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This care sheet is
intended only to cover the general care of this species. Ongoing research to
best develop a plan to keep the animal in peak condition for whichever species
you are caring for is essential.
The combination of its small size and beautiful golden color has made
Testudo kleinmanni a much sought after addition to tortoise
collections. This popularity within the pet trade is second only to habitat
loss in terms of impacting the overall wild populations. The Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) lists
Testudo kleinmanni as an Appendix I species, affording it the
highest possible protection. The Egyptian tortoise is also listed as Endangered
on the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List, which is the second highest
designation.
T. kleinmanni
is a difficult species to maintain and should not be considered an appropriate
species for the beginning tortoise keeper. Found from Libya to Israel, they are
extremely well adapted to their native arid environment; unfortunately this very
adaptation to extreme conditions leaves them vulnerable when we attempt to
maintain them in our “human” temperate world. Only if one is willing to go to
great lengths to duplicate their natural environment should keeping and breeding
this species be attempted. Only captive hatched animals should be obtained. The
combination of shipping stress, exposure to foreign pathogens, and minimal
physical reserves due to their diminutive size results in the vast majority of
wild caught specimens perishing, even with aggressive medical care.
As indicated by
their light coloration, T. kleinmanni originate in sandy / rocky
areas. Evolving a darker coloration in such an area would make a tortoise easy
prey for any predator. Their small size allows them to warm quickly after cold
desert nights and their reflective rather than absorptive carapace color allows
them to extend their time foraging during the day before the desert heat drives
them under cover. Male Egyptian tortoises are typically 3 – 4 inches (8 – 10
cm) in length as adults, while females are somewhat larger at 4 – 5 inches (10 –
12 cm)
HOUSING:
Egyptian tortoises MUST be housed in a dry, warm environment with low
ambient humidity. This must be taken into consideration when arranging housing
for them. Upon exposure to a humid environment, even if warm, many of these
tortoises fare very poorly and rapidly decline. This is a species that has
evolved a very strict niche over the years and one that does not fare well
outside that niche. While most species of tortoises respond well and do much
better with outdoor maintenance, this species tends to do best in indoor
accommodations unless they are being maintained in a low humidity, high
temperature climate. Egyptian tortoises tend to bury themselves in the topsoil
or under the base of clumps of grass, regardless of being maintained indoors or
out. Opportunities to practice this natural behavior should be provided for.
HOUSING
EGYPTIAN TORTOISES INDOORS: - The
most useful form of indoor accommodation for Egyptian Tortoises consists of a
“turtle table”. To all appearances this looks like a bookshelf unit flipped onto
its back. A reasonable size for a single specimen is 2 feet by 3 feet, (60 cm by
90 cm). If keeping more than one together, the size of this habitat should be
increased along with providing sightline breaks and opportunities to blend into
their surroundings for this easily stressed species. For a pair of adult
Egyptian tortoises the indoor habitat should be at least 4 feet by 2 feet, (120
cm by 60 cm). Into the bottom of this “turtle table” holes can be cut to allow
for the sinking of food, water, and nesting containers flush with the surface
for easier animal access.
Many T. kleinmanni will not make use of a water dish. For those that
will utilize one, the water dish in the habitat should be large enough to allow
the tortoise to soak in it if it wishes - it must also be shallow enough to
protect it from drowning. Small photographic developing trays work well for
this purpose. Due to the nature of this species, one of the authors places his
animals in a soak bowl once a week to maintain hydration. As a substrate, the
dry portion of the environment should consist of a mixture of sand and clean
topsoil. Some keepers use a combination of topsoil and chicken grit (crushed
coarse limestone) as a substrate. As an alternative to these substrates grass
hay serves admirably and is preferred by the authors. Grass hay provides
supplemental food as well as a burrowing substrate that does not “hold”
humidity. Due to the rapid degradation of hay when it gets damp, it should be
monitored closely and changed as needed.
In one
corner of the environment a hardware store reflector clip light lamp should be
positioned to provide artificial basking facilities. This should be positioned
to provide a basking spot of 90 – 95 degrees F (32 – 35 degrees C) in that
section of the habitat. The habitat should also be equipped with a full
spectrum fluorescent light to provide for UVB. A UVB source is necessary for
Vitamin D3 syntheses (an essential component of calcium metabolism). A
Mercury vapor bulb may be used to fulfill both heat and UV requirements.
Some keepers have had excellent success with using both a mercury vapor light to
provide UVB and daytime heat as well as a ceramic heat emitter on 24 hours over
one end of a habitat to provide a temperature gradient. Both the Mercury vapor
light and the ceramic heat emitter mentioned above it is advised that one use a
fixture with a ceramic lamp holder, as these are both very hot. Fixtures should
also be affixed in such a manner that they cannot contact the possibly flammable
substrate. There should be a hide box located in the corner away from the
basking spot to allow the animal a cool, dim retreat. This is an extremely
important component particularly for this species.
OUTDOOR HOUSING - Predator proof outdoor habitats offer many advantages
over indoor accommodations and should be seriously considered as an option
during warm weather if one lives in a low humidity climatic zone. While
both authors are strong proponents of outdoor habitats for chelonia, Testudo
kleinmanni is one of the few exceptions where properly designed indoor
habitats are preferred in most situations. Egyptian tortoises appear to be
fairly cold tolerant but as mentioned earlier in this care sheet cannot tolerate
damp conditions.
DIET
- A high
fiber, low protein, calcium rich diet will ensure good digestive tract function
and smooth growth. Testudo hermanni fed on cat or dog foods frequently
die from renal failure or from impacted bladder stones of solidified urates.
There is no reason to presume that Egyptian tortoises would react otherwise.
Avoid over-reliance upon 'supermarket' greens, which typically contain
inadequate fiber levels and are too rich in sugar. While fruit need not be
completely avoided, they should be given very, very sparingly to this species as
the high sugar foods can cause diarrhea and are not a natural part of the wild
diet. A light water sprinkling of leafy greens and weeds prior to feeding will
approximate the early morning foraging of Egyptian tortoises and supply needed
moisture to the diet.
Leafy
greens (dandelions, clover, endive etc.)
Grasses and weeds
Additional calcium supplementation is essential. Powdered
calcium can be sprinkled on all foods. It is suggested that the caregiver
provide calcium supplemented with vitamin D3 if the animal is being maintained
indoors and calcium without D3 if it is outdoors. Provision of a cuttlefish
bone, which can be gnawed if desired, is also recommended.
This species does not
hibernate but it does aestivate in very hot, dry periods. It is not suggested
that anything but very minimal aestivation be attempted and even then only with
very close supervision. Environmental modification for breeding purposes has
proven to be an important part of continued reproduction with this species.
MEDICAL:
Before purchasing an individual of this species, a number of things should be
taken into consideration. First and foremost is the intended purpose for your
new Egyptian tortoise. Testudo kleinmanni are a species, which is under
considerable wild pressure, and purchasing such an animal bears additional
responsibilities in terms of making all necessary adjustments/pairings to
reproduce it. We all have a responsibility to be sure that we do not
contribute to the loss of such a magnificent species but rather contribute to
it’s future.
Also, even now it is
not uncommon for members of this species to be smuggled into the country due to
their diminutive size. Captive bred animals, while not available in large
numbers, are being produced regularly from various dedicated breeders. They can
be distinguished from their wild caught counterparts by a number of features.
First and foremost, captive bred animals tend to be fairly outgoing whereas one
will seldom see the head of a wild caught animal as they withdraw themselves
within their shell. Secondly, wild caught Egyptian tortoises almost invariably
have heavy, heavy parasite loads. Due to their harsh environment, wild caught
animals typically have a variety of old shell lesions compared to relatively
undamaged captive bred stock. Last, but not least, most captive bred animals
have some degree of pyramiding to their scutes.
Before purchasing an
animal, closely examine the mouth, nares (nostrils), and eyes of your intended
purchase. If the mouth is extremely pale, the tongue appears covered in a
coating of plaque-like material, there are bubbles coming from its nares or
mouth, or the tortoises eyes/eyelids are swollen shut do NOT purchase
it. Also, again be sure to note the captive bred versus wild caught nature of
the animal. While captive bred animals tend to be wonderful additions to any
serious collection, wild caught animals of this species are incredibly difficult
to adapt to captive conditions without serious intervention.
This is a species
that must NEVER be mixed with another species. Egyptian tortoises have
adapted themselves to a very, very tight niche over the millennia and because of
this are extremely sensitive to disease carried by other species.
Lastly, it should be
noted that drug dosage and administration information available on the Internet
or in hobbyist books is often dated and possibly dangerous, please leave drug
advice to trained professionals.
Turtle and tortoise
care research is ongoing. As new information becomes available we share this on
the World Chelonian Trust web site at
www.chelonia.org. Serious keepers find it to be a benefit to have the
support of others who keep these species. Care is discussed in our free online
email community, which may be joined from the web address above. Please contact
us about the many benefits of becoming a member of the World Chelonian Trust. |
Police: Convicted Felon Wanted, One Arrested After Pursuit
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Police: Convicted Felon Wanted, One Arrested After Pursuit
BENTONVILLE (KFSM) — A convicted felon is wanted by police and one man has been arrested in connection with a vehicle pursuit, according to police.
The pursuit happened about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday (Jan. 17) near southeast 11th and J Streets. An officer tried to stop a silver Cadillac with three men inside because the license plate on the car had been reported stolen, according to police.
The three eluded officers and the Cadillac was found a short time later in a parking deck at Crystal Bridges Museum. Surveillance video shows three men carrying several items, run from the car. One of the items was a sawed-off shotgun, a news release states.
The news release also states police found two of the men seen in the surveillance video.
They spoke with Richard A. Luzzi, 30, of Bentonville. Luzzi was not arrested as of Thursday (Jan. 19), but a warrant may be issued for his arrest, according to police.
They also spoke with Kristopher D. Clark, 40, of Bentonville, who was subsequently arrested and faces felony charges of manufacturing a controlled substance, second-degree forgery, possession of a firearm by a certain person, criminal use of a prohibited weapon and revocation of a suspended sentence, as well as two counts of misdemeanor second-degree endangerment of the welfare of a minor, according to the Benton County Jail.
Shane A. Goff fled the vicinity. He is wanted by police in connection with several felonious charges including possession of firearms by a certain person, criminal use of a prohibited weapon, fleeing and theft by receiving, as well as misdemeanor charges.
Anyone with information about Goff is encouraged to call Bentonville police at 271-3170. |
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Friday, October 26, 2007
In June 2005, Lt. Michael P. Murphy and three fellow members of the Navy Seals were on a mission in the mountains of Afghanistan when they were pinned down by a swarm of enemy fighters. Trapped in a steep ravine, they were unable to get a radio signal to call for help.
With the Americans suffering injuries, ammunition running low and roughly 100 Taliban fighters closing in, Lieutenant Murphy made a bold but fateful decision: He left the sheltering mountain rocks into an open area where he hoped to get a radio frequency.
He managed to make contact with Bagram Air Base, calling in his unit’s location and the size of the enemy force, even as he came under direct fire, according to a declassified Navy account of the battle.
He also was shot several times and died.
Today, President Bush will award Lieutenant Murphy, a team leader from Patchogue, the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award. Mr. Bush will present it to Lieutenant Murphy’s father and mother, Daniel and Maureen, in a ceremony scheduled to take place in the East Room.
Mr. Murphy said his son’s action in battle was typical of the sort of selflessness he displayed even as a child, recalling an episode when he got into a scrap with three bullies in middle school who tried to shove a disabled student in a locker.
“He just jumped in,” Mr. Murphy said, noting that it was the kind of action that led him and his former wife to refer to their oldest son as “the Protector” when he was a boy. “That was Michael’s way.”
Lieutenant Murphy, who was 29 and engaged, is the first member of the military to receive the medal for service in the war in Afghanistan. The war in Iraq has produced two Medal of Honor recipients, most recently in January when Marine Cpl. Jason L. Dunham, a recruit from upstate New York, received the award posthumously.
Early in his life, Lieutenant Murphy appeared to possess the qualities that would make him the kind of candidate sought by the Seals, an elite Navy unit known for daring, physical toughness and mental acuity.
He was a member of the National Honor Society in Patchogue-Medford High School, a lifeguard and a solid athlete. He attended Pennsylvania State University, where he played hockey and graduated with two bachelor’s degrees, in political science and psychology.
His options after graduating in 1998 were wide open, and he was accepted into several law schools. He chose to join the military and train to become a Navy commando. He attended the Navy’s Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, Fla., and then completed the Seals’ harsh training program and became a member of the Seals in April 2002.
It was a significant achievement for Lieutenant Murphy, who was not quite 6 feet tall, slight compared with the physically imposing members of the Seals. Each year, 50 to 200 sailors graduate from the training program. The dropout rate is 74 percent, according to the Navy.
His final mission was on June 28, 2005, when he led a four-man Seal unit searching for a Taliban leader behind enemy lines. The Americans were spotted about 24 hours after being dropped in a mountainous stretch of eastern Afghanistan’s Kunar Province, according to the Navy. A firefight erupted. The Americans, vastly outnumbered, took cover in the steep slopes as the batted raged for more than two hours.
But then, according to Hospital Corpsman Marcus Luttrell, the unit’s only survivor that day, Lieutenant Murphy made his way toward the exposed ridge between the mountains, making him an easy target. “I was cursing at him from where I was,” he recalled in an interview. “I was saying, ‘What are you doing?’ Then I realized that he was making a call. But then he started getting hit. He finished the call, picked up his rifle and started fighting again. But he was overrun.”
The call placed by Lieutenant Murphy led American commanders to dispatch a small rescue force that included an MH-47 Chinook helicopter with eight Seals members and eight Army special operations soldiers. But a rocket-propelled grenade struck the slow-moving helicopter as it approached, killing all 16 men aboard. Lieutenant Murphy and two others in his unit were killed in the firefight. Corpsman Luttrell escaped, and took refuge in a village until he was rescued several days later.
Corpsman Luttrell and the other two men who were killed, Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class Danny P. Dietz and Sonar Technician 2nd Class Matthew G. Axelson, all received the Navy Cross.
Mr. Bush approved Lieutenant Murphy’s nomination for the medal on Oct. 11, more than two years after his commanders recommended him for an award to recognize his actions in battle.
Since the medal was created during the Civil War, it has been bestowed on more than 3,400 soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and coast guardsmen, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society in Mount Pleasant, S.C.
Lieutenant Murphy is the first member of the Navy to receive the medal since the Vietnam War, a Navy spokesman said.
In an interview, Daniel Murphy said that he was not surprised to learn about his son’s actions. “What Maureen and I always worried about was that he would put himself in danger to help someone else, which turned out to be true,” he said. |
ALAMY
“This year’s prize is about taking the chemical experiment to cyberspace,” the Nobel Committee announced this morning, before giving this year’s chemistry prize to three scientists for their work on computer models of chemical interactions.
The winners are Martin Karplus, at the University of Strasbourg in France and Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Michael Levitt of Stanford University in California and Arieh Warshel, at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
“Chemists used to create models of molecules using plastic balls and sticks. Today, the modelling is carried out in computers. In the 1970s, Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt and Arieh Warshel laid the foundation for the powerful programs that are used to understand and predict chemical processes,” the Nobel Committee said in a press release. The trio came up with methods that melded the simplicity of classical Newtonian physics with the exquisite detail of quantum physics, making it possible to model complex chemical reactions, such as how a drug interacts with a protein target. In that example, quantum calculations would reveal the detailed chemical interactions between the drug and the portion of protein to which it binds, while classical physics methods would deal with the rest of the protein.
My colleague Richard Van Noorden will have a full account up soon on Nature‘s news homepage. Update: the story is now live, here.
Previous Chemistry Nobelists include: Brian Kobilka and Robert Lefkowitz in 2012, for their work on G-protein-coupled receptors (see ‘Cell signaling work nets chemistry Nobel’); Daniel Shechtman in 2011, for the discovery of quasi-crystals (see ‘Impossible crystals snag chemistry Nobel’); and Richard Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki in 2010, for developing new chemical synthesis methods (see ‘Chemistry Nobel won by…chemists‘).
The headline to that last story underscores the fact that the chemistry prize has often been doled out to life sciences — four out of the past seven, including this year. But this is not a recent trend. Between 1950 and 2000, life sciences topics have garnered 15 chemistry Nobels, by my count. Granted, many of these are for chemical insights into biomolecules such as proteins and RNA.
Update 11:59 a.m.
Our sister journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology published a 2001 essay by Levitt titled “The birth of computation structural biology,” in which he describes some of the work that garnered this year’s chemistry prize. It’s a nice account, with a couple writerly touches. (“While Warshel and I were travelling around the world, our computer program, CFF, had wings of its own.”)
The essay’s title also underscores how important their work has been for biologists. The first applications of their methods were used to model proteins and other big biomolecules, and Levitt certainly saw his work opening doors for future life scientists. “Computers were made for biology,” he writes. “Biology would never have advanced as it did without the dramatic increase in computer power and availability. One day we would like to be able to simulate complicated biological processes, perhaps even going from the genomic sequence to a full simulation of the organism’s phenotype.”
But as the Nobel Committee points out in their account (PDF here), “the strength of the methods that Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt and Arieh Warshel have developed is that they are universal. They can be used to study all kinds of chemistry; from the molecules of life to industrial chemical processes. Scientists can optimize solar cells, catalysts in motor vehicles or even drugs, to take but a few examples.”
Update 12:51 p.m.
The work of Karplus, Levitt and Warshel has launched a supercomputing arms race to model protein structures in nanoseconds instead of hours or days, according to a 2008 Nature feature entitled ‘Power play‘. The story profiles Klaus Schulten, a protein modeller at the University of Illinois in Urbana–Champaign, whose computer program NAMD (Nanoscale Molecular Dynamics) was once the best tool for modelling the behaviour of individual atoms in protein. “But the German-born physicist got his wake-up call in 2006, when he saw a table of computing benchmarks in a report from that year’s supercomputing conference in Tampa, Florida. A new program called Desmond, he saw, could calculate each step of a standard molecular-dynamics simulation — the 23,558 atoms in a system involving the protein dihydrofolate reductase — in a little over a thousandth of a second. NAMD was ten times slower.”
Update 2:09 p.m.
In one of the papers cited by the Nobel Committee, ‘Computer simulation of protein folding‘, Levitt and Warshel describe one of the earliest efforts to use computers to predict the structure of a protein. Historically, scientists determined precise protein structures through X-ray crystallography — a sometimes tedious technique in which a crystalline form of a protein is bombarded with X-rays, and its structure inferred from the diffraction patterns. Levitt and Warshel’s method accurately simulated how a protein called bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor folds into its native shape. Protein structure prediction has since exploded as a research field, in part driven by a ‘contest’ called CASP (for Critical Assessment of Protein Structure prediction), in which researchers are challenged to design computer programs that can predict a series of protein structures that have been determined experimentally, but not yet published.
Update 2:22 p.m.
An emerging area of research, in which proteins are designed to perform a particular task such as eliciting an immune response against HIV or catalyzing a chemical reaction, also relies heavily on the work of Karplus, Levitt and Warshel. For more check out previous Nature coverage: ‘Proteins made to order‘ and ‘The shape of protein structures to come‘. |
Evidence of the three main clonal Toxoplasma gondii lineages from wild mammalian carnivores in the UK.
Toxoplasma gondii is a zoonotic pathogen defined by three main clonal lineages (types I, II, III), of which type II is most common in Europe. Very few data exist on the prevalence and genotypes of T. gondii in the UK. Wildlife can act as sentinel species for T. gondii genotypes present in the environment, which may subsequently be transmitted to livestock and humans. DNA was extracted from tissue samples of wild British carnivores, including 99 ferrets, 83 red foxes, 70 polecats, 65 mink, 64 badgers and 9 stoats. Parasite DNA was detected using a nested ITS1 PCR specific for T. gondii, PCR positive samples were subsequently genotyped using five PCR-RFLP markers. Toxoplasma gondii DNA was detected within all these mammal species and prevalence varied from 6·0 to 44·4% depending on the host. PCR-RFLP genotyping identified type II as the predominant lineage, but type III and type I alleles were also identified. No atypical or mixed genotypes were identified within these animals. This study demonstrates the presence of alleles for all three clonal lineages with potential for transmission to cats and livestock. This is the first DNA-based study of T. gondii prevalence and genotypes across a broad range of wild British carnivores. |
Genome analysis of medicinal Ganoderma spp. with plant-pathogenic and saprotrophic life-styles.
Ganoderma is a fungal genus belonging to the Ganodermataceae family and Polyporales order. Plant-pathogenic species in this genus can cause severe diseases (stem, butt, and root rot) in economically important trees and perennial crops, especially in tropical countries. Ganoderma species are white rot fungi and have ecological importance in the breakdown of woody plants for nutrient mobilization. They possess effective machineries of lignocellulose-decomposing enzymes useful for bioenergy production and bioremediation. In addition, the genus contains many important species that produce pharmacologically active compounds used in health food and medicine. With the rapid adoption of next-generation DNA sequencing technologies, whole genome sequencing and systematic transcriptome analyses become affordable approaches to identify an organism's genes. In the last few years, numerous projects have been initiated to identify the genetic contents of several Ganoderma species, particularly in different strains of Ganoderma lucidum. In November 2013, eleven whole genome sequencing projects for Ganoderma species were registered in international databases, three of which were already completed with genomes being assembled to high quality. In addition to the nuclear genome, two mitochondrial genomes for Ganoderma species have also been reported. Complementing genome analysis, four transcriptome studies on various developmental stages of Ganoderma species have been performed. Information obtained from these studies has laid the foundation for the identification of genes involved in biological pathways that are critical for understanding the biology of Ganoderma, such as the mechanism of pathogenesis, the biosynthesis of active components, life cycle and cellular development, etc. With abundant genetic information becoming available, a few centralized resources have been established to disseminate the knowledge and integrate relevant data to support comparative genomic analyses of Ganoderma species. The current review carries out a detailed comparison of the nuclear genomes, mitochondrial genomes and transcriptomes from several Ganoderma species. Genes involved in biosynthetic pathways such as CYP450 genes and in cellular development such as matA and matB genes are characterized and compared in detail, as examples to demonstrate the usefulness of comparative genomic analyses for the identification of critical genes. Resources needed for future data integration and exploitation are also discussed. |
Bill Nye the “Science Guy” was paid a handsome speaking fee to tell Rutgers University students to dismiss those who would question the consensus on man-made global warming.
Nye, who gave the commencement speech at Rutgers over the weekend, told graduates to “challenge those who dismiss climate change,” according to NJ.com. Nye also reportedly said the “scientific consensus on climate change is as strong as the consensus that smoking causes cancer.”
“Climate change is a real deal,” Nye told students in his speech. “So, hey deniers — cut it out, and let’s get to work.”
Rutgers paid Nye $35,000 to speak at this year’s graduation at its New Brunswick campus. Nye was also given an honorary Doctor of Science degree during the ceremony — which means he’s an actual scientist now, or something.
But the university may consider Nye’s speech money well spent since students raved about it, NJ.com repored. Students chanted his name before his speech, and were taken by his call for them to solve global warming.
“It’s a heavy topic, but it’s something that was necessary to address,” Jesse Bagley, who earned a degree in science and biomedical engineering, told NJ.com. “He’s right. We all have an opportunity to make a choice as far as that goes, so it was something that we needed to hear.”
“I learned from Bill Nye probably more than any other science class because he is so awesome, and I was was so excited to see him speak today,” echoed Michael Bruchert, who got a journalism and media degree.
Nye has been a major critic of those who are skeptical of man-made global warming. For Earth Day, Nye flew with President Barack Obama on Air Force One to Florida’s Everglades to highlight how global warming was damaging such environments.
Ironically, Nye’s Air Force One trip emitted the same amount of carbon dioxide as 17 passenger vehicles would in an entire year — more than 9,000 gallons of gasoline.
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Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org. |
Upstream elements present in the 3'-untranslated region of collagen genes influence the processing efficiency of overlapping polyadenylation signals.
3'-Untranslated regions (UTRs) of genes often contain key regulatory elements involved in gene expression control. A high degree of evolutionary conservation in regions of the 3'-UTR suggests important, conserved elements. In particular, we are interested in those elements involved in regulation of 3' end formation. In addition to canonical sequence elements, auxiliary sequences likely play an important role in determining the polyadenylation efficiency of mammalian pre-mRNAs. We identified highly conserved sequence elements upstream of the AAUAAA in three human collagen genes, COL1A1, COL1A2, and COL2A1, and demonstrate that these upstream sequence elements (USEs) influence polyadenylation efficiency. Mutation of the USEs decreases polyadenylation efficiency both in vitro and in vivo, and inclusion of competitor oligoribonucleotides representing the USEs specifically inhibit polyadenylation. We have also shown that insertion of a USE into a weak polyadenylation signal can enhance 3' end formation. Close inspection of the COL1A2 3'-UTR reveals an unusual feature of two closely spaced, competing polyadenylation signals. Taken together, these data demonstrate that USEs are important auxiliary polyadenylation elements in mammalian genes. |
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The voice of our community matters a great deal to us. After the $31m Tether hack we decided to let the community audit the GLOBCOIN code before we deploy it. An extra check couldn’t hurt. We want the best for our project and for the interests of our community.
GLOBCOIN is doing most of the developing work internally, with the developer geniuses Felix and Gaspard leading the way. Currently, we are also working with Blockchain Partner on some technical aspects of the GLOBCOIN token platform, such as smart contracts, audits (both internal and external) and the token sale website. They have been on board since September 2017.
What is a smart contract and why is it a big deal?
… you might ask. Well, we all have an idea of what a contract is: an agreement between two or more parties, defining the rules and guidelines of a specific situation. A “smart” contract is also a contract, but in the form of a computer protocol. They have been mainly used in association with cryptocurrencies.
Once a smart contract has been “written” on the Blockchain, it becomes visible for everyone and it can’t be modified, that makes them a very immutable, decentralized and transparent tool. Because smart contracts are not “guarded” by a lawyer or company, but rather by thousands of computers, they eliminate bureaucracy and eliminate transaction costs. In a way, they’re rather revolutionary.
Why did we choose Blockchain Partner?
They are the most reputable team we know, having large institutions like Central Banks and Investment Banks as their main clients. They partnered with the first company in France that started working on Blockchain (BNP Paribas in 2014) and the first public institution (Banque de France from 2016).
Right now, their qualified developers provide us with training and advisory related to Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies; as well as technical services regarding our Smart Contracts, making sure that everything is set up for our ICO starting this February 12th. It’s looking good, and we couldn’t be more excited.
Written by: Eva — GLOBCOIN Community Manager |
This blog Haiti Solutions supports the growth of political and economic freedom, good governance and human rights in Haiti by educating Haitian citizens, parties and governments on the values and practices of democracy.
The international community has justifiably
condemned a decision by the supreme court of the Dominican Republic revoking
the citizenship of as many as 350,000 Dominicans of Haitian decent. Unfortunately, that decision in
September was just the latest in a pattern of cynical, partisan actions that
threaten the rule of law and economic growth in that nation. Dominicans of goodwill must act to
restore the probity and independence of their institutions to secure a better
future for all of its citizens.
Early this month, the respected Inter-American
Commission on Human Rights paid an urgent visit to that country to study the
implications of the decision to retroactively apply a 2010 constitutional
amendment that redefined citizenship rights, effectively stripping multitudes
of their “right to nationality.” The
Commission urgently issued a series of unambiguous recommendations insisting
that the Dominican state take “simple, clear, fast, and fair” steps to “guarantee
the right to nationality of those individuals who already had this right”
before the ruling.
The court’s decision
has been defended as a measure needed to address legitimate concerns over
illegal immigration. However, even
before this draconian court decision was issued, electoral authorities had
refused to provide voter identification cards to thousands of persons of Haitian
background. That is a clue that
this dubious decision is likely a shameless political maneuver of the ruling
Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) to disqualify voters of Haitian descent who
tend to vote overwhelmingly for the opposition Dominican Revolutionary Party
(PRD). For example, the late José FranciscoPeña Gómez, the proud son of
Haitian immigrants, was a pillar of the PRD.
The PLD’s boss, former
president Leonel Fernández, has named his partisans to the supreme court and
the electoral tribunal—which explains why these important institutions of the
state serve his political interests. For example, the current chief justice, Mariano Germán Mejía,
was Fernández’s law partner, and another justice, Marta Olga Garcia,
is the sister-in-law of Miguel Vargas, a fellow caudillo with whom Fernández is conspiring to hijack the opposition
PRD.
Although the electoral
tribunal is supposed to be a panel of impartial magistrates who run all
national elections, its members were chosen based on their loyalty to Fernández
and/or the ruling PLD. Fernández has
wielded his absolute control of tribunal to rig recent elections to deny the
opposition party proportional representation in the congress; for example,
although the PRD won nearly 42 percent of the nationwide vote in 2010, it
claimed only one of 32 Senate seats.
The former president’s
egregious manipulation of state institutions to build a “one-party state,” is
chronicled in a report issued in
November by the prestigious Washington, DC, think tank, the Center for
Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), authored by veteran U.S. Senate
advisor Carl Meacham. Meacham
highlights a brazen maneuver by Fernández to make a pact with former PRD
candidate Miguel Vargas to usurp control of the PRD, oust the party’s strongest
leaders, and undermine party’s ability to muster a viable campaign
against the ruling PLD.
“The Superior Electoral Tribunal (TSE) has
ensured the continued disunity of the PRD,” Meacham reports. “Given its discretionary involvement in
preserving Miguel Vargas’ PRD presidency—and its decision not to engage in the
party’s expulsion of former president Hipólito Mejía—some fear that the TSE is
playing an undue and decisive role in crippling the PLD’s primary opposition.” https://csis.org/files/publication/131111_Meacham_DominicanRepublic_Web.pdf
Dysfunctional institutions will trap all
Dominicans in corruption and economic decline. According to Transparency International (TI), the country is
ranked 123rd place in the world terms of corruption; only Venezuela,
Paraguay, Honduras and Nicaragua have worse ratings in the Americas. A State Department report this year
noted that, “Corruption remains endemic at all levels of Dominican society. Dominican law enforcement, military, and
government officials are often accused of a range of corrupt activities
including narcotics trafficking, money laundering, extrajudicial killing and
other crimes.” http://www.state.gov/j/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2013/vol1/204049.htm#Dominican_Republic
Not surprisingly, the CSIS report notes that Fernández
or his allies have been accused of corruption, money laundering and other
serious crimes. For example,
Vargas was accused in sworn testimony earlier this year of accepting $300,000
from reputed drug kingpin Jose David Figueroa Agosto in 2008.
Haitian Dominicans are
not the only citizens paying a price for systematic corruption. Perhaps the current international
scandal generated by the supreme court’s careless ruling will spur the nation’s
political class and civil society to agree on an urgent overhaul of its
judicial and electoral institutions.
Only then will the Dominican Republic return to being a good neighbor
and productive partner for both the region and the United States.
The author was U.S.
ambassador to the OAS and assistant secretary of state during the George W.
Bush administration. He is a
visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and managing director of
Vision Americas LLC, which represents U.S. and foreign clients.
13 fire fighters from Haiti led by Chief Ardouin Zephirin arrived in Rockville for two weeks of fire and rescue training at Montgomery County Fire Rescue Training Academy http://www.rockvilleliving.com/blog/entries/2009_05_firefighters_from_haiti
Stanley Lucas and Richard R. Bowers, Jr, Chief of the Montgomery County (MD) Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS |
Poet-Rancher Mitchell: Land Ownership Makes Feds 'Monarchs'
The federal government's dominance of land ownership in Western states has become untenable, says poet and rancher Waddie Mitchell.
"To have the federal government own 87 percent of the land mass in the state kind of makes them almost monarchs, doesn't it?" he asked John Bachman and J.D. Hayworth on "America's Forum" on Newsmax TV.
Mitchell was citing an oft-quoted statistic regarding the amount of land the federal government holds in Nevada. Figures from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service show that figure is closer to 81 percent, but that is still the highest ratio in the United States.
Story continues below video.
The U.S. government owns 52 percent of the land in Western states, according to CRS data reported in October by The Washington Post.
Mitchell said the government has encroached on land owners' rights in Western states, and that the images from the grisly sieges in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and Waco, Texas, loom large in the minds of ranchers and farmers.
"When did we decide to arm and have Taser guns on land managers that they're now calling federal agents? They call them federal agents at Waco, they call them federal agents during the McCarthy era, they called them federal agents during the Waco crisis, these [same] federal agents are very willing to Tase people, strong-arm them, and steal their personal property for their own gains, which has been set up and not really for the public good," he said.
Mitchell said he has felt the plight experienced by Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher from whom the Bureau of Land Management seized roughly 400 cattle for grazing on federal lands without a permit. Bundy stopped paying grazing fees 20 years ago over a disagreement with the agency.
The seizure of those cattle resulted in a standoff that grew tense and caught national attention. Mitchell said he has had similar frustrations, including being barred from using a trail on federal lands that runs between two pieces of land his family owns. Mitchell said his family had used that road for years.
"I didn't believe the government would do things like that, but they have shut down the road, don't let me access my own property," he said. |
Chung-yong Lee: South Korean winger enjoyed good season with Bolton after bouncing back from broken leg
The South Korean enjoyed a consistent season at the Reebok Stadium after missing much of the previous campaign with a broken leg.
New Everton manager Roberto Martinez is thought to be looking at the 24-year-old as he prepares to re-shape the squad he inherited from David Moyes.
Paolo Di Canio has already made several new signings since the end of last season, and looks intent on bringing more new faces to the Stadium of Light.
Liverpool and Stoke City were rumoured to be keen on Lee in the January transfer window but no formal bid was made for the winger.
Bolton went close to edging into the play-off places last term, but having just failed to make the cut it remains to be seen if Lee will play in the Championship again this season. |
This was the third one she drew it's a fusion of Gyradose and Seaking aka Gyaraking!Credit goes to my friend Nat: stirscram.tumblr.com/ Here is the Pokemon Fusion site: pokemon.alexonsager.net/ |
Q:
a++ didn't increment in C# program
I have been trying to understand the difference between ref
and out in C# and faced this misunderstanding of a++ and ++a.
class Program
{
static void Main ( string [] args )
{
int a = 3;
incr ( a ) ;
Console.ReadKey ();
}
public static void incr ( int a ) // a = 3
{
Console.WriteLine (++a); // a incremented to 4
Console.WriteLine ( a++ ); // a should be incremented to 5 , but it is still 4
}
}
can anyone explain why a++ didn't increment to 5 in the above code.
A:
public static void incr (int a ) // a = 3
{
Console.WriteLine (++a); // Pre-Increment: Increment to 4 and pass it in.
Console.WriteLine (a++); // Post-Increment: Increment to 5, but use the old value (4).
Console.WriteLine (a); // Will show 5
}
The problem is that a++ will increment to 5, but it will use the old value for the parameter before it was incremented. ++a increments and the new value will be passed into the method.
|
Paris Boosters
The Paris Boosters was a Class-D South Central League (1912) and Texas–Oklahoma League (1913) baseball team based in Paris, Texas, USA. George Harper and Dickey Kerr played for the team in 1913. Harper finished second on the team in hits while Kerr finished second on the team in wins.
The Boosters finished fourth in the South Central League in 1912 (out of six teams) and second in the Texas–Oklahoma League in 1913. They posted a .640 winning percentage in the latter season.
References
Category:Professional baseball teams in Mississippi
Category:Defunct minor league baseball teams
Category:Paris, Texas
Category:Professional baseball teams in Texas
Category:Defunct baseball teams in Texas
Category:1912 establishments in Texas
Category:Sports clubs disestablished in 1913
Category:1913 disestablishments in Texas |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mechanism for lifting a cassette holder in a car audio, more particularly to a mechanism in which a cassette holder ascends along with a lifting guidance portion in an unloading operation and in which the cassette holder descends and holds in a loading operation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Audio devices recently developed are designed to accomplish various functions like an autoreverse, a section repetition, etc. In particular, the autoreverse function automatically switches a tape traveling direction from a forward direction to a reverse direction and vice versa. Hence, the autoreverse type car audio device has a mode changeover lever for switching operation modes according to an instruction of a control portion. A head, one of pinch rollers, and the cassette holder actuate by the mode changeover lever according to the changeover of the operation modes, an ejecting mode, play mode, changeover mode, etc. The cassette holder actuated relative with the mode changeover lever ascends to eject a tape in a loading mode and descends to read out information recorded on the tape in an unloading mode. Therefore, various mechanisms are proposed to lift the cassette holder according to the operation modes. One of the conventional cassette holder lifting devices comprises springs for ascending and descending the cassette holder according to the operation mode. In tape loading mode, the cassette holder loads the springs against their elastic force and descends. In tape unloading mode, the springs return to their original condition, and the cassette holder ascends by the force of restitution of the springs.
First, however, when a car having an audio system with the conventional cassette holder lifting mechanism travels on the road and an operation mode of the audio system is in a playing mode, a vibration of the car affects the operation of the car audio. The cassette holder vibrates. Thus bad contact between the head and the tape occurs. Hence, a signal quality which is read out from the tape is bad.
Second, in the conventional cassette holder lifting mechanism, when the operation mode is the tape loading mode, the cassette holder actuated relative with a mode changeover lever instantaneously loads the spring against their elastic force. When the operation mode is the unloading mode, the cassette holder instantaneously returns to the original position by the elastic force of the springs. The mode changeover lever is affected by the springs.
Third, the operation mode of the cassette holder is unstable because the cassette holder is placed at the ascending position by the elastic spring in the unloading mode. |
AUSTIN - Five El Paso lawmakers are among 38 Texas Democrats calling on federal authorities to review whether it’s legal for state leaders to deprive Planned Parenthood of Medicaid dollars.
The Office of the Inspector General of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission last month informed Planned Parenthood Clinics that their Medicaid funding would be terminated because of “a series of serious Medicaid program violations.”
The termination comes after a series of heavily edited videos were released that claimed to show that Planned Parenthood was illegally selling parts of aborted fetuses. A CNN investigation found possible deceptions in the videos and Planned Parenthood insists that they show no wrongdoing.
In a letter sent Wednesday to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Texas Democrats called on federal officials to investigate whether denying Medicaid to Planned Parenthood might violate federal law.
“As elected officials who are committed to strengthening women’s health-care access, we are deeply troubled by this recent effort and share the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) concern that (the Department of Health and Human Services’) actions might be in violation of federal law,” the letter said.
Chris Cutrone, a spokesman for the HHSC’s Office of the Inspector General, declined to comment on the legislators’ letter.
Federal judges have stayed attempts by Republican leaders in Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas and Utah to cut Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood in the aftermath of the controversial videos.
El Paso no longer has a Planned Parenthood clinic. But Sen. Jose Rodriguez, an El Pasoan and chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus, charged that cutting funding is part of a broader attack by the Texas GOP on women’s health.
“This latest political attack on Planned Parenthood will cut off access to health care for more than 13,000 Texas women who currently receive basic health care through Medicaid and Planned Parenthood,” Rodriguez said in an email.
El Paso has two clinics that provide abortions as well as pregnancy testing and screens for cervical and breast cancer. Both face an uncertain future as the U.S. Supreme Court weighs whether to take up a case on the constitutionality of abortion restrictions passed by the Texas Legislature in 2013.
“Sadly, despite our strong and vocal opposition, the Texas Legislature and state administration have continued in their political agenda to deny Texas women access to reproductive health care,” Wednesday’s letter to CMS said.
In addition to Rodriguez, it was signed by El Paso Reps. Marisa Marquez, Joe Moody, Mary Gonzalez and Cesar Blanco. Rep. Joe Pickett, also a Democrat, was the only member of the the El Paso delegation not to sign the letter. |
[PATCH xserver 0/5] Xwayland fixes wrt eglstream support
Hi, To activate EGL support in Xwayland, one needs to pass “-eglstream” to the Xwayland command line. As Xwayland is automatically started by the Wayland compositors (gnome-shell/mutter, weston, etc.), this needs to be added in the compositor. However, if the Xwayland was not built with eglstream support, the command line option "-eglstream" is not supported and Xwayland will bail out. As the Wayland compositor has no (easy) way to tell whether EGL support was enabled and built time in Xwayland, it cannot reliably use “-eglstream”. But even if Xwayland supports EGL stream, using “-eglstream” on hardware which do not have EGL stream will cause an abort() at startup because the EGL extensions are missing. Also, if glamor is disabled early (either because "-shm" is passed or "-eglstream" fails to initialize), we would abort() in apply_output_change() because some Wayland events remained unprocessed after InitOutput(). So ideally, one could use “-eglstream” regardless of the hardware and Xwayland would neither crash, abort or even disable glamor altogether because EGL stream is not supported, so that a compositor could decide to add “-eglstream” to the Xwayland command line and Xwayland would adapt automatically and play nice. This the goal of that series of patches (plus one little code cleanup). Cheers, Olivier Olivier Fourdan (5): xwayland: Allow "-eglstream" option xwayland: "EGL_EXT_device_base" required for eglstream xwayland: process Wayland events after adding screen xwayland: Do not disable glamor if eglstream failed xwayland: small xdg_output cleanup hw/xwayland/xwayland-glamor.c | 3 +++ hw/xwayland/xwayland-output.c | 4 +++- hw/xwayland/xwayland.c | 22 +++++++++++----------- hw/xwayland/xwayland.h | 1 - 4 files changed, 17 insertions(+), 13 deletions(-) -- 2.17.0 |
package sharpen.core.csharp.ast;
public class CSEmptyExpression extends CSExpression {
@Override
public void accept(CSVisitor visitor) {
}
}
|
Recently by Michael S. Rozeff: Personal Secession — TheWaytoFreedom
What's going on in Libya? The answer in one sense is very simple: revolution. However, the long-term results are complex and unknown.
The U.S., Britain, and France are the main foreign principals attempting, among other deeper goals, to end the Gaddafi regime and replace it with a new state, a new constitution, and a new form of government. They are predominantly using air power. Their boots on the ground consist of their own special forces (including CIA forces) and an assortment of other forces native to the region that are rebelling.
The revolution in Libya is a joint operation of Libyan rebels and forces of the West. The country in one sense was ripe for revolution because of 42 years of Gaddafi's dictatorial rule in which civil society and opposition were suppressed. But, on the other hand, economic discontent was not a probable factor fanning revolutionary flames. Libya's standard of living was high with about 61 percent of the world's countries ranking below it. Libya ranks 83rd in per capita GDP (out of 213 countries) as compared with China's ranking of 126. Its per capita annual income of $14,000 is almost double that of China and more than double that of Egypt.
Although the revolution from the West's perspective is something like many CIA-instigated coups of the past, it differs in three respects. The West has as one of its aims not merely to replace a government but to change the governing structure. It is taking a war and a rather long time period to accomplish this aim. The revolution is relying on Western air power, without which it cannot succeed and with which the degree of success is not yet clear.
Importantly, the Libyan revolution has large effects. It creates large displacements of civilians, alters economic activity, and reshapes the country's politics. The hostilities reshape the lives of many, ending some.
Uncertainties of revolution
Revolution opens up unforseen and unintended consequences. Longer-term results are unknown. This is necessarily true because people are involved. Their ideas, sentiments, interests, and values are constantly changing, and this makes their actions unpredictable. Revolution is not a chemical reaction in which combining two molecules is known to produce another molecule under known conditions. Revolution is complex even when external forces and interests are not involved.
The personal reactions of Libyans affected by the revolution are many and varied and they are bound to keep changing. At present the National Transitional Council (NTC) is a coalition united by resistance to the Gaddafi regime. It contains some who want a parliamentary democracy, others who are former members of Gaddafi's government and want power for themselves, some who want to restore the monarchy, and others who want to institute an Islamic state.
Libya's tribes are important to the country and the state. Attitudes of tribal leaders to the revolution vary. The attitudes of the NTC members to the tribes and tribalism itself in Libya vary. This adds still more complexity.
U.S. involvement
The legal cover for the West's military operations against Gaddafi is U.N. Security Council resolution 1973 (March 17, 2011). It allows regional organizations to participate. That provides the legal cover for NATO's participation.
The legal cover is so that Libya, which is being attacked, cannot claim that aggression against it is occurring, which it is. And it is so that the attackers can claim that they are attacking for humanitarian reasons, which they are not. Additionally resolution 1973 contradicts the clear language of the U.N. charter which forbids such international attacks on its members, of which Libya is one.
The West's overt military attack began on March 19, 2011 (Operation Odyssey Dawn) with the launching of air attacks by the U.S., Great Britain, and France from submarines and ships. The U.S. commanded the initial operations for several weeks. NATO subsequently took over, but only in name. A U.S. admiral is the Supreme Allied Commander, and the U.S. provides 70 percent of the reconnaissance, 75 percent of the refueling, and 27 percent of all air sorties. NATO also imposed a blockade by sea.
These operations took time to prepare. They took planning and coordination. The initial targets had to be recognized and selected. The ships had to be brought into position. The U.S. had to have been instrumental in these operations.
The U.S. had to have been the leader in the decision to remove Gaddafi, because of its role in these preparations and its subsequent dominant role. The U.S. needed only the right sparks within Libya to have fanned them into a full-fledged revolution. It needed only a pretext or two in order to decide that the time had come to end the Gaddafi regime.
The initial uprising in Benghazi began on February 15. By February 22, Gaddafi was suppressing the revolt in Tripoli. This resulted in an estimated 200-400 deaths. Gaddafi threatened a house to house intensive search for armed protestors, warning them that execution lay in store for them. He said “Any Libyan who carries arms against Libyans will be punished by death.”
The critical moment of U.S. decision became public when Obama said on February 26 that Gaddafi had "lost legitimacy" and must "leave now". On March 3, he repeated that Gaddafi had lost legitimacy and should step down. He revealed that he was considering a range of military options to make this happen. It's very likely that Obama had already directed military forces into the region in February, given that the attack came on March 19 and that reports of ships headed for Libya through Suez had surfaced by March 1.
What the timing of these movements and statements suggests is that the U.S. had decided very early on to remove Gaddafi when the opportunity presented itself, or to create the opportunity. A firmer degree of planning probably goes back into 2010, before the uprisings began in January in Egypt. Contingency planning probably goes back further than that.
Each foreign state that has been participating in this revolution has its own interests in bringing it about. A politician who cites humanitarian concerns is either terminally naive or lying. The haste with which a number of countries have recognized the National Transitional Council as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people tells us that state interests predominate.
In the U.S. case, the reasons for removing Gaddafi include reducing Chinese influence in Libya and Africa, removing an independent voice who can encourage African nations to keep their distance from the U.S., removing someone who is moving to abandon the use of dollars in pricing oil, access to a high quality crude oil and abundant potential reserves, removing an antagonist of Saudi Arabia, and the U.S.’s general policy of creating western-style democracies.
By March 16, Gaddafi's superior forces were on the doorstep of Benghazi. The U.S. was in the last stages of obtaining legal cover and making attack preparations. It was at this point that the West's propaganda machine went into high gear with the suggestion that Gaddafi was going to massacre the population of Benghazi. This was a physical impossibility. Gaddafi's heated and pugnacious rhetoric at what he thought was his moment of complete triumph played into the West's hands. A more balanced report at the time quoted a Libyan army source to the more sensible effect that the government wanted to retake Benghazi without attacking the city, and that the message it wanted to convey on Libyan state television was that "The idea is to surround Benghazi but to leave one exit open for the rebels. If we can get the rebels to leave the city then we will move troops in between them and the city and fight them in the open desert."
Propaganda has been a significant element in the strategy of the rebels and their foreign partners. This has included the highly implausible charge that Gaddafi was using rape and Viagra as a weapon.
CIA methods
The CIA is surely integral to U.S. operations inside Libya. It takes only a brief look at the CIA's history to realize that this must be the case.
