question stringlengths 14 1.69M | answer stringlengths 1 40.5k | meat_tokens int64 1 8.18k |
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Tilley Associates continued to work with the team at MOO to create their third lookbook and then repurposed as a barrelfold. The printed pieces were mailed out to new and existing small business customers, aiming to showcase the full range of MOO products.
The barrelfold was produced for U.K., U.S., Canadian, French, German and Australian customers.
Creative services: concept, art direction, shoot production, post production, graphic design, layout and artwork.
Tilley Associates worked with the team at Harvey Nichols to create their Gift Guide and Hamper brochure.
Creative services: art direction, shoot production, post production, graphic design, layout and artwork.
Following the huge success of Volume One, Tilley Associates worked with photographer Martyn Goddard to create Volume Two celebrating his extensive archive of rock 'n' roll and car photography.
Creative services: graphic design, image selection and composition, layout and artwork, full print production.
Tilley Associates have a longstanding relationship with Land Securities and have worked on the Christmas campaigns for both One New Change and Create Victoria. Deliverables include a brand refresh and a range of assets across print and digital platforms, including a high profile out-of-home campaign.
Creative services: concept, graphic design, layout, animation and artwork.
Tilley Associates worked on a brand evolution for One New Change, the City of London's premium shopping destination. The campaign was designed to work flexibly across all platforms. The rebrand was launched with a specific Christmas campaign.
Creative services: concept, art direction, graphic design, layout, animation and artwork.
Tilley Associates worked with Divine Chocolate to produce a brand new product for Christmas – the Divine Chocolate Tasting Set. We also produced packaging for their Easter Egg range.
Creative services: concept, graphic design, packaging layout.
Tilley Associates worked in collaboration with Harvey Nichols to create a Menswear magazine for AW16.
Creative services: graphic design consultation, layout and artwork.
Tilley Associates continued to work with the team at MOO to create their second lookbook. The book<|fim_middle|> seasons, Tilley Associates created the Beauty Confidential magazine, which was inserted into print media and distributed in-store.
We worked with House of Fraser to create seasonal lookbooks, including large format, specialist print finishes, digital e-book, and accompanying press invitations.
Creative services: concept, art direction, model casting, shoot production, post production, copywriting, graphic design, layout and artwork.
Tilley Associates worked with M&S for three years on their school wear brochure, which was inserted into national press.
Creative services: concept, art direction, model casting, location scouting, design, layout and art work.
A selection of projects from the Tilley Associates archive. | was mailed out to new and existing small business customers, aiming to showcase the full range of MOO products.
The lookbook was produced for U.S, French and German customers.
Tilley Associates worked with New Zealand based start-up, Freeride, to create a brand identity with a strong impact.
Creative services: concept, brand identity, website consultancy, graphic design, layout and artwork.
Tilley Associates were appointed to create the Harvey Nichols Christmas Hamper Brochure's for two consecutive years.
Creative services: concept, art direction, model casting, shoot production, post production, graphic design, layout and artwork, full print production.
Tilley Associates worked with Bella di Notte to rejuvenate and reposition the brand. The project included a new logo and identity, packaging, website and new 82-page catalogue.
Creative services: brand development, concept, art direction, graphic design, layout and artwork, website consultancy, print consultancy.
Tilley Associates worked with Yellow Chevron Publishing to create a coffee table book featuring a selection of Classic Car road trips across France.
Creative services: concept, graphic design, layout, artwork and print production.
Appointed for five consecutive | 239 |
Any excuse for a party, I say, and School Holidays is reason enough.
It's become a bit of a habit, throwing an impromptu party-for-no-reason when school is out; a chance to gather friends, and kids-of-friends, eat food and drink coffee. We've had themeless parties-for-no-reason, a Lego party, garden parties and last school holidays, Book Club: Kids Edition.
This led me naturally to the idea of throwing a Book-themed party this time. Invite the kids to dress up, and the mums to bring book-themed food. What could be simpler, right?
For the table, I laid out thin paper-backed picture books and covered them with a $2 white plastic tablecover. Too easy, and cute.
But what you really want to see is the food, right??!
MR HAPPY COOKIES (from Mr Men books): plain packet biscuits topped with circles of rolled out yellow fondant; the face drawn on with chocolate squeeze-tube icing.
CHEESE TOUCH CHEESE N CRACKERS (from Diary of a Wimpy Kid): cheese and crackers!
MAX'S JELLY BOATS (from Where the Wild Things Are): blueberry jelly set in cups; a mandarin segment spiked through with a toothpick and a paper triangle.
EDMUNDS TURKISH DELIGHT (from The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe): Turkish Delight. From a packet.
To drink we had NIGHTLOCK BERRY PUNCH (from The Hunger Games) and LASHINGS OF GINGERBEER (from Famous Five; grab the free printable labels below).
There were no book games or activities (though I did briefly consider a Book Quiz); this is not a birthday party after all. It's a chance for the mummies to get together and drink coffee while the kids rampage through the house with their friends on a rainy day, where they might otherwise be stuck inside, bored.
Can you figure out who they are dressed up as???
So at out school holiday book party we ate book themed food, drank book themed drink, and hung out with our friends while the rain fell and the wind blew<|fim_middle|> stuck inside on our own.
Have you ever thrown an impromptu party? You should try it sometime. It's fun. | . It was loud. It was crazy. It was messy.
But it was so much better than being | 21 |
You may still be able to book by calling the hotel at 415-563-1234.
Because of its proximity to a variety of attractions, vacation<|fim_middle|> on Room 77. Room 77 is the only hotel shopping site that includes special discounts like AAA, senior, government, military, and corporate rates. | ing families and travelers who wish to stay in the heart of San Francisco's most popular tourist haunt will love the Hyatt at Fisherman's Wharf. It's just two blocks to the iconic stretch of souvenir shops and seafood restaurants that the area is known for, and Pier 39 -- where sea lions bask in the sun as sightseers snap photos -- is less than a half-mile from the hotel. Guests will find a barrage of welcomed on-site amenities, such as 24-hour fitness and business centers, as well as an outdoor pool and hot tub. The Hyatt's more than 300 spacious guest rooms are as stylish as they are comfortable, and come complete with modern amenities like flatscreen TVs and iPod-compatible alarm clocks. But when you're this close to the water, you may actually not need that alarm clock, as the fog horns in the early morning fog will probably do the trick.
Hyatt Centric Fisherman's Wharf San Francisco is a 4-star hotel located at 555 N Point St, San Francisco, CA 94133, US . Its nightly price usually falls between $109 per night and $1207.34 per night, excluding tax, depending on room category.
$109 per night found for a Room, 1 Queen Bed, Accessible (Shower) room type.
Hyatt Centric Fisherman's Wharf San Francisco sells rooms through sites like Room 77, Expedia, Hotels.com, GetARoom, and many others. Room 77 searches across dozens of different sites to find the lowest discount rates available. The lowest rate we've seen over the last few weeks was found on Room 77. In 1% of the cases we surveyed, all sites offered the same rate. You can compare real-time rates from all of these sites | 383 |
Third Hantavirus Death Reported
Linked to cabins at Yosemite National Park
Scott Rosenfield
Officials on Thursday announced the third hantavirus death of a visitor to Yosemite National Park. As many as 10,000 people may have been exposed to the rodent-borne disease after sleeping in the park's<|fim_middle|> may have been exposed to hantavirus to seek medical attention at the first sign of symptoms."
Via Bloomberg News | cabins this summer. There is no known cure for the hantavirus, which is spread through the feces, urine, and saliva of deer mice. The park concessionaire has sent out letters and emails to all guests who stayed in the Curry Village and High Sierra Camps. "We want to make sure that visitors have clear information about this rare virus and understand the importance of early medical care," Yosemite Superintendent Don Neubacher said. "We continue to work closely with state and national public health officials, and we urge visitors who | 107 |
For many people, the desire to leave the world a better place for having been in it, even if only on an infinitesimally small scale, is closely connected to what gives their life meaning.
The need to be useful, to make the world a better place, to matter, to make a difference, to contribute to society in some way – these are common themes in both religious and atheistic philosophies.
Many teachers, nurses, and doctors choose the careers they do for exactly these reasons. And countless people have given up careers in finance and the corporate world, and moved into more altruistic types of work, for these reasons too.
And it's not just through our choice of career that we act altruistically. Volunteering for a community organisation or donating to a charity – the ways in which we act in altruistic ways on a daily basis are endless. Even small acts of kindness and generosity – to family and friends, to neighbours, even to complete strangers – can bring a sense of meaning and a feeling of connection.
As a psychologist, I know that a large part of what motivates me to work hard and do the best for my patients is a desire to make a positive difference to their lives.
And, as with any form of altruistic act, it's not just the people that we interact with directly that benefit. The ripple effect of altruism means that making a positive difference to one person's life may well have a positive knock-on effect, to a greater or lesser extent, on an incalculable amount of people with whom they are connected.
There are also people who turn what might have been a negative thing in their life, like an illness<|fim_middle|> in altruistic ways: because we want to be as seen as good by others; as a way of securing our place in heaven; because at an evolutionary level we are genetically programmed to help out other members of our species (with the, albeit unconscious, hope of them one day helping us out in return).
There are many, many other supposed reasons, and I don't doubt that there is some truth to a great deal of them. I would agree that it is extremely likely that many of these factors are at play when we act altruistically.
Surely not even the most cynical evolutionary biologist or sociologist can dispute that?
Tags: altruism, blogging101, finding meaning. Bookmark the permalink. | or an accident, into something more positive by acting in altruistic ways. For example, for some amputees and wheelchair users, being a role model to younger people in a similar situation can bring meaning to their lives.
And people diagnosed with terminal illnesses can also find great meaning in the last months of their lives through doing things for others. A recent example would be the inspirational British teenager Stephen Sutton who raised £5 million for the Teenage Cancer Trust before he died, aged only 19, after a four year battle with bowel cancer.
Of course we've all heard the argument that there is no such thing as a truly altruistic act; that man is fundamentally a selfish being and does nothing for anyone else unless it will benefit him in some way.
There are multiple theories as to what it is that motivates us to behave | 168 |
Matter and Form 3D Scanner V2 +Quickscan Review
By Tony Hoffman
https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/matter-and-form-3d-scanner-v2-plusquickscan
The Matter and Form 3D Scanner V2 +Quickscan has much faster scan speeds, but a higher price, than its predecessor.
$749.99 at Amazon
Much faster scanning thanks to +Quickscan.
Lets you combine multiple scans to improve scan quality.
Saves scans in several useful formats, including ones that will preserve color or texture data.
Higher list price, and considerably higher selling price, than the original.
Variable scan quality.
Needs a well-lit space for best results.
The successor to the original Matter and Form 3D Scanner, the Matter and Form 3D Scanner V2 +Quickscan ($749) offers improved speed and, according to the company, an improved bed assembly for better accuracy. This laser-based 3D object scanner, geared to consumers and hobbyists, can scan small objects and save the scans as 3D files for importing into a virtual environment or printing out on a 3D printer. Although scan speeds were better in the V2 in our testing, quality wasn't notably improved, and the new device also comes with a $100 boost in list price, which—coupled with the original Matter and Form 3D Scanner now being steeply discounted—will make upgrading less desirable for some. Well-heeled artists, archivists, and hobbyists (as well as folks in need of quicker scans) may want to invest in the V2 for its better speed and design.
The World of Turntable 3D Scanners
Like its predecessor, but unlike the Occipital Structure Sensor —a 3D sensor that attaches to an iPad to provide 3D scanning, mapping, and other functions—the V2 is a dedicated 3D scanner that's controlled from a computer. Its turntable design is very similar to that of the MakerBot Digitizer. The Ortery 3D MFP, an enormous self-contained product photography studio for which 3D scanning is just one of many features, also uses a turntable design.
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The V2's appearance is identical to that of the Matter and Form 3D Scanner , apart from a different color scheme—it is almost all black with a small amount of white trim inside, while the original scanner was black with a mostly white interior. When closed, it looks like a box with a handle. When you stand it on end, it measures 13 by 5 by 3 inches (HWD).
One side of it can unfold outward to reveal a 7-inch turntable. The handle swings down to act as a riser to keep the turntable, which holds the object to be scanned, level. The remaining tall side holds the scan elements—a camera, flanked by three lasers, two red and one green—set on a carriage that can move vertically.
Matter and Form 3D Scanner
Read Our Matter and Form 3D Scanner Review
Read Our Occipital Structure Sensor Review
Ortery 3D MFP
Read Our Ortery 3D MFP Review
Before you start scanning, you must download the MFStudio +Quickscan software from the Matter and Form site after registering for a free, password-protected account. Once you've set up the software and attached the scanner to your computer via the included USB cable, you calibrate it using a calibration target with a checkerboard pattern on it, a two-step automatic process.
Be aware that the V2 is very finicky regarding lighting. As the user guide says, situations to avoid are uneven lighting, direct sunlight, spotlights (or other lights) shining on the scanner, variable (in brightness) lighting, and no lights. Finding the best-lit location for your scanner may take some trial and error. Lighting was perhaps the main determinant of scan quality in my test scans. Some that were done in poor lighting clearly suffered.
With the software open, you are given the choice of starting a new Project (to consist of multiple scans of the same object), which you then give a filename to, or continuing with an existing project. In the scan interface, the controls are on the left side, while the right side of the screen is open to show the object to be scanned.
Before you start scanning, you can adjust the Geometry and Texture settings, as well as the Scan Path. Geometry really means exposure, in this case, and to optimize<|fim_middle|> and Form scanner, which is currently deeply discounted, though designers and hobbyists may want to spring for the faster V2.
Matter and Form 3D Scanner V2 +Quickscan
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About Tony Hoffman
As Analyst for printers, scanners, and projectors, Tony Hoffman tests and reviews these products and provides news coverage for these categories. Tony has worked at PC Magazine since 2004, first as a Staff Editor, then as Reviews Editor, and more recently as Managing Editor for the printers, scanners, and projectors team. In addition to editing, Tony has written articles on digital photography and reviews of digital cameras, PCs, and iPhone apps Prior to joining the PCMag team, Tony worked for 17 years in magazine and journal production at Springer-Verlag New York. As a freelance writer, he's written articles for Grolier's Encylopedia, Health, Equities, and other publications. He won an award from the American Astronomical Society for an article he co-wrote for Sky & Telescope. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York and is a regular columnist for the club's newsletter, Eyepiece. He is an active observer and astrophotographer, and a participant in online astronomy projects such as hunting for comets in images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Tony's work as an amateur photographer has appeared on various Web sites. He specializes in landscapes (natural and manmade).
Read the latest from Tony Hoffman
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Matter and Form 3D Scanner V2 +Quickscan $749.99 at Amazon | it you adjust a slider that darkens or lightens your view of the object, as you seek the point where a line formed by the green laser beam is most easily visible. If the beam doesn't appear as a solid line, you may have to adjust your lighting. Also under the Geometry settings is a box to enable high-contrast scanning, which lets you get the best data possible from an object with contrasting colors, such as black and white.
Texture captures color information, which can be preserved, when a scan is important, to .obj format. It is enabled by checking the Capture box under Texture settings. You can also adjust a slider until the object's color looks most realistic.
Scanning in Motion
The Scan Path settings let you control how far the turntable rotates—in case you don't want to scan the entire object—as well as how high the carriage containing the scan elements climbs. If you're scanning an inch-tall object, you can set the V2 to scan just the lowest of its five vertical levels, which will save you a lot of time.
When you initiate a standard scan, the lasers train a beam in a narrow vertical slice on the object. The camera records the reflections from the beams, from which the scanner's software creates a point cloud—a mathematical representation of the object's three-dimensional structure. The turntable rotates slightly, and the two lasers play over the object again.
The process is repeated until the object has been fully rotated. The carriage then rises to the level of the highest point the beam reached on the object (roughly 3 inches), the lasers resume scanning from that point, and the turntable turns the object through another full rotation. The process continues until the entire object is scanned. Depending on how tall the object is, it can take several full rotations to complete the scan. As was true in the original Matter and Form scanner, scans can take up to an hour, depending on how many passes the scan element needs to take.
Scanning in a Flash: Point Clouds and Meshes
The V2 adds +Quickscan, which lets you quickly scan an object's geometry, as well as choose between its two red lasers to do the scan. One of them is closer to the turntable, but it can cast a shadow so that the other may capture more detail. The +Quickscan software can scan an object in mere minutes, with each scan pass taking as little as 65 seconds and a full scan, a few minutes.
While a scan is ongoing, you can see the point cloud forming in the Scan Progress window. The cloud may not look like much, and there may be gaps or spurious points scattered or grouped onscreen. When you have captured a series of scans of an object, you can edit and align them in the Editing window, which by default opens to Point Cloud. (The other option is Mesh.)
Editing is largely removing spurious noise points. You can automatically remove points from the outside, top, or bottom of the scan with the aid of three sliders, and/or use a brush tool to manually select the points to delete. Alignment makes certain that the points from multiple scans line up to form one cohesive object, no matter how the object was oriented in each scan.
The other choice in the editing tab is the Mesh window. Although you could export your creation to either .ply or .xyz, they are point-cloud formats, and few 3D programs can open them. Mesh lets you convert your scans into formats usable by 3D (including 3D-printing) programs. In effect, it creates a virtual mesh consisting of a large number of triangles and other polygons made from linking points, in order to turn a somewhat diffuse set of points into a "substantial" object. To make a mesh from a point cloud, all you do is press the Mesh button. Exported Mesh files can be saved in .obj or .stl, formats extensively used in 3D design and 3D printing.
I scanned a number of small objects with the V2, including one each that I saved in .stl and .obj format and printed out on a LulzBot Mini 2 3D printer. The quality of the scans varied widely, with lighting being a major determining factor, and for the most part, the lighting in PC Labs for the purposes of 3D scanning isn't optimal. On the poorer scans, there was considerable loss in finer detail—for example, with smooth detail appearing bumpy—while the better scans showed little or no obvious loss of detail. The +Quickscan mode provided for much faster scan times without any substantial reduction in quality when I combined several scans of the same object. Overall scan quality seemed about the same as the original Matter and Form scanner.
The V2 Verdict? The Speed "Matters" Most
If you want a 3D scanner to make digital representations of real-world objects for use in 3D printing or design, the Matter and Form V2 +Quickscan 3D scanner can get the job done. The new +Quickscan mode allows for much faster scans. Overall scan quality is satisfactory, comparable to the original Matter and Form 3D scanner.
Although the V2 can scan more quickly than its predecessor and has some other improvements under the hood, its higher price makes it a less-than-essential upgrade for most current Matter and Form users. New users on a budget would do fine with the original Matter | 1,110 |
RPM Announces Three Senior Promotions as Part of Organizational Realignment
MEDINA, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 4, 2018-- RPM International Inc. (NYSE: RPM) today announced that it has promoted Lonny DiRusso to vice president and chief information officer, Matthew Franklin to vice president – information technology, and Gordon Hyde to vice president – operations.
Gordon Hyde (Photo: Business Wire)
"These promotions are being made as part of an organizational realignment that will support our operating improvement initiatives. As seasoned veterans of RPM, Lonny, Matt and Gordy have all been instrumental to the success of our company over the years, and I'm confident their leadership in these new roles will yield outstanding results for RPM and its shareholders,"<|fim_middle|> team together to lead RPM's manufacturing, supply chain and procurement improvement initiatives. He will primarily be focused on driving manufacturing efficiencies, asset optimization and inventory improvement. Hyde began his career at RPM more than 20 years ago as vice president – operations for Zinsser, a former RPM operating company, and subsequently held similar positions at RPM and its Wood Finishes Group before joining RPM Specialty Products Group in 2015. He holds a bachelor's degree in astrophysics from Brown University and an MBA from the University of Michigan.
rgordon@rpminc.com. | stated Sullivan. "We look forward to seeing their respective expertise put to work for RPM on a larger scale as they unlock value in our operations and IT, and drive greater collaboration between our companies worldwide."
In his new role, DiRusso will be responsible for ensuring that RPM's corporate-wide IT program aligns with its overall strategic vision. He will report directly to Frank C. Sullivan, the company's chairman and chief executive officer. Prior to this promotion, DiRusso held the position of vice president – information technology at RPM for the past 13 years and, before that, the titles of director – information technology and management information systems manager. He holds a bachelor's degree in computer information systems from Cleveland State University.
As vice president – information technology, Franklin will be responsible for day-to-day IT support at RPM's corporate headquarters, providing senior oversight of IT initiatives companywide and managing its information security program. Having joined RPM 20 years ago, he previously held the position of senior director – IT operations. Franklin is a member of The Conference Board's CISO Council, where he serves on its executive committee. He holds a bachelor's degree in information management from Myers University.
In his new role, Hyde will be joining colleague Timothy Kinser, also recently appointed as vice president – operations, to | 265 |
When you're headed to<|fim_middle|> for a cultural experience to take home with you, a luau, Kona-side is the only way to go!
This entry was posted on Monday, April 19th, 2010 at 6:28 am and is filed under Misc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. | Hawaii and looking for a luau Kona is THE place to catch the best show on the islands. Whether you're looking for a luau in combination with other fun activities such as snorkeling or whale watching, or you are simply after an authentic Hawaiian experience in tradition and culture, you'll find it here. Let's take a look at the 3 best luaus on the Big Island.Best Luau in Kona #1: Island Breeze LuauThe awesome thing about this luau is that it is held on the former estate grounds of King Kamehameha – perhaps the most famous king in Hawaiian history. You can expect a beautiful shell lei greeting at the King Kamehameha Kona Beach Hotel where you can wander about and absorb the incredible scenery. This luau is also neat because you can take in the Polynesian arts and craft demonstrations at your leisure – and there's quite a bit to take in! From the performers you'll see later at the Island Breeze Polynesian Revue (where you can catch Samoan Fire-Knife Dance!) to the Royal Court processional which gives you a glimpse back through time with its arrival on a traditional outrigger canoe, you'll leave this event feeling fully saturated in Polynesian culture. Menu items include everything Hawaii, from fish to fruits to island cocktails, so you'll leave with a satisfied belly too!Best Luau in Kona #2: Royal Kona Luau "Lava-Legends & Legacies"At this luau in Royal Kona Resort, kids under 5 attend free and the festivities include a traditional lei greeting, Imu Ceremony, an open bar and an all you can eat Polynesian buffet featuring some of the best food you'll find on the islands. This event focuses more on providing you with a spectacular, fast-paced musical journey through the South Pacific island traditions. It is a great luau to catch if talented singers, musicians, dances and drummers rarely seen elsewhere are your cup of tea. Best Luau in Kona #3: Waikoloa Beach Marriott LuauThis Royal Luau prides itself on being the most authentic luau and show on the island. It takes place at a gorgeous ocean front setting, at sunset. You'll hear the welcoming sound of a conch shell that marking the beginning of the show. The Imu ceremony starts things off (the uncovering of the steam roasted suckling pig is not to be missed!) and is followed by a train of delectable Hawaiian dishes served at the buffet. Having the opportunity to eat under the Hawaiian stars while being serenaded by traditional music and dance creates an eerie, dream-like quality that you'll never forget, making this luau an incredible way to spend an evening on the Big Island. If you're visiting the Big Island and looking | 579 |
<|fim_middle|>.
Following that, he spent 10 years as a Freelancer on the road with artists such as Jackson Browne, Steely Dan, John Fogarty, and many others. Tom worked his way up from 2ndSystems Engineer, to monitors, front of house, and Production Manager.
In 2015, Tom began freelancing for Pro Systems while still on the road. He joined us full-time in 2018 as an A1 and Production Manager. Tom brings a strong industry knowledge base, having toured with many different companies and having worked with many different types of shows. Tom is organized in his thinking and in his work. He brings a professionalism and job ownership to each of the shows he works on.
Tom is passionate about the magical part of our industry: "I love being a part of something that can never be recreated in quite the same way. If it's live, it's a gift we give. It's something people can hold in their hearts and in their memories. In our work, we get to take people away from their troubles and they can forget about them for a while. If you're the person/company giving that to people, I feel that's good for humanity."
Contact Direct: [email protected]
© 1996-2020 Pro Systems. All Rights Reserved. 8525 Camino Santa Fe. Ste D, San Diego, CA 92121 • (858) 430-0330Website Designed by Intrepid Network, Inc. | Event Productions
Installations & Service
Pro Systems is the solution for everything in audio visual and event production services.
Tom Laveuf, Production Manager
Tom began his career in audio in 2004, working for Beach Sound & Lighting in Florida as a warehouse intern. There, he developed his skills as a Sound Engineer, doing everything from weddings to multi-stage music festivals | 77 |
On the 12th February 2019, Birmingham City play Bolton Wanderers in this Championship event. Kick-off time is 19:45 - Bet on this match with betting sites and claim special betting offers below.
There aren't any specific offers available right now for Birmingham City<|fim_middle|> of English football. | v Bolton Wanderers event.
Newsletter Subscription. If you would like to keep up to date with the latest City of Birmingham Gymnastics Club news then please feel free to join our mailing list.
About our Birmingham City news... NewsNow aims to be the world's most accurate and comprehensive Birmingham City news aggregator, bringing you the latest Blues headlines from the best Birmingham sites and other key regional and national news sources.
Match Previews Preview: Derby County vs. Bolton Wanderers 12 April 2019. Bolton Wanderers head to Derby County on Saturday afternoon in a Sky Bet Championship away clash.
Bolton Wanderers Football Club (/ ˈ b oʊ l t ən / ) is a professional football club in Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier | 167 |
For the second straight year, Phillies pitching prospect Jarred Cosart was named to the MLB All-star Futures Game's Team USA roster. This time around was different, however, as Cosart was injured last season and unable to attend the game. With a clean bill of health this year, the Texas native saw action in the premiere annual exhibition for all of the sport's top prospects.
In Arizona on Sunday night, Cosart and his battery mate for the past two seasons, Sebastian Valle, showed why each of them are highly regarded prospects. The 21-year-old righty Cosart sparkled in relief, throwing a perfect 8th inning, in which he struck out 2 batters. Valle, a 20-year-old Mexico native, slapped a game tying RBI double for the World Team in the 6th inning and later flied out in the contest.
Valle's run scoring hit pulled the game even, at<|fim_middle|> In 54 games, the righty hitting Valle has posted a .324 average with 14 doubles, 2 triples, 3 homers and 28 RBI. Valle was signed as a non-drafted free agent at age 16 in 2006.
Cosart, who dazzled fans and opposing batters with his 97-98 MPH fastball in the Futures contest, has been sharp as a member of a highly regarded High A level Clearwater Threshers starting rotation. In 16 starts, Cosart has a 7-6 record with a 3.23 ERA and a .220 batting average against.
A 38th round draft selection in 2008, Cosart was sidelined last season after a June start in which he felt elbow pain. Surgery was not required, but Cosart was forced to rest for the remainder of the season, as his club, the Class A Lakewood BlueClaws, repeated as South Atlantic League champions.
As the minor league season rolls on, the duo of Cosart and Valle will continue to lead the Threshers in their playoff hunt, but more importantly, the big league hopefuls will also continue their ascent toward Philadelphia. | 3 runs apiece, before the World Team went ahead in the 8th inning, but Yankees prospect Double A Trenton Thunder catcher Austin Romine put the USA Team back in front for good, in the bottom of the frame, which gave Cosart the win. USA won by a final score fo 6-4.
Both Cosart and Valle were named as Florida State League all-stars this season as well.
The 6-foot-1-inch 180-pound Valle has had a solid offensive season, despite two trips to the disabled list with a thumb injury and a concussion. | 120 |
The UF men's and women's swimming teams collected numerous victories and personal records at Auburn's James E. Martin Aquatics Center in a field with with nine of the 12 teams competing ranked in the top-25 nationally.
The Florida men's and women's swimming teams traveled to Auburn, Alabama, this weekend for the second time in three weeks, as they both competed in the Auburn Invitational.
With the SEC Championships just over one week away, the Gators picked up impressive individual and team performances and gathered critical momentum needed at this point deep in the season.
The field was particularly strong at Auburn's James E. Martin Aquatics Center, with nine of the 12 teams competing ranked in the top-25 nationally. That didn't impede on numerous UF swimmers racking up victories and personal records.
On the No. 6-ranked men's side, freshman Dillon Hillis and junior Drew Clark earned Day<|fim_middle|>2).
With the postseason on the horizon, assistant coach Stephen Jungbluth liked what he saw in his men this weekend.
"We were impressed with their composure under that type of pressure and their ability to focus on the details of performing well," Coach Jungbluth said in a release.
As for the No. 8 ranked women's team, victories and career-bests were bountiful, with strong individual performances by freshman Celi Guzman, sophomore Adrianna DeBoer and juniors Kelsey Dambacher and Jillian Hatch leading a very dominant effort.
Guzman swept the backstroke finals, winning the 100-meter (54.24) and 200-meter (1:57.73) with personal-best times. DeBoer swept the breaststroke finals, capturing the 100-meter (1:01.08) and adding the 200-meter (2:14.52) on personal-best times as well.
Dambacher and Hatch also added victories for the women's squad, winning the 200 free (1:46.56) and the 200-meter butterfly (1:59.76), respectively.
Follow Jack Braverman on Twitter @jack_braverman and contact him at [email protected]. | 1 victories in the 200-meter individual medley final (1:47.45) and the 500-meter freestyle final (4:24.84), respectively.
Day 2 for the men's team saw victories by freshman Miguel Cancel and juniors Viktor Toth and Dakota Mahaffey.
Cancel swam a personal-best time of 3:51.92 to capture the 400-meter individual medley final, while Toth took the 200-meter freestyle final (1:38.90), and Mahaffey added a first-place finish in the 100-meter backstroke final (48.12).
Cancel also added a victory in the 200-meter butterfly final (1:46.40) on a career-best swim, in addition to a season-best time and victory by sophomore Ethan Beach in the 200-meter backstroke final (1:44.0 | 206 |
Nov 12, 3:36 pm Follow Beachcomber On Instagram @beachcombernews
After Wins Against Orange and Wickliffe, Bison Basketball Falls to Chagrin
Sam Thomas and Joe Spero|February 6, 2018
Coach Jon Mannarino calls a play against Chagrin. Photo by Sam Thomas.
The Bison fell short of victory to the Chagrin Falls Tigers 58-48 on Friday, Feb. 2 at Chagrin Falls.
Several of Beachwood's top players returned to the starting lineup.
Despite facing perhaps the toughest team in their conference on the road, the Bison were feeling confident.
With the entire roster available to play, the team was at full strength and ready to show what they had against the conference's best team.
However, the game didn't go in the Bison's favor.
The momentum shifted back and forth between both teams.
It would be the Tigers, however, who would come up victorious at home with a 10-point victory.
In a game where<|fim_middle|> enjoys covering sports teams and players at BHS because sports is his main hobby...
Joe Spero, Sports Editor
Joe Spero, Class of 2020, began writing for the Beachcomber in February of 2018. He covers sports and politics. In addition to writing for the Beachcomber,...
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Bison Sports Highlights
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All The Beachcomber Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest | the environment was hostile, and there was much to prove for both teams, the Bison were certainly disappointed with the outcome of the game.
The team continues their regular season tonight at West Geauga against the Wolverines. Tipoff at 7:30."
The Bison defeated the Orange Lions 68-53 on Jan. 30 at Orange.
Despite Orange being one of the weaker teams in the conference, the matchup was a highly-anticipated rivalry match.
Whether due to their brilliant shooting performance or the enthusiasm of the student section, the Bison were mentally and physically engaged throughout the game.
While Orange had the advantage of playing at home and the Bison were missing some of their top players, the team didn't let that get to their heads.
The Bison never took their foot off the gas throughout the game as they rolled passed the Lions in impressive fashion.
The Bison basketball team soundly defeated the Wickliffe Blue Devils on Friday, Jan. 26 with a final score of 58-41.
The Beachwood Federation of Teachers hosted the annual "Family Fun Night" that evening, which attracted many young children and families to watch the Bison play a solid game at home.
The roaring crowd helped give the team momentum throughout the game
Junior Allon Hardin, who plays both power forward and center, led the Bison defense as the team held the Blue Devils to a 3-point first quarter. Hardin was very pleased with the team's overall performance.
"We all played good and I feel proud about this team," he said. "We're coming back on track after the three game losing streak, and we're on a two-game win streak now… so we're coming back."
Senior small forward Cam Thomas and senior shooting guard Michael Gordon were also critical in the Bison win against Wickliffe, scoring 13 points each.
Orange rivalry
Sam Thomas, Staff Writer
Sam Thomas has been a writer for the Beachcomber since fall of 2017. He | 405 |
Building Love
by Kaelyn Williams & Brooke Williams
The Tale Of Two Kingdoms
by Zimei, Gao
Musings of a Traveler Headed Home
by Thomas Ashley Young
Earl, The Not-So-Great White Shark
by George Neeb
Scottie's Ten Bubble Yawns
by Sanne Rothman
Yara and the Yellow-Headed Parrots
by Yossi Lapid
The Judgment Game
by Eli Pope
by Tracy Tappan
The Importance of Being Ernest<|fim_middle|> which gives a more eerie and intimidating aura when Ava starts acting out of character. I also really enjoyed the romance that blossomed between Lexie and Ryan in the midst of uncovering this major mystery. Overall, the book was highly enjoyable to read. I truly loved every minute of it! I would definitely recommend Sister Lost to those who are looking for a hair-raising novel that will keep you intrigued the entire time!
Lit Amri
In Sister Lost by Brenda Lyne, Lexie Novak and her four-year-old daughter, Ava, move into a house on Washburn Avenue after living with her parents for several years. Lexie's hope to make a good start in her new home with her daughter is derailed by a string of strange events. Her well-behaved daughter throws violent tantrums and Lexie develops dark intentions of hurting her child. Yet they both seem to be back to their normal selves when they step outside the house. Lexie also suffers from nightmares and it starts to affect her job as a nurse. She is determined to find answers to their misery with the help of her neighbor, high school teacher Ryan Laughlin, before she and her daughter kill each other.
The story's opening is dramatic and tense: a perfect start for this contemporary paranormal tale. The dark, frightening events' progress is swift and relentless as the frightful elements are presented in a disturbingly grounded manner. Lexie's bond with her daughter is tested right away as the duo moves into their new home, and the tension serves the plot well as the single mother is already struggling with her body image anxiety and her mother's constant criticism. That being said, Lexie is a character with realistic challenges, and rooting for her and her sweet daughter is easy. The familial bond, particularly between a mother and daughter in this story, is an element that is presented in a relatable way. With a resolution of the mystery that is eerie but moving at the same time, fans of the genre will be pleased with Brenda Lyne's Sister Lost. | Enough
by Tom Beattie
The Double Monetary Hourglass
by Lou Vachon
The Lion in Your Heart
by R.C. Chizhov
Babouc's Vision
by Glenn Searfoss
The Calling Buds Remix
by B. Coyne Davies
Colours of Life
by Md. Taslim
Walk With Me, My Son
by Richard Asmet Awid
Letters to Kim
by Lisa Creech Saleh
by Yvette M Calleiro
Scion of Lightning
by J.T. Moy
I Have to Call Paul!
by Corey Lohan
Sister Lost
by Brenda Lyne
Contact Author - Brenda Lyne
When a single mother and her four-year-old daughter move into their new home, they experience the presence of a sinister entity in the horror story Sister Lost by Brenda Lyne. As soon as she has enough money saved, Lexie buys an older home in the city of Minneapolis and moves in with her four-year-old daughter, Ava. On their first day, Ava has an unprecedented temper tantrum, and Lexie uncharacteristically reacts violently. When Lexie and Ava step out of the house, Ava passes out. When it occurs again, and Lexie collapses, Ryan, the next-door neighbor, offers his help. However, as Lexie unpacks, bizarre occurrences continue to happen, escalating into near-fatal incidents, and she realizes her home has an unfriendly spirit haunting it. With Ryan at her side, Lexie starts investigating the history of her home. As they meet with previous owners, they are shocked to learn the house has a bloody and violent past that goes back decades. Even if Lexie and Ryan find the source of the haunting, can they exorcise the angry ghost?
Filled with horror and suspense, Sister Lost by Brenda Lyne is a spine-tingling supernatural novel. Based on actual incidents, the riveting story captures the imagination and contains the elements in which nightmares are born. Superbly written, the plot held me spellbound and breathless from the first page to the last. The main characters, Lexie and Ryan, are well-rounded and likable, and Ava is enchanting. I admired how Ryan accepts the dramatic problems related to the house without question and assists Lexie and Ava, despite the paranormal aspects. The contrasting elements of fear and courage, rejection and acceptance, evil and love, create an unforgettable and gripping tale that will chill and thrill everyone who loves blood-curdling horror stories with a supernatural twist and a touch of romance. Due to explicit intimate scenes, the story is more suitable for mature readers.
Joanne Ang
Sister Lost is a horror-thriller novel written by Brenda Lyne which is based on a true story. The story starts with Lexie, a single mother who has recently moved into a new neighborhood with her four-year-old daughter, Ava. The start of their new life doesn't go as planned when strange things start occurring in the house, namely the scary thoughts that enter her mind along with the debilitating headaches, and heartburn that never stops unless she steps outside. Not only does the new house affect Lexie, but her normally perky child becomes sullen, filled with nothing but rage. With the help of their neighbor, Ryan, can Lexie and Ava uncover the secrets of the house, or will their life be tormented by the past as long as they stay in that dreaded haunted house?
Sister Lost by Brenda Lyne is a story filled with continuous suspense. This novel kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. The personalities and essences of the characters within the novel were consistent throughout, which I really appreciated. I also really enjoyed the added cheeriness of Ava, | 767 |
Mayor Chuck Cahn joined officials from Woodcrest Elementary School, the Cherry Hill School District, Sustainable Cherry Hill and Recyclebank on Wednesday afternoon to present the Woodcrest Elementary Green Team with a $2,914 Green Schools grant.
The grant, provided through Recyclebank's Green Schools program, will help enhance the school's Peaceful Garden and Learning Center, an outdoor classroom where students receive engaging and interactive lessons on the importance of environmental preservation and sustainability, including nature, geography and nutrition.
"This garden will serve as a beautiful outdoor classroom where our students can reflect on and learn firsthand about the importance of environmental preservation and protection," Mayor Cahn said. "Programs such as Green Schools are a valuable resource for our community at a time when every dollar counts, helping our schools to supplement traditional classroom learning with hands-on experiences that will make a lasting impact on the girls and boys who will someday be our community leaders."
Lessons will be tailored to different grade levels within the school, so that all students can utilize the space.
For example, students will learn about seeds, germination and factors that promote plant growth before they planting in their garden beds. Maintaining and observing the garden will give students a firsthand look at the life cycles of organisms, plant families, insects and characteristics of ecosystems.
Specifically, the funds will help purchase gardening tools and supplies, new raised gardening beds, plants and horticulture and picnic tables<|fim_middle|> the best of Cherry Hill | .
The grant was presented to Woodcrest Principal Dr. Beth Anne Kob and members of the school's Green Team – a group comprising teachers, parents and a handful of fourth- and fifth-grade students who will serve as leaders in the school's environmental education efforts.
"The Recyclebank Green Schools Program is designed to empower youth to become green heroes and make a positive green impact in their community," said Recyclebank's Denise Diorio McVeigh. "We are delighted that students, parents and teachers at the Woodcrest Elementary School will be coming together to expand their garden and create an outdoor classroom for all to enjoy for many years."
The Green Schools program supports environmental education projects in K-12 schools by allowing schools to earn up to $2,500 for Recyclebank Points donated by members of that school's community.
In Woodcrest's case, more than 160 Cherry Hill households donated their points to the project, helping the school to fully reach its goal of $2,414. That was matched by a $500 donation from Domtar, a sponsor of the Green Schools program, bringing the total award amount to $2,914.
"I hope that Woodcrest's successful campaign this year will serve as a model for other Cherry Hill schools to explore and take advantage of grants and other opportunities available from sources such as Recyclebank and programs like Green Schools," Mayor Cahn said. "On every level, this grant award represents the best of Cherry Hill: premier schools, residents who come together to generously support our children, and community partners who share in our vision for the future and continually help make Cherry Hill a better place to live, work and play."
For more information on the Recyclebank Green Schools program, visit https://www.recyclebank.com/about-us/green-schools.
For more information on Woodcrest Elementary's Peaceful Garden Project, visit https://www.recyclebank.com/contest/index/school/id/105/.
⇐Previous Mayor's Message: Cherry Blossoms an annual celebration of communityNext⇒ Mayor's Message: Art Blooms, Earth Festival to showcase | 431 |
25.6% increase in quarterly EBITDA to $<|fim_middle|> EBITDA presents useful information to investors regarding Navios Partners' ability to service and/or incur indebtedness. Navios Partners also uses EBITDA (i) in its credit agreement to measure compliance with covenants such as interest coverage and debt incurrence; (ii) by prospective and current lessors as well as potential lenders to evaluate potential transactions; and (iii) to evaluate and price potential acquisition candidates. | 15.2 million.
PIRAEUS, GREECE, July 28, 2009 - Navios Maritime Partners L.P. ("Navios Partners") (NYSE: "NMM"), an owner and operator of Capesize and Panamax vessels, reported its financial results for the second quarter and six month period ended June 30, 2009.
Ms. Angeliki Frangou, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Navios Partners, stated: "Our financial and operational results have been driven by our focus in the face of a turbulent market and the consistent implementation of our strategy. During a difficult period, we have been able to increase and maintain our distributions. We have also been able to access the capital markets through a successful, traditional "overnight" equity raise and to increase the size of our fleet. This accretive fundraising and acquisition demonstrated our continued ability to grow the company and our commitment to raise money in a shareholder friendly fashion."
Ms. Frangou continued: "The world's economies are stabilizing, and economic growth is projected to be positive in the second half of 2009. Emerging markets are continuing to outperform developed countries, and Navios Partners should be able to benefit from steadier global demand for dry bulk products while also participating in the rebalancing of the global fleet."
Net income was affected during the second quarter by the issuance of 1.0 million subordinated units in connection with the Navios Bonavis (ex TBN I) transaction. For US GAAP, this issuance was recognized as a $6.1 million non-cash expense, computed by reference to the public market price of the common units and without any discount for illiquidity (these subordinated units are not freely tradable). These subordinated units are also ineligible to receive distributions until the third anniversary of their issuance, at which point they will automatically convert into common units and receive distributions in accordance with all other common units ("the Non-Cash Expense").
Throughout this press release, EBITDA for the three and six months ended June 30, 2009 and 2008 represents net income before interest, depreciation and amortization and before the Non-Cash Expense.
Acquisition of All Rights to the Panamax Vessel "Navios Sagittarius"
On June 10, 2009 Navios Partners purchased from Navios Holdings all of the rights to the Navios Sagittarius, a 2006 Japanese-built Panamax vessel with a capacity of 75,756 dwt including a long term charter-out agreement through November 2018. The $34.6 million acquisition was funded with the proceeds from the offering of 3,500,000 units. The Navios Sagittarius is a chartered-in-vessel, and Navios Partners has an option to purchase the vessel, beginning November 2009, at a purchase price that is initially 2.5 billion Japanese Yen ($26.2 million based on the exchange rate at June 30, 2009), declining each year by 120.0 million Japanese Yen ($1.3 million based on the exchange rate at June 30, 2009).
Navios Partners was relieved from its obligation to purchase the Capesize vessel Navios Bonavis (ex TBN I) for $130.0 million and instead was granted a 12-month option to purchase the vessel for $125.0 million. In return, Navios Partners issued to Navios Holdings 1,000,000 unregistered subordinated units. For US GAAP, this issuance was recognized as a $6.1 million Non-Cash Expense.
In connection with this transaction, Navios Holdings was also released, for a two-year period, from the Omnibus Agreement restriction prohibiting Navios Holdings from acquiring qualifying vessels from third parties. Navios Holdings was not released from the requirement that it offer to sell to Navios Partners qualifying vessels in Navios Holdings' existing fleet. Navios Partners also issued 20,408 additional units to General Partner in exchange for $0.2 million.
Following the above transactions, Navios Holding, through the General Partner has contributed $0.9 million to Navios Partners for the issuance of 91,837 additional units.
The Board of Directors of Navios Partners declared a cash distribution for the second quarter of 2009 of $0.40 per unit. This distribution is payable on August 11, 2009 to all holders of record as of August 6, 2009.
Navios Partners has entered into long-term time charters-out for all ten vessels with a remaining average term of 4.4 years, providing a stable base of revenue and distributable cash flow. Navios Partners has currently contracted out 100% of available days for 2009, 100% for 2010 and 80% for 2011 generating revenues of $90.3 million, $96.1 million and $81.0 million, respectively. The average contractual daily charter-out rate for the fleet is $25,887, $26,343 and $27,730 for 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively. The average daily charter-in rate for the active long-term charter-in vessels for 2009 and 2010 is $12,636 and $12,205 respectively.
For the following results and the selected financial data presented herein, Navios Partners has compiled consolidated statement of operations for the three and six month periods ended June 30, 2009 and June 30, 2008. The quarterly 2009 and 2008 information was derived from the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements for the respective periods. EBITDA and Operating Surplus are non-US GAAP financial measures and should not be used in isolation or substitution for Navios Partners' results.
(1) Adjusted for $6.1 million Non-Cash Expense for the release of the obligation to acquire Navios Bonavis (ex TBN I).
Time charter and voyage revenues for the three month period ended June 30, 2009 increased by $4.3 million or 24.0% to $22.2 million as compared to $17.9 million for the same period in 2008. The increase was mainly attributable to the acquisition of the Navios Hope on July 1, 2008, which was operating during the entire three month period ended June 30, 2009 and the acquisition of the rights to the Navios Sagittarius on June 10, 2009.
EBITDA increased by $3.1 million to $15.2 million for the three month period ended June 30, 2009 as compared to $12.1 million for the same period of 2008. This $3.1 million increase in EBITDA was primarily due to a $4.3 million increase in revenue as a result of the increased number of vessels in Navios Partners' fleet. The above favorable variance of $4.3 million was mitigated by: (a) a $0.2 million increase in time charter and voyage expenses; (b) a $0.5 million increase in management fees due to the increase in the number of vessels; (c) a $0.4 million increase in general and administrative expenses due to the increase in the number of owned and chartered-in vessels during the three month period ended June 30, 2009, compared to the respective period in 2008; and (d) a $0.1 million increase in net other expense.
The reserve for estimated maintenance and replacement capital expenditures for the three month period ended June 30, 2009 and 2008 was $2.0 million and $2.3 million, respectively. Expansion capital expenditures for the three month period ended June 30, 2009 and 2008 was $34.6 million and $34.2 million, respectively.
Navios Partners generated an Operating Surplus for the three month period ended June 30, 2009 of $11.4 million in comparison to $5.9 million for the three month period ended June 30, 2008. Operating Surplus is a non-GAAP financial measure used by certain investors to measure the financial performance of Navios Partners and other master limited partnerships (please see Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures on Exhibit 3).
Net income for three months ended June 30, 2009 amounted to $3.6 million compared to $7.2 million for the three months ended June 30, 2008. The decrease in net income by $3.6 million was due to (a) a $6.1 million Non-Cash Expense; and (b) a $1.0 million increase in depreciation and amortization expense. This decrease was mitigated by (a) a $3.1 million increase in EBITDA; and (b) a $0.4 million decrease in interest expense.
Time charter and voyage revenues for the six month period ended June 30, 2009 increased by $11.0 million or 34.0% to $43.3 million as compared to $32.3 million for the same period in 2008. The increase was mainly attributable to the acquisition of the Navios Hope on July 1, 2008, which was fully operating during the three month period ended June 30, 2009 and the acquisition of the rights of the Navios Sagittarius on June 10, 2009.
EBITDA increased by $8.6 million to $29.9 million for the six month period ended June 30, 2009 as compared to $21.3 million for the same period of 2008. This $8.6 million increase in EBITDA was primarily due to the $11.0 million increase in revenue as a result of the increased number of vessels in Navios Partners' fleet. The above favorable variance of $11.0 million was mitigated by: (a) a $0.4 million increase in time charter and voyage expenses; (b) a $1.4 million increase in management fees due to the increase in the number of vessels; and (c) a $0.8 million increase in general and administrative expenses due to the increase in the number of owned and chartered-in vessels during the six month period ended June 30, 2009, compared to the respective period in 2008.
The reserve for estimated maintenance and replacement capital expenditures for the six month period ended June 30, 2009 and 2008 was $3.9 million and $4.4 million, respectively. Expansion capital expenditures for the six month period ended June 30, 2009 and 2008 was $34.6 million and $34.2 million, respectively.
Navios Partners generated an Operating Surplus for the six month period ended June 30, 2009 of $22.0 million in comparison to $13.1 million for the six month period ended June 30, 2008. Operating Surplus is a non-GAAP financial measure used by certain investors to measure the financial performance of Navios Partners and other master limited partnerships (please see Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures on Exhibit 3).
Net income for six months ended June 30, 2009 amounted to $12.6 million compared to $11.0 million for the six months ended June 30, 2008. The increase in net income by $1.6 million was due to (a) $8.6 million increase in EBITDA; (b) a $0.5 million decrease in interest expense and (c) a $0.1 million net increase other income/expense and interest income. This increase was mitigated by (a) a $6.1 million Non-Cash Expense; and (b) a $1.5 million increase in depreciation and amortization expense.
The following table reflects certain key indicators indicative of the performance of Navios Partners and its core fleet performance for the three and six month periods ended June 30, 2009.
generate revenues. (3) Fleet utilization is the percentage of time that our vessels were available for revenue generating available days, and is determined by dividing the number of operating days during a relevant period by the number of available days during that period. The shipping industry uses fleet utilization to measure efficiency in finding employment for vessels.
Navios Partners' management will host a conference call to discuss the results on Wednesday, July 29, 2009, at 8:30 am EDT.
(4) Navios Prosperity is chartered-in for seven years starting from June 19, 2008 and we will have options to extend for two one-year periods. We have the option to purchase the vessel after June 2012 at a purchase price that is initially 3.8 billion Yen ($39.8 million based upon the exchange rate at June 30, 2009), declining pro rata by 145 million Yen ($1.5 million based upon the exchange rate at June 30, 2009) per calendar year.
(5) Navios Aldebaran was delivered on March 17, 2008. Navios Aldebaran is chartered-in for seven years and we have options to extend for two one-year periods. We have the option to purchase the vessel after March 2013 at a purchase price that is initially 3.6 billion Yen ($37.7 million based upon the exchange rate at June 30, 2009) declining pro rata by 150 million Yen ($1.6 million based upon the exchange rate at June 30, 2009) per calendar year.
(6) On June 10, 2009 Navios Partners purchased from Navios Maritime Holdings Inc. the rights to the Navios Sagittarius, a 2006 Japanese-built Panamax vessel with a capacity of 75,756 dwt, for a $34.6 million in cash. The Navios Sagittarius is a chartered-in-vessel, and Navios Partners has an option to purchase the vessel, beginning December 2009, at a purchase price that is initially 2.5 billion Japanese Yen ($26.2 million based on the exchange rate at June 30, 2009), declining each year by 120.0 million Japanese Yen ($1.3 million based on the exchange rate at June 30, 2009).
EBITDA represents net income before interest, depreciation and amortization and before non-cash consideration for the release of the obligation to acquire Navios Bonavis (ex TBN I). Navios Partners uses EBITDA because Navios Partners believes that EBITDA is a basis upon which liquidity can be assessed and | 3,329 |
This 19 page bundle bundle includes three grade levels of animals<|fim_middle|> 2 or 3 a project with sentence frames, grade 3 a habitat writing activity, and writing activity for sorting by adjective identification. Included are two cloze reading activities which are fill in the blank with word banks. There is a grade 5 grammar activity for making singular sentences plural, and plural sentences singular. The grade 5 project includes a student research graphic organizer, and guiding questions sheet for the student research writing project. A sample project is included. | , grades 2, 3 and 5. Grades 2 and 3 include some spiraled vocabulary, and some new. There is also a PPT available that coincides with the grade 2 animals on feelings and animals. This bundle includes three sets of student flashcards that students can cut with scissors and put into plastice bags for reference or to use to practice listening skills for word recognition or for a card game. Included are three vocabulary writing activities with a word bank, one for each vocabulary set. There are three writing / presentational projects, grade | 114 |
Brand Cool
Liam Curley
18 May 2022 — 6 min read
What does it mean for a brand to be cool?
In the past, whilst creating a new media brand for a construction niche, I remember speaking with another marketing professional, telling her that I wanted to build a 'cool brand'. That was what the niche was missing. There were plenty of old fashioned publications in the industry - stuffy types. Something fresh and cool would<|fim_middle|> business, regardless of size. If you produce a quality product, work with an excellent designer to deliver beautiful brand assets, and target a tight niche that needs what you sell, you've got a premium business on your hands.
Research Source: Warren, C., Batra, R., Loureiro, S., & Bagozzi, R. (2019). Brand Coolness. Journal of Marketing, 83(5), 36-56.
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Join the newsletter to receive the latest updates in your inbox. | stand out.
She corrected me, and rightly so, stating that cool didn't mean anything. It was an abstract concept that meant different things to different people. In that context, she was right.
There was a feeling around the brand I was looking for, but labelling it cool didn't tell her what I was trying to build. I needed to get specific about the position.
That said, cool means something positive, and it has value. Think about the brands you'd define as cool. My bet is they have high margins on their product and services.
What's critical is a common understanding of what cool means and why it enables brands to position their business in a premium space.
Well, research has been conducted, using qualitative interviews, to understand how consumers determine whether a brand is cool.
Brands identified as cool don't cover all of these traits (some contradict one another). But, when a brand covers between two or four, they're generally considered cool, and this factor supports their high ticket items.
Brand Cool #1 - Extraordinary
I think of extraordinary, I think of Seth Godin's Purple Cow.
The market thinks your product is of better quality than the alternatives available. Doesn't matter if the product is or isn't better quality. What matters is that the market thinks it's better quality.
