format of the compact disc digital audio system.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
As shown in FIG. 1(a), the data format of the compact disc digital audio system is such that one (1) frame consists of 588 channel bits including a one-symbol (eight bits) subcode area. The subcode, completed using 98 data frames, is constituted of eight 98-bit channels P, Q, . . . , W, as shown in FIG. 1(b). The subcode in the channel Q (Q subcode) is composed as shown in FIG. 1(c). signal in the Q subcode has three modes 1, 2, and 3. The mode is determined by a preceding address signal.
The Q subcode in the mode 1 is time data in which are recorded the time which has elapsed from the beginning of playing of a certain music piece in the disc (referred to as "piece time" below) and the time which has elapsed from the beginning of playing of the first piece in the disc (referred to as "accumulated time" below). This time data is represented in the BCD code in respect of minutes, seconds and frames each consisting of 2 digits (since 1 digit is expressed by 4 bits, time data consists of 6 digits.times.4 bits=24 bits). The term "frame" in the time data represents a unit under one second (For distinguishing this "frame" representing a unit of time from the above mentioned "frame" representing a section of 588 channel bits, the "frame" representing a section of 588 channel bits will be referred to as "data frame" in the following description). Since 75 subcodes are obtained per second (transmission rate 4.3218 M bits/S.div.588 bits.div.98 frames =75), frames are represented by quinary septuagesimal representation, i.e., 75 frames constitute 1 second. Time data of Q subcode is displayed directly for indicating the reproduced position and also is used for detecting difference from a target address and thereby moving the optical system in a search operation such as random access. In the search operation, if time data of Q subcode can be always detected without fail, time difference data between present time and target time is always available and can be given as a speed command for the drive system and the control can be performed such that the time difference will be reduced to zero.
In the actual search operation, however, data is picked up from the disc while the optical head is being displaced with a result that failure in reading the time data of Q subcode sometimes takes place. In the case of such failure, control is performed holding the Q subcode which has been read in the preceding time. Since time difference is used as a speed command as described above, the optical head keeps on moving at the same speed with a result that it tends to go past the target position and cannot reach it smoothly. |
This is meant to serve as a combination of the best and my favorite indie horror films from 2016. I wanted to really focus on the low budget and possibly unrecognized independent films from the year that deserve some love and attention. So I will not be including The Greasy Strangler, The Autopsy of Jane Doe, SiREN, The Love Witch, The Eyes of My Mother, or Fear, Inc. They are all excellent movies that deserve recognition, but they each had slightly larger budgets or had far better promotion than the ones that I have selected.
10. The Mind’s Eye - Directed by Joe Begos
Meant to be an unofficial sequel to David Cronenberg’s Scanners, this is a loving tribute to the early 1980’s works of Brian DePalma and David Cronenberg that were visceral and featured body horror. It is highly entertaining, fast-paced, and wildly delivers on action and over the top death scenes and gore. The electronic score by Steve Moore is absolutely incredible and is very reminiscent of the 1980’s and various motion pictures from that era that featured similar music.
9. The Barn - Directed by Justin M. Seaman
Set on Halloween in 1989, this is another nostalgic trip that transports you back to those wonderful days of VHS rentals and low budget shot-on-video (SOV) productions. Everything about it completely oozes the era and the genre of the time period, easily being able to pass itself off as a movie that was psychically made in 1989. It follows the typical teen slasher and occult tropes of the 1980’s, while delivering over 30 kills, gallons of blood, and several outstanding kill sequences. The score from Rocky Gray is brilliant and it is the ultimate 1980’s horror soundtrack, blending a mostly synthesized score with a mixture of heavy metal songs.
8. Atroz - Directed by Lex Ortega
By far the darkest film on this list in terms of tone, it lays claim as being the most graphic and goriest movie ever to be made in Mexico. This found footage style picture definitely lives up to that assertion, joining the dark and gruesome likes of Cannibal Holocaust, Martyrs, A Serbian Film, Wolf Creek, Martyrs, and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. Likely to be labeled torture porn, it contains every type of sick and twisted scenario imaginable and completely pushes the level of man’s depravity. Similar to Henry, these scenes and events help paint a three dimensional characterization of the sociopathic individual in this picture, and explain how physical and psychological events can shape the lust for murder.
7. Observance - Directed by Joseph Sims-Dennett
This is an excellent example of how a low budget Australian movie produced on a credit card balance of $10,000 can outclass the larger financed suspense and horror motion pictures. It mixes elements that are similar to Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window and Roman Polanski’s The Tenant and Repulsion, along with The Ring and The Shining. Themes of losing control, paranoia, and psychosis when left in isolation are focused on, mixing psychological horror with beautiful picture quality and some striking scenic. There is virtually no score, instead relying on the use of natural sounds in order to add to the mood and create scares. The production quality is excellent especially considering the small amount of money that was used to get this put together.
6. Dreaming Purple Neon - Directed by Todd Sheets
The lowest budgeted movie on this list at $3,500 packs an incredible amount of punch for its production value, spraying gallons of blood all over the place. It is everything that you would love about a grindhouse or exploitation film, harkening back to the days of excessive nudity, blood, and gore. The low budget trip down exploitation lane channels found memories of the 1970’s, grindhouse cinema, blaxploitation and occult subgenres, offering up a veritable microbudget masterpiece of extreme weirdness, insanity, and gore. It’s weird, gross, and chock full of crazy monsters and is both finely directed and acted despite the extremely low budget.
5. Beyond the Gates - Directed by Jackson Stewart
This 1980’s inspired occult horror film is equal parts Hellraiser, Jumanji, Lucio Fulci’s The Gate, and Evil Dead. The end result is an absolutely insane homage to an era of VHS, board games, video nasties, and over the top violence, delivering on entertainment and holy shit moments. This passion project has an excellent main cast that includes original scream queen Barbara Crampton and delivers a wild final twenty minutes that are filled with freaky moments and wildly violent gore effects.
4. Good Tidings - Directed by Stuart W. Bedford
One of two Christmas themed horror productions to make the list, this is a serious British take on the slasher subgenre. It could be best described as the Die Hard version of a Santa slasher flick that adds a Brit touch to the horror subgenre, packing a serious punch and providing another annual horror film that’s worth viewing during the holidays. Instead of one bad Santa, we are treated to three maniacs hunting people down. The main stars end up being the three psychopathic Santas known as Moe, Larry, and Curly, who stand above and beyond all of the other characters. It contains some brilliant camera shots and that make for some interesting imagery, an incredible and haunting score, a high body count, and some wonderfully devious kill sequences.
3. Night of Something Strange - Directed by Jonathan Straiton
This was unequivocally hands down the weirdest picture of the year, a totally hilarious gross out horror comedy that pushes the boundaries as far as they possible can go and then goes even further. It is reminiscent of the total insanity that comes with anything produced by Troma, Full Moon Features, and Japanese motion pictures like Calamari Wrestler and The Machine Girl. The story combination of teens and an STD spread zombie like virus produces some of the funniest and most disgusting moments of 2016, with loads of gore, effects, and comedic dialogue.
2. Head - Directed by Jon Bristol
I shouldn’t have to say anything more than this is a puppet slasher film. That alone should make you want to instantly go watch this. If not, then there is something wrong with you. Head is a true masterpiece in puppetry slasher cinema, a wonderful blend of grindhouse violence, nudity, and campy humor. While it may be the first in this new and hopefully growing subgenre, it is reminiscent of Meet the Feebles and Team America in terms of adult oriented entertainment through the art of puppetry. It's funny and also brings everything that you would typically expect in a slasher flick, delivering heaps of puppet gore, nudity, spraying blood, and enough crazy shit to satiate viewers.
1. All Through the House - Directed by Todd Nunes
If I made a regular horror list, this would still be number one on that list as well. This was hands down my favorite horror film of the year, mainstream or independent. It is a wonderful mix of creepy weird and oddly dark comedic situations that contains obvious nods to 1980’s horror films such as The Burning, Friday the 13th, and Silent Night, Bloody Night. It has to be considered the must see independent horror movie of the year, delivering a dose of hilarity, beautiful babes, a high body count, and a bloody good time. The Santa killer is excellent and is the type of character that makes a horror picture memorable, with a mask that is brilliant and scary. It has a high body count and the blood keeps flowing throughout, with each kill being distinctive and superb in its own way. It’s oddly and dementedly comedic and very R-rated, containing enough cool scares and WTF crazy moments to please horror fans and make this a modern cult classic. |
That was one of the questions percolating after the mall sold for $19.1 million in a foreclosure auction on Tuesday—far less than the $100 million Connecticut-based Five Mile Capital paid for it in 2012, according to The Washington Business Journal.
U.S. Bank, which held the note that Five Mile used to purchase the property, ended up buying the mall. Five Mile owed $80 million on the note when it stopped paying in January.
The bank plans to keep the mall open.
“There are no anticipated changes to the property at this time,” the mall’s general manager, Paul DeMarco, said Wednesday, reading from a statement provided to him by the bank. “We anticipate a smooth transition to new ownership and expect the center to continue to serve the community as a viable shopping destination.”
The mall has about 160 stores; 75 percent of the properties are leased, DeMarco said. It was built in 1978.
Montgomery County Council member Sidney Katz, the former longtime mayor of Gaithersburg who was a member of the city council when the mall opened, said Wednesday he doesn’t think the mall has changed much.
“It looked very similar to what it looks like now,” Katz said, although he noted there has been turnover at the stores as well as renovations to the interior and courtyard. “When it first opened there was an ice rink in there and a movie theater, that type of thing.”
The property sold Tuesday for far less than its 2016 assessed value of $80 million. The owner paid about $1.1 million in taxes that year to the county and city of Gaithersburg, according to tax records.
Previous owners have struggled to make the property successful. Prior to Five Mile’s 2012 purchase, the mall giant Simon Property Group defaulted on a loan balance of $138.7 million that year.
Local officials say the site would be a prime opportunity for a mixed-use development, but there’s a problem. The mall’s anchor stores—Sears, JCPenney, Macy’s and Lord & Taylor—all own their buildings, land and parking lots at the mall site.
U.S. Bank owns the main mall building that connects the four anchors as well as parking at the site. Any owner would have to negotiate with the anchor stores to get them to sell their property or agree to a redevelopment proposal.
“The long-term vision for the mall would be an entire redevelopment for the area into a much more robust, mixed-use area with significant retail,” Marilyn Balcombe, the president and CEO of the Gaithersburg-Germantown Chamber of Commerce, said Wednesday. “The difficulty is there are five different owners.”
Balcombe said she understands that the retail anchors are doing fairly well at the mall and might resist selling their properties.
“It puts the whole discussion into, ‘Well, the mall’s not going anywhere until something happens with these other pieces,’” Balcombe said.
Tom Lonergan, the director of economic development for Gaithersburg, said Wednesday that the mall’s future is “of critical importance” to the city.
“The city’s master plan has long called for a mixed-use development on this site,” Lonergan said. “It’s 100 acres. We certainly think there’s broader redevelopment potential for the site down the road.”
Lonergan said city staff members met with U.S. Bank officials a few weeks ago and the conversation focused on the foreclosure process. The bank officials said at the time the mall would continue to operate, he said.
Five Mile Capital proposed $20 million in renovations shortly after it bought the mall, but those plans failed to materialize. Five Mile did not return a request for comment Wednesday. Lonergan said he did not know why those plans fizzled.
Montgomery County is intimately familiar with how difficult redeveloping a mall with anchor-owned stores can be after watching the White Flint Mall and Lord & Taylor lawsuit play out.
The retailer sued the mall’s owners—Lerner Enterprises and The Tower Cos.—after the owners closed the mall as part of a plan to redevelop the property into a massive mixed-use town center. Lord & Taylor won the lawsuit and was awarded $31 million after a jury found the owners breached a contract with the retailer to maintain the mall as a “first-class” shopping destination.
White Flint Mall has since been demolished. The owners have not said what they’ll do next with the Rockville Pike property. The Lord & Taylor store is still open at the site.
Dozens of stores such as Aeropostale, Bath & Body Works, Foot Locker, Hollister and Zales remain open in the main part of Lakeforest Mall.
However, the main property’s revenue has been falling, according to Washington Business Journal, which reported the mall had $14.68 million in net income in 2012, then $6.18 million in 2016.
Balcombe said the mall likely competes for customers with other retail centers in the area, such as the outdoor RIO Washingtonian Center and the newly opened Clarksburg Premium Outlets. She didn’t think there was any overlap in stores between the outlet center and the mall.
“When we look at areas like RIO, which is doing great, the feel is different,” Balcombe said.
Lonergan said he has seen the trend of enclosed suburban malls built in the late 1970s and ‘80s struggling to compete with newer, open-air shopping centers and online retailers such as Amazon. Asked whether he thinks Lakeforest might end up like White Flint Mall, he responded, “There’s always concerns and that’s why we monitor this very closely.”
“It’s obviously a very significant property for the city,” Lonergan said.
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WELCOME TO GOODMAN, REALTORS®
Goodman, Realtors® is a Metropolitan, DC Real Estate brokerage that serves clients in Maryland, Washington DC, and Northern Virginia. We, at Goodman, Realtors®, pride ourselves on our unmatched customer service and our drive to exceed our client’s every home buying/selling expectation. We strive to make sure our clients have the necessary guidance and support to make all of their real estate decisions. |
Opinion of the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) - Revision of the opinion on the safety of the use of Silica, Hydrated Silica, and Silica Surface Modified with Alkyl Silylates (nano form) in cosmetic products.
The SCCS has concluded that the evidence, both provided in the submission and that available in scientific literature, is inadequate and insufficient to allow drawing any firm conclusion either for or against the safety of any of the individual SAS material, or any of the SAS categories that are intended for use in cosmetic products. As the SCCS has not been able to conclude on the safety of the synthetic amorphous silica (SAS) materials included in the current submission, the Applicant is advised to follow the SCCS Guidance on Risk Assessment of Nanomaterials (SCCS/1484/12). A brief summary is provided to enable/facilitate future evaluation of the SAS materials in cosmetic products. |
This proposal focuses on investigation of the function of genes expressed during mammalian gastrulation. The ultimate goal of this laboratory is to integrate more than a century of experimental embryology with an understanding of gastrulation on a molecular level. Little is known in mammals about the genes that direct anteroposterior axis formation early in embryo genesis or of the signals that initiate their expression. Gastrulation, the period during which they act, is a critical time for development. A large number of poorly understood human genetic and epigenetic embryological abnormalities arise during this time, including renal, cardiac, CNS, and assorted midline malformations. Several immediate goals are addressed here. First, functional studies win be performed on two homeobox-containing genes that in preliminary experiments have been found to become expressed during gastrulation in an intriguing manner. These studies will include (i) isolating full length cDNAs and genomic clones, (ii) performing high resolution mapping of the position of one of the genes which is located near a known developmental mutation, (iii) characterizing expression of the genes in embryonic stem cells to develop an in vitro model for their expression, (iv) characterizing their expression in embryos homozygous for known developmental mutations, and (v) performing loss-of-function and gain-of-function experiments accompanied by morphological, histochemical, and molecular analyses. Subsequent experiments are designed to address the effort and the length of time required to perform loss-of-function experiments using homologous recombination to inactivate genes. The aim of this section of the proposal to develop a simple and rapid assay to determine if inactivation of a gene specifically during gastrulation would be likely to result in an informative phenotype. The first approach attempted win be to use modified antisense oligonucleotides to inhibit gene expression in embryos cultured transiently in vitro. The feasibility of inhibiting genes known or presumed to be required for gastrulation (cyclin, beta-actin, and T) will be determined. Finally, genes acquired from a variety of sources including this laboratory that are known to be expressed during gastrulation will be screened using this protocol, to identify ones critically required for normal development. The information gained from these studies will lead, ultimately, to an understanding of the functions of these genes in early development, and to new insights into gastrulation. |
Q:
Bridge Swift 4 enum to Objective C
EDIT: I apologize all of you, this was all the time my fault - it wasn't possible even in Swift 3. I confused myself big time. Sorry for this question.
Apparently bridging array of enum values to Objective C is no longer possible in Swift 4, not even using @objc annotation:
@objc open func removeCacheAfterDelay(_ delay: Double, forType types: [CacheManagerType]) {
}
@objc public enum CacheManagerType: Int, RawRepresentable {
case credit
case debit
case transactionHistory
}
Following error is displayed at the removeCacheAfterDelay function:
Method cannot be marked @objc because the type of the parameter 2
cannot be represented in Objective-C
Am I missing something? Is there any workaround?
A:
You have to think like Objective-C. What could this declaration possibly mean when translated into Objective-C? In particular, what would [CacheManagerType] mean? It would have to be an array, i.e. an NSArray, containing CacheManagerType objects.
But that's impossible. CacheManagerType is an enum. An Int enum bridged to Objective-C is turned into an Objective-C enum. For your method declaration to work in Objective-C, Objective-C would need to be able to understand the concept of an array of enums — and it doesn't. In Objective-C, an enum is not an object, but an NSArray can hold only objects.
|
Lakai Pico XLK Fall 2012
For Fall 2012, Lakai is dropping three new colorways of the Pico XLK. The skate lows are optioned in a blue scheme as well as a grey pair and a black set. Each drop features a majority suede upper and sits atop a contrasting white midsole. Expect the trio to become available through Lakai accounts in the coming months. [via FRESHNGOOD] |
Q:
Is Civilization V run by aliens?
I once read on TV Tropes that the video game Civilization V implied that the entire thing was run by aliens who resurrected famous human leaders in order to have them battle each other. It now seems to have been removed.
This certainly sounds possible, but TV Tropes is generally very unmoderated, even by community wiki standards.
We also know that aliens exist in the Civilization universe, because among other reasons, Civilization: Beyond Earth features them heavily.
Is it ever actually directly implied or stated in-game that Civilization V is run by aliens?
A:
There is no evidence to support this.
One can't prove a negative, but no evidence has been found to support this. The description of Civilization V, taken straight from the official website, just states that the player is striving to become ruler of the world (and this description is no different than other board or computer games):
In Civilization® V, players strive to become Ruler of the World by establishing and leading a civilization from the dawn of man into the space age, waging war, conducting diplomacy, discovering new technologies, going head-to-head with some of history’s greatest leaders and building the most powerful empire the world has ever known.
There is nothing within the game that supports the theory that the player is actually supposed to be an alien. Not in the manual, not in the Civilopedia, and (as far as I know), nothing from the developers.
We have just as much proof (i.e. none) that Civilization V is:
Machines running a computer simulation to keep humanity happy while they use them for batteries (The Matrix)
A means of sending instructions to a planet of real people somewhere else in the galaxy (Stargate Atlantis, "The Game")
A simulation of AIs, with a lone submarine located at the south pole observing everything and collecting the leaders of the fallen civilizations. (@CBredlow in the question comments)
The collective consciousness of Sci-fi Stack Exchange users dreaming up an elaborate history of humanity
|
Skill acquisition with text-entry interfaces: particularly older users benefit from minimized information-processing demands.
Operating information technology challenges older users if it requires executive control, which generally declines with age. Especially for novel and occasional tasks, cognitive demands can be high. We demonstrate how interface design can reduce cognitive demands by studying skill acquisition with the destination entry interfaces of two customary route guidance systems. Young, middle-aged, and older adults performed manual destination entry either with a system operated with multiple buttons in a dialogue encompassing spelling and list selection, or with a system operated by a single rotary encoder, in which an intelligent speller constrained destination entry to a single line of action. Each participant performed 100 training trials. A retention test after at least 10 weeks encompassed 20 trials. The same task was performed faster, more accurately, and produced much less age-related performance differences especially at the beginning of training if interface design reduced demand for executive control, perceptual processing, and motor control. |
The Refuge (film)
The Refuge or Hideaway is a 2009 French drama film directed by François Ozon and starring Isabelle Carré and French singer Louis-Ronan Choisy, who wrote the music for the film and the title song. The script was written by Ozon with Matthieu Hippeau.
The film won the Special Prize of the Jury at the 2009 San Sebastián International Film Festival. It opened in Paris January 27, 2010 to generally lukewarm but not unkind reviews. It was released in the US by Strand. It was part of the uni-France/Film Society of Lincoln Center series the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in March 2010 with screenings at the Walter Reade Theater and IFC Center.
Plot
Louis and Mousse, a couple in their early 30s, are doing drugs in bed in a luxurious half empty Parisian apartment. A drug dealer brings them six grams of heroin and Louis injects Mousse and himself with it. The next morning, rising early; Louis gives himself another shot, which is fatal.
Louis' mother arrives trying to rent the apartment, and she discovers the couple: Louis is dead from an overdose, but Mousse is alive. She is taken to a hospital where she finally awakens. Mousse is informed of the death of her boyfriend and that she is pregnant. After Louis' funeral and burial, his mother, bluntly, tells the confused Mousse that they do not want an heir for her dead son and that they have made arrangements to terminate the pregnancy. Louis’ brother, Paul, looks on, empathizing with Mousse.
Some months later, Mousse has found refuge in a seaside country house where she lives as a recluse during the pregnancy she has decided to keep. The house has been lent to her by an older man who was Mousse’s lover when she was sixteen years old. In her hideaway, she takes her time to meditate on her future while living with limited funds and dependent on the methadone she must take in order to stay off heroin. Emotionally guarded, her only contact with the outside world is Serge, a local young man, who delivers her food.
Mousse’s quiet existence is disrupted when Paul, Louis’ brother, on his way to Spain, stops at the house to see how she is doing. Paul’s visit is not only unexpected, but unwelcome. However, she allows him to stay. As they begin to share the house and to talk, Mousse warms up to him and they become friends. Paul sees in Mousse a kindred spirit. He tries to get her to go out, something she has not done, preferring to stay home, away from people. Paul finally convinces her to go to the beach with him. There, she becomes distraught by a well-intentioned, but overbearing woman who gives her unwelcome stories and advice about being pregnant. Talking to Paul, Mousse realizes that he is very different from his brother. This is not surprising as he tells her that he is not Louis' biological brother, but was adopted. Paul is gay and not a threat to the very pregnant Mousse. However, she gets jealous when she finds out that Paul has spent the night in the house with Serge. They had met at the nearby village beginning an affair. Upset, Mousse is rude to Serge.
One day, at an outdoor cafe, Mousse meets an attractive man who hits on her. He is straightforward and invites her to his room overlooking the water to make love to her. At first she is game, but at the last minute she rejects his advances and asks him to caresses her instead of having sex. After a night of dancing and drinking at a local disco with Paul and Serge, Mousse and Paul share confidences. Paul talks about his adoption while Mousse begins to achieve a degree of emotional closure about her relationship with Louis.
When one night Paul returns home drunk, Mousse helps him to go to bed. As they have tender feeling for each other, they make love. Although both are happy about what has transpired, it is time for Paul's departure. He promises to visit her in Paris when she has the baby.
Mousse gives birth to baby girl, Louise, and Paul comes to see them at the hospital. Their reunion is a joyful event. Mousse asks Paul to look after the baby while she takes a brief cigarette break. In fact she leaves for good. Not ready to be a mother, she feels Paul will be a much better parent to her baby.
Cast
Isabelle Carré as Mousse
Louis-Ronan Choisy as Paul
Pierre Louis-Calixte as Serge
Melvil Poupaud as Louis
Claire Vernet as the mother
Nicolas Moreau as the rich seducer
Marie Rivière as the woman at the beach
Jérôme Kircher as the doctor
Jean-Pierre Andréani as the father
Emile Berling as the drug dealer
References
External links
Category:2009 films
Category:French films
Category:French-language films
Category:2000s drama films
Category:Films directed by François Ozon
Category:French drama films |
-257 + 259
5
What is 3 - ((-2 - (-3 + 6)) + 9)?
-1
What is (4 - ((8 - 1) + -16)) + -9 - -7?
11
What is the value of 10 + -14 + 7 + (-11 - (-1 + -1))?
-6
Calculate (16 - 13) + -2 + -6 - (4 - 22).
13
Evaluate -4 + -18 + 17 + -2 + 1.
-6
What is 8 + (-8 - (47 - 27))?
-20
Evaluate 17 - 3 - (-1 - 0 - (-35 + 29)).
9
Calculate -52 + 20 + 15 - (5 - -4).
-26
4 - ((-24 - -17) + 20 + -15)
6
Evaluate -1 + 22 - (-143 + 163).
1
Evaluate (42 - 47) + -2 + 0 - 3.
-10
40 + -28 + -23 + -2
-13
-6 - -1 - ((16 - 21) + 4)
-4
(9 + -13 - (-28 + 7)) + 6 + -3
20
Evaluate 4 + (-20 - 1) - ((-3 - 1) + -1).
-12
(0 - (3 - 2)) + 10 - (-15 + 11)
13
Evaluate (-10 - (18 - 27 - 0)) + -2.
-3
Calculate -14 + (0 - 16) + (100 - 94).
-24
Evaluate 4 + -7 - (-21 - -24).
-6
What is 27 - (7 - 1) - 45?
-24
-3 + -1 + -8 + 0 + 11 + -14
-15
Calculate 1 + (-77 + 34 - -23).
-19
What is 8 + (9 - -3) + -11?
9
What is 2 + -152 + 155 + (-2 - -4) + -10?
-3
What is -25 + (-23 + -3 + 17 - (2 - 2))?
-34
What is (26 - 30) + 1 + -6 + 3?
-6
Evaluate -11 + (-6 - -15) + (15 - 1).
12
Evaluate (-4 - 0) + 1 - (-101 + 112).
-14
What is the value of (2 - -3 - 3 - (-1 + 2)) + 10?
11
Evaluate -16 - (0 - (5 + 2 - 1)).
-10
What is the value of -13 - (-1 + -14 - -6)?
-4
What is the value of (25 - 3 - 13) + -1?
8
Calculate (0 - 0) + (-1 + -16 - (-86 + 46)).
23
144 + -145 - (0 + 20)
-21
-7 + (-3 - 0 - -5)
-5
Calculate -18 + 21 + 1 + 14 - 12.
6
2 + (-15 - (-1 - 6) - 6)
-12
-47 + 27 + (35 - 44)
-29
Evaluate (8 - (6 - -6)) + -11 + 10.
-5
What is (-10 + 8 - 18) + -4 + 0 + 8?
-16
Calculate -8 - -2 - 3 - (4 + 2 + -4).
-11
What is the value of 2 - (0 + -9 + (6 - (9 - 4)))?
10
Evaluate 192 + -169 + (0 - 14).
9
What is the value of (26 + -37 - (0 + -1)) + 6?
-4
(-20 - -47 - 60) + 11
-22
29 - (1 + (-2 - -10) - (-109 - -112))
23
What is the value of 2 + (-3 - -4) - 7 - (82 - 86)?
0
0 + (-9 - -17) + -2 + -7
-1
(-35 - (-56 + 32)) + -13 + -1
-25
Calculate 8 + (0 - 7) - (-3 - -25).
-21
Evaluate (29 - 1) + (-26 - 2).
0
-10 + (-17 - (-10 + -5) - (-35 + -1))
24
What is 1 - -7 - (4 + (-1 - (3 - 1)))?
7
Calculate -3 + 2 - 5 - 1 - -7.
0
What is (-20 - -2) + (19 - 23)?
-22
(1 - 1 - (-71 - -73) - 5) + -28
-35
Evaluate -2118 + 2121 + (-10 + 1 - -1).
-5
What is the value of 0 - ((-13 - -1) + 2 - (-7 - -9))?
12
Evaluate -9 + (-14 - -8 - -17 - -9).
11
What is the value of (20 - (10 - 0)) + (0 - -1)?
11
Evaluate (-149 - -147) + (-4 + 29 - 0).
23
What is the value of 15 + -12 + 43 + -23?
23
What is the value of -1 + 25 + 0 + 0 - (-197 + 204)?
17
What is the value of -13 - (42 - 21 - 31)?
-3
What is 8 - (4 + 6 - 8) - -3?
9
-2 + -29 - (-9 + -7 + 4)
-19
What is 13 - ((1 - 1) + (18 - 17))?
12
Evaluate (-12 - (-13 + 6 + 7)) + 30.
18
What is 25 - (-1 + (29 - 13))?
10
What is 7 - 2 - (-11 + 5 + 6)?
5
What is -31 + 10 + 10 + -8?
-19
Calculate 21 - (-18 - (21 - 64)).
-4
Calculate (2 - 2) + (0 + 2 + 2 - 17).
-13
Calculate (-310 - -308) + 2 + -2 + 7 + -2.
3
Calculate -6 + (1 - (3 + -1)) - -7.
0
-1 - -28 - (-60 + (2 - -66))
19
What is -18 + 3 + -3 + 3 + 7 - -23?
15
Calculate -1 + -10 - (-31 + -21 + 33) - 27.
-19
What is the value of -8 + -8 + 26 + (2 - 1 - -4)?
15
What is the value of 5 - (43 + -78 - -57)?
-17
What is the value of -13 + (2 - -1) + -5 + (3 - -3)?
-9
Calculate -2 - ((-2 - 4) + (-3 + 5 - -10)).
-8
What is -9 + (36 - 5) - 10?
12
Evaluate 7 + -11 + -6 + 14.
4
What is -37 - -52 - (2 + 24)?
-11
Calculate 55 - (41 + -2) - (-2 + 4).
14
Evaluate 0 - -12 - (24 + 2).
-14
What is 9 - 3 - (-2 - (-2 + 2 + 2))?
10
(15 - -1) + -6 + -1 - 4
5
-1 - -6 - (-23 - -37)
-9
What is the value of -10 + 3 + -8 - 6 - 10?
-31
-18 + 10 + -9 + 36
19
Evaluate -9 + 7 + (-1 - 0) - 0.
-3
What is the value of 13 + -16 - 1 - 2?
-6
Evaluate 6 - (22 + -44 - -24).
4
What is the value of (-34 - (5 + -1 + -2)) + -38 + 42?
-32
Calculate -20 + -2 - (7 - (25 - 18)).
-22
What is the value of -8 - (-17 - -16 - 19 - 1)?
13
2 + (1 - -7) + (-11 - (18 + -24))
5
Calculate 65 + -11 + -46 - (0 + -17).
25
Calculate -16 + (18 - 3) + -13 + 29.
15
What is the value of 12 + (1 - -16) - (7 - (4 - -2))?
28
Calculate -13 + (27 - 19) + 16.
11
What is the value of (-18 - -23) + -3 + 3 + -11?
-6
Calculate (-51 - -87) + -32 + (-5 - 1).
-2
Evaluate 1 + -7 + -5 + -5 + 10 + -3.
-9
Evaluate -7 + 0 + (5 - (5 - 0 - 3)).
-4
1 + 4 + (7 - (1 - -4 - 1))
8
Evaluate 34 - (24 + -22 + 19).
13
What is the value of 0 + 3 + -2 + (-9 - (-16 - -7))?
1
What is the value of 7 + -4 + -10 + -3 + 2 - 3?
-11
Calculate 8 - (-19 + 0) - 42.
-15
What is the value of 11 + (2 - -26) - 21?
18
Evaluate -10 + (2 - -2) + -4.
-10
Calculate (-1 - 0 - -15) + 3470 + -3482.
2
-1 + (28 - 16) + -3
8
Calculate (-16 + 18 - -1) + 5 + 2.
10
What is the value of -33 + (-1 - (5 - 17))?
-22
What is 17 + -20 + -5 - (-1 + (30 - 6))?
-31
What is 28 + -22 - (4 + 1 - (-4 - -2))?
-1
Calculate 12 + -14 - (30 - (0 - -2)) - -11.
-19
What is the value of 1 - -8 - ((-4 - (2 - 8)) + -3)?
10
Calculate (4 - (3 + 5 + -7 + -8)) + 2.
13
Calculate (31 - 13 - 5) + 7 + -2.
18
What is 4 + 0 + -35 + 19 + 0 + 0?
-12
(5 - 6) + 5 + 3 + -10 + 29
26
0 + -28 - (-161 + 148)
-15
What is the value of -5 - ((0 - -6) + -1 - (20 - 0))?
10
What is (-7 + 3 - -9 - (-5 - -11)) + -15?
-16
Calculate 739 + -742 - (-4 + -1 - (0 + 0)).
2
(-17 - 1 - (-252 + 241)) + 11
4
What is the value of (-93 - -111) + (-7 - (4 - (3 - -1)))?
11
What is -2 + (2 - -1) + -8 - (-3 + 10)?
-14
What is the value of 197 + -218 + -1 + 24?
