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The present invention relates to a surgical instrument such as a dental scalpel and more specifically to an improved blade and chuck assembly for scalpels and similar knife-like instruments.
In my U.S. Patent Application No. 07/062113, filed June 13, 1987, U.S. Pat. No. 4,788,976, there is disclosed a dental scalpel having a universally adjustable blade in which the blade itself is removably connected and disconnected in a chuck. The necessity of providing a quick and easily detachable chuck and blade connection will be quite evident. On the other hand, the provision of a connection which secures against the introduction and accumulation of blood, virus and bacteria in through the instrument itself (i.e. chuck, handle or the like), while also evident, has only recently become essential due to the discovery of bacteria and viruses which resist normal sterilization procedures.
Various patents have been published relating to chuck and blade assemblies. For example, Ward U.S. Pat. No. 3,479,041 provides a blade interacting with a chuck assembly. Gleason U.S. Pat. No. 3,934,591 discloses a surgical knife interacting with a chuck assembly. Weinger U.S. Pat. No. 3,108,376 discloses a surgical blade having a rectangular mount removably engaging a correspondingly square-shaped opening member secured to a handle. Various dental accessory and blade attachments and/or assemblies are also disclosed in the following U.S. Pats. Nos: 4,525,144; 907,003; 1,316,685; 2,465,433; and 3,430,345.
Notwithstanding the variety of the known devices, none provides for quick and easy connection and disconnection while at the same time insuring against the egregious introduction of harmful bacteria and virus through the instrument itself. A further disadvantage found in the prior art devices is that each lacks full and complete structural support for the blade during its use and manipulation by the surgeon.
It is, therefore, a broad object of the present invention to provide a chuck and blade assembly for scalpels and the like which overcome the disadvantages of the prior art devices.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a secure fit for the blade which prevents lateral movement and/or spinning of the blade in the chuck.
A further object of the present invention is to provide barrier means which prevent the intrusion and/or accumulation of bacteria, virus and body fluids within the chuck or handle itself.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide for maximum rigidity of the blade during use and to provide the shortest extending longitudinal distance of the blade from the chuck itself.
The foregoing objects as well as advantages, together with numerous other objects and advantages, are set forth in the following disclosure.
|
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"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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---
abstract: |
We examine the issue of the cosmological constant in the $many$ $inflating$ branes scenario, extending on two recent models by I.Oda and Randall-Sundrum.The exact solution in a closed form is found in the slow roll approximation of the radion. Defining an effective expansion rate, which depends on the location of each brane in the fifth dimension and demanding stability for this case we show that each positive tension brane has a localized, decaying cosmological constant (the opposite process applies to the negative energy branes \[4\]) .\
The reason is that the square of the effective expansion rate enters as a source term in the Einstein equations for the branes.Thus the brane has two scale factors depending on time and the fifth dimnesion respectively .The brane will roll along the fifth dimension in order to readjust its effective expansion rate in such a way that it compensates for its internal energy changes due to inflation and possible phase transitions.
author:
- |
Laura Mersini\
Department of Physics\
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee\
Milwaukee, WI 53201\
lmersini@uwm.edu\
Wisc-Milw-99Th-14
date: 'September 20, 1999'
title: 'Decaying Cosmological Constant of the Inflating Branes in the Randall-Sundrum -Oda Model'
---
Setup
=====
In this paper we consider and find solutions to a five dimensional model with many inflating branes along the fifth compact direction, thus extending on the recent models proposed by Randall-Sundrum and Oda \[1,2,3\]. Each brane is taken as a point in the fifth dimension (negligible thickness) $S^1$. They act as localized cosmological constants or alternatively as gravitational point sources.The whole 5D setup should be static in order to preserve Poincare invariance. That means that the 5D cosmological constant $\Lambda_5$ should cancel out the collected contribution of the 4D cosmological constants $\Lambda_{4i}$ of each brane (weighted by the appropriate conformal factor as shown below in Sect.2). Note that each $\Lambda_{4i}$ depends on the position of the i-th brane in $S^1$.
The existence of solution to the Einstein equation in the many branes scenario does not allow for a singular orbifold geometry $S^1/Z_2$ but instead, it requires a smooth manifold $S^1$ \[1\].
The 5D metric ansatz considered here is: $$ds^2 = g_{MN} dx^M dx^N = u(z)^2 dt^2 - a(z,t)^2 dx^2 - b(z)^2 dz^2$$ with $z$ ranging between $0$ and $2 L$.
The 5D Einstein-Hilbert action is: $$S = \frac{1}{2\kappa^2_{5}} \int d^4 x \int^{2L}_0 dz \sqrt{-g} (R+2\Lambda_5)
+ \sum^n_{i=1} \int_{z=L_i} d^4 x \sqrt{-g_i}({\cal L}_i + V_i)$$ where the 4D metric $g_{i\mu\nu}$ is obtained from the 5D one as follows: $g_{i\mu\nu}({\bf x},t) = g_{MN}({\bf x},t,z = L_i)$ and ${\cal L}_i, V_i$ are the lagrangian of the matter fields and the vacuum energy respectively, in the i-th brane.The 5D gravitational coupling constant $\kappa_{5}$ is related to the 4D Newton constant $G_N$ through $\kappa_5 =16 G_{N}\pi \int dz\sqrt{-g_{55}} =16 G_{N}\pi L_{phys} $.\
Many Inflating Branes Scenario. Solution
========================================
We are interested in constructing a solution for the inflating branes. Thus in Eqn. (1) we take: $$\begin{array}{ccl}
a(z,t) & = & f(z) v(t)\\
b(z) & = & f(z)\\
u(z) & = & f(z)
\end{array}$$ The dynamics of the boundaries is based on the slow roll assumption.The energy density of each brane is denoted by ${\cal L}_i$ where we have separated a constant vacuum energy contribution, $V_{i}$. The following equations result from varying the action in Eqn.(2) with respect to the metric, \[1,2,3\]: $$\begin{aligned}
\frac{1}{f^2}\left[ (\frac{\dot{v}}{v})^2 \right] - \frac{1}{f^2}
\left[\frac{f''}{f} + (\frac{f'}{f})^2 \right] & = &
- \frac{\kappa^2}{3 f}[\sum_i({\cal L}_i + V_i)\delta(z - L_i)] +
\frac{\Lambda_5}{3}\nonumber \\
& & \nonumber\\
\frac{1}{f^2}\left[ (2\frac{\ddot{v}}{v})+ (\frac{\dot{v}}{v})^2\right]
- \frac{3}{f^2}\left[ \frac{f''}{f} + (\frac{f'}{f})^2\right] & = &
- \frac{\kappa^2}{f}\left[ \sum_i({\cal L}_i + V_i)\delta(z - L_i)\right]
+{\Lambda_{5}}\nonumber\\
& & \nonumber\\
\frac{1}{f^2}\left[ (\frac{2\ddot{v}}{v})+ (\frac{\dot{v}}{v})^2\right]
- \frac{2}{f^2}(\frac{f'}{f})^2 & = & \frac{\Lambda_5}{3} \end{aligned}$$ where prime and dot denote differentiation with respect to z and t respectively. It is straightforward from the Eqns. (4) above (as well as the component $G_{55}=0$), that $v(t)$ satisfies: $$\frac{\ddot{v}}{v} = \frac{\dot{v}^2}{v}$$ which gives for $v$: $$v(t) = v(0)exp[Ht]$$ Thus Eqns. (4) become: $$\begin{array}{lcc}
\frac{H^2}{f^2} - \frac{1}{f^2} \left[ \frac{f''}{f} +
(\frac{f'}{f})^2 \right] & = &
- \frac{\kappa^2}{3f} [\sum_i({\cal L}_i + V_i)]\delta(z - L_i) +
\frac{\Lambda_5}{3} \\
& & \\
\frac{H^2}{f^2} - \frac{2}{f^2}(\frac{f'}{f})^2
= \frac{\Lambda_5}{6}
\end{array}$$ The effective expansion rate is defined as $H_{eff} = H / f(z) $ . The effective expansion rate of each brane, located at $z = L_i$ in the extra dimension, is then given by $H_{ieff} = H / f(L_i)$. Thus each brane, depending on its position in the fifth dimension, sees a different expansion rate resulting from the fact that the canonical proper time has the following scaling on the position of the brane, $d \tau_{i} = f( L_{i}) dt$. Denote the absolute value of $\Lambda_5$ by $\Lambda$. Since we consider an $ADS_5$ geometry, $\Lambda$ is positive and satisfies the following relation: $$\Lambda = - \Lambda_5 .$$ We will find the solution by construction. Assume the ansatz in Eqn. (7) for the warp factor $f(z)$. Then its derivatives are given by Eqns. (8,9). $$\begin{aligned}
f(z) = {\alpha}
{\displaystyle Sinh[g(z)]^{-1} }
& & \\
f'( z) = -{\alpha} \displaystyle \frac {Cosh [g(z)]}{ Sinh[g(z)]^{2} } g'(z)
& & \\
f''(z) = -{\alpha } (\displaystyle \frac{ g'(z)^2 }{ Sinh[g(z)] } - - \frac { 2 Cosh[g(z)]^{2} }{ Sinh[g(z)]^{3} } {g'}^{2} +
\frac { Cosh[g] }{ Sinh[g]^2 } g'')\end{aligned}$$ The function $g(z)$ \[1,3\], describing even branes (domain walls) of positive and negative energy positioned along $S^1$ is of the following form $$\begin{aligned}
f(z) & =\alpha \displaystyle{Sinh[g(z]^{-1}} \\
g(z) &=\left(\displaystyle{\sum^{n-1}_{i=1}}(-1)^{i+1}|z-L_i|+L\right)(-\beta)\\
g''(z)&=2\left(\displaystyle{\sum^{n-1}_{i=1}}(-1)^{i+1}
\delta |z - L_i| \right) (-\beta) \end{aligned}$$ The even $(n-1)$ branes are located at $L_i (i = 2, \dots n-1)$. One always ends up with even branes as it is clear from topological consideration. Each brane is a pointlike gravitational source in the fifth dimension, i.e. there are flux lines extending from one brane to the others (mutual interaction). Those flux lines should close in order to preserve the stability of the 5th dimension (see \[4\]). Thus each positive energy brane in $S^1$ is alternating with its counterpart (negative tension brane) so that the number of positive energy branes equals the number of negative energy branes.\
Replacing the above Eqns. (7-12) for $f(z)$ in the Einstein Eqns.(6) we get the following relation $$\begin{aligned}
\nonumber (H^2 - {g'}^2)+ \frac {\Lambda /3 - 2{g'}^2}{ \displaystyle Sinh[g]^2 }
&= & \frac{( \sum_i - \kappa_{5} ({\cal L}_i + V_i) - g''
{\displaystyle Cosh[g(L_i)]}) \delta(z - L_i)}{Sinh[g]} \\
\nonumber (H^2 - {g'}^2) & =& - \displaystyle \frac{\Lambda \alpha^2}{6 Sinh[g]^2} +
\frac { {g'}^2 }{ Sinh[g]^2 } \end{aligned}$$ There is a solution to Eqns. (9) only if $\beta = H$ and $\alpha^2 = \frac {6 H^2}{\Lambda}$ in Eqns. (10-12).The value of $ H $ is decided by $\Lambda$ and $ L_{phys}$. The conditions on the energy densities of the branes and their respective effective expansion rates $H_{ieff}$ become: $$\begin{aligned}
{\cal L}_i +V_i &=& \frac {2}{\kappa_5} (-1)^{(i+1)} \sqrt{ \frac {\Lambda}{6} }(\displaystyle Cosh[g(L_i)]) \\
H_{ieff} &=& \sqrt{ \frac {\Lambda}{6} } (\displaystyle Sinh[g(L_i)])\end{aligned}$$ The warp factor $f(z)$ found in Eqns. (10-12) satisfies Einstein equations and has a minimum at $z=0, 2L$ and a maximum at $z= L$. (For subtleties related to ensuring the periodicity of $f(z)$ and the overlap of branes located at $z=0, 2L$ see \[1\]. The physical length, $L_{phys} = 2 L$ calculated by the formula in Sect.1, depends on the energies of the branes as they are the gravitational sources causing the curvature of the fifth dimension. It is straightforward to perform the calculation explicitly ,see \[3\]). It is clear from Eqns. (14, 15) that branes positioned near the minimum of the warp factor, $z=0$ (the ’TeV branes’) in the fifth dimension, have the maximum energy and effective expansion rate allocated to them while the ones near the position of the maximum warp factor $z=L_{phys}$ (’Planck branes’), are almost empty of energy and have the lowest effective expansion rate ($H_{ieff}$ at $z=L_{phys}$ is almost but not identically zero, a result also found by \[4,10\]). Thus we end up with the following relation between the expansion rate and the energy density for the branes $$|\frac {\kappa_5 ( {\cal L}_i + V_i)}{2}|^2 - H_{ieff}^2 = \frac {\Lambda}{6}$$ Notice the unusual ’Friedman relation’ between the energy density and the expansion rate for each individual brane \[4,5,10\]. An important result of the Eqn. (16) is that each brane has a different expansion rate depending on its position in $S^1$. Clearly from (16), branes located around the position of minimum warp factor have maximum expansion rate, while the ’Planck branes’ have nearly zero expansion rate and energy. There is a deep physical reason behind the relation of Eqn. (16). It is related to the induced radion potential and the low suppression of its modes to the TeV branes and high supression to th e Planck branes. We outline this reasoning below, in Sect.3, (however a more complete and detailed treatment ofthe relation of radion dynamics and inflating branes will be reported soon in \[12\]).
Discussion
===========
In order to gain insight in the relation of Eqn. (16) above, we would like to take the point of view of Dvali et al.\[11\] that although the inflaton is a brane mode in the ground state, it behaves as an ’inter-brane’ mode that describes a relative separation of the branes in the extra dimension. This approach clarifies the physics of brane dynamics during inflation. It is the radion (inter-brane separation) which in the effective 4D description becomes the inflaton in the branes. The ’TeV branes” have minimum suppression of the radion modes as compared to the ’Planck branes’, thus they will have maximum inflation which is confirmed by Eqn. (16). The coupling of ’Planck branes’ have maximum suppression to the radion, hence nearly zero inflation rate since the the energy dumped into them by the radion is nearly zero. Branes inflate with different rates for the above reason. Their coupling to the radion depends on their position/angle in the $S^1$. We have avoided introducing a radion potential and assumed a slow-roll behaviour for the branes. Hence this potential is implicitly there as it is induced by the branes. The slow-roll holds for the most part except around $z=L$ where our analysis would break down. For a complete treatment we need to consider the full dynamics of the branes, radion stability and bulk fields. These will provide a mechanism whereby branes roll towards decreasing values of $H_{eff}$ (also decreasing the effective 4D cosmological constant) thus exiting inflation, reheating the universe and recovering the usual Friedman relation in late cosmology (work in progress \[12\]). It is always useful to use analogies of the system under consideration with the condensed matter systems. The above scenario is very similar to a string of molecules confined to reside in a circle. Each brane would represent a molecule with four internal degrees of freedom (branes are 4D worlds), chemical potential (gibbs free energy per molecule) $ H_{ieff}^2$, energy ${{\mathcal L}}_i + V_i$, arranged in such a configuration that the total system is in equlibrium.For the moment let’s concentrate on the positive tension branes (the opposite will go for the negative energy ones). Since each brane inflates, the energy ${{\mathcal L}}_i$ of the matter fields and the temperature tend to change towards decreasing values. The vacuum energy $V_i$ of each brane can also change towards decreasing values due to internal phase transitions driving the vacuum to a lower minimum. In our analogy, $V_i$ would be the analog of the latent heat of each molecule. But each position in the circle $S^1$ belongs to a certain $H_{ieff}$ energy level (’molecules’ with different ’chemical potential’). Thus, when the total internal energy of the brane decreases (for the reasons mentioned above) the brane moves to the next position in the fifth dimension thus changing its $H_{ieff}$ in order to accommodate (compensate for) the internal energy changes and to preserve the equlibrium configuration of the system as a whole. Each brane has the freedom to do the readjustment through rolling due to the fact that the effective expansion rate enters as a constant source term in the 4D brane equations but it is a function of the fifth dimension, $H_{eff} = Hf(z)^{-1}$.\
Therefore, each positive (negative) energy brane will move towards (away from) the lowest $H_{eff}$ (i.e. maximum (minimum) $f(z)$) to compensate for internal energy changes. In short $H_{eff}$ will $decay$ nearly $exponentially$ , (see Eqn.(15) for the exponential dependence of $f(z)$), by rolling down $f(z)^{-1}$. Ultimately all positive energy branes will locate at the $f(z)$ maximum point and the negative energy ones at the $f(z)$ minimum point.\
As the internal 4D world of each brane is not aware of the fifth dimension z , $H_{eff}^2$ plays the role of a decaying 4D cosmological constant to each brane. The reason, as mentioned, is that when ${{\mathcal L}}_i$ (which is a dynamic quantity) changes internally for each brane, then $H_{ieff}(z)^2$ ( which reflects the coupling of each 4D brane to the 5D gravity) is forced to change by displacing to a new position such that $({{\mathcal L}}_i + V_i) -\alpha H_{ieff}^2$ cancels out the flux lines/ energy allocated by $\Lambda_5$ to that position in $S^1$. (The constant $\alpha=\frac{3}{\kappa^2 }$). Obviously the mass scales and proper time $\tau_i$ of each brane also change while the brane changes position in $S^1$, thus a set of hierarchy scales.\
To put it differently, there are two competing scale factors or redshifts affecting each brane, the $z$ and $t$ factors. A redshift in $t$ forces a ’blueshift’ in $z$ because of the requirement of equlibrium configuration of the system as a whole (pictorially ,the flux line should be closed in this static 5D model. Since branes interact gravitationally with each other along the $S^1$, the flux lines originating from positive tension branes should end up in the negative tension branes. This is also consistent with the solution in Sect.3 that, in each pair of branes, while the positive energy branes shifts towards maximum $f(z)$ its counterpart (negative energy) shifts towards minimum $f(z)$ such that the flux lines remain close).\
There remains an open issue,namely: What happens to the branes as,ultimately,they all pile up to only two point of $S^1$, (stability issues are discussed in detail in \[4\]) , the positive tension ones at maximum $f(z)$ and negative tension branes at minimum $f(z)$. Naive energy arguments would suggest they recombine into a single 4D brane in either point (a chemical equlibrium situation), thus the problem would reduce to two single branes as in \[2,3\]. However this isssue remains to be investigated more closely \[12\].\
In conclusion, in this many inflating branes scenario, the equlibrium condition of the 5D model, together with inflation and phase transitions taking place internally in each 4D brane, drives a decaying cosmological constant,which while it may not depend on the internal 4 dimensions, does depend on the fifth one and thus has the freedom to rearrange thereby preserving the equlibrium configuration.\
Acknowledgment: I would like to thank Prof. L. Parker for our regular discussions.This work was supported in part by NSF Grant No. Phy-9507740.
- Ichiro Oda,$hep-th/9908076$; Ichiro Oda, $hep-th/9909048$
- L. Randall and R.Sundrum, ’A large mass hierarchy from a small extra dimension’, $hep-ph/9905221$
- T.Nihei, $hep-ph/9905487$
- P.Steinhardt, $hep-ph/9907080$; L.Mersini, $gr-qc/9906106$; C.Csaki et al, $hep-ph/990651$; W.D.Goldberger and M.B.Wise, $hep-ph/9907447, hep-ph/9907218$
- A.Lukas, B.A.Ovrut and D.Waldram, $hep-th/9902071$
- N.Kaloper and A.Linde, $hep-th/9811141$
- J. Lykken and L.Randall, $hep-th/9908076$
- N. Arkani-Hamed, S, Dimopoulos, G.Dvali and N.Kaloper, $hep-th/9907209$
- N. Verlinde, $hep-th/9906182$
- C. Csaki et al $hep-ph/9906513, hep-th/9908186$, J.Cline et al $hep-ph/9906523$, J. Cline $hep-ph/9904495$
- G. Dvali and Henry Tye, $hep-ph/9812483$, Daniel J.H. Chung, Edward W. Kolb and Antonio Riotto, $hep-ph/9802238$
- P. Binetruy et al $hep-th/9905012$, L. Mersini, ’Radion potential and Brane Dynamics’, $in$ $ preparation$
\]
|
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|
Q:
Angular Code Coverage wrong output
My stack is: Angular.js, Karma, Karma-coverage (Istanbul) and Jasmine.
I have been running Code Coverage analysis over my app, the problem, and thus the question, is
that I get Service A marked as covered by tests (in green) when it actually does not have any tests associated.
I suspect that the following scenario is to blame:
I know that Service A is used by Controller B.
Controller B is covered by tests, and the Code Coverage results mark it correctly as covered by tests.
Service A is not being mocked when testing Controller B.
I think that since service A is indirectly called by Controller B's tests, I get the wrong result.
Any ideas? Am I suspecting the right thing? Is there any ways around it so I can get an accurate test coverage result in this aspect?
Thanks in advance!
A:
Unfortunately, this is how code coverage is evaluated. If the code is executed, it is considered to be "covered". Luckily, there is something you can do to reduce some of the false positives. You can mock out your dependencies!
The following example will execute a jasmine spy instead of the actual service:
describe('Controller Tests', function() {
var $scope, mockServiceA;
beforeEach(module('app', function($provide) {
mockServiceA = jasmine.createSpyObj('mockServiceA', ['foo']);
$provide.value('ServiceA', mockServiceA);
}));
beforeEach(inject(function($rootScope, $controller) {
$scope = $rootScope.$new();
$controller('ControllerB', {
$scope: $scope
});
}));
describe('ControllerB', function() {
it('should call mock service', function() {
expect(mockServiceA.foo).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
$scope.useServiceA();
expect(mockServiceA.foo).toHaveBeenCalled();
});
});
});
Here is a working Plunker: http://plnkr.co/edit/x8gQQNsHT0R5n5iJSxKw?p=info
|
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"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
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Conspiracies may or may not exist in the NBA. We can only speculate on the matter, but Tim Donaghy, former league referee who spent 15 months in prison over rigging games who may or may not have some insight on how things work, thinks the league wants the Brooklyn Nets to defeat the Toronto Raptors in favor of good ratings.
“(The Raptors) are not only going against the Brooklyn Nets but going against the league office,” Donaghy said in a radio interview in Canada. “They have a very talented team and have to be that much better than the Brooklyn Nets. “In this situation, Brooklyn would be put at an advantage. A Brooklyn-Miami matchup (in round 2) would bring great ratings and that’s what this is all about for the NBA and the league offices — bringing in as many dollars as they can. … Some of the things that the league does and continues to do puts these teams at a disadvantage — like the Toronto Raptors — because moving forward they won’t bring in the big dollars for the league.” via Disgraced former referee Tim Donaghy claims NBA has pressured officials to call games for Nets in Raptors series | New York Daily News
It’s not often that former league officials speak out on what the league is or isn’t doing, but Donaghy’s speculation shouldn’t shock many considering the situation that forced him out of the league. He isn’t a trustworthy source, but his comment makes some sense. Fighting for a new television deal, ratings will be ever important for the NBA this season. The more ratings they draw during the playoffs, the more revenue the league will get from networks such as ESPN. It’d actually give them leverage, forcing more money from network companies.
The league won’t likely respond to Donaghy’s allegation, but it’s an interesting comment and forces viewers to keep a keen eye on the Raptors-Nets series as Toronto looks to tie the series 1-1 before heading to Brooklyn
|
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"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
}
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On a recent multisite project that included pages translated to Greek, one of our developers discovered that the Greek characters like α were being HTML encoded to α. In this blog post, I will show you how to modify the CKEditor configuration to prevent encoding of Greek characters. READ MORE
We are less than a month away from Ascend USA 2017. The biggest digital conference to hit the Las Vegas strip from Sunday, February 26- Wednesday, March 1. Located at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, the conference is sure to be filled with engaging sessions, exciting events and informative networking. READ MORE
Kentico has officially gone to the cloud! Since 2014, Kentico has worked to create the next generation of their content management system offerings to provide an impressive solution for both clients and digital agencies alike. READ MORE
I recently worked on a project in Kentico 10 that required some custom module development. Some of the classes in the custom module had parent child relationships that needed to be set up programmatically. In this post I will show you how to programmatically modify the child classes so that they will synchronize with the parent. READ MORE
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"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
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Tuesday May 10, 2011
3:00 Allison Lichter:
Hello all, thanks for joining this live chat. Cynthia Crossen and James B. Stewart will be getting started in just a moment.
3:00 cynthia crossen:
Welcome, everyone, to a conversation about perjury with James B. Stewart, author of a new book, “Tangled Webs.”
One of the four case histories in the book is about Barry Bonds, who recently got a hung jury on three counts of lying under oath about his alleged use of steroids. Yet Jim makes a very convincing case that Bonds repeatedly lied under oath. Why is perjury such a hard case to make?
3:02 James Stewart I don’t think there’s any real doubt, based on the evidence that was admitted at trial as well as the doping calendars that were excluded, that Barry Bonds knowingly used steroids and then lied about that repeatedly. In fact, his grand jury transcript is pretty much a case study in evasive and misleading answers.
3:04 James Stewart But juries sometimes reach verdicts in strange ways. One thing they often consider is the idea that “everyone is doing it” even though that technically isn’t a defense, and certainly won’t be found in any jury instructions.
3:04 cynthia crossen:
I wonder if some jurors just think lying is par for the course, especially when a guy is a hero like Bonds. Maybe it just seems like small stuff to bring down such a big guy.
3:05 James Stewart They (and by “they” it’s usually one juror) simply refuse to convict if they feel the defendant was unfairly singled out. One of the votes on a perjury count in the Bonds case was 11-1 to convict.
3:06 cynthia crossen:
Also, don’t defendants say things like they “misremembered” or “misspoke”? How is that different from lying?
3:07 James Stewart There’s an amazing example in my book related to the Bonds investigation. The defendant said under oath he’d never met a certain steroid dealer named “Memo.” The prosecutors had a photo of the two of them together in San Antonio! Memo said they’d met repeatedly. The defense didn’t even challenge the photo. Yet one juror refused to convict! Afterwards the judge addressed the jurors, and said, “I just have one question, how in God’s name did you come up with this verdict?” or words to that effect.
3:08 James Stewart This is a problem once perjury becomes pervasive. Jurors assume everyone is doing it and won’t convict. I’m surprised they even convicted Bonds on one count.
3:08 Allison Lichter:
Here’s a link to Mr. Stewart’s book, for those who want more information.
3:09 Comment From Inagua
Please comment on Bill Clinton’s statements about Lewinsky. Did Clinton lie under oath or just to the public?
3:11 James Stewart I think we have to be frank about the root causes of a perjury epidemic, and it starts at the top. The president of the U.S. is the top law enforcement officer in the country, not to mention a role model. In President Clinton we had a president who committed perjury, only grudgingly admitted it, and has never really apologized for it or acted like he feels any remorse.
3:12 cynthia crossen:
None of the four main characters in your book seemed to feel any remorse–even Martha Stewart, who went to jail for lying.
3:13 James Stewart In his successor President Bush we had a president who commuted Scooter LIbby’s sentence, in effect condoning it. What kind of message does that send? I’ve talked to many prosecutors, who told me the worst thing that ever happened to trying to deter perjury was Clinton’s and Bush’s actions. This has got to stop.
3:16 James Stewart It’s true, none of them have showed remorse. I think step one in showing remorse is to admit you did something wrong. Martha Stewart, Scooter LIbby, and Barry Bonds are still saying they’re innocent. Martha Stewart is further poisoning the debate by claiming she was persecuted for being a successful woman. Bernie Madoff has admitted he lied repeatedly, but I think he’s a sociopath and isn’t really capable of feeling remorse.
3:16 Comment From Tom Riley
I teach, and we are finding dishonesty, not telling lies per se, but stealing others work, to be a growing problem in Higher Ed. The “Everyone is doing it” syndrome seems to be one of the excuses offered.
3:17 James Stewart I teach, too, and my colleagues complain about plagiarism and other forms of cheating and then lying about it. My book is about the most serious lying– criminal lying.
3:18 cynthia crossen:
I know some universities used to make their students take an oath that they hadn’t cheated on a paper or exam. I wonder if they still do that. But I’m also wondering if the fact that we live in a more secular society makes lying under oath more acceptable. “So help me God” just doesn’t have the power it once did for a lot of people.
3:19 James Stewart It’s also about people who are successful, well educated, rich– role models. When they lie, and everyone knows they’re lying, and seem to get away with it, then it filters down through very degree of dishonesty, from serious issues like academic integrity to even petty examples. If we don’t stop criminal lying, then how can we expect to stop less serious lying?
3:20 Comment From Steve
I’ve always thought that lying is about cowardice. Do we live in a more pusillanimous society today? Is your point that, there is more lying or that it is easier to get away with? Or that big lies like Madoff’s affect more people and a greater part of society?
3:23 cynthia crossen:
I’m just throwing in this thought–I’m not a lawyer, although Jim is. But Isn’t lying built into the legal system by the automatic pleas of not guilty even when someone has been caught with a smoking gun in their hands and marked bills in their pockets?
3:24 James Stewart Telling the truth often takes courage. it means accepting short-term negative consequences for longer term benefits. In the Martha Stewart case, Douglas Faneuil, the stock broker’s young assistant who was pressured to lie, learned that the hard way. But people face many difficult ethical dilemmas in life, and doing the right thing often requires courage. I can’t prove there’s more lying under oath going on, but that’s what prosecutors told me, and they deal with it every day. I definitely suspect that there’s more lying under oath by people who should know better, who, as I said, are rich and powerful and influence the behavior of others. This is what I find so troubling. And an important theme of my book, maybe the most important to me, is that perjury has serious consequences, not just for individuals, but for the judicial system, the political system, and the fiancial system. The SEC knew Madoff was lying under oath but did nothing. If that’s the attitude of law enforcement, we’re going to get more Madoffs–and worse.
3:25 Comment From Bethany
What do you think about the court system contributing to dishonesty by allowing someone to plead to a crime without admitting guilt? I have always found this to be unsatisfying, both for the offender and for the person harmed. Admitting guilt, I think, is an important component of changing to a more positive direction.
3:27 James Stewart If you’re pleading guilty to a crime, you have to admit guilt. Even President Clinton had to admit that he gave false, misleading and evasive testimony under oath. But the SEC, in civil enforcement actions, often allows a defendant to settle without admitting guilt.
3:28 James Stewart I agree that this is unsatisfying. I’m sure the SEC sees it as a way to get more cases resolved and get some penalties and deterrence, but it’s used far too often. It’s why Martha Stewart goes around saying she was never guilty of insider trading, even though she settled SEC charges of insider trading and paid a fine.
3:29 cynthia crossen:
I agree that someone admitting guilt is cathartic for society, but the consequences can be so dire for the person that they must feel it would be better to take a chance on not getting caught. Martha Stewart, as Jim points out in the book, was worried that admitting guilt would result in her public company’s stock getting hammered and her public image being irrevocably tarnished.
3:31 James Stewart And even in criminal cases, defendants sometimes admit a little bit of guilt, but not nearly enough of it. When Olympic track start Marion Jones finally had to plead guilty to two counts of perjury, she made a statement to the judge, and she reverted to the same old story that while she used steroids, she thought it was “flaxseed oil,” (the same preposterous alibi Barry Bonds came up with.) The judge reminded her she was under oath and expressed skepticism. But the prosecutor just sat there and let her get away with it.
3:32 Comment From Richard Coshow
It appears a failure to take personal responsibility goes hand in hand with the lying and the perjuries. Could you please comment?
3:34 James Stewart Lying about what you did is the essence of not taking personal responsibility. Some of these characters seem to think that being able to keep saying they are innocent is even more important than serving time in jail. As long as their fans keep swallowing these lies, that’s what we’ll get. In that sense, I’m afraid they are a mirror of broader values in society — the ends justify the means, and we’ll all look the other way and let them get away with it.
3:36 James Stewart I wish there was an easy remedy. But I feel strongly that deterrence has to start at the top, with the President, with the Attorney General and the Justice department, stressing that perjury is a serious crime that will be prosecuted. And at the other end, all of us have a role to play. My book is fillled with people I’d call “enablers.”
3:38 James Stewart They didn’t necessarily lie themselves, but they covered up, they looked the other way, they didn’t want to confront someone who was rich and powerful. Maybe the most important thing is to teach our children the sanctity of the oath to tell the truth.
3:39 cynthia crossen:
Don’t some people think perjury is a petty crime–in your book you mentioned Kay Bailey Hutchinson saying Libby’s lying under oath was more or less a technicality.
3:41 James Stewart I was shocked by that…she siad it wasn’t a “real crime,” whatever that means. it is a felony and has been since this country was founded. I guess some of our elected officials need a civics lesson. Laws against perjury go back thousands of years and are a bedrock of civilization. Why?
3:43 James Stewart You see in many cases in my book where loyalty trumps the obligation to give truthful testimony. Barry Bonds trainer lied and then refused to testify out of loyalty to Bonds. he went to jail. When he got out, the inmates gave him a standing ovation. I mean, this is the law of the prison yard. It’s the law of the mafia. When loyalty reigns supreme, then the strongest– those who can demand loyalty– rule. This is the law of the jungle.
3:44 cynthia crossen:
I’m afraid we only have time for one more question.
3:44 Comment From Keith
I am glad that there are people who care enough to talk and write about this. While no one is perfect, lying has become far too acceptable in this society. What are some small steps that the average person can take to promote a culture of integrity?
3:47 James Stewart Every child is going to lie at some point to test the reaction. I know I did. And I’ve never forgotten the reaction. So I think we can all, in the home, do our part. And then we can withhold our approval of those who lie under oath and never express any contrition or even admit it. I for one don’t think Barry Bonds should be allowed to keep the home run crown that Hank Aaron deserves. We never know when we’re going to have to confront serious lying in our daily lives. We have to be prepared for it and be willing to have the courage to stand up for the truth.
3:49 cynthia crossen:
Thank you everyone for joining in this fascinating discussion. I highly recommend Jim’s book–it’s as entertaining as it is revealing.
3:49 Allison Lichter:
Thanks to everyone for joining us. Keep the conversation going at the Ideas Market blog. And you can find Cynthia Crossen’s Dear Book Lover column online at wsj.cim/books. Her latest column is here.
Comments (5 of 22)
sunny- "we get it" - you are Lawrence Pedowitz "or one of his minions" or another lawyer who is trying to discredit GChu for speaking truth to power. James Stewart in his book of yellow journalism on Martha Stewart stated Lawrence Pedowitz was Ms. Stewart's lawyer. The name of Lawrence Pedowitz appears "multiple times" in James Stewart's book of deceit on her, with Lawrence Pedowitz as a contributor and an "insider" with lying "scoop" for James Stewart's "case study." Martha Stewart is a "case study" for James Stewart only because of grossly incompetent legal representation. James Stewart stated Ms. Stewart's lawyer was Lawrence Pedowitz.
Under 18 USC Section 1001: "Lying in a fed investigation is a crime; oath/recording not required." This law was abused and misused on Martha Stewart to frame her on bogus charges in an evidentiary void. Without "oath/recording," there is no evidence of any "lying" in one's own spoken words. This law needs to be repealed because it is no longer used for its original purpose, and it stands in repudiation of the U.S. Constitution that protects life, liberty and property with due process of law. Martha Stewart's constitutional right to due process of law was trampled upon because of incompetent legal representation. James Stewart stated Ms. Stewart's lawyer was Lawrence Pedowitz.
Any lawyer who is compensated and fee gouges for legal services should not be excused or defended for grossly incompetent legal representation. In any reputable profession, professional ethics and integrity impose a responsibility for competence, and the legal profession should be no exception. So scapinggoating Martha Stewart with baseless allegations of "untouchable...'insider'...entitled to inside info....out to ruin him....bad witness/bad facts..." certainly "ring hollow" unless there is no accountability within the legal profession.
There were no "bad witness/bad facts" in the Martha Stewart case. She was innocent of any wrongdoing when she retained legal representation. James Stewart stated Ms. Stewart's lawyer was Lawrence Pedowitz. Martha Stewart was at a place of innocence in a civil case; to end up with criminal charges, a prison term, placed under house arrest fettered with a torture device, and gettiing featured on the cover and in a case study in James Stewart's book of yellow journalism is a horrendous outcome that calls for the guillotine. James Stewart stated Ms. Stewart's lawyer was Lawrence Pedowitz.
10:03 am May 11, 2011
Anonymous wrote :
sunny- "we get it" - you are Lawrence Pedowitz "or one of his minions" or another lawyer who is trying to discredit GChu for speaking truth to power. James Stewart in his book of yellow journalism on Martha Stewart stated Lawrence Pedowitz was Ms. Stewart's lawyer. The name of Lawrence Pedowitz appears "multiple times" in James Stewart's book of deceit on her, with Lawrence Pedowitz as a contributor and an "insider" with lying "scoop" for James Stewart's "case study." Martha Stewart is a "case study" for James Stewart only because of grossly incompetent legal representation. James Stewart stated Ms. Stewart's lawyer was Lawrence Pedowitz.
Under 18 USC Section 1001: "Lying in a fed investigation is a crime; oath/recording not required." This law was abused and misused on Martha Stewart to frame her on bogus charges in an evidentiary void. Without "oath/recording," there is no evidence of any "lying" in one's own spoken words. This law needs to be repealed because it is no longer used for its original purpose, and it stands in repudiation of the U.S. Constitution that protects life, liberty and property with due process of law. Martha Stewart's constitutional right to due process of law was trampled upon because of incompetent legal representation. James Stewart stated Ms. Stewart's lawyer was Lawrence Pedowitz.
Any lawyer who is compensated and fee gouges for legal services should not be excused or defended for grossly incompetent legal representation. In any reputable profession, professional ethics and integrity impose a responsibility for competence, and the legal profession should be no exception. So scapinggoating Martha Stewart with baseless allegations of "untouchable...'insider'...entitled to inside info....out to ruin him....bad witness/bad facts..." certainly "ring hollow" unless there is no accountability within the legal profession.
There were no "bad witness/bad facts" in the Martha Stewart case. She was innocent of any wrongdoing when she retained legal representation. James Stewart stated Ms. Stewart's lawyer was Lawrence Pedowitz. Martha Stewart was at a place of innocence in a civil case; to end up with criminal charges, a prison term, placed under house arrest fettered with a torture device, and gettiing featured on the cover and in a case study in James Stewart's book of yellow journalism is a horrendous outcome that calls for the guillotine. James Stewart stated Ms. Stewart's lawyer was Lawrence Pedowitz.
8:02 pm May 10, 2011
G Chu wrote :
This was a propagandist "live chat" that was an abuse and misuse of the freedom of the press and the media power of the Wall Street Journal on Martha Stewart. Only sycophantic comments were allowed in the "chat"; no dissonance on Martha Stewart in Cynthia Crossen's hyping and hawking of the book: "I highly recommend Jim's book."
Both James Stewart and Cynthia Crossen have no personal knowledge of the facts of the Martha Stewart case; but that didn't matter to them in their unrestrained false statements on Ms. Stewart. Both commisserated and pontificated on" lying" while in a "lying" mode themselves on Martha Stewart .
Cynthia Crossen first invoked the name of Martha Stewart, "who went to jail for lyiing." The truth is she "went to jail" because of legal malpractice. Her lawyer was Lawrence Pedowitz. Crossen has no personal knowledge of "lying" by Martha Stewart; and no evidence existed in her own words of any "lying" by her
James Stewart stated Douglas Faneuil "was pressured to lie." Ms. Stewart had nothing to do with this in any shape or form. Any "pressure to lie" came from the Bush goons where the ends justified the means and who "were so happy about Martha Stewart getting convicted...as a deterrent.".
Jsmes Stewart stated, "Martha Stewart goes around saying she was never guilty of insider trading, even though she settled SEC charges of insider trading and paid a fine." Ms. Stewart doesn't have the time of day for this nonsense; she has moved on with her life, and her focus and attention are on her company, her tv shows, her blog, and her tweets that have nothing to do with "insider trading." "Insider trading" is illegal stock trading, and "guilty of insider trading" comes only with legal adjudication in a court of law; the SEC is no court of law. The SEC baseless allegations on Martha Stewart were nothing more than regulatory overreach, regulatory tyranny, and regulatory activism. There was no agreement to any "insider trading" by Ms. Stewart, who settled for the survival of her company. The "fine" she paid was nothing more than extortion and expropriation by the SEC, which cared nothing about the survival of her company and the jobs of her employees.
James Stewart and Cynthia Crossen speculated that "Martha Stewart was worried" about "admitting guilt." The fact is the Bush goons, in complicity with incompetent legal representation (Ms. Stewart's lawyer was Lawrence Pedowitz), piled on the bogus charges to coerce her to cop a plea; but because of her strong moral foundation, Ms. Stewart declined to countenance any plea bargaining on the trumped-up charges, including the big-time bogus charge with 10 years prison and a $2 million fine that was thrown out in court as completely wacko, which resulted from legal malpractice. (Ms. Stewart's lawyer was Lawrence Pedowitz.)
James Stewart stated: "My book is about the most serious lying - criminal lying. James Stewart's book of deceit on Martha Stewart, which is being hyped and hawked with ruthless lies on Martha Stewart for financial gain is clearly "serious lying - criminal lying."
Is there no end to the victimization of Martha Stewart? Will there never be any security for the jobs and the shareholder value that she embodies? Are there no bounds of journalistic integrity for the freedom of the press and bounds of decency for First Amendment free speech?
5:02 pm May 10, 2011
G Chu wrote :
In the propagandist "live chat," James Stewart states, "Martha Stewart is further poisoning the debate by claiming she was persecuted for being a successful woman." However, in the hyping and hawking by National Public Radio, James Stewart stated, "'A lot of prosecutors told me that they were so happy about Martha Stewart getting convicted, not because they had any personal animus against her but because she's so visible that it served as a deterrent,' he says". Would "it served as a deterrent" if Martha Stewart was not a "successful woman"?
4:40 pm May 10, 2011
sunny wrote :
G Chu--we get it--you are Martha or one of her minions. So, she's claiming her [devil of a] lawyer made her do it. Not impressive. She believed she was untouchable, because she was an "insider" and was entitled to inside info. Lying in a fed investigation is a crime; oath/recording not required. You post her atty's name multiple times--is she out to ruin him? I must assume that, when she hired him, she believed he was top-notch, so your charges of malpractice ring hollow. Any lawyer can only do so much with a bad witness/bad facts. Didn't her broker suffer a worse fate than she? She made a choice, and it had consequences.
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$includes = get_includes_from_outline($opml);
foreach( $includes as $include ) {
$u = get_watched_url_by_url($include);
if( empty($u) ) {
$u['lastmodified'] = "";
$u['content'] = "";
}
add_watched_url($rid, $include, $u['lastmodified'], $u['content']);
}
}
//Update the redirector table
if( !empty($rhost) ) {
//Let's not clobber existing redirects
$erurl = get_redirection_url_by_host_name($rhost);
if( !empty($erurl) && $erurl != $s3htmlurl ) {
$erurl = str_replace('.html', '.opml', $erurl);
$erurl = str_replace('/html/', '/opml/', $erurl);
//Log it
loggit(2,"Attempted redirection hostname already exists: [$rhost].");
$jsondata['status'] = "false";
$jsondata['duration'] = 20;
$jsondata['description'] = "Attempted redirection hostname already in use by <a target='_blank' href=\"/editor?url=$erurl\">this</a> outline.";
echo json_encode($jsondata);
exit(1);
}
//Update the redirection table
update_redirection_host_name_by_url($s3html, $rhost, $uid);
//Parse out the url to find the bucket and key names
if( stripos($rhost, 'http') !== 0) {
$rhost = 'http://'.$rhost;
}
$purl = parse_url($rhost);
//See if the host of this url is a bucket
$buckets = get_s3_buckets($s3info['key'], $s3info['secret']);
$search_array = array_map('strtolower', $buckets);
if( in_array(strtolower($purl['host']), $search_array) ) {
//Create the index stub that will redirect via a meta-refresh
$rfile = create_short_url_file($s3html, $uid);
loggit(3, "DEBUG: [".print_r($purl, TRUE));
loggit(3, "DEBUG: ".print_r($search_array, TRUE));
//Pull out the last part of the path to use as a file stub name
if( !empty($purl['path']) ) {
$pathFragments = explode('/', rtrim($purl['path'], '/'));
loggit(3, "DEBUG: ".print_r($pathFragments, TRUE));
$pend = trim(end($pathFragments), '/');
array_shift($pathFragments);
array_pop($pathFragments);
$path = implode('/', $pathFragments);
loggit(3, "DEBUG: path is [$path].");
} else {
$path = "";
$pend = "index.html";
}
loggit(3, "DEBUG: ".print_r($pathFragments, TRUE));
$s3path = rtrim($purl['host']."/".trim($path, '/'), '/');
loggit(3, "DEBUG: s3path is [$s3path].");
//Now put the index stub into s3
$s3res = putInS3(gzencode($rfile), $pend, $s3path, $s3info['key'], $s3info['secret'], array(
'Content-Type' => 'text/html',
'Content-Encoding' => 'gzip'
));
if(!$s3res) {
loggit(2, "Could not create S3 file: [index.html] for user: [$uid].");
loggit(3, "Could not create S3 file: [index.html] for user: [$uid].");
//Log it
$jsondata['status'] = "false";
$jsondata['description'] = "Error writing redirection stub to S3.";
echo json_encode($jsondata);
exit(1);
} else {
$redhtml = 'http://'.$s3path."/".$pend;
loggit(3, "DEBUG: Wrote html to S3 at url: [$redhtml].");
}
}
} else {
remove_redirection_by_url($s3html, $uid);
}
//If variables were present, save them
if( $type == 6 && empty($templateid) && !empty($rid) ) {
$templateid = $rid;
}
if( !empty($variables) && !empty($templateid) ) {
foreach( $variables as $variable) {
update_recent_file_variable($uid, $templateid, $variable['name'], $variable['value']);
}
}
//Log it
loggit(3,"Saved: [$filename] to S3 for user: [$uid]. ");
//Give feedback that all went well
$jsondata['status'] = "true";
$jsondata['templateid'] = $templateid;
$jsondata['privtoken'] = $privtoken;
$jsondata['description'] = "File saved to S3.";
echo json_encode($jsondata);
return(0);
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Github"
}
|
RELIEF Kit Project
RELIEF Kit is a 3 year initiative (2015-2018) funded by the Japan Biodiversity Fund under the Secretariat of Convention on Biological Diversity. It will document linkages between biodiversity and disasters and establish capacity development knowledge products for policy makers, practitioners and other relevant stakeholders.
Addressing the knowledge gaps: Biodiversity and Disaster
With the increasing incidence and severity of natural hazards, it is critical to identify opportunities for effective disaster risk reduction strategies. The past decade provided compelling evidence on the role of nature in reducing vulnerabilities to natural hazards. However there remain information gaps when it comes to implementation of Ecosystem-based DRR (Eco-DRR) approaches. This project will address the knowledge gaps by carrying out 6 regional assessments to generate knowledge on the importance of biodiversity and ecosystems in Eco-DRR approaches at national and regional levels.
Developing Capacities and informing policies
Limited technical capacities, lack of resources, coordination and synergies can also limit the adoption of Eco-DRR approaches. In an effort to strengthen capacities for Eco-DRR implementation, the project will use the regional assessments as information sources and background material for a series of regional trainings. The trainings will equip participants with the necessary knowledge to better inform and influence policy-making and it can catalyse actions to protect biodiversity for disaster risk reduction. By involving multiple stakeholders, the capacity development events will also facilitate networks and cross sectoral collaborations.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
Length of stay and long-term mortality following ST elevation myocardial infarction.
Over the last few decades, there has been a significant reduction in hospital length of stay (LOS) among patients undergoing percutaneous intervention (PCI) for ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Although studies have looked at predictors of long hospital stay after STEMI, the impact of LOS on long-term outcomes after PCI remains unknown. We aimed to evaluate the association between LOS at the time of index hospitalization for PCI and long-term mortality among patients presenting with STEMI. We examined all patients undergoing PCI for STEMI at the Cleveland Clinic Catheterization Laboratory between 2002 and 2011. Long-term all-cause mortality was assessed using the Social Security Death Index and electronic medical record review. LOS was extracted from the discharge summary of the index hospitalization. A total of 1,963 patients were included in the study. Of these 1,963 patients undergoing PCI for STEMI, 126 (6.4%) died during the index hospitalization. Among survivors of this hospitalization, we observed a significant increase in long-term mortality with an increase in LOS during index hospitalization (P < 0.001). Adjustment for demographic and clinical characteristics yielded statistically significant increased mortality among patients with LOS of 6-10 days [HR (95% CI): 2.2 (1.3-3.5)] and LOS > 10 days [HR (95% CI): 2.6 (1.6-4.3)], in comparison with patients with LOS of 1-2 days. Long hospital stay after PCI among patients with STEMI was associated with an increased long-term mortality. A long hospital stay may be used as a marker to identify patients at higher risk for long-term mortality.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 10-2376
BEN HOWARD SMITH,
Plaintiff – Appellant,
v.
BOB ATKINSON; LINDA G. WALTERS,
Defendants – Appellees,
and
PERCY B. HARVIN; L. KEITH JOSEY, JR.; RONNIE STEWART, all
in their individual and official capacity; JOSEPH K. COFFY,
Defendants.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of
South Carolina, at Charleston. Richard Mark Gergel, District
Judge. (2:08-cv-00201-RMG-BM)
Submitted: May 19, 2011 Decided: May 23, 2011
Before TRAXLER, Chief Judge, and AGEE and KEENAN, Circuit
Judges.
Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Ben Howard Smith, Appellant Pro Se. Kelly M. Jolley, MCNAIR LAW
FIRM, PA, Hilton Head, South Carolina, for Appellees.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
2
PER CURIAM:
Ben Howard Smith appeals the district court’s order
dismissing two defendants in his civil rights action. This
court may exercise jurisdiction only over final orders, 28
U.S.C. § 1291 (2006), and certain interlocutory and collateral
orders, 28 U.S.C. § 1292 (2006); Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b); Cohen v.
