text
stringlengths 1
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|---|---|
Intelligibility of average talkers in typical listening environments.
Intelligibility of conversationally produced speech for normal hearing listeners was studied for three male and three female talkers. Four typical listening environments were used. These simulated a quiet living room, a classroom, and social events in two settings with different reverberation characteristics. For each talker, overall intelligibility and intelligibility for vowels, consonant voicing, consonant continuance, and consonant place were quantified using the speech pattern contrast (SPAC) test. Results indicated that significant intelligibility differences are observed among normal talkers even in listening environments that permit essentially full intelligibility for everyday conversations. On the whole, talkers maintained their relative intelligibility across the four environments, although there was one exception which suggested that some voices may be particularly susceptible to degradation due to reverberation. Consonant place was the most poorly perceived feature, followed by continuance, voicing, and vowel intelligibility. However, there were numerous significant interactions between talkers and speech features, indicating that a talker of average overall intelligibility may produce certain speech features with intelligibility that is considerably higher or lower than average. Neither long-term rms speech spectrum nor articulation rate was found to be an adequate single criterion for selecting a talker of average intelligibility. Ultimately, an average talker was chosen on the basis of four speech contrasts: initial consonant place, and final consonant place, voicing, and continuance.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
Q:
cross subdomain login with cookies
I have some sites in subdomains which are made in wordpress and some are made in codeigniter framework. System is already made and they have their own database. I have to created a common login system for all subdomains.
Do anyone have any idea how to do it?
A:
You can save login information into cookies and share it between subdomains.
See Cookies and subdomains:
Cookies and subdomains
|
{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
|
New HOWTO: Remote Serial Console HOWTO
Setting up a Linux serial console
Remote Serial Console HOWTO
Mark F. Komarinski
mkomarinski@valinux.com
Revision History
Revision 0.1 2001-03-20 Revised by: mfk
First revision
Most UNIX-based systems have the concept of a serial console. Linux is no
exception to this, and this document covers how to set up your hardware to
use a serial console.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1. Copyright Information
1.2. Disclaimer
1.3. Credits
1.4. Feedback
2. Why use Serial Consoles?
3. Configuring Linux for Serial Consoles
3.1. Configuring LILO and the Linux Kernel
3.2. Configuring getty for use with serial ports
4. Serial Port Applications
4.1. Minicom
5. Cabling serial ports together
1. Introduction
1.1. Copyright Information
This document is copyrighted (c) 2001 Mark F. Komarinski and is distributed
under the terms of the Linux Documentation Project (LDP) license, stated
below.
Unless otherwise stated, Linux HOWTO documents are copyrighted by their
respective authors. Linux HOWTO documents may be reproduced and distributed
in whole or in part, in any medium physical or electronic, as long as this
copyright notice is retained on all copies. Commercial redistribution is
allowed and encouraged; however, the author would like to be notified of any
such distributions.
All translations, derivative works, or aggregate works incorporating any
Linux HOWTO documents must be covered under this copyright notice. That is,
you may not produce a derivative work from a HOWTO and impose additional
restrictions on its distribution. Exceptions to these rules may be granted
under certain conditions; please contact the Linux HOWTO coordinator at the
address given below.
In short, we wish to promote dissemination of this information through as
many channels as possible. However, we do wish to retain copyright on the
HOWTO documents, and would like to be notified of any plans to redistribute
the HOWTOs.
If you have any questions, please contact
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.2. Disclaimer
No liability for the contents of this documents can be accepted. Use the
concepts, examples and other content at your own risk. As this is a new
edition of this document, there may be errors and inaccuracies, that may of
course be damaging to your system. Proceed with caution, and although this is
highly unlikely, the author(s) do not take any responsibility for that.
All copyrights are held by their by their respective owners, unless
specifically noted otherwise. Use of a term in this document should not be
regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or service mark.
Naming of particular products or brands should not be seen as endorsements.
You are strongly recommended to take a backup of your system before major
installation and backups at regular intervals.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.3. Credits
This HOWTO is based on /usr/src/linux/Documentation/serial-consold.txt,
written by Miquel van Smoorenburg (). Many thanks to
Miquel for the information in his document.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.4. Feedback
Feedback is most certainly welcome for this document. Without your
submissions and input, this document wouldn't exist. Please send your
additions, comments and criticisms to the following email address : <
mkomarinski AT valinux.com>.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Why use Serial Consoles?
Serial consoles do not appear to have much going for them. They are slow,
require special null-modem cables, and do not provide a graphical interface.
But what is going for them is considerable. Serial cables are standard
equipment and can run over RJ-45 cables, can run up to 200 ft (about 100m) at
9600bps. Serial concentrators can run the consoles of over 32 ports into a
central box, so all the consoles in a cluster can be accessed from a single
location.
You will not require a crash cart, KVM switch, or keyboard, montior, or
mouse. Because of the serial concentrator, you can access the console of a
machine in a colocation cage from your desktop.
The real limiting factor so far has been that even though you can access the
Linux console via a serial port, most x86 hardware was not set to send its
POST and BIOS information to the serial port. More and more "server"
motherboards are starting to include full serial support in the BIOS, so you
can access the BIOS and make boot changes via the serial port.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Configuring Linux for Serial Consoles
There is two parts to getting a serial console set up under Linux. First, you
must tell Linux to redirect its console output to the serial port. Second,
you must set up mgetty to start a login process on the serial port once the
kernel has completed booting. Some distributions use mingetty for the video
console, but mingetty has no serial port support. You will instead want to
use mgetty. A third (optional) configuration is to set the hardware BIOS to
redirect its POST and BIOS information to the serial port. Check your
motherboard documentation for more information about this.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.1. Configuring LILO and the Linux Kernel
If you're using LILO as your bootloader, you can quickly test using serial
console from Linux by entering:
LILO: Linux console=ttyS0,9600n8
Assuming the LILO tag for your Linux kernel is called "Linux". Change this
for the name of your kernel. The generic format for the console option is
console=device,options. You can give multiple console statements, and kernel
messages will go to all listed devices, but the last one listed will be used
as /dev/console.
+-------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|device |The device entry to use as the console without /dev/. You can use |
| |tty0 to get normal behavior, ttyx to put the console on another |
| |virtual console, or ttySx to put the console on a serial port. |
+-------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
|options|This is mostly used for passing options to the serial port. The |
| |format for this is BPN, where B is speed in bps (so use 9600, |
| |19200, 38400, etc.). The P is parity and is one of three letters: n|
| |for no parity, e for even parity, and o for odd parity. The N is |
| |the number of data bits, and is usually either 7 or 8. The default |
| |is 9600n8. Most users will want to use the default, or increase the|
| |speed to 19200 bps. |
+-------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
You should see the Linux kernel start through the decompression process then
you will see no more on-screen information until the kernel has completed and
mgetty starts up a login prompt on the screen. If you are monitoring the
serial port, you'll see the Linux bootup information coming over the serial
port. However, you probably will not see a login prompt on the serial port
(yet). We'll cover that in Section 3.2.
Once you are sure this is working, you can now edit LILO to pass this
information to the kernel each time it boots. You can also configure LILO to
send its prompt to the serial port. Fire up your favorite editor of choice
and load up the /etc/lilo.conf file. You will want to add two lines, one to
the general configuration and one to the specific kernels you want to use.
serial=0,9600n8
append="console=tty0 console=ttyS0,9600n8"
The append statement contains the statement we listed above, and tells Linux
to send its output to the serial port. The serial command goes to LILO, and
tells it to open port 0 (ttyS0, or COM1). The options for serial are the same
as to the console statement.
Note: Make sure the serial port settings for serial and console are the
same. If they are different, you will need to change your serial port
application between LILO and the kernel, which becomes very inconvenient.
Re-run /sbin/lilo and reboot. You should now see everything except the login
prompt on the serial port. Information should still be going to the monitor,
just in case you have problems with the serial port.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.2. Configuring getty for use with serial ports
Some distributions may ship with mingetty that does not support serial ports.
The first thing you have to do is make sure the version of getty you are
using supports serial ports. Both agetty and mgetty do this. So run off now
using your favorite packaging system to make sure this is the case. Don't
worry, this document will still be here when you get back.
Back so soon? Great! Let's get that serial port configured.
You will want to make sure that all your serial port settings are consistent.
No sense in making getty run at 9600bps, while LILO and the kernel are
talking 19200.
To get login prompts to appear on the serial port, edit the /etc/inittab file
and add a line similar to the following:
s0:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty ttyS0 DT9600
The format for entries in inittab are covered in most basic Linux and UNIX
books, but to repeat, each field is separated by a colon (:) and represent:
* s0 - Arbitrary entry for inittab. As long as this entry doesn't appear
anywhere else in inittab, you're okay. We named this entry s0 because
it's for ttyS0.
* 2345 - run levels where this entry gets called. If we switch to runlevel
1, this getty process will be shut down.
* respawn - re-run the program if it dies. We want this to happen so that a
new login prompt will appear when you log out of the console.
* /sbin/getty ttyS0 DT9600 - the command to run. In this case, we're
telling getty to connect to /dev/ttyS0 using the settings for DT9600
which exist in /etc/gettydefs. This entry represents a dumb terminal
running at 9600bps. There are other entries that run at different speeds.
The entries in /etc/inittab will be loaded into init when root sends a HUP
signal.
# kill -HUP 1
Note: Remember that init always has a PID of 1.
Now that getty is set up, you will be able to go from powerup to login prompt
all over the serial port
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Serial Port Applications
This section covers applications and some configuration information that you
can use to look at your serial console, now that your Linux boxes are talking
to the serial port.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
4.1. Minicom
Minicom is one of the easier serial port applications to use. It is curses
based, so it's a full screen application with a status bar, menus, and an
easy-to-use interface. It is installed on most distributions, and initially
has to be run as the root user. In some cases, minicom will be installed suid
root, so anyone will be able to access the configurations. Check the
documentation for your particular distribution to see how it's configured.
Security of minicom is set by the /etc/minicom.users file. Usernames can that
are listed along with a configuration can use the listed configurations. This
allows only authorized users to connect to the serial ports.
Minicom creates individual configurations to separate files. Configure the
serial port as needed, then save the configuration. Files are kept in /etc
with a prefix of minirc.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Cabling serial ports together
Since you will be connecting two DTEs together, you will need to have a null
modem run between the two devices. A null modem crosses transmit and receive,
and ties a few status lines together so the application can open the port.
This null modem can be a dongle that connects to the cable, or can be built
into the cable. A dongle will get expensive if you have a large number of
cables, so it is usually easier to get cables with the null modem built in.
Most PC hardware these days use DB-9 connectors, giving 9 pins for
transmitting data and status, which is fine for us. Pre-built DB-9 cables can
be had for a few dollars for a few feet of cable. More flexible is building a
DB-9 to RJ-45 connector and building the null modem into that. The RJ-45
connector then accepts regular 10BaseT cables that can be custom-built, or
with varying legths. This gives a lot of flexibiliy in arranging cables,
since each cable can be the correct length to run between machines. Little
extra cable is left lying around.
DB-9 to RJ-45 connectors can be purchased unassembled since there are no real
standards for making this conversion. So long as Tx and Rx cross and CTS RTS
cross, you have a null modem connection. The cabling I have here comes from
my own design, and works just fine. Note that there have to be two different
DB-9 to RJ-45 connectors because of the way pins are switched. I labeled them
as "1" and "2". They can be placed on either end of the cable.
Table 1. DB9 to RJ-25 connector
+-----------+-----------+
|Connector 1|Connector 2|
+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|DB-9 |RJ-45|DB-9 |RJ-45|
+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|1 |5 |1 |5 |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|2 |6 |2 |4 |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|3 |4 |3 |6 |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|4 |7 |4 |7 |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|5 |3 |5 |3 |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|6 |2 |6 |2 |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|7 |1 |7 |8 |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|8 |8 |8 |1 |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|9 |n/c |9 |n/c |
+-----+-----+-----+-----+
Most Popular LinuxPlanet Stories
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|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
Q:
Error: (using List class) Index was outside the bounds of array
I'm working on a project and I'm a beginner in programming in c#, and somehow there is a problem that I cannot solve. How it happened: In executing the code, the application launches successfully but an exception
shows that the "Index was outside the bounds of array". Afterwards, I was able to click items on a listbox and it shows the second object on the textbox. So... It seems like it works(clicking on listbox's item) but I cannot figure out why it would throw an exception about the array. Beneath is the current code that I have.
**Update:I sincerely apologize. I uploaded the wrong code. It is suppose to be this code:
Code:
struct studentInfo
{
public string studentID;
public string major;
}
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
private List<studentInfo> studentList = new List<studentInfo>();
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void ReadInputFile()
{
try
{
StreamReader inputFile;
string line = "";
studentInfo student = new studentInfo();
char[] delimiter = { ',' };
inputFile = File.OpenText("Student Info.txt");
while (!inputFile.EndOfStream)
{
line = inputFile.ReadLine();
string[] token = line.Split(delimiter);
student.studentID = token[0];
student.major = token[1];
studentList.Add(student);
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
}
}
private void DisplaystudentID()
{
foreach (studentInfo student in studentList)
{
studentInfoListBox.Items.Add(student.studentID);
}
}
private void DisplayNames()
{
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
ReadInputFile();
DisplaystudentID();
}
private void studentInfoListBox_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
int index = studentInfoListBox.SelectedIndex;
majorTextBox.Text = studentList[index].major;
}
private void button3_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Application.Exit();
}
}
A:
My guess would be that SelectedIndexChanged is ran at the start (before you select anything) and at that point nameListBox.SelectedIndex would be -1 and you can't get the "negative 1 position's item" in a list. I would make sure that the selected index is valid
https://msdn.microsoft.com/fr-fr/library/system.windows.forms.listbox.selectedindex(v=vs.110).aspx
"A zero-based index of the currently selected item.A value of negative one (-1) is returned if no item is selected."
I would change the code as such:
private void nameListBox_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
int index = nameListBox.SelectedIndex;
if(index !=-1)
{
phoneLabel.Text = phoneList[index].phone;
}
// else do nothing, the selected item didn't really change, it's just called for the first time, think of it as the control saying "hey i just got created and i'm notifying you that the selected item is now nothing"
}
A:
You have to guard SelectedIndex, when controls are initially created SelectedIndex is set to -1
private void nameListBox_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if(nameListBox.SelectedIndex >=0)
{
int index = nameListBox.SelectedIndex;
phoneLabel.Text = phoneList[index].phone;
}
}
|
{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
|
The Oxford Handbook of The History of Analytic Philosophy
Why Rent from Knetbooks?
Because Knetbooks knows college students. Our rental program is designed to save you time and money. Whether you need a textbook for a semester, quarter or even a summer session, we have an option for you. Simply select a rental period, enter your information and your book will be on its way!
Michael Beaney is Professor of Philosophy at the University of York. He works on the history of analytic philosophy and on conceptions of analysis in the history of philosophy. He is the author of Frege: Making Sense (Duckworth, 1996), and editor of The Frege Reader (Blackwell, 1997), Gottlob Frege:Critical Assessments of Leading Philosophers (with Erich Reck; 4 vols., Routledge, 2005), and The Analytic Turn (Routledge, 2007). He is Editor of the British Journal for the History of Philosophy.
Introduction: Analytic Philosophy and its Historiography1. What is analytic philosophy?, Michael Beaney2. The historiography of analytic philosophy, Michael Beaney3. Chronology of analytic philosophy and its historiography, Michael Beaney4. Bibliography of analytic philosophy and its historiography, Michael BeaneyPart One: The Origins of Analytic Philosophy 5. Bolzano's anti-Kantianism: from a priori cognitions to conceptual truths, Mark Textor6. Time, norms, and structure in nineteenth-century German philosophy of science, David Hyder7. Frege and the German background to analytic philosophy, Gottfried Gabriel8. Analytic philosophy, the Analytic school, and British philosophy, John Skorupski9. The mathematical and logical background to analytic philosophy, Jamie Tappenden10. Gottlob Frege: some forms of influence, Tyler Burge11. Russell and Moore's revolt against British idealism, Nicholas Griffin12. Russell's theory of descriptions and the idea of logical construction, Bernard Linsky13. G. E. Moore and the Cambridge School of Analysis, Thomas Baldwin14. The whole meaning of a book of nonsense: reading Wittgenstein's Tractatus, Michael KremerPart Two: The Development of Analytic Philosophy 15. Oxford realism, Charles Travis and Mark Kalderon16. Early logical empiricism and its reception: the case of the Vienna Circle, Thomas Uebel17. Developments in logic: Carnap, Godel and Tarski, Erich H. Reck18. Wittgenstein's later philosophy, Hans-Johann Glock19. Quine, Kripke, and Putnam, Maria Baghramian and Andrew Jorgensen20. The myth of logical behaviourism and the origins of the identity theory, Sean Crawford21. The development of theories of meaning: from Frege to McDowell and beyond, Alex Miller22. Reason, action and the will: the fall and rise of causalism, Stewart Candlish and Nic Damnjanovic23. Metaphysics in analytic philosophy, Peter Simons24. Meta-ethics in the twentieth century, Jonathan Dancy25. Normative ethical theory in the twentieth century, Julia Driver26. Analytic aesthetics, Peter Lamarque27. Analytic political philosophy, Jonathan WolffPart Three: Themes in the History of Analytic Philosophy 28. The function is unsaturated, Richard G. Heck, Jr., and Robert May29. When logical atomism met the Theaetetus: Ryle on Naming and Saying, Richard Gaskin30. Reading the Tractatus with G. E. M. Anscombe, Cora Diamond31. Ideas of a logically perfect language in analytic philosophy, Peter Hylton32. The linguistic turn in analytic philosophy, P. M. S. Hacker33. Perception and sense data, Gary Hatfield34. Scepticism and knowledge: Moore's proof of an external world, Annalisa Coliva35. The varieties of rigorous experience, Juliet Floyd36. Modality, Sanford Shieh37. Inferentialism and normativity, Jaroslav Peregrin38. Pragmatism and analytic philosophy, Cheryl Misak39. The role of phenomenology in analytic philosophy, David Woodruff Smith
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
A federal judge in Hawaii extended his previous order blocking President Trump Donald John TrumpObama calls on Senate not to fill Ginsburg's vacancy until after election Planned Parenthood: 'The fate of our rights' depends on Ginsburg replacement Progressive group to spend M in ad campaign on Supreme Court vacancy MORE's travel ban until the state's lawsuit over the executive action is resolved.
U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson, a President Obama appointee, ruled earlier this month that the state of Hawaii and a Muslim leader showed a "strong" likelihood to succeed in their lawsuit against the ban. They argue that the policy violates the Establishment Clause and proved that "irreparable harm" is likely if temporary relief is not granted, leading Watson to grant them a temporary restraining order that put the ban on ice.
On Wednesday, he extended that temporary restraining order, issuing a longer-lasting preliminary injunction, which will continue to prevent the implementation of Trump's order.
Watson issued the written ruling after hearing arguments Wednesday.
ADVERTISEMENT
Trump's order seeks to temporarily halt the refugee resettlement program and block nationals from six predominately Muslim countries from entering the U.S. for 90 days. The policy, which Trump argues is necessary to protect national security, was set to go into effect on March 16.
The government had argued that an injunction should only apply to the visa component of the ban and claimed the refugee aspect does not effect Hawaii. Watson rejected that argument.
Trump has said he is ready to challenge the ruling all the way to the Supreme Court.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
}
|
Q:
Get custom post archived by meta field value in wordpress
I am using cpt-archive plugin to generate archive by month in my wordpress post. Here the plugin using this code,
$query = "SELECT YEAR( post_date ) AS `year`,
MONTH(post_date) AS `month`,
count(ID) as posts
FROM $wpdb->posts $join $where
GROUP BY YEAR(post_date),
MONTH(post_date)
ORDER BY post_date DESC $limit";
$arcresults = $wpdb->get_results($query);
Here it's working fine with post_date. I need to customize this to get archived by meta fields. I have two meta keys such as _event_start_date and _event_end_date.
edit
now i am getting all the custom post type months based on the _event_end _date with the following query
$months = $wpdb->get_results("SELECT DISTINCT YEAR(meta_value) AS year, MONTH(meta_value) AS month FROM $wpdb->postmeta WHERE meta_key = '_event_end_date' WHERE meta_value <= now( )ORDER BY meta_value ASC");
but i want only past months only. how to do change this query for getting only archived months.
A:
Why don't you use wp_get_archives?
Something like this
<?php wp_get_archives( array( 'type' => 'monthly', 'meta_value' => array('_event_start_date', '_event_end_date') ) ); ?>
|
{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
|
Four men found living in "deplorable conditions" in a Houston garage on Friday told police that they were being held captive after being lured by promises of food and cigarettes so that their captor could cash their public-assistance cheques, authorities said.
Three of the men were malnourished and taken to a hospital after being discovered by officers responding to a 911 call about the home, Houston police spokeswoman Jodi Silva said. Sgt. Steven Murdock described the living conditions as like a "dungeon."
Investigators were still trying to determine how long the men lived there, but they said it may have been weeks
Men 'kept against their will'
Silva said the men told investigators they were forced to live in the garage — which included just one chair, no bed and a possibly malfunctioning air conditioner — so their captor could cash their assistance cheques. She said the men were "given scraps to eat."
"They clearly stated to us they were being kept against their will," Silva said.
Silva said one person has been detained but no charges have been filed. He apparently did not live in the house, she said. Four women were also found living in the house, three of whom appeared to have mental disabilities, Silva said. She described the other woman as a caretaker. Unlike the garage, she described the living conditions inside the home as more normal.
A neighbour called authorities Friday morning expressing concern about men in the house in North Houston. Murdock, the police sergeant, said at least one of the men is a military veteran. He described them as malnourished and "almost invalids," saying they lived in "deplorable conditions."
Alberta Ewing, whose brother lives next door, said the men looked "very weak" and were hauled out on stretchers by paramedics. She said one of the men had approached her asking for help just weeks earlier during a Fourth of July gathering, but that she didn't take him seriously because he wasn't crying and she couldn't get him to explain further.
"He said, `Could you help me?"' Ewing recalled. "I said, `What's the problem?"
Neighbours said they occasionally saw the men sitting outside. Virginia Rogers, who lives five houses away, said she greeted them with a wave when she drove by.
"I'm shocked," Rogers said. "I'm baffled. I didn't have a clue."
The men were found in a working-class, residential neighbourhood of one-storey, brick homes. Harris County property records show the home was built in 1969 and is about 1,400 square feet.
Police were going in and out of the house's bright purple door and black gate Friday afternoon, removing evidence as neighbors stood outside watching.
A portion of the block was cordoned off with police tape.
CBC had earlier reported that eight people were held captive in the home, based on reports by the local CNN affiliate.
Comes 2 months after Cleveland case of captives
The Houston report comes two months after three women were released from a home in Cleveland after being held for a decade.
Earlier this month, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight took to YouTube to thank the public for the encouragement and financial support that have helped them restart their lives since they were released in May.
The women had gone missing separately between 2002 and 2004, when they were 14, 16, and 20 years old, respectively.
Ariel Castro, a 52-year-old former bus driver, has pleaded not guilty to a 329-count indictment alleging he kidnapped the three off the streets and held them captive in his two-storey home. Castro is said to have fathered the six-year-old daughter with Berry.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
}
|
The iCare tonometer is an excellent tool for monitoring IOP (eye pressure) at home, however it requires careful instruction and supervision...+ more info
MIgraine and glaucoma
Written by Administrator
Monday, 21 September 2015 20:28
Migraine and glaucoma can sometimes be associated. Typically, most people who have experienced migraine are at a low risk of developing glaucoma. However, patients with normal pressure glaucoma, for example, quite commonly have a history of migraine. It is believed that in those cases that it is not just the eye pressure that can be associated with some of the changes in visual fields, but also somehow the circulation in the optic nerve can affect the onset and progression of glaucoma.
Migraine has many trigger factors, but can particularly be triggered by red wine, and specific stronger rich cheeses.
Image of some visual symptoms experienced by someone experiencing a migraine.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
United States Ambassador to the Republic of the Congo
This is a list of Ambassadors of the United States to the Republic of the Congo.
From 1885 until 1960, the republic had been under the control of France as a protectorate. In 1908, France organized French Equatorial Africa (AEF), comprising its colonies of Middle Congo (modern Congo), Gabon, Chad, and Oubangui-Chari (now Central African Republic). Brazzaville was selected as the federal capital.
In 1958 Middle Congo became an autonomous colony and was renamed Republic of the Congo. The republic was granted full independence on August 15, 1960. As the Belgian Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) also chose the name Republic of Congo upon receiving its independence, the two countries were more commonly known as Congo-Leopoldville and Congo-Brazzaville, after their capital cities.
The United States immediately recognized the new Republic of the Congo and moved to establish diplomatic relations. The embassy in Brazzaville was established August 15, 1960, with Alan W. Lukens as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim. The first ambassador, W. Wendell Blancke was appointed on November 9, 1960.
Ambassadors
W. Wendell Blancke – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: November 9, 1960
Presented credentials: December 23, 1960
Terminated mission: Left post, December 14, 1963
Henry L. T. Koren – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: April 8, 1964
Presented credentials: May 13, 1964
Terminated mission: Left post, August 4, 1965
Note: Due to civil strife and insecure conditions, the U.S. Embassy in Brazzaville was closed and all diplomatic personnel were withdrawn from the country on August 15, 1965. The embassy was reestablished on October 30, 1977, with Jay Katzen as chargé d'affaires ad interim. A new ambassador was appointed on April 26, 1979.
William L. Swing – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: April 26, 1979
Presented credentials: May 11, 1979
Terminated mission: Left post, May 30, 1981
Kenneth Lee Brown – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: December 11, 1981
Presented credentials: February 13, 1982
Terminated mission: Left post, June 10, 1984
Alan Wood Lukens – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: August 13, 1984
Presented credentials: September 22, 1984
Terminated mission: Left post, May 6, 1987
Leonard Grant Shurtleff – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: August 10, 1987
Presented credentials: September 26, 1987
Terminated mission: Left post, July 5, 1990
James Daniel Phillips – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: June 27, 1990
Presented credentials: August 23, 1990
Terminated mission: Left post, September 10, 1993
William Christie Ramsay – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: July 16, 1993
Presented credentials: September 23, 1993
Terminated mission: Left post, April 13, 1996
Aubrey Hooks – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: June 6, 1996
Presented credentials: July 11, 1996
Terminated mission: Left post January 9, 1999
David H. Kaeuper – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: November 16, 1999
Presented credentials: December 27, 1999
Terminated mission: Left post September 5, 2002
Robin Renee Sanders – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: November 15, 2002
Presented credentials: February 13, 2003
Terminated mission: July 16, 2005
Robert Weisberg – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: March 21, 2006
Presented credentials: Unknown
Terminated mission: March 2, 2008
Alan W. Eastham – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: August 22, 2008
Presented credentials: Unknown
Terminated mission: Prior to September 2010
Christopher W. Murray – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: August 23, 2010
Presented credentials: September 16, 2010
Terminated mission: August 14, 2013
Stephanie S. Sullivan – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: August 12, 2013
Presented credentials: November 26, 2013
Terminated mission: January 20, 2017
Todd Philip Haskell – Career FSO
Title: Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Appointed: May 18, 2017
Presented credentials: June 26, 2017
Terminated mission: Incumbent
Notes
See also
Republic of the Congo – United States relations
Foreign relations of the Republic of the Congo
Ambassadors of the United States
References
United States Department of State: Background notes on the Republic of Congo
External links
United States Department of State: Chiefs of Mission for the Republic of Congo
United States Department of State: Republic of the Congo
United States Embassy in Brazzaville
Congo, Republic of the
*Main
Category:Republic of the Congo-related lists
Category:Republic of the Congo–United States relations
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Greek Runestones
#REDIRECT Greece runestones
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In recent years, there has been known a technique which makes it possible to mutually share not only a video of a counterparty, but also a desktop screen of a terminal or a screen of an application in a remote communications system such as a teleconferencing system, a web conferencing system, etc., which use a network.
Moreover, when a part of an image is specified in a server which shares a screen, an image whose position/size is the same as that of the specified part is displayed on a screen of a client terminal (Patent document 1).
On the other hand, with respect to a terminal which uses the remote communications system, diversification is in progress, such as a PC which is reduced in size and weight (for example, a Netbook), a tablet terminal, a smartphone, etc.
In the web conferencing system, which is one of the remote communications systems, it is a common usage form that, while sharing a screen of presentation material, a presenter makes an explanation along the material to conference participants.
In the web conferencing, from a display capability of a screen sharing server which shares a screen with other client terminals, that of a client terminal in which a shared screen is displayed may differ. Therefore, when an image size of original image data which is shared from the server side exceeds the number of pixels displayable on the client terminal side, for example, in a screen of the client terminal, a part of an image is chipped off, so that it cannot be displayed. Moreover, when the screen of the client terminal is small, for example, a letter displayed on the screen becomes too small, so that it is difficult to see contents of shared material.
In Patent document 1, with an operation of a user of a server (a presenter), a screen whose position and size is the same as a screen on which the part of the image specified on the server side is displayed on the client side.
However, it is common for the web conferencing to be conducted remotely, so that it is not realistic for the presenter to check display capabilities of screens of multiple client terminals and perform screen displaying for each terminal in accordance with a display capability of a screen on the counterparty side, causing material to be shared difficult to see depending on the display capability of the screen on the counterparty side.
Patent document 1: JP2006-172193A
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Netanyahu to visiting congressmen: Stopping Iran is not a Democrat or Republican issue
Preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb is not a Republican or Democratic issue, but rather an Israeli, American and global issue, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told two visiting Republican congressman on Tuesday.
“We believe that the current proposal before Iran, handed over by the P5+1, is very dangerous to Israel and dangerous to the region and the peace of the world,” he told North Carolina Congressman Robert Pittenger and Florida’s Dennis A. Ross.
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Introduction to the Arabic Course
We are very pleased to undertake writing the contents of a Course dealing with the
"Language of the Angels" namely the Arabic Language. We hope we can have the way to
solve the puzzle and to unlock the knots of this dulcet and eloquent tongue to pave the
way towards mastering its secrets.
This Course serves to familiarize Non-Native Speakers with such inspiring Language - the
Language of the Holy Quran - the Holy Book of Islam. Not from the same route tracked by
the Natives; yet from a route that takes the reader by hand to a trip amidst a Course that
covers most needed steps to master the Arabic Language as an Elementary/ Intermediate
Reader/ Learner. In other words, it addresses a fresh Arabic learner who is willing
ambitiously to start either learning or writing Arabic, a traveler who is planning to visit or
work in this bewitching region, or a teacher/ professor who wants to refresh his
knowledge about it to avoid this ambiguity of facing the lesser-known with the obscure.
We are - hopefully - trying to help the foreign Reader/ Learner in understanding fully and
objectively this not-easy-to-be-learnt Language to know its finer points and wonderful
potentials as we progress.
This Course utilizes the English Language not to make a parallel with the English Grammar
but to construct a bridge that connects the bricks of explaining the real Arabic Language
with its functions and structures. It addresses not only the previously mentioned but also
the Arabs themselves to water their Arabic garden with research-work and discussions in a
way that serves the universality of such Language.
Briefly, our Reader/ Learner can depend fully on it and ripe its fruits rapidly. Just be
patient to use the - expectantly - clear, simple and to the point productive know-how
steps to totally grip the lucidity and clarity of the Arabic Language whoever you are, and
whenever you decide.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for the determination of the degree of deterioration of oils or fats used for frying foods.
2. Description of Related Art
For determining the degree of deterioration of oils and fats for frying foods, it is known to measure the dielectric constants of the heated oils or fats or, after addition of reagents, the color change thereof in the course of time.
The measured values to be determined by these methods have frequently proven to be unreliable, usually require a comparison oil or a comparison fat, and are complex in terms of apparatus used and amount of time-consumed.
The German journal "Deutsche Lebensmittel-Rundschau", volume 69, part 12, 1973, pages 461 to 466 discloses a method for determining the degree of deterioration of oils and fats for frying, in which the content of oxidized fats is used as a criterion.
The German journal "Deutsche Lebensmittel-Rundschau", volume 70, part 2, 1974, pages 57 to 65 and EP 0,501,682 A2 disclose determining the keeping quality or stability to oxidation of oils or fats by means of conductometric measurement cells.
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Generation of “white light” is currently achieved by so called “white light emitting diodes (white LEDs)” that are constituted by employing a near-ultraviolet (UV) or blue emitting LED in conjunction with an inorganic phosphor or a blend of inorganic phosphors. Red-emitting phosphors based on complex fluoride materials activated by Mn4+, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,358,542, 7,497,973, and 7,648,649, absorb blue light strongly, and efficiently emit between about 610 nanometers and 635 nanometers with little deep red/NIR emission. Thus, the luminous efficacy and the quantum efficiency of white LEDs maximizes under blue excitation (440 nanometers-460 nanometers) as compared to other available red phosphors.
These complex fluorides can be utilized in combination with yellow-green emitting phosphors such as cerium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet Y3Al5O12:Ce3+ (YAG) or other garnet compositions to achieve warm white light (CCTs<5000 K on the blackbody locus, color rendering index (CRI)>80) from a blue LED, equivalent to that produced by current fluorescent, incandescent and halogen lamps. The benefits from using these complex fluoride phosphors are evident in LEDs used in LCD backlighting, where the complex fluoride phosphor is combined with an inorganic green phosphor. The emission position and full-width at half maximum (FWHM) of these complex fluoride phosphors enable a combination of high color gamut with high brightness. However, further improvements in color gamut and brightness are desirable.
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Our Retreats
“I have been able to find a stronger center in myself to which I can return so that I am not shaken by the daily ups and downs of congregational life.”
— Rabbi Rona Shapiro
Preparing for Retreat
Suggested Packing List
Retreat Clothing
Pack loose, comfortable, casual clothing (easy for sitting meditation and yoga). You may wish to bring extra clothing, enough to allow for a mid-day change of clothing on most days – after daily yoga, which can be a little shvitzy (sweaty), many people choose to change into something fresh. In the winter, our January California retreats are in the 50’s and 60’s during the day and cooler at night–rain is possible. For all retreats we advise bringing a variety of layers.
Some people choose to dress a certain way for Shabbat services – we encourage you to wear whatever you will be most comfortable in on-retreat – just be sure that you are comfortable and prepared for sitting meditation and the local weather.
Other items to pack
alarm clock
reusable water bottle
insect repellent
sunscreen
hat and sunglasses
journal
hiking boots if you plan to go into the woods
flashlight
rain gear
ritual items: Tallit, Kippah, Tefillin (these are not provided). Siddurim are provided whenever necessary, however you are invited to bring your own if you prefer.
prescription medicines
Items provided
All of the retreat centers we use provide bedding, soap, and towels. Unless you are sensitive to scents, there’s no need to bring these items.
Arrival & Departure
Early Arrival
Typically registration is between 3:30pm and 5:00pm (check your pre-retreat email for exact details, sent out 2 weeks before the start of the retreat). Often the Opening Session will begin directly after the end of the Registration window, so allowing yourself time to get settled before this session is recommended. We encourage you to arrive as much within or directly before the window as possible–often we can’t provide you with a key to your room before that window–but do know that if you have to arrive early there will be a place to put your things down until you are able to check into your room.
Late Arrival or Early Departure
If you will be arriving late to a retreat, or leaving early, it is important that we know this so we can plan ahead for meal counts and materials, as well as inform the retreat site. Please email Mara Bernstein at marab@jewishspirituality.org with any questions or information regarding arrival/departure times.
Departure Times and Checkout
Our retreats either end after breakfast (around 10am) or after lunch (around 1pm). We will give you the exact time of the last session and meal in our pre-retreat email, sent out 2 weeks before the start of the retreat.
Most of the retreat centers we use will ask that you check-out of your room by 9am on the morning you are leaving. There is always a place to store your bags after you’ve checked out.
Checking out by the correct time allows the retreat center staff time to turn over the rooms for the next guests (often arriving the same day!). Your help and cooperation in this effort helps us maintain a positive working relationship with the retreat centers we use, and we appreciate your good-faith effort to accommodate the check-out time.
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History
History
From the needs of the people. And the authorities will let the Northeast have irrigation schemes in the central and northern regions, so the government ordered the Royal Irrigation Department to open irrigation in this sector. The survey of water and terrain has been carried out for the project since 1934 and construction work has been carried out to solve the problem of the people's demands since 1939 onwards.
Most of this irrigation works. Focusing on the construction of reservoir projects. And the transmission system to distribute water throughout the sector. The construction of seven large irrigation projects increased from 1963 to 1970, including Lam Ta Khong Lam Ta Khong Dam Project Nakhon Ratchasima Province Lam Pao Project Kalasin Province Nam Phong Project Khon Kaen Water Project Sakon nakonn Little dome project Ubon Ratchathani and Huay Luang, Udonthani Province, until 1975. There are 170 reservoirs and irrigation projects completed in this area, with a total area of approximately 1.5 million rai for irrigation and maintenance. It has begun to play an increasingly important role. The Irrigation User Association was established in the completed irrigation project. In order for farmers benefiting from irrigation projects to participate in the maintenance and sharing of water fairly. For the project Big construction After building the head and building. Some irrigation is finished. The Royal Irrigation Department has approved the establishment of a water supply and maintenance project for irrigation management and maintenance.
In 1975, the Royal Irrigation Division was reconsidered. There are 3 offices in the Northeast, namely, Irrigation Office 4, 5 and 6, which are named as RIO4, RIO5 and RIO6. Heads of Irrigation Office (Later renamed Director of Irrigation Office).
RIO4 is responsible for irrigation in the areas of Khon Kaen, Udon Thani, Nong Khai, Loei and Mahasarakham. The five provinces are located in Amphoe Muang. Khon Kaen
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Metal Slug 3
is a run and gun video game developed by SNK. It was originally released in 2000 for the Neo-Geo MVS arcade platform as the sequel to Metal Slug 2/Metal Slug X. The music of the game was developed by Noise Factory. The game was later ported to the PlayStation 2, Xbox (not compatible with Xbox 360), Xbox Live Arcade, Virtual Console, Microsoft Windows, iOS, Android, Wii, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and Nintendo Switch. The game added several new features to the gameplay of the original Metal Slug and Metal Slug 2, such as new weapons and vehicles, as well as introducing branching paths into the series. It received generally positive reviews.
Gameplay
The gameplay mechanics are the same as in previous Metal Slug games; the player(s) must shoot constantly at a continual stream of enemies in order to reach the end of each level. At this point, the player confronts a boss, who is usually considerably larger and tougher than regular enemies. On the way through each level, the player can find numerous weapon upgrades and "Metal Slug" tanks. The tank is known as the SV-001 ("SV" stands for Super Vehicle), which not only increases the player's offense, but considerably adds to their defense.
In addition to shooting, the player can also perform melee attacks by using a knife and/or kicking. The player does not die simply by coming into contact with enemies, and correspondingly, many of the enemy troops also have melee attacks. Much of the game's scenery is also destructible, and occasionally, this reveals extra items or power-ups, although most of the time it simply results in collateral damage.
During the course of a level, the player also encounters POWs, who, if freed, offer the player bonuses in the form of random items or weapons. At the end of each level, the player receives a scoring bonus based on the number of freed POWs. If the player dies before the end of the level, the tally of freed POWs reverts to zero.
Branching paths
A new feature in Metal Slug 3 is the branching path system; in most missions, there are forking paths from which the player must choose one, each with their own obstacles, and each of varying length and difficulty. All paths eventually lead to the same boss battle, but the player may have different equipment, and may have rescued more or fewer POW's depending on their choice of path.
Vehicles
Several new vehicles were introduced into the game:
The "Slug Driller" can be found in the underground part of Mission 4. The drill is capable of mowing down every enemy in front of it and can also be extended. Additionally, the Driller can increase its height, making the player unreachable to ground enemies.
The "Slug Mariner" gives added firepower when underwater. It fires high-mass rounds which sink to the bottom, as well as torpedoes.
The "Elephant Slug" is an elephant strapped with a Vulcan cannon. By picking up a battery or a chili pepper, the elephant can fire a bolt of lightning or a fireball from its trunk, respectively.
The "Ostrich Slug" is similar to the "Camel Slug" in Metal Slug 2/Metal Slug X, although it is faster, can jump farther, and can turn around.
The "LV Rebel Armor" is a rebel-produced vehicle that can be captured and used by the player. It comes equipped with a heavy machine gun (though in Mission 5 it comes equipped with a flame shot instead), which is interchangeable with other handheld weapons. It also has a grenade launcher, a melee claw attack, and jump jets. The second player can stand on top of the Rebel Armor, and can receive a boost.
The "Slug Copter" appears alongside the "Slug Flyer" in the airborne portion of the Final Mission. Its Vulcan cannon can fire in all directions, unlike the Flyer. It is also armed with gravity bombs.
The "Astro Slug" is used jointly by the players and the Rebel forces. Booster rockets carry it into space, where the player can make use of its weaponry. Like the Rebel Armor, the Astro Slug can use infantry weapons through ports on its sides. It fires rockets as a secondary weapon.
Character transformation
As with Metal Slug 2/Metal Slug X, the player can transform into various different states. In addition to the mummy and fat forms from the previous game, other forms include:
When doused with infectious material, the player becomes a zombie. While medication is available to reverse the effect, the zombified player can make use of a devastating (but slow) vomit attack that covers most of the forward area. The player cannot crouch or jump high, but is immune to attacks from enemies (except zombified enemies). If a zombified player comes into contact with infectious material, they will die.
Underwater, the player equips a Scuba set with a bubble helmet. Rather than grenades, the player uses a bomb-launching system with the ordnance affected by gravity.
When flying, should the player lose their vehicle, they rely on a backup jet pack that can fire heat seeking missiles.
When in space, if the player loses the Astro Slug, they must depend on a jet pack and a breathing apparatus. Explosives are contained in the pack, and when fired they cause a massive fireball.
Plot
Several years ago, the evil General Morden was foiled in his attempted coup d'état against the worlds' governments by the Peregrine Falcon Strike Force. After forming an alliance with an alien race in an attempt to stage another coup, Morden was betrayed and taken prisoner by his new found allies. His rebels troops then formed an ad hoc alliance with the Strike Force, and ultimately, the aliens were defeated, although Morden himself was apparently killed.
Instrumental in defeating Morden during the first coup were Cpt. Marco Rossi and Lt. Tarma Roving. Rossi (now a Major) and Roving (now a Captain) also led the fight against the Morden during the second coup, this time joined by two members of the Intelligence Agency's Special Ops Squad S.P.A.R.R.O.W.S.; Sgt. Eri Kasamoto and Sgt. 1st Class Fiolina Germi.
Several years have passed since that time, and Morden is officially listed as missing by his surviving followers. Determined to wipe out every remnant of Morden's powerbase, the army send Rossi and Roving to destroy all remaining rebel strongholds, one by one. During the fighting, however, Rossi and Roving come to the conclusion that the enemy is too well organised, and perhaps Morden is not as dead as was initially thought. Meanwhile, the S.P.A.R.R.O.W.S. come across a series of strange events which lead the army to conclude that the aliens with whom Morden once allied himself have returned.
The Peregrine Falcon Strike Force and S.P.A.R.R.O.W.S. are once again united, and sent to defeat this new threat. After various battles against Morden's forces, the heroes are shocked to face off against Morden himself. However, after defeating him, it is revealed that it was really an alien in disguise, and the real Morden has (once again) been taken prisoner by the aliens. The aliens then abduct the player character and leave Earth. At this point, another character takes the player character's place. Once again, an ad hoc alliance is formed between the Strike Force and Morden's troops so as to save their captured comrades. The rebels launch an armada of rocket ships to attack the alien mother ship, Rugname. After a long battle through the ship's interior, the Rugname starts to collapse due to the amount of damage it has sustained. After destroying the ship's core, the Strike Force must fight their way through armies of clones of their captured teammate, some of whom have turned into zombies. Eventually, both the captured member of the Strike Force and Morden are freed. As they escape, however, they are confronted by the aliens' leader, Rootmars. A battle ensues in Earth's atmosphere, which is won by the Strike Force, who leave Rootmars' body in the ocean. Upon seeing Morden and his men celebrating, the player character throws his/her weapon into the water in disgust.
Versions
Console versions
In the PS2 and Xbox versions of the game, once the arcade mode has been beaten, there are two additional mini-games: "Storming the UFO Mothership" and "Fat Island".
"Storming the UFO Mothership"
This mode allows the player to control one of General Morden's soldiers as they attempt to rescue fellow soldiers and attack the Martian forces. The player can choose between the "Shield Soldier", "Bazooka Soldier", and "Normal Soldier". The player is given a single life, which is balanced by the number of reinforcements from fellow soldiers.
"Fat Island"
Two players compete to gain the most weight in a limited amount of time by eating various foods. They start out at 100 kg and must finish at 200. If players lose enough weight, they will return to normal size and subsequently to a mummy state.
Later releases
In 2006, Metal Slug Anthology (titled Metal Slug Complete in Japan) was released for the Wii, PlayStation 2 and PSP. This compilation includes the original Metal Slug, and all of its arcade sequels (including Metal Slug 2 and Metal Slug X) up to Metal Slug 6. The games are emulated versions of the originals, with none of the additional game modes or content introduced in the other home versions.
At the 2007 Tokyo Game Show, it was confirmed that Metal Slug 3 would be released on Xbox Live Arcade on January 2, 2008. The game features upscaled graphics and co-op online gameplay, but it does not include the extra modes from console releases. This version was made backwards compatible on Xbox One in 2015.
In March 2012, the AES version of Metal Slug 3 was released for the Virtual Console on the Wii.
In July 2012, a wireless version of the game was released for iOS and Android.
In February 2014, a PC version of the game was released on Steam.
SNK announced on August 28, 2014 that a version of the game would be coming to PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita.
In March 9, 2017 a Nintendo Switch version was released.
Reception
Upon its initial appearance, Metal Slug 3 received generally positive reviews. Most of its subsequent ports and re-releases have also seen good reviews. On GameRankings, the PS2 version has a score of 76.78% based on nine reviews, the Xbox version 75.71% based on sixty-four reviews, the Xbox 360 version 78.46% based on thirteen reviews, and the iOS version 74% based on five reviews. On Metacritic, the Xbox version has a score of 76 out of 100, based on fifty-six reviews, the Xbox 360 version 78 based on twelve reviews, and the iOS version 76 based on five reviews.
In his review of the game for the Xbox, IGN's Hilary Goldstein scored it 6.8 out of 10, feeling that as an arcade shooter, the game stood up well, but as an Xbox title, it was weak when compared to other games on the system; "If this game were $20 or even $30 it would merit a better score and better recommendation. This is not a $40 value unless you absolutely must have this game on your Xbox. When this game drops in price (and it will), that's when you'll want to snatch it up for sure." He scored the Xbox 360 version 7.4 out of 10, again feeling that the game was good for what it was, but somewhat dated when compared to other titles; "Before you purchase Metal Slug 3, you need to ask yourself how much you value ten dollars. This is a short experience that, even with a few playthroughs, won't last you long. Metal Slug 3 is a lot of fun, but this should be a $5 download. Especially when original, awesome-looking shooters such as Omega Five are storming Xbox Marketplace."
GameSpot's Ryan Davis scored both the Xbox and the Xbox 360 versions 7.5 out of 10. Of the Xbox version, he praised most aspects of the game, but criticized the excessive difficulty; "The fundamentals of Metal Slug 3 are all really excellent. You'll be hard-pressed to find another 2D side-scroller with such detailed environments and smooth animation, and the gameplay is the dictionary definition of frenetic. So, with all this going for it, it's a real shame that the brutal continue system introduced in the game's conversion to the Xbox makes the game overly uncompromising. If you are prone to throwing controllers out of frustration, you may want to approach Metal Slug 3 with caution". Of the Xbox 360 version, he argued that the game itself was excellent, but it was a somewhat dated experience; "Ultimately, the things that might prevent you from enjoying Metal Slug 3, such as the number of times it's been released on other systems, its relative price point, and the lack of extras, are peripheral to the experience itself. If these things don't concern you, then you'll have a blast."
Eurogamer's Spanner Spencer scored the Xbox version 7 out of 10. He praised the original game, but as an Xbox game, he found it somewhat wanting; "So short, so sweet. Two-player spins it out for a while, and there are Hard and Very Hard modes, but at £15 if you shop around Metal Slug 3 arguably transcends the usual rental recommendation. No lie, you'll finish the lot in a day. You can try and collect all the extras (Japanese radish and Chinese cabbage are all there for the taking), but there's no getting away from the fact that there's not enough in here to warrant shelling out full whack, no matter how perfect a slice of arcade action it may be." Patrick Garratt were more impressed with the Xbox 360 version, which he scored 9 out of 10, writing "what's really fascinating here is the fact that a vaguely ageing title appears to have found its niche market on a modern console - this is Metal Slug 3s ideal home, and you'd be a fool not to make it welcome in yours."
GameSpy's Darryl Vassar scored the Xbox version 4 out of 5, arguing "While each of the individual parts of Metal Slug 3 are unremarkable, they come together in a way that is greater than their sum. Metal Slug 3 is a fantastic game -- it's easy to pick up and play, has great character and depth, and is even better with a friend. There's a reason SNK has so many diehard fans, and this game should bring a few more into the fold."
References
External links
for iOS/Android
for PC
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Category:Arcade games
Category:Cancelled Game Boy Advance games
Category:IOS games
Category:Linux games
Category:Metal Slug
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Category:Video games set in Mexico
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Category:Alien invasions in video games
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PRAISE FOR
**CRISPIN**
AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
A 2006 _Child_ Magazine Best Book of the Year
A Book Sense Winter 2006-2007 Children's Pick
A 2006 _National Parenting Publication_ Honors Award Winner
*"A must purchase."— _KLIATT_ (starred review)
*"Super storytelling."— _Kirkus Reviews_ (starred review)
*"Readers will devour this story and eagerly anticipate the conclusion
of Crispin's adventures."— _School Library Journal_ (starred review)
*"Plenty of action and adventure... will make fans eager for the final
installment."— _Booklist_ (starred review)
"This thrilling page-turner has an open-ended conclusion that will leave
youngsters hungering for the third book."— _VOYA_
"A perilous, riveting journey across land and sea..."— _Child_ Magazine
PRAISE FOR
**CRISPIN**
THE CROSS OF LEAD
2003 John Newbery Medal Winner
2003 ALA Notable Children's Book
_Publishers Weekly_ Best Seller
_New York Times_ Best Seller
A _Seattle Times_ Best Book of the Year
If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this "stripped" book.
Copyright © 2006 by Avi
Published by Hyperion Paperbacks for Children, an imprint of Disney Book Group. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. For information address Hyperion Books for Children, 114 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10011-5690.
First Hyperion Paperbacks edition, 2008
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file.
eISBN-13: 978-1-4231-4070-2
ISBN-13: 978-1-4231-0305-9
ISBN-10: 1-4231-0305-X
Go to www.hyperionbooksforchildren.com to download
the discussion guide and author interview for
_Crispin: At the Edge of the World._
_For Anne Dunn_
Contents
TITLE PAGE
COPYRIGHT PAGE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY NINE
AUTHOR'S NOTE
**ENGLAND, A.D. 1377**
_The more I came to know of the world,
the more I knew I knew it not._
**1**
IT WAS A JUNE MORNING when Bear and I passed beyond Great Wexly's walls and left the crowded and treacherous city behind. The June sun was warm, the sky above as blue as my Blessed Lady's spotless robe; our triumphant sense of liberty kept me giddy with joy. Hardly able to contain myself, I more than once cried out, "My name is Crispin!" for all the world to hear.
I carried Bear's sack, which contained little more than his music-making recorder and his fire-making tools, plus the few pennies we had eked out with our music and dance. His juggler's double-pointed hat, replete with bells, was the glorious crown that capped my head.
At first we sang, played music, and stepped lightly while thanking Jesus profusely for our deliverance. What more, I thought, could my newly found soul require?
Yet though our spirits were as high as any cloud-leaping lark, it became increasingly clear that while the dungeon from which I'd freed Bear had not broken his soul, it had greatly reduced his strength. Indeed, as the day waxed he seemed to wane. More and more he leaned on me. Unshod feet had him limping. Though it was summer, his garment—no more than an old wool cloak—left him in need of warmth.
By midmorning, when our exuberance had all but ebbed, I said, "Bear, I think we need to find a place for you to rest and eat. And some decent clothing."
"Easier to say," he replied, "than do."
I held up our sack. "Bear," I said, "we have the quarter-penny to spare."
He shook his great, red-bearded head. "Crispin, we can't rest. Not yet."
"Bear, we've won our liberty."
"I'm afraid," he growled, "the most lethal of all sleep potions is success."
"What does _that_ mean?"
"We've escaped. But don't doubt it, we'll be pursued. I'm as easy to find as a cardinal in a flock of ravens. And there are many now who would like to catch me." Bear had been a spy for John Ball's secret and illegal brotherhood, which sought to regain people's ancient liberties. It meant he had many enemies.
I did too—for different reasons.
Bear's words so reined in my good spirits that I looked about with apprehension. We were traveling on a deep-rutted, muddy track that ran as straight as any arrow. "Made by Caesar's great legions," Bear had told me. To one side lay thick forest. The other side was open, hilly land. Bear's warning made me wonder if those who wished us harm might crest the horizon at any time.
True, we had passed many a plodding peasant and footsore pilgrim, with scallop badge over heart and staff in hand. There had been fat merchants aplenty too, on thin horses, likely heading to the fair at Great Wexly. Though I had spied no one who alarmed me, quite naturally, they had gazed upon Bear. For God had made Bear a huge fellow with massive arms and legs and a great belly before all. His bald head was equally striking to behold, with great red beard, fuzzy eyebrows of the same hue, large nose and mouth, if small eyes. To see Bear was to know why he bore the name of beast—and yet, most surely he was a man, and one not likely to go unnoticed.
We had come upon some scattered houses, cottages, huts, and even an old, abandoned church. Perhaps a village had been there, but time or sickness had turned it to all but naught.
As I looked about, I spied a house from which a broom hung. I recognized it as an alestake: those within had brewed more ale than they could keep and the broom was set out as a signal to tempt passersby to purchase. My hope was that there would be bread as well.
"Bear," I said, pointing to the alestake, "look! The food and drink should be cheap. It will do you good."
"We're still too near Great Wexly," he cautioned.
"It will take only moments," I coaxed.
Bear considered, and then said, "As you wish,"—words, no doubt, called forth by his exhaustion. So it was we turned our steps off the road.
The house was large, a half-timbered structure with a few small and shuttered windows, its roof thick-thatched. Noting the tilled fields just behind, I supposed a free yeoman dwelled within. In the foreyard, geese strutted, clucking and hissing at one another. An old wooden trestle table had been set out, along with benches suggesting the dwellers offered food with some regularity. Just the thought made my stomach speak with hunger.
Upon reaching the house, Bear dropped heavily on a bench set to one side of the door. Right off, he shut his eyes and set his face toward the warming sun. It was, I realized, the first time since he'd been arrested in the city that he had been at ease.
Glad of it, I went to the split front door and rapped upon it.
In answer to my summons, the top part of the door opened a crack. A dark eye peered out. I must have been judged no threat, for the next moment the door swung wide.
The man who revealed himself was a broad-shouldered, powerfully built fellow of middling age, with long, ill-sheared black hair. A few days' growth of beard made his scowling mouth appear grim. Over his kirtle he wore the leather vest of an archer. The first and second fingers of his right hand were extra muscled and callused from—I assumed—pulling a bowstring to his ear. He looked vaguely familiar, but I was unable to claim him in my memory.
"Good morrow to you, boy," he said, although his _voice_ carried little welcome. Moreover, he frowned so that his brow became as beetled as a well-plowed field.
"And to you, sir," I returned. "If it pleases, I saw your alestake. I'd like to purchase bread and drink."
"Have you anything to pay?" the man asked. His eyes squinted as if to take my measure, or his aim.
"Enough," I replied, "for me and my foot-weary master."
"What master?" he demanded.
I gestured. "He sits right here, sir."
Not bothering to look, the man muttered something that sounded like a curse as he withdrew into the darkness of his house.
How good it was to rest. Bear remained on his bench, eyes closed, face turned to the sun's kind heat. I took myself to the table where I sat, head in my arms. As I had not slept for two days, a surge of weariness swept through me.
The man returned, kicking open the lower door with a _thud_ loud enough to make me sit up. Only then did I note the sheathed dagger that hung upon his hip. Not that I cared: he was carrying two wooden mazers full of drink, and barley bread was tucked under his arm.
My mouth watered.
The man set the mazers down and dropped the bread. "Where's your master?" he demanded.
"Right there," I said, nodding toward Bear.
The man turned round—and started. "By the wounds of Christ!" he cried when he saw Bear. "It's you!"
**2**
HIS CRY STARTLED ME, and made Bear blink open his eyes. "We thought you dead," said the man to Bear. It was as much an accusation as a statement.
"All in God's good time," returned Bear, scrutinizing the man with his red-rimmed eyes. "How do you know me?" he asked. "And who is _we?_ "
Instead of answering, the man swung about to look at me as if to reassess who _I_ was. I recalled him then. He was a member of John Ball's rebel brotherhood, which had met at a shoemaker's shop in Great Wexly. At that meeting, Bear had helped this man and others to escape, though it resulted in his being taken prisoner.
The man turned back to Bear and asked, "Aren't you the one they call Bear?
I am.
"The spy," the man said, not kindly. "How did you free yourself?"
Bear considered the question and then said, "The boy freed me."
"Lord Furnival's bastard?"
Bear frowned. "His name is Crispin."
"This one?" the man demanded, turning back to me.
"Himself."
Alarmed, I rose to my feet, though I did not know what to do. It was hardly the moment to tell him that to ransom Bear's liberty, I'd renounced any claim to my noble name.
The man considered me with harsh contempt before turning back to Bear. "Why have you come here?"
"Be assured," said Bear, holding up one of his large hands as if to show it empty, "it's by chance. We're trying to get as far from Great Wexly as we can. Passing by, the boy saw your broom. We're weary. Hungry. I'd no idea you lived here. In faith, I don't even know your name."
"Have you abandoned the brotherhood?"
Bear paused. "My friend," he said, "the only thing I wish to abandon is my fatigue."
"We're all weary," snapped the man. "Did you give names in exchange for your freedom?"
"Not I," said Bear.
"Watt the butcher has been taken. So too, Guy, the miller's man. We don't know what's become of them."
"God bring them quick release," said Bear, making the sign of the cross. "I'm from other parts. By Saint Peter, I don't know any of your names."
The man glanced about, as if others might be lurking near. Momentarily, he fixed his eyes on me.
I was so agitated I hardly knew where to look.
"Then was it this boy," he persisted, "who bought your freedom with our names?"
Bear sighed. "The sole payment he gave was his courage."
"I don't believe you," said the man.
"That's as you may," said Bear. "But, as Our Sacred Lady is witness, what I say is true."
I kept wishing Bear would _do_ something. I just wanted to leave.
"Then explain if you will," cried the man, growing more raddled each moment, "why among those held only you are free?"
"I cannot," said Bear.
"The authorities would never let you go without something in exchange."
"I know nothing about our brothers," said Bear. "I saw no one else where I was held. God knows they pressed me, but you may be sure I gave them nothing. I wouldn't do so to save my soul."
"I don't believe it."
Bear snorted with contempt. "Believe what you wish."
"I say you're an informer!" cried the man. "A traitor to the brotherhood!" He turned then, and with a broad stroke of his hand and arm, swept bowls and bread away, sending all aground. "I'll serve neither you nor the boy. Take yourselves off before I kill you both." His hand was on his dagger.
Greatly frightened, I edged from the table.
Bear ruffled his beard with deliberate care while eyeing the man with visible—if mute—ill will. Then, with a grunt, he used his large hands to push himself up from the bench. He was a head taller than the man—enough to make the man back away some steps.
"Crispin," Bear called. "We're not wanted here."
"Your kind are not wanted anywhere," declared the man. "Traitors! Be gone with you!"
Quite slowly, Bear walked away from the house, moving in the direction of the road. I stayed close by his side. But knowing all too well the man was behind us—and recalling the dagger—I found it hard not to turn around.
"Crispin!" Bear whispered harshly. "Don't look! It will provoke. Just head for the trees."
"Do you know him?" I asked.
"Only by his face. As he said, he's part of Ball's brotherhood."
We moved to the road, crossed it, and approached the forest. Bear's step continued to be measured, refusing to honor the man by looking back.
I was not so composed. In spite of Bear's warning, I darted a glance back. The man was standing before his house. To my horror, he had a longbow in his hands. Worse, he had nocked an arrow and was pulling back the drawstring.
"Bear!" I shouted. "He's going to shoot at us!"
**3**
UPON THE INSTANT, Bear swung about and shoved me so hard I tumbled. Then he dove down. Even as he did, I heard a sound— _zutt!_
Bear gave a harsh grunt, cried, "Run!" then picked himself up and ran headlong for the protection of the trees.
With Bear hobbling along as best he could, we stumbled into the forest. Once there we continued running for I don't know how long. When at last Bear halted, he leaned against a tree, gasping for breath. He looked at his left arm. I followed his gaze and near swooned: an arrow was sticking through the fleshy part. Blood was trickling down.
"Bear," I cried. "He struck you!"
"Just barely," he said, though his hand was already crimson with blood. "If you had not warned me, I'd be dead."
"Forgive me," I said. "When I said we should stop I only meant—"
"No, no. It's only sweet Jesus—and you—who care for me. Feel free to disobey me at any time."
I gazed back, but could see nothing of the road, the house, or the man. "Do you think he'll follow?"
"That kind will get others first. And then, I promise, they'll follow."
"But wasn't he a friend?"
"Doubt it not; old friends make the worst enemies. I know their secrets and their way of thinking. If they believe I've betrayed them, I've become their worst foe. They won't rest until they kill me. But no more talk," he said, beckoning me toward him. "You must pull the arrow out."
"What do you mean?" I cried.
"Take hold of the end of the arrow, break off the feathered end, then pull the whole thing out."
"Are you... sure?" I stammered.
"Crispin," he said, "more men die of wounds than blows to the heart. Quickly, now!" He held out his arm, winglike.
With my stomach churning to the point of illness, I went to him. Bracing myself, I gripped the arrow at the nether ends.
Bear gritted his teeth. "Do it!" he said.
I faltered.
"Crispin," he shouted. "On my life! Break it!"
Hands shaking, I took a deep breath, and broke the arrow.
_"Jesu!"_ Bear cried out.
I stood there, panting, feeling faint.
"Now!" he commanded. "Pull it out, pointed end first!"
Grimacing, I did what he told me, then flung the arrow away as if it was some loathsome snake. The effort left me so weak, I leaned against a tree.
Bear, meanwhile, bent over, scooped up some dead leaves, and pressed them against his bleeding arm. It staunched the blood somewhat.
"Will... will you be all right?" I managed to say.
"As God wills it," he growled. "I've seen worse for men that lived. We need make haste. I'm sure we'll be pursued." That said, he held out a hand. I helped him up. After shaking himself like a wet dog, he plunged deeper into the forest.
I hurried after, but kept glancing back.
The forest was without tracks or trails. The more we stumbled on, the more I lost my sense of time and place. Stout oak, elm, and ash grew beyond any number I could count. The warp of branches hid the sky. The air was humid, thick with the stench of decay. Tangled bushes clutched our feet. Here and there were boggy mires. All in all, it was an uninviting world, with not the slightest trace of human life.
Bear was constantly clutching his arm, increasingly a-sweat with struggle. Even I was short of breath.
"Shouldn't we seek a path?" I asked after we had labored long.
"The more marked the path," said Bear between heavy panting, "the more likely it will take us to a place others will know. Didn't someone say, 'New lives require new paths'? This way's best."
In faith, I'm not sure who led the way, Bear or I. It might have been the occasional ray of sunlight that gave us direction—fingerposts set down by God on high.
After we had gone for what felt like many leagues, Bear began to falter increasingly until he abruptly halted. "God's heart," he exclaimed. "I can go no more."
All but falling, he sat with his back propped against an oak. His face was drawn, paler than normal. Shivering, he wrapped his cloak tightly round while holding his wounded arm in such a way I knew it was giving him much pain.
"You said the wound was not bad," I said.
"No such thing as a good wound," he muttered, shutting his eyes.
I stood there dismayed. "What shall I do?" I asked.
"All I need is some food, warmth, and a term of peace." He turned toward me without opening his eyes. "If you have any to spare, I would be willing to share."
Not fooled by his raillery, I sat down opposite and waited anxiously for him to do something. Alas, he continued to sit in a state of collapse, breathing deeply, as if he had run a race and lost.
The more he remained there, the more unnerved I became. With the two of us, Bear had always taken the lead. Great in soul, size, and voice as he was, I had never had to wait on him. What kind of freedom had I gained, I wondered, to be so soon on the edge of calamity?
"Are you hungry?" I asked, somewhat lamely.
"I can't remember when I've eaten last," he confessed.
"I can set a trap," I said. He had taught me how. "I'll catch a hare."
"Good lad," he murmured, his breath labored, his eyes still closed. Then he said, "I'm cold."
I stood up. "While I'm gone," I said, "this might help." I set his split hat back on his bald head, and tied it round his cheeks. A poor thing, that hat, but I knew he cherished it as an emblem of his being. When I set it on him, the bells that hung from the two points tinkled; in the forest they made an empty, mocking sound.
I gathered some fallen leaves and spread them over him from his feet to his chest.
"Does that make you any warmer?"
"I'm well planted," he replied. "Just don't let it become an early burial."
"Bear!" I said.
"I jest," he said, but, in faith, it didn't seem that way to me.
"I'll be quick," I said, and started off.
"Crispin!" he called.
"I'm here."
"I'm not prepared to die."
His words struck hard. "What... what do you mean?" I said, upset that he should speak that way.
"In Jesus's name, I'm weak. And I've sinned much."
"I've... I've never seen you sin," I said.
He took a deep breath and started to speak, but seemed to change his mind. Instead he whispered, "Just don't abandon me."
"By all that's holy, Bear," I returned, "you know I never would. Call with any need. I'll be no farther than a shout."
I stood there, afraid to leave. But when he said no more, I made myself set off in search of a likely spot to place a snare. As I went, I kept thinking how painful it was for me to hear Bear speak of weakness on his part.
For if he was weak, what did that make me?
**4**
ISEARCHED FOR an open glade where grass grew, knowing that was where rabbits and hares most liked to feed. As God would have it, I soon found a likely spot close by. There, the sun, finding a rent in the canopy of leaves, had kissed the earth as sweetly as a blessing. It was but a few paces across, a soft green sward of bright green grass that invited rest. Respite, however, was not my mission.
As taught by Bear, I found some thin, flexible willow wands and twisted them into a spring trap much like a noose. Trying to touch the twigs as little as possible—lest the beasts sniff out my scent—I set the snare down in the middle of the glade, then took myself off the immediate spot and waited, rock in hand.
Bear had instructed me not to move, to breathe softly; merely, in fact, to think, and to do so silently. But how difficult to wait when you are wanting food and that food is not yet caught—nay, not even visible. For the sound of waiting is full of noise: every creak was hope, every rustle expectation.
I kept mulling over Bear's words—that he had sinned much. I, who loved him as a father, thought of all I knew of him, but could not imagine what forgiveness he might need, save for some small measure of anger or vanity, his daily faults. I could not help but think of how truly short a time I had known Bear, how—save some fragments he'd revealed—little I knew regarding the full measure of his life. Still, Bear's condition made me aware how large was my dependence on him, how small I was alone. What, I kept asking myself, if he grew worse? How I cursed myself for urging him to stop at the alestake!
Then and there I swore—by my Saint Giles—a sacred _vow:_ As Bear had taken care of me I would care for him. I could not be a boy. I _must_ be a man!
"Lord Jesus!" I prayed with all my heart, my eyes full of tears. "Give me the strength to help Bear. Give Bear the strength to live."
Despite my intent, exhaustion caused me to nod off only to wake with a start, brought back from sleep by the frantic thrashing of a small hare tangled in my snare. I leaped up and grabbed the rock that had fallen from my lap. Diving flat out onto my belly, I snatched the beast, and despite its frantic kicking, brained it. It died with the stroke.
With pride in my triumph, I took the hare by its bloody ears and carried it back to Bear. I found him asleep, the leaves I'd provided for cover scattered. But at least his wound had clotted.
Not wanting to disturb him, I removed flint and tinder from our sack and began a fire. It wasn't long before the hare was roasting on a spit. The smell caused my hunger to gnaw at me.
Bear stirred, then woke but only stared at me with glazed eyes. "You did well," he whispered.
"As you taught me."
"You were gone so long... I thought you had snared trouble, or that—God protect us—trouble... had snared you." His face glistened with sweat.
"Does your wound hurt?"
"It throbs."
My heart tightened. I touched fingers to his brow. It was very hot. "Is it a fever?"
"Merely hunger," he said as if to tease me, but his unusual mildness undercut his levity.
Wanting to hasten the cooking, I threw more wood onto the fire. The flame flared. The meat turned dark, the smell of it making my mouth water. When the hare was cooked I tore the carcass apart and gave Bear the pieces.
At first he ate—one-handed—with rapacious hunger, which pleased me. Alas, he soon stopped. "You must feed me," he said.
Though it upset me to do it, I nonetheless did as he bid, like some chick stuffing food into the maw of its much larger parent.
"Yourself, too," he murmured.
"I'm fine." In truth, I was famished, but I allowed myself just one mouthful. I made him take the rest.
When he'd done, I said, "Do you feel better?"
"Somewhat."
I knelt by his side and studied him. He was dreadful pale. His breathing was thick.
I could see for myself that he was sinking. So was my heart.
Not knowing what else to do, I said, "I'll try and get another hare."
"As you will," he mumbled.
I stood up.
"Crispin," he whispered. "There are private things I need to say."
God's truth: I didn't want to know such things. But the pain in his voice held me. "You need your sleep," I said in haste.
"Yes," he said. "I do." And drifted off to what I hoped was only sleep.
I wanted to get help but hardly knew where to take my first step, much less which way to aim. In the end, unwilling to leave him, I stayed by his side.
Night came with lowering clouds enough to hide all stars. The only light was the smoldering cinders of our dwindling fire. I took it to be an augury of Bear's life.
Heart full of pain, I went on my knees and prayed to my patron, Saint Giles, that he might help Bear. I pledged I'd do anything and everything if he blessed Bear with strength. Even so, in the heart of my being, my fear was growing that Bear was fated—it choked me just to give it name—to die.
With that fear came a greater fear: if Bear died I didn't know what to do. Where could I go? What would I be?
Unable to answer, I felt that the freedom I'd so recently won was melting like a spent candle.
What followed was a long and doleful night. The forest creaked and groaned as if an encircling doom was laying siege to Bear. When I slept—which I did but fitfully—my frightful dreams were equal to my waking worries. I took the dreams as dismal warnings. Sure enough, by dawn's first light, I could see that Bear had turned worse.
Though exhausted, I knew I should act quickly. Yet, despite new and desperate prayers, I had no notion what to do. I stirred up the fire, but beyond that I could only wait and watch my friend, my heart raw with naked helplessness.
But as I sat there, I began to realize that the forest had grown uncommon still—as if it held its breath. Gradually, I began to sense something amiss, as though something was slithering near.
I leaped up and searched about but saw nothing save the creeping shadows of the dawning forest. Even so, I was convinced a thing was there, a thing drawing nigh.
The hairs on the back of my neck began to prickle. My heart pounded. I could hardly breathe. For I recalled a notion I'd heard: that when the Angel of Death slips in to snatch a soul, all sounds, all movements, cease.
Next moment I realized that there were eyes, eyes peering out of the woods, eyes gazing right at us, large eyes, dark and brown, fixed and staring. Nothing but eyes, detached from any corporal body, as if part of some advancing ghost.
_Oh, blessed Lord who gives all life_ —I thought— _it's Death, Death himself who has come for Bear!_
**5**
GRADUALLY, DIMLY, I perceived a figure hidden by the leaves. Even so, it was only eyes that held me with an unblinking gaze. Was what I saw of _this_ world or another?
Greatly shocked, I turned toward the sleeping Bear, then shifted hastily back. Slowly, I realized it was a small person looking out at us. The next moment I grasped that it was a _child_ —but whether a _human_ or not, I was uncertain.
The face was obscured by grime and long, snarled brown hair. Impossible, too, to distinguish clothing, muted and rent as it was, as if part of the foliage.
I returned the stare, but the child did no more than remain still, eyes steady as stone upon us. The longer the gaze held, the greater grew my fright. I tried desperately to think what Bear would do.
"Be off with you!" I cried, raising an arm and taking a step forward.
When the child made no response, I asked, "Who are you?"
No answer.
Seeing a stout branch upon the ground, I snatched it up and held it like a club that I might defend myself and Bear—if it came to that.
The child remained in place.
Brandishing the stick as if to strike, I took another step. This time the child retreated, noiselessly, as if floating above the earth.
"Are you of this world?" I shouted. "In God's name tell me who and what you are!"
Abruptly, the child turned and scampered off among the trees, and, for all that I could see, vanished.
My fears grew. If what I saw was human, and he went to tell others about us, matters could turn worse. But if what I saw was a spirit, what devilish harm might he bring down upon us?
I knelt by Bear's side.
"Bear," I said. "We've been found. There may be danger coming. We need to move!"
He opened his eyes. It was, at best, a foggy gape and conveyed no understanding. I was not even sure he knew I had spoken.
I put my hand to his face: hot and sticky with sweat. I had no doubt he was being consumed by the rankest of humors. The wound had taken full hold, poisoning his whole body.
"Bear!" I cried. "We must move!"
His reply was a moan of such despair it struck terror to the deepest regions of my soul. Distraught, I stood up and looked into the forest in hopes I'd see a sign of the strange child. The child was gone. Belatedly, I knew I should have begged for help.
I tried to pull at Bear, to make him stand, but his weight and bulk proved too great.
In panic, I searched round for a heavier stick with which, if came the need, I could make some defense. Finding one, I stood on guard before Bear, my heart pounding.
The forest was mute. No one came.
Still wondering what I'd see—someone real or unreal, friend or foe—I stirred the flame but kept looking round. Just how much time passed I don't know, but as unexpectedly as before, the child—if child it was—returned.
Again, what first I saw were eyes gazing at me from deep among the bushes.
I jumped up. When the child did not shift, I called out, "In God's name will you help us?" and moved forward. Even as I did, I heard another sound. I spun about.
A second person had appeared.