One of the CIA's methods is the secret war. The CIA waged a secret war for some 13 to 20 years in Laos between 1955 and 1974. The CIA itself tells its story of this covert war on its web site.
Another of the CIA's methods is the coup d'état. For example, Nixon directed the CIA to create a coup against Allende in Chile. The CIA published a prize-winning article about this that says
"So sure were senior US officials that Salvador Allende and his coalition would be defeated in the September 1970 election, as he had been three times previously, that, despite CIA warnings, they were caught off-guard when he won a plurality. Undeterred by the voters' preference, President Richard Nixon delivered a clear and forceful Directive calling for expanded CIA operations in Chile. In the weeks between Allende's election and his inauguration planned for 3 November, the CIA actively sought to foment a coup in Chile. Washington was unequivocal about its desire to keep Allende from power."
More such cases can be found here.
Consider also the U.S. coup activity in Syria that stretched over many years. Adam Curtis has an informative blog on CIA machinations in Syria. What is more, he tells the story of some pre-CIA government-led 1947 attempts to influence Syrian politics as explained by CIA agent Miles Copeland in his 1968 book The Game of Nations.
An extensive treatment of the U.S. coup attempts in Syria appears in historian Douglas Little's article "Cold War and Covert Action: The United States and Syria, 1945-58." This 25-page article will not be accessible to most readers. Brief summaries appear here and here.
Prof. Little writes, for example, of Operation Straggle in 1956. The CIA cooperated with the British SIS (Secret Intelligence Service) in this (as they are doing in Libya now). The U.S. ambassador suggested an anti-communist coup engineered by the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP). Plans for a coup were subsequently discussed in the White House. The Secretary of State communicated about these prospects with his British counterparts. Within two months, they had developed covert plans (in the words of the British Foreign Secretary) "to establish in Syria a Government more friendly to the West". Subsequently the CIA chief flew to London to work out details with the SIS.
We read that
"The original CIA-SIS plan appears to have called for Turkey to stage border incidents, British operatives to stir up the desert tribes, and American agents to mobilize SSNP guerrillas, all of which would trigger a pro-Western coup by u2018indigenous anticommunist elements within Syria' supported, if necessary, by Iraqi troops."
False flag events are a common technique used in coups.
The CIA in Libya
The CIA's role in fomenting, assisting, and furthering the Libyan revolution has received relatively little attention. As usual, the public information is sparse. We have to make inferences and piece together a complete picture. The margin of error goes up, but maybe not that much in view of the past record of the CIA and what we know from the public record..
On March 30, 2011 the LA Times reported White House comments that "CIA officers on the ground in Libya are coordinating with rebels and sharing intelligence." The White House refused comment on a Reuters report of a secret memo that two weeks earlier had authorized secret aid to the rebels.
The time frame for these decisions lines up well with Obama's March 3 revelation that he was considering military options. In order to spot targets for bombing and report them to NATO, CIA and other intelligence services of Great Britain and possibly France are essential. In order to train rebels in weapons and advise on military operations on the ground, such forces are essential. The CIA has deep experience in inserting operatives on foreign grounds. It is safe to assume that CIA operatives for these military purposes were in place in Libya in February and certainly by March 3. That was the date on which a team of British special forces fouled up and were captured by some rebels in Libya.
As of May, the commander of the rebel forces is Khalifa Belqasim Haftar. He has close ties to the CIA, which financed his militia years ago. He lived a number of years in Langley, Virginia.
Military-oriented CIA personnel are likely only a portion of the full array of CIA people with a hand in this revolution. Sooner or later, if the West ousts Gaddafi, it will try to control the new government. It will choose whom to back and support and whom to marginalize. The CIA will be critical in making these decisions.
No doubt the CIA and other western intelligence operations are now connected to a number of persons on the National Transitional Council, either directly or indirectly. This affords them the means to control or influence the direction of the revolution, or the hope of doing so. Members of the council's executive team have toured western capitols and have been constantly seeking assistance, both military and financial. This is bound to have exposed them to western diplomats, politicians, and intelligence operatives.
Specifically, one contingent of the NTC is affiliated with the Libyan League for Human Rights, which has a number of branches in the West. It was founded in 1989. Another contingent is the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, founded in 1981. It has been supported by Saudi Arabia and the CIA. A third element is separatist and goes back to the Senoussis Brotherhood that was the de facto government of Cyrenaica. This element is monarchist. (See also here.) Also on the NTC are liberals with links to human rights organizations, persons who are ex-Gaddafi government officials, and finally persons who favor a radical Islamic state.
The CIA would not at all have minded in the 1990s that Gaddafi would be battling terrorism within Libya . They would have been pleased that Gaddafi reconciled with the West. These activities led to cooperation with the West. That brought the CIA close to Gaddafi’s intelligence operatives and members of his regime. That allowed the CIA to infiltrate and turn some Libyan agents into double agents. That allowed the CIA to identify and cultivate elements in Gaddafi's government that were anti-Gaddafi. The same goes for the SIS.
In other words, the CIA and SIS have had sources within Gaddafi’s intelligence operation and government for a long time. They had double agents. There are Libyan government officials who are on the NTC who deserted Gaddafi that are seeking power. Some of these are likely to be closely attached to the SIS and CIA. The CIA always infiltrates. It has its fingers on as many of the NTC contingents as it can.
At the opportune time, the U.S. will push aside certain revolutionary elements and support others. It did this for years in Syria in its failed attempt to control that country's politics. It has been doing this for years in Iraq and Afghanistan. CIA influence on these decisions will be important.
U.S. failures
The CIA agrees with its critics that its early efforts in Syria and elsewhere were failures. CIA historian and veteran intelligence analyst Nicholas Dujmovic writes on the CIA web site "It is no surprise to anyone knowledgeable about early CIA covert operations that, in the first years of the Cold War [1945-53], most of this activity met with failure."
CIA failures are really broader U.S. policy failures. Later efforts of the CIA have failed again and again, in places like Syria, Cuba, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. There are many reasons why.
A big reason is that the U.S. is unable to control a country's politics by any means and certainly not by military means. There are too many dynamic unknowns. Unintended consequences occur because the U.S. cannot foresee and therefore cannot control all the possible events that can happen, and that's because it cannot foresee what the political players are going to do. Very many actions of human beings come from within. As such they are uncaused, frequently being uncertain and unpredictable. Human beings have the capacity to break into reality and alter it. Multiple actions of multiple parties create new conditions that could not have been foreseen. Human beings can lie and deceive. They can give out false information. They can uses ruses and stratagems. They can switch sides. They can bluff.
In international politics, communications are cloudy. Intentions are unclear. Trust is lacking. Crises can erupt. Definite information about how far others will go and what they will do is not available.
The games that are being played are dangerous games, and they are games that are being played with people's lives.
The Syrian case illustrates these points. American-Syrian relations were friendly for over a century after 1820. The U.S. supported Syria's removal of the French control over the country. Syrians looked upon America as friendly. This altered dramatically when the U.S. supported the creation of Israel.
In November of 1948, Stephen Meade, a CIA political action specialist, contacted right-wing Syrian army officers. This led to a coup in March 1949 in which Husni Zaim took power. At first, this was wildly successful from the U.S. perspective. Zaim rooted out communists, approved an ARAMCO oil pipeline, began to improve relations with Turkey and Israel, and planned to resettle Palestinian refugees. However, on August 14, 1949, Zaim was overthrown in another coup that the CIA and the U.S. had not foreseen. This led to political instability and rule that was not conducive to U.S. aims. After seven civilian cabinets in 23 months, Colonel Shishakli became dictator. About two years later, he was overthrown. The next leader lasted 14 months before he was assassinated. In August 1955, Syria elected Shukri Quwatly as president.
The next U.S. coup attempt nearly led to a superpower confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. All during 1956 and most of 1957, the U.S. planned various coups in Syria. Operation Wappen was approved in August of 1957. This led to a fiasco. The Operation was penetrated by Syrian intelligence. As soon as the CIA approached Syrian officers, they reported to their authorities. Syria expelled several CIA agents and placed the U.S. embassy under constant surveillance. Contrary to the CIA's designs, a left-wing colonel now gained control over his moderate rivals. This alarmed Turkey which massed 50,000 troops on the Syrian border. John Foster Dulles was prepared to go to war in Syria. He viewed Khrushchev "as more like Hitler than any Russian leader we have previously seen." Khrushchev emitted a clear message that "if Turkey starts hostilities against Syria, this can lead to very grave consequences, and for Turkey, too." The U.S. then had to provide aid and assurances to Turkey so that it would de-mobilize.
Closing thoughts
The U.S. foreign policy goals have been and are large. Too large. Anti-Communism was seen as a worldwide confrontation of huge proportions. Anti-terrorism is now seen as a huge matter of global scale. The U.S. government pushes democracy, not just here but everywhere on earth
The U.S. government is too ambitious, too utopian, and too domineering. When it catches hold of one of these causes, it goes whole hog. It thinks it has found truth. It thinks it's necessary to implement it everywhere. It tries to spread it everywhere.
Domestically, it's the same. Utopia is the goal. No area of life shall be left untouched in the government's quest to make life wonderfully perfect for all persons and from all angles. Everyone shall be made happy. Does it ever occur to anyone that maybe happiness is not a good goal for one's life or for every single aspect of life? Does it ever occur to anyone that Jefferson maybe had it wrong? Does the government not realize that suffering is an ineradicable part of living and dying? Does no one in government realize that in the quest for unending happiness, we may create a great deal of unhappiness for ourselves? Does no one in government realize that they do not know what constitutes the happiness of a given person? Does no one realize that happiness may deaden creativity, or that many worthwhile endeavors are not happy experiences, or that unhappiness may bring about many good results? Life is not so simple.
We have presidents and Congressmen who want to eliminate poverty, eradicate disease, provide everyone with health care, make sure anyone can buy a house, make sure that Americans have jobs, make sure that the planet doesn't get too warm, make sure that no child is left behind, and make sure that no one takes "bad" drugs and all those who should have "good" drugs be made to take them. We have governments that want to make sure we don't waste energy and that every bottle has a tamper proof seal. Every toy should be ultra safe. Children shall never point their fingers at each other. Women shall be paid the same as men. No one shall touch a creek, a swamp, a marsh, a stream or a river without permission. No one shall kill certain bugs or critters.
No parent shall strike a child. What would have happened to my parents if this had been the rule when my father took a razor strap to my behind or my mother slapped me across the face? Isolated instances to be sure, but in those particular cases my behavior called for it. Can a man slap an hysterical person these days? It's still shown in the movies. In those same movies, travelers often pack guns as they board airplanes or place them in suitcases. Can a person exercise reasonable judgment and precautions in all sorts of situations without running afoul of laws? Not any more. One has to have permission. It's grade school extended to life.
It's all insane. The U.S. is a nuthouse. It once prohibited alcohol nationwide. This shows how nutty American government can be. Americans then went on a very large Prohibition binge. Insane.
Plain old living seems increasingly to be beyond the capacity of human beings in modern life, at least that with which I am familiar in the U.S. Living and let living increasingly are falling by the wayside.
The nuttiness isn't only in the overambitious goals. It's also in the knee-jerk resort to force to bring them about. Do we actually believe that force is the answer to everything? To health care, shelter, education, drugs, foreign relations, food, unfriendly governments, product safety, and money? It appears we do. Such a belief is insane.
The government's overambitious foreign goals are made even more improper when they are implemented in secretive, unaccountable, and violent ways that constantly interfere in the internal workings of other nations. How can the U.S. maintain that it stands for freedom and for democracy when here at home the people are kept in the dark about the CIA? The public doesn't know the amount of funding of the CIA much less its activities. The CIA is a secret arm of the Executive branch. It routinely violates any semblance of constitutional and international law. How can any of that be reconciled with the idea that the U.S. government is a government of a free people who control its actions?
On paper, the U.S. is a constitutional republic with limited powers. In reality, it goes around the world seeking to make and unmake the governments of other countries. This is currently the case in Libya.
The U.S. government believes in governing not only its own citizens but anyone else it can. Its ideal is to regulate behavior so as to produce what it will call happiness and security of a person. Its laws and regulations are merely a crude form of programming, because they require external monitoring and enforcement.
For government, the (science-fiction) ideal would be something like this. The government would determine how to make every person be "happy" all day long. It would determine what behaviors, thoughts, and actions are consistent with this and what are not. It would program all of this onto a chip that would be implanted in a newborn baby. The chip would then control the baby, thereby ending the baby's will and humanity. The baby would be turned into a robot that always obeys the commands and impulses brought about by the instructions on the chip. Once the government had fastened upon a set of "happiness instructions" and programmed them, the human race would simply reproduce itself and live happily ever after. A high degree of stasis would occur. Certain amusements might be programmed in. Work would be made the occasion of pleasure by appropriate drugs.
The U.S. would prefer Gaddafi to be dead so that the Libyans can achieve a higher measure of "happiness" with a new form of government. The U.S. had the same wish for Saddam Hussein. In the brave new world of perfect government by implanted chips, any potential Gaddafis, Saddam Husseins, and Hannibal Lecters will be eliminated long before they can damage others. The chip will automatically release deadly poison if certain limits of violent behavior are surpassed. Punishments will be automatic.
In this world, human creativity would cease. Human personality would be suppressed. Freedom would be non-existent. This is the limit to which existing government is tending. The result of this is the death or near-death of the human race. Without freedom and creativity, human beings will be unable to cope with environmental changes. Climate changes alone will doom them, but so may new species of other animals, crop failures, floods, etc. The chip-makers will be unable to foresee all contingencies in the same way that the U.S. government never foresees the results of its intrusions in other nations. Perfect chip-government will kill everyone. Utopia will be the death of us.
The Best of Michael S. Rozeff |
July 13, 2012
Bakelite cherry brooch, late 1930s
Can you imagine a world without plastic? Overwhelmingly ubiquitous today, plastic has been in existence for less than 200 years. Prior to the last quarter of the 19th century, when plastic products became commercially available, everything was made from organic materials. Developed in the 1860s, early plastics generally replicated organic materials like tortoiseshell, ivory, wood or coral. Used to make children's toys, combs, cutlery, billiard balls, and many other functional and/or decorative objects, plastics were soon absorbed into the fabric of everyday life.
In the early 20th century, a new, more durable plastic was invented: Bakelite. In attempting to make a powerful solvent, chemist Leo Baekeland instead developed an extremely persistent chemical residue. Baekeland realized that his accidental discovery might have potential, tinkering with the formula until it became a strong, moldable, heat resistant plastic. Baekeland named the new substance after himself, announcing his discovery at the American Chemical Society conference in February 1909. Soon after this announcement, Baekeland formed the General Bakelite Company.
Moldable, resistant to heat, sunlight and chemical solvents, Bakelite was used in industrial applications and the manufacture of toys, radios, telephones and other products. Because it could be cut, polished, carved and dyed, Bakelite was the perfect material for crafting relatively inexpensive costume jewelry. Newly popular in the 1920s, costume jewelry was a fashionable, inexpensive alternative to jewelry made from gold and expensive stones. Though Bakelite jewelry was sometimes shaped and carved to resemble cut stones, during the 1930s it often took whimsical, even comic, forms. Do a quick Internet search for Bakelite jewelry and you'll find necklaces and pins shaped like bananas, oranges, apricots, scottie dogs, birds, insects and more.
Cherries, like the glossy bunch featured in the brooch above, were a particularly popular motif during the 1930s. In 1932, a report from Paris described afternoon frocks of "black silk crepe stamped with clusters of white, pale green or pale pink cherries and leaves."1 In 1935, Vogue described a Milgrim day dress of cherry printed silk, accompanied by a belt with clasp of black patent leather cherries. Cherry shaped buttons decorated children's clothing, and artificial cherries perched on women's hats.
Why cherries? French textile designers were perhaps aware of Lalique's 1923 Cerises, a carved plastic box featuring a tangle of cherries. Representations of this exuberant, cheerful fruit might have appealed to consumers wearied by the Depression. Within the United States, the popularity of cherries and cherry blossoms might have been linked to the April 1934 Washington D.C. cherry blossom festival. Celebrating Japanese-American friendship, this three-day festival was covered by national media. Because of its popularity, the festival became an annual event still celebrated today. |
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Normally, I wouldn't post something like this....but it made me facepalm. Hard.
Spoiler for Which one of you is this?:
Somebody get Nena on phone, NOW!!
__________________
"You cannot be bad at watching a movie. You cannot be bad at listening to an album.
...But you can be bad at playing a videogame, and the game will punish you and deny you access to the rest of the videogame."
Normally, I wouldn't post something like this....but it made me facepalm. Hard.
Spoiler for Which one of you is this?:
A Gundam wedding? Without any Gundam? What a bunch of noobs! If I were them I would have put RX-78 and a Char's Custom Zaku instead of juts having bnuch of Zakus, what a disgarace ...though seriously a Gundam wedding is just weird. Otaku these days, I wonder if this will become a trend from now onw.
A Gundam wedding? Without any Gundam? What a bunch of noobs! If I were them I would have put RX-78 and a Char's Custom Zaku instead of juts having bnuch of Zakus, what a disgarace ...though seriously a Gundam wedding is just weird. Otaku these days, I wonder if this will become a trend from now onw.
First of all, I'm sorry for even trying to ridicule this, but point is; We're supposed to not care about it at all. It's a sacred thing, Matrimony is. And It is respect that this picture needs. We should not talk about it like this. |
Q:
accessing specific value from JSON array swift 4
Im trying build a quiz app which uses a open source api. Till now I have been able to parse the JSON and make the array global. The array prints as a whole, but whenever I try to specify a element I get the error "subscript' is unavailable: cannot subscript String with an Int, see the documentation comment for discussion".
import UIKit
import Alamofire
import PKHUD
import SwiftyJSON
struct Result : Decodable{
let question : String
let correct_answer : Bool
}
var r: Result?
class ViewController: UIViewController {
var r: Result?
var myResults = [Result]()
override func viewDidLoad() {
getQuestionNew()
super.viewDidLoad()
// self.r = Result()
printTest()
}
func getQuestionNew(){
// this is the main screwed up function
let parameters: Parameters = ["amount": 15, "type":"boolean"]
Alamofire.request("https://opentdb.com/api.php", method: .get, parameters: parameters, encoding: URLEncoding.default, headers: nil).responseJSON { (response) in
// print("Request: \(String(describing: response.request))") // original url request
// print("Response: \(String(describing: response.response))") // http url response
// print("Result: \(response.result)")
if((response.result.value) != nil) {
let swiftyJsonVar = JSON(response.result.value!)
//print(swiftyJsonVar["results"])
let results = swiftyJsonVar["results"].arrayValue
results.forEach({ (item) in
//print("Printing Item \(item["question"].stringValue)")
// print("Printing Item ?\(item)")
self.r = Result(question: item["question"].stringValue, correct_answer: item["correct_answer"].stringValue == "True" ? true : false)
self.myResults.append(self.r!)
self.printTest()
// print(self.r)
})
// label.text = allQuestions.list[questionNumber].questionText
}
}
}
func printTest(){
//error prone
print(r?.question[2])
}
}
My code
A:
Your r?.question is a String, not an array, so you got this error. What I understand, you need the Question and Answers from list. If so, please check the code below:
func printTest(){
for element in myResults {
print("Q:", element.question)
print("A", element.correct_answer)
}
}
call the printTest() outside the for loop:
results.forEach({ (item) in
//print("Printing Item \(item["question"].stringValue)")
// print("Printing Item ?\(item)")
self.r = Result(question: item["question"].stringValue, correct_answer: item["correct_answer"].stringValue == "True" ? true : false)
self.myResults.append(self.r!)
// self.printTest()
})
// call here after loop
self.printTest()
[Edit 1] You full Structure should be like below:
struct Result : Decodable {
let incorrect_answers : [Bool]?
let correct_answer : Bool?
let type : String?
let category : String?
let difficulty : String?
let question : String?
}
|
Tag Archives: class action suit
Back in May, a class action lawsuit was filed against multi-level marketing company WorldVentures. This is the travel MLM that encourages distributors to share photos of themselves holding signs saying “You Should Be Here.” It is marketed as a direct sales travel club, yet the “start a business” part of their website doesn’t even mention what you will be selling or doing. The World Ventures compensation plan mentions making money from selling products and from recruiting others, yet the entire document speaks only to the money that is made from enrolling new distributors (called enrolling new product customers). Making money from selling something seems to be wholly disregarded.
MarketAmerica is a multi-level marketing company that has a number or product lines including Isotonix supplements, Motives cosmetics, and others. It also uses what it calls a “product brokerage concept,” which is essentially a massive affiliate program which pays a small amount of cash back to the the distributor when purchases are made at certain retailers while on the shop.com website. (This sounds just like Shop to Earn, a defunct MLM that screamed pyramid scheme.)
Per the lawsuit, Market America requires a start-up fee of $399 and an ongoing monthly fee of $129. Distributors must also spend $100 to $300 per month on shop.com to continue to qualify as an enrollee, and other fees are incurred to attend training and events. Read More → |
Six people have been stabbed in a series of random attacks near the Eurostar hub at Gare du Nord station in Paris.
An unidentified man, reportedly under the influence of alcohol, began stabbing people in Rue Max Dormay, just north of the Gare du Nord, around midnight last night.
Five people were initially injured and then taken to hospital as the man ran along pavements stabbing at will.
The unidentified knifeman took out a weapon near Gare du Nord, pictured, and began 'stabbing at will' as he ran along the street, injuring five people and failing to injure a sixth
Sources close to the case told Le Parisien newspaper that a sixth woman ‘escaped injuries because her thick clothes protected her arm from the knife.’
Detectives examined CCTV images of all the assaults, and managed to track the attacker down to a building around a mile away.
His clothes were covered in blood when arrested in the early hours of Wednesday, when he was taken to a police station to sober up. The knife used in the attacks was found on the floor.
Paris prosecutors supported by judicial police were due to interrogate the man today, with a view to charging him with assault occasioning actual bodily harm, while also examining his motives further.
None of the injuries he caused were life threatening, with those hurt released from hospital after minor treatment.
In October two young women were stabbed to death outside Marseille’s main train station in a terrorist attack.
Soldiers standing by then shot the knifeman dead, before Islamic State claimed him as one of their ‘soldiers’.
France remains on high alert following other attempts by knifemen to strike in Paris, including one in Paris exactly a year ago when an Egyptian national rushed at soldiers guarding the Louvre museum.
The man, who was brandishing a machete, was also shot, but survived and is now awaiting trial for a series of terrorist offences. |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson, which has been beset with recalls of Tylenol and other consumer products over the past year, has recalled almost 5 million additional packages of Benadryl, Motrin and Rolaids because of manufacturing “insufficiencies.”
J&J said the recalls, like many of the earlier ones, involved products made at its plant in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. The facility was closed earlier this year to fix quality-control lapses, including unsanitary conditions.
The latest actions involve 4 million packages of Children’s Benadryl Allergy Fastmelt Tablets in cherry and grape flavors. The allergy drug was distributed in the United States and other markets, a company spokeswoman said.
An estimated 800,000 bottles of Junior Strength Motrin Caplets, a painkiller, were recalled in the United States.
The Benadryl and Motrin recalls were initiated after a J&J review “revealed insufficiencies in the development of the manufacturing process,” J&J said.
The company spokeswoman declined to identify the specific manufacturing lapses. She said there was no indication that the products failed to meet quality standards.
In addition, about 71,000 packages of Rolaids antacid, in a cherry flavored extra-strength Softchews formulation, were recalled in the United States.
J&J said the Rolaids were made by a third party, and were recalled following consumer complaints about “an uncharacteristic consistency or texture, traced to crystallized sugar in the product.”
Unlike previous recalls, J&J did not issue press releases announcing the latest actions by its McNeil consumer healthcare division. It posted them on a company website.
“This is not a consumer-level recall; consumers do not have to take any action,” the spokeswoman said when asked why press releases were not issued.
She said all three new actions instead were “wholesale and retail level” recalls, which called instead on wholesalers and retail outlets to take action. |
Bone-ster Mechanics Creeper - 400 lb Capacity
The Bone-ster is a light, more compact version of the original Bone creeper. With a ground clearance of about 1-1/2", the Bone-ster is less likely to tip and easier to work on then any other creeper. Molded structural ribs add strength and durability with reduced bulk and weight. Smaller wheel pod size allows for free shoulder movement and more comfort for the Big and Tall crowd.
The Bone-ster's wheels are 3" diameter with oil-impregnated metal center bearings and a 7/8" wide tire. The wheels are held by heavy gauge, cad-plated steel caster frames equipped with dual race ball bearing swivels. These wheels are designed for strength, and are back by a limited lifetime warranty. |
import apsw
import logging
logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
import time
import collections
import copy
from counterpartylib.lib import config
from counterpartylib.lib import util
from counterpartylib.lib import exceptions
from counterpartylib.lib import log
BLOCK_MESSAGES = []
def rowtracer(cursor, sql):
"""Converts fetched SQL data into dict-style"""
dictionary = {}
for index, (name, type_) in enumerate(cursor.getdescription()):
dictionary[name] = sql[index]
return dictionary
def exectracer(cursor, sql, bindings):
# This means that all changes to database must use a very simple syntax.
# TODO: Need sanity checks here.
sql = sql.lower()
if sql.startswith('create trigger') or sql.startswith('drop trigger'):
#CREATE TRIGGER stmts may include an "insert" or "update" as part of them
return True
# Parse SQL.
array = sql.split('(')[0].split(' ')
command = array[0]
if 'insert' in sql:
category = array[2]
elif 'update' in sql:
category = array[1]
else:
#CREATE TABLE, etc
return True
db = cursor.getconnection()
dictionary = {'command': command, 'category': category, 'bindings': bindings}
skip_tables = [
'blocks', 'transactions',
'balances', 'messages', 'mempool', 'assets',
'new_sends', 'new_issuances' # interim table for CIP10 activation
]
skip_tables_block_messages = copy.copy(skip_tables)
if command == 'update':
# List message manually.
skip_tables += ['orders', 'bets', 'rps', 'order_matches', 'bet_matches', 'rps_matches']
# Record alteration in database.
if category not in skip_tables:
log.message(db, bindings['block_index'], command, category, bindings)
# Record alteration in computation of message feed hash for the block
if category not in skip_tables_block_messages:
# don't include asset_longname as part of the messages hash
# until subassets are enabled
if category == 'issuances' and not util.enabled('subassets'):
if isinstance(bindings, dict) and 'asset_longname' in bindings: del bindings['asset_longname']
# don't include memo as part of the messages hash
# until enhanced_sends are enabled
if category == 'sends' and not util.enabled('enhanced_sends'):
if isinstance(bindings, dict) and 'memo' in bindings: del bindings['memo']
sorted_bindings = sorted(bindings.items()) if isinstance(bindings, dict) else [bindings,]
BLOCK_MESSAGES.append('{}{}{}'.format(command, category, sorted_bindings))
return True
class DatabaseIntegrityError(exceptions.DatabaseError):
pass
def get_connection(read_only=True, foreign_keys=True, integrity_check=True):
"""Connects to the SQLite database, returning a db `Connection` object"""
logger.debug('Creating connection to `{}`.'.format(config.DATABASE))
if read_only:
db = apsw.Connection(config.DATABASE, flags=apsw.SQLITE_OPEN_READONLY)
else:
db = apsw.Connection(config.DATABASE)
cursor = db.cursor()
# For integrity, security.
if foreign_keys and not read_only:
# logger.debug('Checking database foreign keys.')
cursor.execute('''PRAGMA foreign_keys = ON''')
cursor.execute('''PRAGMA defer_foreign_keys = ON''')
rows = list(cursor.execute('''PRAGMA foreign_key_check'''))
if rows:
for row in rows:
logger.debug('Foreign Key Error: {}'.format(row))
raise exceptions.DatabaseError('Foreign key check failed.')
# So that writers don’t block readers.
cursor.execute('''PRAGMA journal_mode = WAL''')
# logger.debug('Foreign key check completed.')
# Make case sensitive the `LIKE` operator.
# For insensitive queries use 'UPPER(fieldname) LIKE value.upper()''
cursor.execute('''PRAGMA case_sensitive_like = ON''')
if integrity_check:
logger.debug('Checking database integrity.')
integral = False
for i in range(10): # DUPE
try:
cursor.execute('''PRAGMA integrity_check''')
rows = cursor.fetchall()
if not (len(rows) == 1 and rows[0][0] == 'ok'):
raise exceptions.DatabaseError('Integrity check failed.')
integral = True
break
except DatabaseIntegrityError:
time.sleep(1)
continue
if not integral:
raise exceptions.DatabaseError('Could not perform integrity check.')
# logger.debug('Integrity check completed.')
db.setrowtrace(rowtracer)
db.setexectrace(exectracer)
cursor.close()
return db
def version(db):
cursor = db.cursor()
user_version = cursor.execute('PRAGMA user_version').fetchall()[0]['user_version']
# manage old user_version
if user_version == config.VERSION_MINOR:
version_minor = user_version
version_major = config.VERSION_MAJOR
user_version = (config.VERSION_MAJOR * 1000) + version_minor
cursor.execute('PRAGMA user_version = {}'.format(user_version))
else:
version_minor = user_version % 1000
version_major = user_version // 1000
return version_major, version_minor
def update_version(db):
cursor = db.cursor()
user_version = (config.VERSION_MAJOR * 1000) + config.VERSION_MINOR
cursor.execute('PRAGMA user_version = {}'.format(user_version)) # Syntax?!
logger.info('Database version number updated.')
def vacuum(db):
logger.info('Starting database VACUUM. This may take awhile...')
cursor = db.cursor()
cursor.execute('VACUUM')
logger.info('Database VACUUM completed.')
# vim: tabstop=8 expandtab shiftwidth=4 softtabstop=4
|
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
Yes, Sir, That's My Baby
While he was governor of Texas, George W. Bush fought tooth and nail to prevent passage of a patient's bill of rights, and then, two years later, claimed credit for passage of the bill while running for president.
Putting aside the fact that any brainchild of the president would most likely be stillborn, voters swallowed this claim, as well as the president's attempt to portray himself as a moderate, compassionate conservative.
President Bush fought against the very creation of the 9/11 commission, and then stonewalled them for months, according to commission chairmen Keane and Hamilton. He refused to testify before them under oath, and when he did, he had to have Dick Cheney with him.
Now, like Bobby Buchet's deadbeat dad in Adam Sandler's Waterboy, Bush has returned to claim a "success" that he had nothing to do with.
When it comes to the 9/11 commission's report, we're seeing Bush wrap select commission conclusions in swaddling clothes. He proudly holds up the committee's ludicrous conclusion that we're "Safer but not safe", for example.
The truth that really matters is the truth you don't hear on T.V. Here are some other commission conclusions the President gave up for adoption...
Bush failed to have even one meeting to discuss the threat of terrorism with his head of counterterrorism Richard Clarke. Confirmed, Commission Report at p. 201.
142 Saudis, including 24 members of the bin Laden family, were allowed to leave the country after September 13. Confirmed, Commission Report at p. 556, n. 25 [Note that Fahrenheit 9/11 understates the number of Saudis who left.] |
INTRODUCTION {#sec1-1}
============
Psychosocial problems are very common health concerns in children. According to a study conducted in the New Haven area of the USA, prevalence is as high as 27% in children (4-16yrs old) and 13% among preschool children.[@ref1] Children with psychosocial problems have almost twice as many medical illness episodes with a high level of service use.[@ref2][@ref3] Furthermore, untreated emotional and behavioral disorders contribute to poor overall functioning, school failure, adolescent and adult crime, violence, substance abuse and suicide.[@ref4][@ref5]
According to published studies of mental health problems diagnosed by primary care pediatricians, family practitioners or pediatric nurse practitioners working in out-patient settings in the United States, the pediatricians were able to identify only half of the children with mental problems (low sensitivity and high specificity).[@ref6][@ref7] In the USA, the American Academy of Pediatrics has reaffirmed a policy statement that focused on the prevention, early detection and management of behavioral, developmental and social problems as a main part of the scope of pediatric practice.[@ref8] As a result, there has been some improvement in the identification of psychosocial problems in children in USA compared to a few decades ago (improved from 6.8% in 1979 to 18.7% in 1996).[@ref9] However, this is still a child health problem in developing countries as shown in a recent Saudi study that revealed low utilization by pediatricians of the child and adolescent liaison psychiatric services.[@ref10]
This study was conducted to shed some light on the knowledge, practice and attitudes of pediatricians who are training or working in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia, toward childhood psychiatric disorders; methods of diagnosis, psychotropic medications and psychological interventions. It was also to find out whether pediatricians required any training in child psychiatry.
METHODS {#sec1-2}
=======
A five-part questionnaire (A, B, C, D & E) was constructed by the researchers. 'A' contained the demographic data, 'B' contained the professional data, 'C' dealt with knowledge, 'D' focused on practice and 'E' on attitudes.
A pilot study was conducted to work out the administrative and procedural logistics, to estimate response rate, clarity and logical sequences of questionnaire. Ten participants at King Khalid University Hospital (KKUH), one of the hospitals for the main study were used in the pilot program. Response of the pediatricians has shown that all the questions were clearly understood and were logically sequenced. Data of the pilot study are not included in the main study.
Four-hundred-fifty questionnaires were distributed to the pediatricians. This formed the total of all pediatricians in the seven main governmental hospitals in Riyadh, both specialists and residents. The study was conducted over three months between March 1 and May 30 2005.
After completion, the returned questionnaires were analyzed. Data were expressed as mean ± standard error of the mean. Three Likert-scale scoring was used to assess the attitudes of the participants. Variables were compared using Chi square. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS. A p-value \<0.05 defined statistical significance.
RESULTS {#sec1-3}
=======
Out of 450 questionnaires distributed to the pediatricians, 98 completed questionnaires (22%) were returned. There were no responses to some of the questions on the questionnaire. Demographic data ([Table 1](#T1){ref-type="table"}) showed that 79.6% of the samples were males, 74.3% were 40 years of age or younger, 64.3% are Saudi, 85.7% were married and 82.3% had children.
######
Demographic data of the sample
[Table 2](#T2){ref-type="table"} showed that 62% of the sample were trainees (residents or registrars). Most of them were in Saudi or Arab Board residency programs. About 88.8% had never had any training in child psychiatry and 10.2% had had a short training of less than six months. Eighty-four percent of the sample said they would use only their clinical assessment to diagnose, and just 12% of the pediatricians used the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual (DSM) as a diagnostic tool.
######
Pattern of training and professional degree of the sample
[Table 3](#T3){ref-type="table"} shows that 48% were not confident enough to diagnose psychiatric disorders in children, and 75 pediatricians (76.5%) did not feel confident enough to treat psychiatric disorders in children, 48.5% did not feel confident in managing the follow-up of psychologically disturbed children after being diagnosed and managed by a child psychiatrist and 44.9% did not feel confident in dealing with common side effects of psychotropic medications. Regarding psychotherapeutic intervention, 46.9% were not able to offer family counseling and 66.3% were not able to offer individual psychotherapy. About 66.3% of the pediatricians thought that their knowledge of childhood psychiatric disorders was not satisfactory. About 88.8% pediatricians in this study thought that pediatricians needed to have some training in child psychiatry during their residency programs. No demographic characteristics are available of the pediatricians to predict their abilities in diagnosing or treating childhood psychiatric disorders.
######
Knowledge, practice and attitude of the sample toward childhood psychiatric disorder
[Table 4](#T4){ref-type="table"} shows statistically significant association between the age and nationality of pediatricians and their satisfaction with their knowledge of childhood psychiatric disorders.
######
Correlates between demographic data and knowledge about childhood psychiatric disorders
Non-Arab and older pediatricians were more satisfied with their knowledge of childhood psychiatric disorders.
Although the majority of the sample thought that pediatricians needed training in child psychiatry during residency programs, no specific demographic characteristic could predict this ([Table 5](#T5){ref-type="table"}).
######
Correlate between demographic data and attitude towards training in child psychiatry
DISCUSSION {#sec1-4}
==========
The questionnaires were distributed to individual pediatricians, who were given three months to make their responses. Many reminders were sent. Some apologized saying they were not interested in participating or that they were busy. Others did not reply. Therefore, the response rate was low. This might reflect the pediatricians' lack of awareness of the importance of this issue and the prevalence of this problem.
In fact, psychosocial problems, namely social, emotional and behavioral problems are highly prevalent,[@ref11]--[@ref13] but pediatricians identified only 17% of these children, leaving 83% of children with psychosocial problems unidentified.[@ref14]
Most of the participants were trainees in Saudi or Arab pediatric residency programs or both. Neither program has child psychiatry as part of their academic curriculum or training. Therefore, the finding that 88.8% of the sample had no training in child psychiatry was expected. Even those who had had a short training had their courses outside the main training program.
The lack of training in child psychiatry is still evident in many pediatric residency programs worldwide including such developed countries as in USA.[@ref15] In a study conducted by Jane W (2004), the majority of pediatricians reported significant lack of training in behavioral health during their residency.[@ref15]
This lack of training in child psychiatry during residency programs could explain the feelings of inadequacy in diagnosing or treating childhood psychiatric disorders. Although the study was conducted only in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, these results could be generalized to cover all pediatric practices in Saudi Arabia since all pediatric trainees go through the same programs and none of the pediatrics residency programs in Saudi Arabia has child psychiatry training as part of their curricula.
Older and non-Arab pediatricians working in Riyadh were satisfied with their knowledge of childhood psychiatric disorders perhaps because they had had pediatrics residency training programs in western countries where child psychiatry formed part of their curricula and also as a result of their long experience in pediatrics.
Not surprisingly as other studies have indicated,[@ref15] a majority of pediatricians in our study believed that they needed training in child psychiatry during their residency programs. In the Jane W (2004) study, pediatricians reported a lot of interest in further training especially on psychopharmacology, diagnosis and treatment of depression and anxiety and the need to be updated on ADHD.[@ref15]
CONCLUSION {#sec1-5}
==========
In the present study, the majority of pediatricians reported a significant lack of child psychiatry training during their residency programs. This shortcoming adversely affects their knowledge, attitudes and practices in childhood psychiatric disorders.
**Clinical Implication:** The researchers strongly advocate the inclusion of training in child psychiatry as a major part of all pediatrics academic curriculum and residency training programs.
**Possible Limitations:** Low response rate resulting in a small sample size.
|
Introduction
============
Traditional economic and psychological theories (such as revealed preferences and behaviorism) imply that an individual\'s previous choices should provide the best index of their future choices ([@B4]). Recent research using techniques capable of resolving deep-brain activity at second-to-second resolution \[i.e., functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)\] suggest, however, that neural activity might complement behavioral predictions of future choice ([@B38]; [@B16]). Although brain activity collected with these methods can predict individual choice, its added value in forecasting choice at the aggregate level of markets remains less clear ([@B2]). The growing availability of Internet market-level choice data, however, opens new opportunities for researchers to test whether brain activity in an experimental sample can be used to forecast aggregate choice ([@B5]; [@B11]; [@B16]).
Some components of individual choice might provide more general information about aggregate choice than others. For example, according to an affect--integration--motivation (AIM) framework, ascending neural circuits first affectively evaluate objects, then integrate these evaluations, and then translate evaluations into motivated approach or avoidance ([@B36]). Even if affective reactions generalize across individuals, value integration may incorporate more-specific multidimensional considerations (e.g., probability, risk, time), which may enhance choice consistency within an individual (i.e., thus "rationalizing" choice; [@B6]), but paradoxically decrease generalizability across individuals ([@B20]). Thus, whereas both affective evaluation and value integration might predict individual choice, affective evaluation might more broadly generalize to forecast aggregate choice.
Although neural activity reliably predicts a broad range of individual choices, including purchasing ([@B23]; [@B29]) and financial risk taking ([@B26]), only a few studies have used neural activity from groups of individuals to forecast aggregate market-level behavior ([@B13]; [@B5]; [@B16]; [@B39]; henceforth, "predict" refers to individual choice, while "forecast" refers to aggregate choice). For instance, researchers have used nucleus accumbens (NAcc) activity to forecast aggregate song downloads ([@B5]), but medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) activity to forecast call volume in response to health-related advertisements ([@B13]). In these studies, however, researchers did not elicit or compare choice at both individual and aggregate levels of analysis. Thus, researchers have yet to explicitly identify which neural predictors of individual choice generalize to forecast aggregate choice. Here, we sought to use neural activity to both predict individual choice as well as forecast aggregate choice in an Internet crowdfunding market.
The global crowdfunding market is extensive (e.g., having raised over \$34.4 billion in 2015; [@B30]) and expanding. Some researchers have begun to explore aspects of crowdfunding transactions, including the influence of personal networks ([@B33]), motivations of project creators ([@B17]; [@B3]), and dynamics of project-funding cycles ([@B1]; [@B27]), but researchers have not yet examined motives of individual funders or whether their behavior can be used to forecast aggregate funding success.
Our preliminary goal was to determine whether brain activity in affective circuits predicts individual choices to fund novel crowdfunding projects. Consistent with previous work, we predicted that neural activity in circuits associated with positive arousal (i.e., the NAcc) and value integration (the MPFC) would predict individual choices to fund. Our critical goal, however, was to determine whether neural activity could also forecast crowdfunding outcomes at the aggregate level in an Internet market. Unlike individual choice prediction, but consistent with the AIM framework, we hypothesized that circuits implicated in anticipatory affect (e.g., the NAcc) might forecast market outcomes better than those implicated in value integration (e.g., the MPFC) and possibly even better than individual choice itself. We tested these predictions in a study using fMRI, followed by a replication study designed to verify the findings\' generality.
Materials and Methods
=====================
###
#### Experimental design and statistical analysis.
In the main and replication studies, pictures and text associated with 36 crowdfunding appeals were presented to 30 subjects, who chose whether to fund each project as they were scanned with fMRI (see *Subjects*, *Crowdfunding task*, and *Project selection*). Subjective ratings of each appeal were then collected immediately after scanning (see *Liking, success, and affect ratings*). For individual choice prediction analyses, fMRI data were preprocessed and extracted from volumes of interest (VOIs) for comparison with behavioral choice and subjective rating predictors (see *fMRI acquisition and analysis*, *Functional connectivity analyses*, and *Classification analyses*). For aggregate forecasting analyses, group-averaged choice, rating, and fMRI VOI data were submitted to classification analyses forecasting eventual Internet funding (or not) of each appeal (see *Classification analyses*).
#### Subjects.
Thirty healthy right-handed human adults participated (14 female; mean age, 23.32 years). Before collecting informed consent, subjects were screened for psychotropic drug use and substance abuse in the past month and for a history of neurological disorders, as well as for typical magnetic resonance exclusions (e.g., metal in the body). None were excluded for excessive head motion (i.e., \>2 mm from one scan acquisition to the next). Subjects received \$20.00 per hour for participating, plus an endowment of \$5.00 cash before scanning for use in the crowdfunding task. All procedures were approved by the institutional review board of the Stanford Medical School. The sample in the replication study was similar, but 35 subjects were recruited and three were excluded for excessive head motion, leaving a total of 32 subjects\' data for analysis (17 female; mean age, 23.57 years).
#### Crowdfunding task.
Subjects were informed that during scanning, they would make funding decisions regarding a number of actual projects that had been posted on-line on a crowdfunding website ([www.kickstarter.com](http://www.kickstarter.com)), one of which would be randomly selected after the session. This funding task was therefore incentive compatible and designed to simulate the experience of making on-line crowdfunding choices as closely as possible, while controlling for potential confounds (e.g., related to others\' choices and progress toward a funding criterion) and simultaneously facilitating measurement of neural responses to different elements of each funding appeal before choice ([@B16]; [Fig. 1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}*a*). During each funding task trial, subjects first viewed a photographic image from the project page (2 s), followed by a screen depicting the remainder of the project\'s text description (6 s). Subjects were then asked to indicate whether they would like to fund the project using spatially counterbalanced (i.e., left or right) "Yes" or "No" prompts by pressing one of two corresponding buttons (4 s). After indicating their choice, a colored border highlighted the choice until the choice period ended. Finally, subjects viewed a centrally presented fixation cross (variable 2--6 s) until the beginning of the next trial. Total trial duration (including intertrial interval) thus averaged 16 s (range, 14--18 s).
Subjects encountered a total of 36 funding requests, each of which presented a unique project selected from the crowdfunding website. After scanning, one trial in the funding task was selected at random. If subjects had agreed to fund the randomly selected appeal, that amount was removed from their payment and contributed on-line to the appropriate project; otherwise, subjects retained their full endowment. Subjects were also informed that if their selected project was subsequently funded on the Internet, they would be able to view the associated film once it had been completed. The procedure in the replication study followed the same format.
#### Project selection.
Projects were selected from the most recently posted documentary film projects on the Kickstarter website ([www.kickstarter.com](http://www.kickstarter.com)) to control for variation between different project categories. The actual Internet outcomes of these projects had not yet occurred at the time of stimulus identification and data collection. Only after the funding windows for all projects had closed were funding outcomes available for collection. Of the 36 selected projects, 18 were eventually funded by groups of Internet contributors, while the remaining 18 did not reach their funding threshold, and so expired at the end of the funding period. Of the 36 selected projects in the replication study, 14 were eventually funded, whereas the remaining 22 were not.
Project stimuli were derived from appeals presented on the kickstarter.com website. Each stimulus included the project\'s title, its creator\'s name, a static image designed by the creator, and a text description of the associated film\'s content. Based upon the depicted images, projects were evenly sampled from three content categories (i.e., face, places, and text). Thus, the focal points of "face" images included an individual or group of people, "place" images featured either an inanimate object or landscapes, and "text" images were primarily composed of text titles. Selected appeals therefore included one of three types of evenly distributed project images (i.e., face, place, or text). Selected appeals in the replication study contained only two types of evenly distributed project images (i.e., "face" or "place").
#### Liking, success, and affect ratings.
After scanning, subjects rated how much they liked each project and their predicted likelihood that each project would reach its funding threshold (i.e., project campaign success) on seven-point scales ([@B16]). After scanning, subjects also rated their own affective responses to each project proposal using two seven-point scales (one indexing valence from positive to negative and the other indexing arousal from highly arousing to not arousing). Written instructions and spoken clarifications delivered by the experimenter first described the nature of each scale and provided detailed examples ([@B22]). While rating projects, subjects indicated their affective responses based on how they previously felt "when presented with this project." Since positively and negatively aroused affect most closely align with approach and avoidance motivational states ([@B24]), as well as activity in relevant neural circuits ([@B21]; [@B24]), valence and arousal ratings were then transformed into positive-arousal and negative-arousal scores by projecting within-subjects mean-deviated valence and arousal scores onto axes rotated 45° \[i.e., positive arousal: (arousal/√2) + (valence/√2); negative arousal: (arousal/√2) − (valence/√2); [@B41]; [@B22]\]. The rating procedure for the replication study was similar, but since many ratings were highly correlated in the main experiment, subjects only rated their affective responses to each of the stimuli (i.e., with respect to valence and arousal).
#### fMRI acquisition and analyses.
Images were acquired with a 3.0 T General Electric MRI scanner using a 32-channel head coil. Forty-six 2.9-mm-thick slices (in-plane resolution, 2.9 mm cubic; no gap; interleaved acquisition) extended axially from the mid-pons to the crown of the skull, providing whole-brain coverage and good spatial resolution of subcortical regions of interest (e.g., midbrain, NAcc, orbitofrontal cortex). Whole-brain functional scans were acquired with a T2\*-weighted gradient echo pulse sequence (TR = 2 s; TE = 24 ms; flip angle, 77°). High-resolution structural scans were acquired with a T1-weighted pulse sequence (TR = 7.2 ms; TE = 2.8 ms; flip angle, 12°) after functional scans, to facilitate their localization and coregistration.