Beneficial Indus. Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 545-46 (1949). The
order Smith seeks to appeal is neither a final order nor an
appealable interlocutory or collateral order. Accordingly, we
dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction. We dispense with
oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are
adequately presented in the materials before the court and
argument would not aid the decisional process.
DISMISSED
3
|
{
"pile_set_name": "FreeLaw"
}
|
The now-defunct Calgary Bid Exploration Committee (CBEC) asked the Calgary City Council Monday for an additional CAD $2 million (USD $1.57 million) if the Canadian city wishes to “proceed with a competitive bid.”
Planners warned that if city council doesn’t vote to move forward and approve funding when they reconvene in Chambers next Monday (November 20), “our recommendation would be to not continue.”
CBEC ceased operations last month after developing a comprehensive report revealing that Calgary was capable of organizing the 2026 Olympic Winter Games but the organization stopped short at recommending that the city move ahead with the project, instead suggesting that City Council investigate whether five financial principles could exist before determining the next steps.
CBEC only spent about CAD $3.5 million of the CAD $5 million allocated for the research and returned the surplus to city coffers.
But City Director Kyle Ripley told Council that now the creation of a bidding corporation (BidCo) early in 2018 would be required in order to deliver a 2026 bid book to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by the January 2019 deadline. He said the project will “require additional funds in the order of $2.0 million; however, the exact amount requires further investigation and refinement.”
The urgency is due to an accelerated schedule announced by the IOC last month.
However even if the City Council approves the funding, it will still have more time to decide whether it will invest an additional $25 to $30 million to formalize and submit a bid. The application deadline is March 31, 2018 before the IOC decides which cities are invited to move forward in October 2018. The final election will take place September 2019 in Milan, Italy.
Innsbruck in Austria dropped out of the race last month after losing a referendum. Sion faces a difficult referendum next June if the Swiss city hopes to remain in the race. Sapporo in Japan as well as Telemark, Norway and U.S. cities Denver, Reno-Tahoe and Salt Lake City are all considering bids, but could also be preparing to host the 2030 Games instead.
That leaves Calgary in with a compelling opportunity.
“The competitive landscape is changing in favour of Calgary,” Ripley told Council, later elaborating that as cities drop out of the race, there is an opportunity to have “a different conversation” with the IOC.
He referenced the IOC’s dual-allocation in September of the Summer Games to Paris in 2024 and LA in 2028 as evidence that the Olympic organization is willing to work differently when its options are limited.
He warned, however, that could change if the city doesn’t move quickly.
“Currently we are not positioned well for race day,” Ripley said.
“If we continue at our current pace, we run the risk of not showing up prepared for the race.
“Unless we are showing up race ready we are in essence pulling ourselves out of the bid process.
Ripley maintained that the bid is still a project by Calgary and would not include Alberta’s Capital Edmonton, later adding that planners are working to understand how the city could move forward with only one arena for the Games. Suggestions have been made to leverage the new Rogers Place arena in Edmonton, and the IOC has relaxed rules and is allowing events to be hosted across a broader geographical footprint.
Councillor Jyoti Gondek pushed for confirmation of financial support from Provincial and Federal government partners, a critical bid component not yet secured by the Calgary project.
Councillor Druh Farrell observed during the debate that the decision by City Council to bid seems “predisposed” and though she wouldn’t be supporting the project with her vote – she understood it could well move forward.
But Farrell warned that the risks haven’t been well explained and the IOC was moving too slow with its reforms, only reacting when another city drops out of contention.
“Are we going to be the only one wanting to date the IOC, at the end of the day, because everyone sees the relationship as toxic?” she asked.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
}
|
Morne Diablotin National Park
Morne Diablotin National Park is a national park in the northern mountain ranges of Dominica, an island nation in the Caribbean. The park comprises 8,242 acres, amounting to 4.4% of the nation's area. It was established in January 2000, primarily to protect the habitat of the endangered sisserou parrot, an endemic bird species that is a national symbol of Dominica.
The park is home to 1,447-meter high Morne Diablotin, the tallest mountain on the island and the second highest mountain in the Lesser Antilles.
During the 18th century, the land was home to at least six different encampments of escaped slaves. Dr. John Imray, a Scottish physician, completed the first recorded scaling of Morne Diablotin in 1867. Today, the park is home to 18 different avian species.
References
Category:National parks of Dominica
Category:Protected areas established in 2000
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)"
}
|
1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to containment systems and, more particularly, to novel systems and methods for containing underwater gas and oil leaks.
2. The Background Art
As evidenced recently in the Gulf of Mexico, it is difficult to contain a gas and oil leak located deep underwater. It is particularly difficult when uncontrolled adiabatic expansion makes the gas very cold. Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method that addresses the unique challenges of containing a gas and oil leak located deep underwater.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
}
|
INTRODUCTION
============
The treatment choice for patients with gastric cancer is radical gastrectomy with esophagojejunal anastomosis and lymphadenectomy when involves to upper body or cardia of the stomach. Anastomotic leaks are life-threatening complications that can increase postoperative mortality. In total gastrectomy, anastomotic leaks are more common than subtotal gastrectomy, with reported incidence rates ranging from 4% to 17%. The mortality rate is still high (12% to 50%) despite traditional standard management such as conservative treatment with nil per os (NPO), abscess drainage, and re-exploration with surgical repair \[[@B1][@B2][@B3]\]. Subsequent surgical repair is difficult in patients with anastomotic leaks because of the associated high operative mortality.
Endoscopic self-expandable metal stent (SEMS) replacement has recently begun to be accepted as a primary treatment of patients with esophagojejunal anastomotic leaks after total gastrectomy. Endoscopic SEMS replacement has 2 significant problems: embedded stents due to tissue hyperplasia and stent migration in the patient with anastomotic leaks. Endoscopists should carefully choose the type of SEMS to avoid these issues. Some endoscopists may prefer to use a partially covered SEMS to prevent migration and reduce leakage between the stent and esophageal wall. However, embedded stents are emerging as a common obstacle that can be difficult to extract when using partially covered SEMS and even a conventional fully covered SEMS. Embedded stents may occur with other issues including secondary stricture, perforation, and bleeding, despite the successful removal of stents using various methods \[[@B4][@B5]\]. Choosing the right type of stent to avoiding stent migration and embedding is crucial to improve successful endoscopic treatment in patients with anastomotic leaks. Conventional fully and partially covered SEMS may not be suitable considering migration and embedding for endoscopic treatment.
In this study, we used a benign fully covered SEMS with an anchoring thread and thick silicone covering membrane to prevent stents from becoming embedded and migrating in patients with gastric cancer and esophagojejunal anastomotic leaks after total gastrectomy. The clinical outcomes, including effectiveness and complications, were evaluated.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
=====================
Patient selection
-----------------
We performed a retrospective review of the data of patients who underwent benign fully covered SEMS placement with the Shim\'s technique for anastomotic leaks after total gastrectomy to treat gastric cancer between January 2009 and December 2016 at the Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital. Overall, 1,018 patients with gastric cancer underwent total gastrectomy; anastomotic leaks occurred in 24 (2.4%) cases. Open surgery was performed in 679 cases, including 10 (1.5%) anastomotic leaks, and laparoscopic surgery was performed in 339 cases, including 14 (4.1%) anastomotic leaks. Anastomotic leak treatment included endoscopic stent replacement (n=14, 58.3%), endoscopic hemoclips (n=2, 8.3%), surgical repair (n=3, 12.5%), and conservative treatment (n=5, 20.8%). Of these patients, 14 were enrolled in this study ([Fig. 1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}). We obtained consent from all patients and the study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea (CNUHH-2015-113).
{#F1}
Embedded stent and migration
----------------------------
Conventional fully covered SEMS with anchoring thread has been commonly used endoscopic stent for treating esophagojejunal anastomotic leaks after total gastrectomy in Korea. However, this stent can cause embedding into esophageal mucosa by granulation tissue before extraction of stent. We had experience case of anastomotic leaks with a severely embedded stent after use of a conventional fully covered SEMS (Hanarostent^®^; M.I. Tech, Seoul, Korea). The embedded stent was removed with great difficultly. The rat tooth grasped at the distal end of stent, and the stent was peeled backward through the inner side of the stent under fluoroscopic control. This patient\'s leaks resolved after stent retrieval, but severe stricture occurred mid-esophagus. The patient ultimately underwent a second surgery for severe stricture after 1 year because of a persistent stricture despite repeated endoscopic balloon dilation ([Fig. 2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}).
{#F2}
Fully covered SEMS with an anchoring thread and thick covering membrane
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
We used a benign fully covered SEMS with a thick membrane and a silk thread (benign Hanarostent^®^, fully covered esophageal SEMS with Shim\' technique; M.I. Tech) to treat anastomotic leaks in the next patient. This stent has a specially designed silicone membrane that was modified in thickness (0.2--0.24 mm) and a long end of the silicone membrane (5 mm) to prevent overgrowth and ingrowth of granulation tissue. This stent was also applied with an anchoring thread, using the so called Shim\'s technique to prevent migration \[[@B6]\]. The Shim\'s technique involves attaching the silk thread at the proximal end of the stent, which can then be moved through the nose and attached to the ear lobe with tape, similar to the method for endoscopic nasobiliary drainage.
Endoscopic stent replacement
----------------------------
Anastomotic leaks were diagnosed via esophagram using gastrografin or endoscopy. Abdominal and chest computed tomographies (CTs) were performed to evaluate fluid collection or abscess formation in the abdomen or chest cavity. Endoscopic benign stent placements were performed for the following indications: 1) endoscopic confirmed leaks at esophagojejunal anastomosis site, 2) hemodynamically stable patients with systolic blood pressure greater than 90 mmHg, and 3) no residual cancer after total gastrectomy. The methods used for endoscopic stent replacement are described in [Fig. 3](#F3){ref-type="fig"}. Patients were consciously sedated with intravenous midazolam and fentanyl during the procedure. The stent length was 4 cm longer than the size of the leaks to ensure sufficient coverage of the esophageal and jejunal margins of leakage sites. The stent was carefully deployed to locate the middle portion of the stent at the leakage site through a guide wire under endoscopic and fluoroscopic control. After stent deployment, the silk thread was removed through the nose and fixed to the patient\'s ear lobe using tape. Simple chest radiography was checked to confirm the stent position the day after the procedure and then at 1-week intervals. Per-oral intake began with a small amount of liquid, which then progressed to a regular diet. If an abscess or fluid collection was found on abdominal or chest CT, abscess drainage was performed with intravenous broad-spectrum antibiotics. Follow-up endoscopy was performed to check the healing status of the leak site and stent position within 3 weeks based on the results of simple chest radiography and clinical findings. The endoscopist can directly observe the healing status of anastomotic leaks through the space between stent and esophageal lumen without embedding stent. In malnourished patients, an additional feeding tube was inserted within stent under endoscopic guidance to improve nutritional status and decrease the incidence of leakage in the space between the esophageal wall and the stent. All stents were extracted with/without a fluoroscopic guide after checking complete closure or other complications under endoscopic visualization. Follow-up endoscopy was scheduled 3--6 months after leak closures, and then at yearly intervals.
{#F3}
Statistical analysis
--------------------
The Student\'s t-test and χ^2^ test were conducted for continuous and categorical variables. Continuous variables were expressed as mean (standard deviation) and categorical variables, as a percentage (%). Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA).
RESULTS
=======
Baseline characteristics of patients
------------------------------------
A total of 14 patients underwent endoscopic benign fully covered SEMS placement for esophagojejunal anastomotic leaks after total gastrectomy to treat gastric cancer ([Table 1](#T1){ref-type="table"}). Patients consistent of 12 (85.7%) men and 2 (14.3%) women with a mean age of 69.3±8.8 years. The mean body mass index was 23.6±3.1. Co-morbidities were hypertension (5, 35.7%), diabetes mellitus (4, 28.6%), coronary artery disease (2, 14.3%), and chronic obstructive lung disease (3, 21.4%). The approaches used for total gastrectomy were open (6, 42.9%) and laparoscopic surgery (8, 57.1%). The mean largest tumor size was 35.7±29.4 mm. Tumor stages were Ia (6, 42.9%), Ib (3, 21.4%), II (2, 14.3%), and III (3, 21.4%)
###### Baseline characteristics of patients with stents for anastomotic leaks after total gastrectomy
Variables Total (n=14)
-------------------------------- ---------------------------------- ----------
Age (yr) 69.3 (8.8)
Male sex 12 (85.7)
Body mass index (kg/m^2^) 23.7 (3.2)
Comorbidity
Diabetes mellitus 4 (28.6)
Hypertension 5 (35.7)
Coronary artery disease 2 (14.3)
Chronic obstructive lung disease 3 (21.4)
Approach of total gastrectomy
Open 6 (42.9)
Laparoscopic 8 (57.1)
Method of lymph node resection
D1 6 (42.9)
D2 8 (57.1)
Largest tumor size (mm) 35.7 (29.4)
Pathologic grade
G1 5 (35.7)
G2 2 (14.3)
G3 7 (50.0)
Tumor stage
Ia 6 (42.9)
Ib 3 (21.4)
II 2 (14.3)
III 3 (21.4)
Data are shown as number (%) or mean (standard deviation).
Characteristics of anastomotic leaks and endoscopic stent placement
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Clinical and endoscopic characteristics are summarized in [Table 2](#T2){ref-type="table"}. Clinical inflammatory findings of patients were fever (6, 42.9%), leukocytosis (5, 35.7%), and elevated C-reactive protein (8, 57.1%) before endoscopic treatment. The feeding status of patients were NPO (2, 14.3%), sips of water (5, 35.7%), soft diet (4, 28.6%), and regular diet (3, 21.4%) before endoscopic treatment. The mean size of leaks was 13.1 mm (range, 3--30 mm). The duration from operation to stent insertion was 10.7 days (range, 3--35 days). Technical success of stent insertion was achieved in all patients. All patients received benign fully covered SEMS with a thick membrane and a silk thread. The lengths of stent were 8 cm (2, 14.3%), 10 cm (8, 57.1%), and 12 cm (4, 28.6%).
###### Endoscopic and clinical characteristics of anastomotic leakage
Variables Total (n=14)
------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ----------
Clinical findings before stent insertion
Fever (≥38°C) 6 (42.9)
Leukocytosis (≥10,000/mm^2^) 5 (35.7)
High C-reactive protein (≥10 mg/dL) 8 (57.1)
Feeding status
NPO 2 (14.3)
Water only 5 (35.7)
Soft diet 4 (28.6)
Regular diet 3 (21.4)
Endoscopic findings of leaks
Size of leak (mm) 13.1 (3--30)
Grade of leak 13 (81.3)
Small (\<1/3 of anastomosis site) 7 (50.0)
Large (≥1/3 of anastomosis site) 7 (50.0)
Endoscopic stent insertion
Technical success of stent insertion 14 (100.0)
Length of stent (cm)
8 2 (14.3)
10 8 (57.1)
12 4 (28.6)
Diameter of stent (22 mm) 14 (100.0)
Time interval from operation to stent insertion (day) 10.7 (3--35)
Data are shown as number (%) or value (range).
NPO, nil per os.
Therapeutic outcomes and complications
--------------------------------------
The clinical outcomes and associated variables are summarized in [Table 3](#T3){ref-type="table"}. Twelve (85.7%) patients had complete resolution from anastomotic leaks after stent extraction, while 2 (14.3%) patients had treatment failure. Two patients died 2 weeks postoperatively, one patient had lung empyema with pneumonia before stent insertion that progressed to acute respiratory distress syndrome, and the other had intraperitoneal abscess that progressed to septic shock. The time interval from stent insertion to extraction was 32.3 days (range, 18--49 days). The overall complication rate was 14.3% (n=2). Embedded stent and migration, which were major complications associated with SEMS, were absent. One patient had a jejunal active ulcer by the distal tip of stent but experienced complete healing after antiulcer treatment. Delayed stricture at large leak area of anastomosis site was found in 1 patient and successfully resolved after repeated endoscopic balloon dilatation.
###### Therapeutic outcomes and complications
Variables Total (n=14)
--------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------ ----------
Complete closure of leak 12 (85.7)
Time intervals from stent insertion to extraction (day) 32.3 (18--49)
Complications 2 (14.3)
Embedded stent 0 (0)
Migration 0 (0)
Bleeding 0 (0)
Jejunal ulcer 1 (7.1)
Stricture at leak site 1 (7.1)
Secondary stent insertion 0 (0)
Secondary operation 0 (0)
Endoscopic follow-up within 3 weeks 10 (71.4)
Complete closure 2 (20.0)
Improvement of leak 8 (80.0)
Endoscopic repositioning 5 (35.7)
Additional feeding tube 4 (28.6)
Combined fluid drainage
Abdominal abscess 6 (42.9)
Lung empyema 5 (35.7)
Duration of admission (day) 58.0 (16--164)
Treatment at intensive care unit 7 (50.0)
Mortality 2 (14.3)
Septic shock 1 (7.1)
Pneumonia 1 (7.1)
Data are shown as number (%) or value (range).
Clinical courses after endoscopic stent placement
-------------------------------------------------
Per-oral intake was started with a small amount of liquid 24 hours after stent placement, which then progressed to a regular diet. Intravenous broad-spectrum antibiotics were injected in all patients. Combined fluid or abscess drainages were performed for intraperitoneal abscess (6, 42.9%) and lung empyema (5, 35.7%). Improvement of inflammation was seen 2 weeks after stent replacement. Laboratory changes according to endoscopic stent placement are summarized in [Table 4](#T4){ref-type="table"}. Ten (71.4%) patients received follow-up endoscopy to check the healing status of the leak site and stent position 3 weeks postoperatively. All leaks showed signs of improvement (8, 80.0%) or complete closure (2, 20.0%) under follow-up endoscopy. Endoscopic repositioning was performed in 5 (35.7%) patients due to slight proximal stent displacement. All stents were removed under endoscopy after confirming complete healing of leaks. No additional endoscopic stent placements were needed. Four (28.6%) patients underwent additional feeding tube placement into the deep portion of the jejunum below the stent under endoscopic guidance because of poor appetite and food material remaining in their drainage ([Fig. 4](#F4){ref-type="fig"}).
###### Laboratory changes according to endoscopic stent placement
Variables Before stent 3 days later 1 week 2 weeks 3 weeks
--------------------------- -------------- -------------- -------------- ------------- -------------
Fever (°C) 37.6±0.8 37.0±0.8 36.6±0.6 36.4±0.2 36.3±0.3
White blood cell (/mm^2^) 11,615±7,432 11,061±3,736 13,065±5,719 9,975±2,748 7,220±1,225
C-reactive protein 14.9±8.7 9.1±5.1 7.5±5.6 5.3±5.2 3.8±2.9
Data are shown as mean±standard deviation.
{#F4}
DISCUSSION
==========
Anastomotic leak after total gastrectomy are more frequent and can be a fatal major complication with a 3-fold higher mortality rate than patient without leaks \[[@B7]\]. Surgical repair has been difficult in patients with anastomotic leaks because of their poor general condition and high mortality. Endoscopic treatment using a SEMS has become widely used as a primary treatment for esophagojejunal anastomotic leaks after total gastrectomy because of its lower invasiveness and favorable outcomes. However, the reported therapeutic efficacy and incidence rates of adverse events of SEMS placement for anastomotic leaks have been inconsistent, with complete closure rates ranging from 23% to 100% \[[@B8][@B9][@B10][@B11]\]. These variable clinical results for SEMS placement are mainly caused by the type of stent, which influences 2 significant SEMS-related issues: embedded stent due to tissue hyperplasia and stent migration. The endoscopist should consider these issues before choosing the type of stent to be used for treating leaks. The fully covered SEMS with a thick membrane and a silk thread is a novel stent for treating patients with benign condition such as perforation, stricture, and fistula because it can completely prevent tissue hyperplasia and stent migration. To our knowledge, this study is the first clinical study evaluating the feasibility of this stent for treating anastomotic leaks after total gastrectomy in patients with gastric cancer.
Stent migration frequently occurs in patients with anastomotic leaks because no portion of the stent is anchored. The migrated stent may cause secondary severe complications such as obstruction or perforation at the distal bowel, along with sealing failure at the leak site. Higher migration rates have been reported for a fully covered SEMS (26%--87%) compared with a partially covered SEMS (0%--20%) \[[@B9][@B10][@B12][@B13]\]. The Shim\'s technique simply uses a silk thread to prevent the migration of the stent. Using a fully covered SEMS with the Shim\'s technique was a useful method to completely prevent distal stent migration in all patients. However, the Shim\'s technique requires the additional process of unthreading through the nose and induced discomfort in some patients.
Embedded stent can occur due to tissue hyperplasia from mucosal irritation at the end portions of the stent. A partially covered SEMS is always associated with embedded stents. The occurrence with a fully covered SEMS is variable, with reported incidence rates ranging from 8% to 21% \[[@B10][@B14]\]. Embedded stents are major adverse events that can increase the difficulty of stent removal when treating patients with benign disease. It can also cause secondary complications including hemorrhage, obstruction, stent fracture, perforation, fistulas, and abscess formation \[[@B5][@B15]\]. Tissue hyperplasia or granulation tissue formation is related to the type of stent and the duration of stent placement. Tissue hyperplasia can start to develop during the second week from the insertion of a conventional fully covered SEMS. The stent then becomes completely embedded into the esophageal mucosa by the 4th--6th week. Massive granulation tissue can result in partial esophageal stricture by the 8th week or later \[[@B16]\]. Various methods have been introduced to successfully remove stent in patients with embedded stent, such as stent-in-stent (SIS) technique, argon plasma coagulation, and the overtube technique \[[@B4]\]. Some clinicians prefer to use partially covered SEMS rather than a fully covered SEMS, as the risk for migration is lower, and hyperplasia at the uncovered portion may decrease leakage between the stent and the esophageal wall. Such a stent should still be able to be removed using various removal methods, such as SIS technique despite the occurrence of embedded stent. However, we believe that partially covered SEMS should no longer be used in patients with anastomotic leaks because the novel stent described here can completely prevent stent migration and embedding.
The fully covered SEMS with a thick membrane and a silk thread was first developed in 2007 for treating patients with benign esophageal disease such as stricture. To minimize tissue responses to the stent, a thicker (0.2--0.24 mm) and longer (5 mm) fully covered silicone membrane was used to prevent overgrowth and ingrowth of the granulation tissue. Additionally, the Shim\'s technique using a silk thread was applied to prevent migration. This clinical study sought to determine the type of stent need to treat anastomotic leaks after total gastrectomy and showed improved complete healing rates without major complications, compared with previous studies using conventional stents \[[@B4][@B9][@B11][@B13]\]. The novelty of this stent lies in its perfect prevention of the occurrence of distal migration and embedded stent as 2 major problems of conventional stent. In addition, it is possible to safely remove the stent after checking sealing leaks under direct endoscopic view through the space between the esophageal wall and the stent without embedding. The only disadvantage of this stent is the patient\'s discomfort due to the silk thread coming from the nose (as with a Levin tube). This study was limited in its small sample size and a retrospective study design. Therefore, further investigation is warranted.
In conclusion, the endoscopic placement of a benign fully covered SEMS with a thick membrane and a silk thread is an effective and safe novel treatment for patients with anastomotic leaks total gastrectomy to prevent stent migration and embedding. The endoscopist should carefully choose the type of stent, considering the risk of stent migration and embedding before treating anastomotic leaks.
**Author Contributions:** **Conceptualization:** C.S.B.**Data curation:** L.S.H., M.D.S.**Formal analysis:** L.S.H.**Funding acquisition:Investigation:** L.W.S.**Methodology:** L.W.S.**Project administration:** C.S.B.**Resources:** J.M.R., R.S.Y., P.Y.K.**Software:** J.G.M.**Supervision:** P.Y.K.**Validation:** J.Y.E.**Visualization:** J.G.M.**Writing - original draft:** J.G.M.**Writing - review & editing:** C.S.B.
**Conflict of Interest:** No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.
[^1]: ^\*^Gum-Mo Jung and Seung-Hyun Lee were equally contributed as 1st author.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Central"
}
|
Grace Goodhue graduated from the University of Vermont in 1902, then trained at the Clarke Institute for the Deaf in Northampton, Massachusetts. There she met Calvin Coolidge, whom she married in 1905; they had two sons. As first lady, her warmth and charm balanced her husband’s stern public personality. Although President Coolidge, reacting to the previous administration’s scandals, shielded his family from the press, the first lady found channels to exert her influence. She once gave a five-minute speech in sign language at a luncheon for newspaperwomen, reinforcing her advocacy for the education of the deaf. She also undertook a remodeling of the White House.
Although Gilbert Stuart made many copies of the president’s portrait over the years, this is thought to be his only painting of Martha Washington. Commissioned at the same time as the “Athenaeum” portrait of George Washington, Stuart’s portrait of the first lady has a similar history; the artist never finished it, and he kept it until his death. In as early as 1800, when she was grieving the death of her husband, Martha Washington asked her friend Tobias Lear to press Stuart to deliver both portraits. Lear wrote to Stuart, “with all the persuasive language of which I [am] master, [I] prevail upon you to let Mrs. Washington have the Painting of her dear deceased husband, our late illustrious and beloved Chief.”
The artist; his daughter Jane Stuart; purchased in May, 1831, by the Trustees of the Boston Athenaeum with funds raised by subscription from the Washington Monument Association and 22 additional subscribers; purchased 1980 jointly by NPG and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts
Playfully titling this screenprint of the nation’s first African American first lady Michelle O, Mickalene Thomas creates an implicit comparison between Michelle Obama’s youthful, fashion-forward glamour and that of Jacqueline Kennedy. In addition to the extraordinary support she has lent to her husband’s political career, Michelle Obama—here depicted as personable, confident, and forthright—is herself a Harvard-trained lawyer. Prior to her husband’s election, she demonstrated her own impressive legal and administrative skills, building an influential career in Chicago devoted largely to stimulating and supporting public service. As first lady, Obama has continued to stress the importance of social issues and has put special focus on the challenge of eradicating childhood obesity through healthy eating and exercise. In her husband’s second term, she has launched new initiatives to urge Americans to continue their education beyond high school and to support service members, veterans, and their families.
Note: The owners, according to Edward Speelman, Ltd., were “an English family now living in Switzerland. The picture has been in their possession for several generations, but have no record of how or when it entered their possession.” 2 June 1969 to Perry B. Cott, National Gallery of Art. Copy, NPG curatorial file.
Admired for her candor and down-to-earth approach to public life, Barbara Bush enjoyed considerable popularity as the nation’s first lady during the presidency of her husband, George H. W. Bush (1989–93). Just sixteen when she met the future president in 1941, she married him four years later and embarked on a life that would include raising five children, one of whom, George W. Bush, became the forty-third president. During her tenure as first lady, Bush championed efforts to combat illiteracy. In 1989 she established the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy and later directed proceeds from the publication of Millie’s Book—a behind-the-scenes look at White House life from the perspective of the Bush family’s beloved springer spaniel—to fund literacy initiatives. The first lady and Millie appear together in this photograph, which was taken on the White House grounds.
Mary Todd married Abraham Lincoln much against the wishes of her relatives, who considered him socially inferior. But she was perhaps the first to realize Lincoln's potential for national leadership.
This photograph of Mrs. Lincoln, wearing a meticulously fashioned black dress, may have been taken in the autumn of 1863. She would have been still in mourning for her eleven-year-old son, Willie, who had died of typhoid fever in February 1862. His death, followed three years later by the assassination of her husband, precipitated her rapid psychological decline, which continually worsened during her lifetime.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
Q:
Why does limit not exist?
I don't understand how the limit does not exist for the composite function. The limit as x approaches -2 for g(x) is zero. So, the last step is to evaluate h(0), which is -1. Yes, there is a hole at x=0 but that doesn't mean you can't evaluate h(0).
A:
It's true that $\lim_{x\to-2}g(x)=0$, but as $g(x)$ goes to $0$, it gets there from two directions. Namely, from above and from below. It goes through values like $-0.1$, $-0.001$, $-0.0001$, etc. from below and through values like $0.1$, $0.001$, $0.0001$, etc. from above. That's equivalent to evaluating $\lim_{x\to 0}h(x)$ which, according to the theory of limits, is really two one-sided limits under the hood. And what does the function $h(x)$ approach as you go to $0$ from the right and from the left?
$$\lim_{x\to 0^-}h(x)=1$$ and $$\lim_{x\to 0^+}h(x)=-1.$$
Those two limits don't agree and thus the limit itself does not exist.
A:
For the limit to exist the following must hold:
$$\lim_{x\uparrow-2}h(g(x))=\lim_{x\downarrow-2}h(g(x))=h(g(0)),$$
Looking at the picture we can see that the left limit
$$\lim_{x\uparrow-2}h(g(x))=\lim_{x\uparrow0}h(x)=1$$
the right limit
$$\lim_{x\downarrow-2}h(g(x))=\lim_{x\downarrow0}h(x)=-1$$
and $h(g(-2))=h(3)=1$.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
|
Q:
Input 0 of layer conv1d_1 is incompatible with the layer: expected ndim=3, found ndim=2. Full shape received: [None, 200]
I'm working on application that should predict interesting moments in 10 sec audio files. I divided audio on 50ms chunks and extracted notes, so I have 200 notes for each example. When I add convolutional layer it returns an error:
ValueError: Input 0 of layer conv1d_1 is incompatible with the layer:
expected ndim=3, found ndim=2. Full shape received: [None, 200]
Here is my code:
def get_dataset(file_path):
dataset = tf.data.experimental.make_csv_dataset(
file_path,
batch_size=12,
label_name='label',
na_value='?',
num_epochs=1,
ignore_errors=False)
return dataset
train = get_dataset('/content/gdrive/My Drive/MyProject/train.csv')
test = get_dataset('/content/gdrive/My Drive/MyProject/TestData/manual.csv')
feature_columns = []
for number in range(200):
feature_columns.append(tf.feature_column.numeric_column('note' + str(number + 1) ))
preprocessing_layer = tf.keras.layers.DenseFeatures(feature_columns)
model = tf.keras.Sequential([
preprocessing_layer,
tf.keras.layers.Conv1D(32, 3, padding='same', activation=tf.nn.relu, input_shape=[None, 200]),
tf.keras.layers.Flatten(),
tf.keras.layers.Dense(50, activation=tf.nn.relu),
tf.keras.layers.Dense(1, activation=tf.nn.sigmoid)
])
model.compile(
loss='binary_crossentropy',
optimizer='adam',
metrics=['accuracy'])
model.fit(train, epochs=20)
What causes this problem and how can it be fixed?
A:
The 1D convolution over sequences expects a 3D input. In other words, for each element in the batch, for each time step, a single vector. Consider the following:
X = tf.random.normal([10, 200])
convolved = tf.keras.layers.Conv1D(32, 3, padding='same', activation=tf.nn.relu, input_shape=[None, 200])
print(convolved(X))
This throws an error:
ValueError: Input 0 of layer conv1d_3 is incompatible with the layer: expected ndim=3, found ndim=2. Full shape received: [10, 200]
However, If we provide for each of the 10 batch samples, for each of the 5 time steps, a 200 dimensional vector:
X = tf.random.normal([10, 5, 200])
convolved = tf.keras.layers.Conv1D(32, 3, padding='same', activation=tf.nn.relu, input_shape=[None, 200])
print(convolved(X)
This works as it should. Therefore, in your case, for each audio file, for each second (depends on how you sample the data), you will have a single vector.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
|
[CT-angiography in planning stereotaxic biopsies].
Twenty-one patients referred for stereotactic biopsy were studied by CT angiography. Helical CT with 1 mm collimation was obtained (pitch of 1:1). Multiplanar reconstructions were performed; maximum intensity projections and shaded-surface displays were generated by connectivity-based editing tools. The visualization of cerebral vessels was excellent. No further conventional angiography was needed. Improved information was obtained about localization of the intracranial lesion and its relationship to neighboring vessels. No bleeding complications were detected by CT after stereotactic biopsy.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
Latent cerebral artery stenoses on magnetic resonance angiography in a patient diagnosed as probable Alzheimer disease.
A 65-year-old woman with hypertension developed slowly progressive memory disturbance and disorientation. She was diagnosed as having Alzheimer-type dementia according to clinical criteria. Later her cognitive deterioration was noted to fluctuate in parallel to her blood pressure. Magnetic resonance angiography and single photon emission computed tomography showed bilateral middle cerebral artery stenoses and middle cerebral artery watershed dominant hypoperfusion. It is postulated that the patient's cognitive disturbance may have originated from vascular lesions.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
Noncontact rack-pinion-rack device as a differential vibration sensor.
We study a nanoscale system composed of one corrugated cylinder (pinion) placed between two corrugated plates (racks). The pinion and racks have no mechanical contact, but are coupled via the lateral Casimir force-one of the most spectacular consequences of quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field. The noncontact design of the device could help with the noteworthy wear problem in nanoscale mechanical systems. We consider the case where both racks undergo harmonic lateral motion. We assume that the amplitude, frequency, and phase of one of the racks are known. We show that probing the pinion motion, one can determine the vibration characteristics of the other rack.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
Adult vaccination, part 2: vaccines for persons at high risk. Teaching Immunization for Medical Education (TIME) Project.
The morbidity and mortality from vaccine-preventable diseases are high among adults with underlying medical conditions. Influenza vaccination is recommended annually, optimally between October and mid-November, for all persons 50 years of age and older and those with cardiac disease with potential for altered hemodynamics, diabetes mellitus, immunocompromising conditions, pulmonary disease, or renal disease. This season, because of production delays, influenza vaccination campaigns are planned for November. Pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination is recommended for all persons 65 years and older and for those with alcoholism, asplenia, cardiac disease, cirrhosis, diabetes mellitus, immunocompromising conditions, pulmonary disease, or chronic renal disease. Indications for hepatitis B vaccination include chronic renal disease and hemodialysis, as well as employment in health care or employment as a mortician or public safety officer. It is also recommended for homosexual men, those who have multiple sex partners or a sexually transmitted disease, and injection drug users.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
|
<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<section xmlns="https://code.dccouncil.us/schemas/dc-library" xmlns:codified="https://code.dccouncil.us/schemas/codified" xmlns:codify="https://code.dccouncil.us/schemas/codify" xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" containing-doc="D.C. Code">
<num>21-521</num>
<heading>Detention of persons believed to be mentally ill; transportation and application to hospital.</heading>
<text>An accredited officer or agent of the Department of Mental Health of the District of Columbia, or an officer authorized to make arrests in the District of Columbia, or a physician or qualified psychologist of the person in question, who has reason to believe that a person is mentally ill and, because of the illness, is likely to injure himself or others if he is not immediately detained may, without a warrant, take the person into custody, transport him to a public or private hospital, or to the Department, and make application for his admission thereto for purposes of emergency observation and diagnosis. The application shall reveal the circumstances under which the person was taken into custody and the reasons therefor.</text>
<annotations>
<annotation doc="Pub. L. 89-183" type="History">Sept. 14, 1965, 79 Stat. 753, Pub. L. 89-183, § 1</annotation>
<annotation doc="Pub. L. 91-358" type="History">July 29, 1970, 84 Stat. 567, Pub. L. 91-358, title I, § 150(c)(2)</annotation>
<annotation doc="D.C. Law 5-48" type="History">Feb. 24, 1984, D.C. Law 5-48,§ 11(a)(8), 30 DCR 5778</annotation>
<annotation doc="D.C. Law 7-104" type="History">Apr. 30, 1988, D.C. Law 7-104, § 6(f), 35 DCR 147</annotation>
<annotation doc="D.C. Law 14-56" type="History">Dec. 18, 2001, D.C. Law 14-56, § 116(g)(1), 48 DCR 7674</annotation>
<annotation doc="D.C. Law 14-283" type="History">Apr. 4, 2003, D.C. Law 14-283, § 2(h), 50 DCR 917</annotation>
<annotation type="Emergency Legislation">For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 2(h) of Mental Health Civil Commitment Congressional Review Emergency Act of 2003 (D.C. Act 15-41, March 24, 2003, 50 DCR 2784).</annotation>
<annotation type="Emergency Legislation">For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 2(h) of Mental Health Civil Commitment Emergency Act of 2002 (D.C. Act 14-546, December 12, 2002, 50 DCR 199).</annotation>
<annotation type="Emergency Legislation">For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 2(g) of Mental Health Commitment Congressional Review Emergency Act of 2002 (D.C. Act 14-350, April 24, 2002, 49 DCR 4417).</annotation>
<annotation type="Emergency Legislation">For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 2(g) of Mental Health Commitment Emergency Amendment Act of 2002 (D.C. Act 14-265, January 30, 2002, 49 DCR 1450).</annotation>
<annotation type="Emergency Legislation">For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 116(g)(1) of Mental Health Service Delivery Reform Congressional Review Emergency Act of 2001 (D.C. Act 14-144, October 23, 2001, 48 DCR 9947).</annotation>
<annotation type="Emergency Legislation">For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 16(g)(1) of Department of Mental Health Establishment Congressional Review Emergency Amendment Act of 2001 (D.C. Act 14-101, July 23, 2001, 48 DCR 7123).</annotation>
<annotation type="Emergency Legislation">For temporary (90 day) amendment of section, see § 16(g)(1) of Department of Mental Health Establishment Emergency Amendment Act of 2001 (D.C. Act 14-55, May 2, 2001, 48 DCR 4390).</annotation>
<annotation type="Temporary Legislation">Section 5(b) of <cite doc="D.C. Law 14-131">D.C. Law 14-131</cite> provided that the act shall expire after 225 days of its having taken effect.</annotation>
<annotation type="Temporary Legislation">Section 2(g) of <cite doc="D.C. Law 14-131">D.C. Law 14-131</cite>, in the first sentence, added “, or to the Department,” following “or private hospital”.</annotation>
<annotation type="Temporary Legislation">Section 19(b) of <cite doc="D.C. Law 14-51">D.C. Law 14-51</cite> provided that the act shall expire after 225 days of its having taken effect.</annotation>
<annotation type="Temporary Legislation">Section 16(g)(1) of <cite doc="D.C. Law 14-51">D.C. Law 14-51</cite> substituted “Department of Mental Health” for “Department of Human Services” in the first sentence.</annotation>
<annotation type="Effect of Amendments"><cite doc="D.C. Law 14-283">D.C. Law 14-283</cite> added “, or to the Department” after “or private hospital”.</annotation>
<annotation type="Effect of Amendments"><cite doc="D.C. Law 14-56">D.C. Law 14-56</cite> substituted “Department of Mental Health” for “Department of Human Services”.</annotation>
<annotation type="Prior Codifications">1973 Ed., § 21-521.</annotation>
<annotation type="Prior Codifications">1981 Ed., § 21-521.</annotation>
<annotation type="Section References">This section is referenced in <cite path="§7-1203.03">§ 7-1203.03</cite>, <cite path="§16-2315">§ 16-2315</cite>, <cite path="§21-522">§ 21-522</cite>, and <cite path="§21-582">§ 21-582</cite>.</annotation>
<annotation type="Cross References">St. Elizabeths Hospital, commitment of mentally ill persons, see §§ <cite path="§21-901">21-901</cite> et seq., <cite path="§44-901">44-901</cite> et seq.</annotation>
<annotation type="Cross References">Release of dower, see <cite path="§19-107">§ 19-107</cite>a.</annotation>
<annotation type="Cross References">Redemption from tax sale, removal of disability, see <cite path="§47-1304">§ 47-1304</cite>.</annotation>
<annotation type="Cross References">Real estate leases, mentally ill person’s rights, see <cite path="§42-3222">§ 42-3222</cite> et seq.</annotation>
<annotation type="Cross References">Property of mentally ill persons, see <cite path="§21-2001">§ 21-2001</cite> et seq.</annotation>
<annotation type="Cross References">Physician or qualified psychologist related by blood or marriage to alleged mentally ill person, power to apply or certify mental status, see <cite path="§21-582">§ 21-582</cite>.</annotation>
<annotation type="Cross References">Personal property schedule filing, persons under disability, see <cite path="§47-1601">§ 47-1601</cite>.</annotation>
<annotation type="Cross References">Militia service exemption, see <cite path="§49-401">§ 49-401</cite>.</annotation>
<annotation type="Cross References">Emergency disclosure of mental health information, see <cite path="§7-1203.03">§ 7-1203.03</cite>.</annotation>
<annotation type="Cross References">Conservator, guardian in proceedings for appointment, see <cite path="§21-2041">§ 21-2041</cite> et seq.</annotation>
<annotation type="Cross References">Condemnation of insanitary buildings, appointment of guardian ad litem, see <cite path="§6-909">§ 6-909</cite>.</annotation>
<annotation type="Cross References">Annulment of marriage, <cite path="§46-404">§ 46-404</cite>.</annotation>
</annotations>
</section>
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Github"
}
|
To be honest I'm not sure if this is my favorite death metal album, period. I made this thread to emphasize how we forget about the famous metal classics. When I hear the name Deicide, I don't picture the unstoppable titan from the early 90's, I picture the gimmicky middle aged burnout Deicide.
Legion is filled with those insane moments of brilliance. The beginning of Revocate the Agitator and Behead the Prophet, the constant pauses which erupt into madness, huge riffs, sick atmosphere, it's got everything a death metal album needs.
maybe thats why you dont picture the 'unstoppable titan from the early 90s'.
its a little weird to wax nostalgic about an album that was out when you didnt even exist.
dont mean to be a dick, just saying. this thread is sort of pointless.
No nostalgia here. I'm talking about the public opinion of Deicide. I don't really see why my age is an issue, classical music historians that weren't there don't know what the fuck they're talking about?
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
/**
* Evaluation.java
* It is to evaluate the elapsed time of each sameAs approach
*/
package com.samsung.scrc.wsg.k.eval;
import com.samsung.scrc.wsg.k.sa.matcher.BeliefBasedMatcher;
import com.samsung.scrc.wsg.k.sa.matcher.FullMatcher;
import com.samsung.scrc.wsg.k.sa.matcher.MaxConfMatcher;
import com.samsung.scrc.wsg.k.sa.matcher.One2OneMatcher;
import com.samsung.scrc.wsg.k.sa.matcher.ThresholdMatcher;
import com.samsung.scrc.wsg.k.sa.stat.Stat;
/**
* @author yuxie
*
* @date Apr 6, 2015
*
*/
public class Evaluation {
/**
* Evaluate pre-processing (<Entity, Language Count>)
*/
public void evalPreprocess() {
long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
System.out.println("Preprocess Evaluation starts at: "+startTime);
Stat.statLang();
long endTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
System.out.println("Preprocess Evaluation finishes at: "+endTime);
System.out.println("Preprocess Elapsed Time: "+(endTime - startTime) / 1000.0+"s.");
}
/**
* Evaluate full matcher approach
*/
public void evalFullMatcher() {
long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
System.out.println("Full Matcher Evaluation starts at: "+startTime);
FullMatcher matcher = new FullMatcher();
matcher.init();
matcher.match();
matcher.close();
long endTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
System.out.println("Full Matcher Evaluation finishes at: "+endTime);
System.out.println("Full Matcher Elapsed Time: " + (endTime - startTime)
/ 1000.0 + "s.");
}
/**
* Evaluate max confidence approach
*/
public void evalMaxConfMatcher() {
long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
System.out.println("Max Confidence Matcher Evaluation starts at: " + startTime);
Stat.statSA();
long interTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
System.out.println("Max Confidence Matcher Evaluation intermediates at: "
+ interTime);
MaxConfMatcher matcher = new MaxConfMatcher();
matcher.init();
matcher.match();
matcher.close();
long endTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
System.out.println("Max Confidence Evaluation finishes at: " + endTime);
System.out.println("Max Confidence Elapsed Time: " + (endTime - startTime)
/ 1000.0 + "s.");
}
/**
* Evaluate threshold filtering approach
*/
public void evalThresholdMatcher() {
long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
System.out.println("Threshold Matcher Evaluation starts at:\t" + startTime);
ThresholdMatcher matcher = new ThresholdMatcher();
matcher.init();
matcher.match();
matcher.close();
long endTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
System.out.println("Threshold Evaluation finishes at:\t" + endTime);
System.out.println("Threshold Elapsed Time:\t" + (endTime - startTime) / 1000.0
+ "s.");
}
/**
* Evaluate one-to-one mapping approach
*/
public void evalOne2OneMatcher() {
long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
System.out.println("1-1 Only Matcher Evaluation starts at:\t" + startTime);
One2OneMatcher matcher = new One2OneMatcher();
matcher.init();
matcher.match();
matcher.close();
long endTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
System.out.println("1-1 Only Evaluation finishes at:\t" + endTime);
System.out.println("1-1 Only Elapsed Time:\t" + (endTime - startTime) / 1000.0
+ "s.");
}
/**
* Evaluate belief-base approach
*/
public void evalBeliefBasedMatcher() {
long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
System.out.println("Belief-based Evaluation starts at:\t" + startTime);
BeliefBasedMatcher matcher = new BeliefBasedMatcher();
matcher.init();
matcher.match();
matcher.close();
long endTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
System.out.println("Belief-based Evaluation finishes at:\t" + endTime);
System.out.println("Belief-based Elapsed Time:\t" + (endTime - startTime)
/ 1000.0 + "s.");
}
/**
* Control whole evaluation process
*/
public void eval() {
evalPreprocess();
evalFullMatcher();
evalMaxConfMatcher();
evalThresholdMatcher();
evalOne2OneMatcher();
evalBeliefBasedMatcher();
}
}
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Github"
}
|
The impact of practice guidelines and funding policies on the use of new drugs in advanced non-small cell lung cancer.
Cancer Care Ontario's (CCO) Program in Evidence-based Care has provided a credible basis for policy development and the funding of new and expensive anticancer drugs in the province of Ontario. In November 1997, vinorelbine was approved for the first-line treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) on the basis of evidence-based practice guidelines generated by the Provincial Lung Disease Site Group. In June 1998, gemcitabine was approved as an alternative to vinorelbine for use in selected patients (e.g. significant venous access problems, peripheral neuropathy, severe toxicity to vinorelbine). A provincial drug database was used to determine the impact that these new policies had on the rate of vinorelbine and gemcitabine uptake within the CCO new drug funding programme. Drug utilization data for vinorelbine and gemcitabine from October 1997 to June 1999 were obtained from the CCO drug database. Individual patient data consisted of age, gender, first-line agent used, number of treatments, duration of therapy, treatment location (regional cancer centre vs. other) and total cost. Demographic and drug utilization data were analysed descriptively as means, medians, or proportions. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was then used to identify factors associated with the selection of gemcitabine over vinorelbine, as a first-line therapy. Following the approval of the first policy in November 1997, there was a rapid adoption of vinorelbine use in new NSCLC patients. When the gemcitabine policy was approved in June 1998, there was a rapid uptake in its use reaching a stable plateau of approximately 15% of all NSCLC patients within 9 months. The logistic regression analysis identified patient age greater than 65 years [odds ratio (OR) = 1.90, P = 0.001] and treatment in a non-regional cancer setting (OR = 1.71, P = 0.008) as significant predictors of gemcitabine utilization. Overall, the mean drug cost per patient treated with first-line gemcitabine was significantly higher than vinorelbine (Can 2590 dollars vs. Can 1030 dollars, P < 0.001). The new funding policies were associated with a rapid increase in drug utilization reaching a stable plateau within 9 months. Factors contributing to the usage of these new drugs for NSCLC included patient characteristics, such as age and treatment location.
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{
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V. Khouri - Carolina Thunderbirds
By his own estimation, Scott Brand got to spend about 24 hours as the most brilliant man in hockey history. Then he spent the next 24 as the much-maligned pseudo-mastermind behind one of the worst ideas the sport has ever seen.
You see, Brand, president and GM of the Federal League’s Carolina Thunderbirds, had himself an idea during the off-season, one that could change the game forever. It was a simple modification to the rulebook, too: he wanted to move the shootout to the pre-game proceedings, ahead of the opening faceoff, with it holding all the usual implications should a game remain tied following overtime. It took some convincing — of the league, of Thunderbirds ownership, of his players and coaching staff — but eventually Brand got the green light. And one weekend in late-November, the pre-game shootout made its debut when Carolina hosted the Port Huron Prowlers in a back-to-back set.
On that first night, the idea was a smash. Fans ate it up. Players did, as well. It was hard not to, too, when the Thunderbirds rolled to a 4-0 victory and the pre-game shootout was entirely inconsequential to the outcome. But the Saturday night meeting was a different story. After Port Huron won the skills competition, the two teams played to a 4-4 draw through 60 minutes. Overtime solved nothing. Thus, the Prowlers earned the 5-4 victory in what Brand called “the best worst-case scenario.” The reaction from the Thunderbirds faithful was decidedly unpleasant.
“I got probably things close to a death threat,” Brand told The Hockey News, adding he was shocked at the vulgarity directed his way. “People really being nasty about it.”
That’s not to say Brand doesn’t understand. He does. He gets the emotional investment fans have in the outcome of the games. But Brand sticks by the idea and what it can do, in theory, to inject added excitement into the contest in a non-traditional market. He said the period leading up the extra frame during the 5-4 loss to Port Huron, when Carolina knew they had to either score in the dying minutes of regulation or rely on an overtime winner, was thrilling hockey that required a departure from normal strategy. The coaching staff made adjustments. And that led to an overtime free-for-all that those with the best seats in the house enjoyed.
“I can tell you the players liked it,” Brand said. “They thought the last three minutes of that overtime was the most intense hockey we played…We pulled our goaltender, there were three goal-mouth scrambles in the last minute and even our coach said it was playoff intensity. So, I got it, the players got it, the coaching staff got it, but unfortunately, the fans didn’t get it.”
Nor will they have the chance to understand, either. Three weeks after the rule was instituted, Brand and Co. made the decision to shelve it indefinitely. In a sense, it was Brand sticking by his word. He said at the time the pre-game shootout was announced that the Thunderbirds would strike the rule change if the fan response was overwhelmingly negative. It was. And so the ill-fated pre-game shootout met an early grave.
That doesn’t mean the rule was an out-and-out bad idea, however, nor that it’s about to go the way of “Charles Finley and the white skates or when the AHL made the bluelines two-feet wide,” never to be seen again. The hybrid icing rule in the USHL, which Brand implemented and has since been adopted at the NHL level, wasn’t universally beloved when it arrived. So, maybe there will be a revival for the pre-game shootout, one that comes when fans are willing to be a bit more open-minded about the results. And why not, particularly when, in Brand’s mind, it didn’t necessarily have any impact on the final score?