2
Evaluate (-3 - (2 - 5)) + 8 - (3 - 15).
20
3 + -9 + 1 + (0 - (-3 - -1))
-3
Evaluate 22 - (25 + (6 - 28)).
19
What is (1 - -11) + 0 + -9 + (-3 - 33)?
-33
What is -8 - -3 - (-1 + 5 - (5 + 15))?
11
What is the value of 40 - (8 + (-5 - (-4 - (10 + -8))))?
31
What is the value of 162 + -160 + (16 - 1)?
17
Calculate -6 - -5 - ((6 - 8) + 10 - 13).
4
Evaluate (1 - (1 - 3) - 1) + -44 + 37.
-5
Evaluate -6 + 3 + (-4 - 6) + 2 - -4.
-7
What is (-1 - (-5 + -1 + 12)) + (60 - 63)?
-10
Evaluate 10 + -22 - (4 + (-1 - 15)).
0
What is the value of (2 - -2) + (1 - -9 - (-120 + 124))?
10
What is the value of -3 + -5 + -10 + -4?
-22
45 - (9 + -9 + 11 - (-1 - -3))
36
What is the value of (27 - -2) + -18 + 1 + 8?
20
What is -4 + -14 + 39 - 27?
-6
Evaluate (-28 + 29 - 13) + -5.
-17
Evaluate -12 + 23 + -11 + 10 - 13.
-3
What is -11 - -14 - 43 - -22?
-18
What is the value of 10 + (10 + -19 - 14 - -6)?
-7
(-1 - 2) + (-5 - -18) + -11 + -1
-2
What is the value of -78 + 68 + (-2 - -15) + 2 + 1?
6
What is the value of 0 + 3 - (9 - 3) - -21?
18
Calculate 8 + 12 + (2 - 22) - (-1 - 1).
2
(-2 - 0) + (-13 - (-13 + 8) - 3)
-13
2 - (-2 + (17 - 6 - -11))
-18
Calculate 7 + -12 - (-9 - 10).
14
What is (-9 + 16 - 8 - 2) + (0 - 3)?
-6
Calculate -18 - (2 - 35) - -15.
30
-6 - (3 - 12 - -4 - 3)
2
What is 5 - ((-5 - (-2 + 2)) + (61 - 46))?
-5
Evaluate (-53 - -63) + -18 + -2 - -24.
14
-1 + (39 - 10) + -6 + (4 - 14)
12
What is 2 - (0 - 1 - (6 - 8 - 14))?
-13
What is the value of -2 + -3 + 16 + -25 + 15?
1
(10 + -19 - -14) + 9 - 4
10
What is the value of (-3 - 1) + 12 - 15?
-7
Evaluate 5 + -14 + (-9 + 13 - -5).
0
What is (0 - 3) + (88 - 87)?
-2
What is the value of 159 - 182 - (-15 + 1)?
-9
Evaluate -3 + (0 - 10) + (30 - 22).
-5
What is the value of 4 + 7 + (-43 - -51) + -4 + -5?
10
-1 + 6 + -10 + 11 + -1 + -3
2
Calculate 0 - -17 - (15 - (10 - (4 - 12))).
20
(-8 + 46 - 29) + (-1 - 14)
-6
1 - 2 - -6 - (19 - (13 - -13))
12
Calculate -30 + -9 - (-11 + -8).
-20
Calculate -3 - (-11 + 2 + 14 + -1 + -3).
-4
What is the value of -35 - (31 - 123) - 34?
23
What is the value of -41 - -41 - (14 + 8 + -5)?
-17
5 + (-3 - (18 - 8))
-8
-1 + (12 - (19 + 8))
-16
What is 10 + (5 - 4 - 17)?
-6
Evaluate -2 + -20 + 45 - 1.
22
Evaluate 2 + (1 - 3) + -61 + 65.
4
What is 125 + -138 - ((-1 - 14) + 3)?
-1
Calculate -13 - (-9 + 39 + -41 + 0 + 4).
-6
-115 - -96 - (0 - 29)
10
Calculate 18 + (-4 + (3 - 4) - (-21 + 14)).
20
Evaluate 1 - (-3 + -2) - ((9 - 2) + 4).
-5
What is the value of 1 - 16 - ((-11 - -3) + 11 + -5)?
-13
8 - (12 + -17) - (20 + 1)
-8
15 + (-6 - 28) + 16
-3
What is the value of 29 + -55 + -10 - (-2 + -14)?
-20
Evaluate -2 + 6 + 8 + -13 + 22.
21
What is the value of -355 + 336 - (-19 - -1)?
-1
Evaluate -8 - (-3 + 1 - 9) - 1.
2
Evaluate (3 + 0 - (-26 + 30)) + 5.
4
Evaluate -6163 + 6194 + -2 + -6 + -1 + -1.
21
What is the value of -73 + 95 + (-1 - 7) |
Q:
How does bank deposit insurance work in Singapore?
When I check bank web sites in Singapore, they usually post something like below:
Singapore dollar deposits of non-bank depositors and monies and
deposits denominated in Singapore dollars under the Supplementary
Retirement Scheme are insured by the Singapore Deposit Insurance
Corporation, for up to S$50,000 in aggregate per depositor per Scheme
member by law.
I have a few questions about that:
Does it mean the bank won't guarantee to return the deposited money exceeding S$50,000 if something happens?
Let's say you deposit S$100,000. And something happens. Does the bank guarantee to return to you S$50,000, and you lose other S$50,000?
So does it mean one should open multiple accounts under different banks to spread the money around and maintain only S$50,000 in one deposit account?
What might be the smart way to handle that kind of situation?
A:
The deposit insurance isn't provided by the bank; it's provided by the Singapore Deposit Insurance Corporation (SDIC). In the event that the bank fails or is declared insolvent, the SDIC will pay deposit holders their total balance in all accounts with that bank, up to S$50,000. If you hold S$60,000 in all of your insured accounts, you'll only receive S$50,000 if the bank fails.
The SDIC provides an example page with sample calculations, and this is exactly what they show. If you deposit an amount greater than $S50,000, it's only insured up to S$50,000.
So does it mean one should open multiple accounts under different banks to spread the money around and maintain only S$50,000 in one deposit account?
This is one option. The calculations page I linked to above gives this reminder:
Deposits are not insured separately in each branch office of a DI Scheme member i.e. all your eligible accounts maintained with different branches of a DI Scheme member are aggregated and insured up to S$50,000.
This seems like common sense, but it's important to remember that if you open an account with two branch offices of Bank A, your deposits are aggregated and insured up to S$50,000. The SDIC insurance is per institution (called a Deposit Insurance Member), not per branch. If you hold S$45,000 in each branch office, for a total of S$90,000, you're still only insured up to S$50,000 for that bank. If you want to spread out your accounts between multiple banks, make sure they're different banks, not just different branches.
Another option, if it applies to you, is to open a joint account with your spouse. In the FAQ page, the SDIC gives this example under point 14:
if you and your husband have a joint account with S$70,000, and you have a separate account of S$20,000, your total deposits of S$55,000 will be covered to the maximum of S$50,000.
The deposit of $S70,000 is split evenly between the spouses, so in the eyes of the SDIC, each are holding S$35,000. Then, the husband's additional S$20,000 is added to S$35,000 for a total of S$50,000. This is then insured up to S$50,000 as usual.
I'm sure there are other options specific to Singapore that I'm not aware of; if you're well above the limit, i.e. holding millions of dollars, I'm sure a professional accountant in Singapore could guide you further.
|
/*
Plugin-SDK (Grand Theft Auto San Andreas) header file
Authors: GTA Community. See more here
https://github.com/DK22Pac/plugin-sdk
Do not delete this comment block. Respect others' work!
*/
#pragma once
#include <string>
#include "PluginBase.h"
#include "CVector.h"
#include "CEntity.h"
#include "CPlayerPed.h"
#include "CVehicle.h"
#include "CWeaponInfo.h"
#include "CAnimBlendAssociation.h"
#include "CAnimBlendClumpData.h"
const char gta_empty_string[4] = {0, 0, 0, 0};
#define DEFAULT_SCREEN_WIDTH (640)
#define DEFAULT_SCREEN_HEIGHT (448)
#define DEFAULT_SCREEN_HEIGHT_PAL (512)
#define DEFAULT_SCREEN_HEIGHT_NTSC (448)
#define DEFAULT_ASPECT_RATIO (4.0f/3.0f)
#define DEFAULT_VIEWWINDOW (0.7f)
// game uses maximumWidth/Height, but this probably won't work
// with RW windowed mode
#define SCREEN_WIDTH ((float)RsGlobal.maximumWidth)
#define SCREEN_HEIGHT ((float)RsGlobal.maximumHeight)
#define SCREEN_ASPECT_RATIO (CDraw::ms_fAspectRatio)
#define SCREEN_VIEWWINDOW (Tan(DEGTORAD(CDraw::GetScaledFOV() * 0.5f)))
// This scales from PS2 pixel coordinates to the real resolution
#define SCREEN_STRETCH_X(a) ((a) * (float) SCREEN_WIDTH / DEFAULT_SCREEN_WIDTH)
#define SCREEN_STRETCH_Y(a) ((a) * (float) SCREEN_HEIGHT / DEFAULT_SCREEN_HEIGHT)
#define SCREEN_STRETCH_FROM_RIGHT(a) (SCREEN_WIDTH - SCREEN_STRETCH_X(a))
#define SCREEN_STRETCH_FROM_BOTTOM(a) (SCREEN_HEIGHT - SCREEN_STRETCH_Y(a))
// This scales from PS2 pixel coordinates while optionally maintaining the aspect ratio
#define SCREEN_SCALE_X(a) SCREEN_SCALE_AR(SCREEN_STRETCH_X(a))
#define SCREEN_SCALE_Y(a) SCREEN_STRETCH_Y(a)
#define SCREEN_SCALE_FROM_RIGHT(a) (SCREEN_WIDTH - SCREEN_SCALE_X(a))
#define SCREEN_SCALE_FROM_BOTTOM(a) (SCREEN_HEIGHT - SCREEN_SCALE_Y(a))
#define ASPECT_RATIO_SCALE
#ifdef ASPECT_RATIO_SCALE
#define SCREEN_SCALE_AR(a) ((a) * DEFAULT_ASPECT_RATIO / SCREEN_ASPECT_RATIO)
#else
#define SCREEN_SCALE_AR(a) (a)
#endif
extern int gDefaultTaskTime;
extern char *gString; // char gString[200]
extern float &GAME_GRAVITY; // default 0.0080000004
extern char(&PC_Scratch)[16384];
void InjectCommonHooks();
// returns player coors
CVector FindPlayerCoors(int playerId);
// returns player speed
CVector const& FindPlayerSpeed(int playerId);
// returns player ped or player vehicle if he's driving
CEntity * FindPlayerEntity(int playerId);
// gets player coords
CVector const& FindPlayerCentreOfWorld(int playerId);
// gets player coords with skipping sniper shift
CVector const& FindPlayerCentreOfWorld_NoSniperShift(int playerId);
// returns player coords with skipping interior shift
CVector FindPlayerCentreOfWorld_NoInteriorShift(int playerId);
// returns player angle in radians
float FindPlayerHeading(int playerId);
// returns Z coord for active player
float FindPlayerHeight();
// returns player ped
CPlayerPed * FindPlayerPed(int playerId = -1);
// returns player vehicle
CAutomobile * FindPlayerVehicle(int playerId, bool bIncludeRemote);
// 2 players are playing
bool InTwoPlayersMode();
// matrix mul
CVector* Multiply3x3(CVector* out, CMatrix* m, CVector* in);
// returns player wanted
CWanted * FindPlayerWanted(int playerId = -1);
const unsigned int rwVENDORID_ROCKSTAR = 0x0253F2;
extern unsigned int &ClumpOffset;
#define RpClumpGetAnimBlendClumpData(clump) (*(CAnimBlendClumpData **)(((unsigned int)(clump) + ClumpOffset)))
constexpr float PI = 3.14159265358979323846f;
constexpr float PI_2 = PI / 2.0f;
constexpr float DegreesToRadians(float angleInDegrees) {
return angleInDegrees * PI / 180.0f;
}
template <typename T>
T clamp(T value, T low, T high)
{
return std::min(std::max(value, low), high);
}
AnimBlendFrameData *RpAnimBlendClumpFindFrame(RpClump *clump, char *name);
char *MakeUpperCase(char *dest, char *src);
class CEventGroup* GetEventGlobalGroup();
// dummy function
void CreateDebugFont();
// dummy function
void DestroyDebugFont();
// dummy function
void ObrsPrintfString(char const* arg0, short arg1, short arg2);
// dummy function
void FlushObrsPrintfs();
void DefinedState();
void DefinedState2d();
RpAtomic* GetFirstAtomicCallback(RpAtomic* atomic, void* data);
RpAtomic* GetFirstAtomic(RpClump* clump);
RpAtomic* Get2DEffectAtomicCallback(RpAtomic* atomic, void* data);
RpAtomic* Get2DEffectAtomic(RpClump* clump);
RwObject* GetFirstObjectCallback(RwObject* object, void* data);
RwObject* GetFirstObject(RwFrame* frame);
RwFrame* GetFirstFrameCallback(RwFrame* frame, void* data);
RwFrame* GetFirstChild(RwFrame* frame);
RwTexture* GetFirstTextureCallback(RwTexture* texture, void* data);
RwTexture* GetFirstTexture(RwTexDictionary* txd);
RpHAnimHierarchy* GetAnimHierarchyFromSkinClump(RpClump* clump);
RpHAnimHierarchy* GetAnimHierarchyFromFrame(RwFrame* frame);
RpHAnimHierarchy* GetAnimHierarchyFromClump(RpClump* clump);
RpAtomic* AtomicRemoveAnimFromSkinCB(RpAtomic* atomic, void* data);
bool RpAtomicConvertGeometryToTL(RpAtomic* atomic);
bool RpAtomicConvertGeometryToTS(RpAtomic* atomic);
bool RpClumpConvertGeometryToTL(RpClump* clump);
bool RpClumpConvertGeometryToTS(RpClump* clump);
RpMaterial* forceLinearFilteringMatTexturesCB(RpMaterial* material, void* data);
bool SetFilterModeOnAtomicsTextures(RpAtomic* atomic, RwTextureFilterMode filtering);
RpAtomic* forceLinearFilteringAtomicsCB(RpAtomic* atomic, void* data);
bool SetFilterModeOnClumpsTextures(RpClump* clump, RwTextureFilterMode filtering);
bool RpGeometryReplaceOldMaterialWithNewMaterial(RpGeometry* geometry, RpMaterial* oldMaterial, RpMaterial* newMaterial);
RwTexture* RwTexDictionaryFindHashNamedTexture(RwTexDictionary* txd, unsigned int hash);
RpClump* RpClumpGetBoundingSphere(RpClump* clump, RwSphere* bound, bool arg2);
void SkinGetBonePositions(RpClump* clump);
void SkinSetBonePositions(RpClump* clump);
void SkinGetBonePositionsToTable(RpClump* clump, RwV3d* table);
void SetLightsWithTimeOfDayColour(RpWorld* world);
// dummy function
void LightsEnable(int arg0);
RpWorld* LightsDestroy(RpWorld* world);
// lighting = [0.0f;1.0f]
void WorldReplaceNormalLightsWithScorched(RpWorld* world, float lighting);
void WorldReplaceScorchedLightsWithNormal(RpWorld* world);
void AddAnExtraDirectionalLight(RpWorld* world, float x, float y, float z, float red, float green, float blue);
void RemoveExtraDirectionalLights(RpWorld* world);
// lighting = [0.0f;1.0f]
void SetAmbientAndDirectionalColours(float lighting);
// lighting = [0.0f;1.0f]
void SetFlashyColours(float lighting);
// lighting = [0.0f;1.0f]
void SetFlashyColours_Mild(float lighting);
// lighting = [0.0f;1.0f], unused
void SetBrightMarkerColours(float lighting);
void ReSetAmbientAndDirectionalColours();
void DeActivateDirectional();
void ActivateDirectional();
void SetAmbientColoursToIndicateRoadGroup(int arg0);
void SetFullAmbient();
void SetAmbientColours();
void SetAmbientColours(RwRGBAReal* color);
void SetDirectionalColours(RwRGBAReal* color);
// lighting = [0.0f;1.0f]
void SetLightColoursForPedsCarsAndObjects(float lighting);
void SetLightsForInfraredVisionHeatObjects();
void StoreAndSetLightsForInfraredVisionHeatObjects();
void RestoreLightsForInfraredVisionHeatObjects();
void SetLightsForInfraredVisionDefaultObjects();
void SetLightsForNightVision();
// 'data' is unused
RpAtomic* RemoveRefsCB(RpAtomic* atomic, void* _IGNORED_ data);
void RemoveRefsForAtomic(RpClump* clump);
bool IsGlassModel(CEntity* pEntity);
CAnimBlendClumpData* RpAnimBlendAllocateData(RpClump* clump);
CAnimBlendAssociation* RpAnimBlendClumpAddAssociation(RpClump* clump, CAnimBlendAssociation* association, unsigned int flags, float startTime, float blendAmount);
CAnimBlendAssociation* RpAnimBlendClumpExtractAssociations(RpClump* clump);
void RpAnimBlendClumpFillFrameArray(RpClump* clump, AnimBlendFrameData** frameData);
AnimBlendFrameData* RpAnimBlendClumpFindBone(RpClump* clump, unsigned int id);
AnimBlendFrameData* RpAnimBlendClumpFindFrame(RpClump* clump, char const* name);
AnimBlendFrameData* RpAnimBlendClumpFindFrameFromHashKey(RpClump* clump, unsigned int key);
CAnimBlendAssociation* RpAnimBlendClumpGetAssociation(RpClump* clump, bool arg1, CAnimBlendHierarchy* hierarchy);
CAnimBlendAssociation* RpAnimBlendClumpGetAssociation(RpClump* clump, char const* name);
CAnimBlendAssociation* RpAnimBlendClumpGetAssociation(RpClump* clump, unsigned int animId);
CAnimBlendAssociation* RpAnimBlendClumpGetFirstAssociation(RpClump* clump);
CAnimBlendAssociation* RpAnimBlendClumpGetFirstAssociation(RpClump* clump, unsigned int flags);
CAnimBlendAssociation* RpAnimBlendClumpGetMainAssociation(RpClump* clump, CAnimBlendAssociation** pAssociation, float* blendAmount);
CAnimBlendAssociation* RpAnimBlendClumpGetMainAssociation_N(RpClump* clump, int n);
CAnimBlendAssociation* RpAnimBlendClumpGetMainPartialAssociation(RpClump* clump);
CAnimBlendAssociation* RpAnimBlendClumpGetMainPartialAssociation_N(RpClump* clump, int n);
unsigned int RpAnimBlendClumpGetNumAssociations(RpClump* clump);
unsigned int RpAnimBlendClumpGetNumNonPartialAssociations(RpClump* clump);
unsigned int RpAnimBlendClumpGetNumPartialAssociations(RpClump* clump);
void RpAnimBlendClumpGiveAssociations(RpClump* clump, CAnimBlendAssociation* association);
void RpAnimBlendClumpInit(RpClump* clump);
bool RpAnimBlendClumpIsInitialized(RpClump* clump);
void RpAnimBlendClumpPauseAllAnimations(RpClump* clump);
void RpAnimBlendClumpRemoveAllAssociations(RpClump* clump);
void RpAnimBlendClumpRemoveAssociations(RpClump* clump, unsigned int flags);
void RpAnimBlendClumpSetBlendDeltas(RpClump* clump, unsigned int flags, float delta);
void RpAnimBlendClumpUnPauseAllAnimations(RpClump* clump);
void RpAnimBlendClumpUpdateAnimations(RpClump* clump, float step, bool onScreen);
RtAnimAnimation* RpAnimBlendCreateAnimationForHierarchy(RpHAnimHierarchy* hierarchy);
char* RpAnimBlendFrameGetName(RwFrame* frame);
void RpAnimBlendFrameSetName(RwFrame* frame, char* name);
CAnimBlendAssociation* RpAnimBlendGetNextAssociation(CAnimBlendAssociation* association);
CAnimBlendAssociation* RpAnimBlendGetNextAssociation(CAnimBlendAssociation* association, unsigned int flags);
void RpAnimBlendKeyFrameInterpolate(void* voidOut, void* voidIn1, void* voidIn2, float time, void* customData);
bool RpAnimBlendPluginAttach();
void AsciiToGxtChar(char const *src, char *dst);
/**
* Writes given raster to PNG file using RtPNGImageWrite
*/
void Render2dStuff();
void WriteRaster(RwRaster * pRaster, char const * pszPath);
/* Convert UTF-8 string to Windows Unicode. Free pointer using delete[] */
std::wstring UTF8ToUnicode(const std::string &str);
/* Convert Windows Unicode to UTF-8. Free pointer using delete[] */
std::string UnicodeToUTF8(const std::wstring &str);
extern int WindowsCharset;
|
Q:
Velocity of measurement
As per to Heisenberg uncertainty we will not be able to calculate the position and momentum at same instant because by the time we calculate the next of the one, it changes (i.e.) the changes are very fast. Suppose my speed of calculation is near to the speed of light or equal to the speed of light. Can I at that instant calculate the accurate position and momentum of a particle
A:
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle isn't based on any limited "speed of calculation". It simply says that the particle has an uncertain location and an uncertain velocity and they obey the inequality
$$ \Delta x \cdot m\Delta v \geq \frac\hbar 2$$
These errors are "inevitable errors of the measurement" of the position or the velocity. They really mean that the particle has an uncertain location and an uncertain velocity so if we repeat the same experiment with the very same initial conditions many times, the measured values of $x$ will be spread with the width of the distribution $\Delta x$ and similarly for the velocity.
There isn't any slow or fast calculation involved here. The calculation of the predicted $x$ may be immediate or superfast but it's still true that the right prediction will say that $x$ can't be a sharp number, it may only be specified with the error margin $\Delta x$. Again, this is not due to some technical limitations or slow calculation or anything of the sort. The reason is that the particle simply does not possess a sharp value of the position if it has a pretty accurate velocity, and vice versa.
|
Fatal venous thromboembolism associated with hospital admission: a cohort study to assess the impact of a national risk assessment target.
In 2010, the Department of Health in England introduced an incentivised national target for National Health Service (NHS) hospitals aiming to increase the number of patients assessed for the risk of developing venous thromboembolism (VTE) associated with hospital admission. We assessed the impact of this initiative on VTE mortality and subsequent readmission with non-fatal VTE. Observational cohort study. All patients admitted to NHS hospitals in England between July 2010 and March 2012. An NHS hospital which assessed at least 90% of patient admissions achieved the quality standard. The principal outcome measured was death from VTE up till 90 days after hospital discharge using linked Office of National Statistics and Hospital Episode Statistics data. In the principal analyses of patients admitted to hospital for more than 3 days, there was a statistically significant reduction in VTE deaths in hospitals achieving 90% VTE risk assessment: relative risk (RR) 0.85 (95% CI 0.75 to 0.96; p=0.011) for VTE as the primary cause of death. In supportive analyses of postdischarge deaths after index admissions of up to 3 days, there was also a reduction in fatal VTE RR 0.61 (0.48 to 0.79; p=0.0002). This effect was seen for both surgical and non-surgical patients. No effect was seen in day case admissions. There was no change in non-fatal VTE readmissions up to 90 days after discharge. A national quality initiative to increase the number of hospitalised patients assessed for risk of VTE has resulted in a reduction in VTE mortality. |
Moturau Moana
Moturau Moana on Stewart Island is New Zealand's southernmost public garden. It was gifted to the government of New Zealand by Noeline Baker in 1940 and is today administered by the Department of Conservation.
History
Noeline Baker (1878–1958), who was born in Christchurch, lived in England from 1896 to 1930. She returned to New Zealand to write her father's memoirs and spent time on Stewart Island. According to her biographical entry in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, she purchased the of land clad with bush and overlooking Halfmoon Bay at that time, but during a speaking tour in Auckland in April 1940, she appeared to imply that her father purchased the land for her at her birth. She had a homestead built in 1934–35 in a Dutch colonial style and called it Moturau Moana, which is Māori and means "islands of bush above the sea". Baker drew inspiration from an acquaintance, British garden designer Gertrude Jekyll, and created a garden based on New Zealand flora. She used a list compiled by botanist Leonard Cockayne based on his 1907 visit to Stewart Island to grow all the island's indigenous plants in her garden.
Baker tried to gift Moturau Moana to the University of Otago and the Canterbury University College, but both organisations declined due to the ongoing maintenance costs. In November 1940, it was reported that Moturau Moana had been given to the Crown as a botanical research station. were designated as a scenic reserve a month later just before Christmas. At Baker's request, the reserve was named in her father's name. Baker continued to live in the house, but on 7 December 1948, she handed the keys to her house to the minister of lands, Jerry Skinner, in an official ceremony. For her botanical work at Moturau Moana, Baker was awarded the Loder Cup in 1949. Baker had another cottage built for herself on Stewart Island, but she later purchased a house in Nelson where she stayed over winter. She died on Stewart Island in 1958. Her homestead, for a long time a major tourist attraction, burned down in 1967.
Moturau Moana was at first administered by the Department of Internal Affairs, followed by the New Zealand Forest Service, and upon its disestablishment in 1987, by the Department of Conservation.
Location
Moturau Moana is located on the north side of Halfmoon Bay. It takes one hour return to walk there and visit the garden from Oban.
References
Category:1940 establishments in New Zealand
Category:Gardens in New Zealand
Category:Protected areas of Southland, New Zealand
Category:Stewart Island |
Spontaneous rupture of the extensor pollicis longus tendon in a professional skier.
Spontaneous rupture of the extensor pollicis longus (EPL) tendon is uncommon in sports activities. We report a rare case of a professional downhill skier presenting with a rupture of the EPL tendon. Repetitive motion of the wrist joint appeared to cause the rupture. The patient was treated successfully with tendon transfer of the extensor indicis proprius. |
Naw Ohn Hla
Naw Ohn Hla (; born 4 August 1963) is a Karen democracy activist, politician, human rights defender, environmental rights and land rights activist for decades. She has been active in campaigning against the Letpadaung mining project in northern Burma.
Early life and education
Naw was born on 4 August 1963 in Karen state to ethnic Karen parents, a daughter of Thein Aung. She currently lives in Yangon.
Career and movement
Naw Ohn Hla is a prominent advocate for land rights and political prisoners, and has been imprisoned on more than seven occasions since 1989, as a result of her peaceful efforts to free political prisoners and assist Buddhist monks during the 2007 uprising. She work for the promotion of human rights and environmental rights and also campaigned for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi while the opposition leader was under house arrest. She has repeatedly called for the suspension of the Chinese-backed Letpadaung mining project in Burma's Sagaing Region. The project is strongly opposed by local communities due its damaging effect on the environment. She was sentenced in 2013 August to two years in prison for protesting without permission against the Letpadaung copper mine. In 15 November 2013, she was one of 69 political prisoners released by a pardon from President Thein Sein. But Naw Ohn Hla is in custody again after she was arrested over a 29 Nov 2014 protest against the mining project, at which a Chinese flag was burned outside the Chinese Embassy in Yangon. She faces up to two years in jail for flag-burning case was arrested on 30 December 2014. She was still a separate lawsuit for organizing prayers in 2007 for opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, then under house arrest. She had also faced charges of violating the Peaceful Assembly Law in different townships court across Yangon (Pabedan, Kyauktada, Latha, and Lanmadaw) with regards to the embassy protest.
On May 15, 2015, the Dagon Township Court in Yangoon found them guilty and sentenced them to four years and four months in prison. She also sentenced to four months in prison prior to this verdict on April 2, 2015 by the Bahan Township Court for violating the Peaceful Assembly Law during a protest on September 29, 2014. She was serving in a prison sentence of six years and two months in Insein Prison for protesting. She has been released on April 17, 2016 from Insein Prison due to Presidential amnesty from President Htin Kyaw.
She is co-founder of the Rangoon-based Democracy and Peace Women Network (DPWN), which raises awareness of human rights, land rights and also campaigns against domestic violence. The Yangoon-based DPWN was honored with an N-Peace Awards, under the category of "Thinking Outside the Box" in October 2014.
References
External links
Naw Ohn Hla on gettyimages
Activists Nay Myo Zin and Naw Ohn Hla Released- RFA
Category:1963 births
Category:Living people
Category:Burmese activists
Category:Burmese human rights activists
Category:Burmese women in politics
Category:Burmese politicians
Category:People from Kayin State
Category:Burmese people of Karen descent |
Q:
Arranging textbooks on 3 shelves
Suppose I have 13 textbooks that I want to place on 3 shelves. How many ways can I arrange my textbooks if order does not matter?
They say that this is equivalent to counting number of non-negative solutions to
$$x_1 + x_2 + x_3 = 13$$
However, why is this? If order does not matter, then something like $x_1 = 13, x_2 = 0 , x_3 = 0$ is the same solution as $x_1 = 0, x_2 = 13, x_3 = 0$.
Doesn't that first equation count number of solutions when we consider those two cases as different?
A:
"Order does not matter" refers to the books, not the shelves. Then all books may be considered as identical, and the given argument applies.
|
Shortest paths and load scaling in scale-free trees.
Szabó, Alava, and Kertész [Phys. Rev. E 66, 026101 (2002)] considered two questions about the scale-free random tree given by the m=1 case of the Barabási-Albert (BA) model (identical with a random tree model introduced by Szymański in 1987): what is the distribution of the node to node distances, and what is the distribution of node loads, where the load on a node is the number of shortest paths passing through it? They gave heuristic answers to these questions using a "mean-field" approximation, replacing the random tree by a certain fixed tree with carefully chosen branching ratios. By making use of our earlier results on scale-free random graphs, we shall analyze the random tree rigorously, obtaining and proving very precise answers to these questions. We shall show that, after dividing by N (the number of nodes), the load distribution converges to an integer distribution X with Pr(X=c)=2/[(2c+1)(2c+3)], c=0,1,2,..., confirming the asymptotic power law with exponent -2 predicted by Szabó, Alava, and Kertész. For the distribution of node-node distances, we show asymptotic normality, and give a precise form for the (far from normal) large deviation law. We note that the mean-field methods used by Szabó, Alava, and Kertész give very good results for this model. |
/*
* Copyright (C) the libgit2 contributors. All rights reserved.
*
* This file is part of libgit2, distributed under the GNU GPL v2 with
* a Linking Exception. For full terms see the included COPYING file.
*/
#include "diff_generate.h"
#include "diff.h"
#include "patch_generate.h"
#include "fileops.h"
#include "config.h"
#include "attr_file.h"
#include "filter.h"
#include "pathspec.h"
#include "index.h"
#include "odb.h"
#include "submodule.h"
#define DIFF_FLAG_IS_SET(DIFF,FLAG) \
(((DIFF)->base.opts.flags & (FLAG)) != 0)
#define DIFF_FLAG_ISNT_SET(DIFF,FLAG) \
(((DIFF)->base.opts.flags & (FLAG)) == 0)
#define DIFF_FLAG_SET(DIFF,FLAG,VAL) (DIFF)->base.opts.flags = \
(VAL) ? ((DIFF)->base.opts.flags | (FLAG)) : \
((DIFF)->base.opts.flags & ~(FLAG))
typedef struct {
struct git_diff base;
git_vector pathspec;
uint32_t diffcaps;
bool index_updated;
} git_diff_generated;
static git_diff_delta *diff_delta__alloc(
git_diff_generated *diff,
git_delta_t status,
const char *path)
{
git_diff_delta *delta = git__calloc(1, sizeof(git_diff_delta));
if (!delta)
return NULL;
delta->old_file.path = git_pool_strdup(&diff->base.pool, path);
if (delta->old_file.path == NULL) {
git__free(delta);
return NULL;
}
delta->new_file.path = delta->old_file.path;
if (DIFF_FLAG_IS_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_REVERSE)) {
switch (status) {
case GIT_DELTA_ADDED: status = GIT_DELTA_DELETED; break;
case GIT_DELTA_DELETED: status = GIT_DELTA_ADDED; break;
default: break; /* leave other status values alone */
}
}
delta->status = status;
return delta;
}
static int diff_insert_delta(
git_diff_generated *diff,
git_diff_delta *delta,
const char *matched_pathspec)
{
int error = 0;
if (diff->base.opts.notify_cb) {
error = diff->base.opts.notify_cb(
&diff->base, delta, matched_pathspec, diff->base.opts.payload);
if (error) {
git__free(delta);
if (error > 0) /* positive value means to skip this delta */
return 0;
else /* negative value means to cancel diff */
return giterr_set_after_callback_function(error, "git_diff");
}
}
if ((error = git_vector_insert(&diff->base.deltas, delta)) < 0)
git__free(delta);
return error;
}
static bool diff_pathspec_match(
const char **matched_pathspec,
git_diff_generated *diff,
const git_index_entry *entry)
{
bool disable_pathspec_match =
DIFF_FLAG_IS_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_DISABLE_PATHSPEC_MATCH);
/* If we're disabling fnmatch, then the iterator has already applied
* the filters to the files for us and we don't have to do anything.