You can find examples in every industry. Music and instruments are good examples. Steinway is a cool brand because it has a reputation for being the best quality piano.
If customers notice a drop in quality, the 'cool' factor fades.
In the past, a pair of Dr Martins could last for decades, which was why they had such a cult following. A pair made today, not so much, according to the tribe that were avid fans. Their star fades a little.
No brand was ever high status with a product considered average.
Brand Cool #2 - High Status
Chic, elegant, glamorous, sophisticated.
Think Channel and Louis Vuitton.
These brands are exclusive. They're not available to everyone, which means that their market thinks of them as cool.
It doesn't matter the perception of anyone outside their customer base.
Brand Cool #3 - Aesthetic
To be cool means to be desirable in your market. Desirable means more sales and often better margin. It means queues out the door and pre-orders. Valid for any market, any business.
If the technical team members try to bat away the importance of aesthetics, they're batting away 'selling'.
It's not design over function or function over design.
It's design and function.
Apple built an empire on it, and so have Juul in e-cigs. Study your industry, and you'll likely find similar examples.
Brand Cool #4 - Rebellious
Humans like binary opposites. We want to categorise everything in groups A or B. You're with me or against me. Us vs Them
In 2007, the UK beer market consisted of mass-market lagers and micro brewing cask ales, which generally had a stuffy image.
BrewDog launched with a new position as a modern, 'cool' brand that would offer quality, microbrewed craft beer.
They'd use a 'Punk' anti-establishment personality to carve out the position, creating contrast against the traditional ale producers and the established industrial lager producers.
They'd employ polarising PR campaigns to polarise:
the strongest beer in the world poured through squirrel roadkill
they've hired 'little people' to campaign with them outside the Houses of Parliament.
Some people love the campaigns. Others hate them. This feeds into their punk mentality.
It's cool to fight convention, to follow your own path. When folks in the other camp tell us to hate the brand, it makes us want to love them even more.
Brand Cool #5 - Original
You did yesterday what others are doing today.
It doesn't mean you have no resemblance to anything done before.
You're a copycat when you take ideas from one brand and replicate them. When you take ideas from ten brands across different markets and bring those ideas together to create something new, that's original, that's cool.
Brand Cool #6 - Authentic
Front stage mirrors back stage. Your messages to the public are supported by how you behave behind the scenes.
BrewDog built a brand on outrageous PR campaigns. They championed craft and individuality in an industrial beer market.
But, it's meaningless if they don't support that PR with genuine action to back up this supposed love of craft ale. BrewDog did support the hype with an obsession with beer, demonstrated with a vast back catalogue of expert beer content.
Without the backstage, it's just fluff and hot air.
Brand Cool #7 - Subculture
Many people associate cool brands with those made for a specific subculture.
Take Supreme, a brand for skaters. Everything about the product and brand is made with the subculture in mind. All their clothing is designed to appeal to skaters. Then, they focus all attention on growing status amongst this subculture: influencer marketing, events, product placement, advertising, etc. It's clearly made for skaters, giving the brand the best shot at becoming a high status, 'cool' brand amongst that crowd.
Some brands expand into broader categories, inevitably becoming less 'cool' with the subculture but more accessible to larger markets (e.g. The North Face).
Brand Cool #8 - Energetic
Active, outgoing, youthful.
All of the above are anecdotally associated with 'cool.' Energetic is at the core of them all.
It's not about age. It's about energy.
Desirable brands have energetic personas. A vibrancy. Could be in PR. Could be in design. Pick your industry.
Red Bull is the obvious example, but you could equally display energy as an innovative, enthusiastic real estate brand, sharing videos of yourself exploring locations and hangouts in your area, championing the local town for folks considering relocating there.
Energy is attractive.
Brand Cool #9 - Popular
Counterintuitive to subculture.
When a brand reaches the masses, popular is associated with cool. This is essentially the impact of social proof on a wide scale.
The opposite of niche brands. If you're in a mass market, it's cool to be perceived as popular across cultures and nations. Think Nike.
If you want to sell a premium product, it certainly helps to be considered cool in your market. Some of the characteristics of cool are easier to attain than others. For example, as an SME, you're not going to go after #9 Popular.
Extraordinary, aesthetic, and subculture traits are available to any | 1,364 |
Netbook Sales Expected To Grow To 58 Million
All Tech News > category news Workspace > category news Accessories
Scott Ferguson eWEEK USA 2014. Ziff Davis Enterprise Inc. All Rights Reserved., May 18, 2010, 9:09 am
AccessoriesMacMobilityPCTabletsWorkspace
Research firm ABI predicts the market will keep growing this year with shipments totaling 58 million
The market for netbooks or mini-notebooks is still expanding, with shipments expected to reach 58 million units in 2010, as consumers and business users continue to look for low-cost computing alternatives, according to a report from research firm ABI.
In 2009, netbook shipments topped 36 million units, which was higher that ABI's original forecast of 35 million.
Now, in 2010, ABI is calling for netbook shipments to hit 58 million units by the end of the year. However, the research firm does see the emergence of media tablets<|fim_middle|> 7 Ultrabook Range
Asus Drops Plans For UK Launch Of Seven-Inch Tablet
Author: Scott Ferguson eWEEK USA 2014. Ziff Davis Enterprise Inc. All Rights Reserved. | , such as the Apple iPad and the so-called "Hurricane" from Hewlett-Packard, as having an impact on the netbook market.
Media Tablets
"We expect the netbook market to fragment according to different regional value propositions," ABI analyst Jeff Orr wrote in the 17 May report. "Functionality will be added to mainstream netbook products while at the same time an entry-level netbook solution will grow, with the aim of targeting some large emerging markets (including China and India) where PC penetration is still quite low."
While the market is still very new for these new-style tablets, ABI is calling for shipments to total about 8 million units in 2010. However, those predictions are based on Apple's statements that it has already shipped about 1 million iPads so far.
For now, ABI predicts that the presence of these new tablets will slow the netbook market to a compound annual growth rate of 23 percent.
Boost For IT Industry
For the past three years, netbook sales have helped the PC industry, especially when the U.S. recession hit in late 2008. Since that time, the PC industry has started to return, thanks to sales of laptops, netbooks and a new class of ultrathin, ultraportable notebooks that use cutting-edge Intel and Advanced Micro Devices chips.
In the coming months, both Intel and AMD plan to roll out new platforms to support an entire new generation of netbooks. Intel plans to start offering dual-core Atom processors for netbooks, while AMD plans to enter the market with its Fusion chips, which combine the x86 processor and graphics on the same piece of silicon.
Intel To Shut Down AppUp Online App Store
Samsung Adds To Series | 356 |
I will start with the positive, some progress was made in the bathroom this weekend. Unfortunately the bath tub is still sitting in our garage. Hopefully that will not still be the case after tonight!
As anticipated after the smooth go around with the plumbing last weekend, this one, not so much. I mentioned last week that we had an estimate from a plumber, what I didn't mention was that this plumber on first view of the bathroom asked if we had actually had a tub there before. When I said yes, he asked if I was sure. I wanted to say "Well, we have lived here for several years, but no I'm not sure that I've seen a tub in this bathroom everyday!" But instead I just said "yes". That's about when my confidence in this project slowly diminished. See the plumbing for the<|fim_middle|> replacing) and about 5 trips to Home Depot we think we have successfully gotten everything pieced together.
You can see the purple, all the pieces we had to replace that we didn't intend on. The rest is just fitted together for now. Our goal for today, to get the tub in from the garage and fit everything to make sure it is all aligned. This feels like the biggest hurdle of the entire project! Once this tub is in, it will be full force ahead! I can't wait!
What a nice blog! I was nominated for the Liebster Award, so in order to share the love… I have nominated YOU! You can check it out here http://www.myvintagewindow.com. Congrats! | tub drain was all strange, but somehow it had still worked over the years.
You can see how it looks like a roller coaster, swooping up and down. It's not supposed to do that, dosen't seem like it would be too effective for draining.
After a little set back (cracking one of the PVC pieces we didn't intend on removing or | 74 |
Los filósofos pluralistas eran aquellos filósofos con una norma de principios como lo hacía Empédocles que hablaba de que su arjé (principio básico)<|fim_middle|>ación que usó Aristóteles). Introdujo en la explicación del origen del cosmos un ser inteligente al que llamó Nous: el Nous dotó de movimiento a esa masa quieta y logró que las semillas comenzaran a disgregarse y a chocar entre sí dando lugar a las cosas que hay en la naturaleza. Según Anaxagoras, en todas las cosas hay semillas de todas las cosas.
Luego estaban los atomistas como Leucipo y Demócrito que hablaban de los átomos que todo estaba hecho de algo que no podíamos ver a simple vista, que estaba en todo y que había diferentes tipos de átomos y por eso eran diferentes las cosas. Entre esta corriente de nuevos pensamientos, los pluralistas se muestran más alejados de los aspectos míticos, no como los monistas. Los pluralistas resaltaron el predominio de causas naturales como únicas fuerzas generadoras del cosmos.
Véase también
Monistas
Filósofos presocráticos
Pluralismo
Referencias
Filósofos presocráticos | eran los cuatro elementos y también ponía otros dos: el amor y el odio porque, había algo que atraía (amor) y algo que separaba (odio).
Anaxágoras afirma que el cosmos es fruto de dos principios: una masa compacta e inerte de semillas (spérmata, u homeomerías en la denomin | 80 |
So, in case you're not a Sharks fan, the Sharks have made the playoffs. Again. We're also Pacific Division and Conference champs. Also, again. Usually this would elicit a celebratory cheer, and boasting about how Team Teal is going all the way, but based on past playoff accomplishments I find myself a little reserved. This year, instead of picturing how the Stanley Cup would look at the HP Pavilion, I'm just going to look at each game. So game 1 is Wednesday against the surprising Colorado Avalanche. I hope the HTML line of DannyHeatly, Joe Thornton, and Patrick Marleau come out ready to play, and Nabokov shakes off that disappointing Olympics. So, until<|fim_middle|> | the outcome of Wednesday the beard that's been growing since Saturday stays. It's status will depend on the Sharks performance; a good game with a loss will require some analysis, a win keeps the beard, and a loss means out comes the razor. Game 1 is Wednesday, and though I sound cynical, I'm excited; I want to believe!
Drupalcon is set to start this week, though the meat of the conference starts next week. Looking forward to meeting other Drupalers, learning some new stuff, seeing what Drupal 7 has to offer, and just hanging out with other Drupal Geeks. Hanging out with a Yelp Elitist as we tour some SF eateries this weekend. Some might be an understatement, but I'm glad it's a walking tour. Good times ahead! | 161 |
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Falling In Reverse release trailer for "I'm Not A Vampire" video
Annie Zaleski
On Oct. 24, Falling In Reverse will release the new video for their song "I'm Not A Vampire." Altpress.com is bringing you some behind-the-scenes footage of the video right here in this exclusive photo slideshow–check it out! In the meantime, you can also check out the trailer for the video below. "I'm Not A Vampire" appears on their debut, The Drug In Me Is You, which was out in late July via Epitaph.
i'm not a vampire
ronnie radke
It looks like production for 'Umbrella Academy' season 3 is about to begin
'Avengers: Endgame' originally had a post-credits<|fim_middle|> PECK
Despite planting his roots firmly in the country community, Orville Peck dances on the edge of the alternative world with his groundbreaking sound and aesthetic.
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© Copyright 2019 Alternative Press, Inc. | scene after all
Trump supporters got compared to Juggalos, and the internet isn't having it
Buy the Latest Issue!
10 essential political bands every punk fan needs to hear
The first clip of Billie Eilish and Rosalía's collab is in this 'Euphoria' trailer
AP 390 – ORVILLE | 73 |
Al Hartley Was a Racist
Sara McDonald
Columns, Tate Necessarily So
140 Character Reviews 8/19/15
140 Character Reviews, Marvel Comics, Reviews
The Humans #7: This Comic Fucks
Image, Reviews
Shakespeare's Macbeth (2010)
Colleen Doran: The Authenticity of Detail
Blood-Sucking in the '70s: Morbius the Living Vampire, Steve Gerber and Existential Confusion
Exclusive Marvel Preview:<|fim_middle|> attacked by a man who looks exactly like Magneto. When the humans at the rally are murdered on film, the Avengers call Cyclops and Magneto in to question them about it. Captain America and Iron Man have footage of Magneto at the rally; Cyclops has footage of Magneto in Utopia at the same time. They're at a stalemate, and one that's resolved with a few cars lifted in the air and promises to find the real criminal.
Still, it's the first issue of the limited series, and it does offer a set up that gives potential to later issues. Magneto is a compelling character, especially in the current landscape of the X-Men world, and Young's portrayal of him is spot-on. While this comic may not have a lot that's particularly grabbing, the parts that are offer enough to give the hope that it will pick up from here. While the cliffhanger ending is not overly shocking, given the lead up, it is intriguing. Where the series goes from here is left open, and I hope the next issue keeps the momentum this one seemed to build in the end.
Contributing to the overall quality of the comic is Clay Mann's art. It's vibrant and eye-catching, with many of the panels seeming to stand out from the page. His characters are expressive, demonstrating a range of emotions that add a welcome layer to the narrative.
Ultimately, this comic is a nice, albeit rocky start to a promising limited series. Where it will go from here is anyone's guess, but it shows signs of being a good look and a complex and compelling character.
Sara McDonald started reading comics in the third grade, and now puts her English degree to good use talking about them on the Internet. She currently resides in Western Massachusetts with a roommate, three cats, and an action figure collection and spends the time she isn't reading comics working for a
Chris EliopoulosClay MannDavid CurielMagneto: Not a HeroMarvelSara McDonaldSkottie Young
X-Men Legacy #258
Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #3
Sara McDonald is a writer for Comics Bulletin | "Captain America: Sam Wilson" #6
Marvel Comics, Previews
'The Mercenary: Cult of the Sacred Fire' is an Awesomely Fun Jolt of Otherworldly Adventure
Books, Indie, Reviews
Magneto: Not a Hero #1
Magneto: Not a Hero #1 isn't a bad comic. It's just not a particularly great one. It has a strong beginning and end, but the middle is a bit muddled and slowly paced. The plot itself felt somewhat tired, a rehashing of what we've all seen before — a crime committed by someone dressed like a reformed villain, reformed villain must prove it wasn't him. The comic opens with an anti-mutant rights rally being | 153 |
Shaun Derry happy with second-half intensity as Cambridge United draw at Dartford
Shaun Derry provided his thoughts after Cambridge United drew 1-1 at Dartford
Aaron Mason
Cambridge United head coach Shaun Derry (Image: Keith Jones)
Shaun Derry believes Cambridge United's second-half display in their 1-1 draw at Dartford is the template for how they should play next season.
United raised the tempo after the break with Adam McGurk grabbing the equaliser just 39 seconds into the second half.
Despite piling the pressure on<|fim_middle|> a tough test today.
"I've said this right back to the St Neots game, when you come up against opposition like this, they don't half make it hard because they get back into position straight away and it's a tough task to break it down and we found that at times today."
Derry said he was pleased with the way McGurk took his goal, his second of pre-season.
He said: "I asked for a scrappy goal today. I've looked at the videos and DVDs and we've scored some very good goals in pre-season, but I've not seen us score many scrappy ones, so I'm pleased we got one today.
"It was a centre-forward's goal. Adam got himself in the middle of the box and he sniffed out his chance and put it away, so I was pleased for him.
"He had a good shot in the first half with a free kick as well, but I'm asking for more from all the centre-forwards.
"I've always said that's going to determine our success this year. If we can keep them all fit and keep them all in high spirits, which I know is difficult if you've got competition around you, but they've all got to be ready."
David Forde and Ade Azeez were not involved after making their first appearances in last night's 3-2 defeat to Tottenham under-23s in Josh Coulson's testimonial.
On their absence from the side, Derry explained: "Dave has just come into the building and he's a couple of weeks' behind in terms of working with us – he's not a couple of weeks behind in terms of fitness – so he played his minutes last night.
"Azeez we spoke about that a couple of weeks ago. He's just finding his way with the team, but we'll see him in Tuesday night (at Woking)."
Shaun Derry | the Vanarama National League South side, United were unable to find a winner.
But Derry, who was back in the dugout after recovering from a "routine medical procedure", felt it showed how United would be best suited to operating next term.
He said: "I wanted us to play with more intensity in the second half today. I wanted us to play it like a League Two fixture and with respect, a lot of these pre-season games carry difficulties.
"There's a lack of atmosphere floating around and everything like the points that comes with it as well.
"I wanted us to find that next percentage second half and I felt the boys did that.
"I think we have to play that way. I've just said to the boys let's be honest with each other, we've got an abundance of a little bit of everything this year.
"We have got physicality, we have got lads who are capable in possession, but to control a game you have to play with that intensity.
"You can still control it in possession by being aggressive and that's what we did in the second half today – there was a standout team in the second half and that was us."
Dartford vs Cambridge United live score updates: McGurk equaliser earns U's 1-1 draw
But Derry gave credit to the Darts for making it tough work for United to add to their tally.
He said: "They've got high aspirations to do well again in Conference South from speaking to Tony (Burman, Dartford boss) before the game and we knew it was going to be | 321 |
It is sometimes difficult to explain to other people how I do a medical intuitive reading.
One of the simplest things I do is simply to watch the energy of any situation.
<|fim_middle|> where does the energy stagnate?
3. If you are looking at an organ, sense the pulse of energy. Because organs are alive, they pulse. Healers such as craniosacral therapists are trained to feel the pulse in the brain. Reiki masters such as myself can feel the pulse in any organ. If an organ feels highly congested, the energy isn't flowing properly and the organ will not be healthy.
4. If you are reading the energy of a business, watch the direction the energy is flowing. Is it expanding outwards or contracting inwards? Does it feel balanced or chaotic? Where does the energy feel stuck? Do the different departments within the business flow with each other or push against each other?
5. My favorite way to read a human is to read the five levels – physical, energetic, emotional, mental and physical. I simply go through the five levels and determine the level of disturbance a client is asking me to heal. I did this yesterday with a client who wants to become pregnant. We have worked on lifestyle, eating and exercise, so by this point, her physical body feels balanced but there were multiple disturbances on the mental body, which indicated that her thoughts and beliefs were actually working against her. How does the physical body feel? What is going on with the energy of this person? How balanced are the emotions? How calm is the mind? How at peace is the soul? We all think that the physical body is the most important part of any human, but this is incorrect. Your soul controls your mind. Your mind controls your emotions. Your emotions control your energy. Your energy body controls your physical body.
What is healing? Healing happens when we learn how to be in tune within ourselves and with the world around us. As we tune in to the energy of all things, we can live and breathe in harmony with one another. | This morning, I was speaking briefly with a gentleman in another country who has been concerned about his liver to the point where he has prescribed himself several rather harsh liver cleanses.
We are scheduled to have a full session on Thursday morning, but we were chatting briefly to arrange the schedule.
I tuned in to his liver and saw the energy circulating with no release.
Just like you might stir a pot of soup, the energy looked as thought it was literally circling and circling, which to me meant that he was simply aggravating his liver without actually releasing the core issues.
Too many people only look on the surface of things. If you only look on the surface, a person can appear totally pulled together while falling apart on the inside, or, conversely they could appear to be in the midst of a total breakdown while actually being on the verge of a personal breakthrough.
How do you watch energy?
1. If you are trying to read the energy between two people, see if you can tune in to watch which direction the energy is flowing. For example, one person might be giving energy and another receiving. They might be pushing towards each other or pulling away from each other. See if you can figure out the direction the energy is flowing in a relationship and that alone will tell you a lot about what is going on. I read the energy between the chakras for more detailed understanding of what the relationship is about.
2. If you are looking at an individual, watch which way the energy is flowing on the vertical plane. Is it pulling up towards the crown and out of the body or flowing down in a grounded way? Many people in our society are pulled up into their heads or barely grounded into their bodies at all. Where does the energy flow in a body and | 357 |
Men's bracelet. It is made of sterling silver with a matte finish and a black cotton cord. The plaque is rectangular and measures approximately 3.5 cm wide and 1.1 cm tall and it is sealed with our brand name on the back part. It is made with cord and tied with a slipknot so it is very practical!
Men's design bracelet. It is made of sterling silver with a matte finish and a black cotton cord. The plaque is rectangular and measures approximately 3 cm wide and 0.9 cm tall and it is sealed with our brand name on the back part. It is made with cord and tied with a slipknot so it is very practical!
Perfect bracelet for Father's Day! It is made of sterling silver with a matte finish and a cotton black cord. The<|fim_middle|>2 cm wide and 3.8 cm tall. The ring is also made of sterling silver and measures approximately 2.9 cm in diameter. | plaque is rectangular and measures approximately 3 cm wide and 0.9 cm tall.
Made in sterling silver with matt finish and black cotton cord. The plate is rectangular and measures 3 cm wide by 0.9 cm high approx. and is sealed with the name of our brand on the back.
Keychain made in silver. It's made of sterling silver with a matte finish. It has got the word "SUPERDAD" engraved and the symbol of Superman ("S"). It's the perfect gift for the best fathers on Father's Day.
Personalized silver keychain with child's drawing, handmade. You can choose narrow or wide rectangular format. The plate and the ring are made of sterling silver.
Handmade personalized silver keychain. You can choose narrow or wide rectangular format. Both the plate and the ring are made of sterling silver. Choose in the drop-down above how you want the keychain and in the sections below the text to be recorded and the extras as the engraving from behind.
Male silver bracelet engraved in the front part. It is made of sterling silver with a matte finish and a cotton cord. The plaque is rectangular and measures approximately 3.5 cm wide and 1 cm tall.
This custom ring is made of sterling silver. The ring measures 1.1 cm wide and it is sealed with our brand name. This design ring is made in Barcelona, and it is perfect as wedding ring.
This wedding ring is made of sterling silver and it is 2.4 mm wide and 2.7 mm thick. Rhodium silver finish made with diamond tips. This design ring is unisex and it is a very versatile piece. You can use it as a simple ring, as a wedding ring or with other rings.
Silver Keychain made of sterling silver with a matte finish. It measures 3. | 373 |
Jim hensons muppetvision 3 d
Muppet*Vision 3-D At Disney's Hollywood Studios
Muppets Courtyard
4-D movie
4-D effect show
The zany cast of the Muppets comes to life in this hilarious 4-D movie chronicling the gang's attempt at creating a showstopping extravaganza with the newely incarnated spirit of 3-D, the mischievious Waldo. Gusts favorite Muppets come to life like never before.
Photos of Muppet*Vision 3-D
See all photos of Muppet*Vision 3-D
Reviews of Muppet*Vision 3-D
Muppet Mayhem for the Young or Old.....in 3D
Submitted by Anonymous on Friday, September 6, 2013.
I've been a fan of the Muppets since I was a little kid, and you know what? I still am today. The Muppet Show and each Muppet movie (only the ones directed by the late Jim Henson) has that clever, zany, humor to it that just never gets old. It was a very good move when the Walt Disney Company purchased Henson Studios and the rights to the Muppets characters.....and an even better move to come up with MuppetVision 3D. This show, located in Walt Disney World's Hollywood Studios theme park in Florida, is a real delight, even after repeated viewings.
All our favorite Muppets characters are to be found here.....some only in 3D movie form (Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, Scooter, Bunsen/Beaker, Sam the Eagle, etc...), others in animatronic (Statler & Waldorf, penguin orchestra, Swedish Chef) and/or live actor in a costume (Sweetums).
The gist of the show is that we all walk in and are in the Muppet theater (typically seen on the old Muppet Show). Even joining us as the audience is the typical old crotchey curmudgeons Statler and Waldorf in their usual balcony seats, tossing out one biting (and funny) criticism of the show after another. Once the show begins, and we're welcomed by<|fim_middle|> character came flying out towards the crowd. Matching the 3-D with a few 4-D effects made the experience a true "one-of-a-kind".
Today, seeing some of the tricks in the show is still enjoyable. The script is still as fresh today as it ever was, and the old men in the balcony top the show off perfectly. | Kermit, we're taken to Muppet Labs where scientist Bunsen Honeydew and his (meep-meep-meep) assistant Beeker have created Waldo, the 3D Muppet (the spirit of 3D) who proceeds to wreak havoc with everyone and anyone. At the same time, various Muppet Show-style skits and numbers are performed by Miss Piggy and others, all with the aid of a Muppet bunny named Bean......a well-meaning, if very clumsy fellow. Finally, the show ends with the patriotic "glorious 3 hour finale" by Sam the Eagle, condensed down to 3 minutes.
Just like with most other 3D shows in Disney World, the effects in MuppetVision 3D aren't limited to what you see on screen with your special glasses. In addition to the animatronics within the theater (in front of you and behind), a live-actor in costume as Sweetums makes an appearance, and we're also subjected to a few light sprays of water and a shower of bubbles from above. All in all, this 17-minute long show is really quite enjoyable. It's funny, it's clever (probably the last example of the typically clever Muppet humor when Jim Henson was around), and it's a good way to still enjoy a good attraction and get off your feet at the same time.
On your way into the attraction, be sure and take notice of the variety of Muppet-themed movie posters all around you and the overall theming of the building. When you walk into the lobby and pick up your glasses, you're also treated to a clever pre-show with Scooter, Rizzo, Fozzie, Sam, and it's a good way to kill the time while you wait for the next show to begin. The only negative to that is that your wait can be a little long and having to stand there can be a little tiresome on your feet and legs. I definitely feel for those parents who have to wait while holding onto their littles ones.
MuppetVision 3D is a lot of fun, and still holds of very well even if you've been to Hollywood Studios many times. It's a favorite of ours and really one of those not-to-be-missed attractions, despite its age.
I will never forget my first 3-D.....
Submitted by Anonymous on Thursday, September 5, 2013.
The Muppets were still big, and 3-D was something that was typically only seen in red and blue form to the rest of the world, so Disney had a true treat for any guest that was getting to see the 3-D experience in "Muppet*Vision".
I will never forget seeing the 3-D for the first time as the little blue | 574 |
Community News For The Vernon Edition
Vernon Resident Named Salutatorian
MANCHESTER — Manchester Community College introduced the Class of 2017 valedictorian and salutatorian, Blenda Frances Church and Anthony Joseph Rosati, respectively, at the 27th annual MCC Academic Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, May 24.
Valedictorian Church of Tolland began her studies at MCC in Fall 2014 and was admitted to the Radiation Therapy program in 2015. A graduate of Tolland High School, Church has secured employment at Hartford Hospital following her clinical work there, and her goal now is to become the 'go-to' person in the hospital radiation department.
Salutatorian Rosati of Vernon started at MCC in Fall 2013 as a Business Administration major. He is a graduate of Palmer High School and plans to pursue a bachelor's degree in human resources management. He is a member of MCC's local Alpha chapter of the international business honor society, Alpha Beta Gamma.
[Related] Kids Paint Rocks At Talcott Park »
Both Church and Rosati are also recipients a Board of Regents' Medallion for Academic Excellence. Medallions are awarded at each of the community colleges to graduating students who have earned a perfect 4.0 grade point average. They are each graduating summa cum laude.
VERNON — Rockville Public Library's Children's Department's summer reading program will take place on Monday, June 19, through Friday, Aug. 11.
The theme of this summer's reading program is "Build a Better World." The library offers three reading levels from preschool to grade six. Prizes, donated by local businesses, will be awarded to children who participate.
Children can visit the library, 52 Union St., on or after June 19 or visit the library's website to sign up. During the program, the library has scheduled shows, programs and movies. For more information, visit rockvillepubliclibrary.org or call 860-875-5892, ext. 150.
[Related] Community News For The Vernon Edition »
VERNON — Arts Center East, 709 Hartford Turnpike, is hosting the following events. For more information, call 860-871-8222 or visit www.artscentereast.org.
Celebrate Summer Party: An improv group will entertain guests as they celebrate summer with iced tea, lemonade, watermelon and more. A door prize drawing and demo of flower arranging will take place. Older children are welcome. The party will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 17. Cost to attend is $25 until June 9 and $30 from June 10 through 14. Tickets will not be available at the door.
Calling All Artists: Arts Center East will host its sixth annual Juried Multimedia Exhibit from June 11 through July 8. Artists 18 years of age or older working in any medium except photography may enter. Prizes are $1,000 in cash awards and $500-plus in gift certificates. For more information and a prospectus, visit www.artscentereast.org or call 860-871-8222.
An opening reception will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, June 11. Music will be provided by Kate Callalhan, CT State Troubadour. Refreshments will be served. A suggested donation of $5 is the cost to attend.
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Children's Class, Art Week Fun: This class will introduce a variety of media and techniques including drawing, pastel painting, watercolors and acrylics. The class will culminate with an exhibit and discussion for students and their families. Children should bring a healthy snack and a bottle of water.
The class meets from 9 a.m. to noon June 26 through 30. Cost to attend is $175 plus a $20 materials fee. Make checks payable to Arts Center East or pay online at artscentereast.org.
Summer Writing Workshop: Generate new writing or dust off your memoir, novel, essays, or short stories in this writing workshop. Through in-class prompts and instructor-led discussions, you'll learn to effectively use sensory details, create compelling characters and hone your voice as a writer. The workshop will also explore the many paths to publishing.
The instructor is C. Flanagan Flynn, a writer and editor who holds a M.A.L.S. from Wesleyan University. Dates: Wednesdays, June 14 and 21, July 12 and 26, August 9 and 23; Time: 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Fee: $175
Painting with Acrylics – Weeklong Intensive Class: This class for adults will introduce the many ways acrylic paint can be used to create expressive paintings.
[Related] Vernon Summer Concerts Announced »
Instructor Elizabeth Krall has exhibited in galleries throughout Connecticut and in New York City. Dates: June 19 – 22l Time: Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Fee: $175 plus $30 for materials.
Open House Day
VERNON — The 13th annual Connecticut Open House Day on Saturday, June 10, is sponsored by the CT Department of Culture and Tourism. This one-day statewide event is designed to showcase Connecticut's diverse world of history, art, and tourism.
Vernon Volunteers' Cooperative coordinated CT Open House Day<|fim_middle|>5 to 11:15 a.m., for babies 9 months to 2 ½ years old, with an adult.
Story Hour: Fridays 10:15 to 10:45 a.m. and Tuesdays 10:15 to 11 a.m. for children who are already 2 ½ years of age, with an adult.
Register at library.ellington-ct.gov or call the library at 860-870-3160 for details.
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St. James School Accepting Applications
MANCHESTER — St. James School in Manchester is currently accepting new student applications for its pre-K, elementary school and middle school 2017-18 school year.
Applications may be obtained by visiting the school's website, www.SaintJamesSchool.net, e-mailing aguenther@SaintJamesSchool.net, or calling the school's main office at 860-643-5088.
St. James School accepts students of all religious faiths and from all towns in the surrounding area. Tuition assistance is available to qualifying families.
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Energy Assistance Applications
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HARTFORD — Operation Fuel's statewide winter energy assistance program has begun taking applications. Families and individuals who are struggling financially and need energy assistance should call 211 to find their closest fuel bank. For more information on Operation Fuel or to make a donation, go to operationfuel.org. Donations also can be sent to Operation Fuel, 75 Charter Oak Ave., Suite 2-240, Hartford, CT 06106.
Softball Umpires Sought
STATEWIDE — The North Central Connecticut Board of Softball Umpires is seeking new members for the 2017 season. Our board provides services to schools, youth and adult recreational leagues in the greater Hartford area. No experience necessary. For more information or to join, contact Al at prez798@aol.com or call/text 860-205-1688.
Manchester Community College
Owner of City Fish Market in Wethersfield remembered as dedicated, passionate
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Survey: Nearly half of Connecticut residents polled plan to leave the state within the next five years
Fotis Dulos' attorney asks judge to order release of missing New Canaan mother Jennifer Farber Dulos' medical records; Grandmother continues fight for custody of couple's five children | in Vernon. The five Vernon venues are listed with times they are open.
The New England Civil War Museum is the only museum in Connecticut devoted to the fighting men of the War of the Rebellion. It is located inside the longest continuously used Civil War veterans' hall in the United States at Town Hall in Rockville. The museum, at 14 Park Place in Rockville, will be open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Strong Family Farm provides a historic agricultural education center where children, individuals, families, and community groups can experience an authentic family farm environment. The farm will be open for tours from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. From 9 a.m. until noon, "Thrivent Garden Project" will offer sign-ups for garden planting for families and individuals who can commit to taking care of a Strong Family Farm garden plot and learn about how to grow your own vegetables.
The Vernon Greenways Volunteers, who maintain over 30 miles of Vernon's trails, will also be at the farm to answer questions about their activities and contributions to Vernon. The farm is located at 274 West Street.
Valley Falls Farm: The picturesque Valley Falls Farm is a 7-acre property owned by the Friends of Valley Falls. The property includes an historic 1850's farmhouse and 6 farm outbuildings. The Friends will offer free tours of the Farm between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
The Vernon Garden Club maintains a historical herb garden at the farm as one of its projects and will be there to talk about this garden and their other activities. The farm is located at 345 Valley Falls Road.
Valley Falls Park: Valley Falls Park is owned by the Town of Vernon and maintained by the Vernon Park & Rec Department. It's a popular spot for swimming, hiking and picnicking.
Today Vernon Park and Rec is sponsoring 'A Family Bird Walk' led by wildlife biologist, Jane Seymour of the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. The program will begin at 9 a.m. and will end at 10 a.m. Meet in the gazebo. Come learn about birds and go for a walk. The park is located at 300 Valley Falls Road.
Vernon Historical Society: The Vernon Historical Society's goal is the preservation of local history and making that history come to life for the community. It is located in the historic Vernon Grange building.
Open House Day is the opening day for their new World War I museum exhibit "Remembering the Great War." In addition they offer tours of the exhibit and museum from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
:The first 25 visitors will receive a complimentary copy of the Vernon Historical Society's 50th anniversary booklet. Anyone who purchases a membership on that day can select a free VHS hat or VHS mug. The Vernon Education Foundation will also be at the Vernon Historical Society. VHS is located at 734 Hartford Turnpike.
Rockville Library Events
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VERNON — The Rockville Public Library, 52 Union St., will be presenting the following upcoming programs.
Running through August 29, the Summer Tuesday Night at the Movies Series will take place. Movies will be shown at 6 p.m. and popcorn will be provided.
At noon Tuesday, June 13, the book discussion will take place. The book is "Girls of a Tender Age" by Mary-Ann Tyrone Smith. Books are available at the Adult Circulation Desk.
On Thursday, June 15, at 6 p.m., Richard Symonds, Jr. presents "Water-Powered Mill Sites in Vernon, CT", which will highlight his recently released book.
Remembering The Great War
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VERNON — The Vernon Historical Society presents a new exhibit, "Remembering the Great War" timed to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I for the United States. The exhibit will open to the public on Saturday, June 10, as part of the annual "Open House" sponsored by the Connecticut Office of Tourism.
The Vernon Historical Society will have special Saturday hours of 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on June 10. From then on, the exhibit can be viewed during usual hours: Thursdays from 2 to 4 p.m., the second and fourth Sundays of each month from 2 to 4 p.m., and by appointment. Admission to the exhibit is free and open to the public. The Historical Society and Museum are located at 734 Hartford Turnpike.
In this exhibit, visitors will see through photographs, letters and artifacts how the community participated by sending their young men and women off to fight and by working together to support the national war effort. In Rockville, members of the German-American community faced questions about their patriotism as sections of Rockville near the mills were made off-limits to aliens from enemy countries. Near the end of the war, the global influenza pandemic struck Rockville and Vernon. City officials struggled to cope as the numbers of sick and dying overwhelmed community resources.
When the Armistice was declared, Rockville and Vernon celebrated with a parade in November 1918 and later with a "Welcome Home" parade in July 1919. At the time, everyone believed that the First World War would be the "war to end all wars."
For further information, call the Society at 860-875-4326 or send an email to vernonhs@sbcglobal.net or visit www.vernonhistoricalsoc.org.
VERNON — Summer's almost here: Celebrate with iced tea, lemonade, light sandwiches, sweets and watermelon. History of the Future, a troupe from Sea Tea Comedy Theater in Hartford, will perform from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 17, at Arts Center East, 709 Hartford Turnpike.
A door prize drawing and a demo of basic flower arranging techniques will add to the fun. Older children are welcome.
Cost to attend is $25 before June 9 and $30 from June 10 through 14. Tickets will not be available at the door.
Pulled Pork Dinner
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VERNON — Vernon Congregational Church, 695 Hartford Turnpike, will host a pulled pork dinner from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Friday, June 16.
The meal includes pulled pork sandwich, coleslaw, baked beans, strawberry shortcake and a beverage for $12 per person. Children's tickets are $6 per person.
Sons Of The Prophet
MANCHESTER — Little Theatre of Manchester continues its 2017 season in June with the finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Sons of the Prophet by Stephen Karam, an honest and comical take on how people cope with tragic loss and pain.
Debi Freund from Bolton, longtime LTM member, director, and actress, directs Sons of the Prophet. The cast includes Mitch Hess of Vernon, Angela Dias of Colchester, Anthony Miclon of Enfield, James Hyland of Newington, Shane William Kegler of East Hartford, Jordan Merrill of New London, Linda Ferreira of Tolland and Ruth Neaveill of Glastonbury.
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Sons of the Prophet is suitable for adults and older teenagers. It contains adult language and mature themes.
Performances will take place at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays, on the following days: June 9 to 11, and June 16 to 18, at Cheney Hall, 177 Hartford Road.
Tickets are $19 to $25 and can be purchased by calling the Box Office at 860-647-9824 or visiting www.littletheatreofmanchester.org. Discounts are available for seniors and students. Manchester Community College students can receive a free general admission ticket with a valid student ID, and Greater Hartford Arts Council Let's GO Arts! members are eligible for 2-for-1 tickets.
VERNON — Vernon Parks and Recreation shared the following schedule of events.
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The Reading Trail: Opening Sunday, June 4, one mile in length, the Reading Trail begins at the Church Street trail head of Rails to Trails. A children's book will be spaced out from the trailhead entrance, to the 1/2 mile marker and back. Families can enjoy a section of the trail system in Vernon while reading a story together. Every three weeks through Labor Day, a new book will be placed on the trail for the community to enjoy.
1/2 Day Dance Camp: This intensive camp is for dancers ages 11+ with prior experience. Participants will do concentrated work on numerous dance styles with main focus on Hip Hop and Contemporary. The last day of the session will include a show for family and friends to see. Wear appropriate clothes and shoes to comfortably move around and dance in, bring a snack and water. Dates: Monday through Friday. Session 1: June 19-23; Session 2: July 17-21, 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Rockville High School Wrestling/Dance Room. Cost: $75 per session.
Play Well Pre-Engineering Camp: This camp is open to children ages 5-6 years old. Explore the many possibilities of LEGO® building systems while learning useful construction techniques.
Dates: Monday through Friday, August 14 to 18, 9 a.m. to noon., at Camp Newhoca. Cost: Residents, $135; Non-Residents, $140.
Play Well FUNdamentals: This exciting program is for children ages 7-12 years old. This is a hands-on and minds-on class suitable for LEGO® building system novices to "maniacs." Dates: Monday through Friday, August 14 through 18, from 1 to 4 p.m. at Camp Newhoca. Cost: Residents: $135; Non-Residents: $140.
Send-A-Kid To Camp: The Vernon Parks and Recreation Department is looking for sponsorships to send a child to camp this upcoming summer. An $85 sponsorship can send a child to camp for a full week. Either donate on your own or get a group of people to pitch in and help one child.
VERNON — An ongoing grief support group is being held at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesdays at the First Congregational Church, 695 Hartford Turnpike. Anyone who has lost a loved one is welcome. Anyone with questions may call 860-875-7580.
MS Support Group
VERNON — The Vernon MS Support Group meets at the Trinity Lutheran Church, 20 Meadowlark Road, from 6 to 8 p.m., on the second Friday of each month. For more information contact Patty at 860-874-3220.
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Hall Memorial Library
ELLINGTON — The Hall Memorial Library, 93 Main St., will hold the following programs:
Babies & Books: Mondays 10:1 | 2,418 |
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Very prompt delivery and good value for money. With my trolley these batteries last roughly two years which isn't bad as it gets used 2-3 times per week in the summer.
Played a few rounds and battery performed well, although I did think it was a little heavy for a golf trolley.
Very please with the delivery and the battery is working well . I have recommended your company to someone else looking for a golf trolley | 93 |
April 23, 2018 —A Volkswagen clock spring recall may have failed to do its job as owners continue to complain even after the vehicles were allegedly repaired, according to Car Complaints.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has expanded an investigation<|fim_middle|> the dashboards and failures of the steering-mounted controls. | into the 2015 clock spring recall of 420,000 VW vehicles that could experience driver-side air bag failures.
Volkswagen had ordered the 2015 recall after a federal investigation into 30,000 model year 2012 Volkswagen Passat and CC vehicles with clock spring failures caused by hair and other debris that entered the steering wheel hubs.
The steering wheel clock spring is a spiral-wound flat cable that keeps the airbag powered while the steering wheel is turned. But the debris can cause a displacement of the guide loops inside the springs and the out-of-position guide loops cause tension to tear the cables.
Owners reported noise coming from the steering columns, airbag warning lights illuminating on | 153 |
NEW FOR 2017!!! A Swift Loire in our beautiful South facing location at Haven Devon Cliffs. It has three bedrooms and sleeps eight comfortably.
All quoted prices DO NOT include park passes.
We do take a non-refundable<|fim_middle|>All your gas, electric and water usage are included in the price.
Haven provide free Wi-Fi in selected areas around the park.
Duvets and pillows are supplied but linen is not provided. You will also need to bring towels & tea-towels. At the check-in point at reception there is the facility to hire goods if you do not wish to bring your own. There is also a launderette on site and a well-stocked Spar store.
The Park and Complex are open mid-March to early November but we do let our van for some weeks either side of this time. Please be aware there will be nothing open on site at these times and the cost of caravan rental reflects this. | deposit (at booking) and a refundable bond (with payment in full). There are discounts for taking a full week (14:00 Monday – 10:00 Monday).
| 40 |
Darcy Lalonde and Jonathan Smith, executives of SHORE Solutions, handed the Most Innovative Company of the Year of the Asia CEO Awards to Generika Drugstore – represented by founder Teodoro Ferrer – on the evening of November 12 at the Solaire Resort and Casino. This is the fifth year of the prestigious business awards, and the second time SHORE is an elite supporter of the Asia CEO Forum, the organization that mounts the annual awards. Generika Drugstore is a leading national chain of drugstores that offers generic medicine. It was Generika's unique service called MedPadala EGC that made it rise to the top of a shortlist of eight finalists for SHORE Solutions Most Innovative Company of the Year. MedPadala is an electronic gift check to be used for medicine.
The theme of the 2014 Asia CEO Awards is "Emerging Asia," in recognition of the region's pivotal role in global economic affairs which is expected to be enhanced with the 2015 official start of the economic community of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The Philippines has been touted as one<|fim_middle|> the Year. Top Employer of the Year went to Smart Communications. Other categories included accolades for companies and individuals. Special citations for lifetime contribution were given to SM Group founder and SM Investments Corporation chairman Henry Sy Sr. (as represented by SM Prime Holdings, Inc. President Hans T. Sy) for the private sector, and Department of Tourism Secretary Ramon R. Jimenez Jr. for the public sector.
The award ceremony was held on the eve before the announcement of SHORE's 100% acquisition by Acquire BPO. The combined entity now provides a full suite of outsourcing operations for major corporations across Asia, Australia, the United Kingdom and North America, with 7,000 employees across 11 strategic locations. The strengths of both companies will be leveraged to provide even better quality services and resources to scores of international clients. | of the Asian tigers because of its fast developing economy.
Aside from SHORE Solutions Most Innovative Company of the year, 11 other award categories were given to outstanding companies and individuals. SM Prime Holdings won the Executive Leadership Team of | 47 |
Connecticut's Office of Early Childhood
In June 2013, former Governor of Connecticut Dannel P. Malloy established the state's Office of Early Childhood (OEC) to coordinate and improve the various early childhood programs and components in the state to create a cohesive high-quality early childhood system.
With the vision that all young children in Connecticut are safe, healthy, learning, and thriving, former Governor of Connecticut Dannel P. Malloy signed Public Act 14-39, establishing the state's Office of Early Childhood in statute. The OEC provides a comprehensive, collaborative system for delivering services to children ages 0 to 5 and their families in Connecticut. The OEC brings together programs from five different agencies - the State Department of Education (SDE), Department of Social Services (DSS), Board of Regents (BOR), Department of Developmental Services (DDS), and Department of Public Health (DPH). Staggering the OEC's implementation in phases enabled the new agency to account for the complexity of consolidating multiple programs without weakening the intended impact of such a move. Policymakers hoped that bringing these programs together in one cabinet-level agency would improve both the continuity and reach of early childhood programs.
Connecticut's OEC provides funding, standards, regulations, training, and oversight to ensure that early care and education programs for young children: are safe, healthy, and nurturing; effectively support children's physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development; and, are accessible to all children, particularly those facing barriers, risks, or challenges to their healthy development and success. The state's OEC also provides home visiting services, funding and training to support families raising young children to ensure the children's health, well-being, and positive growth and development, and to prevent child abuse or neglect.
Agency commissioners, early childhood education and development advocates, parents, caregivers and other stakeholders played a role in designing the structure and focus of the new agency. The planning of the OEC was made possible by support from the William Casper Graustein Memorial Fund, the Early Childhood Collaborative funders, and the Early Childhood Alliance. With the mission to support all young children in their development by ensuring that early childhood policy, funding, and services strengthen the critical role that families, providers, educators, and communities play in a child's life, the OEC will strengthen programming and provider training as well as improve access to early care and education programs for young children and their families.
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States Move Forward on Paid Family and Medical<|fim_middle|> that families have adequate, unhurried time to create positive, consistent relationships with their babies. Time with infants during their earliest …
Connecticut Links Services through Early Childhood Consultation Partnership (ECCP®)
The ECCP® program is a statewide, comprehensive, data-driven early childhood mental health consultation program.
Connecticut Is First State to Mandate Paid Sick Leave
In June 2011, Connecticut became the first state to pass paid sick leave legislation
Connecticut's Use of a Results Based Accountability Framework to Improve Child and Family Outcomes
Connecticut Approves Policy Changes to Better Serve Families with Young Children Experiencing Homelessness
The budget-neutral policy changes were put forth by a subcommittee made up of representatives from a variety of state agencies and provider organizations. | Leave
Three more states have taken steps toward ensuring | 10 |
Patient Zero Trailer – Matt Smith is a shrink for a zombie Stanley Tucci
Synopsis: 'In this new pandemic thriller, humanity is battling intelligent, adrenaline-fueled creatures born from a viral super-strain. After being bitten, human survivor Morgan (Matt Smith) realizes he is asymptomatic and can communicate with the infected, leading the last survivors on a hunt for Patient Zero and a cure.'
Things change when they come across Stanley Tucci's cool, calm, collected and conversational zombie, who has a few ideas about who's diseased and who isn't.
Take a look at the trailer for the movie below. In the US Patient Zero hits VoD on August 14th, and gets a limited cinema release on September 14th. No UK date is currently set. [Read more…]
ACTORS: Matt Smith, Stanley Tucci, Natalie Dormer
Mapplethorpe Trailer – Plus the Matt Smith starring biopic of the gay photographer needs your help
May 10, 2018 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment
Mapplethorpe, the biopic of legendary gay photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, debuted at the Tribeca Film Fesitval a couple of weeks ago. However, just because the film has screened, doesn't mean it's finished, so an IndieGoGo campaign has been launched to help raise funds for things like music licensing, special effects and the expense of taking the movie around to festivals.
Alongside the campaign, the first trailer for the film has arrived, giving us a look at Matt Smith as Mapplethorpe in Ondi Timoner's film.
Here's the synopsis: 'Robert Mapplethorpe's portraits, images of calla lilies, and chronicles of New York City's underground BDSM scene remain touchstones of 20th-century photography even now, nearly three decades after his death from complications of HIV/AIDS in 1989. Mapplethorpe revisits the titular photographer's legacy, beginning at the moment just before he takes up residence in the Chelsea Hotel. There, Mapplethorpe begins to amass a portfolio of images—and, at the same time, to explore his formerly supressed attraction to men. But Mapplethorpe's relentless ambition—as he says in one early scene, "I can't just be Mapplethorpe the photographer," fancying himself a "modern Michelangelo"—threatens to tear apart the relationships he cherishes the most.
'From the early '70s until his untimely death at age 42, the film explores the intersection of his art and his sexuality, his struggle for mainstream recognition, and, looming above it all, the specter of the emerging AIDS crisis. Featuring Matt Smith (Doctor Who, The Crown) and Marianne Rendón, the biopic offers a nuanced portrait of an artist at the height of his craft and of the self-destructive impulses that threaten to undermine it all.'
Take a look at the trailer, clip and fundraising video below, and if you like what you see, head over to Indie GoGo to help complete the movie. There are also some interesting perks on offer, including props and clothes used in the movie. [Read more…]
ACTORS: Matt Smith DIRECTORS: Ondi TImoner FILMS: Mapplethorpe
First Poster From Matt Smith's Biopic Of Gay Artist, Robert Mapplethorpe, Focus On The Crotch
April 16, 2018 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment
The first poster for the upcoming biopic of legendary gay photographer Robert Mapplethorpe has arrived, as like the provocative artist, it's interested in a man's crotch. The biopic, starring Matt Smith, has its World Premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 22nd, so it's a good time for us to get our first look.
Take a look at the poster and the first images from the movie below. [Read more…]
Pride & Prejudice & Zombies (Blu-ray Review)
June 28, 2016 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment
Starring: Lily James, Sam Riley, Matt Smith, Douglas Booth, Jack Huston
Release Date: June 27th<|fim_middle|> the land is overrun with the undead and feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is a master of martial arts and weaponry. Casting aside personal and social prejudices, Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy must unite on the blood-soaked battlefield to rid the country of the zombie menace and discover their true love for one another.'
Lily James and Sam Riley play Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy, with Bella Heathcote, Jack Huston, Douglas Booth, Matt Smith, Charles Dance, and Lena Headey also starring.
The film will be released by Lionsgate UK in cinemas across the UK & Ireland on Friday 12th February 2016. [Read more…]
ACTORS: Lily James, Sam Riley, Bella Heathcote, Jack Huston, Douglas Booth, Matt Smith, Charles Dance, Lena Heade DIRECTORS: Burr Steers FILMS: Pride And Prejudice And Zombies
Lost River Trailer – Best look yet at Ryan Gosling's directorial debut
Lost River looks like an intriguing and somewhat strange movie, which isn't too surprising for what is Ryan Gosling's directorial debut. There's still a lot of people who are keen to see it, even if it's been getting rather mixed reports from film festivals.
Now the first proper trailer has arrived, so we can take a look at what all the fuss is about.
The film has been described as being 'Set against the surreal dreamscape of a vanishing city, BILLY, a single mother of two, is swept into a macabre and dark fantasy underworld while BONES, her eighteen-year-old son, discovers a secret road leading to an underwater town. Both Billy and Bones must dive deep into the mystery, if their family is to survive.'
It's all a little peculiar, but the likes of Christina Hendricks, Iain De Caestecker, Eva Mendes, Saoirse Ronan and Matt Smith certainly seem to be having fun with it.
Lost River will reach the US on April 10th and the UK on April 24th. [Read more…]
ACTORS: Christina Hendricks, Iain de Caestecker, Eva Mendes, Saoirse Ronan, Matt Smith DIRECTORS: Ryan Gosling FILMS: Lost River
Terminator Genisys Teaser Trailer – Everything old is new again even if Arnie is back
December 5, 2014 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment
Here's a trailer that's likely to divide fans. It's set up to deliberately remind us of the early days of the Terminator franchise with an odd sense of nostalgia, but about halfway through it essentially says everything we saw before never happened and that it's all been reset.
It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it leaves a lot of question marks over the movie.
A previous reported (much of which is confirmed by the trailer) the film 'is set in 2029, when the Future War is raging and a group of human rebels has the evil artificial-intelligence system Skynet on the ropes. John Connor (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' Jason Clarke) is the leader of the resistance, and Kyle Reese (Divergent's Jai Courtney) is his loyal soldier, raised in the ruins of post apocalyptic California. As in the original film, Connor sends Reese back to 1984 to save Connor's mother, Sarah (Game of Thrones' Emilia Clarke), from a Terminator programmed to kill her so that she won't ever give birth to John. But what Reese finds on the other side is nothing like he expected.'
Although that sounds pretty much like the original, things have changed as in this version Sarah Connor 'was orphaned by a Terminator at age 9. Since then, she's been raised by (brace yourself) Schwarzenegger's Terminator—an older T-800 she calls "Pops"—who is programmed to guard rather than to kill. As a result, Sarah is a highly trained antisocial recluse who's great with a sniper rifle but not so skilled at the nuances of human emotion.'
The movie is due out July 2015. [Read more…]
ACTORS: Jai Courtney, Matt Smith, Emilia Clarke, Jason Clarke, Arnold Schwarzenegger DIRECTORS: Alan Taylor FILMS: Terminator Genisys
Matt Smith Will Look For Patient Zero In A Zombie Thriller
We're still waiting to see if Doctor Who star Matt Smith can successfully segue into the movies, but with Lost River, Terminator: Genisys and Pride & Prejudice & Zombies coming up, he's certainly got a good shot. Now he's added another movie to the mix, as Deadline reports that he has signed on to star in the Screen Gems zombie thriller Patient Zero, alongside Game of Thrones actress Natalie Dormer.
The action-thriller takes place in the aftermath of a deadly pandemic where an enhanced strain of rabies turns humans into violent, zombie-like creatures. The movie itself is about a man who is somehow immune to this disease, and also mysteriously has the ability to communicate to communicate with the infected. He leads a quest to find Patient Zero, in hopes of finding a cure to save his wife and the rest of humanity.
