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Coordinated Behavioral and Physiological Responses to a Social Signal Are Regulated by a Shared Neuronal Circuit. Successful reproduction in animals requires orchestration of behavior and physiological processes. Pheromones can induce both "releaser" (behavioral) and "priming" (physiological) effects [1] in vertebrates [2, 3] and invertebrates [4, 5]. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms underlying pheromone responses could reveal how reproduction-related behaviors and physiology are coordinated. Here, we describe a neuronal circuit that couples the reproductive system and behavior in adult Caenorhabditis elegans hermaphrodites. We found that the response of the oogenic germline to the male pheromone requires serotonin signal from NSM and HSN neurons that acts via the mod-1 receptor in AIY and RIF interneurons and is antagonized by pigment-dispersing factor (PDF). Surprisingly, the same neurons and pathways have been previously implicated in regulation of exploratory behavior in the absence of male-produced signals [6]. We demonstrate that male pheromone acts via this circuit in hermaphrodites to reduce exploration and decrease mating latency, thereby tuning multiple fitness-proximal processes. Our results demonstrate how a single circuit could coordinate behavioral and physiological responses to the environment, even those that unfold on different timescales. Our findings suggest the existence of a centralized regulatory mechanism that balances organismal resources between reproductive investment and somatic maintenance.
Solar Eclipse Eye Safety A truly awe-inspiring event, a solar eclipse is when the moon blocks any part of the sun from our view. The bright face of the sun is covered gradually by the moon during a partial eclipse, lasting a few hours. During the brief period of a total eclipse when the moon fully covers the sun (only a couple of minutes), the light of day gives way to a deep twilight sky. The sun’s outer atmosphere (called the solar corona) gradually appears, glowing like a halo around the moon in front of it. Bright stars and planets become more visible in the sky. Watching a solar eclipse is a memorable experience, but looking directly at the sun can seriously damage your eyes. Staring at the sun for even a short time without wearing the right eye protection can damage your retina permanently. It can even cause blindness, called solar retinopathy. There is only one safe way to look directly at the sun, whether during an eclipse or not: through special-purpose solar filters. These solar filters are used in “eclipse glasses” or in hand-held solar viewers. They must meet a very specific worldwide standard known as ISO 12312-2. Keep in mind that ordinary sunglasses, even very dark ones, or homemade filters are not safe for looking at the sun. Steps to follow for safely watching a solar eclipse: Carefully look at your solar filter or eclipse glasses before using them. If you see any scratches or damage, do not use them. Always read and follow all directions that come with the solar filter or eclipse glasses. Help children to be sure they use handheld solar viewers and eclipse glasses correctly. Before looking up at the bright sun, stand still and cover your eyes with your eclipse glasses or solar viewer. After glancing at the sun, turn away and remove your filter—do not remove it while looking at the sun. The only time that you can look at the sun without a solar viewer is during a total eclipse. When the moon completely covers the sun’s bright face and it suddenly gets dark, you can remove your solar filter to watch this unique experience. Then, as soon as the bright sun begins to reappear very slightly, immediately use your solar viewer again to watch the remaining partial phase of the eclipse. Never look at the uneclipsed or partially eclipsed sun through an unfiltered camera, telescope, binoculars or other similar devices. This is important even if you are wearing eclipse glasses or holding a solar viewer at the same time. The intense solar rays coming through these devices will damage the solar filter and your eyes. Talk with an expert astronomer if you want to use a special solar filter with a camera, a telescope, binoculars or any other optical device.
But a group of migrants earlier this year drew the attention of President Trump, who posted messages on Twitter warning that they posed a threat to American sovereignty. He used their migration to help justify the deployment of the National Guard to the southwest border of the United States. That caravan, which also included many Hondurans and at one point numbered an estimated 1,200 before diminishing in size, eventually reached the northern border of Mexico, with an enormous international media contingent in tow. After a tense standoff at the border crossing in Tijuana, several hundred migrants were eventually allowed through to petition for asylum in the United States, while others melted back into Mexican society, returned to their home countries or attempted to cross into the United States illegally. During that migration, Mr. Trump also threatened Honduras, saying foreign aid to that nation, as well as to “the countries that allow this to happen,” was “in play.” Honduras, where gangs exercise widespread control in certain neighborhoods, has one of the world’s highest homicide rates, though the numbers have been falling in recent years after hitting a peak in 2011. The rate plunged by more than a quarter in 2017, according to the Honduran government, which attributed the drop to an effort by security forces to attack drug traffickers and gangs.
Our actions in the World Since its creation in 1945, Secours populaire has helped people who are the victims of insecurity, poverty and natural disasters and conflicts both in France and across all continents. Poverty in the World brings with it lack of access to food, care and education and the first victims are children. SPF leads its international aid projects in partnership with local associations who are close to the people. SPF wishes to support and reinforce the capacities of these international partners. If Secours populaire responds to emergencies, its projects are above all designed to ensure sustainable development. The association works with a network of partners and competencies including 129 local associations. In 2011, the SPF supported 215 emergency actions or development projects in 57 countries: hydraulic management and planning, support to child victims of AIDS, nutritional programmes, activities generating income to improve living conditions in health centres, development of small-scale fishing...
--- abstract: 'Since December 2019, COVID-19 has been spreading rapidly across the world. Not surprisingly, conversation about COVID-19 is also increasing. This article is a first look at the amount of conversation taking place on social media, specifically Twitter, with respect to COVID-19, the themes of discussion, where the discussion is emerging from, myths shared about the virus, and how much of it is connected to other high and low quality information on the Internet through shared URL links. Our preliminary findings suggest that a meaningful spatio-temporal relationship exists between information flow and new cases of COVID-19, and while discussions about myths and links to poor quality information exist, their presence is less dominant than other crisis specific themes. This research is a first step toward understanding social media conversation about COVID-19.' author: - bibliography: - 'COVID2020.bib' title: 'A first look at COVID-19 information and misinformation sharing on Twitter' --- COVID-19; coronavirus; twitter conversation; misinformation Introduction ============ In December 2019, a cluster of pneumonia cases caused by a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was identified in Wuhan, China. In the months since, the outbreak has rapidly spread around the world, leading to hundreds of thousands of cases in over 160 countries [@WorldHealthOrganization.]. This unparalleled global health emergency has resulted in an unprecedented political and social response, and is already having massive consequences on the global economy. The avalanche of human response is being facilitated by the flow of information from the broadcast world of traditional media but, in particular, by the networked world of social media. Social media is a significant conduit for news and information in the modern media environment, with one in three people in the world engaging in social media, and two thirds of those on the Internet using it [@OrtizOspina.2020]. The popularity is higher in the United States with 68% of American adults reporting they get news on social media [@Matsa.]. This is particularly true for health and science information, with a third of people reporting that social media are an “important” source of science news [@Hitlin.12302019]. Twitter users, in particular, are known for sharing and consuming news: 59% of Twitter users describe it as “good” or “extremely good” for sharing preventive health information [@Wilford.2018]. However, social media is also rife with health misinformation. Health misinformation - often defined as information that counters best available evidence from medical experts at the time ( [@Emily.2020] see also [@Garrett.2016; @Nyhan.2010; @Tan.2015; @Southwell.2019]) - has been documented across almost all social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and Instagram [@Briones.2012; @Broniatowski.2018; @Dredze.2016; @Guidry.2015; @Oyeyemi.2014; @Sharma.2017]. Moreover, health misinformation is not limited to any one issue, but includes vaccination misinformation (both generally and specific cases such as HPV or flu), and misinformation about global health crises like the Ebola outbreak in 2014, and the spread of Zika in 2016. While past epidemics highlight the importance of studying infectious disease related social media content, there is a particular significance and urgency in studying social media content for COVID-19. First, we expect social media to play an even bigger role in the spread of information about COVID-19; for example, there were 255 million active Twitter users in February 2014 during the start of the Ebola outbreak [@Twitter.April292014]. This number topped 330 million in 2019 [@Twitter.April232019]. Put simply, a lot more people are connecting to others online and getting their news through social media platforms such as Twitter [@Matsa.; @Hitlin.12302019]. Second, there is reason to be more concerned about the quality of such information in today’s news ecosystem compared to that of earlier epidemics. As recent research shows, trust in institutions is eroding [@Swift.2016] and this is accompanied by an uptick in the spread of misinformation online. Therefore, it is crucial to study and understand the conversation surrounding the fast-moving COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of social media. This article looks at the amount of conversation taking place on social media, specifically Twitter, with respect to COVID-19, the themes of discussion, where the discussion is emerging from, and how much of it is connected to other high and low quality information on the Internet through shared URL links. We also identify and look at the overall and temporal level of discussion of five specific myths shared on Twitter. We pause to mention that all of the signals we are measuring and using are, at best, moderate quality indicators from social media to reported cases of COVID-19. But it is precisely because we do not have access to high quality indicators that we must take the time to calibrate moderate and poor quality indicators, glean insight from these indicators, and understand their relationship to each other. While this paper will not tackle the measurement issues associated with indicators, we recognize its importance as part of our longer term research agenda. Our preliminary findings suggest that (1) conversation about the virus continues to grow, (2) for some countries, information flow leads new cases of COVID-19 by 2-5 days, (3) predominant themes of conversation include health/the virus itself or the global nature of the pandemic, and (4) misinformation and myths are discussed, but at lower volume than other conversation. While many of these findings are not surprising, they remind us of the importance of social media during times of crisis and give preliminary support for using this open platform as a surveillance approach for understanding how people are impacted by a crisis. Size of COVID-19 Conversation ============================= Conversation size gives us insight into the amount of attention placed on a topic. In this section we measure the amount of conversation taking place about COVID-19 in general and by language. Description of Data Set ----------------------- Using the Twitter Streaming API, we began collecting tweets related to COVID-19 on January 16, 2020. Data collection continues, but the data we present in this study is from January 16, 2020 to March 15, 2020. Table \[table-hastags\] in Appendix A shows the English hashtags we used to collect data and the dates we began collecting data for the hashtag. Most of the data collection began in January, and additional hashtags were added in mid-March to reflect the changing nature of the conversation around COVID-19 online.[^1] General Conversation Volume --------------------------- During the study period of January 16 through March 15, the overall number of tweets is 2,792,513, quotes are 456,878, and retweets are 18,168,161. Figure \[fig:tot\_tweet\_vol\] shows the overall volume of tweets, and the volume of tweets and retweets separately. Initial tweets about COVID-19 were relatively infrequent. It is not surprising that both the tweet and retweet volume continue to increase as the epidemic unfolds. What is interesting is that there is no single event that has propelled the increase. The peak volume days map to a series of events unfolding throughout the crisis. ![Overall Volume of Tweets (1/16/20 – 3/15/20)[]{data-label="fig:tot_tweet_vol"}](fig/Tweet_volume.png){width="0.9\linewidth"} There was a significant ramping up in late January around the 25th. On January 24th, multiple countries, including Japan, South Korea, and the United States, reported cases, and the increasing number of cases in China led the Chinese government to begin a quarantine in the Hubei province [@cnn.01242020]. On January 25th, Hong Kong declared a state of emergency and the United States also announced plans to evacuate US citizens from Wuhan [@cbs.02062020]. This was followed by a tapering off in the first half of February. During this time, the cases continued to grow around the world, but little government action was taking place outside of Asia. At the end of February, another large increase in volume occurred. That was when the number of deaths in Iran and Italy grew over 30 and 20, respectively, and Switzerland banned all gatherings/events larger than 1000 people. February 29th was also the date of the first death due to COVID-19 in the United States [@Holland.02292020]. Following that time period, there was an overall increasing trend, with volume essentially doubling from the first to the second week in March.[^2] Essentially, this suggests that attention to COVID-19 has increased significantly over the last two months, and is growing at a faster rate in March than in January. ![COVID-19 Tweets by Language (1/16/20 – 3/15/20)[]{data-label="fig:tot_tweet_lang_bubble"}](fig/bubble_lang.png){width="0.99\linewidth"} ![Relationship Between COVID-19 Tweet Languages and Overall Twitter Language Distribution (1/16/20 – 3/15/20)[]{data-label="fig:tweet_lang_comp"}](fig/tweet_lang.png){width="0.7\linewidth"} Tweet Volume By Language ------------------------ Twitter specifies the language of each tweet when using its streaming API. To get a better sense of the global nature of the conversation, we look at the proportion of tweets in different languages over time in Figure \[fig:tot\_tweet\_lang\_bubble\]. Not surprisingly, given worldwide Twitter usage, the majority of tweets (57.1%) are in English. This is followed by Spanish (11.6%), French (6.5%), and Italian (4.8%). While English and Spanish are generally dominant languages on Twitter (see Figure \[fig:tweet\_lang\_comp\]), we see that the language distribution for COVID-19 tweets does vary from the overall Twitter population [@Orcutt.2013] for English and other languages. The languages that are most prevalent are the predominant languages in countries where many of the outbreaks have taken place during this time, including the United States (1,678 confirmed cases as of March 15), Spain (5,753 confirmed cases), France (4,469 confirmed cases), and Italy (21,157 confirmed cases) [@WorldHealthOrganization.]. Given their significant outbreaks, we might have expected more tweets in Chinese (81,048 confirmed cases) and German (3,795 confirmed cases), although Twitter use in both countries is relatively low (Twitter is blocked in China, although some people use VPN to get around that limitation; Twitter is used by only 9.8% of adults in Germany [@StatcounterGlobalStats.2020]). The languages that are more prevalent on Twitter but not as represented in the COVID-19 tweets when considering the overall distribution of language on Twitter are Indonesian, Arabic, and Malay. Focusing in on the languages that are more prevalent in Figures \[fig:tot\_tweet\_lang\_bubble\] and \[fig:tweet\_lang\_comp\], we look at how the volume changes from mid-January to mid-March in Figure \[fig:vol\_lang\]. Figure \[fig:chinese\_eng\_tweet\_vol\] shows the higher volume of tweets in January and early February in Chinese, and a contrasting view of volume for the tweets in English. For English, there is a small spike in January, with a decrease in volume until late February. This is when more cases began emerging in North America and Europe. The trend that English follows is similar for French, German, Italian, Spanish and Turkish - an initial increase followed by a period of low discussion followed by a large increase and spikes in March. This can be seen in Figure \[fig:other\_lang\_tweet\_vol\]. Spanish, being spoken significantly in North America and Europe and having a large Twitter user base has the highest increase. Finally, Figure \[fig:jp\_thai\_tweet\_vol\] shows a contrast in two predominantly Asian Languages, Japanese and Thai. After an initial spike in January when initial cases were confirmed in both these countries, the volume of Japanese conversation has been fairly constant. In contrast, the volume of Thai tweets had a very high spike in January and a high one in March. This difference in trend may be related to doubling in the number of cases reported in Thailand between late February and min-March and the first COVID-19 death in March [@Wongchaum.]. \ \ Location of Conversation and Its Relationship to COVID-19 Cases =============================================================== Previous work has shown that social media can be used to help inform where people may move during periods of forced migration [@Singh.2020]. In this section, we are interested in extending this idea to see if social media can help inform the public about movement of a disease. To begin to understand the relationship between these different signals, we look at the relationship between where people tweet from, what locations people tweet about, and reported COVID-19 cases. Description of Data Sets ------------------------ We use two sets of Twitter data to look into this. The first set is extracted from our Twitter data with location mentions; for example, if both China and COVID-19 are mentioned in a tweet, that tweet will be assigned to China regardless of where that tweet is sent from. We refer to this set of tweets as conversation location tweets. To determine the locations mentioned in the tweet, we compare the words in the tweet to a location ontology we created using Wikipedia and Statoids [@Statoids.2016] that contains cities, provinces, states, and countries.[^3] Our second data set contains geotagged tweets, which are tweets that users choose to tag with a longitude and latitude location (this is relatively rare, as it is not the default setting in Twitter). This allows us to track with greater confidence where the tweets come from. We were able to collect 100% of the existing geotagged tweets mentioning any of our hashtags through the Twitter API. Our final data set comes from the World Health Organization. It contains the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in different countries as of March 15, 2020 [@WorldHealthOrganization.]. Locations of Twitter conversation --------------------------------- Figure \[fig:volume\_covid\_map\] shows two maps each containing the COVID-19 reported case count and one of our Twitter location data sets. Figure \[fig:conversation\_map\] illustrates the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and the number of conversation location tweets by country. 217 countries were mentioned and 184 of them were mentioned at least 10 times. Overall, it appears that conversation location tweets and confirmed cases of COVID-19 are highly correlated; countries that have more cases also have more conversation location tweets (tweets that mention the country itself or a location in that country). Among the conversation location tweets, COVID-19 was mentioned the most in China, followed by the USA, India, Iran, and Italy. It makes sense that China has the most COVID-19 mentions from January 16 to March 15, when China was the epicenter of COVID-19. The USA has the second highest tweet mentions, although the USA ranks only 8th place in terms of cases by March 15; this is likely because the USA has the largest Twitter user population and the most Asian immigrants, who may have been following COVID-19 trends earlier than other population groups. \ Figure \[fig:geotag\_map\] maps the number of geotagged tweet mentions of COVID-19 by country. Note that these tweets were sent out from the corresponding countries and that so far we have collected geotagged tweets in English only. The United States has the most geotagged tweet mentions of COVID-19, followed by the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, Nigeria, China, Spain, and India. It is not surprising that the United States and the United Kingdom have the most geotagged tweet mentions since both are English speaking countries and our geotagged tweets are limited to English only. During the study period, Italy has the second most COVID-19 cases and the third most geotagged tweet mentions. It is interesting that although Twitter is restricted in China and most Chinese people speak Chinese only, China has the sixth most geotagged tweet mentions from January 16 to March 15, when China was the epicenter of the COVID-19. When we compute the Pearson correlation between the volumes of the location conversation tweets and the geotagged tweets by countries, we get a correlation of 0.75, if we exclude China from the calculation. While not a perfect proxy for geotagged tweets, it is a reasonable one. Comparison between location conversation and COVID-19 ----------------------------------------------------- We take a deeper dive into three countries (the United States, Italy, and China), chosen because 1) they each have a large number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, 2) they are each on a different continent, offering some variance in location and culture, and 3) they are at different stages of their epidemic trajectory, allowing some insight into how conversations might change over the course of an outbreak in a country. US Italy China-A China-B ---------------- ----------- ----------- ------------- ------------- Lag = 5 days 0.492 0.645 0.037 0.295 Lag = 4 days 0.487 0.649 0.141 0.371 Lag = 3 days 0.458 0.698 0.156 0.488 Lag = 2 days 0.617 0.748 0.208 0.565 Lag = 1 day 0.667 0.724 0.275 0.610 No lag or lead 0.639 0.744 0.293 0.680 Lead = 1 day 0.693 0.699 0.283 0.720 Lead = 2 days 0.780 0.709 0.291 0.753 Lead = 3 days 0.645 0.837 0.344 0.771 Lead = 4 days 0.637 0.880 0.425 0.794 Lead = 5 days 0.649 0.885 0.391 0.803 : Pearson Correlations between Location Conversation and COVID Cases with Different Leads and Lags in the USA, Italy, and China.[]{data-label="table-pearson-correlations"} \ \ This initial analysis focuses on the time series of the location conversation tweets and the newly identified and confirmed COVID-19 cases each day. We compute the Pearson correlation between time series of location conversation tweets and COVID-19 cases with different leads and lags to determine if a relationship exists between the two variables. We hypothesize that social media communications may be predictive of cases, creating opportunities for disease forecasting. The cross-correlation analysis between location conversation and COVID cases is presented in Table \[table-pearson-correlations\]. For China we have two columns, one with all the dates (China-A) and one that removes the single day spike on February 12, 2020 due to a change in testing procedure (China-B) [@Gunia.02132020]. The numbers in bold are the highest correlations for each country. If the highest and second highest correlation values are within 0.01 of each other, we highlight both. A lead refers to the tweets occurring before the cases; for example, a two-day lead means that we match the tweet conversations with the number of new cases two days later. In contrast, a lag refers to the tweets occurring after the cases; a two-day lag means that we match the tweet conversations with the number of new cases from two days earlier. We find that social media conversations are more highly correlated with COVID-19 cases with a lead than with a lag (Table \[table-pearson-correlations\]). That is, it seems that tweets increase in volume before confirmed cases increase in a given country. This suggests that social media conversations may be a leading indicator of disease cases, which can be explained by the lag between symptom onset and the progression of severe symptoms leading to testing (though this might depend on different protocols for testing implemented in different countries). Additionally, we find that conversations mentioning COVID-19 and locations in the United States, Italy and China-B all show a strong association to confirmed cases. This result suggests that the association between conversations and cases is indicative of both a direct effect and an indirect effect given the lack of Twitter usage in China. We also find that the lead time of 2 days for the US (Figure \[fig:usa\_case\_lead\]), 4-5 days for Italy (Figure \[fig:italy\_case\_lead\]), and 4-5 days for China-B (Figure \[fig:china\_case\_lead\]) demonstrate the strongest correlations between location conversation mentions and confirmed cases. Content of English Conversation =============================== What are the most prevalent words and themes of discussion taking place about COVID-19? In this section, we take a first look at the content of the conversation taking place on Twitter. Words Being Used ---------------- We begin by looking at the most frequent words in each tweet. Table \[table-top-words-twitter\] shows the top 10 words, excluding stopwords, and the number of tweets they appear in. It is not surprising that most of these words are very broad. To expand on this, Figure \[fig:word\_cloud\] shows a word cloud containing words that appear in at least 150,000 tweets. Words are sized based on how frequently they appear with larger words appearing in more tweets. We see that the dominant words across our data set focus on the global nature of the virus, words describing the virus and its spread, and responses to the outbreak. A strong focus on China reflects the focus of attention during the early phases of this epidemic. Volume ------------- ------------ china 1,412,521 people 1,155,989 cases 929,914 wuhan 841,901 coronavirus 821,484 new 793,917 chinese 765,332 who 712,041 virus 615,342 confirmed 585,393 : Top 10 Most Frequently Used Words in Tweets.[]{data-label="table-top-words-twitter"} ![Word Cloud of Frequently Mentioned Words in COVID-19 Tweets []{data-label="fig:word_cloud"}](fig/word_cloud.png){width="0.75\linewidth"} Prevalent Themes ---------------- Since words alone give us limited insight into people’s themes/topics of conversation, we next identify common themes in tweets about COVID-19 and how the prevalence of these themes change over time. ### Methodology To achieve this, we first identify the set of frequent words that are observed at least 50,000 times in our tweets data set. This list includes 537 unique words. These words are then grouped into themes by three researchers through open coding. We identify eight high level categories: Economy, Emotion, Illness, Global Nature, Information Providers, Social, Government Response, and Individual Response. We provide details about these topics below in Table \[table-summary-of-themes\]. After determining the set of themes, word-to-theme mapping was constructed through majority voting–a word is assigned to a given topic if at least two out of the three researchers agreed that the assignment was correct. The words that do not belong in any of these categories (e.g. stop words) are removed. Word variations were also added (e.g. plurals) to increase coverage. While these themes are a reasonable first pass, we plan to improve these in the future using semi-supervised, iterative topic modeling since fully automated topic modeling is less effective on tweets. For each tweet, we identify the words that map from each theme and proportionally assign themes to the tweet. Then the proportions are summed together per day to determine the overall tweet volume of the different themes. Approximately 80% percent of the tweets were labeled with one or more themes. ### Findings Figure \[fig:theme\_bar\] summarizes the overall distribution of the themes presented in Table \[table-summary-of-themes\]. We observe that most Twitter conversations are about one of two topics: either health/the virus itself or the global nature of the pandemic. It is not surprising since these categories contain a larger number of broader terms about the pandemic. The first category includes conversations about the virus itself, broader health consequences, vaccines, testing, and references to other epidemics. This accounts for 30% of the labeled content. The second similarly-sized theme is the global nature of COVID-19. Twitter users are commonly referring to locations around the world where the disease is spreading (e.g. China, Italy) and referring to its scale (e.g. pandemic, worldwide). This theme accounts for 29% of labeled content. The next biggest theme is information providers (11%). This suggests that a sizable number of tweets are referring to or talking about sources of information about the disease (e.g. CDC or news media). In the time period we consider, the economy theme was rather rare (3%). This fact might change over time if disease control improves and the immediate effects of the disease are overshadowed by secondary effects, including possible economic consequences. Finally, we note that the emotion theme, containing words like fear, sad, hope, makes up 9% of the labeled tweets. This is a significant fraction, and a reminder that attention needs to be given to mental health needs during this crisis. ![Distribution of Themes in Tweets[]{data-label="fig:theme_bar"}](fig/parent_vol_bar_v2.png){width="0.7\linewidth"} ![Volume of Top 5 Themes in Tweets over Time[]{data-label="fig:theme_trend"}](fig/parent_vol_top5_v2.png){width="0.7\linewidth"} As the epidemic grows and evolves, it is plausible that the themes and their prevalence will also evolve. Therefore, we next inspect the time series of the prevalence of the top five themes. The results are summarized in Figure \[fig:theme\_trend\]. We observe that all the themes have a similar trend to the trend of the overall volume for COVID-19 hashtags. The global nature of the disease and the health/virus themes are the most common theme early on. This is likely due to tweets referring to China when talking about COVID-19 and general conversation about the virus and cases. Starting with the last week of February, as the reality sets in that COVID-19 is spreading in the United States, all the themes become more popular, highlighting the continued diversity of the conversation. Myths About the Virus ===================== A large number of myths have emerged during this crisis. In this analysis, we are interested in determining how many tweets are discussing some of the most prevalent myths. Methodology ----------- To determine what myths to include in our analysis, we searched different websites using the search phrase “Coronavirus Common Myths”. Then we used the articles to determine the most common examples. We analyzed a variety of sources including blogs, newspapers/media, and medical organizations to get a variety of examples. We then identified common themes among the different myths; for example, grouping weather and heat myths into a single category. From there, we manually chose the final list of myths based on how frequently they appeared during the search process and how dangerous they were. For example, while rumors about certain celebrities testing positive were common, they were not as dangerous to the public as myths about treatments or vaccines. We initially identified ten myths ranging from home remedies to conspiracy theories about the origin of the virus to misinformation about warm weather killing the virus. To understand how certain myths about COVID-19 gained traction on social media, we searched for each of these myths in our tweet collection. We preprocessed the tweets to normalize capitalization and remove punctuation, and URLs. For each common myth, our team identified ten tweets that perpetuated the relevant myth. We identified phrases and words from the tweets and broad descriptions of the myths from our original Google searches that described each myth. For each such word/phrase, we assign a weight to signify the expectation that a tweet including this word/phrase would be about that given myth. For instance, the word “bioweapon” is a stronger signal about a `bioweapon` myth compared to `government lab` which occurs in fewer bioweapon myth tweets. After completing the word/phrase list for each myth, we then searched for words and phrases from each myth in each tweet, and proportionally assigned myths to tweets. The proportions are then summed together per day to determine the tweet volume of each myth. The results presented focus on the five myths that we identify most accurately: Origin of COVID-19, Vaccine Development, Flu Comparison, Heat Kills Disease, Home Remedies. Figure \[fig:myth\_list\] presents a description of each of these five myths.[^4] ![Myths about COVID-19[]{data-label="fig:myth_list"}](fig/COVID-19-5-Myths_v2.png){width="0.6\linewidth"} Findings -------- Focusing on the number of tweets originally containing one or more of these five myths, we find that approximately 16,000 tweets (just under 0.6% of the tweets) are discussing one or more of the myths we consider. Figure \[fig:myth\_proportion\] shows the distribution of the volume of each myth discussed. Tweet volume associated with the myths in our sample has increased since January, although this may reflect the growing conversation surrounding COVID-19 generally, rather than a greater proportion of attention devoted to these topics (see Figure \[fig:myth\_trend\]). However, some trends are growing more than others. Specifically, the myth regarding the origins of the virus dominated the myths present on Twitter in January and February. By the end of February, however, the flu comparison myth and the home remedy myth appear almost equally as often in our data set, although there is some suggestive evidence that the flu comparison myth may have dropped off at the end of our data collection in mid-March. While myths about heat killing COVID-19 and vaccine development also appear to rise over time in our data set, they maintain their relative position compared to the other myths and may simply reflect growing conversation surrounding the topic. It is important to note that tweets that are countering or debunking a particular myth are also likely to be part of this set of identified tweets. Therefore, the numbers we are reporting here likely capture tweets that perpetuate a myth, as well as those combating it. In future analyses, we will use stance detection methods to determine the position of the author with regards to the myth. ![Distribution of by Myths[]{data-label="fig:myth_proportion"}](fig/myth_bar_new_v2.png){width="0.7\linewidth"} ![Tweet Volume by Myths Over Time[]{data-label="fig:myth_trend"}](fig/myth_trend_new_v2.png){width="0.7\linewidth"} Sharing of High vs Low Quality Information on Twitter ===================================================== Social media users commonly rely on external information to convey ideas, support claims, and serve information needs. Social media use around COVID-19 is no exception. Our analysis of tweets related to the disease show that 40.5% of original tweet content (5.1% of the retweet content and 9.6% of the overall content) includes a URL. Overall, we think the very high percentage of URLs reflects the incredible need for information in this uncertain time. Uncertainty is strongly related to information seeking, and this has been shown specifically in the realm of health information seeking and sharing online[@Lin.2016]. Popular domains --------------- We begin by examining these shared links to determine the most popular domains. There are over sixty thousand unique domains that people share in their tweets. Table \[table-top-10-domains\] presents the top-10 domains with respect to their frequency in tweets having more than 100 user accounts tweeting the domain. Tweet Frequency ---------------------------- --------------------- youtu.be 78,784 youtube.com 21,894 instagram.com 19,158 nytimes.com 13,678 bit.ly 12,816 scmp.com 11,897 amzn.to 11,868 theguardian.com 11,671 bbc.com 10,220 gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com 9,181 : Top-10 domains mentioned in tweets by over 100 handles.[]{data-label="table-top-10-domains"} Inspecting these top-10 domains reveals a number of important points. First, people are linking to YouTube a lot. The two different manifestations of YouTube - “youtu.be” and “youtube.com” - are collectively linked to in almost 100,000 tweets. Top-10 sites include news media sites from the U.S. (the New York Times), news media sites from China (South China Morning Post, scmp.com), and retail sites (Amazon). This highlights the diversity of the nature and quality of information shared from external sources on Twitter about COVID-19. If we look at domains that have a similar volume to our top-10 domains, but are tweeted by a small number of handles, three domains fall into this category, indicating that some domains/users are attempting to appear more relevant to the conversation. For example, thepigeonexpress.com, a dubious site that claims to be “focused on news that’s not on mainstream media.”[^5] has almost as many shares as the New York Times, but less than 20 accounts posting articles using this domain. Given this finding, we want to better understand whether social media users are referencing reputable sources or questionable ones? High health and low quality information sources ----------------------------------------------- To answer this question, we examine the URLs being shared in our data set to determine whether or not more low quality links are being shared compared to high quality ones. ### Methodology We begin by identifying a set of high quality health sources and a set of low-quality/questionable content providers. High Quality Health Sources (HQHS): We identify the set of reputable web domains that publish health information as follows. We first identify all countries identified by the CDC as a Level 3 travel health notice country (that is, with the recommendation to “avoid all non-essential travel”). For each of these countries, we identify the webpage (domain) of each country’s equivalent to a center for disease control. Next, we augment this list by including top medical journals and hospitals, and by identifying additional US government agencies that had official COVID-19 related recommendations (for example, while not a public health organization, the EPA released information about disinfectants that were effective). After the White House announcement regarding the America’s Health Insurance Plan’s collaboration with the White House Coronavirus Task Force, the AHIP Statement page clarifying the free testing plan was also included on this list. Low-quality Misinformation Sources (LQMS): Misinformation is prevalent online. While the 2016 election brought attention to this issue, it is nothing new–especially in the health domain. For instance, a 2010 study by [@Scanfeld.2010] examined 1000 randomly selected tweets mentioning antibiotics and found that 700 of them contained medical misinformation or malpractice. We identify the set of low-quality/questionable sources of information using a list curated by NewsGuard [@Newsguard.03232020]. NewsGuard is a journalistic organization that generally rates websites on their tendency to spread true or false information. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, they have kept a separate list of websites identified as propagating misinformation specifically related to the virus. ### Findings Table \[table-count-tweets-by-types\] shows the number of tweets containing HQHS URL links and LQMS URL links. A small fraction of the urls shared come from one of the three categories listed above. The tweets containing a link to a Reputable Health Sources account for 0.51% of tweets and 0.04% of retweets. Low-quality/Questionable Sources account for 0.4% of original tweets and 0.06% of retweets. We see that both HQHS and LQMS sites are shared very infrequently, with LQMS being tweeted at a lower rate than HQHS. LQMS are being retweeted at a rate higher than HQHS. This is concerning, but still a small fraction of the overall conversation volume. News media information sharing ------------------------------ Given the infrequency of links to HQHS sites and LQMS sites, we turn our attention to news sources. News media plays an important role in informing the public. This role is heightened in crisis events such as pandemics. These organizations employ fact checkers, engage with experts with relevant expertise, and are therefore sources for trustworthy information. As such, we expect them to play a significant role in the information produced and shared on social media platforms. ### Methodology To identify reputable news sources, we adopt the definition and list of traditional news sites shared by MediaBias/FactCheck– an independent online media outlet maintained by a small team of researchers and journalists [@MediaBiasFactCheck.2018]. This list has over one thousand three hundred web domains listed as reliable news sources. For our twitter data set, we download all of the urls that are shared between January 16, 2020 to March 15, 2020. We then download the news articles and scrape the web content to determine the sources the news articles are referencing by inspecting the links they include (e.g. a link to the CDC site in a particular New York Times article). We then aggregate this information to determine the fraction of HQHS sites and LQMS sites referenced by the news media. ### Findings Just over 351,000 of the tweets contain links to news organizations. This represents 13% of the original tweets in our sample.[^6] When checking the news articles for links to high and low quality sources, we find that over 63,000 of the tweets have links to high quality sources and over 1,000 have links to low quality sources (see Figure \[fig:news\_link\]). This indicates that 18% of the news shares are connected to HQHS sites and less than 0.3% link to LQMS. Focusing on more frequently shared news sources (news domains), we find that 228 new-domains were mentioned in at least 100 tweets. Of those, there are 178 news domains with at least one article that links to at least one HQHS site or LQMS site. We inspect this subset and see that 175 out of 178 are referring to HQHS site at least 80% of the time. There are only three sites that are below that 80% rate (newyorker.com with a 0.17 high quality to high + low quality link ratio, liveleak.com with a 0.33 ratio, and thepostmillennial.com with a 0.5 ratio). For the long tail of less popular domains, the results are somewhat comparable. There are 352 domains with at least one article containing at least one link to a HQHS site or LQMS site. Out of those, only 16 have a high quality to high quality + low quality ratio lower than 0.8. Overall, these numbers are encouraging. However, it is important to note that this analysis applies only to articles that link to other sources in our data set. ![Distribution of Links from News Articles[]{data-label="fig:news_link"}](fig/news_link.png){width="0.9\linewidth"} Discussion and conclusions ========================== Our results provide important implications for understanding disease spread, information seeking behaviors during public health crises, and general communication patterns in this unprecedented combination of global pandemic and modern information environment. First, our results show that the COVID-19 cases are highly correlated with Twitter conversations; and further, Twitter conversations led the COVID-19 cases by 2-5 days. This is an important finding, suggesting that we can use Twitter conversations to help predict the spread and outbreak of COVID-19 when other reliable leading indicators are not available. While measurement error is of concern given this non-representative population, developing reliable ways to measure and re-weight for different biases present in these organic data sets is an important future direction. Second, we have learned a great deal about how much, where, and how people are communicating about this pandemic. Attention to COVID-19 continues to grow on Twitter, and likely on other platforms as well. As we know from research, people tend to care about news that affects them personally [@Edgerly.2018], so it makes sense that relevant conversation would grow as the pandemic continues to affect more and more people on a personal level. Likewise, attention is focused in the countries that have been hardest hit by the disease, again suggesting that attention, discussion, and information sharing are greatest for those who are most impacted. But not all of this information is reliable - although people are sharing many URLs (with 40.5% of original tweets including a URL), they are sharing less from very credible health sources like the CDC and WHO than might be expected (only 14,485 original tweets (0.4%) did so). However, sources that we can confidently label as producers of misinformation (through domains identified as purveyors of misinformation by a journalism organization) are also not shared in great numbers (11,654 original tweets linked to such a source), even though they are retweeted more often (11,415) than credible health sources (8,813). Of course there may be - and likely are - pieces of misinformation being shared without links, or with links outside of the list of confirmed dubious URLs we used. This preliminary analysis, though, suggests that credible information is roughly keeping pace with misinformation. This finding is amplified if we consider links to news sources as well. Linking to news sources was much more common than sharing either high quality health sources or known low credibility sites, with over 350,000 tweets doing so. Consistent with our expectations, these news links are much more likely to themselves link to credible sources like the WHO (63,352 news articles) than to misinformation sources (about 1,135 news articles), meaning people are likely getting reliable information from these tweets. Future work will consider all the shared content through URLs to determine the distribution of high and low quality links across all of the URL content. Our analysis of common myths about COVID-19 reveals a similar pattern. We started from a set of 10 different themes of myths and were able to identify five with high precision. Analysis of the tweets that pertain to these myths show that they account for a small fraction of Twitter content. While this finding is encouraging, there are many more myths that needs to be analyzed to understand the total impact of myths on the COVID-19 conversation. In general, it is crucial to continually monitor myths in the conversation, differentiate those who are propagating the myth and those who are debunking it, and build systems to combat them. We pause to mention that many of the text analysis methods used were simple methods. Because of the volume of data and in the interest of time, we chose to use these simpler techniques in this first analysis. In future work, we will compare these simple approaches to more robust analysis techniques to improve our overall understanding of these data. While we have mentioned future directions throughout the article, we highlight the ones we are already making progress on. One direction of future work will focus on conducting a more refined spatio-temporal analysis of the flow of information and the transmission of COVID-19. We also intend to use language models in conjunction with machine learning models to identify myths and themes with high levels of recall and precision. Finally, as the crisis continues to unfold, we will work to share results and aggregate data sets through a web portal for those interested in advancing research related to COVID-19 and social media conversation. Acknowledgements {#acknowledgements .unnumbered} ================ This research was primarily supported by the Massive Data Institute at Georgetown University. It was also supported by the Computational and Spatial Analysis Core at Pennsylvania State University, the National Science Foundation (Awards SES-1823633, SES-1934925, SES-1934494, CNS-1453392), the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (Awards P2C HD041025), the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture and Multistate Research Project \#PEN04623 (Accession \#1013257). We would also like to acknowledge the support of others on our team:\ - Junjun Yin at Penn State extracted geotagged tweets.\ - Yiqing Ren at Georgetown computed volumes.\ - Virinche Marwadi at Georgetown for adjusting infrastructure.\ - Robert Churchill helped with myth identification. Appendix A ========== ----------------------- ----------- \#2019nCoV 1/16/2020 \#ChinaPneumonia 1/16/2020 \#ChinesePneumonia 1/16/2020 \#Corona 1/16/2020 \#SARI 1/16/2020 \#WuhanCoronavirus 1/16/2020 \#WuhanPneumonia 1/16/2020 \#CoronavirusOutbreak 1/20/2020 \#VirusChina 1/21/2020 \#Coronavirus\* 1/23/2020 \#Wuhan 1/23/2020 \#CoronaOutbreak 3/02/2020 \#COVID 3/02/2020 \#CoronavirusUpdate 3/11/2020 \#COVID\_19 3/11/2020 \#COVID19\\ 3/11/2020 ----------------------- ----------- : Hashtags and Start Date of Collection.[]{data-label="table-hastags"} [^1]: Note that due to a data collection glitch with the Twitter Streaming API, some of the hashtags were unavailable between March 13, 2020 and March 15, 2020. [^2]: Again, recall that numbers for March 13 and 14 are lower due to an API glitch, so the significant dropoff at that point is merely an artifact [^3]: Wikipedia has a set of pages listing the major cities around the world by country. Statoids lists governorates and the governorates’ capitals for each country. Combining these two sources, we construct an ontology containing approximately 7,600 locations, including countries, governorates, governorates’ capitals, and other major cities. [^4]: Given the simple approach, we recognize that some tweets with more noise will be missed. However, we are erroring on the side of being more conservative, i.e. optimizing for precision instead of recall. After applying this approach, we manually validated 250 tweets, 25 for each category, and 25 that were identified as non-myths. Five of our categories had an overall test precision of 80% and our precision for identifying non-myths in our test set was 100%. In other words, 80% of the hand-validated tweets belonged to the myths, and 100% of the tweets coded as not matching the myths did not contain the myths. [^5]: <https://thepigeonexpress.com/about/> [^6]: We were unable to download approximately 4% of the HTML content for the news links.
The overall objective of this proposal is to gain a more complete understanding of the pathologic alterations which occur between magnocellular cholinergic neurons and galanin containing interneurons and their processes within the basal forebrain of human normal aged, Alzheimer's (AD) and Parkinson's (PD) dementia individuals. Since galanin is inhibitory to acetylcholine, it has been hypothesized that hyperinnervation by galanin containing profiles upon nucleus basalis cholinergic neurons in AD and PD may play a key role in the degenerative process(es) underlying cholinergic cell dysfunction in these neurodegenerative disorders. To evaluate this hypothesis we will 1) determine the cellular location of mRNA for galanin synthesis within the human basal forebrain subfields, 2) determine whether the expression of galanin mRNA parallels the species difference between human and monkeys we reported for the peptide galanin within the basal forebrain (36), 3) determine whether other basal forebrain cell types not currently known to contain the peptide galanin express its mRNA, 40 determine whether galanin hyperinnervation to the cholinergic basal forebrain neurons occurs in all subfields of this region in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's dementia, 5) determine whether the hyperinnervation of galanin profiles within the nucleus basalis is accompanied by an over expression of galanin mRNA, and 6) determine whether the basal forebrain hypertrophic galanin containing profiles innervate ALZ-50 expressing elements. The planned studies will utilize immunohistochemistry using a polyclonal galanin antibody, an IgM mouse monoclonal ALZ-50 antibody and galanin mRNA in situ hybridization. The data generated from this proposal will provide much needed information concerning the neurodegenerative events which may play a pivotal role in basal forebrain cholinergic degeneration in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's dementias. Furthermore, these data may suggest avenues for the development of new pharmacological therapies as a means of retarding intellectual deterioration in dementia.
Spatial and temporal comparison of selected cancers in dogs and humans, Michigan, USA, 1964-1994. Our aim was to investigate the geographic and time distributions of some biologically similar neoplasms in dogs and humans living in Michigan, USA, between 1964 and 1994. Our objective was to describe and compare the patterns of cancer in the two species while assessing the strength and dependence of those patterns. In this retrospective, registry-based study, histologically confirmed incident human and canine cancer cases were mapped, and second-order (K function) spatial analysis and one-dimensional nearest neighbor temporal analysis were performed on residence addresses and dates of hospital discharge/diagnosis. Included in the study were all 528 incident cases of canine lymphosarcoma, mammary adenocarcinoma, melanoma and spindle-cell sarcomas diagnosed at a veterinary teaching hospital between 1964 and 1994 having residence addresses in Ingham, Oakland, and Wayne Counties; and a stratified random sample of 913 incident human cases of comparable cancers diagnosed during the same time period from the same counties. Results suggest that processes determining spatial aggregation of cases in dogs and humans were not independent of each other, did not act uniformly over different geographic areas, operated at spatial scales <2000 m regardless of species, and tend to act upon dogs more strongly at shorter distances than on humans. Little evidence of interspecies concurrence of temporal clustering was found.
If anyone has information on the incident, they are asked to email the TPD criminal intelligence unit at criminalintelligence@topeka.org. Individuals can also contact Det. Angela Widener at awidener@topeka.org or 785-408-0322. Finally, Crime Stoppers is an option at 785-234-0007.
package com.vaadin.tests.layouts.layouttester.GridLayout; import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals; import java.io.IOException; import java.util.List; import org.openqa.selenium.interactions.Actions; import com.vaadin.testbench.elements.CheckBoxElement; import com.vaadin.tests.layouts.layouttester.BaseLayoutRegErrorTest; public class GridLayoutRegErrorTest extends BaseLayoutRegErrorTest { @Override public void LayoutRegError() throws IOException { super.LayoutRegError(); // The layout is too high to fit into one screenshot, we need to scroll // and take another. List<CheckBoxElement> checkBoxes = $(CheckBoxElement.class).all(); assertEquals(3, checkBoxes.size()); CheckBoxElement lastCheckBox = checkBoxes.get(2); new Actions(driver).moveToElement(lastCheckBox).build().perform(); compareScreen("RegError-Scrolled"); } }
Q: rain plugin in jquery? I need to breeze rain are petals of flowers as whole through my website. Now i am currently showering show by using snowfall jquery plugin. Is there is any plugin to shower rain or petals of flowers. A: How about this: http://rain-demo.heroku.com/ Library is here: https://github.com/juliocesar/rain.js
Apologies if we’re starting to sound a bit like a broken record but another player is set to swap European football for the Chinese Super League. The man in question this time is Fiorentina striker Nikola Kalinic who is on his way to Tianjin Quanjian, according to Sky Italia. If the name rings bells with those of you who watch plenty of English football but aren’t au fait with Serie A it’s because Kalinic spent two seasons at Blackburn Rovers. The Croatian striker scored seven league games in 44 league games between 2009 and 2011 before leaving to join Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. After five years in Ukrain Kalinic moved to Fiorentina for whom he’s been fairly consistent during the last two seasons. READ MORE: Last season he scored 12 league goals in 36 games and this season he’s netted eight in 17 for Paulo Sousa’s side, as well as a further four league games during the Europa League group stages. Tianjin, managed by Fabio Cannavaro, could be forced to pay Kalinic’s €50million release clause as the 28-year-old only recently signed a new deal in Florence. While paying €50mil for a striker who’s not even in the best 20 strikers in world football would seem strange, the same rules don’t apply in the Chinese Super League. But maybe we’re just being cynical. Maybe it’s not just about the money. After all, who could pass up on the chance to be coached by a World Cup winner and play with, err… Jean-Jacques Kilama? WATCH: Safe to say this was a red card
Adjusting to the caregiving role: the importance of coping and support. Although informal end-of-life care is associated with significant physical and psychological morbidity for caregivers, few interventions have been developed to meet these needs. This study aimed to identify existing coping and support mechanisms among informal cancer caregivers in order to inform intervention development. One-to-one semi-structured qualitative interviews were undertaken with 20 informal cancer caregivers of home palliative care patients. Caregivers' existing coping strategies included distraction, mental stimulation, emotional release, looking for the positive aspects of caregiving, and disengaging from stressful thoughts. The majority of the participants described the importance of support and understanding form family and friends. The data suggests that feasible and acceptable interventions will be those that are targeted to caregivers to assist them in optimising existing coping strategies and support from family and friends.
XNIO A Powerful Approach To I/O XNIO is a simplified low-level I/O layer which can be used anywhere you are using NIO today. It frees you from the hassle of dealing with Selectors and the lack of NIO support for multicast sockets and non-socket I/O, while still maintaining all the capabilities present in NIO, and it opens the door to non-obvious optimizations. XNIO provides a unique API for combining blocking and non-blocking operations, even on the same channel, allowing you to take advantage of the simplicity and low latency of blocking I/O while still gaining the thread-conservative and throughput benefits of non-blocking I/O. XNIO also introduces a powerful callback-based interface which can greatly simplify traditional state machine-based non-blocking applications, as well as allowing you to hit the perfect balance between throughput and latency for your application.
Q: how to allocate percentage of a PV to a VG in lvm I have 3 RAID arrays in my server, mapped to 2 PVs in my lvm2 setup. apollo:~# pvs PV VG Fmt Attr PSize PFree /dev/sda1 apollo lvm2 a- 3.64T 0 /dev/sda2 apollo lvm2 a- 1.14T 0 /dev/sdb apollo1 lvm2 a- 2.05T 0 apollo:~# lvs LV VG Attr LSize Origin Snap% Move Log Copy% lvol0 apollo -wi-ao 4.77T ling-ling apollo1 -wi-ao 895.41G lvol0 apollo1 -wi-ao 1.17T lvol1 apollo1 -wi-a- 32.00M I want to remove the LV "ling-ling" to free up some space, however I want to expand lvol0 with that free space, which is residing on the other VG. Is there a way in LVM to allocate a percentage of a PV to different VGs without repartitioning? The only solution I can think of is to repartition /dev/sdb but I would prefer not to, since this is a live server. Thanks :) A: No. VGs consume PVs whole.
The announcement from the New York-based company came yesterday at its Springfield Operations Center as part of a demonstration and tour of the facility that now has more than $5 million in new broadband equipment, according to a news release. The upgrades complete the company’s Missouri investments as part of project Open Road. The network upgrade centered in the Queen City will bring 1 GB internet speeds to residents and businesses in Springfield and Greene County, among other local communities such as Marshfield, Cassville and Ava, said Mediacom’s Area Operations Director Steve Bennett. As of its announcement, 13 new customers had signed up for the service, Bennett said, which is able to download a billion bits of data per second. Pricing starts at $139.95. Springfield was the 1,000th community in the nation to take on the new service, and Springfield Mayor Ken McClure was on hand to issue a congratulatory proclamation for becoming a gigabit city. “Springfield residents, like consumers elsewhere, rely on more connected-devices and have seen their internet data consumption grow by as much as 35 to 50 percent per year,” the proclamation reads. Mediacom is the fifth largest cable operator in America serving more than 1.3 million customers in smaller markets across the Midwest and southeast, according to the release.
As you remember these fallen officers, take comfort in recalling that they dedicated their lives to the same principles of honor, duty and courage that brought you to the badge. Such a life is truly rich. Take strength in knowing that when an officer falls, our resolve to serve those in need is not diminished. Our dedication to protecting those in danger is not weakened. Our commitment to remembering those with whom we shared the badge does not fade. Godspeed, brothers and sisters. You fought the good fight. Now rest in peace… She was in "very serious condition" and in surgery early this morning, Police Chief Gilbert Gallegos said. The gunfire sent officers on a foot chase down Central Avenue, where they eventually shot and killed an as-yet unidentified man suspected of wounding Oleksak, Arbogast said. Homicide investigators did not release the man's name early this morning, because they were still trying to notify his family about the fatal shooting, Arbogast said. With heavy hearts, more than 50 detectives and officers from the police and Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department carefully analyzed the four-block crime scene and searched for evidence. "We're all praying she'll pull through and won't suffer any serious, long-term damage," Remington said at the scene. "Anytime an officer is shot, it's a real blow. But because she was so dedicated and committed to the people she worked with, this is very hard to handle." Oleksak's mother and sister huddled at University of New Mexico Hospital with Police Department leaders, praying she would recover, Gallegos said. "They are relying on their faith and their religion to comfort them in this difficult time," Gallegos said at the hospital shortly before midnight, appearing worn by the emotional evening. "We're all pulling for her. She's always been a tough officer, but this is by far her biggest test." Events began when Oleksak fielded a routine call shortly before 7:30 p.m. about a suspicious, threatening man in the Walgreens parking lot on Central Avenue and Girard Boulevard Southeast, Arbogast said. Witnesses, including Padilla and her daughter, heard shouting shortly after Oleksak's cruiser pulled into the parking lot adjacent to Mannie's Family Restaurant. "The yelling wasn't that big a deal, but then I heard at least six bullets that sounded quick and loud," Padilla said. Arbogast could not confirm how many times Oleksak was hit, but did say at least one bullet struck her in the head or face. He also could not confirm whether Oleksak was wounded with her own gun. Padilla, along with neighboring business owners, watched the suspect shout at Oleksak while she lay on the ground wounded next to her police cruiser. "Then he grabbed his backpack off the ground and did the strangest thing," business owner Louie Torres said. "He walked casually down the street. He didn't run; he walked. It was like he didn't even care." Torres, the 41-year-old owner of Louie's Rock-N-Reels on Central Avenue Northeast near Richmond Drive, didn't think the man walking away from the scene was a suspect until officers began running after him. "He was about a block away from the scene walking east on Central when I heard him shout, `That'll teach you, bitch,'" Torres said. "Then he pointed the gun over his left shoulder and fired a shot without even looking back." Angered by what he saw, Torres ran back into his store and grabbed the only weapon he thought might distract the suspect until police could catch up with him: three videotapes. "They were the heaviest thing I could find that I thought would slow him down, so I threw them across the street," Torres said. "It was stupid because he could have shot me, but I was so mad that he did this. I've worked here for eight years, and no one has ever attacked my community like this. It just wasn't right." None of the videotapes hit the suspect, but one landed right in front of him. They did little to slow the gun-wielding man, who, Torres said, continued walking defiantly down the street. The suspect, whom witnesses described as a relatively clean-cut man in his mid-20s, continued east on Central Avenue and crossed Richmond Drive. Torres said the man then fired two more shots blindly over his shoulder. C.O.P.S. TASER Foundation The TASER Foundation’s mission is to honor the service and sacrifice of local and federal law enforcement officers lost in the line of duty by providing financial and edcuational support to their families.
We believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, and that none may add or take away from it. + + + The Trinity: We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit and these three are one God. + + + The Church: We believe that the Church consists of all persons who have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and made new people in Christ Jesus. + + + The Savior: We believe that all that have sinned and come short of the glory of God and that through the death and risen power of Christ, all who believe and confess Jesus as Lord can be saved from the penalty and power of sin. + + + The Healer: We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the healer and that healing is provided for in the atonement. + + + The Coming King: We believe in the personal return of our Lord Jesus Christ to receive to Himself all born again believers. + + + The Gifts: We believe that the Church should claim and express the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:8-10).
Near-UV light protection effect against lethality induced by stannous chloride in Escherichia coli. Stannous chloride (SnCl2) is a reducing agent largely employed in industry and in medical procedures. To evaluate its potential genotoxicity, several Escherichia coli strains were treated with SnCl2 and their survival rates determined. Results showed that the double mutant on specific genes for the repair of deoxyribonucleic acid damage was the most sensitive strain. Simultaneous near-UV illumination inhibited the lethal effect of SnCl2 in the wild type strain. Although the nature of the induced lesions are not known these results indicate the potential genotoxicity of SnCl2.
