text stringlengths 8 5.77M |
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Unity Day (Russia)
Unity Day (also called Day of People’s Unity or National Unity Day; , Denʹ narodnava yedinstva) is a national holiday in Russia held on November 4 (October 22, Old Style). It commemorates the popular uprising which expelled Polish–Lithuanian occupation forces from Moscow in November 1612, and more generally the end of the Time of Troubles and turning point of the Polish-Muscovite War (1605–1618).
The day's name alludes to the idea that all classes of Russian society united to preserve Russian statehood when there was neither a tsar nor a patriarch to guide them. In 1613 tsar Mikhail Romanov instituted a holiday named Day of Moscow’s Liberation from Polish Invaders. It was celebrated in the Russian Empire until 1917, when it was replaced with a commemoration of the Russian Revolution. Unity Day was reinstituted by the Russian Federation in 2005, when the events of the year 1612 have been celebrated instead of those of 1917 every November 4 since. The day is also the feast day of the Russian Orthodox icon of Our Lady of Kazan.
Popularity
According to a poll in 2007, only 23 percent of Russians know the name of the holiday, up from 8 percent in 2005. 22 percent identified the holiday as the Day of Accord and Reconciliation, the name of the holiday on November 7 during the 1990s. Only 4 percent knew that the holiday commemorates the liberation of Moscow from Polish invaders, down from 5 percent in 2005.
Controversy
President Vladimir Putin reestablished the holiday in order to replace the commemoration of the October Revolution, known as the Day of Great October Socialist Revolution during Soviet period and as the Day of Accord and Conciliation in post-Soviet times, which formerly took place on November 7. His decision angered some sections of the public, particularly the Communist Party, who continued with celebrations on November 7. Putin's predecessor, Boris Yeltsin took a limited action of changing the name of the holiday; by completely removing it, Putin initiated a controversy that continues today.
Events (2005 onwards)
2005
The center of the first of the revived tradition was Nizhny Novgorod, where monument to Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky and Vladimir Putin laid flowers. The Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus', Alexy II was also in attendance. Activities in Moscow, included two processions and a "Russian March". Religious processions occurred with local heads of administration in attendance. Fundraisers were held in Tula, a district art festival occurred for children with disabilities, and in Kaluga, veterans and orphans were given local confectionery products.
2006
A Russian Marc" took place, despite bans in cities such as Moscow. A ninety-minute show involving more than a thousand actors was staged in Nizhny Novgorod.
2007
1612, Vladimir Khotinenko's historical film dramatizing the event the holiday commemorates, was released on November 1. Thirty-nine events were held in Moscow alone. Vladimir Putin laid flowers at the monument to Minin and Pozharsky and presented the Pushkin Medal at a reception in the Moscow Kremlin, "for the preservation of Russian spiritual heritage" and "promotion of the Russian language".
2008
President Dmitry Medvedev laid flowers at the monument to Minin and Pozharsky and organized a reception in the Grand Kremlin Palace. In Revolution Square, 7,000 attended a meeting devoted to the Day of National Unity. Activists of the youth movement "Nashi" called for a day of "under the covers" - 10,000 young people gathered on Vasilevsky Descent Square to sew a patchwork of thousands into the so-called "blanket the world". There was a free rock festival "Call", aimed at combating negative phenomena among young people, such as drugs.
2010
A celebration was held of the consecration of the restored gate icon of St. Nicholas Mozhaiskogo on the Nikolskaya Tower of the Moscow Kremlin, with the participation of the Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus', Kirill I.
2012
Nizhny Novgorod was once again the center of the celebration. The organization of the regional government allocated a holiday budget of 15,200,000 rubles. Here, a sculpture 30 meters in length and about 5 meters in height was erected, with the image of Kozma Minin.
See also
Public holidays in Russia
1612, a historical film dramatizing the purpose of Unity Day
Unity Day (disambiguation), in other countries
Armed Forces Day (Poland), celebrating the Polish victory over Soviets.
References
Category:Russian society
Category:Public holidays in Russia
Category:November observances
Russia
Category:Autumn events in Russia |
How Much Is A Dentists Salary? Find Out Here!
Archive for April 17th, 2013
The European Parliament permitted reward restrictions as partial of a wider intrigue forcing banks to boost liquidity and set aside some-more income to give additional assistance to tiny businesses – delivering a toughest EU banking manners so distant in a “banking union” ruling 8,200 banks in 27 countries.
UK antithesis unsuccessful to stop a understanding between EU governments final month to top bonuses during a limit of twice their annual salaries. With a law in force usually from a start of subsequent year, however, it will not request to 2013 bonuses.
Chancellor George Osborne had warned a pierce would expostulate banking business
Editor’s note: Mark Burhenne is a practicing family and cosmetic dentist of 25 years and owner of AsktheDentist.com. He is dedicated to lenient people to take control of their dental health, stop handling symptoms and forestall ongoing illnesses in a mouth. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter.
(CNN) — We all know about a significance of sleep, and we know we should be removing some-more of
Editor’s note: Mark Burhenne is a practicing family and cosmetic dentist of 25 years and owner of AsktheDentist.com. He is dedicated to lenient people to take control of their dental health, stop handling symptoms and forestall ongoing illnesses in a mouth. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter.
(CNN) — We all know about a significance of sleep, and we know we should be removing some-more of |
[Uses of vaginal pH measurement for prevention of premature labor. Results of a prospective study].
The influence of the microflora of the vagina and cervix has been undervalued for the induction of premature birth. Examination of the microbiological problem by determination of the vaginal pH in combination with the microflora (Chlamydia trachomatis, Mycoplasma hominis, Ureaplasma urealyticum). Report of the outcome of 161 prospective, ad the beginning normal pregnancies in comparison of 200 primary hospitalized pregnancies with symptoms of imminent premature birth. The vaginal pH is a very useful parameter of screening for identification of disturbances of the microflora in practice. In cases of pathologic pH (> 4.5) it is possible by therapy to reduce the premature birth rate. |
begin
<emptyTree>
class <emptyTree><<C <root>>> < (::<todo sym>)
def self.<static-init><<static-init>$CENSORED>(<blk>)
begin
::<Magic>.<define-top-class-or-module>(::A)
::Sorbet::Private::Static.keep_for_ide(::A)
<emptyTree>
end
end
end
class ::A<<C A>> < (::<todo sym>)
def take_arguments(a, b, c, d, e, f, g)
begin
[a, b, c, d, e, f, g]
h = 1
<self>.proc() do |a$1, b$1 = 1, *c$1, d$1:, e$1: = 2, *f$1:, &g$1; h$1|
[a$1, b$1, c$1, d$1, e$1, f$1, g$1, h$1]
end
end
end
def self.<static-init>(<blk>)
::Sorbet::Private::Static.keep_def(<self>, :"take_arguments")
end
end
<emptyTree>
end
|
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to the field information technology education, and, more specifically, to system and methods for reducing the time it takes to set up an information technology classroom.
2. Discussion of the Background
Conventional information technology (IT) classrooms include several computers (also referred to as “machines”), with each computer possibly running a different operating system. The reason a typical IT classroom is set up in this way is that several machines are required in order for a student to complete a classroom exercise. For example, a typical classroom exercise may require the student to perform one task on a machine running one operating system (e.g., UNIX) and perform another task on a machine running a different operating system (e.g., an operating system from Microsoft).
Consequently, conventional IT classrooms have become very complex and difficult to setup. With the introduction of solutions training, this problem has only increased. In many instances, it requires several hours to setup a classroom. Thus, it is becoming increasingly expensive to provide a classroom for comprehensive IT training. |
F1 » Open article Kvyat: It didn’t come together [1] 25 July 2015: Daniil Kvyat: Qualifying was a little bit tricky. The car probably felt the worst it has over the weekend - that’s qualifying, sometimes things happen, but obviously we have to analyse why it felt worse |
True but not false memories produce a sensory signature in human lateralized brain potentials.
False memories (e.g., recognition of events that did not occur) are considered behaviorally and subjectively indistinguishable from true memories. We report that brain activity differs when true and false memories are retrieved. Strongly associated lists of words were presented to one or the other cerebral hemisphere at study. This led to lateralized brain activity for these words during a centrally presented recognition test, reflecting their lateralized encoding. This activity was absent for nonstudied but strongly associated words falsely recognized as studied items. These results indicate that studied words leave sensory signatures of study experiences that are absent for false memories. In addition, hemifield effects emerged, including a slower reaction time (RT) for false recognition of nonstudied words whose associated lists were presented to the left hemifield (i.e., right hemisphere). These false recognition responses were accompanied by frontal slow wave activity, which may reflect a differential ability of the two hemispheres with respect to semantic processing. |
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I live a simple life, But I am willing to try different things. I enjoy the outdoors, like camping fishing etc...and golfing. I like most music and concerts except rap. I exercise at home to try and stay healthy. I enjoy working in my yard. As far as travel, I have been to Canada, but I would like to go to New Zealand someday. I enjoy taking drives, some for a hour and some for all day like traveling to different states to see the sites. I enjoy getting together with friends and family for BBQ etc... I enjoy watching a good movie either at the theater or at home. I have a 28 year old son that lives in the area for now, but maybe relocating depending on where career takes him.
Hello fellow Catholics! My moniker is "Jack of All Trades, Master of Most" because I like learning and gaining knowledge personally about various subjects, vocations and hobbies. After being away from the Church for a long time, I've recently returned with renewed vigor, all because of Christ our Lord through the Catholic faith that I was baptized into as a child. After recently separating from the military, I continue my long career field in Information Technology, but it is the arts that interests me the most and my passions are there, and someday I want to use that avenue fully instead of part time, to glorify God and spread His word and hope for converts.
I like studying, reading and listening to good music on my days off, as well as going out to network with people in the film industry. I enjoy videogames, movies and TV shows, though I've put off videogames for Lent ;-) I like writing, particularly fiction but I'm very astute and experienced with non-fiction. I love singing as well, maybe I'll even join the choir during Mass someday! We'll see. I also like cats (even though I never owned one. lol)
Was born and raised in Poland, in a great Catholic household. I do love the Catholic church and all it's teachings (John Paul's II -social justice in particular). I am a Knight with Knights of Columbus. I am the youngest out of 4 kids. My brother and older sister live in Poland. My younger sister lives in the United States. She is my closest family I have here (plus her 4 boys and their families). I'm posting my profile on this site because I'm looking to find a loving wife to share the rest of my life with. And of course, I want her to share my Catholic faith. I have been living in the U.S.A since 1991.So that's a bit about me:)
I am a kind person. I enjoy many things life has to offer. Would love to meet a lady that is kind and thoughtful and would take me for me and not really try to change me as I would not try to change her. I have a good sense of humor and feel that a smile is always better than a frown.
Hello Catholic family,
I am an officer in the US Army currently living in Salt Lake City. Im also a full time single dad. I would to like to date a catholic woman from this site if possible.
I enjoy watching good movies, dining, camping, running, reading books, hanging out with friends, going to play places, parks, and doing fun kid things. I also really enjoy reading and learning new things both fiction and non-fiction. I was a bookworm in school and enjoy anything from Anne Frank to the Lord of the Rings. I like the library and Bookstores. I also have traveled all over the country minus the northeast. I love the Catholic Church because it has always been there for me and my family which has always helped me in one way or another and I love our mother, Mary a whole lot too. I love to laugh and love comedy. I am also a sincere and kind gentleman who can listen and do as he is told...work on a to do list. Yes, ma'am.
I have hope, faith, and charity and want a woman who has the same!
In Christ +,
Fernando
Hi! I'm passionate about music, creativity, doing what feels right, my son, anything that involves the outdoors, great people, compassion, humility. I love my family and friends. I want to spend my life living in the moment and serving others. Be kind and you will receive kindness.
I feel I might be a lost cos, I have 2 different baby momma's. 4 beautiful daughters under 10 years old. I pride myself on being the best father. I got married once. I guess I wasn't good enough after marriage. I have a chip tooth, haha. I am a loving father. I love all kids.
I am an entrepreneur, I am more driven the most people ever. I do everything off of principles. I will be changing the world. I will be giving to every community in every country that needs development and help. My calling from God.
I am very passionate about God, family and life goals. I drive myself to be the best man God wants me to be. For everything been a blessings in life. I have a strong belief in family for it is a blessing from God.
I am very life goal oriented. I feel God has a plan for me and alot of my life goals are to help others. I am blessed. I look forward to build a legacy for my family, built on principles. Faith, honesty, loyalty, love and caring. Never have a need, never have a want. So I work hard to provide.
I have met alot of people in my small life time. I feel God brings people into my life for reasons. So I build on these relationships.
On my leisure time, I want to find new adventures and quality time. Travel, walks, theater, symphonies, events, and anything positive.
want to know more, just ask. I am kind of shy, but will open up.
Traveling is deffenetely one of my biggest passions, the Ocean is my favorite place. But i also enjoy all places and weather...
First time on a dating site. Looking for someone to just meet and see where that takes us but defenetely with similar believes... Being involved with religion i feel is a must to have a blessed relationship.
i am Sean,widowed single parent,i love
cooking,reading,playing soccer,cycling,my joy is the happiness of
everyone around me,i am new here,you with all her heart,i promise you
won't regret it,i will like to know you better,but i often come online
here because of my work,how about a text?i think we could get to know
each other better through calls and text,if you don't mind giving me
your number for easy communication,thanks.
I just turned 50! I'm not looking to start a family. I have an active and fun life, but lacking a good partner in crime. I'm a catholic boy, went to catholic school, was an alter server, usher, and so forth. I'm still active in my faith and church.
I love the outdoors, seeing it - traveling with friends. And I really love to dance - particularly country swing. I don't watch a lot of television because I'm usually living life. I would love to have a partner to do that with. I don't like being around smokers. I drink socially and even a bit at home. But I'm by no means a drunk and don't want to date one. I love cuddling, spooning, holding hands, kissing. If you aren't in to that, I won't be in to you. I also like petite ladies. I'm in good shape for being 50. I don't look 50, but I also don't act my age. Life is too short.
I'm a fairly low-key, casual guy and generally take things as they come. I like to be active and really enjoy hiking, sports, and travelling. I like to read and play piano. I also enjoy netflix way more than I should.
My sense of humor fluctuates between being a bit dry, to being really stupid/silly - Whatever seems more fun at the time. |
Evaluation of the Chemstrip 9 as a screening test for urinalysis and urine culture in men.
The Chemstrip 9 (Biodynamics, Inc., Indianapolis, IN) was evaluated as a rapid screening method for urinalysis and quantitative urine culture. Of 469 urine specimens, 224 had an abnormal microscopic examination compared to 211 with an abnormal Chemstrip 9 (i.e., leukocyte esterase, nitrite, protein, or blood). The sensitivity and specificity of the dipstick test were 94.2% and 65.7%, respectively, while the predictive values of a positive and negative test were 71.5% and 92.5%, respectively. A total of 459 urine specimens were quantitatively cultured and tested by the Chemstrip 9. Either one or more tests (i.e., leukocyte esterase, nitrite, protein, or blood) were positive in 91.3% of the 115 specimens with greater than or equal to 10(5) CFU/mL. The specificity was 43.6% and the predictive values of a positive and negative test were 35.1% and 93.8%, respectively. When the criterion for a positive test was greater than or equal to 10(4) CFU/mL, the sensitivity and specificity were 86.8% and 45.5%, respectively. In contrast, the gram-stained smear of unspun urine was positive in 107 (93.0%) of specimens containing greater than or equal to 10(5) CFU/mL and in 115 (76.2%) of specimens with greater than or equal to 10(4) CFU/mL. Only 9 (2.9%) of 308 specimens with less than or equal to 10(3) CFU/mL had a positive Gram smear. |
---
layout: doc-api.html
tags: internal, shadow-dom, argument-list
---
# ally.get.shadowHost
Identifies the `ShadowHost` of an element
## Description
## Usage
```js
var element = ally.get.shadowHost({
context: '#element-to-start-from',
});
```
### Arguments
| Name | Type | Default | Description |
| ---- | ---- | ------- | ----------- |
| context | [`<selector>`](../concepts.md#selector) | *required* | The element to start searching from. The first element of a collection is used. |
### Returns
[`HTMLElement`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Web/API/HTMLElement).
### Throws
[`TypeError`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/TypeError) if `context` option is not specified.
## Examples
## Notes
## Related resources
* [`ally.get.shadowHostParents`](shadow-host-parents.md) uses this module to identify the `ShadowHost` ancestry
## Contributing
* [module source](https://github.com/medialize/ally.js/blob/master/src/get/shadow-host.js)
* [document source](https://github.com/medialize/ally.js/blob/master/docs/api/get/shadow-host.md)
* [unit test](https://github.com/medialize/ally.js/blob/master/test/unit/get.shadow-host.md.js)
|
<?php
namespace Oro\Bundle\ProductBundle\Provider;
use Oro\Bundle\ProductBundle\Entity\Product;
interface ProductsProviderInterface
{
/**
* @return Product[]
*/
public function getProducts();
}
|
Q:
Issues with Bootstrap Grid Alignment
I need this layout (see picture), I tried a lot but nothing works.. here is my code:
<div class="row content-container">
<div class="col-md-9" id="map-content">
<h1>#Map</h1>
</div> <!-- MAP -->
<div class="col-md-3" id="route">
<h1>#Route</h1>
</div> <!-- Route -->
<div class="col-md-9" id="breadcrumbs">
</div> <!-- Breadcrumbs -->
</div> <!--Row Content-->
A:
check out this fiddle.
<div class="container">
<div class="row ">
<div class="col-xs-6">
<div class="col-xs-12" style="background: green; height: 60px;">Aaa</div>
<div class="col-xs-12" style="background: red; height: 60px;">Bbb</div>
</div>
<div class="col-xs-6" style="background: blue; height: 120px;">Bbb</div>
</div>
</div>
|
Australian bitcoin mining and digital payments company Digital CC Limited has had to answer some awkward questions after its share price went into freefall on January 14, while share trading volume skyrocketed.
Digital CC, which listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) last year via a reverse takeover and trades as DigitalBTC, has seen a moderate but steady downward trend in its share price over the past six months.
Last week, however, Digital CC's share price fell steeply from a relatively steady AU$0.14 on January 14 to an intra-day low of AU$0.083 on January 16. At the same time, the volume of its shares traded blew out from 9,000 on Wednesday last week to 416,125 on Friday.
The fluctuation was great enough for the ASX to send Digital CC a notice querying the company's share activity.
Digital CC was asked by the ASX whether it was aware of any undisclosed information that could have affected the fluctuation in share price and market activity.
According to Digital CC, the culprit behind the fluctuation was the 22 percent dump in value that bitcoin experienced on January 14.
"The current bitcoin price impacts the profitability of the company's ongoing inventory, which is what the company believes is the reason for the recent price movement," Digital CC secretary Rachel Jellef said in the company's response to the ASX query.
Bitcoin is a notoriously volatile unit of economic value, but the crash it experienced last week, from $224 to $175 in a matter of hours, has been one of the more noteworthy bumps in the digital currency's tumultuous history.
The plunge also seems to have impacted other cryptocurrencies, with dogecoin, litecoin, and darkcoin also seeing their values drop following bitcoin's plummet.
Already at the time of writing, bitcoin has climbed back up to $210.32, but that is well below the $1,000 it flew past in late 2013. Bitcoin has had substantial tumbles in the past, falling from $589 to $468 in mid August last year, and again from $385 to $294 in early October 2014.
Given the continued volatility of the digital currency, Digital CC is working to fast track the launch of the consumer applications it currently has under development.
It hopes to become "a vertically integrated" payment technology company, it said in a statement.
Late last year, the company launched its digitalX-branded range of products, including its digitalX Pocket digital bitcoin payments platform.
"These new consumer bitcoin applications will be the focus of the company's resources and a key driver of its future growth and value," it said.
While Digital CC claims to have generated nearly AU$10 million in revenue from around nine months of bitcoin mining, the obvious drawbacks of such a volatile asset has prompted the company to minimise its overheads.
"To maintain profitable operating margins in its mining activities given the recent decrease in the price of bitcoin, the company has been renegotiating power and other operating costs to maintain competitiveness in a lower bitcoin price environment which currently exists," the company said.
Digital CC claimed cash reserves of AU$4.36 million at the end of September, but reported a negative net operating cash flow of AU$-261,000 for the quarter. |
Corbett’s approval rating is largely unchanged, with 47 percent of Pennsylvanians expressing approval of his job performance and 34 percent expressing disapproval, according to the Quinnipiac poll on Friday. In November, his approval ratings were 46 percent and 31 percent, respectively.
Story Continued Below
“The Penn State scandal is the biggest story in the Keystone State, but it apparently has not affected how voters view their first-year governor,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
Corbett, a Republican, gets rave reviews from members of his own party — GOP voters approved of his job performance 65 percent to 20 percent, while independents gave him an approval rating of 45 percent to 35 percent. Democrats disapproved of his job performance, 43 percent to 36 percent.
While Corbett’s approval rating has remained steady, voters are split over his conduct after the allegations against Jerry Sandusky emerged — 38 percent approve and 36 percent disapprove of the way the governor has acted in the wake of a scandal that has engulfed the state university.
The governor was the attorney general of Pennsylvania at the time when the investigation into Sandusky’s alleged crimes began. When the scandal broke, Corbett encouraged the Legislature to consider legislation that would address flaws in child sex abuse law.
Voters also say, 48 percent to 42 percent, that they don’t want the government to financially compensate the alleged victims of sexual abuse, even if Sandusky is found guilty.
The Quinnipiac University poll was conducted Nov. 28-Dec. 5, with a sample of 1,453 registered voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.6 percentage points. |
Cryptocurrencies were the hottest topic in 2017 when Bitcoin shot up to USD 20,000.00. This significant rise excited people and everyone began to speak about cryptocurrencies. Startups threw themselves to conduct cryptocurrency ICOs in order to attract money for their projects.
Of course, governments could not stay away from all these changes and took some added measures. Some countries (China, India) immediately banned ICOs and even announced severe penalties for conducting them. The authorities of these countries are worried about high financial risks associated with the cryptocurrency market. The others tried to think of ways they can to control this market and developed some rules. Generally, countries are usually divided into three categories. Some are welcoming cryptocurrencies, others are cautious, and the rest are absolutely antagonistic. The following map shows the countries’ attitude towards cryptocurrencies. The crypto welcoming countries are highlighted in green, the contentious ones — in yellow (they impose some restrictions on legal usage of cryptocurrencies) and pink (interpretation of old laws, but cryptocurrencies aren’t prohibited directly), and hostile states — in red.
Map showing the countries’ attitude towards cryptocurrencies
Let’s consider the cryptocurrency-friendly countries.
Asia is represented by Japan, which welcomes cryptocurrencies unlike its Asian neighbors China and South Korea. By its Payment Services Act, the Japanese government allowed its citizens to use cryptocurrencies to pay for services and goods. The Japanese Financial Services Agency approved a range of cryptocurrency exchanges and cryptocurrencies, which people can buy/sell on these platforms. Japan has all the chances to become the largest player in the cryptocurrency market and attract as many contributors and entrepreneurs as possible. Surprisingly, the United States is not in a hurry to regulate this market; therefore, the North American continent is represented by Canada. The Canadian government has quickly changed its attitude towards cryptocurrencies. If anyone said in 2016 that the Central Bank of Canada would approve cryptocurrency in a year, nobody would believe it. Nevertheless, Canada approved Impak Coin in August of 2017. As a result, it’s no wonder that a great number of startups came to the country.
There are two cryptocurrency hubs in Canada: Toronto and Vancouver. Canada is developing other crypto coins and hopes for success. The two cryptocurrency-friendly countries in Europe — Germany and the Netherlands. Germany treats Bitcoin as a legal currency and even exempts the Bitcoin holders from a 25% profit tax given if they have held their Bitcoins for one year. The Netherlands went further and established the Bitcoin City in Arnhem. You can pay with cryptocurrency in shops and cafes there. This country also attracts many startups because the Dutch government does not regulate this market.
The idea to create a Crypto City belongs not only to the Netherlands. One of our projects called Noah City will be implemented in the Philippines. The Noah City will unite crypto enthusiasts, businesspersons, customers, and traders from all around the world. Our own token called Noah Coin (NOAH) will be used as an internal payment instrument in this city. It will provide its holders with great opportunities and allow the project members to participate in exclusive projects in the Philippines. Noah City will be built within Horizon Manila promising to be the largest Central Business District in the Philippines.
It will become a crypto hub that calls attraction of contributors, consumers, entrepreneurs, and people who want to embrace new technologies.
They will be united on-board around a very specific and intuitive ecosystem that can seamlessly integrate all the existing features under the same structure. This platform comprises of remittance, mobile money, discounts, and trading services that give its users a unique and viable alternative to traditional methods.
The Philippines is a good choice to start our projects because this country has a huge potential for the cryptocurrency market development. It has made its initial steps towards cryptocurrencies and blockchain recently.
The Philippine Central Bank in Q1 2017 published BSP Circular №944, according to which the bank recognizes that virtual currency systems have the potential to revolutionize delivery of financial services, particularly for payments and remittance, in view of their ability to provide faster and more economical transfer of funds, both domestic and international, and may further support financial inclusion.
We remind you that our Noah Project will work in the field of remittance and money transfers. Using blockchain technology, it aims to reduce the remittance fees significantly and make the money transfer process faster and simpler.
We invite you to join our project that will allow you to store, transfer, and trade your cryptocurrencies and Noah Coin tokens within Noah City and other developing projects. You will get an access to unique services and open the doors into the world of new opportunities that you have not experienced before. |
Limited DNA Repair Gene Repertoire in Ascomycete Yeast Revealed by Comparative Genomics.
Ascomycota is the largest phylogenetic group of fungi that includes species important to human health and wellbeing. DNA repair is important for fungal survival and genome evolution. Here, we describe a detailed comparative genomic analysis of DNA repair genes in Ascomycota. We determined the DNA repair gene repertoire in Taphrinomycotina, Saccharomycotina, Leotiomycetes, Sordariomycetes, Dothideomycetes, and Eurotiomycetes. The subphyla of yeasts, Saccharomycotina and Taphrinomycotina, have a smaller DNA repair gene repertoire comparing to Pezizomycotina. Some genes were absent from most, if not all, yeast species. To study the conservation of these genes in Pezizomycotina, we used the Gain Loss Mapping Engine algorithm that provides the expectations of gain or loss of genes given the tree topology. Genes that were absent from most of the species of Taphrinomycotina or Saccharomycotina showed lower conservation in Pezizomycotina. This suggests that the absence of some DNA repair in yeasts is not random; genes with a tendency to be lost in other classes are missing. We ranked the conservation of DNA repair genes in Ascomycota. We found that Rad51 and its paralogs were less conserved than other recombinational proteins, suggesting that there is a redundancy between Rad51 and its paralogs, at least in some species. Finally, based on the repertoire of UV repair genes, we found conditions that differentially kill the wine pathogen Brettanomyces bruxellensis and not Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In summary, our analysis provides testable hypotheses to the role of DNA repair proteins in the genome evolution of Ascomycota. |
using System;
namespace LinqToTwitter
{
/// <summary>
/// Search for tweets with different types of attitudes
/// </summary>
[Flags]
public enum Attitude
{
/// <summary>
/// Happy
/// </summary>
Positive = 0x01,
/// <summary>
/// Sad
/// </summary>
Negative = 0x02,
/// <summary>
/// Curious
/// </summary>
Question = 0x04
}
}
|
Thanks to a last-ditch effort by Atlanta legislators, city residents will vote on whether to fund an expansion of MARTA when November comes. But it's possible a vote that could bring pedestrian and bike infrastructure may also happen, according to the Saporta Report.
Under the final version of the bill that made it through the legislature, the City of Atlanta will have the option to ask not only for a half-cent tax for MARTA, but for an additional half-cent for general transportation projects. If it were to be proposed, and pass, the referendum could provide for funding for a large backlog of infrastructure projects including roads, bridges, and a good bit of pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure.
Over the course of the next five years, the tax would have the potential to raise between $280 million to $370 million to bolster the city's public infrastructure, including sidewalks and bike paths.
That would be in addition to a $250 million infrastructure bond referendum that Atlanta voters overwhelmingly approved last year, which is meant to target a specific list of projects. But as officials acknowledged back then, even that much cash will make a small dent in the backlog of fixes and improvements the ATL is aching for.
However, many civic leaders aren't too keen to put both half-penny taxes up for a vote in the same year, fearing that they may derail each other, as Saporta notes. Whatever comes, the discussion the initiative is sparking is an encouraging sign that the city is taking note of Atlantans' desire for a more diverse array of options for getting around the city.
But we're curious to know how Atlantans feel about this. So pretend it's November right now, and cast a hypothetical ballot below for which way you're leaning ...
<a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/9383059/" mce_href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/9383059/">Taxing question: How would you vote right now?</a> |
Gastroesophageal reflux and laryngeal dysfunction in a dog.
A 7-year-old neutered male Saint Bernard was evaluated because of a 6-month history of coughing, gagging, change in phonation, excessive panting, and chronic intermittent vomiting and diarrhea. Physical examination revealed no remarkable findings other than panting. Total thyroxine concentration and results of a CBC, serum biochemistry analysis, urinalysis, and thoracic radiography were within reference limits. A laryngeal examination revealed edema, erythema, and ulceration of the larynx and pharynx, with normal laryngeal movement. Results of bronchoscopy and cytologic examination of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid were diagnostic only for distal tracheitis. Esophagoscopy and an esophagography revealed esophagitis consistent with gastroesophageal reflux. Gastroduodenoscopy and histologic examination of biopsy specimens revealed Helicobacter colonization and lymphocytic or plasmacytic enteritis. Following treatment for gastroesophageal reflux and suspected Helicobacter infection with combination antacid and antimicrobial treatment, the dog's respiratory signs resolved but vomiting continued. Gastroduodenoscopy revealed complete resolution of the previous laryngitis, pharyngitis, and esophagitis. Treatment for the lymphocytic or plasmacytic enteritis was initiated with prednisone (1 mg/kg [0.45 mg/lb], p.o., q 12 h) and a novel protein diet. The previous treatment was also continued. Complete resolution of clinical signs was maintained 4 months after initiation of appropriate treatment. Laryngeal dysfunction induced by gastroesophageal reflux as occurred in the patient described in this report is a previously undocumented association in the veterinary literature. This association could be a potential consideration in dogs with concurrent respiratory and gastrointestinal signs. The present report may provide a basis for further studies investigating this association. |
module ActiveAdmin
module Inputs
module Filters
class StringInput < ::Formtastic::Inputs::StringInput
include Base
include Base::SearchMethodSelect
filter :contains, :equals, :starts_with, :ends_with
# If the filter method includes a search condition, build a normal string search field.
# Else, build a search field with a companion dropdown to choose a search condition from.
def to_html
if seems_searchable?
input_wrapping do
label_html <<
builder.text_field(method, input_html_options)
end
else
super # SearchMethodSelect#to_html
end
end
end
end
end
end
|
To read about F's and my London trip, start here and click "newer post" to continue the story.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
While I am still in the mode of writing things I have had on my mind awhile, before I catch up on them and start writing about more timely issues, I am going to express my thoughts about guilt.
Guilt is bad behavior: doing something you shouldn't, or not doing something you should. It has nothing to do with the way you feel about it. Guilty feelings are feelings of remorse about bad behavior. Ideally, guilt and guilty feelings should match up; it's what causes us to straighten up. Like, you spread some juicy gossip that you heard, and then you were all nice and smiley to the person the gossip was about, and then you asked yourself how you could be such a two-faced jerk, and you swore you would never gossip again. And hopefully you didn't.
Guilt without guilty feelings is sociopathic. Like serial killers or wife beaters who truly believe they are justified in what they do. Guilty feelings without guilt are neurotic. There are times when a person feels guilt over something she had no control over that aren't neurotic, of course. I had a neighbor whose child was born deaf, and she felt guilty about that; she thought perhaps she had caused his deafness somehow. I think she felt guilty because that was less horrible than the realization that parents can't always keep bad things from happening to their kids. Feeling guilty about his deafness was less scary than facing the fact that she was powerless to prevent it. So that's not really neurotic, it's just a parent trying to cope. The neurotic part might come in in a scenario like this: I watched a roundtable discussion one time about what to do about the homeless. A scenario was set up in which a homeless person lived on the corner outside an upscale apartment house, and the residents pressured the manager to do something about it. One of the participants said nothing should be done; he denied the existence of mental illness (really) and said that people were free to make their own choices. If she wanted to live on that corner, panhandle passersby, defecate in the alley, whatever, people just needed to tolerate that. When it was suggested that the people living in the apartment felt guilty when they saw her living that way, the same person said that perhaps they should feel guilty, but nonetheless, they needed to leave her alone. OK, I thought, that man is an idiot. If there is nothing a person could or should do about a situation, then they have no guilt. What's to feel guilty about? Very sloppy thinking.
Controversy
About Me
e-mail me
southernxyl at hotmail dot com
I am Laura, southernxyl. Where does "southernxyl" come from? First of all, I am from Mississippi and I've lived in the South since I graduated from college. When I was a kid my brother was a ham radio operator. I learned some of the shorthand expressions hams used to save tapping that key. One was "yl", for "young lady" (girl) and one was "xyl" for "ex-young lady" (woman). So I am a southern ex-young lady.
I live with R, my husband of 30 years, and two cats. |
/*
* Copyright (c) 2017 Google Inc.
*
* Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not
* use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of
* the License at
*
* http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
*
* Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
* distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
* WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
* License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under
* the License.
*/
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Builder;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting;
using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration;
using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
namespace Analytics
{
public class Startup
{
public IConfiguration Configuration { get; }
public Startup(IConfiguration configuration)
{
Configuration = configuration;
}
// This method gets called by the runtime. Use this method to add services to the container.
// For more information on how to configure your application, visit https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=398940
public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
{
}
// This method gets called by the runtime. Use this method to configure the HTTP request pipeline.
public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IHostingEnvironment env)
{
if (env.IsDevelopment())
{
app.UseDeveloperExceptionPage();
}
app.Run(HomePage);
}
private async Task HomePage(HttpContext context)
{
string trackingId = Configuration["GaTrackingId"];
if (new string[] { null, "", "your-google-analytics-tracking-id" }.Contains(trackingId))
{
context.Response.StatusCode = 500;
await context.Response.WriteAsync(@"
<html>
<head><title>Error</title></head>
<body>
<p>
Set the configuration variable GaTrackingId to your Google Analytics tracking id.
<p>See the README.md in the project directory for more information.
</body>
</html>
");
return;
}
// [START gae_flex_analytics_track_event]
HttpClient http = new HttpClient()
{
BaseAddress = new Uri("http://www.google-analytics.com/")
};
var content = new FormUrlEncodedContent(
new Dictionary<string, string>() {
{ "v" , "1" }, // API Version.
{ "tid" , Configuration["GaTrackingId"] }, // Tracking ID / Property ID.
// Anonymous Client Identifier. Ideally, this should be a UUID that
// is associated with particular user, device, or browser instance.
{ "cid" , "555" },
{ "t" , "event" }, // Event hit type.
{ "ec" , "Poker" }, // Event category.
{ "ea" , "Royal Flush" }, // Event action.
{ "el" , "Hearts" }, // Event label.
{ "ev" , "0" }, // Event value, must be an integer
});
var post = http.PostAsync("collect", content);
// [END gae_flex_analytics_track_event]
await context.Response.WriteAsync(string.Format(@"
<html>
<head><title>Analytics Sample</title></head>
<body>
<p>
You got a Royal Flush!
<p>
Analytics response code: <span id='statusCode'>{0}</span>
</body>
</html>
", (await post).StatusCode));
}
}
}
|
GLU Lighting, established in 2011, is one of the leading high quality dc5v sk6812/ws2812 60leds/m digital rgb led strip in stock manufacturers and suppliers in China. Offering you customized service, we warmly welcome you to buy the high quality and beautiful high quality dc5v sk6812/ws2812 60leds/m digital rgb led strip in stock from our factory.
2. All the technical parameters are based on per meter with max value.
Shenzhen Glu Lighting design and manufacture innovative high CRI high quality LED lighting products for years, and we strive to be an industry leader in High CRI, Consistent Color Temperatures LED technology. Our high CRI led strip series come with a good compromise in high efficiency, high lumen and high CRI. It consistently score between 90 and 99 CRI.We design, develop and distribute LED products that are designed specifically for film, cinema, television, and anywhere high quality lighting is required. |
Everton Soares impressed for Brazil at the Copa America in the summer
Tottenham are tracking the Brazil and Gremio forward Everton Soares, Sky Sports News understands.
Spurs' chief scout Steve Hitchen recently cast an eye over the 23-year-old during Gremio's Copa Libertadores semi-final first-leg against Flamengo.
And Everton, who was of interest to clubs including Arsenal in the summer, created his side's goal in an impressive display, as a 1-1 draw set up an enticing second leg this Thursday.
Everton has caught the eye following an impressive 18 months for Gremio
Everton, who predominantly plays off the left but can operate on the right or as a second striker, was the star for Brazil at their Copa America triumph in the summer, scoring three goals to win the tournament's golden boot.
Spurs are still on the hunt for new forwards, having tried to sign the Juventus and Argentina star Paulo Dybala in the summer - and the Brazilian domestic season finishes ahead of the January transfer window.
Another Brazil player may also have caught the eye of Hitchen while playing for Flamengo - the 23-year-old centre-forward Gabriel Barbosa, who is on loan from Inter Milan.
Barbosa has bagged 19 goals in 20 top-flight appearances in Brazil, was the league's top scorer last year while on loan at Santos, and recently returned to the Brazil squad after three years of being overlooked.
Gabriel Barbosa has bagged 19 goals in 20 top-flight appearances in Brazil.
Barbosa is set to return to Inter on January 1, where he is still under contract until 2022 but struggled for first-team games, spending most of his time out on loan, including a stint at Benfica.
Hitchen's trip also included games between Boca Juniors and Newell's Old Boys, and San Lorenzo and Banfield in Argentina - as he works to refresh Tottenham's squad.
Three of the clubs's senior players - Christian Eriksen, Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen - are in the final year of their contracts, while full-backs Serge Aurier and Danny Rose were available for sale in the summer. |
Q:
Need guidance in understanding rkhunter results
Today, I performed a system wide scan for rootkits using the rkhunter --check command. All results were ok, with the exception of a warning:
[10:14:30] Warning: The command '/usr/bin/unhide.rb' has been replaced by a script: /usr/bin/unhide.rb: Ruby script, ASCII text
The final results were:
[10:15:53] System checks summary
[10:15:53] =====================
[10:15:53]
[10:15:53] File properties checks...
[10:15:53] Files checked: 130
[10:15:53] Suspect files: 1
[10:15:53]
[10:15:53] Rootkit checks...
[10:15:53] Rootkits checked : 242
[10:15:53] Possible rootkits: 0
[10:15:53]
[10:15:53] Applications checks...
[10:15:53] All checks skipped
[10:15:53]
[10:15:53] The system checks took: 1 minute and 43 seconds
[10:15:53]
[10:15:53] Info: End date is Sat Mar 16 10:15:53 IST 2013
Since I'm a newbie here, I don't get the warning. Should I be worried about that or is it just an anomaly ?
A:
This warning is very common, and has been reported as a bug:
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=3601300&group_id=155034&atid=794187
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=607224
The warning is nothing to worry about.
|
City officials have been trying to create more places where New Yorkers can ride their bikes safely, but finding secure places to park them is an enduring problem.
Now, a few business executives have dreamed up a private-sector solution: the city’s first bikes-only parking lot, complete with attendant. Already, they have cleared the high hurdle of finding available space in Midtown, on West 33rd Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues.
All they need is a corporation willing to pay as much as $200,000 a year to sponsor the idea.
“We’re really looking for a big number to build something quite spectacular,” said Daniel A. Biederman, president of the 34th Street Partnership. “We want this to be the premier bike parking facility in the country.”
Stonehenge Management, a developer, has offered a 2,600-square-foot lot next to an apartment building it owns on the north side of 33rd Street, Mr. Biederman said. |
Now what I want you to know is that most people are facing some sort of money fear BECAUSE it’s being broadcast and programmed into each and every one of you. When we sit in fear of money, we release our hold on value for self. And without value for self you can’t manifest big dreams of correction. And you don’t value yourself and still worry about money. If you value yourself you KNOW you will figure a way out or that you will do whatever it takes to rise and discover the journey to abundance. When you value yourself you know you got it in you, you trust that you are here for a reason and you surrender into the universe revealing to you the wisdom of the ways. |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a monitoring apparatus and a monitoring method in which video data taken and outputted by a plurality of security imaging apparatuses is used for monitoring.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, a monitoring system is used in which a security camera is connected to a control unit via a network. In such a monitoring system, a security camera sends taken video data via a network to a monitoring apparatus that is a control unit. The monitoring apparatus analyzes the video data to detect the occurrence of irregularities, and outputs alarms. A monitoring person can monitor while he/she is confirming monitor video displayed on a monitor and the descriptions of the alarms outputted from the control unit.
In the monitoring system like this, in the case of monitoring a wide area such as an entire building, a plurality of security cameras are used. In this case, such a scheme is performed in which an area displayed on a single monitor is split into a plurality of areas and each of the pieces of video data taken by the plurality of the security cameras is displayed on the individual split areas. In the case in which the number of security cameras disposed is large, a problem arises that images taken by all the security cameras are displayed on a single monitor to increase the number of the split display areas, which causes the individual areas smaller. Smaller display areas cause a difficulty of finding irregularities on the screen, and the primary purpose of monitoring is not achieved.
On this account, in the case in which an alarm is generated, the display of the screen is switched so that the screen on which irregularities are found is automatically displayed on an entire single screen.
JP-A-2002-281488 (Patent Reference 1) discloses that an image with higher importance is displayed on a single screen among images obtained from a plurality of security cameras. |
Diarrhea in the immunocompromised patient.
Diarrhea is a common problem in patients with immunocompromising conditions. The etiologic spectrum differs from patients with diarrhea who have a normal immune system. This article reviews the most important causes of diarrhea in immunocompromised patients, ranging from infectious causes to noninfectious causes of diarrhea in the setting of HIV infection as a model for other conditions of immunosuppression. It also deals with diarrhea in specific situations, eg, after hematopoietic stem cell or solid organ transplantation, diarrhea induced by immunosuppressive drugs, and diarrhea in congenital immunodeficiency syndromes. |
****[^1]
[ [ Zhenliang Lu, Shixin Zhu ]{} ]{}
*Department of Mathematics, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, Anhui, P.R.China*
**Abstract:** In this paper, we study $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$-additive codes, where $\emph{p}$ is prime and $u^{2}=0$. In particular, we determine a Gray map from $ \mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$ to $\mathbb{Z}_p^{ \alpha+2 \beta}$ and study generator and parity check matrices for these codes. We prove that a Gray map $\Phi$ is a distance preserving map from ($\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$,Gray distance) to ($\mathbb{Z}_p^{\alpha+2\beta}$,Hamming distance), it is a weight preserving map as well. Furthermore we study the structure of $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$-additive cyclic codes.\
***Keywords***:additive codes; $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$-additive codes; $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$-additive cyclic codes; Gray map.
Additive codes with the remarkable paper by Delsarte in 1973\[1\], he defines additive codes as subgroups of the underlying abelian group in a translation association scheme. In 2006, Borges J. et al. define an extension of the usual Gray map, the new Gray map is an isometry which transforms Lee distance in $Z_{2}^{\alpha}\times Z_{4}^{\beta}$ to Hamming distance in $Z_{2}^{\alpha+2\beta}$\[6\]. Then, many properties of additive codes are studied. Two kinds of maximum distance separable codes over $Z_{2}Z_{4}$ are studied\[7\], all MDS $Z_{2}Z_{4}$-additive codes are zero or one error-correcting codes with the exception of the trivial repetition codes containing two codewords. Cyclic additive codes are also studied\[8\]\[15\]. Recently, $Z_{2}Z_{4}$-additive codes were generalized to $Z_{2}Z_{2^{s}}$-additive codes by Aydogdu and Siap\[9\]. And next $Z_{p^{r}}Z_{p^{s}}$-additive codes are studied by Aydogdu and Siap\[4\]. In \[4\], the paper given the standard generator matrices and dual matrices of the form over $Z_{p^{r}}Z_{p^{s}}$-additive codes.
Later, in \[3\], a generalization towards another direction that have a good algebraic structure and provide good binary codes is presented, a new class of additive codes which is referred to as $Z_{2}Z_{2}[u]$-additive codes is introduced. About the application of additive codes to steganography is proposed\[10\] and lt’s also helped to study quantum code. Now, quantum additive code is a new research direction. Many articles and research has been done on quantum additive codes. In this paper, we extend the $Z_{2}Z_{2}[u]$-additive codes to codes over $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$,where $\emph{p}$ is prime and $u^{2}=0$. Corresponding, we given a more simplify standard generator matrices and dual matrices of the form. At the same time, we define a Gray map $\Phi$. We prove that a Gray map $\Phi$ is a distance preserving map from ($\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$,Gray distance) to ($\mathbb{Z}_p^{\alpha+2\beta}$,Hamming distance), it is a weight preserving map as well. At the end of the paper, we study the structure of $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$-additive cyclic codes.\
Let ****$\mathbb{Z}_{p}$ be a finite filed with $p$ elements, where $p$ is an odd prime. Let $R$ be the commutative ring $\mathbb{Z}_p+u\mathbb{Z}_p=\{a+ub\mid a,b\in \mathbb{Z}_p\}$ where $u^2=0$. A linear code $C$ over R containing some nonzero codewords is permutation equivalent to a code with a generator matrix of the form $$G= \begin {pmatrix} I_{k_0} & A & B\\0 & uI_{k_{1}} & uD\end{pmatrix},$$ where $A,D$ are $p$-ary matrices, $B$ is $\mathbb{Z}_p+u\mathbb{Z}_p$-matrices, $I_{k_0}$and $I_{k_{1}}$denote the $k_{0}\times k_{0}$ and $k_{1}\times k_{1}$ identity matrices, and $C$ contains $p^{2k_{0}+k_{1}}$ codewords\[2\].
We define a Gray map $\psi$ from $R$ to ${Z}_{p}^{2}$ in the following way. $$\begin{aligned}
\psi:R&\rightarrow {Z}_{p}^{2}\\
(a+ub)&\rightarrow(b,a+b).\end{aligned}$$
The set $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$ is defined by $$\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]=\{(a,b)|a\in\mathbb{Z}_p \ and \ b\in R\}$$
The set not well defined with respect to the usual multiplication, therefore, to make it well defined and get some good results, we introduce a new scalar multiplication in the following way:\
(1)$\forall$ $c_{1}=({a_{0},a_{1},\cdots,a_{\alpha-1},b_{0},b_{1},\cdots,b_{\beta-1}})$, $c_{2}=({a^{'}_{0},a^{'}_{1},\cdots,a^{'}_{\alpha-1},b^{'}_{0},b^{'}_{1},\cdots,b^{'}_{\beta-1}})\in\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$ $$c_{1}c_{2}=({{a_{0}a^{'}_{0},a_{1}a^{'}_{1},\cdots,a_{\alpha-1}a^{'}_{\alpha-1},
b_{0}b^{'}_{0},b_{1}b^{'}_{1},\cdots,b_{\beta-1}b^{'}_{\beta-1}}})$$ (2)$\forall$ $c_{1}=({a_{0},a_{1},\cdots,a_{\alpha-1},b_{0},b_{1},\cdots,b_{\beta-1}})\in\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$, $c=r+qu\in R.$ $$cc_{1}=({ra_{0},ra_{1},\cdots,ra_{\alpha-1},cb_{0},cb_{1},\cdots,cb_{\beta-1}})$$ (3)$\forall$ $c_{1}=({a_{0},a_{1},\cdots,a_{\alpha-1},b_{0},b_{1},\cdots,b_{\beta-1}})\in\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$, $c\in \mathbb{Z}_p.$ $$cc_{1}=({ca_{0},ca_{1},\cdots,ca_{\alpha-1},cb_{0},cb_{1},\cdots,cb_{\beta-1}})$$
In this section, we introduced the definition of the additive codes and the additive dual codes, determine the structure of the generator matrix and dual generator matrix in the standard form of the code.\
**Definition 3.1.**A linear code C is called a $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$ additive code if it is a $\mathbb{Z}_p+\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$ submodule of $\mathbb{Z}_p^{\alpha}\times\mathbb{Z}_p[u]^{\beta}$ with respect to the scalar multiplication defined in (1),(2),(3). Then the $p$-ary image $\Phi(C)=\textbf{C}$ is called $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$ linear code of length $n=\alpha+2\beta$ where $\Phi$ is a map from $\mathbb{Z}_p^{\alpha}\times\mathbb{Z}_p[u]^{\beta}$ to $\mathbb{Z}_p^{n}$ defined as\
$$\Phi(a,b)=({a_{0},a_{1},\cdots,a_{\alpha-1},\psi(b_{0}),\psi(b_{1}),\cdots,\psi(b_{\beta-1})})$$ for all $ a=({a_{0},a_{1},\cdots,a_{\alpha-1}})\in \mathbb{Z}_p^{\alpha} $, $ b=(b_{0},b_{1},\cdots,b_{\beta-1})\in \mathbb{Z}_p[u]^{\beta}$.\
**Theorem 3.2.** Let $C$ be a $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$-additive code of type $(p;\alpha,\beta;k_{0},k_{1})$. Then $C$ is permutation equivalent to a $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$ additive code with the standard form matrix $$\begin{aligned}
G= \begin {pmatrix} I_{k_0} & A & B\\0 & uI_{k_{1}} & uD\end{pmatrix},\end{aligned}$$ where $A,B,D$ are $R$-matrices,$I_{k_0}$and $I_{k_{1}}$denote the $k_{0}\times k_{0}$ and $k_{1}\times k_{1}$ identity matrices.\
\
$ Proof $ Since the $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$ additive codes front part is $\mathbb{Z}_p^{\alpha}$,so the $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$ additive codes can be generated by a matrix as follow: $$\begin {pmatrix} I_{k_0} & S_{1}\end{pmatrix},$$ where S are $Z_{P}$-matrix.
Likewise, the $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$ additive codes after part is $\mathbb{Z}_p+u\mathbb{Z}_p$, so the $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$ additive codes can be generated by a matrix as follow: $$\begin {pmatrix} S_{2} & I_{k_1} & A_{1} & A_{2}\\S_{3} & 0 & uI_{k_{2}} & uA_{3}\end{pmatrix},$$ where $S_{2},S_{3},A_{1},A_{2},A_{3}$ are $Z_{P}$-matrices.$I_{k_1},I_{k_2}$ is identity matrices.
According to generator matrices theorem,we know the matrices $$\begin {pmatrix}I_{k_0} & S_{11} & S_{12} & S_{13} \\ S_{2} & I_{k_1} & A_{1} & A_{2}\\S_{3} & 0 & uI_{k_{2}} & uA_{3}\end{pmatrix},$$ is also generate the additive codes,where $ S_{1}$=$ S_{11}+ S_{12}+ S_{13}$.
Next by applying necessary row and column oprations to the above matrix,we obtain $$\begin {pmatrix}I_{k_0} & 0 & S_{12}^{'} & S_{13}^{'} \\ 0 & I_{k_{11}} & A_{1}^{'} & A_{2}^{'}\\0 & 0 & uI_{k_{22}} & uA_{3}^{'}\end{pmatrix},$$
Let $k_{0}^{'}$=$k_{1}$+$k_{11}$,we can obtain the matrices $$G= \begin {pmatrix} I_{k_0^{'}} & A & B\\0 & uI_{k_{1}} & uD\end{pmatrix},$$ Finally,Let $k_0^{'}=k_0$,we reach to the claimed form.\
The inner product for the vectors $v,w\in $$\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$ is defined by $$v\cdot w=u ( \sum_{i=1}^{\alpha}v_{i}w_{i})+\sum_{j=\alpha+1}^{\alpha+\beta}v_{j}w_{j}\in {Z}_p+u{Z}_p$$ **Definition 3.3.**Let C be a $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$-additive code,The additive dual code of $C$,denote by $C^{\perp}$, and\
$$C^{\perp}=\{w\in\mathbb{Z}_p^{\alpha}\times\mathbb{Z}_p[u]^{\beta}\mid v\cdot w=0~ for~all~v\in C\}.$$
**Theorem 3.4.**Let $C$ be a $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$ additive code of type $(p;\alpha,\beta;k_{0},k_{1})$ with the standard form matrix defined in Equation (1),Then the generator matrix for the additive dual code $ C^{\perp}$ is given by $$\begin{aligned}
H= \begin {pmatrix} -B^{t}+D^{t}A^{t} & -D^{t} & I_{n-k_{0}-k_{1}}\\uA^{t} & -uI_{k_{1}} & 0\end{pmatrix},\end{aligned}$$ $ Proof $ Denote the code with generator matrix (2) by $C^{'}$. Since $ HG^{'}=0$, clearly $C^{'}\in C^{\perp}$.\
Let $c=(c_{1},c_{2},\cdots,c_{n})\in C^{\perp}$. After adding a linear combination of the first $n-k_{0}-k_{1}$ row of (2) to c, we obtain a codeword is of the form $$c^{'}=(c_{1},c_{2},\cdots,c_{k_{0}},c_{k_{0}+1},\cdots,c_{k_{0}+k_{1}},0,\cdots,0)\in C^{\perp}$$ Since $c^{'}$ is orthogonal to the last $k_{1}$ rows of (1),so we can adding a certain linear combination of the last $k_{1}$ row of (2) to $c^{'}$. Similar, we obtain a codeword is of the form $$c^{''}=(c_{1},c_{2},\cdots,c_{k_{0}},0,\cdots,0)\in C^{\perp}$$ Since $c^{''}$ is orthogonal to the first $k_{0}$ rows of (1), so we can obtain $c_{1} = c_{2} = \cdots =c_{k}=0$. so $c \in C^{'}$, $C^{\perp} \in C^{'}$. Therefore H is the generator matrix of the additive dual code $C^{\perp}.$\
**Example 3.5.** Let $C$ be a $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$-additive code of type $(3;1,4;2,2)$ with the standard form generator matrix: $$\begin{aligned}
G= \begin {pmatrix} 1 & 0 & 0 & 1 & 1\\0 & 1 & 0 & 2 & 0\\ 0 & 0 & u & 0 & 2u\\ 0 & 0 & 0 & u & 0\end{pmatrix}\end{aligned}$$ Then,the parity-check matrix of $C$ as given: $$\begin{aligned}
H= \begin {pmatrix} 2 & 0 & 1 & 0 & 1\\0 & 0 & 2u & 0 & 0\\ u & 2u & 0 & 2u & 0\end{pmatrix}\end{aligned}$$ And it’s clear that $C^{\perp}$ is of type $(3;1.4;1,2)$.\
Notice that the number of codewords cannot given by the additive code of type.
In this part of the paper, we study the MacWilliams identity for $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$-additive code, the results is similar to $p=2$ \[3\], and a Gray map $\Phi$ is given, we found the Gray map $\Phi$ is a distance preserving map from ($\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$,Gray distance) to ($\mathbb{Z}_p^{\alpha+2\beta}$,Hamming distance), and it is also a weight preserving map.\
In the Preliminaries, we also define a Gray map $\psi$ from $R$ to ${Z}_{p}^{2}$ in the following way. $$\begin{aligned}
\psi:R&\rightarrow {Z}_{p}^{2}\\
(a+ub)&\rightarrow(b,a+b).\end{aligned}$$
At the same time, in definition 3.1., we given a map $\Phi$, it is from $\mathbb{Z}_p^{\alpha}\times\mathbb{Z}_p[u]^{\beta}$ to $\mathbb{Z}_p^{n}$ defined as\
$$\Phi(a,b)=({a_{0},a_{1},\cdots,a_{\alpha-1},\psi(b_{0}),\psi(b_{1}),\cdots,\psi(b_{\beta-1})})$$ for all $ a=({a_{0},a_{1},\cdots,a_{\alpha-1}})\in \mathbb{Z}_p^{\alpha} $, $ b=(b_{0},b_{1},\cdots,b_{\beta-1})\in \mathbb{Z}_p[u]^{\beta}$.\
Let C be an additive code and assume $n=\alpha+2\beta$, the weight enumerator of an additive code $C$ is defined by $$W(x,y)=\sum_{c\in C}x^{n-w(c)}y^{w(c)}.$$\
**Theorem 4.1.** Let $C$ be a $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$-additive code, and $C^{\perp}$ be its dual code, then their weight enumerators $W_{G}(x,y)$ and $W_{G^{\perp}}(x,y)$ are connected by the MacWilliams identity: $$W_{G^{\perp}}(x,y)=\frac{1}{|c|}W_{G}(X+(q-1)Y,X-Y)$$ $ Proof $ Similar to the proof of \[3,theorem 3.3\].\
Let $F_{p}^{*}$ is a multiplication group with nonzero elements, where $p$ is an odd prime. Next we definition a Gray weight $W_{G}(c)$ for $c=(c_{1},c_{2},\cdots,c_{n})$ in the following way: $$W_{G}(c)=\sum_{i=0}^{n-1}W_{G}(c_{i})$$ where $$\begin{aligned}
W_{G}(c_{i})=
\left\{ {{\begin{array}{ll}
{0}, & {\textrm{if}\mbox{ } c_{i} = 0 },\\
{2}, & {\textrm{if}\mbox{ } c_{i}=a+u(p-b),a,b\in F_{p}^{*}~and ~a\neq b}, \\
{1,} & {\textrm{}\mbox{ } others}. \\
\end{array} }} \right .\end{aligned}$$ This gray weight function defines also a gray distance function $$d_{G}(x,y)=W_{G}(x-y)$$ The Hamming weight of a weight of $n$-tuples is the number of its nonzero entries. The Hamming distance between two $n$-tuples is defined as the Hamming weight of their difference. Denote the Hamming weight of a weight of a $p$-ary vector $x$ by $W_{H}(x)$ and the Hamming distance between two $p$-ary vectors $x$ and $y$ of the same length by $d_{H}(x,y)$, and we have $W_{H}(x-y)=d_{H}(x,y)$.\
Since $\forall$ $c=(c_{1},c_{2},\cdots,c_{n})\in \mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$. We have $$\begin{aligned}
W_{H}(\Phi(c_{i}))=
\left\{ {{\begin{array}{ll}
{0}, & {\textrm{if}\mbox{ } c_{i} = 0 },\\
{2}, & {\textrm{if}\mbox{ } c_{i}=a+u(p-b),a,b\in F_{p}^{*}~and ~a\neq b}, \\
{1,} & {\textrm{}\mbox{ } others}. \\
\end{array} }} \right .\end{aligned}$$
Clearly, $W_{G}(c_{i})=W_{H}(\Phi(c_{i}))$ $\forall$ $c_{i}\in \mathbb{Z}_p,~~i\in(1,2,\cdots,n).$\
**Theorem 4.2.** The Gray map $\Phi$ is a weight preserving map from $$(\mathbb{Z}_p^{\alpha}\mathbb{Z}_p[u]^{\beta},Gray~~ weight)~~~to~~~(\mathbb{Z}_p^{\alpha+2\beta},Hamming ~~weight)$$ i.e. $$\begin{aligned}
W_{G}(c)=W_{H}(\Phi(c)~~~for~ \forall ~c~\in \mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u].\end{aligned}$$ and $\Phi$ is a distance preserving map from $$(\mathbb{Z}_p^{\alpha}\mathbb{Z}_p[u]^{\beta},Gray~~ distance)~~~to~~~(\mathbb{Z}_p^{\alpha+2\beta},Hamming ~~distance)$$ i.e. $$\begin{aligned}
d_{G}(x,y)=d_{H}(\Phi(x),\Phi(y))~~~for~ \forall ~x,y~\in \mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u].\end{aligned}$$ $ Proof $ Let $\forall$ $c=(c_{1},c_{2},\cdots,c_{\alpha},c_{\alpha+1},\cdots,c_{\alpha+\beta})\in \mathbb{Z}_p^{\alpha}\mathbb{Z}_p[u]^{\beta}$, where $c_{i}\in \mathbb{Z}_p^{\alpha},i=1,2,\cdots,\alpha.$ $c_{\alpha+i}=r_{i}+uq_{i}\in \mathbb{Z}_p[u]^{\beta},i=1,2,\cdots,\beta.$ by the grap map $\Phi$ we obtain: $$\begin{aligned}
\Phi(c)&=(c_{1},c_{2},\cdots,\psi(c_{\alpha}),\psi(c_{\alpha+1}),\cdots,\psi(c_{\alpha+\beta}))\\
&=(c_{1},c_{2},\cdots,c_{\alpha},q_{1},q_{2},\ldots,q_{\beta},q_{1}+r_{1},q_{2}+r_{2},\cdots,q_{\beta}+r_{\beta})\end{aligned}$$ $$\begin{aligned}
W_{H}(\Phi(c))&=W_{H}(c_{1},c_{2},\cdots,c_{\alpha},q_{1},q_{2},\ldots,q_{\beta},q_{1}+r_{1},q_{2}+r_{2},\cdots,q_{\beta}+r_{\beta})\\
&=\sum_{i=1}^{\alpha}W_{H}(c_{i})+\sum_{i=1}^{\beta}W_{H}(q_{i},q_{i}+r_{i})\\
&=\sum_{i=1}^{\alpha}W_{H}(c_{i})+\sum_{i=1}^{\beta}W_{H}(\psi(c_{\alpha+i}))\\
&=\sum_{i=1}^{\alpha}W_{G}(c_{i})+\sum_{i=1}^{\beta}W_{G}(c_{\alpha+i})\\
&=\sum_{i=1}^{\alpha+\beta}W_{G}(c_{i})=W_{G}(c)\end{aligned}$$ Therefore we have (5). Similarly,we also can deduce (6),the proof is omitted.\
In this part of the paper, we introduce the definition of a additive cyclic code and some algebraic structure. A code $C$ is cyclic if and only if its polynomial representation is an ideal. Let $R_{\alpha,\beta}[x]=\frac{Z_{p}[x]}{<x^{\alpha}-1>}\times\frac{R[x]}{<x^{\beta}-1>}$.\
**Definition 5.1.**A additive code $C$ is called a $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$-additive cyclic code if any cyclic shift of a codeword is also a code. i.e., $$(a_{0},a_{1},\cdots,a_{\alpha-1},b_{0},b_{1},\cdots,b_{\beta-1})\in C
\Rightarrow (a_{\alpha-1},a_{0},\cdots,a_{\alpha-2},b_{\beta-1},b_{0},\cdots,b_{\beta-2})\in C .$$
**Theorem 5.2.** If $C$ be any $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$-additive cyclic code, then $C^{\perp}$ is also cyclic.\
$ Proof $ Let $C$ be any $\mathbb{Z}_p^{\alpha}\mathbb{Z}_p[u]^{\beta}$-additive cyclic code. Suppose $ v=(a_{0},a_{1},\cdots,a_{\alpha-1},b_{0},b_{1},\cdots,b_{\beta-1})\in C^{\perp} $ , for any codeword $ w=(d_{0},d_{1},\cdots,d_{\alpha-1},e_{0},e_{1},\cdots,e_{\beta-1})\in C $ £¬we have $$v\cdot w=u ( \sum_{i=0}^{\alpha-1}a_{i}d_{i})+\sum_{j=0}^{\beta-1}b_{j}e_{j}=0$$ Let $S$ is a cyclic shift, and $j=lcm(\alpha,\beta)$. Then we have $S(v)=(a_{\alpha-1},a_{0},\cdots,a_{\alpha-2},b_{\beta-1},b_{0},\cdots,b_{\beta-2})$ \
and $S^{j}(w)=w$ for any $w\in C$. Since $C$ be any $\mathbb{Z}_p^{\alpha}\mathbb{Z}_p[u]^{\beta}$-additive cyclic code, So we have\
$$S^{j-1}(w)=(d_{1},d_{2},\cdots,d_{\alpha-1},d_{0},e_{1},e_{2},\cdots,e_{\beta-1},e_{0})\in C$$ Hence $$\begin{aligned}
0=v\cdot S^{j-1}(w)=&u(a_{0}d_{1}+a_{1}d_{2}+\cdots+a_{\alpha-2}d_{\alpha-1}+a_{\alpha-1}d_{0})\\
&+(b_{0}e_{1}+b_{1}e_{2}+\cdots+b_{\beta-2}e_{\beta-1}+b_{\beta-1}e_{0})\\
=&u(a_{\alpha-1}d_{0}+a_{0}d_{1}+\cdots+a_{\alpha-2}d_{\alpha-1})\\
&+(b_{\beta-1}e_{0}+b_{1}e_{2}+\cdots+b_{\beta-2}e_{\beta-2})\\
=&S(v)\cdot w\end{aligned}$$ Therefore,we have $ S(v)\in C^{\perp} $,so $ C^{\perp} $ is a cyclic code.\
Let $C$ be a $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$-additive cyclic code, for any codeword $ c=(a_{0},a_{1},\cdots,a_{\alpha-1},b_{0},b_{1},\cdots,b_{\beta-1})\in C $ can be representation with a polynomial,i.e., $$c(x)=(a_{0}+a_{1}x+\cdots+a_{\alpha-1}x^{\alpha-1},b_{0}+b_{1}x+\cdots+b_{\beta-1}x^{\beta-1})=(a(x),b(x))\in R_{\alpha,\beta}[x].$$ Similarly. In preliminaries, we introduce a new scalar multiplication. Now, we have the following multiplication:\
(1)$\forall$ $ c_{1}(x)=(a_{1}(x),b_{1}(x)),c_{2}(x)=(a_{2}(x),b_{2}(x))\in R_{\alpha,\beta}[x] ,$ $$c_{1}(x)c_{2}(x)=(a_{1}(x)a_{2}(x),b_{1}(x)b_{2}(x))$$ (2)$\forall$ $ c_{1}(x)=(a_{1}(x),b_{1}(x))\in R_{\alpha,\beta}[x],$ $c_{2}(x)=r(x)+uq(x)\in R[x],$where $ r(x),q(x)\in {Z}_p[x],$ $$c_{1}(x)c_{2}(x)=(a_{1}(x)r(x),b_{1}(x)c_{2}(x))$$ (3)$\forall$ $ c_{1}(x)=(a_{1}(x),b_{1}(x))\in R_{\alpha,\beta}[x],$ $c_{2}(x)\in {Z}_p[x],$ $$c_{1}(x)c_{2}(x)=(a_{1}(x)c_{2}(x),b_{1}(x)c_{2}(x))$$ Clearly, definition 5.1 is equivalent to $$\begin{aligned}
c(x)&=(a_{0}+a_{1}x+\cdots+a_{\alpha-1}x^{\alpha-1},b_{0}+b_{1}x+\cdots+b_{\beta-1}x^{\beta-1})\in R_{\alpha,\beta}[x].\\
\Longrightarrow xc(x)&=(a_{\alpha-1}+a_{0}x+\cdots+a_{\alpha-2}x^{\alpha-1},b_{\beta-1}+b_{0}x+\cdots+b_{\beta-2}x^{\beta-1})\in R_{\alpha,\beta}[x].\end{aligned}$$ Now, we define the homomorphism mapping: $$\begin{aligned}
&\Psi:R_{\alpha,\beta}[x]\longrightarrow R[x]\\
&\Psi(c(x))=\Psi(a(x),b(x))=b(x)\end{aligned}$$ It is clear that $Image(\Psi)$ is an ideal in the ring $\frac{R[x]}{<x^{\beta}-1>}$ and $ker(\Psi)$ is also an ideal over $Z_{p}[x]$. And note that $$Image(\Psi)=\{b(x)\in R[x]:(a(x),b(x))\in R_{\alpha,\beta}[x]\}$$ $$ker(\Psi)=\{(a(x),0)\in R_{\alpha,\beta}[x]:a(x)\in \frac{Z_{p}[x]}{x^{\alpha}-1})\}$$ By using the characterization in \[14\], we have $$Image(\Psi)=<g(x)+up(x),uq(x)>$$ where $g(x),p(x),q(x)\in \frac{R[x]}{<x^{\beta}-1>}$, $~q(x)\mid g(x)\mid (x^{\beta}-1)$ and $q(x)\mid p(x)\frac{x^{\beta}-1}{g(x)}$.\
Similarly,$$ker(\Psi)=<(f(x),0)>$$ where $ f(x)\in \frac{Z_{p}[x]}{x^{\alpha}-1}$ and $ f(x)\mid (x^{\alpha}-1) $.\
According to the homomorphism map theorem we have: $$C/ ker(\Psi)\cong <g(x)+up(x),uq(x)>.$$ Hence, we have $$(h(x),(g(x)+up(x),uq(x))\in C$$ where $\Psi(h(x),(g(x)+up(x),uq(x)))=(g(x)+up(x),uq(x))$.\
By these discussion, it is easy to see that any $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$-additive cyclic code can be generated by two elements of the form $(h(x),(g(x)+up(x),uq(x)))$ and $(f(x),0)$.\
**Corollary 5.3.**Let $C$ be a $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$-additive cyclic code. Then $C$ is an ideal in $R_{\alpha,\beta}[x]$ which can be generated by $$C=((f(x),0),(h(x),(g(x)+up(x),uq(x)))).$$ where $~q(x)\mid g(x)\mid (x^{\beta}-1)$, $q(x)\mid p(x)\frac{x^{\beta}-1}{g(x)}$ .\
**Corollary 5.4.** Let $C=((f(x),0),(h(x),(g(x)+up(x),uq(x))))$ is a $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$-additive cyclic code, then we may assume that $f(x)\mid h(x)\frac{x^{\beta}-1}{l(x)}$ .where $l(x)=lcm(p(x),q(x))$.\
$ Proof $ (1)Since $\Psi(\frac{x^{\beta}-1}{l(x)}(h(x),(g(x)+up(x),uq(x))))=\Psi((\frac{x^{\beta}-1}{l(x)}*h(x),0))=0.$\
Hence $(\frac{x^{\beta}-1}{l(x)}*h(x),0)\in ker(\Psi)\subseteq C$ and $f(x)\mid h(x)\frac{x^{\beta}-1}{l(x)}$.\
As a consequence to this corollary, we classify the structure of the additive cyclic code into three categories by the following theorem.\
**Theorem 5.5.** Let $C$ be a $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$-additive cyclic code.Then $C$ can be identified as following:\
(1)$C=((f(x),0)$, where $ f(x)\in \frac{Z_{p}[x]}{x^{\alpha}-1}$ .\
(2)$C=(h(x),(g(x)+up(x),uq(x)))$, where $~q(x)\mid g(x)\mid (x^{\beta}-1)$ and $(x^{r}-1)\mid p(x)\frac{x^{\beta}-1}{g(x)}$.\
(3)$C=((f(x),0),(h(x),(g(x)+up(x),uq(x))))$,where $~q(x)\mid g(x)\mid (x^{\beta}-1)$, $q(x)\mid p(x)\frac{x^{\beta}-1}{g(x)}$, $f(x)\mid h(x)\frac{x^{\beta}-1}{l(x)}$ and $l(x)=lcm(p(x),q(x))$.\
**Corollary 5.6.**Let $C$ be any $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$-additive cyclic code. Then $\Phi(C)$ is an cyclic code of length $\alpha+2\beta$ over $Z_{p}$.\
$ Proof $ Let $S$ is a cyclic shift. Since $C$ be any $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$-additive cyclic code. For any codeword $$c=(a_{0},a_{1},\cdots,a_{\alpha-1},b_{0},b_{1},\cdots,b_{\beta-1})\in C$$ where $b_{i}=r_{i}+uq_{i},i\in \{0,1,2,\cdots,\beta-1\}, a_{i},r_{i},q_{i}\in Z_{p}$.\
We have $$S(c)=(a_{\alpha-1},a_{0},\cdots,a_{\alpha-2},b_{\beta-1},b_{0},\cdots,b_{\beta-2})\in C$$ Then $$\begin{aligned}
\Phi(S(c))=(&a_{\alpha-1},a_{0},\cdots,a_{\alpha-2},q_{\beta-1},q_{0},\cdots,\\
&q_{\beta-2},q_{\beta-1}+r_{\beta-1},q_{0}+r_{0},\cdots,q_{\beta-2}+r_{\beta-2})\in\Phi(C)\end{aligned}$$ Then by the Gray map we have:\
$$\Phi(c)=(a_{0},a_{1},\cdots,a_{\alpha-1},q_{0},q_{1},\cdots,q_{\beta-1},q_{0}+r_{0},q_{1}+r_{1},\cdots,q_{\beta-1}+r_{\beta-1})\in\Phi(C).$$ Hence $$\begin{aligned}
S(\Phi(c))=(&a_{\alpha-1},a_{0},\cdots,a_{\alpha-2},q_{\beta-1},q_{0},\cdots,q_{\beta-2},\\
&q_{\beta-1}+r_{\beta-1},q_{0}+r_{0},\cdots,q_{\beta-2}+r_{\beta-2})=\Phi(S(c))\in\Phi(C).\end{aligned}$$ This proves that $\Phi(C)$ is an cyclic code of length $\alpha+2\beta$ over $Z_{p}$.\
In this paper, we studied $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$-additive codes some property, including generator and parity check matrices for the codes. We fund the Gray map $\Phi$ is a distance preserving map and weight preserving map as well. At the end of the paper,we introduce the structure of $\mathbb{Z}_p\mathbb{Z}_p[u]$-additive cyclic code. The studies makes this family of codes become widespread. we hope this family of codes haven more studies, such as constacyclic codes, depth distribution and other place. Due to this family of codes is newly introduced, some similar problems are still open here.\
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[^1]: E-mail addresses: luzhenliang1992@sina.cn(Z.lu), zhushixin@hfut.edu.cn(S.Zhu).\
This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.61370089) and the Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation under Grant JZ2015AKZR0229.