**6**
THE NEWCOMER was a woman, or so I took her to be, for she was aged to the point of being unsexed. Cronelike, bent almost double as if loaded down with the weight of years, her head was twisted to one side in the manner of a listening bird. Frail and small—smaller than I—her garments were foul rags, tattered and torn. Her skin was begrimed, her long hair gray, greasy, and unkempt, akin to the shredded moss that dangled from the trees. Her nose was beakish, while her mouth, etched round with multiple lines like so many needled stitches, fell in on toothless gums. Fingers were rough and misshapen, with long, clawlike and thick, yellow nails.
Though her wrinkled face had stiff, white hairs upon her chin, most striking of all was her left eye: glazed over with a lifeless, milky white, a sure sign of blindness. Her right eye seemed the larger, brighter too, with the deepest, most penetrating gaze I ever saw. Is this hag, I wondered, the bearer of the evil eye?
"Who... who are you?" I cried, backing toward Bear, determined to protect him. "What do you want of us?"
The old woman slowly lifted an arm and pointed her gnarled fingers at Bear. "Troth says—the man is ill." She spoke with a clogged and broken voice, her toothless mouth continually munching.
"Who is Troth?" I asked, bewildered.
By way of answering, the old woman turned and gestured with a hand. The child I'd first seen stepped into the clearing. I saw now that she was a girl. Though shorter than me and much younger than the crone, she was garbed in similar motley rags. Whereas the woman was old, bent, and ugly, the girl was not misshapen. But her mouth! _Dear God!_ It was cleft—grotesquely disfigured and twisted, shaped like a hare's mouth.
The girl's appearance was so dreadful I must have gawked. In haste, she pulled her tangled hair across the lower half of her face, veil-like, to hide her gross disfigurement.
I made a quick decision: no matter that these folk were outlandish—there was no one else to whom I could turn. "He's hurt," I said, indicating Bear. "Can you aid him?"
"Aude coaxes man to life," said the woman, her good eye appraising Bear. "Aude keeps them in life. Bring him." She turned as if to go.
"Who is Aude?" I called.
"Me," muttered the hag, making finger movements at the girl. The girl edged forward, moving with great skittish-ness, eyes avoiding mine, like a fearful dog.
I went to one side of Bear. "I can't move him," I said. "He's too big. Heavy." I spoke loudly, simply, as if the hag were deaf.
The old woman lifted both hands and clasped them. The girl, with some kind of understanding, went to Bear's other side.
Troth—for so I gathered the girl's name to be—made some guttural sound. It was not human talk—not in any proper sense. It sounded as if it came from her throat, animal-like. While unsettling, I took it to mean we were to lift.
The girl's strength surprised me. Between the two of us, we managed to get Bear up. Perhaps Bear also worked, for when upright he opened his eyes a slit. I snatched up our sack, and we began to follow the old woman.
As we went along, it occurred to me that the woman's way and manner—slow, shuffling, hunched over—had something witchlike to it. And the girl, with her odd, split mouth and her wariness, was just as odd. But at that moment—may God forgive me!—in order to help Bear, I would have embraced the Devil.
**7**
THE GIRL AND I, supporting Bear from either side, clumsily followed the old woman as she picked her way slowly through the woods. Though I would have never found where they took us on my own, we did not go far. It was not a true dwelling in any sense I knew—rather, it was the crudest of shelters, a space between two boulders over which some boughs had been set to form a roof. A wall of wattle obscured the entryway with bushes, arranged so a passerby would not likely notice what was there. It was well hidden.
Yet once I came round that screening wall, I saw that the living space was not so different from the poor dwellings I knew in my own village of Stromford. Matted leaves and crumbling rushes covered a dirt floor while two heaps of straw appeared to serve as sleeping places. A smoldering fire burned within a ring of soot-blackened stones. From the crude roof hung drying plants and herbs. Among them I spied mistletoe, which alarmed me for I knew it was used in magic spells.
On the ground were two rusty iron pots that looked to be old soldiers'helmets. Three chipped wooden cups lay nearby. There were mazers, too, plus a few closed linen sacks. If I had seen skulls, I would not have been surprised.
The old woman made a motion with her hand, which I took to be telling us she wanted Bear placed on one of the straw pallets. The girl and I did what she asked, though Bear mostly tumbled into a heap.
Making a rolling motion of her hand, the woman said, "Over."
On my knees, grunting with effort, I turned Bear so he lay upon his back.
The woman, hovering near, made another gesture, turning her hand so the palm faced down, then lowering it slightly.
Were these gestures a casting of spells?
But the girl seemed to make sense of them. She took Bear's good arm and straightened it. Moving his wounded arm caused him to moan. She did the same with his legs. Then she covered Bear to his neck with his robe as well as a tattered blanket they had, leaving his wounded arm exposed. In all of this, the girl worked with a slow, practiced touch.
The hag stood over Bear, staring down. Then she reached out and fingered his cap. Abruptly, she turned her good eye to me. "Who wounded him with an arrow?" she asked in a _voice_ so broken it was all but indistinct.
"How... how did you know?"
"Though Aude has only one good eye she can see," she said. "What befell him?" Her gaze was hard on me. "He was also beaten, many times." She pulled Bear's blanket back and pointed to red marks across his chest. "Burn marks. Who did these things?"
"I'm... not certain," I said, uneasy about how much of our history I should reveal.
After staring at Bear for a long moment, she suddenly rasped, "Nerthus wants life to live. Aude will try to help." A nod and the girl covered Bear again.
Who this _Nerthus_ was, I had no idea.
Again the old woman faced the girl, opened her hand—palm up—and lifted it slightly. Then she moved that same right hand as if she were squeezing something, only to put the hand to her own cheek. Finally, she pointed to the branches hanging from the roof.
"Sorrel," she muttered. "Marigold. Bark. Barley." At the last she pointed to a sack and rubbed her hands together as if washing.
Troth plucked some leaves from the branches that hung above. She crumpled brittle bits into one of the iron helmets, then added pieces of bark. From one of the bags she took up a handful of barley and threw it in, too. That done, she carried the helmet outside.
"Where's she going?" I asked. Everything they did made me fearful.
"Water."
"Why doesn't she speak?"
The old woman shifted round to look at me with her one good eye. "Troth was born with a broken mouth," she muttered. "People fear her. So Troth speaks little. Besides," she added, peering up at me in her twisted way, "Aude's gods say: The less that's said, the more that's understood."
"Can she hear?" I asked, staring after the girl.
"Troth listens to Aude's hands," was the crone's grudging reply.
The woman stuck her bony fingers into a small clay pot, which was filled with what appeared to be some kind of grease along with the smell of honey.
Clutching me for support, Aude went on her knees, and began to apply the ointment to Bear's wound, his limbs, neck, and face. Hearing her mumble under her breath, I wondered if she were conjuring magic.
Alarmed, I gazed about in search of a cross, something, anything Christian.
I saw none.
"Good dame," I blurted out, "are you... a Christian?"
My question made the hag pause in her work. She drew back on her haunches. Her frowning silence made me regret my question. After a while she said, "Why do you ask?"
"I... I fear for his soul."
She fixed me fiercely with her eye. "Nay, it's Aude... you fear."
My face grew hot. "A... little," I allowed.
"Oh, yes," she said, gnawing on her toothless gums, "Aude is old. Aude is ugly. Aude... and Troth... live apart. Do you fear such things, boy?"
"Y... yes.
"Know then," she said, "that Aude is of the old religion."
_"Old_ religion?" I cried, taken aback. "What do you mean?"
"The old gods—it's they Aude worships."
Shocked, for I had never ever heard anyone speak of "old gods," I hardly knew what to say.
Her single eye remained sharp on me. "Do you still want Aude's help?"
"In Jesus's name," I whispered, "I want him well."
"Nerthus—my god—gives life," she said. "What can you give?"
"What... do you... want?" I stammered, fearful that she might request my soul.
"It's for you to offer."
"I have... very little," I said. "A few pennies."
The crone held out a clawlike hand.
I went to Bear's sack, scraped up our few remaining coins, and dropped them in her withered palm. She curled crumpled fingers over them and put them in a little bag tied round her waist with a leather thong.
"Old Aude shall try for life," she muttered, and resumed daubing her grease mix on Bear's limbs.
Afraid to press her further, my mouth dry with apprehension, I watched in silence. The dimness of the bower; the ruby-colored fire-glow; her ancient, tangled look; her multi-hued rags; her broken posture—all made the crone appear like some deep-wood demon, and the girl, with her disfigured face, an ill-begotten familiar.
Silently, I made urgent prayers, begging my all-powerful Lord that though this woman was not Christian, she might help my Bear.
**8**
TROTH CAME and set the heated helmet down next to the old woman. Spiraling vapors—like drifting spirits—curled up. "Lift his head," Aude whispered.
I did as she bid. The old woman squeezed Bear's cheeks so hard his mouth gaped opened. Troth, using the mazer, poured in some liquid. Bear gagged, coughed, but swallowed. This was repeated a few times.
"He must rest," said Aude.
In the dim light we sat in silence watching Bear. Then the crone abruptly shifted round, leaned toward me and said, "You must tell Aude who you are."
Alarmed, I managed to say, "What do you mean?"
"You are fleeing."
"What... what makes you think so?"
"You are alone in the forest with nothing save your fear. He wears a juggler's cap, but here you cannot sing and dance for coins. An arrow has wounded him. He has been abused. You were hiding. You must tell of these things to Aude and Troth."
I was afraid to say I didn't trust her.
"It will help," Aude said.
"How?"
"To know how a man suffers, is to know how he lives... or dies."
I glanced at Troth. The girl was staring at me, her dark brown eyes unfathomable. As for her covered mouth—why should it so trouble me?
Then I remembered: in my village of Stromford it was said that if, before a babe was born, the Devil came and touched the mother's swollen belly, the babe's limb or hand or face—like Troth's—would bear the Devil's evil mark. Even as I stared at her, that knowledge chilled my heart.
A tap on my leg startled me. It was the woman. "You must speak."
I felt trapped. Not knowing what else to do, I took a deep breath and told my tale.
I revealed how, not long ago, I, a new-made orphan, fled my little village because I'd been proclaimed a wolf's head—meaning anyone was free to kill me.
How a kind God led me to Bear, a juggler, who became in turn, master, teacher, protector, and then, as I would have it, the father I never knew.
How we traveled together until we came to the city of Great Wexly, where I discovered I was the illegitimate son of one Lord Furnival, a knight of the realm. There, I also discovered Bear was a spy for John Ball's brotherhood.
How my enemies captured Bear, and tortured him in hopes of making him to reveal where I was.
How I, to ransom Bear's liberty, renounced any claim to my noble name, and by doing so, Bear and I were able to pass out of Great Wexly to our freedom.
How, finally, Bear was wounded by a man who believed he had betrayed Ball's brotherhood.
At first I told all this haltingly. But as I went on, it ran from me like water from a broken bowl. When done I was in tears. For I, in a manner of speaking, was a listener too. How extraordinary that I, who but a short time ago never knew a life beyond the passing of repetitious days, could tell a tale of being, doing, and becoming.
Though Aude and Troth had listened to me closely, neither spoke, nor asked questions, nor made so much as one remark, hearing my words in solemn silence.
By the time I finished the day was gone. Shadow filled the bower. The air was cool and hushed. I was weary in heart and bone. With Bear sleeping easier than before, I could not help myself—and nodded off.
I woke with a start. A dim, ruddy light suffused the bower. My first sensation was fear, thinking I'd fallen into the place of damnation that all true Christians fear. Then I realized the redness was naught but the shimmering embers of the bower fire.
I swung round and bent over Bear. He was asleep, barely breathing. I put a hand to his face. Still hot. I touched his arm. He pulled it away as though stung.
Looking round, I searched for the old woman and the girl. I did not see them, but saw that the front of the bower was bathed in soft, white light. I gazed at it, puzzled, until I realized it was moonlight.
As I listened I caught a faint sound from beyond. On hands and knees I crept to the walled-in entrance of the bower and peeked out.
Aude stood before the bower in an open space that was dappled by moonlight. Kneeling by her side was Troth. A teasing breeze tossed their tangled garments. Tree leaves stirred as though sifting secrets.
Aude had one raised hand and was dangling a branch of mistletoe. The other hand gripped the girl's shoulder, as if for support.
In a slow, broken voice, the hag was chanting:
> _There flowed a spring
> Beneath a hawthorn tree
> That once had a cure for sorrow.
> Beside the spring and the tree
> Now stands a young girl
> Who's full of love, this girl,
> Held fast by love, this girl.
> So whoever seeks true love
> Will not find it in the spring,
> But in this girl,
> This girl,
> Who stands by the hawthorn tree._
As I watched and listened, I had no doubt it was some kind of enchantment. Were they trying to steal Bear's soul? My own? If these people were indeed spirit folk, if the crone was a true witch, we should not, must not stay. Yet how could we go if Bear was so ill? Once again came the questions: What should I do if he died? How would I be able to stay free?
I asked this of myself so often it all but became a plain-song chant, to which I provided the only answer I could summon: I must think and act as a man.
But how?
**9**
MORNING's DULL LIGHT nudged me into wakefulness. I opened my eyes but lay still, listening, trying to take measure of where I was, of what was happening. What I heard was a steady _shhhh_ sound, which I gradually recognized as rain. I recalled my sighting of the old woman and the girl during the night—chanting in the moon glow. I felt a chill.
Easing up one elbow, I peered about. Rainwater dripped down through the leafy roof, making a constant, _pat pat pat._ The bower floor had turned muddy in spots while rocks to either side glistened wetly. The fire was cold, the ashes white. The constant dripping sounds made me tense.
Across the way from me, on the other pile of straw, the old woman lay asleep, her toothless mouth agape. Her breath was raspy. Troth was curled by her side—cat and kitten.
On my knees I studied Bear's face. He seemed to be in peace, breathing with greater regularity. No sweat was on his brow. The redness on his wound had abated somewhat. But when I touched fingers to his brow it was still too warm.
Hearing a sound, I swung about. The girl had woken. She was staring at me. When I returned the look she pulled her hair across her face in that gesture that hid her disfigurement—her Devil's mark. Our eyes held.
"Can you speak?" I said.
No reply.
"Can you?"
_"Ugah,"_ she said, or some such sound.
I pointed to one of my ears. "Hear?"
She nodded yes.
"And your name is... Troth."
"Oth."
A hand to my chest. "My name is Crispin."
"Ispin."
I pointed at the old woman. "Aude."
Another nod.
"Mother?"
No response.
"Is she your mother?" I tried.
The girl shook her head.
"And... your father?"
No reply. Her face was like an empty mask.
"Are you... Christian?"
Again no reply. Then I recalled what people said, that demons and witches recoiled from a visible sign of the cross. I held up my hands and made one with my fingers.
She returned a look absent of emotion or any hint of knowing. Still—I noted—she had not cringed. And though yet uncertain what she was, I reminded myself that she had helped Bear.
"May Jesus," I said, "grant you a blessing for being kind to my friend."
She continued to fix her gaze on me. But this time, she shifted her hair so it was no longer covering her disfigured mouth: as if she wanted me to see, _dared_ me to see. That confused me. Was she showing me her evilness? I made myself hold my gaze while inwardly saying protective prayers.
Then, to break the moment, I pointed to _my_ mouth. "Hungry," I said and patted my stomach.
She made another guttural sound, got up and leaned over the fire, blowing on the coals till they flamed. She put some wood on. The fire blazed. She set a helmet on it and added a handful of something. Now and again she stirred.
Frustrated by my inability to make any clear sense of her, I kept watch over Bear. _Tell me what to do!_ I kept thinking. As God's mercy would have it, his eyes fluttered open.
"Crispin," he whispered, "where are you?"
I leaned over him. "Here."
"What... is this place?"
"Deep in the forest. Where a crone and a girl live. They're tending to you." Then I bent down and whispered into his ear. "Bear, I don't know who or what they are. Except, they aren't Christians."
He made a feeble effort to get up only to fall back. His eyes closed. He slept.
Ill at ease, I looked over my shoulder. Troth was stirring her pot, but I sensed she'd been watching me. Had she heard my words?
She scooped up what she had been cooking, put it in a bowl, and offered it to me. It appeared to be cooked oats. _Was it safe to eat?_ I wondered.
Troth made an impatient gesture to her mouth—as if urging me to eat.
Though fearful of her food, my stomach begged. The last time I had eaten was when I took that morsel of hare I'd cooked for Bear. Unable to resist, I closed my eyes, made a prayer for my safety, used my fingers to scoop up the food, and shoved it into my mouth.
Nothing untoward happened.
All that damp, warm day Bear remained asleep on the straw, though now and again he tossed about. I had hopes that he was mending, but being so uneasy, I remained by his side, on guard, keeping a wary eye on Troth and Aude.
The rain continued, a steady, sopping rain. At times thunder rolled, and crackling lightning sucked all color from the air, turning the world a ghostly white. Humid air was thick with the sweet smells of wood and decaying leaves, mingling with the pungent herbs that hung within the bower.
Once, while I looked on, and the old woman worked on Bear, she suddenly squeezed where the arrow had entered Bear's arm. A spurt of dark blood and yellow pus erupted, and with it a splinter of wood. I gagged with disgust. But Aude snatched up the splinter and, muttering incomprehensibly, flung it in the fire, then went back and salved Bear's wound anew.
I felt gratitude that she took from him something that was ill. In truth, I was finding it increasingly difficult to deny that no matter what or who these people were, they were not acting wickedly.
Dare I show them gratitude?
**10**
BEAR SLEPT ON.
As time passed, Aude and Troth seemed to do very little. The girl plucked leaves from the herbs and ground them into powder in a stone pestle. Once she went into the woods and foraged food. Once, she returned with toadstools, which I knew were unfit for humans. She ate them nonetheless. I was shocked.
The hag sat mostly by the fire as if looking into it, communing with it. Sometime I heard her croon as she rocked back and forth. Now and again she attended Bear. Then she and Troth—with a little help from me—fed him their brew and salved his wound.
By dusk, the rain had slackened. Daylight faded. Everything felt strange, ill-measured, and misplaced. A corpse-gray mist wormed among the knobby roots of trees. Now and again a bird called, its sharp trill weaving through the dim gray light like a lost thread of silver. A fox appeared at the bower entryway, its fur a wet and mottled rusty hue. It stood without apparent fear, sharp nose sniffing quizzically, ears erect, one foot up. Aude took no notice. Troth did. She went to the beast, knelt, and rubbed its ears, after which the fox trotted off. A few times birds flew into the bower, hopped about and pecked.
It was all so fantastical I was convinced these were bewitched people—if they were truly people.
And yet, and yet, they seemed kind.
Once, when Troth went to fetch more wood, and Aude was tending to Bear and therefore close to me, I said, "Is Troth your daughter?"
She considered momentarily before shaking her head.
"Then... how did she come to you?"
"Her mother died when giving birth. The father, seeing that face, pronounced her Devil's work and would not keep her. No one would. But Aude took Troth and let her live."
I said, "How was she able to touch that fox?"
"Creatures do not fear her. Humans do." She leaned toward me so that I felt skewered by her one good eye. "But then men fear most what they understand least. Ignorance," she hissed, "makes fear."
"What do you mean?" I said, wondering if she thought _me_ ignorant.
She turned away, leaving me to brood upon her words.
Not till next day did Bear truly wake. That's to say, he opened his eyes and pushed himself up a bit with his good arm. Much weight had been lost. His face was gaunt, his small eyes dark rimmed.
I went to his side.
"How long have we been here?" he asked, as if rising from a long, deep sleep.
"Two days."
He shook his great head, looked about, scratched his red beard, and rubbed his bald pate. "I've little memory of coming," he said.
Trying to move his wounded arm, he winced and lay back down, eyes closed.
"Are you hungry?" I asked.
"A bear is always hungry," he whispered with a welcome hint of smile, though his eyes remained shut.
"He wants to eat," I called to Aude.
She and Troth came to his side bringing a mazer of broth.
Bear opened his eyes and gazed up at the old woman. "Good morrow," he said.
Aude stared at him.
"May the blessing of Jesus be with you for your kindness," Bear murmured.
Making no reply, but working silently, Aude and Troth fed him. When done, they withdrew.
"How far have we come from Great Wexly?" he asked when I returned to his side.
"We had already walked some time when the arrow struck you. Even then we went on. Bear," I whispered into his ear, "I don't know what these people are. They have been kind... But they're strange. Not like anyone I've known. I don't know if we should trust them. Perhaps we should go on."
"Where?"
"Anyplace."
He shook his head. "John Ball's brotherhood is everywhere. They've marked me as a traitor and—"
"What?"
"As long as we're not discovered, we should be fine. Besides, I can't travel."
"But—"
"Patience, Crispin. Patience." He lay back, closed his eyes. Then he said, "I wish a priest was near."
"Why?"
He sighed, swallowed hard then said, "Crispin, like most men, I've done things that... need God's mercy and forgiveness."
I gazed at him. It was what he had suggested before. And as before, if there was something he needed to confess, I was uncertain I wanted to hear. "Shall... shall I try to find a priest?" I asked.
"No," he whispered. "I'm not ready." He was silent for a while. Then he said, "Once I knew a man who owned a great bear. This man kept this bear cruelly with a chain, so as to make him dance at will. For years he kept that beast, bragging he'd tamed him, though he never turned his back. Then one day, he _did_ turn his back and the bear smote him dead. But the bear let me—who had been kind to him—cut that chain. When I did, the bear lumbered off"
"What am I to learn from that?"
"I took my name from that bear."
"Why?"
"That bear knew when it was time to free himself."
"I don't understand."
"Because," he whispered, "that bear was held back from his natural state, as if... as if the links of the chain were his sins. My sins bind me—just so."
I felt increasingly uncomfortable. "Bear," I blurted out, "I don't want to know your sins!"
He closed his eyes. "To love a man," he whispered, "you must know his failings."
That said, he closed his eyes and slept.
I withdrew, greatly troubled. But then, I trusted myself—a gift from Bear—to know right from wrong. I would not, could not allow myself to think of Bear in any way but as goodness itself. How could he have done bad things? No, I didn't want to know.
How hard it was for me to discern when evil clothed itself in goodness, or when there might be a kernel of goodness within the chaff of evil. Then I recalled what Aude had said: _Ignorance made fear._ But my thought was—as I looked at Bear and pondered what he'd said—if ignorance gave comfort, I would rather cleave to that.
**11**
BEAR CONTINUED to mend. Now and again he sat up, but it was a struggle for him to move. His arm still ailed. Now and again he laughed, always a measure of his health. Best of all, I could see that each passing day brought him strength.
Though he tried to talk to Troth, she kept apart. As for Aude, she paid Bear little mind but went about her mumbling motions.
Occasionally, Troth tried to teach me some hand signs, gestures that seemed to mean _go,_ or _come,_ or _more._ It seemed to please her when we communicated that way.
Thus did our days pass. I felt as if I were being held in some formless time and place, tottering between worlds I could neither see nor grasp nor fully understand.
I kept thinking that, though Bear was far from recovered, we should leave. Surely it was wrong to stay with such folk. Perhaps it was a sin. Every day we did not go, my tension grew: Would Bear never get fully well? Had they put him under a spell? Were they—in fact—holding us?
One day Troth was gone from morning till night, but when she returned she had some rough cloth. As I was to learn much later, she had purchased it (I knew not where) with the pennies I had given Aude. Under the tutelage of the old woman, the girl fashioned the cloth into rough breeches and a kirtle for Bear.
He was pleased. I, recalling his blue-and-red leggings, his pointy shoes of better days, was not as pleased. Still, I tried to tell myself that it might bring us a little closer to leaving.
Now and again, Aude and Troth left the bower for periods of time. Whenever they walked out, Aude kept a hand on Troths shoulder. She was that dependent on the girl. Though they stayed away all day, they did not tell us where they were going.
Then for an entire night they were gone. When they returned the next morning I was startled to see what looked to be blood on Aude's garments. It alarmed me greatly. After all, I had never seen them with meat of any kind, only the plants Troth found in the woods. What kind of blood rituals might they have done?
I crept to Bear's side.
"Bear," I whispered, "did you see the blood on Aude?"
He nodded.
"What can it mean?"
"I don't know."
"Bear," I said to him, "surely you must know now we're in great danger."
"I _don't_ know. What makes you think so?"
"These people... I suspect they are... witches."
His look seemed to suppress a smile. "Have you questioned them?" he asked.
"Of course not!"
"Perhaps I should, then."
Feeling he spoke as if I were a child, I quit his side and kept to myself. What kind of freedom, thought I, did I have if it meant I was always bound by his decisions?
Later on, I lay with my head cushioned in my arms, feeling drowsy. Troth was busy with her herbs. Aude sat before the smoldering fire. Bear pulled himself from the bed of old straw and sat opposite the woman, across the flames. After a goodly while, I heard him say, "Old dame, may I ask a question?"
Aude mumbled her assent.
"Might that," said Bear, "be stains of blood upon your garments?"
Across the bower Troth stopped her work and looked around. I dared not move but listened closely.
"It is," I heard the woman say.
"Have you been hurt?" said Bear. He spoke gently.
At first Aude said nothing to this. Then she muttered, "Aude practices midwifery."
"Ah!" cried Bear. "Then you helped deliver a woman of a babe."
She nodded.
"And all was well?"
"It was."
Bear was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "Where would this have happened?" asked Bear.
"In the village."
"A village!" said Bear. "I had no idea one was near."
"A few leagues."
"Does it have a name?"
"Chaunton."
"I never heard of the place. Do they call on you often?"
Aude seemed to consider the question. Then she said, "There is no Christian priest in Chaunton. There is only a bailiff, who lords over all and even preaches to the people. Falsely so, they tell Aude in secret, for they fear him. That bailiff rejects Aude. Spits on Aude. Calls Aude pagan. Tells people that Troth is evil. Warns them not to use Aude, lest they lose their souls."
"But all the same, they call on you," said Bear.
"The women do. And some men."
"And you help them in their time."
"Aude has the hands, the skill, and a belt that's never been fastened."
"Then you are much blessed," said Bear. "And does Troth assist you?"
"Aude is very old. More and more Nerthus calls to her. Aude shall go to her soon. Aude is teaching Troth all she knows. Troth will take Aude's place."
Only when Aude and Troth slept did I dare question Bear. "Why does Aude use a belt?" I asked.
"An open belt laid on the birthing woman's belly gives her ease. But then, opening all closed things in her dwelling can help, too. I assure you, Crispin, it's common wisdom. The town is blessed to have Aude near."
"But, Bear," I burst out, "what _are_ these people?
He looked at me, smiled and only said, "Kind."
"Aude spoke of a town close by," I pressed. "You said yourself we're not far enough away from Great Wexly. The longer we stay, the more likely we'll be discovered."
This time Bear considered my words seriously. "As for that... you may be right," he said. "While I would have preferred to wait and regain all my strength, I suppose we should leave soon."
"Where could we go?"
"Do you remember that road we were on?"
I nodded.
"I think it would have delivered us toward Scotland."
"Is that a good place?"
"For all I care," he said, "that road could take us to the land of the Great Chan. What matters is that we keep our liberty."
"Bear, lead us wherever you want. You've been everywhere."
"I assure you," he returned, "my _everywhere_ is not God's _everyplace!'_ With a stubby finger he drew crude lines in the bower's mud.
"Here," he said with a jab, "sits the realm of Edward's England. For walking, there's Wales to the west. That's closest of all. Alas, the love of English is rather meager there, and they speak a language I don't know.
"As for Scotland, where we can also walk, that's to the far north, here. The pity is they speak a knapped warp of English tongue. More importantly, they have been our enemies for endless years in useless wars. Thank old Edward Long Shanks for that. Now, then," he went on, "England is an island."
"It is?"
"In the name of Saint Augustine!" cried Bear, "there are times I forget the depth of your ignorance. Yes, England is an island. And the world beyond is very large. Well, then," he continued, "all round England sits deep sea."
"Bear..."
"What?"
"What is... _sea?"_
Bear looked at me with astonishment. Next moment he broke into boisterous laughter, his first great laugh since being ill. "Oh, God!" he cried looking heavenward, "who hath _all_ wisdom, I pray You lend—You need not _give_ —just _lend_ one eyelash of Your wisdom to this most ignorant of boys."
"Bear!" I cried, quite abashed.
"Forgive me, Crispin. It's not your fault. I mock no man's ignorance, but his ignorance of his ignorance.
"The _sea,_ Crispin, is water—also called _ocean_ —which covers the world in greater magnitude than land."
"You mock me," I said, scoffing at such an absurdity.
He lifted up his good right hand. "I swear it's true," he said. "Someday, perhaps, you'll go to the sea and measure its depth with your own toes. And Crispin, this ocean is not just vast, but second only to God in power, so that in winter it hurls mighty storms one day in three. In summer, one in ten. As Heaven knows, many a man sails to sea in a leaky cog and never touches dry land again."
I sighed. The more I came to know of the world, the more I knew I knew it not.
"Now, Crispin," Bear went on, returning to his mud sketch, "sail your fat cog upon the sea this way—east—and there's France. All we'll find there is war and devastation. Satan's playing fields. May good Jesus keep us from that.
"Now, there's Flanders, here, east as well, but I don't put trust in such a mercantile people.
"Further north and west is a land—some say—that's all but beyond the world. A land of _ice,_ it's called Iceland. But so cold no kings or lords will rule there. They live without government. Or war. But that seems too fantastical.
"Go south, here, and back across the ocean. You'll find the Kingdoms of Navarre and Castile. Alas for the overreaching folk of Babel, they too speak a language I don't know.
"Cross the sea _this_ way—westerly beyond Wales—there's Ireland. Some say it's a savage place, but I've heard honest men say otherwise. That attracts me."
"Is the world so truly vast?" I asked, amazed by what he had drawn.
"Aye," he said, "and much more still unknown to me. And Crispin," he said, leaning into my ear and whispering, "some say it's all guarded by dragons."
"Dragons!" I said, staring at his grinning face. "Bear, I've never even heard of these places. Have they... Christian peoples?"
"Some, I suppose, have infidels."
"Bear, we need to go someplace that's free from all danger."
"I doubt such exists. In any case, I've not yet the strength to go too far."
"Bear," I said, "you think I'm too young to give advice. But I'm fearful that we'll be found. The old woman spoke of a nearby village. We _need_ to leave before we're found."
He lay back and closed his eyes. "You may be right."
"But—"
"Just give me a little more time, Crispin."
Certain I was right, I took it upon myself to find a way to make him go the sooner. Bear would then see I was not the child he thought me. If he was too weak to make decisions, then I would have to make them for us.
**12**
A FEW DAYS LATER, when the sun was high in the sky, Troth rushed into the bower. She went right to Aude, and made some of her sounds into the old woman's ear. She also made fists of her hands and clenched them, signing. Her urgency made me watch closely.
The old woman nodded. Even as she did, a man appeared at the bower entryway.
Startled—for aside from Aude and Troth, we had seen no others since we'd gone into the forest—I moved toward Bear, ready for the worst.
The man was in his older days: that's to say, of some fifty years, grizzled, and slight. From his garb I saw he was a peasant. He wore a dirty, belted, brown wool tunic that reached his knees, ragged sleeves that almost touched his wrists, plus a back-pointed hood. Leather straps bound his leggings of cloth. He must have been running, for he was all of a sweat, panting deeply. From the way he stood, uncertain as to his footing, with constant fretful glances around, a flexing of his hand upon his staff, he appeared apprehensive. Though his eyes were mostly on Aude, he kept darting brief, worried glances at Bear and me.
Aude, barely looking up, finally said, "Goodman Piers, what brings you here?"
"Old dame," the man said with a hesitant, rocking motion that might have been a bow of courtesy but could just as well have been agitation, "Goodman William bade me come. His wife is heavy with child. Ready to burst. Being in great pain she's called for you to come without delay." He stole another glance at Bear, who was seated against one of the boulders. As for Troth, he seemed to take pains _not_ to look at her. She pulled her hair across her mouth, hiding her disfigurement.
Only then did I realize it was something she had _stopped_ doing for Bear and me.
"How fares the woman?" said Aude.
"Good dame, her labor is full of agony," the man cried. "She's frightened her babe is not set well."
Staring into the fire, Aude said, "Nerthus wants life. Aude will help." It was what she had said to me, when she first tended Bear.
The man wiped his mouth and the back of his neck with his hand. His eyes shifted nervously. Looking round at Bear yet again, this time, he nodded. "Our Lord's peace to you, stranger," he murmured.
Bear said, "May all the grace of Our Blessed Lady be with your village woman."
"Aye, aye, exactly so," the man said with a vigorous nod. "May Jesus grant it." He seemed eased by Bear's Christian blessing. Then he added, "There were some men who passed through the village. They were looking for a large, red-bearded man. Perhaps you were the one."
Startled, I looked round to Bear.
"Who were they?" he asked.
"I know not."
Then Bear asked, "What came of them?"
"Since we knew nothing of you, they went away."
Aude reached out to Troth. The girl scurried over and with her help, the crone got to her feet. "The belt," she said, "the herbs."
Once ready, Aude said, "Come," to the girl and put one hand on her shoulder. The two moved toward the entryway.
"Old mother," Bear cried out. "God's blessings on you." Aude halted. She turned, and twisted round with her birdlike look to consider Bear and me with her one good eye. "Be blessed," she muttered.
An unhappy-looking Troth made a sign, which I understood to mean "Good-bye."
As soon as Aude and Troth went from the bower I turned to Bear. "Bear, you heard. Men are looking for you. We need to leave now."
Bear grunted. "God knows we have our enemies. But, Crispin, the man said they went off."
"The sooner we go, the safer."
He laughed. "The best time for elders to advise youth is when youth presumes to advise their elders."
"But I'm right!" I cried, now angry.
"Crispin, since those men had no way of knowing we were here, it's unlikely they'll come back. We're safest here. Anyway, by Saint Aldegon, I'm not strong enough to go. My fever lingers."
"You've not said so."
He shrugged. "A man's weakness is his best kept secret."
"Weakness is not your usual way of living."
"Crispin, I was close to _having_ this living!"
"Has that so changed you?"
"Should it not?"
Feeling frustration and anger, I glared at him, then went to the entryway of the bower, and looked where Troth and Aude had gone. Then the thought came to me: if I'm ever truly to be free, I must act for myself. I turned back to Bear. "I'm going with them," I announced.
"Why?" he asked.
"I want to learn if anyone in the village is aware of us. We need to know how safe we are."
"You'll only draw attention."
"Bear, the man said only you were sought. Not me. Besides, you said you're not well. Then give way to me. I'm old enough."
He snorted. "The man who must prove himself a man is still a boy."
"Have you forgotten? You said I should feel free to disobey you at any time."
"Crispin!" I heard Bear cry. "Don't!"
But I had already started off.
**13**
WHEN I CAUGHT up with Aude and Troth, the girl acknowledged me with a glance of surprise. Aude paid no mind. She merely plodded on. No one spoke.
After perhaps two leagues, we began to move along a narrow track that suggested more frequent use. After another league, we came out of the woods and made our way into a shallow valley.
Some twelve or fifteen dwellings were scattered on either side of a muddy road with fields laid out in long strips, mostly in tillage. I took it to be Chaunton, the village of which Aude had spoken.
Houses were of timbered construction with wattle-and-daub walls and thatched roofs. A few had doors. No windows. Pigs, dogs, and geese roamed freely. I saw a small, decaying, gray stone church, its tower squat and square. The village sat well before it.
It was no different from other poor villages I had seen in my travels with Bear. Most likely it was owned—as Bear had once explained—by a distant lord or bishop or even an abbey, which saw nothing of the commune save rents or garnished goods.
No people were working the fields. Instead, a crowd was milling round the entryway of a house. I supposed it was where the birthing crisis was occurring. The number of people—perhaps twenty or twenty-five—gave me reason to think the whole town was there. From the custom of their dress, all appeared to be peasants, mostly men. But only women passed in and out of the house. As I knew from my own village, men were not allowed at a birth.
Our slow, awkward trudge into the village was soon noticed. All turned. A man detached himself from the others and began to run toward us, arms waving wildly. He was younger than the peasant who'd come to fetch us. His face was full of anguish.
"Dame Aude!" he cried. "Make haste! My wife's in mortal pain!" It was Goodman William.
Despite the plea, Aude made no alteration of her pace, but plodded on as before. Bent over as she was, I don't think she could have gone faster. Troth, meanwhile, pulled her hair across her face, hiding her disfigurement.
The peasant drew near. "Dame Aude," he shouted anew. "In the name of God's mercy, hurry!"
Aude, without looking up, mumbled, "Aude will try."
"Her pain is terrible," pressed the man as he drew close. "I fear she's in great danger. The bailiff is with her.
Aude halted and peered up at the man. "The bailiff?" she said. "No man should be there."
"He claims the right!" said the man. With that he took hold of Aude, and pulled to make her move faster. "You need not fear: he knows you're coming," he went on. "He only insists there be none of your gods or magic."
Aude shook her head and tried—with little success—to resist the man's dragging hands. "Aude can only do as she does," she said.
Feeling awkward, out of place, suddenly not wishing to be associated with the two, I regretted I had come. I told myself I should go back to Bear. Even so, I stood there, wanting to see what would happen.
"But the girl," cried the man, darting an anxious look at Troth. "She mustn't come any closer."
Troth, keeping her gaze down, gripped Aude tighter.
"Why?" Aude demanded.
"God's mercy, woman!" cried the man. "You know the answer! She's Devil-marked. She'll bring peril to my wife. I beg you! In the name of Jesus, don't argue! Just hurry!"
Aude, with a vehement shake of her head, said, "Not without the girl."
The man tried to yank Troth away from Aude, but the girl clung to the old woman.
Though what I was witnessing upset me, I hardly knew what to do.
"You must hurry!" shouted the man at Aude. That time he pushed Troth back fiercely, enough to cause her pain. She turned to me with an open-faced appeal full of fright.
Unable to ignore Troth's plight, I jumped forward, and tried to pull Goodman William away from her. The man, taking notice of me for the first time, swung out with his fist, striking me on the shoulder with force enough to throw me off. He resumed his dragging of Aude.
Angry, I lunged and tried to pry William's hands away from Aude. Even as we thrashed about, a scream erupted from the house, a long, beseeching cry, full of awful anguish.
Ashen-faced, Goodman William released Aude and whirled toward the sound. Next moment, he swung back, went to his knees, clasped his hands, and looked up at Aude with eyes full of panic. "In God's mercy, woman!" he cried. "Help my wife!"
"I can only try," muttered the old dame, and moved forward again, clinging to Troth, as much as Troth clung to her.
As Aude drew near to the birthing house, the village folk retreated some paces. I could not tell if they moved from her because they did not wish to be near her, or to give her room. I was beyond their notice.
Then, just as Aude approached, the bailiff emerged from the house. At least I took him to be the bailiff. A big, burly man, he was dressed somewhat better than the others, with buskin boots and a paltry collar of some ragged sheep wool. His garments and hands were stained with blood.
When he appeared, the townspeople fell back to form a half circle behind him. Then, as Aude and Troth advanced, the bailiff stepped forward to block entry to the house.
"No," he shouted. "You must not go further! You're no Christian." It seemed to me his cry was as much to the townspeople as it was to her.
Aude halted. Small as she was, she seemed to diminish in size before this man.
But then the distraught husband tried to shove the bailiff away from the entry, crying, "She can save my wife!"
"Better she die than be damned," the bailiff said, refusing to move.
Another terrible cry came from the house.
It seemed to drive the husband mad. With a sudden leap, he wrapped his arms around the bailiff and dragged him away. "Go to her," he called to Aude. "I beg you! Go!"
Aude hesitated momentarily then went forward again. Troth stayed close. Next moment, the bailiff broke free from the husband and pounced at the old woman, only to miss. But he managed to take hold of Troth's arm. As the old woman went into the house, the bailiff yanked the girl back, forcing her to stay behind. As that happened, the husband followed Aude within and was also lost to my _view._
The bailiff forcibly thrust Troth away from the house. "Evil thing!" he cried. "Begone!" He began to pummel her about her head and shoulders.
With sudden rage, Troth erupted. Whirling about, growling and grunting like some wild beast, she kicked and clawed at the bailiff. Small though she was, her attack came with such unexpected ferocity that the bailiff doubled over, putting his hands up to protect himself. The crowd, which had been inactive until then, came to life. With a shout, they rushed forward.
**14**
AT FIRST I thought the people were going to help Troth, and free her from the bailiff. It took just moments for me to realize otherwise: like a pack of attacking dogs, they joined the bailiff in beating Troth, kicking and clawing at her. "Kill her. Kill the Devil-girl!" they screamed. Troth tried to resist but was quickly overwhelmed.
I was so stunned by what was happening, that at first I remained rooted where I was. But when I saw Troth fall I ran forward and dove among the swarm of brawling people. I struck out at whomever was before me, receiving as many blows—if not more—than I gave.
In the middle of this struggle came a long, drawn-out cry from the birthing house, a cry of appalling torment. It crested above all shouts and screams, enough to cause the mob to stay their fury.
In that brief lull, I wedged myself among the mob. Troth was cowering on the ground, crouched, arms up to protect her head, crying uncontrollably, bleeding. I put my arms round her, shouting, "Troth! It's me! Crispin!"
She gripped me.
Holding her tightly, I pushed back with my body, kicking and shoving as best I could, until I dragged the sobbing, gasping girl from beneath the frenzied swarm. The crowd did not even seem to know she was gone.
Once I'd freed Troth from the mob, I lifted her bodily and began to haul her away as best I could. But as we moved away, there came another shriek from the house: the tormented cry of the husband, Goodman William. "Dead!" he screamed. "My wife and babe are dead!"
Hearing the death cry, the people as one shifted their attention to the house.
I stopped and turned, the weeping Troth still in my arms. As we looked on, Goodman William staggered out. Collapsing to his knees, head striking the earth, he beat the ground with his fists. "Dead! Dead!" he cried repeatedly.
The people went to him as if to provide comfort. As they did, the bailiff rushed into the house.
I let Troth down so that she stood on her own unsteady feet. She was trying to regain her breath, straining from me. Fearful that she'd go back and be caught by the crowd, I would not let her go.
Next moment, Aude appeared, blood upon her. She did not come on her own. The bailiff was dragging her by her hair. Being so light, so frail, the old woman could make but feeble resistance.
"Kill her!" shouted the bailiff, throwing her to the ground. "She worships foul gods! She caused the good wife's death!" He began to kick the fallen woman. Next moment, the people swarmed round and attacked Aude too. I could hear the blows, the cries.
Troth, with a horrific scream of pain—as though her heart were being ripped from her chest—struggled to free herself from me. Frightened that the villagers would turn on Troth, I clung to her tightly. Though she made dreadful, pleading sounds, I began to pull her away, fleeing as best I could.
At first I simply ran, paying no heed where I was going, save making my way out of the valley. No longer hearing cries from the village, I stopped and looked back. The crowd had drawn back. A mangled, bloody body lay before them. It was Aude.
I had no doubt that she was no longer alive.
Troth strained desperately to get away from me.
"There's no helping her," I said, unwilling to release her. "If you go back, they'll kill you, too."
Suddenly, Troth turned about and, sobbing uncontrollably, clutched me around my neck so tightly I gasped for breath.
"We need to get back to Bear," I told her. "I don't know the way. Troth, take us back to Bear."
I pried her grip loose, but kept holding her, fearful she would bolt back to Aude.
The two of us stared toward the village. The people had gathered round Aude's broken body. Then some one pointed in our direction. Two men started running toward us. One was the bailiff. I had little doubt what might happen.
"Troth," I pleaded, "we must get to Bear!"
Though weeping and struggling for breath, Troth bolted toward the forest following unseen paths. I, who but moments before was her protector, was now in need of her guidance.
**15**
WE ARRIVED at the bower panting, gasping for breath. "Bear! Bear!" I cried as we burst in.
Troth, crying wildly, ran to Bear and buried her face in his chest. Taken by surprise, Bear wrapped his arms about her, even as he looked over at me for an explanation.
"They've killed Aude!" I shouted.
The blood seemed to drain from his face. "Who? Why?"
I told him what had happened as quickly as I could. "And they're coming after us," I said. "We must leave. Now!"
Bear looked at me then spoke into Troth's ear, loud enough for me to hear. "Troth, you can't stay here," he said. "You must come with us. We'll keep you safe."
Troth, her whole body shaking, as if the tumult of her emotions were writhing within, frantic to burst free, nodded mutely to Bear's words.
"Crispin," he called to me, "get whatever's ours. Hurry!"
I gathered up our sack, making sure it had our few things.
Gently, Bear pushed Troth away from him, and knelt before her, face to face.
I drew close, but didn't know what to do or say.
"Troth, hear me," Bear said. "By all that's holy, I swear by your gods and mine—by blessed Saint Bathild—we shall take care of you. Protect you. Do you understand me?"
Troth, sobbing, struggling for breath, and constantly smearing tears with dirty hands, looked around at me.
"We will, Troth, we will," I said, anxious that we leave.
Bear, not waiting for her to reply, asked, "Is there anything you wish to take?"
Crying with hard grief, she looked about, then ran out to the hawthorn tree and tore off a sprig, which she concealed among her clothing.
"Crispin," Bear called, "are you ready?"
I held up our sack. "I have everything."
Bear grasped the girl's hand. "We must go," he said.
Troth, as though unwilling to look at what she was leaving, pressed her face against Bear. He squeezed her close again.
I waited some few feet off.
Bear gazed upward toward the sun. He took a deep breath. "We'll go south," he said at last.
"Where?" I asked.
"I'm not sure," he replied. "Away."
With that Bear strode off, still holding on to the whimpering Troth. I came a few steps behind, sack in hand, looking back over my shoulder.
Suddenly Troth stopped. From her garments she took out the hawthorn, held it over her head, and murmured words I did not understand. Then, as though possessed, she turned and began to run.
**16**
AS GOD WOULD HAVE IT, Troth led the way. We went southward, first running, then walking, then running again. My great fear was that Bear, not fully healed, would be unable to keep her pace. As it was, he had to pause and rest more than once. My own breathing was heavy. My legs ached.
Troth never looked back. Not once. All that she had been she seemed to put behind her. Backward glances were left to me. With all my fearful turnings I grew stiff-necked but saw nothing to suggest we were being followed.
I did not speak. But, then, I did not know what to say or what to think. In my thoughts I kept seeing what had happened. Its dreadfulness did not, would not fade. It brought on a constant shivering, as if death's cold hand gripped my neck and would not let it loose. What, I wondered, could Troth be seeing in _her_ mind?
I recalled all the doubts I had about Aude and Troth: how I thought them evil, malignant spirits. Then—as if to excuse myself—I asked myself why my blessed God had _not_ intervened in Aude's final moments. Why had _He_ let it happen? Was He waiting for _me_ to act? Was He unmoved because Aude worshipped other gods? I did not want to believe that of my most merciful Jesus. I also asked, what of Aude's gods, her beloved Nerthus? Why had _she_ not saved Aude?
When my footsteps brought me no answers, I allowed myself the notion that to run away may well be the answer God provides.
It was dusk when we halted, still deep among the trees. How many leagues we had come, I could not begin to reckon. Troth, I think, could have gone on. It was Bear who insisted we must stop. Face flushed, in a filthy sweat, limping, he was exhausted.
Troth immediately sat down, rolled onto her stomach, and cradled her head in her arms, eyes turned from us. There she lay, unmoving, surely the most soul-weary of us all. Now and again she whimpered. Was this the first time she was so far from her bower? Away from Aude? I would have guessed as much.
"We better not light a fire," Bear cautioned.
"Do you think we've been pursued?"
"May God, in His mercy, say no. But it's best to take care."
"And food?" I said, realizing we had not brought any.
"We'll need to be content with nothing till the morrow," said Bear.
He sat next to Troth, close enough that she might know he was there. I sat on her other side, my knees drawn up, held by my arms.
The day faded to darkness. But if stars were above, I saw them not. Above us, tree leaves stirred as though to soothe the air. The footfalls of small creatures plucked the darkness. An owl hooted twice. Whether Troth slept, I could not tell. From the way Bear breathed I knew he was still awake.
"Bear," I called, "was it wrong for me to disobey you—when I went with Aude and Troth?"
"Wrong for you to have gone. Right that you were there."
"But... but one does not follow from the other."
"Ah, Crispin, you desire your freedom, don't you?"
"Yes... I do."
"Then best learn: freedom is not just to be, but to choose."
Though I tried to understand of what he meant, it was too hard. My thoughts drifted. "Bear," I asked, "what will happen to Troth?"
For a moment he said nothing. Then he said, "The girl's marked, unwanted. Feared. What's feared is abused. She'd perish. She must stay with us. Do you object?"
"No, no," I said in haste. "Not at all. But, Bear, where will we go?"
"To the southern coast, to the sea."
Remembering his words about the great ocean, something in me stirred. "And when we do..."
"It's easier to find employment in coastal towns. Men come and go. Perhaps, as well, men who've seen a bigger world have bigger hearts. Hopefully they'll be more accepting than peasant folk. We need some generosity. Let's pray to Saint Lufthildis that he'll protect us. He can be kind to those who are homeless."
"Are we homeless, then?"
"Perhaps all are," said Bear with a sigh. After some brooding silence he said, "When I was a child, there was a song often sung to me." Lifting his voice, he began to sing:
> _Oh child, you are a pilgrim horn in sin_
>
> _Who must forever wander in_
>
> _This world where death flies out_
>
> _of darkling doors_
>
> _To cast down Adam's kin,_
>
> _as he has done so oft before._
>
> _For Adam, who, though once devout,_
>
> _In God's Eden of bright delight_
>
> _Caused eternal suffering throughout,_
>
> _By taking up the serpent's gift of_
>
> _never-ending night._
Then with a yawn, he said, "I'm exhausted. That running has heated my fever."
"Bear," I said, "will we never find some peace?"
"Every night," he murmured, "gives way to day."
"Does it _always_ come?"
But Bear made no reply. I supposed he'd fallen asleep.
I—unable to get the images of Aude's slaying out of my head—could not sleep. I still felt wretched that _I_ had once thought so badly of the crone, and of Troth.
"Blessed Saint Giles," I whispered, "it's hard to be a man." Full of remorse, I reached out and gently set my hand to Troth's back.
I did not know if she slept. Even so, I said: "Troth, in the name of my God, I beg your forgiveness for all my unworthy thoughts, and herewith make a sacred vow by my Sacred Mother that I will treat you with true kindness, that I will be a brother to you for all my days forever and anon."
To my surprise, she stirred, turned, and took my hand that had rested on her back, and set her broken mouth to it in a kiss. My heart swelled. I thought: though broken, a mouth cannot bestow such a forgiving blessing and be evil.
"Amen," I whispered to her.
She turned away. No more was said.
Greatly wearied, I made myself go on my knees and prayed desperately to my Saint Giles. I prayed for Aude's soul. I prayed too, for Troth's. I prayed, of course, for Bear.
By then I could hardly keep my eyes open. Even as I drifted off, I realized I'd yet to pray for my own keep. "Saint Giles!" I cried to the all-embracing night. "Help me have an open heart. Help me know my ignorance."
But mine was not an easy sleep. I had an ill-omened dream in which Aude's eyes—the blind one and the good—gazed at me from some distant place. In my troubled fancies I knew she was seeing two futures, the good and the bad. Which future, I kept calling, would be mine?
And in my dream I heard Aude's mumbling _voice._ "Crispin," she was saying, "take heed. Be a man."
"Have I not saved Troth? What more need I do to become a man?" I cried.
The dream gave no answer.
**17**
W E WOKE to a misty dawn. Like limp-winged moths emerging from cocoons, we tried to shrug out of our sleepiness. Once alert, we offered our prayers—I don't know if Troth made any—and then continued on, trudging beneath the crowded trees.
Troth went first, small, dressed in rags. Next came great Bear in his rough-made garment, without shoes, red beard unkempt, his two-pronged hat with bells a-jangle. I came last. I had my tunic, much torn. My hair had become long again. And filthy. On my back was our mostly empty sack.
An odd threesome we were!
By midmorning we reached the forest's edge. As if a veil was being lifted, the bosky dimness melted. We stood upon a bluff and gazed upon unending rolling hills of new green, broken occasionally by clumps of leafy trees. Grass was thick and tall. Swallows swooped low before soaring up to distant heights. Beyond southern hills, the distant spire of a holy church pointed heavenward. Higher still was the sun, a pale white disk in the vast gray sky, a reminder of Aude's blind and milky eye.
"What is it about an empty countryside that seems so peaceful?" mused Bear.
"No people," I replied. "And we have been fleeing them for too long. Do you know where we are?"
Bear was taking his rest, sitting with his back against a tree, gazing out upon the open world. Close by, I leaned against another tree. Troth sat near Bear on the ground, clasping her knees in her arms, staring at the landscape. I wondered if she had ever seen so much land in one vista before.
That made me recall how much _I_ had come to see of the world. Indeed, as I gazed out upon the unending land, I sensed how much more there was for me to see. The thought pleased me.
Bear glanced at the sun. "We are still going south," he said.
I asked, "Do you think anyone could be following us?"
Bear grunted. "There's an old saying: 'No matter where they go, the ignorant never travel far.'"
"May Heaven make it so," I said.
We sat and stared. After a while I said, "Forgive me, but I'm hungry."
"I am too," said Bear. "Troth, are you?"
She shook her head, but whether to give a yea or nay, it was hard to know.
"Then it's time we found some place to perform," said Bear. "That church," he said, pointing to the spire. "There should be a town or a village hard by. Crispin, it seems as if God wishes us to resume our old labors."
"Are you strong enough?" I asked.
"Methinks I must be," he returned.
"Will it be safe?"
"We can be watchful."
"And Troth?"
"In time, she needs to learn the drum, or make music in some other way. Or even dance. She can begin by passing around my cap for coins." He turned to her. "Troth," he said, "I suppose that with Aude not given to much talk, you had little reason to use words."
Troth nodded.
"Well, by Saint Ursula," said Bear, "we'll engage to teach you as much speech as we can until you converse as freely as a bishop. Come now, surely you can say your name."
Troth, alarm in her eyes, looked down, as if ashamed. She forced herself to look up again. Her hands were fists. Indeed, her face contorted with some inner struggle until she said, "Oth."
It was a reminder to me of her fierceness.
"Well done!" cried an exultant Bear, patting her back. "Did you hear, Crispin? Troth speaks her name as well as you and me." He added a private wink over her head so I would not contradict him. "By Saint Drogo, Troth, before long we shall have you giving speeches before King Edward at Westminster!
"Now, then, Troth, can you say _Crispin?_ Can you say _Bear?"_
Shyly at first, the girl spoke her sounds with halting struggle. They were not the words as I might say them. But Bear was generous—as only he could be—in her praise. He would find no fault. And she, in her grave way, repeated the words over and again, determined to get them right.
Laughing with pleasure, Bear got up and took Troth by the hand so that she might walk by his side. We started for the place where the spire stood. As we went along, Bear paused to point out things and say them loudly to the girl, "Tree! Grass! Stone!" and such, insisting she repeat his words.
No matter what she uttered, Bear always told Troth she had spoken well, exceedingly well. I joined in the praise. The praise seemed to free her. She spoke with ever greater frequency.
From that point on, Troth spoke as if to make up for lost time. That it was hard for others to understand I can attest. And, God's truth, she never did speak much, or with great complexity. Indeed, I learned to read her hands and eyes as much as I heard her words. Those eyes of her spoke much. Bear and I, who heard her repeatedly, came to understand her manner, voice, and speech. Or, as Bear once said: "Mind, Crispin: a loving heart hears more than ears."
Thus when I render Troth's talk here on forward, I'll give it as we understood it, not the broken way it was spoke.
**18**
AS WE WENT on, Bear instructed Troth about our performances. "Now, Troth," he said, "Crispin and I shall show you how we eke out pennies. We're heading for a village. Let's pray it's small and remote. When we arrive, Crispin will play the recorder while I sing, dance a jig, and juggle. If the good people look kindly upon us, we might earn enough to buy some bread."
I could see that, though Bear's words made Troth nervous, she made no response other than to nod.
Bear went on: "Therefore, Troth, you must study and learn from us, for in good time you must do your part. We'll have no sluggishness here. Have no fears. No harm will befall you. Just stay close to Crispin and me."
After going for perhaps a few leagues, we came upon a narrow road, which appeared sparsely used. Wagon tracks were shallow and for our brief passage we saw no one on it. It suggested an isolated place—just what we desired.
We pressed on, passing over a bridge that crossed a frothy stream. There we drank our fill. We also paused long enough for Bear to search out some smooth stones, which, by the way he hefted them, I guessed would be for his juggling. Then on we continued until the village we'd been seeking appeared before us.
Bear handed me the recorder.
"There, you see?" he said, as I gave a few fluttering trills. "We're as ripe and reedy as ever."
"Are you?" I asked, doubting it.
"Crispin," he said, "I think we have no choice." He flexed his arms and hands until his knuckles cracked, smoothed his beard and took a deep breath.
Excited to reengage with our old life, I put the recorder to my lips and offered up a light and lilting air, an easy one to step. Bear slipped into it, like foot to boot, and began his dance.
To see Bear romp caused Troth's eyes to open wide with delight, for—fever or no—Bear was stepping high and lively, now moving forward, heading for the town, hat bells a-jingle. Step for step I was with him with all my being, piping out my pithy tune.
Troth ran to keep up with us, calling, "Bear! Crispin! Wait for me!"
As God willed, it was a miserably poor village we'd come to. But then, the kingdom had no end to such impoverishment. Hardly bigger than Chaunton, it was far less than my Stromford. Otherwise, it was much the same and thus unworthy of description. No doubt it was smaller than its name, which no one ever bothered to divulge. Perhaps it had none.
As always, the children were the first to see us come. Where they came from one never knew, but come they did, running and tumbling like tail-shaking, squealing piglets at their play. No doubt we were as rare as furry eggs. They laughed and clapped their hands. Some made attempts to dance like Bear, skipping along, knees high, and hands clapping, as we came into what passed for the center of the village.
I think Bear loved these parades of tumbling, gleeful youth as he headed—in our normal fashion—for the church.
The village church proved fairly large and suggested that the community it served had once been larger, perhaps before the great sickness. I could see Troth eyeing the building with wonder. Remembering tiny Chaunton, no doubt it was the biggest structure she had ever seen. It allowed me to think that I had seen much of the world.
When we drew close to the church porch, Bear sank to his knees and removed his cap with a generous flourish, making the bells ring with merriment.
I stopped playing and knelt by his side, head bowed. Troth, imitating us, did the same, staying close to me. She was tense, with eyes for everything, while trying to shield her mouth with her hair. I reached out and tried to reassure her with a touch. She edged nearer.
As curious villagers gathered round we kept in place. It was not long before a priest arrived. He was an elderly, tonsured man, tall and thin, who looked—despite his advanced age—strong as an ox. Indeed, it appeared as if he had just come in from the fields, and had been working hard.
"My blessings on you, strangers," called the priest, as he approached. "Do you wish words with me?"
Bear gave his usual response, with just enough alterations to make it appear fresh upon his lips: "Most reverend Father," he began, head still bowed, but loud enough so all might hear, "I, known as Bear, am a juggler. My son, daughter, and I, being but lowly pilgrims, are making our way from York City toward Canterbury to pay our humble homage to England's sainted Becket, there to beseech his blessings upon the children's late deceased mother, my lawful, churched wife. For so doing we humbly ask your approval."
I noted that Bear now included Troth as his daughter, as well as providing us with a common mother and him a wife. I wondered if Troth had heard and what would be her thoughts.
"You may gladly have my blessing," returned the priest, and he lifted his hand to bless us with his Latin words and the sign of the cross. "But I suspect," he added with a generous smile, "there's something else you wish."
"My children and I," Bear went on, "beg leave to perform some simple songs and dances for the greater glory of God, for this fair village, and for his grace, King Edward, England's golden lion, with whom I have had the honor of fighting on the victorious fields of France."
"With King Edward, you say?" said the priest.
"Himself"
"Did you not know he has died?"
"Died!" cried Bear, looking up sharply. "When?"
"The news reached us these past few days."
"And is Edward's son, the Duke of Lancaster, the new king?" asked Bear.
"Apparently not. It's the true heir, the late king's grandson, Richard of Bordeaux, who has been crowned. God grant him long life! But mark this: it seems that when our young king was crowned—he's been styled Richard the Second—and was being carried away, one of his shoes fell off. An ill prophecy for his reign."
"Who put it back on?"
"His uncle, the duke. Still, let's pray there'll be some measure of peace for a while. God knows, despite the truce, the word is the war in France goes on."
"How far are we from the coast?" Bear inquired.
"The sea?" returned the priest. "The closest port is the town of Rye. Perhaps a week's journey. I've never seen it myself, but there are those among us who can tell you the way."
"Father," said Bear, "I'm grateful for your information and your blessing." That said, he sprang up and with a nod to me—his signal for me to start—and I commenced to play and Bear to dance.
As God was kind to us, we earned enough to purchase three loaves of bread. Bear, I could see, was much wearied. But no one spoke ill—to our hearing—of Troth, who had shyly passed Bear's hat.
That night we were allowed to sleep in a donkey stall, sharing our place with the beast. The cost to us was another song and dance for the crofter's family. Still, this man not only provided us a place to sleep, but some rare mutton and turnip and enough to drink.
"Bear," I asked as we sat about after eating, "will the king's death make a difference to us?"
Troth looked up. "What's... king?" she asked.
To which Bear replied: "A king, Troth, is the ruler our loving God bestows upon us. While at times the gift appears to bless us, at other times it seems meant as a trial."
"Is the new one good or bad?" I asked.
"He's a child. Some nine years old."
_"Nine!" I_ cried.
"And whereas an infant may still have angels hovering round his head, as king he'll more likely bring on the Devil. The point being, he'll not truly reign. Not for years. It will be his uncle who holds the power, if not the scepter."
"Who is that?"
"The Duke of Lancaster, John of Ghent."
"The one who replaced the king's shoe?" asked Troth.
"Exactly so. And small events can foretell great acts. There are four things that can be said for the Duke: He's brother to the late king. The wealthiest man in all England. Perhaps the world. England's most powerful man. And the most hated."
"Why hated?" I asked.
"He's haughty. A poor soldier. A man greedy for power."
No one spoke for a while. Not until a somber Troth stood before Bear and said, "Bear... am I... your daughter now?"
Bear's somber mood was replaced by a grin. He clapped a large hand on my shoulder, another on hers. "If this lad can be my son," he said, "you can be my daughter. Will you have me?"
To this the ever-solemn Troth said, "I will."
To which I said, "Then, Troth, I am your brother."
"So be it!" cried Bear, and reaching out with his great arms he encircled and bussed us both. "My two cubs!" He laughed.
Was ever a family more wondrously made?
**19**
WE PRESSED ON in a southerly direction, Bear choosing not to travel by any road. It took us longer, but I suspected he picked a leisurely pace, the more to mend. In truth he was in grim humor, not given to much jesting or even speaking. While he did not say, I suppose he also thought Troth would be better off with just us. For her part, she remained mostly mute, but always close. I was pleased that there were just the three of us.
The first night after our visit to the small village, we stopped in a clump of small trees near the top of a hill. For food, we ate some bread and cheese we had purchased.
"What will we find in that place called Rye?" I asked.
"I've never been," he said. "I know it only as a port."
"Is it safe there?"
He shrugged. "As always, we must watch, listen, and beyond all else, pray."
"To whom?"
"Whoever hears you best."
"Bear," I asked, "why are there so many saints?"
"I suppose," said Bear, "this wretched world has so many woes, even God almighty needs help."
Indeed, that night he chose to drill us—both Troth and me—in using a pike (a tree branch) and a dagger (a stick) to defend ourselves.
"Do you think we're being followed?" Troth asked.
"Alas," he said, "we all have our enemies. A soldier I once knew used to say, 'He who thinks his enemies are fools is the bigger fool.'"
Avoiding villages for a few days, we continued south. To pass the time I tried to get Bear to talk about some of the places he had visited.
Once I said, "Tell us what your soldiering days were like."
He shook his great head. "I'd rather not talk of those things."
"Why?" I demanded.
"Some things are too awful to want a second seeing."
"You're only telling."
"A good telling is a good seeing," he returned. "And it was war."
"What is war?" asked Troth.
"Dear Troth, may God grant it never touches you," said a grim-faced Bear.
"Then tell us," I said, "about that place you _never_ saw—the one which has no kings, armies or wars—that land of ice."
"Iceland?" he said, with a broad grin. "I don't even know if it exists."
"Then," I suggested, "you can make it even better."
"I suppose—from its name—it's all ice." That said, he spun some marvelous tales—stories of giants, of trolls and dragons, of great deeds by ice-draped warriors.
Troth and I listened, enthralled.
To earn our necessary bread we performed three times, always heading south. Though these villages were pitiful places, we gathered enough thin coins to eat.
The second time we performed, Troth joined in on her own. Taking Bear's hat, she shook it rhythmically, adding to our sound. What pleased her most, I think, was that few paid her any mind. All eyes were set on Bear, his dancing and juggling.
By night, Bear told us more fabulous tales, of holy saints and their miracles, of beasts and the great acts of the ancients. It was as if we traveled more by night—not moving, just listening—than we did all day by foot.
Those were nights of joy: the cloaking darkness our guardian, the spread of stars above, each star a promise of God's infinite grace, a blessed eye upon our little family. Oh, how I adored that feeling of _us,_ the embrace of star-blessed love! If we could have been that way forever—a family below that overarching heaven which flowed on so gracefully—I would have been much content.
But as we pressed on I began to notice something: when we were in the villages to perform, Bear made a point of going off to speak alone to some of the menfolk. It was as he'd done before in Great Wexly—though at the time I did not know it—when he was gathering information for John Ball's brotherhood. Now, when he did this, he seemed glum, and as we moved farther south, increasingly so.
"Is it news about the new king you're seeking?" I asked when he came back one such time.
"There is no news of him," was his curt reply.
"Are you hearing word of the brotherhood, then?"
He made a face. "Let's pray we never see their like again."
"But something is troubling you," I persisted.
"We shall have to see," was all the answer he allowed.
Avoiding common roads, and, for a time, even villages, we approached the port of Rye from the north. Thus we followed footpaths of which there were increasing numbers, often wending our way through grazing flocks of bleating sheep.
As it fell out, long before the town came into sight, I began to smell something I never had before. It was strong, and fairly reeked of I knew not what.
"What is _that?"_ I demanded of Bear, for it made my nose itch.
"You're smelling the sea," he said.
"What's _seal"_ asked Troth.
Bear looked to me.
"The sea, Troth," I replied with much self-assurance, "is water—also called ocean—and it covers the earth more than land." That said, both Troth and I looked to Bear: I to see if I'd spoken correctly; Troth, I suspect, in disbelief.
"Crispin speaks true," said a grinning Bear to both of us.
Excited to see something so vast and strange as _sea,_ I urged us on, and soon enough, as we came round a stand of trees, the town we had been seeking lay before us.
And then I learned what was worrying Bear.
**20**
THE ANCIENT TOWN of Rye is situated on a high knob of land like a clenched fist. It is surrounded on three sides by low water channels, rivers, and a marshy mix of sand and sea. These waters flow directly into a bay, the bay opening to the sea, though coming from the north as we did, the sea was hidden by the rise of land.
But Rye itself, being elevated, could be observed from a distance. There was a large cluster of houses and a tower that looked to be a castle. A church spire could also be seen. What we also saw was a large amount of hazy smoke.
"The town. It's on fire!" I said, proclaiming the obvious.
"Then it's true," he said.
"What's true?" I demanded.
"I was told French and Castilians attacked and laid waste to Rye. I didn't wish to believe them."
"Why not?"
He shook his great head. "You heard the priest: there's supposed to be a truce in the war. An attack at this time seemed unlikely. But it's true."
"Who told you about it?"
"In the towns—some of the people shared the news."
"Why would Rye be attacked?" I asked.
"When England claimed the French crown, we brought the war to them. They've now returned the compliment."
"Is that the meaning of the new king's lost shoe? The omen that priest spoke of?"
"Or," said Bear, "the French wishing to test the young king."
"Bear... are they still here?"
"I was told they struck hard and fast, and fled. It should be safe. Let's hope so."
To reach the town we had to cross one of the rivers, which was so wide we had to pay a ferryman one of our well-worn pennies to pole us across.
He was an old man, stooped and grizzled, whose skin was as dark and speckled as a brown egg, his boat a narrow hollowed-out log with a bottom as flat as any shoe. At first I feared we might tumble into the water, but the man showed his skill and kept us on even keel.
"Tell us of the attack," Bear said to this man as he carried us to the other shore.
"It was a sweet, cloudless day when they came," was the reply. "They came by sea, at dawn, swooping in, killing almost seventy. Four men were taken away for ransom. Looting was rampant. Many homes were burned. They burnt our church, stealing everything they could, even taking the bells." He paused in his poling to lift a fist in anger. "May God strike them down, hard!" He marked his words with a shove upon his pole, punctuating them by spitting into the water.
"And they claim Saint Dennis as their protector, he who is a defense against strife. May Jesus blast them all."
"Was there no resistance?" asked Bear.
"We did resist. Fiercely. But were ill-prepared. Those who failed in their responsibility have paid the penalty."
"How so?" asked Bear.
"Execution," said the man. "God rot them." He spat into the water.
"That," suggested Bear, "will surely make them better prepared next time."
The man went on: "Happily after two days, the abbot of St. Martins—his name is Hamo—led a force to drive them away."
"And all this took place—when?" asked Bear.
"Seven days ago," said the man. "And with news of the sacking, the traders have shied away. But perhaps some—not knowing of our plight—will yet arrive. Was there somewhere you wished to sail?"
"Not us," Bear said.
"You're strangers. Where do you come from?"
"York," said Bear, who had clearly been prepared for this question.
"Did they attack elsewhere?"
"We don't know," said Bear. "We have been traveling."
"Then travel on to France or Castile and slay them all for me," said the man, who, with a final shove, beached the little boat upon a shingle of gravel and sand.
On the shore, heaps of burnt and half-burnt wood lay about at random, no doubt dragged there to rot. They stank mightily. Whatever docking or lifting machines had existed, were destroyed. It was also there that I first saw a cog, the sort of boat Bear told me about, that carried most goods to other ports.
Above us stood the town of Rye, situated on a hill behind the town's portal called the Landgate. The gate itself had escaped destruction.
Once we entered Rye's grid of streets, we lost the rich tang of sea, to be enveloped by the stench of the town, the normal stink of offal, ordure, and slops. There was also the reek of destruction. Many a house had been burnt, with a fair number still smoking. Most houses were without roofs, mullioned windows destroyed, shutters aslant. Indeed, no wood structure was left unharmed. Charred wood was so common that the acrid smell of burn and smoke stuffed our noses. Everywhere was the chaos of destruction: the litter of countless broken things, clay, cloth, and wood. Stone structures fared somewhat better.
In two places we saw the charred and stinking bodies of fly-encrusted dogs, and even, to my horror, a foul human not yet claimed.
Hardly a wonder, then, that the survivors paid scant attention to us. The people of Rye moved slowly, faces taut with bewilderment and suffering. Some must have been in great pain, for they were bandaged, or limped, showing hurt in many ways. For others, the grief must have been contained within. When children looked at us, they did so furtively, clinging to their elders'legs.
"Why did the French do this?" asked Troth.
"We did the same to them," returned Bear quietly. He seemed much disturbed.
The town being on a hill, we trudged upward along its narrow, winding streets, toward the top. No rumble and uproar of people as in Great Wexly. No flashes of joy as we had seen in even smaller towns. No chatter or light laughter such as one normally hears. Here, only destruction to see and terror to sense, broken now and again by the thud of what must have been hammers attempting to set things aright—or perhaps in making coffins.
At the town's crown we came to Rye's church—or what had become of the church. Doors had been wrenched away. Windows were broken. Shards of colored glass lay about on the ground—as if a rainbow had fallen from the sky and shattered.
When we looked within, all was smashed, much of it buried beneath the mangled remains of a collapsed and still-smoldering roof.
"Was it the infidels who did this?" I asked, shocked by the desecration of such a holy place.
"There are no infidels in France," said a grim Bear, as he turned away. "Just Christians. Like me."
We went forward and there I had my first look upon the great sea.
What I saw astounded me: a vast plain of flat and endlessly empty gray, which was overwhelming. The word _forever_ was thus made real, the boundaries of my world turned infinite.
Thus it was that in one brief time I saw the hand of God's creation as thrice awesome—and the hand of man's destruction, frightening three times more.
**21**
THAT NIGHT, Bear found us a place in an inn. At least what remained of one. Like the rest of Rye it was much despoiled, though the innkeeper—a woman named Benedicta—and her son Luke were laboring hard to rebuild. The inn bore the name of Michael the Archangel—the one who can protect mariners against storms. A charred sign displayed his symbol: a dragon with a sword.
Half the inn's roof was gone. Stone walls, by God's mercy, were mostly intact though dressed in soot. Doors were broken. Most of the wine and ale pillaged. The same for victuals.
Worst of all, Benedicta, a widow woman, had one of her two sons slain by the marauding troops. A tall, stately woman, with long black hair in a single braid and black garments, she was severe-looking in her sorrow. There being little custom since the attack, she was willing to have us and our paltry pennies. Despite her great grief, she welcomed us as ones who had no such loss as she, so she could open her sorrow to Bear, who always served as a broad funnel for people's grief. With so many of her neighbors consumed by loss, the poor woman could find no pity, and she was in sore need of some.
She set a broken table for us, and somehow secured trenchers and some small meat with not enough rot to keep us off. Then she and her surviving son—twice my age and a likeness of his mother—joined us, and talked of their heartache to Bear. In so doing, they struck a friendship. Bear told her that Troth and I were his children and he a widower.
While they talked, Troth and I stayed in a quiet corner and listened. After much discussion of the attack, they spoke of the late King Edward, of Richard the new boy king, the Duke of Lancaster, and the war with France, which had gone so poorly for England of late.
Much land—and many men—had been lost in the Aquitaine, which is where Benedicta's husband had died two years previous. A truce had been made between England and France, but she said English soldiers had been abandoned in France and they fought on as brigands.
The woman asked Bear to tell his story. Perhaps to gain her empathy, he revealed that he, too, had been a soldier and spoke of fighting in France with the Black Prince. "It was hard and terrible," he told her.
She asked Bear if he knew her husband, and named the knight with whom he fought.
Bear shook his head. "There were too many."
"Now you must tell me why are you here," said Benedicta. "Or do you mean to enlist again?"
"Not I!" cried Bear with alacrity. "We're only wandering minstrels, hoping to stay awhile."
"I fear you won't earn much with your music and dancing here," she said. "People will cling to what they have."
Seeing Bear downcast, the woman said, "What say you labor for me in return for food and lodging? I need the help."
"I've not my usual strength," said Bear.
"I'm sure it's enough."
A bargain was quickly made.