INTRODUCTION ============ Asthma is one of the most common chronic conditions in Australia with over 2 million Australians currently diagnosed with asthma \[[@R1]\]. It is a complex disease affecting both adults and children with variable phenotypic expression \[[@R2]\]. Airway inflammation, bronchial hyper-responsiveness and airflow obstruction form the triad of asthma, clinically manifesting as cough, wheezing, breathlessness and chest tightness \[[@R3]\]. Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases in the world and its incidence has been increasing in the past three decades. It is estimated to affect between 10 -15% of children and adolescents in developed world countries \[[@R1],[@R4]-[@R6]\]. The incidence has been reported to be 1-2% higher in the elderly population \[[@R1]\]. An estimated 300 million people are suffering from asthma with \>100 million additions likely by the year 2025 \[[@R7]\]. A systematic review has described the risk of AI with oral glucocorticoid withdrawal \[[@R8]\]. However, few studies have addressed the risk of AI with inhaled glucocorticoids. Glucocorticosteroids have been used in the treatment of asthma since 1956 due to their broad anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive effects \[[@R9]\]. ICS have been shown to significantly reduce airway hyper-responsiveness, decrease the severity of symptoms, improve lung function and prevent acute exacerbations leading to a decrease in morbidity and mortality in asthma \[[@R10]-[@R13]\]. Many asthma management guidelines recommend ICS as the first line therapy at low doses in mild persistent asthma. They are also preferred therapy at a moderate doses along with long acting beta 2- agonists for moderate asthma \[[@R11]\]. Higher doses are used only if symptoms persist despite the above combination therapy \[[@R3]\]. ICS are also used in over 70% COPD patients but the benefits are controversial as they reduce exacerbation by 20-25% in severe disease. Long-term treatment with ICS added to long-acting bronchodilators is recommended only for patients at high risk of exacerbations (FEV1\<50% and who have 2 or more acute exacerbations in one year). Long-term monotherapy with oral or ICS is not recommended in COPD \[[@R14],[@R15]\]. Adrenal insufficiency (AI) is a life-threatening disorder that can result from primary adrenal failure or secondary adrenal disease due to impairment of the hypothalamic--pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis \[[@R16]-[@R18]\]. It results from either deficiency or impaired action of glucocorticoids. Typical symptoms of AI include weakness, fatigue, anorexia, abdominal pain, weight loss and salt craving. Characteristic hyperpigmentation of the skin and orthostatic hypotension does not occur in secondary AI \[[@R19],[@R20]\]. ICS are assumed to be safer due to less systemic absorption and less than 500 mcg/day of fluticasone propionate or equivalent dose is reported to be safe. However, Schwartz et al.,\[[@R21]\] reported in 2012 that 14 (children) of the 93 cases (including their own reported case) of symptomatic AI that were reported in PubMed were in fact using a moderate dose of 500 mcg or less/day of fluticasone propionate. They also for the first time recommended that pre-adolescent children who are receiving 400 mcg or more of fluticasone propionate or equivalent dose/day should get quarterly tests for early morning cortisol levels and that physicians, patients and family should be educated to anticipate and manage AI during periods of serious physiological stress \[[@R21]\]. The effects of AI may vary from non-specific complaints of fatigue that may go undetected without a high level of clinical suspicion to severe adrenal crises with hypotension and hypoglycaemia \[[@R16]\]. METHODOLOGY =========== We did a literature search using PubMed to review the prevalence, aetiopathogenesis, available diagnostic tests to assess the risk in patients and guidelines with regards to managing this condition. RESULTS ======= From the review of available literature, the majority of evidence is based on case reports. In total, there were 57 reports of acute adrenal crises secondary to use of ICS presenting with nausea, vomiting, hypovolaemia and/or hypoglycaemia \[[@R22]-[@R34]\]. Combining the various studies, there was evidence of HPA axis suppression in a total of 590 secondary to use of ICS from a variety of methods used to assess the degree of adrenal suppression \[[@R21]-[@R39]\]. There are few studies investigating the risk of AI in adults. However, six case reports have identified a link between ICS and AI. In the first case report, a 76 year old male presented with acute AI that was attributed to long term use of 500 μg fluticasone daily \[[@R39]\]. In the second report, a 38 year old male on high dose budesonide, developed symptoms of AI after decreasing his budesonide dose from 3.2 mg daily to 2.4 mg daily. This was confirmed by the short tetracosactrin test to be due to adrenal suppression \[[@R38]\]. A similar occurrence was reported in the third report, a 55 year old female who developed features of AI whilst being tapered from ICS \[[@R31]\]. In the fourth case report, a 33 year old male presented with acute AI after changing his high dose fluticasone regime of 1000-2000 μg fluticasone daily to 800 μg budesonide daily \[[@R26]\]. The 5^th^ case was of a 54 year old woman with severe, poorly controlled asthma using inhaled triamcinolone and fluticasone \[[@R29]\]. While no clinical symptoms were reported, she was found to have a low fasting morning serum cortisol suggesting she would be at risk of significant systemic symptoms if her ICS were withheld \[[@R29]\]. Finally, the most recent report was of a 55 year old female using \<500 μg fluticasone daily who had vague symptoms of fatigue and weight gain that was confirmed by two cosyntropin stimulation tests to be due to adrenal suppression \[[@R30]\]. In addition to these case reports, a survey by Todd et al.,\[[@R34]\] identified 5 further cases of AI in adults secondary to ICS. In addition, a study by Fardon et al., with 21 adult volunteers, showed a decrease in urinary cortisol in patients who took ICS such as fluticasone or mometasone \[[@R40]\]. While measurement of urinary free cortisol is a suboptimal method of assessing AI \[[@R41]\], this article raises the concern that ICS other than fluticasone such as mometasone may also be implicated in AS. A large case control study by Lapi et al., \[[@R37]\] analysed databases in Quebec for cases of AI in patients using ICS. It showed the incidence of AI to be 1.1 per 10,000 person-years at risk. The other significant finding of this study was patients using ≥1000 μg daily of fluticasone were at the highest risk of developing AI \[[@R37]\]. A Cohort study by Smith et al., \[[@R36]\] determined the prevalence of HPA axis suppression to be 9.3% from a cohort of 214 children using ICS. Key points from the study included the fact that children on low to moderate doses of ICS were still at risk of HPA axis suppression. Furthermore, no clinical factors were found to be able to predict HPA axis suppression \[[@R36]\]. Based on the above studies, AI related to ICS use has been reported in a variety of age groups. The majority of reports involved high dose fluticasone. However, other ICS such as mometasone may also be associated with AS and low dose fluticasone was also reported to cause AS \[[@R21],[@R30],[@R40]\]. Additionally, changing the type of ICS or reducing the dose could potentially trigger AI \[[@R26]-[@R28],[@R38]\]. Given the multiple case reports, AI is a real risk that needs to be considered when commencing patients on ICS, particularly if high doses are required. Notably, AI secondary to ICS has been implicated in two deaths \[[@R32],[@R34]\]. HPA Axis and Inhaled Corticosteroids: Aetiopathogenesis ======================================================= Corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) is produced by the hypothalamus and is released into the median eminence. This, in turn, stimulates synthesis and processing of proopiomelanocortin (POMC). This results in releasing of POMC peptides including adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) from anterior pituitary gland. ACTH binds to the melanocortin-2 receptor in the adrenal gland and stimulates synthesis and release of cortisol in to the systemic circulation. This cortisol in turn exerts a negative feedback inhibition of CRH and ACTH release. This classic example of negative feedback hormone regulation is referred to as the HPA axis \[[@R43]\]. The circulating serum cortisol as lipids, readily crosses the plasma membrane of the target cell in to the cytoplasm, where they bind to cytoplasmic/nuclear glucocorticoid receptor (GR). The binding of steroid to the GRα in the cytosol results in activation of the steroid-receptor complex. Following translocation to the nucleus, gene transcription is stimulated or repressed after binding of the dimerized GR-ligand complex to a specific DNA sequence in the promoter regions of target genes \[[@R43],[@R44]\]. This promotes synthesis of anti-inflammatory proteins (transactivation) and inhibits synthesis of proinflammatory cytokines (transrepression) \[[@R45]\]. AS is the most common cause of AI, which results from exposure of the HPA axis to exogenous glucocorticoids (Fig. [1](#F1){ref-type="fig"} \[[@R46]\]). This is a well-recognized complication of most forms of steroid therapy (e.g., oral, inhaled, parenteral, intranasal). This effect can persist up to one year after cessation of steroid therapy \[[@R47],[@R48]\]. In a review article Priftis et al., \[[@R49]\] have explained how chronic inflammatory conditions might be linked to HPA axis hypo-responsiveness through inhibition of ACTH induced cortisol production. They further reported that chronic allergic diseases might be associated with reduced activity and/or responsiveness of HPA axis to both inflammation and acute stress. While the majority of the asthma patients who are on ICS show an improvement in adrenal function, a subgroup shows mild AS. This variation might be influenced by individual variation in sensitivity of glucocorticoid receptors (GR) to exogenous steroids. This response might be genetically predetermined \[[@R50]-[@R52]\]. This has been further supported by Rajagopala et al.,\[[@R53]\] who have shown an impaired response to 1 microgram cosyntropin test in 40 patients with bronchiectasis, compared to 40 controls. This was not associated with the use of inhaled steroids or severity of the disease. The HPA axis is under circadian regulation with peak ACTH release at 6 am to 8 am \[[@R54],[@R55]\]. This circadian rhythm measured as salivary cortisol, in infants born to mother/father with allergy or asthma was associated with a flattened response \[[@R56]\]. Various ICS are used in the management of asthma and COPD. They are believed to be of similar efficacy when used in equivalent doses. But there is a significant difference in their pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics that might impact their safety profile. This has been very well explained by Ahmet et al.,in their review article in 2011 \[[@R57]\]. The parameters that contribute towards the safety profile of the inhaled steroids include oral bioavailability, lung deposition, protein binding, half-life and systemic clearance. These parameters vary significantly among the commonly used inhaled steroids (budesonide, ciclesonide, fluticasone propionate). Fluticasone is most commonly associated with AS reported in literature \[[@R34]\], mostly when used at higher then recommended dosages especially in paediatric patients. A systemic review by Lipworth \[[@R42]\] concluded that fluticasone exhibited a greater dose dependent effect on adrenal suppression compared with other ICS. This is likely due to pharmacokinetic properties of fluticasone including its long half-life and high lipophilicity resulting in greater systemic retention \[[@R42],[@R57]\]. Although ciclesonide has been reported to have a better safety profile, recently two cases with HPA axis suppression associated with ciclesonide have been reported \[[@R36]\]. Weiner P et al.,\[[@R58]\] in their study have shown an inverse correlation between the degree of airway obstruction and nocturnal cortisol secretion, single dose of 500 mcg of ICS (fluticasone propionate) at 8 pm was associated with a 29.4% decrease in the total nocturnal cortisol production. More severe nocturnal cortisol decrease was associated with less obstructed airway patients (FEV1) \[[@R58]\]. Drug interaction can be other key factor in ICS associated AS; CYP3A4 liver enzyme inhibitors such as ritonavir and ketoconazole, significantly increase the plasma concentration of ICS (up to four fold). This can lead to Cushing's syndrome and AS. Healthcare providers must always weigh the risk and benefits while using ICS and CYP3A4 inhibitors concomitantly \[[@R57]\]. These above findings suggest that AI secondary to ICS is due to a number of mechanisms. Firstly, subgroups of these patients have a genetically predetermined propensity to develop AS. Secondly, the underlying chronic disease for which they are on these inhaled steroids it-self has varying effect on HPA axis response. Thirdly, the variable safety profile of the inhaled steroid (and other concomitant drugs) that is used has an impact on HPA axis. Finally, there is a dose dependent AS in these patients. ICS AND AS: Clinical Features and Screening/Diagnosis ===================================================== Clinical features of this "master of disguise" condition is highly variable. These, often, include non-specific symptoms like fatigue, weakness, malaise, nausea, abdominal pain, myalgia, dizziness, poor weight gain and headache. Although growth suppression may be associated with AS, this is neither a sensitive nor specific indicator of AS, as it can be purely due to the chronic disease condition itself \[[@R57]\]. Hyperkalaemia and hyperpigmentation - features that are associated with primary AI are not present with AS. On the other hand, hyponatraemia may be present secondary to inappropriate arginine vasopressin release and hypoglycaemia is a common feature especially in paediatric and adolescent patients \[[@R41]\]. This condition can go unrecognized until a physiological stress (surgery, trauma, inter-current illness) precipitates an acute crisis. Symptoms of this acute crisis vary from hypotension, vomiting, hypovolaemic shock, unexplained hypoglycaemia, seizures, decreased level of consciousness, coma and even death \[[@R32],[@R41],[@R57],[@R62]\]. A high index of suspicion by the treating clinicians, educating patients and their families to anticipate these symptoms are paramount in preventing this potentially life threatening condition. Irrespective of the cause, the diagnosis of AI depends on the demonstration that cortisol secretion is inappropriately low \[[@R41]\]. All the current tests measure total cortisol concentration that is closely related to free biologically active cortisol except in a few situations \[[@R63]\]. Oral contraceptive pills and pregnancy can lead to false positive results, while low concentrations of cortisol-binding globulin (e.g. cirrhosis) leads to false negative results \[[@R64],[@R65]\]. The insulin tolerance test has long been considered gold standard in measuring AI. It investigates the integrity of HPA axis and is especially useful in patients with suspected recent corticotropin deficiency. However this is not considered to be safe in children, in patients with cardiovascular disease and in patients who are prone to seizures. It is also not easy to perform when compared with other tests \[[@R66],[@R67]\]. CRH (corticotropin-releasing hormone) tests are used mainly to differentiate between secondary and tertiary AI. This distinction is seldom useful in terms of treatment. Serum concentration of DHEA-S (dehydroepiandrosterone and its sulphate) are low in patients with primary or central AI. Urinary free cortisol measurement is considered not useful in AI \[[@R41]\]. A baseline serum ACTH concentration should be measured to rule out AI secondary to low ACTH concentration. If ACTH concentration is low, a thorough clinical examination including visual fields examination and measurement of other pituitary hormones is important to exclude a pituitary adenoma (most commonly a non-functioning adenoma). An 8 am serum cortisol concentration of\<100 nmol/L is strongly suggestive of AI and is considered as a reasonable first step in identifying the suspected AI and also screening of children on ICS therapy at risk of AS. A serum cortisol concentration of \>500 nmol/L at 8 am excludes secondary AI \[[@R41]\]. Higher cut off values for identifying AI has been used in some studies. Smith et al.,\[[@R36]\] used a cut off value of 170 nmol/L for screening at risk children on ICS and found out that, out of the 43 children who had AI based on screening 20 were confirmed with AS with low dose (1 mcg) ACTH stimulation test (45.6%). Both standard dose and low dose ACTH stimulation tests are being used in identifying AI; although recently, the low dose ACTH stimulation test has been preferred method among some endocrinologists, there is no consensus as to which one is better and as such we support either of the above tests (whichever is locally available) \[[@R67],[@R68]\]. In the ACTH stimulation test, a set quantity of corticotropin is administered intravenously or intramuscularly (250 mcg with standard dose test and 1 mcg with low dose test) and serum cortisol concentrations are measured at baseline, 30 minutes and 60 minutes after the stimulation. A peak concentration of \>500 nmol/L (some laboratories use a lower cut of value and this should be considered and confirmed with local assay providers) would exclude AI, a concentration \<500 would be diagnostic of AI, with both sensitivity and specificity close 90% \[[@R41],[@R67]\]. It is important to note that none of the above mentioned tests can correctly identify all the patients with AI, therefore if there is a strong clinical suspicion of the AI those patients should be promptly reassessed \[[@R41]\]. We support an 8 am morning serum cortisol measurement as the initial first step in assessment of AI; if abnormal (serum cortisol concentration of \<100 nmol/L) this can be confirmed with either a standard 250 mcg ACTH stimulation test or 1 mcg ACTH stimulation test. In addition, we recommend one of these confirmatory test on patients who have clinical symptoms of AS even if their 8 am morning cortisol concentration is \> 100 mmol/L because 8 am morning serum cortisol concentration screening test has a low sensitivity of only around 60% \[[@R57],[@R69]\]. Management ========== AI, irrespective of the cause is one of the acute life threatening emergencies in both adult and paediatric patients. Clinicians need to be aware that this can happen in patients treated with ICS with unusual symptoms so as to manage them in a timely manner \[[@R23]\]. An endocrinologist should be involved in managing AS \[[@R57]\]. Management of AI involves, managing acute adrenal crisis, management of AI during physiological stress, patient education and information regarding medical alert bracelets. An acute adrenal crisis needs urgent rehydration with intravenous normal saline and replacement of glucocorticoids in the form of hydrocortisone 100 mg immediately followed by 50-100 mg IV/IM (intravenous/intramuscular) every 6 hours (depending on body surface area and age) \[[@R41]\]. AS associated with ICS may go unrecognized until a physiological stress results in adrenal crisis \[[@R57]\]. During minor illness or surgical procedures up to three times the physiological dose of corticosteroid replacement may be needed to compensate for lack of appropriate adrenal response to stress due to AS. This replacement dose requirement might be as high as 10 times the physiological dose during major illness/surgery \[[@R41]\]. Therefore patients should be cautioned about abrupt withdrawal of ICS after prolonged use especially if using a higher dose of ICS \[[@R22],[@R23]\]. Patients and their family should be educated about symptoms of AI (myalgia, lack of energy, weight loss, nausea, dizziness) and to seek immediate medical advice. Patients who are at risk of AS should carry medical alert bracelets \[[@R41],[@R57]\]. DISCUSSION ========== HPA axis has a varied response to ICS in asthma patients. This appears to be due to varying HPA axis stress-immune response, which might be genetically predetermined. Generally in the vast majority of the patients use of ICS has a favorable response and regular use has been shown to improve lung function, quality of life, prevent hospitalization/exacerbations and reduce asthma related mortality. However in a minority of patients there is an attenuated response resulting in AS that may go unrecognized until a physiological stress induced adrenal crisis, with severe morbidity rarely resulting in death \[[@R32],[@R34],[@R49],[@R57]\]. Australian and Canadian ICS dosing guidelines suggest 100-250 mcg/day of fluticasone or equivalent in children \[[@R33],[@R70]\]. In adults and adolescents (\>12 years) using fluticasone propionate, maximal efficacy was achieved at a dose of 500 mcg/day. Of this, 90% of the benefit was achieved at doses of 100 to 250 mcg/day \[[@R21],[@R71]\]. Therefore, it is important to use the minimal required dose to achieve symptom control and if a higher dose is used it should be reduced as soon as possible \[[@R42]\]. In the case of COPD patients who are on ICS, a total daily dose of ICS ≥1000 mcg of fluticasone propionate appears to be associated with higher risk of AS. But the data in this regard is scant and treating physicians should keep an open mind to screen any COPD patients who are an more than 400 mcg/day of fluticasone propionate or its equivalent dosage, the risk of AS appears to be greater in COPD patients who are exposed to the highest dose of ICS than those with asthma \[[@R37]\]. Finally any patient who is on inhaled corticosteroids should be screened for AS if they have any signs or symptoms of AS regardless of the dosage. There is no published data on management of this AS associated with ICS. All the recommendations have been based on best available literature and expert opinion. The key features of management would involve prevention, screening and managing AS. Ahmet et al.,\[[@R57]\] and Schwartz et al.,\[[@R21]\] in their review article have explained and given some insight to these key points. It is advisable to screen all the patients who are at risk (Tables1-3) \[[@R21],[@R57]\]. As there are no specific symptoms that can predict ICS associated AS \[[@R36]\], any symptom of AI and any clinical scenario that could precipitate adrenal crisis in someone with AI should be an indication for screening for AS. Although there is no test that can identify AS with certainty, an 8 am morning serum cortisol concentration followed by 1 mcg or 250 mcg ACTH stimulation test if required is most practical way to identify AS in these patients \[[@R57]\]. Prompt management of AS with active involvement of an endocrinologist is essential in case of adrenal crisis; rehydration and intravenous hydrocortisone is mainstay of managing this condition in acute setting. CONCLUSION ========== ICS therapy is essential in the treatment of asthma and in certain COPD patients with vast proven benefits both in morbidity and mortality, in adults and children alike. ICS is associated with AS in a minority of patients who are on ICS for their respiratory conditions with potential serious consequences, especially in a physiologically stressful condition. Treating clinicians, patients and their family need to be watchful of the serious, yet non-specific symptoms, so as to appropriately identify and manage this potential life threatening condition. Use of ICS at minimal recommended dosing with increasing dose only if required is helpful in preventing this complication. A robust clinician-patient involvement in educating, recognising, screening and regular follow up will certainly help in reducing this complication. More research needs to be undertaken especially in the older adults and elderly population who are using ICS for COPD management, and it appears that COPD patients who are using ICS are in fact at a greater risk of AS. Declared none. CONFLICT OF INTEREST ==================== The authors confirm that this article content has no conflict of interest. ![HPA axis response to acute and chronic stress leading from inflammation. CRH-corticotrophin releasing hormone, ACTHadrenocorticotrophic releasing hormone, IL-interleukin, TNF-tumor necrosis factor. Green arrows indicate activation, red arrows indicate suppression. HPA axis gets activated by specific cytokines released during inflammation (IL-1, IL6). IL-6 has been recognized as important in innate immune response \[59\]. Acute inflammation leads to activation of HPA axis and marked and prolonged elevation of plasma ACTH and cortisol, however chronic activation of HPA axis leads to a blunted ACTH and cortisol response as a protective adaptation mechanism \[60\]. Exogenous corticosteroids lead to suppression of the HPA axis in the same manner as cortisol that inhibits both CRH and ACTH synthesis \[61\].](TORMJ-8-93_F1){#F1} ###### Summary of articles reviewed. Study Method of Detecting Secondary Adrenal Suppression Findings --------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wong et al., (1992) \[38\] Standard short corticotropin test Case report of a 38 year old male who developed adrenal insufficiency after budesonide dose was decreased from 3.2 mg daily to 2.4 mg daily Albert et al., (1998) \[31\] Standard short corticotropin test Case report of a 55 year of female taking 1600 μg triamcinolone daily On tapering of inhaled corticosteroid, she developed adrenal insufficiency Duplantier et al.,(1998) \[29\] Variable (Fasting morning serum cortisol, clinical examination) Case series of 4 patients using fluticasone (≥1000 μg daily) who had clinical and/or biochemical evidence of adrenal insufficiency Lipworth (1999) \[42\] Variable (Standard short corticotropin test, 24 hour urinary cortisol/metabolites/cortisol-creatinine ratio) Systematic review that concluded that fluticasone exhibited greater dose dependent adrenal suppression than other ICS Concluded that patients who use ≥800 μg fluticasone daily are at risk of AS in particular Todd et al., (1999) \[27\] Low dose corticotropin test Case report of a child who presented with acute adrenal crisis after being changed from fluticasone 1000 μg daily to budesonide 800 μg daily Patel et al., (2001) \[23\] Variable (Standard short corticotropin test, 24 hour urinary cortisol) Case series of 8 patients with adrenal insufficiency on fluticasone ≥500 μg daily, beclomethasone 600 μg daily or budesonide ≥400 μg daily Of the 8 cases, 2 presented with acute adrenal crises Drake et al., (2002) \[24\] Standard short corticotropin test Case series of 4 children on fluticasone ≥500 μg daily who presented with adrenal crises secondary to adrenal suppression Dunlop et al., (2002) \[28\] Standard short corticotropin test Case report of a 5 month old infant presenting with acute adrenal crisis secondary to reducing budesonide dose Todd et al., (2002) \[26\] Variable (Standard short corticotropin test, baseline serum ACTH levels) Case series of 3 children, one adult who had adrenal crises secondary to change of inhaled corticosteroid therapy The adult had acute adrenal insufficiency after changing his usual fluticasone dose (1000-2000 μg daily) to 800 μg budesonide daily Todd et al., (2002) \[34\] Variable (Standard short corticotropin test, glucagon stimulation test, decreased serum cortisol response to critical illness) Based on surveys of doctors in the UK, 28 cases of adrenal crises in children, 5 in adults Adrenal insufficiency contributed to a death in one paediatric case Macdessi et al., (2003) \[22\] Standard short corticotropin test 3 children had adrenal crises secondary to high dose fluticasone \>500 μg daily Adverse Drug Reactions Advisory Committee (2003) \[33\] Not specified 8 cases of adrenal insufficiency secondary to use of fluticasone (250-1500 μg daily) 6 children had adrenal crises secondary to fluticasone Fardon et al., (2004) \[40\] 10 hour urinary cortisol Urinary cortisol was suppressed by medium and high dose fluticasone and mometasone Donaldson et al.,(2007) \[32\] Post-mortem examination and standard short corticotropin test Case series of 2 siblings who developed adrenal crises taking 500-2000 μg fluticasone daily Encephalopathy secondary to adrenal insufficiency responsible for the death of one case The second case was near-fatal with similar encephalopathy secondary to adrenal insufficiency Santiago et al., (2010) \[25\] Standard short corticotropin test Case report of a 7 year old child on 220 μg daily who presented with acute adrenal crisis Lapi et al., (2012) \[37\] Not specified Case control study of 368,238 patients 392 cases of adrenal insufficiency identified Schwartz et al., (2012) \[21\] Variable (early morning basal cortisol, standard short corticotropin test, 24 hour urinary cortisol) 14 children had secondary adrenal suppression with \<500 μg daily fluticasone Smith et al., (2012) \[36\] Morning serum cortisol and low dose ACTH stimulation test Cohort study 43 of 214 children participating had low early morning serum cortisol 20 of this 43 had confirmed HPA suppression with low dose ACTH stimulation testing Zollner et al., (2012) \[35\] Variable (Fasting morning serum cortisol, basal cortisol, metyrapone testing) 143 asthmatic children screened for adrenal suppression 91 children had a degree of HPA axis dysfunction Clinical symptoms of adrenal suppression were not apparent in suppressed children Samaras et al., (2013) \[39\] Standard short corticotropin test Case report of a 76 year old male with clinical adrenal insufficiency on fluticasone 500 μg daily Hay et al., (2014) \[30\] Cosyntropin stimulation test Case report of a 55 year old woman taking 220 μg twice daily of fluticasone with biochemical evidence of adrenal suppression ###### Summary of number of cases. ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------- Number of Articles Reporting AI/AS Secondary to ICS Number of Patients with Evidence of Adrenal Suppression Number of Acute Adrenal Crises 20 590 57 ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ###### Patients who are at risk of AS and would benefit from screening for AS. ---- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Patients who have symptoms of AS regardless of dose of ICS used 2 Patients who are on higher dose of ICS (≥400 mcg of Fluticasone propionate or equivalent) 3 Concomitant use of oral or inhaled steroids 4 Concomitant use of potent CYP3A4 inhibitor 5 Recurrent respiratory infections with slow recovery 6 Any planned surgical procedure 7 Poor growth, decreased body surface area, unexplained hypoglycemia 8 Gastroenteritis and/or chronic nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration 9 Any other serious medical/surgical illness 10 Heat stress, any other condition where AI might result in acute adrenal crisis. ---- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
import contextlib import logging import math import shutil from operator import getitem import uuid import tempfile import tlz as toolz import numpy as np import pandas as pd from .core import DataFrame, Series, _Frame, _concat, map_partitions, new_dd_object from .. import base, config from ..base import tokenize, compute, compute_as_if_collection, is_dask_collection from ..delayed import delayed from ..highlevelgraph import HighLevelGraph from ..sizeof import sizeof from ..utils import digit, insert, M from .utils import hash_object_dispatch, group_split_dispatch from . import methods logger = logging.getLogger(__name__) def set_index( df, index, npartitions=None, shuffle=None, compute=False, drop=True, upsample=1.0, divisions=None, partition_size=128e6, kwargs ): """ See _Frame.set_index for docstring """ if isinstance(index, Series) and index._name == df.index._name: return df if isinstance(index, (DataFrame, tuple, list)): # Accept ["a"], but not [["a"]] if ( isinstance(index, list) and len(index) == 1 and not isinstance(index[0], list) # if index = [["a"]], leave it that way ): index = index[0] else: raise NotImplementedError( "Dask dataframe does not yet support multi-indexes.\n" "You tried to index with this index: %s\n" "Indexes must be single columns only." % str(index) ) if npartitions == "auto": repartition = True npartitions = max(100, df.npartitions) else: if npartitions is None: npartitions = df.npartitions repartition = False if not isinstance(index, Series): index2 = df[index] else: index2 = index if divisions is None: if repartition: index2, df = base.optimize(index2, df) parts = df.to_delayed(optimize_graph=False) sizes = [delayed(sizeof)(part) for part in parts] else: (index2,) = base.optimize(index2) sizes = [] divisions = index2._repartition_quantiles(npartitions, upsample=upsample) iparts = index2.to_delayed(optimize_graph=False) mins = [ipart.min() for ipart in iparts] maxes = [ipart.max() for ipart in iparts] sizes, mins, maxes = base.optimize(sizes, mins, maxes) divisions, sizes, mins, maxes = base.compute( divisions, sizes, mins, maxes, optimize_graph=False ) divisions = methods.tolist(divisions) empty_dataframe_detected = pd.isnull(divisions).all() if repartition or empty_dataframe_detected: total = sum(sizes) npartitions = max(math.ceil(total / partition_size), 1) npartitions = min(npartitions, df.npartitions) n = len(divisions) try: divisions = np.interp( x=np.linspace(0, n - 1, npartitions + 1), xp=np.linspace(0, n - 1, n), fp=divisions, ).tolist() except (TypeError, ValueError): # str type indexes = np.linspace(0, n - 1, npartitions + 1).astype(int) divisions = [divisions[i] for i in indexes] mins = remove_nans(mins) maxes = remove_nans(maxes) if pd.api.types.is_categorical_dtype(index2.dtype): dtype = index2.dtype mins = pd.Categorical(mins, dtype=dtype).codes.tolist() maxes = pd.Categorical(maxes, dtype=dtype).codes.tolist() if ( mins == sorted(mins) and maxes == sorted(maxes) and all(mx < mn for mx, mn in zip(maxes[:-1], mins[1:])) ): divisions = mins + [maxes[-1]] result = set_sorted_index(df, index, drop=drop, divisions=divisions) return result.map_partitions(M.sort_index) return set_partition( df, index, divisions, shuffle=shuffle, drop=drop, compute=compute, kwargs ) def remove_nans(divisions): """Remove nans from divisions These sometime pop up when we call min/max on an empty partition Examples -------- >>> remove_nans((np.nan, 1, 2)) [1, 1, 2] >>> remove_nans((1, np.nan, 2)) [1, 2, 2] >>> remove_nans((1, 2, np.nan)) [1, 2, 2] """ divisions = list(divisions) for i in range(len(divisions) - 2, -1, -1): if pd.isnull(divisions[i]): divisions[i] = divisions[i + 1] for i in range(len(divisions) - 1, -1, -1): if not pd.isnull(divisions[i]): for j in range(i + 1, len(divisions)): divisions[j] = divisions[i] break return divisions def set_partition( df, index, divisions, max_branch=32, drop=True, shuffle=None, compute=None ): """Group DataFrame by index Sets a new index and partitions data along that index according to divisions. Divisions are often found by computing approximate quantiles. The function ``set_index`` will do both of these steps. Parameters ---------- df: DataFrame/Series Data that we want to re-partition index: string or Series Column to become the new index divisions: list Values to form new divisions between partitions drop: bool, default True Whether to delete columns to be used as the new index shuffle: str (optional) Either 'disk' for an on-disk shuffle or 'tasks' to use the task scheduling framework. Use 'disk' if you are on a single machine and 'tasks' if you are on a distributed cluster. max_branch: int (optional) If using the task-based shuffle, the amount of splitting each partition undergoes. Increase this for fewer copies but more scheduler overhead. See Also -------- set_index shuffle partd """ meta = df._meta._constructor_sliced([0]) if isinstance(divisions, tuple): # pd.isna considers tuples to be scalars. Convert to a list. divisions = list(divisions) if np.isscalar(index): dtype = df[index].dtype else: dtype = index.dtype if pd.isna(divisions).any() and pd.api.types.is_integer_dtype(dtype): # Can't construct a Series[int64] when any / all of the divisions are NaN. divisions = df._meta._constructor_sliced(divisions) else: divisions = df._meta._constructor_sliced(divisions, dtype=dtype) if np.isscalar(index): partitions = df[index].map_partitions( set_partitions_pre, divisions=divisions, meta=meta ) df2 = df.assign(_partitions=partitions) else: partitions = index.map_partitions( set_partitions_pre, divisions=divisions, meta=meta ) df2 = df.assign(_partitions=partitions, _index=index) df3 = rearrange_by_column( df2, "_partitions", max_branch=max_branch, npartitions=len(divisions) - 1, shuffle=shuffle, compute=compute, ignore_index=True, ) if np.isscalar(index): df4 = df3.map_partitions( set_index_post_scalar, index_name=index, drop=drop, column_dtype=df.columns.dtype, ) else: df4 = df3.map_partitions( set_index_post_series, index_name=index.name, drop=drop, column_dtype=df.columns.dtype, ) df4.divisions = methods.tolist(divisions) return df4.map_partitions(M.sort_index) def shuffle( df, index, shuffle=None, npartitions=None, max_branch=32, ignore_index=False, compute=None, ): """Group DataFrame by index Hash grouping of elements. After this operation all elements that have the same index will be in the same partition. Note that this requires full dataset read, serialization and shuffle. This is expensive. If possible you should avoid shuffles. This does not preserve a meaningful index/partitioning scheme. This is not deterministic if done in parallel. See Also -------- set_index set_partition shuffle_disk """ list_like = pd.api.types.is_list_like(index) and not is_dask_collection(index) if shuffle == "tasks" and (isinstance(index, str) or list_like): # Avoid creating the "_partitions" column if possible. # We currently do this if the user is passing in # specific column names (and shuffle == "tasks"). if isinstance(index, str): index = [index] else: index = list(index) nset = set(index) if nset.intersection(set(df.columns)) == nset: return rearrange_by_column( df, index, npartitions=npartitions, max_branch=max_branch, shuffle=shuffle, ignore_index=ignore_index, compute=compute, ) if not isinstance(index, _Frame): index = df._select_columns_or_index(index) partitions = index.map_partitions( partitioning_index, npartitions=npartitions or df.npartitions, meta=df._meta._constructor_sliced([0]), transform_divisions=False, ) df2 = df.assign(_partitions=partitions) df2._meta.index.name = df._meta.index.name df3 = rearrange_by_column( df2, "_partitions", npartitions=npartitions, max_branch=max_branch, shuffle=shuffle, compute=compute, ignore_index=ignore_index, ) del df3["_partitions"] return df3 def rearrange_by_divisions(df, column, divisions, max_branch=None, shuffle=None): """ Shuffle dataframe so that column separates along divisions """ divisions = df._meta._constructor_sliced(divisions) meta = df._meta._constructor_sliced([0]) # Assign target output partitions to every row partitions = df[column].map_partitions( set_partitions_pre, divisions=divisions, meta=meta ) df2 = df.assign(_partitions=partitions) # Perform shuffle df3 = rearrange_by_column( df2, "_partitions", max_branch=max_branch, npartitions=len(divisions) - 1, shuffle=shuffle, ) del df3["_partitions"] return df3 def rearrange_by_column( df, col, npartitions=None, max_branch=None, shuffle=None, compute=None, ignore_index=False, ): shuffle = shuffle or config.get("shuffle", None) or "disk" if shuffle == "disk": return rearrange_by_column_disk(df, col, npartitions, compute=compute) elif shuffle == "tasks": df2 = rearrange_by_column_tasks( df, col, max_branch, npartitions, ignore_index=ignore_index ) if ignore_index: df2._meta = df2._meta.reset_index(drop=True) return df2 else: raise NotImplementedError("Unknown shuffle method %s" % shuffle) class maybe_buffered_partd(object): """ If serialized, will return non-buffered partd. Otherwise returns a buffered partd """ def __init__(self, buffer=True, tempdir=None): self.tempdir = tempdir or config.get("temporary_directory", None) self.buffer = buffer self.compression = config.get("dataframe.shuffle-compression", None) def __reduce__(self): if self.tempdir: return (maybe_buffered_partd, (False, self.tempdir)) else: return (maybe_buffered_partd, (False,)) def __call__(self, args, kwargs): import partd path = tempfile.mkdtemp(suffix=".partd", dir=self.tempdir) try: partd_compression = ( getattr(partd.compressed, self.compression) if self.compression else None ) except AttributeError as e: raise ImportError( "Not able to import and load {0} as compression algorithm." "Please check if the library is installed and supported by Partd.".format( self.compression ) ) from e file = partd.File(path) partd.file.cleanup_files.append(path) # Envelope partd file with compression, if set and available if partd_compression: file = partd_compression(file) if self.buffer: return partd.PandasBlocks(partd.Buffer(partd.Dict(), file)) else: return partd.PandasBlocks(file) def rearrange_by_column_disk(df, column, npartitions=None, compute=False): """Shuffle using local disk See Also -------- rearrange_by_column_tasks: Same function, but using tasks rather than partd Has a more informative docstring """ if npartitions is None: npartitions = df.npartitions token = tokenize(df, column, npartitions) always_new_token = uuid.uuid1().hex p = ("zpartd-" + always_new_token,) dsk1 = {p: (maybe_buffered_partd(),)} # Partition data on disk name = "shuffle-partition-" + always_new_token dsk2 = { (name, i): (shuffle_group_3, key, column, npartitions, p) for i, key in enumerate(df.__dask_keys__()) } dependencies = [] layer = {} if compute: graph = HighLevelGraph.merge(df.dask, dsk1, dsk2) keys = [p, sorted(dsk2)] pp, values = compute_as_if_collection(DataFrame, graph, keys) dsk1 = {p: pp} dsk2 = dict(zip(sorted(dsk2), values)) else: dependencies.append(df) # Barrier barrier_token = "barrier-" + always_new_token dsk3 = {barrier_token: (barrier, list(dsk2))} # Collect groups name1 = "shuffle-collect-1" + token dsk4 = { (name1, i): (collect, p, i, df._meta, barrier_token) for i in range(npartitions) } cleanup_token = "cleanup-" + always_new_token barrier_token2 = "barrier2-" + always_new_token # A task that depends on `cleanup-`, but has a small output dsk5 = {(barrier_token2, i): (barrier, part) for i, part in enumerate(dsk4)} # This indirectly depends on `cleanup-` and so runs after we're done using the disk dsk6 = {cleanup_token: (cleanup_partd_files, p, list(dsk5))} name = "shuffle-collect-2" + token dsk7 = {(name, i): (_noop, (name1, i), cleanup_token) for i in range(npartitions)} divisions = (None,) (npartitions + 1) layer = toolz.merge(dsk1, dsk2, dsk3, dsk4, dsk5, dsk6, dsk7) graph = HighLevelGraph.from_collections(name, layer, dependencies=dependencies) return DataFrame(graph, name, df._meta, divisions) def _noop(x, cleanup_token): """ A task that does nothing. """ return x def _simple_rearrange_by_column_tasks(df, column, npartitions, ignore_index=False): """A simplified (single-stage) version of ``rearrange_by_column_tasks``.""" token = tokenize(df, column) simple_shuffle_group_token = "simple-shuffle-group-" + token simple_shuffle_split_token = "simple-shuffle-split-" + token simple_shuffle_combine_token = "simple-shuffle-combine-" + token # Pre-Materialize tuples with max number of values # to be iterated upon in this function and # loop using slicing later. iter_tuples = tuple(range(max(df.npartitions, npartitions))) group = {} split = {} combine = {} for i in iter_tuples[: df.npartitions]: # Convert partition into dict of dataframe pieces group[(simple_shuffle_group_token, i)] = ( shuffle_group, (df._name, i), column, 0, npartitions, npartitions, ignore_index, npartitions, ) for j in iter_tuples[:npartitions]: _concat_list = [] for i in iter_tuples[: df.npartitions]: # Get out each individual dataframe piece from the dicts split[(simple_shuffle_split_token, i, j)] = ( getitem, (simple_shuffle_group_token, i), j, ) _concat_list.append((simple_shuffle_split_token, i, j)) # concatenate those pieces together, with their friends combine[(simple_shuffle_combine_token, j)] = ( _concat, _concat_list, ignore_index, ) dsk = toolz.merge(group, split, combine) graph = HighLevelGraph.from_collections( simple_shuffle_combine_token, dsk, dependencies=[df] ) return new_dd_object( graph, simple_shuffle_combine_token, df, (None,) * (npartitions + 1) ) def rearrange_by_column_tasks( df, column, max_branch=32, npartitions=None, ignore_index=False ): """Order divisions of DataFrame so that all values within column(s) align This enacts a task-based shuffle. It contains most of the tricky logic around the complex network of tasks. Typically before this function is called a new column, ``"_partitions"`` has been added to the dataframe, containing the output partition number of every row. This function produces a new dataframe where every row is in the proper partition. It accomplishes this by splitting each input partition into several pieces, and then concatenating pieces from different input partitions into output partitions. If there are enough partitions then it does this work in stages to avoid scheduling overhead. Lets explain the motivation for this further. Imagine that we have 1000 input partitions and 1000 output partitions. In theory we could split each input into 1000 pieces, and then move the 1 000 000 resulting pieces around, and then concatenate them all into 1000 output groups. This would be fine, but the central scheduling overhead of 1 000 000 tasks would become a bottleneck. Instead we do this in stages so that we split each of the 1000 inputs into 30 pieces (we now have 30 000 pieces) move those around, concatenate back down to 1000, and then do the same process again. This has the same result as the full transfer, but now we've moved data twice (expensive) but done so with only 60 000 tasks (cheap). Note that the `column` input may correspond to a list of columns (rather than just a single column name). In this case, the `shuffle_group` and `shuffle_group_2` functions will use hashing to map each row to an output partition. This approach may require the same rows to be hased multiple times, but avoids the need to assign a new "_partitions" column. Parameters ---------- df: dask.dataframe.DataFrame column: str or list A column name on which we want to split, commonly ``"_partitions"`` which is assigned by functions upstream. This could also be a list of columns (in which case shuffle_group will create a hash array/column). max_branch: int The maximum number of splits per input partition. Defaults to 32. If there are more partitions than this then the shuffling will occur in stages in order to avoid creating npartitions2 tasks Increasing this number increases scheduling overhead but decreases the number of full-dataset transfers that we have to make. npartitions: Optional[int] The desired number of output partitions Returns ------- df3: dask.dataframe.DataFrame See also -------- rearrange_by_column_disk: same operation, but uses partd rearrange_by_column: parent function that calls this or rearrange_by_column_disk shuffle_group: does the actual splitting per-partition """ max_branch = max_branch or 32 n = df.npartitions stages = int(math.ceil(math.log(n) / math.log(max_branch))) if stages > 1: k = int(math.ceil(n (1 / stages))) else: k = n if (npartitions or n) <= max_branch: # We are creating a small number of output partitions. # No need for staged shuffling. Staged shuffling will # sometimes require extra work/communication in this case. return _simple_rearrange_by_column_tasks( df, column, (npartitions or n), ignore_index=ignore_index ) groups = [] splits = [] joins = [] inputs = [tuple(digit(i, j, k) for j in range(stages)) for i in range(k ** stages)] token = tokenize(df, column, max_branch) shuffle_join_name = "shuffle-join-" + token shuffle_group_name = "shuffle-group-" + token shuffle_split_name = "shuffle-split-" + token shuffle_token = "shuffle-" + token start = {} end = {} for idx, inp in enumerate(inputs): group = {} split = {} join = {} start[(shuffle_join_name, 0, inp)] = ( (df._name, idx) if idx < df.npartitions else df._meta ) for stage in range(1, stages + 1): # Convert partition into dict of dataframe pieces group[(shuffle_group_name, stage, inp)] = ( shuffle_group, (shuffle_join_name, stage - 1, inp), column, stage - 1, k, n, ignore_index, npartitions, ) _concat_list = [] for i in range(k): # Get out each individual dataframe piece from the dicts split[(shuffle_split_name, stage, i, inp)] = ( getitem, (shuffle_group_name, stage, inp), i, ) _concat_list.append( ( shuffle_split_name, stage, inp[stage - 1], insert(inp, stage - 1, i), ) ) # concatenate those pieces together, with their friends join[(shuffle_join_name, stage, inp)] = ( _concat, _concat_list, ignore_index, ) groups.append(group) splits.append(split) joins.append(join) end[(shuffle_token, idx)] = (shuffle_join_name, stages, inp) groups.extend(splits) groups.extend(joins) dsk = toolz.merge(start, end, (groups)) graph = HighLevelGraph.from_collections(shuffle_token, dsk, dependencies=[df]) df2 = new_dd_object(graph, shuffle_token, df._meta, df.divisions) if npartitions is not None and npartitions != df.npartitions: token = tokenize(df2, npartitions) repartition_group_token = "repartition-group-" + token dsk = { (repartition_group_token, i): ( shuffle_group_2, k, column, ignore_index, npartitions, ) for i, k in enumerate(df2.__dask_keys__()) } repartition_get_name = "repartition-get-" + token for p in range(npartitions): dsk[(repartition_get_name, p)] = ( shuffle_group_get, (repartition_group_token, p % df.npartitions), p, ) graph2 = HighLevelGraph.from_collections( repartition_get_name, dsk, dependencies=[df2] ) df3 = new_dd_object( graph2, repartition_get_name, df2._meta, [None] (npartitions + 1) ) else: df3 = df2 df3.divisions = (None,) * (df.npartitions + 1) return df3 ######################################################## # Various convenience functions to be run by the above # ######################################################## def partitioning_index(df, npartitions): """ Computes a deterministic index mapping each record to a partition. Identical rows are mapped to the same partition. Parameters ---------- df : DataFrame/Series/Index npartitions : int The number of partitions to group into. Returns ------- partitions : ndarray An array of int64 values mapping each record to a partition. """ return hash_object_dispatch(df, index=False) % int(npartitions) def barrier(args): list(args) return 0 def cleanup_partd_files(p, keys): """ Cleanup the files in a partd.File dataset. Parameters ---------- p : partd.Interface File or Encode wrapping a file should be OK. keys: List Just for scheduling purposes, not actually used. """ import partd if isinstance(p, partd.Encode): maybe_file = p.partd else: maybe_file if isinstance(maybe_file, partd.File): path = maybe_file.path else: path = None if path: shutil.rmtree(path, ignore_errors=True) def collect(p, part, meta, barrier_token): """ Collect partitions from partd, yield dataframes """ with ensure_cleanup_on_exception(p): res = p.get(part) return res if len(res) > 0 else meta def set_partitions_pre(s, divisions): partitions = divisions.searchsorted(s, side="right") - 1 partitions[(s >= divisions.iloc[-1]).values] = len(divisions) - 2 return partitions def shuffle_group_2(df, cols, ignore_index, nparts): if not len(df): return {}, df if isinstance(cols, str): cols = [cols] if cols and cols[0] == "_partitions": ind = df[cols[0]].astype(np.int32) else: ind = ( hash_object_dispatch(df[cols] if cols else df, index=False) % int(nparts) ).astype(np.int32) n = ind.max() + 1 result2 = group_split_dispatch(df, ind.values.view(), n, ignore_index=ignore_index) return result2, df.iloc[:0] def shuffle_group_get(g_head, i): g, head = g_head if i in g: return g[i] else: return head def shuffle_group(df, cols, stage, k, npartitions, ignore_index, nfinal): """Splits dataframe into groups The group is determined by their final partition, and which stage we are in in the shuffle Parameters ---------- df: DataFrame cols: str or list Column name(s) on which to split the dataframe. If ``cols`` is not "_partitions", hashing will be used to determine target partition stage: int We shuffle dataframes with many partitions we in a few stages to avoid a quadratic number of tasks. This number corresponds to which stage we're in, starting from zero up to some small integer k: int Desired number of splits from this dataframe npartition: int Total number of output partitions for the full dataframe nfinal: int Total number of output partitions after repartitioning Returns ------- out: Dict[int, DataFrame] A dictionary mapping integers in {0..k} to dataframes such that the hash values of ``df[col]`` are well partitioned. """ if isinstance(cols, str): cols = [cols] if cols and cols[0] == "_partitions": ind = df[cols[0]] else: ind = hash_object_dispatch(df[cols] if cols else df, index=False) if nfinal and nfinal != npartitions: ind = ind % int(nfinal) c = ind.values typ = np.min_scalar_type(npartitions * 2) c = np.mod(c, npartitions).astype(typ, copy=False) np.floor_divide(c, k stage, out=c) np.mod(c, k, out=c) return group_split_dispatch(df, c, k, ignore_index=ignore_index) @contextlib.contextmanager def ensure_cleanup_on_exception(p): """Ensure a partd.File is cleaned up. We have several tasks referring to a `partd.File` instance. We want to ensure that the file is cleaned up if and only if there's an exception in the tasks using the `partd.File`. """ try: yield except Exception: # the function (e.g. shuffle_group_3) had an internal exception. # We'll cleanup our temporary files and re-raise. try: p.drop() except Exception: logger.exception("ignoring exception in ensure_cleanup_on_exception") raise def shuffle_group_3(df, col, npartitions, p): with ensure_cleanup_on_exception(p): g = df.groupby(col) d = {i: g.get_group(i) for i in g.groups} p.append(d, fsync=True) def set_index_post_scalar(df, index_name, drop, column_dtype): df2 = df.drop("_partitions", axis=1).set_index(index_name, drop=drop) df2.columns = df2.columns.astype(column_dtype) return df2 def set_index_post_series(df, index_name, drop, column_dtype): df2 = df.drop("_partitions", axis=1).set_index("_index", drop=True) df2.index.name = index_name df2.columns = df2.columns.astype(column_dtype) return df2 def drop_overlap(df, index): return df.drop(index) if index in df.index else df def get_overlap(df, index): return df.loc[[index]] if index in df.index else df._constructor() def fix_overlap(ddf, overlap): """ Ensures that the upper bound on each partition of ddf is exclusive """ name = "fix-overlap-" + tokenize(ddf, overlap) n = len(ddf.divisions) - 1 dsk = {(name, i): (ddf._name, i) for i in range(n)} for i in overlap: frames = [(get_overlap, (ddf._name, i - 1), ddf.divisions[i]), (ddf._name, i)] dsk[(name, i)] = (methods.concat, frames) dsk[(name, i - 1)] = (drop_overlap, dsk[(name, i - 1)], ddf.divisions[i]) graph = HighLevelGraph.from_collections(name, dsk, dependencies=[ddf]) return new_dd_object(graph, name, ddf._meta, ddf.divisions) def compute_and_set_divisions(df, kwargs): mins = df.index.map_partitions(M.min, meta=df.index) maxes = df.index.map_partitions(M.max, meta=df.index) mins, maxes = compute(mins, maxes, kwargs) if ( sorted(mins) != list(mins) or sorted(maxes) != list(maxes) or any(a > b for a, b in zip(mins, maxes)) ): raise ValueError( "Partitions must be sorted ascending with the index", mins, maxes ) df.divisions = tuple(mins) + (list(maxes)[-1],) overlap = [i for i in range(1, len(mins)) if mins[i] >= maxes[i - 1]] return fix_overlap(df, overlap) if overlap else df def set_sorted_index(df, index, drop=True, divisions=None, kwargs): if not isinstance(index, Series): meta = df._meta.set_index(index, drop=drop) else: meta = df._meta.set_index(index._meta, drop=drop) result = map_partitions(M.set_index, df, index, drop=drop, meta=meta) if not divisions: return compute_and_set_divisions(result, **kwargs) elif len(divisions) != len(df.divisions): msg = ( "When doing `df.set_index(col, sorted=True, divisions=...)`, " "divisions indicates known splits in the index column. In this " "case divisions must be the same length as the existing " "divisions in `df`\n\n" "If the intent is to repartition into new divisions after " "setting the index, you probably want:\n\n" "`df.set_index(col, sorted=True).repartition(divisions=divisions)`" ) raise ValueError(msg) result.divisions = tuple(divisions) return result
Q: Git/Gitflow different features in the same file Recently I've started to use gitflow and I really like its feature methodology. Mostly I do something like this: I start a new feature, I implement its logic in a separate file, I git add > commit etc. Then I finish my feature and I merge back do develop. No problems at all. But after some time I experienced some problems. For example I have a file FormMain.cs which is basically like a Controller for my GUI in WinForms. So there are many events like buttonABC_Click or buttonXYZ_Click. So let's say I only have two buttons on my GUI (but very important ones) -> ABC and XYZ. I want to implement a logic for clicking button ABC. No problem. I start a new feature, I do some commits. And if I finish it, push, merge and so on, there is no problem with starting to work on feature for button XYZ. But if I don't finish the feature -> f.e. it needs some tests, or it even has to somehow work with the logic for clicking button XYZ, I don't finish the feature. And here comes trouble. If I start a new feature I basically start it from develop (which is still not merged with feature/buttonABC). So I don't have any code which I previously written for buttonABC here on feature/buttonXYZ. And then if I f.e want to finish feature/buttonXYZ -> there's no problem, it will work. But then if I want to finish feature/buttonABC -> there will be problem with merge, cuz on feature/buttonABC the buttonXYZ_Click function is empty, but on the previously merged develop (with feature/buttonXYZ) there's some code, so we have a merge conflict. So my question here would be: Could I somehow fix that problem? Or maybe I shouldn't do multiple features in one file? A: The scenario you outline should not lead to a merge conflict; in fact it's exactly the sort of thing merging is designed to do routinely. So you start work (from develop) on ABC, and later you start work (from develop) on XYZ. X -- Y <--(featureXYZ) / x -- x -- D <--(develop) \ A -- B <--(featureABC) Neither branch has the work from the other branch - that's what branching is about. You finish up XYZ and merge it. X -- Y -- Z <--(featureXYZ) / \ x -- x -- D ----------- M1 <--(develop) \ A -- B <--(featureABC) Now you finish ABC and want to merge it, too, to get X -- Y -- Z<--(featureXYZ) / \ x -- x -- D ----------- M1 -- M2<--(develop) \ / A ----- B ----- C <--(featureABC) Now it's true that featureABC doesn't have code in the XYZ function. But more importantly, featureABC didn't change the XYZ function. So here's how the merge goes down: Just before the merge you have X -- Y -- Z<--(featureXYZ) / \ x -- x -- D ----------- M1 <--(develop) \ A ----- B ----- C <--(featureABC) You've checked out develop and you say git merge featureABC. So git says wants to identify three commits: one as "ours", one as "theirs", and one as the "base". You're on develop, so develop is "ours". And you said to merge in featureABC, so featureABC is "theirs". The merge base is (more or less) the most recent common ancestor of "ours" and "theirs". Looking at our graph, we can see that's D - the develop commit from before either branch was created. So then git is going to calculate "our changes" - the difference between "base" and "ours", which is "add code to function XYZ". Then it will find "their changes" - the difference between "base" and "theirs", which is "add code to function ABC". Now it will try to apply both "our changes" and "their changes" to the "base", and the result of that will be the merge result. There is a conflict only if one of "our changes" touches the same code as one of "their changes". Well "our changes" add code to XYZ but say nothing about ABC; and "their changes" add code to ABC but say nothing about XYZ. So there is no conflict, and the merge works just like it's supposed to.
-- Yet another department store chain has announced it will no longer sell Ivanka Trump's eponymous clothing and accessories line. On Thursday, Seattle-based Nordstrom said it would no longer carry the collection. Then on Friday, Dallas-based Neiman Marcus also said it was dropping the line. "We've got thousands of brands –- more than 2,000 offered on the site alone," said a spokesperson for the Nordstrom, which has nearly 350 stores under various banners across North America. "Reviewing their merit and making edits is part of the regular rhythm of our business. Each year we cut about 10 percent and refresh our assortment with about the same amount. In this case, based on the brand’s performance we’ve decided not to buy it for this season." And a spokesperson for Neiman Marcus, which operates 42 stores, said in a statement, "Neiman Marcus has a very small Ivanka Trump precious jewelry business which is comprised 100 percent of consigned merchandise (merchandise owned by the vendor). Based on productivity we continuously assess whether our brands are carried in stores, on our website, or both." The decisions to no longer carry the line follows a grassroots campaign spearheaded by foes of Donald Trump called "Grab Your Wallet," which called for a boycott of retailers that carried Ivanka Trump or Donald Trump merchandise. In November, Nordstrom took to Twitter to respond to a shopper's request to stop selling the brand. "We hope that offering a vendor's products isn't misunderstood as us taking a political position; we're not," the retailer tweeted. "We recognize our customers can make choices about what they purchase based on personal views & we'll continue to give them options." On Friday, the Nordstrom website only featured four pairs of shoes from the Ivanka Trump collection. The Neiman Marcus website had no Ivanka Trump products. Other retailers, including Macy's, Zappos.com, Saks Fith Avenue and Bon-Ton, still carry the collection.
Nicole Richie has sparked reports her wedding to rocker Joel Madden is imminent after whisking her closest female friends off for a Mexican bachelorette party.Christina Aguilera and DJ Sam Ronson were among the pals who joined the socialite, jeweller and reality TV star for the weekend (18-19Sep10) Cabo San Lucas getaway. According to People.com, the girls relaxed by the Las Ventanas resort pool and enjoyed a series of spa treatments. There was also a celebration dinner. Absent was Richie's former best friend and The Simple Life co-star Paris Hilton. Richie and Madden, who are the parents of two young children, have yet to reveal when they'll wed.
The prognostic significance of atrial fibrillation in heart failure with preserved ejection function: insights from KaRen, a prospective and multicenter study. The prognostic value of atrial fibrillation (AF) in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF) remains controversial. We sought to study the prognostic value of AF in a prospective cohort and to characterize the HFPEF patients with AF. KaRen was a prospective, multicenter, international, observational study intended to characterize HFPEF; 538 patients presenting with an acute decompensated cardiac failure and a left ventricular EF > 45% were included. EKG and echocardiogram performed 4-8 week following the index hospitalization were analyzed in core centers. Clinical and echocardiographic characteristics of patients in sinus rhythm vs. with documented AF at enrolment (decompensated HF), upon their 4-8-week visit (in presumed stable clinical condition) and according to patients' cardiac history, were compared. The primary study endpoint was death from any cause or first hospitalization for decompensated heart failure (HF). A total of 413 patients (32% in AF) were analyzed, with a mean follow-up period of 28 months. The patients were primarily elderly individuals (mean age: 76.2 years), with a slight female predominance and a high prevalence of non-cardiovascular comorbidities. The baseline echocardiographic characteristics and the natriuretic peptide levels were indicative of a more severe heart condition among the patients with AF. However, the patients with AF exhibited a similar survival-free interval compared with the patients in sinus rhythm. In this elderly HFPEF population with a high prevalence of non-cardiovascular comorbidities, the presence of AF was not associated with a worse prognosis despite impaired clinical and echocardiographic features.ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00774709.
The corticosteroid synthesis inhibitor metyrapone markedly enhances the behavioural effects of d-amphetamine. The clinically utilized corticosteroid synthesis inhibitor metyrapone attenuates the behavioural effects of cocaine in the rat. Given the potential therapeutic implications of this interaction, we felt it important to determine if metyrapone's action would generalize to another widely abused psychostimulant, namely d-amphetamine. However, rather than producing attenuation, metyrapone preadministration (3 x 100 mg/kg) markedly enhanced both the locomotor activating and stereotypy-inducing actions of d-amphetamine (dose equivalent to 2.5 mg/kg free base). The fact that the corticosteroid synthesis inhibitor trilostane did not affect the behavioural action of d-amphetamine suggests that inhibition of corticoid synthesis does not underlie the action of metyrapone. Instead, it is argued that inhibition of debrisoquine hydroxylase (cytochrome p450 2D1), an enzyme involved in the metabolism of d-amphetamine, represents the critical mechanism of action.