“People will say, ‘Oh, it cost you two points!’ It didn’t cost me two points. It cost me one. And that’s assuming we would have won the shootout, and our team is awful in shootouts anyway,” Brand laughed. “So I have nothing to lose there.”
If the pre-game shootout comes back, though, would Brand make any changes? Not quite. In fact, looking back, he seems to have only one regret.
“If there was a mistake made it’s that I probably should have just stuck with it and kept trying it for another two weeks,” Brand said. Then he paused, moved his mouth from the phone receiver and hollered to someone in the background. When he continued, he was chuckling: “And we have yet to have a game go to overtime since then and we’re on an 11-game winning streak. So, I’m single-handedly taking credit because of that for our 11-game win streak. So, I think it was a great rule.”
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Rheological properties of phosphorylated exopolysaccharide produced by Sporidiobolus pararoseus JD-2.
The exopolysaccharide (EPS) produced by Sporidiobolus pararoseus JD-2 contained about 2.0% phosphorus and its zeta potential was -30mV at pH 6.0. This indicated that it was an anionic polymer. In steady shear measurements, there was a Newtonian plateau in low shear rates, but power-law behavior exhibited at high shear rates. So Williamson model was used to study the flow character of the EPS solutions. This phenomenon was according to its high molecular weight and entanglement networks. Considering the EPS was an anionic polymer, the influence of added salts on apparent viscosity of EPS were studied. Different NaCl concentrations had little effect on the viscosity of the EPS, but high concentrations of CaCl2 increased the viscosity of EPS significantly. EPS solutions showed inapparent thixotropic properties in stress growth and thixotropic loop experiment. According to the flow curve results and oscillatory shear results obtained, the rheological properties of EPS solutions were closer to that of entanglement network system, like carboxy methyl cellulose rather than weak gel structure such as xanthan gum. The EPS had the function to enhance immunological functions. Understanding the rheological characteristics of EPS was essential to exploit the functionality of this EPS in different food or medicine systems.
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{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
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Programmable integrated circuits are a type of integrated circuit that can be configured by a user to implement custom logic functions. In a typical scenario, a logic designer uses computer-aided design (CAD) tools to design a custom logic circuit. When the design process is complete, the CAD tools generate configuration data. The configuration data is loaded into a programmable integrated circuit to configure the device to perform desired logic functions.
In a typical system, a programmable integrated circuit, memory devices, and other electronic components are mounted on a printed circuit board. The programmable integrated circuit includes memory interface circuitry that is used to relay data back and forth between the programmable integrated circuit and the memory devices (i.e., the memory interface circuitry is used to read data from and write data into the memory devices). When performing such memory read and write operations, the timing of control and data signals is critical.
Because programmable integrated circuits can be configured in many different ways and are installed on many different types of boards, the lengths of circuit board traces coupling the programmable integrated circuit to the memory devices can vary from one system to another. As a result, it is generally not possible to know in advance exactly how data, control, and clock paths between a programmable integrated circuit and a given memory device will perform. In some systems, the data and clock paths may have one set of timing characteristics, whereas in other systems the data and clock paths may have a different set of timing characteristics.
Mismatch (or skew) between the data and clock paths may result in degraded setup and hold times. In modern high speed memory interface circuitry that use double data rate (DDR) transfers (i.e., a data transmission scheme in which data toggles on both rising and falling edges of the clock), a small amount of skew will result in faulty data transfer during read/write operations. Moreover, variations in operating conditions (i.e., voltage and temperature variations) can further degrade setup and hold times.
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{
"pile_set_name": "USPTO Backgrounds"
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BALDWIN TWP, MI -- Plastic Trim International is aiming to boost the workforce and economy in Iosco County by investing $16.1 million and creating 210 new jobs.
The plastics company was approved for a $1.5 million performance based grant from the Michigan Strategic Fund board to invest $16.1 million into its Baldwin Township manufacturing plant and Tawas City logistics center.
The investment, officials say, will generate 210 new jobs with an average wage of $24 per hour.
The investment is going toward a 42,000-square-foot expansion and upgraded technologies at the company's Baldwin Township plant. Its Tawas City logistics center will also have some growth due to the increased production in Baldwin Township, according to officials.
"This project demonstrates how the state's attraction strategy reaches all parts of the state, and provides key support in the intense competition for new businesses locating and expanding in Michigan," said Jeff Mason, chief executive officer of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
Penny Payea, managing director for the Tawas Area Chamber of Commerce, said the Tawas area is always in need of jobs. She said the area is best known for water and tourism, but natives who live there "relish for job opportunities" like the ones Plastic Trim International is creating.
Lindsy Adkins, business services professional for Michigan Works! Region 7B said she remembers Kalitta Air, an American Cargo Airline based in Ypsilanti, generating a lot of jobs at its Oscoda location. But besides the cargo airline, Adkins couldn't recall any other recent, large employment opportunities in Iosco County similar to the announcement made on Tuesday, April 24.
Adkins said Michigan Works! Plans to help the plastics company with their employment needs.
Currently, there's an estimated 8,750 employable workforce in Iosco County in a population of 25,400, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. About 16 percent of that workforce is in manufacturing with about the same employed in health-care services. The additional 210 jobs at Plastic Trim marks a 15 percent increase in the county's manufacturing employment, according to MEDC officials.
Plastic Trim manufactures trim, molding, decorative parts, body structural parts, set frame systems, and roof racks for General Motors, Chrysler, Volkswagen, Nissan, and BMW.
The Company is a subsidiary of Minth Group US Holdings, Inc., a China-based manufacturer of trim, molding, decorative parts, body structural parts, set frame systems, and roof racks for the automotive industry.
"This project will increase the skills of the current workforce, train new hires in the skilled trades and have a significant impact on the community," said Mark Berdan, executive director, Michigan Works! Region 7B.
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I know a guy who did this with a Lynx and she got scratched and bitten for the trouble.
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{
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
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[Stop smoking help: a need].
Today the smoker carries a risk of mortality 70% higher compared to the nonsmoker. In Belgium active smoking is indisputably the most important cause of avoidable death. In 2004 it appears that 27% of the belgian population was smoking. This review describes the comorbidity associated with active tobacco consumption and defines the concepts of dependence and smoking cessation. It also identifies the three factors which determine the success of smoking cessation, i.e. the degree of nicotinic dependence, the presence of anxio-depressive disorders and the importance of the motivation to the stop.
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{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Abstracts"
}
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Q:
Python print hyperlinked text to Spyder Console
I'm using the WinPython distribution on Windows 7, which comes with the Spyder IDE (and I hope this will work the same on Anaconda). I would like to know how to print hyperlinked text to the console output.
I assume it's possible, because when I get an error in my code, I get the traceback that shows me where it crashed, and those links are clickable, and will then open the line of the function where it raised the error. See below:
(I can't post the image without 10 rep, that's lame, I'm new to the site) See here: http://i.stack.imgur.com/oJ3Aw.png
However, I don't want to just open a file within the IDE, what I want to do is have a link to the folder location where my code just saved some plot images to disk, and when I click on the link, have it open the folder within windows explorer. Bonus points if there is a platform independent way of doing this, but a windows only solution would be sufficient for me.
I have some previously existing Matlab code that would do this for me, but I can't determine if there is a Python equivalent:
save_path = pwd;
fprintf('Plots saved to: <a href="matlab: web(''%s'',''-browser'');">%s</a>\n',save_path,save_path);
A:
It has been deprecated.
I find a reference here:
https://github.com/pydata/pandas/pull/7499#issue-36016539
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{
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>
In general, reversal in price of an asset occurs due to investors' overreaction to asset-related news and the subsequent price correction. In this case, the most probable reason for the phenomenon, according to the authors, is the market makers‘ aversion to inventory risks that tend to increase dramatically in the pre-announcement period. Consequently, the market makers demand higher compensation for providing liquidity due to higher risk and therefore raise prices, which are expected to reverse after the earnings announcement.
As the paper does, I find evidence of returns reversal during earnings announcements; while the paper tested using data from 1996 to 2011, I used data from 2007 to 2016. The average reversal among all stocks in my data is 0.449%, compared to a result of 1.448% in the paper. I found that we can reasonably increase the reversal to 0.6% by selecting firms based on a minimum average dollar volume percentile, or based on a minimum market cap.
>Several market frictions have the potential to significantly impact the efficiency and information content of market prices. This study focuses on the friction that arises from the need to locate a counterparty in order to complete a trade. Market makers typically mitigate this friction by matching would-be sellers with would-be buyers. When there is an imbalance between the quantities sought by buyers and sellers at a given price, market makers may absorb the order imbalance into their own account by serving as the trade counterparty. This practice is commonly known as liquidity provision.
Upon anticipation of a good (bad) earnings report, investors want to go long (short) in the stock; they often don't consider whether the stock is currently over- or under-priced, simply assuming that it will get a positive (negative) bump upon the release of the earnings report. Meanwhile, market makers see an imbalance in demand for long (short) positions; they thus raise (lower) the price to compensate for providing the liquidity necessary to fill the imbalance. Investors usually don't care about this price change, assuming the bump will come from the report.
After the earnings announcement, the demand imbalance should disappear, and with it the market makers' need for the price adjustment. Thus the market makers reverse the recent price change which causes a short-term reversal.
Our strategy will be to assume that new information provided by the release of the earnings report will be neutral on average. All that remains is to take advantage of the market makers' adjustment of the stock price, by taking an opposite position and waiting for them to reverse the change.
>We show that a long (short) position in firms whose returns strongly underperform (outperform) the market in the three days prior to earnings announcements yields an average return of 145 basis points (bps) during the announcement window. By comparison, the average return to a comparable portfolio during non-announcement periods is 22 bps, indicating that return reversals increase more than six-fold during earnings announcements.
While I didn't compare to non-announcement conditions, I did find clear low/high reversals for the best/worst performing securities prior to earnings. I also examined how various universe selection conditions would affect the returns of this strategy; while the authors selected based on market cap, I explored using average dollar volume as well as our Q500US and Q1500US liquid stock universes finding that a minimum average dollar volume filter and Q500US universe both performed well as universe selectors.
The methodology behind the study is based on the idea that a stock's short-term returns will reverse during an earnings announcement as an inbalance in demand dissipates. The data used in this Research Notebook is sourced from EventVestor's Earnings Calendar Dataset. The sample version is available from 2007 up till 2 years ago while the premium version is available up till present day.
Below, a Pipeline pulls all earnings announcements of which prior knowledge of the date existed, along with data on the day before each about the company's average dollar volume, market cap, sector, and short-term returns.
I eliminate firms with prices below $5 to mitigate the influence of bid-ask bounce on our calculation of return reversals as noted in the paper. Our data starts on 2007-01-01 and spans up through the present day (2 years ago for the free set).
# Basic universe filterstradable_filter=IsPrimaryShare()&mstar.valuation.market_cap.latest.notnull()days_filter=BusinessDaysUntilNextEarnings().eq(1)price_filter=USEquityPricing.close.latest>5# Factors for returns and liquidityadv=AverageDollarVolume(mask=USEquityPricing.volume.latest>0,window_length=30)vlr=variable_lookback_returns(10,mask=adv.notnan())market_cap=mstar.valuation.market_cap.latest# Pipeline itself to calculate PARpipe=Pipeline(columns={'adv_percentile':adv.quantiles(100),'sector':mstar.asset_classification.morningstar_sector_code.latest,'q500us':Q500US(),'q1500us':Q1500US(),'market_cap':market_cap,'market_cap_percentile':market_cap.quantiles(100),# -3 to -2'par_2':vlr.par_2.quantiles(RETURNS_QUANTILES),# Used by the authors in original study: -4 to -2 'par_3':vlr.par_3.quantiles(RETURNS_QUANTILES),# -5 to - 2'par_4':vlr.par_4.quantiles(RETURNS_QUANTILES),# -6 to -2'par_5':vlr.par_5.quantiles(RETURNS_QUANTILES),# -7 to -2'par_6':vlr.par_6.quantiles(RETURNS_QUANTILES),# -8 to -2'par_7':vlr.par_7.quantiles(RETURNS_QUANTILES),# -9 to -2'par_8':vlr.par_8.quantiles(RETURNS_QUANTILES),# -10 to -2'par_9':vlr.par_9.quantiles(RETURNS_QUANTILES),# -11 to -2'par_10':vlr.par_10.quantiles(RETURNS_QUANTILES),},screen=days_filter&tradable_filter&price_filter&(vlr.par_10.notnan()))data=split_run_pipeline(pipe,START,END,16)# Get before/ after pricing data for all announcement events using `get_pricing`.cal=tradingcalendar.get_trading_days(START-pd.Timedelta('20d'),END+pd.Timedelta(days=MAX_DAYS_TO_HOLD*2))price_data=data.groupby(level=0).apply(fill_prices)price_data_matched=price_data.reindex(data.index)print'Done fetching data.'
This section documents the reversal effect during earnings by examining the spreads between the worst and best performing stocks by PAR returns quantile (0 vs 4 respectively). I find a final spread of 0.449% compared to the authors' final value of 1.448%.
The expected returns will be the first quantile minus the returns on the last quantile. This difference I will call the "spread," and will use "spread" and "returns" interchangeably.
Below is a comparison average of t-1 to t+1 returns when all equities are divided into quantiles based on their returns in the 3 days prior, as suggested by the paper. It looks like we do have some spread between the first and last quantiles.
The strategy that the paper suggests is to go long in the first quantile and short in the last quantile for a market-neutral strategy. Given the spread here, it looks like that approach may be fruitful. Compare our spread of 0.449% with the paper's final value of 1.448%. Perhaps the alpha has decayed since 2011, but there are still optimizations which might improve our returns.
The main point here is that the firms with the highest short-term returns prior to the announcement have the lowest short-term returns following their announcement, and vice-versa. This is illustrated by the following plot; note how the returns curves seem to bounce backward from their trend from right before the announcement.
In [8]:
means=pd.DataFrame(columns=range(RETURNS_QUANTILES),dtype=float)forqinmeans.columns:subset=price_data_matched.loc[data['par_3']==q]means[q]=(subset.transpose()/subset[0]).loc[-1:].mean(axis=1)means.plot()plt.xlabel('days since t-1')plt.ylabel('mean price, normalized at t-1')plt.title('Average cumulative returns over time by PAR quantile');
Up till now, my research supports that there is evidence of reversals in the best and worst performing stocks prior to an earnings announcement. This section is dedicated to examining the consistency of these results through a number of dimensions: Liquidity, Sector, and Liquidity + Sector.
The consistency is variable as you'd expect from an events based strategy. Additionally, as noted in the main study section, there appears to be some alpha decay in the returns over time. Consistency is quantified by dividing the mean spread (returns) by the standard deviation of the yearly spreads as above which gives a primitive Shapre ratio.
Plotting the values below, it seems that low ADV floors give us higher consistency (possibly because more events are available), but consistent returns also increase for higher ADV floors because of the strategy's better performance for higher ADV values.
The liquidity filters that perform best are ADV percentile >= 90 and Q500US, and they look fairly consistent across sectors. Sector 308 (communications) is very profitable on average, but it also has relatively few events, so that may be pure chance.
With results from both the empirical and robustness tests suggesting a possibility for a viable trading strategy, I take a look at a few of the parameters and attempt to roughly optimize for returns. It's important to note here that the following optimizations have a risk of overfitting the strategy parameters.
The core framework of the strategy is provided by Quantpedia:
>The investment universe consists of stocks listed at NYSE, AMEX, and NASDAQ, whose daily price data are available at CRSP database. Earnings-announcement dates are collected from Compustat. Firstly, the investor sorts stocks into quintiles based on firm size. Then he further sorts the stocks in the top quintile (the biggest) into quintiles based on their average returns in the 3-day window between t-4 and t-2, where t is the day of earnings announcement. The investor goes long on the bottom quintile (past losers) and short on the top quintile (past winners) and holds the stocks during the 3-day window between t-1, t, and t+1. Stocks in the portfolios are weighted equally.
The original paper uses a lookback window of 3 days (t-4 to t-2) and holding for 2 days (t-1 to t+1), but I explore a few other parameters as possible optimizations.
In [15]:
ax=sns.heatmap(create_spread_matrix(),annot=True)ax.set(title='Cumulative returns by PAR lookback and days since t-1',xlabel='PAR lookback',ylabel='days since t-1');
The above heatmap suggests that a PAR lookback window of 5 days is strong compared to other values. For the rest of this section, I'll stick to using the PAR lookback of 5 for the best results.
The heatmap above also suggests there may be some returns to be squeezed out by holding for longer periods of time, much longer than 2 days as the paper recommends. The below heatmap shows how marginal returns look for each day when holding for a long period.
ax=sns.heatmap(create_spread_matrix(lambdan:n-1),annot=True)ax.set(title='Marginal returns by PAR lookback and days since t-1',xlabel='PAR lookback',ylabel='days since t-1');
Marginal returns are clearly strong for the first 2 days that the stocks are held; marginal returns afterward are small but positive on average. This suggests that a good strategy should prioritize holding stocks for the crucial first 2 days, but could hold on longer if it has excess cash for mild returns.
The paper specifies that for the strategy to perform better, I should use only those firms with a high market cap. However, Average Dollar Volume is also a commonly used proxy for liquidity and the choice of either market cap or ADV constraints can have significantly different results for a trading strategy.
It seems that the paper was accurate in that this strategy works significantly better with high market cap stocks.
But another important factor in the feasibility of the strategy is trading in liquid stocks, and average dollar volume can be used as a proxy to firm size. The same plot above is shown below by ADV percentile rather than market cap.
As you can see, our spread (and thus the long-short strategy's returns) increase as we increase the minimum ADV. But obviously this decreases the number of events we have to work with, so there's a trade-off.
For the rest of our study we'll set a minimum ADV threshold of the 95th percentile to improve our results. Let's try charting the earnings announcement reversal with our optimized PAR lookback of 5 days and this ADV filter.
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{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
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Seuss
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{
"pile_set_name": "Github"
}
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Q:
How do I organize strings into a table in visual c#?
I was trying to sort up strings into grids in Visual c#, but couldn't do it. What code do I need to do so?
I've already tried going to many websites and writing the code specified, but it did not work.
I was expecting at least something, but all I got was a blank table when I copied code from a website.
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// TODO: This line of code loads data into the 'vendorDataSet.Vendor' table.
// You can move, or remove it, as needed.
this.vendorTableAdapter.Fill(this.vendorDataSet.Vendor);
}
A:
If I understood what you want: You have some strings (ie in an array) and you want to insert them into a DataTable.
DataTable dt = new DataTable();
dt.Columns.Add("Column1",typeof(string));
foreach(string str in yourStringArray){
DataRow dr = dt.NewRow();
dr["Column1"]= str;
dt.Rows.Add(dr);
}
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{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
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A series of pencil drawings by a north London artist has been amazing art critics.
Kelvin Okafor, from Tottenham, has scooped a number of national awards and exhibited at galleries across the country.
The 27-year-old Middlesex University Fine Art graduate's drawings are often mistaken for photographs.
Sarah Harris reports.
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As revealed last night by Motorsport.com, the FIA and owners of the former Force India team have been working hard in recent days to create a new entry and new team for the Silverstone-based outfit.
Following intense scrutiny of the legal situation surrounding the takeover of the Force India team by a consortium led by Lawrence Stroll, the FIA has subsequently approved an all-new entry.
It means the former Force India entry has been officially annulled, with the FIA ruling that the team is excluded from the world championship with immediate effect. This action forfeits its constructors’ championship points.
Racing Point’s team principal Otmar Szafnauer said: “The new Racing Point Force India Team is delighted to be able to race when the championship resumes in Belgium this weekend.
“This heralds a new and exciting chapter for us. Just a few weeks ago, an uncertain future lay ahead, with more than 400 jobs at risk; now the new team has the backing of a consortium of investors, led by Lawrence Stroll, who believe in us as a team, in our expertise and in our potential to achieve success on the track.
“We are grateful to the FIA, the Joint Administrators and Formula One Management for their support in helping us achieve such a welcome outcome and ultimately, we trust, for the sport and its many fans.”
FIA president Jean Todt added: “I am very pleased that a strong, positive outcome has been reached and welcome the mid-season entry of Racing Point Force India.
“Creating an environment of financial stability in Formula One is one of the key challenges faced by the sport, however thanks to the hard work of the FIA, the Joint Administrators, Racing Point and Formula One Management we have a situation now that safeguards the future for all of the highly-talented employees, and will maintain the fair and regulated championship competition for the second half of the season.”
New F1 constructors' standings
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Welcome to the Dreamit Dose. In the
next five minutes, we're going to talk
about how most startups get killed
by usually two to three key assumptions.
How to identify them, how to de-risk
them, and how to make sure it doesn't
happen to you. Let's dive in.
In the last 30 years of being an
entrepreneur and investor, I've learned
that every single new idea, every sales
forecast I ever look at, is always
based on two to three critical assumptions.
The problem is, the entrepreneurs
and startups never seem to get that point.
What I want you to think about is
what are the two to three most
critical assumptions you're making that
if you're wrong you're dead.
Think about that,
and if you want to think more narrowly
a friend of mine used to use,
and still uses, a great line.
What's the bet? What's the
single most critical assumption you're making
that your idea, your startup,
your forecast, is going to work?
Let's say I was going rock climbing,
and imagine I'm standing there and
I'm hanging off the edge of the cliff.
I'm hanging there off that rope off
the edge of the cliff. I've got my
Scarpa climbing shoes on, I've got carabiner.
Just imagine that person hanging 50
feet down on a 100 foot cliff.
My question for you is, what's the bet?
What's the one most critical success
factor that they're not going to die
that day? If you think about it
their biggest bet, is the rope isn't going
to break. It's not their helmet
It's not their carabiner.
It's not their Scarpa climbing shoes.
If that rope breaks, you're done.
So what I want you to think about as
you're thinking about your early stage idea,
what's that rope break issue for you?
Let's think about it a little further and let's
use an example from nineteen ninety-nine.
When the team and Tony Hsieh
got involved with Zappos,
what was the bet?
Amazon was already running
they'd been up for five years.
What the bet Zappos was making, is that
people would buy shoes online. So what
did they do? They maniacally focused
on that assumption. They assumed that
they weren't exactly going to be
correct and that they had to figure
that out. They went down to the store.
They took pictures of shoes. They posted
it online. They didn't even hold inventory.
Because if they couldn't
de-risk that critical assumption
that people would buy shoes online,
they were toast. They spent all their time,
no leasing warehouses, no big
software team, no inventory.
De-risk that critical assumption. How are you
going to do that for your startup?
I realize I'm going quickly.
Please leave your questions in the comments
section below. Make sure to subscribe
we have a lot more coming.
So I want you to think about how do
you turn assumptions into knowledge
as quickly and cheaply as possible.
Because remember as assumptions go down
value goes up. This is all about
consuming your intellectual capital
before consuming venture capital.
Now you've learned about this in fifth
grade when you're in elementary school.
You learned about something called
the scientific method. Do you remember
what it is? Think about it for
a minute. The first step in the scientific
method is you form a hypothesis. Exactly.
And then you set up an experiment
to prove or disprove your hypothesis.
That's what assumptions and de-risking
is all about. Setting up successively
important critical success factors or
critical assumptions and de-risking them as
quickly and cheaply as possible.
That's what it's about. That's what I want
you to do. That's what I want you to focus on.
So that works when you're really early stage
startup even as you're moving to your Series A.
What are those biggest assumptions?
How are you going to de-risk them with
your basic idea of your business?
Maybe you're getting into your sales pipeline.
What are your two to three
most critical assumptions going into
that pipeline going into that forecast?
How do you de-risk them as quickly
and cheaply as possible? That's it.
Keep asking what are your most critical
assumptions? What's the bet? What's
your rope break issue? That rope breaks,
your dead. Keep setting up experiments
to as quickly and as cheaply as possible
change assumptions into knowledge.
Do that, and you're on the path
to success.
I look forward to answering your
questions in the comments section.
That's your Dreamit Dose in five minutes.
See you next time.
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How can you see into my eyes like open doors?
Leading you down, into my core
Where I’ve become so numb Leading you down, into my coreWhere I’ve become so numb
Without a soul
My spirit’s sleeping somewhere cold
Until you find it there, and lead it, baaaaaack, home
Wake me up
WAKE ME UP INSIDE!
I can’t wake up
WAKE ME UP INSIDE
SAVE ME
Call my name and save me from the dark
HI. ARE YOU TOO BROKE TO MAKE THE META KONOSUBA LIST IN ENGLISH? ARE EVEN THE JP BUILDS TOO EXPENSIVE FOR YOU? YOU’RE SCARED YOUR SET 1 KONOSUBA CARDS WILL ROT IN THE CORNER OF YOUR CLOSET SINCE YOU DIDN’T BUY ENOUGH MAGIC TRAIT CARDS? FEAR NOT, SALTNORI IS GOING TO TEACH YOU THE WAYS WITH THIS NEW DECK DECK PROFILE FROM AN ANON. AND FOR SOME REASON THIS TIME, THIS ENTIRE ARTICLE WILL BE WRITTEN IN ALL CAPS FOR MAXIMUM EDGE.
Jokes aside, ALLCAPS is hurting my brain so let’s do this normally. I can’t say for certain but if you basically have all the set 1 cards in this list along with a few of the promos for going out to your locals and actually playing (unlike me who potatos at home), then you’re in for some luck! More than 90% of this build will be from set 1 and the only expensive cards will be at level 3. Plus, this deck will be plenty playable for a budget build.
The Church of Borden can get things done. And because you can play leafa counters, even if it doesn’t go well, it’s not your fault!
It’s society’s fault that rogue and budget decks don’t work out!
You can run away from unpleasant things! That doesn’t mean you’ve lost! Because sometimes as they say, scooping turn 1 is winning by saving time!
The answer you figured out after doubting yourself is usually something you’ll regret, no matter what you choose. If you’re gonna eat damage anyway, do whatever’s easiest for you at the moment!
Do not fear growing getting rekt! Not even God knows whether you’re gonna cancel, so you should, at least, be happy now!
ERIS PADS HER CHE-
1x DUDE WHO DESERVED THE SP THE MOST
[A] [(1) Discard a card from your hand to the Waiting Room] When this is placed from hand to the Stage, you may pay cost. If so, look at up to 3 cards from top of your Library, choose up to 1 of them and put it in your hand, and put the rest in the Waiting Room.
Holy crap I swear these images looked bigger before I copy pasted them. Anyway, Kazuma is a useful tech for digging and hand-fixing and can be good at any stage in the game as long as you have stock. I should also emphasize that he can grab CLIMAXES or events and DON’T BE THAT PERSON WHO SHOWS WHAT YOU GRABBED AFTERWARDS TO YOUR OPPONENT. Seriously DON’T! Not even axis cult members would do something that stupid.
2x RIPPED CRUSADER WHO SOMEHOW LOSES TO CABBAGES
[C] During your Opponent’s turn, this gains +X Power. X = 4000 times Level of the Character Opposite this.
[A] At the start of your Opponent’s Attack Phase, you may move this to an empty Slot in your Front Row that has an Opponent’s Character Opposite that Slot.
Man, is this not the definition of beautiful design? Not only does this Darkness do exactly what she does in the show but she can also get BIG at certain parts of the game. If you happen to play with people who tend to double/triple field aggressively at level 0, you can actually bamboozle them with this card by running in front of a weaker card they didn’t expect. Mind games people! For that reason, I like cards like this when they come out at turn 2 and beyond to abuse those extra attackers.
More importantly, this card can potentially dodge on-reverse effects especially during that crucial transition from level 0 to 1 for your opponents when they slam down that climax. During this phase your opponent’s field will be full so as long as you have an open slot you can use this to your advantage! I suggest using this against Yuuki Sinon players (if they still exist that is) for the maximum laughs.
3x CHUUNIBYOU LOLI WHO IS PROBABLY TERRIBLE AT CHESS
[A] Discard a Climax card from your hand to the Waiting Room] When this is placed from hand to the Stage, you may pay cost. If so, choose a Character with either ::Adventurer:: or ::Magic:: in your Waiting Room and return it to your hand.
[A] At the start of your Opponent’s Attack Phase, you may move this to an empty Slot in the Front Row.
I don’t like 1k runner. It’s weak and puny and irritating and it can’t trade everywhere.
However this card is an exception since its utility is useful throughout almost all stages of the game. Its ability to turn your climax-filled hand can salvage any relevant character, and by relevant I mean NOT ERIS. My rule of thumb is to always run 4 runners in every build I play if I’m running them at all EXCEPT for maybe Konosuba, because this secondary effect allows you to slot other starting cards without sacrificing too much utility. This goes for outside this deck profile as well, no matter what build (unless it’s themed) I highly suggest running a minimum of 2 these runners if possible.
But yeah you can’t grab Eris with this effect. Not that its super important or anything because the only Goddess you need in your life is Aqua.
3x HIGH ROLL BRAINSTORM
[C] Your other Character in the Front Row Center Slot gains “[A] ENCORE[Discard a Character card from your hand to the Waiting Room]”.
[S] BRAINSTORM [(1) Rest this] Flip over the top 4 cards of your Library and put them in the Waiting Room. For each Climax card revealed this way, choose up to 1 Cost 0 or lower Character in your Waiting Room and put them in separate Slots on the Stage.
Our first Aqua card features some dank high risk high reward plays. If you’re feeling lucky, you can tap this card and maybe hit a climax to bring out a level 1 to smash your opponent with. At level 0, there are rarely any series that can get above 5k unless they shit out a level 1 at level 0 just like this which makes trading super easy if you pull this off. However, this card is not without its downsides since it can only bring out cost 0 or lower characters. The longer the game goes on, the more you’re going to wish you had a traditional salvage or search brainstorm that adds your target to hand.
However, it is also important to remember that Aqua gives hand encore which will be extremely useful for having strong field presence with walls or Early Plays. Aqua sama is a merciful goddess who gives people second chances and your cards deserve that too. For that reason, you should probably put your most important front row cards that you don’t want to lose in the middle so you can use them again next turn.
3x OVERRATED GODDESS WHO IS ACTUALLY FLAT AS MEGUMIN
[A] When this is placed from hand to the Stage, choose 1 of your other Characters with either ::Adventurer:: or ::Goddess::, and that Character gains +1000 Power for the turn.
[A] [Return this to your hand] When your Climax is placed in the Climax Zone, you may pay cost. If so, draw a card, and discard a card from your hand to the Waiting Room.
Yes I know, I know… What the hell is an Eris card doing here? Well the Goddess of Water happens to also give her rivals a chance…
Let’s be honest, unless you’re a new player you already know exactly what kind of level 1 game we’re going to play based on this card alone since it has so much synergy with a specific card. And since this deck profile is meant for most of you folks with existing set 1 Konosuba cards, I’ll do you a favor and spend the least time on Eris as possible :3
3x TOTALLY NOT ERIS’ EARLY PLAY CONDITION OR ANYTHING
[A] [Put a card from your hand in Clock] When this is placed from hand to the Stage, you may pay cost. If so, search your Library for up to 1 ::Goddess:: Character, reveal it, put it in your hand, and shuffle your Library.
OK, I swear we’re playing this card mostly for the ability to search Aqua cards :^)
Although it’s not the greatest ability, the option to clock yourself from hand to force level yourself to level 1 is something to keep in mind if you really want to gain a lead on your opponent depending on the circumstances. Alright, and let us pretend like we’re resorting to playing Early Play Eris or something… Running more copies of this card would allow us to fufill her condition more easily. But surely we wouldn’t do something so blasphemous right?
1x A SET 2 CARD! ABOUT FRICKEN TIME!
[A] When this is placed from hand to the Stage, reveal the top card of your Library. If it’s a Character with either ::Adventurer::, ::Goddess::, or ::Axis Cultist::, put it in your hand and discard a card from your hand to the Waiting Room. (Otherwise put it back where it was)
[A] [(2)] When this is placed from hand to the Stage, you may pay cost. If so, return all cards in your Waiting Room to your Library and shuffle your Library.
Ok, so let me get this straight off my chest, you’re not going to have enough stock to be abusing this refresh ability like meta Konosuba so unless you’re reaaaaaaaaaaaally desperate, I would start having second thoughts. However it would be a stretch to say we’re not running this card as a 1-of for that ability since just having the option to do this is really powerful even in the decks that can’t build stock too well. I do have to say that I’ve been saved by this ability many times more than I would like to admit sadly.
Otherwise, this card is quite neat for hand-fixing since unlike Megumin runner, she can actually grab Goddess cards…
Wait, are you accusing me again of implying that we’re running this to grab Eris more easily? SMH you’re being delusional. Go eat Axis followers’ soap or something.
3x DANK PROMO YOU GET IF YOU’RE NOT A POTATO
[C] Your other Character in the Front Row Center Slot gains +1000 Power.
[A] This ability activates up to 3 times per turn. When your other Character is placed from the Waiting Room to the Stage, that Character gains +500 Power and “[A] ENCORE [Discard a Character card from your hand to the Waiting Room” for the turn.
A very interesting card indeed since it stacks TONS OF POWER into the middle and gives power to any character that was TURN UNDEAD by Aqua sama. This is quite useful for lvel 1 Eri- I mean, ABUSING any characters that you hit with your lovely Aqua brainstorm that we covered earlier. As long as you have the hand size actually, you can do some neat tricks with cards that resolve their effect when they hit waiting room!
NOW, LET US MOVE ONTO OUR LEVEL 1s!
3x SMASH THAT ABUSE BUTTON FOR AQUA
[A] When this is placed from the Stage to the Waiting Room, you may reveal up to 3 cards from top of your Library. If you reveal at least 1 card this way, choose up to 1 Character among them with either ::Adventurer:: or ::Goddess::, put it in your hand, put the rest in the Waiting Room, and discard a card from your hand to the Waiting Room.
YES, you can combo this card with the PR Aqua you get from just joining your weekly tourneys. When this Aqua hits the waiting room during “encore” step, you can first pay cost and hand-fix/mill through your deck and then just ditch another card to encore this to field. Why you ask? Well if you have the hand size to spare, you can actually use this ability to hand-fix AGAIN when this dies on the swing back and mill through your deck once more. Notice how I specifically said if you have the hand size to spare.
Now, I know what you’re probably thinking. The Aqua brainstorm just isn’t enough reason for you to use this dank strategy because it isn’t consistent enough. Well, about that~
2x SLIMED LOLI THAT ONLY LOLICONS FIND ATTRACTIVE
[A] This ability activates up to three times per turn. When your other Character is placed from the Waiting Room to the Stage, this gains +2000 Power for the turn.
OOOOOOH now we’re really hitting the big power levels. Aqua brainstorm + hand encore strategies allow this card to get stupidly big and run over pretty much anything, even some level 2s! If you stack the abilities, you’re going to be reaching powers big enough to potentially even run over Early Plays!
Man, this card would have been even more hilarious had we gotten standby for this set but then again, standby triggers would have probably made this set potentially a bit too strong…
So now that you have an idea with what we’re trying to achieve with this deck, what else better cards are there to pair with this gimmick of shitting out cards from the waiting room? Well there’s another Aqua we can use~
3x STACKED GODDESS
[C] If you have another ‘”Troublemaker” Aqua’, this gains +3000 Power.
Just like how we plan to stack our powers, this Goddess also comes stacked with great ASSETS. BTW, “Troublemaker” Aqua is the brainstorm we play so make sure you have that in the back by the time you play this card… Although if you haven’t realized it by now, you’re probably summoning this card out of all things with this brainstorm. If you bring it out at level 0, you can be sure this card won’t be dying unless your opponent randomly hits level 1 when you least expected it. Unlike your other two cards, this card reaches a respectable number on defense so it has a higher chance of survival, meaning that’s one less card you have to play from hand potentially next turn.
1x WHAT YOU’LL LOOK LIKE AFTER GETTING FREE STOCK
[C] If there are 3 or fewer cards in your Stock, this gains the following ability. “[A] When the Battle Opponent of this becomes Reversed, you may put the top card of your Library in your Stock.”
This is a pretty sugoi tech 1 considering you run cards that can search Goddess trait at level 0 without paying stock and a brainstorm that can potentially bring this out early for some dank gainz. Just don’t be that guy who can’t do basic mental math before starting your attack phase and please count your stock.
Any more copies of this is unnecessary since further copies after you get the initial one off is unlikely, as you’ve probably amassed 3 stock or more which downgrades this card into a 5k vanilla. Unless you use your Aqua refresher, chances that you use this again are slim since it’s not worth using up all that stock to get this off again.
Wait, you’re STILL not satisfied with our level 1 game? FINE.
4x THE WRONG GODDESS BUT WE HAVE NO CHOICE
[A] When your Climax is placed in the Climax Zone, this gains +1500 Power for the turn.
[A] CX COMBO When “Revive” is placed in your Climax Zone, if this is in the Front Row and you have another ::Goddess:: Character, you may choose a Cost 0 or lower Character in your Waiting Room with either ::Adventurer:: or ::Goddess:: and put it in any Slot on the Stage.
Ok, everything was leading up to this point and we just had to put her in. She procs your PR effect for the dank hand encore and attack buff stacking and just has perfect synergy with her level 0 that bounces to hand as it creates space for her to summon a character from waiting room. Furthermore, she makes your Megumin level 1 get STUPIDLY big. She also allows you to play less characters from hand since you’re going to summon them from waiting room anyway.
She even lets you play a character from waiting room over your on-death mill/hand-fix Aqua which you can technically use to proactively go through your deck.
Let’s be real though, because she is ERIS she must have her downsides right? Well there definitely are more than one. She doesn’t exactly give plusses to hand and the combo feels very underwhelming without her level 0 bounce to hand. While she doesn’t have to reverse to net you plusses, she’s also a glass cannon and 100% going to die on the swingback unlike ASTOLFOPHA.
She’s also more useful depending on the time she’s fielded, aka 2 Eris which will give you either a front row attacker and some backrow but the problem issometimes you’ll already have your backrow ready by the time you hit level 1. This causes an issue since you want to ideally field her in multiples for maximum gainz and if you already have 2 backrow slots that means fielding 2 Eris is MUDA. This is something I dislike greatly since I believe one should be rewarded for being able to set up for their level 1 game instead of the opposite. Just look at our pretty boi, when he successfully triple fields he gets u like 10 cards in hand!
Regardless of these issues, we should still play Eris because all our cards basically have high synergy with her and she will get the job done. Although I have yet to introduce the biggest downside…. YOU’RE PLAYING ERIS INSTEAD OF AQUA!
AND NOW, IT IS TIME FOR OUR LEVEL 2 GAME. OH WAIT, BUT WHAT IF I TOLD YOU THERE WERE NO LEVEL 2S IN OUR ROSTER?
Ok then, let’s introduce some 3s that actually comprise of our level 2 game…
1x AQUA THAT MIGHT TOO TOO EXPENSIVE FOR YOU SO WE LIMITED HER NUMBER
[C] If you have 4 or more Characters with either ::Adventurer::, ::Goddess::, or ::Axis Cultist::, this gets -1 Level while in your hand.
[C] During your turn, if all your Characters are either ::Adventurer::, ::Goddess::, or ::Axis Cultist::, this gains +2000 Power.
[A] [Discard a card from your hand to the Waiting Room] When this is placed from hand to the Stage, you may pay cost. If so, put the top card of your Clock in your Stock.
Hmmm if this card eventually spiked to 2480 yen to 3280 and fluctated there in JP… Chances are it’ll be even more expensive in English so let’s be merciful to our wallet for the sake of our sanity.
This card is great mostly for one reason; its condition to be played early. It’s stupidly easy to play it down from hand. Otherwise, it’s actually not that great… It dodges anti-heal which was really neat and it basically means it was a 3/1! But the problem is it will almost always die on the swingback due to being a measly 9k base.
And before you guys start yelling at me NO SALTNORI IF THIS CARD IS SO BAD WHY WAS IT SO EXPENSIVE, well let me tell u folks why.
In meta Konosuba, you didn’t really care if it died on the swing back. You had so many resources and stock that you could just play another copy of this down on the turn after and feel like nothing happened. This card was basically ABUSABLE.
In this deck however, it certainly isn’t and most importantly our wallets cannot sustain the damage it will do to our bank account. However, what’s neat is that we have a lot of hand encore we can use thanks to our level 0-1 game so just put this in the middle and you can just ditch 1 card in hand to basically use it again on the next turn. Pretty neat eh? Instead our main level 2 game will feature a not-as-cool Goddess…
3x I LIED TO YOU GUYS WE’RE PLAYING HER
[C] If ‘”Meaning for Killing Snow Sprites?” Aqua’ is in your Clock, this gets -1 Level while in your hand.
[A] When this is placed from hand to the Stage, you may choose a Character with either ::Adventurer:: or ::Goddess:: in your Waiting Room and return it to your hand.
[A] [(1) Discard 2 cards from your hand to the Waiting Room] This ability activates up to once per turn. When your Character in the Front Row Center Slot attacks, you may pay cost. If so, reveal the top card of your Library. If it’s a Character with either ::Adventurer:: or ::Goddess::, Stand this. (Put the revealed card back where it was)
Ahh… THIS FUCKING CARD. I HATE IT. I ABSOLUTELY FUCKING HATE IT. BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN WE SHOULDN’T PLAY IT. It fits our game plan just so well and in specific scenarios, you can do that good ol’ strategy of killing your opponent while you’re at level 2.
Let me do this real quick though as I have built up a lot of salt from whiffing with this card’s finishing cost. For this, let’s put a montage of sad reacts only for all the games I literally had in my reach that I lost because this evil Goddess revealed a climax since I’m apparently too compressed for this game. In fact, I should be punished for reaching otherwise a good deck state in every other deck.
This one is for that one time I lost in top 8 regionals thanks to Eris
This one is for every time I was denied store credit because Eris lost me the game
This one is for Alonne who I was stuck on for several weeks. Great boss fight btw.
And this one is because I didn’t pull Mordred on FGO and she would certainly be useful for farming cheesecakes atm in the Christmas Event IF I HAD HER. FUCK YOU GATCHA
Now that the salt is mostly gone, let’s remember the other 50% of the time where I absolutely destroyed people with this card. For the sake of saving time, I shall let u click a video that essentially summarizes my feelings.
S S S STYLISH!
2x NOT ERIS BUT SOME THIEF
[A] When this is placed from hand to the Stage, you may put the top card of your Clock in the Waiting Room.
[A] When this attacks, choose 1 of your other ::Adventurer:: Characters, and that Character gains +X Power for the turn. X = 500 times # of your other ::Adventurer:: Characters.
[A] [(1) Discard 2 Character cards from your hand to the Waiting Room] When this attacks, you may pay cost. If so, look at up to 3 cards from top of your Opponent’s Library, choose up to 3 of them and put them in the Waiting Room, return the rest to the Library and shuffle that Library.
Ahhhh running 2 of these almost reminds me of the JP ratios that keep coming up in topping lists. This is quite useful as a yellow splash and a healer finisher that can help against opponents that have reached dank compression levels. If you’re opponent is looking smug and acting cocky as if they’d already won, you should probably get this card ready in hand so you can tell them to basically piss off.
Other than that, this is also another healer that can help you live longer. It also has that nice attack pump that can help Eris get over cards so in the case you are against Standby SAO or something, you won’t get memory kicked to oblivion and can maybe get your re-stand off.
4x HEALER FINISHER THAT DESERVED LN ART FOR HER FOIL
[A] When this is placed from hand to the Stage, you may put the top card of your Clock in the Waiting Room.
[A] CX COMBO [(1)] When this attacks, if “First Time Feeling Uplifted” is in the Climax Zone, you may pay cost. If so, choose 1 of your Characters, and that Character gains +2000 Power and the following ability for the turn. “[A] This ability activates up to once per turn. When the Damage dealt by this is Cancelled, you may deal 2 Damage to your Opponent.” (Damage Cancel can occur)
Ahhhhh more healers. I looooooooove healers. I know that some of you guys don’t but damn I love them. On the other hand, had this card NOT been a Darkness card and it didn’t heal, I wouldn’t like this card as much.
Paying 1 for a cancel burn2 isn’t necessarily bad since it’s cheap but it’s not great either when you compare it to other healer finishers like Yukina that have high damage output. I’ve had games where some guy just takes the damage and I’m like wow I wish I didn’t have a cancel burn.
What is neat though is that you’re able to stack these burns onto Eris, who if able to get off her re-stand, will most likely do tons of damage to your opponent. As long as Eris survives her level 2 game (which you can also technically hand encore), you only have to play stock for 1-2 of these to pull off your endgame which is honestly not bad as long as her re-stand succeeds. Now getting off that re-stand is the hard part, but let’s be real… it’s hella exciting. It’s almost like playing Dark Souls again…
10/10 right?
CLIMAXES:
4x MASOCHISTIC ORGASMS
4x BOOK INTO A BOOK
FINAL THOUGHTS AND SOME THINGS I WANT TO SAY ABOUT SET 2
First of all, thank you guys for reading these deckprofiles and more importantly, thank you to the anons who always send them in. They’re always fun to review and talk about and I appreciate them a lot. I think it’s great to also give back to the community in this form of entertainment since it’s not just only fun for you guys but it’s hella entertaining for me even if I’d rather be playing FGO most of the time…
Once again, this deck is a budget build that anyone with a lot of set 1 Goddess/yellow cards can improve with a few set 2 cards. There are some things however that I would like to add since they could substantially improve the deck if you’re willing to shell out more $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
This Aqua Fumio has been getting only better over time and holy crap she is nuts in the Meta build. Unsurprisingly, she would also be great in this deck too since pulling off her effects will make your re-stands stick more… as long as you don’t reveal those climaxes!
ANOTHER ERIS CARD. I KNOW. However, for the low cost of 1 stock you can bottom deck troublesome Early Plays and it’s well worth it especially since you play lots of cards that can fetch Goddess trait. Her first effect is pretty niche but you can do it sometimes too.
This card is quite decent if there are no AOT players around… And due to the current English Meta this Aqua shouldn’t be too expensive. As long as you get 1 reverse off, you can easily plus up to 3 which replenishes the stupid amounts of cards in hand that Eris Early Play consumes. The real problem is that you’re probably playing 8 of these 2 soul triggers which I ABSOLUTELY DETEST even more than whiffing Eris.
Undoubtedly one of the best cards in the set. The big issue stopping this from being in this deck is that it’s another potential whiff for Eris. If you do happen to be a person with BIG BALLS or you switch Eris out for another level 2-3 game, please put 2-3 of these in. It will absolutely turn the tide of certain matches.
I can make more suggestions but you’re probably getting bored of them so let me end with this. Set 2 Konosuba is stupidly expensive if you’re making the meta deck but it doesn’t have to be that way. You can make a fun, playable deck such as this and it can honestly net surprising wins in tourneys as long as you reveal those climaxes. So don’t let that stop you from killing your wallet…
AND DON’T FORGET.
ERIS PADS HER CHEST!
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display having data electrodes and scanning electrodes arranged in a matrix and provided with a self-light emitting display unit performing lighting-up and displaying on each scanning line as a unit.
2. Prior Art
In a self-light emitting display unit having data electrodes and scanning electrodes arranged in a matrix and performing lighting-up and displaying on each scanning line as a unit, the scanning electrodes on one line in which lighting-up is performed are applied with a voltage at the same time that a signal on the one line is supplied to the data electrodes thereof. Such a display unit generally lights up all the lines the same number of lighting-up times as one another and while with a more number of lighting-up times in one field period, a display luminance are enhanced, there has been difficulty in sufficiently increasing a peak luminance because the number of line lighting-up times is restricted by performances such as that of a scanning driver.
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NCAA Picks Contest, Day 6: Wilmer can seal the deal with Syracuse tonight
This contest is all but over and it’s my fault. I’m having a Billy Gillispie kind of postseason.
(By the way, there’s loud chatter that this job is Billy Donovan’s if he wants it, and he may want it. Why would Billy Donovan want the Kentucky job now, after turning it down two years ago? Or will Billy flirt with Kentucky like he did with the Orlando Magic and still turn it down–or take it and then turn it down a few days later?
Tim Kawakami
Post navigation
I just want you to explain how you thought you could win this comp without picking arizona.
You need 27 points with 5 days left to play…
Hard to make that up with 1 seeds, No?
C-A-T-S
This UK fan wouldn’t mind seeing Calipari jump across the state line, but I know a lot of my fellow Cats fans who are nervous about the idea because he left UMass under a cloud of NCAA sanctions, and after the mess in the late 80s they don’t want any coach who might drag the program back into scandal again. All I know is, the guy is a hell of a recruiter, he wins everywhere he goes (except in the NBA), and there hasn’t been any hint of illicit activity at Memphis since he’s been there. I’d much rather UK hired him than Travis Ford, who seems to be the choice of the good ol’ boys (probably because he’s a good ol’ boy himself), but doesn’t have nearly the resume or experience that I want to see in a Kentucky head coach (he’s won a grand total of one NCAA tournament game, for crying out loud!). If Cal’s not interested, then my next phone calls go to Dixon, Izzo, Rick Barnes, Bruce Pearl, and Jay Wright, approximately in that order. Maybe Tim Floyd if I think I can keep him there for more than 3 years. Those guys all have proven track records and the kind of outgoing, charismatic personality you need (and that Gillespie lacked) to deal with being the most famous person in the state. Personally I’m not interested in another tabloid romance with Donovan even if he were available, and anyway he seems to have lost some of his old recruiting mojo ever since his aborted departure for the NBA.
One thing I do know that this time around I don’t want to see UK panic and make a quick hire just because the sports talk world is pressuring them to make up their minds. I’d rather they took the time to thoroughly vet every candidate and make sure he’s the right fit for this job. It took them two months to settle on Pitino back in ’89, and he was worth every day of it.
Kevin
I’m pretty sure your colleague’s name is Wilner, not “Wilmer”.
http://merc heykawk
get it right will you. you are embarassing yourself, my mistake you are incapable of getting it right.
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Conservative Treatment with Octreotide to Provide Early Recovery of Children with Esophageal Perforation.