* However, this only applies to *files* - the iterator will include
* directories that we need to recurse into when not autoexpanding,
* so we still need to apply the pathspec match to directories.
*/
if ((S_ISLNK(entry->mode) || S_ISREG(entry->mode)) &&
disable_pathspec_match) {
*matched_pathspec = entry->path;
return true;
}
return git_pathspec__match(
&diff->pathspec, entry->path, disable_pathspec_match,
DIFF_FLAG_IS_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_IGNORE_CASE),
matched_pathspec, NULL);
}
static int diff_delta__from_one(
git_diff_generated *diff,
git_delta_t status,
const git_index_entry *oitem,
const git_index_entry *nitem)
{
const git_index_entry *entry = nitem;
bool has_old = false;
git_diff_delta *delta;
const char *matched_pathspec;
assert((oitem != NULL) ^ (nitem != NULL));
if (oitem) {
entry = oitem;
has_old = true;
}
if (DIFF_FLAG_IS_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_REVERSE))
has_old = !has_old;
if ((entry->flags & GIT_IDXENTRY_VALID) != 0)
return 0;
if (status == GIT_DELTA_IGNORED &&
DIFF_FLAG_ISNT_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_INCLUDE_IGNORED))
return 0;
if (status == GIT_DELTA_UNTRACKED &&
DIFF_FLAG_ISNT_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_INCLUDE_UNTRACKED))
return 0;
if (status == GIT_DELTA_UNREADABLE &&
DIFF_FLAG_ISNT_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_INCLUDE_UNREADABLE))
return 0;
if (!diff_pathspec_match(&matched_pathspec, diff, entry))
return 0;
delta = diff_delta__alloc(diff, status, entry->path);
GITERR_CHECK_ALLOC(delta);
/* This fn is just for single-sided diffs */
assert(status != GIT_DELTA_MODIFIED);
delta->nfiles = 1;
if (has_old) {
delta->old_file.mode = entry->mode;
delta->old_file.size = entry->file_size;
delta->old_file.flags |= GIT_DIFF_FLAG_EXISTS;
git_oid_cpy(&delta->old_file.id, &entry->id);
delta->old_file.id_abbrev = GIT_OID_HEXSZ;
} else /* ADDED, IGNORED, UNTRACKED */ {
delta->new_file.mode = entry->mode;
delta->new_file.size = entry->file_size;
delta->new_file.flags |= GIT_DIFF_FLAG_EXISTS;
git_oid_cpy(&delta->new_file.id, &entry->id);
delta->new_file.id_abbrev = GIT_OID_HEXSZ;
}
delta->old_file.flags |= GIT_DIFF_FLAG_VALID_ID;
if (has_old || !git_oid_iszero(&delta->new_file.id))
delta->new_file.flags |= GIT_DIFF_FLAG_VALID_ID;
return diff_insert_delta(diff, delta, matched_pathspec);
}
static int diff_delta__from_two(
git_diff_generated *diff,
git_delta_t status,
const git_index_entry *old_entry,
uint32_t old_mode,
const git_index_entry *new_entry,
uint32_t new_mode,
const git_oid *new_id,
const char *matched_pathspec)
{
const git_oid *old_id = &old_entry->id;
git_diff_delta *delta;
const char *canonical_path = old_entry->path;
if (status == GIT_DELTA_UNMODIFIED &&
DIFF_FLAG_ISNT_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_INCLUDE_UNMODIFIED))
return 0;
if (!new_id)
new_id = &new_entry->id;
if (DIFF_FLAG_IS_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_REVERSE)) {
uint32_t temp_mode = old_mode;
const git_index_entry *temp_entry = old_entry;
const git_oid *temp_id = old_id;
old_entry = new_entry;
new_entry = temp_entry;
old_mode = new_mode;
new_mode = temp_mode;
old_id = new_id;
new_id = temp_id;
}
delta = diff_delta__alloc(diff, status, canonical_path);
GITERR_CHECK_ALLOC(delta);
delta->nfiles = 2;
if (!git_index_entry_is_conflict(old_entry)) {
delta->old_file.size = old_entry->file_size;
delta->old_file.mode = old_mode;
git_oid_cpy(&delta->old_file.id, old_id);
delta->old_file.id_abbrev = GIT_OID_HEXSZ;
delta->old_file.flags |= GIT_DIFF_FLAG_VALID_ID |
GIT_DIFF_FLAG_EXISTS;
}
if (!git_index_entry_is_conflict(new_entry)) {
git_oid_cpy(&delta->new_file.id, new_id);
delta->new_file.id_abbrev = GIT_OID_HEXSZ;
delta->new_file.size = new_entry->file_size;
delta->new_file.mode = new_mode;
delta->old_file.flags |= GIT_DIFF_FLAG_EXISTS;
delta->new_file.flags |= GIT_DIFF_FLAG_EXISTS;
if (!git_oid_iszero(&new_entry->id))
delta->new_file.flags |= GIT_DIFF_FLAG_VALID_ID;
}
return diff_insert_delta(diff, delta, matched_pathspec);
}
static git_diff_delta *diff_delta__last_for_item(
git_diff_generated *diff,
const git_index_entry *item)
{
git_diff_delta *delta = git_vector_last(&diff->base.deltas);
if (!delta)
return NULL;
switch (delta->status) {
case GIT_DELTA_UNMODIFIED:
case GIT_DELTA_DELETED:
if (git_oid__cmp(&delta->old_file.id, &item->id) == 0)
return delta;
break;
case GIT_DELTA_ADDED:
if (git_oid__cmp(&delta->new_file.id, &item->id) == 0)
return delta;
break;
case GIT_DELTA_UNREADABLE:
case GIT_DELTA_UNTRACKED:
if (diff->base.strcomp(delta->new_file.path, item->path) == 0 &&
git_oid__cmp(&delta->new_file.id, &item->id) == 0)
return delta;
break;
case GIT_DELTA_MODIFIED:
if (git_oid__cmp(&delta->old_file.id, &item->id) == 0 ||
git_oid__cmp(&delta->new_file.id, &item->id) == 0)
return delta;
break;
default:
break;
}
return NULL;
}
static char *diff_strdup_prefix(git_pool *pool, const char *prefix)
{
size_t len = strlen(prefix);
/* append '/' at end if needed */
if (len > 0 && prefix[len - 1] != '/')
return git_pool_strcat(pool, prefix, "/");
else
return git_pool_strndup(pool, prefix, len + 1);
}
GIT_INLINE(const char *) diff_delta__i2w_path(const git_diff_delta *delta)
{
return delta->old_file.path ?
delta->old_file.path : delta->new_file.path;
}
int git_diff_delta__i2w_cmp(const void *a, const void *b)
{
const git_diff_delta *da = a, *db = b;
int val = strcmp(diff_delta__i2w_path(da), diff_delta__i2w_path(db));
return val ? val : ((int)da->status - (int)db->status);
}
int git_diff_delta__i2w_casecmp(const void *a, const void *b)
{
const git_diff_delta *da = a, *db = b;
int val = strcasecmp(diff_delta__i2w_path(da), diff_delta__i2w_path(db));
return val ? val : ((int)da->status - (int)db->status);
}
bool git_diff_delta__should_skip(
const git_diff_options *opts, const git_diff_delta *delta)
{
uint32_t flags = opts ? opts->flags : 0;
if (delta->status == GIT_DELTA_UNMODIFIED &&
(flags & GIT_DIFF_INCLUDE_UNMODIFIED) == 0)
return true;
if (delta->status == GIT_DELTA_IGNORED &&
(flags & GIT_DIFF_INCLUDE_IGNORED) == 0)
return true;
if (delta->status == GIT_DELTA_UNTRACKED &&
(flags & GIT_DIFF_INCLUDE_UNTRACKED) == 0)
return true;
if (delta->status == GIT_DELTA_UNREADABLE &&
(flags & GIT_DIFF_INCLUDE_UNREADABLE) == 0)
return true;
return false;
}
static const char *diff_mnemonic_prefix(
git_iterator_type_t type, bool left_side)
{
const char *pfx = "";
switch (type) {
case GIT_ITERATOR_TYPE_EMPTY: pfx = "c"; break;
case GIT_ITERATOR_TYPE_TREE: pfx = "c"; break;
case GIT_ITERATOR_TYPE_INDEX: pfx = "i"; break;
case GIT_ITERATOR_TYPE_WORKDIR: pfx = "w"; break;
case GIT_ITERATOR_TYPE_FS: pfx = left_side ? "1" : "2"; break;
default: break;
}
/* note: without a deeper look at pathspecs, there is no easy way
* to get the (o)bject / (w)ork tree mnemonics working...
*/
return pfx;
}
void git_diff__set_ignore_case(git_diff *diff, bool ignore_case)
{
if (!ignore_case) {
diff->opts.flags &= ~GIT_DIFF_IGNORE_CASE;
diff->strcomp = git__strcmp;
diff->strncomp = git__strncmp;
diff->pfxcomp = git__prefixcmp;
diff->entrycomp = git_diff__entry_cmp;
git_vector_set_cmp(&diff->deltas, git_diff_delta__cmp);
} else {
diff->opts.flags |= GIT_DIFF_IGNORE_CASE;
diff->strcomp = git__strcasecmp;
diff->strncomp = git__strncasecmp;
diff->pfxcomp = git__prefixcmp_icase;
diff->entrycomp = git_diff__entry_icmp;
git_vector_set_cmp(&diff->deltas, git_diff_delta__casecmp);
}
git_vector_sort(&diff->deltas);
}
static void diff_generated_free(git_diff *d)
{
git_diff_generated *diff = (git_diff_generated *)d;
git_attr_session__free(&diff->base.attrsession);
git_vector_free_deep(&diff->base.deltas);
git_pathspec__vfree(&diff->pathspec);
git_pool_clear(&diff->base.pool);
git__memzero(diff, sizeof(*diff));
git__free(diff);
}
static git_diff_generated *diff_generated_alloc(
git_repository *repo,
git_iterator *old_iter,
git_iterator *new_iter)
{
git_diff_generated *diff;
git_diff_options dflt = GIT_DIFF_OPTIONS_INIT;
assert(repo && old_iter && new_iter);
if ((diff = git__calloc(1, sizeof(git_diff_generated))) == NULL)
return NULL;
GIT_REFCOUNT_INC(&diff->base);
diff->base.type = GIT_DIFF_TYPE_GENERATED;
diff->base.repo = repo;
diff->base.old_src = old_iter->type;
diff->base.new_src = new_iter->type;
diff->base.patch_fn = git_patch_generated_from_diff;
diff->base.free_fn = diff_generated_free;
git_attr_session__init(&diff->base.attrsession, repo);
memcpy(&diff->base.opts, &dflt, sizeof(git_diff_options));
git_pool_init(&diff->base.pool, 1);
if (git_vector_init(&diff->base.deltas, 0, git_diff_delta__cmp) < 0) {
git_diff_free(&diff->base);
return NULL;
}
/* Use case-insensitive compare if either iterator has
* the ignore_case bit set */
git_diff__set_ignore_case(
&diff->base,
git_iterator_ignore_case(old_iter) ||
git_iterator_ignore_case(new_iter));
return diff;
}
static int diff_generated_apply_options(
git_diff_generated *diff,
const git_diff_options *opts)
{
git_config *cfg = NULL;
git_repository *repo = diff->base.repo;
git_pool *pool = &diff->base.pool;
int val;
if (opts) {
/* copy user options (except case sensitivity info from iterators) */
bool icase = DIFF_FLAG_IS_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_IGNORE_CASE);
memcpy(&diff->base.opts, opts, sizeof(diff->base.opts));
DIFF_FLAG_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_IGNORE_CASE, icase);
/* initialize pathspec from options */
if (git_pathspec__vinit(&diff->pathspec, &opts->pathspec, pool) < 0)
return -1;
}
/* flag INCLUDE_TYPECHANGE_TREES implies INCLUDE_TYPECHANGE */
if (DIFF_FLAG_IS_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_INCLUDE_TYPECHANGE_TREES))
diff->base.opts.flags |= GIT_DIFF_INCLUDE_TYPECHANGE;
/* flag INCLUDE_UNTRACKED_CONTENT implies INCLUDE_UNTRACKED */
if (DIFF_FLAG_IS_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_SHOW_UNTRACKED_CONTENT))
diff->base.opts.flags |= GIT_DIFF_INCLUDE_UNTRACKED;
/* load config values that affect diff behavior */
if ((val = git_repository_config_snapshot(&cfg, repo)) < 0)
return val;
if (!git_config__cvar(&val, cfg, GIT_CVAR_SYMLINKS) && val)
diff->diffcaps |= GIT_DIFFCAPS_HAS_SYMLINKS;
if (!git_config__cvar(&val, cfg, GIT_CVAR_IGNORESTAT) && val)
diff->diffcaps |= GIT_DIFFCAPS_IGNORE_STAT;
if ((diff->base.opts.flags & GIT_DIFF_IGNORE_FILEMODE) == 0 &&
!git_config__cvar(&val, cfg, GIT_CVAR_FILEMODE) && val)
diff->diffcaps |= GIT_DIFFCAPS_TRUST_MODE_BITS;
if (!git_config__cvar(&val, cfg, GIT_CVAR_TRUSTCTIME) && val)
diff->diffcaps |= GIT_DIFFCAPS_TRUST_CTIME;
/* Don't set GIT_DIFFCAPS_USE_DEV - compile time option in core git */
/* If not given explicit `opts`, check `diff.xyz` configs */
if (!opts) {
int context = git_config__get_int_force(cfg, "diff.context", 3);
diff->base.opts.context_lines = context >= 0 ? (uint32_t)context : 3;
/* add other defaults here */
}
/* Reverse src info if diff is reversed */
if (DIFF_FLAG_IS_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_REVERSE)) {
git_iterator_type_t tmp_src = diff->base.old_src;
diff->base.old_src = diff->base.new_src;
diff->base.new_src = tmp_src;
}
/* Unset UPDATE_INDEX unless diffing workdir and index */
if (DIFF_FLAG_IS_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_UPDATE_INDEX) &&
(!(diff->base.old_src == GIT_ITERATOR_TYPE_WORKDIR ||
diff->base.new_src == GIT_ITERATOR_TYPE_WORKDIR) ||
!(diff->base.old_src == GIT_ITERATOR_TYPE_INDEX ||
diff->base.new_src == GIT_ITERATOR_TYPE_INDEX)))
diff->base.opts.flags &= ~GIT_DIFF_UPDATE_INDEX;
/* if ignore_submodules not explicitly set, check diff config */
if (diff->base.opts.ignore_submodules <= 0) {
git_config_entry *entry;
git_config__lookup_entry(&entry, cfg, "diff.ignoresubmodules", true);
if (entry && git_submodule_parse_ignore(
&diff->base.opts.ignore_submodules, entry->value) < 0)
giterr_clear();
git_config_entry_free(entry);
}
/* if either prefix is not set, figure out appropriate value */
if (!diff->base.opts.old_prefix || !diff->base.opts.new_prefix) {
const char *use_old = DIFF_OLD_PREFIX_DEFAULT;
const char *use_new = DIFF_NEW_PREFIX_DEFAULT;
if (git_config__get_bool_force(cfg, "diff.noprefix", 0))
use_old = use_new = "";
else if (git_config__get_bool_force(cfg, "diff.mnemonicprefix", 0)) {
use_old = diff_mnemonic_prefix(diff->base.old_src, true);
use_new = diff_mnemonic_prefix(diff->base.new_src, false);
}
if (!diff->base.opts.old_prefix)
diff->base.opts.old_prefix = use_old;
if (!diff->base.opts.new_prefix)
diff->base.opts.new_prefix = use_new;
}
/* strdup prefix from pool so we're not dependent on external data */
diff->base.opts.old_prefix = diff_strdup_prefix(pool, diff->base.opts.old_prefix);
diff->base.opts.new_prefix = diff_strdup_prefix(pool, diff->base.opts.new_prefix);
if (DIFF_FLAG_IS_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_REVERSE)) {
const char *tmp_prefix = diff->base.opts.old_prefix;
diff->base.opts.old_prefix = diff->base.opts.new_prefix;
diff->base.opts.new_prefix = tmp_prefix;
}
git_config_free(cfg);
/* check strdup results for error */
return (!diff->base.opts.old_prefix || !diff->base.opts.new_prefix) ? -1 : 0;
}
int git_diff__oid_for_file(
git_oid *out,
git_diff *diff,
const char *path,
uint16_t mode,
git_off_t size)
{
git_index_entry entry;
memset(&entry, 0, sizeof(entry));
entry.mode = mode;
entry.file_size = size;
entry.path = (char *)path;
return git_diff__oid_for_entry(out, diff, &entry, mode, NULL);
}
int git_diff__oid_for_entry(
git_oid *out,
git_diff *d,
const git_index_entry *src,
uint16_t mode,
const git_oid *update_match)
{
git_diff_generated *diff;
git_buf full_path = GIT_BUF_INIT;
git_index_entry entry = *src;
git_filter_list *fl = NULL;
int error = 0;
assert(d->type == GIT_DIFF_TYPE_GENERATED);
diff = (git_diff_generated *)d;
memset(out, 0, sizeof(*out));
if (git_buf_joinpath(&full_path,
git_repository_workdir(diff->base.repo), entry.path) < 0)
return -1;
if (!mode) {
struct stat st;
diff->base.perf.stat_calls++;
if (p_stat(full_path.ptr, &st) < 0) {
error = git_path_set_error(errno, entry.path, "stat");
git_buf_free(&full_path);
return error;
}
git_index_entry__init_from_stat(&entry,
&st, (diff->diffcaps & GIT_DIFFCAPS_TRUST_MODE_BITS) != 0);
}
/* calculate OID for file if possible */
if (S_ISGITLINK(mode)) {
git_submodule *sm;
if (!git_submodule_lookup(&sm, diff->base.repo, entry.path)) {
const git_oid *sm_oid = git_submodule_wd_id(sm);
if (sm_oid)
git_oid_cpy(out, sm_oid);
git_submodule_free(sm);
} else {
/* if submodule lookup failed probably just in an intermediate
* state where some init hasn't happened, so ignore the error
*/
giterr_clear();
}
} else if (S_ISLNK(mode)) {
error = git_odb__hashlink(out, full_path.ptr);
diff->base.perf.oid_calculations++;
} else if (!git__is_sizet(entry.file_size)) {
giterr_set(GITERR_OS, "file size overflow (for 32-bits) on '%s'",
entry.path);
error = -1;
} else if (!(error = git_filter_list_load(&fl,
diff->base.repo, NULL, entry.path,
GIT_FILTER_TO_ODB, GIT_FILTER_ALLOW_UNSAFE)))
{
int fd = git_futils_open_ro(full_path.ptr);
if (fd < 0)
error = fd;
else {
error = git_odb__hashfd_filtered(
out, fd, (size_t)entry.file_size, GIT_OBJ_BLOB, fl);
p_close(fd);
diff->base.perf.oid_calculations++;
}
git_filter_list_free(fl);
}
/* update index for entry if requested */
if (!error && update_match && git_oid_equal(out, update_match)) {
git_index *idx;
git_index_entry updated_entry;
memcpy(&updated_entry, &entry, sizeof(git_index_entry));
updated_entry.mode = mode;
git_oid_cpy(&updated_entry.id, out);
if (!(error = git_repository_index__weakptr(&idx,
diff->base.repo))) {
error = git_index_add(idx, &updated_entry);
diff->index_updated = true;
}
}
git_buf_free(&full_path);
return error;
}
typedef struct {
git_repository *repo;
git_iterator *old_iter;
git_iterator *new_iter;
const git_index_entry *oitem;
const git_index_entry *nitem;
} diff_in_progress;
#define MODE_BITS_MASK 0000777
static int maybe_modified_submodule(
git_delta_t *status,
git_oid *found_oid,
git_diff_generated *diff,
diff_in_progress *info)
{
int error = 0;
git_submodule *sub;
unsigned int sm_status = 0;
git_submodule_ignore_t ign = diff->base.opts.ignore_submodules;
*status = GIT_DELTA_UNMODIFIED;
if (DIFF_FLAG_IS_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_IGNORE_SUBMODULES) ||
ign == GIT_SUBMODULE_IGNORE_ALL)
return 0;
if ((error = git_submodule_lookup(
&sub, diff->base.repo, info->nitem->path)) < 0) {
/* GIT_EEXISTS means dir with .git in it was found - ignore it */
if (error == GIT_EEXISTS) {
giterr_clear();
error = 0;
}
return error;
}
if (ign <= 0 && git_submodule_ignore(sub) == GIT_SUBMODULE_IGNORE_ALL)
/* ignore it */;
else if ((error = git_submodule__status(
&sm_status, NULL, NULL, found_oid, sub, ign)) < 0)
/* return error below */;
/* check IS_WD_UNMODIFIED because this case is only used
* when the new side of the diff is the working directory
*/
else if (!GIT_SUBMODULE_STATUS_IS_WD_UNMODIFIED(sm_status))
*status = GIT_DELTA_MODIFIED;
/* now that we have a HEAD OID, check if HEAD moved */
else if ((sm_status & GIT_SUBMODULE_STATUS_IN_WD) != 0 &&
!git_oid_equal(&info->oitem->id, found_oid))
*status = GIT_DELTA_MODIFIED;
git_submodule_free(sub);
return error;
}
static int maybe_modified(
git_diff_generated *diff,
diff_in_progress *info)
{
git_oid noid;
git_delta_t status = GIT_DELTA_MODIFIED;
const git_index_entry *oitem = info->oitem;
const git_index_entry *nitem = info->nitem;
unsigned int omode = oitem->mode;
unsigned int nmode = nitem->mode;
bool new_is_workdir = (info->new_iter->type == GIT_ITERATOR_TYPE_WORKDIR);
bool modified_uncertain = false;
const char *matched_pathspec;
int error = 0;
if (!diff_pathspec_match(&matched_pathspec, diff, oitem))
return 0;
memset(&noid, 0, sizeof(noid));
/* on platforms with no symlinks, preserve mode of existing symlinks */
if (S_ISLNK(omode) && S_ISREG(nmode) && new_is_workdir &&
!(diff->diffcaps & GIT_DIFFCAPS_HAS_SYMLINKS))
nmode = omode;
/* on platforms with no execmode, just preserve old mode */
if (!(diff->diffcaps & GIT_DIFFCAPS_TRUST_MODE_BITS) &&
(nmode & MODE_BITS_MASK) != (omode & MODE_BITS_MASK) &&
new_is_workdir)
nmode = (nmode & ~MODE_BITS_MASK) | (omode & MODE_BITS_MASK);
/* if one side is a conflict, mark the whole delta as conflicted */
if (git_index_entry_is_conflict(oitem) ||
git_index_entry_is_conflict(nitem)) {
status = GIT_DELTA_CONFLICTED;
/* support "assume unchanged" (poorly, b/c we still stat everything) */
} else if ((oitem->flags & GIT_IDXENTRY_VALID) != 0) {
status = GIT_DELTA_UNMODIFIED;
/* support "skip worktree" index bit */
} else if ((oitem->flags_extended & GIT_IDXENTRY_SKIP_WORKTREE) != 0) {
status = GIT_DELTA_UNMODIFIED;
/* if basic type of file changed, then split into delete and add */
} else if (GIT_MODE_TYPE(omode) != GIT_MODE_TYPE(nmode)) {
if (DIFF_FLAG_IS_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_INCLUDE_TYPECHANGE)) {
status = GIT_DELTA_TYPECHANGE;
}
else if (nmode == GIT_FILEMODE_UNREADABLE) {
if (!(error = diff_delta__from_one(diff, GIT_DELTA_DELETED, oitem, NULL)))
error = diff_delta__from_one(diff, GIT_DELTA_UNREADABLE, NULL, nitem);
return error;
}
else {
if (!(error = diff_delta__from_one(diff, GIT_DELTA_DELETED, oitem, NULL)))
error = diff_delta__from_one(diff, GIT_DELTA_ADDED, NULL, nitem);
return error;
}
/* if oids and modes match (and are valid), then file is unmodified */
} else if (git_oid_equal(&oitem->id, &nitem->id) &&
omode == nmode &&
!git_oid_iszero(&oitem->id)) {
status = GIT_DELTA_UNMODIFIED;
/* if we have an unknown OID and a workdir iterator, then check some
* circumstances that can accelerate things or need special handling
*/
} else if (git_oid_iszero(&nitem->id) && new_is_workdir) {
bool use_ctime =
((diff->diffcaps & GIT_DIFFCAPS_TRUST_CTIME) != 0);
git_index *index = git_iterator_index(info->new_iter);
status = GIT_DELTA_UNMODIFIED;
if (S_ISGITLINK(nmode)) {
if ((error = maybe_modified_submodule(&status, &noid, diff, info)) < 0)
return error;
}
/* if the stat data looks different, then mark modified - this just
* means that the OID will be recalculated below to confirm change
*/
else if (omode != nmode || oitem->file_size != nitem->file_size) {
status = GIT_DELTA_MODIFIED;
modified_uncertain =
(oitem->file_size <= 0 && nitem->file_size > 0);
}
else if (!git_index_time_eq(&oitem->mtime, &nitem->mtime) ||
(use_ctime && !git_index_time_eq(&oitem->ctime, &nitem->ctime)) ||
oitem->ino != nitem->ino ||
oitem->uid != nitem->uid ||
oitem->gid != nitem->gid ||
git_index_entry_newer_than_index(nitem, index))
{
status = GIT_DELTA_MODIFIED;
modified_uncertain = true;
}
/* if mode is GITLINK and submodules are ignored, then skip */
} else if (S_ISGITLINK(nmode) &&
DIFF_FLAG_IS_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_IGNORE_SUBMODULES)) {
status = GIT_DELTA_UNMODIFIED;
}
/* if we got here and decided that the files are modified, but we
* haven't calculated the OID of the new item, then calculate it now
*/
if (modified_uncertain && git_oid_iszero(&nitem->id)) {
const git_oid *update_check =
DIFF_FLAG_IS_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_UPDATE_INDEX) && omode == nmode ?
&oitem->id : NULL;
if ((error = git_diff__oid_for_entry(
&noid, &diff->base, nitem, nmode, update_check)) < 0)
return error;
/* if oid matches, then mark unmodified (except submodules, where
* the filesystem content may be modified even if the oid still
* matches between the index and the workdir HEAD)
*/
if (omode == nmode && !S_ISGITLINK(omode) &&
git_oid_equal(&oitem->id, &noid))
status = GIT_DELTA_UNMODIFIED;
}
/* If we want case changes, then break this into a delete of the old
* and an add of the new so that consumers can act accordingly (eg,
* checkout will update the case on disk.)
*/
if (DIFF_FLAG_IS_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_IGNORE_CASE) &&
DIFF_FLAG_IS_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_INCLUDE_CASECHANGE) &&
strcmp(oitem->path, nitem->path) != 0) {
if (!(error = diff_delta__from_one(diff, GIT_DELTA_DELETED, oitem, NULL)))
error = diff_delta__from_one(diff, GIT_DELTA_ADDED, NULL, nitem);
return error;
}
return diff_delta__from_two(
diff, status, oitem, omode, nitem, nmode,
git_oid_iszero(&noid) ? NULL : &noid, matched_pathspec);
}
static bool entry_is_prefixed(
git_diff_generated *diff,
const git_index_entry *item,
const git_index_entry *prefix_item)
{
size_t pathlen;
if (!item || diff->base.pfxcomp(item->path, prefix_item->path) != 0)
return false;
pathlen = strlen(prefix_item->path);
return (prefix_item->path[pathlen - 1] == '/' ||
item->path[pathlen] == '\0' ||
item->path[pathlen] == '/');
}
static int iterator_current(
const git_index_entry **entry,
git_iterator *iterator)
{
int error;
if ((error = git_iterator_current(entry, iterator)) == GIT_ITEROVER) {
*entry = NULL;
error = 0;
}
return error;
}
static int iterator_advance(
const git_index_entry **entry,
git_iterator *iterator)
{
const git_index_entry *prev_entry = *entry;
int cmp, error;
/* if we're looking for conflicts, we only want to report
* one conflict for each file, instead of all three sides.
* so if this entry is a conflict for this file, and the
* previous one was a conflict for the same file, skip it.