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946 N.E.2d 940 (2011)
Edward LINDEMULDER, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
The BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE NAPERVILLE FIREFIGHTERS' PENSION FUND and the City of Naperville, Defendants-Appellees.
No. 2-10-0063.
Appellate Court of Illinois, Second District.
March 8, 2011.
*942 Anthony G. Argeros, Mollie Dajani Perez, Anthony G. Argeros, LLC, Chicago, for Edward Lindemulder.
Carolyn Welch Clifford, Donald L. Potts, Ottosen, Britz, Kelly, Cooper & Gilbert, Ltd., Naperville, for Board of Trustees Naperville Firefighters' Pension Fund.
Dwight D. Pancottine, Labor Attorney, Michael W. DiSanto, Assistant City Attorney, City of Naperville, for City of Naperville.
OPINION
Justice ZENOFF delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.
Plaintiff, Edward Lindemulder, appeals from an order of the circuit court of Du Page County affirming the decision of defendant the Board of Trustees of the Naperville Firefighters' Pension Fund (Board) denying his application for a line-of-duty pension and an occupational disease pension. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.
BACKGROUND
Plaintiff became a firefighter/paramedic with defendant the City of Naperville (City) on January 4, 1988. On December 15, 2006, when plaintiff was 50 years old, the City placed him on a medical leave due to a serious health condition that made him unable to perform the essential functions of his job. In January 2007, a physician certified that plaintiff suffered from a permanent and irreversible condition called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which rendered plaintiff unable to tolerate the physical demands of his job. On January 15, 2007, plaintiff filed an application for disability benefits with the Naperville Firefighters' Pension Fund, seeking line-of-duty benefits under section 4-110 of the Illinois Pension Code (Code) (40 ILCS 5/4-110 (West 2006)) or, in the alternative, occupational disease benefits under section 4-110.1 of the Code (40 ILCS 5/4-110.1 (West 2006)). The City was granted leave to intervene. The Board held hearings on plaintiff's application over five days and received numerous exhibits into evidence.
The parties agreed that plaintiff's disability is permanent. Throughout the proceedings before the Board, plaintiff admitted that his COPD was caused by cigarette smoking. However, plaintiff contended that exposure to diesel fumes in the fire station and to fire smoke contributed to or exacerbated his COPD. The evidence before the Board revealed the following facts.
Growing up, plaintiff was exposed to second-hand cigarette smoke, and he began smoking cigarettes at age 16 or 17. During his active employment with the City, plaintiff smoked approximately a pack to a pack and a half of cigarettes per day. He was known to break off the filters in order to achieve better draws. As a firefighter/paramedic, plaintiff was called to a fire monthly or bimonthly. During fire suppression, plaintiff wore a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). He was trained in its use and would wear it until instructed by a safety officer that he could remove it to begin salvage and overhaul operations at a fire scene. According to plaintiff, there were smoke and fumes present during salvage and overhaul operations.
Plaintiff underwent yearly fitness-for-duty medical examinations. In 1996, the examining physician noted that plaintiff's *943 pulmonary functions were slightly decreased from past exams. Plaintiff began unintentionally to lose weight, and by 2000 he experienced shortness of breath when walking fast on level ground or up a slight incline, and he had a cough that produced phlegm. In 2002, his tests revealed possible early obstructive pulmonary impairment. In 2005, the examining physician reported that plaintiff suffered from "obstructive lung disease most likely secondary to his excessive smoking." All of plaintiff's attempts to stop smoking were unsuccessful.
On October 25, 2006, plaintiff collapsed to the floor during training in the SCBA trailer. His supervisor found him on the floor with labored breathing and his regulator off. Plaintiff stated that he could not catch his breath and could not get enough air. On November 21, 2006, plaintiff's superiors took him off duty, and after medical tests showed that his COPD was advanced to the stage where he could no longer perform firefighting functions, plaintiff never returned to duty. On January 11, 2007, an examining physician found that plaintiff had significant "dyspnea with exertion [shortness of breath with effort] and cannot tolerate the physical demands of his job due to his COPD."
From 1998 to 2006, plaintiff was assigned to fire station No. 3, where he lived and slept during his 24-hour shifts. According to plaintiff, there was no negative pressure room for storing turnout gear (coats and pants worn by firefighters at fire suppression). Two diesel vehicles were assigned to station No. 3: Engine 3 and Medic 3. As of 2000 or 2001, station No. 3 was equipped with a Nederman system, which is a set of exhaust hoses that attach to diesel engine tail pipes. Firefighters hook up the hoses to the vehicles when they pull into the station, and the system exhausts the diesel fumes out of the station. Plaintiff testified that because of the configuration of station No. 3 the firefighters hooked up the hoses to the vehicles only after the vehicles had already been parked inside the station. The apparatus floor where the vehicles were parked was separate from the sleeping quarters. The two areas were separated by self-closing doors.
In station No. 3, plaintiff observed heavy black dust, which he believed came from the diesel exhaust. He testified that he would wake up with an irritated throat, a cough, sometimes a runny nose, and sometimes irritated eyes. According to plaintiff, other firefighters experienced similar symptoms. Plaintiff did not request a transfer out of station No. 3.
Captain Rick Sander worked at station No. 3 and was plaintiff's officer. Sander testified that he, along with other firefighters, developed upper respiratory symptoms while working at station No. 3. Sander did not obtain treatment or a diagnosis. According to Sander, mold studies done at the station were negative, although he recalled seeing black mold after remodeling was done.
Firefighter/Paramedic Jody Jones, a nonsmoker, began experiencing a cough, sinus infections, and colds after she was assigned to work in station No. 3. She was diagnosed with reactive airway disease, which could have been caused by diesel fumes, mold, or other environmental substances.
Firefighter/Paramedic John Adair testified regarding air purifying machines installed at the Naperville fire stations, particularly at station No. 3, where people seemed to be getting a lot of colds. The machines were purchased to help alleviate dust, allergy, and mold problems. Every 28 days Adair cleaned the filters in the machines at station No. 3 as well as at other stations. He testified that the filters *944 at station No. 3 were disgustingly dirty compared to those at other stations. When he recommended to the City that the air quality at station No. 3 be tested, nothing came of his request.
James Inglese was the fleet services manager for the City who was involved in procuring, servicing, maintaining, and repairing the City's fire apparatus and equipment. He was in the automotive industry for 30 years and had a bachelor of science degree in automotive heavy equipment technology. Inglese testified that diesel engines take a number of minutes before they come up to operating temperature, during which time they emit pollutants and exhaust. Inglese testified that he had never seen any employee have to be off work or suffer respiratory problems or COPD due to exposure to diesel engines.
Captain David Ferreri learned of complaints about the air quality at station No. 3 in 2003. He hired an environmental engineer who discovered a minor amount of mold in the attic, which then was cleaned. Ferreri testified that a concern about a black contaminant found on an air filter at station No. 3 was also brought to his attention. A laboratory analysis of the substance on the filter showed no excessive mold growth. He did not have the filter tested for diesel exhaust, but no one at station No. 3 had complained to him about diesel fumes. Ferreri testified that the HVAC systems in station No. 3 are separate so that the exhaust from the apparatus floor where the diesel vehicles are parked cannot migrate to the firefighters' quarters.
Assistant Chief Richard Mikel testified that he was the training and safety officer for the Naperville Fire Department from 1995 to 2007. He received no complaints about diesel fumes at station No. 3. He testified that buildings involved in fire scenes must be thoroughly ventilated to eliminate smoke and gases from a fire before the firefighters are allowed to remove their SCBA. He further testified that turnout gear is laundered twice a year and an additional two times a year if there is significant exposure after a structure fire.
Plaintiff was examined by three physicians, chosen by the Board, who rendered written opinions and oral testimony. These physicians were Dr. Edward R. Garrity, professor of medicine and medical director of advanced lung disease, lung transplantation, and pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Chicago; Dr. Terrence C. Moisan, board certified in internal medicine, pulmonary disease, and occupational medicine at the Midwest Center for Environmental Medicine; and Dr. David McElligott, board certified in internal medicine and pulmonary medicine in private practice specializing in pulmonary medicine and critical care.
In his written report, Dr. Garrity found that plaintiff was disabled, that his disability was not a result of sickness due to the performance of active duty or the cumulative effects of active duty, and that the cause of his disability was "tobacco abuse and use over many years." Dr. Moisan, in his written report, agreed that plaintiff was disabled. In response to the question "Is it medically possible that the applicant's injury/illness is a result of or caused by his or her line of duty or his or her service as a firefighter and/or officer?," Dr. Moisan checked the box "No." In answer to the question "Is the occupational disease disability resulting from service as a firefighter and/or paramedic?," Dr. Moisan checked the box "No." Dr. Moisan elaborated in a letter to the Board: "The cause of [plaintiff's] obstructive airways disease is clearly his cigarette smoking. The minimal potential exposures to which he may have had (structure fires) would have been *945 a de-minimis risk for this degree of airway obstruction, given the fact that this patient does not have asthma (which may occur after a brief but intense exposure to pyrolysis products)."
Dr. McElligott also agreed that plaintiff was disabled. Dr. McElligott checked the "No" box when asked if plaintiff's disability resulted from the performance of an act of duty or from the cumulative effects of acts of duty. He similarly checked the "No" box when asked if plaintiff's occupational disease disability resulted from service as a firefighter and/or paramedic. Dr. McElligott's written findings included the following: "I believe [plaintiff] has advanced COPD due to smoking. I can detect no evidence on history, physical or record review that would suggest his problem is related to his occupational exposure."
At the hearing, Dr. Garrity testified that plaintiff "very, very likely" would have developed COPD even if he never were a firefighter, because of the early evidence of the disease and plaintiff's continued cigarette smoking. Dr. Garrity testified that a single or a recurrent exposure to toxic substances in fire smoke, even in the absence of cigarette smoking, could induce reactive airways diseaseasthmafrom which plaintiff did not suffer. According to Dr. Garrity, the ultimate cause of plaintiff's COPD was cigarette smoking. At the hearing, Dr. Moisan testified that the harmful substances present in smoke other than cigarette smoke would contribute to asthma but not to a cigarette-smoking-related disease. It was Dr. Moisan's opinion that plaintiff's clinical situation would not be materially different if he were not a firefighter. According to Dr. Moisan, the fire smoke that plaintiff breathed in connection with his duties as a firefighter would not have caused or permanently aggravated his COPD. Dr. Moisan also believed that any diesel fumes to which plaintiff may have been exposed neither caused nor permanently aggravated his COPD. Dr. McElligott testified at the hearing that the damage caused by exposure to the chemicals present in cigarette smoke, when encountered from a different source, might be totally different from the damage caused by those same chemicals when inhaled in cigarette smoke. Dr. McElligott's opinion was that plaintiff, with his smoking history, would be in the same condition if he had never been a firefighter. Dr. McElligott concluded within a reasonable degree of medical certainty that neither the fire smoke nor the diesel fumes that plaintiff may have breathed as a firefighter caused or contributed to his COPD.
On March 7, 2008, the Board denied plaintiff's request for line-of-duty benefits or occupational disease benefits but found that he was entitled to a non-duty pension under section 4-111 of the Code (40 ILCS 5/4-111 (West 2006)). It found that any alleged on-duty incidents or exposures did not cause or contribute to plaintiff's disability, which instead was caused by cigarette smoking. The Board found that plaintiff's failure to make a reasonable effort to stop smoking, after medical advice to do so, was the ultimate cause of his disability.
On December 18, 2008, plaintiff filed a complaint for administrative review in the circuit court, and on December 17, 2009, the court affirmed the Board's decision. Plaintiff then filed this timely appeal.
ANALYSIS
Plaintiff raises two issues. He argues that he was entitled to a line-of-duty disability pension because all of the physicians agreed that cumulative acts of duty were a cause of his disability. In the alternative, he contends that the legislative findings in section 4-110.1 of the Code, *946 combined with the evidence, entitled him to an occupational-disease disability pension. Section 4-110 provides for a line-of-duty pension if a firefighter, as the result of sickness, accident, or injury incurred in or resulting from the performance of an act of duty or from the cumulative effects of acts of duty, is found to be physically or mentally permanently disabled from service in the fire department. Section 4-110.1 provides that an active firefighter with five or more years of service who is unable to perform his duties by reason of heart disease, stroke, tuberculosis, or any disease of the lungs or respiratory tract resulting from service as a firefighter is entitled to an occupational disease pension.
We first address the standard of review. Plaintiff contends that the correct standard of review is "clearly erroneous," while defendants assert that the standard of review is whether the Board's decision was against the manifest weight of the evidence. We review the decision of the administrative agency, not the trial court's decision. Jones v. Board of Trustees of the Police Pension Fund, 384 Ill.App.3d 1064, 1067, 323 Ill.Dec. 936, 894 N.E.2d 962 (2008). The applicable standard of review depends upon whether the issue is one of fact, one of law, or a mixed question of law and fact. Jones, 384 Ill.App.3d at 1067, 323 Ill.Dec. 936, 894 N.E.2d 962. We will reverse a ruling on a question of fact if it is against the manifest weight of the evidence. Jones, 384 Ill.App.3d at 1067, 323 Ill.Dec. 936, 894 N.E.2d 962. We review questions of law de novo and mixed questions of law and fact under the "clearly erroneous" standard. Jones, 384 Ill.App.3d at 1067, 323 Ill.Dec. 936, 894 N.E.2d 962. The examination of the legal effect of a given set of facts is what requires review under the "clearly erroneous" standard. Jones, 384 Ill.App.3d at 1067, 323 Ill.Dec. 936, 894 N.E.2d 962. Here, in finding that plaintiff's disability was the result of cigarette smoking and that no on-duty incidents or exposures caused or contributed to his disability, the Board ruled on questions of fact. Accordingly, our review is whether the Board's decision was against the manifest weight of the evidence.
We first discuss plaintiff's contention that all of the physicians agreed that cumulative "acts of duty" were a "causal factor" of his disability. Plaintiff argues that, "boiled to their essence," the three medical opinions may be summarized as follows: (1) Dr. Garrity testified that plaintiff's occupational exposures to toxins in fire smoke and diesel exhaust cumulatively caused or accelerated his COPD; (2) Dr. Moisan testified that he could not exclude occupational exposures as a small contributing cause of plaintiff's COPD; and (3) Dr. McElligott testified that the cumulative effects of exposure to fire smoke and diesel exhaust could have accelerated plaintiff's COPD. Plaintiff relies on the rule in Sisbro, Inc. v. Industrial Comm'n, 207 Ill.2d 193, 205, 278 Ill.Dec. 70, 797 N.E.2d 665 (2003), a workers' compensation case, where the court held that, even though an employee had a preexisting condition that may have made him more vulnerable to injury, recovery for an accidental injury would not be denied if it were shown that the employment was also a causative factor. Plaintiff urges that the same "a causative factor" analysis applies here. We need not decide whether to apply the rationale of workers' compensation law to the Code, as plaintiff invites us to do, because the appellate court has held that a line-of-duty pension may be awarded if the plaintiff proves that the exposure to smoke, fumes, or some other condition of his employment exacerbated his condition of ill being. Scalise v. Board of Trustees of the Westchester Firemen's Pension Fund, 264 Ill.App.3d 1029, 1033, 202 Ill. *947 Dec. 304, 637 N.E.2d 1040 (1993). The issue here is whether plaintiff proved that his employment exacerbated his COPD.
We must comment on plaintiff's brief. He premises his entire argument on the testimony of the three physicians, which was an extensive part of the record, yet his argument contains only one citation to the pages of the record relied on, in violation of Illinois Supreme Court Rule 341(h)(7) (eff. July 1, 2008). The appellate court is not a repository into which an appellant may foist the burden of argument and research. Velocity Investments, LLC v. Alston, 397 Ill.App.3d 296, 297, 337 Ill.Dec. 415, 922 N.E.2d 538 (2010). We have the authority to hold that plaintiff forfeited his argument. Velocity, 397 Ill. App.3d at 297, 337 Ill.Dec. 415, 922 N.E.2d 538. However, we choose to reach the issue in spite of plaintiff's disregard of the supreme court rule, as we understand the issue and the merits can be readily ascertained from the record. See Velocity, 397 Ill.App.3d at 298, 337 Ill.Dec. 415, 922 N.E.2d 538. When we consider the entirety of the medical evidence, including the physicians' reports and their complete testimony, it is clear that plaintiff takes bits of testimony in isolation and out of context. The doctors' agreement that certain chemicals present in cigarette smoke are present elsewhere did not lead them to conclude, as plaintiff argues, that other alleged exposures caused or exacerbated plaintiff's COPD. Indeed, the doctors were unanimous in their opinions that the chemicals in cigarette smoke affect a person differently than the same chemicals encountered elsewhere and that plaintiff would be in the same clinical condition if he were never exposed to fire smoke or diesel fumes. Drs. Garrity and Moisan were particularly clear that exposure to fire smoke would cause asthma, not COPD; plaintiff did not have asthma; and plaintiff's COPD was caused by smoking cigarettes.
Plaintiff maintains that Dr. Moisan's opinion that plaintiff's exposure to fire smoke and diesel fumes caused a de minimis aggravation of his COPD was enough to prove his case because, he asserts, there is no exception for a de minimis causation. Plaintiff ignores Dr. Moisan's explanation of what he meant by the term "de minimis." Dr. Moisan testified that a de minimis aggravation was a transient one with no permanent effect.
Furthermore, we note that plaintiff's assumptions about his exposure to fire smoke and diesel fumes were mostly unproven. Plaintiff testified that throughout his career he responded to one fire monthly or bimonthly. Plaintiff also testified that he wore protective gear including a SCBA. There was testimony in the record that modern firefighters, because of their protective gear, are not as susceptible to the dangerous components of fire smoke as were their predecessors. Plaintiff altogether failed to prove that he was exposed to occupational diesel fumes. Although he testified that the vehicles were pulled into station No. 3 before the filters were attached, other unrebutted evidence showed that the exhaust was routed out of the building through a system separate from that which serviced the living quarters. There was evidence of an air quality problem at station No. 3, but no evidence of what caused it beyond testimony that mold was discovered and eradicated during a renovation. Moreover, plaintiff testified that his side job consisted of driving a diesel backhoe. Considering the entire record, and based upon the totality of the medical evidence, we cannot say that the Board's findings were against the manifest weight of the evidence.
Plaintiff's alternative contention is that the legislative findings in section 4-110.1, *948 combined with the evidence, entitled him to an occupational-disease disability pension. We have already determined that the Board's finding that the evidence showed that plaintiff's COPD was not caused or exacerbated by an occupational exposure was not against the manifest weight of the evidence. The question then becomes whether the legislative findings alone can provide the causal nexus. This is a question of law that we review de novo. Jones, 384 Ill.App.3d at 1067, 323 Ill.Dec. 936, 894 N.E.2d 962. In enacting section 4-110.1 the legislature found:
"[S]ervice in the fire department requires firefighters in times of stress and danger to perform unusual tasks; that firefighters are subject to exposure to extreme heat or extreme cold in certain seasons while performing their duties; that they are required to work in the midst of and are subject to heavy smoke fumes, and carcinogenic, poisonous, toxic, or chemical gases from fires; and that these conditions exist and arise out of or in the course of employment." 40 ILCS 5/4-110.1 (West 2006).
Courts are not empowered to adjudicate the accuracy of legislative findings, but must accord great deference to the legislature's fact-finding authority. Empress Casino Joliet Corp. v. Giannoulias, 231 Ill.2d 62, 75, 324 Ill.Dec. 491, 896 N.E.2d 277 (2008). Consequently, we defer to the legislative findings in section 4-110.1.
Plaintiff argues that the legislative findings that firefighters are subject to the conditions described in section 4-110.1 amount to a legislative finding that these conditions cause a negative impact on a firefighter. He thus seeks to bootstrap the legislative findings into proof of causation. This argument is untenable because the legislature specifically provided that a firefighter subject to those conditions must prove that his or her disability resulted from service as a firefighter:
"An active firefighter with 5 or more years of * * * service who is found, pursuant to Section 4-112, unable to perform his or her duties in the fire department by reason of heart disease, stroke, tuberculosis, or any disease of the lungs or respiratory tract, resulting from service as a firefighter, is entitled to an occupational disease disability pension during any period of such disability for which he or she has no right to receive salary." (Emphasis added.) 40 ILCS 5/4-110.1 (West 2006).
We, therefore, reject plaintiff's contention.
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the circuit court of Du Page County is affirmed.
Affirmed.
Justices BURKE and SCHOSTOK concurred in the judgment and opinion.
|
Q:
How can I fix "Failed Storing private key?" Error01 problem?
I also saw the same problem when I entered command "./byfn.sh -m generate". Someone told me it's permission problem, but I don't know at all becuase this is my first studying hyperledger fabric. I need more friendly help! Thank you in advance!
hyper@traveler5260-VirtualBox:~/go/src/github.com/hyperledger/fabric-samples/first-network$ ../bin/cryptogen generate --config=./crypto-config.yaml
org1.example.com
2019-08-12 00:45:18.288 KST [bccsp_sw] storePrivateKey -> ERRO 001 Failed storing private key [000c5c07b91bf1bf3a8aee1b30591ee5af15844ecbcf3108a58a37ae9db0aa70]: [open crypto-config/peerOrganizations/org1.example.com/ca/000c5c07b91bf1bf3a8aee1b30591ee5af15844ecbcf3108a58a37ae9db0aa70_sk: permission denied]
Error generating signCA for org org1.example.com:
Failed storing key [ECDSAP256]: Failed storing ECDSA private key [open crypto-config/peerOrganizations/org1.example.com/ca/000c5c07b91bf1bf3a8aee1b30591ee5af15844ecbcf3108a58a37ae9db0aa70_sk: permission denied]
A:
you should give chmod 777 to this path crypto-config/peerOrganizations/org1.example.com/ca/ . This will avoid this problem.
|
Improved progressive morphological filter for digital terrain model generation from airborne lidar data.
Obtaining high-precision filtering results from airborne lidar point clouds in complex environments has always been a hot topic. Mathematical morphology was widely used for filtering, owing to its simplicity and high efficiency. However, the morphology-based algorithms are deficient in preserving terrain details. In order to obtain a better filtering effect, this paper proposed an improved progressive morphological filter based on hierarchical radial basis function interpolation (PMHR) to refine the classical progressive morphological filter. PMHR involved two main improvements, namely, automatic setting of self-adaptive thresholds and terrain details preservation, respectively. The performance of PMHR was evaluated using datasets provided by the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Experimental results show that PMHR achieved good performance under variant terrain features with an average total error of 4.27% and average Kappa coefficient of 84.57%. |
Whitaker: Well, what I see is a President that is starting to figure out his influence that he can have on this investigation. And someone that is trying to send a message to the special prosecutor, Bob Mueller, that listen, you have a lot of power and you are now the keeper of the cloud that hangs over this administration, unfortunately, but I can still affect you. I can reach out and if I want to, I can terminate you. I think that is very dangerous politically, but legally there is certainly a way for that to happen.
Lemon: You don’t think that’s dangerous legally, it’s not obstruction? He is saying basically unless it goes my way, I’m going to fire you.
Whitaker: No, I don’t think that’s obstruction, because—we keep using that term. And I know we have discussed it before, Don. But I just – I don’t think that under these facts and circumstances that an obstruction of justice charge, either in the context that we have originally talked about with his discussions with Jim Comey or in this new context of talking about the possibility of Bob Mueller losing his job as special counsel, I think neither one of those would raise to the level of obstruction. |
/* This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
* License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this file,
* You can obtain one at http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/. */
body {
background-image: url("chrome://global/skin/media/imagedoc-darknoise.png");
}
video {
box-shadow: 0 0 15px #000;
}
|
While fumbling around filing a small piece the other day I thought it would be nice to have a small vise to mount on my desk to hold small parts for filing, measuring or whatever, just another hand if you will.
That vise needed to have hard smooth jaws that would not mar the finish on work pieces with a horizontal and a vertical V-groove in the rear jaw for holding round work, the jaws are 2.250 wide with an opening of 5.000, I was thinking about putting a step in the top of the jaws but sometimes I need to clamp something really close to the top of the jaws therefore I decided against that, so after a couple of days on the computer I came up with this new tool I call the Tool Makers Bench Vise.
This vise is very rigid in construction and is machined to very close tolerances (like a tool makers vise) with just enough clearance for the moving parts to slide without binding; the sliding jaw of the vise is advanced by a custom made 303 Stainless Steel acme threaded shaft with a hexagonal hole in the center for an allen wrench, the entire vise was made from 1018 steel except for the jaws which was made from O-1 steel hardened and ground.
The vise has four holes in the base for mounting to any surface; the vise is ground flat and square in relation to any surface or edge so it can be used on the milling machine, surface grinder or drill press, but its main purpose is to be mounted on my desk to hold work for filing,
The vise was built with the assistance of two tools I previously made and posted to the Home Made Tools Forum, my Universal Grinding Fixture and Rotary Broach, without those two tools the steps they performed would have been difficult to achieve. |
# /usr/bin/env python3.5
# -*- mode: python -*-
# =============================================================================
# @@-COPYRIGHT-START-@@
#
# Copyright (c) 2019, Qualcomm Innovation Center, Inc. All rights reserved.
#
# Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
# modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
#
# 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice,
# this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
#
# 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,
# this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation
# and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
#
# 3. Neither the name of the copyright holder nor the names of its contributors
# may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
# without specific prior written permission.
#
# THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS"
# AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
# IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
# ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE
# LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR
# CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF
# SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
# INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN
# CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE)
# ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
# POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
#
# @@-COPYRIGHT-END-@@
# =============================================================================
""" Connected graph abstract class and utilities """
from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
from typing import List
from aimet_common.connected_graph.operation import Op
class ConnectedGraph(ABC):
""" ConnectedGraph abstract class """
def __init__(self):
self._ops = dict()
self._products = dict()
@abstractmethod
def get_op_from_module_name(self, name: str):
""" Given the name of a operation/module, return the corresponding op in ops dict """
def get_all_ops(self):
""" Returns the ops dictionary """
return self._ops
def get_all_products(self):
""" Returns the products dictionary """
return self._products
def get_ordered_ops(list_of_starting_ops: List[Op]) -> List[Op]:
"""
Function to get all the ops in connected graph based on occurrence by Depth First Traversal
:param list_of_starting_ops: List of starting ops of the graph
:return: List of connected graph ops in order of occurrence
"""
def graph_traversal(current_op: Op, visited_ops: set, ordered_ops: List[Op]):
"""
util function for Depth First Traversal
:param current_op: tf.Operation
:param visited_ops: Set of ops visited so far (to cut short duplicate traversals)
:param ordered_ops: List of ops in order of occurrence
"""
# Add current op to visited_ops set
visited_ops.add(current_op)
# iterate all the output tensors of current opchange_out_act_shape_to_channels_first
if current_op.output:
for consumer_op in current_op.output.consumers:
# add consumer op to visited_ops list if not added previously and recursively call
if consumer_op not in visited_ops:
graph_traversal(consumer_op, visited_ops, ordered_ops)
# add to ordered_ops list only when all the children ops are traversed
ordered_ops.append(current_op)
# Set of all ops that have been visited (to cut short duplicate traversals)
visited_ops_set = set()
# List of all ops in order of occurrence
ordered_ops_list = []
for op in list_of_starting_ops:
graph_traversal(op, visited_ops_set, ordered_ops_list)
# reverse the list because ops are in reverse order
ordered_ops_list.reverse()
return ordered_ops_list
|
Q:
make only vertical scrolling invisible
Hi I want to make vertical scrolling invisible, but i want to left the horizontal scrollbar visible.
Also I want my page be scrollable both vertically and horizontally.
I used:
.my_class::-webkit-scrollbar{
display: none;
}
but it make both scrollbar invisible.
A:
I have to say that using simple css trick, you wont be able to achieve this.
I suggest you d use custom scrollbar plugins, by which you can simply apply css trick for each scrollbar type, like following:
$(document).ready(function() {
$(".container").customScrollbar();
});
.container {
max-width: 300px;
max-height: 100px;
}
.container .overview {
width: 800px;
}
.scrollable .scroll-bar.horizontal {
background: #eee; height: 5px; border-radius: 20px;
}
.scrollable .scroll-bar.horizontal .thumb {
background: #999;
border-radius: 20px;
cursor: pointer;
}
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://rawgit.com/mzubala/jquery-custom-scrollbar/master/jquery.custom-scrollbar.css" />
<script src="https://rawgit.com/mzubala/jquery-custom-scrollbar/master/jquery.custom-scrollbar.js"></script>
<div class="container">
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit. Proin nibh augue, suscipit a, scelerisque sed, lacinia in, mi. Cras vel lorem. Etiam pellentesque aliquet tellus. Phasellus pharetra nulla ac diam. Quisque semper justo at risus. Donec venenatis, turpis vel hendrerit interdum, dui ligula ultricies purus, sed posuere libero dui id orci. Nam congue, pede vitae dapibus aliquet, elit magna vulputate arcu, vel tempus metus leo non est. Etiam sit amet lectus quis est congue mollis. Phasellus congue lacus eget neque. Phasellus ornare, ante vitae consectetuer consequat, purus sapien ultricies dolor, et mollis pede metus eget nisi. Praesent sodales velit quis augue. Cras suscipit, urna at aliquam rhoncus, urna quam viverra nisi, in interdum massa nibh nec erat. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit. Proin nibh augue, suscipit a, scelerisque sed, lacinia in, mi. Cras vel lorem. Etiam pellentesque aliquet tellus. Phasellus pharetra nulla ac diam. Quisque semper justo at risus. Donec venenatis, turpis vel hendrerit interdum, dui ligula ultricies purus, sed posuere libero dui id orci. Nam congue, pede vitae dapibus aliquet, elit magna vulputate arcu, vel tempus metus leo non est. Etiam sit amet lectus quis est congue mollis. Phasellus congue lacus eget neque. Phasellus ornare, ante vitae consectetuer consequat, purus sapien ultricies dolor, et mollis pede metus eget nisi. Praesent sodales velit quis augue. Cras suscipit, urna at aliquam rhoncus, urna quam viverra nisi, in interdum massa nibh nec erat.
</div>
|
Q:
How to convert 'System.Windows.Media.Imaging.BitmapImage' to 'System.Drawing.Image'?
I would like to convert my BitmapImage to a System.Drawing.Image?
This is my BitmapImage:
BitmapImage bmi = new BitmapImage(new Uri(someString, UriKind.Absolute));
Now, how would i create a System.Drawing.Image from my bmi?
A:
MSDN has a very good sample for interop between BitmapImage and System.Drawing.Image - see http://blogs.msdn.com/b/rwlodarc/archive/2007/01/03/wpf-bitmapsource-and-gdi-bitmap-interop.aspx
|
To move Page Layers, click and drag a layer and click the “z” button to reset the order of the layers (front to back).
To add a note or comment to a Page Layer, select the Page Layer and type text in the Note text field.
To delete a Page Layer, select the Page Layer and click the Delete button. If the Page Layer contains graphics, you’ll be given a chance to cancel, keep the graphics by moving them to the Default Layer, or delete the Page Layer and its graphics.
• If you delete a locked layer and keep the graphics, the graphics will remain locked.
To move graphics to a Page Layer, select the graphics you want to move, select the Page Layer you want to move them to, and click the Move Items to Layer button. |
TORONTO, ON, September 9th, 2019 – Hut 8 Mining Corp. (“Hut 8” or “the Company”) (TSXV: HUT) (OTCQX: HUTMF), one of the world’s largest public bitcoin mining companies by operating capacity and market capitalization, is pleased to announce the acquisition of 9 Blockbox ACTM data centers for US$7 million from the Bitfury Group (“Bitfury”) at its facility in Drumheller, Alberta. The acquisition will add approximately 113 petahash per second (PH/s) and 9.9 MW of capacity to Hut 8’s existing operations. This represents an increase of 13.3% to Hut 8’s PH/s output.
The BlockBox ACTM data centers were previously owned by Bitfury. Prior to closing the purchase, the additional 9 data centers will be upgraded to include 12.6 PH/s Bitfury Clarke ASIC chips, manufactured by Bitfury. The upgrades are expected to be completed and operational within 10 weeks of this announcement. Subsequent to the delivery of the BlockBox ACTM data centers, Hut 8 will own 100% of the Drumheller facility. .
This additional PH/s will bring Hut 8’s aggregate operating capacity, across all operations, to approximately 963 PH/s and 109.4 MW at full capacity. Subject to approval by the TSXV, Hut 8 intends to finance the acquisition via cash on hand and the sale of a portion of its bitcoin inventory.
“We are pleased to inform shareholders that between the increase in capacity announced last week in The City of Medicine Hat and the acquisition of 9 additional BlockBox AC™ data centers, that Hut 8 has grown its PH/s output by 19.6% in a short timeline without the need to raise external capital.” said Andrew Kiguel, Chief Executive Officer of Hut 8. “These initiatives will increase our efficiency and decrease our mining cost per bitcoin.”
In addition, Hut 8 intends to reduce its debt by $3.6 million (US$2.75 million) by September 13, 2019. “While still maintaining a significant bitcoin inventory, Hut 8 has made the strategic decision to decrease its financial leverage for a stronger balance sheet and to lower our monthly interest charges.” said Kiguel.
Hut 8 owns and operates two sites in Alberta, Canada utilizing 93 BlockBox ACTM data centers with funded near term capacity of 109.4 MW and 963 petahash per second.
ABOUT HUT 8 MINING CORP.
Hut 8 is a cryptocurrency mining company with industrial scale bitcoin mining operations in Canada. Hut 8 has an exclusive North American partnership with the Bitfury Group Limited, inclusive of Bitfury Holding BV, one of the world’s leading full-service hardware and software blockchain technology companies.
Hut 8 provides investors with direct exposure to bitcoin, without the technical complexity or constraints of purchasing the underlying cryptocurrency. Investors avoid the need to create online wallets, wire money offshore, and safely store their bitcoin.
Key investment highlights and FAQ’s: https://www.hut8mining.com/investors.
Keep up-to-date on Hut 8 events and developments and join our online communities at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Hut 8 Corporate Contact:
Andrew Kiguel
Chief Executive Officer
Tel: (647) 256-1992
Email: info@hut8mining.com
Jimmy Vaiopoulos
Chief Financial Officer
Tel: (647) 256-1992
Email: info@hut8mining.com
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Certain information in this press release constitutes forward-looking information. In some cases, but not necessarily in all cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, such as “plans”, “targets”, “expects” or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “estimates”, “intends”, “assumes”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate” or “believes”, or variations of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might”, “will” or “will be taken”, “occur” or “be achieved”. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances contain forward-looking information. Statements containing forward-looking information are not historical facts, but instead represent management’s expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events.
Forward-looking information is necessarily based on a number of opinions, assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by Hut 8 as of the date of this press release, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to the factors described in greater detail in the “Risk Factors” section of the Filing Statement dated March 1, 2018 relating to the Qualifying Transaction of Oriana Resources Corporation and Hut 8, which is available at www.sedar.com. These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect Hut 8; however, these factors should be considered carefully. There can be no assurance that such estimates and assumptions will prove to be correct. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and Hut 8 expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements containing any forward-looking information, or the factors or assumptions underlying them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
NON-GAAP MEASURES
This MD&A presents certain non-GAAP (“GAAP” refers to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) financial measures to assist readers in understanding the Company’s performance. These non-GAAP measures do not have any standardized meaning and therefore are unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. Management uses these non-GAAP measures to supplement the analysis and evaluation of operating performance.
Throughout this MD&A, the following terms are used, which are not found in the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada Handbook and do not have a standardized meaning under GAAP.
EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization)
● “EBITDA” represents net income or loss excluding net finance income or expense, income tax or recovery, depreciation, and amortization.
● “Adjusted EBITDA” represents EBITDA adjusted to exclude share-based compensation, fair value loss or gain on remeasurement of digital assets, write-offs, and costs associated with one-time transactions (such as listing fees).
● “Adjusted EBITDA margin” represents Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of revenue.
“Mining Profit” represents gross profit (revenue less cost of revenue), excluding depreciation. “Mining Profit Margin” represents Mining Profit as a percentage of revenue.
“Cost per bitcoin” represents cost of revenue excluding depreciation, divided by the number of bitcoin mined in the period.
“Adjusted Working Capital” represents current assets including digital assets, less current liabilities. The Adjusted Working Capital is not a substitute for the conventional working capital but instead shows the short term liquidity of the company including the available digital assets at the period end. |
Q:
HTML5 Canvas with jCanvas: How to remove a layer
I am using jCanvas to build a HTML5 app, I need to remove a layer, which is a black circle on the canvas, you can see the code here.
var cvLingualWidth = 945;
var cvLingualHeight = 100;
var cvLingual = document.getElementById("cvLingual");
function drawGrid() {
var contextLingual = cvLingual.getContext("2d");
for (var y = 0.5; y < cvLingualHeight; y += 6) {
contextLingual.moveTo(0, y);
contextLingual.lineTo(cvLingualWidth, y);
}
contextLingual.strokeStyle = "#DDD";
contextLingual.stroke();
}
function drawCircle() {
$("#cvLingual").drawArc({
layer: true,
name: "circleLayer_18",
strokeStyle: "#000",
strokeWidth: 2,
x: 42,
y: 70,
radius: 8
});
}
function clearCircle() {
var circleLayer = $("#cvLingual").getLayer("circleLayer_18");
// TODO
}
$(function () {
drawGrid();
drawCircle();
$("#clear").click(function(){
clearCircle();
});
})
I tried removeLayer() but its not working. If I clear the canvas, the entire UI will be gone.
How can I clear the circle without affecting the background gridlines?
A:
According to the removeLayer() documentation, the removeLayer() method does not update the canvas automatically. You will need to do this afterwards using the drawLayers() method.
$("#cvLingual").removeLayer("myLayer").drawLayers();
However, the drawLayers() method works by clearing the canvas and redrawing all jCanvas layers, which means that your gridlines will disappear. To fix this, use jCanvas's drawLine() method to draw your gridlines, like so:
$canvas.drawLine({
layer: true,
strokeStyle: "#DDD",
strokeWidth: 1,
x1: 0, y1: y,
x2: cvLingualWidth, y2: y
});
As a side note, if you are planning on drawing the circle again later (after removing it), I recommend setting the layer's visible property to false temporarily. Then, when you are ready to show the circle again, set its visible property to true. Note that you will need to call drawLayers() to update the canvas in both instances.
Hide the circle:
$("#cvLingual").setLayer({
visible: false
}).drawLayers();
Show the circle again:
$("#cvLingual").setLayer({
visible: true
}).drawLayers();
Finally, for your convenience, I have forked your fiddle and have implemented the above suggestions.
|
Saturday, April 02, 2011
Gaming the system
The European Union, we are told, has launched an appeal against a WTO ruling that the United States gave aircraft maker Boeing billions of dollars in illegal subsidies, after claiming victory in the dispute.
"The EU has chosen to quickly appeal technical elements of the ruling for legal strategic reasons," said John Clancy, spokesman for EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht. "The EU's victory in this case against Boeing remains very clear for all to see," he said, referring to the WTO finding that state aid provided by Washington reached at least $5.3 billion (3.75 billion euros).
This is the latest move in a seven-year-old battle that saw last June a partial victory for Boeing, when the WTO accepted three out of seven claims by Washington that Airbus had effectively received illegal export subsidies. But both sides have appealed that ruling, so nothing has actually been resolved and, apparently, "a much bigger appeal" from Washington on the Boeing case is in the works.
You can here have some (little) sympathy with the media in giving up on this case. In many respects, both sides are as bad as each other, and both are gaming the system, to extract maximum advantage and to spin the proceedings out as long as possible. Likely, by the time they come to a resolution- if at all - most people will have forgotten what the original disputes were about.
What this basically says though, is that the system is not working ... or, at least, it is not working as intended. The effective outcome is that, if the big battalions are absolutely intent on subsidising their aviation industries, they will do so come what may, no matter what their "international obligations" are, and what any treaties might say.
Now isn't it a pity that the UK – which is a major player in the Airbus subsidy scam – could not take an equally "realistic" view of the EU treaties. |
Featured Link
Friday, April 08, 2011
The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - April 8, 2011
The Friday Brain-teaser from Credo Reference - this week: Bananas. "This brainteaser is all about bananas - which can have numerous different meanings and associations" Answers here.
1. If someone is "bananas", it is a colloquialism meaning what?
2. How many people were in the British female vocal group Bananarama?
3. What kind of food is a banana split?
4. Name the "King of Calypso" who had a Top Five hit on both sides of the Atlantic in the 1950s with "Banana Boat Song".
5. Canaan Banana was the first president of which African country?
6. "Bananas" (1971) was the title of one of the first films of which US screenwriter, actor and director?
7. Who designed the sleeve featuring a banana for the 1967 record album "The Velvet Underground and Nico"?
8. Do bananas develop from the male or female flowers of the banana plant?
9. Which British poet recorded readings of his poetry with the title of "Banana Blush" in 1974, with music by Jim Parker?
10. "BANANA" is an acronym for a person who objects to a building development even though they will not themselves be inconvenienced by it. What phrase do the letters of BANANA stand for? |
Evidence against vasoactive intestinal polypeptide being the non-adrenergic, non-cholinergic inhibitory transmitter released from nerves supplying the smooth muscle of the guinea-pig taenia coli.
Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP), located within intrinsic neurones of the guinea-pig taenia coli, has been proposed as a neurotransmitter which may mediate certain non-adrenergic, non-cholinergic effects within the gastrointestinal tract. The relaxation of the taenia coli produced by exogenous VIP has a longer latency and time to maximum than the relaxation which is obtained during electrical stimulation of the non-adrenergic, non-cholinergic nerves. The responses to exogenous VIP (0.03-1 microM) were abolished by the proteolytic enzyme alpha-chymotrypsin (1 U/ml), whereas there were no statistically significant changes in the inhibitory responses to intramural nerve stimulation (0.1-5 Hz) or exogenous ATP (0.03-100 microM), which closely mimics the nerve-mediated response. Apamin is a neurotoxin which prevents the increase in K+ conductance associated with the inhibitory junction potential produced by stimulation of the non-adrenergic, non-cholinergic inhibitory nerves. In the presence of apamin (0.005-1 microM) the responses to intramural nerve stimulation and exogenous ATP were significantly antagonised, and often converted to contractile responses. The VIP-induced relaxations during apamin treatment were not significantly decreased. These results suggest that VIP is unlikely to be the transmitter released from the non-adrenergic, non-cholinergic nerves of the guinea-pig taenia coli, and are consistent with the view that these nerves are purinergic in nature. |
Q:
Is there a way to compute an XPath from a known value in a web page?
As I understand XPath, it is a way to navigate through elements in an XML document.
The direction is XPath -> element.
How do you go the other way around? That is, compute the XPath from a known element value?
For example, how would you find the xpath of the "faq" link in the stackoverflow header ?
Language is not that important, I am more interested in the algorithm and/or libraries/techniques that would help me compute the XPath.
A:
Here's a simple JS function to do it. It uses only previousSibling, nodeType, and parentNode, so it should be portable to other languages. However, the result is not readable (for humans), and it will not be particularly robust in the face of page changes.
In my experience, XPath is more useful if written by hand. However, you can certainly make an algorithm that will generate prettier (if probably slower) results.
function getXPath(node)
{
if(node == document)
return "/";
var xpath = "";
while (node != null && node.nodeType != Node.DOCUMENT_NODE)
{
print(node.nodeType);
var pos = 1, prev;
while ((prev = node.previousSibling) != null)
{
node = prev
pos++;
}
xpath = "/node()[" + pos + "]" + xpath;
node = node.parentNode;
}
return xpath;
}
|
Breaking bad news: current prospective and practical guideline for Muslim countries.
Breaking bad news is one of the most distressing tasks which face physicians on daily basis; however, only few doctors receive formal training on this task. Disappointingly, the current status of the "breaking bad news" sector in health care systems in the Muslim countries is largely unknown. The following article attempts to address the current status of breaking bad news in the health care sector in Muslim countries and devises a practical protocol which provides a stepwise framework for breaking bad news in Muslim countries. |
Ethics in the News
Guardian
Female genital autilation (FGM) and male circumcision: should there be a separate ethical discourse?
This month, the Guardian launched a campaign in conjunction with Change.org (the petition is here) to end “female genital mutilation” (FGM) in the UK—see Dominic Wilkinson’s recent analysis on this blog. I support this campaign and I believe that FGM is impermissible. Indeed, I think that all children, whether female, intersex, or male, should be protected from having parts of their genitals removed unless there is a pressing medical indication; I think this is so regardless of the cultural or religious affiliations of the child’s parents; and I have given some arguments for this view here, here, here, here, and here. But note that some commentators are loath to accept so broadly applied an ethical principle: to discuss FGM in the same breath as male circumcision (and perhaps intersex surgeries), they think, is to “trivialize” the former and to cause all manner of moral confusion.
Consider these recent tweets by Michael Shermer, the prominent American “skeptic” and promoter of science and rationalism:
This sort of view appears to be common. One frequent claim is that FGM is analogous to “castration” or a “total penectomy,” such that any sort of comparison between it and male circumcision is entirely inappropriate (see this paper for further discussion). Some other common arguments are these:
Female genital mutilation and male circumcision are totally different. FGM is necessarily barbaric and crippling (“always torture,” according to Tanya Gold), whereas male circumcision is no big deal. Male circumcision is a “minor” intervention that might even confer health benefits, whereas FGM is a drastic intervention with no health benefits, and only causes harm. The “prime motive” for FGM is to control women’s sexuality (cf. Shermer in the tweets above); it is inherently sexist and discriminatory and is an expression of male power and domination. Male circumcision, by contrast, has nothing to do with controlling male sexuality – it’s “just a snip” and in any case “men don’t complain.” FGM eliminates the enjoyment of sex, whereas male circumcision has no meaningful effects on sexual sensation or satisfaction. It is perfectly reasonable to oppose all forms of female genital cutting while at the same time accepting or even endorsing infant male circumcision.
Yet almost every one of these claims is untrue, or is severely misleading at best. Such views derive from a superficial understanding of both FGM and male circumcision; and they are inconsistent with the latest critical scholarship concerning these and related practices. Their constant repetition in popular discourse, therefore—including by those like Shermer with a large and loyal audience base—is unhelpful to advancing moral debate.
What is going on here?
To see the source of the problem, we need to begin by defining our terms—“FGM” and “male circumcision.” For FGM, The World Health Organization (WHO) gives us four major types, with multiple subdivisions:
Type I — Partial or total removal of the clitoris and/or the prepuce (clitoridectomy). Type Ia, removal of the clitoral hood or prepuce only; Type Ib, removal of the clitoris with the prepuce.
Type II — Partial or total removal of the clitoris and the labia minora, with or without excision of the labia majora (excision). Type IIa, removal of the labia minora only; Type IIb, partial or total removal of the clitoris and the labia minora; Type IIc, partial or total removal of the clitoris, the labia minora and the labia majora.
Type III — Narrowing of the vaginal orifice with creation of a covering seal by cutting and appositioning the labia minora and/or the labia majora, with or without excision of the clitoris (infibulation). Type IIIa, removal and apposition of the labia minora; Type IIIb, removal and apposition of the labia majora.
Type IV — All other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes, for example: pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterization.
The first thing to notice about this list is that “FGM” is not just one thing. Disturbingly, there are many different ways to nick, scratch, or cut off parts of a girl’s vulva, ranging from, at the lowest end of the “harm” spectrum, pricking the clitoral hood (under anesthesia, and with sterile surgical equipment, as was proposed in the “Seattle Compromise” — note that this would qualify under FGM Type IV), up through various types of ‘piercing’ that do not necessarily remove tissue (of course, such piercing is common in ‘Western’ countries as a form of perceived “cosmetic enhancement”*), to interventions that alter the labia, but not the clitoris (the clinical term is labiaplasty – note that this is also popular in ‘Western’ countries), to, at the highest end, excising the (external) clitoris with a shard of glass and stitching together the labia with thorns. It is important to point out that the most severe types of FGM (such as the form just mentioned) are comparatively rare, whereas it is the more minor and intermediate forms that are more common.
* Nota bene, such “cosmetic enhancement” surgeries in ‘Western’ countries are typically carried out under conditions of informed consent (a point to which I will return, as I think the moral analysis turns on this factor), although there is an alarming trend among some teenage girls in these countries — some as young as 13 or 14 — of having their labia reduced (or undergoing other forms of “designer vagina” surgery), apparently with the permission of their parents. Global health agencies such as the WHO, however, have been strangely silent on this issue, preferring instead to focus their FGM-eradication efforts almost entirely on the continent of Africa.
In this African context, genital cutting (of whatever degree of severity) is most commonly performed around puberty, and is done to boys and girls alike. In most cases, the major social function of the cutting is to mark the transition from childhood to adulthood, and it is typically performed in the context an elaborate ceremony. Increasingly, however, African, Middle Eastern, Indonesian, and Malaysian genital alterations (again, of both boys and girls) are being carried out in hospital settings by trained medical professionals—and on infants as opposed to teenagers–on the model of male circumcision in the United States.
It is rarely pointed out that the frequency and severity of complications are a function of the extent and circumstances of the operation, and it is not usually recognized that much of [our] information comes from studies of the Sudan, where most women are infibulated. The ill-health and death that these practices are thought to cause are difficult to reconcile with the reality of their persistence in so many societies, and raises the question of a possible discrepancy between our “knowledge” of their harmful effects and the behavior of millions of women and their families.
Notwithstanding these gradient differences for types FGM, as well as the gradient consequences that vary along with them, all forms of FGM—no matter how sterilized or minor—are deemed to be mutilations. All are prohibited in Western democracies. Again: I am in support of the motives behind such legislation. I do not think that a sharp object should be taken to any girl’s vulva unless it is to save her life or health, or unless she has given her fully-informed consent to undergo the procedure. In the latter case, of course, she wouldn’t be a “girl” anymore, but rather an adult woman, who can make a decision about her own body.
What about male circumcision?
The story is very different when it comes to male circumcision. In no jurisdiction is the practice prohibited, and in many it is not even restricted: in some countries, including in the United States, anyone, with any instrument, and any degree of medical training (including none) can attempt to perform a circumcision on a non-consenting child—sometimes with disastrous consequences. As Davis notes, “States currently regulate the hygienic practices of those who cut our hair and our fingernails … so why not a baby’s genitals?”
But just like FGM, circumcision is not a monolith; it isn’t just one kind of thing. The original Jewish form of circumcision (until about 150 AD) was comparatively minor: it involved cutting off the overhanging tip of the foreskin—whatever stretched over the end of the glans—thus preserving (most of) the foreskin’s protective and mechanical functions, as well as reducing the amount of erogenous tissue removed. The “modern” form is substantially more invasive: it removes one-third to one-half of the motile skin system of the penis (about 50 square centimeters of sensitive tissue in the adult organ), eliminates the gliding function of the foreskin (see here for a video demonstration), and exposes the head of the penis to environmental irritation.
Circumcision—and other forms of male genital cutting—are performed at different ages, in different environments, with different tools, by different groups, for different reasons. Traditional Muslim circumcisions are done while the boy is fully conscious, between ages 5 and 8, or possibly later; American (non-religious) circumcisions are done in a hospital, in the first few days of life, with or without an anesthetic (usually without), and using a range of different clamps and cutting devices; metzitzah b’peh, done by some ultra-Orthodox Jews, involves the sucking of blood from the circumcision wound, and carries the risk of herpes infection and permanent brain damage; subincision, carried out in aboriginal Australia and elsewhere, involves slicing open the urethral passage on the underside of the penis from the scrotum to the glans, often affecting urination as well as sexual function; circumcision among the Xhosa in South Africa is done as a rite of passage, in the bush, with spearheads, dirty knives, and other non-sterile equipment, and frequently causes hemorrhage, infection, mangling, and loss of the penis—see here for some disturbing pictures—as well as a very high rate of death. But even “hospitalized” or “minor” circumcisions are not without their risks and complications: in 2011, nearly a dozen boys were treated for “life threatening haemorrhage, shock or sepsis” as a result of their non-therapeutic circumcisions at a single children’s hospital in Birmingham in England.
Here is the important point. When people speak of “FGM” they are (apparently) thinking of the most severe forms of female genital cutting, done in the least sterile environments, with the most drastic consequences likeliest to follow. This is so, notwithstanding the fact that such forms are the exception rather than the rule. When people speak of “male circumcision” (by contrast) they are (apparently) thinking of the least severe forms of male genital cutting, done in the most sterile environments, with the least drastic consequences likeliest to follow–because this is the form with which they are culturally familiar. This then leads to the impression that “FGM” and “male circumcision” are “totally different” with the first being barbaric and crippling, and the latter being benign or even health-conferring (on which more in just a moment). Yet as the anthropologist Zachary Androus has written:
The attitude that male circumcision is harmless [happens to be] consistent with Western cultural values and practices, while any such procedures performed on girls is totally alien to Western cultural values. [However] the fact of the matter is that what’s done to some girls [in some cultures] is worse than what’s done to some boys, and what’s done to some boys [in some cultures] is worse than what’s done to some girls. By collapsing all of the many different types of procedures performed into a single set for each sex, categories are created that do not accurately describe any situation that actually occurs anywhere in the world.
So it depends on what you’re talking about. Do those who oppose FGM (and that includes me) think (as I do) that even certain “minor” or “medicalized” forms of such cutting—done without consent, and without a medical indication—are inconsistent with medical ethics, deeply-rooted moral and legal ideals about bodily integrity, the principle of personal autonomy, and a child’s interest in an open future? Or is it only the wholesale removal of the clitoris – with a broken piece of glass – that inspires such condemnation? If the former is the case, then consistency would seem to require that one be opposed to the non-therapeutic, non-consensual circumcision of boys as well: not only is it much more invasive than several “minor” (yet prohibited) forms of FGM, but it is numerically a much greater problem, occurring several millions of times per year.
Cutting comes in degrees. Consequences vary. This is true for boys and for girls alike, and at some point the harms overlap. As a result of this realization, many scholars of ritual cutting are choosing to abandon the terms “FGM” and “male circumcision” (which presume a strict moral difference between them), and are using instead such terms as FGC, MGC, and IGC. These stand for female, male, and intersexgenital cutting respectively; and they make no moral claims per se. Instead, the moral character of the genital cutting—regardless the person’s gender—can be assessed separately in terms of actual physical harms, as well with respect to such considerations as whether the cutting is therapeutic, consensual, or otherwise.
So let’s not be misled. There are many kinds of “FGM” as well as many kinds of “male circumcision” and the consequences vary for each one. But perhaps there are some other important differences between male and female forms of genital cutting – apart the sex or gender of the person being cut – that could serve to justify their strict separation in terms of ethical discussion. Let’s look at some further possibilities, from the set of common arguments I listed above.
Both parts of this claim are misleading. First, how do we know that “FGM” (or FGC, as I’ll say from now on) does not confer health benefits? Certainly the most extreme types of FGC will not contribute to good health on balance, but neither will the spearheads-and-dirty-knives versions of genital cutting on boys. What about other forms of FGC? Defenders of FGC—including some medical professionals in countries where FGC is culturally normative—regularly cite such “health benefits” as improved genital hygiene as a reason to continue the practice, and at least one study has shown a link between FGC and reduced transmission of HIV! Indeed, the vulva has all sorts of warm, moist places where bacteria or viruses could get trapped, such as underneath the clitoral hood, or among the folds of the labia; so who is to say that removing some of that tissue (with a sterile surgical tool) might not reduce the risk of various diseases?
Fortunately, it’s impossible to perform this type of research in the West, because any scientist who tried to do so would be arrested under anti-FGM laws (and would never get approval from an ethics review board). So we simply do not know. As a consequence of this, every time you see the claim that “FGM has no health benefits”–a claim that has become something of a mantra for the WHO–you should read this as saying, “we actually don’t know if certain minor, sterilized forms of FGM have health benefits, because it is unethical, and would be illegal, to find out.”
Indeed, Western societies don’t seem to think that “health benefits” are particularly relevant to the question of whether we should be cutting off parts of the external genitalia of healthy girls. Without the girl’s consent, or a medical diagnosis, it’s seen as impermissible no matter what. By contrast, a small and insistent group of (mostly American) scientists have taken it upon themselves to promote infant male circumcision, by conducting study after well-funded study to determine just what kinds of “health benefits” might follow from cutting off parts of the penis. Why is there a double standard here? (Actually, there is an answer to this question; and it hinges on prejudicial cultural influences on what constitutes science and medicine—as well as on what sorts of research questions are deemed worthy of funding, among other problematic factors.)
Let’s look at one example of a “health benefit” that has been attributed to MGC: a lowered risk of acquiring a urinary tract infection. When it comes to girls, who get UTIs after the age of 1 fully 10 times more frequently than boys do, doctors prescribe antibiotics and try other conservative treatments; they also encourage girls to wash their genitals and practice decent hygiene. When it comes to boys, however, circumcision apologists tout the wisdom of performing non-therapeutic, non-consensual genital surgery, to the tune of 111 circumcisions to prevent a single case of UTI. Yet as Benatar and Benatar explain, “UTI does not occur in 99.85% of circumcised infant males and in 98.5% of un-circumcised infant boys.” And when it does occur, against those odds, it is both “easily diagnosed and treatable with low morbidity and [low] mortality.” So let’s review: washing the genitals for girls, foreskin amputation for boys?
With respect to reducing rates of HIV transmission in Africa—another health benefit that is frequently cited for MGC—remember that those studies were carried out on adult volunteers under conditions of informed consent, not on infants. I have no problem with a mature adult requesting surgery to remove a part of his own penis as a form of partial prophylaxis against HIV (in environments with very high base rates of such infection); that is certainly his right. Of course he would need to wear a condom either way to achieve any kind of reliable protection, but it’s his body, and it’s his decision to make. It’s quite a different matter, however, to circumcise an infant—who is not at risk of HIV or other STIs unless he is molested, who cannot consent to the procedure in the first place, and who might prefer to practice safe sex strategies when he does become sexually active, rather than forfeit a part of his penis. See here, here, here, here, and here for further discussion of the “health benefits” arguments for MGC. The upshot is that they are not compelling, particularly in developed nations with functioning healthcare systems and access to soap and clean water.
So what other differences between FGC and MCG might justify their strict compartmentalization? Back to the arguments from above:
The “prime motive” of FGM is to control women’s sexualities – it is sexist and an expression of male power and domination. Male circumcision has nothing to do with controlling male sexuality.
There is a lot to say here. First, female genital cutting is performed for different reasons at different times in different cultures; likewise for male genital cutting. Contrary to common wisdom, however, it is not the case that FGC is uniformly “about” the control of female sexuality. For example, in Sierra Leone:
Among the Kono there is no cultural obsession with feminine chastity, virginity, or women’s sexual fidelity, perhaps because the role of the biological father is considered marginal and peripheral to the central ‘matricentric unit.’ … Kono culture promulgates a dual-sex ideology … [The] power of Bundu, the women’s secret sodality [i.e., initiation society that manages FGC ceremonies], suggest positive links between excision, women’s religious ideology, their power in domestic relations, and their high profile in the ‘public arena.’
In nearly every place that FGC is performed, it is carried out by women (rather than by men) who do not typically view it as an expression of patriarchy, but who instead believe that it is hygienic (see above), as well as beautifying, even empowering, and as an important rite of passage with high cultural value. (The claim that such women are simply “brainwashed” is a gross oversimplification.) At the same time, the “rite of passage” ceremonies for boys in these societies are carried out by men; these are done in parallel, under similar conditions, and for similar reasons–and often with similar (or even worse) consequences for health and sexuality: see this discussion by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Nevertheless, anthropological research does suggest that FGC is, in some cultures–especially in Northeast Africa and parts of the Middle East–intimately tied up with sexist expressions of patriarchal values; in these settings, the emphasis on female sexual ‘purity’ can more readily be discerned. As I have argued elsewhere, such an asymmetrical focus on female virginity in Islam (as expressed through genital cutting as well as through other practices) is extremely problematic and morally unjustifiable. However, it is important to note that, speaking generally:
The empirical association between patriarchy and genital surgeries is not well established. The vast majority of the world’s societies can be described as patriarchal, and most either do not modify the genitals of either sex or modify the genitals of males only. There are almost no patriarchal societies with customary genital surgeries for females only. Across human societies there is a broad range of cultural attitudes concerning female sexuality—from societies that press for temperance, restraint, and the control of sexuality to those that are more permissive and encouraging of sexual adventures and experimentation—but these differences do not correlate strongly with the presence or absence of female genital surgeries.