Stefan Ruzowitzky (The Counterfeiters, Deadfall) is set to direct from a screenplay by Mike Le (W.M.D.). It's not clear when it will shoot.
ACTORS: Matt Smith, Natalie Dormer
First Look At Jai Courtney, Matt Smith & Emilia Clarke In Terminator: Genisys
October 29, 2014 By Tim Isaac 1 Comment
Next year Terminator: Genisys is hoping to be one of the year's big blockbusters, rebooting and renovating the franchise with the hope that more sequels will flow in the coming years. There's already controversy though, with reports the movie will use time travel trickery to allow the series to completely start over (Star Trek style).
And now we get to take out first look with the new Entertainment Weekly covers above and below.
EW also adds some more plot info, saying the film, 'is set in 2029, when the Future War is raging and a group of human rebels has the evil artificial-intelligence system Skynet on the ropes. John Connor (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' Jason Clarke) is the leader of the resistance, and Kyle Reese (Divergent's Jai Courtney) is his loyal soldier, raised in the ruins of post apocalyptic California. As in the original film, Connor sends Reese back to 1984 to save Connor's mother, Sarah (Game of Thrones' Emilia Clarke), from a Terminator programmed to kill her so that she won't ever give birth to John. But what Reese finds on the other side is nothing like he expected.'
The movie is due out July 2015.
ACTORS: Jai Courtney, Matt Smith, Emilia Clarke, Jason Clarke DIRECTORS: Alan Taylor FILMS: Terminator Genisys | 2016 (UK)
Jane Austen gets an undead mash-up in the film version of Seth Grahame-Smith's novel, which took the original text of Pride & Prejudice and added in a whole lot of zombies. The movie has had a somewhat troubled history, with various directors and actors coming and going, and with the whole thing looking like they'd given up on it several times. However, finally Lionsgate got it in the can with Burr Steers (Charlie St. Cloud) directing and Lily James and Sam Riley starring.
As you would expect, the Bennet sisters are living in Hertfordshire, with their mother keen to marry them off to eligible men. While Lydia, Mary and Kitty seem keen to take any suitable gent, Elizabeth (James) is more headstrong and independent. While fending off the advances of Parson Collins (Matt Smith), she meets the exceedingly rich Darcy (Riley), who she takes an immediate dislike to, seeing him as rude, judgemental and unpleasant. [Read more…]
Matt Smith To Play Controversial Gay Artist Robert Mapplethorpe In New Biopic
January 26, 2016 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment
Now here's a thought for you – in a couple of years time we could get to see images of Doctor Who star Matt Smith with a whip shoved up his butt. That's because Deadline reports he's been cast as artist Robert Mapplethorpe, with Girls' Zosia Mamet as Patti Smith in a movie based on Smith's memoir, Just Kids.
The film, currently titled Mapplethorpe, has documentarian Ondi Timoner (Dig!, We Live In Public) in the director's chair, and will chronicle the friendship between Robert and Patti, who met before either found great success. She of course become one of the pioneers of the New York punk scene, while photographer Mapplethorpe became one of the most controversial artists of his day.
His images, which often took on gay themes in an explicit and unabashed way – including the aforementioned picture of him with a whip up his butt – set off a firestorm, with numerous protests against them, particularly when they were publicly displayed in prominent galleries underwritten with public funds. Some galleries even pulled out of showing his work because of the controversy surrounding them and accusations they were displaying degenerate pornography.
While he is perhaps best known for his images of the male anatomy, gay BDSM and black men (which caused controversy on their own), he also took many portraits of celebrities, as well as a variety of things such as flowers, children and female bodybuilders. He died of AIDS in 1989 aged 42.
Timoner comments, "After several years of developing this script and searching across the globe for the perfect talent to embody the rich and layered roles of visionary artists Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith, I am ecstatic to have found Matt Smith and Zosia Mamet. They will bring indelible passion, raw humanity, and authenticity to this timeless, inspiring story."
ACTORS: Matt Smith, Zosia Mamet DIRECTORS: Ondi TImoner
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies UK Trailer – Lily James takes on the Jane Austen classic (plus the undead)
October 9, 2015 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment
After an eternity in pre-production, with an endless series of directors and actors coming and going, and the whole thing looking like it was going to be abandoned at several points, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is finally on its way.
The first UK trailer and poster have now arrived, which you can see above and below.
Here's the synopsis: 'PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES is a fresh twist on Jane Austen's widely celebrated novel. A mysterious plague has fallen upon 19th century England, | 809 |
The enablement function is shifting - Christi Loucks on 'all-encompassing' revenue enablement
Daniel O'Dowd
Sales enablement quickly solidified itself as an essential function in well-run organizations. Now, almost as rapidly, enablement is evolving to take the entire revenue-generating side of organizations under its supportive wing.
Few are better placed to speak about it than Christi Loucks, current Head of Revenue Enablement and Operations at SecZetta Inc.
Formerly Director of Revenue Enablement at Chainalysis, and Senior Manager for Sales Enablement at Ping Identity, Christi has seen the evolution happen firsthand, and knows exactly how to approach the respective enablement branches.
Read her thoughts on:
The difference between sales and revenue enablement
How content and training differs between revenue-generating teams
Creating great training and enablement content
Making training stick
Q: What's the difference between sales enablement and revenue enablement as you see it?
A: The enablement function is shifting. It started by focusing on account executives and quota-carrying sales reps, and I certainly spend a lot of my own time with those teams.
But the reason that my title is called revenue enablement is that the work that I do in enablement spans beyond just the quota-carrying reps. We work with<|fim_middle|> about making sure those touchpoints add the most value to the customer, so you stand the best chance of them seeing your product as an opportunity.
That way, when the buyer and the seller do connect, they get maximum value from that conversation, those touchpoints that you have are no longer always about you selling something to them, or you advising them on how your solution can solve all of their problems.
It's about providing something valuable that they're not getting from your competitors. Maybe it's teaching them something that they need to know about whatever solution it is you're selling. But I also think it's about forming a trusted relationship, and adding value wherever you can.
Q: What kind of metrics and measurements do you use to demonstrate the impact of revenue enablement at your company?
A: This is such an interesting topic for me, and one that I'm constantly exploring. When I first started enablement, I started reporting on the number of people taking training, on new hires who had completed everything on their new hire checklist, or what have you.
After thinking it through, those activities are good and those numbers are good to show, but they don't necessarily point directly to the revenue.
I can't necessarily say that because I did X, Y, and Z in a training program, that seller was able to close a deal. There are so many other factors that go into sales success, like, what's your territory? If I'm a new rep, what open opportunities did I just walk into? What's the competition in that territory? There are just 1000 factors.
When I was at Chainalysis, I partnered with our sales ops team. What we did was use, mostly from the sales enablement perspective, the sales velocity equation.
That's your number of opportunities, your win rate, your average deal size, and then the average deal length, the cycle. What that does is it spits out a number that you assign to an individual seller. What I then care about is picking apart that sales velocity equation.
If I see that we are consistently low on the win rate, or if I see certain patterns related to it, that informs me that maybe I need to go back and do more competitive positioning training. If we see that sales cycles are taking a really long time, is there an opportunity for us to go in and do more training on moving sales through the process effectively and efficiently?
I think it informs a lot of our activity, as sales enablement practitioners, and then what we can do is report that up to the executive level and say: "Here's what we saw and here's what we're doing to accommodate it."
Q: How do you see sales and revenue enablement transforming over the next few years?
A: I think that in sales enablement we will always be focused on onboarding, on content, on continuous education, training, we will always have these main buckets that we focus on.
But as the world shifts, as technology shifts, and as buyers continue to transform with their knowledge of what's going on in the world, I think that we'll have to really tap into soft skills that I've seen fall second in priority to all of those other buckets that I mentioned.
We need to focus on teaching our sellers our value proposition, our messaging, our competitive positioning, our sales process and our opportunity qualification. All of those things are standard, they won't go away. But we're going to have to add to it.
Things we're going to have to add are probably even harder to understand, like how do you really connect with your buyers? How do you become a trusted consultant in a world where there's information parity, and everyone has access to much of the same thing? I think that as we evolve that's the direction we're headed.
Keen to hear more insights from revenue and enablement industry experts? Head over to our SEC membership plans and sign up for exclusive articles, forever-access to all the presentations from our events, past and present, customizable sales templates to make your life easier, and more...
Copywriter / Content @ SEC | customer success, with the business development team, pre-sales engineers, all of who are driving revenue but not necessarily sales reps by title.
I would say that's definitely the difference in my mind, between sales and revenue. Revenue is more all-encompassing, and addresses all the different pieces of the organization that brings dollars in.
Q: What's different in the training and content that you deliver to your quota-carrying sales team and customer success team?
A: I think it comes down to looking at the buyer cycle and when those different teams step into the process.
Sales reps are obviously involved from the very beginning. From when the sales development rep hands over an opportunity to the seller, the seller takes it from there and runs all the way to the close/won status.
I would say customer success certainly plays a part in the latter end of the sales cycle, as the rep is figuring out how they're going to be successful with the product and talking through all the different offerings that we have when it comes to the post-sale portion of the cycle.
But customer success truly steps in once the deal is closed and really ensures that our customers are happy with the product, successful with the product, that they're using it in the way that they intended long past the time the opportunity is close won in Salesforce.
When you look at it that way, it kind of helps to determine how to train and what to train on. Sellers need to be articulating value from the very beginning, they need to be negotiating from the very beginning, they need all the tools and resources to get that deal won.
Customer success needs many of the same things, but they're really focused on the nurturing, the customer satisfaction, and so on. So they just need different skills, different resources to be able to do that effectively. That being said, I would say there is a lot of overlap.
Q: What are your tips when it comes to creating effective training and enablement content?
A: The best tip that I have for enablement practitioners who are creating or delivering training, is to really focus on making it engaging and fun. Sellers and those in the revenue organization are typically very focused on their quota, and on bringing in revenue for the organization.
Training doesn't always look like it helps in that particular endeavor. The more you can really show salespeople that training can assist them not only with their job, but can also be fun, that really helps make those types of programs successful.
It makes them effective in helping salespeople take what they learned in theory and put it into practice.
I've done some ridiculous things when it comes to making training fun, like wearing costumes, creating wacky videos that go along with it. Maybe it's just part of the creative process for me, but I think the more you can really grab attention within those training programs themselves, the better off they'll be for the team.
Q: In terms of reiterating and reinforcing the learning points, how do you go about doing that?
A: I think, in general, what I try to do is take a look at the processes and cadences that exist that salespeople are used to.
Let's say we're doing a training on negotiation, and we want to reinforce some of the concepts post-training. I would then go back into Salesforce, I would go back into account reviews, I would go into opportunity reviews, I would go back into all of the cadences that our sellers are used to, and see where I could potentially reinforce those concepts along the way.
I think it works, not in all instances, but in many, to embed those reinforcing mechanisms into what exists today as opposed to creating entirely new cadences or new learning systems or what have you.
Sellers are usually, or hopefully, have standardized processes, and they know what to expect as they go along the sales cycle. The more you can just push reinforcing items into that, I think the more natural it is. That's really how I always approach it.
Q: It's important to align the sales process and the after-sales process with customer needs on the customer's journey. What's best way to do that in your view, and do you see a disconnect between the two processes?
A: I'll tell you my observations. What I'm seeing now is that it's a much less linear process when it comes to the customer's buying cycle. It's not that people just know they have a problem and they go, boom, boom, boom, through these steps and they find a solution.
There's a lot of internet research upfront. There's a lot of circling around through networks into finding recommendations and then having internal conversations and then going back to do more research.
It's a more fluid process and potentially circular, as opposed to going from point A: I need a solution, to point B: I have a solution.
I've seen some sellers get frustrated with that. I think that sellers have a very rigorous sequential process that they go through, and it's like: "Okay, I'm in Salesforce, we're in the discovery phase, I flip my opportunity to whatever the next stage is."
They go through these stages and I think it can be a conflict when the sellers' stages don't necessarily align with that buyers' winding path towards a solution.
I think it's all | 1,079 |
mail me at: authorzc@gmail.com
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Howzzat: 50 Predictions about Indian Cricket You Won't Believe! : Greenstone Lobo (Readomania)
Can India win the 2019 World Cup?
Can Kohli beat Tendulkar's records?
Can Ganguly become the president of the BCCI?
Can the results of sports events be predicted? Can we know beforehand the winners of the cricket or football World Cups, the tennis Grand Slams or the next IPL? Can we try to better our chances in the future tournaments on the basis of astrology? Can we identify and prime future sports stars for action? Greenstone Lobo, a modern-day astrologer with a scientific approach to astrology, claims that we can. On the basis of 25 years of experience and extensive research on the subject, Greenstone has developed a 12-planet methodology to draw people's horoscopes with astounding accuracy. Based on the study of thousands of birth charts of celebrities and<|fim_middle|>: Gauri Jayaram (edits)
Based on a true story, Wise Enough to Be Foolish is a fictionalized memoir that traces the journey of an Indian girl's life. This roller-coaster ride of adventure, laughter and heartache, as she balances her love life with her struggle for independence, will keep you guessing - What rules will she break next? How far will she go to find herself?
Keeping It Real: Vibha Batra (edits)
Suvarna Khandelwal is participating in Indian Icon, a popular reality show.
This is the story of how she struggles to cope in shark-infested waters (or is that Mumbai nagariya?). Does she make peace with her uber-conservative family? Does she give those sharks a good run for their sur, taal and maal? Does she swim ashore to safety? Read on to find out. One thing is for sure, you will find yourself rooting (and voting) for this unlikely heroine.
AC is inviting interested writers to book their sessions.
Please write to me with your writing sample and requirements asap. | major sports events in the past, Greenstone answers some of the burning questions on Indian cricket today, from cricket fans all over. Are you ready to face the complex and interesting future of Indian cricket?
New Market Tales: Jayant Kripalani (Pan Macmillan)
'These protagonists are mainly the residents of Calcutta's New Market area – including the "marketeyr bachcha" or the shop-owners' children – in the 1960s and 1970s, and the first six stories, which take up close to half the book, are the ones I liked best. These are pen-portraits of a variety of colourful characters – people with quirks, dreams, and their own special ways of dealing with the world.' – Jabberwock
'In New Market Tales, television actor-director Jayant Kripalani introduces readers to his memories of the historic market, weaving in nostalgia about the place into short stories about its inhabitants. If the measure of a place can be judged by the people who inhabit it, then Kripalani's New Market is as colourful as the market's rich red facade. There's never a dull moment and it is, of course, just a bit eccentric.' -- DNA
Demons and Demigods: Death Penalty in India: Aparna Jha (Oxford University Press)
Aparna Jha, a lawyer practising in the Supreme Court, has drawn upon her experience as a lawyer for four young death row convicts, telling their story, and the story of the research carried out by her during the case, to come out with an eminently readable book. The author, who has written an anthology of short stories as well as a novel, has used her skills as a storyteller to take us through some of the leading cases on the death penalty, describing the actual crimes and associated violence in an almost poetic manner.' --Asian Age
'One that makes an impassioned plea against capital punishment.' -- Hindustan Times
The Street of Mists: Mariam Karim Ahlawat (Vitasta)
Young Mehjabeen's stay in Montmartre, Paris, is an exploration of different worlds, without and within. The Paris that she discovers is not a utopia of Love and Art alone. It's also a city simmering with ethnic conflict. Mehjabeen is in search of her roots, and unknowingly she embarks upon a journey of self?discovery as she attempts to understand art, love, the notion of freedom, and more.
On the one hand there's the world of soirées, champagne and luxury and on the other is the world of Agnès Desmoulins, her mentally challenged son Dodi and the Guatemalan refugee Marina. Mehjabeen straddles these two very different worlds, and her myriad experiences find their way into her canvas.
The Journey of OP Vaish: Celebrating Life With Gratitude: Ramesh Menon
It tells the evocative story of lawyer and social activist, OP Vaish, who battled difficult circumstances in his childhood to study and dream big despite humble beginnings. The book details his journey as an officer in the prestigious Indian Revenue Service, his forays into the private sector when few would have given up a government job with its clout, and later by diving into the world of tax law. He excelled at every stage as he reinvented himself and looked at work as worship.
Dharani: Preethi Mohan
Five-year-old Dharani was popular in and around Mahadevpur for a rare skill she learned from none other than Lord Shiva. It was a skill she could use in all her lives and in each life, destiny would bring her to Mahadevpur. Years went by and one fateful evening, Dharani stumbled into the village with a deadly arrow stuck in her heart. The truth behind her death remained unknown and the people awaited her return to the village in a new life. Fifty years later, the people of Mahadevpur are excited to see National Award winner, Bhavaani's picture in the newspaper. Is she really Dharani? Will she be able to solve the mystery of her death?
The Bench: Kusum Ansal (translation)
In the novel The Bench the author endeavours to look at the complexities of life through the prism of human emotions. The protagonist, Natasha, embarks on a journey of self-actualisation. Waiting endlessly, without hope, she sits on the hospital bench living through the trauma and tribulations of her life as her husband fights for his life after a terrible accident
Blood, Sweat and Cheers: Jimmy Mathew (Vitasta)
Blood, Sweat And ... Cheers! is a story about students in a medical college. Contrary to popular belief, medical schools are not one dimensional. The book describes the several shades of doom and gloom, along with love, friendship, hope and joy.
Wise Enough to be Foolish | 1,031 |
Property Location Located in Istanbul (Kumkapi),<|fim_middle|> service. A roundtrip airport shuttle is provided for a surcharge (available 24 hours). | Historial Hotel is minutes from Esma Sultan Fountain and Kumkapi Fish Market. This hotel is close to Grand Bazaar and Hippodrome. Rooms Make yourself at home in one of the air-conditioned rooms featuring minibars (stocked with some free items) and LCD televisions. Complimentary wireless Internet access keeps you connected, and satellite programming is available for your entertainment. Bathrooms have showers and hair dryers. Conveniences include coffee/tea makers, and housekeeping is provided daily. Rec, Spa, Premium Amenities Take in the views from a terrace and make use of amenities such as complimentary wireless Internet access and concierge services. Additional amenities include gift shops/newsstands, a hair salon, and a television in the lobby. Guests can get to nearby shops on the shuttle (surcharge). Dining Take advantage of the hotel's 24-hour room service. Quench your thirst with your favorite drink at a bar/lounge. Business, Other Amenities Featured amenities include complimentary high-speed (wired) Internet access, a business center, and limo/town car | 221 |
Ecovolis (a portmanteau of Eco (from Greek: οἶκος, "house"; -λογία, "study of") and volō: from Latin [English: fly]) is a community based bike sharing program in Tirana, Albania, launched on March 22, 2011, from an environmental NGO called Social Stimulating Alternatives Program (PASS).
The system is based on 6 bike stations, respectively staffed by two employees in two shifts. Ecovolis program has proven successful in significantly increasing bicycle use in Tirana.
History
Initially the Tirana Community Bicycle Albania project was supported from PASS organization and the US-based Pedal for Progress organization, which donated 450 bicycles. Sixty of these were used road bikes, which were modified and painted by local technicians to serve as public bikes in the Ecovolis scheme.
In <|fim_middle|> in European Mobility Week.
System
Each Ecovolis station is staffed by two employees in two shifts and contains 30 – 60 bicycles. As of 2014, four stations are in operation in Tirana, and about 2000 people have subscribed. In order to use the bicycles it is required to provide a personal identification document (such as passport or ID card) or by subscribing to the Ecovolis membership Card. The bicycle is equipped with a front bicycle basket, a behind carrier, a comfortable saddle and a public fender with the Ecovolis sign. The bicycle stations also provide touristic information to the visitors and a list of the city attractions. Moreover, being a non-profit social enterprise, during particular days the program offers free bicycle service, cycling courses, donations of bicycles and helmets for children in need, bike tours and a bicycle recycle program.
Payment
The program operates in two ways: through membership subscription or a personal identification document (such as passport or ID card). Individuals registered with the program identify themselves with the Ecovolis membership card at any bicycle station. For visitors, the cost is about $1.00 per day. In 2014, Ecovolis allowed users at some of its kiosks to earn credit towards free bicycles use by returning metal cans for recycling.
Theft and Vandalism
From March 22, 2011, when the Ecovolis initiative begun, 80 bicycles have not been returned or have been stolen since this year, i.e. an average 10 bicycles per month or 2.5 a week. During three different phases, the bicycles have been replaced and added to the stations.
References
External links
http://www.ecovolis.al/
http://www.pass-al.org/ecovolis.html
Bicycle sharing in Albania | 2014, Ecovolis participated | 9 |
Community Links are looking for a dynamic Engagement Worker to join aspire, their growing early intervention in psychosis team in Leeds.
Working closely with their Care Coordinators, your role will be to connect clients most at risk of "falling between the cracks" of mainstream health and social support services to the aspire service.
Determination, creativity and excellent interpersonal skills are a must as your role will often involve working with clients who actively avoid services or display challenging behaviours.
Their friendly team is seeking someone who will work collaboratively, is open-minded, and will bringing positivity and a can-do attitude to their role each and every day.
Their service users are at the heart of everything we do – so our work includes evening and weekends.
If you are a remarkable, effective Payroll Administrator, Community Links want to hear from you!
They are looking for an enthusiastic individual with previous payroll experience to join their small friendly team as a Payroll Administrator!
As Payroll Administrator, you will play a key role in the efficient and smooth delivery of their payroll service and you will be expected to perform a range of payroll admin tasks.
You will be well organised and have experience using payroll systems. A good command of Excel is essential for this role.
Please visit: www.commlinks.co.uk/careers for more information.
In return for your outstanding work<|fim_middle|> with an amazing, friendly and talented team.
This role is working for Inspire North parent company to Community Links and Foundation. | you'll receive a competitive salary and work | 8 |
Imagine if<|fim_middle|> beasts long thought to be the stuff of fantasy.Fascinating fun facts, newly unearthed archeological findings, and vivid illustrations link these mythic beasts to modern-day animals and are sure to ignite the imagination of any inquisitive mind. In addition to the detailed profiles, Ultimate Expeditions: Mythological Beasts features a 3-D paper model for each one, enabling you to get up close and personal with these thrilling creatures.From the remote mountains of Turkey to high in the Himalayas of Nepal to the small rural villages of Puerto Rico, a globetrotting adventure awaits.
L. J. Tracosas writes books for curious kids and edits anything she can get her hands on. She's published ten books for young readers, including the bestselling Creature Files ... series, as well as licensed titles with Mattel, WWE, and others. L.J. lives in Atlanta with her husband, son, and two cats. | the monsters of mythology were real. What if there really were fire-breathing Chimeras in Turkey, or blood-sucking Chupacabras in Puerto Rico? After uncovering a mysterious fossil that appears to be the remains of a mythical animal, archeologist Kimberly travels across the globe to uncover secrets about | 62 |
Clients waiting at the Tanaff Health Center in Senegal in 2019. Photo by Clement Tardif for IntraHealth International.
Over the past five years, more than 1.7 million children under five in Senegal received nutrition services through IntraHealth International's USAID-funded Integrated Service Delivery – Healthy Behaviors Project—called Neema. The program also helped over 80% of health facilities in seven regions build functional referral systems to connect community members to services at nearby health facilities; made family planning services available to more people, resulting in 675,000 years of protection from unwanted pregnancies for couples through contraceptives; and monitored the growth and promotion of 62,635 children under two.
Since 2016, the program has improved health for women and children in Senegal by strengthening health services and making them accessible to more people in seven regions of the country. Neema's two ambitious goals were to:
Increase access to and use of high-quality health services and products in the public sector.
Help more community members adopt healthy behaviors in the regions of Diourbel, Kédougou, Kolda, Matam, Saint Louis, Sédhiou, and Tambacounda.
Despite the challenge of Senegal's health worker shortage and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Neema helped improve women's and children's health through the following results:
69.7% of women of reproductive age now say they use a family planning method for at least two years after childbirth, a 49.7% increase from 2017.
77% of women of reproductive age are practicing early breastfeeding, compared to 60% in 2017 (a 17% increase).
53.4% of mothers seek care for their children within 24 hours of the beginning of symptoms or the next day, a 57% increase from 2017.
80% of children with moderate acute malnutrition ended up cured thanks to the production and use of fortified flour.
To achieve these results and increase the number of women who receive high-quality, consistent health services, Neema used IntraHealth's Tutorat approach, wherein experienced health workers coach and mentor other health workers<|fim_middle|>, USAID Projects Join Forces to Boost Results across Health and Governance
In Senegal, HIV Peer Mediators Are a Lifeline for These Young Men
In Senegal, the Health and Education Sectors Are Teaming Up for Teens
From Malaria Prevention to Postpartum Family Planning, Midwives Are Changing the Story for Women in Rural Senegal
Stronger Referral Systems Are Saving Lives in Senegal
Neema was funded by the US Agency for International Development in partnership with the National Alliance of Communities for Health (ANCS), ChildFund International, Helen Keller International, Ideas42, Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs (JHU/CCP), and Réseau Siggil Jigéen (RSJ).
family planning maternal, newborn, & child health noncommunicable diseases nutrition community education & performance Leadership and Governance Community Health Workers Senegal Neema
In Rwanda, This Training for Health Workers Improves Services for Children | from the same health districts. Tutorat focuses on the specific needs of health workers through a customized approach, which assesses performance gaps, improves individual performance, and addresses individual learning needs while also minimizing disruptions in health services.
Neema also worked with health workers to prevent malaria among pregnant women and provide HIV services for community members. Program staff trained health workers on intermittent preventive therapy and the importance of long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets; helped health facilities develop a case-management system that fills data gaps and improves care at the post; and worked with the National Malaria Control Program to implement the Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention campaign, which reached 836,975 children under ten.
In the seven Neema-supported regions, the number of people living with HIV who were tested increased from 71% in 2017 to 81% in 2019 and the number of people on antiretroviral treatment rose to 28,960, a 17% increase from 2017.
"I'm so proud of the work we've done to help mothers and babies, especially the progress we've made with the maternal mortality rate," says Babacar Gueye, chief of party and IntraHealth's country director in Senegal. "We've made more progress in the last seven years than we did during the last two decades."
In Senegal | 290 |
Winter Russian Language & Culture School 2017 of Kazan Federal University
On the 6th of February 12 students from Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany and Philippines will take part in Winter Russian Language and Culture School of Kazan Federal University. During 2 weeks they will be diving into language and cultural environment, which will enable them to improve their proficiency in the Russian language, get acquainted with the life of modern Russia, as well as learn about Kazan and Tatarstan.
The Winter School includes both classroom trainings in the Russian language (40 hours), and regional geographic practice (20 hours), during which students learn about the culture and history of Kazan and the University. The classes and field trips are led by the experienced faculty members of the Leo<|fim_middle|> as "a beautiful ancient town with wide streets". They were also impressed by the fact that in the Kremlin "mosques and churches are nearby and co-exist peacefully".
Russian winter and ski trips gave students a lot of positive impressions: "We went skiing in the forest. I was surprised that there are so many people! When I was at home in the Czech Republic, in a corner of the soul, I was hoping that we're going to ski, and my dream has come true!" (Veronica Mareckova).
This year the Winter School is also going to be full of a variety of events including training sessions and excursions. Obviously, students of the Winter School'2017 will bring home only warm memories of Kazan cold winter.
Learn more about Winter or Summer Russian Language & Culture School 2017 of Kazan Federal University.
Keywords: Winter Russian Language & Culture School 2017 of Kazan Federal University
Фотография из материала: Winter Russian Language & Culture School 2017 of Kazan Federal University | Tolstoy Institute of Philology and Intercultural Communication of KFU who have been preparing and implementing interesting and productive programs for Russian learners for over 20 years.
Students who visited the Winter School last year shared their impressions with us. Christina Naleshnikova from Czech Republic noted the high level of teaching: "Our teachers were very nice and responsible. They helped us to improve our Russian language. I am very glad that I studied at Kazan Federal University." According to Petra Yurekovoy, classes were intense and interesting: "In the classroom we talked a lot about Kazan, the city's history, its monuments, studied grammar. Thanks to teachers for correcting us when we made mistakes, and being so attentive to us. What I really liked is that we played different talk games in the classroom. It was interesting and fun and allowed us to talk a lot in Russian".
Besides, students enjoyed excursion around the Kremlin and historic center of Kazan. They described Kazan | 200 |
Thread Check Inc. offers a full range of plain cylindrical chrome ring gages in inch sizes designed to be used for go/no go gaging and as masters.Chrome ring gauges provide greater wear resistance. They also offer better corrision resistance. Plain cylindrical chrome ring gauges are ideal for inspecting outside diameters of manufactured parts. With go/no go gages, an inspector can quickly pass or fail parts without taking time consuming readings from a measuring instrument. Chrome plain Go ring gauges are built with a minus tolerance. No go ring gages are built with a plus tolerance. The go gage is used to verify the high limit. The no go gage is used to verify the lower limit. Fixed limit gages such as plain cylindrical gauges are made to match the maximum and minimum material condition of the part. The fixed limit gage is typically a three dimensional replica of the mating part. This system of gage tolerancing ensures that an inspector will never allow bad part to be accepted. Inspection using fixed limit go/no go plain cylindrical gages requires only basic training. The inspector only has to verify whether the gage is fitting over the outside diameter of their part.
Roundness and taper does not exceed 50% of the gagemakers tolerance. Thread Check can supply gauges from .015" up to 28.00"
gauges larger than 1.510", the g<|fim_middle|> making it easier to handle and use by the inspector.
gauges are ideal for gaging the outside diameter of parts. The go ring gage is used to verify the high limit of the part and the no go plain ring gauge is used to verify the low limit of the part.
making it easier to handle and use by the inspector. | ages have a flanged diameter. The gage has less material on the outside of the diameter thus | 20 |
Silvía Nótt Sæmundsdóttir (tudi Silvia Night; rojena kot Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir), islandska pevka, * 28. julij 1982, Reykjavík, Islandija.
Na nacionalnem izbor<|fim_middle|>ott, Silvia
Nott, Silvia | u za pesem Evrovizije je Silvía zmagala z znatno prednostjo, saj je prejela 70-odstotkov od malone 120.000 glasov. V izvirniku ima pesem naslov Til hamingju Ísland, vendar jo je na Evrosongu 2006 zapela v angleščini (angleški naslov je Congratulations).
Silvía Nótt je v bistvu fiktivna osebnost, ki jo je Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir ves čas bivanja v Atenah le igrala. S svojo provokativnostjo, nadutostjo in pretirano vasezagledanostjo je izzvala zgražanja s strani novinarjev in občinstva, ker so njeno obnašanje razumeli kot realno. Po polfinalnem nastopu jo je občistvo Evrosonga zato tudi izžvižgalo, poslušalci pa je niso izglasovali v finale. Njena pesem je v polfinalu pristala na trinajstem mestu in tako zgrešila uvrstitev v finale za tri mesta.
Glej tudi
seznam islandskih pevcev
Zunanje povezave
Pevkina uradna stran
Nott, Silvia
Nott, Silvia
N | 336 |
DeRozan, Aldridge lead Spurs past Mavericks 112-105
Dave Jackson | The Associated Press 03/12/19, 22:02
San Antonio Spurs center LaMarcus Aldridge (12) gets past Dallas Mavericks forward Dwight Powell (7) and Luka Doncic, rear, for a shot during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Tuesday, March 12, 2019. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
DeMar DeRozan scored 33 points, LaMarcus Aldridge added 28 and the San Antonio Spurs beat the Dallas Mavericks 112-105 on Tuesday night.
DeRozan and Aldridge had identical 11-for-19 shooting lines from the field and combined to go 17 of 17 from the foul line. The Spurs led from the middle of the first quarter on in winning their sixth in a row. Dallas lost its sixth straight and 11th in 12 games.
Derrick White added 23 points and seven assists for San Antonio.
San Antonio Spurs center LaMarcus Aldridge (12) dunks as Dallas Mavericks forward Maximilian Kleber (42) defends during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Tuesday, March 12, 2019. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Jalen Brunson scored a career-high 34 points for the Mavericks and Dwight Powell added 20.
Luka Doncic started for Dallas despite a strained knee but went through one of his worst games of his rookie season. Doncic didn't score until the final minute of the first half and ended up with 12 points and nine turnovers.
He finished 5 for 18 from the field and 1 for 9 from the line. Things hit rock bottom for Doncic in the third quarter, when he was fouled on a 3-point shot and didn't make any of the free throws. He also missed 3 of 4 from the line down the stretch when Dallas was mounting a comeback.
Dallas Mavericks forward Dwight Powell (7) goes up for a shot as San Antonio Spurs' DeMar DeRozan (10), Derrick White (4) and Jakob Poeltl, right, defend during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Tuesday, March 12, 2019. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Doncic hit a running bank shot to bring Dallas within 97-94 with 3:29 to play, but Davis Bertans made a 3 from the corner to restore a six-point lead.
DeRozan and White hit back-to-back mid-range jumpers to put San Antonio up 106-99 in the final minute and the Spurs sealed it with free throws.
The Spurs closed the first quarter on a 19-5 run, with DeRozan scoring 14 during that stretch, to lead 34-24.
Dallas Mavericks guard Jalen Brunson (13) defends as San Antonio Spurs guard Derrick White (4) shoots during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Tuesday, March 12, 2019. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
San Antonio extended the lead to 15 early in the second quarter before Doncic scored<|fim_middle|> counted
Texas 07/17/21, 02:04
Charles Barkley blasts cancel culture, speaks about his 'Inside the NBA' future | the final five points of the half to pull Dallas within 60-53.
PRAISING DIRK
Dirk Nowitzki started his sixth game of the season and scored eight points, all in the first quarter. He needs 27 more to pass Wilt Chamberlain for sixth place on the NBA's career scoring list.
"Dirk is a spectacular example of a competitor on the court and a great human being all at the same time," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "He competed with a ferocity. He loved winning, he hated losing, but he was classy in the sense that he knew how to do both."
Nowitzki has played more regular-season games (77) against the Spurs than any other opponent, and another 33 in the playoffs. San Antonio hosts the Mavericks in the regular-season finale on April 10, which could be Nowitzki's last game.
Spurs: Popovich said Rudy Gay would return on Friday after missing the last two games with the flu. … Dejounte Murray was with the team even though he is out for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. "He's going to be very important to us next year," Popovich said. "On these single-game trips, we just wanted him to start being with the group."
Mavericks: Brunson has scored in double figures in his last five games. His career high in three years at Villanova was 31.
Spurs: Host the Knicks on Friday.
Mavericks: Visit Denver on Thursday.
Tags:Dallas NBA San Antonio Dallas Mavericks DeMar DeRozan Luka Doncic Dwight Powell Derrick White
Color blind firefighter becomes emotional from seeing American flag colors for first time
Inspired Stories 09/28/21, 18:56
Texas: Hospital grants religious exemption for vaccine mandate after threats of legal challenge
U.S loses to France 83-76 : Worst ever by USA Basketball in any tournament with NBA players
Basketball 07/26/21, 04:37
CDC: Outbreaks of drug-resistant 'superbug' fungus spread in Texas and Washington, D.C.
Donald Trump is back and, he's ready to stand up and be | 473 |
Dried fruit provides rich, concentrated cherry flavor, a contrast to the tart frozen cherries. The white, creamy chocolate topping drizzles the pies with sweetness.
Combine the first 5 ingredients in a medium saucepan; cook over medium heat 7 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates. Remove from heat. Add butter, stirring until butter melts. Stir in cornstarch and vanilla. Cool slightly.
Working with 1 Sweet Cream Cheese Dough circle at a time, remove plastic wrap from dough. Place dough on a lightly floured surface. Spoon about 2 tablespoons cherry mixture into center of circle. Fold dough over filling; press edges together with a fork or fingers to seal. Place pie on a large baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Repeat procedure with remaining Sweet Cream Cheese Dough circles and remaining cherry mixture. Freeze 30 minutes.
Remove pies from freezer. Pierce top<|fim_middle|> butter instead of 1. In the dough I used regular cream cheese instead of the low fat. Instead of white chocolate I made a Meyer Lemon glaze for them.
We are still eating these out of the freezer from when I made them this summer with fresh picked cherries. They are really good and I plan to try with different fruit fillings. I prefer to top with a simple confectioners sugar glaze as I don't really like white chocolate. | of each pie once with a fork. Place baking sheet on bottom rack in oven. Bake at 425° for 19 minutes or until edges are lightly browned and filling is bubbly. Cool completely on a wire rack.
Place chocolate chips in a heavy-duty zip-top plastic bag; microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until chips are soft. Knead bag until smooth. Snip a tiny hole in corner of bag; drizzle chocolate over cooled pies.
These had a very good cherry flavor, delicious. We like hearty portions of dessert so what the heck, I doubled their size and got 6 in the batch. Also used 2 tb of | 136 |
A local networking programme of quarterly events, hosted at locations across the area, for the benefit of the Upper Eden business community.
The aim of the network is to create cohesion among our diverse<|fim_middle|>, please telephone: 017683 89132 or email: [email protected].
The Upper Eden Business Support Programme is funded by Eden District Council and being delivered in partnership with the Upper Eden Community Interest Company. The programme is identified in the aims and objectives of the Upper Eden Community Plan, which is currently being refreshed. | and vibrant local businesses, provide information and advice to them and to support the development and growth of the local economy.
Events are organised after business hours from 7pm, are hosted by local businesses and include a business topic, guest speakers, networking opportunities and updates on services and support available locally.
Businesses of all sizes and from all sectors are invited to join our network, find out about what is available to help their businesses, meet new people and develop their local business connections.
The network is part of the Upper Eden Business Support Programme, which has been set up to support the development and growth of the local business community. The programme offers a package of support for local businesses which also includes: 1-2-1 Business Advice and subsidised business skills training.
If you would like to join our network events or access advice, guidance, support or training from the Upper Eden Business Support Programme | 179 |
Brand. Brand. BRAnd. BRAND! That word is everyywhere! I can't go a day without reading or hearing about it in some form. Hell I've even talked about it a few times at length with my boss regarding the company for which I work. It's practically unavoidable. But rightfully so, because your brand is EVERYTHING<|fim_middle|> your packaging may be, if your product is great one moment and hot garbage the next? You can kiss that customer goodbye. Consistency is key in any and EV-ER-RYThing that you do! Do you hear me!? This is the one principle that applies to not only your business but your life. I could speak hear for hours on your life but I won't take ya'll to church on that today.
If people can't count on you to deliver that same product with the same or better results, you might as well close your doors now.
People should be able to buy your product or service today and buy it a year from and get the same great experience to which they have been accustomed.
If you hand make a product, like I do and you need to hire 5 more people to get the job done, you better make sure they can do the job just like you.
I know this seems like a lot. And it probably is. But you need it. I need it. You won't achieve your definition of success without it. | when it comes to your business.
It is the reason why people come back to you time and time again. It is the reason that they refer you to their friends and family. It is the reason they will buy a new product from you without really knowing all of the ins and outs of it. They just believe in their mind, that if its coming from you, it has to be good.
You've set that precedent and created high expectations that to them, you've not only met but exceeded. And that's absolutely wonderful. That's what you want. That's what you need to keep your business going and growing.
But how do you get there? Good question.
Well, since I've been on this journey to creating a skin care line that not only matters to me but truly fulfills the needs and wants of my customers, I've picked up a thing or two from some of the best at branding just by watching their business grow and their reach expand exponentially. Then simply as a consumer myself with particular tastes.
So first things first, I'm the realest. Ok, sorry I couldn't resist. Iggy worked her way into my mind but only for the moment.
But all jokes aside, lets start with the basics. So what is a brand exactly?
Its your color palette (think Tiffany's). Its your font. Its your design. Its your signature stylings. Its your delivery. It's the final touch. YOUR story. Basically, its all the things that are unique to YOUR product or service that leaves a lasting impression in the mind and maybe even the heart of your consumer.
But none of these things will matter if you're not consistent with them at ALL times. Its how people recognize your brand from the next. Look at Coke and Pepsi. They are two of the most recognizable brands when it comes to colas but vastly different in nearly every aspect from taste to the slogan.
As someone who is creating a natural skincare product line, I know what I am doing is nothing new. But that's okay.
I'm not worried. There may be hundreds of brands, but not all of them are telling their story. Not all of them are concerned with product standards and presentation. Not all of them are concerned with that one thing that will set them apart.
I want you to be too but don't go stressing yourself out if its not perfect. There in lies the beauty of building a brand. It can evolve over time. The colors may change or the packaging may change shape, but the heart of your brand remains the same.
So how do you do that? Oh look at you being inquisitive.
People don't care about the fluff. They want the real. They need to understand your who, your why and your what so they'll stick around to understand your how (what you can do for them).
when your message is clear, people can connect with you. When that connection is made they're more likely to buy even when the cost may seem outrageous to some.
Let's be honest here. People like to look at pretty things. I know I do! I know I've been stopped in my tracks by stunning window displays while out shopping. I've oohed and aahed over handmade stationary that has taken every detail from lettering, colors and design into consideration.
The presentation of your brand simply can't be overlooked.
It can speak for you when nothing else is known about you. It doesn't have to be complex. Just make it look like you give a damn. So what if the labels on your handmade body wash are simplistic. But you took the time to handstamp little notes of encouragement that is sent with everything single package. Or you create info products, which are huge in this day and age. Everything that you create from your site, workbooks, graphics, EVERYTHING that will have your name and brand on it needs to be consistent across the board.
Once again, things don't have to be perfect. It just needs to be identifiable.
This. THIS!? This more than anything else, is why people will keep coming back. No matter how strongly your message resonates with someone or how beautiful | 843 |
Beautiful Fairview,at 2900 feet elevation, this sprawling 23 acre+ private estate is rare find. From the gated entrance you will feel the peace and tranquility surrounding this well maintained and professionally landscaped home. Grounds include two ponds and a rushing stream bordering the property with million $$ long range mountain views, abundant flat land with tree buffers to maintain privacy. Ample space to raise farm animals and horses and plenty of room for your family to enjoy. Three wells are located on the property and two residences. The fully furnished guest house is a converted barn with high end up-fits, lots of charm and an artist workshop. The fully furnished main house is a great example of Timberpeg (Post/Bean) construction and has had some history as a high end bed and breakfast Inn. If you love exquisite landscaping and h<|fim_middle|> designed by award-winning architect Frank Snodgrass with interior elements by Griffin Architects. Elevator shaft and garage for 3 cars. | ardscaping, this home is a perfect find.With a wonderful theater there is plenty to do. Seller will include all the event equipment with the sale.
Inspired by the finest traditions of European architecture and design, this home is adorned with some of the finest finishes and treatments in our market. Positioned on a private mountain top of 1.790 acres and offering spectacular long range views, complete privacy, and year round gardens. A full French country kitchen of exquisite design, with double island, hearth room, walk in pantry, overlooking the majestic two story great room with cast stone fireplace. Main level master wing, sitting area with 5 9ft turret windows, spa bath and dressing area with private work out room. Each bedroom suite has access to a balcony. You will find a private cinema, lower wet bar, gym, dressing room and dazzling millwork, walnut floors on two levels. These are just a few elements that make this home remarkable. Masterfully | 197 |
As mentioned above the best case is the one<|fim_middle|> given reference date. Such a software will automatically adjust the plan where possible and leave the hard constraints in the hand of the project manager by marking them as conflicts. | when the plan was created with as few as possible hard constraints. This allows an increased flexibility when it comes to shifting the activities in time.
Small and simple projects can be managed using simple tools like a paper and pencil or spreadsheets but this is not valid anymore with larger and more complex projects. The bigger the project is and the more frequent changes are made to the original schedule the harder it is to adjust it. More time is spent and the probability or error appearance is higher. Imagine doing all these week by week… a titanic effort.
In such situations it is highly recommended to use a project management software that has the capability to re-schedule the project starting from a | 135 |
So it looks like we need to add a new image style. So I'm going to go ahead and go back to Image styles by clicking it in the breadcrumbs, and I'm going to click Add style at the top of the page. Now, let's go ahead and add a name for it.
Notice in the description that it says that "This name is used in URLs for generating images. Use only lowercase alphanumeric characters, underscores and hyphens. " So it's pretty much like a machine name except we can use hyphens as well.
Okay. I'm going to click Create new style. So right now we don't have any resizing or anything going on so our original picture here is identical to our guide image here.
Let's begin by adding a new effect. We can do so by going to the Effect box down here and clicking this Select a new effect box and let's go ahead and look at our options here. We can crop which means that we can set both the width and height dimensions and the image will get cropped in order to fit that.
So, for example, we could use this to create<|fim_middle|> are rather similar except resize allows you to resize the image to particular dimensions while you actually stretch the image or shrink the image. Rotate allows us to turn the image according to a particular degree. Scale allows us to fit the image within a certain box but maintain the dimensions. | a square image from a rectangular image. We can use desaturate in order to make a color image black and white. So this is one that we'll need to add to our effects list.
Resize and scale | 43 |
It is an incredibly popular-- and rather scary-- figure that everybody in the organisation globe has actually heard that "90% of the startups fall short". If you look at these stopped working organisations which as soon as started with much vitality as well as excitement, they<|fim_middle|> to finally buying the product or the service.
In the beginning, Click Funnels Pricing could make you assume if it deserves it, yet you will certainly require it to earn a quick progress as well as awareness among the consumers particularly in the very initial few stages of running a business. This solution especially aids the start-ups and the business owners that are not very acquainted with the advertising and marketing as well as sales process to get the best from their advertising and marketing techniques by converting site visitors successfully to be purchasers.
When you pay a regular internet designer to produce a site for you, the final outcome might be visually pleasing, yet they usually do not pay attention to making a sale via the platform. Click Funnels has actually placed together a number of web site design templates that consist of a total sales funnels from the welcome screen to the last Thank You screen.
Click Funnels have been developed by sales as well as advertising and marketing experts with many years of experience in actually making sales. Complying with are some of the pre-designed sales funnels that you can pick at the Click Funnels.
You can choose these funnels inning accordance with the sector you are operating in, the type of solutions that you use and what sort of a sales procedure that you desire your possible clients to experience. There are samples of all these funnels that you could have a step by step check out as well as experience the very same funneling process that your site visitors will experience once you use that funnel.
All the designs and sales funnels that you enter the Click Funnels solution are quite personalized. You can use your personal color motifs, photos as well as texts thinking about the recommendations that Click Funnels supply to obtain the very best results. The modifying and also editing and enhancing procedure is a straightforward drag and drop technique making anybody, even with no website design experience, to produce the sort of site that you always fantasized to have for your service. | seldom fail since the principle or the concept of the company itself misbehaved.
Exactly What does Clickfunnels Voucher Codes 2019 do?
Click Funnels provide you with a pre-designed and also well-curated sales funnel which will certainly take your visitors via a convincing trip that will certainly make them acquire your item at the end. This last objective could be various depending on the product that you market or the solution that you provide. Click Funnels have actually created a variety of sales funnels that could lead you to attain your objectives by taking your visitors through a well assumed out sales funnels. Adhering to are several of the objectives which can be fulfilled by a sales funnels.
A sales channel favorably affects the idea process of your site visitors making the choice to go ahead with your purpose. This is essentially giving that little press a sales representative would give in a physical shop to finally comprise the state of mind to proceed with a purchase.
Just How Do Clickfunnels Voucher Codes 2019 assist increase your earnings?
A web site is similar to an online store, as well as the function of putting a large investment right into developing a website is to ultimately assist raise the income of your business. The majority of people, specifically the start-ups and the business owners that are new to the online organisation world emphasis excessive on the looks of the layout to think about whether it works enough to actually make a sale.
Bring in brand-new visitors to the website is the initial and one of the most crucial tasks that a sales funnel does. This is the mouth of the channel. This phase is narrower as well as in the next action of the channel and also need to be well maintained since they are most likely to make a purchase in the following couple of phases as long as you maintain them satisfied.
Closing is the last of a funnel where a lead becomes a customer. They proactively make the order as well as purchase your product, enroll in your newsletter or primarily do what you intended them to do by creating the channel. Following degree is client retention or maintaining them delighted with your product or the purchase, so they become return customers.
Clickfunnels Voucher Codes 2019 Prices: Is it actually worth it?
Just what is a Sales Funnel Clickfunnels Voucher Codes 2019?
If you are a shopping business owner, getting a good knowledge of sales funnels as well as transforming a lead to a consumer is one of the most standard things you should recognize from the beginning. To put it simply, a sales channel is the process that a possible buyer goes with from being a visitor/lead | 536 |
Netcoh Sales<|fim_middle|> more. We also have experience building automated machines for product assembly and modify existing machines to meet your individualized needs.
Netcoh Sales stocks a large assortment of parts for all major brands of pneumatic tools, including, Spotnails, Bostitch, Hitachi, Duo-Fast, Senco, Porter Cable, DeWalt, Paslode, Makita, Kihlberg, ISM, Grex, Haubold, Bea, Max, Atro & Alpha.
We also carry an extensive inventory of closeouts, discontinued items, and hard-to-find parts, along with O-Ring kits, and other products designed to help you maintain and prolong the life of your tools. | Company has been in business since 1990. The founder, Sam Netcoh, has been selling fasteners and related products since 1963. Through his many years of first hand experience with pneumatic tools and related fasteners he has gained an extensive knowledge of the stapling and fastening industry.
Netcoh Sales offers in house tool repair service for the major brands, including Spotnails, Bostitch, DeWalt, Paslode, Hitachi and many | 100 |
How Our Startup Got Featured on CNN
October 11, 2010 | Comments
Traffic Bumps via Chartbeat
Last Saturday, we woke up to a surprising alert from Chartbeat, we had a new record for most active visitors on our site Yipit.
It turns out that CNN had run a two minute segment profiling Yipit. By Sunday, they had aired the segment four times and we easily had our best ever two-day stretch across all key metrics including user sign-ups.
Did we get it because we had raised money, crossed 100,000 users or hired an expensive PR firm? No. The following is how it happened.
(If you're having trouble with the video, try refreshing the page)
Listening to Our Customers
Yipit's primary product is to aggregate the best daily deals in your city (Groupon, LivingSocial, BuyWithMe, Yelp, Scoop St and 160+ others) and email the best ones to you based on preferences you set.
Since launching Yipit in February, we've had a policy to reach out to users that unsubscribe to collect feedback. We send them an email explaining that we're a startup and offer them a $10 amazon gift card to get on the phone with us for 10 minutes and explain what happened.
I know that sounds like a lot of work, but we actually use a virtual assistant to handle the entire process of setting up the call. We just have to do the calls and everyone on the team does the calls.
In June, we got an unsubscribe from someone with a gmail address. We reached out to him and he explained via email that he had unsubscribed because he lived in Connecticut and didn't think he would be able to use the New York deals we were recommending. But, he also explained that he was an executive producer for CNN's<|fim_middle|>.
Isn't the job of journalists to try out new services and report on them to their readers? I would expect that your earliest customers consists of not only early adopters but also a handful of influential tech journalists, magazines editors and executive producers.
In other words, aside from the many benefits of getting feedback from your early customers, yet another reason to talk to customers is an opportunity to have more meaningful conversations about your startup with the journalists who are trying it out. If you have good and meaningful conversations with them, they will probably be more likely to tell their audience about you. | Money Unit and wanted to set up a call with us.
Customer Development Process Got Us Profiled
It turns out that he was really impressed with two aspects of how we were running Yipit:
We were reaching out to our unsatisfied customers to get their feedback on how to make Yipit better
We had pivoted from an overall deals and coupon aggregation service to just focusing on daily deals based in part on those user feedback calls
After the call, he said they wanted to feature us on a series called "The Turnaround" that focuses on a business that makes a change that leads to more success. As he was telling us about the series, I was thinking to myself that the series really celebrated successful pivots, a key tenet of the customer development process popularized by Steve Blank and Eric Ries. We were getting profiled because we were following the customer development process!
Were We Just Lucky?
Clearly we had been very fortunate that one of the users that unsubscribed happened to be an executive producer at CNN. But, maybe we weren't as lucky as it seems | 219 |
OZZY Osbourne demanded to be served a curry despite dining in an Italian restaurant.
The Black Sabbath rocker was with his wife, Sharon, and other friends at London's upmarket C branch of the Cipriani restaurant chain, but wasn't keen on their fancy European menu, so repeatedly asked for his favourite Indian preparation until the restaurant obliged and dispatched a waiter<|fim_middle|> didn't know how to order food in other languages.
Bass player Geezer Butler has said: "It was f***ing horrible. We were literally starving. Sometimes I'd cry because I'd be so hungry. You couldn't afford the petrol to go for just one show so you had to stay there [Europe] for two or three weeks." | to pick up a takeaway.
A source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "Ozzy was completely unfazed by the situation, and insisted he was in the mood for a curry.
"Sharon and [friend] Louis Walsh kept telling him he should just have a nice bowl of pasta or something, but he wouldn't budge.
"He wanted a curry and, as far as he was concerned, that was the end of it. Obviously staff were keen to keep their high-profile guests happy, so waiters were dispatched to a nearby curry house in Mayfair and ordered a takeaway for Ozzy.
"They rushed it back and served it up - still warm - on C-branded plates as the rest of the table were served their dinners. Ozzy was delighted."
Ozzy is certainly in a different position from when he was first touring with Black Sabbath in the early 70s, as back then the band used to go hungry because they | 191 |
Former Sunbury resident<|fim_middle|> of those responsible for arson.
Bishop stressed, however, that the arson control's program differs from crime-stoppers in that a tip must lead to a conviction before any reward is paid out.
Also in attendance were Liberty County Emergency Management Agency Director Mike Hodges, EMA Deputy Director Larry Logan and Eastern District Fire Chief Joe Martin.
Duncan said she plans on saving most of the money, although her grandson informed her that he deserves a cut, saying "I'm the one who saw it!" | rewarded for role in convicting arsonist
Randy Bishop of Georgia Arson Control on Wednesday presented former Sunbury resident Willow Duncan with a $2,500 check for her role in convicting the arsonist who burned down an abandoned store in Sunbury.