Whole-brain analyses were conducted using Analysis of Functional Neural Images (AFNI) software ([@B10]). For preprocessing, voxel time series were sinc interpolated to correct for nonsimultaneous slice acquisition within each volume, concatenated across runs, corrected for motion, slightly spatially smoothed to minimize effects of anatomical variability (FWHM, 4 mm), high-pass filtered (admitting frequencies with period \<90 s), and normalized to percentage signal change with respect to each voxel\'s average over the entire task. Visual inspection of motion-correction estimates confirmed that no subject\'s head moved \>2.0 mm in any dimension from one volume acquisition to the next.
For whole-brain analyses, regression models included eight regressors of no interest (i.e., six indexed residual motion and two indexed activity associated with CSF and white matter intensity; [@B7]). For analysis of sensory input, regressors of interest orthogonally contrasted face versus place stimuli and text versus face and place stimuli. For analysis of individual (i.e., laboratory sample) funding choices, the regressor of interest orthogonally contrasted trials in which subjects chose to fund the projects versus those in which they did not. For neural forecasting analysis of group funding choices on the Internet, the regressor of interest orthogonally contrasted trials in which subjects viewed projects that were later fully funded on the Internet versus those that did not eventually receive funding. Before inclusion in the models, all regressors of interest were convolved with a single γ-variate function that modeled a canonical hemodynamic response ([@B9]). Maps of *t* statistics for the regressor of interest were transformed into *Z* scores, coregistered with structural maps, spatially normalized by warping to Talairach space, and resampled as 2 mm cubic voxels. Group maps were initially voxelwise thresholded (at *p* \< 0.005) and then cluster thresholded using a gray matter mask (cluster size, \>17 contiguous 3 mm cubic voxels) to yield a corrected threshold for detecting whole-brain activation (*p* \< 0.05 corrected). Cluster size was derived via 15,000 Monte Carlo iterations using AFNI program 3dClustSim (version 16.0.06).
Regionally targeted analyses were conducted by specifying VOIs in regions associated with anticipatory affect \[NAcc and anterior insula (AIns); [@B21]\] as well as value integration (MPFC; [@B23]; [@B34]; [@B36]) in previously published research. Specifically, spherical VOIs (8 mm diameter) were placed in foci in bilateral value-processing targets in the NAcc (Talairach coordinates: ±10, 12, −2), AIns (±34, 24, −4), amygdala (±24, −5, −15), and MPFC (±4, 45, 0). We further identified VOIs associated with sensory input relevant to project images in regions implicated in processing faces ([@B19]), places ([@B12]), and text ([@B35]; [@B40]). Based on independent meta-analytic analyses from the Neurosynth database (<http://www.neurosynth.org>; [@B42]), foci for these sensory input VOIs were placed in the fusiform gyrus (FG; ±40, −50 −18), parahippocampal gyrus (PG; ±22, −42, −6), and left inferior frontal gyrus (left IFG; −46, −14, 28). fMRI activity (percentage signal change) was first averaged within each VOI, then averaged across bilateral VOIs, and finally extracted to derive activity time courses.
#### Functional connectivity analyses.
A psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis identified context-dependent modulation of functional connectivity between regions implicated in sensory input (i.e., FG, PG, and IFG) and anticipatory affect (i.e., NAcc; [@B15]; [@B31]; [@B8]). Activity time courses were first extracted and averaged from bilateral NAcc VOIs and deconvolved using a γ-variate function modeling a canonical hemodynamic response ([@B9]). An interaction time course was then created by multiplying the deconvolved NAcc time course with a vector indicating trial-by-trial funding choices (with +1 and −1, respectively) and then reconvolved with a γ-variate function to account for the hemodynamic response before inclusion in the model ([@B18]). The associated general linear model thus included eight regressors of no interest (six indexed residual motion, and two indexed activity associated with CSF and white matter intensity; [@B7]), in addition to the NAcc VOI time course, a convolved regressor representing individual choices to fund or not, and the PPI of the NAcc VOI time course and individual choices to fund. Voxelwise regression fits were then submitted to group-level *t*-test contrasts to identify correlated activity across individuals. Finally, normalized voxelwise values from these group fits were averaged across sensory input VOIs in the bilateral FG, the bilateral PG, and the left IFG.
#### Classification analyses.
For classification analyses, trial-level data were first randomly divided into training (80%) and testing (20%) sets. Classification models were implemented using logistic regression and the R caret package ([@B25]). Model selection and parameter optimization were conducted on the training set using repeated 10-fold cross-validation with three repeats such that the training dataset was further randomly subdivided into 10 blocks. Model feature selection and optimization were conducted by training the classifier on 9 of the 10 blocks and testing on the one held-out block. This process iterated over all 10 training blocks, and the entire procedure was repeated three times. Model accuracy was evaluated by applying the resulting final model on the remaining independent 20% of trials in the testing set that had not been used in any phase of model training. To assess model accuracy, 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were constructed around derived estimates and compared with a no-information rate. Reported *p* values represented the proportion of these distributions that exceeded a null hypothetical value of chance prediction (50%).
For classification of individual funding choices, trials involving "yes" and "no" choices were evenly downsampled (i.e., creating a 50--50% split). After downsampling, subjects contributed an average of 25.10 (of 36 total) trials (SD, 8.76; range, 3--36) to the classification analysis. The number of data points that each subject contributed to the classification analyses was not significantly associated with their predictive accuracy (*r* = 0.279, *p* = 0.142). Individual choice classification analyses were conducted on a trial-to-trial basis, and included subjects\' self-report ratings of liking, perceived likelihood of success, positive arousal, negative arousal, and brain activity in the VOIs. For the classification models that included brain activity, percentage signal change was first averaged within each VOI, and then averaged bilaterally.
For whole-brain classification analyses, fMRI activity was extracted from each spatially normalized voxel for each of the four brain image volume acquisitions preceding choice on each trial in each subject. Features were selected using recursive feature elimination, such that 5% of remaining voxels with the lowest fits were removed on each iteration until 1% of the total voxels remained (a threshold that demonstrated the highest classification accuracy using the fewest features). Remaining voxel weights were then back-projected into normalized brain space over time to identify where and when features significantly classified funding choice. For whole-brain classification of individual funding choices, accuracy was assessed with leave-one-subject-out cross-validation. On each testing iteration, one subject\'s data were held out and classified using the model derived from training on the remaining subjects. Accuracies in predicting trial-by-trial choices over 30 subjects were then averaged to predict accuracy in funding choices out-of-sample. Finally, for whole-brain classification of project-level funding outcomes on the Internet, accuracy was assessed using leave-one-project-out cross-validation. On each testing iteration, one project\'s data were held out and used to assess the accuracy of the model derived from training on the remaining projects. Accuracies in classifying project outcomes over 36 projects were then averaged to generate an overall estimate of accuracy in classifying project outcomes. Forecasts therefore targeted project outcomes (which depended more on funders\' choices), rather than amount funded (which depended more on proposers\' initial goals).
Results
=======
Predicting individual choice
----------------------------
### Behavioral correlates of individual funding choices
Individual subjects chose on average to fund 14.3 of the 36 presented projects (SD, 5.96; range, 3--27). Similarly, in the replication study, individual subjects chose on average to fund 13.3 of the 36 presented projects (SD, 5.34; range, 2--28). Behavioral analyses first tested associations between individual self-report measures of project liking and funding choices. Independent hierarchical logistic regression models, which included subject as a random effect and predicted trial-to-trial funding choices, indicated that ratings of liking (*z* = 14.57, *p* \< 0.001) and perceived likelihood of success (*z* = 11.72, *p* \< 0.001) were associated with individual choices to fund. Thus, subjects rated projects that they chose to fund as both more likeable (bootstrapped *t*-test difference estimate, 2.64; 95% CI, \[2.48, 2.79\]; *t* = 33.04, *p* \< 0.001) and more likely to successfully receive their full funding requests (bootstrapped *t*-test difference estimate, 1.12; 95% CI, \[0.96, 1.28\]; *t* = 13.05, *p* \< 0.001). Liking and perceived likelihood of success ratings were then separately averaged across subjects for each project. Bootstrapped correlations (5000 iterations) indicated that ratings of both project liking (*r* = 0.91; 95% CI, \[0.83, 0.95\]; *p* \< 0.001) and perceived likelihood of success (*r* = 0.65; 95% CI, \[0.35, 0.84\]; *p* \< 0.001) correlated with individual choices to fund.
Similar analyses examined associations of self-reported affect ratings with choices to fund. Positive arousal ratings were strongly associated with individual choices to fund (*z* = 13.16, *p* \< 0.001), but negative arousal ratings were not (*z* = 0.174, *p* = 0.861). Accordingly, subjects rated projects they chose to fund as evoking more-positive arousal (*t* = 16.25, *p* \< 0.001), but not differential negative arousal (*t* = 1.57, *p* = 0.115). Positive-arousal and negative-arousal ratings were then averaged across subjects for each project. A bootstrapped correlation (5000 iterations) indicated that positive arousal ratings for projects correlated with individual funding choices (*r* = 0.61; 95% CI, \[0.34, 0.78\]; *p* \< 0.001). Individual funding choices did not significantly differ, however, as a function of project image type (face, 40%; place, 44%; text, 32%; *F* = 1.09, *p* = 0.35; replication study: face, 42%; place, 36%; *F* = 0.979, *p* = 0.329).
### Whole-brain predictors of individual funding choices
Whole-brain analyses contrasted brain activity during project presentation (i.e., 8 s) in trials in which subjects subsequently chose to fund versus trials in which they did not. Averaged group brain activity revealed significant clusters that predicted individual choice in the bilateral NAcc and MPFC ([Fig. 1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}*b*).
{#F1}
### VOI predictors of individual funding choices
Consistent with whole-brain findings, NAcc activity was greater during presentations of projects chosen for funding than for projects not chosen. Activity time course plots ([Fig. 1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}*c*) indicated temporal specificity, with significant differences appearing during the initial part of the project presentation period before subjects could manually indicate their choices. MPFC activity was also greater during presentations of projects chosen for funding than for projects not chosen, but only during the latter part of the presentation period. Consistent with these patterns, a logistic regression indicated that both NAcc (*z* = 2.73, *p* \< 0.01) and MPFC (*z* = 2.49, *p* \< 0.05) activity at these points significantly and independently predicted trial-by-trial individual choices to fund ([Table 1](#T1){ref-type="table"}). To address whether sensory processes might also directly contribute to funding choices, a second model incorporated activity from sensory regions ([Fig. 2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}*a*), including the FG, the PG, and the left IFG. Neither the FG (*z* = 0.07, *p* = 0.94) nor the PG (*z* = 1.10, *p* = 0.27) activity predicted choices to fund, but the left IFG activity did (*z* = 3.23, *p* \< 0.01; [Fig. 2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}*b*; [Table 1](#T1){ref-type="table"}). Thus, although a better fit and lower Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) suggested that adding left IFG activity improved predictions of individual choices to fund, this influence did not interact with activity observed in anatomically distinct affective circuits. This pattern of results did not change after controlling for project image type.
######
Logistic regressions predicting individuals\' trial-by-trial funding choices
Main study Replication study
--------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NAcc 0.787 (0.261)[\*\*](#TF1-3){ref-type="table-fn"}[*^a^*](#TF1-1){ref-type="table-fn"} 0.723 (0.265)[\*\*](#TF1-3){ref-type="table-fn"}[*^a^*](#TF1-1){ref-type="table-fn"} 0.963 (0.260)[\*\*](#TF1-3){ref-type="table-fn"}[*^a^*](#TF1-1){ref-type="table-fn"} 1.050 (0.266)[\*\*](#TF1-3){ref-type="table-fn"}[*^a^*](#TF1-1){ref-type="table-fn"}
MPFC 0.333 (0.133)[\*](#TF1-2){ref-type="table-fn"}[*^a^*](#TF1-1){ref-type="table-fn"} 0.321 (0.135)[\*](#TF1-2){ref-type="table-fn"}[*^a^*](#TF1-1){ref-type="table-fn"} 0.476 (0.129)[\*\*](#TF1-3){ref-type="table-fn"}[*^a^*](#TF1-1){ref-type="table-fn"} 0.496 (0.131)[\*\*](#TF1-3){ref-type="table-fn"}[*^a^*](#TF1-1){ref-type="table-fn"}
Insula −0.178 (0.354) −0.492 (0.369) −0.556 (0.362) −0.557 (0.387)
Amygdala −0.923 (0.358)[\*](#TF1-2){ref-type="table-fn"} −1.209 (0.380)[\*](#TF1-2){ref-type="table-fn"} −0.318 (0.402) −0.045 (0.433)
FG 0.025 (0.097) −0.555 (0.215)[\*](#TF1-2){ref-type="table-fn"}
PG 0.202 (0.180) −0.612 (0.408)
IFG (left) 0.554 (0.164)[\*\*](#TF1-3){ref-type="table-fn"} 0.845 (0.252)[\*\*](#TF1-3){ref-type="table-fn"}
Pseudo-*R*^2^ 0.142 0.163 0.140 0.158
AIC 1338.0 1323.5 1405.5 1394.4
Statistics are standardized coefficients and SE. Models include fixed effect of stimulus image category.
*^a^*Predicted associations.
\**p* \< 0.05;
\*\**p* \< 0.01.
{#F2}
### Functional connectivity
Functional connectivity analysis contrasted correlated activity between the NAcc and the three input-processing region (FG, PG, left IFG) VOIs independently for each of the three project image types (i.e., face, place, and text). A PPI term assessed the degree to which connectivity between these project image regions and the NAcc was associated with individual choices whether to fund projects ([Fig. 2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}*c*). Correlated activity between the NAcc and the FG was significantly associated with individual choices to fund only in the face condition (*t* = 2.136, *p* \< 0.05), but not in the place (*t* = 1.547, *p* = 0.133) or text conditions (*t* = 1.726, *p* = 0.100). Similarly, correlated activity between the NAcc and PG was significantly associated with individual choices to fund only in the place condition (*t* = 2.310, *p* \< 0.05), but not in the face (*t* = 0.711, *p* = 0.483) or text conditions (*t* = 0.460, *p* = 0.649). Correlated activity between the NAcc and left IFG, however, was not significantly associated with individual choices to fund in any condition ([Fig. 2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}*c*).
### Classification of individual funding choices
Classification analyses further tested whether different combinations of behavioral and neural data could predict individual funding choices. Logistic regression classifiers were trained on 80% of choice trials (randomly selected) across all subjects and tested on the remaining 20% of trials to classify funded versus unfunded individual choices. Consistent with logistic regression analyses, a first classifier including behavioral self-report ratings of liking, perceived likelihood of success, and affect classified individual funding choices (86.4% accuracy, *p* \< 0.001; chance, 50%). A second classifier using neural VOI data alone also significantly predicted individual funding choices (57.8% accuracy; *p* \< 0.05). A third classifier combining behavioral and neural data predicted individual funding choices with 85.7% prediction accuracy (*p* \< 0.001). A fourth classifier using whole-brain (rather than VOI) neural activity during the project-presentation phase also significantly predicted individual funding choices (58.7%, *p* \< 0.05). The amount of data that each individual contributed to classification analyses after even downsampling (see Materials and Methods) was not significantly associated with variation in predictive accuracy (*r* = 0.279, *p* = 0.142).
Whole-brain maps were then reconstructed to visualize selected predictive features in space and time. Consistent with focused univariate predictions, the largest clusters of predictive voxels appeared in the NAcc and MPFC preceding choice ([Fig. 1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}*d*). These features both spatially overlapped with VOIs used in univariate analyses ([Fig. 1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}*b*) and temporally overlapped with periods of discrimination identified in time course activity analyses ([Fig. 1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}*c*). Thus, NAcc features appeared to predict choice before MPFC features, consistent with an account in which anticipatory affect precedes value integration ([@B36]).
Forecasting aggregate choice
----------------------------
### Behavioral forecasts of aggregate choice
Logistic regression analyses next tested whether behavioral and self-report measures from the laboratory sample could forecast aggregate funding outcomes on the Internet, which occurred weeks after the experiment ([Table 2](#T2){ref-type="table"}). Neither average ratings of project likeability (*z* = −1.171, *p* = 0.242) nor of perceived likelihood of success were associated with Internet funding outcomes (*z* = 0.249, *p* = 0.803). Similarly, average funding choices were also not significantly associated with Internet funding outcomes (*z* = 0.645, *p* = 0.519). Point--biserial correlations specifically verified an absence of significant associations between average ratings of likeability (*r* = −0.231, *p* = 0.879), perceived likelihood of success (*r* = −0.061, *p* = 0.394), and funding choices (*r* = −0.151, *p* = 0.932) with Internet funding outcomes ([Table 2](#T2){ref-type="table"}). Further, average self-reported affect ratings also did not forecast Internet funding outcomes ([Table 2](#T2){ref-type="table"}), since both positive arousal ratings (*z* = −1.254, *p* = 0.210) and negative arousal ratings (*z* = 0.279 *p* = 0.780) were not significantly associated with Internet funding outcomes. Image category, however, was associated with Internet funding outcomes (*F* = 6.95, *p* \< 0.001), such that appeals depicting face images received more funding (83%) than did those depicting place (17%; *t* = 4.20, *p* \< 0.001) or text images (50%; *t* = 1.78, *p* = 0.091, trend). The pattern of reported results did not change, however, after controlling for image category in the models.
######
Logistic regressions forecasting aggregate funding outcomes on the Internet for main and replication studies
Main study Replication study
------------------------- ---------------- ------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ---------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Funding choice 0.572 (886) 0.761 (1.302) 0.515 (1.632) 1.826 (1.421)
Liking −1.154 (0.985) −1.090 (1.564) --- ---
Success likelihood 0.131 (0.528) 0.068 (1.127) --- ---
Positive arousal −0.489 (0.390) 0.045 (0.749) −0.729 (0.439) −3.026 (1.657)^[†](#TF2-3){ref-type="table-fn"}^
Negative arousal 0.110 (0.392) 0.087 (0.523) −0.536 (0.405) −1.337 (0.689)^[†](#TF2-3){ref-type="table-fn"}^
NAcc 1.691 (0.774)[\*](#TF2-2){ref-type="table-fn"}[*^a^*](#TF2-1){ref-type="table-fn"} 1.751 (0.816)[\*](#TF2-2){ref-type="table-fn"}[*^a^*](#TF2-1){ref-type="table-fn"} 2.098 (0.940)[\*](#TF2-2){ref-type="table-fn"}[*^a^*](#TF2-1){ref-type="table-fn"} 3.872 (2.199)^[†](#TF2-3){ref-type="table-fn"}^[*^a^*](#TF2-1){ref-type="table-fn"}
MPFC −0.991 (0.723) −0.673 (0.830) −0.593 (0.509) −0.557 (0.747)
IFG (left) −0.729 (0.667) −0.616 (0.778) −0.687 (0.457) −1.217 (0.789)
Amygdala 1.068 (0.702) 0.973 (0.817) 0.126 (0.527) −0.049 (0.646)
Insula −0.601 (0.828) −0.733 (0.932) −0.665 (0.609) −0.188 (0.998)
Pseudo-*R*^2^ 0.106 0.089 0.236 0.257 0.092 0.183 0.304 0.517
AIC 54.63 53.46 52.14 59.07 49.70 47.28 47.51 43.22
Classification accuracy 52.9 51.8 59.1[\*](#TF2-2){ref-type="table-fn"} 56.5[\*](#TF2-2){ref-type="table-fn"} 55.8 55.2 61.1[\*](#TF2-2){ref-type="table-fn"} 59.3[\*](#TF2-2){ref-type="table-fn"}
Statistics are standardized coefficients and SE. Models include fixed effect of stimulus image category.
Predicted association.
*p* \< 0.05;
*p* \< 0.10.
### Neural forecasts of aggregate choice
Activity time courses were extracted from previously identified VOIs (i.e., NAcc, MPFC; see Materials and Methods), as well as VOIs identified in meta-analyses (i.e., left IFG). That is, all activity time courses were extracted from regions based on published anatomical coordinates rather than on current results of individual choice predictions (although coordinates overlapped with those identified in individual choice analyses). Activity in these VOIs were averaged across the laboratory sample for each project, and compared for projects that were either eventually funded or not funded on the Internet ([Fig. 3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}*a*). Averaged time points with significant activation differences were entered into the model predicting funding on the Internet (or all averaged time points, if none significantly differed). During the period preceding choice, only NAcc activity significantly differed for projects that were eventually funded on the Internet versus those that were not. Logistic regression analysis verified that only NAcc activity could forecast Internet funding outcomes (*z* = 2.19, *p* = 0.029; [Table 2](#T2){ref-type="table"}). Although MPFC and left IFG activity had predicted individual choice in the laboratory sample, activity in these regions did not forecast Internet funding outcomes. Accordingly, the fit of the neural model (pseudo-*R*^2^ = 0.236) exceeded that of either model, including behavioral choice (pseudo *R*^2^ = 0.106) or affect ratings (pseudo-*R*^2^ = 0.089; [Table 2](#T2){ref-type="table"}). Direct model comparisons indicated that the neural model classified aggregate choice outcomes better than the behavioral model (χ*^2^* deviance = 6.49, *p* = 0.039). Similarly, in the replication study the neural model classified aggregate choice outcomes better than the behavioral model (χ*^2^* deviance = 10.19, *p* = 0.037).
{#F3}
A combined logistic regression model then aimed to forecast Internet funding outcomes by combining behavioral, affective, and neural measures ([Table 2](#T2){ref-type="table"}). Of these variables, only NAcc activity was significantly associated with Internet funding outcomes (*z* = 2.15, *p* = 0.032). The combined model, however, produced an AIC value greater than the neural model, suggesting that after imposing penalties for additional predictors, the neural model provided a more parsimonious forecast of Internet funding outcomes. To verify that NAcc activity alone could explain significant variance in Internet funding outcomes, we checked independent regression models for activity in each neural region. Consistent with the combined model, only NAcc activity was significantly associated with Internet funding outcomes (*z* = 2.04, *p* = 0.041), whereas both MPFC (*z* = −0.34, *p* = 0.731) and left IFG (*z* = 0.412, *p* = 0.680) activities were not. A permutation test in which NAcc activity was randomly assigned to funded and unfunded trials (across 10,000 iterations) verified that the observed distribution of NAcc activity significantly differed from a randomly constructed null distribution (CI, \[0.034, 0.044\]; *p* = 0.039).
A second set of logistic regressions applied to data from the replication study yielded similar results. Specifically, behavioral and affective models did not forecast Internet funding outcomes. However, the neural model in general and NAcc activity in particular did forecast Internet funding outcomes, and this effect also trended toward significance in the combined model ([Table 2](#T2){ref-type="table"}).
### Classification of aggregate funding outcome
Classification analyses tested the generalizability of the Internet funding forecasts. Logistic regression classifiers were trained on 80% of all projects (randomly selected) and tested on the remaining 20% of projects to classify funded versus unfunded projects. The behavioral model included average ratings of liking, perceived likelihood of success, affect, and funding choices. This behavioral model classified funding outcomes with only 52.9% accuracy, which did not significantly exceed chance (*p* = 0.259), suggesting that behavioral measures of individual choices from the laboratory sample could not forecast Internet funding outcomes. A second targeted neural model then tested whether average VOI activity could classify Internet funding outcomes. This targeted neural model classified Internet funding outcomes with 59.1% accuracy, which exceeded chance (*p* = 0.008), consistent with the notion that neural activity in these regions alone could forecast Internet funding outcomes. A third whole-brain neural model included whole-brain activity during the project-presentation phase of each trial. Cross-validation was achieved by training the model on neural activity from all but one project and then testing on the held-out project. This model classified Internet funding outcomes at 67% ([Fig. 3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}*b*). Replication study classification models yielded similar accuracy rates for the behavioral (accuracy, 55.8%; *p* \> 0.05) and neural (accuracy, 61.1%; *p* = 0.002) models ([Fig. 3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}*b*).
Models based only on single-subject VOI data also consistently classified Internet funding above chance (50%; range, 55.5--80.5%; SEM, 1.3%), suggesting that the predictive accuracy of whole-brain classifiers was not driven by outliers, such as a small group of "superforecasters" ([@B32]). Maps were reconstructed from the whole-brain model to visualize predictive brain features in space and time. Consistent with regression analyses forecasting Internet funding outcomes, the largest cluster of predictive voxels appeared in the NAcc during the period preceding choice. These features spatially overlapped with those identified in the whole-brain analysis of the laboratory sample ([Fig. 1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}*b*), and temporally overlapped with discriminant activity in time course analyses of Internet funding ([Fig. 3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}*a*).
Discussion
==========
This research aimed to test whether neural activity could predict individual crowdfunding choices as well as forecast aggregate crowdfunding outcomes on the Internet weeks later. Whereas neural activity in both the NAcc and MPFC predicted individual choices to fund in the laboratory sample, only NAcc activity generalized to forecast aggregate market funding. Further, neural forecasts of market-level outcomes outperformed models that included self-reported ratings of liking, perceived likelihood of success, affective responses, and even individual choices of the laboratory sample. These neural forecasts of aggregate choice were replicated in a second study. Together, the results provide an initial demonstration that a subset of the neural features that predict individual choice can also scale to forecast market-level outcomes.
### Predicting individual crowdfunding choices
This work makes several novel contributions. First, the findings demonstrate that neural affective measures can predict individual choice in a crowdfunding context, since greater activity in the NAcc and MPFC predicted individual choices to fund. Importantly, this activity occurred before the choice phase of each trial and preceded neural activity associated with the act of indicating a choice. Activity time course analyses also suggested that NAcc activity predicted individual choices to fund before MPFC activity, consistent with accounts like the AIM framework ([@B36]), which invoke sequential processes of affective evaluation ([@B24]) and value integration ([@B23]; [@B34]; [@B28]). Convergent evidence verified the robustness of these neural predictions, since anatomically targeted regressions, as well as model-free classifiers, implicated both NAcc and MPFC activity in individual choices to fund.
### Forecasting aggregate crowdfunding outcomes
Second, the findings suggest that some---but not all---features associated with individual choice may scale to forecast aggregate choice at the market level. Sequentially assessing both neural activity and choice in the neuroimaging sample allowed direct comparison of variables that could forecast aggregate choice in an Internet market. Both traditional psychological (i.e., behaviorist) and economic (i.e., revealed preferences) theories imply that behavior in a representative sample of individuals should provide the best forecast of that same behavior at the aggregate level. Thus, if sampled individuals\' behavior does not forecast aggregate behavior, then neither should processes that generate that behavior. In the present findings, however, while individual choice in the laboratory could not forecast aggregate behavior, some neural components of choice could.
### Dissociation from sensory input and motor output
Third, the findings illustrate that decision processes can be distinguished from sensory input and motor output. Presentation of crowdfunding appeals with varying visual content and counterbalanced left versus right motor response requirements allowed dissociation of processes contributing to choice ranging from visual input, to affective evaluation and integration, to motor output. Although the appeals\' visual content increased activity in relevant sensory regions (i.e., FG for face stimuli, and PG for place stimuli), these increases did not forecast funding choices. Functional connectivity of activity in these distinct processing regions with NAcc activity, however, did vary as a function of funding choices. Thus, specific images associated with funding requests may have indirectly promoted funding decisions by evoking correlated NAcc activity. These findings suggest that affective activity can flexibly incorporate---but cannot be reduced to---diverse types of sensory input or motor output when supporting choice.
### Generality of neuroforecasting
While crowdfunding offers an increasingly popular platform for supporting new market ventures, the generalization of these findings to other types of aggregate choice remains unclear. Growing evidence, however, has begun to implicate affective neural activity not only in predicting individual choice, but also in forecasting market outcomes. For instance, research suggests that NAcc activity during passive exposure to novel songs can forecast Internet downloads 2 years later ([@B5]), that NAcc responses during passive exposure to advertisements can forecast advertising-induced increases in sales demand ([@B39]), and that NAcc responses during exposure to microloan appeals can forecast the success of those appeals on the Internet ([@B16]). While these studies suggest that forecasts from NAcc activity may generalize across diverse market scenarios, only the last study directly compared individual and aggregate choice. Although findings from that study indicated that NAcc activity could add value to forecasts based on affective ratings, they did not demonstrate that brain activity could supplant forecasts based on behavioral data, as we do here. Since most of these Internet markets lack strategic concerns found in traditional financial markets (e.g., auctions, stock trading), future research will need to determine which market conditions are most conducive for application of neuroforecasting ([@B37]).
The present findings raise the question why both NAcc and MPFC activity predicted individual choice, while only NAcc activity forecasted aggregate choice. Other findings have suggested that MPFC activity can provide information about which antismoking advertisements increase calls to a help line ([@B14]). NAcc activity may play a more prominent role in choices primarily involving "goods," but activity in other regions (like the MPFC) may also play roles in choices involving mixtures of "goods" and "bads," or more complex self-relevant concerns (e.g., including considerations related to probability or time). Future research might systematically explore and manipulate choice scenarios to determine whether and when different neural components support neuroforecasting. The present results provide preliminary support for an account in which affective neural responses generalize more broadly across individuals than processes implicated in value integration.
### Deconstructing choice to improve forecasts
Conceptually, these findings move beyond accounts that focus solely on choice behavior by seeking to deconstruct processes that underlie choice. The current pattern of results suggests that some components of individual choice might generalize more broadly than others to aggregate choice. This suggests a compromise between accounts in which no individual choices scale to the aggregate versus accounts in which all individual choices scale to the aggregate, by implying that some---but not all---choice components might improve aggregate forecasts. Theory may help to guide further research, since a multistage, hierarchical, neurally situated account of choice (like the AIM framework) counterintuitively but accurately implies that affective components might generalize more broadly than more precise but also more idiosyncratic value integration components. Such evidence may eventually inform applications by indicating that neural activity, in addition to adding value to behavior in aggregate choice forecasts, may also in some cases reveal "hidden information" ([@B2]). After demonstrating that brain activity can improve aggregate forecasts, investigators\' focus may shift toward understanding both the potential and limits of neuroforecasting.
This work was supported by a Stanford Neuroscience Institute "Big Ideas" grant to the NeuroChoice Initiative. We thank Nick Borg for assistance with data analysis, Lester Tong for acquisition of replication data, and Sandro Ambuehl, as well as three anonymous reviewers, for feedback on earlier drafts.
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
[^1]: Author contributions: A.G., C.Y., and B.K. designed research; A.G. performed research; A.G. and B.K. analyzed data; A.G., C.Y., and B.K. wrote the paper.
|
Course Overview
This course provides a basic understanding of the financial activities of governments at all levels in the United States. It is usually taken during the first year. The course acquaints students with the purposes, characteristics, processes, and operations of financial management systems and develops their capabilities to analyze financial operations, coordinate such operations with relevant public policies and programs, and effectively manage the financial resources of public entities. Topics in the course include: the economic, political, and administrative environment of financial management systems and operations; budgeting theory and practice--including program and performance budgets; accounting and internal control; financial reporting; auditing--financial and performance; debt management; treasury and cash management; and revenue/tax administration.
Section Description
This course is an introduction to the theory and practice of public financial management primarily at the state and local level. The objective of the course is for students to develop an: understanding of public sector financial resources; ability to analyze financial data and reports; and to interpret/connect this information in the context of public policy and management decisions. The course format will be a combination of lectures, discussions and group presentations.
The course will cover the principles of finance, budgeting, and accounting as they are needed in the practical application of financial policy and management decisions. Specifically the course will address: 1) Budgets - purpose, process and uses; 2) Financial Reporting - balance sheets, income statements, and financial condition analysis; 3) Financial Resources - taxes and non-tax sources of revenues; 4) Debt and Investment Management - tools, applications, and risk evaluations.
Readings: There is no single assigned textbook for this class. Several of the readings mentioned on this syllabus provide an adequate coverage of the topics included in this course and I will be happy to suggest one suited for your needs if you wish to purchase a textbook. The relevant chapters from the recommended books and the journal articles are listed with full citations in the class schedule on the day they are to be discussed. Electronic copies of the readings, power point slides, class handouts, discussion items, problem sets, group assignments and sample exams are available on UT Blackboard. The reading list and topics may be supplemented or revised during the semester as found appropriate for the class. Supplemental material will be announced during class prior to being assigned.
Course Requirements & Grading: Students are expected to attend all classes. The class format will consist of lecture, group discussion, and guest lecturers.
The course grade will be based on the following items: class participation, problem sets, mid-term exam, Problem Sets, Exams, and the Group Project will be handed out and due as indicated in the The following is a brief description of each graded course component:
Class Participation: Class participation will be based upon student contribution and interaction during class. At the start of each class we will discuss public finance concepts as revealed in current events. Each student will be asked, on a day to be scheduled on the first class day, to present a current events article that raises a public finance question, issue, or policy challenge. This requirement will be discussed in more detail on the first class day.
Problem Sets: Problem sets will be designed to simulate practical applications of course material. Each problem set will have two parts. The first part will be a series of 3 to 6 quantitative problems. The second part will be a one page summary memo intended to interpret the quantitative analysis of the first part within the context as presented in the problem set. The primary purpose of the memo is to evaluate understanding and the ability to analyze and communicate course concepts. There will be three problem sets throughout the semester as indicated in the course schedule.
Mid-term Exam: The mid-term exam will be held in class during the first half of class. The exam will consist of a combination of short answer, multiple choice, and true/false questions.
Group Project: The class will be broken into approximately 5 groups. Each group will choose a governmental entity (State, City, County, School District, University, etc.) with a population base of 100,000 or greater and prepare a credit rating analysis and report. A formal written rating report will be turned in on the last class day, along with a group presentation of the analysis and findings. Presentations will be 30 to 40 minutes long.
Final Exam: The final exam will be given as scheduled during the final exam period. The exam will be comprehensive and will consist of questions similar in form to the mid-term exam.
Late assignments and make-up exams will be allowed only at the discretion of the instructor and in accordance with university procedures. |
12:34pm, 22 November 2018
International rugby is now all but finished for 2018, as the November internationals are set to come to a close this weekend and the only fixture left to play after that is between the Barbarians and Argentina at Twickenham.
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Ireland garnered the headlines with their composed downing of the All Blacks in Dublin, South Africa continued to show they are a force to be reckoned with and Wales maintained their upward trend as they attempt to peak at the upcoming Rugby World Cup.
We have put together a World XV based purely on the RugbyPass Index, but which selections are the most controversial? Would Peter Horne or Luke McGrath be making anyone’s World XV? The numbers suggest that perhaps they should…
Damian McKenzie, New Zealand (92)
There may have been some early teething issues, but McKenzie has largely translated his scintillating Super Rugby form onto the international stage with the All Blacks, thus securing his spot at the top of these rankings. Perhaps the most notable talking point is the absence of Israel Folau, who cannot even crack the top three, with Wales’ Mr Reliable Leigh Halfpenny and Scotland’s incisive Stuart Hogg taking second and third respectively.
Silver: Leigh Halfpenny, Wales (91)
Bronze: Stuart Hogg, Scotland (87)
Continue reading below…
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Watch: Pete Samu and Izack Rodda talk to the media ahead of Australia’s match with England.
Liam Williams, Wales (91)
Williams’ spot here is a sign of the evolution and growing ambition of Wales under Warren Gatland of late. Being part of a Saracens side running roughshod over English rugby doesn’t hurt, either, as his influence in scoring moments metric is running off the charts some weeks. The fact Williams has been able to see off competition from New Zealand’s Ben Smith should tell you all about his form over the last year.
Silver: Ben Smith, New Zealand (89)
Bronze: Cheslin Kolbe, South Africa (88)
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Jack Goodhue, New Zealand (91)
The transition for Goodhue from Super Rugby to international rugby has been as seamless as anyone could have hoped for and that has been reflected in his impressive RPI score. He seems to have cemented himself into the 13 jersey for the All Blacks going into a Rugby World Cup year and his form and skill set in that spot will allow Steve Hansen to make an informed and complementary decision at inside centre.
Silver: Garry Ringrose, Ireland (87)
Bronze: Huw Jones, Scotland (85)
Peter Horne, Scotland (87)
A surprise name here for many and perhaps an indication of a position more in-flux across the world’s top teams, as much as it is of Horne’s impressive form. The performances and results for Scotland and Glasgow Warriors don’t lie, though, and Horne merits his position here. It should be noted, however, that had Owen Farrell continued in his role at inside centre for England, he would have commanded this spot with an RPI of 90.
Silver: Ryan Crotty, New Zealand (87)
Bronze: Robbie Henshaw, Ireland (86)
Jacob Stockdale, Ireland (89)
Stockdale is on track to break all Irish rugby try-scoring records and his potent offensive ability has been felt by the likes of New Zealand, England and Australia this year. Having been shut out by Ireland and England, Rieko Ioane’s RPI has dropped somewhat, with his influence on scoring moments taking a particular knock.
Silver: Steffan Evans, Wales (88)
Bronze: Rieko Ioane, New Zealand (87)
Jonathan Sexton, Ireland (92)
Having been in a ding-dong battle with Beauden Barrett all season long for the accolade of top fly-half in the game, Sexton has surely put that debate to bed over the last month. The Leinsterman has guided his province and country to an unprecedented season of success, whilst Barrett has come under intense pressure from his deputy, Richie Mo’unga.
Silver: Beauden Barrett, New Zealand (92)
Bronze: Richie Mo’unga, New Zealand (91)
Luke McGrath, Ireland (87)
Another surprise inclusion here, with Conor Murray’s stock having taken a hit due to injury and Aaron Smith’s level of performance falling a bit shy of his usual lofty standards. McGrath has prospered briefly for Ireland, with the majority of his RPI score coming from his effervescent performances with Leinster, where he arguably doesn’t get the credit for his creative work, due to the presence of Sexton.
Silver: Gareth Davies, Wales (86)
Bronze: Aaron Smith, New Zealand (85)
Cian Healy, Ireland (86)
What a resurgence it has been for Healy, with many people writing off his career a couple of years ago when he was battling through a number of significant injuries. He has been in fine form in 2018, taking his starting spot back from provincial teammate Jack McGrath. Fans of French rugby will welcome the sight of one of their props back in the mix, with Dany Priso hot on the heels of the Irishman.
Silver: Dany Priso, France (85)
Bronze: Steven Kitshoff, South Africa (82)
Malcolm Marx, South Africa (92)
An errant display at the lineout against England did bring a momentary dip for Marx, but his performances otherwise have been more than impressive enough to keep him at the top of the rankings, despite intense competition from Scotland’s Fraser Brown. Marx’s improved accuracy at the lineout this year, the England game aside, has been a key component behind his rise to this level.
Silver: Fraser Brown, Scotland (92)
Bronze: Codie Taylor, New Zealand (91)
Tadhg Furlong, Ireland (88)
If there’s a surprise here, it’s that Vincent Koch has got so close to Furlong. The Irishman has been in imperious form for a couple of years now and is widely regarded as one of the very best players on the planet, but the South African is not far behind him and, like Williams earlier, is profiting from an undefeated season to date with high-scoring Saracens.
Silver: Vincent Koch, South Africa (88)
Bronze: Rabah Slimani, France (84)
Devin Toner, Ireland (91)
There are just 100ths of a point between Toner, Eben Etzebeth and Brodie Retallick and it’s a mark of the quiet efficiency of the lock’s play this year that he is able to oust two such prolific players from the top spot. His lineout work is understandably excellent, but it’s his defence in the loose and his involvement in attacking movements which have seen him keep pace with the higher profile stars of the southern hemisphere.
Silver: Eben Etzebeth, South Africa (91)
Bronze: Brodie Retallick, New Zealand (91)
Maro Itoje, England (92)
Itoje is England’s sole representative in this XV, a mark of both their struggles earlier in the year and the intense competition that has come on from Irish and South African players in particular over the last 12 months. The Englishman gets in just ahead of Ireland’s James Ryan, although if there were no distinction between number fours and number fives, both Itoje and Ryan would be the starting locks, with RPI scores of 92.
Silver: James Ryan, Ireland (92)
Bronze: Sam Skinner, Scotland (90)
Peter O’Mahony, Ireland (93)
O’Mahony currently boasts the second highest RPI around and is clearly a class apart at the position. Even the closest challenger, Scott Barrett, is a lock at Super Rugby level and has played a role on the flank for the All Blacks due to the potency of the combination of Retallick and Sam Whitelock in the engine room, as much as anything else. O’Mahony has set himself up as the premier defensive lineout threat in world rugby.
Silver: Scott Barrett, New Zealand (90)
Bronze: Liam Squire, New Zealand (85)
Ardie Savea, New Zealand (93)
From the second highest RPI score to the highest, Savea has flourished in 2018, making the most of the unfortunate neck injury suffered by Sam Cane. The combination of the freedom he has been given in Super Rugby and the increased playing time with the All Blacks, has seen Savea’s talent shine and register an RPI score reflective of it.
Silver: Sean O’Brien, Ireland (88)
Bronze: Matt Todd, New Zealand (88)
Kieran Read, New Zealand (92)
Read is back at the very top following a significant amount of missed time in recent seasons, as well as injuries affecting the years of both Billy Vunipola and Taulupe Faletau. The influence Read exerts in the moments building up to a score separate him from the competition here, as well as his lineout ability, where he is one of, if not the most adept offensive jumping threat currently plying their trade in the international game.
Silver: CJ Stander, Ireland (90)
Bronze: Warren Whiteley, South Africa (89)
Watch: Jim Hamilton visits Jamie George’s house in St Albans for the latest edition of Rugby Pads. |
Today, I held a house party. For fun, I made sure all the beer was alcohol-free, so I could see which of my friends would be weak-minded enough to end up acting drunk. Three did. I was one of them. FML
OP you threw a 'house party' without drinks. Thats pretty much an oxymoron, and its very stupid, lame and weird thing to do. What the hell did all the people do all night? Must have been awkward as fuck. Did you lose friends?
Guys it's called the placebo effect, u trick or give something to someone who thinks that it will have an affect on them. The mind does the rest, believing the problem was solved eg some pain can be cured by placebo, also this situation is a great example
Got some biomedical uses, they usually give placebo injection to one group of mice (usually just a saline solution) and the potential cure to another group, they then record the results to def if the vaccine/medicine is effective
Obviously OP forgot. It's not that bizarre, especially if it was a longer night (more likely to forget as party goes on) or something that OP does regularly (easier to slip into a familiar routine). So yes, still placebo effect.
I hate this phrase so much.. It's way overused and complete bullshit. If everyone thought this way, then absolutely nothing would get done in this world. Not trying to pick on anyone, I just hate that god damn phrase with a passion. |
Duke Pediatrics Opens New Sleep Lab
The Division of Pediatric Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine offers a pediatric focused, multidisciplinary
approach to the diagnosis, management, and treatment of sleep disorders in
children. With a growing and experienced sleep medicine staff led by Richard M. Kravitz,
MD, the Division provides a convenient sleep
clinic for newborns through adolescents that is currently held every second
Thursday afternoon in the Duke Children’s Health Center in addition to regular
general pulmonary clinics being offered five days per week at this site. Our
dedicated pediatric sleep lab is available seven nights per week at the CHC and
offers state-of-the-art equipment to aid in the diagnosis and management of
various pediatric sleep disorders.
Beginning Friday,
February 4, 2011, a new two-bed sleep lab will be opening at Duke Children’s
Consultative Services of Raleigh. Sleep studies will initially be offered on
Friday and Saturday nights with services eventually expanding to seven nights
per week. Pediatric Sleep Clinics are currently being held on every fourth and
fifth Wednesday afternoon at the new Raleigh location, in addition to general
pulmonary clinics that take place every Wednesday morning and afternoon.
If you have any questions, or if you need help scheduling
your patients for any of the sleep medicine providers, please contact Richard
Kravitz, MD at: richard.kravitz@duke.edu
or 684-3364. |
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{
url: uri,
type: 'GET',
dataType: 'json',
async:false,
timeout: 100,
success: function(data){
updateUI(data);
},
error: function(xhr, ajaxOptions, thrownError) {
alert("err"+thrownError+xhr.responseText);
}
});
}
function updateUI(data){
// do something with "data"
switch(data) {
case "progress.Decompose":
$("#decompose").removeClass("notStarted");
$("#decompose").addClass("progress");
$("#imgDecompose").html(htmlLoaderImage);
break;
case "Main object is decomposed":
$("#decompose").removeClass("progress");
$("#decompose").addClass("finished");
$("#imgDecompose").html(htmlSuccessImage);
break;
case "started":
alert(data);
}
checkProgress (uri);
}
It's an infinite Ajax request which will check the progress by calling this method in controller.
@RequestMapping(value="/checkingProgress",method= RequestMethod.GET)
public String checkProgress() {
System.out.println("In checking progress");
return progress;
}
But I am getting an undefined error. I am using Spring MVC. I can't understand why is it happening.
A:
I think you are not sending the request to the correct path. From the controller code snippet that you have posted it seems that you need to change the request mapping to @RequestMapping(value="/digitalObject/checkingProgress").
In addition, as @Michael Laffargue pointed out you need to return valid json. You can do this by adding a @ResponseBody to your method declaration:
public @ResponseBody String checkProgress() {
...