Thus commenced a pleasing, even restful time as we stayed on at the broken inn. With a loan from Benedicta, Bear was able to purchase new clothing—breeches, shift, hose—and, at last, some boots. Troth was also garbed, though she refused wimple on her head and shoes. It was appealing to see her mix of solemn pleasure and discomfort in new clothing, a bird with new plumage, though her plumage was but a simple wool kirtle.
For work, Bear was called upon for lifting, hauling, and repairing. While he was not as strong as he had been, he was strong enough. I prayed he'd regain it all.
Indeed, concerned for his state, I kept a self-appointed task of being his—and Troth's—protector. At times I thought we should go elsewhere, to one of the lands Bear had spoken of, so as to be free of all thoughts of pursuit.
Of this, however, I said nothing, knowing my restlessness was stirred not just by fear, but also by seeing the ships and sea, feeling their allure. For I, who had lived so confined, so closed, saw the sea as boundary-free, a notion I found exciting.
Meanwhile, Troth and I were asked to do smaller tasks—to clean or fetch. She was too shy to talk to others. Only with me would she chatter. Thus she and I, finding more time to be alone, learned more about one another's lives.
She was much taken by the story of my mother's secret life, how I had fled my town, my meeting with Bear, and what happened in Great Wexly. For my part, I was held by her tales of life with Aude in the forest.
In truth, just as I had come to think of myself as inseparable from Bear, I now felt much the same for Troth.
Once she suddenly said to me: "Crispin, when you first saw me did you think me very strange?"
I gazed at her, and realized that I considered her differently from how I had at first. Then I surely saw the disfigurement. Now I saw—Troth. Still, I wondered how she wanted me to answer, but quickly decided she would trust me only if I told her true.
"Did I think you strange?" I echoed. "Yes."
"Why?"
"You were different. The way you lived."
"My mouth?"
"That too."
"And now?" she asked, gazing at me with eyes that welled with tears.
I reached out and placed my hand on her cheek. "Next to Bear..." I stammered, "I have no better friend."
She smeared the tears from her face then took from her kirtle the sprig of hawthorn she had carried from the forest.
"Why did you take that?" I asked.
"Aude would bless me beneath that tree. She told me a twig of it would bind me to the ones I love."
"Then the magic works," I said.
She threw herself at me, hugged me and wept while I stroked her tangled hair.
Once she suddenly said to me, "Bear has a secret sorrow."
"How do you know?"
"I see it in him," she said.
"I think you're right," I agreed. "At times he's almost told me. But I didn't want to hear."
"Why?"
"I don't want to think any less of him. Do you know what troubles him?"
"Something he regrets."
"How do you know that?"
"I see it."
"Is it very bad?"
"He thinks so."
I sighed. I said, "Someday I will get him to talk about it."
When I had a chance, I took to wandering about Rye alone. It was not that I did not wish to be with Bear or Troth, but I enjoyed my freedom.
Rye was not nearly as big as Great Wexly, and its state of devastation had reduced it further. The very smallness of the town allowed me to see the whole of it, to find my way with increasing ease. The rubble from the attacks was slowly being cleared. Repairs were being made. Houses were starting to be rebuilt. Even the church began to be cleaned. There was talk of a town wall for defense.
And for the first time, I came to meet with other boys. In my village of Stromford, more often than not I was shunned. It was rare for anyone to befriend me. In Rye, the boys knew nothing of me, save what they saw. Echoing Bear, I claimed York as my home, and that I was traveling with my father and sister as a performing minstrel.
Not knowing what to expect, at first I was uneasy, but the boys took me at my word—the more so as I often helped them in their labors. What's more, they envied my juggling. On my part, I took great pleasure in being with them.
Some had been on ships and had traveled to distant places. Others were apprentices learning trades: bakers, masons, and others. Others complained of hard masters and harsh parents, while some had only words of kindness for the same.
All had tales of the attack, speaking with bitter anger of the killing, looting, and cruelty. Family losses were great and awful to hear. Many swore revenge upon the French and Castilians.
But despite their doleful recollections, sweetest to me was their irrepressible, raucous sense of life; their boisterous, braggart ways. Despite their losses, these boys found ways to joke and tease among themselves and did the same to me. To be among them made me feel older, wiser, smarter. I was keen to learn. To have what are called friends, to have boys my age greet me by my true name—with pleasure—was a whole new joy for me.
I even made a particular friend, Geoffrey by name, whose father was a mariner. Geoffrey told me many tales about ships and the sea. Once he confided—bragging I would say—that his father had served on a brigand ship attacking French ports.
Not to be outdone, I told him that _my_ father—Bear—had been in a secret brotherhood, but having left it, we needed to be on the watch for them. Such secrets sealed our friendship.
One day Geoffrey took me in a little boat and we went out onto the waters. How amazing to float, to see the land from offshore. When he let me cast a line I caught a fish. As I hauled it in, I could not keep from laughing with delight. That night, Benedicta cooked it and it was fine. My being swelled with pleasure.
I did not let a day pass—sometimes with Geoffrey, sometimes alone, sometimes with Troth—without looking to see what ships had come in. As I learned, before the French and Castilian attack, many vessels had come. Now, though fewer, enough arrived for me to study them.
There were smaller boats used by fisher folk. And once I saw a huge hulc. But the ships that drew me most—perhaps because of their colorful sails and mariners speaking so many tongues—were the cogs, which were the seagoing horses of the coastal fleet.
These cogs were some seventy-five feet in length, twenty-five at the widest. They were built of huge beams with smaller overlapping boards—"clinkered," as it was called—for a hull. A single tall mast—thick and forty feet in height—set somewhat forward of midship, bore a cross spar from which hung a great, square canvas sail. Rough oak planking made for a deck.
The front of the boat—they called it a bow—was sharp and poked up. The rear of the boat was higher and called a "castle." At the castles highest point was a great steering oar—a rudder they named it—so heavy it took a strong man to shift it.
A cog could carry all manner of goods, mostly in barrels—they called them tuns—for trade. They carried people, sometimes soldiers and horses. The attacking soldiers had come in cogs.
Not only did the ships hold my fascination, they fed my fancy of becoming a mariner.
One evening Benedicta told us about the death of her husband in France. "It was at a siege," she said. "Or so I was told. I don't know where. Nor how."
Bear said he had taken part in more than one such siege, which was something I had not heard before. "For the most part they can be tedious," he said. "But then they turn brutal."
"Like the French?" asked Benedicta's son.
At a loss for words, Bear ruffled his beard and shook his head. "I don't like to say."
The room was filled with a painful silence, after which Bear stood up and left the room.
Later that night, when I realized Bear had not come to sleep, I went outside. Bear was sitting with his back to a wall, staring up at the star-filled sky.
"Is something wrong?" I said.
"No," he said curtly.
"Bear," I said, "why don't you say what happened when you were a soldier?"
He did not respond.
"Why won't you tell me?" I asked.
At first he did not speak. Then he said, "It is hard to tell myself"
"What do you mean?"
"Crispin, war is another world. To be a soldier is to be another person." He was breathing painfully, as if it were hard to speak. "I sinned much. In my heart I cannot even ask forgiveness for what should not be forgiven. I can only pray that my Lord will have mercy on me."
"What did you _do?"_ I asked, much troubled.
"Go to sleep, Crispin," he said with weary irritation. "I don't wish to speak of it."
I returned to the room where we slept. As I lay down I heard Troth say, "Crispin, is something the matter?"
"I don't know," I said, and told her of my conversation. After she had listened, Troth said, "Aude used to say there are places _in_ people we can't see. But they are there."
I thought for a while and then I whispered, "Troth, once, when Bear was ill he talked about a chained bear that was kept in captivity—as if the links of the chain were his sins. He told me he took his name from that bear. And another time he said, 'To love a man, you must know his sins.'"
"Crispin," she said, "you know Bear. You know he's good."
Lying there in the darkness, I thought: is that what it is to be older—to know there are things you are afraid to know?
**22**
WHILE BEAR WORKED at the inn with Luke, Troth and I spent much time together. We often wandered about Rye, looking upon its world.
Troth was like a chest that had become unlocked. There was so much she wished to know. For her, Rye was a vast place full of new things. I marveled at what she noticed, wondered, and asked about. Though I wanted to appear knowledgeable, I could not always supply answers. "Ask Bear," I often had to say.
As we wandered, there were times Troth hid her face—for people would stare, point, and even call her names—which made her shy. She was never so with me. My friends soon accepted her.
In the evenings, back with Bear, who talked expansively to Benedicta and Luke, Troth and I found in exchanged glances all the talk we needed. Sometimes we communicated with the hand signs that had become our secret language.
I talked freely to Bear—or at least tried to—but since that time when he would _not_ talk, I was much aware there were things in him he did not want me to know. It grieved me to see how he had changed: no longer the boisterous believer in his own bigness, when even his rebukes made one smile, when his jests taunted all, when his very being could embrace the whole world.
But when Troth and I talked, we were equals. I could say anything to her, and she to me.
"If God could give you what you most wished," I once asked her, "what would it be?"
"Aude."
"And if not her?"
"To be with Bear... and you," she replied.
After a moment she asked me the same question, and I replied, "To be with Bear and you."
"Then it's the same prayer," she said, "and therefore perhaps the stronger."
Then I asked, "If you could _be_ anything you desired, what would it be?"
She replied: "Ordinary. And you?" she asked.
"A man."
A man. "Like Bear?"
I was about to give a quick _yes,_ for I did so admire and love him. But I found myself hesitating and unsure of my words, except to think, I was not him. I must be myself, Crispin.
"No," I said quietly, cautious to speak so. "I think... I want to be different. Perhaps a mariner."
So it was that as often as I could, I took her to look upon the sea, sitting on the high bluff near the large castle tower that survived the attack. Most often we sat in silence and did little more than stare upon the sea's great expanse.
Once she asked, "Crispin, what lies beyond the sea?" She was pointing to the farthest line of ocean—where water and sky met,
"In faith, I don't know."
"Is there _anything?_ Or _is_ that the edge of the world?"
"I suppose what you can't see," I replied, _"is_ always the edge. And fearsome to look over."
"Aude often spoke of the edge of the world." Then she said, "Could it be Nerthus's world?"
"Which is?"
"The land _beyond._ Where... I hope Aude _is._ Crispin, shall we stay in Rye?"
"I want to be free to see the world."
"Even to the edge?"
"Aye."
She said, "I'd go with you."
"I would like that."
It was some twenty days or so after we arrived, on a late afternoon, the dark already descending, when Benedicta sent me to the miller for some flour. As I was wont to do, I took the long way about to the highest point, near the castle, so I could look upon the sunset sea which I found endlessly beguiling.
"Crispin!" I heard.
Taken by surprise, I turned. It was my friend Geoffrey, who had run up. "I've been looking everywhere for you!" he called. His face was flushed.
"Is something the matter?"
"That brotherhood," he burst out.
"What do you mean?"
"You told me your father was being pursued by some brotherhood. Three men have come to town. They have been asking for your father."
I thanked him then fled back to the inn and found Bear, Benedicta, and Luke hauling a beam upon their shoulders. Fearful of speaking too openly, I ran to find Troth. She was in the courtyard, sweeping with an old straw broom.
"Troth!" I cried, "they've come."
She turned pale. "The men from Chaunton?" she cried.
"No, ones seeking Bear. You must gather our things."
She dropped her broom and followed as I ran back to Bear. In the interval the beam had been set it its proper place.
"Bear," I said. "I must speak with you."
"You're free to do so."
"I... I think it best," I stammered, "that it's only for your ears."
"Come now, we have no secrets from our friends."
I looked from him to the innkeeper. Deciding there was no time to argue, I blurted out, "They've come."
"Who's come?" said Benedicta.
"Ball's brotherhood."
Bear's face stiffened. "How do you know?"
"A friend told me three men have come to town and were asking for you. I did not see them"
"Sins of Satan!" Bear swore. He slumped against the wall, defeat in his face. It was shocking for me to see him so, but it confirmed what we had to do. "I was hoping it would be otherwise."
"Bear," I said, "we _must_ leave."
He shook his head. "Crispin, they would only follow," he said.
"We can take a boat," I said. "Sail away from England. Go to one of those places of which you spoke."
Bear bowed his head. "Let them come, Crispin. We'll be done with them."
He looked up at me with weary eyes. To my dismay I saw him willing to accept defeat. "Bear," I pleaded, struggling to find a way to move him, "there are three of them. If you can't fight them off, what would become of me? And Troth?"
That touched him. He looked at Benedicta, as if he was asking her.
"Rye is a small place," she said. "It will take only a short time before you're pointed out. Crispin's right. You best go."
"There are two cogs on the quay," I quickly said.
Bear turned to me. "How do you know?"
"I look every day."
Bear studied his hands as if to measure their strength. Then once again he turned to the innkeeper.
"When it is safe," she whispered, "you can return. I'll be here."
Bear took in a great breath. "God grant it. Very well. Crispin, gather our things."
"Troth has them," I replied.
Benedicta turned to Luke. "Go with him," she said. "I'll stay here, and deal if necessary."
"Can you?" asked Bear.
"As God knows, there's little fear left in me."
She and Bear embraced one another. As we were leaving, the innkeeper handed Bear some coins and a bullock dagger. "Trust in God and this."
"Can you spare it?" asked Bear.
"I can." She turned back to Luke. "Take them down and around the western cliff," the innkeeper advised. "Are you sure there were cogs?" she asked me.
I nodded.
"Make sure you bring them to the one that's leaving soonest," she said to her son.
Luke nodded his understanding. For a moment Bear and Benedicta gazed at one another. There was great sadness in their faces.
"Bear," I cried, "we must go!"
Thus we quit the inn, all but running.
**23**
THE SOUTHERN CLIFF that fronted Rye was rocky and steep, but more steplike than not, so that we could climb down with ease. Moreover, Luke knew a path that in the growing darkness we would never have found on our own. With him going first, followed by Bear, Troth, and finally me, it took moments for us to reach the rocky base.
"Keep close," Bear whispered.
Going as quickly as we could, we picked our way over boulders and stones until we turned the bend of Rye's bluff Coming round we saw a large fire burning on the beach. By the gleaming firelight, I saw the two cogs I had seen earlier. They had been hauled up on the beach.
I looked to Bear. "There, you see."
"We can but try," he said and turned to Luke. "We'd best go on alone. Your mother may need you. In any case, if we can't leave by boat, we'll leave by another way. I'll send word. Many blessings on your kindness."
Luke had no desire to linger. "God give you grace," he said and hastened away, running back the way we'd come.
As soon as he left, we three continued along the beach. Drawing closer, we could see that while there were two cogs, just one had people about—four in number. By the light of the fire we could see they were brawny fellows, working in pairs to load a host of barrels. Once the barrels were on the ship they wrestled them down a hatch to the hold. On the beach were some sixteen more tuns.
"Keep a look about," Bear warned.
That said, we advanced upon the cog.
"God mend all," called Bear as he approached. Troth and I held back some steps.
The men paused in their work. Once they saw who we were, they went on with their labor.
"Might I speak to the ship's master?" asked Bear.
One of the men standing on the beach, who was just bringing a barrel forward, called out. "I'm here."
He was a squat, bulky man, whose flat, weathered face featured bulging eyes, a high forehead, and small nose. Curly hair encircled his head like a fuzzy halo. His bare arms were thick and well-muscled.
"Godspeed," said Bear with not the slightest hint of urgency. "Peradventure, would you be sailing soon?"
"Aye. When we load."
"Where might you be sailing to?"
"Flanders."
"Bringing wool?" said Bear, with a nod to the barrels.
"We are," said the man. "Is there some matter here for you in all this? I've no time to gossip. We must sail at dawn."
Bear advanced a few more steps. "My name is Bear, and I, along with my children"—he gestured back toward us—"are—may God grace our way—seeking passage to Flanders."
"Are you now? For what reason?"
"I'm a weaver," said Bear. "I'm seeking employment there."
"And I'm short two men, and eager to load, but the attackers destroyed the machinery. You look strong enough. If you lend a hand I can offer a voyage for a shilling. With luck we should take no more than a day or two. But I'll want to sail with the morning's tide. A good wind is promised. If we catch it, we'll make fair speed."
"We're more than willing," said Bear.
Bear offered the coins that Benedicta had given us, and then the three of us took to rolling the barrels into the cog, which, I hoped, would take us to safety.
I was very tense as we worked, fearing those who sought Bear would appear at any moment. If Bear felt the same, he did not show it, but turned to the task at hand. I don't know what aid Troth or I provided, but we pushed and rolled by his side, one heavy barrel at a time.
Once all the tuns had been lowered into the hold, a lid was placed over the hatchway and hammered in with bits of rope stuffed in the cracks. "To keep the seawater out," Bear explained.
"Will none get in?" asked Troth.
"It will surely be all around us. But, God willing, not over us."
When the barrels had been loaded, we all, at the shipmaster's request, put our shoulders to the cog's bow, and shoved her free from the sand into the water. With the ship afloat, Bear waded into the water and hoisted Troth and I onto the deck. Then he clambered aboard.
We were now on the cog. A line ran to the shore from the boat's stern and was tied round a stone. Then one of the mariners went forward and heaved out the iron anchor from the bow. Between the two lines the cog held steady in mid-river. The sail was furled. In this fashion we were ready to depart at first light, winds—and God—willing.
With the boat secure, I watched the master's three companions go off, moving up the shingle, past the remnants of the beach fire and into town through the Landgate. That left the ship's master and us on board. Night was now with us.
The master called out to Bear, "Come, my good man, present yourself and your brood so I can see what manner of folk you might be."
We approached the man where he stood at the stern. He held up a lit lantern and gazed at us.
"Your daughter is afflicted," he said.
"Only to those who would see it so," returned Bear.
"Does she bring bad luck?"
"As Jesus is my witness," said Bear, his hand resting on her shoulder, "only good."
"Well then, as God wills it," murmured the man, putting his lantern to one side. "Now then, I thank you for your assistance and your coin. I suppose you'll want to stay and sleep here till the dawn."
"If it pleases," said Bear.
"Best do," said the master. "We'll want to bestir ourselves as early as possible. If you can find a place to sleep by the bow, midst the chaff, be free to do so. I fear I've no food for you. I'll be here," he said, meaning the ship's castle.
"We thank you for your kindness," said Bear.
We took ourselves to the bow. There, upon the rough planking, was all manner of things strewn about: coils of old, rough rope; rusty hammers; axes; rotting rags; plus other things I did not know. We cleared some space next to the capstan, the better to spend the night. The master, having wrapped himself in a blanket, had doused his lamp so the only light came from smoldering coals on the shore. Above were naught but stars and a crescent moon.
"Will those men," I whispered to Bear, "the ones who came for you, not search here too?"
"Let's pray not," said Bear.
"But those other men," I said, "from the boat, they went into town. I saw them pass through the Landgate."
"What of it?"
"Might they not go to a tavern?" I pressed. "Might not those brotherhood men go to such places and ask for you? And did you not once say to me that you were like a cardinal in a flock of ravens?"
In the darkness I heard Bear laugh. "Ah, Crispin—Saint Benedicta of Milan—she who looks after students—surely has blessed you. I daresay you are right and I'm wrong."
"Then shouldn't we keep watch?"
"We should. As an act of penance for my mindless ways I'll stand the first part. I'll wake you in good time, and you, in turn, can wake Troth."
"Who will I look for?" asked Troth.
"Three men, I suppose," I said.
Having agreed, Bear hauled himself up. As he did, he put his hand to his head. "My hat!" he cried.
"Where is it?"
"I left it at the inn." He looked the picture of misery. "I've half a mind to fetch it."
"You mustn't," I said.
"God's truth," he agreed. "But it gives me reason—someday—to return." That said, he went to lean upon the deck walls midship so he could observe the shore. I watched as he stood there, slumped, thinking, I supposed, of his precious hat. Then Troth and I lay down and gave ourselves over to sleep in rhythm to the gently bobbing cog.
Troth dozed off first. I lay awake, staring into the sky and the multitude of stars. "All will be well," I kept saying to myself. "It will."
**24**
EXACTLY WHEN IT WAS that Bear woke me I don't know. With the bells having been stolen from Rye's church, it was hard to know the time. Regardless, he woke me with a shake, saying, "By your leave, lad, it's your watch now."
Though sleepy, I forced myself up. "Did you see anything?" I asked.
"Only the stars and moon," he returned. But as he lay down, he placed Benedicta's dagger by his side.
I stumbled to my feet and went to the place where I'd seen Bear keep his watch. Once there, I leaned upon the deck walls and looked toward the beach. The fire had gone out. Not so much as an ember glowed. Such light as there was came from above—just enough to vaguely see by.
I had not been there long when Troth joined me. "It's not your time," I said.
"I could not sleep," she replied.
We stood quietly, side by side, looking at the darkness.
"Where is Flanders?" asked Troth.
"I don't know," I said, even though I recalled Bear saying the Flemish were a mercantile people and that he did not trust them.
"Will we be able to come back?"
"Of course."
"How?"
The way we go.
"Will we be safe there?"
"Safer than here."
After a long while during which neither of us did more than breathe, she said, "Aude told me you were good."
"How would she know?"
"Aude knew everything. Crispin... I'm sad."
"Why?"
"I'm leaving her."
"Perhaps... perhaps she is in a better place."
"Where?"
I thought for a moment, then said, "That place you spoke of, beyond the edge of the world."
For a while Troth said nothing, though in the darkness I could hear her breathing hard. It was as if there was some struggle in her. From the folds of her clothing she pulled out the sprig of hawthorn tree she had taken. She held it over the water as if to drop it.
"You should keep it," I said.
"Why?"
"It binds you to your love."
She gazed at it, and then put it back in her safe place.
We spoke no more. Teased by the river swells, the cog heaved gently. Standing there, staring into the night, I dozed. I woke with a start when I heard Troth say, "Crispin, three men have come!"
"Where?" I whispered.
"There," she said, pointing toward the dim shore.
Gradually I perceived what she had seen. Three men were walking along the beach. One of them held a small torch, hardly more than a fist of fire. But it was enough light for me to recognize the man we had met beyond Great Wexly: the archer who had wounded Bear.
On the instant, I ducked. Troth did the same. "Is that them?" she asked me quietly.
"Yes. Stay low," I said and eased myself up, just enough to spy.
By God's good grace, the three men paused at the first cog they came to, the one farther upstream. The torch-bearer held up the light, while the archer hauled himself onto the boat. Then he reached down, and took hold of the torch. The other men boarded.
I could see them move about, searching. I was sure when they found that cog deserted, they would come to us.
Trying to think what to do, I recalled Bear's dagger.
"Troth," I hissed. "Keep watching that boat." I hurried to where Bear slept. Seeing his dagger by the faint gleam of its iron blade, I took it up and went back to Troth.
"Are they still on that cog?" I said.
"Yes."
"Call if they start to come."
"Where are you going?"
"Not far." I crept to our boat's stern. I could just see the ship's master curled up on a blanket against one side, his curly hair exposed. I searched about, seeking where the rope—the one connected to the shoreline—was attached. It was not hard to find.
Working silently, I used the dagger to saw upon the multistranded rope. I made certain not to work at one spot, wanting the cut to be as jagged as possible—like a rip.
The boat's movement helped; it kept the rope taut, with an occasional sharp tug that made my cutting easier. Sure enough, the rope began to fray. Fingers of cord sprang up. When the boat gave a sudden lurch, the rope split. Instantly pulled by the tide, the cog swung out. Drawing upon its bow anchor, it floated out into the middle of the river.
It was all so gentle the ship's master did not stir.
I went back to where Troth was and looked back.
"How did you do that?" she asked.
I grinned and held up the dagger. "Where are those men?" I asked.
"Still on that other boat," she said.
Not for long. As we watched, they quit the first cog and climbed down onto the beach.
I gripped the dagger.
We watched as they advanced along the shore. If they had expected to find our cog where it had been, they were surprised.
Holding up their torch, they stood upon water's edge. I could hear the faint murmur of their voices. Unable to reach our cog, they soon departed, trudging toward town through the Landgate. "Jesus is kind," I said. Even so, Troth and I remained on watch for the remainder of the night.
**25**
THE FIRST STREAK of dawn had just appeared with a cock's crow when the ship's three mariners returned. They had to swim to the cog, which they did with many a curse. The Master, much perplexed, assumed the rope had frayed by itself. No accusations were made.
Troth and I gave a hurried, whispered explanation to Bear. "Saint Bathildis," he said with a grin, "who protects children, must follow your footsteps very near."
I was full of satisfaction.
Meanwhile, the mariners were busy, one climbing the mast until he perched cross-legged atop the sail yardarm.
"Let it fall!" cried the master. The knots of cord that held the sail were undone. The great square sheet of Brittany canvas unrolled, revealing alternating stripes of red and white. Two mariners caught the ropes at each corner, and tied them to the deck. The master threw his weight upon the rudder stick. The cog swung about. The sail crackled and filled with the morning's breeze.
Now Bear, along with Troth and I, were called to turn the capstan so that the anchor—a two-pronged hook of iron—was hauled up. As the anchor lifted from the water, the cog began to glide down the river, into the lower bay, then quickly into the sea itself. We had left Rye behind.
Looking back, I swear I saw three men upon the shore looking out as we went on.
"We're safe," I said to Troth, full of pride.
With the ship's master holding the rudder rod in strong and easy hands, we sailed out upon the rolling swell of sea. The cog's blunt prow smacked the waves with a steady, splashing rhythm. The great, square sail snapped. The air was suffused with a salt-heavy dampness. Several squawking birds followed in our wake only to fall behind, indifferent to our fate. The green of England dropped away rapidly, growing ever smaller to my eyes.
How passing strange it was that though I was doing nothing, I was being carried somewhere at enormous speed. It was hard for me to know if the land was shifting or if it was we that moved. It was as if the earth had become unhinged and detached, moving several different ways at once.
In truth, all too soon, our cog crested the waves with such pitch and yaw that I felt as though I was always falling. The sound of the waves came with a repetitious roaring monotony as if the _voice_ of eternity were trumpeting into my ears. My need to cling to something _not_ moving was great, but nothing on that ship remained still.
Increasingly queasy, I stood near the ship's master, clinging to the rail with both hands while taking great gulps of pungent air. Twice I purged my stomach, and in so doing, any further desire to be a mariner.
I looked round for Bear. He was forward on the deck, alone. He, like Troth, had his eyes turned toward the receding shore. His face bore such melancholy as I had never seen on him before. Had I wrongly urged our departure? Was it a mistake to have left England? But when I recalled those brotherhood men and Bear's weakness, I knew we had to go. It _was_ right, I told myself, then turned about and cast my eyes upon the sea.
What I saw was a numbing expanse of gray sea and sky, a world of utter emptiness, spotted by frothy white. I was upon a world I never knew, going to a place I could not imagine, in a fashion I could but dream. I was excited, frightened, and bewildered, alarmed to be leaving what was old, proud to be doing something new, eager to see what was yet to come, yet fearful that all the newness would find me wanting. And—recalling Troth's thoughts about the edge of the world—I felt much unease.
"Will we lose sight of land?" I called to the ship's master.
He looked round at me and pointed to the mast. "Climb that!" he shouted over the wind. "You'll never lose sight of land. On a clear day you can see for fifteen leagues."
I declined with a vigorous shake of my head.
Laughing, he shouted, "I take it you've never been to sea before!"
I shook my head anew, afraid to open my mouth for fear of what might come out.
"God's eyes!" he exclaimed, grinning wide. "You need not worry. We'll never be far from some shore. Then again, you mustn't get too close to land."
"Why?"
"A sudden change of wind and tide—and this narrow sea is infamous for such—and you'll get sucked in and wrecked. A watery grave is a sodden place for a Christian soul to rest. Can you swim?" he asked, his eyes so merry they crinkled.
Refusing to be teased I said, "Do you often make this voyage?"
"There's always wool to be brought and cloth to return."
"Are we close to Flanders?"
"We'll sail up the Kentish coast. Reaching the Dover light we'll cross to Normandy in France—that's the narrowest passage—then northward along that coast until we come to Flanders."
Remembering how France was the one place Bear did _not_ want to go, I said, "Will we touch France?"
"Not if God is kind."
"Do you still think our voyage will take two days?"
He grinned. "Once it took twelve."
_"Twelve!"_ I cried—and we without food.
He licked two dirty fingers and held them in the air. "The wind, my lad," he said. "God's great breath has us at His mercy. Confess your sins!" he said with glee. "Some never reach land at all."
I swallowed hard. "Will it get rougher than it is now?"
He snorted. "This is _smooth._ So best get to your knees and pray. Blessed Saint Nicholas is kind to sailors and infants. And if he fails you, there's always Saint Jude for lost causes."
As we sailed on I had an urgent need to sit. To stand. To keep holding on. To let go. To hide. To do all those things at once yet dare not allow myself any excess movement. With my back pressed hard against the castle wall, my head bowed against my knees, I kept my eyes shut. Blackness somehow helped. Even so, the continual rise and fall of the cog was a constant reminder as to where I was and what was happening.
When Troth joined me I noted she was not ill. "You're a better mariner than I," I said.
"My herbs would cure you," she said.
"Are you sorry we came?" I asked.
She shook her head, but would say no more.
From time to time my sickness eased, but the slightest extra movement tumbled my guts. Having nothing better to do, I was content to watch the mariners at their tasks.
Now and again, one of them flung out chips of wood from the bow and observed them traverse the whole ship's length. Using his fingers, the man counted the time it took for the bits to flow past the boat, after which he would call the numbers to the master. Other times he would heave a lump of lead—connected to a line—overboard, then haul it up and cry how far it had plunged before hitting bottom. Sometimes he even touched his tongue to the lead. When I asked why he did these things, he explained that the flow of the chips allowed him to know how fast they sailed. Thatdropping the lead revealed the water's depth. As for the tasting, he had sailed the course so often his mariner's tongue informed him over which deep-water sand they sailed. In combination, these things could tell him just where they were. I could only marvel at his cunning.
After more time passed, I forced myself to stand and look about. To my dismay I could see no more land—nothing but the heavy, empty sea.
"Where are we?" I asked in sudden dread.
The master, who found much amusement in my woeful state, looked up into the sky at the pale sun, and finally said, "Still afloat."
I sat back down in haste. Would our voyage—I wondered with no small misery—consist of two days or twelve?
Though there was nothing I could see—or know—to the contrary, I presumed we sailed easterly along the English coast toward Dover. As we beat on, however, stiffer winds bore down with increasing force. The master steered the cog first this way, now that, till my head was as uncorked as my stomach. The ship, which had appeared so substantial when beached at Rye, now seemed little more than an insignificant twig, tossed carelessly by wayward winds and water.
Bear, having roused himself from his private gloom, worked with the mariners, heeding the increasingly insistent calls of the ship's master to tend the great sail, or to help keep the rudder steady when the sea began to swell.
Troth kept mostly to herself, standing by the rail, continuing to gaze upon the encircling sea. Whether she was looking back toward England, or searching for the sea's edge, I did not know. I was much too concerned with my tumbled guts to pay heed to anyone but myself. Thus does a large private misery make public compassion small.
Whether we made any progress I could not tell, not even if we reached Dover's Head. My vague sensation was that we were being beaten back. With increasing frequency, the cog pitched and rocked. Waves began to break across the deck, soaking all, leaving us shuddering with the sopping cold, while sluicing away anything not tied down. The mariners struggled to keep knots taut.
In the lowering gloom, they hung three lit lamps: upon the mast, on the bow, on the stern. Even as they did, the winds grew stiffer. The sea rose. The waves lashed. The sky began to darken balefully. It took three men to hold the rudder. The master filled his commands with angry shouts and oaths, upbraiding the Devil while urging his men to tasks with a growing fury that filled me with rising apprehension.
I began to say my prayers in earnest.
Bear called to Troth, and the two of them sat by me, he in the middle.
The mariners huddled by the master, darting forward now and again to obey shouted commands.
"Does night always bring such storms at sea?" I asked.
"God's breath, Crispin," Bear exclaimed. "It's not night yet. But when you travel by sea, storms are part of the journey. Know that God is in his heaven, and the master is at his helm. We can do no better than that. These storms don't last long."
Though he spoke with confidence, I knew I was frightened, not that I would admit to it.
Bear, as if knowing my mind, said, "No harm will come if we stay together."
He extended his arms round Troth and me, and drew us closer. Somewhat comforted, I asked, "Bear, are you sorry we've come?"
"We had no choice," he said.
"We'll go back," I said, much as I had to Troth.
"In truth," said Bear, "a wise man has as many hopes as reasons."
"We _will"_ I insisted.
"God grant it," he said, grim again.
**26**
AS THE SHIP continued to toss and roll, Bear left us to crawl about on all fours. Reaching the bow, he found a length of wet rope, dragged it back, and wrapped it round us and then to a rail. We were held fast.
"Why did you do that?" Troth asked.
"So we won't be washed away," Bear told her.
I looked at Troth. Her eyes were on some inner vision I could not fathom.
When I turned to the master, I saw that he too had lashed himself to the rudder pole.
As the turbulence grew greater, it became darker still. Such light as we had came from the three small lanterns and was hardly more than a blur, like memories of distant days.
The winds howled. The waves crashed. My soul felt naked. Then a damp mist fell heavily about us like wet wool only to transform itself to drizzle. I opened my mouth and sucked in the sweet water to cleanse my foul tongue. But all too soon the rain turned heavy, pelting the deck like some mad drummer's call to arms. It seemed to compete with the ocean—as if to make of the air another sea. We could do naught but compress ourselves, trying, by being smaller, to hide from the storm's assault.
Bursts of lightning tore through the dark with jagged clawlike streaks, followed by a thunderous rolling that made the skies tremble. The same flashing exposed the mariners'faces, making them look like pallid skulls.
In this hurly-burly void, the cog leaped and fell with ever-increasing frenzy, twisting and climbing, only to drop into what felt to be a void. Sometimes we canted so far over I thought we must capsize. Even when the ship righted herself, the sea flowed across the deck with abandon. The lantern lights spit and hissed. The wind cried mournfully, rising and falling like tormented souls bewailing their fate at being left to wallow in an endless sea.
At some point, I hardly knew when, the three lanterns were swallowed whole and with them went the last sparks of light—and so it seemed, any hope of life itself.
My heart hammered. My breath grew short. Our hair streamed. Our clothing clung to us like sopping winding sheets. Sure we were about to perish, I prayed incessantly, confessing to everything while vowing I would perform multitudes of holy penance—if only God would show His clemency. A crying Troth pressed herself against Bear's chest. I clutched him too. Oh, vanity to think tears could be measured in such a storm!
As the storm rioted on, Bear held us tight. At one point he began to sing a raucous, vulgar soldier's song that dared do battle with the weather.
Each moment I was sure the storm had reached its final fury. Each time it surpassed what came before. Once, in a blast of lightning, I saw the four mariners struggling with the rudder, their fear palpable. Bear squeezed us that much more tightly and roared on with his ferocious song.
"I want Aude!" I heard Troth cry aloud.
"I'm here, Troth!" cried Bear. "I'm here!"
Though I tried to keep my eyes closed, crackling lightning flashes caused me to blink them open. As the black night was torn asunder, I saw that our sail had split into several parts, and was now flapping like so many flags—each one an offer of surrender.
Then, midst the howling wind and drenching rains, came the cry: "Man over!"
I don't know if any attempts to save the mariner were made. It seemed unlikely. But shortly after, as if a human sacrifice had been wanted and delivered bodily to the raging gods of storm, the weather began to subside. Though the winds roared on, the rain eased. The cog pitched less.
"Is the storm gone?" Troth cried.
"I pray so," said Bear.
As if to provide a last salute, a final burst of booming lightning struck, and in that blast of brightness, I could see that there was no one at the rudder.
We were alone.
In utter darkness, as the rain continued to fall and the wind to blow, I sensed the cog was still moving apace, but where driven I could hardly know. The boat, the water, the wind, my despair, all was one. The only sounds I heard were the continual _slip-slap_ of waves as the cog skipped along.
Adding to my sense of doom was the fact that Bear did nothing but hold us mutely. No more songs. No more words. But by Saint Jude, what could he or any of us do? We were alone in God's great hands—if He only would hold us. My private sickness faded only to be replaced by the greater dread of being lost—lost by life, lost by the world, lost by God.
Gradually, the rain dissolved into mist. A sullen dawn suffused the air, so dismal, so weak, I could just barely see my own hands. The world had turned phantom.
More light came. The mist thinned. I could see my feet, the deck, and then much of the cog. I saw one of the mariners lay stretched midship, his foot tangled in a rope. His lifeless hand flopped with the boat's random movement.
The mast with its shredded sail was still erect, although the topmost parts melted into mist. Where the rudder rod had been was... nothing—just a jagged splinter of wood.
Bear's rope had saved us. What, I wondered, had it saved us for?
He slept, snoring slightly. His beard was dripping wet. His face looked wan, and despite so much sea and rain, so parched I could see his cheekbones. It brought on a sudden memory of how I'd first found him—a mountain of flesh, a great barrel of a fellow, whose arms and legs were as thick as tree limbs, and with a great stomach before all. How much of that—waxlike—had melted.
Troth pressed against Bear's chest, soaked. Her eyes were open.
"Are you all right?" I whispered.
She nodded, shivering, and squeezed herself closer to Bear.
"Bear!" I called.
"Alive," he muttered.
With the cog now at greater ease and rocking gently, I loosened the knotted rope. Once free, I reached up, took hold of the rail, and stood on unsteady feet.
A deep, damp gray fog enclosed us. I could barely see the water flowing by.
I kept watching for something to tell me where we were. Were we near England? Flanders? I had no idea. But I had been drained of all desire to become a mariner. If I never set foot on another ship, it would be soon enough for me.
As our speed decreased, the light increased. The mist swirled. In places it parted. What I saw caused me to stare with disbelief. Looming through the mist and fog—as if rising from the sea itself—were towering cliffs of rosy stone.
As God is holy, it was as if we had truly reached the rock-hard boundaries of the mortal world—the true edge of the world.
**27**
BEAR!" I cried. "Look!" Not fully awake, he shifted with a slight groan.
"Bear, you must look!"
He breathed deeply and blinked up at me with bleary, red-rimmed eyes. His clothing, like mine, was wet and dripping.
After running a finger round his mouth as if to rid it of a fetid taste, he rubbed his pale face, and raked a hand through his tangled, wet beard. Only when he leaned forward did he recall that he was still bound by the soggy rope he'd tied. With sea-puckered fingers he teased the knot apart. He stood slowly, stiffly.
Troth—equally wet—slipped out of the rope. Bear extended a hand so that she might stand. Only then did the two of them look out. If I understood their faces, they were as startled as I had been.
Stone cliffs seemed to be moving in and out of the mist on mighty hinges. Mist hovered so low it was impossible to know just how high these cliffs were. That they were jagged, hard-edged and rosy in cast, I could see. By contrast, the water surrounding us was mostly calm, dark blue flecked with white foam, clotted with green weeds. Here and there, black rocks stuck up. From aloft I could hear birds—or what I thought were birds—squawking. I half expected dragons with yawning maws to rise up and swallow us whole.
"Where are we?" I asked with awe.
"I have no idea," said Bear as he stared about, his voice just as full of wonder.
"Could we be back in England?" I said.
"We could."
"Or is this Flanders?" asked Troth.
"Anywhere," said Bear, shaking his head.
"Perhaps," I offered, "it's the end of the sea."
Bear shrugged, and turned to survey the cog. I followed his gaze. We were still moving, but very slowly. Oddly enough, the cog was in perfect order. All that had been loose had been washed away. Bear's dagger—gone. Our sack with the recorder—gone. Our fire-making tools—gone. There was just the mariner lying there. Bear went to him, and put a hand on his chest.
"Is he alive?" I called.
Bear's response was to make the sign of the cross and back away.
"Where are the others?" Troth asked.
Bear shrugged. "Lost. Swept over." He began to wander about the boat looking for what I knew not.
Troth and I remained side by side at the rail, gazing up at the cliffs. The cog, eased on by a rising tide, was drawing closer to the cliffs. Three times we struck rocks. Each time the cog recoiled, only to edge further in, the ship's hull making a scraping noise. Finally, there came a harsh, grinding sound as the cog's keel struck bottom, sounding like the rattling breath of a dying man.
The ship shuddered. It seemed to settle. We stopped moving. All that remained of the torturous journey was a gentle rocking which matched the wash of waves. These waves flicked against the ship like kitten tongues as though to soothe the remnants of our terror.
"There's the top!" I cried as the mist lifted further. The cliffs reached some two hundred feet over our heads.
It was possible now to see that the cog was in a little inlet, a finger of the sea, surrounded on three sides by rock. At the lower levels of the cliff I could see boulders piled high. The boat—with us upon it—had been nudged there by the movement of the ocean, wedged between the high stone walls with no room for turning about.
Bear went to the bow of the boat. "Even the anchor is gone," he announced.
"Will the boat stay?" I wondered.
"We've been brought in by a rising tide," said Bear. "I suppose the tides could pluck her out again."
"Will the other mariners be found?" asked Troth. She was looking down at the dead one.
"Not in this world," said Bear. "Are you as exhausted as I?" he asked.
We both nodded.
"Thirsty and hungry, too, I suppose." Bear went to the hatch, and labored to pry it open. We worked with him, pulling out the caulking. Once we managed to get it open, Bear stuck his head down.
"Dry as stone," he announced. "That caulking saved us. If the hold had flooded... But unless we eat wool there's no food."
"Was there a rudder?" I asked.
"I don't see one. I think I saw another sail."
"What will we do?" I asked, my _voice_ hushed.
Bear looked out on the shore. "We'd best get off while we can. My feet would like to find some solid soil. Then we'll need to climb those cliffs to learn where God has brought us."
"What about him?" I said, indicating the dead mariner.
"The living first," said Bear.
He clambered over the cog's side, and dropped heavily into the water with a splash. As it reached his waist, I could see him shiver with the chill. Turning, he let Troth jump down into his outstretched arms, set her on his shoulders, and waded toward the shore.
I leaped after them, feet first. The cold water clutched my chest and squeezed my breath away.
Walking as best I could, I followed after Bear, arms over my head. It was rocky beneath the water, forcing me to go1 5 2with care, seeking my balance as best I could. Once I slipped, and for my pains was soaked to my hair and draped in weeds.
Closer in, Bear set Troth atop a huge boulder upon which he pulled himself. The two began to make for real land, crawling and walking toward the shore, jumping from stone to stone. I came after, pausing now and again to look up at the cliffs, wondering how we would climb them.
We reached the shore. The beach was a narrow, rocky place, embedded with great boulders—no doubt fallen from above. Bowls of fine sand lay between. Seaweed was abundant. White oyster shells were scattered everywhere. With each passing moment, the air cleared further, revealing blue sky and a warm, bright sun. Birds called like rasping angels. Though it seemed odd to find the land so firm, I was grateful to be there.
How extraordinary, I thought, to be _some_ place without knowledge of where one was. I considered anew the possibility that we _had_ died. Perhaps Heaven was no more than this unknown shore. Then I had to remind myself, it was equally possible we had come to Hell.
Bear was gazing at the walls of stone that confronted us. Troth and I watched him.
"That may be a way up, there," he finally said, pointing to what looked to be a crevice in the cliff. He went toward it. Troth and I clambered after. As he walked, he stumbled slightly, enough to strike his knee against a stone. He swore, rubbed it, but labored on, limping again.
When we reached the spot that Bear had seen, it proved to be a cleft that went some ways upward. It was hard to see how far it reached.
Bear stood before it, so hesitant I could read his exhaustion from the way he fixed his shoulders. In protecting us during the night, he had become much spent.
Knowing he would not admit to it, but that we had to go forward, I simply pushed past him. "I'll go," I announced. And without waiting for Bear's permission, I began to climb.
**28**
MY ASCENT went easily at first, hardly more than walking up a steep incline. Gradually, however, the passageway began to narrow, and became increasingly steep. I soon found myself pressed close on either side by hard and jagged rock. Sharp edges were enough to score my hands, though they did provide places for my fingers to grasp.
Fearful of falling, I glanced down only to be frightened by the height I'd reached. Bear and Troth, standing below, seemed distant. The cog was equally remote. No other land was in sight save some rocks that broke the water's surface.
"Are you all right?" Bear shouted.
"Yes!" I called, though I hardly felt it.
Having no choice—other than to drop—I kept on, moving grip by grip, pushing as much as pulling. Every part of my body trembled with the struggle, aware as I was of the likelihood of falling and dashing my head on the rocks below.
But with God's blessing I came to a place where the climb was not so steep. I was able to crawl upward on hands and knees, not caring that they were battered. My sense of relief gave me a surge of strength. With quicker progress, I reached the top. Once there, I looked out upon the land we'd reached. To my surprise, there was no surprise.
It was much like land I had seen before: naught but rolling green fields and at the distance of perhaps half a league, a line of trees. As for any hint or clue as to _where_ we were, I saw not one jot. Passing strange, to have come so far across the world only to see what was familiar.
After my quick look, I returned the way I came, or at least the last, easy part. Leaning over the cliff, I cried, "I reached the top!"
"What's there?"
"Nothing!"
_"Nothing?"_ exclaimed Bear.
"Fields. Grass!"
After a moment, Bear said, "We'll come along."
"Take care!" I warned.
Troth came first. She scampered as agile as any goat. If she had any fears or difficulty, I saw them not. In fact, it seemed she reached the top in half the time it took me.
With Bear it was quite otherwise. I could hear him swearing and grunting his painstaking way. As Troth and I looked down there were moments—more than a few—that we held our breath, fearful he would fall.
At length, Bear reached the top, puffing mightily, sweating hard. I _led_ them along for the remainder of the way so they could see what I saw.
Troth and Bear gazed out over the open fields. I looked with them. No one spoke, until I asked Bear, "Do you know where we are now?"
"No," he replied. "Not at all." He sat down, breathing heavily. "By Saint Luke, I'm weary."
"I don't like it here," Troth announced. She had been gazing about.
"Why?" I demanded.
"It makes me uneasy."
"There are plenty of places in England where you won't see people," Bear said. "What troubles you?"
She only shook her head.
"Those trees over there," I said. "I could explore them."
Bear did not respond. The look on his face was of great fatigue. He was favoring his wounded arm again. "Go if you choose," he said. "But be cautious. I need to try and rest a bit."
"I'll go with Crispin," said Troth.
"Keep safe," muttered Bear, who had laid himself out on his back, face to sun, arms spread wide.
Troth and I waited. It took only moments before Bear fell asleep. Without another word, Troth and I turned and started across the fields.
I found pleasure in striding over ground that did not move, pushing through grass almost as tall as Troth. The grass was wonderfully sweet to smell and, here and there, yellow flowers rose as if to remind us we had returned to a more loving earth. With the sun's golden glow beating on our faces, it almost seemed a paradise. When I thought of where we had been, no contrast could have been greater. Rejoicing, I breathed deeply, and allowed myself to give thanks to God for His mercy.
As we went further, I glanced back in the direction from where we'd come. To my surprise the ocean seemed to have vanished—as if it didn't exist. I had to remind myself that it was merely below the cliff. I didn't see Bear either.
A touch from Troth brought me out of my prayerful musings.
"Crispin," she said, looking up at me with her solemn eyes.
"What?"
"On the ship—during the storm—I thought we were going to die."
I stopped walking. "I thought so, too," I said.
"It was Bear," she said, "who saved us."
"I know."
She looked back where he was. "But," she whispered, "it exhausted him."
"If we care for him," I said, "he'll regain his strength."
She hesitated before saying, "I'm not so sure."
"I promise you he will!" The words came out angrily.
She turned and went on silently. I ran after her and we went on toward the trees, neither of us speaking. It was as if we had quarreled.
As I drew closer to the trees, I could see that they were not very tall, and were twisted into bizarre shapes. It was as if winds and storms coming off the sea had shaped them.
We were perhaps twenty yards from them when I suddenly halted. "Look there!" I cried, pointing up. "Birds."
Black birds were flying over the trees in a circular movement.
"What about them?" asked Troth.
"They're fleeing something. Bear taught me to look for that."
"It could be an animal."
"Or a person." I looked back. With Bear sleeping on the ground, there was no sign of him. Knowing how tired he was, I had no wish to disturb him—less so if there was nothing to relate. "We'd best first find what it is," I said.
Cautious about going directly to where the birds flew, I led the way to one side. In moments, we were among the trees, where it was easy to be concealed. Once there I changed our direction, going where I thought the birds had flown. We moved from tree to tree quietly. Then—unmistakably—we heard the whinny of a horse.
We halted. From Troth's look, I knew she had heard it, too.
"Where did it come from?" I whispered.
"There," she said, and crept forward silently, somewhat crouched, head turned slightly to catch any sounds—the image of Aude. Suddenly she stood, extended one arm, and whispered, "There!"
I looked. There were three horses.
They were powerful beasts, destriers, the kind of horses used by soldiers. Tethered, they were at their ease, eating grass. All had leather harnesses without any decorations, reins over necks, bits in their mouths. There were three saddles stacked on a stump, one atop the other. The saddles had high seats that allowed a rider to ride standing. There were protective pommels too.
Troth looked to me as if I could provide some explanation.
"Soldiers'horses," I whispered.
I sniffed, sensing a faint smell of roasting meat.
We stood in place, searching for the people we knew must be near. Farther in among the trees I noticed a two-wheeled cart, and not far from it, an ox.
Suddenly, Troth began to move.
"Troth!" I called. "Don't!"
Ignoring me, she went on. I thought to hold her back, but then I recalled the time when I first saw her in the woods: she had been as silent as any spirit—all but invisible. Still, I watched her go with sudden trepidation. How hard, I thought, if something happened to her!
Then—as if one thought followed from the other—I thought of what she had said of Bear: that he had never fully recovered from his time in Great Wexly or the arrow wound. Then we had had to flee. The storm had worn him more. He was much weaker. It would not have surprised me if he still had a fever.
Standing there, in a world I did not know, Troth before me, Bear behind—both out of sight—I had the keenest sense of how much these two—so different one from each other—made up my world. From that flowed an almost overwhelming sense that loving meant I must also know what it must be to lose them.
I don't know how long I waited nervously, but Troth returned as suddenly and as silently as she had gone.
"Did you find anything?" I asked.
"Over there," she said, pointing. "People." Not knowing how to count, she held her hand up many times.
"Forty? Men? Women?"
"Men."
"What are they?"
"Some had swords. Some wore helmets. I saw bows leaning against a tree. There were poles with metal points."
"Did you hear them speak?"
"I wasn't close enough. Do you want me to go back?"
"Show them to me."
She set off and I followed. Within moments, we covered some forty or fifty yards, keeping ourselves hidden among the trees. Troth knelt and pointed.
Sure enough, perhaps forty men were gathered in a clearing. For the most part, the men were young, though I saw one with graying hair. They were dirty, tattered, and ill-shaven. Exposed arms had scars. Among them I saw no smiles, not one gentle face. No two were dressed the same. A few wore helmets, some of the kettle-hat kind, others, open-faced basinets. These helmets were dented and rusty. One or two had jagged holes. All the men wore shoes or boots, but no two jackets were alike. There was some metal plating worn, much tarnished. Some soldiers carried bullock daggers on their hips, some carried swords. A few shields, dented and without design or insignia, had been propped against a tree. I saw a pole with a banneret leaning against a tree, but could not make out its heraldry.
Some of the men were resting, backs against trees. One man had his eyes shut, sleeping. Others lay stretched out on the ground, perhaps also asleep. Most were standing, sharpening swords, or working arrows. It was as if they were preparing for some action. One small man tended a fire upon which sat a large pot. It was that which we had smelled.
I spied yet another man sitting against a tree. The soldiers seemed to defer to him. I took him to be their captain. He did not look to be very different from the others, though beneath his quilted jacket I spied what appeared to be chain mail covering his chest and arms.
"What are they doing?" whispered Troth.
"I don't know. Resting. Preparing."
"For what?"
"Battle."
Then the one I took to be their captain lifted an arm, and called, "Jason! Come here."
They were Englishmen.
**29**
FOR A MOMENT, I was tempted to rush forward and announce ourselves. I even took a step in that direction, but Troth held me back,
"You don't know who they are," she said. "We need to get Bear."
Deciding she was right, we hurried back over the field, running once we were clear of the trees. Bear was as _we'd left_ him, asleep.
We sat by his side, waiting for him to waken. From time to time, I stood and looked toward the trees. Though no one came, I was increasingly anxious.
"I think we should get him up," I finally said and shook his foot.
Bear stirred. "Good morrow," he muttered.
I leaned over his face. "Bear," I said. "We've found people."
"Where?" he said, without opening his eyes.
"Back among those trees."
"What are they?"
"They speak English."
"Are we in England, then?" he said, sounding relieved.
"I don't know. Bear, they're soldiers."
"God's grief," he sighed, opening his eyes. "How many?"
"Say, forty."
"No more?"
I told him what we had seen.
He pushed himself up and rubbed his face, as if to restore his blood. Looking at him, I had a thought I never had before: he seemed old. I would have sworn his beard had streaks of gray.
"No more than forty?" he asked again.
"It seems."
"By Saint Barnabas... No more than that?" he asked a third time.
"Why is the number important?"
"A troop of just a few soldiers—unattached—could be a free company."
"Should we fear them?" asked Troth.
"In truth, if we were in England," said Bear, "they might be just going home."
I said, "Where else could we be?"
He marked the places on his fingers: "England. France. Normandy. Brittany. Aquitaine. Flanders. Navarre."
He remained sitting, sometimes glancing at the sun, or at the distant trees. He even studied one of his large hands. At last he heaved himself up. "Come along," he said.
"Where?"
"God's bones! Crispin, I've no stomach to meet with any soldiers. There is no safety with them."
"Bear," I blurted out, "there's no safety anywhere!"
"What's wrong with the soldiers?" said Troth. "Were you not one?"
He gave her a piercing glance, and seemed to swell with anger. She shrank back. The next moment, Bear's fury faded. "We'll get back on the cog," he said, "and try to ride her out. There was another sail in the hold. Perhaps I missed a rudder. If we are in England and we could get to some other place along this coast, I'd feel much better."
That said, he started back toward the cliff. Troth and I, following, exchanged worried looks. When we reached the cliff's edge, Bear knelt and looked out.
"In the name of the Father!" he roared. "I am being held captive by my sins!"
"Why?" I said. "What's the matter?"
"Look!" he said and pointed down.
Troth and I peered over the cliff. The cog, lifted by an incoming tide, had drifted out of the cove. She was bobbing out upon the sea.
He sat back heavily. "We could never reach her," he said in such a voice I thought he might cry.
With the cliff before us falling away so sharply, we dared do no more than sit and gaze out upon the ocean. There, the cog floated on the water's surface like an empty jug, moving still farther from the shore.
"By Saint Anthony," Bear muttered. "What kind of folly is it not to know if one is lost or saved?"
"Shall I go back to those soldiers?" I offered. "Learn more about them?"
"Crispin," Bear said, "if we are in England and they are English troops, we will have gained much. But if we are anywhere else, things might go badly."
"Why?" I asked.
"It's likely to be a free company. Thieves. Outlaws."
Troth said, "We could hide below."
"There is no hiding," said Bear, "from the will of God."
The wretchedness in his voice hurt my heart. It was much like that time in Rye when I told him of our pursuers: Bear in defeat. But then, I'd known of a way to escape.
Not now.
As we remained where we were, Troth and I exchanged anxious glances. I was sure she agreed we had to do something. Besides, it was a long while since we had eaten, and I was very hungry.
"The soldiers had food," I said.
"Crispin!" snapped Bear. "It's too dangerous."
"Bear," I cried, "we must do _something."_
"Then pray to Saint Jude," said Bear.
"Who is that?" asked Troth.
"A saint who intervenes for lost causes," said Bear.
She turned to Bear. "Is our cause lost?"
He did not answer.
I looked across at Troth. She made another hand sign, which I understood to mean, "Wait."
Bear got up slowly, stiffly. "We'll all go," he said.
"Where?" I said.
"I don't think it matters. Let God decide."
Troth stood.
"Why don't you just rest here?" I said.
"By the breath of Jesus, Crispin!" Bear shouted. "Don't presume to decide for me or heave me on the refuse pile. Not yet."
"Bear—"
"Let's go!" he cried.
I pointed to the trees. "The soldiers are over there," I said, though I saw no sign of them.
"Eastward," said Bear. "Then we'll go north or south."
Troth looked at me.
"South," I said for no good reason.
We began to walk along the edge of the cliff. I went first, followed by Bear, then Troth. I went as fast as I could, but Bear was hobbling.
"Do you wish to me to go slower?" I asked.
"Crispin..." he growled.
We went on. But we had not gone for very long or far when Troth shouted, "Crispin!"
I turned and saw what she had seen. It was the troop of English soldiers. Led by three men on horseback, they had emerged from the trees in file. One of the horsemen held a banneret. Though faded, it bore a golden lion, rampant on a field of red.
We halted.
So did they. We had been discovered.
**30**
THE MAN on the lead horse, the one who seemed to be their captain, lifted an arm and pointed in our direction.
"God have mercy," Bear murmured, making the sign of the cross over his heart.
I made a movement toward the cliff only to have Bear clamp a hand to my arm to hold me fast. "Do you wish to be killed!" he hissed. "Stay!"
"But what are we to do?" I whispered.
"Be still," said Bear. "And say nothing."
The three horsemen drew swords and broke into a gallop, driving their horses right at us. Having no doubt they could dispatch us with ease if such was their will, I moved closer to Bear, even as Troth drew nearer to me.
The lead man held his sword high, as if to strike. I could not help but cower. Troth whimpered. But when the horsemen came within five yards of us, they reined in hard. Their trembling horses, nostrils flaring, arched their necks and pawed the ground, as though wishing—and willing—to trample us. The riders glowered.
I pressed closer to Bear.
"We are English!" Bear shouted. _"English!"_ He held up both hands, palms toward the soldiers, to show he held no weapon.
The horsemen remained where they were, though the lead rider, the one who held the sword, slowly lowered it. He studied us, but it seemed to me that he was staring at Troth in particular. "Who are you," he demanded, "and why are you here?"
"We're shipwrecked pilgrims!" said Bear. "And by Saint George, we have no notion where we are. Are we in England?"
The question surprised the riders. They exchanged a few words that we could not hear.
"You are in Brittany," the horseman called out. "France."
Bear grunted with displeasure.
The captain trotted forward, then stopped a few feet from where we stood, so near I could feel the hot breath of his horse. I noticed a dull iron helmet attached to his saddle.
The man looked down at us. He was short and stocky, yellow-haired, with broad shoulders. His face seemed squeezed from top to bottom, with deep-set eyes of hard gray, a thin mouth, large nose, and strong chin. I was reminded of an angry ox.
Beneath his gaze Troth drew her hair over her mouth and shrank back. Irritated by the man's presumption, I clenched my fists, though there was nothing I could do.
"What of this ship of yours?" he demanded.
"A cog," said Bear. "Out of Rye, for Flanders."
"What cargo?"
"Wool. We were overtaken by a storm that raged at sea last night. All perished, save us—thanks be to God."
"Where is it?"
"When the boat drifted close to shore, we managed to get off, but then it went out with the tide. You can still see it." Bear beckoned toward the sea.
The man gazed at Bear without responding—as if measuring the words, or the man. He made no movement to see the boat. "What's your name?" he asked.
"Orson Hagar. I'm called Bear. Late of York. A traveling juggler and, if it pleases, pilgrim," he said for the second time. "These are my children."
The man turned his hard scrutiny on Troth again.
She looked down.
"The girl is unsightly," the man barked. "What afflicts her?"
"The rudeness of others," returned Bear with a touch of his old spirit.
Glowering, the captain leaned forward against his saddle pummel, staring at Bear, at me, Troth, then back to Bear, as if trying to make a decision. His two horse companions edged their mounts forward and waited on him.
He turned and said something to them, which I could not hear. Then he said to Bear, "The girl—she may be ugly, but is she nimble and strong?"
Bristling, Bear said, "She's my daughter. There's no need to insult her."
"By Saint Magnus!" cried the man. "Answer! Will she do as told?"
"If lawful."
The man sat back. "I make my own laws," he said.
Meanwhile, the rest of the soldiers had drawn in, forming a half circle about us so that there was no possible way of escape.
"Have you any money?" asked the captain.
"By Saint Alexius," said Bear, "having lost all, we are true beggars." He spoke with care, not wanting to give any offense. "May I ask who you are?"
"Richard Dudley. Of the Kentish Downs."
"You're a long way from home," said Bear.
"That's as may be."
"May I ask," said Bear, "if you serve King Richard?"
Dudley frowned. "Who is he?"
"By the grace of God, Master Dudley, he's England's king."
This caused a stir among the soldiers.
"What of King Edward?" Dudley demanded.
"God give him grace," said Bear. "He's been dead these two months. Richard of Bordeaux—his grandchild—has been crowned King."
Dudley made a hasty sign of the cross over his heart. "Our Edward was a great solider," he said.
"He was all of that," said Bear. "I served with his son, the Black Prince, at Poitiers. A famous victory."
"Did you?" cried Dudley. "Would that he were king." He sat back in his saddle, appraising Bear in what seemed a new way. Bear's words made the soldiers nod and nudge each other and consider him with some respect. At least, they seemed to relax."
"Then you were a soldier," said Dudley.
"I was," said Bear. "But I grew old. And worn."
Dudley, sword hand lowered, leaned forward again, his free hand at rest. Once more he studied Troth, as if appraising her. He shifted back to Bear. "Well, then," he said with grin or grimace—hard to say which—"I offer you the good fortune of joining us."
"Your generosity does you honor," returned Bear. "Do I have a choice?"
"I think not," said Dudley.
"In the name of God, then," said Bear, "whom do you serve?
That time, Dudley allowed himself a smile. "Myself," he said.
**31**
RICHARD DUDLEY called Bear to him, and told him to stay close. Putting rusty spurs to his horse's flank, he went forward at an easy walk. Bear was just able to remain by his side, while Troth and I kept apace. Right behind us came another horseman. The third horseman trotted in tandem. The rest of the soldiers, following, were strung out in a ragged line, the oxcart coming last. Though no one said as much, we were so hemmed in we might as well have been called prisoners.
At first Dudley asked Bear about his soldiering days, which to my surprise, Bear was willing to recount at length. These were stories I had not heard before. Hard and brutal, even shocking, it was as if Bear were trying to impress the man. It greatly troubled me that Bear would invent such tales, so as to pretend he was what he wasn't.
At one point, Dudley asked Bear, "And what weapon did you fight with?"
"In those days, a sword."
"It can be so again," said Dudley. "Our cart has enough."
Bear only said, "How did you come here?"
"With the Duke of Lancaster," said Dudley. "Unlike his brother, the duke's a hateful villain. A poisonous traitor. A spawn of Satan. He's given what's English to the French, then abandoned us. Kings and princes may make wars, Master Bear, but their subjects fight them. I never signed the truce. Well then, so be it!"
"I've little love for the duke," agreed Bear.
"Then you may have an interest in where we are going," said Dudley.
"If you wish to tell me," returned Bear.
"To a bastide I know well," said Dudley. "And by my faith, a curious one."
I had no idea what a _bastide_ was, but since Bear made no response, I merely listened.
"It's called Bources," said Dudley. "Do you know it?"
Bear shook his head.
"It's a village laid down—God's truth—in a perfect circle. With a castle built long ago by our own King Edward. A river moat goes round the entire town. Nothing remarkable in that, save that Bources is small, with an undersized garrison. Most curious of all, the church sits just beyond that river moat."
Bear merely nodded.
"In this church—as I have reason to know," Dudley went on, "sits a treasure chest. Graciously left by King Edward to pay for his soldiers and the church. Well then, _we_ are soldiers, are we not? I mean to have it."
"By Saint Martin of Tours," said Bear after a moment, "I have no great love for priests, but to steal from a church—"
"You'll do nothing to stain your faith," said Dudley. "Your girl can do the honors."
A startled Troth looked around. I also turned, but while I had no idea what Dudley meant—even as I urgently wanted to know—I dared not speak. I glanced at Bear, but he would not return my questioning look. Instead, he tried to gain more knowledge, but Richard Dudley provided nothing more. He said, "Master Bear, it would be better for you to join us willingly. But one way or another, your ugly daughter will take part." That said, he spurred his horse and trotted on ahead. When he did so, the other two horsemen pressed in close. There was to be no escaping.
Troth's trembling hand reached out to me. I squeezed it back.
We continued on—no one speaking—but soon turned away from cliff and coast, and headed inland. We followed no road—but what seemed more like a path. The pace was slow and under the warm sun, almost pleasing. The green land became hilly, with scattered clumps of trees. Now and again, we passed a stream. We saw no other people. Once, twice, we went by what must have been houses—save that they had been destroyed. One had been tumbled, the other burned. I thought of Rye. Who, I wondered, had done _this_ destruction? I recalled what Bear had once said of France, that it was full of wars—"Satan's playing fields." And here we were, marching with soldiers intent upon a _private_ war, and who demanded we take part.
For the rest of the day, we went on without exchanging further words with the captain. At some point, we came upon a well-marked road and began to follow that. Bear marched along with slow steps and deep breaths. Now and again, he grunted so that I could see he had yet to recover from the voyage.
Twice we paused at small streams where the men and horses drank. Their cook—a small, skinny, and older man hardly bigger than I, with beaky nose and squinty eyes, who watched us with great interest, passed bread about, and we received a share. Ravenous, I bolted it. I had not eaten in three days.
I wanted to ask Bear many questions, but when I managed one, he only reached out and tousled my head—as much as to say, "Not yet."
That night, the captain chose to make his camp atop a hill shielded by a cap of trees. The soldiers lay about a central fire. The cook brought round a large three-legged pot and set it upon a flame. Water was fetched from a nearby stream. Dried meat, cabbage, onions, and barley—taken from the cart—were thrown in. While the cooking smells made my mouth water, my stomach spoke its appetite.
We three sat among the soldiers, for it was clear they wished us enclosed. They asked Bear about the Black Prince and his campaigns. Once again, he was nothing loath to entertain them with his tales: accounts of bloody battle and slaughter.
I listened again in stunned surprise, for he told his harsh stories with much delight and laughter. I began to wonder: were _these_ things that Bear had actually done? The things he needed to confess? That he would not speak to me? I could not believe it was the Bear I knew.
Then at one point, Richard Dudley called out, "Master Bear! You claim you are a juggler! Entertain us!"
Only then did I recall that we had lost Bear's recorder—washed over during the storm. After hesitating momentarily, Bear stood up, called for some stones, and then, by the light of the flames, proceeded to juggle. The men who looked on were amused, but Bear was hardly his best. Laboring hard, he twice missed the stones. Oaflike. I was embarrassed for him. When he sat down, he was panting heavily. And he would not look at me.
I thought—with a pang—how not only had Bear's possessions been stripped away, but he had also lost his bulk, his health, and as I began to think, his dignity. When I shifted about, I saw that Troth's eyes were fixed on Bear, too. Her look was full of pain.
Before we were allowed to sleep, Dudley made sure we knew he'd posted sentries all around—no doubt meant to protect his force, but also to keep us close.
Bear set us so that we lay with our faces close, and we could talk without being overheard.
Troth put a hand to Bear's face. "There's too much warmth," she said. "Your fever has returned."
"Nothing can be done," said Bear.
"But, Bear—" I began.
"Crispin," snapped Bear, "don't waste words!"
I felt abashed.
No one spoke until Troth whispered, "What does that soldier want of me?"
"I don't know," said Bear.
"Will it be dangerous?" I said.
"I swear," said Bear, "as I live and breathe, no harm shall come to either of you."
"Bear," I asked, "what's a bastide?"
"A small market town," he said, "that's meant to defend itself. With walls perhaps, or some kind of fortification. The English and French kings built them to defend this land from Christian heretics as well as against each other."
"Bear," I asked cautiously, "those stories of war you told—they were fanciful, weren't they? You were only trying to win their sympathy... weren't you?"
Avoiding my look and questions, all he said was, "The both of you need your sleep."
"You didn't an—"
"Crispin," he growled, "we're in need of rest," and rolled so that his back was toward me.
I lay down. Through a break in the trees overhead I gazed upon the multitude of stars above. When I heard Bear begin his quiet snore, I twisted round and put my face close to Troth.
"Troth, do you think he really did those things?"
"I don't know."
"Are you fearful?" I asked her.
"Yes."
"I am too," I said. "I'm not sure Bear can protect us."
She didn't respond.
I looked upward again. "Troth," I said, "can you read the stars to tell the future?"
"I don't wish to."
"Why?"
"It's too hard."
Whether she meant it was too hard to see the future, or too hard to accept what she saw, I was afraid to ask.
**32**
WE SET out the next day at dawn. Beneath low clouds, the sky was layered bloodred, the air damp enough to promise rain. Richard Dudley led the way on his horse. The other soldiers marched behind, Bear, Troth, and I among them.
At one point, Dudley wheeled about and came back to speak a few words to Bear. I did not hear them. When I asked Bear what was said, he would only shake his head. His look, however, was grim enough to fill me with foreboding.
We went on. Our pace was moderate, for which I was grateful since Bear seemed weaker. He had begun to limp again and clutch the old wound. All I could think was: we must get him free.
Midmorning, a chill rain began to fall. Sometimes heavy, it turned the road and us muddy. A few times the oxcart bogged down and needed pushing and pulling to keep it going.
The farther we went, the more somber the men grew.
"Bear," I said, "what's going to happen?"
"You'll see soon enough," he said.
It was afternoon—the rain had become a gray drizzle—when we emerged from a small thicket of trees and paused. Dudley cantered back to Bear.
"The village I told you about this morning is just ahead," he said. "We'll get provisions there. Do you still not wish to take part? You can show off your sword skills."
Bear shook his head.
"But you will watch," said Dudley. "Next time—that's the important one—you'll have no choice. Is that understood?"
When Bear only nodded, Dudley galloped off.
"Bear—" I said, "you must tell us what's going to happen.
"They are going to attack a village."
"Attack!" I cried.
"And loot it."
Troth, not knowing the word, said, "What's _loot?"_
"To steal."
"Does some enemy of theirs live there?" she asked.
"Their enemy is whoever they choose to call such," said Bear.
The soldiers gathered round the oxcart. From beneath its canvas cover, they took up body armor and helmets. There were mostly dull and rusty pieces, battle-battered. Broadswords were hefted, shields gripped. Five of the men, archers, filled their quivers with arrows.
It did not take long for the men to ready themselves. A rough, ragged, and motley lot, they bristled like hedgehogs with their weaponry. Though sullen, many knelt and offered up reverent prayers and crossed themselves. Richard Dudley did the same.
When their observances were complete—marked by Dudley's standing and putting on his helmet—they moved out from beneath the cover of the trees. It was then I noticed that one of the men—armed with a sword—had been posted to guard us closely.
We moved with the others until I saw the village they were about to strike. It consisted of some fifteen small stone houses on a hillside, set so close together I was reminded of a flock of huddled sheep. Tilled fields lay below on flat land. The houses, built of russet stone, had large wooden doors braced with iron fittings. Roofs were of red tile. Windows were small, without covering. I think I saw a little church. The air was gray, the fields dull green.
Though drizzling, perhaps fifteen people—men, women, and children—were in the field before the village. They looked no different from English peasants: boots, brown tunics, caps of muted color. One man was using an ox to break the soil with a wheeled plow. The rest were also working the earth with steady thrusts of spades. I might as well have been in my own English home.
We three were ordered to remain where we were—behind the soldiers—and observe. Our guard stood closest to Troth—as if she were the prize.
Before us, the muddy soldiers were drawn up in a long line. Led by Dudley, they began to move forward. As they did, a cock crowed. I shivered with fright.
There was nothing forceful or rushed in the soldiers' forward advance. Instead, they moved with a severe steadiness that bespoke their harrowing intent. In the center of the line came the five archers, bows in hand, each with an arrow nocked.
"Bear!" I said, "They are—"
"Be quiet!" snapped our guard.
"God have mercy," whispered Bear, and made the sign of the cross. Troth started to cover her eyes, but was so transfixed she did not do so.
The soldiers were no more than a hundred yards from the village when one of the field women stood to stretch her back. In so doing, she happened to glance round. Seeing the soldiers coming, she let out a shriek, hoisted her tunic, and ran. Startled, the other villagers looked up. Tools were dropped or flung away. The ox was abandoned. The peasants scrambled toward their houses.
Drawing bowstrings to their ears, the archers loosed their arrows. I watched—amazed—as each archer sent off some ten arrows in almost no time at all. The arrows flew in great, high arcs with a thin, _hishing_ sound—only to plunge with terrible speed. Five people fell.
Even as they dropped, Richard Dudley raised his sword. He and the two horsemen galloped forward. The other soldiers—save the cook and the one who guarded us—dashed forward, swords in hand, bellowing as they went. Anyone who stood in their way was struck down.
Terrified people burst from houses, trying to escape. A few attempted to stand firm with sticks or rods. One or two had swords. I think I saw a priest. I heard a bell clang. But the resistance lasted no more than moments. All were over-186whelmed. My own eyes saw some two dozen killed, mostly men, but a few women. At least two children. The priest as well.
I sank to my knees, horrified. Troth began to cry. Bear swore mightily.
Our guard laughed.
There was more. As I looked on, the soldiers began kicking doors open, moving in and out of houses, taking what they chose. They met no opposition. Mostly they took food and drink. There were too, or so I heard, a few coins stolen, perhaps some weapons. The plunder was heaped into the cart that the cook had guided to the village center to receive the goods.
Butchery and looting complete, Dudley and his free company marched off, leaving the living to bemoan their fate. As they trudged along the muddy road, the soldiers talked brightly, boasting with mirth of their martial deeds, their faces streaked with helmet rust and blood. Wine was drunk. Some men staggered. A stolen ox, tethered to the cart, was led along. Once, twice, he bellowed.
I hardly knew what to think or say. The high spirits of the soldiers brought me the deepest pain. Bear spoke not at all. Troth, by my side, now and again took my hand. That hand was cold, and trembled.
I turned to Bear more than once. All I could ask was, "Why?"
"We'll talk later," he muttered and cast a darting glance at the men around us by way of warning. I said no more.
But Heaven—with its gentle, if unceasing rain—wept.
**33**
THAT NIGHT, after camp was set atop a small hill—their usual defensive practice—the soldiers made merry. They drank much and sang harsh songs. Dudley joined them. At one point, he staggered up to us—for we sat glumly apart—and, pointing right at Troth, shouted, "Tomorrow, ugly one, you'll be there with us!"
As he stumbled away, Bear reached out and drew Troth to his chest. She pulled away and sat rigidly, fingering her hawthorn sprig, staring I knew not where. Though not said, we understood the need to wait until we could talk privately.
Gradually, the soldiers succumbed to sleep. Such light as there was came from the dwindling central fire. I could just see Bear's face—wan, full of sorrow. Troth's visage—pale, tense.
"Bear," I whispered, "you must talk to us."