Duncan recalled sitting on her porch when her grandson said he smelled something burning. After checking the house, Duncan resumed her phone conversation, assuming that someone was burning wood nearby.
Shortly thereafter, Duncan said she looked up and saw fire coming from the abandoned building two doors down. She said she immediately hung up and dialed 911.
Duncan said that as she waited for authorities to arrive, she noticed a man standing in front of the building, watching it burn. She said that she clearly saw his face and recognized him as someone she'd seen around the neighborhood.
Duncan said the man stood in front of the burning building until police arrived, at which point he calmly walked away. When authorities asked if she could identify the man, she said "Yes."
"I don't ever forget a face," Duncan said. "I'm going to always remember that face."
Duncan said she identified the man in a photo lineup.
According to Bishop, the Georgia Arson Control Program is a 501-C-6 organization that is sponsored by the state fire marshal's office and funded by property and casualty insurance companies throughout the state.
According to Georgia Arson Control's website, up to $10,000 may be paid for information resulting in the arrest and conviction | 313 |
Take in the South Island's stunning mountains and the vast Canterbury Plains aboard the Tranz Alpine. New Zealand's finest inland rail journey.
Experience the South Island's striking natural landscape by taking a train between Christchurch and Greymoth. Along this journey you'll see epic vistas, travel the edges of the ice-fed Waimakariri River, traverse the Southern Alps, and see miles of native beech forest.
The Tranz Alpine is one of the world's great train journeys covering 223 kilometres (139 miles) one-way, taking just under 5 hours. You'll traverse the majestic Canterbury Plains, to the backdrop of the mighty Southern Alps – the journey of a lifetime.
All our seats are the same. They are large, they are<|fim_middle|> they are reclined – and they all have amazing views!
However, we only have room for small day bags and handbags on-board. This is because the overhead shelves are made from glass to allow the views to flow into the carriage – so its nice not to obscure them with large bags.
We have a fully licensed café on board that sells nibbles and snacks, hot and cold food, teas and coffees, soft and alcoholic drinks.
You will find that our sandwiches and snacks are similarly priced to New Zealand supermarkets – and it saves you the bother of nipping into the shops on your way to the station! | comfy, | 2 |
The story begins with Beatrix Potter nervously packing her portfolio and narr<|fim_middle|> mother retorts she believes the venture will fail. However, the book sales are very successful and copies are displayed in many store windows. Even Beatrix's father, Rupert, buys a copy along with friends at the Reform Club. Encouraged by this success and her father's support, Beatrix invites Norman and Millie to her family's Christmas party, despite her mother's misgivings. At the party everyone enjoys themselves and Beatrix shows Norman a story she is writing especially for him, "The Rabbits' Christmas Party". She shows him a drawing from the story and shows him her studio where she writes and draws. Miss Wiggin falls asleep from too much brandy (a generous portion of which had been added to her coffee cup by Norman), and Norman plucks up the courage to propose to Beatrix. Mrs. Potter interrupts before Beatrix can reply, and they join the other guests in the drawing room. Beatrix confides in Millie about Norman proposing, and Millie encourages her to say yes. Beatrix then tells the guests of the stories she writes and they are delighted and amused. Mrs. Potter, however, can not see what all the fuss is about. As the guests leave, Beatrix whispers her agreement to marry Norman, who is overjoyed.
Soon after, Rupert Potter invites Norman to his office and tells him his opinion of him. At the Potter household, Beatrix and her parents argue about her decision to marry Norman. Beatrix is adamant and will not be dissuaded. Mrs. Potter tells her no Potter can marry into trade, but Beatrix reminds her that her grandfathers were both tradesmen. When Mrs. Potter threatens to cut her daughter off, Beatrix reminds them of her brother, Bertram, who married a wine merchant's daughter and was not disowned. She states she can survive on her own with her novels. Mr. Potter attempts to reason with his daughter, but she tells him she wants to be loved and not simply marry someone because he can provide for her.
Beatrix inquires with the bank about her royalty earnings, wondering if she would perhaps someday be able to buy a house in the country. She is amazed and delighted to learn that her book sales have made her wealthy enough to buy several estates and a house in town if she wishes.
When she returns home her parents offer a proposition: that Beatrix keep her engagement to Norman a secret and vacation with them in the Lake District for the summer. If she still wishes to marry him at the end of the summer, they agree that they will not object to the marriage. Beatrix agrees to the proposition and is quite convinced that she will not change her mind, telling her parents to prepare for an October wedding.
Norman and Beatrix kiss each other goodbye at the train station and write many letters during their time apart, until one day a letter arrives from his sister Millie, informing her that Norman is ill. Beatrix travels back to London only to find that Norman has died. Overcome with grief, Beatrix shuts herself up in her room. She turns to her drawing, but discovers that her characters disappear off the page. Millie comes to visit and comfort her, and Beatrix decides she must leave the house.
Beatrix buys a farm in the country in the Lake District and moves there to resume her work. She hires a farmhand to run the farm and finds comfort in her surroundings. With the help of her solicitor, William Heelis, she outbids developers at auctions and buys many other farms and land in the area to preserve nature. Eight years after moving to the Lake District she marries William. The land eventually forms part of the Lake District National Park in northwestern England. | ating that she is a London spinster, and that her ambition to become a children's author meets with wide disapproval. She and her chaperone, Miss Wiggin, visit the publishing house of the Warne brothers and they decide to publish her book. Beatrix is thrilled and returns home, not without taking a drive through the parks to celebrate first. However it is revealed that the Warne brothers think her book is ridiculous and will no doubt be a failure. The only reason they agreed to publish her story is because they promised their youngest brother, Norman, a project.
When Norman Warne arrives, Beatrix makes decisions about her finished book, regarding size, colour and price. Norman admits he has never done anything like this before but has given her book a great deal of thought. Beatrix realises what the Warne brothers have done regarding her and Norman but they become determined to prove them wrong. Norman takes Beatrix to the printer, and she has her drawings reproduced and copies of her book sold. Thrilled, Beatrix and Norman visit the Warne family, where Beatrix meets the wheelchair-bound but lovely Mrs. Warne, and Norman's sister, Amelia, nicknamed "Millie". Millie has decided that she and Beatrix are going to be friends and is overjoyed that Beatrix is a spinster, as is Millie, who believes men to be nothing but bores. The family befriends Beatrix, yet Helen Potter, Beatrix's social-climbing mother, is unhappy about her daughter spending time in the company of tradesmen.
When she returns home, Beatrix and Helen bicker about Beatrix's stubborn decision not to marry. Beatrix reminds her mother of the book she wrote, and her | 354 |
Music (<|fim_middle|> you will get out of your Piano lessons.
Head over to our contact page and let us help you be the Pianist you always wanted to be. | and the ability to make music) is a basic part of being a human being. We can all do it. Learning Keyboard (Piano included) is a great way to step into the word of making music. If you're looking Keyboard Lessons Brisbane, Independent Music Academy is your best choice. Amazingly dedicated mentors who are experienced teachers and performers.
Please head over to our contact page for a free introductory lesson, where we can asses your playing and what you will need from your Piano or Keyboard (they're really the same thin) lessons to help you unlock your musical potential.
Learning Piano by yourself can be frustrating and time consuming – as well as physically dangerous for your wrists and hands.
At IMA our Piano lessons are designed to help you reach your potential as quickly and as easily as possible – you'll still have to put in time at home, but we want you to get good as fast as you can.
If you think about how much you want to be able to play Piano well – roughly the price of a cup of coffee a day isn't much sacrifice for how much | 217 |
Heads is performed with one 10-minute intermission. There is no late seating for this performance.
Please join us for a post-show talkback with the cast of Heads, hosted by dramaturg, Kyle Bostian, following the Saturday, Feb. 8 matinee performance.
Lewis' award-winning plays have been produced around the country, and around the world. In addition to winning the Primus Prize for Heads, Lewis won the 2009 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for her play Song of Extinction, and 2010-2011 Hodder Fellowship in playwriting from Princeton University. Lewis is a member of Moving Arts Theater Company, the Dramatists Guild, the International Centre for Women Playwrights, and the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights.
Director John Shepard appeared on Broadway in David Mamet's American Buffalo with Al Pacino (as well as the subsequent national tour and on the West End),<|fim_middle|>" by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Shepard teaches acting and directing at Point Park and has directed several Conservatory Theatre productions, including Evita, Marat/Sade, Candide, and Joined at the Head, among others. He has directed locally for Off the Wall (Shining City) and at theatres across the country. As an actor, he appeared in the world premieres of The Electric Baby for Quantum and Mid-Strut for The REP, and was chosen as Performer of the Year by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for his performance as Willy Loman in The REP's 2008 production of Death of a Salesman. | and Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge (with Tony LoBianco). For The REP, Shepard has directed Buried Child, The Chicken Snake (World Premiere), One Flea Spare, The Visit, Mother Courage and, most recently, August: Osage County, which was named "Best of 2012 | 67 |
The market for Database Security involves a number of different technical solution approaches which are not covered by a single product, but instead require a set of different products and features in order to secure content in databases. As a result, there are many different solutions on offer in the market today. In this report we will focus on Oracle Database Vault and Oracle Audit Vault which are two products covering two distinct areas of database security, the first one focusing on preventive controls and the other on detective controls.
Oracle Database Vault deals with privileged access to data by implementing policies which restrict and control access of privileged users and thus mitigate the associated security risks. Oracle tightly integrated Database Vault with the Oracle Database kernel to ensure policies cannot be by-passed and performance overhead is neglible. Privileged users are now considered to be one of the biggest threats to database security for companies, organizations and government agencies. Database administrators (DBAs) are the most prevalent type of privileged users with potential access to all information in databases,<|fim_middle|> Oracle's database security portfolio. It also supports da-tabases from different vendors, including Microsoft SQL Server, IBM DB2 UDB, and SAP Sybase. Audit Vault consolidates audit data from different database servers. These can be analyzed in reports through a large number of out-of-the-box reports. The product also supports alerts on security threats.
As a detective control for different databases, Oracle Audit Vault can be used in a pretty straightfor-ward way. Oracle Database Vault, however, requires a good deal of planning. The pre-configured integration with several core business applications can help reduce the effort involved. Nevertheless, adequate organizational policies must be in place for deployment to be successful.
KuppingerCole strongly recommends defining a holistic security strategy in order to identify the necessary database security technologies beforehand. Within their separate technical categories, we consider Oracle Database Vault and Oracle Audit Vault to be products well worthy of further evaluation.
BeyondTrust PowerBroker Auditor Suite is a set of auditing tools for Windows environments. Together they provide a unified real-time insight and an audit trail for file system, SQL Server, Exchange and Active Directory access and changes. | besides application/technical users which have frequently somewhat limited access. Having their accounts being abused thus imposes the biggest risk.
Oracle Audit Vault is a second key product in | 32 |
SHACK HOUSE: X-Siblings Survivor Series, Part I
Sy Shackleford May 21, 2015
"Sibling rivalry was, and still is to this day, rampant in my family. We were all competing for my parents' divided attention." –Janine di Giovanni
I've been toying with this idea in my head for several weeks and now I've decided to run with it. I've been looking at triads of mutant siblings in the X-Universe and wanted to do a juxtaposition of the characters. A little background to give context (but nothing too in-depth) will be included, along with some power descriptions to determine who in this hypothetical battle will be the last man standing. Remember how on pro-wrestling they would have family stables battle each other in the ring? Same thing, except there's super-powers and anything goes.
James Jr (Jamie), Brian, and Elisabeth (Betsy) Braddock
Known respectively in the publications as Jamie Braddock, Captain Britain, and Psylocke, the Braddock siblings are the children of a well-to-do academic couple from Malden, England. Brian and Betsy are fraternal twins, while Jamie is older by at least 10 years. Though each grew up in a privileged English household, Jamie secretly resented his two younger siblings for the close bond they shared with one another. A bond he felt excluded from. Anyway, as adults, Jamie and Betsy discovered they were mutants while Brian became his country's champion using a mystically-powered costume as Captain Britain. Betsy joined the X-Men as Psylocke while Brian went on to become a founding member and inaugural leader of Excalibur. Jamie, on the other hand, went down a destructive path involving a serious fall from grace.
He was a famous race-car driver, incurred heavy gambling debts, got involved in the slave trade/black market and was disowned by Brian because of his amoral nature. Left in the hands of an African mystic named Doc Croc, he tried to cure Jamie of his ways. But the process rendered Jamie insane and also activated his latent mutant powers. He's unable to discern fantasy from reality and believes he is living in a dream. As a result, he shows no restraint in the use of his powers. Betsy underwent a transformation herself. She went through a mystical portal, ended up with the Mandarin, got ninja skills, and….you know what? To make it short, she got transformed from a posh British telepath with a purple dye-job and a suit of armor into an Asian telepath with a British accent, ninja skills, and a skimpy costume.
Mikhail, Piotr (Peter), and Illyana Rasputin
The Rasputins grew up in Siberia, part of the Ust-Ordynski Collective. The children of peasant farmers, Mikhail is more than 10 older than Peter. The same age difference exists between Peter and the youngest, Illyana. When Mikhail manifested his mutant powers, the Russian government exploited him and sent him to another dimension where he remained trapped for over 10 years. The government told the Rasputin family that Mikhail had died in a space expedition. Piotr manifested his powers and joined the X-Men as Colossus. Illyana manifested hers and, long story short, she's presently Magik, an X-Man and the Sorceress Supreme of the dimension of Limbo. Mikhail eventually returned from his exile, but was too emotionally traumatized to remain stable. Embracing insanity, he appeared to commit suicide and murder the last remaining of the underground sewer-dwelling Morlocks. He actually brought them to another dimension with a faster time-scale and became its Darwinian ruler. It's also interesting to note that all three characters have been killed off and brought back to life several times over. As far as creative teams are now concerned, Death is a joke in comics.
Jamie vs. Mikhail
Both are the eldest of their respective clans with siblings young enough to be their children. They're both also the most powerful. Mikhail's ability is energy manipulation. He can access existing energy sources and manipulate them in a variety of ways. He can open and close portals to adjacent dimensions, impose himself on telepathic links, create teleportation beams, sample and catalog energy signatures for future reproductions. The primary use of his power was to manipulate organic and inorganic matter. He could levitate matter and transmute it from one state into another. He once manipulated Iceman's body extensively: changing him from a human covered in ice sheathe into water, reforming him as solid ice, shattering him into pieces, and then reassembling them back into his human form.
Jamie's mutant power is reality manipulation. He perce<|fim_middle|> way I see it, Captain Britain takes him from by surprises and jettisons him as far away as possible. WINNER? CAPTAIN BRITAIN.
Psylocke vs. Magik
The youngest and the sole female siblings, they've had their share of death and resurrection. They're both also natural blondes who carry swords, it's like a Norse goddess battle. Psylocke can perform all of the basic feats of a telepath (mind reading, thought projection, illusion casting, astral projection, mind/body control, mental communication, memory manipulation, and firing mental energy bolts.) and focus her power as a blade or a sword. She also possesses telekinesis, which she manifests as a katana blade composed of pure telekinetic energy. The telekinetic katana blade is a molecule thick and she can use it to levitate and manipulate matter with her mind, propel herself through the air, project protective force screens, and could slice through virtually any object due to the sheer force of her will.
Illyana has two sets of powers: Mutant and mystical. She can create portals that enable her to teleport through time and space. He basically chooses either the fabric of space or time to rip holes in through which she and others can travel. It can range from short-range teleportation anywhere to actual time-travel. Her mystical training has led to her becoming the Dr. Strange of the dimension of Limbo. As its most powerful sorceress, she can manipulate mystical energy in a variety of ways.
Mystics are more knowledgeable and Illyana's powers have a physical bent to them as well. Say she teleports Betsy someplace and then puts an inhibiting spell on her that prevents access to her abilities. Who's your daddy? WINNER? MAGIK.
So who's the overall winner? Mikhail Rasputin.
Why? Because between him, his sister and Brian, all of their powers are energy-based. Brian's costume draws energy from a wellspring that's somewhere in the British Isles, that's how he gets his powers. Illyana can only manipulate a certain type of energy. For Mikhail, ALL energy is his to command. This is also where I think his insanity works to his advantage. In a last man standing match, he'd have no problem wiping out his younger sister and England's Captain America. In fact, with his family being Russian pitted against an English sibling set in this hypothetical, he probably viewed this in terms of a World Cup Soccer match.
All images appear courtesy of the Marvel Entertainment Group.
Action A Go Go on Twitter and Instagram |Be sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section!
Sy L. Shackleford is a jack-of-all-trades columnist for Action A Go Go. A University of Connecticut graduate with a degree in both psychology and communication sciences, he is a walking encyclopedic repository for all things Marvel Comics, movies, hip-hop, et. al. You can follow him on Twitter @shack_house83.
ColossusMagikmarvelPsylockeshack houseSibling RivalryX-men
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Sy Shackleford
Sy L. Shackleford is a jack-of-all-trades columnist for Action A Go Go. A University of Connecticut graduate with a degree in both psychology and communication sciences, he is a walking encyclopedic repository for all things Marvel Comics, movies, hip-hop, et. al. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram @shack_house83.
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Will Ryan February 14, 2017
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Sy Shackleford September 18, 2018
OUR WEEK IN ACTION: X-Men, Apocalypse, Terminator TV, Gal Gabot, Paul Walker, Archie, Penises, and More!
SHACK HOUSE: CHESTER BENNINGTON (IN MEMORIAM) | ives the physical world around him in terms of an inter-connected web of red strings intersecting in all directions throughout his surroundings, with people and objects appearing as particularly dense masses of strands. By pulling on these strings or molding them, he can alter reality according to his whims.
Both men should be approached with extreme caution. Given their unstable mental states, they have no compunctions in the use of their powers. Though Mikhail is slightly more rational than Jaime, which should give him the edge. Whatever energy Jamie utilizes to alter reality, Mikhail's exposure to it would allow him to cut Jamie out of the loop. Plus, Jamie's power only works with reality as is, he can't actually cause something from his imagination to just appear out of thin air. He's no Franklin Richards or Wanda Maximoff. WINNER? MIKHAIL.
Brian vs. Peter
Both men represent the physical but with different inner souls. The nice British rich kid is a scientist at heart while the poor Russian farmboy is a painter with the soul of a poet. They are both their parents' middle children and their costumes reflect their national pride. Ignoring the fact that Colossus once had the power of the Juggernaut, his power is to transform his flesh into super-strong organic steel. In that state, he can lift 100 tons and most things can't harm him. When Brian dons his Captain Britain costume, he has the same strength level, but he can also fly and project a protective force-field.
Brian's just as strong as Piotr, but doesn't have the same protection from harm. But he can fly and has a scientific mind that could most likely come up with idea to harm Piotr in his armored form. Colossus can't cancel momentum either so, the | 365 |
With plenty of company, the Garden State has received<|fim_middle|> things we're doing really isn't working," Tittel told New Jersey 101.5. "Every time there's a storm, we see millions of dollars of sand going out to sea."
The report claims New Jersey relies too heavily on beach fill. Over the past three decades, more than a $1 billion has been spent on beach replenishment projects, according to the report.
Tittel said more extreme measures may be needed in the most vulnerable areas, such as the elevation of roads and buyouts of homes.
"The old Jersey Shore has to change to the new Jersey Shore, and it's going to take time," Tittel said. "We need to have a two-year, five-year and 50-year strategy for the shore."
Recognizing that isolated efforts will have limited effectiveness in a response to climate change, the state began work in October on a Coastal Resilience Plan. A summit brought hundreds of experts and representatives to Long Branch for initial conversations on the matter. The plan is intended as "a first step to put New Jersey on a path to resilience," the state Department of Environmental Protection website says.
The Surfrider Foundation report does acknowledge the summit, but says overdevelopment will make planning "extremely challenging" in New Jersey.
Jon Miller, research associate professor at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, said New Jersey's 'F' grade is "quite harsh" and "a bit dramatic."
"I think that some of the good things that New Jersey is doing is not necessarily getting enough credit," Miller said. "I personally think the state has been taking steps to improve their coastal resilience, especially since Sandy."
Outside of the statewide effort, Miller pointed to the NJ FRAMES project in coastal Monmouth County, which aims to better understand and address future flood vulnerability. | a failing grade for its policies and plans in place to take on extreme weather events, climate change and shoreline erosion.
More than 60,000 New Jersey homes and properties are at risk to sea level rise by 2045, and poor levels of coastal protection won't do much to help, finds a report released in December by the Surfrider Foundation.
Nearly half the states assessed received a 'D' or 'F' grade. New Jersey, according to the report, has "bad" policies in the categories of sediment management, coastal armoring, development, and sea level rise.
"Hundreds of towns along the coast are making individual land use decisions without stringent permitting requirements and monitoring plans," the report reads. "Unfortunately, coastal preservation has taken a back seat."
More than half of New Jersey's total population resides in the state's coastal zone, and thousands more visit the area daily during the warmer months.
Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, said the state's been attempting to fight the impacts of climate change, rather than work with it.
"We put groins and jetties and seawalls, and we pump a lot of sand, and all the | 244 |
The Sundquist Laboratory is named in honor of Professor Leona Sundquist (1896-1988) who served as the Chair of the Department of Sciences at Western Washington University for 19 years.
SPMC's Sundquist Laboratory contains instructional laboratories, research laboratories, and office space for faculty, staff, and visiting scientists.
The primary instructional space is the Teaching Lab where many of SPMC's laboratory classes are taught. The lab is equipped primarily for studying live organisms and is stocked with compound and dissecting microscopes, balances, a drying oven, and centrifuges. A second, smaller classroom holds balances<|fim_middle|> and invertebrates, an epifluorescence microscope, and an inverted microscope.
Quarantine facilites are available for work with non-native marine organisms. | , spectrophotometers, a muffle furnace, a fluorometer, and is equipped with reverse osmosis (RO) and Nanopure water.
Other facilties in the Sundquist Laboratory include two fume hoods, a walk-in environmental chamber, numerous temperature and light controlled incubators for culturing marine microalgae | 68 |
Chemistry Central Journal announced at ACS National meeting
WEBWIRE – Tuesday, September 12, 2006
12 September 2006 - Chemistry Central Journal, a revolutionary open access peer-reviewed, online chemistry journal, was announced today at the American Chemical Society meeting in San Francisco. Chemistry Central Journal (http://journal.chemistrycentral.com/) is the first international open access journal that covers all of chemistry.
Chemistry Central Journal will encompass all<|fim_middle|>60822
Bryan Vickery for Chemistry Central at the ACS meeting in San Francisco
Email: bryan.vickery@chemistrycentral.com
Open Access Central
Juliette Savin
Publishing / Information Services | aspects of research in chemistry, broken down into discipline-specific sections. Expected to publish its first articles in early 2007, Chemistry Central Journal is part of Chemistry Central, a new initiative from the team that created BioMed Central, the leading biomedical open access publisher.
Drawn from academia and industry, Chemistry Central Journal's distinguished Editorial Advisory Board is made up of senior chemistry researchers from all over the world, including four Nobel Laureates. Speaking from the ACS meeting, Bryan Vickery, Deputy Publisher at BioMed Central and a chemist by training, says, "I am delighted by the number of noted chemists and scientists who have agreed to join the Editorial Advisory Board of the journal from the outset." Recruitment of the board continues.
"I think open access journals are a great idea and am delighted to join you in this venture as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board," said Professor Robert Curl (Nobel Prize for Chemistry, 1996).
Vickery continues, "Open communication of research results in physics and biomedicine has evolved rapidly over the last few years. Many believe Chemistry has lagged behind, with access to chemistry-related journals and databases still predominantly limited to subscribers only."
On joining the Editorial Advisory Board, W. Jeffery Hurst (The Hershey Company) said, "Until this initiative I felt that open access was limited in subject matter and if you didn't work on some -Omic you may not experience the opportunities open access brings." Hurst continued, "Open access provides opportunities to our colleagues in other parts of the globe, by allowing anyone to view the content free of charge."
Chemistry Central Journal will offer a home for research in areas where there has previously been no open access journal available. In his new blog Peter Murray-Rust, commenting on the recent launch of Chemistry Central, noted "Before Chemistry Central there were no open journals that supported chemoinformatics." Vickery adds, "Chemistry Central Journal aims to change all that, by offering an open access publishing option to scientists worldwide. The journal will cover all areas of chemistry, and will be broken down into sections." Chemistry Central Journal is now accepting submissions. Figures can be submitted as ChemDraw (.CDX) or ISIS/Draw (.SKC and .TGF) files, in addition to standard image formats. Chemistry Central Journal is working with PubChem in order that structures are deposited directly into the database. All articles will be deposited in PubMed Central, and will therefore be automatically linked into PubChem. Chemistry Central is sponsoring the ACS Division of Chemical Information's Herman Skolnik Award Reception this evening in the Moscone Center, San Francisco.
Chemistry Central (www.chemistrycentral.com) is a new open access website for chemists that brings together peer-reviewed research in chemistry from a range of open access journals. All the original research articles on Chemistry Central are made freely and permanently accessible online immediately upon publication. Chemistry Central is part of the Open Access Central family of sites (www.openaccesscentral.com).
For more information on Chemistry Central , see the launch announcement from 22 August 2006: www.biomedcentral.com/info/about/pr-releases?pr=200 | 646 |
I learned a very curious fact. We have two Christian saints St. Thekla and St. Isidore of Seville which are protectors of Computing and people involved with computational sciences programming and IT related jobs.
The two saints both lived before the Great Church Schism thus the saints are celebrated and venerated nowadays in Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Churches all around the Christian world.
The reason why Saint Thecla is considered a protector of all people who heavily work with computers and possibly hackers 🙂 is her name, Tecla means "Key" (a keyboard one) in Spanish.
Besides that everyone knows Keys (Passwords) and codes – a sort of keys as well as keys in programming arrays are widely used in Informatics and are essential part of computer basic Software.
Saint Thecla is considered a direct pupil of Saint Apostle Paul as she turned to be preacher of Christianity after speaking saint Apostle Paul. She lived in 30 A.D. until 1-st century after Christ. St. Thecla was virgin and decided not to mary even though she had fiancee in moment where she heard the Gospel of Christ.
She was miraculously saved from being burned at a stake by the onset of a storm, and traveled with Paul to Pisiduan Antioch. There a nobleman named Alexander desired Thecla and attempted to take her by force. Thecla fought him off, assaulting him in the process, and was put on trial for assaulting a nobleman. She was sentenced to be eaten by wild beasts (a common punishment for Christians in 1st century). Again saved by a series of miracles when the female beasts protected her against her male aggressors.
She sought out St. Paul and his companions, including St. Barnabas, who were hiding in a cave near the city. She spread the gospel of Christ with them in Antioch, and throughout her life performed many miraculous feats and suffered many tortures to give glory to God. Having retired to a desolate region of Isaurian Seleucia with the blessing of St. Paul, Thekla continued to preach God's word and heal st. Paul's spiritual children.
She lived to venerable old age of 90. Even in this old age envious pagan sorcerors come with the intention to defile the holy virgin. . A large rock split open when St. Thekla called on Christ the Savior to help her, and the rock covered her, and she offered up her soul to the Lord.
St. Thecla is highly venerated by Nuns an interesting fact is during tonsure of nuns in the Orthodox Church, her prayerful intercession for the tonsured nun is invoked.
Hymns Troparion (Tone 4) You were enlightened by the words of Paul, O Bride of God, Thekla, And your faith was confirmed by Peter, O Chosen One of God. You became the first sufferer and martyr among women, By entering into the flames as into a place of gladness. For when you accepted the Cross of Christ, The demonic powers were frightened away. O all-praised One, intercede before Christ God that our souls may be saved. Kontakion (Tone 8) O glorious Thekla, virginity was your splendor, The crown of martyrdom your adornment and the faith you trust! You turned a burning fire into refreshing dew, And with your prayers appeased pagan fury, O First Woman Marty<|fim_middle|> donator for our Cathedral Temple, we have many millionaires and businessman in Bulgaria but nobody has decided to donate to our Church such a high sum of money.
Elder Dobri's donation for the St. Alexander Nevski's Church is in value 35700 levs (around 19000 euros).
Dqdo Dobri is a beggar for Christ, this is one of the major types of saintship we read about in the living of the saints.
All the collected money from people are given for God's Glory. It's amazing heroism and an example, all we the Christians should follow to fulfill Christ's law of love and inherit the internal salvation.
A friend of mine who has the blessing to see Elder Dobri with her own eyes and have a small talk with him, has shared with me that even though he wears an old ragged clothes, his clothes and body emit a roses like odor!
As the fame about the same has grown these days, the Bulgarian National television has prepared a small video about the saint. I believe the video as a true blessing for us the Christians and will encourage us to persist in the good deads. | r!
His books are among the first attempts to create universal catalog of available information in the World. His writtings are a sort of ancient Wikipedia. Even to this age his books provide us with many information and instruction on Church dogmatics and life as understood from a Christian view.
Saint Isidore's most notable work is Etymologiae – which is among the first encyclopedias worldwide – a huge compilation of 448 chapters in 20 volumes.
Contrary to many critics of Christian faith claiming that the Holy Fathers or the Church teach the earth is square shaped and one can reach the end of the world in St. Isidore's work, it is clearly explained that the earth has a circle like form.
According to some sources, saint Isidore is said to be the most learned man of his age. His works played key role on development of Middle-ages educational life. It is curious fact that in year 2000, the Vatican proclaimed Saint Isidore as patron saint of the Internet.
In Orthodox Church, we're not the authority of the Vatican Pope, so for us Orthodox Saint Isidore is not patron saint of Internet, however his contribution for increase of worldly knowledge as we know it today is un-questinable. His Holy relics are currently held in Roman Catholic Cathedral in Murcia (Spain), so any Orthodox Christian who is in deep involvement IT who travels to their or happen to live their might drop by to venerate the saint.
St. Isidore's episcopate was during a time of disintegration and transition as the ancient institutions and knowledge of the Roman Empire were disappearing. During these times, he set himself to the task of joining into a homogeneous nation the many peoples who made up the Gothic kingdom. To accomplish this task he used all the resources of religion and education available to him. He presided over the Second Council of Seville in November 619, leading to the setting forth of the nature of Christ in the Acts of the council, as he pushed for the eradication of Arianism.
There is a miracle of incorruptable holy relics (Incorruptable Bodies) of many of our Orthodox Saints in the Orthodox Church.
Little or none is actually known in the non-orthodox christian realm about this great miracle proof of the truthfulness of our faith.
The incorruptability of saints has been a phenomena longly known to exist, some of the incorruptable bodies of saints are still preserved already for more than 10 centuries.
The phenomenon of incorruptable bodies is a sure sign for saintship in the Church. There are dozens of orthodox christian saints whose bodies are still intact.
Our Orthodox Church teaches that the incorruptability of the saints body is given by God's grace for all us the believers as a confirmation of the Resurrection of the Dead, which is about to come in the Great day of the Lord as the scriptures teaches.
A good example for incorruptable body which exists for 10 centuries in the bulgarian lands are the incorruptable holy body of St. John of Rila.
St. John of Rila is the greatest known Bulgarian saint also officially recognized by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church as the patron saint of Bulgaria (protector of all Bulgaria).
Antiphon translated to English means (Song of Praise) dedicated to some Christian saint and is actually an Orthodox well-known Church term.
Saint John's incorruptable bodies is still kept in his established monastery The Rila Monastery .
Each year on the saints feast his incorruptable body is being bringed out of the monastery for a procession around the Church monastery.
On that day all the pilgrims who are looking for St. John's spiritual intercession in front of God (The Holy Trinity) are lined up to venerate the great God servant St. John of Rila.
Unfortunately there is no video that has video-taped the incorruptable body of Saint John of Rila. However there are plenty of videos which shows a lot of incorruptable bodies of saints some of which are even Roman Catholic.
Along with the saints bodies incorruptability, many of the saints bodies does emit a specific a flower like odor, nevertheless the body is a thousands of years old.
Here is an example of a saints remains which is considered incorruptable, his body is preseved for more than 60 years without any special chemical threatment.
What is most important is many believers does receive a spiritual blessing or get healed from various spiritual or bodily diseases, when they look up for the holy intercession of the saint, who has been honoured by God with incorruptableness.
Before a saint's body is recognized as a saint and his body as incorruptable, usually there are testimonials by christian layman for healings by his holy prayers during his earthly living.
Some of the saints which are found to have incorruptable bodies has happened after a few years they have been put in a normal earthly grave.
In holy mount athos there is a tradition that (if I remember correctly 5 years) after a monk's death and burial, his grave is being digged out to collect his remains and put it in a ossuary.
After this 5 years some of the holy monks remains are found to possess this miraculous graceful incorruptable bodies.
As we know from Holy Bible, the body is the temple of the holy spirit my logical interpretation of some of the saint's incrorruptability is rooted in there saint's way of living as they have achieved the Holy Spirit (The Spirit of God) in an immeasurable quantities that, the Spirit of Truth that's being flowing out from their incorruptable bodies is still sustaining the body and prevents the natural laws to destroy it.
The bodily incorruptabilities of our Orthodox saints is also a clear sign for the truthfulness of Orthodox Christian faith.
The incorruptability is also a direct violation of the natural laws by God's great providence and mercy and I guess is given as a stimulator of us whose faith in our saviour Jesus Christ and in God the Holy Trinity – The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit, to whom be glory now and forever and ever Amen!
Saintship has been slowly disappearing from earth just like it's prophecised by Christ our Saviour and the Holy Apostles and in later times by many monks, Church hierarchs, patriarchs and hermits.
In Bulgaria as in most parts of the Orthodox world the Christian faith apostacy is also clearly seen.
Even in this dark days God still shows mercy to us and still present us some of his saints.
Elder Dobri of Baylova has been a regular person like all of us with a family and children just until 12 years ago.
About 12 years ago the I would call him The Living saint has decided to let all the earthly passions and sorrows for Christ and his eternal salvation.
He despised the earthly goodness and become a beggar, all the collected money he got were distributed among other poor people or donated to Churches and monasteries belonging to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.
Day by day and a coin by coin, he has collected thousands of levs (the bulgaria national currency).
As all the truths his sayings are simple but represent the ultimate truth which was also said in many other forms in The Holy Bible Gospels and God's law.
The external outlook of Dqdo Dobri is also saintly, he has long beard a shining eyes and a national folklore dress.
He looks like he has been out of some old Bulgarian tale.
It's very striking fact that he that this old man is the biggest | 1,562 |
Sky News further extends US distribution through Xbox 360 launch
Building on the successful launches of Sky News on Apple TV, Roku and Livestation, Sky News has announced the forthcoming availability of its award-winning 24/7 broadcast news on Xbox 360.
The launch further extends Sky News' presence in the US while giving its UK viewers a fresh new option for accessing live and on demand news coverage. The service will enable millions of Xbox customers in the US and UK to access Sky News directly through their Xbox 360 consoles.
From Tuesday 9th<|fim_middle|>Sky News is consistently exploring opportunities to expand our global reach," said Andrew Hawken, Head of Sky News Digital.
"Making Sky News available on Xbox was an ideal way to achieve this. With a growing US footprint of a million users and a US news team, we're thrilled that our coverage will be showcased to millions of Xbox customers."
Updated on Saturday 6 September 2014 by TV Newsroom in Sky News
Channel 4 Paralympics Presenters, Reporters & Pundits
Crime Uncovered Behind Bars – Sky News Promo 2007 | September, Xbox Live customers on Xbox 360 will see the Sky News icon on the TV section of their homepage, and with a single click, viewers will have access to a 24/7, live feed of Sky News. This includes the latest breaking news as well as business, political and entertainment coverage. In addition to the live channel feed, the Sky News app also offers access to a wide range of on demand stories through a constantly updating video on demand library.
The Xbox launch marks the next step in the expansion of Sky News in the US, giving millions of homes the ability to access Sky News' internationally acclaimed coverage. Building on this growth, Sky News is also tailoring its channel feed for the US, incorporating editorial segments produced specifically for this audience. The channel will also include news and analysis from Sky News' own US team based in bureaus in New York, Washington and LA.
" | 184 |
Elantxobe en basque ou Elan<|fim_middle|>êcheurs.
Galerie
Notes et références
Voir aussi
Sources
Lien externe
Site de la mairie d'Elantxobe | chove en espagnol est une commune de Biscaye dans la communauté autonome du Pays basque en Espagne.
Le nom officiel de la ville est Elantxobe.
Géographie
Elantxobe se situe sur les pentes rocheuses du cap Ogoño, qui protège le port de pêche, mais dont l'inclination énorme forme une cascade de rues étroites et en pente jusqu'au bord de la mer. Cette disposition oblige le village à avoir deux accès totalement séparés, un par le bas en direction du port et un autre sur la partie haute.
Quartiers
Les quartiers d'Elantxobe sont Alarre, Lamera et Matxikale.
Histoire
La ville apparaît en 1524 avec le port de pêche. Au elle devient un port de défense de la côte biscaïenne, qui est actuellement utilisé comme port de loisir. Jusqu'en 1858, elle a été un quartier de la municipalité voisine d'Ibarrangelu.
Ses festivités patronales se déroulent le , jour de San Pedro.
Au l'industrie de pêche d'Elantxobe compte sept usines de marinade et une de conserves. Ce moment de prospérité a été reflété dans la construction de l'église San Nicolás de Bari, fruit des donations des p | 327 |
Home - Diy
Facts About Marble
By Contributing Writer
Marble has been prized for its many uses for more than two millenia. The classical Greeks and Romans used it in their sculpture and architecture; Michelangelo immortalized it in his many Renaissance sculptures; and today it is still used for building and high-end designer finishes, as well as for art and sculpture.
There are dozens of types and colors of marble, and it is quarried all over the world.
Marble is a metamorphic stone, which means that it is a rock that changes composition over time from one rock to another. In marble's case, limestone or dolomite are softened over time under conditions of intense heat and pressure, and then are recrystallized as marble.
Marble is composed of calcite, aragonite and dolomite crystals.
White marble is highly prized for sculpture and architecture and is made from the purest of white limestones.
Marble is a rating of between 2 and 5 on the Mohs scale of hardness for rocks and minerals, which means that it is a comparatively soft stone.
Marble is available in a rainbow of colors from pink, red, grey, green, brown and even black. Veined, streaked and other colored marbles are created from mineral impurities present when marble is formed, including sand, silt, clay and iron oxide.
What Is the Appearance of Limestone?
About Soapstone<|fim_middle|>
How to Clean Water Stains From Marble
Copyright 2020 Leaf Group Ltd. / Leaf Group Lifestyle, All Rights Reserved. // Leaf Group |
How to Clean Marble Shower Tile
How to Decorate With Celadon Green
Colors of Quartz Countertops | 24 |
Hello Lions Gate Quilters – Have you been reenergized? Has the start of a new year inspired the start of new quilting projects or maybe you pulled out all your UFOs and are working on them.
We have a special speaker this month. Marika Dauberman is a Guild member and a good friend. You've seen Marika's quilts in the Album of Quilts, often with a ribbon on them, but you have never ever seen a quilt at Show and Tell. Marika has an amazing history in craft which started in South Africa and continued in Canada when her family immigrated in March 2001. I met Marika at Quilt 'Til you Wilt at The Cloth Shop in Edgemont Village. I love Marika's use of colour and design. She is fearless and her embellishing is magical.
I really encourage you to come to the meeting in February, participate in<|fim_middle|>pe when she was teaching a free motion quilting class this past Saturday. I really enjoyed Lynne and am looking forward to see her trunk show. More on Lynne in our March Newsletter. | our elections and stay and hear Marika's journey.
TGIF Club has revved up our show and tell. It's awfully fun seeing your projects coming out of the closet. We have four more months to show our finished projects. Let make it worth it!
Teaser…Our March speaker is a fantastic quilter who is a member of the Fraser Valley Quilt Guild. I met Lynne Fanthor | 84 |
Tyler Cooper, MD, MPH, CEO of Cooper Aerobics Enterprises, Inc. has been named board president of the Dallas Division of the American Heart Association.
DALLAS, Oct. 1, 2012 — Tyler Cooper, MD, MPH, CEO of Cooper Aerobics, has been named board president of the Dallas Division of the American Heart Association. Beginning his two year position on July 1, 2012, Dr. Cooper brings a wealth of knowledge to the Dallas Division as he continues to inspire millions to make health a good habit and advance the worldwide fitness revolution ignited by his father, Kenneth H. Cooper, MD, MPH.
Dr. Cooper returned to Cooper Clinic as a board certified preventive medicine physician in 2006. Prior to attending medical school, Dr. Cooper earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Baylor University. He received a Doctor of Medicine from The University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio and a Master of Public Health in Health Care Management from Harvard University. He completed his internship in Family Practice at Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News, Virginia and his preventive medicine residency at The University of South Carolina<|fim_middle|> for the American Heart Association.
This will be Dr. Cooper's first appointment to the Dallas Division's board of directors. New additions to this year's roster include: Randy Cain (Ernst & Young), Monty Griffin (The Sherwin Williams Company), John Holt (NexBank), Dr. Amit Khera (UT Southwestern) and Mike McWay (McCarthy). Jeff Morris (ALON USA) will continue in his second year as chairman of the Dallas Division Board of Directors.
The American Heart Association is devoted to saving people from heart disease and stroke — America's No. 1 and No. 4 killers. We team with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger public health policies, and provide lifesaving tools and information to prevent and treat these diseases. The Dallas-based association is the nation's oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. To learn more or join us, call 1-800-AHA-USA1 or any of our offices around the country, or visit heart.org.
Founded in 1970 by Kenneth H. Cooper, MD, MPH, Cooper Aerobics in Dallas serves as the headquarters for seven health and wellness companies and a research and education nonprofit, The Cooper Institute®. Cooper Aerobics is the health and wellness resource that bases its recommendations on its world-leading body of data and expertise. Through the array of services Cooper offers, millions have been inspired to make good health a habit, helping improve their quality and quantity of life. Cooper Aerobics challenges people to Get Cooperized™ by adopting a healthy living mindset and following eight health guidelines developed by Dr. Cooper. For more information, call 866.906.2667 (COOP) or visit cooperaerobics.com. | .
As CEO of Cooper Aerobics Enterprises, Inc., Dr. Cooper oversees Cooper Fitness Center, Cooper Spa and Cooper Hotel & Conference Center. Dr. Cooper is also Founding Partner of Cooper Consulting Partners, a health management consultancy that works to improve executive and employee health, helping companies achieve maximum benefit with minimum impact to the bottom line.
In 1992, Dr. Kenneth Cooper launched the first ever Dallas Heart Walk. Today, the Dallas Division continues to be one of the highest performing markets in the country boasting the number one Heart Walk and number one Gala, Cotes du Coeur, in the nation. The board president plays a significant role in fostering local relationships, building new ones and serving as a public face | 146 |
Daily, the best prices for Chania!
13? 14? 15? 16? 1773€ 18? 19?
1? 2? 3100€ 4? 5? 6? 7?
Upon the coast in the northwestern part of Crete.
You can get there by Plane with direct flights from Olympic and Aegean to the Airport Daskalogiannis J. (CHQ). Also you can get there by boat with Anek Lines and BlueStar.
The lighthouse of<|fim_middle|>. Furthermore it has a reputation for its great food, the beautiful beaches and the hospitality of the locals. Be sure to have enough days available since it is definitively worth exploring the whole county! Chania has to offer you a great night out, since you will find bars such as the "Synagogue" and clubs with a massive crowd that are entertained until the early hours of the morning.
Viva Travel gives you direct access to airline tickets databases effectively reducing costs by cutting out middlemen. You can independently evaluate and select all available flights to Chania on any airline and based on your custom criteria, be that best price or flight schedule. You can also book a hotel in Chania through vivatravel's hotels section. | the port is very known and you will have certainly seen a picture of it somewhere! Also very well known and very impressive is the Old Port, You should visit since there are many nightclubs and restaurants. Now just outside of Chania, At Akrotiri, which is surrounded in a green park are the tombs of Venizelos, Eleftherios and and his son Sophocles. If you visit, you will definitely enjoy the magnificent view of the whole county!
Plan your days in order to see some museums. Visit the Archaeological Museum, the Navy and the Byzantine since they have a lot to offer you.
In Chania you can find a number of beaches to suit your needs. If you want to join the young crowd and beach bars, then visit Agia Marina, just 10 km from Chania. But you will definitely have to visit Elafonissi and Falassarna beach as its waters are the cleanest in Greece. For this reason it has been awarded as one the best beaches in Europe.
Chania has been characterized by a few as an ideal destination for summer holidays | 228 |
Question In The Form Of An Answer is the second studio album by the People Under the Stairs. Recorded following their first world tour, the album was their first release on Om Records (the label would later re-release the duo's first album the following year).<|fim_middle|> of hip-hop" and "a funky blast of fresh air".
Track listing
All songs written by Christopher "Thes One" Portugal and Michael "Double K" Turner, except where noted.
†The track "Fredly Advice" is only 1:46, with a hidden bonus track occurring at the 6-minute mark.
References
External links
Official People Under The Stairs Website
Official Question in the Form of an Answer lyrics page on The Point of the Rhyme
2000 albums
People Under the Stairs albums
Om Records albums | The release spawned three singles, each selling their entire first pressing run of 15,000 copies, and a second world tour.
Background
In 1999, People Under The Stairs signed a four-album deal with Om Records, and the title of their second album, Question in the Form of an Answer, came to them while driving up to San Francisco to meet with the Om staff. Om offered them a cash advance on the record deal, and the group immediately went to a local record store, Groove Merchant, and used the money to buy a large number of records, several of which would contain samples that wound up being used on the record.
Recording
Planned as a logical extension of their first record, Question in the Form of an Answer opened with the same music sample that the previous album closed on. Also similar to the first album, Question... was self-recorded at Thes One's Los Angeles home, and utilized the same instrumentation - namely, Thes One's Akai MPC3000 and Double K's E-mu SP-1200.
Despite the similarities, the music departed from the sound of the debut album. Thes One and Double K's knowledge of sampling techniques had grown during the intervening years between the first two albums, and the music on their second release contained more complex filtering techniques, sound manipulation, and analogue recording techniques. "Earth Travelers", the first music track made for the album, incorporates a large number of layers, including high- and low-pass filters, resonance, horn loops, and drum loops. The creation of a portion of the track can be seen on the bonus DVD which accompanies PUTS' 2006 release Stepfather.
The lyrics also toned down the more aggressive themes and battle rap sensibilities of their first album, and instead, the rhymes covered topics including record collecting, recreational drinking and marijuana use (which was at its peak for the group during the recording of this album), and making music. This album also contained fewer guest MCs than The Next Step, and every record since Question... has continued this practice.
In the same manner as "San Francisco Knights" from the group's first album, People Under The Stairs decided to include a true personal story, "July 3rd", on their second release as well. On July 3, 1999, Thes One was hit by a minivan while crossing the street at the corner of W 3rd St and S Hobart Blvd in Los Angeles, and the driver of the minivan attempted to kidnap him and drive away. Several bystanders, including a video store security guard stopped the man, and a bloodied Thes One was taken to the hospital.
This album is the only People Under The Stairs release to contain a hidden track. The hidden track on this album consists of two minutes of "shout outs" to friends and fellow hip hop artists.
Reception
The album received positive, but subdued, reviews upon its release. Entertainment Weekly called the album "intelligent and funky", and AllMusic dubbed Question... "a very solid hip-hop album from top to bottom". PopMatters was much more enthusiastic in its review, calling PUTS' second album "a thoroughly fresh celebration | 668 |
Courtesy photo The water sport of paddleboarding is fun for the whole family. Try it locally next Thursday.
A global water sports equipment company will be holding a paddleboard demonstration in Alameda next Thursday, Aug. 18.
Jobe Watersports will be conducting the demo at Mike's Paddle, 1150 Ballena Blvd., at 4 p.m. The demo is free and open to the public. Visitors at event will have the chance to try Jobe stand up paddleboards (SUPs) and experience products from tour co-sponsors Johnnie-O clothing, Bai Natural Drink, Eagle Eyes, CLIF Bar®, JoFit, Eagles Nest Outfitters,<|fim_middle|> to 7 p.m., hosted by Friends of the Alameda Animal Shelter (FAAS). The shelter is celebrating its newly remodeled offices. Visitors will see the new lobby, meet shelter staff and volunteers and get a tour of the facility.
The open house will also offer the opportunity to meet adoptable dogs, cats and rabbits and enjoy a free ice cream treat provided by Tucker's Super-Creamed Ice Cream.
The U.S. Olympic men's eight rowing team was unable to qualify for the rowing final after its preliminary race Monday, Aug. 8. However, the team was given a reprieve in the repéchage race yesterday, Aug. 10.
In Olympic format, the winner of the two heats automatically qualify for the final race, which will take place on Sunday, Aug. 13, while the other teams compete in the repéchage for a chance to compete in the final.
The U.S. team competed in Heat 2. The U.S. drew the heat with the 2012 men's eight gold medalist team Germany.
Residents of the homes along Jackson Park gathered Tuesday evening, Aug. 5, to celebrate National Night Out. Neighbors have been gathering for this event for 32 years. The concept was established in 1984, when an estimated 2.5 million people gathered in 400 communities. National Night Out is a crime prevention program that emphasizes building partnerships between the police and fire departments and the community. People gather the first Tuesday in August for block parties, cookouts, parades, contests, youth activities and seminars.
Members of several tenant advocacy groups congregated at the front steps of City Hall on Monday, Aug. 8, to voice their displeasure with the evictions and other harassment taking place at Bay View Apartments.
Courtesy photo Patricia Edith's "Migration" in mixed media will be on display as part of Cross Currents, a gallery show opening at the Alameda Museum this Saturday.
For the 10th straight year, an exhibition of California artists' work called cross currents will be on display at the Alameda Museum Gallery at 2324 Alameda Ave.
The group exhibit features 17 artists and will open to the public with a reception this Saturday, Aug. 6, from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.
Courtesy photo U.S. Department of Education officials Andrea Falken, Director of U.S. Department of Education, Green Ribbon Schools and Adam Honeysett, Managing Director of State and Local Engagement flank Bay Farm Elementary School's Principal Babs Freitas, Media Center teacher, Roxanne Clement and teacher and Go Green coordinator Michele Kuttner during a ceremony honoring the school for its efforts to protect the environment.
Principal Babs Freitas, teacher and Go Green coordinator Michele Kuttner and Media Center teacher, Roxanne Clement traveled to Washington, D.C. for the 2016 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools recognition ceremony to accept the award for Bay Farm Elementary School. Bay Farm was one of 47 schools honored. The local school was the only public school nominated for this federal program by the California Department of Education Green Ribbon School committee in 2016.
"It was so exciting to represent Alameda for the first time at this event," said Kuttner.
Mike Lano Legendary KGO broadcaster Stan Bunger (a Bay Farm Island native) was master of ceremonies for Radio Day. Bunger helped recreate the atmosphere of classic 1930s and '40s live radio broadcasts that once united the country's attention well before television and social media.
Radio Day Live! By The Bay held July 24 was a full day of events at Kofman Auditorium hosted by the California Historical Radio Hall of Fame (CHRS) based at 2152 Central Ave. Radiophiles from all over the globe flew in to celebrate radio's colorful history.
Former Rolling Stone magazine editor Ben Fong-Torres attended and discussed his roots in radio. Fong-Torres is the author of many best-selling books covering topics ranging from his days in radio to musical acts like the Grateful Dead, Eagles and Doors. | GU Energy Gel and Rockview Farms.
Alameda Junior Golf Club Elizabeth Scholtes (left) and Conor Neal (right) won the AJGC Club Championship last Wednesday, Aug. 3, in the women and men's divisions. Scholtes shot a 72, while Neal shot a 76 to win.
The Alameda Junior Golf Club continued its summer season with the Club Championship tournament at the Chuck Corica Golf Complex last Wednesday, Aug. 3.
Conor Neal won the championship on the boys' side with a 76 (37 on the front nine, and a 39 on the back). Elizabeth Scholtes won the tournament on the girls' side with a 72. She shot a 36 on both the front and back.
In other competition, Jacob Katanski beat Harrod Tang in a tiebreaker to win the 16- to 18-year-old boys' division. They both shot a 78. Peter Del Prete shot a 79 for third place.
The public is invited to a free event tomorrow, Friday, Aug. 12, 5 | 235 |
and forward thinking management, with some kind of a sprint.
The former kind of planning sets a course that your project is going to take.
in order to accomplish your vision.
iterative sprinting, in an attempt to accomplish this game.
In week one your deliverable was to<|fim_middle|> want this scaffolding, we're calling it.
We're calling this the scaffolding for your game.
We want the scaffolding to have your launch storyboard or your loading page.
we want you to make sure that you've started to address that.
that from which you could go to one page to start your game.
And maybe another page to do preferences.
We want you to from that screen, to be able to get to a preferences view.
From your preferences view, to be able to get back to your main screen.
From your main screen we'd like you to be able to go to your game view.
we want you to be able to get to that.
you'd like a high score screen.
or something like an About page that tells about your game.
storyboard to be filled out, we want your main storyboard to act as a landing page.
From your main storyboard, we want you to go to a preferences page.
And from your main storyboard, we want you to go to your game scene.
And be able to move through those and demonstrate that you can do that.
assets on one of the pages, so probably the game scene right?
So that's where they're going to end up eventually.
on some of the websites that we've pointed out to you.
Now of course we encourage you to do more than this.
you can take it much farther if you'd like.
if you have the capacity and excitement to go further at this point.
and we'll give you the next milestones as they come up. | make a plan, to produce a concept.
To give us some idea that you know where you're going.
Now in week two, you're going to start doing your coding.
From here on out, we're going to organize our work into weekly sprints.
comes with specific goals and outcomes that we'd like you to achieve.
ultimately have a good deliverable.
direction, you should absolutely feel free to do that.