}
Make sure that the MappingJacksonHttpMessageConverter is enabled. You can also use Firebug, Chrome Dev Tools or Fiddler to see exactly what is going on with your request/response.
|
#include "ghdr.h"
#include "gridhd.h"
#include "grid.h"
#include "subc.h"
#include "su.h"
#include "segy.h"
/*********************** self documentation ******************************/
string sdoc =
"\n"
"SUBALANCE - Amplitude Balance \n"
"\n"
"subalance <stdin >stdout [optional parameters]\n"
"\n"
"Required Parameters:\n"
"stdin Name of input cdp gathers \n"
" (can also be specified as datain=stdin, \n"
" instead of <stdin) \n"
"stdout Name of output cdp gathers \n"
" (can also be specified as dataout=stdout, \n"
" instead of >stdout) \n"
"Optional Parameters:\n"
"tmin=mute_time minimum time (in ms) to compute input rms \n"
" amplitude (default to mute time) \n"
"tmax=max_time maximum time (in ms) to compute input rms \n"
" amplitude (default to maximum time in data) \n"
"rmsout=1. desired output rms amplitude \n"
"iamp=0 amplitude scale mode \n"
" (0=scale trace to desired rms of rmsout \n"
" 1=multiple amplitude factor ampgrid to data \n"
" 2=compute and store 1/rms of data at ampgrid) \n"
" 3=compute and store rms of data at ampgrid) \n"
"ampgrid= Name of amplitude grid to be applied/stored \n"
" (stored as (t,x,y) order with grid header) \n"
"nx= number of traces per line in the input \n"
" (number of traces per line in ammgrid must = nx) \n"
"ny= number of lines in the input \n"
" (number of lines in ammgrid must = ny) \n"
" (nx and ny are needed when iamp>=1) \n"
"ocdp2=from-ampgrid trace number at first trace of ampgrid \n"
"dcdp2=from-ampgrid trace number increment along the inline \n"
" in ampgrid \n"
"oline3=from-ampgrid line number at first trace of ampgrid \n"
"dline3=from-ampgrid line number increment of ampgrid \n"
"ntagrid=from-vnmogrid Number of time samples per trace in ampgrid \n"
"dtagrid=from-vnmogrid Time interval (in ms) of ampgrid \n"
"ftagrid=from-vnmogrid Minimum Time (in ms) of ampgrid \n"
"lwin=50 Window length in samples to compute rms when \n"
" ntagrid, ftagrid, dtagrid are specified \n"
" and iamp=0, 2 or 3 \n"
"interp=0 interpolate zeor-rms points from non-zero \n"
" data points when iamp=2 or 3 \n"
" 0=no 1=only along time; \n"
" 2=along time then trace; \n"
" 3=along time, trace and then line \n"
"\n"
"Author: Zhiming Li 6-6-94 \n"
"Notes: \n"
" 1. when iamp=2 or 3, and rms of input trace is zero, a value will be \n"
" interpolated from adjacent nonzero points when interp=1 \n"
" 2. to apply a smooth scaling function, it is recommended to run this \n"
" program twice, first compute ampgrid using iamp=2, then apply \n"
" vsmoo3d program to smooth the ampgrid, run subalance again using \n"
" iamp=1 and ampgrid input \n"
" 3. if ntagrid, dtagrid and ftagrid are specified, and iamp=0, or 2, or 3, \n"
" the program will compute rms of the input using the window length lwin.\n"
"\n";
/**************** end self doc *******************************************/
segytrace tr;
main(int argc, char **argv)
{
int nt; /* number of time samples per trace */
float dt; /* time sampling interval */
float ft; /* time of first sample */
int it; /* time sample index */
float *at; /* array[nt] of amp for a particular trace */
float *aread; /* array[ntagrid] of amp for a particular trace */
int *indx; /* temporary used to interpolate ovv array */
int lwin, ii, jj, it0, itn;
int interp, itr;
FILE *agfp;
int ntagrid;
char *agfile, *datain, *dataout;
int iamp=0;
FILE *infp,*outfp;
int cdp1, cdp0;
int iy1, ix1;
float dcdpx, dcdpy;
float tmin, tmax, tmp, rmsout;
float *rms, *tin, *tout;
float ftagrid, dtagrid;
int nx, ny, itmin, itmax, n;
int cdp, ix, iy;
int ixx, iyy, i1, i2;
float dd1, dd2;
int n1,n2,n3,n4,n5;
float o1,o2,o3,o4,o5,d1,d2,d3,d4,d5;
float scale, ocdp2, oline3, dcdp2, dline3;
float vmin, vmax;
int dtype,ierr,orient=0,gtype=0;
ghed gh;
long long lpos;
/* hook up getpar */
initargs(argc, argv);
askdoc(1);
/* get required parameters */
if (!getparint("iamp",&iamp)) iamp = 0;
if(iamp!=0) {
if (!getparstring("ampgrid",&agfile))
err(" File ampgrid must be specified ");
if (!getparint("nx",&nx))
err("nx missing");
if (!getparint("ny",&ny))
err("ny missing");
if (iamp==1) {
if((agfp = fopen(agfile,"r"))==NULL)
err("Input ampgrid file %s not found \n",agfile);
file2g(agfp);
/* obtain grid header info */
ierr = fgetghdr(agfp, &gh);
if(ierr==0) fromghdr(&gh,&scale,&dtype,
&n1,&n2,&n3,&n4,&n5,
&d1,&d2,&d3,&d4,&d5,&o1,&o2,&o3,&o4,&o5,
&dcdp2,&dline3,&ocdp2,&oline3,
&vmin,&vmax,&orient,>ype);
if(nx!=n2) err(" check nx \n");
if(ny!=n3) err(" check ny \n");
} else {
agfp = fopen(agfile,"w");
file2g(agfp);
ierr=1;
n4 = 1;
n5 = 1;
n2 = nx;
n3 = ny;
if (!getparfloat("dcdp2",&dcdp2))
err("dcdp2 missing \n");
if (!getparfloat("ocdp2",&ocdp2))
err("ocdp2 missing \n");
if (!getparfloat("dline3",&dline3))
err("dline3 missing \n");
if (!getparfloat("oline3",&oline3))
err("oline3 missing \n");
}
}
if (!getparstring("datain",&datain)) {
infp = stdin;
} else {
infp = efopen(datain,"r");
}
file2g(infp);
if(iamp<2) {
if (!getparstring("dataout",&dataout)) {
outfp = stdout;
} else {
outfp = efopen(dataout,"w");
}
file2g(outfp);
}
/* get information from the first header */
if (!fgettr(infp,&tr)) err("can't get first trace");
nt = tr.ns;
dt = (float)tr.dt/1000000.0;
ft = tr.delrt/1000.0;
/* get other optional parameters */
if(iamp==1) {
nx = n2;
ny = n3;
}
if(iamp!=0) {
fprintf(stderr,"\n");
fprintf(stderr,"starting trace of ampgrid: ocdp2=%g\n",ocdp2);
fprintf(stderr,"starting line of ampgrid: oline3=%g\n",oline3);
fprintf(stderr,"trace increment of ampgrid: dcdp2=%g\n",dcdp2);
fprintf(stderr,"line increment of ampgrid: dline3=%g\n",dline3);
fprintf(stderr,"\n");
}
if (!getparint("ntagrid",&ntagrid)) {
if(ierr==0) {
ntagrid = n1;
} else {
ntagrid = 1;
}
}
if(ntagrid==0) ntagrid = 1;
if (!getparfloat("dtagrid",&dtagrid)) {
if(ierr==0) {
dtagrid = d1 * 0.001;
} else {
dtagrid = dt;
}
} else {
dtagrid = dtagrid/1000.0;
}
if (!getparfloat("ftagrid",&ftagrid)) {
if(ierr==0) {
ftagrid = o1 * 0.001;
} else {
ftagrid = ft;
}
} else {
ftagrid = ftagrid/1000.0;
}
if (!getparint("lwin",&lwin)) lwin=50;
if(!getparfloat("tmin",&tmin)) {
tmin = ft;
} else {
tmin = tmin / 1000.;
}
if(!getparfloat("tmax",&tmax)) {
tmax = ft + (nt-1)*dt;
} else {
tmax = tmax/1000.;
}
if(!getparfloat("rmsout",&rmsout)) rmsout=1.;
if(!getparint("interp",&interp)) interp=0;
if(nx<1) nx=1;
if(ny<1) ny=1;
/* allocate workspace */
at = (float*) emalloc(nt*sizeof(float));
rms = (float*) emalloc(ntagrid*nx*ny*sizeof(float));
bzero(rms,nx*ny*ntagrid*sizeof(float));
tin = (float*) emalloc(ntagrid*sizeof(float));
tout = (float*) emalloc(nt*sizeof(float));
aread = (float*) emalloc(ntagrid*sizeof(float));
indx = (int*) emalloc(nt*sizeof(int));
if(iamp<=1) {
for(it=0;it<ntagrid;it++) tin[it] = ftagrid + it*dtagrid;
for(it=0;it<nt;it++) tout[it] = ft + it * dt;
}
if(iamp==1) {
if(ntagrid==1) {
rms = (float*) emalloc(nx*ny*sizeof(float));
fseek(agfp,0,0);
fread(rms,sizeof(float),nx*ny,agfp);
}
}
itmax = (tmax-ft)/dt+0.5;
if(itmax>nt) itmax = nt;
ix = 0;
iy = 0;
itr = 0;
if(iamp>0) fseek2g(agfp,0,0);
/* loop over traces */
do {
iy = itr/nx;
ix = itr - iy*nx;
/* compute rms */
if(iamp!=1) {
tmp = tr.mute * 0.001;
if(tmp<tmin) tmp = tmin;
tmp = (tmp - ft)/dt;
itmin = tmp;
if(itmin<0) itmin = 0;
if(ntagrid==1) {
tmp = 0.;
n = 0;
for(it=itmin;it<itmax;it++) {
if(tr.data[it]!=0.) {
tmp = tmp + tr.data[it]*tr.data[it];
n = n + 1;
}
}
if(n>0) tmp = sqrt(tmp/n);
rms[iy*nx+ix] = tmp;
} else {
for(ii=0;ii<ntagrid;ii++) {
tmp = ftagrid + ii*dtagrid;
tmp = (tmp-ft)/dt;
jj = tmp;
it0 = jj-lwin/2;
itn = jj+lwin/2;
if(itmin>it0) it0 = itmin;
if(itmax<itn) itn = itmax;
tmp = 0;
n = 0;
for(it=it0;it<=itn;it++) {
if(tr.data[it]!=0.) {
tmp = tmp + tr.data[it]*tr.data[it];
n = n + 1;
}
}
if(n>0) tmp = sqrt(tmp/n);
rms[(iy*nx+ix)*ntagrid+ii] = tmp;
}
}
/* compute inverse of rms */
if(iamp==2 || iamp==0 ) {
for(ii=0;ii<ntagrid;ii++) {
if(rms[(iy*nx+ix)*ntagrid+ii]>0.)
rms[(iy*nx+ix)*ntagrid+ii]=
rmsout/rms[(iy*nx+ix)*ntagrid+ii];
}
}
}
/* apply the scale */
if(iamp==0 || iamp==1) {
if(ntagrid>1) {
if(iamp==1) {
/* read in scale function */
/*
lpos = (iy*nx+ix);
lpos = lpos * ntagrid*sizeof(float);
fseek2g(agfp,lpos,0);
*/
fread(aread,sizeof(float),ntagrid,agfp);
} else {
for(ii=0;ii<ntagrid;ii++) aread[ii] = rms[ii];
}
lin1d_(tin,aread,&ntagrid,tout,at,&nt,indx);
for(it=0;it<nt;it++)
tr.data[it] *= at[it];
} else {
tmp = rms[ix+iy*nx];
for(it=0;it<nt;it++)
tr.data[it] *= tmp;
}
fputtr(outfp,&tr);
}
itr = itr + 1;
} while (fgettr(infp,&tr));
/* interpolating scales from nonzero points */
if(interp>=1 && iamp>=2) {
/* fill zeros in time first */
if(ntagrid>1) {
for(iy=0;iy<ny;iy++) {
for(ix=0;ix<nx;ix++) {
for(ii=0;ii<ntagrid;ii++) {
jj = (iy*nx+ix)*ntagrid + ii;
if(rms[jj] == 0.) {
/*
fprintf(stderr, "input rms zero at ix=%d iy=%d it=%d \n",ix+1,iy+1,ii+1);
*/
dd1 = 0;
i1 = 0;
for(it=ii+1;it<ntagrid;it++) {
if(rms[(iy*nx+ix)*ntagrid+it] != 0.) {
dd1 = it - ii;
i1 = it;
break;
}
}
dd2 = 0;
i2 = 0;
for(it=ii-1;it>=0;it--) {
if(rms[(iy*nx+ix)*ntagrid+it] != 0.) {
dd2 = ii - it;
i2 = it;
break;
}
}
if(dd1+dd2>0.) {
i1 = i1 + (iy*nx+ix)*ntagrid;
i2 = i2 + (iy*nx+ix)*ntagrid;
rms[jj] =
dd2/(dd1+dd2)*rms[i1]+dd1/(dd1+dd2)*rms[i2];
}
}
}
}
}
}
/* now try x direction */
if(nx>1 && interp>=2) {
for(iy=0;iy<ny;iy++) {
for(ii=0;ii<ntagrid;ii++) {
for(ix=0;ix<nx;ix++) {
jj = (iy*nx+ix)*ntagrid+ii;
if(rms[jj] == 0.) {
/*
fprintf(stderr, "input rms zero at ix=%d iy=%d it=%d \n",ix+1,iy+1,ii+1);
*/
dd1 = 0;
i1 = 0;
for(ixx=ix+1;ixx<nx;ixx++) {
if(rms[(iy*nx+ixx)*ntagrid+ii]!=0.) {
dd1 = ixx - ix;
i1 = ixx;
break;
}
}
dd2 = 0;
i2 = 0;
for(ixx=ix-1;ixx>=0;ixx--) {
if(rms[(iy*nx+ixx)*ntagrid+ii]!=0.) {
dd2 = ix - ixx;
i2 = ixx;
break;
}
}
if(dd1+dd2>0.) {
i1 = (iy*nx+i1)*ntagrid+ii;
i2 = (iy*nx+i2)*ntagrid+ii;
rms[jj] =
dd2/(dd1+dd2)*rms[i1]+dd1/(dd1+dd2)*rms[i2];
}
}
}
}
}
}
/* last look at y direction */
if(ny>1 && interp==3) {
for(ix=0;ix<nx;ix++) {
for(ii=0;ii<ntagrid;ii++) {
for(iy=0;iy<ny;iy++) {
jj = (iy*nx+ix)*ntagrid+ii;
if(rms[jj] == 0.) {
/*
fprintf(stderr, "input rms zero at ix=%d iy=%d it=%d \n",ix+1,iy+1,ii+1);
*/
dd1 = 0;
i1 = 0;
for(iyy=iy+1;iyy<ny;iyy++) {
if(rms[(iyy*nx+ix)*ntagrid+ii]!=0.) {
dd1 = iyy - iy;
i1 = iyy;
break;
}
}
dd2 = 0;
i2 = 0;
for(iyy=iy-1;iyy>=0;iyy--) {
if(rms[(iyy*nx+ix)*ntagrid+ii]!=0.) {
dd2 = iy - iyy;
i2 = iyy;
break;
}
}
if(dd1+dd2>0.) {
i1 = (i1*nx+ix)*ntagrid+ii;
i2 = (i2*nx+ix)*ntagrid+ii;
rms[jj] =
dd2/(dd1+dd2)*rms[i1]+dd1/(dd1+dd2)*rms[i2];
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
/* output grid */
if (iamp>=2) {
vmin = rms[0];
vmax = rms[0];
for(ix=0;ix<nx*ny*ntagrid;ix++) {
if(vmin>rms[ix]) vmin = rms[ix];
if(vmax<rms[ix]) vmax = rms[ix];
}
efwrite(rms,sizeof(float),nx*ny*ntagrid,agfp);
scale = 1.0e-6;
dtype = 4;
n1 = ntagrid;
o1 = ftagrid*1000;
d1 = dtagrid*1000;
n2 = nx;
o2 = ocdp2;
d2 = dcdp2;
n3 = ny;
o3 = oline3;
d3 = dline3;
orient = 1;
n4 = 1;
n5 = 1;
o4 = 0;
o5 = 0;
d4 = 1;
d5 = 1;
toghdr(&gh,&scale,&dtype,
&n1,&n2,&n3,&n4,&n5,
&d1,&d2,&d3,&d4,&d5,&o1,&o2,&o3,&o4,&o5,
&dcdp2,&dline3,&ocdp2,&oline3,
&vmin,&vmax,&orient,>ype);
ierr = fputghdr(agfp, &gh);
if(ierr!=0) warn("ampgrid header error");
}
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}
|
State visit of Elizabeth II to the Republic of Ireland
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, made a state visit to the Republic of Ireland from 17 May to 20 May 2011, at the invitation of the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese.
It was the first visit by a reigning British monarch to the area that is now the Republic of Ireland since the 1911 tour by Elizabeth's grandfather King George V, when the entire island of Ireland was still part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
The intervening period saw the 1916 proclamation of the Irish Republic during the Easter Rising against British rule in Ireland. A military conflict from January 1919 led ultimately to the partition of Ireland in December 1922. Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom, while the Irish Free State became a self-governing and then fully independent Dominion within the British Empire. In 1936 the Irish Free State removed all reference to the British monarchy from its Constitution but the Commonwealth determined to continue to treat it as a member of the Commonwealth. In 1937 the Irish Free State adopted a republican constitution and renamed itself Ireland. In 1949 Ireland ended its practice of associating itself with the countries comprising the Commonwealth and the Commonwealth decided to regard it as no longer being a Commonwealth member.
While the visit was notable for being the first by the Queen to the Republic, she had visited the island of Ireland on many occasions during her reign; however, her visits were always confined to Northern Ireland. She had also been visited in London by President Mary Robinson in May 1993 and then several times by President McAleese since 1997.
The visit was seen as a symbolic normalisation of Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom relations following the signing of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which settled most outstanding territorial disputes between the states, including the abandonment by the Republic of its territorial claim to Northern Ireland, thereby removing a major obstacle to a royal visit. Arrangements for the visit included the largest security operation in the history of the Republic of Ireland. During the visit, the Queen visited sites of significance for Irish nationalism in Dublin, such as the Garden of Remembrance and Croke Park, scene of the 1920 Bloody Sunday massacre. She also delivered a widely praised speech on the history of relations between the two countries.
The visit was criticised by Irish republican and socialist groups. Sinn Féin, the United Left Alliance, some independent TDs and several smaller republican and socialist groups were opposed to the visit, with protests organised at locations on the Queen's itinerary.
In April 2014, President Michael D. Higgins reciprocated the Queen's visit when he became the first Irish president to make a state visit to the United Kingdom.
Visit announced
The Queen's visit was formally announced by Buckingham Palace and Áras an Uachtaráin simultaneously on 4 March 2011. The Queen's announcement stated:
The announcement was widely expected as both governments had anticipated the visit publicly for some time. The British ambassador to Ireland, David Reddaway, had described the visit as "imminent" in 2009.
Background
Queen Elizabeth II's visit came one hundred years after the last visit by a British monarch, when her grandfather, King George V, visited Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire), Dublin, Leopardstown, and Maynooth on 8–12 July 1911, as part of his accession tour.
The visit drew comparisons to the visit of Prince Philip's uncle Lord Mountbatten in 1979, when he was killed by a Provisional IRA bombing. Sligo Mayor Matt Lyons said that the local tourist industry was still recovering from the bombing: "Mullaghmore attracted a lot of English people prior to Lord Mountbatten's murder. It took years and years for that to recover and it hasn't really recovered."
The Queen's eldest son, Charles, Prince of Wales, attended a dinner at Dublin Castle with Taoiseach John Bruton in 1995. Anne, Princess Royal, and Prince Andrew, Duke of York, also visited the republic between 1995 and 2010. On 19 March 2004 Prince Charles made a private visit to Lismore Castle in County Waterford, for the 60th birthday of Lord Hartington.
The Princess Royal has made several visits to the Republic of Ireland. On one visit on 17 February 2004, she met President Mary McAleese at Áras an Uachtaráin, then went to the Army Equitation School at McKee Barracks, and an award presentation at the Old Jameson Distillery in Smithfield, Dublin.
On 22 September 2001, the Duke of York attended a ceremony at Kinsale in County Cork to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Battle of Kinsale. On 5 February 2007, the Duke visited Dublin to promote trade links, meeting President Mary McAleese and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. He met John Hurley, the Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, visited wind farm company Airtricity, and attended a dinner hosted by David Reddaway, the British ambassador.
In January 1996, just before one of his sister's visits, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, visited Dublin to present the Gaisce Gold Awards. On 27 August 1999, Prince Edward visited Dublin Castle with his wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex, for the world conference of the International Award Association, and met President McAleese.
When the Queen met President Mary Robinson in 1993, this was the first meeting between an Irish head of state and a British sovereign. The Duke of Edinburgh visited Dublin on 10 November 1998, his first visit to the Republic of Ireland. He arrived by RAF helicopter at Áras an Uachtaráin, and launched the Millennium Gold Encounter for Ireland's Gaisce – The President's Award. Prince Philip also visited Dublin on 26 April 2006, again for the Gaisce Awards and met Bertie Ahern.
Initial reaction
Ireland
Taoiseach Enda Kenny linked the visit to the Good Friday Agreement being put into full effect. The Queen was welcomed by Irish President Mary McAleese. The First Minister of Northern Ireland and Democratic Unionist Party leader Peter Robinson said the visit was "a sign of the normalisation of relations between our two countries", while the leader of Sinn Féin, Gerry Adams, said he did not "think this is the right time for the English Queen" to visit. He further described the timing of the visit, which was to occur on the anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan Bombings as "particularly insensitive". McAleese said it was "absolutely the right moment", and described the visit as "an extraordinary moment in Irish history". An opinion poll conducted shortly before the visit showed that it had the support of 77% of the Irish people. Adams later expressed a more conciliatory tone toward the visit: "I want to see a real and meaningfully new and better relationship between the peoples of Ireland and Britain.... The visit by the Queen of England provides a unique opportunity for the British establishment to make it clear that this is its intention also." Martin McGuinness, the Sinn Féin deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, declined invitations to attend ceremonies at the Garden of Remembrance and the National War Memorial Gardens at Islandbridge, saying the royal visit was "premature".
However, the cost of the visit was a cause for concern for some. Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins asked in Dáil Éireann if "the Queen of England might be politely asked to contribute to the cost of her bed & breakfast during her visit to Ireland," observing that "the Irish people needed the financial help since they could soon be – metaphorically speaking – sleeping rough, as the country faced bankruptcy to pay off the debts of German and French banks which had recklessly gambled and lost in the Irish property bubble". According to Richard Boyd Barrett TD, the total cost of the visit was approximately €30 million (US$42 million, GB £26 million).
United Kingdom
British Prime Minister David Cameron described the visit as "a huge step forward" for diplomatic relations between the two countries, while former prime minister Sir John Major also rejected Gerry Adams's criticism that the visit was premature, saying that the visit put "a seal on the past and builds for the future", and that there had not been "anything of equivalent significance in the last few decades".
Security
The Queen's visit led to a number of threats of violence being issued. The Gardaí borrowed two water cannon from the Police Service of Northern Ireland to deal with any potential instances of public disorder. According to Scotland Yard, dissident Irish republicans issued a bomb threat regarding London on the eve of the visit. It was the first coded warning issued outside Northern Ireland in a decade, and the threat was made from an Irish telephone number. However, the threat did not change the Irish terrorism threat level in Britain, which remained at "substantial". There was also a terror alert in Dublin on the eve of the visit. A pipe bomb was found on a Dublin-bound bus in Maynooth, County Kildare and made safe after a warning call was made to the Gardaí. A second suspect package was found in Dublin on the first day of the visit, but was declared a hoax after being examined. On 17 May, bomb scares were reported in the Dublin suburbs of Inchicore and Fairview.
Former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan revealed in April 2014 that members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army had intended to kill the Queen, and arrests were made. An explosive device was found in Dorset Street, close to the Garden of Remembrance. Even during the Queen's flight from London, doubts arose about whether it was safe for her to land in Ireland, and British Prime Minister David Cameron held an urgent meeting in the situation room in Downing Street in response, while she was airborne.
Media coverage
The visit was covered extensively by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) and TV3. RTÉ broadcast the events on television, radio and the internet. The Queen and Us, a special documentary by Tommie Gorman, was broadcast on the night of 17 May at the end of the first day of the visit.
The visit was marked with the broadcast of several documentaries, including:
Forbidden Love: The Royals, narrated by Rosaleen Linehan on RTÉ
The Queen and Us, presented by Tommie Gorman on RTÉ
The Queen in Ireland, a BBC news special
The BBC, Sky News, CNN, France 24, Xinhua News Agency and ITAR-TASS were among the foreign media to cover events. Nearly 12,000 newspaper articles were produced and nearly 1,400 news clips were shown on television internationally.
RTÉ One broadcast a special programme over the following Christmas Season, The Queen's Speech, recalling the visit.
Itinerary
Though the Queen made several public appearances, onlookers remained at a distance behind security barriers most of the time. On the final day of her visit, she greeted members of the public on a short walkabout on a street in Cork. Earlier, she met with some members of the public who were carefully selected in advance.
For the three nights of her visit, the Queen stayed at Farmleigh, the State Guest House in the Phoenix Park.
There were ten people in the British delegation.
Day 1 (17 May)
The Queen arrived in Ireland, flying into Casement Aerodrome with the Duke of Edinburgh. She landed on schedule, "almost exactly at noon". Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore greeted her and her party when they got off the plane. The Queen wore a Stewart Parvin jade green dress and coat accompanied by a Rachel Trevor-Morgan hat, and a young girl named Rachel Fox from Shankill in Dublin gave her a bouquet of flowers.
Following her arrival, she was driven to Áras an Uachtaráin, the residence of the President of Ireland in the Phoenix Park, where she was welcomed by President McAleese and her husband, Martin. The Queen and Prince Philip then signed the guestbook. While there, she also inspected a guard of honour accompanied by guard commander Captain Thomas Holmes (5th Infantry Battalion). A 21-gun salute was fired in the background. Before lunch at the Áras, she planted an oak tree beside the Peace Bell in the garden.
After changing clothes, she travelled to the Garden of Remembrance where she was greeted by the Minister for Justice and Defence, Alan Shatter. She and President McAleese each laid a wreath, and the Queen bowed to honour those who died for Irish freedom. She departed for Trinity College Library, where she viewed the ninth-century Book of Kells and the 15th-century Trinity College Harp, and shook hands with many academics. She then retired to Farmleigh for a private evening.
The published schedule said she would arrive at Áras an Uachtaráin at 12:30, the Garden of Remembrance at 15:15 and Trinity College at 15:40.
Day 2 (18 May)
The Queen visited the Guinness Storehouse, Government Buildings, and the National War Memorial Gardens, where she also laid a wreath, before having a private lunch at Farmleigh. Among those who were invited to attend the National War Memorial ceremony were leaders of the Ulster Defence Association, which caused some controversy.
She also visited the Croke Park sports stadium, which was the site of the shooting of football spectators by British forces in 1920. Some Gaelic Athletic Association officials were reported to have declined to attend the Croke Park event, although Christy Cooney, president of the GAA, welcomed the Queen, saying "Your Majesty, on behalf of the members of the Gaelic Athletic Association throughout Ireland and across the world, I am delighted to welcome you to our headquarters at Croke Park". The Queen was introduced to four inter-county Gaelic football and hurling players, and presented with an original Offaly hurley.
Speech at Dublin Castle
A state dinner in honour of the Queen took place in the evening at Dublin Castle. Following a speech and toast by President McAleese, the Queen delivered a speech on relations between Ireland and the United Kingdom. The content of the speech, which was written by the Queen and her deputy private secretary, drew widespread praise from the Irish media and from politicians, including Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams. The Queen began her speech by speaking in Irish: "A Uachtaráin, agus a chairde" she said — "President and friends" which caused President McAleese to turn to others at the table and say "Wow" three times. The Queen noted the progress made in the Northern Ireland peace process adding, "What were once only hopes for the future have now come to pass; it is almost exactly 13 years since the overwhelming majority of people in Ireland and Northern Ireland voted in favour of the agreement signed on Good Friday 1998, paving the way for Northern Ireland to become the exciting and inspirational place that it is today."
Day 3 (19 May)
The Queen toured the Irish National Stud in Tully, County Kildare for about half an hour. Afterwards, she visited the Aga Khan's Gilltown stud south of Kilcullen in County Kildare. She lunched with the Aga Khan, his family, and other guests. In the evening, she attended the National Convention Centre in Dublin for a British Embassy party, at which the Queen hosted the President. The best of Irish and British fashion were on show, and there was a 45 minute concert including performances by The Chieftains, Westlife, and Riverdance, compered by broadcaster Gay Byrne. The British Ambassador, Julian King, announced that "The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh, together with President McAleese and two thousand invited guests from across Ireland, will experience the best of Irish music, dance, theatre and fashion in a unique event to mark the visit." The Queen was greeted by long applause and a standing ovation after she made her way onto the stage at the end of the concert.
Day 4 (20 May)
The Queen visited the Rock of Cashel in Cashel, County Tipperary, on her way to Cork, where the Sinn Féin Mayor of Cashel, Michael Browne, welcomed her and shook her hand.
After Cashel, she visited Coolmore Stud, the world's largest horse-breeding operation, in Fethard, County Tipperary. She has sent mares to be bred at the stud over the years. Following a tour of the facility, she dined with John Magnier and horse-racing industry notables, as well as other guests who have not been identified.
While in Cork, the Queen visited the city's English Market on Princes Street after which she made unscheduled walkabout along the Grand Parade, greeting members of the public in the street, before going to Tyndall National Institute, a research centre which is part of University College Cork. She left the country from Cork Airport in the late afternoon.
Protests
The Irish Anti-War Movement (IAWM) held a peaceful protest against the royal visit at 18:30 on 17 May at the General Post Office (GPO) on O'Connell Street, Dublin, featuring former British soldiers and relatives of one British soldier killed in Afghanistan. Around 100 people attended to protest the presence of British Crown forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. A protest and wreath laying ceremony by the socialist Republican party Éirígí on Dublin's Moore Street passed off peacefully. A protest by Republican Sinn Féin and the 32 County Sovereignty Movement on the corner of Dorset Street and Hardwicke Street led to jostling with the Gardaí, and some balloons were released into the air.
On 18 May, a small protest organised by Republican Sinn Féin occurred peacefully near Croke Park during the Queen's visit to the stadium. During her visit to Dublin Castle, protests near Christ Church Cathedral organised by groups such as Éirígí and the 32 County Sovereignty Movement included hundreds of people, of whom eight were arrested.
Legacy
It was announced in June 2012 that Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness, the deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, would meet and shake hands with the Queen on a royal visit to the province. The Queen's visit to the Republic, widely seen as being successful, was mentioned by some as a factor in Sinn Féin's decision to meet the Queen. Lord Empey, chairman of the Ulster Unionist Party, noted that Sinn Féin's refusal to meet the Queen in Dublin resulted in a negative public reaction, and said a meeting was inevitable as a result, while Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams said the meeting would be "the right thing to do at the right time and for the right reasons."
The major legacy of the visit was that it set the scene for the State visit of the President of Ireland to the United Kingdom in 2014.
References
Category:2011 in international relations
Category:2011 in Irish politics
Category:2011 in the Republic of Ireland
Elizabeth II, Ireland, Republic
Category:Elizabeth II
Category:History of Cork (city)
Category:History of Dublin (city)
Category:History of County Kildare
Category:History of County Tipperary
Category:Ireland–United Kingdom relations
Category:Ireland and the Commonwealth of Nations
Category:May 2011 events in Europe |
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Explaining the Summation Process
So I have two separate summations, with the only difference being the first variable being squared in the second one. Can somebody explain to me how they got from the second to the third step on both. I don't see how this is occurring.
A:
You can just insert the values for $y_1$. In the first case this yields
$3p(1-p)^2+6p^2(1-p)+3p^3=3p(1-2p+p^2)+6p^2-6p^3+3p^3=3p-6p^2+3p^3+6p^2-6p^3+3p^3=3p$.
The second one can be obtained analogously.
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BCE CEO George Cope is claiming that the company approached the government with concerns about the forthcoming spectrum auction (as I note in this post, Bell has been a longstanding opponent of changes to the foreign investment rules and spectrum set-asides). BCE was particularly concerned with the potential for a large company like Verizon to enter the market as part of a set-aside. Cope says that the government assured him that would not happen and that the source was “the most senior bureaucracy in the country.” Leaving aside comments from Rogers Vice-Chair Phil Lind that the government is actively courting Verizon with trips to New York to convince them to enter the market and the public campaign from the Prime Minister’s Office to support greater competition, both of which seem to contradict such assurances, Cope’s comments raise the question of who provided the information.
Over the past year, there are eight lobbyist communication reports for BCE involving telecommunications. There is one that reasonably involved “the most senior bureaucracy in the country.” On April 25, 2013, BCE officials met with then-Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister Nigel Wright to discuss telecommunications. Wright resigned less than a month later as part of the Senator Mike Duffy scandal. There was an earlier meeting with Wright and Deputy Chief of Staff Derek Vanstone on June 25, 2012 on telecommunications.
In addition, there were two meetings with Industry Canada Deputy Minister John Knubley (May 28, 2013 and December 5, 2012) that qualify as senior bureaucracy. The remaining five meetings involved assistant deputy ministers or policy advisors (March 4, 2013, March 20, 2013, April 8, 2013, May 29, 2013, and June 28, 2013). Note that there were additional meetings with Nigel Wright and Andre Bachand, a senior advisor the Prime Minister, last August, but both of those meetings are listed as involving broadcasting (presumably the Astral deal). |
The present invention concerns parenteral pharmaceutical forms of administration in the form of microparticles (MP) for the controlled release of polypeptides and a process for the production of these microparticles.
As a result of the rapid advance of developments in biotechnology, numerous bioactive macromolecules are available in an adequate quantity for clinical application. Due to their structure they are hydrolytically cleaved in the gastro-intestinal tract and can therefore only be administered parenterally. Since they have a short half-life it is useful to develop parenteral depot systems in order to reduce the frequency of injections and to achieve a constant blood level.
A number of depot systems, in particular micro-particulate systems, have been described in the technical and patent literature which release physiologically active substances after parenteral administration as constantly as possible over a relatively long period of time. In this connection it should be noted that proteins in comparison to low molecular substances have specific characteristics due to their complex structure, their high molecular weight and the low degree of loading that is necessary due to their high biological efficacy which make it difficult to microencapsulate them successfully. Hence depending on the type of microencapsulation method used the protein stability can be adversely affected and the release may not be optimal or there may be an unsatisfactory release profile. The release behaviour is influenced on the one hand by the high molecular weight and the hydrophilic structure but also on the other hand by stability problems (including aggregation) of the protein and the low degree of loading.
One of the most important production methods for microparticles such as for example microcapsules or microbeads is the so-called triple emulsion process which has already been used for the microencapsulation of proteins. Basically in this method, which is also referred to as the W/O/W technique, the active substance is dissolved or suspended in an aqueous solution and this aqueous solution is homogenized with an oily solution of an organic water-immiscible solvent containing a polymer to form a W/O emulsion. This W/O emulsion is dispersed in a solution containing an aqueous stabilizer (external aqueous phase) so that an emulsion with three phases (triple emulsion) is formed. The solvent is then evaporated by various techniques which results in a hardening of the microparticles. The hardened microparticles are collected by centrifugation and/or filtration and, after washing with water or suitable aqueous solvents, dried by lyophilization or vacuum drying at room temperature. The polymers that are usually used are polymers of lactic acid (LA=lactic acid) and glycolic acid (GA=glycolic acid) or copolymers thereof (PLGA) with molecular weights between 2,000 and 100,000 and a ratio of lactic acid to glycolic acid between 100:0 to 50:50.
The residual content of solvent in the microparticles may prove to be problematic when using the triple emulsion method (R. Jalil and J. R. Nixon, J. Microencapsulation 7 (3), 1990, p. 297-325) since the dichloromethane which is used most frequently as the polymer solvent appears to be critical from a toxicological point of view. The residual content of solvent should also be kept as small as possible due to its potential influence on the polymer properties and the stability of the active substance in the polymer matrix.
The production of microcapsules with the aid of the triple emulsion method is disclosed for example in the European Patent Application EP 0 145 240 (Takeda) wherein the inner aqueous phase has a viscosity of at least 5,000 mPas or is completely solidified. The viscosity is increased by auxiliary substances such as gelatin, human serum albumin, globulin, casein, collagen and polyamino acids. The microencapsulation of xcex3 interferon and heparin is described in application examples.
The same production process is described in the Patent document EP 0 190 833 (Takeda) except that in this case the viscosity of the W/O emulsion is set at a value between 150-10,000 mPas. This is achieved by varying the polymer concentration (PLGA 100/0xe2x88x9250/50) and by adding natural or synthetic high molecular compounds such as e.g. proteins, carbohydrates (cellulose, dextrin, pectin, starch, agar), polyvinyl compounds, polycarboxylic acids or polyethylene compounds to the aqueous phase. This is intended to greatly reduce the tendency of the microparticles to aggregate and cohere during their production. In one application example interferon alpha is encapsulated.
In EP 0 442 671 (Takeda) similar statements to those in EP 0 190 833 are made with regard to aggregation properties, spherical shape of the microparticles and potential additives. According to the patent document xe2x80x9csubstances retaining the medicinal substancexe2x80x9d are not absolutely necessary. The examples that are specifically disclosed and elucidated in more detail in the description relate to the short chained and relatively stable peptide TAP144 which is an LHRH analogue.
Examples of the microencapsulation of peptides and proteins with the aid of the W/O/W technique are also published in the technical literature.
Thus Ogawa et al., (Chem. Pharm. Bull. 1988, vol. 36, No. 3, p. 1095-1103) describe the microencapsulation of leuprorelin acetate, a peptide, using PLA (polymer of lactic acid) and PLGA and also elaborate on the release behaviour of the peptide.
Cohen et al., (Pharmaceutical Research 1991, vol. 8, No. 6, p. 713) encapsulated FITC horseradish peroxidase and FITC-BSA in PLGA microparticles with a molecular weight of 14,000 or less and a ratio of lactic acid/glycolic acid of 75/25 and found that the protein BSA was undamaged and that the enzyme activity was preserved. Jeffery H et al. (Pharmaceutical Research 1993, vol. 10, No. 3, p. 362) used ovalbumin as the core material and were able to demonstrate the intactness of the released protein. M. S. Hora et al., (Biotechnology 1990, vol. 8, p. 755) used interleukin 2 and modified forms thereof as the core material and examined the release behaviour of PLGA microparticles which contained human serum albumin as an excipient.
In addition various processes for the production of microparticles based on PLA or PLGA polymers and the influence of additives on the protein stability were examined in more detail in various publications based on model substances for proteins (cf. W. Lu and G. Park, PDA Journal of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, 1995, 49: 13-19; M.-K. Yeh et al., Journal of Controlled Release, 1995, 33: 437-445; M. J. Alonso et al., Vaccine, 1995, 12: 299-306; J. P. McGee et al., Journal of Controlled Release, 1995, 34: 77-86). Ovalbumin, tetanus toxoid and carboanhydrase were used in these cases as model proteins.
Youxin L. et al. (Journal of Controlled Release 32, (1994) 121-128) describe depot forms of ABA triblock copolymers (MW: 15,000-40,000) the A block of which is a copolymer of lactic acid and glycolic acid and the B block of which is a polyethylene glycol chain (PEG). They found that these microparticles rapidly and continuously released bovine serum albumin over 2-3 weeks which is relatively insensitive to aggregation and was used as a model protein at a high degree of loading (ca. 3-4% w/w) (polymer composition LA:GA:PEG=48:14:38 [mol %]).
The PLGA polymers that have up to now often been used to produce microcapsules have the major disadvantage of a low swelling capability due to their hydrophobic properties as a result of which water can only slowly enter into the interior of the depot form. This impedes the diffusion of the protein molecules through the polymer layers which results in an unsatisfactory release rate. This is especially the case when very small amounts of polypeptide are included in the microparticles i.e. at a low degree of loading. Furthermore the slow uptake of water results in a high local protein concentration due to the small amount of water that is available which promotes the formation of high molecular protein aggregates. These in turn can no longer be released due to their high molecular weight. A therapeutically reliable dosing of the active substance can then no longer be guaranteed. Furthermore the high proportion of protein aggregates can result in undesired immunological reactions. Only very stable proteins with relatively high degrees of loading of for example more than 5% can be released at an acceptable rate and without forming aggregates over a relatively long period of time.
Moreover hydrophilic ABA triblock copolymers cannot even ensure a continuous release of polypeptides over a time period of two weeks when the content of polypeptide in the microparticles is very low (i.e. when the degree of loading is low). A low degree of loading is present when only small amounts of polypeptides are embedded in the polymer. A similar disadvantageous release behaviour is found when polypeptides that are susceptible to aggregation are used. In these cases an increased formation of aggregates and unacceptable release periods of less than 2 weeks are also observed with the hydrophilic ABA triblock copolymer. This leads overall to unsatisfactory release rates of the active substance from the polymer.
The object of the invention was to produce polypeptide-containing microparticles in which it is intended to keep the aggregation of the active substance as low as possible or to substantially avoid it even for polypeptides that are susceptible to aggregation so that the polypeptide that is contained in the microparticles is as intact as possible. The microparticles should ensure a continuous release of the polypeptides over a time period of at least two weeks. This should above all be achieved with microparticles which have a low degree of loading of the active substance. In particular these release periods should apply to low amounts of polypeptide of up to about 3% (relative to the total amount of microparticle).
In addition the object of the invention was to provide a microencapsulation process which can be used to produce these desired microparticles and which ensures a toxicologically acceptable residual content of solvent in the microparticles.
The object of the invention is achieved by microparticles which are composed of a biodegradable polymer matrix in which the polypeptide is embedded wherein an ABA triblock copolymer is used as the polymer, the A block of which is a copolymer of lactic acid and glycolic acid and the B block of which is a polyethylene glycol chain, and which contain additives that are selected from the group comprising serum proteins, polyamino acids, cyclodextrins; cyclodextrin derivatives; saccharides such as e.g. disaccharides and polysaccharides; amino sugars; amino acids; detergents; organic carboxylic acids as well as mixtures of these additives.
The disaccharides trehalose, sucrose and maltose come for example into consideration as saccharides. Polysaccharides are for example raffinose, starch, maltodextrin, alginates or dextran. A suitable amino sugar is for example chitosan. A preferred cyclodextrin derivative within the sense of the invention is for example beta hydroxypropyl cyclo-dextrin (HPCD). Human serum albumin and bovine serum albumin come into special consideration as serum proteins.
Aliphatic and cyclic monocarboxylic acids are suitable as organic carboxylic acids such as benzoic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, isobutyric acid, valeric acid, acrylic acid, crotonic acid as well as derivatives thereof substituted by hydroxy groups such as e.g. p-hydroxybenzoic acid, xcex2-hydroxybutyric acid, salicylic acid, lactic acid or glycolic acid. Benzoic acid is especially suitable. In the production of the microparticles the carboxylic acids are essentially added to the organic phase (polymer phase) in which the polymer is dissolved or suspended. The added amount of carboxylic acids is in the range of up to 30% by weight relative to the amount of the final microparticles preferably up to 20% by weight and in particular 1-15% by weight. The use of monocarboxylic acids such as e.g. benzoic acid as an additive surprisingly leads to an improvement of the release of the polypeptides from the microparticles. In this connection the addition of carboxylic acids was not found to result in the expected accelerated degradation of polymer in the case of the ABA triblock copolymers.
Mixtures of the above-mentioned additives are also advantageous within the sense of the invention. Examples are mixtures of dextrans and polyamino acids. Thus for example mixtures of dextran and poly-L-arginine or dextran and poly-L-histidine are particularly advantageous with respect to lowering the aggregate formation of the polypeptide in the microparticle. Mixtures of cyclodextrins or cyclodextrin derivatives with amino acids or polyamino acids are also preferred as additives. Detergents and triglycerides such as for example Tween 20(copyright), Tween 80(copyright), Pluronic(copyright) or Miglyol(copyright) are also suitable within the sense of the invention as additives.
The corresponding (D) or (L) or poly-(D,L) amino acids come into consideration as polyamino acids. Polyarginine is particularly preferred with a molecular weight of 5,000-150,000, in particular 5,000 to 50,000 as well as polyhistidine with a molecular weight of 5,000-50,000 in particular 15,000-50,000.
Using the said additives according to the invention it is possible to reduce the total amount of aggregate in the polypeptide to below 5%.
Polypeptides which come into consideration within the sense of the invention are physiologically active polypeptides with a molecular weight between 2,000 and 200,000 D. The molecular weight is preferably at least 5,000, 10,000 or 20,000 D. In particular polypeptides with a molecular weight of up to 100,000 preferably up to 50,000 Daltons come into consideration. Such polypeptides are in particular biologically active macromolecules, muteins thereof, analogues, as well as deletion or substitution variants which can be used for therapeutic purposes. The following polypeptides are mentioned as examples: erythropoietin (EPO), parathormone (PTH), G-CSF, TNF, NGF or EGF as well as derivatives thereof that can be derived by deletions or substitutions in the amino acid chain. Further polypeptides are: interferons (xcex1, xcex2, xcex3 interferon), colony-stimulating factors, interleukins, macrophage-activating factors, B-cell factors, T-cell factors, immunotoxins, lymphotoxins, TGF, thrombopoietin (TPO), renin inhibitors, collagenase inhibitors, EGF, growth hormones, PDGF, bone growth factors, BMP (bone morphogenic proteins), insulin, IGF-BP (insulin-like growth factor binding proteins), ANP (atrial natriuretic peptides), calcitonin, FSH, LH, NGF, glucagon, TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone), monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies. Particularly preferred polypeptides within the sense of the present invention are polypeptides that are susceptible to aggregation such as for example EPO.
The polypeptide content in the microparticles is between 0.01 to 5% by weight relative to the total amount of microparticle. The degree of loading is preferably 0.1-3% by weight, in particular 0.1-2% by weight and preferably 0.1-1% by weight. In particular the microparticles can be produced with a very low degree of loading of up to 1% by weight. In the case of proteins that are susceptible to aggregation the preferred degree of loading is 0.1-1% in particular 0.2-0.6%. A degree of loading of about 0.01; 0.05 or 0.1% by weight comes into consideration as the lower limit. The amount of the active substance contained in the microparticles depends on the dosage which has to be determined in each individual case and the therapeutic range of the respective active substance. In the case of EPO the amount of active substance is about 10 xcexcg-100 xcexcg per 10 mg microparticle amount. In particular about 10-70 xcexcg, preferably 30-50 xcexcg are used. With a specific EPO activity of about 160,000 U/mg this corresponds to a dosage of 1,600-16,000 U per 10 mg microparticle amount (10-100 xcexcg per 10 mg microparticle amount). The amount of microparticles that has to be administered is preferably determined on the basis of the desired dosage of EPO (in U). If for example the degree of loading is 0.4% (corresponds to 40 xcexcg EPO per 10 mg microparticle) and the dosage of EPO should be 20,000 U (corresponds to 125 xcexcg EPO), the amount of microparticles that has to be administered is 31.25 mg. This amount corresponds to an estimated monthly dose of EPO in the DDS system.
Surprisingly it was found that the use of ABA triblock copolymers in combination with additives enables a continuous release of the polypeptides over a relatively long period of timexe2x80x94but of at least two weeksxe2x80x94and that the additives considerably reduce the aggregation. According to the invention ABA block polymers come into consideration, the A block of which has a molecular weight between 2,000 and 150,000 and the B block of which has a molecular weight between 1,000 and 15,000. In particular the B block has a molecular weight of between 3,000 to 10,000. ABA block polymers are particularly preferred with a molecular weight of 5,000-50,000 Daltons preferably 10,000-30,000 and a polydispersity of 1.1-8.5 or 1.1-5.5 preferably 1.5-4.5 and especially preferably of 2-4.
Table 5 gives an overview of the ABA copolymers used according to the invention whose composition differs with regard to the ratio of lactide/glycolide/PEG, the molecular weight and polydispersity. According to the invention the amount of polyethylene glycol (PEG proportion) in the block polymer is 20 to 50 mol % relative to the total amount of polymer and preferably 25 to 45 mol %. A PEG proportion of 30 to 40 mol % in particular 30 to 38 mol % and preferably 30 to 35 mol % has proven to be particularly advantageous for the duration of release and for the continued release of the active substance. The percentage of PEG in the ABA block copolymer is preferably about 32 to 33 mol %.
The percentage of LA in the ABA block copolymer is preferably 40 to 60 mol % in particular 45-60 mol %. Mole percentages of about 46%, 51% or 57% are preferred. The percentage of GA in the ABA block copolymer is preferably 5 to 25% in particular 10 to 25%. Preferred percentages are about 11%, 16% or 22%.
The ratio of lactic acid to glycolic acid in the block polymer is between 1:1 and 5:1 in particular it is between 1.5:1 and 4.5:1. A ratio of LA/GA of about 2:1 to 4:1 is particularly preferred. Particularly preferred ABA triblock copolymers according to the invention are polymers with a ratio of LA/GA=4:1 and a content of polyethylene glycol of 30-38%. In particular a polymer with a ratio of LA:GA:PEG=57:11:32; 51:16:33; 50:12:38 or 46:22:32 comes into consideration.
The latter polymer modifications offer an optimum with regard to degradation rate and PEG content. A higher PEG content does indeed lead to a more rapid degradation but on the other hand it also leads to an impairment of the mechanical properties of the microparticles and possibly also to interactions between PEG and the polypeptide.
The ABA triblock copolymers can be produced according to processes known in the literature (see Journal of Controlled Release 27, 1993, 247-257).
Surprisingly it was found that, in addition to their aggregation-reducing effect, the additives according to the invention can result in a significant increase of the release period compared to ABA microparticles without additives. This applies in particular to the serum proteins according to the invention which cause an increase of the release period of the polypeptide of for example up to 29 days (of example 4). Bovine or human serum albumin are preferably used as serum proteins. If the additives according to the invention and in particular BSA and beta hydroxypropyl cyclodextrin are added to PLGA microparticles then an aggregation-reducing effect also occurs and thus a stabilization of the polypeptides that are susceptible to aggregation.