In February 2011, the last five IPv4 /8s were allocated to the RIRs. Barely three months later, APNIC was down to its last /8. Existing APNIC members and new networks in the Asia Pacific region are now only able to get a maximum of 1,024 IPv4 addresses. These addresses need to be used wisely to enable transition to IPv6 by deploying dual stack networks. The IPv6 deployment needs to be dealt with in the world of business. Although there are still lots to be done, many ISPs are already IPv6 enabling their production networks. Content providers and CDNs are also making efforts to deploy to IPv6. Some governments prepared procurements guidelines including IPv6 capabilities and enabling their backbone networks with IPv6. Part of that deployment involves DNS. Domain registrars are a critical part of that deployment and their transition efforts need to speed up. This session will explain the current status of IPv6 deployment at difference stake holders of the Internet and clarify what we need to do collectively in 2011. This session was coordinated through collaboration among ICANN, IANA and APNIC in order to outreach the Internet multi-stakeholders with important information on IPv4 address exhaustion and IPv6 deployment. Who Should Attend? Domain registrars ISPs and hosting providers Content providers Government officials At Large Agenda Details: Overview of IPv4 address availability in the Asia Pacific region Panel presentations/discussion, focusing on (subject to change): Impact of reduced address availability in the Internet industy Overview of IPv6 transition among ISPs Collaboration between private and public sectors in transiting to IPv6
Contribution of protein kinase C to p53-dependent WAF1 induction pathway after heat treatment in human glioblastoma cell lines. To examine whether protein kinase C (PKC) contributes to p53-dependent WAF1 induction after heat treatment, the effects of calphostin C (CAL), a specific inhibitor of PKC, on WAF1 induction were analyzed by PKC activity and gel mobility-shift assays and Western blot analysis in human glioblastoma cell lines. Heat-induced accumulation of WAF1 in A-172 cells carrying wild-type p53 (wtp53) was suppressed by CAL in a dose-dependent manner. In T98G cells carrying mutant p53 (mp53), no significant accumulation of WAF1 was observed after heat treatment and CAL exerted no significant effects on this response of T98G cells. In accordance with the accumulation of WAF1, heat-induced activation of the binding ability of p53 to p53 consensus sequence (p53 CON) was suppressed by CAL in A-172 cells but no DNA-binding activity was observed in the mp53 in T98G cells. PKC in A-172 cells was activated rapidly (within 5 min) after heat treatment in the membrane fraction but not in the cytosolic fraction. When the cell lines were treated with the PKC activator, 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA), WAF1 was accumulated in A-172 cells in a dose-dependent manner but not in T98G cells. In addition, the cellular contents of WAF1 after heating did not increase in A-172 cells transformed with mp53. These results suggest that PKC contributes to heat-induced signal transduction leading to p53-dependent WAF1 induction in a way that PKC is involved in the specific DNA-binding activation of p53.
Parents Lisa Green and Debbie Whitfield launched ‘1 Big Ask for Helme’ and mum-of-two Lisa said: “Helme is a lovely little school, its recent Ofsted report wasn’t positive but we feel that doesn’t tell the true picture of such a great school. “We decided rather than be negative to do something positive. The school has needed new laptops for a few years but every time the school and PTA get the money to buy some we have to spend it on something else. We had £600 worth of hockey equipment the children won in a competition stolen. We’ve had vandalism and break-ins and had to direct money to cover that. “The target is £6,000 which is a massive amount for a school of 130 children. “Laptops and technology are important, the current laptops are old, they’re passed from classroom to classroom and they can’t support the latest technology. The children are trying to learn about coding, but they can’t do it without the right software.” The Ofsted report criticised the school’s lack of leadership and failure to halt declining standards.
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Angelonia plant botanically known as Angelonia angustifolia and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘Balanglabi’. The new cultivar originated in a controlled breeding program in Arroyo Grande, Calif. during September 2004. The objective of the breeding program was the development of Angelonia cultivars with unique flower coloration, continuous flowering, and a moderately vigorous, freely branching, and upright growth habit. The new Angelonia cultivar is the result of cross-pollination. The female (seed) parent of the new cultivar is the proprietary Angelonia angustifolia breeding selection designated 696-1, not patented, characterized by its light lavender and white bicolored flowers, medium green-colored foliage, and upright growth habit. The male (pollen) parent of the new cultivar is the proprietary Angelonia angustifolia breeding selection designated 873-4, not patented, characterized by its light lavender and white bicolored flowers, medium green-colored foliage, and upright growth habit. The new cultivar was discovered and selected as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the above stated cross-pollination during June 2005 in a controlled environment at Arroyo Grande, Calif. Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal stem cuttings since June 2005 at Arroyo Grande, Calif. and West Chicago, Ill. has demonstrated that the new cultivar reproduces true to type with all of the characteristics, as herein described, firmly fixed and retained through successive generations of such asexual propagation.
Molecular cloning, characterization, and expression analysis of two different types of lectins from the oriental river prawn, Macrobrachium nipponense. Lectins, which are widely expressed in invertebrates, play important roles in many biological processes, including protein trafficking, cell signaling, pathogen recognition, as effector molecules, and so on (Wang and Wang, 2013). This study identified one novel M-type lectin and one L-Type lectin, designated as MnMTL1 and MnLTL1, from the oriental river prawn Macrobrachium nipponense. The full-length cDNA of MnMTL1 was 2064 bp with a 1761 bp ORF encoding a putative protein of 586 deduced amino acids. The full-length cDNA of MnLTL1 was 1744 bp with a 972 bp ORF encoding a 323-amino acid peptide. The deduced MnMTL1 protein contained a putative type II transmembrane region and a 440-aa Glycoside hydrolase family 47 (GH47) domain. One luminal carbohydrate recognition domain and a 23-aa type I transmembrane region were identified from the MnLTL1. MnMTL1 shared 78% identity with Marsupenaeus japonicus M-type lectin and MnLTL1 shared 83% similarity with M. japonicus L-type lectin. RT-PCR analysis showed that MnMTL1 and MnLTL1 were expressed in all tested tissues. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis revealed that MnMTL1 and MnLTL1 are substantially fluctuant during Aeromonas hydrophila and Aeromonas veronii infections. Based on immune responses and previous literature, we assumed that MnMTL1 and MnLTL1 might be functioned as pattern recognition receptors and play important roles in the immune response of M. nipponense.
5.3.5 pattern: A A B A A B A A B C D A C A B A A B A A B A A B C D A C A B c 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 right[c] A 0 1 1 3 4 4 6 7 7 7 7 11 11 13 13 13 B -1 -1 2 2 2 5 5 5 8 8 8 8 8 8 14 14 C -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 9 9 9 12 12 12 12 D -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 10 10 10 10 10 10 … -1
New data suggests that the US is doing everything possible to repeat the 2008 financial crisis. America's middle class is sinking further into debt simply to maintain its middle class lifestyle, according to a new report from the WSJ , and its enabler has been none other than the Federal Reserve, which has continued to make borrowing extremely easy thanks to artificially low interest rates that are once again sliding lower. Meanwhile, as incomes have remained stagnant for nearly two decades, the price of cars, colleges, houses and healthcare have all risen. In order to fill the gap, the middle class is turning to more debt. Consumer debt ex-mortgages - which comprises of credit card debt, as well as auto and student loans - is now at an astonishing $4 trillion, its highest level ever adjusted for inflation, while mortgage debt is rebounding after its post-financial crisis slide. More notably, student debt now totals about $1.5 trillion, exceeding credit card and all other types of debt except for mortgages. Adjusting for inflation, auto debt is up about 40% to $1.3 trillion and the average loan for new cars is up an inflation-adjusted 11% in a decade, to $32,187. Due to peer to peer lending and tech based banks, unsecured personal loans are also popular yet again. Amusingly the WSJ describes the rising debt levels as a "vote of confidence in the future", instead of what it is - a desperate scramble to keep up appearances "for the Joneses" and to be perceived as well off, even if it means having a soaring credit card balance to show for it: In one sense, the growing consumer debt is a vote of confidence in the future. People borrowing money today expect to have the income tomorrow to pay it back. Consumer debt tends to rise when borrowers feel secure in their jobs. Of course, if job losses start to occur, the debt load could easily become unsustainable for many borrowers, which would then result in missed payments, delinquent loans and lenders writing off balances. Some perspective: the median U.S. household income was $61,372 at the end of 2017, which is barely above the 1999 level when adjusted for inflation. Not adjusted for inflation, this number rose 135% over the last three decades - but over the same period, average tuition was up 549% over the same period of time. Healthcare expenditures were up about 276% between 1990 to 2017. Average housing prices were up 188% over those same three decades. Adam Levitin, a Georgetown Law professor who studies bankruptcy, financial regulation and consumer finance said: "The costs of staying in the middle class are going up." U.S. households with credit card debt owed $8,390 in Q1 2019, which is up 9% from 2015 adjusted for inflation. And while borrowing to fund a degree or a house, which could both provide an eventual return on investment, can sometimes be smart decisions, borrowing for everyday consumption or for assets that depreciate (like cars) makes its harder to save and invest. Despite the U.S. economy nearly doubling in size from 1989 to 2016, the gains in assets owned were "heavily skewed" toward the highest earners, according to the report. The median net worth of households in the middle 20% of income rose 4% in inflation-adjusted terms to $81,900 between 1989 and 2016, the latest available data. For households in the top 20%, median net worth more than doubled to $811,860. And for the top 1%, the increase was 178% to $11,206,000. Put differently, the value of assets for all U.S. households increased from 1989 through 2016 by an inflation-adjusted $58 trillion. A third of the gain—$19 trillion—went to the wealthiest 1%, according to a Journal analysis of Fed data. Cris deRitis, deputy chief economist at Moody’s Analytics said: “On the surface things look pretty good, but if you dig a little deeper you see different subpopulations are not performing as well.” And while consumers still aren't as burdened by debt as they were in Q4 of 2017, they're heading in the wrong direction. In Q4 2017 households devoted 13.2% of their disposable income to debt service - that number is about 9.9% now, mostly due to lower interest rates. Other debt, including auto and student loans, consumed about 5.7% of disposable income in Q1 versus 4.9% at the end of 2012. Of course, while rates can always go even lower, the overarching problem is that instead of deleveraging, US consumers are instead adding on more and more debt in the hopes that rates never go up. Come to think of it, that precisely what corporations and sovereign nations are doing as well. Finally, for for those that have an problem visualizing the inequality gap, those who don't realize that the quarterly net worth exercise is meaningless and the result of averaging data when in reality only the top 10% benefit, and those that argue that the US society, not just its financial elites, is far better off than 2008, here's the one chart that will set you straight:
IIROSA provides aid to Syrian refugees in Turkey May 15, 2013 The International Islamic Relief Organization of Saudi Arabia (IIROSA), an affiliate of the Muslim World League (MWL), recently provided assistance to Syrian refugees in Turkey. The aid included 5,000 blankets and 2,240 food-baskets, which benefitted 10,000 people in the Turkish border area.
k3 - 32k*2 + 744k - 42. Give v(-22). 46 Let f(t) = -2619t + 42449. Determine f(16). 545 Let s(n) = 211n - 41605. Give s(197). -38 Let n(q) = -3q2 - 395q + 11883. Determine n(25). 133 Let w(b) = -2671b2 + 7580b + 1302. Give w(3). 3 Let z(a) = -1337a - 107298. Calculate z(-80). -338 Let k(h) = 2598h + 51161. Give k(-20). -799 Let g(d) = 9138d2 + 402188d + 5100. Calculate g(-44). -4 Let z(i) = -189i2 - 1139i - 35. What is z(-6)? -5 Let n(v) = -1776v2 - 2943v + 2941. Determine n(1). -1778 Let h(t) = -246t + 230. Give h(3). -508 Let o(p) = 42p*2 - 7565p + 905. Give o(180). 5 Let j(w) = 6997w - 503794. Calculate j(72). -10 Let z(w) = -3w*2 + 2895w - 650401. What is z(609)? 11 Let p(w) = 23793w - 47685. Calculate p(2). -99 Let u(w) = -w3 + 58w*2 - 137w + 619. Calculate u(56). -781 Let q(y) = 18599y2 + 167433y + 4. Calculate q(-9). -374 Let z(n) = -n*3 + 19n*2 + 47n - 98. Give z(23). -1133 Let j(v) = -5v2 - 78v + 1885. What is j(-31)? -502 Let y(r) = 2r2 + 2930r - 349708. What is y(111)? 164 Let r(s) = -4s2 - 2689s - 8709. Calculate r(-669). -12 Let h(n) = 23629n + 685248. Give h(-29). 7 Let i(l) = l3 - 35l*2 + 76l - 369. What is i(33)? -39 Let o(x) = 3x3 + 8x*2 - 1347x + 3917. What is o(3)? 29 Let r(t) = -t*3 - 635t*2 - 44896t - 12163. What is r(-554)? 25 Let p(j) = 259j3 - 50505j*2 + 3j - 596. Calculate p(195). -11 Let w(p) = -p*3 + 386p*2 + 241p + 360210. Give w(389). -4 Let x(d) = -28d2 + 72d + 423. Calculate x(-5). -637 Let j(z) = z*2 - 5821z - 81708. Give j(-14). -18 Let u(r) = 83r2 + 29963r + 7. Calculate u(-361). 7 Let r(x) = 46x2 - 27x + 37. Determine r(4). 665 Let r(s) = -5194s + 446647. What is r(86)? -37 Let y(v) = 4v*2 - 56v - 17683. Calculate y(-60). 77 Let q(w) = 34w3 - 7w*2 - 12w + 7. Give q(-3). -938 Let j(k) = 344k3 + 2k*2 + 10k + 11. What is j(-1)? -341 Let z(q) = -6709q + 60935. Calculate z(9). 554 Let c(l) = -l2 + 32l + 1377. What is c(-25)? -48 Let d(r) = 2r3 - 1137r*2 + 3854r + 57016. Give d(565). -49 Let x(d) = d*3 - 143d*2 + 266d + 2248. Calculate x(141). -8 Let t(u) = -12u2 + 149u - 161. Determine t(15). -626 Let n(h) = -811149h + 25956773. Calculate n(32). 5 Let o(t) = -23755t + 1092744. Determine o(46). 14 Let k(i) = 3i2 + 165i + 1089. Calculate k(0). 1089 Let m(z) = -27z2 + 49z + 206. Calculate m(-4). -422 Let m(o) = -3130o2 - 6126o. What is m(-2)? -268 Let c(z) = -39629z - 515201. Calculate c(-13). -24 Let h(t) = -14t*2 - 525t + 1578. Give h(3). -123 Let f(x) = -410x3 + 3x*2 + 9x + 7. What is f(-1)? 411 Let y(s) = 8930s + 303660. Determine y(-34). 40 Let h(q) = -5050q + 25170. Determine h(5). -80 Let w(s) = 39s3 - 5s*2 - 421s - 840. Give w(-2). -330 Let d(l) = -l*2 + 11l + 7045. What is d(-80)? -235 Let r(z) = -z*2 + 168z - 1920. Calculate r(23). 1415 Let v(b) = -12b3 + 16b*2 + 59b - 11. Give v(-3). 280 Let i(b) = b*3 + 8b*2 - 1585b - 15756. Calculate i(-10). -106 Let y(r) = 783r - 3059. Give y(3). -710 Let g(c) = -5c*3 + 133c*2 + 53c + 88. Calculate g(27). 61 Let f(c) = -18c2 + 2967c + 142. Give f(165). -353 Let n(c) = 31669c - 570062. What is n(18)? -20 Let h(j) = -4051j - 88419. Determine h(-22). 703 Let q(v) = v3 - v2 - 488v + 3317. Calculate q(18). 41 Let p(g) = -33g*3 - 1918g*2 - 231g - 61. What is p(-58)? -119 Let m(s) = -s*3 + 27s*2 + 484s + 143. Give m(-14). 1403 Let i(h) = h*2 + 243935h - 1951548. Give i(8). -4 Let k(w) = -2011w + 7299. Determine k(3). 1266 Let t(z) = -37z*2 + 100z + 2124. What is t(9)? 27 Let g(v) = v*2 + 28v - 633. Give g(23). 540 Let j(i) = -i*3 - 31i*2 + 1076i - 290. What is j(-52)? 542 Let d(r) = 2r2 + 44r - 30. Determine d(-26). 178 Let o(v) = -11v3 + 15v*2 + 6v - 4. Calculate o(2). -20 Let t(r) = r*2 - 151r + 5547. What is t(66)? -63 Let r(j) = 2j3 + 19j*2 - 30j + 121. Determine r(-14). -1223 Let p(h) = -7029h + 91417. Give p(13). 40 Let z(c) = -2c*3 - 23c*2 - 3035c - 5997. Give z(-2). -3 Let j(g) = 3g3 - 29g*2 - 1081g + 1184. What is j(24)? 8 Let t(k) = -k*2 + 303k + 4666. Give t(-15). -104 Let l(u) = u*3 - 19u*2 + 62u - 2. Give l(11). -288 Let b(k) = 20k3 + 31k*2 - 239k - 30. Determine b(7). 6676 Let z(b) = 4b3 + 28b*2 + 245b + 1238. Give z(-6). -88 Let o(v) = 2v3 + 122v*2 + 1437v - 2659. Determine o(-44). -63 Let n(a) = 7a3 + 297a*2 + 931a - 192. What is n(-39)? 3 Let y(h) = -h*3 + 86h*2 + 87h + 24637. What is y(90)? 67 Let i(b) = 34465b - 68979. Give i(2). -49 Let y(w) = -4w*2 - 115w + 1315. What is y(-26)? 1601 Let x(c) = 2c2 - 97c + 211. What is x(37)? -640 Let i(w) = w*2 - 1895w + 139822. Calculate i(77). -164 Let z(b) = -18b2 + 742b + 4897. Determine z(47). 9 Let o(m) = 134m3 - 159m*2 + 159m. What is o(1)? 134 Let h(w) = 5w3 + 4w*2 - 2479w + 3990. Determine h(21). 0 Let n(o) = -6232o + 853. What is n(-1)? 7085 Let s(l) = 2l*2 + 784l + 6483. Give s(-384). 339 Let j(f) = 2f3 + 79f*2 - 260f - 14216. Calculate j(-38). -4 Let m(f) = -5f3 + 35f*2 - 1977f + 11660. Calculate m(6). -22 Let l(b) = -23878b - 3008618. What is l(-126)? 10 Let t(k) = -92k*3 - 74984k*2 - 3260k + 12. Give t(-815). 12 Let p(l) = l*3 + 262l*2 + 2532l + 119. Determine p(-10). -1 Let h(g) = 17g3 - 112g*2 - 592g + 14. What is h(-5)? -1951 Let t(l) = 53l - 7135. Calculate t(139). 232 Let y(i) = -3i*2 - 492i - 7842. Determine y(-146). 42 Let v(l) = 6210l - 186383. Determine v(30). -83 Let p(r) = -6673r + 8588145. Calculate p(1287). -6 Let a(h) = -2h3 + 615h*2 + 369h - 18774. What is a(308)? 14 Let o(r) = 3103r + 46544. What is o(-15)? -1 Let j(t) = -100t + 9054. Give j(76). 1454 Let f(j) = 175j2 + 15268j - 27326. Give f(-89). -3 Let l(g) = 28g3 + 82g*2 + 71g + 3. Give l(-1). -14 Let w(t) = -t*2 - 122t + 1278. Give w(9). 99 Let v(p) = 9p2 + 1602p + 9267. Determine v(-6). -21 Let t(s) = -2s3 + 56s*2 - 173s + 581. Determine t(24). 1037 Let f(d) = -732532d - 5127754. What is f(-7)? -30 Let p(t) = -722t + 13709. What is p(19)? -9 Let a(k) = 13139k - 210329. What is a(16)? -105 Let f(y) = -22y3 + y2 + 11y + 37. Calculate f(-4). 1417 Let s(x) = -8x*3 + 21x*2 + 323x + 181. Determine s(8). 13 Let l(j) = 2j3 - 177j*2 + 2877j + 220. Give l(67). -48 Let k(n) = -18n3 + 166n*2 + 942n - 33. Determine k(-4). 7 Let a(t) = -t*3 - 57t*2 + 7830t + 6527. Determine a(65). 27 Let n(h) = 902h + 299465. Determine n(-332). 1 Let h(g) = -2g*2 + 518g - 5380. Give h(248). 76 Let n(i) = i*3 + 207i*2 + 6404i - 3042. What is n(-169)? 0 Let n(f) = -9735f - 4108182. Calculate n(-422). -12 Let t(a) = -a2 + 51772a + 258881. What is t(-5)? -4 Let g(h) = -6530h - 385274. What is g(-59)? -4 Let j(g) = -g3 + 184g*2 - 4530g + 5428. Give j(155). 3 Let j(m) = 16m2 - 173m - 351. Calculate j(11). -318 Let z(f) = 2343f - 888008. What is z(379)? -11 Let u(n) = n2 - 2036n + 208220. What is u(108)? -4 Let y(w) = 3w3 - 54w*2 - 82w + 1477. Determine y(18). 1 Let w(u) = -13490u + 13461. Calculate w(1). -29 Let d(z) = 3205z - 6498. Determine d(2). -88 Let u(t) = -2352t - 226. What is u(-1)? 2126 Let q(n) = -6n*2 + 69n + 165. Determine q(-4). -207 Let x(y) = -y*2 - 38y - 516. What is x(15)? -1311 Let i(y) = 12231y + 85593. Give i(-7). -24 Let u(m) = -363m*2 + 83491m - 212. What is u(230)? 18 Let p(j) = -137j + 11680. What is p(80)? 720 Let r(o) = 7309o*2 + 116940o - 78. Determine r(-16). -14 Let i(k) = -349096k + 19898470. Calculate i(57). -2 Let y(f) = f2 - 10792f + 16. Determine y(0). 16 Let l(k) = -3005k + 36112. Calculate l(12). 52 Let i(c) = 9c*2 + 6300c + 198094. What is i(-667)? -5 Let n(w) = -2w2 - 5311w + 69332. Calculate n(13). -49 Let t(r) = r*3 + 50r*2 - 3078r + 1385. Determine t(-86). -163 Let o(f) = -7f2 + 4596f - 4595. Calculate o(1). -6 Let o(k) = -8064k - 153224. Determine o(-19). -8 Let m(i) = i3 + 299i*2 + 5055i - 753. What is m(-281)? 90 Let h(m) = 5756m - 22946. Give h(4). 78 Let l(a) = -3a3 - a2 - 174a + 1029. What is l(6)? -699 Let a(f) = -20f*2 - 11853f + 1605
9 Wants You To Know: Health Effects of Binge Drinking ARLINGTON, Va. (WUSA) -- Debbie Taylor has been in the business of treating addiction since 1972. She is now the director and senior vice-president of Phoenix Houses of the Mid-Atlantic, which provide both inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation for drugs and alcohol to both adults and minors. "The majority of these children are drinking half a pint of vodka at one time," says Taylor. 9NEWS NOW sat down with Taylor at the Phoenix House in Arlington; she says what's changed in recent years is the number of young people they treat who are full-blown alcoholics, and whose bodies are paying the price. "I am seeing in treatment now kids in their 20's. 25, 26... Who have failed out of college, coming to me with beginning cirrhosis and pancreatitis. " "I didn't see that 20 years ago in anybody under 45 years of age." Taylor says most parents have no idea how much alcohol their children are consuming, viewing it as teenage experimentation instead of the voracious binge-drinking that has become more the norm. She says this onslaught of alcohol changes the chemistry of the brain in its reward center. It alters the stimuli needed to make a person feel good; sometimes, forever. "It has to do with the chemicals you are putting in the brain. And the more you put in, the less your body will produce of what should normally be there," Most people know alcohol abuse can eventually destroy a person's liver. But Taylor says many don't realize its damaging effects on other organs, like the heart. "The heart tissue will be affected, causing heart arrhythmias, causing obvious blood pressure fluctuations that would not be believed," says Taylor. Sometimes families don't realize the scope of the problem- both mental and physical- until it is too late. But Debbie Taylor says it is on all of us to stop looking the other way. "Adolescence is the time that they will push whatever boundaries are there until they are stopped," says Taylor. "And we as a community need to say that's too far. You have gone too far."
Profound inhibition of cardiomotor neurons in the rat rostral ventrolateral medulla by nociceptin (orphanin FQ). Nociceptin (orphanin FQ), the newly discovered endogenous ligand for the opioid receptor like-1 receptor, profoundly inhibited spontaneous discharges of neurons in the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) in rat brain slices. This inhibition was concentration-dependent (0.3, 1, 3 and 10 nM) and insensitive to pharmacological blockade of traditional opioid receptors by naloxone. Moreover, nociceptin injected into the RVLM (10 nM, 0.1 microliter) in anesthetized rats decreased arterial blood pressure and heart rate by 31% and 15%, respectively. The data obtained in vitro and in vivo suggest that nociceptin has powerful effects on the RVLM neurons involving central control of cardiovascular activity. The negative regulation of cardiovascular activity by nociceptin is not mediated through typical naloxone-sensitive opioid receptors.
Bashing a game in a review is never fun, but sometimes it's completely necessary. Whether it's the lowest score I've ever given, or a widely-liked game that I wasn't too hot on, no one here at Game Informer gets off on bashing a game just to bash it. This week, I posted a review for a very bad game. 007 Legends was riddled with bugs during my playthrough (on a final retail build, no less), but the comments on our recent Test Chamber episode demonstrated that some people didn't understand why it received the score it did. It seems that Reiner and Tim didn't run into many issues during their twenty minutes with the game, but I thought I'd make this blog to directly show what kinds of bugs I'm talking about. I didn't have video capture equipment hooked up during my playthrough, and there's no audio on these cell phone videos because I was playing through headphones. Sorry for the quality. I know henchmen are traditionally ineffective in Bond movies, but this is ridiculous. Door handles drawn onto the texture like this was a Nintendo 64 game. They couldn't even make the pause menu free of glitches. Oh, so we're randomly going down to 10 frames per second? Cool. "Hey, James! What's up?" Note that this man is supposed to be deceased. Petting an invisible cat. This guy is bad at being a guard. Keep in mind that these are the occasions that I actually had my cell phone ready to capture. There were plenty of glitches and bugs that I didn't get photos or videos of. Hopefully these served to illustrate why 007 Legends received the low score that it did.
Q: MVC - passing values from javascript to View render I hope you can help me with this. I need to do the following but I dont know if its possible. On my view I have a function that receives one parameter. That value already exists in a texbox field but I don't know how to send it to my function. <% Permissions TV = new Permissions(); %> <%: Html.TreeViewAsUnorderedList(TV.GetPermissionsItems((int?)document.getElementById('txtPerfil').value ))%> <%: Html.TextBox("txtPerfil","" , new { disabled = "true", style = "width:20px", id = "txtPerfil" })%> Regards, A: Ok, you have a value in a Textbox which you want to send to server side (function/action). You should have a event, on which you can send this value to your action method. Events can be any simple javascript event like, onBlur, onClick etc... that I leave on to you to decide. Now sending value to function. Here if you dont want a post back to happen, which I assume you do, you need to make an ajax/json call to your action and pass the value here. Sample Code : taken from this article Js/Jquery Code var url = '@Url.Action("GetData")'; $.ajax({ url: url, type: 'GET', cache: false, data: { value: strId}, success: function (result) { $('#result).html(result); alert(result.foo + result.ball); } }); CSharp Code : Action Method (returning a Json) public ActionResult GetData(string value) { return Json(new {foo="bar", ball="dragon"}); } Hope this helps.
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A vehicle is well-known that includes an engine, an electric motor coupled to the engine, and an engagement device non-rotatably fixing the engine. For example, a vehicle described in Patent Document 1 includes an engine, an electric motor coupled via a differential mechanism to the engine, and a clutch selectively coupling a crankshaft of the engine to a non-rotating member to non-rotatably fix the engine. In a vehicle including an electric motor, electric power is given/received between, for example, the electric motor and an electric storage device (e.g., a secondary cell or a battery) via an electric circuit (e.g., an inverter unit). Because of high voltage between the electric storage device or a voltage of an electric storage member (e.g., an inverter capacitor such as an input capacitor, a filter capacitor, or a smoothing capacitor) in the electric circuit, various techniques have been proposed for further improving safety when the vehicle is damaged. For example, in a technique (discharge control of a capacitor) proposed in Patent Document 2, if a collision of a vehicle is predicted, a relay disposed in an electric path between a battery and an inverter unit is opened and a switching operation of a switching element disposed on an inverter portion of the inverter unit is controlled to discharge high-voltage electric power stored in an inverter capacitor so as not to generate a torque in an electric motor. In a technique proposed in Patent Document 3, when a vehicle collides, fuel supply is terminated to stop an engine and an electric motor is coupled to the fuel-cut engine to stop rotation of the electric motor, thereby preventing the electric motor from operating as an electric generator.
1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method, system and program for decoding compressed data. 2. Description of the Related Art Digital images may use one or more bits to describe the color intensity at each pixel. The term xe2x80x9cpixelxe2x80x9d as used herein refers to one or more intensity inputs or bit values at a data point that represents data to be rendered (i.e., printed, displayed, etc.), where the data to be rendered may include, but is not limited to, images, text, composite images, graphs, collages, scientific data, video, etc. A pel is a picture element point that may be expressed with one bit. If only one bit is used to express the intensity, then the image is a bilevel image where there are two possible intensity values per pixel, such as black and white or full saturation and no intensity. Digital monochrome images that allow for more than two intensities per pixel express the intensities as shades of grey. Most systems compress image data before transmitting the data to an output device, such as a printer or display, that renders the image data. The output device must decode or decompress the compressed image to output to print or otherwise render. Compressed images may also be archived and then at some later time transmitted to an output device for decompression and rendering, e.g., printing or display. For instance, International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) uses a concatenated Adaptive Bi-Level Image Compression (ABIC) algorithm to compress check images created using high speed scanners. The IBM ABIC technology is one of the industry standards for high speed scanning and storing of check images. FIG. I illustrates planes 2, 4, 6, 8 providing bit values for pixels in the plane, where each pixel has four bit values, one bit value from each plane. Each bit plane 2, 4, 6, 8 provides a one bit value for one pixel represented in the four planes. Bit plane 2 provides the most significant bit for each pixel represented in the plane, bit plane 4 the second most significant bit, bit plane 6 the third most significant bit, and bit plane 8 the least significant bit for each pixel represented in the four planes 2, 4, 6, 8. Each plane provides one of the four bits used to express the intensity level, e.g., shade of grey, for the pixel. When four planes are used, there are sixteen possible intensity values for each pixel. In the prior art IBM scanning and storage system, the checks are scanned and the scanned data processed down to produce sixteen possible levels of intensity for each pixel on the check. Each intensity value for a pixel can be expressed in four bits or four planes of data. Before compressing the data using the ABIC algorithm, the planes providing bit values for the pixels are concatenated as shown in FIG. 2. into a single bi-level image 10 with four times the height and the same width. Concatenating the planes allows a grey scale image having more than two possible intensity values per pixel to be compressed as a bi-level image. An ABIC coder would use arithmetic coding to code the concatenated image as a bi-level image. The ABIC algorithm of the prior art would sequentially code each bit of image data by using the seven nearest neighbor bits and a probability distribution that is calculated based on previously coded data. In current implementations, the ABIC decoder maintains a history group of bits comprising the last N +2 decoded bits. In certain current implementations, the ABIC decoder uses seven of the bits, including the last two decoded bits and bits in the history range from the (N xe2x88x922) bit to the (N +2) bit. These are the seven nearest bits in the bit data stream. Details of using the ABIC algorithm to code and decode data are described in the IBM publication entitled xe2x80x9cA Multi-Purpose VLSI Chip for Adaptive Data Compression of Bilevel Imagesxe2x80x9d, by R. B. Arps, T. K. Truong, D. J. Lu, R. C. Pasco, and T. D. Friedman, IBM J. Res. Develop., Vol. 32, No. 6, pgs. 775-795 (November 1988) and the commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,297, which publication and patent are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. In the prior art, to decompress data compressed as concatenated ABIC, the output device hardware must decompress and buffer the values for the first three planes. After decoding at least some values in the fourth plane, the decoder may reassemble the four bits for a pixel from the previously buffered three planes and just decoded bits in the fourth plane into the four bits for a pixel and then transfer the decoded four bits per pixel to the output device to render. This technique requires substantial hardware resources because the output device hardware must have sufficient buffer space to decode and store three planes of data before being able to output data and release space in the buffer. Further, the delay in having to wait to decode the first three planes and part of the fourth plane before outputting data limits the ability of the output device to continually feed data to the printer. As printer throughput increases, at some speed, the decoding operations will not been able to provide output pixel data at the printing rate of the printer. Thus, there is a need in the art for an improved technique for decoding compressed data and, in particular, concatenated images that were coded using ABIC or other encoding techniques such as Huffman encoding, especially when high speed output devices are being used that are capable of processing and rendering data very quickly. Preferred embodiments describe a method, system, program, and data structure for decompressing a compressed data stream. At least one reentry data set is received. Each reentry data set includes a pointer to a location in the compressed data stream and decoding information that enables decoding to start from the location addressed by the pointer. Decoding is performed from the beginning of the compressed data stream to a point in the compressed data stream preceding a location addressed by a first reentry data set. For each generated reentry data set, the location in the compressed data stream addressed by the pointer in the reentry data set is accessed. The decoding information in the reentry data set is then used to decode compressed data from the accessed location to a point in the compressed data stream preceding the location addressed by the pointer in the next reentry data set. The decoded data is buffered and outputted. In further embodiments, the decoding information includes decoded data preceding output produced by decoding the compressed data stream at the location addressed by the pointer and probability estimates used to decode the compressed data at the location addressed by the pointer. The data may be compressed and decoded using an Adaptive Bi-Level Image Compression (ABIC) algorithm, or other compression algorithms known in the art. In still further embodiments, the compressed data comprises concatenated bit planes. Each reentry data set pointer addresses a location in the compressed data stream that when decoded produces a first bit value in one plane following the first plane. Yet further, multiple iterations of decoding further data prior to each reentry data set and decoding further data following the last reentry data set are performed until the entire data stream has been decoded. Preferred embodiments provide a technique using reentry data sets to allow decoding of different parts of a decompressed data stream when data from different parts, such as bits from different concatenated planes, are needed before any data can be outputted. With the preferred embodiments, data from different parts of the compressed data stream can be decompressed and outputted before having to decompress all or a substantial part of the data stream, thereby increasing the throughput or the rate at which data is outputted.
Gage Skidmore It is difficult to know how to react when a particular idea is obnoxious and risible, yet seems to have captured a great deal of attention. Do you expose it for what it is while nonetheless giving it more oxygen, or hope it just goes away quietly with the next news cycle? Such is the challenge with Bari Weiss’ bizarre New York Times article on what she calls the “Intellectual Dark Web,” a group of supposedly iconoclastic conservatives whose ideas are no longer accepted in polite society but have large followings nonetheless. The article itself borders on ludicrous, but it has also given rise to some valuable discussions about political shaming and how to deal with the fact of white male panic and the continued strength of bigotry in the electorate. First, to the substance of the article: Weiss presents the likes of noted traditional masculinity advocate Jordan Peterson and race “science” promoter Sam Harris as intellectual counterrevolutionaries promoting renegade ideas, modern-day Galileos bravely fighting a suffocating liberal orthodoxy. The ridiculousness of this framing has been noted again and again since the article’s publication. The notion that people of color are genetically inferior in intellect to whites isn’t some bold new idea: it’s a wrongheaded, racist lie thousands of years in the making, one that was nearly universally accepted among white people until recently. The notion that empowered women are infantilizing men is a continual conservative generational complaint as old as Cicero, and is as toxic now as it was then. That all races are genuinely equal, that whites are only empowered today by a combination of imperial aggression and an accident of geography, and that women really are just as good or better at math and science as men–these are still the counter-cultural and radical ideas in a world mostly dominated by patriarchs and good old boys. This remains the case even if those facts are now widely accepted in liberal, educated circles. In a world where Donald Trump and Republicans are ascendant in the United States, machismo reigns supreme in Latin America, Eastern Europe is in the throes of fascist impulses, most of the Middle East is engaged in ethnic warfare with explicitly misogynistic value systems, the Han Chinese are perpetrating the slow cultural and ethnic cleansing of Tibet while female babies are devalued, and so on, it will be a very long time before anti-racism and anti-sexism become anything close to a dominant oppressive ideology anywhere of significance. More interesting is the question of what to do about the alt-right backlash. An implicit corollary of Weiss’ thesis is that polite society should be more accepting of retrograde bigotries because shunning them serves to make them cool and to alienate large portions of the public that agrees with them. Weiss has been busy peddling this very notion recently on twitter. But this is also wrong on the merits. First, these ideas are not generally cool or trendy. Despite the edgy front projected by younger proponents of such philosophies like Milo Yiannopoulos, in truth the vast majority of far right supporters are among the elderly. That is still who elected Donald Trump, while the vast majority of millennials are leaning hard to the left. Yes, there is a worrisome radicalized group of young white (mostly) men who count such figures among their intellectual heroes, but these young men are also typically children of conservative parents. Second, one should not countenance harmful bigotries in society simply out of fear that the bigots will take offense. Decent people should not be worried that middle-aged white people with racist leanings can affirm their beliefs by listening to a Sam Harris podcast, nor should they hold back on their critiques of Harris lest his listeners have a collective temper tantrum. Now, from a electoral standpoint it is true, as Briahna Joy Gray ably notes, that the politics of shame do not work. It is further true that racists and sexists cannot be shamed out of being racists and sexists over short time horizons, and that trying to do so in the context of political campaigns is the worst idea of all given the tribal nature of modern politics. One of the many frustrations of class-conscious progressives in the last few years is that it is much more difficult to address social justice via legislation than economic justice, and that campaigns focused almost exclusively on eschewing bigotry generally fail to turn out young people, women and people of color while actively turning away voters with even mildly deplorable views. Politics is downstream of culture–particularly in the arena of social justice–and, much as with the LGBT rights movement, the greatest advances tend to be made not by electoral campaigns and legislation but rather by cultural ambassadorship in tandem with judicial rulings. Elections tend to be a particularly terrible place to fight this battle. If the left cannot win until racism is fully defeated, then the left will continue to lose for a long time. But that also doesn’t mean bigots should be coddled at the expense of their victims, or that bigoted philosophies should be given a platform. If Trump’s election has proven anything, it is that giving deplorable views a respectful hearing only emboldens and radicalizes the deplorables. Hate crimes have skyrocketed since the election, neo-nazis openly march in the streets, and society’s worst elements wear their prejudices on their sleeve while shouting “Trump!” as a magic talisman. Such behavior cannot and should not be countenanced, it should be combated actively and aggressively on all fronts, and the beliefs that give rise to it should be scorned and mocked. Pragmatically, it may yet be necessary to win the votes of people who believe in some awful ideas. Keep in mind that many Democrats also hold terrible views: after all, over one-third of Democrats have a negative opinion of the Black Lives Matter movement. And Democrats still need to win a great many states and congressional districts with precious few voters of color not necessarily to win the presidency, but certainly to do well in the House, Senate and state legislatures. But that doesn’t mean treating the likes of Sam Harris and Jordan Peterson with kid gloves. Their pseudo-intellectual garbage should be resisted intensely and de-platformed wherever possible. If it is necessary to win the votes of those who believe some of it (and it still all too often is), then it is incumbent on the left not to cede ground to the terrible at the expense of the oppressed, but to offer an economic program whose obvious practical and moral incentives for voters can often outweigh the price of losing (to paraphrase Du Bois) the psychological wages of whiteness and masculinity.
992 F.Supp. 162 (1996) BUILDING INDUSTRY FUND et al., Plaintiffs, v. LOCAL UNION NO. 3, INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS, AFL CIO et al., Defendants. No. 93 CV 2721. United States District Court, E.D. New York. February 8, 1996. Opinion on Reconsideration May 8, 1996. 163 164 165 166 167 168 Pollack & Greene by Alan M. Pollack, Mitchell G. Mandell, Stuart Parker, Scott Sommer, Renee Schimkat, New York City, Phillips, Nizer, Benjamin, Krim & Ballon by James Frank, Mark R. Weiss, Joshua Adler, New York City, for Plaintiffs. Norman Rothfeld, New York City, for Defendant, Local Union 3, Intern. Broth. of Elec. Workers, AFL-CIO. Menagh, Trainor, Mundo & Falcone, P.C. by Douglas Menagh, Vito V. Mundo, New York City, for Defendant Joint Industry Bd. Murtagh, Cohen & Byrne by Edward T. Byrne, Garden City, NY, for Defendant NYECA. Taubenblatt & Mopper by Leonard Taubenblatt, New York City, for Defendant AECI. OPINION AND ORDER ROSS, District Judge. This rather complex case represents another unfortunate chapter in a long history of labor discord in the electrical segment of the construction industry in New York City. Plaintiffs in this action, a number of individual corporations engaged in the business of providing electrical contracting services and materials in the New York metropolitan area, and the Building Industry Fund, alleged to be an unincorporated trade association of over one hundred such contractors, have filed a civil suit under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1962(a), (c) and (d) (hereinafter "RICO"); the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1 and 2 (hereinafter "Sherman Act"); the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 187 (hereinafter "LMRA"); and state tort law. Defendants named in the Second Amended Complaint include four entities: Local Union No. 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL CIO; the Joint Industry Board of the Electrical Industry; the Association of Electrical Contractors, Inc.; and the New York Electrical Contractors Association. Plaintiffs allege that defendants have engaged in a twenty-year campaign of threats, violence and extortion, amounting to a pattern of racketeering activity, a conspiracy to restrain trade in and monopolize the New York electrical services market, and a systematic program of unfair labor practices. Presently pending before the court, after months of voluminous expedited discovery, are motions for summary judgment on all counts by each of the four defendants. For the reasons that follow, the motions are granted in part and denied in part. FACTUAL BACKGROUND The New York Electrical Contractors Association, Inc. and the Association of Electrical Contractors, Inc. (hereinafter "NYECA" and "AECI" respectively, or jointly "the Associations") are trade organizations which, together, represent approximately two hundred individual companies, each engaged in providing electrical services in the New York metropolitan region. In the construction industry, project contracts are typically awarded to general contractors, who then subcontract specific parts of the job to smaller trade contractors which perform such specialized services as electrical, plumbing, and dry wall installation. The Associations act as multi-employer bargaining units, and have 169 for many years been bound by a series of collective bargaining agreements with Local Union No. 3, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL CIO (hereinafter "Local 3"), which represents the electrician employees of between four and five hundred electrical contractors (hereinafter "Local 3 contractors"). In the collective bargaining agreement of January 1, 1943, the contractors and Local 3 established an entity to be known as the Joint Industry Board of the Electrical Industry (hereinafter "JIB"), whose stated purpose at the time was, among other things, to negotiate collective bargaining agreements, arbitrate disputes between employees and employers, and operate pension plans. JIB Ex. B, at 7 ("History and Organization of JIB"). Today, the stated purposes include administering qualified employee benefit plans, instituting initiatives for the betterment of the electrical industry, and promoting harmony between management and labor by deciding controversies, problems or disputes arising under the collective bargaining agreement. Schuck Aff., ¶ 8; JIB, Ex. C and Pl.'s Ex. 5 (Rules and Regulations of JIB). JIB is composed of thirty representatives: fifteen chosen by Local 3, ten chosen by NYECA, four chosen by AECI, and one by independent contractors affiliated with Local 3.[1] The Local 3 contractors contribute funds for the operation of JIB, and the Associations guarantee those funds with respect to its members. Sometime in the early 1970's, Local 363 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (hereinafter "Local 363") also began organizing electricians. Labor strife between Local 363 and Local 3 ensued, which at one point was described in the media as a "violent war over the right to represent electrical workers," including "bombings, arson, sabotage of work sites, beatings, and death threats." Michael Oreskes, Corruption is Called a Way of Life in New York Construction Industry, N.Y. Times, Apr. 25, 1982, § 1, at 1. Ultimately, Local 363 entered a collective bargaining agreement with another multi-employer trade association known as the United Construction Contractors Association (hereinafter "Contractors Association"). Throughout this period, however, Local 363 apparently remained the minority representative of electrical workers in New York City. The collective bargaining agreement between Local 363 and the Contractors Association provided for the creation of a fund to be called the Building Industry Fund (hereinafter "Fund"), to which each employer was obligated to contribute. JIB Ex. AT, art. 35 (Collective Bargaining Agreement between Local 363 and Contractors Association). The Fund was established to promote the business, welfare and interests of the electrical industry, support various training and educational programs, and stabilize and improve employer-union relations. It was to be administered by employer-appointed trustees, who were to meet with the union every three months. On October 18, 1989, the National Labor Relations Board (hereinafter "NLRB") held a representation election among various classes of electrical workers in the employ of the individual Contractors Association members, which Local 363, the incumbent union, boycotted. On the eve of election, all but six members of the Contractors Association withdrew from that organization. Local 3 was elected, and on February 23, 1993, the NLRB certified Local 3 as the representative of all Contractors Association electricians. Thereafter, the former Contractors Association contractors refused to bargain with Local 3, and on October 29, 1993, the NLRB entered a cease and desist order,[2] which the Second Circuit later enforced on September 2, 1994.[3] Thus, all former members of the Contractors Association are presently obligated to engage in collective bargaining with defendant Local 3. 170 Plaintiffs include thirteen individual electrical contracting companies (hereinafter "the corporate plaintiffs") who had been bound by the collective bargaining agreement with Local 363. They do not deny that they had also been members of the Contractors Association. The Fund, which now purports to be a trade association representing over one hundred electrical contractors, including the thirteen named plaintiffs, is also named as a plaintiff. Together, on June 18, 1993, they filed the present lawsuit pursuant to the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, the Labor Management Relations Act, and state tort law, against Local 3, the Associations, and JIB. Plaintiffs allege that sometime prior to January 1, 1975, and continuing to the present, all four defendants entered into an unlawful "conspiracy," the purpose of which, through racketeering acts of extortion, was to restrain trade, monopolize the market for electrical contracting in New York City, and drive plaintiffs out of business. Paragraphs 25 through 27 of the Second Amended Complaint (hereinafter "the complaint") allege that members of Local 3 employed arson, threats, vandalism, and other forms of violence and harassment against plaintiffs and other electrical contractors to secure contracts for Local 3 contractors at the expense of Local 363 contractors. They also allege that strikes, sit-ins and secondary boycotts were threatened and carried out. In some cases, the Local 3 members allegedly responsible for these activities are also identified as representatives of JIB. Although the complaint alleges that JIB, AECI, and NYECA were complicit in these activities, it does not detail their involvement, except to allege that all defendants were part of the "conspiracy." Furthermore, plaintiffs allege that JIB has used the funds it receives from Local 3 contractors to mount a systematic campaign to harass them through litigation and administrative proceedings. Most of these activities have taken the form of "prevailing wage law" suits pursuant to N.Y. Lab. Law § 220. A final allegation does not appear in the complaint, but in plaintiffs' papers on the instant motion. Plaintiffs allege that defendants conspired illegally to fund JIB in violation of 29 U.S.C. § 186, creating a "slush fund" to support its litigation activities. DISCUSSION I. Summary Judgment Standard Summary judgment is appropriate when there exists no genuine issue of material fact in a case. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 250, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). A disputed material fact is genuine "if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party." Id. 477 U.S. at 248. The moving party bears the burden of demonstrating that no material fact is in dispute. Hurwitz v. Sher, 982 F.2d 778, 780 (2d Cir.1992) (citing Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., 398 U.S. 144, 157, 90 S.Ct. 1598, 26 L.Ed.2d 142 (1970)), cert. denied, 508 U.S. 912, 113 S.Ct. 2345, 124 L.Ed.2d 255 (1993). In examining the record, the court must resolve all ambiguities against the movant and draw all favorable inferences in favor of the nonmovant. Adickes, 398 U.S. at 158-59, 90 S.Ct. at 1609; Ramseur v. Chase Manhattan Bank, 865 F.2d 460, 465 (2d Cir.1989). Once the moving party has made the necessary showing, mere allegations or denials by the non-moving party are insufficient to show that there exists a triable issue of fact. Project Release v. Prevost, 722 F.2d 960, 968 (2d Cir.1983). Further, "to defeat a motion for summary judgment a plaintiff cannot rely on `conjecture or surmise,' Bryant v. Maffucci, 923 F.2d 979, 982 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 849, 112 S.Ct. 152, 116 L.Ed.2d 117 (1991), and `must do more than simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts,' Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986)." Heilweil v. Mount Sinai Hosp., 32 F.3d 718, 723 (2d Cir.1994), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 1147, 115 S.Ct. 1095, 130 L.Ed.2d 1063 (1995). The non-moving party must instead "produce `significant probative evidence tending to support [its position].'" Id. (quoting United States v. Pent-R-Books, Inc., 538 F.2d 519, 529 (2d Cir.1976), cert. denied, 430 U.S. 906, 97 S.Ct. 1175, 51 L.Ed.2d 582 (1977)). "[S]ummary judgment is ordinarily inappropriate 171 where an individual's intent and state of mind are implicated." Ramseur, 865 F.2d at 465. II. Threshold Determinations Affecting All Counts A. Standing of the Fund The Fund purports to be a trade association of electrical contractors, the purpose of which is "to promote and improve the lawful and legitimate business, welfare and interests of the electrical/construction industry." Second Am. Compl., ¶ 1. Neither the defendant Associations nor JIB contest The Fund's standing as a plaintiff in this suit. JIB, in fact, agrees that the Fund is an unincorporated trade association of over 100 electrical contractors, of which each corporate plaintiff is a member. JIB Rule 3(g) Statement, ¶¶ 2-4.[4] As a trade association, the Fund would have standing to sue on behalf of all of its members if it met the following three-prong standard established by the Supreme Court: Thus we have recognized that an association has standing to bring suit on behalf of its members when: (a) its members would otherwise have standing to sue in their own right; (b) the interests it seeks to protect are germane to the organization's purpose; and (c) neither the claim asserted nor the relief requested requires the participation of individual members in the lawsuit. Hunt v. Washington Apple Advertising Comm'n, 432 U.S. 333, 343, 97 S.Ct. 2434, 53 L.Ed.2d 383 (1977); see also Self-Insurance Institute v. Korioth, 993 F.2d 479, 484 (5th Cir.1993); National Coal Ass'n v. Lujan, 979 F.2d 1548, 1551 (D.C.Cir.1992); National Ass'n. of Pharmaceutical Mfrs. v. Ayerst Lab., 850 F.2d 904, 914 (2d Cir.1988); American Booksellers Ass'n. Inc. v. Houghton Mifflin Co., No. 94 Civ. 8566, 1995 WL 92270, at 3, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2522, at 9-10, 1995-1 Trade Cas. (CCH) ¶ 70,931 (S.D.N.Y. March 3, 1995). Local 3, on the other hand, argues that the Fund lacks standing to bring this suit as a separate and individual plaintiff because it is not a representational, membership organization or a trade association, and further, has not alleged any direct injury to itself as required by Holmes v. Securities Investor Protection Corp., 503 U.S. 258, 112 S.Ct. 1311, 1318, 117 L.Ed.2d 532 (1992); see also Manson v. Stacescu, 11 F.3d 1127, 1130 (2d Cir.1993) (stating that RICO standing is limited "to plaintiffs whose injuries were proximately caused by the RICO predicate acts," citing Holmes). Rather, Local 3 claims, the Fund is only a trust fund of employer contributions created by the collective bargaining agreement between Local 363 and the Contractors Association, which should be terminated by virtue of the certification of Local 3 as the union with which the corporate plaintiffs must negotiate. Because plaintiff has not responded to the alleged lack of standing, Local 3 argues that it must be deemed uncontested that the Fund is a trust fund which lacks standing to sue for damages suffered by the contractors from whom it receives its contributions. Local 3 Reply Mem., at 4. If Local 3 had asserted in its Rule 3(g) Statement as an undisputed fact that the Fund is merely a trust fund that lacks standing in this case, and supported that assertion by evidence of record, and if the plaintiffs had still not responded, then the lack of standing would have been deemed admitted. General Electric v. New York State Dep't of Labor, 936 F.2d 1448, 1452 (2d Cir.1991). However, Local 3 raised the issue only in its memorandum of law. Standing should ordinarily not be presumed, and the burden rests upon the plaintiff to demonstrate standing. AutoInfo, Inc. v. Hollander Publishing Co., No. 90 Civ. 6994, 1991 WL 155765, 1991 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11019, at 2, 1991-92 Trade Cas. (CCH) ¶ 69, 529 (August 7, 1991) (dismissing RICO and Sherman Act claims for failure to establish standing) (citing Simon v. Eastern Ky., Welfare Rights Org., 426 U.S. 26, 45, 96 S.Ct. 1917, 48 L.Ed.2d 450 (1976) and Association of Data Processing Serv. v. Camp, 397 U.S. 172 150, 153, 90 S.Ct. 827, 25 L.Ed.2d 184 (1970)). In the case at bar, plaintiffs have made no independent attempt to establish the Fund's standing, despite Local 3's raising the issue, leaving the court to scour the record itself for evidence.[5] The collective bargaining agreement between Local 363 and the Contractors Association that was in force from July 1, 1986 through July 30, 1989, clearly indicates that the Fund is simply one of several funds to which the members of the Contractors Association agreed to contribute. JIB Ex. AT, at 35. Interestingly, the fund was established to promote the business, welfare and interests of the electrical industry, support various training and educational programs, and "stabilize and improve employer-union relations," goals similar to those articulated by defendants in establishing JIB and questioned by plaintiffs in this suit. See, e.g., Schuck Decl., ¶ 8; JIB Ex. B, at 5. Although Anthony Cardillo claims to be the present "chairman" of the Fund, Cardillo Aff., ¶ 1, the agreement refers only to trustees chosen by the employers who shall administer the fund and meet with union officials once every three months. The agreement does not suggest that the individual contractors are "members" of the Fund, or that there are employer "representatives" sitting on a Board of Directors, but only that each employer is obligated to make financial contributions to the fund. Indeed, because the Contractors Association was the representative trade association and multi-employer bargaining unit at the time the agreement was negotiated, see JIB Ex. AT, at 1, the Fund would have been redundant in such a role. The Contractors Association itself apparently became largely defunct when all but six of its members withdrew from the organization just prior to the certification election in November, 1989. If the Fund filled this void by becoming an actual trade association and multi-employer bargaining representative for the Local 363 contractors at that time, plaintiffs have provided no evidence to that effect. Therefore, based upon the present record, the court finds that the Fund is not a representative trade association to which the standing requirements of Hunt could be applied, but is rather a fund of finances to be used for certain stated purposes. Because plaintiffs have offered no evidence that contributions to the fund suffered at any point as a result of any of the activities alleged in the Second Amended Complaint, the fund itself is not properly a plaintiff in this action. Further, even were the court to find that the Fund is a trade association, the record is devoid of evidence which would enable it to hold that the Fund meets all three elements of the Hunt standard. For these reasons, the Fund is dismissed as a plaintiff in this action for lack of standing to sue. B. Hearsay in Plaintiffs' Affidavit JIB argues that much of the evidence upon which plaintiffs rely in resisting summary judgment is inadmissible hearsay that must be discounted by the court. Plaintiffs counter that "the court may consider hearsay evidence in opposition to a motion for summary judgment." Pl.'s Mem. of Law, at 16. Plaintiffs' argument, however, fails fully to take account of JIB's argument and the applicable law. Plaintiffs have submitted twenty affidavits in opposition to the motions for summary judgment allegedly based upon personal knowledge of various illegal acts by defendants Local 3 and JIB. Many of the statements made by the affiants, however, involve what someone told them about Local 3's conduct, or what someone told someone else regarding why certain electrical contracts were lost.[6] Such statements are classic examples 173 of hearsay: out of court statements made by someone other than the witness offered for the truth of the matter asserted. Fed.R.Evid. 801(c).[7] In opposing summary judgment, "[s]upporting and opposing affidavits shall be made on personal knowledge, shall set forth such facts as would be admissible in evidence, and shall show affirmatively that the affiant is competent to testify to the matters stated therein." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e). Thus, while a party opposing summary judgment generally need not prove its evidence in admissible form, e.g., Gache v. Town of Harrison, 813 F.Supp. 1037, 1052 (S.D.N.Y.1993), it is equally well-settled that an affidavit that is solely based upon hearsay is a nullity in reviewing a summary judgment motion. Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse v. Esprit De Corp., 769 F.2d 919, 924 (2d Cir. 1985); Schwimmer v. Sony Corp. of America, 637 F.2d 41, 45 (2d Cir.1980). Those portions of an affidavit that constitute hearsay may be ignored while other portions supported by admissible evidence may be considered. See Witter v. Abell-Howe Co., 765 F.Supp. 1144, 1147 (W.D.N.Y.1991); First City Fed. Sav. Bank v. Bhogaonker, 684 F.Supp. 793, 798 (S.D.N.Y.1988). The party offering the hearsay affidavit must make "a showing that admissible evidence will be available at trial." Burlington Coat Factory, 769 F.2d at 924; Spence v. Maryland Casualty Co., 803 F.Supp. 649, 664 (W.D.N.Y.1992); Isaacs v. Mid America Body & Equip. Co., 720 F.Supp. 255, 256 (E.D.N.Y.1989) ("The test is whether the affiant's statements `would be admissible in evidence under any rule of evidence or exception thereto, if the affiant was on the stand testifying.'") (quoting 6 J. Moore Federal Practice, ¶ 56.22[1] at 56-752 to 56-755 (2d ed.1988)). Plaintiffs do not deny that many of the statements in the twenty affidavits are hearsay. Instead, plaintiffs argue that their hearsay evidence may be considered because there exists other evidence that is not hearsay, and that they have not relied solely upon hearsay evidence. The import of the cases, however, is that plaintiffs bear the burden of showing not just that unspecified "other" admissible evidence exists to support their claims, but that the very same statements currently presented in hearsay form either meet a hearsay exception or will be presented in admissible form at trial. Plaintiffs have not made such a showing. Plaintiffs rely primarily on two cases for their argument that hearsay evidence may be considered in a motion for summary judgment: United States v. Private Sanitation Indus. Ass'n, 862 F.Supp. 861, 866-67 (E.D.N.Y.1994) and Amendolare v. Schenkers Int'l Forwarders, Inc., 747 F.Supp. 162, 165-66 (E.D.N.Y.1990). Both of these cases are distinguishable from the case at bar. First, neither case involved the admissibility of affidavits submitted in opposition to a motion for summary judgment. The evidence at issue in Private Sanitation was a memorandum prepared by a law firm. The evidence at issue in Amendolare was deposition testimony. Thus, neither case addressed the specific requirements of Rule 56(e). Second, the court in Amendolare made a specific finding that the deposition testimony at issue would be admissible under Rule 801(d)(2)(E), while the court in Private Sanitation concluded that the memorandum in question was at least potentially admissible at trial, and could therefore be considered in reviewing the summary judgment motion. Plaintiffs have not made any showing that the various statements that involve hearsay, and sometimes double hearsay, will be offered in an admissible form at trial, e.g., by calling the declarants to the stand or proving by some other admissible means that certain incidents occurred. Therefore, no statement falling into this hearsay category will be considered 174 in reviewing the present motions for summary judgment. III. Plaintiffs' RICO claims Counts One and Two of the complaint allege violations of RICO. Civil damages under RICO are authorized by 18 U.S.C. § 1964(c), which provides that "[a]ny person injured in his business or property by reason of a violation of section 1962 [of Title 18] may sue therefor in any appropriate court of the United States and recover three-fold the damages he sustains and the cost of his suit, including a reasonable attorney's fee." Thus, a private plaintiff who seeks damages under RICO must be able to show a violation of § 1962, as well as injury to business or property caused by such violation. First Nationwide Bank v. Gelt Funding Corp., 27 F.3d 763, 771 (2d Cir.1994), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 1079, 115 S.Ct. 728, 130 L.Ed.2d 632 (1995); Hecht v. Commerce Clearing House, 897 F.2d 21 (2d Cir.1990). Causation, for the purposes of § 1964, requires a showing of both actual or "but-for" causation and of proximate causation. Holmes v. Securities Investor Protection Corp., 503 U.S. 258, 112 S.Ct. 1311, 117 L.Ed.2d 532 (1992) (requiring showing of proximate cause in civil action under § 1962(c)); see also Long Island Lighting Co. v. General Electric, 712 F.Supp. 292, 297 (E.D.N.Y.1989) (requiring showing of proximate cause in civil action under § 1962(a)). The RICO violation must be a "substantial factor in the sequence of responsible causation," and a plaintiff's injury must be a reasonably foreseeable consequence. Hecht, 897 F.2d at 21. In this case, plaintiffs have alleged three distinct violations of § 1962. Each of these allegations is addressed below in turn. For the reasons stated, the court finds no issues of material fact which preclude summary judgment for defendants on the RICO claims. The court therefore grants the motion for summary judgment as to Counts One and Two of the complaint. A. § 1962(a) violation Section 1962(a) of the RICO statute provides, in relevant part, as follows: It shall be unlawful for any person who has received any income derived, directly or indirectly, from a pattern of racketeering activity or through collection of an unlawful debt in which such person has participated as a principal within the meaning of section 2, title 18, United States Code, to use or invest, directly or indirectly, any part of such income, or the proceeds of such income, in acquisition of any interest in, or the establishment or operation of, any enterprise which is engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce. 18 U.S.C. § 1962(a). This provision of RICO is primarily directed toward the investment of unlawfully acquired income in legitimate businesses, a practice frequently referred to as "money laundering." See Brittingham v. Mobil Corp., 943 F.2d 297, 303 (3d Cir.1991); Galerie Furstenberg v. Coffaro, 697 F.Supp. 1282, 1288 (S.D.N.Y.1988). At the outset of this analysis, the court notes that the phrase "in which such person has participated as a principal" has consistently been interpreted to apply to both the "pattern of racketeering activity" and the "collection of unlawful debt" clauses of § 1962(a). See, e.g., Brady v. Dairy Fresh Products Co., 974 F.2d 1149, 1152 (9th Cir. 1992); Genty v. Resolution Trust Corp., 937 F.2d 899, 908 (3d Cir.1991); Haroco, Inc. v. American National Bank and Trust Co., 747 F.2d 384, 402 (7th Cir.1984), aff'd, 473 U.S. 606, 105 S.Ct. 3291, 87 L.Ed.2d 437 (1985); United States v. Loften, 518 F.Supp. 839, 851 n. 19 (S.D.N.Y.1981); see also Barry Tarlow, RICO: The New Darling of the Prosecutor's Nursery, 49 Fordham L.Rev. 165, 184-85 (1980) (concluding that legislative history of RICO "indicates that the modifying phrase was intended for the purpose of requiring participation as a principal in a pattern of racketeering activity"). The court is not aware of any reported decisions that hold otherwise. Nor do plaintiffs appear to contend that a person who receives income from a pattern of racketeering activity in which he does not participate as a principal can be liable for a violation of § 1962(a). See Pl. Mem. at 80-81. 175 Furthermore, because the essence of a § 1962(a) claim is the use or investment of racketeering income, the Second Circuit has held that a plaintiff seeking to recover under § 1962(a) must demonstrate injury resulting from the defendant's investment of racketeering proceeds, rather than from the underlying racketeering activity. Ouaknine v. MacFarlane, 897 F.2d 75, 83 (2d Cir.1990). This rule has also been adopted by the Third, Sixth, Tenth, and District of Columbia Circuits, as well as several district courts in other circuits. See Danielsen v. Burnside-Ott Aviation Training Center, 941 F.2d 1220, 1229-30 (D.C.Cir.1991); Craighead v. E.F. Hutton & Co., 899 F.2d 485, 494-95 (6th Cir.1990); Rose v. Bartle, 871 F.2d 331, 356-58 (3d Cir.1989); Grider v. Texas Oil and Gas Corp., 868 F.2d 1147, 1149-51 (10th Cir. 1989), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 820, 110 S.Ct. 76, 107 L.Ed.2d 43 (1989). The Fourth Circuit and a minority of federal district courts follow a different rule, holding that plaintiff need show only injury caused by the racketeering activity itself. Busby v. Crown Supply, 896 F.2d 833, 836-840 (4th Cir.1990). This court, however, is bound by the Second Circuit's decision in Ouaknine. Thus, in order to prevail in a RICO action based on § 1962(a), plaintiffs must show that (1) each defendant received income from a pattern of racketeering activity in which it participated as a principal, (2) it invested such income in an enterprise engaged in interstate or foreign commerce, and (3) such investment actually and proximately caused the plaintiffs injury. Courts are split as to whether the defendant the "person" in the language of the RICO statute must be distinct from the "enterprise." Compare Long Island Lighting Co., 712 F.Supp. at 297 (holding that "person" and "enterprise" need not be separate entities for the purpose of pleading a § 1962(a) violation) with Rush v. Oppenheimer & Co., 628 F.Supp. 1188, 1196-97 (S.D.N.Y.1985) (holding that "person" and "enterprise" must be distinct). Judge Wexler's position in Long Island Lighting Co. which he reaffirmed in North Star Contracting Corp. v. Long Island Rail Road, 723 F.Supp. 902, 907 (E.D.N.Y.1989) appears to be the majority rule. See Schofield v. First Commodity Corp. of Boston, 793 F.2d 28, 32 (1st Cir.1986); Haroco, 747 F.2d at 402; Downing v. Halliburton & Associates, 812 F.Supp. 1175, 1179-80 (M.D.Ala.1993), aff'd, 13 F.3d 410 (11th Cir.1994). For the purposes of this motion, the court will assume that this view is correct, and that a defendant may violate § 1962(a) by investing racketeering proceeds in its own operations. Under Ouaknine, however, the injury from such reinvestment must be distinct from the underlying racketeering activity. As numerous courts in this circuit have held, when a defendant derives income from a pattern of racketeering activity, and then reinvests the proceeds of that activity in its general business operations, it is the racketeering activity which injures the plaintiff, and not the "investment." See Update Traffic Systems v. Gould, 857 F.Supp. 274, 283 (E.D.N.Y.1994); Morin v. Trupin, 832 F.Supp. 93, 98-99 (S.D.N.Y.1993); Giuliano v. Everything Yogurt, 819 F.Supp. 240, 248-49 (E.D.N.Y. 1993); Williamson v. Simon & Schuster, 735 F.Supp. 565, 568 (S.D.N.Y.1990); Vista Co. v. Columbia Pictures Industries, 725 F.Supp. 1286, 1299-1300 (S.D.N.Y.1989); De Muro v. E.F. Hutton, 643 F.Supp. 63 (S.D.N.Y.1986). Applying these standards, the court concludes that the defendants are all entitled to summary judgment on plaintiffs' § 1962(a) claim. Plaintiffs' theory of liability under § 1962(a) is as follows: When a Fund contractor fails to receive or is forced to surrender a contract to a Local 3 Contractor, the circle of the Conspiracy begins. First, the Local 3 Contractor, as a result of receiving a contract which it had not previously been awarded, earns money in the form of profits. Second, the Local 3 Contractor contributes .5% of its weekly wage payroll to JIB pursuant to an agreement it authorized the Associations to approve; hence the more business a Local 3 Contractor does, the more money is fed into JIB slush fund. Third, the Local 3 Contractor contributes .5% of its weekly wage payroll to the Associations pursuant to their Constitutions and By-Laws; hence, the more business a Local 3 Contractor does, the more money is fed into the Associations' coffers. 176 Fourth, the Local 3 Contractor contributes a portion of the money to the benefit funds managed by JIB, which inures to the benefit of the Local 3 members. And finally, the Local 3 Contractor pays a portion of the money to Local 3 members hired to work on the contract. This income stream is derived from defendants' racketeering activity and directly benefits each of the members of the enterprise. Pl. Mem. at 82. Plaintiffs are somewhat nebulous as to the identity of the "enterprise," describing it either as an association-in-fact of all defendants or as each of the defendants individually. Pl. Mem. at 82; Compl. ¶ 36. Under this theory, the court concludes that there are no issues of material fact which preclude summary judgment for defendants on plaintiffs' § 1962(a) counts. First, AECI, NYECA and JIB can only be liable if they received income from racketeering activities in which they participated as a principal. The record is devoid of any evidence which suggests that any of these defendants engaged in any racketeering activity. Rather, the evidence before the court clearly indicates that the alleged racketeering activity was committed by members of Local 3. While the evidence submitted by plaintiffs thus raises an issue of material fact as to whether Local 3 engaged in racketeering activities as a principal, plaintiffs' § 1962(a) claim against the union fails because they have not suffered any injury based on Local 3's investment of the proceeds of racketeering activity, as distinct from the racketeering activity itself. The racketeering activities alleged in the complaint are extortion in violation of N.Y. Penal Law § 155.05(2)(e) and interference with commerce by threats or violence in violation of the Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1951.[8] The primary acts alleged to constitute such extortion and interference with commerce are the series of threats and acts of harassment, including bombings and acts of arson, identified in paragraphs 25 through 27 of the complaint, and further detailed in the affidavits plaintiffs submitted in opposition to this motion.[9] Having reviewed these affidavits, the court concludes that plaintiffs have not identified any facts which suggest that JIB, AECI, or NYECA played any part in these incidents. Almost all of the incidents described in plaintiffs' affidavits involve activities carried out by members of Local 3. Plaintiffs have not identified any facts which suggest that either AECI or NYECA had any involvement in these activities. Nor have they identified any facts which clearly point to JIB's involvement. The only indication that JIB had anything to do with any of the threats or acts of violence directed toward plaintiffs is that fact that some of the Local 3 members allegedly responsible for these acts were also employee representatives of JIB. For example, several officers of plaintiff companies allege that they attended a meeting 177 in 1990 with Thomas Van Arsdale, whom they describe as the business manager of Local 3 and an employee representative of JIB, and with several other union officials, some of whom also were representatives of JIB. At the meeting, Van Arsdale attempted to pressure plaintiffs into signing collective bargaining agreements with Local 3, and stated that if they signed such agreements, their "troubles would disappear" and things would "be a lot easier." Plaintiffs state that they interpreted these statements as promises that Local 3 would cease its acts of vandalism and harassment if they signed collective bargaining agreements. Cardillo Aff., Pl.Ex. B, at ¶¶ 20-21; E. Iovine Aff., Pl.Ex. I, at ¶¶ 14-15; Micelotta Aff., Pl.Ex. L, at ¶¶ 21-22. They do not state, however, that they understood Van Arsdale to be acting in his capacity as a representative of JIB, or that they understood JIB to be responsible for these acts. The mere fact that Van Arsdale, in addition to being the business manager of Local 3, was also an employee representative of JIB, however, does not mean that his activities can automatically be attributed to JIB. Plaintiffs' affidavits certainly raise a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Local 3 deliberately engaged in deliberate campaign of violent harassment. However, the court finds that no reasonable trier of fact could conclude that JIB acted as a principal in any of these incidents simply because some of the individuals involved were also members of JIB. Plaintiff's attempts to link the associations and JIB to these incidents all depend on a novel and unwarranted extension of the concept of conspiracy liability under Pinkerton v. United States, 328 U.S. 640, 66 S.Ct. 1180, 90 L.Ed. 1489 (1946). Plaintiffs contend that, because all defendants are engaged in a "conspiracy," the substantive acts of one defendant can be "imputed" to each of the other defendants. Pl. Mem. at 74-75. They cite several cases which note that, under New York law, proof of a civil conspiracy subjects exposes a defendant to joint and several liability for the actions of co-conspirators in furtherance of the conspiracy. See Kashi v. Gratsos, 790 F.2d 1050, 1054-55 (2d Cir.1986). That does not mean, however, that predicate acts of one defendant can be attributed to another defendant for the purpose of establishing liability under RICO merely by alleging a "conspiracy." Indeed, such a rule would be contrary to the express statutory language of § 1962(a), which limits liability to those defendants who participate in racketeering activity as a principal within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 2. That provision reads as follows: (a) Whoever commits an offense against the United States or aids, abets, counsels, commands, induces or procures its commission, is punishable as a principal. (b) Whoever willfully causes an act to be done which if directly performed by him or another would be an offense against the United States, is punishable as a principal. In the absence of any indication that AECI, NYECA or JIB in any way aided, abetted, counseled, commanded, induced, or procured or otherwise caused the commission of the various racketeering acts identified by plaintiffs, the court concludes that no genuine issue of material fact exists which precludes summary judgment for these defendants on plaintiffs' § 1962(a) claim. Plaintiffs' § 1962(a) claim against Local 3 stands on a slightly different but no less treacherous footing. Plaintiffs have clearly identified issues of material fact which suggest that Local 3 was sufficiently involved in the commission of racketeering acts to satisfy the requirement that it participated as a principal within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 2. For Local 3 to be liable for a violation of § 1962(a), however, plaintiffs must also have been injured by an investment of income derived from a pattern of racketeering activity. Even assuming that Local 3 derived income from the racketeering activities of its members, plaintiffs have identified no enterprise in which Local 3 invested such money, apart from Local 3 itself. Plaintiffs do not appear to contend that Local 3 invested any money in JIB, AECI, or NYECA. Rather, they contend that Local 3 contractors derive money through a pattern of racketeering activity conducted by Local 3 members, and that the contractors then contribute a portion of that money to the union. 178 To the extent that Local 3 simply re-invests the proceeds of its racketeering activities in its own operations, it is not the investment that causes plaintiffs harm. Rather, it is the underlying racketeering activity that injures them. See, e.g. Giuliano, 819 F.Supp. at 248-49; Williamson, 735 F.Supp. at 568. As Judge Sand noted in Williamson, "use of racketeering proceeds for general overhead purposes of an enterprise not engaged solely in illegal activity may be encompassed by the language of Section 1962(a), [but] it does not satisfy the Second Circuit's holding in Ouaknine that to state an actionable claim under Section 1964(c) plaintiff must allege injury by reason of the defendant's violation of Section 1962(a)." 735 F.Supp. at 568. Any contrary conclusion would render the causation requirement of § 1964(c) meaningless, because any injury from a racketeering act could be said to have been "caused" by the investment of income gained through previous racketeering activities in the general operations of the enterprise. Id. The court therefore concludes that there is no genuine issue of material fact as to whether plaintiffs were injured by an investment of racketeering income by Local 3. Local 3 is therefore entitled to summary judgment on the 1962(a) claim. B. § 1962(c) violation Section 1962(c) of RICO provides as follows: It shall be unlawful for any person employed by or associated with any enterprise engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce, to conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of such enterprise's affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity or collection of an unlawful debt. 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c). In this case, plaintiffs have alleged that JIB is the "enterprise" for the purpose of their § 1962(c) claim. Compl. ¶¶ 50-51; Pl. Mem. at 84. Since the "person" and the "enterprise" must be distinct in a § 1962(c) claim, see, e.g., Bennett v. United States Trust Co., 770 F.2d 308 (2d Cir.1985), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 1058, 106 S.Ct. 800, 88 L.Ed.2d 776 (1986), plaintiffs have not sought to make JIB a defendant to this count. See Pl. Mem. at 84. In order to hold the other defendants liable, then, plaintiffs must show that they "conducted or participated" in the conduct of JIB's affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity. In this case, as noted above, plaintiffs have not identified any evidence linking AECI or NYECA to any predicate acts of racketeering. This failure alone would be enough to warrant summary judgment for these defendants. However, plaintiffs' claim suffers from a further defect. Given that JIB is the enterprise, plaintiffs must show a relationship, or "nexus" between JIB's affairs and the defendants' predicate acts of racketeering. See, e.g., United States v. Thai, 29 F.3d 785, 815 (2d Cir.1994). The "nexus" requirement is satisfied "if the offense was related to the enterprise's activities, whether or not it was in furtherance of those activities, or if the defendant was enabled to commit the offense solely by virtue of his position in the enterprise." Id. Clearly, the second prong of this test does not apply to this case. To the extent that Local 3 has engaged in racketeering activities, it was not able to commit those enterprises solely by virtue of its position in JIB. Indeed, Local 3, like NYECA and AECI, does not have any formal position in JIB. It merely appoints representatives to JIB. Thus, for any of these defendants to have conducted the affairs of JIB through a pattern of racketeering activity, the underlying activity must be "related" to JIB's activities. "Relatedness" does not require proof that the racketeering activity be undertaken for the benefit of the enterprise, that it be authorized by the enterprise, or that the enterprise has engaged in any corrupt activity. See United States v. LeRoy, 687 F.2d 610 (2d Cir.1982) (finding that union official's receipt of illicit funds was related to affairs of union, even if undertaken solely for personal gain); United States v. Scotto, 641 F.2d 47, 55 (2d Cir.1980) (noting that "relatedness" between union official's receipt of kickbacks and affairs of union did not require showing that union was corrupt, or that union's policies and administration were changed by 179 racketeering pattern)[10]. But at the very least, "relatedness" requires some clear link between the activity and the enterprise. See Scotto, 641 F.2d at 54 ("Simply committing predicate acts which are unrelated to the enterprise or one's position in it would be insufficient."). Here, the evidence does not show any such link between the activities of JIB and any of the alleged racketeering activities. JIB's primary function is to administer qualified employee-benefit plans for workers covered by the collective-bargaining agreement with Local 3. Schuck Aff. ¶ 8. It also seeks to promote harmony between labor and management within the industry. As part of that goal, it monitors compliance with the prevailing wage requirements of New York labor law, and has filed numerous administrative complaints with the New York City Comptroller's office, New York State Comptroller's office, and U.S. Department of Labor. Schuck Aff. ¶¶ 28-43; Wishnie Aff. ¶ 4-19. Although some of these activities may cause injury to plaintiff contractors, none of them is illegal. Nor do these activities have any clear connection to the acts of racketeering identified by the plaintiffs. C. § 1962(d) violations Counts One and Two of the complaint each allege a violation of § 1962(d), which makes it unlawful to conspire to violate any of the other subsections of § 1962. Plaintiffs allege that defendants conspired to violate § 1962(a) and § 1962(c). Thus they must ultimately be able to show that defendants conspired either (1) to invest income gained from a pattern of racketeering activity in which they participated as a principal in an enterprise engaged in interstate or foreign commerce, or (2) to conduct the affairs of JIB through a pattern of racketeering activity. For the following reasons, the court concludes that there is no issue of material fact that precludes summary judgment for defendants. To prove a conspiracy to violate either § 1962(a) or § 1962(c), plaintiffs must be able to show that each defendant agreed to commit at least two predicate acts of racketeering. See Spira v. Nick, 876 F.Supp. 553, 560 (S.D.N.Y.1995) (analyzing claim of conspiracy to violate § 1962(a) and § 1962(c)); see also United States v. Ruggiero, 726 F.2d 913, 921 (2d Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. Rabito v. United States, 469 U.S. 831, 105 S.Ct. 118, 83 L.Ed.2d 60 (1984); Pryba v. United States, 498 U.S. 924, 925, 111 S.Ct. 305, 112 L.Ed.2d 258 (1990) (White, J., dissenting from denial of certiorari) (noting split among circuits as to whether RICO conspiracy requires each defendant personally to agree to commit predicate acts). Here, no evidence has been identified which suggests that AECI, NYECA or JIB ever agreed to commit any predicate acts. While there is evidence suggesting that Local 3 engaged in racketeering activity, there is no evidence of an agreement with the other defendants. In the absence of any such agreement, the conspiracy claim must fail. Plaintiffs offer the following arguments in support of their claim of a conspiracy. First, they claim that Local 3 and the Associations have entered into an illegal agreement to fund JIB. Pl. Mem. at 42. For the reasons noted above,[11] this argument is without merit. Second, they claim that JIB's tax-exempt status does not permit it to engage in certain activities. Even if it were proved, however, this allegation would not support the claim that JIB, Local 3, and the associations were engaged in a conspiracy to violate RICO. Pl. Mem. at 39. Third, they claim that JIB's real purpose is to drive plaintiff contractors 180 out of business by harassing them through the lawsuits and administrative actions it has filed. Pl. Mem. at 41. Since these activities are entirely legitimate, as discussed above, they do not indicate that any defendants agreed with any other defendants to engage in predicate acts. Fourth, plaintiffs cite minutes of Local 3 meetings in which members complain of unemployment. While these minutes suggest a motive for union members to engage in acts of racketeering, they do not suggest that any of the defendants entered into a RICO conspiracy. Fifth, they argue that JIB's power to determine the rates at which Local 3 contractors can bid on contracts gives it an unfair advantage with respect to publicly financed jobs that are subject to prevailing wage laws. Pl. Mem. at 52-54. Again, this does not suggest that any of the defendants ever entered into an agreement to commit acts of racketeering. Sixth, they point to the involvement in racketeering activities of Local 3 members who were also representatives of JIB. As noted above, however, the mere fact that some Local 3 members are also JIB representatives does not in itself point to JIB's involvement in acts of racketeering. Finally, they note that JIB runs the Local 3 hiring hall a function usually reserved for labor organizations and cite testimony from several plaintiff contractors to the effect that JIB is merely an alter ego of Local 3. Taken together, these allegations do not raise a genuine issue of material fact suggesting that any defendant ever agreed with any other defendant to violate RICO. At most, they suggest that the defendants had close ties to one another, and some unity of interests. Even if proved, however, these facts would not be sufficient to convince a reasonable trier of fact that a conspiracy to violate RICO existed. All defendants are therefore entitled to summary judgment on plaintiffs' § 1962(d) claims. IV. Plaintiffs' Antitrust Claims Section 1 of the Sherman Act prohibits contracts, combinations or conspiracies in restraint of trade. "To state a claim under Section 1, a plaintiff must allege joint conduct or concerted action; independent action is not proscribed." Brown v. Visa U.S.A., Inc., 674 F.Supp. 249, 251 (N.D.Ill. 1987). Section 2 of the Sherman Act, which prohibits monopolies, attempts to monopolize and conspiracies to monopolize, reaches both unilateral and concerted activity; however, if there is no dangerous probability of monopolization, plaintiff must establish a conspiracy to monopolize. Copperweld Corp. v. Independence Tube Corp., 467 U.S. 752, 767-68, 104 S.Ct. 2731, 81 L.Ed.2d 628 (1984). To prove a conspiracy, there must be evidence of a "unity of purpose or a common design and understanding, or a meeting of the minds in an unlawful arrangement." International Distrib. Ctrs., Inc. v. Walsh Trucking Co., 812 F.2d 786, 793 (2d Cir.1987) (citations omitted), cert. denied, 482 U.S. 915, 107 S.Ct. 3188, 96 L.Ed.2d 676 (1987). The gravamen of defendant's motion is that plaintiff has failed to adduce evidence of a conspiracy under either § 1 or § 2. The Second Circuit has recognized that a § 2 conspiracy is covered by the "broader umbrella" of a § 1 conspiracy. H.L. Hayden Co. v. Siemens Medical Sys., Inc., 879 F.2d 1005, 1019 n. 9 (2d Cir.1989). In this case, however, the factual underpinning of the alleged conspiracy is identical under the § 1 claims and § 2 claim. A. Insufficient Evidence of a Conspiracy In examining the record in this case, the court must draw all favorable inferences in favor of the nonmovant. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986); Ramseur v. Chase Manhattan Bank, 865 F.2d 460, 465 (2d Cir.1989). "However, the Supreme Court has stated that `antitrust law limits the range of permissible inferences from ambiguous evidence in a § 1 case.'" Apex Oil Co. v. DiMauro, 822 F.2d 246, 252 (2d Cir.1987), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 977, 108 S.Ct. 489, 98 L.Ed.2d 487 (1987) (quoting Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 588, 106 S.Ct. at 1356). The Supreme Court has established a specific standard with respect to motions for summary judgment in antitrust cases where the issue is, as here, whether the necessary conspiracy existed: 181 There must be evidence that tends to exclude the possibility that [the alleged conspirators] were acting independently ... the antitrust plaintiff should present direct or circumstantial evidence that reasonably tends to prove that [the alleged conspirators] "had a conscious commitment to a common scheme designed to achieve an unlawful objective." Monsanto Co. v. Spray-Rite Serv. Corp., 465 U.S. 752, 764, 104 S.Ct. 1464, 79 L.Ed.2d 775 (1984) (citing Edward J. Sweeney & Sons, Inc. v. Texaco, Inc., 637 F.2d 105, 111 (3d Cir.1980), cert. denied, 451 U.S. 911, 101 S.Ct. 1981, 68 L.Ed.2d 300 (1981)). In reaffirming the Monsanto standard a few years later, the Court reiterated that conduct as consistent with permissible competition as with illegal conspiracy does not, standing alone, support an inference of antitrust conspiracy ... [plaintiffs] must show that the inference of conspiracy is reasonable in light of the competing inferences of independent action or collusive action that could not have harmed [the plaintiff]. Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 588, 106 S.Ct. at 1356. The Court in Matsushita noted the potential threat of undesirable deterrence to pro-competitive conduct if fact-finders are permitted to infer implausible conspiracies. Id. at 593, 106 S.Ct. at 1359. The Court further stressed that even if a plaintiff can show that the defendants had a plausible economic motive to conspire, ambiguous conduct does not create a triable issue of conspiracy. Id. at 597, 106 S.Ct. at 1361, n. 21; see also Apex Oil, 822 F.2d at 253; City Communications, Inc. v. City of Detroit, 695 F.Supp. 911, 915 (E.D.Mich.1988) (granting defendant's motion for summary judgment for insufficient evidence of conspiracy), aff'd, 888 F.2d 1081 (6th Cir.1989). However, the Second Circuit Court recently emphasized in the context of an antitrust summary judgment motion that, "while some assessment of the evidence is necessary to determine rationally what inferences are reasonable and therefore permissible, it is evident that the question of what weight should be assigned to competing permissible inferences remains within the province of the fact-finder at a trial." Transnor (Bermuda) Ltd. v. BP N. Am. Petroleum, 738 F.Supp. 1472, 1478 n. 4 (S.D.N.Y.1990) (quoting Apex Oil, 822 F.2d at 253). Because direct proof of an illegal agreement is rarely available, an antitrust conspiracy may be proved through the use of circumstantial evidence alone. Transnor (Bermuda), 738 F.Supp. at 1483; Apex Oil Co. v. DiMauro, 641 F.Supp. 1246, 1258 (S.D.N.Y.1986), aff'd in part, rev'd in part, 822 F.2d 246, 252 (2d Cir.1987), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 977, 108 S.Ct. 489, 98 L.Ed.2d 487 (1987); Lemelson v. Bendix Corp., 621 F.Supp. 1122, 1130 (D.Del.1985) (granting summary judgment in favor of defendant because plaintiff's allegation of conspiracy was merely speculative, despite circumstantial evidence consistent with the existence of a conspiracy), aff'd without op., 800 F.2d 1135 (3d Cir.1986). In relying entirely upon circumstantial evidence, however, "plaintiff must overcome the inherent limitations" on the use of such evidence, and inferences drawn therefrom must be reasonable and not merely speculative. Id. at 1130. The Lemelson court concluded that where two plausible versions of the facts exist, one legitimate and the other unlawful, to survive summary judgment, some piece of circumstantial evidence must make the existence of unlawful conspiracy more likely. Id. The Second Circuit has also stressed that where competing versions of the facts are equally plausible, the case should not be decided by a jury: "[w]e have overturned jury verdicts where, `taken as a whole, the evidence point[ed] with at least as much force toward unilateral actions by [the defendants] as toward conspiracy, and a jury would have to engage in impermissible speculation to reach the latter conclusion.'" International Distrib. Ctrs., Inc. v. Walsh Trucking Co., 812 F.2d 786, 794 (2d Cir.1987), cert. denied, 482 U.S. 915, 107 S.Ct. 3188, 96 L.Ed.2d 676 (1987). In that case, the court reversed the district court's refusal to enter judgment notwithstanding the jury verdict on the ground that plaintiff's evidence was as consistent 182 with permissible competition as with an unlawful conspiracy. Id. at 795. Applying these standards to the present case, it is clear for all of the reasons explained above in the discussion of a RICO conspiracy that the alleged acts of violence, threats, vandalism, and pressure to bargain with Local 3 are more likely the result of unilateral action by Local 3 than a concerted agreement between defendants to restrain trade or monopolize the electrical contracting market. Further, because plaintiffs have adduced no evidence that the various litigation commenced against them was "objectively baseless in that no reasonable litigant could realistically expect success on the merits," these actions are exempted from antitrust scrutiny by the Noerr-Pennington doctrine. See Professional Real Estate Investors v. Columbia Pictures, 508 U.S. 49, 113 S.Ct. 1920, 123 L.Ed.2d 611 (1993); California Motor Transport Co. v. Trucking Unlimited, 404 U.S. 508, 92 S.Ct. 609, 30 L.Ed.2d 642 (1972); United Mine Workers v. Pennington, 381 U.S. 657, 85 S.Ct. 1585, 14 L.Ed.2d 626 (1965); Eastern R.R. Presidents Conference v. Noerr Motor Freight, Inc., 365 U.S. 127, 81 S.Ct. 523, 5 L.Ed.2d 464 (1961). Finally, because there is no evidence of an unlawful agreement between Local 3, JIB, and the Associations, all of Local 3's strikes, sit-ins, and secondary boycotts, even if they included threats of violence and harassment and caused plaintiffs to lose contracts for electrical work, engaged in apart from any non-labor group in the context of the labor dispute with Local 363, are statutorily exempt from antitrust scrutiny. Hunt v. Crumboch, 325 U.S. 821, 65 S.Ct. 1545, 89 L.Ed. 1954 (1945); United States v. Hutcheson, 312 U.S. 219, 232, 61 S.Ct. 463, 85 L.Ed. 788 (1941); Apex Hosiery Co. v. Leader, 310 U.S. 469, 60 S.Ct. 982, 84 L.Ed. 1311 (1940); Wickham Contracting Co. v. Board of Educ., 715 F.2d 21, 29 (2d Cir.1983) (Oakes, J., dissenting); Perry v. International Transport Workers' Fed'n, 750 F.Supp. 1189, 1195 (S.D.N.Y. 1990). Therefore, summary judgment must be granted in favor of all defendants on Count Three, a conspiracy in restrain of trade in violation of 15 U.S.C. § 1, and Count Five, a conspiracy to monopolize the electrical services market in New York City. B. Attempted and Actual Monopolization "The offense of monopolization under § 2 of the Sherman Act consists of two elements: (1) the possession of monopoly power in the relevant market; and (2) the willful acquisition or maintenance of that power, as distinguished from growth or development as a consequence of a superior product, business acumen, or historic accident." Volvo N. Am. v. Men's Int'l Professional Tennis Council, 857 F.2d 55, 73 (2d Cir.1988). "The offense of attempted monopolization under § 2 of the Sherman Act requires proof of three elements: (1) anticompetitive or exclusionary conduct; (2) specific intent to monopolize; and (3) a dangerous probability that the attempt will succeed." Id. at 73-74. Neither attempted nor actual monopolization under 15 U.S.C. § 2 requires proof of a conspiracy. Even assuming that defendants engaged in such activities with intent to monopolize, plaintiffs have demonstrated neither that defendants have actually and wilfully achieved monopoly power, nor that they came dangerously close to achieving such power. No evidence of defendants' actual market share has been supplied to the court, other than the unsupported claim that Local 3 contractors, approximately half of whom are not defendants in this case, provide five billion dollars of electrical services annually while Fund contractors only provide eight hundred million. Second Am. Compl. ¶¶ 3, 5, 18. Plaintiffs' memorandum of law does not even address defendants' motions for summary judgment on the § 2 claims. For these reasons, summary judgment is granted in favor of all defendants on counts Four and Six. V. Plaintiffs' Claims Under § 303 of the LMRA Count Seven of the Second Amended Complaint alleges that each of the acts described in paragraphs 25 through 27 perpetrated by Local 3 constitute unfair labor practices pursuant to § 303 of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, 29 U.S.C. § 187. Section 303 provides direct federal court jurisdiction, 183 carved out from the exclusive jurisdiction of the National Labor Relations Board, for violations of 29 U.S.C. § 158(b)(4), the "secondary boycott" prohibition of the National Labor Relations Act.[12] AECI and NYECA argue that they are neither labor organizations nor agents of a labor organization as that term is defined by 29 U.S.C. § 152(5), and that summary judgment must be granted for this reason. Plaintiffs concede that the Associations cannot be liable for money damages under § 303. Pl.'s Mem. at 26 n. 8. These defendants are therefore entitled to summary judgment. JIB similarly argues that it is not a labor organization under 29 U.S.C. § 152(5). Even assuming that there is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether JIB is a labor organization, the court concludes that JIB is entitled to summary judgment on plaintiffs' § 303 claim because plaintiffs have not identified any evidence which suggests that JIB engaged in any unfair labor practice. As noted above, the only significant evidence of wrongdoing by JIB consists of affidavits submitted by plaintiffs in which Thomas Van Arsdale, who is identified as the business manager of Local 3 and an employee representative of JIB, threatened contractors with continued harassment if they did not sign collective bargaining agreements with Local 3. See, e.g., Cardillo Aff., Pl.Ex. B, at ¶¶ 20-21; E. Iovine Aff., Pl.Ex. I, at ¶¶ 14-15; Micelotta Aff., Pl.Ex. L, at ¶¶ 21-22. Even if Van Arsdale was a representative of JIB, nothing in the affidavits suggests that in making these threats, he was acting in that capacity. Assuming that JIB is a labor organization, its liability for the acts of its agents is governed by common-law agency principles. See NLRB v. Local 815, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 290 F.2d 99, 103 (2d Cir.1961); see also NLRB v. Local Union 1058, United Mine Workers of America, 957 F.2d 149, 152 (4th Cir.1992). Under the specific dictates of 29 U.S.C. § 185(e), which are incorporated by reference into § 303, the question of whether an agent's actions were actually authorized by JIB or subsequently ratified by JIB is not controlling. JIB may be bound by the actions of Van Arsdale if he possessed either implied or apparent authority for his actions. See Local Union 1058, 957 F.2d at 152; Local 815, 290 F.2d at 103 (noting that "a principal may be held responsible for the acts of an agent whom it has placed in such a position that persons dealing with the agent reasonably believe the acts to be authorized"). No common-law principle of agency, however, suffices to establish JIB's liability here. Plaintiffs have identified no facts which suggest that JIB either expressly or impliedly authorized Van Arsdale's conduct, or that it subsequently ratified that conduct. Nor do plaintiffs' affidavits indicate that they reasonably 184 perceived Van Arsdale to be acting on behalf of JIB. To the contrary, they clearly indicate that plaintiffs understood Van Arsdale to be acting on behalf of Local 3. In the absence of any other evidence suggesting that JIB engaged in threats, secondary boycotts, or other unfair labor practices, the court must grant summary judgment to JIB. With respect to Local 3, plaintiffs have provided ample evidence of threats and secondary boycotts carried out by union members. See, e.g., Bruno Aff., ¶¶ 2-5: Cardillo Aff., ¶¶ 20, 21, 22; Cunardi Aff., ¶ 7; Dello Russo Aff., ¶ 12; E. Iovine Aff., ¶¶ 14-15;, ¶¶ 21-22; Monti Aff., ¶¶ 2, 3; Micelotta Aff., ¶¶ 21-22; Ostroff Aff., ¶ 10; Pagnotta Aff., 2-9; Zarrelli Aff., ¶¶ 2-9; Ciccone Dep., Pl.'s Ex. 16; Pl.'s Ex. 19. These incidents raise a genuine issue of material fact sufficient to preclude summary judgment. With respect to many of the incidents identified in the complaint, however, plaintiffs' action is time-barred. The statute of limitations for a § 303 claim is four years. Monarch Long Beach Corp. v. Soft Drink Workers, 762 F.2d 228, 232 (2d Cir.1985). Therefore, summary judgment is granted in favor of all defendants on the § 303 count with respect to the following allegations, each of which occurred more than four years prior to the filing of this lawsuit: 25(a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h) and (I); 27(a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), (I), (j), (k), (l), (m), (n), (o), (p), (q) and (r). Furthermore, summary judgment is granted to the extent that plaintiffs seek to use the allegations of paragraph 26 regarding the use of litigation by defendants in violation of § 303. Such behavior is simply not proscribed by the provisions of 29 U.S.C. § 158(b)(4). VI. Plaintiffs' State Law Claims Plaintiffs have brought state law claims for tortious interference with contract and tortious interference with prospective business relations. Because a federal claim remains in this lawsuit, the court retains supplemental subject matter jurisdiction over the state law claims pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367(a). The parties are in agreement with respect to the applicable law. "Under New York law, the following elements are required to state a claim for tortious interference with contract: (1) the existence of a valid contract between plaintiff and a third party; (2) the defendant's knowledge of the contract; (3) the defendant's intentional procurement of a breach of the contract by a third party; and (4) damages caused by the breach." Campo v. 1st Nationwide Bank, 857 F.Supp. 264, 272-73 (E.D.N.Y.1994); Innovative Networks v. Satellite Airlines, 871 F.Supp. 709, 727 (S.D.N.Y.1995). Plaintiff must establish that defendants' actions were the "but for" cause of the breach. Sharma v. Skaarup Ship Management Corp., 916 F.2d 820, 828 (2d Cir.1990). To maintain a claim for tortious interference with prospective business relations (pre-contractual relations), plaintiffs "must allege that defendants interfered with business or economic relations between the plaintiff and a third party, either (1) with the sole purpose of harming the plaintiff; or (2) by dishonest, unfair or improper means." Campo, 857 F.Supp. at 273. The latter standard is more stringent that the former, and requires a showing of "criminal or fraudulent conduct." Id. (quoting PPX Enter., Inc. v. Audiofidelity Enter., Inc., 818 F.2d 266, 269 (2d Cir.1987)); Nifty Foods Corp. v. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., 614 F.2d 832, 838 (2d Cir.1980); accord Corporate Training v. National Broadcasting Co., 868 F.Supp. 501, 513 (E.D.N.Y.1994) ("Under New York law, interference with pre-contractual relations is actionable where a contract would have been entered into but for the malicious, fraudulent, or deceitful acts of a third party"). Applying these standards to the relevant facts, which have been discussed at length in this opinion and need not be repeated in detail, the court finds, first, that plaintiffs have failed to establish either state law claim against the Associations. With respect to JIB, in the one relevant incident in which a JIB representative contacted a third-party in an attempt to procure a breach of contract, that third-party refused. Monti Aff., ¶¶ 3, 8. Further, because that incident occurred in 1989 or 1990, it may be barred by the applicable three year statute of limitations. Marine Midland Bank v. Renck, 208 A.D.2d 688, 617 N.Y.S.2d 507, 508 (2d Dep't 1994); 185 Westinghouse Elec. v. Pyramid Champlain, 193 A.D.2d 928, 597 N.Y.S.2d 811, 814 (3d Dep't 1993). Moreover, plaintiffs have not sufficiently established that JIB engaged in fraudulent or criminal conduct. Therefore, summary judgment is granted in favor of JIB and the Associations on both state law causes of action. Many of plaintiffs' claims regarding Local 3 are also barred by the three year statute of limitations. Therefore, summary judgment is granted with respect to incidents described in the Second Amended Complaint that occurred prior to June 18, 1990.[13] With respect to other claims, however, plaintiffs have raised a genuine issue of material fact. There is sufficient evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude that Local 3 members approached third parties, knowing those parties had contracts with plaintiffs for electrical work, and induced the third parties to withdraw work from plaintiff contractors. Zarrelli Aff., ¶¶ 2-9; Corso Aff., ¶¶ 2-5.[14] Further, although the evidence is largely circumstantial, plaintiffs have adduced a sufficient question of fact with respect to vandalism and harassment committed by Local 3 which, if proved, could amount to criminal conduct. See, e.g., Pagnotta Aff., ¶¶ 2-8; Ostroff Aff., ¶¶ 8-10; Reilly Aff., ¶ 5.[15] Although Local 3 argues that it has not been indicted with respect to any of plaintiffs' allegations, the law does not suggest that an actual criminal action must be instituted in order to maintain a claim for intentional interference with prospective business relations where the defendant has undeniably acted to further its own interest. Therefore, summary judgment is denied with respect to Local 3 on all timely allegations contained in Count Eight. CONCLUSION AND ORDER For the reasons explained above, the pending motions are resolved as follows. Plaintiff Building Industry Fund is hereby DISMISSED from this action. On Counts One through Six, summary judgment is GRANTED in favor of all defendants. On Counts Seven and Eight, summary judgment is GRANTED in favor of defendants JIB, AECI, and NYECA, and the complaint is hereby DISMISSED as to these defendants. Summary judgment on Counts Seven and Eight is further GRANTED in favor of Local 3 on all time-barred incidents as described above. With respect to the remaining claims against Local 3 in Counts Seven and Eight, the motion for summary judgment is DENIED. SO ORDERED. OPINION AND ORDER ON RECONSIDERATION Plaintiffs have moved for reconsideration of this court's Opinion and Order of February 8, 1996 (the "Order"). Defendant Local Union No. 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO ("Local 3") has also moved for reconsideration of the Order. For the reasons stated herein, plaintiffs' motion is denied, and Local 3's motion is granted in part and denied in part. In addition, plaintiffs' request for entry of a partial final judgment pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 54(b) is denied. DISCUSSION The standard controlling a motion for reargument under Local Civil Rule 3(j) is the same as that governing a motion to 186 amend a judgment pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(e). Ades v. Deloitte & Touche, 843 F.Supp. 888, 891 (S.D.N.Y.1994); Lotze v. Hoke, 654 F.Supp. 605, 607 (E.D.N.Y.1987). A plaintiff must demonstrate either that there has been an intervening change of controlling law, that there is new evidence that bears upon the issues decided, or that the court overlooked controlling decisions or factual matters that were put before it on the underlying motion. Ades, 843 F.Supp. at 891. Furthermore, a party may not advance new facts, issues or arguments not previously presented to the court. See Caribbean Trading & Fidelity Corp. v. Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., 948 F.2d 111, 115 (2d Cir. 1991), cert. denied, 504 U.S. 910, 112 S.Ct. 1941, 118 L.Ed.2d 547 (1992). I. Plaintiff's motion for reconsideration In its Order of February 8, 1996, the court dismissed all of plaintiffs' claims against defendants under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act ("RICO"), 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961-1968, and §§ 1 and 2 of Sherman Anti-Trust Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1 and 2. The court also dismissed all of plaintiff's remaining claims against defendants New York Electrical Contractors Association, Inc. ("NYECA"), Association of Electrical Contractors, Inc. ("AECI"), and Joint Industry Board of the Electrical Industry ("JIB"). Plaintiffs seek reconsideration of the Order as it relates to JIB. Plaintiffs argue that the court overlooked evidence that established the existence of genuine issues of material fact, precluding summary judgment for JIB. The court does not agree. As discussed in the Order, the legal premise of plaintiffs' claims against JIB is misguided. Rather than arguing that Local 3 and JIB conspired for a particular illicit purpose, they try to establish that all defendants are engaged in an all-encompassing "Conspiracy." Under their theory of the case, because all defendants are associated with one another with the common goal of forcing plaintiff contractors to negotiate with Local 3, action of one defendant can be attributed to all the other defendants. The court rejects this novel theory of liability. The essence of a conspiracy is not simply a commonality of interest. It involves an agreement by two or more people to accomplish a specific illegal objective. See, e.g., United States v. Felix, 503 U.S. 378, 389-90, 112 S.Ct. 1377, 118 L.Ed.2d 25 (1992) ("[T]he `essence' of a conspiracy offense `is in the agreement or confederation to commit a crime.'") (quoting United States v. Bayer, 331 U.S. 532, 542, 67 S.Ct. 1394, 91 L.Ed. 1654 (1947)). As discussed previously, plaintiffs have not identified evidence in the record that would demonstrate either that JIB committed acts of racketeering, or that it agreed with Local 3 to violate any provision of either RICO or the Sherman Act. In the absence of such evidence, plaintiffs' conspiracy claims cannot stand. See Monsanto Co. v. Spray-Rite Service Corp., 465 U.S. 752, 764, 104 S.Ct. 1464, 79 L.Ed.2d 775 (1984) ("[T]he antitrust plaintiff should present direct or circumstantial evidence that reasonably tends to prove that the manufacturer and others had a conscious commitment to a common scheme designed to achieve an unlawful objective.") (citations and internal quotation marks omitted); Hecht v. Commerce Clearing House, 897 F.2d 21, 25 ("[T]he core of a RICO conspiracy is an agreement to commit predicate acts...."). All that plaintiffs have demonstrated is that certain members of Local 3 some of whom were also employee representatives of JIB engaged in certain allegedly illegal actions. The specific facts that plaintiffs have cited in the instant motion do not alter this conclusion. Although the court did not specifically refer to all of these incidents in its opinion, it considered each of them. For the sake of thoroughness, the court will elaborate on its reasoning concerning the specific that plaintiffs cite. Plaintiffs first point to statements in the affidavit of Frank Micelotta, who stated that two members of Local 3, Angelo Granata and Salvatore Bruzzese, accosted him in 1975 and threatened to throw him down an elevator shaft if he testified before the National Labor Relations Board. This incident occurred some eighteen years before this action was filed a detail plaintiffs do not mention in their motion papers and its probative value 187 is therefore slight. In any case, Micelotta does not identify any clear link between JIB and this action, beyond the fact that "[a]t that time, I was aware that Mr. Granata was also a trustee of [JIB]." Pl.Ex. L, at ¶ 11. Micelotta also referred to an incident in 1980 some thirteen years before this action was filed in which his company, plaintiff Expert Electric Co., submitted the lowest bid for a particular electrical contracting job. He stated that: Subsequent to the submission of Expert's bid, Leonard Feinberg of Feinberg Electric telephoned me and told me that individuals from the JIB and Local 3 had used their influence to have the job put out for rebidding. I believed that Mr. Feinberg was talking about Mr. Granata, a trustee of the JIB, and that Mr. Granata had used his influence to have the job rebid. Pl.Ex. L, at ¶ 16. Leaving aside the fact that Feinberg's statement is inadmissible hearsay,[1] Micelotta's description of this incident is insufficient to raise a genuine issue of material fact concerning JIB's involvement in any unlawful activity. Even if the court assumes the truth of the statement that "individuals from the JIB and Local 3 had used their influence to have the job put out for rebidding," that fact would not suggest that JIB either engaged in any predicate acts of racketeering or agreed to engage in such acts. Nor is a single, vague reference to JIB having used its "influence" on Local 3's behalf sufficient to support an inference of an antitrust conspiracy, in the absence of any other evidence in the record that would support such a conclusion.[2] Plaintiffs next point to a series of statements involving Thomas Van Arsdale, the business manager of Local 3, who was also one of Local 3's representatives on JIB. These allegations, which were discussed in the court's previous opinion, also do not suggest JIB's involvement in illegal activity. Plaintiffs have identified no specific evidence linking JIB to any of the incidents they describe, other than the fact that Van Arsdale was simultaneously a union official and a member of JIB. Plaintiffs also point to activities by Bernard Rosenberg, a representative of Local 3 and a member of JIB. These allegations suffer from the same defect. The fact that Rosenberg was a member of JIB is not, on its own, evidence of JIB's involvement in his activities. Plaintiffs also refer to a letter that Richard Wishnie, the assistant chairman of JIB,[3] wrote in 1989 to the New York State Attorney General and the chairman of the Port Authority concerning plaintiff TAP Electrical Contracting Service, Inc. ("TAP"). Jack Cohen, the former assistant chief engineer for the Port Authority, stated in his affidavit that it was his "impression" that Wishnie's letter was part of an effort to have the Port Authority terminate a contract with TAP, which had been barred from bidding on New York State jobs. He also stated that, in July of 1990, the Port Authority decided not to award a contract to TAP, despite the fact that TAP had submitted the lowest bid for the job. With respect to this decision, he stated, "I believe the letters written by Local 3 and Richard Wishnie served to influence the Port Authority's decision to honor the New York State debarment of TAP." Pl.Ex. C, at § 11. If Wishnie's letter had been produced, it would have qualified as evidence of official action by JIB. As described in Cohen's affidavit, however, Wishnie's letter is not indicative of any wrongdoing by JIB. It is clear that one of JIB's primary functions is to 188 monitor compliance with prevailing wage laws in the New York area. Sending a letter to the Port Authority informing it of violations by a potential bidder is consistent with that function. Cohen's affidavit which is based entirely on "impressions" and "beliefs" unsupported by facts does not suggest that JIB exerted any improper pressure on the Port Authority. Rather, it merely states that JIB brought certain truthful facts to the Port Authority's attention. Finally, plaintiffs point to the affidavit of Anthony Cardillo, the president of TAP. Cardillo described an incident in 1982 in which a general contractor refused to hire TAP for a job, even though TAP had submitted the lowest bid for the job. He stated that the contractor "informed me that he had received calls from [JIB]. Thereafter, TAP was not awarded the contract and a Local 3 contractor received the job." Again, this statement is inadmissible hearsay, which may not be relied upon to raise an issue of fact on this motion. Disregarding that fact, however, it is clear that Cardillo's statement is not probative of anything. Cardillo does not describe the content of the phone calls from JIB. He offers no evidence that JIB did anything improper. He does not even state that he believed JIB's actions had some effect on the contractor's decision. Disregarding those allegations that are nothing more than speculation or innuendo, the only evidence which plaintiffs have put forward against JIB is the fact that Granata, Van Arsdale, and Rosenberg were all members of JIB. Plaintiffs' characterization of these individuals as "representatives of the JIB" is misleading. As discussed in the court's previous opinion, JIB is an entity established by a collective bargaining agreement of January 1, 1943. It consists of thirty representatives, fifteen of whom are chosen by Local 3, and ten chosen by NYECA, four chosen by AECI, and one chosen by independent contractors. Plaintiffs describe Granata, Van Arsdale, and Rosenberg as "employee representatives of the JIB." In fact, they are employee representatives to the JIB. In other words, their function on JIB is to represent the members of Local 3. That fact does not mean that they necessarily represent JIB in all of their actions. Plaintiffs have not identified any evidence that suggests that JIB authorized the actions of these individuals, or appointed them as agents for any purpose. Thus plaintiffs' contention that these men were "agents" of JIB is unsupported by anything in the record. Plaintiffs' recourse to the doctrine of "apparent authority" is unavailing.[4] Apparent authority is defined as "the power to affect the legal relations with another by transactions with third persons, professedly as agent for another, arising from and in accordance with the other's manifestations to such third persons." Restatement (Second) of Agency § 8 (1957); see also American Society of Mechanical Engineers v. Hydrolevel Corp., 456 U.S. 556, 566 n. 5, 102 S.Ct. 1935, 72 L.Ed.2d 330 (1982) [hereinafter ASME] (quoting Restatement definition). This doctrine applies most commonly to cases involving contracts and conveyances. For example, if JIB had manifested to plaintiffs that Van Arsdale had power to enter into contracts on its behalf, without actually granting him such authority, it could nonetheless be bound by any contracts that he entered into in JIB's name. As the Supreme Court recognized in ASME, however, the apparent authority doctrine may also apply in tort cases in the federal system. In ASME, the plaintiff manufactured a new type of low-water fuel cutoff 189 to be used in heating boilers. Two officers of its principal competitor also served as the chairman and vice chairman of a committee of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, which had been entrusted with the job of drafting, revising, and interpreting its safety code provisions concerning low-water fuel cutoffs. These two men colluded with one another to draft a statement condemning fuel cutoffs of the type manufactured by the plaintiff. Although formally described as an "unofficial communication," the statement was sent out on ASME stationary and was signed by the secretary of the committee, a full-time ASME employee. 456 U.S. at 560-62. The Court held that, even though the two men were acting in their employers' interests, rather than ASME's interests, and even though ASME never ratified their actions, ASME could still be held liable under the apparent authority doctrine. Id. at 570-74. In many of the cases cited by plaintiffs, courts within this circuit have continued to rely on apparent authority as a basis for holding organizations liable for the tortious acts of their members. See Jund v. Town of Hempstead, 941 F.2d 1271, 1278-81 (2d Cir. 1991) (holding that town and county political party committees could be liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for acts of members where committees authorized activities, even absent membership ratification); Amendolare v. Schenkers International Forwarders, 747 F.Supp. 162, 170-71 (E.D.N.Y.1990) (holding that labor union could be liable under RICO for actions of union officials undertaken with apparent authority). The apparent authority doctrine, however, does not automatically make an organization such as JIB liable for all actions committed by its members. The doctrine applies only when a principal makes a manifestation to a third party that the agent has authority to act on its behalf. Restatement § 8 cmt a ("Apparent authority results from a manifestation by a person that another is his agent, the manifestation being made to a third person and not, as when authority is created, to the agent."); see also ASME, 456 U.S. at 566. Here, plaintiffs have presented no evidence of any manifestations made by JIB that might have created the impression that JIB had authorized the actions of Granata, Van Arsdale, and Rosenberg. With regard to the incidents not based only on sheer speculation, they have not presented evidence that anyone other than perhaps Micelotta understood these individuals to be acting on behalf of JIB.