This is your project, we want it to be fun.
what is it that I'm trying to achieve?
And what is it that ultimately I'm going to be evaluated on at the end?
do something you're proud of that's going to be fun to play.
you still have to turn in something that has the same broad constraints on it.
So those are what we're going to evaluate you on at the end of the game.
your first sprint is to kind of create the container for your app.
of your app, and this can be very simple.
the overhead, the structure of the views in your game.
maybe a back button or forward button.
like you have is a label that tells us, what is this a placeholder page for?
to start putting together a little palate of what things are going to look like.
they can just be dropped onto your view to get a sense of where we're going.
Now at the very least, we | 278 |
Credit Sails Community
A resource for Credit Sails Note Holders
Investigative Committee
Record $60m Credit Sails deal almost paid out
tags: Commerce Commission, Credit Agricole, Credit Sails, Fair Trading Act, Forsyth Barr, Greg Marshall, Logic Fund Management, Logic Funds, Tim Hunter
A record $60 million settlement fund has been almost completely paid out to investors in a failed financial product called Credit Sails.
Of 2218 investors owed money, just one owed $17,000 could not be found and repaid. The money was obtained by the Commerce Commission from the firms involved in marketing Credit Sails – sharebroker Forsyth Barr and multinational bank Credit Agricole – who agreed to pay $60m to settle a claim they had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct in breach of the Fair Trading Act.
The firms have never admitted liability.
Commission chairman Mark Berry said that completion of the payment process, organised by the Public Trust, was a fantastic for investors. "Most of the investors in the fund were elderly, and it was important for the commission to settle this in the most advantageous way for these people," Berry said.
"Hopefully, having the money returned to them will have a big impact on the quality of their lives."
The payout represented reimbursement of about $870 for every $1000 lost when Credit Sails failed in 2006. "Without the settlement reached by the commission investors may have only received $20 for every $1000 invested," he said.
Credit Sails were issued in 2006, raising $91.5m. They were marketed as high- yielding capital-protected notes, but their complex structure using bond insurance derivatives led to virtually total losses. Fairfax NZ
Forsyth Barr makes Credit Sails Claim
tags: AIG, Commerce Commission, Credit Agricole, Credit Sails, Forsyth Barr, Forsyth Barr Credit Sails, Neil Paviour-Smith, Tim Hunter
By: Tim Hunter, Fairfax NZ News Media, 17 June 2013
Sharebroker Forsyth Barr has made a claim on its insurer AIG relating to a $60 million settlement for investors in failed financial product Credit Sails.
It is understood AIG's insurance investigators have begun interviewing investors to help assess the merits of the claim.
The record settlement in December last year ended legal action by the Commerce Commission alleging misleading and deceptive conduct in the product's marketing.
The $60m payout was agreed by Forsyth Barr and subsidiaries of French bank Credit Agricole, who were responsible for offering Credit Sails in New Zealand. It is not known how much each contributed to the payout.
AIG declined to comment on Forsyth Barr's claim but confirmed it was being considered.
In a statement, AIG said it was not involved in the settlement.
"It is Forsyth Barr's loss that has resulted in the current open claim with AIG Insurance New Zealand Limited," the company said.
"The commercial and contractual business relationships that AIG has with all its customers involve a due process for all parties to follow to conclusion.
"This process does not allow for comment on open claims."
Forsyth Barr managing director Neil Paviour-Smith could not be reached for comment.
Tribunal says estate's claim not for them
tags: Credit Sails, Disputes Tribunal, District Court, Forsyth Barr, Greg Marshall, Logic Funds, NZ
Last updated 12:39 27/05/2013
The Disputes Tribunal has refused to hear a claim for investment losses against financial adviser Forsyth Barr, recommending it should instead be heard in the District Court.
The claim arose from the firm's handling of investments for an elderly couple, Ivan and Muriel Nicolson, of Alexandra, both now deceased. Their estate has alleged Forsyth Barr failed in its duty of care to the Nicolsons, whose age and infirmity made them particularly reliant on financial advice.
It was alleged disastrous investments made by the firm in the preference shares of South Canterbury Finance and Strategic Finance, as well as a complex derivative product called Credit Sails, were inappropriate.
Losses were $8000, $5000 and $7000 respectively. The claim was limited to be within the tribunal's $15,000 maximum jurisdiction.
Speaking on behalf of the Nicolson estate, son-in-law Ollie Turner said the hearing had been scheduled for May 13 but the tribunal had declined to hear it after receiving a letter from Forsyth Barr.
"It was just an ambush," he said.
In the letter presented to the tribunal referee on the morning of the hearing, Forsyth Barr head of private client services Shane Edmond said he was putting forward the firm's view "in order that the Disputes Tribunal is not ambushed at the hearing".
"The essence of our position is that the estate's claim is not suitable for hearing in the Disputes Tribunal, and should not be heard."
Edmond said the claims were not minor and needed proper legal discussion because there were complex financial issues involved. The claim related to a "tort" of economic loss over which the tribunal had no jurisdiction, he said, referring to an aspect of the law covering general wrongs as opposed to breach of contract.
He also requested Forsyth Barr critic and investor advocate Greg Marshall of Logic Funds be barred from the hearing. "The claimant's request for Mr Marshall's presence is said to be in order that he may speak to some of the materials provided. This is problematic: Forsyth Barr's view is that the additional materials provided by Mr Marshall are wholly irrelevant to the issues at hand."
Turner said the estate was seeking advice on whether to apply for a rehearing in the tribunal or proceed to the District Court. "Our claim is simply one to do with poor service," he said. "Financial services are not some special category that should be exempt from the same checks and balances that apply to everyone else. If Forsyth Barr think we will walk away they are seriously deluded."
Forsyth Barr managing director Neil Paviour-Smith said it was important to note the Nicolsons' portfolio had risen in value overall while the couple were clients of the firm, despite the losses incurred in individual stocks.
– © Fairfax NZ News
Forsyth Barr executives exposed in emails published by Commerce Commission: "We catch more flies with honey than vinegar!"; "We're not selling bloody cigarettes!"
tags: Bernard Hickey, Calyon, Commerce Commission, Credit Agricole, Credit Sails, Feltex, Forsyth Barr, Icelandic Banks, interest.co.nz, Mighty River Power, NZX
The Commerce Commission has lifted the lid on what Forsyth Barr was talking about internally and to its customers in the lead up to the doomed sale of NZ$91.5 million of Credit SaILS notes in 2006.
It doesn't make pretty reading and will cause many to question whether Forsyth Barr is a fit and proper brokerage to be helping the Government sell Mighty River Power to a generation of investors who are reluctant to trust the stock market.
Every investor who is a client of Forsyth Barr or has been a client should read the full report from the Commerce Commission, which says Forsyth Barr and Calyon, the French investment bank that created the notes, engaged in "deceptive and misleading" behaviour.
The Commission estimated losses of NZ$70.7 million out of the capital investments of NZ$91.5 million. Eventually, Forsyth Barr and Calyon settled and contributed NZ$60 million to a fund for investors. But both maintain they did nothing wrong and don't believe any court action would have been successful. Forsyth Barr Managing Director Neil Paviour-Smith was not immediately available for comment today on the report, but has previously denied responsibility and the Commerce Commission said in the report Forsyth Barr does not accept the Commission's view.
The details of the report are damming.
Forsyth Barr and Calyon promoted the notes as 'capital protected' and 'safer than a term deposit in a bank', yet it was effectively a derivative on top of a derivative of toxic Icelandic and US banks<|fim_middle|> Hunter
Credit Sails emails exposed
tags: Calyon, CDO, Commerce Commission, Credit Agricole, Credit Sails, Fair Trading Act, Finance, Forsyth Barr, New Zealand
A Commerce Commission report into failed investment product Credit Sails has exposed damning internal emails on how the product was to be promoted to retail investors.
In one to Credit Sails arranger Calyon, a Forsyth Barr executive complains that the "sizzle" is being deleted from offer documents.
"One of the deletions we feel is harmful to the marketing of this offer. Remember we catch more flies with honey than vinegar!" the email said.
Another seeks removal of data on returns.
"We would very much wish for the section on back testing to be removed – the graphs in particular show a large number of incidences were [sic] the returns are materially lower than we expect which is a big marketing negative."
The report, released this morning, provides further background on the commission's investigation into the marketing of Credit Sails, a complex derivative product that failed in the financial crisis, causing 100 per cent losses for investors of $71 million.
The investigation found the marketing of Credit Sails was likely to have breached the Fair Trading Act.
In particular, the commission found representations by Forsyth Barr and Calyon about the product were misleading and deceptive.
The description of the product as being "protected" was misleading and the collateral that "protected" the product was in fact its greatest risk.
The commission said that although the product was unsuitable for retail investors and both companies held information confirming its unsuitability, retail investors were targeted.
As a result of the probe, Forsyth Barr and Calyon – an arm of giant French bank Credit Agricole – agreed to pay $60m into a fund to compensate investors.
The report notes concern at Forsyth Barr over issues raised by the Companies Office relating to the offer document.
One email complains: "Why can't we put the 8.5 per cent in there with a tiny (1) next to it and then at the bottom in tiny text next to the (1) we put all their dumb language? This would be workable. We're not selling bloody cigarettes!"
The report places equal responsibility on Forsyth Barr and Calyon for the way Credit Sails was structured and sold, although the commission agreed not to publish documents and emails from Calyon because they were provided voluntarily by an overseas company over which the commission had no power.
Nevertheless, there was evidence in the report that Forsyth Barr had pushed Calyon to make Credit Sails available to retail clients in New Zealand.
An internal Forsyth Barr email notes: "Did they [Calyon] knock on our door. Not really, the courting went the other way and it took considerable effort to get them to entertain doing a retail issue in NZ. Other than ABN this is the only major international bank to promote such a structure for retail."
The commission found Calyon had arranged a Credit Sails product in 21 jurisdictions, but only two of those involved an issue to retail investors – New Zealand and Taiwan – and New Zealand was the only jurisdiction in which Credit Sails with a collateralised debt obligation as collateral, was offered to retail investors.
Commerce Commission Advice
tags: Calyon, Commerce Commission, Credit Sails, Fair Trading Act, Forsyth Barr, Official Information Act
The Commerce Commission is advising the finance sector to take note of the lessons to be learned from its investigation into the marketing and sale of the failed investment product Credit SaILS.
The Commission has today released its Investigation Closure Report in accordance with section 6 of the Fair Trading Act 1986 regarding publishing information that affects the interests of consumers. The release of the report also answers a number of Official Information Act 1982 requests to the Commission by members of the media.
The report summarises the evidence uncovered in the Commission's investigation of five companies associated with the marketing and sale of the product to investors.
Investors in Credit SaILS have the opportunity of being returned around 85% of the capital they lost, as a result of a $60 million settlement reached between the Commission and the five companies; Forsyth Barr Limited, Forsyth Barr Group Limited, Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Credit Sail Limited and Calyon Hong Kong Limited.
"This investigation has some important lessons for the industry. There are actions the industry can take to ensure they don't mislead investors," said Dr Mark Berry, Chairman of the Commerce Commission.
The Commission offers the following guidance, in line with the Financial Market Authority's guidance, to those involved in the marketing and sale of financial products.
– All information conveyed to investors must be accurate. This applies to information in a prospectus, offer documents, marketing materials and things said verbally by financial advisers.
– All key terms must be disclosed up-front. Anything significant about the offer – its upside, downside, costs, term etc – needs to be highlighted early on.
– It is possible to mislead by silence. What you leave out or obscure can mislead, as well as what you choose to say. Ensure that all relevant information is provided.
– Give prominence to representations that investors will care about. In the Credit SaILS case, we thought that there was a disproportionate and misleading prominence given to the potential benefits of an investment in Credit SaILS. The risks were found on pg 42 of the offer; we say that is so unbalanced and lacking in prominence as to be misleading.
– Claims of capital protection and capital guarantee should be avoided unless they are perfectly true. Investors in this case thought that 'capital protection' meant that the capital was guaranteed against loss. This is what 'protection' means to the average non-expert investor.
– Use plain English, not technical jargon. Investors will take different meanings from the language than financial institutions and brokers. For example, investors in Credit SaILS understood the phrase "Capital protected by AA Rated collateral" to mean that their capital was effectively guaranteed against loss.
– Financial advisors are a critical source of information for investors. Whatever the documents say, advisors can mislead investors by what they say. Where products are new or highly complex, promoters must ensure that all intermediaries who sell the product are given genuine grounding in the products and thorough information. Otherwise selling agents can be put in a position where they mislead investors.
– Sellers of investment products should ensure that investments are suitable for the investors to whom they are offered. Complex and difficult to understand products should not be targeted at unsophisticated retail investors. Marketing and sales should be tailored to appropriate buyers and buyers given accurate information in an even-handed way.
– Investments made on behalf of others must be consistent with the risk appetite of the investor. Where financial advisers are in the position to make investments on behalf of others, they must be absolutely confident that they are investing consistently with the express risk profile of the customer. This necessarily means being fully familiar with what they are selling and all its attendant risks.
– Creators and promoters of investment products may have liability even where they are not named as an 'issuer' or 'promoter'. Liability is determined by the substance of what companies do and say, not by their roles as they choose to designate them.
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$91.5 million AA ABN AMRO Alex Rekeda ANBHA BISHA Business Day buy-back Calyon CASHA Cayman Islands CDO Chris Lee Citigroup Commerce Commission CPDO Credit Agricole Credit Sails Credit Sails Blog Credit Sails buyback Delphinus Dennis Church Fair Trading Act Financial Markets Authority FMA Forsyth Barr Goldman Sachs Greg Marshall Housing Bubble Icelandic Banks interest.co.nz JP Morgan Lehman Brothers Logic Fund Management Logic Fund Mangement Logic Funds Loreley Financing Magnetar Mizuho Moody's Morgan Stanley Mortgage Crisis mortgage securities Neil Paviour-Smith New Zealand New Zealand Permanent Trustees Ltd. NZ Herald NZ Permanent Trustees NZPT NZ Regulatory Bodies NZX ODT Otago Daily Times ProPublica Pyxis Rembrandt S&P SCF SCF Preference Shares Sean Hughes SEC Securities Act Securities Commission Serious Fraud Office SFO South Canterbury Finance Standard & Poor's Synthetic CDO The People vs Goldman Sachs Timberwolf Tim Hunter Trustee VHP Wall Street WKS 010 | . What's more revealing is how aggressively Forsyth Barr pushed Calyon and the Companies Office to allow it to keep the 'sizzle' in the prospectus and the marketing material for the sale.
Here's an un-named Forsyth Barr employee in an email cited in the report:
Calyon has made further changes to the offer document which in my view detract from the "sizzle" of the offer. I would like your views on whether we should hang tough on their reinsertion. On page 5 we have some language talking about modern yacht design.. blah blah blah making an analogy with Credit SaILS, stating "… Credit SaILS! an AA principal rated investment producing 8.5% interest payments." This was big and bold but has been removed by Calyon so there is now no reference in this page to the returns.
In the "What are Credit SaILS" there was an analogy between the Credit Strategy and fire insurance. Calyon have removed this. I felt (as author) this was very useful in understanding how credit swaps work and how the income and risks are generated through a comparison with normal household insurance.
Later Forsyth Barr sent Calyon an email asking to leave in the comments with more 'sizzle'.
[The external legal adviser] has forwarded me the last night's version with further deletions and changes made by you. One of the deletions we feel is harmful to the marketing of this offer.
Remember we catch more flies with honey than vinegar!
On screen 7 this is pure marketing spiel. We want the retention of some statement here about the returns. This is entirely consistent with the offer and makes an eye catching initial statement which we think is very important as investors seldom read in detail beyond the first few pages.
Then Forsyth Barr asked Calyon to take out graphs showing lower returns than Forsyth Barr expected:
We would very much wish for the section on back testing to be removed the graphs in particular show a large number of incidences were (sic) the returns are materially lower than we expect which is a big marketing negative, and there is no obligation for you to include this information anyway.
Later the Companies Office asked Forsyth Barr to tone down the prospectus, triggering an internal debate at Forsyth Barr about how much they should change the marketing material for the sale process:
"Here is the marked up version of the advertisement, basically reflecting the CO's required comments, as you can see, they don't look good."
"I say we flag the advertising and work on media interviews and articles to convey the message."
"[The] suggestion is to take out the 8.5% to get rid of the negative language and go with a smaller schedule (maybe two placements?) A further alternative is to replace the language relating to 8.5% with the marketing spiel at the front of the offering document."
"Why can't we put the 8.5% in there with a tiny (1) next to it and then at the bottom in tiny text next to the (1) we put all their dumb language? This would be workable. We're not selling bloody cigarettes!"
This suggests Forsyth Barr were that keen to get around the prospectus amendments and promote the message of capital-guaranteed returns of over 8.5% they were looking at using other channels such as the media and were prepared to use asterixes to cover themselves.
It's the sort of tactic a payday lender or door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman would use.
The rest of the details in the report are almost as damming. They show other banks and brokers thought Credit SaILS was too risky to sell to retail investors. It shows Calyon only allowed the product, which was a derivative layered on top of at least five of the world's most toxic banks, to be sold to retail investors in one other country — Taiwan. It shows Forsyth Barr as the party pushing Calyon hard to sell the product in New Zealand.
Here's an email from one executive:
"Did they (Calyon) knock on our door. Not really, the courting went the other way and it took considerable effort to get them to entertain doing a retail issue in NZ. Other than ABN this is the only major international bank to promote such a structure for retail. This structure is not new, ANZ "inflicted" exactly the same deal on its middle market & institutional clients last year. We consider that an endorsement of the structure as these types of investors are sophisticated….the key guy running things is the Calculation Agent Calyon. They run the strategy"
They show Forsyth Barr consistently pushing the boundaries of what it could say and get away with.
It also shows Forsyth Barr's brokers didn't even understand the product, but were happy to foist it on their clients or put it into their discretionary portfolios.
Forsyth Barr has form and denies everything
Forsyth Barr had a difficult 2006. That was the year Feltex collapsed, costing many investors who had been convinced by Forsyth Barr to invest, as Gareth Vaughan reported on Interest.co.nz in 2011.
Witness June Goldstein. A Christchurch widow then in her eighties, Goldstein told me in 2006 she had invested NZ$15,000 in Feltex after a Forsyth Barr adviser (Forsyth Barr was co-lead manager of the Feltex float with First NZ Capital) convinced her Feltex was a "long time, reliable firm" and a better bet than children's clothing retailer Pumpkin Patch which she had planned to invest in.
Within 27 months of its June 2004 IPO that raised NZ$254 million at NZ$1.70 a share, Feltex was gone, brought down by too much debt and, in my opinion, dismal management.
Where's the acceptance of responsibility?
Forsyth Barr has never accepted responsibility for misleading investors or doing anything wrong.
Paviour-Smith even said in a 2010 interview with Gareth Vaughan of Interest.co.nz that the prospectus or the way it was marketed by brokers was not Forsyth Barr's responsibility.
Paviour-Smith said then that Forsyth Barr's role as lead manager and underwriter of the Credit Sails issue were "completely separate" to the involvement of the firm's advisers in discussing the securities with their clients, and how they represented the security offering to their clients. This was the same as how other brokers discussed and marketed Credit Sails.
"That means that if broker XYZ misrepresented Credit Sails to a client it does not mean Forsyth Barr is at fault just because we were the lead manager," Paviour-Smith added in 2010.
"As regards the offer documents etc these were all the responsibility of the issuer/promoters IE Calyon Bank."
However, the email trails disclosed by the Commerce Commission show Forsyth Barr was up to its neck in the design and content of the prospectus, and was actively working to ensure plenty of 'sizzle' was in the prospectus, not to mention there was plenty of 'sizzle' and honey (rather than vinegar) in all the marketing material.
The 'sizzle' included that Credit SaILS were "safer than a bank term deposit," were "capital guaranteed and would return 10% on average."
Forsyth Barr should be barred.
Forsyth Barr's role as a retail broker in the Mighty River Power float is now untenable, in my opionion. The government should remove Forsyth Bar from the panel.
One of the major drivers of the 'Mixed Ownership Model' (MOM) process was to introduce a whole new set of investors to the stock market and to win back the trust of many who abandoned it after the 1987 crash and the many scandals that followed, including the collapses of Feltex and Credit SaILS.
Forsyth Barr's behaviour has been described by the Commerce Commission as 'misleading and deceptive'. Forsyth Barr has not accepted this or apologised to its investors.
It should be removed from the MOM process to retain the confidence of Mums and Dads.
Paviour-Smith's role as a director of the NZX should also be questioned. How can he credibly remain as one of the guardians and representatives of the New Zealand stock market when he has denied responsibility for what New Zealand's regulator of fair trading has judged 'misleading and deceptive' behaviour?
Leaders take responsibility for their mistakes. Forsyth Barr has gone part of the way by contributing in some way (we don't know how much) to the NZ$60 million settlement.
If it is serious about maintaining the confidence of its clients and the wider market it should accept responsibility and pay its penance from withdrawing from both the Mighty River Power float process and the NZX board.
Commerce Commission Credit Sails Closure Report
tags: Bernard Hickey, Business Day, Calyon, ComCom, Commerce Commission, Credit Agricole, Credit Sails, Fair Trading Act, Forbar, Forsyth Barr, Investors, NBR, NZ Herald, Tim Hunter
The Commerce Commission announced on 7 March, 2013 their official closure report on Credit Sails. It is very interesting reading and we recommend all Credit Sails investors view this material. Forsyth Barr and Credit Agricole have provided responses to the statement, which are also worth reading. On top of this, we have provided a list of media resources covering this.
COMMERCE COMMISSION CREDIT SAILS SETTLEMENT DOCUMENTS
Forsyth Barr Response to Commerce Commission Closure Report
Credit Agricole Response to Commerce Commission Closure Report
MEDIA FOLLOWING THE ANNOUNCEMENT
8 March 2013 – Business Day – Brokerage Sails pitch condemned, by Tim Hunter and James Weir
7 March 2013 – Sharechat.co.nz – Credit Sails' oldies save Forsyth Barr, Credit Agricole from courtroom
7 March 2013 – MSN – Regulator Justifies Credit Sails Deal
7 March 2013 – MSN – Forsyth Barr criticises regulators' report
7 March 2013 – National Business Review – Only expert investors should have put money in Credit SaILS – ComCom, by Blair Cunningham
7 March 2013 – National Business Review – Credit SaILS report creates 'imbalanced impression' – Forsyth Barr, by Paul McBeth
7 March 2013 – RadioNZ – Commission happy with debt securities settlement
7 March 2013 – NZ Herald – Credit Sails report holds 'factual errors' – Forsyth Barr
7 March 2013 – Interest.co.nz – Forsyth Barr executives exposed in emails published by Credit Sails, by Bernard Hickey
7 March 2013 – Goodreturns.co.nz – Com Com slams Forbar over Credit Sails, by Niko Kloeten
7 March 2013 – 3 News NZ – Forsyth Barr 'misleading', 'deceptive' – ComCom, by Emma Jolliff
7 March 2013 – Business Day – Credit Sails emails exposed, by Tim | 2,305 |
Summary: When novelists Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand first met in a Houston critique group, they never expected where friendship would take them. She wrote romance; he wrote crime novels. But growing respect for each other's work culminated in the decision to try blending their talents into this wonderfully engaging story merging romance and mystery. Rylee Monroe walks dogs in old-money Charleston, a part of the city recently targeted by a daring thief. Logan Woods works the crime beat for the local paper but dreams of a life as a nonfiction writer. When the string of robberies takes a strange twist, Logan sees the making of<|fim_middle|> old follower!
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I love D. Gist! Enter me in this one! | a once-in-a-lifetime book that seems to circle around this charming, eye-catching dogwalker. But pursuing the truth means ignoring that he seems to be falling for her. And what is she hiding in her past that could crack the story wide open?
Pick Me. I would love to read this!!
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Thank you, Cindy! Good Luck with your Read-a-thon!
I LOVE Deeanne's books and have read them all so far! I'd love to read this collaboration!
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Mercadito Hospitality Forecasts 2014 Restaurant Trends
January 22, 2014 | Industry News
With a new year of dining underway, the expert team behind the Chicago-based Mercadito Hospitality shares their insight on culinary, beverage, marketing, and design trends for 2014.
As a restaurant group on the rise, identifying and launching trends in the hospitality market has been vital to the growth and success of Mercadito Hospitality, which owns and operates Mercadito restaurants nationwide. The group also owns Double A, Tavernita and Barcito, and Little Market Brasserie, all in downtown Chicago. In 2013, MH Catering was launched and the group's newest concepts, Tippling Hall (Chicago), Mercadito Counter (Chicago), Mercadito Wheels (San Diego), and additional projects in Las Vegas and Philadelphia are slated to open in 2014. Comprised of industry leaders ranging from top culinary talents and beverage innovators, to business leaders and design pioneers, Mercadito Hospitality is among the nation's key visionaries and predicts the following new movements in the year ahead:
Mercadito Hospitality's Managing Partner Alfredo Sandoval, who developed and leads the Mercadito brand with his 30 years of industry experience, foresees the following:
Open Kitchen Concepts: More restaurant spaces are embracing the open-kitchen trend as diners have gotten into the habit of watching chefs on TV due to a fascination with what goes on behind the scenes in restaurant kitchens. It is both transparent and entertaining.
Restaurant Groups on the Rise: Not only are restaurateurs using brand equity of their flagship establishment to help build a diverse, multi-concept portfolio, but they are also utilizing the formulation of a restaurant group to help leverage partners and new concepts.
Concept Concentration: There are more concepts evolving that focus on one or two types of food as opposed to offering an endless variety of dishes. For example, Da Lobster and Honey Butter Fried Chicken in Chicago and Burger and Lobster in London.
Mercadito Hospitality partners and founders of the leading beverage consulting company, Tippling Bros., Paul Tanguay, and Tad Carducci–who bring decades of award-winning expertise in the wine and spirits industry–predict:
Return of Drinking Rituals: Fresh takes on classics such as Irish Coffee and Sake will make a comeback but with an emphasis on traditional beverage presentation.
Take-home Tipples: The portable cocktail trend will continue to grow beyond growlers of beer, with tasty take-aways complete with creative packaging and cheaper price tags.
Interesting Syrups: The use of interesting and flavorful syrups from non-traditional sources, such as tree syrups, will be used more and more in drinks in 2014.
Beer Flights: More menus will be offering beer flights, similar to that of wine flights, where guests can taste a variety of samples in smaller portions.
Kegged Cocktails: The kegged cocktail trend will continue due to the need for efficiency combined with premium quality, including the batching of non-alcoholic components such as agua fresca and cocktail mixes to maintain freshness.
Mercadito Hospitality's newly added chef/partner Guillermo Tellez, who now oversees concept development and culinary execution for the group's restaurant projects, including Tavernita, Little Market Brasserie and Tippling Hall, anticipates the following trends in 2013:
Lighter Fare: Diners will still be on the hunt for lighter options and seafood and nutrient<|fim_middle|> menus, but with unlimited marketing abilities). On the design end, focus is heavy on bringing forward the brand via the materials, graphics, signage and how the food (and food experience) is displayed and presented.
Food Markets: Restaurateurs along with developers are getting together to create one-stop-shop food concepts while also integrating some retail elements into the space. Eataly has set the tone for this, but expect an evolution of this concept when it comes to design and food offerings.
Beverage-inspired Design: As bartenders are getting more crafty and inventive, more people are welcoming these concepts and are willing to pay more for the experience. Just as a kitchen needs to work well with the chef, designers will be presented the challenge of designing a bar that best represents what bartenders craft.
Falling Guests Counts is a Trend Restaurants Can't Escape
Why Restaurants are Keeping Wine Lists Short and Sweet | -rich greens and grains will remain at the forefront.
Sustainable Seafood: As additional regulations are introduced and the industry becomes more responsible across the board, diners will continue to see an increase in farm raised seafood on menus.
Adventurous Eating: As chefs continue to utilize obscure ingredients and new cooking techniques, the public's thirst for different experiences and flavors will remain strong. Non-traditional cuts of meat, exotic ingredients, and unique flavors will continue to be tested and in-demand.
Fermentation: The popularity of fermented items will continue to grow. It may become just as popular as pickling.
Other hot ingredients for 2014 according to Mercadito chef/partner Patricio Sandoval, include:
Octopus: Versatile and served in many cuisines, and boasting a great flavor and texture when cooked properly, octopus will be a universal trend. Not only less common, but also less expensive, octopus on the menu also means a better profit margin.
Tortas: Tortas are traditional Mexican-style pressed sandwiches with avocado, napa cabbage, black bean puree, tomato, and oaxaca cheese. Featuring all the components of a great sandwich: spicy, creamy, different meats, and unique ingredients, etc., crispy on the outside and doughy on the inside, tortas are the next new thing in sandwiches.
Natalie Levine, director of Marketing and PR at Mercadito Hospitality, has significantly amplified the restaurant group's business status and increased the revenue, setting the company's standards for future growth through her campaign efforts. Her trend contribution includes:
Short Videos: Videos should continue their upward spiral in the social media market.
Applications such as Instagram, complete with filters and easy integration with Facebook make for quick, inexpensive and efficient visual ways to share the brand. It's a perfect way to showcase a space, introduce a chef, display a dish, or hype an event.
Theme Nights: By attaching themes to develop a PR hook, restaurants are filling seats on slow days/nights. For example, a tropical themed luau brunch with party favors and tiki drinks makes the meal an experience and gives it a reason to stand out in a sea of brunch options.
Loyalty Programs: Due to a desire to establish a direct relationship with consumers, restaurant groups are beginning to place more emphasis on rewarding customer loyalty programs. This connection will help sway diners to book reservations and events directly through the restaurant.
Vincent Celano, founder and principal of New York City-based Celano Design Studio, has made his name in hospitality design and architecture, working with a roster of internationally acclaimed hotels, nightclubs, and restaurants, including many in Mercadito Hospitality's portfolio. For 2014, Celano foresees the following trends:
Small Spaces: Great food concepts in not so expected areas such as airports, sporting venues, retail shops, and urban street markets. Many great restaurant concepts can extend their exposure and client base in these types of venues (usually these are small sized locations with limited | 615 |
Video: Chelsea Police Look For Pickup Truck Driver Who Hit Man In CrosswalkPolice are looking for the driver of a pickup truck that hit a man in a Chelsea crosswalk Wednesday afternoon.
Wayfair Employees Welcome Little Sisters With Open ArmsWayfair is the fourth company to join the Big Sister Association of Greater Boston's workplace mentoring program.
Toyota And Honda Recall Millions Of CarsTwo of Japan's biggest automakers<|fim_middle|> echo it's very expensive, you can't do that, clearly. But if a front line physician throws a probe on an ultrasound he already has because he/she is using it for other things, it costs nothing, right?"
Dr. Corrado's next step is a wide-scale study at Boston public schools. "Hopefully we'll get every physician doing ultrasounds of the heart. I think that's clearly the future."
Dr. Douglas P. Zipes, spokesperson for the American Heart Association, told us there are no plans to change the current screening recommendations because of "the potential for false positives and false negatives and the expense considering the [low] number of athletes who have sudden death annually… "
"It infuriates me. Saying that it's too expensive," said Josh's dad, Ralph. And Josh's mom quickly points out that the current screening method wasn't enough to save her son. Because of Josh, his own brother and a childhood friend were both screened and diagnosed with completely different heart conditions. His family now holds free heart screenings in Josh's name every year.
"You have their eyes checked, you have their ears checked, the school shuts down gym because we have to check posture," said Josh's mom. "Oh my gosh, please, check the heart you don't know what's going on under there."
Dr. Mallika Marshall
More from Dr. Mallika Marshall | , Toyota and Honda, are recalling millions of cars over unrelated safety issues.
Wayfair And Big Sister Of Greater Boston Pair Up For Mentoring ProgramTen women were matched with little sisters as part of a workplace mentoring program.
Toyota, Honda Recall Millions Of VehiclesThe vehicles were recalled, some in the U.S., due to unrelated safety issues.
Chelsea Police Looking For Driver Who Hit Man In CrosswalkA pickup truck drove away after hitting a man in a Chelsea crosswalk.
High School Bans All Students From Games Over Poor Fan BehaviorA Massachusetts high school has temporarily banned students from attending athletic events due to a string of recent inappropriate behavior in the stands. WBZ-TV's Beth Germano reports.
Simple Screenings Could Reveal Hidden Heart Problems In Kids
By Dr. Mallika Marshall May 9, 2016 at 11:24 pm
Filed Under:Dr. Mallika Marshall, ekg
BOSTON (CBS) — Josh Thibodeau was a boy with a big smile, tons of energy, and the fun family nickname "Moose."
"Super sensitive, super sweet kid," says his mom, Deb O'Brien-Thibodeau. Five years ago Josh collapsed at soccer camp. The Holden boy was just 12 years old.
His dad, Ralph Thibodeau, remembers every moment of that horrible day.
"Josh is laying there and I think my first recollection is I hear, 'I don't hear a heartbeat,'" he said.
Josh died from an undiagnosed heart condition called Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy or HCM. Sudden cardiac death claims the lives of about 100 to 150 young athletes every year.
"It's so easy to detect these heart conditions: an EKG or an echocardiogram. Which if Josh had those he could be with us," said his mom.
An EKG measures the electrical currents of the heart. An echo is an ultrasound. Neither are routinely done on the majority of healthy kids. The American Heart Association only recommends a 14-point questionnaire and check-up.
Josh Thibodeau (WBZ-TV)
"That particular test, called the history and physical, it's a bad test. We miss the kids who have the problem and we identify kids that don't have problem for lengthy cardiac work-ups," said Dr. Gian Corrado, the head team physician at Northeastern University.
Dr. Corrado is out to prove that echocardiograms can save lives and should be adopted as the new standard of care.
Dr. Corrado demonstrated how the portable ultrasound works, "within seconds we see a beautiful view of the heart." That view can help a doctor quickly identify HCM, an abnormal thickening of the walls of the heart. "The whole issue is these kids never show a single sign of it. The first sign of it is sudden death."
Dr. Corrado screened dozens of athletes at Northeastern using an echo and found the test to be fast and reliable. He told us the key is getting portable ultrasounds directly to the players and training doctors how to use them. "If you send everyone for a full-fledge | 645 |
'Just Drive' Reveals Dangers of Driving While Distracted (Even 'Hands-Free' Isn't Safe)
San Diego, Calif., Dec. 4, 2014 — Most of us wouldn't get behind the wheel with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit. Yet 80 percent of adults and 90 percent of college students in San Diego County admit to regularly engaging in a behavior that is just as dangerous: Driving while distracted.
From left, UC San Diego Professor of Family Medicine Linda Hill, Captain Rich Stewart of the California Highway Patrol and Detective Brian MacPherson of the UC San Diego Police Department.
"Just Drive," a new course being offered through the University of California, San Diego Center for Wireless and Population Health Systems (CWPHS), aims to educate the public about distracted driving, especially driving while using mobile phones. The one-hour course was offered last month to employees of the UC San Diego Qualcomm Institute, where CWPHS is based, bringing the total number of individuals educated through the program so far to more than 3,500.
The statistics associated with distracted driving are astounding. According to Linda Hill, a professor of Family and Preventive Medicine at UC San Diego, driving while talking on a mobile phone – even a hands-free device – creates a distraction equivalent to driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 percent (the legal<|fim_middle|> is an addiction, akin to smoking cigarettes (the "Just Drive" course materials, notably, are designed based on smoking cessation courses).
"The issue with cell phone use while driving is one of positive rewards vs. negative consequences," Hill explains. "If you're getting positively rewarded, you're going to continue engaging in the activity. For example, 31 percent of adults in the CWPHS survey felt obliged to take work calls while driving. They're avoiding a negative consequence – being reprimanded for not being available – and being positively rewarded by someone on the other end being glad they got a hold of them."
Adds Hill: "It's really like smoking cigarettes. Are you more driven by instant gratification or the hypothetical long-term consequence of getting cancer?"
Hill says that even driving behaviors that are perceived as 'benign' – such as using one's phone while idling at a stoplight – can pose risk. "People misjudge if lights change, they don't check for pedestrians, conversations don't end when a light changes," she explains. "The person on the other end of the phone has no idea what is going on where you are, unlike when you are having a conversation with a person in the seat next to you, who can adjust their conversation to what's happening around you. They know to pause when they see you're engaged, for example. They can spot things you don't see on the road, or help with navigation.
"It seems like we go into another space when we're on our phones," she continues. "When we're in a restaurant and we're talking to our companion, we have an awareness of who's around us and we keep our voice at a level where we're not distracted. But the moment someone picks up a phone they've completely lost track of their surroundings. They're talking as if no one can hear them and saying the most private ridiculous things."
Hill says that same "cognitive load" happens when we allow our mobile devices to distract us while driving. "We're looking straight ahead and not seeing. Literally, you see 50 percent less of what's in front of you while you're on your phone versus when you're focused on driving. People say, 'I was on the phone and I don't even remember how I got home.'"
So what does Hill recommend as a solution (that is, until self-driving cars make it a moot point)?
It's simple, she says: "Put the phone in the trunk and take it out of temptation's way."
"It's almost impossible, when that 'ding' goes off, not to check your phone," she adds. "We have to remove the temptation. That means you answer when you can safely do so or are free to do so, and not before. It also means raising the issue with your family and significant others and colleagues."
Training, Research and Education for Driver Safety (TREDS) | definition of impairment in the state of California). Fifty percent of college students admit to texting while driving on the freeway. An estimated 26 percent of crashes are caused by distracted drivers using cell phones and according to a report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2012 alone, 3,328 people were killed in such collisions.
"Our brains can't do everything at once," noted Hill, who developed the "Just Drive" course with colleagues after her survey of 5,000 anonymous college students in 2012 revealed significant distracted driving behaviors. "Using cell phones while driving leads to visual distractions like taking your eyes off the road, manual distractions like fiddling with the phone and cognitive distractions associated with having a conversation, even though your eyes are on the road and your hands are on the steering wheel. People think that because it's legal to drive hands-free that it's safe, but the data do not support that."
Hill and her colleagues in the CWPHS Training, Research and Education for Driving Safety (TREDS) program received funding last year from the California Office of Traffic Safety to develop "Just Drive." It's facilitated by retired and active officers from the California Highway Patrol and features interactive modules designed to create awareness around the hazards of distracted driving.
Participants in the course take pre- and post-tests to gauge their knowledge about the risks and are shown videos of simulated distracted driving crashes and interviews with victims and families of the deceased. They also participate in several interactive exercises, including one in which they are asked to type a short text message, such as "Home in 5 minutes." To type such a message, the facilitators note, the average driver will have had his/her eyes off the road for six seconds – the equivalent of driving the length of a football field while blind.
Hill says that part of the problem with reducing distracted driving behaviors is that few people want to admit that they are perpetrators. A third of people engaging in distracted driving behaviors, for example, are parents with children in the car.
"I often use the analogy that distracted driving is like secondhand smoke," she adds. "People think, 'It's my health, it's my business,' but it's not. It's not just about putting the driver at risk."
According to Hill, researchers increasingly believe distracted driving | 476 |
SMWDC Welcomes Newest Amphibious Warfare WTIs to the Fleet in Norfolk
Photo By Lt. Brianna Frazier | 190426-N-ZZ999-0001 LITTLE CREEK, Va. (Apr. 26, 2019) Commander, Naval Surface and...... read more read more
Photo By Lt. Brianna Frazier | 190426-N-ZZ999-0001 LITTLE CREEK, Va. (Apr. 26, 2019) Commander, Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center (SMWDC) Rear Adm. Dave Welch, center, poses for a photo with graduates of the Amphibious Warfare (AMW) Warfare Tactics Instructor (WTI) Course of Instruction onboard Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Virginia. Graduates pictured left to right; Lt. j.g. Rebekkah Ledoux, Lt. Sean Murray, Lt. James Lambert, Lt. Christopher Yee, Lt. Andy Gomez, and Lt. Steven Zappa. SMWDC is one of the Navy's five Warfighting Development Centers and its mission is to increase the lethality and tactical proficiency of the Surface Force across all domains. (U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Brianna Frazier/Released) see less | View Image Page
NORFOLK, VA, UNITED STATES
Story by Lt. Brianna Frazier
Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center (SMWDC)
JOINT EXPEDITIONARY BASE LITTLE CREEK-FORT STORY, Va. - Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center (SMWDC) welcomed the newest group of Amphibious Warfare (AMW) Warfare Tactics Instructors (WTI) to the Surface Fleet in a ceremony at SMWDC's AMW Division, Apr. 26.
SMWDC's WTI program offers a gateway for well-qualified SWOs to develop deep tactical expertise in AMW, Integrated Air<|fim_middle|>, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet and exists to increase the lethality and tactical proficiency of the Surface Force across all domains. SMWDC headquarters is at Naval Base San Diego with four divisions in Virginia and California focused on Sea Combat, Integrated Air and Missile Defense, Amphibious Warfare and Mine Warfare.
Location: NORFOLK, VA, US
This work, SMWDC Welcomes Newest Amphibious Warfare WTIs to the Fleet in Norfolk, by LT Brianna Frazier, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
AMW
SMWDC | and Missile Defense (IAMD), Mine Warfare (MIW) or Anti-Submarine Warfare / Surface Warfare (ASW/SUW).
"You now have greater responsibility to yourself and to the sailors you lead," said Rear Adm. Dave Welch, commander of SMWDC. "Do not shy away from that responsibility, accept it, and impart your knowledge to the fleet for the betterment of the amphibious community and the Navy as a whole."
While talking to the graduating class and attendees, Welch also emphasized the impact that the that deliberate development of tactical expertise that SMWDC - along with the Navy's four other Warfighting Development Centers (WDC) - are bringing to bear in the Navy's ability to deliver combat power in support of the National Defense Strategy.
The graduating WTIs were the first to earn distinctive AMW WTI patches emblazoned with a gator in 2019, and they did so only after completing a refined Battle Problem as their culminating event of the course. The Battle Problem drove the candidates to synthesize and use all of the knowledge learned during the course to effectively plan AMW operations to achieve a defined mission. One of the ways the WTI candidates test their plan is through a war game. War gaming is a critical step in the Navy Planning Process and allows the students to test the effectiveness of their proposed courses of action (COA), doctrine, and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) against expected adversary COAs.
"The battle problem has continued to evolve over every course of instruction," said Lt. Cmdr. Christopher Petersen. "The execution of the six-step Navy Planning Process, layered with amphibious doctrine and TTP's allows the students to methodically approach the completion of the mission, and shows them how detailed amphibious planning can be."
All WTI candidates complete a two-week Instructor and Tactics Course followed by a tailored course of instruction in one of the four Surface Warfare specialty areas. AMW WTI course focuses on the intricacies of sea control and power projection of the Navy and Marine Corps team. Post qualification, WTIs complete a two-year production tour where WTI skills mature in the classroom and at sea during Surface Warfare Advanced Tactical Training (SWATT) exercises and other fleet training events.
Production tours are an important part of the WTI experience, and where new WTI cadre are able to take classroom learning and bring it back to the Fleet to provide training, write doctrine and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP), provide operational support, and inform future requirements in order to increase the lethality and tactical proficiency of the Surface Force. The newly patched AMW WTIs will support these lines of operation through training events which include the Ship Self Defense System (SSDS) simulators at Wallops Island, Virginia, Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) SWATT planning and execution, as well as doctrine and TTP development, reviews, and refinement.
Lt. Christopher Yee was selected as the course's honor graduate and will report to SMWDC's headquarters in San Diego to complete his production tour.
"This course has challenged me more than any other Navy course I have attended," said Yee. "The material covered in the last 15 weeks has opened my eyes to the growing importance of new TTPs in amphibious warfare, and the complexities inherent to our mission. I am excited to take this new knowledge and apply it during my production tour at SMWDC Headquarters."
Lt. Andy Gomez also received the Iwo Jima Leadership Award for displaying superb leadership qualities throughout the fifteen-week course of instruction.
Applications for the WTI program are taken on a rolling basis. Contact the SMWDC WTI Program Manager at SWO_WTI@Navy.mil for more information, or to request a ship visit by SMWDC's WTI cadre and senior mentors.
SMWDC is a subordinate command of Commander | 795 |
Королівська люстрація (від — податковий або фінансовий період, люструм) — описи державних маєтків (інвентаризація королівських маєтків). Метою люстрації було встановлен<|fim_middle|>лярно, а надалі (за ухвалою Польського Сейму 1562 року) — кожні п'ять років. Люстрації містили відомості про якість земель, кількість населення, господарські витрати, чистий прибуток маєтностей та ін. Вони складалися не адміністрацією маєтку, а спеціальними чиновниками — люстраторами або люстраційними комісіями, які виконували ще й ревізорські функції. Після поділів Речі Посполитої наприкінці XVIII століття російський уряд зберіг до 1876 року проведення люстрацій на території колишніх польських володінь.
Примітки
Посилання
Люстрація //
Історія економіки Польщі
Податки | ня складу податного населення, його грошових і натуральних повинностей, доходів королівських економій. Хоча УРЕ стверджує, що люстрація у феодальній Речі Посполитій і Литві вперше була запроваджена у XVI столітті, однак наявні матеріали люстрації Королівства Польського 1469 року.
Описи державних маєтностей у Речі Посполитій проводились для податкових і військових потреб і здійснювалися спочатку нерегу | 185 |
\section{INTRODUCTION}
\label{introd_sec}
Isotropic Heisenberg antiferromagnets (HAFs) have a continuous SU(2)
rotational symmetry in spin space, which may be spontaneously broken
under rather general conditions down to its U(1) subgroup, thereby
leading to classical ground-state (GS) phases with magnetic long-range
order (LRO). Such states are typically not eigenstates of the
corresponding quantum Hamiltonian in the case where the spins have a
finite value of the spin quantum number $s$. The role then played by
quantum fluctuations on the corresponding GS ordering properties of
such HAFs comprising interacting quantum spins placed on the sites of
an (infinite) regular periodic lattice continues to engender
considerable interest, both theoretically and experimentally.
In very general terms, quantum fluctuations are larger for systems
with lower dimensionality $D$, lower values of the spin quantum number
$s$, and lower values of the coordination number $z$ of the spatial
lattice. The Mermin-Wagner theorem \cite{Mermin:1966}, which asserts
the impossibility of breaking a continuous symmetry when $D=1$, even
for systems at zero temperature ($T=0$), thus precludes GS phases with
magnetic LRO for one-dimensional (1D) spin chains. The same theorem
also rules out magnetic LRO in any isotropic system with $D=2$ at any
nonzero temperature ($T > 0$). Since it does not, however, apply to
2D systems at $T=0$ (or, indeed, to systems with $D > 2$), 2D quantum
magnets at $T=0$ provide a key arena for the study of the role of
quantum fluctuations on their properties. Furthermore, since the
honeycomb lattice has the lowest coordination number ($z=3$) of all
regular 2D lattices, it is natural to focus particular attention on
it, as we do here.
The behaviour at low energies or large distances of any strongly
correlated system that has undergone spontaneous symmetry breaking is
governed by the properties and dynamics of the massless Goldstone
bosons that thereby emerge \cite{Goldstone:1961_boson}. In the case of the isotropic HAFs
considered here these are simply the spin waves or magnons. In turn,
the dynamics of the Goldstone bosons can be precisely formulated in
terms of a simple, systematic effective field theory (EFT)
\cite{Chakravarty:1989_magnon-chiral-PT,Neuberger:1989_magnon-chiral-PT,Fisher:1989_magnon-chiral-PT,Hasenfratz:1990_magnon-chiral-PT,Hasenfratz:1991_magnon-chiral-PT,Hasenfratz:1993_magnon-chiral-PT,Chubukov:1994_magnon-chiral-PT},
which is specified wholly by the symmetry properties of the model in
terms of a few low-energy parameters. While models in the same
symmetry class are thus described by a universal EFT, the values of
the low-energy parameters themselves depend on the specific model
being studied. Thus, while a particular EFT (pertaining to a given
symmetry class) leads to universal expressions for such asymptotic
formulae or scaling forms as those pertaining to finite-size or
low-temperature corrections, one still needs an independent knowledge
of the values of the low-energy parameters to
implement them in practice.
In principle the parameters can be obtained in two different ways. In
the first one performs a microscopic calculation at finite values of
the system size and/or at nonzero temperatures ($T=0$), and uses the
results as input to the EFT scaling forms to extract the low-energy
parameters. In the second way one simply calculates the low-energy
parameters directly for a system of infinite size (i.e., in the
appropriate thermodynamic limit) and at $T=0$, using some suitable
{\it ab initio} technique of microscopic quantum many-body theory.
For the specific case of the spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ HAF, with
neareast-neighbour (NN) interactions only, on the honeycomb lattice,
typical calculations of the former type have been performed using
quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) algorithms of various types
\cite{Castra:2006_honey,Low:2009_honey,Jiang:2012_honey}. Although
QMC calculations can be highly accurate they are often restricted in
practice to unfrustrated systems, i.e., in the present case to models
with NN interactions only, due to the well-known ``minus-sign
problem''. An alternative technique of the former sort, which uses
the exact diagonalization (ED) of finite lattices, does not suffer
from the same restriction, but is restricted in practice to much
smaller systems, which are hence also more problematic in fitting to
the asymptotic finite-size scaling forms.
There are relatively few microscopic spin-lattice techniques of the
second sort that can be applied to systems of $N$ spins from the
outset in the limit $N \rightarrow \infty$. Among them are the
linked-cluster series expansion (SE) method
\cite{Rigo:2006_honey,Oitmaa:2006_honey} and the coupled cluster
method (CCM)
\cite{Bishop:1987_ccm,Bartlett:1989_ccm,Arponen:1991_ccm,Bishop:1991_TheorChimActa_QMBT,Bishop:1998_QMBT_coll,Zeng:1998_SqLatt_TrianLatt,Fa:2004_QM-coll}.
Both methods have been applied, for example, to calculate the
low-energy parameters of the spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ HAF on the honeycomb
lattice (see, e.g., Ref.\ \cite{Oitmaa:1992_honey} for an SE
calculation and Ref.\ \cite{Bishop:2015_honey_low-E-param} for a CCM
calculation that also includes frustrating bonds).
Another technique that is commonly applied to spin-lattice problems,
and which is complementary to those discussed above is spin-wave
theory (SWT) \cite{Anderson:SWT,Kubo:1952_SqLatt,Oguchi:1960_SqLatt}.
It essentially works best close to the classical limit ($s \rightarrow
\infty$), and develops series expansions in powers of $1/s$ for the
low-energy parameters. In this context one of the strengths of the CCM
in particular is that it is relatively straightforward both in
principle and in practice to apply to models with arbitrary values of
the spin quantum number, $s$. One of the main purposes of the present
paper is thus to apply the CCM to high orders of approximation to
study the GS properties of the honeycomb-lattice HAF with values of
the spin quantum number in the range $1 \leq s \leq \frac{9}{2}$, with
a particular aim to examine the asymptotic large-$s$ expansions for
the low-energy parameters that describe the model via EFT. We note that there is no fundamental reason to limit our calculations to the cases with $s \leq \frac{9}{2}$. The CCM can readily also be applied to spin-lattice models with much higher values of $s$. The choice to limit ourselves here to cases with $s \leq \frac{9}{2}$ is made purely on the practical ground that this range surely suffices both to highlight the efficacy of the CCM and to investigate fully the evolution of the low-energy parameters as a function of increasing spin quantum number $s$, which are our joint main aims.
The outline of the rest of the paper is as follows. We first describe
in Sec.\ \ref{low-E-param_sec} the low-energy parameters that describe
the magnon EFT. The CCM technology that we use to calculate them, and
the hierarchical approximation scheme that we employ, are then
outlined in Sec.\ \ref{ccm_sec}. The method is applied to the
spin-$s$ honeycomb-lattice HAF for values of the spin quantum number
$s \leq \frac{9}{2}$, and we cite extrapolated results in Sec.\
\ref{results_sec} for the corresponding low-energy parameter set in
each case. We use these sets to derive respective expansions in
powers of $1/s$ for each parameter about the corresponding classical
($s \rightarrow \infty$) limit and, where possible, we compare with
results from SWT. Finally, we summarise in Sec.\ \ref{summary_sec}.
\section{LOW-ENERGY PARAMETERS}
\label{low-E-param_sec}
The systematic low-energy EFT for magnons
\cite{Chakravarty:1989_magnon-chiral-PT,Neuberger:1989_magnon-chiral-PT,Fisher:1989_magnon-chiral-PT,Hasenfratz:1990_magnon-chiral-PT,Hasenfratz:1991_magnon-chiral-PT,Hasenfratz:1993_magnon-chiral-PT,Chubukov:1994_magnon-chiral-PT}
was itself developed soon after the introduction of, and in complete
analogy to, chiral perturbation theory ($\chi$PT) (see, e.g., Ref.\
\cite{Leutwyler:1994_chiral-PT} and references cited therein) for the
pions that play the role of the Goldstone bosons in quantum
chromodynamics (QCD). Just as the hadronic vacuum plays the role of
the broken phase in QCD, so does the antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase
play the same role for a HAF. Similarly, just as the order parameter
is given by the chiral condensate in QCD, for a HAF it is given by the
average local on-site magnetization (or, here, equivalently the
staggered magnetization), $M$. In the case of QCD the overall
coupling strength in $\chi$PT is given by the pion decay constant,
whereas for a HAF it is given in its EFT by the spin stiffness (or
helicity modulus), $\rho_{s}$. Finally, whereas in QCD the
propagation speed inherent in $\chi$PT is the speed of light, for a
HAF the magnons of its EFT propagate with the corresponding spin-wave
velocity, $c$. The latter two quantities for a HAF are related by the
effective description of spin waves by a hydrodynamic theory
\cite{Halperin:1969_SWT,Cherryshev:2009_SWT}, which yields
\begin{equation}
\hbar c = \sqrt{\frac{\rho_{s}}{\chi}}\,, \label{eq_hbar_c}
\end{equation}
where $\chi$ is the zero-field (uniform, transverse) magnetic
susceptibility, in units where the gyromagnetic ratio $g\mu_{B}/\hbar
= 1$.