The effectiveness of nonoperative treatment of esophageal perforation (EP) in children with octreotide is highlighted. Records of nine patients (seven boys and two girls with an average age of 5.83 ± 5.35 years) with EP were reviewed. EP developed in six patients during dilation of esophageal stenosis (five of six caused by caustic burns). In the other three patients, EP developed after nasogastric placement, after endotracheal intubation, and during endoscopy for foreign body. The symptoms consisted of dyspnea in four patients, tachypnea in seven patients, fever in six patients, chest pain in two patients, and abdominal pain in one patient. Two patients had pneumomediastinum, four patients had pleural effusion, one patient had subcutaneous emphysema, four patients had pneumothorax, and two patients had severe sepsis. Eight of the perforations resolved spontaneously. Therapy included cessation of oral feedings, implementation of proper antibiosis, parenteral and/or enteral nutrition by gastrostomy, and drainage of pleural effusions or mediastinal abscesses if required. Though not recommended by literature, octreotide was administered to these patients. Only one patient was operated in another clinic and was lost during follow-up. The length of hospitalization stay had a median of 11 ± 6.59 days, ranging between 5 and 28 days. If the patient who was operated and did not receive octreotide therapy is excluded, the median hospitalization was only 8 days (5 to 12 days). All patients in our series (except patient 8) survived and still have their native esophagus. The initiation of octreotide treatment in the early period after diagnosis of EP without surgical intervention leads to early improvement in children.
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{
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WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump told Vice President Mike Pence to cancel his plans to attend the inauguration of Ukraine’s new president earlier this year after initially pushing for him to go, according to a person familiar with the matter, confirming an assertion from the whistleblower now at the center of an impeachment investigation into Trump.
Aides to Pence disputed that, blaming logistics _ not Trump _ for the decision.
The aides who rushed to defend Pence added that the vice president never mentioned Trump’s potential Democratic rival Joe Biden in repeated conversations he has had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, including some that were part of a campaign to pressure the new government on corruption.
Trump has said he raised Biden as an example of corruption in Ukraine in a summertime phone call with Zelenskiy that now at the center of the impeachment probe. There is no evidence that Biden was involved in corruption in the eastern European nation.
Throughout Trump’s presidency, Pence has been a loyal lieutenant, praising him effusively and defending him aggressively. But the vice president has rarely been drawn into any direct controversy involving the president until now.
The controversy focuses on a July 25 phone call in which Trump, according to a rough transcript released by the White House, repeatedly pressed Zelenskiy to investigate Biden and his family. The intelligence community whistleblower said it was part of a broader effort by the president and his lawyers to solicit a foreign country to dig up dirt on a political rival for president in 2020.
Pence, according to aides, did not listen in on that call.
Pence has served as a key intermediary between the United States and Ukraine. In the complaint, the whistleblower says he or she had learned from U.S. officials that “on or around 14 May, the President instructed Vice President Pence to cancel his planned travel to Ukraine to attend President Zelenskiy’s inauguration on 20 May” and sent Energy Secretary Rick Perry to lead the delegation instead.
The whistleblower also alleged that Trump had made clear that a meeting or phone call between himself and Zelenskiy would depend on whether Zelenskiy “showed willingness to ‘play ball’” on issues including investigating the Bidens and a conspiracy theory about the origins of the investigation into Russian election meddling.
A person familiar with the discussions, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, said it was Trump who directed Pence to skip the event.
Pence aides offered an alternate explanation for the whistleblower’s assertion that the vice president had canceled his attendance at Zelenskiy’s inauguration as part of an alleged broader pressure campaign. They cited logistical challenges, noting Ukraine’s Parliament formally set the date of Zelenskiy’s inauguration just a week before it took place on May 20.
“As of May 13, no inauguration date had been set and no advance team had been sent to advance the trip, no USSS sent, nothing confirmed. So we told them we wouldn’t attend,” said Marc Short, the vice president’s chief of staff, using an abbreviation for the U.S. Secret Service.
Pence instead traveled to Canada to promote the benefits of the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.
“I think that there’s a lot of facts that would run counter to the whistleblower’s,” Short said.
Pence, according to his aides, had two phone conversations with Zelenskiy. They also met last month in Warsaw, Poland, a meeting Pence attended at the last minute in Trump’s place. Pence told reporters the next day that he and Zelenskiy had not discussed Biden during their closed-door meeting, though they had discussed the White House’s decision to halt security aid to the nation meant to counter Russian aggression.
“As President Trump had me make clear, we have great concerns about issues of corruption,” Pence said, adding that, to invest additional taxpayer money in Ukraine, “the president wants to be assured that those resources are truly making their way to the kind of investments that will contribute to security and stability in Ukraine. And that’s an expectation the American people have and the President has expressed very clearly.”
Katie Waldman, the vice president’s press secretary, said in a statement, “It is crystal clear that the Vice President directly and effectively delivered the President’s anti-corruption and European burden sharing messages overseas and, upon his return, the financial aid to Ukraine was released.”
Trump, however, said Wednesday that he restored the funding because of concerns raised by congressional lawmakers that the military assistance was necessary to help Ukraine serve as a bulwark again Russian aggression in the region.
Pence aides said the Bidens were also not discussed during Pence’s two phone calls with Zelenskiy _ one on April 23 and one on Sept. 18 _ nor had Biden come up in Pence’s other conversations with world leaders. They also said the vice president had not spoken about the matter with the president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
Trump and Giuliani have sought, without evidence, to implicate Biden and his son Hunter in the kind of corruption that has long plagued Ukraine. Hunter Biden served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company at the same time his father was leading the Obama administration’s diplomatic dealings with Kyiv. Though the timing raised concerns among anti-corruption advocates, there has been no evidence of wrongdoing by either the former vice president or his son.
It was notably Trump who publicly flagged Pence’s phone calls with Zelenskiy, telling reporters at a news conference last week that they should request transcripts of Pence’s calls.
Short said his office was still reviewing whether the transcripts should be released.
Aides to the vice president also pointed to comments Pence has made on Twitter and in television interviews in recent days trying to diminish the seriousness of the controversy.
“The American people deserve better,” Pence tweeted last week. “I’ll make you a promise. Whatever Democrats in Congress want to do to obstruct our agenda or roll out their latest accusations to divide our country, President @realDonaldTrump & I will never stop fighting for the policies & ideals that have made this country Great Again!”
___
Follow Colvin and Miller on Twitter at https://twitter.com/colvinj and https://twitter.com/ZekeJMiller
Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters
Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC.
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Differential modulation of the glutamate transporters GLT1, GLAST and EAAC1 by docosahexaenoic acid.
At present, the ability of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) to regulate individual glutamate transporter subtypes is poorly understood and very little information exists on the mechanism(s) by which PUFAs achieve their effects on the transport process. Here we investigate the effect of cis-4,7,10,13,16,19-docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on the activity of the mammalian glutamate transporter subtypes, GLT1, GLAST and EAAC1 individually expressed in human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells. Exposure of cells to 100 muM DHA increased the rate of d-[(3)H]aspartate uptake by over 72% of control in HEK(GLT1) cells, and by 45% of control in HEK(EAAC1) cells. In contrast, exposure of HEK(GLAST) cells to 200 muM DHA resulted in almost 40% inhibition of d-[(3)H]aspartate transport. Removal of extracellular calcium increased the inhibitory potential of DHA in HEK(GLAST) cells. In contrast, in the absence of extracellular calcium, the stimulatory effect of DHA on d-[(3)H]aspartate uptake in HEK(GLT1) and HEK(EAAC1) cells was abolished, and significant inhibition of the transport process by DHA was observed. Inhibition of CaM kinase II or PKC had no effect on the ability of DHA to inhibit transport into HEK(GLAST) cells but abolished the stimulatory effect of DHA on d-[(3)H]aspartate transport into HEK(GLT1) and HEK(EAAC1) cells. Inhibition of PKA had no effect on the modulation of d-[(3)H]aspartate transport by DHA in any of the cell lines. We conclude that DHA differentially modulates the GLT1, GLAST and EAAC1 glutamate transporter subtypes via different mechanisms. In the case of GLT1 and EAAC1, DHA appears to stimulate d-[(3)H]aspartate uptake via a mechanism requiring extracellular calcium and involving CaM kinase II and PKC, but not PKA. In contrast, the inhibitory effect of DHA on GLAST does not require extracellular calcium and does not involve CaM kinase II, PKC or PKA.
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{
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ONE of the perks of being governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is the use of a colonial bungalow on Carmichael Road, a posh street that weaves along a ridge in south Mumbai. On one side live some of India's richest industrialists, modern-day pharaohs with flashy architectural tastes. On the other, a stone's throw down a cliff, is a small slum—a monument to desperation and government failure. Both sets of neighbours are part of the 1.2 billion population that India's central bank must look out for. In normal times this is a task that would furrow the brow; now that the country's boom is faltering, it risks causing a blinding headache.
Judging by the numbers, the RBI is among the world's best central banks. Its record on balancing growth and inflation is decent enough (see chart 1). Since 1995 wholesale prices have risen by an average of 6% a year, not too far from the RBI's comfort zone of about 5%. Growth has averaged 7% a year. The RBI is also in charge of the safety of the financial system, to which end it yanks more levers than Willy Wonka in a chocolate factory. Its record here is excellent. Despite a current-account deficit that leaves India vulnerable to global jitters, the country sidestepped the 1997 Asian crisis (“nobody gave us a chance,” recalls a former governor) and the West's banking crisis in 2008. The RBI also coped with big and potentially destabilising capital inflows in the euphoric years before Wall Street began to totter, and has avoided a domestic financial crisis despite fast growth in banks' assets for many years. Some fancy the RBI is a model for the kind of full-service central bank that is back in fashion worldwide—both the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, among others, are now in charge of financial stability as well as interest rates. In truth, it would be hard to run a rich economy the way the RBI does India, with its financial system only partly liberalised. But the central bank has new clout abroad and at home its stock is high. Under the present governor, Duvvuri Subbarao, a softly spoken figure, it has made a tough series of rate rises in the past two years to try to curb a stubborn spell of inflation (a battle that may not be over). And although the bank finds it hard to tempt star graduates to work in its tower overlooking Mumbai harbour—“if you look at its people and those of the Fed, there's no comparison,” laments one bigwig—relative to most Indian state bodies the RBI has more brains, muscle and integrity. It is about the only institution in the country you never hear accused of graft. That's a big turnaround for a body that became a politicians' plaything after India nationalised its banks in 1969. For two decades the state controlled lending and also fixed as many as 200 separate interest rates. It used the RBI as a piggy bank, forcing it to print money to finance its short-term needs. After 1991, when a balance-of-payments crisis led India to deregulate, the central bank rediscovered its spine. Agreements fully enacted in 1997 and 2006 stopped the state using it as an ATM, and as interest rates were liberalised and the bond market developed, the RBI began to look more like a normal central bank, setting short-term policy rates to try to balance inflation and growth.
This journey never reached the destination that was until recently in vogue in the West—that of a statutorily independent central bank narrowly focused on setting interest rates and targeting inflation. The RBI's independence is not enshrined in law, although none of the four central-bank governors since 1992, interviewed by The Economist for this article, raised this as a big concern. The RBI consults the government but it has enough breathing-space to set rates as it pleases, they say.
And like a triumphant wearer of flares that have at last come back in fashion, the RBI's wide remit—minting coins, managing the exchange rate, acting as banker for the government, and supervising banks and the bond market—is now seen as a template. These responsibilities helped it deal with the 2008 crisis: in short order it defended the currency, loaned money to cash-strapped banks, gave forbearance on troubled loans, soothed the bond market and eased banks' capital requirements. Today a process of constant tweaking continues. In December, after a panicky fall in the rupee, the RBI introduced several obscure measures to bolster it, such as making it more attractive for Indians resident abroad to deposit money in the homeland.
Such fiddling has a cost. In 2007 an official report on making Mumbai a global financial centre—a work of great imagination—identified nit-picking and suspicion of foreign financiers (who are welcome to buy shares in India but not to play in debt markets) as a big problem. In 2009 an official review of finance chaired by Raghuram Rajan, a former chief economist of the IMF, worried that conservative regulation was inhibiting India's potential. One local bank boss says the RBI “runs a repressed financial system which is intolerant towards innovation. If the US was at 90 out of 100 in terms of complexity and sophistication, we are at 10…I sometimes get the impression it [the RBI] is resting on its laurels, not realising that more financial innovation could help India's development.”
Still, after years of financial convulsions abroad it is hard to say that the RBI has got the balance between safety and thrills wildly wrong. Indeed, the thing that endangers India today is not its financial markets but its government.
Heady talk of 9-10% as India's new natural rate of growth is long gone. Many blame the government, which has not passed a significant reform for years while running a fiscal deficit of almost a tenth of GDP, including the states and off-balance-sheet items (see chart 2). The deficit—which began as an electoral giveaway in 2007, morphed into a stimulus package and is now just a product of indiscipline and populist politics—is widely seen as bad for India. Government borrowing crowds out the private sector, which has to live with higher interest rates than might otherwise be the case. Because the state is less likely than private business to spend the cash on investment, it does less to boost the economy's potential. At the RBI the boom of 2003-07, when growth was near double-digits and inflation comfortable, is now seen as a distinct era during which the deficit was falling, bullish firms were investing freely, a critical mass of reforms were in the bag and the state was productively solving day-to-day problems. Those conditions do not exist today. The central bank's rule of thumb for the non-inflationary rate of growth has fallen to 8%, but that seems to bake in an assumption that the political class will recover its wits. If, hypothetically, that does not happen, insiders at the RBI accept that trend growth could be significantly lower. Bears outside the central bank talk of 6%. The uncomfortable question for the RBI is whether it is partly responsible for the slowdown, albeit indirectly. If you have a central bank that always gets you home safely at the end of the night the temptation for politicians may be to go crazy. The RBI's position is especially delicate on the fiscal deficit. The central bank oversees a financial system that is a conduit for funnelling savings into government bonds, 70% of which are owned either by the central bank or by the banking system, which remains dominated by state-owned lenders. Although the ratio has come down, the RBI still forces banks to invest 24% of their core deposits in government bonds, far above what is needed to give banks a safety buffer of liquid assets. This creates captive demand for public borrowing (although during an economic soft patch such as today's, cautious banks may voluntarily hold more than the minimum). The RBI also buys government bonds in the market. It argues this makes markets work smoothly, but most outsiders think the aim is to put a lid on government-bond yields. A spike in yields in November has been followed by a big, $14 billion RBI bond-purchase programme.
The RBI is thus in the weird position of publicly rebuking the government about its deficits while being the guarantor that they are financed. An extreme remedy would be for it to stop buying nearly so many bonds and to ease the rules on banks' bond holdings. Without captive buyers interest rates would rise, perhaps by a percentage point or two. Some doubt whether the politicians would pay any attention—their appetites are insensitive to the government's borrowing costs, it is argued. But the RBI would still probably like to try; in December 2010 it cut the liquidity requirement from 25% to 24%. The trouble is, anything more dramatic might be seen as meddling in politics and could prompt a bond-market rout that endangers stability.
Prop trading
In this respect, as with its strong supervisory record, the RBI may have lessons for the world. Other central banks, including the euro zone's, are propping up sovereign-bond markets. Mr Rajan talks of “the conceit that central banks are independent. When they find that the governments are not going to budge [on cutting their deficits] few feel able to just walk away.” In a speech on February 1st, Mr Subbarao, the RBI's governor, worried that “in the presence of large sovereign borrowing…central banks typically have little choice.”
One possibility is that slower growth, high borrowing and lack of reform might eventually prompt a fiscal or balance-of-payments scare that even the RBI, with its impressive array of tools, struggles to keep a lid on. That might frighten the political class enough to act. The more benign scenario is that politicians will anticipate this risk and act spontaneously to get India's public finances back on track. But politics is one thing India's central bank cannot control. As he settles down at his villa to watch the sun set over the metropolis of Mumbai, all the governor of the RBI can do is cross his fingers.
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Take part in the epic bully battle in parallel worlds. Fight with your rivals, complete the numerous levels and become as firm as a stone!
Almost every man got into a fight at least once. If you are a real fighter you have to be prepared for the endless mortal battles with your fierce enemies.
Swipe the screen to wing smoothly to trick the opponent, block his hooks and avoid dangerous kicks. Use different types of weapons to cripple your enemy. Watch a level of red in your character’s body: if it becomes critical you will die. Сompile items of your own collections. Level up your character to try out a Survival mode with one more rival every level up to fighting against 10 rivals simultaneously. Do you accept this challenge?
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PEARLAND, Texas – Beer for life is one of the perks a Pearland brewery is offering in a promotion designed to pay for its upgrades after a near-fire last week.
Bakfish Brewing Company officials said in a Facebook post that its current design began malfunctioning, and after repeated attempts to fix it, it began smoking and nearly caught fire.
Instead of a costly fix to the current system, the brewery company said it has decided to move forward with a likewise costly overhaul to its taproom.
(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1version=v3.2'; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));
A LETTER FROM OUR CO-OWNER. Membership is priced at a one-time charge of $1000. This is a lifetime membership. Enjoy... Posted by BAKFISH Brewing Company on Monday, January 21, 2019
To help fund the changes, officials with the brewery is turning to a lifetime membership program to reward those willing to invest in its renovations.
For $1,000, members receive free beer for life. That translates to a free beer for every visit to the Pearland brewery. Membership also includes a mug engraved with your name, and the option to create a pilot batch of beer that you can name.
Bakfish Brewing Company is located in the 1200 block of East Broadway in Pearland.
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Q:
Can Akka Actors replace Service layer?
This is more of a design and best practices question. I am converting an app to use Actors and Futures. Currently these are the layers (before Akka is in the mix) .
Play Controller -> Service layer -> (Slick) DAOs
Now want to have something like
Play Controller -> Actors ->Services (Now they'll return Futures) ->DAO
In doing so I am finding that since original Service layer had all the methods with required business logic, Actors layer is looking just like a mediator. Wondering if it's okay (from design point of view) to get rid of Service layer now that everything is going to be through Actors?
Play controller->Actors (with business methods) -> business methods calling into DAO (which Service methods were doing before)
Or continue with existing Service layer and use those methods from Akka Actors only? Risk with keeping Service layer as it is, is all Service methods will remain public and free to be called from anywhere else (breaking the pattern ~ if somebody called Service method directly in controller (by passing Actors) or something).
A:
There are 2 approaches to actor-based system design:
Actors are just a multithreading abstraction, e.g. TaskExecutors
Actors are a foundation for business modelling, e.g. GhostActor in a Pac-Man game.
You need to ask yourself which one do you want to follow with your refactoring. And why.
The first option you mentioned (Actors talk to Services via Futures) is a multithreading abstraction. You want to do that when you have just hit a major performance bottleneck. Possibly actors can help, but there are many other tools that can do that.
The second option you mentioned (Actors replace Services) uses actors for business domain modelling. And it's very powerful. You put your logic in actors, which consist of smaller actors, which consist of smaller actors and so on. Each of them represent a tiny bit of your business domain. The smaller the actor the better. There are many advantages of using this approach:
Each of those actors can use internally a different strategy for obtaining and storing information. Some of them may use an HTTP service via Futures, some of them may use actor communication, some of them may be event-sourced.
You have a declarative and human-understandable abstraction you can use in your entire system: the Actor. You just need to switch your brain from thinking about technical obstacles to thinking about business obstacles.
When you follow some simple technical rules, you have scalability built into your system without thinking about it too much. Those rules become a second nature after some time.
Of course, there are also some cons:
There are business domains that cannot be easily modelled with actors.
You are making your system totally dependent on one toolkit.
I hope this can help you somehow. If you want to follow-up on something, just shout it out. Thanks!
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Kennedy outduels Syndergaard in Padres’ 7-2 win over Mets
SAN DIEGO (AP) There was nothing to indicate that San Diego’s Ian Kennedy would get the better of New York Mets phenom Noah Syndergaard. He did.
Kennedy threw six strong innings and outpitched the rookie sensation, leading the Padres to a 7-2 victory Tuesday night.
Kennedy (3-5) broke a four-start losing streak as he held the Mets to two runs and six hits.
”Getting ahead of guys, getting it down,” Kennedy said when asked about the differences in his recent starts. ”Just getting pitches over for strikes. It makes a world of difference when you are ahead of guys.”
Syndergaard (2-3) flashed the talent that has the Mets excited as the right-hander struck out 10. But San Diego touched him for seven runs and 10 hits in four innings.
It was Syndergaard’s shortest of his five career starts.
”It was definitely a frustrating start for me because I felt like I had some of the best stuff I had all year,” Syndergaard said. ”I just didn’t get the job done.”
Derek Norris hit a two-run homer in the fourth and Alexi Amarista and Will Venable drove in two runs each in a four-run second inning.
Syndergaard had allowed two earned runs in his last 19 1/3 innings while walking one and striking out 16 in his last three starts.
Kennedy had struggled mightily in his last four starts, allowing 20 runs and 24 hits – seven homers – over 19 1/3 innings for a 9.31 ERA.
They both did a complete turnaround Tuesday night.
"I backed off a little bit,” Kennedy said about his work between starts. ”Sometimes you tend to try and think things out and overwork a little bit. Sometimes the old saying, `Less is more,’ it worked.”
Kennedy allowed an RBI single to Michael Cuddyer in the first inning but then gave up just two singles until the sixth. The right-hander struck out eight and walked two.
”I think once he got through the first and second innings, his confidence grew,” Padres manager Bud Black said.
Syndergaard had his explosive fastball working from the beginning but the Padres hit him hard early.
San Diego loaded the bases in the second inning on three straight singles. Amarista followed with a soft line drive that tipped off the top of Snydergaard’s glove, deflecting past second baseman Daniel Murphy and into right field, allowing two runs to score.
After a sacrifice, Venable lined a ball past first and into the right-field corner for a two-run triple and a 4-0 lead.
GUNNING `EM DOWN
Norris threw out his 17th would-be base stealer, tops in the majors. Norris has already exceeded his career high, which was eight last season with Oakland.
HOME SWEET HOME VS. METS
The Padres have a 25-14 record against the Mets at Petco Park since it opened in 2004. It is San Diego’s best mark at home in that span against any NL opponent.
ROOKIE RECORD SETTER
Syndergaard struck out 10 to become the first pitcher in franchise history to have five or more strikeouts in each of his first five career games. Only 20 other pitchers in major league history have accomplished the feat.
RARE LINE, AGAIN
Syndergaard followed the Padres’ Andrew Cashner with an unusual pitching line on consecutive days. On Tuesday night, Syndergaard became just the second pitcher since 1900 to strike out 10 or more batters in a game while allowing 10 or more hits in fewer than five innings, according to statistics provided by the Padres from the Elias Sports Bureau. Syndergaard allowed 10 hits with 10 strikeouts in four innings. Cashner struck out 12 batters while giving up 11 hits in 4 2-3 innings in Monday night’s 7-0 loss to the Mets.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mets: 3B David Wright (spinal stenosis) said he will return this season but is unsure when. Wright, who has been receiving treatment in Los Angeles, traveled to San Diego to visit with teammates. … 1B Lucas Duda returned to the starting lineup after missing Monday night’s game after getting hit by a pitch on his right knee Sunday.
Mets: RHP Dillon Gee will make his first start since being placed on the 15-day DL on May 5 (right groin strain).
Padres: RHP James Shields (6-0) remains the only major league starter with double figure starts who has yet to lose a game. Shields is tied with three others having allowed a major league-high 15 home runs.
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Crown retention for non-retentive preparations using adhesive resin cements.
This study examines the effect of preparing teeth with six varying convergence angles (ranging between 12 and 120 degrees) and height (1 and 2 mm) on the retention of cast gold crowns. Six groups of 4 human premolar teeth were prepared to give a flat occlusal surface in dentine with very short axial wall heights (1 or 2 mm) and variation in axial wall convergence (between 12 and 120 degrees). Impressions were recorded of the prepared teeth and custom castings made using a high copper content precious metal alloy. The castings were luted with an adhesive resin and stored in water at 37 degrees C for 24 hours prior to determining the pull-off force in an Instron Universal testing Machine at a cross head speed of 1mm min(-1). Twenty two of the twenty four tested specimens failed within the dentine of the tooth, irrespective of preparation orientation. Statistical testing using ANOVA demonstrated that there were no differences between the bond strength values for any of the preparation convergence angles or between preparations with 1 and 2 mm axial wall heights. This suggests that attachment strength of adhesively bonded castings with minimal axial wall height preparations is not influenced by the convergence angle of the preparation. The attachment strength exceeded that cohesive strength of the underlying dentine in nearly all of the adhesively luted restorations.
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Ted Cruz learned he should have disclosed the loans as part of his fundraising from a New York Times reporter, who published a story on the matter late on Wednesday.
Photograph: Rainier Ehrhardt/AP
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz failed to disclose on federal fundraising reports that he relied on $1m in loans to help finance his 2012 Senate campaign.
The borrowed money included a sum from Goldman Sachs, where his wife, Heidi Cruz, is an employee.
The senator’s 2016 campaign spokeswoman, Catherine Frazier, called the failure to report those loans on fundraising documents, as required, a “mistake”. She said on Wednesday that the campaign is seeking guidance from federal regulators on how to update the old reports.
On Thursday she added: “As Senator Cruz has said before, he used his personal savings to help fund his Senate campaign - it has been widely reported in the past. He did so by liquidating his savings, selling stocks and borrowing against an equity account.
“These transactions have been reported in one way or another on his many public financial disclosures and the Senate campaign’s FEC reports. While the details of these transactions have been entirely transparent for years, it has come to our attention that one of these transactions may inadvertently not have been listed exactly the way the FEC requires.”
She added: “We are going to contact the FEC to determine if that’s the case, and, if necessary, we’ll be happy to update the reports from the 2012 election cycle.”
Cruz learned he should have disclosed the loans as part of his fundraising from a New York Times reporter, who published a story on the matter late on Wednesday. The Times described the loans as totaling as much as $1m from Goldman and Citibank and said they were paid down in late 2012. Frazier did not dispute those details.
Frazier said Cruz has made no secret of the loans, pointing to their disclosure later in separate personal financial reports required of all federal elected officials.
Yet Cruz has never mentioned the loans on the 2016 campaign trail. Instead, he has said that he and his wife liquidated “our entire net worth” to finance his underdog Senate bid.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
Tara
Tara was the prince (former Baron) of San Diego and a former supporter of the Anarchs .
Tara was an average looking woman just a tad overweight, with curly blond hair. While most would not consider her attractive, her gaze was striking and her force of personality was nearly overwhelming. She belonged to a family of settlers in the American West and was forced to bury her entire family as a result of the hardships of life on the frontier. Her sire embraced her near the borders of Texas and trained her to fight against injustice, a task that seemed dull to her. She left her sire, determined to build a family that would not fall victim to the dangers of the West.
She claimed her own domain in El Paso, surrounding herself with various neonates. During the Civil War, many of the neonates left as Tara was against choosing a side. Left alone, Tara began to expand her holdings, but was forced to abandon El Paso as she was unable to cope with the changing economy. She went to Dallas, but the local kindred considered her too inexperienced and watched her.
Covertly, she studied finances and amassed a fortune. When the Second Anarch Revolt began, Tara sensed an opportunity and called her brood together, traveling to San Diego and participating in the following battles. She claimed the city as her domain, a claim that the Anarchs tolerated as long as she didn't demand anything of them. As San Diego grew, more and more Kindred settled there until a gang of Anarchs ousted her, forcing her to flee to Oceanside. In the constant infighting that followed, Tara waited until her enemies had weakened themselves and returned, forsaking her Anarchs ties and pledging loyalty to the Camarilla.
Many Anarchs still consider her a traitor, but Tara was soon faced with other problems, as the Great Leap Outward arrived in her city and the Cathayans began to undermine her influence on the mortal population. After the death of Sebastian LaCroix, Tara also assumed the princedom of Los Angeles. She did not reign for long, because she was eventually betrayed by one of her own advisors and ambushed while standing atop one of LA’s skyscrapers before going into hiding.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
|
Q:
Is it possible to generate .docx files without having MS Word installed?
I want to use "OLE automation" (or whatever it's called now) to generate a Word document.
I assume that it's possible to perform the following programmatically:
Set page size (height, width, margin vals)
Set font type/name, style, and size
Add page numbering
Add pages
Insert page breaks
What I'm not sure of is if I need to have MS Word on my system to do this (to have the necessary DLLs, perhaps)? I use Open Office (I like it, and it's free), but I reckon controlling the creation of docs programmatically is probably easier/better documented for MS Word than it is for Open Office and/or Libre Office - that's why I'm strongly considering making this "rendezvous with Redmond."
This question is tangentially related to this one
If Google Docs is a possibility here, I'd be willing to have a "meeting with Mountain View" but I know nothing about that file format or whether it can be "automated" etc.
I need to end up with something that I can either convert to a PDF file or a DOCX file. Open Office can open DOCX and convert files to PDF, but I don't know about Google Docs.
A:
I've found https://docx.codeplex.com/ to be very useful in dynamically building docx documents.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
|
North Mississippi State Hospital
North Mississippi State Hospital (NMSH) is a 50-bed acute care mental hospital of the Mississippi Department of Mental Health located in Tupelo, Mississippi.
In 1995 the Mississippi State Legislature passed House Bill 960, authorizing the construction of NMSH. The groundbreaking ceremony occurred on Thursday, December 19, 1996. The hospital opened in April 1999. NMSH was the first state-operated psychiatric facility to open in over 100 years prior to 1996.
The hospital, with about 100 employees, is a regional facility. NMSH serves Alcorn, Benton, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Desoto, Itawamba, Lafayette, Lee, Marshall, Monroe, Panola, Prentiss, Pontotoc, Tate, Tippah, Tishomingo, and Yalobusha counties.
References
External links
North Mississippi State Hospital
Category:Hospital buildings completed in 1999
Category:Buildings and structures in Tupelo, Mississippi
Category:Psychiatric hospitals in Mississippi
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)"
}
|
/*
* Copyright 2014 Google Inc.
*
* Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can be
* found in the LICENSE file.
*/
#include "include/core/SkTypes.h"
#include "include/core/SkData.h"
#include "include/core/SkFontMgr.h"
#include "include/core/SkFontStyle.h"
#include "include/core/SkPaint.h"
#include "include/core/SkRefCnt.h"
#include "include/core/SkStream.h"
#include "include/core/SkString.h"
#include "include/ports/SkFontMgr_android.h"
#include "include/private/SkFixed.h"
#include "include/private/SkTArray.h"
#include "include/private/SkTDArray.h"
#include "include/private/SkTemplates.h"
#include "src/core/SkFontDescriptor.h"
#include "src/core/SkOSFile.h"
#include "src/core/SkTSearch.h"
#include "src/core/SkTypefaceCache.h"
#include "src/ports/SkFontHost_FreeType_common.h"
#include "src/ports/SkFontMgr_android_parser.h"
#include <algorithm>
#include <limits>
class SkData;
class SkTypeface_Android : public SkTypeface_FreeType {
public:
SkTypeface_Android(const SkFontStyle& style,
bool isFixedPitch,
const SkString& familyName)
: INHERITED(style, isFixedPitch)
, fFamilyName(familyName)
{ }
protected:
void onGetFamilyName(SkString* familyName) const override {
*familyName = fFamilyName;
}
SkString fFamilyName;
private:
using INHERITED = SkTypeface_FreeType;
};
class SkTypeface_AndroidSystem : public SkTypeface_Android {
public:
SkTypeface_AndroidSystem(const SkString& pathName,
const bool cacheFontFiles,
int index,
const SkFixed* axes, int axesCount,
const SkFontStyle& style,
bool isFixedPitch,
const SkString& familyName,
const SkTArray<SkLanguage, true>& lang,
FontVariant variantStyle)
: INHERITED(style, isFixedPitch, familyName)
, fPathName(pathName)
, fIndex(index)
, fAxes(axes, axesCount)
, fLang(lang)
, fVariantStyle(variantStyle)
, fFile(cacheFontFiles ? sk_fopen(fPathName.c_str(), kRead_SkFILE_Flag) : nullptr) {
if (cacheFontFiles) {
SkASSERT(fFile);
}
}
std::unique_ptr<SkStreamAsset> makeStream() const {
if (fFile) {
sk_sp<SkData> data(SkData::MakeFromFILE(fFile));
return data ? std::make_unique<SkMemoryStream>(std::move(data)) : nullptr;
}
return SkStream::MakeFromFile(fPathName.c_str());
}
void onGetFontDescriptor(SkFontDescriptor* desc, bool* serialize) const override {
SkASSERT(desc);
SkASSERT(serialize);
desc->setFamilyName(fFamilyName.c_str());
desc->setStyle(this->fontStyle());
*serialize = false;
}
std::unique_ptr<SkStreamAsset> onOpenStream(int* ttcIndex) const override {
*ttcIndex = fIndex;
return this->makeStream();
}
std::unique_ptr<SkFontData> onMakeFontData() const override {
return std::make_unique<SkFontData>(this->makeStream(), fIndex,
fAxes.begin(), fAxes.count());
}
sk_sp<SkTypeface> onMakeClone(const SkFontArguments& args) const override {
std::unique_ptr<SkFontData> data = this->cloneFontData(args);
if (!data) {
return nullptr;
}
return sk_make_sp<SkTypeface_AndroidSystem>(fPathName,
fFile,
fIndex,
data->getAxis(),
data->getAxisCount(),
this->fontStyle(),
this->isFixedPitch(),
fFamilyName,
fLang,
fVariantStyle);
}
const SkString fPathName;
int fIndex;
const SkSTArray<4, SkFixed, true> fAxes;
const SkSTArray<4, SkLanguage, true> fLang;
const FontVariant fVariantStyle;
SkAutoTCallVProc<FILE, sk_fclose> fFile;
using INHERITED = SkTypeface_Android;
};
class SkTypeface_AndroidStream : public SkTypeface_Android {
public:
SkTypeface_AndroidStream(std::unique_ptr<SkFontData> data,
const SkFontStyle& style,
bool isFixedPitch,
const SkString& familyName)
: INHERITED(style, isFixedPitch, familyName)
, fData(std::move(data))
{ }
void onGetFontDescriptor(SkFontDescriptor* desc, bool* serialize) const override {
SkASSERT(desc);
SkASSERT(serialize);
desc->setFamilyName(fFamilyName.c_str());
*serialize = true;
}
std::unique_ptr<SkStreamAsset> onOpenStream(int* ttcIndex) const override {
*ttcIndex = fData->getIndex();
return fData->getStream()->duplicate();
}
std::unique_ptr<SkFontData> onMakeFontData() const override {
return std::make_unique<SkFontData>(*fData);
}
sk_sp<SkTypeface> onMakeClone(const SkFontArguments& args) const override {
std::unique_ptr<SkFontData> data = this->cloneFontData(args);
if (!data) {
return nullptr;
}
return sk_make_sp<SkTypeface_AndroidStream>(std::move(data),
this->fontStyle(),
this->isFixedPitch(),
fFamilyName);
}
private:
const std::unique_ptr<const SkFontData> fData;
using INHERITED = SkTypeface_Android;
};
class SkFontStyleSet_Android : public SkFontStyleSet {
typedef SkTypeface_FreeType::Scanner Scanner;
public:
explicit SkFontStyleSet_Android(const FontFamily& family, const Scanner& scanner,
const bool cacheFontFiles) {
const SkString* cannonicalFamilyName = nullptr;
if (family.fNames.count() > 0) {
cannonicalFamilyName = &family.fNames[0];
}
fFallbackFor = family.fFallbackFor;
// TODO? make this lazy
for (int i = 0; i < family.fFonts.count(); ++i) {
const FontFileInfo& fontFile = family.fFonts[i];
SkString pathName(family.fBasePath);
pathName.append(fontFile.fFileName);
std::unique_ptr<SkStreamAsset> stream = SkStream::MakeFromFile(pathName.c_str());
if (!stream) {
SkDEBUGF("Requested font file %s does not exist or cannot be opened.\n",
pathName.c_str());
continue;
}
const int ttcIndex = fontFile.fIndex;
SkString familyName;
SkFontStyle style;
bool isFixedWidth;
Scanner::AxisDefinitions axisDefinitions;
if (!scanner.scanFont(stream.get(), ttcIndex,
&familyName, &style, &isFixedWidth, &axisDefinitions))
{
SkDEBUGF("Requested font file %s exists, but is not a valid font.\n",
pathName.c_str());
continue;
}
int weight = fontFile.fWeight != 0 ? fontFile.fWeight : style.weight();
SkFontStyle::Slant slant = style.slant();
switch (fontFile.fStyle) {
case FontFileInfo::Style::kAuto: slant = style.slant(); break;
case FontFileInfo::Style::kNormal: slant = SkFontStyle::kUpright_Slant; break;
case FontFileInfo::Style::kItalic: slant = SkFontStyle::kItalic_Slant; break;
default: SkASSERT(false); break;
}
style = SkFontStyle(weight, style.width(), slant);
uint32_t variant = family.fVariant;
if (kDefault_FontVariant == variant) {
variant = kCompact_FontVariant | kElegant_FontVariant;
}
// The first specified family name overrides the family name found in the font.
// TODO: SkTypeface_AndroidSystem::onCreateFamilyNameIterator should return
// all of the specified family names in addition to the names found in the font.
if (cannonicalFamilyName != nullptr) {
familyName = *cannonicalFamilyName;
}
SkAutoSTMalloc<4, SkFixed> axisValues(axisDefinitions.count());
SkFontArguments::VariationPosition position = {
fontFile.fVariationDesignPosition.begin(),
fontFile.fVariationDesignPosition.count()
};
Scanner::computeAxisValues(axisDefinitions, position,
axisValues, familyName);
fStyles.push_back().reset(new SkTypeface_AndroidSystem(
pathName, cacheFontFiles, ttcIndex, axisValues.get(), axisDefinitions.count(),
style, isFixedWidth, familyName, family.fLanguages, variant));
}
}
int count() override {
return fStyles.count();
}
void getStyle(int index, SkFontStyle* style, SkString* name) override {
if (index < 0 || fStyles.count() <= index) {
return;
}
if (style) {
*style = fStyles[index]->fontStyle();
}
if (name) {
name->reset();
}
}
SkTypeface_AndroidSystem* createTypeface(int index) override {
if (index < 0 || fStyles.count() <= index) {
return nullptr;
}
return SkRef(fStyles[index].get());
}
SkTypeface_AndroidSystem* matchStyle(const SkFontStyle& pattern) override {
return static_cast<SkTypeface_AndroidSystem*>(this->matchStyleCSS3(pattern));
}
private:
SkTArray<sk_sp<SkTypeface_AndroidSystem>> fStyles;
SkString fFallbackFor;
friend struct NameToFamily;
friend class SkFontMgr_Android;
using INHERITED = SkFontStyleSet;
};
/** On Android a single family can have many names, but our API assumes unique names.
* Map names to the back end so that all names for a given family refer to the same
* (non-replicated) set of typefaces.
* SkTDict<> doesn't let us do index-based lookup, so we write our own mapping.
*/
struct NameToFamily {
SkString name;
SkFontStyleSet_Android* styleSet;
};
class SkFontMgr_Android : public SkFontMgr {
public:
SkFontMgr_Android(const SkFontMgr_Android_CustomFonts* custom) {
SkTDArray<FontFamily*> families;
if (custom && SkFontMgr_Android_CustomFonts::kPreferSystem != custom->fSystemFontUse) {
SkString base(custom->fBasePath);
SkFontMgr_Android_Parser::GetCustomFontFamilies(
families, base, custom->fFontsXml, custom->fFallbackFontsXml);
}
if (!custom ||
(custom && SkFontMgr_Android_CustomFonts::kOnlyCustom != custom->fSystemFontUse))
{
SkFontMgr_Android_Parser::GetSystemFontFamilies(families);
}
if (custom && SkFontMgr_Android_CustomFonts::kPreferSystem == custom->fSystemFontUse) {
SkString base(custom->fBasePath);
SkFontMgr_Android_Parser::GetCustomFontFamilies(
families, base, custom->fFontsXml, custom->fFallbackFontsXml);
}
this->buildNameToFamilyMap(families, custom ? custom->fIsolated : false);
this->findDefaultStyleSet();
families.deleteAll();
}
protected:
/** Returns not how many families we have, but how many unique names
* exist among the families.
*/
int onCountFamilies() const override {
return fNameToFamilyMap.count();
}
void onGetFamilyName(int index, SkString* familyName) const override {
if (index < 0 || fNameToFamilyMap.count() <= index) {
familyName->reset();
return;
}
familyName->set(fNameToFamilyMap[index].name);
}
SkFontStyleSet* onCreateStyleSet(int index) const override {
if (index < 0 || fNameToFamilyMap.count() <= index) {
return nullptr;
}
return SkRef(fNameToFamilyMap[index].styleSet);
}
SkFontStyleSet* onMatchFamily(const char familyName[]) const override {
if (!familyName) {
return nullptr;
}
SkAutoAsciiToLC tolc(familyName);
for (int i = 0; i < fNameToFamilyMap.count(); ++i) {
if (fNameToFamilyMap[i].name.equals(tolc.lc())) {
return SkRef(fNameToFamilyMap[i].styleSet);
}
}
// TODO: eventually we should not need to name fallback families.
for (int i = 0; i < fFallbackNameToFamilyMap.count(); ++i) {
if (fFallbackNameToFamilyMap[i].name.equals(tolc.lc())) {
return SkRef(fFallbackNameToFamilyMap[i].styleSet);
}
}
return nullptr;
}
SkTypeface* onMatchFamilyStyle(const char familyName[],
const SkFontStyle& style) const override {
sk_sp<SkFontStyleSet> sset(this->matchFamily(familyName));
return sset->matchStyle(style);
}
SkTypeface* onMatchFaceStyle(const SkTypeface* typeface,
const SkFontStyle& style) const override {
for (int i = 0; i < fStyleSets.count(); ++i) {
for (int j = 0; j < fStyleSets[i]->fStyles.count(); ++j) {
if (fStyleSets[i]->fStyles[j].get() == typeface) {
return fStyleSets[i]->matchStyle(style);
}
}
}
return nullptr;
}
static sk_sp<SkTypeface_AndroidSystem> find_family_style_character(
const SkString& familyName,
const SkTArray<NameToFamily, true>& fallbackNameToFamilyMap,
const SkFontStyle& style, bool elegant,
const SkString& langTag, SkUnichar character)
{
for (int i = 0; i < fallbackNameToFamilyMap.count(); ++i) {
SkFontStyleSet_Android* family = fallbackNameToFamilyMap[i].styleSet;
if (familyName != family->fFallbackFor) {
continue;
}
sk_sp<SkTypeface_AndroidSystem> face(family->matchStyle(style));
if (!langTag.isEmpty() &&
std::none_of(face->fLang.begin(), face->fLang.end(), [&](SkLanguage lang){
return lang.getTag().startsWith(langTag.c_str());
}))
{
continue;
}
if (SkToBool(face->fVariantStyle & kElegant_FontVariant) != elegant) {
continue;
}
if (face->unicharToGlyph(character) != 0) {
return face;
}
}
return nullptr;
}
SkTypeface* onMatchFamilyStyleCharacter(const char familyName[],
const SkFontStyle& style,
const char* bcp47[],
int bcp47Count,
SkUnichar character) const override {
// The variant 'elegant' is 'not squashed', 'compact' is 'stays in ascent/descent'.
// The variant 'default' means 'compact and elegant'.
// As a result, it is not possible to know the variant context from the font alone.
// TODO: add 'is_elegant' and 'is_compact' bits to 'style' request.
SkString familyNameString(familyName);
for (const SkString& currentFamilyName : { familyNameString, SkString() }) {
// The first time match anything elegant, second time anything not elegant.
for (int elegant = 2; elegant --> 0;) {
for (int bcp47Index = bcp47Count; bcp47Index --> 0;) {
SkLanguage lang(bcp47[bcp47Index]);
while (!lang.getTag().isEmpty()) {
sk_sp<SkTypeface_AndroidSystem> matchingTypeface =
find_family_style_character(currentFamilyName, fFallbackNameToFamilyMap,
style, SkToBool(elegant),
lang.getTag(), character);
if (matchingTypeface) {
return matchingTypeface.release();
}
lang = lang.getParent();
}
}
sk_sp<SkTypeface_AndroidSystem> matchingTypeface =
find_family_style_character(currentFamilyName, fFallbackNameToFamilyMap,
style, SkToBool(elegant),
SkString(), character);
if (matchingTypeface) {
return matchingTypeface.release();
}
}
}
return nullptr;
}
sk_sp<SkTypeface> onMakeFromData(sk_sp<SkData> data, int ttcIndex) const override {
return this->makeFromStream(std::unique_ptr<SkStreamAsset>(new SkMemoryStream(std::move(data))),
ttcIndex);
}
sk_sp<SkTypeface> onMakeFromFile(const char path[], int ttcIndex) const override {
std::unique_ptr<SkStreamAsset> stream = SkStream::MakeFromFile(path);
return stream ? this->makeFromStream(std::move(stream), ttcIndex) : nullptr;
}
sk_sp<SkTypeface> onMakeFromStreamIndex(std::unique_ptr<SkStreamAsset> stream,
int ttcIndex) const override {
bool isFixedPitch;
SkFontStyle style;
SkString name;
if (!fScanner.scanFont(stream.get(), ttcIndex, &name, &style, &isFixedPitch, nullptr)) {
return nullptr;
}
auto data = std::make_unique<SkFontData>(std::move(stream), ttcIndex, nullptr, 0);
return sk_sp<SkTypeface>(new SkTypeface_AndroidStream(std::move(data),
style, isFixedPitch, name));
}
sk_sp<SkTypeface> onMakeFromStreamArgs(std::unique_ptr<SkStreamAsset> stream,
const SkFontArguments& args) const override {
using Scanner = SkTypeface_FreeType::Scanner;
bool isFixedPitch;
SkFontStyle style;
SkString name;
Scanner::AxisDefinitions axisDefinitions;
if (!fScanner.scanFont(stream.get(), args.getCollectionIndex(),
&name, &style, &isFixedPitch, &axisDefinitions))
{
return nullptr;
}
SkAutoSTMalloc<4, SkFixed> axisValues(axisDefinitions.count());
Scanner::computeAxisValues(axisDefinitions, args.getVariationDesignPosition(),
axisValues, name);
auto data = std::make_unique<SkFontData>(std::move(stream), args.getCollectionIndex(),
axisValues.get(), axisDefinitions.count());
return sk_sp<SkTypeface>(new SkTypeface_AndroidStream(std::move(data),
style, isFixedPitch, name));
}
sk_sp<SkTypeface> onMakeFromFontData(std::unique_ptr<SkFontData> data) const override {
SkStreamAsset* stream(data->getStream());
bool isFixedPitch;
SkFontStyle style;
SkString name;
if (!fScanner.scanFont(stream, data->getIndex(), &name, &style, &isFixedPitch, nullptr)) {
return nullptr;
}
return sk_sp<SkTypeface>(new SkTypeface_AndroidStream(std::move(data),
style, isFixedPitch, name));
}
sk_sp<SkTypeface> onLegacyMakeTypeface(const char familyName[], SkFontStyle style) const override {
if (familyName) {
// On Android, we must return nullptr when we can't find the requested
// named typeface so that the system/app can provide their own recovery
// mechanism. On other platforms we'd provide a typeface from the
// default family instead.
return sk_sp<SkTypeface>(this->onMatchFamilyStyle(familyName, style));
}
return sk_sp<SkTypeface>(fDefaultStyleSet->matchStyle(style));
}
private:
SkTypeface_FreeType::Scanner fScanner;
SkTArray<sk_sp<SkFontStyleSet_Android>> fStyleSets;
sk_sp<SkFontStyleSet> fDefaultStyleSet;
SkTArray<NameToFamily, true> fNameToFamilyMap;
SkTArray<NameToFamily, true> fFallbackNameToFamilyMap;
void addFamily(FontFamily& family, const bool isolated, int familyIndex) {
SkTArray<NameToFamily, true>* nameToFamily = &fNameToFamilyMap;
if (family.fIsFallbackFont) {
nameToFamily = &fFallbackNameToFamilyMap;
if (0 == family.fNames.count()) {
SkString& fallbackName = family.fNames.push_back();
fallbackName.printf("%.2x##fallback", familyIndex);
}
}
sk_sp<SkFontStyleSet_Android> newSet =
sk_make_sp<SkFontStyleSet_Android>(family, fScanner, isolated);
if (0 == newSet->count()) {
return;
}
for (const SkString& name : family.fNames) {
nameToFamily->emplace_back(NameToFamily{name, newSet.get()});
}
fStyleSets.emplace_back(std::move(newSet));
}
void buildNameToFamilyMap(SkTDArray<FontFamily*> families, const bool isolated) {
int familyIndex = 0;
for (FontFamily* family : families) {
addFamily(*family, isolated, familyIndex++);
family->fallbackFamilies.foreach([this, isolated, &familyIndex]
(SkString, std::unique_ptr<FontFamily>* fallbackFamily) {
addFamily(**fallbackFamily, isolated, familyIndex++);
}
);
}
}
void findDefaultStyleSet() {
SkASSERT(!fStyleSets.empty());
static const char* defaultNames[] = { "sans-serif" };
for (const char* defaultName : defaultNames) {
fDefaultStyleSet.reset(this->onMatchFamily(defaultName));
if (fDefaultStyleSet) {
break;
}
}
if (nullptr == fDefaultStyleSet) {
fDefaultStyleSet = fStyleSets[0];
}
SkASSERT(fDefaultStyleSet);
}
using INHERITED = SkFontMgr;
};
#ifdef SK_DEBUG
static char const * const gSystemFontUseStrings[] = {
"OnlyCustom", "PreferCustom", "PreferSystem"
};
#endif
sk_sp<SkFontMgr> SkFontMgr_New_Android(const SkFontMgr_Android_CustomFonts* custom) {
if (custom) {
SkASSERT(0 <= custom->fSystemFontUse);
SkASSERT(custom->fSystemFontUse < SK_ARRAY_COUNT(gSystemFontUseStrings));
SkDEBUGF("SystemFontUse: %s BasePath: %s Fonts: %s FallbackFonts: %s\n",
gSystemFontUseStrings[custom->fSystemFontUse],
custom->fBasePath,
custom->fFontsXml,
custom->fFallbackFontsXml);
}
return sk_make_sp<SkFontMgr_Android>(custom);
}
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Github"
}
|
Q:
Modify a string in a .properties file with batch
I am trying to modify a certain property in my csm.properties by executing a script.