He shook his great head. "God's truth! What can I tell you that you don't already know?"
"Why did these men do such a thing?"
He took a deep breath. "Earlier this year, the Duke of Lancaster—he for King Edward—and the Frenchman, Bernard Du Guesclin—he for his King Charles—made a truce. Which is to say, yet another pause in this never-ending war. As usually happens, there are dismissed soldiers with nowhere to go. Answering to no lord, they do as they choose, plundering as they wish. Free companies, they're called. Though they may send their prayers to our Jesus, they're no better than those who killed Him. Brigands. Murderers."
He became silent.
In that silence, I said, "Bear, those stories you told Dudley, about those things you said you did when a soldier. You... were you making them up... weren't you... to gain their trust?"
Bear looked at me, eyes full of pain. He started to speak, stopped, took a deep breath and spoke most haltingly. "Crispin," he said, "on Judgment Day... when...189when all shall kneel to be judged before our Blessed Lord, no man who has warred shall be unblemished."
Stunned by what he was saying, I was afraid to speak. My eyes filled with tears.
Bear reached out, touched my cheek and whispered, "A child's tear is the true holy water."
I could not speak.
"Listen well," said Bear, recovering some strength in his voice. "Both of you. Most of my days I lived for myself. I was free. I was a sinner, like these men, but, as God knows, not all I did was bad. But much was. Then you two came. Crispin first. Then Troth. In the full measure of my life, it's not been for so very long. I can only pray that God will say it's enough. To find such love as I have for both of you is to bind oneself to life, and living. And as my Lord Jesus knows and teaches—a new, and loving life cleanses the old."
"And you _are_ kind!" I cried.
"And good!" added Troth.
"I pray that God may forgive me as generously as you two do!" said Bear. Impulsively, he reached out and hugged us to his chest. "It's you," he whispered, "who are my redemption. In children there is mercy."
"Bear—" I said.
"Crispin, I am tired to my soul. More than tired."
"What do you mean?" I cried.
"I must rest. To find some place and stay. I've wandered too much. My sins hold me back so that I can hardly move."
Then Troth, very softly, asked, "What will happen tomorrow?"
"Richard Dudley means to attack the village of which he spoke. You heard him: he claims a fortune is to be found there. He insists that in you, Troth—being small and agile—he's found a way to reach it. Exactly how, I don't know. But I will make every effort to ensure you're safe."
"We should run off now," I said.
Bear shook his head. "Crispin, by our Blessed Lady, we cannot. They are watching us. If we try to escape, we'll be cut down. Or at least you and I. They mean to use Troth. We need to be here for her. We'll know more tomorrow. Let's hope all goes well."
I said, "You once told me a wise man has as many hopes as reasons. Is that all that's left to you—hope?"
He sighed. I studied Bear's face. He _had_ become old.
He reached out and chucked me on the chin. "Yes, hope."
"Hope for what?" I cried.
"That we do not," he whispered, "fail each other."
**34**
DAWN CAME with gray skies, the air sweet and soft, holding hints of more rain. The trees upon the hill where we camped, stirred in a gentle breeze. Birds flew high and in haste, as if—I thought—to escape. How I wished we had such wings! How I dreaded the coming day!
The cook broke our fast with bowls of mashed wheat grain. We ate with our fingers. The soldiers, stiff and slow to rise, put themselves into battle garb. After their night of revelry, they were sober in mind and spirit again. Some, as before, went on their knees in prayer.
What kind of men—I wondered—were these that killed by day, drank by night, but prayed each morning?
Richard Dudley did not deign to speak to us. Instead, he urged his men to complete their preparations. Only when that was done, did he mount his horse and lead the way from the encampment. As before, we three were herded among the rest and made to march along. Bear limped and offered no talk. It caused me grief to see him so resigned. If ever there was a time, I told myself, now I must be a man. But even as I had the thought, I made a correction: no, I thought, be just yourself and find a way to free Bear and Troth.
Toward midday, we worked our way just behind the forested crest of another hill. It was there, among some trees, partly hidden, that Dudley called a halt. He ordered his troops to stay back. No fire could be made lest it give off smoke.
He came to us. "Follow me," he commanded.
We went to one side of the hill, standing among some trees from where we were able to gaze out upon a flat plain. Dudley drew Troth to him roughly and made her stand before him, putting his thick hands on her shoulders so she could not bolt. That he even touched her filled me with rage.
Bear and I stood to either side—as close as we dared.
What we saw was a sweet, green valley, tilled fields, occasional trees, a pond or two, plus a serpentine river that ran through all. People were at work in the fields. Near the center of this unruffled world stood a circle of a village with some fifty structures set about a tree-filled center. No wall around it. Instead, the river flowed toward it, and then went completely around it—thus serving as a wide moat that provided protection.
A drawbridge crossed the water. At the point where this bridge crossed, a castle stood within. Built of dark gray stone, it was some four levels high, longer than wide, with a crenellated rampart. At the end nearest the river moat, a round keep had been built. It had a fair number of arrow slits from which archers could shoot down to defend the bridge. Here and there, a corbel had been built for the same purpose. The keep's top rampart was also crenellated. From it hung a flag.
"That," said Richard Dudley, "is Bources. And _there_ is our treasure." He swung about, and pointed to a large church built of the same gray stone as the castle. But the church stood _outside_ the moat.
At first glance, the church looked no different from other churches I had seen. Longer than it was wide, it had extensions to either side to give it the shape of a cross. The main entry—large double wooden doors—was at the side rather than at the front of the church. A cross stood above it.
But here, one end of the church abutted the river. At the other end was a tower—part of the church, but not a spire. The high cross was elsewhere. This tower was a tall, square structure with a pointed roof. From what I could see, its entryway must have been _within_ the church. Moreover, the upper part of this tower had slits from which one might shoot arrows down. In short, it was something I had never seen before: a fortified church. In so being, it also guarded the drawbridge that crossed the river.
"King Edward," said Dudley with a grin, "decreed that the church, not the garrison, should protect the treasure. Which is to say, he trusted his priests more than his officers."
"How do you intend to get at it?" asked Bear.
"A deception," said Dudley. "Most of the soldiers are in that castle," he said. "The flag proclaims as much. My men and I shall act as if we intend to attack it, that we are laying on a siege. That will keep all forces within the castle, as well as draw those who are stationed in the church. That will leave the church unguarded—save a few. Of course it will be closed. But happily, there is a opening at the base of the tower. Can you see it?"
We looked. I could see a small hole near the base of the fortified tower.
"Why is it there?" asked Dudley. "Well now, do you see how the church is set up against the river moat? At times the river rises and floods. That water floods the church. But those holes—and at the other end—allow the water to flow out.
"The river-end hole sits beneath the waterline. And the land-side hole is too small for any grown man. But it's not," he said, slapping his hands hard down on Troth's shoulders, "too small for this unhappy girl.
"Very well then, my ugly one," he went on. "You shall go through the opening, slip inside, thereby gaining access to the church. Once within, you'll open the doors. We shall be waiting and watching. The moment we see the doors swing out, my troops and I shall wheel about, enter the church, and pluck up the treasure."
"How are the doors kept closed?" Bear asked.
"A wooden crossbeam. On the inside. Is she strong?" Dudley asked.
"Strong enough," said Bear. Then he asked, "Will there not be soldiers inside the church?"
Dudley shrugged. "At most, the few who barred the door from within. It shall be the girl's task to get by them."
"And if she cannot?"
"We'll try again. With your boy. With two chances, we should succeed."
Bear struggled for words. "Whose soldiers are in the castle?"
"The flag tells us it's an English garrison."
"Then you're attacking your own people," said Bear.
"They would as soon slay me."
"Is it not King Edward's wealth?"
"You said he died. Well, then, I proclaim it forfeit."
We stared silently at the view before us. "When do you intend to do this?"
"Right now. Before we're discovered. Very well: I have instructed the girl what to do. Have I been clear? Answer me!
"Yes," said Troth.
"What did she say?" demanded Dudley. "I can't understand her."
"She said yes," said Bear.
"Then she spoke well! Now then," he said to Bear, "you will be with me while we attack the castle—even as she enters the church."
"And the boy?"
"He will remain behind—with the cook. If the girl fails, we'll use him to do the job. What say you, boy?"
"Bear's not strong enough," I said. "Let me go in his place."
"Absolutely not," said Bear quickly.
"But—"
"Crispin!" cried Bear. "Do as he says."
I stared at him, hardly knowing what to think or feel: furious about what was happening, angry that he was still trying to protect me, afraid that I was being left alone, frustrated that I would not be able to do anything.
Dudley, however, only smiled. "So be it," he said.
"Now, tell me... what will happen to me?" said Bear. He was struggling to contain his anger.
"As I said, you shall stay by my side," said Dudley. "With a halter round your neck. To keep you from escap-ing.
"A halter!" I cried.
"Shhh!" said Bear. "Will I be armed?"
"I think not," said Dudley with something of a smile. "You might attack me. No, you shall be held hostage until the girl—or boy—achieves what I desire. So then, girl, boy, hear me well: if you do _not_ succeed in the task I've set you, I'll slay your father. Is that understood? The treasure in the church is his ransom. Which is to say, it's on you whether he lives or dies. Help me get the treasure, and you shall all be freed. Fail, and his life—and yours—are forfeit. Is that clearly understood?"
Troth could only nod. I suppose I did too.
Dudley turned to Bear. "Now, get yourself some armor."
**35**
THE THREE of us walked slowly back to the oxcart. Right behind came an armed guard.
"Bear—" I began.
"Let me think!" he barked, cutting me off.
"Troth can't do such a thing," I persisted.
"Crispin," said Troth, "I'll do what he asked. Then he'll set us free."
"I don't think he will," I cried to her. "And what if Bear is hurt or killed in the attack? Didn't you hear? He'll have a halter tied round his neck! He won't even be armed."
Troth said nothing to that.
"Do _you_ trust Dudley to set us free, if he gets his treasure?" I demanded of Bear.
"By Saint Jerome, I don't know," was Bear's reply. We had reached the oxcart. Under the watchful eye of both the guard and the cook, Bear leaned into the oxcart and searched about for a piece of armor that might fit him.
He fetched up a chain mail shirt. It was corroded, and had some holes. Nonetheless, he pulled it over his head so that it covered half his arms, his neck, and most of his chest.
Troth and I looked on glumly.
Next, Bear rummaged around the oxcart for a breastplate. When he found one, he held it to his body for a fitting, knocking it with his knuckles to see if it was sound.
"Crispin," he said. "Help me with the straps."
I had watched his dressing with mounting despair. "Bear, we can get away and—"
"Crispin," he barked, "remember: the man who thinks his enemy is a fool, is the greater fool. Now do as I say!"
Troth watched, wide-eyed as I, fumbling, buckled the leather straps behind Bear's back so the plate was held to his chest. It fit poorly.
Bear next took up a helmet—examined it indifferently—and set it on his head.
He turned to the guard. "There are swords in there," he said, with a nod to the cart. "Can I arm myself?"
"No," said the man. "You heard the captain."
Bear shrugged.
I looked at Bear. Though he did not have his old bulk, he was still a large man, but the ill-fitting plate and helmet served to make him ungainly and vulnerable in appearance.
"Now, come," said Bear, "we have just a little time." He put his arm about my shoulder, did as much with Troth, and began to draw us away.
The cook called, "The boy is to stay here!" He held up a sword of his own to show his strength.
"In good faith, I'll have him for just a moment," Bear called back. "You may watch us! I wish to make sure they know what to do."
The cook lowered his sword. "Be quick," he said.
With us at his side, Bear set his steps toward where Dudley waited with his troops. Halfway there, Bear stopped. No one was around us. "Listen well," he said, his voice hushed but urgent. "We have this last moment."
"Bear..." I began.
He touched my mouth to keep me still, then placed a large hand on each our shoulders and bent close so that our three heads were touching. "Know the love I have for you both," he began. "As God is holy, you must escape, and find your way to freedom. You'll most likely have to do so without me."
Seething with frustration, I wanted to speak but could not.
He went on: "Know there is nothing in this that you have done. You are both without sin."
I felt like screaming at him, hitting him with my rage that he was not letting me do _anything,_ but insisting—as he did of old—to tell me what to do, refusing to allow me to act as I might. "Bear—"
"Crispin," he hissed, "don't argue! Now, I will go along with Captain Dudley, and see what God has in store. Troth, start off as he bid you. Crispin, you _must_ free yourself from the one who guards you. Join Troth. It's your only hope. As soon as you meet, run off. The two of you need each other."
"But what of you?" I cried.
"By my Blessed Lady, I have no desire to leave off living," he said. "But if you two can free yourselves, my prayers will be answered. Perhaps God has some means for us to stay together. If He does, I don't know it."
"Bear," I pleaded, "you must let me—"
"Crispin, honor me and my love by living free. Troth, do the same. Cling to one another. Find some place to be. Let it be as it _may_ be! Pray for my soul, but never neglect your own. Do you understand me, Crispin? Free yourself and get to Troth. Do what you must do. Is that clear?"
"Yes, but—"
Bear, breathing heavily, would not stop, would not let me say one thing. "Troth," he went on, "trust yourself first, then Crispin. Always honor Aude. Find a way to live that lets you be yourself. No God—yours or mine—can ask for more."
That said, he reached round and pulled us toward him in an embrace.
I could not—would not—believe it would be our last.
Bear turned sharply away from me. Guiding Troth with a large hand at her back, they went where Dudley waited with his soldiers. Bear was followed by the guard.
My heart a burning stone in my chest, I remained behind, watching them go. Twice Bear looked back at me over his shoulder. So did Troth. She made a quick hand sign: _come._ I would have bolted that instant, if I had not felt a sharp poke upon my back. I turned. It was the little cook. His sword was in his hand.
"You're to come with me," he commanded.
Which was greater, my despair or my rage, I can hardly say. I only know that I was trembling, my vision blurry. I had to struggle to find breath.
I allowed myself one last look at Bear and Troth, and then let myself be guided back to the cart. As we went, I strained to find some degree of self-possession, knowing I must think clearly, grasping that my task was to get free quickly. I had little doubt I would have but one chance—if that.
Once at the oxcart, the cook pulled up a coil of rope, one end of which had already been tied to the spoke of the cartwheel. The cook fastened the other end round one of my arms, pulling the knot taut.
"By Saint Peter," he said as he tethered me, "small as I am, Captain Dudley had marked me to be the one to go into that tower. But God answered my prayers when you came along with that wretched girl. A good captain, if a hard man. For your own sake, you'd best pray she'll succeed. For now, lad, rest easy. There's nothing you can do." That said, he busied himself among his iron pots, content to let me be his prisoner.
I stood there, trying to shape my fury, using it to make a plan. From where I was, I could see the troops, plus Dudley and two others on horseback. Bear, large as he was, stood out from the others. I watched, horrified, as a soldier slung a rope round his neck, and pulled it tight like a hanging noose. Even as I had been tied to the oxcart, Bear was tied to the pommel of Dudley's saddle.
I could no longer see Troth. But as sure as I knew anything, I had no doubt she would not run away as Bear bade her. To try and save him, she would do as Dudley had commanded.
The soldiers were forming up, receiving final instructions from Dudley.
"Will the captain keep his word?" I called to the cook.
He looked up from his pot, into which he was cutting onions with his dagger. "It depends on what happens," he said, wiping his eyes. "Captain Dudley has talked of that treasure for many a month. God willing, he'll have it. And I beg your forgiveness in advance, but I've been ordered to slay you"—he nodded to his sword which lay close to his hand—"if you act ill. Pay heed: my life is forfeit if I disobey the captain.
He spoke with ease. That he meant to act by his orders, I had little doubt. He had his sword, and there was a dagger in his hand. I had nothing.
I swung back round to watch the troops. They had begun to move off the hill, presumably toward the castle. The last I saw of Bear, he was being led away like a captive beast.
**36**
WHAT I DID FIRST—with my back to the cook—was pluck at the knot that held me. But it was too tightly drawn, and when I glanced round at the cook and found his eyes on me, I left off.
Baffled, I slumped against the cart and racked my brains for something else to do. It was then that I recalled Bear's words: he had turned to the guard and said, "There are swords in there," and nodded toward the cart.
Belatedly, I realized he had been talking to me! He had told me where I might find a sword.
Heart pounding, I measured with my eye the rope that held me, as well as the height of the cart. I decided the rope was—hopefully—long enough to let me reach into the cart.
I glanced at the cook. For the moment he was turned away from me, dagger in his belt, tearing at some cabbage leaves. "Saint Giles, be with me," I whispered. Fully aware that I would have but one chance, I made a hasty sign of the cross.
I took a deep breath, set one foot on a wheel spoke, then hastily heaved myself up. My leap was barely high enough to allow me to bend into the cart. Sure enough I saw a sword—had Bear moved it closer? I reached for it. In my haste, not only did I miss, I tipped it away. Frantic, I lunged a second time. That effort allowed me to snatch the hilt. Grasping it tightly, I swung it around in a wide arch, while leaping back, so that I landed awkwardly on my feet.
The cook heard me. Startled, he turned about. Seeing what I'd done, he gawked for a moment. In that brief time, I pulled the rope that bound me tight, swung the sword down, and chopped at it with all my strength. It split apart.
I was free.
But now the cook snatched up his sword and leaped toward me.
I was no swordsman, much less a fighter. I could only do such things as Bear had tried to teach me. What's more, no matter the cook's intent, I had no desire of harming the little man. Escape was all.
Yet the cook would have at me, swinging wildly with his sword, swearing vile oaths, vowing he would kill me. But as God was kind, I found myself quick enough to parry his efforts with my sword. When he fell back, ready to strike again, I grasped the handle of my sword in both hands and swung out at him as hard as I was able. Even as I did, he also struck so that our swords met with an ear-breaking _clang_ of metal. The force of my blow caught him unprepared. His sword was knocked entirely out of his hands, where it fell some paces away.
Red-faced with rage, he gave not an inch but snatched up his dagger and came at me furiously. I retreated, holding the sword before me. "Get back!" I screamed.
Trying to outwit me, he sidestepped, and then, with dagger raised and poised to strike, he threw himself at me. In hasty defense, I swung round, lifted my sword toward him—so that he ran himself upon it.
He hung there, openmouthed, in skewered surprise.
Terrified by what I'd done, I jumped back, bloody sword in hand, and stood there as he fell to his knees, blood gushing from his wound and mouth. Eyes rolling, he mouthed some garbled words—might they have been holy prayers!—then fell forward, face into the earth.
Horrified, my stomach heaving, so dizzy with fright I could hardly stand, I was compelled to lean upon the nearby wagon. "Forgive me, forgive me..." I murmured, and though I tried to make the sign of the cross, my hand shook so I could not.
I waited one more dreadful moment, gulping for air, afraid to look at the dead man. Then I recalled myself, turned, and ran, the death-dripping sword still in hand.
Trying not to think of what had just happened, I charged to the crest of the hill where we had stood before and looked down at the round village of Bources. The _view_ was much the same, and yet in process of much alteration.
Dudley and his men were marching in a line toward the castle, banneret fluttering. They were going very slowly, deliberately, even slower than when they attacked the village.
I looked for Bear, and saw him easily enough, he being larger than the rest. He was close to Dudley, held by the rope that kept him a hostage to Troth's success.
At first I was puzzled by the soldiers slow advance. Then I realized it was only what Dudley had schemed—to show himself and his force, thereby bringing all the opposition garrison to the castle, away from the church.
Sure enough, I could see considerable movement on the castle ramparts. Soldiers were rushing about behind the crenellation. Horns were being blown, bleating shrill alarms. A bell began to sound.
The peasants in the field stopped, listened, and began to run toward the village.
I turned toward the church and the fortified tower. The church doors swung open. A body of soldiers and a priest burst out. From the way their faces were set, I could see they were looking toward Dudley and his men. Even as I watched, the priest and the soldiers raced across the drawbridge—going, I presumed, to defend and be protected by the castle. As soon as they passed, the drawbridge lifted. Not all the soldiers went. A few returned to the church. The doors shut.
It was all as Dudley had planned.
But were there more soldiers within the church? How many would there be for Troth to contend with?
Trying to keep from panicking, I gazed about but did not see her. I had no doubt, however, she was heading for that tower hole.
Sword in hand, I ran down the hill, straight for the tower. I had taken no more than a few steps when I realized I must take pains not to be seen. Not by Dudley's men. Nor by anyone in the church. If I were seen by anyone, Bear's life would be forfeit.
Crouched but still running, I ran forward in a great circle, away from Dudley's force but hoping to come upon the tower indirectly. Now and again, I bobbed up in hopes of seeing Troth. But even when I came within fifty yards of the church tower, I had no idea where she was.
Meanwhile, Dudley and his men were now opposite the castle, keeping to the far side of the moat. His archers were shooting arrows. Though I was sure Dudley would make no attempt to cross the moat, those within the castle could not know that. I saw archers atop the castle ramparts lean forward and loose their arrows at the attackers. And Bear without a shield!
Knowing I had to find Troth, I forced myself to take my eye from the castle and look at the church tower. First, I took note of the flow hole that Dudley had spoken of, the one that he told Troth she must use to gain entry to the tower. I found it easily enough. I also caught sight of some movement aloft, behind the tower archer holes. That meant that some of the soldiers I had seen—still impossible to know how many—were within, ready to defend the treasure. The more there were, the more danger for Troth.
Taking a chance, I stood up, looked about. This time I saw her. She'd done as I had expected, gone to the tower, albeit indirectly, moving along the moat's embankment, trying to reach the tower walls without being seen.
Wanting to reach her before she went any farther, I dashed around—as she must have done—toward the river moat. I knew I might be observed from the far side of the moat, but felt I had no choice.
I reached the embankment safely, and dropped down, wanting to keep myself hidden from those within the tower.
Troth was some thirty yards before me. She appeared to be gathering herself for a run to the tower.
Ignoring caution, I shouted, "Troth!"
She paused, turned, and looked back.
"Wait!" I cried. Still bent over, I ran forward along the moat bank.
"Troth," I blurted out when I reached her, "I killed the one guarding me." I held up the sword, still stained with blood.
In revulsion, she stepped back.
"He would have killed me," I said. "Troth, he attacked me.
She gazed at me for a moment, then turned away, and looked toward the church.
"What do you wish to do?" she asked, her face averted.
"I don't care what Bear told us," I said. "We must help him."
"I thought the same," said Troth. "I've an idea."
"What?"
"I'll do what Dudley ordered. When I open the church doors—that's what he wanted—he'll lead his soldiers to the church. But, Crispin, he'll be thinking mostly of the treasure. Then that's when we must reach Bear and get him away."
"Troth, Dudley tied a rope to Bear's neck to hold him."
Her mouth opened in shock.
"And not all the soldiers left the church."
"How many are there?"
"I don't know. I'm sure I saw some in the tower. Behind the arrow slits."
Troth looked up. "I'm going anyway," she said. "Stay here—in case I fail." She made a movement to go.
I held her with a hand. "We'll have a better chance to get the doors open with two of us inside."
Troth offered no argument. Instead, she turned back to scrutinize the tower. "Crispin," she said, "if we can get against the tower and move flat along the walls, they shouldn't be able to see us, or shoot at us, before we get to that hole."
She was right: the arrow slots were some one hundred feet above the ground, designed to repel attackers at a distance. Nor were there any turrets for shooting directly down.
"But we must hurry," I agreed.
That said, she jumped up and raced for the church walls. I scrambled to follow, too fearful to look up.
**37**
WITH TROTH in the lead, me following behind, we ran hard. The ground between the moat and the church being level, we reached the church walls quickly. No arrows were shot, which, I could only pray, meant that we were as yet unnoticed.
Once arrived, we pressed against the rough, stone church walls, and began to edge around. As we went, I could hear shouts, cries, and blaring horns from the castle side, but we could see nothing. I kept thinking of Bear.
We reached the base of the tower, and—as far as I knew—had still not been observed. Pushing forward, we came to the hole.
Once there, while trying to regain our breath, we squatted down and studied what to do.
The hole was some two feet wide, perhaps two in height. That is, large enough for us to pass through, as long at it became no smaller within. But when I squatted down to look inside, I found the hole blocked. With Troth looking over my shoulder, I used my sword to poke about.
To my relief, I found that the hole was stuffed with little more than leaves and silt. Working hard with my sword and hands, I was able to scoop it clear to some depth.
"I'll go first," I said. "I'll tell you if it's safe."
"And if it isn't?"
"You must flee," I said, and before she could return an answer, I handed her my sword, and plunged headfirst into the hole, arms first to feel my way, my feet kicking me forward.
It was dim within the hole. The stone surrounding me was hard, rough, and cold. Such light as there was seeped in from behind. Happily, the farther in I went, the more the hole widened. As I slithered forward in snakelike fashion, I came upon more dirt, which I was able to push behind me, even as I wriggled on.
I pressed forward for what must have been some five feet—the thickness of the tower wall. Before me I saw dim light. Just when I thought I was clear, my fingers, which I had extended as far out as I could reach, touched metal.
It was too dark to see what it was, but when I worked my fingers about, it felt as if crossed bars had been set across the inside opening as a kind of net. I squeezed forward, grasped the bars with my one free hand, and shook them. The bars were somewhat loose, perhaps rusted from water flow. Encouraged, I rattled them with greater violence. The bars gave way, falling in with a clatter.
Kicking and pulling, I eased out of the hole. Once free, I stood on the stone floor and glanced about. The room was square, stone-walled, suffused by dim light, which seeped down from a stairwell in one corner. Circular steps led upward.
At the other side of the room was a large door fitted with elaborate iron fastenings, including a handle. Near the door's base were holes, perhaps for the flow of water. There was nothing else.
On my knees I called to Troth through the hole. "Come through," I called.
"Take the sword first," she called.
Within moments, I had the sword, and Troth was with me. She wasted no time, but went directly to the wooden door and jerked the handle. The door would not budge.
"We can try that way," I whispered, nodding toward the steps.
The narrow steps wound tightly upward. As we climbed—I first, with sword in hand—we pressed against the cold, inner wall. After some forty-or-so high steps, we reached a new level and another door, a small one. We paused to listen. From the stairwell above we could hear sounds, even excited voices, but we could not make out the words.
Troth went to the small door and shoved. It creaked open. Cautiously, she pushed it further, then peeked out. She made a hand gesture that I understood to mean _safe,_ then passed on through the doorway.
I followed.
We found ourselves upon a narrow balcony enclosed by an iron railing. Thirty feet below us was the high altar, upon which stood a stone cross. To the right of that, a baptismal font. Above us, a stained glass window, rich in blues and reds. Before us, the stone-paved nave opened out. As far as we could see, all was deserted.
We could also see the principal doorway to the church—the one we were supposed to open—off to one side at the far end, quite opposite where we stood. I took note of the wooden crossbeam that kept it closed. It was large, and from the look of it, heavy.
I also saw an alcove midway along the length of the church's nave. A Lady chapel perhaps. And, in the very middle of the nave, a low stone platform, upon which a chest had been placed. The chest was wrapped about with chains. I had no doubt. It was that for which Dudley lusted: King Edward's treasure.
I leaned over the railing. Below us I could see a door in the wall, near the baptismal font. I supposed it to be the door we could not open.
But the narrow balcony—upon which we stood and which ran round the altar—had a ladder at its farthest end. Built into the wall, it reached the church floor. Since we needed to get down to the nave, we'd have to use it.
I nudged Troth and pointed to the ladder.
Halfway to the ladder, we heard a great bang, followed by agitated voices. Not knowing where the noise was coming from, we stopped. A glance at the church's front entry-way revealed nothing. When the voices grew louder, I guessed they were coming from the tower door. Sure enough, the next moment we saw two soldiers—one old, the other young—run the span of the nave below. One was armed with a sword.
In haste, we threw ourselves flat upon the balcony floor so as to be unnoticed. But we could see the soldiers go to the main door. At first I thought they meant to open it. It appeared, however, that they were only making certain it remained closed. The task done, they headed back the way they came, only to momentarily disappear from view. In quick time, one of the soldiers emerged—the older one. He ran, empty-handed, back in the direction of the tower door.
One soldier remained. And he—I realized—must have kept the sword.
Since it was clear that if we used the ladder we would be observed, we remained where we were, stymied. I made bold to lean out over the balcony, and looked back toward the door that we'd been unable to open before. What I discovered was the door had been left ajar—no doubt by the soldier we had just seen.
I reached out, touched Troth, and motioned for her to follow. We hurried back as we came, down the steps, then slipped through the open door. By so doing, we found ourselves on the floor of the church. I pointed toward the alcove where the young soldier must be praying. Troth nodded her understanding.
I darted forward and crouched behind the stone altar. Troth joined me.
"If we rush forward at the same time," I whispered, "that soldier won't be able to stop both of us. I'll engage with him while you get to the door."
"Crispin," she said, "he has a sword."
By way of answer, I held up mine. "He's young," I said. "No bigger than me."
She said, "He's a soldier."
"Troth, think of Bear. We have to hurry. Are you ready?"
She nodded.
Heart thumping, I took a deep breath, gripped my sword tightly, and sprinted loudly toward the main door. Halfway there, the soldier poked his head out from the alcove. When he saw us, the look on his face was one of surprise. It lasted only a moment. Sword in hand, he jumped out in front of us. "I... I command you to stop!" he stammered.
"Troth!" I shouted. "To the door!" and placed myself between her and the soldier, my own sword raised.
The soldier made a movement toward Troth, only to stop and turn about when I shouted, "Give way!"
Sword extended, he advanced on me. He had a pale, youthful face, eyes large with fright. Unsure of himself, he was panting for breath.
Desiring to draw him from Troth, I took a step back. Even as I did—from the corner of my eye—I saw her slip past.
The soldier, grasping what we were doing, spun about, and went after Troth. She had reached the door. Her hands were on the beam, her back to the soldier.
"Troth!" I screamed.
Turning, she saw the young soldier just as he was about to bring his sword down and leaped away. The soldier swung again, violently, wildly. For a second time she managed to elude him. Rushing forward, I cried "Here!" to draw the soldier's attention. The soldier whirled about anew—as if he knew not which way to turn—to now confront me with his sword. Once more I tried to lead him away by backing up.
This time, however, knowing that our aim was to unbar the door, he did not advance but stood his ground and began to bellow to his companions, "Give aid! Give aid!"
**38**
IT WOULD BE, I knew, just moments before others came to help him.
Troth gestured, telling me to _advance to the side._
I crept forward as she bid, my heavy sword in both hands, shifting it back and forth.
The soldier, unable to watch the two of us at once, put his eyes solely on me—the sword bearer.
His face glistened with sweat. He was breathing hard. He started to step forward, only to hold back.
Knowing he was waiting for his companions, and feeling the pressure to draw him, I crept closer. Instead of holding the sword with two hands, I used just one so I could extend my reach that much further. It was enough to rub against the soldier's blade. The rough, grating sound made me clench my teeth.
Grimacing, he advanced, swinging his sword out with all his strength, albeit uncontrollably. Sensing a rash confidence on his part, I yielded a few steps, trying to act as if I were overawed. Tempted, he came forward, moving even farther from the door. When I continued to step back, he came with me like a fish drawn on a line. Now and again, our swords touched—a sharp, teasing ring.
No doubt believing he'd gained the advantage, he began to press me harder, using his sword to force me into a further retreat.
Troth—I could just see—was getting closer to the door.
The soldier pounced, and in so doing, struck my sword with so much force it was all I could do to keep it in my grasp. Sensing my weakness, he waited not at all, but struck again and again, crashing his sword hard against mine.
It was then that Troth dove forward and reached the door. Using both hands, she shoved up on one end of the crossbeam, got it over one of the iron holds, and let it drop. It fell with a crash, but it still barred the door.
The noise alarmed the soldier so, he hesitated in his attack on me. Though he still held his sword out, he darted a look back. At that instant, I gathered all my strength and swung my sword against his. In his moment of distraction, I was able to shake his hold. Desperate, I struck again. That time I hit the side of his arm. He yelped with pain. Blood began to flow. With a clatter, his sword dropped. Scrambling to pick it up, he slipped on his own blood and went down on his knees. Thinking I would surely strike, he lifted his arms over his head.
Instead, I used the moment to leap to the door where Troth was struggling to lift the other end of the crossbeam. With two _of_ us hoisting, it rose up enough so that we could pull it free. It fell with a crash. Even as it did, we pushed against the doors.
They swung open.
Ten armed soldiers—helmeted and in body armor—222poured out of the tower door and came rushing down the length of the church nave toward us.
Side by side, Troth and I ran out of the church.
Dudley's troops must have seen the church doors swing open. By the time Troth and I burst from the building, they were already rushing toward us. Foremost, Dudley and his two lieutenants were charging on their mounts, their swords up. To my horror, I saw that Bear still had the rope round his neck and was being all but dragged forward by Dudley.
Troth and I leaped to one side just as the soldiers within the church burst out the door. When they saw what was coming at them, most rushed forward to confront the onslaught. Others raced to close the doors.
As I watched, I saw one of the church soldiers lift a crossbow and shoot at one of the advancing horsemen. The bolt struck the man with so much force he spun about and fell to the ground. His beast, in confusion, twisted about, colliding into the other horse, breaking the momentum of Dudley's attacking troops.
The fighting at the church door was as fierce as it was tangled. Shouts and screams, and the constant clang of metal on metal filled the air. Men fell. The ground was soaked with blood. Even as we searched for Bear, Troth and I tried to keep free of the fierce fighting.
"There!" screamed Troth and pointed.
I saw Bear. He was on his knees, desperately trying to get the rope from around his neck, even while attempting to keep from being hauled about. He had lost his helmet. His body plate was askew. His garments were rent in many places. Though there were soldiers around him, no one was paying attention to him. But the rope still held, and, attached to Dudley's horse, was yanked this way and that as the captain fought, utterly unmindful of what was happening to Bear.
"Stay here!" I shouted to Troth and dashed forward, sword in hand.
There were soldiers all around me, yelling and screaming. More than once I dodged a stroke from one side or another, I hardly knew which.
"Bear," I screamed so hard it hurt my throat, trying to make myself heard above the furor.
He turned toward the sound of my voice. His eyes were wide with panic, his face filthy, one cheek gashed and bleeding profusely. His red beard fairly glistened with blood.
I reached his side. "Hold out the rope!" I shouted.
When he did, I struck, severing it. He fell, free, then made an effort to get back on his feet, only to stumble.
"Take the sword!" I yelled, thrusting it in his hand. He took it while I ducked my head beneath his arm, and strove to lift him. "Push up!" I cried. He struggled and finally rose up.
Clumsily, step-by-step, we tried to move away from the melee in the direction where I thought I had left Troth.
As I went, I shifted slightly and saw the fighting at the church. As I would understand only later, once Dudley's forces had turned to attack the church, the garrison within the castle left the fortification, crossed the lowered moat, and were now pressing Dudley and his troops from behind. Moreover, with one church door closed, the fighting had become more desperate. The howls and shrieks of pain, mixed with the constant clash of metal on metal, produced an appalling chorus of butchery.
Troth saw us, and began to run in our direction.
There was a great shout behind us. I shifted about, and saw that the second church door had been closed.
"Retreat! Retreat!" I heard from Dudley's men.
Even Bear turned his head.
Dudley's men were trying to break away from the church before they became encircled and annihilated.
Next moment, I saw Dudley, still mounted, repeatedly slashing with his sword, forcing his way through the ring of garrison troops who were trying to bring him down with spears, glaives, and swords.
Suddenly, he broke though and galloped forward. Troth was running toward us—directly in his path. Dudley, red-faced with fury, swerved straight toward her—as if to trample her.
Bear saw the danger.
"Troth!" he screamed, and broke from me with sword in hand. Stumbling as much as he ran, he hurled himself forward to block Dudley's way. The captain saw him. Instead of drawing back or away, he lifted his sword, prepared to slash Bear. It was then that Bear flung—javelinlike—his sword forward. It struck the horse in the neck. When hit, the horse jerked his head up, stumbled, and fell to its knees. The shock of the horse's collapse caused Dudley to be thrown over its head onto the ground. The horse, recovering, whinnied shrilly, shook itself to a standing position, and, though bleeding profusely from its neck, bolted.
Dudley lay facedown upon the ground, unmoving.
Bear had also fallen to his hands and knees. With enormous effort, he scrambled for his sword that lay not far from where he was upon the ground. Taking hold of it with two hands, he used it as a prop to stagger up, then lurched toward the prostrate Dudley. It was perfectly clear what he intended—to kill the fallen man.
Troth raced forward. "Bear!" she screamed. "Don't! You mustn't kill!"
Bear, his sword poised over Dudley, hesitated.
Troth came to his side. She reached up and pulled his arm down. To my amazement, Bear let her. Indeed, she took the sword from his hands and with all her strength, flung it away.
**39**
WE LED BEAR AWAY as far from the fighting as we could. When we came to a cluster of trees thick enough to conceal us, we crept within. Once there, we lay him upon the ground.
Eyes closed, Bear was broken and battered, with more than one bleeding wound. Rope-burn marks scored his neck. We tried to clean his face of blood and filth, but we had no water.
We did not talk. All we could do was stay close, both Troth and I holding Bear's hands.
The clamor of the battle dwindled until we could hear no more. No one came to look for us. We remained alone.
Once—before it was completely dark—Bear opened his eyes. He looked at us, eyes full of tears. He tried to speak, but couldn't.
"Don't die, Bear," I whispered. "In Jesus's name, we need you.
And Troth said, "In Nerthus's name, you must live."
But sometime in the night—neither Troth nor I knew exactly when—Bear did die. At dawn, when we found him so, we wept.
We had only our hands to dig his grave into the red earth. He never seemed smaller in body than he was then. As for the grave, it was far too shallow, but it was the best we could do.
I made the best Christian prayer I could.
Troth lay her sprig of hawthorn over his heart.
Then we covered him with earth.
As I sat by his grave, I refused to think of him as dead, tried not to think that I had lost my real father. Instead, I made myself see him in my thoughts as he was that time after we had fled with Troth, when Bear and I danced and played in that wretched little town.
How fine it was to see Bear perform again! I could hardly keep from grinning even as I played. In truth, never were Bear and I more together than when I piped and he danced. Here was this great and powerful man, a giant to most, his beard aflame, his fleshy face ripe with life, his small eyes as bright as any lofty star, gamboling as if he were some two-day kid sprung new upon a dewy world. How light he was upon his feet, his arms beating the air like angel wings aflutter!
Though no man was ever more earthbound than my Bear, none seemed to leap more heavenward. In truth, Bear's dance that time did not have the exuberance he had had before, and that lessening was sore poignant to my heart. But I had no doubt that God Himself, looking down, would not hold back His sweet smile at the sight of His cavorting, unchained Bear.
Oh, dear, great Bear in ragged tunic, whose soul fairly burst with the sheer joy of living, a breathing blessing to all who saw him, who bore a heart of loving grace, whose great hands would have gentled all the world if they but could—how I did adore him!
And since no mortal man can forgive sins, I took him as he was for all and all and ever would be.
Amen.
* * *
It was late of the morning, when Troth and I finally left Bear's grave—unmarked save for our tears.
We did not look back.
I do not know how long we wandered, save we went aimlessly about the countryside, avoiding all dwellings, people, and towns, finding food as we might. We did not speak to another soul and hardly to one another. Sometimes there was rain. Sometimes there was sun. Day and night rolled their endless wheel. It was all one to me.
It was Troth, in time, who said, "Crispin, we must decide where to go."
"Why?"
"We can't wander forever."
"Troth," I cried, "I don't know where to go."
Then she said, "Do you remember that place Bear spoke of, that land where there are no armies, no governments, no wars?"
"The land of _ice?_ "
She nodded. "Perhaps we should go there."
"Troth, it may not even exist."
"Aude would say—that's why we should go."
Perhaps I had wandered enough. Perhaps I could no longer be weary. Something in what Troth said had stirred me. I heard myself speak: "I know what Bear would say to such a notion."
"What?"
"He'd laugh and then cry out, 'Crispin, if that place doesn't exist, we must make it so. Let it be as it _may_ be!
And so it was that Troth and I, though weighted down by all that had happened, were guided by what Bear had told us: that freedom is not merely to be, but to choose. We chose to go to toward the edge of the world.
Wherever that might be.
**AUTHOR'S NOTE**
While the story of _Crispin; At the Edge of the World_ is fictional, it is based on a number of historical facts.
Briefly, the end of the fourteenth century marked a time of great turmoil and change, moving England toward modernity. Recurring plagues and famines reduced the population by perhaps as much as half, bringing considerable social upheaval.
Four years after the time when this tale is set, the great peasant uprising of 1381 erupted. Led by the priest John Ball, among others, great numbers of peasants, and what we would call middle-class people, rose up in southern England and tried to end English feudalism, while establishing new personal and economic freedoms. (Whereas John Ball is an historical person, his brotherhood, as depicted in this story, is imagined.) With great bloodshed and destruction, the rebels almost succeeded in their goal of transforming English society, only to be suppressed by more bloodshed and destruction.
Edward III, the old English king, died in 1377, leaving the boy king, Richard II, on the throne. He would be overthrown while in his twenties.
At the time of this story, the Hundred Years' War was ongoing. This war—really a series of wars—began in 1337 and did not end until 1453—116 years later! Fought principally between England and France, it had to do with who should rule France, as well as with English claims—and French counterclaims—to large parts of what is today modern France. The war did not end until France, led by Joan of Arc, swept the English away.
In the course of this long period of hostilities, with its many great battles (Crécy, Agincourt) and truces, abandoned soldiers—free companies—would go on fighting for their own need and greed in much the way that Richard Dudley—a fictional character—does here.
The ancient English town of Rye still exists, though with changing coastal patterns it now sits inland. The burning of the town by French and Castilian forces took place in 1377.
The cog—the kind of ship that takes Bear, Crispin, and Troth to Brittany—was widely used during this time by Atlantic coast countries. Many relics of these ships have been uncovered. A complete reconstruction of such a ship, the Bremen Cog, as it is called, has been sailed. A good deal of information about the Bremen Cog may be found on the Internet.
Bastides, such as the fictionalized town of Bources depicted here, were fourteenth-century market towns and small cities built in the French Aquitaine. They were designed so that residents might defend themselves against French or English attacks or those deemed heretics by the Catholic Church. The town described here is closely modeled upon the real circular bastide, Fourcès.
Regarding the religion practiced by Aude: at the time of this story Christianity is absolutely the established religion of England. That said, all kinds of pagan beliefs and practices continued here and there. I refer readers to Kathleen Herbert's book, _Looking for the Lost Gods of England._ But one need only look at the origin of the English names for the days of the week and months to see the extraordinary persistence of old religions into even our own time. Indeed, Easter, the holiest day in the Christian calendar, derives its English name from a pagan Northumbrian goddess.
The best summary description of this fascinating period I know is the brilliant and captivating series of lectures delivered by Professor Teofilo F. Ruiz titled _Medieval Europe, Crisis and Renewal,_ as recorded by The Teaching Company.
**AVI** 's books are loved by kids and adults everywhere. He has written more than fifty books, several of which have garnered prestigious awards, including the Newbery Award and two Newbery Honors. His titles for Hyperion include _Crispin: The Cross of Lead, The Book Without Words, Iron Thunder_ and _Hard Cold: The Colorado Gold Rush of 1859._ He lives with his family in Colorado.
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"pile_set_name": "Books3"
}
|
Many fluoropolymer materials, such as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), are thermoplastic polymers. That is, they have the property of softening when heated and of hardening again when cooled. PTFE is generally produced in the form of white powder referred to as resin. It has a higher crystalline melting point (327.degree. C.) and higher viscosity than other thermoplastic polymers, which makes it difficult to fabricate in the same manner as other plastics.
PTFE is a long chain polymer composed of CF.sub.2 groups. The chain length determines molecular weight, while chain orientation dictates crystallinity. The molecular weight and crystallinity of a given resin prior to sintering are controlled by the polymerization process.
Currently, three different types of PTFE resins are available which are formed from two different polymerization processes. The three resins are granular polymer, aqueous dispersions, and coagulated dispersion products.
In the coagulated dispersion of PTFE resin, small diameter (0.1-0.2 micrometer) particles are coagulated under controlled conditions to yield agglomerates ranging in size from 400 to 500 micrometers in diameter. The morphological structure of these agglomerates can be considered as long chains of PTFE that are intermingled in a tangled network.
A known method of forming articles from fluoropolymer resins, such as PTFE, is to blend a resin with an organic lubricant and compress it under relatively low pressure into a preformed billet. Using a ram type extruder, the billet is then extruded through a die in a desired cross-section. Next, the lubricant is removed from the extruded billet by drying or other extraction method. The dried extruded material (extrudate), is then rapidly stretched and/or expanded at elevated temperatures. In the case of PTFE, this results in the material taking on a microstructure characterized by elongated nodes interconnected by fibrils. Typically, the nodes are oriented with their elongated axis perpendicular to the direction of stretch.
After stretching, the porous extrudate is sintered by heating it to a temperature above its crystalline melting point while it is maintained in its stretched condition. This can be considered as an amorphous locking process for permanently "locking-in" the microstructure in its expanded or stretched configuration.
It has been found that the effect caused by stretching PTFE is dependent on extrudate strength, stretch temperature, and stretch rate. According to U.S. Pat. No. 3,953,566 of W.L. Gore, products expanded at high rates of stretch have a more homogenous structure and possess much greater strength. Extrudate strength is more generally a function of the molecular weight and degree of crystallinity of the starting resin and extrusion conditions such as extrusion pressure, lubricant level, and reduction ratio. These parameters also control the degree of alignment that results from extrusion. The degree of alignment, in turn, affects one's ability to homogeneously stretch the extrudate.
Molecular weight and crystallinity affect the stretch characteristics, sinter profile and ultimately the final properties of the processed material. For the initial stages of fabrication, most PTFE fine powders used for ram extrusion and expansion processing are highly crystalline (>90%). as determined by IR spectroscopy, but their molecular weights may differ.
Low molecular weight materials tend to crystallize quickly and become highly crystalline and very brittle. In addition, the intermolecular forces between difluoromethylene groups are very low. Thus, in order to achieve adequate strength, one needs either very high molecular weight, highly crystalline material or one needs some way to disrupt the crystalline order. With a homopolymer, the best way to inhibit crystallization is to increase the viscosity of the molten material to very high values by selecting a polymer with very high molecular weight. In fact, PTFE coagulated dispersion resins that have very high molecular weights with molecular weight distributions have been developed for expanded PTFE processes.
In line with these considerations, the primary function of the "sintering" step is to heat the polymer above its crystalline melt point so that it can be reformed upon cooling to a low enough crystalline content to achieve the sort of mechanical properties required for the current application. To maintain a low crystalline content in the final product, the melt viscosity, corresponding to the molecular weight of the polymer, must be very high.
Most known methods for processing PTFE describe unilateral stretching techniques and stress the importance of stretching the fluoropolymer at rapid rates. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,953,566 and 4,187,390 issued to Gore state that while there is a maximum rate of expansion beyond which fracture of the material occurs, the minimum rate of expansion is of much more practical significance. Indeed, the patents state that at high temperatures within the preferred range for stretching (35.degree. C.-327.degree. C.) only the lower limit of expansion rate has been detected. The patents estimate this rate to be ten percent of the initial length of the starting material per second. The patents go on to note that the lower limit of expansion rates interact with temperature in a roughly logarithmic fashion so that at higher temperatures within the preferred stretching range, higher minimum expansion rates are required.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,973,609 to Browne describes another method for producing porous PTFE products by stretching at a rate of 10% per second. The patent also states that a differential structure is obtained by using an alloy of two different fluoropolymer resins which are characterized by significantly different stretch characteristics. The resins have different molecular weights and/or crystallinities. Accordingly, the final physical properties, such as strength, of PTFE articles formed in such a way are affected by the different molecular weights and/or crystallinities of the starting resins.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,208,745 and 4,713,070 also describe methods for producing porous PTFE products having a variable structure. The processes utilize a sintering step having a differential sintering profile. That is, one surface of an expanded PTFE article is sintered at a temperature which is higher than the sintering temperature of another surface. This results in fibrils being broken and provides an inherently weak material.
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{
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
}
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package io.quarkus.deployment.builditem;
import io.quarkus.builder.item.MultiBuildItem;
import io.quarkus.deployment.recording.ObjectLoader;
/**
*/
public final class BytecodeRecorderObjectLoaderBuildItem extends MultiBuildItem {
private final ObjectLoader objectLoader;
public BytecodeRecorderObjectLoaderBuildItem(final ObjectLoader objectLoader) {
this.objectLoader = objectLoader;
}
public ObjectLoader getObjectLoader() {
return objectLoader;
}
}
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{
"pile_set_name": "Github"
}
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Tailoring of temperature- and pH-responsive cotton fabric with antimicrobial activity: Effect of the concentration of a bio-barrier-forming agent.
A stimuli-responsive cotton fabric was designed using temperature and pH-responsive poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (poly-NiPAAm) and chitosan (PNCS) microgel as a carrier of antimicrobially active 3-(trimethoxysilyl)-propyldimethyloctadecyl ammonium chloride (Si-QAC), which forms a bio-barrier on the fibre surface. The influence of Si-QAC on the moisture management and thermoregulation abilities of the PNCS microgel was investigated. Using a pad-dry cure method, Si-QAC was applied to a 100% cotton fabric model in concentrations ranging from 0.05-4% to determine the antimicrobial activity of Si-QAC against two types of bacteria, gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and gram-negative Escherichia coli. Based on these results, three different concentrations of Si-QAC were selected (0.5, 2 and 4%) and tested with in situ embedment of the agent into PNCS microgel particles for further functionalization of the cotton fabric. The functional properties of the studied samples were assessed by measuring the moisture content, water vapour transmission rate, water uptake and antibacterial activity, and FT-IR and SEM were used to study the chemical and morphological properties of the fibres. The results show that regardless of the concentration, the presence of Si-QAC caused a reduction in the change in the volume of the PNCS microgel particles under conditions that would normally cause swelling. Accordingly, the moisture management and thermoregulation properties of the PNCS microgel were best preserved when the lowest Si-QAC concentration (0.5%) was used. Despite the low concentration, at the conditions required, enough Si-QAC was released from the microgel particles onto the surface of the fibres to form a bio-barrier with excellent antimicrobial activity.
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{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
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The present invention generally relates to core holders used in testing core samples, and more particularly to a core holder utilizing a modular sleeve.
In geological exploration, the physical characteristics of an underground formation are of paramount importance. Permeability, a measure of resistance to fluid flow, is a particularly important factor that affects the method of oil recovery to be used for a particular well.
To determine permeability, a core sample is removed from the underground formation. The core sample is placed in a core holder, where it is subjected to heat and pressure conditions comparable to those underground. Fluid is then forced through the core sample at high pressure. The permeability of the core is indicated by the change in pressure at various points along the length of the core.
During testing, the core is encased in a rubber sleeve. Because pressure measurements must be taken at various points along the core's length, pressure taps must be provided. In at least one type of sleeve, the taps are molded directly into the rubber sleeve. Such a sleeve with integral pressure taps is relatively expensive.
The conditions involved in core testing cause the rubber sleeve to deteriorate rapidly. A core, and its encasing sleeve, may be subjected to pressures greater than 10,000 pounds per square inch, and temperatures near 400.degree. F., for example. When testing under these conditions, the rubber sleeve may have to be replaced after every test.
Conventional core holders accommodate sleeves of a certain length. If a core to be tested is too long for the sleeve, a core holder with a longer sleeve must be used. As a result, core holders of various sizes are frequently maintained in the same laboratory. Because each core holder demands its own supply of sleeves, a great variety of sleeves of different lengths must be manufactured and kept in stock.
Therefore, there is a need for a core holder using a sleeve that does not require pressure taps molded into the material so that each sleeve is relatively less expensive, and that can be used with different lengths of cores so that an inventory of different length sleeves is not required.
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{
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
}
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Who should read this article: Anybody interested in applying to an Ivy League or U.C. school, oh yes, and Stanford. I also include my opening discussion for the class of 2021 on brand, status and the Tesla test.
How many Teslas have you seen with college stickers on the back window?
Me neither, and I drive the highways in the most Tesla-dense region in the country as I visit area clients. I’ll get back to that after we get to some data, below.
So how bad was the application season? Depends on where you applied. Applications to the Ivies, Stanford, and some of their analogues and safety schools, which will be the topic of this post, were very, very difficult. Your leading example is Stanford, which dropped below a 5% admissions rate for the first time this year–and was the first university to do this. Applying to Stanford increasingly resembles playing the lottery for most applicants. Applications to hundreds of non-name brands and international options, not so much. Food for thought, and a topic I will discuss again soon.
Not a very friendly collection of numbers, is it? The problem, as usual, is that classic supply and demand equation in market theory.
Sure, there is a long-term structural problem in our economy, and yes, the elite universities offer superb educational opportunities, not to mention the prestige of an Ivy or Stanford sticker on the back windshield, and yes, your college friends can be part of a great network . . . . but the next Mark Zuckerberg is not going to come from a new social media platform at Harvard. Sure, if you are admitted, go to Harvard (as long as the financials work). But don’t go just to have the brand, especially if you know of a lesser place with a better deal for you, educationally and financially (is Harvard really the best place to go for software design/engineering?)
One of the most important things I do with college advising clients is help them develop a wider list of options. My mantra on target schools is this: You should always have three tiers of schools in your application list, with the bottom tier being schools for whom your data puts you above the 75th percentile of admissions, the middle tier with schools for which your data makes you an “average” admit, and your reach schools making up the third tier–where your data is at 25% or below, though I add that if your data is below or near the bottom of a college’s admit data, it’s not likely to be worth the time to write the app essays, much less pay the app fee. The chances of admission always have to be weighed against the strength of your dream, of course, and maybe that fusion reactor you are constructing in your garage will do the trick . . .
I have written about strategy and creating a good college list before, and will write about it again in relation to this year’s application season in the coming months, so look for that.
Much of the overcrowding in the world of college apps is a result of what an economist would refer to as market distortion–in this case rooted in the growing fear many people have about their economic future and the chances for their children to have a life as prosperous as their own. This sense of decline in economic prospects is well-documented, as is the reality that fuels these fears, and along with a focus on a narrow range of well-known brands, you can see the problem with the information in this particular “market.”
The brand advantage does have a real effect on income when you are first hired in a range of industries, but that effect fades quickly–mid-range income is an indicator of job performance, and job performance comes from an alloy of factors, including how good your education actually was, your motivation, and decision-making on the job. Which brings me back to that Tesla.
I have not seen a college sticker on the back window of a Tesla. Well, okay, I have seen a couple, but those were on the back windows of Tesla 3’s Yep, we already have truckloads of those loose in my part of the world. The thing about a Tesla, and a college sticker, is two-fold: first both are a statement of status. Second, both affiliate you with a group of people.
But a Tesla is a status symbol that speaks for itself, environmentally friendly, elegant in design, superb in execution and performance . . . and the one person I currently know who is driving a Tesla Model S went to Humboldt State University (not the Humboldt U in Germany–the Cal State in Northern California, an area more known for certain herbal products than tech). This person started as an art major, moved to graphic arts and from there focused more and more on Computers . . . and now runs his own medium-sized digital arts company now–a success story showing the power of education and curiosity.
The car he owns because, a, he likes it, and b, he thinks that environmentalism can only succeed if it is not just moral but enjoyable. His mid-career income is excellent, he loves what he is doing, and he came out of a college that does not get much notice even as a regional school–ranked only 57th as a regional university (West) by U.S. News and World Report. Something to keep in mind as you churn through rankings and discard schools that are not getting brand recognition.
This post has analysis and data on Ivy League applications for the last five years, as well as on the most popular U.C. campuses and a couple of interesting alternative schools (particularly for tech and engineering students). It may feel like reading War and Peace for those of you whose reading does not generally extend beyond Twitter and text messages. On the other hand, for the labor, you will get a good overview on the trends in elite Ivy and U.C. schools, as well as free advice for saving yourself a lot of application misery–which starts with looking at the data on schools and on yourself. For more, read on.
For some things, the past is no longer such a great predictor of the future–the weather, for example. I just came back from ten days in the Sierra Nevada and the weather reminded me of the monsoon: thunder, lightning and rain daily, with green grass in the arid ghost town of Bodie–in July. Go figure.
For other things, the past is still a good predictor of the future–take college applications as an example, in which the forecast is for admissions to be incrementally tougher every year–if you are going to the most competitive schools. If you are not, relax and enjoy the application process (As much as possible. Think about it as a challenge, as an opportunity for growth, as . . . a lot of work).
Some Examples That Show the Trends (and Why Averages are not Necessarily for the Average Applicant)
Turning to some specifics for this year, the tale is pretty much the same as it has been for over a decade: if you want to go to one of the super select colleges, the going is tough and tougher. Stanford, for example, came close to breaking into the 4% admit range this year, dropping to an all-time low of 5.05% of applicants admitted. Of course, they do have a relatively small undergraduate population and are a worldwide brand pretty much on par with Disneyland, which means that your average 4.0 GPA can expect to be rejected, but . . . it’s even worse when you look at their average GPA and test scores and realize that they have under 8,000 undergrads and a very full and vibrant athletic program, among other things, which means for the average student, the GPA and test scores listed are not really averages for the average applicant.
Why? Because those average numbers are skewed by hundreds of athletes, many of whom (but not all, for sure) have somewhat lower GPA and test scores. And special categories for admits are not just for athletes. For those who are upset at this, I believe this is actually fair–for one simple reason: no money, no university. Universities need to build a happy alumni and athletics are a big part of brand and of donations, and these donations and the happy supporters with their fond memories of tailgating, et al, pay for all kinds of things, including new facilities, scholarships athletic and otherwise . . . and not only that, many kids who excel athletically but are somewhat underperforming academically for admission to the elite schools they get to attend will still go on to to exceptional work as adults.
And special admits are not just for jocks. A math prodigy who is mediocre at other things (yep, they exist) may also jump past an accomplished generalist when it comes to admits. And a high performing kid from a rough neighborhood may also get a boost–which is okay by me. It’s fair play for universities to have special categories for everything from athletic branding to social justice. Their game, their rules. This is true in many areas of life. Your task is to decide whose game to play.
So getting back go forecasting and data for this year, one easy prediction for your application experience is this: if you are less concerned with brand and just want a good education, you have no worries–last year I had multiple clients with C+ averages make it into multiple universities, and clients in the solid B range doing very well with multiple accepts to multiple well-known brands–not in the Ivies or Stanford of course, but getting accepted into a broad range of good schools, public and private.
It’s all about finding a broad range of colleges that will allow you to fulfill your ultimate ends and settling on a good list for your final applications, then having good supplemental materials. Turning to one of the other popular options in California as a more sane option than Stanford, U.C. Berkeley had roughly a 17% acceptance rate for fall 2015 (still bad, but compared to the Cardinal, this looks very reasonable).
Before I get to this year’s data but let me give you my takeaway for this whole post now:
To avoid misery, create good goals and keep those goals in mind when planning for factors that you cannot control (like what the colleges are looking for to fill specific categories this year), without obsessing about fairness. And be sure that you do not focus only on getting into HYPSM. These are great schools and offer unique opportunities for their students, but so do most respectable colleges. And finally, use the CollegeAppJungle cushion formula when creating your college list: for every Stanford or top Ivy on your list, have one school for which you are average and one school for which you are above average. You then can reach for your dreams, with a safety net.
Pretty Scary Data: Ivy League Results for the 2014-2015 application season (these students will be enrolling for fall semester, 2015-in a couple of months, in other words).
Brown
30,397 applied; 8.5% admitted
(2013-2014 data: 30,291 applications; 8.6% admitted–see what I mean by incrementally more difficult each year–this is pretty consistent throughout what follows.)
Columbia
36,250 applied; 6.1% admitted
(2013-2014: 32,952 applications; 6.94% admitted)
Cornell
41,907 applied; 14.9% admitted
(2013-2014 data: 43,041 applications; 15.2% admitted)
Dartmouth
20,504 applied; 10.3% admitted
(2013-2014 data: 19,235 applications; 11.5% admitted)
Harvard
37,307 applied; 5.3% admitted
(2013-2014 data: 34,295 applications; 5.9% admitted)
Penn
37,267 applied; 9.9% admitted
(2013-2014 data: 35,788 applications; 9.9% admitted)
Princeton
27,290 applied; 6.99% admitted
(2013-2014 data: 26,641 applications; 7.28% admitted)
Yale
30,237 applied; 6.49% admitted–making Yale a bit of an outlier as their numbers softened slightly this year.
(2013-2014 data: 30,932 applications; 6.25% admitted)
And for you uber-STEMers, here is M.I.T:
18,306 applied; 8% admitted
(2013-2014 data: 18,356 applied; 7.9% admitted)
The numbers above could be described as ranging from tough to terrifying, if you are obsessed with the Ivy League and M.I.T. But keep in mind that there are up to a thousand decent to superb colleges in the Americas, particularly if you break them down by schools or majors (e.g. Colorado College of Mines, the University of Toronto and the University of Michigan, among others, Oh Engineers). Also be aware when assessing data that all colleges must estimate how many of their admits will actually choose to attend, which affects their admits–this is called yield, and I have written about this here: Why Yield Still Matters. Ivy League colleges have very high yield, relatively speaking, and so have an even lower level of admits compared to schools with lower yield.
Of course, if you are not totally obsessed with the Ivy League, this data is merely interesting, and using it, along with, say, a scattergram from Naviance, you can do a cost-benefit analysis based on your chances of admission. I say, Go for it, given that your average app costs only 50-75 dollars, but have a healthy list of non-super-selective colleges, guided by a healthy perspective on why you want to go to college and what you expect to get from it.
Compare the last two years’ data to a three year trend that takes us from 2013 back to 2011:
M.I.T’s West Coast competitor, Cal Tech, had 11% admitted in 2013, 8% for 2014, for you STEMers who need another point of comparison. I will update with this year’s data for CT when I get it.
The trend is clear: steadily down for the most competitive schools, and the seeming upward trend in a couple of cases may be due to the fact that they admit more because more students use them for a backup school, choosing to attend another school after admissions offers go out–universities have to calculate this into the admits, much like an airline figuring out how to slightly overbook flights–the difference being that, if a school misses their admit/yield target, they either lose money when they under enroll, or have to find a way to house and provide classes to their excess new students–U.C. Berkeley had a bit of a fiasco with yield some years back and had freshman students living off of cots in rec rooms and hallways of dorms for quite awhile. See my post on Yield, above, for more on yield.
If the current trend continues, the top three Ivies will all be under a 5% admit rate a year or so before the next Winter Olympics roll around. Fear not, however, for I will conclude with some recommendations for dealing with this in a moment–but before I do . . . . let’s get to this:
As I said, really close to that 4% barrier and really likely to break it this year, based on the trend. They could decide to forestall this by adjusting and making some space for a slightly larger freshman class, but nothing currently suggest this will happen. Stanford is the go-to destination for today’s Future Masters of the Universe, really–anybody who wants to launch a good STEM career has Stanford at or near the top of their college list. So expect yield at Stanford to stay high, and for the Cardinal to drop below 5% during your application season as Stanford turns down many students who look perfect in terms of numbers. Other factors, like essays and extracurriculars will play in important role in application results here. So will institutional needs.
Inconsistent Admission Results
I did have six of my clients be admitted to Stanford in 2013-2014, which was a new high for me, but two of them were outstanding female athletes as well as good students, and the others were nearly perfect, with outstanding essays and interesting backgrounds. This year, so far three have reported admissions, but I have only had formal reports back from about 70% of my clients as of July, so I hold out hope for those who may still be too giddy to respond to my June e-mail request for results and decisions.
I also had other clients who did not get into Stanford, some of whom were admitted into places like Harvard and Yale, and of course those who had admits to both/and. My Stanford admits were not admitted to some of the Ivy League schools on their list while being admitted to others. The upshot on this is simple: you cannot count on admission to any specific school in the usual short list of top universities–so you should widen your application list. Do some deep breathing. Remember that life is not about what college sticker you put on your car.
Have a Good Backup Plan
Let’s start with what West Coast applicants applying to the Ivy League think of as “backup schools:” U.C. Berkeley and U.C.L.A. (Personally I find the idea that the U.C.’s are somehow second-rate to be hilarious. Berkeley has been ranked as the top school in the world overall by some ratings systems–not that I am all that impressed by ratings, which usually focus on incomes of graduates and a bunch of less clear metrics, none of which guarantee a good outcome for any individual. But back to our topic . . .)
U. C. Berkeley–2011: 25.54%; 2012: 21.13%; 2013: 20.83%; 2014: 17.3% admit rate, with 12,795 admitted for fall 2014 out of 73,771 applicants; of these, 65.6% were California residents and 4,401 were out-of-state students; this year’s admits had a weighted average GPA of 4.18, ACT composite average of 31 and SAT reading of 677, Math of 703 and Writing of 691.
Berkeley Update for fall 2015 enrollment: 78,918 freshman/1st year applicants, 13,321 admitted for a 16.9% admit rate, a new low. Yes, a large, “state” school with many applicants and an incrementally more difficult admissions rate, but a much better admit rate than in the Ivies. Llike the Ivies, the trend is toward tougher admissions, and the drop in admits at Berkeley is even steeper over recent years than at most other schools–a result of the Ivies, et al, having such low rates of admission that more and more students are dropping out of the Ivy League app race and going straight for the great public universities. The average unweighted GPA for these admits was 3.91 with an average ACT of 31 and an average SAT of 2093. For transfers, Berkeley had 17,239 applicants, 93% of whom came from California community/junior colleges; 3,763 or 21.8% were offered admissions this year; compare that to about 23% transfer admits last year and the theme of incrementally increasing difficulty reappears here as well.
U. C. L. A.–2011: 25.28%; 2012: 21.27%; 2013: 21.10; 2014: 18.23% admit rate, with 15,778 admitted out of 86,537 applicants–4,110 of these admits coming from out-of-state. Weighted average GPA for U.C.L.A. in 2014 was 3.94. For a complete look at U.C.L.A.’s test average (SAT/ACT) and other data up through 2014, which is rendered in more detail than Berkeley, see this: U.C.L.A. Averages.
U.C.L.A. Fall 2015 Update: 17.3% admitted, including 16,027 freshman admits out of 92,722 applicants. This is a pretty good jump downward in admits and upward in applicants for U.C.L.A. U.C.L. A. also admitted 4,905 out of 20,063 transfer students (mostly J.C. transfers). Again, you see a relatively easier admissions challenge relative to the Ivies, but also a relatively steep decline in admits in recent years.
Some Other Schools to Look At
This will be more focused on STEM majors, not because I think STEM is the only way to go (far from it), but rather because so many want a STEM major, and it provides an easy way to focus on a small selection of the thousands of colleges in North America and beyond.
University of Washington
Why not, STEMmers and others? For you STEM folks who think that Berkeley or Stanford are the only way to go to get a foot in the door of the West Coast Tech Industry, you might have heard of those guys at Amazon and Microsoft up there in the Seattle area (Of the latter, I know, I know, so Old School, but still–one of the biggest and most important tech companies in the world.) Not to mention those biotech companies and internet companies like Zillow, Expedia, et al and so forth. Specifically of interest to you computer science and programming folks, U.W.’s Comp Sci school has a truly fantastic new building and a large degree of protected funding dedicated to Computer disciplines–a good thing in today’s challenging world of educational finances. For more on that, look here: U Washington Computer Sciences.
2015 data is pending as of July, 2015–a relaxed approach from a university that is pretty relaxed compared to the Ivies and Berkeley.
Looks doable, doesn’t it? Of course, some majors will be far more challenging to get into–like those in the computer disciplines–but still not even nearly as tough as the Ivies, Stanford, or the U.C.’s, especially Berkeley, if you are a STEMmer. Of course, there is some rain, but the good coffee and access to excellent salmon offset that . . .
Harvey Mudd
If you haven’t heard of this place, they know it well in Silicon Valley. And while it is tougher than Berkeley and far tougher than Washington, its data shows that it is a good alternative school for those convinced that the Ivies are the Cat’s Pajamas. Here some data:
2013: 3,539 applicants; 18% admitted; 2014: 3,678 applicants; 524 admitted (14.2% admit rate); as of July, I am still waiting for HM to report stats for fall, 2015 enrollment. One additional point–more than two men apply for every woman who applies to HM (2,588 men for fall 2014 vs. 1,090 women), but the number of women who were admitted in the last available class (fall 2014) was 255 vs. 269 for the men. So the advantage is to you ladies. Though the admit total is admittedly small in both cases.
H.M is a beautiful, small school in a Southern California setting (807 undergraduate students last year), and while both private and expensive, has pretty generous financial aid (32,000 has been the average aid package in recent years, according to HM, apparently an upgrade from the old HM 25 k package). If you can pay for an out-of-state public school, you can likely afford HM. The steep recent decline in admits does suggest that HM has been discovered, with a rising rate of out-of-state applicants, but still: worth adding if you have some space on your target school list and are interested in a small school.
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
One of my favorite, small, public colleges and also a favorite of Silicon Valley employers, as well as companies like Bechtel, Webcor, Kiewit, et al. Look em’ up, if you are curious, Oh engineering types. The school is well-known for programs ranging from Architecture to Electrical Engineering, has a highly ranked business school and a number of very strong humanities programs. Here’s some CPSLO data:
2013: 40,402 applications, 13,939 accepted (35% accepted) with an average wieghted GPA of 3.96, ACT composite average of 29 and SAT 1 average of 1311. 2014: 51,707 applicants, 14,749 admitted (28%-this is a record low for CPSLO), with a weighted GPA of 3.97 on average and SAT Reading and Math of 1318–the ACT composite was 29. Fall 2015 Update: 46,799 applied; 14,386 admitted; 4.0 GPA average (weighted); ACT average of 30; SAT Reading and Math average of 1332.
Cal Poly has (finally) started to offer more detailed information on student data by fields of study–click here for information by school: Cal Poly Data Breakdown.
Your Takeaway: Diversity, Diversity, Diversity–and a somewhat longer list than the old “10 is the max” standard.
As in recent years, the takeaway for this is to develop a longer list of target schools and add some diversity. I suggest 12-15 as a minimum on your target list, not the old ten maximum list.
After all, it’s the 21st Century, Friends, and as you can see, the admit rates at my alternate schools are also declining, a trickle-down effect of both increased expenses at some of the more popular schools and the very low likelihood of admissions to the most competitive schools–students and parents are getting the message and are looking for the hidden gem or overlooked schools like the few I showed you in this post.
So look for the overlooked, look across borders and over the sea, as well as in your backyard. Don’t limit your search to the United States.
As in recent years, I strongly encourage students to look at Canada–the University of British Columbia, U of Toronto and McGill come immediately to mind, and are cheaper on average than going out of state within the U.S. A West-Coast flight to Vancouver, or an East Coast flight to Toronto is actually pretty affordable, so parents can visit with ease, if necessary, and Canada is on average a safer place to live than the U.S., even if they do have more guns per capita. Must be that relaxed and friendly attitude.
And don’t take the various university rankings too seriously, even if you are a STEM person, which some of the best known university rankings weight over other factors (money being the other dominant metric). Nobody knows how to measure the real value of an education, and there is a degree to which the Ivies, particularly Yale, Harvard and Princeton, demonstrate a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy when it comes to income–income and some other stuff that is used to rank universities does not necessarily reflect the quality of your undergrad education. Having said that, you might want to check out international rankings for British and Irish universities, and check out some specialty programs, like the accelerated medical degree at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, Ireland–an example only if you want to be a surgeon, of course.
Moving back to the role income plays in university rankings, a school from a western state, particularly if it has a smaller population, will obviously have folks with lower incomes–it’s cheaper to live there and more of the students from, say University of Washington or Oregon will be from those states and likely continue to live in the Northwest, which has a great standard of living, but lower average incomes than, say, New York or Mass. If you went to school in Seattle, but took a job in Cupertino, your income would reflect that.
Keep that in mind and ask what you want from your college experience–a good job is huge, but a good experience is as well, and it starts with having a good list of backup schools to ease the stress of applications. Good luck and come back soon.
For many years, yield was vital to college rankings. Universities tried not only to attract far more qualified applicants than they could possibly admit, they also tried to get a very high yield. From the point of view of applicants, this was, well, a bit devilish. The universities, of course, have a different point of view, and it’s worth considering their perspective as you begin the process of applying.
For those of you who are not up on the inside game of college admissions and its terminology (yet), yield is the number of admitted students who then also actually enrollin the school instead of, say, turning down the school to enroll in their “other” first choice. Yield was for many years important due to the U.S. News and World Report’s use of yield in its rankings of colleges, a practice they gave up years back. But yield remains, as a kind of ghost hanging around the theatre of college applications, influencing the general perception about how in demand a college is. The psychology is not so dissimilar to that of the fashion industry in some ways, if you step back and squint your eyes a bit—or maybe not. Too scary to visualize.
In any case, universities today still share their yield info with applicants; those universities with high yields share the information as a sales point (simply everybody, or at least a supermajority of our admits wants to go to our school, etc.) and the others share presumably either so they won’t seem like they have something to hide or because they really are perfectly fine accepting students who were ranked in a top decile but who were not in the tiny cohort of the top 1 to 3% of those who actually gain admissions to an elite Ivy or Stanford.
As a side note, for those of you who are already feeling the butterflies as you consider the odds of getting into, say, Princeton or Stanford, look: You will find a surprising number of really excellent schools that accept the top 10-15% of students, and many people in fact get a great education for less debt at public schools with even “lower” standards. Some of these less competitive schools have specific programs that compete with anybody. Once you look beyond the same 10-15 schools that everybody else knows about and wants to apply to, you can find all kinds of hidden gems. So breathe deep and relax as I present the admissions facts as they are, and I will, in upcoming posts, also help you look outside the envelope everybody else is staring into, including looking at cheaper and less well-known but still excellent domestic options, as well as looking outside the country. If you can expand your horizon beyond the same 12-15 schools everyone else is applying to, you can find some real gems, colleges that may suit you and your needs better than many marquee universities.
With this preamble, let’s first take a look at the data I gathered on some of the most competitive colleges in the United States—yes, these are some of the schools everybody has heard of:
Yale—2013 (class of 2017): Yield not available as of 6/19; 2012: 68.4%; 2011: 65.2%
Compare the yield rates for the elite schools, above, with the overall category averages below, which come from the most recent NACAC (National Association of College and Career Counselors) report, with data up through 2011; these are averages for the entire public/private categories:
Yield Rates for Public and Private 4-Year Colleges
Year
Public
Private
2002
51.4%
47.8%
2003
50.6%
45.7%
2004
49.1%
45.5%
2005
48.9%
44.2%
2006
47.5%
43.8%
2007
48.4%
44.2%
2008
46.2%
43.3%
2009
42.9%
38.4%
2010
42.9%
38.4%
2011
42.6%
36.4%
The story that my data on the super selective schools and the data in this categorical chart tells is clear: the most elite schools have been pretty well sheltered from the big drop in yields in recent years, but many others have been, therefore, disproportionately affected.