… the mainstream anti-FGC position is premised upon an orientalizing construction of FGC societies as primitive, patriarchal, and barbaric, and of female circumcision as a harmful, unnecessary cultural practice based on patriarchal gender norms and ritualistic beliefs. … Lambasting African societies and practices (while failing to critique similar practices in the United States) … essentially implies that North American understandings of the body are “scientific” (i.e., rational, civilized, and based on universally acknowledged expertise), while African understandings are “cultural” (i.e., superstitious, un-civilized, and based on false, socially constructed beliefs). [Yet] neither of these depictions is accurate. North American medicine is not free of cultural influence, and FGC practices are not bound by culture—at least not in the uniform way imagined by opponents.
In the case of anti-FGC advocacy, the voice of “brown women” is almost entirely absent, literally silenced by an insistence that the horrendousness of the practice precludes any possible positive evaluation, and therefore the only valid voices are those that condemn FGC. All contradictory testimony is dismissed as the result of “brainwashing,” “false consciousness,” “fear of male reprisal,” “anti-Westernism”, “ignorance,” or other forms of willful or unwillful complicity.
What about the other side of things? The usual claim is that male circumcision has “nothing to do” with controlling male sexuality. While it is probably true that most contemporary, Western parents who choose circumcision for their children do not do so out of a desire to “control” their sexuality (just as is true of most African parents who choose “circumcision” for their daughters), male genital cutting has been historically steeped in just such a desire, and it is implicated in problematic expressions of power to this day. Contrary to common wisdom, male genital cutting has indeed been used as a form of sexual control, and even punishment, for a very long time; the Jewish philosopher Maimonides argued that diminished sexual sensitivity was part of the point of doing circumcisions (to reduce excessive “lust” as well as “concupiscence”); circumcision was adopted into Western medicine in the Victorian period largely as a means to combat masturbation (as well as other expressions of juvenile sexuality); and forced circumcision of enemies has been used as a means of humiliation since time immemorial: this practice continues among the Luo of Kenya among numerous other groups. To return to the specific question of patriarchy, in Judaism, only the boys are allowed to “seal the divine covenant,” so the ritual is sexist on its face.
But it’s different in different communities. Moreover, the “reasons” given by most parents are not necessarily the same as the “reasons” the practice originally came about, nor the “reasons” for which it was consciously performed (i.e., as a “cure” for masturbation) in previous eras. As the renowned anti-FGC activist Hanny Lightfoot-Klein has stated: “The [main] reasons given for female circumcision in Africa and for routine male circumcision in the United States are essentially the same. Both promise cleanliness and the absence of odors as well as greater attractiveness and acceptability.”
So what are the implications here? Given that both male and female forms of genital cutting express different cultural norms depending upon the context, and are performed for different reasons in different cultures, and even in different communities or individual families, how are we meant to assess the permissibility of either one? Do we need to interview each set of parents to make sure that their proposed act of cutting is intended as an expression of acceptable norms? If they promise that it isn’t about “sexual control” in their specific case, but rather about “hygiene” or “aesthetics” or something less symbolically problematic, should they be permitted to go ahead? But this is bound to fail. Every parent who requests a genital-altering surgery for their child – for whatever reason under the sun – thinks that they are acting in the child’s best interests; no one thinks that they are “mutilating” their own offspring. Thus it is not the reason for the intervention that determines its permissibility, but rather the consequences of the intervention for the person whose genitals are actually on the line. So what kinds of consequences follow from FGC and MGC? Let us clear up one familiar legend:
Male circumcision is “just a snip” and in any case “men don’t complain.”
Before addressing these oft-repeated claims about male genital cutting, let us reflect on the analogous female forms that tend to dominate popular discussions. The interventions associated with extreme forms of FGC are gut-wrenching to think about. Many people find FGC to be “barbaric” and “inhumane” in part because they can call to mind grotesque and vivid images of slicing and cutting—perhaps with a shard of glass—and they react with a mix of sadness, horror, and disgust. Much less disturbing, however, are the images apparently called to mind by male circumcision, as evidenced by the widely repeated (but false) declaration that circumcision is “just a snip.”
Flinching or crying out was a sign of weakness and stigmatized one’s manhood. I was determined not to disgrace myself, the group or my guardian. Circumcision is a trial of bravery and stoicism; no anaesthetic is used; a man must suffer in silence. [Before] I knew it, the old man was kneeling in front of me. … Without a word, he took my foreskin, pulled it forward, and then, in a single motion, brought down his assegai [knife]. I felt as if fire was shooting through my veins; the pain was so intense that I buried my chin in my chest. Many seconds seemed to pass before I remembered the cry, and then I recovered and called out, ‘Ndiyindoda!’ [‘I am a man!’]
In infant circumcision, the “snip”—if there is one—only comes at the end: the foreskin must first be separated from the head of the penis, to which it is adhered throughout much of childhood, then it is either stretched out and sliced, or crushed, or torn, or even strangled to the point of necrosis. When any of these things is done with unsterilized equipment, by a medically untrained practitioner, in environments with limited access to healthcare, the risk of serious infection, loss of the penis, and death is dramatically increased. I suggest that readers of this blog watch this video (of a hospitalized, American circumcision) or this one (of a traditional Muslim circumcision) or this one (of a Jewish circumcision), or this one (of a circumcision in Uganda) so that they can permanently lay to rest the idea that circumcision is “just a snip.” It is time to retire this phrase; it should not be used any more.
As to the notion that “men don’t complain” – that is simply false. Just as some women who have undergone forms of FGC complain passionately about what was done to them without their consent, so too do some men who have undergone forms of MGC. Here are some examples of thoughtful and articulate complaints about MGC by resentful, circumcised men: here, here, here, and here. This man lost his penis. Several thousands of men are attempting “foreskin restoration,” which is an arduous process of stretching skin from the shaft of the penis using weights, tapes, and other materials, in an attempt to “restore” some semblance of their pre-circumcised state. This is not an insignificant number. Of course, when men do complain, their feelings are often trivialized; but they continue to complain nevertheless – in increasing numbers, and ever more vocally as they find the courage to speak out.
Many men do not complain, of course; but then many women who have undergone various forms of FGC do not complain either: in a survey of 3,805 Sudanese women, of whom 89% had experienced FGC, 96% said they would do it to their daughters and 90% favored the continuation of the practice generally. Yet it is enough that some men do complain, and that some women do as well: in both cases a healthy part of their body was removed, and without their informed permission. In Western societies, we teach our citizens that they have a right to bodily integrity: we forbid the tattooing of children, for example, and we tell them that adults should not so much as touch them inappropriately. In this sort of social and legal environment, complaints about having a part of one’s genitals removed without one’s own consent should be treated with serious concern. Finally:
FGM eliminates the enjoyment of sex, whereas male circumcision has no meaningful effects on sexual sensation or satisfaction.
Again, this depends. Obviously more minor forms of FGC – such as ritual ‘pricking,’ some kinds of piercing, or even removal of the vaginal lips – will not eliminate erogenous sensation; however, does this make any of these interventions permissible, if they are done without consent? The answer, in my opinion, is “no.” Even the risk of damaging sensitive nerve tissue with a ‘prick’ should be avoided unless the person taking on the risk is acting freely as an informed adult. Or what about removing “just” the clitoral hood? The clitoris might lose some sensitivity over time, as it rubs against environmental factors (just as the penile glans seems to do after male circumcision; in fact the clitoral hood and the foreskin are anatomically analogous structures), but perhaps some sensation would be preserved, and in any case sexual enjoyment cannot be reduced to stimulation of the clitoris or even ability-to-orgasm. Does that make ”clitoral unhooding” OK?
Not if it’s done without consent.
Finally, what about one of the most invasive forms of FGC – the excision of the external clitoris? According to a recent review published by the reputable Hastings Center, “Research by gynecologists and others has demonstrated that a high percentage of women who have had genital surgery [including excision] have rich sexual lives, including desire, arousal, orgasm, and satisfaction, and their frequency of sexual activity is not reduced.” Indeed, in one study, up to 86% of women who had undergone even “extreme” forms of FGC reported the ability to orgasm, and “the majority of the interviewed women (90.51%) reported that sex gives them pleasure.” These counterintuitive findings might be explained by the fact that much of the clitoris (including most of its erectile tissue) is actually underneath the skin and is therefore not removed by even the most invasive types of FGC: only the glans of the clitoris (the “part that sticks out”) can be excised. But this does not make the surgery somehow “OK.” Every girl’s body is different, and the value she will end up placing on having an intact clitoral glans cannot be known in advance–even in cultures in which the glans is socially stigmatized. At the end of the day, if a fully-informed adult woman chooses genital surgery for herself, it may be permissible on some analyses. However, it is not permissible on children.
What about male circumcision? The same sort of reasoning applies. While the majority of circumcised men (whose circumcisions were not seriously “botched”) report that they experience sexual pleasure during intercourse, and even enjoy sex quite a lot: (a) they do not have a point of comparison, unless they were circumcised in adulthood, so they cannot know what sex would feel like had they not been circumcised (the same point applies to FGC done early enough in childhood) (b) the risk that a “botch” might in fact occur means that the surgery should be undertaken voluntarily, insofar as it is non-therapeutic in nature, (c) some men whose circumcisions did not result in “botches” may nevertheless experience adverse sexual outcomes, simply through the loss of erogenous tissue, and (d) some men’s sexual experiences are hampered via psychological mechanisms, including through the resentment they may feel at having been circumcised before they could object.
Scientists are divided over the “average” effect of (expertly performed, perfectly executed) circumcision on key sexual outcome variables. What is not controversial, however, is that any sensation in the foreskin itself is guaranteed to be eliminated by circumcision (just as any sensation in the labia or the clitoral glans will be eliminated by labiaplasty or excision, respectively), as are “any sexually-relevant functions associated with [the foreskin’s] manipulation. In other words, a man without a foreskin cannot ‘play’ with his foreskin, nor can he glide it back and forth during sex. That these can be pleasurable activities, with great subjective value to genitally intact men and their partners, is uncontroversial.” Finally, the most extreme forms of male genital cutting (e.g., when it leads to penile amputation) eliminate sexual capacity altogether.
As Sara Johnsdotter has pointed out, there is no 1:1 relationship between the amount of genital tissue removed (in either males or females), and subjective satisfaction while having sex, so “FGM” (and male “circumcision”)—of whatever degree of severity—will affect different people differently. Each individual’s relationship to their own body is unique, including what they find aesthetically appealing, what degree of risk they feel comfortable taking on when it comes to elective surgeries on their “private parts,” and even what degree of sexual sensitivity they prefer (for personal or cultural reasons). Thus each individual should be left to decide what to do with his or her own genitals when it comes to irreversible surgery.
To summarize, if “FGM” is wrong because it “destroys sexual pleasure” – then forms of “FGM” that do not destroy sexual pleasure must (on this logic) be considered permissible, or else they should be given a different name. But if “FGM” is wrong because it involves cutting into the genitals of a vulnerable child, without a medical indication and without consent, thereby exposing the child to surgical risk (without the presence of any disease), and (in some cases) removing a healthy part of her body that she might later wish she could have experienced intact, then male circumcision is equally wrong on those grounds. This is true whether sexual pleasure is “destroyed” or whether it isn’t, and whether a complaint is made later or not.
Explaining the double standard
Given everything that has been said so far about the relevant objective “overlaps” between male and female genital cutting, why exactly have they become so compartmentalized? Rebecca Steinfeld, a political scientist at Stanford who studies ritual cutting, has speculated as follows:
Alongside the differences in harm and misperceptions about the contrasting settings and ages at which the procedures take place, the double standard stems from two further factors: sexism and ethnocentrism. Male bodies are constructed as resistant to harm or even in need of being tested by painful ordeals, whereas female bodies are seen as highly vulnerable and in need of protection. In other words, vulnerability is gendered. And little girls are more readily seen as victims than little boys. The consequence of this … is that patriarchy often allows men’s experiences to remain unquestioned.
Familiarity also creates comfort, and since MGC has been practised in the West for millennia and been routine in English-speaking countries for a century, we’re desensitised. By contrast, since FGC is geographically or culturally remote, it’s more liable to be seen as barbaric.
On this last point, Andrew DeLaney (unpublished manuscript) gives a similar analysis:
It is safe to say that [male genital cutting] is a norm in the United States, despite any activists’ efforts to raise awareness about it. In the words of one law professor describing her generation, “Everyone was circumcised.” … FGM, on the other hand, is likely a completely foreign idea to the vast majority of people living in the United States or the rest of the western world, with the only exposure to it being horrific reports that are presented based on cases or reports out of Africa. With this being the case, moral objection to the practice of FGM is taken as self-evident, with research and activism being conflated and data on FGM that is sometimes not actually investigated taken as true. All the while, [male genital cutting] occurs as a completely normalized practice.
To return to the Guardian and the Change.org petition, it is of course to be welcomed that a prominent global newspaper is campaigning to protect the rights of girls to be free from non-therapeutic, nonconsensual cutting into their genital organs. I cannot state enough that I am in support of such efforts (although I do not favor the use of the term “FGM” for the reasons I have already given). My argument has been that they should not be stopping there. Female, male, and intersex genital cutting should be done exclusively with a medical indication or with the informed consent of the individual. Children of whatever gender should not have healthy parts of their most intimate sexual organs removed, before such a time as they can understand what is at stake in such a surgery and agree to it themselves. It is time to stop the compartmentalization exhibited by Shermer and others and recognize that there is “1 cause” here: respecting children’s rights and protecting them from harm. |
Eclipta alba
Eclipta Alba (False Daisy) is a herb that has traditional usage as a liver tonic in Ayurveda. It appears to have preliminary evidence to suggest hair growth promotion as potent as Minoxidil and some anti-diabetic effects as well as liver protection.
Summary (All Essential Benefits/Effects/Facts & Information)
Summary
Eclipta Alba (False Daisy) is a herb that has traditionally been used in Ayurvedic medicine for being a liver tonic (for which it is one of the more effective herbs apparently) and having beneficial effects on diabetes, eye health, and hair growth.
In regards to these claims, it appears to have some anti-diabetic effects in animal studies with the mechanism of action not yet known. Hair regrowth has been noted in repeated studies with the petroleum ether extract mostly, and its potency rivals that of Minoxidil at 2% solution; combination thrapy of Eclipta Alba with two other herbs (Citrullus Colocynthis and Cuscuta Reflexa) has outperformed Minoxidil according to one study.
Eye health does not have any direct studies on it despite its historical claims, although the one human intervention noted that 7.5% of the sample consuming 3g of the leaves daily claimed they had better eyesight; this study was blinded, and constitutes the only evidence for eye health claims. In a way it is promising (3g of the leaves themselves over 60 days improving eye health even when paricipants were unaware this could be an effect of treatment) but it does not constitute sufficient evidence in and of itself.
Beyond the possible eye/hair benefits and the liver protection, other possible benefits of Eclipta Alba are lessened anger (two animal studies, moderate oral doses), pain reduction (dose dependent, which outperfomed Aspirin when consumed at higher doses of 500mg/kg rats; 80mg/kg ethanolic extract in humans) a reduction in blood pressure, diuretic effects, with at least one study suggesting some benefit to the immune system (increasing macrophage and white blood cell activity).
A possibly promising herb for wellness and beauty, but requires more studies on it.
Is a Form of
Goes Well With
Caution Notice
How to Take (recommended dosage, active amounts, other details)
Currently, the only human study using Eclipta Alba merely consumed 3,000mg of the leaves. This study did not use a particular extract, but crushed and encapsulated the leaves themselves.
Benefits are seen with the petroleum ether extract on hair growth (up to 5% of solution when applied topically) and the ethanolic extract for pain reduction (dose dependent up to 500mg/kg in rats, which is 80mg/kg in human equivalence).
Studies Found
None
Human Effect Matrix
The Human Effect Matrix looks at human studies (excluding animal/petri-dish studies) to tell you what effect Eclipta alba has in your body, and how strong these effects are.
Grade
Level of Evidence
A
Robust research conducted with repeated double blind clinical trials
B
Multiple studies where at least two are double-blind and placebo controlled
1. Source and Composition
1.1. Sources
Eclipta Alba (of the family Asteraceae) is a herb called bhringraj in Ayurveda and is most well known for being a liver tonic and beneficial for hair.[1] It has also been used for anti-viral and anti-venom purposes (usually snake venom), with preliminary evidence for the latter claim[2] and a fair bit of evidence for the former (see section on the liver). This herb appears to be said to be the best Ayurvedic option for liver cirrhosis and infective hepatitis.[3]
Other names for this herb include Trailing Eclipta,[4] Bhringaraja[5] and Eclipta Prostata appears to be synonymous.[3]
Mostly a liver tonic, sometimed used against venoms and viruses; has some reported eye and hair benefits
1.2. Composition
The coumestans Wedelolactone and Desmethylwedelolactone,[3][9][1] which can reach 15.9% and 3.5% of ethyl acetate extractions and 1.6% Wedelolactone content in ethanolic fractions.[3] These tend to be seen as the active ingredients
Main bioactive is thought to be Wedelolactone (and by extension, Desmethylwedelolactone). The alkaloids that are built off of Echinocystic Acid (Ecliptasaponin, Eclalbatin, and Eclalbasaponin I-V) may also be relevant as they are unique to this herb
It should be noted that both Wedelolactone and Desmethylwedelolactone have trypsin inhibitory potential (2.9 and 3.0ug/mL respectively);[19] this may reduce dietary protein absorption.
One trial attempting to detect a Nicotine content of Eclipta Alba (which is reported at times) failed to find such a content.[10]
2. Interactions with Neurology
2.1. Learning
A water extract of Eclipta Alba at 100-200mg/kg bodyweight given to rats orally 60 minutes prior to an Elevated Plus Maze test (assessing transfer latency) noted a significant decrease in transfer latency in a dose-dependent manner, with only 200mg/kg being statistically significant (outperforming control by 19% on day one and by 35% on day two).[20] Dose and time dependent improvements in memory also appeared in mice given a spatial habitual learning test with the same 100-200mg/kg bodyweight dosing.[20]
Another trial in rats noted that ingestion of 300mg/kg aqueous extract or 30mg/kg Hydrolyzed extract improved performance on Cook's Pole Apparatus, indicative of nootropic potential; Eclipta Alba underperformed relative to the active control Piracetam at 100mg/kg.[21]
Possible enhancement of learning at high doses, seems pretty weak when compared to even a low dose of Piracetam
2.2. Anxiety and Stress
One study assessing anxiolytic potential of Eclipta Alba failed to note any reductions in anxiety at 30-300mg/kg of the water or hydroalcoholic extracts, although no reduction in locomotor ability or motor control occured either.[21] Some anti-stress parameters were noted, with 300mg/kg water extract and 30mg/kg Hydrolyzed extract reducing cold-shock induced ulcer size, but to a lesser degree than 2mg/kg Diazepam.[21]
No notable effects on anxiety or stress at this moment in time
2.3. Neuroprotection
Eclipta Alba hydroalcoholic extract at 250-500mg/kg given for 10 days prior to bilateral common carotid artery (BCCA) injury and 4 hours of reperfusion noted that Eclipta Alba at both doses was associated with improvement in oxidative biomarkers in the brain (MDA, SOD, Glutathione enzymes) although weaker than the active control of 20mg/kg Quercetin injections.[22] 500mg/kg Eclipta Alba appeared to reduce edema to the same degree as the active control, and was similar in regards to reducing the measurable size of the infract (although trended to be less potent).[22]
Appears to be able to protect the brain from neural injury (via antioxidative purposes supposedly), but does not appear to be too potent relative to Quercetin injections
2.4. Aggression
A rat study on maternal aggression using 100-500mg/kg water extract of Eclipta Alba for a period of 15 or 30 days noted that supplementation dose-dependently reduced aggression in mother rats with the highest dose (500mg/kg) being equally effective as 1mg/kg Diazepam as active control.[4] Specifically, the test was placing an unknown intruder male rat into the cage on postpartum days 4 and 8 (when aggression is usually highest) and observing how frequently the mother attacks this rat; quantifying the bites, flanks, lunges, and how long it takes to attack.[4] These anti-aggressive effects have been noted previously in male rats at 100-200mg/kg in response to a foot shock test, and at 200mg/kg in a water competition test (competing with other rats for limited access to water).[23]
Appears to have anti-aggressive actions, which may be related to anxiety reducing actions; bioactive is currently unknown, and there it appears to be as anti-agressive as Diazepam at 1mg/kg in rats
2.5. Pain
In Ayurveda, the leaves of fresh Eclipta Alba have been rubbed against gums to alleviate toothaches due to their purported analgesic effects.[24] A subsequent tested was conducted with the ethanolic fractions in mice in a battery of pain tests (tail flick, writhing method, tail pinch method) Eclipta appeared to have dose-dependent pain reducing effects attributable to the alkaloids, with 500mg/kg ethanolic extract or 150mg/kg alkaloids outperforming 50mg/kg Codeine (tail pinch test) and 300mg/kg Aspirin (tail flick test and writhing test); 250mg/kg ethanolic extract of Eclipta Alba was equally effective to the reference drugs.[24] One comparative study (assessing pain relieving plants of Brazilian medicine) using the leaves of Eclipta Alba (100-200mg/kg hydroalcoholic extract orally) noted that although the pain-reducing effects were replicated in an acetic acid writhing, formalin test that it underperformed to both Morphine (2.5mg/kg) and Justicia pectoralis; Eclipta Alba was the most effective herb in a carrageenan-induced edema test, but underperformed Indomethacin (2mg/kg),[25] and elsewhere it has been noted that moderate doses of Eclipta (200mg/kg ethanolic extract) are comparable, but not greater, than the active controls of Aspirin and Morphine.[26]
Naloxone (1mg/kg) did not abolish the effects of Eclipta Alba, suggesting the observed effects are not opioid related.[25] The combination of Eclipta Alba with Aspirin or Morphine does not appear to enhance the effects of the two pharmaceutical painkillers.[26]
Appears to have pain killing effects, with 200mg/kg of the ethanolic extract in rats (32mg/kg) being as potent as Aspirin in one study and 500mg/kg of the ethanolic extract (80mg/kg) being more potent. Limited evidence in assessing exactly how potent it is, but the pain reducing effects appear to be repeated and reliable in rats; no human evidence
3. Cardiovascular Health
3.1. Blood Pressure
One intervention in persons with mild hypertension given 3g of the leaves of Eclipta (quite literally crushed powder in capsules, no extraction) daily with 1g at each main meal for a 60 day single blind trial noted that systolic blood pressure was reduced 19% and diastolic 11% relative to placebo (with no effects at the 15 day timepoint).[27] A time-dependent reduction in mean arterial pressure was noted.[27]
One study noting reductions in blood pressure, may be related to the diuretic effects (see the section on the bladder)
3.2. Cholesterol and Lipids
In mildly hypertensive adults, 3g Eclipta Alba for 60 days is able to reduce triglycerides from 145.19+/-38.66mg/dL to 124.90+/-36.83mg/dL (-14%) while reducing lipid peroxides 18% (an antioxidative effect);[27] LDL and vLDL were also reduced 25% and 14% with no influence on HDL-C.[27]
May reduce cholesterol and triglycerides in humans, only one pilot study and no animal evidence
4. Interactions with Glucose Metabolism
4.1. Absorption
There appear to be α-glucosidase enzyme inhibitors in Eclipta Alba, with one compound called Eclalbasaponin VI being the most potent with an IC50 value of 54.2+/-1.3mM via uncompetitive inhibition.[16] An ethanolic extract in general inhibits 85% of the enzyme at 100µg/mL (IC50 54µg/mL) via noncompetitive inhibition.[28]
At least one study notes an acute reduction of blood glucose by 10.8-17.6% in diabetic rats following 100-250mg/kg of an ethanolic extract of Eclipta Alba when measured 5 hours after ingestion of the extract and a sucrose challenge, which was comparable to Arcabose at 100mg/kg (19.8%).[28]
Some compounds in Eclipta Alba may inhibit starch digestion and absorption, with at least one study suggesting that this inhibition is comparable to Arcabose when 250mg/kg of the ethanolic extract is compared against 100mg/kg Arcabose
4.2. Mechanisms
The ethanolic extract of Eclipta Alba appears to inhibit the Aldose Reductase enzyme with an IC50 value of 4.5µg/mL, with 10µg/mL inhibiting 88.6% of the enzyme's activity; this outperformed the active control of Quercetin dehydrate (20µM).[28]
May also inhibit the Aldose Reductase enzyme, seemingly potent at doing so
4.3. Interventions
One study giving either 100mg or 250mg/kg bodyweight of an ethanolic Eclipta Alba extract to rats over 21 days noted reductions in blood glucose (19%), insulin (10.4%), Urea (30.5%), Uric Acid (33%), and Creatinine (32%) with no significant change in HbA1c, suggesting some glucose lowering effects but more relevant renoprotective effects; the authors thought this was indicative of Aldose Reductase inhibition.[28]
In alloxan-induced diabetic mice, higher doses of the leaf extract of Eclipta Alba (2-4g/kg) over 60 days was able to reduce fasting blood glucose (60-69%) and HbA1c (50-53%) which was thought to be due to lower activities of the hepatic gluconeogenetic enzymes glucose-6-phosphatase (G6P) and fructose 1,6-bisphosphatase (F6P).[29] The blood glucose lowering effects outperformed 600mcg/kg Glibenclamide, although the HbA1c lowering effects were comparable.[29]
Limited evidence in rats, but currently both studies suggest that the blood sugar lowering effects of Eclipta Alba referenced in Ayurveda appear to exist in rats. Mixed results on HbA1c, and the mechanism underlying this (possibly related to reduced carbohydrate absorption) are still not fully elucidated
5. Inflammation and Immunology
5.1. Immunostimulation
A methanolic extract of Eclipta Alba (1.6% Wedelolactone) at 100-500mg/kg bodyweight of mice noted dose-dependent immunostimulatory properties, due to an increase in phagocytosis (72-97% increase) with the increase in the antibody titer (157-168%) and white blood cell count (65-67%; 100mg/kg ineffective) increasing with all doses but not in a dose-dependent manner (all doses being of similar potency).[30] The phagocytosis index increased to a similar degree with the herb Centella Asiatica, but this herb did not influence WBC count of Antibody Titer.[30]
Appears to have immunostimulatory properties, may proliferate B-cell count as well as increase macrophage activity
5.2. Interventions
500mg/kg of Eclipta Alba appears to reduce up to 55.85% of the inflammation induced by a carrageenin-induced paw swelling test (where edema correlates with inflammation), but failed to outperform the active control of Indomethacin (61.30% inhibition).[31]
Potential anti-inflammatory properties in response to toxins, but does not appear to be remarkably potent
6. Interactions with Organ Systems
6.1. Liver
In response to CCl4 injections (research hepatotoxin), Eclipta Alba is able to exert hepatoprotective effects that appear to be related to the Wedelolactone, Desmethylwedelolactone, and flavonoid content.[32] The ethyl acetate fraction (concentrated Wedelolactone) on reducing damage to hepatocytes by CCL4 or Alcoholin vitro appears to be statistically significant at 0.1mg/mL, and at 1mg/mL is more hepatoprotective than Silybin (component of Milk Thistle) and in response to phalloidin (hepatotoxin from death cap mushroom) complete protection is noted at 31ug/mL with 50% cytoprotection at 8ug/mL.[3] Desmethylwedelolactone is comparatively potent, although Wedelolactone in response to CCL4 toxicity was the only compound to have significantly protective effects at 0.01mg/mL.[3]
This protective effect has been noted in a living model, where rats injected with CCL4 had a 77.7% mortality rate was reduced to 22.2% after ingesting 6.6mL/kg leaf extract (since 180mL was made from 250g leaves, this is about 9.2g/kg) three times prior to insult (48, 24, an 4 hours prior to injections).[33] ALP, AST, and ALT were reduced by 55%, 42%, and 59% respectively and there appeared to be markedly less damage when histology was observed.[33] Another study injecting CCL4 into rats who merely consumed 500mg/kg of the 1:1 water:ethanolic extract daily for 15 days prior to the toxin significantly reduced the CCL4 induced increase in alkaline phosphatase and amidopyrine N-demethylase, the former to near baseline levels, with some preservation of G6P activity.[34]
Hepatoprotective effects are possibly synergistic either or both Phyllanthus fraternus and Curcumin,[35] and are comparatively greater than both Tephrosia purpurea and Boerhaavia diffusa.[36]
Has protective effects against the liver (in vitro) in response to toxins, with preliminary evidence suggesting greater potency that Milk Thistle
Echinocystic acid and its glycosides, mostly Eclalbasaponin II, appear to reduce hepatic stellate cell proliferation in a dose and time dependent manner, with Eclalbasaponin II being as potent as 18β-Glycyrrhetinic acid at 100uM.[15]
Appears to have some anti-fibrotic effects
The RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) activity of HCV replicase (NS5B) appears to be inhibited by a water extract of Eclipta Alba with an IC50 value of 11μg/mL; this was confirmed in cell cultures where 130μg/mL inhibited 95% of replication over 48 hours of observation.[1] This concentration-dependent inhibition of hepatitis replication appeared to be due to Wedelolactone (IC50 7.7μM) where 10μM inhibited more than 80% of NS5B expression and 50μM abolished expression, while replication was inhibited 30% and 80% respectively; Luteolin and Apigenin also shared this activity, but were significantly weaker (IC50s above 50μM) although combining Wedelolactone with luteolin in a 1:1 ratio reduced the IC50 to 4.5μM and pairing Luteolin with Apigenin resulted in synergism (IC50 24.6μM).[1]
Appears to have potential to inhibit hepatitis viral replication, with the main bioactive (Wedelolactone) being synergistic with other components of Eclipta Alba (Luteolin)
6.2. Bladder
3g of the leaves of Eclipta Alba appear to have a diuretic effect, where after 60 days of supplementation mildly hypertensive adults had a 34% greater 24-hour urinary excretion than baseline, and significantly higher than placebo (which was 8.1% higher than their own baseline).[27] Decreased potassium and increased sodium urinary losses with concomitant increases in serum potassium (3.98mEq/L to 4.92mEq/L; 24% increase) and reduction in serum sodium (159.29mEq/L to 138.71mEq/L; 13% decrease), the authors thought the high potassium content of the leaves may have contributed.[27]
On average, frequency of urination was not altered; 2/30 subjects reported increased frequency as a side-effect.[27]
Appears to have diuretic effects, and has been confirmed in humans at 3g of the leaves daily
6.3. Eyes
One human study (single blind) using 3g Eclipta Alba for 60 days reported that 4 our of 30 participants using Eclipta reported improvements in vision as a side effect with nobody in placebo reporting so.[27]
Limited evidence for the traditional medicine claim that Eclipta improves eyesight, but a side-effect noted in the only human intervention (3g Elipta Alba daily for 60 days) was 4/30 participants (blinded to the treatment) reporting improved eyesight
7. Interactions with Cancer Metabolism
7.1. Hepatic
In HepG2 carcinoma cells, Eclipta Alba ethanolic extract appears to inhibit cell proliferation with an IC50 of 22+/-2.9μg/mL.[37] A concentration-dependent increase in DNA fragmentation was observed in all tested cells in this study (HepG2, Glioma, and Kidney) although HepG2 was most sensitive, and may be related to NF-kB inhibition which was noted.[37]
7.3. Kidney
8. Interactions with Aesthetics
8.1. Hair
In pigmented C57/BL6 mice noted that the methanolic extract of Eclipta Alba, when applied topically the extract was able to promote hair follicle transition from telogen to anagen phase and induce hair growth in a dose dependent manner (1.6-3.2mg per 15cm2) and immunohistological staining for the hair growth indicators FGF-7 and Shh were noted.[38] The percent Anagen induction was similar to the active control of 2% Minoxidil at 87.5%.[38] Another study in normal Albino male rats has used Eclipta Alba petroleum ether extract (2 or 5% of solution; 1.9+/-0.2% Wedelolactone and 4.56% β-sitosterol) noted that both 2 and 5% of this petroleum ether extract were comparable in potency to 2% Minoxidil when assessing the percentage of hairs over a certain length after 30 days of supplementation, and nonsignificantly outperformed Minoxidil when it came to the percentage of hair follicles in Anagen phase (indicative of growth) after 30 days.[9]
Eclipta Alba is one of the three herbs (the other two being Citrullus Colocynthis and Cuscuta Reflexa) where the petroleum ether extracts of all three were similarly effective at improving qualitative hair growth when comparing ratios (1:2:3, 2:3:1, or 3:1:2 respectively), but the extract with a 3:1:2 ratio favoring Cuscuta Reflexa at the expensive of Citrullus noted the quickest rate of hair regrowth onset (outperforming 2% Minoxidil) and was quickest in completing hair regrowth after hair removal (again outperforming Minoxidil).[39] The percent of hair follicles in Anagen phase (indicative of hair regrowth) was increased from 47% in control to 83% (Minoxidil at 67%).[39]
Hair growth potential of Eclipta Alba extracts (ethanolic, and to a greater extend Petroleum) appear to be comparable to Minoxidil (Rogaine). Combination therapy with a 3:2:1 ratio of Cuscuta Reflexa, Eclipta Alba, and Citrullus Colocynthis (totalling 5% solution, all petroleum ether extracts) appears to be significantly better than Minoxidil according to one study
9. Nutrient-Nutrient Interactions
9.1. Piper longum
Piper longum (Long Pepper, not to be confused with Piper Nigrum which is Black Pepper) appears to have synergistic anti-oxidant potential with Eclipta Alba in vitro.[40]
10. Safety and Toxicology
10.1. General
Up to 2g/kg of a water extract of Eclipta Alba for 14 days in mother rats was not associated with any overt toxicological signs or symptoms (rat pups not assessed).[4]
10.2. Case studies
One case study cited hepatotoxicity associated with Ayurvedic supplementation, of which Eclipta Alba and Bacopa Monneiri were possibly contained in a 'Brahmi' supplement being somewhat related; the likelihood of this compound causing hepatoxicity was lesser than Bakuchi tablets containing Psoralea corylifolia.[41]
Quickly:
Eclipta Alba (False Daisy) is a herb that has traditional usage as a liver tonic in Ayurveda. It appears to have preliminary evidence to suggest hair growth promotion as potent as Minoxidil and some anti-diabetic effects as well as liver protection. |
/*
* Copyright (c) 2000 World Wide Web Consortium,
* (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Institut National de
* Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique, Keio University). All
* Rights Reserved. This program is distributed under the W3C's Software
* Intellectual Property License. This program is distributed in the
* hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even
* the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
* PURPOSE. See W3C License http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Legal/ for more
* details.
*/
package org.w3c.dom.smil;
import org.w3c.dom.DOMException;
/**
* A <code>parallel</code> container defines a simple parallel time grouping
* in which multiple elements can play back at the same time. It may have to
* specify a repeat iteration. (?)
*/
public interface ElementParallelTimeContainer extends ElementTimeContainer {
/**
* Controls the end of the container. Need to address thr id-ref value.
* @exception DOMException
* NO_MODIFICATION_ALLOWED_ERR: Raised if this attribute is readonly.
*/
public String getEndSync();
public void setEndSync(String endSync)
throws DOMException;
/**
* This method returns the implicit duration in seconds.
* @return The implicit duration in seconds or -1 if the implicit is
* unknown (indefinite?).
*/
public float getImplicitDuration();
}
|
Shahul Medicals
Logo Design
Identity is the talking face; the first impression a consumer makes of any and every brand/company. Our Client Shahul Medicals, wanted to tune up their existing logo identity.
So we brought in the zigzag ‘ecg reading’ symbol to convey the ‘medical aspect’ of Shahul Medicals, settled at a blue-green colour palette that’s universally relatable to the medical world and blended it with the rest. |
Fayette Township, Vigo County, Indiana
Fayette Township is one of twelve townships in Vigo County, Indiana, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population was 2,630 and it contained 1,099 housing units.
Geography
According to the 2010 census, the township has a total area of , of which (or 98.50%) is land and (or 1.53%) is water.
Adjacent townships
Clinton Township, Vermillion County (north)
Florida Township, Parke County (northeast)
Otter Creek Township (east)
Harrison Township (southeast)
Sugar Creek Township (south)
Elbridge Township, Edgar County, Illinois (west)
Stratton Township, Edgar County, Illinois (west)
Unincorporated communities
Shepardsville
Libertyville
New Goshen
Pine Ridge
Sandford
Shirkieville
Tecumseh
West New Goshen
Cemeteries
The township contains these two cemeteries: Barbour and Pleasantview.
Rivers
Wabash River
School districts
Vigo County School Corporation
Political districts
Indiana's 8th congressional district
State House District 42
State Senate District 38
References
Sources
United States Census Bureau 2007 TIGER/Line Shapefiles
United States Board on Geographic Names (GNIS)
IndianaMap
Notes
External links
Category:Townships in Vigo County, Indiana
Category:Terre Haute metropolitan area
Category:Townships in Indiana |
This invention relates generally to container systems, and more particularly to a container system used in the delivery of viscous fluids, such as lubricants.
The proper lubrication of mechanical systems requires the delivery of a suitable lubricant (e.g., grease) at regular intervals to various points of lubrication. A typical source of lubricant is a container system comprising a container filled with grease, and a follower in the container above the grease which moves up and down as the level of grease in the container rises and falls. Lubricant is pumped under pressure from the container to locations where the lubrication is needed.
Conventional systems have not been provided with suitable means for monitoring the level of grease in a container. By way of example, one such system uses a switch mounted on the lid of the container, a mass which rests on the follower in the container, and a flexible line connecting the mass to the switch. The length of the flexible line is such that when the follower descends to a level indicating that the container is substantially empty, the weight of the mass transfers from the follower to the flexible line and actuates the switch to indicate that the container needs to be refilled. However, until the switch is activated, there is no means for determining the level of fluid in the container, short of removing the lid. Further, when the container is refilled, there is no convenient means for determining when the container is full except by overflow of lubricant from the container, or by other means which are not convenient. In one prior art system, a mass is attached to the container lid by a flexible line to suspend the mass at a location inside the container corresponding to the desired maximum fill level. When the follower rises to the maximum fill level, it lifts the mass which activates a switch to stop the pump.
There is a need, therefore, for a system capable of sensing the level of viscous fluid (e.g., grease) in such containers not only when the fluid level is low but also at other levels so that the amount of fluid remaining in the container can be monitored on a continuous basis after the container is filled. |
Howard is worried about voter error/fraud by over-voting on
optical scanners, just like that other Republican, John Fund. He uses Fund’s
old scapegoat, the Florida 2000 voter, to illustrate his concern for over-votes
in NY.He never considers that corrupt
FL and NY election officials, by counting votes using rigged computers along
with faulty mechanical punched cards and levers, can be the cause of fraudulent
vote counts. Florida
2000 voters were not stupid; they did not over-punch. Much more likely,
corrupt election officials voided the 110,000 votes by maliciously double-and
triple-punchingthem
- after the polls closed. Approximately 70,000 were Gore votes.
At least with optical scanners, the paper ballots can be
counted, like they are in Oregon,
the only 100% mail-in paper ballot state:
Howard conveniently ignores the simple fact that NY votes
are cast on levers but counted on unverifiable central tabulators (computers).
He should know by now that the tabulators can be maliciously programmed to
switch and drop votes. And you can never prove it; there is no paper trail
for the levers or the tabulators. Howard never mentions the fact that
NY votes are cast on levers but counted on computers.
In 2000, Gore won NY by 60-35% with 5% to Nader/other third-party voters. In 2004, Kerry had just 58%
of the recorded vote. The NY exit poll indicated that Kerry won by 64-35%.
Let’s do some simple math.
Returning Nader voters broke 5-1
for Kerry. Therefore, assuming an equal turnout of returning Gore and Bush
voters, Kerry won NY by 63.5-35.5% - matching the exit poll. And that is
conservative. The 12:22am National Exit Poll indicates that 10% of returning
Bush 2000 voters defected to Kerry, while only 8% of Gore voters defected to
Bush. The 12% NY exit poll Within Precinct Discrepancy(WPD) was massive compared to the
National 7.4% WPD.
Either the exit pollsters screwed up royally in NY, or Bush
padded his 3 million recorded vote “mandate” there by
cutting Kerry’s margin 12% (900,000 votes). And that does not include thousands
of Kerry voters who did not even get a chance to vote.
New York
votes are extremely vulnerable to miscounts at the precinct and in Cyberspace.
Let us count the ways:1) Defective
levers were placed in the strong Democratic precincts
2) Too
few levers were placed in Democratic precincts (long lines).
3) Pre-set levers were stuck on Bush, none on Kerry –
discouraging voters
4) Lever totals are input to unverifiable central tabulators that
can easily be coded to switch and drop votes.
5) There can be nohand recounts because there areno paper ballots (except for late
absentee or provisionals)
6) In2000-2008, the
Democratic late paper ballot share was 7% higher than the Election Day (lever) share
7) The
late paper ballot share closely matched the exit poll.
8) According to the Census, there were over 300,000 net uncounted votes
Bottom line: Even if the levers worked perfectly -
which they don’t – the votes are counted on computers.
Howard, repeat over
and over again until it sticks in:
It’s not who casts the votes or even how the votes are cast, it’s who does the counting. |
KABUL, Afghanistan — American officials, when looking to quickly illustrate progress in Afghanistan, have in the past few months highlighted a 7 percent drop last year in what they call “enemy-initiated attacks.” Fewer attacks, the reasoning went, meant Afghans were safer and the Taliban were weaker.
The problem: There was no decline. The numbers were wrong.
The American-led NATO coalition said Tuesday that it had discovered a clerical error in its reporting and that the number of enemy-initiated attacks — defined as attacks with guns, mortars, rockets or improvised explosive devices — remained constant from 2011 to 2012.
Though the mistake may be embarrassing, it is not likely to greatly change perspectives about how the war is going. That is in part because, outside of official circles, few analysts have seen the violence statistic as good news.
In fact, the same measure, when looked at over a wider sample of years, actually depicts a drastic growth in violence since 2009, when American commanders first began inching toward a counterinsurgency strategy that focused on reducing violence rather than solely on battling militants. |
Q:
Why is the println() method being executed twice instead of once?
public class HashMapTest2 {
public static void main(String[] args) {
Scanner s = new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.println("Enter total player");
Integer p = s.nextInt();
System.out.println("Enter total Team");
Integer t = s.nextInt();
List<String> listp = new ArrayList<>();
for (int i = 1; i<p; i++){
System.out.println("Enter Player name "+i);
listp.add(s.nextLine());
}
List<String> listt = new ArrayList<>();
for (int i = 1; i<t; i++){
System.out.println("Enter Team name "+i);
listt.add(s.nextLine());
}
}
}
I am getting some strange outputs, like the ones below:
Enter total player
3
Enter total Team
2
Enter Player name 1
Enter Player name 2
pari
Enter Team name 1
Why is the program asking me to enter the player's name twice? For the first time it is asking for player's name twice and I don't know why. Any way to solve this?
A:
When you are using nextInt() then the integer value is read but not the end-of-line character (Return/Enter) change your code to use nextLine() as below for correct handling.
public static void main(String... obj) {
Scanner s = new Scanner(System.in);
System.out.println("Enter number of Players");
Integer p = Integer.valueOf(s.nextLine());
System.out.println("Enter number of Teams");
Integer t = Integer.valueOf(s.nextLine());
List<String> listp = new ArrayList<>();
for (int i = 0; i < p; i++){
System.out.println("Enter Player name " + i);
listp.add(s.nextLine());
}
List<String> listt = new ArrayList<>();
for (int i = 1; i < t; i++){
System.out.println("Enter Team name " + i);
listt.add(s.nextLine());
}
}
|
President Trump is likely to pull out of the Paris Climate Deal, according to his former adviser on the Environmental Protection Agency, Myron Ebell.
The action could come by executive order in a matter of days, reported the Independent, which would be his sixth since officially becoming president.
The Paris Climate Deal pledged to bring all nations together for the first time with the shared goal of combating climate change and adapting to its effects, and to assist developing countries in doing the same. So far 197 countries have signed on, including the United States.
While at a briefing in London, Ebell said Trump was intent on undoing Obama's policies that call for restrictions on greenhouse gases.
"I expect Donald Trump to be very assiduous in keeping his promises, despite all of the flack he is going to get from his opponents," Ebell said at the briefing. "He could do it by executive order tomorrow, or he could wait and do it as part of a larger package. There are multiple ways and I have no idea of the timing."
Ebell's comments come at a time when Trump is embroiled in ongoing tensions with the Prince of Whales regarding climate change. The president is scheduled to meet with Prince Charles when he visits Britain in June, but Trump's team is concerned that their contradicting views on the environment will make for an awkward encounter.
RELATED: The Paris Climate Deal Will Be Law Before Election Day
The president's representatives have told UK officials that Charles should not push him on climate issues, reported the The Times of London, warning that Trump may "erupt" in response. The White House is said to have suggested that Prince William and Prince Harry meet with Trump instead.
Prince Charles has been a champion of environmental protection for more than 40 years, launching various sustainability projects, such as the Prince's Rainforest Project and the International Sustainability Unit.
In contrast, Trump has called climate change a "hoax" invented by the Chinese in order to damage the American manufacturing industry.
During his recent Senate hearing, Trump's new secretary of state, former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, acknowledged that climate change does exist and acknowledged the benefits of remaining in the Paris deal.
"I think it's 190 countries have signed on," Tillerson said of the pact. "We're better served by being at that table than by leaving that table."
But according to Ebell, any effort made by Tillerson to keep the United States in the deal will be pointless.
"His mandate is pretty clear," Ebell said of Trump, who secured the presidency in the Electoral College after losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by nearly three million votes, "and he knows who he got it from. If Rex Tillerson disagrees with the president, who is going to win that debate?"
Since leaving Trump's transition team, Ebell has gone back to his role at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, an anti-regulation group who has received money from ExxonMobil in the past. "The environmental movement is, in my view, the greatest threat to freedom and prosperity in the modern world," Ebell also stated in London.
RELATED: Trump's EPA Nominee Rejects Scientific Consensus on Climate Change
Trump officials are primarily concerned with heavy media scrutiny if the success of his initial meeting with the Royal Family is thwarted by Prince Charles.
"Their paranoia of the media means that anything that goes slightly off-pitch will be hammered back home as him not getting a good reception from the future king of England and thousands of people protesting on the streets," a senior government source told The Times.
That said, it would be "a major breach of protocol" for Trump to try and exclude Charles from the meeting, a royal source told The Times. "We are very clear the prince will carry out his role in a state visit as always, and his views on climate change would not and should not affect his ability to do that."
The president's first UK visit is planned for June, but there's a chance it could be much later in the year. After UK Prime Minister Theresa May spoke to the Republican congressional leadership last week, Trump may be invited to speak at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester in October.
WATCH: Donald Trump: An American Crony Capitalist? |
When you ask a school-going kid about his future aspirations, the most expected reply is either to be a doctor or an engineer.
I, too, always aspired to pursue a career in medicine. I used to think that medicine is the best way to heal woeful souls. Correct as this widely held notion is, I have come to realize that there are other ‘professions’ that provide one the privilege of pulling the underprivileged from the depths of misery and suffering.
Counsellors, psychologists and sociologists are considered to be very humane as they facilitate individuals and communities to deal with adversity. However, as destiny took to me to a business school, I stumbled across the phrase ‘social entrepreneurship’ and realized this exceptional and highly impactful way of changing lives in downtrodden communities.
For those who frown upon hearing the name social entrepreneurship, it involves using business techniques to solve social problems. Increasing the return on investments or profits is the sole agenda of a conventional entrepreneur, who undergoes gruelling work schedules to do so. On the other hand, a social entrepreneur is driven by the wild passion to increase the return on investment or benefits to society.
A social entrepreneur is an innovator, believer, visionary and change-maker. He or she is a keen observer and is adamant to take on societal problems as a challenge through social ventures. Unfortunately, the dilemma in many developing countries is that scores of people, particularly students, lack enough knowledge about entrepreneurship, let alone social entrepreneurship. Universities in developing countries are producing job-seekers and not job-givers.
In countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India and Nepal, there is not enough effort to promote social entrepreneurship. Business graduates are encouraged to join multinationals or banks. What adds insult to injury is the disapproval of parents to let their child pursue this career that impacts lives of millions through innovative ideas. However, some adamant youth in developing countries are courageous enough to deny traditional career paths and channel their creative ideas into action for the good of humanity. For social entrepreneurs, every problem or adversity is an opportunity.
As soon as she found out that rural hospitals in Pakistan use dangerous kerosene lamps to deliver babies, leading to deaths of hundreds of babies, Pakistan’s Fiza Farhan, CEO of Buksh Foundation, launched a project called ‘light a million lives’ which looks to spread the use of much safer solar lamps through an ingenious micro-financing scheme. So far 150 villages have been electrified and 37,000 households now have clean light.
On the other hand, the problem of sanitation in India means 49.8 per cent of Indians defecate in the open. It required courage to deal with this ‘dirty business’. India’s Namita Banka took up the challenge and set 100 per cent eco-friendly bio-toilets which help treat human waste using bacterial culture, which eliminates the need for its disposal and treatment. Banka Bioloo is installing bio-toilets and 750-litre bio-tanks in public schools and individual households in rural areas of Andhra Pradesh, funded by an NGO.
With United Nations’ ‘He for She’ campaign going in full swing, Bangladesh’s Saif Rashid social venture JITA proved that there exist men who depict their real character by empowering women. Currently JITA is serving the Bangladeshi rural community by empowering around 3000 impoverished women working as sales ladies, creating more than 100 local entrepreneurs.
And yes, Jeff Mendelsohn created New Leaf in 1998 to use recycled waste paper and environment-friendly bleach to create high-quality stock that is largely used to print magazines.
These are some of the most inspiring examples of social entrepreneurs from developing countries. The purpose of sharing these is to instil in youth, particularly business graduates, the know-how that business techniques can have a far-reaching social impact to uplift impoverished communities. Be it social problems, cultural or even environmental problems, social entrepreneurs know the art of dealing with them quite smartly.
It would not be wrong to say that in today’s world, where we are prone to critical challenges, social entrepreneurs are providing hope to beat all odds and face adversity only to overcome it! Fortunately, there are organizations like Acumen, Schwab Foundation and Skoll Foundation that fund social entrepreneur innovative idea and help establish a social venture. Organizations like these also provide mentorship to social entrepreneurs to help build not only sustainable, but also scalable social ventures so that their impact is far-reaching.
If something in your community or country has been a long-standing problem and needs to be changed, take it as an opportunity to impact millions of lives through ‘out of the box’ solution. Be an agent of positive change!
I hail from Pakistan, Karachi, and am studying at Karachi University Business School. I have also worked as a free-lance writer for a local company, Brainees.
The global challenges related to quality education, poverty, illiteracy, extremism and exploitation of resources is a concern for me. I want to mobilize mentors to enlighten the youth of Pakistan about the value of critical thinking. The future of Pakistani children can be changed through empathy and volunteerism in underprivileged areas.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Commonwealth Youth Programme. Articles are published in a spirit of dialogue, respect and understanding. If you disagree, why not submit a response?
To learn more about becoming a Commonwealth Correspondent please visit:
http://www.yourcommonwealth.org/submit-articles/commonwealthcorrespondents/
…………………………………………………………………………………………………
– See more at: http://www.yourcommonwealth.org/social-development/education/leaders-need-to-prioritise-books-not-bullets/#sthash.VR5gLolL.dpuf |
Elly & Jools
Elly & Jools is an Australian children's television series that originally aired on the Nine Network in 1990. It starred Rebecca Smart as Elinor 'Elly' Lockett and Clayton Williamson as Julian 'Jools' Trevaller. It also featuredred Abigail, Anne Tenney, Peter Fisher, Dennis Miller, Damon Herriman and Vanessa Collier.
The dog which appeared in the series also played the dingo in the Meryl Streep and Sam Neill film, A Cry in the Dark.
Plot synopsis
The Trevaller family move from the city to a new house in a small country town called Waterloo Creek - a town full of weird and wonderful characters. The house they move into is haunted by the ghost of Elly, a young girl. Elly befriends the Trevaller's son Jools, who tries to help solve the mystery of her murder. In the final episode it is revealed that Elly was never murdered but had died in a tragic accident and stayed in the world of the living in order to clear the name of the man suspected of her murder. Finally having achieved her peace she passes to the afterlife and is reunited with her loving family whilst Jools meets Eloise, a living girl identical to Elly who is perceived either as her reincarnation or as a sign to him that the world is full of human girls just like her.
See also
List of ghost films
References
External links
Elly and Jools at the Australian Television Information Archive.
Elly and Jools at TV.com.
Category:Australian children's television series
Category:1990 Australian television series debuts
Category:1990 Australian television series endings
Category:Television series by Endemol Australia
Category:Ghosts in television |
Jordan Rapana is set to miss an extended period after injuring his hamstring at GIO Stadium last night.
The injury means Rapana is set to miss a minimum of eight weeks. He will be reassessed next week after the injury has had time to settle down.
Round 14 Press Conference
Raiders Injury/Suspensions
NAME: Jordan Rapana
INJURY: Hamstring
DUE BACK: Indefinite
NOTE: Rapana has torn his hamstring and will wait to see how the injury settles down before it can be determined exactly how long it will be before he can return.
NAME: Junior Paulo
INJURY: Foot
DUE BACK: Round 18-20
NOTE: Paulo has a mid-foot sprain and will need 8-10 weeks to recover.
NAME: Charlie Gubb
SUSPENSION: Late tackle on Nathan Cleary
DUE BACK: Round 16
NOTE: Gubb has taken the early plea and will miss one match. |
Rather than ramping up some imaginary "red line", perhaps we should sit down with Indonesia and formulate a regional solution to people smuggling. James Giggacher writes.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott is speaking like a Leviathan, that political behemoth of Thomas Hobbes' mind who straddles a territory and controls all within.
This domain is mine, it bellows. I am sovereign here, and I shall be obeyed and no one shall usurp me.
Sovereignty is one of the founding ideas of Western political philosophy and has set the tone for modern states; they cling to the ideal and the supposed infallible right to govern without interference it is meant to give them.
But for my mind, Abbott and his Government's notion of sovereignty is a worldview increasingly out of touch with today's world. And so in the latest Australia-Indonesia fallout over people smuggling, his comments about "stopping the boats" are simply too sincere to be ironic. Abbott told journalists on Tuesday:
The great thing about stopping the boats is that it has very much improved our relationship with Indonesia. We will do whatever is necessary within the law, consistent with our standards as a decent and humane society, to stop the boats because ... that's the moral thing to do. The only thing that really counts is: have we stopped the boats? And the answer is a resounding yes.
That's what it comes down to; stopping the boats at any cost (by hook or by crook) goes hand-in-hand with preserving Australia's sovereignty. It represents a new high watermark in the obsession with our territorial integrity and the overinflated threat to it that asylum seekers arriving by boat pose.
Abbott has cordoned off Australian shores from any incursion from those not wanted or who arrive in ways unacceptable to such an extent that now his Government has allegedly paid people smugglers to return to Indonesian shores with the desperate human cargo they ferry.
So desperate with the idea of border protection is this current Government that Foreign Minister Julie Bishop issued her own salvo at Indonesia, telling it to fix theirs. Jakarta has expressed shock.
And so Australia's obsession has once again got Indonesia off side. Having already antagonised our neighbour in the past, this latest development will serve to put the relationship back where it all too often is - out in the cold.
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To hammer home the message, Indonesia's vice-president Jusuf Kalla has weighed in on the issue, comparing Australia's alleged actions to bribery. He also said they were not according with "the ethics of international relationships".
He has a point. But while the ethics are just as important, particularly in light of our responsibilities under international human rights conventions, Abbott's position is just as revealing in that it shows how out of touch he is with the realities of global politics.
His view is what some experts would label "domestic sovereignty", or a focus on effective control within borders. It's more in line with traditional "Westphalian" models, which privilege no interference.
But sovereignty, a fuzzy concept from the outset, can today also be seen as being "interdependent", where global processes and flows, like the movement of people, begin to erode domestic control.
This is what Abbott is staring down now. But sometimes you simply need to learn to look at a problem in a different light. And sometimes staying in control comes with the ability to make concessions. After all, even Leviathan, to stay on the throne, had to give citizens rights and protection.
This is exactly what Indonesia, a post-colonial sprawl of many thousands of islands nervous about its own territorial integrity, did in the recent Rohingya boat people crisis. After maintaining a hardline stance it agreed to settle some of the migrants - albeit only for one year.
Of course the less boats the better. But at the same time we need to recognise that strictly enforcing boundaries, which are a lot fuzzier than Abbott would have us believe, can be extremely counterproductive. These are complex issues.
I am not suggesting we open the "floodgates", but a more humane interpretation of the lines on a map would countenance dealing with those boats that do cross in a humane and respectful way.
Rather than ramping up some imaginary "red line" and regional tensions, perhaps time and resources could be better spent sitting down with our neighbours and formulating a regional solution to smuggling. Showing flexibility on your own red lines has the virtue of demonstrating you are willing to do so when negotiating.
Abbott and Indonesia aren't the only ones suffering from his one-dimensional view of sovereignty. Often overlooked in the great game of international politics are the people who are bouncing back and forward on our seas. Our obsession with domestic integrity and control means that many desperately seeking our protection find themselves at greater risk.
In today's world perhaps one of the greatest tests to traditional ideas on sovereignty is the idea of the responsibility to protect; to intervene when states are a threat to their own citizens. It's a controversial idea for obvious reasons. What's not so controversial is the responsibility to protect when citizens flee states and seek refuge, or, as in the case of the Rohingya, are effectively stateless.
These are the people who in their final quest for freedom, safety, the faintest glimmer of a future, often turn to people smugglers and make perilous journeys across the seas in the first place.
These are the people who we are increasingly turning away. And the more we doggedly assert our territorial integrity, the more we marginalise those who can't or don't have any borders to live within.
As an Australian passionate about global affairs and human rights, this leaves me cold. I not only worry about how we will be remembered tomorrow, but how we can claim any meaningful place as a responsible nation on the world stage today.
For once again our Prime Minister has shown his foreign policy hand isn't a winner. In this case he hasn't even got less Geneva, more Jakarta. He's simply got more Canberra and a healthy dose of "stuff ya".
James Giggacher is editor of the specialist South-East Asia website New Mandala and an associate lecturer at the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University. |
Rayna Dobrodt, a resident of Mishawaka, Ind., died from injuries suffered in the crash after she was transported to Niles Lakeland Hospital.
According to a press release from the Cass County Sheriff's Office, Austin Brouwer of Osceola, Ind., was headed north on M-60 near Yankee Street at a high rate of speed around 9:51 p.m. when he attempted to pass a another vehicle by passing on the dirt shoulder to the right of the highway and lost control of his vehicle.
Investigators said Brouwer then went back onto the paved portion of the road and struck a vehicle driven by 32-year-old Douglas Irving from Niles, who was accompanied by Dobrodt and 21-year-old Janet Menting and Scott Voresis, 21, both of South Bend.
Brouwer's vehicle then went into the grass medium, causing it to flip several times, police said. He was transported to Memorial Hospital in South Bend and is listed in serious but stable condition, the release states.
Menting is listed in critical condition after being airlifted to Memorial Hospital. Both Irving and Voresis were treated for minor injuries and released from Niles Lankeland Hospital.
Police said alcohol was not a factor in the crash and seat belts were worn by all involved.
Deputies were assisted at the scene by the Howard Township Fire Department, Niles Michigan State Police, SMCAS Ambulance Service, Life Care Ambulance Service and Air Care. |
IL-4 induces conformational change of CD20 antigen via a protein kinase C-independent pathway. Antagonistic effect of anti-CD40 monoclonal antibody.
The CD20 molecule is a unique phosphoprotein exclusively expressed on B cells during most stages of B cell ontogeny. We here report that rIL-4 down-regulates the expression of CD20 with anti-Leu-16 mAb (clone L27) on both unstimulated and anti-mu preactivated normal and leukemic B cells. None of the other recombinant lymphokines tested (IL-1, IL-2, IL-3, IL-6, IFN-alpha, and IFN-gamma, granulocyte/macrophage-CSF, transforming growth factor-beta, TNF-alpha, and lymphotoxin) decreased CD20 expression. Incubation of unstimulated or anti-mu preactivated B cells with IL-4 did not affect the steady state CD20 mRNA, suggesting that IL-4 exerted its effect mainly at a nontranscriptional level. Hence, IL-4 selectively down-regulates the CD20 epitope recognized by clone L27 without affecting seven other different epitopes, indicating that IL-4 acts by modifying the conformation of the CD20 molecule rather than by inhibiting its production or inducing its internalization. IL-4 most likely utilizes a protein kinase C-independent signal transduction pathway to modify CD20 molecule inasmuch as staurosporine, an inhibitor of protein kinase C, antagonizes phorbol esters (PMA) but not IL-4-induced CD20 down-regulation. In contrast, anti-CD40 mAb reverses the IL-4 but not the PMA inhibitory effect on CD20 expression. Given that CD20 may be part of a Ca2+ ion channel and plays a role in B cell activation and proliferation, it is proposed that the ability of anti-CD40 mAb to maintain the CD20 molecule in a given epitopic configuration on IL-4-stimulated B cells may be related to the long term proliferation of normal B cells that are strictly dependent on the presence of IL-4 and cross-linked anti-CD40 mAb for their continuous growth. |
Pages
Friday, April 8, 2016
Wallow in Wonder Day 8 - Why Can't You Drive as Fast as You Want?
Welcome to Day 8 of Wallow in Wonder! For my 2016 National Poetry Month project, I will celebrate learning and writing from learning, writing poems from each daily Wonder at Wonderopolis. As I did with my Dictionary Hike in 2012, I am looking to surprise myself with new inspiration daily. This year, such inspiration will show up in my inbox each morning. I will print it and carry each Wonderopolis Wonder around all day...and in the afternoon or evening, I will write and post the poem for the next day.
I invite anyone who wishes to take this challenge too. Just read today's wonder over at Wonderopolis, and write a poem inspired by it for tomorrow. Share it tomorrow at your own site, and if you wish to link in my comments for others to find (or share your poem there), please feel free to do so tomorrow, the day after the Wonder is published at Wonderopolis. If you would like to share any ways you have used Wallow in Wonder or your own site (safe for children only please), please link to the #WallowInWonder padlet.
Students - I value kindness more than anything else. And even though this is true, sometimes I say mean things. But poetry helps me be kinder, and so do songs. Sometimes I think that poems and songs are like little kindness limit signs for me, just like in the picture you see above.
Writing can sometimes help us remember who we want to be. I want to be kinder. What do you want to be? You may wish to write about that thing. Not only will it be interesting writing; it may help you reach your own goal.
Today's poem does rhyme. What do you notice about the rhyming words in this one? And meter-wise, some of you may notice that the last line has many fewer syllables than the others. Why do you think so?
My friend Barry Lane writes many beautiful songs about kindness, and sometimes I am lucky enough to work with him on bits and pieces of them. Teachers - if you are interested in teaching about good character from a pro-kindness standpoint rather than an anti-bullying standpoint, read Barry's teacher book about working and teaching toward kindness, FORCE FIELD FOR GOOD.
One of my favorite songs from this album is "Sammy Miller." You can listen to it below.
Remember - words change us. And words change the people around us too. We make our own limits.
Today's poem may be partly inspired by Deciding Now from two days ago. There are times when my writing keeps me on a theme for a bit. We will see if this continues.
You can read another poem inspired by Wonder #1664 if you visit Wonder Lead Ambassador, literacy advocate, teacher, and writer Paul Hankins at his Wonder Ground blog where he, too, is writing daily poems from Wonderopolis wonders. He and I are in this together daily and some other writers are joining in on the fun sometimes too. All are welcome to wonder through poems with us.
Today, should you leave a comment, you will be entered into a giveaway generously offered by Barry Lane - 3 Barry CDs to one winner, and I will draw the name on Sunday evening. Please be sure to leave a way to contact you. Thank you, Barry!
I am so happy to be hosting middle school teacher and librarian Stefanie Cole and her students from Ontario, Canada to Sharing Our Notebooks this month. Do not miss this post; it is full of notebook inspiration, a video clip, and a great book giveaway from Stefanie.
This is a great poem. Each morning I send out a poem to everyone in our school. (I work at a primary school that is K-4 to 2nd grade) I just had to send this to them to share with classes and for themselves. Thanks for the great thoughts.
What a great poem, Amy! I agree that we need more kindness in the world. I've been reading, but today I decided to jump in and write a poem. Something about those speed limits gave me an idea I just couldn't shake.http://www.mentortextswithlynneandrose.com/blogging-with-rose/the-reading-race
Amy,I shared the CD I won earlier with a counselor friend. I will check in with her and see how she's enjoying it. Because I've won before, please omit me from the drawing. I'll send a link to this post to my friend who I'm sure will appreciate your poem about being kinder. Thanks for all you do, Amy.
Reading your post today, I clicked over to make sure my comment had posted and I don't see it. Not sure if you got it, so here I am again. I posted the Barry Lane song for my kids to listen to this week. What a touching song. I'm a fan of violins! We cannot get enough reminders to be kind.
I commented maybe on FB about this! I love your poem. I love this idea and thought we should have it be a law, then realized that might be hard to enforce!! In my classroom I had some procedures, but my "rules" were called "The Three Keys to Success" : Be nice (kind is better), Work hard, Help others (everyone is better) and you needed to do it 24/7. I would look at people who were successful and we showed how you needed all three, really, to be successful and who defines success though, right? Happiness, fulfillment of at least some of your dreams. I hope this poem gets a wide read!!!
Welcome
I'm Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, and I've been sharing poems and lessons here since March 2010. The Poem Farm is a safe place for students to explore poems, and it's a place for teachers to find poetry teaching ideas. I post on Fridays during the school year (every day of April!), and I welcome you to make yourself cozy here among the words.
For El Paso, Dayton, & All Cities Bearing this Burden
Heartbroken
March 2020
I am thrilled that READ! READ! READ! will have a friend book, also illustrated by the talented Ryan O'Rourke and published by Boyds Mills/Kane!
School Visits
I adore visiting schools near and far, joyfully sharing writing in large groups and writing together in small groups. If you wish to learn more about this, please visit my website at the tab above.
Notebook Post!
Please visit my other blog - Sharing Our Notebooks - and peek into the notebooks of Matthew Grundler. Click the image and you will be there.