I looked up a lot and in the end, came to this code.
set "search=CLASSPATH"
set "insert=CLASSPATH^=plugins^/Numbering.jar^\^:"
set "textFile="%workingPlace%bin\csm.properties""
FOR /f "delims=" %%i in ('type "%textFile%" ^& break ^> "%textFile%" ') do (
FOR /f "tokens=1*delims==" %%g IN ("%%i") DO (
IF /i "%%g" == %search% (
set "line=%%i"
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
>>"%textFile%" echo(!line:%search%=%insert%!
endlocal
)ELSE (
%%i
)
)
)
This code should read every line in my file and use = as a delimiter. If the code gets "CLASSPATH" as property, that line should get modified.
But it seems like CLASSPATH isn't found.
This is how csm.properties looks like:
#Tue Jul 10 08:50:23 CEST 2018
JAVA_ARGS=-Xmx20000M -DLOCALCONFIG\=true -splash\:data/splash.png -Dmd.class.path\=$java.class.path -Dcom.nomagic.osgi.config.dir\=configuration -Desi.system.config\=data/application.conf -Dlogback.configurationFile\=data/logback.xml -Dsun.locale.formatasdefault\=true -Dinitial.user.language\=de
JAVA_HOME=jre1.8.0_152
BOOT_CLASSPATH=lib/xalan.jar
MAIN_CLASS=com.nomagic.osgi.launcher.ProductionFrameworkLauncher
MAC_JAVA_ARGS="-Xdock\:name\=Cameo Systems Modeler" -Xdock\:icon\=bin/md.icns -Dapple.laf.useScreenMenuBar\=true
APP_ARGS=
DEFAULT_MEMORY_SETTINGS_64=-Xmx[30%,1200,4000]M
DEFAULT_MEMORY_SETTINGS_32=-Xmx800M
CLASSPATH=lib/patch.jar\:lib/brand_api.jar
CONSOLE=false
After modifications, CLASSPATHshould look like this:
CLASSPATH=plugins/Numbering.jar\:lib/patch.jar\:lib/brand_api.jar
A:
Simpler...
@echo OFF
setlocal
set "search=CLASSPATH"
set "insert=plugins/Numbering.jar\:"
set "textFile=%workingPlace%bin\csm.properties"
(FOR /f "usebackq tokens=1* delims==" %%i in ("%textFile%") do (
if "%%i" equ "%search%" (
echo %search%=%insert%%%j
) else if "%%j" neq "" (
echo %%i=%%j
) else (
echo %%i
)
)) > temp.tmp
move /Y temp.tmp "%textFile%"
|
{
"pile_set_name": "StackExchange"
}
|
1. Introduction {#sec1-jof-05-00074}
===============
Coccidioidomycosis, commonly known as Valley Fever, is caused by the soil-dwelling fungi *Coccidioides immitis* and *C. posadasii*. As is common for fungi that infect humans and animals, species of *Coccidioides* are dimorphic in terms of their life cycle, growing saprobically as multicellular filaments on non-living organic matter and, upon entry into a host lung, growing pathogenically in a yeast-like spherule stage \[[@B1-jof-05-00074]\]. The endospores formed by spherules can disseminate within a host but are not transmissible to new hosts. Outside a living host, species of *Coccidioides* form arthroconidia (asexual spores) that can become airborne via soil disturbance and can be inhaled by potential hosts \[[@B2-jof-05-00074]\]. Although coccidioidomycosis presents in about 40% of patients as a pulmonary infection, a chronic and disseminated form of coccidioidomycosis, often resulting in lifelong treatment, occurs in roughly 5% of patients \[[@B3-jof-05-00074],[@B4-jof-05-00074]\].
Although arthroconidia can be detected in soil and in dust, the specific niches of *Coccidioides* species are unknown \[[@B5-jof-05-00074]\]. The disease has been characterized as endemic to arid environments that include the Southwestern United States, Central and South America and Mexico \[[@B6-jof-05-00074]\]. In the United States, highly endemic hotspots have been documented in California and Arizona \[[@B7-jof-05-00074],[@B8-jof-05-00074],[@B9-jof-05-00074]\]. Although less prevalent, Valley Fever is present in Nevada, Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, Utah and Washington state \[[@B10-jof-05-00074],[@B11-jof-05-00074],[@B12-jof-05-00074],[@B13-jof-05-00074]\].
Molecular and phenotypic analyses have resulted in *Coccidioides* being divided into two species: *C. immitis*, known primarily from California, and *C. posadasii*, recognized originally as the non--California group \[[@B6-jof-05-00074]\]. While clinical diagnosis and treatment of coccidioidomycosis have not depended on identifying isolates to species, medical and scientific communities are becoming more cognizant of the potential need to recognize previously undetected phenotypic, morphological, ecological, and genetic differences between species. Multi-locus genetic analyses and whole-genome studies have attempted to map the distribution of these species. To date, however, the isolates studied have been mainly limited to California, Arizona, Central America, Mexico, and Texas \[[@B14-jof-05-00074],[@B15-jof-05-00074]\], and the genetics of isolates from New Mexico have not been examined. The study reported here employed genetic analyses of 18 isolates collected from patients diagnosed with coccidioidomycosis from diverse locations across New Mexico and the Four Corners region. Although Southern New Mexico has been recognized as part of the endemic region for *Coccidioides* \[[@B12-jof-05-00074],[@B16-jof-05-00074]\], several of the isolates examined here were from Northern and Central New Mexico, suggesting a broad range for *Coccidioides* that includes the Four Corners region. Also noteworthy is the fact that isolates of both *C. immitis* and *C. posadasii* were obtained from patients in New Mexico with *C. immitis* being obtained from a patient who resides in San Juan County, NM.
The risk for coccidioidomycosis has been reported as much higher among some ethnic groups, particularly African Americans and Filipinos \[[@B17-jof-05-00074]\]. In these ethnic groups, the risk for disseminated coccidioidomycosis is ten-fold that of the general population \[[@B18-jof-05-00074]\]. Health records from patients in our study suggest the possibility that Native American Indians represent an additional risk group for disseminated disease.
2. Materials and Methods {#sec2-jof-05-00074}
========================
2.1. Sample Collection and Patient Information {#sec2dot1-jof-05-00074}
----------------------------------------------
Eighteen human clinical specimens from seventeen patients diagnosed with coccidioidomycosis obtained between 2013 and 2017 were submitted to the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) Scientific Laboratory Division (SLD). Coccidioidomycosis is a reportable condition in New Mexico. The NMDOH collects information on all confirmed and probable cases (case status definitions follow CSTE standards) who reside in New Mexico at the time of diagnosis to look for potential risk factors via chart review and data extraction. When possible, patient information was noted with specific interest in type of infection, residency, travel history, occupation, race/ethnicity, gender, age, and medical history ([Table 1](#jof-05-00074-t001){ref-type="table"}).
2.2. Molecular Methods {#sec2dot2-jof-05-00074}
----------------------
DNA was extracted at the NMDOH SLD from *Coccidioides* isolates using the PrepMan^®^ Ultra Reagent method (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) and stored at −80 °C until further processing. The DNA extractions were transferred to the Natvig Laboratory at the University of New Mexico where a 1/10 DNA dilution of each preparation was used for PCR amplification of three AFToL (Assembling the Fungal Tree of Life)-designated nuclear gene regions in addition to a serine proteinase gene region diagnostic for species ([Table 2](#jof-05-00074-t002){ref-type="table"}). For the serine proteinase, MCM7, and RPB1 genes, primers were designed to amplify and sequence regions that we determined from comparisons of sequences in GenBank to be diagnostic in distinguishing between the two *Coccidioides* species. Serine proteinase, specifically, was chosen as a target based on results presented by Koufopanou et al. \[[@B19-jof-05-00074]\]. ITS amplification and sequencing involved the entire ITS1-5.8S rRNA-ITS2 region.
We designed a primer pair, with one primer anchored in a sequence unique to *C. posadasii*, to amplify a mitochondrial intron sequence from *C. posadasii* but not *C. immitis*. A second primer set was designed to amplify a portion of the first cox1 exon along with an upstream intergenic region in both *Coccidioides* species but with the potential to differentiate *Coccidioides* from other Onygenales ([Table 2](#jof-05-00074-t002){ref-type="table"}).
All PCR reactions began with an initial step at 95 °C for 5 min. This was followed by 35 cycles of 94 °C for 30 s, a gene-specific annealing temperature ([Table 2](#jof-05-00074-t002){ref-type="table"}) for 30 s, then 72 °C for 45 s with a final extension at 72 °C for 7 min. PCR products were cleaned with ExoSAP-IT (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA) before DNA sequencing using BigDye v3.1 (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA) chain termination with the Big Dye STeP protocol \[[@B20-jof-05-00074]\]. Forward and reverse sequences were assembled and edited with Sequencher 5.1 (Gene Codes, Ann Arbor, MI, USA). Sequences were deposited in GenBank under accessions MH748760--MH748777 for serine proteinase; MH748742--MH748759 for MCM7; MH748724--MH748741 for RPB1; and MH725244--MH725261 for ITS ([Table 3](#jof-05-00074-t003){ref-type="table"}).
2.3. Phylogenetic Analysis {#sec2dot3-jof-05-00074}
--------------------------
Sequences for the four gene regions were aligned individually using Clustal Omega version 1.2.45 \[[@B21-jof-05-00074]\]. For outgroup sequences, each alignment included the appropriate homologous gene region from *Aspergillus steynii* from the GenBank accessions ([Table 3](#jof-05-00074-t003){ref-type="table"}). This species was chosen as an outgroup because it had a clear homolog for each of the four gene regions examined. The serine proteinase in particular, appears to undergo rapid evolution and perhaps gene loss, and as a result, it was difficult to identify clear orthologs in many other species of Eurotiomycetes.
Tree-building analyses employed maximum likelihood analysis with PHYLIP (version 3.695) DNAMLK and parsimony analysis with PHYLIP DNAPARS \[[@B22-jof-05-00074]\]. In each case, tree building employed 1000 bootstrap datasets. Analyses were done on each of the four gene alignments separately, as well as on a concatenated alignment of all four genes. The concatenated alignment has been deposited at TreeBase (Submission ID 24737).
2.4. Ethics Statement {#sec2dot4-jof-05-00074}
---------------------
All patient data analyzed for this study were anonymized.
3. Results {#sec3-jof-05-00074}
==========
All four gene regions examined were capable of distinguishing between the two *Coccidioides* species, based on comparisons with sequences reported in Genbank. Three of the isolates were revealed to be *C. immitis*, while the remaining 15 were *C. posadasii*. Isolates NM3006, NM9443, and NM9737 were clustered together as a *C. immitis* clade in single-locus trees and in the concatenated four-gene phylogeny ([Figure 1](#jof-05-00074-f001){ref-type="fig"} and [Figure S1](#app1-jof-05-00074){ref-type="app"}). Both NM9443 and NM9737 came from a single patient in Utah whose type of infection was unknown ([Table 1](#jof-05-00074-t001){ref-type="table"}). Isolate NM3006 was from a 60-year-old male from San Juan County, New Mexico, with disco-vertebral osteomyelitis due to *C. immitis*. Human coccidioidomycosis due to *C. posadasii* was represented by twelve cases of pulmonary infections (one also had a facial lesion), one of osteomyelitis, and one knee infection. The type of infection associated with the remaining patient was unknown ([Table 1](#jof-05-00074-t001){ref-type="table"}). Five of eight infections for which patient ethnicity was known occurred in Native Americans, while two of the eight occurred in African Americans ([Table 1](#jof-05-00074-t001){ref-type="table"}).
In addition to the four nuclear genes examined, we explored the possibility that mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) regions might be useful in distinguishing between *C. immitis* and *C. posadasii*. In comparisons of the sequences available in GenBank, it appeared that the first intron of the cytochrome c oxidase I (cox1) gene possesses a large insertion/deletion that separates the two species. This allowed the design of PCR primers that resulted in amplification of a sequence in all 15 *C. posadasii* isolates but not isolates of *C. immitis* ([Figure 2](#jof-05-00074-f002){ref-type="fig"}).
4. Discussion {#sec4-jof-05-00074}
=============
The isolates employed in this study came from individuals across New Mexico, with several isolates coming from the northwestern part of the State (San Juan County, NM, USA; [Table 1](#jof-05-00074-t001){ref-type="table"}). This is a surprising result given that species of *Coccidioides* are expected to occur primarily in the southern portions of New Mexico, where the environment is similar to the Sonoran Desert regions of Arizona and California. Although 14 of the 15 patients who were infected with *C. posadasii* were residents of New Mexico, two reported recent travel to Arizona ([Table 1](#jof-05-00074-t001){ref-type="table"}). New Mexico sees far fewer cases of coccidioidomycosis than its neighbor Arizona (approximately 47 cases/yr compared to 9680 cases/yr from 2008--2014) \[[@B23-jof-05-00074]\]. There are three non-mutually-exclusive possible reasons for this: (1) physicians in New Mexico do not have a thorough understanding of the disease for diagnosis and treatment, (2) *Coccidioides* is most common in less populated areas of the state, and/or (3) the low human population density across most portions of the state means that there are fewer targets for infection and less human-caused soil disturbance on a wide scale (a known factor in generating the airborne spores that cause infections). From a Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Survey of New Mexican physicians in 2010, 72% were not confident in their ability to diagnose and 70% were not confident in their ability to treat coccidioidomycosis. There is a clear need for an increased understanding of disease ecology, including the environmental conditions related both to where the fungus grows and factors that aid in dispersion to better inform our healthcare professionals of the distribution in New Mexico. An increased awareness will help avoid complications from delayed diagnosis and inappropriate treatment that can result in severe disease progression and even death. This point is driven home by a news report of several recent severe cases of human coccidioidomycosis in Southern New Mexico, all of which resulted in delayed diagnosis that prevented timely treatment \[[@B24-jof-05-00074]\].
Native Americans and African Americans represent only 11% and 2.5% of the population of New Mexico, respectively \[[@B25-jof-05-00074]\], so it was surprising to see five of eight infections for which patient ethnicity was known occurred in Native Americans, and two of the eight occurred in African Americans ([Table 1](#jof-05-00074-t001){ref-type="table"}). The increased risk for coccidioidomycosis among African Americans is well known \[[@B26-jof-05-00074]\]. The risk among Native Americans is not documented in the literature. Although one study \[[@B27-jof-05-00074]\] found Southwest Native Americans in regions of high *Coccidoides* endemism (Lower Sonoran desert) to have high rates of positive response to coccidioidin skin tests, that study did not find that rates were higher than for non-Native Americans in the same region. A separate study found a possible correlation between diabetes and coccidioidomycosis-associated death among Native Americans \[[@B28-jof-05-00074]\]. We acknowledge that any or all of multiple factors could contribute to increased risk of coccidioidomycosis. These include living in remote rural areas with high airborne dust loads, working in agriculture or construction, as well as comorbidities such as diabetes and other health conditions. Nonetheless, our results suggest a need for health professionals in New Mexico and the Four Corners region to be aware of potential at-risk groups, as well as a need for a better understanding of locations of *Coccidioides* endemism.
Coccidioidomycosis incidence is on the rise in highly endemic areas such as Arizona and California and in more sparsely populated reporting regions including New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah \[[@B11-jof-05-00074]\]. One reason for this increase may be that clinicians are becoming more aware of the disease. Other hypotheses include changes in testing practices, increased travel or relocation to endemic areas, and/or growth of the "at-risk" immunosuppressed population (although coccidioidomycosis can infect healthy individuals). Climatic factors, such as temperature and moisture, in addition to increases in human activities such as construction that produce dust from soil disturbance, can result in increased spore dispersal \[[@B29-jof-05-00074]\]. Our genetic analysis of isolates collected from patients diagnosed with coccidioidomycosis in New Mexico provides a foundation for future exploration of distribution, incidence, and susceptibility of patients in New Mexico and the American Southwest Four Corners region.
Because *C. immitis* has been considered to be the "California species" and the vast majority of *C. immitis* infections occur in California, the presence of *C. immitis* among our isolates was unexpected. The reported range for *C. immitis* does, however, include locations in Washington state and Northeastern Utah \[[@B13-jof-05-00074],[@B30-jof-05-00074]\]. Acknowledging that the *C. immitis* isolates we examined could reflect infections acquired as a result of travel outside the Four-Corners region, it is entirely possible that the range of *C. immitis* includes Southern Utah and/or Northern New Mexico. Related to the question of species distributions, we note that although hybridization between *C. immitis* and *C. posadasii* has been reported \[[@B31-jof-05-00074],[@B32-jof-05-00074]\], the fact that all four nuclear genes and the mitochondrial region examined for our isolates agreed in terms of species separations would suggest that any introgression of genes across species would be minimal for the isolates we examined.
Our observation that *C. immitis* was present among isolates obtained from patients in New Mexico argues that it is important for health professionals and researchers to have rapid methods to distinguish between the two species. This is true in part because, while differences in distribution of the two species have become increasingly clear in the past decade, the ecological niche difference between the species is unknown \[[@B33-jof-05-00074],[@B34-jof-05-00074]\]. Although physicians do not currently rely on speciation for diagnosis and treatment, this may well change in the future with the increasing discovery of genetic and phenotypic differences between the species. For example, *C. immitis* has a tendency to grow faster than *C. posadasii* on high-salt media \[[@B6-jof-05-00074]\], which suggests there may be other growth differences in physiology that affect virulence and ecology. Rapid methods to distinguish between the two *Coccidioides* species such as the PCR-based method we employed here with mtDNA, along with similar methods that can be used to detect species of *Coccidioides* in environmental DNA samples, should prove valuable in future studies. Given the reported hybridization between *C. immitis* and *C. posadasii* cited above \[[@B31-jof-05-00074],[@B32-jof-05-00074]\], we acknowledge that species assignments made based on a single gene region should be viewed as tentative.
The authors would like to thank the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) State Laboratory Division, General Microbiology Section, for providing sample DNA, and Pamela Morden (NMDOH) and Terry Torres-Cruz (Penn State University) for helpful comments and insights.
Supplementary materials can be found at <https://www.mdpi.com/2309-608X/5/3/74/s1>. Figure S1. Phylogenetic trees for individual gene regions: Serine protease, MCM7, RPB1, and ITS.
######
Click here for additional data file.
P.S.H., M.I.H. (equal contributors) and D.O.N. conceived and completed the molecular analyses. P.S.H. and D.O.N. acquired funding. P.L. obtained isolates and DNA. S.M. analyzed patient histories. All authors participated in writing the manuscript.
This work was funded in part by a University of New Mexico (UNM) Graduate and Professional Student Association High Priority Grant to P.S.H. Additional funding was provided by the UNM Biology Department's Graduate Research Allocations Committee Research Award and by the University of New Mexico's Sevilleta LTER Summer Graduate Student Fellowship program (P.S.H.) (National Science Foundation awards DEB 1655499 and DEB 1440478). We thank the UNM Department of Biology's Molecular Biology Facility for help with sequencing and analysis, supported by the UNM Center for Evolutionary & Theoretical Immunology (CETI) under National Institutes of Health grant P30GM110907. Data analysis was aided by computing resources of the Center for Advanced Research Computing, supported in part by the National Science Foundation.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
{ref-type="app"} (with all four genes agreeing in terms of species separation). Both *C. posadasii* and *C. immitis* isolates were present among those obtained from patients in New Mexico (shown in red). As expected, based on previous analyses of isolates from California, Arizona and Texas, most NM isolates were from *C. posadasii* (*C. immitis* being known primarily from CA). One patient infected with *C. immitis* (isolates NM9443 and NM9737) was a resident of the Four Corners region of Utah, while another (isolate NM3006) was from the Four Corners region of NM with no apparent travel history to California. GenBank accession numbers are given in [Table 3](#jof-05-00074-t003){ref-type="table"}. Bootstrap values (percentage of 1000 replicates) greater than 60% are shown for maximum likelihood analysis above the branches and for parsimony analysis below the branches. The tree was rooted with *Aspergillus steynii*. Maximum likelihood and parsimony analyses performed without sequences from *A. steynii*, and employing midpoint rooting, separated *C. immitis* and *C. posadasii* clades with 100% bootstrap support and placed the root between the two species (results not shown). Arrows indicate branches leading to isolates with identical sequences.](jof-05-00074-g001){#jof-05-00074-f001}
{#jof-05-00074-f002}
jof-05-00074-t001_Table 1
######
Isolate and patient information.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Isolate Isolate ID ^a^ County or State of Residency Source Type of Infection Age Sex Race/Ethnicity Significant Past Medical History Occupation Travel History
----------------------------- ---------------- ------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------- ----- ----- ------------------ ---------------------------------- ------------------------------- -------------------------
***C. immitis* Isolates**
NM3006 *Ci* San Juan, NM Bone\ 60 M American Indian Yes Railroad employee None
Vertebral osteomyelitis
NM9443 ^b^ *Ci* Utah Ear 51 M Unk ^c^ Unk Unk Unk
NM9737 ^b^ *Ci* Utah Ear 51 M Unk Unk Unk Unk
***C. posadasii* Isolates**
NM0369 *Cp* Bernalillo, NM Bronchial wash\ 66 M Unk Yes Unk None
Pulmonary infection
NM4233 *Cp* Bernalillo, NM Tissue\ 48 M Unk Yes Rug merchant Tucson, AZ, 3 wks prior
Pulmonary infection
NM9861 *Cp* Bernalillo, NM Tissue\ 30 F Unk Yes Unk None
Pulmonary infection
NM3894 *Cp* Bernalillo, NM Fluid\ 77 M Unk No None None
Knee infection
NM0317 *Cp* Chaves, NM Ear\ 62 M African American Yes Retired. Prior military in CA None
Pulmonary infection and facial lesion
NM4297 *Cp* Eddy, NM Sputum\ 63 M White Yes Mining engineer Travel to Kansas
Pulmonary infection
NM0071 *Cp* Lea, NM Nasal sputum\ 28 M African American Yes Incarcerated patient N/A
Pulmonary infection
NM3957 *Cp* McKinley, NM Pleural fusion\ 42 M Unk Unk Unk Unk
Pulmonary infection
NM9837 *Cp* McKinley, NM Nasal sputum\ 51 M American Indian Yes Welder Recent work Phoenix, AZ
Pulmonary infection
NM5945 *Cp* McKinley, NM Tissue\ 48 F American Indian Yes Unk None
Pulmonary infection
NM4708 *Cp* San Juan, NM Bronchial wash\ 40 F American Indian Yes Unk None
Pulmonary infection
NM0459 *Cp* Socorro, NM Tissue\ 50 F Unk Unk Unk None
Pulmonary infection
NM7898 *Cp* Torrance, NM Bronchial lavage\ 48 M Unk Unk Incarcerated patient None
Pulmonary infection
NM8725 *Cp* New Mexico Fluid/Unk Unk Unk Unk Unk Unk Unk
NM8945 *Cp* Arizona Bone\ 62 M American Indian Yes Unk None
Pulmonary infection in childhood; osteomyelitis
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
^a^*Ci* = *C. immitis*, *Cp* = *C. posadasii*; ^b^ NM9443 and NM9737 were from the same patient; ^c^ Unk = unknown.
jof-05-00074-t002_Table 2
######
Primers used in gene amplification.
DNA Region Direction Sequence Annealing Temp.
--------------------------- ------------------------------- ------------------------------ -----------------
ITS Forward 5′ CTTGGTCATTTAGAGGAAGTAA 3′ 50 °C
Reverse 5′ TCCTCCGCTTATTGATATGC 3′
Serine Proteinase Forward 5′ ATAGAGACCACGCAGAAGGC 3′ 55 °C
Reverse 5′ AGCTGTCACGGATGGTATCG 3′
MCM7 Forward 5′ TGGTTATAGCGCGATTCTCC 3′ 50 °C
Reverse 5′ CGAGTCGTTATACCTCGAACG 3′
RPB1 Forward 5′ CCGCGTCATTATTTAAGCATC 3′ 55 °C
Reverse 5′ AGCGTATTCACCAACTTCTC 3′
*C. posadasii* Intron ^a^ Forward (P2F) 5′ TCAAATCATGTGTAATATGTGG 3′ 50 °C
Reverse (P2R) 5′ GTTGACCATAAAGAAAAGTTGG 3′
cox1 exon ^b^ Forward (P1F) 5′ ATAAAATAAACTACGATTTGCG 3′ 50 °C
Reverse (P1R) 5′ GATTGCATGAGCTGTAATAATAC 3′
^a^ This primer pair amplifies an intron sequence from *C. posadasii* but not C. *immitis* (see Results). ^b^ This primer pair amplifies a region in both *C. posadasii* and *C. immitis* that includes a portion of the first cox1 exon along with an upstream intergenic region (see [Section 3](#sec3-jof-05-00074){ref-type="sec"}).
jof-05-00074-t003_Table 3
######
GenBank accession numbers for sequences employed in phylogenetic analysis.
Isolate ITS Serine Proteinase MCM7 RPB1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------ ------------------- ------------------ ----------------
**Sequences from New Mexico and Four Corners Region *Coccidioides* Isolates (This Study)**
NM3006 MH725248 MH748764 MH748742 MH748724
NM9443 MH725258 MH748774 MH748757 MH748739
NM9737 MH725259 MH748775 MH748758 MH748740
NM0071 MH725244 MH748760 MH748749 MH748731
NM0317 MH725245 MH748761 MH748748 MH748730
NM0369 MH725246 MH748762 MH748759 MH748741
NM0459 MH725247 MH748763 MH748746 MH748728
NM3894 MH725249 MH748765 MH748754 MH748736
NM3957 MH725250 MH748766 MH748756 MH748738
NM4233 MH725251 MH748767 MH748743 MH748725
NM4297 MH725252 MH748768 MH748752 MH748734
NM4708 MH725253 MH748769 MH748744 MH748726
NM5945 MH725254 MH748770 MH748751 MH748733
NM7898 MH725255 MH748771 MH748747 MH748729
NM8725 MH725256 MH748772 MH748755 MH748737
NM8945 MH725257 MH748773 MH748750 MH748732
NM9837 MH725260 MH748776 MH748745 MH748727
NM9861 MH725261 MH748777 MH748753 MH748735
**Sequences from Existing GenBank *Coccidioides* Entries**
RMSCC 2394 AATX01000513.1 AATX01000326.1 AATX01000203.1 AATX01000264.1
224--846 35438--36110 43422--44141 433820--434247
H538.4 AASO01000085.1 AASO01002025.1 AASO01002210.1 AASO01003054.1
10339--10766 35115--35787 4641--5360 10945--11568
RS AAEC03000009.1 AAEC03000008.1 AAEC03000005.1 AAEC03000010.1
4725--5351 2537048--2537720 3687326--3688045 828825--829252
CPA 0020 ABIV01003320.1 ABIV01000896.1 ABIV01000569.1 ABIV01001762.1
16973--17598 3088--3760 311--1030 5431--5860
CPA 0001 ABFO01003353.1 ABFO01000797.1 ABFO01001238.1 ABFO01003988.1
1--346 ^a^
2878--3503 665--1337 ABFO01001237.1 6129--6558
12376--12757 ^a^
RMSCC 3700 ABFN01001891.1 ABFN01000336.1 ABFN01000290.1 ABFN01001137.1
3121--3746 1--638 5242--5961 412--841
RMSCC 2133 ABFM01000924.1 ABFM01000717.1 ABFM01000464.1 ABFM01000297.1
22927--23552 3481--4153 1904--1262 6563--6992
RMSCC 3488 ABBB01000249.1 ABBB01000240.1 ABBB01000156.1 ABBB01000255.1
33179--33804 371029--371701 145000--145719 527482--527911
Silveira KM588216.1 ABAI02000152.1 ABAI02000361.1 ABAI02000102.1
34354--35026 12054--12773 54472--54901
**Sequences from Existing GenBank *Aspergillus steynii* Entries**
IBT 23096 MSFO01000033.1 MSFO01000001.1 MSFO01000005.1 MSFO01000005.1
3264--2712 3181742--3182796 1831768--1834777 2491035--2491482
^a^ The complete CPA0001 MCM7 gene is split across two contig accessions.
|
{
"pile_set_name": "PubMed Central"
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|
Console will launch by the year's end, but explanations are thin on the ground
Microsoft has pushed back the Chinese launch of the Xbox One just days before the console was due to go on sale.
Indeed, the decision was taken so close to the planned release date that Microsoft is still hosting the event that was intended to be the launch party. Held at the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai, 100 attendees will receive a free Xbox One console - but only when Microsoft is finally ready to release the system.
Exactly when that will be is still unclear. In a statement released to the press, MIcrosoft offered little in the way of concrete explanation for this last-minute disruption, and only a vague sense of when the Xbox One launch will actually happen.
"Despite strong and steady progress, we are going to need more a bit more time to deliver the best experiences possible for our fans in China," the statement read. "At Xbox, we pride ourselves on delivering first rate gaming and entertainment experiences and to allow us to deliver on that promise we need to reschedule the launch of Xbox One.
"Working with our partner, BesTV, we look forward to launching in China by the end of this year."
Whatever happened, the situation seems to have escalated quickly. At the end of last week, Enwei Xie, general manager for Xbox in China, told the news organisation Xinhua that, "The introduction of the Chinese version of Xbox is more efficient than in any other country,"
Elsewhere in its statement about the delay, Microsoft emphasised the scale of what it is trying to accomplish: 70 games from 25 third-party developers ready on launch day, with console hardware available from 4,000 retailers in 37 different cities.
"We have one opportunity to launch Xbox in China and we want to deliver a world-class experience for our fans," said Xie. "For our first fans who have pre-ordered, we are committed to ensuring you are the first to receive Xbox One, along with an added bonus."
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Pages
Tuesday, May 2, 2017
Astonishing, And Unbelievable Vulnerability
Our current vulnerability to election tampering by any, and all, foreign interests is absolutely intolerable. More to the point, however, is the lack of response to this vulnerability; inaction that spans decades of knowing that our voting systems are antiquated, poorly designed, and subject to only the most limited form of review (recounts or audits), and systemized checking for problems of any kind.
And now, in this excellent article (linked below) we find that the only federal agency formed to actually tackle the problem, besides the Department of Homeland Security, is being attacked to the point of seeking its complete abolishment. That agency is the Election Assistance Commission.
Let's be clear here. More than porous borders. More than ISIS terrorists infiltrating to do us harm. Our ability to rely on a completely objective system of vote tallying is absolutely essential to preserve our Democracy. If we are stupid enough to allow our voting systems to be pummeled across various avenues of unchecked breaching we will create a downward spiralling vortex of ever increasing chaotic controversy that will have only one final outcome. No one believing that their vote matters at all any more (a fact we're already too close to) as, insult to injury, not only does money influence what we know, so as to vote in manipulated ignorance, we will also have outright sabotage to deal with as well.
It's easy to see here how this can get so tangled into the idea of "States Rights" and how local governments may be reluctant to have one more area where the "Feds" are "dictating" arbitrary standards, but this goes way beyond the concerns of local control. Just as it would with outbreak standards to prevent the spread of communicable disease, or with the standards to protect the flow of monetary transactions, and the repositories where the information is kept.
And the thing is, I have to believe that the unbelievable push back, primarily from Republicans, to create a uniform, rational solution to our current vulnerabilities, goes hand in hand with a general reluctance by conservatives to have much of any further comprehensive overhaul of how we vote. And you need look no further than how we've allowed local municipalities to Jerry Mander precincts to see how this comes out. Or to see how too many local municipalities have instituted rules to try and marginalize the votes of demographic groups the powers that be would rather not have to pay attention to.
The fact of the matter, in my view, is that conservatives are terrified of comprehensive voting reform precisely because it would shake up what ought to be obvious unconstitutional district representation. Not to mention the instigation of cheap shot rules to make voting nearly impossible for those on the lower end of the economic spectrum. Terrified as well, I think, as any real attempt to look at voting reform would make it so much harder for them to continue make their ridiculous claims of voter fraud. Claims that have had the effect of throwing gasoline on the already growing flames of doubt in our electoral processes; which really makes you wonder where their patriotism lies.
We must demand comprehensive reform, and robust, systematic protections of this most basic part of our Democracy. We must do this quickly. Otherwise you might as well join the Anarchists and just start smashing as much as you can to bring the whole thing down now, because that's ultimately what doing nothing about voting is going to give us.
About Me
I am retired now, but I used to make my living as a Systems Analyst\Developer.
As my real passion has always been ideas, writing, reading, social change and music I am devoting myself to all of these. The primary focus, however is on social change.
It is my firm belief that Capitalism is obsolete. It has been rendered so because of electrified information systems. Not only do these make human skill as a commodity absurd, they also turn information into money, and money into information. At the very least, this reality makes representational Democracy virtually impossible because it can longer move freely. As a commodity it is necessarily subject to the net gain requirement in any exchange. As such information flow is seldom conducted for the benefit of the receiver.
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Atherosclerosis precursors in schoolchildren--results of a two-year intervention study.
In order to reduce precursors of atherosclerosis, an intervention trial was carried out in pupils aged 10-11 years at the time of inclusion into the study (5th graders). The main goal of the study was to encourage health-promoting behaviour patterns--mostly present in the schoolchildren at that time--such as non-smoking, a negative attitude toward future smoking, a high level of physical activity including sports. The study design included dietary measures aimed at lowering blood pressure and total cholesterol values. Follow-up examination, performed at an interval of 2 years, revealed the following results: significantly lower mean total cholesterol values in girls attending the intervention schools; a significantly lower prevalence of smoking and a decrease in the number of casual smokers--compared with data obtained in the 5th grade--in the intervention schools; a negative attitude towards smoking and the extent of sport activities remained at the level of the 5th grade in the intervention schools.
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Q:
Java bytecode asm - How can I create a clone of a class with only the class name changed?
Java asm - How can I create a clone of a class with only the class name changed ?
I know that there's a simple way to modify the class name using asm SimpleRemapper, but I just want the outer class name changed without modifying the class names used in the methods. (please see below example)
Basically if I have a target class
public class Target {
public Target clone(...) ...
public int compare(another: Target) ...
}
I just wanted to create a clone that looks as:
public class ClonedTarget {
public Target clone(...) ...
public int compare(another: Target) ...
}
(Note that the return type of clone and arg type of compare hasn't changed. This is intentional for my use case).
A:
Cloning a class and changing the name and only the name, i.e. leave every other class reference as-is, is actually very easy with the ASM API.
ClassReader cr = new ClassReader(Target.class.getResourceAsStream("Target.class"));
ClassWriter cw = new ClassWriter(cr, 0);
cr.accept(new ClassVisitor(Opcodes.ASM5, cw) {
@Override
public void visit(int version, int access, String name,
String signature, String superName, String[] interfaces) {
super.visit(version, access, "ClonedTarget", signature, superName, interfaces);
}
}, 0);
byte[] code = cw.toByteArray();
When chaining a ClassReader with a ClassWriter, the ClassVisitor in the middle only needs to overwrite those methods corresponding to an artifact it wants to change. So, to change the name and nothing else, we only need to override the visit method for the class’ declaration and pass a different name to the super method.
By passing the class reader to the class writer’s constructor, we’re even denoting that only little changes will be made, enabling subsequent optimizations of the transform process, i.e. most of the constant pool, as well as the code of the methods, will just get copied here.
It’s worth considering the implications. On the bytecode level, constructors have the special name <init>, so they keep being constructors in the resulting class, regardless of its name. Trivial constructors calling a superclass constructor may continue to work in the resulting class.
When invoking instance methods on ClonedTarget objects, the this reference has the type ClonedTarget. This fundamental property does not need to be declared and thus, there is no declaration that needs adaptation in this regard.
Herein lies the problem. The original code assumes that this is of type Target and since nothing has been adapted, the copied code still wrongly assumes that this is of type Target, which can break in various ways.
Consider:
public class Target {
public Target clone() { return new Target(); }
public int compare(Target t) { return 0;}
}
This looks like not being affected by the issue. The generated default constructor just calls super() and will continue to work. The compare method has an unused parameter type left as-is. And the clone() method instantiates Target (unchanged) and returns it, matching the return type Target (unchanged). Seems fine.
But what’s not visible here, the clone method overrides the method Object clone() inherited from java.lang.Object and therefore, a bridge method will be generated. This bridge method will have the declaration Object clone() and just delegate to the Target clone() method. The problem is that this delegation is an invocation on this and the assumed type of the invocation target is encoded within the invocation instruction. This will cause a VerifierError.
Generally, we can not simply tell apart which invocations are applied on this and which on an unchanged reference, like a parameter or field. It does not even need to have a definite answer. Consider:
public void method(Target t, boolean b) {
(b? this: t).otherMethod();
}
Implicitly assuming that this has type Target, it can use this and a Target instance from another source interchangeably. We can not change the this type and keep the parameter type without rewriting the code.
Other issues arise with visibility. For the renamed class, the verifier will reject unchanged accesses to private members of the original class.
Besides failing with a VerifyError, problematic code may slip through and cause problems at a later time. Consider:
public class Target implements Cloneable {
public Target duplicate() {
try {
return (Target)super.clone();
} catch(CloneNotSupportedException ex) {
throw new AssertionError();
}
}
}
Since this duplicate() does not override a superclass method, there won’t be a bridge method and all unchanged uses of Target are correct from the verifier’s perspective.
But the clone() method of Object does not return an instance of Target but of the this’ class, ClonedTarget in the renamed clone. So this will fail with a ClassCastException, only when being executed.
This doesn’t preclude working use cases for a class with known content. But generally, it’s very fragile.
|
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Rashad Moore
Glenn Rashad Moore (born March 16, 1979 in Huntsville, Alabama) is a former American football defensive tackle. He was originally drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the sixth round of the 2003 NFL Draft. He played college football at Tennessee.
Moore has also been a member of the Oakland Raiders, New York Jets, New England Patriots, and the Atlanta Falcons in his career.
Early years
Moore attended Johnson High School in Huntsville, Alabama and was a student and a letterman in football and basketball. In football, as a senior, he posted 65 tackles, 10.5 sacks, and three fumble recoveries. In basketball, he was an All-Metropolitan selection and an All-Area selection.
College career
From 1998 through 2002 Moore attended the University of Tennessee. He played at defensive tackle the last four years (1999–2002) and totaled 95 tackles and 3.5 sacks. He majored in Psychology.
Professional career
In 2003 the Seattle Seahawks drafted Moore in the sixth round (183rd overall) of the 2003 NFL Draft. In his rookie season he played in 14 games and made 30 total tackles and one sack. The next season (2004), he played in all sixteen of the Seahawks' regular season games and made 46 total tackles and two sacks. After completing the team's 2005 training camp, Moore was released from the team. He did not play for any team in 2005. In 2006, he was signed by the New York Jets and he played in thirteen games, making 10 total tackles. On June 8, 2007 the New England Patriots signed Moore to a contract. He played with the team in all four of the 2007 preseason games before being released on September 1, 2007 in the teams final roster cutdown. On December 19, 2007 the Patriots re-signed him.
On March 7, 2008, he signed with the Atlanta Falcons.
References
External links
Atlanta Falcons bio
New England Patriots bio
New York Jets bio
Category:1979 births
Category:Living people
Category:Sportspeople from Huntsville, Alabama
Category:American football defensive tackles
Category:Tennessee Volunteers football players
Category:Seattle Seahawks players
Category:Oakland Raiders players
Category:New York Jets players
Category:New England Patriots players
Category:Atlanta Falcons players
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Greenbelt Festival
Greenbelt Festival is a festival of arts, faith and justice held annually in England since 1974. Greenbelt has grown from a Christian music festival with an audience of 1,500 young Christians to its current more inclusive festival attended by around 20,000 - Christians and those from other faiths and none.
The festival regularly attracts the biggest names of Christian music and many mainstream musicians. Those that have played the festival in the past include both new and established musicians, mostly playing rock, folk and pop music. This list encompasses The Alarm, U2, Moby, Pussy Riot, Cliff Richard, Bruce Cockburn, Ed Sheeran, Martyn Joseph, Steve Taylor, Daniel Amos, Phatfish, Servant, Midnight Oil, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Over the Rhine, Iona, Amy Grant, Miles Cain, Lamb, Kevin Max, Lambchop, Goldie, Jamelia, After the Fire, Larry Norman, Randy Stonehill, Asian Dub Foundation, The Polyphonic Spree, Aqualung, Dum Dums, The Proclaimers, Daniel Bedingfield, Eden Burning, Duke Special, Why?, Athlete, Sixpence None the Richer, The Choir, and Delirious?.
Greenbelt is also a venue for teaching and discussion about (but not exclusively within) the Christian faith, and has attracted a large number of famous Christian speakers, including Rowan Williams (the former Archbishop of Canterbury) who is currently the festival's patron. However, the festival also welcomes anyone who the organisers believe 'speaks for justice', and has recently had Anita Roddick, Peter Tatchell, Bill Drummond and Billy Bragg sharing their thoughts. Greenbelt sees itself as having never been shy of tackling controversial issues and providing a 'safe space for honest debate'.
More recently with its links to the NGO Christian Aid, Greenbelt has become heavily involved in campaigns for trade justice. The festival was one of the main catalysts for the huge Jubilee 2000 movement. Greenbelt is also a Christian showcase for performing arts, visual arts and alternative worship.
History
Greenbelt is a nomadic festival which has so far been held at seven different locations in England. While the venue has changed, the core event has remained the same: a celebration of faith, justice and arts with a particular Christian perspective.
The first Greenbelt Festival was held on a pig farm just outside the village of Charsfield near Woodbridge, Suffolk over the August 1974 bank holiday weekend, begun by Jim Palosaari, Kenneth Frampton, and James Holloway. Local fears concerning the festival in the weeks running up to it proved to be unfounded, but the festival didn't return to the venue.
Between 1975 and 1981 the festival was held in the grounds of Odell Castle in Bedfordshire. The largest audiences for Greenbelt were during its two-year stay at Knebworth Park in Hertfordshire, 1982 and 1983.
1984 saw Greenbelt move to one of its longest-serving homes, Castle Ashby, Northamptonshire. While at Castle Ashby, Greenbelt began the practice of adopting an annual theme for the festival. Artists are encouraged to draw from the theme where possible.
Originally the 1992 festival was expected to be held at a new, permanent home on a farm a few miles away in Church Stowe. Greenbelt had finances in place to purchase the site, but met strong resistance from local residents. The plans collapsed and the festival returned to Castle Ashby one last time.
From 1993 to 1998 Greenbelt's home was the grounds of Deene Park, Northamptonshire. Putting the plan to purchase a permanent site on hold, Greenbelt instead negotiated with Deene Park's owner and invested in infrastructure improvements to this temporary site instead.
Following a downturn in audience figures and rising production costs, Greenbelt faced up to the inevitable in 1998: it was no longer financially viable to continue using the Deene Park site. A bold plan was devised. The 1998 event was pitched as the "last Greenbelt of its kind", with two festivals planned for 1999: a youth-oriented event "Freestate" in partnership with Spring Harvest to be held the August Bank Holiday weekend and a more family-oriented "Greenbelt" to be held over the last weekend in July at Cheltenham Racecourse.
In early 1999 plans for Freestate collapsed and its embryonic programme was hastily rolled into the Greenbelt planned for Cheltenham. The 1999 Greenbelt Festival took place at Cheltenham but saw the lowest audiences since the 1970s. It remains the only Greenbelt to have taken place other than on an August Bank Holiday weekend.
Greenbelt emerged from its financial difficulties in the early 2000s with ever-increasing audiences for festivals held at Cheltenham. Today Greenbelt sees audiences comparable in numbers to those of its "glory days" in the early 1980s, and, although there is constant tension between its faith-based origins and a more exploratory attitude to engaging with the world, the perspective of the festival remains one rooted in the Christian tradition.
In 2014 Greenbelt moved to Boughton House, Northamptonshire, due to the planned redevelopment of Cheltenham Racecourse, as well as part of the site being unusable after severe weather during the 2012 festival caused flash flooding across parts of the racecourse. Since the move the festival has been scaled back after a drop in numbers and possibly due to the related loss of finances.
A family of festivals
Greenbelt's vision is to be at the collision of arts, justice and faith. With the organisation's blessing, three other events have taken the same blueprint and created festivals along similar lines in other countries. The Solas Festival has been held in Scotland annually since 2010. The following year saw the first Wild Goose Festival in the United States, and in 2013 the Bet Lahem Live festival joined the informal family,
All events are run independently, with their own local flavour while acknowledging inspiration from Greenbelt.
Organisation
Greenbelt is a registered charity and incorporated at Companies House. It is overseen by a board of trustees/directors who are responsible for its governance. A small staff team is supplemented by a large base of volunteers and a number of subcontractors.
Reactions
These can be favourable amongst the initiated or quite negative. The Guardian sent Jessica Reed, a self-proclaimed atheist, to see. Expecting to be turned off from the outset she mellowed to the point of admitting she became almost but finally finding that the evangelism "lurked" under the surface, she left.
The experience of an outdoor event has all its own attractions. A Huffington Post report said, "How progressive politics, music and religion combine to make a festival where the loos are lovely and the people properly nice". The mix of Christians, environmental campaigners, Muslim clerics and atheists make this a heady mix, "The 700 Club at play it ain't."
Locations, themes and contributors
Photo gallery
Footnotes
References
External links
Greenbelt official site
Photos of Greenbelt 2007 from BBC Gloucestershire
Category:Music festivals in England
Category:Christian music festivals
Category:Recurring events established in 1974
Category:Music festivals established in 1974
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1900–01 Copa Macaya
The 1900–01 Copa Macaya was the 1st staging of the Copa Macaya. The competition began on 20 January 1901 and ended on 14 April.
Table
Results
External links
Federació Catalana de Futbol
CIHEFE
Category:Copa Catalunya seasons
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Matthew De Grood Begins Review Board Hearing
CALGARY — A cloak of silence was imposed Tuesday on an Alberta Review Board hearing for a Calgary man found not criminally responsible in the stabbing deaths of five young people.
The two-day hearing for Matthew de Grood, 24, is the first step in a process which could eventually see him back on the streets.
De Grood was found not criminally responsible in May on five counts of first degree murder stemming from a house party two years ago marking the end of the school year.
According to court testimony, de Grood heard a voice he believed to be the devil telling him to kill. De Grood said he believed the end of the world was coming when he grabbed a knife from the kitchen in the northwest Calgary home and stabbed the victims to death.
The five victims of the mass stabbing in Calgary in 2014. (Photos: Facebook)
The review board consists of Alberta provincial court Judge Allan Lefever, two psychiatrists, a member of the legal community and a layperson. The board will hear updates on de Grood's treatment, any progress he has made, privileges he may be entitled to and victim impact statements from friends and families of the five victims.
"Mr. de Grood has been confined to a secure medical facility and within that facility he has been treated and is being treated by a treatment team,'' said LeFever, in an introduction to the dozens of family members sitting in the courtroom.
"They will be responsible for the development of a risk management plan which means a gradual reintegration of the individual into the community, if and when it is safe to do so.''
Four factors considered
Lefever said the board considers four factors during a review including the safety of the public, the mental health of the patient, the reintegration of the patient into society and any other needs of the patient.
However details from Tuesday's hearing were subject to an interim publication ban after objections from groups including Alberta Health Services and de Grood's lawyer, Allan Fay, who argued evidence may be introduced that could interfere with his client's treatment.
"Release of such information may interfere with the treatment process to a degree that my client does not receive the full benefit of that treatment process and, in my respectful submission, would be significantly prejudicial to him,'' said Fay.
Lefever imposed an interim publication ban until arguments could be heard Wednesday morning. The board has to balance the issue of confidentiality with the public interest in the case, he said.
"We have to recognize the interest of the public in this proceeding,'' Lefever said. "The media really are the eyes and ears of everybody in Calgary and Alberta who couldn't be here today.''
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How do you spot a psychopath?
One self-proclaiming psychopath has described how he presents himself in society and given a breakdown on his behaviour in different situations in what may provide an answer to that question.
Jacob Wells shared this information in response to a question on Quora asking psychopaths generally present themselves in society.
A psychopath, according to the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), which is often used as a diagnostic tool to determine levels of psychopathy and antisocial behaviour will often display some or all of several key signs. Psychopaths are often pathological liars, have very high self-estimation, are impulsive and fail to regulate and take responsibility for their behaviours. Pyschopathy exists on a spectrum, and not all psychopaths will display all the signs.
The first thing that Wells shares about his behaviour is that how he acts is strongly dependent on the circumstances. He deliberately changes how he acts according to the situation he finds himself in.
“I usually present myself as normal at first,” he says, “Some exceptions being academic settings where I try to present myself as either or a good student or a genius (the first of which I am not, at all), dating settings where I present myself as being perfect, but unaware of it (both lies), or competitive settings where I act humble but intimidating (neither is true in this case either).”
After at first presenting himself as ‘normal’, Wells starts to show some more of his true self, and tries to gain people’s trust in a carefully calculated, tried and tested ways. “If I haven’t already, I will subtly show some intelligence, I will behave a bit abnormally, as that is more comfortable, and I will try to be become the most interesting person they know by telling them a true story about myself.”
Wells claims that his stories about lying his way through school and getting away with it strangely seem to earn people’s trust. “By this point,” he says, people usually find him “intelligent, eccentric and a bit psychopathic, but fairly normal.”
Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Show all 10 1 /10 Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report 30 per cent of people deal with anxiety by talking to a friend or relative, or by going for a walk. Getty Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report Almost one in five people feel anxious all or a lot of the time. PA Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report 22 per cent of women feel anxious a lot or all of the time, compared to 15 per cent of men. Roman Levin/Flickr Creative Commons Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report 45 per cent of people who feel anxious in everyday life cite financial issues as their biggest cause of worry. Getty Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report And 26 per cent of people who feel anxious say fearing for the welfare of their children and loved ones leaves them burdened with worry. And 26 per cent of people say fearing for the welfare of their children and loved ones leaves them burdened with anxiety. Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report 27 per cent of people who suffer from anxiety say work issues, such as long hours, are the source of the problem. Getty Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report But 16 per cent use alcohol to cope, while 10 per cent turn to cigarettes in the face of anxiety. Unemployed people are more likely to resort to these harmful strategies: 27 per cent use alcohol and 23 per cent use cigarettes. AFP/Getty Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report Only seven per cent of people who say they suffer from anxiety seek help from their GP. Getty Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report People are thought to be more anxious than they were five years ago. Alessandra/Flickr Creative Commons Mental Health Awareness: Facts and figures Mental Health Foundation: Living With Anxiety report The stresses of modern life are thought to have created "The Age of Anxiety". Getty
If Wells becomes close to a person, he aims to gain their trust fully, which he does by “doing and/or offering to do immense favours that nobody else would do.”