*/
while ((error = git_iterator_advance(entry, iterator)) == 0) {
if (!(iterator->flags & GIT_ITERATOR_INCLUDE_CONFLICTS) ||
!git_index_entry_is_conflict(prev_entry) ||
!git_index_entry_is_conflict(*entry))
break;
cmp = (iterator->flags & GIT_ITERATOR_IGNORE_CASE) ?
strcasecmp(prev_entry->path, (*entry)->path) :
strcmp(prev_entry->path, (*entry)->path);
if (cmp)
break;
}
if (error == GIT_ITEROVER) {
*entry = NULL;
error = 0;
}
return error;
}
static int iterator_advance_into(
const git_index_entry **entry,
git_iterator *iterator)
{
int error;
if ((error = git_iterator_advance_into(entry, iterator)) == GIT_ITEROVER) {
*entry = NULL;
error = 0;
}
return error;
}
static int iterator_advance_over(
const git_index_entry **entry,
git_iterator_status_t *status,
git_iterator *iterator)
{
int error = git_iterator_advance_over(entry, status, iterator);
if (error == GIT_ITEROVER) {
*entry = NULL;
error = 0;
}
return error;
}
static int handle_unmatched_new_item(
git_diff_generated *diff, diff_in_progress *info)
{
int error = 0;
const git_index_entry *nitem = info->nitem;
git_delta_t delta_type = GIT_DELTA_UNTRACKED;
bool contains_oitem;
/* check if this is a prefix of the other side */
contains_oitem = entry_is_prefixed(diff, info->oitem, nitem);
/* update delta_type if this item is conflicted */
if (git_index_entry_is_conflict(nitem))
delta_type = GIT_DELTA_CONFLICTED;
/* update delta_type if this item is ignored */
else if (git_iterator_current_is_ignored(info->new_iter))
delta_type = GIT_DELTA_IGNORED;
if (nitem->mode == GIT_FILEMODE_TREE) {
bool recurse_into_dir = contains_oitem;
/* check if user requests recursion into this type of dir */
recurse_into_dir = contains_oitem ||
(delta_type == GIT_DELTA_UNTRACKED &&
DIFF_FLAG_IS_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_RECURSE_UNTRACKED_DIRS)) ||
(delta_type == GIT_DELTA_IGNORED &&
DIFF_FLAG_IS_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_RECURSE_IGNORED_DIRS));
/* do not advance into directories that contain a .git file */
if (recurse_into_dir && !contains_oitem) {
git_buf *full = NULL;
if (git_iterator_current_workdir_path(&full, info->new_iter) < 0)
return -1;
if (full && git_path_contains(full, DOT_GIT)) {
/* TODO: warning if not a valid git repository */
recurse_into_dir = false;
}
}
/* still have to look into untracked directories to match core git -
* with no untracked files, directory is treated as ignored
*/
if (!recurse_into_dir &&
delta_type == GIT_DELTA_UNTRACKED &&
DIFF_FLAG_ISNT_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_ENABLE_FAST_UNTRACKED_DIRS))
{
git_diff_delta *last;
git_iterator_status_t untracked_state;
/* attempt to insert record for this directory */
if ((error = diff_delta__from_one(diff, delta_type, NULL, nitem)) != 0)
return error;
/* if delta wasn't created (because of rules), just skip ahead */
last = diff_delta__last_for_item(diff, nitem);
if (!last)
return iterator_advance(&info->nitem, info->new_iter);
/* iterate into dir looking for an actual untracked file */
if ((error = iterator_advance_over(
&info->nitem, &untracked_state, info->new_iter)) < 0)
return error;
/* if we found nothing that matched our pathlist filter, exclude */
if (untracked_state == GIT_ITERATOR_STATUS_FILTERED) {
git_vector_pop(&diff->base.deltas);
git__free(last);
}
/* if we found nothing or just ignored items, update the record */
if (untracked_state == GIT_ITERATOR_STATUS_IGNORED ||
untracked_state == GIT_ITERATOR_STATUS_EMPTY) {
last->status = GIT_DELTA_IGNORED;
/* remove the record if we don't want ignored records */
if (DIFF_FLAG_ISNT_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_INCLUDE_IGNORED)) {
git_vector_pop(&diff->base.deltas);
git__free(last);
}
}
return 0;
}
/* try to advance into directory if necessary */
if (recurse_into_dir) {
error = iterator_advance_into(&info->nitem, info->new_iter);
/* if directory is empty, can't advance into it, so skip it */
if (error == GIT_ENOTFOUND) {
giterr_clear();
error = iterator_advance(&info->nitem, info->new_iter);
}
return error;
}
}
else if (delta_type == GIT_DELTA_IGNORED &&
DIFF_FLAG_ISNT_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_RECURSE_IGNORED_DIRS) &&
git_iterator_current_tree_is_ignored(info->new_iter))
/* item contained in ignored directory, so skip over it */
return iterator_advance(&info->nitem, info->new_iter);
else if (info->new_iter->type != GIT_ITERATOR_TYPE_WORKDIR) {
if (delta_type != GIT_DELTA_CONFLICTED)
delta_type = GIT_DELTA_ADDED;
}
else if (nitem->mode == GIT_FILEMODE_COMMIT) {
/* ignore things that are not actual submodules */
if (git_submodule_lookup(NULL, info->repo, nitem->path) != 0) {
giterr_clear();
delta_type = GIT_DELTA_IGNORED;
/* if this contains a tracked item, treat as normal TREE */
if (contains_oitem) {
error = iterator_advance_into(&info->nitem, info->new_iter);
if (error != GIT_ENOTFOUND)
return error;
giterr_clear();
return iterator_advance(&info->nitem, info->new_iter);
}
}
}
else if (nitem->mode == GIT_FILEMODE_UNREADABLE) {
if (DIFF_FLAG_IS_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_INCLUDE_UNREADABLE_AS_UNTRACKED))
delta_type = GIT_DELTA_UNTRACKED;
else
delta_type = GIT_DELTA_UNREADABLE;
}
/* Actually create the record for this item if necessary */
if ((error = diff_delta__from_one(diff, delta_type, NULL, nitem)) != 0)
return error;
/* If user requested TYPECHANGE records, then check for that instead of
* just generating an ADDED/UNTRACKED record
*/
if (delta_type != GIT_DELTA_IGNORED &&
DIFF_FLAG_IS_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_INCLUDE_TYPECHANGE_TREES) &&
contains_oitem)
{
/* this entry was prefixed with a tree - make TYPECHANGE */
git_diff_delta *last = diff_delta__last_for_item(diff, nitem);
if (last) {
last->status = GIT_DELTA_TYPECHANGE;
last->old_file.mode = GIT_FILEMODE_TREE;
}
}
return iterator_advance(&info->nitem, info->new_iter);
}
static int handle_unmatched_old_item(
git_diff_generated *diff, diff_in_progress *info)
{
git_delta_t delta_type = GIT_DELTA_DELETED;
int error;
/* update delta_type if this item is conflicted */
if (git_index_entry_is_conflict(info->oitem))
delta_type = GIT_DELTA_CONFLICTED;
if ((error = diff_delta__from_one(diff, delta_type, info->oitem, NULL)) < 0)
return error;
/* if we are generating TYPECHANGE records then check for that
* instead of just generating a DELETE record
*/
if (DIFF_FLAG_IS_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_INCLUDE_TYPECHANGE_TREES) &&
entry_is_prefixed(diff, info->nitem, info->oitem))
{
/* this entry has become a tree! convert to TYPECHANGE */
git_diff_delta *last = diff_delta__last_for_item(diff, info->oitem);
if (last) {
last->status = GIT_DELTA_TYPECHANGE;
last->new_file.mode = GIT_FILEMODE_TREE;
}
/* If new_iter is a workdir iterator, then this situation
* will certainly be followed by a series of untracked items.
* Unless RECURSE_UNTRACKED_DIRS is set, skip over them...
*/
if (S_ISDIR(info->nitem->mode) &&
DIFF_FLAG_ISNT_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_RECURSE_UNTRACKED_DIRS))
return iterator_advance(&info->nitem, info->new_iter);
}
return iterator_advance(&info->oitem, info->old_iter);
}
static int handle_matched_item(
git_diff_generated *diff, diff_in_progress *info)
{
int error = 0;
if ((error = maybe_modified(diff, info)) < 0)
return error;
if (!(error = iterator_advance(&info->oitem, info->old_iter)))
error = iterator_advance(&info->nitem, info->new_iter);
return error;
}
int git_diff__from_iterators(
git_diff **out,
git_repository *repo,
git_iterator *old_iter,
git_iterator *new_iter,
const git_diff_options *opts)
{
git_diff_generated *diff;
diff_in_progress info;
int error = 0;
*out = NULL;
diff = diff_generated_alloc(repo, old_iter, new_iter);
GITERR_CHECK_ALLOC(diff);
info.repo = repo;
info.old_iter = old_iter;
info.new_iter = new_iter;
/* make iterators have matching icase behavior */
if (DIFF_FLAG_IS_SET(diff, GIT_DIFF_IGNORE_CASE)) {
git_iterator_set_ignore_case(old_iter, true);
git_iterator_set_ignore_case(new_iter, true);
}
/* finish initialization */
if ((error = diff_generated_apply_options(diff, opts)) < 0)
goto cleanup;
if ((error = iterator_current(&info.oitem, old_iter)) < 0 ||
(error = iterator_current(&info.nitem, new_iter)) < 0)
goto cleanup;
/* run iterators building diffs */
while (!error && (info.oitem || info.nitem)) {
int cmp;
/* report progress */
if (opts && opts->progress_cb) {
if ((error = opts->progress_cb(&diff->base,
info.oitem ? info.oitem->path : NULL,
info.nitem ? info.nitem->path : NULL,
opts->payload)))
break;
}
cmp = info.oitem ?
(info.nitem ? diff->base.entrycomp(info.oitem, info.nitem) : -1) : 1;
/* create DELETED records for old items not matched in new */
if (cmp < 0)
error = handle_unmatched_old_item(diff, &info);
/* create ADDED, TRACKED, or IGNORED records for new items not
* matched in old (and/or descend into directories as needed)
*/
else if (cmp > 0)
error = handle_unmatched_new_item(diff, &info);
/* otherwise item paths match, so create MODIFIED record
* (or ADDED and DELETED pair if type changed)
*/
else
error = handle_matched_item(diff, &info);
}
diff->base.perf.stat_calls +=
old_iter->stat_calls + new_iter->stat_calls;
cleanup:
if (!error)
*out = &diff->base;
else
git_diff_free(&diff->base);
return error;
}
#define DIFF_FROM_ITERATORS(MAKE_FIRST, FLAGS_FIRST, MAKE_SECOND, FLAGS_SECOND) do { \
git_iterator *a = NULL, *b = NULL; \
char *pfx = (opts && !(opts->flags & GIT_DIFF_DISABLE_PATHSPEC_MATCH)) ? \
git_pathspec_prefix(&opts->pathspec) : NULL; \
git_iterator_options a_opts = GIT_ITERATOR_OPTIONS_INIT, \
b_opts = GIT_ITERATOR_OPTIONS_INIT; \
a_opts.flags = FLAGS_FIRST; \
a_opts.start = pfx; \
a_opts.end = pfx; \
b_opts.flags = FLAGS_SECOND; \
b_opts.start = pfx; \
b_opts.end = pfx; \
GITERR_CHECK_VERSION(opts, GIT_DIFF_OPTIONS_VERSION, "git_diff_options"); \
if (opts && (opts->flags & GIT_DIFF_DISABLE_PATHSPEC_MATCH)) { \
a_opts.pathlist.strings = opts->pathspec.strings; \
a_opts.pathlist.count = opts->pathspec.count; \
b_opts.pathlist.strings = opts->pathspec.strings; \
b_opts.pathlist.count = opts->pathspec.count; \
} \
if (!error && !(error = MAKE_FIRST) && !(error = MAKE_SECOND)) \
error = git_diff__from_iterators(&diff, repo, a, b, opts); \
git__free(pfx); git_iterator_free(a); git_iterator_free(b); \
} while (0)
int git_diff_tree_to_tree(
git_diff **out,
git_repository *repo,
git_tree *old_tree,
git_tree *new_tree,
const git_diff_options *opts)
{
git_diff *diff = NULL;
git_iterator_flag_t iflag = GIT_ITERATOR_DONT_IGNORE_CASE;
int error = 0;
assert(out && repo);
*out = NULL;
/* for tree to tree diff, be case sensitive even if the index is
* currently case insensitive, unless the user explicitly asked
* for case insensitivity
*/
if (opts && (opts->flags & GIT_DIFF_IGNORE_CASE) != 0)
iflag = GIT_ITERATOR_IGNORE_CASE;
DIFF_FROM_ITERATORS(
git_iterator_for_tree(&a, old_tree, &a_opts), iflag,
git_iterator_for_tree(&b, new_tree, &b_opts), iflag
);
if (!error)
*out = diff;
return error;
}
static int diff_load_index(git_index **index, git_repository *repo)
{
int error = git_repository_index__weakptr(index, repo);
/* reload the repository index when user did not pass one in */
if (!error && git_index_read(*index, false) < 0)
giterr_clear();
return error;
}
int git_diff_tree_to_index(
git_diff **out,
git_repository *repo,
git_tree *old_tree,
git_index *index,
const git_diff_options *opts)
{
git_diff *diff = NULL;
git_iterator_flag_t iflag = GIT_ITERATOR_DONT_IGNORE_CASE |
GIT_ITERATOR_INCLUDE_CONFLICTS;
bool index_ignore_case = false;
int error = 0;
assert(out && repo);
*out = NULL;
if (!index && (error = diff_load_index(&index, repo)) < 0)
return error;
index_ignore_case = index->ignore_case;
DIFF_FROM_ITERATORS(
git_iterator_for_tree(&a, old_tree, &a_opts), iflag,
git_iterator_for_index(&b, repo, index, &b_opts), iflag
);
/* if index is in case-insensitive order, re-sort deltas to match */
if (!error && index_ignore_case)
git_diff__set_ignore_case(diff, true);
if (!error)
*out = diff;
return error;
}
int git_diff_index_to_workdir(
git_diff **out,
git_repository *repo,
git_index *index,
const git_diff_options *opts)
{
git_diff *diff = NULL;
int error = 0;
assert(out && repo);
*out = NULL;
if (!index && (error = diff_load_index(&index, repo)) < 0)
return error;
DIFF_FROM_ITERATORS(
git_iterator_for_index(&a, repo, index, &a_opts),
GIT_ITERATOR_INCLUDE_CONFLICTS,
git_iterator_for_workdir(&b, repo, index, NULL, &b_opts),
GIT_ITERATOR_DONT_AUTOEXPAND
);
if (!error && (diff->opts.flags & GIT_DIFF_UPDATE_INDEX) != 0 &&
((git_diff_generated *)diff)->index_updated)
error = git_index_write(index);
if (!error)
*out = diff;
return error;
}
int git_diff_tree_to_workdir(
git_diff **out,
git_repository *repo,
git_tree *old_tree,
const git_diff_options *opts)
{
git_diff *diff = NULL;
git_index *index;
int error = 0;
assert(out && repo);
*out = NULL;
if ((error = git_repository_index__weakptr(&index, repo)))
return error;
DIFF_FROM_ITERATORS(
git_iterator_for_tree(&a, old_tree, &a_opts), 0,
git_iterator_for_workdir(&b, repo, index, old_tree, &b_opts), GIT_ITERATOR_DONT_AUTOEXPAND
);
if (!error)
*out = diff;
return error;
}
int git_diff_tree_to_workdir_with_index(
git_diff **out,
git_repository *repo,
git_tree *tree,
const git_diff_options *opts)
{
git_diff *d1 = NULL, *d2 = NULL;
git_index *index = NULL;
int error = 0;
assert(out && repo);
*out = NULL;
if ((error = diff_load_index(&index, repo)) < 0)
return error;
if (!(error = git_diff_tree_to_index(&d1, repo, tree, index, opts)) &&
!(error = git_diff_index_to_workdir(&d2, repo, index, opts)))
error = git_diff_merge(d1, d2);
git_diff_free(d2);
if (error) {
git_diff_free(d1);
d1 = NULL;
}
*out = d1;
return error;
}
int git_diff_index_to_index(
git_diff **out,
git_repository *repo,
git_index *old_index,
git_index *new_index,
const git_diff_options *opts)
{
git_diff *diff;
int error = 0;
assert(out && old_index && new_index);
*out = NULL;
DIFF_FROM_ITERATORS(
git_iterator_for_index(&a, repo, old_index, &a_opts), GIT_ITERATOR_DONT_IGNORE_CASE,
git_iterator_for_index(&b, repo, new_index, &b_opts), GIT_ITERATOR_DONT_IGNORE_CASE
);
/* if index is in case-insensitive order, re-sort deltas to match */
if (!error && (old_index->ignore_case || new_index->ignore_case))
git_diff__set_ignore_case(diff, true);
if (!error)
*out = diff;
return error;
}
int git_diff__paired_foreach(
git_diff *head2idx,
git_diff *idx2wd,
int (*cb)(git_diff_delta *h2i, git_diff_delta *i2w, void *payload),
void *payload)
{
int cmp, error = 0;
git_diff_delta *h2i, *i2w;
size_t i, j, i_max, j_max;
int (*strcomp)(const char *, const char *) = git__strcmp;
bool h2i_icase, i2w_icase, icase_mismatch;
i_max = head2idx ? head2idx->deltas.length : 0;
j_max = idx2wd ? idx2wd->deltas.length : 0;
if (!i_max && !j_max)
return 0;
/* At some point, tree-to-index diffs will probably never ignore case,
* even if that isn't true now. Index-to-workdir diffs may or may not
* ignore case, but the index filename for the idx2wd diff should
* still be using the canonical case-preserving name.
*
* Therefore the main thing we need to do here is make sure the diffs
* are traversed in a compatible order. To do this, we temporarily
* resort a mismatched diff to get the order correct.
*
* In order to traverse renames in the index->workdir, we need to
* ensure that we compare the index name on both sides, so we
* always sort by the old name in the i2w list.
*/
h2i_icase = head2idx != NULL && git_diff_is_sorted_icase(head2idx);
i2w_icase = idx2wd != NULL && git_diff_is_sorted_icase(idx2wd);
icase_mismatch =
(head2idx != NULL && idx2wd != NULL && h2i_icase != i2w_icase);
if (icase_mismatch && h2i_icase) {
git_vector_set_cmp(&head2idx->deltas, git_diff_delta__cmp);
git_vector_sort(&head2idx->deltas);
}
if (i2w_icase && !icase_mismatch) {
strcomp = git__strcasecmp;
git_vector_set_cmp(&idx2wd->deltas, git_diff_delta__i2w_casecmp);
git_vector_sort(&idx2wd->deltas);
} else if (idx2wd != NULL) {
git_vector_set_cmp(&idx2wd->deltas, git_diff_delta__i2w_cmp);
git_vector_sort(&idx2wd->deltas);
}
for (i = 0, j = 0; i < i_max || j < j_max; ) {
h2i = head2idx ? GIT_VECTOR_GET(&head2idx->deltas, i) : NULL;
i2w = idx2wd ? GIT_VECTOR_GET(&idx2wd->deltas, j) : NULL;
cmp = !i2w ? -1 : !h2i ? 1 :
strcomp(h2i->new_file.path, i2w->old_file.path);
if (cmp < 0) {
i++; i2w = NULL;
} else if (cmp > 0) {
j++; h2i = NULL;
} else {
i++; j++;
}
if ((error = cb(h2i, i2w, payload)) != 0) {
giterr_set_after_callback(error);
break;
}
}
/* restore case-insensitive delta sort */
if (icase_mismatch && h2i_icase) {
git_vector_set_cmp(&head2idx->deltas, git_diff_delta__casecmp);
git_vector_sort(&head2idx->deltas);
}
/* restore idx2wd sort by new path */
if (idx2wd != NULL) {
git_vector_set_cmp(&idx2wd->deltas,
i2w_icase ? git_diff_delta__casecmp : git_diff_delta__cmp);
git_vector_sort(&idx2wd->deltas);
}
return error;
}
int git_diff__commit(
git_diff **out,
git_repository *repo,
const git_commit *commit,
const git_diff_options *opts)
{
git_commit *parent = NULL;
git_diff *commit_diff = NULL;
git_tree *old_tree = NULL, *new_tree = NULL;
size_t parents;
int error = 0;
*out = NULL;
if ((parents = git_commit_parentcount(commit)) > 1) {
char commit_oidstr[GIT_OID_HEXSZ + 1];
error = -1;
giterr_set(GITERR_INVALID, "commit %s is a merge commit",
git_oid_tostr(commit_oidstr, GIT_OID_HEXSZ + 1, git_commit_id(commit)));
goto on_error;
}
if (parents > 0)
if ((error = git_commit_parent(&parent, commit, 0)) < 0 ||
(error = git_commit_tree(&old_tree, parent)) < 0)
goto on_error;
if ((error = git_commit_tree(&new_tree, commit)) < 0 ||
(error = git_diff_tree_to_tree(&commit_diff, repo, old_tree, new_tree, opts)) < 0)
goto on_error;
*out = commit_diff;
on_error:
git_tree_free(new_tree);
git_tree_free(old_tree);
git_commit_free(parent);
return error;
}
|
Accessible Educational Materials in Transition Planning
Start Date:
3/1/18
End Date:
None
Duration:
3:30 PM CDT
4:30 PM
CDT
(Time Zone Sensitive)
Type:
Webinars
Description AEM in Transition Planning: Including Accessible Materials and Technologies in Services for Postsecondary Goals, Presented by Cynthia Curry, Co-Director, AEM***Successful transition processes occur when the planning team is well-informed about the student’s abilities, needs, and available services. Whether moving on to higher education or workforce training, a student may need accessible materials and accessible technologies included in a transition plan to reach postsecondary goals. Where within a transition plan should a team address this? What are the rights and responsibilities of the student? What should students expect from higher education institutions and workforce agencies? Bring your planning teams and join the discussion. |
Distinctive genomic signature of neural and intestinal organoids from familial Parkinson's disease patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells.
The leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) G2019S mutation is the most common genetic cause of Parkinson's disease (PD). There is compelling evidence that PD is not only a brain disease but also a gastrointestinal disorder; nonetheless, its pathogenesis remains unclear. We aimed to develop human neural and intestinal tissue models of PD patients harbouring an LRRK2 mutation to understand the link between LRRK2 and PD pathology by investigating the gene expression signature. We generated PD patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) carrying an LRRK2 G2019S mutation (LK2GS) and then differentiated into three-dimensional (3D) human neuroectodermal spheres (hNESs) and human intestinal organoids (hIOs). To unravel the gene and signalling networks associated with LK2GS, we analysed differentially expressed genes in the microarray data by functional clustering, gene ontology (GO) and pathway analyses. The expression profiles of LK2GS were distinct from those of wild-type controls in hNESs and hIOs. The most represented GO biological process in hNESs and hIOs was synaptic transmission, specifically synaptic vesicle trafficking, some defects of which are known to be related to PD. The results were further validated in four independent PD-specific hNESs and hIOs by microarray and qRT-PCR analysis. We provide the first evidence that LK2GS also causes significant changes in gene expression in the intestinal cells. These hNES and hIO models from the same genetic background of PD patients could be invaluable resources for understanding PD pathophysiology and for advancing the complexity of in vitro models with 3D expandable organoids. |
Q:
MySQL query issue with PHP
I want take tanggal and waktu fields with condition of it's max id and lumen_satu < 1000.
Here's my code
<?php
require_once 'koneksi.php';
$sql = "SELECT tanggal, waktu from nilai_lumen WHERE lumen_satu < 1000 AND id=(SELECT MAX(id) from nilai_lumen)";
$r = mysqli_query($conn,$sql);
$data = mysqli_fetch_row($r);
echo "$data[0] $data[1]"
When I ran it, I got nothing; because the last database insert is lumen_satu > 1000
I want to get id before that but because I use MAX(id) I get the last id inserted in database.
How can i fix this?
A:
With your condition I think here is what you want
$sql = "SELECT tanggal, waktu from nilai_lumen WHERE id=(SELECT MAX(id) from nilai_lumen WHERE lumen_satu < 1000)";
|
The top positions in state education across the US – for example, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, recent chancellors Joel Klein (New York) and Michelle Rhee (Washington, DC), and incoming Chancellor Cathleen P Black (New York) – reflect a trust in CEO-style leadership for education management and reform. Along with these new leaders in education, billionaire entrepreneurs have also assumed roles as education saviours: Bill and Melinda Gates, and Geoffrey Canada.
Gates, Canada, Duncan, Klein and Rhee have capitalised on their positions in education to rise to the status of celebrities, as well – praised in the misleading documentary feature Waiting for Superman, on Oprah, and even on Bill Maher's Real Time.
What do all these professional managers and entrepreneurs have in common?
Little or no experience or expertise in education. (Instead, they have degrees in government and law, along with nontraditional entries into education and strong ties to alternative certification, such as Teach for America). Further, they all represent and promote a cultural faith in the power of leadership above the importance of experience or expertise.
When Klein quit his post as chancellor in New York – soon after Michelle Rhee left DC – the fact that he was leaving for a senior position at News Corp and that his replacement would be a magazine executive sent a strong message. The implication was that the American public distrusts not only schools, but also teachers and education experts.
More telling, however, is the appointment of Duncan as secretary of education under President Obama. This appointment of a CEO-style leader of schools in Chicago comes under a Democratic administration and, ironically, a president once demonised as too friendly with the radical left within the education community.
Like Obama, Secretary Duncan has led refrains against bad teachers, while ignoring the growing impact of poverty on the lives of children and on schools. One very visible effect of this trend for recruiting CEO-style leaders and billionaire entrepreneurs is the new commitment to corporate-sponsored charter schools – such as the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) and the Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) among the most high profile.
The messages coming from state education in the US, then, are that government has failed and that only the private sector can save us. But is that message accurate?
The corporate push to take over state education is, in fact, masking the failures of corporate America. And, in turn, this masks the fact that America has failed state education, rather than state education failing America.
The standards, testing and accountability movement is built on a claim that education can change society. The corporate support for the accountability movement and the "no excuses" charter school movement seeks to reinforce that claim because, otherwise, corporate America and the politicians supporting corporate America would have to admit that something is wrong with our economic and political structures.
And the evidence isn't on the side of corporate America.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has shown that only 14% of pupil achievement can be attributed to the quality of the school; 86% of that achievement is driven by factors outside of education. David Berliner has also established six out-of-school factors that overwhelm the effectiveness of education against poverty and expanding social inequities.
In the US, achievement gaps and failure in state schools reflect larger inequalities in society, as well as dysfunction in corporate, consumer culture. The schools did not cause those gaps or failures – although it is true that, far too often, they perpetuate the social stratification. And the evidence shows that schools alone will never be able to overcome powerful social forces.
The real failure, which is the message being ignored here, is that one of the wealthiest countries in the world refuses to face the inequities of its economic system, a system that permits more than 20% of its children to live in poverty and to languish in schools that America has clearly decided to abandon, along with its democratic principles. |
Airflow limitation during respiratory syncytial virus lower respiratory tract infection predicts recurrent wheezing.
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) is frequently followed by recurrent wheezing. Thus far no clinical risk factors have been identified to predict which infants will have wheezing episodes subsequent to RSV LRTI. To determine clinical predictors for airway morbidity after RSV LRTI. In a 1-year follow-up study we investigated the predictive value of auscultatory findings characteristic of airflow limitation (wheezing) during RSV LRTI for subsequent airway morbidity. Clinical characteristics, including the presence or absence of signs of airflow limitation, of hospitalized infants with RSV LRTI were prospectively recorded during 2 winter epidemics. During a 1-year follow-up period parents of 130 infants recorded daily airway symptoms. Recurrent wheezing defined as > or = 2 episodes of wheezing. Signs of airflow limitation during RSV LRTI were absent in 47 (36%) infants and present in 83 (64%) infants. Recurrent wheezing was recorded in 10 (21%) infants without signs of airflow limitation and in 51 (61%) with signs of airflow limitation during initial RSV LRTI (relative risk, 0.29, P < 0.001). In a multiple logistic regression model, airflow limitation during initial RSV LRTI proved independent from other clinical parameters, including age, parental history of asthma and smoke exposure. A sign of airflow limitation during RSV LRTI is the first useful clinical predictor for subsequent recurrent wheezing. |
Social and political issues related to Singapore and the South East Asia region. A blog which attempts to do so in a non-trivial manner treating opposing views with the respect they deserve.
Contributions are welcomed from all regardless of your political persuasion.
The government is everywhere, censorship rules and civil society is weak in Singapore. Such state control does not however include the excesses or violence found in China or Cuba. The leaders of the city-state warn that economic prosperity has to be paid for with freedom. The Internet in Singapore is almost devoid of political discussion and dissent only occurs on websites and discussion forums run from outside the country.
"I'm often accused of interfering in the private lives of citizens. Yet, if I did not, had I not done that, we wouldn't be here today." This remark by former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew sums up the policy of the country's longtime ruler - that civil liberties were never a priority and that a good citizen should remember the national interest is always more important. This has remained the government's attitude since Lee partly handed over power to his successors in 1990 after ruling for 31 years.
The Internet is censored along with the traditional media, but the government was one of the first in the world to realise its importance as a means of dissent by civil society. It began regulating Internet activity in 1999 and the 11 September 2001 attacks speeded up an already advanced process.
ISPs under control
The government pushed through two major computer and Internet laws in 1998. One, the Computer Misuse Act, gave police wide powers to intercept online messages and said the authorities could decode encrypted messages in the course of investigations and under supervision of a prosecutor. The other law, on e-commerce, allowed police to seize and search computers without a warrant to do so. The two measures added to a series of laws cracking down on individual freedom, especially the Internal Security Act (ISA).
Since the late 1990s, the Internet has been under the control of the Singapore Broadcasting Authority (SBA), which monitors website access and content and calls for observance of a charter defining "responsible" Internet activity.
It requires ISPs to block any sites containing material that supposedly undermines public security, national defence, racial and religious harmony and public morality and more than 100 sites considered pornographic are thought to have been blocked. ISPs have to follow a code of conduct and must have an operating licence. They must also install filters on their systems, which block most pornographic material but are also used to bar access to political content, especially at election-time.
Employers are legally allowed to monitor the e-mail of their workers, who have no means of appeal if they are sacked as a result of an intercepted message.
Political and religious websites must be registered with the Media Development Authority (MDA), which was set up in 2002 through a merger of several media supervisory bodies and requires ISPs to block access to about 100 sites considered undesirable.
Open-ended power to monitor the Internet
An amendment to article 15 (a) of the Computer Misuse Act was passed by parliament in November 2003 to authorise complete surveillance of an Internet user through real-time software and the person's arrest before an offence is committed. Cyber-criminals can now be imprisoned for up to three years.
Member of parliament Ho Geok Choo said the amendment was "very much like the cyberspace equivalent" of the ISA, which was passed to fight classic crime. The ISA, which dates from the time of independence, has long been used by the regime to make arbitrary arrests of political dissidents.
Some MPs criticised the vague phrasing of the law and Chee Soon Juan, secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party, said it was just an excuse for the government to control Internet activity.
The law does not say what kind of body or organisation the home affairs (interior) minister can authorise to monitor the Internet or what action the minister can take in the event of "imminent attacks." No independent body to review such decisions is mentioned.
Discussion forum under attack
The online forum Singapore Review, which carries criticism of the government, was hacked into on 6 October 2003 by someone who flooded the Yahoo-hosted site with up to 600 bogus messages an hour, driving 200 participants out of the forum.
The website, which calls itself "an alternative" to the country's "propaganda media," carries articles from the world press and reports by international human rights organisations. Its editor, who uses the pseudonym Melanie Hewlitt, encourages participants to speak their mind, which she says the country's media are incapable of doing.
29 Jul 2004
"PLEASE forgive him." This was the singular plea from Melbourne mother Nguyen Kim yesterday as she clung to her last thread of hope that the Singapore Court of Appeal would yet overrule her son's death sentence.
Nguyen Tuong Van, 23, was sentenced to hang by the Singapore High Court in March for attempting to smuggle 396 grams of heroin. He was caught during transit in Changi airport on a trip from Cambodia to Melbourne in January last year.
His fate as potentially the first Australian to be executed by a foreign government in a decade now rests with the thoughts of three of Singapore's most senior judges on a technical point regarding the weight of the drugs.
Ms Nguyen, a Vietnamese refugee who gave birth to twin boys in a Thai refugee camp before migrating to Australia when they were babies, travelled to Singapore in the belief that the judges, who had received written submissions from lawyers, might make their final ruling on whether her son goes to the gallows later this year. But after hearing legal arguments for 20 minutes, the three-judge court of appeal, led by Chief Justice Yong Pung How, reserved its decision.
A pale Nguyen, who had told officials that he had smuggled the drugs to help pay the debts of his twin brother, stared without expression at his tearful mother as he was led away from the hearing yesterday.
His life appears to rest on whether the judges overrule the High Court's decision to admit as evidence his own statements to narcotics officers after he was caught with the drugs, along with the drugs themselves.
Nguyen was convicted in April largely on the basis of the elaborate explanation he gave to narcotics officers who discovered a plastic bag of heroin strapped to his back when he passed through security checks as he was preparing to board a Qantas flight to Melbourne.
His lawyers say the story, which detailed how, where and why he bought the drugs, was not a confession as he had not been informed of his rights to have legal representation before he spoke.
They also question the integrity of the drugs themselves. According to evidence at the earlier trial, the two bags of drugs were not immediately sealed after their discovery, and were removed from the investigating officer's cabinet during the night.
The lawyers also point out that the two bags of drugs weighed less than an initial measurement when they were tested in a laboratory. One of them weighed more than the other in one test, while the difference was reversed in a second test. They argue the discrepancy - amounting to eight grams - raises doubts about the integrity of the exhibits. If the drugs, and Nguyen's statements admitting he carried them, are ruled inadmissible, they believe the prosecution has no case.
Nguyen's lawyers also believe Singapore's mandatory death sentence is unconstitutional because it removes the power of judges to take into account individual circumstances of a case. Under Singaporean law, anyone convicted of carrying more than 15 grams of heroin must be hanged.
Amnesty International says Singapore has the highest rate of government-sanctioned executions per capita in the world, killing more than 400 people since the law was introduced in 1975.
If Nguyen loses his appeal, only a presidential pardon can save him from the gallows. Singapore has never executed an Australian. Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has written to his counterpart arguing compassionate circumstances should be considered in the case.
For now, Ms Nguyen is relieved the judges appear to be considering the arguments of her son's lawyers.
"I have a little bit of hope still," she told The Australian after yesterday's hearing.
28 Jul 2004
[ Note for Readers: Please circulate this analysis as widely as possible, especially to HDB flat owners/buyers --- who have been "taken for a ride" for all these years!!! If anyone knows Mr Chow, please alert him as well.]
Mr Chow had rightly asked the HDB to explain why new four and five-room flats are priced at $200,000 upwards when the construction cost per unit is only about $50,000 --- i.e. a whopping difference of $150,000.
The two main "nonsense" arguments in HDB's mumbo-jumbo reply and my compelling rebuttals in brackets:
(a) The construction cost per unit figure of $50K provided by Mr Chow did not take into account other construction-related costs, such as piling works, consultancy and project-management fees.
[ EVEN if the related costs are included, it CANNOT account for the whopping difference of $150K!!! We, Singaporeans, Not Stupid! We were not born yesterday and we are not 3-year old kids. So the HDB had better stop insulting our intelligence with such stupid arguments! ]
(b) HDB sells flats with a "market subsidy" by pricing NEW flats "below" the price of comparable RESALE flats i.e. since comparable resale flats are selling for around $240K (say), the HDB then decides to "pluck from the air" the round figure of $200K as the selling price of the new flats!!! So that our beloved PAP Government can then boast to its people and the whole world that each HDB flat-buyer is getting a big fat $40K so-called "market subsidy"!!!