[5] All they have shown is that they were in fact members of JIB. Plaintiff's complaint that the court "impermissibly crossed the well-defined line from issue finding to issue resolution," Pl. Mem. at 2, in its Order is unwarranted. To defeat a motion for summary judgment, a plaintiff must put forward sufficient probative evidence to establish the existence of a genuine issue of material fact. See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986) (noting that "the plain language of Rule 56(c) mandates the entry of summary judgment against a party who fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party's case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial."). Plaintiffs now argue that "it is well-recognized that the existence of an agency relationship, as well as the scope of the agent's authority, is a question of fact for a jury, and thus inappropriate for summary judgment," Pl. Mem. at 12, citing, among other authorities, Cabrera v. Jakabovitz, 24 F.3d 372, 386 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 876, 115 S.Ct. 205, 130 L.Ed.2d 135 (1994). That position misstates the applicable law. In Cabrera, the Second Circuit stated that "[u]nless the facts are insufficient to support a finding of agency or there is no dispute as to the historical facts, the question of agency should be submitted 190 to the jury...." Id. (emphasis added). Here, for the reasons discussed above, plaintiffs have not submitted any facts that support their claim of agency, under either an actual authority or an apparent authority theory. No reasonable juror could conclude that an agency relationship existed on the basis of the facts plaintiffs have presented. Summary judgment in JIB's favor was therefore appropriate. II. Local 3's Motion for Reconsideration In its prior Order, the court denied in part Local 3's motion for summary judgment as to plaintiffs' claims under § 303 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 187, and as to their state law tort claims, with the exception of those claims that are clearly time-barred. Local 3 now seeks reconsideration of that portion of the Order, claiming that the court should have dismissed outright the claims of plaintiffs All-Phase Electric Home Power Corp. ("All-Phase"), Expert Electric, Inc. ("Expert"), Kolsch Electric, Inc. ("Kolsch"), and TAP. In addition, Local 3 argues that the court should dismiss outright plaintiffs' state law claims. With respect to the first argument, Local 3 first notes that, in its prior Order, the court held that, under the four-year statute of limitations for claims under § 303, plaintiffs cannot recover damages for any injury that occurred prior to June 18, 1989. Local 3 argues that plaintiffs have not established that any of the four plaintiffs it has identified suffered any injury on or after that date. The court agrees as to All-Phase, Expert, and Kolsch, but disagrees as to TAP. To recover under § 303(b), a plaintiff must demonstrate an injury to business or property caused by a labor organization's violation of 29 U.S.C. § 158(b)(4). As Local 3 notes, plaintiffs have identified only a single instance in which a threat or secondary boycott caused injury to All-Phase's business or property. That incident occurred in 1987. Plaintiffs have not produced any evidence of injury to plaintiff Kolsch. With respect to plaintiff Expert, plaintiffs have produced evidence of a meeting in 1990 at which Van Arsdale attempted to pressure Anthony Cardillo, Eugene Iovine, Gaspare Lipari, and Frank Micelotta to sign collective bargaining agreements with Local 3. Although this incident occurred within the limitations period, Local 3 is correct that Micelotta, the president of Expert, did not actually describe any injury to his business or property in the wake of this threat. Indeed, the latest injury that Micelotta described occurred in 1984. As the court overlooked these deficiencies in its prior order, reconsideration is appropriate. Local 3 also contends that plaintiffs have not identified any evidence of injury to TAP that occurred within the limitations period. That contention is inaccurate. As plaintiffs note, Cardillo's affidavit refers to incidents in 1990 and 1993 in which TAP failed to get contracts. In light of the allegations concerning Van Arsdale's threats in 1990, these statements are sufficient to raise genuine issues of material fact. The court therefore declines to reconsider its decision as to plaintiff TAP. With respect to plaintiff's state law claims, Local 3 argues that it is entitled to summary judgment (1) because these claims are preempted by federal law, and (2) because plaintiff has not demonstrated that the actions of any individuals were authorized or ratified by the union membership. Local 3 acknowledges that it did not present these arguments in its prior motion papers. Since a party may not advance new legal arguments on a motion for summary judgment, the court declines to consider these arguments at this time. To do so would prejudice plaintiffs, who have not had an opportunity to present factual material to respond to Local 3's new arguments. Because the court must rule on the new legal issues presented by Local 3, it will treat Local 3's arguments concerning the state law claims as a new motion for summary judgment. Accordingly, plaintiffs are ordered to show cause by May 15, 1996, why summary judgment should not be granted for defendants on Count Eight of the complaint on the grounds identified by Local 3 in its motion for reconsideration. Plaintiffs may show cause by submitting any additional factual material or legal argument that would be appropriate in a motion under Fed.R.Civ.P. 191 56. Local 3 shall file any reply papers by May 20, 1996. The court will thereafter decide the motion expeditiously, so as not to delay trial of this matter. III. Plaintiff's motion for entry of partial judgment Plaintiffs have also asked the court to direct entry of a final judgment on all counts of their complaint as to defendants JIB, AECI, and NYECA, and on Counts One through Six, the RICO and antitrust claims, as to Local 3. The purpose of this application is to allow them to pursue an immediate appeal as of right of the court's Order of February 9, 1996, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291. Plaintiffs subsequently asked the court to defer consideration of that motion, pending a decision on the motions for reconsideration. Having resolved those motions, the court now denies the request for entry of final judgment, for the reasons stated below. In a case that involves multiple parties or multiple claims for relief, Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b) permits the court to direct entry of a final judgment as to 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." This case involves both multiple claims and multiple parties. Certification is therefore appropriate if the court determines that no just reason exists for delay, and supports that determination with a reasoned analysis. See, e.g., Harriscom Svenska AB v. Harris Corp., 947 F.2d 627 (2d Cir.1991). In making that determination, the court must decide whether plaintiff's RICO and antitrust claims are "inherently inseparable" from or "inextricably interrelated" to their § 303 and state law tort claims. See Ginett v. Computer Task Group, 962 F.2d 1085, 1096 (2d Cir.1992) ("Only those claims "inherently inseparable" from or "inextricably interrelated" to each other are inappropriate for rule 54(b) certification.). At the outset, the court notes that this is not a case like Ginett, in which the district court had determined that the plaintiff was entitled to relief on one of his claims. See id. at 1090-91, 1097. In that case, failure to grant Rule 54(b) certification would have served to delay plaintiff's recovery. In this case, by contrast, the court has determined that plaintiffs are not entitled to relief on many of their claims. Regardless of whether the court issues a final judgment at this stage, they will not be able to recover on those claims unless they prevail on appeal, and subsequently at trial. Consequently, failure to direct entry of a final judgment will not significantly delay plaintiff's recovery in this case. Plaintiffs' principal argument in favor of Rule 54(b) certification is that, if this case proceeds to trial on the remaining claims, and this court's grant of summary judgment is subsequently reversed on appeal, they may be forced to proceed to another trial on the remaining claims. Plaintiffs argue that a second trial would involve many of the same issues and witnesses, and that they will incur substantial additional costs. This argument has some force. Rule 54(b) certification may be appropriate "where an expensive and duplicative trial could be avoided if, without delaying prosecution of the surviving claims, a dismissed claim were reversed in time to be tried with other claims." Cullen v. Margiotta, 811 F.2d 698, 711 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 483 U.S. 1021, 107 S.Ct. 3266, 97 L.Ed.2d 764 (1987); see also Hunt v. Mobil Oil Corp., 550 F.2d 68, 70 (2d Cir.) (affirming grant of Rule 54(b) certification where district judge made specific findings that second trial could pose additional expense to parties and that appeal would not delay trial or discovery), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 984, 98 S.Ct. 608, 54 L.Ed.2d 477 (1977). In this case, the court cannot conclude that an immediate appeal would not necessitate a significant delay in the prosecution of the remaining claims. That distinguishes this case from Hunt, in which the court granted Rule 54(b) certification after dismissing a claim on a motion under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). Thus the dismissal in Hunt occurred early in the action, prior to the commencement of discovery. Here, the parties have already engaged in extensive discovery, and the case is essentially ready for trial on the narrow issues delimited in the court's Order of February 8, 1996. If the court were to follow the course urged by plaintiffs, 192 a trial on those claims would be delayed until the resolution of the appeal a process that could take many months. Furthermore, it is possible that a trial on the remaining claims will dispose of issues that could render plaintiff's appeal moot. As noted above, to recover on their claims under § 303, plaintiffs will be required to show an injury to business or property caused by Local 3's activities. The same requirement of injury to business or property is a critical element of plaintiff's claims under RICO and the Sherman Act. See 18 U.S.C. § 1964(c); 15 U.S.C. § 15. Like the § 303 claims, the RICO and antitrust claims are governed by a four-year statute of limitations. See 15 U.S.C. § 15b; Agency Holding Corp. v. Malley-Duff & Associates, 483 U.S. 143, 156, 107 S.Ct. 2759, 97 L.Ed.2d 121 (1987) (holding that four-year limitations period for antitrust statute applies to civil RICO actions). Furthermore, the actions that are alleged to be unfair labor practices for the purposes of § 303 are the same as the actions alleged to be predicate acts under RICO and actions in restraint of trade under the Sherman Act. Consequently, if the court were to enter final judgment on plaintiffs' RICO and antitrust claims, and a jury were to determine that some or all of the plaintiffs have not suffered any injury to their business or property, the RICO and antitrust claims might become moot. Under these circumstances, the court is persuaded that all of plaintiffs claims in this action are inextricably interrelated, and that they should try the claims that remain in this action before proceeding to the Second Circuit. See Ginett, 962 F.2d at 1095 ("We should avoid the possibility that the ultimate disposition of the claims remaining in the district court could either moot our decision on the appealed claims or require us to decide issues twice."). CONCLUSION For the foregoing reasons, plaintiff's motion for reconsideration is denied. Local 3's motion for reconsideration is granted in part, and this action is dismissed with prejudice as to plaintiffs All-Phase, Expert, and Kolsch. In all other respects, Local 3's motion for reconsideration is denied. Furthermore, the court having been informed by plaintiffs' counsel that plaintiff Cunardi Contracting, Inc. has discontinued its participation, this action is dismissed with prejudice as to Cunardi. It is hereby ordered that plaintiffs shall show cause by May 15, 1996, why summary judgment should not be granted in favor of defendants on Count Eight of the complaint, and that Local 3 shall file any reply papers by May 20, 1996. Plaintiffs' motion for entry of a partial judgment is denied. SO ORDERED. NOTES [1] There is also provision for a public representative appointed by the federal district court, although it is unclear whether such a representative exists at the present time. [2] United Elec. Contractors Ass'n a/k/a United Constr. Contractors Ass'n, 312 N.L.R.B. 1118, 144 L.R.R.M. 1294, 1993 NLRB LEXIS 1111 (1993). [3] United Elec. Co. v. N.L.R.B., 41 F.3d 1500 (2d Cir.1994). [4] The JIB does point out that the Fund does not claim to be an ERISA fund, and questions why Local 363 is not a party in this suit if the Fund is a "creature of the collective bargaining agreements executed between Local 363 and its affiliated contractors." JIB Mem. of Law, at 4 n. 4. [5] That the other defendants apparently do not contest the Fund's standing does not absolve plaintiffs from their duty to respond to the argument made by Local 3. Moreover, standing is an Article III "case or controversy" limitation to subject matter jurisdiction, Simon v. Eastern Ky. Welfare Rights Org., 426 U.S. 26, 37, 96 S.Ct. 1917, 48 L.Ed.2d 450 (1976), which may therefore be raised by the court sua sponte. United Food Local 919 v. CenterMark Properties, 30 F.3d 298, 301 (2d Cir.1994); Soucie v. County of Monroe, 736 F.Supp. 33, 35 (W.D.N.Y.1990) (citing Bender v. Williamsport Area Sch. Dist., 475 U.S. 534, 540-42, 106 S.Ct. 1326, 1330-32, 89 L.Ed.2d 501 (1986), reh'g denied, 476 U.S. 1132, 106 S.Ct. 2003, 90 L.Ed.2d 682 (1986)). [6] See, e.g, Cardillo Aff., ¶¶ 15, 16, 18; Cunardi Aff., ¶¶ 9, 13; Dello Russo Aff., ¶¶ 4, 6, 8; Duryee, ¶ 3; Ostroff Aff., ¶¶ 3, 6; Rappo Aff., ¶ 6; Reilly Aff., ¶ 4; Siegler Aff., ¶¶ 3, 4. [7] Other statements allegedly made by members of Local 3 would be admissible at trial as non-hearsay under Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(A) as admissions or 801(d)(2)(E) as co-conspirator statements. See, e.g., E. Iovine Aff., ¶ 13; T. Iovine Aff., ¶ 2; Marone Aff., ¶ 5; Reilly Aff., ¶¶ 3; Zarrelli Aff., ¶¶ 3, 4. The application of this rule to a statement made by an employee of a non-party contractor which in turn is a member of one the defendant Associations is not as clear. See, e.g., Dello Russo Aff., ¶ 5. [8] Plaintiffs also argue in their motion papers that defendants have illegally funded the JIB in violation of § 302 of the Labor Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 186. While a violation of 29 U.S.C. § 186 would be a predicate act under RICO, the court finds that, even if these allegations were properly pleaded in the complaint, they would not state a claim under this statute. In general, 29 U.S.C. § 186 makes it unlawful for an employer or association of employers to make any payments to a labor organization. Even assuming that JIB is a labor organization, however a fact it contests payments made by NYECA and AECI would not be unlawful. Under 29 U.S.C. § 186(c)(9), payments to a joint-labor management committee such as JIB are permissible. See BASF Wyandotte Corp. v. Local 227, Int'l Chemical Workers Union, 791 F.2d 1046, 1053 (2d Cir.1986). Plaintiff's allegations concerning violations of this statute are therefore fatally defective. [9] Plaintiffs also contend that JIB has conducted a systematic campaign to harass them through the filing of litigation and administrative complaints. These activities, however, are entirely legitimate, and, even if meritless, cannot be said to constitute either extortion under N.Y. Penal Law § 155.05(2)(e) or interference with commerce in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1951. Both these statutes require that the defendant threaten force or violence or instill fear in the plaintiff. The filing of a meritless lawsuit or administrative action, even if for the purpose of harassment, does not involve a threat of force, violence or fear. See Park South Assoc. v. Fischbein, 626 F.Supp. 1108, 1114 (S.D.N.Y.1986) (dismissing RICO action based upon Hobbs Act and state law extortion through allegedly meritless litigation). [10] To the extent that Scotto held that a person may be liable under RICO simply because the requisite nexus exists between his activity and the affairs of the enterprise, it was overruled by the Supreme Court's decision in Reves v. Ernst & Young, 507 U.S. 170, 113 S.Ct. 1163, 122 L.Ed.2d 525 (1993), holding that a person must be involved in the "operation or management" of an enterprise to be liable under RICO. See Napoli v. United States, 45 F.3d 680 (2d Cir.1995); United States v. Viola, 35 F.3d 37 (2d Cir.1994). To the extent that Scotto held that a person cannot be liable under RICO unless there is a sufficient nexus between his racketeering activity and the enterprise, it remains good law, as evidenced by the Second Circuit's use of language derived from the Scotto opinion in Thai, a post-Reves decision. [11] See discussion supra note 8 [12] The relevant provisions of Section 158(b)(4) make it an unfair labor practice for a labor organization or its agents: (i) to engage in, or to induce or encourage any individual employed by any person engaged in commerce or in an industry affecting commerce to engage in, a strike or a refusal in the course of his employment to use, manufacture, process, transport, or otherwise handle or work on any goods, articles, materials or commodities or to perform any services; or (ii) to threaten, coerce, or restrain any person engaged in commerce or in an industry affecting commerce, where in either an object thereof is * * * * * (B) forcing or requiring any person to cease using, selling, handling, transporting, or otherwise dealing in products of any other producer, processor or manufacturer, or to cease doing business with any other person, or forcing or requiring any other employer to recognize or bargain with a labor organization as the representative of his employees unless such labor organization has been certified as the representative of such employees under the provisions of section 9 ... (C) forcing or requiring any employer to recognize or bargain with a particular labor organization as the representative of his employees if another labor organization has been certified as the representative of such employees under the provisions of section 9; (D) forcing or requiring any employer to assign particular work to employees in a particular labor organization or a particular trade, craft, or class rather than to employees in another labor organization or in another trade, craft, or class, unless such employer is failing to conform to an order or certification of the Board determining the bargaining representative for employees performing such work: * * * * * * [13] In Count Eight of the Second Amended Complaint, ¶ 83, plaintiffs assert that their claims rest upon the allegations contained in paragraphs 22, 23, 25(a)(h)-(j) and 26(a)(c)-(h) and (j). Because there are no sub-sections of paragraph 26 beyond (d), this is clearly an error. Moreover, some of the affidavits upon which plaintiffs purport to rely to support their state law claims, Pl.'s Mem. of Law, at 100, correspond to paragraphs in the complaint that are not specifically listed in Count Eight. Compare, e.g., Zarrelli Aff. with ¶ 25(u); Corso Aff. with ¶ 25(t). Having dismissed all claims accruing before June 18, 1990, the court leaves it to the plaintiffs to correct these errors. [14] Although this affidavit relies upon hearsay, the declarant, Patrick Ciccone, was deposed in this action. Thus, the affidavit may be considered because it is corroborated by evidence admissible at trial. See Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse v. Esprit De Corp., 769 F.2d 919, 924 (2d Cir.1985). [15] The court observes that most of the truly violent allegations of vandalism and violence, such as bomb threats, occurred well before June 18, 1990. [1] Plaintiffs describe Feinberg's statement as an "admission of an agent of a defendant." Pl. Mem. at 5. The court assumes that they mean to suggest that it should be treated as an admission of a party-opponent, and therefore not hearsay under Fed.R.Evid. 801(d)(2). Although Feinberg Electric was named as a defendant in plaintiffs' original complaint, it was dropped from the amended complaint and the second amended complaint. Thus neither Feinberg nor Feinberg electric is a party-opponent. Nor have plaintiffs identified any evidence to suggest that Feinberg is an agent of JIB, Local 3, or any other defendant, or even alleged that Feinberg or Feinberg Electric was part of the "conspiracy." [2] The court notes that Micelotta offered no explanation of the basis for his belief that Granata was involved. That allegation rests on pure speculation. [3] Local 3 contends that Wishnie's correct title is "assistant to the chairman." [4] Plaintiffs also refer in their reply papers to the doctrine of "inherent agency power," under which a principal may be held liable for an agent's acts. According to the Restatement: Inherent agency powers fall into two groups. The first and most familiar is the power of a servant to subject his master to liability for faulty conduct in performing his master's business. ... [The] existence [of liability] depends in most cases upon the fact that the servant is acting in his employer's business and intends so to act; it does not depend upon a connection between the principal's conduct and the harm done. The other type of inherent power subjects the principal to contractual liability or to the loss of his property when an agent has acted improperly in entering into contracts or making conveyances. Restatement, § 8A cmt b. Neither of these situations would appear to be applicable in this case. [5] In their reply papers, plaintiffs refer to several passages from the depositions of contractors who state that they understood JIB and Local 3 to be the same entity. With one exception, the contractors who made these statements are all different from the people who refer to unlawful activities by Granata, Van Arsdale, and Rosenberg. The one exception is Micelotta, whose affidavit has scant probative value, for the reasons discussed above. In any case, regardless of whether Micelotta perceived Granata to be acting on behalf of JIB when he threatened to throw Micelotta down an elevator shaft in 1975, the relevant question is whether JIB manifested to Micelotta that Granata had authority to act on its behalf.
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Welcome to the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics The College of Choice… The David Nazarian College of Business and Economics at California State University, Northridge is dedicated to educating the leaders of tomorrow. By offering a challenging curriculum, smaller class sizes, state-of-the-art facilities, and nationally recognized programs, the College offers a truly unique educational experience. Access to prominent alumni and influential business leaders provides students the opportunity to network with and learn from successful individuals.. Read More Nazarian Gift On March 26, 2014, California State University, Northridge’s College of Business and Economics proudly announced that Mr. David Nazarian ’82 has pledged to help lead a $25 million fundraising drive and launched that effort with a $10 million cash gift. In recognition of his gift and pledge of continued support, CSUN has named its college of business the David Nazarian College of Business and Economics. This gift for current and future generations of CSUN students will enable the university to be a leader in delivering world-class business education to students throughout Southern California. (Read more) Charles “Chuck” Noski was 17 years old in 1969 when he embarked upon what would be a lifelong relationship with California State University, Northridge, which was then known as San Fernando Valley State College. Read more The 17th annual Distinguished Alumni Awards was a celebration of what’s possible with a California State University, Northridge education, as graduates who went on to successful careers in art, entertainment and entrepreneurship were honored on April 18 at the Four Seasons in Westlake Village. Read more New changes are underway for CSUN’s real estate program effective Fall, 2015. The Department of Business Law, which administers the real estate programs, has created a new minor and revised major. Read more Friday, May 15, 2015 - 6:00pm to Monday, May 18, 2015 - 8:59pm Monday, July 13, 2015 - 12:01am Nonrestrictive Registration is open registration. No appointment is required to access the self-service registration system, limits on academic unit load increase, and wait listing for closed classes begins. Read more
Archive for April, 2006 I left off over two weeks ago on some reflections about Scripture, concluding that further exploration would open up the complex relationship of the Church and its sacred text. In short, I believe that it is impossible to offer conclusions about the nature of Scripture without considering the community to whom it is Scripture. Likewise, I believe it is impossible to reflect on the nature of the Church without considering the text it considers Godâ€™s word. [NB: Henceforth, in my discussion I will try to hold to the use of â€˜wordâ€™ and â€˜Wordâ€™ as Kevin Vanhoozer has suggested in The Drama of Doctrine – â€˜wordâ€™ refers to the spoken/written words of God, primarily the biblical text; â€˜Wordâ€™ refers to the incarnated Word of God, Jesus of Nazereth.] For further discussion the conundrum is where to â€œjump inâ€. Itâ€™s a chicken-or-egg question really. Does the reflection on the nature of Scripture inform the reflection on the nature of the Church or vice-versa? How do we hold these concepts together? Or, better how does one reflect and comment on one or the other without implying some sort of separation, a separation that I am conviced is theologically impossible? Questions like this are what keep me from writing. I simply donâ€™t know where to begin. And, I donâ€™t know how to go down a different path, a less systematic, more holistic path. I am constantly grasping for analogies. I am mostly wasting time browsing the internet. I wonder if the internet itself might offer an anaology. Discussions about the concept of Web 2.0 have intrigued me for some time. [NB: I am well aware that the term â€˜Web 2.0â€² is much debated and possibly losing any significance, but until some other term can evoke the same notions, I will stick to it.] The general descriptions of the direction the internet is going echo some of the same concepts I believe may enhance our understanding of theological interpretation. I am plannning a more thorough and fuller article that will use Web 2.0 as an analog for theological interpretation. What I offer here is a list of the general descriptions of Web 2.0 found in an article by Tim Oâ€™Reilly. I donâ€™t think it would require much revision to use these descriptions for theological interpretation. 1. Web 2.0 doesnâ€™t have a hard boundary, but rather, a gravitational core. 2. Web 2.0 embraces the power of the web to harness collective intelligence. 3. Web 2.0 software infrastructure is largely open source or otherwise commodified. 4. Web 2.0 software is delivered as a service, not as a product, therefore, it must be maintained on a consistent basis, and users must be treated as co-developers. 5. Web 2.0 strives for simplicity and to be â€œorganicâ€. This means applications are loosely coupled and even fragile, applications encourage cooperation and not control, and that â€œthe most successful web services are those that have been easiest to take in new directions unimagined by their creators.â€ 6. Web 2.0 is no longer limited to one platform. 7. Web 2.0 creates a rich user experience where applications learn from the users using an architecture of participation. Of course the technologies have to be in place for these sorts of things to happen. That is, we have to have the nuts, bolts, wires, buttons, browsers, codes, etc., but once all these things are put together in their proper place we do not have Web 2.0. Likewise, we have to have a proper perspective on the nuts and bolts of the biblical text with its historical, cultural, theological, sociological, narratival, ideological backgrounds. But do any of these things alone, or together, embody what we would call a â€œtheological interpretation of Scriptureâ€?
Bounded by four of the five Great Lakes, plus Lake Saint Clair, Michigan has the longest freshwater shoreline in the world. In 2005, Michigan ranked third for the number of registered recreational boats, behind California and Florida. A person in Michigan is never more than 85 miles (137 km) from open Great Lakes water and is never more than six miles (10 km) from a natural water source. The Great Lakes that border Michigan from east to west are Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. Michigan is the only state to consist entirely of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula of Michigan, to which the name Michigan was originally applied, is sometimes dubbed "the mitten," owing to its shape. When asked where in Michigan one comes from, a resident of the Lower Peninsula may often point to the corresponding part of his or her hand. The Upper Peninsula (often referred to as The U.P.) is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, a five-mile-wide (8 km) channel that joins Lake Huron to Lake Michigan. The Upper Peninsula (whose residents are often called "Yoopers") is economically important for tourism and natural resources. copyright 2013 Michigan State drug cardHIPPA Compliant - This Is Not Insurance - This Is Not Intended To Replace Insurance This is not a state approved program but a cost relief program offered to the State's citizens.
Q: dirname($_SERVER["PHP_SELF"]) how to return bar correctly? $path = (@$_SERVER["HTTPS"] == "on") ? "https://" : "http://"; $path .=$_SERVER["SERVER_NAME"]. dirname($_SERVER["PHP_SELF"]); I have this and this is what happens if I make a echo echo $path http:://localhost/folder and without folder http:://localhost/ if there is a folder not return my bar if I attached a bar as well the result without folder so $path .=$_SERVER["SERVER_NAME"]. dirname($_SERVER["PHP_SELF"])."/"; echo $path http:://localhost/folder http:://localhost// any idea better or more optimal to get what I want? to give me a single bar in the two cases A: If I understand the question correctly, by bar you actually mean / or the forward slash character, and that when the dirname() returns nothing, you end up with // but would like only a single /. If this is the case, then the following should satisfy what you are looking for. $path = (@$_SERVER["HTTPS"] == "on") ? "https://" : "http://" . $_SERVER["SERVER_NAME"] . '/' . trim(dirname($_SERVER["PHP_SELF"]),'/');
Inclusive Early Childhood Education Licensure This program is designed for teacher candidates who want to work with children PreK through grade 3. The program is nationally accredited by the Teacher Education Accreditation Council (TEAC) and approved by the Ohio Department of Education (ODE). The program prepares teacher candidates to use the current research and knowledge about child development and learning to promote the development and learning of all young children. For additional information, please contact the School of Education at 513-244-4812.
Q: DB2 SQL Count across one to many relationship I have two tables in a one to many relationship within an IBM DB2 database. I can't think of a way to describe what I'm doing in words easily so I'm linking an SQLFiddle. Here is a working SQLFiddle on what I'm doing; Click Here The SQLFiddle works exactly like I need it to. My problem is, I am using an IBM DB2 database and the COUNT function does not seem to work. Does anyone have a way to return what the SQLFiddle does in a IBM DB2 compatible way? Here is the error I get from i Navigator; Click Here A: You are aggregating by the wrong column. I think this is the query you want: SELECT Table1.quote, COUNT(Table2.quote) as TotalItem FROM Table1 LEFT JOIN Table2 ON Table1.quote = Table2.quote GROUP BY Table1.quote ---------^ You need to aggregate by Table1.quote because Table2.quote might be NULL, because of the LEFT JOIN. EDIT: Your particular problem seems to be your having two tables with the same names. Just use column aliases: SELECT t1.quote, COUNT(t2.quote) as TotalItem FROM Table1 t1 LEFT JOIN Table2 t2 ON t1.quote = t2.quote GROUP BY t1.quote;
Introduction {#Sec1} ============ Osteosarcoma is the most common primary malignant bone tumor in teenagers^[@CR1],[@CR2]^, exhibiting early metastasis with poor prognosis^[@CR3]^. There have been no significant improvements in treatment for osteosarcoma in recent decades and the current mainstream treatment remains neoadjuvant chemotherapy combined with surgery. However, discovery of novel chemotherapeutic agents for osteosarcoma has plateaued and there are currently no target-specific drugs available for osteosarcoma. Thus, a new treatment with increased efficacy is urgently needed, particularly for metastatic osteosarcoma. In recent years, immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI), as represented by the programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) monoclonal antibody, has been shown to have efficacious therapeutic benefit in many solid tumors by restoring the immune function of T-cells to kill tumor cells. The ligands of the PD-1 receptor include programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) and PD-L2, and their interaction attenuates T-cell antitumor effects, resulting in immune escape^[@CR4],[@CR5]^. Due to ICI's promising therapeutic effects, most studies have focused on communication between tumor cells and T-cells. However, few studies have been conducted on the tumor cell-intrinsic signaling of PD-L1 and PD-L2. Recent findings^[@CR6],[@CR7]^ have reported that a minor subset of patients treated with PD-L1/PD-1 mAb therapy responded with rapid disease progression patterns. One reason for this may be the PD-1/PD-L1 axis-mediated inherent functions in tumor cells and PD-1/PD-L1 blockade may affect the tumor cell-intrinsic signaling network, enhancing tumor growth or progress. This suggests that ICI treatment effects may be associated with tumor cell-intrinsic signaling of PD-L1 and PD-L2. Previous studies have demonstrated that PD-L1 and PD-L2 are correlated with multiple tumor phenotypes, including epithelial--mesenchymal transition (EMT), proliferation, and autophagy^[@CR8]--[@CR11]^. The current study indicates that PD-L1 mRNA expression is detected in osteosarcoma^[@CR12]^. Metastatic, but not primary, osteosarcoma tumors express PD-L1^[@CR13],[@CR14]^, whereas recent studies show that PD-L1 is detected in primary osteosarcoma, with no significant differences between primary and metastatic osteosarcoma^[@CR15],[@CR16]^. Moreover, PD-L1 may be correlated with immune suppression, cisplatin resistance, and metastasis-related pathway activation in osteosarcoma by datamining and bioinformatics analyses^[@CR16]^. Compared with PD-L1, the functional significance of PD-L2 in tumor cells has been scarcely investigated. To our knowledge, there is no relevant literature reporting on the tumor intrinsic signaling effects of PD-L2 in osteosarcoma. In this study, PD-L2 expression was measured in primary and metastatic osteosarcoma. The roles of PD-L2 in osteosarcoma cell migration, invasion, and autophagy were investigated both in vitro and in vivo. In addition, we explored the underlying mechanisms of tumor expansion and metastasis mediated by PD-L2. Results {#Sec2} ======= PD-L2 expression is elevated in lung metastases of osteosarcoma {#Sec3} --------------------------------------------------------------- Immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis of PD-L2 was performed on 18 pairs of primary osteosarcoma samples and matching lung metastasis samples. PD-L2 exhibited membranous and cytoplasmic expression (Fig. [1a](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}), and we observed that PD-L2 expression was increased in lung metastasis tissues compared with primary osteosarcoma tissues (Fig. [1b](#Fig1){ref-type="fig"}), suggesting that PD-L2 may have a crucial role in osteosarcoma metastasis.Fig. 1Elevated PD-L2 expression in osteosarcoma lung metastasis.a PD-L2 expression in 18 pairs of primary osteosarcoma tissues and matching lung metastasis tissues was detected by IHC. Representative images are shown (magnification at × 200 and × 400). Arrows indicate membrane and cytoplasmic expressions. b IHC total score of PD-L2 staining were analyzed between primary osteosarcoma and matching lung metastasis groups. Data are presented as the mean ± SD. \*P \< 0.05 PD-L2 knockdown inhibits migration and invasion of osteosarcoma cells {#Sec4} --------------------------------------------------------------------- The PD-L2 mRNA and protein levels were examined in osteosarcoma cell lines, among which KHOS and U2OS exhibited significantly higher levels of PD-L2 mRNA and protein than SaoS-2 cells (Fig. [2a](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"}). Flow cytometric analyses were also performed on osteosarcoma cell lines for protein detection, the results revealed that these osteosarcoma cell lines exhibited differing degrees of PD-L2 expression compared with the isotype control (Fig. [2b](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"}). As such, the KHOS and U2OS cell lines were chosen for further study. To examine the effect of PD-L2 on proliferation, migration, and invasion of osteosarcoma cells, KHOS and U2OS cells were transfected with short hairpin RNA (shRNA) targeting PD-L2, and PD-L2 expression was subsequently detected by western blotting (WB) and real-time PCR (Fig. [2c](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"}). In addition, the expression of PD-L1 remained with no changes after PD-L2 knockdown in KHOS and U2OS cells, which was detected by WB (Additional File [1A](#MOESM1){ref-type="media"}).Fig. 2Effect of PD-L2 expression on the proliferation of osteosarcoma cells.a PD-L2 expression in osteosarcoma cell lines was evaluated by western blotting and real-time PCR. b The osteosarcoma cell lines (red) exhibited differing degrees of PD-L2 expression compared with the isotype control (black) by flow cytometry. c KHOS and U2OS cells were stably transfected with shPD-L2 or shNC lentivirus, following evaluation of PD-L2 expression by western blotting and real-time PCR. d Cell proliferation of KHOS and U2OS cells in response to PD-L2 knockdown determined by cell colony formation assay. e Cell viability of KHOS and U2OS cells after PD-L2 knockdown assayed by CCK-8. All experiments were repeated three times. Data are presented as the mean ± SD. \*P \< 0.05, \\P \< 0.01, \\\*P \< 0.001 No significant differences were observed between the shPD-L2 and shNC groups in the cell colony-formation assay (Fig. [2d](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"}) or CCK-8 assay (Fig. [2e](#Fig2){ref-type="fig"}); the same results were also observed after KHOS cells transfected with PD-L2 overexpression vector (Additional File [2A](#MOESM2){ref-type="media"}). Both the KHOS-shPD-L2 (Fig. [3a, b](#Fig3){ref-type="fig"}) and U2OS-shPD-L2 groups (Fig. [3c, d](#Fig3){ref-type="fig"}) exhibited lower migratory and invasive capacities compared with control groups as determined by the transwell assay and wound-healing assay. The PD-L2 expression recovery increased the migration and invasion of shPD-L2-KHOS cells (Additional File [2A](#MOESM2){ref-type="media"}). Together, these data indicate that PD-L2 is important for migration and invasion of osteosarcoma cells.Fig. 3PD-L2 knockdown inhibits migration and invasion of osteosarcoma cells.a, b Transwell and wound-healing assays for KHOS cells after PD-L2 knockdown. c, d Transwell and wound-healing assays for U2OS cells after PD-L2 knockdown (magnification × 100). All experiments were repeated three times. Data are presented as the mean ± SD. \\P \< 0.01, \\\*P \< 0.001 PD-L2 knockdown suppresses EMT in osteosarcoma cells {#Sec5} ---------------------------------------------------- EMT is a critical process for epithelial cells to acquire a mesenchymal phenotype and is closely related to tumor metastasis^[@CR17]^. Thus, we investigated by WB whether EMT-associated markers are affected by PD-L2 in KHOS and U2OS cells. As shown in Fig. [4a](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}, the epithelial marker E-cadherin was increased, whereas mesenchymal markers, including Vimentin and N-cadherin, decreased after PD-L2 knockdown. Moreover, expressions of the transcription factors snail and MMP9 were also downregulated in the shPD-L2 group compared with controls. Conversely, the PD-L2 expression recovery increased MMP9 and snail levels, and induced EMT in shPD-L2-KHOS cells (Additional File [2B](#MOESM2){ref-type="media"}). The quantification of WB results was shown in Additional File [3A](#MOESM3){ref-type="media"} and [5A](#MOESM5){ref-type="media"}. These results indicate that PD-L2 knockdown inhibits EMT in osteosarcoma cells.Fig. 4PD-L2 knockdown suppresses epithelial--mesenchymal transition and inactivates RhoA-ROCK-LIMK2 signaling.a EMT markers and MMP9 were measured by western blotting in KHOS and U2OS cells after transfection. b PD-L2 knockdown reduced p-LIMK and p-cofilin expression. c Expression of BMPR2, RGMb, and NEO1 in osteosarcoma cell lines detected by western blotting. d PD-L2 knockdown reduced RGMb and NEO1 expression. e PD-L2 knockdown decreased BMPR2 expression (top), but BMPR2 silencing and overexpression did not affect PD-L2 expression (bottom). f Bioinformatics prediction indicated there may be co-expression between PD-L2 and RhoA (<http://genemania.org/>). g GTPase assay verified RhoA changes in U2OS cells. h The expression levels of BBRN supercomplex (RGMb, BMPR2, and Neo1) in the primary and metastatic osteosarcoma tumors were evaluated by IHC (magnification × 200) PD-L2 knockdown inactivates RhoA-ROCK-LIMK2 signaling via BMPR2 and the RGMb/neogenin pathway {#Sec6} --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As a co-receptor, repulsive guidance molecule b (RGMb) integrates with bone morphogenetic protein/BMP receptor (BMP/BMPR) and neogenin (NEO1) to form a signaling supercomplex of BMP-BMPR-RGMb-neogenin (BBRN supercomplex)^[@CR18]--[@CR21]^. PD-L2 may interact with the BBRN supercomplex by binding to RGMb and regulate downstream signaling, including the RGMb-neogenin-RhoA pathway^[@CR18]^. In our previous study^[@CR22]^, we demonstrated that BMPR2 promoted invasion and metastasis via the RhoA-ROCK-LIMK2 pathway in osteosarcoma. In this study, PD-L2 knockdown decreased expression of p-LIMK2 and p-cofilin, but the corresponding total protein levels were unchanged in KHOS and U2OS cells (Fig. [4b](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}). Furthermore, BMPR2, RGMb, and neogenin were detected in osteosarcoma cell lines by WB (Fig. [4c](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}). Decreased expressions of RGMb and neogenin were observed in these two cell lines after PD-L2 silencing (Fig. [4d](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}). As seen in Fig. [4c](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}, KHOS cells exhibited higher levels of BMPR2 protein than U2OS cells, so we next investigated BMPR2 expression in KHOS cells after PD-L2 knockdown. As shown in Fig. [4e](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}, BMPR2 expression was also inhibited by PD-L2 knockdown in KHOS cells. However, neither suppression of BMPR2 in KHOS nor overexpression of BMPR2 in U2OS affected PD-L2 expression (Fig. [4e](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}). The PD-L2 expression recovery increased p-LIMK2, p-cofilin, RGMb, neogenin, and BMPR2 expressions in shPD-L2-KHOS cells (Additional File [2C](#MOESM2){ref-type="media"}). Furthermore, we detected the ROCK1 and ROCK2 expressions in osteosarcoma cell lines after PD-L2 knockdown. When PD-L2 was knocked down in KHOS and U2OS cells, there was no changes in expression of ROCK1, whereas ROCK2 expression was inhibited (Additional File [1B](#MOESM1){ref-type="media"}). In addition, bioinformatics prediction indicated that there may be co-expression between PD-L2 and RhoA (Fig. [4f](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}), in agreement with the observed decreases in RhoA activation in PD-L2-knockdown U2OS cells compared with controls using a GTPase assay (Fig. [4g](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}). The expression levels of BBRN supercomplex (RGMb, BMPR2, and Neo1) in the primary and metastatic osteosarcoma tumors were evaluated by IHC, and the results indicated BBRN supercomplex expression was increased in lung metastases compared with primary osteosarcoma (Fig. [4h](#Fig4){ref-type="fig"}). The quantification of WB results was shown in Additional File [3](#MOESM3){ref-type="media"}B-E and [5B](#MOESM5){ref-type="media"}. Taken together, our data illustrate that PD-L2 activates RhoA-ROCK-LIMK2 signaling via BMPR2 and RGMb/neogenin pathways, and PD-L2 also stimulates LIMK2 through the small GTPase RhoA, resulting in downstream signaling changes. PD-L2 knockdown-induced attenuation of autophagy inhibits migration and invasion of osteosarcoma cells that occurs via RhoA-ROCK-LIMK2 signaling {#Sec7} ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To determine whether PD-L2 is involved in autophagy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to detect ultrastructures during autophagy. PD-L2 silencing induced few autophagic vesicles compared with the control groups in KHOS and U2OS cells (Fig. [5a](#Fig5){ref-type="fig"}). In addition, to measure LC3 conversion from LC3-I to LC3-II during autophagy, immunofluorescence was used to detect LC3-II expression in autophagosomes in osteosarcoma cells. Our results illustrate that LC3-II expression was decreased after PD-L2 knockdown in osteosarcoma cells (Fig. [5b](#Fig5){ref-type="fig"}). In addition, decreased LC3-II and beclin-1 levels accompanied by increased p62 expression were observed by WB after PD-L2 knockdown in osteosarcoma cells (Fig. [5c](#Fig5){ref-type="fig"}). In addition, when combined with chloroquine (CQ), an inhibitor of the degradation step of autophagy, the expression of LC3-II enhanced when compared with PD-L2 knockdown alone (Fig. [5b, c](#Fig5){ref-type="fig"}). The PD-L2 expression recovery increased LC3-II and beclin-1 levels, and decreased p62 expression in shPD-L2-KHOS cells (Additional File [2D](#MOESM2){ref-type="media"}), which indicated PD-L2 promoted autophagy (Additional File [2E](#MOESM2){ref-type="media"}). The quantification of WB results was shown in Additional File [4A](#MOESM4){ref-type="media"} and [5C](#MOESM5){ref-type="media"}.Fig. 5PD-L2 knockdown-induced inhibition of autophagy attenuates migration and invasion of osteosarcoma cells.a Representative TEM images depict ultrastructures present during autophagy in KHOS and U2OS cells transfected with PD-L2 shRNA or shNC. Images show autophagic vacuoles (arrows) observed in control cells (the picture in the right is a zoom of the picture in the left). No or few autophagic vacuoles were observed in PD-L2 knockdown cells. b Cells after PD-L2 knockdown exhibited a punctate pattern of LC3-II fluorescence, with reduced LC3-II compared with autophagosomes. KHOS and U2OS cells were incubated with or without CQ. c Expression of LC3, p62, and beclin-1 was evaluated by western blot. KHOS and U2OS cells were incubated in the presence or absence of CQ Autophagy may either inhibit or enhance migration and invasion of tumor cells, depending on the cellular context^[@CR23],[@CR24]^. Considering that autophagy regulation may increase the efficacy of anticancer therapeutics, we next investigated whether the autophagy inhibition induced by PD-L2 knockdown affects migration and invasion of osteosarcoma cells. We transfected the small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting beclin-1 into KHOS and U2OS cells to inhibit autophagy, and decreased LC3-II and increased p62 expression were observed by WB (Additional File [1C](#MOESM1){ref-type="media"}). Transwell assay experiments revealed beclin-1 silencing significantly attenuated migratory and invasive abilities of KHOS and U2OS cells (Fig. [6a](#Fig6){ref-type="fig"}). The quantification of WB results was shown in Additional File [4B](#MOESM4){ref-type="media"}.Fig. 6Autophagy promotes migration and invasion of osteosarcoma cells through targeting the RhoA-ROCK-LIMK2 pathway.(a) Three beclin-1 siRNA sequences were used to downregulate beclin-1 in KHOS cells (top). The migration and invasion of osteosarcoma cells after beclin-1 knockdown were analyzed by transwell and wound-healing assays (bottom). (b and c) Bioinformatics prediction indicated there may be co-expression between beclin-1 and RhoA, and western blot validated the relationship between them. Beclin-1 knockdown decreased p-LIMK and p-cofilin expressions (b) as well as RhoA activation (c). d The expression levels of autophagy markers (LC3, p62, Beclin1) in the primary and metastatic osteosarcoma tumors were evaluated by IHC (magnification 200X). All experiments were repeated three times. Data are presented as the mean ± S.D. \\\P \< 0.001 Furthermore, the bioinformatics prediction also indicated that there may be co-expression between beclin-1 and RhoA, and the above results support the relationship between PD-L2 and RhoA. Therefore, we next investigated the effect of beclin-1 on RhoA and its downstream signals. In our study, reduced expression of p-LIMK2 and p-cofilin were detected by WB after beclin-1 silencing, and beclin-1 knockdown also resulted in decreased RhoA activation (Fig. [6b, c](#Fig6){ref-type="fig"}). The expression levels of autophagy markers including LC3, p62, and Beclin1 in the primary and metastatic osteosarcoma tumors were evaluated by IHC, and the results indicated autophagy was more likely to occur in lung metastases compared with primary osteosarcoma (Fig. [6d](#Fig6){ref-type="fig"}). The quantification of WB results was shown in Additional File [4C-D](#MOESM4){ref-type="media"}. These data suggest that autophagy promotes migration and invasion of osteosarcoma cells through targeting the RhoA-ROCK-LIMK2 pathway. PD-L2 knockdown inhibits osteosarcoma cell metastasis in vivo {#Sec8} ------------------------------------------------------------- To validate our in vitro results, we determined whether PD-L2 knockdown influences growth and spontaneous metastasis of osteosarcoma cells in vivo. No significant differences were observed in tumor volume or weight between shPD-L2 and shNC groups (Fig. [7a, b](#Fig7){ref-type="fig"}); however, lung metastases were found in all four mice (4/4) from the shNC group, whereas no lung metastatic nodes were found in the shPD-L2 group (0/4) (Fig. [7c](#Fig7){ref-type="fig"}). Statistical differences were observed between these two groups using Student's t-test. Representative hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained images of lungs are shown (Fig. [7d](#Fig7){ref-type="fig"}).Fig. 7PD-L2 knockdown inhibits osteosarcoma cells metastasis in vivo.a* Tumor growth curves and tumor weights were evaluated between shPD-L2 and shNC groups. No significant difference was observed between the two groups. b Representative images of primary tumors. c The metastatic frequency of shNC and shPD-L2 groups. d H&E staining of the lungs of shNC and shPD-L2 groups (magnification × 16 and × 100). Arrows indicate metastases. e, f Primary tumors were collected and evaluated by IHC (magnification × 400) and western blotting. g A diagrammatic sketch of PD-L2 in osteosarcoma metastasis. Data are presented as the mean ± SD (n = 4) Primary tumors were collected and evaluated by IHC and WB. In accordance with in vitro findings, increased E-cadherin expression with decreased vimentin, MMP9, p-LIMK2, and beclin-1 expression were detected in tumors from the shPD-L2 group compared with the shNC group (Fig. [7e, f](#Fig7){ref-type="fig"}). The quantification of WB results was shown in Additional File [4E](#MOESM4){ref-type="media"}. In conclusion, PD-L2 knockdown inhibits metastasis in osteosarcoma cells in vivo. Discussion {#Sec9} ========== As homologous ligands for PD-1, both PD-L1 and PD-L2 negatively regulate the activation of T-cells. The existing study examined the expression levels of PD-L1, PD-L2, and PD-1 in multiple sarcomas including osteosarcoma and the PD-1 axis effectors are differentially expressed in various sarcomas varying from 0 to 40%^[@CR16]^. Moreover, the results indicated osteosarcoma, which is the most common primary malignant bone tumor with a high mortality and disability rate, exhibits relatively high expression levels of PD-1 axis effectors. The current study indicates that metastatic, but not primary, osteosarcoma tumors express PD-L1 and PD-1 with \~75% positivity rate^[@CR13],[@CR14]^, whereas some studies exhibit that PD-L1 is detected in primary osteosarcoma with positivity rates of 6.8% and 35.5%, respectively^[@CR15],[@CR16]^, and no significant differences are observed between primary and metastatic osteosarcoma. As for PD-L2, the positivity rates of PD-L2 in osteosarcoma is 41.9%^[@CR16]^. Previous studies have shown that PD-L1 and PD-L2 have different prognostic roles in various tumors^[@CR25]--[@CR31]^. The consistencies and discrepancies in the prognostic effects of PD-L1 and PD-L2 may be due to their overlapping immune escape function and varying tumor cell-intrinsic molecular functions; however, there are few studies that address this subject. Of note, PD-L2 is reported to be significantly elevated in "mesenchymal" lung adenocarcinoma^[@CR11]^. In our study, we show that PD-L2 expression is higher in metastatic osteosarcoma compared with primary osteosarcoma by IHC, and that PD-L2 knockdown inhibits migration and invasion of KHOS and U2OS cells. Next, we further investigated possible molecular mechanisms for these observations. EMT is well known to be involved in tumor metastasis^[@CR32]--[@CR34]^. The epithelial phenotype is detected in some sarcomas, including osteosarcoma^[@CR35]^, whereas a MET-like phenomenon was observed in chondrosarcoma after reducing snail^[@CR36]^. In our study, PD-L2 knockdown inhibits EMT in KHOS and U2OS cells, resulting in increased E-cadherin and decreased N-cadherin, vimentin, snail, and MMP9, both in vitro and in vivo. RGMb, a secondary receptor for PD-L2^[@CR18]^, is a member of the repulsive guidance molecule (RGM) family that includes RGMa, RGMb, and RGMc^[@CR37]^, and is expressed in the nervous system, macrophages, and other cells of the immune system^[@CR37],[@CR38]^. Moreover, RGMb is also reported to be expressed in some tumors and has varying roles^[@CR39]--[@CR41]^. Previous studies show that RGMb is associated with tumorigenesis, immunoregulation, and cell-to-cell adhesion, and has an important role in the RGMb-neogenin-RhoA signaling pathway^[@CR19],[@CR42]--[@CR45]^. As a co-receptor, RGMb binds BMPs and neogenin^[@CR19],[@CR20]^, whereas neogenin also directly binds BMP-2/4/6/7^[@CR46],[@CR47]^. In general, RGMb coordinates with diverse receptors to form a BBRN supercomplex and PD-L2 may regulate downstream signaling through interacting with this BBRN supercomplex^[@CR18]^. Previous studies have shown that regulation of the actin cytoskeleton has a vital role in cell migration, a process in which LIMK and cofilin are crucial regulators^[@CR48],[@CR49]^. Phosphorylation of cofilin inhibits its binding to actin filaments, which restrains filament disassembly. Phosphorylation of cofilin is regulated by LIMK, a downstream molecule of RhoA. In our previous study^[@CR22]^, we demonstrated that BMPR2 knockdown inhibits phosphorylation of LIMK2 and cofilin, resulting in reducing cell invasion and lamellipodia extension. BMPR2 also increases RhoA activation and interacts with LIMK2 directly. In our study, decreased phosphorylation of LIMK2 and cofilin were observed after PD-L2 knockdown in KHOS and U2OS cells. Furthermore, PD-L2 knockdown also inhibited expression of RGMb, neogenin, and BMPR2, indicating that PD-L2 is upstream of these molecules and positively regulates expression of BBRN supercomplex signaling. In fact, PD-L2, RGMb, neogenin, BMP, and its receptors constitute a complicated supercomplex cell signaling network, whereas the function and regulation of the cross-talk between these components remains to be further elucidated. Some studies have shown the expression and interaction of RGMb/neogenin, RGMb/BMPs, or neogenin/BMPs, and most of the researches on RGMb/neogenin mainly focus on the nervous system^[@CR19]--[@CR21],[@CR46],[@CR47]^. RGMb is also reported to be expressed in some tumors such as breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and lung cancer, and has varying roles;^[@CR39]--[@CR41]^ abnormal expression of neogenin has been found in pancreatic carcinoma, colon cancer, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, gliomas, and breast cancer;^[@CR50]^ BMP and its receptors are also implicated with many cancers^[@CR22]^. However, the systematic study for BBRN expression in tumor is rare. It is well known that autophagy regulates apoptosis, but how autophagy influences metastasis remains unknown. As a double-edged sword, autophagy may either inhibit or enhance tumor cell metastasis, depending on the cellular context and stimulus^[@CR51]^. For osteosarcoma, the similar phenomenon is also observed that autophagy could either promote or suppress metastasis under the background of different gene regulation^[@CR52]--[@CR54]^. Recent studies demonstrate that autophagy and EMT are linked in a complex relationship, and autophagy could induce or restrain EMT in different situations^[@CR55],[@CR56]^. Furthermore, some evidence indicates the cytoskeleton may be one of the crucial regulatory roles at the crossroad between these two biological processes^[@CR57]^. Complicated regulation has been observed between autophagy and the RHO family or actin cytoskeleton in previous studies^[@CR58]^. Currently, literature describing the relationship between PD-L2 and autophagy is scarce. In this study, we demonstrate that PD-L2 knockdown-mediated inhibition of autophagy is an anti-metastatic mechanism that suppresses migration and invasion via inactivation of RhoA-ROCK-LIMK2 signaling. Our data illustrate that PD-L2 activates the RhoA-ROCK-LIMK2 pathway through the BBRN supercomplex and its direct effect on RhoA activation; however, PD-L2 induces autophagy via beclin-1, whereas beclin-1 can also independently activate RhoA-ROCK-LIMK2 pathway, resulting in autophagic regulation of cell migration and invasion. Through the effect of these two pathways, PD-L2 activates the RhoA-ROCK-LIMK2 pathway to affect cell adhesion and motility (Fig. [7g](#Fig7){ref-type="fig"}). In summary, our study reveals for the first time that PD-L2 functions as a pro-metastatic oncogene and regulates autophagy. PD-L2 knockdown inhibits metastasis through the RhoA-ROCK-LIMK2 and autophagy pathways, which extends our comprehension of the regulatory function of autophagy in tumor cell metastasis and represents a potential therapeutic target in osteosarcoma. Materials and methods {#Sec10} ===================== Osteosarcoma tissue samples and patient information {#Sec11} --------------------------------------------------- Formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded primary osteosarcoma and matched pulmonary metastasis specimens from 18 patients were acquired from the musculoskeletal tumor center of Peking University People's Hospital. Informed consent was obtained from all patients and this study was approved by the ethics committee of Peking University People's Hospital. Cell culture and reagents {#Sec12} ------------------------- KHOS, 143B, SAOS-2, U2OS, and MG63 cells were obtained from American Type Culture Collection (Manassas, VA, USA). KHOS, SAOS-2, U2OS, and MG63 cells were recently authenticated in Beijing Microread Genetics, Co., Ltd by Short Tandem Repeat (STR) analysis. 143B cells were recently authenticated in Cobioer Biosciences, Co., Ltd by STR analysis. KHOS and U2OS cells were cultured in RPMI 1640 medium (Hyclone, Logan, UT, USA). 143B, SAOS-2, and MG63 cells were maintained in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (Hyclone, Logan, UT, USA). Cell culture medium was supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (Gibco) and 1% penicillin/streptomycin (Invitrogen). All cell lines were cultured at 37 °C with 5% CO~2~. CQ was obtained from Selleck (Houston, TX, USA). Flow cytometry {#Sec13} -------------- All osteosarcoma cell lines were analyzed for PD-L2 expression by flow cytometry. The cells were prepared and incubated with the primary antibody for 30 min at 4 °C and then washed with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) according to the manufacturer's instructions. After washing, cells were assayed using an Accuri C6 flow cytometer (BD Biosciences, San Diego, CA, USA). Fluorescent antibodies including APC-PD-L2 (17-5888) and the isotype control (17-4714) were purchased from eBioscience. IHC and immunofluorescence assays {#Sec14} --------------------------------- IHC staining was performed as described previously^[@CR59]^. Assessment of immunostaining was conducted by two independent pathologists without any previous knowledge of the clinical specimens. The score for positive IHC staining percentage was grouped into four levels: 0: 0% positive; 1: \< 5% positive; 2: 5--50% positive; and 3: \> 50% positive. The score for staining intensity was also grouped into four levels: 0: none; 1: weak; 2: moderate; and 3: intense. Total score = percentage score × intensity score. Based on the scoring system, more than ten representative fields (× 400 magnification) were calculated for IHC analysis between primary osteosarcoma and lung metastasis groups. Antibodies for IHC against PD-L2 (82723)^[@CR60]^, E-cadherin (3195), and Vimentin (5741) were purchased from Cell Signaling Technology (CST, Beverly, MA, USA). Anti-MMP9 (ab76003) and p-LIMK2 (ab38499) were purchased from Abcam (Cambridge, UK), and anti-Beclin1 (11306-1-AP) was purchased from Proteintech Group, Inc. (Chicago, USA). For the immunofluorescence assay of LC3, cells were fixed and permeabilized with 0.1% Triton X-100 at room temperature for 15 min and then incubated with anti-LC3 antibody overnight at 4 °C. Cells were washed three times with PBS and incubated with a Cy3-conjugated goat anti-rabbit IgG secondary antibody for 1 h at room temperature. Cells were viewed and imaged using confocal microscopy (FV10i, Olympus, Tokyo, Japan). WB and GTPase assay {#Sec15} ------------------- WB was performed as previously described^[@CR59]^. Anti-human BMPR2 (ab78422), p-LIMK2 (ab38499), LIMK2 (ab97766), MMP9 (ab76003), PD-L2 (ab187662), and the RhoA activation assay (ab211164) were purchased from Abcam (Cambridge, UK). Antibodies against E-cadherin (3195), N-cadherin (13116), Vimentin (5741), Snail (3879), p-cofilin (3313), cofilin (5175), ROCK1 (4035), ROCK2 (9029), LC3 (12741), p62 (8025), and Beclin-1 (3495) were purchased from CST (Beverly, MA, USA). Anti-GAPDH (sc-25778) and PD-L1 (sc-50298) were purchased from Santa Cruz Biotechnology (Santa Cruz, CA, USA). The GTPase assay was conducted according to the manufacturer's instructions. Quantitative reverse-transcription PCR {#Sec16} -------------------------------------- Total RNA was isolated using Trizol (Invitrogen) and cDNAs were synthesized with purified RNA and OligdT primers using SuperScript III First-Strand Synthesis SuperMix (Invitrogen). Real-time quantitative PCR was performed using the SYBR-Green PCR Master Mix (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA) on Bio-Rad CFX96 (Applied Biosystems, CA, USA). Relative transcript expression was normalized to GAPDH. All protocols were conducted as per the manufacturer's instructions. The primer sequences were as follows: PD-L2 forward 5′- AAAGAGCCACTTTGCTGGAG-3′ and PD-L2 reverse 5′- GAGGACGTAGTAACGAAAGT-3′; GAPDH forward 5′-GCACCGTCAAGGCTGAGAAC-3′ and GAPDH reverse 5′-ATGGTGGTGAAGACGCCAGT-3′. Gene knockdown with siRNA/shRNA and overexpression with adenovirus {#Sec17} ------------------------------------------------------------------ Lentiviruses targeting PD-L2 and BMPR2 were obtained from GenePharma (Suzhou, China). A non-targeting lentivirus construct was used as a negative control (NC). The shRNA sequences were as follows: PD-L2 pair 1, sense strand 5′-CCTAAGGAACTGTACATAA-3′ and antisense strand 5′-TTATGTACAGTTCCTTAGG-3'; PD-L2 pair 2, sense strand 5′-CCATCCAACTTGGCTGCTT-3′ and antisense strand 5′-AAGCAGCCAAGTTGGATGG-3′; BMPR2 pair 1, sense strand 5′-GCCTATGGAGTGAAATTATTT-3′ and antisense strand 5′-AAATAATTTCACTCCATAGGC-3′; BMPR2 pair 2, sense strand 5′-CCTAACTGTATACCAGAATTA-3′ and antisense strand 5′-TAATTCTGGTATACAGTTAGG-3'; and NC, sense strand 5′-TTCTCCGAACGTGTCACGT-3′ and antisense strand 5′-ACGTGACACGTTCGGAGAA-3′. ShPD-L2, shBMPR2, and NC stably expressing osteosarcoma cells were generated using puromycin (2 μg/ml) for 2 weeks after infection with lentivirus. Overexpression of BMPR2 was performed using an adenoviral vector (Vigene, Shanghai, China) carrying the full human genomic BMPR2 DNA (NM_001204) fused with enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP); an empty adenoviral vector that only contained EGFP was used as a NC. Transfections of lentivirus and adenovirus were conducted according to the manufacturer's instructions. SiBeclin-1 and nonspecific NC siRNA (siNC) were purchased from GenePharma (Suzhou, China). The sequences targeting Beclin-1 were as follows: \#1, 5′-CAAGUUCAUGCUGACGAAUTT-3′ (sense) and 5′-AUUCGUCAGCAUGAACUUGAG-3′ (antisense); \#2, 5′-CAGGAUGAUGUCCACAGAATT-3′ (sense) and 5′-UUCUGUGGACAUCAUCCUGGC-3′ (antisense); \#3, 5′-CGUGGAAUGGAAUGAGAUUTT-3′ and (sense) and 5′-AAUCUCAUUCCAUUCCACGGG-3′ (antisense). The nonspecific siRNAs used as control were as follows: 5′-UUCUCCGAACGUGUCACGUTT-3′ (sense) and 5′-ACGUGACACGUUCGGAGAATT-3′ (antisense). The PD-L2 overexpression plasmid and NC were purchased from GenePharma (Suzhou, China). siRNAs and plasmid were transfected into tumor cells using Lipofectamine 3000 (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA) according to the manufacturer's instructions. After 48 h transfection, cells were collected for further analyses. Transmission electron microscopy {#Sec18} -------------------------------- For TEM, cells were digested with 0.25% trypsin, suspended at a concentration of 1.0 × 10^6^ per ml and fixed with 1.5% glutaraldehyde at 4 °C for 6 h. Ultrathin sections (100 nm) were prepared, stained with uranyl acetate and lead citrate, and examined under a TEM (H-600; Hitachi, Tokyo, Japan). CCK-8 assay {#Sec19} ----------- The CCK-8 (Dojindo Laboratories, Kumamoto, Japan) assay was used to examine the cell viability according to the manufacturer's instruction. Cells were plated in 96-well plates at a density of 5000 cells in 100 μl medium per well 1 day before the experiment. Cell colony-formation assay {#Sec20} --------------------------- Cells (1 ×10^3^) in the logarithmic phase were plated into six-well plates, allowed to form colonies for 10 days, and then fixed with methyl alcohol and stained with crystal violet staining solution. Wound-healing assay {#Sec21} ------------------- Cells (4 × 10^5^) were seeded onto a six-well plate, after which confluent cells were scratched using 200 µl sterile pipette tips in each well. Images of wounded areas were taken at 0 and 24 h (KHOS) or 0 and 36 h (U2OS). All images were analyzed using Image J software (Rawak Software, Inc., Germany). Transwell assay {#Sec22} --------------- Cells (6 × 10^4^) were seeded into the non-coated upper chamber of transwell plates (8 µm pore size; Corning) for a migration assay and into Matrigel-coated upper chamber (BD Bioscience, 354234) for an invasion assay. After culturing for 24 h, cells were fixed with methanol and stained with a 0.1% crystal violet solution. Migrated cell populations were evaluated in five fields per well under a microscope. Tumor xenografts {#Sec23} ---------------- To evaluate the effect of PD-L2 knockdown on primary tumor growth and spontaneous metastasis, 6-week-old female BALB/c nude mice (Vitalriver, Beijing, China) were orthotopically injected in the para-osseous proximal tibia with 5 × 10^6^ KHOS-shPD-L2 or -shNC cells. Tumor volume was measured beginning 5 days post injection as (length × width^2^)/2 and measured every 5 days thereafter until killing at 30 days. Upon termination of the study, tumors were collected, weighed, photographed, and processed for WB and IHC assays. Lungs were processed for routine H&E staining and the number of metastatic nodules in the lung was quantified. Statistical analysis {#Sec24} -------------------- All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS v.21.0 software (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). Statistical evaluation was performed using Student's t-test. Data are expressed as the mean ± SD. In all statistical analyses, a P-value \< 0.05 was considered statistically significant in a two-sided test. Supplementary information ========================= {#Sec25} Expression of PD-L1, ROCK1 and ROCK2 after PD-L2 knockdown and expression of LC3, p62 after Beclin-1 knockdown in osteosarcoma cells Effect of PD-L2 expression recovery on proliferation, migration, invasion and autophagy of osteosarcoma cells The quantification of western blot results in Figure 4 The quantification of western blot results in Figure 5 and Figure 6 The quantification of western blot results in Figure S1 and S2 Supplementary figure legends Edited by: J.