Thus, the fundamental low-energy parameter set that describes
completely the low-energy physics of a magnetic system of the AFM type
considered here consists of: (a) the GS energy per particle, $E/N$,
(b) the average local on-site magnetization, $M$, (c) the zero-field,
uniform, transverse magnetic susceptibility, $\chi$, (d) the spin
stiffness, $\rho_{s}$, and (e) the spin-wave velocity, $c$. The
latter three quantities are related via the hydrodynamic relation of
Eq.\ (\ref{eq_hbar_c}). We note too that the parameters $\rho_{s}$
and $\chi$, in particular, are defined here per unit site, as is usual
for a discrete lattice description. By contrast, in a continuous EFT
description, it is more normal to define corresponding quantities,
$\bar{\rho}_{s}$ and $\bar{\chi}$, per unit area. If we define the NN
spacing on the honeycomb lattice to be $d$, the lattice then has
$4/(3\sqrt{3}d^{2})$ sites per unit area, and hence
\begin{equation}
\rho_{s}=\frac{3}{4}\sqrt{3}d^{2}\bar{\rho}_{s}\,, \quad \chi=\frac{3}{4}\sqrt{3}d^{2}\bar{\chi}\,. \label{eq_rho_chi}
\end{equation}
We place quantum spins $\mathbf{s}_{k} \equiv (s^{x}_{k},\,s^{y}_{k},\,s^{z}_{k})$ on the sites $k$ of a honeycomb lattice. They obey the usual SU(2) commutation relations,
\begin{equation}
[s^{a}_{k},s^{b}_{l}] = i\delta_{kl}\epsilon_{abc}s^{c}_{k}\,, \label{SU2_comm_relatn}
\end{equation}
with $\mathbf{s}^{2}_{k} = s(s+1)$ and, for the cases considered here, $s=1,\,\frac{3}{2},\,2,\,\frac{5}{2},\,3,\,\frac{7}{2},\,4,\frac{9}{2}$. The SU(2)-invariant Hamiltonian of the quantum HAF is
\begin{equation}
H = J_{1}\sum_{\langle k,l \rangle}\mathbf{s}_{k}\cdot\mathbf{s}_{l}\,; \quad J_{1}>0\,, \label{eq_H}
\end{equation}
where the sum over $\langle k,l \rangle$ runs over all NN pairs on the
honeycomb lattice, counting each pair once only. The Hamiltonian
commutes with the total spin operator,
\begin{equation}
[H,\mathbf{S}] = 0\,; \quad \mathbf{S} \equiv \sum^{N}_{k=1}\mathbf{s}_{k}\,.
\end{equation}
The lattice and the Heisenberg exchange bonds are illustrated in Fig.\
\ref{model_pattern}(a).
\begin{figure}[t]
\begin{center}
\mbox{
\subfigure[]{\includegraphics[width=3.5cm]{fig1a.eps}}
\subfigure[]{\includegraphics[width=3.5cm]{fig1b.eps}}
\subfigure[]{\includegraphics[width=3.5cm]{fig1c.eps}}
\subfigure{\includegraphics[width=2.5cm]{fig1d.eps}}
}
\caption{The HAF on the honeycomb
lattice, showing (a) the bonds ($J_{1} = $ -----), the
triangular Bravais lattice vectors $\mathbf{a}$ and $\mathbf{b}$,
and the N\'{e}el state, (b) the twisted N\'{e}el state for the calculation of the spin stiffness coefficient, $\rho_{s}$, showing the twist applied in the $x$ direction, (c) the canted N\'{e}el state for the calculation of the zero-field magnetic susceptibility, $\chi$, with the external magnetic field applied in the $z_{s}$ direction. Sites on the two
triangular sublattices ${\cal A}$ and ${\cal B}$ are shown by
filled and empty circles respectively, and the spins are
represented by the (red) arrows on the lattice sites.}
\label{model_pattern}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
The honeycomb lattice is bipartite but non-Bravais. It comprises two
triangular Bravais sublattices ${\cal A}$ and ${\cal B}$. Sites on
sublattice ${\cal A}$ are at positions
$\mathbf{R}_{k}=m\mathbf{a}+n\mathbf{b}=\sqrt{3}(m-\frac{1}{2}n)d\hat{x}+\frac{3}{2}nd\hat{z}$,
where $m,n\,\in\mathbb{Z}$, in terms of Bravais lattice vectors
$\mathbf{a}\equiv\sqrt{3}d\hat{x}$ and
$\mathbf{b}=\frac{1}{2}d(-\sqrt{3}\hat{x}+3\hat{z})$, defined to lie
in the $xz$ plane, as shown in Fig.\ \ref{model_pattern}. Each unit
cell $k$ at position vector $\mathbf{R}_{k}$ thus comprises two spins,
one at $\mathbf{R}_{k} \in {\cal A}$ and the other at
$(\mathbf{R}_{k}+d\hat{z}) \in {\cal B}$. The honeycomb-lattice
Wigner-Seitz unit cell is thus the parallelogram formed by the lattice
vectors $\mathbf{a}$ and $\mathbf{b}$. It may also be equivalently
taken as being centred on a point of sixfold symmetry, so that it is
bounded by the sides of a primitive hexagon of side $d$.
The appearance of a GS phase with a non-vanishing value of the
staggered magnetization order parameter,
\begin{equation}
\mathbf{M} = \frac{1}{N}\sum^{N}_{k=1}{\phi}_{k}\mathbf{s}_{k}\,, \label{stag_M}
\end{equation}
where $\phi_{k} \equiv +1\;(-1)$ for $k \in {\cal A}\;({\cal B})$, then
signals the spontaneous breaking of the SU(2) symmetry down to its
U(1) subgroup. The magnon field in SU(2)/U(1) may then be taken as
\begin{equation}
\mathbf{e}(\mathbf{R})=(e_{1}(\mathbf{R}),\,e_{2}(\mathbf{R}),\,e_{3}(\mathbf{R}))\,; \quad |\mathbf{e}(\mathbf{R})|^{2}=1\,; \quad \mathbf{R}\equiv(x,z)\,.
\end{equation}
The effective action for the low-energy EFT of the AFM magnons is given
by
\begin{equation}
{\cal S}[\mathbf{e}]=\int^{\beta}_{0}{\rm d}t\int{\rm d}^{2}R\;\frac{1}{2}\bar{\rho}_{s}\left(\frac{\mathbf{\partial e}}{\partial x}\cdot\frac{\mathbf{\partial e}}{\partial x}+\frac{\mathbf{\partial e}}{\partial z}\cdot\frac{\mathbf{\partial e}}{\partial z}+\frac{1}{c^{2}}\frac{\mathbf{\partial e}}{\partial t}\cdot\frac{\mathbf{\partial e}}{\partial t}\right)\,, \label{eq_low-E_EFT}
\end{equation}
in terms of the inverse temperature parameter,
$\beta\equiv\hbar/(k_{B}T)$. We shall be interested here only in the
case $T=0$. Note that the pre-factor of the last (temporal) term in
Eq.\ (\ref{eq_low-E_EFT}) may equivalently be written as
$\frac{1}{2}\bar{\rho}_{s}/c^{2}=\frac{1}{2}\hbar^{2}\bar{\chi}$, from
Eqs.\ (\ref{eq_hbar_c}) and (\ref{eq_rho_chi}).
The spin stiffness (or helicity modulus), $\rho_{s}$, of a
spin-lattice system is simply a measure of the energy required to
rotate the order parameter $\mathbf{M}$ of a magnetically ordered
state by an (infinitesimal) angle $\theta$ per unit length in a
specified direction. Hence, if $E(\theta)$ is the GS energy as a
function of the imposed twist, and $N$ is the number of lattice sites,
we have
\begin{equation}
\frac{E(\theta)}{N}=\frac{E(0)}{N} + \frac{1}{2}\rho_{s}\theta^{2} + O(\theta^{4})\,. \label{eq_GS-E_theta}
\end{equation}
We note that $\theta$ has the dimensions of an inverse length. In the
thermodynamic limit of an infinite lattice ($N \rightarrow \infty$) a
nonzero (positive) value of $\rho_{s}$ implies the stability of the
magnetic long-range order (LRO). For the N\'{e}el AFM state
illustrated in Fig.\ \ref{model_pattern}(a) for a staggered
magnetization in the $x_{s}$ direction, the value of $\rho_{s}$ is
completely independent of the applied twist direction. Figure
\ref{model_pattern}(b) illustrates the twist applied in the $x$
direction to the N\'{e}el state of Fig.\ \ref{model_pattern}(a). A
trivial calculation, using the definition of Eq.\
(\ref{eq_GS-E_theta}), shows that the value of $\rho_{s}$ for the
classical ($s \rightarrow \infty$) N\'{e}el state is
\begin{equation}
\rho^{{\rm cl}}_{s}=\frac{3}{4}J_{1}d^{2}s^{2}\,. \label{sStiff_neel_classical}
\end{equation}
Suppose we now place the N\'{e}el state shown in Fig.\
\ref{model_pattern}(a), ordered in the $x_{s}$ direction, in a
transverse uniform magnetic field, $\mathbf{h}=h\hat{z_{s}}$. In
units where the gyromagnetic ratio $g\mu_{B}/\hbar=1$, the Hamiltonian
$H=H(h=0)$ of Eq.\ (\ref{eq_H}), then becomes
\begin{equation}
H(h)=H(0) + h\sum^{N}_{k=1} s^{z}_{k}\,. \label{eq_H-h}
\end{equation}
The spins now cant at an angle $\alpha$ to the $x_{s}$ axis with
respect to their zero-field configurations, as shown in Fig.\
\ref{model_pattern}(c). The classical ($s \rightarrow \infty$) value
of $\alpha$ is easily calculated by minimizing the classical energy,
$E = E(h)$, corresponding to Eq.\ (\ref{eq_H-h}), with respect to the
cant angle $\alpha$. The uniform (transverse) magnetic susceptibility
is then defined, as usual, by
\begin{equation}
\chi({h})=-\frac{1}{N}\frac{{\rm d}^{2}E}{{\rm d}h^{2}}\,,
\end{equation}
Its zero-field limit is then the corresponding low-energy parameter,
$\chi \equiv \chi(0)$. A simple calculation shows that the value of
$\chi$ for the classical ($s \rightarrow \infty$) N\'{e}el state is
\begin{equation}
\chi^{{\rm cl}}=\frac{1}{6J_{1}}\,. \label{chi_neel_classical}
\end{equation}
Equations (\ref{sStiff_neel_classical}) and (\ref{chi_neel_classical})
yield the corresponding classical ($s \rightarrow \infty$) limit of
the spin-wave velocity,
\begin{equation}
\hbar c^{{\rm cl}} = \frac{3}{2}\sqrt{2}J_{1}ds\,,
\end{equation}
from Eq.\ (\ref{eq_hbar_c}), which is simply the result of lowest-order SWT (LSWT).
\section{THE COUPLED CLUSTER METHOD}
\label{ccm_sec}
We now outline the key features of the CCM, and refer the reader to
the extensive literature (and see, e.g., Refs.\
\cite{Bishop:1987_ccm,Bartlett:1989_ccm,Arponen:1991_ccm,Bishop:1991_TheorChimActa_QMBT,Bishop:1998_QMBT_coll,Zeng:1998_SqLatt_TrianLatt,Fa:2004_QM-coll,Bishop:1978_ccm,Bishop:1982_ccm,Arponen:1983_ccm}
and references cited therein) for further details. While the CCM was originally invented to discuss stationary states, and hence the static properties, of quantum many-body systems, it has since been extended to a fully dynamic (bi-variational) formulation \cite{Arponen:1983_ccm}, which is readily capable, both in principle and in practice, of calculating dynamic properties. Since, however, we are only interested here in GS properites, we henceforth concentrate only on the stationary version of the formalism. As a first step
one needs to choose a suitable many-body (normalized) model (or
reference) state $|\Phi\rangle$, in terms of which the correlations
present in the exact GS wave function $|\Psi\rangle$ can later be
systematically incorporated, in a fashion we describe below. Although
we will describe the properties required of $|\Phi\rangle$ in detail
below, we remark now that it plays the role of a generalized vacuum
state. For our present study the quasiclassical N\'{e}el state will
be our choice for $|\Phi\rangle$.
The exact GS ket- and bra-state wave functions, $|\Psi\rangle$ and
$\langle\tilde{\Psi}|$, respectively, are chosen to satisfy the
normalization conditions
\begin{equation}
\langle\tilde{\Psi}|\Psi\rangle = \langle{\Phi}|\Psi\rangle =
\langle{\Phi}|\Phi\rangle \equiv 1\,. \label{norm_conditions}
\end{equation}
They are now parametrized with respect to the chosen reference state
$|\Phi\rangle$ in the distinctive CCM exponentiated forms,
\begin{equation}
|\Psi\rangle=e^{S}|\Phi\rangle\,; \quad \langle\tilde{\Psi}|=\langle\Phi|\tilde{S}e^{-S}\,. \label{exp_para}
\end{equation}
In principle the correlation operator $\tilde{S}$ may be expressed in
terms of its counterpart $S$ as
\begin{equation}
\langle\Phi|\tilde{S} = \frac{\langle\Phi|e^{S^{\dagger}}e^{S}}{\langle\Phi|e^{S^{\dagger}}e^{S}|\Phi\rangle}\,, \label{correlation-opererators-relationship}
\end{equation}
using Hermiticity. In practice, however, the CCM methodology chooses
not to impose this constraint. Rather, the two correlation operators
are formally decomposed independently as
\begin{equation}
S=\sum_{I\neq 0}{\cal S}_{I}C^{+}_{I}\,; \quad \tilde{S}=1+\sum_{I\neq 0}\tilde{{\cal S}}_{I}C^{-}_{I}\,, \label{CORRELATN_OP}
\end{equation}
where $C^{+}_{0}\equiv 1$ is defined to be the identity operator in
the respective many-body Hilbert space, and where the set index $I$
denotes a complete set of single-body configurations for all $N$
particles. More specifically, we require that $|\Phi\rangle$ is a
fiducial (or cyclic) vector with respect to the complete set of
mutually commuting, multiconfigurational creation operators
$\{C^{+}_{I}\}$. In other words, the set of states
$\{C^{+}_{I}|\Phi\rangle\}$ is a complete basis for the ket-state
Hilbert space. Furthermore, $|\Phi\rangle$ is a generalized vacuum
with respect to the operators $\{C^{+}_{I}\}$, in the sense that
\begin{equation}
\langle\Phi|C^{+}_{I} = 0 = C^{-}_{I}|\Phi\rangle\,, \quad \forall I
\neq 0\,, \label{creat-destruct-operators-relationship}
\end{equation}
where $C^{-}_{I} \equiv (C^{+}_{I})^{\dagger}$ are the corresponding
multiconfigurational destruction operators.
The rather general CCM paramerizations of Eqs.\ (\ref{exp_para}),
(\ref{CORRELATN_OP}) and (\ref{creat-destruct-operators-relationship})
lie at the heart of the CCM, and have several immediate
consequences. A seeming drawback is that Hermiticity is not made
explicit via Eq.\ (\ref{correlation-opererators-relationship}). Thus,
while the exact correlation operators of Eq.\ (\ref{CORRELATN_OP})
will certainly fulfill Eq.\
(\ref{correlation-opererators-relationship}), when approximations are
made (e.g., by truncating the expansions over configurations $I$ in
Eq.\ (\ref{CORRELATN_OP}), as is usually necessary in practice)
Hermiticity may be only maintained approximately. Nevertheless, this
possible disadvantage is usually far outweighed in practice by several
advantages that flow from the CCM parametrization scheme. Thus, for
example, it guarantees the exact preservation of the Goldstone
linked-cluster theorem, even when approximate truncations are made to
the sums in Eq.\ (\ref{CORRELATN_OP}), as we describe more fully
below. This feature then guarantees the size-extensivity of the CCM
at any such level of approximate implementation, so that all extensive
variables, such as the GS energy, for example, scale linearly with
$N$. For this reason, the CCM has the first important advantage that
we may work from the very outset in the thermodynamic limit ($N
\rightarrow \infty$), thereby obviating the need for any finite-size
scaling of the numerical results, as is required in many competing
methods such as the ED method. The exponentiated CCM parametrizations
of Eq.\ (\ref{exp_para}), correspondingly lead to the second key
advantage of the method that it also exactly preserves the very
important Hellmann-Feynman theorem at any similar level of
approximation (or truncation).
In the CCM all GS information of the system is encoded in the $c$-number correlation
coefficients $\{{\cal S}_{I}, \tilde{{\cal S}}_{I}\}$. They are themselves now found by minimization of the GS energy functional,
\begin{equation}
\bar{H}=\bar{H}[{\cal S}_{I},{\tilde{\cal S}_{I}}] \equiv
\langle\Phi|\tilde{S}e^{-S}He^{S}|\Phi\rangle\,, \label{eq_GS_E_xpect_funct}
\end{equation}
from Eq.\ (\ref{exp_para}), with respect to each of the coefficients
$\{{\cal S}_{I},{\tilde{\cal S}}_{I}\,; \forall I \neq 0\}$
separately. Thus, variation of $\bar{H}$ from Eq.\
(\ref{eq_GS_E_xpect_funct}) with respect to the coefficient
${\tilde{\cal S}}_{I}$, yields the condition
\begin{equation}
\langle\Phi|C^{-}_{I}e^{-S}He^{S}|\Phi\rangle = 0\,, \quad \forall I \neq 0\,, \label{ket_eq}
\end{equation}
which is simply a coupled set of {\it nonlinear} equations for the set
of coefficients $\{{\cal S}_{I},\,\forall I \neq 0\}$, with the same
number of equations as unknown parameters. Similarly, variation of
$\bar{H}$ from Eq.\ (\ref{eq_GS_E_xpect_funct}) with respect to the
coefficient ${\cal S}_{I}$ yields the condition
\begin{equation}
\langle\Phi|\tilde{S}e^{-S}[H,C^{+}_{I}]e^{S}|\Phi\rangle=0\,, \quad \forall I \neq 0\,, \label{bra_eq}
\end{equation}
which is, correspondingly, a coupled set of {\it linear} equations for
the coefficients $\{{\tilde{\cal S}}_{I},\,\forall I \neq 0\}$, again
with the same number of equations as unknown parameters, once the
coefficients $\{{\cal S}_{I},\,\forall I \neq 0\}$ are used as input
after having been obtained from solving Eq.\ (\ref{ket_eq}).
The value of $\bar{H}$ from Eq.\ (\ref{eq_GS_E_xpect_funct}) at the
extremum so obtained is thus the GS energy $E$, which is hence simply
given, using Eqs.\ (\ref{CORRELATN_OP}),
(\ref{creat-destruct-operators-relationship}) and (\ref{ket_eq}), as
\begin{equation}
E=\langle\Phi|e^{-S}He^{S}|\Phi\rangle=\langle\Phi|He^{S}|\Phi\rangle\,, \label{eq_GS_E}
\end{equation}
in terms of the correlation coefficients $\{{\cal S}_{I}\}$ alone.
Clearly, the GS expectation value of any other physical operator
(e.g., the sublattice magnetization, $M$) requires a knowledge of both
sets of correlation coefficients, $\{{\cal S}_{I}\}$ and
$\{\tilde{\cal S}_{I}\}$. We note, too, that use of Eq.\
(\ref{eq_GS_E}) in Eq.\ (\ref{bra_eq}) leads to the equivalent set of
linear equations,
\begin{equation}
\langle\Phi|\tilde{S}(e^{-S}He^{S}-E)C^{+}_{I}|\Phi\rangle=0\,, \quad \forall I \neq 0\,, \label{bra_eq_alternative}
\end{equation}
for the coefficients $\{\tilde{\cal S}_{I},\,\forall I \neq 0\}$.
Equation (\ref{bra_eq_alternative}) is just a set of generalized
linear eigenvalue equations for these coefficients.
So far no approximations have yet been made in the CCM procedure and
implementation. It is clear, however, that Eq.\ (\ref{ket_eq}),
which determines the set of creation coefficients $\{{\cal
S}_{I},\,\forall I \neq 0\}$, is intrinsically highly nonlinear in
view of the exponential terms, $e^{\pm S}$, and one may wonder if
approximations are needed in practice to truncate their
infinite-series expansions. We note, however, that the (exponentiated
forms of the) operator $S$ only ever enter the equations to be solved
[i.e., Eqs.\ (\ref{ket_eq}) and (\ref{bra_eq_alternative})] in the
combination $e^{-S}He^{S}$ of a similarity transformation of the
Hamiltonian. This may be expanded in terms of the well-known nested
commutator series,
\begin{equation}
e^{-S}He^{S} = \sum^{\infty}_{n=0}\frac{1}{n!}[H,S]_{n}\,, \label{eq_expon_nested_commutator}
\end{equation}
where $[H,S]_{n}$ is an $n$-fold nested commutator, defined
iteratively as
\begin{equation}
[H,S]_{n}=[[H,S]_{n-1},S]\,; \quad [H,S]_{0}=H\,.
\end{equation}
A further key feature of the CCM is that this otherwise infinite sum
in Eq.\ (\ref{eq_expon_nested_commutator}) now (usually, as here)
terminates exactly at some low, finite order, when used in the
equations to be solved. The reasons are that all of the terms
in the expansion of Eq.\ (\ref{CORRELATN_OP}) for $S$ commute with
one another, and also that $H$ itself (usually, as here) is of finite order
in the relevant single-particle operators.
Thus, for example, if $H$ contains up to $m$-body interactions, in its
second-quantized form it will comprise sums of terms involving
products of up to $2m$ one-body destruction and creation operators.
In this case the sum in Eq.\ (\ref{eq_expon_nested_commutator})
terminates exactly at the term with $n=2m$. In our present case,
where the Hamiltonian of Eq.\ (\ref{eq_H}) is bilinear in the SU(2)
spin operators, the sum terminates at $n=2$. We note too that the
fact that all of the operators in the set $\{C^{+}_{I}\}$ that
comprise $S$ via Eq.\ (\ref{CORRELATN_OP}) commute with each other,
automatically implies that all non-vanishing terms in the expansion in
Eq.\ (\ref{eq_expon_nested_commutator}) are linked to the Hamiltonian.
Unlinked terms simply cannot be generated, thereby guaranteeing that
the Goldstone theorem and the consequent size-extensivity are
preserved, even when truncations are made for the correlation
operators $S$ and $\tilde{S}$.
Hence, the {\it only} approximation that is ever made in practice
to implement the CCM is to restrict the set of multiconfigurational
indices $\{I\}$ that we retain in the expansions of $S$ and
$\tilde{S}$ in Eq.\ (\ref{CORRELATN_OP}) to some suitable (finite
or infinite) subset. The choice of both model state $|\Phi\rangle$
and the indices $\{I\}$ retained must clearly be made on physical
grounds. Hence, we now turn to how such choices are made for
spin-lattice models in general, and for the specific system under
present study in particular.
For a general quantum spin-lattice problem, the simplest choice of
model state $|\Phi\rangle$ is an independent-spin product state in
which the spin projection of the spin on each lattice site, along some
specified quantization axis, is chosen independently. Clearly, the
two-sublattice, collinear N\'{e}el AFM state shown in Fig.\
\ref{model_pattern}(a) is precisely of this form, as are other similar
(quasi-)classical states with perfect magnetic LRO. In order to treat
all such states in a universal fashion, it is highly convenient to
make a passive rotation of each spin independently (i.e., by choosing
local spin quantization axes on each site independently), so that every
spin on every site points downwards, say, in the negative $z_{s}$
direction, as shown in Fig.\ \ref{model_pattern}. Such rotations
are unitary transformations that preserve the basic SU(2) commutation
relations of Eq.\ (\ref{SU2_comm_relatn}). Hence every lattice site
$k$ is completely equivalent to all others, whatever the choice of
such an independent-spin product, quasiclassical model spin state
$|\Phi\rangle$, all of which now take the universal form
$|\Phi\rangle=|$$\downarrow\downarrow\downarrow\cdots\downarrow\rangle$
in their own choices of local spin-coordinate frames for each site $k$
separately.
It is clear that $|\Phi\rangle$ so defined can now be taken as a
fiducial vector with respect to a set of mutually commuting creation
operators $\{C^{+}_{I}\}$, which are hence now chosen as a product of
single-spin raising operators, $s^{+}_{k} \equiv
s^{x}_{k}+is^{y}_{k}$. Thus, $C^{+}_{I} \rightarrow
s^{+}_{k_{1}}s^{+}_{k_{2}}\cdots s^{+}_{k_{n}};\; n=1,2,\cdots , 2sN$,
and the set index $I$ thus becomes a set of lattice-site indices, $I
\rightarrow \{k_{1},k_{2},\cdots , k_{n};\; n=1,2,\cdots , 2sN\}$, in
which each site index may appear up to $2s$ times at most. Once
the local spin coordinates have been chosen for the given model state
$|\Phi\rangle$, as specified above, one needs simply to re-express the
Hamiltonian $H$ in terms of them.
Our approximations now clearly involve simply a choice of which
configurations $\{I\}$ to retain in the decompositions of Eq.\
(\ref{CORRELATN_OP}) for the CCM correlation operators
$(S,\tilde{S})$, in terms of which all GS quantities may be expressed.
A rather general such approximation scheme is the so-called
SUB$n$--$m$ scheme, which has proven to be extremely powerful in
practice for a wide variety of applications to spin-lattice problems
ranging from unfrustrated to highly frustrated models. It retains,
for given values of the two truncation indices $n$ and $m$, all
multi-spin configurations involving a maximum of $n$ spin-flips (where
each spin flip requires the action of a spin-raising operator
$s^{+}_{k}$ acting once) that span a range of up to $m$ contiguous
sites at most. A set of lattice sites is defined to be contiguous for
these purposes if every site in the set is the NN of at least one
other in the set (in a specified geometry). Evidently, as both
truncation indices $n$ and $m$ become indefinitely large, the
approximation becomes exact, and different sub-schemes can be specified
according to how each index approaches the exact infinite limit.
If we first let $m \rightarrow \infty$, for example, we have the
so-called SUB$n$ $\equiv$ SUB$n$--$\infty$ scheme, which is just the
CCM truncation scheme employed rather generically for systems defined
in a spatial continuum (rather than on a discrete lattice, as here).
Examples to which the SUB$n$ scheme have been extensively applied,
include atoms and molecules in quantum chemistry
\cite{Bartlett:1989_ccm}, finite atomic nuclei or infinite nuclear
matter in nuclear physics \cite{Kummel:1978_ccm} (and see, e.g.,
Refs.\
\cite{Bishop:1991_TheorChimActa_QMBT,Bishop:1978_ccm,Bishop:1982_ccm}
for further details). By contrast to continuum theories, for which
the notion of contiguity is not readily applicable, in lattice
theories both indices $n$ and $m$ may be kept finite. In this case a
very widely used scheme is the so-called LSUB$m$ scheme
\cite{Fa:2004_QM-coll,Zeng:1998_SqLatt_TrianLatt}, which is defined to
retain, at the $m$th level of approximation, all spin clusters
described by multi-spin configurations in the index set $\{I\}$ that
are defined over any possible lattice animal (or equivalently,
polyomino) of maximal size $m$ on the lattice. A lattice animal is
defined here, in the usual graph-theoretic sense, to be a configured
set of contiguous (in the above sense) lattice sites. Clearly, the
LSUB$m$ scheme is equivalent to the previous SUB$n$--$m$ scheme when
$n=2sm$ for particles of spin quantum number $s$, i.e., LSUB$m \equiv$
SUB$2sm$--$m$. Just this LSUB$m$ scheme was what was employed in our
earlier studies of spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ honeycomb lattice models
\cite{Bishop:2015_honey_low-E-param,DJJF:2011_honeycomb}, for example.
However, the number $N_{f}=N_{f}(m)$ of fundamental spin configurations that
are distinct under the symmetries of the lattice and the specified
model state $|\Phi\rangle$ (i.e., the effective size of the index set
$\{I\}$), and which are retained at a given $m$th level of LSUB$m$
approximation, is lowest for $s=\frac{1}{2}$ and rises sharply as $s$
is increased. Since $N_{f}(m)$ also typically rises
super-exponentially with the truncation index $m$, an alternative
scheme for models with $s > \frac{1}{2}$ is often preferable. One such
alternative is to set $m=n$ and employ the ensuing SUB$n$--$n$ scheme,
as we shall do here. Clearly LSUB$m$ $\equiv$ SUB$m$--$m$ only in the
special case $s=\frac{1}{2}$. For $s>\frac{1}{2}$ we have SUB$n$--$n$
$\subset$ LSUB$n$. Just as for the LSUB$n$ scheme, however, the
number $N_{f}$ of fundamental configurations retained at a given $n$th
level of approximation, also rises as the spin quantum number $s$
is increased. Thus, for example, whereas for the $s=\frac{1}{2}$
honeycomb-lattice HAF the highest LSUB$m$ approximation attainable
with available supercomputing power using the N\'{e}el state as CCM
model state \cite{Bishop:2015_honey_low-E-param,DJJF:2011_honeycomb}
was $m=12$ (for which $N_{f}=103,097$), we are now constrained to
SUB$n$--$n$ approximations with $n \leq 10$ for the cases $1 \leq s
\leq \frac{9}{2}$ considered here. Thus, for example, at the
SUB10--10 level of approximation with the N\'{e}el model state, we
have $N_{f}=219,521$ for the case $s=1$, and $N_{f}=538,570$ for the
case $s=\frac{9}{2}$.
In order to derive and then solve \cite{Zeng:1998_SqLatt_TrianLatt}
the corresponding sets of CCM equations for the correlation
coefficients $\{{\cal S}_{I}, \tilde{{\cal S}}_{I}\}$ we employ
massively parallel computing \cite{ccm_code}. Once these coefficients
have been obtained at a given SUB$n$--$n$ level of truncation we may
calculate any GS property of the system at the same level of
approximation. For example, we may calculate the order parameter, as
defined in Eq.\ (\ref{stag_M}). In terms of the local rotated
spin-coordinate frames that we have described above, it takes the simple
form,
\begin{equation}
M = -\frac{1}{N}\sum^{N}_{k=1}\langle\Phi|\tilde{S}
e^{-S}s^{z}_{k}e^{S}|\Phi\rangle\,. \label{M_eq}
\end{equation}
The final step now involves the sole approximation made in our
entire CCM procedure, viz., the extrapolation of the ``raw'' SUB$n$--$n$
data points for our calculated low-energy parameters to the exact $n \rightarrow \infty$ limit.
While no exact extrapolation rules are known, a large body of experience
has by now been accumulated from many applications that have been made of the method to a large variety of spin-lattice models. For example, a very well tested and highly accurate extrapolation ansatz for the GS energy per spin has been shown to be
(and see, e.g., Refs.\
\cite{Fa:2004_QM-coll,DJJF:2011_honeycomb,Bishop:2000_XXZ,Kruger:2000_JJprime,Fa:2001_SqLatt_s1,Darradi:2005_Shastry-Sutherland,Darradi:2008_J1J2mod,Bi:2008_EPL_J1J1primeJ2_s1,Bi:2008_JPCM_J1xxzJ2xxz_s1,Bi:2009_SqTriangle,Bishop:2010_UJack,Bishop:2010_KagomeSq,Bishop:2011_UJack_GrtSpins,PHYLi:2012_SqTriangle_grtSpins,PHYLi:2012_honeycomb_J1neg,Bishop:2012_honeyJ1-J2,Bishop:2012_honey_circle-phase,Li:2012_honey_full,Li:2012_anisotropic_kagomeSq,RFB:2013_hcomb_SDVBC})
\begin{equation}
\frac{E(n)}{N} = e_{0}+e_{1}n^{-2}+e_{2}n^{-4}\,. \label{extrapo_E}
\end{equation}
Unsurprisingly, all other GS quantities are found to converge less rapidly than the GS energy, as the truncation index $n$ is increased (i.e., with leading exponents less than two). Thus, for example, for unfrustrated models as considered here, a scaling ansatz for the magnetic order parameter, $M(n)$, with leading power $1/n$ (rather than $1/n^{2}$ as for the GS energy),
\begin{equation}
M(n) = m_{0}+m_{1}n^{-1}+m_{2}n^{-2}\,, \label{M_extrapo_standard}
\end{equation}
has been found to fit the CCM data points extremely well (and see, e.g., Refs.\
\cite{Bishop:2000_XXZ,Kruger:2000_JJprime,Fa:2001_SqLatt_s1,Darradi:2005_Shastry-Sutherland,Bi:2009_SqTriangle,Bishop:2010_UJack,Bishop:2010_KagomeSq,Bishop:2011_UJack_GrtSpins,PHYLi:2012_SqTriangle_grtSpins,PHYLi:2012_honeycomb_J1neg,Bishop:2012_honeyJ1-J2,Bishop:2012_honey_circle-phase,RFB:2013_hcomb_SDVBC}).
Similar schemes, with the same leading exponent as for $M$, have
also been successfully used previously for both the spin stiffness
$\rho_{s}$ \cite{Bishop:2015_honey_low-E-param,Darradi:2008_J1J2mod,SEKruger:2006_spinStiff,Gotze:2016_triang},
\begin{equation}
\rho_{s}(n) = s_{0}+s_{1}n^{-1}+s_{2}n^{-2}\,, \label{Eq_sstiff}
\end{equation}
and the zero-field magnetic susceptibility, $\chi$
\cite{Bishop:2015_honey_low-E-param,Darradi:2008_J1J2mod,Farnell:2009_Xcpty_ExtMagField,Gotze:2016_triang},
\begin{equation}
\chi(n) = x_{0}+x_{1}n^{-1}+x_{2}n^{-2}\,. \label{Eq_X}
\end{equation}
Since each of the extrapolation schemes of Eqs.\
(\ref{extrapo_E})--(\ref{Eq_X}) contains three fitting parameters, it
is obviously preferable to use at least four SUB$n$--$n$ data points
in order to obtain stable and robust fits. Furthermore since the
lowest-order SUB2--2 approximants are less likely to conform well to
the large-$n$ limiting forms, all of our fits for $E/N$ and $M$ to
Eqs.\ (\ref{extrapo_E}) and (\ref{M_extrapo_standard}) are performed
using SUB$n$--$n$ data points with $n=\{4,6,8,10\}$. Whereas we are
able to perform SUB$n$--$n$ calculations for the cases $s \leq
\frac{9}{2}$ for the honeycomb-lattice HAF with $n \leq 10$ based on
the N\'{e}el state of Fig.\ \ref{model_pattern}(a) as CCM model state,
the reduced symmetry of both the twisted N\'{e}el state of Fig.\
\ref{model_pattern}(b) and the canted N\'{e}el state of Fig.\
\ref{model_pattern}(c) restricts our corresponding SUB$n$--$n$
calculations of both $\rho_{s}$ and $\chi$ to $n \leq 8$. Thus, for
example, at the SUB8--8 level of approximation with the twisted
N\'{e}el state of Fig.\ \ref{model_pattern}(b) as model state, we have
a number of fundamental configurations $N_{f}=352,515$ for the case
$s=1$, and $N_{f}=753,729$ for the case $s=\frac{9}{2}$. The
corresponding SUB8--8 numbers with the canted N\'{e}el state of Fig.\
\ref{model_pattern}(c) as model state are $N_{f}=59,517$ for the case
$s=1$, and $N_{f}=127,239$ for the case $s=\frac{9}{2}$. For the
extrapolations for $\rho_{s}$ and $\chi$ from Eqs.\ (\ref{Eq_sstiff})
and (\ref{Eq_X}) our results shown below are from fits using
SUB$n$--$n$ data points with $n=\{4,6,8\}$. Their stability and
robustness has been demonstrated, however, by comparison in each case
with corresponding fits using data sets with $n=\{2,4,6,8\}$.
\section{RESULTS}
\label{results_sec}
We show in Table \ref{tbl_low-E-param} our extrapolated set of
low-energy parameters for the HAF on the honeycomb lattice for all
values of the spin quantum number in the range $\frac{1}{2} \leq s
\leq \frac{9}{2}$.
\begin{table}[t]
\caption{GS parameters of the HAF on the honeycomb lattice, with NN interactions only (of strength $J_{1}>0$), for various values of the spin quantum number $s$. Results for the GS energy per spin $E/N$ and magnetic order parameter $M$ are extrapolations using CCM SUB$n$--$n$ results with $n=\{4,6,8,10\}$ fitted to Eqs.\ (\ref{extrapo_E}) and (\ref{M_extrapo_standard}), respectively, while those for the spin stiffness $\rho_{s}$ and the zero-field transverse magnetic susceptibility $\chi$ are corresponding extrapolations with $n=\{4,6,8\}$ fitted to Eqs.\ (\ref{Eq_sstiff}) and (\ref{Eq_X}), respectively.}
\vspace{0.2cm}
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{ccccc} \hline\hline \\ [-1.5ex]
$s$ & $E/(NJ_{1}s^{2})$ & $M/s$ & $\rho_{s}/(J_{1}d^{2}s^{2})$ & $J_{1}\chi$ \\ [0.5ex] \hline \\ [-1.7ex]
$\frac{1}{2}$ & -2.17866 & 0.5459 & 0.5293 & 0.0852 \\ [0.5ex]
1 & -1.83061 & 0.7412 & 0.6208 & 0.1165 \\ [0.5ex]
$\frac{3}{2}$ & -1.71721 & 0.8249 & 0.6647 & 0.1287 \\ [0.5ex]
2 & -1.66159 & 0.8689 & 0.6874 & 0.1376 \\ [0.5ex]
$\frac{5}{2}$ & -1.62862 & 0.8955 & 0.7008 & 0.1433 \\ [0.5ex]
3 & -1.60681 & 0.9132 & 0.7095 & 0.1471 \\ [0.5ex]
$\frac{7}{2}$ & -1.59133 & 0.9258 & 0.7156 & 0.1499 \\ [0.5ex]
4 & -1.57976 & 0.9351 & 0.7201 & 0.1522 \\ [0.5ex]
$\frac{9}{2}$ & -1.57080 & 0.9424 & 0.7236 & 0.1538 \\ [0.5ex] \hline \\ [-1.7ex]
$\infty$ & -1.5 & 1 & 0.75 & 0.1667 \\ [0.5ex] \hline\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\label{tbl_low-E-param}
\end{table}
The extrapolated ($n \rightarrow \infty$) values $e_{0}$ and $m_{0}$
for the GS energy per spin $E/N$ and magnetic order parameter $M$ from
Eqs.\ (\ref{extrapo_E}) and (\ref{M_extrapo_standard}), respectively,
are obtained using fits to our calculated CCM SUB$n$--$n$
approximants with $n=\{4,6,8,10\}$. The corresponding extrapolated ($n
\rightarrow \infty$) values $s_{0}$ and $x_{0}$ for the spin stiffness
$\rho_{s}$ and the zero-field transverse magnetic susceptibility
$\chi$ from Eqs.\ (\ref{Eq_sstiff}) and (\ref{Eq_X}), respectively,
are obtained using fits to our calculated SUB$n$--$n$ approximants with
$n=\{4,6,8\}$. An indication of the errors inherent in the fits can
be obtained for the particular case $s=\frac{1}{2}$, for which it is
possible to perform SUB$n$--$n$ approximations with higher values of
$n$ than for the cases $s>\frac{1}{2}$, due to the significantly
reduced number of fundamental configurations $N_{f}$ for each quantity
in this specific case. Thus, for example, the results
\cite{Bishop:2015_honey_low-E-param} for the case $s=\frac{1}{2}$
using SUB$n$--$n$ approximants with $n=\{6,8,10,12\}$ are
$E/(NJ_{1}s^{2<|fim_middle|>1}{2}$ model is $E/(NJ_{1})=-0.54466(2)$, while the
corresponding best available QMC result \cite{Low:2009_honey} is
$E/(NJ_{1})=-0.54455(20)$. The interested reader is referred
specifically to Table I of Ref.\ \cite{Bishop:2015_honey_low-E-param}, and the discussion surrounding it, for further details of
the corresponding agreement for other low-energy parameters of the
spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ model. There is no reason at all why the CCM
results for the models with $s > \frac{1}{2}$ should not be at least
as accurate as those for the spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ model.
We can now also use our results to estimate the leading quantum corrections to the classical ($s \rightarrow \infty$) values, which we also show in the last line of Table \ref{tbl_low-E-param} [(and see Eqs.\ (\ref{sStiff_neel_classical}) and (\ref{chi_neel_classical})]. We thus develop each of the low-energy parameters as a simple power-series in $1/s$,
\begin{equation}
\frac{E(s)}{N} = J_{1}s^{2}\left(-\frac{3}{2} + \frac{\epsilon_{1}}{s} + \frac{\epsilon_{2}}{s^{2}} + \frac{\epsilon_{3}}{s^{3}} + \cdots \right) \,, \label{honey-pure_E-fit_inversePower}
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}
M(s) = s\left(1 + \frac{\mu_{1}}{s} + \frac{\mu_{2}}{s^{2}} + \frac{\mu_{3}}{s^{3}} + \cdots \right)\,, \label{honey-pure_M-fit_inversePower}
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}
\rho_{s}(s) = J_{1}d^{2}s^{2}\left(\frac{3}{4} + \frac{\rho_{1}}{s} + \frac{\rho_{2}}{s^{2}} + \frac{\rho_{3}}{s^{3}} + \cdots \right)\,, \label{honey-pure_sStiff-fit_inversePower}
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}
\chi(s) = \frac{1}{J_{1}}\left(\frac{1}{6} + \frac{\chi_{1}}{s} + \frac{\chi_{2}}{s^{2}} + \frac{\chi_{3}}{s^{3}}+ \cdots \right)\,, \label{honey-pure_X-fit_inversePower}
\end{equation}
exactly as also emerges in an SWT analysis. We show in Table \ref{tbl_low-E-param-ExtrapoFits} the values of the two leading quantum coefficients in each of these expansions, obtained in six separate least-squares fits.
\begin{table}
\caption{Lowest-order coefficients in the $1/s$ expansions of the low-energy parameters for the HAF on the honeycomb lattice, as defined in Eqs.\ (\ref{honey-pure_E-fit_inversePower})--(\ref{honey-pure_X-fit_inversePower}). The CCM fits are performed using the results for the spin-$s$ models indicated, and where the notation quadratic (cubic) indicates that we fit to forms that terminate after the first three (four) terms in the $1/s$ expansion. Results from SWT \cite{Zheng:1991_honey,Mattsson:1994_honey} are shown for comparison.}
\begin{center}
{\tiny
\begin{tabular}{ccccccccc} \hline\hline \\ [-0.7ex]
Method & $\epsilon_{1}$ & $\epsilon_{2}$ & $\mu_{1}$ & $\mu_{2}$ & $\rho_{1}$ & $\rho_{2}$ & $\chi_{1}$ & $\chi_{2}$ \\ [1.7ex] \hline \\ [-0.7ex]
CCM : $1 \leq s \leq \frac{9}{2}$; quadratic & -0.3155 & -0.0152 & -0.2628 & +0.0034 & -0.1189 & -0.0109 & -0.0638 & +0.0132 \\ [1.7ex]
CCM : $1 \leq s \leq \frac{9}{2}$; cubic & -0.3145 & -0.0185 & -0.2531 & -0.0309 & -0.1105 & -0.0405 & -0.0552 & -0.0175 \\ [1.7ex]
CCM : $2 \leq s \leq \frac{9}{2}$; quadratic & -0.3149 & -0.0165 & -0.2568 & -0.0106 & -0.1136 & -0.0235 & -0.0586 & +0.0006 \\ [1.7ex]
CCM : $2 \leq s \leq \frac{9}{2}$; cubic & -0.3148 & -0.0172 & -0.2560 & -0.0157 & -0.1126 & -0.0291 & -0.0536 & -0.0275 \\ [1.7ex]
CCM : $3 \leq s \leq \frac{9}{2}$; quadratic & -0.3149 & -0.0167 & -0.2566 & -0.0114 & -0.1134 & -0.0242 & -0.0556 & -0.0099 \\ [1.7ex]
CCM : $3 \leq s \leq \frac{9}{2}$; cubic & -0.3149 & -0.0168 & -0.2574 & -0.0055 & -0.1137 & -0.0217 & -0.0507 & -0.0455 \\ [1.7ex] \hline \\ [-0.7ex]
SWT & -0.3148 & -0.0165 & -0.2582 & & -0.1150 & & -0.0605 & \\ [1.7ex] \hline\hline
\end{tabular}
}
\end{center}
\label{tbl_low-E-param-ExtrapoFits}
\end{table}
For two of the fits we use the eight results with
$s=\{1,\,\frac{3}{2},\,2,\,\frac{5}{2},\,3,\,\frac{7}{2},\,4,\,\frac{9}{2}\}$,
for another two we use the six results with
$s=\{2,\,\frac{5}{2},\,3,\,\frac{7}{2},\,4,\,\frac{9}{2}\}$, while for
the last two we use the four results with
$s=\{3,\,\frac{7}{2},\,4,\,\frac{9}{2}\}$. For each of these we fit
to the forms of Eqs.\
(\ref{honey-pure_E-fit_inversePower})--(\ref{honey-pure_X-fit_inversePower})
that are either quadratic or cubic in the parameter $1/s$.
For comparison we also show in Table \ref{tbl_low-E-param-ExtrapoFits}
results from SWT \cite{Zheng:1991_honey,Mattsson:1994_honey}. Our
corresponding results for $E(s)/N$, $M(s)$, $\rho_{s}(s)$ and
$\chi(s)$ are also shown in Figs.\
\ref{E_multiSpins}--\ref{X_multiSpins}, respectively, where we again
compare with known results from SWT up to O($1/s^{n}$), denoted as
SWT($n$).
\begin{figure}[t]
\begin{center}
\mbox{
\hspace{-1cm}\subfigure[]{\includegraphics[width=6cm,angle=270]{fig2a.eps}}
\hspace{-1.5cm}\subfigure[]{\includegraphics[width=6cm,angle=270]{fig2b.eps}}
}
\caption{Extrapolated CCM results for the scaled GS energy per spin,
$E/(NJ_{1}s^{2})$, for the honeycomb-lattice HAF with NN
interactions only as a function of $1/s$, compared with those of
SWT(2) \cite{Zheng:1991_honey}. The cross ($\times$) symbols show
the CCM data points, while the linear, quadratic and cubic fits
are based on least-squares fits to the first two, three or four
terms only of Eq.\ (\ref{honey-pure_E-fit_inversePower}), using
the data points with (a)
$s=\{1,\,\frac{3}{2},\,2,\,\frac{5}{2},\,3,\,\frac{7}{2},\,4,\,\frac{9}{2}\}$,
and (b) $s=\{3,\,\frac{7}{2},\,4,\,\frac{9}{2}\}$.}
\label{E_multiSpins}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}[t]
\begin{center}
\mbox{
\hspace{-1cm}\subfigure[]{\includegraphics[width=6cm,angle=270]{fig3a.eps}}
\hspace{-1.5cm}\subfigure[]{\includegraphics[width=6cm,angle=270]{fig3b.eps}}
}
\caption{Extrapolated CCM results for the scaled GS magnetic order parameter,
$M/s$, for the honeycomb-lattice HAF with NN
interactions only as a function of $1/s$, compared with those of
SWT(1) \cite{Zheng:1991_honey}. The cross ($\times$) symbols show
the CCM data points, while the linear, quadratic and cubic fits
are based on least-squares fits to the first two, three or four
terms only of Eq.\ (\ref{honey-pure_M-fit_inversePower}), using
the data points with (a)
$s=\{1,\,\frac{3}{2},\,2,\,\frac{5}{2},\,3,\,\frac{7}{2},\,4,\,\frac{9}{2}\}$,
and (b) $s=\{3,\,\frac{7}{2},\,4,\,\frac{9}{2}\}$.}
\label{M_multiSpins}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}[t]
\begin{center}
\mbox{
\hspace{-1cm}\subfigure[]{\includegraphics[width=6cm,angle=270]{fig4a.eps}}
\hspace{-1.5cm}\subfigure[]{\includegraphics[width=6cm,angle=270]{fig4b.eps}}
}
\caption{Extrapolated CCM results for the scaled spin stiffness, $\rho_{s}/(J_{1}d^{2}s^{2})$, for the honeycomb-lattice HAF with NN
interactions only as a function of $1/s$, compared with those of
SWT(1) \cite{Zheng:1991_honey,Mattsson:1994_honey}. The cross ($\times$) symbols show
the CCM data points, while the linear, quadratic and cubic fits
are based on least-squares fits to the first two, three or four
terms only of Eq.\ (\ref{honey-pure_sStiff-fit_inversePower}), using
the data points with (a)
$s=\{1,\,\frac{3}{2},\,2,\,\frac{5}{2},\,3,\,\frac{7}{2},\,4,\,\frac{9}{2}\}$,
and (b) $s=\{3,\,\frac{7}{2},\,4,\,\frac{9}{2}\}$.}
\label{sStiff_multiSpins}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}[t]
\begin{center}
\mbox{
\hspace{-1cm}\subfigure[]{\includegraphics[width=6cm,angle=270]{fig5a.eps}}
\hspace{-1.5cm}\subfigure[]{\includegraphics[width=6cm,angle=270]{fig5b.eps}}
}
\caption{Extrapolated CCM results for the scaled zero-field transverse magnetic susceptibility, $J_{1}\chi$, for the honeycomb-lattice HAF with NN
interactions only as a function of $1/s$, compared with those of
SWT(1) \cite{Zheng:1991_honey}. The cross ($\times$) symbols show
the CCM data points, while the linear, quadratic and cubic fits
are based on least-squares fits to the first two, three or four
terms only of Eq.\ (\ref{honey-pure_X-fit_inversePower}), using
the data points with (a)
$s=\{1,\,\frac{3}{2},\,2,\,\frac{5}{2},\,3,\,\frac{7}{2},\,4,\,\frac{9}{2}\}$,
and (b) $s=\{3,\,\frac{7}{2},\,4,\,\frac{9}{2}\}$.}
\label{X_multiSpins}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
The SWT(2) results for the GS energy per spin, $E(s)/N$, shown in
Table \ref{tbl_low-E-param} and Fig.\ \ref{E_multiSpins}, are taken
from Zheng, Oitmaa and Hamer (ZOH) \cite{Zheng:1991_honey}. ZOH also
give SWT(1) results for both the order parameter, $M(s)$, and the
zero-field transverse magnetic susceptibility, $\chi(s)$, and these
too are shown in both Table \ref{tbl_low-E-param-ExtrapoFits} and
Figs.\ \ref{M_multiSpins} and \ref{X_multiSpins}, respectively. ZOH
do not cite SWT results for the spin stiffness, $\rho_{s}(s)$. However,
Mattsson {\it et al}. \cite{Mattsson:1994_honey} cite the SWT(1)
result for the spin-wave velocity, $\hbar c(s) =
(3\sqrt{2}/2)J_{1}ds[1+0.20984/(2s)]$. By making use of the
hydrodynamic relation of Eq.\ (\ref{eq_hbar_c}) and the ZOH SWT(1)
relation for $\chi(s)$, this readily yields the corresponding SWT(1)
relation, $\rho_{s}(s)=J_{1}d^{2}s^{2}(\frac{3}{4}-0.1150/s)$, which we
have shown in Table \ref{tbl_low-E-param-ExtrapoFits} and Fig.\
\ref{sStiff_multiSpins}.
We see from Table \ref{tbl_low-E-param-ExtrapoFits} that our
calculated coefficients for the GS energy, $\epsilon_{1}$ and
$\epsilon_{2}$, are in remarkable agreement with the corresponding
SWT(2) values. Figure \ref{E_multiSpins}(b) shows very clearly how
simple $O(1/s^{n})$ fits with $n=2$ or $3$ to the CCM data points for
$E(s)/(NJ_{1}s^{2})$ with $s=\{3,\,\frac{7}{2},\,4,\,\frac{9}{2}\}$,
agree extremely well with both the corresponding SWT(2) result and the
unfitted CCM data points with $1 \leq s \leq \frac{5}{2}$. Even the
extreme quantum case $s=\frac{1}{2}$ is rather well described by these
simple high-spin forms. Table \ref{tbl_low-E-param-ExtrapoFits} also
shows that the leading-order coefficient for the magnetic order
parameter, $\mu_{1}$, as extracted from our extrapolated CCM results
for $M(s)$, is in very good agreement with that from SWT, and that the
next-to-leading coefficient, $\mu_{2}$, is small. Figure
\ref{M_multiSpins}(b) shows too that simple $O(1/s^{n})$ fits with
$n=1,\,2$ or $3$ to the CCM data points for $M(s)/s$ with
$s=\{3,\,\frac{7}{2},\,4,\,\frac{9}{2}\}$, once again agree well with
both the corresponding SWT(1) result and the unfitted CCM data points
with $1 \leq s \leq \frac{5}{2}$. However, by contrast with the GS
energy result, all of the fits lead to values for the
spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ case of rather limited accuracy. Perhaps somewhat
counter-intuitively, the spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ model is actually {\it
more} ordered than the (relatively low-order) high-spin expansions
would predict.
Turning to the spin stiffness, $\rho_{s}$, we see from Table
\ref{tbl_low-E-param-ExtrapoFits} that the leading quantum correction
coefficient, $\rho_{1}$, agrees extremely well with the SWT(1) result.
It is also clear that the second-order quantum correction coefficient,
$\rho_{2}$, is small and negative. Our best estimates are obtained
from the fits to the higher-spin values, all of which are consistent
with a value $\rho_{2} \approx -0.025 \pm 0.004$. Figure
\ref{sStiff_multiSpins}(b) shows that the quadratic and cubic fits to
the data points with $s=\{3,\,\frac{7}{2},\,4,\,\frac{9}{2}\}$ give
very good agreement with the unfitted CCM data points with
$s=\{1,\,\frac{3}{2},\,2,\,\frac{5}{2}\}$, with only the
$s=\frac{1}{2}$ point not fitted well by the high-spin expansion.