New Song with Barry Lane
Sometimes, my good friend Barry and I collaborate on a song. We did so this summer, with this poem I wrote in 2016. It is wonderful to have a friend with whom you can share words and music... Click the poem to be taken to the song.
Spring 2018
Spring 2018
A Podcast!
I am so happy to be part of this podcast with the wonderful authors of SHARING BOOKS, TALKING SCIENCE, Valerie Bang-Jensen and Mark Lubkowitz. We had a blast! Click the image to hear it.
Bookmark
Please print if you wish! There are 4 bookmarks per page, and each has room at the top for a hole and yarn. x
Commenting
Nonfiction
Orchard/Scholastic, 2016
First Book
Clarion/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013
Co-Author Of
With Lucy Calkins & Stephanie Parsons Heinemann 2013
Need a Poem?
If you are new here, I welcome you! If you seek a poem, click the "Find a Poem" tab above, and it will take you to a page where you can select poems by topic (dogs) or technique (alliteration). This resource is intended for personal or classroom use, and I welcome teachers and students to use these poems in lessons and as mentors. - Amy
My Other Blog
Click the chatting birds to peek into others' notebooks and to find zillions of ideas for your own notebook keeping life.
Follow
Click me to use today's poem!
Listen & Watch
This is a song I wrote with Barry Lane about something parents and teachers know. A child is so much more than a score. |
Marcelo Penta
Marcelo Alejandro Penta (born 26 August 1985) is an Argentine footballer who plays as a midfielder for Greek Football League club Veria.
Career
Born in Las Heras, Mendoza, Penta began playing professional football for Newell's Old Boys in the Primera División Argentina. In order to have regular playing time, he went on loan to Chacarita Juniors in July 2007. He did not appear for the first team after returning to Newell's, and left for Greece in July 2009.
References
External links
Profile at epae.org
Profile at Futbol Passion
Category:1985 births
Category:Living people
Category:Argentine footballers
Category:Newell's Old Boys footballers
Category:Tiro Federal footballers
Category:Chacarita Juniors footballers
Category:Pierikos F.C. players
Category:Ethnikos Achna FC players
Category:Volos N.F.C. players
Category:Argentine Primera División players
Category:Cypriot First Division players
Category:Football League (Greece) players
Category:Association football midfielders
Category:Argentine expatriate footballers
Category:Expatriate footballers in Greece
Category:Expatriate footballers in Cyprus
Category:Sportspeople from Rosario, Santa Fe |
IPPP/08/43\
DCPT/08/86\
[**Oddness from Rigidness**]{}
0.5cm
Stefan Förste$^{a}$[^1] and Ivonne Zavala$^{b}$[^2]
$^{a}$ *Physikalisches Institut, Universität Bonn*
*Nussallee 12, D-53115 Bonn, Germany*
0.5cm
$^{b}$ *Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology (IPPP)*
*South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom*
**Abstract**
.3cm We revisit the problem of constructing type IIA orientifolds on $T^6/{\mathbb Z}_2 \times
{\mathbb Z}_2$ which admit (non)-factorisable lattices. More concretely, we consider a ${\mathbb Z}_2 \times {\mathbb Z}_2'$ orientifold with torsion, where D6-branes wrap [*rigid*]{} 3-cycles. We derive the model building rules and consistency conditions in the case where the compactification lattice is non-factorisable. We show that in this class of configurations, (semi) realistic models with an [*odd*]{} number of families can be easily constructed, in contrast to compactifications where the D6-branes wrap non-rigid cycles. We also show that an odd number of families can be obtained in the factorisable case, without the need of tilted tori. We illustrate the discussion by presenting three family Pati-Salam models with no chiral exotics in both factorisable and non-factorisable toroidal compactifications.
.3cm
Introduction
============
Type II string theory orientifold compactifications can lead to effective four dimensional theories with gauge symmetries, chiral spectrum of fermions and ${\cal N}=1$ supersymmetry. Hence, they constitute a candidate string theory incorporating real particle physics. In particular, type IIA toroidal orientifolds with intersecting D-branes at angles have become extremely popular in the last years [@reviews], due in part to their relative simplicity and thus calculability. Recent developments on these models aim to provide more realistic scenarios, as well as a better understanding of these constructions.[^3]
A recent development was achieved in [@bcms] (see also [@ms; @dt]) where the authors considered a type IIA string theory compactified on a factorisable $T^6/{\mathbb Z}_2\times{\mathbb Z}'_2$ orientifold with [*torsion*]{} [@torsion]. This type of construction admits collapsed or [ *rigid 3-cycles*]{}, where intersecting D6-branes can wrap. Thus such D-branes cannot leave orbifold fixed points. This fact permitted the authors of [@bcms] to build chiral intersecting D6-brane models with (almost) absent open string moduli. In other words, massless adjoint fields associated to the D6-brane positions can be removed from the spectrum, and asymptotic freedom is easier to achieve. However, the models studied in [@bcms], consist of four families, which makes them phenomenologically unattractive.
An interesting generalisation to the standard factorisable IIA orientifolds usually considered in the literature [@reviews] was performed in [@bcs; @ftz; @kot], where more general compactification lattices were allowed. In particular in [@ftz] non-factorisable $T^6/{\mathbb Z}_2\times{\mathbb Z}_2$ orientifolds (without torsion) were studied. In that paper, D6-brane configurations giving rise to chiral matter on the 4D spacetime were investigated. It was found that intersecting D6-brane models with non-factorisable compactification lattices, give always rise to even number of families. This observation resulted in unrealistic particle physics models, thus disfavoured in comparison with their factorisable cousins.
It is thus natural to ask whether the unsatisfactory phenomenological result found in [@ftz], can be overcome in compactifications which admit non-factorisable lattices in addition to rigid cycles where D6-branes can wrap. This is the main question we investigate in the present paper.
We find that once rigid cycles are present, it is possible to obtain an odd number of families, as opposed to non-factorisable orientifold models without torsion. Model building rules in this compactifications depend on the non-factorisable lattice, just as in the case studied in [@ftz] for the $T^6/{\mathbb Z}_2\times{\mathbb Z}_2$ orientifold (without torison). Encouraged by these observations, we illustrate the model building rules explicitly by constructing a [*three family*]{} Pati-Salam model[^4]. The model preserves ${\cal N} =1$ supersymmetry and contains the chiral spectrum of a three family Pati-Salam model. Mass terms for all additional fields can be written down without breaking the Pati-Salam gauge group, i.e. there are no chiral exotics.
We go beyond our original motivation and reconsider factorisable lattices of $T^6/{\mathbb Z}_2\times{\mathbb Z}'_2$ (with torsion). Following the same strategy as in the non-factorisable case, we find that factorisable lattices too admit an odd number of families. Furthermore, this has the bonus that no tilted tori are required, as it is the case with non-rigid factorisable models [@csu; @cll]. Thus we succeed in providing examples of three-family models in factorisable and non-factorisable lattices with rigid branes, on toroidal orientifold compactifications with torsion.
The paper is organised as follows. In the next section we discuss in a general setup the properties of orientifold constructions with rigid cycles valid for factorisable and non-factorisable lattices. We present tadpole constraints, spectrum and supersymmetry conditions. In section 3 we illustrate the details of the construction in a fully worked out example. We first look at a non-factorisable supersymmetric ${\mathcal N}=1$ three-family model using [*rigid*]{} visible sector branes as well as hidden [*semi-rigid*]{} and [*non-rigid*]{} branes, as will be explained in the text. We discuss tadpoles, spectrum and supersymmetry conditions. We then present the factorisable version of this model, showing how odd number of families can be obtained from rigid branes without the need of introducing tilted tori. We close in section 4 with our conclusions.
Throughout the paper, we make extensive use of the results of [@bcms] and [@ftz], which we advise the reader to consult for more details.
Orientifolds with rigid cycles
==============================
In this section we describe the procedure and rules to construct intersecting D6-brane models on $T^6/{\mathbb Z}_2\times{\mathbb
Z}_2'$ orbifolds with discrete torsion [@torsion; @bcms]. Consider type IIA theory compactified on $T^6/{\mathbb
Z}_2\times{\mathbb Z}_2'$ where the ${\mathbb Z}_2$ generators act as : z\^[1,2]{} -z\^[1,2]{} , \^: z\^[2,3]{} -z\^[2,3]{} \[eq:orbiac\] on the three complex coordinates of the compact space.
Extending the discussion of [@bcms], we allow the $T^6$ lattice to be either factorisable or non-factorisable, i.e. the factorisation $T^6 = (T^2)^3$ is not respected by the orbifold action. Moreover, we choose our compactification such that fundamental lattice vectors can be expressed as integer linear combinations of fundamental vectors in the factorisable lattice. The factorisable lattice is a product of three $T^2$ lattices where each $T^2$ is obtained by compactification of the complex planes spanned by the coordinates appearing in (\[eq:orbiac\]). The fundamental cycles on these $T^2$ are denoted by $\left[ a^i\right]$ and $\left[ b^i\right]$, $i=1,2,3$, $$\begin{aligned}
\left[ a^1 \right] = \left( 1,0,0,0,0,0\right) ,\hspace*{1in} &
\left[ b^1 \right] = \left( 0,1,0,0,0,0\right) , \\
\left[ a^2 \right] = \left( 0,0,1,0,0,0\right) ,\hspace*{1in} &
\left[ b^2 \right] = \left( 0,0,0,1,0,0\right) , \\
\left[ a^3 \right] = \left( 0,0,0,0,1,0\right) ,\hspace*{1in} &
\left[ b^3 \right] = \left( 0,0,0,0,0,1\right) ,
\end{aligned}
\label{eq:halfyc}$$ in real coordinates, $x^a$, $a=1, \ldots, 6$, which are related to the complex coordinates in (\[eq:orbiac\]) as $z^I = x^{2I-1} +
\mbox{i}\, x^{2I}$, $I=1,2,3$.
It is convenient to give wrapping numbers always with respect to the factorisable basis as we do in the rest of the paper. This implies that on non-factorisable lattices not all integer wrapping numbers are allowed (see [@ftz]).
Rigid cycles
------------
Let us consider first the covering space $T^6$. We introduce D6-branes at angles, which are specified by wrapping numbers $(n^i,m^i)$ along $[a^i]$ and $[b^i]$. Thus an orbifold invariant D6-brane labelled $a$ wraps the three-cycle: \[3-cycle\] \_a\^[T\^6]{} = \_[i=1]{}\^3 ( n\^i\_a \[a\^i\] + m\^i\_a \[b\^i\] ) . As explained in [@bcms], these cycles of $T^6$ are inherited by the orbifold quotient. Moreover under the action of $\mathbb{Z}_2\times \mathbb{Z}_2'$, a three-cycle on $T^6$ has three images, all of them with the same wrapping numbers as the initial three-cycle. Therefore, a three-cycle can be identified with $[\Pi_a^B] = 4\, [\Pi_a^{T^6}]$. Computing the intersection number of two such cycles gives \[prod\] \[\_a\^B\] = 4 \[\_a\^[T\^6]{}\] where $ [\Pi_a^{T^6}] \cdot [\Pi_b^{T^6}]$ has to be worked out for each non-factorisable lattice separately as was shown in [@ftz] (see also section \[example\]).
Besides these untwisted cycles there are also independent collapsed three-cycles for each of the three twisted sectors, $\theta$, $\theta'$ and $\theta\theta'$. In order to determine these, we need to know the fixed points associated to the compactification lattice. For non-factorisable tori, these have to be found in each lattice independently. We perform this counting explicitly in the next section. Here we give general expressions for a given lattice.
Consider first the $\theta$ twisted sector. We denote the location of the fixed torus on the first two complex planes by $[E^\theta_{I_a}]$, where $I_a$ labels the fixed point through which a stack of branes $D_a$ passes in this sector. For the ${\mathbb Z}_2 \times {\mathbb
Z}_2 ^\prime$ orbifold these fixed points correspond to collapsed two-cycles in the blown up Calabi–Yau space. These two-cycles are combined with a one-cycle in the third plane $n^3 [\tilde{a}^3] + m^3
[\tilde{b}^3]$ in order to form a three-cycle in the $\theta$-twisted sector. Here, $[\tilde{a}^3]$ and $[\tilde{b}^3]$ generate the $\theta$-fixed torus. For the factorisable lattice, they coincide with $\left[a^3\right]$ and $\left[b^3\right]$. Let us denote a basis of such twisted three-cycles as \[twistedbase\] \[\^\_[I,n]{}\] = 2 \[E\^\_[I]{}\], = 2 \[E\^\_[I]{}\]. The extra factor of two is due to the action of $\theta'$ on the twisted three-cycles in the third complex plane. Analogously, the basic twisted three-cycles in the $\theta'$ and $\theta\theta'$ twisted sectors are defined as
[lcl]{} = 2 \[E\^[’]{}\_[I]{}\], & & \[\^[’]{}\_[I,m]{}\] = 2 \[E\^[’]{}\_[I]{}\],\
= 2 \[E\^[’]{}\_[I]{}\], & & \[\^[’]{}\_[I,m]{}\] = 2 \[E\^[’]{}\_[I]{}\] .
The intersection number between a pair of such cycles is easy to compute knowing that $[E_{I}^g] \cdot [E_{J}^h] = -2 \delta_{IJ}\,\delta^{\,gh}$. Thus the full twisted three-cycles are given by \[3cycle\] \[\^g\_[I,a]{}\]= n\_a\^[i\_g]{} \[\^g\_[I,n]{}\] + m\_a\^[i\_g]{} \[\^g\_[I,m]{}\] . Given two three-cycles $$[\Pi^g_{I,a}]= n_a^{i_g} [\alpha^g_{I,\,n}]
+ m_a^{i_g} [\alpha^g_{I,\,m}]$$ and $$[\Pi^h_{J,b}]= n_b^{i_h}[\alpha^h_{J,\,n}]
+ m_b^{i_h} [\alpha^h_{J,\,m}]\,,$$ with $g,h = \theta, \theta',
\theta\theta'$, the intersection between them is \[fractional1\] \[\^g\_[I,a]{}\] = 4 \_[IJ]{} \^[gh]{} (n\_a\^[i\_g]{} m\_b\^[i\_g]{} - m\_a\^[i\_g]{} n\_b\^[i\_g]{}) = 4 \_[IJ]{} \^[gh]{} (n\_a\^[i\_g]{} m\_b\^[i\_g]{} - m\_a\^[i\_g]{} n\_b\^[i\_g]{}) , where we have again identified intersection points under the orbifold action and we have used that $[\tilde a^i] \cdot [\tilde b^j] = -
\delta_{ij}$. In this notation, for the twisted sectors $g = \theta,
\theta',\theta\theta'$ one has $i_g = 3,1,2$, respectively.
Now that we know how to describe the non-factorisable untwisted and twisted sector three-cycles, we construct rigid D6-branes in this setup. That is, we consider fractional D6-branes which are wrapping special Lagrangian 3-cycles, and are charged under all three different twisted sectors of the orbifold. The location of a fractional D6-brane has to be invariant under the orbifold action and thus it must run through four fixed points for each twisted sector. Denoting this set of fixed points as $S^a_g$, the fractional D-brane wraps the cycle \[fractional\] \^F\_a = [14]{} \^B\_a + [14]{} \_[I S\_\^a]{} \^\_[a,I]{} \^\_[I,a]{}+ [1 4]{}\_[JS\_[’]{}\^a]{} \^[’]{}\_[a,J]{} \^[’]{}\_[J,a]{} + [14]{} \_[KS\_[’]{}\^a]{} \^[’]{}\_[a,K]{} \^[’]{}\_[K,a]{} where the $1/4$ factor indicates that one needs four fractional branes in order to get a bulk brane. Also $\epsilon^\theta_{a,I},\,\epsilon^{\theta'}_{a,J},\,\epsilon^{\theta\theta'}_{a,K}\,=\,\pm
1$ define the charge of the fractional brane $a$ with respect to the massless fields living at the various fixed points. In the next section we consider only $\epsilon^g_{J}=1$, as this is enough to illustrate our main point. However, more complicated situations can be arranged. A longer discussion can be found in [@bcms] for the factorisable case.
Tadpoles and K-theory
---------------------
We now mod out this theory by the orientifold action $\Omega{\mathcal
R}$, where $\Omega$ is the world sheet parity and ${\mathcal R}$ acts by $${\mathcal R}: z^I \to \overline{z}^I \,.$$ This action introduces four types of O6-planes associated to the actions $\Omega{\mathcal R}$ $\Omega{\mathcal R}\theta$, $\Omega{\mathcal R}\theta'$, $\Omega{\mathcal R}\theta\theta'$. The corresponding O-plane can be either a O6$^{(-,-)}$ with negative RR charge and tension or an exotic O6$^{(+,+)}$ with positive RR charge and tension. Consistency with discrete torsion implies that we need to introduce an odd number of exotic O6-planes [@bcms]. In the rest of the paper, we take a single exotic plane associated to O$_{\Omega{\mathcal
R}}$.
Taking this into account, we can define the homology classes of the cycles wrapped by the O6-planes as follows \[ocycle\] \_[O6]{} = \_ +\_ +\_[’]{} + \_[’]{} where &&\_ \~-2 \[ a\^1\], \_ \~-2 \[ b\^1\],\
&&\_[’]{} \~-2 \[ a\^1\], \_[’]{} \~-2 \[ b\^1\]. \[eq:oparts\] For factorisable lattices, the $\sim$ signs in (\[eq:oparts\]) are equality signs. For non-factorisable lattices, additional factors of two appear, if they are needed to obtain closed cycles [@ftz].
In the rest of the paper, we consider only the [**AAA**]{} orientifold[^5] for factorisable compactifications and the (related) [**CCC**]{} [@ftz] setup for non-factorisable ones. With our conventions for the wrapping numbers (\[3-cycle\]), the tadpole condition \_a N\_a(\_a\^F + \_[a’]{}\^F) = 4\_[O6]{} can be expressed as untwisted
[lll]{} \_a N\_a n\_a\^1 n\_a\^2 n\_a\^3 & = & -16,\
\_a N\_a m\_a\^1 m\_a\^2 n\_a\^3 & = & -16,\
\_a N\_a m\_a\^1 n\_a\^2 m\_a\^3 & = & -16,\
\_a N\_a n\_a\^1 m\_a\^2 m\_a\^3 & = & -16,
\[RRtad1\] plus twisted
[lll]{} \_a N\_a n\_a\^1 \_[a,I]{}\^[’]{} & = & 0,\
\_a N\_a n\_a\^2 \_[a,J]{}\^[’]{} & = & 0,\
\_a N\_a n\_a\^3 \_[a,K]{}\^ & = & 0,
\[RRtad2\] tadpole constraints. The minus sign on the r.h.s. of the first equation in (\[RRtad1\]) reflects the appearance of an exotic O-plane in the case with discrete torsion [@bcms]. As explained in [@ftz] the number of O-planes is reduced in non-factorisable lattices. However, for some wrapping numbers one unit corresponds to a half-cycle as they refer to cycles on the factorisable lattice. These two effects cancel resulting in the universal expressions (\[RRtad1\]), (\[RRtad2\]). The lattice dependence arises due to the fixed point structure.
The tadpole conditions ensure the cancellation of non-Abelian anomalies. On top of that, one has to impose K-theory constraints [@Uranga:2000xp]. As discussed for example in the appendix of [@bcms] these imply that a probe SU(2) stack of branes must host an even number of fundamentals of SU(2). Following their lead, we impose the sufficient condition that all our stacks contain an even number of branes.
Spectrum
---------
The resulting spectrum can now be calculated, as has been done in [@bcms]. We reproduce it here for completeness. Firstly, D6-branes wrapping three-cycles not invariant under $\Omega{\mathcal R}$ give rise to the gauge group $U(N_a)$. If two such branes intersect at an angle open strings stretched between them will have massless excitations. These give rise to chiral multiplets transforming under the product of the two gauge groups on the branes. The resulting massless spectrum is given in table \[tcs\],
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Representation Multiplicity
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------
${\raisebox{-3.5pt}{{\hbox{\rule{0.4pt}{6.5pt}\hskip-0.4pt\rule{6.5pt}{0.4pt}\hskip-6.5pt\rule[6.5pt]{6.5pt}{0.4pt}}\rule[6.5pt]{0.4pt}{0.4pt}\hskip-0.4pt\rule{0.4pt}{6.5pt}}}\hskip-6.9pt \raisebox{3pt}{{\hbox{\rule{0.4pt}{6.5pt}\hskip-0.4pt\rule{6.5pt}{0.4pt}\hskip-6.5pt\rule[6.5pt]{6.5pt}{0.4pt}}\rule[6.5pt]{0.4pt}{0.4pt}\hskip-0.4pt\rule{0.4pt}{6.5pt}}}}_a$ ${1\over 2}\left(\Pi'_a\cdot \Pi_a
+\Pi_{{\rm O}6}\cdot \Pi_a\right)$
${\raisebox{-.5pt}{{\hbox{\rule{0.4pt}{6.5pt}\hskip-0.4pt\rule{6.5pt}{0.4pt}\hskip-6.5pt\rule[6.5pt]{6.5pt}{0.4pt}}\rule[6.5pt]{0.4pt}{0.4pt}\hskip-0.4pt\rule{0.4pt}{6.5pt}}}\hskip-0.4pt \raisebox{-.5pt}{{\hbox{\rule{0.4pt}{6.5pt}\hskip-0.4pt\rule{6.5pt}{0.4pt}\hskip-6.5pt\rule[6.5pt]{6.5pt}{0.4pt}}\rule[6.5pt]{0.4pt}{0.4pt}\hskip-0.4pt\rule{0.4pt}{6.5pt}}}}_a$ ${1\over 2}\left(\Pi'_a\cdot \Pi_a-\Pi_{{\rm O}6} \cdot \Pi_a\right)$
$({\overline{{\raisebox{-.5pt}{{\hbox{\rule{0.4pt}{6.5pt}\hskip-0.4pt\rule{6.5pt}{0.4pt}\hskip-6.5pt\rule[6.5pt]{6.5pt}{0.4pt}}\rule[6.5pt]{0.4pt}{0.4pt}\hskip-0.4pt\rule{0.4pt}{6.5pt}}}}}}_a,{\raisebox{-.5pt}{{\hbox{\rule{0.4pt}{6.5pt}\hskip-0.4pt\rule{6.5pt}{0.4pt}\hskip-6.5pt\rule[6.5pt]{6.5pt}{0.4pt}}\rule[6.5pt]{0.4pt}{0.4pt}\hskip-0.4pt\rule{0.4pt}{6.5pt}}}}_b)$ $\Pi_a\cdot \Pi_{b}$
$({\raisebox{-.5pt}{{\hbox{\rule{0.4pt}{6.5pt}\hskip-0.4pt\rule{6.5pt}{0.4pt}\hskip-6.5pt\rule[6.5pt]{6.5pt}{0.4pt}}\rule[6.5pt]{0.4pt}{0.4pt}\hskip-0.4pt\rule{0.4pt}{6.5pt}}}}_a,{\raisebox{-.5pt}{{\hbox{\rule{0.4pt}{6.5pt}\hskip-0.4pt\rule{6.5pt}{0.4pt}\hskip-6.5pt\rule[6.5pt]{6.5pt}{0.4pt}}\rule[6.5pt]{0.4pt}{0.4pt}\hskip-0.4pt\rule{0.4pt}{6.5pt}}}}_b)$ $\Pi'_a\cdot \Pi_{b}$
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
: Chiral spectrum for intersecting D6-branes [@bcms].[]{data-label="tcs"}
where also the situation that brane $D_a$ intersects with its orientifold image $D_{a^\prime}$ is included. In the latter case there is only one gauge group factor due to the orientifold identification. Further, branes that are invariant under the orientifold action $\Omega{\mathcal R}\Pi_a^F = \Pi_a^F$ do not yield a unitary group but rather a simplectic group $USp(2N_a)$. In the ${\mathbb
Z}_2\times{\mathbb Z}_2'$ orbifold, fractional branes invariant under $\Omega{\mathcal R}$ are those placed on top of an exotic O6$^{(+,+)}$ plane. In our choice, they sit on top of the O$_{\Omega{\mathcal R}}$ plane (see [@bcms] for further details). Finally we recall that no adjoint fields from an $aa$ sector arise for rigid branes.
Supersymmetry
-------------
Although intersecting brane models which break supersymmetry explicitly are not necessarily inconsistent, they usually suffer from instabilities. In order to avoid that to happen, we focus on models with residual ${\cal N}=1$ supersymmetry. This amounts to the condition that the angles $\theta^I_a$ ($I=1,2,3)$ every brane $D_a$ forms with the horizontal coordinate axes in each complex plane have to add up to zero [@Berkooz:1996km], $$\theta_1 + \theta_2 + \theta_3 = 0\,\,\, \mbox{mod}\,\,\, 2\pi .
\label{eq:susy}$$ Often metric moduli can be adjusted such that (\[eq:susy\]) is satisfied. For later use, we specify the metric of the compact space $G_{ab}$ ($a,b=1, \ldots, 6$) to be diagonal[^6] in the coordinate basis of the $x^a$ (with $z^I = x^{2I -1} + \mbox{i}\, x^{2I}$ being the complex coordinates in (\[eq:orbiac\])) and define $$U^I = \sqrt{\frac{G_{2I,2I}}{G_{2I -1,2I-1}}},\,\,\, I=1,2,3 .$$ For the factorisable lattice the $U^I$ are the complex structure moduli of the $T^2$ factors.
Explicit models {#example}
===============
In this section we consider a concrete model which serves to illustrate the model building rules, as well as how the number of families restriction can be implemented once rigid branes are introduced. We do this in detail in a simple non-factorisable lattice which serves to demonstrate our main result. We then construct the factorisable version of the same model, in order to show how three family models arise in that case too. Besides the family requirement, we also need to impose twisted and untwisted tadpole conditions as well as supersymmetry to the models. These constraints impose strong conditions on the brane wrapping numbers.
Non-factorisable lattice \[sec:fixt\]
-------------------------------------
As a minimal non-factorisable example, consider a lattice $\{e_i\}$ where the third and fifth lattice vectors are given by $$e_3 =\left( 0,0, 1,0,-1,0\right) \,\,\, , \,\,\, e_5 = \left( 0,0,
1,0,1,0\right)$$ and keep the rest in a factorisable form ([**AAA**]{} lattice). Employing the Lefschetz fixed point theorem one finds that there are 8 $\theta$-fixed tori, 16 $\theta^\prime$-fixed tori and 8 $\theta\theta^\prime$ fixed tori. The 8 $\theta$-fixed tori are (underlined entries can be permuted) $$\begin{array}{l l}
{\displaystyle \left( 0,0,0,0,x,y\right)} , &{\displaystyle \left(
\uline{ \frac{1}{2}, 0}, 0,
\uline{0 \hspace*{-.1in}\begin{array}{c}\\
\end{array}},
x,y\right) ,} \\[2.5ex]
{\displaystyle \left( \underline{\frac{1}{2},\frac{1}{2}}, 0,
\uline{0 \hspace*{-.1in}\begin{array}{c}\\
\end{array}},
x,y\right)} , & {\displaystyle \left(
\frac{1}{2},\frac{1}{2} , 0 ,\frac{1}{2}, x,y\right) .}
\end{array}
\label{eq:thetafixed}$$ Here, $x$ and $y$ are compactified on a two dimensional lattice generated by $\left( 2,0\right)$ and $\left( 0,1\right)$. The 16 $\theta^\prime$-fixed tori are $$\begin{array}{l l l }
{\displaystyle \left( x,y,0,0,0,0\right)} , &{\displaystyle \left(
x,y,0,\uline{\frac{1}{2}},0,
\uline{0 \hspace*{-.1in}\begin{array}{c}\\
\end{array}},
\right)} ,&{\displaystyle \left(
x,y,0,\frac{1}{2},0,\frac{1}{2}\right) ,} \\[2.5ex]
{\displaystyle \left( x,y,\frac{1}{2},0,-\frac{1}{2},0\right)} ,
&{\displaystyle \left(
x,y, \frac{1}{2}, \uline{\frac{1}{2}} , -\frac{1}{2},
\uline{0 \hspace*{-.1in}\begin{array}{c}\\
\end{array}},
\right)} , & {\displaystyle \left(
x,y,\frac{1}{2},\frac{1}{2},-\frac{1}{2},\frac{1}{2}\right) ,} \\[2.5ex]
{\displaystyle \left( x,y,\frac{1}{2},0,\frac{1}{2},0\right)} ,
&{\displaystyle \left(
x,y, \frac{1}{2}, \uline{\frac{1}{2} }, \frac{1}{2},
\uline{0 \hspace*{-.1in}\begin{array}{c}\\
\end{array}},
\right)} ,&{\displaystyle \left(
x,y,\frac{1}{2},\frac{1}{2},\frac{1}{2},\frac{1}{2}\right) ,} \\[2.5ex]
{\displaystyle \left( x,y,1,0,0,0\right) },
&{\displaystyle \left(
x,y, 1, \uline{\frac{1}{2}} , 0,
\uline{0 \hspace*{-.1in}\begin{array}{c}\\
\end{array}},
\right)} , & {\displaystyle \left(
x,y,1,\frac{1}{2},0,\frac{1}{2}\right)} .
\end{array}$$ Now, the compactification lattice for $\left( x,y\right)$ is generated by $\left( 1,0\right)$ and $\left( 0,1\right)$. Finally the 8 $\theta\theta^\prime$-fixed tori are $$\begin{array}{l l}
{\displaystyle \left( 0,0,x,y,0,0\right)} , &{\displaystyle \left(
\uline{ \frac{1}{2}, 0}, x,y,0,
\uline{0 \hspace*{-.1in}\begin{array}{c}\\
\end{array}}
\right) ,} \\[2.5ex]
{\displaystyle \left( \underline{\frac{1}{2},\frac{1}{2}},x,y, 0,
\uline{0 \hspace*{-.1in}\begin{array}{c}\\
\end{array}}
\right)} , & {\displaystyle \left(
\frac{1}{2},\frac{1}{2} ,x,y, 0 ,\frac{1}{2}\right) ,}
\end{array}$$ where the compactification lattice for $\left( x,y\right)$ is generated by $\left( 2,0\right)$ and $\left( 0,1\right)$.
Let us now compute the intersection number between two rigid D6-branes given a compactification lattice. To do this, remember first that we denote a D6-brane by its bulk wrapping numbers as (\[3-cycle\]) [@ftz]: $$\label{eq:dgen} D6_a = \left( m_a^1 \left[a^1\right]
+ n_a ^1 \left[ b^1\right] \right) \times \left( m_a ^2\left[
a^2\right] + n_a ^2 \left[ b^2\right]\right) \times \left( m_a
^3\left[ a^3\right] + n_a ^3 \left[ b^3\right]\right) ,$$ where the one-cycles are listed in (\[eq:halfyc\]), and $m^i_a$, $n_a^i$ ($i=1,2,3$) are integers, we see that the cycle (\[eq:dgen\]) is closed on the compactification lattice if $$\label{eq:so12cond}
n_a ^2 =\mbox{even}\,\,\,\,\,\,\mbox{and} \,\,\,\,\,\,
n_a ^3 = \mbox{even}\,,$$ otherwise the brane has to wrap the corresponding cycle of the factorisable lattice twice [@ftz].
Now, the contribution from the bulk piece can be expressed as: \[\_a\^B\] = 4 \[\_a\^[T\^6]{}\] = 2\_[i=1]{}\^3 (n\_a\^im\_b\^i-m\_a\^in\_b\^i) where we have used the results in [@ftz] to compute the intersection number $ [\Pi_a^{T^6}] \cdot [\Pi_b^{T^6}] $. Adding the contribution from the twisted parts, using (\[fractional1\]) and (\[fractional\]), we find that the general expression for the intersection number between fractional branes in the present lattice can be written as follows:
$$\begin{aligned}
I_{ab} & = & \frac{1}{8} \prod_i^3 (n^i_a m^i_b - m_a^i
n_b^i) +\frac{\delta^\theta_{ab}}{4} \left(\frac{n^3_a}{2} m^3_b -
m_a^3 \frac{n_b^3}{2}\right) + \frac{\delta^{\theta'}_{ab}
}{4}\left(n^1_a m^1_b - m_a^1 n_b^1\right) + \nonumber \\ & &\hskip1cm +
\frac{\delta^{\theta\theta'}_{ab}}{4} \left(\frac{n^2_a}{2} m^2_b -
m_a^2 \frac{n_b^2}{2}\right) \,,
\label{inter1}\end{aligned}$$
where $\delta^g_{ab}$ denotes the number of common $g$-fixed points between brane stacks $a$ and $b$.
Computing the net number of families[^7] $I_{ab} - I_{a'b}$, \[families1\] && I\_[ab]{} - I\_[a’b]{} = -, it can be seen that odd numbers can be easily obtained. Indeed, one can check that if two branes have less than four fixed points in common in some sectors, that is $\delta_{ab}^g \ne (4,4,4)$, as well as requiring suitable $m^i$’s to be odd, it is possible to have an odd number of families. We show later that a similar condition applies to the factorisable case.
Finally in order to fully compute the spectrum, we need the intersection between the O6-planes and the fractional branes. In the present compactification lattice, the cycles wrapped by the O6-planes (\[ocycle\]), (\[eq:oparts\]) can be written as [@ftz] \[O6lattice\] &&\_[O6]{} = 2, where the sign in the first contribution comes from the exotic O6-plane. Then the intersection between the O6-planes with the branes can be computed using the results in [@ftz], and boils down to the following expression \_[O6]{}\_a\^F = \_[O6]{}\_a\^[T\^6]{} = \_[Oj]{}\_i(n\^i\_[Oj]{}m\^i\_a - m\^i\_[Oj]{}n\^i\_a), \[O6a\] where $n^i_{Oj}$ correspond to ‘wrapping numbers’ for the O6-planes (\[O6lattice\]) and the sum is over the four types of O6-planes.
Three Family Pati-Salam Model
-----------------------------
We are now ready to construct a three family Pati-Salam model using rigid as well as hidden semi-rigid and non-rigid branes. As discussed in [@bcms], sometimes rigid branes can combine with other rigid branes to form a bulk brane which can move off the fixed points. Moduli in the adjoint of a gauge group reappear when this happens. Thus, such a set of branes forms a non-rigid brane. Branes which can be combined into a bulk brane have the same wrapping numbers and cancelling twisted charges (see eq. (\[RRtad2\])). We call branes with the same wrapping numbers and cancelling twisted charges in one twisted sector, semi-rigid. These can combine and form a brane which can move away from the fixed points only in some directions.
A reversed view of this definition starts with a bulk brane. If its location is invariant under the orbifold, it can split into its four fractional pieces obtained by separating $\theta$, $\theta'$, $\theta\theta'$ images and adding contributions from collapsed cycles such that each piece forms a closed cycle in the blown up orbifold (see eq. (\[fractional\]) and [@Blumenhagen:2002wn]). Keeping all such fractional pieces results in a set which we call non-rigid, while keeping only the images of one ${\mathbb Z}_2$ factor, yields a semi-rigid set.
Let us start by describing the model building strategy. We have seen that in order to get an odd number of families, it is necessary to have some of the fixed points different from their maximum value, that is $\delta_{ab}^g\ne (4,4,4)$ (four being the maximum in each entry). Therefore, in order to cancel twisted tadpoles at all fixed points, it will be necessary to introduce additional branes, compared to the case when all fixed points are shared between branes[^8] (that is, when $\delta_{ab}^g = (4,4,4)$). Care will be taken such that these extra branes do not introduce exotic chiral matter. A priori one will attach them to the hidden sector. However, in order to obtain massless GUT Higgs pairs in the spectrum, it will be necessary to recombine one stack of the additional branes with the stack carrying initially the SU(2)$_R$ gauge symmetry factor of the Pati-Salam group (see below). Finally, we will be interested in models which preserve ${\mathcal
N}=1$ supersymmetry. This will constrain further the wrapping numbers of the brane stacks and fix some closed string moduli.
More explicitly, consider first a set of three [*rigid branes*]{} $\{a_1,\,
a_2,\,a_3\}$, the (a priori) visible sector, which share some, but not all, fixed points in some sectors. In general this leads to some uncancelled twisted tadpoles among themselves. Therefore it is necessary to introduce an (a priori) hidden set of branes, such that the twisted tadpoles are cancelled. In order to minimise this, the two branes $\{a_2,\,a_3\}$ that will give rise to the gauge groups SU(2)$_{L, R}$ in the Pati-Salam model, are taken such that they share exactly the same set of fixed points, i.e. $\delta_{a_2a_3}^g = (4,4,4)$. Hence, each one will contribute to the same kind of twisted tadpoles, and we choose them such that these tadpoles are cancelled between them. Thus we are left with uncancelled twisted tadpoles only from the stack $\{a_1\}$. In order to cancel these, we introduce a set of stacks $\{b_i\}$, such that [*all*]{} twisted tadpoles from sets $\{a,\,b\}$ are cancelled. The set of branes in all stacks $\{b_i\}$ have the same wrapping numbers and twisted charges with respect to one of the ${\mathbb Z}_2$ factors, so that twisted tadpoles are cancelled among them. Thus they form a stack of [*semi-rigid*]{} branes. Cancellation of untwisted tadpoles can at last be achieved by introducing suitable sets of hidden sector branes, without introducing new contributions to the twisted tadpoles. In the model we construct below, two more of these sets $\{c,\,d\}$ will be needed. Stacks within each of the sets $\{c\}$ can combine into bulk branes and hence they form [*non-rigid*]{} stacks. Indeed, it is the requirement of unbroken residual supersymmetry which restricts us to consider [*all*]{} hidden sector branes to be semi-rigid or non-rigid.
Taking into account all the requirements listed above, we end up with the semi realistic Pati-Salam-like model specified in table \[tab:simp\]. We perform in detail its analysis in what follows.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
$N_\alpha $ $(n_\alpha ^{1},m_\alpha ^{1})$ $(n_\alpha $(n_\alpha ^{3},m_\alpha ^{3})$
^{2},m_\alpha ^{2})$
--------------- --------------------------------- ---------------------------- ---------------------------------
$N_{a_1} = 4$ $(0,1)$ $(0,-1)$ $(2,0)$
$N_{a_2} = 2$ $(-1,1)$ $(4,-3)$ $(0,-1)$
$N_{a_3} = 2$ $(1,-3)$ $(-4,1)$ $(0,-1)$
$N_{b_1}= 2$ $(-4,-1)$ $ (-4,-1)$ $(-2,1)$
$N_{b_2}= 2$ $(4,1)$ $ (4,1)$ $(-2,1)$
$N_{c_1}= 14$ $(1,0)$ $ (1,0)$ $(2,0)$
$N_{c_2}= 14$ $(-1,0)$ $ (-1,0)$ $(2,0)$
$N_{c_3}= 14$ $(1,0)$ $ (-1,0)$ $(-2,0)$
$N_{c_4}= 14$ $(-1,0)$ $ (1,0)$ $(-2,0)$
$N_{d_1}= 12$ $(1,0)$ $ (0,1)$ $(0,-1)$
$N_{d_2}= 12$ $(-1,0)$ $ (0,1)$ $(0,1)$
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
: Wrapping numbers for the three family non-factorisable Pati-Salam model. \[tab:simp\]
Let us start by identifying the fixed points through which the visible and hidden sector branes pass. These are explicitly listed in table \[fxpoints\]. Next, we construct the basis of the twisted three-cycles as defined in (\[twistedbase\]). For brane $\{a_1\}$, the basis is given by && \[\^\_[I\_[a1]{},n]{}\] = 2 \[E\^\_[I\_[a1]{}]{}\],\
&& \[\^[’]{}\_[I\_[a1]{},m]{}\] = 2 \[0,1,0,0,0,0\] ,\
&&\[\^[’]{}\_[I\_[a1]{},m]{}\] = 2 \[0,0,0,1,0,0\] , where $[E^g_{I_{a1}}]$[^9] correspond to the 4 fixed points associated to brane $\{a_1\}$ in each sector. These are listed in the first column of table \[fxpoints\]. From this basis, we can construct the twisted 3-cycle which the brane wraps, using (\[3cycle\]): = 1, = 1, = -1. Finally, the full fractional cycle (\[fractional\]), which the stack $\{a_1\}$ wraps is given by \^F\_[a\_1]{} = [14]{} \^B\_[a\_1]{} + [14]{} \_[I]{}\^4 \^\_[I,a\_1]{}+ [14]{}\_[I]{}\^4 \^[’]{}\_[I,a\_1]{} + [14]{} \_[I]{}\^4 \^[’]{}\_[I,a\_1]{} . For stacks $\{a_i\}$ ($i=2,3$), we have instead && \[\^\_[I\_[a\_i]{},m]{}\] = 2 \[E\^\_[I\_[a\_i]{}]{}\],\
&& \[\^[’]{}\_[I\_[a\_i]{},n]{}\] = 2 \[1,0,0,0,0,0\] , = 2 \[0,1,0,0,0,0\] ,\
&&\[\^[’]{}\_[I\_[a\_i]{},n]{}\] = 2 \[0,0,2,0,0,0\] , = 2 \[0,0,0,1,0,0\] , where $[E^g_{I_{a_i}}]$ correspond to the four fixed points associated to brane $\{a_i\}$ in each sector (see table \[fxpoints\]). The twisted 3-cycle which the brane $\{a_2\}$ wraps (stack $\{a_3\}$ is very similar) is then: && \[\^\_[I,a\_2]{}\]= -1,\
&& \[\^[’]{}\_[I,a\_2]{}\]= -1+ 1,\
&& \[\^[’]{}\_[I,a\_2]{}\]= 4 - 1. Thus, the full fractional cycle (\[fractional\]), which the stack $\{a_2\}$ wraps is given by (again, stack $\{a_3\}$ is very similar) $$\Pi^F_{a_2}\, =\, {1\over 4}\, \Pi^B_{a_2} + {1\over 4} \sum_{I}^4
\, \Pi^\theta_{I,\,a_2}+ {1\over 4}\sum_{I}^4\,
\Pi^{\theta'}_{I,\,a_2} + {1\over 4} \sum_{I}^4\,
\Pi^{\theta\theta'}_{I,\,a_2} .$$ For all other branes, one can find the fractional cycles in a similar fashion.
$\theta$ sector $a_1$ $a_{2,3}$ $b_i$ $c_i$ $d_i$
------------------------ ---------------------- ----------------- --------------- --------------------- ---------------
$E_1^\theta$ (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0)
$E_2^\theta$ (0,1/2,0,0) (1/2,1/2,0,0) (0,1/2,0,0) (0,0,1,0)$^\star$ (1/2,0,0,0)
$E_3^\theta$ (0,0,0,1/2) (0,0,0,1/2) (0,0,0,1/2) (1/2,0,0,0) (0,0,0,1/2)
$E_4^\theta$ (0,1/2,0,1/2) (1/2,1/2,0,1/2) (0,1/2,0,1/2) (1/2,0,1,0)$^\star$ (1/2,0,0,1/2)
$\theta'$ sector
$E_1^{\theta'}$ (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0)
$E_2^{\theta'}$ (0,1/2,0,0) (0,1/2,0,0) (0,1/2,0,0) (1,0,0,0) (0,1/2,0,0)
$E_3^{\theta'}$ (1,0,0,0) (0,0,0,1/2) (1,0,0,1/2) (0,0,1,0) (0,0,0,1/2)
$E_4^{\theta'}$ (1,1/2,0,0) (0,1/2,0,1/2) (1,1/2,0,1/2) (1/2,0,1/2,0) (0,1/2,0,1/2)
$\theta\theta'$ sector
$E_1^{\theta\theta'}$ (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0)
$E_2^{\theta\theta'}$ (0,0,1,0)$^\star $ (1/2,1/2,0,0) (0,1/2,0,0) (0,0,1,0)$^\star $ (1/2,0,0,0)
$E_3^{\theta\theta'}$ (0,1/2,0,0) (0,0,0,1/2) (0,0,0,1/2) (1/2,0,0,0) (0,0,0,1/2)
$E_4^{\theta\theta'}$ (0,1/2,1,0)$^\star $ (1/2,1/2,0,1/2) (0,1/2,0,1/2) (1/2,0,1,0)$^\star$ (1/2,0,0,1/2)
: Fixed points for the non-factorisable branes in the Pati-Salam model of table \[tab:simp\]. \[fxpoints\]
Before proceeding to calculate the spectrum, we need to clarify some subtleties regarding the fixed points denoted with a $\star$ in table \[fxpoints\]. Consider for example the point $(0,0,1,0)^\star$ in the $\theta\theta'$ sector of brane $\{a_1\}$ (see table \[fxpoints\]). Suppose it denoted the locus of a fixed torus, as in section \[sec:fixt\], then it would be equivalent to zero. However, here we are looking at the one-cycle (or collapsed three-cycle) wrapped by the D-brane and it matters in which direction the one-cycle extends. Consider the full cycle $(0,0;
0,-x; 1,0)$ for brane $\{a_1\}$, this is equivalent to $(0,0; 1,-x; 0,0)$ and it is therefore shifted in the third direction. One has to take this into account when counting the number of common fixed points between a pair of branes. In computing the intersection number between two branes, the shifted (second) version has to be used. If the brane extended along the third direction instead, the fixed cycle would indeed be equivalent to the one located at the origin and contribute only once to the counting of common fixed points.
We are now ready to calculate the chiral spectrum arising from the Pati-Salam stacks of branes $\{a,\,\,b\}$ and the auxiliary branes $\{c,\,\,d\}$. For reasons mentioned already and to be discussed shortly, we assign the visible sector to the set $\left\{ a_1, a_2,
a_3, b_1 \right\}$. The spectrum arising from open strings stretched between different branes within this set is displayed in table \[tab:simp1a\], where we removed anomalous U(1) factors from the gauge groups.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sector $SU(4) \times SU(2)_L \times SU(2)_1 \times SU(2)_2 $ $SU(2)\times USp(28)^4 \times SU(12)^2 $
------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------
$(a_1\, a_2)$ $3\times (\overline{4}, 2,1,1)$ $(1; 1,1,1,1; 1,1)$
$(a_1\, a_3)$ $3\times (4,1, 2,1)$
$(a_2\, a_3)$ $14\times (1,2, 2,1)$
$(a_2'\, a_2)$ $14\times (1,1,1,1)$
$(a_3'\, a_3)$ $12 \times (1,1,1,1) + 2 \times (1,1,3,1) $
$(a_1\, b_1)$ $3 \times (4,1,1,2)$
$ \left(a_1 ^\prime \, b_1\right)$ $3 \times (\overline{4},1,1,2)$
$\left( a_2 \, b_1\right)$ $23 \times (1,2,1,2)$
$\left( a_3 \, b_1 \right)$ $15 \times (1,1,2,2)$
$\left(b_1\, b_1^\prime\right)$ $6 \times (1,1,1,3) + 16 \times
(1,1,1,1)$
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
: Model of table \[tab:simp\]: Massless spectrum from open strings stretching between different branes within the ‘visible sector set’ $\left\{ a,
b_1\right\}$. \[tab:simp1a\]
Notice further that the stack of branes $\{b\}$ has been arranged such that, not only the $\{a_1\}$ twisted tadpoles are cancelled, but also such that the net intersection between branes $\{b\}$ and $\{a_1\}$ vanishes. Second, chiral matter arising from possible intersections between brane $\{a_1\}$ and branes $\{c,\,d\}$ is eliminated by shifting the latter branes away from the origin, such that the twisted contribution, as well as the bulk parts of the intersection numbers vanish (this possibility was also used in the models of [@bcms]). Thus, no extra chiral matter charged under the Pati-Salam $U(4)$ arises.
Now let us look at some of the phenomenological implications of the model. As far as the Standard Model matter and the electroweak Higgs is concerned, it would have been enough to consider the branes of set $\left\{a\right\}$ as the observable sector, and to identify the SU(2)$_1$ with SU(2)$_R$ of the Pati-Salam model. However, the GUT Higgs pair allowing to break the Pati-Salam group spontaneously to the Standard Model group, would be missing. Attaching the stack $\{b_1\}$ to the visible sector yields a way to get GUT Higgs pairs as well. Provided the potential is such that we can turn on vev’s for bi-fundamentals of $SU(2)_1 \times SU(2)_2$ the product of the two SU(2)’s can be broken to its diagonal subgroup. Identifying that diagonal subgroup with SU(2)$_R$ we obtain a Pati-Salam model with three generations of quarks and leptons as well as providing pairs of electroweak and GUT Higgses. In our example model, there will be a surplus of Higgs pairs of both types.
If this mechanism is realised, we arrive at an interesting conclusion. The requirements of obtaining three generations for quarks and leptons as well as the presence of GUT Higgs pairs in the massless spectrum are connected. To obtain three generations we had to leave some of the twisted tadpoles arising from branes hosting standard model matter uncancelled. The extra branes needed for twisted tadpole cancellation now also contribute the GUT Higgs pair to the spectrum. Choosing instead of the stack $\{b_1\}$ the stack $\{b_2\}$ would give a very similar way of obtaining the GUT Higgs pairs.
Hence, the final gauge group arising from the visible sector is, as shown in table \[tab:simp1a\]. On the other hand, the hidden sector yields the gauge groups U(2)$\times$ USp(28)$^2 \times$ U(12)$^2$. However, by taking some flat directions we can deform these semi and non-rigid branes into bulk D-branes. Then the final gauge group, upon eliminating anomalous U(1) factors is SU(2)$\times$USp(28)$\times$SU(12).
Finally, we look at supersymmetry. This imposes, from branes $\{a_2,\,a_3\}$ the condition + =; + =. These two conditions provide the same relation between $U^1,\,U^2$, namely: \[susy1\] U\^1 = . On the other hand, supersymmetry on branes $\{b\}$ requires + =+ . Plugging condition (\[susy1\]) into this expression gives + =+ , which has a non trivial solution \[susy2\] U\^3 = . The other hidden branes $\{c,\,\,d\}$ do not give new constraints.
The factorisable orbifold
-------------------------
In this section we show that, following the same strategy as in the previous section, it is possible to get a three family left-right symmetric model from factorisable lattices with torsion, [*without*]{} the need of introducing tilted tori, as in the case without torsion [@csu; @cll].
That this is the case, can be easily seen from the analogue of (\[families1\]) in the factorisable case. This is simply: \[families2\] && I\_[ab]{} - I\_[a’b]{} = -. From this expression it becomes clear that once some of the $\delta_{ab}^g$’s are taken different from its maximum value, i.e. $\delta_{ab}^g \ne (4,4,4)$, one can get odd numbers of families (again, combined with suitable choices of the wrapping numbers). Moreover, it is also easy to see from this expression why the models considered in [@bcms] gave always even number of families.
As an explicit example, we consider the factorisable version of the non-factorisable three family model discussed in the previous section. The wrapping numbers and brane content are listed in table \[factorisable\].
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
$N_\alpha $ $(n_\alpha ^{1},m_\alpha ^{1})$ $(n_\alpha $(n_\alpha ^{3},m_\alpha ^{3})$
^{2},m_\alpha ^{2})$
--------------- --------------------------------- ---------------------------- ---------------------------------
$N_{a_1} = 4$ $(0,1)$ $(0,-1)$ $(1,0)$
$N_{a_2} = 2$ $(-1,1)$ $(4,-3)$ $(0,-1)$
$N_{a_3} = 2$ $(1,-3)$ $(-4,1)$ $(0,-1)$
$N_{b_1}= 2$ $(-4,-1)$ $ (-4,-1)$ $(-1,1)$
$N_{b_2}= 2$ $(4,1)$ $ (4,1)$ $(-1,1)$
$N_{c_1}= 12$ $(1,0)$ $ (1,0)$ $(1,0)$
$N_{c_2}= 12$ $(-1,0)$ $ (-1,0)$ $(1,0)$
$N_{c_3}= 12$ $(1,0)$ $ (-1,0)$ $(-1,0)$
$N_{c_4}= 12$ $(-1,0)$ $ (1,0)$ $(-1,0)$
$N_{d_1}= 4$ $(0,1)$ $ (0,-1)$ $(1,0)$
$N_{d_2}= 4$ $(0,1)$ $ (0,1)$ $(-1,0)$
$N_{e_1}= 12$ $(1,0)$ $ (0,1)$ $(0,-1)$
$N_{e_2}= 12$ $(-1,0)$ $ (0,1)$ $(0,1)$
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
: Wrapping numbers for Pati-Salam model in the factorisable version of \[tab:simp\]. \[factorisable\]
In this case, one can easily get the fixed point structure, fractional cycles and intersection numbers using the results of [@bcms]. For the spectrum, we simply show the factorisable analogue of table \[tab:simp1a\] in table \[factspectruma\].
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sector $SU(4) \times SU(2)_L \times SU(2)_1 \times SU(2)_2 $ $SU(2)\times USp(24)^4 \times SU(4)^2 \times SU(12)^2 $
------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------
$(a_1\, a_2)$ $3\times (\overline{4}, 2,1,1)$ $(1; 1,1,1,1;1,1; 1,1)$
$(a_1\, a_3)$ $3\times (4,1, 2,1)$
$(a_2\, a_3)$ $26\times (1,2,
2,1)$
$(a_2' \, a_2)$ $6\times (1,3,1,1) + 20\times (1,1,1,1)$
$(a_3' \, a_3)$ $14 \times (1,1,1,1) $
$(a_1\, b_1)$ $3 \times (4,1,1,2)$
$ \left(a_1 ^\prime \, b_1\right)$ $3 \times (\overline{4},1,1,2)$
$\left( a_2 \, b_1\right)$ $23 \times (1,2,1,2)$
$\left( a_3 \, b_1 \right)$ $15 \times (1,1,2,2)$
$\left( b_1\, b_1^\prime\right)$ $18 \times (1,1,1,1) $
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
: Model of table \[factorisable\]: Massless spectrum from open strings stretching between different branes within the ‘visible sector set’ $\left\{ a,
b_1\right\}$. \[factspectruma\]
Notice that, compared with the same type of model in the previous section, in the factorisable case we need to introduce one extra stack of auxiliary branes $\{e\}$, in order to fully cancel untwisted tadpoles. In this respect, the non-factorisable model is more attractive.
Notice also that, as in the previous section and in [@bcms], intersections of the auxiliary branes with the $U(4)$ brane are cancelled off by shifting those branes away from the origin. Furthermore, the supersymmetry conditions (\[susy1\]), (\[susy2\]) are the same for this case.
Discussion
==========
Motivated by the recent advances in intersecting D-brane model building, we studied $T^6/{\mathbb Z}_2\times {\mathbb Z'}_2$ orientifolds in type IIA which admit rigid cycles and (non)-factorisable lattices.
We have shown that brane pairs which do not pass through the same set of fixed points, together with suitable choices of the wrapping numbers, allow for constructions of three family non-factorisable models with semi realistic particle spectra. We demonstrated this explicitly in an ${\mathcal N}=1$, three family, Pati-Salam example. There are no chiral exotics, Pati-Salam invariant mass terms for all exotics are allowed. So, at the present stage, there are no obvious reasons against the possibility that all exotic matter decouples. In addition to the requirement of three families and no chiral exotics, tadpole cancellation and supersymmetry impose strong constraints on the wrapping numbers for the brane configurations. Hence one may expect only few models with all these characteristics to be available.
A question which needs to be addressed is to actually check whether vector-like exotics can be decoupled. For that one needs to analyse the superpotential in the effective theory as it arises from the concrete intersecting brane model. However, we emphasise that our original motivation was not to get a fully realistic model at this stage, but to show how non-factorisable lattices can give rise to three generation models.
Another interesting feature of the model we studied is that the same branes which are needed for cancelling the twisted tadpoles, $\{b
\}$, also produce the GUT Higgses needed to break the Pati-Salam group down to the Standard Model group (these were not present in [@bcms] if viewed as a four family model). Thus, these extra branes are not just needed for twisted tadpole cancellation but also for phenomenological reasons. However, as discussed in the text, the mechanism requires non-zero vev’s for some scalars. Again, it would be desirable to turn on that vev under good knowledge of the superpotential. (Since the corresponding multiplet is massless, it is conceivable that there is indeed a flat direction along the required vev.)
As a fortunate byproduct of our study of non factorisable lattices, we have found that the very same strategy to get odd number of families works equally well for the factorisable case without the need to introduce tilted tori as it is necessary in the case of non-rigid D6-brane models [@csu; @cll]. We showed this in the example of a factorisable version of the Pati-Salam non-factorisable model presented. The matter and gauge group content is very similar to the non-factorisable case. However, the factorisable lattice requires the introduction of one extra set of hidden branes, $\{e\}$, in order to fully satisfy untwisted tadpole conditions. This in turn gives rise to a larger gauge group as well as further extra matter. In this respect, the non-factorisable version of the Pati-Salam model we have studied is favoured.
We expect the same trick to get odd number of families for other non-factorisable lattices to continue being valid, upon appropriate choice of the wrapping numbers. It is also plausible that other non-factorisable lattices will require less number of hidden branes in order to fully cancel tadpoles. Compared to our minimal choice, however, the rank of the gauge group will be reduced and it might become harder to embed the Standard Model gauge group.
We have just started exploration of these type of models, and thus our results are far from exhaustive. There are still several open problems that need investigation. For example, we did not touch on the issue of introducing fluxes along the lines of [@bcms], to stabilise some of the closed string moduli. Further, we concentrated on a Pati-Salam model in order to sidestep the problem of imposing K-theory constraints, which are automatically satisfied when the number of branes per stack is even. It would be important to explore possible strategies to minimise the number of K-theory constraints such that three family MSSM like models can be investigated (see for instance [@mss]).
In the case of heterotic compactifications on non-factorisable lattices (for recent studies see [@Faraggi:2006bs; @Forste:2006wq; @Takahashi:2007qc]) it has been observed that the same massless spectra can be obtained from factorisable orbifolds together with a generalised notion of discrete torsion [@prrv]. If that observation is caused by some deeper relation between generalised discrete torsion and non factorisable compactifications it would be interesting to find a type II analogue. Such relations can yield important input into landscape studies of type II compactifications (for recent results see [@Gmeiner:2007zz] and references therein).
Acknowledgements {#acknowledgements .unnumbered}
================
We thank Radu Tatar and Cristina Timirgaziu for collaboration at early stages of this project. We are grateful to Steve Abel, Ralph Blumenhagen and especially Fernando Marchesano for useful discussions.\
I. Z. thanks Perimeter Institute for partial support and hospitality while part of this work was done. She is also supported by an STFC Postdoctoral Fellowship. This work was partially supported by the European Union 6th framework program MRTN-CT-2004-503069 “Quest for unification”, MRTN-CT-2004-005104 “ForcesUniverse”, MRTN-CT-2006-035863 “UniverseNet” and SFB-Transregio 33 “The Dark Universe” by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).
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[^1]: E-mail address: forste@th.physik.uni-bonn.de
[^2]: E-mail address: Ivonne.Zavala@durham.ac.uk
[^3]: Meanwhile heterotic orbifold constructions have been improved towards realistic particle physics [@Kobayashi:2004ud; @Forste:2004ie; @Buchmuller:2004hv; @Lebedev:2006kn].
[^4]: We focus on the Pati-Salam instead of the Standard Model gauge group in order to automatically satisfy K-theory constrains [@bcms]. This implies that we consider always an even number of D6-branes per stack, which then implies a gauge group U$(2N)$.
[^5]: We are using the notation introduced in [@Blumenhagen:1999ev].
[^6]: Off-diagonal components are projected out.
[^7]: We consider the case that the colour group is a subgroup of the gauge symmetry on stack $a$.
[^8]: An easy way to cancel twisted tadpoles is to consider only branes which share all four fixed points, that is $\delta_{ab}^g = (4,4,4)$. In such case, it is enough to fix appropriately the values of the wrapping numbers $n^i$ such that no tadpoles are left uncancelled (see (\[RRtad2\])). This trick was used in the four family models constructed in [@bcms].
[^9]: We are being sloppy here, using the same symbol to denote fixed points, tori or cycles. However, it should be clear from the context what we are referring to.
|
The Data Explosion and the 'Now' Problem
By Dana Gardner
Dec 6, 2010 5:00 AM PT
Three megatrends are shaping the next generation of successful businesses and governments. We're talking about pervasive mobile applications, highly responsive cloud-computing models, and knowledge-adept social collaboration.
Indeed, by the year 2020, The Economist newspaper predicts there will be 2 trillion devices connected to the Internet. And taking a look at where we are right now, McKinsey Quarterly reported in August that in 2010 some 4 billion people have cellphones, and 450 million have access to a full Web experience.
Moreover, Jupiter Research reports that by 2014 there will be 130 million enterprise users involved with mobile cloud activities. Not only is access pervasive, but the amount of information available is also exploding. The Economist again reports that in 2005, mankind created 150 exabytes of digital data ... and in 2010 we will create fully eight times more data.
As these trends literally rearrange business ecosystems, a gap will surely emerge between the companies that master change -- and exploit enabling technologies -- and those that fall ever further behind.
For those that do step up to the challenge -- expect a relentless emphasis on rapidly recurring innovation to meet dynamic customer and citizen demands.
Our latest BriefingsDirect podcast therefore focuses on how these trends -- and rapidly evolving customer, citizen and user expectations -- are newly impacting the enterprise. We also examine how technology advancements are making it possible to drive innovation to meet these new demands for instant gratification.
Please join HP executive Dave Shirk, senior vice president of worldwide marketing at HP Enterprise Business, as we explore how HP is working to make headway so that the next few years bring about a generational opportunity -- and not a downward complexity spiral. The discussion is moderated by BriefingsDirect's Dana Gardner, principal analyst at Interarbor Solutions.
Dave Shirk: We're seeing a lot of shift going on in the marketplace right now. When we look at where consumers are driving business or where citizens are driving government, it's fundamentally changing the way they operate. We've seen three core things come out.
The business models are all starting to change the way in which people approach markets across the globe. That's having to really rethink the ways in which they've approached them versus traditional methods.
The second thing we see is this whole shift in mobile computing meeting cloud computing and the enterprise trying to figure out exactly how to take best advantage of that to create this competitive advantage. Then, the overall demographic piece weighs into that.
We've seen the rise of the millennials, as they're being referred to. All of these things are forcing business and government to stop and say, "You know what, if we're going to grow or we're going to create a service differentiation, we're really going to need to do things differently and we're going to have to do it way faster than we've ever done it before."
According to the Society for Engineers, you now have over 800,000 graduates in China, over 300,000 graduates in India, 100,000 some in Japan, etc. It's over the last 10 to 12 years that each of those graduation rates has occurred. They are part of the workforce now.
When they went through that process, they were always connected and they always were involved in a social network-based environment. They have a level of their lifestyle that is all tied to this always-connected environment. When you think about the ubiquitous computing that that has brought to them, as they enter the workforce, they are looking at things a lot differently than ever before.
They bring new ideas. They bring new ways to that. They're looking for businesses that will support that kind of methodology and structure. ... So, when we think about that Gen X group that's out there, we see them driving an enormous part of this change.
The last statistic I saw was that they are now over 50 percent of the workforce. The analogy that's always used is that, to them, being connected and always involved in some type of networking-based collaboration or information sharing of some sort is about the same as it is for you and me to pick up our remote controls and turn on our television sets. That's already having a very profound effect on how business and government are changing and the expectations that are out there in the marketplace.
It's this [demand for] immediate or instant gratification: "If I can't get what I want in the following way, I'll find the business or government environment where I can." While the government piece maybe a bit harder to change, the business piece isn't, and so the competitive pressure to serve this audience, both as the consumer and also as employees, is a big part of that shift.
We call that the "Now Problem." They want this, they want it done now, and they want it to work a certain way. We see technology as the cornerstone to being able to solve some of these trends and some of these challenges.
These changes are at a pace they've never seen before as they address them and try to drive these into their business or government environments.
This is probably best represented in the words of Professor Gary Hamel, who is the foremost business visionary person out there in the marketplace. In his book, Future of Management, he described it as "whiplash change."
That's very much the case when I speak with our clients both on the business side and the government side. That's exactly what they're sitting there and thinking and working through right now.
Role of Technology
We look at the technology piece of [the change] and say that you really can't [react] any other way -- the pace of it, the speed of it, and some of the complexity associated with it. For a long time, business has tried to use labor as an arbitrage to try to work their way through this and just throw bodies at it. That's quickly dissipating. The speed and the connectedness that we see, and the confidence level that all of these types of services require make it no longer possible to go through that.
What we see is IT completely embedded in the business. Over the next couple of years, that's going to continue to be the trend and the strategy that will play out in the way in which business and government work this. Ultimately, that's going to be the differentiator that drives an ability not only to serve these constituencies but to out-serve them, and that's going to be the name of the game.
[The solution] starts with a desire to change and to drive innovation in a different way. We sit and we think about the fundamental change in this. We talked for years that the business was focused on business processes and business process reengineering. While that's still very important, it isn't going to go away any time soon.
It's becoming obvious that the bigger driver and the more significant trend is the information process, understanding the segments of business or government that need to be addressed. What their needs are, what they want, what they want to talk about, the ways in which they want to interact is all part of this change that's taking place.
Closing the Gap
So, as we start to pull back and step back from this, we look at that and we look at this vision that we have for the Instant-On Enterprise and how we're enabling end-users to become a part of that, how we're enabling businesses and governments to provide that type of capability. It really is about closing the gap between what IT can provide and what the business needs to be able to serve each of those audiences.
What we've launched with this vision is to put the foundations in place to make that possible and take a journey with our clients both from the business side and government side and help them move down that particular path, find ways to navigate these challenges and these trends, and to out-serve and to over-serve all the audiences that they need to meet the needs of.
[This change] is inevitable. Different businesses and governments will have, at different times, one of these four elements be more important or more significant to them at different points. All of them share the innovation requirement. We see that in all things.
Our view is that the innovation has to take place throughout that information process. It doesn't matter whether it happens back at the data center or at every touch point. Innovation has to take place throughout for the business to meet the needs of those segments I've referred to earlier -- how it services it, how it conducts itself, and ultimately how it meets our needs or exceeds the needs of the audiences.
Agility, optimization and risk all vary in and out with innovation in terms of their need and their level of importance.
Agility really is about instant expectations, and can we turn things on and off, instead of just setting them up for a rainy day and hoping that they will be used. A big part of technology's trouble in the past was that we created all of these things and we never had a plan for ending their lifecycle or turning them down slightly, so that we could turn up other activities or other possibilities in an instant-on environment and an instant-on enterprise. A core part of the vision that we see is being able to drive that agility to meet those changing business needs.
When HP looks at the Instant-On Enterprise, the enablement of that is really a journey, and we've got to figure out what pieces make the most sense. There are some things that are much easier to focus on first and then, over time, to gain more and more of an Instant-On nature.
Critical Success Factors
Flexibility, security, speed, automation and insight, those absolutely are attributes that we look for. We see them as the critical success factors in the way in which every part of the environment that IT leverages, drives, and embeds in the business has to come forward.