-E. Ricci Publisher's note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. These authors contributed equally: Tingting Ren and Bingxin Zheng. Supplementary information ========================= Supplementary Information accompanies this paper at (10.1038/s41419-019-1497-1). The study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Numbers 81572633 and 81472509). The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or manuscript preparation. Authors' contributions {#FPar1} ====================== B.X.Z., T.T.R., and W.G. conceived and designed the study. B.X.Z., T.T.R., and Y.H. performed the experiments. B.X.Z. and T.T.R. analyzed and interpreted the data. B.X., S.D.W., and K.S.L. contributed to materials. T.T.R. and B.X.Z. wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Conflict of interest {#FPar2} ==================== The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Heartbroken, humiliated, just plain sad. Chris Christie apologizing after his top aides are tied to a traffic scandal. This morning we have new reaction coming in as new evidence in the bridge closing case is set to become public. CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to EARLY START. It's very early this morning. I'm Christine Romans. BERMAN: It's a very EARLY START. Thirty-one minutes past the hour right now. ROMANS: All right. All eyes are on New Jersey today where we're expecting to learn much more about this investigation into what many people are now calling Bridgegate. The political scandal surrounding Governor Chris Christie over the shutdown of lanes to the very busy George Washington Bridge. As a parent political payback against a mayor who would not endorse Christie. Christie has now fired a top aide, asked his campaign manager to step down from a high profile Republican Party job and apologized, saying, he was deceived. He is now embarrassed and disappointed. Today a state committee plans to release hundreds of page of documents from its investigation. Now as CNN has learned, the FBI is looking into the shutdown now and possible federal charges. Christie insists he knew nothing about this and apologized again and again. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: I am responsible for what happened. I am sad to report to the people of New Jersey that we fell short. We fell short of the expectations that we've created over the last four years for the type of excellence in government that they should expect from this office. But I have repeated said to them that while I promised them the best governor's office I can give them, I can never promise them a perfect governor's office. And so when I find those imperfections, those mistakes, those lies, my obligation as the chief executive of this state is to act. I had no knowledge or involvement in this issue, in its planning or its execution, and I am stunned by the abject stupidity that was shown here regardless of what the facts ultimately uncover. This was handled in a callous and indifferent way. And it is not way this administration has conducted itself over the last four years and not the way it will conduct itself over the next four. I will do everything within my power to assure the people of New Jersey that and I thank them for their willingness to consider my apology on behalf of this government. And you're darn right. What they did hurt the people of New Jersey and hurt the people of Fort Lee, and the person who needs to apologize for that is me. And I have. And I am sorry to all the people in the state that they have to be occupied with this matter. It's embarrassing. As I said before, the whole matter is humiliating to me. But all you can do as a person when you know this is to stand up and be genuine and sincerely apologize and hope the people accept your apology. I think I have built up enough goodwill over time with the people of New Jersey that I'm very hopeful they will accept my apology. (END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: All right. The question is, how did he do? For more on this, let's bring in CNN political editor Paul Steinhauser. Paul is with us from Washington this morning. Paul, who was that Chris Christie we saw yesterday behind the podium? He kept on saying he was sad. He seemed physically different in some ways. A much changed governor, it seems. PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: No doubt about it. You know, there were a few things that he -- were similar. Chris Christie traditionally takes all questions. His news conferences are very long. This one weighed in at one hour and 48 minutes. So that was the same. But, yes, you're right. The bravado from the governor -- when you have seen him in past news conferences, was gone. This was a very contrite politician, saying he was embarrassed, humiliated. He -- what else did he do right? He apologized, of course, which was very important. And as you said, he apologized dozens of times and he fired people. That was probably the most important thing. He said he took action immediately. So he did a lot of things right and a lot of people are giving him very good credit for that in this news conference yesterday. But remember, a lot of questions remain and by saying he had no knowledge of this, he leaves himself very little wiggle room when more things may come out and as you guys just mentioned, yes, 907 pages of documents coming out today from that state's Senate committee that was investigating. There are other investigation. This story is far from over, guys. ROMANS: Paul, let's listen to a bit of sound, something that Rudy Giuliani said on Anderson Cooper -- "AC 360" last night. Listen to that, then I want to talk a little bit about sort of the culture inside his administration. Listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: big mistake in his administration. It happens. It happened to me more than a few times. ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, AC 360: You have no doubt that he had no involvement? GIULIANI: I'm absolutely positive. I think Chris Christie is one of the most honest, straight guys you're going to meet. I think -- also I think had he known about it he would have never acted this way. (LAUGHTER) Had he known that he had some involvement in this he never would have -- he never would have treated it lightly the way he did. He didn't act like a person who had knowledge before the fact. (END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: But there are a lot of questions this morning, big questions about what is the culture of that brash, say it like it is Chris Christie personality. Someone who has called reporters stupid or said don't ask a stupid question. And then how that manifests in his top aides? STEINHAUSER: Exactly. One of the greatest questions, I thought, from the news conference was the one from John King when he asked just about that. And Chris Christie said, listen, I am not a bully. And I think that sound bite -- you'll hear a lot of that sound bite in weeks and years to come. But he also was very introspective about, well, why did his aides do what they did? Was it because of him and his culture or his kind of persona of being that tough guy. And he was very introspective about that, though he didn't really answer the question. He raised the question, but didn't answer it. It's interesting what Giuliani said. And he knows a lot about this. Remember, like Christie, a former federal prosecutor who became a Republican politician, a northeastern Republican who has never beloved by the conservatives. And Giuliani, of course, ran for president and his own campaign suffered because of things that happened, scandals and controversies from his years as New York City mayor. A lot of comparisons between the two men, you could say. BERMAN: Let's talk about 2016, I can't resist. Look, even the Democrats, David Axelrod, have come out and said that Christie did a good job yesterday. He lives to fight another day. But that doesn't mean there is no baggage from this. Christie has suffered a political impact here. He's going to have to be careful about how he treats reporters, he's going to have to be careful about how he treats people in general. ROMANS: Yes. BERMAN: He's also lost someone very, very crucial to his political ambitions. STEINHAUSER: You're absolutely right on all these accounts. You're going to hear sound bites from these -- from yesterday's news conference to come back to haunt him, and it's going to change the way he has to interact with other politicians who he may be meeting in presidential debates and with reporters. And the person you're talking about who was forced to step down yesterday was a guy called Bill Stepien. This is the guy who was Chris Christie's campaign manager in his 2009 election as governor. And as -- and last November's reelection as governor. This guy is one of the closest political aides to Chris Christie, somebody who Christie was just praising just a month ago and saying that this guy would be doing a lot of things for him down the road. He was supposed to be taking over as the head of the Republican Party in New Jersey. And he also had a tough role at the Republican Governors Association where Chris Christie is now chairman. All that gone. This is something that will hurt Chris Christie. BERMAN: He's one of the three legs of Chris Christie political stool. Part of the triumphant, triumphant that was leading him to power in New Jersey and almost certainly would have been involved, a key player in a presidential election. ROMANS: Does this -- I wonder if this scandal makes Chris Christie a -- will or would make Chris Christie a different candidate than he would have been without it? You know? A more presidential-sounding person over the next couple of years, Paul. STEINHAUSER: And that's a good point, Christine. You know, a lot of Republicans yesterday were saying, listen, we like Chris Christie and his bravado and his toughness and Americans do want a tough person as president. Somebody who will fight for the country and be strict. But at the same time, there has always been this criticism of Christie that he is a bully. Will this change that? It might. It might. Stay tuned. ROMANS: All right. Paul Steinhauser. BERMAN: Great to see you this morning, Paul. Thank you so much. STEINHAUSER: Thanks, guys. ROMANS: All right. Congress will take another vote today over Obamacare. Two bills actually are before the House that Republicans say would strengthen security requirements for the healthcare.gov Web site. Also require weekly reports on how the site is doing. But the bills do not seek to defund or repeal the health care law. Republican leaders say that's not their goal anymore. They are now focused on fixing specific parts of the law now that it's in effect. BERMAN: Extending jobless benefits remains a battle in the Senate today and as we wake up, the prospects seem to be dimming with both sides unable to reach a deal and acrimony only growing. This could consent -- this bill would send checks into past to more than a million Americans. Democrats want to pass the 10-month extension. This would cost about $18 billion. It would be offset, Democrats say, by budget cuts or extending the sequester. Republicans are complaining they hadn't been consulted. The real issue they have is that they are not being offered a chance to make amendments to this bill. ROMANS: Afghanistan could release dozens of high-profiled detainees as soon as today and some of those men are accused of killing Americans. Afghan President Hamid Karzai says there's not enough evidence to hold those men, but the Obama administration insists the men are dangerous criminals. They pose threats to the Afghan people. This, of course, comes as the U.S. and Afghanistan still unable to come to terms over a long-term security agreement. BERMAN: We're finding out details of a new report due out today about sexual assaults at military academies. The report from the Defense Department suggests bad behavior and disrespect by athletes at West Point, the Naval Academy and Air Force Academy might be contributing to the sexual assault problem in the military overall. It calls for more training for the athletes and coaches at these academies. ROMANS: Breaking overnight, she's on her way home. An Indian diplomat at the center of an international crisis. Devyani Khobragade was arrested, remember, back in December accused of visa fraud. That sparked an international diplomatic crisis between the U.S. and India. Her country refused to waive her diplomatic immunity so she could not be arraigned. So she got on a plane overnight insisting she's innocent. BERMAN: This morning we're getting a look at former Cuban president Fidel Castro. We're seeing really for the first time in nine months. The 87-year-old Castro hasn't been seen in public since April of last year. Official newspapers and Web sites carried a photo of Fidel Castro attending the opening of an art studio in Havana. ROMANS: All right. The best jobs report since 2005. That's what we're expecting later this morning. Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody's Analytics said earlier this week the job market ended 2013 on a high note. In less than four hours, we'll know for sure. Economists surveyed by CNN Money expect this number, 193,000 jobs added in December. That would put the tally for the year at 2.3 million new jobs, the strongest in eight years. Unemployment expected to hold at 7 percent, but one big problem area here, guys, is still the long-term unemployment. How long is a person out of work on average? 17 weeks, that's just over four months. The problem is the longer you're out of work, the harder it is to find a job. The odds of getting a job were about 31 percent if you've been out of work for less than five weeks. The odd dropped 9 percent after one year of unemployment. CNN Money has a look at the faces behind the numbers. They span from former managers making six figures to factory workers. The jobs report also is a big player on Wall Street today. Dow futures are up 30 points. Europe posting modest gains as well. You know, Asia ended mixed because of concerns about China's economy. Well, this jobs report is the real big piece of news. How did the year end. How did the year look. It looks like it was probably the strongest year since 2005. The jobs growth. But we haven't dug out of the hole yet. BERMAN: Not yet. But a big number coming out this morning. All right. Forty-two minutes after the hour and developing news overnight on the deadly terror attacks threatening the Winter Olympic Games. The FBI now sending security as the violence is growing this morning in Russia. We are live in Moscow with the very latest, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROMANS: In Russia, new concerns this morning about security ahead of the Winter Olympics. The games less now than a month away and U.S. security teams are already on the ground there. And this morning police are trying to explain a series of killings just 150 miles from Sochi where the Olympics will be held. Six bodies were found in booby trapped cars. Just weeks after a series of terror attacks left dozens dead. Nic Robertson is in Moscow with the latest. Nic, what's going on? NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, still security officials are trying to figure out, is there any link to these killings and the Sochi Olympics? What they're saying so far is that two of the people killed were taxi drivers. One was a furniture maker. All the vehicles were fairly cheap, low-cost vehicles, and the attacks seemed to designed to bring to police on to the site of these different murders. Four different murder sites, four different vehicles involved in these six people. And then an effort in one case actually detonated explosives and another the police able to diffuse the explosives. The same handgun, same type of handgun at least used in all six killings. But as yet, security officials here not yet saying whether this was directly linked with a terror group related to the Olympics or whether it's some local issue. But normally we're told this area doesn't have a high level of terrorism so of course it is causing a bit of concern here right now -- Christine. ROMANS: Nic, do you know what role U.S. security teams, you know, including FBI agents are playing in sort of the preparations for the Olympics there? ROBERTSON: What we know from the director of the FBI, James Comey, has said that there are at least a dozen law enforcement and other federal -- security officials here in Russia already. At least a dozen of them in Moscow. And he says he himself has had personal contact and the FBI has had regular contact with their counterparts here in Russia. Of the Russians say that they are ready for the Olympics. Their security is good, they have rehearsed it. But they have the sort of lead role in providing security. But from what we understand from the director of the FBI, you know, he has -- look, particular concerns over Sochi. He says this is going to be a particularly difficult Olympics from a security perspective because there are no terror threats in the region surrounding the Sochi area, so this is of concern. The precise role certainly, he indicates that U.S. law enforcement officials have different specialties would be able to advise the Olympic team any questions they may have. But really as far as we know at the moment, the Russians have the lead on all the security, 37,000 security officials in and around the Sochi area for the Olympics -- Christine. ROMANS: All right. Nic Robertson. Thanks, Nic. BERMAN: It's 49 minutes after the hour right now. And this morning he is home in Minnesota for the first time in nine months. Shezanne Cassim, an American who'd been locked up in the United Arab Emirates over a satirical video posted to YouTube. It took months for formal criminal charges to be filed and for a conviction. But now he is speaking out about what happened to him. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SHEZANNE CASSIM, RELEASED FROM UAE JAIL: I think there's a misconception that I broke a law. But I want to say that I did nothing wrong. There was nothing illegal about the video. Even under UAE Law. I was tried in a textbook kangaroo court and I was convicted without any evidence. (END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: Cassim understandably says he has no plans to return to the United Arab Emirates. One thing is clear, the UAE has no friend in that young man at this point. ROMANS: All right. Breaking overnight, hundreds of thousands of people in West Virginia are being told not to drink the water there. That's because of a chemical spill into a river that feeds into the water system. It's not clear how dangerous the chemical may be, but authorities say residents are flooding emergency rooms to get checked out. They are rushing to stores buying up bottled water. A -- local officials say the company did not properly notify them about the spill. BERMAN: Being taken very, very seriously. Court documents just made public revealed why Boston Police investigated former NFL star Aaron Hernandez in connection with a drive-by double homicide in 2012. A police search warrant reveals that Hernandez was in an SUV when someone inside the vehicle fired shots that killed two people. Prosecutors have filed no charges in that case. Hernandez is charged in a separate case with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Odom Lloyd. He pleaded not guilty in that case. ROMANS: A guilty plea now in a sexual assault case that drew national attention. Missouri prosecutors reaching a deal with Matthew Barnett over claims he assaulted Daisy Coleman. She claims she was raped and left in the cold. Earlier charges have been dropped. Her family claims because Barnett is politically connected. Now after a second review by a special prosecutor, Barnett has been put on probation and ordered to apologize. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To analyze evidence in this case it was -- there was insufficient evidence to go forward on a sexual assault. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The misdemeanor charge which -- Mr. Barnett pled guilty accurately reflects the conduct for which he should be held accountable. (END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: Coleman was not in court, but in a statement said she was grateful Barnett took responsibility by pleading guilty and she's looking to move forward. BERMAN: Gay rights advocates are demanding the federal government recognize same-sex marriages in Utah. Despite the governor there saying the weddings will not be recognized by the state as an appeal moves forward. The advocacy group the Human Rights Campaign has asked Attorney General Eric Holder to treat the marriages as legal for federal purposes. More than 1,000 same-sex couples tied the knot in Utah since December when a judge ruled that the ban there was unconstitutional. Now the ban has been reinstated. ROMANS: And more rain could be coming today to Florida's treasure coast already drenched and damage by some pretty bad weather. Upwards of six inches of rain fell in the West Palm Beach area, causing severe flooding, even leading to collapsed roadways. Residents say they have never seen rain this bad. I mean, we were talking about West Palm Beach. They have hurricanes there. Even in hurricanes, they haven't seen this rain like this. Officials are now looking into the damage that a motor home park south of Port Lucia asking could it have been the result of a tornado? (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of a sudden, a big bang and the house shook. And I think that's when the lights went out. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The side of my trailer went up in the air. And I got kind of scared. I ran into the bathroom. Then the power went out. (END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: All right. That's part of the weather situation. ROMANS: Wow. BERMAN: Let's get a full check of the Friday forecast with Chad Myers right now. CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And good morning, guys. You know some light snow around New York City especially western part of the suburbs. Also some freezing rain this morning. Now it's not going to last long, but this pink area here, D.C., Philadelphia, (INAUDIBLE), that's the area that could see freezing rain this morning. About 9:00, 10:00 it's just all liquid rain. And by 2:00 in the afternoon, we're well above 40. But it's just for right now that we're concerned. If you go out there, it's still dark, you might not see some of these black ice that's on the roadways. By later on tonight, it is all rain. Some spots could pick up an inch of rain, especially right through the city. 42 for the high today. The warmest we've seen for a while, even Minneapolis warms up to 34, 40 in Kansas City, and 58 in Minneapolis. Now not so much for the East Coast. But maybe through the Midwest, maybe for you, Hawaii, something else is going on right now. The northern lights are going on. The Aurora Borealis, about 3:00 yesterday afternoon, a coronal mass ejection, not polar vortex, something completely different, came out of the sun and hit the earth. And now we have the auroras on the north and the south poles. And if you get out there and look, if you're far enough north or south, you might be able to see some cool green, maybe even some yellow lights out there this morning. Back to you guys in New York. BERMAN: It is worth the trip to the North Pole. (LAUGHTER) ROMANS: No. At least it's not so cold in northern Minnesota -- I mean, it's cold in northern Minnesota, but you know, we could go. They couldn't look out there -- (CROSSTALK) BERMAN: No. Exactly. Bright side. All right. Coming up for us, is the economy on the mend? We get new evidence that will answer this question today in the December jobs report. It could be some very, very good news. We'll have that story, "Money Time" coming up next. This is the day Wall Street has been waiting for all week. A jobs report, major jobs report will be released at 8:30 Eastern. The headline we're looking for here, the strongest jobs growth for the year since 2005. If analyst forecasts are correct, we'll learn that nearly 2.3 million positions were added in 2013. All week some of the biggest names on Wall Street have been raising their expectations. Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Deutsch Bank, all of these economists have been sharpening their pencils and saying, you know what, we're more optimistic about the economy than we were just a few weeks ago. Because of all of this evidence about the jobs market coming in strong. Stock futures creeping higher this morning ahead of that 8:30 a.m. release. We will bring it to you live. The downside, of course, is that we still haven't dug out from all the jobs lost in the recession. If you have 200,000 jobs created every month, it will still take five years to get back to full employment. That's the negative side but the positive side is best year since 2005. OK. A milestone on Capitol Hill. For the first time ever, the majority of Congress members are millionaires. BERMAN: Isn't that nice? ROMANS: It warms my heart. Not. New data from the Center for Responsible Politics shows 268 Congress members have an average net worth of at least $1 million. That's up from 257 last -- it was a good year to be in Congress. The richest Republican, Darrell Issa, of California, he's of course worth more than $400 million. Largely self-made. That's because of his car alarm business. The report comes as Congress debates unemployment benefits and food stamps and some say of course it's rich that a bunch of millionaires are deciding whether you should get a $300 check because you haven't been able to find a job. BERMAN: I almost went into car alarms. ROMANS: Did you? BERMAN: I should have. ROMANS: I'm sorry. You know -- BERMAN: Big mistake. ROMANS: Cell phones, that would have been good, too. Yes. Sorry, journalism. And finally, it's good to be the boss. Bosses tend to like their jobs more than the average worker. I say you need a study for that? That's according to a new study from Pew. Sixty-nine percent of bosses are satisfied with their job compared to 48 percent of workers. Bosses are also more satisfied with their financial situation and their family life. So no surprise more of them plan to stay put and are not looking to move on to something new. Most also think they're paid fairly. And I would just like to say we're satisfied with our bosses. BERMAN: Absolutely. (LAUGHTER) Our bosses rule. And they tell us that EARLY START continues right now.
[Absent right superior vena cava with left superior vena cava draining to an unroofed coronary sinus]. We describe the case of a 1-month-old infant with a complete atrioventricular septal defect with right dominance, situs solitus, and drainage from the persistent left superior vena cava to the coronary sinus. Corrective surgery was carried out without previous cardiac catheterization. During the operation, the right superior vena cava was found to be absent. Cyanosis and head-and-neck edema were observed in the immediate postoperative period. Transthoracic echocardiography carried out after injection of a small volume of stirred saline into an epicranial vein demonstrated the presence of microbubbles in the left cardiac cavities. A second operation was performed to prevent drainage from the left superior vena cava to the left atrium (via the unroofed coronary sinus) and to insert a PTFE conduit between the innominate vein and the right atrial appendage. The outcome was excellent. In this report, the embryological, clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic characteristics of this entity are discussed.
Compare Prices The Firestone Blizzak W965 is a winter tire designed for light trucks and vans. It has UNI-T technology which increases traction. The Blizzak W965 is an excellent tire for those needing to be on the road whether in rain, snow or slushy conditions. The 215/85R16 Bridgestone Blizzak W965 has a diameter of 30.6", a width of 8.6", mounts on a 16" rim and has 681 revolutions per mile. It weighs 45 lbs, has a max load of 2680 lbs, a maximum air pressure of 80 psi, a tread depth of 17/32" and should be used on a rim width of 5.5-7".
Duke guard Andre Dawkins is not planning on transferring, but he might redshirt next season. Dawkins’ father, Andre Sr., told The News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C., on Friday that his son might sit out next season and then return for his senior year of eligibility in 2013-14. That would allow his son to work through the enduring grief from the death of his older sister. “He’s dealt with a lot,” Andre Sr. told the newspaper. “It’s been tough. It hasn’t been easy at all. With the fast pace of playing high-level basketball, you don’t really get the time to deal with things like that. “Everyone is different, and so everyone might handle that situation differently. I appreciate the fact that’s an option for him if that’s going to be the case. That’s been really great.” Lacey Dawkins, then 21, was killed in a car accident on Dec. 5, 2009, while driving to a Duke-St. John’s game. Duke officials released a statement Thursday night saying Dawkins was still a member of the team but considering a redshirt year, and Andre Sr. reiterated Friday that his son is doing well. “I didn’t want you have to the impression that anything’s wrong,” the father told The News & Observer. “There’s nothing wrong with him or anything like that. This may be an option for him in the fall because he came in early, so this just may be an option for him.
Teleoperated surgical systems (sometimes referred to as “robotic surgical systems”) may be used to perform minimally invasive medical procedures, with the surgical system actuating a surgical instrument according to commands provided by a user. Maintenance programs may be performed upon the surgical system, such as to repair, replace, or clean parts of the surgical system. To facilitate maintenance, one or more parts of the surgical system may be removable for repair, cleaning, or even replacement (temporary or otherwise). To minimize or eliminate downtime of the surgical system, it may be desirable to have those parts be field replaceable so the part can be removed in the field without having to take the entire system out of use. In the case of patient side cart manipulator arms of teleoperated surgical systems, there exists a continued need to improve upon the field replaceability of such parts, making replacement relatively easy by a user in the field and robust.
Q: Angular: Validate a date input based on the selection of another date input I have two input fields: InvoiceDate and InvoiceDueDate. I need to validate the InvoiceDueDate such that it starts 30 days after the selected InvoiceDate. Currently, I have the InvoiceDueDate validated to not less than the InvoiceDate by binding it to [min]="invoice.invoiceDate" <div class="col-sm-2"> <label>Invoice Date</label><br> <input type="date" [disabled]="true" name="invoicedate" class="form-control readOnly-date" [(ngModel)]="invoice.invoiceDate" ngIf="!invoice.financialPeriodId"> <input type="date" name="invoicedate" min="{{startDate \| date: 'yyyy-MM-dd'}}" max="{{endDate \| date: 'yyyy-MM-dd'}}" class="form-control" [(ngModel)]="invoice.invoiceDate" ngIf="invoice.financialPeriodId"> </div> <div class="col-sm-2"> <label>Due Date</label><br> <input type="date" name="dueDate" class="form-control readOnly-date" [(ngModel)]="invoice.invoiceDueDate" *ngIf="!invoice.invoiceDate"> <input type="date" name="dueDate" [min]="invoice.invoiceDate" class="form-control" [(ngModel)]="invoice.invoiceDueDate"> </div> The InvoiceDueDate should be set to 30 days from the date selected on InvoiceDate. example: if (InvoiceDate is 01-10-2019) then InvoiceDueDate should be 02-11-2019 A: public minDate: newDat(); minDate = this.invoice.invoiceDate.setDate(this.invoice.invoiceDate.getDate() + 30); and in your HTML you can use [min]="minDate" hope this helps you!
Meta Month: December 2014 There were 3,025 people living in 884 different one room tenements in Limerick City in 1914. The annual reports submitted to the Public Health Committee by the Medical Officer, Dr. Michael McGrath, offer a detailed picture of the major health issues affecting Limerick City from 1912 to 1914. Housing of the Working Classes This was the single most critical health issue in all the major towns and cities in Ireland. Overcrowded tenement housing and their concomitant poor sanitation aided the spread of contagious diseases; led to an increase in mortality rates and a decrease in life expectancy. At this time an alarming 8% of Limerick City’s population lived in what the Medical officer described as “those wretched tenements.” In 1912 there was an epidemic of measles in Limerick City and this infectious disease claimed the lives of 127 children. Dr. McGrath noted that most of these deaths occurred in the poorer areas of the city. “This complication arises in every case where the necessary nursing attention cannot be devoted to the patient and its absence was more marked in the poorer classes, amongst whom the disease proved most fatal.” The cause of death in the majority these cases was due to complications i.e bronchial pneumonia. Whereas measles came in waves, Tuberculosis was the most intransigent disease to affect the working classes in Limerick city. Dr. McGrath lamented that around one hundred people died from tuberculosis in the city each year and that this would not change unless a better class of housing was provided. He wrote “…this highly undesirable state of things will exist until improved housing accomodation has been provided for the Working Classes and their families, as it is in this section of the community that the ravages of Tuberculosis are most to be deplored.” The number of deaths caused by Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Limerick City (1900-1914) Despite the higher rate of mortality among their tenants, tenement blocks were sought after by investors for their profitability. An extreme example of this can be found in Dublin City. According to the 1911 census, 16 houses on Buckingham Street contained 1,273 people. Nevertheless, they were an attractive investment as they were “yielding a large percentage.” Tenements for Sale on Buckingham Street, Dublin (1913) Mud, Manure, Water Statistics can often evoke how different life was a century ago more effectively than any photograph. The Medical Officer’s report included details on the number of cartloads of manure and mud removed from the city streets, as well as the amount of water added to wash away the dirt or to prevent the build up of dust during the Summer months. from Medical Officer’s Report (1913) Again, the lack of basic sanitary facilities in the tenement houses was noted by the Medical officer who regretted that “the people in the poorer districts, where most of the houses are without water closests, do not take advantage of the night soil carts to anything like the extent that they should..” Hence this excrement that was “slopped out” during the night was allowed to dry on these streets and lanes helping propagate a whole range of diseases. Sanitary sub-officers in the city thus condemned nearly one thousand of these houses without water closets as “unfit for human habitation.”
Photoreceptor function in eyes with macular edema. The irreversible loss of visual acuity in macular edema is usually attributed to permanent loss of photoreceptor cells, although there is hardly any information on changes in photoreceptor function in macular edema. The purpose of this study was to assess photoreceptor function in various stages of macular edema and to relate the findings to visual acuity and angiographic changes. Directional sensitivity (optical Stiles-Crawford effect) and visual pigment density of foveal cones was measured with a custom-built scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO) in 19 eyes of 19 patients. Twelve eyes exhibited macular edema: five of inflammatory origin, and seven of diabetic origin. Seven eyes with an intraocular inflammatory disease without clinical or angiographic evidence of edema were also included (four of which had previous macular edema and one of which had shown development of macular edema at the 1-year follow-up). Results of SLO measurements were related to findings using fluorescein angiography and Snellen visual acuity, both assessed at the time of SLO measurement and 6 months thereafter. Eyes with macular edema exhibited diminished directional sensitivity of photoreceptor cells in the fovea compared with eyes without (P = 0.02). Visual pigment density of eyes with macular edema was decreased and associated with both initial and follow-up visual function and with the angiographic macular edema grade at follow-up. Abnormal directional sensitivity and pigment density were already present in eyes with slight edematous changes and normal visual acuity. Eyes with inflammatory or diabetic macular edema showed decreased directional sensitivity and visual pigment density in the macular area. These findings may support a role for SLO measurements in detecting retinal damage due to macular edema.
Circuit Lifetime With Citrate Versus Heparin in Pediatric Continuous Venovenous Hemodialysis. To determine if there is a difference between regional citrate and global heparinized anticoagulation on circuit lifetimes during continuous venovenous hemodialysis in children. Prospective "cross-over" trial. PICU, Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital Ostrava. Children 0-18 years old. From 2009 to 2014, 63 eligible children (age, 89.24 ± 62.9 mo; weight, 30.37 ± 20.62 kg) received at least 24 hours of continuous venovenous hemodialysis. Each child received four continuous venovenous hemodialysis circuits with anticoagulants in the following order: heparin, citrate, heparin, citrate. Circuit life ended when transmembrane pressure was greater than or equal to 250 mm Hg for more than 60 minutes. The total mean circuit lifetime was 39.75 ± 10.73 hours. Citrate had a significantly longer median circuit lifetime (41.0 hr; CI, 37.6-44.4) than heparin (36.0 hr; CI, 35.4-36.6; p = 0.0001). Mortality was 33.33%. Circuit lifetime was significantly correlated to patient age (r = 0.606), weight (r = 0.763), and blood flow rate (r = 0.697). Transfusion rates (units of red cells per circuit of continuous venovenous hemodialysis) were 0.17 (0.0-1.0) with citrate and 0.36 (0.0-2.0) with heparin (p = 0.002). We showed in our study that citrate provided significantly longer circuit lifetimes than heparin for continuous venovenous hemodialysis in children. Citrate was superior to heparin for the transfusion requirements. Citrate was feasible and safe in children and infants.
Q: How do I open all files in a directory in python? I have the code import os def Load(): for filename in os.listdir("directoryPath"): content = open(filename, "r") Load() And I would like to know how to load the files that filename returns, at the moment I just get an error saying FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'Adjectives.txt' A: os.listdir() returns only the filename, not the full path. You need to pass the whole path to open. You can use os.path.join to combine directory and filename: content = open(os.path.join('directoryPath', filename), 'r')
1. Field of the Invention The present disclosure relates to a lock device for a vehicle retractable seat whose seat back is able to be secured to and released from a vehicle body selectively. In particular, this technology relates to a locking mechanism for locking between a member connected to a vehicle body and a member connected to a seat back when a dynamic force, which is greater than a holding force by a latch mechanism in ordinary use by user, is inputted to the vehicle body. 2. Description of Related Art A vehicle seat attachment latch assembly is disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,945,585. This latch assembly includes a latch mounted for movement between latched and unlatched positions with respect to a striker to secure and selectively release a vehicle seat with respect to a vehicle body. A latching wedge is mounted on the latch for movement therewith and for movement with respect thereto in cooperation with a bias provided by a first spring that moves a wedging surface of the latching wedge into wedging contact with the striker with the latch in its latched position in order to provide a rattle free attachment. A locking pawl and a spring cooperate to hold the latch in its latched position or permit release thereof for movement to the unlatched position where the striker is released. That is to say, the latch (member) engages with locking pawl every time when the latch member latches or holds the striker, in ordinary use by user. As described above, according to the latch assembly in U.S. Pat. No. 6,945,585, to eliminate play between the latch member and the striker which causes a rattle, has an additional latching wedge and the bias (spring) on the latch member, for purpose of holding the striker being tightly with the latch member when the striker is positioned at a latched position. Thus, this structure requires additional members, to add a locking function/mechanism into a latching function/mechanism. Meanwhile, U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,480 discloses a lock device for a retractable automotive seat that includes a base member having a striker receiving slot into which the striker can be led. A latch plate is pivotally connected to the base member. A locking plate is pivotally connected to the base member. A striker restraining member is pivotally connected through a pivot shaft to the base member. The striker restraining member is pivotal between a restraining position, where a contact edge thereof abuts against the striker, and a releasing position, where the contact edge disengages from the striker. Springs are employed for biasing the latch plate to pivot toward a stand-by position, biasing the locking plate to pivot toward a lock position, and biasing the striker restraining member to pivot toward the restraining position. A link mechanism is employed for causing the striker restraining member to take the restraining position when the latch plate and the locking plate take latching and lock positions respectively. The pivot shaft of the striker restraining member is positioned at the back of the striker receiving slot, so that the contact edge of the striker restraining member can abut against a front side of the striker. In other words, a locking mechanism including the locking plate, the latch plate and so forth is sandwiched by the base member and another plate. As described above, according to the lock device in U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,480, as in FIG. 2 two plate members sandwich a locking structure/mechanism such as the locking plate, the latch plate and so forth.
Menuconfig make menuconfig is one of five similar tools that can configure Linux source, a necessary early step needed to compile the source code. make menuconfig, with a menu-driven user interface, allows the user to choose the features of Linux (and other options) that will be compiled. It is normally invoked using the command make menuconfig, menuconfig is a target in Linux Makefile. History make menuconfig was not in the first version of Linux. The predecessor tool is a question-and-answer-based utility (make config, make oldconfig). A third tool for Linux configuration is make xconfig, which requires Qt. There is also make gconfig, which uses GTK+, and make nconfig, which is similar to make menuconfig. All these tools use the Kconfig language internally. Kconfig is also used in other projects, such as Das U-Boot, a bootloader for embedded devices, Buildroot, a tool for generating embedded Linux systems, and BusyBox, a single-executable shell utility toolbox for embedded systems. Advantages over earlier versions Despite being a simple design, make menuconfig offers considerable advantages to the question-and-answer-based configuration tool make oldconfig, the most notable being a basic search system and the ability to load and save files with filenames different from “.config”. make menuconfig gives the user an ability to navigate forwards or backwards directly between features, rather than using make config by pressing the key many, many times just to navigate linearly to the configuration for a specific feature. If the user is satisfied with a previous .config file, using make oldconfig uses this previous file to answer all questions that it can, only interactively presenting the new features. This is intended for a version upgrade, but may be appropriate at other times. make menuconfig is a light load on system resources unlike make xconfig (uses Qt as of version 2.6.31.1, formerly Tk) or make gconfig, which utilizes GTK+. It's possible to ignore most of the features with make config, and doing so makes it more likely that one will configure an incomplete or oversized kernel. It's recommended to start with the .config file included with Linux distribution, which makes it easier to configure a custom kernel. Better than editing the .config by hand, make menuconfig shows the descriptions of each feature (?), and adds some (primitive in version 2.6.31.1) dependency checking. With make oldconfig, dependency checking can be done in one step, but requires the user to locate the features that were changed, by hand, to be sure that the needed ones are still enabled. Practically, using both make menuconfig and make oldconfig, diff, (also cvs and a decent text editor) provides the most flexibility and most dependability. Configuring Linux is a significant labor, so users are strongly advised to make backups of it (i.e. cp /usr/src/linux*/.config ~/savemywork.config). The help information is distributed throughout the kernel source tree in the various files called Kconfig. Dependencies To use make menuconfig, Linux source is a requirement, a make tool, a C compiler, and the ncurses library. Key strokes Symbols To the left of the features is the setting (y, M, or empty) enclosed in two punctuation marks. Note that the supplied dependency information is primitive, it does not tell you the names of the depentant features. menuconfig in the kernel-build workflow The user is encouraged to read the Linux README, since there are also many other make targets (beyond modules_install and install). Each will configure the kernel, but with different features activated, or using a different interactive interface; such as tinyconfig or allyesconfig. simple (but effective) workflow make menuconfig Next build the compressed kernel and its modules, a long process. make. Install using your favorite method such as make modules_install, make install. See also GNU Compiler Collection TUI References The make menuconfig tool itself. Linux From Scratch How to Build a Minimal Linux System Creating custom kernels with Debian's kernel-package system Cross compiling Linux on IBM System z How to roll your own Linux Building A Kernel The Traditional Way The Linux Kernel HOWTO Kconfig language External links The Linux Kernel Archives Category:Linux kernel Category:Linux configuration utilities Category:Configuration management Category:Build automation Category:Software that uses ncurses
Merriam's elk The Merriam's elk (Cervus canadensis merriami) is an extinct subspecies of elk once found in the arid lands of the southwestern United States, predominantly Arizona. Since the arrival of the Europeans uncontrolled hunting and cattle grazing had driven the subspecies into extinction around the beginning of the 20th century, with the exact presumed date being 1906. Another subspecies of elk, the eastern elk (Cervus canadensis canadensis) also became extinct at roughly the same time. Not much else is known about this subspecies as it became extinct before studies were done. Elk from Yellowstone National Park were introduced to this area in 1913, and are reasonably common in the area today. See also Roosevelt elk Tule elk Rocky Mountain elk Eastern elk General: List of extinct animals of North America References Category:Elk and red deer Category:Mammal extinctions since 1500 Category:Extinct mammals Category:Extinct animals of the United States Category:Species made extinct by human activities
Po złotym interesie sprzed kilku lat nie ma już śladu. Właściciele wiatraków, w tym państwowe koncerny, straciły na tym biznesie w 2016 roku niemal 3 mld zł. Z niepokojem na sytuację patrzą także banki. Sprawę w rozmowach z polskim rządem poruszał już nawet EBOR ─ jeden z największych kredytodawców dla polskiej energetyki. Z danych Agencji Rynku Energii wynika, że w 2016 roku połowa elektrowni wodnych i 70% farm wiatrowych wygenerowały straty. Wszystkie wiatraki przyniosły niemal 3 mld zł strat brutto na działalności energetycznej. Blisko połowa farm zarobiła lub straciła w 2016 roku do kilkunastu milionów złotych. Jednak co trzecia z nich znalazła się znaczenie głębiej pod kreską. Najgorsza farma przyniosła prawie 200 mln zł strat tylko w ubiegłym roku. Złe wyniki wiatraków to przede wszystkim efekt spadających cen zielonych certyfikatów, a więc drugiego – obok sprzedaży samego prądu – źródła przychodów ekoelektrowni. Inwestycje w farmy wiatrowe były jeszcze kilka lat temu złotym biznesem. Chociaż turbiny były droższe i mniej sprawne, to produkcja energii po ok. 300-350 zł/MWh była rekompensowana przez wysokie ceny sprzedaży prądu (niemal 200 zł/MWh) i drożejące zielne certyfikaty (280 zł/MWh). Łącznie przychody ze sprzedaży na poziomie 480 zł/MWh pozwalały więc na zwrot z inwestycji w ciągu kilku lat. Spadek cen certyfikatów, połączony ze spadkiem cen samej energii, zmieniły jednak sytuację. Chociaż oddawane ostatnio inwestycje były w stanie produkować energię po ok. 250-300 zł/MWh, to łączne przychody spadły poniżej 200 zł/MWh (ok. 170 zł ze sprzedaży energii i zaledwie 23 zł ze sprzedaży zielonych certyfikatów według ostatniego notowania na Towarowej Giełdzie Energii). Zobacz też: W 2017 będziemy mieć więcej prądu z węgla, mniej z OZE Wyniki za 2016 rok pogrążyły ponadto odpisy z powodu utraty wartości wiatraków. PGE odpisała w tym segmencie 587 mln zł (z czego 2/3 w istniejących elektrowniach i 1/3 w projektowanych), Energa 552 mln zł, Tauron 281 mln zł, Polenergia 135 mln zł, a Enea 49 mln zł. Na sytuację z niepokojem patrzą banki. Tylko w 2016 roku państwowy Bank Ochrony Środowiska odpisał blisko 100 mln zł kredytów udzielonych na farmy wiatrowe, które są zagrożone, choć jak zapewniał portal WysokieNapiecie.pl Stanisław Kluza, prezes BOŚ, nadal są spłacane. Ponad 30 mln zł zagrożonych kredytów odnotował Alior Bank, który od niedawna też jest już pośrednio kontrolowany przez Skarb Państwa. W sektorze zainwestował także państwowy PKO BP. Ponad 2 mld zł (513,8 mln euro) w budowę wiatraków o mocy niemal 1 GW zainwestował Europejski Bank Odbudowy i Rozwoju, który także jest zaniepokojony sytuacją. ─ Prowadzimy ciągły dialog polityczny z polskimi władzami, opowiadając się za potrzebą stabilnego otoczenia regulacyjnego dla rozwoju energetyki odnawialnej w Polsce ─ tłumaczy w rozmowie z WysokieNapiecie.pl Axel Reiserer, rzecznik EBOR. Naciski tego banku są o tyle istotne, że w ciągu ostatnich 25 lat EBOR sfinansował w Polsce kilkaset projektów, pożyczając nam ponad 8,5 mld euro ─ głównie na rozwój infrastruktury i wsparcie naszego eksportu. Niedawno kolejnych 500 mln zł pożyczył Polskiej Grupie Energetycznej na rozwój sieci dystrybucyjnych. Wszystko wskazuje na to, że w tym roku sytuacja będzie jeszcze gorsza, a wiele farm wiatrowych może mieć już problemy z terminową obsługa zadłużenia. Do problemów z cena certyfikatami rząd dołożył jeszcze spory z gminami o wysokość podatków ─ świadomie tworząc niejasne przepisy. Z kolei od przyszłego roku właściciele wiatraków stracą jeszcze prawo do odsprzedaży energii po cenie regulowanej, co w praktyce znowu obniży ich przychody. Natomiast budowę nowych farm zablokowała tzw. ustawa antywiatrakowa. Zobacz także: 10 faktów i mitów o farmach wiatrowych w Polsce
Paneer Tikka Masala Recipe Our today’s recipe is paneer tikka masala recipe. It is prepared with paneer pieces. Paneer tikka masala recipe is cooked in curd and tomato based gravy. Generally, in restaurant the paneer tikka masala is in orange color. So for making restaurant style paneer tikka masala recipe we can use orange color in it. It is totally up to you. Paneer is very high in protein contents. Hence one tip for vegetarian people is that they should include paneer or paneer recipes in their diet plan. Now a days paneer become common food item. It is easily available in any market. We shared lots of recipes using paneer. Some of them are malai kofta curry, matar paneer, paneer butter masala recipe and paneer bhurji. Paneer paratha recipe goes nice with paneer bhurji. Try them out. Following are the step by step instructions of paneer tikka masala recipe. Follow them. Enjoy the cooking as well as paneer tikka masala recipe. Ingredients :- 200 gram paneer. 100 gram fresh curd. 25 gram all purpose flour (maida). 1/2 teaspoon cumin seed powder. 1/2 teaspoon garam masala. 1/2 teaspoon kasuri methi. 2 tablespoons ginger-garlic paste. 1 ml orange food color. 75 gram finely chopped tomato. 50 gram butter. 30 gram fresh cream. 1 teaspoon red chilli powder. Finely chopped coriander leaves Salt to taste. Oil. Water. Procedure :- Take one bowl. Add curd in same bowl. Add orange colour, maida, salt, garam masala and cumin seed powder in curd. Mix it gently with a spoon. Keep it aside.
Q: Load different contents in HTML when selecting different options in drop-down list I'm going to build a web UI for a system originally using command lines. People will use this web UI to select options from drop-down lists and submit their requirements. Here's a feature I would like to implement: options are stored in XML files, when people select a top-level option in the drop-down list, the web page could load automatically the contents in a corresponding XML file, and display the sub-level options contained in this file. I'm new to HTML and XML, after some research I think it may be related to XML and DOM but I'm not sure. Could you please give some examples or tutorials of this feature? A: Jquery's AJAX and GET - Method is very useful for things like this: http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.ajax/ With these, you can make a specific query to a specific file on a server. Via a parameter, you can specify, which item you want to have as a response. $.get("backend.php", { item: "1" }) //Pull menu item 1 from server .done(function(data) { $("#menuitem").html(data); //Place Data in html menu here }); It is common to transmit the data in the JSON - Format to the server, with json encode you can do this with PHP: http://php.net/manual/de/function.json-encode.php
Q: Pointer arithmetic in c and array bounds I was browsing through a webpage which had some c FAQ's, I found this statement made. Similarly, if a has 10 elements and ip points to a[3], you can't compute or access ip + 10 or ip - 5. (There is one special case: you can, in this case, compute, but not access, a pointer to the nonexistent element just beyond the end of the array, which in this case is &a[10]. I was confused by the statement you can't compute ip + 10 I can understand accessing the element out of bounds is undefined, but computing!!!. I wrote the following snippet which computes (let me know if this is what the website meant by computing) a pointer out-of-bounds. #include <stdio.h> int main() { int a[10], i; int *p; for (i = 0; i<10; i++) a[i] = i; p = &a[3]; printf("p = %p and p+10 = %p\n", p, p+10); return 0; } $ ./a.out p = 0xbfa53bbc and p+10 = 0xbfa53be4 We can see that p + 10 is pointing to 10 elements(40 bytes) past p. So what exactly does the statement made in the webpage mean. Did I mis-interpret something. Even in K&R (A.7.7) this statement is made: The result of the + operator is the sum of the operands. A pointer to an object in an array and a value of any integral type may be added. ... The sum is a pointer of the same type as the original pointer, and points to another object in the same array, appropriately offset from the original object. Thus if P is a pointer to an object in an array, the expression P+1 is a pointer to the next object in the array. If the sum pointer points outside the bounds of the array, except at the first location beyond the high end, the result is undefined. What does being "undefined" mean. Does this mean the sum will be undefined, or does it only mean when we dereference it the behavior is undefined. Is the operation undefined even when we do not dereference it and just calculate the pointer to element out-of-bounds. A: Undefined behavior means exactly that: absolutely anything could happen. It could succeed silently, it could fail silently, it could crash your program, it could blue screen your OS, or it could erase your hard drive. Some of these are not very likely, but all of them are permissible behaviors as far as the C language standard is concerned. In this particular case, yes, the C standard is saying that even computing the address of a pointer outside of valid array bounds, without dereferencing it, is undefined behavior. The reason it says this is that there are some arcane systems where doing such a calculation could result in a fault of some sort. For example, you might have an array at the very end of addressable memory, and constructing a pointer beyond that would cause an overflow in a special address register which generates a trap or fault. The C standard wants to permit this behavior in order to be as portable as possible. In reality, though, you'll find that constructing such an invalid address without dereferencing it has well-defined behavior on the vast majority of systems you'll come across in common usage. Creating an invalid memory address will have no ill effects unless you attempt to dereference it. But of course, it's better to avoid creating those invalid addresses so that your code will work perfectly even on those arcane systems. A: The web page wording is confusing, but technically correct. The C99 language specification (section 6.5.6) discusses additive expressions, including pointer arithmetic. Subitem 8 specifically states that computing a pointer one past the end of an array shall not cause an overflow, but beyond that the behavior is undefined. In a more practical sense, C compilers will generally let you get away with it, but what you do with the resulting value is up to you. If you try to dereference the resulting pointer to a value, as K&R states, the behavior is undefined. Undefined, in programming terms, means "Don't do that." Basically, it means the specification that defines how the language works does not define an appropriate behavior in that situation. As a result, theoretically anything can happen. Generally all that happens is you have a silent or noisy (segfault) bug in your program, but many programmers like to joke about other possible results from causing undefined behavior, like deleting all of your files.
Excerpt: "Here are some suggestions: 1. Do not exaggerate our adversaries' strength in order to produce a climate of hysteria that results in repression of civil liberties, embodied in the overwrought USA Patriot Act, and immense long-term damage to our economy ..." The Empire Is Eating Itself By Ralph Nader, CounterPunch 03 September 11 he commemorative ceremonies that are planned for the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 massacre are those of pathos for the victims and their families, of praise for both the pursuit of the supporters of the attackers and the performance of first responders and our soldiers abroad. Flags and martial music will punctuate the combined atmosphere of sorrow and aggressive defiance to those terrorists who would threaten us. These events will be moments of respectful silence and some expressions of rage and ferocity. But many Americans might also want to pause to recognize - or unlearn - those reactions and overreactions to 9/11 that have harmed our country. How, in this forward-looking manner, can we respect the day of 9/11? Here are some suggestions: Do not exaggerate our adversaries' strength in order to produce a climate of hysteria that results in repression of civil liberties, embodied in the overwrought USA Patriot Act, and immense long-term damage to our economy. Consider the massive diversion of trillions of dollars from domestic civilian needs because of the huge expansion and misspending in military and security budgets. Do not allow our leaders to lie and exaggerate as when they told us there were funded, suicidal and hateful al-Qaeda cells all over our country. They were never here. Actually, the wholesale invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan became recruiting grounds for more al-Qaeda branches there and in other countries - a fact acknowledged by both then-Army Chief of Staff George Casey and then-CIA Director Porter Goss. Do not create a climate of fear or monopolize a partisan definition of patriotism in order to silence dissent from other political parties, the citizenry or the unfairly arrested or harassed. Do not tolerate presidents who violate our Constitution and start wars without congressional deliberation and a declaration of war (article 1, section 8, clause 11). Do not let them disobey federal statutes and international treaties in pursuing unlawful, misdirected quicksand wars, as in Iraq, that produce deaths, destruction and debts that undermine our country's national interests. Do not have Congress write a blank check, outside the normal Appropriations Committee hearing process, for the huge budgetary demands from the executive branch for funding of the Iraq, Afghan-Pakistan and other undeclared wars. Do not allow the executive branch to engage in unconstitutional and illegal recurrent practices such as wiretapping and other methods of surveillance of Americans without judicial approval, in addition to arrests without charges, indefinite imprisonment, torture and denial of habeas corpus and other due process rights established by our Founding Fathers. Congress has passed no reforms to check the continuing exercise of unchecked dictatorial presidential power. Do not let the government hide the horrors of war from the people by prohibiting photographs of U.S. casualties; operating cruel, secret prisons; harassing reporters; and refusing to count civilian casualties in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. There is too much intimidation of returning soldiers - so many harmed for life - from telling the people what they experienced and think about these wars and their heavy outsourcing to profiteering corporations. Do not allow leaders to violate American principles with torture or other war crimes prohibited by the Geneva Conventions. Nor should top military brass or members of the executive branch be above our laws and escape accountability. Do not allow your Congress to abdicate or transfer its own constitutional authorities to the president. We the people have not exercised our civic duties enough to make our representatives in Congress fulfill their obligations under the Constitution to decide whether we go to war and act as a watchdog of the president's conduct. The Libyan war was decided and funded by President Obama without congressional approval. Call out those in the news media who become a mouthpiece of the president and his departments involved in these hostilities. What more is the military really doing in Libya, Somali and Yemen as compared with the official line? Under what legal authority? The celebrated American theologian-philosopher Reinhold Niebuhr aptly wrote decades ago that "to the end of history, social orders will probably destroy themselves in the effort to prove that they are indestructible." All empires eventually eat away at their own and devour themselves. Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate, lawyer and author of "Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us!" He is encouraging people around the country to gather in their own towns or cities on September 10 to discuss ways to avoid overreactions to threats.