[ WOW, since when did the HDB, as a government agency set up to "supposedly help" its citizens own their homes, thought of such a "clever" approach to "suck monies" from the people??? ]
3 In the PRIVATE SECTOR, the selling price of private property is based on the following cost-plus approach:
To be fair to its flatbuyers, the HDB should thus be following such a "cost-recovery" approach. And if the PAP Government is really SINCERE and GENUINE in helping our people regard Singapore as HOME (both literally and figuratively), it should adopt such an approach to compute the selling price of HDB flats with the following provisions:
(i) Impute land cost on a nominal basis rather than market value (which will then provide a "true subsidy" ). While private developers have to recover full land costs, the Government [as owner of some 90% of the land in Singapore] can do this. After all, HDB land are all on just 99-year lease.
THROUGH THE ABOVE APPROACH, the Government is then really "helping" the people purchase their own homes "at the lowest possible cost" through reaping the economies of scale in the large-scale development of HDB estates. The HDB flatbuyers will then be getting a "true subsidy" and the HDB will not be "making profits out of the buyers" [In essence, the HDB will be something like a big housing co-operative, providing a "home building service"]
4 HOWEVER, THROUGH THE CURRENT "MARKET SUBSIDY" APPROACH as stated in the above HDB reply,
(i) HDB flatbuyers are not really getting a "TRUE subsidy" but an "INVISIBLE market subsidy"
(ii) The HDB is also actually making "big fat profits" out of its flatbuyers.
HDB leased flats - our personal asset or liability? Provision of a
home is an asset, the overcharging is a liability that eats away your
retirement fund and puts you in debt.
Calculation of HDB's OBSCENE profit - new flats and resale levy:
There is only one word to describe it - evil!
Between 1991 - 2001, HDB built 280,826 new flats [see below].
Assuming each flat average $100k net profit for HDB, they would have
amassed S$28.0b net profit from sale of new flats. Using statistics
(1998-2001) showing that for every single new flat sold, 1.7 resale
flats would have changed hands, the Resale levy would have raked in
at least S$19.0b (flats built x 1.7 x $40k*) into HDB coffers for
doing NOTHING. All these billion$ are deducted from our CPF savings
within PM Goh's first 11 years in office.
{Total net income to HDB not less that $47b in just 11 years! - where
does this money come from? Our savings!)
*S$40k being average 20% levy on a average flat sold for a
conservative $200k assumption.
** Note: Construction cost per 5-room flat is below $80k.
** Note: The $28.0b will be the CPF savings you had paid to HDB, plus
your future *debt* if you are still paying installments.
** Mortgage interest not factored into purchase calculation.
** Tenancy lease depreciation (99-year lease) not accounted for.
This explains why we have to work our asses off our lifetime, just to
pay for the pigeon hole, and why you can never have enough left
behind in CPF for retirement use. What happened to the $b's in HDB
profit, as I didn't see it in the HDB surplus account published last
month?
This message was forwarded to you from Straits Times Interactive (http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg) by mellaniehewlitt@y...
Comments from sender:
Singapore Govt's idea of "subsidised housing take the form of the worlds most
expensive pigeon holes.
By artificially inflating the price of land sold to developers, the Singapore
Government has also contributed to escalating cost of living.
New HDB 5-room flats too small for their price
I DISAGREE that HDB five-room flats are too big ('Why buyers shun 5-room, exec
flats'; ST, March 18). The new flats in Sengkang and Punggol are being shunned
precisely because they are too small for their price.
I am the owner of a five-room flat in Punggol that measures a miserly 110 sq m,
compared to my parents' flat in Clementi, which is spacious at 130 sq m.
I live with my parents-in-law and my sister-in-law, which makes the average
living space per person only 22 sq m. Should a baby come along, we would have
to move to a larger flat in a mature housing estate.
Many friends I know would rather settle for a four-room resale flat than a flat
in Punggol, as the size of a four-room flat is about 95 sq m, only slightly
smaller than a 110 sq m five-room flat. The flats are going for about 60 per
cent of the price of a new five-room flat, but are smaller by only 14 per cent.
And they are often in mature estates with better amenities.
Another complaint about flats in Punggol and Sengkang is the out-of-this-world
layout. One friend's Sengkang flat has a living room framed by five walls, and
a triangular kitchen.
As the new five-room flats are so small, they should be sold at a price
slightly higher than that of four-room flats.
27 Jul 2004
Singapore's appeals court reserved judgment yesterday in a death-penalty case against an Australian convicted of smuggling heroin, saying it wants more time to look at evidence - especially why the drugs had different weights when tested by police and a lab.
The decision by the three-judge panel to defer judgment against Nguyen Tuong Van - who faces the gallows if his appeal fails and the president doesn't grant clemency - means legal proceedings will be extended days or weeks in a case that dates from December 2002.
Chief Justice Yong Pung How told the court that the discrepancy in drug weight "has never happened before" in such a case.
"Admittedly it is only a marginal difference, but we have to be very careful," Yong said.
Nguyen, 23, a salesman from Melbourne, was arrested December 12, 2002 at Changi International Airport in transit between Cambodia and Australia. During a routine passenger search, officers found Nguyen was carrying two packets of heroin, one taped to his back and a second in his bag.
When weighed at the airport by police, Nguyen's two packets weighed 381.66 grams and 380.36 grams, according to the written judgment of Judge Kan Ting Chui, who heard Nguyen's case.
But when weighed later at a lab, the packets weighed 361.64 grams and 370.94 grams respectively, according to the same written judgment, dated March 20, 2004.
"We will wait and see what happens," Lex Lasry, Nguyen's Australian attorney, said outside the courtroom.
Singapore has some of Asia's toughest anti-drug laws, including a mandatory death penalty for anyone convicted of possessing more than 15 grams of pure heroin.
Chief Justice Yong heard the appeal yesterday, along with judges Chao Hick Tin and Lai Kew Chai. Among those watching was Nguyen's mother, Kim, who fled Vietnam in 1980 by boat.
Nguyen's Singapore lawyers, Joseph Theseira and Tito Isaac, had submitted on July 15 written arguments detailing why Nguyen's conviction should be overturned.
In court yesterday, Theseira summarized these, including the issue of the drugs' differing weights, and Singapore's use of the mandatory death penalty.
Nguyen's case - should he lose his appeal - could complicate ties between Canberra and Singapore, which normally enjoy a close diplomatic relationship.
Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has called for Nguyen's life to be spared.
Singapore's government routinely defends the country's use of the gallows although it has yet to comment on Nguyen's case. It argues hanging criminals convicted of serious offenses sends a strong message to other would-be offenders.
24 Jul 2004
Yet again the death penalty and the proceedings surrounding such a court case disappear in the local Singaporean press. The death penalty in Singapore IS clouded in secracy. We have to go to the international press to hear about the decisions that are being made under our very noses. Singapore Press Holdings and the so called journalists who work for them in Singapore have become sick with fear.
Norrie Ross
law reporter
24jul04A YOUNG Melbourne man due to hang in Singapore for drug crimes will get one of his last chances to save his life next week.
Nguyen Tuong Van, 23, will appeal against his conviction and sentence in Singapore's Court of Appeal on Monday, in a hearing that is not expected to last even the day.
Nguyen, a former salesman, has been on death row for five months since he was convicted of importing nearly 400 grams of heroin in December 2002.
He was arrested at Changi International Airport while boarding a Qantas flight to Australia with the drugs strapped to his back and in his backpack.
He was in transit from Cambodia, and his trial heard he told police he carried the drugs to repay $30,000 in debts accumulated by his twin brother.
One of his Melbourne lawyers, barrister Julian McMahon, said yesterday the legal team had one aim. "Our objective all along has been to save his life, and that remains our objective," he said.
Mr McMahon said Nguyen was bearing up as well as could be expected in the circumstances, though his family was very distressed.
There is a mandatory death penalty in Singapore for anyone aged over 18 convicted of carrying more than 15 grams of heroin.
If Nguyen's appeal fails, his last chance of avoiding the gallows would be to try to win a plea for clemency to Singapore's president.
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer has already told Singapore that Australia does not want Nguyen to be hanged, but most clemency appeals fail.
Nguyen's other Melbourne lawyer, Lex Lasry, QC, said the appeal would focus on deficiencies in the evidence against his client and a challenge to the constitutional basis of the death penalty in Singapore.
Mr Lasry said Nguyen was a first offender and, because of his age, if he committed the same offence in Australia his sentence would typically be between five and 10 years in jail.
If Nguyen is hanged, he would be the fourth Australian to be executed in an Asian country on drug charges.
In the most notorious case, Brian Chambers and Kevin Barlow were executed in Malaysia in 1986.
Queenslander Michael McAuliffe was hanged in Malaysia in June 1993 after serving eight years in jail.
23 Jul 2004
Sex and the City may be all right for audiences in Singapore, but censors have drawn the line at Taiwan's highest-grossing film this year, banning the teenage romantic comedy for its gay theme.
"Formula 17", which has grossed double the $100,000 (55,000 pounds) it cost to make, was banned, despite an appeal from its distributor, because it encouraged homosexuality, Singapore's Films Appeals Committee said on Thursday.
It said panel members thought the film "creates an illusion of a homosexual utopia, where everyone, including passersby, is homosexual and no ills or problems are reflected".
"It conveys the message that homosexuality is normal, and a natural progression of society," the panel said.
Strict Singapore has loosened some of its stuffy social controls in recent years, partially relaxing a ban on chewing gum in January, allowing some bars to stay open for 24 hours and ending a ban on the U.S. sitcom "Sex and the City" last week.
But many tough rules remain. "Playboy" magazine is still banned, while oral sex remains technically illegal under a law that says "whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animals" can be fined and jailed up to 10 years, or even for life.
The government said in January it plans to review its sex laws, and oral sex would most probably be decriminalised -- but only between men and women.
The panel said it took into account the findings of a recent survey that more than 70 percent of Singaporeans are not receptive to homosexual lifestyles.
"Formula 17", directed by a 23-year-old, has been a sensation in Taiwan, its box-office earnings making it the most successful homegrown film this year, the island's media say.
Singapore is heralded by some as the model that certain countries, such as China, are trying to emulate. But the following article strikes me as important because it should touch each unhappy Singaporean worker who feels powerless and atomised. In China the penalty for dissent is much greater than in Singapore and yet the Chinese workers feel the fear and refuse to let it control them.
China’s days of protest
Anonymous author
17 - 6 - 2004
Beneath China’s booming economy lies immense social inequality and seething worker discontent. A western observer witnesses a minor but now unexceptional popular convulsion.
By the second night, the onlookers outnumbered the demonstrators; but at the height of the protest 6-7,000 textile workers had occupied People’s Square, chanting and singing outside the government buildings. None of them had been paid in months, and now they were being laid off.
Their demonstration was tolerated up to a point. If the authorities had wanted, it could have been over in minutes. All the same, three were hospitalised with broken limbs when police in riot gear subdued protestors. One pregnant woman miscarried after being beaten.
At lunchtime on the second day, with the thermometer climbing over thirty degrees, workers in blue overalls occupied every patch of shade in the park. They had takeaway boxes and bottles of ice tea. For a moment it could have been a works’ outing picnic.
“People are saying we must go and support them,” a local man told me. “We must take water and food for them.”
This was the story of the demonstration: not the chanting of the workers, but the solidarity of the crowd that came to see them.
A fragile miracle In the west, the speed of China’s conversion to capitalism has been more marvelled at than questioned. The business leaders who queued to meet the prime minister, Wen Jiabao, on his May 2004 tour of European capitals are entranced by relentless growth of over 7% per year.
These figures convert into the apartment buildings rising across China’s city skylines like a bar chart. But also to the squalor of the migrant labourers building them. Leaving their families and travelling thousands of miles from the poor provinces of Henan and Shaanxi, they are shunned by locals and sleep in crowded dormitories or the shells of the unfinished buildings they work on by day.
Here is one of their destinations: a factory reached through the middle gate of a new archway, the name of the company spelt out in shiny letters overhead. Inside, the compound is a self-contained village with apartment buildings, shops, a clinic, all built around the factory itself. Despite the impressive entrance and a smart office block half way down the central avenue, the paint is peeling on most of the buildings and at the far end weeds push through the tarmac. In the late morning, men and women stand talking on corners or sit under the trees. Most have nothing else to do.
This is where the blue-overalled workers marched from, along Petroleum Artery to the city centre. As state employees, they once had job security, access to free medical care, education and welfare. What remained of that stability was cut away when the factory was sold to a private company. Then, at the beginning of 2004, their salaries stopped being paid. Some said the new owners had begun selling off equipment. The factory may simply have failed to compete in a free market, but most believe they are victims of corruption.
Corruption itself is not new in China. But what alarms many, even among the middle classes, is the way it has fused with the new market practices. As long as enterprises remained owned by the state, even local officials who feathered their nests had an interest in preserving social stability – if only because any signs of unrest would invite punishment from Beijing. By contrast, private owners are seen as irresponsible, ready to disappear if they can take enough with them.
“Before, our country was at one extreme, now we seem to be rushing to the other,” one small businessman told me. “There should be somewhere in the middle.”
The official line is that economic progress is the precondition of improving social conditions; the faster change happens, the better for all. The sufferings of the workers are the birthpangs of a new age, China’s own industrial revolution.
How far down such optimism runs – within individuals and within society – is hard to gauge. In any case, for many of those whose labour is laying the foundation of economic growth, the benefits are hard to see.
China’s workers stand up
According to China’s ministry of public security, 2003 saw 58,000 “mass incidents”, the government’s preferred term for public protests – a rise of 15% on 2002. The causes given are a checklist of the side-effects of economic reform: wage disputes, social welfare issues, restructuring of state-owned enterprises, and evictions.
At one extreme are the unpaid migrant workers in Beijing who have taken to staging, and sometimes completing, suicide bids as a negotiating tool. One member of a team will climb the building and threaten to jump unless the employers pay up. With no clear legal channels available, some feel this is their only option.
More common are sit-ins outside factories or local government headquarters. Workers respond to the failings of private employers by calling on the state for help. Sometimes, a protest becomes a riot. A recent dispute over evictions in the southern city of Shenzhen ended with building workers pelting officials with bricks. In 2000, it took police three days to regain control of Yangjiazhangzi, a town in Liaoning province, after 20,000 sacked miners went on the rampage.
The textile workers had promised, without local government action, to walk 400 kilometres over the mountains to the regional capital. But after a week, some kind of deal was reached. Rumours suggested that the authorities “bought” one of the leaders and arrested others. Workers involved in the protest have been summoned to police and security bureau interviews. Then, just to remind everyone that Beijing is watching, the city got a surprise visit from a top party official.
“You shouldn’t worry,” someone told me. “The situation has been resolved.” Many who had supported the workers were glad of a settlement, even if it seemed heavy-handed. “You can’t look at China through western eyes.”
What stays with me, though, is the sense that for all the flashiness of the new China, the brash wealth of its elite, the authorities here could not count on the kind of support in facing down the workers that underpinned the economic reforms of Thatcherism in Britain during the 1980s. Sheer power may be a brittle as well as a brutal substitute.
The next convulsion
The power of the Communist Party and its capacity to infiltrate all areas of life make it unlikely that organised workers’ networks will emerge in China. Independent trades unions are banned and labour activists receive long prison sentences. The media is instructed not to refer to protests, so news spreads by rumour. The protests themselves seem to be spontaneous rather than coordinated.
The monopoly of power stifles political argument and social dissent alike. The extension of the franchise in Britain was a major factor in defusing the class tensions of Victorian society. The economically disenfranchised of today’s India can punish their government at the ballot box. No such release exists for their counterparts in the world’s most populous nation.
But could persisting economic inequalities one day trigger demonstrations on a scale that would destabilise China’s system? This certainly worries the government. Its new, “fourth generation” leaders have tried to identify themselves with the workers and address the concerns of migrants and the rural poor. Their officials estimate that economic growth must stay above 7% to prevent a breakdown of public order, yet the mechanisms for generating growth are themselves socially corrosive. So the stability of this emerging superpower depends on its continuing to defy economic gravity.
Most of China’s adult population was raised on a blend of nationalism and workers’ solidarity. It may be a mistake to assume that the swift pace of economic change and the Orwellian reorientation of the Communist Party leadership have been accompanied by a deep-seated shift of mentality among the people.
Meanwhile, the demonstrations come and go, here and across the country. A British academic once said that he spent the first fifteen years of his career trying to persuade colleagues that Marx didn’t get it all right, and the next fifteen arguing he didn’t get it all wrong. Irony would be too weak a word if, should China’s economic miracle begin to falter, the People’s Republic were overthrown by a proletarian revolution.
22 Jul 2004
A diplomatic spat between China and Singapore has deepened after Beijing delayed an invitation to a Singaporean trade delegation to protest against a visit by Singapore's future prime minister to Taiwan.
Beijing has responded with fury since Lee Hsien Loong - who will become prime minister next month - met Taiwan's leaders from July 10-12 in a visit that Singapore insists was unofficial but which Beijing has said had consequences.
Analysts said the diplomatic row was unlikely to affect trade or business ties.
China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs notified Singapore it was "delaying" an invitation to National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan to lead a delegation to Chengdu in western Sichuan province from July 28 to 30, a Singapore government official said.
The snub follows Beijing's decision last week to cancel a trip by its central bank governor, Zhou Xiaochuan, to Singapore, where he had been due to speak at the wealthy city state's central bank.
Analysts said Beijing's actions appeared mostly symbolic and business ties looked strong.
They cited a multimillion dollar deal announced yesterday by a Singapore-based company to buy 30 per cent of China's largest ship repair company, Cosco Shipyard.
A pattern that leads to inevitable hikes ... The masses are resigned to this 'natural order of things'
THE same symphonic pattern emerges.
First, the prelude, with the local media heralding a slew of
statistics announcing the arrival of better economic times.
Then, a premature suggestion to restore the ministers' and top civil
servants' pay cuts, which was greeted with unpopular feedback by many
who felt that the economic upturn benefits have yet to filter down
the masses.
The main theme comes into play with miscellaneous school fees and
town councils' service and conservancy charges going up.
This will inevitably lead to more government and quasi-government
bodies following suit.
The crescendo builds up as everybody scrambles to raise charges,
taking the cue and green light from the early birds who first up
their fees.
The finale ends in an anti-climax as the masses resign themselves to
their fate — the swallows have arrived, spring has come, the flowers
are blooming and so prices must go up.
We are led to believe that this is the natural order of things.
Oddly enough, when times were really bad and many retrenched, things
took much longer to come down and the cuts were, if any, merely token
symbolic ones.
What is worse is every price increase is met with the rhetorical
reassurance that nobody would be deprived of basic services despite
the hikes and the social net is always there for those who really
cannot afford the increment.
The other tired argument to justify the hikes is that the charges
have not been increased for so many years and therefore the increase
is way overdue.
This is cold comfort as most Singaporeans would rather tighten their
belts than go through the hassle of applying for poor men's benefits
from the government.
So what is next? University and polytechnic fees, transport hikes,
hospital bills, parking charges, stamps ...
20 Jul 2004
16 July 2004, more then 150 Indian migrant workers again protested peacefully to claim 4 to 6 months salaries owned by their employer. This is the second protest by workers from Wan Soon Construction to claim their salaries amounting to some $4000 to $6000.
28 June 2004 200 Indian Workers protest at Indian Embassy On 28 June 2004, the Indian migrant workers had also gathered to demand that the Indian Embassy assist them to claim the salary own to them.
Failed Negotiation
On 1st July 2004, the workers refused to accept the MOM negotiated $600 settlement that is only a fraction of what they are owed before they leave, plus a promise by the company to remit the rest later. According to the Ministry Of Manpower (MOM) terms of a deal negotiated with Wan Soon Constructionon on 25 May 2004 - the company was schedule to pay $600 to each workers. [Wan Soon's insurance company will pay $400, and the contractor's directors will pay $200 for each worker.] The negotiations failed because the MOM wanted to deal with each worker as an individual and try to break-up the group of Indian workers. Moreover, the workers are aware that the 118 who accepted the deal were given $400 and send home. The workers are requesting full payment of their salary.
The Labour Law
The foreign migrant workers from construction industry, unlike foreign domestic workers, are protected by the Employment Act. Yet Wan Soon construction company had managed not to pay the 400 workers for more then 4 months. How did this happen? Questions are being raised why the Ministry of Manpower had failed to notice this abuse for almost 4 months.
According to the labour law: "All salary, other than payment for overtime work, must be paid within 7 days after the end of the salary period. Salary for overtime work must be paid within 14 days after the end of the salary period." [Employment Act: Payment of Salary ]
Ministry of Manpower
What is worrying is that why MOM failed to intervene earlier to prevent such abuse from happening. The labour law says all workers must be paid at least once a month. Why did the supervisory mechanism fail? As employers are, frequently, sending back foreign workers with just few hundrend dollars when they owned each worker a few thousand dollars. Is this fair and just?
The Government collects from employers the foreign workers' levy as surety to make sure that the workers are paid which implies the authorities are responsible to ensure that workers are paid timely and regularly each month. Some employers, in fact, deduct the levy from the workers' salaries.
In June 2004, the MOM managed to send back home 118 workers with only $400. The 118 workers were part of the 400 workers who were owned 4 - 6 months salary by Wan Soon Construction. It leaves one to think that the MOM is in a rush to send the workers home instead of seeking a fair and just deal for the workers.
NTUC Migrant Workers Forum
In Singapore, there are more then 500,000 foreign workers with work permits. NTUC memberships is 425,000 of which about 17.5 per cent or 74,000 are foreign workers. But in the Shipbuilding sector, close to 70 per cent of the membership are foreign workers. In BATU, Building Construction and Timber Industries Employees' Union, membership is 22,000, of which 20 per cent are migrant workers from Bangladesh, China, India, and Myanmar. BATU settles the disputes on a group basis thus if the workers are still working they need not worry about the employer penalizing them for blowing the whistle on the company. In 2003, the NTUC set-up the Migrant Workers Forum of which Mr.Yeo Guat Kwang, also MP of Aljunied GRC, is the Chairperson.
In the case of Wan Soon Construction workers, the NTUC Migrant Workers forum solved the immediate needs of the workers for food and accomodation. The Forum coordinated with NTUC Fairprice to contribute food for the Indian workers. The Forum in liaison with the MOM has also mediated with the employer to ensure the migrant workers will continue to stay at their dormitory until their claim is settled. But the Forums role is not clear when it comes to the mediation process of the MOM in trying to solve the dispute of non payment of salary of migrant workers. Surely, the attempt by MOM to send home the workers with $400 - $600 is not fair. How will the Forum ensure the migrant workers receive a fair and just settlement?
Indian Migrant Workers
The remaining more then 200 workers are claiming their salaries and had also requested to work with other employers in the same industry. The Workers who registered their claims with the MOM will be issued with with special passes to remain in Singapore while their claims are being settled.
Since the first protest, on 28 June 2004, the remaining Indian migrant workers were at least given 3 meals a day thanks to the support from NTUC Migrant Workers Forum and the negotiating skill of MOM. Concern individuals, a temple and civil society groups, are also offering food or small amounts of cash so that the workers could buy food. Otherwise, this migrant workers will be starving in these rich and wealthy nation.
Wan Soon Construction
Wan Soon Construction chairman Mr.Alan Koh said to the press that he is taking the Housing Board to arbitration to claim losses. The HDB decided to pull the plug on Wan Soon Constructions multi-million-dollar projects in April. The company is downgraded to accept only contracts worth $30 mllion. Wan Soon construction is also facing more then 70 suits claiming about $6 mllion.
Mr.Koh claimed in news reports that 'All these workers' problems would not have surfaced if not for the wrongful termination by HDB' That is the reason his workers have not been paid for about 4 to 6 months. He had also said the unpaid wages will be settled later this week. As a good employer he wisely voiced that 'Workers' salary should always be the most important priority of all our debts.' If that is the case one wonders why the salary was not paid for 4 to 6 months. Why then negotiate with MOM to send his workers home with just $400? It is fair and just to return to the workers all their salaries.
Political Analysts have agreed that sending a senior minister on a visit to Taiwan would equate to a slap in the face for China.Conventional wisdom dictates that in the conduct of cross border relations involving a super power like China, it is necessary to proceed with diplomacy and delicacy due to the sensitive nature of the matter. Instead, the matter was conducted with the trade mark arrogance typical of Singapore's Ruling Elite.
What made matters worse was the fact that Lee had the audacity to inform China of the visit. This was akin to waiving a red flag in front of a raging bull. What was the rationale behind such a move when the answer to the question was only all too evident?It also did not help that Lee's trip coincided with the Singapore Governments official confirmation that Lee would be Singapore's next Prime Minister.Even if a Taiwan visit was some how warranted, political analysts agree that it should have been carried out less conspicously and it would have been more appropriate for Lee to send a more junior Singapore government representative instead of making the trip personally. It would then have been far easier for China to turn the other cheek and remain "willfully blind" to the visit.Red Faced Singapore government officials and government owned media are still trying to cover up what can only be described as a diplomatic bungle of epic portions. In the days following Lee's Taiwan visit, the pro-government Singapore papers have published volumious reports defending Lee's visit.
China has remained unconvinced and has manifested its displeasure by cancelling various visits by Chinese officials to Singapore. It is evident that Diplomacy 101 was one of the essential elective courses that Lee skipped in his illustrious tertiary education. It is also certain that this unfortunate incident will remain unforgotten in Beijing's memory and will create ripples in China's cross border relations with Singapore.
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China, incensed at a recent visit by Singapore's incoming prime minister Lee Hsien Loong (§õÅãÀs) to Taiwan, appears to have delivered another slap on the wrist to the city-state as more than 120 mainland officials called off plans to study there, a report said yesterday. Plans for 126 Chinese officials to study managerial economics and public administration at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University have been put on hold, The Straits Times newspaper said. Lee, currently deputy prime minister, will take the country's top job, replacing incumbent Goh Chok Tong (§d§@´É) on August 12, the Singapore government said late Saturday. "We are waiting to see what happens next. But we will suspend the courses for now," Professor Eddie Kuo, the university's interim dean at the school of humanities and social sciences was quoted as saying. The reported rebuke is the fourth since Beijing denounced Lee's trip, saying the two countries' relationship "will, of course, be affected."
First, China's central bank chief, Zhou Xiaochuan, canceled a trip to Singapore to attend a central bankers' gathering here. Then, the lower-level mainland banking delegation that did come, snubbed a dinner hosted by Lee, who is also the head of Singapore's central bank and the finance minister. Later, authorities in Shanghai reportedly stopped a Singapore company from holding a trade fair in China's commercial capital.
Taiwan and China split amid civil war in 1949. Beijing still claims the self-governing island as Chinese territory, and has repeatedly threatened to take it by force. It routinely objects to visits there by other government's officials. Singapore initially described Lee's trip as "private and unofficial," and that he would be meeting "friends." But as official Chinese anger became clear, Singapore later defended the trip with a four-page statement, saying Lee, as prime minister, needed to understand "a potential flash point" in Asia. Largely ethnic-Chinese Singapore has assiduously courted Beijing as its commercial, diplomatic and military clout have grown in recent years.
China warned Singapore Tuesday that the weekend visit of its deputy prime minister to Taiwan would adversely affect Sino-Singapore relations and exchanges.Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said Lee Hsien Loong's trip to Taiwan on July 10 "severely violates the commitments of the Singaporean government on adhering to the one-China policy, undermines the stability of the foundation of China-Singapore ties, and will inevitably have severe consequences for China-Singapore relations and bilateral cooperation."
Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, cancelled a trip to Singapore because of the burgeoning diplomatic dispute. Zhang reaffirmed, "The Taiwan question is China's internal affair and we have never required or needed any countries or people to pass on messages across the Straits."Zhang refuted the notion that Lee's visit was a private one, saying, "Mr. Lee Hsien Loong has held senior positions in the Singaporean government for many years, so his capacity cannot be changed by a simple remark."When asked if China would recall its ambassador to Singapore Zhang said, "We are making further study and will take relevant measures according to the development of this issue."
Answering an inquiry at a news conference yesterday, Zhang Qiyue said Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Lee's visit to Taiwan has severely violated Singapore's commitment to the one-China policy and damaged the political base between China and Singapore, she said. "Such a move will produce serious effects towards bilateral relations and co-operation, and the Singapore side should be responsible for all the damage," Zhang said.
As a result, Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the China central bank, has cancelled a trip to Singapore, where he had been scheduled to give a lecture, reports said. "The Taiwan question relates to the core interests of China," Zhang said. "China holds a persistent, formative and clear-cut position on this issue."
In response to a follow-up question over whether China plans to recall its ambassador from Singapore, the spokesperson said the Chinese side is considering relevant measures according to developments in the situation.
Reports said Lee flew to Taipei on Saturday and left yesterday for what officials described as a private visit, during which he met with island officials, including Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian.
In response, Singapore reiterated on Monday that it adheres to the one-China policy, and does not support Taiwan's "independence," according to local press reports. Singapore officials have stressed that Lee's visit is "a private and unofficial visit" and does not in any way change the above-mentioned policy, nor does it represent any challenge to China's sovereignty or territorial integrity, reports said.
On Sunday, the Chinese foreign ministry voiced dissatisfaction over the visit and said Singapore must take full responsibility for his trip. Singapore reiterated the city-state's backing for the `one-China Policy' and said it doesn't support Taiwan independence. It added that Lee Hsien Loong was making a private and unofficial visit to Taiwan to meet friends in his first trip to the island since 1992.
The Singaporean side should take full responsibilities for results from the event, Zhang said.
Lee, neglecting China's repeated solemn representations, insisted on heading for Taiwan for a so-called unofficial visit on July 10.
Zhang said the Taiwan issue is directly related to China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and the Chinese government firmly opposes official relations in any form between countries that have established diplomatic ties with China and the Taiwan authorities.
The Singaporean side should take full responsibilities for results from the event,Zhang said.Lee,neglecting China's repeated solemn representations,insisted on heading for Taiwan for a so-called unofficial visit on July 10.Zhang said the Taiwan issue is directly related to China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and the Chinese government firmly opposes official relations in any form between countries that have established diplomatic ties with China and the Taiwan authorities.
The Singaporean leader hurts China's core interests,the political base between the two countries and the feeling of 1.3billion Chinese people,by heading for Taiwan under any excuse,said the spokeswoman.
19 Jul 2004
Your future rulers have just been decided. The possibilty of a change in future governements being run by another political party in Singapore has just been ruled 'void'.
Lets not even pretend that the electorate decide who will rule them.
JULY 19, 2004
S'pore way of political succession here to stay
Ministers and MPs say Aug 12 handover will show system of peaceful leadership renewal has been proven to work
SINGAPORE will on Aug 12 demonstrate that it is possible for its government to plan for and carry out leadership renewal in a peaceful and orderly fashion not once but twice.
Ministers and Members of Parliament said this is the significance of the Istana ceremony at which Mr Lee Hsien Loong will be sworn in as the country's third prime minister.
The transition to a third generation of leaders in the same low-key, well-planned manner as happened 14 years ago, when Mr Goh Chok Tong became Prime Minister, will entrench the system put in place by Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew and the first-generation leaders.
It will show that the Singapore way of political succession is here to stay.
Among the MPs who highlighted this point was West Coast GRC MP S. Iswaran.
'We do it once, it's an isolated event. When we do it twice, and over a span of more than 35 years, we establish a certain commitment to a system which is good for the country,' he said.
Agreeing, Ang Mo Kio GRC MP Seng Han Thong said: 'The system has been proven to work and Singaporeans now view it as a tradition.'
Mr Chan Soo Sen, Minister of State (Education, Community Development and Sports), compared this state of affairs to the 'turmoil' that often accompanies generational change in other countries.
'Singapore's stability is its strength,' he said.
Several MPs also welcomed the way Mr Goh has fine-tuned the system established by SM Lee, by allowing MPs to either endorse the person that Cabinet ministers choose to lead the country or to put forward their own candidate.
MPs did so at a meeting in May, unanimously supporting Deputy Prime Minister Lee as their choice.
As for what they see as the key challenges facing Mr Lee and his team, most said yesterday that the No 1 issue would be to keep the economy growing even as competition for jobs and investments intensifies.