“I offer to solve their problems, in any way possible, and then ask them how far to take it so I don’t violate their morals.”
“If they don’t like a teacher/co-worker/neighbour I’ll offer to get rid of them. If they say 'don’t put them in prison', I’ll get them fired. If they say 'don’t get them fired', I’ll trash their reputation or scare them into backing off.”
The process of becoming friends with someone that Wells describes seems extremely superficial – every move he makes is calculated. Any favours or nice things he does to someone he is ‘close’ to seem to be purely part of a carefully conceived process which aims at eventually being in control of their relationship and making them useful to him.
“I keep secrets, and tell them fake secrets to gain their trust, and once they trust me enough, I ask for favours, reminding of the favours I did them. I can get literally anything from them, which is incredibly useful”.
Wells' behaviour does not seem to be atypical of a psychopath. Dr Xanthe Mallett, a forensic anthropologist and criminologist who specialises in criminal behaviours, said that psychopaths often manipulate others, and appear to be very engaged in relationships, when in actual fact they lack emotional attachments to others and will only engage for the sake of personal gain.
According to Dr Mallett, when a psychopath appears to be friendly or to have an emotional connection one should not be fooled: “They are the social snakes in the grass that slither and smile their way in to your life and emotions,” she says. “They feel no empathy, and only care about themselves.”
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Due to advances in internet technology, it is now possible for a user of an internet-connected device to obtain great amounts of information. The fact that the amount of information is so great, however, makes it difficult to notify the user of desired information at a desired time.
Patent Literature 1 discloses an information notification device which stores a viewing history associating (i) a user's location and elapsed time since arrive at the location with (ii) whether or not the user has viewed information. The information notification device refers to the viewing history and notifies the user of information at a point in time at which the user is highly likely to view the information. Patent Literatures 2 through 4 each disclose techniques relating to the timing with which a user is notified of information.
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Neurocysticercosis is a leading cause of acquired epilepsy in the developing world ([@R1]*,*[@R2]). The disease occurs when larvae of the pork tapeworm, *Taenia solium*, encyst in the human brain; this process causes a broad range of neurologic signs and symptoms, including seizures, headache, obstructive hydrocephalus, encephalitis, stroke, and cognitive and other mental health disorders ([@R3]*,*[@R4]). Neurocysticercosis is endemic in poor rural communities in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia, where pigs can access and ingest human feces ([Figure 1](#F1){ref-type="fig"}). However, the disease is also of increasing public health concern in the United States, especially in the immigrant population and among persons who have traveled to regions where cysticercosis is endemic ([@R5]).
{#F1}
The World Health Organization designates cysticercosis as a neglected tropical disease (NTD) and has called for international efforts to strengthen surveillance ([@R6]*--*[@R8]). The disease remains neglected partly because the scale of the problem has not been well defined ([@R2]). In most disease-endemic regions, population-level data are sparse because surveillance for neurocysticercosis is nonexistent and diagnostic neuroimaging is typically unavailable. In the United States, there is an opportunity to collect population-based data on neurocysticercosis because of the large immigrant population at risk for infection, the widespread availability of neuroimaging, and the well-established disease surveillance infrastructure. However, only Alaska, Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon, and Texas require reporting of neurocysticercosis.
Death rates due to neurocysticercosis in the United States have been reported previously ([@R9]), but national-level assessments of neurocysticercosis that use population--based data are lacking. The objective of our study was to evaluate the frequency and total associated charges for hospitalizations due to neurocysticercosis in the United States and to compare these against other tropical diseases of potential importance in the United States.
Methods
=======
Data Source
-----------
We analyzed hospital discharge data contained in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) for 2003--2012 ([@R10]*,*[@R11]). The NIS, a stratified weighted sample of short-term and nonfederal hospitals, is designed to approximate a 20% sample of all community hospitals in the United States. As of 2012, 47 states participated in reporting discharge data to the NIS (only Alabama, Delaware, Idaho, and the District of Columbia had not participated), creating a sample representing 95% of the national population. The NIS is the largest collection of longitudinal inpatient care data in the United States and holds information on ≈8 million hospitalizations from \>1,000 hospitals each year ([@R10]). NIS data are de-identified and include information on demographics, diagnostic and procedural codes, length of stay, discharge status, total charges, and expected payees associated with each hospitalization.
Case Definitions
----------------
We based our case definitions for hospitalization on diagnostic and procedural codes from the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM). The ICD-9-CM code listed in the first diagnostic field is intended to capture the primary reason for hospitalization. However, there is no specific ICD-9-CM code for neurocysticercosis, so coding patterns may vary. For example, a hospitalization for neurocysticercosis might be coded with a first diagnostic field of 123.1 (cysticercosis) or with a neurologic code, such as 345.9 (epilepsy unspecified), in combination with 123.1 in a different diagnostic field.
We used 2 case definitions in this analysis. The first was a conservative case definition for reporting hospitalizations associated with neurocysticercosis. This definition required the ICD-9-CM code for cysticercosis (123.1) in any of the 15 available diagnostic fields and a supporting diagnostic or procedural code associated with a clinical manifestation of neurologic disease in any of the first 5 diagnostic or procedural fields ([Table 1](#T1){ref-type="table"}). We used individual ICD-9-CM codes and coding groups defined by Clinical Classification Software to define these additional diagnostic or procedural codes ([@R13]). This conservative case definition was designed to reduce the likelihood of including hospitalizations for persons carrying an existing diagnosis of neurocysticercosis who were hospitalized for an unrelated condition.
###### Supporting diagnostic or procedural codes from ICD-9-CM used for conservative case definition for reporting hospitalizations associated with neurocysticercosis\*
CCS code Diagnosis or procedure
------------------ ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Diagnostic code
76 Meningitis
77 Encephalitis
78 Other CNS infection and poliomyelitis
83 Epilepsy; convulsions
84 Headache; including migraine
85 Coma; stupor; and brain damage
90 Inflammation; infection of eye
95 Other nervous system disorders
109 Acute cerebrovascular disease
111 Other and ill-defined cerebrovascular disease
112 Transient cerebral ischemia
245 Syncope
650 Adjustment disorders
651 Anxiety disorders
652 Attention-deficit, conduct, and disruptive behavior disorders
653 Delirium, dementia, and amnestic and other cognitive disorders
656 Impulse control disorders, NEC
657 Mood disorders
658 Personality disorders
659 Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders
662 Suicide and intentional self-inflicted injury
670 Miscellaneous mental disorders
Procedural codes
1 Incision and excision of CNS
2 Insertion; replacement; or removal of extracranial ventricular shunt
177 Computerized axial tomography (CT) scan head
198 Magnetic resonance imaging
199 Electroencephalogram (EEG)
\*A complete list of ICD-9-CM codes used in this study is provided in the online Technical Appendix (<http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/EID/article/21/6/14-1324-Techapp1.pdf>). ICD-9-CM, International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification; CCS, Clinical Classification Software groupings of ICD-9-CM codes ([@R12]); CNS, central nervous system; NEC, not elsewhere classified.
The second case definition was designed to facilitate comparison of hospitalizations for cysticercosis with those for the 16 other NTDs and malaria. The case definition for cysticercosis included all hospitalizations with an ICD-9-CM diagnostic code for cysticercosis (123.1) in any of the first 15 diagnosis fields, but it did not require an additional supportive diagnostic or procedural code. Similarly, the case definitions for the other tropical diseases in the comparative analysis relied on ICD-9-CM codes specific to the disease without a requirement for an additional supportive diagnostic or procedural code. This approach ensured consistency of case definitions across the various diseases at the expense of greater specificity. We assumed that the likelihood of capturing unrelated hospitalizations was similar for the diseases we compared. We excluded Buruli ulcer from our comparison because there is no ICD-9-CM code specific for this disease. However, to our knowledge, Buruli ulcer has not been reported in the United States ([@R14]). We did not report hospitalizations for rabies, African trypanomiasis, or dracunculiasis because the numbers of hospitalizations were too low (\<10/year) to provide accurate estimates. A list of ICD-9-CM codes used in all case definitions is provided in the [Technical Appendix](#SD1){ref-type="local-data"}.
Statistical Methods
-------------------
To account for the sampling design of the NIS, we analyzed all data by using the survey family of commands in Stata 13 (StataCorp LP, College Station, TX, USA). We applied hospital discharge weights provided in the NIS to estimate total national hospitalizations on the basis of the stratified sample. All sampled hospitals, regardless of whether they had a patient who was hospitalized with neurocysticercosis, were included for calculation of SEs and CIs. We examined neurocysticercosis hospitalizations by patient age, sex, race, place of service, discharge status, and length of stay; US region; associated diagnostic and procedural codes; and hospitalization charges. State-level assessment was not possible because of the sampling and stratification strategy used in the NIS. Mean annual hospitalization rates were calculated as the weighted number of hospitalizations per 100,000 population on the basis of the US Census Bureau data for each year during the study period ([@R15]). Age- and sex-adjusted rates were calculated by using the direct standardization method and the 2005 US Census population as the reference population.
We used Gaussian family generalized linear models with logarithmic function link within the Stata survey framework to estimate the crude and adjusted mean length of stay and mean hospitalization charges. We first constructed univariate generalized linear models to evaluate demographic variables of interest, retaining those that were significant at the p\<0.2 level (Wald test) in the final multivariate models. The independent categorical variables we evaluated were sex, age, race, hospital region, and year of hospitalization. Once we built the final models, we estimated the mean length of stay and mean hospitalization charges for diagnoses and procedures commonly seen with neurocysticercosis (i.e., seizures, obstructive hydrocephalus, headache, stroke, mental health disorder, encephalitis/meningitis, cerebral edema, syncope, neuroimaging, ventricular shunt management, and central nervous system surgery) by individually introducing dummy variables encoding these clinical variables into the models. Inflation-adjusted charges were used in all models.
Hospital Charges
----------------
We analyzed hospital charges that were billed to private insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, and other sources from the payer's perspective. Charges represent the amount that hospitals billed for services, not the actual cost of providing these services. Generally, total charges did not include professional fees, noncovered charges, or charges incurred in the emergency department unless the patient was admitted directly from the emergency department into the hospital. We adjusted all charges for inflation by using the Consumer Price Index, setting the base year to 2012.
Results
=======
During 2003--2012, an estimated 23,266 hospitalizations (95% CI 21,741--24,792) in the United States were assigned an ICD-9-CM code of 123.1 in any of the first 15 diagnostic fields. Of these hospitalizations, 18,584 (95% CI 17,322--19,846), approximately 80% of the total, met our case definition of hospitalization due to neurocysticercosis. The number of hospitalizations due to neurocysticercosis per year ranged from a high of 2,247 in 2006 to a low of 1,495 in 2012. The largest proportion of hospitalizations due to neurocysticercosis occurred in the western region (n = 8,026, 42.9% \[95% CI 39.2%--46.7%)\], followed by the southern region (n = 5,860, 31.8% \[95% CI 28.6%--35.1%\]), the northeastern region (n = 2,902, 15.5% 95% CI \[13.5%--17.6%\]) and the midwestern region (n = 1,796, 9.8% \[95% CI 8.2%--11.7%\]).
We found distinct differences in the mean annual incidence rates of hospitalization stratified by age, sex, and race ([Table 2](#T2){ref-type="table"}). The mean annual incidence of hospitalization was highest in 20- to 44-year-old age group (1.04 hospitalizations/100,000 population). Hospitalization rates were 33% higher among male patients than female patients. The age- and sex-adjusted mean annual incidence of hospitalizations was highest among Hispanics (2.50 hospitalizations/100,000 population); the rate was 35 times higher than that for non-Hispanic whites, 10 times higher than that for blacks, and 8 times higher than that for Asian/Pacific Islanders. Unadjusted rates by race were similar: Hispanic, 2.57/100,000; white, 0.06/100,000; black, 0.23/100,000; and Asian/Pacific Islander, 0.26/ 100,000.
###### Number and rate of hospitalizations for neurocysticercosis in the United States, by demographic group, 2003--2012\*
Characteristic† No. hospitalizations (SE) \% All hospitalizations (95% CI) Rate (95% CI)‡
-------------------------- --------------------------- ---------------------------------- -------------------
Age, y
\<20 1,493 (103) 8.0 (7.1--9.1) 0.18 (0.16--0.21)
20--44 10,827 (394) 58.3 (56.5--60.1) 1.04 (0.97--1.12)
45--64 4,357 (232) 23.5 (22.0--25.0) 0.56 (0.51--0.62)
≥65 1,889 (136) 10.2 (9.0--11.5) 0.49 (0.42--0.56)
Sex
M 10,377 (373) 56.3 (54.5--58.2) 0.70 (0.65--0.75)
F 8,043 (349) 43.7 (41.8--45.5) 0.52 (0.48--0.57)
Race/ethnicity
Hispanic 12,030 (551) 74.0 (71.5--76.3) 2.50 (2.27--2.73)
White 1,530 (104) 9.4 (8.2--10.7) 0.07 (0.06--0.08)
Black 900 (95) 5.5 (4.5--6.8) 0.25 (0.21--0.30)
Asian/Pacific Islander 377 (61) 2.3 (1.7--3.2) 0.31 (0.23--0.39)
Overall 18,584 (644) 0.61 (0.57--0.66)
\*National estimates were based on the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, by using diagnosis code 123.1 from the International Classification of Diseases, 9th
Revision, Clinical Modification.
†Missing data not presented
‡Rate for age and sex are unadjusted. Rate for race/ethnicity is adjusted for age and sex by direct standardization method by using 2005 US Census data. Rates expressed as mean annual incidence per 100,000 population.
Length of Stay, Total Charges, and Payees
-----------------------------------------
The mean length of hospitalization was 6.0 (95% CI 5.7--6.4) days and did not show a significant trend over the study period (p = 1.0). Total inflation-adjusted hospitalization charges over the 10-year study period were US \$908,238,000 (95% CI US \$814,483,000--\$1,001,992,000), increasing 27% from US \$72,560,000 in 2003 to US \$91,959,000 in 2012. The mean charge per hospitalization was US \$50,976 (95% CI US \$47,492--\$54,716), increasing 50% over the 10-year study period from US \$41,874 in 2003 to US \$62,986 in 2012. After we adjusted for demographic variables, mean length of stay and mean hospitalization charges were substantially higher for male patients, middle-aged adult patients, and patients from the western region (online Technical Appendix). Publically funded insurance (Medicaid or Medicare) was the primary payer in 40% of the hospitalizations ([Table 3](#T3){ref-type="table"}).
###### Source of admission, disposition, and expected payer for hospitalizations due to neurocysticercosis, United States, 2003--2012\*
Characteristic No. hospitalizations (SE) \% All hospitalizations (95% CI)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- ----------------------------------
Source of admission
Emergency department 9,436 (484) 74.7 (72.3--76.9)
Routine 2,210 (145) 17.5 (15.6--19.6)
Transfer 947 (80) 7.5 (6.4--8.7)
Disposition
Routine 15,693 (562) 84.5 (83.1--85.8)
Transfer 1,617 (107) 8.7 (7.7--9.8)
Home health 834 (81) 4.5 (3.8--5.4)
Against medical advice 205 (33) 1.1 (0.8--1.5)
Died 218 (32) 1.2 (0.9--1.6)
Expected primary payer
Medicare 2,025 (139) 10.9 (9.7--12.3)
Medicaid 5,543 (316) 29.9 (27.8--32.1)
Private insurance 4,335 (206) 23.4 (21.4--25.4)
Self-pay 4,753 (224) 25.6 (23.8--27.5)
Other payer 1,883 (160) 10.2 (8.9--11.6)
\*National estimates were determined on the basis of the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, by using diagnosis code 123.1 from the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification.
Associated Diagnoses and Procedures
-----------------------------------
The most common diagnosis group associated with hospitalization for neurocysticercosis was epilepsy/convulsions, which occurred in 57.3% of hospitalizations, followed by obstructive hydrocephalus (17.7%) and headache (12.4%) ([Table 4](#T4){ref-type="table"}). After we controlled for year and patient demographics, the diagnoses associated with the longest mean length of stay and the highest mean charges were encephalitis/meningitis (12.2 days and US \$78,984) and hydrocephalus (11.4 days and US \$79,084). Diagnostic codes for syncope and headache were associated with the shortest stays and lowest charges (3.4 days and US \$20,017 and 3.8 days and US \$19,893, respectively). Procedure codes for shunt management (insertion, removal, or repair) were associated with a mean length of stay of 16.3 days and mean hospitalization charges of US \$86,272; codes for brain surgery (central nervous system incision or excision) were associated with a mean length of stay of 10.3 days and mean hospitalization charges of US \$89,893. Only 17% of hospitalizations included a procedural code for either computed tomography scans or magnetic resonance imaging of the head.
###### Diagnostic and procedure codes for hospitalizations due to neurocysticercosis, United States, 2003--2012\*
Associated diagnoses and procedures No. hospitalizations (SE) \% All hospitalizations (95% CI) Mean length of stay, d† Mean charges, US\$†
------------------------------------------------ --------------------------- ---------------------------------- ------------------------- --------------------------
Diagnoses
Epilepsy; convulsions 10,652 (360) 57.3 (55.3--59.3) 5.4 (4.2--6.9) 33,058 (21,846--50,023)
Obstructive hydrocephalus 3,292 (208) 17.7 (16.2--19.3) 11.4 (8.1--16.2) 79,084 (46,139--135,552)
Headache, including migraine 2,308 (126) 12.4 (11.3--13.6) 3.8 (2..9--4.9) 19,893 (12,422--31,857)
Cerebrovascular disease 1,650 (121) 8.9 (7.9--10.0) 7.5 (5.3--10.6) 45,183 (26,027--78,436)
Mental health disorder 1,843 (132) 9.9 (8.8--11.2) 6.4 (4.7--8.8) 24,436 (13,578--43,979)
Encephalitis/meningitis 1,033 (81) 5.6 (4.8--6.4) 12.2 (8.1--18.6) 78,983 (46,851--133,151)
Cerebral edema 931 (79) 5.0 (4.3--5.9) 7.5 (5.6--10.0) 40,639 (23,449--70,429)
Syncope 573 (56) 3.1 (2.6--3.7) 3.4 (2.6--4.6) 20,017 (11,934--33,577)
Procedures
Neuroimaging, CT of head or MRI 3,087 (330) 16.6 (13.9--19.8) 6.1 (4.8--7.7) 34,905 (22,177--54,937)
Ventricular shunt, insert, remove, or repair 1,661 (137) 8.9 (7.9--10.2) 16.3 (10.6--25.1) 86,272 (48,313--154,054)
CNS incision or excision 1,499 (111) 8.1 (7.1--9.2) 10.3 (7.9--13.5) 89,893 (56,625--142,709)
\*National estimates were based on the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, by using diagnosis code 123.1 from the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification. CNS, central nervous system; CT, computed tomography; MRI, magnetic resonance imaging.
†Mean length of stay and mean inflation-adjusted hospitalization charges for diagnostic and procedure codes after adjusting for year, patient age, sex, race, and hospital region. Diagnostic and procedure codes were evaluated individually as independent variables in the final generalized linear models built for length of stay and charges.
Comparison of NIS Data for Cysticercosis with that for NTDs and Malaria
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The frequency of and total charges for hospitalizations due to cysticercosis exceeded those for all other NTDs combined ([Figure 2](#F2){ref-type="fig"}). During 2003--2012, an estimated 23,266 (95% CI 21,741--24,792) hospitalizations were associated with a diagnosis code for cysticercosis, resulting in US \$1,149,044,000 in total hospital charges (95% CI US \$1,038,730,000--\$1,259,357,000). In contrast, there were 20,029 hospitalizations and US \$1,043,109,000 in total charges for all of the other NTDs combined ([Table 5](#T5){ref-type="table"}).
{#F2}
###### Hospitalizations and total charges for neglected tropical diseases and malaria, United States, 2003--2012\*
Disease Hospitalizations Total charges
-------------------------------------------------- ------------------ ---------------- --------------- ------------ --------------
Cysticercosis 23,266 (778) 21,741--24,792 1,149 (56) 1,039--1,259
Malaria 14,319 (434) 13,469--15,169 387 (18) 351--423
Echinococcosis 3,919 (170) 3,586--4,252 206 (16) 174--237
Soil-transmitted helminth--associated infections 3,256 (151) 2,959--3,552 201 (19) 162--239
Dengue 2,644 (135) 2,379--2,909 89 (9) 70--107
Leprosy 2,055 (135) 1,791--2,319 94 (9) 76--111
Lymphatic filariasis 1,836 (106) 1,629--2,044 86 (9) 68--103
Schistosomiasis 1,811 (120) 1,576--2,046 101 (12) 78--125
Chagas disease 1,686 (151) 1,389--1,982 118 (17) 84--152
Leishmaniasis 1,022 (92) 841--1,203 52 (7) 38--66
Trachoma 649 (69) 514--784 20 (4) 13--28
Foodborne trematode--associated infections 610 (60) 492--729 41 (7) 28--54
Onchocerciasis 380 (47) 287--473 29 (12) 5--53
Yaws 161 (28) 106--216 7 (2) 3--11
\*National estimates were determined on the Nationwide Inpatient Sample by using diagnostic codes from the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification. A complete list of ICD-9-CM codes used in this study is provided in the online Technical Appendix (<http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/EID/article/21/6/14-1324-Techapp1.pdf>).
Discussion
==========
The study findings demonstrate that neurocysticercosis poses considerable health and economic problems in the United States, especially among the Hispanic population. Over the 10-year study period, \>18,500 hospitalizations for neurocysticercosis occurred, totaling hospital charges of \>US \$908 million, of which 40% was billed to publicly funded insurance programs. Hospitalization stays were prolonged and expensive, reflecting the complicated nature of acute disease management. Hospitalizations and associated charges for cysticercosis exceeded the totals for malaria and for all of the other NTDs combined.
The hospitalization rates we report in this nationwide study are comparable to those reported in previous state- or county-level studies, providing support for the case definition we used ([@R12],[@R15]*--*[@R20]). Because there is no ICD-9-CM diagnostic code specific for neurocysticercosis, the case definitions varied slightly among these studies. The estimated overall hospitalization rate of 0.65/100,000 population that we report falls between the rates previously observed in California (0.8--1.1 hospitalization/100,000 population) and Oregon (0.2--0.5 hospitalizations/100,000 population) ([@R12],[@R15]*--*[@R18]). Risk for hospitalization was highest among Hispanic, male, and young to middle-aged adult patients in all studies.
Nearly three quarters of all patients hospitalized for neurocysticercosis in the United States were Hispanic. The Hispanic population is the largest minority group in the United States and among the fastest growing US population groups. Because the hospitalization rate for the Hispanic population is 36 times greater than that of the non-Hispanic white population, the effect of neurocysticercosis on the US economy is likely to increase substantially in the coming years. The US Census Bureau projects that the Hispanic population will grow from 53 million in 2012 to \>78 million by 2030 ([@R21]). Without changes in the rate of hospitalization or the increase in mean hospitalization charges, there could be \>1,900 hospitalizations and US \$250 million total charges related to neurocysticercosis among Hispanics alone in the year 2030. Changing immigration patterns may also bring an influx of cases in persons from other regions of the world where neurocysticercosis is endemic, particularly Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Several hospital-based studies have shown that seizures are the most frequent reason for hospitalization for neurocysticercosis ([@R3]*,*[@R4]*,*[@R22]). In this study, epilepsy was the most frequent diagnosis associated with hospitalization for neurocysticercosis; it was coded in more than half of all hospitalizations for the disease. Seizures in neurocysticercosis are typically amenable to therapy with antiepileptic and anti-inflammatory drugs, resulting in relatively uncomplicated and short hospital stays. In contrast, more severe disease may require intensive interventions and longer hospitalizations, resulting in higher charges ([@R23]*--*[@R25]). While diagnoses of obstructive hydrocephalus or encephalitis/meningitis occurred in ≈20% of persons hospitalized for neurocysticercosis, these more severe presentations accounted for 40% of the total charges incurred.
We report hospitalization diagnostic codes that may not represent the distribution of disease manifestations experienced by individual patients. For example, although a diagnostic code for headache was listed for 11% of hospitalized patients, only patients with headaches associated with underlying pathology requiring acute intervention, such as obstructive hydrocephalus, are likely to be admitted and therefore represented in this study. Even then, the diagnosis of headache may be underrepresented. There were twice as many hospitalizations with diagnostic codes for hydrocephalus and encephalitis than for headache, although both of these manifestations would be expected to be associated with headache ([@R22]). Similar caution is suggested in interpreting the frequency of other diagnoses presented here. It may seem contradictory that only 17% of hospitalizations had a procedural code for neuroimaging. However, because most imaging for neurocysticercosis would be expected to occur in the emergency department before admission, the infrequent coding for neuroimaging may reflect exclusion of these procedural codes from the hospital discharge summary.
This study documents the substantial costs of hospitalizations due to neurocysticercosis in the United States, but the true effect of neurocysticercosis on the US health care system is likely much greater. Only those emergency department visits that result directly in inpatient admission are captured in the hospital discharge databases in the NIS. In Oregon ([@R15]), over 40% (31/72) of all patients with neurocysticercosis were seen only in the emergency department and were not admitted to the hospital. While nonadmissions likely represent cases of less clinical severity, substantial charges are still incurred in the emergency department and in outpatient follow-up. Neurocysticercosis is also likely to be substantially underdiagnosed and misdiagnosed because of the lack of a definitive diagnostic test and limited provider awareness of the disease.
Neurocysticercosis also often results in chronic disease that requires outpatient follow-up with infectious disease or neurology specialists, none of which is captured in this study. Management of neurocysticercosis may involve long-term antiepileptic therapy, prolonged regimens of antiparasitic drugs and high-dose corticosteroids, monitoring and repair of ventriculoperitoneal shunts, and treatment of frequent complications resulting from these interventions ([@R26]*,*[@R27]). A chart review at the outpatient neurology clinic in a Houston hospital showed that 2% of all patients were seen for management of neurocysticercosis ([@R28]). A few states are now collecting comprehensive claims data covering health care provided in inpatient, outpatient, and long-term care settings. Data from these programs could provide more complete information about health care and associated costs related to management of neurocysticercosis in all settings. The high neurocysticercosis hospitalization rate we noted in young adults and men suggests substantial indirect costs to the US domestic workforce. Loss of worker productivity should also be considered in the overall costs of neurocysticercosis.
The use of administrative databases, such as the NIS, to obtain data for this study does have drawbacks, including several limitations we already described. An additional drawback to using the NIS was the inability to identify multiple hospitalizations for a single person, which precludes the ability to estimate the prevalence or incidence of disease. Although the number of states participating in NIS has grown over the years, several states still do not participate in reporting hospital discharge data. In addition, the regional sampling structure of the NIS does not allow for accurate state-level estimates, limiting the ability to identify specific states whose populations are at increased risk for neurocysticercosis. Furthermore, the lack of in-depth demographic and clinical information in the NIS limits the type of questions that can be addressed. For example, knowing the country of birth or travel history of patients with neurocysticercosis could help understand their source of exposure.
Although the primary purpose of this study was to evaluate hospitalizations for neurocysticercosis, we also compared hospitalizations for cysticercosis with those for other NTDs and malaria. Our findings showed that the number of hospitalizations for cysticercosis was nearly 2 times the number for malaria, and the associated hospital charges were nearly 3 times higher. In addition, hospitalizations and charges for cysticercosis were higher than those for all other NTDs we evaluated combined. This comparative analysis was not meant to be exhaustive; we recognize that many factors other than hospitalization contribute to the public health effect of any particular disease. However, the markedly higher number of hospitalizations and associated charges related to cysticercosis, compared with those for other NTDs and malaria in the United States, merits attention and further exploration.
######
**Technical Appendix.** Diagnostic codes related to neurocysticercosis, region groups for states included in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, and regression output for hospitalization charges and hospital stay.
*Suggested citation for this article*: O'Neal SE, Flecker RH. Hospitalization frequency and charges for neurocysticercosis, United States, 2003--2012. Emerg Infect Dis. 2015 Jun \[*date cited*\]. <http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid2106.141324>
Dr. O'Neal is an assistant professor of public health and preventive medicine at Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA. His primary research interest is the epidemiology and control of *Taenia solium* infection.
Dr. Flecker is currently obtaining a Masters of Public Health (epidemiology/biostatistics) at Oregon Health & Science University. He concentrates his research on emerging zoonotic diseases.
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Tisha Campbell-Martin DINES OUT With MYSTERY MAN & KIDS At FATBURGER
Tisha Campbell Martin was spotted out in LA recently with a mystery man who definitely wasn't her husband Duane and two children who definitely aren't hers. Find out what they did inside....
Over the weekend, Duane and Tisha Campbell Martin were all hugged up at a benefit for the New Village Leadership Academy in Calabassas, but recently Tisha was spotted out with a mystery man and two adorable kids at Fatburger.
The mystery man looks slightly similar to Duane so he may be a family member and the kids are his. But I'm sure Tisha took some food home to her own kids, Zeke and Xen.
Tisha's husband has been embroiled in rumors that his relationship with Will Smith is the cause of Will & Jada's marriage being on the rocks...allegedly.
I'm DEFINITLY UTTERLY DISGUSTED with some of the FOUL comments that you BOTTOM OF THE BARREL WORTHLESS TAKING UP SPACE BASTARDS have said about this woman's appearance and her marriage! I truly pray that Tisha is okay she is fighting a very UGLY disease which contributes to her figure looking the way it does.
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we already don't have many respectable and powerful black men in this world on a global platform to represent us, why trash the few that we have and defame their characters with these negative and ridiculous rumors. just plain ignorance!
Tisha, you are a beautiful human being; and I thank you for your comedic contribution to T.V. There are many days I come home stressed from a long day of work; and I'm able to relax and laugh while watching Martin. You are in my prayers...You Go Girl!
Oh please....the rumors about Duane & Will have been out there for years. Waaay before Will's latest marital drama or even before Lisa Rae spoke on it. Just like the rumors been out there for years bout John Travota & Eddie Murphy. Usually where there is smoke there is fire. Whitney was a crack head for 20yrs & blk folks refuse to accept it.
Most of these things are rumors, they are true. By now, we all know that:
Will is gay
Duane is also gay
John Travolta is a flaming fairy
Eddie is bisexual.
Allegedly (have to remember that word for the lawyers).
He wants a man and he got one at home. she looks a hot azz mess. she was never cute but why is her body built so boxy. i can see his attraction to Will. I can image that big dick or Will's going up and all out inside him. Ummm
...and I don't. It's not a curse, though. It's just the way she's shaped. It just amazes me how people like to pick on the things people can't change. We can change our clothes, our hair, get our nails done, etc. Folks come on here and diss Beyonce's knees. How dumb is that. Last time I checked, her knees were making her money. Tisha is built the way she's built. No need to question or dog her for that.
Ummm ok imma lil curious why would Duane and Will's bromance mess up Will and Jada's marriage...smh! And I quote "Tisha's husband has been embroiled in rumors that his relationship with Will Smith is the cause of Will & Jada's marriage being on the rocks...allegedly
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D.C. mayor arrested at protest near Capitol
Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray has been arrested after joining protestors who closed part of Constitution Avenue across from the Senate Hart Office Building.
Some 200-300 protesters gathered Monday in protest of the federal budget, which blocks the city from using local funds on abortion procedures.
Capitol Police also arrested City Council Member Muriel Bowser and City Council Chairman Kwame R. Brown and about 15 other protestors.
The arrests have been civil. Officers have been heard asking those sitting in the street if they'd like to be arrested. Those that agree are helped to their feet and placed under arrest.
Protestors are chanting "Free D.C." and "We can't take it no more!"
Capitol Police responded to a query from POLITICO saying they are monitoring the situation.
The protest is in the wake of the House Republican budget, which prohibits D.C. from using government funds to subsidize abortion.
-- Jake Sherman contributed to this report.
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All relevant data are within the manuscript and its Supporting Information files.
Introduction {#sec001}
============
Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most lethal type in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) in the world. Over the past decades, the incidence rate of OSCC has increased among younger generations \[[@pone.0213463.ref001]--[@pone.0213463.ref003]\]. In spite of considerable advances in surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the 5-year survival rate for OSCC has not improved markedly because patients still frequently arise loco-regional recurrence and lymph node metastasis \[[@pone.0213463.ref004]--[@pone.0213463.ref006]\]. Hence, finding new biomarker(s) and therapeutic molecule(s) is urgent. Recently, a growing evidence indicates that microRNAs (miRNAs) contribute to the initiation and development of oral cancer \[[@pone.0213463.ref007]--[@pone.0213463.ref009]\]. Therefore, exploring unique miRNAs and related molecular pathways underlying OSCC aggressive will provide advantages to improve therapeutic efficacy, as well as to design more effective treatment strategies.
Previously, we established a dysregulated signature of eighty-four miRNAs from OSCC clinical samples using a miRNA microarray \[[@pone.0213463.ref010]\]. From this analysis, we found that miR-450a was significantly overexpressed in tumor tissues than that in corresponding adjacent normal tissues. MiR-450a is an intragenenic miRNA clustered with miR-542-5p, miR-542-3p, miR-503, miR-450b-5p, miR-450b-3p, and miR-424 on chromosomal location Xq26.3. High expression level of miR-450a performs as a potential oncogene in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma and breast cancer \[[@pone.0213463.ref011], [@pone.0213463.ref012]\]. Up-regulated miR-450a is found in mesenchymal part of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-activation in human endometrial carcinosarcoma \[[@pone.0213463.ref013]\]. Contrarily, downregulation of miR-450a is required in hepatocellular carcinoma carcinogenesis \[[@pone.0213463.ref014]\]. Although miR-450a was reported to be dysregulated in different cancer types, its functions and underlying mechanisms have not been elucidated, especially in oral cancer.
Transmembrane proteins (TMEMs) are a group of novel proteins, which have key roles in cell differentiation and tumorigenesis in many cancers, such as pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, and renal cell carcinoma \[[@pone.0213463.ref015]--[@pone.0213463.ref019]\]. However, the role of TMEM182 in oral cancer is unknown. In this study, we demonstrated that miR-450a may function as an oncogene by directly targeting 3'-untranslated region (UTR) of TMEM182 and reduce its expression in OSCC. Downregulation of TMEM182 or overexpression of miR-450a has the same effect on reducing cellular adhesion of OSCC cells. In addition, we also found that miR-450a expression was increased by TNF-α through ERK1/2-dependent pathway, more than via NF-κB. Taken together, these findings may provide understanding into oral carcinogenesis and suggest new therapeutic opportunities in this cancer.
Materials and methods {#sec002}
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Human samples {#sec003}
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The study protocol was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of National Health Research Institutes (EC1040409-E) and Institutional Human Experiment and Ethic Committee of National Cheng Kung University Hospital (HR-97-100) for the use of clinical materials for research purpose. Thirty-five paired primary OSCC and their adjacent non-tumorous epithelial samples were obtained from patients with curative surgery at the National Cheng Kung University Hospital (Tainan, Taiwan) from 1999 to 2010. All human tissues were snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen. Total RNA was extracted by miRNeasy Mini Kit (Qiagen, \#217004) followed by instruction manual. The patient's backgrounds and clinical parameters were summarized in [S1 Table](#pone.0213463.s004){ref-type="supplementary-material"}. The prognostic value of miR-450a among The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) HNSCC cohort was analyzed through SurvMicro database (<http://bioinformatica.mty.itesm.mx:8080/Biomatec/Survmicro.jsp>) and was uploaded to GEO (Access number GSE36682). Forty paired of OSCC patients cDNA microarrays analysis were performed according to our previous study deposited in GEO (Accession number GSE37991 and GSE45238) \[[@pone.0213463.ref010]\].
Cell culture {#sec004}
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Cultured conditions for all human OSCC cell lines were summarized as previously described \[[@pone.0213463.ref015]\]. Human oral keratinocytes (HOK) were purchased from ScienCell (Carlsbad, CA, USA) and cultured according to the manufacturer's instructions. All cells were maintained at 37°Clin a 5% CO~2~ atmosphere properly.
Cytokine and chemical inhibitor treatment {#sec005}
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Cells were incubated at low-serum conditional medium for 24 h, before TNF-α (10ng/ml) addition as indicated times. For intrinsic pathway analysis, cells were incubated with each of the following inhibitors: 1 μM for human dysplasia oral keratinocyte (DOK) and 10 μM for human tongue cancer cells (SAS) of NFκB inhibitor (Calbiochem, 481406), 30 μM U0126 (ERK inhibitor)(Cell Signaling, 9903), and 30 μM SB203580 (p38 inhibitor)(Cell Signaling, 5633).
RNA extraction and reverse-transcription PCR (RT-PCR) {#sec006}
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Total RNA was extracted from OSCC cell lines using TRIzol reagent (Life Technologies, Gaithersburg, MD) according to the manufacturer's instructions. RNA concentration and purification were checked by NanoDrop ND-1000 spectrophotometer. First-strand cDNAs were synthesized by NxGen^™^M-MuLV reverse transcriptase with oligo dT~12-18~ primer (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA). Gene expression analyses were assayed on a Biometra T3000 thermocycler (Biometra GmbH, Germany) as following conditions: 95°C for 5 min, followed by 35--40 cycles of amplification (95°C for 30s, 60°C for 30s, and 72°C for 30s), and 72°C for 10 min. GAPDH was used as a loading control. PCR products were subjected to electrophoresis on 2% agarose gel and visualized on UVP GDS-8000 Bioimaging System (UVP, CA, USA) with 0.01% of SYBRSafe (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA) inner staining. Primer sequences are listed in [S2 Table](#pone.0213463.s005){ref-type="supplementary-material"}.
Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) {#sec007}
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Mature miR-450a and RNU44 internal control levels were analyzed by miRNA-specific stem-loop primers and TaqMan Universal PCR Master Mix (Applied Biosystems) on an Applied Biosystems StepOne Plus real-time PCR system. Fold changes were calculated by using2^-ΔΔCt^ method using control and reference normalized. Primer sequences are listed in [S2 Table](#pone.0213463.s005){ref-type="supplementary-material"}.
Plasmids {#sec008}
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A wild type 3′-UTR of TMEM182 containing the miR-450a binding sites (3\'UTR-WT) and truncated 3′-UTR fragment with deleted miR-450a binding sites (3\'UTR-DEL) were constructed into the XhoI/XbaI sites of pmiRGLO firefly luciferase-expressing vector (Promega, WI, USA). For gene knockdown experiments, the shRNA clones of TMEM182 (sh182 \#1 & \#2) and empty vector pLKO_TRC (shCTRL) were obtained from the National RNAi Core Facility (Academia Sinica, Taiwan). Human TMEM182 cDNA was sub-cloned into empty vector pCDH-CMV-GFP puro+ (vehicle) (System Biosciences) at EcoRI/BamHI sites and termed as TMEM182-flag. Human TMEM182 cDNA was sub-cloned into empty vector pEGFPN1 (BD Biosciences Clontech's) (vehicle) at XhoI/BamHI sites, termed as TMEM182-GFP. The sequence data were compared against the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database using BLAST and miRBase (<http://www.mirbase.org/>). Kyte-Doolittle hydrophobicity analysis was accessed to predict TMEM182 transmembrane portions using ExPASY (<https://web.expasy.org/protscale/>). List primer sequences in the following [S2 Table](#pone.0213463.s005){ref-type="supplementary-material"}.
Protein extraction and western blot {#sec009}
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Cell lysates were prepared as previously reported.\[[@pone.0213463.ref020]\] Equal amounts of protein lysates were separated by 10\~12% SDS polyacrylamide gels and transferred to poly-vinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane (Pall Life Sciences, Glen Cove, NY). Immunoblotting was performed with specific antibodies against TMEM182 (ab177360; Abcam). α-tubulin (sc-23950; Santa Cruz) and GAPDH (GeneTex, GTX100118) were used as internal controls. Signals from HRP-conjugated secondary antibodies were visualized by enhanced chemiluminescence (ECL) detection system (PerkinElmer, Waltham, MA) and chemiluminescence was exposed onto Kodak X-Omat film (Kodak, Chalon/Paris, France).
Microscopic examination and immunofluorescence staining {#sec010}
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Optic microscopy with 40 magnification objective lens was used for cell morphology and adhesion assays. Images were analyzed with ImageJ software. Scale bars were indicated in panels. In immunofluorescence staining, SAS cells were transfected with TMEM182-GFP or empty vector plasmids for 36 h, following by gently fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde and permeabilized with phosphate buffered saline (PBS) containing 0.1% Triton X-100. Slides were stained with mouse polyclonal antibody against E-cadherin antibody (1:1000, Cell signaling 3195) at 4°C overnight. 2^nd^ donkey polyclonal antibody conjugated with TexasRed (Santa Cruz, 1:1000) were used for 1 h at room temperature and mounted using mounting solution (ImmunoTech). DAPI (Roche) was used as counterstain for 1 h. Slides were examined by Leica TCS SP5 and analyzed with ImageJ software.
Transfection {#sec011}
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Transient transfections of 10 nM miR-450a mimics (Life technologies, AM17100) and 10 nM control scramble oligonucleotide (Life technologies) into DOK and SAS cells were performed using Lipofectamine RNAiMAX (Life technologies) according to the manufacturer's instructions. For transfection of the other plasmids, cells were transiently transfected using Lipofectamine 2000 (Invitrogen, CA, USA) according to the manufacturer's protocol.
Adhesion and invasion assay {#sec012}
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1x10^4^ of DOK cells or 2x10^4^ of SAS cells were seeded into the fibronectin (2 mg/ml; Corning, 356008) or matrigel^™^ (2 mg/ml; BD Biosciences) pre-coated 96-well plate, and incubated at 37°C for 1 h. After rinsed, attached cells were stained with 0.1% crystal violet and evaluated by measuring the absorbance at 595 nm in a Microplate reader (Molecular Devices, CA, USA). Invasion assays were performed as previously described \[[@pone.0213463.ref020]\]. Briefly, the invasion ability was determined using 24-well insert-based assays (BD Biosciences, Franklin Lakes, NJ). The upper insert, with 8 μm pore size, was coated with a density of 40 μg/well of Matrigel Basement Membrane Matrix (BD Biosciences). 2.5 x 104 cells were suspended in medium containing 10% NuSerum, and then added onto the upper insert. After incubating for 24 hours at 37°C, the cells that invaded through the Fluoro-Blok membrane were stained with propidium iodine, and fluorescence images were taken. The invasive cell numbers were then counted with Analytical Imaging Station software package (Imaging Research, Ontario, Canada).
Luciferase reporter assay {#sec013}
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DOK and SAS cells were transfected with100 ng of TMEM182 3′-UTR wild-type (WT) or truncated (DEL) pmirGLO reporter plasmid and transfected with 10 nM of miR-450a mimics or control oligonucleotide (scramble) with Lipofectamine 2000 according to the manufacturer's instructions. The activity of luciferases was determined at 48 h post transfection with Dual Luciferase Reporter Assay System (Promega, USA) as described by the manufacturer's protocol. Luminometry readings were obtained using an Orion L luminometer (Berthold).
Statistical analysis {#sec014}
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All quantitative results were from at least three independent experiments and reported as the mean±SEM. A linear correlation and Pearson correlation were used to investigate the association between 2 variables. Differences of various groups were assessed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and paired Student's t-tests, unless otherwise stated. Recurrent analysis was calculated using Pearson Χ^2^ test. Kaplan-Meier method was using to calculate prognostic values with the log-rank test. All statistic values were carried out using GraphPad Prism V. 4.01 (San Diego, CA). *P*\<0.05 were considered statistically significant and represented as \**P*\<0.05; \*\**P*\<0.01; \*\*\**P*\<0.001.
Results {#sec015}
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miR-450a mediates cellular adhesion and invasion in OSCC {#sec016}
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To examine the expression pattern of miR-450a which screened from OSCC microarray data \[[@pone.0213463.ref010]\], we used quantitative real-time PCR to measure the miR-450a expression in another thirty-five clinical OSCC specimens. We found that the expression levels of miR-450a were significantly higher in 35 OSCC tumors compared with their corresponding normal samples (p\<0.0001, [Fig 1A](#pone.0213463.g001){ref-type="fig"}). Similar results were observed in OSCC cell lines. The expression levels of miR-450a in these OSCC cell lines were significantly higher than the normal human oral keratinocyte HOK ([Fig 1B](#pone.0213463.g001){ref-type="fig"}). To study the potential functions of miR-450a in OSCC, we introduced DOK cells with miR-450a mimics. Specifically, we observed a morphological change, from a rounded shape into a spindle-like shape, in comparison with the scramble control transfectants ([Fig 1C](#pone.0213463.g001){ref-type="fig"}). According to the alteration of cell morphology, we hypothesized that miR-450a might regulate cell adhesion. To test this hypothesis, DOK and SAS cells were subjected to adhesion assays on various components of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Overexpression of miR-450a in DOK and SAS cells showed significant decreases in adhesion ability on fibronectin and matrigel ([Fig 1D and 1E](#pone.0213463.g001){ref-type="fig"}). Furthermore, overexpressed miR-450a increased OSCC cells invasion capacity ([Fig 1F](#pone.0213463.g001){ref-type="fig"}) and had a poor prognosis in HNSCC patients ([Fig 1G](#pone.0213463.g001){ref-type="fig"}). These results indicate that miR-450a may have oncogenic effects in OSCC cells. Augmented miR-450a reduced the cellular adhesion and consequently induced invasion in oral carcinogenesis.
{#pone.0213463.g001}
TMEM182 is directly targeted by miR-450a {#sec017}
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In order to determine the downstream target genes of oncogenic miR-450a in OSCC, we performed genome-wide gene expression analysis using miR-450a transfected DOK and SAS cells. Our strategy for collection of miR-450a downstream target genes is presented in [Fig 2A](#pone.0213463.g002){ref-type="fig"}. Compared with control cells, a total of 16878 and 17000 genes were downregulated in miR-450a transfected DOK and SAS cells, respectively. These genes were then analyzed the putative binding sites of miR-450a in their 3'-UTR by microRNA.org database. Through this step, we found 455 genes in DOK group and 498 genes in SAS group with miR-450a binding sites in their 3'-UTR, respectively. Combining the results of these two sets, we identified 256 of common genes which were not only downregulated in miR-450a transfected DOK and SAS cells, but also with miR-450a binding sites. Next, to verify the clinical significance of these genes, we intersected the 256 genes with 40 pairs of OSCC patients which expression data deposited in GEO (accession number GSE37991) by our previously study \[[@pone.0213463.ref010]\]. Finally, we got a set of 12 genes which were downregulated in OSCC tumors compared with their corresponding normal samples ([S3 Table](#pone.0213463.s006){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). However, when we correlated these 12 genes with miR-450a expression, we found that 7 genes were positively correlated with miR450a expression in OSCC tumors. This result doesn't meet our expectation. Only 5 genes showed a negative correlation with miR-450a expression in OSCC patients. Among these 5 genes, TMEM182 is the best negatively correlation with miR-450a ([S3 Table](#pone.0213463.s006){ref-type="supplementary-material"} and [Fig 2B](#pone.0213463.g002){ref-type="fig"}). Therefore, we focused on the TMEM182 as a possible target gene regulated by miR-450a in OSCC and for further study.
{#pone.0213463.g002}
Overexpression of miR-450a mimics in DOK and SAS cells decreased TMEM182 expression at mRNA and protein levels compared with miR-scramble control in OSCC cells ([Fig 2C](#pone.0213463.g002){ref-type="fig"}). To confirm whether TMEM182 is a direct targeted by miR-450a, we performed a luciferase reporter assays using a vector encoding the partial sequence of the 3'-UTR of TMEM182 either including (WT) or excluding (DEL) the miR-450a binding sites ([Fig 2D](#pone.0213463.g002){ref-type="fig"}). We observed that luciferase intensity was significantly reduced by transfection of wild-type 3'-UTR of TMEM182, but not in cells transfected with the TMEM182 3'-UTR containing the deleted miR-450a binding sites ([Fig 2E](#pone.0213463.g002){ref-type="fig"}). We also analyzed the TMEM182 mRNA levels using the same clinical OSCC specimens in [Fig 1a](#pone.0213463.g001){ref-type="fig"} and found that the TMEM182 expression was lower in OSCC tissues than in their corresponding normal samples ([Fig 2F](#pone.0213463.g002){ref-type="fig"}). To consolidate our findings, we correlated the expression levels of miR-450a and TMEM182 in clinical OSCC specimens and found a strong inverse correlation between the miR-450a and TMEM182 ([Fig 2G](#pone.0213463.g002){ref-type="fig"}). Taken together, our results demonstrated that TMEM182 is a direct target of miR-450a.
TMEM182 regulates cell adhesion and invasion in OSCC cells {#sec018}
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To determine the effect of TMEM182 on cell adhesion, we performed loss-of-function studies by specific shRNAs in DOK and SAS cells. Levels of TMEM182 mRNA were repressed by shTMEM182 transfectants ([Fig 3A](#pone.0213463.g003){ref-type="fig"}). TMEM182 knockdown in DOK and SAS significantly reduced their cell adhesion ability towards to fibronectin and matrigel ([Fig 3B](#pone.0213463.g003){ref-type="fig"}). Whereas, overexpression of TMEM182 in DOK and SAS cells ([Fig 3C](#pone.0213463.g003){ref-type="fig"}) not only promoted the cell adhesion ability ([Fig 3D](#pone.0213463.g003){ref-type="fig"}), but also suppressed the invasion of DOK and SAS cells ([Fig 3E](#pone.0213463.g003){ref-type="fig"}). Our data suggested that TMEM182 may play a role in regulating OSCC invasion and adhesion abilities.