The bile duct in donation after cardiac death donor liver transplant. This review considers the biliary complications associated with liver transplantation using donation after cardiac death (DCD) donor grafts. The increasing use of DCD liver grafts with their increased incidence of biliary complications is discussed. The ethics of this greater use is briefly analysed. Recent animal and human study evidence to support the peribiliary vascular plexus' role in ischaemic cholangiopathy is reviewed. Recent advances in in-vivo and ex-vivo perfusion are explored. In particular, the latest theories regarding perfusion's peribiliary plexus preserving effects and the mechanism by which biliary regeneration may be promoted as a consequence are discussed. This article explores the need for DCD liver graft use and the associated biliary complications. The current theories regarding the cause of DCD biliary complications are reviewed, as are the current strategies to reduce them.
Q: Why Aren't the Styles for Infragistics Ignite UI for Angular List View Working? It looks like the igx-form-group__input--search class requires another stylesheet imported somewhere, but I'm not finding a reference to make it work in like in stackblitz Mine https://github.com/djbreen7/IgniteUISandBox https://djbreen7.github.io/IgniteUISandBox/ Infragistics Demo https://stackblitz.com/angular/pernmgqeavg I'm sure it's a simple fix. I just can't see what I'm missing. A: It seems like the class names you mean are valid for igniteui-angular 5.2.1 version, while in the version of your Sandbox app (igniteui-angular 5.3.0-rc) those have been changed. Please note that this latter version introduces Input Group, which makes creating forms even easier: https://www.infragistics.com/products/ignite-ui-angular/angular/components/input_group.html
Rudi Fischer Rudolf "Rudi" Fischer (19 April 1912 – 30 December 1976) was a racing driver from Switzerland. Fischer participated in eight World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 27 May 1951. He achieved two podium finishes, and scored a total of 10 championship points. He also participated in numerous non-Championship Formula One and Formula Two races. Career Fischer finished third in a race which marked the reopening of the AVUS, a German motor racing circuit. It had been closed for a 14-year period and was damaged during World War II. A crowd of 350,000 watched Paul Greifzu of Suhl, Thuringia, win in a car he built himself. Fischer drove a Ferrari to third place over a distance of 207.5 kilometres. His time was 1 hour, 10 minutes, 27.5 seconds. In the 1952 Swiss Grand Prix, in Bern, Fischer finished second to Piero Taruffi; both drivers were in Ferraris. Écurie Espadon/Scuderia Espadon Fischer was the leader of the "Écurie Espadon", the entrant name for most of his racing career. Écurie Espadon was composed of a group of Swiss amateur gentleman racers. The word "Écurie" was used at the beginning as most of the team's cars were French, generally Gordinis. Later the team's equipment changed to Ferraris and other Italian vehicles, thus the name of the team changed to use the equivalent Italian word "Scuderia". The team was involved in several races all over Europe, as the presentation document described. The team was composed of: Rudolf Fischer: a successful restaurant owner. Rudolf Schoeller Peter Hirt: a wealthy businessman from Küssnacht, near Zürich, involved in precision tool manufacturing. Peter (Pierre) Staechelin from Basel. Max de Terra Paul Glauser Racing record Post WWII Grandes Épreuves results (key) Complete Formula One World Championship results (key) Entered and practiced in his Ferrari 500, but engine failure meant that he reverted to the previous season's 212 model for the race. Drive shared with Peter Hirt. References Category:1912 births Category:1976 deaths Category:People from Stuttgart Category:Swiss racing drivers Category:Swiss Formula One drivers Category:Écurie Espadon Formula One drivers
Cape Breton University (CBU), formerly known as the "University College of Cape Breton" (UCCB), is a Canadian university in Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Regional Municipality. Located near Sydney, CBU is the only post-secondary degree-granting institution on Cape Breton Island. The university is enabled by the Cape Breton University Act passed by the Nova Scotia House of Assembly.[5] Prior to this, CBU was enabled by the University College of Cape Breton Act (amended).[6] The University College of Cape Breton's Coat of Arms were registered with the Canadian Heraldic Authority on May 27, 1995.[7] CBU traces its roots to 1951 when the St. Francis Xavier University Sydney Campus was opened as a satellite campus of St. Francis Xavier University. Also referred to informally as "St. Francis Xavier Junior College" or "Xavier Junior College" (XJC) and colloquially as "Little X", the St. Francis Xavier University Sydney Campus was situated in Sydney's central business district and saw several buildings opened as a result of growth during its first decade of operation. While working as librarian at Xavier Junior College, Mother St. Margaret of Scotland (Sister Margaret Beaton) recognized that documents of historical significance to Cape Breton Island were being lost. In 1957 Sister Beaton responded to this challenge and established Cape Bretoniana. The Nova Scotia Eastern Institute of Technology (NSEIT) opened in 1968 on Grand Lake Road (Trunk 4) several kilometres east of the Sydney city limits. This institution focused on business technology and trades and its development was largely enabled by federal and provincial funding at a time when the coal and steel industries in Industrial Cape Breton were facing serious financial challenges. In the early 1970s, the provincial and federal governments, as well as the local community, recognized the need for developing an institution of higher learning in the economically challenged Industrial Cape Breton region. With assistance from the Cape Breton Development Corporation, St. Francis Xavier University Sydney Campus and NSEIT were merged into the College of Cape Breton (CCB) in June 1974. In 1980, the former NSEIT campus on Grand Lake Road was expanded as the institution consolidated at this location. The Government of Nova Scotia granted CCB a charter for granting university degrees in 1982 which saw the institution rename itself as the University College of Cape Breton (UCCB). UCCB united diverse education streams such as the liberal arts and sciences with technological and vocational diploma programs.[9] In 2004, UCCB undertook several studies on how to better position the institution locally, regionally and nationally. One recommendation arising out of these studies was to rename the institution to remove the reference to "college", in recognition of its transformation over the past two decades into primarily a university level institution. This process led to UCCB transferring its trades and technology programs to the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) which operated its "Marconi Campus" (the former NSEIT) which is co-located on the Grand Lake Road campus. On September 23, 2004 the university's board of governors voted unanimously to rename the institution Breton University, however the proposed name received opposition from a number of groups in the institution and local community over the removal of the word "Cape" from the proposed new name, thus the name Cape Breton University was adopted instead. The name change became official through the University College of Cape Breton Act (amended) which received Royal Assent on May 19, 2005. The Beaton Institute, housed at CBU, is the second largest public archive in Nova Scotia. The Beaton Institute operates as a regional archive from and about Cape Breton Island's history, society, politics, economy, health, people, places, and events. The collection includes paper records, photographs, film, video, audio materials, books, maps, plans, and microfilms.[10] The original CBU campus structures were built in the 1960s. A major expansion was undertaken for the 1987 Canada Winter Games which saw extensive sports facilities built at the campus. During the 1990s over $20 million were spent on several campus expansions that saw residences, a Student, Culture, and Heritage Centre, and various academic and research facilities were constructed.[11] The university continued to expand with major campus additions initiated in 2009. As a collaborative player, CBU became a lead partner in the establishment of the Cape Breton Health Recreation Complex. The $10 million project is a newly opened health and recreation community facility situated on the CBU campus. It provides CBU students and the community with access to a track and field operation and year round indoor soccer facilities as well as a fitness centre.[11] CBU is growing in terms or residence and enhanced food services through the construction of Harriss Hall, a new student residence and dining hall, in September 2010.[12] The residence halls now offer meal service and living space for over 550 students.[11] The establishment of the Verschuren Centre Centre for Sustainability in Energy & Environment (CSEE) is a major part of CBU’s commitment to growth in research, specifically in efforts to balance needs for new sources of energy and increasing environmental sustainability. With public and private investment, construction on the CSEE began in 2010. Additionally,in 2012, the new Shannon School of Business building opened and became the new home of the Shannon School of Business faculty and programs.[12] Cape Breton University serves more than 3,300 full-time and part-time students from local, regional and national locations.[4] CBU is also the academic home of several hundred international students representing more than 50 countries.[13] Virtually all Cape Breton University degree, diploma and certificate programs offer a transition-to-work component through co-op education, work placements, internships and work-study programs.[12] CBU has four faculties and one affiliated college and offers the following programs: "In 2010, Unama’ki College was founded as an offshoot of the school specializing in Mi’kmaq history, culture and education." As of 2013, "it has some 250 aboriginal students. Its library holds 1,500 books on aboriginal issues and 7,000 documents."[14] CBU is a small comprehensive university that performs over $3 million in externally funded research and employed over 65 students as researchers in 2011.[16][17] The Office of Research and Graduate Studies publishes two annual research publication titled Research Matters, as well as a separate student Research Matters magazine.[16] Research chairs and programs at CBU include:[11] Two Tier 1 & One Tier 2 Canada Research Chairs Integrative Science Intangible Cultural Heritage Molecular Spectroscopy Chair in Mine Water Management Projects funded by all federal granting councils CFI, NSRIT, AIF projects Currently CBU offers two graduate programs (Master of Business Administration in Community Economic Development and Masters of Education in Information Technology) with two additional graduate programs in development(Social Justice and Heritage Management).[18] The Cape Breton University Students' Union provides services such as the Emergency Bursary Fund, funding and management of societies, health and dental plans, Women’s Centre, Pride and Ally Centre, Capers Helping Capers: The Orange Initiative, The Pit (campus bar), Caper Convenience (store), and free legal service. The CBUSU's main focus is advocacy on behalf of its members, and it is also the largest employer of students on the CBU campus.[19] The Caper Times is a newspaper owned collectively by the students of Cape Breton University and published by the Publishing Board of the Caper Times. It prints 2,000 copies on a fortnightly basis and is distributed on campus and to 25 points across the Cape Breton Regional Municipality and southern Victoria County. The newspaper has been autonomous from the Cape Breton University Students' Union since March 1, 2013. It is a member of the Canadian University Press. The newspaper also publishes an electronic monthly newsletter, CampusLink, which is tailored specifically for Cape Breton University students and faculty. The current Chairperson of the Publishing Board is Sarah Hines and the current Editor-in-Chief is Frederick Boutilier. CBU is represented in the Atlantic University Sport (AUS) association by the Cape Breton University Capers. Men's teams include basketball and soccer, while women's teams include basketball, soccer and volleyball teams. All sports teams wear uniforms with the Caper logo and mascot along with the school color (orange).
--- abstract: 'In this work we present a set of synthetic observations that mimic the properties of the Integral Field Spectroscopy (IFS) survey CALIFA, generated using radiative transfer techniques applied to hydrodynamical simulations of galaxies in a cosmological context. The simulated spatially-resolved spectra include stellar and nebular emission, kinematic broadening of the lines, and dust extinction and scattering. The results of the radiative transfer simulations have been post-processed to reproduce the main properties of the CALIFA V500 and V1200 observational setups. The data has been further formatted to mimic the CALIFA survey in terms of field of view size, spectral range and sampling. We have included the effect of the spatial and spectral Point Spread Functions affecting CALIFA observations, and added detector noise after characterizing it on a sample of 367 galaxies. The simulated datacubes are suited to be analysed by the same algorithms used on real IFS data. In order to provide a benchmark to compare the results obtained applying IFS observational techniques to our synthetic datacubes, and test the calibration and accuracy of the analysis tools, we have computed the spatially-resolved properties of the simulations. Hence, we provide maps derived directly from the hydrodynamical snapshots or the noiseless spectra, in a way that is consistent with the values recovered by the observational analysis algorithms. Both the synthetic observations and the product datacubes are public and can be found in the collaboration website <http://astro.ft.uam.es/selgifs/data_challenge/>.' author: - \| G. Guidi$^{1}$[^1], J. Casado$^{1,2,3}$, Y. Ascasibar$^{2,3}$, R. García-Benito$^{4}$, L. Galbany$^{5}$,\ \ [P. Sánchez-Blázquez$^{2,3,6}$, S. F. Sánchez$^{7}$, F. F. Rosales-Ortega$^{8}$ and C. Scannapieco$^{1,9}$ ]{}\ \ $^{1}$ Leibniz-Institut f[ü]{}r Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP), D-14482, Potsdam, Germany\ $^{2}$ Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain\ $^{3}$ Astro-UAM, UAM, Unidad Asociada CSIC\ $^{4}$ Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA/CSIC), 18080 Granada, Spain\ $^{5}$PITT PACC, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA.\ $^{6}$Instituto de Astrofísica, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, 7820436 Macul, Santiago, Chile\ $^{7}$Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, A.P. 70-264, 04519, México\ $^{8}$Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica (INAOE), 72840 Tonantzintla, Puebla, México\ $^{9}$Departamento de Física, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellón I, 1428 Buenos Aires, Argentina bibliography: - 'biblio.bib' date: 'Accepted Received ...; in original form ...' title: 'The SELGIFS data challenge: generating synthetic observations of CALIFA galaxies from hydrodynamical simulations' --- \[firstpage\] hydrodynamics - radiative transfer - galaxies: formation - galaxies: evolution - methods: numerical - techniques: imaging spectroscopy Introduction ============ Over the last two decades, Integral-Field Spectroscopy (IFS) has become a standard technique to study galaxy formation and evolution over cosmic time. Compared to single-fibre or long-slit spectroscopy, IFS allows to simultaneously recover the full spatial and spectral information of the target object. The optical spectrum of a galaxy, or a part thereof, comprises information about the different components that emit or absorb light within the observed region, and therefore spatially-resolved spectroscopy over a significant extent of a galaxy provides an unprecedented level of detail on the local physical properties of its gas, dust, and stars, as well as valuable constraints on other important variables, such as its dark matter content, or the evolutionary path that the system may have followed to reach its state at the time of observation. Nowadays, several observational programmes have produced, or will soon provide, systematic IFS surveys targeted at different galaxy populations, both in the local Universe, such as e.g. SAURON [@Bacon01], DiskMass [@Bershady10], PINGs [@Rosales-Ortega10], ATLAS$^{\text{3D}}$ [@Cappellari11], CALIFA [@Sanchez12], SAMI [@Croom12], MaNGA [@Bundy15], MUSE [@Bacon04] or AMUSING [@Galbany16_AMUSING], as well as at high redshift, such as e.g. SINS [@Foerster-Schreiber09], KMOS$^\text{3D}$ [@Wisnioski15], or KROSS [@Stott16]. Although all these datasets differ widely in terms of both the number of galaxies observed and the number of spaxels sampling each object, the total number of spectra is, in most cases, so large that a significant part of the analysis must necessarily rely on fully automated procedures. In the near future, instruments such as WEAVE [@Dalton14], HARMONI [@Thatte14], MIRI [@Wright08] and NIRSpec [@Birkmann10] will routinely produce even larger datasets just for a single galaxy, and their likely use in survey mode will increase the number of spectra to be analysed by several orders of magnitude. Albeit spectroscopic data allow in principle to infer the physical properties of the observed galaxies at a high level of detail, the correctness of the determination strongly relies on the accuracy of the different tools and procedures applied in the analysis of the spectra. Hence, the calibration of the analysis procedures, together with a rigorous assessment of the associated biases, uncertainties, model dependencies and degeneracies, is of paramount importance. Many of the tools developed in the context of traditional spectroscopy, often aimed at disentangling the emission of gas and stars, determining the kinematics of either/both components, and/or reconstructing the star formation history by means of stellar population synthesis, usually include a discussion of this kind of issues in the description of their methodology [e.g. @Cappellari04; @Cid_Fernandes05; @Ocvirk06; @Sarzi06; @Koleva09; @MacArthur09; @Walcher11; @Walcher15; @Sanchez16]. Compared to traditional spectroscopy, the IFS technique provides much more information about the observed galaxies, at the price of a higher level of complexity in the analysis of the data. In particular, the precise way in which spatial information is treated may have a crucial impact on the feasibility of any scientific case as a function of the signal-to-noise ratio ($S/N$) of the observations. Ideally, one would like to take advantage of the highest spatial resolution provided by the instrument, analysing every spaxel as an independent spectrum, but $S/N$ quickly decreases to potentially unacceptable levels as the incoming light is divided into many wavelengths and spaxels. In order to find a trade-off between spatial resolution and $S/N$, several algorithms have been developed to carry out a spatial segmentation (binning) of the IFS datacubes based on a variety of different approaches [see e.g. @Stetson87; @Bertin96; @Sanders01; @Papaderos02; @Cappellari03; @Diehl06; @Sanchez12_HIIexplorer; @Sanchez16; @Casado16]. In fact, one of the advantages of IFS over traditional spectroscopy is that large areas may be combined in order to properly characterize weak signals. As pointed out by e.g. @Casado16, the optimal strategy for the segmentation is completely dependent on the specific problem under consideration, and a thorough study is necessary on a case-by-case basis. One possible approach to test the analysis tools and methodology used both with traditional and IFS data is to apply them on simulated spectra created from analytical models of the galaxies’ stellar and dust content, or from cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy formation. The main advantage of this kind of experiments with respect to a purely observational approach is that the correct solution to be recovered (i.e. the physical properties of the galaxies) is accurately known, which makes possible to detect, quantify, and perhaps even correct systematic errors. Since current hydrodynamical codes (@Governato10 [@Aumer13; @Vogelsberger14; @Wang15; @Governato07; @Scannapieco08; @Nelson15; @Schaye15] among many others) self-consistently follow the intertwined evolution of gas, dark matter and stars over cosmic time implementing a significant part of the relevant physics at the sub-resolution level through simple numerical schemes (whose details have a significant influence on the results, see e.g. @Scannapieco12), they are able to connect the observable properties of the galaxies with their merger and accretion history, providing useful initial conditions for the creation of simulated spectra, with a complexity similar to the one of real galaxies. As pointed out in @Guidi15, several uncertainties both in the hydrodynamical codes and in the techniques used to simulate the spectra still exist, and scientists must be aware of these limitations when conducting such studies. When simulations are compared with observational data of one particular instrument/survey, after creating the spectra of the simulations a crucial point is to generate a full ‘synthetic observation’, mimicking as closely as possible all the known selection effects and biases inherent to the particular instrument, and then processing these data with the same algorithms and techniques that are applied to the actual observations, as done by e.g. @Scannapieco10 [@Belovary14; @Michalowski14; @Hayward14; @Smith15; @Hayward15; @Guidi15; @Guidi16]. Recently, some efforts in producing mock data in the context of IFS, modelling the galaxy spectra using simple recipes for the stellar population content have been undertaken by @Kendrew16, who have used the [hsim]{} pipeline [@Zieleniewski15] to create synthetic observations of simulated high-redshift galaxies that reproduce the conditions of the HARMONI instrument [@Thatte14], to test its capabilities in recovering the stellar kinematics. In this work we have developed a pipeline to generate IFS synthetic observations mimicking the Calar Alto Legacy Integral-Field Area (CALIFA) survey [@Sanchez12] from hydrodynamical simulations of galaxies. A similar approach was adopted in @Wild14 to analyse the major merger in NGC4676 [the ‘Mice’ galaxy pair; @Voronstov-Vel'Iaminov58], using tailored simulations based on several simplifying assumptions (e.g. NFW-like profile for the dark matter halo, stellar populations exponential distribution with and without a bulge component, smooth star formation history, no chemical evolution or dust...) to study the origin of the observed morphological and kinematic features of the merger. Here we extend and generalize this methodology in order to provide the community with a set of realistic virtual observations. On the one hand, we use state-of-the-art cosmological simulations of galaxies that take into account the most relevant physical processes associated to galaxy formation [@Scannapieco05; @Scannapieco06; @Aumer13], and we use the radiative transfer code [sunrise]{} [@Jonsson06; @Jonsson10] to calculate the spatially-resolved Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs) of our simulated objects, fully-consistently treating the transfer of light in the dusty ISM. On the other hand, we model the most important observational effects of the PMAS/PPak instrument, such as detector noise, spatial and spectral Point Spread Functions (PSFs), as well as the three-pointing dithering and interpolation strategy applied in the CALIFA survey. Our final products, publicly available through a web interface[^2], consist of CALIFA-like synthetic datacubes, as well as resolved maps of the intrinsic SED (free from instrumental effects), measurements of observable quantities such as emission-line intensities and absorption-line indices, and physical properties (e.g. stellar mass, age, or metallicity) of the simulated galaxies. It is one of the long-term goals of the SELGIFS collaboration to use the proposed ‘Data Challenge’ to carefully evaluate the merits and drawbacks of different strategies that may be followed in order to infer these physical properties from real IFS data. This dataset makes possible to disentangle the well-known degeneracy between instrumental and methodological effects inherent to the analysis of astronomical observations. Instrumental uncertainties (e.g. noise, PSF) affect the reconstruction of the SED from the data, whereas the methodological aspects (e.g. explicit or implicit assumptions/approximations) are more relevant to the physical interpretation and the recovery of derived properties of the object. In particular, our synthetic observations, together with the “correct” solutions for the optical SED and some of the most widely studied physical properties of the galaxies, is ideally suited to test common assumptions, such as e.g. uncorrelated measurements and noise (an instrumental effect) or uniform-screen dust extinction (a methodological approximation), quantifying the magnitude of the associated systematic errors (biases with respect to the true solution) and the accuracy of the estimated errors. Tracking the reasons behind the observed discrepancies offers an opportunity to gain a better understanding of the different techniques, identify their weakest points, and hopefully devise a way to overcome them. The structure of the paper is as follows. We illustrate in Section \[sec:simulations\] the set of hydrodynamical simulations used in this project, and we present the calculation of their [ intrinsic physical]{} properties. In Section \[sec:simulated\_spectra\] we describe the procedure followed to generate the spectra of the simulations using the radiative transfer code, and we explain how we calculate some of the [ most widely studied observable]{} properties from the simulated spectra. In Section \[sec:califa\] we illustrate the main features of the CALIFA survey, as well as the technical properties [ that are]{} reproduced in our synthetic datacubes. We briefly present a simple example of the science that is enabled by this data set in Section \[sec:science\], and we summarize our work in Section \[sec:summary\]. Hydrodynamical simulations {#sec:simulations} ========================== ---------- ------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- ------------------ -- Name Total mass Stellar age (log \[yr\]) Stellar metallicity (log \[$Z/Z_{\odot}$\]) v$_{\text{disp}}$ Gas metallicity $\log (M_/M_{\odot})$ $\log \langle age \rangle_M$ $\log \langle age \rangle_L$ $\log \langle Z \rangle_M$ $\log \langle Z \rangle_L$ \[km/s\] \[12+log (O/H)\] C-CS$^+$ 10.66 10.01 9.93 -0.39 -0.37 92.8 8.52 E-CS$^+$ 10.21 10.00 9.91 -0.44 -0.49 61.2 8.24 D-MA 10.75 9.84 9.68 -0.19 -0.05 63.3 9.09 ---------- ------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- ------------------ -- To produce our mock data sample we use three hydrodynamical simulations of galaxies in a $\Lambda$CDM Universe, generated with the zoom-in technique [@Tormen97] using as initial conditions three dark-matter halos of the Aquarius simulation [@Springel08]. The galaxies are similar to the Milky Way in mass ($M_{\rm vir}\sim 0.7 - 1.7\times 10^{12}$ M$_\odot$) and merger history [see @Scannapieco09]. The mass resolution is $1-2\times 10^{6}$ M$_\odot$ for dark matter particles and $2-5\times 10^{5}$ M$_\odot$ for stellar/gas particles. The gravitational softening at redshift zero is $300-700$ pc. All simulations are based on the Tree-PM SPH Gadget-3 code [@Springel05] with the additional implementation of sub-resolution numerical schemes to describe gas cooling [@Sutherland93; @Wiersma09], a multi-phase InterStellar Medium (ISM) [@Scannapieco06], star formation [@SH03], chemical enrichment from SNe [@Portinari98; @Chieffi04] and AGB stars [@Portinari98; @Marigo01; @Karakas10], as well as SNe feedback [@Scannapieco06; @Aumer13]. The C-CS$^+$ and E-CS$^+$ galaxies are generated with the code described in @Scannapieco05 [@Scannapieco06] with updated metal yields, while the D-MA object has been simulated with the @Aumer13 feedback model. These simulations belong to a larger set that has already been studied in several works [e.g. @Aumer13; @Guidi15; @Guidi16], and we refer the reader to those studies for more details. We compute the following global properties (listed in Table \[tab:galaxy\_properties\]) by considering all particles belonging to the main halo within a 60 kpc$\times$60 kpc region centred around the galaxy, oriented face-on according to the direction of the total angular momentum [@Guidi15; @Guidi16]: - Total stellar mass - Mean stellar age / metallicity: calculated weighting[^3] stellar particles by their mass $M_i$ $$\log \langle X \rangle_M = \log \left[ \frac{\sum_i M_i \cdot X_i }{\sum_i M_i} \right] \label{eq:age_mass_w}$$ and by their luminosity $L_i$ at 5635 Å according to the [starburst 99]{} SPS model, for consistency with previous observational studies of CALIFA galaxies [e.g @Gonzalez_Delgado14; @Sanchez16; @Ruiz_Lara16] $$\log \langle X \rangle_L = \log \left[ \frac{\sum_i L_i \cdot X_i }{\sum_i L_i} \right] \label{eq:age_lum_w}$$ - Luminosity-weighted velocity dispersion in the face-on projection: $$v_{\text{disp}} = \sqrt{\frac{\sum_i L_i \cdot (v_i - \bar{v})^2}{\sum_i L_i}} \label{eq:v_disp}$$ where $\bar{v}$ is the mean velocity $$\bar{v} = \frac{\sum_i L_i \cdot v_i }{\sum_i L_i} \\ \label{eq:v_mean}$$ - Mass-weighted gas metallicity: $$12 + \log(O/H) = 12 + \log \left[\frac{ \sum_{\rm gas} M_i \cdot (O/H)_i }{ \sum_{\rm gas} M_i }\right]$$ ![Spatially-resolved stellar properties of two simulated galaxies, D-MA\_0 (face-on) on the left and D-MA\_2 (edge-on) on the right. These maps show, from top to bottom, the stellar mass density, the mean luminosity-weighted ages and metallicities, the mean velocity along the line of sight, and the number of stellar particles in each spaxel (in logarithmic colour scale).[]{data-label="fig_resolved_maps_stellar"}](figures/stellar_component.pdf){width=".43\textwidth"} In addition, we also provide spatially-resolved measurements of the quantities listed in Table \[tab:list\_stellar\_properties\], considering the particles within each spaxel of our virtual CALIFA observations (see Section \[sec:califa\]) for three different orientations. - [ Stellar mass / surface density:]{} total stellar mass within the spaxel and stellar surface density - [ Star formation rate:]{} calculated averaging the mass of stars formed in the last 100 Myr [@Kennicutt98] - [ Stellar age / metallicity:]{} mass- and luminosity-weighted means and - [ Luminosity-weighted velocity and velocity dispersion .]{} - Star formation histories: stellar mass formed within 100 Myr bins ordered in lookback time. Some examples of these product datacubes* (spatially resolved maps of intrinsic physical properties that are directly measured from the simulations) can be seen in Figure \[fig\_resolved\_maps\_stellar\]. They represent the final ‘solutions’ to be recovered from the mock observational data. [ Note that, for luminosity-weighted averages, we are adopting the usual definition of ‘intrinsic physical properties’ that ignores the effects of radiative transfer. ]{} Spectral energy distribution {#sec:simulated_spectra} ============================ C-CS$^+$ ![image](figures/broadband_images/Aq-C+_face.pdf){height=".2\textheight"} ![image](figures/broadband_images/Aq-C+_45.pdf){height=".2\textheight"} ![image](figures/broadband_images/Aq-C+_edge.pdf){height=".2\textheight"} E-CS$^+$ ![image](figures/broadband_images/Aq-E+_face.pdf){height=".2\textheight"} ![image](figures/broadband_images/Aq-E+_45.pdf){height=".2\textheight"} ![image](figures/broadband_images/Aq-E+_edge.pdf){height=".2\textheight"} D-MA ![image](figures/broadband_images/Michael_Aq-D_face.pdf){height=".2\textheight"} ![image](figures/broadband_images/Michael_Aq-D_45.pdf){height=".2\textheight"} ![image](figures/broadband_images/Michael_Aq-D_edge.pdf){height=".2\textheight"} To generate the spatially-resolved spectral energy distribution of our simulated galaxies, we post-process the particles in the main halo in the simulations’ snapshots at redshift zero with the Monte Carlo radiative transfer code [sunrise]{} [@Jonsson06; @Jonsson10]. [sunrise]{} is able to self-consistently compute the emission and propagation of light in a dusty InterStellar Medium (ISM). The resulting SEDs include the contribution of stellar and nebular emission, dust absorption and scattering, and hence show stellar absorption features, emission lines, as well as the effects of kinematics. More details about the [sunrise]{} input parameters used in this work can be found in @Guidi16. In the first step, the code assigns a specific spectrum to each stellar particle depending on its age and metallicity, normalized to the mass of the particle. For ages $> 10$ Myr, spectra from the [starburst99]{} Stellar Population Synthesis (SPS) model (SB99, @Leitherer99) are assigned. They combine low-resolution stellar models ($\sim 20$-Å sampling) for wavelengths $\lambda < 3000$ Å and $\lambda > 7000$ Å, based on the Pauldrach/Hillier stellar atmospheres[^4], while the high-resolution range ($3000-7000$ Å, with $0.3$-Å sampling) uses the fully theoretical atmospheres by @Martins05. On the other hand, young particles with age $\le 10$ Myr are assigned a spectrum that takes into account the photo-dissociation and recombination of the gas, computed with the 1D photo-ionization code [mappings III]{} [@Groves04; @Groves08]. In the radiative transfer stage, $\sim 10^7$ randomly-generated photon packets are propagated through the dusty ISM with a Monte Carlo approach (with a constant dust-to-metals ratio of 0.4, @Dwek98) assuming a Milky Way-like dust curve with $R_V =3.1$ [@Cardelli89; @Draine03]. In the calculation of the kinematic broadening of the lines only the radial velocity of the particles is taken into account, neglecting both the velocity dispersion intrinsic in stellar clusters and the thermal broadening of the gas emission lines. This effect is certainly relevant for the intrinsic width of the emission lines[^5], and in principle it could affect the detailed broadening of the stellar SED in those areas where few particles are present in a given spaxel (see bottom panel of Figure \[fig\_resolved\_maps\_stellar\]). Note that the [sunrise]{} kinematic algorithm consistently takes into account the Doppler shift when the light is scattered by dust, which can also modify the line profiles [@Solf91; @Henney98; @Grinin12]. Finally, Monte Carlo photons are collected by cameras placed around the simulated galaxies to obtain the SED in each pixel. In our calculations we place cameras with three different orientations (defined according to the alignment of the total angular momentum of the stars with the $z$ direction) for each galaxy, respectively face-on, $45^{\circ}$ and edge-on (see Fig. \[fig:galaxy\_images\] for the {$u,r,z$}-band colour-composite images). In order to reduce the random noise introduced by the [sunrise]{} Monte Carlo algorithm, the radiative transfer process described above is run ten times for each galaxy, changing only the random seeds, and the resulting spectra are averaged over the ten different random realizations. In this way we are able to reach a ‘signal-to-noise’ S/N (where N is the standard deviation over the ten realizations) of $\sim 300-400$ in the central spaxels and S/N$\sim 8 - 10$ in the outer regions, which is negligible compared to the typical values of the S/N in the CALIFA spectra that we aim to mimic [@Sanchez12]. ![image](figures/RGB_plot.pdf){width=".8\textwidth"} ![Line intensity (left) and Signal-to-Noise (right) maps of the four BPT lines [@Baldwin81] for the galaxy C-CS$^+$\_1. The S/N in every spaxel is obtained as the ratio between the mean signal and noise in the wavelength range of the corresponding emission line given in Table \[tab:list\_emission\_lines\].[]{data-label="fig:resolved_maps_nebular"}](figures/product_bpt.pdf){width=".4\textwidth"} As part of the product datacubes, we provide the predicted SEDs of our galaxies, free from instrumental effects, as well as resolved maps of some spectral features derived from these theoretical datacubes. To obtain measurements of the properties of the stellar and nebular spectra without using any observational algorithm to separate the two spectral components (which may introduce many caveats and uncertainties), we additionally generate [stellar-only]{} synthetic datacubes following the same procedure described above, replacing the [mappings]{} spectra with [starburst99]{} templates. We generate the following maps: - [ Lick indices:]{} the strength of the Lick indices (Table \[tab:stellar\_absorption\_indices\] in Appendix \[sec:product\_datacubes\]) is derived from the stellar-only datacubes, which have $2$-Å sampling. - [ Nebular emission line intensities:]{} [ the fluxes of different emission lines (Table \[tab:list\_emission\_lines\]) are measured after subtracting the stellar-only datacubes to the synthetic ones in order to take into account stellar absorption features in the calculation. Since the dust around young stars in the stellar-only datacubes is neglected, while is present at the sub-resolution level with [mappings]{}, for each line we renormalize the stellar-only spectra with the continuum level of the full cube at the lower bound of each line, and we compute the total flux between the lower and upper bounds of the lines after subtracting the continuum (the offsets between full and stellar-only cubes are indeed quite small, of the order $\sim 0.5 - 2\%$ of the flux). It is important to emphasize here that the nebular emission in the datacubes is limited to the stellar particles younger than 10 Myr (HII regions), and we do not count on any other sources of ionizing photons[^6]. The units are $10^{-16}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ Å$^{-1}~\text{spaxel}^{-1}$. ]{} It should be noted that these quantities are measured from simulated spectra including the effects of dust and kinematics. Lick indices are defined over a short wavelength range, and therefore they are not expected to be strongly affected by dust extinction, although differential effects (highly dependent on the numerical resolution and assumed ISM physics of the simulations) may certainly play a role for realistic star formation histories [@MacArthur05]. They also depend on the velocity dispersion at which they are measured (see e.g. @Sanchez-Blazquez06 [@Oliva-Altamirano15]). In IFS observational studies the spectra in each spaxel are usually broadened to a single velocity dispersion prior to the measurement of the Lick indices, in order to consistently compare them with models with the same dispersion [e.g. @Wild14]. In our product datacubes we do not change the broadening of the absorption lines, since this procedure introduces additional uncertainties in the analysis. The spaxel-by-spaxel velocity dispersion is provided in the GALNAME.stellar.fits files (Sec. \[sec:product\_datacubes\]) and can be used to tune the fitted models. Our datacubes provide the nebular line intensities considering both the extinction within the nebula (implicit in the MAPPINGS templates) as well as absorption and scattering in the ISM (computed by [sunrise]{}). In Figure \[fig:RGB\_plot\] we show an RGB image of the intensities (derived from the nebular maps) of the \[OIII\]5007, H$_{\alpha}$ and \[NII\]6584 emission lines, together with spectra in two different spaxels in the synthetic datacubes, one containing nebular emission and the other only stellar light. An example of these maps is given in Figure \[fig:resolved\_maps\_nebular\], where we show for one of our simulated galaxies the intensities of the BPT [@Baldwin81] emission lines (H$_{\alpha}$, H$_{\beta}$, \[OIII\]5007, \[NII\]6584), and the corresponding signal-to-noise maps (see Section \[sec:califa\]). At variance with the intrinsic galaxy properties discussed in Section \[sec:simulations\], we consider that Lick indices and nebular emission line intensities are properties of the SEDs, including the effects of geometry, kinematics, and radiative transport. These quantities (which may in principle be quite different from the sum of the intrinsic emissivities) are to be recovered from imperfect data, affected by the observational effects described below. Mock observations {#sec:califa} ================= In this section we describe how we convert the output of the [sunrise]{} radiative transfer algorithm into synthetic IFS observations mimicking the CALIFA survey [@Sanchez12; @Garcia_Benito15]. We briefly summarise the technical properties of the survey and explain how the main steps of the observation procedure are reproduced. A detailed description of the products that we make publicly available is provided in Appendix \[sec:selgifs\]. ---------- ---------- --------------------- ------------------------ Object Redshift Luminosity distance Physical size \[Mpc\] of the spaxels \[kpc\] C-CS$^+$ 0.013 58.1 0.25 E-CS$^+$ 0.018 80.8 0.35 D-MA 0.024 108.2 0.45 ---------- ---------- --------------------- ------------------------ : Redshift, luminosity distance and physical size covered by the spaxels in our synthetic CALIFA observations.[]{data-label="tab:redshift"} Setup $N_{\alpha}$ $N_{\delta}$ $N_{\lambda}$ $\lambda$ (Å) $d_{\lambda}$ (Å) $\delta_{\lambda}$ (Å) $\sigma_0$ $I_0$ ------- -------------- -------------- --------------- --------------- ------------------- ------------------------ ------------ ------- V500 78 73 1877 $3749-7501$ 2.0 6.0 0.29 20.8 V1200 78 73 1701 $3650-4840$ 0.7 2.3 0.64 25.9 CALIFA observations were taken with the Potsdam Multi-Aperture Spectrograph [PMAS, @Roth05], mounted on the Calar Alto 3.5-m telescope, utilizing the large hexagonal field of view offered by the PPak fibre bundle [@Verheijen+04; @Kelz+06]. The final CALIFA Public Data Release (DR3, @Sanchez16_1)[^7] consists of 667 galaxies. Sample selection [@Walcher+14] and observing strategy [@Sanchez12] aimed for a filling factor of 100% up to $\sim 2.5$ effective radii $R_{e}$. Datacubes have a field of view of $[76-78]''$ in right ascension and $[71-73]''$ in declination (depending on the observing conditions and the precise disposition of the dithering pattern for each object) sampled by $1''$ spaxels ($\sim 1$-kpc physical size). To reproduce these characteristics, we adopt a fixed $78''\times 73''$ configuration, we derive the half-light radius ($R_{50}$) in the $r$-band for every simulated galaxy, and then we adjust their redshift/distances (see Table \[tab:redshift\]) so that $78''$ correspond to $4 \, {R_{50}}$. The wavelength range, sampling, and resolution of the two spectral setups of the CALIFA survey [V500 and V1200; @Sanchez12; @Garcia_Benito15] are quoted in Table \[tab:data\_format\]. Due to the implementation of stellar atmospheres in [sunrise]{}, (Section \[sec:simulated\_spectra\]), we generate two radiative transfer simulations (one with high resolution and kinematics for $\lambda=3000 - 7000$ Å and another with low-resolution and no kinematics for $\lambda = 7000-7600$ Å) for each galaxy. Then, we concatenate the SEDs at $\lambda = 7000$ Å, apply the redshift of the object, and resample the spectra to the appropriate $d_\lambda$ for each setup. The regions of the V500 spectra generated with the low-resolution stellar model are flagged as bad pixels (see Section \[sec:datacubes\]), and they should not be used for SED fitting analysis[^8]. These datacubes are convolved with a Gaussian kernel of $3.25''$ FWHM that adds in quadrature the response of the $3''$-diameter fibres of the PMAS/PPak instrument and an atmospheric seeing of $1.25''$, typical of a standard night at CALAR ALTO observatory. Then, they are ‘observed’ three times, positioning the 331 fibres of the instrument according to the dithering pattern followed in the CALIFA survey [@Sanchez07; @Sanchez12], and the resulting $3 \times 331 = 993$ row-stacked spectra (RSS) are convolved with another Gaussian that accounts for the spectral resolution $\delta_\lambda$ (Table \[tab:data\_format\]) of each grating. ![ RSS noise characterization. Colour maps showing the distribution of the noise $\sigma$ relative to the signal $I$, normalized to the median value of the signal $I_{50}$ (in logarithmic scale) for two RSS datacubes. Left (right) panel displays the values corresponding to the V500 (V1200) setup. Middle white solid line shows the best-fit (median) curve for the $367\times 3$ CALIFA RSS. The fitting parameters ($\sigma_{0}$ and $I_{0}$) are given in Table \[tab:data\_format\]. Solid white lines above and below represent the 90 and 10 percentiles of the parameter distribution. Colour scale corresponds to the number of pixels ($\sim 10^7$ in for every configuration).[]{data-label="fig_noise_RSS"}](figures/cube_noise_IC1755.pdf "fig:"){width=".48\textwidth"} ![ RSS noise characterization. Colour maps showing the distribution of the noise $\sigma$ relative to the signal $I$, normalized to the median value of the signal $I_{50}$ (in logarithmic scale) for two RSS datacubes. Left (right) panel displays the values corresponding to the V500 (V1200) setup. Middle white solid line shows the best-fit (median) curve for the $367\times 3$ CALIFA RSS. The fitting parameters ($\sigma_{0}$ and $I_{0}$) are given in Table \[tab:data\_format\]. Solid white lines above and below represent the 90 and 10 percentiles of the parameter distribution. Colour scale corresponds to the number of pixels ($\sim 10^7$ in for every configuration).[]{data-label="fig_noise_RSS"}](figures/cube_noise_NGC3395.pdf "fig:"){width=".48\textwidth"} ![ Datacube noise. The plot is identical to that of Figure \[fig\_noise\_RSS\]. The upper two panels represent the noise distribution of the final datacubes corresponding to the two objects depicted in the previous figure. The lower panel corresponds to E-CS$^+$\_1, one of our synthetic datacubes. Our fit to the RSS data, prior to dithering and interpolation (same white lines as in Figure \[fig\_noise\_RSS\]) is shown to guide the eye.[]{data-label="fig_noise_datacubes"}](figures/rss_noise_IC1755.pdf "fig:"){width=".48\textwidth"} ![ Datacube noise. The plot is identical to that of Figure \[fig\_noise\_RSS\]. The upper two panels represent the noise distribution of the final datacubes corresponding to the two objects depicted in the previous figure. The lower panel corresponds to E-CS$^+$\_1, one of our synthetic datacubes. Our fit to the RSS data, prior to dithering and interpolation (same white lines as in Figure \[fig\_noise\_RSS\]) is shown to guide the eye.[]{data-label="fig_noise_datacubes"}](figures/rss_noise_NGC3395.pdf "fig:"){width=".48\textwidth"} ![ Datacube noise. The plot is identical to that of Figure \[fig\_noise\_RSS\]. The upper two panels represent the noise distribution of the final datacubes corresponding to the two objects depicted in the previous figure. The lower panel corresponds to E-CS$^+$\_1, one of our synthetic datacubes. Our fit to the RSS data, prior to dithering and interpolation (same white lines as in Figure \[fig\_noise\_RSS\]) is shown to guide the eye.[]{data-label="fig_noise_datacubes"}](figures/MOCK_noise_E-CS+_1.pdf "fig:"){width=".48\textwidth"} In order to account for detector noise, we selected galaxies from DR3 that were observed using both setups (V500 and V1200) and for which the quality flags indicate that the released cubes have only minor problems (see Section 6.4 of DR3). This sample consists of 367 galaxies out of the 667 forming the CALIFA DR3 [@Sanchez16_1]. We have analysed the raw-stacked spectra (RSS) corresponding to the three pointings of each object. The results show that the dependence of the noise with the intensity of the signal, characteristic of charge-coupled devices, can be modelled with a simple parametric formula $$\label{eq:noise} \sigma_{\rm n} = \sigma_0\sqrt{1+\frac{I_{\rm n}}{I_0}}$$ where $I_{\rm n}$ and $\sigma_{\rm n}$ refer to the observed intensity $I$ and errors $\sigma$ provided in the CALIFA datacubes normalized to the median value of the intensity, $\sigma_{\rm n}= \sigma /I_{50}$ and $I_{\rm n} = I / I_{50}$. The use of normalized errors and fluxes allows for a uniform object-independent unit-free characterization of the noise. Our analysis also reveals that the detector noise does not depend on wavelength, except for the expected edge effects. We fit the free parameters of equation to the data and then we take the median value of the results over the 367 objects considered. Best-fitting values are summarized in Table \[tab:data\_format\]. The panels of Figure \[fig\_noise\_RSS\] show the relation between $\sigma_{\rm n}$ and $I_{\rm n}$ for two RSS datacubes selected from the CALIFA sample. These objects are chosen such as their fitted $\sigma_{0}$ and $I_{0}$ values lie below and above the 10 and 90 percentiles in the sample respectively (i.e. extreme cases). White solid lines represent, from top to bottom, the 90, 50 (median), and 10 percentiles. These average relations inferred from CALIFA RSS data are used to add random Gaussian noise and set the errors of our synthetic RSS files (three pointings per simulated galaxy and orientation) containing 331 spectra each. In a final step, each set of three RSS files is combined into a single interpolated datacube using version V1.5 of the CALIFA pipeline [@Garcia_Benito15], following exactly the same procedure as in real observations. Thus, our mock datacubes fully account for the effects of the dithering scheme, yielding a final PSF of $\sim 2.5''$ FWHM [@Sanchez12] and introducing strong correlations between the noise of adjacent spaxels, as shown in @Husemann+13 [@Garcia_Benito15] for real data. An example of the errors assigned by the CALIFA pipeline to the final datacubes and to one of our synthetic ones are plotted in Figure \[fig\_noise\_datacubes\]. Science cases {#sec:science} ============= Although the main aim of this manuscript is to describe the SELGIFS Data Challenge, and provide all the necessary details about the data set so that it can be meaningfully explored by the community, let us briefly illustrate here the kind of scientific questions that could be address by means of a toy example: the ability of different methods to recover the main physical properties of the stellar population. A comparison based on observational data merely reflects the degree of agreement between different methods, but it is not possible to make an optimal choice, as the correct solution is not known, and the experiment offers limited insight about the reasons behind the observed discrepancies. The SELGIFS Data Challenge, on the other hand, provides an excellent benchmark to obtain more robust conclusions, but a significant amount of time and effort would be necessary. Let us consider, for instance, the stellar mass, as well as the mass-weighted and luminosity-weighted stellar ages and metallicities, recovered by the following methods: - Steckmap – PSB [@Ocvirk06a; @Ocvirk06]. - Pipe3D – SFS [@Sanchez16_FIT3D; @Sanchez16]. - Starlight – LG [@Cid_Fernandes05; @Cid_Fernandes13], with the same setup as @Galbany14 [@Galbany16_CALIFA]. - Starlight – RGB [setup as in @Garcia-Benito17 including Salpeter[^9] IMF]. The reader is referred to the aforementioned publications for a thorough description of each algorithm and the adopted parameter settings. Here, the default choices adopted by some of the authors of the present manuscript have been used in order to provide a rough indication of the expected size of the uncertainties, but the results of this naive exercise only stress the need for much more extensive studies that rigorously explore the origin of the systematic uncertainties in each individual quantity for every different method and parameter configuration. In essence, all the methods considered decompose the observed spectrum as a sum of simple stellar populations (SSPs) with different ages and metallicities and a set of nebular emission lines. The average stellar properties are then estimated from the coefficients assigned to each SSP. We compare the outputs of these methods, run on our simulated V500-like datacubes, with the true solution given by the product datacubes (convolved with the PSF) for two of our simulated galaxies (C-CS$^+$\_1 and D-MA\_0). Results for the stellar mass, age, and metallicity are plotted in Figures \[fig\_mass\], \[fig\_age\], and \[fig\_metallicity\], respectively. For each quantity, we plot colour maps of the relative accuracy $$\delta_i = \log_{10}( Q_i - Q_0 )$$ expressed in dex, where $Q_i$ denotes the value returned by each method and $Q_0$ represents the solution to be recovered. The mass-weighted average $$\langle \delta_i \rangle_M = \frac{ \sum \mu_(x,y)\ \delta_i(x,y) }{ \sum \mu_(x,y) }$$ and standard deviation $$\sqrt{ \langle \delta_i^2 \rangle_M - \langle \delta_i \rangle_M^2 }$$ of the relative accuracy for each quantity, method, and galaxy are quoted in Table \[tab:results\], where $\mu_(x,y)$ denotes the local stellar surface density at each spaxel. ![image](figures/stellar_mass.pdf){width=".99\textwidth"} ![image](figures/mass-weighted_age.pdf){width=".99\textwidth"}\ ![image](figures/luminosity-weighted_age.pdf){width=".99\textwidth"} ![image](figures/mass-weighted_metallicity.pdf){width=".99\textwidth"}\ ![image](figures/luminosity-weighted_metallicity.pdf){width=".99\textwidth"} Galaxy Method mass $\langle$ age $\rangle_M$ $\langle$ age $\rangle_L$ $\langle Z \rangle_M$ $\langle Z \rangle_L$ ------------- ----------------- --------------------- --------------------------- --------------------------- ----------------------- ----------------------- Steckmap – PSB $~~0.249 \pm 0.071$ $~~0.207 \pm 0.031$ $~~0.132 \pm 0.047$ $~~0.253 \pm 0.066$ $~~0.208 \pm 0.106$ C-CS$^+$\_1 Pipe3D – SFS $~~0.047 \pm 0.179$ $ -0.139 \pm 0.144$ $-0.406 \pm 0.192$ $~~0.375 \pm 0.205$ $~~0.438 \pm 0.206$ Starlight – LG $ -0.126 \pm 0.119$ $ -0.237 \pm 0.210$ $-0.717 \pm 0.279$ $~~0.608 \pm 0.142$ $~~0.696 \pm 0.158$ Starlight – RGB $ -0.059 \pm 0.105$ $ -0.163 \pm 0.150$ $-0.448 \pm 0.204$ $~~0.605 \pm 0.109$ $~~0.657 \pm 0.133$ Steckmap – PSB $ -0.140 \pm 0.083$ $~~7.043 \pm 0.411$ $~~0.732 \pm 0.841$ $~~0.166 \pm 0.048$ $~~0.051 \pm 0.036$ D-MA\_0 Pipe3D – SFS $~~0.242 \pm 0.140$ $~~0.107 \pm 0.102$ $ -0.185 \pm 0.099$ $~~0.126 \pm 0.110$ $~~0.021 \pm 0.080$ Starlight – LG $~~0.086 \pm 0.115$ $~~0.043 \pm 0.197$ $ -0.418 \pm 0.224$ $~~0.310 \pm 0.137$ $~~0.238 \pm 0.105$ Starlight – RGB $~~0.248 \pm 0.135$ $~~0.205 \pm 0.272$ $ -0.043 \pm 0.405$ $~~0.326 \pm 0.099$ $~~0.138 \pm 0.113$ The interpretation of these results is anything but straightforward. With a few exceptions, all methods are able to recover the true solution within a factor of two (0.3 dex). However, the relative accuracy depends on the quantity and method in an intricate way, that seems to be different for different galaxies. Finding the causes of such behaviour (e.g. choice of IMF, SSP basis, fitting method, precise definition of the averaging procedure, dust extinction prescription, physical properties of the galaxy, etc.), especially in the catastrophic cases, requires a thorough analysis that is beyond the scope of the present work. These results emphasise the influence on the adopted methodology and parameters on the recovered physical properties of the galaxies. However, none of the prescriptions considered here can be singled out as better or worse than the others. Even in this simple test, with very limited coverage of the huge parameter space (both on the simulation and the analysis side), it is difficult to identify clear systematic trends. Some codes, with certain settings, are able to recover some parameters more accurately than others in one galaxy, but fare worse on another. We argue that using any of the methods available in the literature with default parameter settings will probably incur in systematic uncertainties that are much larger than the reported statistical errors. Understanding the effects of each parameter in detail is required in order to estimate the magnitude of the systematic uncertainty in a realistic case. The SELGIFS Data Challenge can be extremely useful in this respect, and we encourage the reader to experiment with it. Let us please warn, nevertheless, that the data set is not meant as a test bed to optimise the parameter settings of any given algorithm. This would only guarantee the optimal recovery of our simulated conditions, which may not bear any close relation to reality whatsoever. Summary {#sec:summary} ======= We use hydrodynamical simulations of galaxies formed in a cosmological context to generate mock data mimicking the Integral Field Spectroscopy (IFS) survey CALIFA [@Sanchez12]. The hydrodynamical code follows, in addition to gravity and hydrodynamics, many other relevant galactic-scale physical processes, such as energy feedback and chemical enrichment from SNe explosions, multi-phase InterStellar Medium (ISM), and metal-dependent cooling of the gas. Our hydrodynamical simulations have been post-processed with the radiative transfer code [sunrise]{}, in order to obtain their spatially-resolved spectral energy distributions. These spectra contain the light emitted by the stars and the nebulae (young stars) in the simulations, and include the broadening of the absorption and emission lines due to kinematics, as well as the extinction and scattering by the dust in the ISM. The input parameters in [sunrise]{} have been tuned to reproduce the properties of the CALIFA instrument in terms of field of view size, number of spaxels and spectral range. After we obtain the results of the radiative transfer with [sunrise]{}, we redshift the simulated spectra to match the physical size covered by the spaxels in the radiative transfer stage with the angular resolution of the PMAS instrument used in CALIFA, and we resample and cut these spectra according to the sampling and wavelength range of the low-resolution V500 and blue mid-resolution V1200 CALIFA setups. We convert our spatially-resolved spectra into the V500 and V1200 data format of the CALIFA DR2, and we convolve these 3-dimensional datasets with Gaussian Point Spread Functions both in the spatial and spectral dimensions, mimicking the properties of the CALIFA observations in terms of spatial and spectral resolution. Finally, after we parametrize the properties of the noise in a sample of 367 galaxies both from the CALIFA V500 and V1200 datasets, we add similar noise to the simulated V500 and V1200 data. Our final sample of 18 datacubes (3 objects with 3 inclinations both in the V500 and V1200 setups) provide observers with a powerful benchmark to test the accuracy and calibration of their analysis tools and set the basis for a reliable comparison between simulations and IFS observational data. To this purpose we generate, together with the synthetic IFS observations, a corresponding set of product datacubes, i.e. resolved maps of several properties computed directly from the simulations and/or simulated noiseless datacubes. Although this work is specifically designed to reproduce the properties of the CALIFA observations, the method illustrated in this paper can be easily extended to mimic other integral field spectrographs such as MUSE [@Bacon04], WEAVE [@Dalton14], MaNGA [@Bundy15] or SAMI [@Allen15] by changing some of the input parameters in the radiative transfer stage and performing a similar study of the detector noise. Hence, this procedure can be easily applied to generate synthetic observations for different IFS instruments, or for studying a specific science case prior to applying for observing time. The present project can also be extended to use other hydrodynamical simulations, which will be very important in order to enlarge the given dataset and consider a more complete sample of galaxies in terms of morphology, total mass, stellar age and metallicity, gas content and merger history. We then encourage researchers to contact the authors in case they are interested in obtaining simulated data mimicking the properties of different IFS surveys, or if they have interest in converting their hydrodynamical simulations into CALIFA-like datacubes. We hope that this work would promote more collaboration and connection among observers and simulators, as this will be of crucial importance in view of the several ongoing and future IFS surveys, which will provide the community with large datasets of spatially-resolved properties of galaxies at different cosmic times, allowing to study galaxy formation physics at a higher level of detail than ever before. Acknowledgments {#acknowledgments .unnumbered} =============== We thank the reviewer for their useful comments and suggestions, which have helped to improve the article in several respects. Most importantly, we are grateful for the encouragement to implement the CALIFA dithering pattern into our pipeline. We thank Michael Aumer for providing his simulations, P.-A. Poulhazan and P. Creasey for sharing the new chemical code, and Elena Terlevich for useful comments on the manuscript. GG and CS acknowledge support from the Leibniz Gemeinschaft, through SAW-Project SAW-2012-AIP-5 129, and from the High Performance Computer in Bavaria (SuperMUC) through Project pr94zo. YA, CS, JC and GG acknowledge support from the DAAD through the Spain-Germany Collaboration programm PPP-Spain-57050803. The ’Study of Emission-Line Galaxies with Integral-Field Spectroscopy’ programme (SELGIFS, FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IRSES-612701) is funded by the Research Executive Agency (REA, EU). YA is supported by contract RyC-2011-09461 of the Ramón y Cajal* programme (Mineco, Spain). JC has been financially supported by the “Research Grants - Short-Term Grants, 2016” (57214227) promoted by the DAAD. JC and YA also acknowledge financial support from grant AYA2013-47742-C4-3-P \[and AYA2016-79724-C4-1-P\] (Mineco, Spain). RGB acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, through projects AYA2014-57490- P and AYA2016-77846-P. LG was supported in part by the US National Science Foundation under Grant AST-1311862. PSB acknowledges support from the BASAL Center for Astrophysics and Associated Technologies (PFB-06). JC would like to thank the ’Galaxy and Quasars’ research group at the Leibniz-Institut f[ü]{}r Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP) for the useful discussions and constructive feedback. This study uses data provided by the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area (CALIFA) survey (<http://califa.caha.es/>), based on observations collected at the Centro Astronómico Hispano Alemán (CAHA) at Calar Alto, operated jointly by the Max-Planck-Institut f[ü]{}r Astronomie and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC). The SELGIFS data challenge {#sec:selgifs} ========================== The main goal of this work is to provide the scientific community with a reliable set of synthetic IFS observations, and with the corresponding maps of directly measured properties, that allows to test existing (and future) dedicated analysis tools, as well as to create a benchmark for verifying hypothesis and/or preparing observations. The data are distributed through a web page[^10] hosted by the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. The description of the different files and their data format is presented in the following sections. Synthetic observations {#sec:datacubes} ---------------------- HDU Extension name Format Content ----- ---------------- --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ 0 PRIMARY 32-bit float flux density in $10^{-16}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ Å$^{-1}$ 1 ERROR 32-bit float $1 \sigma$ error on the flux density 2 ERRWEIGHT 32-bit float error weighting factor 3 BADPIX 8-bit integer bad pixel flags (1=bad, 0=good) 4 FIBCOVER 8-bit integer number of fibres used to fill each spaxel Our synthetic CALIFA datacubes in the two V500 and V1200 setups (Section \[sec:califa\]) are provided in different files, identified following the CALIFA DR2 naming convention GALNAME.V500.cube.fits.gz and GALNAME.V1200.cube.fits.gz for the V500 and V1200 respectively. The data structure of these simulated data closely follows the one adopted in CALIFA, namely datacubes in the standard FITS file format. The FITS header of the simulated datacubes stores only the most relevant keywords available in the DR2 header. Most of the DR2 keywords containing information about the pointing, the reduction pipeline, Galactic extinction, sky brightness, etc. have been removed. The flux unit has been stored under the keyword PIPE UNITS as in the CALIFA datacubes. Each FITS file contains the data for a single galaxy stored in five HDU (see Table \[tab:data\_structure\]), every one of them providing different information according to the data format of the pipeline V1.5 used in DR2 [@Garcia_Benito15]. The first two axes in the datacubes ($N_{\alpha}$, $N_{\delta}$) correspond to the spatial dimensions (along the right ascension and declination) with a $1" \times 1"$ sampling. The third dimension ($N_{\lambda}$) represents the wavelength axis, with ranges and samplings described in Section \[sec:califa\] and Table \[tab:data\_format\]. Here we summarize the content of each HDU: [0) Primary (PRIMARY)]{} The primary HDU contains the measured flux densities in CALIFA units of $10^{-16}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ Å$^{-1}$.\ [1) Error (ERROR)]{} This extension provides the values of the $1 \sigma$ noise level in each pixel, calculated according to Eq. \[eq:noise\]. In the case of bad pixels, we store a value of $10^{10}$ following the CALIFA data structure.\ [2) Error weight (ERRWEIGHT)]{} [ This HDU gives the error scaling factor for each pixel, in the case that all valid pixels of the cubes are co-added (see appendix A of @Garcia_Benito15).]{}\ [3) Bad pixel (BADPIX)]{} This extension stores a flag advising on potential problems in a pixel; in the CALIFA dataset this may occur for instance due to cosmic rays contamination, bad CCD columns, or the effect of vignetting. In our datacubes we flag as bad pixel (i.e. equal to 1) the regions in the spectra that are generated with the lower-resolution stellar model (see Section \[sec:simulated\_spectra\]).\ [4) fibre coverage (FIBCOVER)]{} [ This HDU, available only from DR2, accounts for the number of fibers used to recover the flux (see section 4.3 of @Garcia_Benito15).]{} In addition to these datacubes, we provide in the following files synthetic data free of any observational effect, in the same data format and physical units. - [GALNAME.SED.fits:]{} [ it contains the simulated SEDs prior to the addition of the observational effects (noise and PSFs, see sec. \[sec:califa\]). The spatially-resolved SEDs are stored in a single HDU with $ 78 \times 73 $ pixels in the spatial dimensions and 1877 pixels in the wavelength dimension, with 2 Å sampling following the V500 data format (tab. \[tab:data\_format\]). ]{} Stellar property Units -------------------------------------- --------------------------------------- Mass $\log (\text{M}_{\odot})$ Mass density $\log (\text{M}_{\odot}/\text{pc}^2)$ Mean age mass-weighted $\log (\text{yr})$ Mean metallicity mass-weighted $\log (\text{Z}/\text{Z}_{\odot})$ Mean age luminosity-weighted $\log (\text{yr})$ Mean metallicity luminosity-weighted $\log (\text{Z}/\text{Z}_{\odot})$ Mean velocity km/s Velocity dispersion km/s Star formation rate M$_{\odot}$/yr Stellar particles number – : List of the spatially-resolved stellar properties provided in the product datacubes.[]{data-label="tab:list_stellar_properties"} -------------------- ----------------- ------------------ Species Line centre (Å) Lower/ upper bounds (Å) [\[Ne III\]3869]{} 3869.060 $3859 - 3879$ H$\delta$ 4101.734 $4092 - 4111$ H$\gamma$ 4340.464 $4330 - 4350$ [\[O III\]4363]{} 4363.210 $4350 - 4378$ H$\beta$ 4861.325 $4851 - 4871$ [\[O III\]4959]{} 4958.911 $4949 - 4969$ [\[O III\]5007]{} 5006.843 $4997 - 5017$ HeI 5876 5875.670 $5866 - 5886$ [\[N II\]6548]{} 6548.040 $6533 - 6553$ H$\alpha$ 6562.800 $6553 - 6573$ [\[N II\]6584]{} 6583.460 $6573 - 6593$ [\[S II\]6717]{} 6716.440 $6704 - 6724$ [\[S II\]6731]{} 6730.810 $ 6724 - 6744$ -------------------- ----------------- ------------------ : List of the emission line intensities provided in the product datacubes. Line centers, lower and upper bounds are taken from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-Garching DR7 analysis (available at the [url]{} <http://wwwmpa.mpa-garching.mpg.de/SDSS/DR7/>).[]{data-label="tab:list_emission_lines"} Product datacubes {#sec:product_datacubes} ----------------- The direct calculation of the resolved (spaxel-by-spaxel) galaxy properties described in Sections \[sec:simulations\] and \[sec:simulated\_spectra\] are provided in separate files. These maps have been calculated directly from the simulations’ output, or from the noiseless synthetic spectra prior to the addition of any observational effect. The name of the files and data format are listed below: - [GALNAME.stellar.fits:]{} the file contains the resolved maps obtained directly from the hydrodynamical simulations as described in Section \[sec:simulations\]. These FITS files have a single Header Data Unit (HDU) holding a 10-layer matrix, containing the nine $78 \times 73$ maps of the stellar properties in the order given in Table \[tab:list\_stellar\_properties\]. The header includes the information about the physical property stored in every layer (DESC\_) and its units (UNITS\_), where \* refers to the layer number. - [GALNAME.SFH.fits:]{} [ it provides the resolved SFHs, storing the mass (in solar units) formed in bins of 100 Myr. It contains a single HDU with a $ 78 \times 73 \times 140$ array. The 140 time bins are ordered in lookback time, with the first element storing the mass formed in the last 100 Myr. ]{} - [GALNAME.Lick\_indices.fits:]{} this file stores the resolved maps for the 26 Lick indices measured from the noiseless stellar-only datacube (see Section \[sec:simulated\_spectra\]). Each file consists of a single HDU unit with a 26-layer matrix that contains the twenty-five $78 \times 73$ maps of the different absorption features listed in Table \[tab:stellar\_absorption\_indices\]. The header provides for each layer the Lick index name (DESC\_) and its measured units (UNITS\_), with \* indicating the layer number. - [GALNAME.nebular.fits:]{} it encloses the resolved maps for the 13 nebular line intensities measured from the noiseless nebular-only datacube (Sec. \[sec:simulated\_spectra\]). The data are stored in a single HDU unit with a 13-layer matrix, containing all the thirteen $78 \times 73$ maps of the nebular lines given in Table \[tab:list\_emission\_lines\]. The header stores the line names (DESC\_), rest frame wavelengths (LAMBDA\_) and units (UNITS\_) for each layer \* in the file. In order to provide results directly comparable with the ones generated by the observational algorithms applied to the synthetic datacubes, maps at the same spatial resolution of the synthetic datacubes are additionally available. These have been obtained convolving the stellar maps with a 2.5 FWHM Gaussian kernel, and the synthetic spectra with a 2.5” FWHM PSF before extracting the Lick indices and the nebular line intensities as described in Section \[sec:simulated\_spectra\]. Notice that when we compute the logarithmic quantities in the stellar maps the PSF is added prior to the calculation of the logarithm. \[lastpage\] [^1]: E-mail:gguidi@aip.de [^2]: <http://astro.ft.uam.es/selgifs/data_challenge/> [^3]: Notice that in this work we use arithmetic means both for the ages and metallicities [@Asari07; @Cid_Fernandes13]. A different definition often found in the literature is the geometric mean $\langle \log X \rangle_{M} = \frac{\sum_i M_i \cdot \log X_i }{\sum_i M_i}$ (e.g. @Gallazzi05 [@Gonzalez_Delgado14; @Gonzalez_Delgado15; @Sanchez16_FIT3D]). Since we will provide these quantities smoothed by the CALIFA spatial PSF (Sec. \[sec:product\_datacubes\]), we choose to weight the linear quantities in order to avoid biases in the calculation of the smoothed properties. [^4]: [This resolution is lower than the CALIFA sampling, and therefore the affected wavelength range has been labelled as bad pixels in the mock observations.]{} [^5]: For this reason, as well as for the scarcity of young stellar particles, we focus on the intensity of nebular emission lines and refrain from considering gas kinematics. [^6]: [Actually, nebular emission lines are only produced at the location of young stellar sources. UV photon leakage is not considered, and the diffuse ISM merely absorbs and scatters the nebular emission. At variance with real galaxies, it does not produce any light by itself.]{} [^7]: <http://califa.caha.es/DR3> [^8]: Notice that when we redshift our synthetic spectra we reduce the range of bad pixels, starting from the wavelength $\sim 7090 - 7170$ Å depending on the redshift of the object. [^9]: A correction factor of 0.28 dex has been applied to the stellar mass in order to match Kroupa/Chabrier normalisation. Any other effects are unaccounted for. [^10]: <http://astro.ft.uam.es/selgifs/data_challenge/>
1995–96 Scottish Third Division The 1995–96 Scottish Football League Third Division was the 2nd season in the format of ten teams in the fourth-tier of Scottish football. The season started on 11 August 1995 and ended on 3 May 1996. Livingston F.C. finished top and were promoted alongside runners-up Brechin City. Both teams were promoted straight back to the Second Division having both been relegated the previous season. Albion Rovers finished bottom for a second consecutive season. Teams for 1995–96 Forfar Athletic as champions of the previous season were directly promoted to the 1995–96 Scottish Second Division alongside runners-up Montrose. They were replaced by Meadowbank Thistle and Brechin City who finished second bottom and bottom of the 1994–95 Scottish Second Division respectively. During the change of season Meadowbank Thistle relocated to and changed their name to Livingston for the 1995–96 season. Overview Relegated from Second Division to the Third Division Meadowbank Thistle (became Livingston) Brechin City Stadia and locations Table References External links Official site 1995/1996 Scottish Third Division at Soccerway Scottish Football Archive Category:Scottish Third Division seasons Scot 4
DoD News News Article Baghdad Fair Helps Residents Plan for Economic Future BAGHDAD, Feb. 12, 2008 In the late-morning sunlight, the crowd paid close attention to the speaker. He was one of them -- a home-grown leader. Army Col. Jeffery Bonner, a Fayetteville, Tenn., native who serves as an agricultural and commercial business development officer with the local embedded provincial reconstruction team, speaks to citizens from the Suleikh, Tunnis and Qahira neighborhoods in Baghdad’s Adhamiya district during a market fair in Suleikh, Feb. 9, 2008. Photo by Pfc. April Campbell, USA (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. They heard this meeting would offer them benefits, and Fikrat Kareem, the neighborhood advisory council leader for Tunnis, was introducing the day's topic: their neighborhood economies. An estimated 200 Iraqi residents from the Qahira, Suleikh and Tunnis neighborhoods in Baghdad’s Adhamiya district began planning for the economic future of their areas by attending a Feb. 9 market fair in Suleikh. Along with seminars providing business-management coaching, the event, coordinated through the combined efforts of Iraqi and coalition forces leaders in the area, also introduced these Iraqis to the concept of a market action committee. Such committees have proven successful in nearby neighborhoods within Adhamiya. Army Col. Jeffery Bonner, a Fayetteville, Tenn., native who serves as an agricultural and commercial business-development officer with the local embedded provincial reconstruction team, is helping to implement the market action committee idea in neighborhoods throughout Adhamiya. The idea behind the market action committee is "to get leaders (within) these specific areas to come together to form a council under the government of Iraq as a not-for-profit organization," Bonner explained. As a nonprofit organization, the groups will be able to work with representatives from organizations such as the U.S. Agency for International Development, the colonel added. Robert C. Dose, an agricultural market specialist with the USAID-sponsored Agribusiness Program, was present at the event. "This area is on the edge of an agricultural production area and an urban area," Dose said. "We're here to provide new technology in areas such as food processing and packaging." The ability of civilian representatives from such organizations to come to the area to work with Iraqi citizens is largely due to the improved level of security provided by the Iraqi security forces, citizen volunteers and Multinational Division Baghdad forces, he noted. "This whole area has become permissive for us to work with the local leaders," Dose said. "Six months ago, we wouldn't have come here." The market fair not only was a result, in large part, of better security, but also is a way to help ensure the area stays safe. "In order to maintain the positive security momentum," Bonner said, "we have to have some vehicles to start bringing life back into the community and allow people the means of creating some personal revenue." In addition to enabling USAID and representatives of other groups to work with the neighborhood business leaders, the market action committees also act as advocates from the business community to local governments. Having an organization that can communicate with the local government about the forecast of different capitalization projects in the area is important when attempting to rebuild a neighborhood fixture such as the local marketplace, Bonner said. It is important not to rebuild an entire market, he said, “only to find out that four months later, the local government is going to come and tear up the street and sidewalks to go put in water lines or gas lines." Iraqis who attended the fair walked away with a sense of hope. Muthier Salah Abidilkhalik, of Suleihk, said he attended the fair because he heard there would be projects to help his neighborhood people. The idea of the people working together to better the neighborhood economies will benefit the area now and also in the future, he said. Fikrat Kareem, neighborhood advisory council leader for Tunnis, speaks to citizens from the Suleikh, Tunnis and Qahira neighborhoods in Baghdad’s Adhamiya district at the beginning of a market fair in Suleikh, Feb. 9, 2008. The event was conducted to provide business coaching and to help citizens organize an area market action committee, a nonprofit business committee similar to a chamber of commerce. Photo by Pfc. April Campbell, USADownload screen-resolutionDownload high-resolution
The direct measurement of inhibitory capacity to crystal growth of calcium oxalate in undiluted urine and in other inhibitor containing solutions. This paper describes a simple method to measure the capacity of undiluted urine and of other inhibitor containing solutions (PPi and EHDP) to protect a given mass of calcium oxalate crystals from growth. The method has also been used to determine relative urinary saturation with respect to calcium oxalate. It is based on titration with oxalate and measures the critical changes of concentration necessary to reach saturation or to induce crystal growth. From these changes inhibitory capacity as well as the level of urinary saturation can be calculated in terms of differences of concentration products. The use of the methods at present available to measure urinary oxalate are thereby avoided. In order to compare the results from different urines without the need for cumbersome calculations of activity products we have introduced a saturation-inhibition ratio.