Why? Well, demand, largely. And the demand is driven by certain realities—the famous profs, the famous alums, the data they issue about how smart their applicants are, the data about how few of those applicants they let in, the data about how high their yield rate is of those they did admit . . . oh, wait, it looks like we are discussing, well, marketing, and therefore, Dear Applicant, we are discussing you. Or your perceptions both personally and aggregated with your peers across the country and world. Take your pick.
As you consider your own perceptions, we should also consider the plight of that demonic realm known as the Admissions Department. You might want to cue some Rolling Stones (Please allow me to introduce myself, I’m a man of wealth and taste) as you think about those dark empires into which all your personal information will disappear, leaving you to wait for months to find out if you are one of the blessed or one of the damned when the envelopes are mailed or the e-mails sent next spring. But here’s the thing: they have problems, too.
You are in a race to be admitted; they are in a contest to improve their rankings, or if they are near the top, to maintain their position. Changes in college rankings mean big money and can make or break campuses and careers. In some cases, the suffering of admissions deans may even surpass that of those applying. A large part of a dean’s problem is hitting the sweet spot where most of those admitted actually attend. All heck can break loose if 400 extra freshmen admits appear who weren’t expected.
Yes, screwing up on your yield can wreak some serious havoc, with 18-year olds sleeping on cots in hallways, irate parents calling, news vans prowling campus. Worse even than that is a big drop in yield, when dorm rooms are empty because the admissions people didn’t get enough new faces to show up. Instead of simply bad PR, which they can deal with, they lose real money and their prestige takes a hit. That’s a scary, nay a terrifying thing for university administrators, even with the economy appearing to recover. Have a little compassion for those admissions types who are not really devils anyhow. They are your fellows in the suffering created by our crazy college applications market.
And here is one more thing to consider: You will do a better job at creating a strategy for college admissions if you better understand the problems facing your admissions officers, because you will also know more about your own challenges when you apply. And when you turn to writing your application essays, your audience should be one of your first considerations.
Of course, in the long run, the more of you who do a better job understanding those problems, the (paradoxically) larger problems those same admissions officers will face, at least in the long run. For one thing, you will follow my advice and continue to apply to more schools, and you will also continue to demonstrate more interest in more schools, using persistence and discipline to evade their attempts to measure just how committed you are as they, for their part, try to get more apps, admit fewer people and have a higher yield.
With that, let’s say the game is afoot, and may the best applicants win. Read my earlier post on how applications are evaluated while you start to plan your moves, and I will have more about all this strategy stuff in later posts. Speaking of which, some of these posts will be protected and you will need to pay me a very small subscription fee for full access to all my posts on my private blog. Contact me at wordguild@gmail.com for more information. See you soon.
In my last post, I took a look at trends in admissions–finding, most notably, that admission rates at the most competitive schools are continuing to trend downward in the single digits. This post will give three year results for all of the Ivy League universities, below, as well as results on other universities that were popular with my clients this year. (This data changes from early in the year until late spring; I update as I get new numbers but not necessarily immediately.) Some schools are holding steady, others are seeing decreasing rates of admissions, while a few saw a slight increase in admits.
I also made some suggestions in the last post about looking outside the usual suspects, i.e, the 12 or so big names that always come up when constructing a college list, something I have been discussing for years. I will repost and link the relevant posts in the coming days and weeks.
In addition to broadening your college search and making a longer target list, the supplementary work that you do in applying to college this year will be even more important for the selective schools. Essays are always the center of this effort, which is why I spend so much time addressing them in by blog posts, and essay development and editing is central to my business and my work with applicants. My first recommendation on essays is to get started now.
It’s true that most new prompts will not be up until July or later, but this is a good time to find a small notebook and carry it around so you can jot down ideas when they come to you–I am serious about this; you will need a bit of focus for your thoughts, so have a look at my post on this year’s Common Application Prompts, then get that notebook, carry it with you, and take the time to scribble an idea down when it comes to you. You will find that good ideas can fade and be lost as quickly as you forget your dreams–if you don’t write them down. A notebook is best for this because it is really good only for making notes, and so tends to work better for this task than does that most distracting platform called a smart phone.
Check the admissions trends below; but for a comparison, before you do check our trends in the U. S., here is the most recent data from the University of Edinburgh:
University of Edinburgh
2012-2013 Total Number of Applications: 47,076; 18,155 offers; 5,457 accepted; Offer rate 38.6%. The offer rate does vary by “programme”.
Note that a single applicant can make multiple applications to the university, to different programs, so the acceptance rate is a bit exaggerated–but still . . . compare this to the Ivy League three-year returns, below:
Three Year Admissions Results, Ivy League (these numbers represent the total percent of applicants who were offered admission)
As I said in the last post, apply to the university of your dreams, even if your stats make an admit unlikely, but then look around for more fallback and sure thing choices. And start thinking of yourself as an internationalist as well. There are many fine anglophone schools, abroad, and not just in Canada. The University of Edinburgh, for example . . .
In this post, after an opening discussion on how to approach any supplement with both short answer and essay responses, including advice on dealing with electronic submissions, I will begin analyzing the individual prompts in Stanford’s supplement for 2012-2013. I will include all of the Stanford prompts, both for short responses and essays. Keep in mind that this post applies to this year’s prompts, since they are not changed, but some details in this and other linked posts are aimed at what was happening last year.
My links to more in-depth discussions include protected material which is only available in full to my subscribers and clients. My client services include everything from a full range of college advising and application support to editing on a single essay. Contact me for more information at: wordguild@gmail.com. I will book up rapidly from mid-August into September so don’t wait too long to contact me–I offer inspirational help to those dealing with writer’s block, as well as editorial help on existing app essays.
The Stanford supplement requires a series of short answers–a couple of lines, in most cases–followed by a series of short essays. When I say short, the range will be from at least 250 words up to 2,000 characters. I would suggest writing rough drafts of 300 to 350 words. You could possibly fit in as many as 380-390 words and be under the 2,000 character limit, but I always advise having a safe margin–one of the most difficult editing tasks is to take a tightly written essay and knock fifty words off of it.
There is a saying, attributed variously to Faulkner and other writers, that, In writing, you must kill your darlings. This applies to you insofar as you need to step back to look at each essay as a unit and to look at that unit as part of the larger package you will hand over to the application readers. Anything that doesn’t help the whole package needs to go. You have to be prepared to throw out even the greatest sentence you’ve ever written if it doesn’t fit the essay, or if it somehow contradicts something you’ve said elsewhere. And you may need to throw out even some great sentences that do fit the essay if you are over the word or character count. (Do what I do and write the poor, discarded sentence down in a notebook for possible use elsewhere before deleting it from your essay–limbo is better than annihilation and you may be able to reincarnate it in another essay.)
I also advise–nay, remonstrate–that you should write, rewrite and further revise all of your responses to the questions ahead of time, not just the essays, and that, when you have typed in a response (typing from one of your already polished drafts) you then take the extra step of printing and reading a hard copy before submitting.
If you have a problem with the preview function, simply copy the text into a new document, then print it and reread the hard copy carefully and make any necessary changes before submitting it. I ask my clients to do this with all responses, from a sentence in length to an essay. It is generally easier to see mistakes on a piece of paper than it is on a screen. Of course this also takes more time than simply sitting down and banging out your answers, which may seem awful given the amount of time you are going to be spending on college apps, but you will find that a response that seemed brilliant yesterday may seem ho-hum or even ill advised today. You should have spent days or weeks polishing your responses before finally you sit down to fill in those boxes and submit. Think of it as two years of English class compressed into a few months, and keep in mind the potential payoff if you feel like screaming.
Need I say that you also need to check that all of your short answers and your essays present a consistent picture that coincides with everything else you present to the university? You may come up with something witty or interesting to say in a short answer, but it needs to be thrown away if it contradicts the rest of your material or otherwise may cause you trouble, by being offensive, for example, or simply. . . not fitting in well. When using humor, check yourself to see if you are coming off as flippant or sarcastic. If in doubt, show your answers to at least two other people you trust to get their opinions. Remind them to think like an admissions officer. Be sure at least one of them is an adult who is not afraid to be critical.
And now, on to Stanford, beginning with the short answer responses:
Stanford Short Answer Prompts for 2012-2013
Please respond to the following questions so we can get to know you better. Respond in two lines or less, and do not feel compelled to answer using complete sentences. 300 characters each.
What five words best describe you? (My note: you have some characters left after the five words. Find a pithy way to elaborate. X because of y, for example.
——————————————————————————————————————————–
Essay Responses
Please respond to the following essay topics using at least 250 words, but not exceeding the space provided. (I would shoot for around 350 words here; this will put you under 2,000 characters, which is their limit.)
Please print preview before submitting to make sure your responses fit into the space provided.
Stanford students possess an intellectual vitality. Reflect on an idea or experience that has been important to your intellectual development.
Virtually all of Stanford’s undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate – and us – know you better.
What matters to you, and why?
Prompt Analysis and Advice
I begin with caveats and advisories. As I pointed out in recent posts, Stanford, like many other schools, is using much of the same material they used last year. An overhaul of the Common Application site is planned for next year, which may explain why so many schools are using retread prompts this year–I assume that they are waiting to roll out a bunch of new stuff with the new app portal, or maybe they just think they’ve found the perfect prompts. I’ll know more about that next year, though you won’t have to worry about it, having already written brilliant essays and gained admissions to multiple excellent universities.
What you do have to worry about is coming up with good ideas for your essays. And since there is all this material just lying around from last year, and in some cases from the last several years, it seems like a no-brainer to approach older friends or siblings who still have app essays, or to look online. And I do encourage looking around so long as you are simply picking up good ideas. If you do know people who applied in the last couple of years, surveying them for their opinions is a good idea. In particular, I would ask them what they would throw away or do differently as well as asking what ideas or essays they thought worked best for them.
The caveat here is that you should be seeking inspiration rather than direct imitation. While there is a long and colorful history of authors “borrowing” from each other, directly copying or barely reshuffling somebody else’s app essay is a bad idea, in a number of ways. I would say that first among these is your own knowledge that somehow you cheated; within the exultation you might feel when you got that acceptance e-mail or envelope would be a grain of regret, a sense that somehow you are a phony. And that sense may never go away, may still pop into your mind years later. Who needs that?
A second problem in relying on close imitation is what I would call the cul-de-sac problem. If you focus on specific examples, you can end up in a mental dead-end. If you are too specifically inspired by somebody else’s essay, you may find yourself stuck, unable to find a new direction when the idea–their idea–goes nowhere for you. So if you are going to look at examples, look at many examples before you start to write. And don’t look for ideas by simply searching for successful application essays to Stanford or to any other university you want to attend. Figure out how to create categories for different approaches to the questions and search–and think– along those lines.
For example, when looking at the intellectual experience prompt, instead of starting by typing “intellectual experience, Stanford,” into a browser and spending hours going through page after page looking for examples online, switch off the machine for awhile and spend some time thinking of all the things you’ve read and done in school or elsewhere that represent an intellectual experience. And don’t limit yourself to experiences with teachers or books or experiments. Especially remember things that truly sparked your interest instead of things that simply seem stereotypically “intellectual.” I’ll get into this in more detail below, when I address the intellectual experience prompt directly.
A third problem with imitating too closely is the fact that data won’t die until civilization collapses. That essay your friend Jimmy sent to Stanford last year is still out there somewhere, and electronic submissions have made it easy to check essays for plagiarism. So if you borrow an idea, reshape it so that you own it. Entire genres of literature and drama are based on loving mockery or sincere imitation that moves into new territory (and this isn’t limited to parody and burlesque). Write in that spirit. When imitating, you want to be like that artist who finds a bunch of junk and makes a brilliant new sculpture which incorporates old stuff made by others, but which is at the same time one-of-a-kind. If you cheat, Big Brother is likely to catch you.
So let’s move on to the intellectual vitality prompt. As I pointed out last year, this overlaps with the Common App prompt about an intellectual experience. The possible range of topics here is wide, but whatever your choice, do not forget that you are the real topic and the hidden form of the essay is that of the argument–your argument being that you should be admitted to the university.
Let’s start with classes, which could include anything from science and lab classes through your humanities and arts classes. But don’t limit your brainstorming to school or classes. Einstein found inspiration as a child by looking closely at the structure of individual leaves. Think broadly as you start brainstorming. Maybe you started studying strategy because of your interest in a team sport . . . or for a game . . . sounds intellectual to me.
While an entire area of study may inspire you, you will want to identify a single experience or episode or unit in order to create a focus, a source of specific, descriptive detail. Being able to show the reader some of your experience through specific detail is almost always a good idea.
But it is not enough simply to describe an experiment or a poem or a chapter on Gettysburg or a technique for moving up a level in a challenging game or for finding a weakness in an opposing defense. Imagine your reader constantly asking the question “Why is this important? And what does this show about this kid?” You need to show them that, which means you need to show your passion or show why the topic is more generally important.
This means you need to give some thought to the whole idea of intellectual experience and growth. I would suggest that a sense of wonder, of excitement is necessary to all real intellectual growth and achievement. Maybe a particular moment in a chemistry class, watching the seemingly magical transformation of matter, gave you that sense of wonder. If it did, then show it. Maybe a biology or geography unit suddenly transformed your sense of time as you learned to look underfoot for that ocean that no longer exists. Maybe it was the time the fourth grade teacher gave different kids different objects from peas to marbles to a basketball and taught you about the vast distances in the solar system by having kids run further and further apart across the practice fields, Neptune or Pluto way out there across the campus, an invisible pea held up by an arm that seemed tiny from where you stood holding the basketball that was the sun . . . If you start with an early experience, go on to show how the experience amplified and echoed through your life, is still visible in your pursuits and interests.
Also consider the examples offered by the greats in the sciences and the arts. Inspiration or growth which may seem sudden most often comes from long labor, repetition, tedium, failure. As you start thinking about this topic, don’t be afraid to consider the role of failure and the importance of determination and discipline. Fiddling with tubes and beakers or reading and rereading to figure out meaning are part of the deal and you should not be afraid to talk about these things. Your essay isn’t a movie trailer full of explosions and leaps from tall buildings, nor does it need to be about awards received and competitions won. Try to keep coming back to those things that made and make you feel wonder.
It’s wonder and joy that kept Kepler, Newton, Einstein, Leonardo, Beethoven and Matisse going, the desire to capture what is seen, to know more deeply. The intellect isn’t some stuffy dude with patches on the elbows of his jackets. You are an embodied mind and anything requiring thought may be considered intellectual. I’ll come back to the intellectual experience essay again, but for now let’s cut to a few links.
First, to get the synapses going and to help you broaden your thinking, here is a post I wrote earlier this year on an interesting intellectual experience essay that is on a topic that seems anything but intellectual: comic books.
As you read this, look at how the author engages intellectually with the questions posed to him, how he works out his own way of seeing things. Whether it is in an experiment in biology or an argument if favor of graphic novels, you need to own the experience you describe. You need to be able to make and stand behind your own judgements.
Next, have a look at my entry on Stanford for last year, where I discuss and link information on the essay topics:
Then get out a piece of paper and start scribbling down times you were both learning and excited by what you were learning. Work from these to describe single incidents or experiences, including periods of trial and error. You can work out how to frame an essay and create a complete narration later. Start with topic ideas and scenes.
I will return to the Stanford supplement and its essay prompts again soon. Check my site again in the next week. I also expect to post soon on some of the Ivies who have yet to put up their supplements. I guess they’ve extended their vacations over there at Dartmouth, et al.
Stanford uses both the Common Application essays and what it calls The Stanford Supplement. If you are reading this, you probably already knew that. Bear with me while I establish the basic rules of the Stanford game for this year. I will then expand by analyzing the specifics of the prompts. When you have one or more drafts ready for feedback, you can send them to me at wordguild@gmail.com for a sample edit; this is risk-free for you; in return I ask for only serious inquiries, please. Your work and information remain confidential.
Update as of July 8th, 2015–Stanford has been using the same three short answer prompts since 2011, but this is no absolute guarantee that they will not change one or more of them this year. Feel free to read my posts on Stanford, but remember that until they go live officially ca. August 1st, with the opening of the Common App website for 2015-2016. Until then, or until I can confirm and post this year’s prompts separately, you should tread carefully. The Common App and other current prompts offer enough to do without risking wasted time in the event that, say, the Cardinal drops its letter to a roomate prompt. Okay, you have been warned–read on and click away to your heart’s content.
Here are the prompts that Stanford adds to the Common App:
The Stanford Supplement Short Essays
Candidates respond to all three essay topics using at least 250 words, but not exceeding the space provided.
Stanford students possess intellectual vitality. Reflect on an idea or experience that has been important to your intellectual development.
Virtually all of Stanford’s undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate—and us—know you better.
What matters to you, and why?
Let’s compare these to the Common App prompts Note: these are no longer the Common App prompts, but what I wrote about these and the Stanford prompts will still apply for the 2013-2014 app season; you will find, however, a some anachronisms along with my nuggets of wisdom. Read carefully, Thx.)
1. Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.2. Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.3. Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.4.Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you and describe that influence.5. A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.6. Topic of your choice.
If you are thinking that there is a considerable overlap between Stanford’s prompts and the (old) Common App prompts, I agree. This is amplified by the fact that such a large percentage of young people share both the archetypal experiences of high school and a certain homogeneity that comes from growing up in suburbs and bedroom communities. This may not apply to you, but the majority of my clients are technically or effectively suburbanites.
The prompts themselves further heighten the chances that students will write similar essays. Take a look at prompt 1 of the Common App–Reflect on an idea or experience that has been important to your intellectual development. Given that so much of a young person’s intellectual development takes place at a school or in a relationship with a teacher figure outside of school, certain essay topics, such as how Coach Smith changed my life, or how my piano teacher inspired me, appear again and again.
What to do. One approach is not to worry about it. If you care about your topic, it will show in your essay, so write about what you are passionate about, then polish, polish, polish.
If your passions are very focused–on a particular intellectual pursuit, or on a sport, for example–consider how to write some related essays but have them touch edges, so to speak, rather than overlap. You could, for example, write about an English teacher who inspired you as you address either Common App prompt 3 or Stanford App prompt 1–the teacher would be the person who influenced you for the Common App, while in the Stanford prompt, the class is the intellectual experience. You could then, in a second essay, write about a character in a novel–say Tom Joad or Scout Finch–and turn the focus to a specific novel and individual in that novel, without mentioning the teacher. Or a novel could have inspired you to care about social issues (Stanford Prompt 3) and of course Common App Prompt 4 asks directly that you write about a fictional character or work of art (Keep in mind that a novel is a work of art).
There are other ways the topics suggested by the different application prompts can overlap–in telling your roommate about yourself, for example, you might be discussing issues of local, national or international significance which you are passionate about. Most engaged and curious applicants to a place like Stanford are interested in politics and world events.
So my most important advice to you is this: write what you know and care about. Try to write multiple essays for some of the prompts. Then choose the best from these; if they overlap, work on revising them to separate them as much as possible. If you are going to Stanford and you want to major in science, and you write one essay about scientific thinking as the thing that matters to you and you write a second essay on a specific science project as a significant experience . . . and its impact on you, the similarities of the essays may help you more than hinder you.
How much you care and how hard you work at the essays will be more important than their similarities.
I will be writing again to address issues raised by the Stanford App this year, but will end this post now by pointing out a specific problem with Stanford Supplemental Prompt 2: you are writing a note, not an e-mail or a tweet. The fact that this old-fashioned mode of communication–WTH? Paper?– is your model should caution you to avoid too many colloquialisms and–OMG!–watch the use of abbreviations and acronyms. You might work some in for humor, but use caution and consider your audience. We old geezers may not get it.
Remember: always consider your audience and purpose. Your roommate is not the real audience for this essay/letter. An admissions officer is. See my Welcome to the Jungle post for links to general posts on addressing audience.
Some early data is rolling in on this year’s college admissions, and all the news is up for those institutions known as “selective” universities–up meaning turned down for even more applicants this year. To wit: Stanford saw the number of applicants rise from 32,022 for 2010 to 34,000 in 2011, an increase of over 6%; across the Bay, U. C. Berkeley went from 50,312 to 52,920, an increase just north of 5%; and across the continent, Harvard saw an increase from 30,489 applicants last year to 35,000 this year
The wide net cast by many–if not most–of the schools who have risen to the top of U.S. News and World Report’s heap of illusions is well known by now. This includes promos and invitations sent with more frequency than credit card offers to the homes of high school students, many of whom have a snowball’s chance in a pizza oven of being admitted.
Also widely reported is the effect that these tens of thousands of what I call “prejects” have on the bottom line of these same selective universities. Thirty thousand admissions fees paid by kids (okay, parents of kids) who will under no circumstances ever tread the halls is a tidy sum reaped by a university for a very inexpensive data collections system. An admissions officer can screen dozens of applications a day, most electronic, and let’s face it, the first step is an algorithmic gate–at or below GPA x, no admit. At GPA y, maybe. If I were cynical, I would argue that the universities have found a way of making rejects pay for the system that screens their students.
It is still true that the sweat and tears of applicants does matter, but only for those already near the top. So be realistic. If you don’t have a 4.0, or a 3.75 with a tremendous story to tell, don’t waste your time with the “selective” schools. If you do, go for it–and put plenty of time into your essay if you are going to be a Senior in September.
In addition to working as an editor and college advisor, I have taught at the high school and college levels, including twenty years of experience in Advanced Placement English Literature, which was where I first began helping students with admissions to elite universities. After working with applications officials at multiple universities, ... Continue reading →
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Amazon’s Kindle 2 – Is it an Interesting Gadget?
Every tech savvy would have heard the news about Amazon’s Kindle 2.0 release recently. Let’s look into what the buzz is about.
Let’s first talk about what is this gadget, in favor of non techies who are the beginners for this niche.
“Amazon Kindle is an e-book reader, an embedded system for reading electronic books (e-books), launched in the United States by prominent online bookseller Amazon.com in November 2007. The Kindle was developed by Amazon’s Lab126.It uses an electronic paper display and downloads content over Amazon Whisper net using the Sprint EVDO network. The Kindle can be used without a computer, and Whisper net is accessible without any fee.”
The newer version of Kindle 2 is an e-book reader has many improvements over its predecessor.
It weighs only 10.2 ounces and fits perfectly in your hands. The ergonomics have been improved with change in page-turn button positioning and a new 5-way controller has been added. This device boasts a 25% longer battery life.
Kindle is completely wireless and ready to use right out of the box and you can charge it with either wall charger or USB cable. It uses Amazon’s Whisper net technology plus Sprint’s national high-speed (3G) data network to wirelessly search, discover, and download content on the go and you don’t have to pay any wireless bills.
Kindle 2 has enhanced library and holds over 1,500 Books, and best of all, a copy of every book you purchased is backed up online at Amazon.com for you to download anytime again if you want to. It also features black-and-white 6 inch screen with sharp and natural glare-free display. Has the new Text-to-Speech feature with both male and female voices in case you get lazy to read.
Other improvements include 20% faster page turns, annotations to text bookmark your last place in the book, full image zoom, personal documents storage, The New Oxford American Dictionary look up, wireless access to Wikipedia, web search, along with some experimental features like a basic web browser and MP3 and pod cast player.
Actually this kindle 2 sells for $400+ in Amazon. Some people who have confirmed shipping resell their Kindle 2s for profit in hopes that Amazon will not be able to satisfy the demand during the launch (as there are much greater expectations on this device).Something like that actually happened with Sony PRS-505 was released. Supply was much lower than demand and for months after the official launch it sold on eBay for double its retail price and the same the kindle2 is also planned.
Now lets look into some complains on this device:
The screen is too small and it will sell out due to hype with limited production. No touch screen, no wi-fi, they eliminated the SD card slot. Overall a laptop PC is cheaper and many times more versatile.
But the fact is that excluding the price of this deal, it’s actually a great device, you can browse first chapters of tons of books free, get them delivered wirelessly in seconds, and the new kindles seems to have fixed the navigation and style flaws of the old one and has sped up refresh rate. But the device itself is a nice next step. They can’t make it color until eInk perfects the color screen and it’s affordable enough to mass produce. Saying things like just buy a laptop complete misses the point of its small size and simplicity, it’s supposed to replace a book and disappear in your hand like a book does, not an easy task.
Some people don’t want to carry around a bunch of books. They don’t want the clutter of having a stack of books in their house. This device can store plenty of books and you can access them all at the touch of a button. No need to travel to the bookstore. The battery life on this is touted at days with wireless on and weeks with it turned off.
Now that we have discussed about the pros and cons on this topic, you can decide for yourself whether it is an interesting device or not.
Visit other blogs about tech gadgets and shopping tips at http://truehotdeals.com/blog
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// Copyright 2008-present Contributors to the OpenImageIO project.
// SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
// https://github.com/OpenImageIO/oiio/blob/master/LICENSE.md
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/// \file
///
/// Helper routines for managing runtime-loadable "plugins", implemented
/// variously as DSO's (traditional Unix/Linux), dynamic libraries (Mac
/// OS X), DLL's (Windows).
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
#pragma once
#include <string>
#include <OpenImageIO/export.h>
#include <OpenImageIO/oiioversion.h>
OIIO_NAMESPACE_BEGIN
namespace Plugin {
typedef void* Handle;
/// Return the platform-dependent suffix for plug-ins ("dll" on
/// Windows, "so" on Linux and Mac OS X.
OIIO_API const char*
plugin_extension(void);
/// Open the named plugin, return its handle. If it could not be
/// opened, return 0 and the next call to geterror() will contain
/// an explanatory message. If the 'global' parameter is true, all
/// symbols from the plugin will be available to the app (on Unix-like
/// platforms; this has no effect on Windows).
OIIO_API Handle
open(const char* plugin_filename, bool global = true);
inline Handle
open(const std::string& plugin_filename, bool global = true)
{
return open(plugin_filename.c_str(), global);
}
/// Close the open plugin with the given handle and return true upon
/// success. If some error occurred, return false and the next call to
/// geterror() will contain an explanatory message.
OIIO_API bool
close(Handle plugin_handle);
/// Get the address of the named symbol from the open plugin handle. If
/// some error occurred, return nullptr and the next call to
/// geterror() will contain an explanatory message (unless report_error
/// is false, in which case the error message will be suppressed).
OIIO_API void*
getsym(Handle plugin_handle, const char* symbol_name, bool report_error = true);
inline void*
getsym(Handle plugin_handle, const std::string& symbol_name,
bool report_error = true)
{
return getsym(plugin_handle, symbol_name.c_str(), report_error);
}
/// Return any error messages associated with the last call to any of
/// open, close, or getsym. Note that in a multithreaded environment,
/// it's up to the caller to properly mutex to ensure that no other
/// thread has called open, close, or getsym (all of which clear or
/// overwrite the error message) between the error-generating call and
/// geterror.
OIIO_API std::string
geterror(void);
} // namespace Plugin
OIIO_NAMESPACE_END
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A Wisconsin couple's act of compassion could end up costing them big time.
Throughout the past year and a half, Brenda Konkel and Robert Bloch of Madison have been allowing homeless people to store belongings in lockers on their front porch and letting those without shelter sleep there, too, according to the Madison Capital Times. But after a neighbor complained to the City of Madison that Konkel and Bloch were providing such services, local authorities concluded the couple was breaking the law. If Konkel and Bloch don't get rid of the lockers and stop allowing guests to sleep on their front porch this week, they'll be facing a $300 daily fine.
Matt Tucker, the city's zoning administrator, said legal occupants are the only ones who can use storage facilities on a residential property, and only those who share the space within a given home can choose to sleep outside of it.
But to Konkel -- who wrote on Facebook that at least 60 people have taken advantage of the services she and Bloch provide -- the couple is simply providing a resource that others are not.
"These are human beings," she told the Capital Times. "If the city and the county aren’t doing this, why prevent us from doing it?"
Konkel and Bloch have taken up a cause affecting a growing number of Madison residents. A point-in-time survey showed that 831 individuals were unsheltered in Dane County (the county in which Madison falls) in January of last year -- up from 566 in 2010.
Local legislation limiting individual efforts helping the homeless is not as uncommon as some may think. In fact, in about the last year alone, 33 U.S. cities have passed measures that restrict feeding the homeless in public locations. Some of those advocating on behalf of the homeless have also pointed to a rise in laws that have made it harder for the poorest Americans to find or create their own affordable housing.
While current city law has hindered Konkel and Bloch's ability to help the homeless in Madison, however, many in the community have expressed support for the couple's efforts.
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Would you like to read and discuss an interesting book each month? The book club meets on the first Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. Copies of the books are available to borrow one month before the scheduled meeting at the l...
Monthly readings of Shakespeare's works. Have fun reading Shakespeare aloud. To read or not to read...participants can volunteer to read a part or simply listen. For more information please call the branch at 416-393-7703.
Do you love reading? Join our book club for kids! Read something new every month and meet fellow club members for fun activities, crafts and games! For ages 9 to 12. Registration required. Please note that this program runs o...
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Somatosensory disorder
A somatosensory disorder is an impairment of the somatosensory system.
Signs and symptoms
People may experience numbness, prickling or tingling sensations (paresthesias), or the feeling a limb has "fallen asleep" (an indicator of nerve compression), burning, cutting or other sensations.
Seizures
Certain types of seizures are associated with the somatosensory system. Cortical injury may lead to loss of thermal sensation or the ability to discriminate pain. An aura involving thermal and painful sensations is a phenomenon known to precede the onset of an epileptic seizure or focal seizure. Another type of seizure, called a sensory Jacksonian seizure involves an abnormal, localizable, cutaneous sensation but does not have apparent stimulus. This sensation may progress along a limb or to adjacent cutaneous body areas, reflecting abnormal neuronal firing in the postcentral gyrus where an epileptic discharge is propagated. These episodes in which patients are consciously aware during a seizure have been useful for identifying problems associated with the somatosensory cortex. Patients can describe the nature of the seizure and how they feel during it.
Mechanism
The absence of proprioception or two-point tactile discrimination on one side of the body suggests injury to the contralateral side of the primary somatosensory cortex. However, depending on the extent of the injury, damage can range in loss of proprioception of an individual limb or the entire body. A deficit known as cortical astereognosis of the receptive type describes an inability to make use of tactile sensory information for identifying objects placed in the hand. For example, if this type of injury effects the hand region in the primary somatosensory cortex for one cerebral hemisphere, a patient with closed eyes cannot perceive the position of the fingers on the contralateral hand and will not be able to identify objects such as keys or a cell phone if they are placed into that hand.
Diagnosis
Evaluation of any suspected disease of the somatosensory system is included in a neurological examination of the peripheral nervous system. Modern techniques for testing somatosensory function are still quite crude compared to testing motor function. Evaluation of somatosensory stimuli are limited by the patient's interpretation of sensation in response to testing.
Tactile sensation is tested with a cotton wisp or light touch with a finger. Pain is assessed by pinprick or pinwheel (Wartenberg wheel). A 128 Hz tuning fork is used for testing vibrations.
References
External links
Category:Somatosensory system
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Q:
How to build openmpi with homebrew and gcc-4.9?
By default brew install openmpi uses clang to create its wrapper.
I need to specify gcc-4.9(Homebrew installed) for the wrapper.
I have tried
$export CC=gcc-4.9
$brew install openmpi
$brew install --cc=gcc-4.9 openmpi
$brew install --with-gcc49 openmpi
$brew install -CC=gcc-4.9 -CXX=g++-4.9 -FC=gfortran -F77=gfortran openmpi
$brew install openmpi --cc=gcc-4.9
$brew install openmpi --CC=gcc-4.9 --CXX=g++-4.9 --FC=gfortran --F77=gfortran
Finally, I've modified the openmpi formula adding:
args = %W[
CC=gcc-4.9
CXX=g++-4.9
FC=gfortran
F77=gfortran
I still get
$mpicc --showme
clang -I/usr/local/Cellar/open-mpi/1.8.4/include -L/usr/local/opt/libevent/lib -L/usr/local/Cellar/open-mpi/1.8.4/lib -lmpi
A:
Finally it was solved as follows:
1) Add environment variables for homebrew (you can also add these lines to your ~\.bashrc):
export HOMEBREW_CC=gcc-4.9
export HOMEBREW_CXX=g++-4.9
2) Rebuild and reinstall openmpi and its dependencies from source
brew reinstall openmpi --build-from-source
3) In the end you will get a message like:
==> Reinstalling open-mpi
==> Using Homebrew-provided fortran compiler.
This may be changed by setting the FC environment variable.
==> Downloading http://www.open-mpi.org/software/ompi/v1.8/downloads/openmpi-1.8.
Already downloaded: /Library/Caches/Homebrew/open-mpi-1.8.4.tar.bz2
==> ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/Cellar/open-mpi/1.8.4 --disable-silent-rules
==> make all
==> make check
==> make install
Warning: open-mpi dependency gcc was built with a different C++ standard
library (libstdc++ from clang). This may cause problems at runtime.
/usr/local/Cellar/open-mpi/1.8.4: 785 files, 23M, built in 41.2 minutes
$mpicc --showme
gcc-4.9 -I/usr/local/Cellar/open-mpi/1.8.4/include -L/usr/local/opt/libevent/lib -L/usr/local/Cellar/open-mpi/1.8.4/lib -lmpi
On my MacBook I had some conflicts with XCode 6.2, which were solved following this instructions
However, I decided to stay with the clang version to avoid issues with gfortran.
|
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All the Best Songs
All the Best Songs is a compilation album by the punk rock band No Use for a Name.
Contents
It compiles 24 tracks from the band's six studio releases between 1993 and 2005 as well as two previously unreleased songs, "History Defeats" and "Stunt Double", recorded during sessions for their 2005 album Keep Them Confused.
Release
It was released on July 10, 2007 by Fat Wreck Chords. In July, the band went on a headlining West Coast tour, with support from Whole Wheat Bread and the Flatliners.
Reception
Track listing
Personnel
Band
Tony Sly – guitar, lead vocals
Rory Koff – drums
Robin Pfefer – lead guitar on tracks from The Daily Grind
Ed Gregor – lead guitar on tracks from ¡Leche con Carne!
Chris Shiflett – lead guitar and backing vocals on tracks from Making Friends and More Betterness!
Dave Nassie – lead guitar on tracks from Hard Rock Bottom and Keep Them Confused
Steve Papoutsis – bass guitar on tracks from The Daily Grind and ¡Leche con Carne!
Matt Riddle – bass guitar and backing vocals on tracks from Making Friends, More Betterness!, Hard Rock Bottom, and Keep Them Confused
Additional musicians and vocalists
Karina Denike – additional vocals on "On the Outside"
Dicky Barrett – additional vocals on "Growing Down"
Spike Slawson – backing vocals on "Chasing Rainbows"
Rebekah Scott – cello on "Not Your Savior" and "Let It Slide"
Jennifer Walker – cello on "Let Me Down"
Dana Lynn – violin on "Let It Slide"
Production
Producers:
"Permanent Rust" and "The Daily Grind" – Pat Coughlin, Fat Mike, Donnell Cameron
"Feeding the Fire" – Steve Papoutsis, Karl H.
¡Leche con Carne! tracks – Fat Mike, Ryan Greene, Tony Sly, Rory Koff, Ed Gregor, Steve Papoutsis
Making Friends, Life in the Fat Lane, and More Betterness! tracks – Greene, Sly, Koff, Matt Riddle, Chris Shiflett
Hard Rock Bottom and Keep Them Confused tracks – Greene, Sly, Koff, Riddle, Dave Nassie
Jason Livermore – digital remastering
Artwork and design
Brian Archer – layout, front cover and interior photographs
Matt Riddle – back cover photograph
Additional interior photographs by Scott Cole, Kate Powers, Marina Miller, Brian Wynacht, Winni Wintermeyer, Lisa Johnson, BJ Papas, Murray Bowles, and Chris McCaw
References
External links
Fat Wreck Site
Category:No Use for a Name albums
Category:2007 greatest hits albums
Category:Fat Wreck Chords compilation albums
|
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|
"The
only hope for the world is to make sure there is not another United
States. We can’t let other countries have the same number of cars,
the amount of industrialization we have in the US. We have to stop these
Third World countries right where they are.” —Michael
Oppenheimer (Environmental Defense Fund)
The
reminders are put in front of us everyday. Poverty in the world. How
horrible. Starving children. Unimaginable hardships. Hopelessness. SOMEONE
MUST DO SOMETHING!
Of
course, the answer for the world leadership is to throw money at the
problem, either through volunteer charity programs or mandatory taxation.
The problem is, after subjecting us all to this redistribution of wealth
in order to sentence the poor to a lifetime of breadlines, the only
thing that changes is that we have more and more poor.
What
other way is there? How do we eliminate these horrible conditions and
create jobs in these very poor countries? Well, in a recent article
I argued that “Private Property Ownership is the Only Way to Eradicate
Poverty.” It is. But there must also be an infrastructure of electricity,
clean water, commerce and transportation in place as well. One must
have these things to provide jobs, health, and an upgraded standard
of living for the means to purchase private property, after all.
So,
it seems that a good place to start the process of eradicating world
poverty and ending the bread lines would be for international companies
to begin to invest in such an infrastructure. Building power plants
and water treatment plants would lead to the development of housing,
schools, shopping malls. Better roads would spring up as people would
need to get to the newly created jobs. Farmers would need to employ
new ways to increase their output to feed new mouths as people from
other regions would arrive seeking the much needed jobs. Prosperity
and hope would overtake poverty and hopelessness. It’s the very
system that helped to make the United States the richest nation on earth
with the highest standard of living. Finally, instead of depending on
us for their daily ration of bread, these people would be able to help,
not only themselves, but others in need as well. The entire world could
begin to move toward a global prosperity, which our leaders say is their
goal.
There’s
only one problem. Poverty is unacceptable only as long as it doesn’t
hurt the environment! What? Say that again? Yes, you heard me. If such
action to end poverty and improve people’s lives is somehow a
threat to the world-wide plan for Sustainable Development, then such
development is not to be considered.
Believe
it or not, there is a worldwide Sustainable Development policy to prohibit
funding of development projects in Third World countries, if the projects
don’t meet the political agenda. It’s called the Equator
Principles.
According
to their own documents, the Equator Principles were established in association
with the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation in 2003.
They have been adopted by 73 financial institutions around the world,
covering over 70% of international projects such as dams, mines and
pipelines. Three American financial institutions are associates of the
Equator Principles, including Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and
Citigroup.
Citigroup
is a major player in this process. It has used these “voluntary”
green standards to turn down development loans for projects like shopping
centers, power plants, and housing projects in Africa and other developing
nations.
Why
would Citicorp want to turn away such huge sources of new business?
Because dedicated Sustainablists believe it is environmentally correct
to leave African natives untouched to live in their mud huts and walk
five miles a day to get clean water. That, they believe, is environmentally
sound. They deny these people electricity to light even a bulb in their
huts. Of course there is no internet. There are few roads. There are
fewer cars. Walk wherever you go, scratch out a living in the wild and
be ignored by the rest of the world. That is Sustainable
Development.
The
Equator Principles are applied to all project financing transactions.
As the application is presented for funding, the project is carefully
reviewed to determine if it meets “comprehensive international
performance standards” on issues such as “labor
and working conditions, natural resource management, pollution prevention,
impacts on Indigenous people, community health and safety and cross-cutting
themes such as gender and human rights.”
Break
it down: Natural resource management, for example, means no drilling
of oil or minerals. Water use is restricted. Labor and working conditions?
Ask America’s rust belt in Youngstown and Pittsburg how that worked
for them. The same labor rules and environmental regulations detailed
in the Equator Principles led to the destruction of industry and to
empty American factories decades ago. Community health and safety? Sure.
No clean water? No modern medical facilities? No reliable transportation?
How are health and safety supposed to happen? And “gender”
and “human rights?” What does gender have to do
with building a power plant and how does a new dam affect women’s
rights?
All
of these terms are social justice weapons used by self-appointed NGO/
Stakeholder groups to promote their own political agendas. The people
who just want to improve their lives and have simple things like running
water and heated homes, common utilities which you and I take for granted
every day, are caught in the middle. Pawns and victims, sentenced to
a life of poverty, sickness and neglect.
Subscribe
to the NewsWithViews Daily News Alerts!
Enter
Your E-Mail Address:
It
was the UN’s Brundtland Commission which defined Sustainable Development
as, “development that meets the needs of today without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
What’s wrong with that? The “needs” the Commission
refers to are not human needs, but those of the “planet.”
It concludes we can only meet them by eliminating or reducing “unsustainable”
activities globally. These include property ownership, consumerism,
high meat intake, use of fossil fuels, roadways, automobiles, dams,
and so forth. These ideas, then, are on what the Equator Principles
are based.
But
what about the basic human needs, the wants, the dreams of people in
Third World nations where we’re reminded again and again that
they are starving? Well, that’s what life long bread lines are
for in a sustainable world. Ah, the compassion of “Progressives.”
Tom
DeWeese is one of the nation’s leading advocates of individual liberty,
free enterprise, private property rights, personal privacy, back-to-basics
education and American sovereignty and independence.
A
native of Ohio, he’s been a candidate for the Ohio Legislature,
served as editor of two newspapers, and has owned several businesses since
the age of 23. In 1989 Tom led the only privately-funded election-observation
team to the Panamanian elections. In 2006 Tom was invited to Cambridge
University to debate the issue of the United Nations before the Cambridge
Union, a 200 year old debating society. Today he serves as Founder and
President of the American Policy Center and editor of The DeWeese Report
For
40 years Tom DeWeese has been a businessman, grassroots activist, writer
and publisher. As such, he has always advocated a firm belief in man’s
need to keep moving forward while protecting our Constitutionally-guaranteed
rights.
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Microsoft Office Project Portfolio Server
Microsoft Office Project Portfolio Server is a discontinued project portfolio management application from Microsoft. It was part of its Enterprise Project Management suite which includes Microsoft Office Project Server.
Versions for Windows
2007 – Project Portfolio Server 2007
2006 – Project Portfolio Server 2006
Previous Years – UMT Portfolio Manager
Description
Microsoft Office Project Portfolio Server 2007 allows creation of a project portfolio, including workflows, hosted centrally, so that the information is available throughout the enterprise, even from a browser. It also aids in centralized data aggregation regarding the project planning and execution, and in visualizing and analyzing the data to optimize the project plan. It can also support multiple portfolios per project, to track different aspects of it. It also includes reporting tools to create consolidated reports out of the project data.
Office Project PortfolioServer is being rolled up into Project Server 2010 with 64 bit requirements all the way around for the 2010 family
See also
Microsoft Office Project Server
Microsoft Project
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Servers
Category:Microsoft Office servers
Category:Project management software
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[A promoter responsible for over-expression of cholera toxin B subunit in cholera toxin A subunit structure gene].
A promoter sequence, which promotes the transcription of cholera toxin B subunit gene, was found in cholera toxin A subunit structure gene. The transcription starts at the adenine Located at +833, that is 456bp upstream to the A of the initiation codon ATG of cholera toxin B gene. Under the control of the promoter, cholera toxin B subunit was over-expressed as high as 200 mg/L at an optimized culture condition. The chloramphenicol acetyl transferase gene and beta-galactosidase could also be efficiently expressed under the direction of the promoter. This promoter may be responsible for the 6 fold and 7 fold higher expression level of cholera toxin B subunit than cholera toxin A subunit in V. cholerae and Escheria coli respectively. The over-expression of CTB may be useful in preparing vaccine against cholera and facilitating the construction of peptide-bearing immunogenic hybrid proteins.
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Improving the electrochemical properties of LiNi(0.5)Co(0.2)Mn(0.3)O2 at 4.6 V cutoff potential by surface coating with Li2TiO3 for lithium-ion batteries.
The Li2TiO3-coated LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 (LTO@NCM) cathode materials are synthesized via an in situ co-precipitation method followed by the lithiation process and thermal annealing. The Li2TiO3 coating layer is designed to strongly adhere to the core-material with 3D diffusion pathways for Li(+) ions. Electrochemical tests suggest that compared with pristine NCM, Li2TiO3 serves as both a Li ion conductive layer and a protective coating layer against the attack of HF in the electrolyte, and remarkably improves the cycling performance at higher charged state and rate capability of the LTO@NCM composite material. What is more, phase transformation of NCM and dissolution of metal ions at high-temperatures at 4.6 V cutoff potential are effectively suppressed after LTO-coating. Our study demonstrates that LTO-coating on the surface of NCM is a viable method to improve the electrochemical performance of NCM, especially at high rates and under high-voltage charged conditions.
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"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
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Bullets, marijuana and other barriers to school reform in East Oakland
Principal Daniel Hurst asks some direct questions of local law enforcement, school district officials, and city officials as Teacher Nidya Baez, left, and parent Elvia Lopez, right, listen closely at Fremont High School on Tuesday, May 8, 2012 in Oakland,Calif. during a meeting to discuss the growing problem of violence, drugs and an increasing drop out rate at their school that is transforming from three small schools back to one next school year. (Laura A. Oda/Staff)
OAKLAND -- East Oakland's Fremont High School campus is undergoing a transformation this year -- the second major reform effort in a decade. Its three small schools, created in 2003 with millions of dollars from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, are combining back into one: a "full-service community school" that promises to focus on students' overall health and well-being.
In an attempt to shore up Fremont's teaching force and curb its 33 percent dropout rate, Oakland Superintendent Tony Smith created a new kind of teaching position for the school-in-the-making, with a longer work year and higher pay. Of the 53 teachers at Fremont this year, 43 applied for the job; 35 have been accepted.
But parents, students and teachers say that for the school to truly turn around, something must be done about the violence on the streets outside the school, the fights on campus and the lack of student motivation -- as evidenced in groups of students who cut class to smoke marijuana and drink. More than 20 percent of students on the East Oakland campus missed 18 days of school or more in 2009-10.
"Our students can't learn if the school isn't safe," Eneyda Melendez, a Fremont parent, told a panel of police officers and school and city officials Tuesday, speaking in Spanish. "Our students can't learn if they're intoxicated by alcohol and drugs."
Advertisement
In one recent shootout near campus, a bullet hit the side of a classroom, said Daniel Hurst, the school principal. In another incident, on April 17, a gunman who wasn't a student began shooting, apparently aiming at no one in particular, just as students poured out of school at the end of the day.
"It is only crazy good luck that no one was hurt," Hurst said. "There were hundreds of kids on the streets at that time."
Hurst spoke at a meeting convened by Oakland Community Organizations. For years, the group has used parent involvement to affect change in schools in the city's low-income and working-class neighborhoods. Azel Grasty, whose son is a sophomore, led the meeting.
"Fremont is a great school," Grasty said, praising the dedication of many of its teachers and other employees. "The problem is we're not working together."
On the stage of the Fremont High auditorium, parents, teachers and students sat at one table, sharing their perspectives and asking questions of the officials sitting a few feet away. Those officials included Oakland police Capt. Brian Medeiros, who oversees operations in much of East Oakland; Oakland schools police Chief James Williams; City Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente; and Oakland school board member and City Council candidate Noel Gallo.
After the testimonials came the promises. When pressed, De La Fuente committed to installing more high-resolution cameras on the streets near the school, though he hedged on whether the city should pay the full cost. Williams said there was enough money in the overtime budget for an OUSD officer to police the periphery of the school from 4 to 6 p.m. -- at least through the end of the year. Gallo said the district's master plan would allocate $87 million to improve the school's decaying facilities; the school board will discuss the plan at a Wednesday night meeting.
On May 15, the school advocates will meet again with city and school officials to discuss how to coordinate services and discipline for students who are caught drinking or doing drugs at school.
Despite widespread agreement that action must be taken to improve the school, not everyone agrees on the remedy. Jameela Rougeau, a senior, said she thinks more police officers and tighter security are necessary. Dajanique White, a junior, said students need to be protected from adults who come onto the campus to start fights.
But Roy Ramos, a junior, said a stronger police presence won't motivate students to learn or keep them in school if they don't find the curriculum relevant to their lives, or if they're treated with suspicion by the authorities. Most of the people who cause trouble in the community, he noted, are no longer in school at all.
"Don't just fix cameras, fix books, fix classrooms," he said. "Bring what's needed for us to be successful, for us to have a middle-class life, to go to a four-year college."
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Q:
bounded function proof
I tried to prove this:
$f(x)$ is bounded $\Leftrightarrow$ There is $K$ such that $|f(x)| \leq K$ (for every $x\in D$ )
this is what I tried:
=>
$f(x)$ is bounded.
if $f(x)$ is bounded, there is $K1$ such that $f(x) \geq K1.$
if $f(x)$ is bounded, there is $K2$ such that $f(x) \leq K2.$
I know that I have to get something like that $ K \leq f(x) \leq K $ because this is the absolute value's definition , but I have 2 different $K$ ! how can I continue from here?
A:
Note that if $f(x)\le K_1$ for all $x,$ then for any $M\ge K_1,$ we also have $f(x)\le M$ for all $x.$ On the other hand, if $f(x)\ge K_2$ for all $x,$ then for any $N\le K_2,$ we have $f(x)\ge N$ for all $x.$ (If you can't see why this is true, draw a picture.)
Letting $K=\max\{|K_1|,|K_2|\},$ we then have $K\ge K_1,$ so that $f(x)\le K$ for all $x,$ and we also have $-K\le K_2,$ so that $f(x)\ge-K$ for all $x.$ Hence, $-K\le f(x)\le K$ for all $x,$ and so $|f(x)|\le K$ for all $x.$
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1. Introduction {#sec1-sensors-19-04952}
===============
To provide new services and offer new features with excellent quality, modern critical infrastructure such as power plants, smart grids, and water plants nowadays use ICT technologies \[[@B1-sensors-19-04952]\]. However, even if ICT technologies have made possible the provision of new services and new features, the types of connectivity have opened the door to a new wave of possible threats to critical installations. Extensive research has been performed in which the details of the vulnerability and security that affect SCADA systems have been analyzed \[[@B2-sensors-19-04952],[@B3-sensors-19-04952],[@B4-sensors-19-04952],[@B5-sensors-19-04952]\].
In Smart Grids, protocols and architectures are designed for very particular functions in SCADA communication systems. The SCADA acronym stands for Supervisor Control and Data Acquisition, and it allows the supervision and control of plants either remotely or locally using hardware and software dedicated to that system. With this system, the system analyzes, collects and processes data in real time. The DNP3 (Distributed Network Protocol) protocol is one of the most widely used network protocols in smart grid communication networks. This protocol is mostly used in academia and industry research projects, as it provides opportunity for customization as it is an open protocol. Based on this characteristics, any company can employ DNP3 developments that are compatible with their equipment. There are other protocols designed to control the operations of technical systems. In the case of the DNP3 protocol, it is based on the three layers model in the OSI 7 layer model as given in [Figure 1](#sensors-19-04952-f001){ref-type="fig"}.
The DNP3 plays a vital role in the smart grid, and it is conventionally used in SCADA industrial processing, including both electricity and water distribution. For this reason, in this paper we focus on this protocol due to its importance in smart grids. The DNP3 protocol is based on a three-layered, enhanced performance architecture (EPA) reference model. The EPA defines the basic application functionality for the user layer, which is located between the OSI App Layer and App Program \[[@B6-sensors-19-04952],[@B7-sensors-19-04952]\]. According to [Figure 1](#sensors-19-04952-f001){ref-type="fig"}, the DNP3 protocol mainly consists of three layers: the application layer, the data-link layer, and the pseudo-transport layer. The DNP3 protocol facilitates reliable communication between the SCADA nodes; for example, the last layer is in charge of the transmission of enormous quantities of data \[[@B8-sensors-19-04952],[@B9-sensors-19-04952]\]. The proposed research emphasizes the DNP3 protocol by parsing its structure during the session, and we will develop an algorithm to analyze the vulnerabilities that will include modeling attacks on all layers, and we propose an intrusion detection system to detect those attacks.
Normally, a SCADA system is made up of three main layers or components such as Information Technology Network (IT Network), Operation Technology Network (OT Network) and Process Control System Network (or Field Layer), as given in [Figure 2](#sensors-19-04952-f002){ref-type="fig"}.
In recent years, the OT Networks were operated as separate networks or stand-alone system without being connected to public communication and infrastructures. Nevertheless, as the Internet nowadays provides data accessibility and connected services, the businesses in Smart Grid have turned to exploit those services. This situation creates a complex architecture where non-secure systems are added to existing systems without strong security. Ultimately, they are both more exposed to attackers, as the separation that had previously protected these systems is decreased \[[@B10-sensors-19-04952]\].
Unfortunately, with the presence of internet connections inside smart grids, the security risk is very high. After what happened in Ukraine, everyone knows that hackers can bring down the energy grid. Attacks often happen by using steps such as reconnaissance, which consists of gathering information about the targeted system; scanning, which is about finding any weakness or vulnerability in the system by looking for any open ports; and running a service through the port. Thirdly, the attacker exploits the system using the discovered vulnerability and then compromises it so that they can gain full control. Finally, the attacker tries to maintain access by which they will steal the data or damage the system whenever they want \[[@B11-sensors-19-04952],[@B12-sensors-19-04952]\]. These types of attacks are not easy to detect using traditional antivirus software, which detects malware using pattern matching or heuristic methods for obfuscated malware. Cyber-attacks have evolved in business-driven situations, because the criminal actors behind these attacks know where the system weaknesses reside, and they employ appropriate malware, especially ransomware.
As previous experience shows, whenever there is a hack on a smart grid, people's life is in danger, and sometimes loss of life occurs.
To tackle malware threats on the SCADA system, especially on the smart grid, this article presents an intrusion detection system that isn't based on signatures, like traditional antivirus software. The proposed solution is mainly based on the DNP3 protocol, where the engine parses the packet format and then we train it to learn whether the sample from the frame protocol has been compromised or is good. The advantage of this protocol is that it is used in oil/gas and water utilities, as well as in wastewater. Furthermore, it is broadly utilized in electric facilities such as catapults \[[@B13-sensors-19-04952]\]. The research contribution in this article includes the main steps as follows:An overall customized DNP3 protocol vulnerability exposure with reference to the original protocol.A new attack model using the DNP3 protocol that targets all layers; the attack follows three steps: (a) pre-attack step; (b) attack modeling defined on all layers; and (c) attack settings within DNP3 parameters and consequences.An algorithm that includes machine learning methods for data transformation and data process concept on SCADA/DNP3 protocol.A new cyber-attack algorithm targeting the SCADA/DNP3 system, and the visualization and classification process for an intrusion detection system (IDS).
In this paper, [Section 2](#sec2-sensors-19-04952){ref-type="sec"} presents a description of existing solutions in the area, while [Section 3](#sec3-sensors-19-04952){ref-type="sec"} presents the proposed solution along with the methods and data collection in an experimental environment. The results of experimental testing and the discussion are provided in [Section 4](#sec4-sensors-19-04952){ref-type="sec"}, before concluding the work in [Section 5](#sec5-sensors-19-04952){ref-type="sec"}.
2. Related Work {#sec2-sensors-19-04952}
===============
This section describes the works---including various solutions applied in SCADA/ICS/DNP3---in which IDS and other methods have been discussed. The Distributed Network Protocol (DNP3) is prevalent within critical infrastructure, especially in smart grids. Unfortunately, DNP3 has some vulnerabilities that have been exploited by hackers, and so SCADA systems would face serious problems \[[@B14-sensors-19-04952]\]. However, before exploring solutions in SCADA systems, there is a great deal of research and many excellent resdults in IoT networks that are very promising. Yang et al. \[[@B15-sensors-19-04952]\] proposed a security scheme in IoT-based healthcare systems. In this research, they proposed a self-adaptive access control together with a privacy-preserving smart IoT-based healthcare big data storage system. Further security approaches have been developed for IoT systems, as described in \[[@B16-sensors-19-04952],[@B17-sensors-19-04952],[@B18-sensors-19-04952]\].
With regard to machine learning methods, de Toledo et al. \[[@B19-sensors-19-04952]\] developed a method that encrypts the traffic using the DNP3 protocol. This study used supervised algorithms to classify messages from the same protocol using datasets from the medium voltage of substations using simulation methods. The generated traffic followed two-direction communication using an encryption mode based on the IPsec and ESP (transport mode) with the exclusion UDP mode. This experiment is the most widely used, as it provides a way of privately limiting the cost of IP bandwidth within networks per byte sent \[[@B20-sensors-19-04952]\]. Other techniques that have been proposed as solutions for protecting DNP3 traffic include statistical pattern recognition, classification-based real-time method with HTTP, FTP and SSH flow, TCP and TLS protocols \[[@B21-sensors-19-04952],[@B22-sensors-19-04952]\].
Widely known layered security methods that provide protection in SCADA networks have been developed, but these methods have numerous limitations with respect to their dependency on the protocols. Among others, protocols such as SSH, SSL, IPSec, and TLS offer end-to-end security solutions, in addition to crypto-protocol encryption systems \[[@B23-sensors-19-04952],[@B24-sensors-19-04952]\]. Further research oriented towards the security of the application layer \[[@B25-sensors-19-04952]\] focusing on data integrity and authentication procedures was developed with the aim of providing solutions for known attacks such as modification, spoofing, and flooding \[[@B26-sensors-19-04952]\]. Nevertheless, a certain number of limitations was revealed resulting from mechanisms defined in the DNP3 protocol---in particular, embedded security mechanisms \[[@B27-sensors-19-04952]\]. A solution based on crypto-algorithms that includes known encryption methods like AES and RSA was developed to protect DNP3 protocol at the application layer \[[@B28-sensors-19-04952]\]. In this research, the authors contributed three primary enhancements, including a new security scheme that was implemented together with the DNP3 protocol, a method for constructing the bytes within every layer, and use of the TCP/IP protocol for data exchange.
On the other hand, IDS based on different machine learning methods has been developed, whereby attacks can be detected based on highly accurate results of detected attacks. However, more improvements are necessary due to false alarms or false positive from the detection systems. This problem usually leads to the misclassification between good and bad data in the network \[[@B29-sensors-19-04952]\]. In the same category of research, a group of five machine learning algorithms was tested for cybersecurity solutions to protect SCADA systems \[[@B30-sensors-19-04952],[@B31-sensors-19-04952],[@B32-sensors-19-04952],[@B33-sensors-19-04952]\]. After the training process, the models were implemented in a real network environment to capture and analyze online data from network traffic. Both results from the testbed and live traffic revealed that the IDS based on machine learning algorithms was efficient for detecting attacks. Further research developed by Keliris et al. \[[@B34-sensors-19-04952]\] showed that the Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithm performs well for anomaly detection and classification. They used a supervised learning method to develop a process-aware defense tactic in the ICS accounting for behavior-based attacks. The work done in \[[@B35-sensors-19-04952]\] suggests that a detection system using machine learning techniques in power systems would be feasible for detecting malicious states. Tomin et al. \[[@B35-sensors-19-04952]\] claimed that such techniques, where applied in SCADA/ICS, offer a range of solutions with a satisfactory level of security. In the course of their research, they used an offline training process using a cross-validation method and they applied it to a semi-automated method for online testing purposes. Further research has been developed to provide security for Smart Grid DNP3, through the identification of malicious activities in ICS of IoT based on Deep Learning, IDS for SCDA systems, and Neural Network-based IDS for critical infrastructure. These have shown tremendous results in the development of models for the detection of attacks on power systems \[[@B36-sensors-19-04952],[@B37-sensors-19-04952],[@B38-sensors-19-04952],[@B39-sensors-19-04952],[@B40-sensors-19-04952],[@B41-sensors-19-04952]\].
3. Proposed Solution: Method and Implementation Experiments {#sec3-sensors-19-04952}
===========================================================
This section describes the proposed scheme for the SCADA/DNP3 protocol. The solution requires several steps, referred to as "modules", and each of these plays a specific role in building a holistic cyber-security solution in an IoT-based Smart Grid environment.
3.1. System Model and Description {#sec3dot1-sensors-19-04952}
---------------------------------
The proposed solution is based on the following modules: (a) data input system, (b) data analysis system, and (c) classification and detection system, as shown in [Figure 3](#sensors-19-04952-f003){ref-type="fig"}. However, before we could arrive at this holistic solution, we performed additional research on the DNP3 protocol. Firstly, we developed an attack model for each layer of the DNP3 protocol, as shown in [Figure 4](#sensors-19-04952-f004){ref-type="fig"}. These attacks had two mains functions: (1) to collect data for the purpose of building a database to be used in the training and testing model, (2) to assess the vulnerabilities of the DNP3 protocol \[[@B42-sensors-19-04952]\] that attackers are able to leverage in order to carry out cyber-attacks on IoT-based Smart Grids. Secondly, we developed an algorithm for analyzing a modified DNP3 protocol \[[@B43-sensors-19-04952],[@B44-sensors-19-04952]\]. This algorithm uses the original DNP3 protocol as a reference for the purpose of comparison with the common vulnerabilities of the protocol stack.
We used four types of attack---modification, interception, interruption, and fabrication---targeting all layers in order to evaluate them. The collected vulnerabilities (based on the attacks on the two protocols) were used with a mapping function to modify the features of the DNP3 protocol. The results provide the vulnerabilities discovered for the customized protocol, as shown in [Figure 5](#sensors-19-04952-f005){ref-type="fig"}.
3.2. Data Input System: Data Generation {#sec3dot2-sensors-19-04952}
---------------------------------------
The dataset used in the experiment is from a variety of different sources, but the most important data, which is related to DNP3 packet parsing, was based on the assessment of vulnerabilities and attacks performed on the protocol. Therefore, we will only describe the data obtained from these experiments, as this is the focus of our research. The rest of the data was obtained from an open-source dataset used at the 4SICS industrial cybersecurity conference \[[@B3-sensors-19-04952]\], which is an annual summit. The summit calls on experts in ICS/SCADA/DNP3 cybersecurity from the most critical infrastructures like smart grids, transportation, and so on. As far as our purposes are concerned, we only collected data---PCAP Files---related to the smart grid from the ICS Lab using RTUs, PLCs, and other industrial networks. Additionally, we included some known malware targeting ICS/SCADA systems. As described above, to generate the data, several steps are required, which can be summarized as two main steps: vulnerability assessment and attack modeling on the DNP3 protocol.
### 3.2.1. DNP3 Protocol Vulnerability Assessment {#sec3dot2dot1-sensors-19-04952}
Different methods have been proposed in order to analyze the weaknesses in the DNP3 protocol; one of these methods presents an assessment of specific attacks on function code within certain layers of the protocol stack \[[@B45-sensors-19-04952],[@B46-sensors-19-04952],[@B47-sensors-19-04952]\]. In this paper, we used a customized DNP3 protocol to perform the vulnerability analysis, and this is compared with the original one, as shown in [Figure 4](#sensors-19-04952-f004){ref-type="fig"}. The novelty of our method is that we map common vulnerabilities onto the customized database features, with the results showing us the weakness of the protocol, meaning that we can ultimately launch different attacks in order to collect or generate the data to use in our experiments.
The proposed algorithm takes the two protocols as input and checks whether they satisfy the protocol stack requirements. If they do, they are parsed into the main layers; otherwise, they go back to the starting point. This process continues, using DNP3 threats such as modification, interruption, interception, and fabrication, where we define the common vulnerabilities of the protocol stack to to be used for the mapping process. The mapping process is carried out based on a database of features from the DNP3 packet. [Table 1](#sensors-19-04952-t001){ref-type="table"} shows selected features from the layers of the DNP3 protocol, and a full account of the features is provided in [Appendix A](#app1-sensors-19-04952){ref-type="app"}. A "Yes" in the column "Subject to Attack" means that they present a potential weakness that makes them vulnerable to DNP3 protocol threats.
### 3.2.2. Attack Modeling on the DNP3 Protocol {#sec3dot2dot2-sensors-19-04952}
To launch attacks on the DNP3 protocol, we made an attack model that was specific to the vulnerabilities discovered. As shown in [Figure 5](#sensors-19-04952-f005){ref-type="fig"}, the model is based on three main steps:✓Step 1: Pre-attack. This is where the preliminary is carried out, including obtaining the DNP3 packets from the repository, and preprocessing the packet in order to obtain three layers for the next step.✓Step 2: Attack Modelling. In this step, we define the attacks on the basis of the vulnerabilities discovered in each of the following layers: Data Link Layer, Transportation Layer, and Application Link Layer. For the first layer, we defined three attacks (Length Overflow Attack, DFC Flag Attack and Reset Function Attack), for the second layer, we defined two attacks (Fragmented Message Interruption and Transport Sequence Modification), and in the last layer, we defined two attacks (FC Modification Request and Configuration Capture Attack IIN).✓Step 3: Setting up the attack with DNP3 parameters and Consequences. This step defines the parameters to be used during the attack (payload) and describes the consequences of each attack.
As given in the description of the consequences, each attack leads to bad behavior in the smart grid network. The aim is not to have these attacks, but rather to develop countermeasures in order to protect the network, devices, data, and human beings. Both the vulnerabilities and the attacks have several operational impacts that could cause damage to the system or take over the control system \[[@B48-sensors-19-04952],[@B49-sensors-19-04952],[@B50-sensors-19-04952],[@B51-sensors-19-04952],[@B52-sensors-19-04952]\].
The data input system consists of malware and benign data, as already described in the introductory paragraph of this subsection. [Table 2](#sensors-19-04952-t002){ref-type="table"} gives a summary of the dataset used in this paper, where the name column describes the name of the malware or benign data, Qt is the amount of each type and the percentage of the distribution over the total. The overall distribution of malware is 55%, and that of benign data is 45%, which is acceptable for a classification and detection model. Bencsath et al. \[[@B53-sensors-19-04952]\] described the most dangerous malware targeting industrial infrastructure in detail. Stuxnet was discovered in 2010, when it was reported to have destroyed numerous centrifuges in Natanz. The centrifuges had been designed for a uranium enrichment facility in Iran. The infection vector of Stuxnet was the USB, from which the worm was installed on and spread among interconnected computers. It is therefore very important to produce a cyber-security solution based on the IDS and ML techniques in order to protect such critical infrastructures against malware.
3.3. Data Analysis System {#sec3dot3-sensors-19-04952}
-------------------------
This module is located in the middle of the other modules, as it takes the input from the various repositories and then transforms the data into a format compatible with the functions of the next module. The data analysis is built up over many steps and requires advanced knowledge of Data Science, with several tools to be used in such work. In this paper, we describe a few steps taken from [Figure 6](#sensors-19-04952-f006){ref-type="fig"}. The data analysis consists of eight steps, from raw data input to the visualization step. Step 1: This is the initial action, where module one feeds raw data to the second module. As described above, 55% of the dataset is made up of malware and 45% is made up of benign data.Steps 2 to 4: After getting the raw data, the engine proceeds to DNP3 protocol extraction with the integration of various fields with pre-processing actions such as contextualization and mapping in order to prepare for loading to the DB. Before that, the engine carries out the data cleaning, removing unwanted fields, carrying out de-noising, and nullifying some fields that match with the DB used in our experiment.Steps 5 to 8: This is where the engine utilizes the DB constructed in Steps 2 through 4. At this stage, the important features are extracted based on their presence in the DB (presence refers to how frequently this feature occurred throughout the whole DB). Because the DB is a mixture of many types of data, the classification process first requires that the data be transformed from categorical and numerical data to a binary data format. Once we have one type of data, it is possible to apply the ML algorithms directly (green arrows) and then execute the classification process.
Different algorithms were used for this process of data transformation in order to obtain the final DB and visualization results. Algorithm 1 is the pseudocode where all main steps are called to execute the ML algorithms. As given by the algorithm, we listed from Step 11 to 14 some of the algorithms used for the data transformation and visualization process. As input, we used a mixture of malware and benign data from module one, but for the paper objectives, we are going to focus only on the DNP3 packet analysis for more details. In the case of malware, we will describe Stuxnet and the features selected from the data analysis process.
Algorithm 1 has two main parts: the data input and processing part. The second part of the algorithm gives the main steps that implement the data transformation until the visualization step. The algorithm instructs to select all features from the raw data that include DNP3 protocol features, the 5 tuples (Source IP, Destination IP, Source Port, Destination Port, and Protocol), and eventually the features of the malware raw data. Next, it does a format check, which requires removing some unwanted characters that would cause errors in the database. In this case, null fields are not allowed, and categorical data and numerical data have to be mapped too. The cleaned data will then constitute the initial database, where we can make some queries to see the content.
The biggest part of the algorithm is where the call of each machine learning algorithm is running for different functions. Feature selection is the most important step in malware classification when using an ML algorithm. Bugra et al. \[[@B54-sensors-19-04952]\] presented a method for malware classification where they applied DL (Deep Learning) methods. The authors performed the classification of malware based on a shallow deep learning network. To realize their experiment, they used a two-layer neural net to process the text, which consisted of turning text into a numerical form that is understandable by deep networks. This is called word2vec, developed by Tomas Mikolov \[[@B55-sensors-19-04952],[@B56-sensors-19-04952]\] at Google and which is available from the Google code archive \[[@B57-sensors-19-04952]\].
The work in \[[@B58-sensors-19-04952]\] gives methods where ML has been used to classify malware and detection, in addition to implementations directions. The main goal of their work is to give a list of best classification methods such as feature selection, representation using Cuckoo Sandbox, k-Nearest-Neighbors (KNN), Decision Tree (DT), Support Vector Machines (SVM), Naive Bayes and Random Forest.
Algorithm 1 Data Transformation & Visualization
In this paper, we have used many algorithms, such as k-Nearest-Neighbors (KNN), Decision Tree (DT), Support Vector Machines (SVM), Naive Bayes and Random Forest. The results from our experiments and their descriptions are presented in [Section 4](#sec4-sensors-19-04952){ref-type="sec"}.
3.4. Cyber-Attack Algorithm and IDS Solution {#sec3dot4-sensors-19-04952}
--------------------------------------------
This subsection describes the cyber-attack algorithm that we created, in addition to the countermeasure (the IDS to detect the attack). This final step leads to the classification and detection processes from [Figure 3](#sensors-19-04952-f003){ref-type="fig"}. After the vulnerability assessment of the DNP3 protocol, the attack modeling, and data collection, we have now all we need to launch the attack and then perform the classification and detection solution. Algorithm 2 gives the steps to launch an attack on DNP3 protocol.
Algorithm 2 Cyber-Attack on DL TL and AL
\*\* START \*\*
01:
Input
← Raw data
02:
Output
← Anomaly and Normal Traffic: {Classification and Detection}
\*\* PRE-ATTACKS \*\*
03: Procedure: INTERCEPTION (I)
04: Action: INJECTION (Inj) or MODIFICATION (Mod)
05: Packet ← {pre-process, get DNP3 packet
(dnp
pkt
)
}
06: DNP3 protocol ← {DataLink (DL), TransportLink (TL), ApplicationLink (AL)}
07: Attack =
{
L
O
V
A
,
D
F
C
,
F
C
A
,
F
M
I
1
,
F
M
I
2
,
T
S
M
,
F
C
M
,
C
C
\_
I
I
N
}
\*\*\* SETTING-UP PARAMETERS & ATTACK LAUNCHING \*\*\*
08: LOVA ⟺
I
(
d
n
p
p
k
t
)
{
M
o
d
(
D
L
l
e
n
g
t
h
←
D
L
l
e
n
g
t
h
±
α
)
}
09: DFC Flag ⟺
I
(
d
n
p
p
k
t
)
{
M
o
d
(
D
L
D
F
C
=
0
←
D
L
D
F
C
=
1
)
}
10: FCA ⟺
I
(
d
n
p
p
k
t
)
{
M
o
d
(
D
L
F
C
←
D
L
F
C
=
1
)
}
11: FMI1 ⟺
I
(
d
n
p
p
k
t
)
{
I
n
j
(
T
L
F
M
I
(
F
I
N
)
←
T
L
F
M
I
(
F
I
N
=
1
)
)
}
12: FMI2 ⟺
I
(
d
n
p
p
k
t
)
{
I
n
j
(
T
L
F
M
I
(
F
I
R
)
←
T
L
F
M
I
(
F
I
R
=
0
)
)
}
13: TSM ⟺
I
(
d
n
p
p
k
t
)
{
M
o
d
(
T
L
T
S
M
(
S
e
q
.
N
u
m
b
e
r
)
←
T
L
T
S
M
(
S
e
q
.
N
u
m
b
e
r
±
β
)
)
}
14: FCM1 ⟺
I
(
d
n
p
p
k
t
)
{
M
o
d
(
A
L
F
C
←
A
L
F
C
M
.
r
e
q
=
0
x
02
)
}
15: FCM2 ⟺
I
(
d
n
p
p
k
t
)
{
M
o
d
(
A
L
F
C
←
A
L
F
C
M
.
r
e
q
=
0
x
0
d
)
}
16: FCM3 ⟺
I
(
d
n
p
p
k
t
)
{
M
o
d
(
A
L
F
C
←
A
L
F
C
M
.
r
e
q
=
0
x
0
e
)
}
17: FCM4 ⟺
I
(
d
n
p
p
k
t
)
{
M
o
d
(
A
L
F
C
←
A
L
F
C
M
.
r
e
q
=
0
x
14
)
}
18: FCM5 ⟺
I
(
d
n
p
p
k
t
)
{
M
o
d
(
A
L
F
C
←
A
L
F
C
M
.
r
e
q
=
0
x
15
)
}
19: FCM6 ⟺
I
(
d
n
p
p
k
t
)
{
M
o
d
(
A
L
F
C
←
A
L
F
C
M
.
r
e
q
=
0
x
82
)
}
20: CC_INN ⟺
I
(
d
n
p
p
k
t
)
{
M
o
d
(
A
L
C
C
\_
I
I
N
←
A
L
C
C
\_
I
I
N
=
1
→
5
t
h
b
i
t
i
n
2
n
d
b
y
t
e
)
}
21:
If
I
(
d
n
p
p
k
t
)
then, //Interception of the packet
22: Attacker
I
(
d
n
p
p
k
t
)
{
(
M
o
d
∥
I
n
j
)
D
L
¬
T
L
¬
A
L
}
//Launch the attack on the layers
23:
Get
anomaly traffic
24:
End
if
25:
End
All of these attacks on DNP3 protocols are assumed to occur during data transmission from one station to another. In practical cases, the system uses Master (client) and Slave (server) terminology. In this case, the server is defined as a station or device that holds and processes the information needed by an operator. To the other side, a client is a substation or device that requests information from the server. The DNP3 protocol provides the ability to facilitate data transmission between Master and Slave \[[@B59-sensors-19-04952]\]. [Figure 7](#sensors-19-04952-f007){ref-type="fig"} shows a schematic attack in which the attacker performs interception, modification and injection attacks on the DNP3 packet content as described in Algorithm 2.