At the lower end, Singapore would face competition from huge countries like China and India, Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng said.
But even in higher-value-added sectors, it would have to compete against developed countries.
'So we have to be on our feet all the time and be nimble to adjust to all these challenges,' he said.
Mr Wong and Acting Manpower Minister Ng Eng Hen also highlighted structural unemployment as a key concern.
Even though the economy is recovering, 'unemployment will continue to be a challenge' because some workers find it difficult to acquire new skills, Dr Ng said.
'We have to help this group join the economy,' he added.
Some labour MPs said a key task will be to assure lower-income Singaporeans that they will also have a share in the country's future growth. They are hoping that Mr Lee will make workers a key focus of his maiden speech.
Ministers and MPs alike interviewed said Mr Lee and his Cabinet would also need to find new ways to connect with a younger generation of Singaporeans, who have many more options than their parents ever did as to where they want to work and live.
Mr Wong observed that those born after Singapore gained independence in 1965 will form 'a very significant part of the electorate'.
'We have to continue to adapt and engage the young people so that they remain supportive of the Government,' he said.
Dr Ng described the challenge as one of getting this new generation of Singaporeans 'to gel and give them confidence'.
Ms Indranee Thurai Rajah of Tanjong Pagar GRC said the milestones were much clearer 40 years ago, when SM Lee and the old-guard ministers set out to transform Singapore from a Third World economy to a First World economy.
'The new PM's room for manoeuvring is far less because of the mature, developed economy and a population that is more sophisticated and better educated,' she said.
When asked about the future roles of Mr Goh and SM Lee, the MPs said they supported DPM Lee's decision to keep the two leaders in Cabinet.
Mr Zainul Abidin Rasheed, Mayor of Northeast Community Development Council and Aljunied GRC MP, said their experience in international and regional affairs 'will provide the continuity and steady hand to strengthen the Cabinet'.
Mr Seng noted that in Mr Goh's 14 years as prime minister, he has extended Singapore's networking well beyond Asean to Europe, South Asia and even the Middle East.
'Now that we are competing globally, we really need someone like Mr Goh to help continue this kind of global networking,' he said.
9 Jul 2004
IN her early 40s, the Singaporean lady was well-bred and educated abroad. “After 20 years of giving my best as wife, mother and companion, he abandoned us to continue his adulterous flings in a nearby country,” she wrote in an Internet forum.
The inevitable outcome was divorce, a growing social epidemic in this modern, affluent city of 4.4 million.
Another case involved a wife giving up on her husband who had lost his job because of advanced cancer. The poorly educated woman couldn’t support or look after him.
A reader observed that during the past three months, he had heard five women filing for divorce. “All of them have had between 10 and 20 years of marriage and two or three children aged three to 10 years.”
The divorce rate in First World Singapore has reached a historical high; so has the number of Singaporeans emigrating abroad.
At the same time, marriage and birth rates are plunging as seriously as most developed countries. The number of HIV/AIDS cases, too, have hit a peak.
They are part of what Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew meant when he said his son would have to deal with a different set of problems and persuade a different generation of citizens.
Lee Hsien Loong will take over as prime minister soon.
Last year, 6561 couples divorced, a new record that has doubled the rate of 10 years ago. The number of marriages was 21,962 – down 5% from 2002.
This gives a divorce-marriage ratio of 3:10, still behind but catching up to America’s 5:10. Marriage problems involve family and personal choices, which are almost impossible for the government to intervene with laws.
The same applies to migrating Singaporeans.
The number of migrants to Australia, New Zealand and Canada rose by a third to 4016 last year from 3092 (2002). For the US, 2003 figures are not available but they totaled 991 in 2002, up 49% in two years.
In his days, Lee Senior did not have to cope with such issues. He had to deal with threats from the communists, racial extremists and organised crime against which he had to – as he described it – “put on the knuckle-duster”.
Today, his son can’t rely on tough measures to tackle some of Singapore’s social dilemmas, like cutting down on divorce or migration rates. Neither can he use legislation to force people to go into business or be creative.
Why are so many marriages breaking down?
From a broad perspective, it is due to Singapore’s progress and affluence. It’s not possible to become a First World country without inheriting some of its social diseases.
A low marriage and birth rate, more divorces and a better-educated workforce leaving for greener pastures abroad are all part of it and knuckle-dusters can’t help.
In addition, some Singaporean in-bred traits contribute to break-ups, like being self-centred, ambitious and materialistic.
One online message offers this explanation: “People feel the need to devote more time to career than family; thus they marry but do not plan to have children.
“In a marriage, children bond the couple together as they see the children as the seeds of their love.
“Without children, couples don't feel very linked emotionally. To them, marriage is just a piece of paper that can be violated at will. Thus, people will have a tendency to flirt around, resulting in break-ups.”
Others attribute it to more opportunities for a promiscuous lifestyle because of the influx of foreign ladies, but women’s rights supporters say this is a chauvinistic excuse.
Women initiate 60% of the break-ups, mostly because of their wayward or financially irresponsible spouses.
It even affects some Westerners. One expatriate wrote: “The temptations that are here simply do not exist in many places in Europe and the US. Many expats who lived a routine existence there come to Asia and go nuts.”
The sexual distraction is just one cause but a growing one. The larger reason lies in the character of the new generation of Singaporeans themselves.
Spoiled by servants or parents, many are just hopeless at looking after themselves or doing housework.
The men think it’s women’s work, while many ladies can’t cook and refuse to clean or wash up, relying on servants. Each expects too much of the other.
Among maid-less couples, friction often rises over responsibilities of housework and is made worse when a baby arrives.
Many men are over-dependent on the wife to care for the home and child, regarding it as her duty – even when she has a full-time job.
This results in a lot of finger pointing. Singaporean women who marry Westerners say their spouses are fairer and more responsible with housework.
On the flip side, some men prefer to marry women from neighbouring countries, particularly Malaysia, China or Vietnam, saying they are less demanding, more feminine and less materialistic.
The clashing personalities of two strong-minded beings highly educated sometimes arrogant and self-centred, make marriage a more stressful proposition.
A tabloid paper last week featured a couple whose marriage lasted only three months. They were junior college classmates who had dated for 10 years.
More women above 50 are also filing for divorce. They are often less educated and more dependent on their husbands for support.
After many years of what they feel is unfair or abusive treatment, they are now calling it quits – with the support of their grown-up children.
Ask most men, and they’ll say it is due to the emergence of the New Singapore Woman and her rising demand of the men folk. And that includes sex.
In the previous generation, sex was viewed as something that men enjoyed and women tolerated. No more. A newspaper reported that women here had a popular concept that Singaporean men were “insensitive, childish, chauvinistic and molly-coddled”.
The men’s magazine FHM quoted a global sexual survey in which Singaporean men were given a paltry 5.1 points out of 10 by their female partners in terms of sexual performance. This was two points below the international average.
Singapore men, on the other hand, rated women 7.2 points out of 10, which is right on the global average. It’s possible that the Singaporean males may be taking women for granted.
"Peter Sever of Imperial College London said the UK Royal College of Physicians "should consider advising its members of the potential dangers of accepting future posts in Singapore" because of a "lack of fairness" that "can impact upon an individual's professional reputation".
By John Burton in Singapore
Published: July 8 2004 17:14 | Last Updated: July 8 2004 17:49
A medical watchdog group has suggested that foreign doctors should
not work in Singapore following an ethics dispute between a UK
medical researcher and the scientist daughter of Lee Kuan Yew, the
city-state's senior politician.
The recommendation by the UK-based Medical Protection Society (MPS), which provides advice to doctors facing legal problems arising from clinical practice in more than 40 countries, could set back efforts by Singapore to attract medical researchers in its goal to become a leading global biomedical centre.
The case concerned Simon Shorvon, who served as director of
Singapore's National Neuroscience Institute (NNI) until he was
dismissed in April 2003 for allegedly testing 127 patients without
their consent. The testing was carried out as part of a research
project on Parkinson's disease and other neurological conditions.
The allegations were brought to the attention of Singapore's health authorities by Lee Wei Ling, Mr Lee's daughter, who resigned from the project and was appointed to succeed Dr Shorvon as NNI director at the start of this year.
In a sharply worded statement, MPS criticised a report by the
National Healthcare Group, NNI's parent, that led to the dismissal of Dr Shorvon, who works as a professor at the UK's Institute of
Neurology.
Two experts appointed by the MPS said they "fully supported" Dr
Shorvon's actions.
"I can see no evidence that Dr Shorvon has behaved inappropriately or unethically," said Niall Quinn of University College London and an authority on Parkinson's disease research.
He described the inquiry report as "appallingly slanted" and its
contents were "utterly disproportionate to the reality of the events reported".
Peter Sever of Imperial College London said the UK Royal College of Physicians "should consider advising its members of the potential dangers of accepting future posts in Singapore" because of a "lack of fairness" that "can impact upon an individual's professional reputation".
"I find the accusation nothing short of absurd. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that Dr Shorvon fell victim to internal power
struggles and personal vendettas," said David Goldstein, a geneticist at the University College London, who worked on Dr Shorvon's research team in Singapore.
In an interview with the Singapore Straits Times in January, Dr Lee rejected allegations by "detractors" that she had acted against Dr Shorvon to take over his post.
"They must be completely uninformed about the seriousness of
Shorvon's misdeeds and about my character and goals in life.
"I would have preferred someone else who is competent, dedicated and willing to do the job" as NNI director, she said.
She also accused Dr Shorvon of causing rifts in NNI "using the very effective British colonial method of 'divide and rule'."
The health ministry's Singapore Medical Council held a 10-day hearing on Dr Shorvon in February 2004 and noted he refused to take part in the proceedings on the advice of MPS, which also did not submit its review of the case.
Dr Shorvon said he did not appear since he was not on the Singapore Medical Register and that the SMC had no jurisdiction to hear the case as a result.
The council said that all of the 30 charges of professional
misconduct against Dr Shorvon had been "proven beyond a reasonable
doubt" during the disciplinary hearings. Dr Shorvon has asked the
General Medical Council in the UK to review the allegations.
Report Says Revulsion Over Death Penalty Growing by
Don Hill for RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY (RFE/RL).
Prague, 23 June 2004 (RFE/RL) -- A Rome-based international anti-death penalty group says revulsion against state-mandated killings is spreading worldwide.
In its annual report issued today, the group -- called Hands Off Cain -- says that a worldwide campaign in recent years against the death penalty is working. It says capital punishment, for the most part, is now a tool primarily of dictators.
The group's executive director, Elizabetta Zamparutti,tells our correspondent in a telephone interview fromRome that death penalty abolition is a function of liberal democracy.
"The problem of the executions is mainly a problem for dictatorial and illiberal countries, because in these kinds of countries we have seen that at least 98 percent of the world total of executions are carried out," Zamparutti says.
She continues, "This means that the campaign for the abolition of the death penalty is, first of all, a campaign for improving democracy all over the world."
The report, which covers last year, says that the greatest number of state-sanctioned executions was in China with 5,000 killings -- 89 percent of the world total. Nations responsible for most of the remainingexecutions were Iran, with at least 145, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Singapore, Sudan, and the United States.
Even in the United States, where 65 executions were carried out last year, Zamparutti notes there were decreases in the number of death sentences handed down, in the number of people on death row, and in actual executions.
Hands Off Cain was founded at the European Parliament in Brussels in 1993 and began that year a campaign to abolish capital punishment worldwide. Its immediate goal is to persuade the UN General Assembly to declare a moratorium on executions.
Since its first effort in 1994 to win a European Union moratorium declaration, the group claims as victories European Union-wide capital punishment abolition and repeated anti-death penalty resolutions by the UN Commission on Human Rights.
The group takes its name from the biblical story ofGenesis, in which God put a mark on Cain so that anyone finding him would know not to kill him. Cain, as the story goes, had murdered his brother.
The report says 133 nations around the world have made official decisions not to use the death penalty.
Zamparutti says the picture actually is brighter than that.
"And countries that retain the death penalty are 63, and not all of these put people to death regularly. In fact, in 2003, only 29 retentionist countries carried out executions," Zamparutti says.
Hands On Cain says the value of a UN General Assembly-declared moratorium is that it would give states that still retain the death penalty an opportunity to educate their citizens about the idea of a new human right -- as the group puts it, the right "not to be killed" under the law.
8 Jul 2004
JAILED thrice at home for speaking in public without a licence, Singapore opposition leader Chee Soon Juan pounces on any opportunity in the United States to criticise the human rights record and lack of western-style freedom in his highly-developed home country.
On a five-month fellowship stint with the US National Endowment for Democracy, a non-profit private group, Chee needled a red-faced Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong on a local political issue at a public forum while the leader was on a visit to Washington last month.
Much to the embarrassment of the host, the Council on Foreign Relations, an irritated Goh flatly refused to answer Chee's charge at the forum that his government was marginalizing minority Muslim Malays in Singapore.
At another public forum on the role of America in Asia, Chee asked Singapore's ambassador-at-large Tommy Koh how the United States could help promote press freedom in Singapore.
Since he came to Washington in March, the 49-year-old Singapore Democratic Party chief walks the corridors of the US Congress pressing for democratic reforms in the tiny but wealthy Southeast Asian island nation, where the ruling People's Action Party makes no bones about its conviction that full-blown western-style liberal democracy is not suited for Singaporeans.
Chee said he was fighting an uphill battle at home and abroad trying to convince people of the need for democratic reforms in the city state.
"I find it tremendously difficult to get Singapore on the radar screens of governments or NGOs because of some myths that had developed about Singapore to be regarded as a model of success by developing nations," said the US-trained neuropsychologist.
"Hong Kong, China, the Middle East and Indonesia are all beginning to cite Singapore as some kind of a model but my message to them is: be careful," he said at a public forum entitled "Singapore: Asia's Standard-Bearer for Authoritarianism?" organized by the New American Foundation, which encourages research on various issues.
Chee cited a letter Goh wrote to him rejecting his request for government funds to run a centre promoting democracy.
Referring to a survey by Berlin-based financial watchdog Transparency International, Goh, according to Chee, said in the letter that Singapore was already widely recognised as an open society which practised transparency and democratic accountability.
"This is a myth," Chee said, complaining that public money, including the state-run pension fund, was invested by the government with little transparency and "the use of the death penalty is shrouded in secrecy."
Amnesty International says Singapore is believed to have carried out the highest number of executions per capita in the world since 1994.
Chee also questioned Goh's assertion on democratic accountability in Singapore, saying the country arbitrarily arrested and threw people in jail indefinitely without trial under the draconian Internal Security Act.
"When you talk about democratic accountability, you must at least have freedom of speech. No protests, no public speeches are allowed without a permit," he said.
Chee has been jailed three times briefly after he tested the government by speaking in public without applying for a permit.
He said in terms of media freedom, a 2000 survey by the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders group showed Singapore 144th among a list of 166 countries, ranking even lower than Zimbabwe.
On the judiciary, he said the respected International Commission for Jurists had stated that the Singapore leadership had used defamation proceedings to silence opponents and seriously undermined the rule of law.
In 2002, Chee was found guilty of defaming Premier Goh and Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew over questions he raised during the 2001 general elections concerning what he claimed was Singapore government's 10-billion-dollar loan to Indonesia in 1997.
Goh and Lee said the loan was never disbursed and claimed damages, saying Chee's allegations implied they were dishonest.
Chee could be disqualified from running in the next election in 2006 if he loses his appeal.
The High Court last year rejected his appeal for a court trial in the defamation case and he was ordered to pay unspecified damages.
Chee said the United States, a key ally of Singapore, should use its influence to prod the city state to be more open.
7 Jul 2004
By Hannah K. Strange
United Press InternationalWashington, DC, Jun. 30 (UPI) -- Singapore has long been touted as a shining model of efficiency and progress for developing countries.
Yet democracy is a myth even though this tiny city-nation may be the financial success story of Southeast Asia, according to opposition leader Chee Soon Juan.
Juan, secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party, who was
speaking Tuesday at a forum hosted by the New America Foundation, a Washington-based think tank, is currently being sued by senior
minister Lee Kuan Yew for defamation.
During the 2001 general election, Juan asked, in public and without a permit, of the whereabouts of $10 billion of the taxpayers' money, allegedly lent to Indonesia's Suharto regime in 1997. The senior minister and Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong immediately filed a lawsuit, accusing him of implying dishonesty in governmental dealings.
Unable to find a willing lawyer, Juan was forced to represent
himself. However, he was not required to go to trial. The plaintiffs applied for a summary judgment and were awarded the case, with damages of $500,000, without ever going to court. The payment will bankrupt him, he said. Those with bankruptcies cannot run for public office.
Such lawsuits are "the stuff of legend" in Singapore, according to
Juan. In 1997 defamation suits were filed against veteran opposition leader Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, who in 1981 had broken 16 years of one-party rule by getting elected to Parliament as a representative of the Worker's Party.
Jeyaretnam, said Lee Kuan Yew in 1986, had to be politically "destroyed" for his opposition to the system. He was
finally declared bankrupt in 2001 after a series of court actions
spanning 15 years. As such, he was expelled from Parliament, barred from practicing as a lawyer, running in elections or taking any active part in campaigns.
Singaporeans live with the understanding, said Juan, that "anything that resembles any kind of growing resistance will be very quickly taken care of." The country has flexible libel laws and a judiciary that, according to a recent U.S. State Department report, has a questionable relationship with the ruling People's Action Party.
These laws set the conditions for what Amnesty International called in a statement three years ago "politically motivated libel actions further restricting peaceful political activity and eroding the right to free speech."
Acting as a further deterrent to dissent, said Amnesty, is the
knowledge that no opposition leader or activist has ever successfully defended themselves against the PAP.
Journalists, as well as politicians, are subject to enforced silence. In Singapore, according to a country report by the Committee to Protect Journalists, "State control of the media is so complete that few dare challenge the system and there is no longer much need for the ruling party to arrest or harass journalists." Both broadcast and print media are dominated by companies either owned by or with close ties to the state.
Even foreign correspondents, said the Committee, "have learned to be cautious when reporting on Singapore." The International Herald
Tribune, Bloomberg News, the Economist, Time and the Asian Wall
Street Journal are just a few who have faced defamation actions
brought by the PAP.
This year in reports, Amnesty has also expressed concern with
detentions, torture and ill treatment in Singapore, a country with
the highest rate of execution in the world, three times higher than the next nation on the list, Saudi Arabia.
Detention without charge is prevalent under the Internal Security
Act, and has been utilized against many opposition leaders, said
Juan, including Chia Thye Poh, an opposition MP with the Socialist
Front who was imprisoned for 32 years without charge. Poh was finally released in 1998.
Singapore -- a country which Electionworld calls a "pseudo-
democracy" -- does have parliamentary and presidential elections
every four years. However, many international organizations,
including the U.S. State Department, have expressed concern regarding their conduct. The PAP, says the State Department, "has used the government's extensive powers to place formidable obstacles in the path of political opponents," and maintains political dominance "in part by manipulating the electoral framework."
In a country report on human rights it cites the 2001 practice of
drastically altering the borders of constituencies just 17 days
before the election. In 1997 and 2001, the PAP threatened the
electorate -- 86 percent of whom live in government housing -- that those who voted for the opposition would not receive funds for the upgrading of their estates. For the last presidential election in 1999, only one candidate was finally declared eligible. There is no independent election commission.
The opposition, said Juan, "just want a voice." He calls for "genuine free and fair elections" and a free media -- "a system where you can get a genuine assessment of what people want." Wednesday he was to meet at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, where he is a visiting fellow, with Lorne Kraner, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor. He plans to ask for greater public awareness, support of NGOs and pressure from the U.S. government, whose ties with Singapore have warmed in recent years due to the government's support for the "war on terror."
"There are a lot of issues, particularly with freedom of speech and political dissent," a State Department official said. Meeting with opposition leaders, he said, informed the State Department "which issues we should be pressing." Action, he said, was "mostly bilateral" and substantial programs or public efforts are absent. "We have a good relationship with Singapore," he said, "but at the same time we do still actively engage. ... We are outlining what we think the issues are."
A spokesperson from the Embassy of the Republic of Singapore in
Washington declined to comment for this story.
5 Jul 2004
Wealthy, high-tech Singapore faces a serious and growing problem of structural unemployment as older and less-educated workers struggle to find work, says a senior union leader, who is also a government minister.
"The new jobs that are coming onto the market, coming with new investments entering Singapore, are not suitable for workers, the older workers .... who are less technically savvy," said Matthias Yao, Deputy Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress, or NTUC.
Structural unemployment refers to those who can't find work because they don't have the skills. It affects most modern economies to some extent.
"There is going to be a lot of structural unemployment, and it is going to grow," Yao, who is also a senior minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office, told The Associated Press in an interview late last week.
Singapore has been more successful than many of its Southeast Asian neighbors at promoting growth - but Yao's warning reflects official concern over the possible emergence of a group of less-educated "have-nots."
Singapore's union movement has close ties to the long-ruling People's Action Party government. Unionists are sometimes ruling-party members of Parliament. The NTUC head usually holds a Cabinet post.
The country's jobless rate for March, the latest figure available, was 4.5 percent - a high level in a society accustomed to extremely low unemployment.
The long-term jobless rate - those without work for at least 25 weeks - was 1.5 percent. The indicator, a useful proxy for structural unemployment, has climbed fivefold from 0.3 percent a decade ago.
Yao, who spent several years as a political adviser to Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, said older workers need to be retrained - possibly in service jobs to meet the needs of highly trained, high-tech workers.
Singapore's government has been aggressively trying to develop high-tech industries such as biotechnology in an attempt to promote growth.
The island of 4 million people, which has long enjoyed one of the world's highest standards of living, faces competition in its manufacturing sector from other Asian countries such as China, where development is booming but wages remain relatively low.
Yao said unions - and the government - were also pressing companies to make their pay systems more flexible so monthly wages and annual bonuses can be swiftly adjusted to reflect changes in the economic climate.
"We have gone through several recessions, and we have found that if wages are not flexible enough, companies will take the easier way out to manage their manpower costs, which is to retrench people," he said.
The people of Singapore are used to doing exactly what they are told.
But the reins of the nanny state are relaxing... ever so slightly.
The man on stage was singing a song about hamsters. It was, shall we say, a bawdy song. The animal welfare officers would not have approved. Nor, you might have thought, would the government of Singapore. After all, this is the great nanny state, the place where Playboy is banned, jay-walking is almost unthinkable... and where nanny is not known for her risqué sense of humour.
And yet, the songs continued.
There was one about a sheep and another about Jesus - neither exactly tasteful. The audience in the beautiful, government-funded theatre, roared with laughter. I looked around me in the dark - a well-dressed couple were still giggling about the sheep. Could it be that Singapore is starting to loosen up?
Western influence
Tiger Lily - the group singing the songs - was British, not local. But that is not the point. In the past, the state has sought to shield Singapore from all potentially corrupting influences like chewing gum, and Cosmopolitan magazine, and Sex in the City.
But today, the authorities are beginning to invite them in.
Five minutes walk from where I am sitting now, the walls of the Singapore Art Museum are plastered with pictures of glistening flesh, apparently sprayed with every imaginable bodily fluid.
The exhibition, by the high-camp French duo, Pierre and Gilles, was even opened by a government minister.
Then there is the chewing gum ban - the one fact everyone seems to know about this small, immaculate country. It is still in force and you can go to jail for importing it illegally.
But if you are determined to chew, you can now register and get medicinal gum at a pharmacy.
It is not exactly revolutionary, but in a cautious way the authorities are experimenting with change - cultural change, not political.
Like clockwork
It is a strange feeling for me, coming to such a meticulously governed country after 13 years in the former Soviet Union and Africa.
A small notice from the proprietors of the restaurant warned customers that they will be fined if they are greedy
I have just moved here from Kenya, where rules and regulations are usually treated like casual suggestions, or obstacles to be avoided.
In Singapore everything just works. My rubbish gets collected from the house every morning and the plumber calls to apologise if he is running 15 minutes late. A pothole would probably make the evening news.
And then there are the rules...
The other night I sat in a restaurant on Orchard Road, picking plates of sushi off the miniature carousels winding round the room.
On the wall in front of me, there was a small notice from the proprietors warning customers that they would be fined if they were greedy and took more plates than they could actually eat.
Singaporeans are used to being told what to do... and obeying. It is part of the deal.
Sing-along-a-protest
In the course of a few brisk decades, the ruling party has built them a clean, air-conditioned consumer paradise out of a tiny patch of jungle.
In return, the population is expected to forgo a few personal freedoms like gum, and true multi-party democracy.
Most people are happy with the deal, and why not? It has brought them one of the highest standards of living in the world.
But a few are starting to grumble... politely.
Thank you to the censor... the scenes you're chopping
Royston Tan has been doing his grumbling in a big white rabbit suit to the sound of Abba songs. He is an award-winning film-maker; a 28-year-old, whose recent gangster movie - 15 - sought to show that there is a seamier side to life here. The authorities were not amused. The censorship board insisted on substantial cuts to the film and its sound track.
I met up with Royston a few days ago. He was wearing a big smile and a T-shirt with the words "disco sucks". He chuckled as he explained how he had hit back against the censors.
His chosen weapon - a musical.
He and some of Singapore's best-known artists joined together to produce Cut, a blast of manic satire about a film-buff bumping into the chief censor in a supermarket, and raving enthusiastically about her work.
The chorus joins in Abba-style, with songs like "Thank you to the censor.. the scenes you're chopping."
Royston makes his cameo appearance in the rabbit suit, singing along to a George Michael tune.
So, I asked, did the Singapore authorities appreciate Cut?
Royston smiles again and shakes his head. "But things are changing fast here," he says. "Not long ago, no-one would have dared to have made a film like this."
What is more, the censors approved it... uncut.
From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 3 July, 2004 at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times. |
Q:
textbook example of KL Divergence
I have read what KL Divergence is about: assess differences in probability distributions between two sets.
I have also read, and digested, that it is emphatically not a true metric because of asymmetry.
Now I have been wanting to ask: I cannot find a simple textbook example of KL Divergence. Can someone point to me how it is used and demonstrated? Just to its main intuitive insights? Say for example, two $P$ and $Q$ that are of discrete distributions, or from the very simple distributions like uniform, gaussian, etc.
I would appreciate your contributions.
A:
An enlightening example is its use in Stochastic Neighborhood Embedding devised by Hinton and Roweis.
Essentially the authors are trying to represent data on a two or three dimensional manifold so that the data can be visually represented (similar in aim as PCA, for instance). The difference is that rather than preserve total variance in the data (as in PCA), SNE attempts to preserve local structure of the data -- if that is unclear, the KL divergence may help to illuminate what it means. To do this, they use a Gaussian kernel to estimate the probability that points $i$ and $j$ would be neighbours:
$$P_i = \sum_j p_{i,j}\qquad \text{ where }\qquad p_{i,j} = \frac{\exp(-\|x_i-x_j\|^2\;/\; 2\sigma_i^2)}{\sum_{k\neq l} \exp(-\| x_i - x_k \|^2\;/\;2\sigma_i^2)}$$
They then use a Gaussian kernel to find a probability density for the new points in the low dimensional space.
$$Q_i = \sum_j q_{i,j}\qquad \text{ where }\qquad q_{i,j} = \frac{\exp(-\|y_i-y_j\|^2)}{\sum_{k\neq l} \exp(-\| y_i - y_k \|^2)}\qquad\;\;$$
and they use a cost function $C=\sum_i D_{KL}(P_i||Q_i)$ to measure how well the low dimensional data represents the original data.
If we fix the index $i$ for a moment and just look at a single point $i$, expanding out the notation we get:
$$D_{KL}(P||Q) = \sum_j p_{i,j} log(\frac{p_{i,j}}{q_{i,j}})$$
Which is brilliant! For each point $i$, the KL divergence will be high if points which are close in high-dimensional space (large $p_{i,j}$) are far apart in low-dimensional space (small $q_{i,j}$). But it puts a much smaller penalty on points that are far apart in high-dimensional space which are close together in low-dimensions. In this way the asymmetry of the KL-divergence is actually beneficial!
If we were to find a minimum Cost, we would have a method that preserves well the local structure of the data, as the authors set out to do, and the KL divergence played a pivotal role.
|
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Explore the city of Auckland with our lowest airfares Auckland is a large cosmopolitan city in New Zealand that is rated the third most liveable city in the world with a population of 1.45 million. Traveasy provides not only discounted flight tickets to Auckland but also an exceptional customer service team for all your travel needs. If Auckland is one of your dream destinations, then browse and take advantage of our one-time offers now to this multi-cultural city that has it all - year-round sunny weather, a rich Polynesian culture, beautiful beaches, spectacular landscapes created around volcanic surroundings and captivating islands. We are a leading tour service operator and offer a range of travel solutions to meet your requirements and budget, so book your tickets with ease and look forward to ideal holiday getaway with our exclusive offers on tickets to Auckland . Read more...
Auckland Hot Spots
Auckland Art Gallery
This picturesque gallery is the most impressive cultural location in the city. It was built with French Renaissance-style architecture in 1887 and displays over 15,000 art works, including European paintings dating back to the 14th century. The museum also displays the most extensive collection of New Zealand Art all under one roof.
Waiheke Island
This stunning island is situated close to downtown Auckland and is considered the jewel of the Hauraki Gulf's crown. The island is home to many galleries, boutiques, pristine white sand beaches and lush olive groves. It has a thriving coffee shop scene so there are plenty of locations to enjoy a great cup of coffee. Waiheke is home to at least 12 vineyards so visitors can also get a taste of the local wine.
Kelly Tarlton's Sea Life Aquarium
This is a great family attraction that allows visitors to get close-up to the underwater world. There are tunnel walkways to observe the aquatic sea life and the aquariums hold stingrays, sharks and other tropical fish. Kelly Tarlton’s is home to the world’s largest Antarctic Penguin colony , and there are exciting animal adventures to embark on including Shark diving and shark cage snorkelling. |
// Copyright (C) 2004-2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
//
// This file is part of the GNU ISO C++ Library. This library is free
// software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the
// terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
// Free Software Foundation; either version 3, or (at your option)
// any later version.
// This library 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. See the
// GNU General Public License for more details.
// You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
// with this library; see the file COPYING3. If not see
// <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
#include <debug/map>
#include <testsuite_hooks.h>
// libstdc++/16813
void test01()
{
using __gnu_debug::map;
map<int, float> m1, m2;
m1[3] = 3.0f;
m1[11] = -67.0f;
m2.insert(m1.begin(), m1.end());
VERIFY( m1 == m2 );
}
int main()
{
test01();
return 0;
}
|
Oral submucous fibrosis, a clinically benign but potentially malignant disease: report of 3 cases and review of the literature.
Oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) is a premalignant condition mainly associated with the practice of chewing betel quid containing areca nut, a habit common among South Asian people. It is characterized by inflammation, increased deposition of submucosal collagen and formation of fibrotic bands in the oral and paraoral tissues, which increasingly limit mouth opening. Recently, OSF has been reported among South Asian immigrants in Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany. Dentists in western countries should enhance their knowledge of this disease as it seems to be increasing with population migration. In this paper, we review the literature on OSF and present 3 cases representing different stages of the disease to help dentists make an early diagnosis and reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with this condition. |
CollegeSource Online*To access an online database of current and archived catalogs, campus Web sites, and course descriptions from two-year and four-year colleges and universities (including California) throughout the U.S., visit CollegeSource.org.
*Access to college and university catalogs using CollegeSource is currently free of charge from any public computer on the De Anza College campus but may be subject to available campus funding. Off campus, student access to catalog database through CollegeSource is subject to a fee (a limited free 10-day trial registration option is available). However, students may continue to access the CollegeSource Online resources including college profiles, maps, websites, and search tools free of charge. |
An Observational Study of 3 Different Transfusion Medicine Teaching Methods for Medical Students.