Finally, the results shown in Table \ref{tbl_low-E-param-ExtrapoFits}
lead to the observation that the low-energy parameter with the
greatest uncertainty associated with its high-spin expansion is the
transverse magnetic susceptibility, $\chi$. While all of the values
obtained for the leading-order quantum correction coefficient,
$\chi_{1}$, are in reasonable agreement with the corresponding SWT(1)
result, the spread in the values is greater than for any of the other
low-energy parameters. Similarly, while we can conclude that the
magnitude of the second-order coefficient $\chi_{2}$ is probably
smaller than (or, at most, comparable to) that of $\chi_{1}$, our CCM
fits do not allow us to predict the sign of $\chi_{2}$ with any real
degree of certainty. It is interesting to note that this is exactly
what was also observed in a corresponding set of fits of the
low-energy parameters of the triangular-lattice HAF
\cite{Gotze:2016_triang} to their high-spin asymptotic expansions.
Figure \ref{X_multiSpins}(b) shows that the quadratic and cubic fits
to the CCM data points for $\chi$ with
$s=\{3,\,\frac{7}{2},\,4,\,\frac{9}{2}\}$ now give good agreement only
with the unfitted data points with $s=\{2,\,\frac{5}{2}\}$, with a
discrepancy already opening up at the value $s=\frac{3}{2}$.
\section{SUMMARY}
\label{summary_sec}
In two dimensions the honeycomb lattice has the smallest coordination
number ($z=3$), and the effects of quantum fluctuations are hence the
greatest. Thus, the HAF on the honeycomb lattice occupies a special
place in the field of theoretical quantum magnetism. Nevertheless,
there exist very few studies of this model that examine within a
coherent and unified framework the role of the spin quantum number $s$ on its
low-energy properties. Furthermore, there also exists a rather large
number of experimental realizations of quasi-2D honeycomb-lattice
systems with AFM interactions and with various values of $s$.
For example, the magnetic compounds InCu$_{2/3}$V$_{1/3}$O$_{3}$
\cite{Kataev:2005_honey}, Na$_{3}$Cu$_{2}$SbO$_{6}$
\cite{Miura:2006_honey}, $\beta$-Cu$_{2}$V$_{2}$O$_{7}$
\cite{Tsirlin:2010_honey} and Cu$_{5}$SbO$_{6}$
\cite{Climent:2012_honey} all contain $s=\frac{1}{2}$ Cu$^{2+}$ ions
situated on the sites of weakly-coupled honeycomb-lattice layers.
Similarly, the iridate family of compounds A$_{2}$IrO$_{3}$ (A $=$
Na, Li)
\cite{Singh:2010_honey,Liu:2011_honey,Singh:2012_honey,Choi:2012_honey}
are believed to be magnetically ordered Mott insulators in which
the Ir$^{4+}$ ions, that are also arrayed on weakly-coupled
honeycomb-lattice layers, form effective $s=\frac{1}{2}$ moments. The
families of compounds BaM$_{2}$(XO$_{4}$)$_{2}$ (M $=$ Co, Ni; X $=$
P, As) \cite{Regnault:1990_honey} and Cu$_{3}$M$_{2}$SbO$_{6}$ (M $=$
Co, Ni) \cite{Roudebush:2013_honey} also comprise similar
honeycomb-lattice materials. The magnetic M$^{2+}$ ions in both
families again occupy the sites of a honeycomb lattice in layers that
are weakly coupled. For both families, when M $=$ N$_{i}$, the
Ni$^{2+}$ ions appear to take the high-spin value (viz., $s=1$) in
both cases. By contrast, when M $=$ Co, whereas the Co$^{2+}$ ions
appear to take the low-spin value (viz., $s=\frac{1}{2}$) in the
former family BaCo$_{2}$(XO$_{4}$)$_{2}$, and the high-spin value
(viz., $s=\frac{3}{2}$) in the latter compound
Cu$_{3}$Co$_{2}$SbO$_{6}$. Another example of a spin-$\frac{3}{2}$
honeycomb-lattice AFM material is the layered compound
Bi$_{3}$Mn$_{4}$O$_{12}$(NO$_{3}$)
\cite{Smirnova:2009:honey_spin_3half,Okubo:2010:honey_spin_3half} in
which the Mn$^{4+}$ ions occupy the sites of the
honeycomb-lattice layers and take the value $s=\frac{3}{2}$.
We have presented here large-scale, high-order CCM calculations for
the complete set of low-energy GS parameters (viz., the energy per
spin $E/N$, sublattice magnetization $M$, spin stiffness $\rho_{s}$
and transverse zero-field magnetic susceptibility $\chi$) for the honeycomb
lattice HAF, for values of the spin quantum number $s$ in the range
$\frac{1}{2} \leq s \leq \frac{9}{2}$. The {\it only} approximation
made in our CCM calculations has been the truncation of the resulting
coupled sets of equations for the GS correlation coefficients that
completely determine all GS properties, within a systematic
SUB$n$--$n$ hierarchy of approximations that becomes asymptotically
exact as the truncation parameter $n \rightarrow \infty$. We have
performed calculations for arbitrary spin quantum number $s$ to high
orders in $n$ (viz., for $n \leq 10$ for calculations of the
parameters $E/N$ and $M$, and $n \leq 8$ for calculations of the
parameters $\rho_{s}$ and $\chi$), and have extrapolated these to the
exact $n \rightarrow \infty$ limit in each case, using
well-tested extrapolation schemes, thereby obtaining results of proven
high accuracy. We have used the CCM results with the larger values of
$s$ to derive high-spin asymptotic series for the low-energy
parameters, and have compared these with corresponding results from
SWT, where available. We have also shown explicitly how the extreme
quantum cases $s=\frac{1}{2}$ and $s=1$ can deviate appreciably from
the behaviour predicted by such large-$s$ expansions.
\section*{ACKNOWLEDGMENTS}
We thank the University of Minnesota Supercomputing Institute for the
grant of the supercomputing facilities on which this work was
performed. One of us (RFB) gratefully acknowledges the Leverhulme
Trust for the award of an Emeritus Fellowship (EM-2015-07).
\section*{References}
\bibliographystyle{elsarticle-num}
| })=-2.17864$, $M/s=0.5428$, and $J_{1}\chi=0.0847$,
while the corresponding result for $\rho_{s}$ using SUB$n$--$n$
approximants with $n=\{6,8,10\}$ is
$\rho_{s}/(J_{1}d^{2}s^{2})=0.5296$. All of these are in remarkably
close agreement with those shown in Table \ref{tbl_low-E-param}, where
the fits have been made using SUB$n$--$n$ approximants of lower orders
in each case.
We note that as an indicator of the accuracy of our CCM results, we
have already made a detailed comparison in an earlier paper
\cite{Bishop:2015_honey_low-E-param} of our results for the low-energy
parameters with the corresponding largest-scale and numerically most
accurate QMC results available for the isotropic, honeycomb-lattice
HAF, namely for the spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ case
\cite{Low:2009_honey,Jiang:2012_honey}. This is the extreme quantum
limit, where one expects the effects of quantum correlations to be
greatest. For example, our CCM result
\cite{Bishop:2015_honey_low-E-param} for the GS energy of the
spin-$\frac{ | 324 |
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Making New Instruments
Repairs and Restorations
Investing in Violins
I started learning to play the violin when I was 11 years old. Having passed through the various 'grades' I went on to study for a 'performers' diploma with the London College of Music. I completed my studies and received the diploma in 1979. I decided however, that I wished to take my career in a slightly different direction and, being of a practical disposition, went to study the art of violin making and repair at the Welsh School of Musical Instrument Making. I gained a diploma with merit from there back in 1984. After that I joined Martin Restall's firm, then based in Portsmouth, Hampshire in England and proceeded to put my studies to practical use in his workshop, repairing and maintaining a vast range of violin family instruments.
I branched out on my own in 1990 and continued to work both repairing, restoring and making new instruments from my home on the Hampshire/Sussex border. Due to other pressures in 1996 I decided to follow a different career path for a time, but a while ago returned to my first love, that is, making and restoring instruments<|fim_middle|> with you your requirements, whether in restoring your current instrument to its former glory, both physically and sonically, or by creating a brand new instrument for you, which will be pleasing both to the eye and ear and will become a treasured possession for yourself and perhaps, even a family heirloom.
Do please contact me, if you feel I can be of assistance.
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Over the years I have been privileged to study and work on many fine instruments by the great masters of the past with names you would recognise, including those of Amati, Stradivari and others of the Cremonese 'school'. Being able to study these fine instruments at close quarters has of course influenced my work and inspired me to create instruments of similar visual and tonal beauty.
I would be delighted to discuss | 89 |
\section{Introduction} \label{Sec:Intro}
Nowadays there is great interest in accurate risk assessment for prevention and treatment of disease. Physicians use risk scores to reach appropriate decisions, such as prescribing treatment, or extra medical tests or suggesting alternative therapies. Patients who are informed about their health risk often decide to adjust their lifestyles to mitigate it. Risk scores are typically based on several factors that describe the patients' physical condition, such as age, BMI, smoking, genetic predisposition, and the results of medical tests. In this work we focus on the use of the results of such tests and more specifically on biomarkers. The majority of prognostic models in the medical literature utilize only a small fraction of the available biomarker information. In particular, even though biomarkers are measured repeatedly over time, risk scores are typically based on the last available biomarker measurement. It is evident that such an approach discards valuable information because it does not take into account that the rate of change in the biomarker levels is not only different from patient to patient but also dynamically changes over time for the same patient. Hence, it is medically relevant to investigate whether repeated measurements of a biomarker can provide a better understanding of disease progression and a better prediction of the risk for the event of interest than a single biomarker measurement.
In line with the previous arguments, the motivation for this research comes from a study conducted by the Department of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery of the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands. This study includes 285 patients who received a human tissue valve in the aortic position in the hospital from 1987 until 2008 \citep{bekkers.et.al:11}. Aortic allograft implantation has been widely used for a variety of aortic valve or aortic root diseases. Major advantages ascribed to allografts are the excellent hemodynamic characteristics as a valve substitute; the low rate of thrombo-embolic complications, and, therefore, absence of the need for anticoagulant treatment; and the resistance to endocarditis. A major disadvantage of using human tissue valves, however is the susceptibility to degeneration and the concomitant need for re-interventions. The durability of a cryopreserved aortic allograft is age-dependent, leading to a high lifetime risk of re-operation, especially for young patients. Re-operations on the aortic root are complex, with substantial operative risks, and mortality rates in the range 4--12\%. It is therefore of great interest for cardiologists and cardio-thoracic surgeons to have at their disposal an accurate prognostic tool that will inform them about the future prospect of a patient with a human tissue valve in order to optimize medical care, carefully plan re-operation and minimize valve-relate morbidity and mortality.
From the statistical analysis viewpoint the challenge is to utilize a technique capable of updating estimates of survival probabilities for a new patient as additional longitudinal information is recorded. An early approach in solving this problem has been landmarking \citep{anderson.et.al:83, zheng.heagerty:05, vanhouwelingen:07}. The basic idea behind landmarking is to obtain survival probabilities from a Cox model fitted to the patients from the original dataset who are still at risk at the time point of interest (e.g., the last time point we know that the new patient was still alive). A relatively newer method for producing dynamic predictions of survival probabilities is based on the class of joint models for longitudinal and time-to-event data \citep{henderson.et.al:02, yu.et.al:08, proust-lima.taylor:09, rizopoulos:11, rizopoulos:12}. In these models we have a complete specification of the joint distribution of the longitudinal response and the event times based on which the predictions in question can be derived. The main aim of this paper is to further study and contrast these two approaches. In particular, we show how survival probabilities are obtained under each method and what the differences are in the underlying assumptions. In addition, we focus on the functional relationship between the two processes and how this may affect predictions. We surpass the standard formulation, which only includes the current value of the marker, and we postulate functional forms that allow the rate of increase/decrease of the longitudinal outcome or a suitable summary of the whole longitudinal trajectory to determine the risk for an event. To assess the quality of the derived predictions from the two approaches we present different measures of discrimination and calibration, suitably adjusted to the context of longitudinal biomarkers.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section~\ref{Sec:DynPred} describes formally the context of dynamic predictions and presents the landmarking and joint modeling approaches. Section~\ref{Sec:FunForm} shows different options for the functional form of the association structure between the longitudinal and event time processes. Section~\ref{Sec:PredAcc} presents measures of discrimination and calibration adapted to the dynamic predictions setting. Section~\ref{Sec:Appl} illustrates the use of joint modeling and landmarking in the Aortic Valve dataset and Section~\ref{Sec:Simul} refers to the results of a simulation study. Finally, Section~\ref{Sec:Disc} concludes the paper.
\section{Dynamic Individualized Predictions} \label{Sec:DynPred}
Following the discussion in Section~\ref{Sec:Intro} and the motivation from the Aortic Valve dataset, we present here the two frameworks for deriving dynamic individualized predictions. Let $\mathcal D_n = \{T_i, \delta_i, \mbox{{\boldmath $y$}}_i; i = 1, \ldots, n\}$ denote a sample from the target population, where $T_i^*$ denotes the true event time for the $i$-th subject ($i = 1, \ldots, n$), $C_i$ the censoring time, $T_i = \min(T_i^*, C_i)$ the corresponding observed event time, and $\delta_i = I(T_i^* \leq C_i)$ the event indicator, with $I(\cdot)$ being the indicator function that takes the value 1 when $T_i^* \leq C_i$, and 0 otherwise. In addition, we let $\mbox{{\boldmath $y$}}_i$ denote the $n_i \times 1$ longitudinal response vector for the $i$-th subject, with element $y_{il}$ denoting the value of the longitudinal outcome taken at time point $t_{il}$, $l = 1, \ldots, n_i$.
We are interested in deriving predictions for a new subject $j$ from the same population that has provided a set of longitudinal measurements $\mathcal Y_j(t) = \{ y_j(t_{jl}); 0 \leq t_{jl} \leq t, l = 1, \ldots, n_j \}$, and has a vector of baseline covariates $\mbox{{\boldmath $w$}}_j$. The fact that biomarker measurements have been recorded up to $t$, implies survival of this subject up to this time point, meaning that it is more relevant to focus on the conditional subject-specific predictions, given survival up to $t$. In particular, for any time $u > t$ we are interested in the probability that this new subject $j$ will survive at least up to $u$, i.e.,
\[
\pi_j(u \mid t) = \Pr ( T_j^* \geq u \mid T_j^* > t, \mathcal Y_j(t), \mbox{{\boldmath $w$}}_j, \mathcal D_n).
\]
The time-dynamic nature of $\pi_j(u \mid t)$ is evident because when new information is recorded for patient $j$ at time $t' > t$, we can update these predictions to obtain $\pi_j(u \mid t')$, and therefore proceed in a time-dynamic manner.
\subsection{Landmarking} \label{Sec:DynPred-Landmarking}
The landmarking approach provides an estimate of $\pi_j(u \mid t)$ by selecting the subjects at risk at $t$ from the original dataset $\mathcal D_n$, and using these to derive predictions. More formally, let $\mathcal R(t) = \{i: T_i > t\}$ denote the adjusted risk set, including all subjects who were not censored or dead by the landmark time $t$. Then a Cox model is fitted to these subjects by resetting time with zero being the landmark time, i.e.,
\begin{eqnarray*}
h_i(u-t) & = & \lim_{\Delta t \rightarrow 0} \frac{1}{\Delta t} \Pr \bigl \{ u - t \leq T_i^* < u - t + \Delta t \mid T_i^* > u - t, \mathcal Y_i(t) \bigr \}\\
& = & h_0(u-t) \exp \bigl \{ \mbox{{\boldmath $\gamma$}}^\top \mbox{{\boldmath $w$}}_i + \alpha \tilde y_i(t) \bigr \}, u > t,
\end{eqnarray*}
where the baseline hazard function $h_0(\cdot)$ is assumed completely unspecified, $\mbox{{\boldmath $w$}}_i$ denotes a vector of baseline covariates, and the last available longitudinal response $\tilde y_i(t)$ also enters into the model as an ordinary baseline covariate. Having fitted this Cox model, an estimate of $\pi_j(u \mid t)$ is simply obtained by means of the Breslow estimator:
\begin{equation}
\hat \pi_j^{LM}(u \mid t) = \exp \Bigl [ - \widehat H_0(u) \exp \{ \widehat \mbox{{\boldmath $\gamma$}}^\top \mbox{{\boldmath $w$}}_j + \hat \alpha \tilde y_j(t) \} \Bigr ] \label{Eq:pi.u.t-LM},
\end{equation}
where
\[
\widehat H_0(u) = \sum \limits_{i \in \mathcal R(t)} \frac{I(T_i \leq u)
\delta_i}{ \sum_{\ell \in \mathcal R(u)} \exp \{\widehat \mbox{{\boldmath $\gamma$}}^\top \mbox{{\boldmath $w$}}_\ell + \hat \alpha \tilde y_\ell(t) \}}.
\]
\citet{vanhouwelingen:07} and \citet{zheng.heagerty:05} discuss several extensions of this approach that have greater flexibility by allowing the regression coefficient $\alpha$ to depend on time, i.e.,
\[
h_i(u-t) = h_0(u-t) \exp \bigl \{ \mbox{{\boldmath $\gamma$}}^\top \mbox{{\boldmath $w$}}_i + \alpha(u-t) \tilde y_i(t) \bigr \},
\]
and also, possibly, a baseline hazard that is not only a function of the time since the last measurement $u - t$, but also a function of the measurement time $t$, relaxing thus the proportional hazards assumption. An advantage of landmarking is that it can be very easily applied in practice, because it only requires fitting a simple Cox model each time a new measurement has been recorded for the subject for whom predictions are of interest.
\subsection{Joint Modeling} \label{Sec:DynPred-JM}
Contrary to the landmark approach, in the framework of joint models for longitudinal and time-to-event data we have a complete specification of the joint distribution of the two outcomes \citep{faucett.thomas:96, wulfsohn.tsiatis:97, henderson.et.al:00, tsiatis.davidian:04, rizopoulos:12}. For the longitudinal biomarker measurements mixed-effects models are typically employed to describe the subject-specific longitudinal trajectories. For simplicity of exposition and because the marker that we are going to use for the Aortic Valve dataset, namely the aortic gradient, is a continuous one, we focus here on linear mixed-effects models,
\begin{eqnarray}
\begin{array}{rcl}
y_i(t) & = & m_i(t) + \varepsilon_i(t) = \mbox{{\boldmath $x$}}_i^\top(t) \mbox{{\boldmath $\beta$}} + \mbox{{\boldmath $z$}}_i^\top(t) \mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_i + \varepsilon_i(t),\\
\mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_i & \sim & \mathcal N (\mathbf{0}, \mbox{{\boldmath $D$}}), \quad \varepsilon_i(t) \sim \mathcal N (0, \sigma^2),\\
\end{array} \label{Eq:LinearMixed}
\end{eqnarray}
where $y_i(t)$ denotes the observed value of the longitudinal outcome at any particular time point $t$, $\mbox{{\boldmath $x$}}_i(t)$ and $\mbox{{\boldmath $z$}}_i(t)$ denote the time-dependent design vectors for the fixed-effects $\mbox{{\boldmath $\beta$}}$ and for the random effects $\mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_i$, respectively, and $\varepsilon_i(t)$ the corresponding error terms that are assumed independent of the random effects, and $\mbox{cov} \{\varepsilon_i(t), \varepsilon_i(t')\} = 0$ for $t' \neq t$. For the survival process, we assume that the risk for an event depends on the `true' and unobserved value of the marker at time $t$ (i.e., excluding the measurement error), denoted by $m_i(t)$ in \eqref{Eq:LinearMixed}. More specifically, we have
\begin{eqnarray}
\nonumber h_i (t \mid \mathcal M_i(t), \mbox{{\boldmath $w$}}_i) & = & \lim_{\Delta t \rightarrow 0} \frac{1}{\Delta t}\Pr \{ t \leq T_i^* < t + \Delta t \mid T_i^* \geq t, \mathcal M_i(t), \mbox{{\boldmath $w$}}_i \} \\
& = & h_0(t) \exp \bigl \{ \mbox{{\boldmath $\gamma$}}^\top
\mbox{{\boldmath $w$}}_i + \alpha m_i(t) \bigr \}, \quad t > 0, \label{Eq:Surv-RR}
\end{eqnarray}
where $\mathcal M_i(t) = \{ m_i(s), 0 \leq s < t \}$ denotes the history of the true unobserved longitudinal process up to $t$, $h_0(\cdot)$ denotes the baseline hazard function, and, as before, $\mbox{{\boldmath $w$}}_i$ is a vector of baseline covariates with corresponding regression coefficients $\mbox{{\boldmath $\gamma$}}$. Parameter $\alpha$ quantifies the association between the true value of the marker at $t$ and the hazard for an event at the same time point. Estimation of joint model's parameters can be based either on maximum likelihood or a Bayesian approach using Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms. The likelihood of the model is derived under the assumptions that given the random effects, both the longitudinal and event time process are assumed independent, and the longitudinal responses of each subject are assumed independent. Formally we have,
\begin{eqnarray}
p(\mbox{{\boldmath $y$}}_i, T_i, \delta_i \mid \mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_i, \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}) & = & p(\mbox{{\boldmath $y$}}_i \mid \mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_i, \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}) \; p(T_i, \delta_i \mid \mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_i, \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}), \label{Eq:CondInd-I}\\
p(\mbox{{\boldmath $y$}}_i \mid \mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_i, \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}) & = & \prod_l p ( y_{il} \mid \mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_i, \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}} ), \label{Eq:CondInd-II}
\end{eqnarray}
where $\mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}^\top = (\mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}_t^\top, \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}_y^\top, \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}_b^\top)$ denotes the full parameter vector, with $\mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}_t$ denoting the parameters for the event time outcome, $\mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}_y$ the parameters for the longitudinal outcomes, and $\mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}_b$ the unique parameters of the random-effects covariance matrix, and $p(\cdot)$ denotes an appropriate probability density function. More details regarding the estimation and properties of joint models can be found in \citet{rizopoulos:12} and \citet[Chapter~7]{ibrahim.et.al:01}.
Under this framework, estimation of $\pi_j(u \mid t)$ can be based on (asymptotic) Bayesian arguments and the corresponding posterior predictive distribution:
\[
\pi_j(u \mid t) = \int \Pr(T_j^* \geq u \mid T_j^* > t, \mathcal Y_j(t), \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}) \, p(\mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}} \mid \mathcal D_n) \, d\mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}.
\]
The calculation of the first part of each integrand takes full advantage of the conditional independence assumptions \eqref{Eq:CondInd-I} and \eqref{Eq:CondInd-II}. In particular, we observe that the first term of the integrand of $\pi_j(u \mid t)$ can be rewritten by noting that:
\begin{eqnarray*}
\nonumber \Pr(T_j^* \geq u \mid T_j^* > t, \mathcal Y_j(t), \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}) & = & \int \Pr(T_j^* \geq u \mid T_j^* > t, \mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_j, \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}) \, p(\mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_j \mid T_j^* > t, \mathcal Y_j(t), \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}) \, d\mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_j\\
& = & \int \frac{S_j \bigl \{ u \mid \mathcal M_j(u, \mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_j), \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}} \bigr \}}{S_j \bigl \{ t \mid \mathcal M_j(t, \mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_j), \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}} \bigr \} } \, p(\mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_j \mid T_j^* > t, \mathcal Y_j(t), \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}) \, d\mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_j,
\end{eqnarray*}
where
\[
S_j \bigl \{ t \mid \mathcal M_j(t, \mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_j), \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}} \bigr \} = \exp \biggl \{ \int_0^t h_0(s) \exp\{\mbox{{\boldmath $\gamma$}}^\top
\mbox{{\boldmath $w$}}_i + \alpha m_i(s) \} \biggr \} \; ds,
\]
denotes the subject-specific survival function.
Combining these equations with the maximum likelihood estimates or with the MCMC sample from the posterior distribution of the parameters for the original data $\mathcal D_n$, we can devise a simple simulation scheme to obtain a Monte Carlo estimate of $\pi_j(u \mid t)$. More specifically, this is comprised of the following steps:
\begin{itemize}
\item[Step 1.] Take $K$ samples of $\{\mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}^{(k)}, k = 1, \ldots, K\}$ from either the MCMC sample of $p(\mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}} \mid \mathcal D_n)$ or the asymptotic normal posterior distribution $\mathcal N (\widehat \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}, \mathcal H_n)$, where $\widehat \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}$ denotes the maximum likelihood estimates and $\mathcal H_n$ the observed information matrix
\[
\mathcal H_n = \biggl \{ -\sum \limits_{i = 1}^n \frac{\partial^2 \log p(\mbox{{\boldmath $y$}}_i, T_i, \delta_i, \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}})}{\partial \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}^\top \partial \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}} \Big |_{\theta = \hat \theta} \biggr \}^{-1}.
\]
\item[Step 2.] Draw $K$ realizations $\{\mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_j^{(k)}, k = 1, \ldots, K\}$ for the random effects of the new subject $j$ from the posterior distribution of the random effects \[
p \bigl ( \mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_j \mid T_j^* > t, \mathcal Y_j(t), \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}^{(k)} \bigr ) \propto \biggl \{ \prod \limits_{l = 1}^{n_j(t)} p \bigl ( y_{jl} \mid \mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_j, \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}^{(k)} \bigr ) \biggr \} S_j \bigl \{ t \mid \mathcal M_j(t, \mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_j), \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}^{(k)} \bigr \} p \bigl ( \mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_j, \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}^{(k)} \bigr ),
\]
where $n_j(t)$ denotes the number of available measurements for subject $j$ by time $t$.
\item[Step 3.] Based on these realizations an estimate of $\pi_j(u \mid t)$ is derived as
\begin{equation}
\hat \pi_j^{JM} (u \mid t) = \frac{1}{K} \sum \limits_{k = 1}^K \frac{S_j \bigl \{ u \mid \mathcal M_j(u, \mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_j^{(k)}), \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}^{(k)} \bigr \}}{S_j \bigl \{ t \mid \mathcal M_j(t, \mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_j^{(k)}), \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}}^{(k)} \bigr \}}. \label{Eq:pi.u.t-JM}
\end{equation}
\end{itemize}
More details can be found in \citet{yu.et.al:08} and \citet{rizopoulos:11, rizopoulos:12}.
\subsection{Heuristic Comparison between Landmarking and Joint Modeling} \label{Sec:DynPred-Comp}
The previous two sections illustrated that both landmarking and joint modeling can be utilized to derive dynamically updated estimates of conditional survival probabilities $\pi_j(u \mid t)$. The landmark approach can be more easily implemented in practice because it only requires fitting a standard Cox model, whereas joint models require specialized software \citep{rizopoulos:10, rizopoulos:12}. In addition, joint models seem to make more modeling assumptions than the landmark approach, which poses a concern regarding how a misspecification of these assumptions may affect predictions. On the other hand, the landmark approach uses less information than joint modeling (i.e., only the last observed longitudinal response), and hence is less optimal. The following points provide a more detailed exposition of the underlying differences between the two approaches.
\begin{itemize} \itemsep=1cm
\item \textbf{Extrapolation:} The main differences in how landmarking and joint modeling tackle the problem of prediction can best be explained by Figure~\ref{Fig:LMvsJM}. This shows the longitudinal responses of a hypothetical subject who was alive up to year five and for whom we would like to obtain a predicted survival function. To produce estimates of the conditional survival probabilities both landmarking and joint modeling require a value for the longitudinal response at $t = 5$ (vertical dotted line). Since this subject provided her last longitudinal measurement at year three, some sort of extrapolation is taking place. In particular, landmarking is based on a `last value carried forward' approach and uses as the value of the longitudinal response at year five the last available measurement of the subject at year three (horizontal dashed line). Even though this approach is conceptually simple and easy to perform in practice, unfortunately, it may lead to biased and misleading inference on the Cox model parameters \citep{tsiatis.davidian:01}. Joint modeling on the other hand uses the subject-specific fitted value of the longitudinal profile from the linear mixed model extrapolated at year 5, i.e., $m_j(5) = \mbox{{\boldmath $x$}}_j^\top(5) \mbox{{\boldmath $\beta$}} + \mbox{{\boldmath $z$}}_j^\top(5) \mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_j$ (solid line). This approach uses all available information, because the estimate of $m_j(5)$ is based on both all past values of this subject and on the responses of other subjects. To explain how the borrowing of information between subjects is taking place, assume, hypothetically, that there was another patient, who during the first three years had exactly the same longitudinal measurements as the patient depicted in Figure~\ref{Fig:LMvsJM}, but also she had extra measurements up to year five. The joint model would make use of this patient and say that the profile of the patient in Figure~\ref{Fig:LMvsJM} would be similar to the one of the patient with the extra measurements. From a biological point of view the joint modeling approach seems more logical than landmarking because we indeed expect the biomarker levels of a patient to continuously change over time rather than to remain constant between visits.
Note that in general even if we had observed the longitudinal response at $t = 5$, i.e., $y_j(5)$ this will not be equal to $m_j(5)$. The joint model assumes that the realizations of the longitudinal marker are the output of a stochastic process generated by the subject, and it is the underlying signal in the process, represented by $m_j(t)$, that is associated with the hazard for an event. The observed data $y_j(t)$ are a contaminated with measurement error version of the underlying signal $m_j(t)$. This measurement error most often stems from biological variation, but some times may also be attributed to the medical test/examination used to measure the marker.
\begin{figure}[!h]
\includegraphics[width = \textwidth]{LMvsJM.pdf}
\caption{Graphical comparison on how landmarking and joint modeling use the available longitudinal measurements to provide an estimate of the longitudinal outcome at the last time point the patients was still alive. The left side of the plot shows the observed longitudinal responses, and the fitted longitudinal profile from the joint model. The right side shows the corresponding survival probability.} \label{Fig:LMvsJM}
\end{figure}
\item \textbf{Assumptions related to the longitudinal process:} The landmark approach assumes that the visiting process, which is the process, stochastic or deterministic, that generates the visit times at which subjects provide measurements is independent of the longitudinal marker process and the survival time $T_j^*$. The joint modeling approach also assumes that a visit scheduled at time $t$ is independent of a future event occurring at $T_j^* > t$ and of future longitudinal responses $\{y_j(s), t \leq s \leq T_j^*\}$, but it does allow visit times to depend on the observed longitudinal responses $\mathcal Y_j(t)$. This is a more realistic assumption because what we expect to happen in practice is that physicians will ask a patient to come back more often if they observe a worsening of her condition based on her observed responses. In addition, subjects may have missing marker measurements during follow-up. The landmark approach assumes that any such missingness is completely at random \citep{little.rubin:02}. On the other hand, due to the fact that joint modeling is based on a complete specification of the joint likelihood function of the longitudinal and event time processes, it allows incomplete longitudinal data to be missing at random. Hence, joint modeling is capable of providing valid inferences under less stringent assumptions than landmarking. Though, it should be mentioned that these advantageous features require the joint model to be roughly correctly specified.
\item \textbf{Assumptions related to the event process:} Similarly to the assumptions for the longitudinal process, landmarking makes more stringent assumptions for the censoring process. In particular, under the landmark approach censoring is assumed independent of past longitudinal responses $\{y_j(s); 0 \leq s < t \}$, whereas under joint modeling and again because we use a complete specification of the joint likelihood function, censoring is allowed to depend in a general way on $\{y_j(s); 0 \leq s < t \}$.
\end{itemize}
\section{Functional Form} \label{Sec:FunForm}
The assessment of the predictive value of baseline covariates is to a degree simple, in the sense that these covariates are typically included in a prognostic model as is or under a suitable transformation (e.g., log-scale, polynomials, splines, etc.). However, in our setting, where we have multiple longitudinal measurements available per subject there could be different features of the longitudinal process that are most predictive for the event of interest. For example, in ordinary proportional hazards models, it has been long recognized that the functional form of time-varying covariates influences the derived inferences; see, for instance, \citet{fisher.lin:99} and references therein. In the joint modeling framework however, where the longitudinal outcome plays the role of a time-dependent covariate for the survival process, this topic has received less attention. The two main functional forms that have been primarily used so far in joint models include in the linear predictor of the relative risk model \eqref{Eq:Surv-RR} either the subject-specific means $m_i(t)$ from the longitudinal submodel or just the random effects $\mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_i$ \citep{henderson.et.al:00, rizopoulos.ghosh:11}. However, as argued above, there could be other characteristics of the patients' longitudinal profiles that are more predictive for the risk of an event, such as the rate of increase/decrease of the biomarker's levels or a suitable summary of the whole longitudinal trajectory. Here we present a few examples of alternative formulations for the association structure between the longitudinal outcome and the risk for an event:
\begin{eqnarray}
h_i(t) & = & h_0(t) \exp \bigl \{ \mbox{{\boldmath $\gamma$}}^\top \mbox{{\boldmath $w$}}_i + \alpha_1 m_i(t) + \alpha_2 m_i'(t) \bigr \}, \quad m_i'(t) = \frac{d m_i(t)}{dt},\label{Eq:Param-TDslopes}\\
h_i(t) & = & h_0(t) \exp \Bigl \{ \mbox{{\boldmath $\gamma$}}^\top \mbox{{\boldmath $w$}}_i + \alpha \int_0^t m_i(s) \, ds \Bigr \}, \label{Eq:Param-CumEff}\\
h_i(t) & = & h_0(t) \exp \Bigl \{ \mbox{{\boldmath $\gamma$}}^\top \mbox{{\boldmath $w$}}_i + \alpha \int_0^t \varrho(t - s) m_i(s) \, ds \Bigr \}, \label{Eq:Param-wCumEff}\\
h_i(t) & = & h_0(t) \exp ( \mbox{{\boldmath $\gamma$}}^\top \mbox{{\boldmath $w$}}_i + \mbox{{\boldmath $\alpha$}}^\top \mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_i ). \label{Eq:Param-RE}
\end{eqnarray}
It is evident that these parameterizations have different sets of association parameters $\mbox{{\boldmath $\alpha$}}$, and in addition that the interpretation of these parameters is different for each formulation. In particular, parameterization \eqref{Eq:Param-TDslopes} postulates that the risk for an event at a particular time point $t$ depends not only on the level of the marker at this time point but also on its rate of change, captured by the slope term $m_i'(t)$. This could be of importance when two patients at a specific time point have equal marker levels, but one patient having an increasing trajectory and the other a decreasing one. Parameterization \eqref{Eq:Param-CumEff} posits that the risk for an event at time $t$ is associated with the area under the longitudinal trajectory up to this point. This can be considered as a summary of the whole marker history up to $t$ and contrary to the previous formulations it allows the risk to the depend on the whole history $\mathcal M_i(t) = \{ m_i(s), 0 \leq s < t \}$ and not only on features of the marker at $t$. Parameterization \eqref{Eq:Param-wCumEff} extends \eqref{Eq:Param-CumEff} by assigning to the past values of the longitudinal trajectory different weights, using a function $\varrho(\cdot)$. For instance, setting $\varrho(t - s) = \phi(t - s) / \{ \Phi(t) - 0.5 \}$, where $0 < s < t$, and $\phi(\cdot)$ and $\Phi(\cdot)$ denote the probability density and cumulative distribution functions of the standard normal distribution, respectively, we assume that the risk at $t$ only depends on the marker levels in the interval $(t - 3, t)$ with values closer to $t$ having higher weight, because when $t - s > 3$ then $\varrho(t - s)$ is practically zero. Finally, parameterization \eqref{Eq:Param-RE} is time-independent and assumes that the hazard for an event is related to the random effects from the longitudinal process. This formulation shares similarities with the time-dependent slopes parameterization \eqref{Eq:Param-TDslopes} when a simple random-intercepts and random-slopes structure is assumed for the longitudinal submodel.
Under the landmarking approach, and in order to improve predictive performance, we could also make better use of the observed longitudinal history than just using the last available measurement. Mimicking the formulations presented above for joint modeling, we can define Cox models fitted to the patients at risk at the landmark time $t$, which include $\tilde y_i'(t)$ that denotes the slope calculated from the last two available measurements of each subject, and $\sum_{0 \leq s \leq t} y_i(s) \Delta s$ that denotes the area under the step function defined from the observed longitudinal measurements up to $t$:
\begin{eqnarray*}
h_i(u - t) & = & h_0(u - t) \exp \bigl \{ \mbox{{\boldmath $\gamma$}}^\top \mbox{{\boldmath $w$}}_i + \alpha_1 \tilde y_i(t) + \alpha_2 \tilde y_i'(t) \bigr \}, \label{Eq:Param-TDslo<|fim_middle|>models (parameters $\mbox{{\boldmath $\gamma$}}_{h_0}$ of the baseline hazard have been omitted) based on the four joint models fitted to the Aortic Valve dataset.}
\begin{tabular}{lrrrrrrrr}
\hline
& \multicolumn{2}{c}{Value ($M_1$)} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{Value+Slope ($M_2$)} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{Area ($M_3$)} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{Shared RE ($M_4$)}\\
& Est. & 95\% CI & Est. & 95\% CI & Est. & 95\% CI & Est. & 95\% CI \\
\hline
{\tt RR} & 0.34 & ($-$0.040; 0.739) & 0.36 & ($-$0.056; 0.790) & 0.29 & ($-$0.104; 0.688) & $-$0.01 & ($-$1.217; 1.112) \\
{\tt Age} & 0.01 & ($-$0.001; 0.028) & 0.02 & (0.002; 0.034) & 0.00 & ($-$0.010; 0.018) & 0.06 & (0.022; 0.106) \\
{\tt Female} & $-$0.15 & ($-$0.548; 0.225) & $-$0.12 & ($-$0.543; 0.275) & $-$0.13 & ($-$0.509; 0.243) & $-$0.45 & ($-$1.624; 0.567) \\
{\tt BMI} & $-$0.07 & ($-$0.130; $-$0.019) & $-$0.08 & ($-$0.140; $-$0.023) & $-$0.06 & ($-$0.111; $-$0.002) & $-$0.21 & ($-$0.349; $-$0.095) \\
$\alpha_1$ & 0.37 & (0.235; 0.496) & 0.28 & (0.106; 0.433) & 0.03 & (0.006; 0.044) & $-$0.47 & ($-$2.414; 1.543) \\
$\alpha_2$ & & & 1.47 & ($-$0.261; 3.205) & & & $-$4.14 & ($-$7.931; $-$1.302) \\
$\alpha_3$ & & & & & & & 0.97 & ($-$0.630; 3.130) \\
$\alpha_4$ & & & & & & & 2.53 & (0.972; 4.383) \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\label{Tab:Res-T}
\end{table}
To assess the predictive ability of the four joint models and compare them with the landmark approach we consider the time interval $[t = 7.5, u = 9.5]$ years. The reason for choosing this interval is twofold. First, by time $t = 7.5$ years 75\% of aortic gradient measurements have been recorded, and hence we have sufficient longitudinal information, and second, a two-year interval is considered a medically relevant time frame within which we would like to obtain accurate predictions of prognosis. For the 207 patients still at risk at $7.5$ years we fitted three Cox models with corresponding association structures to the joint models defined above (except from the random effects association structure), i.e.,
\begin{eqnarray*}
M_5: && h_i(u-7.5) = h_0(u-7.5) \exp \bigl \{\gamma_1 \mbox{\tt RR}_i + \gamma_2 \mbox{\tt Age}_i + \gamma_3 \mbox{\tt Female}_i + \gamma_4 \mbox{\tt BMI}_i + \alpha_1 \tilde y_i(7.5) \bigr \},\\
M_6: && h_i(u-7.5) = h_0(u-7.5) \exp \bigl \{\gamma_1 \mbox{\tt RR}_i + \gamma_2 \mbox{\tt Age}_i + \gamma_3 \mbox{\tt Female}_i + \gamma_4 \mbox{\tt BMI}_i\\
&& \hspace*{6cm} + \; \alpha_1 \tilde y_i(7.5) + \alpha_2 \tilde y_i'(7.5) \bigr \},\\
M_7: && h_i(u-7.5) = h_0(u-7.5) \exp \Bigl \{\gamma_1 \mbox{\tt RR}_i + \gamma_2 \mbox{\tt Age}_i + \gamma_3 \mbox{\tt Female}_i + \gamma_4 \mbox{\tt BMI}_i\\
&& \hspace*{6cm} + \; \alpha_1 \sum \limits_{s = 0}^{7.5} y_i(s) \Delta s \Bigr \},
\end{eqnarray*}
where $u > 7.5$, variable $\tilde y_i(7.5)$ denotes the last available square root aortic gradient value of each patient before year $7.5$, $\tilde y_i'(7.5)$ denotes the slope defined from the last two available measurements, and $\sum_{0 \leq s \leq 7.5} y_i(s) \Delta s$ denotes the area under the step function defined from the observed square root aortic gradient measurements up to $7.5$ years. The parameter estimates and confidence intervals of these Cox models are presented in Table~\ref{Tab:Res-Cox}.
\begin{table}[ht]
\centering
\caption{Estimated coefficients and 95\% confidence intervals for the parameters in the Cox models fitted to the patients at risk at $t = 7.5$ years.}
\begin{tabular}{lrrrrrr}
\hline
& \multicolumn{2}{c}{Value ($M_5$)} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{Value+Slope ($M_6$)} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{Area ($M_7$)}\\
& Est. & 95\% CI & Est. & 95\% CI & Est. & 95\% CI \\
\hline
{\tt RR} & 0.42 & ($-$0.087; 0.930) & 0.42 & ($-$0.085; 0.927) & 0.39 & ($-$0.136; 0.907) \\
{\tt Age} & $-$0.01 & ($-$0.025; 0.012) & $-$0.01 & ($-$0.024; 0.014) & $-$0.01 & ($-$0.026; 0.011) \\
{\tt Female} & $-$0.17 & ($-$0.678; 0.347) & $-$0.16 & ($-$0.672; 0.352) & $-$0.15 & ($-$0.669; 0.363) \\
{\tt BMI} & 0.02 & ($-$0.046; 0.093) & 0.03 & ($-$0.042; 0.097) & 0.03 & ($-$0.044; 0.094) \\
$\alpha_1$ & 0.02 & ($-$0.187; 0.224) & $-$0.01 & ($-$0.221; 0.199) & $-$0.01 & ($-$0.047; 0.031) \\
$\alpha_2$ & & & 0.25 & ($-$0.164; 0.669) & & \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\label{Tab:Res-Cox}
\end{table}
We evaluate both discrimination and calibration using the predictive accuracy measures presented in Section~\ref{Sec:PredAcc}, namely $\widehat{\mbox{PE}}(9.5|7.5)$, $\mbox{I$\widehat{\mbox{P}}$E}(9.5|7.5)$, $\mbox{A$\widehat{\mbox{U}}$C}(9.5|7.5)$ and $\mbox{C}_{dyn}^{\Delta t=2}$. For the first two the absolute loss function was used, and the calculation of $\widehat{\mbox{C}}_{dyn}^{\Delta t=2}$ was based on the interval $[0, 15]$ years, with upper limit marking the 60\% percentile of the event times distribution. The estimates of these measures are presented in Table~\ref{Tab:AccMeas}.
\begin{table}[ht]
\centering
\begin{tabular}{lcccc}
\hline
& $\widehat{\mbox{PE}}(9.5|7.5)$ & $\mbox{I$\widehat{\mbox{P}}$E}(9.5|7.5)$ & $\mbox{A$\widehat{\mbox{U}}$C}(9.5|7.5)$ & $\widehat{\mbox{C}}_{dyn}^{\Delta t=2}$ \\
\hline
$M_1$: JM value & 0.1732 & 0.0904 & 0.6106 & 0.6433 \\
$M_2$: JM value+slope & 0.1647 & 0.0855 & 0.5958 & 0.6592 \\
$M_3$: JM area & 0.1525 & 0.0802 & 0.6090 & 0.5419 \\
$M_4$: JM shared RE & 0.1133 & 0.0586 & 0.5755 & 0.6201 \\
\hline
$M_5: \mbox{Cox}_{LM}$ value & 0.1888 & 0.1032 & 0.5587 & 0.6338 \\
$M_6: \mbox{Cox}_{LM}$ value+slope & 0.1877 & 0.1025 & 0.5300 & 0.6238 \\
$M_7: \mbox{Cox}_{LM}$ area & 0.1885 & 0.1031 & 0.5739 & 0.5930 \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\caption{Predictive performance measures for the Aortic Valve dataset under the four joint models and the landmark approach based on Cox models with the analogous functional forms. For $\widehat{\mbox{PE}}(9.5|7.5)$ and $\mbox{I$\widehat{\mbox{P}}$E}(9.5|7.5)$ the absolute loss function was used. $\widehat{\mbox{C}}_{dyn}^{\Delta t=2}$ has been calculated in the interval $[0, 15]$ years.}
\label{Tab:AccMeas}
\end{table}
With respect to accuracy we observe that joint model $M_4$ with the shared random-effects parameterization has the smallest prediction error, followed by the other three joint models and the three Cox models using the landmark approach. This is in terms of both accuracy of prediction at year 9.5 and the weighted average of prediction errors in the interval $[7.5, 9.5]$. With respect to discriminative capability we observe that joint models $M_1$ and $M_2$ can best discriminate between patients followed by the landmark approach and the other two joint models. The overall winner could be deemed joint model $M_4$, which has the best accuracy and respectable discriminative capability compared to the models that offer the best discrimination. A comparison between the landmark approach and joint modeling in this particular dataset, and in particular when we compare the same parameterization (i.e., models $M_1$ vs. $M_5$, $M_2$ vs. $M_6$ and $M_3$ vs. $M_7$), reveals that the joint models perform better in terms of both accuracy and discrimination.
\section{Simulations} \label{Sec:Simul}
\subsection{Design} \label{Sec:Simul-Design}
We performed a series of simulations to landmarking with joint models in the context of dynamic predictions. The design of our simulation study is motivated by the set of joint models fitted to the Aortic Valve dataset in Section~\ref{Sec:Appl}. In particular, we assume 300 patients who have been followed-up for a period of 19 years, and were planned to provide longitudinal measurements at baseline and afterwards at nine random follow-up times. For the longitudinal process, and similarly to the model fitted in the Aortic Valve dataset, we used natural cubic splines of time with two internals knots placed at 2.1 and 5.5 years, and boundary knots placed at baseline and 19 years, i.e., the form of the model is as follows
\begin{eqnarray*}
y_i(t) & = & \beta_1 \mbox{\tt Trt0}_i + \beta_2 \mbox{\tt Trt1}_i + \beta_3 \{B_1(t, \mbox{{\boldmath $\lambda$}}) \times \mbox{\tt Trt0}_i\} + \beta_4 \{B_1(t, \mbox{{\boldmath $\lambda$}}) \times \mbox{\tt Trt1}_i\}\\
&& \hspace{0.5cm} + \, \beta_5 \{B_2(t, \mbox{{\boldmath $\lambda$}}) \times \mbox{\tt Trt0}_i\} + \beta_6 \{B_2(t, \mbox{{\boldmath $\lambda$}}) \times \mbox{\tt Trt1}_i\}\\
&& \hspace{0.5cm} + \, \beta_7 \{B_3(t, \mbox{{\boldmath $\lambda$}}) \times \mbox{\tt Trt0}_i\} + \beta_8 \{B_3(t, \mbox{{\boldmath $\lambda$}}) \times \mbox{\tt Trt1}_i\}\\
&& \hspace{0.5cm} + \, b_{i0} + b_{i1} B_1(t, \mbox{{\boldmath $\lambda$}}) + b_{i2} B_2(t, \mbox{{\boldmath $\lambda$}}) + b_{i3} B_3(t, \mbox{{\boldmath $\lambda$}}) + \varepsilon_i(t),
\end{eqnarray*}
where $B_n(t, \mbox{{\boldmath $\lambda$}})$ denotes the B-spline basis for a natural cubic spline with $\mbox{{\boldmath $\lambda$}} = (0, 2.1, 5.5, 19)$, {\tt Trt0} and {\tt Trt1} are the dummy variables for the two treatment groups, $\varepsilon_i(t) \sim \mathcal N (0, \sigma^2)$ and $\mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_i \sim \mathcal N (\mathbf 0, \mbox{{\boldmath $D$}})$ with $\mbox{{\boldmath $D$}}$ taken to be diagonal.
For the survival process, we have assumed four scenarios, each one corresponding to a different functional form for the association structure between the two processes. Motivated by the arguments set forth in Section~\ref{Sec:DynPred-Comp}, we simulated survival data under the joint modeling framework (i.e., not assuming that the biomarker's levels are constant between the visit times). More specifically, \begin{eqnarray*}
\mbox{Scenario I:} && h_i(t) = h_0(t) \exp \bigl \{\gamma_0 + \gamma_1 \mbox{\tt Trt1}_i + \alpha_1 m_i(t) \bigl \},\\
\mbox{Scenario II:} && h_i(t) = h_0(t) \exp \bigl \{\gamma_0 + \gamma_1 \mbox{\tt Trt1}_i + \alpha_1 m_i(t) + \alpha_2 m_i'(t) \bigl \},\\
\mbox{Scenario III:} && h_i(t) = h_0(t) \exp \bigl \{\gamma_0 + \gamma_1 \mbox{\tt Trt1}_i + \alpha_1 \int_0^t m_i(s) ds \bigl \},\\
\mbox{Scenario IV:} && h_i(t) = h_0(t) \exp \bigl (\gamma_0 + \gamma_1 \mbox{\tt Trt1}_i + \alpha_1 b_{i0} + \alpha_2 b_{i1} + \alpha_3 b_{i2} + \alpha_4 b_{i3} \bigl ),
\end{eqnarray*}
with $h_0(t) = \sigma_t t^{\sigma_t - 1}$, i.e., the Weibull baseline hazard. The values for the regression coefficients in the longitudinal and survival submodels, the variance of the error terms of the mixed model, the covariance matrix for the random effects, and the scale of the Weibull baseline risk function are given in Appendix~\ref{App:SimSet}, and have been chosen such that the distribution of the event times and the distribution of the follow-up longitudinal measurements were comparable across scenarios. Censoring times were simulated from a uniform distribution in $(0, t_{C})$ with $t_{C}$ set to result in about 45\% censoring in each scenario. For each scenario we simulated 200 datasets.
\subsection{Results} \label{Sec:Simul-Results}
Mimicking the real-life use of a prognostic model, and to assess any potential overfitting issues, the comparison between the landmark and joint modeling approaches is based on subjects who were not used in fitting the corresponding models. More specifically, under each scenario and for each simulated dataset, we randomly excluded ten subjects whose event times were censored. For these subjects we set as landmark time the time point of their last longitudinal measurement, and produce survival probabilities from that point onwards to the end of the follow-up. Under the landmark approach these probabilities are based on the following relative risk models fitted to the remaining subjects:
\begin{eqnarray*}
LM_1: && h_i(u-t_{LM}) = h_0(u-t_{LM}) \exp \bigl \{\gamma_0 + \gamma_1 \mbox{\tt Trt1}_i + \alpha_1 \tilde y_i(t_{LM}) \bigr \},\\
LM_2: && h_i(u-t_{LM}) = h_0(u-t_{LM}) \exp \bigl \{\gamma_0 + \gamma_1 \mbox{\tt Trt1}_i + \alpha_1 \tilde y_i(t_{LM}) + \alpha_2 \tilde y_i'(t_{LM}) \bigr \},\\
LM_3: && h_i(u-t_{LM}) = h_0(u-7.5) \exp \Bigl \{\gamma_0 + \gamma_1 \mbox{\tt Trt1}_i + \alpha_1 \sum \limits_{s = 0}^{t_{LM}} y_i(s) \Delta s \Bigr \},
\end{eqnarray*}
where $t_{LM}$ denotes the landmark time, and as before, $\tilde y_i(t_{LM})$ denotes the last available measurement of subject $i$ before $t_{LM}$, $\tilde y_i'(t_{LM})$ denotes the slope defined from the last two available measurements, and $\sum \limits_{s = 0}^{t_{LM}} y_i(s) \Delta s$ the area under the step function defined from the observed longitudinal responses up to $t_{LM}$. Similarly, we also fitted four joint models to the remaining 290 subjects, with the same longitudinal submodel as the one we simulated from, and survival submodels:
\begin{eqnarray*}
JM_1: && h_i(t) = h_0(t) \exp \bigl \{\gamma_0 + \gamma_1 \mbox{\tt Trt1}_i + \alpha_1 m_i(t) \bigr \},\\
JM_2: && h_i(t) = h_0(t) \exp \bigl \{\gamma_0 + \gamma_1 \mbox{\tt Trt1}_i + \alpha_1 m_i(t) + \alpha_2 m_i'(t) \bigr \},\\
JM_3: && h_i(t) = h_0(t) \exp \Bigl \{\gamma_0 + \gamma_1 \mbox{\tt Trt1}_i + \alpha_1 \int_0^t m_i(s) \, ds \Bigr \},\\
JM_4: && h_i(t) = h_0(t) \exp \bigl(\gamma_0 + \gamma_1 \mbox{\tt Trt1}_i + \alpha_1 b_{i0} + \alpha_2 b_{i1} + \alpha_3 b_{i2} + \alpha_4 b_{i3} \bigr ),\\
\end{eqnarray*}
based on which survival probabilities were derived. Due to the fact that our aim here is to investigate the impact on predictions of the underlying differences between landmarking and joint modeling, as explained in Section~\ref{Sec:DynPred-Comp}, in both approaches the baseline hazard is assumed of the Weibull form, i.e., $h_0(t) = \sigma_t t^{\sigma_t - 1}$ with $\sigma_t$ denoting the shape parameter and the intercept term $\gamma_0$ the log scale parameter.