Such long release periods of up to 29 days for polypeptides from microparticles based on PLGA or ABA triblock copolymers have only previously been known in those cases where there has been a high degree of loading but not for cases in which the amount of active substance in the microparticles is very low such as for example in the case of EPO. If EPO is embedded in the ABA microparticles at a higher degree of loading (e.g. ca. 3%), the protein is released over 29 days (cf. tab. 4B). In particular it was found that an extended release is achieved when a monocarboxylic acid, in particular benzoic acid is added to the polymer phase during the production of the microparticles. This applies especially to the case of the aforementioned low degrees of loading.
The microparticles according to the invention can also contain amino acids such as arginine, glycine, lysine or phenylalanine, cyclodextrins or cyclodextrin derivatives such as e.g. beta hydroxypropyl cyclodextrin (HPCD) as additives. Polyamino acids such as e.g. polyarginine or polyhistidine can also be used as additives according to the invention or even mixtures of cyclodextrin or cyclodextrin derivatives with amino acids or polyamino acids such as e.g. HPCD with polyarginine. Mixtures of dextrans with cyclodextrin derivatives such as HPCD or with cyclodextrins can also be used. The dextrans used have a molecular weight between 20,000 and 60,000, dextran 40,000 being particularly preferred.
Mixtures of dextrans and polyarginine or mixtures composed of dextrans and polyhistidine are particularly preferably used as additives according to the invention in addition to serum proteins.
The microparticles according to the invention contain additives in an amount of 0.5-40% by weight in relation to the total amount of microparticles, preferably of 1-30%. 1-20% by weight is especially preferable. In the case of saccharides amounts of 5-15% by weight are preferably used. In the case of polyamino acids the amount of additives is preferably 1-5% by weight. cyclodextrin and cyclodextrin derivatives are preferably added in an amount of 2-20% by weight. The amount of BSA or HSA is preferably 2-20% by weight relative to the total particle weight. The amount of carboxylic acids is in particular up to 15% preferably about 10%.
The invention also concerns a process for the production of microparticles containing polypeptide with the aid of the triple emulsion process which is characterized in that in the production of the oily or organic phase by dissolving a polymer in an organic water-immiscible solvent, an ABA triblock copolymer is used as a polymer the A block of which is a copolymer of lactic acid and glycolic acid and the B block of which is a polyethylene glycol chain, and additives that are selected from the group comprising serum proteins, polyamino acids, cyclodextrins, cyclodextrin derivatives, saccharides such as disaccharides and polysaccharides, amino sugars, amino acids, detergents or carboxylic acids as well as mixtures thereof are added to the aqueously dissolved polypeptide which is emulsified in the organic phase.
It has turned out that the first homogenization step (formation of the W/O emulsion) appears to be responsible for the formation of polypeptide aggregates. Thus according to the invention the dispersing period is shortened from 60 to 30 seconds, an Ultra Turrax is used as a homogenizer and the weight ratio of water/organic phase (preferably dichloromethane) is increased from 5 to up to 20% (percentage by weight). Preferably it is dispersed twice for about 30 seconds with an interval of 30 seconds in the first homogenization step. It is particularly preferable to disperse once for about 30 seconds. This modification of the production conditions results in the amount of aggregate to be decreased slightly.
Within the sense of the production process according to the invention it is particularly advantageous to cool all solutions and equipment to 0-16xc2x0 C. during the entire production period of the production process. This achieves a particularly favourable reduction of aggregate. In this case it is even possible to largely omit the addition of aggregation-inhibiting additives. In comparison to the production of microparticles at room temperature it was possible in this manner to achieve a significant reduction of the content of aggregate in the polypeptides used in the microparticles (reduction of 10-20% content of aggregate to a content of aggregate of 2-5%).
The weight ratio water/organic phase of 20-25% (3-4 parts organic solvent/one part of water) additionally enable a larger amount of additives to be introduced into the inner aqueous phase.
The microparticles according to the invention also surprisingly have an extremely low residual content of solvent. The microparticles produced with the ABA polymer contain less than 1% preferably less than 0.1% in particular less than 0.01% residual solvent such as e.g. dichloromethane. Apparently the selected process parameters achieve an almost complete removal of the dichloromethane from the microparticles that are formed which is above all due to the favourable volume ratio of the organic to the external aqueous phase.
In order to exclude the influence of residual water on the protein stability, the residual water content in the microparticles was also determined. The determined water content of 0.2% showed that it was possible to almost completely remove the amount of water in the inner aqueous phase that was used.
Investigations on the storage stability of the microparticles according to the invention have shown that these are stable on storage for at least two months at room temperature (20-25xc2x0 C.) and that no changes occur with regard to aggregate formation and release properties.
A further subject matter of the invention is the use of pharmaceutical additives selected from the group comprising serum proteins, polyamino acids, cyclodextrins, cyclodextrin derivatives, saccharides, amino sugars, amino acids, detergents as well as mixtures of these additives to avoid aggregate formation of polypeptides susceptible to aggregation in the production of polypeptide-containing microparticles. |
Sheffield-born film producer inspired to release the Biggest Little Farm in UK cinemas after Type 2 diabetes reversal
A Yorkshire-born producer inspired by her Type 2 diabetes reversal is releasing a film about healthy lifestyles and sustainable farming.
By John Blow Thursday, 28th November 2019, 11:51 am
Amanda Atkins was diagnosed in 2016 with a severe form the the condition, but through the help of an online community, the 61-year-old has battled back to the best health she's enjoyed "since I was 20".
The Biggest Little Farm - the story of wildlife cinematographer John Chester and his wife Molly, a chef, who traded city life for 200 acres of desolate land outside of Los Angeles and "uncovered a sustainable way of living and managed to create one of the most bio-diverse farms in California" - is in UK cinemas tomorrow.
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-> Sheffield animation director's bucket list film StarDog and TurboCat to be released soon starring Gemma Arterton and Nick FrostMs Atkins had blood tests at the doctor's after suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome, was falling asleep too often and having trouble with her memory.
Amanda Atkins in front of the Biggest Little Farm film poster. Picture supplied by PR consultant Sally Brown.
A return trip confirmed she had "severe" Type 2 diabetes despite years of following regular normal eating advice.
She said: "So I got home and I Googled two things: one was 'severe diabetes' and the other was 'updating your will'.
"I thought this is something that is terminal and I'm obviously in a pretty bad state."
Through online forums and a number of websites promoting low-carbohydrate eating, she won back good health.
Ms Atkins with one of the film's awards. Picture supplied by PR consultant Sally Brown.
Her journey to recovery included dietary research on three key websites and she found she was able to reverse the effects of the disease by eliminating processed carbohydrates, sugar, pasta, rice and bread and replacing those with "real food" - meat, fish, dairy, eggs and vegetables grown above ground.
"I felt, aged 59, fitter than I had done since 20," she said.
-> Sheffield Doc/Fest wins charitable status and recruitment starts after chairman Alex Graham steps asideShe was so determined to get the message out about healthy eating that she set up Afinia Film and immediately started to get involved with a range of health-related documentaries.
Ms Atkins now works as a producer and distributor and The Biggest Little Farm has already won Best Original Score and Original Song in the 2019 Hollywood Music in Media Award and was nominated for seven Critics Choice Awards, winning Best Cinematography.
Legendary American chef Alice Waters has said of the film: "Mother nature has never been more inspiring. See it on the biggest screen possible."
Ms Atkins' company is currently working alongside London-based Parkland Entertainment to distribute the film across the UK and Ireland and it is due to open in Vue and Odean cinemas.
There are also plans to release the film in Malta, where her company is based.
The daughter of coal miner Arnold Fisher, Ms Atkins grew up in the Handsworth and Woodhouse areas of Sheffield and won a scholarship to Sheffield High School for girls.
Later, she took a degree in Modern History at Manchester University before embarking on a career in finance that took her all over the world, most notably as Chief Financial Officer of Alea, a Bermudan-based insurance and reinsurance group which she helped to take public.
-> 350,000 people are living with ‘new’ Type 1.5 diabetes – these are the signs to watch out forDuring her career, she also helped sponsor a number of artistic collaborations between industry and the arts, in film, theatre and music.
Retirement led her to make Provenance, an award-winning motion picture film set largely in France, written and directed by talented cinematographer, Harrogate-born Ben Hecking. |
Semi-structured listening experience (listening training) in hearing aid fitting: influence on dichotic listening.
In this study, the authors tested whether training with amplified, clear speech in regular room acoustics would result in larger perceptual gains of auditory processing in elderly hearing aid users. Elderly participants with hearing impairment (N = 36, ages 64–88) were fitted with bilateral hearing aids and were randomly assigned to 2 unequal groups. Study group participants were provided with 7 sessions (1 month) of individual listening training during which a free conversation was conducted, with the aim of stimulating the amplified ears with verbal auditory input. The control group participants were fitted with hearing aids without training. Auditory processing changes were assessed through the use of dichotic listening tasks. During hearing aid use, dichotic listening scores—tested without the hearing aids—improved in both groups, mainly in the non-dominant ears. The overall dichotic performance was significantly higher in the study group, and the main effect of auditory training was manifested in the scores of the dominant ear. Hearing aid use may improve auditory processing performance as tested in unaided conditions. Listening training has an additional beneficial effect on the dominant ear—that is, the ear with the lesser potential for improvement. Listening training in elderly adults presumably enhanced the acclimatization process by better recruiting the potential for auditory plasticity and improving attention recruitment. |
Are there phase transitions in information space?
The interplay between two basic quantities--quantum communication and information--is investigated. Quantum communication is an important resource for quantum states shared by two parties and is directly related to entanglement. Recently, the amount of local information that can be drawn from a state has been shown to be closely related to the nonlocal properties of the state. Here we consider both formation and extraction processes, and analyze informational resources as a function of quantum communication. The resulting diagrams in information space allow us to observe phaselike transitions when correlations become classical. |
Shattered City
Game Description
Setting: An undisclosed large, urban city in the south western United States. I’m going to leave it as an imaginary city so we can be more freeform with the story and maybe have bad things happen to this city . The land is dry and dusty and the city is framed by desert on all sides. The city itself is close to a major highway which keeps it connected to the outside world and allows the city to grow despite being surrounded by wasteland.
As a large city this has business districts (characterized by looming skyscrapers which light up the cityscape), residential areas and suburbs that lie just outside the city center but remain protected from the harsh desert by artificial means. The city center proper is home to various night life attractions, there are ritzy cafes and rave halls alike.
Just outside of the central, thriving city lie the lower income housing areas where the crime rate takes a dramatic spike, drugs become more common and the buildings become more run down. Garbage and graffiti litters the streets and prostitutes who have seen better days run the corners.
Style: Rules light and story oriented. I’d prefer to keep the logistics to a minimum in favour of the plot and character development, rolling won’t be very intense. The nature of this storyline is going to be a bit darker with some more mature themes. I’m going to keep the board rules of course and keep it tasteful but if this isn’t your kind of thing, this is not the campaign for you.Isabella leaned against the crumbling window sill and listened to the sounds of the city below. Drunken hoots and hollers from revellers echoed from somewhere within the heart of the city. Shifting shapes walked along the dirty streets below the window, they seemed to move in slow motion with shuffling steps. She could hear someone rustling through garbage cans.
The breeze that blew through the window felt hot and the air in the room felt heavy. There always seemed to be a slight smell of dust in this city and she paused a moment to marvel how such an exquisite example of human decay had managed to pull itself from the depths of the desert.
She felt his eyes on the back of her head but paid him no heed. She continued to gaze out the window.
“It’s a lovely city really, torn to pieces by the Camarilla and Anarchs…a city ready to fall.”
Her companion made no comment but slinked out of the room silently. She continued to gaze out over the sea of lights. For now she could only wait and see what was brought to her. |
Moscow metro fire causes chaos
A fire on the Moscow metro caused chaos in the Russian capital as tens of thousands of people sought alternative routes to work.
Seven people were admitted to hospital and around 40 more needed medical assistance after a power cable caught fire during the morning rush hour in a tunnel between Okhotny Ryad and Biblioteka imeni Lenina stations, emitting heavy smoke.
Authorities closed and evacuated several stations on the red Sokolnicheskaya line running north to south through the Russian capital, and brought more than 4,500 people out of the metro.
Two hundred firemen tackled the blaze, which was quickly extinguished.
An evacuated passenger breaths though a tissue while leaving the Okhotny Riad metro station (EPA)
Related Articles
Several trains were stuck in tunnels for up to 40 minutes before passengers had to walk along the track to get out.
Streams of frustrated passengers spilled on to the streets and tried to squeeze into trolleybuses. At Park Kultury station, one of the busiest in the city, hundreds of people queued along the Garden Ring trying to flag down cars. Many were forced to complete their journeys on foot.
Large crowds built up inside other metro stations, especially on the ring line, which became overloaded as commuters took detours through the system.
Moscow's metro is one of the busiest in the world, used by up to seven million people daily. Trains run every two minutes or so at peak times and technical breakdowns are rare.
Ground-level staff seemed ill-prepared for the breakdown on Wednesday, resorting to shouting at passengers entering stations to let them know what was happening. |
Cervical necrotizing fasciitis: a novel clinical presentation of Burkholderia cepacia infection.
Necrotizing fasciitis is a soft-tissue infection characterized by progressive destruction of fascia and adipose tissue which may not involve the skin. Cervical necrotizing fascitis (CNF) is an uncommon clinical entity. The development of CNF is frequently related to synergistic infections of aerobic and anaerobic organisms of the upper aerodigestive tract. We describe the first case of CNF due to multi-drug resistant Burkholderia cepacia and Peptostreptococcus infection in an immuno-competent patient without cystic fibrosis. |
Q:
Compiling to modules in one .exe file
Say I have an app made with tkinter that I want to compile into an .exe file. In this program I use base64 strings so that any user can read the images within the app without needing to download any other image files (see Embed icon in python script). Since those strings can take up a lot of lines, I can make another .py file with the base64 strings and just import the strings as variables from that other file into my main file. However, if I use pyinstaller to compile my main file into an .exe, will it compile the other .py file with the base64 strings as well, or do I absolutely have to write the base64 strings and the tkinter app in one python file? :)
A:
It will compile the other .py file with the base64 strings as well.
PyInstaller inspects the import statements in your code and automatically compiles all the modules that your code uses. If you are using something tricky like dynamic imports then it may not always work, but for normal imports you shouldn't need any special configuration. Take a look at the PyInstaller docs on "finding the files your program needs" for more details.
In fact, you can also break your main Tkinter file up into different modules to make it easier to maintain, if you so choose.
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Angular 8/9 Reactive Forms Validation with Angular Material 8 Last updated on August 4, 2020 by Digamber
#01 – Setup Angular Project To work with Reactive Forms in Angular 8/9 we must have a basic project setup. Follow the process to setup the project. ng new angular8-reactive-forms Ge into the project’s folder. cd angular8-reactive-forms
#02 – Implement Angular Material UI Library in Angular 8/9 Project. To create reactive forms demo, We’ll be using Angular material ui library. Angular material offers lots of beautiful components we’ll be using Angular material library’s forms component to create and validate Reactive forms. Run the cmd to setup Angular material library. ng add @angular/material Select the Angular material theme from the options: ? Choose a prebuilt theme name, or "custom" for a custom theme: Indigo/Pink ❯ Indigo/Pink [ Preview: https://material.angular.io?theme = indigo-pink ] Deep Purple/Amber [ Preview: https://material.angular.io?theme = deeppurple-amber ] Pink/Blue Grey [ Preview: https://material.angular.io?theme = pink-bluegrey ] Purple/Green [ Preview: https://material.angular.io?theme = purple-green ] Select yes and hit enter. Create material.module.ts file in app folder and paste the below code. import { NgModule } from '@angular/core' ; import { CommonModule } from '@angular/common' ; import { MatBadgeModule } from '@angular/material/badge' ; import { MatButtonModule } from '@angular/material/button' ; import { MatChipsModule } from '@angular/material/chips' ; import { MatNativeDateModule } from '@angular/material/core' ; import { MatDatepickerModule } from '@angular/material/datepicker' ; import { MatFormFieldModule } from '@angular/material/form-field' ; import { MatGridListModule } from '@angular/material/grid-list' ; import { MatIconModule } from '@angular/material/icon' ; import { MatInputModule } from '@angular/material/input' ; import { MatListModule } from '@angular/material/list' ; import { MatPaginatorModule } from '@angular/material/paginator' ; import { MatRadioModule } from '@angular/material/radio' ; import { MatSelectModule } from '@angular/material/select' ; import { MatSidenavModule } from '@angular/material/sidenav' ; import { MatTableModule } from '@angular/material/table' ; import { MatToolbarModule } from '@angular/material/toolbar' ; import { MatTooltipModule } from '@angular/material/tooltip' ; @ NgModule ( { imports : [ CommonModule , MatButtonModule , MatToolbarModule , MatIconModule , MatSidenavModule , MatBadgeModule , MatListModule , MatGridListModule , MatFormFieldModule , MatInputModule , MatSelectModule , MatRadioModule , MatDatepickerModule , MatNativeDateModule , MatChipsModule , MatTooltipModule , MatTableModule , MatPaginatorModule ] , exports : [ MatButtonModule , MatToolbarModule , MatIconModule , MatSidenavModule , MatBadgeModule , MatListModule , MatGridListModule , MatInputModule , MatFormFieldModule , MatSelectModule , MatRadioModule , MatDatepickerModule , MatChipsModule , MatTooltipModule , MatTableModule , MatPaginatorModule ] , providers : [ MatDatepickerModule , ] } ) export class AngularMaterialModule { } Then go to app.module.ts file and paste the following code to enable material.module.ts in Angular app. import { BrowserAnimationsModule } from '@angular/platform-browser/animations' ; import { AngularMaterialModule } from './material.module' ; import { NgModule , CUSTOM_ELEMENTS_SCHEMA } from '@angular/core' ; @ NgModule ( { declarations : [ ... ] , imports : [ BrowserAnimationsModule , AngularMaterialModule , ] , providers : [ ... ] , bootstrap : [ ... ] , schemas : [ CUSTOM_ELEMENTS_SCHEMA ] } ) export class AppModule { } Now we’ll add Angular material 8 theme and Angular material icons in our project. Go to src > index.html file and add the following code in the head section. < link href = " https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Roboto:300,400,500 " rel = " stylesheet " > < link href = " https://fonts.googleapis.com/icon?family=Material+Icons " rel = " stylesheet " > Go to src > styles.css file and add the following code. @import "~@angular/material/prebuilt-themes/indigo-pink.css" ; html,body { height : 100% ; } body { margin : 0 ; font-family : Roboto , "Helvetica Neue" , sans-serif ; } form { width : 420px ; margin : 35px auto 100px ; display : block ; float : none ; } .mat-form-field { width : 100% ; } .misc-bottom-padding { margin : 8px 0 20px ; } .misc-bottom-padding mat-label { margin-right : 15px ; } .mat-radio-label { margin : 0 15px 0 0 ; } .title-center { margin : 0 auto ; } .button-wrapper { margin-top : 10px ; }
#03 – Set Up ReactiveFormsModule in Angular 9 To use Reactive forms in Angular app, we need to import ReactiveFormsModule in app.module.ts file. import { ReactiveFormsModule } from '@angular/forms' ; @ NgModule ( { imports : [ ReactiveFormsModule ] , } ) export class AppModule { }
#04 – Understand Reactive Forms API To manage the data in Angular 9, we need to understand some core APIs of Reactive forms. FormGroup: FormGroup API holds the values, properties, and validation state of a group in Reactive forms.
FormGroup API holds the values, properties, and validation state of a group in Reactive forms. FormBuilder: It offers convenient methods to control the instances.
It offers convenient methods to control the instances. AbstractControl: This class controls the behavior and properties of, FormGroup, FormControl, and FormArray.
This class controls the behavior and properties of, FormGroup, FormControl, and FormArray. FormControl: It is responsible for managing the value and validation status of the specific form control.
It is responsible for managing the value and validation status of the specific form control. FormArray: This API manages the values, properties, and validation state of an array.
This API manages the values, properties, and validation state of an array. ngSubmit: This event is called when the form is submitted. < form [formGroup] = " myForm " (ngSubmit) = " submitForm() " novalidate > < mat-form-field class = " example-full-width " > < input matInput placeholder = " Name " formControlName = " name " > </ mat-form-field > </ form >
#05 – Create Form using Reactive Form and Angular Material 8 We are going to create a form using Angular material 8 UI components. We’ll create a form in Angular 8/9 using FormGroup & FormBuilder Reactive form API. To style Reactive forms we will use Angular material form controls components. Go to app.component.html file and add the following code. < mat-sidenav-container > < mat-sidenav-content > < form [formGroup] = " myForm " (ngSubmit) = " submitForm() " novalidate > < mat-form-field class = " example-full-width " > < input matInput placeholder = " Name " formControlName = " name " > </ mat-form-field > < mat-form-field class = " example-full-width " > < input matInput placeholder = " Email " formControlName = " email " > </ mat-form-field > < div class = " misc-bottom-padding " > < mat-label > Gender: </ mat-label > < mat-radio-group aria-label = " Select an option " formControlName = " gender " > < mat-radio-button value = " Male " > Male </ mat-radio-button > < mat-radio-button value = " Female " > Female </ mat-radio-button > </ mat-radio-group > </ div > < mat-form-field > < input matInput readonly [matDatepicker] = " picker " placeholder = " Date of birth " formControlName = " dob " (dateChange) = " date($event) " > < mat-datepicker-toggle matSuffix [for] = " picker " > </ mat-datepicker-toggle > < mat-datepicker #picker > </ mat-datepicker > </ mat-form-field > < mat-form-field > < mat-label > Grade </ mat-label > < mat-select [(value)] = " selected " formControlName = " grade " > < mat-option [value] = " gradeArray " *ngFor = " let gradeArray of GradeArray " > {{gradeArray}} </ mat-option > </ mat-select > </ mat-form-field > < mat-form-field class = " multiple-items " > < mat-chip-list #chipList > < mat-chip *ngFor = " let subjectsArray of SubjectsArray " [selectable] = " selectable " [removable] = " removable " (removed) = " remove(subjectsArray) " > {{subjectsArray.name}} < mat-icon matChipRemove *ngIf = " removable " > cancel </ mat-icon > </ mat-chip > < input placeholder = " Add subjects " [matChipInputFor] = " chipList " [matChipInputSeparatorKeyCodes] = " separatorKeysCodes " [matChipInputAddOnBlur] = " addOnBlur " (matChipInputTokenEnd) = " add($event) " > </ mat-chip-list > </ mat-form-field > < div class = " button-wrapper " > < button mat-flat-button color = " primary " > Submit </ button > </ div > </ form > </ mat-sidenav-content > </ mat-sidenav-container > Go to app.component.ts file and add the following code. import { Component , ViewChild } from '@angular/core' ; import { COMMA , ENTER } from '@angular/cdk/keycodes' ; import { MatChipInputEvent } from '@angular/material/chips' ; import { FormGroup , FormBuilder } from "@angular/forms" ; export interface Subject { name : string ; } @ Component ( { selector : 'app-root' , templateUrl : './app.component.html' , styleUrls : [ './app.component.css' ] } ) export class AppComponent { visible = true ; selectable = true ; removable = true ; addOnBlur = true ; myForm : FormGroup ; @ ViewChild ( 'chipList' , { static : true } ) chipList ; GradeArray : any = [ '8th Grade' , '9th Grade' , '10th Grade' , '11th Grade' , '12th Grade' ] ; SubjectsArray : Subject [ ] = [ ] ; readonly separatorKeysCodes : number [ ] = [ ENTER , COMMA ] ; constructor ( public fb : FormBuilder ) { } ngOnInit ( ) : void { this . reactiveForm ( ) } reactiveForm ( ) { this . myForm = this . fb . group ( { name : [ '' ] , email : [ '' ] , gender : [ 'Male' ] , dob : [ '' ] , grade : [ '' ] , subjects : [ this . SubjectsArray ] } ) } date ( e ) { var convertDate = new Date ( e . target . value ) . toISOString ( ) . substring ( 0 , 10 ) ; this . myForm . get ( 'dob' ) . setValue ( convertDate , { onlyself : true } ) } add ( event : MatChipInputEvent ) : void { const input = event . input ; const value = event . value ; if ( ( value || '' ) . trim ( ) && this . SubjectsArray . length < 5 ) { this . SubjectsArray . push ( { name : value . trim ( ) } ) } if ( input ) { input . value = '' ; } } remove ( subject : Subject ) : void { const index = this . SubjectsArray . indexOf ( subject ) ; if ( index >= 0 ) { this . SubjectsArray . splice ( index , 1 ) ; } } submitForm ( ) { console . log ( this . myForm . value ) } }
#06 – Setup Angular 8/9 Project for Reactive Forms Demo In next step, we will learn how to validate Reactive forms using Angular material 8. I’ll create a separate function which will handle the errors emitted by reactive forms. Go to your app.component.ts file and add the following function to handle errors. import { FormGroup , FormBuilder , Validators } from "@angular/forms" ; reactiveForm ( ) { this . myForm = this . fb . group ( { name : [ '' , [ Validators . required ] ] , email : [ '' , [ Validators . required ] ] , gender : [ 'Male' ] , dob : [ '' , [ Validators . required ] ] , grade : [ '' ] , subjects : [ this . SubjectsArray ] } ) } Go to your app.component.html file and add the angular material form control errors something like this. < form [formGroup] = " myForm " (ngSubmit) = " submitForm() " novalidate > < mat-form-field > < input matInput placeholder = " Name " formControlName = " name " > < mat-error *ngIf = " errorHandling('name', 'required') " > You must provide a < strong > name </ strong > </ mat-error > </ mat-form-field >
#07 – Radio Buttons with Reactive Forms. In this part of the tutorial, I’ll show you how to manage the data of Radio buttons in reactive forms. We’ll create radio buttons with the help of Angular material and also tell you how to set the selected value of radio buttons. Go to app.component.html file and add the following code. < mat-radio-group aria-label = " Select an option " formControlName = " gender " > < mat-radio-button value = " Male " > Male </ mat-radio-button > < mat-radio-button value = " Female " > Female </ mat-radio-button > </ mat-radio-group > Go to app.component.ts file and add the following code. reactiveForm ( ) { this . myForm = this . fb . group ( { gender : [ 'Male' ] } ) }
#8 – Select Dropdown with Reactive Forms? We’ll look at how to work with select dropdown in Angular 8/9 in this part of the tutorial. We’ll create select dropdown using angular material forms component. To dynamically manage the select dropdown value, We’ll take help of reactive forms. Go to app.component.html file and add the following code. < mat-select [(value)] = " selected " formControlName = " grade " > < mat-option [value] = " gradeArray " *ngFor = " let gradeArray of GradeArray " > {{gradeArray}} </ mat-option > </ mat-select > Go to app.component.ts file and add the following code. export class AppComponent { GradeArray : any = [ '8th Grade' , '9th Grade' , '10th Grade' , '11th Grade' , '12th Grade' ] ; constructor ( public fb : FormBuilder ) { } ngOnInit ( ) : void { this . reactiveForm ( ) } reactiveForm ( ) { this . myForm = this . fb . group ( { grade : [ '' ] } ) } }
#09 – Working with Angular Material Date-picker using Reactive Forms Here we’ll learn to work with dates in Angular 8/9. We’ll cover the following topics: Set Angular material datepicker in Angular app.
Get Angular material datepicker value using (dateChange)="date($event)" in event.
in event. Convert date object to string value Go app.component.html file and include the given below code. < mat-form-field > < input matInput readonly [matDatepicker] = " picker " placeholder = " Date of birth " formControlName = " dob " (dateChange) = " date($event) " > < mat-datepicker-toggle matSuffix [for] = " picker " > </ mat-datepicker-toggle > < mat-datepicker #picker > </ mat-datepicker > </ mat-form-field > Go app.component.ts file and include the given below code. export class AppComponent { constructor ( public fb : FormBuilder ) { } ngOnInit ( ) : void { this . reactiveForm ( ) } reactiveForm ( ) { this . myForm = this . fb . group ( { dob : [ '' ] } ) } date ( e ) { var convertDate = new Date ( e . target . value ) . toISOString ( ) . substring ( 0 , 10 ) ; this . myForm . get ( 'dob' ) . setValue ( convertDate , { onlyself : true } ) } } |
Enzymes Used In The Brewing Process
Even for Associate in Nursing recent trade like brewage production, new industrial processes take pleasure in exploitation enzymes developed from microorganism sources. Last years’ quality issues like flavor control, beer stability and general cost savings in the industry are indirectly related to efficient solutions of environmental problems. The future focus would be on a wider application of enzymes to brew with high amounts of inexpensive raw materials like barley. Alternative beer processes are under development for production of wort and beer with higher productivity and reduced amounts of waste and by-products. In this article let’s talk about Enzymes Used In Brewing Process.
Introduction
Beer and wine have been part of our social life for so many years and both beverages are produced by yeast fermentation of sugars. Grapes are the basis for wine and barley is the basic ingredient for beer. Grapes that are matured already contain the sugars needed for the fermentation, while barley contains starch that has to be broken down to fermentable sugars before the yeast can make alcohol. Therefore, ancient production contains an additional step compared with wine-making, namely malting in which enzymes needed for the degradation of starch into fermentable sugars are produced.
Germinated barley or other cereals like wheat and sorghum is what is barley:
The grains area unit “steeped” transferral the water content from concerning twelve-tone music to forty fifth.
They are allowed to germinate for 4-6.
Finally, the germination is stopped by heating (kilning) reaching a final wet content of concerning four-dimensional.
Some enzymes like β-amylases are already present in the barley, but the majority of enzymes are produced during the germination which includes α-amylases and proteases and in the final malt all the enzymes required for the conversion of “grains” into a possible liquid (wort).
Limitations of malt enzymes are that they can only work at certain temperatures, pH values, etc and the activities might be too low to do a proper job in proper time. But on the other hand, commercial enzymes can be designed to work at preferred temperatures and pH values, to have more enzymatic power, or to express wanted enzyme activities that are not present in malt. Therefore, the addition of exogenous enzymes makes the brewing process easier, faster and more consistent. It brings brew masters extra flexibility in the choice of raw materials due to less dependence on malt enzymes, as well as providing an opportunity to create new products, which is not possible to make with malt enzymes alone. Commercial enzymes also provide the possibility to improve beer quality by avoiding off-flavors. The increasing concern on resources and CO2- emission has additionally placed the employment of business enzymes among the production trade focussed. With the employment of exogenous enzymes, additional will be extracted from the raw materials, more local raw materials and un-malted grains can be used, saving significant amounts of energy and transport.
Commercial Enzymes From Exogenous Sources
The traditional supply of enzymes used for the conversion of cereals into brewage is barley malt. If deficient accelerator activity is a gift within the mash, there will be several undesirable consequences:
The extract yield will be too low
Wort separation will take too long
The fermentation process will be too slow
Too little alcohol will be produced
The beer filtration rate will be reduced
The flavour and stability of the brewage are inferior.
Exogenous enzymes area unit accustomed to supplement the malt’s own enzymes so as to forestall these issues. Furthermore, industrial enzymes are used to ensure better adjunct liquefaction, to produce low-carbohydrate beer (‘light beer’), to shorten the beer maturation time, and to produce beer from cheaper raw materials.
Steps of the production operations wherever microorganism enzymes area unit used.
Operation Performed Enzyme used Action of enzyme Function Decoction vessel (cereal cooker) α-amylase Hydrolyse starch Liquefaction.
Reduce viscosity β-glucanase Hydrolyses glucans. Aids the filtration. Mashing α-amylase Hydrolyses starch. Malt improvement. Amyloglucosidase The glucose content increases. An increase in the % of fermentable sugar in “light” beer. Debranching enzyme Hydrolyses α-1,6 branch points of starch. Secures maximum fermentability of the wort. Proteases Increases soluble protein, and free amino- nitrogen. Malt improvement
Improved yeast growth. β-glucanase Hydrolyses glucans. Improves wort separation. Pentosanase/xylanase Hydrolyses pentosans of malt, barley, wheat. Improves extraction and beer filtration. Fermentation Fungal α-amylase Increases maltose and glucose content. Increases % of fermentable sugar in “light” beer. β-glucanase Hydrolyses glucans. Reduces viscosity and aids filtration. α-acetolactate- decarboxylase (ALDC) Converts α-acetolactate to acetoin directly. Decreases fermentation time by the avoiding formation of diacetyl. Conditioning tank Protease Modifies protein-polyphenolic compounds. Reduces the chill haze formed in beer.
Brewing With Barley
The traditional use of barley has been limited to 10-20% of the grist when using high-quality malts. Using under modified malts, brewing process becomes more difficult and so the mash needs to be supplemented with extra enzyme activity if the brewer is to benefit from the advantages of exploitation un-malted barley whereas still maintaining production performance. Brewers usually add a malt-equivalent blend of α-amylase, β-glucanase and protease at the mashing-in stage or they may choose to add enzymes separately as required.
Enzymes At Work
Many breweries have been running programs within the last two years in order to increase efficiency and optimize raw material usage while focusing on the use of commercial enzymes to shorten the production time, increase capacity, and allow the use of a raw material alternative to malt.
Some important examples are:
Exchanging a part of the malt with barley has been well-liked as a result of exploitation barley together with business enzymes offers an equivalent brewage quality like malt.
Introducing a higher content of starch hydrolysing enzymes offer the possibilities of producing “light beer” also called “low-calorie beer”.
An accelerator resolution for diacetyl management when fermentation improves vessel utilization, save energy and ensures a high brewage quality when a reduced maturation time.
Diacetyl is made by the non-enzymatic aerophilous chemical change of α-acetolactate, that is created by the yeast throughout primary fermentation. The diacetyl gets removed because of the yeast again during the beer maturation stage by conversion to acetoin, which has a much higher flavor threshold value. In fact, acetoin is nearly tasteless compared with diacetyl.
Effective Adjunct And Malt Solutions
Brewers United Nations agency need stuff value savings or use of native raw materials that could supply under-modified malts or increase the magnitude relation of adjunct. The limiting issue is to make sure an adequate advanced of accelerator activities for high-quality wort. The accelerator suppliers provide a variety of intermingled product to make sure comfortable FAN, extract yield, filterability, and fermentability for high-quality index final beers. Cost effective adjunct and malt solutions square measure created with β-glucanase, xylanase, α-amylase, and protease.
Faster Throughput And More Extract
Even with smart malts, it’s doable to realize four-hundredth longer brewage filter cycle runs, 0.5% to 1% more extract and 0.5% reduced beer losses for more brews per day. Faster turnout and additional extract square measure created with β-glucanase and arabinoxylanase. |
RUSSIA FINALLY ACCEPTS PARTNERSHIP. Russian Foreign Minister Andrei
Kozyrev formally agreed that Russia will participate in NATO's
Partnership for Peace at the North Atlantic Council meeting in the
Netherlands on 31 May, AFP reported the same day. Doubts about Russian
participation remained until the last minute in light of Russia's
surprising refusal to do so last December and confusing statements by
the Russian presidential aide on international affairs, Dmitry Ryurikov.
On 30 May, Ryurikov said Russia's position would depend on the wording
of the NATO Council communique. He added that Russia would continue to
resist NATO enlargement because it "conforms neither to Russia's
interest nor to those of Europe." The final communique of the NATO
Council issued on 30 May reads, "Enlargement will be part of a broad
European security architecture based on genuine partnership and
cooperation in the whole of Europe." NATO Secretary-General Willy Claes
added that European security should be founded on cooperation with
Russia. -- Michael Mihalka, OMRI, Inc.
LEBED REPORTED TO RESIGN. Lt. Gen. Alexander Lebed, commander of the
14th Army in the breakaway Transdniester region of Moldova, has
submitted his resignation, sources in the Defense Ministry told a Radio
Liberty correspondent and Interfax on 30 May. Lebed did not announce his
resignation publicly. For several weeks, he has made contradictory
statements concerning his intention to quit as a protest against the
planned reorganization of the 14th Army. Lebed is a prominent figure in
the Congress of Russian Communities (KRO), and he has not ruled out
running for public office if he leaves the military. -- Laura Belin,
OMRI, Inc.
YELTSIN DECLARES DAY OF MOURNING FOR QUAKE VICTIMS. President Boris
Yeltsin has declared 31 May a day of national mourning for the victims
of the earthquake that hit Sakhalin on 27 May, Russian and Western
agencies reported. Flags are to be lowered and media encouraged to drop
light entertainment shows from their programming. Yeltsin also pledged
aid of up to 50 million rubles (about $10,000) for the families of
victims of the disaster. As of the evening of 30 May, emergency services
had freed 372 people and removed 377 bodies from the rubble of the oil
town of Neftegorsk. At least 2,000 are feared to have died in the quake.
-- Penny Morvant, OMRI, Inc.
GROMOV FORMS NEW VETERANS' GROUP. Col. Gen. Boris Gromov, former
commander of the 40th Army in Afghanistan, created the Union of Russia's
Veteran-Internationalists' Organizations, Interfax reported on 30 May.
Nine major veterans' groups, with a total of 60,000 members, joined the
union. Gromov called for military reform and the immediate withdrawal of
all troops from Chechnya. He said his union would not participate in the
upcoming parliamentary campaign, since "none of the political parties is
worth joining," but he did not rule out running independently for
parliament or president in the future. Gromov ran for Russian
vice-president in June 1991 on a ticket with Nikolai Ryzhkov and
finished second to Boris Yeltsin and Alexander Rutskoi. In February
1995, following his criticism of the military campaign in Chechnya,
Gromov was transferred to the post of chief military expert in the
Foreign Ministry. In March, he and his staff were evicted from their
Defense Ministry offices. -- Laura Belin, OMRI, Inc.
RYBKIN'S PLANE FROM U.S. WAS CARRYING INTELLIGENCE EQUIPMENT. Dmitry Biryukov, Duma Speaker Ivan Rybkin's press secretary, told a Segodnya
reporter the plane Rybkin used on his return from the U.S. was carrying
intelligence equipment for the Foreign Intelligence Service, the paper
reported on 30 May. Earlier reports said Rybkin had rejected a load of
humanitarian aid for orphans because he was carrying furniture for his
dacha. Yury Kobaladze, chief of the Foreign Intelligence Service press
bureau, did not deny the information and said the equipment was for the
Federal Government Communications and Information Agency (FAPSI).
Another source said planes carrying official Russian delegations are
frequently used to transport intelligence and other secret equipment. --
Robert Orttung, OMRI, Inc.
LANDOWNERS' UNION WILL NOT JOIN AGRARIAN PARTY'S ELECTORAL
ASSOCIATION. The Landowners' Union will not join the Agrarian Party's electoral bloc
because the agrarians do not support the development of small business
and the private ownership of land, Vladimir Bashmachnikov, chairman of
the union's coordinating council, said on 30 May, Interfax reported. The
union is currently considering alliances with Yegor Gaidar's Russia's
Democratic Choice, Konstantin Borovoi's Party of Economic Freedom,
Democratic Russia, and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin's electoral
bloc. -- Robert Orttung, OMRI, Inc.
KULIKOV AGAIN IN COMMAND IN CHECHNYA. General Anatoly Kulikov,
commander of the Russian Interior Troops, has resumed command of the federal
forces in Chechnya, Interfax reported on 30 May. Kulikov had been placed
in charge on 1 February but was replaced by Col. Gen. Mikhail Yegorov in
mid-April. Kulikov told Interfax that Yegorov had only been
"substituting" for him. He said the current operation to oust the
militants from the foothills in the southern part of the republic would
continue. -- Doug Clarke, OMRI, Inc.
SUSPECTED MURDERER OF DUMA DEPUTY SKOROCHKIN ARRESTED. A
Moscow police official announced on 30 May that a suspect had been arrested in the
case of murdered Duma deputy Sergei Skorochkin, NTV reported. He added
that money not politics was behind the crime. Skorochkin, a member of
Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party, was found shot dead in
a wooded area near Moscow on 2 February. -- Penny Morvant, OMRI, Inc.
MOSCOW CREDITS ITSELF FOR SHAPING CONTACT GROUP STANCE ON
BOSNIA SITUATION. Moscow claimed to have succeeded in pressuring its Contact
Group partners into pursuing a political settlement of the Bosnian
crisis, Interfax reported on 30 May. According to one unnamed official
with allegedly close ties to the Russian Foreign Ministry, it was at the
Contact Group meeting in The Hague that Russia "beat off" demands for
NATO reinforcement of peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and succeeded in
having the operation carried out solely by UN forces. Moscow has
suggested that a "political settlement" of the Bosnian crisis be arrived
at through a "suspension of sanctions against Belgrade in exchange for
its recognition of Bosnia-Herzegovina." -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.
RUSSIA REGRETS EU DECISION NOT TO GO AHEAD WITH TRADE ACCORD. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Nikolai Afanasiefsky expressed regret that the
EU foreign ministers decided on 29 May not to proceed with an interim
trade accord between the EU and Russia, Interfax reported on 30 May.
Afanasiefsky said the failure to go ahead with the trade accord is
economically damaging for both sides. The EU foreign ministers want to
keep pressure on Moscow to bring the fighting in Chechnya to an end,
Reuters reported on 30 May. In a joint statement, the ministers
indicated the accord could be implemented in the near future if positive
developments, such as a ceasefire, were to occur. The statement added
that they will revisit the issue at their 12 June meeting. -- Michael
Mihalka, OMRI, Inc.
RUSSIA, CHINA DISCUSS CROSS-BORDER CRIME. Russian and Chinese officials
met in Beijing on 30 May to discuss cross-border crime, international
agencies reported. The crime rate has risen on both sides of the border
since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the introduction of economic
reforms in China. Officials say they are particularly worried by gangs
who prey on Chinese and Russian traders using the Trans-Siberian
railway, Reuters reported. -- Penny Morvant, OMRI, Inc.
RUBLE REACHES SEVEN-WEEK HIGH. The Russian ruble rose to a seven-week
high on 30 May, breaking through the 5,000 ruble to $1 mark as demand
for the Russian currency soared to close at 4,995 rubles to $1 in MICEX
trading, Russian and Western agencies reported. Dealers said that signs
of industrial output growth in some sectors of the economy along with
falling inflation are creating conditions for ruble stability. The ruble
has risen steadily from its all-time low of 5,130 rubles to $1 at the
end of April as banks continue to dump their dollars. The main reason
for the ruble's current strength is that yields on ruble sectors of the
money market are higher than those on dollar operations. Bankers expect
the ruble to hold its ground for at least several weeks. -- Thomas
Sigel, OMRI, Inc.
AZERBAIJAN WINS STAMP OF APPROVAL. Azerbaijan's economic reform program,
which involved price and trade liberalization measures in recent months,
received approval from Western donor institutions, including the IMF and
World Bank, Reuters reported on 29 May. At a meeting of donors and Azerb
aijani government officials in Paris, donors pledged to provide an aid
package of $430 million for this year. -- Lowell Bezanis, OMRI, Inc.
KAZAKHSTAN, KYRGYZSTAN TO RECEIVE FOREIGN AID. International donors have
promised to give Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan substantial amounts of aid,
Reuters reported. On 30 May, the World Bank announced Kyrgyzstan would
receive $680 million in aid this year and next year. This comes on the
heels of the 26 May announcement that Kazakhstan would receive more than
one billion dollars in aid from various sources. The decision to deliver
those sums of money is a reflection of satisfaction with the economic
reforms underway in both countries. -- Bruce Pannier, OMRI, Inc.
TAJIK TALKS YIELD RESULTS. As the fourth round of inter-Tajik talks in
Almaty, Kazakhstan came to a close there appeared to be some agreement
between the two sides. Tajik government and opposition representatives
are focusing on an exchange of prisoners of war, the repatriation of T
ajik refugees in Afghanistan, and an extension of the ceasefire. On 30
May, the two sides agreed to exchange lists of PoWs and political
prisoners by 25 June. A spokesman for opposition representative Ali
Akbar Turadzhonzoda told Interfax that efforts had been stepped up to
bring the refugees in Afghanistan back to Tajikistan. The opposition
also declared its readiness to extend the ceasefire until the end of
November, provided the government withdraws its troops from the
Gorno-Badakhshan region. Meanwhile, Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani
has proposed Kabul as the venue for the next round of talks, according
to Interfax. -- Bruce Pannier, OMRI, Inc.
SHEVARDNADZE ON CONSTITUTION. Speaking at an enlarged session of the
constitutional commission he heads, Georgian parliament chairman Eduard
Shevardnadze elaborated on the principles embodied in the draft
constitution, Interfax reported on 30 May. He said it is necessary to
adopt a constitution as soon as possible. The key elements of the draft
include a bicameral parliament and what he called an "asymmetric
federation." A 100-member lower house would be elected for a four-year
term on a mixed proportional and majority system; the upper house would
be composed of representatives of federation members. Shevardnadze said
he hoped any future constitution would rely on the "strong
parliament-strong president" principle. He said the powers of the center
and regions have yet to be formulated. Shevardnadze noted that "Abkhaz
will be declared an official language alongside Georgian" and that
"Abkhazia, and Adzharia would have their own constitutions, state
symbols, legislatures, and systems of executive, judicial, and other
power." Referring to South Ossetia, he said the Tskhinvali region would
have its own charter. -- Lowell Bezanis, OMRI, Inc.
DEPUTY SPEAKER OF UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT FACES CHARGES. Oleksander
Tkachenko, first deputy chairman of the Ukrainian parliament, has been
charged with interfering in a criminal investigation into his alleged
misuse of state hard-currency funds, UNIAR and Interfax-Ukraine reported
on 30 May. He is accused of pressuring Deputy Prosecutor-General Olha
Kolinko to drop the inquiry and threatening her dismissal on several
occasions. Tkachenko allegedly prohibited employees of the Zemlya i
Lyudy agricultural association, which he previously headed and which is
now under investigation, from answering subpoenas. The conservative
member of the Agrarian caucus has spearheaded a leftist campaign in the
parliament to remove Prosecutor-General Vladislav Datsiuk and his
deputies for what they have described as "politically-motivated"
activities. -- Chrystyna Lapychak, OMRI, Inc.
UKRAINIAN LAWMAKERS AT IMPASSE OVER ENACTMENT OF POLITICAL REFORM LAW. The Ukrainian parliament on 30 May was unable to reach a settlement to
a resolution that would suspend 68 articles of the Ukrainian
Constitution and enable the recently approved law on the separation of
powers to take effect, Interfax-Ukraine and UNIAR reported the same day.
Despite a proposal by the Socialist caucus to shelve the articles
contradicting the new political reform law until 1 January 1996, the
Communists blocked the two-thirds majority needed to amend the
constitution. Eight out of the ten caucuses in the legislature support
the enactment of the legislation, which gives Ukrainian President Leonid
Kuchma greater executive powers to preside over political and economic
reforms. The lawmakers announced their readiness to sign a controversial
accord with the president allowing him to implement the law without
constitutional changes. -- Chrystyna Lapychak, OMRI, Inc.
BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT ACCUSES WEST OVER SLAVIC INTEGRATION. Alyaksandr
Lukashenka told Interfax on 30 may that the West was blocking
integration among the Slavic republics. The president was referring to
Ukraine's failure to move closer to Slavic union during the CIS summit
in Minsk on 26 May. He argued that if Ukraine made such a move, it would
risk losing IMF credits, just as Belarus had lost credits from the fund.
He also said he feared that the newly elected communist and agrarian
deputies, who "have close ties with commercial structures and drink
heavily," would reorient trends in the parliament. With regard to
integration with Russia, Lukashenka defended the leasing of two
Belarusian military bases to that country for 25 years, saying this
created conditions for Russia to set uniform prices for energy for the
two states. -- Ustina Markus, OMRI, Inc.