Knowledge deficits of transfusion medicine are prevalent among learners and practicing physicians. In the past, the transfusion medicine community has thoughtfully defined the content of transfusion medicine curriculums through Transfusion Medicine Academic Award Group and The Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists. The manner in which the curriculum should be delivered has been less carefully examined and defined. We completed an observational study in which we analyzed 3 different teaching techniques: in-person faculty-led simulation curriculum consisting of didactic session and simulation ("Simulation group"); hybrid education with a combination of online materials and short in-person simulation ("Hybrid group"); and online-only education module, which delivered the whole curricular content through a variety of online materials and videos ("Online-only group"). Knowledge acquisition was assessed with a 10-question multiple-choice questionnaire, and satisfaction was assessed by a 9-question online student satisfaction survey. A total of 276second-year medical students participated in the study. There was statistically significant difference between pre- and posttest results and in knowledge gain favoring the Simulation group as compared with the Online-only group (P=.03, P<.0001) and favoring the Simulation group as compared with the Hybrid group (P=.004, P<.0001). The Simulation group and Hybrid group medical students were also more satisfied with the education activity as compared with the Online-only group (P<.0001, P<.001). Our study demonstrated that a faculty-run transfusion medicine simulation curriculum consisting of an in-person didactic session and simulation session for the second-year medical students produced greater immediate knowledge acquisition compared with an online only or a hybrid curriculum. Furthermore, any curriculum that contained in-person teaching by faculty was preferred over the online only education. |
Malawi Congress Party: Show me the hope you represent!
In just over two years’ time Malawians will be going to the polls. There are those whose vote is already decided. You know and they know who they will vote for. In other cases, you know and they know who they can never vote for. You find such people in the strongholds of the parties that still exist.
Chakwera : MCP presidential hopeful
Away from these extremes, however, lies a huge chunk of people who need to be convinced or motivated to vote. These are the people that normally decide the election. They are the target of any campaign. Where a party or a candidate has limited resources there is very little sense in taking the campaign to people described in the opening paragraph.
If you exclude those who do not vote rationally, those who vote simply because they feel they have to vote for a particular party or candidate because of where they come from, there are two factors that determine one’s decision.
The first is hope. We have hope in that party or candidate to take us to our dreamland. They are the best on offer. The second motivation is rejection. We do not want a certain party or candidate. In this case, we do not always give much thought about the person we are voting for because the priority is to stop or get rid of a particular party or candidate.
If you look at our general election record, you will see that the latter motivation has dominated our voting. In 1994, over 60 percent rejected the Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda and his Malawi Congress Party. Yes, they voted for Bakili Muluzi and his United Democratic Front or Chakufwa Chihana and his Alliance for Democracy, but it was more to do with a hunger for change than an overwhelming vote of confidence in the new parties.
You could say the same of the 2004 and 2014 elections where the majority were bitter with the ruling party and spoke with their votes. Incidentally, in the case of 2004, the UDF still managed to sneak in despite the rejection because the majority was only united in rejecting the ruling party but there was no candidate or political party that reflected the hopes of Malawians and people resorted to tribal or regional affiliation.
What is exactly my point today? I actually see 2004 repeating itself in the next general election. As I pointed out last week, I do not think President Peter Mutharika and his Democratic Progressive Party have done anything to grow their political base three years into their second stint in power. It means that over 60 percent of Malawians are again likely not to vote blue.
That, however, does not necessarily translate into a loss for them in the elections and that is because the motivation will be rejection with no obvious alternative. Again we might see that rejection vote so segmented as to allow the DPP to continue in power. I have seen nothing from the opposition so far to inspire hope in Malawians, those who have a decision to make.
Unless some movement emerges like a whirlwind in the next 12 months, Dr Lazarus Chakwera and his Malawi Congress Party are the biggest challengers to DPP’s continued existence in government but even they have flattered to deceive. Apart from the odd press conference and statement, what has the party done to convince an undecided voter that it is the hope that Malawians want?
There is nothing wrong with press conferences or press statements, by the way. But when that is all you are doing and the contents of those events are more about the doom and gloom of today than about the glory and bliss of tomorrow, you cannot cover any significant ground in winning over undecided voters.
For all his indiscretions and gaffes, Donald Trump has a lot to teach our opposition. An opposition does not always have to be reactionary – waiting for government to do something wrong, gauge what the public is saying and gather these emotions in a statement to be aired in Parliament, at a press conference or in a public statement. That does not have a lasting impression.
Trump knew the blocks I described in the opening paragraphs. He identified a constituency that needed to be energised to vote and the issues that would resonate with that group. The issues may not have been politically correct but they were real. He connected with those people, most of whom came from the swing states that normally decide who should occupy the White House and voila! The establishment, including the top leadership of his own party, was stunned when he emerged victorious.
An opposition party must have a clear message on what it stands for and this must the rallying call in all its interventions. If it is reacting to delayed payment of salaries for civil servants, it must link it to that message, if it is reacting to an empty state of the nation address, it must connect that to its message. If it is reacting to maizegate it must relate the reaction to that core message.
If the MCP has such a message, it must be doing a bad job of getting it out because I am yet to hear it. Yes Mutharika looks indecisive. Yes, Mutharika does not look inspiring. Yes, Mutharika has made many mistakes. But tell me what Chakwera has done to show that he is decisive? What is inspiring about him beyond the eloquence of an accomplished orator? Indeed, what about him would make one say, “I can’t wait to see that man at Kamuzu Palace”?
A leader who inspires hope must be able to break the barriers created by religion, ethnicity and any other demographic factor. Only once have we had that type of leader going into an election. That was in 2009. The late Bingu wa Mutharika remains the only leader that won an election in Malawi more because of the hope he inspired than the rejection of his opponents.
I follow goings on in the MCP from afar and I see very little effort to reach out to people beyond its known base. This is the same base that has failed to take it over the line in four elections and it is not considered wise to do the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome. The party’s failure to get out of its comfort zone and explore potential hunting grounds – which actually exist – may be its undoing yet again.
And the starting point in its quest to grow its base is to show the leadership that this country so badly needs. When I give leadership workshops to various groups I always talk of alternative leaders or unelected leaders. People without positions but with lots of influence on the people. The church has taken that role in this country, but that is the gap that should have been filled by the opposition.
If I have not mentioned any opposition party other than the MCP it is because it is the only party with a chance to give the DPP a real run for its money. The UDF looks set to continue with steady decline and the People’s Party may disappear faster than it appeared. As for the others, eish!
Graciun Tukula is blogger and commentator on current affairs, exercising his right to freedom of expression in as objective a manner as possible. His loyalty is to the country and his conscience. Everything else is secondary. Tukula has been an editor at Nation Publications Limited and Times Group.He is a University of Malawi graduate and his principles remain the same. Honesty, fairness, patriotism and humility. The post is taken from his blog: ‘Thoughs and Insights from the abys’
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MNDAMBALA BOY
Kikkkk thats what happens when the country is dying like what is happening in Malawi, if you can even check your comments, you will see that there is nothing adding up, you are just but doubts on Chakwera and his MCP because you dont see what you want in him, now does it mean its all of us who are like you? 100% no! lets see the different between the Government and the Opposition especially MCP as the one much you are talking here. According to your comments and what Gracian has said, i can see you are under panic… Read more »
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2019 voter
Well said, but what is obvious is, I will not for panga knife.
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Chalume
Gracian, this is very good work! Keep up the critical thinking.
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M. J. Mvula
Good analysis, good and correct historical trends, good advice to those political aspirants both in Government and opposition. Thumb up for Gracian!
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Kalitsiro
I would say it a great piece of analysis. Well done Gracian. It is my hope that MCP will take your write with positivity. I am one of the people who would like to close my eyes and see transformative changes once I open them. This country is dying from poor leadership. In my thoughtful moment when I am not disturbed by anything I make some imaginations. I look at my country as one with great potential to develop within a short space of time. I think of the great strides that Kigali has made in a short time under… Read more »
Quite on point Gracian! Palibe chanzeru he has to offer the country koma vuto ndi loti: amongst the presidential aspirants (thus, the ones we know already, or the ones dreaming of giving it a try – possibly ma-recycled ones omwewa) DO WE HAVE ANYONE WITH A BETTER OFFER??? I doubt!!! However, nzokaikitsabe kuti aChakwera angawine; thus i.m.o!!! If u ask the ppo around za chamwaka, u’ll find anthu who ain’t totally out of their prime that do nurse the wounds of that tax collection strategy oti siangavotere MCP at all. Central Region numbers only ain’t enough to put someone at… Read more »
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Clive Jedidia
Well written. I am an MCP sympathizer and I have done political science.
MCP has something missing in its machinery to make it a reliable and assured force in its set up and that has to deal with leadership it has. There is a need of that stubbornessential and authority that JZU had, then the charisma of Muluzi, the vision of Bingu or Dr. Banda to take Malawians to a place they belong. There was a time when the government was really afraid of oppositions politicians. |
Doug Mataconis · · 1 comment
While the Senate remains locked in a battle over procedural rules that will determine whether it actually gets voted on this year, a new poll shows that the vast majority of Americans now favor allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Lawmakers seeking to repeal the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy have a large majority of Americans behind them.
If they had an opportunity to vote on it, 67% of Americans say they would vote for a law that would allow gays and lesbians to serve openly in the U.S. military.
The finding, from a Gallup poll conducted Dec. 3-6, 2010, is consistent with previous Gallup surveys on the issue. More than 60% of Americans since 2005 have said they favor allowing openly gay men and lesbian women to serve in the U.S. military, including majorities of the most conservative segments of the population.
The current findings are based on a question in which Americans are asked whether they would vote for or against several proposals lawmakers are currently considering. It was asked after the release of a major Pentagon study on troops’ views about the current ban on openly gay service members and as the lame-duck Congress moved toward legislative action. Defense Secretary Robert Gates testified to Congress on Dec. 2, saying that troops’ concerns “do not present an insurmountable barrier” to ending the policy. |
ve of -r**2 - 169/24*r**4 + v - 13/3*r**3 + 46*r. Factor w(q).
-(13*q + 2)**2/2
Let d(n) = 10*n**2 + 26*n - 4. Let r(m) = 2*m**2 - 2*m - 1. Let v(u) = -d(u) + 4*r(u). Factor v(o).
-2*o*(o + 17)
Let l(a) be the third derivative of -26*a**2 - 1/8*a**6 + 1/70*a**7 + a**3 + 0 + a - 7/8*a**4 + 9/20*a**5. Suppose l(b) = 0. What is b?
1, 2
Let p(n) = 35*n - 198. Let r be p(6). Determine a so that r*a - 1 + 1 + 11 - 2*a**2 + 2*a**2 + a**2 = 0.
-11, -1
Let r = -18697 + 18700. Let m(j) be the second derivative of -1/9*j**r + 0 + 0*j**2 - 1/18*j**5 + 7/54*j**4 + 22*j + 1/135*j**6. Factor m(q).
2*q*(q - 3)*(q - 1)**2/9
Let p be (-385)/(-22)*((-58)/(-7) + -8). Let g(r) be the third derivative of -16/3*r**4 + 0 + r**2 - 8/3*r**3 + 0*r - 3*r**p + 27/10*r**6. Factor g(u).
4*(u - 1)*(9*u + 2)**2
Let p(a) be the first derivative of 2/11*a**2 - 2/11*a**3 - 26 + 6/55*a**5 - 1/33*a**6 - 1/22*a**4 + 0*a. Suppose p(l) = 0. What is l?
-1, 0, 1, 2
Find g, given that -45 - 33/2*g - 1/2*g**2 = 0.
-30, -3
Let 89/2*b + 179/4*b**2 + 1/4*b**3 + 0 = 0. What is b?
-178, -1, 0
Find d such that 2914/7*d + 2122849/7 + 1/7*d**2 = 0.
-1457
Solve -484*b + 34*b**4 - 397*b**3 - b**5 + 1965*b**2 - 2889*b**2 + 8*b**4 = 0.
-1, 0, 22
Let d(i) be the third derivative of 1/12*i**5 + 0 - 216*i**2 - 1/120*i**6 - 1/210*i**7 + 0*i**3 + 0*i - 1/8*i**4. Factor d(w).
-w*(w - 1)**2*(w + 3)
Let h(m) = 15*m**2 - 63*m + 21. Let n(z) = -45*z**2 + 190*z - 64. Let l = 0 + 3. Let i(v) = l*n(v) + 8*h(v). Factor i(u).
-3*(u - 4)*(5*u - 2)
Let a(u) be the third derivative of u**5/180 - 467*u**4/36 + 311*u**3/6 + 754*u**2 + 2. Solve a(y) = 0.
1, 933
Let u be 5 + -14 + 578/64. Let w(y) be the third derivative of -u*y**4 + 0*y - 1/24*y**3 + 0 + 2*y**2 - 1/80*y**5 - 1/480*y**6. Determine g so that w(g) = 0.
-1
Suppose -2/3*f**4 - 2*f**3 + 20/3*f**2 + 0 + 16*f = 0. What is f?
-4, -2, 0, 3
Suppose 0 = -5*w + 12*s - 9*s + 22, -3*w + 4*s + 22 = 0. Let -6/5*t - 3/5*t**3 + 9/5*t**w + 0 = 0. Calculate t.
0, 1, 2
Let -53/3*b - 1/3*b**5 - 14*b**3 + 11/3*b**4 + 70/3*b**2 + 5 = 0. Calculate b.
1, 3, 5
Let g be (-6 - -3)/(4/(-4)). What is z in -240*z**4 - 3*z**3 - 240*z**4 + g*z**5 + 477*z**4 + 3*z**2 = 0?
-1, 0, 1
Let h(t) = t**2 - 2*t - 2. Let g(m) = m - 220 - 192 + 444 - 7*m**2 + 12*m. Let y(o) = -g(o) - 6*h(o). Factor y(n).
(n - 5)*(n + 4)
Let k = 7417 - 7413. Let t(d) be the second derivative of 0*d**2 - 14/15*d**6 + 0 - 11/3*d**k + 27*d - 4/3*d**3 - 16/5*d**5. Let t(m) = 0. What is m?
-1, -2/7, 0
Let n(h) = -840*h + 165*h**2 - 218*h**3 + 377 - 230*h**3 + 463*h**3 + 515. Let k(q) = -5*q**3 - 55*q**2 + 280*q - 297. Let t(v) = -8*k(v) - 3*n(v). Factor t(f).
-5*(f - 2)**2*(f + 15)
Let 75/7*y**2 + 177147/7 - 7290/7*y = 0. What is y?
243/5
Let w = -4/2763 + -1676216/2763. Let y = 607 + w. Factor 3 - 2*v + y*v**2.
(v - 3)**2/3
Let t(c) be the second derivative of -c**7/126 - 8*c**6/45 - 11*c**5/15 + 89*c**4/18 + 5*c**3/2 - 27*c**2 - 241*c. Suppose t(x) = 0. Calculate x.
-9, -1, 1, 2
Let s = 21329/6 + -149291/42. Factor -2/7*d - 6/7 + s*d**3 + 6/7*d**2.
2*(d - 1)*(d + 1)*(d + 3)/7
Find d, given that 9*d**2 + 39/8*d**4 - 55/4*d**3 - 1/8*d**5 + 0*d + 0 = 0.
0, 1, 2, 36
Let 507*m + 464*m - 3*m**2 - 845*m - 123 = 0. What is m?
1, 41
Let p(i) = 180*i**5 - 507*i**4 + 126*i**3 + 468*i**2 - 321*i + 39. Let o(r) = -2*r**3 - r**2 - 3*r + 1. Let a(v) = -3*o(v) + p(v). Let a(n) = 0. What is n?
-1, 3/20, 2/3, 1, 2
Let b(r) be the third derivative of -4*r**7/105 + 193*r**6/30 + 494*r**5/15 + 101*r**4/6 - 132*r**3 + 3637*r**2. Solve b(q) = 0.
-2, -1, 1/2, 99
Let q = 9433 + -84889/9. Factor -14/9*p - q*p**2 + 4/9.
-2*(p + 2)*(4*p - 1)/9
Let 258/7*a**2 - 103/7*a**3 + 120/7 - 292/7*a - 1/7*a**5 + 18/7*a**4 = 0. What is a?
1, 2, 3, 10
Let h(v) be the second derivative of -2 + 4*v + 1/36*v**4 + 1/6*v**3 - 1/180*v**5 - 16*v**2. Let i(s) be the first derivative of h(s). Factor i(f).
-(f - 3)*(f + 1)/3
Let t be 1760/(-400)*(4 + 994/(-231)). Factor 2/3 + t*d + 2/3*d**2.
2*(d + 1)**2/3
Let l(w) be the first derivative of w**4/36 - w**3/6 + w**2/3 + 9*w - 48. Let b(o) be the first derivative of l(o). Solve b(n) = 0.
1, 2
Suppose -5*g = 3*x - 19, 23 = 5*x - g + 5*g. Solve 4*p**5 + 217 + 250 - 264*p**x + 34*p**2 + 804*p + 48*p**4 - 114*p**2 + 109 = 0.
-16, -1, 3
Let t(q) = 2*q + 74. Let s be t(-36). Let c(f) be the first derivative of -3/7*f**s - 8/21*f**3 + 5 + 0*f - 1/14*f**4. Factor c(b).
-2*b*(b + 1)*(b + 3)/7
Let q(d) = -1. Let b(j) = 17*j**2 - 11*j**2 + 8 - 7*j - 5*j**2. Let u(v) = b(v) + 2*q(v). Find t such that u(t) = 0.
1, 6
Let j(m) = 4*m**2 - 127*m + 808. Let y be j(23). Factor -4/5*z**y + 1444/5 + 156/5*z**2 - 1596/5*z.
-4*(z - 19)**2*(z - 1)/5
Let j(a) be the third derivative of -a**7/70 + 2*a**6/5 - 22*a**5/5 + 24*a**4 - 72*a**3 - a**2 + 166. What is c in j(c) = 0?
2, 6
Factor 460*h - 57 + h**3 - 5*h**2 + 1 - 492*h + 20.
(h - 9)*(h + 2)**2
Factor -5 + 38*k - 15/4*k**2.
-(k - 10)*(15*k - 2)/4
Let w be (-1)/(-5) - (55278/30)/3. Let u = -342 - w. Suppose 9 - u*g + 142*g + 3*g**2 + 142*g = 0. Calculate g.
-3, -1
Let i(v) = 620*v + 3104. Let y be i(-5). Let n(b) be the first derivative of 3*b**3 - 1 + 1/10*b**5 + 5*b**2 + 7/8*b**4 + y*b. Factor n(h).
(h + 1)*(h + 2)**3/2
Let q(g) be the first derivative of g**4/18 - 100*g**3/27 + 188*g**2/9 - 368*g/9 - 1596. Factor q(s).
2*(s - 46)*(s - 2)**2/9
Let n(z) be the second derivative of 0*z**2 - 17*z + 0*z**3 + 3/4*z**5 - 2/5*z**6 - 1/2*z**4 + 0 + 1/14*z**7. Determine l so that n(l) = 0.
0, 1, 2
Let t = 28 - 20. Let u(s) = s**3 + s**2 - 2*s + 8. Let w be u(-2). Solve t*g + 9 - 2*g**2 - 1 + w - 6 = 0.
-1, 5
Let b(s) = 38*s**3 + 36*s**2 - 150*s - 48. Let a(n) = -74*n**3 - 72*n**2 + 302*n + 96. Let t(v) = -5*a(v) - 9*b(v). Factor t(w).
4*(w - 2)*(w + 3)*(7*w + 2)
Suppose 17/3*l + 0 + 1/9*l**2 = 0. What is l?
-51, 0
Let w = 9437 + -9433. Let c(r) be the first derivative of -1/3*r**2 + 14/3*r - 11 - 14/9*r**3 + 1/6*r**w. Solve c(x) = 0.
-1, 1, 7
Let a = 343 + -343. Let c be (a - (-9)/(-2)) + 132 + -127. Factor c*l**2 - 1/2*l**4 + l**3 - l + 0.
-l*(l - 2)*(l - 1)*(l + 1)/2
Let q(w) be the first derivative of w**6/480 - 3*w**5/16 + 29*w**4/32 + 172*w**3/3 + 100. Let n(c) be the third derivative of q(c). Find d such that n(d) = 0.
1, 29
Let o(q) be the first derivative of q**3/4 - 12*q**2 + 405*q/4 - 2041. Factor o(j).
3*(j - 27)*(j - 5)/4
Let w = -46422 + 77766. Factor w + 2*n**2 + 2*n - 31338 + 6*n.
2*(n + 1)*(n + 3)
Let z(v) be the first derivative of -42 + 9/2*v**2 - 7*v - 1/4*v**4 - v**3. Let g(y) be the first derivative of z(y). What is t in g(t) = 0?
-3, 1
Factor 654*l - 6083*l + 4710 + 722*l - 3*l**2.
-3*(l - 1)*(l + 1570)
Let h(r) be the first derivative of -r**5/35 - 6*r**4/7 - 130*r**3/21 - 96*r**2/7 - 85*r/7 + 3927. Solve h(j) = 0 for j.
-17, -5, -1
Let p(w) be the second derivative of 55 - 1/60*w**6 + 1/6*w**3 + 1/24*w**4 - 1/20*w**5 + 0*w**2 + 2*w. Determine c so that p(c) = 0.
-2, -1, 0, 1
Let d be 2/(6 + 364/(-65)). Suppose 0 = 2*a - 4*r - 8, 4*r = -4*a + 5*r + 16. Find j, given that -3*j + a*j**2 - 5*j**2 - d - 3*j = 0.
-5, -1
Let w(m) be the second derivative of 0*m**3 + 29*m - 1/100*m**5 + 0 - 1/20*m**4 + 1/50*m**6 + 1/210*m**7 + 0*m**2. Solve w(n) = 0 for n.
-3, -1, 0, 1
Factor 272 + 2446/9*s - 2/9*s**2.
-2*(s - 1224)*(s + 1)/9
Factor 135 + 4378*h - 2135*h - 5*h**3 + 25*h**2 - 2078*h.
-5*(h - 9)*(h + 1)*(h + 3)
Let q(p) be the third derivative of -p**5/210 + 37*p**4/84 + 38*p**3/21 - 6*p**2 - 1. Suppose q(w) = 0. Calculate w.
-1, 38
Let u = -465 - -467. Determine n so that 0*n**5 + 11*n**3 - 10*n**2 + u*n**5 + 2*n**4 + 8*n - 4 - 21*n**3 + 12 = 0.
-2, -1, 1, 2
Let f = -6525989/60 + 108769. Let i = f + -11/12. Solve -i*z**5 + 0*z**2 + 4/5*z**3 + 0 + 0*z + 4/5*z**4 = 0.
-1/2, 0, 1
Let n(a) be the first derivative of -15*a**4/2 + 98*a**3/3 - 28*a**2 - 40*a - 2841. Determine s so that n(s) = 0.
-2/5, 5/3, 2
Let r(l) be the third derivative of -l**7/105 - 3*l**6/20 - 13*l**5/15 - 2*l**4 + 1868*l**2. Determine x, given that r(x) = 0.
-4, -3, -2, 0
Let y be ((-72)/16)/(198/(-24) - -6). Let k(m) be the first derivative of -4*m - 3*m**y - 2/3*m**3 + 10. Determine z, given that k(z) = 0.
-2, -1
Let c(m) be the first derivative of -5/6*m**4 + 132 + 2/15*m**5 + 16/9*m**3 - 4/3*m**2 + 0*m. Determ |
Critters Attack!
Critters Attack! is a 2019 horror comedy TV movie, and a reboot to the 1986 film Critters. It is the fifth entry in the Critters film franchise. Although the returning Dee Wallace is assumed to be portraying a new heroine distinct from the Helen Brown character, Wallace herself confirmed she's reprising the original role, with a name change to "Aunt Dee" due to potential legal issues.
Plot
While babysitting two teenagers, college student Drea discovers that the alien Krites have landed in the nearby forest. They soon receive help from the mysterious Aunt Dee, who might have a history with the hungry intergalactic beasts.
Cast
Tashiana Washington as Drea
Dee Wallace as Aunt Dee
Jaeden Noel as Phillip
Jack Fulton as Jake
Ava Preston as Trissy
Leon Clingman as Ranger Bob
Vash Singh as Kevin Loong
Steve Blum as Critter voices
Production
On October 22, 2018, it was announced that SYFY was in talks to acquire the broadcasting rights to Critters, in order to produce new sequels. The production began filming secretly in February 2019, in South Africa. The first film was officially announced on April 25, 2019, with the trailer appearing the same day.
Release
The film was released on DVD disc and digital viewing on July 23, 2019 by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Unlike the other Critters film series, which have all been rated PG 13, this one has gotten an Unrated and standard R rated version due to more blood and violence.
Reception
The film received generally negative reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 44% based on 16 reviews. Bloody Disgusting gave the film two out of five skulls, stating "the fifth film suffers from a bland cast of characters, poor pacing and, most significantly, a lack of campy fun." Film School Rejects noted that the film was better than Critters: A New Binge and described it as "a mildly entertaining creature feature that will likely find its way into the viewing habits of today’s young, burgeoning horror fans when they stumble upon it on television one evening."
References
External links
Category:Critters (franchise)
Category:2019 horror films
Category:American comedy horror films
Category:2010s comedy horror films
Category:2019 films
Category:Films featuring puppetry
Category:Warner Bros. direct-to-video films
Category:2019 direct-to-video films
Category:Blue Ribbon Content films |
#ifndef CONFLUO_STORAGE_PTR_AUX_BLOCK_H_
#define CONFLUO_STORAGE_PTR_AUX_BLOCK_H_
#include <cstdint>
#include "ptr_metadata.h"
namespace confluo {
namespace storage {
/**
* Archival state of data pointed to.
*/
typedef struct state_type {
static const uint8_t D_IN_MEMORY = 0;
static const uint8_t D_ARCHIVED = 1;
} state_type;
/**
* Encoding type of data pointed to.
*/
typedef struct encoding_type {
static const uint8_t D_UNENCODED = 0;
static const uint8_t D_LZ4 = 1;
static const uint8_t D_ELIAS_GAMMA = 2;
} encoding_type;
/**
* Pointer auxiliary block containing
* contextual metadata about the data
* pointed to. This data structure takes
* 1B of space on its own but when set to
* a ptr_metadata object will only use 4 bits.
*/
typedef struct ptr_aux_block {
uint8_t encoding_ : 3;
uint8_t state_ : 1;
ptr_aux_block();
ptr_aux_block(uint8_t state, uint8_t encoding);
static ptr_aux_block get(ptr_metadata *metadata);
} aux_block;
}
}
#endif /* CONFLUO_STORAGE_PTR_AUX_BLOCK_H_ */
|
This invention relates a process for the manufacture of trans-1,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene (HFO trans-1234ze). More particularly, the invention pertains to a process for the manufacture of the HFO trans-1234ze by first dehydrofluorinating 1,1,1,3,3-pentafluoropropane to thereby produce a mixture of cis-1,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene, trans-1,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene and hydrogen fluoride. Then optionally recovering hydrogen fluoride, followed by recovering trans-1,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene.
Traditionally, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) like trichlorofluoromethane and dichlorodifluoromethane have been used as refrigerants, blowing agents and diluents for gaseous sterilization. In recent years, there has been widespread concern that certain chlorofluorocarbons might be detrimental to the Earth's ozone layer. As a result, there is a worldwide effort to use halocarbons which contain fewer or no chlorine substituents. Accordingly, the production of hydrofluorocarbons, or compounds containing only carbon, hydrogen and fluorine, has been the subject of increasing interest to provide environmentally desirable products for use as solvents, blowing agents, refrigerants, cleaning agents, aerosol propellants, heat transfer media, dielectrics, fire extinguishing compositions and power cycle working fluids. In this regard, trans-1,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene (trans-1234ze) is a compound that has the potential to be used as a zero Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) and a low Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerant, blowing agent, aerosol propellant, solvent, etc, and also as a fluorinated monomer.
It is known in the art to produce HFO-1234ze (i.e. HydroFluoroOlefin-1234ze). For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,710,352 teaches the fluorination of 1,1,1,3,3-pentachloropropane (HCC-240fa) to form HCFC-1233zd and a small amount of HFO-1234ze. U.S. Pat. No. 5,895,825 teaches the fluorination of HCFC-1233zd to form HFC-1234ze. U.S. Pat. No. 6,472,573 also teaches the fluorination of HCFC-1233zd to form HFO-1234ze. U.S. Pat. No. 6,124,510 teaches the formation of cis and trans isomers of HFO-1234ze by the dehydrofluorination of HFC-245fa in the presence of an oxygen-containing gas using either a strong base or a chromium-based catalyst. European patent EP 0939071 describes the formation of HFC-245fa via the fluorination of HCC-240fa through intermediate reaction product which is an azeotropic mixture of HCFC-1233zd and HFO-1234ze.
It has been determined that these known processes are not economical relative to their product yield. It has also been noted that significant amount of cis-1234ze is generated together with its trans-isomer in these know processes. Hence, there is a need for means by which trans-1234ze can be isolated from product mixtures and cis-1234ze can be recycled. Accordingly, the present invention provides an integrated process for producing trans-1234ze from which highly pure trans-1234ze can be obtained at a higher yield than prior art processes and cis-1234ze can be recycled in contrast to known processes. In particular, it has now been found that trans-1234ze may be formed by dehydrofluorinating 1,1,1,3,3-pentafluoropropane in the absence of an oxygen-containing gas to produce a mixture of cis-1,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene, trans-1,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene and hydrogen fluoride. Then optionally, but preferably recovering hydrogen fluoride and then recovering trans-1,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene. The cis-1234ze and HFC-245fa may then be recycled. |
Q:
Springboot + Drools, java.lang.RuntimeException: Illegal class for global
Hi I'm checking out some Drools tutorials with Springboot. And I believe I configured properly since the integration tests worked. Once that is done I used the method that was tested in a @RestController annotated class method. When I made the service call through browser I'm getting this exception java.lang.RuntimeException: Illegal class for global. Expected [com.model.SomeObj], found [com.model.SomeObj]., when I checked further it was being triggered by kieSession.setGlobal("objRes",objRes);. Could someone lead me in the right direction? Because there aren't any compilation issues in the code.
A:
Duplicate question: Illegal class for global expected com.package.sameobj found com.package.sameobj
Solution: Remove the hot deployment, you have to remove the next dependency
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-devtools</artifactId>
<scope>runtime</scope>
</dependency>
|
The goal of this program is to establish a lasting partnership among professional scientists, secondary school teachers, and curriculum specialists to develop and disseminate new curricula materials based on modern, cutting edge laboratory research in Immunology, in order to enhance science education and student participation in science courses in the United States. Specifically, this program will provide summer fellowships for secondary school teachers to work in Immunology research laboratories at various centers across the United States. This research experience will be directly linked to curriculum development so that each teacher will develop a new laboratory exercise for secondary school students. It is expected that this experience will enhance the teacher's instructional skills and scientific knowledge so that up-to-date fundamental concepts in biological sciences (especially Immunology) can be better integrated into current curricula. Since sufficient innovative exercises illustrating the fundamental principles and concepts in modern Immunology are not generally available, the teachers will be required to develop lesson plans based on their lab experience, and formulate them with the aid of curricular specialists. This program will also include the education of the mentors as to reasonable expectations for the teachers in their labs, as well as to enhance mentor scientists' attitudes regarding their role in science education reform. Mentor workshops to promote effective partnerships between the scientist and teacher will be an integral part of the AAI/teacher annual symposium in addition to workshops and presentations by the teachers and curriculum developers. By providing linkages among professional scientists, secondary school teachers and experts in curriculum development, we will foster a continuing relationship that will not only stimulate science education, but will also promote the public understanding of science and the role of basic research in improving health. The hypothesis that we will evaluate is that this research experience will engender for the teachers a renewed enthusiasm for science, which will be translated (via the vehicle of their new curricular laboratory exercises) in terms of integrated teaching of Immunology, as well as increased student interest in science courses, and the pursuit of scientific careers. Thus, we will also survey each teacher and school district previously in the program in order to determine the effect of the program on science education and student career choices. [unreadable] [unreadable] |
Posted
by
samzenpus
on Monday May 23, 2005 @09:58PM
from the protect-yourself-at-all-times dept.
An anonymous reader writes "A family in Sacromento has covered the side of their house with aluminum to keep the radiowaves from their neighbors at bay. The city has given them one week to remove the life saving shielding or face charges."
I'm from Ventura, and am unsure exactly where "Sacromento" is, but I'm glad I moved to Alaska as soon as I turned 18. I could build a house out of aluminum foil ('tin' foil is hard to come by) in my neighborhood, and no one would care, even though the cheapest house just sold for $275,000. Of course, I don't live in Los Anchorage, but I still have DSL, indoor plumbing, and a fire department 6 blocks away.