And yet, everybody is stuck in this mode of an enormous legacy that they have to deal with, and that gets in the way of being able to provide some of these new capabilities.
We've spent a lot of time and gotten a lot of expertise over the years trying to figure out the best ways to address these albatrosses that are keeping IT from being able to deal with the needs of the business. In the Instant-On Enterprise journey, that's a big part of the set of steps that we have to work through and work with our clients to make sure that they understand where to prioritize.
Our view is that we work with our clients and figure out ways that they can, as we say, shift that equation. How do you shift from 70 percent of that equation being focused on operational management, and 30 percent, if you are lucky, being spent on new and innovation-based capabilities to help or assist the business and its growth versus shifting it the other way? How do you get to 30 percent operational mode, and move forward with 70 percent focused on the business?
Changing Business Models
When I spend time with clients and listen to them, a big part of what they're asking for is, "We've got these pressures. We're seeing the business models change and we're experimenting with some things. We're seeing the mobile and the cloud computing pieces coming at us like a freight train. At the same time, we're seeing the demographic shift both on the end-user consumer side and on our employee side. We need strategic partners to help us with this. How do we navigate this? What is the way in which we should do that? HP, do you have a point of view?"
We're in a unique position, because we're the only company in the marketplace that has a full suite of consumer products, and yet we stretch all the way back through to the data center. All the capability, all the offerings, that are in between, all the services that are necessary to address each of those pieces, are contained inside the portfolio capability that HP has of hardware, software, and services.
We looked at this and said, "How do we take the best combination of that breadth of portfolio and bring those together in a set of solutions to best address what we are hearing over-and-over from some of the research that we've done and listening that we've done with our clients?"
They need to figure out how to modernize their applications. We want to make sure that we are there and we've got a set of solutions for that. They've got huge data-center issues in terms of how they're going to transform their data centers and deal with more virtualization-based techniques and capabilities and bring networking and storage and compute power together in some fashion.
They've got this issue of enterprise security. They need to figure out how to secure the enterprise. I don't mean desktops, but all points, all touch points of the enterprise -- how they build applications, how this information is accessed inside and outside of the organization, and then fundamentally optimizing that information, the ways in which you store it, the way in which you deliver it, the way in which you print it for that matter, all those pieces.
Then, they need to underpin that by the best way to figure out how to deliver it. Do we do it for them? Do they build it themselves with our architecture, and our capability set, and our consulting expertise? What combination of ways makes the most sense to set that up? ...
We help our clients work their way through that with a series of workshops that we do to get in and investigate. We ask a series of questions, do a series of exploratory-based activities that help prioritize where we think the quickest return on investment is, because all these require some level of return to feed the next one and then the next one.
Hybrid delivery for us is our answer to the multiple ways in which a customer or client has to go through the process of building or delivering on these various technology services to their enterprise or their government.
There's an enormous amount of talk about cloud in the marketplace today. HP has been at the forefront of that, but we have a little different position. We think it's unique and we think we're the only ones out there that are really positioned to do this, which is the concept of hybrid IT, where you've got a mix. You've got a mix of traditional on-premises-based capabilities, but then you figure out what private cloud or public cloud-based capabilities best serve your business on a global basis.
HP comes in and, unlike other companies that try to force you into a one-size-fits-all structure, we sit down with the client. Our unique IP in this area is that we have an incredible depth of intellectual capital in this particular area, which is helping the clients figure out the best balance or mix of the delivery methods.
We can help them build it. They can host it or we can host it for them. We can provide those services from our public cloud-based capabilities or from our private cloud based capabilities. We really don't care, if that blend changes over time. That's the beauty to the journey to this Instant-On Enterprise.
Starting Small
Our data says that most customers still start with a small private cloud implementation to really understand the value of the cloud and demystify it. We've said that there is going to be something after cloud. We don't know what that level or that style of computing is going to be, but our architecture is built such that we'll be ready for that. For our clients, we'll help navigate them through each of these pieces, and that's the important thing for us.
We have our new HP Hybrid Delivery Strategy Service, which is a place for a client to start, get a basic orientation, sit down and understand kind of where we think they might consider beginning that journey. So that, along with a number of other capabilities that we have to help them through these various workshops, I think is really the best place for them to start.
There are a whole series of workshops globally that our teams are set up to do, everything from a small couple-of-hour based interaction to a full suite of in-depth analysis and consulting engagements to work with a client. ... We ask a series of questions, do a series of exploratory-based activities that help prioritize where we think the quickest return on investment is, because all these require some level of return to feed the next one and then the next one.
Dana Gardner is president and principal analyst at Interarbor Solutions, which tracks trends, delivers forecasts and interprets the competitive landscape of enterprise applications and software infrastructure markets for clients. He also produces BriefingsDirect sponsored podcasts. Follow Dana Gardner on Twitter. Disclosure: HP sponsored this podcast. |
Q:
JSON.Net - Use JsonIgnoreAttribute only on serialization (But not when deserialzing)
We're using JSON.net and want to use a consistent way to send and receive data (documents).
We want a base class that all documents will be derived from. The base class would have a DocumentType property - This is essentially the class name.
When clients post this json-serialized document to the server, we want to deserialize it and ensure the DocumentType specified by the client matches the ExpectedDocumentType on the server.
Then as well as this, when this document is serialized by the server and sent to the client, we want the DocumentType property included in the JSON - The trick is we want this value to be that of the ExpectedDocumentType.
I've attempted to do this like so... This would work if the JsonProperty and JsonIgnore attributes only took affect during serialization but not deserialization however unfortunately that is not the case.
public abstract class JsonDocument
{
/// <summary>
/// The document type that the concrete class expects to be deserialized from.
/// </summary>
//[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "DocumentType")] // We substitute the DocumentType property with this ExpectedDocumentType property when serializing derived types.
public abstract string ExpectedDocumentType { get; }
/// <summary>
/// The actual document type that was provided in the JSON that the concrete class was deserialized from.
/// </summary>
[JsonIgnore] // We ignore this property when serializing derived types and instead use the ExpectedDocumentType property.
public string DocumentType { get; set; }
}
Does anyone know how to achieve this?
Essentially the logic is that a client may provide any DocumentType so during deserialization the server needs to ensure this matches the ExpectedDocumentType, and then during serialization when the server sends this document to the client, the server knows the correct DocumentType so needs to populate it with the ExpectedDocumentType.
A:
Use the ShouldSerialize feature provided by Json.Net. So basically, your class will look like:
public abstract class JsonDocument
{
/// <summary>
/// The document type that the concrete class expects to be deserialized from.
/// </summary>
//[JsonProperty(PropertyName = "DocumentType")] // We substitute the DocumentType property with this ExpectedDocumentType property when serializing derived types.
public abstract string ExpectedDocumentType { get; }
/// <summary>
/// The actual document type that was provided in the JSON that the concrete class was deserialized from.
/// </summary>
public string DocumentType { get; set; }
//Tells json.net to not serialize DocumentType, but allows DocumentType to be deserialized
public bool ShouldSerializeDocumentType()
{
return false;
}
}
|
News Tanzim Saqib is a Senior Developer, who spent half of his life on software and worked for many companies like #1 .NET controls provider Telerik Inc, #1 personalized Web 2.0 start-page like Pageflakes (acquired by LiveUniverse). He developed many projects ranging from banking solutions for Citibank, HSBC, Wamu, Wells Fargo etc. to Paperless Virtual University. He is industry's earliest and leading widget developer and as know as "Widget Master" to his peers.
Are you tired of placing multiple Validation controls on Form? If you are bored of following scenario like me, keep on reading the post: A simple Email address validation can consist of whether The field is empty Longer than limit Email address format is invalid Already in use Ordinary solution to this problem is placing multiple validation controls for a single TextBox. You can simply it by replacing all with a single Custom Validator. Our goal is to reduce amount of controls on the form to keep ......
One of my colleagues Mehfuz Hossain developed a wonderful open source project which allows you to query Flickr photos by LINQ, also lets you insert, delete photos directly to/from Flickr. You wonder how to extend LINQ in such an amazing way? It’s easy by writing your own custom LINQ provider, which was not-so-easy until he came up with another handy open source project named LINQ Extender. He did all the expression parsing stuff to ease our pain. Now you can make your own LINQ to Anything using this ......
In LINQ to SQL, the data model of a relational database is mapped to an object model expressed in the programming language of the developer. When the application runs, LINQ to SQL translates into SQL the language-integrated queries in the object model and sends them to the database for execution. When the database returns the results, LINQ to SQL translates them back to objects that you can work with in your own programming language. You may want to make a data access layer that separates the data ......
HttpRequestFactory was designed for use by tiersplitting internally and was not supposed to be exposed as part of the Volta API as Danny van Velzen from Microsoft Volta team told me today. So, its better if you use XMLHttpRequest instead because this factory class might not show up in the later releases. You will find this class in Microsoft.LiveLabs.Volta.Xml namespace. As like as JavaScript's one, in this .NET version you can also Open URL, specify method name, and of course pass credentials. You ......
This is my first article which is based on the first CTP of Volta considering its current limitations. You will see how you can create a Volta control that the compiler can convert into an AJAX Widget without requiring us writing a single line of JavaScript code: http://dotnetslackers.com/a... ......
When a Volta control is rendered, the ID attribute of the generated HTML is changed to something like _vcId_1_DivName which is inconvenient to find from code. But the ID attribute stays the same in case of Volta Page, so it is discoverable by ID like this: Div divContent = Document.GetById<Div>... However, if you add HTML controls to the control like the following, the ID is not changed during the rendering: public VoltaControl1() : base("VoltaControl1.html") { InitializeComponent(); ......
Making a cross domain AJAX call in Volta is piece of cake. Volta compiler generates necessary client codes to make it work. Here is a snippet that can make an AJAX call to some Url and fetch data: public void DownloadPhotos() { IHttpRequest request = HttpRequestFactory.Create(); request.AsyncSend("POST", URL, string.Empty, delegate(string response) { OnPhotosLoaded(new PhotosLoadedEventArgs(respo... }); } Both IHttpRequest and HttpRequestFactory classes can be found in the Microsoft.LiveLabs.Volta.Mu... ......
Let us say somebody in your company loves crazy coding and really do not bother about his/her codes affect others. (S)He put class name System and a constant Console and now wondering how come a simple Console.WriteLine does not compile: class System { int Console = 10; static void Main(string[] args) { Console.WriteLine("Hello World!"); // Compile time error System.Console.WriteLine("H... World!"); // Compile time error } } Making use of global::System.Console must solve your problem: class System ...... |
Lindsay Pryor National Arboretum
The Lindsay Pryor National Arboretum is an arboretum on the Yarramundi Reach peninsula in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is named after Lindsay Pryor, a noted Australian botanist. The site is located at the western end of Lake Burley Griffin and is used for research and recreation.
Trees of the arboretum were mostly planted 1954-1957 by Lindsay Pryor. The arboretum was damaged in the 2003 Canberra bushfires.
Gallery
References
External links
Lindsay Pryor National Arboretum webpage on the National Capital Authority website
Category:Parks in Canberra
Category:Arboreta in Australia |
Eating lunch with an iguana? Sipping lattes with a snake? It's nothing unusual at Pet Cafe in Hanoi, where rodents, reptiles and more are available for customers to handle and play with. |
Barriers and Facilitators to Engaging African American Men Who Have Sex With Men in the HIV Care Continuum: A Theory-Based Qualitative Study.
African American men who have sex with men (MSM) have high rates of HIV, but interventions are needed to address their low rates of engagement in the HIV care continuum. To identify modifiable factors potentially affecting such engagement, we conducted qualitative interviews guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior with 27 African American MSM who had participated in an HIV risk-reduction intervention trial. Qualitative analyses resulted in four overarching themes: stigma, concerns with health care providers (HCPs), social support, and logistical issues. Facilitators of care continuum engagement included reassurance about health, feeling and looking better, receiving treatment, avoiding infecting others, good relations with HCP, and social support. Barriers included HIV stigma, concerns about confidentiality, negative perceptions of HCP, convenience and availability of testing/treatment facilities, cost, and lack of social support. Efforts to improve African American MSM HIV care continuum engagement should focus on individual and health care system changes. |
---
abstract: 'Associated to any compact quantum group $G\subset U_N^+$ is a canonical family of group dual subgroups $\widehat{\Gamma}_Q\subset G$, parametrized by unitaries $Q\in U_N$, playing the role of “maximal tori” for $G$. We present here a series of conjectures, relating the various algebraic and analytic properties of $G$ to those of the family $\{\widehat{\Gamma}_Q|Q\in U_N\}$.'
address:
- 'T.B.: Department of Mathematics, Cergy-Pontoise University, 95000 Cergy-Pontoise, France. [teo.banica@gmail.com]{}'
- 'I.P.: Chennai Mathematical Institute, H1 Sipcot IT Park, Siruseri, Kelambakkam - 603103, India. [ipatri@cmi.ac.in]{}'
author:
- Teodor Banica
- Issan Patri
title: Maximal torus theory for compact quantum groups
---
Introduction {#introduction .unnumbered}
============
We investigate here the notion of “maximal torus” for the compact quantum groups. In general, the maximal torus does not really exist. Given a closed subgroup $G\subset U_N^+$, what does exist, however, is a family of group dual subgroups $\widehat{\Gamma}_Q\subset G$, parametrized by unitaries $Q\in U_N$, which altogether play the role of the maximal torus.
The construction, which goes back to [@bbd], [@bv3], is very simple, as follows: $$C^*(\Gamma_Q)=C(G)\Big/\Big<(QuQ^*)_{ij}=0,\forall i\neq j\Big>$$
Here $u$ is the fundamental corepresentation of $G$, and the key observation is that the elements $g_i=(QuQ^*)_{ii}$ are group-like in the quotient algebra on the right.
Based on growing evidence, coming from the recent quantum group literature, we will formulate here a series of conjectures, relating the various algebraic and analytic properties of $G$ to those of the family $\{\widehat{\Gamma}_Q|Q\in U_N\}$. Our main statements are as follows:
1. Character conjecture: Assuming that $G$ is connected, any nonzero element $P\in C(G)_{central}$ is left nonzero in one of the quotients $C^*(\Gamma_Q)$.
2. Amenability conjecture: The discrete quantum group $\widehat{G}$ is amenable if and only if all the discrete groups $\Gamma_Q$ are amenable.
3. Growth conjecture: The discrete quantum group $\widehat{G}$ has polynomial growth if and only if each $\Gamma_Q$ has polynomial growth.
We believe all these conjectures to be true, non-trivial, and of course, of interest.
The paper is organized as follows: 1-2 are preliminary sections, in 3-4 we comment on the above conjectures, and in 5-6 we discuss Tannakian aspects.
[**Acknowledgements.**]{} T.B. would like to thank Minouille, wherever he is now, for spiritual guidance, and for everything. I.P. would like to thank Pierre Fima and Paris 7 University, for warm hospitality, at some early stage of this project.
Maximal tori
============
We use Woronowicz’s compact quantum group formalism in [@wo1], [@wo2], with the extra axiom $S^2=id$. The precise definition that we will need is as follows:
If $A$ is a unital $C^*$-algebra, and $u\in M_N(A)$ is a unitary matrix, whose entries generate $A$, such that the following formulae define morphisms of $C^*$-algebras, $$\Delta(u_{ij})=\sum_ku_{ik}\otimes u_{kj}\quad,\quad\varepsilon(u_{ij})=\delta_{ij}\quad,\quad S(u_{ij})=u_{ji}^*$$ we write $A=C(G)$, and call $G$ a compact matrix quantum group.
The above maps $\Delta,\varepsilon,S$ are called comultiplication, counit and antipode. The basic examples include the compact Lie groups $G\subset U_N$, their $q$-deformations at $q=-1$, and the duals of the finitely generated discrete groups $\Gamma=<g_1,\ldots,g_N>$. See [@ntu], [@wo1].
There are many notions and constructions from the theory of compact groups which extend to the above setting. As an example here, having a closed quantum subgroup $H\subset G$ means to have a surjective morphism of $C^*$-algebras $\pi:C(G)\to C(H)$, mapping the standard generators of $C(G)$ to the standard generators of $C(H)$. See [@wo1].
We have the following key construction, due to Wang [@wa1]:
The quantum groups $O_N^+,U_N^+$ constructed via $$\begin{aligned}
C(O_N^+)&=&C^*\left((u_{ij})_{i,j=1,\ldots,N}\Big|u=\bar{u},u^t=u^{-1}\right)\\
C(U_N^+)&=&C^*\left((u_{ij})_{i,j=1,\ldots,N}\Big|u^*=u^{-1},u^t=\bar{u}^{-1}\right)\end{aligned}$$ where $(\bar{u})_{ij}=u_{ij}^*$, $(u^t)_{ij}=u_{ji}$, $(u^*)_{ij}=u_{ji}^*$, are called free analogues of $O_N,U_N$.
Here the existence of the morphisms $\Delta,\varepsilon,S$, as in Definition 1.1, comes from the universality property of the above algebras. Observe that by dividing by the commutator ideal, we obtain respectively the algebras $C(O_N),C(U_N)$. Thus, we have inclusions $O_N\subset O_N^+,U_N\subset U_N^+$. These inclusions are far from being isomorphisms. See [@wa1].
With the definition of closed quantum subgroups given above, the quantum groups $G$ appearing as in Definition 1.1 are exactly the closed subgroups $G\subset U_N^+$. See [@wa1].
The notion of diagonal subgroup goes back to [@bv3]. The idea is very simple:
Given a closed subgroup $G\subset U_N^+$, we set $$C^*(\Gamma_1)=C(G)\Big/\Big<u_{ij}=0,\forall i\neq j\Big>$$ with $u\in M_N(C(G))$ being the fundamental corepresentation.
As explained in [@bv3], the above quotient algebra is indeed cocommutative, and its generators $g_i=u_{ii}$ are group-like. Thus, $\Gamma_1=<g_1,\ldots,g_N>$ is a usual discrete group. Observe that $C^*(\Gamma_1)$ is not necessarily the full group algebra of $\Gamma_1$, but rather a certain quotient of it. For simplicity of presentation, we will use however the notation $C^*(\Gamma_1)$.
Observe that in the classical case, $G\subset U_N$, we obtain in this way the dual of the diagonal torus, $\Gamma_1=\widehat{G\cap\mathbb T^N}$, with $\mathbb T^N\subset U_N$ being the group of diagonal unitaries.
A key extension of the above construction, obtained by using a “spinning” matrix $Q\in U_N$, was proposed in [@bbd]. The idea is once again very simple, as follows:
Given a closed subgroup $G\subset U_N^+$, and a matrix $Q\in U_N$, we set $$C^*(\Gamma_Q)=C(G)\Big/\Big<v_{ij}=0,\forall i\neq j\Big>$$ where $v=QuQ^*$, with $u\in M_N(C(G))$ being the fundamental corepresentation.
Observe that for the identity matrix $Q=1$ we obtain indeed the discrete group $\Gamma_1$ from Definition 1.3. In general, we do not really have a new notion here, because $\Gamma_Q$ is nothing but the group $\Gamma_1$ from Definition 1.3, taken for the quantum group $(G,v)$.
The theoretical interest in this slight generalization of Definition 1.3 comes from the following fundamental result, due to Woronowicz [@wo1]:
Any group dual subgroup $\widehat{\Lambda}\subset G$ must appear as $$\widehat{\Lambda}\subset\widehat{\Gamma}_Q\subset G$$ for a certain matrix $Q\in U_N$.
As explained in [@wo1], the finite dimensional unitary corepresentations of $\widehat{\Lambda}$ are completely reducible, with the irreducible corepresentations being all 1-dimensional, corresponding to the group elements $g\in\Lambda$. Thus, such a corepresentation must be of the form $v=QwQ^*$, with $w=diag(g_1,\ldots,g_N)$ and $Q\in U_N$. We conclude that the embeddings $\widehat{\Lambda}\subset U_N^+$ come from the quotient maps $C(U_N^+)\to C^*(\Lambda)$ of type $u\to QwQ^*$, and so the subgroups $\widehat{\Lambda}\subset G\subset U_N^+$ must appear as in the statement. See [@bbd], [@wo1].
We have as well the following related result, from [@bv3]:
If $g_1,\ldots,g_N\in\Gamma_Q$ are pairwise distinct, then $\widehat{\Gamma}_Q\subset G$ is a maximal group dual subgroup, i.e. there is no bigger group dual subgroup $\widehat{\Gamma}_Q\subset\widehat{\Lambda}\subset G$.
By rotating, we can assume $Q=1$. Given a subgroup $\widehat{\Gamma}_1\subset\widehat{\Lambda}\subset G$, let us denote by $w\leftarrow v\leftarrow u$ the corresponding fundamental corepresentations. We have then $v=Pdiag(h_1,\ldots,h_N)P^*$, for a certain $P\in U_N$, where $h_1,\ldots,h_N$ are the generators of $\Lambda$. In addition, the quotient map $\Lambda\to\Gamma_1$ must send $h_i\to g_{\sigma(i)}$, for a certain permutation $\sigma\in S_N$. We deduce that $w=diag(g_1,\ldots,g_N)$ commutes with $R=\sigma P$, which reads $R_{ij}(g_i-g_j)=0$, and so $R_{ij}=0$ for $i\neq j$. But this gives $\Lambda=\Gamma_1$. See [@bv3].
The considerations in [@bv3] were motivated by the root systems for half-classical quantum groups. The general problem here, still open, can benefit from the systematic approach to the half-liberation in [@bdu]. We will be back to these topics in section 5 below.
As for the considerations in [@bbd], these were motivated by a key rigidity conjecture in noncommutative geometry [@gos], solved in the meantime by Goswami and Joardar [@gjo]. The main observation in [@bbd] was the fact that a non-classical group dual cannot act on a compact connected Riemannian manifold. We will be back to this in section 6 below.
Basic examples
==============
In this section we discuss, following [@bbd], some basic examples of the construction $(G,Q)\to\Gamma_Q$ from Definition 1.4. In the classical case, the result is as follows:
For a closed subgroup $G\subset U_N$ we have $$\widehat{\Gamma}_Q=G\cap(Q^*\mathbb T^NQ)$$ where $\mathbb T^N\subset U_N$ is the group of diagonal unitary matrices.
This is indeed clear at $Q=1$, where $\Gamma_1$ appears by definition as the dual of the compact abelian group $G\cap\mathbb T^N$. In general, this follows by conjugating by $Q$.
We denote by $F_N=<g_1,\ldots,g_N>$ the free group on $N$ generators. With this convention, here are the computations for Wang’s quantum groups in [@wa1]:
The construction $G\to\Gamma_Q$ is as follows:
1. For $G=U_N^+$ we obtain $\Gamma_Q=F_N$, for any $Q\in U_N$.
2. For $G=O_N^+$ we have $\Gamma_Q=F_N/<R_{ij}\neq0\implies g_ig_j=1>$, where $R=QQ^t$.
These results are well-known, the proof being as follows:
\(1) At $Q=1$ this is clear, and in the general case $Q\in U_N$ this follows from $\Gamma_1=F_N$, and from the fact that $C(U_N^+)$ is isomorphic to itself via $u\to QuQ^*$.
\(2) At $Q=1$ this is clear, and we obtain the group $\Gamma_1=\mathbb Z_2^{*N}$. In general now, with $v=QuQ^*$, and with $R=QQ^t$ as in the statement, we have: $$\bar{v}=\overline{QuQ^*}=\bar{Q}\bar{u}Q^t=\bar{Q}uQ^t=\bar{Q}Q^*vQQ^t=R^*vR$$
Thus $\Gamma_Q$ is presented by the relations $\bar{w}=R^*wR$, with $w=diag(g_1,\ldots,g_N)$. But $(wR)_{ij}=(R\bar{w})_{ij}$ with reads $g_iR_{ij}=R_{ij}g_j^{-1}$, and this gives the result.
Let us discuss now the group dual case. In the framework of Definition 1.1, we can write as well $A=C^*(\Gamma)$, with $\Gamma$ being a finitely generated discrete quantum group. We have then the Pontrjagin duality formulae $G=\widehat{\Gamma}$ and $\Gamma=\widehat{G}$. See [@wo1].
Following [@bbd], we first have the following result:
Given a discrete group $\Gamma=<g_1,\ldots,g_N>$, consider its dual compact quantum group $G=\widehat{\Gamma}$, diagonally embedded into $U_N^+$. We have then $$\Gamma_Q=\Gamma/<g_i=g_j|\exists k,Q_{ki}\neq0,Q_{kj}\neq0>$$ with the embedding $\widehat{\Gamma}_Q\subset G=\widehat{\Gamma}$ coming from the quotient map $\Gamma\to\Gamma_Q$.
Assume indeed that $\Gamma=<g_1,\ldots,g_N>$ is a discrete group, with $\widehat{\Gamma}\subset U_N^+$ coming via $u=diag(g_1,\ldots,g_N)$. With $v=QuQ^*$, we have: $$\sum_s\bar{Q}_{si}v_{sk}=\sum_{st}\bar{Q}_{si}Q_{st}\bar{Q}_{kt}g_t=\sum_t\delta_{it}\bar{Q}_{kt}g_t=\bar{Q}_{ki}g_i$$
Thus $v_{ij}=0$ for $i\neq j$ gives $\bar{Q}_{ki}v_{kk}=\bar{Q}_{ki}g_i$, which is the same as saying that $Q_{ki}\neq0$ implies $g_i=v_{kk}$. But this latter equality reads $g_i=\sum_j|Q_{kj}|^2g_j$, and we conclude that $Q_{ki}\neq0,Q_{kj}\neq0$ implies $g_i=g_j$, as desired. The converse holds too, see [@bbd].
More generally, a similar result holds for the arbitrary (non-diagonal) embeddings of the duals of the discrete groups $G=\widehat{\Gamma}$ into $U_N^+$. For details here, we refer to [@bbd].
In what follows we will regard the family $\{\Gamma_Q|Q\in U_N\}$ as a kind of “bundle” over the group $U_N$. Observe that, by Proposition 2.3, we cannot expect the correspondence $Q\to\Gamma_Q$ to have any reasonable continuity property, and so our “bundle” structure to fit into some known formalism. In addition, we have the following negative result:
When $\Gamma=\widehat{G}$ is a classical group, the fibers $\Gamma_Q$ are trivial (in the sense that they are quotients of $\mathbb Z$), for generic values of $Q\in U_N$.
This follows indeed from Proposition 2.3. To be more precise, we obtain that $\Gamma_Q$ is trivial, with probability 1, with respect to the Haar measure on $U_N$.
The above result cuts short any attempt of using probabilistic tools, in order to “average” our family of groups $\{\Gamma_Q|Q\in U_N\}$. Would the fibers have been generically non-trival, we could have probably used [@csn] in order to average the various numeric invariants of $\Gamma_Q$, in order to obtain a unique, formal “maximal torus”. But, this is not the case.
Following now [@fsk], we have as well the following result, which can provide counterexamples to some other various naive conjectures which can be made:
For the quantum group of Kac-Paljutkin, and for its generalizations by Sekine, the family $\{\Gamma_Q|Q\in U_N\}$ consists of abelian groups.
This follows from the results of Franz and Skalski in [@fsk], who classified all the group dual subgroups of these quantum groups, from [@sek]. See [@bbd].
Finally, we have the following result, regarding Wang’s free analogue of the symmetric group [@wa2], which combines various findings from [@bbd], [@bi1], and which is perhaps the most illustrating, for the various phenomena that can appear:
For the quantum permutation group $G=S_N^+$, we have:
1. Given $Q\in U_N$, the quotient $F_N\to\Gamma_Q$ comes from the following relations: $$\begin{cases}
g_i=1&{\rm if}\ \sum_lQ_{il}\neq 0\\
g_ig_j=1&{\rm if}\ \sum_lQ_{il}Q_{jl}\neq 0\\
g_ig_jg_k=1&{\rm if}\ \sum_lQ_{il}Q_{jl}Q_{kl}\neq 0
\end{cases}$$
2. Given a decomposition $N=N_1+\ldots+N_k$, for the matrix $Q=diag(F_{N_1},\ldots,F_{N_k})$, where $F_N=\frac{1}{\sqrt{N}}(\xi^{ij})_{ij}$ with $\xi=e^{2\pi i/N}$ is the Fourier matrix, we obtain: $$\Gamma_Q=\mathbb Z_{N_1}*\ldots*\mathbb Z_{N_k}$$
3. Given an arbitrary matrix $Q\in U_N$, there exists a decomposition $N=N_1+\ldots+N_k$, such that $\Gamma_Q$ appears as quotient of $\mathbb Z_{N_1}*\ldots*\mathbb Z_{N_k}$.
Here (1) was obtained in [@bbd], via a computation that we will generalize later on, and (2) was obtained as well in [@bbd], via a direct computation. As for (3), the result here goes back to Bichon’s work in [@bi1], and can be obtained as well from (1,2). See [@bbd].
The above result is quite interesting for us, because it shows that the fibers $\Gamma_Q$ not only wildly vary with $Q$, but are also not subject to quotient maps between them. This phenomenon holds of course as well for $S_N$ itself, but the extension to $S_N^+$ is of interest, because at $N\geq4$ this quantum group is known to be of “continuous” nature.
The conjectures
===============
We present now our series of conjectures, relating the various algebraic and analytic properties of a compact quantum group $G\subset U_N^+$ to those of the family of group duals $\{\widehat{\Gamma}_Q|Q\in U_N\}$, or, equivalently, to those of the family of groups $\{\Gamma_Q|Q\in U_N\}$.
As already mentioned in the introduction, while the general philosophy for these conjectures is quite old, going back to [@bbd], [@bv3], the statements are new, based on a quite substantial amount of recent work in the area, that we will explain here.
Let us first recall that the characters of the finite dimensional representations of $G$ live in a certain subalgebra $C(G)_{central}\subset C(G)$. To be more precise, $C(G)_{central}$ is by definition the norm closure of the linear span of the characters of irreducible representations, known to be linearly independent. Equivalently, $C(G)_{central}$ is the $C^*$-subalgebra of the tensors in $C(G)\otimes C(G)$ which are symmetric under the comultiplication map $\Delta$ of $C(G)$. In other words, if we denote by $\Sigma$ the tensor flip map of $C(G)\otimes C(G)$, we have: $$C(G)_{central}=\left\{a\in C(G)\Big|\Delta(a)=\Sigma\circ\Delta(a)\right\}$$
We refer to [@lem], [@wo1] for the general theory here.
We recall as well that $G$ is said to be connected if it has no finite quantum group quotient $G\to F\neq\{1\}$. This condition is equivalent to the fact that the coefficient algebra $<r_{ij}>$ must be infinite dimensional, for any nontrivial irreducible unitary representation $r$. In the case of the group duals, $G=\widehat{\Gamma}$, this is the same as asking for $\Gamma$ to have no torsion. For various aspects of the theory here, we refer to [@btd], [@cdp], [@pat], [@wa3].
With this convention, our first conjecture is as follows:
If $G\subset U_N^+$ is connected, for any nonzero $P\in C(G)_{central}$ there exists $Q\in U_N$ such that $\pi_Q:C(G)\to C^*(\Gamma_Q)$ has the property $\pi_Q(P)\neq0$.
Observe that this conjecture holds trivially when $G=\widehat{\Gamma}$ is a group dual, because here we have $\Gamma=\Gamma_Q$, where $Q\in U_N$ to be the spinning matrix which produces the embedding $ \widehat{\Gamma}\subset U_N^+$, coming from Theorem 1.5 above, and we have $\pi_Q=id$ in this case.
The conjecture holds as well in the classical group case, because we can take here $Q\in U_N$ to be such that $QTQ^*\subset\mathbb T^N$, where $T\subset U_N$ is a maximal torus for $G$.
Observe that in both the above cases, we have in fact a matrix $Q\in U_N$ such that $\pi_Q$ is faithful on $C(G)_{central}$. In addition, the connectedness assumption is not really needed in the group dual case, nor for most of the known examples of compact groups. Thus, there are several potential ways of formulating some stronger conjectures.
At the analytic level now, our first, and main conjecture, will concern amenability. Let us recall from [@wo1] that associated to any compact quantum group $G$ are in fact several Hopf $C^*$-algebras, including a maximal one $C_{max}(G)$, and a minimal one $C_{min}(G)$. The compact quantum group $G$ is said to be coamenable is the canonical quotient map $C_{max}(G)\to C_{min}(G)$ is an isomorphism. Equivalently, the discrete quantum group $\Gamma=\widehat{G}$ is called amenable when the canonical quotient map $C^*_{max}(G)\to C^*_{min}(G)$ is an isomorphism. With this convention, our conjecture is as follows:
$G\subset U_N^+$ is coamenable if and only if each of the compact quantum groups $\Gamma_Q$ is coamenable.
Observe that $\implies$ is trivial, because of the quotient map $C(G)\to C^*(\Gamma_Q)$, which can be interpreted as coming from a discrete quantum group quotient map $\widehat{G}\to\Gamma_Q$.
Regarding now $\Longleftarrow$, an equivalent statement here, a bit more convenient, is that if $G$ is not coamenable, then there exists $Q\in U_N$ such that $\Gamma_Q$ is not amenable.
Observe that this latter statement holds trivially in the group dual case, $G=\widehat{\Gamma}$, because we can take here $Q\in U_N$ to be the spinning matrix coming from Theorem 1.5, for which $\pi_Q=id$. The statement holds as well in the classical case, $G\subset U_N$, due to the trivial fact that these latter quantum groups are all coamenable. See [@wo1].
As already mentioned, the above conjecture is our main analytic one. We believe that the above statement is just the “tip of the iceberg”, with many other conjectures being behind it, some of them regarding the fine analytic structure of $C(G)$, and some other, regarding the fine probabilistic structure of the Kesten measure of $\widehat{G}$.
Regarding now the growth, let us recall from [@bv1] that this is constructed by using the balls in $Irr(G)$, with respect to the distance coming from the fundamental corepresentation $u$, and with each corepresentation $r$ contributing with a $\dim(r)^2$ factor.
With this convention, we have the following conjecture:
Assuming $G\subset U_N^+$, the discrete quantum group $\widehat{G}$ has polynomial growth if and only if each $\Gamma_Q$ has polynomial growth.
As before, the conjecture is trivial in the group dual case. In the classical group case the conjecture holds as well, but this is not trivial, coming from [@bv1] in the connected simply connected case, and from the recent paper [@dpr] in the general case.
Once again, we believe that this conjecture is just the “tip of the iceberg”. Here is as series of more specialized statements, regarding the cardinality $|\,.\,|$, the polynomial growth exponents $p(.)$, and the exponential growth exponents $e(.)$: $$\begin{aligned}
\log\log|G|&\simeq&\sup_{Q\in U_N}\log\log|\Gamma_Q|\\
p(\widehat{G})&\approx&\sup_{Q\in U_N}p(\Gamma_Q)\\
\log e(\widehat{G})&\approx&\sup_{Q\in U_N}\log e(\Gamma_Q)\end{aligned}$$
These statements are all trivial in the group dual case, with equality everywhere. In the classical group case, the first estimate is what seems to come out from the existent literature, and the second estimate is non-trivial, but holds by [@dpr]. Finally, regarding the last estimate, this is supported by the various computations in [@bv1].
General results
===============
We present here some general results, supporting the conjectures made in section 3. As a first statement, collecting the various observations made above, we have:
The $3$ conjectures hold for the classical groups, and for the group duals.
This follows as explained in the previous section, the summary being;
\(1) Characters: trivial for group duals, holds as well for classical groups.
\(2) Amenability: trivial for both group duals, and for classical groups.
\(3) Growth: trivial for group duals, nontrivial cf. [@dpr] for classical groups.
By getting back now to the precise justifications in section 3, observe that for the group duals, the argument was basically always the same, namely that we can take $Q\in U_N$ to be the spinning matrix coming from Theorem 1.5, for which $\pi_Q=id$.
Our aim now is to analyse and further extend this phenomenon. The definition that we will need, capturing the fact that “only one $Q$ is needed”, is as follows:
A compact quantum group $G\subset U_N^+$ is called “tame” when there exists $L\in U_N$ such that we have a quotient map $\Gamma_L\to\Gamma_Q$, for any $Q\in U_N$.
Observe that, by changing the fundamental corepresentation, we can always assume that our tame quantum groups are “normalized”, with $L=1$.
At the level of examples, any group dual is tame. Also, any compact connected Lie group is tame. As a basic counterexample, $S_N$ is not tame, and nor is $S_N^+$.
In the tame case, our conjectures have “lighter” formulations, as follows:
When $G$ is tame and normalized, the conjectures are as follows:
1. Characters: $\pi_1:C(G)\to C^*(\Gamma_1)$ is injective on $C(G)_{central}$.
2. Amenability: $G$ is coamenable if and only if $\Gamma_1$ is amenable.
3. Growth: $\widehat{G}$ has polynomial growth if and only if $\Gamma_1$ has polynomial growth.
This follows indeed from definitions, by using the quotient maps $\Gamma_1\to\Gamma_Q$ coming from the tameness assumption.
It would be of course interesting to know more about the tame quantum groups. The problem here is that it is very unclear where the maps $\Gamma_L\to\Gamma_Q$ should come from.
Let us discuss now the verification for Wang’s free quantum groups $O_N^+,U_N^+,S_N^+$. We include in our study the hyperoctahedral quantum group $H_N^+$, which, in view of the general theory in [@bsp], is a fundamental example of a free quantum group as well.
We have the following result, regarding these quantum groups:
The $3$ conjectures hold for $G=O_N^+,U_N^+,S_N^+,H_N^+$.
We have $3\times4=12$ assertions to be proved, and the idea in each case will be that of using certain special group dual subgroups. We will mostly use the group dual subgroups coming at $Q=1$, which are well-known to be as follows: $$G=O_N^+,U_N^+,S_N^+,H_N^+\implies\Gamma_1=\mathbb Z_2^{*N},F_N,\{1\},\mathbb Z_2^{*N}$$
However, for some of our 12 questions, using these subgroups will not be enough, and we will use as well some carefully chosen subgroups of type $\Gamma_Q$, with $Q\neq1$.
As a last ingredient, we will need some specialized structure results for $G$, in the cases where $G$ is coamenable. Once again, the theory here is well-known, and the situations where $G=O_N^+,U_N^+,S_N^+,H_N^+$ is coamenable, along with the values of $G$, are as follows: $$\begin{cases}
O_2^+=SU_2^{-1}\\
S_2^+=S_2,S_3^+=S_3,S_4^+=SO_3^{-1}\\
H_2^+=O_2^{-1}
\end{cases}$$
To be more precise, the equalities $S_N^+=S_N$ at $N\leq3$ are known since Wang’s paper [@wa2], and the twisting results are all well-known, and we refer here to [@bbd], [@byu].
With these ingredients in hand, we can now go ahead with the proof. It is technically convenient to split the discussion over the 3 conjectures, as follows:
\(1) Characters. For $G=O_N^+,U_N^+$, it is known that the algebra $C(G)_{central}$ is polynomial, respectively $*$-polynomial, on the variable $\chi=\sum_iu_{ii}$. Thus, it is enough to show that the variable $\rho=\sum_ig_i$ generates a polynomial, respectively $*$-polynomial algebra, inside the group algebra of the discrete groups $\mathbb Z_2^{*N},F_N$. But for $\mathbb Z_2^{*N}$ this is clear, and by using a multiplication by a unitary free from $\mathbb Z_2^{*N}$, the result holds as well for $F_N$.
Regarding now $G=S_N^+$, we have three cases to be discussed, as follows:
– At $N=2,3$ this quantum group collapses to the usual permutation group $S_N$, and according to Proposition 4.1 above, the character conjecture holds indeed.
– At $N=4$ we have $S_4^+=SO_3^{-1}$, the fusion rules are well-known to be the Clebsch-Gordan ones, and the algebra $C(G)_{central}$ is therefore polynomial on $\chi=\sum_iu_{ii}$. Now observe that Theorem 2.6 gives, with $Q=diag(F_2,F_2)$, the following discrete group: $$\Gamma_Q=\mathbb Z_2*\mathbb Z_2=D_\infty$$
Since $Tr(u)=Tr(Q^*uQ)$, the image of $\chi=\sum_iu_{ii}$ in the quotient $C^*(\Gamma_Q)$ is the variable $\rho=2+g+h$, where $g,h$ are the generators of the two copies of $\mathbb Z_2$. Now since this latter variable generates a polynomial algebra, we obtain the result.
– At $N\geq5$ the fusion rules are once again known to be the Clebsch-Gordan ones, the algebra $C(G)_{central}$ is, as before, polynomial on $\chi=\sum_iu_{ii}$, and the result follows by functoriality from the result at $N=4$, by using the embedding $S_4^+\subset S_N^+$.
Regarding now $G=H_N^+$, here it is known, from the computations in [@bv2], that the algebra $C(G)_{central}$ is polynomial on the following two variables: $$\chi=\sum_iu_{ii}\quad,\quad\chi'=\sum_iu_{ii}^2$$
We have two cases to be discussed, as follows:
– At $N=2$ we have $H_2^+=O_2^{-1}$, and, as explained in [@bbd], with $Q=F_2$ we have $\Gamma_Q=D_\infty$. Let us compute now the images $\rho,\rho'$ of the variables $\chi,\chi'$ in the group algebra of $D_\infty$. As before, from $Tr(u)=Tr(Q^*uQ)$ we obtain $\rho=g+h$, where $g,h$ are the generators of the two copies of $\mathbb Z_2$. Regarding now $\rho'$, let us first recall that the quotient map $C(H_2^+)\to C^*(D_\infty)$ is constructed as follows: $$\frac{1}{2}\begin{pmatrix}1&1\\1&-1\end{pmatrix}\begin{pmatrix}u_{11}&u_{12}\\u_{21}&u_{22}\end{pmatrix}\begin{pmatrix}1&1\\1&-1\end{pmatrix}\to\begin{pmatrix}g&0\\0&h\end{pmatrix}$$
Equivalently, this quotient map is constructed as follows: $$\begin{pmatrix}u_{11}&u_{12}\\u_{21}&u_{22}\end{pmatrix}\to\frac{1}{2}\begin{pmatrix}1&1\\1&-1\end{pmatrix}\begin{pmatrix}g&0\\0&h\end{pmatrix}\begin{pmatrix}1&1\\1&-1\end{pmatrix}=\frac{1}{2}\begin{pmatrix}g+h&g-h\\g-h&g+h\end{pmatrix}$$
We can now compute the image of our character, as follows: $$\rho'=\frac{1}{2}(g+h)^2=\frac{1}{2}(2+2gh)=1+gh$$
By using now the elementary fact that the variables $\rho=g+h$ and $\rho'=1+gh$ generate a polynomial algebra inside $C^*(D_\infty)$, this gives the result.
– Finally, at $N\geq3$ the result follows by functoriality, via the standard diagonal inclusion $H_2^+\subset H_N^+$, from the result at $N=2$, that we established above.
\(2) Amenability. Here the cases where $G$ is not coamenable are those of $O_N^+$ with $N\geq3$, $U_N^+$ with $N\geq2$, $S_N^+$ with $N\geq5$, and $H_N^+$ with $N\geq3$. For $G=O_N^+,H_N^+$ with $N\geq3$ the result is clear, because $\Gamma_1=\mathbb Z_2^{*N}$ is not amenable. Clear as well is the result for $U_N^+$ with $N\geq2$, because $\Gamma_1=F_N$ is not amenable. Finally, for $S_N^+$ with $N\geq5$ the result holds as well, because of the presence of Bichon’s group dual subgroup $\widehat{\mathbb Z_2*\mathbb Z_3}$.
\(3) Growth. Here the growth is polynomial precisely in the situations where $G$ is infinite and coamenable, the precise cases being $O_2^+=SU_2^{-1}$, $S_4^+=SO_3^{-1}$, $H_2^+=O_2^{-1}$, and the result follows from the fact that the growth invariants are stable by twisting.
We can see from the above proof that the verification of the conjectures basically requires to know how to compute $\Gamma_Q$, and to know the representation theory of $G$.
There are many other situations where these two technical ingredients are available, at least to some extent. Without getting into details here, let us just mention that: (1) the product operations $\times,\hat{*}$ can be investigated by using [@wa1], (2) the free complexification operation can be investigated by using [@rau], (3) for deformations, evidence comes from [@byu], [@nya], (4) for free wreath products, evidence comes from [@lem], [@lta], (5) the two-parametric free quantum groups can be studied by using [@bs1], and (6) for the various growth conjectures, substantial evidence comes from the computations in [@bv1], [@dpr].
In short, there is a lot of work to be done. In what follows we will do a part of this work, in relation with two key constructions, coming from Tannakian philosophy.
Half-liberation
===============
One interesting discovery coming from Tannakian philosophy is the fact that the commutation relations $ab=ba$ can be succesfully replaced, in relation with several quantum group questions, with the half-commutation relations $abc=cba$. Diagramatically: $$\xymatrix@R=12mm@C=10mm{\circ\ar@{-}[dr]&\circ\ar@{-}[dl]\\\circ&\circ}
\qquad\xymatrix@R=5mm@C=5mm{\\ \to\\ }\qquad
\xymatrix@R=12mm@C=5mm{\circ\ar@{-}[drr]&\circ\ar@{-}[d]&\circ\ar@{-}[dll]\\\circ&\circ&\circ}$$
We use here the following notions, coming from [@bsp], [@bv3]:
The half-classical orthogonal group $O_N^*$ is given by: $$C(O_N^*)=C(O_N^+)\Big/\Big<abc=cba,\forall a,b,c\in\{u_{ij}\}\Big>$$ The closed quantum subgroups $G\subset O_N^*$ are called half-classical.
To be more precise now, this definition is motivated by a result from [@bv3], stating that there are exactly 3 categories of pairings, namely those generated by $\emptyset$, $\slash\hskip-2.0mm\backslash$, $\slash\hskip-2.0mm\backslash\hskip-1.69mm|\hskip0.5mm$. Equivalently, there are exactly 3 orthogonal easy quantum groups, namely: $$O_N\subset O_N^*\subset O_N^+$$
We will be back to these topics in section 6 below. For the moment, we will just use Definition 5.1 as it is, and we refer to [@bsp], [@bv3] for where this definition comes from.
We will prove here that the 3 conjectures hold for any half-classical quantum group. In order to do so, we can use the modern approach from [@bdu], which is as follows:
Given a conjugation-stable closed subgroup $H\subset U_N$, consider the algebra $C([H])\subset M_2(C(H))$ generated by the following variables: $$u_{ij}=\begin{pmatrix}0&v_{ij}\\ \bar{v}_{ij}&0\end{pmatrix}$$ Then $[H]$ is a compact quantum group, we have $[H]\subset O_N^*$, and any non-classical subgroup $G\subset O_N^*$ appears in this way, with $G=O_N^*$ itself appearing from $H=U_N$.
The $2\times2$ matrices in the statement are self-adjoint, half-commute, and the $N\times N$ matrix $u=(u_{ij})$ that they form is orthogonal, so we have an embedding $[H]\subset O_N^*$. The quantum group property of $[H]$ is also elementary to check, by using an alternative, equivalent construction, with a quantum group embedding as follows: $$C([H])\subset C(H)\rtimes\mathbb Z_2$$
The surjectivity part is non-trivial, and we refer here to [@bdu].
We will need as well the following result, also from [@bdu]:
We have a bijection $Irr([H])\simeq Irr_0(H)\coprod Irr_1(H)$, where $$Irr_k(H)=\left\{r\in Irr(H)\Big|\exists l\in\mathbb N,r\in u^{\otimes k}\otimes(u\otimes\bar{u})^{\otimes l}\right\}$$ induced by the canonical identification $Irr(H\rtimes\mathbb Z_2)\simeq Irr(H)\coprod Irr(H)$.
We have an equality of projective versions $P[H]=PH$, and so an inclusion $Irr_0(H)=Irr(PH)\subset Irr([H])$. The remaining irreducible representations of $[H]$ must come from an inclusion $Irr_1(H)\subset Irr([H])$, appearing as above. See [@bdu].
Regarding now the maximal tori, the situation is very simple, as follows:
The group dual subgroups $\widehat{[\Gamma]}_Q\subset[H]$ appear via $$[\Gamma]_Q=[\Gamma_Q]$$ from the group dual subgroups $\widehat{\Gamma}_Q\subset H$ associated to $H\subset U_N$.
Let us first discuss the case $Q=1$. Consider the diagonal subgroup $\widehat{\Gamma}_1\subset H$, with the associated quotient map $C(H)\to C(\widehat{\Gamma}_1)$ denoted $v_{ij}\to\delta_{ij}h_i$. At the level of the algebras of $2\times2$ matrices, this map induces a quotient map $M_2(C(H))\to M_2(C(\widehat{\Gamma}_1))$, and our claim is that we have a factorization, as follows: $$\begin{matrix}
C([H])&\subset&M_2(C(H))\\
\\
\downarrow&&\downarrow\\
\\
C([\widehat{\Gamma}_1])&\subset&M_2(C(\widehat{\Gamma}_1))
\end{matrix}$$
Indeed, it is enough to show that the standard generators of $C([H])$ and of $ C([\widehat{\Gamma}_1])$ map to the same elements of $M_2(C(\widehat{\Gamma}_1))$. But these generators map indeed as follows: $$\begin{matrix}
u_{ij}&\to&\begin{pmatrix}0&v_{ij}\\ \bar{v}_{ij}&0\end{pmatrix}\\
\\
&&\downarrow\\
\\
\delta_{ij}v_{ij}&\to&\begin{pmatrix}0&\delta_{ij}h_i\\ \delta_{ij}h_i^{-1}&0\end{pmatrix}
\end{matrix}$$
Thus we have the above factorization, and since the map on the left is obtained by imposing the relations $u_{ij}=0$ with $i\neq j$, we obtain $[\Gamma]_1=[\Gamma_1]$, as desired.
In the general case now, $Q\in U_N$, the result follows by applying the above $Q=1$ result to the quantum group $[H]$, with fundamental corepresentation $w=QuQ^*$.
Now back to our conjectures, we have the following result:
The $3$ conjectures hold for any half-classical quantum group of the form $[H]\subset O_N^*$, with $H\subset U_N$ being connected.
By using Proposition 4.1, we know that the conjectures hold for $H\subset U_N$. The idea will be that of “transporting” these results, via $H\to [H]$:
\(1) Characters. We can pick here a maximal torus $T=\Gamma_Q$ for the compact group $H\subset U_N$, and by using the formula $[\Gamma]_Q=[\Gamma_Q]=[T]$ from Proposition 5.4 above, we obtain the result, via the identification in Proposition 5.3.
\(2) Amenability. There is nothing to be proved here, because $O_N^*$ is coamenable, and so are all its quantum subgroups. Note however, in relation with the comments made in section 3 above, that in the connected case, the Kesten measures of $G,[T]$ are intimately related. For some explicit formulae here, for $G=O_N^*$ itself, see [@bsp].
\(3) Growth. Here the situation is similar to the one for the amenability conjecture, because by Proposition 5.3 above, $[H]$ has polynomial growth.
The above result is waiting for a number of extensions. First, we believe that the connectivity assumption on $H$ should simply follow from the connectivity of $[H]$, and so, that this assumption can be dropped. With this result in hand, and by using as well Proposition 4.1 and Proposition 5.2, we would have the conjectures for any $G\subset O_N^*$.
Interesting as well would be to have a full extension of the classical results, with a statement covering all the closed subgroups $G\subset U_N$. This looks possible, some general complex half-liberation theory being available from [@bbi].
Tannakian aspects
=================
In this section we present a systematic Tannakian approach to our various conjectures. Our starting point is the following result, coming from Woronowicz’s work in [@wo2]:
Given an inclusion $G\subset O_N^+$, with the corresponding fundamental corepresentations denoted $u\to w$, we have the following formula: $$C(G)=C(O_N^+)\Big/\Big(T\in Hom(u^{\otimes k},u^{\otimes l}),\forall k,l\in\mathbb N,\forall T\in Hom(w^{\otimes k},w^{\otimes l})\Big)$$ A similar result holds in the unitary case, by assuming that $k,l$ are “colored” integers, with the tensor powers $v^{\otimes k},v^{\otimes l}$ being obtained by tensoring $v,\bar{v}$.
This follows indeed from [@wo2]. For a short, recent proof, see [@mal].
Regarding now the tori, at this level of generality, we have the following result:
The intertwining formula $T\in Hom(u^{\otimes k},u^{\otimes l})$, with $u=QvQ^*$, where $v=diag(g_1,\ldots,g_N)$, is equivalent to the collection of conditions $$(T^Q)_{j_1\ldots j_l,i_1\ldots i_k}\neq0\implies g_{i_1}\ldots g_{i_k}=g_{j_1}\ldots g_{j_l}$$ one for each choice of the multi-indices $i,j$, where $T^Q=(Q^*)^{\otimes l}TQ^{\otimes k}$.
Observe first that, by conjugating by $Q$, we have the following formula: $$T\in Hom(u^{\otimes k},u^{\otimes l})\iff T^Q\in Hom(v^{\otimes k},v^{\otimes l})$$
Thus, it is enough to prove the result at $Q=1$. And here, with standard multi-index notations, including the convention $g_i=g_{i_1}\ldots g_{i_k}$, the computation goes as follows: $$\begin{aligned}
T\in Hom(u^{\otimes k},u^{\otimes l})
&\iff&Tu^{\otimes k}e_i=u^{\otimes l}Te_i,\forall i\\
&\iff&Te_i\otimes g_i=u^{\otimes l}\sum_jT_{ji}e_j,\forall i\\
&\iff&\sum_jT_{ji}e_j\otimes g_i=\sum_jT_{ji}e_j\otimes g_j,\forall i\\
&\iff&T_{ji}g_i=T_{ji}g_j,\forall i,j\\
&\iff&[T_{ji}\neq0\implies g_i=g_j],\forall i,j\end{aligned}$$
Thus we have obtained the relation in the statement, and we are done.
In principle Propositions 6.1 and 6.2 give all the needed ingredients for a Tannakian approach to our conjectures. Obviously, there is a lot of work to be done here.
Let us discuss now the easy case, where more concrete results can be obtained. We use the framework of [@twe]. Let $P(k,l)$ be the set of partitions between an upper row of $k$ points, and a lower row of $l$ points, with each leg colored black or white, and with $k,l$ standing for the corresponding “colored integers”. We have then:
A category of partitions is a collection of sets $D=\bigcup_{kl}D(k,l)$, with $D(k,l)\subset P(k,l)$, which contains the identity, and is stable under:
1. The horizontal concatenation operation $\otimes$.
2. The vertical concatenation $\circ$, after deleting closed strings in the middle.
3. The upside-down turning operation $*$ (with reversing of the colors).
As explained in [@mal], [@twe], such categories produce quantum groups. To be more precise, associated to any partition $\pi\in P(k,l)$ is the following linear map: $$T_\pi(e_{i_1}\otimes\ldots\otimes e_{i_k})=\sum_{j:\ker(^i_j)\leq\pi}e_{j_1}\otimes\ldots\otimes e_{j_l}$$
Here the kernel of a multi-index $(^i_j)=(^{i_1\ldots i_k}_{j_1\ldots j_l})$ is the partition obtained by joining the sets of equal indices. With this construction in hand, we have:
A compact quantum group $G\subset U_N^+$ is called easy when $$Hom(u^{\otimes k},u^{\otimes l})=span\left(T_\pi\Big|\pi\in D(k,l)\right)$$ for any $k,l$, for a certain category of partitions $D\subset P$.
In other words, the easiness condition states that the Schur-Weyl dual of $G$ comes in the simplest possible way: from partitions. As a basic example, according to an old result of Brauer [@bra], the group $G=U_N$ is easy, with $D=P_2$ being the category of color-matching pairings. Easy as well is $U_N^+$, with $D=NC_2\subset P_2$ being the category of noncrossing color-matching pairings. See [@bsp], [@bv3], [@fre], [@mal], [@rw2], [@twe].
With these conventions, we have the following result:
In the uncolored case, the intertwining formula $T_\pi\in Hom(u^{\otimes k},u^{\otimes l})$, with $u=QvQ^*$, where $v=diag(g_1,\ldots,g_N)$, is equivalent to $$\delta_\pi^Q\binom{i_1\ldots i_k}{j_1\ldots j_l}\neq 0\implies g_{i_1}\ldots g_{i_k}=g_{j_1}\ldots g_{j_l}$$ with the generalized Kronecker symbols being given by $\delta_\pi^Q=\prod_{\beta\in\pi}\delta_\beta^Q$, with: $$\delta_{1^r_p}^Q\binom{i_1\ldots i_r}{j_1\ldots j_p}=\sum_sQ_{si_1}\ldots Q_{si_r}\bar{Q}_{sj_1}\ldots\bar{Q}_{sj_p}$$ A similar result holds is the colored case, with the convention $g_\bullet=g^{-1}$.
With multi-index notations, as in the proof of Proposition 6.2, we have: $$\begin{aligned}
T_\pi^Q(e_i)
&=&(Q^*)^{\otimes l}T_\pi Q^{\otimes k}e_i\\
&=&\sum_s(Q^*)^{\otimes l}T_\pi(Q^{\otimes k})_{si}e_s\\
&=&\sum_s(Q^*)^{\otimes l}(Q^{\otimes k})_{si}\sum_t\delta_\pi\binom{s}{t}e_t\\
&=&\sum_{stj}\delta_\pi\binom{s}{t}(Q^{\otimes k})_{si}((Q^*)^{\otimes l})_{jt}e_j\end{aligned}$$
Thus, with full indices now, we have the following formula: $$(T_\pi^Q)_{j_1\ldots j_l,i_1\ldots i_k}=\sum_{s_1\ldots s_k}\sum_{t_1\ldots t_l}\delta_\pi\binom{s_1\ldots s_k}{t_1\ldots t_l}Q_{s_1i_1}\ldots Q_{s_ki_k}\bar{Q}_{t_1j_1}\ldots\bar{Q}_{t_lj_l}$$
Since this quantity is multiplicative with respect to the blocks of $\pi$, by decomposing over these blocks, we obtain the formula in the statement.
Observe that the above result generalizes the computation in Theorem 2.6. In view of the similarities with Proposition 2.3, one interesting question, that we would like to raise here, is that of extending Theorem 6.5, as to cover Proposition 2.3 as well.
At a more concrete level now, the orthogonal easy quantum groups were classified by Raum and Weber in [@rw2]. Without getting into details here, let us mention that:
1. The classical examples are covered by Proposition 4.1. The free examples consist of the quantum groups $S_N^+,H_N^+,O_N^+$ from Theorem 4.4, and then of $S_N'^+,B_N^+$ and $B_N'^+,B_N''^+$, which appear as free versions of $S_N'=S_N\times\mathbb Z_2,B_N\simeq O_{N-1}$ and of $B_N'\simeq O_{N-1}\times\mathbb Z_2$, taken twice, where the methods for $S_N^+,O_N^+$ apply.
2. Then, we have a number of half-liberations, covered by Theorem 5.5, and an uncountable family, constructed in [@rw1]. For this latter family we can use the diagonal group dual subgroup $\widehat{\Gamma}_1$, and by using the crossed product picture in [@rw1] we conclude that our various conjectures hold indeed.
3. Finally, we have a last series, constructed in [@rw2]. Here the quantum groups are not coamenable, and nor are their diagonal group dual subgroups $\widehat{\Gamma}_1$, so the amenability and growth conjectures are both satisfied. The remaining problem regards the character conjecture, and we have no results here.
In the easy unitary case, where the classification so far is only available in the classical and free cases [@twe], the situation is quite unclear. Regarding amenability, an idea here would be that of trying to relate the Kesten coamenability of $G$ to the random walk on the various groups $\Gamma_Q$, with the restrictions on these latter random walks coming from the formula in Theorem 6.5. However, this looks like a quite technical task.
Finally, we believe that the present conjectures, and the maximal torus philosophy in general, can be of help in connection with certain rigidity questions in noncommutative geometry. As mentioned in section 1, the motivating remark from [@bbd] was the fact that a non-classical group dual cannot act on a compact connected Riemannian manifold. Thus, if a quantum group $G\subset U_N^+$ has the property that at least one of its subgroups $\widehat{\Gamma}_Q$ is non-classical, then $G$ cannot act on a compact connected Riemannian manifold.
In view of [@gjo], where the rigidity conjecture was proved in the general case, for any non-classical subgroup $G\subset U_N^+$, all this is obsolete. However, and here comes our point, we believe that the original philosophy in [@bbd] can applied to a wider range of rigidity questions, where some of the tools from [@gjo] might not be available. For a study of the half-classical case, based on [@bs2], [@bi2], we refer to the recent article [@ban].
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|
ANALYZING THE VIDEO
It is important to note that this video was delivered without audio. The filename “FLIR1” appears to reference the fact that this video was captured by a Forward Looking Infrared System (FLIR).
As the video starts, the sensor is in infrared “white-hot” mode—white elements in the display are warmer than the dark, or cooler, areas. The UAP appears as a white shape in the middle of the screen. The chasing aircraft is in a left-hand turn flying Mach 0.55 at 19,990 feet altitude. The UAP is flying slightly above (6 degrees) and 4 degrees to the right of the Super Hornet. Pilot interviews state that the UAP was hovering at 24,000 feet.
Note that there is no visible exhaust plume from the object. Mid-wave infrared images of hovering aircraft, such as the AV-8B Harrier, would clearly reveal an exhaust plume if one was present.
At 0:15, the weapon sensor operator (WSO) changes the zoom from 1.0 to 2.0, making the object much larger on screen.
At 0:18, the WSO changes to TV mode and the zoom resets to 1.0. At 19 seconds, the operator changes the zoom to 2.0. In the visual band, the object appears dark against the bright daytime sky and is clearly oblong shaped.
At 0:41, the WSO changes the image back to IR mode and then resets zoom to 1.0.
At 0:52, the sensor either breaks lock on the object or the object shifts rapidly. The sensor rapidly regains lock.
At 1:11, the WSO changes zoom several times.
At 1:14, the object suddenly and instantaneously accelerates to the left, out of view of the sensor at what appears to be unprecedented velocity without a sonic boom or other associated tell-tale signatures of a conventional craft. The acceleration is so high that the sensor cannot maintain track. This type of flight performance cannot be achieved by any known aircraft.
IMPLICATIONS
With the chain-of-custody documentation, FLIR1 shows credible evidence of a flying vehicle that demonstrates characteristics unlike anything we know, understand, or can duplicate. The video along with eye-witness accounts by US navy professionals have allowed us to conclude the following characteristics about the UAP:
• Hovering without a propulsion exhaust plume.
• Extreme maneuverability and startling changes in acceleration.
• Attaining hypersonic velocities, typically referring to speeds over Mach 5 (five times faster than the speed of sound), without an indication of a sonic boom.
It is because we cannot replicate these flight characteristics with existing technology, we believe this is indicative of beyond next generation technologies and necessitates further research.
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
To read a pilot report that discusses this event in further detail, please click here.
To watch an interview regarding this event with Commander David Fravor, U.S Navy (Ret), who was piloting one of the F/A-18F Super Hornets that day, please click here.
To read an Executive Report that provides additional information on this and other sightings, please click here.
Additional credible footage, reports, and analyses to follow here on the TTS Academy COI. |
import demistomock as demisto
import json
def executeCommand(name, args=None):
if name == 'demisto-api-get' and args and 'uri' in args and args['uri'] == "/settings/integration-commands":
file_name = 'TestData/integration_commands.json'
elif name == 'demisto-api-post' and args and 'uri' in args and args['uri'] == "/settings/integration/search":
file_name = 'TestData/integration_search.json'
else:
raise ValueError('Unimplemented command called: {}'.format(name))
with open(file_name, 'r') as f:
raw_data = f.read()
data = json.loads(raw_data)
return data
def test_main(mocker):
from ProvidesCommand import main
mocker.patch.object(demisto, 'executeCommand', side_effect=executeCommand)
mocker.patch.object(demisto, 'args', return_value={
'command': 'send-mail'
})
mocker.patch.object(demisto, 'results')
main()
assert demisto.results.call_count == 1
results = demisto.results.call_args
assert results[0][0] == 'EWS Mail Sender,Gmail,Mail Sender (Deprecated),Mail Sender (New)'
mocker.patch.object(demisto, 'args', return_value={
'command': 'send-mail',
'enabled': 'true'
})
mocker.patch.object(demisto, 'results')
main()
assert demisto.results.call_count == 1
results = demisto.results.call_args
assert results[0][0] == 'Mail Sender (New)'
mocker.patch.object(demisto, 'args', return_value={
'command': 'send-mail',
'enabled': 'false'
})
mocker.patch.object(demisto, 'results')
main()
assert demisto.results.call_count == 1
results = demisto.results.call_args
assert results[0][0] == 'EWS Mail Sender,Gmail,Mail Sender (Deprecated)'
|
Introduction
============
Currently, 30 states and the District of Columbia have medical marijuana (MMJ) programs or pending MMJ legislation, an additional 16 states have passed laws to allow limited access to MMJ, and an estimated 2.6 million individuals in the United States are certified for MMJ use (Procon.org). Since societal attitudes toward marijuana (MJ) have generally warmed, an increasing number of individuals are turning to MMJ to help treat a variety of medical conditions, as patients often do not achieve full symptom alleviation with conventional medications and experience unwanted side effects. Data gathered from several US surveys of MMJ patients indicate that the most common indications for MMJ use included pain-related concerns (i.e., chronic pain, headaches), psychiatric disorders (i.e., anxiety, depression), and insomnia ([@B61]; [@B66]; [@B11]; [@B62]). Although considerable research efforts have clarified the impact of recreational MJ use, particularly among adolescent and young adult populations, to date, there is a paucity of research focused on examining the impact of MMJ use on neurobiologic measures, including brain function and structure. As the number of MMJ patients continues to grow, research efforts designed to understand potential changes associated with MMJ use are critically important.
A large body of evidence from the past several decades suggests that recreational MJ use is related to cognitive decrements, including deficits in verbal memory ([@B74]; [@B3]; [@B70]), processing speed ([@B31]; [@B49]; [@B43]), attention ([@B28]; [@B21]; [@B5]) and executive function ([@B23]; [@B35]; [@B73]; [@B26]; [@B38]; [@B43]; [@B24]). While these deficits have been observed in adult MJ users ([@B60]), they are most salient among MJ-using adolescents ([@B50]) who are in the midst of critical neurodevelopment ([@B32]). Furthermore, these decrements have also been linked to alterations in brain structure and function. Although the directionality of structural alterations appears to be dependent on the brain region under investigation ([@B4]), studies show that gray and white matter alterations are associated with increased executive dysfunction ([@B55], [@B56]; [@B18]; [@B19]; [@B64]). In addition, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have reported altered activation patterns within the prefrontal cortex as well as orbitofrontal, cingulate, and subcortical/limbic regions of recreational MJ users compared to non-using control subjects during tasks of executive function ([@B50], for review). Further, similar to studies of cognitive performance and brain structure, fMRI studies have revealed that earlier onset of MJ use is related to altered patterns of brain activation during tasks requiring cognitive control and inhibition ([@B75]; [@B33]; [@B68]).