The abovementioned algorithm was built up over three stages: start, pre-attack and setting parameters up & attack launching. The last stage includes seven major attacks that target all three layers on specific fields. The second stage instructs the algorithm to use the interception method that executes the injection and modification attacks in addition to the three layers and corresponding attacks. The first stage is related to data input and output data format information. The abbreviations used in the algorithm are described in [Table 3](#sensors-19-04952-t003){ref-type="table"}.
The main part (stage number 3) of the algorithm describes the attacks that target the layers as follows:From Steps 8 to 10: These are the sets of attacks aiming for the modification of the Data Link Layer parameters by intercepting the DNP3 packet. The actions that are carried out as part of the Length Overflow Attack (LOVA), Data Flow Control Flag (DFC Flag) and Function Code Attack (FCA) are executed using the interception procedure. During the attack, the length is modified by ± α to the original size, the DCF and FCA are modified with 0 or 1.From Steps 11 to 13: The targeted layer is the Transport Link Layer with the injection action of some fault parameters to the DNP3 packet. At this stage, the Fragmented Message Interruption Attack (FMI1 and FMI2) supports the fault parameters by injecting 1 or 0 to the First (FIR) and Final (FIN) Bit Number. The Transport Sequence Modification Attack (TSM) is also one of the TL attacks with sequence modification by ± α to the original order, but it is based on the modification procedure.From Steps 14 to 20: This is a range of attacks on the Application Link Layer with a large number of parameters. After the DNP3 is intercepted, the modification process is performed on the packet at the Application Layer. To do so, the Function Code Modification Attack (FCM1\~6) is called, where the attacker sets up the parameters to be modified. The request to modify this function code at the application layer is based on the selected values (such as 0x02, 0x0d, ..., 0x82 and modification of a byte of the internal indication, such as the 5th bit in the 2nd byte of the DNP3 packet at the Application Layer).
After the last step, the whole DPN3 packet (in the current session) is compromised, and it is time that the engine can classify between bad and good traffic. The results from the experiment are detailed in [Section 4](#sec4-sensors-19-04952){ref-type="sec"}.
4. Experimental Results and Discussion {#sec4-sensors-19-04952}
======================================
4.1. Malware Sample Feature Selection Results {#sec4dot1-sensors-19-04952}
---------------------------------------------
The following section discusses the findings after data transformation for the classification process. For the purposes of our paper, we cannot include all of the figures and tables, but we have selected the most important results from among others. As described above in [Section 3](#sec3-sensors-19-04952){ref-type="sec"}, the input data comprised about 10 malware and 80 of the benign dataset, which represents 56% malware and 45% benign data, respectively. For malware analysis and feature extraction, we selected the Stuxnet malware, and we parsed this sample using the Pepper tool, which is an open-source tool for malware static analysis on a portable executable \[[@B60-sensors-19-04952]\]. We extracted the metadata, header, opt header, sections, and import features from the executable file, as shown in [Figure 8](#sensors-19-04952-f008){ref-type="fig"}.
The Stuxnet malware PE result shows that many system files are subject to compromises or attacks. [Figure 9](#sensors-19-04952-f009){ref-type="fig"} shows the distribution of the Top 20 process names found after the reverse engineering of the malware using the Pepper tool. We selected only major information, with 50% and high score points as given in [Table 4](#sensors-19-04952-t004){ref-type="table"}. The main reason is that after computing all of the features, it was necessary to statistically pick out only those with a high degree of presence in the original database. Presence refers to how frequently the feature occurs throughout the whole DB. For our experiment we set, 50% as the threshold. The table indicates that the malware target memory process has highest score, with four times, and it can be observed that the file names being compromised are related to the memory processes. The other process is related to the local security system authority service, which is a highly critical system file in Microsoft Windows (the lsass.exe). Most malware targets this file, because it is used to enforce security policies related to sensitive information such as password changes and login access verifications. The malware also targets another executable file with a task of high importance in the Windows Task Manager, and which contains machine code, and this is called vdmdbg. It has also a high score in the below table. [Appendix B](#app2-sensors-19-04952){ref-type="app"} provides all of the feature information from the Stuxnet Portable Executable (PE) file.
4.2. DNP3 Protocol Packet Sample Feature Selection Results {#sec4dot2-sensors-19-04952}
----------------------------------------------------------
The DNP3 packets that include the attack types defined in [Section 3](#sec3-sensors-19-04952){ref-type="sec"} are collected using the Wireshark tool, which is a network packet analyzer that captures network packets and displays the packet contents with the maximum detail possible \[[@B61-sensors-19-04952]\]. In order to generate the packet, we developed an exploit that was specifically designed to carry out a cyber-attack on the DNP3 protocol. This malicious software is real, and we advise the reader of this paper not to try this on a live product. The exploit, as given in [Appendix C](#app3-sensors-19-04952){ref-type="app"}, carries the data (payload) that intercept the traffic and then injects some modified parameters, as described in Algorithm 2.
After the attacks, we collected the features from the DNP3 packet where the results revealed that the predicted attacks (as defined in Algorithm 2) achieved the goals. [Table 5](#sensors-19-04952-t005){ref-type="table"} describes our experimental results in detail, along with the impact on the SCADA/DNP3 devices. As can be seen, the impact depends on the attack type, the parameter modified in the original format, and the link layer that is attacked. As described above, it is prohibited to run the provided exploit in a real working environment, because the impact of the attack would be damaging. The rest of the features of DNP3 are given in [Appendix A](#app1-sensors-19-04952){ref-type="app"}.
4.3. Visualization and Classification {#sec4dot3-sensors-19-04952}
-------------------------------------
The discussion in this subsection is related to the results of the proposed methods based on the classification of malware, which is displayed in the form of a graph visualization. [Table 6](#sensors-19-04952-t006){ref-type="table"}, with [Figure 10](#sensors-19-04952-f010){ref-type="fig"} and [Figure 11](#sensors-19-04952-f011){ref-type="fig"}, describes the classification results with the following explanation:Login-Time: The field indicates when the event happened. It is, therefore, easy to track down and find out the right moment for the attack on the system when there is a need for an investigation.Source-IP: Every traffic on the network includes the source IP address, which indicates the origin of the data, request, or other type of transaction. In our experiment, this is the IP address of the device that is sending information to the destination device.Source-Port: This is one of the user session parameters that tells the system where to reply to the response. It is always associated with the source-IP and the different applications and protocols used by the sender.Destination-IP: This is where to go. The receiving device in our experiment has a destination IP to which the packet is to be sent. This enables two-way communication in the configuration.Destination-Port: The same explanation as the source port, except that this is for the destination device.Classification: As stated before, the aim is to distinguish between benign and malware groups for elements in the dataset. Hence, after the process, the result results in an "anomaly", as bad packets related to malware or any malicious activity are discovered during the analysis. We only provide those results that identify an anomaly.Field: With this information, we can see what type of feature, attack type or any other field has been targeted. In this case, the system gives "Transport FIR", which indicates the DNP3 protocol feature.Graph Visualization: The 3D graph indicates the classification as either malware or benign data. The red dots indicate the malware sample in our experiment, while the blue ones indicate the benign dataset. Additionally, there other two graphs, which give an overview of the Top 5 source and destination IP addresses.
5. Conclusions {#sec5-sensors-19-04952}
==============
This paper discussed cybersecurity solutions based on the Intrusion Detection System in the IoT-based Smart Grid. We described in detail the concept of a system based on the IoT for Smart Grids using the SCADA/DNP3 communication protocol. To achieve the proposed method, we developed and presented a series of algorithms for implementation along with experiments.
In this paper, we developed a new method for assessing DNP3 protocol vulnerability, which gave us an idea of where to perform the attack. This assessment was conducted on a modified DNP3 protocol with reference to the original protocol. Next, based on the discovered vulnerabilities, we developed the new attack model aiming at the Data Link Layer, Transport Link Layer and Application Link Layer of the DNP3 protocol. Moreover, we developed two algorithms that helped us perform data transformation using Machine Learning methods. The other algorithm includes all of the steps for the cyber-attack on the DNP3 protocol; this also includes the classification process. Finally, we presented the experimental results, showing that the proposed method was able to detect intrusions to the SCADA system based on an IoT Smart Grid and could classify them with detailed information about the compromised fields from the DNP3 packet.
Conceptualization, Writing the Original Draft, Project Administration, and Funding Acquisition, X.C.Y.; Methodology, Writing---Review & Editing, Formal Analysis and Validation, Z.G.L.; Investigation and Data Curation, L.N.; Visualization, Resources, and Supervision, B.N.
This research was supported by the Scientific Fund Project of Facility Horticulture Laboratory of Universities in Shandong of China (Grant number: 2018YY016) and the Doctoral Scientific Fund Project of Weifang University of Science & Technology of China (Grant number: 2017BS17), it was also supported by the Innovation Fund of Ministry of Education, Science and Technology Development Center of China (Grant number: 2018A02013).
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
sensors-19-04952-t0A1_Table A1
######
In this table '-' means that the feature does not have value. We have 95 features from the DNP3 packets.
Original_Format Readable_Format
------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
dnp.data_chunk.CRC.status '-'
dnp.hdr.CRC.status '-'
dnp3.addr '-'
dnp3.src '-'
Number of Items: '-'
Number of Items: 0 '-'
dnp3.al.fragment al_fragment
dnp3.al.fragment.count al_fragment_count
dnp3.al.fragment.reassembled.length al_fragment_reassembled_length
dnp3.al.ctl application_layer_control
dnp3.al.con application_layer_control_confirm
dnp3.al.fin application_layer_control_final
dnp3.al.fir application_layer_control_first
dnp3.al.func application_layer_control_function_code
dnp3.al.iin application_layer_control_internal_indications
dnp3.al.iin.bmsg application_layer_control_internal_indications_broadcast\_ msg_rx
dnp3.al.iin.cls1d application_layer_control_internal_indications_class1_data\_ available
dnp3.al.iin.cls2d application_layer_control_internal_indications_class2_data\_ available
dnp3.al.iin.cls3d application_layer_control_internal_indications_class3_data\_ available
dnp3.al.iin.cc application_layer_control_internal_indications_configuration_corrupt
dnp3.al.iin.rst application_layer_control_internal_indications_device_restart
dnp3.al.iin.dt application_layer_control_internal_indications_device_trouble
dnp3.al.iin.dol application_layer_control_internal_indications_digital_outputs_in_local
dnp3.al.iin.ebo application_layer_control_internal_indications_event_buffer\_ overflow
dnp3.al.iin.fcni application_layer_control_internal_indications_function_code \_not_implemented
dnp3.al.iin.oae application_layer_control_internal_indications_operation\_ already_executing
dnp3.al.iin.pioor application_layer_control_internal_indications_parameters\_ invalid_or_out_of_range
dnp3.al.iin.obju application_layer_control_internal_indications_requested_objects_unknown
dnp3.al.iin.tsr application_layer_control_internal_indications_time_sync_required
dnp3.al.seq application_layer_control_sequence
dnp3.al.uns application_layer_control_unsolicited
dnp3.al.obj application_layer_object
dnp3.al.range.quantity application_layer_object_items_range_quantity
dnp3.al.range.start application_layer_object_items_range_start
dnp3.al.range.stop application_layer_object_items_range_stop
Point Number application_layer_object_point_number
dnp3.al.index application_layer_object_point_number_index
dnp3.al.point_index application_layer_object_point_number_index
dnp3.al.ana.int application_layer_object_point_number_quality_analog_value
dnp3.al.aiq.b2 application_layer_object_point_number_quality_comm_fail
dnp3.al.biq.b2 application_layer_object_point_number_quality_comm_fail
dnp3.al.aiq.b4 application_layer_object_point_number_quality_local_force
dnp3.al.biq.b4 application_layer_object_point_number_quality_local_force
dnp3.al.aiq.b0 application_layer_object_point_number_quality_online
dnp3.al.biq.b0 application_layer_object_point_number_quality_online
dnp3.al.aiq.b5 application_layer_object_point_number_quality_over_range
dnp3.al.biq.b5 application_layer_object_point_number_quality_over_range
dnp3.al.aiq.b6 application_layer_object_point_number_quality_reference
dnp3.al.biq.b6 application_layer_object_point_number_quality_reference
dnp3.al.reltimestamp application_layer_object_point_number_quality_relative_timestamp
dnp3.al.aiq.b3 application_layer_object_point_number_quality_remote_force
dnp3.al.biq.b3 application_layer_object_point_number_quality_remote_force
dnp3.al.aiq.b7 application_layer_object_point_number_quality_reserved
dnp3.al.biq.b7 application_layer_object_point_number_quality_reserved
dnp3.al.aiq.b1 application_layer_object_point_number_quality_restart
dnp3.al.biq.b1 application_layer_object_point_number_quality_restart
dnp3.al.time_delay application_layer_object_point_number_quality_time_delay
dnp3.al.bit application_layer_object_point_number_value
dnp3.al.objq.prefix application_layer_object_prefix_code
dnp3.al.objq.range application_layer_object_range_code
dnp3.al.timestamp application_layer_timestamp
dnp3.ctl control
dnp3.ctl.dir control_direction
dnp3.ctl.fcb control_frame_count_bit
dnp3.ctl.fcv control_frame_count_valid
dnp3.ctl.prifunc control_function_code
dnp3.ctl.prm control_primary
dnp.data_chunk data_chunk
dnp.data_chunk.CRC data_chunk_crc
dnp.data_chunk_len data_chunk_length
dnp3.hdr.CRC data_link_header_crc
dnp3.dst destination
\_ws.expert.group expert_info_group
dnp3.iin_abnormal expert_info_iin_abnormal
\_ws.malformed expert_info_malformed_packet
\_ws.expert.message expert_info_message
\_ws.expert.severity expert_info_severity
dnp3.len length
dnp3.start start_bytes
dnp3.tr.ctl transport_control
dnp3.tr.fin transport_control_final
dnp3.tr.fir transport_control_first
dnp3.tr.seq transport_control_sequence
dnp3.al.2bit '-'
dnp3.al.count '-'
dnp3.al.ctrlstatus '-'
dnp3.al.off_time '-'
dnp3.al.on_time '-'
dnp3.al.range.abs '-'
dnp3.al.size '-'
dnp3.al.unknown_data_chunk '-'
dnp3.ctl.clr '-'
dnp3.ctl.op '-'
dnp3.ctl.trip '-'
dnp3.num_items_neg '-'
sensors-19-04952-t0A2_Table A2
######
The complete list of Stuxnet PE reverse engineering malware with the names of the processes and the score.
Number Name Process Name Score
-------- ----------------------------------------- ---------------- -------
1 memory-mod-pe-0 × 20000000-0 × 10124000 service.exe 95.6
2 kerner32.dll.aslr.0013a1e svchost.exe 92.5
3 kerner32.dll.aslr.0013b86 svchost.exe 91.5
4 memorymod-pe-0 × 00090000-0 × 0010a000 lsass.exe 85
5 memorymod-pe-0 × 00090000-0 × 0010a000 lsass.exe 85
6 lsass.exe lsass.exe 80.5
7 lsass.exe lsass.exe 80.5
8 memorymod-0 × 006b0000-0 × 006b1000 services.exe 75.8
9 vdmdbg.dll taskmgr.exe 74
10 izarccm.dll explorer.exe 73.6
11 ntosknl.exe System 72.6
12 ntdll.dll smss.exe 71.6
13 olepro32.dll explorer.exe 68
14 mysqld-nt.exe mysqld-nt.exe 64
15 mlang.dll explorer.exe 61
16 bhomanger.dll System 61
17 hal.dll explorer.exe 61
18 wuaucpl.cpl wuauclt.exe 61
19 mrxnet.sys System 50
20 vmhgfs.dll explorer.exe 50
21 odbc32.dll explorer.exe 50
22 wuaucpl.cpl explorer.exe 50
23 odbc32.dll wuauclt.exe 50
24 mrxcls.sys winlogon.exe 49
25 natlanman.dll System 46
26 browselc.dll explorer.exe 42
27 ksecdd.sys explorer.exe 41
28 hidphone.tsp System 34
29 cscdll.dll svchost.exe 34
30 cscdll.dll winlogon.exe 34
31 utildll.dll explorer.exe 34
32 taskmgr.exe taskmgr.exe 26
33 sfc_os.dll taskmgr.exe 26
34 sfc_os.dll spoolsv.exe 26
35 duser.dll svchost.exe 26
36 sfc_os.dll explorer.exe 26
37 ntdll.dll wuauclt.exe 26
38 ntdll.dll crss.exe 26
39 ntdll.dll svchost.exe 26
40 ntdll.dll VMwareUser.exe 26
41 mprapi.dll lsass.exe 19
42 mprapi.dll winlogon.exe 19
43 h323.tsp svchost.exe 19
44 tapisrv.dll svchost.exe 19
45 alg.exe alg.exe 19
46 ntdll.dll svchost.exe 19.6
{#sensors-19-04952-f0A1}
{#sensors-19-04952-f001}
{#sensors-19-04952-f002}
{#sensors-19-04952-f003}
{#sensors-19-04952-f004}
{#sensors-19-04952-f005}
{#sensors-19-04952-f006}
{#sensors-19-04952-f007}
{#sensors-19-04952-f008}
{#sensors-19-04952-f009}
{#sensors-19-04952-f010}
{#sensors-19-04952-f011}
sensors-19-04952-t001_Table 1
######
DNP3 partial features dataset.
Features Subject to Attack
------------------------------------------------------- -------------------
**DNP3_START**
**DNP3_LENGTH** Yes
**DNP3_SOURCE**
**DNP3_DESTINATION**
**DNP3_CONTROL_DFC** Yes
**DNP3_CONTROL_DIR**
**DNP3_CONTROL_FCB** Yes
**DNP3_CONTROL_FCV** Yes
**DNP3_CONTROL_FUNC_CODE_PRI** Yes
**DNP3_CONTROL_FUNC_CODE_SEC**
**DNP3_CONTROL_PRM**
**DNP3_CONTROL_reserved**
**DNP3_CRC**
**DNP3_Transport_FIN** Yes
**DNP3_Transport_FIR** Yes
**DNP3_Transport_SEQUENCE** Yes
**DNP3_Application_request_Application_control_CON**
**DNP3_Application_request_Application_control_UNS**
**DNP3_Application_request_FUNC_CODE** Yes
**DNP3_Application_response_Application_control_CON**
**DNP3_Application_response_IIN_CLASS_3\_EVENTS**
**DNP3_Application_response_IIN_CONFIG_CORRUPT** Yes
**DNP3_Application_response_IIN_DEVICE_RESTART**
sensors-19-04952-t002_Table 2
######
Dataset of malware and benign data in this paper.
Name Malware Qt. \% Benign Qt. \%
------------------------------ --------- ------ ------- -------- ------ -------
**Triton** Yes 1650 15.46 No 0 0.00
**Industroyer** Yes 1521 14.25 No 0 0.00
**BlackEnergy** Yes 650 6.09 No 0 0.00
**Stuxnet** Yes 1120 10.50 No 0 0.00
**Duqu** Yes 944 8.85 No 0 0.00
**Flame** Yes 1062 9.95 No 0 0.00
**Gauss** Yes 1267 11.87 No 0 0.00
**DNP3-Data(Original)** No 0 0.00 Yes 4593 53.58
**DNP3-Packet (Experiment)** Yes 2456 23.02 N o 0 0.00
**4SICS** No 0 0.00 Yes 3980 46.42
Total 10,670 55 8573 45
sensors-19-04952-t003_Table 3
######
Notations and description used in Algorithm 2.
Abbreviations Description
--------------- --------------------------------------------------
**DLL** Data Link Layer
**TLL** Transport Link Layer
**ALL** Application Link Layer
**LOVA** Length Overflow Attack
**DFCA** Data Flow Control Attack
**FCA** Function Control Attack
**FMIA** Fragmented Message Interruption Attack
**TSMA** Transport Sequence Modification Attack
**FCM** Function Code Modification
**CCA_IIN** Configuration Capture Attack_Internal INdication
sensors-19-04952-t004_Table 4
######
Stuxnet features and scores.
Number File Name Process Name Score %
-------- ----------------------------------------- --------------- ---------
1 memory-mod-pe-0 × 20000000-0 × 10124000 service.exe 95.6
2 kerner32.dll.aslr.0013a1e svchost.exe 92.5
3 kerner32.dll.aslr.0013b86 svchost.exe 91.5
4 Memory mod-pe-0 × 00090000-0 × 0010a000 lsass.exe 85
5 Memory mod-pe-0 × 00090000-0 × 0010a000 lsass.exe 85
6 lsass.exe lsass.exe 80.5
7 lsass.exe lsass.exe 80.5
8 memorymod-0 × 006b0000-0 × 006b1000 services.exe 75.8
9 vdmdbg.dll taskmgr.exe 74
10 izarccm.dll explorer.exe 73.6
11 ntosknl.exe System 72.6
12 ntdll.dll smss.exe 71.6
13 olepro32.dll explorer.exe 68
14 mysqld-nt.exe mysqld-nt.exe 64
15 mlang.dll explorer.exe 61
16 bhomanger.dll System 61
17 hal.dll explorer.exe 61
18 wuaucpl.cpl wuauclt.exe 61
19 mrxnet.sys System 50
20 vmhgfs.dll explorer.exe 50
21 odbc32.dll explorer.exe 50
22 wuaucpl.cpl explorer.exe 50
23 odbc32.dll wuauclt.exe 50
sensors-19-04952-t005_Table 5
######
Feature description of DNP3 protocol attack.
DNP3-Features Description Attack Type Parameter Impact Link Layer
-------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------- ------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------- ------------
**DNP3_LENGTH** Length of field LOVA Original length modification Device crashes DL
**DNP3_CONTROL_DFC** The DFC tells other devices that the current device is busy DFC Flag = 1 Eternal busy DL
**DNP3_CONTROL_FUN_CODE_PRI** Primary Function code User Process reset Code = 1 Unwanted restart DL
**DNP3_Transport_FIN** Final bit FMI Flag modification Early message termination TL
**DNP3_Transport_FR** First bit FMI Flag modification Message processing error TL
**DNP3_Application_request_FUN_CODE** Function Code FCA 0 × 02, 0 × 0d, 0 × 0e, 0 × 14, 0 × 15, 0 × 82 Crash or reboot AL
**DNP3-Application_response_IIN_CONFIG_CORRUPT** Configuration File System CC_IIN 5th bit in 2^nd^ byte Configuration file modified AL
sensors-19-04952-t006_Table 6
######
Classification result description.
Source-IP Source-Port Destination-IP Destination-Port Classification Field
---------------- ------------- ---------------- ------------------ ---------------- ---------------
**172.17.0.1** 59686 172.17.0.2 45000 Anomaly Transport FIR
**172.17.0.1** 59686 172.17.0.2 45000 Anomaly Transport FIR
**172.17.0.2** 41044 192.168.0.141 45000 Anomaly Transport FIR
**172.17.0.2** 41044 192.168.0.141 45000 Anomaly Transport FIR
**172.17.0.2** 41044 192.168.0.141 45000 Anomaly Transport FIR
**172.17.0.2** 41044 192.168.0.141 45000 Anomaly Transport FIR
**172.17.0.2** 41044 192.168.0.141 45000 Anomaly Transport FIR
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Central"
}
|
Alberto González Gonzalito
Alberto González, nicknamed Gonzalito (born 1922) was a Paraguayan football defender who played for Paraguay in the 1950 FIFA World Cup. He also played for Club Olimpia.
References
External links
FIFA profile
Category:1922 births
Category:Paraguayan footballers
Category:Paraguay international footballers
Category:Association football defenders
Category:Club Olimpia footballers
Category:1950 FIFA World Cup players
Category:Possibly living people
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)"
}
|
Q:
setTimeOut() is not working with AJAX
In my application i want to send something to the server after some time.
I have implemented it using AJAX. But it works for the first time but not doing it recursively. I have used setTimeOut() for doing that.
var xmlHttp;
var requestURL = 'http://localhost:1092/ClassicAJAXDemo/UpdateHeartbeat.aspx?name=';
function show_data(strName)
{
if (strName.length > 0)
{
var url = requestURL + strName;
xmlHttp = GetXmlHttpObject(stateChangeHandler);
xmlHttp_Get(xmlHttp, url);
}
}
function stateChangeHandler()
{
if (xmlHttp.readyState == 4)
{
var str = xmlHttp.responseText;
setTimeOut(show_data('Dev'), 10000); // It is not waiting for 10 seconds.
}
}
function xmlHttp_Get(xmlhttp, url)
{
xmlhttp.open('GET', url, true);
xmlhttp.send(null);
}
function GetXmlHttpObject(handler)
{
return new XMLHttpRequest();
}
window.onload = show_data('Dev');
A:
You have a couple of issues in this code segment that are creating your bugs:
window.onload = show_data('Dev');
A bit of explanation about why window.onload = show_data('Dev'); doesn't work is probably in order: window.onload needs to be a function. As your code executes, it is evaluating show_data('Dev') (which doen't return a value, but does start an XMLHTTPRequest, so it appears to work) and executing window.onload = undefined;.
window.onload=show_data; would work - but then you don't get your parameter passed.
Luckily JavaScript allows you to create anonymous functions - leading to:
window.onload = function() { show_data('Dev'); };
setTimeOut(show_data('Dev'), 10000);
First of all, JavaScript is a case sensitive language. setTimeOut !== setTimeout. Also the first parameter to setTimeout/setInterval is expected to be a function, which suffers from the same problem here as your window.onload did, it calls setTimeout(undefined, 10000);, but executes the request immediately. I also think you mean to call it with the same strName as it was called with.
Your timeout set should say:
setTimeout(function() {show_data(strName);}, 10000);
A side note - setInterval() and setTimeout() both allow passing strings that get eval()ed at runtime, but I would suggest against using that method which looks like this:
// please dont use me
setTimeout("show_data(strname)", 10000);
At this point your code should work when edited with those two lines. The rest of this stuff is just other optimizations
setTimeout() vs. setInterval()
This seems like it is going to keep checking every 10000ms, unless the ajax request fails, then it will stop. I imagine you just wanted to poll forever. setInterval() allows you to setup a "repeating" timer.
Remove your setTimeout line and replace window.onload with:
var updateInterval;
window.onload = function(){
updateInterval = setInterval(function(){ show_data('Dev'); }, 10000);
};
// an example - lets stop polling 35 seconds from now
setTimeout(function() {
clearInterval(updateInterval);
}, 35000);
|
{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
|
Summary
Poverty is prevalent among smallholder farmers in transition economies where market failures prevail and where the capacity of the public sector is limited. This study assesses the potential of organic contract farming as a private sector institutional arrangement to reduce rural poverty. Contract farming appears to facilitate market linkages for smallholder farmers to produce organic rice for export markets while providing necessary technical supports. Using an endogenous switching regression model to assess the profitability of organic contract farms and conventional farms in Lao PDR, it was found that organic farmers under contract earn significantly higher profit than conventional farms. The findings also showed that organic contract farming tends to provide the greatest increase in income to farmers with below average performance. These findings suggest that contract farming can be an effective mechanism to facilitate the development of organic agriculture and an effective tool to improve the profitability and raise incomes of small farmers, thereby reducing poverty in rural areas with limited market development.
This paper is published in the conference proceedings: Neuhoff, Daniel; Halberg, Niels; Alfldi, Thomas; Lockeretz, William; Thommen, Andreas; Rasmussen, Ilse A.; Hermansen, John; Vaarst, Mette; Lck, Lorna; Carporali, Fabio; Jensen, Henning Hgh; Migliorini, Paola and Willer, Helga, Eds. (2008) .Cultivating the Future Based on Science. Proceedings of the Second Scientific Conference of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research (ISOFAR), held at the 16th IFOAM Organic World Congress in Cooperation with the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) and the Consorzio ModenaBio, 18 . 20 June 2008 in Modena, Italy.. International Society of Organic Agriculture Research (ISOFAR), c/o IOL, DE-Bonn, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL, CH-Frick. http://orgprints.org/13672 and http://orgprints.org/13674
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
First we\'d like to thank V. Malkhasyan and Jan Hrbacek \[[@CIT0001], [@CIT0002]\] for their kind comments.
We thank Jan Hrbácek for his kind comments regarding our institution, we\'re all very glad your time here was such a positive experience.
Jan Hrbacek is correct in pointing out some of the major shortcomings of the study such as not being able to achieve randomization despite our original intentions as evidenced by the difference in demographics between the groups. However, the selection of the groups was a compromise between true randomization, and patient treatment ethics.
As with any selection process, including randomization, bias can be introduced if all potential confounding factors aren\'t taken into account from the outset of the study. All must be done within current standard of care. After consulting with all personnel involved, we agreed on the methodology employed. Our selection process resulted in one we were comfortable for finding answers to our questions while maintaining our standards for clinical care.
While there was a lack of true randomization and the patient groups differed significantly, the difference in results cannot be solely attributed to patient selection as the stone free rates achieved were not necessarily correlated with the severity of the disease as can be evidenced by the less effective results of achieved by patients eligible for ESWL. Our results still permit gaining a good perspective on (or adds to the current body of knowledge regarding) risk, cost, benefit considerations that occur with each modality in clinical practice.
They both raise the issue of lack of comparison with ureteroscopic stone ablation using laser.
Both include the EAU Guidelines for Urolithiasis updated in 2011 in their reference list. The guidelines state that Ho:YAG laser lithotripsy is the preferred method when carrying out (flexible) URS with a grade B recommendation.
V. Malkhasyan makes a point regarding improvements in URS regarding caliber and additional lithotrypsy URS devices such as laser. These improvements in devices and techniques make comparisons of treatment modalities a moving target and, as newer devices and techniques arrive, the subject of further study.
Regarding URS laser ablation, this modality wasn\'t readily available at our institution during the period of study, which is representative of many institutions at the time.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Central"
}
|
Introduction {#s1}
============
In the general case, peptides are called natural substances consisting of submolecular blocks (20 standard amino acid residues) connected by a peptide bond (Sewald and Jakubke, [@B11]). Obviously, the minimal linear peptide is a chemical structure in which two amino acid residues are connected by one peptide bond (dipeptide). Natural peptide sequences (primary structures) containing many amino acid residues (polypeptides) are commonly called proteins, and long molecules of this type can consist of tens of thousands of amino acid residues. Thus, the size (length) of a molecule of peptide nature can vary over a wide-ranging number of amino acid residues.
There is a great variety of amino acid residue sequences as well. This is based on a broad spectrum of possible combinations of 20 standard amino acid residues. With an increase in the length of the peptide sequence *p*, the number of such combinations of *N*~*p*~ rapidly grows in accordance with the well-known formula
N
p
=
2
0
p
,
(where *p* is a number of amino acid residues in one molecule). In the case of dipeptides, *p* = 2, *N*~2~ = 400, tripeptides *p* = 3, *N*~3~ = 8,000, tetrapeptides *p* = 4, *N*~4~ = 160,000, etc., and at the end of the interval 2 ≤ *p* ≤ 50, characterizing oligopeptides (Zamyatnin, [@B14], [@B19]), i.e., at *p* = 50, this value reaches the value *N*~50~ = \~10^34^. Of course, not all combinations of amino acid residues can exist in nature, but still the variety of possible primary structures should be accepted as gigantic. In this work, we studied the distribution of the number of different (unique) natural peptide sequences along the length, i.e., by the number of amino acid residues *p*.
Materials and Methods {#s2}
=====================
To obtain information on natural peptide amino acid residue sequences, the UniProt database is most often used, which combines manually annotated and reviewed data (Swiss-Prot database Bairoch and Boeckmann, [@B2] and the TrEMBL database Kneale and Kennard, [@B8] on primary structures obtained as a result of the translation (Tr) of nucleotide sequences into the language of amino acids (automatically annotated and not reviewed).
The ability to perform different procedures and analyses is provided on the UniProt database website. The UniProt database program tools were used in our work to highlight all and specific amino acid residue sequences (option: Search), exclusion of sequence fragments (option: Sequence \> Fragment \> Sequence complete), extraction of specific sequences with a given number of amino acid residues *p* (option: Sequence \> Sequence length \> from *p*~1~ to *p*~2~), exclusion of identical sequences (option: Protein page \> Similar proteins \> 100% identity), and sorting protein names and sequences by different characteristics (standard UniProt table sorting).
The procedures described in this work were performed on a high-speed server, which allows you to process large amounts of information. The main part of the study described below was carried out on the Swiss-Prot database data.
Results {#s3}
=======
Protein Length Distribution in UniProt Database
-----------------------------------------------
At the time of the study, the UniProt database contained information on 159,022,877 amino acid residue sequences obtained for species of archaea, prokaryotes, and eukaryotes. The minimum number of amino acid residues *p* = 2 contains three oligopeptides of a different origin, and the maximum (*p* = 74,488) contains one translated bacterial polypeptide. Despite such a large range of *p*, most sequences are concentrated in the range 2 ≤ *p* ≤ 1,000 (154,685,385, i.e., more than 97%). The distribution in this interval is shown in [Figure 1A](#F1){ref-type="fig"}. A characteristic feature of this distribution is several sharp peaks, indicating a significantly larger number of sequences with a given number of amino acid residues *p*, compared with neighboring values of *p*, e.g., a peak is especially distinguished at *p* = 252. An examination of primary structures corresponding to this peak represents a large set of very functionally different proteins.
{#F1}
However, this distribution does not give information on the true number of occurrences of amino acid residue sequences in nature. These data are incorrect, since the UniProt database contains, in addition to complete sequences, data on 15,495,873 incomplete sequences (almost 10%) that are fragments. The distribution shown in [Figure 1B](#F1){ref-type="fig"} characterizes an array of 143,527,004 natural peptide amino acid residue sequences after excluding all fragments from consideration. Several peaks are also detected in this distribution, but their values and position are different from those shown in [Figure 1A](#F1){ref-type="fig"}.
As it transpired during the study, the UniProt database also includes sequences containing amino acid residues indicated by letters that are not used to describe standard residues: O (hydroxyproline), U (α-aminobutyric acid), and X (unidentified). Sequences that contain these letters were also excluded from consideration.
The UniProt database also contains a large number of completely identical sequences, obtained, as a rule, as representatives of different, but taxonomically close living organisms. In order for the analysis to be limited to considering only different sequences, all duplicates were also excluded from consideration ([Figure 1C](#F1){ref-type="fig"}). It can be seen that the peak at *p* = 252 is absent in [Figure 1C](#F1){ref-type="fig"} because there are many duplicates in all sequences of UniProt database ([Figures 1A,B](#F1){ref-type="fig"}). This peak contains more than 57,000 sequences of viral matrix proteins 1, but many of them are the same, e.g., the protein sequence (V9SYV1) of influenza A virus \[A/Peru/PER334/2011(H3N2)\] is found in more than 10,000 entries of UniProt database.
Protein Length Distribution in Swiss-Prot Database
--------------------------------------------------
At the time of the study, the Swiss-Prot database contained information on 560,118 amino acid residue sequences obtained as representatives of archaea, prokaryotes, and eukaryotes. The minimum number of amino acid residues *p* = 2 contained two oligopeptides of a different origin, and the maximum (*p* = 35,213) contained the mouse protein titin (Church et al., [@B3]). It transpired that, despite such a large range of *p*, most sequences are concentrated in the range 2 ≤ *p* ≤ 1,000 (542,302, i.e., \~97%). The distribution of all sequences in this interval is shown in [Figure 2A](#F2){ref-type="fig"}. A characteristic feature of this distribution is the many sharp peaks indicating a significantly larger number of sequences with a given number of amino acid residues *p*, compared with neighboring *p*-values. Among them, two peaks are especially distinguished at *p* = 156 and 379. An examination of the protein corresponding to these peaks showed that, at *p* = 156, 2,216, sequences represent a large set of very different proteins. However, in the case *p* = 379, out of 1,889 proteins, 1,048 (two-thirds) are mitochondrial cytochrome *b*. This value is approximately equal to that part of the peak that rises above the total mass of protein lengths in [Figure 2A](#F2){ref-type="fig"}.
{#F2}
As in the case of the UniProt database, we deleted all incomplete sequences that are fragments in the Swiss-Prot database. The distribution of complete sequences is shown in [Figure 2B](#F2){ref-type="fig"}. This figure does not differ much from [Figure 2A](#F2){ref-type="fig"}, since fragmented sequences from the Swiss-Prot database make up only 1.6% (9,167) of the total number of data in this database. Some difference is noticeable only in the field of oligopeptides, i.e., at small values of *p*.
We obtained a significantly changed distribution after removing sequences with non-standard and unidentified amino acid residues, and also after removing duplicates ([Figure 2C](#F2){ref-type="fig"}). Note that the peak value at *p* = 156 decreased significantly, while at *p* = 379, it remained unchanged. Detailed data on the number of amino acid residue sequences taken for the already described and subsequent analyses are collected in [Table 1](#T1){ref-type="table"}.
######
Data on the number of amino acid residue sequences in various taxonomic groups and species on the Swiss-Prot database.
**Taxon groups, species (common names)** **Taxon groups, species (Latin names)** **All on the Swiss-Prot database** **Without fragments** **Without duplicates** ***p*~**min**~** ***p*~**max**~**
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- ------------------------------------ ----------------------- ------------------------ ------------------ ------------------
All 560,118 550,951 463,450 2 35,213
Eukaryotes *Eukaryota* 189,697 182,592 174,063 2 35,213
Animals *Metazoa* 106,843 102,155 98,070 2 35,213
Human *Homo sapiens* 20,421 20,421 20,358 2 34,350
Plants *Viridiplantae* 39,930 38,014 35,093 5 5,400
Mouse-ear cress *Arabidopsis thaliana* 15,856 15,829 15,768 5 5,400
Fungi *Fungi* 34,084 33,841 32,431 3 11,842
Yeast *Saccharomyces cerevisiae* 7,919 7,912 7,290 16 4,910
Prokaryotes *Bacteria* 334,009 332,477 255,373 7 10,746
Bacteria gram- *Escherichia coli* 23,138 23,121 10,153 7 3,289
Bacteria gram+ *Staphylococcus aureus* 10,175 10,164 3,171 9 10,746
Archaea *Archaea* 19,554 19,482 18,452 25 9,159
Viruses *Viruses* 16,858 16,400 15,607 11 7,182
We sequentially isolated and analyzed unique sequences of taxonomic groups of various levels from the entire mass of sequences from the Swiss-Prot database. At the first and highest level, the domains of archaea, prokaryotes, and eukaryotes were chosen (Woese et al., [@B13]). Despite the fact that the number of sequences in these domains varies significantly ([Table 1](#T1){ref-type="table"}), the general distribution pattern ([Figure 3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}) is the same for them. Moreover, the overwhelming majority of amino acid residue sequences, as before, are concentrated in the range 2 ≤ *p* ≤ 1,000 (99.1% in archaea, 98.7% in prokaryotes, and 92.7% in eukaryotes). In archaea ([Figure 3A](#F3){ref-type="fig"}), there is only one small visible peak at *p* = 130; in prokaryotes ([Figure 3B](#F3){ref-type="fig"}), there are quite a lot of these peaks, and the peak is especially distinguished at *p* = 156 represent a large set of very different proteins; and in eukaryotes ([Figure 3C](#F3){ref-type="fig"}), most of the peaks are not too large, except for one at *p* = 379.
{ref-type="fig"}--[8](#F8){ref-type="fig"}: **blue**, archaea; **red**, prokaryotes; **brown**, all eukaryotes and animals; **violet**, fungi; **green**, plants; **orange**, viruses.](fmolb-07-00102-g0003){#F3}
At the next taxonomic level, the unique amino acid residue sequences of the kingdoms (fungi, plants, and animals) were separately analyzed ([Figure 4](#F4){ref-type="fig"}). The general nature of the obtained distributions indicates that noticeable peaks are practically unobservable in fungi ([Figure 4A](#F4){ref-type="fig"}), while in plants, there are quite a lot of them ([Figure 4B](#F4){ref-type="fig"}), and in the case of animals, a number of peaks also stand out, among which the peak at *p* = 379 is brighter than in the case of the distribution for eukaryotes ([Figure 3C](#F3){ref-type="fig"}).
{#F4}
We also analyzed the unique amino acid residue sequences of individual representatives of fungi, plants, and animals ([Figure 5](#F5){ref-type="fig"}). In the case of yeast (*Saccharomyces cerevisiae*), a distribution was obtained with a noticeable peak at *p* = 440 ([Figure 5A](#F5){ref-type="fig"}). It turned out that most of the sequences with this number of amino acid residues are various proteins known as transposon polyproteins. Several not very large peaks are manifested in mouse-ear cress ([Figure 5B](#F5){ref-type="fig"}). At the same time, two peaks clearly stand out in human ([Figure 5C](#F5){ref-type="fig"}). One of them at *p* = 117 is more than 50% composed of various immunoglobulins; in the case of the other at *p* = 312, also more than half characterizes the presence of a large number of olfactory receptor proteins.
{#F5}
We also obtained distributions for a combination of sequences of Gram-negative ([Figure 6A](#F6){ref-type="fig"}) and Gram-positive ([Figure 6B](#F6){ref-type="fig"}) bacteria and for all viruses ([Figure 7](#F7){ref-type="fig"}). All these distributions are characterized by a large number of noticeable peaks. An examination of primary structures corresponding to bacterial protein peaks represents a large set of very different proteins except two peaks in the distribution of viral sequences. The peak at *p* = 252 is particularly prominent (see [Figures 1A,B](#F1){ref-type="fig"}), in which a significant part is occupied by the matrix protein of influenza A virus, which plays a key role in the replication of viruses, and the peak at *p* = 498 almost completely corresponds to the nucleoprotein protein (also in influenza A virus), which protects viral RNA from nucleases.
{#F6}
{#F7}
Common Consideration of Protein Length Distribution {#s4}
===================================================
Obviously, the nature of any distribution needs explanation, which could best be made on the basis of an analytical mathematical expression derived from general considerations about the nature of peptide sequences. Obtaining such an expression is still faced with great difficulties, since many factors must be taken into account: details of the genesis of proteins, features of its constituent elements (physicochemical diversity of amino acid residues), evolutionary factors, and much more (Zamyatnin, [@B17], [@B18]).
However, the fitting mathematical expression, which allows one to obtain curves that are as close as possible to real distributions, has been carried out repeatedly. Thus, for a number of individual organisms, the log-normal distribution function was used, which satisfactorily described the data for 13 species of bacteria, 4 archaea, and 1 eukaryote (Ramakumar, [@B10]).
The same approach was applied to describe the protein distributions of 1,302 species of prokaryotes and 140 eukaryotes (Tiessen et al., [@B12]). In this study, in addition to the log-normal distribution, a gamma-type distribution was also employed. The combined use of the log-normal and gamma distributions (Jhang, [@B7]) allowed the authors to conclude that the average length of eukaryotic proteins is greater than that of prokaryotes. A similar conclusion is illustrated in our present work when considering [Figures 3B,C](#F3){ref-type="fig"}. The linguistic model of Menserath--Altmann was also used no less successfully (Menzerath, [@B9]; Altmann, [@B1]). The data for 10 proteomes with help from this model were described (Eroglu, [@B4]).
Unique Length Distribution for One Protein Type {#s5}
===============================================
However, in all of these works, the main attention was paid to smoothing the distribution curves in order to fit certain mathematical models. At the same time, it follows from our results that numerous peaks in almost all taxonomic groups and individual species of living organisms carry additional information about the sequences that form these distributions. A striking example is the peak traced in the distribution of all amino acid residue sequences on the Swiss-Prot database ([Figure 2C](#F2){ref-type="fig"}), eukaryotes ([Figure 3C](#F3){ref-type="fig"}), and animals ([Figure 4C](#F4){ref-type="fig"}). As already noted, this peak is a collection of mitochondrial cytochromes *b* having the same length of 379 amino acid residues and found only in animals. An additional analysis of the length distribution of animal cytochromes *b* ([Figure 8](#F8){ref-type="fig"}) showed that these proteins have a predominant length of 379 amino acid residues (1,028 proteins). With a slightly smaller number of residues, there are 99 of these proteins and with a large number of 440.
{#F8}
For a large number of differing amino acid residue sequences, but with the same *p*-value, cytochrome *b* is precisely typical as being representative of animals. Swiss-Prot contains data on nearly 1,700 different sequences of this protein, obtained not only from animals. They are present in bacteria, plants, and fungi. However, all known non-animal cytochromes *b* always contain more than 379 amino acid residues. It can be assumed that the minimum value of this transmembrane protein in the evolutionary process could be achieved as a result of selection, which led to the most optimal sizes of all its eight sites penetrating the membrane (Esposti et al., [@B5]). Such examples may indicate that the most perfect protein lengths were selected in the evolutionary process to perform this function. As a result, many molecules with different sequences of the same length and characterized by the same functions were formed.
Obviously, the diversity of the functional properties of proteins is based on the diversity of the primary structures of their molecules. Many examples can be found where small peptide molecules of the same length (oligopeptides) and with the same *p* and different sequences have the same functions (Zamyatnin, [@B15],[@B16], [@B20]), e.g., pentapeptides met-enkephalin YGGFM and leu-enkephalin YGGFL) are the natural ligand for opiate receptor (Hughes et al., [@B6]). In this work, we particularly demonstrated that there are many different primary structures of polypeptides (proteins) of the same length, with the same functions.
Future Directions {#s6}
=================
The UniProt and Swiss-Prot databases are constantly updated. However, there is already a large amount of information contained on them, which allows for many new and various analyses of the relationship between size, amino acid residue sequences, and many other physicochemical characteristics of natural sequences with the numerous functional properties of these molecules.
Data Availability Statement {#s7}
===========================
The datasets generated for this study are available on request to the corresponding author.
Author Contributions {#s8}
====================
AZ performed all the experiments, treatment of their results, and wrote the manuscript. TB contributed to the biological consideration of the results and in writing the article. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.
Conflict of Interest {#s9}
====================
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
We thank Dr. Y. Chaikovsky, Prof. A. G. Malygin, Prof. R. V. Polozov, Prof. M. D. Frank-Kamenetskii, and Prof. L. S. Yaguzhinsky for fruitful discussions and comments on the manuscript, and A. S. Borchikov and M. G. Vladimirov for technical assistance.
[^1]: Edited by: Qi Zhang, Fudan University, China
[^2]: Reviewed by: Jiafeng Geng, Consultant, United States; Yi Yu, Wuhan University, China
[^3]: This article was submitted to Protein Chemistry and Enzymology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences
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Pro-melanin-concentrating hormone gene (PMCH) is localized on human chromosome 12q and rat chromosome 7.
Melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) is a cyclic neuropeptide that may be involved in regulation of the stress response and food intake behavior in mammals. MCH and two other putative neuropeptides, NEI and NGE, are encoded by the same precursor, designated pro-melanin-concentrating hormone (PMCH). A panel of somatic cell hybrids segregating either human or rat chromosomes was used to determine the chromosomal localization of the PMCH locus. It was assigned to human chromosome 12q and to rat chromosome 7. This is the first neuropeptide-encoding gene found in this new synteny group conserved in rat and human.
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F. S. L. Lyons
Francis Stewart Leland Lyons (11 November 1923 – 21 September 1983) was an Irish historian and academic who was Provost of Trinity College Dublin from 1974–81.
Biography
Known as Le among his friends and family, Lyons was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, in 1923, where his father was a bank official. He was born into an Irish Protestant family of Presbyterian and Church of Ireland background. After his birth, his family soon moved to Boyle, County Roscommon, Irish Free State. He was educated at Dover College in Kent and later attended The High School. At Trinity College Dublin, he was elected a Scholar in Modern History and Political Science in 1943.
He was a lecturer in history at the University of Hull and then at Trinity College Dublin. He became the founding Professor of Modern History at the University of Kent in 1964, serving also as Master of Eliot College from 1969 to 1972.
Lyons became Provost of Trinity College Dublin in 1974, but relinquished the post in 1981 to concentrate on writing. His work Charles Stewart Parnell won the Heinemann Prize in 1978. He won the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize and the Wolfson Literary Prize for History for his book Culture and Anarchy in Ireland, 1890-1939, published in 1979. He was awarded honorary doctorates by five universities and was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the British Academy and was Visiting Professor at Princeton University.
His principal works include Ireland Since the Famine, the standard university textbook for Irish history from the mid-19th to late-20th century, which The Times called "the definitive work of modern Irish history" and a biography of Charles Stewart Parnell.
Lyons was critical of Cecil Woodham-Smith's much-acclaimed history of the Great Irish Famine and has generally been considered among the "revisionist" historians whose political sympathies underplayed the negative role of the British state in events like the Famine.
Following a short illness, Lyons died in Dublin in 1983, just shy of his 60th birthday. He was survived by his wife Jennifer McAlister Lyons, whom he married in 1964, and their two sons.
Bibliography
John Dillon: A Biography (1968)
Ireland Since the Famine (1971)
Charles Stewart Parnell (1977)
Culture and Anarchy in Ireland, 1890-1939 (1979) - won the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize
References
External links
Category:1923 births
Category:1983 deaths
Category:Academics of the University of Kent
Category:Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize recipients
Category:Fellows of the British Academy
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature
Category:Historians from Northern Ireland
Category:Irish historians
Category:Irish writers
Category:Male non-fiction writers from Northern Ireland
Category:People educated at The High School, Dublin
Category:People from County Londonderry
Category:People from County Roscommon
Category:Provosts of Trinity College Dublin
Category:Revisionist historians (Ireland)
Category:Scholars of Trinity College Dublin
Category:20th-century historians
Category:Historians of the Land War
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Growth is essential to any business's success. For most entrepreneurs, growth is gradual and a little slow at first. But with the right tools and techniques, some can make their sales skyrocket quickly and sustainably.
Continue Reading Below
This was the case for Bill Reilly, a Milwaukee-based entrepreneur and co-founder of auto repair facility Hands-on Garage. Reilly was one of 12 local business owners to participate in the first Scalerator, a program sponsored by Scale Up Milwaukee. The multiyear project is supported by the state of Wisconsin, Milwaukee's mayor, American Express OPEN and private-sector leaders, and aims to drive entrepreneurial and economic growth in the city.
"The goal of Scalerator is to help existing businesses like ours get the tools and techniques to scale up quickly," Reilly said. "Our participation helped us achieve an additional 15 percent increase in revenues in the last two months of 2013."
To help ambitious businesses accelerate their growth, Reilly shared five lessons he learned from his Scalerator experience:
Highlight your best asset. Your business may be great at a number of things, but if you're like most businesses, it can truly be the best in one area. To differentiate yourself and poise your business for growth, it's important to refine your brand message to emphasize your best asset.
Put yourself in your lender's shoes. You may have plans for what you want your business to look like years into the future. This is great to tell your business partners and customers, but when you're pitching sources of capital, they want to hear about your business's potential for return on investment right now. "In the past, we would highlight our business goal to become a franchise, which didn't resonate with banks," Reilly said. "We learned to emphasize that there is a large market for what we do. This would pique a banker's interest because he or she cares about the return on investment more than your business aspirations."
Focus on established revenue sources. Rather than trying to acquire new customers, direct your attention to the core customers you already have. You can do this by implementing a referral or customer loyalty program, or trying out marketing strategies based on previous purchase behaviors to encourage repeat business. [MORE: How to Use Big Data for Customer Retention]
Make sales your top priority. As the company founder or leader, you are the person who can best sell your business to customers. Reilly said that his company used to outsource its sales force, but he quickly discovered that his customers preferred talking to the founders rather than a salesperson. Adjust your workflow to prioritize selling in-house, since sales are what keep your business going and growing.
Keep it local. Growing ventures make things happen in any market. Moving toward growth will also benefit the community: 92 percent of new jobs come from the expansion of existing businesses, according to the National Establishment Time Series, a database of regional industries and economies. By growing your business, hiring local people and working with local vendors, you can help your community thrive.
Originally published on Business News Daily.
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# This is a part of the Microsoft Foundation Classes C++ library.
# Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
#
# This source code is only intended as a supplement to the
# Microsoft Foundation Classes Reference and related
# electronic documentation provided with the library.
# See these sources for detailed information regarding the
# Microsoft Foundation Classes product.
PROJ=CMNCTRL2
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Where to begin.
Tammy Bruce is an oft-contributor to Fox News’ various propaganda shows. She claims to be a lesbian. She’s also an arch-conservative, who is highly critical of gays, and who penned a book called “The Gay Gestapo.”
Not surprisingly, she has routinely taken the anti-gay side of the various segments I’ve seen her on on Fox, including one in which she debated me on the O’Reilly Factor about my “DearMary.com” campaign, calling on Mary Cheney to stand up to her father and help stop the anti-gay constitutional amendment back in 2004 (naturally, Bruce defended Cheney against the evil gays).
And here’s another Fox segment in which Tammy Bruce defends that anti-gay beauty queen bimbo a few years ago who was in trouble for opposing marriage equality – Tammy outright called use “the gay gestapo” in that segment.
Bruce is the go-to-girl when Fox needs someone to provide cover on an anti-gay issue. I mean, if a lesbian is saying it, how can it be anti-gay?
So, what to do with the news that Bruce is now on the receiving end of Fox’s anti-gay bigotry that she herself has enabled all these years?
I won’t rejoice over Bruce being on the receiving end of anti-gay discrimination. I will however say that she made her bed. She got all cozy with an anti-gay activist organization, helped it thrive, and even helped it promote its anti-gay agenda and message, and now she’s surprised that the organization she helped build, in her own little way, is anti-gay.
Captain Renault: I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
[a croupier hands Renault a pile of money] Croupier: Your winnings, sir.
Your winnings, Tammy.
(Follow us on Twitter at @AMERICAblogGay)
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adventures in compassionate eating
Main menu
Category Archives: Soups/Stews/Chili
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I went through one my grandmother’s old cookbooks recently, looking for recipes I could veganize. This one was a chicken corn chowder that I thought sounded good. Nothing like warm, creamy chowder on a cold winter night! This is quick and easy, coming together in around 30 minutes, even with prep time.
Saute the onion in the butter over medium heat for 6 minutes. Add the flour and spices and mix well, cooking for another minute. Add the rest of the ingredients and put a lid on the pot. Turn the heat up to high and bring to a boil, then turn down to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes, covered. Season with salt, if needed.
Not the most photogenic recipe, but it’s oh so delicious! Comfort food for sure.
Talk about an easy dinner! For this recipe, you dump everything in a high-powered blender, blend, pour straight into serving bowls, then run the blender with soap and water and rinse. Done. Dinner couldn’t be easier! If you have a Vitamix, you really don’t even have to chop the onion or ginger first.
I made this last night and served it over cooked quinoa with some unsweetened coconut flakes on top and it was very tasty and filling. Toasted pumpkin seeds would also be a great garnish.
I recently decided that I somehow needed yet another cookbook. I was strolling through Second & Charles, had a store credit burning a whole in my pocket, and I came across a crisp new copy of Kris Carr’s Crazy Sexy Kitchen.
Along with the help of my shiny, new Vitamix 5200, I made the Coconut Red Lentil Soup (slightly modified) and have nothing but positive things to say about it. It’s hearty, healthy, and full of flavor! I suggest using lime zest and juice in place of lemon and I used dried cayenne pepper instead of the acutal fresh pepper.
I personally love the flavor of the cumin and coriander seeds when I chew them whole, but if that bothers you, you can simply puree the soup completely for a creamy, smooth texture.
Add the cumin and coriander seeds to a dry skillet and turn the heat to medium. Toast for about 2 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally, until you smell wonderfulness filling your kitchen. Then, add the onions and sauté for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add the broth, coconut milk, lentils, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Refuse the urge to boil the mixture (the coconut milk will separate if you do). Turn the heat just slightly higher than “low” and put a lid on the pot. Leave it alone for 35 minutes. When you return, the lentils will have mostly “melted” into the soup. Remove from the heat, stir in the cilantro, lemon juice & lemon zest.
Since winter has decided to give us an encore performance, I made one last stew to see the cold season on its way. I love tomato soup and grilled cheese, but tomato soup always leaves me unsatisfied. If it doesn’t require any chewing, I’m most likely going to feel hungry 20 minutes later. I call this a stew instead of a soup because if you puree half and leave half chunky, you get a rich, thick, hearty result that “sticks to your ribs” as folks say. I couldn’t even finish my grilled cheese I felt so full!
I had some chickpeas in the freezer, but you could also use navy, cannellini, or any white bean would be nice.
Saute the onion in olive oil over medium heat for 6 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for another minute.
Tear the tomatoes into chunks with your fingers (careful not to squirt yourself in the eye with tomato juice) and add them to the pot. Or if you’re civilized, you can chop them on a cutting board, but I like to hold them over the pot and tear them so I don’t miss any of the juice and because I like the more rustic chunks than unified pieces for this stew.
Add the leftover juice from the tomatoes, chickpeas, broth, and a couple pinches of black pepper. Cover and bring just to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
While the soup is simmering, wash and chop the cilantro. After the 15 minutes is up, add the cilantro and salt to taste. At this point, the stew is done. You can enjoy as is, transfer to a blender (carefully!) and puree the whole thing, or use an immersion blender to puree half (which is my favorite method because you get a slightly creamy, mostly chunky result that doesn’t feel like you’re just drinking hot liquid.)
Note: If the soup taste a little too acidic to you (this will depend on the tomatoes), add a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar or agave at a time until it balances out. I ended up adding about 1 teaspoon to mine to get it right.
Cold, rainy winter days just make me SAD sometimes. By the time I get off work, it’s dark outside and it’s so cold all I want to do is eat hot food and take a warm bath. My motivation to work out, cook, or anything other than curl up on the couch under a blanket is almost entirely obliterated. Thank goodness for soup on days like this! It’s warm, you can make enough to last you a few days, and it’s easy.
This recipe comes from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s Appetite for Reduction. Every recipe I’ve made from that book has been packed with flavor and absolutely yummy, so this soup is no exception. Prepare for your tongue to be assaulted with flavor!
Preheat a 4 quart pot over medium-high heat and saute the onions, jalapeños, and poblano in the oil for about 5 minutes.
Add the garlic, red pepper flakes, and salt. Saute for another minute.
Break up the tomatoes with your fingers, tearing them into small chunks, and add them to the pot, along with the juice, broth, and cumin. Crush 2 oz (a couple handfuls) of chips into small crumbs (you want them pretty crumb-like, very small pieces) and add to the soup.
Cover and increase the heat to high to bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the beans, corn, and cilantro. Turn the heat down to low and simmer, covered, for 5 minutes.
Squeeze in the lime juice and serve garnished with the extra chips and a sprinkle more of cilantro, if desired. I personally like to add a dollop vegan sour cream and a few slices of avocado.
Over the Christmas holiday, I had my cousin and his wife (who are also dear friends) over for dinner. I decided to make a pot of chili and a pan of jalapeño cheddar cornbread as it was a very casual get together and I was wanted something pretty simple to prepare since I had been cooking and baking a lot for the holidays. I used a chili recipe called “Positively Pantry Chili” from Robin Robertson’s cookbook Vegan on the Cheap. The recipe falls under the slow cooker section, but it has alternate instructions for making it on the stove. You pretty much dump everything into a big pot and simmer it for half an hour. Can’t get any easier than that!
The recipe calls for bulgar, which most people have never heard of. If I hadn’t had a stepfather from Lebanon who used it in tabbouleh (a Mediterranean salad, pronounced tah-boo-lee), I would probably still have no clue what it is. Bulgar is a form of wheat that has been parboiled, dried, and then ground. It’s used in a lot of Middle Eastern cuisine. The finished product is small granules, somewhat similar to couscous, and is a tan-ish color. Bulgar is low in fat and rich in B vitamins, iron, protein, and fiber.
When my cousin’s wife looked at the chili, she asked what was in it that made it look like there was ground beef in it. Bulgar sort of resembles the crumbly texture of beef or sausage when cooked, especially in a dish that is somewhat brown-ish in color. She took a bite and was amazed that she couldn’t tell the difference. Both of them really seemed to enjoy it and my cousin’s wife said, “I’m going to have to look into this bulgar stuff.”
I’m sure you can find it at a Mediterranean store, but you’re not going to see it on a shelf in most grocery stores. I buy mine from the bulk bin at Whole Foods, were you can purchase enough to fill your own container from home(have it weighed at customer service and then fill’er up!) or you can just get as much as you need for one recipe.
Here is the chili recipe that I made and I will be posting 2 other recipes I use bulgar in shortly:
Positively Pantry Chili
(from Robin Robertson’s Vegan on the Cheap)
6-8 servings at less than $1.00 per serving
Toss everything into a pot, stir, cover, and turn the heat to high. When everything start to bubble, turn down the heat to low and simmer for half an hour. I usually end up adding a 1/2 cup or so more water to mine as the bulgar absorbs the liquid to thin it out a bit and prevent it from burning.
This is my variation of a broccoli cheddar soup that uses nutritional yeast for the creamy texture and salty/cheesy taste. You could use a cup or so of shredded vegan cheese instead, but in my opinion, the nutritional yeast does a much better job. The first time I made this soup, I actually made two batches, one with the nutritional yeast and one with real shredded white cheddar. I let someone else try both to do a comparison and I was told they could hardly tell the difference! This soup is great served with toasted bread for dipping.
Side Note: You can find nutritional yeast it in specialty stores like Whole Foods, generally in the vitamin/supplement section. You can buy the Better Than Bullion pastes at Publix (in the Greenwise section – small jar with a black lid) or at Whole Foods. Don’t forget Amazon!
Boil the 3 cups of water and dissolve the no-chicken base in it and set aside. If you’re using veg stock, skip this step and make note that you may want to season with salt later.
Melt margarine in a large skillet over medium heat and sauté onion for about 5 minutes, or until soft. Add the flour to the pan and stir until absorbed. Add the water/no-chicken base mixture (or veg stock), creamer, milk, and pepper and slowly bring to a simmer. You don’t want to full on boil liquids with coconut milk or it may separate.
Add the broccoli and cover with the lid slightly askew to release a small amount of steam. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Next, add in the nutritional yeast and stir well. At this point you can puree half of the soup (or all of it) in a blender, if you wish. I puree half as it makes the soup creamier, but I like to have some whole pieces of broccoli as well.
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Yenikənd, Siazan
Yenikənd (also, Yenikend) is a village and the most populous municipality, except for the capital Siyəzən, in the Siazan Rayon of Azerbaijan. It has a population of 2,899. The municipality consists of the villages of Yenikənd and Kolanı.
The Long Wall of Apzut Kawat, a 20-kilometer long Sassanid defensive wall, passes through the village.
References
Category:Populated places in Siazan District
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City of San Marino
The City of San Marino (Italian: Città di San Marino) (also known simply as San Marino or locally as Città) is the capital city of the Republic of San Marino, Southern Europe. The city has a population of 4,044. It is on the western slopes of San Marino's highest point, Monte Titano.
Geography
Although not the capital, most of the businesses are in Borgo Maggiore. It is the third largest city in the country, after Dogana and Borgo Maggiore. It borders the San Marino municipalities Acquaviva, Borgo Maggiore, Fiorentino, and Chiesanuova and the Italian municipality San Leo.
Akademio Internacia de la Sciencoj San Marino is centered here.
History
Due to its being the capital and previously the only city in San Marino, the history of this city is almost the same as the History of San Marino. For more information on that topic, see that article.
The city was founded by Saint Marinus and several Christian refugees in the year 301. From then on the city became a center of Christian refugees who fled from Roman persecution.
The urban heart of the city was protected by three towers: the first, Guaita, constructed in the 11th century, was famous for being impenetrable, which to a great extent discouraged attacks on the city.
Due to the Crusades, it was felt necessary to construct a second tower, Cesta (13th century). But the Sanmarinense defensive system was not completed until the construction of a third tower, the Montale (14th century) - the smallest of all and constructed on the last of the summits of Monte Titano.
With the population of the city increasing, the territory of the country was extended by a few square kilometers. Since the Sanmarinese policy was not to invade or to use war to obtain new territories, it was by means of purchases and treaties that San Marino obtained the other eight castelli which make up San Marino.
Parishes
The City of San Marino has the following 7 parishes or wards (curazie):
Cà Berlone, Canepa, Casole, Castellaro, Montalbo, Murata, Santa Mustiola
Economy
The economy of the city of San Marino has always been closely bound to that of the country. Until recently, the main economic activities of the locality were stone extraction and carving. Today, there is a more varied economy, including tourism, commerce, sale of postage stamps, and a small agricultural industry, although the latter is in decline.
Landmarks
The city is visited by more than three million people per year, and has developed progressively as a tourist centre. Of the tourists, 85% are Italian. There are also more than a thousand retail outlets, where one can find a great variety of products.
Main sights
Basilica di San Marino
Palazzo dei Capitani
Palazzo Pubblico
Teatro Titano
The Three Towers of San Marino
Piazza del Titano
Piazza Garibaldi
Monastery of Santa Clara
Grand Hotel San Marino
Transport
The town is known for its long, winding cobblestoned streets, as its altitude and steep approach put it beyond the reach of the San Marino Superhighway. San Marino is also notable in that cars are prohibited in much of the town center.
Before the Second World War, a railway was built from San Marino to Rimini under the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini. Its tunnels, and the railway station 'Piazzale Lo Stradone', still exist. Proposals for the reopening of this railway have been presented to the government on several occasions, but thus far without action.
There is a regular bus service to Rimini, and a cable car line connects the capital with Borgo Maggiore.
A series of lifts also connects the upper part of town with the lower.
Sports
The city of San Marino has two football teams: the S.S. Murata and the S.P. Tre Penne. The city had the Olympic Flame pass through San Marino during the run-up to the 2006 Winter Olympics.
Photogallery
International relations
Twin towns—Sister cities
The City of San Marino is twinned with:
San Leo, Italy
Rab, Croatia
Rønne, Denmark
Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States
References
External links
San Marino's page on giuntedicastello.sm
Category:Municipalities of San Marino
Category:Capitals in Europe
Category:World Heritage Sites in San Marino
Category:301 establishments
Category:Populated places established in the 4th century
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I spent a lot of time in airports and on planes this past week, during which I watched the first season of Scandal on ABC. I've heard such great things about this show that I felt compelled to jump in, albeit late. It certainly lives up to the billing. Kerry Washington is fantastic, as is her crew at Olivia Pope and Associates. The story lines get a bit trite and unrealistic, but the pace of the show is great and I am very much looking forward to digging in on season 2, especially after the cliffhangers thrown out at the conclusion of season 1.
E! News is reporting that American Idolhas inked a deal with its first new judge for season 13: former contestant and Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson. The two remaining spots are, reportedly, intended for former Idol contestants, too. Namely, Kelly Clarkson and either Adam Lambert or Clay Aiken. Season 12's entire panel of Nicki Minaj, Mariah Carey, Randy Jackson and Keith Urban, will not be returning for next season.
Big news in the world of television executives hit on Friday as Mike Darnell, President of Alternative Entertainment for Fox Broadcasting Company, is leaving the network at the end of June. "I'm extremely grateful that FOX has offered me a new long term contract (and anyone who knows me won't believe I'm saying this), but I've decided it's time for a change, " said Darnell in a statement. "With my current deal ending in June, and having been here for 18 years (kind of a record in Hollywood), I had to make a decision: either stay (and basically admit to myself I was going to retire at FOX... not a terrible choice) or leave and try something new. I've been in 'Reality' since before it was even called that, and it has truly been an amazing ride. However, the world has changed drastically over the last few years and now with hundreds of channels and limitless ways to watch television, I've decided this was the perfect time to take advantage of the rapidly changing marketplace." Darnell, who joined FOX in 1994, has overseen the launch of such hit shows as American Idol, The X Factorand Hell's Kitchen.
According to Deadline, "[a]s for the timing of his decision to leave Fox and likely the executive ranks, “my dream was to work on a big show that will go down in the history books,” he said. “I achieved that with American Idol, which may be the biggest show that ever was.” But Idol, as well as newbie The X Factor, had been taking up a lot of Darnell’s time over the last few seasons with a series of shakeups and attempts to keep Idol fresh and relevant after 10 years amid an inevitable ratings decline. “The last couple of years have been very intense, with me taking on duties of a current executive and line producer,” Darnell admitted. As for his legacy, “I’ve done good things, I’ve done bad things, I’ve done funny things, and I’ve done evil things,” said Darnell, whose stature in the business is far greater than his 5’2″ height. Fox’s search for Darnell’s successor won’t be easy. “They’ve got some some really small shoes to fill,” he quipped."
The CNN Original series Inside Man, hosted and produced by Oscar®-nominated documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, premieres Sunday, June 23 at 10:00 p.m. ET. The one-hour weekly series will provide an intimate look into diverse sectors of American life and offer a deep-dive into pressing issues facing the U.S. that include migrant farm workers, the elder care industry, union workers, gun owners, education, bankruptcy and the drought. The premiere episode of Inside Man features Spurlock as a worker in a medial marijuana dispensary in California.
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[Editor's Note: Here's a post by Chris Mullen, one of our frequent Facebook group posters.]
Not too long ago I purchased a cheaply priced, used copy of Vico's The New Science, which I recently started to read (there are two things in life that I can always find justification for spending money on: beer and books). While doing some research on Vico, I came across an interesting lecture given by Timothy Brennan of University of Minnesota called "Vico, Spinoza and the Imperial Past."
Embedded video from Cornell University
Watch at CornelCast.
While my initial interest in Brennan's lecture centered on his use of Vico, I grew interested in his critique of Spinoza or, to be more pointed, the use that "French and Italian Communist intellectuals of the 1960's and 1970's" made of him. According to Brennan, 10 to 15 years ago Spinoza was "a topic without public appeal." But, given the rise of the "commercial viability of Antonio Negri and the "modest appeal of Deleuzian Theory in the academic market, this is no longer the case." Brennan labels Louis Althusser as one of the principle culprits in presenting an "alternative Spinoza" or, as he puts it "Spinoza in quotations." He sees the use of Spinoza by "Althusserian Post-Marxism" as the basis for many of the "fads and tendencies" found in contemporary post-colonialism, as well as in other academic fields.
"The very thinker who stood for an airtight and enclosed system of inflexible laws is envoked by the best philosophers as the champion of the open-ended productive force and positive potential of the human to develop outside of any social force."
Brennan then turns to Edward Said who "polemically embraced" Vico as a "counter to the philosophical strands found in Descates and Spinoza that were then asserting themselves in literary and cultural theory, then being the mid-1970's." The rest of the lecture is Brennan's attempt to offer, what he sees, as an "explicit riposte to Decartes and his philophical offspring, which includes Spinoza" by offering Vico as a contrast. Brennan sees these interpretations of Spinoza as "antipathetic to Vichian theories of language, history, agency, and foreign cultures." (Vico stood opposed to the Cartesian and analytical worldviews of his contemporaries and it was only later recognized the Vico had formulated the most "enlightened alternative to Cartesian rationalism." Descartes v. Vico)
Even if the internal debates of "Post-colonial theory" bore the hell out of you (a sentiment for which you will receive no condemnation from me), i think that Brennan's general discussion contrasting Vico and Spinoza is worth your time. Many of the ideas that come to "blossom in Hegel" are here presented as being anticipated by Vico. The discussion also sheds light on some of the contemporary radical Left's "invented use" of Spinoza (a critique i found useful having read very little of Spinoza myself).
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Surgery on extracorporeal circulation in early and advanced non-small cell lung cancer.
Locally advanced (T4) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is principally amenable to surgery. For radical resection of cardiovascular structures, extracorporeal circulation (ECC) may be required. Tumor dissemination is a concern in this situation. In this study, we evaluate the long-term results of T4 NSCLC surgery with ECC and compare them with combined cardiopulmonary surgery for early-stage NSCLC and heart disease. We retrospectively analyzed 16 patients undergoing surgery on ECC over a 13-year period. Eight patients suffered from T4 NSCLC (group A), and another eight patients suffered from coincidental T1-T2 NSCLC and heart disease (group B). In group A, five patients received neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy. Complete resection was achieved in all patients. Thirty-day mortality was one patient (12.5%) in each group. Six patients died from recurrent cancer with a median survival of 13.6 months in group A. Prognosis in patients with direct tumor invasion of the aortopulmonary window was a lot worse compared to those with atrial infiltration. One T4 patient who had only received surgery survived for 155 months without relapse. In group B, no NSCLC relapse occurred, and median survival was 21.6 months. All but one death in group B occurred due to cardiovascular incidents. Surgery on ECC for T4 NSCLC gives satisfactory results. The site of infiltration appears to be most important for local tumor relapse. Long-term survival is possible in some cases. Simultaneous cardiac and pulmonary surgery resulted in good early and midterm outcomes without surgery-induced tumor propagation.
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VP Biden to Colombia, Dominican Republic in June
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says Vice President Joe Biden will travel next month to Colombia and the Dominican Republic to discuss regional ties with leaders in those Latin American nations.
Biden is adding the two stops on to a previously announced trip to Brazil for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He’ll be attending a June 16 game in Natal, Brazil, between the U.S. and Ghana before meeting with Brazil’s president in Brasilia.
The White House says in Colombia, Biden will meet with President Juan Manuel Santos, where security and economic issues will be on the agenda. He’ll meet in the Dominican Republic with President Danilo Medina.
Biden has emerged as the Obama administration’s frequent emissary to Latin America, visiting the region multiple times in the past few years.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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‘Everybody loves moussakas’ says Demitris
For the young Greek, new politics should be as simple as a traditional dish.
This Monday was an important day for many Greeks. Through the news, we could see that most of the population are looking forward to the possibility of a stable future for the country. As many people consider, politics and food are closely related. A French politician once said that the destiny of nations depended on the manner in which they feed themselves. So, is there any better place than a good restaurant to get a feel for Greek culture?
Corfu is a cozy restaurant situated on Parliament Street. With Greek music on in the background, bit by bit, we relax into the pleasant atmosphere. The narrow room consists of wooden tables and rustic style walls with exposed brick. Simple was the word used by the waiter Dimitris. For him, the new government should be worrying about giving hope to their citizens such as, “a decent salary and a good education”. Because of the absence of these “simple things” and the severe recession, he left his home. The friendly, 21-year-old Greek came from Athens and has lived in Ireland for three years. During this time, he has been working as a waiter in Corfu. Apart from the weather, living in Ireland was easy for him because he was able to make a few friends, including some from his home country.
If Dimitris had a chance to be in Greece today, he would like to serve his customers one of the most popular dishes: mousakas. This dish consists in layers of aubergine and mince topped with tomato sauce. The likeable waiter compares this dish with politics. “Everybody loves moussakas when they try it, because this is a simple dish.” He adds, “if politicians were more simple like this dish, all Greeks would love them.” The way the country has been ruled, Dimitris does not have high expectation for the future of his nation. He points outs, “It will not be a big deal for many Greeks, all they [politicians] do is promise a good future for us.”
For most of the citizens, Dimitris says, the future in Greece is bleak. Giving a broad smile, he points out, “This new government does not mean anything.”
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Bioequivalence of a slow-release and a non-retard formulation of isradipine.