{#pone.0213463.g003}
MiR-450a enhances cell adhesion throughTMEM182 downregulation {#sec019}
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Next, we tried to investigate whether miR-450a induced TMEM182 downregulation plays a major role on cell adhesion. For this purpose, we generated a 3'-UTR-lacking TMEM182 vector and transfected it alone or in combination with miR-450a in DOK and SAS cells. As expected, miR-450a decreased endogenous TMEM182 expression and restoration of 3'-UTR-lacking TMEM182 successfully rescued miR-450a-decreased endogenous TMEM182 expression ([Fig 4A](#pone.0213463.g004){ref-type="fig"}). Moreover, the restoration of 3'-UTR-lacking TMEM182 rescued the adhesion ability suppressed by miR-450a but suppressed the invasion ability induced by miR-450a ([Fig 4B and 4C](#pone.0213463.g004){ref-type="fig"}). Our results indicated that miR-450a-mediated TMEM182 function was crucial for regulating attachment ability of OSCC cells. On the basis of functional sequences annotations from NCBI database and Kyte-Doolittle hydrophobicity analysis ([S1 Fig](#pone.0213463.s001){ref-type="supplementary-material"}), there are four predictable hydrophobic regions which aligned in the protein sequences of TMEM182. This result implies that tmem182 may be a membrane protein. To prove that, GFP linked TMEM182 was generated to observe TMEM182 expression ([Fig 4D](#pone.0213463.g004){ref-type="fig"}) and location in cells ([Fig 4E](#pone.0213463.g004){ref-type="fig"} and [S2 Fig](#pone.0213463.s002){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). TMEM182 appeared at lateral membrane zones; particularly at cell-cell contact sites on the plasma membrane ([Fig 4E](#pone.0213463.g004){ref-type="fig"}). Taken together, these data demonstrate that miR-450a-mediated TMEM182 functions are crucial in regulating cell adhesion and invasion in OSCC cells.
{#pone.0213463.g004}
TNFα triggered-miR-450a attenuates TMEM182 expression in OSCC {#sec020}
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Previous study has shown that TNF-α could downregulate TMEM182 transcript in 3T3-L1 adipocytes \[[@pone.0213463.ref021]\]. However, little is known about the underlying mechanism between TNF-α and TMEN182 in oral cancer. Thus, we hypothesized that miR-450a may involve in the TNF-α-induced TMEM182 downregulation. To address this, we first tested the ability of TNF-α on TMEM182 expression in OSCC cells. We found that TNF-α treatment indeed significantly reduced the mRNA level of TMEM182 in DOK and SAS cells ([Fig 5A](#pone.0213463.g005){ref-type="fig"}). Simultaneously, we also observed that TNF-α treatment not only induced miR-450a expression ([Fig 5B](#pone.0213463.g005){ref-type="fig"}) but also decreased TMEM182 expression by targeting miR-450a binding site at TMEM182 3\'-UTR ([Fig 5C](#pone.0213463.g005){ref-type="fig"}). However, transfection of TMEM182 3'-UTR containing the deleted miR-450a binding sites (3'UTR-DEL) abolished the TNF-α-induced miR-450a binding to TMEM182 3'-UTR ([Fig 5C](#pone.0213463.g005){ref-type="fig"}), indicated that TMEM182 is directly targeted by miR-450a upon TNF-α treatment. Furthermore, overexpression of TMEM182 reversed the cell adhesion reduced by TNF-α treatment and suppressed the invasion ability induced by TNF-α ([Fig 5D and 5E](#pone.0213463.g005){ref-type="fig"}). These evidences showed that TMEM182 was mediated by miR-450a in response to TNF-α.
{#pone.0213463.g005}
TNFα induces miR-450a expression via endogenous ERK and NFκB pathways {#sec021}
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Some pathways, such as ERK1/2, NF-κB, or p38, are known to be the principle downstream signaling of TNF-α \[[@pone.0213463.ref022]\]. To further delineate the mechanisms of TNF-α-signaling to miR-450a expression, we examined the relevance of ERK1/2, NF-κB, or p38 signaling activated by TNF-α. As shown in [Fig 6A](#pone.0213463.g006){ref-type="fig"}, ERK inhibitor (PD98059) and NF-κB inhibitor (NF-κBi), but not p38 inhibitor (SB20219), significantly blocked the TNF-α-induced miR-450a expression in both DOK and SAS cell lines. Under this condition, ERK inhibitor (PD98059) and NF-κB inhibitor (NF-κBi) can effectively inhibit the ERK1/2 and NFkB activation ([S3A Fig](#pone.0213463.s003){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). Furthermore, ERK inhibitor (PD98059) and NF-κB inhibitor (NF-κBi) not only rescued the TNF-α-induced TMEM182 downexpression ([Fig 6B](#pone.0213463.g006){ref-type="fig"}) but also rescued the TNF-α-induced adhesion reduction ([Fig 6C](#pone.0213463.g006){ref-type="fig"}). Otherwise, we found that the activities of ERK and NFkB were initiated at 10 mins after TNF-α treatment and the activity could sustain to 60 mins. However, the level of miR-450a does not rise significantly until 30 mins ([S3B and S3C Fig](#pone.0213463.s003){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). Therefore, we think that miR-450a expression is an immediate downstream target of ERK/NFkB signaling pathway. Our data suggested that TNF-α-induced miR-450a and reduced cell adhesion by decreasing TMEM182 via intrinsic ERK1/2 and NF-κB pathways ([Fig 6D](#pone.0213463.g006){ref-type="fig"}).
{#pone.0213463.g006}
Discussion {#sec022}
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MiR-450a is identified as one of prognostic markers for adrenocortical tumor, aristolochic acid nephropathy and type 2 diabetes \[[@pone.0213463.ref023]--[@pone.0213463.ref025]\]. Emerging data indicated that miR-450a controls a divergent function on the osteoblastic differentiation of human mesenchymal stem cells by targeting STAT1 and rats' adipogenesis by targeting WISP2 \[[@pone.0213463.ref026], [@pone.0213463.ref027]\]. However, there are no data to suggest a connection between miR-450a and oral cancer in recent investigations. In this study, gain-of function approach indicated that miR-450a restoration significantly inhibited cell adhesion and enhanced invasion ability in DOK and SAS cells, suggesting miR-450a is an onco-miR and play an important role in OSCC cellular adhesion on matrix. For elucidation the molecular mechanisms and identification the putative targets of miR-450a in OSCC, we performed genome-wide gene expression analysis using miR-450a transfected DOK and SAS cells. In silico analysis the expression signatures of miR-450a transfectants in OSCC cells and OSCC patients, we found that twelve genes were downregulation in clinical specimens and that they were candidate targets of miR-450a. Among these genes, transmembrane protein TMEM182 showed a best inverse correlation with miR-450a. Downregulating TMEM182 using shRNA suppressed cell adhesion in a manner comparable to miR-450a overexpression. Moreover, the restoration of TMEM182 potently rescued the adhesion ability suppressed by miR-450a, suggesting that miR-450a mainly acts as a novel regulator in mediating OSCC adhesion by targeting membrane protein TMEM182.
*TMEM182* gene encodes an entirely 229-amino-acid protein, which is predicted to consist of four putative membrane-spanning regions ([S1 Fig](#pone.0213463.s001){ref-type="supplementary-material"}). It is highly evolutionary conserved among different species \[[@pone.0213463.ref021]\]. Even TMEM182 plays important roles in adipogenesis, myogenesis, and glaucoma \[[@pone.0213463.ref018], [@pone.0213463.ref021], [@pone.0213463.ref028]\], however, its working mechanisms were still unknown. Dissolution of junctional connection, detachment to ECM, and migration are key steps of OSCC loco-regional invasion \[[@pone.0213463.ref029]--[@pone.0213463.ref031]\]. Our findings demonstrated that overexpression of TMEM182 increased OSCC adhesive ability and restrained its invasiveness. Moreover, restoration of TMEM182 completely rescued the cellular attachments suppressed by miR-450a in vitro. Thus, decreased cell-matrix adhesion might enhanced the cellular contraction and thereby facilitate tumor migration and invasion. On the other hand, disassembly of cell-cell interaction is occurrence at the early stage of OSCC invasion \[[@pone.0213463.ref030]\]. Cell adhesion molecules, such as integrin, cadherin family, and immunoglobulin superfamily, play a role in cell-cell interactions and involved in the process of tumor invasion and metastases \[[@pone.0213463.ref030], [@pone.0213463.ref032]--[@pone.0213463.ref034]\]. Loss of these cell adhesion molecules is associated closely with invasion and could be used for the prognostic purposes in oral cancer \[[@pone.0213463.ref035]--[@pone.0213463.ref038]\]. In this study, immunofluorescence data demonstrates that TMEM182 appeared at lateral membrane zones; particularly at cell-cell contact sites on the cell membrane. These results suggest that TMEM182 may play a role in cell-cell interaction and cell-extracellular matrix adhesion as a result of involving in the process of tumor invasion. However, little studies have described the functions of TMEM182 or their relationship between cell-cell interaction and cell-extracellular matrix adhesion. The detail mechanisms remain to be elucidated.
Recent studies present that inflammatory factors, including TNF-α, are potential prognostic biomarkers for OSCC \[[@pone.0213463.ref039], [@pone.0213463.ref040]\]. Our findings supported that TNF-α activated endogenous ERK1/2 and NF-κB pathways to induce miR-450a expression. Current studies reveal that TNF-α induced EMT to promote OSCC invasion through NF-κB pathway by targeting at well-known Snail and Id2 \[[@pone.0213463.ref041]--[@pone.0213463.ref043]\]. It is worth noting that the miR-450a expression induced by TNF-α primarily through ERK1/2 activation rather than through NF-kB pathway. As a consequence, TMEM182 was downregulated by miR-450a to increase OSCC cells invasion.
To our knowledge, this study is the first to describe the roles of ERK1/2 and NF-κB in TNF-α-induced miR-450a expression in human OSCC. Upregulation of miR-450a could reduce cellular adhesion to matrix by targeting TMEM182 and enhance tumor invasion. Therefore, TNF-α/miR-450a/TMEM182 signaling axis may be a novel potential target for clinical intervention in oral cancer.
Supporting information {#sec023}
======================
###### Hydrophobic region prediction of TMEM182.
Protein length of human TMEM182 precursor (229a.a.) was analyzed by ExPasy database. Total four transmembrane regions were indicated by Arabic numbers in order and Alphabet letter S. S indicated as a potential signal sequence.
(PDF)
######
Click here for additional data file.
###### Fluorescence of TMEM182 and E-cadherin in OSCC cells.
Epifluorescence images of SAS cells transiently transfected with TMEM182-GFP/ Vehicle and co-immunolabeled endogenous E-cadherin with divided channels. **(A)** Vehicle (Green) expression was spread all over the cells. **(B, E)** Membrane marker Ecadherin (Red) was localized at intracellular junctional areas. **(C, F)** Nuclei were labeled with DAPI (Blue). **(D)** TMEM182-driven GFP (green) located at cell-cell contact sites on the lateral membrane and endoplasmic reticulum. Scale bars were indicated in panel.
(PDF)
######
Click here for additional data file.
###### Effects of ERK and NFκB pathways on TNF-α.
**(A)** OSCC cells were pre-incubated with either DMSO vehicle (-), ERK inhibitor (ERKi, 30 μM), NF-κB inhibitor (NF-κBi, 10 μM) for 6 h and then treated with 10 ng/ml of TNF-α for another 24 hrs, followed by measurements of TMEM182 expression by western blotting. GAPDH was used as an internal control. **(B)** Western blotting analysis of ERK and NFκB activity after TNF-α treatment in SAS cells at indicated time. GAPDH was used as an internal control. (C) miR-450a expression level in SAS cells treated with TNF-α using qRT-PCR and normalized to RNU44. Results were represented as mean±SEM;\*\**P*\<0.01, \*\*\**P*\<0.001.
(PDF)
######
Click here for additional data file.
###### Patients' cinicalpathological analysis.
(DOC)
######
Click here for additional data file.
###### Sequences of primers.
(DOCX)
######
Click here for additional data file.
###### Twelve of candidate genes downregulated by miR-450a.
(DOC)
######
Click here for additional data file.
En-Wei Hsing carried out his thesis research under the auspices of the Structural Biology Program, Institute of Bioinformatics and Structural Biology, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
[^1]: **Competing Interests:**The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
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WASHINGTON ― Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) unveiled legislation on Friday to protect young undocumented immigrants from deportation under President-elect Donald Trump ― now the question is whether it will work.
The bipartisan bill, called the Bridge Act, would effectively maintain the protections of President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. More than 740,000 young people were granted deportation reprieve and work permits under the program, but could now lose those protections, should Trump follow through on a promise to end DACA immediately upon taking office.
The Durbin-Graham measure could serve two purposes: If it passes, so-called Dreamers could live without constant fear of deportation and continue to legally work and drive. If it doesn’t, it could still put pressure on Trump to keep away from DACA recipients.
He and other Democrats, joined by only a few Republicans, are scrambling to find ways to protect the Dreamers they’ve urged to come forward to the government. Durbin has been one of the top advocates for Dreamers. He introduced the Dream Act that gave them their name in 2001 and he pushed for Obama to create DACA when that legislation failed.
“I feel, as President Obama feels, a personal responsibility to help these young people weather this political storm,” Durbin told a small group of reporters.
Chris Maddaloni/Roll Call/Getty Images Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) worked together on a comprehensive immigration reform bill in 2013.
The Dream Act would have granted Dreamers a path to legal status, as would the 2013 immigration reform bill that Durbin and Graham helped draft. The new bill would put DACA recipients into a new type of status, “provisional protected presence,” that would last for three years from enactment. It would not be constrained to only those who currently have DACA: eligible individuals who have not yet applied could be granted provisional protected presence as well. All would have to pay a fee, undergo a background check and meet the eligibility requirements for DACA.
The bill would also ensure that information individuals gave the government for DACA or for the new provisional protected presence could not be used for immigration enforcement, with exceptions for national security or non-immigration felony investigations.
The politics could be tough, but Durbin said he is hopeful. Thus far, the Bridge Act has three other co-sponsors: Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). Durbin said there is a long list of Democrats who want to join, but they are aiming to add people in pairs ― one Republican and one Democrat. They will reintroduce the bill in 2017.
Durbin said he thinks other Republicans might sign on. Even though they don’t say it publicly, Durbin said, “most of them feel it’s only fair to take care of these young people.”
Graham explained his decision to push for the bill in a series of tweets Friday afternoon.
In my view, the DACA Executive Order issued by President Obama was unconstitutional and President-elect Trump would be right to repeal it. — Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) December 9, 2016
However, I do NOT believe we should pull the rug out and push these young men and women -- who came out of the shadows.......(continued) — Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) December 9, 2016
.....and push these young men and women - who came out of the shadows and registered with the federal government - back into the darkness. — Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) December 9, 2016
Durbin told reporters that Trump’s recent comments on DACA recipients were, at least in tone, relatively sympathetic to them. Like Trump’s previous efforts at softening on immigration, this should probably be taken with many grains of salt. A Trump aide later told the Associated Press that the president-elect still plans to end DACA.
“We’re going to work something out that’s going to make people happy and proud. But that’s a very tough situation,” Trump told Time Magazine. “They got brought here at a very young age, they’ve worked here, they’ve gone to school here. Some were good students. Some have wonderful jobs. And they’re in never-never land because they don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Durbin acknowledged that Trump often contradicts himself, but said he was encouraged anyway. “I’m going to seize on every encouraging word,” he said.
Durbin also noted that House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) had expressed sympathy for DACA recipients. Ryan said on Thursday that they “should have something that balances the concerns of all parties involved and makes sure that we don’t pull the rug out from under people.”
Some Democrats have argued that Obama should do something more to protect DACA recipients before he leaves office. The White House has said that isn’t an option, especially House Democrats’ pleas for him to issue pardons for DACA recipients. Those Democrats say this would be legal and that he can do so for civil offenses even in a way that would preemptively pardon future unlawful presence in the U.S.; White House officials and Durbin have said that is not the case.
On Thursday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest once again shot down the idea of pardons for DACA recipients. He said Obama and his team were briefing Trump and his team on why they decided to create the program and its benefits.
“We’re also continuing to encourage Congress to take action,” Earnest said in a press briefing. “Ultimately, the kind of executive action that President Obama has pursued was largely pursued because of congressional inaction.”
Since the Bridge Act would only last for three years from enactment and because it doesn’t include everyone, it would be crucial to continue to press for broader immigration reform, Durbin told reporters. Democrats and Republicans have been opposed to piecemeal immigration reform efforts in the past, and Durbin said he had heard concerns about pushing for a bill that would leave out so many other undocumented immigrants.
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), for example, spoke on the Senate floor on Thursday about the need to protect DACA recipients’ parents, neighbors and others as well.
Durbin said he and Menendez had talked about the matter repeatedly. Menendez’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether he supports the bill.
“We still have an important job in comprehensive immigration reform,” Durbin told reporters, “but it would be disastrous and just wrong to say that we are going to ignore what’s going to happen to the lives of these DACA individuals.”
This story has been updated to reflect that Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) signed on as a fifth co-sponsor and to include tweets from Sen. Lindsey Graham.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rotation angle detection device and, in particular, to a rotation angle detection device consisting of a stator, which is provided with an excitation winding of one phase and excitation windings of two phases, and a rotor having salient poles.
2. Description of the Related Art
An optical encoder has been conventionally used as a rotation angle detection device. However, the optical encoder has a disadvantage that its operating temperature environment is limited and, at the same time, it is complicated in its structure and is expensive. On the other hand, a rotation angle detection device utilizing a change in permeance of a gap between a rotor and a stator is devised as a rotation angle detection device that is simple in its structure and inexpensive and, at the same time, can stand even a high temperature environment. For example, an example of a rotation angle detection device having excitation windings of two phases and a one-phase output winding is described in JP 62-58445 B. In addition, an example of a rotation angle detection device having an excitation winding of one phase and two-phase output windings is described in JP 49-124508 A. In both of the conventional examples, since a rotor is formed to have salient poles, a phase or an amplitude of a voltage induced in an output winding changes depending on an angle of the rotor, and a position of the rotor can be found by reading the change. In addition, these conventional examples have a structure in which the number of turns of the output winding is the same in each tooth.
In these conventional examples, a rotation angle detection device having a small detecting position error and high accuracy is realized in an ideal case without a machining error. However, since a machining error actually occurs, a detecting position error may increase and desired accuracy may not be realized. For example, a detecting position error increases if roundness of an internal diameter of a rotor is deteriorated due to, for example, an error in arrangement of a winding or low accuracy of a mold used in punching out a core of the stator.
A rotation angle detection device with a shaft multiple angle of 2 is shown in FIG. 24 as a conventional example. More specifically, the conventional example of FIG. 24 corresponds to a rotation angle detection device in which the rotor described in JP 49-124508 A is formed to have two salient poles. In FIG. 24, reference numerals 100-1 and 100-2 denote two-phase output windings (hereinafter referred to as output winding (1) and output winding (2)). In addition, reference numeral 101 denotes teeth and 102 denotes a stator having eight teeth 101. Numerals 1 to 8 in the figure indicate teeth numbers. Reference numeral 103 denotes a rotor; 104, output windings with the number of turns N wound around the teeth 101; and 105, a rotation shaft of the rotor 103.
As shown in FIG. 24, the rotation angle detection device in this conventional example consists of the stator 102 having the eight teeth 101 and the rotor 103 having two salient poles and formed in a structure in which variation of permeance between the rotor and a gap surface pulsates and there is a double-crest pulsation component with a machine angle of 360 degrees. Although not shown in the figure, an excitation winding is concentrically wound around each tooth 101 on the stator 102 to have opposite polarities in the adjacent teeth 101. In addition, the two-phase output windings 100 is wound around the four teeth 101 (more specifically, the output winding (1) is wound around the teeth with the teeth numbers 1, 3, 5, and 7 and the output winding (2) are wound around the teeth with the teeth numbers 2, 4, 6 and 8) by the same number of turns N, respectively. However, polarities of the teeth are set to alternate. As shown in FIG. 24, the output winding (1) is wound around the teeth with the teeth numbers 1, 3, 5 and 7 such that polarities of the teeth alternate, that is, so as to have the same polarity in the teeth with the teeth numbers 1 and 5 and in the teeth with the teeth numbers 3 and 7 and have opposite polarities in the teeth with the teeth numbers 1 and 3. In addition, as shown in FIG. 24, the output winding (2) is wound around the teeth with the teeth numbers 2, 4, 6 and 8 such that polarities of the teeth alternate, that is, so as to have the same polarity in the teeth with the teeth numbers 2 and 6 and in the teeth with the teeth numbers 4 and 8 and have opposite polarities in the teeth with the teeth numbers 2 and 4. Further, these four windings 104 are connected in series. FIG. 25 shows the number of turns of the output winding in each tooth. In this way, in the conventional example shown in FIG. 24, the number of turns of the output winding is the same N in each tooth around which the output windings are wound. Then, a detecting position error is small and the rotation angle detection device operates as one with high accuracy in an ideal case without a machining error.
However, as already described, a detecting position error may increase and desired accuracy may not be realized because a machining error actually occurs. For example, a detecting position error may increase if roundness of an internal diameter of a stator deteriorates due to low accuracy of a mold used in punching out a core of the stator.
Increase in a detecting position error due to a machining error will be described citing a specific example. As an example, a case will be described in which a rotation angle detection device with an internal diameter of a stator of 20 mm and a shaft multiple angle of 2 is designed. Further, a winding specification is set to be the same as the aforementioned conventional example.
A case in which roundness of an internal diameter of a stator deteriorates and the internal diameter deforms into an elliptic shape will be considered. FIG. 31 shows detecting position errors in a case in which the internal diameter deforms deviating by 50 μm from a complete round shape and in an ideal state without a machining error and the shape of the internal diameter is a complete round. The horizontal axis indicates a position of a rotor in terms of a machine angle and the vertical axis indicates a detecting position error in terms of a machine angle. It is seen from this figure that a detecting position error increases as the internal diameter of the stator slightly deforms from a complete round shape. Moreover, it is also seen that a period of a detecting position error is a machine angle of 180 degrees, which is 360 degrees in terms of an electrical angle. However, an electrical angle is set to take a value obtained by multiplying a machine angle by a shaft multiple angle. In addition, a phase of this error with the period of the electrical angle of 360 degrees changes into various values depending on a machining error that has occurred.
Next, a case in which roundness of an internal diameter of a stator deteriorates and the internal diameter deforms into a square shape will be considered. FIG. 26 shows detecting position errors in a case in which the internal diameter deforms deviating by 20 μm from a complete round shape and in an ideal state without a machining error and the shape of the internal diameter is a complete round. The horizontal axis indicates a position of a rotor in terms of a machine angle and the vertical axis indicates a detecting position error in terms of a machine angle. It is seen from this figure that a detecting position error increases as the internal diameter of the stator slightly deforms from a complete round shape. Moreover, it is also seen that a period of a detecting position error is a machine angle of 90 degrees, which is 180 degrees in terms of an electrical angle. However, an electrical angle is set to take a value obtained by multiplying a machine angle by a shaft multiple angle. In addition, a phase of this error with the period of the electrical angle of 180 degrees changes into various values depending on a machining error that has occurred.
As described above, the conventional rotation angle detection device is designed to operate as a rotation angle detection device having a small detecting position error and high accuracy in an ideal case without a machining error. However, in reality, since a machining error inevitably occurs due to an error in arrangement of a winding, low accuracy of a mold used in punching out a core of the stator, or the like, a detecting position error may increase and desired accuracy may not be realized.
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Emotional Showdown of the World Winter Games 2017
24.03.2017 - 22:07
A moving speech by Arnold Schwarzenegger and grand fireworks in the sky over Graz were the final highlights of the closing ceremony of the Special Olympics World Winter Games 2017. And it was definitely a worthy ending of an event that took the hearts of the people by storm.
The big showdown at the Liebenau stadium was characterized by the same beautiful positive energy as the opening ceremony at Schladming. Again, more than 15.000 people wanted to witness the event and so another audience sector had to be added on Thursday. The show that lasted about one and a half hours offered a well-balanced mix of typically Styrian elements, and energetic international dance and acrobatics performances, for example by artists of the Cirque du Soleil or world champion in dancing Louis van Amstel.
Also, musically the show presented us with familiar faces from the opening ceremony: Rose May Alaba performed the Coca-Cola Unified song „Can you feel it“ and the atmosphere reached its emotional peak when Helene Fischer entered the stage and presented the official anthem of the World Winter Games 2017, “Fighter”, just like a week before in Schladming. The president of Special Olympics Austria, Jürgen Winter then handed over the flag of Special Olympics to the hosts of the next Games: Abu Dhabi. The capital of the United Arab Emirates also gave us an impressive presentation of what to expect in 2019.
The dance group “Ich bin O.K.” with their protagonist Maria Naber offered an enchanting performance, just like at the opening ceremony. She particularly impressed Austrian folk star Andreas Gabalier whom she presented a lit up heart after his unplugged performance of his song “Steirerland”.
The „flame of hope“ lay at the heart of the speech by Siegfried Nagl, mayor of Graz. His message: “The flame might be gone but the fire is still burning”. It served to remind that the impulse that the Games had set must not go out again.
13-year old America´s Got Talent winner Grace VanderWaal got the audience moving when she performed her two songs “I don´t know my name” and “Light the sky”, before she handed over the stage to honorary president of Special Olympics Austria, Arnold Schwarzenegger. “I’m so happy that you are all here, because you are all the greatest athletes in the world! And I’m really proud of these games – they were the best and biggest in history”, he said.
„Heartbeat for the world“, was the motto of this year´s Special Olympics World Winter Games, the worldwide largest winter sports event for people with mental impairments and which took place from March 14 to 25. More than 2600 athletes from 105 nations, 1100 trainer, 5000 family members, 3000 volunteers and 600 journalists and media representatives were present at the sporting venues at Graz, Schladming and Ramsau am Dachstein. Eight days of competition resulted in about 1000 medals.
In total, the World Winter Games were the initial impulse for a new culture of exchange which was characterized by openness, warmth and by working together instead of against each other. This was also easily seen even before the competitions began: with the Torch Run and the enthusiastic realization of the Host Town program in the whole of Austria.
The people realizing and participating in both programs were significantly responsible for the more than a thousand people who witnessed the competitions as well as the award ceremonies and therefore were responsible for those countless moments of heart-warming emotions as well as the exuberant atmosphere at all the venues.
And there is even more good news: apart from a few mild injuries, there were no complications whatsoever during this beautiful event.
Statements:
Jürgen Winter, President of Special Olympics Austria: The Special Olympics World Winter Games 2017 were games of all games! Austria could show how cordial its people as well as its culture can be. In the future we need to seize this launch vehicle to further the cause for people with mental impairments and move a step forward to a change of the whole of society.
Marc Angelini, Director of Austria 2017: I was present throughout 13 World Games in various positions and therefore I know well what can be good and what cannot work. But if you actually receive only six calls telling you about something that does not work, then this speaks for itself. If Coca-Cola boss Mutar Kent tells you that event was literally the event for him, a wonderful experience, that speaks for itself. If you are being praised by athletes and coaches and only see radiating faces, if you can witness the happiness and this unique atmosphere, then this speaks for itself even more. The entire team did something remarkable, something incomprehensible. First and foremost we set an signal that reaches far beyond any borders concerning sport, humanity
Markus Pichler, Director of Austria 2017: We definitely reached our goal to carry the message of Special Olympics into society. We showed what inclusion means, that it works and what the people are capable of. This is the true value of the World Winter Games. The spark jumped over to the people, they are talking about it and concern themselves with it. The topic is now present in the heads of the people – in the future, a lot of things will happen in this regard. Concerning the organization of the event we showed that Austria is a great host country. Somebody told me: Such a level of professionalism paired with such cordiality! This amazing praise is deserved by everybody who was part of it.
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Rating
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Traction injury during minimally invasive harvesting of the saphenous vein is associated with impaired endothelial function.
Many methods of minimally invasive surgical harvesting of the great saphenous vein have been developed because of the morbidity related to the long skin incision after traditional (open) great saphenous vein harvesting. One such method involves the use of multiple small incisions separated by 10- to 15-cm skin bridges through which the saphenous vein is harvested. We hypothesized that this method of saphenous vein harvesting might subject the saphenous vein to considerable traction forces, resulting in impaired endothelial cell function. Four-millimeter great saphenous vein segments were obtained from patients undergoing elective coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Group A (minimally invasive surgery) consisted of 23 rings from 20 patients (age, 65.8 +/- 11.1 years, mean +/- SD). Group B (open harvesting) consisted of 33 rings from 8 patients (age, 69.8 +/- 8.6 years). All great saphenous vein segments were undistended and were used within 24 hours of harvesting. Isometric tension experiments were performed on each ring of the great saphenous vein by using a force-displacement transducer to measure the force of contraction in grams. Measurements included developed force after exposure to high-potassium depolarizing solution and 50 micromol/L phenylephrine and decrease in force of contraction (relaxation) after exposure to 1 and 10 micromol/L acetylcholine. There were no differences between the minimally invasive surgery and open harvesting groups in their responses to high-potassium depolarizing solution or phenylephrine: high-potassium depolarizing solution, contractions of 4.26 +/- 0.72 g (mean +/- SEM) and 3.95 +/- 0.38 g, respectively (P =.70); phenylephrine, contractions of 3.49 +/- 0.63 g and 2.73 +/- 0.39 g, respectively (P =.41). There was no net relaxation in segments from the minimally invasive surgery group after exposure to 1.0 or 10 micromol/L acetylcholine. In contrast, rings from the open harvesting group demonstrated relaxation of -0.41 +/- 0.07 g and -0.32 +/- 0.09 g after exposure to 1.0 and 10 micromol/L acetylcholine, respectively. In undistended saphenous vein segments isolated from patients undergoing minimally invasive surgical and open techniques of harvesting, there was no acetylcholine-mediated endothelium-dependent relaxation in the minimally invasive surgery group. Therefore harvesting of the great saphenous vein through multiple small incisions might result in endothelial dysfunction, possibly caused by traction injury.
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The fact that researchers and historians alike are not quite sure if the deaths of nine experienced mountain hikers is a UFO case or not, only adds more intrigue to an already macabre but darkly-appealing incident. The events took place during the opening months of 1959 in the wicked coldness of winter in the Ural Mountains, one of the northernmost regions of Russia, then the Soviet Union.
Researchers and investigators are not exactly sure of the group’s final moments, or what ultimately caused their deaths. Nor are they sure why such experienced hikers would suddenly run from their tent, some of them barefoot, most of them ill-clothed for the conditions, seemingly choosing to leave their specialist attire inside the tent which, incidentally, was discovered cut from the inside. What we know comes from the recovered diary entries.
However, these entries, stop approximately twenty-four hours before what is believed to have been some terrifying and bizarre event in the subzero, dark, and inhospitable conditions of a mountain range rather ominously known by the locals as “Dead Mountain” or “Mountain of the Dead”. Their bodies would be discovered buried under the snow in two separate locations. One group several weeks after disappearing, one group nearly three months later. Immediately upon the grim discoveries, the authorities would assert close control over the details. Details which many believe are still somewhere under wraps today. Just what scared these young men and women so much they chose to run to their certain deaths? Why were they discovered apart? Was a UFO involved? Might that resolve the bright lights witnessed on the evening in question? As well as the apparent damage to several of the trees near the crippled tent?
The Last Inhabited Settlement This Far North
On the morning of 27th January 1959, a group of ten hikers were making last minute preparations for their trip into the Ural Mountains. The group’s leader, 23-year-old radio engineering student from Ural Polytechnical Institute (now Ural Federal University), Igor Alekseievich Dyatlov, would oversee the preparations as the unit planned to set off from Vizhai, the last and most northern inhabited area of northern Russia.
The goal of the group, eight men and two women (including Dyatlov), all of whom could boast Grade-II certification experience in hiking, was to reach the Otorten mountain and then return. The hike would pass all of them for Grade-III certification – essentially making them as qualified and experienced as was possible (at the time). Most of the group were also students at the same university, with 38-year-old Alexander Zolotaryov being the exception, although he was a staff member and alumni of the school. The rest of the group would consist of 24-year-old Alexander Kolevatov, 22-year-old Zinaida Kolmogorova, 21-year-old Yuri Doroshenko, and Georgiy Krivonischenko, Rustem Slobodin, and Nikolai Thibeaux-Brignolles – all twenty-three.
In terms of “luck” or “circumstance” or perhaps even “fate”, the tenth and final member of the group, 21-year-old, Yuri Yudin, although he would set out with the unit, would fall ill shortly after, and within twenty-four hours, on the 28th January, he was forced to turn back. In retrospect, it was an illness that likely saved his life, and surely something the young man would think about repeatedly in the months and years that followed the unsettling events of the winter of 1959. Incidentally, he would pass away on 27th April 2013 at the age of seventy-five.
Documented Movements Up Until 1st February 1959
The hike seems to have gone as planned for the first two days. Dyatlov had agreed with their families and the University authorities that upon their return to Vizhai, a telegram would be sent so they would know of their safe return. They would estimate, all being well and even allowing for any slight delays, that this telegram should arrive with them no later than 12th February.
By 31st January it would appear the nine-strong team had reached a highland area. However, they now faced the prospect of climbing higher in order to reach their destination on the other side of the pass. Instead of carrying their full inventory of supplies, they would make the decision to store some of their food and other provisions in a woodland area just to the side of the route.
The following day, it appears things went as planned and the group went through the pass. It seems at some time here, however, a strong blizzard moved in. So strong, in fact, that the group soon lost their bearings. They would find themselves severely west of their desired location. Instead of climbing the pass as they intended, they were now heading up Kholat Syakhl. Incidentally, the local Mansi tribe’s translation for this ominous mountain is “Mountain of the Dead” or “Dead Mountain”. And it is steeped in local legends and folklore.
It would appear that they soon became aware of their error. However, the weather was worsening at such a pace it was unwise to proceed anywhere. They would make the decision to make their camp where they stood and wait out the storm until morning.
That is the last definite fact of the group’s journey.
Widely Accepted Basic Version Of Known Events
Everything after the evening of 1st February is speculation and theory based on the eventual discoveries. The pre-arranged date of 12th February came and went with no word whatsoever of the group’s return. Families would wait another week. Then, on 20th February they would insist against the wishes of the hiker’s collective institute that a search was arranged. Even then, the search party was made up of students and teachers who had volunteered. However, it soon became apparent that such a search party would achieve little and take a long time to do it.
Several days later, the Soviet military would conduct an official and widespread search of the area. The air force also covered huge areas of snowy mountain ranges with helicopters and search and recovery planes. Several more days passed. Then, the first of two chilling and gut-wrenching discoveries came.
On 26th February a battered and shredded tent was discovered. The campsite was a particularly puzzling scene. It would appear that the vast majority of the hiker’s belongings, including their clothes and even shoes, were still present. Wherever the hikers were, they appeared to have left barefoot and not fully dressed. Even more alarming, though, was the state of the tent’s ruins. Most specifically, the tent had the appearance that it was cut from the inside, suggesting that the scene wasn’t the result of some wild and unknown beast trying to gain entrance to the tent. More likely that the hikers were desperate to cut themselves out. So desperate to leave, it would appear, that they left their clothes and shoes. Despite the blizzard-like conditions.
Then, there were the footprints.
The First Discovery
Not only did the footprints show both shoed feet and barefoot prints (most likely on the same person), but they would suddenly stop, in the middle of the snow, a short distance away. All around them was undisturbed snow as if they had just vanished into thin air. They appeared to have been headed towards woodland towards the edge of the campsite. Indeed, it was there where five of the hikers’ bodies were found.
The first two bodies were those of Yuri Krivonischenko and Yuri Doroshenko. They were discovered under a cedar tree on the very edge of the woodland. Interestingly, the tree looked to have a substantial number of branches broken, damaged and in some places “snapped” off. All at a height of over fifteen feet. There were also the remains of a fire near to the two bodies.
As grim as these first two finds were, the discoveries of the next three bodies of the group’s leader, Igor Dyatlov, Zinaida Kolmogorova and Rustem Slobodin were equally as perplexing. The positioning of all three of their corpses would suggest they were heading back towards the makeshift camp near the cedar tree when they were literally “frozen” in their positions. As if by some bizarre “ice-ray” from a science-fiction movie.
All five of the corpses were poorly dressed, some with no shoes on their feet. How long they lasted in such hazardous conditions after fleeing the tent is unknown. Was the fire the remains of the hikers? Were they mentally together enough, and physically able to start a fire? And where were the remaining four hikers?
Over two months would pass before the second grim find. A discovery which would raise even more questions.
The Second Discovery
Over two months following the discovery of the “first group”, came the discovery of the remaining four hikers. The find occurred on 4th May 1959, buried under over twelve feet of snow in a ravine and over eighty yards away from the location of the first five hikers’ bodies.
What was immediately apparent was these last four remaining hikers were substantially better dressed than the first five. In fact, all four of them were practically fully dressed. Perhaps even stranger, some of them were dressed in clothes and wearing shoes that had belonged to their fellow hikers who died near the cedar tree. For example, Zolotaryov was discovered wearing Dubinina’s fake-fur coat and hat. Perhaps even stranger, Dubinina had wrapped her foot in a piece of Krivonishenko’s woolen pants
How long after the first group of hikers did these four meet their end? Were they moved to the ravine and buried? Or did they make their own way there, huddling up in a desperate attempt to get warm? Might they have been present at the cedar tree location where their fellow hikers died? Does this explain why some of them were wearing their clothing and shoes? Is it even possible that the second group were responsible for the deaths of those in the first group? Or had they simply passed away first leaving the surviving members of the group with a grim but needed opportunity to increase their chances of remaining alive?
What is perhaps interesting is that when the inquests were opened into the deaths of the first five hikers discovered at the end of February they were quickly, and perhaps suspiciously, wrapped up. It was “likely”, it said, they had died of hypothermia. The inquest into the remaining four hikers, however, wouldn’t be as simple.
Injuries Akin To Someone Hit By A High-Speed Truck!
The inquests of the last four hikers would reveal some bizarre and terrifying injuries. They would find that all four had injuries akin to someone who had been hit by a high-speed truck. While between them they all had severe chest fractures and skull damage, there were no other external injuries. Certainly not consistent with the severe internal injuries each of them had. The report would even state that the internal injuries were in line with someone who had been “subjected to a high level of pressure”. We will come back to this point a little later.
There were, though, some extremely puzzling injuries to some of the second group members. For example, Dubinina was missing her tongue, eyes, and even part of her lips. What’s more, these injuries appeared to be the result of surgical precision. Furthermore, fragments of skull-bone and even facial tissue appeared to have been carved out – again with medical precision. Further still, skin maceration on her hands was also present. Officially, the inquest would state Dubinina’s injuries were the result of the putrefaction process due to her lying face down in the ravine. Some researchers, however, were not convinced with this take on the situation.
Although authorities had an obvious desire to wrap up the case as quickly and as quietly as possible, members of the family, as well as independent researchers would continue to pry into the case. And as the years passed by, theories, speculation, and conspiracies would run increasingly rampant.
Claims Of UFO Activity
On what is widely agreed to have been the night in question, there were several reports of strange lights in the skies over the mountains where the group’s battered tent was eventually discovered. Had they been present at a UFO event? If so, were their deaths a result of this? And furthermore, was this a purposeful murderous act, or a tragic accident? A case of the hikers being at the wrong place at the wrong time?
There are many reports of glowing orbs over the mountain range. On the nights in question, these same lights were allegedly witnessed by settlements below. To some, the deaths of the hikers were not of a supernatural nature, and not to do with any of the long-standing legends. To some, the deaths were the result of a close encounter with a vehicle from another world. And given some of the injuries – in particular, those to Dubinina – their deaths may not have been a mere accident.
Were the broken branches of the cedar tree at the location of the first two bodies, for example, the result of a nuts-and-bolts craft? Might that explain why the footsteps suddenly stopped with all around them undisturbed snow? Might they have been “scooped up” and then “dropped” near the cedar tree? If this was the case, why was Dubinina discovered with the second group of hikers? And why were three of the group found “frozen” in the positions of returning to camp? Might the hikers, if we assume that a UFO was responsible for their deaths, have been returned separately?
Or might the glowing orbs and strange activity on the mountain ranges not be the result of alien intelligence? Might it be a top-secret region for military weapons testing?
Secret Cold-War Military Testing?
Another popular, and credible theory is that the deaths share a connection to secret military weapons testing. Again, whether they were an intentional target for an unknown test or their deaths an unintended and tragic accident is again open to debate. Although it should be said, it is mere speculation that the group might have been an intentional target. That the Soviet authorities played the situation tight to their chest and, whether intentional or not, gave a general feeling of having something to hide, isn’t.
Might the glowing orbs witnessed by locals in the settlements around the foot of the mountain range have not been extraterrestrial but of a clandestine military nature? Might the area, otherwise cut off from the population, have been home to a secret military installation? Again, the questions arise as to whether the deaths were accidental or a consequence of being somewhere “off-limits” to most. Even if they didn’t realize or intend to trespass?
As we will explore a little later, two of the hikers, Zolotaryov and Brignolles, would leave the tent seemingly before the others. It is thought they did so to relieve themselves or to picture some kind of activity outside of the tent. If we assume for one moment that this activity was of a clandestine military nature, it is perfectly reasonable to assume an extreme and coldly effective response would follow.
While this is all speculation, it would certainly explain why the military wished to have the incident neatly tied together and forgotten about. And what’s more, some of the aforementioned injuries just might endorse these speculations more than not.
Sonar Or Pulse Technology?
One of the most interesting theories is the testing of some kind of pulse or sonar weapon over the Ural Mountains. As we mentioned earlier, the injuries sustained by the four members of the group of the second discovery were particularly interesting. They appeared relatively undamaged on the outside, while internally their injuries resembled those of someone who might have been hit at high speed by a large truck or who had been “subjected to a high level of pressure”.
Was this, in fact, the result of some kind of unimaginable wave of energy that crumbled their insides and presented the military with an unseen problem? Either admit their error publicly and face embarrassment, not to mention the wrath of the people that ten young lives had been needlessly cut short? Or they had to create a situation that wouldn’t be questioned by anyone who might poke a little further than the official story?
It is certainly a credible theory, and not at all one that required too much of a stretch of the imagination. Furthermore, while we won’t examine them here, there are some similar “UFO cases” that very well might be more in line with sonar, pulse, or some other exotic but deadly weapons testing on record. Perhaps the Guarapiranga Reservoir Man case being one of the best examples.
The short video below, while not looking directly at the Dyatlov Pass incident, looks at other “secret weapons”. Including sonar weapons.
Secret Intelligence And Untranslated Tattoos
Perhaps they are simply a product of their time, but several theories regarding the fate of the nine hikers revolve around secret missions for the KGB. At the time of the incident, and certainly over the following three decades that followed, the Soviet Union was all but at war with the Western world. And in particular, the United States, who themselves would keep a constant close eye on Soviet activities.
With that in mind, some theories suggest that several of the group were actually working for the KGB. Their mission was to plant “radioactive clothing” at the site to simply serve as a false trail for Western intelligence services with the hope being they would divert funds and resources investigating it. Not to mention, if Soviet forces could capture them, the embarrassment for the Americans on the international stage. In fact, going a stage further, Alexei Rakitin would write in his book ‘Dyatlov Pass’ that Alexander Zolotaryov, along with two other members of the group, were actually KGB agents looking to uncover a CIA cell operating in the country. He would assert that it was the CIA who was ultimately responsible for the death of the nine hikers.
While there is little proof of the CIA’s involvement in the incident, the involvement of the aforementioned Alexander Zolotaryov is rather interesting. Not only was he much older than the rest of the group, he had extensive military and combatant training. Furthermore, he had joined the group at the very last minute. Even stranger, was a tattoo on his person which would read “DAERMMUAZUAYA”. No translation, into any language exists.
We will come back to Zolotaryov a little later.
The Gulag Theories
At the time of the incident, Gulags would surround the location of the group’s hike route – official and otherwise. Many theories suggest the group may have been suddenly ambushed by Soviet authorities who mistook them for escaped prisoners. Even if the authorities hadn’t directly caused their deaths, the panic perhaps caused them to flee into the freezing elements. Perhaps such an operation would explain the glowing orbs and the damage to the cedar tree nearby. Is it even possible that upon realizing their mistake, they would receive orders to “cover-up” the deaths to save the embarrassment of such an error in front of the Soviet public and the world, no less?
However, it might not have been the Soviet authorities that were responsible. Many of the prisoners of the Gulags did indeed escape. Some of them had been there since the Second World War and many were there due to their political views or associations. Given how isolated such prisoners would have been from the rest of the world, anyone that did escape would have little knowledge of happenings since their incarceration. Many such escapees would “disappear” into such otherwise desolate landscapes. And with skills learned on the front lines of war, and already hardened by the prison camps, they would survive on what they could catch and steal. And kill.
Might such an escaped prisoner have come across the group of hikers. Might he have believed the group to be looking for him and so decided to strike first? Or perhaps the group had witnessed him, in his mind leaving him no choice but to kill them so they wouldn’t report his presence and so sending him back to the Gulags – or worse.
Avalanches And Speculation About The Mansi Tribe
Perhaps more mundane, although no less credible, at least initially and on the surface, are suggestions that the group fell to a sudden avalanche. Maybe they suddenly heard or felt the onset of such an avalanche. Or perhaps they became trapped due to rolling snow blocking the entrance and so forcing them to cut themselves out of the tent, not to mention having to vacate the scene quickly due to the oncoming rush of thick, crushing ice.
However, more intense scrutiny on such a theory would soon reveal it to be less credible. In fact, it is highly unlikely. Not least, there was no visible indications nor aftermath of such an avalanche. And while it is much less scientific a reason, all of the hikers, in particular, Dyatlov, was highly unlikely to have set up the camp in any such “danger” area.
Once again, while it is only speculation with no evidence to back it up, some researchers have suggested the group might have fell victim to local tribes of the region, specifically the “Mansi” tribe. However, despite the assertions of some, the Mansi tribe were, in reality, peaceful in nature. Furthermore, if the hikers did indeed fall victim to the Mansi, or any other tribe in the region, that doesn’t explain the lack of tracks or any other signs of an outside presence.
As we will look at slightly later, it would appear any blame put at the door of the Mansi tribes likely stem from an opportunistic desire of the wider Russian population to paint who they saw as heretics in a bad light.
The Menk – A Russian Supernatural Bigfoot?
More recently in the 2000s, some theories would surface revolving around the notion that the culprit behind the deaths of the nine hikers was a “menk”, a legend of the Siberian region similar to Bigfoot. However, unlike Bigfoot, the menk have a supernatural element to them, with many of the oral traditions of the story revolving around “formidable forest spirits”. Furthermore, and possibly a slight connection to the ancient astronaut theory, these strange creatures have protection “by the gods”. Did they suddenly face attack from such a creature? And why would they choose to cut themselves out of the tent? As flimsy as it was, it was surely preferable to whatever beast might be outside, not to mention the subzero conditions.
Realistically, an attack from local tribes or wild beasts, mythical or otherwise is highly unlikely. Not least due to the lack of tracks around the site that would have declared their presence to all who followed. Unless, of course, considering again the menk’s supposed supernatural abilities, maybe such a creature wouldn’t leave any tracks.
Another thing to consider, leaving out the supernatural element for a second, although there were great internal injuries to the four hikers in the second group of discoveries, and seemingly minor external injuries on the first group of five hikers, there was no shredding, cuts, or lacerations that would perhaps be consistent with an attack from such a beastly creature.
However, one picture surfaced from the many developed from the group’s recovered cameras which is certainly worth looking at.
The “Frame 17 Bigfoot” Picture
Although most dismiss it, many researchers point to a picture cataloged as “Frame 17” of Nikolai (Thibeaux) Brignolle’s camera as rather interesting. The picture’s perspective from below a rise in the landscape. A pathway is visible with snow-covered trees on either side. In the middle of the frame, is a blurred yet unmistakable picture of a humanoid figure. Although it could easily be a person (and almost certainly is) the shading of the figure appears to be of the same color or material. Even the most ardent skeptic would have to admit the figure certainly bears a resemblance to what many people would recognize as a Bigfoot-type creature. A Russian Yeti? Or a menk? You can check out the picture below.
It is also clearly facing forward as if walking back down the slope towards the cameraman. Incidentally, this was the last picture on Brignolle’s camera. Was this mysterious creature some kind of wild beast-like man, a Bigfoot? And was it responsible, one way or another for the deaths of the nine hikers?
Detractors from these claims insist that a trail leading away from the photographer is visible. This would suggest that whoever the mystery figure is, they are likely one of the nine hikers. They most likely walked away from Brignolle, likely to gain a better view of their position. At the time of the picture, they were likely in the process of returning to Brignolle.
You can check out a recent documentary looking at this aspect of the incident.
The Zolotaryov “Second Camera” Pictures
As well as the reasons already highlighted previously for assuming Zolotaryov may not have been all that he seemed, he and Brignolles were each substantially better clothed than the rest of the group. They also each had some type of inner soles in their footwear, unlike the others. This has raised the question as to whether they had equipment especially supplied that the others didn’t. Or were they simply the last of the group to perish and so took clothes from their dead friends in an attempt to survive?
Other theories suggest that the pair likely left the tent slightly before the other nine. Perhaps they left to relieve themselves and so dressed in whatever clothes they could find. The intention being that they would be back in a matter of minutes. However, something happened which caused them not to return to the tent.
What is interesting, though, is Zolotaryov’s camera on his body. In fact, he had the camera still around his neck. What is perhaps even stranger, this camera was a different one to the one at his disposal throughout the journey, which would turn up among the ruins of the crippled tent. Why had he changed cameras? Was this another hint towards some kind of clandestine mission? And if so, what was he hoping to capture on camera? Had the pair not left the tent in order to relieve themselves, but because of some kind of disturbance outside?
Whatever the reason, the eleven pictures he captured were mysterious and slightly chilling. While none of them are clear, they show strange flashes, bizarre manifestations, and perhaps most intriguing, “glowing orbs”. You can see several of those pictures below.
An Intelligence Mission Or Demonic Manifestation?