Although many have posited that MMJ use would be associated with similar deficits, preliminary studies have suggested that this may not be the case. In our own recent pilot investigation ([@B36]), the only study to date to examine the impact of whole plant-derived MMJ products on cognitive performance, we found that MMJ patients did not demonstrate decrements in performance on measures of executive function following 3 months of MMJ treatment. In fact, patients generally demonstrated *improved* performance on a number of measures, particularly those assessing executive function. Improvements were also noted on several measures of quality of life, sleep, and depression relative to pre-MMJ treatment levels. Differences between recreational and MMJ users may be related to a variety of factors, including age of onset of MJ use, duration, magnitude and frequency of use, and choice of actual cannabis products used. Although products used by recreational MJ consumers and MMJ patients are derived from the same plant species, they are generally utilized for different purposes (i.e., to get high/alter one's current state of being vs. symptom alleviation). Accordingly, recreational and medical users often seek different MJ products with various constituent compositions based on the desired effect. Recreational MJ users often seek products high in Δ^9^-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive constituent of the cannabis plant, and while medical patients may also choose products with high THC levels they often seek products high in other potentially therapeutic cannabinoids. Research has begun to focus on the beneficial effects of cannabidiol (CBD), the primary non-intoxicating constituent of MJ, which has been touted for its antipsychotic, anxiolytic, anti-seizure, and anti-inflammatory properties ([@B67]). While studies from recreational MJ users have reported a relationship between higher levels of THC and poorer cognitive performance ([@B65]; [@B45]) the acute administration of CBD prior to THC has been shown to *improve* cognitive function ([@B57]; [@B30]), underscoring the need for further study. Moreover, [@B81] recently found that although MJ users exposed to THC exhibit alterations in hippocampal volume and neurochemistry, those who utilized CBD-containing products did not demonstrate differences relative to healthy controls. Similarly, a recent review of the effects of THC and CBD on neuroanatomy concluded that MJ users are prone to brain alterations in regions with high cannabinoid receptor density, and although THC exacerbates these alterations, CBD appears to protect against these deleterious changes ([@B51]). In addition, several researchers have administered pure THC or CBD to healthy control participants to investigate the impact of these constituents on brain activation patterns using fMRI. In general, studies suggest that THC and CBD have opposite effects on cognition-related brain activation ([@B9], [@B8]; [@B80]). This may be related to the fact that THC is a CB1 agonist with strong binding affinity for CB1 receptors, while CBD appears to exert effects through more indirect mechanisms, which include additional receptor types ([@B83]; [@B2]). Despite preliminary work investigating the acute effects of pure THC and CBD on neural networks associated with cognitive domains impacted by MJ use, to our knowledge, no studies thus far have examined the impact of treatment with whole-plant-derived MMJ products on brain activation patterns.
In order to investigate whether pilot observations of improved executive function ([@B36]) persist with larger sample sizes and to determine whether these changes co-occur with altered brain activation patterns, MMJ patients from an ongoing longitudinal study underwent fMRI while completing the Multi-Source Interference Test (MSIT). The MSIT is a robust measure of cognitive interference, a core facet of executive functioning, which is related to attentional control and inhibitory processing and requires actively shifting attention by inhibiting automatic responses ([@B47]). This task reliably activates frontal brain regions associated with executive functioning, particularly the cingulo-frontal-parietal (CFP) network ([@B16]). Given our previous findings ([@B36]), we hypothesized that following 3 months of treatment, MMJ patients would demonstrate improved task performance, and that this improvement would coincide with changes in brain activation patterns measured by fMRI. We have previously utilized the MSIT to better characterize patterns of cingulate and frontal brain activation within clinical and non-clinical cohorts ([@B33], [@B34]), and although no studies thus far have examined MMJ patients using neuroimaging techniques, we hypothesized that improved MSIT task performance would be associated with increased activation in these regions following 3 months of MMJ treatment. We also posited that these changes would occur in the context of improved mood and quality of life ratings.
Materials and Methods {#s1}
=====================
Participants
------------
To date, of 45 consented participants, 41 MMJ patients were enrolled and data from 22 patients' pre-treatment (Visit 1) and 3-month check-in visits (Visit 2) were available for analyses. In addition, patients who were free of MRI contraindications also completed neuroimaging procedures (*n* = 15). In order to qualify for study entry, patients had to be over the age of 18, and have an estimated IQ of 75 or higher as assessed by the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI; [@B78]). In order to minimize the effects of previous MJ exposure on study findings, patients were required to be MJ naïve or be abstinent from MJ use for at least 2 years for their pre-treatment visit. Patients were also required to be certified for MMJ use, or describe a plan to use industrial hemp derived products (which do not currently require certification). All subjects received payment for each study visit, and those who completed MRI procedures were compensated additionally in accordance with Partners IRB-approved protocol procedures.
Study Design
------------
Prior to participation, all study procedures were explained, and each participant was required to provide written informed consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. This document and all study procedures were approved by the Partners Institutional Review Board. Eligible participants were enrolled in a larger longitudinal study designed to assess the impact of MMJ on cognition and brain function over the course of 12--24 months. Patients completed all assessments and imaging *prior* to initiation of MMJ treatment and again after 3 months of treatment.
As part of a larger neuroimaging protocol, participants completed the MSIT ([@B17]; [@B16]) with concurrent fMRI scanning using identical task parameters as reported in our previous studies of recreational MJ users, patients with bipolar disorder, and healthy controls ([@B33], [@B34]). Using aspects from well-established measures of cognitive interference (e.g., Stroop, Simon, and Flanker tasks), the MSIT incorporates both spatial and flanker types of interference to measure cognitive control ([@B17]; [@B16]). During the task, three-digit stimuli sets comprised of the numbers 0, 1, 2, or 3 are presented briefly on a screen. Each set contains two identical distractor numbers and a target number that differs from the distractors. Using a button box, participants report the *identity* of the target number that differs from the two distractor numbers during two conditions: during the Control condition, distractor numbers are always zeros, and the identity of the target number always corresponds to its position on the button box (i.e., 100, 020, 003). During the Interference condition, patients are required to inhibit a prepotent response in favor of a less automatic response (i.e., indicate the identity of the target number rather its position). Distractor numbers are always numbers other than 0, and the identity of the target number is always incongruent with its position on the button box (e.g., 211, 232, 331, etc.). Performance is measured by reaction time and percent accuracy, which can be further subdivided by error type. Omission errors occur when no response is given and are typically reflective of slower or overloaded cognitive processing while commission errors, or incorrect responses, generally indicate difficulty inhibiting inappropriate responses. The entire task is comprised of four blocks of control trials alternating with four blocks of interference trials; the task begins and ends with a fixation period (30 s), making the total run time 6 min and 36 s (see **Figure [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}** for graphic representation of the task design).
{#F1}
Patients also completed a battery of self-report rating scales. Briefly, these included the Profile of Mood States (POMS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), and the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36), a measure of functional health and quality of life. During each study visit, participants also provided information regarding dose, frequency, and duration of use for all conventional medications, which were categorized into different classes, including opioids, antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and benzodiazepines. Percent change data was calculated to assess potential changes in medication use from pre- to post-3 months of MMJ treatment.
After completing pre-treatment assessments, patients began MMJ treatment at their discretion. Although patients selected their own products and determined their own treatment regimens, we collected detailed data about MMJ use patterns and products. Between study visits, patients submitted biweekly diaries documenting MMJ use and were contacted by phone on a monthly basis to acquire information regarding MMJ product type, frequency, magnitude, and modes of use using a modified timeline follow-back procedure (TLFB; [@B71]). Following a minimum of 3 months of regular MMJ treatment, patients returned for their first of several check in visits (Visit 2) where they repeated all study measures. In addition, participants were asked to provide a sample of their most frequently used MMJ product(s) to an outside laboratory (ProVerde Laboratories, Inc.) for cannabinoid constituent profiling. These analyses, which quantified the levels of 10 major cannabinoids including THC and CBD, will be used to identify the unique effects of specific cannabinoids in future analyses.
Statistical Analyses
--------------------
Descriptive statistics were calculated for demographic and MMJ use variables. Repeated-measure analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were used to assess changes in clinical state from Visit 1 to Visit 2. The assumption of homogeneity of variance was confirmed using Levene's F; however, Shapiro--Wilk tests indicated that data for the MSIT were not normally distributed. Accordingly, non-parametric, repeated-measures Wilcoxon Signed Rank Tests were used to assess changes from Visit 1 to Visit 2 for MSIT data. It is of note, however, that the non-parametric tests resulted in similar findings as the ANOVAs; all significant results remained. For the MSIT analyses, alpha was set at 0.05 for the response time and percent accuracy variables. In cases where percent accuracy differed significantly between Visits 1 and 2, comparisons of the two different error types (omission, commission) utilized a Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons (α/2 = 0.025).
fMRI Methods and Analyses
-------------------------
All imaging was performed on a Siemens Trio whole body 3T MRI scanner (Siemens Corporation, Erlangen, Germany) using a 12-channel phased array head coil. For the MSIT, 40 contiguous coronal slices were acquired from each participant, ensuring whole brain coverage (5 mm thick, 0 mm skip), and images were collected with TR = 3000, using a single shot, gradient pulse echo sequence (TE = 30 ms, flip angle = 90, with a 20 cm field of view and a 64 × 64 acquisition matrix; in plane resolution 3.125 mm × 3.125 mm × 3.125 mm). A total of 132 images per slice were collected.
fMRI images were analyzed using SPM8 (version 4667, Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience, University College, London, United Kingdom) software package running in MATLAB (version R2010b, MathWorks, Natick, MA, United States). First, blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) fMRI data were corrected for slice timing and for motion in SPM8 using a two-step intra-run realignment algorithm that uses the mean image created after the first realignment as a reference. A criterion of 3 mm of head motion in any direction was used as an exclusionary criterion. The realigned images were then normalized to an EPI template in Montreal Neurological Institute stereotactic space using DARTEL. Normalized images were re-sampled into 3 mm^3^ voxels and then spatially smoothed using an isotropic Gaussian kernel with 6 mm full width at half maximum. Global scaling was not used, high-pass temporal filtering with a cut-off of 168 s was applied, and serial autocorrelations were modeled with an AR(1) model in SPM8. Using a general linear model, statistical parametric images were calculated individually for each subject showing Interference \> Control. These images were subsequently entered into second level model, subjected to a voxel-wise contrast and *t*-test to assess statistical significance. In addition to the realignment during the preprocessing, effects of motion were further corrected by removing motion related components from the data by including the calculated motion parameters from the realignment as regressors in the GLM (e.g., six nuisance regressors corresponding to three directions of translation and three axes of rotation). Regions of interest (ROI) masks were created using the Wake Forest University Pickatlas utility ([@B53]) and included cingulate and frontal regions. Specifically, the cingulate ROI was comprised of both bilateral anterior and mid cingulate regions (22,302 voxels) while the frontal ROI was comprised of bilateral superior frontal, middle frontal and inferior frontal gyri (6,857 voxels; see Supplementary Figure [1](#SM1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). These regions were selected as the cingulate (CC) and frontal cortices are associated with inhibitory processing and are reliably activated during the completion of the MSIT ([@B16]; [@B33], [@B34]). Contrast analyses consisted of the subtraction of one map from the other; for example, the cingulate activity of Visit 1 was subtracted from cingulate activity of Visit 2 to determine which areas showed increased activity over the course of treatment. As in previous studies ([@B41]; [@B40]; [@B82]; [@B69]; [@B39]), the fixation point was not included in planned contrast analyses. The statistical threshold was set at *p* \< 0.05 for cluster level family-wise-error (FWE), *p* \< 0.001 for voxel level FWE with a minimum cluster extent *k* = 15 contiguous voxels in accordance with previously published manuscripts that have utilized the MSIT and have used a *k*-value of 15 ([@B33]) or lower ([@B39]; [@B15]). In addition to utilizing previously published *k*-values, we also conducted Monte Carlo simulations ([@B77]) to determine a more rigorous cluster extent for *p* \< 0.001 which yielded *k* = 91. As two ROIs were used for analyses, data was also corrected for multiple comparisons, generating a new statistical threshold (*p* \< 0.0005). One patient was excluded from MSIT analyses as they requested early termination of scanning procedures.
Results
=======
Demographics and MMJ Use
------------------------
All patients (11 male, 11 female) were between the ages of 28--74 (*M* = 50.64, *SD* = 13.15) who reported seeking MMJ treatment for a variety of conditions including pain (*n* = 13), anxiety/PTSD (*n* = 10), sleep (*n* = 10), mood (*n* = 8), and "other" conditions (*n* = 8), which included gastrointestinal issues, difficulty with attention, and additional indications not specified by the state of Massachusetts. Patients in the current sample were generally well-educated; all had earned a high school diploma, many completed advanced education (*M* = 15.91 years, *SD* = 1.97), and all were of at least average intelligence as measured by the WASI (*M* = 117.23, *SD* = 7.63). Upon initiation of MMJ treatment, all patients reported at least weekly use, which ranged from 1.5 times per week to multiple times per day. As noted in **Table [1](#T1){ref-type="table"}**, patients reported using MMJ products an average of 5.34 days per week and 1.83 times per day for an overall average of 10.26 total episodes of MMJ use per week. Patients also indicated various routes of administration, including smoking and vaporizing flower, as well as use of oil and concentrates (vaporized and oral administration), tinctures, edibles, and topicals.
######
Demographics and MMJ use.
Demographic variable (*n* = 22) Mean (*SD*)
----------------------------------------- ------------------------
Age 50.64 (*13.15*)
Education (years) 15.91 (*1.93*)
WASI^a^ Full Scale IQ 117.23 (*7.63*)
**MMJ use^b^**
Days of MMJ use/week 5.34 (*1.99*)
Times/day used 1.83 (*1.02*)
Total MMJ use episodes/week 10.26 (*7.71*)
**Mode of use** **Number of patients**
Smoke (flower) 8
Vaporize (flower) 9
Vaporize (oil/concentrates) 6
Oil/concentrates (non-smoked/vaporized) 5
Tincture 6
Edibles 7
Topicals 2
a
WASI, Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence;
b
reflects average use from the start of regular treatment through Visit 2.
MSIT Behavioral Performance
---------------------------
Relative to pre-treatment, patients demonstrated improved MSIT performance following 3 months of MMJ treatment (**Table [2](#T2){ref-type="table"}**). During the Control condition, patients exhibited improved performance, marked by fewer omission errors; however, qualitative analyses revealed that patients approached near perfect levels of performance pre-and post-treatment for this condition. During the Interference condition, patients performed notably better at Visit 2, demonstrating significantly fewer omission and a trend for fewer commission errors, and thus significantly improved percent accuracy. In addition, MMJ patients also demonstrated faster response times during Visit 2, relative to Visit 1, across both Control and Interference trials.
######
Repeated measures Wilcoxon signed rank tests assessing Multi-Source Interference Test (MSIT) performance at pre-treatment and after 3 months of MMJ use (post-treatment).
MSIT variable Visit 1 Pre-treatment Mean (*SD*) Visit 2 Post-treatment Mean (*SD*) Wilcoxon
------------------------------ ----------------------------------- ------------------------------------ ---------- ----------------------
**Control condition**
Response time (ms) 608.90 (*97.20*) 582.62 (*64.97*) 2.062 **0.020 (0.500)^∗^**
Percent accuracy 97.40 (*2.57*) 98.82 (*1.74*) 2.282 **0.011 (0.553)^∗^**
Omission errors^a^ 1.73 (*2.25*) 0.68 (*1.09*) 1.974 **0.024 (0.479)^∗^**
Commission errors^a^ 0.77 (*0.97*) 0.46 (*0.86*) 1.461 0.072 (0.354)
**Interference condition**
Response time (ms) 914.23 (*76.56*) 886.62 (*82.76*) 2.743 **0.003 (0.665)^∗^**
Percent accuracy 79.03 (*18.87*) 86.55 (*11.88*) 2.858 **0.002 (0.693)^∗^**
Omission errors^a^ 11.96 (*12.01*) 7.27 (*7.92*) 2.750 **0.003 (0.667)^∗^**
Commission errors^a^ 8.18 (*9.11*) 5.77 (*5.57*) 1.718 *0.043* (*0.417*)ˆ
df = 1,21;
a
corrected for multiple comparisons using Bonferroni method;
∗
results significant at p ≤ 0.05 when α = 0.05 or, for Bonferroni corrected analyses, at p ≤ 0.025 when α = 0.025; ˆresults trending toward significance at p ≤ 0.10 when α = 0.05 or, for Bonferroni corrected analyses, at
p
≤ 0.05 when α = 0.025.
MSIT fMRI Data
--------------
Interestingly, in addition to improved task performance, MMJ patients exhibited notable changes in brain activation patterns in terms of both magnitude and location from Visit 1 to Visit 2. Results are provided in **Table [3](#T3){ref-type="table"}** which includes data for both the *a priori* threshold of *k* = 15 and also indicates which values survived the new threshold of *k* = 91 determined by the Monte Carlo simulations. After initiating MMJ treatment, patients generally exhibited increased activation within both the cingulate and frontal ROIs. Specifically, within the CC ROI, single-sample analyses revealed no significant activation at Visit 1, yet at Visit 2 patients exhibited focal activation within the midcingulate cortex (*k* = 165). Within-subjects contrast analyses between Visit 1 and Visit 2 revealed no significant activation differences for Visit 1 \> Visit 2, but the Visit 2 \> Visit 1 contrast indicated activation differences within the right anterior cingulate (*k* = 43). Within the frontal ROI, single-sample analyses revealed activation at Visit 1 within the left superior (*k* = 65) and the right inferior frontal gyrus (*k* = 19), and at Visit 2, within the right inferior (*k* = 575), left middle frontal gyrus (*k* = 217), and the left precentral gyrus (*k* = 19). Within-subjects contrast analyses between Visit 1 and Visit 2 yielded no significant activation differences for the Visit 1 \> Visit 2 contrast; however, the Visit 2 \> Visit 1 contrast revealed significant activation differences within the right middle gyrus (*k* = 88) and superior frontal gyrus (*k* = 25). See **Figure [2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}**.
######
Multi-Source Interference Task (Interference-Control condition): activation local maxima within cingulate cortex (CC) and frontal cortex regions of interest (ROIs).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*ROI*\ Cluster\ *x* *y* *z* SPM\ Voxel *p*\
Visit\ size\ {t} (FWE -\
Region (voxels) corrected)
------------------------------------------------------ ---------- ----- ----- ----- ------- ------------
***CC***
**Visit 1**
No activation *k* ≥ 15 -- -- -- -- -- --
**Visit 2**
Right middle cingulate cortex **150** 6 12 45 8.45 \<0.0005
Right anterior cingulate cortex 15 12 36 15 5.18 \<0.0005
**Visit 1 \> Visit 2**
No activation *k* ≥ 15 -- -- -- -- -- --
**Visit 2 \> Visit 1**
Right anterior cingulate cortex 20 3 18 24 5.41 \<0.0005
Right anterior cingulate cortex 23 9 30 18 5.21 \<0.0005
***FRONTAL***
**Visit 1**
Left superior frontal gyrus 65 -30 -3 69 9.51 \<0.0005
Right inferior frontal gyrus (*p. triangularis*) 19 45 12 24 8.48 \<0.0005
**Visit 2**
Right inferior frontal gyrus (*p. opercularis*) **575** 42 9 27 10.75 \<0.0005
Left middle frontal gyrus **217** -24 -6 51 10.08 \<0.0005
Left precentral gyrus 19 -45 9 36 7.87 \<0.0005
**Visit 1 \> Visit 2**
No activation *k* ≥ 15 -- -- -- -- -- --
**Visit 2 \> Visit 1**
Right middle frontal gyrus 88 48 9 54 6.94 \<0.0005
Right superior frontal gyrus 25 24 12 66 6.58 \<0.0005
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The statistical threshold was initially set at p \< 0.05 for cluster level family-wise-error (FWE), and p \< 0.0005 for voxel level FWE (corrected for multiple comparisons) with a minimum cluster extent k = 15 contiguous voxels. Bolded results indicate values that survived the Monte Carlo simulation minimum cluster extent (k = 91).
{#F2}
Clinical Ratings and Conventional Medication Use
------------------------------------------------
Following 3 months of MMJ treatment, patients reported some improvement on measures of mood and quality of life (**Table [4](#T4){ref-type="table"}**). Across all rating scales, no significant worsening of clinical state or quality of life was observed. Moreover, consistent with a previous report ([@B36]), patients reported significant *improvements* on measures of depression (BDI), impulsivity (BIS-11), sleep (PSQI), and quality of life (SF-36). Specifically, on the SF-36, patients indicated significantly improved energy/fatigue and fewer role limitations due to physical health, which reflects how often patients' physical health affects their work and other life activities. A trend also emerged suggesting improved social functioning.
######
Mood and health ratings at pre-treatment and after 3 months of MMJ use (post-treatment).
Rating scale Visit 1 Pre-treatment Mean (*SD*) Visit 2 Post-treatment Mean (*SD*) ANOVA
---------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ------------------------------------ -------------- --------------------------
**Clinical ratings**
*Profile of Mood States (POMS)*^a^
Vigor 16.86 (*6.19*) 16.14 (*6.53*) 0.543 0.235 (0.025)
Anger 8.68 (*10.33*) 8.59 (*9.21*) 0.003 0.477 (\<0.001)
Confusion 8.00 (*6.38*) 6.73 (*4.92*) *2.748* *0.056* (*0.116)ˆ*
Tension 12.59 (*9.96*) 12.05 (*9.97*) 0.153 0.350 (0.007)
Fatigue 9.91 (*7.29*) 8.77 (*7.24*) *1.946* *0.089* (*0.085)ˆ*
Depression 13.18 (*16.78)*) 14.14 (*16.95*) 0.217 0.323 (0.010)
TMD 35.50 (*51.08*) 34.14 (*48.89*) 0.055 0.409 (0.003)
*Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)*^a^
Total 13.77 (*12.60*) 9.73 (*11.65*) ***9.559*** ***0.003* (*0.313*)^∗^**
*Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI)*^a^
Total 10.55 (*10.32*) 9.73 (*9.93*) 0.227 0.319 (0.011)
**Impulsivity**
*Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11)*^a^
Attention 16.59 (*5.77*) 16.59 (*5.47*) 0.000 0.500 (0.000)
Motor 23.00 (*5.43*) 21.23 (*5.37*) ***12.531*** ***0.001* (*0.374*)^∗^**
Non-planning 23.41 (*5.53*) 23.59 (*5.50*) 0.077 0.392 (0.004)
Total 63.00 (*15.08*) 61.41 (*14.64*) 1.626 0.108 (0.072)
**Health and quality of life ratings**
*Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI)*^b^
Total 8.26 (*4.46*) 6.05 (*3.26*) ***7.167*** ***0.008* (*0.285*)^∗^**
*SF-36*^a^
Physical functioning 71.59 (*21.40*) 71.82 (*26.03*) 0.002 0.483 (\<0.001)
Role limitations (physical) 44.32 (*43.60*) 56.82 (*44.44*) ***3.915*** ***0.031* (*0.157*)^∗^**
Role limitations (emotional) 63.64 (*43.53*) 60.61 (*45.58*) 0.096 0.380 (0.005)
Energy/fatigue 42.73 (*25.39*) 51.36 (*21.67*) ***10.738*** ***0.002* (*0.338*)^∗^**
Emotional well-being 67.64 (*26.18*) 65.82 (*27.32*) 0.827 0.187 (0.038)
Social functioning 62.50 (*29.12*) 68.75 (*29.06*) *1.819* *0.096* (*0.080*)ˆ
Pain 52.73 (*2.05*) 56.59 (*26.06*) 0.918 0.174 (0.042)
General health 57.50 (*19.75*) 60.91 (*19.56*) 1.668 0.105 (0.074)
Clinical rating scales (POMS, BDI, BAI), lower scores reflect lower levels of clinical symptoms; BIS-11, lower scores indicate lower levels of self-reported impulsivity; PSQI, lower scores reflect improved sleep quality; SF-36, higher scores indicate higher quality of life.
a
df = 1,21;
b
df = 1,18;
∗
bolded results are significant at p ≤ 0.05; ˆ italicized results approach significance at p ≤ 0.10.
In addition to improvements in clinical state and quality of life, following 3 months of MMJ treatment, patients reported reductions in their use of conventional pharmaceutical products across several drug classes. Specifically, patients taking opioids reported a 47.69% reduction in use and those prescribed benzodiazepines reported a 46.91% reduction in use. Antidepressant use decreased by 22.35% while the use of mood stabilizers decreased by 28.57% between Visit 1 and Visit 2.
Discussion
==========
Following 3 months of MMJ treatment, patients exhibited improved task performance and related alterations in frontal brain activation patterns during the completion of the MSIT, a measure of executive function and cognitive control, relative to pre-MMJ treatment. Within the cingulate cortex (CC), patients did not exhibit any significant pre-treatment activation during the Interference condition of the MSIT; however, after 3 months of treatment, robust activation was noted within this region. In fact, the magnitude of activation significantly increased over the course of treatment such that post-treatment activation patterns appeared more similar to that of healthy controls observed in previous studies ([@B16]; [@B33]). Activation within the frontal ROI was also notably increased following 3 months of MMJ treatment relative to pre-MMJ treatment. Taken together, these changes may be reflective of a potential "normalization" of brain function following 3 months of MMJ use.
Further, changes in brain activation patterns were observed in the context of improved task performance and self-reported improvements in mood and quality of life as well as reduced sleep disturbance and lower motor impulsivity, consistent with previously published preliminary data ([@B36]). It is possible that improvements in symptomatology (i.e., relief of symptoms, improved mood/sleep) are directly related to observed improvements in cognitive function and alterations in brain activation. Patients in the present study most commonly endorsed pain and anxiety as their reasons for MMJ certification; both of these conditions have previously been associated with reduced cognitive performance ([@B58]; [@B76]). Symptom improvement may therefore result in improved cognitive performance, and subsequently impact patterns of brain activation during completion of these tasks.
In addition to reduced symptomatology resulting in improved cognitive performance, it is also possible that several other factors may have also contributed to the observed changes. Patients reported notable decreases in their use of opioids, benzodiazepines, antidepressants, and mood stabilizers, and it is possible that reductions in conventional medications influenced changes in brain activation patterns. In fact, several studies have shown that mood stabilizers, benzodiazepines, and antidepressants generally attenuate activation ([@B7]; [@B25]; [@B63]; [@B1]; [@B59]). In particular, [@B7] reported that use of mood stabilizers is related to hypoactivation of the CFP network, a key region implicated in cognitive interference processing. While we are not aware of fMRI research focused on the effects of short-term prescriptive doses of opioids in humans, one study examining opioid dependence reported that normalization of frontal brain activation patterns was related to days since last drug use ([@B14]). Reduction or cessation of use of these medications may therefore alter patterns of brain activation. Accordingly, future studies are needed to disentangle the effects of MMJ treatment and conventional medication use on brain activation patterns, and may benefit from limiting clinical samples to only those on a single specific class of conventional medication.
Although findings from this study indicate *improvements* in cognitive task performance and more normalized patterns of brain activation after 3 months of MMJ treatment, previous studies, exclusively focused on recreational MJ users, have reported *decrements* in cognitive performance and accompanying atypical neural alterations. A recent review highlighting neuroimaging findings in recreational MJ users found evidence for altered frontal neural function during completion of executive function tasks ([@B79]), a finding observed in our own previous research (e.g., [@B37]; [@B33]; [@B68]). A number of critical factors may account for the differences between our current findings in MMJ patients relative to findings from recreational MJ consumers. The majority of studies of recreational MJ use have included adolescent and young adult populations. Overwhelmingly, studies have demonstrated that early/adolescent onset of recreational MJ use is related to poorer task performance and changes in brain structure and function ([@B48], [@B50]; [@B44]; [@B46]). Given that participants in the current sample are adults (*Mean age* = 50.64) who are well-beyond the critical stages of neurodevelopment ([@B32]), they are likely less vulnerable to the adverse neural effects of THC. Interestingly, recent preclinical evidence indicates that THC may have the potential to *improve* cognition in older individuals ([@B10]). Mature and old mice administered low doses of THC demonstrated a reversal of age-related cognitive decline, hypothesized to be related to upregulation of the aging endocannabinoid system via increased signaling secondary to low dose THC exposure. Moreover, the same exposure resulted in cognitive decrements among young mice. Additional research is needed to more fully understand the mechanisms underlying these improvements and to examine the impact of cannabis and cannabinoids in older adult populations as well as the effects of low doses of THC, as these factors likely influence the impact of MJ use.
It is also important to consider patterns of MJ use, including frequency and duration of use, in order to understand potential reasons for the different outcomes among recreational users and medical patients. In the current study, all patients reported using MMJ at least weekly; on average, they reported using 5 days per week and 1--2 times per day. Traditionally, studies of recreational users have examined chronic, heavy use; although criteria for "heavy use" can vary across investigations, most studies have required participants to use MJ at least 1--4 days per week ([@B74]; [@B33]; [@B52]; [@B26]; [@B22]), similar to the frequency of use among the current sample of medical patients. Given these similarities, it is unlikely that differences between recreational and MMJ patients are solely attributable to frequency of use. Additionally, studies of recreational MJ users typically include consumers with a longer duration of MJ use relative to the current sample of MMJ patients, and differences in cumulative exposure should also be considered. For this reason, our ongoing study is designed to examine MMJ users after increasingly longer periods of use to explore the impact of longer durations of MMJ use on cognitive function.
Further, MMJ patients and recreational MJ users also typically differ in terms of the products they use. Recreational MJ products are often prized for high THC levels, and the goal of the recreational consumer is to change their current state of being or to 'get high.' MMJ patients seek symptom alleviation and tend to choose products with rich and varied cannabinoid profiles including constituents other than THC, which may also impact clinical state, cognitive processing and other domains. For example, CBD, which has been touted for its clinical benefits ([@B67]), has demonstrated efficacy in mitigating the negative cognitive effects of THC ([@B81]) and appears to exert opposite effects on task-related brain activation relative to THC ([@B20]). In addition, although there is a paucity of research in this area, some studies have examined the direct impact of acute CBD administration on cognitive performance. [@B30] reported that administration of CBD prior to the administration of THC resulted in better episodic memory relative to placebo pre-treatment in healthy controls. [@B57] examined verbal memory performance in current recreational MJ users and found that those using products without CBD (confirmed by hair sample analysis) performed more poorly on verbal memory measures than those with detectable levels of CBD. While no studies have examined the impact of whole plant-derived MMJ products or assessed the long-term impact of MMJ treatment, some studies have utilized fMRI techniques to examine the acute effects of individual cannabinoids. [@B12] studied the acute impact of THC, CBD, and placebo on executive function in healthy controls using a Go/No go task. Although the authors did not report any performance differences between cannabinoids or placebo, fMRI data demonstrated that THC reduced activation in frontal and anterior cingulate regions, while CBD reduced activation in temporal and insular regions relative to placebo. In addition, [@B9] found that intravenous administration of THC and CBD resulted in opposite effects on brain activation patterns across multiple regions during the completion of memory, inhibitory function, and affective measures. Given these findings, data from the present study may reflect the direct neurobiologic effects of cannabinoids, as increased endocannabinoid signaling is associated with improved cognition ([@B27]), reduced stress response, emotional regulation, and increased endogenous reward signaling ([@B42]; [@B6]), and as previously noted, specific alterations in brain activation patterns ([@B12]; [@B9]). Results may also reflect the indirect impact of whole plant-derived products, which include an array of cannabinoid constituents, and may exert downstream affects on multiple receptor types and neural systems (i.e., pain and reward circuitry). While THC and CBD are generally the most abundant cannabinoids in patients' products, and as noted, several studies have begun to explore their impact on cognition and brain activation patterns, a number of other cannabinoids including cannabigerol (CBG), cannabinol (CBN), cannabichromene (CBC), and tetrahydrocannabidivarin (THCV), are often present in MMJ products, and may have moderated or indirectly affected the impact typically associated with THC exposure ([@B29]). Further research is clearly indicated for assessing the specific impact of individual cannabinoids on cognitive and clinical variables in patients using cannabis for medical purposes.
Limitations and Future Directions
---------------------------------
Despite the compelling nature of the study findings, several limitations must be noted. First, the current investigation is designed as an observational, longitudinal pre--post study in which patients choose their own products and treatment regimen. The ability to assess the impact of whole plant-derived cannabis-based products is more ecologically valid than studies involving synthetic or non-plant derived products; however, the current legal landscape prohibits the use of dispensary-based products within a clinical trial model and allows only the use of products supplied by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). While NIDA's drug supply program has expanded their portfolio of MJ products available for research, their supply does not currently include the range and scope of products (i.e., product type, potency, constituent profiles, etc.) that patients are seeking and obtaining through dispensaries and caregivers across the nation. Accordingly, as a clinical trial model could not be utilized, the present study collected comprehensive data on product source, selection, dose, frequency, and mode of use. Further, as previously noted, patients also provided a sample of their most frequently used MMJ products for cannabinoid constituent profiling. Interestingly, 13 of the 22 patients (59%) in the current study were identified as taking products high in CBD which may have contributed to study findings given previous data highlighting its clinical benefits ([@B54]; [@B67]). As initial laboratory analyses revealed a range of cannabinoid constituents from patients' products, additional analyses will be conducted to examine the impact of specific cannabinoids and their relationship with cognitive and clinical variables. Further, future studies will assess potential differences between patients who choose products high in THC compared to those using products high in CBD, as these data may provide critical information regarding efficacy of individual constituents and combinations of constituents for specific indications and conditions to better inform selection of MMJ products.
The current study utilized a pre--post, within-subjects design in which all patients are MJ naïve at Visit 1 and are followed over the course of 12--24 months in order to clarify the impact of prolonged duration of exposure to MMJ treatment. As results from the current study represent only data from baseline and patients' first check-in visit after 3 months of MMJ treatment, data must be considered preliminary. Additional analyses, which are planned for the future, are needed to understand the impact of MMJ over longer treatment periods. Further, as a result of the pre--post study design, repeated administration of cognitive measures was required, and thus practice effects cannot be completely ruled out. Although no studies to date have specifically examined practice effects for the MSIT, given the lengthy duration of time between visits (at least 3 months) and the computerized nature of the task, it is highly unlikely that practice effects would persist. In addition, given the longitudinal nature of the design, each subject's baseline assessment serves as their own control from which to assess change after initiation of MMJ treatment. It could, however, prove beneficial for future investigations to also recruit a control group of patients who report similar symptoms (i.e., pain, insomnia, anxiety, etc.) but who do *not* choose to utilize MMJ. Comparing outcomes of MMJ patients and "treatment as usual" patients over time could strengthen findings if MMJ patients display more positive outcomes relative to those who do not use MMJ but suffer from similar symptoms or conditions.
In addition, statistical thresholds for fMRI analyses were set in accordance with previous investigations ([@B69]; [@B33]; [@B39]) in order to aid in the interpretation of findings. While more stringent thresholds were also applied and are noted within the results, it is important to recognize that some findings did not survive the more rigorous thresholds, a common issue in fMRI studies with limited sample sizes.
In order to gain a more thorough understanding of how MMJ impacts cognitive functioning, it will be important for future studies to replicate current study findings using other measures of executive function and to examine additional cognitive domains. As executive functioning has been shown to be impacted by recreational MJ use (for review, [@B23]), this domain was targeted for the current investigation; however, it is crucial to examine additional cognitive variables, including verbal memory, which has also been shown to be sensitive to MJ use (for review, [@B72]; [@B13]).
Finally, this study included MMJ patients using products for a variety of indications, which resulted in a varied clinical sample. While this approach provides a broad assessment of the impact of MMJ, it is likely that individual conditions and symptoms will have unique patterns of responses associated with MMJ treatment. A number of medical and psychiatric conditions have been shown to negatively impact cognitive processing; accordingly, future studies may derive additional power by limiting inclusion to patients with a single condition or indication (i.e., patients using MMJ exclusively for pain) or including only patients taking medications from a single drug class.
Conclusion
==========
To our knowledge, this study represents the first neuroimaging investigation of patients using marijuana for medical purposes. Following 3 months of MMJ treatment, brain activation patterns appear more similar to those exhibited by healthy controls from previous studies than at pre-treatment. This finding provides strong evidence that MMJ treatment may normalize brain activity. Importantly, these changes were accompanied by improved task performance as well as positive changes in ratings of clinical state, impulsivity, sleep, and quality of life. Further, patients reported notable decreases in their use of conventional medications, including opioids. In light of the national opioid epidemic, these data clearly underscore the need to expand and extend this study to determine if a reduction in opioid use persists with continued MMJ treatment. Results from the current study raise the possibility that the observed improvements in cognition and related changes in functional activation patterns may be related to direct and/or indirect effects of cannabinoids, specifically within an adult population beyond the stages of critical neuromaturation. Patients utilizing MMJ appear to use products with different cannabinoid profiles (i.e., high CBD) relative to recreational users, which is also likely to impact cognitive function. Observed changes may also be related to secondary or more indirect effects, including the reduction of clinical symptoms, improved sleep, and decreased use of conventional medications. Additional studies using both observational and clinical trial models to examine the impact of actual MMJ products used by patients are needed to clarify the underlying neural mechanisms associated with clinical and behavioral changes that accompany MMJ treatment.
Author Contributions
====================
SG conceptualized and designed the current study in consultation with SL. KS assisted SG in manuscript preparation with additional help provided by the remaining authors. SG, KS, RS, AL, and KC recruited the patients, carried out the study procedures and administered the neuropsychological and clinical assessments. MD completed the statistical analyses and AG completed the neuroimaging analyses.
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.
**Funding.** This project was funded by generous private donations to the Marijuana Investigations for Neuroscientific Discovery (MIND) Program at McLean Hospital.
The authors thank Integr8, Canna Care, and Dr. David Rideout at MMJ Physician Practice for their assistance in facilitating patient recruitment.
Supplementary Material
======================
The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: <https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2017.00983/full#supplementary-material>
######
Click here for additional data file.
[^1]: Edited by: *Fabricio A. Pamplona, Entourage Phytolab, Brazil*
[^2]: Reviewed by: *Tiago Bortolini, Instituto D'Or de Pesquisa e Ensino (IDOR), Brazil; Eugene A. Kiyatkin, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIH), United States; Tiago Arruda Sanchez, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil*
[^3]: This article was submitted to Neuropharmacology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology
|
Q:
How do I iterate through an array in swift?
enum Unit{
case kg, lbs, reps, seconds, metres
}
let unit1:[(Float,Unit)]
unit1 = [(1.3, .kg),(34, .reps),(99.3, .metres)]
I want to use a for loop to access both values in the tuple, I'm not able to get it to function properly... Am I missing something?
This one doesn't allow me to use enumerate(), apparently it's unavailable?
for (index, unittype) in enumerate(unit1) {
print(unittype)
}
This one returns the last one 3 times:
for tupleunit in unit1{
print(tupleunit)
}
A:
Now I don't know if you are using playground and just trying to use the preview doesn't do well with loops. If you look at the console below everything works just fine with the below code.
enum Unit{
case kg, lbs, reps, seconds, metres
}
let unit1:[(Float,Unit)]
unit1 = [(1.3, .kg),(34, .reps),(99.3, .metres)]
var index = 1
for (value,unit) in unit1 {
print("Run:\(index)")
print("Value:\(value)")
print("Unit: \(unit)")
index += 1
}
|
Q:
Within the Microsoft Enterprise Framework, where did the FormatterData.GetRegistrations method go?
I have the unforuntate task of upgrading some decade old C# code that uses the Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Logging library. I've almost gotten it to compile with just one error left:
They are extending the FormatterData abstract class, which is provided by Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Logging.Configuration. MSDN includes the (minimal) docuemntation for this class. This includes the alleged method GetDetails. The code overrides this method. However, my copy of the library does not feature that method. I have downloaded the latest copy of the library (Version tag: "6.0.0.0"). I don't have a copy of the dll the original author was working with.
I can only assume that the method was removed, and I probably need to download some historical copy of the library. However, the MSDN articles (as far as I can see) do not indicate where these methods were added or removed. Which version of the library do I need to use and where might I find it?
A:
By rolling back the version of EnterpriseLibrary.Common and EnterpriseLibrary.Logging in NuGet I found that version 5.0.505 is the last version with the required method.
|
Predictors of early dropout in treatment for gambling disorder: The role of personality disorders and clinical syndromes.
Several treatment options for gambling disorder (GD) have been tested in recent years; however dropout levels still remain high. This study aims to evaluate whether the presence of psychiatric comorbidities predicts treatment outcome according to Millon's evolutionary theory, following a six-month therapy for GD. The role of severity, duration of the disorder, typology of gambling (mainly online or offline) and pharmacological treatment were also analysed. The recruitment included 194 pathological gamblers (PGs) to be compared with 78 healthy controls (HCs). Psychological assessment included the South Oaks Gambling Screen and the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III. The "treatment failure" group (n = 70) comprised PGs who prematurely dropped out of the treatment whereas the "abstinent group" (n = 124) included PGs who completed the treatment regardless of whether the outcome was successful or not. As expected, the presence of psychiatric comorbidities was highlighted as a significant predictor in dropping out of the therapy. Specifically negativistic personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, drug dependence and PTSD were associated with early dropout. These variables were predictive of treatment outcome independently from the typology of gambling, severity, duration of the disorder and pharmacological treatment. Implications for psychological and psychiatric care are discussed. |
PHRG - Peace Human Rights Governance: new scientific journal of the Human Rights Centre of the University of Padova
Peace Human Rights Governance (PHRG), the new scientific journal of the Human Rights Centre of the University of Padova, is out with its first issue, which prosecutes the ten-year experience developed by the Padova Centre through the review Pace Diritti Umani – Peace Human Rights (Marsilio Publishers, Venice, 2004-2013).
PHRG is an academic peer-reviewed journal published three times a year – in March, July and November – in English by Padova University Press. It constitutes an innovative scientific resource within the increasing and multi-faceted global human rights studies community, which aims to present original contributions, both theoretical and empirical, to current human rights issues while actively favouring the development of a solid multi- and inter-disciplinary, and multi-level approach to human rights research and dissemination.
PHRG welcomes unpublished research articles that address significant and original aspects of the relation of human rights and subsidiarity with several issues including, but not limited to, world order and governance issues, international law, politics and organisation, international and cosmopolitan democracy, national and European foreign policy, civil society transnational networking, city diplomacy, global citizenship, public policy, intercultural and interreligious dialogue, women’s human rights, the human right to peace, conflict transformation/conflict resolution, education processes and trafficking of human beings.
Members of the journal's international editorial board include: Khurshid Ahmad (Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland), Wolfgang S. Heinz (German Institute for Human Rights, Berlin), Livia Holden (University of Padova), Peter Johansson (University of Goteborg, Sweden), Antonio Marchesi (University of Teramo, President of Amnesty International, Italy branch), Tuomas Martikainen (University of Helsinki, Director of the Migration Institute of Finland), Arrigo Opocher (Deparment of Economics and Management, University of Padova), Katherina Pabel (University of Linz, Austria and Human Rights Council Advisory Committee), Antonio Papisca emeritus, Unesco Chair “Human Rights, Democracy and Peace”, University of Padova), Elena Pariotti (Director of the Department of Political Science, Law and International Studies, University of Padova), Vesna Petrović (Executive Director, Belgrade Centre for Human Rights, Serbia), Paolo Piva (Department of Political Science, Law and International Studies, University of Padova), David Fernandez Puyana (UNESCO Liason Office, Geneva), Magdalena Ratajczak (University of Wroclav, Poland), Carlotta Sorba (Department of Historical and Geographic Sciences and the Ancient World, University of Padova), George Ulrich (EIUC, Director of the European Master's Degree Programme in Human Rights and Democratisation), Songcai Yang (Director of the Human Rights Centre, Guanghzou University, China).
In order to access the first issue and to get further information on the Journal and on requirements for manuscript submission, please visit the PHRG’s website: http://phrg.padovauniversitypress.it/. |
ANALYSIS/OPINION:
The tables have turned and what was once the media’s favorite message — President Donald Trump colluded with Russia to steal the election — has now grown silent.
Apparently, it’s Bill and Hillary Clinton who’ve been doing the behind-scenes and suspicious dealings with Russia all along. Oh, and perhaps others in the Barack Obama administration, too.
You think special counsel Robert Mueller might switch the target of his investigation any time soon? Seems a bit time-wasting — not to mention taxpayer dollar-wasting — to keep on the Trump trail, desperately searching for signs of a collusion that just didn’t happen.
Futile is a word that comes to mind.
Better to dig deeper into this, as reported by The Hill: “Before the Obama administration approved a controversial deal in 2010 giving Moscow control of a large swath of American uranium, the FBI had gathered substantial evidence that Russian nuclear industry officials were engaged in bribery, kickbacks, extortion and money laundering designed to grow Vladimir Putin’s atomic energy business inside the United States.”
Intercepted emails shows that Russia had actually gained an inroad in America and compromised a U.S. uranium trucking firm with bribes.
But this is the bigger news: The feds also found an eyewitness who provided documented evidence to show that these Russia nuke officials had sent millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation — at a time when Hillary was serving as secretary of state and on a government body that extended favor to Russia.
Of course, this isn’t exactly new.
Way back in April of 2015, The New York Times ran this headline: “Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation Amid Russian Uranium Deal.” And among its many, many lines was this one: “As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation.”
In fact, that “flow of cash” was actually four separate flows of cash, for a total amount of $2.35 million. And, we also learned from this New York Times piece, “those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons.”
A lot of this was also uncovered a outlined by other writers, as well — John Rappoport, investigative journalist, comes to mind, as well as Peter Schweitzer, of “Clinton Cash” author fame.
But what is coming to light is what others knew, and when.
The feds suspected as early as 2009 that Russia was engaged in this dirty dealing. And the United States, under Barack Obama’s administration, did nothing.
“Rather than bring immediate charges in 2010, however, the Department of Justice continued investigating the matter for nearly four more years, essentially leaving the American public and Congress in the dark about Russian nuclear corruption on U.S. soil during a period when the Obama administration made two major decisions benefiting [Vladimir] Putin’s commercial nuclear ambitions,” The Hill wrote.
The American people want to know — was U.S. security compromised by the Obama-Clinton deals with Russia?
Mueller’s tasked with the wrong job. If he really wants to find out if America’s interests were compromised in any way by Russia, he needs to quit looking Trump’s way and start digging deep into the Clintons and yes, the Obama administration.
The Hill asked both Clinton and then-attorney general Eric Holder for comment. Curiously, neither had anything to say at this time. Their silence is both telling, and unacceptable. Now if only the same leftists who’ve been clamoring for impeachment of Trump over supposed collusion with Russia would similarly demand answers about Clinton, Holder and Obama — maybe we’d get to the finally get to the bottom of this.
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abstract: 'We study the pion production in heavy-ion collisions at SIS energies within the coupled resonance BUU model. The standard calculation overpredicts the pion multiplicity in the central Au+Au collision at 1 A GeV by about a factor of 2, which is interpreted as a signature for the quenching of the resonance production/absorption in nucleon-nucleon collisions at high nuclear density. Results of the calculations taking into account a specific form of quenching are presented for pion spectra from light and heavy systems as well as for the pion in-plane and out-of-plane flow.'
address: ' Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Giessen, D-35392 Giessen, Germany '
author:
- 'A.B. Larionov [^1], W. Cassing, S. Leupold, U. Mosel'
title: |
Quenching of resonance production in heavy-ion collisions\
at $1\div2$ A GeV [^2]
---
Introduction
==============
Modifications of hadrons in dense nuclear matter are currently in the center of theoretical studies [@Ko97; @CB99]. In particular, the multiple pion production in heavy-ion collisions offers an interesting possibility to look at the properties of the baryon resonances in nuclear matter [@Eh93; @Bass95; @KoLi96; @Teis97; @Hjort97; @WFN98; @Eskef98; @Pelte99; @Lar00]. It is well established (c.f. [@Eh93; @Bass95]) that at beam energies of $1\div2$ A GeV pions are produced mostly in the two-step process $NN \rightarrow NR$, $R \rightarrow N\pi$, where $R$ stands for the $\Delta(1232)$ or higher baryon resonances. However, there is an overall tendency of transport models explicitly propagating resonances to overpredict the pion multiplicity in heavy-ion collisions at the beam energy $\sim 1$ A GeV (c.f. [@Pelte97]). Furthermore, taking into account in-medium pion dispersion relations even increases the pion yield [@Ehe93; @HR97; @HR98].
In the present work we study the effect of possible in-medium modifications of the reaction rates $$N N \leftrightarrow N R \label{NNNR}$$ on pion production. A description of the experimental data on the pion multiplicities requires an [*in-medium reduction*]{} of the rates (\[NNNR\]). We propose, therefore, a density-dependent modification of the transition rates (\[NNNR\]), which gives a reasonable description of the pion multiplicities in the systems C+C, Ni+Ni and Au+Au at the beam energy of 1$\div$2 A GeV. We will show, moreover, that this modification is consistent with other pion observables, i.e. transverse mass and kinetic energy spectra, angular distributions and in-plane collective flow.
The structure of the paper is as follows: In Sect. II we discuss the effect of the resonance production/absorption quenching on the pion production. Sect. III contains the results on the collective pion flows, while in Sect. IV the summary and conclusions are given.
Density dependent transition rates $N N \leftrightarrow N R$
==============================================================
In our numerical calculations we have used the BUU model in the version described in Ref. [@EBM99]. The nucleons, $\Delta(1232)$ and higher (up to $D_{35}(2350)$) baryon resonances, $\Lambda$ and $\Sigma$ hyperons, mesons $\pi,~\eta,~\omega,~K,~\rho,~\sigma$ are explicitly propagated in this BUU implementation. The model has been successfully applied to the calculation of nucleon collective flow observables in heavy-ion collisions at energies from $\sim100$ AMeV up to $\sim2$ A GeV [@LCGM00]. A good description of “more elementary” $\gamma$ and $e^-$ induced reactions has been also reached within the model (see Refs. [@EBM99; @Lehr00]).
In this work we concentrate on pion production in nucleus-nucleus collisions continuing the studies initiated in Refs. [@Teis97; @Lar00]. All calculations in the present paper are performed using the soft momentum-dependent mean field (SM) with incompressibility $K=220$ MeV, which gives the best overall description of the nucleon collective flow variables [@LCGM00]. The BUU set of parameters, which includes the SM mean field as well as vacuum resonance parameters and vacuum elastic and inelastic cross sections, will be denoted as “standard” below. The modifications of the standard set will be discussed in the text explicitly.
First, we compare the calculated pion multiplicities in central Au+Au collisions at 1 A GeV with the experimental data. In Fig. 1 the dashed line shows the pion number vs time in the case of the standard calculation. The pion multiplicity asymptotically reaches a value of $\sim60$ which is almost a factor of 2 larger than the experimental value of $\sim34$ (c.f. Ref. [@Pelte97]). Pions are produced dominantly by the baryon resonance decays. Therefore, the pion multiplicity is very sensitive to the number of resonances present in the system. The differential production cross section of a resonance $R$ with mass $M$ in a nucleon-nucleon collision, averaged over the spins of initial particles and summed over the spins of final particles, is given as $${d \sigma_{N_1 N_2 \rightarrow N_3 R_4} \over d M^2 d \Omega } =
{1 \over 64 \pi^2} \overline{|{\cal M}|^2}
{p_{34} \over p_{12} \varepsilon^2} {\cal A}(M^2)
\times 2(2J_R+1)~, \label{signnnr}$$ where $\overline{|{\cal M}|^2}$ is a spin-averaged matrix element squared, $p_{12}$ and $p_{34}$ are c.m. momenta of incoming and outgoing particles, $\varepsilon$ is the total c.m. energy, ${\cal A}(M^2)$ is the spectral function of the resonance, and $J_R$ is the spin of the resonance. The inverse reaction cross section is $${d \sigma_{N_3 R_4 \rightarrow N_1 N_2} \over d \Omega} =
{1 \over 64 \pi^2} \overline{|{\cal M}|^2}
{p_{12} \over p_{34} \varepsilon^2} \times {4 \over C_{12}}~,
\label{signrnn}$$ where, due to detailed balance, the same matrix element appears as in Eq. (\[signnnr\]), $C_{12}=2$ if the nucleons $N_1$ and $N_2$ are identical and $C_{12}=1$ otherwise.
The matrix element which appears in Eqs. (\[signnnr\]),(\[signrnn\]) should be evaluated in nuclear matter. Instead of using any model dependent parametrizations for the in-medium matrix element, we adopt a simple relation $$\overline{|{\cal M}|^2}
= \kappa(\rho) \overline{|{\cal M}_{vac}|^2}~,~~~~~~
\kappa(0)=1~, \label{muinmed}$$ where $\overline{|{\cal M}_{vac}|^2}$ is the vacuum matrix element squared and $\kappa(\rho)$ is some density-dependent function to be determined by comparison with the experimental data. The in-medium matrix elements for the non-resonant (background) one-pion production/absorption $N_1 N_2 \leftrightarrow N_3 N_4 \pi$, double $\Delta$(1232) production/absorption $N_1 N_2 \leftrightarrow \Delta_3 \Delta_4$ and resonance scattering on nucleons $N_1 R_2 \rightarrow N_3 R_4$ are also related to their vacuum values by Eq. (\[muinmed\]) with the same universal function $\kappa(\rho)$.
We address now the pion multiplicity in central Au+Au collisions at 1.06 A GeV using various choices of the function $\kappa(\rho)$. As a first trial, we simulate an enhancement of resonance production in NN collisions [@BBKL88] assuming a linear dependence on density as in Refs. [@Lar00; @Engel94]: $$\kappa(\rho) = 1 + \beta {\rho \over \rho_0}~,~~~~
\beta > 0~,
\label{kappa}$$ where $\rho_0=0.16$ fm$^{-3}$ is the equilibrium nuclear matter density. We see from Fig. 1 (dotted line), that the amplified matrix element with $\kappa(\rho) = 1 + 3\rho/\rho_0$ leads to an about 20% reduction in the final pion multiplicity which, however, is still above the experimental abundance. This decrease originates from the amplified – by detailed balance – absorption of resonances in the expansion stage of the system. A further increase of the parameter $\beta$ practically does not reduce the pion number any further (see Fig. 3 for $\beta > 0$).
An essential reduction of the pion multiplicity can only be reached by a [*quenching*]{} of the resonance production/absorption processes in nuclear matter at high density. To this aim we apply a piece-wise linear function of the form $$\kappa(\rho)
= \min(1,\max(0,1 + \beta (\rho/\rho_0-1)))~,~~~~
\beta < 0~,
\label{kappafit}$$ which is shown by the solid line in Fig. 2 for the particular case $\beta=-2$. Within the parametrization (\[kappafit\]), the in-medium effects vanish at subnuclear densities ($\kappa=1$), but above $\rho_0$ the nuclear medium creates the shadowing of binary collisions involving resonances leading, effectively, to a quenching of these collisions for $\rho \geq (1-1/\beta)\rho_0$. In Fig. 3 (see the part of the BUU curve for $\beta < 0$) we report the number of produced negative pions vs $\beta$ in the case of the parametrization (\[kappafit\]). The proper pion multiplicity is reproduced for $\beta=-2$; we will denote this calculation as “quenched” in the following. For this calculation, resonances do not experience any elastic or inelastic scatterings in high density nuclear matter. They can, however, decay or be produced in the processes $R \leftrightarrow N \pi$. In the quenching scenario, the resonance production in NN collisions happens only at relatively low density $\rho \leq 1.5\rho_0$, i.e. dominantly in the overlapping tails of the density profiles of colliding nuclei. This reduces the maximum number of $\Delta$-resonances to about $35\%$ as compared to a standard calculation (c.f. solid and dashed lines in the lower panel of Fig. 1).
Before discussing other pion-related observables we check, how the resonance quenching influences the underlying nucleon dynamics. Fig. 4 shows the proton rapidity distribution and the transverse momentum of protons in the reaction plane as a function of rapidity. Due to a lower nucleon inelasticity within the quenching scenario, the nuclei show less stopping, i.e. the rapidity distribution becomes somewhat wider and, since also the pressure is decreased, a slightly smaller transverse in-plane flow is generated making the agreement of the standard SM calculation [@LCGM00] with the proton flow data worse (see also Fig. 11). This problem, however, can be resolved by either increasing the incompressibility or the stiffness of the momentum-dependent interaction. The latter modifications influence only weakly the pion multiplicity and, therefore, are not studied in this work.
In Fig. 5 we present the pion multiplicity as a function of the participant number $A_{part}$ for Au+Au collisions at 1.06 A GeV in comparison with the FOPI and TAPS data collected in Ref. [@Pelte97]. We have determined the participant number for a given impact parameter using the participant-spectator model with sharp nuclear density profiles. The quenched calculation is in a good agreement with the data for central collisions; in peripheral collisions the medium effects are smaller, the difference between the standard and the quenched calculation vanishes gradually and, thus, the multiplicity is still somewhat overpredicted. This discrepancy in peripheral collisions could arise from different definitions of the participant number $A_{part}$ in our calculations and in Ref. [@Pelte97], since the impact parameter can not be measured directly in the experiment.
Fig. 6 shows the beam energy dependence of the charged pion multiplicity for central Ni+Ni collisions compared with the FOPI data from Ref. [@Pelt97]. The quenched calculation describes the data rather well. With increasing beam energy the difference between standard and quenched calculations reduces, since the nonresonant string mechanism for pion production becomes dominant, which is the same in both calculations. We recall that in our transport approach strings are excited in NN collisions for invariant collision energies $\sqrt{s} \geq 2.6$ GeV corresponding to the beam energy of $1.73$ A GeV if the Fermi motion is neglected.
Fig. 7 shows the c.m. kinetic energy spectra of charged pions at $\Theta_{c.m.}=130^o$ for Au+Au at 1.06 A GeV. The quenching improves the agreement with the data somewhat producing a more concave shape of the spectrum for $E_{kin}^{c.m.} > 0.1$ GeV. However, the calculated cross sections in this region are still too large, while at low kinetic energy the experimental data are underpredicted by the quenched calculation.
A similar tendency is visible in the case of $p_t$-spectra at midrapidity shown in Fig. 8: the improvement by the quenching mechanism at high $p_t$ is evident, but at low $p_t$ too few pions are produced. This leads also to the underprediction of the midrapidity pion yield by the quenched calculation. Therefore, since the total pion multiplicity agrees with the data (or slightly overpredicts for peripheral collisions, see Fig. 5), the quenched calculation will produce some excess of pions at projectile/target rapidities. We will, however, discard here the comparison of our results with the FOPI data on the pion rapidity distribution from Ref. [@Pelte97]. This comparison would require the treatment of our BUU-events in exactly the same way as the data, which is out of scope of this work.
The reason for the underprediction of the low-$p_t$ pion yields by the quenched calculation is, probably, an overdamping of the low mass resonance production in NN collisions at high density by the quenching factor (\[kappafit\]). Indeed, a smaller medium effect is expected for higher kinetic energies of the final particles in analogy to Pauli blocking [@Com1]. In this exploratory work we are not aiming at a detailed description of the pion energy spectra, but, rather, want to demonstrate the gross effect of the density modified matrix element on various pion observables. It is straightforward, however, to introduce a $\sqrt{s}$ and resonance-mass-dependent modification factor $\kappa$ in Eq.(\[muinmed\]). Another physical effect is the off-shellness of the pion in the nuclear medium due to large $\pi N \rightarrow \Delta$ cross section, which leads to a broad pion spectral function. Thus a dynamical evolution of the hadron spectral functions in BUU will modify the low momentum spectra sensitively [@LCLM].
In Fig. 9 we present the c.m. polar angle distributions of charged pions. The shape of these spectra is similar to the one for free-space pion production in NN collisions. There is a good overall agreement of the quenched calculation with the data.
For the collisions C+C at 0.8$\div$2 A GeV (Fig. 10) the calculated $m_t$-spectra of $\pi^0$’s are practically identical in the standard and quenched calculations. This is expected, since the in-medium modifications are smaller in the lighter system.
Collective flow
=================
In earlier studies (c.f. [@Bass95; @BALi94]), the pion antiflow and squeeze-out have been explained by the rescattering of pions on the spectator nucleons, which leads to the shadowing phenomenon.
Fig. 11 shows the proton, $\pi^+$ and $\pi^-$ in-plane flow ($:= d<p_x>/dY^{(0)}$ at $Y^{(0)}=0$) for the Au+Au system at 1.15 A GeV as a function of impact parameter in comparison to the data [@Kint97]. The best overall agreement with the data is reached within the standard SM calculation. For $\pi^\pm$, the quenched and standard results are almost indistinguishable within statistics. However, the proton flow is underpredicted by the quenched calculation (see discussion in the previous section). The difference in flows for $\pi^+$ and $\pi^-$ is due to the Coulomb interaction with protons which increases (decreases) the antiflow for $\pi^+$ ($\pi^-$) for large impact parameter.
In Fig. 12 we show the squeeze-out ratio $R_N := (N_{\pi^+}(90^o)+N_{\pi^+}(-90^o))/(N_{\pi^+}(0^o)+N_{\pi^+}(180^o))$ as a function of the transverse momentum for positive pions at midrapidity in comparison to the data [@Shin98]. The squeeze-out ratio grows with $p_t$ since faster moving pions in transverse direction reach the spectators earlier and rescatter in analogy to the case of the nucleon squeeze-out [@LCGM00]. A peculiar feature of the $R_N(p_t)$-dependence for positive pions is its saturation at relatively low $p_t \sim 0.3$ GeV/c, while the nucleon squeeze-out ratios increase monotonically with $p_t$ (c.f. [@Lambr94; @Brill96]). This behaviour of the pion squeeze-out ratio is related to the resonance nature of $\pi N$ scattering [@BALi94]. Our calculations, both standard and quenched, underpredict the absolute value of $R_N$, but the shape of the function $R_N(p_t)$ is in a qualitative agreement with the data. The reason for this discrepancy lies, most probably, in the absence of any momentum dependence in the pion potential.
Summary and conclusions
=========================
Within the transport BUU model [@EBM99] we have studied the influence of the in-medium modifications of the reaction rates (\[NNNR\]) on pion production in heavy-ion collisions around 1 A GeV. The pion multiplicity in the system Au+Au at 1 A GeV can be consistently described assuming a quenching of the resonance production/absorption in NN collisions at high nuclear densities. The quenching generally improves the description of standard BUU calculations with experiment on other pion observables: $p_t$-, $m_t$- and kinetic energy spectra, in-plane and out-of-plane collective flows.
The physical reason for the in-medium reduction of the resonance production rates, that seems to be needed to describe the pion data, remains open. This is in particular so because there are theoretical predictions that the $\Delta$ excitation cross section should increase with density [@BBKL88]. A collisional broadening of the $\Delta$-resonance, that was not taken into account in Ref. [@BBKL88], could, in principle, provide the obviously needed reduction, but the calculations of Ref. [@Effe97], that were based on reasonable collision rates, have shown that this broadening is too small. All these models have in common that they work with free coupling constants and thus neglect any in-medium vertex corrections. Good calculations of inelastic nucleon-nucleon scattering in nuclear matter would be needed to clarify this problem.
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Figure captions {#figure-captions .unnumbered}
=================
Fig. 1
: Pion number (upper panel) and $\Delta$-resonance number (lower panel) vs time for a central collision Au+Au at 1.06 A GeV. Standard calculations are represented by dashed lines. The dash-dotted and dotted lines show the cases of in-medium amplified reaction rates (\[NNNR\]) for $\beta=1$ and $\beta=3$, respectively, while the solid lines correspond to the quenched calculation ($\beta=-2$). The experimental data from Ref. [@Pelte97] are within the dashed band in the upper panel.
Fig. 2
: Density dependence of the modification factor $\kappa(\rho)$ of the matrix element for resonance production/absorption (see Eq.(\[muinmed\])). The notation of lines is the same as in Fig. 1.
Fig. 3
: Number of negative pions for the central collision Au+Au at 1.06 A GeV as a function of the coefficient $\beta$ in the density dependence of the factor $\kappa$ (see Eqs.(\[kappa\]),(\[kappafit\])). The part at $\beta < 0$ corresponds to the parametrization (\[kappafit\]), while $\kappa(\rho) = 1 + \beta\rho/\rho_0$ for $\beta > 0$. The dashed band represents the experimental data from Ref. [@Pelte97].
Fig. 4
: Proton rapidity distribution (upper panel) and rapidity dependence of the proton transverse momentum in the reaction plane (lower panel) for Au+Au collision at 1.06 A GeV and impact parameter b=6 fm. The rapidity is normalized to the projectile rapidity in the center-of-mass system: $Y^{(0)} \equiv (y/y_{proj})_{c.m.}$.
Fig. 5
: $\pi^-$, $\pi^0$ and $\pi^+$ multiplicities (left, central and right panels, respectively) vs participant number $A_{part}$ for the system Au+Au at 1.06 A GeV. The experimental data are from Ref. [@Pelte97].
Fig. 6
: $\pi^-$ and $\pi^+$ multiplicities (left and right panels, respectively) in central collisions of Ni+Ni as a function of the beam energy. The BUU calculations are performed for b=1 fm. The experimental data are from Ref. [@Pelt97].
Fig. 7
: C.m. kinetic energy inclusive spectra of negative and positive pions (upper and lower panels, respectively) at $\Theta_{c.m.}=130^o$ for Au+Au at 1.06 A GeV. The experimental data are from Ref. [@Pelte97].
Fig. 8
: $\pi^-$, $\pi^0$ and $\pi^+$ transverse momentum inclusive spectra at midrapidity for Au+Au at 1.06 A GeV. The spectra are calculated in the rapidity intervals $Y^{(0)}=-0.2\div0.2$ for $\pi^\pm$ and $Y^{(0)}=-0.25\div0.21$ for $\pi^0$, but normalized to a rapidity interval $dy=1$ following Refs. [@Pelte97; @Schwalb94]. The experimental data are from Refs. [@Pelte97; @Schwalb94].
Fig. 9
: C.m. polar angle distributions of charged pions in Au+Au collisions at 1.06 A GeV. Left and right panels show, respectively, the $\pi^-$ and $\pi^+$ distributions for the c.m. kinetic energy $E_{kin}^{c.m.} > 40$ MeV, while the central panel presents the $\pi^-$ distribution for $E_{kin}^{c.m.} > 365$ MeV. The experimental data are from Ref. [@Pelte97].