Pharmacokinetic studies were carried out in 48 healthy male volunteers to determine the pharmacokinetic properties of a new modified-release formulation of isradipine (SRO) and to compare these with the pharmacokinetic properties of the nonretard form of isradipine (NR). Studies were carried out in the fasting state and also following a light meal. The time required to reach maximum plasma concentration (tmax) was extended from approximately 1.5 h with NR to 5 to 7 h with SRO, and the maximum plasma concentration [Cp(tmax)] was reduced by around 50%. The bioavailability of SRO was increased by less than 20% compared with the same daily dose given as NR, indicating that the two forms are bioequivalent and that no adjustment in the total daily dose of isradipine is necessary when switching from one form to the other. Administration with a light meal altered the pharmacokinetic parameters by less than 20% compared with administration without food.
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This is what happens when you send Ditto out in a double battle with Greninja and Lickitun.
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1.. Introduction
================
In the past a few decades, long-period fiber gratings (LPFG) have been broadly investigated for both communication \[[@b1-sensors-13-14055]\] and sensing applications \[[@b2-sensors-13-14055]\]. Traditional long period gratings (LPGs) are inscribed in a germanium (Ge)-doped fiber or a hydrogen-loaded single-mode fiber. Compared with fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs), LPGs are fabricated using an amplitude mask instead of an expensive phase mask, thus making the overall cost of LPGs sensing system advantageous to a certain extent. Apart from the amplitude mask method, there are also other techniques for fabricating LPGs in optical fibers such as lithography method which has been reported recently \[[@b3-sensors-13-14055],[@b4-sensors-13-14055]\], or using a CO~2~ laser \[[@b5-sensors-13-14055]\] to create periodic indentations on the fiber surface, and using a femtosecond laser to create refractive index variations \[[@b6-sensors-13-14055]\]. These techniques will cause physical deformation in the fiber.
Recently, tapered fibers have attracted increasing attention since they have large evanescent fields and low-loss interconnection with single-mode fibers \[[@b7-sensors-13-14055]\]. These fibers can be used for optical data storage \[[@b8-sensors-13-14055]\] or filters \[[@b9-sensors-13-14055]\], and they were also found to be popular in sensing applications including acceleration \[[@b10-sensors-13-14055]\], temperature \[[@b11-sensors-13-14055]\], and external refractive index (RI) \[[@b12-sensors-13-14055]--[@b14-sensors-13-14055]\] sensing. In particular for RI sensors, researchers have combined LPGs and tapered fibers together in order to increase the sensitivity \[[@b5-sensors-13-14055],[@b15-sensors-13-14055]\].
In this work, we present long period gratings fabricated in a tapered photosensitive fiber using a KrF excimer laser. The fiber has double claddings and the inner cladding also has photosensitivity. The fiber was tapered adiabatically before writing the gratings and the resulting loss is within 1 dB. To the best of our knowledge, there has been no report on LPGs written in such a type of tapered fiber. We noted that for such type of microfiber long period grating (MLPG) sensor, the resonant wavelength of the LPG shifts to the longer wavelength when the external RI increases, in contrast to the normal LPG where the resonant wavelength shifts in the opposite direction to the shorter wavelength. We have successfully fabricated two such long period gratings with taper waist diameters of 60 μm and 55 μm. The sensitivity achieved in the RI region around 1.37 is around 600 nm/RIU which represents a significant improvement compared to normal LPG RI sensors.
The criterion for adiabaticity of fiber taper is derived from the physical argument that taper length-scale must be much larger than the coupling length between the fundamental mode and the dominant coupling mode for power loss to be small \[[@b16-sensors-13-14055]\]. As illustrated in [Figure 1](#f1-sensors-13-14055){ref-type="fig"}, the taper angle is defined as: $$\Omega(z) = \tan^{- 1}\left( \frac{d\rho(z)}{dz} \right)$$where ρ(z) is the radius along the z axis. In this criterion, the taper angle is assumed to be sufficient small so that: $$\text{z}_{t} \approx \frac{\rho}{\Omega}$$
Assuming the taper is axisymmetric, as is usually the case with a single fiber taper, then the fundamental LP~01~ mode can couple only to the modes with the same azimuthal symmetry, *i.e.*, to the higher order LP~0~*~m~* cladding modes. If we are aiming to minimize loss from the fundamental mode, it is obvious that coupling will be mainly to the higher-order mode with propagation constant that is closest to the fundamental mode, *i.e.*, the LP~02~ mode. The coupling length between the two modes is taken to be the beat length between the fundamental mode and higher-order mode, and takes the form: $$\text{z}_{b}(z) = \frac{2\pi}{\beta_{1}(z) - \beta_{2}(z)}$$where *β*~1~(*z*). and *β*~2~(*z*) are the propagation constants of the two modes.
When *z~t~* ≫ *z~b~*(*z*) everywhere along the taper, the coupling loss will be negligible and the fundamental mode will propagate nearly adiabatically, whereas significant coupling will occur if *z~t~* ≪ *z~b~*(*z*) This indicates that *z~t~* = *z~b~*(*z*) is a condition just in between adiabatic and lossy tapers. Therefore, the taper angle can be derived as: $$\Omega(z) = \frac{\rho(z)(\beta_{1}(z) - \beta_{2}(z))}{2\pi}$$
This criterion indicates that when the core diameter is reduced to a small amount, in order to maintain low loss taper, the taper angle also needs to be sufficient small by means of making the fiber taper vary gradually.
For normal LPGs, the phase matching condition of coupling power from higher order mode to fundamental mode is shown to be \[[@b17-sensors-13-14055]\]: $$\left| \beta_{1} - \beta_{2} \middle| = \frac{2\pi}{\Lambda} \right.$$where *β*~1~ and *β*~2~ are the propagation constants of the fundamental mode and higher order mode, Λ is the period of the gratings. It can be easily derived from [Equation (5)](#FD5){ref-type="disp-formula"} that the resonant wavelength under this phase matching condition takes the form: $$\lambda_{\textit{res}} = (n_{co}^{\textit{eff}} - n_{\textit{clad},m}^{\textit{eff}})\Lambda$$
Once the external refractive index increases, the effective refractive index of the mth cladding mode $n_{\textit{clad},m}^{\textit{eff}}$ will increase thus resulting a shift of resonant dip towards shorter wavelength.
2.. Experimental Section
========================
There are several ways of obtaining fiber tapers. The conventional ways are by the flame brushing method whereby, using a fusion splicer or a CO~2~ laser to soften the fiber, coupled with a mechanical setup to stretch it. In our work, we have used a commercial fiber tapering machine (GPX-3000, Vytran, Morganville, NJ, USA) with motorized fiber holding stages. It is observed that the taper transition length, waist length, and waist diameter can be precisely controlled through this process so that the adiabaticity and uniformity can be ensured. An example of the transmission spectra before and after tapering is shown in [Figure 2](#f2-sensors-13-14055){ref-type="fig"}. The taper transition lengths are around 10 mm each and the taper waist length is around 20 mm. It can be seen that the loss is within 1 dB which is nearly negligible. More importantly, the flat response indicates that there is no higher-order excited mode. In this work, the fibers which are tapered to 60 μm and 55 μm were both adiabatically stretched in order to obtain a flat transmission spectrum. It is crucial to ensure the fiber is tapered gradual enough otherwise interference will occur as \[[@b18-sensors-13-14055]\] demonstrates.
After tapering, the fiber was exposed to a 248 nm KrF excimer laser with a pulse frequency of 10 Hz to fabricate the LPG. The periods of the amplitude mask for diameters of 60 μm and 55 μm are 320 μm and 450 μm, respectively. [Figure 3](#f3-sensors-13-14055){ref-type="fig"} shows a schematic diagram of the LPG fabrication setup.
The single-mode fiber used in the experiment is the photosensitive double-clad fiber with High Ge-doped core (22 mol%) whose diameter is around 3.6 μm. The inner cladding has a diameter of 25 μm and is lightly doped with Ge and boron (B) (1 mol%). The co-doping of boron in germanosilicate fiber enhances the UV photosensitivity of the fiber \[[@b19-sensors-13-14055],[@b20-sensors-13-14055]\]. The remaining area is the outer cladding with diameter of 125 μm. The refractive index distribution profile is W-shape as shown in [Figure 4](#f4-sensors-13-14055){ref-type="fig"}. The core has the highest RI while the inner cladding has the lowest. In the tapered fiber with waist diameter of 60 μm, the core diameter is reduced to 1.73 μm while the inner cladding diameter becomes 12 μm. This can be obtained by knowing that the core and inner cladding\'s sizes are changing proportionally with outer cladding \[[@b21-sensors-13-14055]\], *i.e.*, n~core~ = 3.6 μm (original core diameter)× 60 μm (original inner cladding diameter)/125 μm (original outer cladding diameter) = 1.73 μm and n~ic~ = 25 μm × 60 μm/125 μm = 12 μm. To further enhance the photosensitivity, the tapered fibers were loaded with hydrogen at a temperature of 70 °C and a pressure of 2,000 psi for 192 h. The length of the gratings is 18 mm. The resonant dips of the two LPGs are observed at around irradiation of 2,000 pulses with fluence of 200 mJ/cm^2^. We stopped to adding more pulses until the resonant wavelength positions tended to stabilize. After the gratings were written, the fibers were annealed at 120 °C for 20 h to dispel the hydrogen that may still be present in the fiber.
3.. Results and Discussion
==========================
To characterize the refractive index sensitivity of the sensor, the sensing region, which is the taper waist, was surrounded by a few droplets of salt solution. The salt solutions with different refractive index were prepared by diluting the saturated NaCl solution using distilled water. The refractive index of the solution was determined using a refractometer (KEM RA-130, Kyoto Electronics Manufacturing, Kyoto, Japan) with a resolution of 0.0001. The resulting wavelength responses are depicted in [Figure 5](#f5-sensors-13-14055){ref-type="fig"}. In contrast to the expected behavior of the transmission spectrum for conventional LPGs, we noted that the resonant dip of the fabricated LPG shifts towards longer wavelength when the external refractive index increases. The main reason for such phenomenon is due to the W-shaped refractive index profile of the fiber as discussed in the aforementioned section. After tapering, the original core diameter of 3.6 μm would have become smaller and does not contribute significantly to the core mode. In addition, it is believed that bulk of the Ge in the fiber core have dispersed into the inner cladding during the tapering process but hardly into the outer cladding \[[@b21-sensors-13-14055]\]. In other words, for the tapered fiber, the effective refractive index of the core mode after tapering is lower than the refractive index of the outer cladding.
The phase matching condition for coupling between the higher-order modes to fundamental mode can still be derived from [Equation (5)](#FD5){ref-type="disp-formula"}, but the resonance wavelength is now given by: $$\lambda_{\textit{res}} = (n_{\textit{clad},m}^{\textit{eff}} - n_{co}^{\textit{eff}})\Lambda$$
According to the information provided by the manufacturer of the specialty fibre, the refractive index of the core is 1.4650, the inner cladding is 1.4403, and the outer cladding is 1.4476. The guiding mechanism after tapering was also simulated. It was found that such a tapered specialty fiber still supports single mode only. The mode field diameter of the new core mode is calculated to be 4.43 μm, which is much larger than the new core\'s diameter 1.73 μm, but much smaller than the new inner cladding\'s diameter 12 μm. Therefore, although the refractive index of the core is still much higher than the inner cladding and outer cladding, the effective index of the core mode will be greatly influenced by the inner cladding. As expected, the effective index of the core mode was calculated as 1.4443 which is smaller than refractive index of the cladding. This can justify the validity of [Equation (7)](#FD7){ref-type="disp-formula"}. For this simulation, we have no way to input the factors of how much Ge in the core is diffused to the inner cladding into consideration. Therefore, the value of the effective index 1.4443 actually will not be accurate enough. However, since after tapering the inner cladding size is much larger than the core size, the increase of the refractive index of the inner cladding caused by diffusion is nearly negligible. Now it can be seen from [Equation (7)](#FD7){ref-type="disp-formula"} that the resonant wavelength will shift to a longer wavelength due to increase of external refractive index.
A broader spectrum is shown in [Figure 6](#f6-sensors-13-14055){ref-type="fig"}, from which one can see that the couplings between the fundamental mode and the higher-order modes that have closer propagation constants with fundamental mode are very weak. This is because the power of the modes in the inner cladding is weak due to the higher refractive index of the outer cladding. The resonance dip become smaller as the index of liquid under test increases actually is not related to adiabaticity of the taper. For LPG, the transmission loss for the resonant wavelength will disappear when *n~ext~* = *n~cl~* since the core will see infinitely thick cladding region and without the cladding-surrounding interface, there is an absence of guided region and thus the cladding modes ceases to exist \[[@b22-sensors-13-14055]--[@b24-sensors-13-14055]\]. Therefore when the external refractive index gets closer to that of cladding, more power of cladding modes will be converted to power of radiation modes due to the lack of total internal reflection at the cladding-surrounding interface, resulting in a diminutive loss in the transmission spectrum. The maximum RI sensitivity achieved in our experiments is around 600 nm/RIU. With our OSA\'s resolution of 10 pm, the detection limit for refractive index is 1.67 × 10^−5^. [Figure 7](#f7-sensors-13-14055){ref-type="fig"} illustrates the sensitivity characterization of two sensors with different taper diameter. The slope of the fiber with smaller outer diameter (55 μm), plotted using squares, and linearly fitted by purple line is slightly larger than the slope of the fiber with larger outer diameter, plotted using circles. As the diameter goes thinner, more evanescent field of the modes in outer cladding will penetrate into the surrounding thus the effective index of the outer cladding modes will be more easily impacted by the change of external refractive index. In another word, for same increment of external refractive index, the sensor with smaller diameter will have larger increment of effective index of the outer cladding modes. Therefore, the wavelength shift will be larger which can be obtained from [Equation (7)](#FD7){ref-type="disp-formula"}.
4.. Conclusions
===============
In summary, we have investigated long period gratings inscribed in an adiabatically tapered photosensitive specialty fiber with a W-shaped refractive index profile for refractive index sensing. The adiabaticity of the taper is achieved by making the fiber taper gradual enough. We have fabricated two MLPG sensors with different diameters and compared their sensitivity. The one with smaller diameter achieves a high RI resolution of 1.67 × 10^−5^ around the RI range of 1.38. The wavelength shift differs from conventional LPGs that the resonant wavelength shifts towards longer wavelength when external refractive index increases. Although the fiber is tapered into much a smaller diameter, the change in taper diameter is gradual enough to ensure the robustness of the fiber in terms of the mechanical strength. Therefore, such sensor has the potential for applications in environmental detection and biosensing areas.
This work was supported by the Ministry of Education *via* Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
{#f1-sensors-13-14055}
{#f2-sensors-13-14055}
{#f3-sensors-13-14055}
{#f4-sensors-13-14055}
{#f5-sensors-13-14055}
{#f6-sensors-13-14055}
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An anxiety-ridden dog is stranded in Germany after being twice yanked off flights back home because he was too nervous to fly.
Joey, a 9-year-old beagle-Australian shepherd mix was set to fly home Wednesday to owners John and Dawn MacEnulty, who’ve waited a week and spent more than $1,800 in trying to get the skittish pooch returned from the Fatherland.
But on Tuesday, John said he received an email from Gradlyn Petshipping, the company handling Joey, saying he was too worked up to fly.
“They said he’s too agitated in there [his kennel] to fly and in fact too agitated for them to keep him, so I needed to come and get him,” John told The Post en route to O’Hare International Airport. “So right now, I’m on my way to O’Hare to catch a flight to Frankfurt and in the morning German time, I’m going to go pick up my dog from Gradlyn.”
The dog debacle unfolded last week when the MacEnultys, who are from St. Louis, Missouri, flew home to the US following the sudden death of John’s mother. The couple and their 20-year-old daughter had been living in Germany for a year.
The family booked their flight home for Last Thursday on United Airlines and tried to arrange the return of their 70-pound dog and cat, Molly, through the airline’s PetSafe system.
But the embattled airline — which recently apologized for the death a dog that was stored in an overhead bin — suspended PetSafe reservations beginning March 20.
United recommended that they use Gradlyn to fly the pets instead, John said.
Joey and Molly were about to fly to Chicago on a Lufthansa flight departing 30 minutes after the MacEnultys.
Molly arrived at O’Hare Thursday with no problem. Joey, however, was left behind in Frankfurt – which the family learned just after landing.
“I turned my phone back on and an urgent email pops up from Gradlyn saying Joey was pulled off the Lufthansa flight,” John said. “They said it was because he was acting anxious in the kennel.”
A second attempt to fly Joey home was scheduled for Wednesday, March 28 – but again, the pup was given the no-go because of anxiety.
Gradlyn CEO Kay Wissenbach emailed John Wednesday saying Joey damaged two airline-approved crates and that the dog was exhibiting “dramatic behaver [sic].”
“… No airline will fly Joey back to USA. All person at Frankfurt tried the best that Joey could fly, but it is too danger and high risk to fly him, as you probably know and understand,” she wrote.
John said Joey suffers from separation anxiety.
“He’s an anxious dog to begin with. He hates being in the kennel, he hates being separated from his people,” said John. “The problem is is that, that’s a situation that doesn’t improve the longer you keep him away — it can only get worse.”
John said once he arrives in Germany, he’s unsure what his options are to get the dog home.
Joey was given Xanax to initially fly to Germany a year ago but veterinarians there don’t want to medicate the dog.
“I just want my dog back,” John said. “And I just want some help instead of everyone saying it’s not our problem.”
A United spokesman said the MacEnultys didn’t have a confirmed reservation to fly their pets via PetSafe.
A spokeswoman for Lufthansa said Joey is being housed in a private pet hotel near the airport – though John said he’s gotten “conflicting” information as to the dog’s whereabouts.
“The No. 1 priority is the health and safety for our passengers – and this includes animals,” the spokeswoman said. “[Joey] was causing himself great harm and we can’t have that situation. We want to bring him home very much, so we must make sure he’s calm and fit to fly.”
In an email, Wissenbach expressed sympathy over Joey’s situation but said “in this case nobody is guilty.”
She also suggested hiring TV dog trainer Cesar Milan to train the dog to tolerate the crate —and charter him back to the US.
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Q:
what is com.apple.coresymbolicationd in caches?
Doing some cleanup on my Macbook Air with a 128GB SSD looking for big files to reduce the space used.
I found something named com.apple.coresymbolicationd that is 1GB in the /System/Library/Caches folder I don't recall seeing it before. Running Mountain Lion.
What is this and is there a way to clear it?
By the way I am using DaisyDisk to show the files and sizes.
A:
Symbolication means replacing memory addresses with symbols (like functions or variables) or for example adding function names and line number information. It is used for debugging and analyzing crash reports.
/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.coresymbolicationd/data was also about 600 MB on my account, so I guess it's normal. Deleting files in cache folders is generally safe, and /System/Library/Caches/ is even excluded from Time Machine backups.
A:
The files stored in the system and user Caches folder are there to speed up your Mac and a process will recreate them if you decide to move them to the Trash and reboot.
Most programs are well behaved enough to handle you deleting the files from under the running system, but I've also gotten into the habit of moving them to Trash and then rebooting to let the system recreate new folders if needed before deleting the files.
This core daemon is virtually undocumented by Apple and the one data file is likely an encrypted sqlite3 database file (or some other binary data store) for internal use by the OS to handle process control. You can look at the source code and system headers that belong to CoreSymbolication here as it interacts with the source for dtrace:
http://www.opensource.apple.com/source/dtrace/dtrace-78/libproc/libproc.m
A:
OS X El Capitan 10.11.3
it's safe to remove from terminal
sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.coresymbolicationd
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Q:
Crawling limited number of pages
I'am writing a spider for a forum. I am trying to to is to crawl recursively some pages of a section. So I set the rules below:
rules = (
Rule (SgmlLinkExtractor(allow=('&order=desc&page=\d'),restrict_xpaths=("//td[@class='navpage']/a"))
,callback='parse_items', follow= True),)
Is it possible to set a page limit so the spider could crawl a limited number of pages? For example to crawl from page 1 to page 8.
A:
The SgmlLinkExtractor's allow parameter takes a regex. So you can modify your allow regex to look for any digit (\d) to look for only range [1-8] by doing:
SgmlLinkExtractor(allow=('&order=desc&page=[1-8]'),restrict_xpaths=("//td[@class='navpage']/a"))
,callback='parse_items', follow= True),
|
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Advertising Read more
Tokyo (AFP)
Tokyo stocks snapped a three-day winning streak Monday with profit-takers reversing early gains ahead of the release of key economic data in the US and China this week.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 0.24 percent, or 54.86 points, to close at 22,495.99 while the broader Topix index fell 0.22 percent, or 3.83 points, at 1,776.73.
"Tokyo shares opened higher on the back of gains on Wall Street but they sank into negative territory due to selling" to lock in profits, Yoshihiro Ito, chief strategist at Okasan Online Securities, said in a commentary.
"Major shares which were bought last week took a breather," he said.
On Wall Street the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each ended at records last week.
The dollar was changing hands at 111.33 yen, down from 111.55 yen in New York late Friday, and well off the 112 yen levels earlier last week.
Mitsubishi Materials dropped 1.99 percent to 3,685 yen after plunging more than eight percent on Friday as it admitted to falsifying product data.
Electronics parts giant Murata Manufacturing fell 1.43 percent to 15,830 yen while chip-making equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron lost 1.77 percent to 22,930 yen.
Sony was up 0.75 percent to 5,363 yen while Toyota edged up 0.04 percent to 7,026 yen.
© 2017 AFP
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Q:
Can I write a generic function to modify UI elements across all of my view controllers?
I would like to know if there is a way where I can write a generic function that can be stored in something like a Utility class that will modify UI elements?
In other words, right now I'm changing the color of certain UI elements programmatically like so:
headerLabel.textColor = [UIColor colorWithRed:red green:green blue:blue alpha:1.0];
//Where red, green and blue are variables that are derived from another function
//that converts Hex to RGB and 'headerLabel' is a UILabel with a connected IBOutlet
This same procedure happens in every View Controller, so I was wondering if there is a way to make this a generic function?
In Java / the Android SDK, I can pass the context of the class and do the rest from there.
Thank you in advance!!
EDIT:
To re-phrase the question a little, I would like to have the headerLabel.textColor= function, and other methods like headerLabel.text = @"foo" in that generic class, not necessarily just the color function.
A:
If you want to have HEX->UICOLOR in all of your files, put this:
#define UIColorFromHEX(hexValue) [UIColor colorWithRed:((float)((hexValue & 0xFF0000) >> 16))/255.0 green:((float)((hexValue & 0xFF00) >> 8))/255.0 blue:((float)(hexValue & 0xFF))/255.0 alpha:1.0]
in your Prefix.pch file. Then, in every file, you can change colors via
something.color = UIColorFromHEX(0xCCCCCC);
You can define everything via #define macro. If you want to define headerLabel.textColor, use
#define setHeaderLabelColor headerLabel.textColor = [UIColor ...]
A:
yes , its possible by creating a global file to store all your colors ,preferences like navbar,title etc,
create a class like gconstants , then store all your string here in h/m files
extern NSString *const APP_TITLE;
@interface UIColor (APP)
+(UIColor *) APP_NAV_COLOR;
@end
in .m file
NSString *const APP_TITLE = @"APP Name";
@implementation UIColor (APP)
+(UIColor *) APP_NAV_COLOR { return [UIColor colorWithRed:00/256.0 green:111/256.0
blue:59/256.0 alpha:1.0]; }
@end
and in any controller declare the header file
self.navigationController.navigationBar.tintColor = [UIColor APP_NAV_COLOR];
headerLabel.textColor = [UIColor APP_NAV_COLOR];
self.title = APP_TITLE
|
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The Imperative of Responsibility
In Search of an Ethics for the Technological Age
Hans Jonas here rethinks the foundations of ethics in light of the awesome transformations wrought by modern technology: the threat of nuclear war, ecological ravage, genetic engineering, and the like. Though informed by a deep reverence for human life, Jonas's ethics is grounded not in religion but in metaphysics, in a secular doctrine that makes explicit man's duties toward himself, his posterity, and the environment. Jonas offers an assessment of practical goals under present circumstances, ending with a critique of modern utopianism.
Preface 1. The Altered Nature of Human ActionI. The Example of Antiquity II. Characteristics of Previous Ethics III. New Dimensions of Responsibility IV. Technology as the "Calling" of Mankind V. Old and New Imperatives VI. Earlier Forms of "Future-oriented" Ethics VII. Man as an Object of Technology VIII. The "Utopian" Dynamics of Technical Progress and the Excessive Magnitude of Responsibility IX. The Ethical Vacuum 2. On Principles and MethodI. Ideal and Real Knowledge in the "Ethic of the Future" II. Prevalence of the Bad over the Good Prognosis III. The Element of Wager in Human Action IV. The Duty to Ensure a Future V. Being and Ought-to-Be 3. Concerning Ends and Their Status in Reality I. The Hammer II. The Court of Law III. Walking IV. The Digestive Organ V. From Reality to Validity: From the Problem of Purpose to the Problem of Value 4. The Good, the "Ought," and Being: A Theory of ResponsibilityI. Being and Ought-to-Be II. Theory of Responsibility: First Distinctions III. Theory of Responsibility: Parent and Statesman as Eminent Paradigms IV. Theory of Responsibility: The Horizon of the Future V. How Far Does Political Responsibility Extend into the Future? VI. Why "Responsibility" Was Not Central in Former Ethical Theory VII. Parent-Child Relation: The Archetype of Responsibility 5. Responsibility Today: Endangered Future and the Idea of Progress I. The Future of Mankind and the Future of Nature II. The Ominous Side of the Baconian Ideal III. Is Marxism or Capitalism Better Fitted to Counter the Danger? IV. Examining the Abstract Chances in the Concrete V. The Utopia of the Coming "True Man" VI. Utopia and the Idea of Progress 6. A Critique of Utopia and the Ethic of Responsibility I. The Wretched of the Earth and World Revolution II. Critique of Marxist Utopianism III. From the Critique of Utopia to the Ethics of Responsibility Appendix: Impotence or Power of Subjectivity I. The Incompatibility Argument II. The Epiphenomenalist Argument III. "Epiphenomenalism" Voided by the Voiding of "Incompatibility" IV. Quantum-Mechanical Review of the Proposed Solution Notes Index
For more information, or to order this book, please visit http://www.press.uchicago.edu
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Marcel P. Black & Substantial Connect on “Where I Stay”
“Where I Stay” is the first single from Baton Rouge emcee Marcel P. Black, with a 16 from veteran DMV lyricist Substantial of Hipnott Records. On “Where I Stay,” Marcel & Substantial tackle topics as heavy as the school to prison pipeline, as well as the recent acts of police violence against Blacks, all over a trunk rattling country rap tune complete with Pimp C & Farrakahn vocal samples.
The views of our contributors are their own, and not necessarily those of Boi-1da.
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[Intravenous drug addiction and the risk of HIV infection in Madrid in 1990].
As part of a multicenter WHO study on HIV infection among drug injectors, 472 intravenous drug users (IDUs) were interviewed, 240 recruited in the streets and 232 at drug treatment centers. The objectives of the study were to assess the prevalence of HIV infection among IDUs of Madrid, to identify factors associated with risk reduction behaviors, such as the use of sterile syringes and condoms. Chi-square and logistic regression were used to test for differences and to estimate odds ratios. Prevalence of HIV infection among IDUs in Madrid was 50% (53% among those recruited in the street and 38% among those recruited at treatment centers). Forty five per cent of those interviewed were still sharing syringes. Out of the 315 sexually active subjects, only 22% reported using condoms always or almost always. These results suggest that a range of interventions should be implemented to promote change towards healthier behaviors, including syringe-exchange programs, methadone maintenance treatments and pre- and post-test counseling in those agencies which care for this population.
|
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Comparative inactivation and inhibition of the anomerase and isomerase activities of phosphoglucose isomerase.
Several metabolic compounds have been found to be competitive inhibitors of the anomerase activity of phosphoglucose isomerase (EC 5.3.1.9).Ki values for erythrose 4-phosphate, 6-phosphogluconate, and fructose 1,6-bisphosphate for the anomerase reaction are 0.32 muM, 21 muM, and 84 muM respectively at 0 degree and pH 8.2. A significant difference between the fructose 1,6-bisphosphate inhibition constants for both activities was found (Ki(isomerase) = 800 muM and Ki(anomerase) = 140 muM). Also the Km values for both activities were found to be significantly different (Km(isomerase) = 140 muM and Km(anomerase) = 3.6 muM). Attempts to independently alter the anomerase to isomerase activity ratio through protein modification yielded mixed results. While several modifying reagents destroyed the catalytic activities at identical rates, inactivation by iodoacetamide or pyridoxal 5' phosphate sensitized photo-oxidation displayed differential initial effects on the two activities with the anomerase activity being the less affected. These data support the theory that an imidazole residue is catalytically important for isomerization, but less so for anomerization.
|
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Q:
Optimizing Postgres count(*) query
I have a series of queries I need to run. They are monotonous and almost all of them use the same foreign key (trial_id). Is there a way to turn all these individual queries to one query that will post all results that I need?
select count(*) as totalstudies from study;
select count(*) as deletedstudies from study where trial_id = (select id from trial where name = 'abc');
select count(*) as portalemaillog from portalemaillog;
select count(*) as deletedemaillog from portalemaillog where trial_id = (select id from trial where name = 'abc');
select count(*) as totalsites from trialsite;
select count(*) as deletedsites from trialsite where trial_id = (select id from trial where name = 'abc');
select count(*) as totalsubjects from trialsubject;
select count(*) as deletedsubjects from trialsubject where trial_id = (select id from trial where name = 'abc');
select count(*) as totaltimepointcount from timepoint;
select count(*) as deletedtimepointcount from timepoint where id = (select id from trialversion where id = (select id from trial where name = 'abc'));
A:
For the first four (as they are similar) you can write something like:
with trial as (select id from trial where name = 'abc')
select count(t.id) as totalcount, count(trial.id) as subcount, name from (
select id, trial_id, 'studies' as name from studies
union all
select id, trial_id, 'portal' from portalemaillog
union all
select id, trial_id, 'trialsite' from trialsite
union all
select id, trial_id, 'trialsubject' from trialsubject
) t
left join trial on trial.id = t.trial_id
group by name;
This will return result like this:
totalcount | subcount | name
------------+----------+-----------
4 | 2 | portal
6 | 4 | trialsite
7 | 3 | trialsubject
10 | 5 | studies
|
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@FR@NK_DADA,- yeah about that whole comment being longer than the blog.....lmbao im sorry..i guess i type as much i talk lolol Lord help me lol. But hey your welcome. I rather enjoy your blogs....(obviously) lol
Thanks again for the comment...i can count on u for in depth discussions...ur response was longer than my blog lmaoooo! I agree 100% about how fox made him look ignorant...it was not right especially for his fans that find his material moving.
No doubt, your welcome FR@NK_DADA. Im just sorry that my laptop is so slow that when i thought that the first message did not post, it actually did...after i'd posted a second one lol smdh.... Im praying for another computer though...Lord knows, its better than nothing lol.
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Follow @RubenBolling.
AND: Support Tom the Dancing Bug by joining THE INNER HIVE. Members of this elite and prestigious squad get the weekly comic emailed to them at least a day before publication -- with extras, commentary, contests and more.
PLEASE JOIN THE INNER HIVE BY CLICKING HERE.
|
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10.7 Lion allows multi-user remote computing - solipsist
http://www.9to5mac.com/54102/10-7-lion-allows-multi-user-remote-computing?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+9To5Mac-MacAllDay+%289+to+5+Mac+-+Apple+Intelligence%29&utm_content=Google+Reader
======
iuguy
It seems like Apple have discovered Terminal Services, or the basic networking
functionality in X11.
Hopefully it'll be much shinier than X11 and less restrictive than Remote
Desktop Protocol.
~~~
JonnieCache
I imagine it uses Apple Remote Desktop, which is apple's own version of RDP. I
don't know much about it but it works pretty damn well for me.
[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Apple_remote_...](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Apple_remote_desktop)
~~~
nettdata
It's actually using a VNC based application, and uses the VNC protocol. I can
"remote desktop" into my desktop using a simple VNC app on my iPad.
It seems that they've provided the option of creating a new VNC server/desktop
process when connecting in, rather than just attaching to the existing and
current desktop.
Very cool.
~~~
cookiecaper
For the record, this has been a feature of VNC/X forever; in fact, it's harder
to run VNC on an extant X session than it is to just start a new one
specifically for VNC.
It's just a little annoying when Apple finally integrates tech that's 20+
years old and gets heralded as being "ahead of the curve" or "very cool" for
doing it.
~~~
nettdata
Get pissy much? I consider it "very cool" in the sense that this is a cool
feature that I finally get to use in the OS I prefer to work in.
I don't care if it's been around for decades or done a thousand times before
on other OS's, it's being done by them now, and I find it useful.
I'd rather see them do stuff like this and be praised for it than do stuff
like this and get shit on by people with the tiresome "it's about time" or
"Linux had this a zillion years ago and did it better" crowd.
~~~
nettdata
Actually, I won't have the same attitude... I'll be indifferent, and not
comment at all, as I don't really care what Windows does. Even though I use it
almost daily for various client work.
When it comes right down to it, I don't buy into this whole OS religion thing.
I've had more than a passing exposure to quite a few of them, and they all
have/had their place.
Case in point, I started my career on IBM 3081's and PDP-11's. I even have a
full rack of gear in my home office that includes a bunch of boxes with
various flavours of Linux installed, a Tadpole laptop running Solaris, an
operational NeXT Cube, SGI and HP boxes running their Unix variants, a cluster
of Sun Netras, and on and on. I've also got a few different laptops with
Windows and Linux installed. And a couple of MacBook Pro's.
They all have good features, and bad, but none of them have everything.
Do I care what someone else uses? Nope. Do I care if they gush over it and
think it's the coolest thing ever? Nope. Do I feel some overwhelming urge to
"educate" them on why their choices are "wrong"? Nope.
I just know what works for me, and am happy to discuss things with like-minded
individuals. I'm not a fanboy, and I haven't drunk the Cool-Aid. I also don't
think everyone who owns a Mac is like that either.
Call me crazy, I guess.
~~~
gonzo
Tadpole laptop? Really? Which one? I did the port of Slowaris to several of
the SPARCbooks back when I worked there.
(Started my career on a DEC-10, followed by a Vax 11/780, a couple 11/750s and
a smattering of PDP-11s (11/44, 11/70))
Had Linux (and NeXTstep) running on an early Tadpole P1000 (100MHz Pentium
laptop, it was the sh*t when it came out.)
Mostly all Macs now.
~~~
nettdata
It's an UltraBookIIe. Needed it when I provisioned 6 racks of Sun gear in an
off-shore co-lo for a gaming company, and it was the easiest way to auto
install/configure all the OS's and software into bare metal gear. Wasn't the
fastest thing on the planet, but it worked really well.
~~~
gonzo
Oh. That's the "other" Tadpole (previously RDI, who acquired Tadpole
Technology, Plc in order to trade its stock.)
------
kaffeinecoma
I'd like to see a remote login implementation for OSX that allows you to login
remotely, and also adjusts the screen size to match that of the actual
physical device you're on.
The existing implementation of screen sharing is frustrating for me to use
because I'm often remoting in from a 15" Macbook to a Macpro tower with two
heads @ 1920x1200 each. So the options are scale to 1) down the display (slow,
fuzzy) or 2) scroll all over the place.
An ideal solution would be to let me log into a virtual display that matches
the size of my physical remote terminal. In other words, make the server think
it has a head the same size as the client.
------
voxcogitatio
I'm glad to hear that they've catched up to the original UNIX. :)
~~~
yoda_sl
I would rather say that it is more OS X returning back to its roots where
NeXTStep/OpenStep use to have such capability when all the rendering was done
with the PostScript built in server. These feature disappeared from OS X, so
it is more like a welcome back with a user friendly UI. Back then you usually
had to use some terminal command line to make ir happen.
~~~
prodigal_erik
Amazing that this is the only comment so far that points out this wasn't even
Not-Invented-Here Syndrome, because their own OS already had this feature
(Display PostScript remoting) twenty years ago. At least until some architect
marking their territory was allowed to wilfully break it and replace it with
... nothing.
------
emehrkay
My job wants to use a third party product to do the exact same thing.
<http://www.aquaconnect.net/mac-terminal-server.php>
This is a great addition to the os. Imagine your house having one
[desk|lap]top and a few tablets or phones. Hop on vnc on your docked tablet
while someone is using the computer and you're as good as using the desktop. I
see this as a move to push both os x and the i[pad|phone] as viable business
devices.
This is possible with windows right? I vaguely remember using remote desktop a
few jobs ago, but I dont remember if it was one account logged in at a time.
~~~
seabee
The server versions of Windows allow that, it's called Remote Desktop Services
(or Terminal Services pre-2008). Way better than using VNC, probably because
it hooks all the window control drawing on the server and does it on the
client instead, rather than sending over raw bitmaps for buttons/textboxes
etc.
------
pnathan
Er, ssh?
I don't see what the big deal is. I've been able to remotely ssh into my mac
for years.
~~~
jasonlotito
now imagine this at the gui level. imagine being on your mac, pick up your
ipad, move to the next room, and swipe and have access to the same apps
currently running. jut look at what apples been putting out the last few
years. look at lions big features. full screen mode doesnt sound impressive.
but that would make those apps much easier to use on the ipad.
im nut saying this is all new stuff, rather, its going to be packaged by
apple, and that is going to mean something.
~~~
pak
If you want to do this right now, check out Screens for iPad.
~~~
jasonlotito
Yeah, I've seen that before. I'm not talking about _just_ that. What I'm
talking about is having the full screen mode Apple is developing will have
support for turning the app into an iPad version with little effort.
Basically, by following their API and implementing official full screen
support, when the time comes to implement Mac to iPad support like I'm
describing, instead of seeing the Mac's desktop, your seeing the application
on your iPad in an "iPadified" version of the app.
------
guptaneil
This is going to be absolutely perfect for educational use. Imagine a
university computer lab that lets you remotely login from home after the lab
has closed to access all the expensive, specialized software the school has
already purchased. I know my university was trying to set something like this
up, but couldn't find any user-friendly way of doing this.
~~~
jonknee
I doubt there are a bunch of user accounts on a uni computer lab Mac, so this
wouldn't be much different than regular screen sharing. It's also still a mess
to choose which computer to try, doubly so if you're on an outside network.
~~~
akronim
Mac OS X Server had (has?) decent support for proper accounts, with the client
machines essentially just diskless terminals that boot from the server, and
with all accounts on the server - called netboot. So not like screen sharing
at all. This worked pretty well in a lab setup, but didn't support remote
logins - this sounds much better.
~~~
jonknee
The OP was talking about doing this so expensive university software... I'm
going to go out on a limb here and state that it's just not going to work well
when 100 students try and spin up instances of AutoCAD or Mathimatica on the
same machine.
------
wangweij
This is nothing special. Lion says it would include a server version of Mac OS
X, and this is just a very basic function for any server OS. Although I
haven't played with OS X server before, I'm quite sure this feature has been
there for some time.
------
tjarratt
The way I like to think of this feature is as a throwback to the days of
"dumb" terminals that would connect to a server where you stored your files,
account info, etc.
"Back to Unix".
~~~
jacques_chester
Why not? With HTTP we went back to the future vis-a-vis 3270.
------
tambourine_man
If I understood it correctly, this has been possible for years in OSX. You
just need to be “fast user switched out” instead of logged out: \- Log in with
user A \- Fast User Switch to user B \- Log in to user A with VNC. It works
just fine.
------
jasonlotito
a lot of the comments are fairly shortsighted. i called this some time ago,
and it makes sense. consider how mobile our live are right now. consider the
wireless nature of everything. imagine having your computer be situated out of
sigh, and your screen is mobile. your ipad and iphone connect to the same
central hub. the computer becomes an appliance at home. just look at lion and
the elements of ios its pulling in. now imagine apple making it easy to do all
of this.
airdrop, mobileme, app store, all of this are elements to a grand vision.
~~~
thefonz
yes, and especially with rumors that iPhone 5 having NFC technology. Imagine
being able to walk up to any mac and just swipe your iPhone and all your
settings, bookmarks, etc. will just transfer over and you will be able to use
it, just like you were infront of you mac at home.
------
jpr
Is it just me or are 99% of tech "news" and "innovation" just reinvention of
stuff already found in UNIX, Lisp etc. decades ago?
~~~
gvb
It's not just you, Henry Spencer reportedly said it (first?) in 1987.
"Those who don't understand UNIX are condemned to reinvent it, poorly."
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy#Quotes>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Spencer#cite_note-2>
~~~
thwarted
He was just paraphrasing the bible:
"What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is
nothing new under the sun." -- Ecclesiastes 1:9
|
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Effects of diadenosine polyphosphates and seminal fluid vesicles on rabbit sperm cells.
Membrane vesicles were isolated from rabbit seminal plasma. Electron microscopy analyses showed the presence of numerous small, round vesicles with a diameter of about 70 nm. Determination of enzyme activities was carried out by high performance liquid chromatography and showed that the vesicles can degrade the diadenosine polyphosphates (ApnA), Ap3A and Ap4A and ATP and ADP, but not AMP. Studies of the degradation of diadenosine compounds by the vesicles present in seminal fluid showed an increasing production of AMP as the by-product and a time-dependent generation of dephosphorylated products consistent with the presence of ecto-ATP diphosphophosphatase (ecto-apyrase). In the presence of rabbit spermatozoa, AMP did not accumulate because 5'nucleotidase and adenosine deaminase, present at the surface of sperm cells, transformed AMP into adenosine and inosine. The effects of seminal fluid vesicles and diadenosine compounds on the acquisition of fertilizing capacity by rabbit spermatozoa were evaluated by Pisum sativum agglutinin fluorescein isothiocyanate conjugated staining. The results obtained with uncapacitated spermatozoa showed that the capacitating effector BSA could be substituted efficiently by the addition of diadenosine compounds and vesicles previously incubated for 2 h to the capacitative medium. Under these experimental conditions, the spontaneous acrosome reaction rate was not increased. Capacitated rabbit spermatozoa did not undergo acrosome reaction when l-alpha-lysophosphatidylcholine was substituted by diadenosine compounds previously incubated with vesicles. In conclusion, this study has shown that rabbit seminal fluid vesicles can degrade diadenosine compounds to AMP and that the addition of the vesicles and diadenosine compounds to uncapacitated rabbit spermatozoa favours the acquisition of the fertilizing capacity.
|
{
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Encrypted file systems allow applications to store encrypted files in non-volatile storage, such as hard drives. Encrypted file systems are typically implemented as a stack of layers with an encryption layer on top of a mounted file system. eCrtypfs, for example, is a kernel-native stacked cryptographic file system included with many Linux distributions that layers on top of lower level file systems including Linux ext 2/3/4, NFS, CIFS, XFS, ReiserFS, JFS, FAT 32, and can be extended to other file systems. eCryptfs provides a virtual file system seen by applications so that file operations go through eCryptfs. eCryptfs uses keys stored in a kernel layer key ring to encrypt and decrypt files.
Many encrypted file systems were designed on the assumption that they would operate on a single machine and therefore files would be available to all processes on a machine (assuming the user logged in had the appropriate credentials). In a networked environment, such file systems do not provide adequate security for data because any process can access the encrypted files so long as the encrypted file system key ring contains the correct key. This problem becomes more pronounced in a cloud environment. In a cloud, processes running on the same hardware may be controlled by different entities that should not access each other's data. Furthermore, the cloud environment hardware may be administered by a different set of administrators than the virtual environment provided in the cloud. Consequently, it may be undesirable for some process or administrators who have physical access to the servers and credentials to access the operating system to access the encrypted data on the servers.
In addition to the inability to properly protect data from network users and administrators, another problem faced in cloud computing and other networked computer environments is properly managing encryption keys between distributed computers. In particular, it is undesirable to store keys in non-volatile memory on a cloud server, so the keys must be stored at another location and accessed over a network. For public networks, the keys must be kept safe during transmission between the key storage and cloud server. The key management system must ensure it is not distributing keys improperly.
|
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There is current interest in the design and manufacture of various two-dimensional (2D) ultrathin layered nanosheet materials[@b1][@b2]. 2D nanostructures may find use in more efficient energy-producing, energy-absorbing, and energy storage devices, because their ultrahigh fraction of surface atoms could enable nearly full use of active materials[@b3][@b4][@b5][@b6][@b7][@b8][@b9]. 2D nanomaterials can be prepared through either a "bottom-up" approach[@b10], including assembly of nanoclusters[@b11][@b12], coalescence of nanowires[@b13][@b14], and oriented attachment of nanocrystals[@b15][@b16], or a "top-down" method, e.g., exfoliation of layer-structured bulk materials[@b17][@b18][@b19][@b20]. Both "bottom-up" and "top-down" synthesis techniques usually involve the use of organic solvents, polymeric stabilizers, surface capping agents, and burdensome post-processing. Moreover, there is still a lack of effective methods to integrate 2D nanosheets into three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical macroscopic structures with active materials at exposed/available surfaces in the open-framework 3D structure[@b21][@b22].
Nickel oxide (NiO) has been recognized as one of the most promising electrode materials for pseudocapacitor applications in aqueous alkaline electrolytes due to its high theoretical specific capacitance (2,584 F g^−1^ within 0.5 V), low cost, and excellent chemical and thermal stability[@b23][@b24][@b25][@b26][@b27][@b28][@b29][@b30][@b31]. However, the poor electrical conductivity of NiO increases both the sheet resistance and the charge transfer resistance of the electrode, which in work reported to date has led to a capacitance value much less than the theoretical value and a poor rate capability[@b29][@b30]. Consequently, various methods, such as modification with nanostructured carbon[@b24][@b25][@b26], preparation of Ni-NiO nanocomposites[@b27][@b28][@b29][@b30][@b31], and synthesis of nanostructures with a unique morphology[@b32][@b33][@b34][@b35][@b36], have been proposed to improve the NiO supercapacitor performance. In recent years, there have been numerous reports on preparing hierarchical NiO structures that are promising for energy storage systems because of their extraordinary properties, such as high surface area and unique geometrical structure[@b37][@b38][@b39][@b40][@b41][@b42][@b43]. Despite the advancements, very little research has been done to investigate the formation mechanism of such 3D hierarchical structures, and extensive research is still required to explore effective strategies for achieving high-efficiency utilization of NiO with further performance improvement.
We herein present a systematic research to the formation of a hierarchical NiO nanostructure with multiple characteristic dimensions, and propose a 'weaving' mechanism for the formation based on abundant experiments. The 3D NiO 'microflowers' are constructed of 2D ultrathin nanosheets that can be visualized as "woven" from one-dimensional (1D) nanowires. Benefiting from such a unique structure, an interconnected nickel (Ni) conductive network can be generated *in situ* on the surface of the NiO nanosheets through a controllable reduction process. The resulting Ni-NiO hybrid has an open hierarchical 3D structure and good electrical conductivity, as shown in [Fig. 1](#f1){ref-type="fig"}, which offers great potential for supercapacitor applications, including easy transport of ions/electrolytes at the interface of the electrode/electrolyte, fast electron transfer on the surface of the nanosheets, and high-efficiency use of the active material NiO.
Results
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Synthesis
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The overall method is described in in the supplementary material ([Supplementary, Fig. S1](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). Briefly, the precursor was prepared by dissolving sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), urea, and NiCl~2~ in water. The mixed solution was then transferred to an autoclave for hydrothermal treatment. Several parameters, such as the proportion of reactants, temperature, and reaction time, were examined which in turn made it possible to explore the formation mechanisms of the corresponding nanostructures. In our synthesis process, only urea and SDS were used as auxiliary reagents to grow Ni-based nanostructures. The hydrolysis of urea led to the generation of OH^−^ and CO~3~^2−^ which then reacted with Ni^2+^ to form a green NiCO~3~∙Ni(OH)~2~∙xH~2~O precipitate ([Supplementary, Fig. S1b](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"} and [Fig. S2a](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). The resulting precipitate was subsequently decomposed to a black NiO powder upon annealing ([Supplementary, Fig. S1c](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"} and [Fig. S2b](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}), as proven by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The NiO sample was then partially reduced to produce a grey Ni-NiO sample ([Supplementary, Fig. S1d](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}) under an H~2~/Ar atmosphere.
Microflowers constructed from Ni nanosheets
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When no SDS was involved in the reactions, the morphology of the samples was strongly influenced by the molar ratio of NiCl~2~/urea. Porous Ni-based nanoplates were formed with a high molar ratio NiCl~2~:urea = 5:1 ([Supplementary, Fig. S3a, b](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}); and microspheres constructed from nanowires and visually similar to silkworm cocoons were produced with a molar ratio NiCl~2~:urea = 3:1 ([Supplementary, Fig. S3c, d](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}); while a porous microsphere with well-defined nanowire building blocks was obtained for a molar ratio NiCl~2~:urea = 1:1 ([Supplementary, Fig. S3e, f](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). For NiCl~2~:urea = 1:2, the microsphere size decreased and the nanowires became less discernible, possibly due to the high agglomeration of nanowires ([Supplementary, Fig. S4a, b](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). When the molar ratio was decreased to NiCl~2~:urea = 1:10, the 'microspheres' were deformed ([Supplementary, Fig. S4c, d](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). For no urea and excess urea (e.g., a molar ratio NiCl~2~:urea = 1:30), there was no solid product formed.
The influence of the concentration of SDS on the product morphology was also studied with both NiCl~2~ and urea fixed at 5 mmol. For 0.1 g SDS, two types of nanostructures formed ([Supplementary, Fig. S5a-c](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}): one was nanowire-constructed porous microspheres ([Fig. S5b](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}) that are similar to the products ([Fig. S3e, f](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}) obtained without SDS, and the other was 'microflowers' composed of nanosheets that were evidently formed from "woven" nanowires ([Fig. S5c](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). For 0.3 g SDS, the samples also contained nanowire-constructed porous microspheres ([Fig. S5e](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}) and nanosheet-constructed 'microflowers' ([Fig. S5f](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}), but a larger fraction of microflowers ([Supplementary, Fig. S5d](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}) was observed compared with the samples obtained with 0.1 g SDS. Notably, for 0.6 g SDS added into the reaction system, only microflowers were obtained as shown in [Fig. 2](#f2){ref-type="fig"}, which presents the morphology and the crystalline structure of the as-prepared NiO microflowers. [Figure 2a](#f2){ref-type="fig"} shows a typical scanning electron microscope (SEM) image, confirming that the samples are actually flower-like structures with a size range of 1--10 μm. [Figure 2b](#f2){ref-type="fig"} shows an SEM image of one flower-like part, in which the entire 3D structure is built from a large number of nanosheets. [Figure 2c](#f2){ref-type="fig"} shows the ridge surface on a single nanosheet, in which the 'smooth' surface looks like a densely woven gauze. [Figure 2d](#f2){ref-type="fig"} shows a typical transmission electron microscope (TEM) image of one NiO microflower, again illustrating that the products have a 3D flower-like structure. [Figure 2e](#f2){ref-type="fig"} shows a selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern recorded on a single sheet. A set of well-defined dots indicates that the NiO films are single crystal in nature. [Figure 2f](#f2){ref-type="fig"} is a higher magnification TEM image showing that a large number of nanowires are closely "woven" together. [Figure 2g](#f2){ref-type="fig"} shows that the nanowires emanating from the nanosheet have a diameter of \~3 nm. [Figure 2h](#f2){ref-type="fig"} shows a TEM image of the inner surface of one nanosheet, in which the nanowires can be observed. The nanowire diameters can be measured based on the intensity profile along a straight line, as shown in the inset of [Fig. 2h](#f2){ref-type="fig"}, demonstrating that the nanowire diameter in the NiO nanosheet is around 3.0 nm. It should be noted, for the products obtained with 1.0 g SDS, the microflower morphology was somehow maintained and observed with thicker nanosheets ([Supplementary, Fig. S6](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}).
Other processing factors, such as reaction time and temperature, were also investigated ([Supplementary, Fig. S7, S8](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). A shorter time (1 h) seems to be insufficient to form a well-defined nanosheet structure ([Fig. S7a](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). The microflowers form with a reaction time of 5 hours ([Fig. S7b](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}) or 10 hours ([Fig. S7c](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}), while some nanosheets peeled off from the hierarchical structures for the reaction time of 20 hours ([Fig. S7d](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). The optimum temperature for forming microflowers was 150 °C. At a temperature of 120 °C, a microsphere structure with nanowires or small nanosheet building blocks was obtained ([Fig. S8a](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}), while only nanoribbon structures were formed at 180 °C ([Fig. S8b](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}).
Interconnected Ni-network modified NiO microflowers
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While the open hierarchical texture in NiO microflowers facilitates access of ions to the electrode/electrolyte interface (for supercapacitor applications), the poor electrical conductivity may severely retard or even prevent electron transport, leading to a limited use of active material and a significantly lowered specific capacitance. In an attempt to improve electrical conductivity, the as-prepared NiO microflowers were partially reduced to Ni by a controlled heat-treatment under an H~2~/Ar atmosphere (see Methods for details). [Figure 3a](#f3){ref-type="fig"} shows powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of the as-produced NiO microflowers and the corresponding samples (Ni-NiO) obtained with reduction times of 2, 5, and 10 minutes. All the samples show three peaks at 2θ = 37.2°, 43.2°, and 62.6°, which are indexed as (111), (200), and (220) peaks from the cubic structured NiO (JCPDS No. 47-1049). The samples subjected to H~2~ treatment have peaks at 44.7° and 51.9°, which we index as the (111) and (200) peaks of face-centered-cubic (fcc) Ni. These two Ni peaks increase in intensity relative to the three NiO peaks with increased time of exposure to H~2~(g). As confirmed by SAED pattern, the as-prepared NiO microflower has a single crystal structure. After partial reduction, the single crystal structure was destroyed with the formation of metallic Ni nanoparticles in Ni-NiO-2min, leading to the decrease of NiO XRD peaks in intensity because of the destruction of single crystalline structure of the NiO, and broadening of XRD peaks in width due to the appearance of metallic Ni nanoparticles. With further reaction, more NiO is converted to metallic Ni; consequently the Ni-NiO-5 min shows a remarkable increase in metallic Ni peaks. The Ni-NiO-10 min shows strong metallic Ni peaks and weak NiO peaks, suggesting that most of NiO is converted to metallic Ni.
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to study the chemical states of bonded elements in the Ni-NiO-5 min sample (reduction time of 5 min). The survey XPS spectra indicate C1s (285.1 eV), O1s (531.6 eV), and Ni2p peaks ([Fig. 3b](#f3){ref-type="fig"}). The O 1s and C 1s peaks are attributed to the O in NiO and the substrate (carbon tape), respectively. The Ni2p3/2 curve-fitted data for both Ni-NiO-5 min and pristine NiO samples ([Supplementary, Fig. S9a and 9c](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}) indicate the presence of Ni(II) with a main peak at 855.7 eV and a satellite peak at 861.6 eV. A shoulder peak at 852.8 eV is observed for Ni-NiO-5 min, suggesting the presence of metallic nickel. Moreover, the O 1s spectra for both samples were studied ([Supplementary, Fig. S9b and 9d](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). The fitted peak with a binding energy at 530.8 eV is assigned to NiO and the peak at 532.7 eV is assigned to hydrous species. Obviously, the Ni-NiO-5 min, because of the partial reduction of its surface, is much less hydrated than the pristine NiO. According to a controlled TGA experiment, the content of Ni in Ni-NiO-5 min samples is estimated as 18.4 wt.% ([Supplementary, Fig. S10](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). The Ni-NiO-5 min sample shows a similar nitrogen adsorption-desorption curve to the pristine NiO ([Fig. 3c](#f3){ref-type="fig"}); the Ni-NiO-5 min sample has a BET surface area of 151.6 m^2^ g^−1^ and the pristine NiO microflower has a value of 159.6 m^2^ g^−1^. Both samples have an average pore size of around 4.0 nm ([Supplementary, Fig. S11](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). The surfaces and overall structure remain almost unchanged after the hydrogen treatment.
SEM and TEM were performed to investigate the morphology and structure of the samples subjected to H~2~ treatment. The **Ni-NiO-2min** maintained the microflower morphology and showed a polycrystalline structure with lots of metallic Ni nanoparticles decorating the surface ([Supplementary, Fig. S12a-c](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). A typical SEM image of the Ni-NiO-5 min sample ([Fig. 3d](#f3){ref-type="fig"}) shows that the microflower morphology indeed remains essentially the same after partial reduction with H~2~(g). [Figure 3e](#f3){ref-type="fig"} shows the SEM image of a single microflower that has many pores especially at the ridges of the nanosheets; these are due to reduction of the NiO nanosheet surfaces. [Figure 3f](#f3){ref-type="fig"} shows the TEM image of a "petal" in a microflower from the Ni-NiO-5 min sample, and one sees a large number of pores on the nanosheet surface. Two types of polycrystalline rings can be observed based on the SAED analysis (inset of [Fig. 3f](#f3){ref-type="fig"}) and fit for cubic NiO and fcc Ni, consistent with the XRD results. [Figure 3g](#f3){ref-type="fig"} shows a magnified TEM image of the Ni-NiO-5 min sample, in which the 'woven nanowires' with a diameter of \~3 nm can be clearly observed. [Figures 3h,i](#f3){ref-type="fig"} show high-resolution TEM image from different nanosheets in the Ni-NiO-5 min microflower. Many shallow pores with irregular shape are present on the sheet surfaces, and these concave pores are surrounded by an interconnected network that was produced after the partial reduction of the nanosheet surface. The magnified HRTEM images were further studied ([Figs 3j--k](#f3){ref-type="fig"}, and [Supplementary Fig. S13a-f](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}), revealing that the shallow pores and the network actually belong to two different crystalline structures. One is metallic Ni with a lattice spacing of 0.19 nm, which most commonly appears in the interconnected networks; the other is NiO with a lattice spacing of 0.24 nm that is present on the concave pores of the nanosheets. The **Ni-NiO-10** **min** also basically retained the microflower morphology with a polycrystalline structure and possessed a large amount of pores in the nanosheet surface ([Supplementary, Fig. S12d-f](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}), which can be attributed to the fact that most NiO was converted to Ni.
Supercapacitor performance
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A three-electrode system was used to evaluate the electrochemical properties of the NiO microflower material and the series of Ni-NiO materials. [Figure 4a](#f4){ref-type="fig"} shows cyclic voltammogram (CV) curves of different electrodes in a 1.0 M KOH solution at a scan rate of 10 mV s^−1^. A pair of peaks is observed in the range of 0.35--0.55 V for all curves arising from the following redox reaction of NiO:
The Ni-NiO-2 min sample had a three times higher peak current density compared with the pristine NiO, and the Ni-NiO-5 min sample had an order of magnitude higher peak current density than the pristine NiO. Because most of the NiO was converted into Ni, the Ni-NiO-10 min sample showed a much smaller peak current density than the pristine NiO. The capacitance was calculated by integrating the area of the CV curve. The pristine NiO microflower material had a specific capacitance of 100.5 F g^−1^, a much smaller value than the theoretical value of NiO (2,584 F g^−1^). The Ni-NiO-2 min sample gravimetric capacitance was 388.9 F g^−1^, the Ni-NiO-5 min sample 964.9 F g^−1^, and the Ni-NiO-10 min sample 45.6 F g^−1^.
[Figure 4b](#f4){ref-type="fig"} shows a series of CV curves at various scan rates for the Ni-NiO-5 min sample. At a scan rate of 1 mV s^−1^, the specific capacitance was 1,579 F g^−1^, while that of the pristine NiO was 149.1 F g^−1^ and that of Ni-NiO-2 min was 754.4 F g^−1^. The Ni-NiO-5 min sample had the highest capacitance among the different samples at the same scan rate ([Supplementary, Fig. S14](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}), which delivered a capacitance of 515.4 F g^−1^ at a scan rate of up to 100 mV s^−1^, while the pristine NiO and the Ni-NiO-2 min samples had lower values of 55.3 F g^−1^ and 225 1 F g^−1^, respectively. The specific capacitance was also calculated based on the galvanostatic charge/discharge curves within a potential window of 0.1 \~ 0.67 V (*vs.* NHE) ([Supplementary, Fig. S15](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}); the Ni-NiO-5 min sample had a significantly improved capacitance compared with the other three NiO-based samples at the same current density, as reflected in [Fig. 4c](#f4){ref-type="fig"}.
CV and galvanostatic charge-discharge tests were further performed with a symmetrical two-electrode cell, which could provide reliable measurements for evaluating supercapacitors' performance[@b44]. It should be noted that for a two-electrode cell, we did not observe the pair of charge-discharge plateau in the range of 0 \~ 05 V, which should be present in the NiO system except for a charge plateau in the first charge process, suggesting that only oxidation reactions occur in the first scan. Therefore, the electrochemical tests were conducted within a −0.5 to 0.5 V voltage window. [Figure 4d](#f4){ref-type="fig"} shows rate-dependent CV curves of the supercapacitor with Ni-NiO-5 min at various scan rates from 1.0 to 500 mV/s. A pair of redox peaks between −0.1 and 0.1 V can be seen, which correspond to redox conversion reactions between NiO and NiOOH. The specific capacitance for the Ni-NiO-5 min is substantially larger than that based on pristine NiO at the same scan rates ([Supplementary, Fig. S16a](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). The improved electrochemical performance was confirmed by galvanostatic charge-discharge measurements performed at different current densities in a two-electrode cell. [Figure 4e](#f4){ref-type="fig"} shows the galvanostatic charge/discharge curves of a Ni-NiO-5 min symmetrical supercapacitor at different current densities. Two plateaus corresponding to redox reactions of NiO can be identified in the curves, indicating that the electrode material has a good pseudocapacitive characteristic and excellent electrochemical reversibility. The two-electrode cell based on Ni-NiO-5 min delivered specific capacitances of 1,828, 1,460, 1,266, 999, 848, 696, and 540 F g^−1^ at current densities of 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 5.0, 10.0, 20.0, and 50.0 A g^−1^, respectively. Further analyses show that the Ni-NiO-5 min has a significantly higher capacitance and better rate capability than a two-electrode supercapacitor based on pristine NiO ([Supplementary, Fig. S16b, c](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}).
[Figure 4f](#f4){ref-type="fig"} shows the relation between the current density and the energy density as well as the power density. The Ni-NiO-5min sample had the following characteristics: (i) An energy density as high as 15.9 Wh kg^−1^ at 0.5 A g^−1^, corresponding to 1,828 F g^−1^ and a power density of 0.12 kW kg^−1^; (ii) For 20 A g^−1^, an energy density of 6.0 Wh kg^−1^ and a power density of 5.1 kW kg^−1^; (iii) At 50 A g^−1^, an energy density of 3.1 Wh kg^−1^ and a power density of 13.2 kW kg^−1^. The Ni-NiO-5 min sample, with a bulk-density of 0.74 g cm^−3^, had a volumetric specific capacitance of 1,352.7 F cm^−3^ at 0.5 A g^−1^. The electrochemical stability was evaluated using the galvanostatic charge-discharge method on the Ni-NiO-5 min-based 2-electrode symmetrical supercapacitor at a current density of 5.0 A g^−1^ ([Fig. 4g](#f4){ref-type="fig"}). It retained more than 80% of its initial capacitance after 10,000 cycles, demonstrating that the Ni-NiO-5 min sample has reasonable electrochemical stability and cycle reversibility.
In order to further confirm the influence of the reduction treatment on the supercapacitor performance, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was performed on the series of NiO-based supercapacitors. The results are presented in terms of Nyquist plots in [Fig. 4h](#f4){ref-type="fig"}. The equivalent series resistance (ESR), which is a measure of conductivity related to the resistance of an electrode material, can be calculated from the intercept of the corresponding Nyquist plots on the Z real-axis. All supercapacitors exhibit an ESR value lower than 1.5 Ω, suggesting that the nickel foam provides an excellent current collector for active materials. The order of the intercept on Z real-axis for the four supercapacitors is: Ni-NiO-10 min (0.53 Ω) \< Ni-NiO-5 min (0.56 Ω) \< Ni-NiO-2 min (0.78 Ω) \< pristine NiO (1.03 Ω). The ESR value for these samples are consistent with the reduction level, indicating that the H~2~ treatment did contribute to reduce the ESR of NiO microflowers. In addition, in the low frequency region, the **Ni-NiO-5** **min** sample exhibits a near-vertical Nyquist line, while the pristine NiO and Ni-NiO-10 min shows more inclined Nyquist lines. The more vertical curve in a cell suggests easier diffusion of ions and more ideal capacitive behavior.
Discussion
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Although hierarchical 3D NiO microstructures were reported previously[@b37][@b38][@b39][@b40][@b41][@b42][@b43], an understanding of the formation of such unique microstructures is still lacking. Both SEM and TEM analysis prove that the NiO microflowers are actually composed of highly ordered nanowires. SEM images of typical products obtained under different conditions together demonstrate a clear and intuitive vision of the evolution process of the microflowers, as shown in [Fig. 5](#f5){ref-type="fig"}. The morphology changes from a microsphere built of nanowires, to a porous nanowire microsphere framework, and finally to microflowers constructed from nanosheets. These results provide strong evidence that the nanosheet building block in a Ni-based microflower has evolved from a nanowire "weaving" process.
Apparently, urea and SDS are two key ingredients in the formation of microflowers constructed from NiO nanosheets. The hydrolysis of urea under hydrothermal conditions generates ions (e.g., OH^−^, CO~3~^2−^) that are indispensable for precipitating Ni^2+^. In addition, the concentration of urea can significantly affect the morphology of the Ni-based products, indicating that urea also functions as a structure-directing agent to confine the growth of microspheres from nanoplates to nanowires. On the other hand, SDS acts as a "binder" for "weaving" these nanowires into large single-crystalline sheets that finally build a microflower. It is well-known that urea has two −NH~2~ groups joined by a carbonyl (C = O) functional group that tends to form a dense and energetically favorable hydrogen-bond network, which is probably critical to the formation of a Ni-based microsphere constructed from nanowires. Additionally, by virtue of its tendency to form a porous framework, urea also has the ability to trap anionic surfactants of SDS compounds and hold them in the channels formed by interpenetrating helices composed of hydrogen-bonded urea molecules[@b45][@b46]. The hydrophilic group of SDS then binds with Ni^2+^ or Ni-based complexes through static interactions and further induces the ultrahigh density parallel assembly of Ni-based nanowires[@b13][@b47] to subsequently "weave" them into nanosheets within the porous microsphere frameworks and finally evolve into a microflower structure ([Supplementary, Fig. S17](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). It should be noted that the reduction reaction of highly "woven" NiO nanowires results in the formation of a conductive network of metallic Ni, which is most likely due to rearrangement of Ni nanoparticles on the surfaces of the NiO.
It is known that the charge storage reactions in NiO-based supercapacitors are highly dependent on the electrode surface layer. Microflowers constructed from thin-layer nanosheets offer an ideal nanostructure to maximize the exposed active surface area at electrode/electrolyte interfaces, which makes it possible to make full use of the NiO. However, a large fraction of "dead surface" inevitably exists due to the poor electrical conductivity of NiO[@b25][@b26][@b27][@b28][@b29], as demonstrated by the low measured capacitance in pristine NiO microflowers. We also confirmed that partial reduction of other metal oxides contributed to an improved utilization efficiency of active materials ([Supplementary, Figs S18 and S19](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). In this work, partial reduction of NiO (Ni-NiO-5 min) led to the generation of an interconnected Ni network on its surface, which is completely different from the Ni-NiO nanocomposites[@b27][@b28][@b29][@b30] reported previously that are normally core-shell structures and do not have maximum access to electrolytes (by the active NiO material). First of all, the interconnected Ni network provides a network channel for electron transfer on the nanosheet surface and thus significantly improves the electrical conductivity. In addition, such an open hierarchical microflower enables both sides of every nanosheet to easily access ions/electrolyte for the redox reaction between NiO and NiOOH. And as a result, the Ni-NiO-5 min electrodes manifested a higher utilization efficiency, as evidenced by negligible decreases in specific capacitance values with increasing mass loadings ([Supplementary, Fig. S20](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). Moreover, the microflower structure can be beneficial to prevent agglomeration and to maintain the structural integrity because microflowers can accommodate the mechanical stress resulting from the volume change upon cycling. Therefore, the near-optimum Ni-NiO-5 min sample had a capacitance of around 1,828 F g^−1^ at a current density of 0.5 A g^−1^, with respectable power density and energy density. Notably, the capacitance of Ni-NiO-5 min is calculated as 2,240 F g^−1^ based on the mass of NiO, which almost approaches its theoretical capacitance (2,584 F g^−1^). In fact, the as-developed Ni-NiO-5 min outperforms nearly all NiO nanostructures reported previously in terms of various supercapacitor performance indices ([Supplementary, Table S1](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). It should be pointed out that both the bare carbon cloth and bare nickel foam current collectors delivered a capacitance less than 1.0 F g^−1^ ([Supplementary, Fig. S21 and S22](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}), confirming that the high capacitance originates from the Ni-NiO-5 min sample itself instead of the Ni-foam current collector. Furthermore, based on results of the two-electrode planar symmetrical supercapacitor (coin cell CR2032), the Ni-NiO-5 min can deliver a capacity of around 70 mAh g^−1^ at a current density of 0.5 A g^−1^ and 19 mAh g^−1^ even at a high current density of 50 mA g^−1^ ([Supplementary, Fig. S23](#S1){ref-type="supplementary-material"}), and holds an energy density approaching those of conventional batteries without sacrificing the high power that a supercapacitor typically offers.
To conclude, based on many experiments a 'weaving' mechanism is proposed for the first time to illustrate the formation of the hierarchical NiO structures with multiple characteristic dimensions: the 3D microflower was constructed from 2D nanosheets derived from a weaving process of 1D nanowires. An interconnected conductive Ni network on the surface of the nanosheet 'building blocks' of the microflower was produced through partial reduction of the NiO, rendering the material more electrically conductive and significantly improving the supercapacitor performance. Our approach may pave the way for understanding the formation mechanism of such 'microflower' nanostructures and further advancing other metal oxide-based electrode materials for supercapacitors with outstanding performance.
Methods
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Materials and Synthesis
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All chemicals were analytical grade and were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich and used without further treatment. The NiO microflower sample was prepared using a hydrothermal method followed by calcination. In a typical experiment, 0.6 g of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was dissolved in 60 ml water at room temperature to form a homogeneous and clear solution. 5.0 mmol urea was then added to the solution under drastic stirring. Afterwards, 5.0 mmol nickel chloride (NiCl~2~) was slowly added to this solution with vigorous agitation. The solution was then transferred to a 100 ml Teflon-lined stainless steel autoclave and heated at 150 °C for 5 h. The obtained green precipitates were filtered and washed six times with distilled water and absolute alcohol to remove all soluble materials. After drying the products were calcined at 500 °C for two hours. The NiO products were initially heated to 350 °C at a rate of 5 °C/min in argon and maintained at 350 °C with a flow of H~2~/Ar (1:9) gas for 5 min. The partially reduced product was automatically cooled under an Ar atmosphere. Major chemical reactions involved in the synthesis include:
Characterization
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The structures and morphologies of the as-prepared samples were obtained using a Hitachi H-800 TEM and a LEO 1530 SEM. XRD was performed on a Bruker D8-Advance X-ray powder diffractometer. Specific surface areas were measured at 77 K by BET nitrogen adsorption-desorption (Shimadzu, Micromeritics ASAP 2010 Instrument). To investigate the decomposition process of NiCO~3~∙Ni(OH)~2~ ∙ xH~2~O, the as-obtained hydrothermal samples were analyzed by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA, Mettler Toledo TGA-SDTA851 analyzer) from 25 to 500 °C under an air atmosphere with a heating rate of 5 °C/min. To analyze the content of metallic Ni in Ni-NiO, TGA analysis was carried out on the Ni-NiO-5 min samples by first heating them to 300 °C with a heating rate of 5 °C/min and maintaining them at 300 °C for 30 minutes under Ar protection, which can eliminate the effect of adsorbed water; the samples were then heated to 450 °C in air to investigate the oxidation reaction of metallic Ni. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was carried out on VG ESCA 2000 with Mg K*α* as the X-ray source and the C1s peak at 284.6 eV as an internal standard.
Electrochemical Measurements
----------------------------
Electrochemical measurements were conducted using a three-electrode system with a saturated calomel electrode (SCE) and Pt gauze as the reference and the counter electrodes, respectively. Working electrodes were prepared by mixing NiO samples, carbon black (5 wt.%), and poly-vinylidene fluoride (PVDF, 5 wt.%) in N-Methylpyrrolidone (NMP) to form a slurry, which was then pasted onto carbon cloth and dried at a temperature of 80 °C in a vacuum oven. Cyclic voltammetry was conducted using a CHI 760 electrochemical station in 1.0 M KOH aqueous electrolytes with a voltage range of 0.1 \~ 0.67 V at various scan rates. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was performed by applying an AC voltage with an amplitude of 5 mV within the frequency range from 100 kHz to 50 mHz on the series of NiO-based two-electrode supercapacitors. Galvanostatic charge-discharge tests were also conducted in a CHI 760 electrochemical station using the same system as that used for the above CV testing. The specific capacitance (C~m~, F g^−1^) was calculated based on CV (Eq. [1](#eq13){ref-type="disp-formula"}) and galvanostatic charge-discharge tests (Eq. 2):
where I is the current (A), V is the voltage, v is the scan rate (V s^−1^), and m is the mass (g) of the active material in the electrode. ΔV is the potential range for the electrochemical process and Δt is the discharge time.
A stainless-steel coin cell (CR2032) supercapacitor with two symmetrical electrodes was assembled in air. To prepare the working electrode, a paste mixture consisting of active materials (Ni-NiO, 90%), acetylene black (5%), and PVDF (5%) was compressed onto a nickel foam current collector (Φ = 0.5 inches). After drying, the pellets with an active material weight of around 0.8 mg were assembled into a symmetrical supercapacitor, in which 1.0 M KOH solution was used as the electrolyte and a hydrophilic Millipore PVDF membrane was used as the separator. Cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge-discharge tests were carried out using CHI 760 electrochemical station and a Land battery tester system. The gravimetric capacitance (F g^−1^) based on the CV curve was calculated as:
where *I* is the current recorded (unit: A), *dV*/*dt* is the scan rate mV s^−1^, and m is the average mass (g) of the active material in each electrode.