Pages Tuesday, October 23, 2012 joanna + chris married. They grew up, went to school and met in Auburn, Alabama. She's a vocalist and he works in web design, and as colorful as their life is, they are all about the orange and blue! Two truly Southern gems, Joanna and Chris had one of the tastiest rehearsal dinners, sweetest ceremonies and liveliest receptions. When we arrived in Auburn the night before the wedding, we were treated to some of the best BBQ this side of the Mississippi and heard testimony after testimony of how beautiful this couple is inside and out. Before this evening, we had only met Joanna and Chris via Skype and within less than an hour we felt like we had been a part of some of the great stories their friends and families shared about them. And what we noticed most was that each person not only toasted and cheered their marriage, but let these important people in their life know that with their strong faith, they would have an amazing marriage...and that each one of them is just call away and would run to their assistance in a heartbeat. To have friends like this is a true treasure, and by the way Joanna and Chris looked at each other every moment of their wedding day, they are one blessed couple. They are playful, sweet and romantic, and I'm so glad we got to know them and capture their lovely day. I just had to start their post with the photo above because when we talked just days before the wedding, Chris expressed that something that was most important to him was a fun and creative wedding party photo. With their love of Auburn football, I'm thinking this one hits the mark! But on to the morning. As I met with the girls while they were getting ready, it seems appropriate to begin the day with a bobby pin photo. As a girl in a wedding, it's the first thing you see in the morning and the last thing you're counting before sheep. After finishing up an amazing afternoon on the field, it was time for everyone to prepare for the ceremony ahead. Whether a bride and groom see each other beforehand or not, speaking vows to one another is still such a big moment in a couple's life and I love how sweetly and earnestly Joanna and her bridesmaids approached the time for her wedding ceremony with Chris. With the sun setting in deep amber and ruby hues over the lake by their reception, we couldn't help but steal the newlyweds away for a few moments to a quilt-draped hay bale Bryan placed down by the water. I'm so glad we did because I love how soft and romantic these photos are! As much as I love (really LOVE) all the soft and sweet photos, this is one of my new favorites! Lookin' good, guys! After a little bit of cake and cobbler, it was time to get down. And boy did they! What fun group! I'm pretty sure these next two shots are at the top of our list of all time best garter catch! Joanna and Chris, thank you so much for inviting us to capture your wedding! What a honor it was to experience such a wonderful evening! We wish you both the very best and hope you keep in touch.
Specificity and significance of hepatocellular ultrastructural changes in non-A, non-B hepatitis in chimpanzees. 324 liver biopsies from 71 chimpanzees with and without non-A, non-B (NANB) hepatitis have been examined by electron microscopy (E.M.) for hepatocellular changes reported to be associated with this disease. At least 2 types of ultrastructural cytoplasmic alterations were found in each of 23 cases of acute and 6 cases of chronic NANB hepatitis. Nuclear modifications were never seen. Similar ultrastructural alterations were found in infections derived from 9 different human blood borne NANB cases. In 9 animals which had received 5 different inocula, Pfeifer Type I, II, III and IV changes were seen; 3 of the 4 types occurred in 10 animals and 2 of the types in 5 animals. Type II and III changes were almost always seen together. All 4 types of alteration were usually found in biopsies taken near the peak of ALT elevation. Five of 6 animals in whom E.M. changes were detected in serial samples over a 1 1/2 to 4 1/2 year period had concurrent chronic ALT abnormality. Two of these 6 animals did not develop ALT abnormality until years after the original acute episode though E.M. changes were detected throughout this period. There was generally a good correlation between onset and duration of ALT abnormality and period when E.M. changes were detected. All samples from animals not exposed to NANB virus(es) were negative by E.M. Our findings indicate the ultrastructural cytoplasmic alterations to be highly specific for NANB infection. Since each of the 9 isolates produced essentially the same pattern of E.M. changes, it is likely that a single NANB hepatitis virus group accounts for most blood borne NANB hepatitis.
Japan’s intense work culture may be put to the test by a new drone, circling over the heads of over-industrious employees and blasting out loud music in an attempt to make them go home. On Thursday, the companies Taisei, NTT East and Blue Innovation unveiled their new T-Frend drone, which hovers around the heads of workers clocking in overtime. It plays Auld Lang Syne, an 18th century Scottish ballad better known in Japan for telling shop customers it’s closing time. "You can't really work when you think 'it's coming over any time now' and hear Auld Lang Syne along with the buzz," Taisei director Norihiro Kato told AFP. Read more T-Frend can take a pre-programmed flight across the office autonomously, using its sensors to navigate around walls and other obstacles while staying at a certain height to avoid papers flying up from its propellers. As well as an end-of-work alarm, T-Rend also functions as a security drone, filming surveillance footage and storing the data on an SD card. The drone’s developers are also considering outfitting it with facial recognition technology to help spot burglars and other intruders after-hours. T-Frend is expected to be launched in April, with a target price of around 500,000 yen (around $4,400) a month. Japan’s intense overwork culture dates back to the postwar period when Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida asked corporations to give their employees lifelong job security in exchange for loyalty and dedication. While this has considerably boosted the Japanese economy, it has also created a stressful and even deadly environment where workers push themselves hard to prove themselves to their bosses. The practice sometimes ends in heart failure, strokes or suicide. These cases are known as ‘karoshi,’(death by overwork). In October, 31-year-old journalist Miwa Sado’s death in 2013 was ruled as ‘karoshi’ after it turned out she had logged 159 hours of overtime in one month at the NHK news agency.
--TEST-- Should be able to get child's status. --FILE-- <?php require __DIR__.'/../../examples/child-status.php'; ?> --EXPECTF-- Parent process is %d Child process is %d Child successfully finished
Such is the power of David O. Russell that he can round up a platoon of people who have prior experience working with him and convince them to squeeze into some diabolical ‘80s gear and appalling wigs for American Hustle, a loosely truth-based tale of an FBI sting operation that took down some high-profile US government types. The first official pics from the film are now online courtesy of USA Today. American Hustle finds Christian Bale as Irving Rosenfeld, a Bronx-raised con man who raises the suspicion of driven FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper, looking for all the world like he borrowed Hangover director Todd Phillips' style from his Barry cameos). Under threat of prison, DiMaso forces Rosenfeld and his lover/accomplice Sydney (Amy Adams) to work up the Abscam sting, which saw a US senator and five congressmen convicted on corruption charges. "That era was very much like our era now," Russell tells the paper. "The economy was not in a good place and people had to struggle to figure out how to reinvent themselves." Also along for the ride is fellow Russell veteran Jennifer Lawrence and new recruit Jeremy Renner. American Hustle will arrive in US cinemas on December 25 before hopping across the pond to launch here on Boxing Day. Happy Christscam, everyone!
Main navigation The smell of freshly roasted coffee! With each mouthful, I become aware of the different flavours in my morning coffee. As Cactus has its own roasting plant in Windhof, I can enjoy all the taste of freshly roasted coffee. I drink Fairtrade coffee We serve only Bruno Bio Fairtrade coffee in all our restaurants. This is Fairtrade-certified organic coffee, produced by the Oro Verde Farming Cooperative, which represents several hundred small producers from Lamas province (Peru). We roast this coffee in our own plant in Windhof. I prefer being able to vary my coffee The coffee we roast in Windhof includes our own range of Cactus coffees, Leesch and Bruno coffees. You can find all your favourite blends in all our stores as well as in our Bruno Coffee Shops. Coffee beans, ground coffee or capsules – the choice is yours. I can get my coffee ground Come along to our Bruno Coffee Shops and enjoy a cup of Bruno coffee. Ask for your favourite blend of coffee and we’ll grind it fresh for you then and there. You’ll also find Leonidas chocolates and de Schnékert petits fours to enjoy with your coffee. I follow the route the coffee takes to reach Luxembourg The green coffee beans that come all the way from Peru, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Honduras and Nicaragua are first transported by lorry and are then shipped to the port of Antwerp. After passing several quality controls, the coffee finally starts out on its journey towards the Bruno roasting plant in Windhof. Newsletter Do you want to stay up-to-date? Subscribe to our Cactus Newsletter and never miss any special again! Enter your Email address FRLUDEEN I agree that Cactus may store and use my data to send me promotional information and offers. For further details, take a look at our General Terms of Use.
Q: ObservableCollection CollectionChanged event I have an observable collection and I have a collectionChanged event wired up on that. I have its items bound to a listbox in the UI. When the user removes some items in the UI from the listbox, the CollectioChanged gets fired properly, however, I need to know the indices of the items that were removed. The problem is I am not able to an indexOf on the collection after it is changed because it does not have the removed item anymore.. Can we get access to the list of indexes that were removed from an ObservableCollection from the collectionchanged event? A: The CollectionChanged event uses an event that gives you a NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs. This has a OldStartingIndex property, which will tell you the index it was removed at. For example: void Foo() { ObservableCollection<string> r = new ObservableCollection<string>(); r.CollectionChanged += r_CollectionChanged; } static void r_CollectionChanged(object sender, System.Collections.Specialized.NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs e) { var itemRemovedAtIndex = e.OldStartingIndex; } Assume that I am removing MULTIPLE items from the collection at different indices..So using the oldStartingIndex would just give me the first item index that was removed The event will most likely fire multiple times, once for each item.
Suffering from acne can be a difficult problem especially if you are left with acne scars, finding the most suitable acne scar treatments is the first step to clearer skin. Acre scars are inflammation caused by acne within the dermis of your skin. You can tell that a scar is an acne scar by its appearance. Acne scars tend to look like pits or craters on the face or body. You may find that acne can last just a few months or a few years; it really depends on the person. Once your acne starts to clear it may leave behind a hyper-pigmented mark on your skin. Your skin should then take around 6-12 months to clear completely; if the mark remains on your skin then you will be left with a permanent acne scar but no need to dispair because there are some excellent scar treatments available. The earlier you can find a suitable acne treatment the better the results will be. You must never squeeze your pimples or pick them as this will cause scarring. Instead treat them with specialist acne products that are trusted and proven. Certain natural peels will help soften the scar tissue and improve the texture of your skin. Zinc, Vitamin A and E are also good vitamins and minerals to take. If you do your best to take care of your adult acne before it gets to an uncontrollable point, you most likely won’t be dealing with any scarring. This is why it’s best to get on acne scar treatment system right away. Watch the following video to find out more. Shihan01011 [..YouTube..] It sure looks like shes reading off something , like this is just promotion ..I would be carefull with products who claim to remove scares which is impossible anyway, you cant remove scares 100% Josphine Grimm Acne treatment called Acnezilax Secrets (search on google) kept appearing here on many youtube and I thought they were scams. However after my work buddy follow it, and finally clear his acne naturally. I’m persuaded. You should not take my word for it, search for Acnezilax Secrets on the internet. David Haley Guys, break free from your acne does not need to be difficult (I used to feel it did). I’ll give you some advice right now. Search a acne remedy called Acnezilax Secrets (do a search on google). Seriously, that treatment has changed my entire life. I probably should not even be mentioning it cause I don’t want a bunch of other folks out there running the same “game” but whatever, I’m in a good mood today so I will share the wealth haha. Florance Bellomy Hey! thank you for this helpful video. By the way, I hear lots of people keep on talking about acne treatment known as Acnezilax Secrets (do a search on google), but I’m not sure if it is really good. Have you thought about Acnezilax Secrets? I’ve heard several awesome things about it and my buddy finally break free from her acne, using it, but she refuses to tell me 🙁 Segarsjgf778 Hello! thanks for this helpful video. By the way, I notice many people keep on talking about acne treatment known as Acnezilax Secrets (do a google search), but I’m not sure if it is good. Have you tried using Acnezilax Secrets? I have heard many unbelivable things about it and my sister finally clear her acne naturally, using it, but she refuses to tell me 🙁 Truelovejgf380 Guys, clear your acne naturally does not need to be hard (I used to feel it did). I’ll give you some advice right now. Search a acne remedy known as Acnezilax Secrets (google it). Seriously, that treatment has transformed my entire life. I probably shouldn’t even be talking about it because I don’t want a bunch of other guys out there running the same “game” but whatever, I am in a good mood today so I’ll share the wealth haha. tanishaisabel1 Nice video but I removed all of my acne forever within only one month. I used this particular treatment called: Acne 404 Nuke i can’t recall the actual web site just simply google the name Acne 404 Nuke and you will find it. Krishna Serala Everyone can get acne. My own mature brother had it as much as his child. Each had been able to heal themselves once they located the Acne Executioner (Google it). Lots of people will not be as lucky as them.
Paroles Pushin Me Away par Jonas Brothers Run like you do I'm chasing you I'm on your tail I'm gaining fast You're going nowhere Try to fix what you've done Turn back the time The night is calling And we're falling faster now Pushing me away Every last word Every single thing you say Pushing me away Try to stop it now but it's already too late Pushing me away If you don't care than say it to my face I'm pushing me away You push push, pushing me away Stop, tell me the truth 'Cause I'm so confused Spinning round, these walls are fallin' down And I need you More than you know I'm not letting go Getting close So take my hand
Diffuse intralobular liver fibrosis in dogs naturally infected with Leishmania (Leishmania) chagasi. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diffuse intralobular fibrosis in dogs naturally infected with Leishmania (Leishmania) chagasi. One hundred five infected animals with positive serologic tests for Leishmania were divided into two clinical groups: 69 symptomatic animals and 36 asymptomatic. Special staining with Gomori, Heidenhain, Silver, and Picrosirius Red was applied to characterize fibrilopoesis. The tissue parasite load was measured by immunohistochemistry and associated histomorphometric analyses. Intralobular fibrosis was observed in all dogs, and more collagen deposition was confirmed in the infected animals than in the controls by these histomorphometric studies. There were significant differences among the distinct clinical groups. In fact, symptomatic dogs showed an increased collagen deposition in the liver compared with asymptomatic ones. A peculiar diffuse intralobular fibrosis, where the collagen fibers encircled small groups of hepatocyte(s), was observed in two cases (1.9%).
I know it'll need to go from good to worse Living in the past begins the ending first All I want is a horizon line Get some clarity following signs I'll keep on the path that leads up to the clearing Keep some distance while the words comes in so near and Then I'll head out to horizon lines Get some clarity ocean-side Realize what you know that you know by now that... First light was, last light was alright when The circle married the line First light was, last light was alright when The circle married the line The Circle Married The Line Lyrics by Feist - pasarlirik.blogspot.com Even from away he is near me Making me unendingly teary Makes me remember the things that I forgot It's as much what it is as what it is not In a room sleeping so peacefully Fall away from him to be less than lee All we need is a horizon line Get some clarity following signs Realize what you know that you know by now that Realize what you know that you know by now that... First light was, last light was alright when The circle married the line [repeat until the end]
/* cairo - a vector graphics library with display and print output * * Copyright © 2002 University of Southern California * * This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or * modify it either under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public * License version 2.1 as published by the Free Software Foundation * (the "LGPL") or, at your option, under the terms of the Mozilla * Public License Version 1.1 (the "MPL"). If you do not alter this * notice, a recipient may use your version of this file under either * the MPL or the LGPL. * * You should have received a copy of the LGPL along with this library * in the file COPYING-LGPL-2.1; if not, write to the Free Software * Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Suite 500, Boston, MA 02110-1335, USA * You should have received a copy of the MPL along with this library * in the file COPYING-MPL-1.1 * * The contents of this file are subject to the Mozilla Public License * Version 1.1 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in * compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at * http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/ * * This software is distributed on an "AS IS" basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY * OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the LGPL or the MPL for * the specific language governing rights and limitations. * * The Original Code is the cairo graphics library. * * The Initial Developer of the Original Code is University of Southern * California. * * Contributor(s): * Carl D. Worth <cworth@cworth.org> / #ifndef CAIRO_XLIB_XRENDER_H #define CAIRO_XLIB_XRENDER_H #include "cairo.h" #if CAIRO_HAS_XLIB_XRENDER_SURFACE #include <X11/Xlib.h> #include <X11/extensions/Xrender.h> CAIRO_BEGIN_DECLS cairo_public cairo_surface_t cairo_xlib_surface_create_with_xrender_format (Display dpy, Drawable drawable, Screen screen, XRenderPictFormat format, int width, int height); cairo_public XRenderPictFormat cairo_xlib_surface_get_xrender_format (cairo_surface_t surface); CAIRO_END_DECLS #else / CAIRO_HAS_XLIB_XRENDER_SURFACE / # error Cairo was not compiled with support for the xlib XRender backend #endif / CAIRO_HAS_XLIB_XRENDER_SURFACE / #endif / CAIRO_XLIB_XRENDER_H */
Q: How to get substring before the last 7 digits For example if I have a string that is a phone number 19051112222 I would want 1905 or 9051112222 I would want 905 I need it to be able to work for any number of digits before the last 7 digits. A: You can use substring and go from the start of the String (AKA position 0) to the length of the String minus 7. It will look like str.substring(0, str.length() - 7). Test Code: String str = "19051112222"; System.out.println(str.substring(0, str.length() - 7)); str = "9051112222"; System.out.println(str.substring(0, str.length() - 7)); Output: 1905 905 Note that if the String is less than 7 characters, you will get a StringIndexOutOfBoundsException, so if you expect that to be a possibility, you should convert this code into a method and check if (str.length() < 7). Example Method: public static String removeFinalSeven(String str) { if (str.length() < 7) { return ""; //return whatever you want to happen in this scenario } return str.substring(0, str.length() - 7); }
Q: java scanner's same-exact-inputs are not equal (for me?) I want to compare three couples of input from Scanner (just a quick test) by using the Compare method. When I run this program, it returns false for all three inputs even though there should be a true in between. When I remove Scanner and put in a String myself, I get the correct result First I thought that it's caused by the extra "Enter" button that stays in the buffer, but when I debugged it, there's nothing unwanted in the buffer and an extra call for input won't do any help. import java.util.Scanner; public class MainSector { String Primary, Secondary; MainSector(String Primary, String Secondary){ this.Primary = Primary; this.Secondary = Secondary; } MainSector(int Primary, int Secondary) { this.Primary = String.valueOf(Primary); this.Secondary = String.valueOf(Secondary); } boolean Compare(MainSector x){ return (x.Primary == Primary && x.Secondary == Secondary ); } } public class Test { public static void main(String[] args) { Scanner u = new Scanner(System.in); Scanner y = new Scanner(System.in); System.out.println("Enter String:"); MainSector Sector1 = new MainSector(u.nextLine(),y.nextLine()); System.out.println("Enter String:"); MainSector Sector2 = new MainSector(u.nextLine(),y.nextLine()); System.out.println("Enter Integer:"); MainSector Sector3 = new MainSector(u.nextInt(),y.nextInt()); System.out.println(Sector1.Compare(Sector2)); System.out.println(Sector1.Compare(Sector3)); System.out.println(Sector2.Compare(Sector3)); } } It returns false three times here even if the first two inputs are exactly the same. For example, I get the correct result with this: System.out.println("Enter String:"); MainSector Sector1 = new MainSector("aa","bb"); System.out.println("Enter String:"); MainSector Sector2 = new MainSector("aa","bb"); System.out.println("Enter Integer:"); MainSector Sector3 = new MainSector(45,65); It returns: true false false A: Your problem lies in your compare method; using == compares reference values. Since you are using different object in your comparisons, they will never have the same reference value in this case. You need to use .equals(Object) to compare the exact values. I have edited the code below to reflect this and tested it. Also, you really don't need 2 scanners to do this, you can use one! As always, please remember to close your scanners; it's good practice. import java.util.Scanner; class MainSector { String Primary, Secondary; MainSector(String Primary, String Secondary){ this.Primary = Primary; this.Secondary = Secondary; } MainSector(int Primary, int Secondary) { this.Primary = Integer.toString(Primary); this.Secondary = Integer.toString(Secondary); } //Note the changes made to this method! boolean Compare(MainSector x){ return ((x.Primary.equals(Primary)) && (x.Secondary.equals(Secondary))); } } //End MainSector public class Test { public static void main(String[] args) { Scanner u = new Scanner(System.in); System.out.println("Enter String:"); MainSector Sector1 = new MainSector(u.nextLine(),u.nextLine()); System.out.println("Enter String:"); MainSector Sector2 = new MainSector(u.nextLine(),u.nextLine()); System.out.println("Enter Integer:"); MainSector Sector3 = new MainSector(u.nextInt(),u.nextInt()); System.out.println(Sector1.Compare(Sector2)); System.out.println(Sector1.Compare(Sector3)); System.out.println(Sector2.Compare(Sector3)); u.close(); } //End main } //End Test I found a great post, where the answer is explained in extreme detail if you wish to know more: How do I compare Strings in Java?
using Csla.Core; using Csla.Serialization.Mobile; using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.ComponentModel; using System.Linq; using System.Text; using System.Threading.Tasks; namespace Csla { /// <summary> /// This is the base class from which command /// objects will be derived. /// </summary> public interface ICommandBase : ICommandObject, IBusinessObject, IMobileObject, ICloneable, INotifyPropertyChanged { } }
McDonald's taps ex-Obama aide as PR exec Kevin McCoy and Nathan Bomey \| USA TODAY McDonald's (MCD) tapped an Obama administration veteran Tuesday to communicate the fast-food giant's corporate message as the company executes a difficult turnaround plan. Robert Gibbs, who served as President Obama's first-term White House spokesman and later served as a re-election campaign adviser, has been named executive vice president and global chief communications officer for McDonald's, the company said. McDonald's also named Silvia Lagnado, the former chief marketing officer for spirits company Bacardi Limited and creator of Dove's" Campaign for Real Beauty" as the company's executive vice president and global chief marketing officer. The appointments mark the latest moves by the new CEO of McDonald's, Steve Easterbrook. He's executing a turnaround strategy for the chain, which has about 36,000 locations in more than 100 countries. "Robert and Silvia are both highly respected, talented leaders who will bring a wealth of experience and outside perspective to McDonald's as we build a more modern, progressive burger company," Easterbrook said in a statement. "Returning excitement to our business proposition and brand is foundational to our turnaround plan, and Robert and Silvia -- with their respective teams -- will play critical roles in bringing this strategy to life," Easterbrook added. Gibbs will lead McDonald's corporate relations group, which manages internal and external communications and government and public affairs, the company said. The new job focuses on ensuring that McDonald's communicates "clear, coordinated messages" to the company's internal and external constituencies, the company said. Gibbs succeeds Bridget Coffing, who announced her retirement earlier this year after 30 years with McDonald's. Lagnado will be responsible for all aspects of global brand management for McDonald's, including global marketing, menu and consumer insight, the company said. The appointments come just over a month after Easterbrook unveiled the latest effort to revive the flagging fortunes of the world's largest fast-food chain and fend off competition from newer and more upmarket rivals such as Chipotle (CMG) and Shake Shake (SHAK). Just two months into the top McDonald's job himself at the time of the May announcement, Easterbrook said 3,500 company-owned stores would be sold to franchisees as part of what he termed an "urgent need to reset this business." McDonald's previously had said it would refranchise at least 1,500 restaurants by 2016. That would mean 90% of the chain's more than 36,000 locations worldwide would be franchised by 2018 — up from 81% now. The change would generate more stable and predictable cash flow, Easterbrook said. Additionally, Easterbrook said McDonald's will restructure its business into four areas: U.S.-based stores; international lead markets (including Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the U.K.); high-growth markets (China, Italy, Poland, Russia and four other nations); and foundational markets (10 other countries). McDonald's simultaneously is experimenting with all-day breakfast offerings in the San Diego market as part of an effort to lure Millennial customers, widely considered a key to the company's future growth. Last month, the company also began testing home-delivery service to customers in the Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens boroughs of New York City. However, the turnaround effort has yet to have a major impact on the bottom line. On Monday, McDonald's reported that its sales dropped 0.3% globally in May compared with the same period last year. The company's shares closed down 0.62% at $94.73 in Tuesday trading.
Prospects for achieving and maintaining universal drinking water services October 15th, 2013 Dr. Rob Hope, Oxford University, United Kingdom Despite meeting the water access Millennium Development Goal over 780 million people lack improved water services. Prospects for progress in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are most concerning. Short-term, political fixes or well-meaning donor interventions often fail and cumulatively waste huge amounts of public money. However, there is evidence of strong performance in some of the most difficult and challenging rural and urban contexts that provide a case for optimism. Drawing upon examples of best practice, we present evidence to inform more effective policy and investments in a recent study entitled ‘Risks and Responsibilities to Universal Drinking Water Security’.1 We examine how effective water service providers respond to financial, operational and institutional risks. First, paying to maintain and accelerate drinking water services is central to success. In Africa, urban water utilities fail to collect over USD1 billion each year and pipes leak over a third of the water which is stored, treated and piped under pressure. Rural water users generally don’t pay for water services, which is significantly associated with low functionality of handpumps.2 Smarter payment systems that provide secure and convenient alternatives are now being tested with positive results across rural and urban Africa. Second, maintaining and monitoring water service operations is an unromantic but critical pathway to building a social contract for user payments and reducing water losses.3 No politically-attractive photo opportunities are associated with the daily grind of delivering services. Global water access targets traditionally focus on ‘technology access’ rather than ‘service delivery’. Hitting ambitious political ‘access’ targets leads to a least-cost economic logic that under-invests in operational performance. People want water to flow not a shiny handpump or tap that sits idly under the sun. Monitoring inevitably costs money and leads to more transparency but uncertain political support as investment decisions become more accountable. Chasing targets is not always compatible with sustaining results. Third, institutions matter; they are the glue that informs and enforces incentives to achieve and maintain universal service delivery. Political interference and corrupt practices in the water sector are well-known but can be tackled. While it might be assumed there would be a wide political constituency for a model that delivers affordable water to more people with lower resource impacts, this is not necessarily the case. Institutional reform is neither quick nor easy and ephemeral stories often trump prosaic progress. Uganda and Singapore substantiate how transformative change requires decadal time-frames. New institutional models have emerged in the rural water sector in India, Kenya and Senegal which effectively but not uniquely use mobile technologies to address operational and financial risks. Cities such as Phnom Penh and Kampala have shifted in a decade from regional laggards to best in class. Piped rural water services in West Africa have improved with more accountable financial and operational systems supported by a mobile-enabled monitoring system. Evidence from Nairobi and Dar es Salaam demonstrate how mobile payments can contribute to more secure and reliable financial flows, though regional uptake suggests caution on simplistic thoughts on scaling-up (see Mobile water payments in urban Africa: Adoption, implications and opportunities). Urban population growth presents unprecedented challenges, nowhere more so than the cities of urban South Asia which will be home to 3.3 billion people by 2050. India’s ’24/7′ model was initially (and honestly) thought by some politicians to be 7 hours of water every 24 days based on familiarity with the erratic nature of existing water services. Historical scepticism and political opposition led to Delhi’s rejection of 24/7 sending it south to Karnataka. A few years later a three city trial has achieved universal piped water coverage, including the income poor, with reliable and affordable services. Civil society groups now welcome 24/7 implementation plans in Delhi reflecting a new bench-mark for water service delivery across India. Remote and fragmented rural settlements often make piped connections an unrealistic option. This is reflected by an increase in piped water coverage from 4% to 5% since 1990 in rural Africa. Point sources dominate particularly handpumps which provide low-cost access to groundwater of generally good quality to some 200 million rural Africans. Handpump functionality is a major problem with rural water users unable to manage operational, financial and institutional risks. Grundfos’ LIFELINK system presents a new model. Groundwater is pumped using solar panels to a raised storage tank supplying a closed water vending system accessed by a pre-paid, user ‘fob’ card. The system addresses all three drinking water risks. First, the system is installed in communities where there is demand to mitigate institutional risk. Second, Grundfos guarantees the system for a decade which lowers operational risk. Third, the pre-paid fob cards use a mobile money platform. This provides a closed-loop payment mechanism that reduces financial risk. Volumetric water consumption is posted on an open-access website, demonstrating a level of transparency unequalled in the rural water sector. Where LIFELINK faces sustainability challenges is in scale and cost. The business model functions well where there is demand of 1000 people or more consuming 25 litres per day. While the system is relatively expensive it guarantees service delivery for 10 years throwing down a gauntlet to the least-cost logic of handpumps which are often abandoned after a year or two. Establishing a ‘sustainability clause’ powered by real-time monitoring systems has implications for water users, donors, politicians and NGOs. It challenges short-term, least-cost and target-driven interventions by closing the information loop between investments and sustained outcomes. Shining light where shade has disguised uneven performance is not welcome by all. Despite the often gloomy outlook voiced by some on the prospects for universal drinking water security, these case studies show there are realistic pathways to achieve and maintain this moral, social and economic imperative, thereby potentially improving the health and wealth of millions of people. References: 1. Hope, R. and M. Rouse (2013), ‘Risks and responses to universal drinking water security’, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A 371(2002). 2. Foster, T. (2013), ‘Predictors of sustainability for community-managed handpumps in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Uganda’, Environmental Science and Technology (Accepted Manuscript – In Press), available online at: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es402086n. 3. Rouse, M. (2013), Institutional Governance and Regulation of Water Services: Second Edition, International Water Association Publishing: London, UK. Rob Hope is Director of the Water Programme at the Smith School for Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University, http://www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/people/robhope.html. He leads the mobile/water for development research group: http://oxwater.co.uk. The full set of 15 papers on ‘Water Security, Risk and Society’ published by the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A can be found at: http://bit.ly/PTA2002. The views expressed in this article belong to the individual authors and do not represent the views of the Global Water Forum, the UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Water Governance, UNESCO, the Australian National University, or any of the institutions to which the authors are associated. Please see the Global Water Forum terms and conditions here.
Templating irreversible covalent macrocyclization by using anions. Inorganic anions were used as templates in the reaction between a diamine and an activated diacid to form macrocyclic amides. The reaction conditions were found to perform the macrocyclization sufficiently slow to observe a template effect. A number of analytical methods were used to clarify the reaction mechanisms and to show that the structure of the intermediate plays a decisive role in determining the product distribution. For the macrocyclization under kinetic control, it was shown that the amount of a template, the conformational rigidity of building blocks, and the anion affinities of reaction components and intermediates are important parameters that one should take into consideration to achieve high yields.
Q: How to keep track inside recursion - Davis' Staircase I am attempting the following problem : https://www.hackerrank.com/challenges/ctci-recursive-staircase/problem?h_l=interview&playlist_slugs%5B%5D=interview-preparation-kit&playlist_slugs%5B%5D=recursion-backtracking Below is my code: def stairs(steps, curr, count): if curr <= steps: for i in [1,2,3]: curr = curr + i if curr == steps: print("Yes") count += 1 stairs(steps,curr,count) curr = curr - i return count print(stairs(3,0,0)) I think I have performed the recursion correctly however the final value returned in count is 1 which should be 4 in this case. I have added a print statement in block where I am updating my count, and its printing it 4 times as expected however the value in count is 1 when the recursion ends. How can I keep track of this count? Or what am I missing here? A: You can fix it as below. Just assign the recursive calls to your count. def stairs(steps, curr, count): if curr <= steps: for i in [1,2,3]: curr = curr + i if curr == steps: count = stairs(steps,curr,count+1) else: count = stairs(steps,curr,count) curr = curr - i return count P.S. your current function will explode on recursive calls on large inputs. You should optimize your approach.
(import cstdio) (import stdlib) (def main (fn extern-c int (void) (cond) (cond 1) (cond (true 1)) (cond (true 1) true) (cond (false) true) (cond (false false false) true) (cond (true 1) (false 0)) 0))
// Copyright (c) 2011 The Chromium Authors. All rights reserved. // Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can be // found in the LICENSE file. // This file contains macros to simplify histogram reporting from the disk // cache. The main issue is that we want to have separate histograms for each // type of cache (regular vs. media, etc), without adding the complexity of // keeping track of a potentially large number of histogram objects that have to // survive the backend object that created them. #ifndef NET_DISK_CACHE_HISTOGRAM_MACROS_H_ #define NET_DISK_CACHE_HISTOGRAM_MACROS_H_ // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- // These histograms follow the definition of UMA_HISTOGRAMN_XXX except that // whenever the name changes (the experiment group changes), the histrogram // object is re-created. // Note: These macros are only run on one thread, so the declarations of // \|counter\| was made static (i.e., there will be no race for reinitialization). #define CACHE_HISTOGRAM_CUSTOM_COUNTS(name, sample, min, max, bucket_count) \ do { \ static base::HistogramBase* counter(NULL); \ if (!counter \|\| name != counter->histogram_name()) \ counter = base::Histogram::FactoryGet( \ name, min, max, bucket_count, \ base::Histogram::kUmaTargetedHistogramFlag); \ counter->Add(sample); \ } while (0) #define CACHE_HISTOGRAM_COUNTS(name, sample) CACHE_HISTOGRAM_CUSTOM_COUNTS( \ name, sample, 1, 1000000, 50) #define CACHE_HISTOGRAM_COUNTS_10000(name, sample) \ CACHE_HISTOGRAM_CUSTOM_COUNTS(name, sample, 1, 10000, 50) #define CACHE_HISTOGRAM_COUNTS_50000(name, sample) \ CACHE_HISTOGRAM_CUSTOM_COUNTS(name, sample, 1, 50000000, 50) #define CACHE_HISTOGRAM_CUSTOM_TIMES(name, sample, min, max, bucket_count) \ do { \ static base::HistogramBase* counter(NULL); \ if (!counter \|\| name != counter->histogram_name()) \ counter = base::Histogram::FactoryTimeGet( \ name, min, max, bucket_count, \ base::Histogram::kUmaTargetedHistogramFlag); \ counter->AddTime(sample); \ } while (0) #define CACHE_HISTOGRAM_TIMES(name, sample) CACHE_HISTOGRAM_CUSTOM_TIMES( \ name, sample, base::TimeDelta::FromMilliseconds(1), \ base::TimeDelta::FromSeconds(10), 50) #define CACHE_HISTOGRAM_ENUMERATION(name, sample, boundary_value) do { \ static base::HistogramBase* counter(NULL); \ if (!counter \|\| name != counter->histogram_name()) \ counter = base::LinearHistogram::FactoryGet( \ name, 1, boundary_value, boundary_value + 1, \ base::Histogram::kUmaTargetedHistogramFlag); \ counter->Add(sample); \ } while (0) #define CACHE_HISTOGRAM_PERCENTAGE(name, under_one_hundred) \ CACHE_HISTOGRAM_ENUMERATION(name, under_one_hundred, 101) // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- // HISTOGRAM_HOURS will collect time related data with a granularity of hours // and normal values of a few months. #define CACHE_HISTOGRAM_HOURS CACHE_HISTOGRAM_COUNTS_10000 // HISTOGRAM_AGE will collect time elapsed since \|initial_time\|, with a // granularity of hours and normal values of a few months. #define CACHE_HISTOGRAM_AGE(name, initial_time) \ CACHE_HISTOGRAM_COUNTS_10000(name, \ (base::Time::Now() - initial_time).InHours()) // HISTOGRAM_AGE_MS will collect time elapsed since \|initial_time\|, with the // normal resolution of the UMA_HISTOGRAM_TIMES. #define CACHE_HISTOGRAM_AGE_MS(name, initial_time)\ CACHE_HISTOGRAM_TIMES(name, base::TimeTicks::Now() - initial_time) #define CACHE_HISTOGRAM_CACHE_ERROR(name, sample) \ CACHE_HISTOGRAM_ENUMERATION(name, sample, 50) // Generates a UMA histogram of the given type, generating the proper name for // it (asking backend_->HistogramName), and adding the provided sample. // For example, to generate a regualar UMA_HISTOGRAM_COUNTS, this macro would // be used as: // CACHE_UMA(COUNTS, "MyName", 0, 20); // CACHE_UMA(COUNTS, "MyExperiment", 530, 55); // which roughly translates to: // UMA_HISTOGRAM_COUNTS("DiskCache.2.MyName", 20); // "2" is the CacheType. // UMA_HISTOGRAM_COUNTS("DiskCache.2.MyExperiment_530", 55); // #define CACHE_UMA(type, name, experiment, sample) {\ const std::string my_name =\ CACHE_UMA_BACKEND_IMPL_OBJ->HistogramName(name, experiment);\ switch (CACHE_UMA_BACKEND_IMPL_OBJ->cache_type()) {\ case net::DISK_CACHE:\ CACHE_HISTOGRAM_##type(my_name.data(), sample);\ break;\ case net::MEDIA_CACHE:\ CACHE_HISTOGRAM_##type(my_name.data(), sample);\ break;\ case net::APP_CACHE:\ CACHE_HISTOGRAM_##type(my_name.data(), sample);\ break;\ case net::SHADER_CACHE:\ CACHE_HISTOGRAM_##type(my_name.data(), sample);\ break;\ case net::PNACL_CACHE:\ CACHE_HISTOGRAM_##type(my_name.data(), sample);\ break;\ default:\ NOTREACHED();\ break;\ }\ } #endif // NET_DISK_CACHE_HISTOGRAM_MACROS_H_
// Copyright 2020 The Defold Foundation // Licensed under the Defold License version 1.0 (the "License"); you may not use // this file except in compliance with the License. // // You may obtain a copy of the License, together with FAQs at // https://www.defold.com/license // // Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed // under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR // CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the // specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License. #include <dlib/math.h> #include <dlib/array.h> #include "../graphics_vulkan_defines.h" #include "../../graphics.h" #include "../graphics_vulkan_private.h" #include <string.h> #include <graphics/glfw/glfw_native.h> #include <vulkan/vulkan_win32.h> namespace dmGraphics { VkResult CreateWindowSurface(VkInstance vkInstance, VkSurfaceKHR* vkSurfaceOut, bool enableHighDPI) { PFN_vkCreateWin32SurfaceKHR vkCreateWin32SurfaceKHR = (PFN_vkCreateWin32SurfaceKHR) vkGetInstanceProcAddr(vkInstance, "vkCreateWin32SurfaceKHR"); if (!vkCreateWin32SurfaceKHR) { return VK_ERROR_EXTENSION_NOT_PRESENT; } VkWin32SurfaceCreateInfoKHR vk_surface_create_info; memset(&vk_surface_create_info, 0, sizeof(vk_surface_create_info)); vk_surface_create_info.sType = VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_WIN32_SURFACE_CREATE_INFO_KHR; vk_surface_create_info.hinstance = GetModuleHandle(NULL); vk_surface_create_info.hwnd = glfwGetWindowsHWND(); return vkCreateWin32SurfaceKHR(vkInstance, &vk_surface_create_info, 0, vkSurfaceOut); } }
Kwan, Cohen, Hughes make Olympics LOS ANGELES -- This one was not for the doubters. It wasn't for the audience or even the judges. Michelle Kwan's sixth national title was all about satisfying someone else. ''I needed to skate like this just for myself,'' Kwan said Saturday night after securing an Olympic berth with her fifth successive U.S. Figure Skating Championships crown. ''Not so much for the people or the critics. I know I believe in myself. Tonight, I felt this was a performance all on its own.'' And a performance featuring two perfect marks for presentation, sending a warning to her chief rivals from Russia: The chase for the Olympic gold next month will come through her. Joining Kwan, the 1998 Olympic silver medalist, on one of America's strongest women's squads are Sasha Cohen and Sarah Hughes. The teen-agers edged Angela Nikodinov to earn their first Olympic berths. ''I am so excited, I can't really believe it,'' said Cohen, 17, who sat out last season with a stress fracture in her back. ''I am proud to be an Olympian, it is really amazing,'' added Hughes, 16, who finished third. ''I didn't even want to think about it. It's too much to fathom.'' Not for Kwan, the most dominant American woman in decades. No one blocks out distractions and bad vibes better than Kwan, whose season has been marked by inconsistent performances and a split with longtime coach Frank Carroll. But when the pressure is on at nationals, Kwan has become unbeatable. ''You work for so long and you hope to skate with freedom,'' she said. ''Even though you're 100 percent ready and prepared, you just don't know what to expect. ''I just felt I skated with freedom and the crowd was amazing. I haven't felt like that in a while. Just a good thing.'' Kwan's sixth U.S. title tied her for second place on the career list with Theresa Weld Blanchard, who skated in the 1920s, and Gretchen Merrill, whose last crown was in 1948. Only Maribel Vinson, with nine, has more. Kwan, 21, also is the first woman with five consecutive American championships since Janet Lynn (1969-73). Nothing Kwan had done this season indicated she would soar once more at nationals. She won Skate America, her first competition without Carroll, but hardly was spectacular. Then she was third at Skate Canada, the first time she was not in the top two at an event since 1996. Russia's Irina Slutskaya, who has made a habit of beating Kwan everywhere but at the world championships -- Kwan owns four of those -- won the Grand Prix final over Kwan. So the Los Angeles native came to nationals with much to prove. As she always seems to do, she established her brilliant credentials once more, and the two perfect marks gave her 27 in 10 years at nationals. Although her spins weren't of the usual crispness, her jumps were right on -- she hit six -- and her footwork was lively as she picked up speed heading to the finish. At the conclusion, with the crowd in a frenzy, Kwan visibly showed the relief of coming through in the clutch yet again. ''I had this energy for the last month ... and it was ready to burst,'' Kwan said. ''Today, I let it all happen.'' The other contenders followed Kwan to the ice. First, Nikodinov, the feel-good story of the event, started strongly, then dropped out of the running with a slew of mistakes. Perhaps dealing with the sudden death of her coach in November finally caught up with Nikodinov, who began working with Carroll a month ago. ''There's been so much change in the last couple of weeks, it was hard to prepare myself,'' she said. ''I would have liked more time to get used to Frank.'' Cohen, 17, was next. Her superb short program lifted her into the Olympic race, and she secured her spot in Salt Lake City with six clean triples, two in combination. Although she showed some theatrics with her icy death at the end of her routine to ''Carmen,'' there wasn't much else in between the jumps. Last up was Hughes, 16, recently Kwan's main challenger in the United States. An early mistake, when she did a triple salchow-single loop instead of a triple-triple combination, didn't hurt her too much, particularly when she did seven triple jumps overall. Her program, to piano music by Ravel and Rachmaninoff, was much prettier but slower than Cohen's, and Hughes' jumps had less flow. That made the difference in second and third, but Hughes, too, was headed to Salt Lake City. ''It's amazing,'' she said. ''It has always been a dream of mine to make the Olympics.''

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