Fig. 10
: Transverse mass spectra of $\pi^0$’s in selected rapidity intervals near midrapidity (following Ref. [@Aver97]) for C+C collisions at 0.8, 1 and 2 A GeV: $y_{lab}=0.42\div0.74,~0.42\div0.74$ and $0.8\div1.08$, respectively. The thick solid lines show exponential fits to the experimental data from Ref. [@Aver97].
Fig. 11
: In-plane flow as a function of impact parameter for protons (upper panel), $\pi^+$’s (middle panel) and $\pi^-$’s (lower panel) in comparison with the experimental data from Ref. [@Kint97] for Au+Au at 1.15 A GeV.
Fig. 12
: Transverse momentum dependence of the squeeze-out ratio $R_N$ for positive pions for semicentral Au+Au collisions at 1 A GeV. The calculated results are impact-parameter-weighted in the range $b=5\div7$ fm. The experimental data are from Ref. [@Shin98].
[^1]: On leave from RRC “I.V. Kurchatov Institute”, 123182 Moscow, Russia
[^2]: Supported by GSI Darmstadt
|
Q:
Syntactic vs Semantic validity of molecular graphs
While reading this paper on molecular graph generators using deep learning algorithms, I encountered the terms syntactically and semantically valid molecular graphs:
$\dots$ to ensure the generation of syntactically and semantically valid
graphs.
The output molecular graph should at least satisfy the following constraints:
Valency: Number of incident edges to an atom shall not exceed the valency of the atom on that node
Connectivity: The output graph should be a single connected graph.
I was wondering what semantic and syntactic validity means in this context? Which type are each of these constraints?
Some concepts from computer science:
Syntax is the structure or form of expressions, statements, and
program units but Semantics is the meaning of those expressions,
statements, and program units.
But I can't make an exact connection to molecular graph's case. Also,
In computer science, the syntax of a computer language is the set of
rules that defines the combinations of symbols that are considered to
be a correctly structured document or fragment in that language
Then, valency and connectivity, unlike the linked paper in the answer below, should be syntactic constraints.
A:
Generative machine learning methods in chemistry are typically tasked with generating new molecular structures. Think of it as 'dreaming up molecules.'
We see these kinds of ML models with predictive text programs.. if I'm typing, my phone attempts to guess the word or complete my sentence. (NB this doesn't work so well with molecule names or scientific terms.)
There are a wide variety of ways to represent a molecule for such a generative ML method. One of the common ways is via SMILES in which the molecular graph is encoded as a text string:
c1ccccc1 benzene
CC(=O)O acetic acid
In this case, syntax can be a problem. SMILES uses parenthesis to represent branching, and they must match. Numbers are used to represent ring closures, which must match as well.
Consequently, many generative ML method generate syntactically incorrect molecules (ignoring questions of chemical valence, etc.)
c1ccccc2 error
CC(=OO)) error
There are solutions. Noel O'Boyle and Andrew Dalke suggested DeepSMILES which encodes a new syntax that's resistant to such issues.
As you mention in your answer errors in connectivity and/or valence represent semantics - that is what makes a chemically viable molecule (i.e., carbon does not take 5 bonds, isolated oxygen atoms aren't stable, etc.)
|
Q:
R: how to get elements from a vector into specific positions of a new vector
I'm using R and I have the following vectors:
odd<- c(1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17,19)
even<- c(2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20)
I want to combine even and odd so I can have a vector (let's say it will be named total) with the following elements
> total
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10...,20.
I've tried looping as:
total<- c(0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0) #20 elements
for (i in seq(from=1, to=20, by=2))
for (j in seq(from=1, to=10, by=1))
total[i]<- odd[j]
for (i in seq(from=2, to=20, by=2))
for (j in seq(from=1, to=10, by=1))
total[i]<- even[j]
But for some reason this is not working. I'm getting this vector
>total
17 20 17 20 17 20 17 20 17 20 17 20 17 20 17 20 17 20 19 20
does anyone no why my looping is not working for this case?
of course, this is only a very simple example of what I have to do with a very large dataset.
thanks!
A:
I believe you problem is because you are adding items from odd(and even in the second loops) to the same position in the total using your code line:
total[i]<- odd[j]
try this instead;
odd<- c(1,3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17,19)
even<- c(2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20)
elements = 20
total<- rep(x=0, times=elements) #20 elements
total[seq(from=1, to=length(total), by=2)] = odd
total[seq(from=2, to=length(total), by=2)] = even
total
[1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
seq creates a sequence of values that I have used here to identify positions to insert the values from odd and even.
|
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exhaust gas post processing system that raises the temperature of the exhaust gas at an early stage of the engine operating and prevents the temperature of the exhaust gas from being excessively raised.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, so as to purify the exhaust gas of the diesel vehicle, a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) and a diesel particulate filter (Diesel particulate filter) are applied and the DOC oxidizes a carbon monoxide and a hydrocarbon to eliminate them.
Further, the diesel particulate filter traps particulate matters of the exhaust gas, if the trapped PM exceeds a predetermined value, a fuel is post injected, the temperature of the exhaust gas is raised by the fuel oxidation heat in the DOC, and the trapped PM is burned in the diesel particulate filter.
Meanwhile, there is a problem that the exhaust gas purification catalyst (DOC, DPF, LNT, HC-SCR, and so on) is not activated from a low temperature of the exhaust gas in a condition that the engine is in an early stage of the operating. In addition, there is a problem that the catalyst is over heated by the exhaust gas passing the catalyst.
The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art. |
/**
* Copyright (c) Facebook, Inc. and its affiliates.
*
* This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
* LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
*/
#import "ABI37_0_0RCTI18nManager.h"
#import "ABI37_0_0RCTI18nUtil.h"
@implementation ABI37_0_0RCTI18nManager
ABI37_0_0RCT_EXPORT_MODULE()
+ (BOOL)requiresMainQueueSetup
{
return NO;
}
ABI37_0_0RCT_EXPORT_METHOD(allowRTL:(BOOL)value)
{
[[ABI37_0_0RCTI18nUtil sharedInstance] allowRTL:value];
}
ABI37_0_0RCT_EXPORT_METHOD(forceRTL:(BOOL)value)
{
[[ABI37_0_0RCTI18nUtil sharedInstance] forceRTL:value];
}
ABI37_0_0RCT_EXPORT_METHOD(swapLeftAndRightInRTL:(BOOL)value)
{
[[ABI37_0_0RCTI18nUtil sharedInstance] swapLeftAndRightInRTL:value];
}
- (NSDictionary *)constantsToExport
{
return [self getConstants];
}
- (NSDictionary *)getConstants
{
return @{
@"isRTL": @([[ABI37_0_0RCTI18nUtil sharedInstance] isRTL]),
@"doLeftAndRightSwapInRTL": @([[ABI37_0_0RCTI18nUtil sharedInstance] doLeftAndRightSwapInRTL])
};
}
@end
|
Friday, 5 April 2013
Daisies & Beach.
After going to Gold Bar Wednesday night A and I needed a hangover cure. Cue Daisies Muffins (food porn below) and the beach in 32 degree heat. Daisies is a little deli and lunch bar in Cottesloe that's been around for years, and they're famous for their muffins. It changed hands a while ago, and whilst it used to be a local institution, it isn't as good as it used to be, but sometimes you just need that Daisies muffin! This was one of those occasions.
We grabbed a breakfast muffin and raspberry and white chocolate muffin and headed down to the beach to catch some rays and go for a swim. Going for a swim was a big mistake, although Cott is one of the best swimming beaches and an old favourite of ours, the ocean was full of jellyfish and stingers, and then a shark helicopter went overhead, boo :( |
Katima Mulilo
Katima Mulilo is a town situated in the Caprivi strip and is the capital of the Zambezi Region, Namibia's far northeast extension into central Southern Africa. It comprises two electoral constituencies, Katima Mulilo Rural and Katima Mulilo Urban. Katima Mulilo, which is sometimes shortened to just "Katima", had 28,362 inhabitants in 2010,
It is located on the national road B8 on the banks of the Zambezi River in lush riverine vegetation with tropical birds and monkeys. The town receives an annual average rainfall of .
The nearest Namibian town to Katima Mulilo is Rundu, about 500 km away. About 40 km east of Katima Mulilo lies the village of Bukalo, where the road to Ngoma branches off that joins Namibia to Botswana.
History
The name comes from the SiLozi for quench the fire, referring to nearby rapids in the Zambezi). From early days (and before the advent of fire-lighting matches), there was river transport by barge (propelled by paddlers) along the Zambesi from Livingstone to Sesheke, on past the Ngonye Falls at Sioma, where an attempt was made in about 1905 to bypass the Falls with a canal. Barges were unloaded and dragged by oxen round the Falls. The route continued to Mongu, the administrative capital of Barotseland, and on Northwards to the settlement of Balovale (now Zambesi) in the North West of Zambia, at . When the barge reached Katima Mulilo, the fire was extinguished (but embers kept), and the barge was unloaded and then dragged empty up the rapids, and re-loaded before continuing the journey - but not before the fire was re-lit.
On 28 January 1935, the administrative centre of the Caprivi Strip was moved from Schuckmannsburg to Katima Mulilo. This date is assumed as the foundation date of Katima Mulilo. The regional office, the only brick-and-mortar building at Katima Mulilo at this time when the area consisted exclusively of pristine forests, was built under a giant Baobab situated near today's SWAPO Party regional offices. In present times the tree is known as the Toilet Tree because of a rest room carved into it.
Katima Mulilo was very sparsely populated at that time. It had a missionary school run by the Seventh-day Adventists, and the small settlements were connected only by sleigh tracks. Without any roads nor other infrastructure it was difficult to administer the Caprivi Strip from here. The South African administration therefore decided to shift the regional office again, this time to Pretoria, in 1939. Given its proximity to important transport routes, particularly the railway bridge at Victoria Falls, the location of Katima Mulilo became strategically important in the Second World War which broke out soon afterwards. All military supplies, people, and goods had to be flown in. The town's first car came in 1940 and belonged to the air strip operator.
In 1940, William "Bill" Finaughty established the first shop in the Caprivi Strip in Katima Mulilo; the settlement that surrounded the shop was subsequently named after him. In the 1950s transport on the Zambezi River was established and allowed connection to the train service at Livingstone. The M'pacha Airfield, today Katima Mulilo Airport, was constructed in 1965 at a cost of 65 million Rand, an astronomical amount at that time when 2 Rand roughly equalled 1 Pound sterling. A police station was erected in 1961.
Katima Mulilo became a segregated town in 1965 when the erection of the Nghweeze township began. The South African administration was unhappy with the Mafulo informal settlement where members of the Caprivi African National Union (CANU) were staying and conducting political activism. As a response to this development, Nghweeze (derived from totela language:which literally means "stab me") township was established to enable some degree of control over Blacks by only allowing local workers and their families to take up residence. At the same time the central parts of Katima Mulilo were declared the Katima Mulilo Proper residential area and restricted to Whites. Contract workers from the company Lewis Construction from Salisbury (today's Harare) in Southern Rhodesia (today's Zimbabwe) that built Nghweeze camped in an area that for this heritage is named the Lewis informal settlement. The town had only 575 inhabitants at that time but grew to over 5,000 by 1978.
In 1971 the area around Katima Mulilo got involved in the South African Border War. As in World War II, it was a strategically important location, this time due to troop transports into and out of Zambia and Angola.
The settlement also was at the centre of the Caprivi conflict in the 1990s, an armed conflict between the Caprivi Liberation Army (CLA), a rebel group working for the secession of the Caprivi Strip, and the Namibian government. In the early hours of 2 August 1999, CLA launched an attack occupying the state-run radio station and attacking a police station, the Wanella border post, and an army base. A state of emergency was declared in the province, and the government arrested alleged CLA supporters.
Climate
Suburbs
The oldest suburbs are Nghweeze, the former Blacks' township, and Katima Mulilo Proper, the area restricted to Whites during the apartheid era. Butterfly, Cowboy, Choto and Mahohoma are registered informal settlements of Katima, further parts of town are named Nambweza, Soweto (South–Western Townships, a reminiscence of the famous suburb of Johannesburg), New Look, Mabuluma, Lyambai, Bebi, Greenwell Matongo, Macaravan East and West, and NHE (from National Housing Enterprises, a governmental low-cost housing company that drew development here).
People
Katima Mulilo is inhabited by members of the Masubia and Mafwe tribes. The town's coat of arms, still very similar to that used by the Caprivi government, depicts these tribes as two elephants facing each other, symbolising unity and peaceful coexistence of the two tribal chiefs.
Economy and development
Established and run as a garrison for a long time, Katima Mulilo still shows signs of its military role today. In the city centre was the South African Defence Force military base, almost every house had a bomb shelter. The town benefited from the military presence in terms of infrastructure and employment, and there are still a number of military bases surrounding the town.
Since the opening of the Katima Mulilo Bridge in 2004 that spans the Zambezi River and connects the Zambian Copperbelt with the Namibian deep sea harbour at Walvis Bay, Katima Mulilo has become a boom town that attracts significant investment. This development has, however, also fanned illegal business activities, and driven the establishment of shanty towns to an extent that endangers social stability.
The town features an Export Processing Zone and the largest open market in Namibia. There is an important international electricity inter–link facility, the Caprivi Link Inter–Connector; its inauguration has improved the power supply to the town. The Zambezi Waterfront Tourism project is under construction. The Caprivi Vision, a newspaper from and for the Caprivi, is published in town.
Since being proclaimed a town on 2 October 1999, development has been steady but Katima Mulilo does not yet compare to more established towns and cities in Namibia. Few streets are tarred, and there is a lack of street lights and sewerage. Many residents use the bushes for lack of toilet facilities, and there have been many outbreaks of diseases such as diarrhea.
The town has been affected by corruption, financial mismanagement, and infighting between councillors ever since SWAPO took the majority on town council in 1998. Water supply has been unstable because money is owed to the national water supplier, NamWater.
Transport
Katima Mulilo is the terminal town of the Trans–Caprivi Highway, and the highway together with its extension to Zambia is called the Trans-Caprivi Corridor. The Trans–Caprivi Highway was opened in 1999, and the bridge to Sesheke, and with it the entire Trans-Caprivi Corridor, in 2004.
Katima Mulilo is not yet connected to the Namibian railway network. In October 2007, a proposal was announced for a railway connection between Namibia and Zambia which would pass through the town. The line would join Grootfontein to Katima Mulilo then 130 km to Mulobezi with an 80 km upgrade of the line to Livingstone.
The town is served by Katima Mulilo Airport, situated about 18 km to the southwest which is serviced by regular flights from the capital Windhoek.
Politics
Katima Mulilo is governed by a town council that has seven seats.
Zambezi Region, whose administrative capital Katima Mulilo is, is a stronghold of Namibia's ruling SWAPO party. It won the 2010 local authority election with 2,197 votes, followed by the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) with 473 votes. SWAPO also won the 2015 local authority election by a landslide, gaining six seats and 1,875 votes. The remaining seat went to the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) which gained 163 votes.
Culture and education
Before Katima Mulilo was officially founded missionaries already ran schools in the area. The Seventh–day Adventists operated one, as did the Capuchin Order. Today there are a number of schools in Katima Mulilo such as Katima High School, Caprivi Secondary School, Kizito Secondary School, Ngweze Secondary School, Mavuluma Secondary School and many primary and junior secondary schools.
Katima Mulilo has two institutes of tertiary education, the Zambezi Vocational Center and a campus of the University of Namibia (UNAM) for teacher training, formerly the Caprivi College of Education (CCE). At the time of the merger with UNAM, CCE had 400 enrolled students and 70 staff.
The town houses the community-based Caprivi Art Centre and holds an annual Caprivi Cultural Festival.
Buildings and structures
230 metres tall radio mast at 17.518441 S 24.271722 E, one of the tallest structures in Namibia.
Notable people
Ryan Nyambe (born 1997), professional footballer.
References
Category:Towns in Namibia
Category:Regional capitals in Namibia
Category:Populated places in the Zambezi Region
Category:Namibia–Zambia border crossings
Category:Populated places established in 1935
Category:1935 establishments in South West Africa |
---
abstract: 'In this work, we revisit the issue of the nature of electronic transport in nickel oxide (NiO) and show that the widely used model of free small polaron hopping, initially raised to characterize transport in high-purity samples, is not appropriate for modeling intrinsically doped NiO. Instead, we present extensive evidence, collected by means of temperature- and frequency-dependent measurements of the electrical conductivity $\sigma$, that the model of polaronic inter-acceptor hopping can be used to consistently explain the electronic conduction process. In this framework, holes are localized to acceptors (Ni vacancies), forming a strongly bound, polaron-like state. They can only move through the film by hopping to a neighboring, at least partially unoccupied, acceptor. This renders the spatial overlap between neighboring polaronic wave functions a highly critical parameter. The signature of this process is the occurrence of two temperature regions of the DC conductivity, separated by about half the Debye temperature $\frac{\theta{_{\mathrm{D}}}}{2} \approx \SI{200}{\kelvin}$. For $T>\frac{\theta{_{\mathrm{D}}}}{2}$, holes are transferred by phonon-assisted hopping over the potential barrier between two sites, whereas phonon-assisted tunneling through the barrier dominates below that temperature. We also show that the degree of structural and electronic disorder plays a vital role in determining the characteristics of the transport process: high disorder leads to strong energetic broadening of the acceptor states such that hopping to more distant sites may be favored over transfer to nearest neighbors (variable range hopping). The assumption of high binding energies of the charge carriers at V[~~]{} is in accordance with the recent paradigm shift regarding the understanding of the electronic structure of NiO: holes doped into NiO couple to Ni $3d$ spins, thereby occupying deep polaron-like states within the band gap (Zhang-Rice bound doublets). This work is the first to explicitly take this perception into account to explain carrier transport in NiO.'
author:
- Robert Karsthof
- Arthur Markus Anton
- Friedrich Kremer
- Marius Grundmann
bibliography:
- 'ref.bib'
title: 'Polaronic inter-acceptor hopping transport in intrinsically doped nickel oxide'
---
Introduction
============
The long-standing question on the origin of the DC conduction mechanism in nickel oxide has never been entirely settled. There exist numerous studies regarding this subject, many of which support the picture of polaronic conduction [@Wagner.1933; @Boer.1937; @Heikes.1957; @Houten.1962; @Austin.1967; @Bosman.1970; @Adler.1970], i.e. the hole is surrounded by a self-induced lattice distortion. Depending on the size of this distortion, the charge carrier can move by thermally activated hopping (for small polarons) or by conduction in a narrow band (mostly for large polarons when spatial overlap of the wave functions is appreciable). Evidence for both models have been presented in the literature. Austin and Mott have conjectured that the true value for the spatial extent $r{_{\mathrm{p}}}$ of the polaronic wave function lies somewhere between the ’small’ and ’large’ case [@Austin.1967]. This view has also been taken by Adler and Feinleib [@Adler.1970], based on an estimate of $r{_{\mathrm{p}}}$ in the order of two lattice spacings. On the other hand, AC studies have shown that *bound* charge carriers have probably small polaron character [@Snowden.1964; @Kabashima.1968; @Aiken.1968; @Kolber.1972]. An entirely different picture has been proposed by Lunkenheimer *et al.* who have interpreted their AC conductivity data within the framework of the *correlated barrier hopping* model [@Lunkenheimer.1991]. In this model, the charge carriers are thought to hop from one acceptor site to another, with the hopping energy critically depending on the acceptor density [@Pike.1972], resembling the so-called impurity conduction in the hopping regime. In fact, there are several scientific publications from the 1960s conjecturing about the DC transport mechanism in NiO being due to inter-acceptor (or impurity) hopping conduction [@Nachman.1965; @Springthorpe.1965; @Austin.1967; @Aiken.1968; @Kabashima.1968; @Bosman.1970]. However, this view seems to have been abandoned later on in favor of “free” small or large polarons that can be transferred by hopping to any (sub-)lattice site. To our view, this was mainly the result of an increased availability of low-impurity NiO samples at that time with considerably higher charge carrier mobilities than before. This demanded for an alternative conduction model. In the recent decades, researchers have aimed to use NiO in different (opto-)electronic devices which, in many cases, requires the material to be at least moderately conductive. To this end, doping (intrinsically or extrinsically) is often a prerequisite which should bring the impurity (or more general: acceptor) hopping conduction model into focus again.
The perception of the hole in NiO was fundamentally changed in 1994, when Ba[ł]{}a, Oleś and Zaanen [@Bala.1994] applied a theory to NiO that was originally developed for high-$T{_{\mathrm{c}}}$ superconductors by Zhang and Rice [@Zhang.1988]. It considers the coupling of the spin of a hole (introduced either by doping or by excitation) to the majority $3d$ spins at a neighboring Ni site. This coupling, which was shown to be of antiferromagnetic nature, leads to the formation of a bound state, the so-called Zhang-Rice (ZR) bound state, with total spin $S=\frac{1}{2}$ in the case of NiO and thus being a doublet. This new view made it possible to explain as yet inexplicable features in photoelectron spectroscopy experiments, where the ZR doublet appears as the state with the lowest ionization energy. Taguchi *et al.* [@Taguchi.2008] also predicted an important role of this state in the electrical conduction process in NiO. However, to our knowledge, no attempt has been made so far to develop a conduction model taking the properties of ZR states explicitly into account. The high binding energies of the holes occupying these states imply that carrier transport takes place exclusively through these energetically rather isolated states without the participation of any other states or bands. Thus, the compatibility of the ZR with the inter-acceptor hopping model is given, and the validation of this attempt is the aim of the current work.\
Recently, NiO has re-emerged as a material of special interest in the device community. It has found application in organic solar cells [@He.1999; @Irwin.2008; @Park.2010], light-emitting diodes [@Park.2005; @Tang.2013], resistive-switching devices [@Seo.2005; @Kim.2008], perovskite solar cells [@Jeng.2014] and electrochromic devices [@Avendano.2006; @Huang.2011; @Moulki.2012; @Ren.2013]. In many applications, efficient hole transport through the NiO layer is essential while, at the same time, the layer itself should be transparent in the visible and near-infrared spectral range. It is well known that the conductivity of NiO can be increased by intrinsic doping with Ni vacancies (through high oxygen supply during film growth) or by extrinsic doping, e.g. with group-I elements like Li [@Lany.2007; @Park.2010]. However, as the doping level is increased, the optical transmittance of NiO typically shows a marked decrease [@Newman.1959] which has recently been attributed to the development of a broad ZR band deep inside the band gap [@Zhang.2018]. This behavior requires a trade-off between high optical transparency and electrical conductivity. The latter is typically not higher than due to low hole mobilities ($\mu{_{\mathrm{p}}} \le \SI{0.1}{\square\centi\meter\per\volt\per\second}$) of the localized charge carriers. In order to design NiO layers addressing the requirements for simultaneous conductivity and transparency, an understanding of the microscopic nature of carrier transport processes is necessary.
Experimental methods
====================
The NiO films were prepared by two different methods. Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) growth was carried out in an in-house-built system, using a KrF excimer laser (wavelength , pulse energy ) ablating a ceramic NiO target (purity , Alfa Aesar). PLD growth was done either at room temperature (no intentional substrate heating) or at a substrate temperature of . In both cases, the partial pressure of the oxygen background atmosphere was set to . Reactive DC magnetron sputtering from a metallic Ni target in an Ar/O[~~]{} atmosphere was additionally employed to grow NiO films. Layer thicknesses between have been achieved and checked by means of profilometry. $c$-plane-oriented, one-sided polished Al[~~]{}O[~~]{} single crystals were used as substrates. Metallic back contact layers consisting of Pt (thickness $\approx \SI{50}{\nano\meter}$) were deposited by DC magnetron sputtering in Ar atmosphere prior to NiO growth. The NiO layers were directly capped by a thick Pt layer, and both NiO and Pt capping were patterned into pillar-shaped contacts (diameters between and ) by standard UV photo-lithography and the lift-off technique.
Current-voltage characterization of the Pt/NiO/Pt structures was carried out with the help of a SÜSS WaferProber with tungsten needles and an AGILENT 4155C Precision Semiconductor Parameter Analyzer. On the basis of these measurements, individual contacts were selected for further characterization. Those samples were then mounted onto transistor sockets, and the selected pillars were contacted by Au wire bonding using silver epoxy resin. Temperature-dependent current-voltage measurements on thusly prepared samples were done in a closed-cycle He cryostat.
Broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS) measurements have been accomplished on the same samples as used for current-voltage studies. The spectra have been recorded in a temperature and frequency range of and , respectively, employing a NOVOCONTROL Technology high-resolution $\alpha$-analyzer combined with a Quatro temperature controller ensuring absolute thermal stability of $\le \SI{1}{\kelvin}$.
Results
=======
Structural properties
---------------------
In the past, NiO has been deposited at room temperature in our laboratories using both methods, either PLD or sputtering, in order to fabricate active electronic devices [@Karsthof.2015; @Karsthof.2015a; @Karsthof.2016]. However, these films exhibit high structural disorder, as evident from $2\theta$-$\omega$ X-ray diffraction scans shown in Fig. \[fig:XRD\_PLD+ms\_comp\]. While room temperature-PLD on top of a Pt back contact leads to nano-crystalline films where the (111) reflex of NiO can be observed, this peak is absent for the sputtered films. Using the Scherrer formula
$$l{_{\mathrm{z}}} \approx \frac{0.9\lambda}{\Delta(2\theta)\cos(\theta)}
\label{eq:scherrer}$$
with $\lambda = \SI{5.406}{\angstrom}$ (Cu K$\mathrm{\alpha}$ radiation), $\Delta(2\theta)$ FWHM of the reflex at position $2\theta$, the lower limit of the vertical expanse of the crystallites, $l{_{\mathrm{z}}}$, can be estimated. On the one hand, for room-temperature PLD-grown NiO, $l{_{\mathrm{z}}}$ amounts to approximately . On the other hand, the absence of the reflex for the sputtered films implies grains smaller than about . In order to discriminate between effects arising from the crystalline structure and from the true bulk transport properties of NiO, PLD growth at an elevated temperature of was studied as well. Such films grow in a highly (111) oriented fashion, with a grain size, according to Eqn. (\[eq:scherrer\]), of around being of the same order as the film thickness of this sample.
![X-ray diffraction pattern of the (111) reflexes of NiO grown on Pt/fused silica for PLD-grown and sputtered thin films at room temperature, as well as PLD-grown at elevated temperature.[]{data-label="fig:XRD_PLD+ms_comp"}](XRD_111s.eps){width="\columnwidth"}
Doping concentrations
---------------------
Intrinsic doping of NiO is achieved by suppling excess oxygen during film growth. This leads to a high density of nickel vacancies (V[~~]{}) which is the dominant intrinsic point defect under oxygen-rich ambient conditions [@Lany.2007]. In the experiments reported here, this is achieved using both deposition methods by choosing a high oxygen background pressure ($p{_{\mathrm{O2}}}=\SI{0.1}{\milli\bar}$ and for PLD and sputtering, respectively). In order to determine the resulting carrier density for the particular growth conditions, films were grown on top of highly fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) layers [^1] ($\sigma{_{\mathrm{FTO}}} = \SI{2.5e3}{\siemens\per\centi\meter}$) which induces a significant depletion region in the NiO layers. On these structures, capacitance-voltage ($CV$) measurements were conducted to determine the net doping density $N{_{\mathrm{net}}}$ of the films; Hall effect measurements can usually not be employed to NiO due to the absence of free carriers. The values for $N{_{\mathrm{net}}}$ are given in Table \[tab:samples\]. In the further course of this report, $N{_{\mathrm{net}}}$ is interpreted as being equal to the carrier density. Tab. \[tab:samples\] demonstrates that reactive DC magnetron sputtering produces films with the highest net doping ($N{_{\mathrm{net}}}\approx$), whereas high-temperature PLD-grown films have the lowest doping density ().
[lccc]{} sample & $l{_{\mathrm{z}}}$ () & $N{_{\mathrm{net}}}$ () & $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$ ()\
ms-NiO & $< 5$ & &\
RT-PLD-NiO & $\approx \num{30}$ & &\
HT-PLD-NiO & $\ge \num{150}$ & &\
Current-voltage characterization
--------------------------------
![(a) Typical current-voltage characteristics of room-temperature PLD-grown NiO on top of different conductive materials; absolute currents in log scale, normalized to currents at $V=\SI{2}{\volt}$, for all back contacts. Inset: currents for NiO on Pt and FTO as function of the applied DC electric field due to different NiO thicknesses (on ITO: , on Pt: ). (b) normalized currents for differently grown NiO layers, and ohmic characteristic for comparison.[]{data-label="fig:IV_different_back_contacts"}](IV_differentBackContacts.eps){width="\columnwidth"}
The starting point for the investigations in this section is the general observation of non-ohmic DC transport in NiO thin films, even in the absence of a depletion layer. Fig. \[fig:IV\_different\_back\_contacts\](a) shows typical current-voltage relationships for NiO layers sandwiched between different conductive materials. Specifically, fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO), tin-doped indium oxide (ITO), gallium-doped zinc oxide (GZO) (the latter two grown in-house by PLD), and Pt were used as bottom contacts, respectively. All samples were capped with a Pt top electrode. It can be seen that FTO and GZO back electrodes induce a depletion layer located almost exclusively within the NiO (hole density ${p = N{_{\mathrm{net}}} = \SI{4e18}{\per\cubic\centi\meter}}$), due to the high electron densities ($n>\SI{5e19}{\per\cubic\centi\meter}$, determined by Hall effect measurements) in GZO and FTO layers. This depletion layer causes a significant current rectification. In the case of ITO contacts, the rectification is hardly visible, and for the Pt back electrode the current-voltage characteristics are almost symmetric, indicating the absence of a depletion region. However, a clear deviation from a linear current-voltage relationship is present also in these cases, as shown in the inset of Fig. \[fig:IV\_different\_back\_contacts\](a). It can be seen that the $IV$ characteristics (apart from a weak asymmetry in the case of ITO due to slight depletion) show very similar behavior, with a conductivity that increases with applied electric field. The similarity between the two different contact materials and the independence of the NiO thickness implies that the observed behavior is intrinsic to the NiO layers and not an effect of a voltage-dependent carrier injection at the contacts.
Fig. \[fig:IV\_different\_back\_contacts\]b displays normalized current-voltage characteristics for NiO layers grown by the different methods used in this work. The deviation from ohmic behavior (indicated by the dashed black line) can be seen for all samples, but is most pronounced for room-temperature PLD-grown layers. For this reason, these samples were chosen for further investigations of transport properties. It should be noted that, although the characteristics match well qualitatively, the current densities are different for those three samples due to widely varying conductivities. Values for $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$, obtained by numerical differentiation of the current-voltage characteristics at a DC voltage of , are provided in Tab. \[tab:samples\]. It can be stated that there seems to be a strong nonlinear dependence of $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$ on $N{_{\mathrm{net}}}$, indicating that the role of the V[~~]{} acceptors probably goes beyond contributing extra charge carriers to the electronic system.
Non-linear current transport in NiO has been reported before, e.g. on Pt/NiO/Pt [@Seo.2005] and ITO/NiO structures [@Chang.2006]. This behavior has been interpreted by Chang *et al.* in the framework of the space charge-limited current (SCLC) model [@Rose.1955] which explicitly takes into account long transient times for charge carriers travelling through a low-mobility insulator after injection by ohmic contacts. These authors found an approximate $I\propto V^2$ relationship, indicating that the transport within the NiO layer is limited by hole trapping into electronic states with a single activation energy.
In Fig. \[fig:IUT\_loglog\], the temperature dependence of the $jV$ characteristics of Pt/(RT)PLD-NiO/Pt structures is shown. Three different regions of the curves can be distinguished on a double-logarithmic scale: (i) ohmic conduction below $j \propto V$, (ii) a transition region where the slope of the curves increases, and (iii) a power-law region $j \propto V{^{\mathrm{\gamma}}}$ with a temperature-dependent voltage exponent $\gamma$ taking on values close to 2. It should be noted that in the data presented here, a slight exponential contribution to the current densities for temperatures above is detected in the voltage regime (iii) owing to a weak hole barrier located beneath the metallic Pt capping layer. This behavior is observed when the capping layer is not deposited on top of the NiO immediately after semiconductor growth. We therefore think that it can be attributed to an out-diffusion of the mobile Ni vacancies in the vicinity of the NiO surface, thereby producing a downward bending of the bands that is conserved also after Pt deposition. We have tested this hypothesis by using different combinations of the noble metals Au, Pd and Pt for both back and front contacts and found that the occurrence of a slight rectification is only dependent on the time between NiO and capping layer deposition, with the depletion layer always located below the top electrode. For temperatures $ \le \SI{260}{\kelvin}$, however, the current densities are symmetrical with respect to the applied voltage, and therefore are probably determined solely by transport in the neutral NiO bulk material.
![Current density-voltage characteristics for one contact in double-logarithmic scale for temperatures between and .[]{data-label="fig:IUT_loglog"}](IUT_loglog.eps){width="\columnwidth"}
The temperature dependence of the voltage exponent $\gamma$ is shown in Fig. \[fig:IUT\_voltage-exponent\]. It is evident that below $\gamma$ is linearly dependent on $T{^{\mathrm{-1}}}$, increasing from a value of at to at . This behavior can be consistently explained in the framework of SCLC, taking into account trap states distributed over a certain energy range as proposed by Rose [@Rose.1955]. It can be shown that in this case, the relation
$$j \propto V{^{\mathrm{1 + \frac{T{_{\mathrm{c}}}}{T}}}}
\label{eq:voltageExponentTemp}$$
holds, with $T{_{\mathrm{c}}}$ a critical temperature characteristic for the broadness of the trap distribution. Fitting the data $\gamma(T{^{\mathrm{-1}}})$ with a linear model yields ${\gamma = \num{0.92} + \frac{\SI{216}{\kelvin}}{T}}$, which is in agreement with Eq. (\[eq:voltageExponentTemp\]). It can be concluded that the transport in NiO can be characterized as being due to holes trapped in a distribution of states. Rose [@Rose.1955] provided a method which allows to determine the trap distribution on the basis of $jV$ characteristics under the condition that $\gamma \ge 2$:
$$D{_{\mathrm{t}}} = \frac{1}{dA} \frac{CV}{e k{_{\mathrm{B}}}T} \left(\frac{V}{j} \frac{{\mathrm{d}}j}{{\mathrm{d}}V}-1 \right){^{\mathrm{-1}}}
\label{eq:trapDistrFromjV}$$
with $d$ and $A$ being the thickness and area of the contact, respectively, and $C$ its capacitance (, as determined from quasi-static capacitance-voltage measurements). Eq. (\[eq:trapDistrFromjV\]) gives the number density of traps per unit energy interval. This calculation has been performed for two different temperatures, namely and ; the results are shown in the inset of Fig. \[fig:IUT\_voltage-exponent\]. It can be seen that the density of traps determining the admitted current density increases linearly with applied voltage. It is also worth noticing that the value of the probed density of states does not seem to depend on temperature in this range. The observed decrease of the electric conductivity can therefore be entirely ascribed to a drop of the charge carrier mobility.
![Temperature dependence of the voltage exponent $\gamma$, and linear fit according to Eq. (\[eq:voltageExponentTemp\]). Inset: trap distribution calculated for $T = \SI{200}{\kelvin}$ and according to Eq. (\[eq:trapDistrFromjV\]); gray area: ohmic and transition region where unphysical results are likely obtained.[]{data-label="fig:IUT_voltage-exponent"}](IUT_voltage-exponent.eps){width="\columnwidth"}
Because the hole in NiO occupies a Zhang-Rice bound state, implications for the electric current transported by these states should be considered [@Taguchi.2008]. Due to the similarity of the current-voltage characteristics of differently deposited NiO layers in our labs, and also the ones reported in the literature, we are convinced that the non-ohmic behavior is specific to the intrinsic transport of ZR states. The following scenario is suggested as a possible explanation: The formation of the ZR states depends the presence of spins localized on Ni $3d$ states on the one hand, and of holes (e.g, in the O $2p$ band, around V[~~]{} sites etc.) on the other hand. Because the application of an external voltage injects additional holes, their density is enhanced, thereby leading to a more pronounced ZR band. Since the amount of injected carriers scales linearly with the applied voltage, a linear correlation between $V$ and the ZR density of states can be expected, which is exactly what is observed (inset in Fig. \[fig:IUT\_voltage-exponent\]). This process might be of importance for the resistive switching behavior of NiO thin films, in which the conductivity changes abruptly upon applying a critical set voltage. This has already been attributed to the injection-induced formation of conductive filaments [@Son.2008; @Ielmini.2011]. It should be noted that this effect was never observed on NiO films investigated in this work because of their comparatively high conductivities. Resistive switching is usually observed in films that exhibit insulating behavior in their pristine state.
![Temperature dependence of the DC conductivity of PLD-grown NiO, obtained by numerical differentiation of the data from Fig. \[fig:IUT\_loglog\], and fits according to (a) the small polaron hopping model and (b) Mott variable range hopping. Inset in (a) shows the temperature dependence of the apparent hopping energy.[]{data-label="fig:sigmaDC_SPH+VRH"}](sigmaDC_SPH+VRH.eps){width="\columnwidth"}
Fig. \[fig:sigmaDC\_SPH+VRH\]a shows the temperature dependence of the conductivity as extracted from the data shown in Fig. \[fig:IUT\_loglog\] by numerical differentiation, for $V{_{\mathrm{dc}}} = \SI{0}{\volt}$. As can be seen, the conductivity decreases when the temperature is lowered. Furthermore, the thermal activation deviates from a single Arrhenius type as is evident from a kink of the curve at around . To describe the $T$-dependence of the conductivity $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$ of NiO, a transport model based on the hopping of “free” small polarons has been used in recently published works [@Zhang.2018; @Liu.2019]. Within this model, the simplified expression
$$\begin{aligned}
\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}} &= \sigma_0\exp\left(-\frac{W{_{\mathrm{H}}}}{k{_{\mathrm{B}}}T}\right) \nonumber \\
\text{with} \qquad \sigma_0 &= \frac{Nea{{^{\mathrm{2}}}{_{\mathrm{0}}}}\nu{_{\mathrm{ph}}}}{k{_{\mathrm{B}}}T}
\label{eq:SPH_conductivity}
\end{aligned}$$
holds [@Austin.1969; @Bosman.1970] with the polaron hopping activation energy $W{_{\mathrm{H}}}$, carrier density $N$, $a_0$ lattice constant and $\nu{_{\mathrm{ph}}}$ optical phonon frequency. In Fig. \[fig:sigmaDC\_SPH+VRH\]a, fits according to Eqn. \[eq:SPH\_conductivity\] are shown. It is obvious that this model can reproduce the data only for temperatures above approximately , although it must be said that in this region, also a single Arrhenius-type activation would be sufficient. For lower temperatures, the SPH model predicts considerably smaller values of $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$ than experimentally determined, owing to a decrease of the activation energy with falling temperature (shown in the inset of Fig. \[fig:sigmaDC\_SPH+VRH\]a). Such a drop in $W{_{\mathrm{H}}}$ is included in more elaborate models of small polaron hopping [@Bottger]. Therein, the drop evolves at temperatures of about one half of the Debye temperature $\frac{\theta{_{\mathrm{D}}}}{2}$, which is approximately for NiO [@Allen.1954]. Apart from that, however, a renewed *increase* of the conductivity $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$ is to be expected at further decreasing temperatures due to the onset of polaronic band conduction. This has not been observed in the NiO samples investigated in this work down to temperatures of . Moreover, the extracted carrier mobilities are extremely low – at room temperature, $\mu = \frac{\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}}{eN{_{\mathrm{net}}}} \approx \SI{e-6}{\square\centi\meter\per\volt\per\second}$, assuming the carrier density from $CV$ measurements, $N{_{\mathrm{net}}} = \SI{4e18}{\per\cubic\centi\meter}$. We suggest to discard hopping conduction of “free” small polarons as current transport mechanism in doped NiO. The fact that the carriers are of polaronic character, however, is not questioned here, because this is an inherent feature of the bound ZR state [@Bala.1994]. We propose to interpret the data in the framework of the polaronic impurity hopping conduction as described by Schnakenberg [@Schnakenberg.1968]. Within this model, the carriers are small polarons transported by hopping, but they cannot move to any lattice site. Instead, their propagation is limited to defect sites to which they are tightly bound – a situation readily applicable to carriers occupying ZR bound states. In this model, the conductivity follows the same temperature dependence as in the “free” small polaron hopping, exhibiting a significant drop of activation energy at about $\frac{\theta{_{\mathrm{D}}}}{2}$. The model differs only at low temperatures where $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$ continues to decrease according to $\exp\left(-\frac{A}{k{_{\mathrm{B}}}T}\right)$, where $A$ is an activation energy of the order of the mean energy separation $\Delta\epsilon$ between neighboring defect sites. Band conduction is suppressed in this case due to the strong localization and large inter-site separation. This model has already been applied to Li-doped NiO [@Springthorpe.1965; @Mott.1968], and it is applicable to intrinsically (V[~~]{}-) doped NiO. In this case, however, the term “polaronic inter-acceptor hopping” is more appropriate because V[~~]{} defects are not impurities in a chemical sense.
Carrier hopping between defect states randomly distributed in space and energy (in a sufficiently large range $\Delta\epsilon$) can also be described within the model of variable range hopping (VRH) developed by Mott [@Mott.1968a]. There, the relation
$$\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}} = \sigma_0 \exp\left(-\left[\frac{T_0}{T}\right]{^{\mathrm{\frac{1}{4}}}}\right)
\label{eq:sigmaDC_VRH}$$
holds, with a characteristic temperature
$$T_0 \approx \frac{20\alpha^3}{k{_{\mathrm{B}}}N(\epsilon{_{\mathrm{F}}})}$$
which is determined by the localization length $\alpha^{-1}$ of the carriers and the density of states at the Fermi energy $N(\epsilon{_{\mathrm{F}}})$. In Fig. \[fig:sigmaDC\_SPH+VRH\]b, the measured DC conductivity is plotted logarithmically against $T{^{\mathrm{-\frac{1}{4}}}}$ together with a fitting curve according to Eqn. (\[eq:sigmaDC\_VRH\]), and it can be seen that the VRH model reproduces the data over the entire temperature range investigated here. The characteristic temperature amounts to . If one takes the acceptor density of states $N(\epsilon{_{\mathrm{F}}}) = D{_{\mathrm{t}}} = \SI{2.6e17}{\per\cubic\centi\meter\per\electronvolt}$, as obtained from the $jV$ characteristics by extrapolating the density of states in Fig. \[fig:IUT\_voltage-exponent\] to $V=\SI{0}{\volt}$, the localization length of a polaron in a ZR state amounts to $\alpha{^{\mathrm{-1}}} = \SI{0.66\pm0.01}{\nano\meter} \approx \num{1.6} a_0$.\
One might object to using the VRH model in the entire temperature range because this model has originally been developed for transport at low temperatures only. However, Böttger and Bryksin [@Bottger] formulate a criterion that can be employed for justifying the use of this model also at higher temperatures. When the energetic distribution of the acceptor states $\Delta\epsilon$ is narrow, such that
$$\alpha N{_{\mathrm{net}}}{^{\mathrm{-\frac{1}{3}}}} \gg \frac{\Delta\epsilon}{k{_{\mathrm{B}}}T},
\label{eq:crit_NNH}$$
holds true, next-neighbor hopping occurs. When Eqn. (\[eq:crit\_NNH\]) is not fulfilled, VRH is favored. In the present case, ${N{_{\mathrm{net}}} = \SI{4e18}{\per\cubic\centi\meter}}$, $\alpha = \SI{1.5e9}{\per\meter}$, and $\Delta\epsilon \approx \SI{200}{\milli\electronvolt}$ (as extracted from the apparent activation energy of $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$ at low temperatures), such that at room temperature ${\alpha N{_{\mathrm{net}}} = \num{9.4} \not\gg \frac{\Delta\epsilon}{k{_{\mathrm{B}}}T} \approx 8}$. Thus, the VRH model can be applied at least up to room temperature. It can be comprehended as a limiting case of the inter-acceptor hopping model for large energy spread $\Delta\epsilon$ of the defect states. Such a broad energetic distribution can be expected due to the high degree of disorder in the RT-deposited NiO films leading to the formation of other defects or defect complexes, some of which are donor-like. This causes a large degree of compensation. In fact, for the occurrence of charge transport, partial compensation is always necessary, because otherwise all acceptors were charge-neutral, and no free target states were available for hopping.
BDS measurements
----------------
{width="1.8\columnwidth"}
In this section, the temperature-dependent behavior of the complex conductivity $\sigma{^{\mathrm{*}}} = \sigma' + \imath \sigma''$ of NiO thin films is discussed, comparing the sample grown by PLD at room temperature (“RT-PLD”) and the one at (“HT-PLD”). Fig. \[fig:BDS\_data\_RT+HT\_cooling\]a and b show the real part of the conductivity, $\sigma'$, measured by broad-band dielectric spectroscopy (BDS) between room temperature and and in a frequency range from to (RT-PLD) or (HT-PLD). In the latter case, the data obtained above were discarded due to the occurrence of inductance-induced artifacts. Measurements were taken while cooling to as well as during heating back to room temperature in order to check for the reproducibility. Measurements were done at a DC voltage of , the amplitude of the AC voltage was set to such that the response of the sample is measured in the ohmic voltage region.
Two different features dominate the behavior of $\sigma'$: (i) a frequency-independent contribution at low frequencies appearing as a plateau and interpreted as the DC conductivity limit $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$, as well as (ii) a dispersive part where $\sigma'$ increases with frequency. In the case of the RT-deposited film, $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$ gradually decreases over more than 6 orders of magnitude within the investigated temperature range, whereas for the HT-NiO it drops by approximately 3 orders of magnitude down to approximately and remains almost constant below that temperature.
The complex dielectric function $\varepsilon{^{\mathrm{*}}}$ can be calculated from the complex conductivity $\sigma{^{\mathrm{*}}}$ via the relation
$$\varepsilon{^{\mathrm{*}}} = \frac{1}{\imath \omega \varepsilon_0}\sigma{^{\mathrm{*}}}.$$
In Fig. \[fig:BDS\_data\_RT+HT\_cooling\]c and d, the imaginary part of $\varepsilon{^{\mathrm{*}}}$, ${\varepsilon'' = \frac{1}{\omega \varepsilon_0}\sigma'}$ is plotted. It becomes evident that the dispersion of $\sigma'$ is due to the occurrence of dielectric relaxation phenomena, expressed as peaks or shoulders on the high-frequency side of the DC conductivity term ($\propto \omega{^{\mathrm{-1}}}$). These relaxation processes can be described with the Cole-Cole equation [@Kremera]
$$\begin{aligned}
\varepsilon{{^{\mathrm{*}}}{_{\mathrm{CC}}}}(\omega) &= \varepsilon'{_{\mathrm{CC}}}(\omega) + \imath \varepsilon''{_{\mathrm{CC}}}(\omega) \nonumber \\
& = \varepsilon{_{\mathrm{\infty}}} + \frac{\varepsilon{_{\mathrm{s}}}-\varepsilon{_{\mathrm{\infty}}}}{1+\left(\imath \omega \tau{_{\mathrm{rel}}}\right){^{\mathrm{1-b}}}},\nonumber \\
\varepsilon'{_{\mathrm{CC}}} &= \varepsilon{_{\mathrm{\infty}}} + \frac{\varepsilon{_{\mathrm{s}}}-\varepsilon{_{\mathrm{\infty}}}}{2} \nonumber \\
&\times \left[1-\frac{\sinh\left((1-b)\ln(\omega\tau{_{\mathrm{rel}}})\right)}{\cosh\left((1-b)\ln(\omega\tau{_{\mathrm{rel}}})\right)+\cos b \pi /2}\right], \nonumber \\
\varepsilon''{_{\mathrm{CC}}} &= \frac{\varepsilon{_{\mathrm{s}}}-\varepsilon{_{\mathrm{\infty}}}}{2} \frac{\cos b \pi /2}{\cosh \left((1-b)\ln(\omega\tau{_{\mathrm{rel}}})\right)+\sin b \pi /2}
\label{eq:colecole}\end{aligned}$$
which is a Debye-type function with symmetric broadening. The parameters $\Delta\varepsilon = \varepsilon{_{\mathrm{s}}} - \varepsilon{_{\mathrm{\infty}}}$, $b \in [0,1)$ and $\tau{_{\mathrm{rel}}}$ represent the relaxation strength, relaxation process broadening and relaxation time, respectively. Based on Eqn. (\[eq:colecole\]), and by adding the DC conductivity term ($\varepsilon'' = \varepsilon''{_{\mathrm{CC}}} + \frac{\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}}{\omega \varepsilon_0}$), the $\varepsilon''$ data have been fitted to extract the respective relaxation process parameters and the DC conductivity. These fits are included in Figs. \[fig:BDS\_data\_RT+HT\_cooling\]c and d as color-shaded areas. The fit parameters $\Delta\varepsilon$ and $\omega{_{\mathrm{rel}}} = \frac{2\pi}{\tau{_{\mathrm{rel}}}}$ and their temperature dependence are shown in Figs. \[fig:BDS\_data\_RT+HT\_cooling\]e and f. The data for the broadening parameter $b$ is not presented.
In the case of the RT-grown film with high structural disorder, only one relaxation process is visible. It possesses a generally high relaxation strength $\Delta\varepsilon\approx 500$ which is almost independent on temperature (Fig. \[fig:BDS\_data\_RT+HT\_cooling\]e). The film with low disorder exhibits two relaxation processes, the stronger of which appears between room temperature and about , while the weaker process is only visible below . For reasons explained in the following, the relaxation process in the RT-deposited sample and the stronger one in the HT-deposited film are probably due to the same mechanism; this process will be analyzed first.
For a process caused by relaxation of molecular dipoles of density $N{_{\mathrm{dip}}}$ and dipole moment $\mu{_{\mathrm{dip}}}$, $\Delta\varepsilon$ at a certain temperature can be estimated by the relation
$$\Delta\varepsilon \approx \frac{1}{\varepsilon_0}\frac{\mu{_{\mathrm{dip}}}^2}{k{_{\mathrm{B}}}T}N{_{\mathrm{dip}}}.
\label{eq:dipole_relaxation}$$
If one assumes that the dipoles consist of two charges $\pm e$ at a distance of one NiO lattice spacing $a_0$, and the dipole density is given by the trapped-hole density, $N{_{\mathrm{dip}}} \approx \SI{1e18}{\per\cubic\centi\meter}$, the corresponding relaxation strength at room temperature, according to Eqn. (\[eq:dipole\_relaxation\]) would be of the order of which is three orders of magnitude lower than the $\Delta\varepsilon$ observed in the RT-deposited film and a factor of 10 lower than in the HT-NiO sample. In addition, Eqn. (\[eq:dipole\_relaxation\]) implies a decrease of $\Delta\varepsilon$ with increasing temperature; however, such a decrease is absent in the measurements. Therefore, a molecular relaxation mechanism can be excluded as assignment for this relaxation process. Instead, an explanation is provided on the basis of the crystalline structure of the investigated films, which causes a spatial inhomogeneity of the electrical conductivity. Such mesoscopic inhomogeneities are known to cause interfacial polarization effects, subsumed under the term *Maxwell-Wagner-Sillars (MWS) polarization* [@Kremer]. Models for this type of effect typically consider particles with a high electrical conductivity embedded in a matrix of lower conductivity, which cane be comprehended as conductive NiO grains separated by insulating grain boundaries here. Consequently, an AC electric field induces a spatial separation of charge carriers within the grains. A characteristic of an MWS process is an abnormally high and temperature-independent relaxation strength ($\Delta \varepsilon \gg 1$, determined by the conductivity contrast between the two components and the filling ratio of the particles).
Typical for disordered materials with a distinct DC conductivity plateau is a dielectric relaxation process visible at frequencies which are to high for the mechanism causing the DC conductivity (usually a molecular hopping process) [@Dyre.2000]. The correlation between $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$ and the relaxation strength and rate is described by the so-called *Barton-Nakajima-Namikawa (BNN) relation*:
$$\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}} = p\cdot \varepsilon_0 \Delta\varepsilon\, \omega{_{\mathrm{rel}}}
\label{eq:BNN}$$
Here, $p$ is a numerical constant of the order of unity, typically between and 10, and independent of temperature. Because the $T$-dependence of $\Delta\varepsilon$ is typically much weaker than that of $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$, Eqn. (\[eq:BNN\]) implies that $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}} \propto \omega{_{\mathrm{rel}}}$. In addition, if the DC conductivity is temperature-activated with a particular activation energy, $\omega{_{\mathrm{rel}}}$ should show the same dependence. This has been checked for the investigated NiO films and shown in Fig. \[fig:sigmaDC+BNN\]a and b. In the temperature region between and about , where $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$ shows a temperature-activated behavior, the activation energies are and for the RT and HT sample, respectively, which is close to the activation energies for the relaxation process in question ( and , see Fig. \[fig:BDS\_data\_RT+HT\_cooling\]f). In Fig. \[fig:sigmaDC+BNN\]b, it can be seen that the BNN relation between the DC conductivity and the relaxation parameters is fairly satisfied in the range where $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$ is temperature-activated – for the HT-NiO sample, that excludes the low-temperature regime. The relationship between $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$ and the “reduced relaxation strength” $\varepsilon_0\Delta\varepsilon\,\omega{_{\mathrm{rel}}}$ is, however, slightly sublinear, and the parameter $p$ takes on values of the order of $\num{e-2} \ll 1$. Such a low value of the BNN parameter $p$ is far outside the range expected for a microscopic origin of the relaxation process. The similarity of the activation energies of $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$ and $\omega{_{\mathrm{rel}}}$ is, on the other hand, a typical signature of an MWS polarization process [@Kremer]. Within a simplified model that considers spherical filler particles (volume fraction $\varphi{_{\mathrm{f}}}$) of conductivity $\sigma{_{\mathrm{f}}}'$ inside a matrix of conductivity $\sigma{_{\mathrm{m}}}'$ with $\sigma{_{\mathrm{m}}}' \ll \sigma{_{\mathrm{f}}}'$, filling fraction $\varphi{_{\mathrm{m}}} = 1 - \varphi{_{\mathrm{f}}}$ and an identical real part of the dielectric function $\varepsilon'$ for both phases, it can be shown that a Debye-type relaxation occurs [@Kremer], with
$$\begin{aligned}
\Delta\varepsilon &\approx 3 \varepsilon' \left(\frac{\sigma{_{\mathrm{f}}}'}{\sigma{_{\mathrm{m}}}'}\right)^2 \frac{\varphi{_{\mathrm{f}}}\left(1-\varphi{_{\mathrm{f}}}\right)}{2+\varphi{_{\mathrm{f}}}}, \nonumber \\
\tau{_{\mathrm{rel}}} &\approx 3 \varepsilon_0 \varepsilon' \frac{1}{\sigma{_{\mathrm{f}}}'\left(1-\varphi{_{\mathrm{f}}}\right)}.
\label{eq:MWS_parameters}\end{aligned}$$
These equations demonstrate that, on the one hand, the relaxation strength is determined by the squared ratio of the conductivities $\sigma{_{\mathrm{f}}}$ and $\sigma{_{\mathrm{m}}}$. The temperature dependencies of both are similar and therefore roughly cancel out, and $\Delta\varepsilon$ becomes only weakly temperature-dependent. On the other hand, the relaxation rate $\omega{_{\mathrm{rel}}} \propto \tau{_{\mathrm{rel}}}{^{\mathrm{-1}}}$ is directly proportional to $\sigma{_{\mathrm{f}}}$, and therefore a BNN relation-like correlation is obtained. Eqns. \[eq:MWS\_parameters\] are, however, only valid under rather strict conditions regarding the filling fraction $\varphi{_{\mathrm{f}}}$ and the shape of the filler particles, and are therefore only used for constructing the qualitative arguments and not for quantitative analysis here. In any case, it can be stated that the difference in relaxation strength of the intense process is caused by a lower degree of disorder in the HT-grown film as compared to the RT-grown one, causing a reduced spatial inhomogeneity of the conductivity.
![(a) Temperature dependence of the DC conductivity for the RT and HT-deposited sample as extracted from the frequency-dependent measurements, with Arrhenius fits and respective activation energies. (b) Barton-Nakajima-Namikawa (BNN) relation for the strong relaxation process observed in both samples; gray line indicates the ideal (${p = 1, \beta = 1}$) relationship.[]{data-label="fig:sigmaDC+BNN"}](sigmaDC+BNN.eps){width="\columnwidth"}
One may ask whether this polarization process renders the previously mentioned $CV$ measurements unreliable, because it causes a large share of the RT-grown sample’s capacitance at and below audio frequencies around room temperature, where these measurements were recorded. The capacitance of the depleted films used for $CV$ characterization is in the range of , which is a factor of 6 larger than the value for the undepleted films (about ). The overestimation of the net doping density caused by the MWS process therefore amounts to of its value, because $N{_{\mathrm{net}}} \propto C^2$. The net doping of the RT-grown film is therefore approximately .
Next, the weaker relaxation process observed in the low-disorder sample is considered, which is only visible below . Above this temperature, it is potentially masked by the more intense MWS process, although there seems to be an abrupt qualitative change (which can be well seen in $\varepsilon'$, see inset of Fig. \[fig:BDS\_data\_RT+HT\_cooling\]d) exactly at (Fig. \[fig:BDS\_data\_RT+HT\_cooling\]d). This process has a much lower relaxation strength $\Delta\varepsilon \approx \num{0.1}$ than the MWS process (see Fig. \[fig:BDS\_data\_RT+HT\_cooling\]e) which also shows a slight decrease with increasing temperature. Both facts are in accordance with a microscopic hopping process. The relaxation rate of the process is activated with an energy of (Fig. \[fig:BDS\_data\_RT+HT\_cooling\]f).
To interpret these observations, the Schnakenberg model for a conduction process due to polaronic defect hopping [@Schnakenberg.1968] is considered again. Within this framework, there are three regions to be expected for the behavior of $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$ with temperature: at high temperatures, $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}} \propto \exp\left(-\frac{W{_{\mathrm{H}}}}{k{_{\mathrm{B}}}T}\right)$, where $W{_{\mathrm{H}}}$ is the average energy barrier between two neighboring defect sites. Due to spatial overlap of the polaronic wave functions, $W{_{\mathrm{H}}}$ is dependent upon the average distance between two sites, decreasing with rising defect density. Hopping is achieved by multi-phonon absorption (acoustical and optical) in this range. As the temperature drops to around $\frac{\theta{_{\mathrm{D}}}}{2}$, the number of available optical phonons is lowered such that the critical hop is determined by single optic phonon absorption; here, the conductivity is proportional to the number of available optic phonons, $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}} \propto \exp\left(-\frac{\hbar\omega{_{\mathrm{opt}}}}{k{_{\mathrm{B}}}T}\right)$, with $\omega{_{\mathrm{opt}}}$ a typical optical phonon frequency. As the temperature decreases further, only acoustic phonons are available; the activation energy for hopping in this range is of the order of the energy width $\Delta\epsilon$ of the acceptor distribution. This behavior is most clearly shown by the low-disorder sample: here, above approximately , $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$ is activated with $E{_{\mathrm{a\sigma,h}}} = \SI{378}{\milli\electronvolt}$, while at low temperature, the conductivity shows a very weak temperature dependence with $E{_{\mathrm{a\sigma,l}}} \approx \SI{2.1}{\milli\electronvolt}$. These two regions are separated by a temperature of approximately , which is indeed about half the Debye temperature. This temperature was already identified as a critical one during the discussion of the DC electric properties above. A similar change in activation energy can be seen for the RT-grown NiO, although it is not as pronounced. This can be explained by the much broader distribution of acceptor states in this sample due to a higher degree of disorder. For the HT-grown NiO, the distribution of acceptor states is highly confined in energy. For this reason, the VRH model cannot be applied to this sample, as was done before for the RT-grown one, because for this model the defect states have to be randomly distributed both spatially and energetically.
In the temperature range around $\frac{\theta{_{\mathrm{D}}}}{2}$, the conductivity should vary as $\exp\left(-\frac{\hbar\omega{_{\mathrm{opt}}}}{k{_{\mathrm{B}}}T}\right)$. This is difficult to evaluate because the region between the high- and low-temperature activated terms is narrow. However, the occurrence of the second relaxation process in the low-disorder sample can be taken as an indication for single-phonon processes determining the critical hop because the activation energy of the relaxation process is close to the energies of the optical phonons at the $\Gamma$ point of NiO: $\hbar \omega{_{\mathrm{TO}}} \approx \SI{49}{\milli\electronvolt}$, $\hbar \omega{_{\mathrm{LO}}} \approx \SI{72}{\milli\electronvolt}$ [@Gielisse.1965]. Extrapolating the relaxation rates to $T{^{\mathrm{-1}}} = 0$ gives an attack frequency of the hopping process of ${\omega{_{\mathrm{\infty}}} = \SI{4.23\pm 0.96 e7}{\radian\per\second}}$. According to the standard small-polaron theory [@Long.1982], the temperature dependence of the maximum of dielectric loss due to hopping is
$$\begin{aligned}
\omega{_{\mathrm{rel}}} &= \omega{_{\mathrm{\infty}}}\exp\left(-\frac{E{_{\mathrm{a}}}}{k{_{\mathrm{B}}}T}\right) \nonumber \\
&= \omega{_{\mathrm{opt}}}\exp\left(-2\alpha R\right)\exp\left(-\frac{E{_{\mathrm{a}}}}{k{_{\mathrm{B}}}T}\right)
\label{eq:SPH_peak_frequencies}\end{aligned}$$
where the first exponential term represents the magnitude of spatial overlap between two sites at a distance $R$. Using Eqn. (\[eq:SPH\_peak\_frequencies\]) and estimating $R = \left(\frac{3}{4 \pi} N{_{\mathrm{net}}}{^{\mathrm{-1}}}\right){^{\mathrm{\frac{1}{3}}}} = \SI{6.2}{\nano\meter}$ for the HT-grown NiO film, the localization length $\alpha{^{\mathrm{-1}}}$ of the charge carriers localized at one V[~~]{} acceptor site can be estimated as $\alpha{^{\mathrm{-1}}} \approx \SI{0.85\pm 0.01}{\nano\meter} \approx 2a_0$. This value is close to the one obtained from the DC measurements on RT-NiO in the first section of this paper where were obtained. The charge carriers in the RT-grown film seem to be more localized than in the low-disorder sample.
Lunkenheimer *et al.* have investigated the AC electrical conductivity of reactively e-beam-evaporated NiO thin films and have applied the model of correlated barrier hopping (CBH) to explain the observed frequency and temperature dependence of $\sigma{^{\mathrm{*}}}$ [@Lunkenheimer.1991]. The authors also reported on a relaxation process visible at audio frequencies with a relaxation rate that is activated with an energy of around . They interpreted this as a manifestation of the cut-off of the carrier hopping process. From the data given in the article, however, it can be estimated that the relaxation strength of the process is $\Delta\varepsilon \approx 5$ which is too large for a molecular process. One may therefore discuss whether Lunkenheimer *et al.* also measured the dielectric response of a system exhibiting a spatially inhomogeneous conductivity. In any case, it is interesting to note the physical similarity of the CBH model and the defect hopping model. Both consider the transfer of charge carriers between neighboring acceptor (or donor) sites by thermal activation over an energy barrier the height of which depends on inter-site separation.\
Two comments on the DC conductivities $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$ measured by broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS) shall be made. The first one concerns the agreement between these results and those obtained from $IV$ measurements in the first section. They agree very well in the temperature range between and . Below that temperature, however, $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$ as extracted from BDS measurements decrease more strongly than in the data obtained from $IV$ characteristics; at $\SI{120}{\kelvin}$, the values differ by about one order of magnitude. This is due to the fact that $IV$ characteristics are not measured under static conditions, because a voltage ramp is swept through. Therefore, frequency-dependent currents, like the MWS polarization process, can contribute to the current signal. If the $\log \sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$ values from BDS measurements are plotted versus $T{^{\mathrm{-\frac{1}{4}}}}$, however, the $T_0$ value characterizing the VRH conduction, and thereby also the localization length $\alpha{^{\mathrm{-1}}}$, are very similar to the one obtained before ($T_0 = \SI{3.63\pm 0.04 e9}{\kelvin}$ and $\alpha{^{\mathrm{-1}}} = \SI{0.63\pm0.02}{\nano\meter}$, respectively) such that the main assertions of the first section remain essentially untouched.
The second comment concerns the difference of $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$ between the HT- and the RT-grown samples at low temperatures. One may wonder why the former one exhibits a higher conductivity in this range, although the density of acceptor states is lower by a factor of about four. The answer is provided by the width of the energetic distribution of the impurities, which is much smaller in the weakly compensated HT-grown film ($\Delta\epsilon{_{\mathrm{HT-PLD}}} \approx \SI{2}{\milli\electronvolt}$ vs. $\Delta\epsilon{_{\mathrm{RT-NiO}}} \approx \SI{230}{\milli\electronvolt}$). The better energetic alignment of the states facilitates a direct transfer of carriers between neighboring impurities by tunneling. This change in transport character from hopping to tunneling is also reflected by the fact that the position of both dielectric relaxation processes is not coupled to the magnitude of $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$ in the low-temperature regime: both processes continue to shift to lower frequencies until they are partially or even completely masked by the constant-conductivity term.
![Illustration of the proposed conduction model. (a) Transport is carried by holes propagating exclusively on Ni vacancy sites. Partial compensation by donors is necessary to enable charge transfer. (b) High degree of structural and electronic disorder introduces a broad distribution of deep lying defect states in RT-grown NiO. For the low-disorder sample (c), the acceptor states are considerably more confined in energy. The temperature $T = \frac{\theta{_{\mathrm{D}}}}{2} \approx \SI{200}{\kelvin}$ separates two regimes with different hopping characteristics. Energies and spatial distances are not to scale.[]{data-label="fig:scheme"}](scheme.eps){width="\columnwidth"}
Summary of the proposed transport model
---------------------------------------
The conduction model for intrinsically doped NiO constructed in this paper is summarized in Fig. \[fig:scheme\]. It is based on holes trapped on V[~~]{} sites due to the formation of (small-polaron like) bound Zhang-Rice states, and their direct transfer between such sites (Fig. \[fig:scheme\]a). Because of the strongly bound character of these quasi-particles, any extended valence band states are sufficiently far away in energy that they can be neglected in the conduction process. At high temperature ($T > \frac{\theta{_{\mathrm{D}}}}{2}$), the charge carriers hop over the energetic barrier between defects by multi-phonon absorption. The activation energy of this process is similar for high- and low-disorder NiO because it depends only on the inter-site separation. When $T<\frac{\theta{_{\mathrm{D}}}}{2}$, hopping over the barrier is suppressed; in this regime, the current is carried by phonon-assisted tunneling through the barrier. The activation energy for this process is given by the energetic broadening of the defect state distribution which is lower for the low-disorder sample (Fig. \[fig:scheme\]c). Because most states lie within a narrow interval around the Fermi energy, the current carried by this process is more efficient than in the high-disorder, room-temperature-grown sample where fewer defect states with a similar energy level are available. Furthermore, for this sample, the states are widely distributed such that the VRH model applies at all temperatures below . In contrast to this, for the HT-NiO film, the narrow distribution of states allows charge transfer only between nearest neighbor defects.