These pictures and the events leading up to them would seem to be of obvious importance. Why did Zolotaryov and Brignolles leave the tent in dark, freezing conditions? Why did Zolotaryov feel the need to take a camera, and why did he take a different one? And of most importance, what took place once they were outside? Were the pictures a purposeful attempt to capture some strange but initially non-threatening activity? Or did the pictures come under extreme pressure? Perhaps as the pair ran through the icy snow away from some unknown entity or force?
What is perhaps also of interest, of all the cameras, this camera around Zolotaryov’s neck was the only one that would receive a label. Why was this? Does this indicate that there was something special about these pictures? Or even something special about Zolotaryov. If we assume for a moment that the intelligence claims are true, why would he have gone to take photographs for the Soviets, who could surely have done so themselves? Is it possible that Zolotaryov was spying for another body, possibly the Americans? Is this why he and the group met such a sudden and brutal end?
Or do the pictures, as Cora Hull in the book ‘Fallen Angels Exposed’ suggests, show supernatural manifestations? According to Hull the Zolotaryov pictures “are a clear indication of fallen angel/higher level demonic involvement”. Hull would even go as far as to state that several of the pictures show a “partial physical manifestation, shape-shifting demon”. Furthermore, according to Hull, the glowing orbs are “typical of fallen angels or higher-level demons manifesting in orb form”.
Is this why the locals call the range the “Mountain of the Dead” (or Dead Mountain)?
The Gravity Fluctuation Theory
Perhaps one of the most intriguing theories is also one of the most scientific. Professor and physicist, German Erchenko would claim that the nine hikers were the victims of “gravity fluctuation” – a set of circumstances, including the location, which causes the external gravity to literally fluctuate.
According to Erchenko, he believes that a “significant external pressure” literally threw the hikers out from the tent. He would explain it as a “corridor” forming in and around the valleys of the land. As the campers were getting ready to settle down for the night, they would suddenly find themselves lifted off the ground and “dragged into the corridor”.
This, Erchenko would continue, would explain the damage to the tent from the inside, as the air pressure inside the tent was significantly higher than outside. The hikers would, in theory at least, have raced through the air towards and through the material of the tent. This set of circumstances would also explain the harrowing internal injuries to at least four of the hikers, who perhaps were already outside at the time of the incident. Furthermore, this would explain why they were so far away from the campsite. And perhaps why the remaining five were in such bizarre and awkward positions as if trying to get towards the cedar tree. Perhaps they were not trying to reach the tree so much as pull themselves out of the apparent corridor.
It is likely, according to Erchenko’s theory, that those outside at the time of the gravity drop “died instantly”. The remaining members may have remained alive for a short while afterward. All of them, “once outside the tent (would) remain hovering in the air as though lying on a horizontal surface”.
Bizarre Natural Phenomenon, Or Top-Secret Gravity Weapons?
Is this really as extreme as it sounds? Erchenko insists that this is not at all uncommon for the area. Furthermore, the incident likely lasted only a matter of minutes, which would still be enough time to scatter all nine of the hikers to the positions they were discovered. This, of course, would also explain the complete lack of tracks of an outside influence or predator. Furthermore, Erchenko would theorize that had the hikers remained firmly in the tent, they would likely have remained unaffected from the temporary drop in gravity outside. Even unaware of it.
However, what about the glowing orbs witnessed by the locals, and by the hikers? At least by Zolotaryov, who appears to have left the tent to investigate them. Might they too be some kind of consequence of such a bizarre phenomenon? In the same way that some people claim to see bright lights before earthquakes?
Or might the glowing orbs, while certainly being an indicator of such an upcoming drop in gravity, be of a more manufactured nature? Perhaps, although certainly a lot more unlikely, this “gravity fluctuation” was not the result of a natural phenomenon. Maybe it was part of a top-secret military experiment? If that was the case, then the need for secrecy, although not to endorse such behavior, would certainly be easier to understand.
What is also interesting is the several plane crashes in and around the hikers’ final location. As well as the wild animals that are often drop dead in unnervingly similar circumstances.
While there is no proof that this is the case, the claims by a member of the original search team just short of a decade later would light the touch-paper on many of the conspiracies that surround the incident today.
Yuri Yarovoi – Another Case Of Fact Hiding As Fiction?
In 1967 one of the members of the search team, Yuri Yarovoi, would write and publish ‘Of The Highest Degree of Complexity’ – a fictional story that was based on not only his personal experience with the search unit, as well as his capacity as the official photographer, but also on access he claimed to have to secret leaked files on the incident. Given the political and social climate of the Cold War era of the late-1960s Soviet Union, some researchers have suggested releasing the account in this way was the only method of avoiding persecution from the Soviet authorities.
Even more intriguing, Yarovoi, who died in 1980, had several “alternative” versions of the manuscript, each of which wouldn’t see the light of day because of the aforementioned censorship around the issue. The whereabouts of his archives, including the alternative manuscripts, is unknown.
His work, however, would inspire others to look at the case again. Among them was Anatoly Gushchin who would write the book ‘The Price Of State Secrets Is Nine Lives” in 1990 following the demise of communism in the Soviet Union. Although many were highly critical of his work, it would indirectly produce “new” witnesses who, under threat of the Soviet regime, had remained silent regarding who they knew of the incident.
One of these witnesses was former police officer, Lev Ivanov. He would publish an article the same year as Gushchin’s book. In it, he would state that the police investigating the case were at a complete loss as to what had happened. Furthermore, and of interest, were the reports from his team about the “flying spheres”. The ones from their search. According to Gushchin, he received direct orders from high-ranking officials ordering him to retract the claim.
Could It Really Happen Again?
Claims such as those by Yarovoi and Gushchin certainly make many of us reexamine this most strange of cases once again. Whatever the truth of the situation, it certainly appears there was something, or the perception of something that required covering up. While we will go over once more the theories and claims as to just what happened in this most uninhabitable area of northern Russia in the brutal winter of 1959 in summing up this morbidly fascinating case, it could prove to be, if we assume that one day we will be privy to the real and accurate events, that aspects of all areas will be found contained within them.
Perhaps it is worth returning to the aforementioned, German Erchenko, who would state that gravity fluctuation was responsible for the hiker’s deaths. He would assert that this phenomenon occurs more than people think. Only the fact the area is so uninhabited prevents more deaths like those of the nine hikers, at least according to Erchenko. Perhaps, interestingly or not, this is actually the origins of the ominous moniker, “Mountain of the Dead”. Erchenko would issue a stern warning to any adventure seekers who might wish to visit the Dyatlov Pass in the future. He would state, “It is worth bearing in mind that the corridor where the gravity to Earth is decreased can ‘open’ again”.
Whether this phenomenon is real, or whether it is some menacing secret technological weapon, the image below is extremely interesting. It is from the European Space Agency and claims to show the discrepancies of gravity on Earth. The blue areas show where the gravity is lower, while the red areas similarly show the areas with higher than normal gravity.
Still An Enigmatic Mystery Sixty Years Later
Despite the intense interest in the case, the numerous investigations, both official and otherwise, just what happened in the dark, freezing elements on the Ural Mountains in early-February 1959 remains a mystery. And an ominous one at that.
We can likely rule out an avalanche being the cause of the hiker’s deaths. Aside from there being no evidence to suggest an avalanche to have happened, it wouldn’t explain a whole manner of details, not least the bizarre positioning of the bodies. Or why they would end up in two different groups. And the damage to the cedar tree and the remains of a fire where the first two bodies were discovered. Even the perceived threat would unlikely have resulted in such a panic to have caused the group’s deaths.
It also appears unlikely to have been the local Mansi tribe who killed the group. They were indeed familiar with the terrain and expert at negotiating it in all manner of weather conditions. They were even expert hunters and efficient at covering their tracks. However, it seems unlikely such an attack would go ahead. Not at least in the middle of a blizzard at night. Researchers since have uncovered what appears to have been a simmering resentment. Largely from the wider, mostly-religious population towards the Mansi tribe. And in particular for their “pagan ways” which were only a little short of heretical. In short, there would have been a large number of people only too happy to see the Mansi blamed for such a heinous act as the murder of nine defenseless hikers.
So, what about the grittier conspiracy theories involving the military, UFOs, and even supernatural beasts.
How Credible Are The Bigfoot And UFO Connections?
It is likely within this sphere that the answer lies. If we start first by ruling out with what is perhaps the least likely suggestions among the three. That the hikers met their grisly end at the hands of a Bigfoot-like creature or a supernatural entity.
So then, what about the UFO claims? There are reports of many strange lights in this area of the mountain range. The main reason for the UFO claims here, however, is the bizarre and precise facial injuries. In particular, the removal of skin tissues.
And because of two pictures on Zolotaryov’s first camera.
The first – Frame 15 – wasn’t initially of interest. Mainly as it would seem to show nothing more than just a blur. However, in light of recent research, as well as the pictures on Zolotaryov’s second camera, this changes. The picture perhaps takes on a little more significance. Was it just a blur? Or might it have been some type of strange interference? You can view that picture below.
The second picture, and certainly most well-known is Frame 34 – the last picture on this camera. It appears to be an out-of-focus orb of some kind. Was it a picture that was merely an accident, as some skeptics insist? Or was it an attempt, perhaps by one of the other hikers to use Zolotaryov’s camera? The one left by him in the tent. Perhaps to document the bizarre and frightening events unfolding around them?
Initially, the incident looks to be a UFO encounter. And has certainly remained in the UFO arena. Particularly since the account became better known around the world following the fall of the Soviet Union. There might, however, be a more down-to-earth, but no less unnerving scenario.
Military Intelligence – A Likely Epicenter Of The Conspiracy?
Might there be, then, a clandestine military connection? Maybe the hikers had innocently wondered onto the land? Or perhaps they were discreetly “led off course” by Zolotaryov (if claims of his “intelligence” connections are true). It would seem that Zolotaryov and Brignolles left the tent, likely to investigate some kind of activity outside. This might explain their increased clothing and their “borrowing” of their campmates’ attire. Perhaps the remaining two hikers of the second group would join them at some stage.
Whether through a military weapons experiment, an aircraft test, or indeed an extraterrestrial-controlled craft, something seems to have gone wrong. Perhaps the object crashed or there was an explosion overhead. Or, if we say that it was a weapons test, perhaps these explosions were the result of such testing. It would seem that whatever “it” was, panic in the hikers remaining in the tent was the result. While the four already outside ran further away, desperately looking for cover.
Perhaps this explains why the first five hikers were almost naked and relatively near to the tent. Maybe this is why three of them were in bizarre positions? As if making their way to the first two hikers under the cedar tree. However, might it be that the “fire” was not a makeshift campfire? Perhaps the remains of some kind of explosion? One that not only damaged the tree but perhaps killed the two hikers presumably under it. Remember, their hands were “in the fire”. Hardly a position to put oneself in voluntarily.
Perhaps the four hikers in the second group met a similar fate near the ravine. Although their extensive internal injuries would suggest a much closer proximity to whatever was being tested.
An Event So Terrible…?
If the deaths were through secret military testing, is the real conspiracy the covering up of the acts? And not necessarily upon the bodies’ discovery. Might it be that the military, realizing their mistake, purposely manipulated the scene? Perhaps even the positioning of their bodies and their ultimate final locations?
There is, for example, some discrepancy as to whether the remains of the tent had even been put up correctly. These hikers had experience in hazardous conditions. It would have been highly unlikely for them to overlook such a basic yet essential procedure. Was the tent, then, put back up in haste? By inexperienced military officers in order to cover-up events that still remain unknown to the rest of us? Was there such a cover-up? Was it so terrible there was a perceived need to hide them from the potential prying eyes of the world?
There remains hope that somewhere in a vault in Russia explanations await. Perhaps deep below the modern cities, in a building once utilized during the Cold War era. Maybe there sits a file with the real story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident. Until that day, there remains only the theories and speculations. The findings of those who still, over half a century later, have a grim fascination with this dark event. An event, that perhaps we should keep in mind, resulted in the very real deaths of nine very real people.
The video below looks at this most fascinating, if grim, cases of the twentieth century a little further.
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The effect of material hardship on child protective service involvement.
This study employs four waves of survey data on 1,135 families from the Illinois Families Study, a longitudinal panel study of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families in Illinois. This study explores the following issues within this low-income population: (1) whether material hardships are associated with child protective services (CPS) investigations, (2) whether the effect of material hardship on CPS differs by the type of child maltreatment investigated, and (3) whether psychological distress mediates the association between material hardship and CPS involvement. Results from pooled and fixed effects logistic regressions suggest that caregivers who experience material hardship are more likely to become involved in CPS. In general, investigated neglect reports are responsive to particular types of hardship such as housing and food, while investigated physical abuse reports are responsive to levels of hardship regardless of specific types. The association between material hardship and CPS involvement is not fully explained by depressive symptoms or parenting stress. The study results suggest that in order to prevent child maltreatment, it may be necessary to address a family's unmet material needs through economic support interventions.
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Marsha Waggoner
Marsha Waggoner (born January 11, 1940 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) is an American professional poker player who lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Waggoner has finished in the money at 20 World Series of Poker (WSOP) events as of 2010. Her highest WSOP finish was 2nd place in the 23rd Annual WSOP tournament in Limit 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo, for which she won $52,500.
Poker career
Background
In 1976, as a casino dealer in Sydney, Waggoner discovered a talent for stud poker, and in 1977, moved to Reno, Nevada to pursue poker professionally.
Most of her experience up until this point was in cash games, however her interest in tournament games was piqued when Amarillo Slim brought the Second Annual Poker Classic to Reno in 1980. Waggoner stayed in Reno until the mid-1980s, at which point she moved to Las Vegas, quickly demonstrating her ability at tournament Texas Hold 'em and Seven-Card Stud events.
In 1987, Waggoner moved to California while continuing to play professionally. It was around this time that Waggoner began to establish herself as "a solid and patient tournament player whose results continually proved she belonged in the game's upper echelons".
In 2008, she was one of four inaugural inductees into the Women in Poker Hall of Fame at Binion's Gambling Hall and Hotel in Las Vegas.
In 2010, she was inducted into the Australian Poker Hall of Fame.
Results
Waggoner’s best tournament placing was winning the 2003 National Championship of Poker, playing in the Limit 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo event, a low limit buy in at Hollywood Park Casino.
In 2005, Waggoner was invited to play in the World Poker Tour’s third annual Legends of Poker Ladies Night tournament at the Bicycle Casino, and finished third in one event of the 2006 Ultimate Poker Challenge.
As of 2010, her total live tournament winnings exceed $830,000.
Personal life
Waggoner is currently single; in 2008 she separated from fellow poker professional Kenna James, whom she met at the Hollywood Park Casino in 1997. She has three children from a previous marriage and five grandchildren, and enjoys playing golf and dancing.
Although she has lived in America for more than 30 years, Waggoner still visits her home country regularly to compete in poker tournaments (such as the Aussie Millions) and see her extended family.
Waggoner's brother is the noted former Australian photojournalist Jim Fenwick.
References
External links
Poker Pages profile
Poker Listings biography
Category:1940 births
Category:American poker players
Category:Female poker players
Category:Living people
Category:American people of Australian descent
Category:Australian poker players
Category:Super Bowl of Poker event winners
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Natural Gas Specialist – Philippines
Organization:
RTI International
How to Apply
JOB DESCRIPTION
RTI International is a research institute based in North Carolina, USA of 5000 employees with worldwide experience implementing international development projects in energy and other disciplines. We have extensive experience implementing a variety of projects worldwide focusing on energy efficiency, utility turnaround, raising private financing for energy infrastructure, working with governments on legal and regulatory reforms to alleviate bottlenecks, and increasing access. Notably, we were recently chosen as the implementing partner for USAID’s Power Africa program for two projects: the Power Africa Off-Grid Program, and the East Africa Energy Program.
Responsibilities:
RTI is seeking a Senior Natural Gas Specialist for an anticipated upcoming USAID energy project in the Philippines. This will be a senior level position, and candidates should have a proven track record of leadership and the ability to navigate complex political environments.
Specific Responsibilities:1. Overall goal: encouraging usage, building frameworks, building infrastructure, and encouraging importation of LNG2. Provide technical guidance to the Government of the Philippines (GOP) in the development of policy on the transmission, distribution and supply of natural gas;3. Assist in the technical evaluation of existing natural gas power plants as the country aims to develop its LNG facilities;4. Improve integration of gas-to-power into grid;5. Promote cross-border gas trade of the ASEAN through the country’s active participation in the development of regional frameworks and guidelines;6. Expand regional market for imported natural gas;7. Evaluate other alternative sources of natural gas beyond Malampaya;8. Support efforts to turn the Philippines into a hub for LNG
Required minimum qualification and experience• Minimum Master’s degree in economics, engineering, business management, law or other relevant discipline.• Minimum of 10 years’ of relevant experience in the power sector with a focus on public policy, sector regulation, utility turnaround and improvement, and IPPs with a preference for experience in the Philippines and/or Southeast Asia;• Strong preference that are currently based in the Philippines
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities• Excellent leadership, coordination, and organizational awareness skills• Strong oral/written communication skills and ability to communicate at multiple levels in the organization: and ability to coordinate activities with officials from host country government, US Government, NGO’s, and other agencies;• Ability to build effective relationships with all clients, peers, and stakeholders• Ability to work hands-on, independently, and within team.• Strong organizational and interpersonal skills and ability to work in a team-oriented setting;• English language proficiency
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Seaman A. Knapp
Seaman Asahel Knapp (December 16, 1833 – April 1, 1911) was a Union College graduate, Phi Beta Kappa member, physician, college instructor, and, later, administrator, who took up farming late in life, moving to Iowa to raise general crops and livestock.
The first seeds of what would later become an abiding interest in farm demonstration were planted after he became active in an organization called "The Teachers of Agriculture," attending their meetings at the Michigan Agricultural College in 1881 and the Iowa Agricultural College in 1882. Knapp was so impressed with this teaching method that he drafted a bill for the establishment of experimental research stations, which later was introduced to the 47th Congress, laying the foundation for a nationwide network of agricultural experiment stations.
Knapp later served as the second president of Iowa Agricultural College from 1883 to 1884, but his interest in agricultural demonstration work did not occur until 1886, when he moved to Louisiana and began developing a large tract of agricultural land in the western part of this state. He founded Vinton, Louisiana, naming the town after his hometown Vinton, Iowa.
Knapp could neither persuade local farmers to adopt the techniques he had perfected on his farm nor enlist farmers from the North to move to the region to serve collectively as a sort of educational catalyst. What he could do, he reasoned, was to provide incentives for farmers to settle in each township with the proviso that each, in turn, would demonstrate to other farmers what could be done by adopting his improved farming methods.
The concept worked. Northern farmers began moving into the region, and native farmers began buying into Knapp's methods.
By 1902, Knapp was employed by the government to promote good agricultural practices in the South.
Based on his own experience, Knapp was convinced that demonstrations carried out by farmers themselves were the most effective way to disseminate good farming methods. His efforts were aided by the onslaught of the boll weevil, a voracious cotton pest whose presence was felt not only in Louisiana but also throughout much of the South. Damage associated with this pest instilled fear among many merchants and growers that the cotton economy would disintegrate around them.
In the view of many, a farm demonstration at the Walter G. Porter farm, now a National Historic Landmark in Terrell, Texas, set up by the Department of Agriculture at the urging of concerned merchants and growers, was the first in a series of steps that eventually led to passage of the legislation that formalize Cooperative Extension work.
USDA officials were so impressed with the success of this demonstration that they appropriated $250,000 to combat the weevil — a measure that also involved the hiring of farm demonstration agents. By 1904, some 20 agents were employed in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. The movement also appeared to be spreading to neighboring Mississippi and Alabama.
Knapp is commemorated in Washington, D.C. by a bridge linking the U.S. Department of Agriculture Administration Building to the U.S. Department of Agriculture South Building across Independence Avenue. He is interred at Iowa State University Cemetery, Ames, Story, Iowa, USA, (see 'find-a-grave; Seaman Asahel Knapp').
Bradford Knapp, a son of Seaman Knapp, was the President of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, now known as Auburn University from 1928 to 1933 and the second president of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.
See also
Kenyon L. Butterfield
References
External links
Category:American agronomists
Category:Alabama Cooperative Extension System
Category:1831 births
Category:1911 deaths
Category:Union College (New York) alumni
Category:Presidents of Iowa State University
Category:People from Vinton, Iowa
Category:People from Vinton, Louisiana
Category:People from Essex County, New York
Category:Scientists from New York (state)
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{
"pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)"
}
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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s senior aides are looking for “leakers” in the State Department in light of recent media reports that have angered the new secretary, Axios reported.
What did the State Department say?
Heather Nauert, a State Department spokesperson, recently held a public affairs meeting to discuss the leaks, according to Axios. The meeting came after an Associated Press article reported that Brett McGurk — a Special Presidential Envoy appointed under former President Barack Obama — was remaining on the job for an six more months.
“There were a couple of articles that pissed off Pompeo," a source familiar with the meeting told Axios. "One was an article about McGurk. Another about slow-rolling Palestinian funding."
State Department employees phones were checked as part of the investigation. Pompeo, who took the State Department lead after serving with the CIA, was shocked to see news stories about internal matters, the report states. Some of the leaks were discovered when reporters attempt to confirm information they received from overseas sources.
Was the response warranted?
State Department employees told Axios they believe Pompeo’s response is heavy-handed and unwarranted.
"They've gotten diplomatic security involved in the leak investigation — the internal security of the State Department — which is bananas," a source told Axios. "These are the people who stand outside diplomats' doors when they sleep overseas."
Nauret told Axios that the unauthorized release of information, whether it's classified or not, is always a concern.
"It can jeopardize ongoing operations and negotiations in which the State Department is involved," Nauret said. "Also, Diplomatic Security doesn’t 'stand outside diplomats' doors. DS is the security and law enforcement bureau for the entire agency. Their mission is to provide a secure environment for the conduct of U.S. foreign policy."
A senior State Department official told Axios that leaks on internal deliberations “have a debilitating effect on our prosecution of foreign policy."
"Most diplomats working on these issues support any effort to ensure our messages are appropriately controlled and coordinated through official channels,” the source said.
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{
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
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Friday, August 22, 2014
The Semipalmated Plover
Cayucos Beach at Old Creek - Birding with Cathy from Palm Springs on a beautiful beach day. Recent high tides had created a shallow lagoon, a habitat returning shore birds could not resist. Among the Willet, Godwit and Long-billed Curlew was a small flock of Semipalmated Plover. They are a bit plump, brown overall. A small black-tipped orange bill and orangish legs distinguishes this sweet little Plover from other small shorebirds. They do look similar to their relative, the Killdeer.
What fascinates me about this little Plover that nests in Alaska and Northern Canada, and sometimes travels as far south as Tierra del Fuego, are its tiny toes. After more years of birding than I wish to share, I did not know the definition of "semipalmated." So what did I do, I Googled it. - "Semipalmated - having the toes joined part way down with a web"
The Semipalmated Plover has partial webbing between all of its toes, all six of them. (Toe image borrowed from the internet.)
Webbed toes are uncommon among shorebirds, so why does this little Plover have webbing? It swims. Adults and chicks swim short distances in shallow water. Is this the reason the Semipalmated Plover has webbing between its toes? No one knows for certain, but it makes sense to me.
Next time I am on the beach I am sure I will spend much time looking at Semipalmated Plover toes.
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{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
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After Sigma announced the new 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art lens last month, according to trusted source, Sigma 85mm f/1.4 DG Art lens will also be announced soon, we will see announcement in late August, just before Photokina 2014. Perhaps this would be a cheap choice for people who want the Zeiss 85mm f/1.4 OTUS lens that will also be announced at Photokina 2014.
Rumors said Sigma will also announce some super telephoto zoom lens like 300-600mm in 2015. Stay tuned for more detail.
via: CR
Read More: Sigma Rumors
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"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
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Monday, 27 March 2017
Next for Omber: SVG or Windows?
I've finally finished support for transparency and texture-mapping in Omber, and I'm really pleased with the result. I can finally make a nice vector portrait in Omber even with limited art skills. But now I have to decide on the next feature to add to Omber. Unfortunately, Omber has very few users, so I just have to guess what people would find useful instead of simply asking them. Part of the problem is that Omber is a highly specialized tool with features that no other program has, so artists don't really understand how it's different or all the cool things you can do with it. I'm currently trying to decide between adding some limited support for SVG and making a special Windows version.
I've had two people mention adding SVG support to Omber. Since SVG is the main vector image format, Omber could then be used as a general vector drawing tool. The problem is that Omber specializes in advanced gradients that can't even be represented in SVG. So although adding SVG support would mean that Omber could be used as a basic vector drawing tool for making simple icons etc, that isn't what Omber is best at. Most of Omber's best features couldn't even be used because they can't be exported to SVG. Then again, I can see other people with very basic SVG drawing tools that are orders of magnitude more popular than Omber, and I wonder if adding SVG support might be a useful stepping stone to introducing people to some of the great, revolutionary new features in Omber.
The other alternative is to make a special Windows version of Omber with better file support and possibly much better performance. I think Omber has a really useful feature set already. Making Omber available in the Windows store means there will be a new place where people can find out about it.
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{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>CFBundleDevelopmentRegion</key>
<string>English</string>
<key>CFBundleExecutable</key>
<string>${EXECUTABLE_NAME}</string>
<key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>
<string>com.yourcompany.openFrameworks</string>
<key>CFBundleInfoDictionaryVersion</key>
<string>6.0</string>
<key>CFBundlePackageType</key>
<string>APPL</string>
<key>CFBundleSignature</key>
<string>????</string>
<key>CFBundleVersion</key>
<string>1.0</string>
</dict>
</plist>
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{
"pile_set_name": "Github"
}
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Sports IllustratedManchester City's Sergio Aguero Reported to Have Suffered Broken Ribs in Amsterdam Car AccidentSports IllustratedManchester City striker Sergio Aguero is reported to have been involved in a car crash in Amsterdam that has allegedly left him with suspected broken ribs that could keep the star out of action for a number of weeks for […]
Sports IllustratedThe Morning Huddle: How Should the NFL Punish Danny Trevathan?Sports IllustratedThere are no excuses for the way Bears linebacker Danny Trevathan lowered his helmet and crushed Packers wideout Davante Adams's head midway through the third quarter on Thursday night. Even if Trevathan didn't intend to send Adams to the hospital, ...Packers keep getting hurt, keep […]
ABC NewsThe step-by-step process of how the words 'corruption' and 'fraud' came to college basketballABC NewsThe FBI announced Tuesday that 10 people, including four college basketball assistant coaches, were arrested as part of a two-year investigation into bribes and other corruption in the sport. Assistant coaches from Arizona, Auburn, Louisville, Miami, ...Source: L'ville players back assistant […]
NFL.comPackers win easily over Bears on injury-plagued nightNFL.comA strange night in Green Bay, interrupted by a 47-minute lightning delay, ended in a familiar fashion. The Packers' 35-14 victory over the visiting Chicago Bears was notable for its total lack of suspense, the home team holding a two-touchdown lead ...Chicago Bears vs. Green Bay Packers RECAP, […]
ESPNMultiple players cut ties with top NBA agent in wake of NCAA basketball bribe scandalESPNIn the wake of the FBI corruption probe that has shaken the college basketball world this week, multiple clients have severed ties with Andy Miller, one of the NBA's most prominent agents, and another has filed a $13.5 million arbitration claim […]
FOXSports.comPackers' RB Ty Montgomery knocked out of Bears gameFOXSports.comGREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) Packers starting running back Ty Montgomery has been knocked out of the game against the Chicago Bears with a chest injury. Montgomery had five carries for 28 yards on the opening series of the game before leaving with about 10 ...and more »
FOXSports.comTitans' Delanie Walker: family has received death threatsFOXSports.comNASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Tennessee Titans tight end Delanie Walker says he and his family have received death threats since he told fans not to come to games if they felt disrespected by NFL players' protests. Walker shared the threats Thursday night in a ...Titans' Delanie Walker says he's had […]
MMAjunkie.comKevin Lee doesn't worry about UFC rankings, because 'they don't mean sh*t'MMAjunkie.comThose are the six fighters ahead of Kevin Lee in the official UFC lightweight rankings, and he's fought none of them. In fact, Lee holds a victory over just one current fighter in the top 10, Michael Chiesa, who he defeated via controversial submission […]
NFL.comCJ Anderson's Mom Won't Root For Him Against The RaidersNFL.comWho are you more loyal to: your family or your favorite team? When it comes to Denver Broncos running back C.J. Anderson, his mom has made it clear that nothing is more important to her than her beloved Oakland Raiders - even when they're playing ...Can Derek […]
SB NationCarmelo Anthony says Knicks almost traded him to the Rockets and CavaliersSB NationDuring an interview on the SiriusXM NBA Radio channel, Anthony outlined two trades that didn't go down earlier in the summer: One to the Rockets and one to the Cavaliers Cleveland Cavaliers. During his appearance, Anthony said a deal with the Rockets ...Thunder […]
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New York TimesElon Musk's Mars Vision: A One-Size-Fits-All Rocket. A Very Big One.New York TimesThe chief executive of SpaceX, Elon Musk, at the International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, Australia, on Friday. Credit Mark Brake/Getty Images. ADELAIDE, Australia — Elon Musk is revising his ambitions for sending people to Mars, and he says ...Elon Musk says […]
EngadgetNASA pushes James Webb Space Telescope launch to Spring 2019EngadgetIf you're counting down the days until NASA's Hubble replacement takes off, you'll have to count a bit longer. The James Webb Space Telescope was due to launch around a year from now. But, there seems to be (another) holdup. The aeronautics agency is ...JWST launch slips […]
ABC OnlineGreat Barrier Reef starts to recover after severe coral bleaching, survey of sites between Cairns and Townsville showsABC OnlineOptimism is rising among scientists that parts of the Great Barrier Reef that were severely bleached over the past two years are making a recovery. Scientists from the Australian Institute of Marine Science this month surveyed […]
Space.comLockheed Martin Unveils Sleek, Reusable Lander for Crewed Mars MissionsSpace.comA commercial effort to get humans into orbit around Mars in the late 2020s now includes a sleek vehicle to send astronauts down to the surface of the Red Planet. The aerospace company Lockheed Martin late Thursday (Sept. 28) revealed new details for ...Lockheed Martin unveils […]
EngadgetDubai is building a mock Martian cityEngadgetSomeday, you could take a flying taxi from Dubai to a Martian city in the middle of the desert right here on Earth. In preparation for its plans to establish a settlement on the red planet, the United Arab Emirates has announced that it's building a 1 ...UAE to […]
QuartzSea creatures fled the Japanese tsunami on plastic rafts and travelled all the way to US shoresQuartzAquatic species apparently respond to crisis like humans do, fleeing when home is uninhabitable, sometimes surviving treacherous journeys on makeshift rafts, and showing up unexpectedly in new territory. Marine sea slugs without borders. Marine sea ...Tsunamis Are Bringing New […]
National Geographic'Lost Continent' Expedition Provides Clues to Earth's HistoryNational GeographicA team of scientists set out to study the region known as "Zealandia." What they found dates back millions of years. View Images. Photograph by Tim Fulton, International Ocean Discovery Program, Joides Resolution Science Operator. By Sarah Gibbens.Zealandia: Scientists Reveal Secrets From First Expedition To Lost […]
Washington PostGood news: Scientists have discovered a new species of giant ratWashington PostIn the isolated Solomon Islands, mothers and fathers have been known to sing to their children of apocryphal rats. In one rhyme, Kamare and Isuku go scurrying up a child, one rat on each side. They climb the ribs and reach the armpits, […]
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"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
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This Classical Life has arrived
“It’s out there! I absolutely loved presenting my first ever radio show – ‘This Classical Life’ – on Saturday 6 April. It will be a weekly show on BBC Radio 3 at 12.30pm every Saturday. If you missed the first episode with drummer and television composer Ollie Howell, it’s available on BBC Sounds!”
“Our choices include Dvorak’s New World Symphony, a film score by Quincy Jones, a mesmerising piano miniature by Nadia Boulanger, and some classic Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. Look out for some of my future guests including pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason, double bassist Sam Becker, and former ‘BBC Introducing’ pianist and sound artist Belle Chen. ‘This Classical Life’ is also available as a podcast on BBC Sounds and you can visit the show’s page here“.
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{
"pile_set_name": "Pile-CC"
}
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Lycium brevipes
Lycium brevipes is a species of flowering plant in the nightshade family known by the common name Baja desert-thorn. It is native to northwestern Mexico and it occurs in California as far as the Sonoran Desert as well as some of the Channel Islands. It grows in the scrub of desert and coastline. It is also used as a southwestern landscaping plant. This is a bushy, spreading shrub approaching a maximum height of with many long, thorny, tangled branches. The branches are lined with small, fleshy green leaves up to long and coated with glandular hairs. The inflorescence is a small cluster of tubular flowers roughly long including the calyx of sepals at the base. The lavender to nearly white corolla is funnel-shaped and has 2 to 6 lobes at the mouth. The five stamens and one style protrude from the flower. The fruit is a bright red spherical berry about a centimeter wide containing many seeds. The berries attract birds.
References
External links
Jepson Manual Treatment
brevipes
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{
"pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)"
}
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Brickshelf member, YOGURT, has created some AWESOME LEGO models of Megatron. Sure, anyone can dream up and build a transformer out of LEGO bricks. But can your models TRANSFORM? Didn’t think so. Check pat the break for the complete step by step transformation of Megatron from Gun to Robot form.
[via Brickshelf]
EDITED: For correct usage of the word LEGO
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{
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
}
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# coding: utf-8
"""
Kubernetes
No description provided (generated by Swagger Codegen https://github.com/swagger-api/swagger-codegen)
OpenAPI spec version: v1.7.4
Generated by: https://github.com/swagger-api/swagger-codegen.git
"""
from __future__ import absolute_import
import sys
import os
import re
# python 2 and python 3 compatibility library
from six import iteritems
from ..configuration import Configuration
from ..api_client import ApiClient
class AdmissionregistrationApi(object):
"""
NOTE: This class is auto generated by the swagger code generator program.
Do not edit the class manually.
Ref: https://github.com/swagger-api/swagger-codegen
"""
def __init__(self, api_client=None):
config = Configuration()
if api_client:
self.api_client = api_client
else:
if not config.api_client:
config.api_client = ApiClient()
self.api_client = config.api_client
def get_api_group(self, **kwargs):
"""
get information of a group
This method makes a synchronous HTTP request by default. To make an
asynchronous HTTP request, please define a `callback` function
to be invoked when receiving the response.
>>> def callback_function(response):
>>> pprint(response)
>>>
>>> thread = api.get_api_group(callback=callback_function)
:param callback function: The callback function
for asynchronous request. (optional)
:return: V1APIGroup
If the method is called asynchronously,
returns the request thread.
"""
kwargs['_return_http_data_only'] = True
if kwargs.get('callback'):
return self.get_api_group_with_http_info(**kwargs)
else:
(data) = self.get_api_group_with_http_info(**kwargs)
return data
def get_api_group_with_http_info(self, **kwargs):
"""
get information of a group
This method makes a synchronous HTTP request by default. To make an
asynchronous HTTP request, please define a `callback` function
to be invoked when receiving the response.
>>> def callback_function(response):
>>> pprint(response)
>>>
>>> thread = api.get_api_group_with_http_info(callback=callback_function)
:param callback function: The callback function
for asynchronous request. (optional)
:return: V1APIGroup
If the method is called asynchronously,
returns the request thread.
"""
all_params = []
all_params.append('callback')
all_params.append('_return_http_data_only')
all_params.append('_preload_content')
all_params.append('_request_timeout')
params = locals()
for key, val in iteritems(params['kwargs']):
if key not in all_params:
raise TypeError(
"Got an unexpected keyword argument '%s'"
" to method get_api_group" % key
)
params[key] = val
del params['kwargs']
collection_formats = {}
resource_path = '/apis/admissionregistration.k8s.io/'.replace('{format}', 'json')
path_params = {}
query_params = {}
header_params = {}
form_params = []
local_var_files = {}
body_params = None
# HTTP header `Accept`
header_params['Accept'] = self.api_client.\
select_header_accept(['application/json', 'application/yaml', 'application/vnd.kubernetes.protobuf'])
# HTTP header `Content-Type`
header_params['Content-Type'] = self.api_client.\
select_header_content_type(['application/json', 'application/yaml', 'application/vnd.kubernetes.protobuf'])
# Authentication setting
auth_settings = ['BearerToken']
return self.api_client.call_api(resource_path, 'GET',
path_params,
query_params,
header_params,
body=body_params,
post_params=form_params,
files=local_var_files,
response_type='V1APIGroup',
auth_settings=auth_settings,
callback=params.get('callback'),
_return_http_data_only=params.get('_return_http_data_only'),
_preload_content=params.get('_preload_content', True),
_request_timeout=params.get('_request_timeout'),
collection_formats=collection_formats)
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Github"
}
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A doctor shows phosphorus bomb injuries in Gaza. Warning: contains graphic footage of war injuries International Solidarity Movement
Video showing injuries consistent with the use of white phosphorus shells has been filmed inside hospitals treating Palestinian wounded in Gaza City.
Contact with the shell remnants causes severe burns, sometimes burning the skin to the bone, consistent with descriptions by Ahmed Almi, an Egyptian doctor at the al-Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.
Almi said the entire body of one victim was burned within an hour. It was the first time he had seen the effects of what he called a "chemical weapon".
The Israeli military has denied using white phosphorus during the assault on Gaza, but aid agencies say they have no doubt it has been used.
"It is an absolute certainty," said Marc Garlasco, a senior military analyst at Human Rights Watch. He had seen Israeli artillery fire white phosphorus shells at Gaza City, Garlasco said.
The shells burst in the air, billowing white smoke before dropping the phosphorus shell.
Garlasco said each shell contains more than 100 incendiary rounds, which ignite and pump out smoke for about 10 minutes.
Severe respiratory problems can result in anyone exposed to the smoke and burning chemical particles that rain down over an area the size of a football pitch.
According to the International Solidarity Movement, many patients at the hospital near Khan Younis were suffering from serious breathing difficulties after inhaling smoke.
Human Rights Watch compares the use of white phosphorus shells over Gaza to the impact of cluster munitions, which scatter "bomblets" over a wide area. Children may kick and play with a lump of phosphorus, stirring up the embers and producing more fire and smoke.
The use of white phosphorus as a weapon – as opposed to its use as an obscurant and infrared blocking smoke screen – is banned by the UN's third convention on conventional weapons, which covers the use of incendiary devices. Though Israel is not a signatory to the convention, its military manuals reflect the convention's restrictions on using white phosphorus.
Israel initially claimed that it was not using white phosphorus. It later explained that shells being loaded for a howitzer, identified from photographs as phosphorus rounds, were empty "quiet" shells used for target marking. However, images of exploding shells and showering burning fragments are now acknowledged by independent observers as having been phosphorus.
At the centre of the controversy is the way white phosphorus air burst shells have been used in heavily built-up urban areas, with an overwhelmingly civilian population.
The M825A1 rounds, which are the kind identified as being fired by Israeli forces, are made primarily for use as a smokescreen in a way that limits their effect as an incendiary weapon, experts say.
Neil Gibson, a technical adviser to Jane's Missiles and Rockets magazine, said the shells did not produce high-velocity burning fragments like conventional white phosphorus weapons once did.
Instead, he said, they produced a "series of large slower burning wedges which fall from the sky". The wedges would then ignite spontaneously in the air and fall to the ground, burning for five or 10 minutes, he said.
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{
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
}
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#!/usr/bin/env python
# Copyright (c) 2009 Google Inc. All rights reserved.
# Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style license that can be
# found in the LICENSE file.
import os
import sys
# Make sure we're using the version of pylib in this repo, not one installed
# elsewhere on the system.
sys.path.insert(0, os.path.join(os.path.dirname(sys.argv[0]), 'pylib'))
import gyp
if __name__ == '__main__':
sys.exit(gyp.script_main())
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Github"
}
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Uniontown Historic District
Uniontown Historic District may refer to:
Uniontown Historic District (Uniontown, Alabama)
Uniontown Historic District (Uniontown, Maryland)
|
{
"pile_set_name": "Wikipedia (en)"
}
|
When Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Houston, Texas, the city’s biggest sports star, Texans defensive end J.J. Watt, set out to raise $200,000 for Harvey’s victims on the crowdfunding website YouCaring. Less than a week later, he’s already raised nearly $15 million – and counting.
He’s far from alone. His teammate, offensive lineman Jeff Allen, is donating money for every offensive touchdown the team scores this year to the Houston Food Bank. Every NFL team has tweeted out links to Red Cross donations in support of Houston. The Green Bay Packers donated $100,000 to Houston Flood Relief Fund, the Baltimore Ravens donated $1 million, Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett announced a campaign in support of Harvey victims. And that’s just the NFL.
You know who hasn’t encouraged people to donate money to relief efforts, or even so much as tweeted out a link to the American Red Cross’s campaign?
President Donald Trump.
Trump did visit Texas this week, but he did not (depite his initial claims) witness any of the devastation first hand, offer any sympathy for those who lost their lives, or promote any of the relief organizations on the ground, which particularly irked Alyssa Mastromonaco, who formerly served as the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for President Obama.
“That moment is a moment to stand there with relief organizations on television and say, ‘Give to these guys,'” Mastromonaco said on the politics podcast Pod Save America this week. “That’s how they raise money. That was one of the most important things President Obama did when we went to these places. We stood with FEMA, and the Red Cross, and local food kitchens and said, ‘These people are helping. Give them money.'”
In the past week, Trump has pardoned a racist convict, yammered about TV ratings, bragged about crowd sizes, attacked Hillary Clinton, marveled at HISTORIC rain falls, angrily tweeted about fake news, and talked about cutting taxes for the country’s wealthiest people. Oh, and he’s hocked Trump-branded hats — as a fundraiser for his own campaign, not for Harvey victims. So, you know, he’s been busy.
Thankfully, the sports world — which doesn’t often play the role of “good guy” these days — has been stepping up.
In the NBA, the owner of the Houston Rockets is donating $10 million to the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund, and the owner of the Miami Heat is donating $2 million to relief efforts. In the MLB, the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers have pledged $4 million and $1 million, respectively, to relief efforts. The Arizona Diamondbacks raised over $370,000 for Harvey relief.
The Houston Dash of the National Women’s Soccer League have raised more than $10,000, and have partnered with the Houston Dash and Major League Soccer to donate a combined $1 million to relief efforts. Proceeds from Sunday’s Dash match against the Seattle Reign will go to Harvey victims, and the Dynamo and Dash opened their stadium for physical donations, such as baby food, diapers, wheelchairs, and toiletries.
WNBA players from around the league, including Houston natives Brittney Griner and Chiney and Nneka Ogwumike, have been holding fundraisers and donating to campaigns. The Washington Mystics of the WNBA have teamed up the the Red Cross to send care packages to victims, and are donating a portion of ticket sales from their game on Friday night to relief efforts. The NHL and the NHLPA have donated $200,000 to the Red Cross. College basketball teams across the NCAA are donating clothing and shoes to those displaced, and the list just goes on and on and on.
In these troubling times, sports organizations big and small are providing a much-needed dose of leadership, empathy, and generosity.
Watt, particularly, has been paving the way. He’s been talking to those who survived Hurricane Katrina to figure out what went right and wrong in the relief efforts there, and he’s also being very transparent about where the donations are going.
“My first phase is what I’m doing is this weekend, my teammates and I have semi-trucks rolling in from out of town that we filled up,” Watt told CNN. “We have about nine semi-trucks that are going to come to town. And we have those all filled with stocks, supplies, water, food, clothing, everything. So, we’re going to give that out this weekend.”
“I’m not just here for the initial fundraiser,” he said. “I’m here to make sure that we take care of you down the road.”
|
{
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
}
|
How the South Won the GOP and Lost the 2016 Election
MOST POPULAR
Last week I discussed the so-called Southern strategy whereby Republicans replaced Democrats as the dominant party in the South. I concluded that it was less a case of Republicans taking over the South than the South taking over the GOP. Today I want to explain what I meant.
When Southerners were attacked by Northern abolitionists for the horrible institution of slavery, Southerners naturally reacted defensively. One place they found comfort was the Bible, which has many passages in both the Old Testament and New Testament that defend the institution of slavery. For example, Ephesians 6:5-7 says:
“Slaves, be obedient to those who are your earthly masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as to Christ; not in the way of eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with good will as to the Lord and not to men….”
This tended not only to make Southerners devout Christians, but to adopt a very literal interpretation of the Bible. As the historian Clement Eaton explains, in defending themselves, “the argument that the Southerners leaned upon most heavily…was the sanction of the Bible, derived from a literal interpretation.”
This fundamentalist or evangelical style of Christianity has remained very popular in the South down to the present day and helped Republicans make inroads in that region in the 1970s, when conservative Christians became a politically potent force.
Although Richard Nixon and the GOP sought votes in the South following passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, it is important to note that Democrats remained entrenched at the state and congressional level. That didn’t begin to change until long after Nixon left office.
The 1974 election was really the pivotal event in terms of switching Southern political loyalties. For generations, the generally conservative Southern Democrats had remained in the generally liberal Democratic Party because liberals didn’t mess with the one thing that mattered to them: seniority in Congress and the pork barrel spending that came with it.
Ironically, Republicans strongly contributed to the power of Southern Democrats in Congress. The two brief periods of Republican control in 1946-48 and 1952-54 came largely at the expense of Northern Democrats, thus allowing the Southerners to gain seniority. In the 1950s and 1960s, Southern Democrats chaired many of the most powerful committees in Congress, which they used to funnel federal money to their mostly poor states.
Northern liberals were disgusted by the racist Southerners and even more disgusted by their dependence upon them to maintain control of Congress. But after the huge Democratic victory in 1974 in the wake of Watergate and Nixon’s resignation, the liberals decided that they no longer needed their retrograde Southern brethren.
A number of Southern Democrats were stripped of their committee chairmanships, including Rep. Bob Poage of Texas from the Committee on Agriculture, Rep. F. Edward Hebert of Louisiana from Armed Services, Rep. Wright Patman of Texas from Banking, and Rep. Wilbur Mills of Arkansas from Ways and Means. Additionally, a number of changes were made to the House and Senate rules to diminish the power of Southerners to block legislation, which had impeded civil rights bills for decades.
Suddenly, Southern conservatives had no reason whatsoever to stay in the Democratic Party and they were now highly receptive to Republican outreach. The growing power of African Americans in the Democratic Party in the South also tended to push white conservatives out.
Aiding the Republicans was the growing political involvement of religious conservatives in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion. They felt that their values and religious beliefs were under political assault and they fought back at the ballot box, which mainly benefitted Republicans, who actively courted them.
All that was left to complete the Republican takeover of the South was an active ground game. In the mid-1970s there really wasn’t much of a Republican Party in the South. Conservative Southern Democrats generally ran unopposed and frequently voted with Republicans in Congress—except on that critical vote to organize Congress, in which they voted with the liberal Democrats.
The Republican most responsible for turning the South Republican was Rep. Newt Gingrich of Georgia, a Republican elected in 1978. A firebrand, he convinced his party that it was a big mistake to give conservative Southern Democrats an electoral pass because they held precisely those seats most amenable to Republican takeover. Gingrich began pressuring them by recruiting good candidates, helping organize the GOP in the South, raising money, and persuading conservative Democrats to switch parties, which many did.
Aiding the Republican effort was the creation of majority black districts in the South as required by the Voting Rights Act. This tended to dilute the Democratic congressional vote and create swing districts around the central cities where most African Americans lived.
It took a long time for conservative Democrats to retire or become Republicans, for redistricting to improve Republican fortunes and for the party of Abraham Lincoln to make inroads where it had been nonexistent in its entire history. But by 1994, the Gingrich strategy paid off and Republicans took control of Congress.
Just as Democrats had depended on the South to maintain their congressional control for generations, Republicans now depend on that region to maintain theirs. This has made the GOP ever more sensitive to issues that especially resonate with Southerners—abortion, gun control, low taxes and a hard line on immigration.
In the process, the liberal wing of the Republican Party completely ceased to exist. Just as all conservative Democrats became Republicans, all liberal Republicans became Democrats. Thus for the first time in American history, our two major parties are ideologically uniform—all the conservatives are in one party and all the liberals are in the other.
Since the GOP is now vitally dependent on maintaining its position in the South, I believe that the South now controls the Republican Party to a much greater extent than it controls the South. This makes it very hard for a Republican presidential nominee to reach out for moderate and swing voters in the North and West.
In effect, the price Republicans pay for holding Congress, by way of the South, is that its presidential nominees become unelectable. Republicans don’t yet believe this, but when they lose again in 2016, at least some will be forced to accept it.
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The UN refugee agency has said fighting over Libya’s capital Tripoli has displaced more than 105,000 people since April, when a Libyan commander launched an offensive to take the city from the UN-backed government.
The UNHCR tweeted on Friday that its relief aid could only reach about 2,200 out of 21,000 displaced families.
In April, the self-styled Libyan National Army of commander Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive on Tripoli.
Haftar, who is based in eastern Libya, boasts support from key Arab governments, but his military campaign has so far resulted in a stalemated conflict, AP said.
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— The parents of a 6-year-old girl say her quick thinking saved the life of her little brother.
The girl was traveling in a GMC Yukon when another vehicle hit it Saturday. It happened on Highway 210 in Angier.
"It was on fire,” daughter Alexis Pencola said Wednesday.
The SUV caught fire immediately after being struck.
"All I thought about was the truck was going to explode. The trooper told me that doesn't happen, only in movies, but that's what you think about,” mother Chrystal Pencola said.
The Highway Patrol said the Yukon slid about 83 feet before stopping.
"I couldn't get my seatbelt off, the door wouldn't open and my kids were in the back,” Chrystal Pencola said.
So it was up to Alexis, 6, to get her 3-year-old brother, Tyler, out of the vehicle. The airbags had deployed and the automatic locks had shut down.
"I unlocked his seatbelt and I unlocked mine and I unlocked my door and everything,” Alexis Pencola said.
"She could have just gotten out and ran from being scared. She could have locked up and not even been able to get the door open or even get her seatbelt off, but she didn't,” Chrystal Pencola said. "We are blessed. We are very blessed that none of us were hurt or killed."
The driver of the vehicle that hit the Pencola family was charged with failure to yield.
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