ISRAELI MILITARY DELEGATION IN ESTONIA. Israeli State Secretary for
Defense Maj. Gen. David Ivry, accompanied by two other brigadier
generals and Israeli ambassador Tova Herzl, arrived in Tallinn on 29 May
for talks with Estonian officials. The Israeli delegation met with Prime
Minister Tiit Vahi, Interior Minister Edgar Savisaar, commander-in-chief
of Estonian armed forces Aleksander Einseln, Defense Minister Andrus
Oovel, and other officials from his ministry, BNS reported. The
delegation offered to sell radars to Estonia and train Estonians in
using and taking care of previously purchased Israeli weapons. --
Saulius Girnius, OMRI, Inc.
LITHUANIAN PRESIDENT ON SEA BORDER WITH LATVIA. Algirdas Brazauskas on
30 May told the Seimas that the memorandum on the sea border, signed by
Latvia and Lithuania on 20 May, was not a legal document but only a
recommendation, RFE/RL reported. He said Foreign Minister Povilas Gylys
and his deputy, Rimantas Sidlauskas, held talks in Riga on 29 May to
ensure that Latvia interprets the memorandum the same way. Brazauskas
refused to reveal the memorandum's text but noted that it was short. --
Saulius Girnius, OMRI, Inc.
NEW CONTROVERSY OVER POLISH TV. Witold Grabos, a senator from the ruling
Democratic Left Alliance and a member of the National Radio and TV
Council, has asked Finance Minister Grzegorz Kolodko to recall Polish
TV's Board of Directors. Kolodko represents the Treasury, which, as the
legal owner of state TV, has been reviewing the council's yearly reports
on Polish TV's finances and programming for 1994. Council President
Marek Jurek called Grabos's motion part of "the political campaign
against Polish TV" and pointed out that Grabos does not represent the
council's view. Zycie Warszawy on 30 May interpreted Grabos's motion as
the latest in the series of the Left's attacks on the independence of
Polish TV. According to Rzeczpospolita on 31 May, Kolodko accepted the
council's financial report for 1994 but rejected two others on Polish
TV's programming and management. -- Jakub Karpinski and Ben Slay, OMRI,
Inc.
KOHL WANTS COMPROMISE TO IMPROVE CZECH-GERMAN RELATIONS. German
Chancellor Helmut Kohl on 30 May said he wants to resolve problems in
Czech-German relations but expects Prague to match any gesture or
concrete step that Bonn takes, Czech media reported. Kohl, who is due to
address the Bundestag on 1 June about Germany's relations with countries
it occupied during World War II, told a news conference in Bonn that he
and his government are committed to drawing a line under the past. But
he declined to answer directly whether Germany is planning to compensate
Czech victims of Nazism if Prague reciprocates by meeting some of the
demands of the Sudeten Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia after the
war. "The experiences with France and Poland show that reconciliation is
possible only when we mutually make things clear to each other, and we
are making it clear that a compromise always means that both sides must
modify their position," Kohl said. -- Steve Kettle, OMRI, Inc.
TWO CZECH LEFTIST PARTIES FORM ELECTORAL ALLIANCE. The Left Bloc and the
Party of the Democratic Left (SDL) on 30 May formed an alliance for next
year's parliamentary elections, Mlada fronta dnes reported the following
day. The parties will have equal weight and put up an equal number of
candidates, SDL chairman Josef Mecl said. The two parties ran jointly
with the Communist Party in the 1992 elections under the banner of the
Left Bloc, gaining 35 parliamentary seats. The Communists later pulled
out of the coalition, and the Left Bloc now has 24 deputies. Opinion
polls show that neither the Left Bloc nor the SDL, individually or in
alliance, is likely to win representation in the next parliament, due to
be elected in June 1996. -- Steve Kettle, OMRI, Inc.
SLOVAK GOVERNMENT APPROVES ECONOMIC POLICY MEMORANDUM. The Slovak
cabinet on 30 May approved a new version of its memorandum on economic
policy for the IMF, Sme reported. The document confirms that property
valued at 40 billion koruny will be privatized through the coupon
program and that at least 60 billion koruny worth of property will be
privatized through standard methods by September and another 20 billion
by the end of the year. Because of positive developments in foreign
currency reserves and the stabilization of the balance of payments, the
cabinet decided that Slovakia will not draw another installment of its
IMF stand-by loan. -- Sharon Fisher, OMRI, Inc.
SLOVAKIA'S MINORITIES ON FUNDING FOR CULTURE. Coexistence Deputy
Chairman Arpad Duka-Zolyomi, at a press conference on 30 May, said
Slovakia lacks a concept for minority policy and that decisions are made
on an "ad hoc" basis. He stressed that a constitutional law on the
position of minorities should be approved. Duka-Zolyomi criticized in
particular a minority issues publication that first appeared on 30 May
as a bi-weekly supplement to the pro-government daily Slovenska
Republika. He called it "absurd" that of the 58 million koruny in state
subsidies to support periodical and non-periodical press for minorities,
the Ministry of Culture has committed 27.7 million koruny to finance the
supplement. The Hungarian Civic Party (MOS) also expressed concern about
the move, calling it "a violation of the state budget law." According to
the MOS, the decision was made without consulting minorities. -- Sharon
Fisher , OMRI, Inc.
HUNGARIAN TV EMPLOYEES TO STRIKE. Employees of Hungarian Television on
30 May announced plans for a one-day strike to protest the government's
intention to privatize one of the two national channels, Hungarian media
reported. A date for the strike has not yet been set. TV employees argue
that selling the second channel would trigger extensive layoffs and
compromise the public service character of state TV. Hungarian Radio and
TV are still controlled by the government in accordance with a 1974
decree. The country's six parliamentary parties have been unable to
agree on a post-communist media law paving the way for new nationwide
channels. -- Jiri Pehe, OMRI, Inc.
SITUATION AROUND SARAJEVO "OMINOUSLY QUIET." This is how a UN spokesman
described the area surrounding the Bosnian capital on 30 May, the BBC
reported the following day. Bosnian Serb forces have taken armored
personnel carriers and other vehicles from their UNPROFOR hostages and
have removed heavy weapons from UN-monitored storage depots. Serbian
troops are also infiltrating into the demilitarized zones around
Sarajevo. The Bosnian Serbs let some French hostages return to their
bases but captured additional Ukrainians, bringing the total number of
hostages of that nationality to 55, Ukrainian Television said. Nasa
Borba added that the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague will
take up the case of the Serbian artillery attack on Tuzla on 27 May, in
which at least 71 died. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.
BOSNIAN SERBS SAY STRENGTHENED UNPROFOR MANDATE MEANS WAR. France
continues to press for a new mandate for UN peacekeepers that would
allow them to react quickly and on their own initiative, but Bosnian
Serb Foreign Minister Aleksa Buha is quoted by Nasa Borba on 31 May as
saying that a changed mandate would mean war. He added that the hostages
would be released when NATO promises publicly not to launch any new air
strikes. The BBC quoted a UN spokesman as saying that such a declaration
is unlikely to appear. President of the Bosnian Serb legislature Momcilo
Krajisnik told Nasa Borba that he was pleased that the Contact Group on
29 May opted for a peaceful solution to the crisis. The VOA on 31 May
noted that the U.S. will provide additional support for UNPROFOR, such
as airlifts, but that Washington sees no need at present for its own
ground troops to be sent in. A NATO communique issued on 30 May said
that the Bosnian Serb leaders are personally responsible for the safety
of the hostages. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.
WHAT ARE THE NEW BRITISH FORCES DOING IN BOSNIA? The first of the new
British force of 6,000 highly-trained personnel arrived in Split on 30
May, international media reported. Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic
said, however, that they could advance only as far as Gornji Vakuf, in
central Bosnia, and not proceed to the British base at Vares north of
Sarajevo. Izetbegovic added he feared that the men had not come to deal
with the Serbs but rather to cover an evacuation of UNPROFOR, which the
Bosnian government opposes. The men arrived wearing UN blue berets.
British Premier John Major said that Britain has no intention of leaving
Bosnia, but the BBC's Serbian and Croatian Services on 31 May report
that doubts are being raised in Britain regarding the veracity of that
statement. Vjesnik quotes NATO sources as saying that 40,000 soldiers
would be needed to protect a total evacuation of peacekeepers. --
Patrick Moore , OMRI, Inc.
JOVANOVIC SAYS RECOGNITION OF BOSNIA POSSIBLE. Rump Yugoslav Foreign
Minister Vladislav Jovanovic told BBC Television on 31 May that a deal
between Belgrade and members of the Contact Group may be in the offing.
Such a deal, he said, might foresee Belgrade's recognition of Bosnia in
exchange for an easing of sanctions against the rump Yugoslavia.
Jovanovic described negotiations between Belgrade and Contact Group
officials as "serious and productive." Meanwhile, Nasa Borba on 31 May
reported that U.S. envoy Robert Frasure is in Belgrade for meetings with
ranking rump Yugoslav officials to discuss possible deals, including the
possible easing of the fuel embargo against the rump Yugoslavia. Reuters
reports that Frasure is slated to "try to enlist [Serbian President
Slobodan] Milosevic's help to win the release of almost 400 UN
peacekeepers" held hostage by Bosnian Serb forces. Nasa Borba also
reported that Milosevic allegedly referred to Bosnian Serb military
leader Ratko Mladic as a possible bulwark for the peace process in
Bosnia. -- Stan Markotich, OMRI, Inc.
OTHER BOSNIAN DEVELOPMENTS. The Serbs of Bosnia and Krajina have
received the blessings of the Serbian Orthodox Church in their moves to
set up a still ill-defined common state. Belgrade dailies add on 31 May
that the Krajina legislature has approved the introduction of the
traditional Nemanjic coat of arms for the new polity as well the old
nationalist song "Boze pravde" as its anthem. The Zagreb papers note
that the Bosnian Serbs have once again barred UN human rights monitor
Tadeusz Mazowiecki from entering their territory. He told a press
conference that the differences between Croats and Muslims in Mostar was
not that great but that the political will to bridge them was lacking.
He added that the most pressing issue there was to set up a joint police
force. -- Patrick Moore, OMRI, Inc.
FADIL SULEJMANI RELEASED ON BAIL IN MACEDONIA. Fadil Sulejmani, dean of
the self-proclaimed Albanian-language university in Tetovo, has been
released on DM100,000 bail, Flaka reported on 31 May. Sulejmani was
sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for "inciting resistance";
his case is to be reviewed by an appeals court. He was arrested in
connection with a riot that broke out after the police crackdown on his
university on 17 February. Flaka also reported that a proposal for new
parliamentary procedures omits a sentence contained in the old ones
stating that deputies have "the right...to speak in the language of his
nationality." -- Fabian Schmidt, OMRI, Inc.
CONTINUED ATTACKS ON HUNGARIAN MINORITY PARTY IN ROMANIA. The Party of
Romanian National Unity (PUNR), in a press release carried by Radio
Bucharest on 30 May, called for outlawing the Hungarian Democratic
Federation of Romania (UDMR). PUNR leader Gheorghe Funar also said the
parliament should discuss UDMR activities since December 1989 and lift
the immunity of the party's parliamentarians. The PUNR has repeatedly
urged that the UDMR be banned, but the latest attack comes in the wake
of the party's recent congress (see OMRI Daily Digest, 29 and 30 May
1995). The PUNR also says Romania's position on the bilateral treaty
with Hungary should be reviewed in light of the UDMR's congress and
Hungary's possible affiliation with NATO "ahead of Romania." Deputies
from both the ruling and opposition parties on 30 May criticized the
UDMR in the Chamber of Deputies, with several speakers demanding that
the party be outlawed. -- Michael Shafir, OMRI, Inc.
MOLDOVAN PARLIAMENT CHAIRMAN CRITICIZES DUMA. Interfax on 30 May
reported that Moldovan parliament chairman Petru Lucinschi said at a
news conference in Chisinau that the position taken by the Russian State
Duma at the 23 May hearings on the withdrawal of the 14th Army was
"crazy." But he added that another debate is likely to be held in which
Russian President Boris Yeltsin may support Moldova's position on the
pullout. Asked by journalists if the possible (in the meantime,
confirmed) resignation of Lt. Gen. Alexander Lebed from the command of
the 14th Army will "result in chaos in the region." Lucinschi replied
that the consequences will be "negative, but not fatal." -- Michael
Shafir, OMRI, Inc.
HEAD OF BULGARIAN ENERGY COMMITTEE SACKED. Nikita Shervashidze on 30 May
was dismissed as chairman of the government's Energy Committee,
according to Bulgarian newspapers the following day. The official reason
was reported to be incompetence, but some papers claim the real reason
was that Shervashidze let the private Multigrup conglomerate buy up
debts owed to Bulgargaz, the state-run gas company. While such a move is
legal under Bulgarian law, Shervashidze apparently failed to organize a
debt-buying auction, as is legally required. If the government does not
intervene, Multigrup will obtain a stake in Himko and Kremikovtsi, two
of Bulgaria's largest industrial exporters. According to Demokratsiya,
another reason for Shervashidze's dismissal is that he allowed water to
be re-routed to a power plant when it was needed in Sofia, which faces a
severe water crisis. -- Stefan Krause, OMRI, Inc.
ALBANIA CLAMPS DOWN ON SMUGGLING INTO FORMER YUGOSLAVIA. The Albanian
Interior Ministry on 30 May said that stricter police controls in border
areas have stopped fuel smuggling into the former Yugoslavia, Reuters
reported the same day. The authorities said that police have made
several arrests and confiscated hundreds of tons of fuel. Shipping
traffic on the River Buna has reportedly been prohibited, and only
fishing and tourist ships are now allowed on Lake Shkoder. Police have
also closed ten filling stations. According to Reuters, since mid-May
police have seized four tanker trucks, 18 barrels of fuel, 15 floating
tankers (four containing 100 tons of fuel each) and some motor-boats.
They have also arrested five Montenegrins. Gazeta Shqiptare reported
that seven trucks were seized on 26 May, including 35,000 liters of
fuel, and ten people arrested. -- Fabian Schmidt , OMRI, Inc.
TURKISH SPY NABBED IN DAGESTAN? Dagestani counterintelligence detained
Isak Kasap, a Turkish national, on charges of spying, Interfax reported
on 29 May. Kasap was detained while attempting to leave Chechnya where
he was allegedly collecting intelligence. The suspect was carrying photo
and video materials, filled notebooks, a large sum of money, and papers
issued under the name Isak Kondir. Posing as a journalist, Kasap and his
compatriot, identified as Kamil Ozturk, confessed to spying for Turkey's
national intelligence service, Interfax reported. -- Lowell Bezanis,
OMRI, Inc. |
The chocher’s here to stay! At least one more season is that this spring – summer 2017 will continue as a complement of trend. I love them and if they are incorporated and combined with the sweater they look perfect and super original. This Romwe Jersey is wonderful since in addition to having the neck the chocher your fabric and pink stick color are fantastic for this climate that we have. It seems that the cool does not go and lately I’m wearing very warm looks since I’m trying not to fall with the flu that devastates, I have a lot of work ahead and travel and when it’s bad just want to be in bed and at home in No place This weekend I will try to disconnect and enjoy my children, soon I will be a few days without them and I do not get used to it. If you like the sweaters of this style do not hesitate to visit the online store of Romwe, have clothes that will fall in love and a sale that can not be missed 🙂 🙂 🙂 |
New Delhi, July 27 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today said that the Uttar Pradesh Government is not making any effort to pacify the people in the state but instead is inciting them. “The government did not make efforts to pacify the people there but instead incited them more. They should try to create an environment where people can live in peace,” said Naqvi.
“There is just violence and communalism all around Uttar Pradesh and the UP government is responsible for this,” he said.
On Saturday morning violent clashes had erupted in Saharanpur amongst two groups who reportedly clashed over a patch of disputed land close to the city’s railway station. |
Q:
Why am I getting a 404 error for my code-behind on Azure?
I'm posting and answering my own question in case it helps someone else - I just spend several hours trying to figure out why I was getting a 404 error for the code-behind of an ASPX page. We had converted an existing web site to a web application and published to Azure. The web page worked properly during testing on localhost (IIS-Express), but threw the 404 error when running on Azure.
A:
I noticed that there was no designer file, and after several unsuccessful attempts I gave up and created a new ASPX page, copy/pasted my code, deleted the original, and renamed the new file. Having a designer file didn't solve the issue, but one of the posted answers helped.
When a web site project is converted to a web application project, the "CodeFile" attribute in the Page directive must be changed to "CodeBehind".
<%@ Page Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="TestPage.aspx.cs" Inherits="TestPage" %>
Visual Studio does that for you when you convert the project, but it missed this page and a few others. In retrospect, I would have expected a build error or some type of warning from Visual Studio, but maybe the "CodeFile" attribute is valid in a web application.
|
CHICAGO (CBS) — Police are still searching for the gunman who shot and killed a woman caught shoplifting at a Walgreens store in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood, claiming to be an officer, and sources say a clerk at the store had called that man for help.
Around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, a woman in her 30s was shoplifting at the Walgreens at Cicero and Fullerton, when a clerk confronted her, according to police.
Police sources told CBS 2’s Brad Edwards the clerk called a friend for help, and the friend showed up at the store with a gun, and intervened as the clerk was confronting the shoplifter.
The gunman then began wrestling with the woman, shot her in the head, and ran away, sources said. The woman was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
UPDATE from Chicago Police: -woman (in her 30's) was shoplifting inside store
-manager confronts her
-man (shooter) intervenes, starts talking to the woman
-that escalates to physical altercation
-man pulls gunm shoots woman
-police have clear surveillance pictures of shooter https://t.co/ZS9rJ66Ljr — Audrina Bigos (@AudrinaBigos) June 13, 2019
According to police radio calls, witnesses said the man who shot her appeared to be a security guard. Witnesses also said the gunman claimed to be a Chicago police officer after he threw the woman to the ground and shot her.
However, police said the man is not an officer. While he might be an unlicensed security guard, the Walgreens does not have any security guards.
UPDATE: Chicago Police say they have clear surveillance pictures of the shooter and they are close to identifying him. -Police say the shooter could be an unlicensed security guard, but he was NOT working security at the Walgreens
-Still no ID of victim @cbschicago https://t.co/ZS9rJ66Ljr — Audrina Bigos (@AudrinaBigos) June 13, 2019
Investigators said they have clear surveillance video of the shooter’s face and vehicle, which witnesses described as a Ford Explorer. Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said police have identified a person of interest wanted for questioning.
A person of interest has been identified for questioning in reference to the fatal shooting of a woman in the 4800 block of W. Fullerton. This incident did not involve any law enforcement officer or agents. Investigation continues. pic.twitter.com/kgkFxYgZ8p — Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) June 13, 2019
The Medical Examiner’s office has not released the victim’s name and age because they are still trying to notify her family.
No one was in custody Thursday morning.
Area Central detectives were investigating.
A spokesperson for Walgreens said, “We are committed to providing a safe environment for our employees, patients and customers in the communities we serve. We are cooperating with Chicago police in its investigation.” |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ceramic heater and, for example, to a ceramic heater-used in a ceramic glow plug or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as a ceramic heater used in a ceramic glow plug or the like, there has been known a ceramic heater in which a ceramic resistive heating element containing WC as a main component is embedded. in an electrically insulating ceramic body containing Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 or the like as a main component.
In the aforementioned ceramic heater, because the thermal expansion coefficient of Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 constituting the ceramic body is smaller than that of WC which is a main component of the resistive heating element, concentration of stress based on the difference between the thermal expansion coefficients may occur in the resistive heating element to bring a problem in the durability of the resistive heating element when a cycle of heating and cooling is repeated. |
This is a multidisciplinary project with research emphasis on 1) Transport and maturation of sperm, and the structure and function of the epididymis; 2) Autoimmune response after long-term vasectomy; 3) The enzymic and hormonal regulation of energy metabolism in ejaculated and maturing spermatozoa; 4) Identification and physiological characterization of a glycoprotein that instills motility in immature sperm; 5) The hormonal regulation of differentiation of the epithelium of the oviduct; 6) Receptor proteins in the oviduct and uterus; 7) The life cycle and dynamics of oviductal cilia; 8) The relationship of ovarian steroid secretion to follicular growth and ovulation and local changes in the oviduct; 9) The role of estrogens and androgens in the regulation of gonadotropins; 10) The role of androgens in sexual behavior and psychosexual differentiation; 11) Factors that regualate the motivation of sexual behavior; and 12) The role of light on sexual cycles. |
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Meeting in Nome Attempts to Elucidate Arctic Policy Goals
The Alaska Arctic Commission has been working for more than a year and a half to write the state’s first comprehensive arctic policy—a policy the commission hopes will lay out not just Alaska’s future, but America’s future, in the arctic. But with priorities ranging from international to extremely local, Tuesday’s meeting in Nome saw lawmakers, researchers, and coastal representatives still working out just what that policy will be.
The Alaska Arctic Commission is trying to balance far-reaching goals—from development and energy to international cooperation—to more immediate needs like ports, plumbing, and building strong rural economics and infrastructure for rural communities.
But with a four-page draft bill, a 15-page summary, and a 131-page report … the big question before the commission was summarized by Bethel co-chair, Representative Bob Herron.
“What should this policy commission say when we report to the legislature?”
Finalizing that message before the commission delivers its final report to lawmakers took up much of the meeting—with recaps of past meetings leading to passionate discussions on key issues … which often spiraled into broad discussions that rarely led to any clear conclusion.
What *is clear is that the commission will deliver 4 broad “strategic recommendations” to the legislature. They include a renewed focus on the state’s “infrastructure gap;” a boost to artic science and research; increased response capacity for a more active Arctic maritime environment; and a focus on sustainably developing arctic resources with an eye to Alaska’s unique cultural, social, and environmental needs.
Liz Qaulluq Moore, a community and government affairs director with NANA Regional Corporation who is the commissions’ ANSCA representative, says those 4 recommendations are necessarily broad.
“It is so big. It is really important. And I think we’ve been working towards this for many generations. The reason we’re seeing this bubble up to the surface now is because of the increased interest, right, we have a lot more marine traffic, all these larger questions. We talk a lot about resource development and the resources in the arctic. People want to be responsive to the immediate needs of marine transportation and offshore oil and gas development, we have to be prepared for those things. So, you know, do we address those immediate needs? What are those longer-term visions? I think this is going to be a much longer-term discussion beyond just this commission.”
While the arctic policy will be far-reaching, residents of Nome addressed the commission to single out areas of specific concern. Melanie Bahnke, president of Kawerak, addressed concerns that the committee’s careful work could end up collecting dust on a bookshelf in Juneau—by urging lawmakers to take action.
“Many of your are in a position to ensure that some of your own recommendations are funded. So, fund it! Ensure Alaska Native people benefit economically. We bear the most risk with anything that’s going on in the arctic. So consider, what is the next 8-A opportunity? The next CDQ-like opportunity? When we’re provided with some opportunities we go from having a seat at the back of the bus, to learning how to drive the bus, to owning a fleet of busses.”
Senator Lyman Hoffman of Bethel sits on the commission, and admits the bill—and the report—won’t include any clear way to pay for the various projects the commission is recommending. But he says it *will give direction on how the state should spend its money down the road.
“It doesn’t open up the checkbook, it gives direction on how that checkbook can be spent. You know, so, if the legislature adopts the report, then they adopt the recommendations, then it’s incumbent upon the legislature to implement them.”
Commission members hope that implementation will have ramifications on the national and international scene. In 2015 the United States is poised to spend three years as chair of the international Arctic Council—a body of circumpolar nations focused on arctic issues.
Many commission members see Alaska’s plans for the arctic as the de facto plans for the nation—or at least influencing the nation’s arctic policy going forward. Here’s Anchorage Senator Lesil McGuire, the commission’s co-chair.
“We’ve sat back and waited for the federal government, which arguably should have an interest to begin that investment, and we just haven’t gotten anywhere.”
The Alaska Arctic Policy Commission continues its meeting on Kotzebue on Wednesday, with one more meeting in November to finalize its extensive report—and its far-reaching recommendations for the future of the arctic—before submitting it to Juneau for the state of the legislative session in January.
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Mission: To serve as a trusted public forum and education source that inspires Alaskans with stories of their time and place, informs them with news from the local to the global, and connects them to a statewide community through shared experiences and interests. |
The European Union will seek to establish a Brexit deal with the United Kingdom which prevents its government from cutting taxes, scrapping burdensome regulations, or supporting industries through more liberal state aid.
The president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, laid out the bloc’s draft guidelines on the upcoming Brexit negotiations in Malta. “Any free trade agreement should be balanced, ambitious and wide-ranging [but] cannot, however, amount to participation in the Single Market or parts thereof, as this would undermine its integrity and proper functioning,” he stated.
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Tusk then went on to say this limited trade agreement would come with various strings attached: “It must ensure a level playing field in terms of competition and state aid, and must encompass safeguards against unfair competitive advantages through, inter alia, fiscal, social and environmental dumping.”
Therefore, it seems likely the EU’s ideal Brexit deal would not allow the UK to begin showing greater preference to UK producers when offering public contracts or being afforded greater flexibility when awarding state aid to key industries, such as steel.
The proposed provisions on “safeguards against unfair competitive advantages” through what Tusk describes as “fiscal, social and environmental dumping” would also prevent the UK from emulating booming low-tax economies such as Hong Kong and Singapore, which would likely drain business and commerce from the Continent. |
[Group psychological investigations using the "gomeostat" method during long ground-based experiments].
Retrospective analysis of the results of two ground-based experiments obtained with instrumental model of interdependent activity of group members (Gomeostat) fulfilled with the help of an updated technical approach complemented the previous scientific data. |
Wastewater lift stations, which lift wastewater from one elevation to a higher elevation to facilitate moving downstream by gravity, are generally known.
In a typical lift station assembly, an in-ground well receives wastewater, such as sewage, through an inlet in a side wall of the well. The wastewater accumulates within the well until it reaches a predetermined level, at which point a submersible pump or other wastewater moving device in the well is automatically triggered to begin evacuating wastewater through an outlet in the side wall located at an elevation above the inlet.
The pump continues operating until the level of accumulated wastewater in the well decreases to a second predetermined level. The elevation of the outlet may be sufficient to allow the evacuated wastewater to flow by gravity, e.g., via a sewer main to a municipal wastewater treatment plant.
Conventionally, most wastewater lift stations have been custom designed and engineered for a particular facility, with the lift station requiring extensive fitting, fabrication and assembly on site. Custom designs and any extended on-site activity require additional time and personnel with substantial experience and/or special certifications, both of which increase costs.
Conventional lift stations not designed according to a modular approach frequently include components, whether specially fabricated or off-the-shelf products from suppliers, that have not been used or used together in a lift station. Attempts to assemble these components on-site often reveal incompatibility and performance problems. Even a minor on-site problem can cause unpredictable and costly delays. Incompatibility problems that are not discovered initially require expensive service visits and may result in costly system failures.
A modular, integrated wastewater lift station has components which are pre-configured to reduce on-site installation time and to avoid potential component incompatibility problems. Certain components are available in a selected, but finite range of sizes to suit a great majority of different applications that may be commonly encountered.
The well is constructed from pre-formed well sections, and includes a bottom well section, one or more intermediate well sections, and a top well section. The depth of the well can be set as desired by selecting an appropriate number of intermediate well sections, which are positioned on top of each other and on top of the bottom well section that has been placed at an appropriate elevation (e.g., at the bottom of an excavated hole). The top well section is mated with the top of the uppermost intermediate well section and covers the well.
The well sections are pre-fabricated at the factory to include some components and have features for receiving other components. Some of these features may, e.g., help to avoid the need to align and drill holes on-site to attach components.
Installation is simplified, as little on-site fabrication or changes to the basic design of the lift station is required. Installation can be completed more quickly and with more assurance, since there is less chance of encountering a problem or failing to fully configure any of the components. |
Q:
Magento 1.9.1 After changing the order address from admin notification, mail is not going to customer
In Magento 1.9.1, I have placed an order for a wholesale customer from the admin. The customer receives an email of new order placement. After placing the order I notice the shipping address which I have selected is wrong.
I edit the shipping address and check on all the 3 checkboxes (Recalculate, Notification[customize],confirm update) below the update button. I have written a note on Notification [customize] section also. After clicking on update the message display “Order update, not yet applied. Customer has been sent an email with a confirmation link. Updates will be applied after confirmation.”
But the customer didn’t get any mail related to address change. We have used mandrill for sending a mail. I have checked is mandrill outbound but seems that the mail is not triggered from the Magento. Other than this all the other mail is going to customer. Can anyone please tell me what is the problem? Why the address change/notification mail is not triggered from Magento ?
A:
The issue has been fix by IWD support and its working, they have just change 1 file.
Changed file
app/code/community/IWD/OrderManager/Model/Notify/Notification.php
They have commented the below code in getEmails() function.
check below updated getEmails() function with commented code
protected function getEmails()
{
// $store_id = $this->order->getStore()->getId();
// $data = $this->email . "," . Mage::getStoreConfig(self::XML_PATH_EMAIL_COPY_TO, $store_id);
// if (!empty($data) && strlen($data)>5) {
// return explode(',', $data);
// } // Code commented by Iwd support
$email = $this->order->getCustomerEmail();
return array($email);
}
|
Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession
Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession is a 1981 book about psychoanalysis by the journalist Janet Malcolm. It was published by Alfred A. Knopf. The book received positive reviews.
Summary
Malcolm discusses the work of a psychoanalyst whom she refers to as "Aaron Green", concealing his real name through the use of a pseudonym. She describes his patients and teaching job at a local medical school, the influence of the psychoanalysts Charles Brenner and Jacob Arlow on his theory and technique, and his dismissal of other trends in psychoanalysis, such as those associated with Jacques Lacan, Otto Kernberg, Heinz Kohut, and Melanie Klein. "Green" reveals much of the inner politics of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute, to which he is attached. He also explores the challenges to his brand of ego psychology that were being presented by the British Object relations theory, and by such American figures as Kernberg and Kohut, in the late 20th century.
Publication history
Based on material originally published in The New Yorker, Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1981.
Reception
Mainstream media
Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession received a positive review from Joseph Adelson in The New York Times. The book was also reviewed in The Antioch Review by Dianne F. Sadoff and discussed by the journalist Mary-Kay Wilmers in the London Review of Books. Malcolm discussed the book in an interview with the journalist Gaby Wood in The Daily Telegraph.
Adelson credited Malcolm with providing an accurate discussion of psychoanalysis, including "a lucid and accurate account" of its "current doctrinal disputes" and a "a chilling depiction" of its politics as an organized movement. He also believed that she conveyed "the claustral atmosphere of the profession". He concluded that Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession was an "artful book" in which Malcolm showed "a keen eye for the surfaces - clothing, speech and furniture - that express character and social role."
Wilmers described the book as a "very striking" book of reportage.
Scientific and academic journals
Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession received a positive review from Moss L. Rawn in Psychoanalytic Psychology. The book was also reviewed by Joseph L. DeVitis in the Journal of Thought.
Evaluations in books
The historian Peter Gay described Psychoanalysis: The Impossible Profession as a "witty and wicked" work that had been justly praised by psychoanalysts as "a dependable introduction to psychoanalytic theory and technique" in Freud: A Life for Our Time (1988). He added that it had "the rare advantage over more solemn texts of being funny as well as informative."
See also
D. W. Winnicott
Lady with lapdog
Margaret Mahler
References
Bibliography
Books
Journals
Online articles
Category:1981 non-fiction books
Category:American non-fiction books
Category:Books about psychoanalysis
Category:Books by Janet Malcolm
Category:English-language books |
# frozen_string_literal: true
source 'https://rubygems.org'
gemspec :path => '../'
gem 'rails', '~> 5.2.0'
|
Keep track of weird logins with Howler
June 05, 2017 by Konstantin Ryabitsev
Howler is a small utility I wrote to be notified when my users were
logging in from unusual locations. I wanted to know if someone who
normally logs in from Canada was suddenly logging in from Korea -- and
especially if they were suddenly rapidly hopping between two different
locations. It's a red flag when someone logs in from Seattle, then from
Barcelona, then from Seattle again, all within the same 4 hours, because
it's a good indicator that their credentials got stolen (though usually
it's because they are using Tor or their corporate VPN).
At either rate, Howler will keep a watchful eye on where your users are
coming from and alert you if they change locations:
It's best used on your central syslog aggregator with the help of SEC,
which is a handy tool used to poll your logs and trigger actions based
on matching regexes. I provide a few sample sec rules for sshd,
openvpn, and gitolite. |
Football attendance declining at Lehigh, other schools
In 2013, University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban addressed the fans of the team in a letter after a large portion of the student section continued to leave before the end of the games. According to Saban, thousands of students were leaving the games early despite the team being ranked No. 1 in the country week after week. Still, in 2014, Alabama’s average overall home attendance was more than 98,000 people.
Alabama is struggling to get students to stay for all four quarters. Lehigh, though, has a problem getting students to even show up.
In Lehigh’s five home football games last year, there was a combined student attendance of just 2,721. More than half of that total came in the team’s home opener against James Madison University. Against Colgate University, the team’s only home win of the entire season, only 126 students swiped into the game.
In 2012, the last year where Lehigh football didn’t have a home game against Lafayette, the average student attendance was 964. In 2014, the average attendance for students at a game was just 544.
(Click quote to play audio)“Obviously there’s room for improvement because we’re not selling out,” said Rich Haas, assistant athletic director of sales and marketing. “It’s visible, it’s one of those things that you can see…you can literally see how much room for improvement there is.”
The 2014 season wasn’t even the lowest season for attendance for Lehigh students in recent years. In 2011, taking out the team’s home game against Lafayette, only an average of 533 students swiped into a home game. The highest individual game for student attendance in 2011, with the exception of the Lafayette game, was 722 students against College of the Holy Cross.
Student attendance hasn’t always been this low. According to data from the 2008 season, which recorded the number of total Lehigh IDs swiped (students and faculty), the team had two separate home games not against Lafayette where more than 3,000 students and faculty attended. Haas said that as an estimate, about 75 percent of that number would be students.
So take, for example, the team’s game against Cornell University that year: The total amount of swipes was 3,277. If 75 percent of this number was students, that’s 2,458 at the game — a number which is nearly as high as the total student attendance from the whole 2014 season.
‘Wake up. Drank.’
According to Haas, though there are a wide range of factors that affect the student attendance for football games at Lehigh, tailgating and mocos, the Lehigh-dubbed morning cocktails ritual, is a big one.
“We get a lot of students that come 98 percent of the way to the game and don’t ever make it in the stadium, so that’s a bit frustrating,” Haas said.
Football coach Andy Coen said he believes the drinking culture and tailgate scene greatly affect how many students get through the turnstiles for a game.
(Click quote to play audio)“I think attendance has dropped down,” Coen said. “And not so much in the 10 years that I’ve been here as a head coach. I think every year, for the most part, it’s been fairly consistent. I think the campus is different socially now than it was before.”
Mocos, a pre-game ritual that began around 2008, also encourages students to wear bright neon colors or other strange clothing to games instead of the team’s colors.
For junior offensive lineman Steve Camasta, the mocos custom takes away from support for the actual team.
(Click quote to play audio)“I just think that a lot of students just use our football games as an excuse to day drink and do mocos, but then they don’t even show up to the game,” Camasta said. “And also they never wear brown and white, which is something that also really bothers me.”
In conjunction with mocos, students participate in tailgates located on a series of fields behind the stadium. Fraternities who want to host a tailgate are required to register a space beforehand with the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs.
In a survey of Lehigh students and young alumni, which received 208 responses, nearly 20 percent said they always go to tailgates but only sometimes attend the games. In contrast, just over 10 percent said they always go to both tailgates and the games. Nearly 40 percent responded that they sometimes attend tailgates and sometimes the games.
Kasia Kanczewski, ’15, is a student who goes to every Lehigh football game and every mocos — which she believes is a testament that one can enjoy both mocos and the actual game. She said that mocos have been one of her favorite experiences at Lehigh, but that she doesn’t understand people who go to mocos and skip the game.
“I just don’t understand…why would you get up out of bed to go drink for an hour or two and then go back to sleep?” Kanczewski said. “Whereas instead you could drink, have fun, go to the tailgates, have more fun, go to the game, support your team…I don’t know, it’s not rocket science to me.”
In the open-ended question of the survey, some students suggested that serving alcohol at the stadium for anyone old enough would entice them to go to more games. As of now, no alcohol is allowed inside the entire stadium.
Location, location, location
Taylor Stadium, the Lehigh football stadium from 1914-1987, was located at what is now Zoellner Arts Center and Rauch Business Center. Now, Goodman Stadium is located 3.9 miles away from where it used to be.
In the survey, many of the respondents said they’d be more likely to go to the games if the stadium were on Asa Packer campus. While 96.1 percent of people said they’ve been to at least one Lehigh football game, 85.1 percent of students said they’d be more likely to attend games if they were located on Asa Packer campus.
Student attendance at Lehigh football games is something that has been slowly declining over the years, but it’s hard to pinpoint any one reason that has the biggest effect, said Haas.
He mentioned other factors that affect it, such as weather, if someone has friends to go with and the location of the stadium. Haas was quick to point out that there are outliers to many of these factors though, making it hard to determine how much exactly these factors affect the student attendance number.
Haas said how there are many students that are able to make it to the stadium for tailgating, but then don’t end up going into the stadium, proving that the location of the stadium isn’t an issue for them. He did say that the location prevents people from just dropping by who normally wouldn’t go to the games.
Kanczewski, Camasta and sophomore starting quarterback Nick Shafnisky all cited the location of the stadium as what they thought was one of the biggest factors preventing students from coming to games.
(Click quote to play audio)“If it were still where Rauch Business is, if it were still there, you’re walking by on a Saturday morning at 11 a.m., and all mocos happen on East 5th anyways,” Shafnisky said. “It’s what, three yards away from the field? People would just walk over.”
While many students see the location of the stadium as one of the biggest factors, there are many other reasons students selected for why they don’t attend games.
The survey presented students with two questions asking them to choose as many as they liked from a list of factors that would encourage or discourage them, respectively, from attending games.
A solid majority of students (87.6) said they would attend the game if their friends were going. Strong team record was the least-picked option (67.0 percent) among the seven choices given.
As for reasons students would opt out of attending games, school work and other commitments ranked high, with 78.5 percent of students citing this as a factor.
Weather played a role in students’ responses to both questions — bad weather was the No. 1 factor students selected for not wanting to attend a game (84.2 percent), while good weather was the second highest factor drawing students to the stadium (86.6 percent). The least picked option was lack of interest in football at just 18.2 percent.
Camasta, as well as sophomore quarterback Nick Shafnisky, said they notice that many students who go to the games end up leaving before halftime, which leaves them with a much smaller crowd to cheer for them.
Camasta mentioned that it’s a big advantage to the team, especially on defense, when there’s a loud crowd. He said that the noise can give the opposing offense difficulty with communication in key situations.
Shafnisky agreed with Camasta, saying loudness really pumps him and his teammates up during a game.
(Click quote to play audio)“Especially on defense, if you stop a team that’s driving on you on third down and everyone gets in the game, the players, the coaches, the fans, it adds so much more than people even realize,” Shafnisky said.
A national issue
Despite the low attendance numbers, Lehigh still continuously ranks at the top of the Patriot League in attendance. In 20 of the last 24 years, the university has had the highest attendance in football in the league. Other schools in the conference struggle with the same issue.
Coen pointed out that schools such as Colgate, Lafayette and Bucknell University all regularly have low overall attendance. Holy Cross finished first in the league in 2014 with an average attendance of just 6,748 people, while Lehigh finished in second with 6,249 per game.
The problem of declining overall and student attendance is something that is affecting colleges across the nation. According to a study by the Wall Street Journal of about 80 colleges nationwide, over half of them saw a decrease in student attendance over the past few years. This list of schools with a declining student attendance includes many big name football schools, such as Florida State University, University of Michigan and Louisiana State University.
Many of these schools still have large attendance numbers compared to smaller schools, but they have much larger stadiums. Goodman Stadium was built in 1988 with a capacity of 14,000, but has had a capacity of 16,000 since 1989.
Haas said that Lehigh Athletics does a lot to get the students into the games, though, from giveaways and incentives to the Goodman Bus Service. He said the department also does a comprehensive review of sales and attendance each year in each sport, which includes looking at each game and how many tickets were sold, what the attendance was, what tactics they used and how the market responded.
Many students in the open-ended question of the survey said they wished there was better school spirit at games.
For Haas, the bottom line is to just get kids into the stadium in order to show them the in-stadium experience they create.
“If we can create a fun enough environment, if kids are having fun in the stands, maybe the score becomes a little bit irrelevant,” he said. “You just come because you’re going to have a good time.”
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Another bunkhouse in a great location from the National Trust. The bunkhouse in the complex of estate buildings in the grounds of Wallington, an epic country house near Morpeth in Northumberland. If you stay at the Wallington Bunkhouse, National Trust have generously allowed free access to Wallington’s mansion House, it’s shops and cafe, woodland walks and the enchanting walled garden. If my kids were a bit younger they would have been all over the wild play in the West Wood and its three play areas. Nowadays they’d have the patience and interest for the family-friendly wildlife hide looking out for red squirrels. To say nothing of the cycle trail around the estate.
There’s the whole of the landscaped grounds to explore but also, further afield, you could explore the Cheviots and Hadrian’s Wall.
The bunkhouse is has accommodation in two 8 bed dorms plus two 2 bedded rooms which are great for group leaders. Upsatirs is the kitchen and dining area with loads of space for a convivial evening recuperating from the day’s exertions. |
Lee Lovett has seen a lot of changes in the school system during his years of working with the Hall County district.
When Lee Lovett started his first teaching job in 1965, he couldn’t have imagined the way public schools would change over the course of his career.
Lovett, who is now deputy superintendent in charge of finance for the Hall County School System, began teaching within a month of graduating from college.
“I went into the classroom and they handed me a cigar box that had in it a key to the room and 32 lunch tickets,” he said. “They gave me a grade book and an attendance register, and that was the extent of my in-service training.”
Since then, he said, schools have been transformed by social and technological change.
Lovett began his career as an English teacher in the Griffin-Spalding School District, where he worked until 1969, when he became assistant principal at Fair Street School.
He said he was initially hired by the Gainesville City School District to work at Gainesville Junior High School, but was transferred when the district had to reorganize after a court ordered it to integrate.
“It was an unsettling time, but we did not have a lot of resistance at the school,” he said. “It was peaceful. We probably had more apprehension from the parents than the students. Students were fine. People settled in.”
In 1971, Lovett was hired as principal at Tadmore Elementary in Hall County. At that time, he said, “being principal was a simple life because you’re in charge.”
Today, he said, principals have much more responsibility and new problems to address, from curriculum to school security.
“When I was principal from 1971 to 1974, I had 550, (to) 600 students, had no assistant principals, had no guidance counselors, had no lead teacher, anything like that. I simply had a secretary.”
His job, he said, was centered primarily on discipline, which is just one aspect of a principal’s job today. He said even that aspect has become more complicated, with disciplinary committees and regulations that must be considered.
Much of the change comes from the addition of federal regulations and guidelines for things like special education.
During his career, Lovett said, he has seen the addition of kindergartens to the district, of the more comprehensive special education programs that exist today, and of a variety of support programs such as English for Speakers of Other Languages. Additionally, he has seen a huge surge in enrollment.
“Our enrollment, of course, might have more than doubled — I think it’s closer to triple — in the years since I’ve been here,” he said.
Lovett moved to the central office to work in accounting — something he has always loved to do — in 1974. His biggest challenge since then has been adapting the district’s budgets during the recession that began in the late 2000s.
“The decreasing tax base and the adjustment to the state funds, that’s been a real challenge,” he said. “We’ve cut many teaching positions. ... We’ve had to cut lots of other employees. We’ve just had to tighten our belts. However, we’ve continued to do well.”
Lovett said the most important positive change that has occurred since he began working in the central office is technology.
“We used to have to keep up with everything by hand,” he said. “I can’t imagine how many people we’d have to have if we didn’t have the technology. While I sort of fear it, I respect it.”
Lovett lives with his wife, Kathy, a retired teacher whom he met when they both worked in the Griffin-Spalding school district, where they both attended weekly volleyball games for single teachers. They have three daughters and seven grandchildren. One of their daughters, Jill Kelly, works for the district as a media specialist at Martin Elementary. |
NEW Camera Case 1510 an Airline Carry-on with padded dividersProtect your expensive photo equipment from airline damage or theft by rolling and carrying it on board. The 1510 is airline overhead bin compliant. The 17" retracting extension handle and polyurethane wheels will keep you moving between gates. |
I'm a financial journalist and author with experience as a lawyer, speaker and entrepreneur. As a senior editor at Forbes, I have covered the broad range of topics that affect boomers as they approach retirement age. That means everything from financial strategies and investment scams to working and living better as we get older. My most recent book is Estate Planning Smarts -- a guide for baby boomers and their parents. If you have story ideas or tips, please e-mail me at: deborah [at] estateplanningsmarts [dot] com. You can also follow me on Twitter
In the long march towards marriage equality, the Supreme Court’s June 26 decision in Windsor v. U.S., overturning a key section in the federal Defense of Marriage act, was a milestone, but it does not end the contentious battle over same-sex marriage. Key issues left unresolved have become the subject of numerous lawsuits and legislative initiatives on the state level.
The Court in Windsor overturned the federal law that limited marriage to a man and a woman. It didn’t legalize same-sex marriage. Therefore states are still free to decide whether to allow these marriages or recognize those performed in other states. In at least 18 states, couples are now fighting over these issues and to secure benefits denied to them in a state that bans same-sex marriage.
Here’s a roundup of some other recent developments in the rapidly changing legal landscape.
More Marriages in More States
Marriage litigation in Nevada and Hawaii has already reached the federal court of appeals level. The Nevada case, Sevcik v. Sandoval, involves four couples denied marriage licenses in Nevada and four more couples married in California and Canada seeking recognition of those marriages in Nevada. The plaintiffs argue that Nevada’s civil union law, which grants marriage-like rights without being called marriage, is unconstitutional. Jackson v Abercrombie, the Hawaii case, challenges Hawaii’s same-sex marriage ban and the constitutionality of Hawaii’s civil union alternative. District courts ruled against both plaintiffs last year, and the Ninth Circuit put the cases on hold pending the U.S. Supreme Court decisions.
A New Mexico judge ruled in August that it is unconstitutional to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and ordered the Santa Fe County clerk’s office to issue licenses to same-sex couples. Immediately, Santa Fe County and Doña Ana County began issuing marriage licenses. Soon after, the state’s 33 counties and county clerks asked the state’s Supreme Court to clarify whether local officials are required to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Six same-sex couples then filed a similar request. A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 23.
Taking matters into his own hands, D. Bruce Hanes, the Register of Wills in Montgomery County, Pa. on July 24 started issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but on Sept. 12 a court put a stop to it. He plans to appeal that ruling.
Splitting up is an issue, too. The Texas Supreme Court will hear oral argument in November, on whether it will grant divorces to same-sex couples married in other states, even though Texas doesn’t recognize those marriages as valid. A favorable outcome in this case could pave the way to marriage equality in Texas.
Spouses With Benefits
The right to receive federal benefits as a spouse is also being widely litigated. In Obergefell v. Kasich, a federal district court in Cincinnati issued a temporary restraining order on July 22 to the Ohio registrar of death certificates not to record a death certificate for John Arthur, an Ohio resident, unless the death certificate showed his status as married and listed James Obergefell as his surviving spouse. The two men married in Maryland but live in Ohio. Arthur was alive at the time the case was filed, but suffers from ALS and is expected to die soon. Other parties have joined the case since July 22, asking for similar relief. Before this case, which is likely to be heard in December, Ohio specifically prohibited the recognition of same-sex marriage.