Based on this model, an explanation can be given why there are some reports on NiO in the literature which claim hole mobilities of more than , far outside the range typical for polaronic hopping transport [@Sato.1993; @Molaei.2013; @Chen.2015; @Tyagi.2015]. In many of these works, the conductivity of the investigated films is in the range of and higher, suggesting higher doping levels and thereby a stronger spatial overlap of the ZR wave functions than reported in this work. Also, sputtering at room temperature is typically used, leading to films with high structural and electronic disorder. The result is a broad band of V[~~]{} defect states. The main contribution of the conductivity can still be expected to come from hopping processes; however, a small part of the carriers occupy levels lying close enough in energy around $\epsilon{_{\mathrm{F}}}$ that they can move in a very narrow band by almost activationless transport, similar to what was observed in our HT-NiO sample at low temperatures (Fig. \[fig:sigmaDC+BNN\]a). These carriers are able to generate a Hall voltage, while the hopping carriers are not. The hole densities extracted from these measurements are in the range of or larger, but for the reason just explained, this is only a small subset of the overall hole population. Because the conductivity, on the other hand, is determined by both carrier types and therefore rather large, the calculated “Hall mobility” $\mu{_{\mathrm{Hall}}} = \frac{\sigma}{ep{_{\mathrm{Hall}}}}$ overestimates the value attributed to the hopping-determined conductivity.
Conclusion
==========
The temperature dependence of the DC and AC conductivity of intrinsically doped thin films can be consistently explained within the framework of polaronic inter-acceptor hopping conduction. This model is motivated by the perception of the nature of holes in doped NiO, which has been shown to be of strongly bound character (Zhang-Rice bound doublet). The ZR states are therefore situated deep inside the band gap, sufficiently well isolated from any extended valence band such that charge transfer can only occur directly between the acceptors. The degree of structural and electronic disorder is of great importance for the conduction process. For samples of high disorder, Mott variable-range hopping (VRH) can be applied well to model the behavior of $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$ due to a large spread of the acceptor energies. VRH can be seen as a limiting case of the inter-acceptor hopping model for a broad distribution of acceptor states. In the case of low disorder, there is a clear change of the temperature behavior of $\sigma{_{\mathrm{dc}}}$ at about half of the Debye temperature, $\frac{\theta{_{\mathrm{D}}}}{2} \approx \SI{200}{\kelvin}$, with multi-phonon thermal activation above and phonon-assisted tunneling below that temperature, in accordance with the predictions of polaronic inter-acceptor hopping. Additionally, around and below this temperature the low-disorder sample exhibits a dielectric relaxation process in $\varepsilon''$ which is connected to the frequency cut-off of single-phonon-assisted hopping. The results from the VRH model and the parameters of this process give a localization length of the ZR holes of and , or about two lattice constants, for RT- and HT-grown NiO, respectively.
Furthermore, it is shown that disorder leads to the occurrence of strong interfacial polarization of mesoscopic regions in the film due to inhomogeneous conductivity (Maxwell-Wagner-Sillars polarization). This effect can produce a high apparent dielectric response under low-frequency AC electric fields. The current-voltage characteristics of NiO films sandwiched between Pt electrodes are non-ohmic but symmetrical, with an increase of conductivity at higher DC electric fields which is observed at all temperatures. This could be attributed to a linear increase of the density of ZR states by hole injection. In these measurements, the temperature $\frac{\theta{_{\mathrm{D}}}}{2}$ seems to be equally critical as in the AC measurements, because it marks the onset of space-charge-limited conduction due to increasing carrier trapping time.
This work was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) in the framework of the collaborative research centers “SFB 762: Functionality of Oxidic Interfaces” (project B06) and “SFB/TRR 102: Polymers under multiple constraints” (project B08).
[^1]: FTO-coated glass substrates were supplied by Calyxo GmbH, Germany.
|
Read on to learn more about the major effects anxiety has on your body.
Everyone has anxiety from time to time, but chronic anxiety can interfere with your quality of life. While perhaps most recognized for behavioral changes, anxiety can also have serious consequences on your physical health.
Anxiety is a normal part of life. For example, you may have felt anxiety before addressing a group or in a job interview.
In the short term, anxiety increases your breathing and heart rate, concentrating blood flow to your brain, where you need it. This very physical response is preparing you to face an intense situation.
If it gets too intense, however, you might start to feel lightheaded and nauseous. An excessive or persistent state of anxiety can have a devastating effect on your physical and mental health.
Anxiety disorders can happen at any stage of life, but they usually begin by middle age. Women are more likely to have an anxiety disorder than men, says the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
Stressful life experiences may increase your risk for an anxiety disorder, too. Symptoms may begin immediately or years later. Having a serious medical condition or a substance use disorder can also lead to an anxiety disorder.
There are several types of anxiety disorders. They include:
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
GAD is marked by excessive anxiety for no logical reason. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) estimates GAD affects about 6.8 million American adults a year.
GAD is diagnosed when extreme worry about a variety of things lasts six months or longer. If you have a mild case, you’re probably able to complete your normal day-to-day activities. More severe cases may have a profound impact on your life.
Social anxiety disorder
This disorder involves a paralyzing fear of social situations and of being judged or humiliated by others. This severe social phobia can leave one feeling ashamed and alone.
About 15 million American adults live with social anxiety disorder, notes the ADAA. The typical age at onset is around 13. More than one-third of people with social anxiety disorder wait a decade or more before pursuing help.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
PTSD develops after witnessing or experiencing something traumatic. Symptoms can begin immediately or be delayed for years. Common causes include war, natural disasters, or a physical attack. PTSD episodes may be triggered without warning.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
People with OCD may feel overwhelmed with the desire to perform particular rituals (compulsions) over and over again, or experience intrusive and unwanted thoughts that can be distressing (obsessions).
Common compulsions include habitual hand-washing, counting, or checking something. Common obsessions include concerns about cleanliness, aggressive impulses, and need for symmetry.
Phobias
These include fear of tight spaces (claustrophobia), fear of heights (acrophobia), and many others. You may have a powerful urge to avoid the feared object or situation.
Panic disorder
This causes panic attacks, spontaneous feelings of anxiety, terror, or impending doom. Physical symptoms include heart palpitations, chest pain, and shortness of breath.
These attacks may occur at any time. You can also have another type of anxiety disorder along with panic disorder. |
Facebook Home Makes a Grab for the Smartphone's Soul
Ricky is a social journalist for BizTech magazine. He's a writer, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all-around digital guy.
Facebook Home, the mobile revolution from Menlo Park that we’d all been waiting for, finally arrived on Friday. But in a surprise twist, the social media emperor didn’t launch its own smartphone.
Instead, it went for something in between a mobile app and an OS: an app launcher for the Google Android mobile platform.
For years Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has dismissed rumors that the company would build its own hardware, and in a Wired interview after the Facebook Home announcement, he explained why.
I’ve always been very clear that I don’t think [building a Facebook phone is] the right strategy. We’re a community of a billion-plus people, and the best-selling phones—apart from the iPhone—can sell 10, 20 million. If we did build a phone, we’d only reach 1 or 2 percent of our users. That doesn’t do anything awesome for us. We wanted to turn as many phones as possible into “Facebook phones.” That’s what Facebook Home is.
In brief, an app launcher is like a skin for a mobile OS. It takes over the look and feel of the home and lock screen, as well as the navigation of the device. It makes over most of the things that people associate with an operating system, so if it looks like an OS and acts like an OS, most users will think it’s an OS.
What does this mean for the future of smartphones?
There are a lot of scenarios that could play out, but assuming the Facebook Home turns out to be a success (that’s a big assumption, as its only being preloaded on the HTC One for now and will be released to the Google Play store on April 12), we could see a repeat of the mobile app boom that the iPhone introduced when it opened its App Store.
If Facebook Home is a homerun, expect other companies to follow in its footsteps. We could see a LinkedIn phone for executives who want to stay plugged in to their professional network 24/7, or a Reddit phone for Internet junkies who wish to remain on top of the latest Internet meme as soon as possible.
The interesting thing about Facebook Home’s somewhat-hostile takeover (Google has been supportive in public statements so far) is that Android's open-source nature enabled it. Critics of Android’s fragmented ecosystem have long believed it a weakness compared to Apple’s more controlled, consistent experience. But the tables have turned, and tech reporters and analysts are now wondering aloud if Facebook Home will make Apple change its closed-ecosystem stance.
CNET’s Ben Parr thinks this could be a pivotal moment in the trajectory of the iPhone and iOS.
Android has always offered more flavors to consumers than the iPhone's iOS, but now that pallet has expanded and will continue to expand. And while I still consider iOS a slightly superior OS in terms of user experience and apps, Android has a phone for every type of user, from the price-conscious one to the high-end user (the Galaxy S4 is one hell of a device).
I don't claim to know whether open vs. closed, or fragmented vs. integrated, is a better business approach. Both have their merits, and clearly you can build billion-dollar companies with both philosophies. But business moves in cycles, and right now the open approach is gaining momentum. I believe Facebook Home signals a new era in the battle between iPhone and Android, one that gives Google the advantage. |
Testimonials
Maria JPC.
"If you want to change your life and live healthy, Linda is the right person to be with. As a Yoga or cooking teacher she is amazing, dedicated, happy. She gives a lot of motivation with her strong words of encouragement. I learned how to cook healthy. I've run 6 marathons and counting. Just try and you will love it."
Maria K.
"90+ sum change helped jump start my health journey! Once my goals were discussed, the tools were provided along with plenty of support and follow-ups to keep me on the right track. What started out as a 90 day challenge turned into a 365 lifestyle change. I am now very active and eating healthier!"
Sheena
"I love Linda's Wellness Warrior movement to help people incorporate wellness into their everyday lives! And I loved taking a trip to Belize with her for a wellness week. It was one of the best getaways of my life."
"Linda is a wonderful yoga teacher. I'm happy she's part of my community of people who seek health and balance--while acknowledging that we also have challenges." -Kristen P.
"Linda has wonderful energy, and is a creative and thoughtful yoga teacher with a terrific sense of humor. She exudes warmth and love for her clients, and helps them embrace themselves as they are." -Ayala B.
"She has a warm presence that makes the group feel comfortable."-Alicia-Rahema M. |
Accumulation of endoplasmic reticulum stress and lipogenesis in the liver through generational effects of high fat diets.
The dramatic rise of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) among children in the past decade cannot be solely explained by the increased high fat diet (HFD) intake in kids. Recent studies suggest that the offspring of HFD-fed mothers develop a worse form of NAFLD when weaned on the HFD than when weaned on the normal chow (NC), indicating that a feed-forward circle may exacerbate the syndromes throughout multiple generations. In the present study, the aforementioned feed-forward circle was investigated in mice by employing continuous HFD feeding for three generations. C57BL/6 mice were fed with either a HFD or NC for three consecutive generations (F0, F1, and F2). Body weight, food intake, hepatic histology; levels of insulin, leptin, and triglycerides; expression of factors involved in lipogenesis and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress pathways; and histone methylation status were investigated in male offspring. Obesity occurred earlier, became more severe through generations (F2>F1>F0), and was accompanied by a gradual increase of histological scoring of steatosis in male mice with transgenerational HFD feeding. The highest degree of steatosis occurred in HFD-treated F2 mice and was associated with the highest levels of insulin and leptin. The latter mice were characterized by enhanced lipogenesis and ER stress with a trend of transgenerational changes was detected for LXRα, ERO1-α, histone methylations, and H3K9 histone methyltransferase. Furthermore, chromatin immunoprecipitation (CHIP) assay demonstrated a significantly reduced accumulation of methylated histones in LXRα and ERO1-α gene promoters. Under HFD feeding stress, the male offspring of the F2 generation (derived from both grand-maternal and maternal obesity) are extremely susceptible to developing obesity and hepatic steatosis. This is presumably a consequence of transgenerational accumulation of epigenetic modifications leading to up-regulation of lipogenesis and ER stress pathways in the liver. |
Q:
Qual a convenção de uso de maiúsculas e minúsculas para nomes no Java?
Uma vez li em algum lugar sobre as boas práticas de uso de maiúsculas e minúsculas quando se dá nome aos métodos, atributos, variaveis... no Java,
alguém me poderia me refrescar a memória?
A:
Pacotes (Packages)
O prefixo do nome do pacote deve ser único, deve sempre ser escrito em letras minúsculas todo-ASCII e deve ser um dos nomes de domínio de nível superior,
atualmente com, edu, gov, mil, net, org, códigos de duas letras identificando os países, tal como especificado na norma ISO 3166, 1981.
Componentes subseqüentes do nome do pacote varia de acordo com uma organização próprias convenções de nomenclatura internos.
Tais convenções podem especificar que certos componentes do nome do diretório haver divisão, departamento, projeto, máquina, ou nomes de login.
Exemplo:
com.sun.eng
com.apple.quicktime.v2
edu.cmu.cs.bovik.cheese
Classes
Os nomes de classe devem ser substantivos, em maiúsculas e minúsculas com a primeira letra de cada palavra interna em maiúscula.
Tente manter seus nomes de classe simples e descritivo. Sempre evite palavras-ligadas , evite todas siglas e abreviaturas, seja semântico.
Exemplo:
class Raster;
class ImageSprite;
Interfaces
Nomes de interfaces devem ser usadas com as primeiras letras em maiúsculas como nome de classes.
Exemplo:
interface RasterDelegate;
interface Storing;
** Métodos (Methods)**
Métodos devem ser verbos, com a letra minúscula em primeiro lugar, com a primeira letra de cada palavra interna em maiúscula.
Exemplo:
run();
runFast();
getBackground();
Variáveis
Os nomes de variáveis não deve começar com underscore _ ou sinal de dólar $ personagens, mesmo que ambos não são permitidos.
Os nomes de variáveis devem ser curtos, mas significativo. A escolha de um nome variável deve ser mnemônico, isto é, concebidos para
indicar ao observador casual a intenção da sua utilização. Um personagem nomes de variáveis devem ser evitadas, exceto para temporários
"descartáveis" variáveis. Os nomes comuns para variáveis temporárias são i, j, k, m, n e para inteiros, c, d, e e para caracteres
Exemplo:
int i;
char c;
float myWidth;
Constantes
Os nomes de variáveis declaradas constantes de classes e de constantes ANSI deve ser todo em letras maiúsculas com palavras separadas por sublinhados ("_").
static final int MIN_WIDTH = 4;
static final int MAX_WIDTH = 999;
static final int GET_THE_CPU = 1;
A:
Java tem uma convenção muito simples, essencialmente tudo deve ser camelCase (variáveis em qualquer local, incluindo atributos, métodos, pacotes).
Exceto nome de tipos (classe, interface, enumeração) que devem ser PascalCase.
E constantes, incluindo as dentro do Enum, deve ser tudo maiúsculo (ALL_CAPS), onde é o único local onde se admite o uso de underline para separar nomes.
Lembrando de camelCase tradicional começa com minúscula e as demais palavras do nome seguem começando com maiúscula. Essa diferença já dá a noção de ser uma palavra diferente. Pode ter qualquer número de palavras. Algumas pessoas conhecem essa convenção por outros nomes.
PascalCase só difere pelo fato que a primeira palavra do nome já é maiúscula também. Há outros nomes para essa convenção.
Note que acrônimos devem usar camelCase também. Então use valorIcms e não valorICMS.
Artigo da Wikipedia com exemplos.
|
785 P.2d 1321 (1990)
STATE of Hawaii, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Timothy E. KNOEPPEL, Defendant-Appellant.
No. 13842.
Supreme Court of Hawaii.
January 29, 1990.
Chris P. Bertelmann (Bertelmann & Pascual, of counsel), Wahiawa, for defendant-appellant.
Glenn T. Taniguchi, Deputy Pros. Atty., Honolulu, for plaintiff-appellee.
Before LUM, C.J., PADGETT, HAYASHI and WAKATSUKI, JJ., and Retired Justice NAKAMURA, assigned by reason of vacancy.
HAYASHI, Justice.
Defendant-Appellant Timothy E. Knoeppel (Defendant) appeals from the order and judgment entered in the Family Court of the First Circuit on May 10, 1989. The order denied Defendant's motion to dismiss, and the judgment was entered in accordance with the family court's finding of Defendant guilty as charged for the offense of abuse of a family or household member (HRS § 709-906). We reverse.
I.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
On February 26, 1989, Defendant shared an apartment in Honolulu with Steven and Deana. Following a dispute between Defendant and Deana in the living room, Defendant slapped Deana across the right side of her face with the back of his hand. Defendant was subsequently arrested.
The day following the incident and arrest, February 27, 1989, a complaint signed by Police Officer Samson Nava (Officer Nava), the arresting officer, was filed with the family court. The complaint charged Defendant with committing the offense of abuse of a family or household member, a misdemeanor. This one-page, standard form complaint did not contain: 1) a signature line for the prosecutor; nor 2) the signature of any prosecutor.
At his arraignment on March 13, 1989, Defendant, who was then represented by a deputy public defender, entered a plea of not guilty.
On April 13, 1989, Defendant moved to dismiss, asserting that: 1) the case was initiated by the filing of an illegal complaint; and thus 2) the family court lacked the requisite jurisdiction to adjudicate the case. Following a hearing, the family court orally denied Defendant's motion to dismiss.
Trial then commenced, and Defendant was found guilty of the charged offense.
Following the entry of the order and judgment, Defendant timely appealed.
*1322 II.
HRPP RULE 7
Rule 81(c) of the Hawaii Family Court Rules states that "[c]ases for adults charged with [the] commission of a crime coming within the jurisdiction of the family courts shall be governed by the Hawaii Rules of Penal Procedure." Hawaii Rules of Penal Procedure (HRPP) Rule 7, in turn, reads in relevant part (emphasis added):
THE INDICTMENT, COMPLAINT AND ORAL CHARGE.
(a) Use of Indictment, Complaint or Oral Charge. The charge against a defendant is an indictment, a complaint or an oral charge filed in court. A felony shall be prosecuted by an indictment or a complaint. Any other offense may be prosecuted by an indictment, a complaint, or an oral charge.
....
(d) Nature and Contents. The charge shall be a plain, concise and definite written statement of the essential facts constituting the offense charged; provided that an oral charge need not be in writing.... A complaint shall be signed by the prosecutor, or it shall be sworn to or affirmed in writing before the prosecutor by the complaining witness and be signed by the prosecutor[]... . Formal defects, including error in the citation or its omission, shall not be ground for dismissal of the charge or for reversal of a conviction if the defect did not mislead the defendant to his prejudice.
Defendant contends the family court erred in denying his motion to dismiss. According to Defendant's theory: 1) since the complaint was only signed by Officer Nava and was not also signed by the prosecutor, the complaint was fatally defective; and therefore 2) the resulting judgment is invalid since the case was never properly initiated.
Essentially, Defendant urges a mandatory reading of the signature provisions of HRPP Rule 7(d). We agree.
The plain and unambiguous language of HRPP Rule 7(d) mandates that a criminal complaint shall be: 1) signed by the prosecutor; or 2) sworn to or affirmed in writing before the prosecutor by the complaining witness and be signed by the prosecutor. Cf. State v. Rodgers, 70 Haw. 156, 766 P.2d 675 (1988) (HRPP Rule 12(e) mandates that a motion to suppress shall be determined before trial, and where factual issues are involved in determining the motion, the trial court shall state its essential findings on the record).
The absence of the prosecutor's signature in the complaint, therefore, rendered the complaint fatally defective. The resulting judgment, in turn, is null and of no effect.
We reject Plaintiff-Appellee State of Hawaii's (State) contention that the omission of the prosecutor's signature in the complaint constitutes a formal defect, and thus, is not a proper ground for dismissal where no prejudice results to the defendant. Since the prosecutor is generally charged with the responsibility of determining whether or not to instigate a formal criminal proceeding, see Amemiya v. Sapienza, 63 Haw. 424, 629 P.2d 1126 (1981) (the public prosecutor has been delegated with the primary authority and responsibility for initiating and conducting criminal prosecutions within his county jurisdiction), the absence of the prosecutor's signature in the complaint, in our view, is not a mere formal defect. See also HRS § 709-906(7) (the family or household member who has been physically abused or harmed by another person may file a criminal complaint through the prosecuting attorney of the applicable county).
We also reject State's argument that "[t]he prosecutor ... elected to charge the [D]efendant verbally at the arraignment[,]" and "[b]y electing to charge by reading, the prosecutor cured the... defect in the complaint." Answering Brief at 7-8.
The record indicates that Defendant: 1) was not orally charged by the prosecutor at the arraignment; and 2) did not waive any formal reading of the charge.
*1323 III.
CONCLUSION
Based on the foregoing reasons, we reverse the order and judgment. Reversed.
WAKATSUKI, Justice, dissenting, with whom Retired Justice NAKAMURA, joins.
I respectfully dissent.
Hawaii Rules of Penal Procedure 7(d) provides that "[f]ormal defects, including error in the citation or its omission, shall not be ground for dismissal of the charge or for reversal of a conviction if the defect did not mislead the defendant to his prejudice." The question here is whether the missing signature of the prosecutor on the complaint is a "formal defect."
The Note to Rule 7 in the 1975 Proposed Draft of the Hawaii Rules of Penal Procedure states:
Under the present rules, the prosecutor's signature to indictments and informations are required but not to complaints, which are only sworn to by a complaining witness. Thus, although the present Hawaii rules expressly give the prosecutor discretionary control in determining whether an indictment or information is to be filed or not by requiring his signature thereon, they are not clear as to whether such control resides in the prosecutor with regard to complaints. And since a complaint under the existing rules become (sic) a charging pleading under HRCrP 5, the result is that although discretionary control over the commencement of prosecutions is given to the prosecutor where instituted by indictments and informations, such control may not exist where instituted by complaint. The proposed rule adopts the position that the prosecutor has such discretionary control over the commencement of all prosecutions, by requiring his signature on all indictments and complaints.
.....
Like the Federal Rules, Section (c) requires the prosecutor's signature to all written charges, thus adopting the position that all prosecutions be commenced subject to the discretionary control of the prosecutor. (citations omitted) (emphasis added)
The only purpose of the signature requirement is to insure that the prosecutor has sole authority in initiating a prosecution. The goal is to prevent another person from commencing a prosecution where the prosecutor would choose not to prosecute. In this case, there is no question that the prosecutor chose to prosecute this case, as the prosecution resisted the motion to dismiss the complaint and proceeded to trial. Thus, the absence of the prosecutor's signature hardly suggests that the prosecution was commenced against the will of the prosecutor.
Consequently, the missing signature of the prosecutor, in my view, is a "formal defect" that does not warrant reversal of the conviction based on the fact that the defendant does not claim that the defect mislead him to his prejudice. Furthermore, the arraignment transcript does show that the court told the defendant:
"You're charged with striking Dina K. Mikami in the face area with your hands on February 23, 1989.
Ms. Wallace, Defendant is pleading not guilty?
Mr. Knoeppel: Yes, your Honor.
Ms. Wallace: Yes."
Although the prosecutor did not do the reading, the court in effect substituted for the prosecutor and provided the "plain, concise and definite ... statement of the essential facts constituting the offense charged." HRPP Rule 7(d). No citation to the statute allegedly violated was read but the rule states that such an omission is a formal defect not warranting dismissal where the defendant is not mislead. HRPP Rule 7(d).
I would affirm the conviction.
|
FeaturesFrom OMRI Website Classification: Crop Pest, Weed, and Disease Control Category: Microbial Products → Restriction: May be used as a pest lure, repellent, or as part of a trap, or as a disease control. May only be used for other pesticidal purposes if the requirements of 205.206(e) are met, which requires the use of preventative, mechanical, physical, and other pest, weed, and disease management practices.Company: Bayer CropScience LP |
Increased acetone exhalation induced by metabolites of halogenated C1 and C2 compounds.
Rats were exposed, in a closed desiccator jar chamber, to concentrations of various halogenated C1 and C2 compounds at which the metabolizing capacities were saturated (Vmax conditions). Within the exposure period of 50 h concentrations of the xenobiotic and of exhaled acetone were monitored in the gas phase of the system. The quantitative extent of acetone exhalation was dependent on the individual compound examined. Acetone exhalation was stimulated in presence of vinyl chloride, vinyl bromide, vinyl fluoride, vinylidene fluoride, cis- and trans-1,2-dichloroethylene, trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene, methylene chloride, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride and 1,1,2-trichloroethane. No stimulation of acetone exhalation occurred with 1,1,1-trichloroethane and with the reference hydrocarbon n-hexane. Also, acetone exhalation was evoked by infusions of either fluoroacetate or chloroacetate, two anticipated or proven metabolites of some haloethylenes; the infusion rates of which were based on calculations of the metabolic rates of vinylidene fluoride and of vinyl chloride, respectively. |
COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA
Present: Judges Elder, Beales and Powell
Argued by teleconference
COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
MEMORANDUM OPINION * BY
v. Record No. 0218-09-1 JUDGE LARRY G. ELDER
JUNE 2, 2009
CARLTON M. GRIMES, JR.
FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF PORTSMOUTH
Dean W. Sword, Jr., Judge
Gregory W. Franklin, Assistant Attorney General (William C. Mims,
Attorney General, on briefs), for appellant.
William W. S. Hendricks (Office of the Public Defender, on brief),
for appellee.
Carlton M. Grimes, Jr. (defendant), stands indicted for two offenses involving the
possession of cocaine and a firearm. Pursuant to Code § 19.2-398, the Commonwealth appeals a
pretrial ruling granting defendant’s motion to suppress all evidence resulting from the search of
his vehicle that yielded the cocaine and firearm. The trial court concluded the police lacked
exigent circumstances to justify a search of his vehicle and, thus, that the search violated the
Fourth Amendment. We hold the trial court’s ruling suppressing the evidence was error, and we
reverse and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Examining a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress evidence allegedly seized in
violation of the Fourth Amendment “presents a mixed question of law and fact that we review de
novo on appeal. In making such a determination, we give deference to the factual findings of the
trial court and independently determine whether the manner in which the evidence was obtained
*
Pursuant to Code § 17.1-413, this opinion is not designated for publication.
[violated] the Fourth Amendment.” Murphy v. Commonwealth, 264 Va. 568, 573, 570 S.E.2d
836, 838 (2002) (citations omitted); see also Ornelas v. United States, 517 U.S. 690, 691, 699,
116 S. Ct. 1657, 1659, 1663, 134 L. Ed. 2d 911, 916, 920 (1996). The court is not required to
make explicit findings of fact, and when it does not make such findings, we view the evidence in
the light most favorable to the prevailing party, here the defendant, granting to the evidence all
reasonable inferences fairly deducible therefrom. Commonwealth v. Grimstead, 12 Va. App.
1066, 1067, 407 S.E.2d 47, 48 (1991).
Although the Fourth Amendment generally requires that “searches be conducted pursuant
to a warrant issued by an independent judicial officer,” one of the specifically established and
well-delineated exceptions to this requirement is the so-called “automobile exception.”
California v. Carney, 471 U.S. 386, 390, 105 S. Ct. 2066, 2068, 85 L. Ed. 2d 406, 412 (1985);
see also California v. Acevedo, 500 U.S. 565, 580, 111 S. Ct. 1982, 1991, 114 L. Ed. 2d 619, 634
(1991). Under this exception, if probable cause to search an automobile exists, “a warrantless
search of [that] automobile . . . [does] not contravene the Warrant Clause of the Fourth
Amendment.” Acevedo, 500 U.S. at 569, 111 S. Ct. at 1986, 114 L. Ed. 2d at 627 (citing Carroll
v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 158-59, 45 S. Ct. 280, 287, 69 L. Ed. 543, 554 (1925)); see
Maryland v. Dyson, 527 U.S. 465, 466-67, 119 S. Ct. 2013, 2014, 144 L. Ed. 2d 442, 445 (1999)
(per curiam). “The reasons for the exception . . . are two fold”: the ready mobility of vehicles
and the reduced expectation of privacy resulting from pervasive regulation of vehicles. Carney,
471 U.S. at 391-92, 105 S. Ct. at 2069, 85 L. Ed. 2d at 413.
A vehicle search may be conducted if it is based upon “‘facts that would justify the
issuance of a warrant, even though a warrant has not been actually obtained.’” Dyson, 527 U.S.
at 467, 119 S. Ct. at 2014, 144 L. Ed. 2d at 445 (quoting United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798,
809, 102 S. Ct. 2157, 2164-65, 72 L. Ed. 2d 572, 584 (1982)) (emphasis added in Dyson).
-2-
“[T]he automobile exception has no separate exigency requirement.” Id. at 466, 119 S. Ct. at
2014, 144 L. Ed. 2d at 445. “If a car is readily mobile and probable cause exists to believe it
contains contraband, the Fourth Amendment thus permits police to search the vehicle without
more.” Pennsylvania v. Labron, 518 U.S. 938, 940, 116 S. Ct. 2485, 2487, 135 L. Ed. 2d 1031,
1036 (1996), quoted with approval in Dyson, 527 U.S. at 467, 119 S. Ct. at 2014, 144 L. Ed. 2d
at 445.
The Commonwealth argues the trial court erred in ruling it was required to show exigent
circumstances to justify the search of the van. Defendant contends the trial court implicitly
concluded the Commonwealth failed to show the van was “readily mobile” and, thus, failed to
prove sufficient facts to invoke the automobile exception. We hold as a matter of law that the
proper test was whether the van was apparently rather than actually mobile and that the evidence,
viewed in the light most favorable to defendant, compels the conclusion that the search of the van
was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.
The Court in Dyson recognized its prior holding that “‘[i]f a car is readily mobile and
probable cause exists to believe it contains contraband, the Fourth Amendment . . . permits
police to search the vehicle without more.’” 527 U.S. at 467, 119 S. Ct. at 2014, 144 L. Ed. 2d at
445 (quoting Labron, 518 U.S. at 940, 116 S. Ct. at 2487, 135 L. Ed. 2d at 1036). Nevertheless,
it noted the lower court had found “‘abundant probable cause’ that the car contained
contraband,” and it held that “[t]his finding alone satisfies the automobile exception to the
Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement.” Id. (emphasis added); see also Carney, 471 U.S. at
391, 105 S. Ct. at 2069, 85 L. Ed. 2d at 413. As other courts have recognized, “[t]he fourth
amendment does not require that officers ascertain the actual functional capacity of a vehicle in
order to satisfy the exigency requirements. The test is reasonableness under all the
circumstances.” United States v. Hepperle, 910 F.2d 836, 840 (8th Cir. 1988), cited with
-3-
approval in 3 Wayne R. LaFave, Search & Seizure § 7.2(b), at 554 (4th ed. 2004) (“The
Hepperle position that it is appearances and not the actual condition of the vehicle that counts is
not only eminently sound, but also squares completely with the Carney reference to ‘the presence
of the vehicle in a setting that objectively indicates that the vehicle is being used for
transportation.” (quoting Carney, 471 U.S. at 394, 105 S. Ct. at 2070-71, 85 L. Ed. 2d at 415)
(footnote omitted)); see also United States v. Perry, 925 F.2d 1077, 1080 n.4 (8th Cir. 1991) (“It
is the characteristic mobility of all automobiles, not the relative mobility of the car in a given
case, that gives rise to the . . . standard which allows for warrantless searches when probable
cause exists.”). “It would be unduly burdensome to require the police to establish that every car
that appeared to be mobile was indeed mobile before making the search.” United States v.
Hatley, 15 F.3d 856, 859 (9th Cir. 1994), cited with approval in 3 LaFave, supra, § 7.2(b), at 554
n.69.
Although the facts in Dyson involved a search of a car the police knew was “readily
mobile” because they had conducted a traffic stop of the moving vehicle, see 527 U.S. at 466,
119 S. Ct. at 2013, 144 L. Ed. 2d at 444, the Supreme Court has implicitly applied the
automobile exception in a case in which the mobility of the vehicle at issue was not readily
apparent. In Pennsylvania v. Kilgore, a case consolidated and decided simultaneously with
Labron, the police observed a truck parked in the driveway at the defendant’s father-in-law’s
residence. 518 U.S. at 939-40, 116 S. Ct. at 2486, 135 L. Ed. 2d at 1035. Via surveillance of the
residence, the police obtained probable cause to believe the truck was the source of a quantity of
cocaine the defendant’s wife sold to an informant, but the wife traveled in a different vehicle to
consummate the sale, and nothing in the Supreme Court’s decision or the opinions from the
Pennsylvania courts indicated the police had any knowledge regarding whether the defendant’s
truck was “readily mobile.” Id.; see Commonwealth v. Kilgore, 677 A.2d 311, 311-12 (Pa.
-4-
1995), rev’g, 650 A.2d 462, 463-65 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1994). The trial court concluded the
automobile exception applied to the search of the truck because the officers had probable cause,
and the intermediate appellate court agreed. 650 A.2d at 464. Neither court articulated any
separate consideration of whether the truck was “readily mobile.” Id. at 464-66. Only the
Pennsylvania Supreme Court held the Commonwealth failed to prove the existence of exigent
circumstances, thereby requiring suppression, 677 A.2d at 313, and the United States Supreme
Court reversed that ruling, holding the evidence established probable cause and implicitly
presuming, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that the vehicle was readily mobile, 518
U.S. at 939-40, 116 S. Ct. at 2486-87, 135 L. Ed. 2d at 1035-36.
Similarly, in defendant Grimes’ case, “[t]here was nothing apparent to the officers to
suggest the car was immobile.” Hatley, 15 F.3d at 859. No evidence indicated it was “up on
blocks, and there was no information in the record to indicate the tires were flat or that wheels of the
car were missing.” Id. After the search, Officer Riddle drove the van from the parking lot to the
police department, which supports the inference that nothing about the van’s appearance prior to the
search indicated it was not “readily mobile.” Thus, we hold as a matter of law that the van was
“apparently mobile” at the time of the search and that this was all that was required to permit
application of the automobile exception to the warrant requirement. 1 Id.
1
The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Arizona v. Gant, 129 S. Ct. 1710, 173 L. Ed. 2d
485 (2009), is not controlling in defendant’s case. In Gant, the Court addressed its prior opinion
in New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454, 101 S. Ct. 2860, 69 L. Ed. 2d 768 (1981). It noted Belton
“ha[d] been widely understood to allow a vehicle search incident to the arrest of a recent
occupant even if there is no possibility the arrestee could gain access to the vehicle at the time of
the search.” 129 S. Ct. at 1718, 173 L. Ed. 2d at 495. The Court “reject[ed] this reading of
Belton and h[e]ld that . . . police [are authorized] to search a vehicle incident to a recent
occupant’s arrest only when the arrestee [was] unsecured and within reaching distance of the
passenger compartment at the time of the search.” Id. at 1719, 173 L. Ed. 2d at 496. On that
basis, the Court held exclusion of the evidence was required.
In Gant, the officers did not have probable cause to search the vehicle; thus, the
automobile exception did not apply. In defendant’s case, by contrast, because probable cause
existed to believe the van contained cocaine, the automobile exception was applicable.
-5-
For these reasons, we hold the trial court erred in granting defendant’s motion to suppress.
We reverse the trial court’s ruling on that motion and remand for further proceedings consistent
with this opinion.
Reversed and remanded.
-6-
|
Hens Do Crow! June 7, 2019
Mother Nature decided to skip Spring it appears as the
temperatures have jumped into the 80s this past week. That has provided farmers
a chance to try to get the fields planted but the rains and heavy winter snow
melt make many fields impossible to reach or to even plant. The predicted rain
for the coming weekend will be putting an end to the planting season. There
will be many a disgruntled farmer this year so best not to mention this again!
Globe-trotting, or cycling, Cayuga native Randy Kiefer, also known as Singapore Slim, recently informed friends here about his progress on his most recent adventure, a bicycle ride from his Winter roost in Anchorage, Alaska, to his ancestral homeland in North Dakota. Here is Randy’s report, dated June 1, 2019:
“Greetings From Cold Lake, Alberta. Not much news since my last transmission. A few bears, foxes, moose, bison, mountain goats, deer, an elk, and even a badger. The latter was just 10 feet in front of me, then stopped in my lane, and gave me a look. YIKES!!! I didn’t know what to do. Wanted to grab the camera, but didn’t want to take my eyes off him (or her). At any rate, before I knew it, Mr., or Ms., Badger was off to the other side of the road, and into a pasture. That was a treat. So a brief by the numbers update: 1) How I got to Cold Lake, Alberta. 2) I rode the AlCan Highway from Tok, Alaska, to Fort St John, British Columbia. There I exited east on Cecil Lake Road, (British Columbia), Highway 64 (Alberta), to Grimshaw, then highways 2 and 55. 3) Some events: a) The winds north of Haines Junction, Yukon, were horrendous. They said up to 60 mph (100 kilometers per hour). Dust across the road was the least of my problems. At times I was riding at 65 degrees(?). Then I didn’t want to become an OCW Gloria. A rider from OC who went down and broke her hip in strong winds. So I walked, more than once. And at times it was all I could do to just stand upright. There is no winning on a bike in the wind. b) Fast forward to the highest pass on the AlCan, Summit Lake. Camped the night of the 19th. The lake was frozen over, a sunny frosty PM/AM in the tent. c) Next is the smoke deviation. Some of you noticed I planned a major loop to Yellowknife, Northwest Territory (NWT). After checking a map more closely, I had scaled my plan to Fort Providence, and maybe hitching in and out of Yellowknife. But the fires near High Level, Alberta, killed all of that. d) I rode north on Highway 7 to within 12 miles (20ks) of Fort Liard, but with all the smoke I hitched back to the AlCan, to Fort Nelson. The Alberta fires had forced the evacuation of High Level, and some roads were closed. The ups were killing my lungs, so I gave the loop a miss. Not likely to have another go at this area, but really had no choice – RATS!!! 4) The only news for me in riding in northern Alberta is the agricultural land. Enormous fields of tilled land. Large equipment, some even red. Also seeing the cow/calf operations was fun for me. 5) Tomorrow (June 2, 2019) I start across Saskatchewan toward Manitoba to meet fellow Apple Dumpling Gang members, Dick Reis and Don Isensee on 19 June. They will escort me to Fargo. That will be the end of my journey. This adventure started last April from Santa Barbara. Then I had a most enjoyable 7 month lay-over in Anchorage. And now will soon end my journey in Fargo. Thank you for travelling along. r/randy”.
Thanks to Randy for the report, and for allowing his more sedentary friends to enjoy the tour with him.
The Rutland City Council met on Monday, June 3rd,
for it’s regular meeting with the main focus on the Emergency Sewer-Lagoon
Project. The City Engineer was present to discuss the final plans and bid and
project schedule. The Council approved the plans and specifications as modified
to reflect the project to replace the four valves excluding any under road work.
The City Auditor was directed to advertise for bids for the project. The
proposed timeline for bid opening is July 9th with a special meeting
on July 10th or 11th so that the project can begin the
end of July or in early August. In other business the Council discussed the
lawns where grass exceeds 8 inches in height and the steps to get the lawn
mowed or the City will have it done and will assess to the property. City
Attorney LeeAnn Even presented a letter for Council discussion on the water
break that was discovered at 304 Bagley in March. Ms. Even discussed the
possible civil and criminal penalties for water theft. The Council approved the
letter and penalties as recommended by the City Attorney. Council Member Lysne
reported that the Community Service workers in Rutland have painted the
benches, and power washed the Pioneer House. The House will be painted when dry
following the power washing and the workers will also weed whack around towers
and poles as needed. One could be assigned to help clean the yard at 206 Second
Street so the lawn can be mowed. The next monthly meeting will be July 1 at 5
p.m. in City Hall.
The Rutland Blood Drive was held on Tuesday, June 4th,
and Janet Kiefer provided the following information on the Drive: 28
individuals donated: two providing RBC; two first-time donors; and one
deferred. The Drive takes a crew of volunteers to call donors, staff the
registration desk, set up and provide the lunch. A big thanks goes to this
year’s group of volunteers – Janet Kiefer, Sheila Wyum, Ronnie Narum, Joanne
Harris, Bonnie Anderson, Renee’ Cramton and Monica Bergh.
A Bridal shower will be held at the Nordland Lutheran Church
on Saturday, June 22, at 10:00 a.m. for Miss Cassie Cwikla, bride-to-be of
Daniel Temple, son of Dale and the late Bonnie Temple. The couple is registered
at Target.
Last December 11, 2018 Rutland won Town of the Week on the KVRR competition. Rutland is now included the Town of the Year Brackets that are out. Voting is open on their website for the first round until 3 p.m. Monday June 10th. Please get out the vote to help Rutland win round one and then check back for the next round. As of this morning, Rutland is about 50 votes behind. Voting is at https://www.kvrr.com/weather/town-of-the-week/ If you have more than one device, be sure to get your vote done on each one!
That’s it for news from Rutland. Be sure to send any event
notices or information for publishing on our website or on Facebook to rutlandnd@drtel.net. |
Anytime someone asked if I was watching Game of Thrones, I explained that it wasn’t my kind of show. They always had the same reaction: “What????? It’s a great show! How can you not watch it? It makes no sense!”
From there, I’d explain that the whole dragon/sword/forest era was never really my thing — dating back to the 1980s, when the Dungeons and Dragons kids took it to a pretty creepy place — and somewhere along the line, I decided that I just didn’t enjoy voyaging into the forest. For any reason. If I could hold out on Lord of the Rings, then I could hold out on Game of Thrones. What changed? On the day after Season 2’s epic “Blackwater” episode aired, I happened to be in Grantland’s office as everyone was breathlessly rehashing it. At one point, Hollywood Prospectus editor Mark Lisanti glanced over to me and said, “I can’t believe you don’t watch this show.”
I knew that disappointed, semi-incredulous look — it’s the same one I direct at my father every time he admits that he hasn’t started Mad Men yet (even though I bought him the Season 1 DVD two years ago). What are you doing? I thought you liked TV. This makes no sense! That night on the phone, my buddy House agreed with Lisanti’s disbelief and added, “Just so you know, that show has a ton of nudity.” Well then! I started watching that weekend and the rest was history.
By the fourth episode, I knew we had a winner for my annual “Recap the NBA’s summer movement by handing out TV/movie quotes as awards” column. The overriding theme of Thrones — jockeying for power by any means necessary — should sound familiar to any basketball fan. Maybe the NBA doesn’t have dragon babies, beheadings and incest (at least not yet), but it has just about everything else. Without further ado
“I’m looking at spending the rest of my life being treated like a fool and a eunuch by my own people. Ask yourself: Is there anything I wouldn’t do to stop that from happening?”
For Rockets GM Daryl Morey, who took the phrase “all in” to new levels with his dogged pursuit of Dwight Howard. At this point, Dork Elvis has done everything short of holding a boom box in the pouring rain outside of Dwight’s Los Angeles hotel and that’s probably happening tomorrow night. His strategy makes sense: You can’t win the title without a top-10 player. Unfortunately for the Rockets, they’ve been trapped in NBA no-man’s-land ever since T-Mac and Yao broke down. Last year, they barely missed the playoffs AND paid the luxury tax, which simply can’t happen — in a 30-team league, you either want to bottom out or contend, but you can’t be in the middle. The Rockets spent the last three years stockpiling assets and cap space for this exact moment. It’s Howard, Bynum or Bust.
Were there a few days when it seemed like Morey had outsmarted himself? Actually, yeah. The Rockets allowed an emerging offensive star (Goran Dragic) to leave for Phoenix (four years, $34 million), then dealt one of the league’s best bargains (Kyle Lowry, owed just $12 million total for the next two seasons) for a future lottery pick to help The Howard Trade That Might Not Happen, going from two quality point guards to zero in about five nanoseconds. That’s when one of my incredulous readers e-mailed me, “At what point are we going to find out that Dork Elvis overdosed on bath salts and tried to eat Kevin McHale’s face off?” He salvaged that mini-crisis by giving Jeremy Lin a back-loaded offer sheet ($24.9 million, three years) that the Knicks didn’t match. Why not just re-sign Dragic (a better player than Lin) instead of sweating out an offer sheet and banking on James Dolan doing the wrong thing?
(Wait I forgot there are few safer bets in sports than James Dolan doing the wrong thing. You’re right.)
“We’ve had vicious kings and we’ve had idiot kings, but I don’t know if we’ve ever been cursed with a vicious idiot for a king.”
(Cut to the Knicks fans nodding.)
Here’s the thing: The Knicks haven’t worried about the financial ramifications of a basketball decision since Dolan’s daddy turned the team over to him. Even the most grizzled, beaten-down Knicks diehard would admit, “Dolan might be incompetent, but you can’t say he’s afraid to spend money.” That why I agree with what Jay Kang wrote earlier this week — this wasn’t a financially motivated decision, just a spiteful one. Dolan didn’t appreciate Lin’s agent proactively screwing him over with a poison pill offer, and responded accordingly.
You don’t pull that sneaky shit with me after everything I did for you! I’m James F-ing Dolan! Go to Houston for all I care, you’ll never be seen again!
That was the only plausible explanation: pure, unadulterated spite. When you’re hopelessly over the cap like New York (thanks, Amar’e!) and you’ve already proven that you don’t care about being fiscally responsible, why allow a 23-year-old asset to leave for nothing especially someone who resonated with your fan base like no Knick since Latrell Sprewell? Lin would have been underpaid in years one and two and violently overpaid in year three (including luxury tax ramifications, Lin would have cost the Knicks $43 million in year three). Well so what? What about Lin’s value overseas, or even his undeniable effect on MSG’s stock? (It couldn’t have been a coincidence that Houston, the one team that knew exactly how valuable someone with a Far East marketing reach could be, was the one that pursued Lin.) Couldn’t Lin have helped the Knicks contend next season? And after that, they could have traded him in year two or year three to a team with cap space (or for a better player) with other pieces thrown in. Who said they had to keep him for all three years? Why not bring him back and figure the rest out later?
For everyone dismissing last season’s Linsanity binge as something of a fluke, here’s a news flash for you: This isn’t baseball. This isn’t Kevin Maas or Phil Plantier catching fire for a few weeks before the league figured them out. I watched those games. Even in a somewhat small sample size, Lin proved that he’s either a quality starter (best-case scenario) or something of a rich man’s J.J. Barea, an irrational confidence guy who gives you instant offense off the bench (worst-case scenario). Letting an asset leave for nothing? Really stupid. Letting that asset leave because you’d rather spend that money on Jason Kidd (39 years old, effectively washed-up), Marcus Camby (on his last legs) and Ray Felton (the most loathed Trail Blazer maybe ever)? That’s really stupid AND an appallingly bad business decision. And by the way
“Tears aren’t a woman’s only weapon. The best one’s between your legs.”
Smart advice (at least in medieval times) for the entire Knicks fan base. You only have one weapon as fans: The right to stop supporting your team. I hate to break it to you, but you have a better chance of watching this entire song 100 times in a row without stopping than seeing Dolan sell the Knicks. He will own your team until he dies, or until he’s electrocuted by a suicidal microphone during a JD and the Straight Shot concert (whatever comes first). That’s another 30 to 40 years. With Brooklyn launching a second New York team next October, you have a natural out — a one-time-only chance to run from Dolan, switch local allegiances and never look back. You could also renounce the Knicks and become an NBA widow. Or, you could be a loyal sap, remain a Knicks fan and be perpetually bitter but at the very least, sleep well at night knowing that you stuck with your boys through thick and thin. I support any of those three choices. Either way, it’s a shame that one of the best fan bases in any sport is saddled with an owner like that.
(Important note: As many Knicks fans have pointed out, “On paper, the Brooklyn switch makes sense but is it really a peace-of-mind upgrade to go from James Dolan to Billy King and an absentee Russian owner?” Solid counter.)
“Three victories don’t make you a conqueror.”
“It’s better than three defeats.”
To the suddenly rejuvenated Hornets, who found themselves a new owner (the Benson family), rebuilt themselves through the draft (The Brow and Austin Rivers), free agency (matching Eric Gordon’s max offer sheet from Phoenix, then plucking Dorkapalooza favorite Ryan Anderson away from Orlando for $36 million) and one savvy salary dump (dumping cap-clogging Emeka Okafor/Trevor Ariza contracts on Washington for Rashard Lewis’s Expiring Contract, then quickly buying out Lewis). I didn’t expect to be interested in the Hornets for League Pass purposes before 2014 at least. Who knew? And by the way you know who gets the lion’s share of the credit here?
“I am a Khaleesi of the Dothraki. I am the wife of the great Khal and I carry his son inside me. The next time you raise a hand to me will be the last time you have hands!”
To David Stern, who turned out to be right (retroactively, but still) when he vetoed a package that netted New Orleans Luis Scola (amnesthetized last week and signed for half the cost), Kevin Martin (very available), Dragic and Houston’s 2012 first-rounder, didn’t save the Hornets money, didn’t allow them to bottom out AND gift-wrapped Chris Paul to the Lakers while somehow saving them millions. The revised deal sent the Hornets expiring contracts, a potential All-Star (Gordon), and Minnesota’s no. 1 pick (turned out to be Austin Rivers at no. 10) and allowed them to bottom out (and stumble into the no. 1 overall pick). Looking back, it’s no contest and I’m embarrassed that I defended the first deal, especially when they didn’t dump Okafor’s contract or Ariza’s contract in it. And did we learn something that even the people running the NBA believe that, unless you can contend for the title, you’re better off bottoming out and buying a lottery ticket? Yes. Yes we did.
“Don’t take it personally, I hardly trust myself!”
Does that mean Stern was vindicated by The Veto? Nooooooooooo! He disgraced the league (and his own legacy, and Dell Demps) with the pigheaded way he handled it. The end did not justify the means. I don’t think he cares. As Chuck Klosterman and I discussed on the B.S. Report this week, not only does the Notorious D.J.S. have his mojo back, he actually seems to be embracing his newfound status as something of a wrestling heel. Will we ever see another sports commissioner cup his ears and encourage the boos at a league event (like Stern did during this year’s draft)? I say no.
Once upon a time, league insiders thought Stern would retire after negotiating last year’s television deal and labor agreement. Now? The consensus seems to be, “He’s not going ANYWHERE.” He’s like Lorne Michaels in this respect — both guys know that, as long as they’re running the NBA or SNL, everyone will return their calls, everyone will take their meetings, everyone will kiss their asses and fall all over themselves trying to please them, everyone will give them the best table in the restaurant and the best suite in the hotel, nobody will question them using the company jet, and basically, they’re going to matter. Once you walk away, that’s it. You’re yesterday’s news. I see both guys holding on as long as they possibly can. Wouldn’t you? And on that note, Adam Silver will now light himself on fire.
(Quick spoiler-free tangent about Khaleesi: Before I started watching Thrones, a reader e-mailed me that there wasn’t a more exciting television moment than seeing the “N” (for nudity) in the opening credits before a Thrones episode, then spending the next hour rooting for the “N” to somehow involve Khaleesi. When I started watching the show and Khaleesi got naked in something like three of the first four episodes, it all made sense. Somehow she kept her clothes on during the entire second season — an egregious oversight by HBO that should have resulted in multiple high-level firings and maybe even a public apology. It’s not like the actress playing Khaleesi is the next Meryl Streep or anything. But between Sookie (from True Blood) and Khaleesi, it’s safe to say that HBO pushed 10 million teenage boys through puberty these past few years.)
“I am Daenerys Stormborn and I will take what is mine, with fire and blood.”
You know who got paid? JaVale McGee! Amazingly, Denver gave him $44 million over four years and even more amazingly, I can’t make fun of it. (He was electric in that Lakers series — you could say he took what was his, with fire and blood.) If you’re scoring at home, the Nuggets could have been stuck paying Carmelo and Nene $100 million over the next three years. Instead, they flipped those guys and spent a little less on Arron Afflalo, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler and McGee. Really smart considering they were going to lose Carmelo anyway. I’m giving Kevin O’Connor’s spot in the Smart GM Club to Masai Ujiri — if you trade an expiring contract for two years of Marvin Williams, you’re suspended from the Smart GM Club for one year. Sorry.
“A Dothraki wedding without at least three deaths is considered a dull affair.”
One of the show’s funniest moments goes to one of the month’s funniest moments — Mark Cuban missing Deron Williams’s visit to Dallas for the Mavericks’ big “Here’s why you should play for us, Deron” pitch. Why? Because Cuban was in Los Angeles taping that week’s episode of Shark Tank. Does anyone else keep picturing this exchange?
Williams: “So why isn’t Mark here? Is he running late?”
(Donnie Nelson and Rick Carlisle glance at each other nervously.)
Jeff Schwartz (Williams’s agent): “Shouldn’t we wait for him?”
Nelson (finally): “Mark can’t make it today.”
Schwartz: “What happened? Family emergency or something?”
(Nelson and Carlisle glance at each other nervously again.)
Williams: “Is everything all right?”
Carlisle (finally): “Have you ever seen the show he’s on, Shark Tank?
(Williams and Schwartz look at him blankly.)
Carlisle: “Well ”
Anyway, you’re not gonna believe this, but Williams ended up re-signing with Brooklyn. Normally I’d have more barbs here but I actually enjoy Shark Tank. I fully support Cuban’s decision to throw away Dallas’s 2012 title defense to create enough cap space to potentially sign a marquee free agent like Williams, then to miss THE crucial pitch meeting with Williams because he was contractually obligated to tape a reality-TV show. I care more about Shark Tank than the fate of the Mavericks. If I rooted for the Mavericks? I might not be as happy.
“I’ll tell you what. I’m going to give you a present. After I raise my armies and kill your traitor brother, I’ll give you his head as well.”
One of the show’s cockiest quotes goes to Oklahoma City GM Sam Presti, who made the Finals, then followed that up by drafting Perry Jones (this year’s big feast-or-famine post-lottery pick) and signing Hasheem Thabeet (for the veteran’s minimum, but still). Both moves reeked of a little “I don’t care if everyone else is scared off, I can fix this, I’m Sam Effing Presti!!!!!” swagger. I thoroughly enjoyed them. By the way, no TV show ever used beheadings and severed heads more effectively than Thrones — it really makes you long for the days when you could celebrate a big win by putting your opponent’s head on a stake.
“Even torturing you is boring.”
Speaking of Hasheem the Dream, Memphis got a combined five and a half years total out of Thabeet and O.J. Mayo — picked no. 2 overall and no. 3 overall, respectively, in back-to-back drafts — and nobody cares because they still stumbled into having a pseudo-contender of a team. Will we ever see THAT happen again?
“Just because I pay you for your services doesn’t diminish our friendship.”
“Enhances it, really.”
To the agent for Ramon Sessions (Jared Karnes), who narrowly edged the agent for Aaron Brooks (Leon Rose) for 2012’s Bill Duffy/Anthony Carter Memorial “Biggest Agent Screwup” Trophy. You can’t totally blame Rose for telling Brooks to grab some Chinese league money during the lockout, then watching in horror as the lockout abruptly ended, Brooks couldn’t get out of his deal, then Brooks’s Chinese team cruised all the way to the Whatever The Hell The Chinese League Finals Are and by the time it was over, Brooks never caught onto a 2011-12 NBA team, then was totally overlooked this month and ended up settling for a meager two-year deal in Sacramento. But that wasn’t as indefensible as Karnes telling Sessions to give up a $4.55 million player option with the Lakers to test free agency, assuming they’d extend his deal even after Sessions’s epic no-show in the playoffs. Nope. The Lakers grabbed Steve Nash, and Sessions eventually landed with the lowly Bobcats for a two-year, $5 $10 million deal. Whoops.
(The lesson, as always: There’s no luckier team than the Lakers. Had Sessions exercised that player option, they would have had to spend the summer shopping Sessions or Steve Blake so they didn’t have to pay three point guards. Like always, it worked out for them thanks to someone doing something dumb. God, I hate the Lakers.)
“I’ve much liked my head. I don’t want to see it removed just yet.”
To the Spurs, who kept it simple by re-signing Duncan at a discount ($30 million for three years), then used the extra money to re-sign Danny Green and Boris Diaw. You know when you say, “Let’s run it back?” When you blow the Western Conference Finals because Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka shot 18-for-20 on the road in Game 5 (something that, it’s safe to say, will NEVER happen again), then Durant finished you off that same game by doing everything short of shooting flames out of his ass, then you couldn’t buy a call to save your life in Game 6 and suddenly you were heading home wondering what the hell just happened. Personally, I think the Spurs watched Oklahoma City melt down in the Finals and said to themselves, “We were a very good team that may have just been unlucky.” Either way
“Anyone can be killed.”
I’m firing every editor we have if they don’t destroy my Game 2 Spurs-OKC retro diary from Grantland’s archives soon.
“Take the half-man, he can dance for the children; kill the other one!”
For my single favorite moment of the month: Toronto going all out for Steve Nash, even giving Landry Fields a $19 million poison-pill contract in a desperate attempt to block New York’s rumored Steve Nash trade only the Lakers snared Nash and poor Toronto was stuck with Fields, leading to a hilarious scenario when the Raptors immediately tried to amnesty Fields’s deal even as he was signing it. (Just kidding. I made that up.)
You know what the whole thing reminded me of? The Larry Sanders roast (one of the greatest TV episodes of all time ), when Artie had to book an obscure comedian named Kip Addotta to get Jerry Seinfeld at the roast, only Seinfeld canceled at the last minute, leading to Addotta droning on at the roast as Larry fake-laughed in pure misery. Eventually, he leaned over to Artie for the following exchange:
Larry: “Who the f-ck is that?”
Artie: “That’s Kip Addotta.”
Larry: “Who’s that?”
Larry’s agent: “He’s the guy we had to get to get Seinfeld.”
Larry: “Where’s Seinfeld?”
Larry’s agent: “The bastard canceled an hour ago.”
Basically, Toronto’s summer was the Larry Sanders roast, Steve Nash was Jerry Seinfeld, and Landry Fields was Kip Addotta. The good news for Toronto: They salvaged things (a little) by acquiring Lowry, and everyone loves last year’s no. 1 pick (Jonas Valanciunas, a stud by all accounts). We don’t need to get rid of basketball in Canada just yet.
“And here we have Bronn, son of ”
“You wouldn’t know him.”
One of the show’s best sneaky-funny exchanges goes to the sneakiest-funniest subplot of this month — Orlando insisting on shedding many of its “bad” contracts (Glen Davis, Jason Richardson, Hedo Turkoglu, etc.) in any Dwight Howard deal, and then, even as they’re doing this, they extend Jameer Nelson with a three-year, $19.7 million contract that’s just as “bad” as any of those other contracts. But hey, anytime you can overpay a 30-year-old point guard who can’t defend anyone, gives you 12 and 6 every night, makes 42 percent of his shots and hasn’t played at a high level in three years even as you’re desperately trying to create cap room with a megadeal at the same time, I guess you have to do it.
“Death is so final — whereas life is full of possibilities.”
To the Rockets, again — in the long run, they’re probably landing what they wanted (a franchise guy). With Brooklyn out of the running for Howard and Andrew Bynum unwilling to commit to Orlando, any Howard deal has to run through the Rockets unless these recent Bynum-to-Cleveland rumors are true (and it just seems too far-fetched). Check the margin for the most logical three-teamer, which hasn’t happened yet only because the Lakers are refusing to take on Hedo Turkoglu’s salary in any Howard/Bynum swap. In their defense, they’re playing the waiting game with Orlando — they believe the Magic will eventually cave and send them Howard for Bynum. And from what I’m hearing, they’re more than a little worried about Howard’s recovery from back surgery. Understandable. (Wait, did I just defend the Lakers???? Sorry about that.) On the other hand
“You’re afraid?”
“I must be.”
“Good.”
“Why is that good?”
“It means you’re not stupid.”
If you’re a Rockets fan, wouldn’t you be mildly petrified of amnestying Luis Scola (the best amnesty guy ever, by far — nobody else comes close), dumping Kevin Martin in a contract year (when you know he’ll play well), dealing two potential lottery picks AND swapping one or two of your promising 2012 first-rounders just so you can a) deliver Howard to a contender in your own conference, and b) roll the dice with Bynum?
The case for Bynum: He’s the league’s second-best center and a guaranteed 20/10 guy when healthy.
The case against Bynum: He’s still immature, he handled L.A.’s last two playoff exits more than a little erratically, and he played 80 percent of his team’s games last season for the first time since 2007.
How would Bynum handle the responsibility of his team’s fate directly hinging on his ability to throw up a 23-12 and handle double teams night after night after night? If you’re not afraid of the downside there, then you ARE stupid. Part of me agrees with Grantland’s Robert Mays — instead of paying 130 cents on the dollar for Bynum, maybe the Rockets should just build around Linsanity and their fun young guys (did you see those Royce White highlights from Vegas???), have one of those “entertaining lottery seasons,” then figure out a long-term game plan next summer. Tough choice.
“Some of those boys will never come back.”
“Joffrey will. The worst ones always live.”
For former Orlando GM Otis Smith, the Patient X of this Howard saga. Otis overpaid every player that Orlando is demanding to dump in any Howard trade, with the exception of Turkoglu and in that case, he traded a solid center (Marcin Gortat) and an expiring contract (Vince Carter) for Hedo’s lousy deal, so that was just as bad. And we didn’t even mention the Rashard Lewis/Gilbert Arenas fiasco yet. Will Otis run another team someday? OF COURSE! Are you kidding me? If Billy King can get rehired, the sky is the limit for Otis.
As for Joffrey, I can’t ever remember hating a TV character more. Even his name is detestable. Joffrey is so fun to hate that I can’t imagine the actor who plays him (Jack Gleeson) ever working again — at this point, I’m convinced that he’s equally evil and a product of incest. I think Jack Gleeson should get Nicholson’s Lakers seats when Jack finally dies. Since we’ll never replace Jack’s star power and charisma in that seat, let’s go in another direction and go for someone who appears to be purely and simply evil. He could dress like King Joffrey and order Lou Adler around. I really think this could work. That reminds me
“Handsome armor. Not a scratch on it.”
“I know. People have been swinging at me for years and they always seem to miss.”
“Chosen your opponents wisely, then.”
“I have a knack for it.”
How did everything work out for the Lakers again? In the late ’60s, Wilt fell into their laps. In the mid-’70s, Kareem fell into their laps. In the late ’70s, they exploited two incompetent franchises (New Orleans and Cleveland) and somehow landed no. 1 overall picks in 1980 (Magic) and 1982 (Worthy). In the mid-’90s, Shaq fell into their laps and they smartly stole Kobe during the same summer. In 2008, Memphis gift-wrapped Pau Gasol for them. And now, with yet another dead end looming in 2012 — triggered by last December’s Chris Paul trade that fell through, one of the rare times that the Lakers have ever been screwed over by bad luck — suddenly Steve Nash AND Dwight Howard might fall into their laps? How the heck does this keep happening?????? The Kobe era was dead! We had the funeral and everything! The Lakers should change their logo to a purple-and-gold horseshoe that’s rammed up Jerry Buss’s ass. Here’s what it would look like.
Here’s how lucky the Lakers were with Nash: If Lamar Odom never melted down post-Gasol veto, they never would have stuck Mark Cuban with a total lemon deallt Odom to Dallas and ended up with a juicy trade exception. If Nash’s ex-wife never said, “I’m not moving from Phoenix,” then he wouldn’t have been so focused on finding a West Coast contender that needed a point guard (and yes, only one West Coast contender needed a point guard). And if Phoenix didn’t owe Nash after a) he gave them a discount three years ago and expected them to spend the extra money (and they didn’t), and b) he never complained publicly about wasting the tail end of his extended prime on a lottery team, then there’s no way they would have traded the greatest Sun ever to their all-time nemesis and archrival. Those are three significant “ifs.” All of them worked out. God, I hate the Lakers.
“You love your children. It’s your one redeeming quality — that and your cheekbones.”
And here’s the best part: Phoenix fans couldn’t even be pissed at Nash, because he played the family card so spectacularly well. You could read between the lines of every Nash quote after the trade: He was basically saying, “Look, I love my kids so much that I’ll even spend three years playing for the Lakers and pretending I like Kobe.” What a noble gesture. This man hated the Lakers. He really did. For the record, he’s a better man than I am — I don’t love my kids nearly enough to end up in a picture like this.
You know what really bugs me? He’s the first legitimately likable Laker since Magic retired. There isn’t a basketball fan on the planet who wouldn’t be delighted to see Steve Nash finally win the title you know, if it were happening in a vacuum. But if he won the title and jumped into the arms of Dwight “I’m still covered in Orlando’s blood” Howard as Kobe Bryant and Ron Artest jumped onto their backs? That’s a different story. Nash’s first title would mean
• A ring for Dwight Howard less than a year after he acted like the biggest baby in recent sports history. (Yes, I’m operating as if Howard will be a Laker. Might as well get a jump on it.)
• Two more rings for Ron Artest than Charles Barkley, Elgin Baylor, Karl Malone, Allen Iverson, George Gervin, Reggie Miller, Patrick Ewing, Dominique Wilkins, John Stockton and Paul Mokeski combined.
• Six titles for Kobe. As many as Jordan. More fodder for the ridiculous “Who was better, Kobe or Jordan?” argument that LeBron already squashed this spring by dominating at a level that Kobe never reached.
• A 17th title for the Lakers, which would technically match Boston’s 17 titles even though five of those Laker titles happened in Minneapolis in the 1940s and 1950s. If you count those five, that’s EXACTLY like adding Seattle’s 1979 NBA title to Oklahoma City’s ongoing total right? That won’t stop Lakers fans from pretending that they “tied” Boston even if they didn’t. I’m already pissed off and it hasn’t even happened yet.
Add everything up and I haven’t been this conflicted by a sports development since since I mean what’s worse than the league’s most likable and unselfish player playing for the Lakers? I feel sick. Let’s move on.
“The things I do for love.”
To Phoenix owner Robert Sarver, who earned a rare compliment by doing the right thing with Nash, landing two no. 1s and two no. 2s and a whopping trade exception to boot. From there, they smartly snared Dragic at a fair price; amnestied Josh Childress to create cap room for Scola (double amnesty!), made a respectable max contract run at Eric Gordon (and earned Gordon’s “my heart belongs in Phoenix” quote), and took an $18 million flyer on Michael Beasley (who gives them much-needed offensive punch AND good fodder for Jared Dudley’s Twitter feed). If you’re looking for 2013’s underdog that overachieves by 12 wins because of chemistry and quirky/savvy offensive players, look no further than the 2012-13 Suns.
(Will they make the playoffs? No!!!!!!!!!! Not in a million years. But they’ll be fun to watch. As for any Suns fan out there who’s furious that I just praised Sarver, you should know the “Things I do for love” was uttered by someone — SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!! — about to cripple a 10-year-old boy who mistakenly walked in on an incestuous sex romp. That should soften the blow right?)
• CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 |
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