With the galvanostatic charge/discharge plots based on two-electrode cells, the specific capacitance (*C*~m~, unit: F g^−1^) of a single electrode, the energy density (*D*~*e*~, unit: Wh kg^−1^), and the power density (*D*~*p*~, unit: kW kg^−1^) of the supercapacitor were calculated based on Eqs [4](#eq10){ref-type="disp-formula"}, [5](#eq11){ref-type="disp-formula"}, [6](#eq12){ref-type="disp-formula"}:
where *I* is the constant discharge current (unit: A), ∆*t* is *t*he discharge time (unit: s), and ∆*V* is the voltage window (0.5 V), and m is the average total mass (g) of the active material in both electrodes. The density of our NiO-based microflower products is ∼0.74 g cm^−3^, and the volumetric capacitance was calculated as:
where D is the bulk density calculated as the average of the mass of many particles of the material divided by the total volume they occupy.
Additional Information
======================
**How to cite this article**: Ci, S. *et al.* NiO-Microflower Formed by Nanowire-weaving Nanosheets with Interconnected Ni-network Decoration as Supercapacitor Electrode. *Sci. Rep.* **5**, 11919; doi: 10.1038/srep11919 (2015).
Supplementary Material {#S1}
======================
###### Supplementary Information
This work was financially supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DE-EE0003208). We thank Prof. Peter A. Thrower (Emeritus Editor-in-Chief, CARBON) for his kind help with manuscript proofreading.
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
**Author Contributions** Z.W. and J.C. conceived the idea. Z.W. and Y.Q. performed the material fabrication experiments. Z.W. and S.Q.C. conducted the electrochemical tests. S.H.M. and S.M.C. performed SEM and TEM characterizations. Z.W. and J.C. co-wrote the paper. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.
{#f1}
{#f2}
{#f3}
{#f4}
{#f5}
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Central"
}
|
#ubuntu-design 2012-06-06
<sladen> jnick_tait: is mattchap in today?
<jnick_tait> sladen, yes indeed
<sladen> jnick_tait: okay-dokey. I'll go and see the Tower Bridge lift at 15:30, and then head to Blue Fin after
<sladen> night night all
#ubuntu-design 2012-06-10
<thorwil> godbyk: 10.04 second edition, now? 0.o
#ubuntu-design 2013-06-03
* snwh is away: Away
* snwh is back (gone 00:00:01)
* xnox thinks.... maybe be gone for just a little while, but it was not specified how many timezones were crossed ;-)
#ubuntu-design 2013-06-08
* snwh is away: Away
#ubuntu-design 2013-06-09
* snwh is back (gone 38:58:00)
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Ubuntu IRC"
}
|
The long-term goal of the laboratory is to gain a structural understanding of the molecular organization and function of biological macromolecules at the biological membrane interface. Our focus of this study is to understand physical mechanisms of ion selectivity, conductance regulation, channel gating of ion channel proteins, and the structural basis of molecular specificity for oligomerization by X-ray crystallography. The first specific goal is to determine the three-dimensional structure of the tetramerization domain of Shaker potassium channel. We have obtained three-dimensional crystals of the soluble domain of this channel that diffract X-ray beyond 2.0 Angstroms. Crystals belong to the space group I4 with one subunit molecule per asymmetric unit. We have also obtained three-dimensional crystals of the soluble, domain of a channel from a different subfamily of potassium channel Shaw that diffract X-ray to about 3.0 Angstroms. The second specific goal is to determine the atomic structure of an inwardly rectifying potassium channel ROMK1 from rat kidney. Towards this goal, the underlying hypothesis of our novel strategy is that the lipid- facing exterior of a channel protein can be mutated systematically without perturbing its channel function. Site-directed mutagenesis was used as a perturbation method in order to identify the lipid-facing residues. Based on this study, simultaneous changes have been introduced at sites in its transmembrane lipid-facing exterior of the channel, which do not alter the channel function. The surface of this exterior-modified channel has a sequence motif known to form a specific helix-to-helix interaction, through which the exterior-modified channel itself is solubilized by binding of synthetic amphipathic peptides to the channel exterior in the aqueous phase without the use of detergents. Understanding the structural basis for tetramerization will provide an essential knowledge on the physical nature of channel diversity. From the atomic model of the ROMK1 channel, we seek to establish the exterior- modification strategy that will be generally applicable to structural studies of a variety of integral membrane proteins such as ion channels and transmembrane receptors.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "NIH ExPorter"
}
|
A buck power converter is circuitry to operate a buck power stage 10 as shown in FIG. 1 to step down an input voltage Vin to an output voltage Vo for a load Rload, and a boost power converter is circuitry to operate a boost power stage 12 as shown in FIG. 2 to step up an input voltage Vin to an output voltage Vo for a load Rload. Unfortunately, a conventional buck power converter or boost power converter is inadequate to provide a stable voltage for a system, for example a portable device, that uses a battery as its power source Vin because a battery is unable to provide a stable voltage all the time during its lifetime.
Since the voltage of a battery descends with exhaustion of its power, a system using a battery as its power source requires a power converter switchable between a buck mode and a boost mode. A buck-boost power converter is circuitry to operate a buck-boost power stage 14 as shown in FIG. 3 to step down or step up an input voltage Vin to an output voltage Vo for a load Rload. However, such a buck-boost power converter produces a negative output voltage Vo and is thus unsuitable for some applications. Therefore, a buck-boost power stage 16 as shown in FIG. 4 was proposed, by which a positive output voltage Vo is generated from an input voltage Vin. For operating the buck-boost power stage 16 shown in FIG. 4, there have been proposed many control circuits and methods, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,166,527 and 7,518,346. Nevertheless, these arts are still not sufficient for users' demands.
Therefore, it is desired a novel control circuit and method for a buck-boost power converter.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
}
|
Transformation of shape information in the ventral pathway.
Object perception seems effortless to us, but it depends on intensive neural processing across multiple stages in ventral pathway visual cortex. Shape information at the retinal level is hopelessly complex, variable and implicit. The ventral pathway must somehow transform retinal signals into much more compact, stable and explicit representations of object shape. Recent findings highlight key aspects of this transformation: higher-order contour derivatives, structural representation in object-based coordinates, composite shape tuning dimensions, and long-term storage of object knowledge. These coding principles could help to explain our remarkable ability to perceive, distinguish, remember and understand a virtual infinity of objects.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
The 23-year-old man linked to the deadly bombings that rocked Austin, Texas, and surrounding areas over the past month had a "target list" of future locations he wanted to strike, the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security said Thursday.
Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said that authorities have discovered that Mark Anthony Conditt, 23, had a "target list of future targets" including residences and addresses discovered by authorities.
"I think he had pulled these addresses, these were his future targets. It was a target list." he said on "America's Newsroom."
McCaul added that based on the data authorities were able to retrieve from Conditt, they were able to go the homes and "clear them" from any suspicious packages.
"We were also able to use technology to find a digital footprint of where his cellphone had been, so that the key evidence was getting his cellphone number so that when he turned his cellphone immediately the SWAT teams descended on him at about 3 o’clock in the morning so we got close to him before he blew himself up," he said.
McCaul told Fox News that authorities are now looking at those addresses that Conditt pulled to try to find a link between them.
"That is what we are looking at right now. What is the common denominator between all these victims, or is it just completely random?" he said.
McCaul said law enforcement conducted a search of the home in Pflugerville, located northeast of Austin on Wednesday and have "a lot of computer data, hard drives."
"Those things will be very telling along with social media about what was motivating him to do this, and also was there any connectivity between all these victims or was it just a completely random event," he told Fox News.
AUSTIN BOMBER KNOWN AS 'COMPUTER GEEK,' PERSON WHO WAS 'ROUGH AROUND THE EDGES'
Conditt also used "exotic batteries" to make his weapons that terrorized Austin this month, according to McCaul, who added that because he used "very unique" battery packs ordered off the internet from Asia, authorities were able to see all of the devices were from the same bomb maker.
The 23-year-old had also used nails purchased at a Home Depot, according to the congressman.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Conditt's purchases at the Home Depot also included five "CHILDREN AT PLAY" signs, one of which was used to rig a tripwire that was set off by two men Sunday in a southwest Austin neighborhood. One of them was walking and the other was riding a bike.
AUSTIN BOMBER RECORDED 25-MINUTE 'CONFESSION' TO HIS DEADLY CRIMES, POLICE SAY
McCaul said that that Conditt's 25-minute-long "confession" to his crimes before detonating a bomb in his sport utility vehicle as officers moved in for an arrest near Austin was a sign of a "disturbed young man."
"I think it's clear from his confession that this is not terror-related, although he terrorized the city of Austin," he said.
Officers located the recording, in which Conditt described creating seven devices, including one he blew up during the conflict with police, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said at a news conference. The recording was made on a phone, which was found in the suspect's possession following the confrontation.
In the recording, Manley said the message is rather "the outcry of a very challenged young man talking about challenges in his personal life."
|
{
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
}
|
Modification of heart sarcolemmal Na+/K+-ATPase activity during development of the calcium paradox.
This study examined the status of sarcolemmal Na+/K+-ATPase activity in rat heart under conditions of Ca2+-paradox to explore the existence of a relationship between changes in Na+/K+-pump function and myocardial Na+ as well as K+ content. One min of reperfusion with Ca2+ after 5 min of Ca2+-free perfusion reduced Na+/K+-ATPase activity in the isolated heart by 53% while Mg2+-ATPase, another sarcolemmal bound enzyme, retained 74% of its control activity. These changes in sarcolemmal ATPase activities were dependent on the duration and Ca2+ concentration of the initial perfusion and subsequent reperfusion periods; however, the Na+/K+-ATPase activity was consistently more depressed than Mg2+-ATPase activity under all conditions. The depression in both enzyme activities was associated with a reduction in Vmax without any changes in Km values. Low Na+ perfusion and hypothermia, which protect the isolated heart from the Ca2+-paradox, also prevented reperfusion-induced enzyme alterations. A significant relationship emerged upon comparison of the changes in myocardial Na+ and K+ content to Na+/K+-ATPase activity under identical conditions. At least 60% of the control enzyme activity was necessary to maintain normal cation gradients. Depression of the Na+/K+-ATPase activity by 60-65% resulted in a marked increase and decrease in intracellular Na+ and K+ content, respectively. These results suggest that changes in myocardial Na+ and K+ content during Ca2+-paradox are related to activity of the Na+/K+-pump; the impaired Na+/K+-ATPase activity may lead to augmentation of Ca2+-overload via an enhancement of the Na+/Ca2+-exchange system.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
// I noticed this on the ConEmu web site:
//
// https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/40c8e395-cca9-45c8-b9b8-2fbe6782ac2b/readconsoleoutput-cause-access-violation-writing-location-exception
// https://conemu.github.io/en/MicrosoftBugs.html
//
// In Windows 7, 8, and 8.1, a ReadConsoleOutputW with an out-of-bounds read
// region crashes the application. I have reproduced the problem on Windows 8
// and 8.1, but not on Windows 7.
//
#include <windows.h>
#include "TestUtil.cc"
int main() {
setWindowPos(0, 0, 1, 1);
setBufferSize(80, 25);
setWindowPos(0, 0, 80, 25);
const HANDLE conout = openConout();
static CHAR_INFO lineBuf[80];
SMALL_RECT readRegion = { 0, 999, 79, 999 };
const BOOL ret = ReadConsoleOutputW(conout, lineBuf, {80, 1}, {0, 0}, &readRegion);
ASSERT(!ret && "ReadConsoleOutputW should have failed");
return 0;
}
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Github"
}
|
Introduction {#S5}
============
Crohn\'s disease (CD), one of the two types of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), is characterized by inappropriate and continuous activation of the mucosal immune system \[[@R1],[@R2]\]. In the normal small intestine, Paneth cells, an important part of the innate mucosal immune system, maintain microbial homeostasis by secreting defensins, a class of cationic peptides with a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity \[[@R3]\]. The two broad categories of defensins include α and β-defensins. In the small intestine, α-defensin 5 (DEFA5) is secreted into the lumen of intestinal crypts by Paneth cells after activation of the NOD2 receptor by bacterial endotoxins \[[@R4]-[@R6]\]. The α-defensins are chemotactic for cells of both innate and adaptive immune systems, including macrophages and T cells \[[@R7]\]. They are involved in several processes that maintain intestinal homeostasis, including regulation of gut flora, intestinal inflammation, stem cell protection, and crypt development \[[@R8]-[@R10]\]. In genetically susceptible individuals, changes in intestinal bacterial flora, including commensal bacteria, play a role in IBD pathogenesis. These changes contribute to the initiation and perpetuation of chronic mucosal inflammation \[[@R11]-[@R14]\]. Since defensins maintain the balance between commensal microbes and intestinal mucosa, their dysregulation could contribute to IBD pathogenesis. Defensin expression has been shown to be altered in the setting of NOD2 mutations and changes in certain signaling pathways, but no research has demonstrated the role of microRNAs in defensin regulation. However, SNPs within the 3′ UTR of DEFA5, have been linked with increased susceptibility to IBD, suggesting the possible role of miRNA regulation \[[@R15]\]. Additionally, post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression, such as that by microRNAs, has been shown to play an important role in IBD pathogenesis \[[@R16]-[@R18]\]. Altered miRNA expression profiles exist in active IBD indicating that changes in miRNA expression are associated with disease \[[@R17]-[@R21]\]. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the role of miRNAs in regulating DEFA5 expression using Caco-2 cells as a model of Paneth cells.
Materials and Methods {#S6}
=====================
Cell lines and cell culture {#S7}
---------------------------
Human colonic epithelial cell lines (Caco-2, HT29, and HCT116 cells) were previously obtained and used for this study. The Caco-2 cells were cultured in Dulbecco\'s Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM) (Cellgro, Manassas, VA), while the HT29 and HCT116 cells were cultured in McCoy\'s 5A Medium (Cellgro, Manassas, VA). The culture medium was supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) and 1% penicillin/streptomycin. All cell lines were cultured at 37°C in a humidified atmosphere containing 5% CO~2~ and the medium was changed every two days. FGF-2 (10 ng/ml, R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN) was solubilized in culture medium containing heparin sodium salt (1.25 ug/ml; Sigma, St. Louis, MO). FGF-2 was added daily beginning at 24 hours post-plating and until cells were harvested for assay, as described previously \[[@R22]\]. Caco-2 cells have previously been used as a model of Paneth cells, and differentiation into a Paneth cell phenotype has been confirmed with Paneth cell markers, including expression of alpha-defensin 5, alpha-defensin 6, lysozyme, and sPLA2 in previous studies \[[@R22]-[@R24]\]. For experiments in which Caco-2 cells were stimulated with TNFα, Caco-2 cells were first treated with FGF-2 for 72 hours, followed by addition of medium alone (control) or medium containing TNFα (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN) at 50 ng/mL. Cells were harvested at four hours for mRNA and 8 hours for protein analyses. Prior to cell harvesting for Western blot, Caco-2 cells were treated with Brefeldin-A (Sigma) at 5 ug/ml for a total of 8 hours (replenished every four hours) to prevent secretion of DEFA5 into the cellular medium.
Total RNA {#S8}
---------
Total RNA was isolated using TRIzol reagent (Life Technologies, Grand Island, NY) according to the manufacturer\'s protocol. RNA concentrations were determined using a Nano-Drop 1000 spectrophotometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Wilmington, DE). The isolated RNA was stored at -80°C until use in Quantitative Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR).
Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction for mRNA {#S9}
---------------------------------------------------------------------
One microgram of total RNA was converted to complementary DNA (cDNA) using the qScript cDNA SuperMix (Quanta Biosciences, Gaithersburg, MD). qRT-PCR was performed using SYBR Green Power PCR Master Mix (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA). The qRT-PCR amplifications were performed on the LightCycler 480 realtime PCR system (Roche, Indianapolis, IN). The cycles passing threshold (Ct) were recorded and the expression of GAPDH was used as an internal control. The primers for DEFA5 were 5′-ACCCAGAAGCAGTCTGGGGAAGA-3′ (forward) and 5′ -- GGTGGCTCTTGCCTGAGAACCTGA-3′ (reverse). The primers for GAPDH were 5′ -- CGACCACTTTGTCAAGCTCA-3′ (forward) and 5′-AGGGGAGATTCAGTGTGGTG-3′ (reverse).
Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction for miRNA {#S10}
----------------------------------------------------------------------
One microgram of total RNA was converted to cDNA using the NCode VILO miRNA cDNA Synthesis Kit (Life Technologies)followed by qPCR using the NCode EXPRESS SYBR GreenER miRNA qRT-PCR kit (Life Technologies). The cycles passing threshold were recorded and the expression of miRNAs was calculated relative to U6B, a ubiquitously expressed small nuclear RNA. The forward primer for miR-124 was 5′- TAAGGCACGCGGTGAATGCC-3′. The forward primer for miR-924 was 5′-CCTCTGCCCTCTAAAGGTTTGC-3′. The forward primer for U6B was 5′-CGCAAGGATGACACGCAAATTCG-3′. The reverse primer was the NCode miRNA universal qPCR primer (Invitrogen). Data are presented as target miRNA or mRNA expression=2ΔCt, with ΔCt=(U6B or GAPDH Ct -- target miRNA or mRNA Ct). qRT-PCR was carried out in triplicate for each sample for both the U6B or GAPDH control and each miRNA or mRNA.
Western blot {#S11}
------------
Cells were lysed in cold RIPA buffer (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Rockford, IL) supplemented with 1% protease and phosphatase inhibitor cocktail (Thermo Fisher Scientific). Protein concentrations were determined with the BCA protein assay (Thermo Fisher Scientific). Cell lysates were suspended in × Laemmli sample buffer (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA) containing 5% 2-mercaptoethanol and boiled for 5 minutes. After heat denaturation, total protein lysates (30 ug/lane) were subjected to tricine-SDS-PAGE \[[@R25]\]. The proteins were then transferred electrophoretically to 0.2 um PVDF membranes. Membranes were blocked in blocking buffer (LI-COR Biosciences, Lincoln, NE) diluted 1:1 in × PBS for 1 hour at room temperature. The blots were incubated with mouse anti-DEFA5 (Santa Cruz Biotechnologies, Santa Cruz, CA; 1:200 dilution), goat anti-actin (Sigma; 1:1000 dilution), and mouse anti-GAPDH (Life Technologies; 1:1000 dilution) overnight at 4°C. After washing with PBST, blots were incubated with Alexa Fluor 680 (Life Technologies) and IRDye 800CW (LI-COR Biosciences) conjugated secondary antibodies (1:10,000 dilution) for 1 hour at room temperature. The band intensities were quantified using an Odyssey infrared imaging system (LI-COR Biosciences) and analyzed using Image Studio Lite 3.1 (LI-COR Biosciences).
DEFA5 3′ UTR construct {#S12}
----------------------
The full-length 3′ UTR of DEFA5 (nucleotides 328-451 of NM_021010) was cloned into the PmeI and SacI sites downstream of the dual firefly and Renilla luciferase reporter vector, pmirGLO construct (Promega, Madison, WI) by GenScript. The full length 3′ UTR was also used as a template to mutate the entire seed region of the putative miR-124 and miR-924 binding sites.
miRNA mimic and luciferase construct transfection {#S13}
-------------------------------------------------
Synthesized RNA duplexes of miRNA mimics (agomiRs) to miR-124 and miR-924 and the negative control were obtained from Sigma (St. Louis, MO). A miRNA mimic or a luciferase construct was transfected into Caco-2 cells using Lipofectamine 2000 reagent (Life Technologies) according to the manufacturer\'s guidelines. At 24 hours post-transfection, cells were harvested for RNA and protein analyses or were harvested for measurement of luciferase activities.
Luciferase reporter assay {#S14}
-------------------------
Caco-2 cells were lysed in passive lysis buffer and then analyzed for the firefly and Renilla luciferase activities using the Dual-Luciferase Reporter Assay System (Promega) on the GloMax-Multi Detection System Luminometer (Promega) according to the manufacturer\'s instructions. The firefly luciferase activity was normalized to the renilla luciferase activity.
Statistical analysis {#S15}
--------------------
All experiments were performed with four biological repeats in triplicate. R (R Development Core Team, Vienna, Austria) was used for statistical analysis \[[@R26]\]. Statistical significance was determined by 2-tailed Student\'s t tests (for comparison of two conditions) and one-way ANOVA for comparison of multiple groups. Data are presented as mean ± standard error of the mean. P\< 0.05 was considered significant.
Results {#S16}
=======
DEFA5 expression in colonic epithelial cells {#S17}
--------------------------------------------
Alpha defensin expression and inducible expression by FGF-2 were ascertained in three different colonic epithelial cell lines: Caco-2, HCT116, and HT29. Both the Caco-2 and HCT116 cell lines expressed DEFA5, while the HT29 cell lines did not express DEFA5. DEFA5 expression was significantly increased in Caco-2 cells following treatment for 72 hours with FGF-2, as previously demonstrated by Brodrick et al. and Tan et al. ([Figure 1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}) \[[@R22]-[@R24]\]. Because Caco-2 cells expressed the α-defensins at a highly inducible level, all subsequent work was conducted in that cell line. Next, we confirmed that DEFA5 mRNA expression was inducible in Caco-2 cells by both FGF-2 and TNFα. Specifically, DEFA5 mRNA expression after treatment with FGF-2 (10 ng/ml) for 72 hours and FGF-2 for 72 hours plus TNFα (50 ng/ml) for 4 hours was measured ([Figure 2A](#F2){ref-type="fig"}). Caco-2 cells stimulated with FGF-2 resulted in a statistically significant 5.3 fold increase and those stimulated with FGF-2 followed by TNFα resulted in a statistically significant 17.5 fold increase ([Figure 2A](#F2){ref-type="fig"}). Treatment of Caco-2 cells with FGF-2 in combination with TNFα for 8 hours resulted in a statistically significant 1.8 fold increase in protein expression as measured by densitometry performed on Western blots ([Figure 2B](#F2){ref-type="fig"}). An example Western blot of Actin and DEFA5 is shown ([Figure 2C](#F2){ref-type="fig"}).
Expressions of miRNAs that bind to DEFA5 3′ UTR in Caco-2 cells {#S18}
---------------------------------------------------------------
An in silico analysis utilizing miRBase and TargetScan identified fifteen putative miRNA binding sites in the 3′ UTR of DEFA5. We identified the miRNAs with putative binding sites in the DEFA5 3′UTR and searched for miRNAs that were down-regulated in response to FGF-2 and TNFα. Of those miRNAs, we identified miR-124 and mi-924 ([Figure 3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}) \[[@R27]-[@R30]\]. The other thirteen miRNAs were not examined further due to low relative expression. Because we hypothesized that the FGF- and TNFα- induced increase in DEFA5 expression may be influenced by a corresponding down-regulation of regulatory miRNAs, we examined the expression of miR-124 and miR-924 in response to FGF-2 and TNFα ([Figure 4](#F4){ref-type="fig"}). DEFA5 induction was accompanied by a significant decrease in expression of miR-124 and miR-924 compared to unstimulated cells ([Figures 4A and 4B](#F4){ref-type="fig"}). Our data demonstrate an inverse correlation between DEFA5 expression and the expression of miR-124 and miR-924, suggesting that DEFA5 may be regulated by miRNAs. Additionally, these data raise the possibility that the effect of FGF-2 and TNFα may be at least in part mediated by a down-regulation of DEFA5-associated miRNAs. To determine the effect of endogenous miRNAs on DEFA5 expression, a luciferase reporter construct containing the wild-type DEFA5 3′UTR was transfected into unstimulated Caco-2 cells. Transfecting this construct resulted in a 76% decrease in relative luciferase activity compared to transfection of the empty vector, which contained no 3′ UTR ([Figure 5](#F5){ref-type="fig"}). These data indicate that the DEFA5 3′ UTR has functional miRNA binding sites to which endogenous miRNAs can bind and negatively regulate DEFA5 gene expression. Next, a luciferase reporter construct containing the DEFA5 3′ UTR with mutated binding sites of either miR-124 or miR-924 were transfected into Caco-2 cells. Transfection of the mismatched miR-124 construct resulted in a restoration to 66% of the relative luciferase activities of the empty vector ([Figure 5](#F5){ref-type="fig"}). Transfection of the mismatched miR-924 construct restored relative luciferase activities to 85% of the empty vector ([Figure 5](#F5){ref-type="fig"}). These data indicate that mutation of the binding sites led to a loss of regulation by each miRNA. This increase in relative luciferase activity compared to transfection of the empty vector was statistically significant in both miRNAs tested. We next tested whether miR-124 and miR-924 can negatively regulate basal DEFA5 expression. A miR-124 or miR-924 mimic was transiently transfected into Caco-2 cells and DEFA5 mRNA expression assessed ([Figure 6](#F6){ref-type="fig"}). The miR-124 and miR-924 mimics significantly decreased DEFA5 mRNA expression by 47% and 50%, respectively. In addition, transfection of the miR-124 mimic resulted in a 75% decrease in DEFA5 protein expression as demonstrated by densitometry and transfection of the miR-924 mimic resulted in a 60% decrease in DEFA5 protein expression. Overall, these data suggest that miRNAs negatively regulate the mRNA and protein expression of DEFA5.
Discussion {#S19}
==========
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show miRNA regulation of DEFA5. We hypothesized that miRNAs regulate DEFA5 expression. We compared the expression of DEFA5 and miRNAs with putative binding sites in the 3′ UTR of DEFA5 in Caco-2 cells. We found that the expression of miR-124 and miR-924 was inversely correlated with that of DEFA5. Additionally, transfecting luciferase constructs containing the DEFA5 3′ UTR into Caco-2 cells resulted in decreased relative luciferase activity compared to transfecting empty vectors. Furthermore, creating a mismatch in the seed region of the miR-124 and miR-924 in the 3′UTR of DEFA5 resulted in restoration of luciferase activity. Finally, transfection of the miR-124 and miR-924 mimics significantly decreased DEFA5 mRNA expression and protein expression.
MicroRNAs regulate many processes, including differentiation and activation of the cells of the immune system. They have been demonstrated to play a role in a number of autoimmune diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, and IBD \[[@R31]-[@R34]\]. Overall, the role of miRNAs as key negative regulators of inflammation, innate immunity, and epithelial function is being increasingly recognized \[[@R35]\]. A number of changes in miRNA expression in IBD and inflammation have been described \[[@R16]-[@R18]\]. As a result, miRNA regulation as an important component of intestinal epithelial innate immunity in epithelial cells is logical \[[@R36],[@R37]\]. In a murine model, miR-146a regulated gut inflammation via the NOD2-sonic hedgehog (SHH) signaling pathway by suppressing SHH and ultimately resulting in increased pro-inflammatory cytokine expression \[[@R38]\]. Conversely, in HT29 cells, miR-122 decreased pro-inflammatory cytokines by downregulating LPS-induced NOD2 expression \[[@R39]\].
Specifically, we demonstrated that miRs-124 and -924 influence DEFA5 gene expression. Our data identifies an additional role for miR-124, which previously had been shown to be involved in IBD by regulation of STAT3 and regulation of CNS macrophages \[[@R40],[@R41]\]. In children with UC and mice with experimental colitis, miR-124 levels were significantly decreased while STAT3 and downstream genes were up-regulated \[[@R40]\]. The IL6/STAT3 pathway activation has been shown to play a role in colitis by promoting inappropriate survival of T cells \[[@R42]\]. In a study examining CNS inflammation in vivo and in an experimental model, miR-124 was shown to play a central role in regulating microglial and macrophage quiescence \[[@R41]\]. miR-124 inhibited macrophage activation by binding the C/EBPα transcription factor \[[@R41]\]. This study defines a novel role for miR-924, which has not been previously described to regulate any genes.
A growing body of research demonstrates that defensins play a central role in IBD pathogenesis, in part related to changes in Wnt-signaling and mutations in NOD2 \[[@R43]-[@R45]\]. However, these mutations do not explain changes in defensin expression in a large proportion of patients, and these changes in defensin expression could perhaps be accounted for by dysregulation of miRNA regulation, as demonstrated in this study.
These changes in miRNA expression may explain alterations in α-defensin expression in IBD. Crohn\'s disease of the terminal ileum is unique because of the large number of Paneth cells and the highest density of microbes in the distal small intestine, which is otherwise low in the normal proximal small intestine \[[@R46],[@R47]\].
In the ileal mucosa of CD, a decrease in antimicrobial activity could be attributed to decreased Paneth cell α-defensin expression \[[@R13]\]. The decreased levels of expression have been suggested to be predisposing factor for development of CD \[[@R13]\]. Additionally, these decreased levels in terminal ileum of CD patients with ileal disease involvement were noted to occur regardless of the presence of inflammation \[[@R14],[@R43],[@R48]\]. Levels of other Paneth cell products were unchanged or increased, indicating that the decrease in DEFA5 could be due to a defect in Paneth cell α-defensin regulation \[[@R14]\]. Alterations in miRNA regulation in IBD may explain defective α-defensin regulation in patients\' whose disease cannot be attributed to mutations in NOD2.
One limitation of this study was the absence of an ideal experimental model. Colonic epithelial cell lines express α-defensin at relatively low levels. Because human Paneth cells do not survive under in vitro culture conditions, Caco-2 intestinal epithelial cells were selected since they share characteristics with small intestinal epithelial differentiation in vitro and constitutively express NOD2, much like Paneth cells \[[@R5],[@R49]\]. Caco-2 cells also express fibroblast growth factor receptor-3, which is a critical regulator of Paneth cell differentiation during gut development \[[@R22],[@R50]\]. Additionally, Caco-2 cells treated with FGF-2 provides the most suitable in vitro model available, as demonstrated in previous studies \[[@R22]-[@R24]\]. While the use of Caco-2 cells confirmed the regulation of DEFA5 by miRNAs, it may not exactly reflect small intestine physiology.
Overall, this study demonstrates that miRNAs are an important negative regulator of DEFA5. Our data establishes miRNA regulation of defensins and raises the possibility of dysfunctional miRNA regulation contributing to reduced DEFA5 levels seen in CD. Further examination of miRNA regulation of defensins, especially in inflammatory states, may contribute to a better understanding of the pathogenesis and may lead to the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for IBD patients.
We acknowledge Mark Musch PhD for assistance with tissue culture, and Edith Porter MD for assistance in measuring DEFA5 by Western blot. We acknowledge the following sources of support: the National Institute of Health (K08 DK078046 to J.H.K.), the NIH DDRCC core grant (P30 DK42086), and the NIH NIDDK training grant (T32 DK007074 to D.R.B.M.)
{#F1}
{#F2}
{#F3}
{#F4}
{#F5}
{#F6}
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{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Central"
}
|
Jay McGwire idolized his older brothers, became hooked on steroids, crashed, found God, and now…
Read more Read more
(Updated additional quote in bold)
Lauren Brown contacted us exclusively to share some of the incidents she'd witnessed first hand while she was dating Mark's younger brother. She called off her engagement to Jay in 1996 due to his steroid use — specifically "roid rage" incidents. But, even though she has bad memories of their engagement and the person Jay was at that time, she claims he is absolutely telling the truth.
"I know the truth. It needs to be told. And why shouldn't Jay tell the story instead of some random media person? He knows the truth," she told me on the phone. "Why shouldn't he be the one telling this story? What's being said about him, that he's a bad person, is awful. People don't want to believe that a superstar is fallen. That Mark lied. Mark made his own choices. So did Jay, but he's owned up to them. I tip my hat off to him for that."
Brown says that she accompanied Jay to the 1996 Contra Costa Body Building Championship and, on the way there, they had to stop at Mark's house. "I remember asking why we didn't fly there — and why we had to drive." Now she assumes it was so Jay could transport the steroids. She says that while she was at Mark's house, she claims she saw steroids in Mark's refrigerator or actually "Several tubes of an injectible substance."
She says that she knew well enough that Jay was Mark's supplier at the time and that he also tried to get her to take steroids as well as part of her own training regiment. She did not. Brown also says that the fact Mark so carelessly left his steroids in plain view makes her believe that "he didn't think what they [Mark and Jay] were doing was wrong."
Brown also speculates that the steroids — and Jay's personal training of his big brother — were what forged a bond between them that wasn't there most of their lives. A bond that Jay longed for with his big brother, but could never seem to have for whatever reason.
But she also said that their relationship was combustible. That the arguments between the two of them over the phone were extremely violent and were, she claims, total roid rage arguments. "I could hear Mark yelling at Jay over the phone from about 20 yards away."
But why is Jay doing this now? Brown said, yes, there is a financial reason for him to do it, but that Jay's born again Christianity has changed him in so many ways that she doesn't think his intentions are malicious.
"Jay should be the one to tell the truth about what transpired. He was a first hand witness. Jay's faith catapulted him to stop steroids and live an honest life. Mark could learn a lot from his baby brother. After all, he was a better athlete with an unfortunate handicap that prevented him from going pro, " Brown said.
" I really think he has a burning desire to do what's right — it's not about trying to throw Mark under the bus. At least he was trying to do the right thing. I respect him for that. Mark, not so much."
Brown said she has no ill-will toward the McGwire's at all — no motivation to speak up on this issue besides the fact that she's also "been questioned about all this stuff for years" by many people who knew how close she was to the McGwire family.
"I'm just happy that Jay has gotten his life together and the truth about Mark will finally get out there. It's been too long."
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
The ipod nano is brand new. I've opened it out of the box and tested it for about 5 minutes to verify that everything is in perfect working order. I already own 1 and recieved this as a gift is the reason for selling.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
The present invention relates to an apparatus for creating a shower stall and more particularly to an apparatus which can be mounted in a room and reversibly collapsed and expanded into space-compact and shower-ready use positions.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
}
|
Q:
Silverlight DatePicker binding broken - what can I do to fix this?
I have a very simple binding problem with a DatePicker that is eluding me.
I have a ListBox bound to a list of objects with a DateTime property. I have an editing portion of my page for changing the selected item. This works fine - when I update the date in the DatePicker, the ListBox shows my updated date.
However, when I then select another item, the DatePicker control incorrectly updates the Date on the new item as well.
Here's my code:
C#:
using System;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
using System.ComponentModel;
namespace BindingTest
{
public partial class MainPage
{
public MainPage()
{
InitializeComponent();
var vm = new ViewModel();
DataContext = vm;
}
}
public class ViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public ViewModel()
{
List = new ObservableCollection<Item>();
for (var n = 0; n < 10; n++)
List.Add(new Item { Date = DateTime.Now.AddDays(n) });
}
public ObservableCollection<Item> List { get; set; }
private Item _selectedItem;
public Item SelectedItem
{
get { return _selectedItem; }
set { _selectedItem = value; OnPropertyChanged("SelectedItem"); }
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
private void OnPropertyChanged(string propName)
{
if (PropertyChanged != null)
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propName));
}
}
public class Item : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private DateTime _date;
public DateTime Date
{
get { return _date; }
set { _date = value; OnPropertyChanged("Date"); }
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
private void OnPropertyChanged(string propName)
{
if (PropertyChanged != null)
PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propName));
}
}
}
XAML:
<UserControl xmlns:sdk="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation/sdk" x:Class="BindingTest.MainPage"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition />
<ColumnDefinition />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding List}"
DisplayMemberPath="Date"
SelectedItem="{Binding SelectedItem, Mode=TwoWay}" />
<StackPanel Grid.Column="1" DataContext="{Binding SelectedItem}">
<TextBlock Text="Date:" />
<sdk:DatePicker SelectedDate="{Binding Date, Mode=TwoWay}" />
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</UserControl>
How can I fix this?
A:
Seems the easiest way to solve this is to delay the change of selection so that the DatePicker updates the correct binding before the selection is changed.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
|
Electrophysiological effects of cocaine in the mesoaccumbens dopamine system: repeated administration.
Behavioral evidence indicates that the potent rewarding effects of cocaine are mediated, in part, by the mesoaccumbens dopamine (DA) system projecting from A10 DA cells in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Previous electrophysiological studies from our laboratory have indicated that cocaine (i.v.) exerts inhibitory effects on A10 DA neurons, due to enhanced stimulation by DA at DA autoreceptors are well as by activation of NAc-VTA feedback pathways. In the present experiments, extracellular single-unit recording and microiontophoretic techniques were used to determine the possible alterations in the mesoaccumbens DA system after repeated cocaine administration. Twice daily injections of cocaine (10 mg/kg i.p., 14 days) caused significant subsensitivity to the inhibitory effects of low i.v. doses of the DA agonist apomorphine in comparison to rats receiving similar treatments with saline or procaine. Iontophoretic application of DA to A10 DA neurons in rats treated repeatedly with cocaine (2X10 mg/kg, 14 days) also produced significantly less inhibition as compared to control rats. Cell population analysis of the VTA revealed that autoreceptor subsensitivity in cocaine-treated rats resulted in a significantly greater number of spontaneously active A10 DA neurons, and a significantly higher firing rate as compared to A10 DA neurons in control rats. In striking contrast to A10 DA cells, recordings from NAc neurons in cocaine-treated rats (2X10 mg/kg, 14 days) indicated that these cells were supersensitive to the inhibitory effects of iontophoretic DA. Although the mechanism underlying such supersensitivity remains unclear, the increased sensitivity of postsynaptic NAc DA receptors combined with the subsensitivity of A10 DA autoreceptors could lead to greatly enhanced DA transmission and may help to explain some aspects of cocaine-induced behavioral sensitization.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
Push Pull (album)
Push Pull is the sixth studio album by American rock band Hoobastank, released on May 25, 2018 via Napalm. The album features a more pop rock sound with funk rock influences, different from the characteristic post-grunge and alternative style of the band.
The album peaked at number 35 on Billboards Independent Albums chart.
Track listing
Personnel
Hoobastank
Doug Robb – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Daniel Estrin – lead guitar
Chris Hesse – drums, percussion
Jesse Charland – bass, backing vocals
Production
Matt Wallace – production
Paul David Hager – mixing
Chris Hesse – mixing
Emily Lazar – mastering
References
Category:2018 albums
Category:Hoobastank albums
Category:Napalm Records albums
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)"
}
|
Changes in genetic variances with increased inbreeding of beef cattle.
Data on performance traits from a herd of Hereford cattle composed of inbred lines and linecross groups were analyzed to estimate within- and among-line genetic variances and to evaluate how these variances changed with increased inbreeding. Within-line variances were highly erratic while among-line variances tended to be somewhat more consistent. Changes in variances with increased inbreeding did not generally follow the theoretical expectations for the redistribution of genetic variances.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
The present invention relates to an electron microscope for observing or detecting a surface or inside of a semiconductor wafer or a mask for exposing a semiconductor pattern for faults and/or foreign objects, particularly to an electron microscope for observing or detecting a surface or inside using coordinates of faults and/or faults which were measured by another wafer/mask inspecting apparatus.
Faults or objects on a semiconductor wafer or a mask for exposing a semiconductor pattern may give fatal problems to the semiconductor performances and reduce the efficiency of production of semiconductors.
Therefore, to increase the production efficiency of semiconductors, it is required to remove unwanted objects from wafers and masks and faults from semiconductor patterns or mask patterns on the wafers as much as possible. Therefore, it is thought to be very important to detect and observe wafers and masks for faults and/or objects (hereinafter generically described as faults) in the production of semiconductors and analyze the causes of the faults.
Recently, semiconductors have become smaller and smaller and their performance may be seriously damaged by even a fault of about 0.1 micron on a wafer. Conventionally an optical fault inspector or an optical object inspector (hereinafter generically described as an inspector) is used to locate faults on a wafer, move the field of view of the electron microscope to the location where the faults exist according to information on fault coordinates or the like obtained by said inspector, observe and identify the fault.
However, a wafer/mask area to be observed at a time at a magnification is limited although it is dependent upon the size of a display screen of the electron microscope. Therefore, if fault coordinates measured by another inspector contain errors, the fault cannot be caught in the field of view of the electron microscope.
Although various techniques have been supported to eliminate coordinate errors between the electron microscope and another inspector, such techniques cannot assure coordinate accuracies high enough to capture all faults in the field of view of the electron microscope.
To search faults, the operator gradually moves the field of view of the electron microscope using a pointing device (such as a mouse or a trackball) according to fault coordinates measured by another inspector and the location of the field of view of the electron microscope in reference to a wafer map, a die/chip diagram or an optical microscope image which is displayed separately. The conditions of observation of the electron microscope (such as a magnification) is calculated and set from data obtained by another inspector.
However, at a high magnification, for example, ×10,000 of the electron microscope, said conventional techniques do not have any means to show where the observation is made now and it is very difficult to move the field of view of the electron microscope to a position for observation.
Further, to detect target faults in the field of view of the electron microscope or to set conditions of observation for the field, the conventional technique must calculate observation conditions such as a magnification for each fault from numeric data obtained by another inspector.
Further, the conventional technique cannot use coordinate errors obtained in search of a fault easily for search of other faults, searching of the conventional technique is not efficient.
Furthermore, in case both an area which was already observed by an electron microscope and an area which has not been observed are separately displayed on-screen, it sometimes happened that the conventional technique could not change conditions of observation of the electron microscope or involuntarily initialized displays.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
}
|
Neutrophil priming following trauma and sepsis is a key event implicated in causing Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) and Multi-Organ Failure Syndrome (MOSF). Priming of the respiratory burst by cytokines following injury and sepsis results in excessive superoxide production by NADPH oxidase leading to auto-inflammatory tissue damage. Numerous studies have focused on details of how NADPH oxidase produces superoxide. A similar investigation into the mechanisms of priming has been relatively lacking. Our long-term goal is to develop a detailed molecular understanding of this priming phenomenon. Our previous studies and preliminary observations show that different signaling pathways activated by trauma and sepsis converge to phosphorylate two serine residues in a key protein of the NADPH oxidase, p47phox. We propose that through this phosphorylation, p47phox integrates upstream signaling events to control the level of NADPH oxidase activity by regulating protein-protein interactions within neutrophils. In the studies outlined in this proposal the consequences of priming-induced phosphorylation and the identity of proteins associating with NADPH oxidase components following priming will be investigated using neutrophil cell-biological and protein chemistry approaches. The results from these studies may assist in the development of novel therapies aimed at limiting the auto-inflammatory tissue damage patients suffer as a result of sepsis and trauma.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "NIH ExPorter"
}
|
See LICENSE file in the project root for full license information.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Github"
}
|
The Russian Armed Forces are working on the Mig-41, a new supersonic fighter based on the Mig-31 Foxhound.
According to the famous experimental pilot Anatoliy Kvochur, the MiG-41 is to be capable of reaching speeds above Mach 4, even Mach 4,3. That would make the plane faster than the (now retired) American SR-71 Blackbird. Currently, the Foxhound is capable of flying at speeds of Mach 2.8.
Nevertheless, while developing a Mach 4+ replacement for the Foxhound, the Russians will to continue the modernization program of the Foxhounds, overhauling over 100 aircraft.
MiG-31 is an interceptor based on MiG-25 Foxbat, with a combat radius of 720 km. A group of four Foxhounds is able to control an area that is 1000km wide; 190 MiG-31s are currently in service within the Russian Air Force, 100 of those are still flyable.
Jacek Siminski for TheAviationist
Image credit: oboudna.org
Related articles
|
{
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
}
|
/**
@page TM_SinglePulseMode
@verbatim
* @file TM/SinglePulseMode/readme.txt
* @version V1.00
* @date 2014-06-30
* @brief Description of GPTM single pulse mode example.
@endverbatim
@par Example Description:
This example shows how to use the GPTM peripheral to generate a Single Pulse Mode
after a rising edge of an external signal has been received in Timer Input pin.
If the GPTM0_PCLK frequency is set to 72 MHz / 96 MHz and the Prescaler is 72 / 96, so the GPTM0 counter
clock is 1 MHz.
The CounterReload value is 50000 (GPTM0_CRR), so the maximum frequency value to trigger
the GPTM0 input is 1 MHz/50000= 20 Hz.
The GPTM0 is configured as follows:
- The Single Pulse mode is used.
- The external signal is connected to GT0_ETI pin.
- The rising edge is used as active edge.
- The Single Pulse signal is output on GT0_CH3.
The Compare value decides the delay value, the delay value is fixed to 5 ms:
- delay = CH3CCR/GPTM0 counter clock = 5 ms.
(CounterReload - Compare + 1) defines the Single Pulse value while the pulse value is fixed to 45 ms.
@par Directory Contents:
- GPTM/SinglePulseMode/main.c Main program
- GPTM/SinglePulseMode/ht32f1xxxx_01_it.c Interrupt handlers
@par Hardware and Software Environment:
- Connect the external signal to the GT0_ETI pin. Refer "ht32_board_config.h" for pin assignment.
- Generate a rising edge on GT0_ETI to trigger single pulse output.
- Connect the GT0_CH3 (PA7) pin to an oscilloscope to monitor the waveform.
- This example can be run on HT32 Series development board.
@par Firmware Disclaimer Information
1. The customer hereby acknowledges and agrees that the program technical documentation, including the
code, which is supplied by Holtek Semiconductor Inc., (hereinafter referred to as "HOLTEK") is the
proprietary and confidential intellectual property of HOLTEK, and is protected by copyright law and
other intellectual property laws.
2. The customer hereby acknowledges and agrees that the program technical documentation, including the
code, is confidential information belonging to HOLTEK, and must not be disclosed to any third parties
other than HOLTEK and the customer.
3. The program technical documentation, including the code, is provided "as is" and for customer reference
only. After delivery by HOLTEK, the customer shall use the program technical documentation, including
the code, at their own risk. HOLTEK disclaims any expressed, implied or statutory warranties, including
the warranties of merchantability, satisfactory quality and fitness for a particular purpose.
* <h2><center>Copyright (C) Holtek Semiconductor Inc. All rights reserved</center></h2>
*/
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Github"
}
|
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
android:layout_width="match_parent"
android:layout_height="90dp"
android:background="#fff"
android:orientation="vertical">
<View
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="2dp"
android:background="#008bea" />
<TextView
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center_horizontal"
android:text="精品应用推荐下载"
android:textColor="#000"
android:textSize="16sp" />
<FrameLayout
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent">
<LinearLayout
android:id="@+id/promoter_frame"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="wrap_content"
android:gravity="center"
android:orientation="horizontal"
android:paddingTop="10dp"></LinearLayout>
<RelativeLayout
android:id="@+id/progress_frame"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:gravity="center"
android:background="#fff">
<TextView
android:id="@+id/status_msg"
android:layout_width="fill_parent"
android:layout_height="fill_parent"
android:gravity="center"
android:textColor="#000"
android:textSize="18sp"/>
<ProgressBar
android:id="@+id/loading"
android:layout_width="35dp"
android:layout_height="35dp"
android:layout_centerInParent="true"/>
</RelativeLayout>
</FrameLayout>
</LinearLayout>
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Github"
}
|
Today’s WOD
Announcements
Please start checking into the class you are attending on the Wodify mobile app to track your results for the day!
CrossFit Boone – CrossFit
Metcon (AMRAP – Rounds and Reps)
United in Movement
WOD #4
Every 4 Minutes on the Minute (3 minutes of work + 1 minute of rest):
42 Jumping Lunges
15 Clapping Push-Ups (sc: regular push-ups)
9 Reverse Burpees
In remaining time of the 3 minutes; max broad jumps – men 4ft, women 3ft.
*Reverse Burpee
1. Begin standing with the arms extended overhead.
2. Bend the knees and, in a controlled motion, lower your tush all the way to the floor.
3. Roll onto your back, drawing your knees toward your face.
4. Use momentum to kick forward, landing on the feet.
5. Rise to stand, and do an explosive jump straight up, getting as much height as you can. Remember to keep your elbows bent and palms off the floor while you rise so you’re using your core muscles and not your hands to help you get up.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
It is known that elderly individuals are at increased risk of cognitive decline after general anesthesia[@b1][@b2][@b3]. Anesthesia may also be one of the contributing factors for sporadic Alzheimer disease (AD), a devastating neurodegenerative disease characterized clinically by cognitive deficit and also the most common form of dementia in adults. Some epidemiological studies have shown that general anesthesia may increase the risk of elderly individuals for developing AD[@b4][@b5]. Increased atrophy of the brain, including the cortical gray matter and the hippocampus, together with reduced performance for cognitive tests are detectable 5 to 9 months after general anesthesia/surgery[@b6]. Evidence from animal studies suggests that anesthetic exposure can increase Aβ plaque formation and tau hyperphosphorylation[@b7][@b8][@b9][@b10][@b11], which are believed to cause neurodegeneration in AD. Anesthesia also causes learning and memory deficits at a later time in rodents[@b9][@b12][@b13]. Rats after exposure to isoflurane, a commonly used inhaled anesthetic, show learning impairment that persists for weeks[@b14]. Persistent memory impairment is also seen in aged rodents after exposure to isoflurane, nitrous oxide, or the combination of both[@b15][@b16]. The molecular mechanisms by which general anesthesia causes long-term cognitive impairment remain to be understood.
The major known function of insulin is to regulate glucose metabolism in the periphery. The brain was previously thought to be insensitive to insulin. However, recent studies have well demonstrated that insulin actually has neurotrophic and neuroprotective activities, regulates neural development and plasticity, and plays an important role in learning and memory[@b17][@b18][@b19][@b20]. The important role of brain insulin signaling is further supported by clinical studies showing that administration of insulin into the central nervous system promotes memory and improves cognitive function in individuals with AD[@b21][@b22][@b23].
We recently found that general anesthesia disturbs brain insulin signaling and induces abnormal hyperphosphorylation of tau[@b24], which might contribute to the anesthesia-induced cognitive impairment. We therefore hypothesized that administration of insulin into the brain may prevent anesthesia-induced brain changes and cognitive impairment. To test this hypothesis, we treated 3xTg-AD mice, a commonly used triple transgenic mouse model of AD, with insulin via intranasal delivery for consecutive seven days before anesthesia with propofol. Intranasal delivery bypasses the blood-brain barrier and delivers drugs into the brain through several pathways, including olfactory- and trigeminal-associated extracellular pathways and the perivascular pathway[@b25]. We found that the pretreatment of 3xTg-AD mice with intranasal insulin promotes brain insulin signaling and attenuates propofol-induced hyperphosphorylation of tau[@b24]. However, whether the pretreatment with intranasal insulin can also prevent anesthesia-induced cognitive impairment had not been studied. The present study aimed to answer this important question.
In our present study, we treated wild-type mice with daily intranasal administration of insulin or, as a control, saline for seven consecutive days before general anesthesia using a combination of propofol and sevoflurane. We found that intranasal insulin prevented anesthesia-induced spatial memory deficits. We also found that hyperphosphorylation of tau induced by anesthesia was temporary, which can be prevented with the insulin pretreatment.
Results
=======
Intranasal insulin prevents anesthesia-induced spatial memory deficit in mice
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
We recently found that intranasal administration of insulin (1.75 U/day) for seven consecutive days promotes brain insulin signaling and attenuates propofol-induced hyperphosphorylation of tau in adult 3xTg-AD mice[@b24]. To investigate if the intranasal insulin treatment can also prevent anesthesia-induced cognitive impairment, we treated wild-type mice with intranasal insulin daily for seven days before general anesthesia, followed by assessment of spatial learning and memory using Morris water maze beginning at the next day after anesthesia ([Fig. 1A](#f1){ref-type="fig"}). Anesthesia was induced by intraperitoneal injection of propofol (150 mg/kg) and maintained by 2.5% sevoflurane inhalation for 1.0 hr. The combination of these two anesthetics is commonly used in clinic for surgeries. We observed that all mice were able to learn the platform location during the training phase, as evidenced by the reduction in latency to locate the submerged platform from around 80 seconds in day 1 to 35--50 seconds in day 4 of the training ([Fig. 1B](#f1){ref-type="fig"}). However, the anesthesia-treated mice (red curve) took significantly more time (*p* \< 0.05) to locate the platform than the control mice (green curve), suggesting impaired learning in the anesthesia-treated mice. Importantly, we found that prior daily treatment with intranasal insulin for seven consecutive days prevented the anesthesia-induced learning impairment. The learning curve of the insulin-treated anesthesia group (orange curve) was significantly different from that of the untreated anesthesia group (red curve, *p* \< 0.05) and was indistinguishable from the control mice (green curve, *p* \> 0.05) ([Fig. 1B](#f1){ref-type="fig"}). The intranasal insulin treatment did not affect the spatial learning of mice not treated with anesthesia (blue curve vs. green curve, *p* \> 0.05).
To assess the spatial memory of the mice, we carried out probe trial 24 hrs after the last training trial ([Fig. 1A](#f1){ref-type="fig"}). We found that the anesthesia group spent significant less time (50 ± 6% as compared to 63 ± 5% in controls, *p* \< 0.05) in the target quadrant ([Fig. 1C](#f1){ref-type="fig"}), took more time (39.5 ± 5.6 seconds as compared to 22.4 ± 2.7 seconds in controls, *p* \< 0.05) to reach the platform location target ([Fig. 1D](#f1){ref-type="fig"}), and crossed the platform location much less times (1.2 ± 0.3 times as compared to 3.3 ±0.5 times in controls, *p* \< 0.05) ([Fig. 1E](#f1){ref-type="fig"}) than the control mice. These results confirmed the spatial memory deficit in the anesthesia-treated mice. We found that prior daily treatment with intranasal insulin prevented the anesthesia-induced spatial memory deficit because no significant differences in these three parameters were found between the anesthesia- and insulin-treated group and the control group ([Fig. 1C--E](#f1){ref-type="fig"}). These findings suggest that intranasal insulin treatment can prevent anesthesia-induced spatial learning and memory in mice. We also determined the swim speed and found no differences among the four mouse groups ([Fig. 1F](#f1){ref-type="fig"}).
Intranasal insulin attenuates anesthesia-induced hyperphosphorylation of tau in the mouse brain
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To understand the biological changes underlying the cognitive impairment induced by anesthesia and the preventive effect of insulin, we sacrificed the mice after Morris water maze test and analyzed tau phosphorylation in the brain because tau hyperphosphorylation is crucial to AD and other tauopathies[@b26]. In contrast to previous reports by us[@b8][@b24] and others[@b27][@b28], we found no detectable change in tau phosphorylation in the brains of anesthetic mice with or without prior treatment with insulin (data not shown). Because the animals were sacrificed within a few hours after anesthesia in all previous studies in which tau hyperphosphorylation was observed post anesthesia, we thus treated three additional groups of mice with intranasal insulin and/or anesthesia, as described above, and sacrificed the mice immediately after anesthesia for one hour and before they awoke from anesthesia. Analysis of brain tau phosphorylation of these mice showed that anesthesia with propofol/sevoflurane induced marked increase in tau phosphorylation at all phosphorylation sites studied ([Fig. 2](#f2){ref-type="fig"}), which are consistent with previous studies using different paradigms of anesthesia[@b27][@b28]. Up-shift of the apparent gel mobility of tau proteins, which is a well-established phenomenon of tau hyperphosphorylation, was also seen in the Western blots ([Fig. 2A](#f2){ref-type="fig"}). Excitingly, we found that prior treatment of the mice with intranasal insulin attenuated anesthesia-induced tau hyperphosphorylation at most of the sites studied, including Thr181, Thr205, Thr212, Thr231, Ser262/Ser356 (12E8 sites), Ser396, and Ser396/Ser404 (PHF-1 sites) ([Fig. 2B,C](#f2){ref-type="fig"}). The rostral halves of the forebrains were first analyzed because higher insulin concentration can be reached to this area than the caudal part of the brain through intranasal administration[@b29].
Because the hippocampus, which is the major brain area responsible for spatial learning and memory, is localized in the caudal half of the mouse forebrain, we also studied tau phosphorylation in the homogenates of the caudal halves of the mouse brains. We found marked increase in tau phosphorylation at all phosphorylation sites studied and an up gel-mobility shift in the caudal halves of the mouse forebrains immediately after anesthesia ([Fig. 2D](#f2){ref-type="fig"}), which is similar to the changes observed in the rostral halves of the mouse brains. Partial prevention of the anesthesia-induced increase in tau phosphorylation was also observed after the pre-treatment of mice with intranasal insulin, but the attenuating effect in the caudal forebrains was less remarkable than in the rostral forebrains. These regional differences are consistent to the higher drug concentration in the rostral forebrain than the caudal forebrain after intranasal administration[@b29]. The effects of anesthesia and intranasal insulin were clearly detectable in the hippocampal neurons through immunohistochemical staining with monoclonal antibodies 12E8 ([Fig. 2E](#f2){ref-type="fig"}) and PHF1 (data not shown), both of which are against phosphorylated tau.
Intranasal insulin enhances the level of synaptic proteins in the mouse brain
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Synapses are the structural basis of memory and cognition, and their alterations usually underlie functional changes of the brain. To learn whether anesthesia and intranasal insulin treatment alter synaptic activity, we determined the levels of major synaptic proteins in the mouse brains after the treatments using Western blots. These synaptic marker proteins include the presynaptic proteins synaptophysin (Syp) and synapsin-1, the postsynaptic marker postsynaptic density 95 (PSD95), the AMPA receptor subunit GluR1. We found that anesthesia with propofol and sevoflurane did not alter the levels of these synaptic proteins significantly, but pretreatment of mice with intranasal insulin significantly increased the levels of synaptophysin, synapsin-1 and PSD95 by approximately 10--40% in the brains of the anesthesia-treated mice ([Fig. 3A](#f3){ref-type="fig"},B).
CREB is a transcription factor crucial to neuronal plasticity and long-term memory formation in the brain. Its transcriptional activity is mainly regulated by its phosphorylation[@b30]. We found that both the level of phosphorylated CREB, as evidenced by the p-CREB/GAPDH, and the net phosphorylation of CREB, as evidenced by the p-CREB/CREB, were increased by approximately 70% and 115%, respectively, after anesthesia, but pre-treatment with intranasal insulin did not induce further changes ([Fig. 3C,D](#f3){ref-type="fig"}). These results suggest that anesthesia with propofol and sevoflurane activate CREB activity.
Intranasal insulin promotes brain insulin signaling
---------------------------------------------------
We investigated the effect of intranasal insulin treatment and anesthesia on brain insulin signaling by determining the level and activation of each component of the signaling pathway, including insulin receptor β (IRβ), insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor β (IGF-1Rβ), insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1), phosphatidylinositide 3-kinases (PI3K), 3-phosphoinositide-dependent protein kinase-1 (PDK1) and protein kinase B (AKT). The activation of these proteins was assessed by measuring their phosphorylation levels at the activity-dependent sites. We found that brain insulin signaling was somewhat disturbed in mice post anesthesia, as evidenced by significant reduction the levels of IGF-1Rβ and AKT in the anesthesia group as compared to the control group ([Fig. 4](#f4){ref-type="fig"}). We also found that the prior treatment of mice with intranasal insulin increased the levels of IRβ, p-IGF-1Rβ, and p-PDK1 (pS241) in the brains of the anesthesia-treated mice ([Fig. 4](#f4){ref-type="fig"}). These results suggest that intranasal insulin treatment can promote brain insulin signaling.
Anesthesia and insulin induce transient brain biochemical changes in the brain
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Because the anesthesia-induced hyperphosphorylation of tau was seen immediately after anesthesia but not 5 days later after completion of the probe test in the Morris water maze, we studied how long the anesthesia-induced brain biochemical changes and the intranasal insulin's effects last by investigating the brains of mice sacrificed 0 hr, 24 hrs, and 5 days after anesthesia. We found increased tau phosphorylation and changes of CREB phosphorylation, as well as insulin's protective role, only when the mice were sacrificed immediately after anesthesia ([Fig. 5](#f5){ref-type="fig"}). None of the anesthesia-induced changes nor insulin's effects were seen in the brains of mice sacrificed 24 hrs or 5 days after anesthesia. To learn whether increased tau phosphorylation is still detectable in selected neurons of mice 5 days after anesthesia, we stained the brain sections immunohistochemically with antibodies 12E8 and PHF-1 against phosphorylated tau. However, we did not find any neurons showing significant increase in the immunostaining (data not shown). These results indicate that although the behavioral impacts of anesthesia and insulin were detectable five days post anesthesia, the biochemical brain changes disappear within 24 hrs after anesthesia.
Discussion
==========
It is well known that general anesthesia can impair short-term memory and also increase the risk for long-term cognitive decline and dementia, especially for vulnerable individuals such as the elderly[@b1][@b5]. Anesthesia's adverse impact on cognition has also been replicated in animals[@b9][@b12][@b13][@b24]. To our knowledge, there is no treatment available to date to prevent the cognitive impairment that occurs in individuals post anesthesia. In the present study using mice as an experimental model, we found that intranasal administration of insulin can prevent cognitive impairment, as well as biochemical changes in the brain, induced by general anesthesia. These findings indicate a potential to use intranasal insulin for preventing anesthesia-induced cognitive impairment in vulnerable individuals after surgery.
Besides epidemiological studies, previous studies have demonstrated that the use of various anesthetics induces hyperphosphorylation of tau in mice[@b8][@b24][@b27][@b28]. Tau hyperphosphorylation is known to promote neurodegeneration in AD[@b26]. A few studies also showed cognitive impairment of rodents after anesthesia[@b9][@b12][@b13][@b28]. In order to make the present study more clinically relevant, we used propofol to induce and sevoflurane to maintain anesthesia because the combinational use of these two anesthetics are commonly used in clinical practice for surgery. Aged mice (17--18-months old) were used in this study because elderly individuals are more vulnerable to anesthesia-induced cognitive impairment. With this anesthetic paradigm, we found that anesthesia induced impairment of spatial learning and memory, which is consistent with previous studies using different anesthetic paradigms[@b9][@b12][@b13][@b28].
In a recent study, we found that treatment of 3xTg-AD mice with daily intranasal administration of insulin for 7 days prior to anesthesia with propofol promotes brain insulin signaling and attenuates propofol-induced hyperphosphorylation of tau[@b24]. We therefore tested whether the same pretreatment with intranasal insulin could also prevent these brain changes induced by a combined use of propofol and inhaled anesthetic in aged non-transgenic mice. More importantly, we were eager to learn whether the insulin pretreatment can prevent anesthesia-induced cognitive impairment. We found in the present study that the pretreatment effectively prevented anesthesia-induced cognitive impairment. It also enhanced the levels of synaptic proteins and brain insulin signaling, as well as partially prevented anesthesia-induced increase of tau phosphorylation in the aged wild-type mice. It is possible administration of daily intranasal insulin for less than seven days may be sufficient to prevent anesthesia-induced cognitive impairment.
Previous studies have reported increased tau phosphorylation and other biochemical changes in the brain immediately after general anesthesia[@b8][@b24][@b27][@b28], but how long these anesthesia-induced brain changes last after animals wake from anesthesia remains elusive. In the present study, we found that these brain changes were transient and returned to the normal levels within 24 hrs post anesthesia. These observations are consistent with an early report by Ikeda *et al.*[@b31] showing that anesthesia-induced increase in tau phosphorylation peaks at 0--10 min after ether exposure and is reversed to the normal level in 40--60 min. However, the cognitive impairment induced by anesthesia appears to last much longer, because we clearly found impairment in spatial memory in Morris water maze 5 days after anesthesia, when the brain biochemical changes had disappeared. Apparently, the anesthesia-induced transient molecular changes have a much longer functional impact to cognition. Alternatively, other molecular changes induced by anesthesia but not studied in the present study might last long and underlie the cognitive impairment.
To search for a method to prevent anesthesia-induced brain changes and cognitive impairment, we selected insulin in our recent[@b24] and the present study because it is a neurotrophic factor and is important to neuroplasticity and cognition[@b18]. Furthermore, brain insulin signaling is deregulated in the brains of individuals with AD[@b32][@b33], in which progressive cognitive impairment and dementia are the major clinical symptoms. Systemic administration of insulin is obviously undesirable because it is difficult to enter into the brain and would otherwise disturb metabolism in the periphery and may lead to hypoglycemia. Intranasal administration, which was first introduced by W. H. Frey, bypasses the blood brain barrier and has been used successfully in animal studies and clinical trials in humans[@b21][@b34][@b35][@b36][@b37][@b38]. Intranasal administration of insulin does not appear to interfere with the insulin level or glucose metabolism in the periphery[@b21]. This insulin delivery method is simple and non-invasive and readily applicable in clinic. Our findings reported in the present study suggest that simply administering insulin into the nostrils of patients before anesthesia may prevent anesthesia's adverse effect on cognition. Future studies will determine the minimal dose and the best time before anesthesia for intranasal insulin administration.
The underlying molecular mechanism by which intranasal insulin prevents anesthesia-induced cognitive impairment remains to be elucidated. Anesthesia might promote cognitive impairment and AD by promoting Aβ production[@b10][@b11][@b39], tau hyperphosphorylation[@b8][@b27][@b28][@b40], and neuroinflammation[@b41]. The present study demonstrates that intranasal insulin can prevent anesthesia-induced tau hyperphosphorylation and promote the expression of synaptic proteins. Although brain Aβ level was not determined in the present study, we found in a recent study that intranasal insulin reduces Aβ level in the brains of 3xTg-AD mice and inhibits microglial activation[@b40]. Therefore, intranasal insulin might prevent anesthesia's adverse effect on cognition through inhibiting tau hyperphosphorylation, neuroinflammation and synaptic damage induced by anesthesia. One mechanism by which anesthesia induces tau hyperphosphorylation is through down-regulation of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A)[@b7][@b42]. By using 3xTg-AD mice, we recently found that intranasal insulin up-regulates PP2A in the anesthetized mouse brains, as evidenced by increased levels of both the total and the methylated form (more active form) of the catalytic subunit of PP2A[@b24]. In the present study using aged wild-type mice, we also studied the catalytic subunit of PP2A and its methylation by Western blots in the mouse brains and found that intranasal insulin treatment increased PP2A level and its methylation (data not shown). Therefore, intranasal insulin administration could prevent anesthesia-induced tau hyperphosphorylation partially through upregulation of PP2A.
In conclusion, we report here that intranasal administration of insulin prior to anesthesia can prevent spatial learning and memory impairment and increased tau phosphorylation induced by general anesthesia induced by propofol and sevoflurane. These findings provide a simple strategy, i.e., administering insulin into the nose before anesthesia, to prevent postoperative cognitive deficit and increased risk for developing AD and dementia induced by general anesthesia.
Materials and Methods
=====================
Antibodies and reagents
-----------------------
Primary antibodies used in this study are listed in [Table 1](#t1){ref-type="table"}. Peroxidase-conjugated anti-mouse and anti-rabbit IgG were obtained from Jackson ImmunoResearch Laboratories (West Grove, PA, USA). The enhanced chemiluminescence (ECL) kit was from Pierce (Rockford, IL, USA). The ABC staining system was from Santa Cruz Biotechnology (Santa Cruz, CA, USA). Propofol was purchased from MP Biomedicals (Solon, OH, USA). Insulin (Humulin R U-100) was from Eli Lily (Indianapolis, IN, USA). Other chemicals were from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA).
Animals and animal treatments
-----------------------------
The breeding pairs of the C57BL6/129 mice were initially obtained from Jackson Laboratory (New Harbor, 124 ME, USA), and the mice were bred in our institutional animal colony. Mice were housed (4 ∼ 5 animals per cage) with a 12/12 h light/dark cycle and with ad libitum access to food and water. The housing, breeding, and animal experiments were in accordance with the approved protocol from the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, according to the PHS Policy on Human Care and Use of Laboratory animals (revised March 15, 2010). Female mice at the ages of 17--18 months were used for this study. Aged mice were chosen because elderly individuals are more vulnerable to anesthesia-induced cognitive impairment.
Intranasal delivery was carried out manually without anesthesia while the mouse head was restrained in a supine position with the neck in extension, as described[@b36]. A total of 1.75 U/17.5 μl insulin or 0.9% saline was delivered over both nares alternatively using a 10 μl Eppendorf pipetter. The mouse was held for an additional 5--10 seconds to ensure the fluid was inhaled. The successful nasal delivery by using this approach was confirmed by examination of ink (Fount India ink, Pelikan, Schindellegi, Switzerland) in the autopsied brains after nasal delivery with ink using the same approach (data not shown). All mice were treated with insulin or, as a control, saline daily for 7 consecutive days ([Fig. 1A](#f1){ref-type="fig"}). On the following day, the mice were injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) with propofol dissolved in intralipid (150 mg/kg body weight) or the equivalent amount of intralipid, followed by inhalation of 2.5% sevoflurane for 1 hr. Mice were sacrificed immediately, 24 hrs or 5 days post anesthesia by cervical dislocation. The mouse forebrains were removed immediately and divided into two hemispheres. The left hemispheres were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde in 0.1 M phosphate buffer for immunohistochemical studies. The right hemispheres were further divided into rostral and caudal halves (separated coronally at the bregma level), flash frozen in dry ice, and stored at −80 °C for biochemical analyses at a later date.
Morris Water Maze
-----------------
Morris water maze (MWM) was used to evaluate spatial learning and memory of the mice. The test was performed in a circular white pool (with a diameter of 180 cm and a height of 60 cm) filled with white dye tinted water and maintained at room temperature (20 ± 1 °C). The maze was designated of two principal axes with each line bisecting the maze perpendicular to the other one to divide the maze into four equal quadrants. The end of each line demarcates four cardinal points: north (N), south (S), east (E) and west (W). A platform was positioned in the middle of one of the quadrants submerged 1 cm below water surface. Each mouse performed 4 trials per day for 4 consecutive days from semi-random start positions to find the hidden platform. Each trial was terminated as soon as the mouse climbed onto the hidden platform. If a mouse failed to find the platform within 90 sec, it was gently guided to it. At the end of each trial, the mouse was left on the platform for 20 sec, then dried and returned to its home cage. A 60 sec probe test without platform was performed 24 hr after the last trial. The swim path, swim distance (cm), escape latency (sec), swim speed (cm/sec), time spent in each quadrant (sec), distance traveled in each quadrant (cm), latency to enter the platform site zone (sec), and the number of platform site zone crossings were recorded through an automated tracking system (Smart video tracking system, Panlab; Havard Apparatus).
Western blot analysis
---------------------
Brain tissue was homogenized in pre-chilled buffer containing 50 mM Tris-HCl (pH7.4), 50 mM GlcNAc, 20 μM UDP, 1.0 mM EGTA, 2 mM Na~3~VO~4~, 100 mM NaF, 0.5 mM AEBSF, 1 μg/ml aprotinin, 10 μg/ml leupeptin, and 2 μg/ml pepstatin A. Protein concentrations of the homogenates were determined by the Pierce 660-nm Protein Assay. The samples were resolved in 10% or 12.5% SDS-PAGE and electrotransferred onto Immobilon-P membrane (Millipore, Bedford, MA, USA). The blots were then probed with primary antibody and developed with the corresponding horseradish peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibody and ECL kit.
Immunohistochemistry
--------------------
Frozen mouse brain sagittal sections (40-μm thick) were first washed with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) for three times, 15 min each, followed by incubation in 0.5% Triton X-100 for 20 min. The sections were then washed with PBS for another 10 min and then blocked in PBS containing 5% normal goat serum and 0.1% Triton X-100 for 30 min, followed by incubation with 12E8 or PHF1 in the blocking solution at 4 °C overnight. After washing with PBS, the sections were incubated with Alexa 488-conjugated goat anti-mouse IgG (1:1000) plus TO-PRO-3 in the blocking solution at room temperature for 2 hrs. The sections were finally washed, mounted, and cover slipped using Prolong^®^ gold antifade mountant (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, USA). The immunostaining was analyzed by using a laser scanning confocal microscope (PCM 200, Nikon).
Statistical analysis
--------------------
For biochemical analyses, data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey's post hoc tests or unpaired two-tailed *t* tests, using GraphPad. All data are presented as means ± SEM, and *p* \< 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Additional Information
======================
**How to cite this article**: Zhang, Y. *et al.* Intranasal Insulin Prevents Anesthesia-Induced Spatial Learning and Memory Deficit in Mice. *Sci. Rep.* **6**, 21186; doi: 10.1038/srep21186 (2016).
This work was supported in part by Nantong University and New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, as well as grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81030059, 81400866), the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD), and the U.S. Alzheimer's Association (2015-NIRG-339945). We thank Drs. J. Goodman and C. Wang (New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, Staten Island, NK, USA) for their assistance in gas anesthesia and Drs. D. Schenk (Elan Pharmaceuticals, San Francisco, CA, USA) and P. Davies (Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA) for providing antibodies 12E8 and PHF-1, respectively.
**Author Contributions** Y.Z., C.D. and Y.C. performed the experiments. K.I., F.L. and C.X.G. supervised the study. Y.Z. and C.X.G. wrote the paper.
{#f1}
{#f2}
{#f3}
{#f4}
{#f5}
###### Primary antibodies used in this study.
Antibody Type Specificity Phosphorylation sites Source/Reference
--------------- ------- --------------- ------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------
IRβ Poly- IRβ Cell Signaling Technology, Danvers, MA
IGF-1Rβ Poly- IGF-1Rβ Cell Signaling Technology
P-IRβ/IGF-1Rβ Mono- P-IRβ/IGF-1Rβ Tyr1150/1151(IRβ), Tyr1135/1136 (IGF-1Rβ) Cell Signaling Technology
IRS1 Poly- IRS1 Cell Signaling Technology
IRS1 pS307 Poly- P-IRS1 Ser307 Cell Signaling Technology
PI3K p85 Poly- PI3K (p85) Cell Signaling Technology
P-PI3K p85 Poly- P-PI3K (p85) Tyr458/Tyr199 Cell Signaling Technology
PDK1 Poly- PDK1 Cell Signaling Technology
PDK1 pS241 Poly- P-PDK1 Ser241 Cell Signaling Technology
AKT Poly- AKT Cell Signaling Technology
AKT pS473 Poly- P-AKT Ser473 Cell Signaling Technology
AKT pT308 Poly- P-AKT Thr308 Cell Signaling Technology
R134d Poly- Tau Tatebayashi *et al.*, 2012[@b43]
pT181 Poly- P-tau Thr181 Invitrogen, Grand Island, NY
pS199 Poly- P-tau Ser199 Invitrogen
pT205 Poly- P-tau Thr205 Invitrogen
pT212 Poly- P-tau Thr212 Invitrogen
pT231 Poly- P-tau Thr231 Invitrogen
pS396 Poly- P-tau Ser396 Invitrogen
12E8 Mono- P-tau Ser262/356 Dr. D. Schenk[@b44]
AT8 Mono- P-tau Ser202/T205 Thermo Fisher Scientific, Rockford, IL
PHF-1 Mono- P-tau Ser396/404 Dr. P. Davies[@b45]
pS409 Poly- P-tau Ser409 Invitrogen
Synapsin-1 Poly- Synapsin-1 Santa Cruz Biotechnology
Synaptophysin Mono- Synaptophysin Millipore
PSD95 Mono- PSD95 Cell Signaling Technology
GluR1 Poly- GluR1 Millipore
GFAP Mono- GFAP Millipore
ED1 Mono- CD68 Abcam
CREB Mono- CREB Cell Signaling Technology
p-CREB Mono- p-CREB Ser133 Cell Signaling Technology
Anti-GAPDH Poly- GAPDH Santa Cruz Biotechnology
[^1]: These authors contributed equally to this work.
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{
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