Based on the seven models, predictions were calculated for each of the ten subjects we have originally excluded, at ten equidistant time points between their last available longitudinal measurement and the end of follow-up. To evaluate the accuracy of these predicted survival probabilities we compared them with the gold standard survival probabilities, which are calculated as $S_j \bigl \{ u \mid \mathcal M_j(u, \mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_j), \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}} \bigr \} / S_j \bigl \{ t \mid \mathcal M_j(t, \mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_j), \mbox{{\boldmath $\theta$}} \bigr \}$, using the true parameter values and the true values of the random effects for the subjects we excluded. Hence, in each simulated dataset and for each of the ten subjects, we calculated root mean squared prediction errors (RMSEs) between the gold standard survival probabilities and the predictions under the seven models. The RMSEs over all the subjects from the 200 datasets are shown in Figure~\ref{Fig:SimulResults}.
\begin{figure}[!h]
\includegraphics[width = \textwidth]{SimulResults.pdf}
\caption{Simulation results under the four scenarios based on 200 datasets. Each boxplot shows the distribution of the root mean squared predictions error of the corresponding model to compute predictions versus the gold standard.} \label{Fig:SimulResults}
\end{figure}
The results suggest that the joint modeling approach seems to give more accurate predictions than landmarking. More noticeable are the differences in Scenarios I, II and IV while in Scenario III both approaches gave similarly accurate results.
\section{Discussion} \label{Sec:Disc}
In this work we have contrasted and compared two popular approaches, namely landmarking and joint modeling, for producing dynamically-updated predictions of survival probabilities with time-dependent covariates. Landmarking can effortlessly be implemented in practice but it makes strong assumptions regarding the path of the time-dependent covariates, which may be unrealistic for longitudinal biomarker measurements. On the other hand, joint modeling allows for greater flexibility in the attributes of time-dependent covariate process, but requires more modeling assumptions to achieve this and is generally more computationally intensive. Our simulation study and the analysis of the motivating Aortic Valve dataset have shown that, in general, there is a gain from considering the joint modeling approach instead of landmarking.
In our developments we have only focused on a single continuous longitudinal biomarker. However, often in practice and in order to obtain a more complete picture of the progression of a patient, several biomarkers are recorded, which could be of either continuous or categorical nature. In this more complex setting landmarking is advantageous because it is straightforward to include extra markers as baseline covariates in the linear predictor of the Cox model fitted to the patients at risk at the landmark point. On the contrary, the joint modeling approach requires a model specification for each marker. Mathematically and under the conditional independence assumptions \eqref{Eq:CondInd-I} and \eqref{Eq:CondInd-II} this relatively easily achieved by considering the framework of generalized linear mixed effects models \citep{breslow.clayton:93}. From the practical side, however, the dimensionality of the random effects may increase considerably, making joint models harder to fit. Previous and recent work by the first author is focused on resolving this problem by making use of Laplace approximations and efficient Gaussian quadrature rules \citep{rizopoulos.et.al:09, rizopoulos:12b}. In addition, in our analysis of the Aortic Valve dataset we have considered the composite event re-operation or death (whatever comes first), but for the treating physicians it could be of interest to have risk estimates separately for the two events. In this case we can extend both landmarking and joint modeling to the competing risks setting and derive estimates of the corresponding cumulative incidence functions. A general challenge when either or both of the two extensions (i.e., multiple longitudinal outcomes or multiple event times) are considered is the number of possible models. In particular, following the discussion in Section~\ref{Sec:FunForm} and the different possibilities we have in building the functional relationship between the longitudinal and time-to-event outcomes, it is evident that when we move to the multivariate setting, the choice of the appropriate parameterization for each longitudinal outcome and eventually for each competing risk becomes a demanding model-selection exercise.
Regarding the software implementation of the methodology presented in the paper, the landmark approach is readily available in all statistical software that fit Cox models. The fitting of joint models, the derivation of dynamic predictions (for the survival and longitudinal outcomes) and the calculation of the calibration and discrimination measures presented in Section~\ref{Sec:PredAcc} are implemented in the freely available \textsf{R} packages \textbf{JM} \citep{rizopoulos:10, rizopoulos:12} and \textbf{JMbayes} \citep{JMbayes}, which can be downloaded from CRAN at \url{http://cran.r-project.org/package=JM} and \url{http://cran.r-project.org/package=JMbayes}, respectively.
| pes-LM}\\
h_i(u - t) & = & h_0(u - t) \exp \Bigl \{ \mbox{{\boldmath $\gamma$}}^\top \mbox{{\boldmath $w$}}_i + \alpha \sum \limits_{s=0}^t y_i(s) \Delta s \Bigr \}, \label{Eq:Param-CumEff-LM}\\
h_i(u - t) & = & h_0(u - t) \exp \Bigl \{ \mbox{{\boldmath $\gamma$}}^\top \mbox{{\boldmath $w$}}_i + \alpha \sum \limits_{s=0}^t \varrho(t - s) y_i(s) \Delta s \Bigr \}, \label{Eq:Param-wCumEff-LM}
\end{eqnarray*}
where, as before, $\varrho(t - s)$ is a potential weight function. Note that we do not have an analogous functional form to \eqref{Eq:Param-RE} under landmarking.
\section{Measuring Predictive Performance} \label{Sec:PredAcc}
The assessment of the predictive performance of time-to-event models has received a lot of attention in the statistical literature. In general, the developed methodology has focused on calibration, i.e., how well the model predicts the observed data \citep{schemper.henderson:00, gerds.schumacher:06} or discrimination, i.e., how well can the model discriminate between patients that had the event from patients that did not \citep{harrell.et.al:96, pencina.et.al:08}. In the following we present discrimination and calibration measures suitably adapted to the dynamic prediction setting. It should be noted that these measures require in their essence an estimate of $\pi_j(u \mid t)$, and therefore they are applicable under both landmarking and joint modeling. In the following we will use the term $\hat \pi_j(u \mid t)$ to generically denote either \eqref{Eq:pi.u.t-LM} or \eqref{Eq:pi.u.t-JM}.
\subsection{Discrimination}
To take into account the dynamic nature of the longitudinal marker in discriminating between subjects, we focus on a time interval of medical relevance within which the occurrence of events is of interest. In this setting, a useful property of the model would be to successfully discriminate between patients who are going to experience the event within this time frame from patients who will not. To put this formally, as before, we assume that we have collected longitudinal measurements $\mathcal Y_j(t) = \{ y_j(t_{jl}); 0 \leq t_{jl} \leq t, l = 1, \ldots, n_j \}$ up to time point $t$ for subject $j$. We are interested in events occurring in the medically-relevant time frame $(t, t + \Delta t]$ within which the physician can take an action to improve the survival chance of the patient. Under the assumed model and the methodology presented in Section~\ref{Sec:DynPred}, we can define a prediction rule using $\pi_j(t + \Delta t \mid t)$ that takes into account the available longitudinal measurements $\mathcal Y_j(t)$. In particular, for any value $c$ in $[0, 1]$ we can term subject $j$ as a case if $\pi_j(t + \Delta t \mid t) \leq c$ (i.e., occurrence of the event) and analogously as a control if $\pi_j(t + \Delta t \mid t) > c$. Thus, in this context, we define sensitivity and specificity as
\[
\Pr \bigl \{ \pi_j(t + \Delta t \mid t) \leq c \mid T_j^* \in (t, t + \Delta t] \bigr \},
\]
and
\[
\Pr \bigl \{ \pi_j(t + \Delta t \mid t) > c \mid T_j^* > t + \Delta t \bigr \},
\]
respectively. For a randomly chosen pair of subjects $\{i, j\}$, in which both subjects have provided measurements up to time $t$, the discriminative capability of the assumed model can be assessed by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), which is obtained for varying $c$ and equals,
\[
\mbox{AUC}(t, \Delta t) = \Pr \bigl [ \pi_i(t + \Delta t \mid t) < \pi_j(t + \Delta t \mid t) \mid \{ T_i^* \in (t, t + \Delta t] \} \cap \{ T_j^* > t + \Delta t \} \bigr ], \label{Eq:AUCt}
\]
that is, if subject $i$ experiences the event within the relevant time frame whereas subject $j$ does not, then we would expect the assumed model to assign higher probability of surviving longer than $t + \Delta t$ for the subject who did not experience the event. To summarize the discriminative power of the assumed model over the whole follow-up period, we need to take into account that the number of subjects contributing to the comparison of the fitted $\pi_i(t + \Delta t \mid t)$ with the observed data is not the same for all time points $t$. Following an approach similar to \citet{antolini.et.al:05} and \citet{heagerty.zheng:05}, we propose the use of a weighted average of AUCs
\begin{equation}
\mbox{C}_{dyn}^{\Delta t} = \int_0^\infty \mbox{AUC}(t, \Delta t) \, \Pr \{ \mathcal E(t) \} \; dt \Big / \int_0^\infty \Pr \{ \mathcal E(t) \} \; dt, \label{Eq:dynC}
\end{equation}
where $\mathcal E(t) = \bigl [ \{ T_i^* \in (t, t + \Delta t] \} \cap \{ T_j^* > t + \Delta t \} \bigr ]$, and $\Pr \{ \mathcal E(t) \}$ denotes the probability that a random pair is comparable at $t$. We call $\mbox{C}_{dyn}^{\Delta t}$ the dynamic concordance index since it summarizes the concordance probabilities over the follow-up period. Note also that $\mbox{C}_{dyn}^{\Delta t}$ depends on the length $\Delta t$ of the time interval of interest, which implies that different models may exhibit different discrimination power for different $\Delta t$.
For the estimation of $\mbox{C}_{dyn}^{\Delta t}$ we need to take care of two issues, namely, the calculation of the integrals in the definition of \eqref{Eq:dynC} and censoring. For the former we use a 15-point Gauss-Kronrod quadrature rule \citep{press.et.al:07}. To take into account the fact that the number of subjects decreases over time due to the occurrence of events and censoring, for any time point $t$ we define as comparable pairs the pairs that satisfy the relation
\begin{eqnarray*}
\Omega_{ij}(t) & = & \bigl [\{T_i \in (t, t + \Delta t] \} \cap \{\delta_i = 1 \} \bigr ] \cap \{ T_j > t + \Delta t \} \mbox{ or }\\
&& \bigl [ \{T_i \in (t, t + \Delta t]\} \cap \{ \delta_i = 1 \} \bigr ] \cap \bigl [ \{T_j = t + \Delta t \} \cap \{\delta_j = 0\} \bigr ],
\end{eqnarray*}
where $i, j = 1, \ldots, n$ with $i \neq j$. For two comparable subjects $i$ and $j$, we can estimate and compare their survival probabilities $\pi_i(t + \Delta t \mid t)$ and $\pi_j(t + \Delta t \mid t)$, based on the methodology presented in Section~\ref{Sec:DynPred}. This leads to a natural estimator for $\mbox{AUC}(t, \Delta t)$ as the proportion of concordant subjects out of the set of comparable subjects for time $t$:
\[
\mbox{A$\widehat{\mbox{U}}$C}(t, \Delta t) = \frac{\sum_{i = 1}^n \sum_{j = 1; j \neq i}^n I \{ \hat \pi_i(t + \Delta t \mid t) < \hat \pi_j(t + \Delta t \mid t) \} \times I \{\Omega_{ij}(t)\}}{\sum_{i=1}^n \sum_{j=1; j \neq i}^n I\{\Omega_{ij}(t)\}},
\]
where $I(\cdot)$ denotes the indicator function. Having estimated $\mbox{AUC}(t, \Delta t)$, the next step in estimating $\mbox{C}_{dyn}^{\Delta t}$ is to obtain estimates for the weights $\mbox{Pr} \{ \mathcal E(t) \}$. We observe that these can be rewritten as
\begin{eqnarray*}
\Pr \{ \mathcal E(t) \} & = & \Pr \bigl [ \{ T_i^* \in (t, t + \Delta t] \} \cap \{ T_j^* > t + \Delta t \} \bigr ] \\
& = & \Pr (T_i^* \in (t, t + \Delta t]) \times \Pr( T_j^* > t + \Delta t)\\
& = & \{ S(t) - S(t + \Delta t) \} S(t + \Delta t),
\end{eqnarray*}
where the simplification in the second line comes from the independence of subjects $i$ and $j$, and $S(\cdot)$ here denotes the marginal survival function.
In practice the calculation of $\mbox{C}_{dyn}^{\Delta t}$ is restricted into a follow-up interval $[0, t_{max}]$ where we have information. Let $t_1, \ldots, t_{15}$ denote the re-scaled abscissas of the Gauss-Kronrod rule in the interval $[0, t_{max}]$ with corresponding weights $\varpi_1, \ldots, \varpi_{15}$. We combine the estimates $\mbox{A$\widehat{\mbox{U}}$C}(t_k, \Delta t)$, $k = 1, \ldots, 15$ with the estimates of the weights $\Pr \{ \mathcal E(t) \}$ to obtain
\[
\widehat{\mbox{C}}_{dyn}^{\Delta t} = \frac{\sum_{k = 1}^{15} \varpi_k \mbox{A$\widehat{\mbox{U}}$C}(t_k, \Delta t) \times \widehat{\mbox{Pr}} \{ \mathcal E(t_k) \}}{\sum_{k = 1}^{15} \varpi_k \widehat{\mbox{Pr}} \{ \mathcal E(t_k) \}},
\]
where $\widehat{\Pr} \{ \mathcal E(t_k) \} = \{\widehat S(t_k) - \widehat S(t_k + \Delta t)\} \widehat S (t_k + \Delta t)$, with $\widehat S (\cdot)$ denoting the Kaplan-Meier estimate of the marginal survival function $S(\cdot)$.
\subsection{Calibration}
The assessment of the accuracy of predictions of survival models is typically based on the expected error of predicting future events. In our setting, and again taking into account the dynamic nature of the longitudinal outcome, it is of interest to predict the occurrence of events at $u > t$ given the information we have recorded up to time $t$. This gives rise to expected prediction error:
\[
\mbox{PE}(u \mid t) = E \bigl [ L\{N_i(u) - \pi_i(u \mid t)\} \bigr ],
\]
where $N_i(t) = I(T_i^* > t)$ is the event status at time $t$, $L(\cdot)$ denotes a loss function, such as the absolute or square loss, and the expectation is taken with respect to the distribution of the event times. An estimate of $\mbox{PE}(u \mid t)$ that accounts for censoring has been proposed by \citet{henderson.et.al:02}:
\begin{eqnarray*}
\lefteqn{\nonumber \widehat{\mbox{PE}}(u \mid t) = \{n(t)\}^{-1} \sum_{i: T_i \geq t} I(T_i \geq u) L\{1 - \hat \pi_i(u \mid t)\} + \delta_i I(T_i < u) L\{0 - \hat \pi_i(u \mid t)\}}\\
&& + (1 - \delta_i) I(T_i < u) \Bigl [ \hat \pi_i(u \mid T_i) L\{1 - \hat \pi_i(u \mid t)\} + \{1 - \hat \pi_i(u \mid T_i)\} L\{0 - \hat \pi_i(u \mid t)\} \Bigr ],
\end{eqnarray*}
where $n(t)$ denotes the number of subjects at risk at time $t$. The first two terms in the sum correspond to patients who were alive after time $u$ and dead before $u$, respectively; the third term corresponds to patients who were censored in the interval $[t, u]$. Using the longitudinal information up to time $t$, $\mbox{PE}(u \mid t)$ measures the predictive accuracy at the specific time point $u$. Alternatively, we could summarize the error of prediction in a specific interval of interest, say $[t, u]$, by calculating a weighted average of $\{\mbox{PE}(s \mid t), t < s< u\}$ that corrects for censoring, similarly to $\mbox{C}_{dyn}^{\Delta t}$. An estimator of this type for the integrated prediction error has been suggested by \citet{schemper.henderson:00}, which adapted to our time-dynamic setting takes the form
\[
\mbox{I$\widehat{\mbox{P}}$E}(u \mid t) = \frac{\sum_{i: t \leq T_i \leq u} \delta_i \bigl \{ \widehat S_C(t) / \widehat S_C(T_i) \bigr \} \widehat{\mbox{PE}}(u \mid t)}{\sum_{i: t \leq T_i \leq u} \delta_i \bigl \{ \widehat S_C(t) / \widehat S_C(T_i) \bigr \}},
\]
where $\widehat S_C(\cdot)$ denotes the Kaplan-Meier estimator of the censoring time distribution.
Both $\mbox{I$\widehat{\mbox{P}}$E}(u \mid t)$ and $\widehat{\mbox{PE}}(u \mid t)$ can be used to provide a measure of explained variation between nested models. Assuming model $M_1$ is nested in model $M_2$, we can compute how much the extra structure in $M_2$ improves accuracy by
\[
R_{PE}^2(u \mid t; M_1, M_2) = 1 - \widehat{\mbox{PE}}_{M_2}(u \mid t) \Big / \widehat{\mbox{PE}}_{M_1}(u \mid t)
\]
or
\[
R_{IPE}^2(u \mid t; M_1, M_2) = 1 - \mbox{I$\widehat{\mbox{P}}$E}_{M_2}(u \mid t) \Big / \mbox{I$\widehat{\mbox{P}}$E}_{M_1}(u \mid t).
\]
\section{Analysis of the Aortic Valve Dataset} \label{Sec:Appl}
We return to the Aortic Valve dataset introduced in Section~\ref{Sec:Intro}. Our aim is to use the existing data and provide accurate predictions of re-operation-free survival for future patients from the same population, utilizing their baseline information, namely age, gender, BMI and the type of operation they underwent, and their recorded aortic gradient levels. In our study, a total of 77 (27\%) patients received a sub-coronary implantation (SI) and the remaining 208 patients a root replacement (RR). These patients were followed prospectively over time with annual telephone interviews and biennial standardized echocardiographic assessment of valve function until July 8, 2010. Echo examinations were scheduled at 6 months and 1 year postoperatively, and biennially thereafter, and at each examination, echocardiographic measurements of aortic gradient (mmHg) were taken. By the end of follow-up, 1262 aortic gradient measurements were recorded with an average of 4.3 measurements per patient (s.d. 2.4 measurements), 59 (20.7\%) patients had died, and 73 (25.6\%) patients required a re-operation on the allograft. The composite event, re-operation or death, was observed for 125 (43.9\%) patients, and the corresponding Kaplan-Meier estimator for the two intervention groups is shown in Figure~\ref{Fig:KM}.
\begin{figure}[!h]
\includegraphics[width = \textwidth]{KM.pdf}
\caption{Kaplan-Meier estimates of the survival functions for re-operation-free survival for the sub-coronary implantation (SI) and root replacement (RR) groups.} \label{Fig:KM}
\end{figure}
We can observe minimal differences in the re-operation-free survival rates between sub-coronary implantation and root replacement, with only a slight advantage of sub-coronary implantation towards the end of the follow-up. For the longitudinal process and because aortic gradient exhibits right skewness, we will proceed in our analysis using the square root transform of this outcome. Figure~\ref{Fig:SubjProfiles} depicts the subject-specific longitudinal profiles of the square root aortic gradient for the two intervention groups.
\begin{figure}[!h]
\includegraphics[width = \textwidth]{SubjProfiles.pdf}
\caption{Subject-specific profiles for the square root aortic gradient separately for the sub-coronary implantation (SI) and root replacement (RR) groups.} \label{Fig:SubjProfiles}
\end{figure}
We observe considerable variability in the shapes of these trajectories, but there are no systematic differences apparent between the two groups.
We start by defining a set of joint models based on which predictions will be calculated. For the longitudinal process we allow a flexible specification of the subject-specific square root aortic gradient trajectories using natural cubic splines of time. More specifically, the linear mixed model takes the form
\begin{eqnarray*}
y_i(t) & = & \beta_1 \mbox{\tt SI}_i + \beta_2 \mbox{\tt RR}_i + \beta_3 \{B_1(t, \lambda) \times \mbox{\tt SI}_i\} + \beta_4 \{B_1(t, \lambda) \times \mbox{\tt RR}_i\}\\
&& \hspace{0.5cm} + \, \beta_5 \{B_2(t, \lambda) \times \mbox{\tt SI}_i\} + \beta_6 \{B_2(t, \lambda) \times \mbox{\tt RR}_i\}\\
&& \hspace{0.5cm} + \, \beta_7 \{B_3(t, \lambda) \times \mbox{\tt SI}_i\} + \beta_8 \{B_3(t, \lambda) \times \mbox{\tt RR}_i\}\\
&& \hspace{0.5cm} + \, b_{i0} + b_{i1}B_1(t, \lambda) + b_{i2}B_2(t, \lambda) + b_{i3}B_3(t, \lambda) + \varepsilon_i(t),
\end{eqnarray*}
where $B_n(t, \lambda)$ denotes the B-spline basis for a natural cubic spline with boundary knots at baseline and 19 years and internal knots at 2.1 and 5.5 years (i.e., the 33.3\% and 66.6\% percentiles of the observed follow-up times), {\tt SI} and {\tt RR} are the dummy variables for the sub-coronary implantation and root replacement groups, respectively, $\varepsilon_i(t) \sim \mathcal N (0, \sigma^2)$ and $\mbox{{\boldmath $b$}}_i \sim \mathcal N (\mathbf 0, \mbox{{\boldmath $D$}})$. For the survival process we consider four relative risk models, each positing a different association structure between the two processes, namely:
\begin{eqnarray*}
M_1: && h_i(t) = h_0(t) \exp \bigl \{\gamma_1 \mbox{\tt RR}_i + \gamma_2 \mbox{\tt Age}_i + \gamma_3 \mbox{\tt Female}_i + \gamma_4 \mbox{\tt BMI}_i + \alpha_1 m_i(t) \bigl \},\\
M_2: && h_i(t) = h_0(t) \exp \bigl \{\gamma_1 \mbox{\tt RR}_i + \gamma_2 \mbox{\tt Age}_i + \gamma_3 \mbox{\tt Female}_i + \gamma_4 \mbox{\tt BMI}_i + \alpha_1 m_i(t) + \alpha_2 m_i'(t) \bigl \},\\
M_3: && h_i(t) = h_0(t) \exp \Bigl \{\gamma_1 \mbox{\tt RR}_i + \gamma_2 \mbox{\tt Age}_i + \gamma_3 \mbox{\tt Female}_i + \gamma_4 \mbox{\tt BMI}_i + \alpha_1 \int_0^t m_i(s) ds \Bigl \},\\
M_4: && h_i(t) = h_0(t) \exp \bigl (\gamma_1 \mbox{\tt RR}_i + \gamma_2 \mbox{\tt Age}_i + \gamma_3 \mbox{\tt Female}_i + \gamma_4 \mbox{\tt BMI}_i + \alpha_1 b_{i0} + \alpha_2 b_{i1} + \alpha_3 b_{i2} + \alpha_4 b_{i3} \bigl ),
\end{eqnarray*}
where the baseline hazard is approximated with B-splines, i.e.,
\[
\log h_0(t) = \gamma_{h_0,0} + \sum \limits_{q = 1}^Q \gamma_{h_0,q} B_q(t, \mbox{{\boldmath $v$}}),
\]
with five internal knots placed at the corresponding percentiles of the observed event times, and {\tt Female} denotes the dummy variable for females. The estimation of these models was based on a Bayesian approach and an MCMC algorithm with a single chain of 115,000 iterations from which we discarded the first 15,000 samples as burn-in. For all parameters we took standard prior distributions \citep{ibrahim.et.al:01, lesaffre.lawson:12}. In particular, for the vector of fixed effects of the longitudinal submodel $\mbox{{\boldmath $\beta$}}$, the regression parameters of the survival model $\mbox{{\boldmath $\gamma$}}$, the vector of spline coefficients for the baseline hazard $\mbox{{\boldmath $\gamma$}}_{h_0}$, and for the association parameter $\alpha$ we used independent univariate diffuse normal priors. For the variance of the error terms $\sigma^2$ we take an inverse-Gamma prior, while for covariance matrices we assumed an inverse Wishart prior. All computations have been performed in \textsf{R}\, (version 3.0.1) using package \textbf{JMbayes} \citep[version 0.4-1;][]{JMbayes} and \textsf{WinBUGS} (version 1.4.3). Trace plots did not show any alarming indications of convergence failure while auto-correlation plots showed relatively good mixing of the chains. Tables~\ref{Tab:Res-Y} and \ref{Tab:Res-T} show estimates and the corresponding 95\% credible intervals for the parameters in the longitudinal and survival submodels, respectively. We observe that the parameter estimates in the relative risk models show greater variability between the posited association structures (in particular between the time-dependent ($M_1$, $M_2$, and $M_3$) and the time-independent parameterizations ($M_4$)) than the parameters in the linear mixed models. However, we should note that the interpretation of the regression coefficients $\mbox{{\boldmath $\gamma$}}$ is not the same in the four survival submodels because we condition on different components of the longitudinal process.
\begin{table}[ht]
\scriptsize
\centering
\caption{Estimated coefficients and 95\% credible intervals for the parameters of the longitudinal submodels based on the four joint models fitted to the Aortic Valve dataset.}
\begin{tabular}{lrrrrrrrr}
\hline
& \multicolumn{2}{c}{Value ($M_1$)} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{Value+Slope ($M_2$)} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{Area ($M_3$)} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{Shared RE ($M_4$)}\\
& Est. & 95\% CI & Est. & 95\% CI & Est. & 95\% CI & Est. & 95\% CI \\
\hline
{\tt SI} & 3.41 & (3.055; 3.772) & 3.38 & (3.030; 3.718) & 3.41 & (3.047; 3.747) & 3.38 & (3.020; 3.733) \\
{\tt RR} & 2.86 & (2.687; 3.028) & 2.84 & (2.671; 3.005) & 2.87 & (2.707; 3.038) & 2.85 & (2.682; 3.017) \\
{\tt SI}:B-spln1 & 1.42 & (0.885; 1.997) & 1.51 & (0.978; 2.048) & 1.37 & (0.840; 1.898) & 1.59 & (1.065; 2.163) \\
{\tt RR}:B-spln1 & 1.38 & (0.933; 1.815) & 1.38 & (0.927; 1.839) & 1.42 & (0.970; 1.859) & 1.54 & (1.096; 2.005) \\
{\tt SI}:B-spln2 & 2.94 & (1.867; 4.087) & 3.19 & (2.149; 4.113) & 2.79 & (1.874; 3.836) & 3.62 & (2.563; 4.745) \\
{\tt RR}:B-spln2 & 2.57 & (1.723; 3.510) & 2.87 & (1.978; 3.796) & 2.32 & (1.458; 3.158) & 2.97 & (2.089; 3.911) \\
{\tt SI}:B-spln3 & 3.56 & (2.585; 4.742) & 3.81 & (2.804; 4.787) & 3.31 & (2.417; 4.353) & 4.44 & (3.389; 5.672) \\
{\tt RR}:B-spln3 & 2.36 & (1.024; 3.736) & 2.81 & (1.433; 4.269) & 1.94 & (0.654; 3.211) & 2.92 & (1.574; 4.319) \\
$\sigma$ & 0.57 & (0.542; 0.608) & 0.58 & (0.545; 0.613) & 0.58 & (0.545; 0.611) & 0.58 & (0.549; 0.617) \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\label{Tab:Res-Y}
\end{table}
\begin{table}[ht]
\centering
\scriptsize
\caption{Estimated coefficients and 95\% credible intervals for the parameters of the survival sub | 6,848 |
Sky-Watcher is a commercial distribution company established in 1999 by the Synta Technology Corporation of Taiwan (Synta Taiwan) that markets telescopes and astronomical equipment, like mounts and eyepieces, aimed at the amateur astronomical market. The products are manufactured at Synta Taiwan's Suzhou Synta Optical Technology Co., Ltd. in Suzhou (Jiangsu), China. The brand is distributed in Canada and Europe and, in the late 2000<|fim_middle|> multi-coated two-element air-spaced Rich Field achromatic refractors with focal ratios that allow them to have short and compact tube lengths. They are available in Alt-azimuth versions for smaller apertures and equatorial mounts for larger ones, and are available in 70 mm to 150 mm (2.76" - 5.91") apertures. They are presented with blue tubes, and are suited for terrestrial photography as well as astrophotography in the larger versions.
Maksutov–Cassegrains
The Maksutov–Cassegrain telescopes are compact portable multi-coated Maksutov–Cassegrains. They are sold in equatorial mounts and are available in 90–180 mm (3.54–7") apertures. They have very long focal ratios and are sold in blue aluminum tubes. As with the Newtonians, newer ones can have the "Black Diamond" finish.
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The auto-tracking series telescopes are motorized alt-azimuth telescopes, allowing the user to automatically track celestial objects. They are available in 70 mm and 80 mm (2.76" and 3.15") apertures for refractors with medium, long, and very long focal ratios, as reflectors with 76 mm and 114 mm (2.99" and 4.49") apertures and have long and short focal ratios respectively, as well as in 80 mm (3.15") Maksutov form with a very long focal ratio. They are sold in blue tubes with red-dot style reflector sight finders.
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Mounts
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Equatorial mount: EQ1, EQ2, EQ3, and EQ5
SynScan GoTo mount: EQ3 SynScan, EQ5 SynScan, HEQ5, EQ6, AZ-EQ5, AZ-EQ6 and EQ8
Equatorial travel mount: Star adventurer, Star adventurer mini, Star adventurer 2i WiFi, Star adventurer GTI
Multi-Purpose mount: AllView mount, and Virtuoso mount
References
External links
Official Sky-Watcher International website
Official Canadian website
Sky-Watcher U.S.A Telescopes and Optics
Telescope manufacturers
Companies based in Suzhou
Chinese companies established in 1999
Chinese brands
Taiwanese brands | s, was extended to the USA market.
Company history
In 1999, the brand "Sky-Watcher" was established to sell Synta Taiwan's optics with head offices in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. The first Dobsonians were produced in the year 2000 , then in 2001 the first Maksutov–Cassegrains, and in 2004 their first Apochromat ED-APO refracting telescopes.
Sky-Watcher's product line-up contains telescopes from 2.4" (60 mm) up to 16" (406 mm) aperture with manual, motor-driven, or GoTo mounts. Since 2008, Sky-Watcher has manufactured Dobsonians with collapsible tubes, a product line they call Flex Tube-Dobsonians.
Products
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Sky-Watcher has eleven model series of telescopes. These are listed below.
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Equinox
The Equinox series are relatively affordable Extra-low Dispersion (ED) apochromatic refractors in Optical Tube Assembly (OTA) between 66 mm and 120 mm (2.60" - 4.72"), suitable for astrophotography. The smaller apertures have medium focal ratios and the larger ones have long focal ratios. These telescopes have black-colored tubes.
ED Refractors Series
The pro series telescopes include two-element air-spaced OTA ED apochromatic refractors between 80 mm and 120 mm (3.15–4.72") with long focal ratios, also suitable for astrophotography, as well as OTA Maksutovs with very long focal ratios and apertures of 150 mm and 180 mm (5.91" and 7.09"). They are presented in Black Diamond tubes.
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The refractors series are multi-coated achromatic refractors between 70 and 150 mm (2.76–5.91"). They are available in alt-azimuth mounting for smaller apertures and equatorial mounting for larger ones. They have long focal ratios and are constructed with a black aluminum tube.
Reflectors
The Reflector series telescopes are reflectors with optics aluminized and overcoated with silicon dioxide, available in 76 mm to 254 mm sizes (2.99–10.00"). All but the smallest size are presented in equatorial mounting; the smallest one in Alt-azimuth. They are available in short, medium, and long focal ratios and chiefly parabolic mirrors. They are made with Black Diamond aluminum tubes. The 130 to 200 mm aperture parabolic mirror scopes are available with shorter tubes and dual-speed Crayford focusers and are optimized for astrophotography.
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Tabletop telescopes have a 13" (330 mm) high equatorial mount, designed to be extremely portable. They include 130 mm (5.10") and 80 mm (3.15") refractors of short and medium focal lengths respectively, as well as a long-focal length 90 mm (3.54") Maksutov. They are presented in variable-colored tubes.
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The Solid-tube (traditional) Dobsonians are Dobsonian-mounted Newtonian reflectors available in 153 mm (6"), 203 mm (8"), 254 mm (10"), and 305 mm (12") models. They have thin 0.5 mm (0.02")-thick secondary mirror supports, tension control handles, and the 10" - 12" version is made from Pyrex glass. They have long, medium, and short focal ratios respectively, in order of increasing aperture. They have white-colored tubes.
Collapsible Dobsonians
The Collapsible Dobsonians are Dobsonian-mounted Newtonian reflectors available in 200 mm (8"), 254 mm (10"), 305 mm (12") and 406 mm (16") models. They are similar in design to the Solid-Tube Dobsonians but have black-colored tubes with the middle section of the tube replaced with struts. The struts allow the top portion of the tube to collapse down on the bottom portion, decreasing the tube length when in storage or being transported. The Collapsible Dobsonians also feature Crayford focusers instead of the traditional rack and pinion focuser that was included with the Solid-tube Dobsonians.
Short-tube Refractors
The Short-tube Refractors series are | 1,140 |
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Burlington's Downtown Waterfront is a unique stop offering Burlington residents and visitors a place to discover, observe, play, and relax. The areas is made of 4 main areas: The Brant Street Pier, Spencer Smith Park, Discovery Landing and Beach way Park.
The unusual and relaxed atmosphere is the best part of living there. Everything is a short walk away. The area of Burlington offers plenty of fun. Some of the most favored places are: Spencer Smith park, Burlington Art Centre, The | 155 |
These 5 Sanctuaries are Dedicated to Saving Abused and Neglected Elephants
By Corrine Henn
Symbols of strength and wisdom, the elephant is believed to be sacred and incredibly valuable in many cultures. In this way, these majestic animals are to be preserved. Sadly, we have done the opposite.
We have singlehandedly eliminated hundreds of species in the past few decades, the elephant being no exception. The trade of ivory is unrelenting despite an international ban by CITES in 1989, and the statistics available to us are disheartening. In 2013 the IUCN's African Specialist Group completed their most recent analysis, their elephant database indicated 397,601 definite individuals throughout Africa.
To put that in perspective, there were as many as five million African elephants in the 1930s and 1940s. Last year, a study found that more than 100,000 African elephants had been killed between 2010 and 2012. It is now estimated that one elephant is killed<|fim_middle|> quite likely to move on up,to,people, plenty of films showing profilers seem to highlight this sort of thing. | for their ivory every 15 minutes.
The loss of native habitat has also had a devastating effect on the wild populations of both the African and Asian elephants. The Asian elephant's population is estimated to be somewhere between 25,600-32,750 wild individuals.
Poaching and habitat loss aside, elephants have been plucked from the wild and placed into captivity for years to be used for our entertainment or put to work. Thanks to a number of organizations working tirelessly to end the suffering of exploited animals, elephants are finally being phased out of many circuses and zoos.
We are so thankful to the sanctuaries taking in abused neglected and exploited elephants both here in the United States and abroad. It is through these incredible organizations working to raise public awareness, conserve the elephants native habitat, and ensuring the elephants in their care are safe for the remainder of their lives, that we can begin to hope for the future of the species.
1. The Elephant Sanctuary, Tennessee
The Elephant Sanctuary was founded by Carol Buckley and Scott Blais in 1995. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the Asian and African elephants at the sanctuary reside on 2,700 acres in Tennessee, the largest in the nation.
All of the female elephants at the sanctuary were formerly used for entertainment purposes, abused or neglected. At the sanctuary, the elephants are able to live the remainder of their lives peacefully in herds, something incredibly important to the social structure of the species.
While the sanctuary where the animals reside is closed to the general public, a welcome center is available for visitors who may view the elephants on one of thirteen cameras.
2. Boon Lotts Elephant Sanctuary, Thailand
In loving memory of Boon Lott, an elephant rescued and loved until his last breath by founder Katherine Connor, Boon Lotts Elephant Sanctuary is a safe haven for elephants on more than 400 acres in rural Thailand.
The elephants at Boon Lotts are provided with a stimulating and natural environment, so natural in fact that in 2007 Boon Lotts welcomed their first calf, Star (a feat that has proven only minimally successful at zoos all over the world). Although the little calf died unexpectedly in 2010, the environment Katherine Connor provides for the animals proves that they're, given the circumstances, thriving.
3. Performing Animal Welfare Society, California
Founded by the late Pat Derby and her partner Ed Stewart, the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) maintains several sanctuaries for abused and neglected animals. PAWS newest sanctuary, the ARK 2000, is a 2,300-acre safe haven in San Andreas, California.
A renowned facility, PAWS was the first to successfully use a non-dominance technique with the elephants in their care, meaning no weapons (bull hooks) or other aversive training techniques.
4. Elephant Nature Park, Thailand
Co-founded by Sangduen "Lek" Chailert in 1996, the Elephant Nature Park is the final destination for dozens of abused and exploited elephants in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
With 250 acres of untouched habitat, the elephants at the park are no longer forced to perform or work and instead have free range to do as they please. Visitors are welcome to come tour the facility and learn to respect the elephants who live in as natural of an environment as possible.
Elephant Nature Park also runs an amazing program that works with former elephant exhibitors to help them transform their abusive acts into sanctuaries where elephants are never abused or forced to work for a profit.
5. The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, Kenya
If you've seen the movie Born to be Wild, you've seen the work being done at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) in Kenya.
Founded by Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick in 1977 in memory of her late husband David Sheldrick, the wildlife trust has received global recognition for their conservation and rehabilitation program. Through the Orphan Project, DSWT has successfully hand raised and reintegrated more than 150 elephants back into the native wild herds.
For many of us, we will never have the opportunity to see an elephant in the wild. Given the circumstances, we experience these animals only in captivity. Future generations may only be able to experience their beauty through pictures.
The fate of the elephant is in our hands.
If you would like to get involved:
Consider volunteering or donating to one of the facilities listed above (or any other reputable sanctuary housing elephants).
Raise awareness! Continue to share articles exposing the devastating impact poaching, habitat loss and captivity has on these animals.
Lead image source: Ryan Poplin/Flickr
Kate Parker says:
Andrea <3
Ted Davies says:
Christine Davies
Hedgerow Minx says:
I feel like she should be put down humanely for the good if the world. What the hell is going on in that mind? Going to anti killing school would be great and didn't the FBI say they had killers and animal abusers in watchlist as they would be | 1,058 |
As the name suggests, The Real<|fim_middle|> Birmingham. | China is the place to go for a piece of authentic Chinese cuisine in West Bromwich. With acclaimed restaurants all over the UK, this Chinese chain restaurant is now bringing Chinese food to the people of Birmingham with their location on New Square in West Bromwich. Cooking up a range of contemporary and traditional Chinese dishes, at The Real China you can load up your plate with as much as you want with their all you can eat buffet option.
The Real China on New Square in West Bromwich brings the ultimate oriental experience to Birmingham with their all you can eat buffet. In this stylishly decorated restaurant you can eat as much as you want, which is lucky as the menu is crammed with everyone's favourite Chinese dishes – from sweet and sour chicken to chop suey. Using the freshest ingredients, The Real China's chefs use traditional Chinese cooking methods to give the dishes the most flavoursome taste. Stuff your plate with spring rolls, satay chicken skewers, samosas and BBQ spare ribs amongst others.
The all you can eat fun doesn't stop just at the starters though, with main courses which include chicken drumsticks in black pepper sauce, king prawns in Szechuan sauce and shredded crispy beef, with an enormous range of rice and sides to go along with it. The perfect place in West Bromwich for a family meal or group dinner, book a reservation at this New Square restaurant in advance as it is a popular choice for those after their fix of Chinese cuisine in | 297 |
e-Modules
Topic 1: What is Pathophysiology?
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:
Define pathophysiology
Summarize the various host responses to toxicant-induced injury
Pathophysiology describes the changes that occur during a disease process, with "patho-" referring to the physical changes that are observed and "physio-" referring to the functional processes or mechanisms that occur during a disease process. In toxicology, pathophysiology encompasses the biochemical and physical alterations that occur upon exposure of an individual (generally termed the "host") to harmful amounts of a toxicant.
Figure 1.1 Etymology of Path<|fim_middle|> as well as systemic intoxication from toxic gases such as carbon monoxide or cyanide.
Topic 1: Key Points
In this section, we explored the following main points:
Pathophysiology is the study of the physical and functional changes that occur during a disease process.
Toxic insults can result in physical and biochemical alterations that may lead to cellular dysfunction, repair, adaptation, carcinogenesis and/or death. | ophysiology
In toxicology, pathophysiology takes into account how the characteristics of the toxicant (for example, dosage, physical properties and chemical properties) and the characteristics of the host (including species, life stage, health/reproductive status, metabolism, and individual sensitivity) interact to produce physical and/or biochemical changes in the host. Pathophysiology also encompasses the host response to the effects a toxicant. With acutely lethal intoxications, the physical and chemical injury may be sufficient to cause rapid death of the organism. In non-lethal toxic exposures, toxicant-induced injury results in dysfunction of cells, tissues and/or organs that may persist or that may progress to death. Persistent toxic injury that does not result in death generally leads to attempts at repair of toxicant-induced damage. With some toxicants, the host is able to develop strategies to adapt to continued exposure to toxicants. Dysfunction, repair and adaptive processes that occur in response to exposure to certain toxicants may trigger development of unregulated cell growth leading to tumor formation in a process termed carcinogenesis.
Figure 1.2 Pathophysiology of Toxicants
In many cases the toxicant is the unchanged xenobiotic to which the host was exposed, but in some cases the xenobiotic itself may be relatively innocuous and requires bioactivation to more toxic metabolites before toxic effects occur. A variety of endogenous systems have evolved to mitigate the effects of many toxicants and/or their metabolites. However, when these systems fail or when the dose of toxicant exceeds the capacity of the system to neutralize the toxic effects, poisoning occurs. The clinical syndrome associated with a poisoning is referred to as toxicosis.
Most toxicants exert their effects on specific molecules, tissues or organs based on the physical and chemical makeup of the toxicant as well as the absorption, distribution and metabolism of the toxicant within the body. Toxicants such as some strong acids or alkalis (e.g. concentrated hydrochloric acid) are not systemically absorbed, so are limited to causing local injury upon contact with skin, eyes or mucous membranes. Toxicants that are ingested and absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract are shuttled via the portal vein to the liver, where they may cause direct injury, where they may be bioactivated to toxic metabolites, or where they may be detoxified before they reach the general circulation (a process termed "first pass effect"). Inhaled toxicants such as smoke may cause local tissue injury due irritants or corrosive components | 506 |
There are psychic reading many points you'd love to learn about your long run. You would choose to explain some issues which might be likely on in your lifetime. So you've got decided to take the plunge and get in touch with for the stay psychic studying. A psychic reading through of the kind will help provide you with authentic steerage any time you end up in a crossroads or needing to generate a vital decision. Usually there are some factors which are essential to bear in mind to obtain the incredibly finest from the looking at.
Method the studying using an open up brain. The purpose of the psychic reading isn't to verify points you currently know, but to inform you issues you do not know. Consequently, it really is important<|fim_middle|> this kind of facts. And if you don't know whatsoever it is actually for being legitimate currently, what ever it is actually may not make sense to you personally at the time of the examining. Just file away the data that's provided to you personally in your looking at that doesn't compute with the time. Make a be aware of it. Consider It out per month later and see what has arrive at pass. You could be incredibly pleasantly stunned.
Mobile phone psychics tend not to know everything. There are pretty several serious psychic viewers in existence that have produced by themselves obtainable for on-line psychic readings. On the other hand, you will find a tendency in the dwell psychic reading through to think that when the on the web psychic can come up with factors you presently know, then everything and anything they are saying is true. This isn't necessarily so.
At times an on-line psychic reader can pretty easily tune in to what is previously there. This is identified as "clairsentience" and in some cases it's empathic or telepathic skill. Just because this is so doesn't signify that the psychic advisor can necessarily forecast your long term. Clairvoyance is surely an capability to predict the longer term. In the event the psychic reader you've got decided on lists clairvoyance on their bio as just one of their skills, there's a good prospect they can utilize it as part of your on the internet studying and produce forth mysterious information and facts that has but to come to move. Also, have in mind which the on-line psychic advisor is really a man or woman, not God. Nobody, not even are living psychics, are omniscient. If all of us realized every thing there is certainly to understand, there wouldn't be any motive for being in this article.
A single way to get the most effective from a online psychic studying is always to open up your strength field enough to ensure the psychic can join with all your vitality. Getting tranquil, awesome, gathered, and open up minded provides your on-line psychic reader the very best chance to completely link along with you. This tends to make for your a lot better psychic looking at than for those who are frazzled or pretty guarded and suspicious. So it's critical being tranquil and targeted before you simply call any on the net psychic reader. When you are calling when you are emotionally upset, you will not have the capacity to get a distinct looking at. Your thoughts and calming you down will be just what the psychic is focusing on, instead than bringing you information regarding what lies forward. | to generally be open up to acquiring information and facts that you never previously know. A real psychic reader will be able to provide forth | 26 |
Home Arts UR's Basketball Overhaul
UR's Basketball Overhaul
by Jack Cooksey
On the basketball court and off, the University of Richmond's Rob<|fim_middle|> and upholstery. "With the smaller capacity, we'll have more and more home games that do sell out," Walsh notes.
The university also has taken pains to keep up with ADA regulations by adding elevators to the upper levels of the house as well as some prime seating for fans in wheelchairs.
The four large video displays in the upper corners measure 15 feet by 32 feet — some of the largest on the East Coast. And 40 new LED lights over the court should add a clearer view to the live action for everyone. One might even consider an informal bit of research into the lighting's effect on the Spiders: Could the men's and women's teams see their shooting percentages spike this year? | ins Center has been buzzing like a beehive — quite literally — as the Spiders near their season's first home-game tipoff on Nov. 8.
When head coach Chris Mooney and his team started practices in late September, the 40-year-old arena was undergoing a $17 million overhaul. Players taking the court were surrounded by construction crews in the frenzied process of gutting the Robins Center to add a host of amenities. As work machinery whined, clacked and rumbled, Mooney struggled to be heard by his players. The team resorted to putting a wireless microphone on the coach, who was amplified by court-side speakers.
Teams don't often get to practice their mental game against the kinds of distractions and decibels you might get from having a chip hammer or belt sander in the house. And given the new seating configuration that's moving more spectators onto the court while taking away space higher up in the arena, the Spiders will have to contend with more noise.
The refurbished center will get its "official" unveiling on Jan. 8, 2014, when UR faces the University of Dayton in a nationally televised Atlantic 10 Conference game.
UR spokesman David Walsh describes the new Robins Center as "more intimate" — it's losing about 2,000 seats to make way for hospitality suites and huge video displays, among other features. The 7,000 seats that remain took a trip to Michigan and back for new padding | 308 |
807.626.TBSO (8276)
TBSO LIVE CONCERTS
Education Concerts
About TBSO
29January2019February 27, 2019
News, Press Release
TBSO Nominated for Jun<|fim_middle|>, was tasked with coordinating the production. Carl Talbot and Christopher Johns of Productions Musicom from Laval, Quebec, handled the recording and engineering. The album was published and distributed by Analekta.
Composer, Jordan Pal, says this about the recording: "The solo writing in Starling is demanding, and [the players'] performance is exciting. I'm always amazed at how these brilliant musicians assimilate the music, making it their own…"
TBSO past president, Paul Inksetter, says, "I couldn't be more proud." The CD can be purchased through the TBSO office by calling 626.TBSO (8276), at any TBSO concert, or by downloading online at Analekta.
Auditions – April 2019 (Closed)TBSO Hires New Resident Conductor
Fruit & Cheese
TBSO Changes Things Up with Stay at Home OrderJanuary 14, 2021
Halloween Treat from TBSOJanuary 5, 2021
Happy Holidays from the Thunder Bay Symphony ChorusDecember 23, 2020
Privacy Policy / Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra © 2019 / All Rights Reserved. Charitable Registration Number: 119264331 RR001 | o
Thunder Bay's TBSO nominated for prestigious JUNO Award for first time
(Thunder Bay) It has just been announced that the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra has been nominated for a JUNO Award in the the "Classical Album of the Year" category. The nomination is for the "Into the Wonder" album released in 2017.
The project began in 2012, and took four years to bring to fruition, with its official release on November 3, 2018. The music was entirely composed by young Canadian composer, Jordan Pal. The recording features Canada's celebrated Gryphon Trio playing with the TBSO. "It's been an exhilarating experience performing and recording the music of Jordan Pal," says past Music Director, Arthur Post, describing Pal's compositions. Mr. Post incubated the project and led the orchestra through the recordings. "From my first encounter, I was attracted to his music's compositional integrity. Here was new music animated by logical and natural progressions, music that embraced traditional tonality, pulse, and expression, while displaying a distinctly 21st century sonic brilliance."
Into the Wonder was commissioned my the TBSO under the leadership of its past president, Paul Inksetter. The project was financed by a group of local investors and through a grant from the Ontario Arts Council. The album was recorded live at the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium, highly regarded for its fine acoustics, in March 2016. Local producer, Danny Johnson | 313 |
January 20, <|fim_middle|> to help China achieve its development goals that will open new export markets for U.S. goods and services," noted Commerce Secretary Gary Locke.
The U.S. Department of Commerce has a broad mandate to advance economic growth and jobs and opportunities for the American people. It has cross-cutting responsibilities in the areas of trade, technology, entrepreneurship, economic development, environmental stewardship and statistical research and analysis. The department also leads the President's National Export Initiative, which aims to double U.S. exports by 2015 in support of several million American jobs. | 2011 — With the recent State Visit of President Hu Jintao to the United States, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) joined with China's Ministries of Health (MoH) and Commerce (MOFCOM) to announce their support for the establishment a new public-private partnership in the healthcare sector.
Initially, 12 U.S. companies and six supporting organizations will participate in this partnership, alongside the supporting U.S. and Chinese Government agencies. The partnership will be organized around U.S. healthcare industry strengths and government capabilities in order to foster long-term cooperation with China in the areas of research, training, regulation and the adoption of an environment that will increase accessibility to healthcare services in China.
Participating U.S. companies initially include 3M, Abbott, Chindex, Cisco, General Electric, IBM, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Microsoft, Motorola, and Pfizer. Supporting organizations include AdvaMed, the Alliance for Healthcare Competitiveness, the American Chamber of Commerce in China, the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, PhRMA and the U.S.-China Business Council.
Through programs supported by the initiative, Chinese participants will gain greater access to U.S. private sector expertise and ingenuity and better awareness of new technologies and results-oriented regulatory processes.
Initially, these goals will be advanced through a USTDA-funded Healthcare Professional Personnel Exchange Program that will include a series of visits by Chinese healthcare officials to the U.S. to share best practices and witness new and innovative technologies that will be important to long-term healthcare delivery.
"The partnership will draw its strength from U.S. companies strategically working together | 361 |
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Too bad. One of the nicest and oldest toy stores in The Hague is closing
Looking inside Jennifer's natural gas-free home: 'The heating was turned on for the first time<|fim_middle|>heijnstraat 51, 2006 NL The Hague
Lotta's favorites: 'I dream of skating in the Haagse Bos every winter '
From November Joyce will start working for six months with a new function in the neighbourhood. Of course Allan can…
8 x beautiful autumn walks in The Hague 1637225390
This is why the Christmas tree has been on Jake's since October
Author Lotta Breed | at the end of December'
Texts of the collective labor agreement Care transport and Taxi ready
We spoke to the well-known choreographer Rinus about a great Christmas production in The Hague
Rinus Sprong (11) is a well-known face in The Hague. The choreographer, dancer and actor, together with his partner Thom Stuart 021 year the dance company 'De Dutch Don't Dance Division'. A few months ago he stopped as artistic director of the company, now he goes his own way.
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"A lot of people thought then that Thom and I also broke up privately. That led to very uncomfortable situations. People asked how we are doing now that we've broken up, but we're still doing fine."
Rinus has plans of his own
Rinus and Thom have 11 worked together for years. "It's great fun, but also frustrating. Half a word is enough for us, but our tastes differ. The dancers sometimes think that we have a big fight, but in the evening we just sit together on the couch."
Rinus stopped working at De Dutch Don't Dance Division (DeDDDD) because he wants to focus more on his career as an actor and choreographer. "If you have to accompany the dancers of the company every day of the week and are busy with the performances every day, there is little time left for anything else."
Photo: Menno van der Meer
The Hague Christmas Carol
Rinus is still working with Thom on the annual Christmas production of DeDDDD. "We started this in 1981. Within the Christmas productions we see dancers growing up. For example, there is a girl who started out as a 9-year-old dancer in a child's role and who is also dancing along this year. She is now in her early twenties and studying medicine."
This year's Christmas show, 'A Christmas Carol' takes place entirely in The Hague. "It is really the Hague version of the well-known fairy tale, even all names have been changed to well-known names from The Hague."
We were tired of Amsterdam's busy 'Disneyland'
Rinus and Thom have a strong bond with Den Hedge. As young dancers, they both started their dance careers here. Rinus danced at the NDT (Nederlands Dans Theater) in 1024 and Thom at the Royal Conservatory in 921. After that, they lived together in Israel and New York. When they returned to the Netherlands they lived in Amsterdam. "After six years we were tired of Amsterdam's busy 'Disneyland' and we came to The Hague." Since living here, Rinus and Thom have never left.
The most beautiful place in The Hague
After work, Rinus and Thom can be found a lot in The Hague. "The Hague has a wonderful culture and a beautiful city center. I think the Lange Voorhout is the most beautiful in The Hague. It doesn't matter what season it is, it's always beautiful on the Lange Voorhout." Thom and Rinus like to go for a walk in the Scheveningse Bosjes. They can also often be found at De Posthoorn. "The Posthoorn used to be a nice place. Real Hague with a swing, nice jazz music and good service, but not poop."
Foundation of the Dutch Don't Dance Division
De G | 691 |
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