Yes, it's a hard life. Not paying state income taxes or purchase taxes, getting a check from the Permanent Fund every year for approx. $1,000, having all this fresh air and clean water and room to roam. Then there's the gold mine that I own. What a hassle it is to throw back the small gold so it can grow bigger. Heck, I remember once, when it got to -20 below zero for a couple of days. I had to drive almost an hour to find good skiing.
Different strokes.Some people would rather have good schools, a community, clean air, clean water, and a large amount of freedom.Others think that having a selection of 20 good Chinese restaurants they can call at 2:00 am for take out is more important.
i will say that the people with the tin foil home are NUTS!If they REALLY believe that they are getting bombarded then just use a grounded fine metal screen. The could put it on the inside of there home and Spackle and paint over it! Oh wait the paint will probably cause there hair to fall out and their nipples to invert. Chemicals you know.They should not worry. I have informed my bosses at project Majestic to shift from microwaves to ELF so their shielding is now useless. Thank goodness HARP is on line now to deal with trouble makers like this.
Yes, it's a community code. It means the community got together and a majority decided that they wanted to live in an area with certain rules. Nobody is forced to live in the community and that same community can act to modify those codes whenever they please.
This has nothing to do with race, national pride, or an unchecked autocracy. Therefore, the fascism label simply doesn't apply. I suggest you learn the meaning of a word before you start throwing it around.
It means the community got together and a majority decided that they wanted to live in an area with certain rules.
Awww - they're so cute when they're young and idealistic, aren't they?
These days, rules aren't decided by the majority. Rules (laws) are passed in order to pacify small groups who are very adept at making a lot of noise and attracting attention to themselves and their cause. The majority of people just want everyone else to leave them alone.
From the article it looks like the building codes prohibit it. Maybe they should look at getting sheet metal siding - as long as its installed correctly and doesn't violate any of the neighborhood covenants they'd probably be ok.
Because it's a housing code violation. It looks from the picture like it's touching the fence/house next door and in CA (at least in Sac, I live there) it's illegal to build or have any structure connected to your house touching or within x amount of feet of the fence. Our neighbours behind us built some rickity lean-to on their house which used our back fence as one of the walls and we called the housing code people who came and told them to tear it down.
This site [joespc.com] is a great true example of what happens when your neighbors go crazy. In this case, it's a family of rednecks. It's a great laugh from the burnt down back yard to the child sized children pools.
I guess we slashdotted his poor site... I've attached the copy below... check out the site once he get's it back... the pictures are just hilarious. I pulled the links from the copy to save his server.
------
In
case you're wondering, this Web page is about my next-door neighbors.
Since my neighbors have been driving me crazy and no amount of civilized
reasoning and/or negotiations have worked -
I have decided to dedicate a small corner of cyber-space to them.
My
family and friends are constantly asking me to tell them the "latest"
thing my neighbor has done so this page will save me from repeating myself.
Besides, I thought it would be fun. Everything you read here is
entirely true, that's what makes it so funny. Enjoy!
Background:
My neighbors moved into
the house next to ours in October 1997. It's a brand new neighborhood
with new houses. Everyone's house
looks beautiful but that's about to change.
The new neighbors seem like normal people until shortly after they move
in (more later).
First, let me say that my
redneck neighbor is not destitute or under-privileged. The guy owns a business, drives VERY nice new cars, he just
doesn't care about his house. In
order to protect the ignorant, we'll call him John Doe # 8 or JD8 for short.
October 1997 -
They are here!
Well, it should have been
a sign of things to come but my neighbors move into their brand new house.
Inventory: 1 artificial Christmas tree, clothes, stereo system, TV, no
furniture). The Christmas tree is nicely decorated (remember, it's
October). We can tell what the tree looks like because the windows have no
miniblinds so at night, you can see right into the house as you drive up.
They have also decided to wrap some strands of Christmas lights around their
front porch railing. I guess there's no electric outlet nearby because
they never turn these lights on.
October 1997 - 1st
Home beautification project
It's dark outside, I'm
standing in front of my house and my neighbor does the following: He gets in his car, drives
it up to the house on the other side of my house (this house is still being
built). He backs his car up to the construction site and opens the trunk.
He calmly proceeds to load up the trunk with bricks and 2x4s. Pretty
clever, huh?
The following night, at
around 9:00pm he decides it's time to build a mailbox post. It's very
nice. He used the stolen 2x4s from the previous night. It looks like
it's made out of 2x4s except he didn't steal any that were long enough so he
nails a couple of them together to get the correct height - I mean, it has to
look just right! The mailbox post is not very sturdy so he braces it with
an additional 2x4 (at an angle). Click
here to see the mailbox (no bracing 2x4 though).
He uses the bricks as
edging for his flower beds. They look nice. Especially with the
newly planted bamboo trees and the ten gallon fish tank (no fish, just water).
November 1997 -
The fence!
I wake up to my wife
telling me, "Hey, it looks like JD8 is working on a fence".
Well I don't think much of it until she tells me that he's trying to
build a fence around the entire house (front and back) and that the fence is
going to be chain-link. We have some "covenant rules" that
prohibit you from putting up a silver chain-link fence. Also, you cannot
have any fence go past the back of your house. By now, I am freaking out.
I can see the property value falling faster than his mailbox post.
Anyway, I get to work and
at 9:01AM I call our builder. I explain the situation to him and he
agrees to pay JD8 a visit before the concrete around the metal posts dries.
Sure enough, I get home after work and the posts around the front of the house
are laying on the street. Not exactly what I expected but at least they're
out of the ground. Tra
Absolutely. Any time you're having a problem with your neigbor make sure you talk to him/her first. Not only is it the polite thing to do, you have the ethical responsibilty to go to your friend/opponent before seeking legal protection.
If the fence is really important to him you might be able to work out a deal to your own financial gain. Keeping communication open will require that you respect your neighbors directly.
With more and more people putting in things like Home Theater Rooms (where having natural light comming in is actually undesirable), how come polititians and regulators wont change the building codes to allow you to have rooms without natural light?
I agree. If it's their property let them be protected from the aliens. Who cares. And don't give me crap about it looking nice for the neighbors. I believe in freedom. If my neighbors want to paint their house with pink polka-dots then so be it, none of my buisness. People spend far too much energy worrying about what other people are doing. The officials should worry about stuff that is actually harming others.
I agree that there's far too many silly rules about houses (damn HOA's), but there are construction standards for a reason. Some of this crap blows off and hits a neighors house, or a neighbor, and I think there will be a few problems.
Not only are you not a Californian, but you've obviously never owned a house -- or owned one that was worth so little, you didn't obssess over things that might affect the value of your property. In most of urban California, you have to sell your soul in order to afford a house -- which makes people insanely aware of anything that might lower property values. People will hassle you just for parking a rusty car in front of your house.
And of coursethey pass zoning laws that minimize any and all activities affecting same. So forget about raising chickens in your back yard, or painting your house a funny color. And you damn well better take good care of your lawn, if you value your freedom!
In that context, a strong reaction to a house covered with metal foil is most predictable. The only suprise is that the neighbors took the time to call the code enforcement people, instead of rounding up a lynch mob!
If your situation is any better, don't feel too smug. Housing costs are going up everywhere, and the same obsesssion with property values is spreading like a disease.
Unless the covenent of your deed prohibits it, or you're a member of a HOA; you can tell your neighbors to mind their own damned business.
Absolutely incorrect. Every municpality in the US has building codes and zoning restrictions, many also have any number of civil and/or criminal codes, all of which limit what you may or may not do with or on your property.
I bought a house, it was average for the part of Pennsylvania that I'm from. It's in an upper-middle class neighborhood.
Any other state and they'd merely be shunned by their neighbors and harrassed by annoying teenagers.
Where the hell do you live? I want to move there so I can quit being harassed by my homeowners' association for having my antenna in the "wrong place". It was "hurting the value of their investment", not that the mandated ugly gray and brown houses are all that great anyway.
Anywhere where there are no associations has to be a better place to live than here, even if the house isn't a "great investment" without a bunch of old biddies who take hundreds of dollars of my money then can't even afford to pay a bored neighborhood kid $20 to mow the yard for the old woman down the street that they've been harassing as well.
Actually you can get insulation boards, such as Tuf-R, which are basically styrofoam or something similar with an aluminum foil skin, designed to be nailed directly to the outside of the wall studs before the siding goes on. As of several years ago they were looking into connecting the aluminum skin together, electrically speaking, and tieing it all to a grounding system to create a "Faraday cage" type shield.
The walls on some types of single family homes are not very strong at all by themselves. Codes are different for every area but a normal wall on a split foyer home from the inside out consists of paint, 3/8 or 1/2 inch drywall, fiberglass insulation to fill the area between the 2x4's, a moisture barrier/foam insulation (like you described above) and then vinyl siding. Notice the absense of wood sheets? Some homes have a 2 4'x8' sheets of wood added on the corners for stabilty but some designs apparently d
Seriously, space blankets work great to keep out the day star. I put one on a couple of windows last year, and went most of the summer without air conditioning. I'd bet it was 10 degrees cooler than without.
Those window films you buy at Home Depot are mostly the same stuff, but with a huge markup. And, though you can still kind of see through a space blanket, they block much more light than any of the commercial films.
It's probably not economical to re-apply film every summer and remove it for the wint
Jests aside, those Mylar "space blankets" really do work. A few years ago a friend and I were climbing Ben Nevis [ihug.co.nz] in December in a [failed] attempt at some winter mountaineering. To make a long story short, our shitty mountaineering-club tent leaked through the top and bottom and we spent a very long (13-hour) night laying awake in 2 inches of water on the side of the mountain.
Putting one of those Mylar blankets inside of my sleeping bag was the dif
I mean yeah, you could concievably rig your grow-room up with mylar over the walls, but is it really going to help that much more than the white plastic sheeting used by most of the grow-rooms I've seen?
Are you seriously suggesting that every hiker or camper who buys a space blanket in the US is going to get reported to the DEA? I don't live in the US, but if so, that is so ridiculous, so utterly pointless, so far out of control, that I'm just kind of staggered.
No, unfotunately I am not joking. Many of the stores that sell garden lights openly tell you they share their customer list with law enforcement, a few of them have signs on the door. The police used to tail people who would go to the garden center and pull them over...etc That behavior got it institutionalized here, so they got the hardware stores involved and started offering cash to employees who would phone in on larger orders of certain supplies. Buying a mess of mylar at the hardware store is enough. Buying a single space age blanket probably isn't going to raise an eyebrow though.
I'm not sure how much better the mylar is for that purpose, I've been told that it reflects different spectrums of light more effectively than just flat white paint, and slightly more effectively (total lumens) than the plastic sheeting. The plastic sheeting is lot cheaper.
Of course just because they come to your door doesn't mean you have to let them in, but the mere fact that they are at the door because you made a purchase from the hardware store is very disturbing.
Well, I do not know about the specifics of this family's circumstances, but I know what exists for me.
At the far corner of the property next door to me is a HUGE cell phone tower. When I worked on any electronics in my home lab - analog or digital - I used to have problems with high levels of RF that clearly reduced noise margins in the circuitry. Crude experiments with a high frequency probe and antenna showed that the tower seemed to have a nice fat lobe pumping stuff in my direction. Then I began to wond
Remember...you're looking for a rational solution to a whackjob problem.
Yep, this is the a classic case of trying to fight irrationality with logic. The classic example is the apocryphal story of the med student working in a psych ward trying to cure a delusional man with reason. The man was under the delusion that he was dead.
"So you're dead," says the med student."Yes indeed," says the man, "I've been dead for nearly ten years."
"OK then, do dead people bleed?" the med student asks.
"Don't be absurd," replies the man, "of course dead people don't bleed."
So the med student grabs the man's hand, and jabs the mans thumb with a pin, which then begins to bleed.
"Well what do you know!" exclaims the man, staring in wide-eyed amazement at the drop of blood welling up on his thumb, "Dead people do bleed!"
I'm sure there will be plenty of Tinfoil Hat Jokes and other posts, but after reading the article I'd say they need lithium, not aluminum. That is to say, the "radio waves" deal is typical in schizophrenic patients. Other common variations are people using radio waves to listen to what their thinking, people using high-tech devices to spy on their homes. The end result is a bunch of variations on the sheet metal siding. Those people that aren't familiar with metal and radiation commonly use cardboard boxes to cover all openings and windows.
A misdemeanor charge isn't what's needed, a visit from a social worker probably is. There's a difference between being unique and unusual, and having mental issues.
A neighbour of my parents did this as he slowly slipped further into insanity. When I lived at home, he was a normal guy with a job. I never met him, but he never did anything that would indicate there was anything wrong. However a couple years later it started. He became a reculse, lost his job, began screaming at imaginary things at all hours of the night. He worse an AFDB, coated all his windows in aluminium foil and so on.
The neighbours wanted to have him comitted for his own good, but you can't do tha
I knew this guy who was given millions and a large shareholding in a public company by his father. He had to play by his father's (and stepmother's) rules which he wasn't doing and he seemed to think it was funny to aggravate them. So they hired some spooks to follow him and eavesdrop on him. He was never the sharpest knife in the draw and years of ADD drugs didn't help. So when he started getting paranoid and having "dellusional fantasies" about people spying on him and his house - which they were actually doing - this was the proof used to incarcerate him in a mental institution. Last time I saw him he was on drugs that had completely extinguished his mind. I am sure people much more qualified than I would testify that he was really schizophrenic (and they did when he was incarcerated) but its pretty sad that the proof of someone's psychosis can be engineered by simply spying on them and then telling them that they are paranoid - how do I know he was being spied on? His stepmother warned me off and offered photos showing that I had also been under observation.
Obviously someone putting tin foil all over their house is a fair indication that their mental state should be questioned. But malicious people can (and do) take advantage of the common perception that paranoia about being spied on is proof positive of schizophrenia for the own nefarious purposes. Never underestimate how mean spirited and avaricious some people are.
A misdemeanor charge isn't what's needed, a visit from a social worker probably is.
How about just leaving them the hell alone and minding your own god damn business? Am I the only one here who respects freedom more than arbitrary "social standards" imposed by some central planning agency?
Build a parabolic dish and steer it until the "radiation" is reflected away from the house. If it is real, it'll be focussed on the perp, who will either suffer horribly or be turned into a giant green monster. Either way, they'll stop being a problem.
If, however, there is no radiation hazard, then nobody is affected and it's no more of an eyesore than all of the other satellite dishes out there.
Now, there are known places where radio leakage from assorted sources has caused problems. There was a metal stadium in the Middle East - forget exactly where - where, whilst it was under construction, power tools would turn themselves on and huge arcs could be seen. Turned out that the stadium acted as a gigantic radio dish and was not only receiving signals from powerful radio sources, but was focussing them too.
There have also been known cancer spikes in areas with (a) high humidity and (b) badly-maintained, sparking power lines. It is not yet proven that there is a causal relationship, but nobody has convincingly ruled it out, either.
This particular case, though, smacks heavily of a family being traumatized by George Bush's "War on Terror" (Sept. 11th, in and of itself, was really a fairly negligable event - ten times that number die each year in car accidents in the US, and more than a thousand times that number are currently in prison in the US for violent crimes).
Personally, I think the city should come to an agreement with the family. The family takes down the aluminum, agrees that the problem probably isn't real, but agrees to work with the city to sue the Federal Government for psychological damage to cover the expenses incurred and the treatment needed to deal with the PTSD the family has suffered with, because of GWB's attitudes.
Couldn't they have put up regular aluminum siding? The construction grade siding is fairly thick and complies with building codes. It's also paintable. The neighbors would never know it was there once it was on.
Too bad the NSA's engineering manuals are classified. They specialize in that type of construction. Nothing gets out. Nothing gets in. It still looks like a normal building, although the windows look somewhat unusual.
D'Souza family. Obviously culturally acclimated as their house is not garishly painted behind the metal sheets (I saw some detailed photos on a live TeeVee newscast) is nutzo. The whol efriggin family.
OR
OR
OR
There is a single, LONE NUT, in their neighborhood who coupled the magnetron from his microwave oven to an antenna and is actually tossing photons at the D'Souzas.
Seriously guys, which is more believable? It's California after all. Personally, you couldn't pay me enough to live in any city in that state.
The D'Souzas said the bombardment began after the first anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and that the radio waves have caused them health problems ranging from headaches to lupus.
As someone who has a family member with Lupus, I call absolute bullshit on this.
Lupus causes haven't really been figured out. Furthermore, there's absolutely ZERO medical evidence that EMF/EMI causes or even aggravates Lupus. Trust me, I looked and looked after her doctor told her to "avoid cell phones and wireless devices whenever possible". I even emailed two mailing lists- one for researchers, one for patients- and came up with nothing. Nobody had ever heard of this. Furthermore, if their theory wer correct, we'd be seeing an explosion of Lupus cases (we haven't).
The D'Souzas said they will comply with the order and remove the sheet metal, but they also plan to gather evidence to show city officials what they believe is a problem with radiation.
That will be pretty tough, given there's next to no evidence EMF/EMI causes anything in people, and a lot of studies showing it has no discernible effects.
The inside of the house is also covered with foil and the beds are covered with a foil-like material as well,"
Sounds to me like they'd be a lot better served spending their money on a psychologist, not tin foil. Self-diagnosis ("radio waves are making us depressed, and giving us Lupus!") is a textbook sign of a hypochondriac.
There's plenty, but the intensity has to be high. There were a large number of birth defects reported from pregnant women operating PVC welders in the 1970s (almost 100% in one plant, the pregnant women were given the "warm" machines to use in the winter, the bodies of the operators were heated up by induction), which is why more care is taken now to ensure that the sheilding is in good shape. EMF from a lot of sources obeys the least squares
"The D'Souzas said the bombardment began after the first anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks"
There's an interesting, if not well defined, link between trauma and psychosis. Delusions and paranoia seem to have a strong link to widely shared public "concerns". I recently talked with a psychiatrist about paraniod schizophrenics and mentioned that there seemed to be a recurring theme of religious delusion and persecution. He, in return, said that in the 50's, paranoid schizophrenics, frequently complained of persecution by communists. The bogey man of the day seems to morph readily into paranoid delusions.
On a less humane note, it's scary these people are procreating, but just to help things along this site [mindjustice.org] should validate their paranoia.
the only way property values should have bering and a persons rights is when DIRECT damage is being done. for instances:1)you are burning your house and you catch your neighbors house of fire! or less extreme, the odor/smoke is drifting onto their property.2)you have weeds, your weeds are spreading to your neighbors property.3)anything else not along these lines, go F'ING LUCK!!!!
Some years ago, I started hearing music on my phone, even when no call was in progress.
Of course, I just waited for station identification and found out which AM station I was getting. It turned out that the 50KW AM station nearby [theslowlane.com] away had one of their three towers collapse in the 1989 California earthquake. Until they replaced it, their output pattern was distorted.
I was in a really strong lobe.
Adding a small bypass cap across the phone line helped the problem.
But it took more filtering to completely cure it.
I had to have the telco guys add some filtering on their side of the demark. And, years later, when I got DSL, that had to come out. Huge hassle. Three telco visits with test gear to get DSL working properly.
I'm sorry. They might be as crazy as SCO but private property is private property.
If the neighbors or the city really has something to gain with their house looking good they should either offer to pay for more attractive tin foil or offer to buy their house from them. Forcing a private property owner to decorate their home a certain way at gunpoint is not part of a free society.
When you buy a home, you're agreeing to abide by the rules in that location that pertain to home ownership. Some such rules are just common sense, like requiring a permit to dig around underground where the utility lines are. Some of them are excessively onerous, like Homeowners' Association bylaws. The rules in this case seem to fall somewhere in between.
On the other hand, try being the one _propagating_ the radio waves. Flight path restrictions exempted, amateur radio operators have a federal license to a 100 foot tower and 1000 watts output. Happy homeowners' meeting announcing that.
But they don't have the right to put up whatever they want. Especially if they have neighbors. You see, if the town becomes ugly, then the value of their property diminishes. It's kinda like me going over to some kids house and spilling kool-aid on his super rare comic book.
+2 Informative? Spilling cool-aide on some kids rare comic book has nothing to do with this situation. This would be more like taking your crappy comics and putting them next to his nice ones. Sure, it may not look nice, but the ACTUAL value and quality of his comics are not affected in any way. As soon as you take your nasty comics away his look nicer again. In order for your analogy to be correct, these foil people would have had to put the sheet metal on their neighbors house instead of their own.
Obviously you've failed to understand that the police are in on it as well. Every cop car is equipped with a mobile RF transmitter. So if they called in the cops then they're only going to increase their exposure to the killer death rays.
Yeah because gods forbid anyone who owns property or a home should be allowed to do as they please with it just because they own it. They must be forced to conform with government approved standards. If they can't handle that then perhaps some time in Siberia will teach them a lesson. If they offend a second time then the neighbors should be allowed to lynch them.
But only neighbors who are party members in good standing.
Who are these assholes who insist on acting like individuals anyway? Fucking Americans.
Um... those satellite images on Google maps are not real time. I found our house, and the house that we used to live in is only a few blocks away. We sold it to a guy who subdivided the lot and built a house in the back yard. The house was completed over three years ago, but there is no sign of it on the Google satellite images. |
Q:
cursor won't change in edittext
So I have an EditText, (two actually, but both have the same problem,) and I added an OnTouchListener. I need to know what EditText I'm working with for another method. The problem is, before adding the listener, if I clicked somewhere in the EditText, the cursor would update. Now the cursor won't update at all.
editText.setOnTouchListener(new View.OnTouchListener() {
@SuppressWarnings("UnusedAssignment")
@Override
public boolean onTouch(View v, MotionEvent event) {
EditText et = (EditText) v;
et.requestFocus();
return true;
}
});
A:
In this case, it is best to return false in onTouch. This is because the return value specifies whether or not the listener consumes the event. Returning false should therefore allow the widget to respond to the touch event with its normal behaviour, in addition to whatever else you have specified.
|
15 grenades recovered after blast in tailoring shop in Keran
Srinagar: The owner of the tailoring shop in which one person died earlier on Sunday has been arrested as 15 hand grenades have been recovered from his shop in Ferkiyan area of Keran near Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district.
Official sources told that a joint team of police and army reached the spot soon after the explosion took place inside the shop, leading to the death of one person identified as Abdul Hamid Bajad, a local resident.
They said that during the searches by the joint team, 15 hand grenades were recovered from the shop.
Soon the joint team arrested the shop owner, tailor master Parvez Khawaja, and he is being questioned in connection with the recovery of the grenades, they said.
Confirming it, an army officer told that it seems that the explosion which took place in the morning was due to the grenade blast.
“Further investigations in this regard are being conducted by police,” the officer said.
He also termed the recovery of grenades as “major success” particularly for the fact that the area is dominated by the army’s presence.
“Any untoward could have been done due to these grenades and their recovery is a major a success,” the officer added. (GNS)
The Kashmir Walla is a multimedia platform of politics, culture, business and literature. We support and help initiate conversations around these themes with an aim to question the traditional mindsets, mainstream discourses and entrenched positions. |
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Documents
DOI
This article uses data from the Labour Force Surveys to examine trends in the living
arrangements of European men and women aged 20 to 75 between 1987 and 2002.
Some trends, like the decline in mean household size and the increase in living as a lone
mother have occurred all across Europe. Other trends have been more pronounced or
have even been limited to specific parts of Europe. In combination, it appears that the
differences in living arrangements across Europe might have grown larger in the last
fifteen to twenty years. Large differences in living arrangements remain along
geographical divides. |
Getty Images
Adrian Peterson may be a future Hall of Fame running back, but right now he’s just a guy hoping to make a team.
That’s why Peterson was willing to take the league minimum salary: According to Field Yates of ESPN, Peterson signed with Washington for one year and $1.05 million, which is the minimum for a player with his level of experience. Under NFL rules, a player making the veteran minimum costs just $630,000 against the salary cap.
But he won’t count anything against the salary cap if he doesn’t make the team. Nothing is guaranteed in Peterson’s contract, so he has to make the Week One roster to get paid anything. And that’s no guarantee either. Peterson will have to show in camp that he still has something left as a runner.
Peterson won’t contribute on special teams, so he’ll have to show in camp that he’s a better runner than his 3.0-yard average since the start of 2016 suggests. If Washington just wants to keep another running back for depth, it will keep a young running back who also plays in the kicking game.
Bottom line: This is a contract that allows Washington to move on when roster cuts come down on September 1. Peterson will only have a week and a half to convince the team to keep him. |
Special Events
Dana Vollmer: Super Swimmer and Super Mom
Asphalt Green | Apr 12, 2018
Five-time Olympic gold medalist Dana Vollmer will be at Big Swim Big Kick on April 28. Kids will have the opportunity to meet Dana and take photos.
At 12 years old, Dana Vollmer was the youngest swimmer at the 2000 US Olympic Trials. She finished 47th overall, a long way from qualifying, but it was at this event she made going to the Olympics her goal.
“I watched a young lady win the 300-meter medley, and the look on her face, the excitement when she touched the wall got to me,” Dana says. “That was the moment I knew I wanted it for myself.”
The fire was lit, and there was no stopping her. Today, Dana is one of the most decorated female Olympians with seven medals (five gold, one silver, and one bronze) over three summer Games (2004, 2012, and 2016).
EARLY ATHLETIC CAREER
Dana grew up in Granbury, Texas, and was in the pool before she could walk. Her mom was a swim coach, so she was always around water.
Though Dana was always attracted to swimming, she played a variety of sports growing up—soccer, track, volleyball, gymnastics, and basketball. She didn’t turn her sole focus to swimming until after eighth grade.
THE OLYMPICS
Dana’s dream of making the Olympic team came true in 2004. At age 16, everything fell into place at the Athens Games. She came home with a gold medal as part of the world record-setting 4x200-meter freestyle relay team.
On top of the world, she was poised to make another run in 2008. But having reached the pinnacle of the sport and accomplishing all of her goals, she felt unsure of what to do next. Ultimately, she failed to make the team in 2008.
“Going into 2008, I was an absolute nervous wreck,” Dana says. “I remember feeling afraid of letting people down, thinking about the sacrifices so many people made for me to get there. I put all this pressure on myself, thinking that people would be disappointed [if I didn’t make the team].”
BOUNCING BACK FROM DISAPPOINTMENT IN 2008
Watching the 2008 Beijing Games from home, Dana realized she needed to change her approach to the sport if she wanted to return the top of the swimming world.
“In the grand scheme of things, it was the best place for me to be because I was at my lowest and could make drastic changes,” she says.
So for the next four years, Dana worked on her mental approach. She focused on smaller goals instead of the big picture. She went to Fiji with a program that teaches swimming skills for survival. She practiced staying calm under pressure. She treated every race, no matter how big or small, like she was competing at the Olympics.
“I got to appreciate how hard the [Olympic] dream is to reach,” Dana says. “My eyes were opened to a world bigger than competitive swimming. I was in a much happier place going into 2012.”
A different approach proved to be exactly what she needed. She came back swimming faster than ever. Not only did she make the team, Dana won three gold medals at the 2012 Games while setting two world records. Her world record in the individual 100-meter butterfly of 55.98 seconds was the first time a woman swam the event under 56 seconds.
FINDING BALANCE: ON BEING A MOM AND A PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE
Riding on the success of London 2012, Dana swam through the 2013 World Championships, but again found herself asking, “What are my goals? Why keep going?”
Dana decided to step away from the sport and see what life was like without it. She focused on her family and had her first son, Arlen, in March 2015. Entering a new stage of life and coming off of seven weeks of bedrest during pregnancy, she was itching to get back in shape.
“I think [stepping away] gave me the opportunity to really miss the sport, the nerves,” she says. “My return was about family. I wanted to get back in shape and set an example that taking care of your body and health is important.”
This time, her training looked different than most top athletes. She had to strike a balance between being a mom and a competitor.
“Women are capable of working and having amazing families. I developed a lifestyle where I could fit in training and be the mom I wanted to be,” Dana says. “I was more focused when I was [at practice] and gave more knowing it was the time I had. Then, I came home to spend time with my kids.”
Swimming from a healthy place and despite others telling her she needed to put in more hours in the pool, Dana earned her third Olympic berth at the Rio Games in 2016. She won three medals (one gold, one silver, and one bronze), becoming the first American mother to win a swimming gold medal.
LIFE LESSONS AND WHAT’S NEXT
Swimming has helped Dana keep life in perspective. In July 2017, she welcomed her second son, Ryker. She credits the sport with shaping her into a confident, well-rounded person.
“If I set a goal, I have the tools to make a game plan to get there,” she says. “You have to love the journey [because there are no guarantees].”
Dana is still training, getting faster, and breaking stereotypes of what it looks like to be a mom. She knows her swimming career will come to an end one day, and having a family has made her realize that she is going to be OK. She eventually wants to pursue a career in architecture and inspire the next generation of swimmers at events like Big Swim Big Kick.
“I know it’s my role to motivate young kids, but it’s amazing how much kids motivate me,” Dana says. “To hear their dreams and feel like I have had a little piece in helping them get there is really fulfilling.”
Her advice to kids in sports: “You have to find the fun in working hard.” |
A British relationship guru has claimed you could boost your chances of snagging a date simply by changing the colour of your winter coat.
Hayley Quinn, 30, pounded the pavement for thirty minutes in East London on a Monday afternoon wearing a bright red coat to test the theory that the colour attracts more attention.
She spent half an hour walking around to determine whether strangers on the street paid her any more attention than usual in the new shade, and the YouTube star was left stunned by the amount of men who approached her - with many going out of their way to strike up a conversation.
Scroll down for video
Hayley Quinn took part in a social experiment to see whether wearing red would help her to attract more male attention
Hayley said she was approached by five men in 30 minutes in total - in contrast to the previous day in a different outfit, when she was not approached at all.
The 30-year-old created the video to feature on her dating advice blog and YouTube channel, which aims to help men and women broaden their concepts of traditional dating and be luckier in love.
Hayley said: 'I came up with the idea for the social experiment after hearing loads of stories about how red makes you more attractive.
'I discovered that there is lots of scientific evidence that says wearing red can make you more approachable and that it is suggestive of sexual attraction and arousal.
Hayley was approached by five different men in half an hour while wearing her vibrant outfit
The dating guru admits that she is rarely approached by men in the street and when she wore a different outfit the day before she was approached by none
'Like many women, I hardly ever get approached by men at all and I think particularly in England there is a stereotype that British men will just not approach women.
'We're a culture that is really into privacy and not interrupting people.
'It also doesn't help that the standard London dress code is usually black or grey. It can sometimes feel like you're just fading into the background.
'When you live in a big city, no one wants makes contract with each other and it can feel really isolating and hard to meet anyone.'
In the video, Hayley can be seen walking around the streets wearing bright orange high heels teamed with a vibrant red coat and it doesn't take long for men to start noticing her.
One man walked with Hayley for a few blocks so that he could keep chatting to her and even gives her a hug and kiss on the cheek
One man can be heard commenting 'beautiful!' while Hayley responds that 'it's a nice day, isn't it?' while he tells her that she is 'beautiful like the day'.
He then asks her where she's going and says that he'd like to 'get in touch' with her.
Hayley continues to attract different comments from men on the street.
One man walked with Hayley for a few blocks so that he could keep chatting to her and even gives her a hug and kiss on the cheek while asking for her phone number.
Hayley wants to inspire other women who feel as though they don't get much attention
While some viewers may perceive the onslaught of attention as sexual harassment, Hayley stressed that this was definitely not the case.
She said: 'I was really putting myself out there and deliberately courting the attention, so I never felt harassed, uncomfortable or intimidated in the slightest.
'Quite the opposite actually, I was really impressed with how well the experiment went.
'I've walked down the same streets a million times wearing different colours and I've never experienced anything like that.
'I wanted to inspire women who might feel like no men ever approach them, that they shouldn't be passive in the flirtation and dating process.
'I find it really offensive and heartbreaking when women think that finding the right guy only comes down to fate, luck or how good looking she is.
'There are so many elements of attraction other than just physical beauty.
'Body language and movement, conversation skills and personal style all play a huge role.
'I was so happy that even on a Monday afternoon, which isn't really considered a 'sexy' time, I could still turn heads and entice men just by wearing the colour red and showing confidence.' |
The studio revealed in a Google translated blurb that Get Even looks to “remove the artificial boundary between modes of single and multiplayer,” and added that online players will be able to join a person’s single-player campaign at any time. The shooter also houses two campaigns, showing the story from the perspective of two separate soldiers.
We’ve got Get Even screens below. There’s no release window set so far, but we’ll update you if that changes any time soon. |
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