On the heels of Obergefell, on July 29 a U.S. District Court held in Cozen O’Connor v. Tobits, that the profit-sharing plan of a Pennsylvania law firm, Cozen O’Conner, must treat a person who was a member of a same-sex Canadian marriage as a surviving spouse. The couple had lived in Illinois, which doesn’t recognize same-sex marriages, but the court determined that under federal pension law, known as ERISA, the marriage would be recognized as valid. As a result, Jennifer Tobits, the surviving spouse of Sarah Ellyn Farley, had a right as a surviving spouse to a survivor’s annuity from Farley’s employer provided profit-sharing plan.
Common-law marriage, still on the books in the District of Columbia and a handful of states, allows courts to retroactively recognize couples as married. That’s an issue in a case filed In August by James Spellman, the surviving member of a couple that never married. He has asked the court to recognize his 22-year relationship with Michael Kelly as a common-law same-sex marriage. This would allow him to inherit a share of Mr. Kelly’s estate under District of Columbia law in spite of the fact that Kelly’s will did not provide for him.
This is the first case of its kind and unfortunately, the facts are shaky because Kelly’s state of residence is at issue. Spellman and Kelly owned two homes, one in Delaware and one in the District of Columbia. While both recognize same-sex marriage, only the District of Columbia recognizes common-law marriage.
This case is scheduled to be heard Oct. 31. The attorneys for the executors of Kelly’s will, which he failed to update to provide for Spellman, are likely to argue that the couple’s primary place of residence was Delaware.
Meanwhile, legislative efforts are being actively pursued in Illinois, New Jersey, Hawaii and Pennsylvania. Same-sex marriage initiatives will probably be on the ballot in Oregon in 2014 and Nevada in 2016.
This patchwork of litigation and grass roots legislative campaigns will continue with fervor until Congress passes sweeping marriage equality legislation. In the midst of the current budget crisis, that certainly isn’t a priority.
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Public transportation is economical, convenient and great, until it’s not: A case for Lyft.
Pace 290 bus at the Howard CTA ‘L’ Station [file photo]
Pace Bus 290 departed Touhy / Western in Chicago at approximately 11:31AM headed east, and arrived at the Howard redline terminal (major hub of Chicago trains aka ‘the el’ or ‘L’) at 11:38AM, today, 7/12/17.
The bus driver was running 15-minutes late, give or take, and apparently needed to make up the time somehow. So he blew by the CTA Howard redline stop in an effort to ‘catch up’. I had to say out loud, STOP even though the “stop requested” sign was lit. Even when it’s not lit, they stop. Always. It’s where all the trains connect to the busses.
As I was rushing to get off the bus (where there are cameras onboard) my wallet either fell out or slipped onto the seat or floor. I always check my surroundings prior to leaving public transportation or ride sharing services to check if I have everything. But this was a different situation where I had to stay STOP, pull the stop cord, and run (nearly falling) to get off the bus and catch a train I now wish I had missed. It was jarring, quick and slipshod. After I’d realized my wallet was missing, the bus had already drove off.
I immediately called to have the driver paged. A Pace customer service rep said they would give me a return call “if the item was found” (curious at best). I said “please, it’s my wallet. I have no cash, no ID– nothing, can you call regardless of the outcome?”
15-minutes later, I hadn’t heard back, so I called and spoke to the same CS agent:
“I haven’t had time to call that in,” she said, drowsily.
“Really? You didn’t realize this was a time sensitive issue? Look, my entire life and at least $60 in cash is in there. Would you like it if the situation were reversed; if the helper wasn’t helping you?” Click. The Pace CS rep actually hung up on me.
And she sounded like she was dozing off. The opposite of busy. No background office noise, in fact, it sounded as dead as a doornail up in there.
It gets worse.
I called back to speak to a supervisor because obviously the other agent was a partially-commotose wall of cockblockery. Not even “sorry for your trouble,” or “this must be frustrating” or “wow that sucks” or any other human reaction. Just Plain Bored Jane, unbothered. After explaining the situation again to the supervisor, she audibly scoffed and said, “You do realize, sir (read idiot) that we’re not responsible for lost items” (more scoffing) skipping over the obvious safety issue. I said, “Yes, I understand all of that, but you are responsible for your drivers’ reckless behavior which caused this situation to begin with.” Supervisor hung up. This is actually happening. I didn’t curse. I didn’t yell, but I was treated as if I had. I am in disbelief but mainly mad as hell.
Per CTA instructions, I called the “Northwest Garage” and the dispatcher there contacted the bus driver. It took him under one-minute to figure out who it was since I had the exact time frame. He said the bus driver “pulled over to a safe location” (I assumed the driver was safe) and “is looking for the wallet right now.” After a brief hold he said “the driver searched the entire bus, and found no wallet.”
“What is the bus number and the driver’s name” I asked.
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know, you just talked to him. I heard you on the walkie-talkie.”
The story changed to “I can’t release that information.”
Is this the Trump Organization or the CTA? It’s neither. It’s “Pace.” as in “at a slow.” (Murder She Wrote spoiler alert: the wallet is in the driver’s pocket.)
I called back Pace CS per the dispatcher. “Hi again. You need to not hang up on me when you don’t like dealing with your job, because this just got escalated. I’m filing a police report. Should I include the people who hung up on me in the report?”
Phone died.
No cash, no wallet, no ID. Super nice CTA guy gives me free pass; feels terrible about it because he heard all the conversations. He shook his head and said, “there’s footage of everything that happened on the security cam. Tell them you know this.”
Tweeted @PaceSuburbanBus my complaint. No response, even though they were answering other tweets which praised them. (I have the screen caps.)
The bus driver needs to be identified and investigated. This is clearly a safety issue. A haphazard driver rushing around and skipping stops in order to not be penalized by his supervisors should not trump safety, under and circumstance. |
Sarna News
Dominion Facility Kappa-5 was a manufacturing facility located on Thule. The Ghost Bears hoped to use it as the heart of a new production facility, including DropShip production facilities. However, a three-way conflict destroyed the facility completely in 3073.[1] |
Polarization encoded color camera.
Digital cameras would be colorblind if they did not have pixelated color filters integrated into their image sensors. Integration of conventional fixed filters, however, comes at the expense of an inability to modify the camera's spectral properties. Instead, we demonstrate a micropolarizer-based camera that can reconfigure its spectral response. Color is encoded into a linear polarization state by a chiral dispersive element and then read out in a single exposure. The polarization encoded color camera is capable of capturing three-color images at wavelengths spanning the visible to the near infrared. |
Q:
Page dimensions using geometry package
Long time listener; first time caller here at TEX, so go easy on me. Can someone please tell me if there are any advantages of using
\usepackage{geometry}
\geometry{a4paper}
instead of defining the size in the paper size in the document class
\documentclass[a4paper,11pt]{article}
Thank you.
A:
By default latex knows nothing about the physical paper size (or the size of the window in a pdf viewer) It just sets a text block of specified size indented on the left. So the bottom form relies on your default viewer or printer combination defaulting to A4, however several packages (including at least hyperref, graphics, geometry) set \pdfpagewidth and \pdfpageheight (or equivalent specials with tex engines other than pdftex) which does cause the generated page size to be explicitly A4.
|
keanu.vertex
------------
This package exposes all of Keanu's vertices which can be used to construct Bayesian Networks.
.. automodule:: keanu.vertex
:members:
:undoc-members:
:show-inheritance:
|
Karabakh
Karabakh ( Gharabagh; ) is a geographic region in present-day eastern Armenia and southwestern Azerbaijan, extending from the highlands of the Lesser Caucasus down to the lowlands between the rivers Kura and Aras.
It's conventionally divided into three regions: Highland Karabakh (historical Artsakh, covered mostly by present-day Nagorno-Karabakh), Lowland Karabakh (the steppes between the Kura and Aras rivers), and the eastern slopes of the Zangezur Mountains (roughly Syunik and Kashatagh).
Etymology
The name Karabakh is a Russian transliteration of the local Karabagh, which is generally believed to be a compound of the Turkic word kara (black) and the Iranian word bagh (garden), literally meaning "black garden." However, this has been questioned by some linguists and historians, as black is uncharacteristic of a region "as lush and green" as Karabakh.
According to Iranian linguist Abdolali Karang, kara could have derived from kaleh or kala, which means "large" in the Harzani dialect of the Old Azeri language (pre-Turkic language spoken in Iranian Azerbaijan). The Iranian-Azerbaijani historian Ahmad Kasravi also speaks of the translation of kara as "large" and not "black." The kara prefix has also been used for other nearby regions and landmarks, such as Karadagh (dagh means "mountain") referring to a mountain range, and Karakilise (kilise means "church") referring to the largest church complex in its area, built mainly with white stone. In the sense of "large," Karakilise would translate to "large church," and Karabakh would translate to "large garden."
Another theory, proposed by Armenian historian Bagrat Ulubabyan, is that, along with the "large" translation of kara, the bagh component may have derived from the nearby canton called Baghk, which at some point was part of Armenian principalities within modern-day Karabakh — Dizak and the Kingdom of Syunik (in Baghk, the -k suffix is a plural nominative case marker also used to form names of countries in Old Armenian). In this sense, Karabakh would translate to "Greater Baghk."
The placename is first mentioned in the Georgian Chronicles (Kartlis Tskhovreba), as well in Persian sources from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The name became common after the 1230s, when the region was conquered by the Mongols. The first time the name was mentioned in medieval Armenian sources was in the fifteenth century, in Tovma Metsop'etsi's History of Tamerlane and His Successors.
Karabagh, an acceptable alternate spelling of Karabakh, denotes a kind of patterned rug originally produced in the area.
Geography
Karabakh is a landlocked region located in the south of Armenia and the west of Azerbaijan. There is currently no official designation for what constitutes the whole of Karabakh. Historically, the maximum extent of what could be considered Karabakh was during the existence of the Karabakh Khanate in the 18th century, which extended from the Zangezur Mountains in the west, following eastwards along the Aras river to the point where it meets with the Kura river in the Kur-Araz Lowland. Following the Kura river north, it stretched as far as what is today the Mingachevir reservoir before turning back to the Zangezur Mountains through the Murov Mountains. However, when not referring to the territory covered by the Karabakh Khanate, the northern regions are often excluded (modern-day Goranboy and Yevlakh). During the Russian Empire, the eastern lowlands where the Kura and Aras rivers meet (mostly modern-day Imishli) were also excluded, but most pre-Elisabethpol maps include that region in Karabakh.
History
Antiquity
The region today referred to as Karabakh, which was populated with various Caucasian tribes, is believed to have been conquered by the Kingdom of Armenia in the 2nd century BC and organized as parts of the Artsakh, Utik and the southern regions of Syunik provinces. However, it is possible that the region had earlier been part of the Satrapy of Armenia under the Orontid dynasty from as early as the 4th century BC. After the partition of Armenia by Rome and Persia in 387 AD, Artsakh and Utik became a part of the Caucasian Albanian satrapy of Sassanian Persia, while Syunik remained in Armenia.
Middle Ages
The Arab invasions later led to the rise of several Armenian princes who came to establish their dominance in the region. Centuries of constant warfare on the Armenian Plateau forced many Armenians, including those in the Karabakh region, to emigrate and settle elsewhere. During the period of Mongol domination, a great number of Armenians left Lowland Karabakh and sought refuge in the mountainous (Highland) heights of the region.
In the fifteenth century, the German traveler Johann Schiltberger toured Lowland Karabakh and described it as a large and beautiful plain in Armenia, ruled by Muslims. Highland Karabakh from 821 until the early 19th century passed under the hands of a number of states, including the Abbasid Caliphate, Bagratid Armenia, the Mongol Ilkhanate and Jalayirid Sultanates, the Turkic Kara Koyunlu, Ak Koyunlu and Karabakh Baylarbaylik states of the Safavid Empire. Armenian princes times ruled as vassal territories by the Armenian House of Khachen and its several lines, the latter Melikdoms of Karabakh. The Safavids appointed the rulers of Ganja khanate from Ziad-oglu Qajar family to govern Karabakh. It was also invaded and ruled by Ottoman Empire between 1578-1605 and again between 1723-1736, as they briefly conquered it during the Ottoman-Safavid War of 1578-1590 and during the disintegration of Safavid Iran, respectively. In 1747, Panah Javanshir, a local Turkic chieftain, seized control of the region after the death of the Persian ruler Nadir Shah, and both Lower Karabakh and Highland Karabakh comprised the new Karabakh Khanate. The Iranian Qajar dynasty reestablished rule over the region several years later.
Early Modern Age
In 1813, under the terms of the Treaty of Gulistan, the region of Karabakh was lost by the Persians to the Russian Empire. Under Russian rule, Karabakh (both Lowland and Highland) was a region with an area of 13,600 km2 (5,250 sq mi), with Shusha (Shushi) as its most prominent city. Its population consisted of Armenians and Muslims (mainly of "Tatars" (Azerbaijanis), but also Kurds). The Russians conducted a census in 1823 and had tallied the number of villages (though not the number of people) and assessed the tax basis of the entire Karabakh khanate, which also included Lowland Karabakh. It is probable that the Armenians formed the majority of the population of Eastern Armenia at the turn of the seventeenth century, but following Shah Abbas I's massive relocation of Armenians in 1604-05 their numbers decreased markedly, as they eventually became a minority among their Muslim neighbors.
According to the statistics of the initial survey carried out by the Russians in 1823 and an official one published in 1836, Highland Karabakh was found almost overwhelmingly Armenian in population (96.7%). On the other hand, the population of the Karabakh khanate, taken as a whole, was largely made up of Muslims (91% Muslim versus 9% Armenian). A decade after the Russian annexation of the region, many Armenians who had fled Karabakh during the reign of Ibrahim Khalil Khan (1730-1806) and settled in Yerevan, Ganja, and parts of Georgia were repatriated to their villages, many of which had been left derelict. An additional 279 Armenian families were settled in the villages of Ghapan and Meghri in Syunik. Though some of the returning Armenians wished to settle in Karabakh, they were told by Russian authorities that there was no room for them. This took place at the same time as many of the region's Muslims departed for the Ottoman Empire and Qajar Iran.
In 1823, 8.4% of the population of the whole of Karabakh was Armenian who were primarily concentrated in the highlands of Karabakh where they formed 90.8% of the population. After the transfer of the Karabakh Khanate to Russia, many Muslim families emigrated to Persia, while many Armenians were induced by the Russian government to immigrate from Persia. Russia's population policy changed the figures, and therefore, Armenian population formed 35% of the population in 1832, and 53% in 1880. Growth of Armenian population in Karabakh is explained with the "increasing migration of Armenians to Mountanious Karabakh or an exodus of Muslims from the region."
The population of Karabakh, according to the official returns of 1832, consisted of 13,965 Muslim and 1,491 Armenian families, besides some Nestorian Christians and Gypsies. The limited population was ascribed to the frequent wars and emigration of many Muslim families to Iran since the region's subjection to Russia, although many Armenians were induced by the Russian government, after the Treaty of Turkmenchay, to emigrate from Persia to Karabakh.
The percentage of Armenians accordingly increased to 35% in 1832 and 53% in 1880. These were also seen as consequences of Russo-Turkish wars of 1855-1856 and 1877-1878 because Russians saw the Muslims as unreliable and allies to their ethnically close Turks.
In 1828 the Karabakh khanate was dissolved and in 1840 it was absorbed into the Kaspijskaya (Caspian) oblast, and subsequently, in 1846, made a part of Shemakha Governorate. In 1876 it was made a part of the Elisabethpol Governorate, an administrative arrangement which remained in place until the Russian Empire collapsed in 1917.
Modern Age
Soviet rule
After the dissolution of Russian Empire Karabakh, Zangezur and Nakhchivan were disputed between newly established republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Fighting between two republics broke out. Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, British troops occupied the South Caucasus. The British command affirmed Khosrov bey Sultanov (an appointee of the Azerbaijani government) as the provisional governor-general of Karabakh and Zangezur, pending a final decision by the Paris Peace Conference. But in 1920, Azerbaijan and Armenia were sovietized and Karabakh's status was taken up by the Soviet authorities.
In 1923, parts of Karabakh were made a part of the newly established Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO), an administrative entity of the Azerbaijan SSR, leaving it with a population that was 94% Armenian. During the Soviet period, several few attempts were made by the authorities of the Armenian SSR to unite it with the NKAO but these proposals found no support in Moscow.
Nagorno-Karabakh War
In February 1988, within the context of Mikhail Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika policies, the Supreme Soviet of the NKAO voted to unite itself with Armenia. By the summer of 1989 the Armenian-populated areas of the NKAO were under blockade by Azerbaijan as a response to Armenia's blockade against Nakhichevan, cutting road and rail links to the outside world. On July 12 the Nagorno-Karabakh AO Supreme Soviet voted to secede from Azerbaijan, which was rejected unanimously by the Supreme Soviet of USSR, declaring NKAO had no right to secede from Azerbaijan SSR under Soviet Constitution. Soviet authorities in Moscow then placed the region under its direct rule, installing a special commission to govern the region. In November 1989 the Kremlin returned the oblast to Azerbaijani control. The local government in the region of Shahumian also declared its independence from the Azerbaijan SSR in 1991.
In late 1991, the Armenian representatives in the local government of the NKAO proclaimed the region a republic, independent from Azerbaijan. Portions of the lowland Karabakh are now under the control of the Karabakh Armenian forces. The region's Azerbaijani inhabitants were forced to leave the territories remaining under Armenian control.
Karabakh dialect
The Armenian population of the region speaks the Karabakh dialect of Armenian which has been heavily influenced by the Persian, Russian, and Turkish languages. It was the most extensively spoken of all Armenian dialects until the Soviet period when the dialect of Yerevan became the official tongue of the Armenian SSR.
Flora
The Khari-bulbul (Ophrys caucasica) is a flowering plant endemic to the Karabakh region. Interesting appearance of the flower gives an impression as if a bird, bulbul is sitting on it.
The tulip species Tulipa armena is native to Karabakh.
See also
Gharabaghi (surname)
Notes
Further reading
Primary sources
Mirza Jamal Javanshir Karabagi. A History of Qarabagh: An Annotated Translation of Mirza Jamal Javanshir Qarabaghi's Tarikh-e Qarabagh. Trans. George A. Bournoutian. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishing, 1994.
Archbishop Sargis Hasan-Jalaliants. A History of the Land of Artsakh, Karabagh and Genje, 1722-1827. Trans. Ka'ren Ketendjian, with introduction, annotations and notes by Robert H. Hewsen. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishing, 2012.
Secondary sources
Bournoutian, George. "Rewriting History: Recent Azeri Alterations of Primary Sources Dealing with Karabakh." Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies. 1992, 1993, pp. 185–190.
De Waal, Thomas. Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War. New York: New York University Press, 2003.
Hewsen, Robert H. "The Meliks of Eastern Armenia: A Preliminary Study," (serialized in four parts) Revue des Études Arméniennes 9 (1972); 10 (1973/74); 11 (1975/76); 14 (1980).
Category:Caucasus
Category:Geography of Azerbaijan
Category:Geography of Armenia |
'use strict';
const find = require('unist-util-find');
const rule = require('unified-lint-rule');
const findAuthorName = require('../lib/find-author-name');
const authorName = 'sindresorhus';
const authorEmail = 'sindresorhus@gmail.com';
module.exports = rule('remark-lint:awesome-code-of-conduct', (ast, file) => {
if (ast.children.length === 0) {
file.message('code-of-conduct.md file must not be empty');
return;
}
const placeholder = find(ast, node => (
node.type === 'linkReference' &&
node.label === 'INSERT EMAIL ADDRESS'
));
if (placeholder) {
file.message('The email placeholder must be replaced with yours', placeholder);
return;
}
if (findAuthorName(file) !== authorName) {
const email = find(ast, node => (
node.type === 'text' &&
node.value.includes(authorEmail)
));
if (email) {
file.message('The default email must be replaced with yours', email);
}
}
});
|
A participant to a conference held over a network may be interrupted, i.e., pulled out of real-time listening or participation, for a variety of reasons. For example, the participant may need to step away from the conference to answer another call, or briefly discuss a matter of immediate urgency with a co-worker. Alternatively, the participant may invoke some feature of the conference service that results in the conference audio being interrupted, such as playing out the roster, receiving whisper information, moving to a sidebar conversation, etc. Upon returning to the live conference the participant usually wants to listen to what transpired in the conference during the time he was gone. Simply listening to a recording of the missed portions of the conference, however, is inadequate insomuch as the participant is permanently shifted away from real-time participation.
A number of prior art conferencing systems include a feature that allows portions of a conference session to be recorded and then played back at an accelerated rate, in what is commonly referred to as “catch-up” mode. The problem with these systems is that the participant frequently forgets that he is listening to the conference in catch-up mode, and attempts to speak as a participant in the conference. Comments made during catch-up mode, however, cannot be mixed into the real-time (“live”) conference because the live conference has already progressed beyond the point in time of the catch-up mode playback. |
Top 10 India’s Best Schools
Top 10 India’s Best Schools
Parents are looking for India’s best school for their children. They are planning to opt for best school in their city. Every parent is having the same mission to admit their child in top school. But they actually don’t know which one will be the best school as per guidelines. EW The Indian School Ranking Organization has design some parameters to rank schools. These parameters includes sports education, infrastructure provision, life skills and conflict management education, leadership/ management quality, special needs education, internationalism etc. Based on these parameters the participants in the survey give their point from 10. We have gone through the India’s 2015 best school from categories like Day school, Boarding school and International school.
The EW India School Rankings 2015 ranks India’s top 10 India’s best schools. In this regards 11660 has filled a survey includes parents, teachers, principles and senior students. The survey has been conducted for four months and it includes 27 cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Lucknow, Indore, Jamshedpur, Darjeeling, and Dehradun.
The survey has been decided on 14 parameters which comprises of parameters like co-curricular activities, co-curricular education, academic reputation, individual attention to students,teacher welfare and development, competence of faculty (20 points), sports education, infrastructure provision, life skills and conflict management education, leadership/ management quality, special needs education, internationalism etc on a point scale of upto 10. Based on these points included survey participants has given their ranking.
Total 11,000 number of people has been interviewed in this giant survey. It was first time when Senior students was also taking part in the survey.
The result has been mentioned below:
Best Indian Day School-2015
Best Indian day school-2015 (Source- rediff.com)
Best Indian boarding school- 2015
Best Indian boarding school-2015 (Source: rediff.com)
Best Indian International School- 2015
India’s best International School – 2015 (Source: rediff.com)
Ranking Tables As per:Education World
Top 10 India’s Best Schools
Top 10 India’s Best Schools Parents are looking for India’s best school for their children. They are planning to opt for best school in their city. Every parent is having the same mission to admit their child in top school. But they actually don’t know which one will be the best school as per guidelines. ... |
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to improvements in smoking devices, particularly to smoking articles which employ a formed tobacco cartridge as a source of producing vapor by heat transfer to the cartridge by conduction, convection, and radiation for smoke and flavor. The present invention relates to self-contained vaporization devices, and more particularly, to a low-temperature vaporization device for use of tobacco product. The device is of an elongated main body with a mouthpiece at one end and an attached tubular casing at the other end having a vaporization chamber and a heater. The mouthpiece and the casing form an unitary unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Smoking devices, such as cigarette holders and pipes are well known in the art for providing flavored vapor from a smokeable substance to a user for therapeutic and smoking pleasure. However, existing devices used have no control of heating and combustion of the tobacco products. The devices tend to produce toxic, tarry and carcinogenic by-products which are harmful and also impart a bitter and burnt taste to a mouth of a user.
A further problem is that there is no control of contamination of the inhaled vapor mixture with heater exhaust gases, due to inappropriate proportioning and location of the inlets and the exhaust vents. Typically, the exhaust gas is used to directly heat the tobacco, and those gases contain harmful byproducts of incomplete combustion.
In an effort to overcome these deficiencies, there have been numerous attempts to provide a device structure and the substance for producing vapor for smoking which is free from harmful by-product and would provide a cool and soothing vapor for smoking.
For example, U.S. Patent Application No. 2004/0237974 A1, published on Dec. 2, 2004 for Min discloses a filtering cigarette and cigar holder which removes tar and nicotine from the tobacco smoke.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2004/0031495 A1, published on Feb. 19, 2004 for Steinberg discloses a vaporization pipe with flame filter which uses a flame to vaporize the smoking substance.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,164,287, issued Dec. 26, 2000 to White, describes a smoking device which produces smoke from tobacco at low temperatures, without producing harmful byproducts.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,374, issued Jul. 18, 1989 to Chard et al describe a smoking device to vaporize aerosol precursor, an event which precedes condensation to mainstream aerosol precursor by contact with heated surface rather than by hot gases into the mouth of a smoker.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,219,032, issued Aug. 26, 1980 to Tabatznik et al describe a smoking device wherein an extracted smoke is cooled by passing it through a suitable liquid to provide a soothing smoke.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,020,853, issued May 3, 1977 to Nuttall, describes a smoking pipe made of ceramic material such as colored and ornamental porcelain for enhancing the artistic look, and also to provide a circulating air to keep the outer wall of the pipe cool and safe for handling.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,792,704, issued Feb. 19, 1974 to Parker, describes a pipe tobacco smoking system, wherein the pipe and the tobacco capsule are mutually designed to yield a slim-line smoking combination that can be manufactured from relatively low temperature thermoplastic material. |
Evidence that women with a history of cesarean section can deliver twins safely.
To determine whether a trial of labor is safe in twin pregnancies after one previous cesarean section. Retrospective analysis of all cases of multiple pregnancies after cesarean section during the years 1970-1993, including twin gestations after one cesarean section. Forty-six cases of multiple gestations were found, 36 of which were eligible for the study presented herein. Fifteen women (41.7%) were denied trial of labor. Twenty-one women (58.3%) were allowed trial of labor, 17 (80.9%) of whom were delivered vaginally and four (19.1%) by a repeated cesarean section. The group of trial of labor was compared to the group of elective cesarean section. Hospitalization period was 4.4 +/- 1.9 days and 8.0 +/- 2.6 days in the trial of labor group and elective cesarean section group, respectively (p<0.01). Blood transfusions required were 9.5% and 26.6% in both groups, respectively (NS). Puerperal infections were 9.5% in the trial of labor group, compared to 46.6% in the elective cesarean section group (NS). No scar dehiscence occurred in either groups. There were no statistically significant differences in age, parity, gestational age at delivery, mean newborn weight, Apgar score at one and five minutes, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit admission and mean Neonatal Intensive Care Unit stay. Vaginal delivery in twin gestation after one previous cesarean section may be considered in appropriate cases. A large multicentral randomized prospective study may further confirm this conclusion. |
Implementing and evaluating a system of generic infection precautions: body substance isolation.
Body substance isolation (BSI) is a system of infection precautions intended to reduce nosocomial transmission of infectious agents among patients and to reduce the risk of transmission of hepatitis B virus, human immunodeficiency virus, and other infectious agents to health care personnel. Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, Wash., was the first facility in the United States to implement the BSI system. Between 1984 and 1988 a systematic evaluation of the implementation process was conducted and the effects of BSI on appropriate glove use by hospital personnel and on the incidence of nosocomial colonization and infection by sentinel organisms was measured. Results of the evaluation showed (1) significant increments in knowledge of infection control procedures and practices as measured by comparing written examination responses before and after training sessions, (2) significant increases in appropriate glove use as determined by direct observation of hospital employees for 18 months, and (3) significant reductions in nosocomial colonization and infection caused by sentinel microorganisms during the period from 1984 to 1988. |
I have had this post on the back burner for some time (I have a number of those actually). A while ago a thread on reddit talked about an extremely flawed study which found that black and white children raised in Germany after world war 2 had the same IQ. Well, not really but that is what prig progs want it to show.
I got into a conversation with a leftoid who had so much cognitive dissonance that not only did he himself point out the flaws in the study and why it didn’t technically show this, he still held firm that it qualified as good evidence that black and white IQs are the same on average just so long as you adjust the environment. Unfortunately this user has since deleted his comments and I didn’t bother saving them all at the time so I just have what I happened to copy over then. Sorry. However, this post isn’t strictly about that one study so summarizing the exchange should be sufficient.
There were two major confounding influences which caused problems for the general application of the findings of this study (and this user pointed this out himself). He quoted the following from the study:
The mothers of the children studied were white German women, while their fathers were white and African-American members of the US occupation forces. In contrast to results obtained in many American studies, the average IQs of the children studied were roughly similar across racial groups White and black G.I.’s in Germany were not equally representative of their respective populations, since about 30 percent of blacks, compared to about 3 percent of whites, failed the preinduction mental test and were not admitted into the armed forces The equal IQs were from people who were only half black, and their fathers were unrepresentative because the army didn’t recruit people who failed IQ tests. The blacks who made it to Germany from America in WWII were highly unrepresentative and had been specifically filtered by IQ tests. All of the potential black fathers were above the 30th percentile of the black IQ distribution. In addition, as I will show in my soon to be released book, intelligence is to a large extent X linked which means that when there are big differences in IQ between parents, a child is much more likely to resemble the (white and German) mother than the father. In other words, these results are not surprising, but do not invalidate or even contradict the vast amount of research done over the last century which shows blacks to have about a standard deviation lower IQ than whites. It is a very specific set of circumstances which led to a superficially contradictory result. Further consideration reveals that these kids do not represent blacks in general to any great extent. The consensus from studying racial differences in intelligence are quite clear: 30 years of racial iq studies [pdf] What is weird about all this is that the guy who I was talking to knew all this was problematic, pointed it out himself in his own comments even, yet still argued with people that these flaws were irrelevant and the study showed that it was all environment. When faced with some opposition from myself and a few others, he eventually resorted to a common leftist shaming tactic which I am sure most of us are familiar with. He had no good arguments with which to defend his position and thus resorted to insulting his opponents character rather than admitting that the flawed study is more or less useless for his position. Here is the excerpt of his comment which is relevant and my response: “You didn’t read it with an open mind at all” I love it when leftists pull the “you’re not open minded” card. It shows such a lack of self-awareness it is amazing. There is a difference between rejecting a clearly very flawed study, which in your own comments you showed it to be, and being closed minded. Closed minded is seeing that the preponderance of evidence does not support your preferred happy talk version of things and sticking to the happy talk anyway. Especially if the happy talk is easier as it is the politically “correct” opinion. Open-mindedness is accepting the truth, however difficult it may be and however much people may hate you for it. I originally planned to link to his comments directly so you could see everything he said, but unfortunately he deleted them. Probably because he realized he looked stupid. Anyway, I have found that some version of “You aren’t open-minded” is an extremely common leftist ploy when they can’t figure out any logical or rational way to defend their beliefs. (Though religious people use it too; stop doing that!) I have met many people in person who do the same thing and say the same damn phrase verbatim even. The problem isn’t that their idea is asinine and indefensible, the problem is that whoever just wont give the idea a chance or a try. They aren’t capable of being objective and thus their opinion should be dismissed. The problem is you as a person. This disingenuous way of shifting the focus of attention from their nonsense to your person is an unfortunately effective method of switching from defense to offense without having to do any rigorous intellectual work. They don’t even have to justify the claim about your person because being open or closed minded is such an ambiguous idea (and with connotations conveniently preset to leftist advantage) that most people immediately allow the topic to be changed and start defending their character when the accusation is in no way warranted. Don’t let leftists (or anyone else) get away with this tactic. Recognize it for what it is and immediately steer the conversation back to their asinine beliefs. Keep them on the defensive. You can point out what just happened explicitly and turn it back, or just ignore it like the shit test it is and make another criticism of their idea directly. Keep on point and keep focused.
I really hate the not open-minded “criticism” because it implies that you have very little knowledge of the subject under debate. It directly insults your integrity and is a very deep sign of disrespect that in better days would have led to an ass-kicking. When found together, ignorance and strong opinion do imply closed mindedness, but very often the ignorance ingredient isn’t actually present and there is little reason to think the “closed-minded” person is not knowledgeable about the subject matter. Often it is the accuser of closed-mindedness who has the smaller degree of knowledge and/or is manifestly losing the debate. Why else would they use this tactic rather than just pointedly defending their position? Even in circumstances where the accusation is true, it is no less of a logical fallacy and shouldn’t be engaged in. Don’t do it yourself, and don’t allow others to do it to you. With greater knowledge you would expect firmer stances on any given issue. If you know why something will or will not work, then you are much more likely not to be compromising about it and you shouldn’t compromise. If your mind is to be changed then it will result from honest, rational argumentation on part of the person trying to change your mind. Not from deceitful sophistry and changing the subject.
Edit: See more comments on this post here. |
The present invention relates to a system and method for authenticating an avatar, and more particularly authenticating an avatar with reputation information from a centralized identity provider. Such an authentication system is useful in conjunction with security and identification within Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs), virtual worlds, and online social networks. Currently, at best, identification and reputation within virtual environments is highly fragmented among each individual virtual world. More often, however, there is an utter lack of identification and reputation within the virtual environments. The fact that identity and reputation within virtual worlds is so elusive results in heightened risk when sharing important information, such as in financial transactions.
An avatar is a virtual representation of an individual within a virtual environment. Avatars often include physical characteristics, statistical attributes, inventories, social relations, emotional representations, and weblogs (blogs) or other recorded historical data. Avatars may be human in appearance, but are not limited to any appearance constraints. Avatars may be personifications of a real world individual, such as a Player Character (PC) within a MMOG, or may be an artificial personality, such as a Non-Player Character (NPC). Additional artificial personality type avatars include personal assistants, guides, educators, answering servers and information providers. Additionally, some avatars may have the ability to be automated some of the time, and controlled by a human at other times. Such Quasi-Player Characters (QPCs) may perform mundane tasks automatically, but more expensive human agents take over in cases of complex problems.
Avatars, however, exist in virtual worlds that embrace anonymity. An avatar may appear any way the author of the avatar, or end user, desires. Moreover the name, appearance, and statistics of an avatar may often be changed on a whim. An end user may have several avatars for any virtual environment, and connecting an avatar to its end user is difficult at best.
The number of active subscribers to MMOGs is at least 10 million people. Each person pays $15 and up a month to play these games, and maybe and additional 20 million people login occasionally. Estimates are that players spent about $1 billion in real money in 2005 on virtual goods and services for MMOGs combined. Moreover, at least 1.5 million people subscribe to virtual worlds. In January, 2006, inside one such virtual social world, people spent nearly $5 million in some 4.2 million transactions buying or selling clothes, buildings, and the like. Moreover, participants in web communities number in the multiple tens of millions. Everyday, these participants engage in financial transactions. Additionally, access to certain information, subsets of the virtual world, or services may be restricted to certain participants only. Such activities produce a large risk for the parties involved, much of the risk stemming from identity ambiguities.
Currently, when a party wishes to provide sensitive information, transfer goods or allow access to an avatar embodied end user, local reputation of the avatar, if available, is often the only assurances the party has, since there is currently no way to ascertain end user reputation beyond the limited reputation of each individual avatar's local reputation. End users may improperly use received information, misrepresent themselves to gain access, or breach contract since there is usually no repercussions to the end user because, with a simple change in identity, the wrong deed is no longer traceable to the end user. Thus, it would be advantageous to have a system enabled to compile the end user's reputation, rather than a single avatars reputation, in order to dictate online transactions.
Moreover, such a system of authentication may be utilized to provide highly targeted marketing. By compiling users' preferences, highly refined advertisements may be generated for the end user, however, without knowledge of an avatar's identity, such refined advertisements are ineffectual. This further reinforces the need of a system for authenticating an avatar for identity.
Additionally, due to the fragmented multitudes of virtual worlds, it is also important for such an authentication system to be available across multiple platforms. Effectively, by removing the authentication system from any singular virtual world, and enabling a global system, reputation and identity information may be more accurately compiled. Also, such a system enables secure communications between individuals that are inhibiting separate virtual worlds by verifying identity of the individuals within each virtual environment. Systems for authenticating an avatar's end users' identity and supplying reputation information in this manner do not currently exist.
Additionally, due to the frequency of financial transactions, and the regularity of access inquiries, such authentications are preferably performed rapidly, with a minimal interference to the and user and transacting party. As such, it is desirable to have a system for authenticating an avatar's users' identity and supplying reputation information that is integrated into the virtual environment for rapid and efficient authentication.
It is therefore apparent that an urgent need exists for a system and method for authenticating avatars that integrates the ability to provide reputation information of the avatar's user. This system would be able to provide increased security in online transactions, enable targeted marketing and promote heightened accountability for participants in virtual worlds. |
W’Bank to assist Nigeria strengthen fiscal sustainability plan
The World Bank Group is set to assist state governments in Nigeria to improve their fiscal sustainability by strengthening and consolidating the Fiscal Sustainability Plan.
The development was confirmed in a statement issued on Friday by the Director, Information, Ministry of Finance, Mr. Salisu Dambatta.
The FSP was introduced by the Federal Government in 2016 as part of the measures to tackle the 2015-2016 fiscal crisis.
The fiscal crisis, which was caused by sharp declines in revenue and budget spending, forced the Federal Government to give two bailouts to the state governments.
According to the Federal Government, the plan is also an instrument for reforming the whole gamut of the public sector financial management system spanning the three tiers of government.
The 22-point FSP was acceded to by state governments in 2016 in order to implement fundamental reforms.
The reforms border on taking measures, including instilling a regime of fiscal transparency and accountability, improving Internally Generated Revenue, taming of unnecessary recurrent expenditure and strengthening adherence to debt management guidelines by the states.
The proposed intervention by the World Bank, according to the statement, will involve financing capacity building and providing technical support for officials in the 36 states of the federation.
This will be achieved by equipping them with the requisite knowledge and skills to effectively manage the comprehensive implementation of the components of the FSP on a sustainable basis.
The statement read in part, “The objective was to ensure that the states were put on the path that would lead them out of the situation in which they had to be bailed out or fail to meet their financial obligations for the well-being of the citizenry.”
Copyright PUNCH.All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
she was in for 24 hours but she sentenced some innocent people for 20 years.
Engr Johnnie
Hahahaha,Dike….We are just like pencil in the hand of the creator !
Richy Amechi Fidel
Yes.
Ronke Olalekan
When I visited Diamond Life Church, I heard alot of testimonies and I said to myself I will get mine. I was told God uses the prophet to heal mad people, cancer and even people with HIV. They said if anyone is mad, just bring the person to the church and after three days, the person will be normal again. so I waited to see the prophet after the service because I had a brother who has been mad for over 5 years. People always run mad in my family and after 5 years, they die mysteriously.
When I met with the prophet one on one in his office, The prophet said I don’t need to bring my brother from Akwa ibom. He gave me a bottle of water and asked me to go to Akwa ibom, look for my brother and sprinkle it on the my brother and he will be well after three days.
Praise the Lord, I did as Prophet Koleayo said and my brother has been well since then.
My high blood pressure I had before I visited the church disappeared since then.
Praise Master Jesus.
Bro. Udo Akpanke.
I believe in God and His Prophet, Bishop Koleayo. I saw Bishop’s number somewhere online and I decided to call him and immediately I asked him to pray for me. He told me I am being owed alot of money by the Government and some people where sitting on my payment. But in 14 days, they will be the one to call me. I was shocked. It was as if I was dreaming. If Bishop is not a true prophet of God, there is no way he would have known all that about me. Someone that hasn’t seen me. Just hearing my voice he could tell me my problems. This is amazing.
I bless God, indeed as bishop said, I was called and my money was paid without delay. There was nothing I didn’t do to get my money paid for over 2 years but without result. I was almost giving up because the stories were too much but after my encounter with God’s servant, everything that seem dead in my life came back again. Bro. Okoye.
In one of the solution night vigils last year, Bishop called me out as he usually call people out and tell them things about themselves. He told me how all my siblings have graduated without job and husband. He revealed to me that our first daughter got married at age 36 and the marriage was devolved before her 37th birthday. That was when I knew he is a real seer because he doesn’t know me before and no one else except me, my mom and sister knew that the marriage has been scattered. We hid it from everyone. To. It the long story short, Bishop conducted deliverance on me that night, gave me anointed water and said the two women tormenting my family has met their end. I went home in the morning and saw two big dead rats at the entrance to my apartment. I sprinkled the water the Man of God gave me on the rats, prayed and disposed of the rats. 11am that same day, my mother called me from PH and said she was called from the village that my aunty and her daughter that has been troubling us died in their parlour over the night with charms around them. That means they were even doing charms and doing evil as at the time I was at the night vigil in Lagos. Today, I am planning my wedding with a man I met at my new place of work. Praise God for the liberation.Thank God for giving us a prophet like Bishop Solomon Koleayo.
The prophet is presently in the country.
You can reach him directly for prayers on: 08023499011
Or visit the prophet on Thursdays 10am
At
Diamond Life Church,
Opp. FCT High Court,Specialist Rd.,
G/Lada-Abuja |
Common Mistake
This is a midterm exam problem of Lienar Algebra at the Ohio State University.
One common mistake is not using the assumption that $A$ is symmetric or using wrongly.
A matrix $A$ is symmetric if $A^{\trans}=A$. For a 2 by 2 matrix, this yields that the off-diagonal entries must be the same.
However, note that the diagonal entries can be distinct. Some students assumed the same diagonal entries and concluded that there are no matrices satisfying the conditions.
More from my site
Linear Algebra Midterm 1 at the Ohio State University (3/3)
The following problems are Midterm 1 problems of Linear Algebra (Math 2568) at the Ohio State University in Autumn 2017.
There were 9 problems that covered Chapter 1 of our textbook (Johnson, Riess, Arnold).
The time limit was 55 minutes.
This post is Part 3 and contains […]
Eigenvalues of a Hermitian Matrix are Real Numbers
Show that eigenvalues of a Hermitian matrix $A$ are real numbers.
(The Ohio State University Linear Algebra Exam Problem)
We give two proofs. These two proofs are essentially the same.
The second proof is a bit simpler and concise compared to the first one.
[…]
The Product of Two Nonsingular Matrices is Nonsingular
Prove that if $n\times n$ matrices $A$ and $B$ are nonsingular, then the product $AB$ is also a nonsingular matrix.
(The Ohio State University, Linear Algebra Final Exam Problem)
Definition (Nonsingular Matrix)
An $n\times n$ matrix is called nonsingular if the […] |
//Example layer file.
require.def("alpha",
["beta", "gamma"],
function (beta, gamma) {
return {
name: "alpha",
betaName: beta.name
};
}
);
require.def("beta",
["gamma"],
function (gamma) {
return {
name: "beta",
gammaName: gamma.name
};
}
);
//Example layer file.
require.def("gamma",
["theta", "epsilon"],
function (theta, epsilon) {
return {
name: "gamma",
thetaName: theta.name,
epsilonName: epsilon.name
};
}
);
require.def("theta",
function () {
return {
name: "theta"
};
}
);
require.def("epsilon",
{
name: "epsilon"
}
);
|
Wooden stairs - Complement your floor with wooden stair treads and ...stairs. Complementing a beautiful floor solution with stair treads in the same material is an obvious choice and makes for a simple and calm expression. wooden stairs can also be used as a decorative natural element in a space characterised by concrete, stone and glass. Please note that we supply planks, not a ready made staircase. Available in Classic in standard measurements. Learn more How to buy ...
Home - Kent Floors - Kent Vinyl and Kentwoodplanks. Vinyl wood planks catch the look and texture of real wood. It is one of the easiest floors to install and maintain and withstands heavy traffic. UltraShield is a capped wood plastic composite, which means it has an advanced premium shield encasing all four sides around its inner core. Solidwood comes in variety of width and thicknesse |
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(1 of 2 overloads)</a>
</h5></div></div></div>
<p>
Start an asynchronous send.
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">template<
typename <a class="link" href="../../ConstBufferSequence.html" title="Constant buffer sequence requirements">ConstBufferSequence</a>,
typename <a class="link" href="../../WriteHandler.html" title="Write handler requirements">WriteHandler</a>>
<a class="link" href="../../asynchronous_operations.html#asio.reference.asynchronous_operations.automatic_deduction_of_initiating_function_return_type"><span class="emphasis"><em>DEDUCED</em></span></a> async_send_to(
const ConstBufferSequence & buffers,
const endpoint_type & destination,
WriteHandler && handler);
</pre>
<p>
This function is used to asynchronously send a datagram to the specified
remote endpoint. The function call always returns immediately.
</p>
<h6>
<a name="asio.reference.basic_datagram_socket.async_send_to.overload1.h0"></a>
<span><a name="asio.reference.basic_datagram_socket.async_send_to.overload1.parameters"></a></span><a class="link" href="overload1.html#asio.reference.basic_datagram_socket.async_send_to.overload1.parameters">Parameters</a>
</h6>
<div class="variablelist">
<p class="title"><b></b></p>
<dl>
<dt><span class="term">buffers</span></dt>
<dd><p>
One or more data buffers to be sent to the remote endpoint. Although
the buffers object may be copied as necessary, ownership of the
underlying memory blocks is retained by the caller, which must
guarantee that they remain valid until the handler is called.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term">destination</span></dt>
<dd><p>
The remote endpoint to which the data will be sent. Copies will
be made of the endpoint as required.
</p></dd>
<dt><span class="term">handler</span></dt>
<dd>
<p>
The handler to be called when the send operation completes. Copies
will be made of the handler as required. The function signature
of the handler must be:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">void handler(
const asio::error_code& error, // Result of operation.
std::size_t bytes_transferred // Number of bytes sent.
);
</pre>
<p>
Regardless of whether the asynchronous operation completes immediately
or not, the handler will not be invoked from within this function.
On immediate completion, invocation of the handler will be performed
in a manner equivalent to using <a class="link" href="../../post.html" title="post"><code class="computeroutput">post</code></a>.
</p>
</dd>
</dl>
</div>
<h6>
<a name="asio.reference.basic_datagram_socket.async_send_to.overload1.h1"></a>
<span><a name="asio.reference.basic_datagram_socket.async_send_to.overload1.example"></a></span><a class="link" href="overload1.html#asio.reference.basic_datagram_socket.async_send_to.overload1.example">Example</a>
</h6>
<p>
To send a single data buffer use the <a class="link" href="../../buffer.html" title="buffer"><code class="computeroutput">buffer</code></a>
function as follows:
</p>
<pre class="programlisting">asio::ip::udp::endpoint destination(
asio::ip::address::from_string("1.2.3.4"), 12345);
socket.async_send_to(
asio::buffer(data, size), destination, handler);
</pre>
<p>
See the <a class="link" href="../../buffer.html" title="buffer"><code class="computeroutput">buffer</code></a>
documentation for information on sending multiple buffers in one go,
and how to use it with arrays, boost::array or std::vector.
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2007 WY 70
THOMAS WITOWSKI, Appellant (Defendant),
v.
GAYLE (WITOWSKI) ROOSEVELT, Appellee (Plaintiff).
No. 06-141
Supreme Court of Wyoming. APRIL TERM, A.D. 2007.
April 27, 2007
Representing Appellant: Robert E. Schroth of Schroth & Schroth, LLC, Jackson, Wyoming.
Representing Appellee: David G. Lewis, Jackson, Wyoming.
VOIGT, C.J., and GOLDEN, HILL, KITE, and BURKE, JJ.
HILL, Justice.
[¶1] Appellant, Thomas Witowski (Father), seeks review of district court orders that granted two partial summary judgments in favor of his former wife, Gayle Roosevelt, fka Gayle Witowski, (Mother). Mother filed a complaint on October 27, 2004, seeking to recover $18,000.00 in child support arrearages, as well as other relief. We will dismiss the appeal because the order from which the appeal is taken is not a final order as contemplated by W.R.C.P. 54(b), it is not otherwise an appealable order as contemplated by W.R.A.P. 1.05, and it is not a matter that this Court will treat as a petition for writ of review.
ISSUES
[¶2] Because we conclude that this appeal must be dismissed, we will not set out the issues raised by Father. The only matters we will address are those which relate to whether or not this Court will take cognizance of this appeal and decide the issues raised by the parties. These matters we raise on our own motion.
FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS
[¶3] As noted above, Mother filed her complaint on October 27, 2004. The parties were married in the state of Wisconsin on August 4, 1973. Lacey Witowski (Child) was born on April 22, 1984. By decree entered on August 24, 1992, in the state of Virginia, the parties were granted a divorce. The divorce decree incorporated an agreement/stipulation that settled all issues between the parties. Pertinent to this appeal, the agreement provided:
3. Child Support:
Husband shall pay to Wife the sum of Six Hundred Dollars ($600.00) per month, for the support and maintenance of the minor child, with [sic] payable on the first day of each month, commencing the first day of June 1992, agreement [sic] and continuing in a like sum until the minor child reaches the age of 18 years or completes high school, whichever event shall last occur, and/or while the child is a full-time college student until age 23 years.
5. College Education of Child:
Husband and Wife shall each pay one-half of the expenses of said child's college education which shall include costs of books, tuition, lodging, meals, and related fees, provided that the limit of each party's liability for each academic year involved shall be one-half of the charge of suggested costs for that same academic year as set out in the published catalogue of the University of Virginia.
8. Medical, Dental, Hospitalization Expenses:
Husband shall provide military/Champus health, hospitalization and dental coverage for Wife, until such time as a final Decree of Divorce is entered and for the child until his obligation to support and educate the child has terminated. Husband will obtain and maintain a Champus supplement insurance (health) policy for said child during the same period of time and each party will pay half of all future and necessary medical and dental expenses for treatment, examination and/or care of child not covered by Champus or provided by military facilities and/or insurance.
[¶4] Following entry of the Virginia divorce decree, Mother and Child moved to Jackson, Wyoming. Although Father continually paid his monthly child support payments, as well as his share of Child's medical and educational expenses, these payments ceased in June of 2002 when Child graduated from high school. After finishing high school, Child attended the University of Wyoming as a full-time student.
[¶5] Mother filed this action on October 27, 2004, seeking, inter alia, child support arrearages and reimbursement for one-half of Child's medical and educational costs for the time period after graduation from high school, but during the time Child was a university student and under age 23. Mother's complaint asked the district court: (1) To give full faith and credit to the Virginia divorce; (2) to enforce the parties' agreement with respect to child support; (3) to award Mother $18,000.00 in present arrearages, as well as any further arrearages that accumulated; and (4) that Father be ordered to pay Mother "such other damages, including incidental and consequential damages, as are awardable for breach of contract under the laws of the State of Wyoming or Virginia." Mother's pleadings included a request for attorney's fees and costs associated with the prosecution of this matter.
[¶6] By order dated October 24, 2005, the district court granted partial summary judgment to Mother. The district court found that, pursuant to the divorce decree, Father's child support obligations were clear and unambiguous, and he was required to fulfill his monetary duties until Child attained her twenty-third birthday, so long as she remained a full-time, college student. The district court also held that the precise amount owed by Father for the unpaid child support, medical and education costs, and Mother's attorney's fees, would be determined at a later date.
[¶7] Adding somewhat more to the procedural confusion, on November 21, 2005, Father filed a Petition to Modify Child Support, essentially asking that the district court undo what it had done to date.
[¶8] On May 5, 2006, the district court issued an "Order Granting [Mother] Further Partial Summary Judgment." This order was issued after a trial to the court. The transcript of the proceedings is not included in the record on appeal. Documentary evidence introduced by Mother at the trial is contained in Volume II of the record on appeal. This documentary evidence is the source for the district court's findings of exactly what expenses Mother had paid, for which Father was required to reimburse her. In this Order, the district court determined, inter alia, that Father's motion to modify support should be denied, that Father's child support arrearages were $25,800.00, and his share of Child's educational and medical costs totaled $7,990.51. The district court further ordered: (1) That Father must file and serve written arguments regarding issues surrounding any reimbursable costs; (2) the parties were to agree to a payment schedule for all arrearages by June 15, 2006, or the district court would impose its own payment schedule; and (3) that Mother was to file responsive arguments as well as any arguments regarding her request for attorney's fees, costs of prosecution, and pre-judgment interest. Father filed a partial response on May 25, 2006. On June 1, 2006, he filed the notice of appeal that brought the matter to this Court.
DISCUSSION
[¶9] This appeal suffers from many infirmities. Our focus will be on the condition of the orders from which the appeal is taken. They are not final orders. W.R.C.P. 54 (b) provides:
(b) Judgment Upon Multiple Claims or Involving Multiple Parties. When more than one claim for relief is presented in an action, whether as a claim, counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party claim, or when multiple parties are involved, the court may direct the entry of a final judgment as to one or more but fewer than all of the claims or parties only upon an express determination that there is no just reason for delay and upon an express direction for the entry of judgment. In the absence of such determination and direction, any order or other form of decision, however designated, which adjudicates fewer than all the claims or the rights and liabilities of fewer than all the parties shall not terminate the action as to any of the claims or parties, and the order or other form of decision is subject to revision at any time before the entry of judgment adjudicating all the claims and the rights and liabilities of all the parties. [Emphasis added.]
The Annotation to Rule 54 contains a digest of cases, too numerous to mention, that espouse the basis for this rule. However, the gist of it is simply that an order granting a partial summary judgment, that leaves open other undecided issues, is not a final order, e.g., Stewart Title Guaranty Company v. Tilden, 2005 WY 53, ¶¶ 6-7, 110 P.3d 865, 869-70 (Wyo. 2005). Not only is the order appealed from not final, the district court was not asked to make, nor did it make of its own motion, the certification required by Rule 54(b).
[¶10] Continuing, the order from which the appeal is taken is not one that is described in W.R.A.P. 1.05:
An appealable order is:
(a) An order affecting a substantial right in an action, when such order, in effect, determines the action and prevents a judgment; or
(b) An order affecting a substantial right made in a special proceeding; or
(c) An order made upon a summary application in an action after judgment; or
(d) An order, including a conditional order, granting a new trial on the grounds stated in Rule 59(a)(4) and (5), Wyo. R. Civ. P.; if an appeal is taken from such an order, the judgment shall remain final and in effect for the purposes of appeal by another party; or
(e) Interlocutory orders and decrees of the district courts which:
(1) Grant, continue, or modify injunctions, or dissolve injunctions, or refuse to dissolve or modify injunctions; or
(2) Appoint receivers, or issue orders to wind up receiverships, or to take steps to accomplish the purposes thereof, such as directing sales or other disposition of property.
(See Rule 13 for additional guidance on review of interlocutory orders.)
[¶11] Finally, the order from which the appeal is taken is not the sort of notice of appeal that might invoke our discretion to convert it to a petition for writ of review under W.R.A.P 13.
CONCLUSION
[¶12] The orders from which this appeal is taken are not final orders, and we apply the plain terms of W.R.C.P. 54(b) and W.R.A.P. 1.05 as justification for our dismissal of the appeal.
|
6 N.Y.3d 734 (2005)
843 N.E.2d 748
810 N.Y.S.2d 121
MICHAEL J. SOLAZZO, JR., et al., Appellants,
v.
NEW YORK CITY TRANSIT AUTHORITY et al., Respondents.
Court of Appeals of the State of New York.
Decided December 20, 2005.
Pollack, Pollack, Isaac & De Cicco, New York City (Brian J. Isaac of counsel), for appellants.
New York City Transit Authority, Law Department, Brooklyn (Lawrence A. Silver and Wallace D. Gossett of counsel), for respondents.
Chief Judge KAYE and Judges G.B. SMITH, CIPARICK, ROSENBLATT, GRAFFEO, READ and R.S. SMITH concur.
*735 OPINION OF THE COURT
MEMORANDUM.
The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed, with costs.
A property owner will not be held liable in negligence for a plaintiff's injuries sustained as the result of an icy condition occurring during an ongoing storm or for a reasonable time thereafter (see Valentine v City of New York, 86 AD2d 381, 383 [1st Dept 1982], affd 57 NY2d 932 [1982]). Here, it had been snowing, sleeting and raining on and off all day and the steps down into the subway were exposed to those weather conditions. Thus, summary judgment was properly granted in defendants' favor.
Plaintiffs argue that the ongoing storm doctrine should not apply because his injury was caused by a recurring hazardous condition of which defendant Transit Authority was aware. A general awareness that the stairs and platforms become wet during inclement weather was insufficient to establish constructive notice of the specific condition causing plaintiff's injury (see Piacquadio v Recine Realty Corp., 84 NY2d 967, 969 [1994]).
On review of submissions pursuant to section 500.11 of the Rules of the Court of Appeals (22 NYCRR 500.11), order affirmed, with costs, in a memorandum.
|
---
abstract: 'With the Submillimeter Array [^1] (SMA), the brightest (sub)millimeter continuum source in the region, , has been observed in the continuum emission with approximately 10 times better angular resolution than previous studies (; AU at Orion). The deconvolved size, the mass, and the column density of are estimated to be , , and , respectively. The estimated extremely high mean number density, , suggests that is likely optically thick at . We compare our observational data with three theoretical core models: prestellar core, protostellar core + disk-like structure, and first adiabatic core. These comparisons clearly show that the observational data cannot be modeled as a simple prestellar core with a gas temperature of . A self-luminous source is necessary to explain the observed flux density in the (sub)millimeter wavelengths. Our recent detection of a very compact and energetic outflow in the CO (3–2) and HCN (4–3) lines, supports the presence of a protostar. We suggest that is one of the first cases of an intermediate mass protostellar core at an extremely young stage. In addition to the peak, we have also spatially resolved a number of spiky structures and sub-clumps, distributed over the central 1000 AU. The masses of these sub-clumps are estimated to be 0.066–0.073 M$_{\odot}$, which are on the order of brown dwarf masses. Higher angular resolution and higher sensitivity observations with ALMA and EVLA will reveal the origin and nature of these structures such as whether they are originated from fragmentations, spiral arms, or inhomogeneity within the disk-like structures/envelope'
author:
- 'Satoko Takahashi, Kazuya Saigo, Paul T.P. Ho and Kengo Tomida,'
title: 'Spatially Resolving Substructures within the Massive Envelope around an Intermediate-mass Protostar: MMS 6/OMC-3'
---
INTRODUCTION
============
The study of the earliest phase of star formation, especially around the prestellar core and Class 0 phases, is essential to understand star formation. This period includes the important phases such as the prestellar core phase, first adiabatic core phase, and the subsequent formation of the protostar (Larson 1969; Masunaga & Inutsuka 2000, Bate 1998; 2010; Machida et al. 2006; Saigo et al. 2008; Schoneke & Tscharnuter 2011). Studying prestellar cores would provide clues for understanding the initial conditions of star formation. First adiabatic cores are able to launch outflows (Tomisaka 1998; 2002; Machida et al. 2006; Tomida et al. 2010a), and may be related to the formation of binary systems (Bonnell 1994; Matsumoto et al. 2003; Commercon et al. 2010). In the protostellar phase (i.e., after 2nd collapse), substantial mass accretes onto the central star. Hence this phase would be a key to determine the final stellar mass. However, candidates of this youngest stage of protostars are still very limited in number, and theoretical models are not well constrained as yet.
The Orion Molecular Cloud-2/3 is located at the northern part of the Orion giant molecular cloud A ($d{\approx}414$ pc; e.g., Menten et al. 2007), and is one of the nearest active star forming regions (OMC-2/3; e.g., Aso et al. 2000; Chini et al. 1997; Lis et al. 1998; Johnstone & Bally 1999; Nielbock et al. 2003; Takahashi et al. 2006; 2008a,b 2009; Peterson & Megeath 2008). Previous studies identified approximately 50 individual star-forming sites. Detected sources are deeply embedded within the molecular filaments and most of these detected sources are identified as prestellar cores or protostellar cores (e.g., Chini et al. 1997; Lis et al. 1998; Johnstone & Bally 1999; Nielbock et al. 2003; Takahashi et al. 2006; 2008a, b; Peterson & Megeath 2008).
With interferometric continuum observations, Matthews et al. (2005) and Takahashi et al. (2009) found a bright continuum peak (hereafter ), which has at least a factor of five larger flux density at (sub)millimeter wavelengths as compared to all the other sources (Takahashi et al. 2009). However, no star formation signatures such as a clear CO outflow, a radio jet, or an infrared source , have been detected at the source center in the previous studies (Matthews et al. 2005; Takahashi et al. 2009). The core density profile suggests a power-law structure with an index of -2.0. This power-law index suggests that the core still retains the density structure of the prestellar phase (Takahashi et al. 2009). The bolometric luminosity and core mass of MMS 6, as derived from the previous single-dish millimeter to far-infrared data, are and , respectively (Chini et al. 1997). These parameters are approximately one order of magnitude higher than the values derived in typical low-mass star-forming regions such as the Taurus molecular cloud (c.f., Myers & Benson 1983). Therefore, MMS 6 would be one of the first cases for the detailed study of the intermediate-mass star forming core at the earliest evolutionary stage (c.f., Beltran et al. 2008; Fuente et al. 2007; Takahashi et al. 2009; Enoch et al. 2009).
In order to study the physical properties and the evolutionary stage of more accurately, we have obtained the highest angular resolution image possible with the SMA, utilizing all the configurations at . Our observations have achieved approximately 10 times better angular resolution in terms of beam area, as compared to that of the previous SMA observations by Takahashi et al. (2009). We compare our results with the theoretically predicted star forming core models such as the prestellar core model, the protostellar core plus central disk model, and the first adiabatic core model. We make our comparisons in the visibility-amplitude domain and also in terms of the spectral energy distributions (SEDs).
We describe the observations in . Observational results including sub-arcsecond images, physical properties, and core internal structures, will be presented in . Comparisons between the observed core density structures and the theoretical models, as well as the evolutionary stage of MMS 6-main, will be discussed in Section 4. Section 5 summarizes the paper.
OBSERVATIONS AND DATA REDUCTION
===============================
The observations have been performed with the SMA (Ho et al. 2004), utilizing the sub-compact, compact, extended, and very extended configurations. The continuum data were taken with seven antennas in the extended configuration (EX; projected baseline ranging between 40 and ), and the very extended configuration (VEX; projected baseline ranging between 90 and ) on February 9 and September 2, 2010, respectively. The typical system noise temperatures in DSB mode were between for both the EX and VEX configurations at the observed elevations. Both the LSB and USB data were obtained simultaneously with the phase switching technique by the digital spectral correlator, which has a bandwidth of in each sideband. After subtracting the channels where molecular lines might be expected within the band, the LSB and USB continuum data separated by RF were combined to improve the sensitivity. The effective bandwidth for the continuum emission is approximately . The phase and amplitude calibrator, 0423-013 ( for EX and for VEX), was observed every . Observations of Callisto (for EX) and Vesta (for VEX) provided the absolute scale for the flux density calibrations. The overall flux uncertainty was estimated to be . The passband across the bandwidth was determined from observations of with a integration. The EX and VEX configuration data were combined with the similar wavelength continuum data taken with the SMA sub-compact and compact configurations. Detailed observing settings of the sub-compact and compact configurations are described in Takahashi et al. (2009; 2012).
The raw data were calibrated using MIR, originally developed for the Owens Valley Radio Observatory (Scoville et al. 1993) and adopted for the SMA. After the calibration, the data from all the configurations were combined using the AIPS task , and final CLEANed images were made using the DIFMAP task. In order to reduce residual phase errors and improve the dynamic range of the images, self-calibrations have been applied. This improved the maximum dynamic range by a factor of 4. The resulting synthesized beam sizes of the combined data set were (or at the adopted distance of ) with a position angle of for the uniform weighting image, and (or ) with a position angle of for the Gaussian tapered image . The achieved rms noise levels were for the uniform weighting image and for the Gaussian tapered image. Note that the self-calibrated images lose their absolute positions. The positional offsets between the non-self-calibrated image and the self-calibrated images (i.e., ) are ${\sigma_{\rm{SL}}}{\sim}$0$''$.048, and 0$''$.12 for the uniformly weighted and the tapered images.
In addition, the positional accuracy is mostly determined by the phase drift due to the baseline error, (${\sigma_{\rm{BS}}}{{\approx}0.1{\lambda}}{\approx}$0$''$.1) of the non-self-calibrated image [^2]. Finally the positional accuracies of the final CLEANed images are estimated to be ${\sigma}_{\rm{total}}{\approx}{\sqrt{{\sigma_{\rm{BS}}}^2+{\sigma_{\rm{SL}}}^2}}{\approx}0''.11$ for the uniform weighted image and ${\approx}0''.16$ with the Gaussian tapered image.
RESULTS
=======
Subarc-second 850 $\mu$m Continuum Image
----------------------------------------
Figure 1 $a$ and $b$ show the continuum images, which are predominantly thermal dust emission (Takahashi et al. 2009), obtained with the SMA. As denoted by crosses in , five infrared sources (i.e., IRS1–5; protostellar and young stellar objects) are located around , but none of them are associated with the peak position of the continuum emission of . Note that the positional shift between MMS 6-main and the closest infrared source, IRS 3, is 2$''$. As discussed in Section 3.1.2 in Takahashi et al. (2009), the accuracy of the positional alignment between the infrared image and 850 $\mu$m image is on the order of 0$''$.3, which was estimated from a common compact continuum source obtained in the same region and during the similar observational period. In addition, the positional accuracy of MMS 6-main obtained with the SMA 850 $\mu$m (uniformly weighted image) is 0$''$.11. These comparison show that the positional shift between MMS 6-main and IRS 3 is most likely real.
In order to derive the peak flux, flux density, and source size, a 2D-Gaussian fit with two components, was applied to the MMS 6-main map. The derived properties for a compact and an extended component, are reported in Table 1. The residuals after the two-component fit are the 20% level at most as compared to the peak flux. The non-uniform gas distribution, with substructures as described in the later part of this Section as well as non-Gaussian shaped envelope structures, are the causes of the residuals. The total flux and the peak intensity of the compact component are measured as 1.1 Jy and 0.56 Jy beam$^{-1}$, respectively. The brightness temperature is estimated to be 52 K from the peak intensity within the beam size. The gas temperature is equal to the brightness temperature when the gas is optically thick , while the gas temperature is larger than when the gas is optically thin . Assuming the gas temperature is , , the gas-to-dust ratio of 100, the column density is estimated to be . This gives us the source mass of , and the mean number density of , with the assumption of a spherically symmetric structure [^3]. For these estimates, the dust emissivity index of (Takahashi et al. 2009) and the dust absorption coefficient of are assumed (Keene et al. 1982).
The total SMA flux density of the compact continuum component associated with MMS 6-main corresponds to 17 % of the flux density measured within the JCMT/SCUBA 13$''$ beam at (6.6 Jy; Johnstone & Bally 1999). Note that the ratio in beam surface area between the JCMT and the SMA is . A large amount of flux at the submillimeter wavelength, is concentrated within the central size scale.
In addition to the component, a number of substructures extending from the peak, have been spatially resolved in our continuum image (denoted as dashed blue arrows in Figure 1c and Figure 2). Here, we identify “substructures” as those distinct features whose peak fluxes have a signal-to-noise ratio of more than , and whose contrasts with respect to their fainter surroundings are more than . We argue that these substructures, at the level of 10 times fainter than the MMS 6-main peak, are not artifacts due to sampling or image reconstruction. This is verified by calibrating and imaging our secondary calibrator, 0530+135, in exactly the same manner as for MMS 6. In this image, a dynamic range of at least 50 is achieved, with no hint of any substructure for the secondary calibrator, down to the theoretical noise level. We have also compared the maps made with uniform or natural weighting, and with or without self-calibration. The same structures are seen with good correspondence between the different maps. Hence we conclude that the detected substructures are robust.
Among the detected substructures, four are particularly well resolved. We mark them with orange circles in Figure 1c and Figure 2. Their contrast with the surrounding structures at the same radii is much greater than 10 sigma. We call these four, the “sub-clumps”. All these sub-clumps are located at 0$''.$9–1$''$.7 (370-700 AU) from the MMS 6-main peak position. The sizes of the sub-clumps are comparable to the SMA synthesized beam.
The peak fluxes of the sub-clumps are . Assuming that the dust emission is optically thin within these sub-structures, and that the temperature distribution of the dust continuum emission is uniform with , the masses of the sub-clumps are estimated to be . Such masses are on the order of the values for brown dwarfs, (0.011${\leq}{M_{\ast}}{\leq}$0.084 M$_{\odot}$). Assuming that the sub-clumps have a similar size as the synthesized beam and a spherical geometry, the number densities are estimated to be . shows the flux distribution along the azimuthal direction as a function of radius from the peak position. The flux fluctuations along the azimuthal directions, are exactly what we had noted in . Separations between these sub-clumps/spikes range between ; as denoted by arrows in ). The origin of these sub-structures is discussed in .
In addition, extended emission at the level, is detected to the southeast of . This elongation is consistent with the large scale filamentary structure (e.g., Chini et al. 1997), and may reflect the fragmentation processes within the filaments.
Visibility-Amplitude Plot
-------------------------
The high flux density concentration is attributed to not only the density distribution, but also to the temperature distribution. In order to define these distributions closer to the center, we further resolve the core internal structure as first elucidated by Takahashi et al. (2009). We use the newly obtained SMA EX and VEX configuration data to study approximately one order of magnitude smaller size scales as compared to the previous analysis. Core internal structures are discussed in the Fourier domain analysis by utilizing the visibility-amplitude plot as presented in . We directly analyze the interferometric data, bypassing the non-linear image deconvolution process and the problem of the missing flux.
Note that the binned amplitude-visibility plot is processed with the vector amplitude average. Substructures shifted from the phase center of the visibility plot will be attenuated due to the coherence loss. This effect suppresses the flux contamination from the substructures. Asymmetric structures within the core are presented as a variation of the visibility-amplitudes as a function of the projected $uv$-distance.
We assume that the density and temperature follow simple radial power laws as and , respectively. Then the power law of the visibility amplitude plot, $\gamma$, have a relation of (e.g., Harvey et al. 2003a; Takahashi et al. 2009). Figure 3 shows the visibility amplitude plot as a function of the $uv$ distance. Our observational results suggest two different power-law indices, with the break at . The outer part and inner part of core are fitted by $\gamma$=-0.64 and -1.4, respectively. In the isothermal case ($q$=0), the density power-law index of the outer and inner part of core are derived to be 2.4 and 1.6, respectively. Assuming the central heating source ($q$=0.41 derived by Takahashi et al. 2009; optically thin case), the density power-law index of the outer and inner part of core are derived to be 2.0 and 1.2, respectively. These results suggest that the density profile is shallow at the inner part of core .
DISCUSSION
==========
Model Comparisons
-----------------
In order to further discuss the internal structure, the observed results are compared with core models in the different evolutionary stages based on the visibility-amplitude() and the spectral energy distribution (Figure 4): (i) Prestellar core, (ii) First adiabatic core, and (iii) Protostellar core. For all models, the gas temperature of 20 K, which is the typical gas temperature derived from the northern part of OMC clumps, is adopted (Cesaroni & Wilson 1994). Moreover, an effective sound speed of , which is derived from the observations (Takahashi et al. 2009), was included in order to take account of the observed non-thermal motions. The radiative transfer calculations are performed to produce the visibility-amplitude plot and SED for model cores. For the calculations, composite aggregates dust model (Semenov et al. 2003) was adopted.
[**(i) Prestellar core:**]{} Larson-Penston model ($c_{\rm{eff}}$=0.42 km s$^{-1}$ and $t=0$; the end of the prestellar phase) is adopted (denoted by a blue curve in ). Note that the Larson-Penston model is dependent only on the sound speed. The measured sound speed of 0.4 km s$^{-1}$ by Takahashi et al. (2009) was adopted. The simple prestellar core model shows approximately one order of magnitude smaller visibility amplitude distribution as compared with the observational result. The results unlikely show that MMS 6-main is the prestellar core. Recent discovery of an extremely compact molecular outflow associated with MMS 6-main by Takahashi & Ho (2012) supports to discard the prestellar scenario.
[**(ii) The first adiabatic core:**]{} This model, denoted by a green curve in Figure 3, is calculated using the three dimensional radiative hydrodynamic numerical simulations (e.g., Tomida et al. 2010b; Saigo et al. 2012). In order to investigate the formation of the intermediate mass star, we adopt the initial condition of the rotating critical Bonnor-Ebert sphere with the effective sound speed of , which was measured from the H$^{13}$CO$^{+}$ (1–0) observations (Takahashi et al. 2009). The central density of , which is a typical density for nearby molecular clouds as well as the value usually used for the first adiabatic core simulations (e.g., Saigo et al.2008; 2011), was adopted as an initial density for the parental molecular cloud. In this calculation, we assume the gas temperature of 20 K. The age of the plotted first adiabatic core is $\approx$2000 yr. The plotted model is the best model to reproduce observed flux density among their evolution. Resulting visibility amplitude distribution are denoted by the green curve in . The shape of the visibility distribution is not consistent with the observed data. Note that younger phase of the simulated first adiabatic core models show lower flux values than presented model due to less significant gravitational potential of the first core, while later phase of the first adiabatic core models does not show much differences in terms of the total flux, but show even flatter visibility amplitude distributions for much of the baseline range compared to the presented model.
[**(iii) Protostellar core:**]{} This model assumes the Larson-Penston core + central disk structure (denoted by a red curve in ). Parameters of the protostellar model are selected for reproducing the observed amplitude. For the disk-like structure, , , and are assumed. Moreover, the temperature distribution in the envelope of the central protostar was assumed as . The given temperature gradient, , is considering a central heating source and an optically thick envelope (Hartmann 1998).
The prestellar core model has a lower flux as compared with the other two models. This is due to the cool gas temperature as expected in a prestellar core. The observed large flux at is not consistent with the prestellar core model, but clearly suggests that a self-luminous source (i.e. higher temperature gas than ) is required to explain the observed large flux at .
Note that the visibility amplitudes present a bump or excess between and as denoted by the blue arrows in as denoted by a blue arrow. However, the bump observed at $\approx$200 k$\lambda$ corresponds to the linear size of . We can produce such a bump in the protostellar core by adding a , 300 AU disk-like structure as we shown in protostellar model in Figure 3. The addition of such a disk is too simplistic, in view of the observed structures. The observed bump in the visibility amplitudes above a smooth extended core, is due to the clumpy structures including the MMS 6-main peak which we have detected in Figure 1c, and which all have a characteristic size scale of around 300 AU. Furthermore, the visibility amplitude variations are a function of the azimuth angle ().
Figure 4 presents the comparisons between the observed spectral energy distribution and their core models. Black open squares in show the observed SED of measured with an angular resolution of . These values were retrieved from in Takahashi et al. (2009). Spitzer/MIPS and upper limits are also shown in the SED. These upper limits are due to the contamination from another source, , located at north of . On the other hand, continuum emission obtained with the SMA, and continuum data obtained with the Nobeyama Millimeter Array, and continuum emission obtained with the Very Large Array, are from lower limits due to the missing flux. However, there are no contamination from nearby sources at these wavelengths because of the high-angular resolution observations.
Observed millimeter/submillimeter continuum emission have higher flux densities as compared with the SED expected in the prestellar and first adiabatic core models denoted by the blue line and the green line in . For example, approximately a factor of six higher flux density was observed at as compared to these two models. The protostellar model as denoted by the red line agrees well with the observed flux densities. SED comparisons clearly imply that the observed high flux densities are caused by a self-luminous source.
Evolutionary Stage of MMS 6-main
--------------------------------
In terms of the core, the sizes of and the other protostellar sources in the region do not vary significantly (i.e., core sizes measured at more than signal level at range between and ; Takahashi et al. 2012). This suggests that may have a similar density structure in the outer most region. However, has more than a factor of five larger millimeter/submillimeter flux densities as compared with other sources detected in with any aperture size between and (e.g., Chini et al. 1997; Takahashi et al. 2009; 2012).
The visibility amplitude plot and SED clearly imply the presence of a central heating source embedded within . Hence, is most likely in the protostellar core phase. The absence of a mid-infrared source, a large-scale molecular outflow, or an ionized jet, with current sensitivity and angular resolution, can be explained if the central driving source is extremely young (less luminous with high-extinction from surrounding circumstellar material), so that the outflow and jet are not yet substantial. Due to the high-extinction, the infrared emission is absorbed by the massive surrounding envelope and then reradiated in the submillimeter wavelengths. Takahashi & Ho (2012) have recently discovered an extremely compact molecular outflow (1000 AU) associated with in and . This is the smallest molecular outflow associated with the intermediate-mass protostars and also even smaller than the outflows found in the protostellar cores in the Taurus star forming region (e.g., Hogerheijde et al. 1998). Nevertheless, the estimated outflow force (${\sim}10^{-4}$ M$_{\odot}$ km s$^{-1}$ yr$^{-1}$) is similar as compared to the other large-scale molecular outflows associated with the protostellar cores in the OMC-2/3 region. Furthermore, the observed bow-shock type of outflow velocity structures are similar to those observed in the Class 0 type protostars. These results support our suggestion that is in the protostellar phase, and in particular at a very early evolutionary phase.
Substructure within the Massive Core
------------------------------------
Substructures were detected in our sub arcsecond resolution of 850 $\mu$m continuum image for the first time. There are two possible formation mechanisms to produce the substructures and sub-clumps surrounding : [**(i) gravitational instability within dynamically collapsing cores, or (ii) gravitational instability within rotationally supported disks.**]{}
[**(i) dynamically collapsing core case:**]{} Hanawa & Matsumoto (2000) suggest that collapsing cloud cores become more unstable if the effective sound speed (e.g., turbulent motions) decreases during the collapse (see also Saigo et al. 2000). Non-thermal velocity width of are observed in the outer part of core . The Jeans length is described as . Here, $c_s$ is the sound speed, and the relation between the sound speed and the temperature of gas ($T_d$) is described as $c_s=\sqrt{kT_d/{\mu}m_H}$. G, ${{\rho}_0}(={\mu}m_Hn_{H_2})$, $\mu$, and $m_H$ are the gravitational constant, the mean density of the gas, and the hydrogen mean molecular weight of 2.33, and the hydrogen mass, respectively. Note that both the temperature and density vary slowly and in the same sense, so that the Jeans analysis is approximately correct as an estimate. Adopting the gas temperature of , and the typical number density of (derived in Section 3.1), the Jeans length is estimated to be . Note that the number density derived from the sub-clumps is used to represent the number density of the parental gas (i.e., the number density before the fragmentation). Hence, the estimated Jeans length is the lower-limit of the fragmentation scale, if fragmentation occurred much earlier. The derived Jeans length is similar to the separation between the sub-clumps (i.e., the separations of local peaks as measured in ), which is .
[**(ii) rotationally supported disk:**]{} Shu et al. (1990) show that if the rotationally supported disk becomes sufficiently massive, , the rotationally-supported disk becomes gravitationally unstable and spiral arms are formed. In the MMS 6-main case, a 2.5 M$_{\odot}$ disk, which corresponds to [^4], might be suggested from the observations. In such a case, it is possible that the observed sub-structures could be due to instability within the purported disk. Fragmentation of self-gravitating massive disk-like structure has also been suggested by other studies (e.g., Gammie 2001; Kratter & Matzner 2006; Kratter et al. 2008). We emphasize that currently, our observations only indicate substructures, without any definitive evidences of a disk-like structure. With current sensitivity, we also do not have any kinematic information from the envelope/disk-like structures. Sensitive molecular line observations are required to investigate the kinematics and to test the proposed scenario.
In both cases, the physical processes follow the self-gravitational forces. Moreover, it is important to note that fragmentation within the disk will disturb the mass accretion processes onto the central star (e.g., Kratter et al. 2006; 2008). This process plays an important role in determining the final mass of the primary star. Our observations are the first case to present fragmented sub-structures within core/disk-like structure around an embedded protostar with $R{\approx}$500 AU. As we mentioned in Section 3.1, the mass of sub-clumps (0.066-0.073 M$_{\odot}$) have brown dwarf mass. Origin of the detected sub-clumps could be the eventual cluster members around the primary star or related to brown dwarf/planet formation.
Future Prospects
----------------
Limited data quality at the projected $uv$ distances of longer than , as well as the presumably optically thick continuum emission at , make it difficult to constrain the detailed spatial structures within scale. Even higher angular resolution observations with the relatively optically thin wavelengths will be necessary for defining the detailed internal density and temperature structures. Observations with the EVLA (e.g, K, Ka, and Q band) and ALMA will be a key for these studies. These will also reveal detailed structures within the spikes and sub-clumps and observationally constrain the origin of these structures. Observations using the high density tracer or hot core tracer with the SMA, ALMA and EVLA are important for revealing gas physical conditions and dynamics of the inner envelope, as well as the circumstellar disk (i.e., rotationally supported disk), if present, at the earliest evolutionary phase (e.g., Zapata et al. 2010). Moreover, high angular resolution and high sensitivity EVLA observations are also crucial in order to search for the mass ejection phenomena associated with the central star such as faint ionized jet and/or maser.
Conclusion
==========
With the highest angular resolution possible with the SMA, an intermediate-mass protosatar, MMS 6-main, has been spatially resolved. The observed flux density at the MMS 6-main ($D{\approx}$120 AU) corresponds to the brightness temperature of . The column density and the mass are estimated to be and , respectively. Detailed model comparisons clearly show that the observed visibility amplitudes cannot be explained by the simple prestellar core model with a gas temperature of . A self-luminous source is necessary to explain the observed high-visibility amplitudes. Multi-wavelength comparisons using the SED as well as recent extremely compact molecular outflow detection by Takahashi & Ho (2012) also support a protostellar type source. Several sub-clumps and spikes have been spatially resolved. These structures are well centered at . Masses of the detected sub-clumps are estimated to be on the order of brown dwarf mass . The origin of the density fluctuations can be explained by the gravitational instability within the massive core or a massive disk-like structure. These structures could form brown dwarfs or planets around the primary star.
We thank our two anonymous referees for very helpful suggestions which improved the clarity and logic of the paper. We acknowledge the staff at the Submillimeter Array for their assistance with the observations. We thank Keiichi Asada for fruitful discussions. S.T. is financially supported by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Taiwan. K.T. is supported by the Research Fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) for Young Scientists.
Aso, Y., Tatematsu, K., Sekimoto, Y., Nakano, T., Umemoto, T., Koyama, K., & Yamamoto, S. 2000, , 131, 465 Bate, M. R. 1998, , 508, L95 Bate, M. R. 2010, , 404, L79 Beltr[á]{}n, M. T., Estalella, R., Girart, J. M., Ho, P. T. P., & Anglada, G. 2008, , 481, 93 Bonnell, I. A. 1994, , 269, 837 Cesaroni, R., & Wilson, T. L. 1994, , 281, 209 Chini, R., Reipurth, B., Ward-Thompson, D., Bally, J., Nyman, L.-A., Sievers, A., & Billawala, Y. 1997, , 474, L135 Commer[ç]{}on, B., Hennebelle, P., Audit, E., Chabrier, G., & Teyssier, R. 2010, , 510, L3 Enoch, M. L., Corder, S., Dunham, M. M., & Duch[ê]{}ne, G. 2009, , 707, 103 Fuente, A., Ceccarelli, C., Neri, R., et al. 2007, , 468, L37 Gammie, C. F. 2001, , 553, 174 Gooch, R. 1996, Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems V, 101, 80 Hanawa, T., & Matsumoto, T. 2000, , 52, 241 Hartmann, L. 1998, Accretion processes in star formation / Lee Hartmann. Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1998. (Cambridge astrophysics series ; 32) ISBN 0521435072., Harvey, D. W. A., Wilner, D. J., Myers, P. C., Tafalla, M., & Mardones, D. 2003, , 583, 809 Harvey, D. W. A., Wilner, D. J., Myers, P. C., & Tafalla, M. 2003, , 596, 383 Ho, P. T. P., Moran, J., & Lo, K. Y. 2004, , 616, L1 Johnstone, D., & Bally, J. 1999, , 510, L49 Keene, J., Hildebrand, R. H., & Whitcomb, S. E. 1982, , 252, L11 Kratter, K. M., & Matzner, C. D. 2006, , 373, 1563 Kratter, K. M., Matzner, C. D., & Krumholz, M. R. 2008, , 681, 375 Larson, R. B. 1969, , 145, 271 Lis, D. C., Serabyn, E., Keene, J., Dowell, C. D., Benford, D. J., Phillips, T. G., Hunter, T. R., & Wang, N. 1998, , 509, 299 Machida, M. N., Inutsuka, S.-i., & Matsumoto, T. 2006, , 647, L151 Masunaga, H., & Inutsuka, S.-i. 2000, , 531, 350 Matsumoto, T., & Hanawa, T. 2003, , 595, 913 Menten, K. M., Reid, M. J., Forbrich, J., & Brunthaler, A. 2007, , 474, 515 Myers, P. C., & Benson, P. J. 1983, , 266, 309 Nielbock, M., Chini, R., Muller, S. A. H. 2003, , 408, 245 Peterson, D. E., & Megeath, S. T., 2006, Handbook of Star Forming Regions, Volume I, 590 Saigo, K., Matsumoto, T., & Hanawa, T. 2000, , 531, 971 Saigo, K., Tomisaka, K., & Matsumoto, T. 2008, , 674, 997 Saigo, K., & Tomisaka, K. 2011, , 728, 78 (Saigo et al. 2011a) Saigo, K. et. al. in preparation Scoville, N. Z., Carlstrom, J. E., Chandler, C. J., Phillips, J. A., Scott, S. L., Tilanus, R. P. J., & Wang, Z. 1993, , 105, 1482 Sch[ö]{}nke, J., & Tscharnuter, W. M. 2011, , 526, A139 Semenov, D., Henning, T., Helling, C., Ilgner, M., & Sedlmayr, E. 2003, , 410, 611 Shu, F. H., Tremaine, S., Adams, F. C., & Ruden, S. P. 1990, , 358, 495 Takahashi, S., Saito, M., Takakuwa, S., & Kawabe, R. 2006, , 651, 933 Takahashi, S., Saito, M., Ohashi, N., Kusakabe, N., Takakuwa, S., Shimajiri, Y., Tamura, M., & Kawabe, R. 2008, , 688, 344 (Takahashi et al. 2008a) Takahashi, S., Saito, M., Takakuwa, S., & Kawabe, R. 2008, , 313, 165 (Takahashi et al. 2008b) Takahashi, S., Ho, P. T. P., Tang, Y.-W., Kawabe, R., & Saito, M. 2009, , 704, 1459 Takahashi, S., & Ho, P. T. P. 2012, , 745, L10 Takahashi, S., Ho, P. T. P., Teixeira, P. S., & Zapata, L. A., 2012, in preparation Tomisaka, K. 1998, , 502, L163 Tomisaka, K. 2002, , 575, 306 Tomida, K., Tomisaka, K., Matsumoto, T., Ohsuga, K., Machida, M. N., & Saigo, K. 2010, , 714, L58 (Tomida et al. 2010a) Tomida, K., Machida, M. N., Saigo, K., Tomisaka, K., & Matsumoto, T. 2010, , 725, L239 (Tomida et al. 2010b) Zapata, L. A., Schilke, P., & Ho, P. T. P. 2010, , 402, 2221
[llllll]{} Compact & 05 35 23.42 & -05 01 30.57 & 0.318$\pm$0.004${\times}$0.295$\pm$0.004 (174$\pm$7$^{\circ}$) & 0.556${\pm}$0.003 & 1.061${\pm}$0.008\
Extended & 05 35 23.41 & -05 01 30.57 & 1.788$\pm$0.001${\times}$1.448$\pm$0.001 (156$\pm$2$^{\circ}$) & 0.152${\pm}$0.002 & 3.931${\pm}$0.045\
[^1]: The Submillimeter Array is a joint project between the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics and is funded by the Smithsonian Institution and the Academia Sinica.
[^2]: The baseline error is also measured using the primary calibrator (0423-013) against the secondary calibrator (0530+135). Both calibrators are located ${\sim}18^{\circ}$ from MMS 6-main, and the separation between two calibrators is $\sim$23$^{\circ}$. The positional shift from the phase center of the secondary calibrator was measured to be ${\sim}0''.1$, which is consistent with the expected baseline error of the SMA, 0.1$\lambda$.
[^3]: Fitting errors of the deconvolved size and flux as well as the 20% absolute flux uncertainty described in Section 2 were considered in order to estimate the error of physical parameters.
[^4]: Here, stellar mass of 3 M$_{\odot}$ was assumed as a maximum stellar mass at this stage. Mass of the disk-like structure was estimated from the total flux density detected at more than 5$\sigma$ level (4.7 Jy), after subtracting the flux contribution from MMS 6-main (2.0 Jy) with the assumption of
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Random musings of one Columbian, a place to connect and to learn more about issues and events in Howard County. If you would like to have me blog on an issue, organization or an upcoming community service event email me at duanestclair@gmail.com
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Sunday, March 23, 2014
Bird mystery solved
Last Thursday I blogged on some blue birds that I have seen on the bike path that parallels Dobbin Road. I thought they were too big to be blue birds. I had only seen them when I had my smart phone camera. Yesterday I took my camera out to see if I could get some good pictures of the birds and confirm what they were.
As you can see from the shots I got they are blue birds that are bigger than I thought these birds could be.
1 comment:
Nice photos - Regardless of how stealthily I try to walk, I must give off some bad juju that scares off birds just as I line up to get a photo. Robins and Ducks are easy, but the bluebirds are a tad more uneasy. |
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The area to be mined should be as homogeneous as possible containing as little ... Gyratory crushers can provide high rates of production, but need to be .... However, the basalt aggregate fractions tend to be much more elongated than the... |
Correspondent Corbie Hill wrote, “Observing animals in the wild can be tricky; if you can see them, chances are they can see you. Or smell you. Or hear you. Many times, they know you’re coming and vanish. For biologists, this is a big deal. Even if animals get used to you and go back to their business, are they still behaving as they would if no one was there? One solution is camera traps, which are the focus of local zoologist Roland Kays’ new book…” Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/entertainment/books/article94338262.html |
Here’s the thing: for someone who’s made his name as the poet laureate of twentysomething straight dudes, Apatow actually writes really good parts for women. Don’t get me wrong: Apatow movies are still about men, but, despite the allegations of sexism that have been leveled at him by everyone from Mike White to Katherine Heigl, the women in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and Funny People are real people with their own agency — a rare thing in mainstream comedies.
Let’s start with The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Though it’s filled with broad jokes (see: the waxing scene), the relationship between Steve Carell’s Andy and Catherine Keener’s Trish is played intelligently. Unlike in, say, every Adam Sandler movie from the 90s, where the love interest seems to be there just to prove his character’s heterosexuality, we get a sense of why Andy and Trish love each other: they’re both smart, considerate, funny people who seem evenly-matched, except for the whole virgin thing. Trish is, to use a word I hate, quirky: she runs a confusingly non-functional storefront dedicated to selling people’s stuff on eBay and she yells at telemarketers with impunity. She’s not, however, a standard issue Manic Pixie Dream Girl: she’s an adult with kids and a grandkid, for one thing, and, rather than helping Andy loosen his buttoned-up ways, they both seem immediately comfortable and relaxed in each others’ presence. When Trish finally goes to Andy’s apartment and finds a giant box of porn and an anatomical model of a vagina, she is genuinely creeped out — a top-of-the-intelligence move that you don’t find too often. Elsewhere in the movie, Leslie Mann, Jane Lynch, Mindy Kaling, and Elizabeth Banks all get to make big comedic choices, another movie rarity.
Out of all Apatow’s movies, Knocked Up gets the most flack for sexism. Star Katherine Heigl famously said in a Vanity Fair interview that she thinks the movie is “a little sexist. It paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys.” First: I’m so glad that the star of The Ugly Truth and The Killers is enlightening us on what, exactly, makes a movie sexist. Second: she’s wrong. Knocked Up is on the side of Heigl’s Alison and Leslie Mann’s Debbie without putting them on a pedestal. They’re both real people who, because of a sexist larger world (when Paul Rudd’s Pete is running off to his fantasy baseball league, he’s assuming Debbie can take care of their daughters) have to deal with the mess the movie’s immature dudes are making (sometimes literally, as when Debbi complains that Pete is jerking off into their good towels, which, honestly, is pretty rude). If you think that makes them shrews or bitches, that’s on you. Personally, I think it’s a surprisingly perceptive (and slightly subversive) commentary on traditional gender roles. Obviously, the elephant in the room in Knocked Up is abortion, and the movie would be stronger if it devoted even one line to Alison explaining why she’s keeping the baby.
Knocked Up also gets points for depicting a group of women who almost never show up on film: ladies who find pregnancy creepy. Charlene Yi’s Jodi asks Alison if she gets mad when the baby eats her food and Kristen Wiig’s entertainment executive comments that she’s grossed out whenever she knows somebody’s pregnant because all she can think about is them giving birth.
The interesting thing about Funny People is that the reason the movie doesn’t work is that Apatow wants to feature Leslie Mann too much. The first half of the movie is a dramedy about a lonely stand up facing mortality. The second is a romantic comedy about a dude trying to reunite with the one that got away. Either works on its own, but they don’t go together. Even here, though, the roles for women are interesting. Leslie Mann’s Laura has her own agency — she’s not just there as a plot device for Adam Sandler’s George. As Daisy, Aubrey Plaza is smart and genuinely awkward. There are plenty of male characters like that in movies, but weirdo nerd ladies are few and far between. Most interestingly from a feminist perspective, when Seth Rogen’s Ira slut shames Daisy for sleeping with his roommate, Daisy calls him out on having unreasonable expectations for her, pointing out that although they have a date scheduled in a month, they barely know each other. Though there are plenty of movies about “nice guys” who are actually judgemental assholes (see: 500 Days of Summer), said guys are rarely called out.
While it bums me out that all of the roles I mentioned, which are some of the best I can think of in 2000s comedy, came from a dude, I have to admit that no Apatow movie has irritated or insulted me as a woman the way (female-written) movies like Valentine’s Day and The Ugly Truth have. (It’s worth noting that Apatow is currently producing two female-written projects, Lena Dunham’s series Girls and the Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumalo-written movie Bridesmaids.) Apatow’s directorial efforts are about men, sure, but he deserves more credit than he gets for his strong female characters.
Leila Cohan-Miccio is a comedy writer in Brooklyn. She blogs here and keeps her work here. She thinks you should definitely make a Liz Phair Pandora station. |
Q:
Highlight current Menu Item is not working, why?
Highlight current Menu Item is not working, why?
I think I'm doing everything ok, but it's not working.
Can you give me a little help?
Html:
<section id="menu-container">
<div id="bar"><img src="border.png" /></div>
<nav id="menu">
<ul>
<li id><a href="#">Home</a></li>
<li><a href="page.html1">Home2</a></li>
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</ul>
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Javascript:
$(function(){
var url = window.location.href;
$("#menu ul li a").each(function() {
if(url == (this.href)) {
$(this).closest("li").addClass("active");
}
});
});
CSS:
.active{
background-color:#0C3;
}
A:
Use $(this).attr("href") to get the href value from your links, since you are already using JQuery.
Combine that with andrew's suggestion to get the end of the current url and you now have better values to test in your if statement.
$(function(){
var url = window.location.href.split('/');
url = url[url.length-1];
$("#menu a").each(function() {
var $this = $(this); // to minimize DOM traversal
if (url === $this.attr("href")) {
$this.closest("li").addClass("active");
}
});
});
UPDATE:
An even better option would be to use advanced JQuery selectors:
$(function(){
var url = window.location.href.split('/');
url = url[url.length-1];
$("#menu a[href='" + url + "'").addClass("active");
});
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Tissue chemical analysis with muonic x rays.
The stopped muon channel at the Clinton P. Anderson Meson Physics Facility was used as a source of muons for studying the elemental composition of tissue via muonic x rays. The x-ray spectra from several types of tissue were used to determine the amounts of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen present. These determinations agree with the results of more conventional chemical analysis. Muonic x rays offer a noninvasive technique for determining the amounts of the more abundant elements in selected regions of the body. |
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